the last look, a tale of the spanish inquisition, by w.h.g. kingston. ________________________________________________________________________ it is in the middle of the sixteenth century, and in spain, where the inquisition, and subsequent torturing and burning to death by the catholic church, of those who would not agree to its tenets, is getting under way. an archbishop calls at the house of a former friend of his, a woman who had refused him in love. the woman is the widow of a great nobleman. the archbishop is chatting to his former friend's daughter, and is thinking how like the child is to what she had been. unfortunately the child artlessly gives away the fact that the family had now adopted protestantism, due perhaps to her father having met luther while on visits to germany. some years later the child is now grown up, and has two suitors, one of whom is a rich catholic, and the other is a much poorer man but a protestant. she and others are meeting at the house of a woman who often has such clandestine all-protestant meetings, when they hear that a person they all know has gone mad and has run around telling everyone about these protestant meetings. the inquisition of course, with spies everywhere, hears all about it. from then onward the story takes many of them to the jails of the inquisition, and some are burnt at the auto-da-fe, a ritualised torture ceremony ending in death at the stake. the book is short, only three hours to read, but very tensely written by this great author. audiobook recommended. ________________________________________________________________________ the last look, a tale of the spanish inquisition, by w.h.g. kingston. chapter one. an unwelcome visitor. the beauty of seville is proverbial. "who has not seen seville, has not seen a wonder of loveliness," say the spaniards. they are proud indeed of seville, as they are of everything else belonging to them, and of themselves especially, often with less reason. we must carry the reader back about three hundred years, to a beautiful mansion not far from the banks of the famed guadalquiver. in the interior were two courts, open to the sky. round the inner court were marble pillars richly carved and gilt, supporting two storeys of galleries; and in the centre a fountain threw up, as high as the topmost walls, a bright jet of water, which fell back in sparkling spray into an oval tank below, full of many-coloured fish. in the court, at a sufficient distance from the fountain to avoid its spray, which, falling around, increased the delicious coolness of the air, sat a group of ladies employed in working tapestry, the colours they used being of those bright dyes which the east alone could at that time supply. the only person who was moving was a young girl, who was frolicking round the court with a little dog, enticed to follow her by a coloured ball, which she kept jerking, now to one side, now to the other, laughing as she did so at the animal's surprise, in all the joyousness of innocent youth. she had scarcely yet reached that age when a girl has become conscious of her charms and her power over the sterner sex. the ladies were conversing earnestly together, thinking, it was evident, very little of their work, when a servant appearing announced the approach of don gonzales munebrega, bishop of tarragona. for the peculiar virtues he possessed in the eye of the supreme head of his church, he was afterwards made archbishop of the same see. uneasy glances were exchanged among the ladies; but they had scarcely time to speak before a dignified-looking ecclesiastic entered the court, followed by two inferior priests. one of the ladies, evidently the mistress of the house, advanced to meet him, and after the usual formal salutations had been exchanged, he seated himself on a chair which was placed for him by her side, at a distance from the rest of the party, who were joined, however, by the two priests. the young girl no sooner caught sight of the bishop from the farther end of the hall, where the little dog had followed her among the orange trees, than all trace of her vivacity disappeared. "ah, dona mercia, your young daughter reminds me greatly of you at the same age," observed the bishop, with a sigh, turning to the lady, who still retained much of the beauty for which the young girl was conspicuous. "you had not then entered the priesthood; and on entering it, and putting off the secular habit, i should have thought, my lord, that you would have put off all thoughts and feelings of the past," answered dona mercia calmly. "not so easy a task," replied the bishop. "a scene like this conjures up the recollection of days gone by and never to return. you--you, dona mercia, might have saved me from what i now suffer." "you speak strangely, don gonzales," said dona mercia. "why address such words to me? our feelings are not always under our own control. i know that you offered me your hand, and the cause of my rejecting your offer was that i could not give you what alone would have made my hand of value. i never deceived you, and as soon as i knew your feelings, strove to show you what were mine." "indeed, you did!" exclaimed the bishop, in a tone of bitterness. "you say truly, too, that we cannot always control our feelings. my rival is no more; and did not the office into which i rashly plunged cut me off from the domestic life i once hoped to enjoy, what happiness might yet be mine!" "oh, my lord, let me beg you not to utter such remarks," said dona mercia, in a voice of entreaty. "the past cannot be recalled. god chasteneth whom he loveth. he may have reserved for you more happiness than any earthly prosperity can give." a frown passed over the brow of the priest of rome. the lady of the mansion, anxious to turn the current of the bishop's thoughts, and to put a stop to a conversation which was annoying her-fearing, indeed, from her knowledge of the man, that it might lead to some proposal still more painful and disagreeable--called her young daughter, leonor de cisneros, to her. dona leonor approached the bishop with downcast looks. "you are wonderfully demure now, my pretty maiden," he remarked in a bantering tone, his countenance brightening, however, for an instant as he spoke to her; "but you were gay and frolicking enough just now, when i entered. how is that?" "it becomes me to be grave in your presence, my lord," was the answer. "but you are generally happy and joyous, are you not?" asked the bishop. "yes, especially when i think of the good and loving master i desire to serve," answered the young girl, innocently. "who is that?" asked the romish priest, not guessing whom she could mean. "the lord jesus christ, who died on calvary that i might be washed from my sins by his precious blood there shed for me," answered the young girl, promptly. "ah! but you love the holy virgin, the immaculate mother of god, too, do you not?" asked the priest. "yes, indeed, i do love the holy virgin, for she was blessed among women, and nurtured and brought up the dear jesus, who died for me and for her too, that we might be saved," said dona leonor, without hesitation. "ah! what! do not you pray to the holy virgin, little maiden?" asked the priest, looking at her sternly. "this must be looked to," he muttered to himself. "why should i pray to her, when i have the gentle loving jesus, to whom i may go in prayer at all times and in all places?" she asked with simplicity, and with a tone of surprise that the priest should not agree with her. "and you do not pray to the saints either, then, perhaps?" he asked, before the girl had finished the last sentence. "oh, no! they are dead and cannot hear me. i pray only to the good jesus, who always is ready to hear me; for he loves me more than my dear father did, or even than my mother can," answered dona leonor. "these are not catholic doctrines, young lady," said the bishop in a tone of harshness he had not yet used. "who taught them to you? they smack strongly of heresy." "i do not know what heresy means," answered dona leonor, in an artless tone. "my dear father taught me what i know about the loving jesus-that he is the only friend in whom human beings can really trust. it was the sure knowledge of this which comforted him through his illness, and made his deathbed so happy and glorious. he told us to meet him in heaven, and i do hope to meet him there some day. the thought of that makes me extremely happy, whenever it comes to my mind." "you hold very strange doctrines, child," said the bishop, sharply. "has your mother embraced them?" "i know nothing about doctrines, my lord," answered dona leonor. "i think that my mother must hope to meet our dear father in heaven, or she would be very miserable; and i am sure she cannot hope to get there except through her trust in the blood of jesus. i hope, my lord bishop, that you expect to go there by that sure and only way." "i cannot expect to go there except by the way the church points out, and i cannot even know that there is a heaven except through what the church teaches," answered the bishop, in a voice that sounded somewhat husky. "that is the true catholic doctrine, maiden, which it behoves all spaniards to believe, and which they must be compelled to believe. you understand, maiden. tell your mother what i say. but here she comes." dona mercia, wishing to escape from the remarks of her former admirer, had joined the rest of her guests, and afterwards retired to give some direction for their entertainment, little dreaming of the dangerous turn the conversation between her daughter and the bishop would take. "ah, dona mercia, i find that your daughter is a little heretic, and holds in but slight respect the doctrines of the church. as she tells me she was instructed in them by her late father, and as he must have imbibed such abominable principles during his visits to germany from that arch-heretic luther, i trust that they have proceeded no farther. but let me advise you to be cautious, dona mercia, and to inculcate catholic principles into the mind of your daughter. remember that from henceforth the eyes of the inquisition will be upon you." "my lord bishop, i have ever endeavoured to do my duty to my god, to my child, and to all around me," answered dona mercia, meekly, unconsciously placing her hands across her bosom. "i trust that i have no cause to tremble, should the eyes of the whole world be upon me." "the eyes of the inquisition are more piercing than those of the whole world combined," answered don gonzales, in a low voice, which came hissing forth from between his almost clenched lips, in a tone which was calculated to produce more effect on the mind of the hearer than the loudest outburst of passion. when the bishop rose from his seat, he approached the rest of the company with a smiling aspect, and addressed them with that dignified courtesy for which spaniards have ever been celebrated. few would have guessed the feelings which were even then agitating his bosom; still, the party felt relieved when he and his softly-spoken, keen-eyed attendants took their departure. chapter two. the inquisition. at the time our story commences, the inquisitors scarcely suspected how far the opinions they so much dreaded had extended. they had satisfied themselves hitherto with burning jews, moors, and the poorer class of christians, whose opinions did not agree with those of the roman catholic church. thus, when don gonzales munebrega, soon after his arrival at seville on ecclesiastical business, paid the visit which has been described to dona mercia de cisneros, he was considerably startled at hearing her young daughter utter expressions which showed that she had been taught doctrines of a heretical character. the whole family were in his power. he had once loved dona mercia; she had rejected him. how should he now use that power? tumultuous feelings agitated his bosom as he mounted the richly-caparisoned mule which stood ready to convey him to the convent where he lodged. this was not the only visit he paid to dona mercia; but, though courteous to her guest, she was ever on her guard, and carefully kept leonor out of his way. for once in his life he was baffled. whenever he paid his visits the same caution was observed. at length he was compelled to take his departure from seville. years rolled on, but he never forgot the remarks made to him by the young leonor de cisneros. he had hated her father, he had been rejected by her mother. it is difficult to describe the feelings with which he regarded the daughter, still less those which he had entertained for the mother. were they holy and pure? the lives of thousands of cardinals, bishops, and priests of all degrees, is the best answer to the question. don gonzales munebrega was rising in the church. he had become archbishop of tarragona. his heart had become harder and harder; in reality an infidel--an alien from god--a hater of all that was pure and holy, he thought that he was becoming devout. he was resolved that if he was not on the right way to heaven, no one else should get there by any other. the war was now to begin against heresy and schism--terms abused, especially the latter, at the present day almost as much as in the darker days of popish supremacy. there are to be found clergymen of the church of england who can, unconcernedly, see many of their flock going over to the church of rome, whom they have possibly led half-way there; and yet should any of the rest of their congregation, disgusted with their ritualistic practices, or fearing the effect of their false teaching on their children, strive to set up an independent place of worship, or to join any already established body of christians, anathemas are hurled at their heads, and they are told that they are guilty of the heinous crime of schism--schism, in the sense they give it, a figment of sacerdotalism, priestcraft, and imposture. but does the crime of schism not exist? ay, it does; but it is schism from the true church of christ, the church of which he is the head corner-stone, the beautified in heaven, the sanctified on earth; from god's people, who are with him in glory, who are with us here below, who are yet to be born; from the glorious company of the redeemed; from jesus christ, the lamb of god, slain for the sins of the whole world, the risen saviour, the one intercessor between god and man. those are guilty of trying to create schism who tell god's people--trusting to the same precious blood shed on calvary--that it is a crime to worship together, to commemorate the lord's death together, to put out the right hand of fellowship, to call each other brethren; ay, those are the causers of schism, against whose evil machinations christian men have cause to pray. but we must return to spain. the year 1552 arrived. during it an _auto-da-fe_ was celebrated at seville, but as only a few poor moors and jews were burnt, it did not create much sensation; still there was no lack of spectators to see the burning. several criminals were condemned to do penance on the occasion, and among them was the once celebrated preacher, dr egidius, whose crime was being true to his lord and master. the high conical cap and yellow robe in which he appeared could not make him ridiculous in the eyes of many of his fellow-citizens, even of those who did not sympathise with his opinions. at length he was liberated, and once more mixed with his friends at seville. it was necessary, however, for him to be very cautious, lest, as his movements were watched, he should draw suspicion on them. soon after he was released, he set out for valladolid, where his wounded spirit was much refreshed by finding the progress the gospel had made in that city and its neighbourhood. over-fatigued by his return journey, he died shortly after his arrival in seville. god, however, did not leave his church in seville without a minister. constantine ponce de la fuente, on the death of egidius, obtained the post of canon-magistrate in the cathedral of seville, previously held by him. this made him the principal preacher in the place, and gave him great influence, which he used in spreading the truth of the gospel. he published numerous evangelical works suited to the understanding of the least educated of his countrymen. his system was not so much to attack the errors of rome, as to bring the light of the gospel to shine on their minds through his addresses and writings. in valladolid and the surrounding towns and villages, men of talent and eminence were equally zealous in spreading protestant opinions. they were embraced by the greater part of the nuns of santa clara and of the sistercian order of san belem, and converts were found among the class of devout women, called in spain _beatas_, who are bound by no particular rule, but addict themselves to works of charity. one of the most active propagators of the reformed doctrines in the surrounding country was don carlos de seso, who had for important services been held in high honour by charles the fifth, and had married dona isabella de castilla, a descendant of the royal family of castile and leon. these few examples are sufficient to show the progress made by the reformation at that time among the highest and most intelligent classes of the community in spain--made, too, in spite of the ever-watchful eyes of the officers of the inquisition, and notwithstanding the almost certain death with torture, and by fire, which would be the lot of any denounced by its familiars. in spain, in those days, as at present, it was the custom for ladies of rank to receive guests at their houses on certain days of the week. dona mercia de cisneros was holding such a reception one evening. guests of all opinions came. there were a large number of protestants; they knew each other to be protestants, but to the rest of the guests their opinions were unknown. among the guests were two young men who, though apparently strangers to each other, were attracted by the same object--admiration for dona leonor, the youthful daughter of the house. don francisco de vivers, the elder of the two, was an inhabitant of seville, of considerable wealth and excellent family. he was considered amiable and generous; and was, moreover, handsome and agreeable in his manners, dressed well, and possessed a house and equipages surpassed by few. he was not at all insensible of his own qualifications for winning a young lady's heart, and was, therefore, greatly puzzled at discovering that dona leonor seemed insensible to them. don francisco loved the world and his wealth far too much to give his heart to god; and dona leonor had resolved not to marry any one who would not make up his mind to do so. possibly too, he might scarcely have heard of the reformed doctrines; he was a firm roman catholic. it was a faith which exactly suited him. he found it so easy for a person of his wealth to clear off any sins which might trouble his conscience. the other young man who has been spoken of seemed to be a stranger in the place, though several affectionate greetings which he received showed that he was not so altogether. he was dressed in black, the usual costume of a lawyer in those days, and though not so handsome as don francisco, his broad forehead, clear eye, and firm mouth, showed that he was far his superior in intellect. dona leonor no longer turned away her head when he approached her, as she had done when don francisco drew near, but received him with a friendly smile, while an acute observer might have discovered that a blush suffused her cheek while he spoke. don francisco watched him at a distance, and an expression denoting angry jealousy came over his countenance as he saw the intimate terms which existed between the two. he little dreamed, however, of the cause of the earnest love which one felt for the other: it was the pure holy faith which both enjoyed, the same common trust, the same hope, the same confidence in the one ever-loving saviour. they believed that they were to be united, not only for a time, but for eternity. their acquaintance had commenced during a visit dona leonor had paid to some relatives residing in the town of toro, of which place antonio herezuelo, the young man who has been described, was an advocate. it soon ripened into affection. no barrier existed between them, for the acute lawyer had already been converted to the truth, and, head and heart alike convinced, held firmly to it as the anchor of his soul. dona mercia did not oppose their union, for she perceived that antonio herezuelo possessed courage, determination, and a superior intellect, beside a gentle and loving disposition--qualities calculated to secure her daughter's happiness, and which would enable him to protect her during the troublous times which she feared might be coming on spain. she knew well what had happened, and what was occurring in the netherlands, as did all the educated persons in spain; but that did not prevent those who had the gospel offered to them from accepting its truths, or from endeavouring to make them known among their companions. those who were in the church, and whose position enabled them to preach, promulgated gospel truth openly, while laymen spoke of it to their friends in private, or addressed small assemblies of persons who appeared disposed to receive it. chapter three. a narrow escape. the young couple, now formally betrothed, appeared everywhere together in public, and it was understood that before long their marriage would be solemnised. many of the places, however, frequented by people of their rank, they avoided--the bull-fights and the religious spectacles-the one tending to brutalise the people, the other to foster the grossest superstition. among the houses at which they visited at seville was that of the widow dona isabel de baena. her guests, however, it was understood, only came by invitation. most of them approached her house cautiously--sometimes alone, or only two or three together--generally when it grew dusk, and muffled in their cloaks so that their features could not be discerned. often there was a large assemblage of persons at dona isabel's house thus collected, though the spies of the inquisition had not observed them assembling. though sedate and generally serious in their manner, they were neither sad nor cast down; indeed, a cheerfulness prevailed among the company not often seen in a spanish assembly. dona leonor was there with her mother. don antonio herezuelo set out from his lodgings with the purpose of going there also. he had not gone far when, suddenly turning his head, he found that he was closely followed. under ordinary circumstances this would have caused him little concern, but at present he knew the importance of being cautious. he remembered that by going down a lane near at hand he might return home again. this he did, and walking on rapidly, got rid, as he supposed, of his pursuer. after remaining a short time he again sallied forth, and taking a circuitous way to dona isabel's house, arrived there safely, and, as he hoped, without being observed. leonor had become anxious about him. she told him so when he arrived. "do not on similar occasions fear, my beloved," he answered, with that brave smile which frequently lighted up his countenance. "god protects those who put their whole trust in him--not a half trust, but the whole entire trust." "yes, i know, and yet surely many of those who were tortured and suffered in the flames in the low countries put their trust in him," answered leonor. "i shudder when i think of the agonies those poor people must have endured." again that smile came over herezuelo's countenance. "sometimes he requires those whom he loves best, and who love him, to suffer for him here, that he may give them a brighter crown, eternal in the heavens-the martyr's crown of glory," he answered. "ah, yes, i know that thought should sustain a person," she remarked; "yet all tortures must be hard for poor, frail human bodies to bear." "yes, if people trust to their own strength and courage they will mostly shrink at the time of trial, but if they trust to the strength god gives them, they will as surely bear with fortitude whatever he may allow to be layed on them," was the answer. "not one, but a hundred such assurances he gives us in his holy word. `my grace is sufficient for thee,' he says to all who trust in him, as he said to the apostle paul. it is not moral, nor is it physical courage which will sustain a person under such circumstances. no, dear one, it is only courage which firm faith, or rather, the holy spirit of god, can give." "i know that--i feel that; yet it is very dreadful to think that those we love and honour may be brought to undergo such suffering." "not if we remember that they may thus be enabled to honour and glorify their loving lord and master," answered herezuelo. "but see, here comes don carlos de seso, one of the noblest of our band of evangelists. i heard that he was about to visit seville. to him i owe my knowledge of the truth. he has, since his marriage with dona isabella de castilla, who is, you know, a descendant of the royal family of castile and leon, settled at villamediana, near logrono. his evangelistic efforts at that place have been as greatly blessed as they were at valladolid; and among many others, the parish priest of his own village has been converted to the truth. at pedroso also, the parish priest, pedro de cazalla, has been brought to a knowledge of the truth, and now preaches it freely in his own and the neighbouring villages. oh, it is glorious work; would that this whole nation might receive the gospel!" "say rather the whole earth," said leonor. "if spain becomes the mistress of the world, she will spread everywhere the glorious light of truth." "but if she puts out that light, she will as surely spread darkness and error," observed antonio, with a sigh. "see, de seso is about to address us. let us pray that, whatever god in his wisdom orders, we may believe in his justice, and submit to his will." a large number of persons had by this time assembled in dona isabel de baena's rooms. among them, strange as it may seem, were a considerable number of monks, and even several nuns, though such rather in their outward garb than in reality. the latter belonged to the nunnery of saint elizabeth, while the monks had come from the hieronomite convent of san isidoro del campo, situated about two miles from seville. there was also present domingo de guzman, a son of the duke of medina sidonia, and preacher of the dominican monastery of saint paul. as soon as he had embraced the reformed principles, he became more zealous in propagating them. such, indeed, was generally the case with all those in prominent positions who embraced the gospel. they were in earnest. they had counted the cost, and well knew that should the inquisition discover their proceedings, the stake would be their doom. both don carlos de seso and don domingo de guzman addressed the congregation of earnest believers on this occasion. they prayed also with all the fervour of true believers, and hymns were sung of praise to him who had called them out of darkness into his marvellous light. don carlos had deplored the want of books, and of bibles especially, by which the truth might the more rapidly be made known, and had prayed that god would supply that want. scarcely was the service concluded, when there was a commotion among the guests, and it was announced that a brave christian friend, julian hernandez, after undergoing many dangers and difficulties, and great fatigue, had arrived with a supply of the books which were so much required. a short time afterwards there was a cry of julianillo, or little julian, and a remarkably small but stoutly built man, dressed as a muleteer, entered the room. the guests crowded eagerly around him to hear his adventures. he had many to relate. how often he had narrowly escaped capture with his precious burden! but the lord had preserved him. had he been taken, he and his books together would have been committed to the flames. god had determined that the seed of those books should take root in the hearts of many natives of spain, to bring forth fruit to his glory. julianillo's success made him resolve to set forth again to bring a fresh supply across the pyrenees. some of the more timid of his friends advised him not to make the attempt. "satan and his priests will not like me to bring them," he answered laughingly. "those testaments and luther's writings are the arms they dread more than anything else. that makes me feel sure that i am doing god's work in bringing them, and that he will take care of me while i am so employed." a brave and faithful answer, little julian. oh, what noble, true hearts there were in spain in those days! and though many were crushed and destroyed, still some survived, and their descendants at the present day may yet become the salt of their native land--lights set on a hill to enlighten their long benighted countrymen. before the guests separated another short prayer was offered up, and a gospel hymn was sung. scarcely had the notes of the last verse died away, when a servant who had been sent out on a message hurried into the room. "bad news! bad news!" he exclaimed. "we are all lost; the cause of the pure faith is lost; the inquisitors will have their way." the guests gathered round the man with anxious looks, for they knew well that at any moment they might be placed in the perilous position he announced. "the widow dona maria gomez is the cause of it all," the man answered, to the eager questions put to him. "she is acquainted with every one of us, and we all thought her a true christian. every one here is also acquainted with the learned doctor francisco zafra. the poor lady had, it appears, gone mad, and had been placed by her friends under doctor francisco's care. as he is with us, this would not have been of much consequence, had not dona maria managed to escape from his custody. now, horrible to relate, she has made her way to the inquisition at triana, and has denounced all the protestants in seville. as she was making her way to the inquisition, she cried out what she was going to do, accusing all her former friends, and declaring that she should have no rest till she had seen every one of them committed to the flames. doctor zafra has never even been suspected by the inquisitors of favouring the lutherans. now, as he will be among the first denounced by the wretched widow, he has no chance of escaping. what shall we do? what shall we do?" "do!" exclaimed a voice; "put our trust in god, and act like men! do! pardon me for speaking, senors--keep together and defy our enemies!" it was julianillo who uttered these brave words. "but then we may all be captured together like fish by one net," observed a gentleman. "let us pray, friends, for guidance and protection to the loving saviour whom we serve," said don carlos de seso. "he will direct us, and enable us to undergo whatever he may think right for his own honour and glory." don carlos setting the example, the whole party sank on their knees, while he offered up a deeply fervent, though short, prayer for the assistance all needed. refreshed, the company arose. "i cannot agree with our friend julianillo that it will be wise to keep together," observed the lawyer herezuelo. "should the unhappy widow bring the accusation she threatened, and the officers of the inquisition find us all together, they will naturally suspect that the information is well founded. no; let us retire each one to his own house, avoiding observation as much as we can. there let us be together in spirit, praying for each other. we should fear no harm when god is with us." another short prayer was offered up and the christian friends left the house as they had come--two and three together, in different directions, hoping thus to avoid observation. the monks returned to their convent, not, however, without having first been supplied with books from the rich stores which julianillo had brought, and for which their brethren within its walls were eagerly looking. all the other guests went laden in the same way, and thus the holy bible and the works of luther, and others, were quietly and secretly distributed throughout the surrounding towns and villages. herezuelo begged that he might accompany dona mercia and her daughter to their home, for it was fearfully possible that even on their way they might be seized by the officers of the inquisition and carried off to its dungeons. the last to leave the house was julianillo. the lady of the house inquired where he was going. "to bring to my famishing countrymen a fresh supply of food for the soul," he answered. "but surely you have done enough, julianillo. you run a fearful risk of losing your life," observed the lady. "enough, signora! enough service to our loving lord and master!" exclaimed the little muleteer. "oh, no, no! as long as there are persons in spain desiring to learn about the blessed jesus, so long will i try to bring them books which tell them about him. and as to fearing the dangers which may overtake me, i am in the hands of one who can protect me through far greater than are in my path at present; and should he ever require me to witness to the truth of his gospel, i know that he will give me strength to undergo all the trials and torments with which its foes may seek to afflict me." brave julianillo! he went along the street singing a joyous air. to the words, however, he wisely did not give utterance. he took the way to the lodgings of the advocate, herezuelo. don antonio had not arrived. after waiting some time, julian became anxious. could he have been seized by the officers of the inquisition? it was too likely. herezuelo had, he knew, openly preached the doctrines of the reformation in his part of the country. at last, julian thought that he might possibly be at dona mercia's. "why did not that occur to me before?" he said to himself. "of course, if i knew that there was danger, i should stay by the side of my intended wife." he hurried off to dona mercia's abode. he was at once admitted. he found the family in some consternation, for it was reported that doctor zafra had himself been seized, and, if so, there could be little doubt that he would be put to the torture and made to confess that the persons denounced by the poor mad woman were really guilty of entertaining lutheran opinions. herezuelo was endeavouring to comfort his friends. he could not but feel that the reports were possibly true. of human help, therefore, he could not speak. an attempt to flee from the country would be hopeless, but he could point to jesus christ, to the god of mercy and love. "ah, my dear friends," observed don antonio, "never let us forget that he has redeemed us and washed our sins away; and if he thinks fit to call us to himself, even through fiery trials, he will give us strength to endure all that we may be called on to suffer, that we may glorify his name." "just the remark i lately made, senors," observed julianillo, who at that moment entered the room. "satan tries to frighten us, and to make us believe that he is stronger than our master; but praised be god, we know that we serve one all-powerful to save, and who can, if he will, crush satan under his foot." "the truth, brave julianillo," exclaimed herezuelo, who in the volunteer muleteer found one whose heart sympathised cordially with his own. "and what do you propose doing?" "wait till daylight, and see what comes of this matter," answered julianillo. "those who fly will be the first suspected. doctor zafra is a wise man. sense may be given to him to outwit the inquisitors, or should he fail to do that, he will, i have hopes, suffer torture rather than betray his friends. in the meantime, cavalheros, let us be wise, and seek for strength and endurance from the giver of all power and might." following the advice of the muleteer, or rather the example of the apostles of old, those assembled knelt down in prayer, thus gaining strength and courage for what they might have to undergo. oh, that christians at the present day would remember that by earnest, frequent, persevering prayer, mountains will be removed, guidance obtained, difficulties overcome! the greater part of the night was thus spent in prayer. as soon as the morning dawned, and people were once more passing to and fro in the streets, herezuelo and julianillo went forth to try and ascertain the fate of doctor zafra, on which apparently their own and that of so many of their friends depended. should the mad widow's story be believed, there could be no doubt that such an _auto-da-fe_ would take place as had seldom been witnessed in spain. they kept at a distance from each other, lest being seen together they might be suspected; thus, though fearless for themselves, wisely taking every precaution to avoid danger. herezuelo, as he walked along, thought of his beloved leonor, so delicate, so gentle, so faithful. he himself was ready to undergo any torture the cruel inquisitors might think fit to inflict on him, but how would she be able to endure their barbarities? his heart rose in his bosom as he thought of this, and he could not help praying that a power might arise by which the foes of freedom would be driven from the land. at first he thought of an arm of flesh, carnal weapons--that some hero might arise who would liberate long-enslaved spain; but, by degrees, a better spirit exerted its influence. "through the sword of the spirit, the word of god, can error, superstition, tyranny alone be conquered." he said to himself, "ah! julianillo is a greater hero than i am or can ever become, inasmuch as he does more to spread the holy bible throughout spain than any other man." hour after hour the friends waited in the neighbourhood of the inquisition, in vain endeavouring to ascertain what had become of the widow and doctor zafra. in despair, they were about returning, when a _caleche_ appeared, in which sat the doctor, with the widow by his side. he seemed calm and unconcerned, his attention being apparently wholly occupied in calming the agitation of the poor woman. not a glance did he bestow on either the advocate or julianillo. they had good hopes that the inquisitors had been satisfied; or, thought herezuelo, "can the doctor have become a traitor; and is he allowed by the inquisitors to go free that he may the more readily entrap others into their toils?" it was too probable that such an idea was correct; but herezuelo quickly banished it as ungenerous from his mind, and hurried back to dona mercia's house with the satisfactory information that doctor zafra was free. julianillo arrived soon after, and expressing his belief that all were safe, stated that he intended to re-commence his perilous expedition to germany. still some hours must elapse before the truth could be ascertained for a certainty, as it would not be safe to visit doctor zafra's house till dark. much of the interval was spent in reading the scriptures and in prayer. at length the truth was known. the sagacious zafra, on being summoned, went boldly to the inquisitors, with a fearless, self-satisfied countenance. he laughed when the names of those denounced by the widow were read over to him. "she has been mad for many a day, and a strong proof of her madness is that she should have picked out persons the most unlikely in spain to be guilty of such heresies," he replied. "devout and exemplary i know they are; and those among them with whom i am acquainted are especially lovers of the true faith, and are persons in whom i have unbounded confidence." the inquisitors, on hearing this, were so fully convinced that the poor widow's representations had no other foundation than the visionary workings of a disordered brain, that they allowed the learned doctor to depart with her under his charge. thus was the danger to the infant church at seville for the time mercifully removed, and while it gained strength to endure the coming persecutions, the number of christ's true disciples was much increased. chapter four. signs of danger. two years had passed away. leonor de cisneros had become the wife of antonio herezuelo, the advocate; they had settled at toro, but occasionally made visits to seville and to valladolid, where they enjoyed the society of other protestants--many of them illustrious, both by birth and talents, among the nobles of spain. the year 1558, fearfully memorable in spain, at length commenced. philip was about to return to his paternal dominions. charles the fifth was in his retirement in the convent of saint juste. the inquisitor-general, valdes, became more than ever certain that heresy was extending. herezuelo and dona leonor were at valladolid. they were at their lodgings in that city when a certain juan garcia, a goldsmith, was announced. he was well-known there as a sincere protestant. it was his office to summon the brethren to meet together for prayer and sermon. the advocate, who knew him to be a true man, welcomed him cordially, and promised to attend the meeting. it was to be held at the house once occupied by dona leonor de vibero, the mother of doctor cazalla. she herself had been dead for some few years, as were several of her children; but her house had been continued to be used, as it now was, as a meeting place for protestants. juan garcia had a good deal of information to communicate with regard to the progress made by protestant principles. he was very sanguine as to the success of the cause; and as the members of the church had so long evaded the lynx eye of the inquisitors, he had every reason to hope that they would continue to do so. in his rounds he encountered julian hernandez, the persevering bible importer. a warm greeting passed between the two friends. julianillo was on the point of starting on another expedition, and could not attend the meeting that night. his heart would be with his co-religionists, and his prayers would ascend with theirs as he followed his mules over the sierra. "the time may come, ere long, when we may worship together in public, and the books which i now bring in small numbers with difficulty and danger, may arrive in shiploads and be sold openly," he added, as he shook his friend's hand. the goldsmith shook his head. "that time is, i fear, a long way off," he answered; "yet it behoves us, nevertheless, to pray for it." juan garcia, having performed his duties, returned to his home. he was not happy there. his wife, maria vallanegra, did not entertain his opinions. now, it could have mattered very little what maria thought on the subject, had she not gone to confession, where, not content with confessing her own sins, she took upon herself, at the instigation of the priest, to confess her husband's also. what the priest said to her it is not necessary to repeat. she had had the same sort of things said before, and had not been shocked. he now, however, before he allowed her to depart, brought the enormity of her conduct fully before her, and told her that he could not afford her absolution, because she was married to one who held heretical notions, unless she could manage to get him duly punished. she had made her confession; but, after all, she had to go home without receiving absolution. she had observed that her husband was away from home occasionally for some hours, and not engaged in business; also, he occasionally remained out at night for a considerable time, and declined telling her where he had been. she had made a statement to that effect to the priest, together with her suspicions that lutheranism had something to do with the matter. "then obtain all the information you can; and if you discover anything of importance, not only shall you receive absolution for all your yet unpardoned sins, but you shall receive a handsome reward, and a plenary indulgence for the future," answered the confessor. "exert your woman's wit. think of the indulgence you will obtain, and if your husband is, as you suspect, a heretic, he is utterly unworthy of your consideration. you cannot wish to associate with him in this world; and in the next, if you go to heaven, you must be ever separated from him." thus exhorted, the wretched maria returned to her home. she knew that her husband had a secret, and she resolved to discover it. if he should prove to be a lutheran, it would be a pious act for her to deliver him up to justice. she procured a mantilla, such as is worn occasionally by tradesmen's wives, and even ladies when going to confession, of a manufacture different from that which her husband was accustomed to see her wear. to throw him off his guard, she lavished on him far more affection than was her custom, and pretended to forget that she had ever complained of his leaving home without telling her where he was going. more than once she put on her mantilla to follow him, but before he had got far she lost sight of him in the crowd. at length, one evening, when the weather was rainy, and there were fewer people abroad than usual, she saw he was preparing to go out; and managing to leave the house before him, she concealed herself within an archway, whence she could watch which way he went. he came out; she followed him stealthily, but quickly. he called at several houses, she noted them carefully; then he went on till he came to the mansion of the cazalla family. he was admitted at a side door. she took up her post at a spot whence she could watch the door. her labours were to be rewarded. scarcely had her husband entered than several other persons arrived, and then more and more, by twos and threes. many of them she saw by their dress and carriage, as the lights their servants carried fell on them, were evidently persons of rank. she wished that she could venture to follow them into the house, to learn more about the matter. still, the information she had gained might prove of the greatest value. the next morning she hurried off to inform her father confessor of her discovery. he told her to keep secret what she had seen; and the next time her husband went out at that hour, to come instantly and let him know. the next prayer-meeting took place, and maria gave timely notice of it to her father confessor, fre antonio lobo. had he been addicted to giving expression to his feelings, he would have rubbed his hands with satisfaction; he merely cautioned maria to be silent as the grave as to what she had told him, and immediately set off to give the long wished-for information to his superiors. the chief inquisitor, the stern archbishop, three other dignitaries appointed by the holy father the pope to assist him in the extirpation of heresy by the destruction of heretics with fire and sword, and several other high officers, were seated in the council hall of the inquisition when father antonio lobo appeared among them. some of them, like anglers, who, having been long unsuccessful in their attempts to hook their finny prey, declare that there are no fish in the lake, had inclined to the opinion that their countrymen were too staunch adherents of the pope ever to be led astray by the doctrines of luther. "it may be as you suppose, fre ignacio," observed the grand inquisitor to one of his assistants, who had made a remark to that effect. "but remember that it is our duty to seek diligently for all who may be opposed to our order and system, and to destroy them without compunction, with their wives and children, so that none of the viper's brood remains to sting us." the stern expression visible on the countenances of those he addressed, as the light from the brass lamp which hung from the vaulted roof fell on them, showed that they were fully ready to carry out his advice to the extreme. a grim smile played over their features when fre antonio made his report. "i knew that before long we should gain the tidings we desired," observed the chief inquisitor. "in capturing a few we must take care that the rest do not escape us. officers must be placed to watch all those who come forth from the cazalla palace, and they must be followed to their homes and never again lost sight of. meantime, messengers must be despatched forthwith throughout the kingdom, and all the ramifications of this most accursed heresy traced out, so that on a given day all the heretics which exist in it may be seized together and brought to punishment. we must surround the whole brood with our nets, and let not one escape." the proposal was thoroughly in accordance with the wishes of most of the council. no time was lost in carrying out the proposed plan. through the assistance of the artful maria, who continued, in spite of his caution, to worm out some important secrets from juan garcia, every protestant in valladolid was discovered and marked for destruction. officers and familiars of the inquisition were also placed on the highways leading to the frontiers, so that any suspected person attempting to escape from the country might be captured. the protestants, meantime, continued to preach the truth, and hold their meetings as before, not, however, without a sense of the danger in which they were placed. how the feeling came on them they were not aware. still it did not make even the most timid wish to abandon their principles, but rather drew them nearer to god, and made them more and more sensible of their entire dependence on him. the difficulties encountered by those attempting to escape from the country were very great. few persons experienced greater than did the monks of san isidoro, near seville. nearly all the convents in its neighbourhood had been leavened with the reforming principles. they had been originally introduced into that of san isidoro by the celebrated doctor blanco, who afterwards for a time abandoned them, or rather, it may be said that a timid disposition made him conceal them. he taught his brethren that true religion was very different from what it was vulgarly supposed to be; that it did not consist in chanting matins and vespers, or in performing any of those acts of bodily service in which their time was occupied, and that if they desired to have the approbation of god, it behoved them to have recourse to the scriptures to know his mind. after a few years a still more decided change took place in the internal state of the monastery. an ample supply of copies of the scriptures, and of protestant books in the spanish language having been received, they were read with avidity by the monks, and contributed at once to confirm those who had been enlightened, and to extricate others from the prejudices by which they were enthralled. in consequence of this, they and their prior agreed to reform their religious institute. their hours of prayer, as they were called, which had been spent in solemn mummeries, were appointed for hearing prelections on the scriptures; prayers for the dead were omitted, or converted into lessons for the living; papal indulgences and pardons, which had formed a lucrative and engrossing traffic, were entirely abolished; images were allowed to remain, as they could not have been removed without attracting notice, though they received no homage; habitual temperance was substituted in the room of superstitious fasting; and novices were instructed in the principles of true piety, instead of being initiated into the idle and debasing habits of monachism. by their conversation also abroad, and by the circulation of books, these zealous monks diffused the knowledge of the truth through the adjacent country, and imparted it to many individuals who resided in towns at a considerable distance from seville. chapter five. the storm breaks. the advocate herezuelo returned one afternoon to his lodgings in good spirits. he had been pleading an important cause, which he had gained-right against wrong--the cause of a widow and her children; on one side helplessness and poverty, on the other power and wealth. it had been held that the widow had no prospect of success till the young advocate undertook her cause. leonor rejoiced with her husband. he had been prompted by no expectation of fee or reward; but simply from a desire, through love of his blessed master, to assist the distressed. it was a happy evening to both of them. they sat in a balcony overlooking an orange-grove, the soft air they breathed made fragrant by the sweet-scented flowers. the stars shone brilliantly in the clear sky; and as, their hands clasped together, they gazed upwards into the immeasurable space, they felt what happiness would be theirs, could they be allowed to wing their flight in company to that blessed region where all is peace, and quiet, and joy. "but we may yet have work to do on earth in our master's service, dear one," observed antonio. "let us be content to remain till he calls us, and let our earnest prayer be that he will then, in his loving mercy, summon us together. it would be grievous to be parted from you, my beloved leonor, even for a brief season." "i pray that, through god's mercy, that day may never come," said leonor, looking with deep affection at her husband. "oh, let us not think even such an event possible." they were interrupted by the arrival of a visitor. several other friends had called to congratulate herezuelo on his success. the fresh visitor was in the garb of a laic; but when he threw back the cloak which concealed his features, the advocate and dona leonor saw before them their friend don domingo de roxas, the well-known prior and preacher, a son of the marquis de poza. "i have come to bid you farewell, dear friends," he said. "it may be for a short time--it may be for ever. this is no safe country for one who has preached the truth openly as i have done, and i have, therefore, resolved to escape to geneva, where i hope to remain till happier times come for our poor benighted spain. on my way i must visit our beloved brother, don carlos de seso, and, it may be, induce him to accompany me, for i fear that neither is he safe while the inquisitors are seeking for victims to satisfy their thirst for blood." "we may say, rather, that while those miserable slaves to the tyranny and superstition of rome think that any remain who have been freed from that hideous system they will endeavour, by every cruelty they can devise, to destroy them, if they cannot bring them back to slavery," observed herezuelo. "of all the men in existence, i pity the officials of the papal system, and more especially the inquisitors and their families, be they cardinals, bishops, or other ecclesiastics, however wealthy and powerful. while we endeavour to counteract their designs, and to escape from their power, let us pray that their hearts may be turned from darkness to light, and that they may learn to know, love, and imitate that same jesus whom they now persecute." "amen! i pray for them likewise," said don domingo. "but i must not delay. i came to advise you, my friend, to quit valladolid. it is no longer a safe place for you, for even were your religious opinions not suspected, you have made mortal enemies of those whom you so signally defeated at law this morning." "you are right, my friend; and we purpose, god willing, leaving this city for toro to-morrow morning by daybreak," answered herezuelo. "we shall not be out of danger even there; but i have duties to perform at that place, and i shall at all events be at my post." "i wish you had arranged to start to-night," said don domingo. "the delay of a few hours is dangerous. if, indeed, you can discover an excuse for leaving the country altogether, let me entreat you to do so. the storm i see coming may blow over; but you are a man of note, and as the tallest trees are the most quickly blown down, you would be the first assailed." "i have no fancy for fleeing from danger, and feel disposed rather to face my enemies, and argue the case with them," observed the advocate. "the only arguments they trust to are the rack and the stake," answered don domingo. "against them your eloquence will avail you nothing. trust not to any one of the romish priesthood, nor to those under their influence; they are sworn foes of true religion and liberty, and the more enlightened they believe you to be the more eager they will be for your destruction." these and other arguments used by don domingo at length induced herezuelo to agree to set forth on his journey immediately that he could procure a conveyance for his wife and her attendant. don domingo himself offered, indeed, to remain and assist them; but of this the advocate would not hear, and the friends departed, the former taking the road for calahora, where he hoped to meet with de seso. don domingo, who was dressed as a spanish cavalier of rank, attended by a servant, pushed on at a rapid rate. he was no coward, but he knew full well what the inquisition had in store for him should he be taken, and he wished to escape their treatment. he avoided as much as possible all inns and places resorted to by the public, and kept, when he could, out of the high road. he hoped thus to reach de seso, and to persuade him to bear him company in his flight. calahora was reached without interruption. the noble de seso was very unwilling to believe the reports which don domingo brought him. "you go, my friend; but i cannot carry my wife and young children, and will not desert them," he answered. no arguments would move him. he did not even think that the inquisitors would venture to interfere with persons in his position. reluctantly don domingo left his friends to proceed on his journey. hoping to avoid observation, he turned out of the high road, with the intention of continuing his journey during the moonlit hours of the night. he had not gone far when he saw approaching him a man riding a tall mule, and leading a string of five or six pack mules. the muleteer was jogging on, to all appearance, carelessly singing what sounded like one of the plaintive ditties then become common in spain, though learned from the moors. there was something, however, in the tone, and in a few of the words that reached the ear of don domingo, which made him look hard at the muleteer. "my friend, if i mistake not, julianillo!" he exclaimed. "what brings you this way?" "evil times, don domingo; for i know you in spite of your disguise," answered julianillo. "i received notice from a trusty friend that all the passes are guarded, and that i shall not have a chance of escaping, nor will you. for the present, if we would be safe, we must lie concealed. come with me; we shall not be the first christians compelled, for the truth's sake, to take shelter in the caves of the earth; nor shall we be the last. i wish that we could give notice to more of our brethren, who might join us." the arrangements proposed by julianillo were now concluded; and, followed by don domingo, he led the way down a road, or bridle path rather, which branched off to the right. scarcely had he turned aside when the noise of horses' feet coming rapidly along the road was heard. don domingo's servant, who was some little way behind, came spurring on crying out, "flee, master, flee! they are officers of justice! they are in pursuit of us!" the advice was followed, but the path was rough. don domingo's horse stumbled, and in another instant he and his servant found themselves in the power of the officers of the inquisition. their mouths were instantly gagged, and a dark cloak and hood were thrown over their heads, completely concealing their figures and features. some of the horsemen pushed on, but after a short time returned, and don domingo had the satisfaction of believing, from some of the expressions they let fall, that julianillo had escaped. as far as he could judge, his steps were retraced till the party reached the neighbourhood of calahora; they were then joined by another band of horsemen escorting prisoners. he had too much reason to fear that his friend de seso was one of them. among the prisoners were several females--of that he was certain. he longed to ascertain if his suspicions were correct. so strictly, however, was each individual prisoner guarded, that he might never have ascertained the truth, had not a storm suddenly burst on the heads of the escort. shelter was not far off, and while the horsemen were pushing on to gain it, one of the party made a bold attempt to escape. he had grasped the rein of one of the female's horses, when a flash of lightning made it rear, and he had great difficulty in saving the rider from being thrown to the ground. in doing so, his hood became disarranged, and the features of de seso were revealed. the officers of the inquisition immediately seized him and secured him more carefully, while he and the lady were separated. "alas! my noble friend is in the same condition as myself," thought domingo. "may god in his mercy support him; but he suffers not alone. he will feel the sufferings of his beloved wife even more than his own. and we, alas! alas! are but a few, perhaps, out of many hundred christians now in the power of these monsters of the inquisition." the unfortunate prisoners were allowed no rest, were permitted to communicate with no one, but were hurried on till they reached the portals of that mansion of horror and despair--the inquisition. but was it to them an abode of despair? no! a power more than human supported them. that strength which never fails those who put their faith in god held them up; for god has promised that his holy spirit, the comforter, will be with them who trust in him in all their troubles and afflictions. as soon as they passed through the gates, each of the prisoners was conducted blindfolded to separate cells. into these dark and foul holes delicate women and men, accustomed to all the refinements the age afforded, were thrust indiscriminately. no couch, no chairs, even, were allowed them; when weary of standing, they were compelled to sit down on the hard, cold and damp flag-stones. scarcely a ray of light was admitted into their dens; the only sounds which ever reached their ears being occasionally the groans and cries of their companions in suffering. the system pursued by the inquisitors was too generally known to allow them a ray of hope that they would escape without the most fearful torture, or the alternative of giving evidence to condemn those nearest and dearest to them. chapter six. the arrest. antonio herezuelo and his wife leonor knelt in prayer after their friend had left them. on rising from their knees, they decided not to make the attempt to escape. "we cannot flee from the country, and the alguazils of the inquisition can as easily find us at our house as in the city of valladolid, should they suspect us of holding to the true faith," said antonio, calmly. "our heavenly father knows what is best, and he may require us to testify to the truth of the doctrine we have learned of him through the teaching of the holy spirit, and let us rejoice rather than grieve if we are so honoured. oh, my beloved leonor, be firm, whatever happens; cling to the truth as it is in christ jesus. never allow that saint in heaven or priest on earth has the power to come between us and our one great loving mediator, who stands at the right hand of god, pleading that he paid once and for all a full and complete ransom for us. never acknowledge that by the word of a man bread and wine can be changed into the body and blood of our lord jesus christ, of that lord who is now in heaven, standing at the right hand of god, pleading that body broken, that blood flowing freely for all of us; pleading that all-sufficient, all-perfect, all-complete sacrifice made once, and never to be repeated, on calvary. never dishonour that saviour, that precious blood-shedding, by acknowledging that it was insufficient to wash away all stains of sin, and that the fires of purgatory are required to cleanse the soul from sin, and to make it pure and holy, and fit to enter the presence of god. oh, never acknowledge that any being in heaven or in earth has a heart more loving, more gentle, more merciful than the heart of jesus, or that there exists a being, create or uncreate, who will more willingly hear our prayers, and bear them to the throne of grace--not even his mortal mother, who, though blessed among women, herself required, as being a daughter of adam, to be sprinkled by his blood to obtain salvation. do not own that sinful man, though he be called a priest, can absolve his fellow-sinner from sin, or that prayers can avail for those who have passed away without accepting the perfect salvation offered them here on earth. die rather than be guilty of that gross idolatry of worshipping the elements of bread and wine, unchanged and unchangeable as they must ever be; and above all things hold fast to god's blessed testament to fallen man, and refuse to acknowledge any doctrine which cannot be clearly proved from its whole and entire tenor." "husband, dear husband, i will," answered leonor, solemnly. "set me the example, and i shall be firm." "dear wife, trust not to my example, but seek strength from the holy spirit. he will guide and support you. your husband is but a frail man. dearly as i love you, there is one who loves you more; trust him." much more passed between them. how solemn was that conversation! what deep, earnest, true love did herezuelo exhibit to his young wife! it was interrupted by a sound which a quick ear only could have detected. it was that of footsteps stealthily ascending the stairs. herezuelo arose, and unconsciously placed his hand on his sword, as the door burst open, and several dark and masked figures entered the room. "antonio herezuelo and leonor de cisneros, you are our prisoners," said one who appeared to be in command of the rest; "you are summoned to appear before the tribunal of the holy office to answer to certain charges which will there be made known to you." antonio, though brave as a lion, saw that resistance was useless. "if you will allow my wife time to put on her walking dress, we shall be ready to accompany you," he answered, with as firm a voice as he could command; but when he turned round to speak to leonor, she was not to be seen, though he caught sight of a figure closely enveloped in a dark cloak, borne rapidly along a passage leading from the room by two of the alguazils. he attempted to follow, being sure that it was his wife thus forcibly carried off; but the moment he moved he found himself seized, and his arms pinioned behind him, while two men stood on either side of him with pistols presented at his head. in vain he struggled; in vain he attempted to free himself. the cords which bound him were drawn tighter and tighter. he was in the hands of those who had long utterly disregarded human misery and suffering. in vain he pleaded, in vain he petitioned that he might see his beloved wife, even for a few moments, that he might have some parting words with her. he spoke as to men who were deaf. not the slightest answer by word or sign did they give him, but immediately proceeded to examine all the cases and drawers and boxes in the room. they then went to the sleeping apartment, searching it throughout, and taking possession of every scrap of written paper, as well as of all the books they could find. there were gestures of triumph and satisfaction exhibited when a bible and hymn-book were drawn forth. antonio fancied that he could see the dark eyes of the familiars flashing under their hoods as they handed the books to each other. the advocate knew well the language those eyes spoke. "here we have evidence which will convict him without doubt; no hope for him, no prospect of escape." yet he stood calm and motionless, striving by a mighty effort to quell the agitated feelings of his bosom, and to seek strength from the only source whence it could be obtained. he seemed as though he had succeeded, when a faint cry reached his ear. he knew the voice; it was that of his wife. in an instant he had torn asunder the bonds which held him; he had dashed on either side the cowled alguazils who crowded round, and at a bound dashed through the doorway, down the passage whence the sound proceeded. "leonor! leonor! i come to you," he cried out; but as he uttered the words, a blow from a heavy staff on the forehead laid him senseless on the ground. when he returned to consciousness, it was to find himself in a narrow, dark, and noisome cell, which he well knew must be one of the secret prisons of that fearful institution, the inquisition. he had often heard of the horrors those gloomy walls could reveal. he knew that thousands of his fellow-creatures had been confined within them; that very many had never again seen the light of day; that others had been brought forth as spectacles to be mocked at, dressed in fantastic costumes, and thus had been committed to the flames. on the hard flag-stones he knelt down, and then, in close communion with his god, he obtained a strength and courage which no human power could have given him. hour after hour, and day after day, passed away, and he remained alone in darkness, a cowled figure entering occasionally, and as quickly retiring, without uttering a word or making a sign. when not engaged in prayer, his thoughts were with leonor; and even when thus engaged, they often turned to her, and she became their chief and absorbing subject, that she might have strength, that she might have courage to hold to the truth. at length the moment arrived when his powers of endurance were to be put to the test--his faith, his courage. the door opened, and six familiars, with their countenances masked, and their figures concealed by dark robes, entered his cell. his eyes, long accustomed to darkness, could scarcely endure the light from a torch which one of them carried, but he saw that they made signs to him to rise and accompany them. he knew that to disobey would be useless. rising from the ground on which he had been resting, he endeavoured by earnest prayer to nerve himself for the fearful ordeal through which he might have to go. chapter seven. the torture. antonio herezuelo was only one of many who on that unhappy night were seized by the officers of the inquisition and dragged off to prison. in consequence of the information given by the wife of juan garcia, eighty persons were immediately apprehended in valladolid, among those who had been present at the meetings; and in seville and its neighbourhood two hundred were betrayed into the hands of the inquisitors by the treachery of a pretended member of the protestant church, and the superstitious fears of another. the first, suspecting that some of his acquaintances entertained lutheran opinions, insinuated himself into their confidence for the express purpose of learning their secrets and of betraying them. the latter, hearing lutheran principles denounced in the most fearful language, as the only means of saving himself from the results of the anathemas, hurried off and informed against all those he knew to be protestants. dismay seized upon large numbers of the most timid of the protestants; and as people are often panic-struck when a ship strikes the rocks, and leap overboard into the raging surf, so some of them hurried off to the triana, and accused themselves to the inquisitors of entertaining doctrines for which the stake was the sure punishment. others, who had been before unsuspected, betrayed themselves by the hurried manner of their flight. thus in a few days the chief members of all the protestant churches throughout spain were either in prison, or fugitives, or hiding in the caves of the earth, among mountains and forests. in no place, however, were they safe, and many even of those abroad were betrayed into the hands of the emissaries of the inquisition, and dragged back to spain to suffer death at the stake. the inquisitors were not content with those who denounced themselves. every possible means was employed to discover heretics, and to assist the object philip renewed a royal ordinance--fallen into desuetude-allowing to informers the fourth part of the property of those guilty of heresy. this abominable edict greatly increased the zeal and activity of the vile tribe. pope paul the fourth also assisted with eagerness in the object, and issued a bull enjoining all confessors to examine their penitents, from the highest to the lowest, and to charge them to denounce all whom they knew to be guilty of buying, selling, reading, or possessing any book prohibited by the holy office, the punishment being death. the great aim of the papists was to strike terror into the minds of the whole nation; and while they had not the most distant intention of extending mercy to those who professed themselves penitent, they were nevertheless anxious to secure a triumph to the catholic faith (as they called their system of idolatry and tyranny), by having in it their power to read, in the public _auto-da-fe_, the forced retractions of those who had embraced the truth. antonio herezuelo stood before the council of inquisitors. so well-known is the scene that it scarcely requires description. it is too true a picture--an exhibition of devilish ingenuity of man when he desires to tyrannise over his fellow-creatures, unsurpassed in cruelty by the heathen or most barbarous nations of ancient or modern days. there sat the inquisitors in a gloomy vaulted chamber--on one side the fearful rack, with grim, savage executioners ready to perform their office, a black curtain only partly concealing other instruments of torture, with hooded familiars standing silently round; while at the table sat two secretaries, ready to note every word uttered by the prisoner, to be wrested, if possible, to his destruction. the only person whose countenance could have been regarded with satisfaction was the prisoner. he stood calm and undaunted amidst those cruel men, who had resolved on his death. hark! the president addresses him in a harsh, pitiless voice: "antonio herezuelo, you have been accused by most credible witnesses of holding in disrespect many of the principal articles of our most holy faith. what have you to answer for yourself?" "that i hold most sincerely and truly all the doctrines necessary for my eternal salvation, and all other doctrines which i find clearly set forth in god's blessed word, sent in his mercy and love as a sure guide to perishing man," answered antonio, boldly. "then you consider the bible, by which so many are misled, as the only guide and rule of faith?" said the chief inquisitor. "you set at nought the authority of the church?" "i bow with all submission to the authority of the church in all points in which she is clearly guided by holy scripture," answered herezuelo, who still clung, as did many of the protestants of those days, to the false idea that there exists only one sole visible church on earth; and believing that such a church does exist, supposed it to be, in spite of all its errors, the church of rome. "then, heretic, you dare to say that the bible is above the church?" exclaimed the inquisitor. "why, fool, it is through the church that you have a bible; but it is not fit that the laity should possess it, for they can only, as we have evidence that you and others have done, make a most improper use of it. therefore it is a prohibited book, and yet you dare to acknowledge that you have both possessed one and studied it. ay, you have done so, and to your own utter destruction of body and soul." "to the salvation of my soul," said antonio, boldly. "our blessed lord himself appealed to scripture on many occasions, and to scripture i appeal and trust." "then you reject the traditions of the church?" said the inquisitor, looking towards the secretary, who was busily noting down all the questions he put, and the answers made by the prisoner. "by tradition we may be deceived. scripture is a sure guide, which, through the teaching of the holy spirit, will lead us infallibly aright," answered herezuelo. "oh, what abominable--what terrible heresy!" exclaimed the inquisitor. "you deny, too, that the blessed virgin should be adored and honoured above christ, as, being his mother, and, from being a woman, more ready to hear the prayers of the faithful than he can be?" "the virgin mary was blessed in that she became the earthly mother of jesus, and thus she was peculiarly honoured among women; but i find nowhere in scripture that prayers should be made to her; on the contrary, at the marriage feast of cana of galilee, our lord says, `woman, what have i to do with thee?' when she ventured to interfere in a matter she was incapable of understanding. saint mark tells us of the remark made by our lord when told that his mother and his brethren waited without: `who is my mother or my brethren? whosoever shall do the will of god, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.' when hanging on the cross, too, and looking down on mary and his beloved disciple john, he said, `woman, behold thy son!' and then, addressing his disciple, he said, `behold thy mother!' `and from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.' not a word more does the holy spirit reveal to us of the history of the mortal mother of jesus. all we know is, that, as a mortal child of adam, she must have been saved by his precious blood shed on calvary, for without that blood shed there is no remission of sins." the inquisitor rose from his seat as if he would tear off his clothes, and sat down again, exclaiming, "blasphemy! blasphemy! you deny, too, i hear, the necessity of confession and of priestly absolution?" "i nowhere find it written that we are to confess our sins to man, but always to god. `a broken and a contrite heart, o lord, thou wilt not despise.' in the epistle of james (chapter verse 16), he says, `confess your faults to _one another_, and pray for _one another_, that ye may be healed'; that is to say, if you have trespassed one against another, or if one brother has offended another. nowhere do i find, however, that on sinners coming in faith to our blessed lord, does he require them to confess their sins to him before he will hear them. he says, simply, `thy faith hath made thee whole; go, and sin no more.' i find it also written, `neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name given among men whereby we may be saved!' when our lord sent out his disciples, he said to them that all those who would accept the offers of the gospel would be forgiven, or would have their sins remitted through them, or rather through their preaching; and those who, in spite of the preaching, refused to accept the offer, would have their sins retained. through faith in jesus christ only can a person obtain forgiveness of sins; and john says, `he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the son shall not see life; but the wrath of god abideth on him.' this great truth a minister has the power to declare, but in no other way has he, according to the scriptures, the right to absolve any persons from their sins. i hold that when our lord said to his disciples, `whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained,' he said it not only to all the ministers of the gospel, but to all christian men who go forth with the bible in their hands, that they should declare the glorious gospel truth that all who trust in him, jesus christ, are forgiven; but that all who refuse to trust in him still remain in their sins--their sins are retained." "oh, what hideous blasphemy!" exclaimed the inquisitor, he and his associates lifting up their hands as if in horror at what antonio had said. "but go on, go on, fill up the measure of your iniquities. how do you interpret, `whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven'?" "much in the simple way that i interpret the previous passage. the apostles, as employed in preaching the christian doctrine among the jews, were to release or loose them from certain obligations of the mosaic law; but as they were not to release them from them all, they were to pronounce what were to be retained, or by what they were still to be bound; in other words, when a thing might lawfully be done among the jews, it was a common mode of expression to say that that thing was loosed to them, and that if anything was unlawful for them to do, it was bound to them. the meaning of the expression was thus very clear to the jews who heard him. so peter understood the same expression, and he knew perfectly well that he was simply to declare, both to jew and gentile, what was to be believed, and what was not to be believed, thus unlocking to them the doors of the kingdom of heaven, inviting them to come in, to become subjects of christ. such are his keys. on the great truth which he had confessed, `thou art the christ, the son of the living god,' was christ's spiritual church to be founded, as on a rock against which the powers of hell are never to prevail." "most horrible! most horrible!" cried the inquisitor. "then you do not acknowledge the authority of the church, that his holiness the pope is the successor of saint peter, that the priesthood have power to forgive sins?" "the scriptures speak nowhere of saint peter having a successor, nor does our lord give authority to him to appoint one," said herezuelo, boldly. "no church can have authority with regard to spiritual matters except such as is clearly derived from the bible, which is equally open to all men, while the only priest a christian can acknowledge is the one great high priest standing at the right hand of god, ever making intercession for us." "horrible! horrible!" again cried the inquisitor. "then, if you do not acknowledge the priesthood, you deny the doctrine of transubstantiation, the great work performed at the mass, the chief glory of the church?" "certainly, i deny that the bread and wine at the mass are changed in any way into the body and blood of christ, with the soul and deity, the bones and sinews," answered herezuelo, solemnly. "i deny that when jesus said, `i am the living bread which came down from heaven,' he was even speaking of the last supper, or that he intended that it should be supposed that he was to become literally bread and wine, or rather that bread and wine should become him, any more than that he should become a door, or a shepherd, or a rock, to all of which he likens himself. he says, `the words that i speak unto you they are spirit, and they are life'; and then he continues, as if he would say, `come to me, and believe on me, for that is what i mean by eating my flesh and drinking my blood; he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. as by eating bread and drinking wine your physical body is sustained, so by believing that my body was broken for you on the accursed tree, and that my blood was shed for you, will your spiritual life be sustained; and i enjoin you to meet together occasionally to break bread and to drink wine in remembrance of me. moreover, i promise you that as oft as you do this in my name, through love of me, i will be spiritually in the midst of you.' no other construction can i put on these words of our lord, and in that faith i am prepared to die." "and die you shall, audacious heretic!" exclaimed the inquisitor, who was no other than the infamous munebrega, archbishop of tarragona, who had come over from seville in consequence of the illness of his colleague. his eyes rolled; he gnashed with his teeth in fury at finding himself unable to intimidate the prisoner--he, before whom so many men of rank and condition had been compelled to humble themselves. he remembered, too, whose husband the prisoner was--the daughter of one who had despised and rejected him. "to the rack with him! to the rack! we must learn from him what other persons hold these abominable opinions, while we teach him to abandon them himself. spare him not: for his soul's good his body must be afflicted." antonio herezuelo cast his eyes to heaven, and from the depths of his heart there came up a prayer, earnest, solemn, of mighty power. not for himself he prayed--not even for the beloved wife of his bosom; but he prayed that in the fiery trial he was to undergo he might not dishonour his holy faith; that he might hold fast to the truth; that the love of christ, by which he keeps his own, might be exhibited through him. to resist would have been useless; and yet it cost him a hard struggle to submit to the indignities to which he was subjected by the brutal executioners ordered to carry out the inquisitor's sentence. there he stood, full of life and strength and energy, capable of enjoying to the full all the blessings that god has bestowed in this life on man. even the confinement to which he had been subjected had not been able sensibly to diminish the strength of his well-knit frame. in another instant he was thrown, naked, and bound hand and foot, on to the cruel rack, every sinew and muscle of his body extended to the utmost, whilst agonising wrenches were given of the most fearful character, as the screws and ropes of the horrid instrument were set in motion. not a word did he utter; scarcely a groan escaped from his bosom, though every limb was suffering the most excruciating torture; the blood gushed from his nostrils and mouth, his eyes well nigh started from their sockets. his physical nature at length gave way, though his courage did not fail him. he fainted. death would have been a happy release, but his torturers took pains not to allow him that boon; restoratives were administered, and consciousness again returned. the surgeon who stood by, however, gave notice that he must not be subjected, for a time, to equal torture, or he would sink under it. he was therefore removed on a blood-besprinkled stretcher to another chamber, and the inquisitors proceeded with callous indifference to examine a fresh prisoner who was now brought forward. the person who was next led before the inquisitors was of a character very different from that of herezuelo. a glance at the rack made him tremble in every limb. the inquisitors saw immediately that he would afford them but little trouble, though, at the same time, that he might be made useful by his giving information regarding others. he might have passed in the world in quiet times as an earnest true christian, but now alarm for his personal safety overcame every other consideration. he at once incriminated himself, and was soon induced to bring damnatory accusations against his friends. when all the information which could thus be obtained from him was secured, he was dismissed, though still ignorant of the fate which awaited him--it might be, if victims were required, to be consigned to the flames, or perhaps to add to the sad band of penitents supposed to have recanted their errors. such was the character of several of those accused of heresy, though by far the larger number of persons seized by the inquisition gladly suffered death rather than deny the truth. and now another prisoner appears--a female. she is clothed in black from head to foot. as the light from the lamp which hangs from the roof falls on her countenance, it is seen to be very pale, but not enough so to detract from the beauty of those young and fair features. "leonor de cisneros, you are brought here accused of holding opinions which, if generally entertained, would be subversive of the opinions of our holy faith," said the inquisitor, in a peculiarly harsh voice. "have you become sensible of your errors? and are you prepared to recant them?" "i hold to the doctrines which i have been taught from my earliest days, and which i find clearly set forth in the blessed word of god. i am, therefore, not aware that i hold any errors," answered leonor, calmly. "what do you mean by god's holy word?" asked the inquisitor. "the bible," said leonor, firmly. "are you aware that the bible is prohibited to the laity, and that, were it not so, it is not susceptible of any private interpretation?" asked the inquisitor. "i am aware that without the aid of god's holy spirit, which when christ ascended up on high, he promised to us as our instructor and enlightener, we cannot expect to read aright this blessed gospel," said leonor. "i am aware that in the second epistle of saint peter, 1st chapter, 20th verse, there is this expression--`knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.' 21st, `for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of god spake as they were moved by the holy ghost.' i am aware, however, that the greek word epilusis, which has been translated interpretation, means rather _impetus_, _impulse_; and therefore that the clear meaning is that no writer of the scripture wrote according to his own mind or thoughts, but entirely as he was moved or impelled by the holy spirit. therefore peter in no respect contradicts his lord, who says, addressing the people, `search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which speak of me.' oh, my lords, what i have done--what thousands have done in spain--has simply been to obey our loving saviour in reading his holy word, in striving to carry out his precepts by assembling ourselves together in prayer, by exhorting and comforting one another. if this be a crime, i am a criminal; but if not, why imprison us? why torture us? why kill us?" she stretched out her hand as she spoke. her youth and beauty, her pathetic look, the truth which came from her lips, might have moved hearts of stone, but nothing could move the demon-inspired minds of the inquisitors of spain--the base instruments of the pope and his supporters, valdes and philip. they compressed their lips as leonor spoke. "you have disobeyed the church," answered the inquisitor, with an unmoved countenance. "unless you recant your errors, your punishment is certain. it may be that you will see the wisdom of so doing, and follow the example of those you love best. remove the woman." so ended the first trial of leonor de cisneros. the inquisitors consulted together how she should be treated. she was evidently not likely to change her opinions by argument; the archbishop was unwilling to have her subjected to torture. he had made up his mind that her husband must die. he was too clever a heretic, even should he recant, to be allowed to live. he was not likely ever to recant. but leonor, she must be won over; her life must be saved. notwithstanding her knowledge of scripture, the clear declaration she had made of protestant principles, the archbishop did not despair. he had seen many who, firm at first, had, after a few weeks' solitary confinement and scanty food, with occasional visits from friends desirous of saving them, completely recanted, and acknowledged their errors. he knew, too, the subtle arguments, the system of deception, the threats, the promises, the various artful methods of proceeding which could be brought to bear on a prisoner. should these fail, he had other means in store by which he hoped to make her give up what he honestly thought her folly. how could a weak woman venture to set herself up in opposition to the church? many others, to be sure, had ventured to do the same, but few had spoken as she had done, and several had at sight of the rack recanted, and given all the information required of them. chapter eight. the stake. it was midnight. eighteen days had passed since antonio herezuelo had been stretched on the rack. his lacerated flesh had healed, his stretched sinews had recovered somewhat of their original strength. his cheeks were still pale, his voice, when he spoke to himself, was hollow, his eye had lost its brightness, yet his mind retained much of its usual vigour; his spiritual life had never flagged nor had his faith grown dim. he was pacing slowly and still painfully up and down his cell, when the door silently opened, and a friar stood before him. a harsh voice uttered these words: "antonio herezuelo, i have come to announce to you that unless you renounce your errors, and are forthwith reconciled to the church, you will to-morrow suffer the just punishment of your infidelity, your blasphemies, your crimes." "i have confessed myself to god, who can alone forgive sins, as a lost, undone sinner, though washed in the precious blood of jesus, and redeemed through faith in his perfect and complete sacrifice. i have, therefore, become one of the church of the first-born. i am reconciled to god, from whom i was once separated," answered herezuelo. "what more would you have me do?" "the church knows nothing of the expressions you utter. be reconciled to her; that is what you have to do, or you and your errors will be burnt together." "i cannot abandon the faith i hold, even to escape the cruel death you threaten," answered the advocate. "prepare, then, obstinate heretic, to meet it!" answered the friar, savagely. "be assured that there will be no mitigation of your sentence unless you recant; and then, in her loving mercy and kindness, if you are reconciled and confess, you will enjoy the privilege of being strangled before the flames reach your body." a scornful smile came over the features of the prisoner. "a gracious boon, forsooth! and this church calls itself after the name of the gentle, loving saviour, who went about doing acts of kindness and mercy, and saving from physical suffering all who came to him desiring to be cured!" "i came not to bandy words with you," cried the monk; "the flames which you will feel to-morrow will give you a foretaste of those you will have to endure throughout eternity as the consequence of your obduracy." "our blessed lord says, `i say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them which kill the body, and after that have no more than that they can do. but i will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, i say unto you, fear him.'" herezuelo spoke these words calmly, and added, "now, friar, i own that you and those you serve can kill my body, but you can do no more: my soul is in the keeping of my loving saviour; neither the powers of earth nor hell can prevail against it; therefore i am fearless." with a curse, the friar turned and left the cell. herezuelo sought strength in prayer for the fiery trial he was to go through. "it will endure but for a few minutes, and oh, then the eternity of bliss which will follow!" he ejaculated. "why should i fear? why should i tremble? my trust is in god." ere the sun, rising in a cloudless sky, gilded the spires of the numerous churches of valladolid, on the 21st of may, 1559, their bells began to toll solemnly, and crowds to assemble in vast numbers in the streets. it was trinity sunday; but it was not because it was the sabbath that the citizens were so early afoot, but there was to be a grand spectacle, looked for with almost the same eagerness as a bull-fight. the first grand _auto-da-fe_ of protestants was to take place that day, and all the people were eager to gaze at it--most of them for the sake of seeing so many lost and abandoned monsters put out of the world. for this it was that the people came from all parts of the city and surrounding country into the grand square of valladolid to witness the spectacle which had been prepared for them by those who impiously called themselves ministers of the loving jesus. in a short time the whole of the grand square was filled with impatient spectators, except that space occupied by two large platforms between the church of saint francis and the house of the consistory. in front of the town-house, and close to the platform intended for the inquisitors, a large box or deep-covered balcony had been erected for the use of the royal family, which they could enter without interruption from the crowd, and from whence they could enjoy a full view of the prisoners. near it was a high altar, with the usual crucifixes, candlesticks, vases, and other ornaments of the romish worship, made on this occasion as imposing as possible. in the box sat dona juana, queen-dowager of portugal, and governess of the kingdom during the absence of her brother, philip the second, in the netherlands. she was accompanied by her unhappy nephew, don carlos, heir-apparent to the throne, then a lad only of fourteen. it is said that on that occasion he vowed an implacable hatred to the inquisition. to that fell tribunal, there can be little doubt, he became a helpless victim. intimation of the intended festival had publicly been made in all the churches and religious houses in the neighbourhood. the attendance of the civil authorities and of the clergy was requested; and that the multitude might be encouraged to come, an indulgence of forty days was proclaimed to all who should witness the ceremonies of the act. while outside preparations were going forward, the officials of the inquisition were busy within the walls of the prison. the prisoners, being assembled, were clothed in the several dresses in which they were to make their appearance in public. those who had erred only in a slight degree were clothed simply in black. the other prisoners wore a san-benito, a loose garment of yellow cloth, called in spanish _zamara_, and on their heads was placed a high conical pasteboard cap, called _coroza_. on the dresses of those who were to be strangled were painted flames burning downwards, called _fuego revolto_, to intimate that they had escaped the fire; while the san-benito and coroza of those doomed to be burnt alive were covered with flames burning upwards, around which were painted devils carrying the faggots or fanning the fire. now, on that bright may morning, a procession was to be seen moving forth from the inquisition of valladolid. first marched a band of soldiers to clear the way, and then came a number of priests in their gaudy robes--alb, chasuble, tunic, and other garments, the names of which are familiar to modern ears. they were attended by acolytes and boys of various theological colleges, chanting the litany in alternate choruses. then came the mournful band of prisoners--those in black first, those marked with the _fuego revolto_ following, and those destined to the flames walking last. each prisoner was attended by two familiars of the inquisition, and each of those destined to die, in addition, was accompanied by two friars, who employed all the arguments they could bring forward, all the eloquence they could command, in endeavouring to induce the prisoners to recant and confess their errors. among the last of the sad band came antonio herezuelo. though his face was pale, he walked with a firm step, and he replied now with a smile, now with a few gentle words, to the exhortations of the two friars. he, as was the case with his companions, had a halter round his neck, and in his hand he carried an extinguished torch, while his companions destined to the stake also carried extinguished torches or crosses. many trembled and tottered as they moved along; indeed, no one bore himself more bravely than the young advocate. after the prisoners came the local magistrates, the judges, and officers of state, accompanied by a train of nobility on horseback. then came the secular and monastic clergy; and at some distance, as if they were too great and important to mingle with ordinary people, rode in slow and solemn pomp the members of the holy office, preceded by their fiscal, bearing the standard of the inquisition. that accursed bloodstained banner was composed of red silk damask, on which the names and insignia of pope sextus the fourth, and ferdinand the catholic, the founders of the hellish tribunal, were conspicuous; and it was surmounted by a crucifix of massive silver overlaid with gold, which the ignorant populace had been taught to hold in the highest veneration. these were the persons who were to take the chief part in the performances of the day; they were followed by their familiars on horseback, who, with many of the principal gentry of the country, formed their body-guard. with a few years' judicious educating by the jesuits, and a continuance of supineness and incredulity as to rome's designs on the part of british protestants, of which all denominations are guilty, it is not at all impossible that similar scenes may be enacted in england. ritualistic forms and ceremonies, and public processions, and, still more, the insidious teaching of numbers professing to be ministers of religion, are accustoming the people to a system which must end in their subjugation to sacerdotal despotism. an immense concourse of people of the lower ranks closed the procession, vociferating to one another, with open eyes and necks stretched out eager to catch a sight of the condemned prisoners and the grand inquisitors as they ascended their respective platforms. the latter took their places, and then the queen-regent and the young prince took their places in the royal box, or bed of state, as it was called, surrounded by a number of the chief nobility of the kingdom. it was six o'clock in the morning, and the sun was already glittering on the gilded crosses and other devices on the tops of the banners, when, the company having taken their places, francisco baca, the presiding inquisitor, was seen advancing to the bed of state on which the regent and her nephew were seated; and then, in an authoritative tone, he proffered to them an oath to support the holy office, and to reveal to it everything contrary to the faith which might come to their knowledge. the prince was seen to hesitate, and not till urged by his aunt would he consent to take the oath. it was the first time such an oath had been exacted from any of the royal family. poor prince! that look of his sealed his fate! antonio herezuelo, from the moment he saw his wife dragged off by the familiars of the inquisition, had been kept in utter ignorance of what had become of her. not a reply could he get from any of the stern familiars who attended him. it vain he petitioned to be told whether she was in their power--whether she was well in health--whether she had been placed under examination. a sinister look was the only answer he received. "ay, i must trust in god!" yes, antonio, you--all who are in trouble, sickness, or any other adversity--may trust in him with confidence, assured that he in his good time will bring you out of all your troubles. as the familiars were clothing the prisoners in their habits of infamy, herezuelo thought to himself, "how can i more advantageously employ the last moments of my life than by declaring to the misguided people the glad tidings of salvation, by telling them of the saviour's love, and that they require no other priest, no other intercessor than he?" thus resolved to speak, he walked firmly onward to death, like a soldier to the fatal breach; but ere he reached the platform, at a sign from the monks, who had in vain, with all the sophistries they could utter, been endeavouring to shake his faith, one of the familiars thrust a gag into his mouth, which the other secured, and he was rendered speechless. bitter for an instant was the anguish he felt, but prayer quickly restored to him his serenity. "see! see! there is his lordship melchior cano, bishop of the canaries, mounting the pulpit. listen! he is to preach the sermon," was repeated by many in the crowd. in flowing language and sonorous tones the bishop put forth the claims of the church of rome to infallibility. he spoke of the importance of unity, of the crime of heresy and schism; and, finally, he enlarged on the duty of all catholics to deliver over to justice all who were in the slightest degree guilty of those crimes. the sermon concluded, the clerk of the tribunal read the sentence of the penitents, who, on their knees, and with their hands laid on the missal, repeated the confession. those around them stood aside as the presiding inquisitor, descending from his throne, advances to the altar, and absolves the penitents _a culpa_ under the obligation to bear the several punishments which have been awarded, whether banishments, penances, whipping, hard labour, or imprisonment--the deprivation of property being in all cases rigidly enforced, to the great advantage of the inquisitors. the bishop, then, in a loud voice, administered to all present on the platform, as well as to the surrounding multitude, an oath binding them to live and die in the communion of the roman church, and to uphold and defend against all adversaries the tribunal of the holy inquisition. as he spoke the multitude fell on their knees, lowly bowing their heads. of the vast assemblage two men only were standing, with heads erect and arms folded on their bosoms. they were the martyrs resolved to undergo the fiery trial of the stake rather than disavow one article of their holy faith. they were antonio herezuelo, the advocate, and francisco de vibero cazalla, parish priest of hermigos, who was likewise gagged. there were twelve other unhappy persons condemned to death, but, having confessed, they were allowed the poor favour of being strangled before their bodies were committed to the flames. they, less courageous than the advocate and francisco cazalla, were compelled to kneel. but why does antonio herezuelo start and cast an inquiring look towards the group of black penitents kneeling near the altar? before he could cast a second look they were hid from his sight; and now the bishop of placencia advances towards the group of those sentenced to death, and with a knife commences the operation of degrading the priests by scraping off the crown of the head the part which was supposed to have received the holy oil at their consecration. then garment after garment was torn from them, the bishop pronouncing all the time terrible curses on their heads. this done, the secular judges were summoned to receive the prisoners, and the inquisitor formally delivered them over into their hands, saying, as he did so, in a hypocritical tone of compassion, "we beseech you to treat these poor people with the utmost commiseration--not to break a bone of their bodies, nor to shed a drop of their blood." he said this, not only knowing that the prisoners were to be executed, but having especially arranged that they should be so-having, indeed, a few days before, acquainted the judge with the number of prisoners to be delivered over to him, in order that the required quantity of stakes, faggots, and other things necessary for the execution might be in readiness. the canons of the romish church, however, denounced against ecclesiastics who should be accessory to the inflicting of any bodily injury, and the above-mentioned expressions were used to avoid the censure of irregularity. the magistrates, on their part, swore that they would faithfully execute the sentences against the persons of the heretics delivered over to them. all these ceremonies--audacious mockery of justice--occupied several hours; and now the condemned prisoners were compelled to march in front of the royal box, and pass those who had by recanting escaped the extreme penalty of the law. again antonio herezuelo looked eagerly at the black penitents. what an expression of agony was seen to rise on his countenance as he beheld among them his beloved leonor, the wife of his bosom, formerly united to him, as he supposed, in the one blessed faith and hope which animated his own soul. who could paint the feelings which passed through his swelling heart? he would have given worlds to have been able to utter a loving entreaty to her again to take hold of the blessed truths of which he was even then reaping the fruition; but the gag prevented him. one prayer he breathed from the depths of his soul for her, and as he passed he cast at her a look of such unutterable agony, yet of such loving reproof and regret, that, like the lightning's flash, it went to her heart. well she understood its meaning. "oh, my beloved leonor," it seemed to say, "why did you not seek for grace to hold fast to the truth, and for strength to go through the fiery trial, that, as we have lived happily together on earth, we might have ascended together to be ever with our risen lord and saviour?" full well she understood that silent appeal. it sunk into her heart. "yes, yes, my antonio, i will join you," she exclaimed, stretching out her hands towards him. in vain she made the attempt to rush into his arms, for the cruel familiars held her back. in vain she struggled. she saw that to join her beloved lord in life was hopeless. she drew herself up with dignity. "inquisitors, i will die with my husband," she exclaimed. "i renounce for ever the gross errors of the romish faith, which i have been induced to assume. i am ready to die as a true protestant--a believer in the simple truths of the gospel." "away with her! away with her to prison!" cried the inquisitor. "she is mad; she is beside herself!" "i am a protestant. i will die with my husband," exclaimed leonor; but before she could say more a gag was thrust into her mouth, and she was surrounded by friars and familiars, so as to conceal her from the public view. the look herezuelo cast towards leonor was the last he gave her on earth. not another was allowed him. he was hurried off by the stony-hearted familiars, with his brother martyrs and their companions in affliction. the first part of the exhibition had been a cruel, a blasphemous mockery--that which was to follow was to be a diabolical reality. those condemned to death, either by fire or strangulation, were now formed into a melancholy procession, each person accompanied as before by familiars and monks, the latter disturbing the last moments of their yellow-robed victims by their senseless exhortations. thus they proceeded slowly through the gates, accompanied by nearly all those who had witnessed the first part of the proceedings; the eager crowd making their observations on the appearance and bearing of the sufferers, many of the more brutal mocking and jeering, especially as they caught sight of the two principal martyrs. it might have seemed strange to them that of all the human beings collected they should have appeared the calmest, though the look of agony which arose on herezuelo's brow at the sight of his wife had not yet left it. arrived at the spot where the stakes were erected and the faggots piled up, further efforts were made to induce cazalla and herezuelo to recant. the former, seeing his brother augustine not at the stake, but among those who were to be strangled before being burned, signified his sorrow by an expressive motion of his hands. the latter remained firm as before, unmoved by all the exhortations of the priests and monks. even when instigated by his tempters, the unhappy doctor augustine cazalla urged him to be reconciled to the church of rome, he turned on him a look of sorrow and compassion, mingled with contempt, which at once silenced the recreant from the truth. herezuelo's calmness seemed to excite the rage and all the evil passions of the priests and soldiers. they cursed and swore and reviled him in every possible way. "ah! ah! in a short time, in spite of your bold looks, you will be in hell with your associate, luther," they shouted. to these and similar expressions he made no sign of complaints--only turning his eyes to that blue sky to which his beautified spirit was about to wing its flight towards the martyr's crown of glory awaiting him in the realms of the blessed. the faggots were lighted, the flames ascended, when one of the soldiers, enraged at his constancy, plunged his lance into his body, and thus saved him from the pangs he might otherwise have had to suffer. his fellow-martyr died with equal firmness, and the other victims were strangled before their bodies were cast into the flames. with them at the same time were also cast the bones and effigy of dona leonor de vibero, which had appeared at the _auto_. this was done because at her house the protestants had frequently assembled for prayer and praise. in a short time, of the fourteen human beings who had dragged their tortured, lacerated limbs to the spot, a few ashes alone remained. such was the termination of the first great _auto-da-fe_ of protestants in spain. there was yet another spectacle to be witnessed that day. it was to see the house of dona leonor de vibero, the mother of the cazallas, razed to the ground, and the place on which it stood sown with salt. on the spot a pillar, with an inscription stating the cause of its demolition, was immediately afterwards erected, and stood till the commencement of the present century. it is easy to conceive how dona leonor de cisneros had been induced apparently to abandon the faith to which she had so long adhered. falsehoods and devices of all sorts had been employed to induce her to make her peace with rome. every argument which sophistry could invent had been brought forward to shake her belief. there was a rack, with other fearful tortures, and the stake, on the one hand, and forgiveness and reconciliation with the church on the other--ay, and a happy life with her antonio. when at last the inquisitors found her stubborn, they did not hesitate to assure her that she had less wisdom than her husband, who had lately--convinced that the protestant cause was lost in spain--agreed heartily to conform to the faith of rome, and to be reconciled to the church. a rigid course of penance was prescribed for her, and after its performance she was told that she would be set free, and allowed to join her husband, who, as had been some others, would be banished the kingdom, though possibly a milder punishment might be awarded him. could it be possible that her husband would abjure his principles? her faith wavered. if she remained obstinate, he might, she was assured, be brought out to witness her death. she was meditating on these things in her solitary cell when the door opened, and the archbishop munebrega stood before her. he spoke to her gently and kindly, as an old family friend. he would urge her to take his advice, and conform at once. long she thought on the subject, but she could not pray for guidance. why? her conscience revolted against the act she contemplated. in a husky voice she told the archbishop that she would yield. "we will endeavour, then, to induce the advocate herezuelo to yield also, lovely leonor," said the archbishop, taking her hand and pressing it to his lips. "why, you told me that my husband had already yielded!" exclaimed leonor, scarcely conscious of the act. "i surely could not have said so, as i am not cognisant of the fact," answered munebrega blandly. "be assured that for your sake i will endeavour to win him over to the truth." much more was urged by the archbishop, but poor leonor's mind was in too great a whirl to understand the meaning of what he said. cruel indeed was the conflict going on within her. "for the sake of appearances you will have to undergo some penances; but i will take care that they shall be as light as possible, that your health may be in no way injured," he remarked; and with a treacherous smile the tempter left her. no words can describe the unhappy leonor's feelings at seeing her husband among those condemned to the stake. it had been hoped by munebrega, from the position in which she was placed, that she would not have discovered him. the effect has been described. on being conducted back to the convent to which she had been removed, she at once refused to continue the penances which had been prescribed. no persuasions could make her alter her determination; and therefore, as an obstinate heretic, she was returned to a cell in the inquisition. munebrega was soon in her presence. he reminded her that she was a widow and helpless--that he had the power of setting her at liberty. he entreated her on his knees once more to recant--to preserve her life--not to allow her beauty to be marred by a long imprisonment. she turned from him with loathing. munebrega well knew the importance of caution. his chief and brother inquisitors were very indifferent what means were made use of (even the most abominable), provided they contributed to bring about the objects they had in view; but they would allow no private interests to be gratified. day after day munebrega visited the unhappy lady. his protestations, his arguments, every subject he introduced, only tended to strengthen her resolution. "get thee behind me, satan," was her daily ejaculation when he appeared. she did not trust to her own strength, but hourly sought strength and grace from above to withstand all the trials and temptations to which she was exposed. like peter, she had fallen once; severe was the lesson she had learned. like peter's repentance, hers had been deep and truly sincere. no longer did she trust to herself. munebrega at last retired, gnashing his teeth at having been foiled by a weak woman, utterly incapable of comprehending the mighty power which had been fighting on her side against him. he now allowed other persons to attempt to move her. among others, her former admirer, don francisco de vivers, was induced to visit her. he was still unmarried. what arguments he used it is not necessary to state. he was not hardened to the craft of the priests, and he left the prison abashed and confused. he visited her again more than once, and the idea was entertained by the inquisitors that he was moving her obdurate heart. at length, however, he was missing from valladolid, and some of his friends feared, from some words that he had let drop, that he had offended the inquisitors, and was immured in their prisons. it would be impossible to imagine, much less to describe, the cruelties practised on leonor de cisneros; and yet there were many hundreds of delicately-nurtured females and hidalgos of high rank suffering as she was physically in the numerous prisons of the inquisition throughout spain--many shut up in loathsome dungeons, destined never again to see the light of day. numerous _autos-da-fe_ succeeded each other for the purpose of stamping out protestant principles from spain. the second celebrated at valladolid took place on the 8th of october, 1559, for the purpose of celebrating the return of philip the second, husband of queen mary of england, who was employed at that time in burning her own bishops and other subjects for the same cause. king philip was himself present, enjoying the spectacle, with his unhappy son carlos, his sister, the prince of parma, three ambassadors from france, and a numerous assembly of prelates and nobility of both sexes. the inquisitor-general, valdes, advancing to the bed of state, administered the same oath which had been taken by don carlos and the queen of portugal. philip took it without hesitation, and, rising from his seat, drew his sword, in token of his determination to use it in support of the holy office. a similar group to that before described, clothed in yellow garments covered with pictures of flames and devils, stood on the platform before the king and his court. the most noble-looking and highest in rank was don carlos de seso, the upturning flames on whose robe showed that he was doomed to the stake. with him was domingo de roxas, pedro de cazalla, parish priest of pedroso, who was destined to share the fate of his family. dona isabella de castilla, wife of don carlos de seso, was there, and her niece, dona catalina--condemned to lose all their property, to wear the san-benito, and to be imprisoned for life. there were also three nuns of san belem; one of them, dona mariana de guevara, was condemned to be strangled and then thrown into the flames; she was highly born, and even connected with valdes, the chief inquisitor, but he could not save her from the consequences of her opinions. his subordinates resisted the applications he was said to have made on her behalf as an interference with their jurisdiction, and a proof of partiality and weakness unworthy of one of those whose office required him to be insensible to the feelings of nature and friendship. the death of don carlos de seso was worthy of his life; though gagged on the platform and on the way to execution, the instrument was removed when he was bound to the stake by the friars, who stood round exhorting him to confess. he replied in a loud voice, "i could demonstrate to you, unhappy men, that you ruin yourselves by not imitating my example; but there is no time. executioners, light the pile which is to consume me." these were his last words. the order was instantly obeyed, and, looking up, he died without a groan. another martyr was juan sanchez. entrapped in the low countries by the emissaries of the inquisition, he was brought a prisoner to valladolid, and condemned to the stake. the cords which bound him having rapidly been consumed, he leaped unconsciously on to the stage where the friars were confessing some who had recanted at the last moment. the friars immediately collected round him, and urged him to retract his errors. looking at the unhappy penitents who were risking their salvation to escape a few moments' suffering, and then at the noble de seso, standing unmoved amid the rising flames, he walked deliberately back to the stake, exclaiming, "i will die like de seso." more fuel was brought, and he was quickly in the joy of his lord. numbers bore testimony to "the truth as it is in jesus" by dying fearlessly like de seso. at the same time, eight females, of irreproachable character, some of them of high rank, were burned alive; among them maria gomez, who so nearly betrayed the protestants during a sudden fit of insanity. having recovered her senses she returned to the protestant faith, and soon was brought before the inquisitors. she suffered with her three daughters and a sister. so hardened had the populace become by similar scenes, that not a single expression of sympathy escaped them as they thus witnessed the destruction of a whole family. year after year passed away, and the same horrors continued to be enacted; the bloody-minded inquisitors being hounded on to their work of death by the bigot king; that king who, it has truly been said, was busily engaged in making spain what she in a few years became, the lowest and least influential among the nations of europe; while as truly was elizabeth, by her wise measures, laying the foundation of england's greatness and power. chapter nine. freedom. we must return once more to the unhappy leonor de cisneros. she was seated on a rough bench in her dungeon beneath the halls of the inquisition. one gleam of light only was admitted by a small aperture, leading into a courtyard, far above her head. the gleam fell on her marble countenance, pale as that of one who has ceased to breathe. her once rich hair, now glistening like snow, hung over her shoulders, while her figure was draped in the dark robe she was doomed to wear. heavy chains hung on her arms, which she could with difficulty lift to her head, whenever she strove to press her hands upon her burning brow. even the agony of mind and body which she had endured had scarcely dimmed her beauty. though her eyes had lost their lustre, yet in them was a fixed look of courage and resignation. now she knelt down on the cold stones before the stool, and lifted up her manacled hands to heaven, towards which her countenance was turned, earnestly imploring strength and resolution to withstand the fearful temptations to which she was exposed. she was not disappointed. while she thus knelt, the door of her dungeon grated on its hinges. slowly, and not without difficulty, she rose from her knees, and stood prepared to receive her visitor, whoever he might prove to be. she dreaded lest she should see the arch-fiend munebrega; but instead of him, don francisco de vivers stood before her. he advanced a few paces into the vault, and placed the lantern he bore on a stone shelf projecting from the wall on one side of the cell. he did not speak till the door closed behind him. he then stood before her with his plumed hat held in his hand, keeping still at the distance of a few paces. "dona leonor," he said, "i come to bid you farewell. the words you spoke to me during my last visits to you sunk deep down in my heart. the glorious truths you explained took root, and have since by god's grace been abundantly watered. i obtained a copy of his blessed word. i sought for instruction from those able to give it, and i am now ready, if it is his will, to add my testimony to the truth by my blood. i was sent here to win you back to life, and to gain you over to the false faith of rome. you have been the cause of my becoming a thorough protestant, and being made willing, if called upon, to suffer death-such death, that is, as man is able to inflict upon his fellow-man. yet i am young, and do not desire to die. i have therefore resolved to quit my country for another land, where i may freely worship god according to the dictates of my conscience. i knew that you would rejoice to hear this. i therefore resolved, at every risk, to seek another interview with you. dear lady, you will pardon me for the words i spoke to you on my former visits. i uttered them in my ignorance. i thought that i was thus benefiting you, instead of endeavouring to deprive you of that joy unspeakable which is prepared for those who truly love the lord, and are ready to give up all for him." "oh, believe me, don francisco, when i say it, i have nothing to pardon," replied dona leonor. "i rejoice to hear of your determination. alas! i fear you would not benefit our unhappy countrymen by remaining among them. the spirit of evil has gained the supremacy; and while he reigns, with the sanguinary inquisitors as his ministers, the truth can never make progress in the country. go, then, don francisco; my prayers, day and night, will be offered up to the throne of mercy that you may be protected from the dangers of your journey, and safely reach the haven of rest. it is mockery to speak of joy, but such joy as i am now capable of feeling will be mine when i hear that you have safely reached your destination. and oh, don francisco, pray for me, not that my life may be prolonged, but that i may have courage and support in the trials i may be called upon henceforth to bear; and that it may be god's will that i may, ere long, be emancipated from my bondage, not to go forth into the world, but to be raised on wings of light to join my martyred husband, now singing praises with the heavenly choir before the great white throne of our loving father." "dona leonor, your wishes shall ever be a law to me," answered don francisco. "i shall see you no more on earth. even should i be successful in escaping from this unhappy country, i believe that i shall never again return to it; and even if i did, i should not be permitted to see you. i hear that many spanish protestants are assembled at genoa, among whom are several who were once monks at san isidoro. thither i have resolved to bend my steps, that i may worship with them, and gain from them instruction and counsel." "i thank our heavenly father that you have resolved on this step," answered leonor, "and i pray that you may be more successful than were my beloved herezuelo and myself. oh, that i had not believed the falsehoods that were told me before that dreadful day when i last met him on earth! bitterly have i repented my weakness and want of faith. i should have known that no human power would have induced him to deny his lord and master, even for the sake of saving his life and being reunited with me. ah, how weak and faithless was i! but i thank my god that, through the influence of the holy spirit, i had strength and power given me boldly to declare my faith in the truth, even though my so doing has brought me into this dungeon, and will ere long cast my body amid those flames which consumed the mortal frame of my husband. oh, believe me, don francisco, to that day i look forward with eagerness and joy. my heart will bound with thankfulness when i am told to prepare for going forth to the stake." don francisco stepped forward and raised the manacled hand of the speaker to his lips. then, casting one more glance of respect and sorrow at that still lovely countenance before him, he hastened from the cell, drawing his hat over his brow to conceal his agitation; then wrapping his cloak around him, he took his way through the narrow passages which led to the vaults, guided by one of the familiars of the inquisition, till he reached the door of an apartment, at which his guide stopped and knocked. a voice desired him to enter. don francisco passed through the doorway, and stood in the presence of the archbishop munebrega. "do you expect to move her, don francisco?" asked the archbishop, eyeing him narrowly. "my lord, i do not," answered don francisco, firmly; "yet i warn you that severe treatment will not effect your purpose. for myself, i would beg that i might not be again requested to visit her; but i yet entreat that her chains may be removed, and that she may be placed in a room where the light of day is allowed to enter, and be supplied with food such as her delicate nature requires." "don francisco, you ask what it may be impossible for me to grant," answered the archbishop, again casting a penetrating glance towards him; "but i will make known your request to my coadjutors, and, should they see fit, it may be granted." don francisco was glad when the interview with the archbishop came to a close. he well knew the character of the man with whom he had to deal, and he dreaded lest any word he might incautiously drop should betray him. he hurried home. already he had made every preparation which was possible for his journey. as the shades of evening drew on he left his house, and all the comforts and luxuries it contained, feeling that he should never return. keeping his countenance concealed with his cloak, he passed unquestioned through the gates. now he hurried on at a rapid pace for a league or more from the city. then, turning on one side, he entered a small wood. he had not gone far when he found, standing under the trees, two horses, held by a short man in the costume of a muleteer. "ah! my friend julianillo, i knew that i could trust you, and i am thankful that you have not failed me. it is time, if i would save my life, that i should leave valladolid. already the savage munebrega suspects me, and i have bidden farewell to her for whose sake alone i should desire to remain in spain. i could not bear to see her die; and yet, knowing the savage hearts of her persecutors, and her own firm resolve, i feel sure that, ere long, she will add another to the glorious list of martyrs. she has bidden farewell to the world and her fellow-creatures, and places her trust in one who alone can give her strength to undergo the trials she may be called upon to endure." "true, don francisco, true," answered julianillo; "but we must not delay. a few minutes may make the difference between life and safety, and imprisonment and death. when our brother don domingo de roxas attempted to escape, from a short delay caused by his visit to the noble de seso, he fell into the power of the inquisitors. but you, i trust, are not suspected, and we may in safety gain the borders of spain without impediment. it will be necessary, however, to use caution, and above all things to trust to no one. there are guards on all the roads, and spies at every inn, ready to entrap the unwary." saying this julianillo held the stirrup while don francisco threw himself into the saddle. he then mounted his own horse, and together they rode out of the wood, and took the road towards the frontier. julianillo knew every part of the country. each highway and every by-path was as familiar to him as if he had it mapped down before his eyes. often and often he had travelled those roads, with his bales of goods surrounding the copies of the bible and the works of luther and others, which he had brought across the pyrenees into spain. he had, of late, however, been compelled to give up bringing any more copies of god's word into the country. he had, instead, devoted himself to assisting protestants to escape from their persecutors. those who had trusted themselves entirely to his care and guidance he had never failed to convey safely to their destination. their horses were fresh, and they were thus able to gallop in the greater part of the night. when morning broke, valladolid was many miles behind them. as soon as the horses were rested they again proceeded on their journey. they thus continued till they were within a half-day's journey of the frontier. "we are now approaching the most dangerous part of the road," observed julianillo to don francisco. "it would be safer for you not to appear to be under my guidance. i may possibly be suspected, and as i am well-known, i should certainly be seized, while you might be allowed to continue your journey. but whatever happens, take no notice of me, and let us appear to be total strangers to each other." these remarks were made when the travellers were yet some distance from the inn where they intended to stop. julianillo rode on ahead, don francisco following at a distance, so as just to keep him in view. when don francisco entered the common room of the inn, julianillo was already there, seated among a number of muleteers and other persons, laughing and joking with them. don francisco, on entering, took no notice of him, but placed himself at an unoccupied part of the long table, at the other end of the room. the guests were waiting for dinner, and in a short time large dishes of fried beans and pork were placed on the table. don francisco could with difficulty partake of the rough fare put before him. he ordered, however, a flagon of wine, and requested the host to partake of it, who, nothing loth, accepted his offer. the guests had only just seated themselves when a party of mounted alguazils arrived at the inn, and, having stabled their horses, walked in to partake of the dinner going forward. julianillo appeared in no way to be disconcerted. it was an anxious time for don francisco, for he could not help fearing that the alguazils were in search of suspected persons. having allowed time for the horses to rest, julianillo started up, and beginning to sing a well-known comic air, sauntered out of the inn towards the stables. don francisco waited till he supposed his companion was on the road, and then, paying his reckoning to the landlord, begged that his horse might be brought round. just as he was mounting, the landlord whispered in his ear-"stop not till you have gained the other side of the border, and then be not content till you are many leagues from it." "i know not what you mean," answered don francisco, carelessly; "but supposing the advice to be of value, i should be truly grateful to you for it." saying this he rode quietly through the street of the village. he had not gone far when he heard the mounted guards who had entered the inn following close behind. instead of attempting to escape them he drew in his rein to allow them to come up with him. it was a moment to try the nerves of most men. they, however, rode by, saluting him as they passed, when they continued at a rapid rate. fearing, should he show any inclination to push on, he might be stopped, he continued at a leisurely pace in the direction taken by julianillo. in a short time the sound of horses approaching him reached his ears, and he saw the very same party he had met before returning with someone among them. as he drew near, great was his grief to recognise julianillo. following the advice given him by that brave man, he approached the troop with as unconcerned a countenance as he could assume. "who have you got there?" he asked in a calm tone. "a culprit who has long eluded us, but who has been caught at last, as many others who now think themselves safe will be ere long," was the answer. anxious as he felt to assist julianillo, he was well aware of the uselessness of making the attempt; the words he had just heard making him more anxious than ever to escape from the country. he therefore rode forward with the same unconcerned air which he had assumed on approaching the emissaries of the inquisition. following the advice of the innkeeper, as soon as he was out of sight of the party he put spurs to his horse, and ere night closed in he was many leagues within the territory of france. his adventures were like those of others who made their escape from the inquisition. being well supplied with money, he had, however, less difficulty than many others. he ultimately succeeded in reaching genoa. there, though he was at first looked upon with suspicion, he was soon able to prove the sincerity of his conversion, and was received as a faithful protestant among the brethren assembled in that city. meantime julianillo was led by his captors to seville. he was there brought before the inquisitors. with undaunted eye and firm countenance he confronted his judges, who were at the same time his accusers. he denied nothing. he was accused of having been one of the chief instruments in disseminating the gospel throughout spain. he smiled calmly at the words addressed to him. "i should indeed be proud to have performed so excellent a work," he answered; "but those who have far more influence than i possess have had that honour. if i brought the word of life to those perishing for lack of it, i merely performed the part of the baker's boy who brings the loaves to the door. it depended upon the people whether they would take the bread of life; and if they took it, whether they would feed on it. hear me, ye ministers of tyranny and falsehood: i glory in declaring that i believe the only knowledge we possess of the perfect and all-sufficient sacrifice which christ offered up once for all on calvary, is that revealed to us in the bible, and applied to our hearts by the holy spirit. i believe that the pope and priests of rome are ignorant of this great and glorious truth, that `the just shall live by faith,' and faith alone. in this belief i have now for many years lived, rejoicing also." "silence him! away with him!" cried the inquisitors, in deep and angry voices. "he is hopelessly contumacious. a speedy death by fire must be his doom." julianillo smiled calmly as he heard these words pronounced. "for many years i have been prepared for this," he answered. "when i undertook the work in which i have been engaged, i counted the cost. i knew that i should have a rich reward, and all you can do is to hasten the time when i am to wear that crown of glory prepared for me in the skies; and, humble though i am, i feel well assured that it is a brilliant and a glorious crown." before julianillo could say more he was hurried away from the hall of the inquisition, and thrown into a dark and noisome dungeon, there to remain till the day fixed for the next _auto-da-fe_, at which he was to suffer the extreme penalty inflicted by the inquisition. he was among those who suffered on the day already described, when don carlo de seso received the crown of martyrdom. though he boasted of no exalted rank or lineage, yet, bold in the faith, he died as bravely as the most noble. on the morning of the _auto_, addressing his fellow-prisoners, he exclaimed, "courage, comrades! this is the hour in which we may show ourselves valiant soldiers of jesus christ. let us now bear faithful testimony to his truth before men, and within a few hours we shall receive the testimony of his approbation before angels, and triumph with him in heaven." these words were repeated to the inquisitors, and they, knowing full well his courage and determination, ordered him to be gagged, lest, when marching forth among the other condemned criminals, he should address the multitude, and perhaps gain their sympathy, or induce them to accept the truth, for holding which he was condemned to suffer. in spite of the gag, he continued by his gestures to encourage his companions condemned to death with himself; and thus until the flames rose up fiercely around him, he bore witness to the truth, and endeavoured to support them to the last. meantime the unhappy leonor de cisneros lingered on in prison. every effort was made by the inquisitors and their familiars of high and low degree to induce her to recant, but she continued contumacious. once only a gleam of satisfaction was seen to pass over her countenance; it was when a few words, incautiously let drop by one of her visitors, informed her that don francisco de vivers had escaped from spain, and had arrived safely at genoa. was it in mercy, because her bigoted persecutors yet hoped that she would recant, that her life was still spared? or was it because their vindictive feelings made them unwilling to liberate their captive, and terminate her sufferings by consigning her to that death for which she waited longingly? often she exclaimed with the apostle paul, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the just to happiness unspeakable, "for me to live is christ, and to die is gain." year after year passed by, and still she remained a prisoner in those dreadful dungeons. she had but numbered twenty-two summers when consigned to them, and eight long winters of existence passed afterwards over her head. during those weary years that heroic woman, with the most perfect constancy, endured insults, torture, starvation, while compelled to listen to all the arguments which cunning priests could adduce to make her change her faith. at length, once more she stood before the judgment-seat of the inquisitors, among whom the archbishop munebrega presided. did no recollection of that young woman's mother, whom he had once fondly loved, or thought he loved, cross his mind? did he not remember dona leonor herself, when in her early youth, radiant in beauty, he first beheld her, and heard from her lips the startling acknowledgment that she believed the simple word of god and trusted to it? now she stood before him a pale wan woman, weighed down with grief and physical suffering. again she was asked if she would recant, and reminded that it was for the last time. "oh, no, no!" she answered, her heart bounding with joy at the announcement. the captive was to be set free. now, in solemn mockery, the inquisitors arose, and pronounced dona leonor de cisneros hopelessly contumacious, and condemned her to the flames. a bright gleam rested on her countenance as she heard her sentence, but she uttered not a word, she made not a movement till summoned to return to her cell. the 26th of september, 1568, at length arrived. ere the dawn had broken in the outer world she rose from her hard pallet. yet, hard as it was, her slumber had been calm and sweet. she knew not that it was her last day on earth. kneeling, she lifted up her hands in prayer. she prayed for her persecutors. she prayed that the day-star might yet arise over spain, and the gospel be preached throughout the length and breadth of the land. the door opened. a harsh voice ordered her to rise from her knees; prayer was not for one whom the church had excommunicated. she obeyed. a monk, with a savage gleam in his eyes, stood before her. at the door were several familiars. the monk's errand was soon told. he had come to conduct her to the courtyard where the victims destined to appear in the _auto-da-fe_ were collecting. the cruelties, the mockeries, the blasphemies of those hideous spectacles have often been described. all, all, leonor endured, not only with patience and courage, but with a rejoicing heart. calm and unmoved she listened to the long sermon poured forth by the bishop of zamora, who, from a lofty pulpit, addressed himself both to the victims and the populace. when the blasphemous ceremonies were brought to a conclusion, joy lighted up her countenance. firmly she walked to the place of execution, and submitted without a murmur to be bound to the stake. the moment she had longed for had arrived! the flames rose up around her, and her emancipated spirit flew to rejoin her beloved husband, and to be for ever with their lord. the end. the history and romance of crime from the earliest times to the present day [illustration] the grolier society london [illustration] spanish prisons the inquisition at home and abroad prisons past and present _by_ major arthur griffiths _late inspector of prisons in great britain_ _author of "the mysteries of police and crime "fifty years of public service," etc._ _the inquisitor-general and the catholic sovereigns_ the mandate of expulsion of the jews from spain was issued by ferdinand and isabella in 1492. this edict no doubt originated with torquemada, who was very bitter against the jews. when he learned that a number of their leaders were in conference with the king and queen, and offering an immense ransom, torquemada rushed into the presence bearing a crucifix on high and crying in stentorian tones that the sovereigns were about to act the part of judas iscariot. "here he is!" he exclaimed. "sell him again, not for thirty pieces of silver, but for thirty thousand!" and flinging the crucifix on the table he ran out in a frenzy. this turned the tables and the decree for expulsion was confirmed. the grolier society spanish prisons the inquisition at home and abroad prisons past and present _by_ major arthur griffiths _late inspector of prisons in great britain_ _author of "the mysteries of police and crime "fifty years of public service," etc._ [illustration] the grolier society edition nationale limited to one thousand registered and numbered sets. number 307 introduction a considerable portion of this volume is devoted to the spanish inquisition, which was, for three centuries, the most important force in spain. thousands were condemned by its tribunals, and its prisons and punishments make up a large part of the penal history of that country. much exaggeration has crept into the popular accounts, but the simple truth must cause a shudder, when read to-day. the institution was created to deal with heresy, that is, with a departure from the accepted canons. the idea that there can be unity in diversity was not understood. the spiritual and the temporal powers were closely related, and bishop and king, pope and emperor, all believed that uniformity was necessary. hence, heresy was everywhere treated as high treason not only to the church but to the state as well. the spanish inquisition was a state affair as well as an ecclesiastical court. we shall see that the jurisdiction of the inquisition was not confined to the suppression of heresy. many crimes which to-day are purely state concerns, were then punished by it, including bigamy, blasphemy, perjury, unnatural crimes, and witchcraft. the spanish inquisition deserves credit for discouraging persecution of the last named offence, and thereby saved the lives of thousands, who, in any other state would have been executed. the adaptation to penal purposes of ancient buildings, to be found throughout the length and breadth of spain, was very common, as these were immediately available although generally unsuitable. chief among them are the many monastic buildings vacated when the laws broke up religious houses in spain and which were mostly converted into prisons, but little deserving the name. some of these houses have been utilised as gaols pure and simple; some have served two or more purposes as at huelva, where the convent-prison was also a barrack. spain has been slow in conforming to the movements towards prison reform. she could not afford to spend money on new constructions along modern lines, and the introduction of the cellular system is only of recent date. the model prison of madrid, which has replaced the hideous saladero, was only begun in 1887. but a few separate prisons had already been created, such as those of loja, pontevedra, barcelona, vittoria and naval carnero. these establishments are new to spain but their methods and aims are too well known to call for fresh description. more interest attaches to the older forms that have so long served as places of durance. contents chapter page introduction 5 i. the inquisition in spain 11 ii. persecution of jews and moors 32 iii. prisons and punishments 63 iv. the inquisition abroad 91 v. the inquisition in portugal and india 110 vi. early prisons and prisoners 123 vii. presidios at home and abroad 150 viii. life in ceuta 182 ix. brigands and brigandage 212 x. a bright page in prison history 236 list of illustrations the grand inquisitor and the catholic sovereigns _frontispiece_ the alhambra palace, granada _page_ 52 the question " 116 castel dell' ovo " 150 spanish prisons chapter i the inquisition in spain beginning and growth of religious persecution--temporal power of the papacy--pope innocent iii creates the first "inquisitors"--domingo de guzman founder of the inquisition--founder of the dominican order of friars--the "ancient" inquisition--penances inflicted--persecution of the jews in spain--institution of the "modern" inquisition under ferdinand and isabella--headquarters at seville--frequent _autos da fé_--thomas de torquemada the first inquisitor-general--the privileges of the office--torquemada's life and character--sufferings of accused persons. the record of religious persecution furnishes some of the saddest pages in the world's history. it began with the immediate successors of constantine the great, the first christian prince. they promulgated severe edicts against heretics with such penalties as confiscation, banishment and death against breaches of catholic unity. in this present tolerant age when every one may worship god after his own fashion, it is difficult to realise how recent a growth is toleration. for more than six centuries the flames of persecution burned fiercely throughout christendom, lighted by the strong arm of the law, and soldiers were constantly engaged to extirpate dissent from the accepted dogmas with fire and sword. the growth of the papacy and the assumption of the temporal power exalted heresy into treason; independence of thought was deemed opposition to authority and resistance to the universal supremacy of the church. the popes fighting in self-defence stimulated the zeal of their followers unceasingly to stamp out heresy. alexander iii in the 12th century solemnly declared that every secular prince who spared heretics should be classed as a heretic himself and involved in the one common curse. when the temporal power of the popes was fully established and acknowledged, the papacy claimed universal sovereignty over all countries and peoples and was in a position to enforce it by systematic procedure against its foes. pope innocent iii, consumed with the fervour of his intolerant faith, determined to crush heresy. his first step was to appoint two "inquisitors" (the first use of the name) and two learned and devout friars, who were really travelling commissioners, were sent to perambulate christendom to discover heresy. they were commended to all bishops, who were strictly charged to receive them with kindness, treat them with affection, and "help them to turn heretics from the error of their way or else drive them out of the country." the same assistance was expected from the rulers of states who were to aid the inquisitors with equal kindness. the mission began in the south of france and a crusade was undertaken against the albigensians and waldensians, those early dissidents from the church of rome, who drew down on themselves the unappeasable animosity of the orthodox. the campaign against these original heretics raged fiercely, but persecution slackened and might have died out but for the appearance of one devoted zealot whose intense hatred of heresy, backed by his uncompromising energy, revived the illiberal spirit and organised fresh methods of attack. this was domingo de guzman, a spanish monk who accompanied foulques, bishop of toulouse, when he left his desolated diocese to take part in the fourth lateran council, assembled at rome in 1215. this domingo, historically known as st. dominic, was the founder of the dominican order of friars. though generally accepted as such by church historians, it is now argued that st. dominic was not really the founder of the inquisition[1] and that although he spent the best years of his life in combating heresy he took no more prominent part in persecution than hundreds of others. his eulogistic biographer describes him as "a man of earnest, resolute purpose, of deep and unalterable convictions, full of burning zeal for the propagation of the faith, yet kindly in heart, cheerful in temper and winning in manner.... he was as severe with himself as with his fellows.... his endless scourgings, his tireless vigils, his almost uninterrupted prayer, his superhuman fasts, are probably only harmless exaggerations of the truth." the dominicans boasted that their founder exhaled "an odour of sanctity" and, when his tomb was opened, a delicious scent issued forth, so penetrating that it permeated the whole land, and so persistent that those who touched the holy relics had their hands perfumed for years. [1] lea. history of the inquisition. vol. i. p. 299. whatever the personal character of dominic and whether or no he laboured to carry out the work himself, there can be no doubt that his order was closely identified with the inquisition from the first. its members were appointed inquisitors, they served in the prisons as confessors, they assisted the tribunals as "qualificators," or persons appointed to seek out proof of guilt, or estimate the extent or quality of the heretical opinions charged against the accused; the great ceremonials and _autos da fé_ were organised by them; they worked the "censure" and prepared the "index" of prohibited books. the dominicans were undoubtedly the most active agents in the inquisition and they owed their existence to him, even if he did not personally take part in its proceedings. the following quotation from prescott's "history of ferdinand and isabella" may well be inserted here. "some catholic writers would fain excuse st. dominic from the imputation of having founded the inquisition. it is true he died some years before the perfect organisation of that tribunal; but as he established the principles on which, and the monkish militia by whom it was administered, it is doing him no injustice to regard him as its real author." the sicilian writer, paramo, indeed, in his heavy quarto, traces it up to a much more remote antiquity. according to him god was the first inquisitor and his condemnation of adam and eve furnished the models of the judicial forms observed in the trials of the holy office. the sentence of adam was the type of the inquisitional "reconciliation," his subsequent raiment of skins of animals was the type of the _sanbenito_, and the expulsion from paradise, the precedent for the confiscation of the goods of heretics. this learned personage deduces a succession of inquisitors through the patriarchs, moses, nebuchadnezzar, and king david, down to john the baptist, and he even includes our saviour in whose precepts and conduct he finds abundant authority for the tribunal. the "ancient inquisition," as that first established in spain is generally called, had many of the features of the "modern" which dates from the reign of ferdinand and isabella, and which will presently be described at some length. its proceedings were shrouded in the same impenetrable secrecy, it used the same insidious modes of accusation, supported them by similar tortures, and punished them with similar penalties. a manual drawn up in the fourteenth century for the guidance of judges of the holy office prescribes the familiar forms of artful interrogation employed to catch the unwary, and sometimes innocent victim. the ancient inquisition worked on principles less repugnant to justice than the better known, but equally cruel modern institution, but was less extensive in its operations because in the earlier days there were fewer heretics to persecute. the ancient inquisition was so unsparing in its actions that it almost extirpated the albigensian heresy. the punishments it inflicted were even more severe than in the modern. upon such as escaped the stake and were "reconciled," as it was styled, a terrible "penance" was imposed. one is cited by llorente[2] as laid down in the ordinances of st. dominic. the penitent, it was commanded, should be stripped of his clothes and beaten by a priest three sundays in succession from the gate of the city to the door of the church; he must not eat any kind of meat during his whole life; must abstain from fish, oil and wine three days in the week during life, except in case of sickness or excessive labour; must wear a religious dress with a small cross embroidered on each breast; must attend mass every day, if he has the means of doing so, and vespers on sundays and festivals; must recite the service for the day and night and repeat the paternoster seven times in the day, ten times in the evening, and twenty times at midnight. if he failed in any of these requirements, he was to be burned as a "relapsed heretic." [2] history of the inquisition. chief among the causes that produced the new or "modern" inquisition was the envy and hatred of the jews in spain. fresh material was supplied by the unfortunate race of israel, long established in the country, and greatly prosperous. they had come in great numbers after the saracenic invasion, which indeed they are said to have facilitated, and were accepted by some of the moorish rulers on nearly equal terms, and were treated with a tolerance seldom seen among mahometans, though occasional outbursts of fanaticism rendered their position not quite secure. under these generally favourable auspices the jews developed in numbers and importance. their remarkable instinct for money making and their unstinting diligence brought them great wealth. their love of letters and high intelligence gave them preëminence in the schools of the moorish cities of cordova, toledo and granada, where they helped to keep the flame of learning bright and shining through the darkest ages. they became noted mathematicians, learned astronomers, devoted labourers in the fields of practical and experimental science. their shrewdness in public affairs and their financial abilities commended them to the service of the state, and many rose to the highest civic dignities at both christian and moorish courts. often, despite prohibitory laws, they collected the revenues and supervised the treasuries of the kingdoms of castile and aragon, while in private life they had nearly unlimited control of commerce and owned most of the capital in use. after the christian conquest, their success drew down upon them the envy and hatred of their less flourishing fellow subjects, who resented also that profuse ostentation of apparel and equipage to which the jewish character has always inclined. their widespread practice of usury was a still more fruitful cause for detestation. often large sums were loaned, for which exorbitant rates of interest were charged, owing to the scarcity of specie and the great risk of loss inherent to the business. as much as twenty, thirty-three, and even forty per cent. per annum was exacted and paid. the general animosity was such that a fanatical populace, smarting under a sense of wrong, and urged on by a no less fanatical clergy broke out at times into violence, and fiercely attacked the jews in the principal cities. the _juderías_, or jewish quarters, were sacked, the houses robbed of their valuable contents, precious collections, jewels and furniture were scattered abroad, and the wretched proprietors were massacred wholesale, irrespective of sex and age. according to the historian, mariana, fifty thousand jews were sacrificed to the popular fury in one year, 1391, alone. this was the turning point in spanish history. fanaticism once aroused, did not die until all jews were driven out of spain. it brought into being another class also, the _conversos_, or "new christians," _i. e._ jews who accepted christian baptism, though generally without any spiritual change. at heart and in habits they remained jews. the law was invoked, too, to aggravate their condition. legislative enactments of a cruel and oppressive kind were passed. jews were forbidden to mix freely with christians, their residence restricted to certain limited quarters, they were subject to irksome, sumptuary regulations, debarred from all display in dress, forbidden to carry valuable ornaments or wear expensive clothes, and they were held up to public scorn by being compelled to appear in a distinctive, unbecoming garb, the badge or emblem of their social inferiority. they were also interdicted from following certain professions and callings. they might not study or practise medicine, might not be apothecaries, nurses, vintners, grocers or tavern keepers, were forbidden to act as stewards to the nobility or as farmers or collectors of the public revenues, although judging from repeated re-enactments, these laws were evidently not strictly enforced, and often in some districts were not enforced at all. fresh fuel was added to the fiery passions vented on the jews by the unceasing denunciation of their heresy and dangerous irreligion, and public feeling was further inflamed by grossly exaggerated stories of their hideous and unchristian malpractices. the curate of los palacios has detailed some of these in his "chronicle," and they will serve, when quoted, to show what charges were brought against the jew in his time. "this accursed race (the israelites)," he says, speaking of the proceedings taken to bring about their conversion, "were either unwilling to bring their children to be baptised, or if they did, they washed away the stain on the way home. they dressed their stews and other dishes with oil instead of lard, abstained from pork, kept the passover, ate meat in lent, and sent oil to replenish the lamps of their synagogues, with many other abominable ceremonies of their religion. they entertained no respect for monastic life, and frequently profaned the sanctity of religious houses by the violation or seduction of their inmates. they were an exceedingly politic and ambitious people, engrossing the most lucrative municipal offices, and preferring to gain their livelihood by traffic, in which they made exorbitant gains, rather than by manual labour or mechanical arts. they considered themselves in the hands of the egyptians whom it was a merit to deceive and rob. by their wicked contrivances they amassed great wealth, and thus were able often to ally themselves by marriage with noble christian families." the outcry against the jews steadily increased in volume. the clergy were the loudest in their protests against the alleged abominations, and one dominican priest, alonso de hojeda, prior of the monastery of san pablo in seville, with another priest, diego de merlo, vigorously denounced the "jewish leprosy" so alarmingly on the increase and besought the catholic sovereigns to revive the holy office with extended powers as the only effective means of healing it. the appeal was strongly supported by the papal nuncio at the court of castile. ferdinand and isabella, as devout catholics, deplored the prevalence of heresy, which they acknowledged to be rampant, and yet they hesitated to surrender any of their independence. no other state in europe was so free from papal control or interference. some of the conversos held high places about the court and they, of course, used every effort to strengthen the reluctance of the queen, particularly. on the other hand, the dominican monk, thomas de torquemada, her confessor in her youth, strove to instil the same spirit of unyielding fanaticism that possessed himself, and earnestly entreated her to devote herself to the "extirpation of heresy for the glory of god and the glorification of the catholic faith." she long resisted but yielded at last to the unceasing importunities of the priests around her, and consented to solicit a bull from the pope, sixtus iv, to introduce the modern inquisition into castile. it was issued, under the date of november 1st, 1478, and authorised the appointment of two or three ecclesiastical inquisitors for the detection and suppression of heresy throughout spain. one difference from the usual form establishing such tribunals was the location of the power of appointment of inquisitors, which was vested in the king and queen instead of in provincials of the dominican or franciscan orders. heretofore the appointment of inquisitors had been considered a delegation of the authority of the holy see, something entirely independent of the secular power. but so jealous of outside interference were the spanish rulers and the spanish people, that the pope was forced to give way. though he and his successors vainly strove to recover the power thus granted, they were never entirely successful, and the spanish inquisition remained to a large extent a state affair, and this fact explains much which otherwise is inexplicable. for example the confiscations passed into the royal instead of into the papal treasury. at first mild measures were to be tried. cardinal mendoza, archbishop of seville, had drawn up a catechism instructing his clergy to spare no pains in illuminating the benighted israelites by a candid exposition of the true principles of christianity. progress was slow, and after two years the results were so meagre that it was thought necessary to proceed to the nomination of inquisitors, and two dominican monks, fra miguel de morillo, and juan de san martin, were appointed with full powers, assisted by an assessor and a procurator fiscal. the jews played into the hands of their tormentors. great numbers had been terrified into apostasy by the unrelenting hostility of the people. their only escape from the furious attacks made upon them had been conversion to christianity, often quite feigned and unreal. the proselytising priests, however, claimed to have done wonders; one, st. vincent ferrer, a dominican of valencia, had by means of his eloquence and the miraculous power vouchsafed him, "changed the hearts of no less than thirty-five thousand of house of judah." these numerous converts were of course unlikely to be very tenacious in their profession of the new faith, and not strangely laid themselves open to constant suspicion. many were denounced and charged with backsliding, many more boldly reverted to judaism, or secretly performed their old rites. now uncompromising war was to be waged against the backsliding "new christians" or conversos. the inquisitors installed themselves in seville, and made the dominican convent of san pablo their first headquarters, but this soon proved quite insufficient in size and they were allowed to occupy the fortress of the triana, the great fortress of seville, on the right bank of the guadalquivir, the immense size and gloomy dungeons of which were especially suitable. this part of the city was much exposed to inundations, and when, in 1626, it was threatened with destruction by an unusually high flood, the seat of the tribunal was removed to the palace of the caballeros tellos taveros in the parish of san marco. in 1639 it returned to the triana which had been repaired, and remained there till 1789, when further encroachments of the river caused it to be finally transferred to the college of las beccas. the triana is now a low suburb, inhabited principally by gipsies and the lower classes. it was at one time the potters' quarter where the famous _azulejo_ tiles were made, and its factories to-day produce the well known majolica vases and plates with surface of metallic lustre. one of the first steps of the inquisition was to put a summary check to the exodus of the jews who had been fast deserting the country. all the magnates of castile, dukes, counts, hidalgos and persons in authority, were commanded to arrest all fugitives, to sequestrate their property and send them prisoners to seville. any who disobeyed or failed to execute this order were to be excommunicated as abettors of heresy, to be deposed from their dignities and deprived of their estates. such orders were strange to the ears of the turbulent nobles who had been accustomed to pay little heed to pope or king. a new force had arisen in the land. on the castle of the triana,[3] already described, a tablet was erected over the portals with an inscription, celebrating the inauguration of the first "modern inquisition" in western europe. the concluding words were:--"god grant that for the protection and augmentation of the faith it may abide unto the end of time. arise oh lord, judge thy cause! catch yet the foxes (heretics)!" [3] the counts of san lucar were hereditary alcaldes of triana, and in return for surrendering the castle, they were granted the dignity of alguazil mayor of the inquisition. it was worth 150,000 maravedis a year and the holder of the office provided a deputy. the maravedi, once a gold coin of some value, latterly represented only 3/8 of a cent. just now, by an ill-advised move, the conversos lost the sympathy of all. diego de susan, one of the richest citizens of seville, called a meeting of the "new christians" in the church of san salvador. it was attended by many high officials, and even ecclesiastics of jewish blood. susan suggested that they collect a store of arms, and that at the first arrest, they rise and slay the inquisitors. the plan was adopted but was betrayed by a daughter of susan, who had a christian lover. the plotters were arrested at once, and on february sixth, 1481, six men and women were burned and others were severely punished. the hunt was cunningly organised. an "edict of grace" was published promising pardon to all backsliders if they would come voluntarily and confess their sins. many sought indulgence and were plied with questions by the inquisitors to extract evidence against others. on the information thus obtained the suspected were marked down, seized and carried off to the prisons. any adherence to jewish customs gave opportunity for denunciation, and the severe measures rapidly reduced the numbers of the backsliding jewish-christians. in seville alone, according to llorente, two hundred and ninety-eight persons were burnt in less than a year, and seventy-nine were condemned to perpetual imprisonment. great sums ought to have passed into the treasury, then and afterwards, from the confiscated property of rich people who perished at the stake or were subjected to fine and forfeiture. but the great engine of the inquisition was excessively costly. the pageants at the frequent _autos da fé_ were lavishly expensive, a great staff of officials, experts, familiars and guards was maintained, and, in addition, the outlay on the place of execution, the "_quemadero_" or burning place, a great pavement on a raised platform adorned with fine pillars and statues of the prophets, was very considerable, while the yearly bill for fuel, for faggots and brush wood rose to a high figure. undoubtedly there was considerable embezzlement also. there was evidently too much work for two men, so in february, 1482, seven additional inquisitors were commissioned by the pope on the nomination of the sovereigns, and some of these were exceedingly zealous. there was, however, much confusion because of the lack of a unifying authority. the sovereigns were determined that the institution must be kept under the control of the state, and so a council of administration usually called _la suprema_ was added to those already existing, and was charged with jurisdiction over all measures concerning the faith. at the head was placed a new officer, later called the inquisitor-general. the inquisitor-general was hardly a subject. he had direct access to the sovereign and exercised absolute and unlimited power over the whole population and was superior to all human law. no rank, high or low escaped his jurisdiction. royal personages were not exempt from his control, for the holy office invaded the prince's palace as well as the pauper's hovel. there was no sanctity in the grave, for corpses of heretics were ruthlessly disinterred, mutilated and burned. the first inquisitor-general under the new organisation was thomas de torquemada, who has won for himself dreadful immortality from the signal part he played in the great tragedy of the inquisition. he was a dominican monk, a native of old castile, who had been confessor and keeper of the queen's conscience to isabella in her early days and constantly sought to instil his fiery spirit into her youthful mind. "this man," says prescott, "who concealed more pride under his monastic weeds than might have furnished forth a convent of his order, was one of that class with whom zeal passes for religion and who testify their zeal by a fiery persecution of those whose creed differs from their own; who compensate for their abstinence from sensual indulgence by giving scope to those deadlier vices of the heart, pride, bigotry and intolerance which are no less opposed to virtue and are far more extensively mischievous to society." the cruelties which he perpetrated grew out of a pitiless fanaticism, more cruel than the grave. he was rigid and unbending and knew no compromise. absolutely fearless, he directed his terrible engine against the suspect no matter how high-born or influential. torquemada was appointed in 1483 and was authorised from rome to frame a new constitution for the holy office. he had been empowered to create permanent provincial tribunals under chief inquisitors which sat at toledo, valladolid, madrid and other important cities, and his first act was to summon some of these to seville to assist him in drawing up rules for the governance of the great and terrible engine that was to terrorise all spain for centuries to come. the principles of action, the methods of procedure, the steps taken to hunt up victims and bring them under the jurisdiction of the court, secure conviction and enforce penalties, are all set out at length in the record of the times. "a bloody page of history," says the historian, "attests the fact that fanaticism armed with power is the sorest evil that can befall a nation." for generations the spanish people, first the jews, then the moriscos, lastly the whole native born community lay helpless in the grip of this irresponsible despotism. few, once accused, escaped without censure of some sort. llorente declares with his usual exaggeration that out of a couple of thousand cases, hardly one ended in acquittal and the saying became proverbial that people if not actually roasted by the inquisition were at least singed. in order to appreciate fully the harshness of the spanish inquisition and the cruelties perpetrated for several centuries, under the guise of religion, we must trace the steps taken by the holy office, its guiding principles and its methods of procedure. the great aim at the outset was to hunt up heretics and encourage the denunciation of presumed offenders. good catholics were commanded by edicts published from the pulpits of all churches to give information against every person they knew or suspected of being guilty of heresy, and priests were ordered to withhold absolution from any one who hesitated to speak, even when the suspected person was a near relation, parent, child, husband or wife. all accusations whether signed or anonymous were accepted, but the names of witnesses were also required. on this sometimes meagre inculpation victims might be at once arrested, though in some cases, censors must first pass upon the evidence. often not a whisper of trouble reached the accused until the blow actually fell. kept thus in solitary imprisonment, cut off entirely from his friends outside, denied the sympathy or support he might derive from their visits or communications, he was left to brood despairingly, a prey to agonised doubts, in ignorance even of the charges brought against him. a few brief extracts from the depositions of witnesses might be read to him, but the statements were so garbled that he could get no clue to names or identities. if there were any facts favourable to him in the testimony they were withheld from him. if he could, however, name as mortal enemies some of the witnesses, their testimony was much weakened. facts of time, place and circumstance in the charges preferred were withheld from him and he was so confused and embarrassed that unless a man of acuteness and presence of mind he might become involved in inextricable contradictions when he attempted to explain himself. on the other hand judges were guided and supported by the most minute instructions. "it is the high and peculiar privilege of the tribunal that its officers are not required to act with formality; they need observe no strict forensic rules and therefore the omission of what ordinary justice might exact does not invalidate its actions, provided only that nothing essential to the proof be wanting." the first essential of justice, as we understand it, was ignored. an accused person arraigned for heresy was expected to incriminate himself, to furnish all necessary particulars for conviction. testimony could be received from persons of any class or character. "they might be excommunicate, infamous, actual accomplices, or previously convicted of any crime." the evidence of jews and infidels might be taken also, even in a question of heretical doctrine. wife, children, relatives, servants, might depose against a heretic. "a brother may declare against a brother and a son against a father." the witnesses met with no mercy. if any one did not say all he could, or seemed reluctant to speak, the examiners occasionally ruled that torture should be applied. chapter ii persecution of jews and moors increased persecution of the jews--accusations made against them--ferdinand introduces the modern inquisition into the kingdom of aragon in 1484--fray gaspar juglar and pedro arbués appointed inquisitors--assassination of pedro arbués--punishment of his murderers--increased opposition against the holy office--arrest of the infante don jaime for sheltering a heretic--expulsion of the jews from spain--appeal to the king to revoke this edict--ferdinand inclined to yield, but torquemada over-rules him--sufferings of the jews on the journey--death of torquemada--hernando de talavera appointed archbishop of granada--his success with the moors--don diego deza new inquisitor-general--succeeded by ximenes de cisneros--his character and life--appointed primate of all spain--his severity with the moors--university of alcalá founded by ximenes--accession of charles v--persecution of moors--expulsion. the fires of the modern inquisition, it was said, had been lighted exclusively for the jews. the fiery zeal of torquemada and his coadjutors was first directed against the spanish children of israel. the jews constantly offered themselves to be harassed and despoiled. they were always fair game for avaricious greed. the inquisitors availed themselves of both lines of attack. jewish wealth steadily increased as their financial operations and their industrial activities extended and flourished. when the catholic kings embarked upon the conquest of granada, the jews found the sinews of war; jewish victuallers purveyed rations to the armies in the field; jewish brokers advanced the cash needed for the payments of troops; jewish armourers repaired the weapons used and furnished new tools and warlike implements. at the same time the passions of the populace were more and more inflamed against the jews by the dissemination of scandalous stories of their blasphemous proceedings. it was seriously asserted by certain monks that some jews had stolen a consecrated wafer with the intention of working it into a paste with the warm blood of a newly killed christian child and so produce a deadly poison to be administered to the hated chief inquisitor. another report was to the effect that crumbs from the holy wafer had been detected between the leaves of a hebrew prayer book in a synagogue. one witness declared that this substance emitted a bright effulgence which gave clear proof of its sanctity and betrayed the act of sacrilege committed. other tales were circulated of the diabolical practices of these wicked jewish heretics. ferdinand in 1484 proceeded to give the modern inquisition to the kingdom of aragon, where the "ancient" had once existed but had lost much of its rigour. it was a comparatively free country and the holy office had become little more than an ordinary ecclesiastical court. but king ferdinand was resolved to reëstablish it on the wider basis it had assumed in castile and imposed it upon his people by a royal order which directed all constituted authorities to support it in carrying out its new extended functions. a dominican monk, fray gaspar juglar, and a canon of the church, pedro arbués, were appointed by torquemada to be inquisitors for the diocese of saragossa. the new institution was most distasteful to the aragonese, a hardy and independent people. among the higher orders were numbers of jewish descent, filling important offices and likely to come under the ban of the inquisition. the result was a deputation to the pope and another to the king representing the general repugnance of the aragonese to the institution and praying that its action might be suspended. neither pope nor king would listen to the appeal and the holy office began its work. two _autos da fé_ were celebrated in saragossa, the capital, in 1484, when two men were executed. horror and consternation seized the conversos and a fierce desire for reprisals developed. they were resolved to intimidate their oppressors by some appalling act of retaliation and a plot was hatched to make away with one of the inquisitors. the conspirators included many of the principal "new christians," some of whom were persons of note in the district. a considerable sum was subscribed to meet expenses and pay the assassins. pedro arbués was marked down for destruction but, conscious of his danger, continually managed to evade his enemies. he wore always a coat of mail beneath his robes when he attended mass in the cathedral, and every avenue by which he could be approached in his house was also carefully guarded. at length he was taken by surprise when at his devotions. he was on his knees before the high altar saying his prayers at midnight, when two men crept up behind him unobserved and attacked him. one struck him with a dagger in the left arm, the other felled him with a violent blow on the back of the neck by which he was laid prostrate and carried off dying. with his last breath he thanked god for being selected to seal so good a cause with his blood. his death was deemed a martyrdom and caused a reaction in favour of the inquisition as a general rising of the new christians was feared. the storm was appeased by the archbishop of saragossa who gave out publicly that the murderers should be rigorously pursued and should suffer condign punishment. the promise was abundantly fulfilled. a stern recompense was exacted from all who were identified with the conspiracy. the scent was followed up with unrelenting pertinacity, several persons were taken and put to death, and a larger number perished in the dungeons of the inquisition. all the perpetrators of the murder were hanged after their right hands had been amputated. the sentence of one who had given evidence against the rest was commuted in that his hand was not cut off till after his death. a native of saragossa had taken refuge in tudela where he found shelter and concealment in the house of the infante, don jaime, the illegitimate son of the queen of navarre, and nephew of king ferdinand himself. the generous young prince could not reject the claims of hospitality and helped the fugitive to escape into france. but the infante was himself arrested by the inquisitors and imprisoned as an "impeder" of the holy office. his trial took place in saragossa, although navarre was outside its jurisdiction, and he was sentenced to do open penance in the cathedral in the presence of a great congregation at high mass. the ceremony was carried out before the archbishop of saragossa, a boy of seventeen, the illegitimate son of king ferdinand, and this callow stripling in his primate's robes ordered his father's nephew to be flogged round the church with rods. the second story is much more horrible. one gaspar de santa cruz of saragossa had been concerned in the rebellion, but escaped to toulouse where he died. he had been aided in his flight by a son who remained in saragossa, and who was arrested as an "impeder" of the holy office. he was tried and condemned to appear at an _auto da fé_, where he was made to read an act which held up his father to public ignominy. then the son was transferred to the custody of the inquisitor of toulouse who took him to his father's grave, forced him to exhume the corpse and burn it with his own hands. the bitter hatred of the jews culminated in the determination of the king and queen, urged on by torquemada, to expel them entirely from spain. the germ of this idea may be found in the capitulation of granada by the moors, when it was agreed that every jew found in the city was to be shipped off forthwith to barbary. it was now argued that since all attempts to convert them had failed, spain should be altogether rid of them. the catholic king and queen were induced to sign an edict dated march 30th, 1492, by which it was decreed that every jew should be banished from spain within three months, save and except those who chose to apostasise and who, on surrendering the faith of their fathers, might be suffered to remain in the land of their adoption, with leave to enjoy the goods they had inherited or earned. no doubt this edict originated with torquemada. dismay and deep sorrow fell upon the spanish jews. the whole country was filled with tribulation. all alike cried for mercy and offered to submit to any laws and ordinances however oppressive, to accept any terms, to pay any penalties if only they might escape this cruel exile. leading jews appeared before king ferdinand and pleaded abjectly for mercy for their co-religionists, offering an immediate ransom of six hundred thousand crowns in gold. the king was inclined to clemency, but the queen was firm. he saw the present advantage, the ready money, and doubted whether he would get as much from the fines and confiscations promised by the inquisitors. but at that moment, so the story goes, torquemada rushed into the presence bearing a crucifix on high and cried in stentorian tones that the sovereigns were about to act the part of judas iscariot. "here he is! sell him again, not for thirty pieces of silver, but for thirty thousand!" and flinging the crucifix on to the table, he ran out in a frenzy. this turned the tables, and the decree for expulsion was confirmed. the terms of the edict were extremely harsh and peremptory. as a preamble the crimes of the jews were recited and the small effect produced hitherto by the most severe penalties. it was asserted that they still conspired to overturn christianity in spain and recourse to the last remedy, the decree of expulsion, under which all jews and jewesses were commanded to leave spain and never return, even for a passing visit, on pain of death, was therefore necessary. the last day of july, 1492, or four months later, was fixed for the last day of their sojourn in spain. after that date they would remain at the peril of their lives, while any person of whatever rank or quality who should presume to receive, shelter, protect or defend a jew or jewess should forfeit all his property and be discharged from his office, dignity or calling. during the four months, the law allowed the jews to sell their estates, or barter them for heavy goods, but they were forbidden to remove gold or silver or take out of the kingdom other portable property which was already prohibited by law from exportation. during the preparation for, and execution of this modern exodus, the condition of the wretched israelites was heart-rending. torquemada had tried hard to proselytise, had sent out preachers offering baptism and reconciliation, but at first few listened to the terms proposed. all owners of property and valuables suffered the heaviest losses. enforced sales were so numerous that purchasers were not to be easily found. fine estates were sold for a song. a house was exchanged for an ass or beast of burden; a vineyard for a scrap of cloth or linen. despite the prohibition much gold and silver were carried away concealed in the stuffing of saddles and among horse furniture. some exiles at the moment of departure swallowed gold pieces, as many as twenty and thirty, and thus evaded to some extent the strict search instituted at the sea ports and frontier towns. at last in the first week of july, all took to the roads travelling to the coast on foot, on horse or ass-back or were conveyed in country carts. according to an eye-witness, "they suffered incredible misfortunes by the way, some walking feebly, some struggling manfully, some fainting, many attacked with illness, some dying, others coming into the world, so that there was not a christian who did not feel for them and entreat them to be baptised." here and there under the pressure of accumulated miseries a few professed to be converted, but such cases were very rare. the rabbis encouraged the people as they went and exhorted the young ones to raise their voices and the women to sing and play on pipes and timbrels to enliven them and keep up their spirits. ships were provided by the spanish authorities at cadiz, gibraltar, carthagena, valencia and barcelona on which fifteen hundred of the wealthy families embarked and started for africa, italy and the levant, taking with them their dialect of the spanish language, such as is still talked at the places where they landed. of those who joined in the general exodus some perished at sea, by wreck, disease, violence or fire, and some by famine, exhaustion or murder on inhospitable shores. many were sold for slaves, many thrown overboard by savage ship captains, while parents parted with their children for money to buy food. on board one crowded ship a pestilence broke out, and the whole company was landed and marooned on a desert island. other infected ships carried disease into the port of naples, where it grew into a terrible epidemic, by which twenty thousand native neapolitans perished. those who reached the city found it in the throes of famine, but were met in landing by a procession of priests, led by one who carried a crucifix and a loaf of bread, and who intimated that only those who would adore the first would receive the other. in papal dominions alone was a hospitable reception accorded. the pope of the time, alexander vi, was more tolerant than other rulers. the total loss of population is now difficult to ascertain, but undoubtedly it has been greatly exaggerated. the most trustworthy estimate fixes the number of emigrants at one hundred and sixty-five thousand, and the number dying of hardships and grief before leaving at about twenty thousand. probably fifty thousand more accepted baptism as a consequence of the edict. the loss entailed in actual value was incalculable and a vast amount of potential earnings was sacrificed by the disappearance of so large a part of the most industrious members of the population. the king and queen greatly impoverished spain in purging it of hebrew heresy. their action however was greeted with applause by other rulers who did not go to the same lengths on account of economic considerations. they were praised because they were willing to sacrifice revenue for the sake of the faith. open judaism no longer existed in spain. there were left only the apostates, or new christians. that many of these were christians in name and kept the mosaic law in every detail is undoubted. as jews they were not subject to the inquisition. as professing christians, any departure from the established faith subjected them to the penalties imposed upon heretics. in spite of the high positions which many achieved, they were objects of suspicion, and with the increasing authority of the inquisition their lot grew harder. torquemada had been active not only against the jews, but against all suspected of any heresy, no matter how influential. the odium he incurred raised up constant accusations against him, and he was obliged on three occasions to send an agent to rome to defend his character. later his arbitrary power was curtailed by the appointment of four coadjutors, nominally, to share the burthens of office, but really to check his action. on the whole he may be said to take rank among those who have been the authors of evil to their species. "his zeal was of such an extravagant character that it may almost shelter itself under the name of insanity." his later days were filled with constant dread of assassination, and when he moved to and fro his person was protected by a formidable escort, a bodyguard of fifty familiars of the holy office mounted as dragoons and a body of two hundred infantry soldiers. yet he reached a very old age and died quietly in his bed. estimates of the numbers convicted and punished during his administration differ widely. llorente, who is, however, much given to exaggeration, states that eight thousand eight hundred were burned alive, and that the total number condemned was more than one hundred and five thousand. on the other hand langlois,[4] whose estimate is accepted by vancandard, and other catholic writers, thinks that the number put to death was about two thousand. [4] langlois, l'inquisition d'après des tableaux recénts (1902), quoted by vancandard (conway's translation, 1908). death overtook him when a fresh campaign against heresy was imminent. the conquest of the kingdom of granada by ferdinand and isabella opened up a new field for the proselytising fervour of the inquisition, which was now resolved to convert all mahometan subjects to the christian faith. a friar of the order of st. jerome, hernando de talavera, a man of blameless life, a ripe scholar, a persuasive preacher, deeply read in sacred literature and moral philosophy, had been one of the confessors to royalty, and had been raised to the bishopric of avila. but he had begged to be allowed to resign it and devote himself entirely to the conversion of the moors. the pope granted his request and appointed him archbishop of granada with a smaller revenue than that of the diocese he left, but he was humble minded, had no craving to exhibit the pomp and display of a great prelate and devoted himself with all diligence to the duties of his new charge. he soon won the hearts of the moors who loved and venerated him. he proceeded with great caution, made no open show of his desire to convert them, and strictly refrained from any coercive measures, trusting rather to reason them out of their heterodox belief. he caused a translation to be made of the bible into arabic, distributed it, encouraged the moors to attend conferences, and come to him in private to listen to his arguments. being thus busily engaged, he withdrew to a great extent from the court of ferdinand and isabella, who came more and more under the influence of fiery bigots, to whom the mild measures of the archbishop became profoundly displeasing. the inquisitors, with don diego deza who had succeeded torquemada, at their head, incessantly entreated the sovereigns to proceed with more severity, and went the length of advising the immediate expulsion of all moors who hesitated to accept conversion and baptism forthwith. they urged that it was for the good of their souls to draw them into the fold and insisted that it would be utterly impossible for christian and moslem to live peacefully and happily side by side. the king and queen demurred, temporising as they had done with the revival of the inquisition. it might be dangerous, they argued, to enforce penalties that were too harsh. their supremacy was hardly as yet consolidated in granada; the moors had not yet entirely laid aside their arms and unwise oppression might bring about a resumption of hostilities. they hoped that the moors, like other conquered peoples, would in due course freely adopt the religion of their new masters. loving kindliness and gentle persuasion would more surely gain ground than fierce threats and arbitrary decrees. so for seven or more years the conciliatory methods of archbishop talavera prevailed and met with the approval of ferdinand and isabella. but now a remarkable man of very different character appeared upon the scene and began to advocate sterner measures. this was a franciscan monk, ximenes de cisneros, one of the most notable figures in spanish history, who became in due course inquisitor-general and regent of spain. a sketch of his life may well be given to enable us better to understand the times. ximenes de cisneros better known, perhaps, under his first name alone, was the scion of an ancient but decayed family and destined from his youth for the church. he studied at the university of salamanca and evinced marked ability. after a stay in rome, the best field for preferment, he returned to spain with the papal promise of the first vacant benefice in the see of toledo. the archbishop had other views, however, and when ximenes claimed the cure of uceda, he was sent to prison in its fortress and not to the presbytery. for six years ximenes asserted his pretensions unflinchingly and was at last nominated, when he exchanged to a chaplaincy in another diocese, that of siguenza, where he continued his theological studies and acquired hebrew and chaldee. here he came under the observation of the bishop mendoza, who afterwards became cardinal primate of spain, and who enjoyed the unbounded confidence of queen isabella. mendoza when invited to recommend to her a new confessor, in succession to talavera on his translation to the see of granada, fixed upon ximenes of whom he had never lost sight since their first acquaintance at siguenza. ximenes, meanwhile, had become more and more devoted to his sacred calling. his marked business aptitudes had gained for him the post of steward to a great nobleman, the conde de cifuentes, who had been taken prisoner by the moors. but secular concerns were distasteful to him and ximenes resigned his charge. his naturally austere and contemplative disposition had deepened into stern fanatical enthusiasm and he resolved to devote himself more absolutely to the service of the church. he entered the franciscan order, threw up all his benefices and employments, and became a simple novice in the monastery of san juan de los reyes in toledo, where his cloister life was signalised by extreme severity and self-mortification. he wore haircloth next his skin, slept on the stone floor with a wooden pillow under his head, tortured himself with continual fasts and vigils, and flogged himself perpetually. at last he became a professed monk, and because of the fame of his exemplary piety, great crowds were attracted to his confessional. he shrank now from the popular favour and retired to a lonely convent in a far off forest, where he built himself a small hermitage with his own hands and where he passed days and nights in solemn abstraction and unceasing prayer, living like the ancient anchorites on the green herbs he gathered and drinking water from the running streams. self centred and pondering deeply on spiritual concerns, constantly in a state of mental exaltation and ecstasy, he saw visions and dreamed dreams, believing himself to be in close communication with celestial agencies and was no doubt on the eve of going mad, when his superiors ordered him to reside in the convent of salceda, where he became charged with its administration and management, and was forced to exercise his powerful mind for the benefit of others. it was here that the call to court found him and he was summoned to valladolid and unexpectedly brought into the presence of the queen. isabella was greatly prepossessed in his favour by his simple dignity of manner, his discretion, his unembarrassed self-possession and above all his fervent piety in discussing religious questions. yet he hesitated to accept the office of her confessor, and only did so on the condition that he should be allowed to conform to the rules of his order and remain at his monastery except when officially on duty at the court. soon afterwards, he was appointed provincial of the franciscans in castile and set himself to reform their religious houses, the discipline of which was greatly relaxed. sloth, luxury and licentiousness prevailed and especially in his own order, which was wealthy and richly endowed with estates in the country, and stately dwellings in the towns. these monks, styled "conventuals," wasted large sums in prodigal expenditure, and were often guilty of scandalous misconduct which ximenes, as an observantine, one of a small section pledged to rigid observance of monastic rules, strongly condemned. he was encouraged and supported in the work of reform by isabella and a special bull from rome armed him with full authority. his rigorous and unsparing action met with fierce opposition, but he triumphed in the end and won a notable reward. when the archbishop of toledo died, in 1495, ximenes, unknown to himself, was selected for the great post of primate of all spain and lord high chancellor of castile. the right to nominate was vested in the queen, and ferdinand in this instance begged her to appoint his natural son, alfonso, already archbishop of saragossa, but a child almost in years. she firmly and unhesitatingly refused and recommended her confessor to the pope as the most worthy recipient of the honour. when the bull making the appointment arrived from rome, the queen summoned ximenes to her presence handed him the letter and desired him to open it before her. on reading the address, "to our venerable brother, francisco ximenes de cisneros, archbishop of toledo," he changed colour, dropped the letter, and crying, "there must be some mistake," ran out of the room. the queen, in surprise, waited, but he did not return and it was found that he had taken horse and fled to his monastery. two grandees were despatched in hot haste to ride after him, overtake him and bring him back to madrid. he returned but still resisted all the entreaties of his friends and the clearly expressed wishes of his sovereign. finally his persistent refusal was overborne, but only by the direct command of the pope, who ordered him to accept the post for which his sovereigns had chosen him. he has been sharply criticised for his apparent humility, but it is generally admitted that he was sincere in his refusal. he was already advanced in years, ambition was dying in him, he had become habituated to monastic seclusion and his thoughts were already turned from the busy turmoil of this world to the life beyond the grave. however reluctant to accept high office, ximenes was by no means slow to exercise the power it gave him. he ruled the spanish church with a rod of iron, bending all his energies to the work of reforming the practices of the clergy, enforcing discipline and insisting upon the maintenance of the strictest morality. he trod heavily, made many enemies, and stirred so much ill feeling that the malcontents combined to despatch a messenger to lay their grievances before the pope. the officious advocate, however, got no audience but went home to spain, where twenty months' imprisonment taught him not to offend again the masterful archbishop of toledo. ximenes in insisting upon a strict observance of propriety and the adoption of an exemplary life, was in himself a model to the priesthood. he never relaxed the personal mortifications which had been his rule when a simple monk. he kept no state and made no show, regulating his domestic expenditure with the strictest and most parsimonious economy, until reminded by the holy see that the dignity of his great office demanded more magnificence. still, when he increased his display and the general style of living in household, equipages and the number of his retainers, he continued to be as harsh as ever to himself. in spite of all opposition and discontent he pursued his course with inflexible purpose. his spirit was unyielding, and his energetic proceedings were unremittingly directed to the amelioration and improvement in the morals of the clergy with marked success. and now he set himself with the same uncompromising zeal to extirpate heresy. having begged archbishop talavera to allow him to join in the good work at granada, he took immediate advantage of the consent given and began to attack the moorish unbelievers in his own vigorous fashion. his first step was to call together a great conference of learned mussulman doctors, to whom he expounded with all the eloquence he had at his command, the true doctrines of the catholic faith and their superiority to the law of mahomet. he accompanied his teaching with liberal gifts, chiefly of costly articles of apparel, a specious though irresistible bribery, which had the desired effect. great numbers of the moorish doctors came over at once and their example was speedily followed by many of their illiterate disciples. so great was the number of converts that no less than three thousand presented themselves for baptism in one day, and as the rite could not be administered individually, they were christened wholesale by sprinkling them from a mop or hyssop which had been dipped in holy water, and from which the drops fell upon the proselytes as it was twirled over the heads of the multitude. these early successes stimulated the primate's zeal and he next adopted more violent measures by proceeding to imprison and impose penalties upon all moors who still stood out against conversion. he was resolved not merely to exterminate heresy, but to destroy the basis of belief contained in the most famous arabic manuscripts, large quantities of which were collected into great piles and burned publicly in the great squares of the city. many of these were beautifully executed copies of the koran; others, treasured theological and scientific works, and their indiscriminate destruction is a blot upon the reputation of the cultivated prelate who had created the most learned university in spain. more temperate and cautious people besought ximenes to hold his hand. but he proceeded pertinaciously, declaring that a tamer policy might serve in temporal matters, but not where the interests of the soul were at stake. if the unbeliever could not be drawn he must be driven into the way of salvation, and he continued with unflinching resolution to arrest all recusants, and throw them into the prisons which were filled to overflowing. discontent grew rapidly and soon broke into open violence. when an _alguazil_ in granada was leading a woman away as a prisoner, the people rose and released her from custody. the insurrection became general in the city and assumed a threatening aspect. granada was full of warlike moors and a mob besieged ximenes in his house until he was rescued by the garrison of the alhambra. the king and queen were much annoyed with ximenes and condemned his zealous precipitancy, but he was clever enough to vindicate his action and bring the sovereigns to believe that it was imperative that the rebellious moors must be sharply repressed. now a long conflict began. forcible conversion became the order of the day; baptism continued to be performed in the gross upon thousands, the alternative being exile, and numbers were actually deported to barbary in the royal ships. a fierce civil conflict broke out in the alpujarras beyond granada, which required a royal army to quell. the object sought was the welfare of the state by producing uniformity of faith. [illustration: _peint par benjamin constant_ _photogravure goupil & c^{ie}._ _the alhambra palace, granada_ the beautiful moorish stronghold during the time of the supremacy of the moors was often made the home of slaves captured in near-by frontier towns of andalusia, who endured hateful bondage under the rule of the mohammedan monarch. granada and its palace were finally captured by ferdinand and isabella, and the alhambra is to-day the finest example of moorish architecture, with its delicate elaboration of detail.] ximenes found a strenuous supporter in diego deza, the inquisitor-general, who was eager to emulate the strictness of his predecessor, torquemada. deza was a dominican who had been at one time professor of theology and confessor to the queen. he was by nature and predilection exactly fitted for his new office upon which he entered with extensive powers. a bull from pope alexander vi dated 1499 invested him with the title of "conservator of the faith" in spain. deza gave a new constitution to the holy office and prescribed that there should be a general "inquest" in places not yet visited, and that edicts should be republished requiring all persons to lay information against suspected heretics. he stirred up the zeal of all subordinate inquisitors and was well served by them, especially by one, lucero, commonly called _el tenebroso_, "the gloomy," whose savage and ruthless proceedings terrorised cordova where he presided. he made a general attack upon the most respectable inhabitants and arrested great numbers, many of whom were condemned and executed. informers crowded lucero's ante-chamber bringing monstrous tales of heretical conspiracies to reëstablish judaism and subvert the church. his familiars dragged the accused from their beds to answer to these charges and the prisons overflowed. cordova was up in arms and many would have offered armed resistance to the inquisition, but the more circumspect people, the bishop and chapter, some of the nobility and the municipal council appealed to deza praying him to remove lucero. the inquisitor-general however turned furiously upon the complainants and caused them to be arrested as abettors of heresy. philip i, acting for his wife juana, the daughter of ferdinand and isabella, was inclined to listen to the complainants, and suspended both deza and lucero from their functions. but his sudden death stayed the relief he had promised, and the tormenting officials returned to renew their oppression. the cordovese would not tamely submit and appealed to force. a strong body of men under the marques de priego attacked the "holy house," broke open the prison and liberated many of those detained, shutting up the officers of the inquisition in their place. lucero took to flight upon a swift mule and escaped. though for a time deza continued to keep his influence, he was shortly forced to resign and cordova became tranquil. deza's persecution had spared no one. in the eight years during which he held office, one account, probably greatly exaggerated, says that 2,592 persons were burned alive, some nine hundred were burned in effigy, and thirty-five thousand were punished by penance, fines and confiscations. the fall of deza and the hostile attitude of the people warned the authorities that the affairs of the inquisition must be managed more adroitly. new inquisitors must be appointed and choice fell upon ximenes de cisneros, who had already played a foremost part in proselytising, but who now was willing to adopt more moderate measures. the pope in giving his approval sent him a cardinal's hat as a recompense for past services, and as an encouragement to act wisely in the future. he had a difficult task. disaffection, strongly pronounced, prevailed through the kingdom and the inquisition was everywhere cordially detested. ximenes strove to appease the bitter feeling by instituting a searching inquiry into the conduct of his immediate predecessor, deza, and promising to hear all complaints and redress all grievances. he created a "catholic congregation" as a special court to investigate the actions of lucero in the proceedings growing out of the charges against archbishop talavera and his family. this court in due course pronounced a verdict of acquittal and rehabilitation of the talaveras. ruined houses were rebuilt, the memory of the dead restored to honour and fame, and this act of grace was published at valladolid with great solemnity in the presence of the kings, bishops and grandees. nevertheless ximenes had no desire to remodel the holy office or limit its operations to any considerable extent. on the contrary, he bent all his efforts to develop its influence and make it an engine of government, utilising it as a political as well as a religious agency. it was as rigorous as ever but he set his face like a flint against dishonesty. he systematised the division of the realm into inquisitorial provinces, each under its own inquisitor with headquarters in the principal cities, such as seville, toledo, valladolid, murcia, and in sardinia and sicily beyond the seas. his personal ascendancy became extraordinary. he enjoyed the unbounded confidence and favour of the sovereign. he had been created cardinal of spain, a title rarely conferred. as archbishop of toledo, he was the supreme head of the spanish clergy, and as inquisitor-general, he was the terror of every priest and every layman within his jurisdiction. he had, in fact, reached the highest ecclesiastical rank, short of the papacy and as he rose higher and higher he wielded powers little short of an independent absolute monarch, and his zeal in the cause of his religion grew more and more fervent and far-reaching. no doubt in an earlier age he would have turned crusader, but now he sought to crush the fugitive moors who had escaped into northern africa, whence they made constant descents upon the south of spain, burning to avenge the wrongs of their co-religionists, and were a constant scourge and source of grievous trouble. the evils centred in the province of oran, a fortified stronghold--the most considerable of the moslem possessions on the shores of the mediterranean--whence issued a swarm of pirate cruisers, manned by the exiles driven out of spain, who had sought and found a welcome refuge in oran. ximenes was resolved to seize and sweep out this hornets' nest and undertook its conquest on his own account. much ridicule was levelled at this "monk about to fight the battles of spain," but he went forth undeterred at the head of a powerful army, conveyed by a strong fleet from cartagena, which he landed at the african port of mazalquivir, and after some desperate fighting made himself master of oran. after his successful african campaign he resumed his duties of chief inquisitor, and the holy office under his fierce and vigorous rule became more than ever oppressive. ximenes pursued his unwavering course and encouraged his inquisitors in their unceasing activity. he desired to extend the power and influence of the inquisition, and established it in the new countries recently added to the spanish dominion. a branch was set up in the newly conquered province of oran, and another farther afield in the recently discovered new world beyond the atlantic. on the initiative of ximenes fray juan quevedo, bishop of cuba, was appointed chief inquisitor in the kingdom of terrafirma, as the territories of the new world were styled. the energetic pursuit of heresy did not monopolise the exertions of ximenes. he founded the great university of alcalá, a vast design, a noble seat of learning richly endowed with magnificent buildings and a remarkable scheme of education, which produced the ablest and most eminent scholars. another great monument is the well known polyglot bible, designed to exhibit the scriptures in their various ancient languages, a work of singular erudition upon which the munificent cardinal expended vast sums. ximenes lived to the advanced age of eighty-one, long enough to act as regent of spain during the interregnum preceding the arrival of charles i, better known as the emperor charles v. the immediate cause of his death was said to have been the receipt of a letter from the emperor in which he was coldly thanked for his services and desired to retire to his diocese, to "seek from heaven that reward which heaven alone could adequately bestow." in his last moments he is reported to have said, "that he had never intentionally wronged any man; but had rendered to every one his due, without being swayed, as far as he was conscious, by fear or affection." he combined a versatility of talent usually found only in softer and more flexible characters. though bred in the cloister, he distinguished himself both in the cabinet and the camp. for the latter, indeed, so repugnant to his regular profession, he had a natural genius, according to the testimony of his biographer; and he evinced his relish for it by declaring that "the smell of gunpowder was more grateful to him than the sweetest perfume of arabia!" in every situation, however, he exhibited the stamp of his peculiar calling; and the stern lineaments of the monk were never wholly concealed under the mask of the statesman or the visor of the warrior. he had a full measure of the religious bigotry which belonged to the age; and he had melancholy scope for displaying it, as chief of that dread tribunal over which he presided during the last ten years of his life. the accession of the grandson of ferdinand and isabella to the spanish throne as charles i (better known as the emperor charles v), seemed to foreshadow a change in the relations of the inquisition and the state. the young sovereign was born in ghent and was more fleming than spaniard. though his grandfather left in his will solemn injunctions "to labour with all his strength to destroy and extirpate heresy" and to appoint ministers "who will conduct the inquisition justly and properly for the service of god and the exaltation of the catholic faith, and who will also have great zeal for the destruction of the sect of mahomet," it was reported that he sympathised with the critics of the inquisition and was disposed to curtail its activity. the influence of his old tutor, adrian of utrecht, whom he commissioned inquisitor-general, first of aragon, and, after the death of ximenes, of castile also, changed him however into a strong friend and staunch supporter of the institution. cardinal manrique, who followed as inquisitor-general, was a man of more kindly disposition, charitable and a benefactor to the poor. he was inclined to relax the severities of the holy office but it was urged upon him that heresy was on the increase on account of the appearance of lutheran opinions and the bitterest persecution was more than ever essential. protestants began to appear sporadically and called for uncompromising repression. the writings of luther, erasmus, melancthon, zwingli, and the rest of the early reformers were brought into spain, but the circulation was adjudged a crime, though erasmus had once been a favourite author. the inquisition later prepared an _index expurgandorum_, or list of condemned and prohibited literature. all books named on it were put under the ban of the law. possession of a translation of the bible in the vulgar tongues was forbidden in 1551, and the prohibition was not lifted until 1782. by that time there was no longer such keen interest in its contents, and the book was little circulated. in 1825 the british and foreign bible society sent one of its agents into spain to distribute it, and his adventures are described autobiographically in that interesting work, george borrow's "bible in spain." in spite of all the efforts to make good catholics and good spaniards of the moriscos, little real progress was made. they had accepted baptism under compulsion, not realising that thereby they were brought under control of the church. little effort was made to instruct them, moreover, and as a result thousands, nominally christians, observed scrupulously the whole moslem ritual, used the old language, and kept their old costume. some, to be sure, were hardly to be distinguished from the spaniards with whom they had intermarried, but, on the whole, they seemed an unassimilable element in the population. when philip ii succeeded his father, charles v, in 1556, he determined to take strong measures. a decree proclaimed in granada in 1566 forbade the use of the distinctive dress and of the moorish names. the old customs were to be abandoned, and all the baths were to be destroyed. rebellion followed this edict, and, for a time, it was doubtful whether it could be crushed. finally open resistance was overcome, and several thousand were transferred to the mountains of northern spain. meanwhile the inquisition was active, and thousands were brought to trial for pagan practices. prejudice continued to grow, and fanatics declared that spain could never prosper until the "evil seed" was destroyed or expelled from the christian land. jealousy of the prosperity of the moriscos led the populace to agree with the bigots, and finally expulsion was unanimously decreed by the council of state, in 1609, during the reign of philip iii. valencia was first purged, and next murcia, granada, andalusia, old and new castile and aragon. afterward vigorous attempts to root out individuals of moorish blood, who had become indistinguishable because of their strict conformity, were made. great suffering was incurred by the unfortunate exiles and many died. those who reached africa carried with them a hatred which persists to the present. the number driven out is uncertain. the estimates vary from three hundred thousand to three million. probably the most accurate estimate is that of six hundred thousand. in this number were included the most skilful artisans, and the most industrious and most thrifty portion of the population. it was a mistake from which spain has never recovered. chapter iii prisons and punishments prisons, usually, a part of the building occupied by court--better than civil prisons--torture inflicted--no new methods invented--description of various kinds--two lutheran congregations broken up--description of some famous _autos da fé_--famous victims--englishmen punished--archbishop carranza's trial. the prisons of the inquisition fall under two great heads, the "secret prisons" in which those awaiting trial were confined, and the "penitential prisons" where sentences were served. generally there were also _cárceles de familiares_ where officers of the institution charged with wrong-doing were confined. in some tribunals there were others variously called _cárceles medias_, _cárceles comunes_, and _cárceles públicas_, where offenders not charged with heresy might be confined. the secret prisons, however, have most fired the imagination. a man might disappear from his accustomed haunts, and for years his family and friends be ignorant of his condition, or even of his very existence, until one day he might appear at an _auto da fé_. what went on within the walls was a mystery. seldom did any hint of the proceedings leak out. everyone was sworn to secrecy, and the arm of the inquisition was long, if the luckless witness or attendant failed to heed his instructions. these prisons were almost invariably a part of the building occupied by the tribunal. in valencia, it was the archbishop's palace; in saragossa, the royal castle; in seville, the triana; in cordova, the alcázar, and so on. in some, there were cells and dungeons already prepared, in others, they were constructed. there was no common standard of convenience or sanitation. in many cases, generally, perhaps, they were superior to the common jails in which ordinary prisoners were confined. yet we know that some were entirely dark and very damp. others were so small that a cramped position was necessary, and were hardly ventilated at all. sometimes they were poorly cared for, and loathsome filth and vermin made them unendurable. many places were used for prisons during the three hundred years of the inquisition, and no statement is broad enough to cover them all. the mortality was high, yet not so high as in the prisons generally. since many were unsuitable and often unsafe, the wearing of fetters was common. prisoners often, incidentally, speak of their chains. occasionally more than one prisoner occupied the same room, and much evidence was secured in this way, as each hoped to lighten his own punishment by inculpating others. writing materials were permitted, though every sheet of paper must be accounted for and delivered into an official's hands. lights were not permitted however. yet entire secrecy was not always secured. attendants were sometimes bribed, and by various ingenious methods, communications occasionally found their way in or out. again in cases of severe sickness, the prisoner might be transferred to a hospital, which however must account for him if he recovered. cardinal adrian, the inquisitor-general, reminded the tribunals that the prison was for detention, not for punishment, that prisoners must not be defrauded of their food, and that the cells must be carefully inspected. these and similar instructions issued at intervals were not always obeyed, for inquisitors were often negligent. according to lea, "no general judgment can be formed as to the condition of so many prisons during three centuries, except that their average standard was considerably higher than that in other jurisdictions, and that, if there were abodes of horror, such as have been described by imaginative writers they were wholly exceptional."[5] again the same author quotes instances where prisoners speak of improved health, due to better food in prison than they were accustomed to at home, and in summing up declares that the general management was more humane than could be found elsewhere, either in or out of spain. [5] lea. history of the inquisition in spain. vol. ii. p. 526. we may briefly recapitulate the various processes of the inquisition in order, as they obtained. first came the denunciation, followed by seizure and the commencement of an inquiry. the several offences imputed were next submitted to those logical experts named "qualifiers" who decided, so to speak, "whether there was a true bill," in which case the procurator fiscal committed the accused to durance. three audiences were given him, and the time was fully taken up with cautions and monitions. the charges were next formulated but with much prolixity and reduplication. they were not reduced to writing and delivered to the accused for slow perusal and reply, but were only read over to him, hurriedly. on arraignment he was called upon to reply, then and there, to each article, to state at once whether it was true or false. the charges were usually originated by an informer and resort was had, if necessary, to "inquiry," the hunting up of suspicious or damaging facts on which evidence was sought, in any quarter and from any one good or bad. if the accused persisted in denial he was allowed counsel, but later the counsel became an official of the inquisition and naturally made only a perfunctory defence. an appeal to torture was had if the prisoner persisted in denying his guilt, in the face of plausible testimony, or if he confessed only partially to the charges against him, or if he refused to name his accomplices. a witness who had retracted his testimony or had contradicted himself, might be tortured in order that the truth might be made known. it was admitted, however, that torture was by no means an infallible method for bringing out the truth. "weak-hearted men, impatient of the first pain, will confess crimes they never committed and criminate others at the same time. bold and strong ones will bear the most severe torments. those who have been already on the rack are likely to bear it with greater courage, for they know how to adapt their limbs to it and can resist more powerfully." it may be admitted that the system was so far humane that the torture was not applied until every other effort had been tried and had failed. the instruments of torture were first exhibited with threats, but when once in use, it might be repeated day after day, "in continuation," as it was called, and if any "irregularity" occurred, such as the death of a victim, the inquisitors were empowered to absolve one another. nobles were supposedly exempted from torture, and it was not permissible by the civil laws in aragon, but the holy office was nevertheless authorised to torture without restriction all persons of all classes. torture was not inflicted as a punishment by the inquisition, nor was it peculiar to its trials. until a comparatively recent date it was a recognised method of securing testimony, accepted in nearly all courts of europe as a matter of course. the inquisition seems to have invented no new methods, and seldom used the extreme forms commonly practised. in fact in nearly every case, torture was inflicted by the regular public executioner who was called in for the purpose and sworn to secrecy. the list of tortures practised on civil prisoners was long, and they seem to us now fiendish in their ingenuity. a complete course would require many hours, and included apparently the infliction of pain to every organ or limb and to almost every separate muscle and nerve. the records of the inquisition show almost invariably the infliction of a few well known sorts. some sorts were abandoned because of the danger of permanent harm, and others less violent, but probably no less painful, were substituted. often the record states that the prisoner "overcame the torture," _i. e._ was not moved to confess. evidently, though the whole idea is abhorrent to us to-day, torture as inflicted was less awful than some writers would have us believe.[6] [6] lea. history of the inquisition in spain. vol. iii. a curious memento of the methods employed by the holy office has been preserved in an ancient "manual of the inquisition of seville," a thin quarto volume bound in vellum, with pages partly printed, partly in manuscript. it bears the date 1628, and purports to be compiled from ancient and modern instructions for the order of procedure. it was found in the palace of the inquisition at seville, when it was sacked in the year 1820. one part of this manual details the steps to be taken, "when torture has to be performed." the criminal having been brought into the audience, was warned that he had not told the entire truth, and as he was believed to have kept back and hidden many things, he was about to be "tormented" to compel him to speak out. formal sentence to the torture chamber was then passed, after "invoking the name of christ." it was announced that the "question" would be administered. the method of infliction was detailed whether by pulleys or by water or cords, or by all, to be continued for "as long a time as may appear well," with the proviso that if in the said torment, "he (or she) should die or be wounded, or if there be any effusion of blood or mutilation of member, the blame should be his (or hers) not ours." here follows in manuscript the description of the torments applied to one unfortunate female whose name is not given. "on this she was ordered to be taken to the chamber of torment whither went the lords inquisitors, and when they were there she was admonished to tell the truth and not to let herself be brought into such great trouble. "her answer is not recorded. "carlos felipe, the executor of justice, was called and his oath taken that he would do his business well and faithfully and that he would keep the secret. all of which he promised. "she was told to tell the truth or orders would be given to strip her. she was commanded to be stripped naked. "she was told to tell the truth or orders would be given to cut off her hair. it was taken off and she was examined by the doctor and surgeon who certified that there was no reason why she should not be put to the torture. "she was commanded to mount the rack and to tell the truth or her body should be bound; and she was bound. she was commanded to tell the truth, or they would order her right foot to be made fast to the _trampazo_."[7] [7] _trampazo_ means, exactly, an "extreme tightening of cords": _la ultima de las vueltas que se dan en el tormento de las cuerdas_. after the _trampazo_ of the right foot that of the left followed. then came the binding and stretching of the right arm, then that of the left. after that the _garrote_ or the compression of the fleshy parts of the arms and thighs with fine cords, a plan used to revive any person who had fainted under the torture. last of all the _mancuerda_ was inflicted, a simultaneous tension of all the cords on all the limbs and parts. the water torture was used to extort confession. the patient was tightly bound to the _potro_, or ladder, the rungs of which were sharp-edged. the head was immovably fastened lower than the body, and the mouth was held open by an iron prong. a strip of linen slowly conducted water into the mouth, causing the victim to strangle and choke. sometimes six or eight jars, each holding about a quart, were necessary to bring the desired result. this is the "water-cure" found in the philippines by american soldiers when the islands were captured. if these persuasions still failed of effect, or if the hour was late, or "for other considerations" the torment might be suspended with the explanation that it had been insufficiently tried and the victim was taken back to his prison to be brought out again after a respite. if, on the other hand, a confession was secured, it was written down word for word and submitted to the victim for ratification after at least twenty-four hours had elapsed. if he revoked the confession, he might be tortured again. when a number of cases had been decided, the suprema appointed a day, usually a sunday or a feast day, for pronouncing sentence. this was an _auto da fé_, literally an "act of faith." the greater festivals, easter day, christmas day, or sundays in advent or lent were excepted because these holy days had their own special musical or dramatic entertainments in the churches. the day fixed was announced from all the pulpits in the city (seville or madrid or cordova as the case might be) and notice given that a representative of the inquisition would deliver a "sermon of the faith" and that no other preacher might raise his voice. the civil authorities were warned to be ready to receive their victims. at the same time officials unfurled a banner and made public proclamation to the effect that "no person whatever his station or quality from that hour until the completion of the _auto_ should carry arms offensive or defensive, under pain of the greater excommunication and the forfeiture of such arms; nor during the same period should any one ride in coach, or sedan chair, or on horseback, through the streets in the route of the procession, nor enter the enclosure in which the place of execution (_quemadero_) was erected," which was usually beyond the walls. on the eve of the great day a gorgeous procession was organised, for which all the communities of friars in the city and neighbourhood assembled at the holy house of the inquisition, together with the commissaries and familiars of the holy office. they sallied forth in triumphal array, followed by the "qualifiers" and experts, all carrying large white tapers, lighted. in their midst a bier was borne covered with a black pall, and, bringing up the rear, was a band, instrumental and vocal, performing hymns. in this order the procession reached the public square, when the pall was removed from the bier and a green cross disclosed which was carried to the altar on the platform, and there erected surrounded by a dozen candles. the white cross was carried to the burning place. now a strong body of horse and a number of dominican friars took post to watch through the night and the rest of the actors dispersed. at the same time those who were to suffer were prepared for the fatal event. all were shaved close, both head and beard, so that they might present an appearance of nakedness and humiliation suitable to their forlorn condition. at sunrise on their last day they were arrayed in the prescribed garb and brought from their cells into the chapel or great hall. the least heinous offenders were in coarse black blouses and pantaloons, and were bare-footed and bare-headed. the worst culprits were in the _sanbenito_ or penitential sack of yellow canvas, adorned with a st. andrew's cross in bright red paint, and they often carried a halter round their necks as a badge of ignominy. those to die at the stake were distinguished by black _sanbenitos_ with painted flames and wore on their heads a conical paper headdress in the shape of a bishop's mitre, but also resembling somewhat a fool's cap. this was called the _coroza_, a contemptuous form of _corona_ or crown. to make the clothing more hideous, it was decorated by coarse pictures of devils in flames. the condemned as they passed on their way were assailed to the last with importunate exhortations to repent, and a promise was held out to them that if they yielded they would be rewarded by a less painful death, and would be strangled before the flames reached them. all the penitents were obliged to sit upon the ground in profound silence and without so much as moving a limb, while the slow hours dragged themselves along. in the morning a sumptuous meal was set before them, and they were suffered to eat their fill. all the officials and visitors were also regaled before the day's business began. after the sermon, the secretary read to all the people the oath pledging them to support the inquisition. then sentences were pronounced, beginning with the lesser offenders and proceeding to the graver. the punishments ranged from a reprimand, through abjuration, fines, exile, for a longer or shorter period, destruction of residence, penance, scourging, the galleys, imprisonment, wearing the _sanbenito_ or penitential garment, up to "relaxation to the secular arm;" _i. e._ death by fire. these penalties carried with them civil disability, and tainted the blood of the descendants of the condemned as well. penance might be inflicted in various forms. the condemned, perhaps, might be required to fast one day in every week, to recite a specified number of prayers on appointed days, or to appear at the church door with a halter around his neck on successive sundays. when scourging was inflicted, the penitent, naked to the waist, was placed astride an ass, and paraded through the principal streets preceded by the town crier. meanwhile the executioner, accompanied by a clerk to keep tally, plied the _penca_ or leather strap, but was charged most solemnly not to draw blood. usually two hundred lashes was the limit. theoretically a heretic who escaped the stake by confession was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment. this penalty might be served in a prison, a monastery, or in a private house. as a matter of fact, comparatively few were kept in prisons as the expense of maintenance was a heavy burden, and the sentences were usually changed to deportation to the colonies, or assignment to the galleys, or else the sentence was shortened. the trial and sentence of the bodies of the dead was common, but it was not peculiar to the inquisition. as late as 1600, in scotland, the bodies of the earl of gowrie and his brother were brought into court, and sentenced to be hanged, quartered and gibbeted. logan of restalrig, in 1609, three years after his death, was tried on the charge of being concerned in the same conspiracy, was found guilty and his property was confiscated. in recounting the punishments imposed by the inquisition, we must not forget that it assumed jurisdiction over many crimes which to-day are tried by the civil courts. bigamy was punished as, by a second marriage, the criminal denied the authority of the church which makes marriage a sacrament. certain forms of blasphemy also were brought before it, and perjury as well. personation of the priesthood, or of officials of the inquisition, was punished, and later it gained jurisdiction over unnatural crimes. sorcery and witchcraft, which in other states, including the american colonies, were considered subjects for the secular courts, were within the jurisdiction of the spanish inquisition. strange as it may appear at first thought, the attitude of the inquisition toward the witchcraft delusion was one of skepticism almost from the beginning. individual inquisitors, influenced by the well nigh universal belief, were occasionally active, but the suprema moderated their zeal. in 1610 an _auto_ was held at logroño, which was the centre of wild excitement. twenty-nine witches were punished, six of whom were burned, and the bones of five others who had died in prison were also consumed. the eighteen remaining were "reconciled." in 1614, however, the suprema drew up an elaborate code of instructions to the tribunals. while not denying the existence of witchcraft, these instructions treated it as a delusion and practically made proof impossible. as a result of this policy the victims of the craze in spain can be counted almost by the score, while in almost every other country of europe, they are numbered by the thousand. in great britain the best estimate fixes the number of victims at thirty thousand, and as late as 1775 the great legal author, sir william blackstone, says that to deny "the actual existence of witchcraft and sorcery is at once flatly to contradict the revealed word of god."[8] [8] lea. history of the inquisition in spain. vol. iv. heresy, of course, according to the views not only of catholics but of protestants, deserved death as a form of treason. tolerance is a modern idea. calvin burned servetus at geneva and was applauded for it. protestants in england persecuted other protestants as well as catholics. the impenitent heretic in spain was burned alive. that one, who after conviction, expressed his repentance, and his desire to die in the church was usually strangled before the flames touched him. before going on to describe some famous _autos da fé_ and the subsequent infliction of the death penalty, a word of explanation is in order. protestant doctrines were introduced into spain either by foreigners or by natives who travelled or studied in foreign lands, but made slow headway. in 1557 a secret organisation, comprising about one hundred and twenty members, was discovered in seville. the next year another little band of about sixty was found in valladolid. the almost simultaneous exposure of these two heretical organisations, both of which included some prominent people, created great commotion. charles v, then living at san yuste, whither he had retired after his abdication, wrote to his daughter juana, who was acting as regent in the absence of philip ii, urging the most stringent measures and advocating that the heretics be pursued mercilessly. little stimulation of the inquisition was necessary, and the two little congregations were destroyed. a part of those condemned at valladolid were sentenced at a great _auto da fé_ held on trinity sunday, may 21st, 1559, in valladolid, not before philip ii, who was abroad, but his sister, princess juana, presided and with her was the unhappy prince, don carlos. it was a brilliant gathering, a great number of grandees of spain, titled noblemen and gentlemen untitled, ladies of high rank in gorgeous apparel, all seated in great state to watch the arrival of the penitential procession. fourteen heretics were to die, sixteen more to be "reconciled" but to be branded with infamy and suffer lesser punishments. among the sufferers were many persons of rank and consideration such as the two brothers cazalla and their sister, children of the king's comptroller, one of them a canon of the church, the other a presbyter, and all three members of the little lutheran congregation. their mother had died in heresy and on this occasion her effigy, clad in her widow's weeds and wearing a mitre with flames, was paraded through the streets and then burned publicly. her house, where lutherans had met for prayer, was razed to the ground and a pillar erected with an inscription setting forth her offence and sentence. another victim was the licentiate, antonio herrezuelo, an impenitent lutheran, the only one who went to the stake unmoved, singing psalms by the way, and reciting passages of scripture. they gagged him at last and a soldier in his zeal stabbed him with his halberd, but the wound was not mortal and bleeding and burning, he slowly expired. the sixteen who survived the horrors of the day were haled back to the prison of the inquisition to spend one more night in the cells. next morning they were again taken before the inquisitors who exhorted them afresh, and their sentences were finally read to them. some destined to the galleys were transferred first to the civil prison to await removal, after they had been flogged through the streets and market places. others clad in the _sanbenito_ and carrying ropes were exposed to the hoots and indignities of the ribald crowd. all who passed through the hands of the holy office were sworn to seal up in everlasting silence whatever they had seen, heard or suffered, on peril of a renewed prosecution. philip ii was present at the second great _auto_ in valladolid in october of the same year, when the remainder of the protestants were sentenced. his wife, queen mary of england, was dead, and he returned to spain by way of the netherlands, embarking at flushing for laredo. rough weather and bad seamanship all but wrecked his fleet in sight of port, and philip vowed if he were permitted to set foot on shore, to prosecute the heretics of spain unceasingly. he was saved from drowning and went at once to valladolid to carry out his vow. the ceremony was organised with unprecedented pomp and splendour. the king came in state, rejoicing that several notable heretics had been reserved to die in torments, for his especial delectation. his heir, don carlos, prince of asturias, was also present but under compulsion; he was, at that time, no more than fourteen years of age and had writhed with agony at the sight of the suffering at the former _auto_. moreover, when called upon to swear fidelity to the inquisition, he had taken the oath with great reluctance. not so king philip, who when called upon to take the same oath at the second _auto da fé_, rose in his place, drew his sword and brandished it as he swore to show every favour to the holy office and support its ministers against whomsoever might directly or indirectly impede its efforts or affairs. "_asi lo juro_," he said with deep feeling. "thus i swear." the victims at this great _auto da fé_ were many and illustrious. one was don carlos de seso, an italian of noble family, the son of a bishop, a scholar who had long been in the service of the emperor charles v, and was chief magistrate of toro. he had married a spanish lady and resided at logroño, where he became an object of suspicion as a professor of lutheranism, and was arrested. they took him to the prison of valladolid, where he was charged, tortured and condemned to die. when called upon to make confession, he wrote two full sheets denouncing the catholic teaching, claiming that it was at variance with the true faith of the gospel. the priests argued with him in vain, and he was brought into church next morning, gagged, and so taken to the burning place, "lest he should speak heresy in the hearing of the people." at the stake the gag was removed and he was again exhorted to recant but he stoutly refused and bade them light up the fire speedily so that he might die in his belief. much grief was felt by the dominicans at the lapse of one of their order, fray domingo de rojas, who was undoubtedly a lutheran. on his way to the stake he strove to appeal to the king who drove him away and ordered him to be gagged. more than a hundred monks of his order followed him close entreating him to recant, but he persisted in a determined although inarticulate refusal until in sight of the flames. he then recanted and was strangled before being burned. one juan sanchez, a native of valladolid, had fled to flanders, but was pursued, captured and brought back to spain to die on this day. when the cords which had bound him snapped in the fire, he bounded into the air with his agony but still repelled the priests and called for more fire. nine more were burned in the presence of the king, who was no merely passive spectator, but visited the various stakes and ordered his personal guard to assist in piling up the fuel. the congregation at seville were sentenced at _autos_ held in 1559 and 1560. on december 22d of the latter year, there were fourteen burned in the flesh and three in effigy. the last were notable people. one was doctor egidio, who had been a leading canon of seville cathedral, and who had been tried and forced to recant his heresies in 1552. after release he renewed his connection with the lutherans, but soon died and was buried at seville. his corpse was exhumed, brought to trial, and burnt with his effigy; all his property was confiscated and his memory declared infamous. another was doctor ponce de la fuente, a man of deep learning and extraordinary eloquence who had been chaplain and preacher to the emperor. he followed the imperial court into germany, then returned to charm vast congregations in seville, but his sermons were reported by spies to be tainted with the reformed doctrines. he was seized by the inquisition and many incriminating papers were also taken. when cast into a secret dungeon and confronted with these proofs of his heresy, he would make no confession, nor would he betray any of his friends. he was transferred to a subterranean cell, damp and pestiferous, so narrow he could barely move himself, and was deprived of the commonest necessaries of life. existence became impossible under such conditions, and he died, proclaiming with his last breath that neither scythians nor cannibals could be more cruel and inhuman than the barbarians of the holy office. the third effigy consumed was that of doctor juan pérez de pineda, then a fugitive in geneva. chief among the living victims was julian hernandez, commonly called _el chico_, "the little," from his diminutive stature. yet his heart was of the largest and his courage extraordinary. he was a deacon in the reformed church and dared to penetrate the interior of spain, disguised as a muleteer, carrying merchandise in which lutheran literature was concealed. being exceedingly shrewd and daring he travelled far and wide, beyond castile into andalusia, distributing his books among persons of rank and education in all the chief cities. his learning, skill in argument, and piety, were not less remarkable than the diligence and activity by which he baffled all efforts to lay hold of him. at last he was caught and imprisoned. relays of priests were told off to controvert his opinions, and he was repeatedly tortured to extract the names of those who had aided him in his long and dangerous pilgrimage through the peninsula, but he was staunch and silent to the last. a citizen of london, one nicholas burton, was a shipmaster who traded to cadiz in his own vessel. he was arrested on the information of a "familiar" of the inquisition, charged with having spoken in slighting terms of the religion of the country. no reason was given him, and when he protested indignantly, he was thrown into the common gaol and detained there for a fortnight, during which he was moved to administer comfort and preach the gospel to his fellow-prisoners. this gave a handle to his persecutors and he was removed on a further charge of heresy to seville, where he was imprisoned, heavily ironed in the secret gaol of the inquisition in the triana. at the end he was condemned as a contumacious lutheran, and was brought out, clad in the _sanbenito_ and exposed in the great hall of the holy office with his tongue forced out of his mouth. last of all, being obdurate in his heresy, he was burned and his ship with its cargo was taken possession of by his persecutors. the story does not end here. another englishman, john frampton, an attorney of bristol, was sent to cadiz by a part-owner to demand restoration of the ship. he became involved in a tedious law suit and was at last obliged to return to england for enlarged powers. bye and bye he went out a second time to spain, and on landing at cadiz was seized by the servants of the inquisition and carried to seville. he travelled on mule back "tied by a chain that came three times under its belly and the end whereof was fastened in an iron padlock made fast to the saddle bow." two armed familiars rode beside him, and thus escorted and secured, he was conveyed to the old prison and lodged in a noisome dungeon. the usual interrogatories were put to him and it was proved to the satisfaction of the holy office that he was an english heretic. the same evidence sufficed to place him on the rack, and after fourteen months, he was taken to be present as a penitent at the same _auto da fé_ which saw burton, the ship's captain, done to death. frampton went back to prison for another year and was forbidden to leave spain. he managed to escape and returned to england to make full revelation of his wrongs, but the ship was never surrendered and no indemnity was obtained. other englishmen fell from time to time into the hands of the inquisition. hakluyt preserved the simple narratives of two english sailors, who were brought by their spanish captors from the indies as a sacrifice to the "holy house" of seville, though the authenticity of the statement has been attacked. one, a happy-go-lucky fellow, miles phillips, who had been too well acquainted in mexico with the dungeons of the inquisition, slipped over the ship's side at san lucar, near cadiz, made his way to shore, and boldly went to seville, where he lived a hidden life as a silk-weaver, until he found his chance to steal away and board a devon merchantman. the other, job hortop, added to his two years of mexican imprisonment, two more years in seville. then "they brought us out in procession," as he tells us, "every one of us having a candle in his hand and the coat with s. andrew's cross on our backs; they brought us up on an high scaffold, that was set up in the place of s. francis, which is in the chief street in seville; there they set us down upon benches, every one in his degree and against us on another scaffold sate all the judges and the clergy on their benches. the people wondered and gazed on us, some pitying our case, others said, 'burn those heretics.' when we had sat there two hours, we had a sermon made to us, after which one called bresina, secretary to the inquisition, went up into the pulpit with the process and called on robert barret, shipmaster, and john gilbert, whom two familiars of the inquisition brought from the scaffold in front of the judges, and the secretary read the sentence, which was that they should be burnt, and so they returned to the scaffold and were burnt. "then, i, job hortop and john bone, were called and brought to the same place, as the others and likewise heard our sentence, which was, that we should go to the galleys there to row at the oar's end ten years and then to be brought back to the inquisition house, to have the coat with st. andrew's cross put on our backs and from thence to go to the everlasting prison remediless. "i, with the rest were sent to the galleys, where we were chained four and four together.... hunger, thirst, cold and stripes we lacked none, till our several times expired; and after the time of twelve years, for i served two years above my sentence, i was sent back to the inquisition house in seville and there having put on the above mentioned coat with st. andrew's cross, i was sent to the everlasting prison remediless, where i wore the coat four years and then, upon great suit, i had it taken off for fifty duckets, which hernandez de soria, treasurer of the king's mint, lent me, whom i was to serve for it as a drudge seven years." this victim, too, escaped in a fly-boat at last and reached england. the records of the inquisition of this period contain the name of an eminent spanish ecclesiastic who offended the holy office and felt the weight of its arm. this was bartolome de carranza, archbishop of toledo, primate of spain, a dominican,--whose rise had been rapid and who was charged with leanings toward lutheranism. in early life he had passed through the hands of the inquisition and was censured for expressing approval of the writings of erasmus, but no other action was taken. his profound theological knowledge indeed commended him to the councils of the church, for which he often acted as examiner of suspected books. carranza's connection with english history is interesting. at the time of queen mary's marriage with philip ii, he came to london to arrange, in conjunction with cardinal pole, for the reconciliation of england to rome. he laboured incessantly to win over british protestants, "preached continually, convinced and converted heretics without number, ... guided the queen and councils and assisted in framing rules for the governance of the english universities." he was particularly anxious for the persecution of obstinate heretics, and was in a measure responsible for the burning of thomas cranmer, archbishop of canterbury. his zeal and his great merits marked him down as the natural successor to the archbishopric of toledo, when it became vacant, and he was esteemed as a chief pillar of the catholic church, destined in due course to the very highest preferment. he might indeed become cardinal and even supreme pontiff before he died. yet when nearing the topmost pinnacle he was on the verge of falling to the lowest depths. he had many enemies. his stern views on church discipline, enunciated before the council of trent, alienated many of the bishops, who planned his ruin and secretly watched his discourses and writings for symptoms of unsoundness. valdés, the chief inquisitor, was a leading opponent and industriously collected a mass of evidence tending to inculpate carranza. he had used "perilous language" when preaching in england, especially in the hearing of heretics, and one witness deposed that some of his sermons might have been delivered by melancthon himself. he had affirmed that mercy might be shown to lutherans who abjured their errors, and had frequently manifested scandalous indulgence to heretics. valdés easily framed a case against carranza, strong enough to back up an application to the pope to authorise the inquisition to arrest and imprison the primate of spain. paul iv, the new pope, permitted the arrest. great circumspection was shown in making it because of the prisoner's rank. carranza was invited to come to valladolid to have an interview with the king, and, with some misgivings, the archbishop set out. a considerable force of men was gathered together by the way--all loyal to the inquisition--and at the town of torrelaguna, the arrest was made with great formality and respect. on reaching valladolid the prisoner begged he might be lodged in the house of a friend. the holy office consented but hired the building. the trial presented many serious difficulties. here was no ordinary prisoner; carranza was widely popular, and the supreme council of the kingdom was divided as to the evidences of his guilt. nearly a hundred witnesses were examined, but proof was not easily to be secured. besides, carranza had appealed to the supreme pontiff. year after year was spent in tiresome litigation and a fierce contest ensued between rome and the spanish court which backed up the inquisition. at length, after eight years' confinement, the primate was sent to cartagena to take ship for rome, accompanied by several inquisitors and the duke of alva, that most notorious nobleman, the scourge and oppressor of the netherlands. all landed at civita vecchia and the party proceeded to the holy city, when carranza was at once lodged in the castle of st. angelo, the well known state prison. he was detained there nine years, until released by pope gregory xiii. he was censured for his errors, and required to abjure the lutheran principles found in his writings, and was relieved from his functions as archbishop, to which, however, his strength, impaired by age and suffering, was no longer equal. while visiting the seven churches as a penance, he was taken ill, april 23d, 1576, and soon died. before his death, however, the pope gave him full indulgence. those who saw him in his last days record that he bore his trials with dignity and patience. but this learned priest who had been called to the highest rank of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, only to be himself assailed and thrown down, was the same who had sat in cruel judgment upon thomas cranmer and compassed his martyrdom. chapter iv the inquisition abroad fresh field for the inquisition in spanish america--operations begun by ximenes and more firmly established by charles v--spanish viceroys' complaints--zeal of the inquisitors checked for a while--revived under philip ii--royal edict forbidding heretics to emigrate to spanish america--inquisition extended to the low countries--dutch rebellion proceedings--the inquisition of the galleys instituted by philip--growing dislike of the inquisition--experiences of carcel, a goldsmith--his account of an _auto da fé_--decline of the powers of the inquisition. the acquisition of spanish america opened a fresh field for the activity of the inquisition. besides the natives there were the new christians who had fled across the seas seeking refuge from intolerance in the old country. although the emigration of heretics was forbidden after a time, lest they should spread the hateful doctrines, cardinal ximenes, when inquisitor-general, resolved that the new world should have its own holy office, and appointed fray juan de quevedo, then bishop of cuba, as inquisitor-general of the "tierra firma" as the spanish mainland was commonly called. the inquisition was more broadly established by charles v, who empowered cardinal adrian to organise it and appoint new chiefs. the dominicans were supreme, as in the old country, and proceeded with their usual fiery vigour, wandering at large through the new territories and spreading dismay among the native population. the indians retreated in crowds into the interior, abandoned the christianity they had never really embraced, and joined the other native tribes still unsubdued. the spanish viceroys alarmed at the general desertion complained to the king at home and the excessive zeal of the inquisitors was checked for a time. but when philip ii came into power he would not agree with this milder policy, and although the inquisitors were no longer permitted to perambulate the country districts hunting up heretics, the holy office was established with its palaces and prisons in the principal cities and acted with great vigour. three great central tribunals were created at panama, lima, and at cartagena de las indias, and persecution raged unceasingly, chiefly directed against jews and moors. in the city of mexico also there was an inquisitor-general. a royal edict proclaimed that "no one newly converted to our holy faith from being moor or jew nor his child shall pass over into our indies without our express license." at the same time the prohibition was extended to any who had been "reconciled," and to the child or grandchild of anyone who had worn the _sanbenito_ or of any person burnt or condemned as a heretic ... "all, under penalty of loss of goods and peril of his person, shall be perpetually banished from the indies, and if he have no property let them give him a hundred lashes, publicly." the emperor, charles v, is responsible for the extension of the inquisition from spain to the low countries, by which he repaid the loyal service and devotion the dutch people had long rendered him. this inquisition was headed at first however by a layman, and then four inquisitors chosen from the secular clergy were named. the netherlanders resisted stoutly its establishment and its operation, and in 1646 it was provided that no sentence should go into effect unless approved by some member of the provincial council. heretics were condemned of course, but the number was not large, though in some way grossly exaggerated reports of the numbers of victims have gained credence. finally, on the application of the people of brabant, who declared that the name would injure commercial prosperity in their district, the name was dropped altogether. at best it was a faint and feeble copy of the spanish institution, and during the reign of charles was little feared. in proof we may cite the fact that eleven successive edicts were necessary to keep the inquisition at work between 1620 and 1650. philip ii, on his accession, attempted to increase the power of the institution, with the hope of uprooting the reformed doctrines. the assertion, often made, however, that the inquisition is responsible for the revolt of the netherlands is entirely too broad. other factors than religious differences entered into the complex situation. the terrible war which finally resulted in the independence of the protestant netherlands, falls outside the plan of this volume. philip wished to extend the sway of the inquisition and planned a naval tribunal to take cognisance of heresy afloat. he created the inquisition of the galleys, or, as it was afterwards styled, of the army and navy. in every sea port a commissary general visited the shipping to search for prohibited books and make sure of the orthodoxy of crews and passengers. even cargoes and bales of merchandise were examined, lest the taint of heresy should infect them. this marine inspection was most active in cadiz, at that time the great centre of traffic with the far west. a visitor from the holy office with a staff of assistants and familiars boarded every ship on arrival and departure and claimed that their authority should be respected, so that nothing might be landed or embarked without their certificate. the merchants resented this system which brought substantial commercial disadvantages, and the ships' captains disliked priestly interference with their crews, whose regular duties were neglected. the men were kept below under examination, when they were wanted on deck to make or shorten sail or take advantage of a change in the wind or a turn in the tide. by degrees the marine inquisition was thought to impede business on the high seas and fell into disuse. under succeeding sovereigns the holy office was still favoured and supported, but the reign of philip iii witnessed loud and frequent remonstrances against its operation. the cortes of castile implored the king to put some restraint upon the too zealous inquisitors, but they still wielded their arbitrary powers unchecked, and philip sought further encouragement for them from rome. the accession of philip iv to the throne was celebrated by an _auto da fé_, but no victim was put to death, and the only corporal punishment inflicted was the flogging of an immoral nun who professed to have made a compact with the devil. she was led out gagged, and, wearing the _sanbenito_, received two hundred lashes followed by perpetual imprisonment. philip iv strove for a time to check the activity of the inquisition, but he was too weak and wavering to make permanent headway against an institution, the leaders of which knew precisely what they were striving for, and pertinaciously pursued it. a graphic account of what purport to have been the painful experiences of a poor soul who fell at a later date into the clutches of the inquisitors is related by himself in a curious pamphlet printed in seville, by one carcel, who was a goldsmith in that city. evidently there is the work of another hand in it, however, as it is written with too much regard for the dramatic to have been his own composition. the description of the _auto_ is also unusual, and not according to the usual procedure. he says that he was arrested on the 2nd of april, 1680, at ten o'clock in the evening, as he was finishing a gold necklace for one of the queen's maids of honour. a week after his first arrest carcel was examined. we will quote his own words:-"in an ante-room," he says, "a smith frees me of my irons and i pass from the ante-chamber to the 'inquisitor's table,' as the small inner room is called. it is hung with blue and citron-coloured taffety. at one end, between the two grated windows, is a gigantic crucifix and on the central estrade (a table fifteen feet long surrounded by arm-chairs), with his back to the crucifix, sits the secretary, and on my right, francisco delgado ganados, the grand inquisitor, who is a secular priest. the other inquisitors had just left, but the ink was still wet in their quills, and i saw on papers before their chairs some names marked with red ink. i am seated on a low stool opposite the secretary. the inquisitor asks my name and profession and why i come there, exhorting me to confess as the only means of quickly regaining my liberty. he hears me, but when i fling myself weeping at his knees, he says coolly there is no hurry about my case; that he has more pressing business than mine waiting, (the secretary smiles), and he rings a little silver bell which stands beside him on the black cloth, for the alcaide who leads me off down a long gallery, where my chest is brought in and an inventory taken by the secretary. they cut my hair off and strip me of everything, even to my ring and gold buttons; but they leave me my beads, my handkerchief and some money i had fortunately sewn in my garters. i am then led bareheaded into a cell, and left to think and despair till evening when they bring me supper. "the prisoners are seldom put together. silence perpetual and strict is maintained in all the cells. if any prisoner should moan, complain or even pray too loud, the gaolers who watch the corridors night and day warn them through the grating. if the offence is repeated, they storm in and load you with blows to intimidate the other prisoners, who, in the deep grave-like silence, hear your every cry and every blow. "once every two months the inquisitor, accompanied by his secretary and interpreter, visits the prisoners and asks them if their food is brought them at regular hours, or if they have any complaint to make against the gaolers. but this is only a parade of justice, for if a prisoner dares to utter a complaint, it is treated as mere fanciful ravings and never attended to. "after two months' imprisonment," goes on carcel, "one saturday, when, after my meagre prison dinner, i give my linen, as usual, to the gaolers to send to the wash, they will not take it and a great cold breath whispers at my heart--to-morrow is the _auto da fé_. when, immediately after the vespers at the cathedral, they ring for matins, which they never do but when rejoicing on the eve of a great feast, i know that my horrid suspicions are right. was i glad at my escape from this living tomb, or was i paralysed by fear, at the pile perhaps already hewn and stacked for my wretched body? i know not. i was torn in pieces by the devils that rack the brains of unhappy men. i refused my next meal, but, contrary to their wont, they pressed it more than usual. was it to give me strength to bear my torture? do god's eyes not reach to the prisons of the inquisition? "i am just falling into a sickly, fitful sleep, worn out with conjecturing, when, about eleven o'clock at night, the great bolts of my cell grind and jolt back and a party of gaolers in black, in a flood of light, so that they looked like demons on the borders of heaven, come in. "the alcaide throws down by my pallet a heap of clothes, tells me to put them on and hold myself ready for a second summons. i have no tongue to answer, as they light my lamp, leave me and lock the door behind them. such a trembling seizes me for half an hour, that i cannot rise and look at the clothes which seem to me shrouds and winding sheets. i rise at last, throw myself down before the black cross i had smeared with charcoal on the wall, and commit myself, as a miserable sinner, into god's hands. i then put on the dress, which consists of a tunic with long, loose sleeves and hose drawers, all of black serge, striped with white. "at two o'clock in the morning the wretches came and led me into a long gallery where nearly two hundred men, brought from their various cells, all dressed in black, stood in a long silent line against the wall of the long, plain vaulted, cold corridor where, over every two dozen heads, swung a high brass lamp. we stood silent as a funeral train. the women, also in black, were in a neighbouring gallery, far out of our sight. by sad glimpses down a neighbouring dormitory i could see more men dressed in black, who, from time to time, paced backwards and forwards. these i afterwards found were men doomed also to be burnt, not for murder--no, but for having a creed unlike that of the jesuits. whether i was to be burnt or not i did not know, but i took courage, because my dress was like that of the rest and the monsters could not dare to put two hundred men at once into one fire, though they did hate all who love doll-idols and lying miracles. "presently, as we waited sad and silent, gaolers came round and handed us each a long yellow taper and a yellow scapular, or tabard, crossed behind and before with red crosses of saint andrew. these are the _sanbenitos_ that jews, turks, sorcerers, witches, heathen or perverts from the roman catholic church are compelled to wear. now came the gradation of our ranks--those who have relapsed, or who were obstinate during their accusations, wear the _zamarra_, which is gray, with a man's head burning on red faggots painted at the bottom and all round reversed flames and winged and armed black devils horrible to behold. i, and seventy others, wear these, and i lose all hope. my blood turns to ice; i can scarcely keep myself from swooning. after this distribution they bring us, with hard, mechanical regularity, pasteboard conical mitres (_corozas_) painted with flames and devils with the words '_sorcerer_' and '_heretic_' written round the rim. our feet are all bare. the condemned men, pale as death, now begin to weep and keep their faces covered with their hands, round which the beads are twisted. god only--by speaking from heaven--could save them. a rough, hard voice now tells us we may sit on the ground till our next orders come. the old men and boys smile as they eagerly sit down, for this small relief comes to them with the refreshment of a pleasure. "at four o'clock they bring us bread and figs, which some drop by their sides and others languidly eat. i refuse mine, but a guard prays me to put it in my pocket for i may yet need it. it is as if an angel had comforted me. at five o'clock, at daybreak, it was a ghastly sight to see shame, fear, grief, despair, written on our pale livid faces. yet not one but felt an undercurrent of joy at the prospect of any release, even by death. "suddenly, as we look at each other with ghastly eyes, the great bell of the giralda begins to boom with a funeral knell, long and slow. it was the signal of the gala day of the holy office, it was the signal for the people to come to the show. we are filed out one by one. as i pass the gallery in the great hall, i see the inquisitor, solemn and stern, in his black robes, throned at the gate. beneath him is his secretary, with a list of the citizens of seville in his wiry twitching hands. the room is full of the anxious frightened burghers, who, as their names are called and a prisoner passes through, move to his trembling side to serve as his godfather in the act of faith. the honest men shudder as they take their place in the horrible death procession. the time-serving smile at the inquisitor, and bustle forward. this is thought an honourable office and is sought after by hypocrites and suspected men afraid of the church's sword. "the procession commences with the dominicans. before them flaunts the banner of the order in glistening embroidery that burns in the sun and shines like a mirror, the frocked saint, holding a threatening sword in one hand, and in the other, an olive branch with the motto, 'justitia et misericordia' (justice and mercy). behind the banner come the prisoners in their yellow scapulars, holding their lighted torches, their feet bleeding with the stones and their less frightened godfathers, gay in cloak and sword and ruff tripping along by their side, holding their plumed hats in their hands. the street and windows are crowded with careless eyes, and children are held up to execrate us as we pass to our torturing death. the _auto da fé_ was always a holiday sight to the craftsmen and apprentices; it drew more than even a bull fight, because of the touch of tragedy about it. our procession, like a long black snake, winds on, with its banners and crosses, its shaven monks and mitred bare-footed prisoners, through street after street, heralded by soldiers who run before to clear a way for us--to stop mules and clear away fruit-stalls, street-performers and their laughing audiences. we at last reach the church of all the saints, where, tired, dusty, bleeding and faint we are to hear mass. "the church has a grave-vault aspect and is dreadfully like a charnel house. the great altar is veiled in black, and is lit with six silver candlesticks, whose flames shine like yellow stars with clear twinkle and a soft halo round each black, fire-tipped wick. on each side of the altar, that seems to bar out god and his mercy from us and to wrap the very sun in a grave cloak, are two thrones, one for the grand-inquisitor and his counsel, another for the king and his court. the one is filled with sexton-like lawyers, the other with jewelled and feathered men. "in front of the great altar and near the door where the blessed daylight shines with hope and joy, but not for us, is another altar, on which six gilded and illuminated missals lie open; those books of the gospels, too, in which i had once read such texts as--god is love; forgive as ye would be forgiven; faith, hope, charity: these three, but the greatest of these is charity. near this lesser altar the monks had raised a balustraded gallery, with bare benches, on which sat the criminals in their yellow and flame-striped tabards with their godfathers. the doomed ones came last, the more innocent first. those who entered the black-hung church first, passing up nearest to the altar sat there, either praying or in a frightened trance of horrid expectancy. the trembling living corpses wearing the mitres, yellow and red, came last, preceded by a gigantic crucifix, the face turned from them. "immediately following these poor mitred men came servitors of the inquisition, carrying four human effigies fastened to long staves, and four chests containing the bones of those men who had died before the fire could be got ready. the coffers were painted with flames and demons and the effigies wore the dreadful mitre and the crimson and yellow shirt all a-flame with paint. the effigies sometimes represented men tried for heresy since their death and whose estates had since been confiscated and their effigies doomed to be burnt as a warning; for no one within their reach may escape if they differ in opinion with the inquisition. "every prisoner being now in his place--godfathers, torchmen, pikemen, musketeers, inquisitors, and flaunting court--the provincial of the augustins mounted the pulpit, followed by his ministrant and preached a stormy, denouncing, exulting sermon, half an hour long (it seemed a month of anguish), in which he compared the church with burning eloquence to noah's ark; but with this difference, that those animals who entered it before the deluge came out of it unaltered, but the blessed inquisition had, by god's blessing, the power of changing those whom its walls once enclosed, turning them out meek as the lambs he saw around him so tranquil and devout, all of whom had once been cruel as wolves and savage and daring as lions. "this sermon over, two readers mounted the pulpit to shout the list of names of the condemned, their crimes (now, for the first time, known to them) and their sentences. we grew all ears and trembled as each name was read. "as each name was called the alcaide led out the prisoner from his pen to the middle of the gallery opposite the pulpit, where he remained standing, taper in hand. after the sentence he was led to the altar where he had to put his hand on one of the missals and to remain there on his knees. "at the end of each sentence, the reader stopped to pronounce in a loud, angry voice, a full confession of faith, which he exhorted us, the guilty, to join with heart and voice. then we all returned to our places. my offence, i found, was having spoken bitterly of the inquisition, and having called a crucifix a mere bit of cut ivory. i was therefore declared excommunicated, my goods confiscated to the king, i was banished spain and condemned to the havana galleys for five years with the following penances: i must renounce all friendship with heretics and suspected persons; i must, for three years, confess and communicate three times a month; i must recite five times a day, for three years, the pater and ave maria in honour of the five wounds; i must hear mass and sermon every sunday and feast day; and above all, i must guard carefully the secret of all i had said, heard, or seen in the holy office (which oath, as the reader will observe, i have carefully kept). "the inquisitor then quitted his seat, resumed his robes and followed by twenty priests, each with a staff in his hand, passed into the middle of the church and with divers prayers some of us were relieved from excommunication, each of us receiving a blow from a priest. once, such an insult would have sent the blood in a rush to my head, and i had died but i had given a return buffet; now, so weak and broken-spirited was i, i burst into tears. "now, one by one, those condemned to the stake, faint and staggering, were brought in to hear their sentences, which they did with a frightened vacancy, inconceivably touching, but the inquisitors were gossiping among themselves and scarcely looked at them. every sentence ended with the same cold mechanical formula: that the holy office being unhappily unable to pardon the prisoners present, on account of their relapse and impenitence, found itself obliged to punish them with all the rigour of earthly law, and therefore delivered them with regret to the hands of secular justice, praying it to use clemency and mercy towards the wretched men, saving their souls by the punishment of their bodies and recommending death, but not effusion of blood. cruel hypocrites! "at the word blood the hangmen stepped forward and took possession of the bodies, the alcaide first striking each of them on the chest to show that they were now abandoned to the rope and fire." then he goes on to describe the scene at the _quemadero_, which, however, included nothing of importance not already mentioned elsewhere. after the death of philip iv, and during the minority of his son, charles ii, father nithard, a jesuit, who combined the two forces long in opposition, the disciples of loyola and the descendants of torquemada, was for a time inquisitor-general. the holy office was hotly opposed by don john of austria, a natural son of philip iv, who rose to political power and would have fallen a victim to the inquisition had not popular indignation sided with him against nithard, who fled from spain to rome. he was stripped of all his offices but still kept the favour of the queen-mother who finally secured for him from pope clement x the coveted cardinal's hat. don john was unequal to the task of curbing the power of the inquisition, however, and the institution claimed wider and wider jurisdiction. growing dissatisfaction prevailed, and in 1696, the king, charles ii, summoned a conference or grand junta to enquire into the complaints that poured in from all quarters against the inquisition. it was composed of two councillors of state from castile, aragon, the indies, and the spanish provinces in italy, with two members of the religious orders. it reported that the holy office exercised illegal powers, still arrogated the right to throw persons of rank into prison and cover their families with disgrace. it punished with merciless severity the slightest opposition or disrespect shown to dependents or familiars who had come to enjoy extensive and exorbitant privileges. they claimed secular jurisdiction in matters nowise appertaining to religion, and set aside restrictions contained in their own canon law. the junta strongly recommended that these restrictions should be rigidly enforced, and that no one should be thrown into the prisons of the inquisition, save on charges of an heretical nature. it urged the right of appeal to the throne, and the removal of all causes to the royal courts for trial. it detailed the privileges granted to the servants of the holy office. even a coachman or a lackey demanded reverence and might conduct himself with unbounded insolence. if a servant girl were not treated obsequiously in a shop she might complain and the offender was liable to be cast into the dungeons of the inquisition. so great was the discontent, so many tumults arose, that the junta would have all such unrighteous privileges curtailed, and would authorise the civil courts to keep the encroachments of the holy office in check. with the eighteenth century the authority of the holy office visibly waned. philip v, a french prince, and a grandson of louis xiv, whose succession produced the long protracted war of the spanish succession, declined to be honoured with an _auto da fé_ at his coronation, but he maintained the inquisition as an instrument of despotic government, and actually used it to punish as heretics those who had any doubt concerning his title to the crown. yet he rather used the inquisition than supported it; for he deprived of his office an inquisitor-general who had presumed to proceed for heresy against a high officer. the cortes of castile again, (1714), recorded their condemnation, but without any further benefit than that which must eventually result from the disclosure of a truth. the same body reiterated their disapproval a few years afterwards, (1720). but while philip v used the inquisition for his own service, and the heretical doctrine which had prevailed two centuries before no longer left a trace behind, there were multitudes of persons accused of attempting to revive judaism and others gave offence by their efforts to promote freemasonry. this gave the inquisitors abundant pretext for the discharge of their political mission. during the reigns of charles iii and charles iv, a revival of literature and an advance in political science guided the attention of the clergy and the government to the position of the court of rome, as well as to the proceedings of the inquisitors. the former of these monarchs nearly yielded to the advice of his councillors to suppress the inquisition, as well as to expel the jesuits. he banished the society, but, in regard to the inquisition, said: "the spaniards want it and it gives me no trouble." meanwhile death sentences nearly ceased, and once when a good man was sentenced to be delivered to the secular arm, in compliance with the letter of the law, the inquisitors let him go free. by this contrivance don miguel solano, priest of esco, a town in aragon, walked out of the prison of the inquisition in saragossa, as a maniac, forgiven his heresy, and lived on as a maniac, exempted from priestly ministrations, while every one knew him to be a reasonable man and treated him accordingly. in the end he died, refusing extreme unction, and was buried in unconsecrated ground within the walls of the inquisition on the banks of the ebro. chapter v the inquisition in portugal and india the inquisition in spain abolished by napoleon's invasion--its revival--persecution of the freemasons--the "tribunal of faith" established--inquisition in portugal--the case of an englishman who is arrested, tortured and burnt alive--difference between the inquisitions of spain and portugal--the supreme power of the holy office in portugal in the eighteenth century--the terrible earthquake at lisbon--establishment of the holy office in india at goa--description of the inquisition prison at goa by m. dellon--case of father ephrem--his arrest and rescue by the english from the hands of the inquisitors. napoleon's invasion of spain and the removal of the young king, ferdinand vii, to france, put an end to the inquisition. when the emperor took possession of madrid, he called upon all public bodies to submit to his authority, but the holy office refused. whereupon he issued an order to arrest the inquisitors, abolish the inquisition, and sequestrate its revenues. all spain did not readily yield to the french conqueror, and when the cortes met in cadiz they empowered one of the inquisitors, who had escaped, to reconstitute the tribunal, but it was never really restored. at the same time, the governing powers appointed a special commission to enquire into the legal status of the ancient body, and to decide whether the inquisition had any legal right to exist. a report was published in 1812, reviewing its whole history and condemning it as incompatible with the liberties of the country. the indictment against it was couched in very vigorous language. it was held to have been guilty of the most harsh and oppressive measures; to have inflicted the most cruel and illegal punishments; "in the darkness of the night it had dragged the husband from the side of his wife, the father from the children, the children from their parents, and none may see the other again until they are absolved or condemned without having had the means of contributing to their defence or knowing whether they had been fairly tried." the result was a law passed by the cortes to suppress the inquisition in spain. the restoration of ferdinand vii, at the termination of the war in 1814, gave the inquisition fresh life. he resented the action taken by the cortes, arrested its members, and cast them into prison, declaring them to be infidels and rebels, and forthwith issued a decree reviving the tribunal of the holy office. its supreme council met in seville and persecution was renewed under the new inquisitor-general, xavier mier y campillo, who put out a fresh list of prohibited books, tried to raise revenues and issued a new edict of faith. there might have been another _auto da fé_ even in the nineteenth century, but informers would not come forward and latter-day victims could not be found. dread, nevertheless, prevailed, and numbers fled for refuge into foreign lands. fierce energy was directed against the freemasons, for during the french occupation, the palace of the inquisition at seville had been used, partly as a common gaol and partly as a freemasons' lodge. the members of the craft who were found in spain were dealt with as heretics, and all freemasons were excommunicated. for a time the inquisition languished, although favoured by the arbitrary régime introduced by ferdinand vii, who sought to reinstate it on its former lines. it was destroyed or at least suspended by the revolution of 1820, and on his restoration, the king did not reëstablish it, though the officials still hoped for a better day and continued to draw their salaries. some of the bishops established _juntas de fé_, which took up much the same work, and july 26th, 1826, a poor schoolmaster cayetano ripoll, was hanged for heresy--the last execution for this crime in spain. finally, january 4th, 1834, the inquisition was definitely abolished, and the _juntas de fé_ were abolished the next year. the inquisition extended its influence into the neighbouring country of portugal, which was an independent kingdom until conquered by philip ii in 1580. here persecution prevailed from the fifteenth century, chiefly of the jews and new christians, who flocked into the country from spain, and were treated with great severity. the holy office was set up in lisbon under an inquisitor-general, diego de silva, and portugal was divided into inquisitional districts. _autos da fé_ were frequent, and on a scale hardly known in spain, though the records are fragmentary. from among the cases reported, we may quote that of an englishman, a native of bristol, engaged in commerce in lisbon, who boldly assaulted the cardinal archbishop in the act of performing mass. gardiner, as fiercely intolerant as those of the dominant religion who were worshipping according to their own rites, attacked the priest when he elevated the host, "snatched away the cake with one hand, trod it under his feet, and with the other overthrew the chalice." the congregation, at first utterly astounded, raised one great cry and fell bodily upon the sacrilegious wretch, who was promptly stabbed in the shoulder and haled before the king, who was present in the cathedral, and forthwith interrogated. it was thought that he had been instigated by the english protestants to this outrageous insult, but he declared that he had been solely moved by his abhorrence of the idolatry he had witnessed. he was imprisoned and with him all the english in lisbon. so soon as his wound was healed, he was examined by the holy office, tortured and condemned. then he was carried to the market place on an ass and his left hand was cut off; thence he was taken to the river side and by a rope and pulley hoisted over a pile of wood which was set on fire. "in spite of the great torment he continued in a constant spirit and the more terribly he burned the more vehemently he prayed." he was in the act of reciting a psalm, when by the use of exceeding violence, the burning rope broke and he was precipitated into the devouring flames. a fellow lodger of gardiner was detained in the inquisition for two years, and was frequently tortured to elicit evidence against other englishmen, but without avail. a scotch professor of greek in the university of coimbra was charged with lutheranism, and imprisoned for a year and a half, after which he was committed to a monastery so that he might be instructed by the monks in the true religion. they did not change his views and he was presently set free. another, an english shipmaster, was less fortunate and was burned alive as a heretic at lisbon. it has been observed that, on comparison of the inquisitions of spain and portugal, a certain marked difference was disclosed between them. the same precise rigour of the spanish inquisitors was not exhibited by the portuguese. in portugal the discipline was more savage yet more feeble. yet in the latter country there was a brutal and more wanton excess in inflicting pain at the _autos da fé_. when convicts were about to suffer they were taken before the lord chief justice to answer the enquiry as to what religion they intended to die in. if the answer was "in the roman catholic apostolic," the order was given that they should be strangled before burning. if in the protestant, or in any other religion, death in the flames was decreed. at lisbon the place of execution, as has been said, was at the waterside. a thick stake was erected for each person condemned, with a wide crosspiece at the top against which a crosspiece was nailed to receive the tops of two ladders. in the centre the victim was secured by a chain, with a jesuit priest on either side, seated on a ladder, who proceeded to exhort him to repentance. if they failed they declared they left him to the devil and the mob roared, "let the dog's beard be trimmed," in other words, "his face scorched." this was effected by applying an ignited furze bush at the end of a long pole till his face was burned and blackened. the record of the portuguese inquisition to 1794 shows a total of one thousand, one hundred and seventy-five relaxed in person, _i. e._ executed, six hundred and thirty-three relaxed in effigy, and twenty-nine thousand, five hundred and ninety penanced. the portuguese were the first europeans to trade with the far east and, after vasco de gama had discovered india, albuquerque annexed and occupied goa, which might have become the seat and centre of the great empire which fell at length into british hands. portugal sacrificed all power and prosperity to the extirpation of heresy in its new possessions and was chiefly concerned in the establishment of the holy office in india. the early portuguese settlers in the east clamoured loudly for the inquisition; the jesuit fathers who were zealous in their propaganda in india declared that the tribunal was most necessary in goa, owing to the prevailing licentiousness and the medley of all nations and superstitions. it was accordingly established in 1560, and soon commenced its active operations with terrific vigour. general baptisms were frequent in this the ecclesiastical metropolis of india, and so were _autos da fé_ conducted with great pomp with many victims. a light upon the proceedings of the holy office in goa is afforded by the story told by a french traveller, m. dellon, who was arrested at the instance of the portuguese governor at damaum, and imprisoned at goa in the private prison of the archbishop. "the most filthy," says dellon, "the darkest and most horrible of any i had ever seen.... it is a kind of cave wherein there is no day seen but by a very little hole. the most subtle rays of the sun cannot enter it and there is never any true light in it. the stench is extreme...." m. dellon was dragged before the board of the holy office, seated in the holy house, which is described as a great and magnificent building, "one side of a great space before the church of st. catherine." there were three gates. the prisoners entered by the central or largest, and ascending a stately flight of steps, reached the great hall. behind the principal building was another very spacious, two stories high and consisting of a double row of cells. those on the ground floor were the smallest, due to the greater thickness of the walls, and had no apertures for light or air. the upper cells were vaulted and whitewashed, and each had a small strongly grated window without glass. the cells had double doors, the outer of which was kept constantly open, an indispensable plan in this climate or the occupant must have died of suffocation. [illustration: _peint par d. f. laugée_ _photogravure goupil & c^{ie}._ _the question_ one of the forms of torture before a tribunal of the inquisition, used in the examination of the accused. lighted charcoal was placed under the victim's feet, which were greased over with lard, so that the heat of the fire might more quickly become effective.] the régime was, to some extent, humane. water for ablutions was provided and for drinking purposes, food was given sparingly in three daily meals, but was wholesome in quality. physicians were at hand to attend the sick and confessors to wait on the dying, but they administered no unction, gave no viaticum, said no mass. if any died, as many did, his death was unknown to all without. he was buried within the walls with no sacred ceremony, and if it was decided that he had died in heresy, his bones were exhumed to be burnt at the next act of faith. while alive he lived apart in all the strictness of the modern solitary cell. alone and silent, for the prisoner was forbidden to speak, he was not allowed even to groan or sob or sigh aloud. the holy office in goa was worked on the same lines as that of spain as already described and by the same officers. there was the _inquisidor mor_ or grand-inquisitor, a secular priest, a second or assistant inquisitor, a dominican monk, with many deputies; "qualifiers," to examine books and writings; a fiscal and a procurator; notaries and familiars. the authority of the tribunal was absolute in goa except that the great officials, archbishop and his grand-vicar, the viceroy and the governor, could not be arrested without the sanction of the supreme council in lisbon. the procedure, the examination and use of torture was exactly as in other places. m. dellon was taxed with having spoken ill of the inquisition, and was called upon to confess his sins, being constantly brought out and again relegated to his cell and continually harassed to make him accuse himself, until in a frenzy of despair he resolved to commit suicide by refusing food. the physician bled him and treated him for fever, but he tore off the bandages hoping to bleed to death. he was taken up insensible, restored by cordials, and carried before the inquisitor, where he lay on the floor and was assailed with bitter reproaches, heavily ironed and sent back to languish in his cell in a wild access of fury approaching madness. at last the great day of the act of faith approached, and dellon heard on every side the agonised cries of both men and women. during the night the alcaide and warders came into his cell with lights bringing a suit of clothes, linen, best trousers, black striped with white. he was marched to join a couple of hundred other penitents squatted on the floor along the sides of a spacious gallery, all motionless but in an agony of apprehension, for none knew his doom. a large company of women were collected in a neighbouring chamber and a third lot in _sanbenitos_, among whom the priests moved seeking confessions and if made the boon of strangulation was conceded before "tasting the fire." shortly before sunrise the great bell of the cathedral tolled and roused the city into life. people filled the chief streets, lined the thoroughfares and crowded into places whence they might best see the procession. with daylight dellon saw from the faces of his companions that they were mostly indians with but a dozen white men among them. m. dellon went barefoot with the rest over the loose flints of the badly paved streets, and, at length, cut and bleeding, entered the church of st. francisco, for the ceremony could not be performed under the fierce sky of this torrid climate. dellon's punishment was confiscation of all his property, and banishment from india, with five years' service in the galleys of portugal. the rest of his sad adventures may be told briefly. he was brought back to lisbon and worked at the oar with other convicts for some years, when at the intercession of friends in france the portuguese government consented to release him. there is no record that the french authorities made any claim or reclamation for the ill-usage of a french subject. it was otherwise with their neighbours, the english, who even before their power in india was established, would not suffer the portuguese authorities in goa to ill-treat a person who could claim british protection. a french capuchin, named father ephrem, had visited madras when on his way to join the catholic mission in pegu. he was invited to remain in madras and was promised entire liberty with respect to his religion, and permitted to minister to the catholics already settled in the factory. in the course of his preaching he laid down a dogma offensive, as it was asserted, to the mother of god, and information thereof was laid with the inquisitors at goa, who made their plans to kidnap father ephrem and carry him off to goa, some six hundred miles distant from madras. the plot succeeded and the french capuchin was lodged in the prison of the holy office at goa. this was not to be brooked by the english in madras. an english ship forthwith proceeded to goa and a party of ten determined men, well-armed, landed and appeared at the gates of the inquisition and demanded admittance. leaving a couple of men on guard at the gate, the rest entered the gaol and insisted at the point of the sword that father ephrem should be forthwith surrendered to them. an order thus enforced was irresistible, and the prisoner was released, taken down to the ship's boat, reëmbarked and carried back in safety to madras. the aims of the inquisition are no longer those of modern communities. so widely has the idea of toleration extended, that we often forget how recent it is. the relations of church and state are so changed in the last two centuries, that it is difficult to understand the times of the spanish inquisition. then it was universally believed that orthodoxy in faith was intimately connected with loyalty to the state. as a matter of fact, nearly all the earlier heretical movements were also social or political revolts. it is, therefore, easy to see how heresy and high treason came to appear identical. some of the inquisitors were corrupt, others were naturally cruel, others, drunk with power, were more zealous in exerting that power than they were in deciding between guilt and innocence. on the other hand many were zealous because of their honesty. if a man believes that he knows the only hope of salvation, it is perfectly logical to compel another by force, if necessary, to follow that hope. any physical punishment is slight compared with the great reward which reconciliation brings. on the other hand, if he is firm in his heresy, he is as dangerous as a wild beast. we are more tolerant now, less certain, perhaps, of our ground, but three or four hundred years ago these points were a stern reality. that many inquisitors were more concerned with the church as an institution than as a means of salvation is also true. they punished disrespect to an officer or to a law more severely than they did a doctrinal error, but that was, perhaps, inevitable. the spanish inquisition, which, as has been said, was to some extent a state affair, punished many for what we might call trifling offences, or, indeed, no offence at all, but it was an intolerant age, in and out of spain. the number punished has been grossly exaggerated, but it was enough to injure spain permanently, to crush out freedom of thought and action to an unwarrantable extent. the historian must attribute much of spain's decadence to the work of the mistaken advocate of absolute uniformity. chapter vi early prisons and prisoners slow development of prison reform in spain--description of the old saladero--george borrow's account of his arrest and imprisonment there--balseiro's escape and subsequent escapades--he seizes the two sons of a wealthy basque and holds them for ransom--his capture and execution--the _valientes_ or bullies--the cruelties they practised upon their weaker fellow prisoners--don rafael salillas' description of the seville prison. the prisons in spain have been generally divided into three categories: first, the _depositos correcionales_, the _cárceles_ or common gaols, one in the capital of each province, to which were sent accused persons and all sentenced to two years or less; second, the _presidios_ of the peninsula for convicts between two years and eight years; and third, the african penal settlements for terms beyond eight years. the character and condition of the bulk of these places of durance long continued most unsatisfactory. in 1888 in an official report, the minister of grace and justice said, "the present state of the spanish prisons is not enchanting. they are neither safe nor wholesome, nor adapted to the ends in view." this criticism was fully borne out by the result of a general inquiry instituted. it was found that of a total of four hundred and fifty-six of the correctional prisons only one hundred and sixty-six were really fit for the purpose intended and the remainder were installed in any buildings available. some were very ancient, dating back to the 16th century; and had once been palaces, religious houses, castles or fortresses. many of these buildings were ancient monuments which suffered much injury from the ignoble rôle to which they were put. a protest was published by a learned society of madrid against the misuse of the superb ex-convents of san gregorio in valladolid and san isidro del campo near seville, and the mutilation by its convict lodgers of the very beautiful gateway of the templo de la piedad in guadalajara. the installation of the prison at palma de mallorca all but hopelessly impaired the magnificent cloisters of the convent of san francisco, a thirteenth century architectural masterpiece, and a perfect specimen of the ogival form, like nothing else in spain. within a short period of ten years several of these interesting old buildings were ruined. the entire convent prison at coruña sank, causing many casualties, loss of life and serious wounds. sometimes the authorities hired private dwellings to serve as prisons, or laid hands on whatever they could find. at granada a slice of the court house was used, a dark triangle to which air came only from the interior yard. the prison of allariz at orense was on the ground floor of a house in the street, having two windows looking directly on to it, guarded by a grating with bars so far apart that a reasonably thin man could slip through. one of the worst features of many of these ancient prisons was their location in the very heart of the towns with communication to the street. friends gathered at the _rejas_ outside, and the well known picture of flirtation at the prison window was drawn from life. a common sight also was the outstretched hand of the starving prisoner imploring alms from the charitable, for there was no regular or sufficient supply of provisions within. free access was also possible when the domestic needs of the interior took the prisoners to the public well in the street. the carmona gaol in seville was for years half in ruins; no sunlight reached any part of it with the exception of two of the yards; the dungeons had no ventilation except by a hole in their doors; an open sewer ran through the gaol, the floors were always wet, fleas abounded, as also rats, beetles and cockroaches; cooking was done in one corner of the exercising yard and clothes were washed in the other. the removal of the gaol was ordered and plans for a new building prepared in 1864, but they were pigeon-holed until 1883, then sent back to be revised, and the project is still delayed. the colmenar prison of malaga was always under water in heavy rain, and although simple repairs would have rectified this, nothing was done. the prison of leon was condemned in 1878 as unfit for human habitation, and its alcalde (governor) stated that it had been reported for a century or more that it wanted light, air and sanitary arrangements; typhoid was endemic and three alcaldes had died of zymotic disease in a few years. it was generally denounced as "a poisonous pesthouse, a judicial burial ground." the totana prison of murcia was not properly a prison, but only a range of warehouses and shops fit for the storage of grain and herbs, but wholly unsuitable to lodge human beings. the district governor speaking of the infiesto prison at oviedo in 1853 wrote: "humanity shudders at the horrible aspect of this detestable place." at cartagena the common gaol was on the ground floor of the _presidio_ or convict prison. here the innocent, still untried prisoners occupied a dark, damp den, enduring torments of discomfort, speedily losing health and strength, and exposed by its ruinous condition to the extremes of heat and cold in the varying seasons. females were lodged on a lower floor, darker and closer and even exposed to the worst temptations. the convicts of the _presidio_ had free access to their prison and immorality could not be prevented; no amount of supervision (and there was really none) could have checked the moral contamination more easily conveyed than the physical. these painful facts may be read in an official report dated october, 1877, and are practically the same as those detailed in the famous indictment of john howard just a century earlier.[9] [9] "vida penal en espana," by rafael salillas, madrid, 1888. many of the makeshift prisons mentioned above were located in the very heart of towns and were without boundary walls or means of separation from the public, and two hundred and sixty-four had windows giving upon the streets. it was impossible to ensure safe custody so limited was the supervision, so insecure and ruinous the state of these imperfect prisons. escapes had been of very frequent occurrence, but the total number could not be stated owing to the absence of accurate records from year to year. one authority gave the annual average of escapes as thirty-four, ranging over five successive years. they were greatly facilitated by the slack, slipshod system of discipline and the careless guard kept at the gates through which crowds constantly passed in and out. friends admitted wholesale to visit prisoners brought in disguises and easily helped them to evade the vigilance of warders and keepers. escapes were most numerous in the small gaols,--about three to one when compared to those from the _presidios_,--and were often effected on the way to gaol through the neglect or connivance of the escort, especially when the journey was made on foot and officers in charge willingly consented to linger on the road in order to enjoy themselves in the taverns and drinking shops. they even allowed their prisoners to pay lengthened visits to their own homes if situated anywhere near. a famous escape took place, _en masse_, in one of the prisons on the occasion of a theatrical performance given by the prisoners in honour of the governor's birthday. permission had been duly accorded and the function was organised on an imposing scale. the stage was erected in an open space, scenery provided and a fine curtain or act drop behind which the usual preparations were made. these had not gone beyond rehearsal, however. all was ready to "ring up," the prison audience all seated, enduring with increased impatience and dissatisfaction the long wait which seemed and was actually endless. at last the authorities interposed and the governor sent a messenger behind the curtain with a peremptory order to begin. there was no company. every single soul, manager and actors had disappeared under cover of the curtain. a great hole or gap had been made in the outer wall, through which all of the performers had passed out to freedom. numerous as are the escapes, recaptures are also frequent. that fine corps, the _guardias civiles_, which constitutes the rural police of spain, always so active in the prevention and suppression of crime, has been highly successful in the pursuit of fugitives, few of whom remain at large for any length of time. travellers in spain, especially in the country districts, must have been struck with the fine appearance of these stalwart champions of the law. they are all old soldiers, well trained and disciplined, ever on the side of order, never mixing in politics, and conspicuous for their loyalty to the existing régime. the most disgraceful of the old prisons were in madrid. the saladero which survived until very recently had been once an abattoir and salting place of pigs. but it replaced one more ancient and even worse in every aspect. the earlier construction is described by a spanish writer, don francisco lastres, as the most meagre, the darkest, dirtiest place imaginable. it had yet a deeper depth, an underground dungeon, commonly called "el infierno," hell itself, in which light was so scarce that when new comers arrived, the old occupants could only make out their faces by striking matches, manufactured from scraps of linen steeped in grease saved from their soup or salad oil. when the gaol was emptied it was so encrusted with abominable filth that to clean it was out of the question and the whole place was swept bodily out of existence. this must have been the prison in which george borrow was confined when that enterprising englishman was arrested for endeavouring to circulate the bible in spain, as the agent and representative of the british bible society in 1835 and the following years. his experiences as told by himself constitute one of the most thrilling books of adventure in the english language, and his strangely interesting personality will long be remembered and admired. he had led a very varied life, had wandered the world over as the friend and associate of those curious people, the gipsies, whose "crabbed" language he spoke with fluency and to whose ways and customs he readily conformed. readers whom his "lavengro" and "the romany rye" have delighted will bear witness to the daring and intrepid character which carried him safely through many difficult and dangerous situations. he was a man of great stature, well trained in the art of self defence, as he proved by his successful contest with the "flaming tinker" described in "lavengro." the bigoted spanish authorities caught a tartar in borrow. it was easy to arrest him as he was nothing loth to go to gaol; he had long been thinking, as he tells us, "of paying a visit to the prison, partly in the hope of being able to say a few words of christian instruction to the criminals and partly with a view to making certain investigations in the robber language of spain." but, once in, he refused to come out. he took high ground; his arrest had been unlawful; he had never been tried or condemned and nothing would satisfy him but a full and complete apology from the spanish government. he was strongly backed up by the british ambassador and he was gratified in the end by the almost abject surrender of the authorities. but he spent three weeks within the walls and we have to thank his indomitable spirit for a glimpse into the gloomy recesses of the carcel de la corte, the chief prison, at that time, of the capital of spain. the arrest was made openly in one of the principal streets of madrid by a couple of _alguazils_ who carried their prisoner to the office of the _corregidor_, or chief magistrate, where he was abruptly informed that he was to be forthwith committed to gaol. he was led across the plaza mayor, the great square so often the scene in times past of the _autos da fé_. borrow, as he went, cast his eyes at the balcony of the city hall where, on one occasion, "the last of the austrian line in spain (philip ii) sat, and, after some thirty heretics of both sexes had been burnt by fours and fives, wiped his face perspiring with heat and black with smoke and calmly inquired, '_no hay mas?_'" (no more to come?) for which exemplary proof of patience he was much applauded by his priests and confessors, who subsequently poisoned him. "we arrived at the prison," borrow goes on, "which stands in a narrow street not far from the great square. we entered a dusty passage at the end of which was a wicket. there was an exchange of words and in a few moments i found myself within the prison of madrid, in a kind of corridor which overlooked at a considerable altitude what appeared to be a court from which arose a hubbub of voices and occasional wild shouts and cries...." several people sat here, one of whom received the warrant of committal, perused it with attention and, rising, advanced towards borrow. "what a figure! he was about forty years of age and ... in height might have been some six feet two inches had his body not been curved much after the fashion of the letter s. no weasel ever appeared lanker; his face might have been called handsome, had it not been for his extraordinary and portentous meagreness; his nose was like an eagle's bill, his teeth white as ivory, his eyes black (oh, how black!) and fraught with a strange expression; his skin was dark and the hair of his head like the plumage of a raven. a deep quiet smile dwelt continually on his features, but with all the quiet it was a cruel smile, such a one as would have graced the countenance of a nero. "'_caballero_,' he said, 'allow me to introduce myself as the alcaide of this prison.... i am to have the honour of your company for a time, a short time doubtless, beneath this roof; i hope you will banish every apprehension from your mind. i am charged to treat you with all respect, a needless charge and _caballero_, you will rather consider yourself here as a guest than as a prisoner. pray issue whatever commands you may think fit to the turnkeys and officials as if they were your own servants. i will now conduct you to your apartment. we invariably reserve it for cavaliers of distinction. no charge will be made for it although the daily hire is not unfrequently an ounce of gold.' "this speech was delivered in pure sonorous castilian with calmness, gravity and almost dignity and would have done honour to a gentleman of high birth. now, who in the name of wonder, was this alcaide? one of the greatest rascals in all spain. a fellow who more than once by his grasping cupidity and his curtailment of the miserable rations of the prisoners caused an insurrection in the court below only to be repressed by bloodshed and the summoning of military aid; a fellow of low birth who five years previously had been a drummer to a band of royalist volunteers." the room allotted to borrow was large and lofty, but totally destitute of any kind of furniture except a huge wooden pitcher containing the day's allowance of water. but no objection was made to borrow's providing for himself and a messenger was forthwith despatched to his lodgings to fetch bed and bedding and all necessaries, with which came a supply of food, and the new prisoner soon made himself fairly comfortable. he ate heartily, slept soundly and rejoiced next day to hear that this illegal arrest and confinement of a british subject was already causing the high-handed minister who had ordered it, much uneasiness and embarrassment. borrow steadfastly refused to go free without full and ample reparation for the violence and injustice done to him. "take notice," he declared, "that i will not quit this prison till i have received full satisfaction for having been sent hither uncondemned. you may expel me if you please, but any attempt to do so shall be resisted with all the bodily strength of which i am possessed." in the end the _amende_ was made in an official document admitting that he had been imprisoned on insufficient grounds, and borrow went out after three weeks' incarceration, during which he learned much concerning the prison and the people it contained. he refrains from a particular description of the place. "it would be impossible," he says, "to describe so irregular and rambling an edifice. its principal features consisted of two courts, the one behind the other, in which the great body of the prisoners took air and recreation. three large vaulted dungeons or _calabozos_ occupied the three sides of the (first) court ... roomy enough to contain respectively from one hundred to one hundred and fifty prisoners who were at night secured with lock and bar, but during the day were permitted to roam about the courts as they thought fit. the second court was considerably larger than the first, though it contained but two dungeons, horribly filthy and disgusting, used for the reception of the lower grades of thieves. of the two dungeons one was if possible yet more horrible than the other. it was called the _gallinería_ or 'chicken coop' because within it every night were pent up the young fry of the prison, wretched boys from seven to fifteen years of age, the greater part almost in a state of nudity. the common bed of all the inmates of these dungeons was the ground, between which and their bodies nothing intervened save occasionally a _manta_ or horse cloth or perhaps a small mattress; this latter luxury was however of exceedingly rare occurrence. "besides the _calabozos_ connected with the courts were other dungeons in various parts of the prison, some of them quite dark, intended for the reception of those whom it might be deemed expedient to treat with peculiar severity. there was likewise a ward set apart for females. connected with the principal corridor were many small apartments where resided prisoners confined for debt or for political offences, and, lastly, there was a small _capilla_ or chapel in which prisoners cast for death passed the last three days of their existence in the company of their ghostly advisers. "i shall not forget my first sunday in prison. sunday is the gala day ... and whatever robber finery is to be found in it is sure to be exhibited on that day of holiness. there is not a set of people in the world more vain than robbers in general, more fond of cutting a figure whenever they have an opportunity. the famous jack sheppard delighted in sporting a suit of genoese velvet and when he appeared in public generally wore a silver hilted sword by his side.... many of the italian bandits go splendidly decorated, the cap alone of the haram pacha, the head of the cannibal gipsy band which infested hungary at the conclusion of the 18th century, was adorned with gold and jewels to the value of several thousand guilders.... the spanish robbers are as fond of display as their brethren of other lands, and whether in prison or out are never so happy as when decked out in a profusion of white linen in which they can loll in the sun or walk jauntily up and down." to this day, snow-white linen is an especial mark of foppery in the spanish peasant. to put on a clean shirt is considered a sufficient and satisfactory substitute for a bath and in the humblest house a white table cloth is provided for meals and clean sheets for the beds. borrow gives a graphic picture of the "tip-top thieves" he came across. "neither coat nor jacket was worn over the shirt, the sleeves of which were wide and flowing, only a waistcoat of green or blue silk with an abundance of silver buttons which are intended more for show than use, as the waistcoat is seldom buttoned. then there are wide trousers something after the turkish fashion; around the waist is a crimson _faja_ or girdle and about the head is tied a gaudily coloured handkerchief from the loom of barcelona. light pumps and silk stockings complete the robber's array. "amongst those who particularly attracted my attention were a father and son; the former a tall athletic figure, of about thirty, by profession a housebreaker and celebrated through madrid for the peculiar dexterity he exhibited in his calling. he was in prison for an atrocious murder committed in the dead of night in a house in carabanchel (a suburb of madrid), in which his only accomplice was his son, a child under seven years of age. the imp was in every respect the counterpart of his father though in miniature. he too wore the robber shirt sleeves, the robber waistcoat with the silver buttons, the robber kerchief round his brow and, ridiculously enough, a long manchegan knife in the crimson faja. he was evidently the pride of the ruffian father who took all imaginable care of him, would dandle him on his knee, and would occasionally take the cigar from his own mustachioed lips and insert it in the urchin's mouth. the boy was the pet of the court, for the father was one of the 'bullies' of the prison and those who feared his prowess and wished to pay their court to him were always fondling the child." borrow when in the "carcel de la corte" renewed his acquaintance with one, balseiro, whom he had met in a low tavern frequented by thieves and bull fighters on a previous visit to madrid. one of these, sevilla by name, professed deep admiration for the englishman and backed him to know more than most people of the "crabbed" gitano language. a match was made with this balseiro who claimed to have been in prison half his life and to be on most intimate terms with the gipsies. when borrow came across him for the second time he was confined in an upper story of the prison in a strong room with other malefactors. there was no mistaking this champion criminal with his small, slight, active figure and his handsome features, "but they were those of a demon." he had recently been found guilty of aiding and abetting a celebrated thief, pepe candelas, in a desperate robbery perpetrated in open daylight on no less a person than the queen's milliner, a frenchwoman, whom they bound in her own shop, from which they took goods to the amount of five or six thousand dollars. candelas had already suffered for his crime, but balseiro, whose reputation was the worse of the two, had saved his life by the plentiful use of money, and the capital sentence had in his case been commuted to twenty years' hard labour in the _presidio_ of malaga. when borrow condoled with him, balseiro laughed it off, saying that within a few weeks he would be transferred and could at any time escape by bribing his guards. but he was not content to wait and joined with several fellow convicts who succeeded in breaking through the roof of the prison and getting away. he returned forthwith to his evil courses and soon committed a number of fresh and very daring robberies in and around madrid. at length dissatisfied with the meagre results and the smallness of the plunder he secured, balseiro planned a great stroke to provide himself with sufficient funds to leave the country and live elsewhere in luxurious idleness. a basque named gabira, a man of great wealth, held the post of comptroller of the queen's household. he had two sons, handsome boys of twelve and fourteen years of age respectively, who were being educated at a school in madrid. balseiro, well aware of the father's strong affection for his children, resolved to make it subservient to his rapacity. he planned to carry off the boys and hold them for ransom at an enormous price. two of his confederates, well-dressed and of respectable appearance, drove up to the school and presenting a forged letter, purporting to be written by the father, persuaded the schoolmaster to let them go out for a jaunt in the country. they were carried off to a hiding place of balseiro's in a cave some five miles from madrid in a wild unfrequented spot between the escorial and the village of torre lodones. here the two children were sequestered in the safekeeping of their captors, while balseiro remained in madrid to conduct negotiations with the bereaved father. but gabira was a man of great energy and determination and altogether declined to agree to the terms proposed. he invoked the power of the authorities instead, and, at his request, parties of horse and foot soldiers were sent to scour the country and the cave was soon discovered, with the children, who had been deserted by their guards in terror at the news of the rigorous search instituted. further search secured the capture of the accomplices and they were identified by their young victims. balseiro, when his part in the plot became known, fled from the capital but was speedily caught, tried, and with his associates suffered death on the scaffold. gabira with his two children was present at the execution. a brief description of the old saladero, which has at last disappeared off the face of the earth, may be of interest. it stood at the top of the santa barbara hill on the left hand side, in external aspect a half-ruined edifice tottering to its fall, propped and buttressed, at one corner quite past mending, at another showing rotten cement and plaster with its aged weather-worn walls stained with great black patches of moisture and decay. a poor and wretched place outside with no architectural pretensions, its interior was infinitely worse. it was entered by a wide entrance not unlike that of an ancient country inn or hostelry with a broken-down wooden staircase, leading to a battered doorway of rotten timbers. the portals passed, the prison itself was reached, a series of underground cellars with vaulted roofs purposely constructed, as it seemed, to exclude light and prevent ventilation, permeated constantly with fetid odours and abominable foul exhalations from the perpetual want of change of atmosphere or circulation of fresh air. yet human beings were left to rot in these nauseous and pestiferous holes for two or three years continuously. at times the detention lasted five years on account of the disgracefully slow procedure in the law courts and this although trials often ended in acquittal or a verdict of non-responsibility for the criminal act charged. many of the unfortunate wretches subjected to these interminable delays and waiting judgment, therefore still innocent in the eyes of the law, were yet herded with those already convicted of the most heinous offences. this neglect of the rules, generally accepted as binding upon civilised governments in the treatment of those whom the law lays by the heels, produced deplorable results. the gaol fever, that ancient scourge which once ravaged ill-kept prisons and swept away thousands, but long ago eliminated from proper places of durance, survived in the saladero of madrid until quite a recent date. forty cases occurred as late as 1876 and zymotic disease was endemic in the prison. it was also a hotbed of vice, where indiscriminate association of all categories, good, bad and indifferent--the worst always in the ascendent, fostered and developed criminal instincts and multiplied criminals of the most daring and accomplished kind. when, with a storm of indignant eloquence, an eminent spanish deputy, don manuel silvela, denounced the saladero in the cortes and took the lead in insisting upon its demolition, he pointed out its many shortcomings. it was in the last degree unhealthy; it was nearly useless as a place of detention, for the bold or ingenious prisoner laughed at its restraints and escapes took place daily to the number of fourteen and sixteen at a time. if, however, with increased precautions it was possible to keep prisoners secure within the walls, nothing could save them from one another. contamination was widespread and unceasing in a mass of men left entirely to themselves without regular occupation, without industrial labour or improving education and with no outlet for their energies but demoralising talk and vicious practices. not strangely the saladero became a great criminal centre, a workshop and manufactory of false money, where strange frauds were devised, such as the _entierro_[10] or suggested revelation of hidden treasure, the well known spanish swindle which has had ramifications almost all over the world. [10] see _post_, p. 161. an independent witness, nevertheless, speaking from experience, the same george borrow already quoted, has a good word to say for the inmates of spanish gaols. he was greatly surprised at their orderly conduct and quiet demeanour. "they had their occasional bursts of wild gaiety; their occasional quarrels which they were in the habit of settling in a corner of the interior court with their long knives, the result not infrequently being death or a dreadful gash in the face or abdomen; but upon the whole their conduct was infinitely superior to what might have been expected from the inmates of such a place. yet this was not the result of coercion or any particular care which was exercised over them; for perhaps in no part of the world are prisoners so left to themselves and so utterly neglected as in spain, the authorities having no further anxiety about them than to prevent their escape, not the slightest attention being paid to their moral conduct,--not a thought bestowed on their health, comfort or mental improvement whilst within the walls. yet in this prison of madrid, and i may say in spanish prisons in general (for i have been an inmate of more than one), the ears of the visitor are never shocked with horrid blasphemy and obscenity as in those of some other countries and more particularly in civilised france, nor are his eyes outraged or himself insulted as he would assuredly be were he to look down upon the courts from the galleries of the bicêtre (in paris)." and yet in this prison of madrid were some of the most desperate characters in spain; ruffians who had committed acts of cruelty and atrocity sufficient to make one shudder with horror. gravity and sedateness are the leading characteristics of the spaniards, and the worst robber, except in those moments when he is engaged in his occupation, (and then no one is more sanguinary, pitiless and wolfishly eager for booty), is a being who can be courteous and affable and who takes pleasure in conducting himself with sobriety and decorum. borrow thought so well of these fellow-prisoners that he was willing to entertain them at dinner in his own private apartment in the gaol, and the governor made no objection to knocking off their irons temporarily so that they might enjoy the meal in comfort and convenience. a more intimate acquaintance with the inner life of the spanish gaols has been accorded by a modern writer, don rafael salillas. he summarises all its evils in the single word "money." all disorders and shortcomings, the corruption, the absence of discipline, the cruelties perpetrated, the prevailing license, the shameful immorality constantly winked at or openly permitted, have had one and the same origin, the use and misuse of the private funds the prisoners have at their disposal. until quite a recent date, everything, even temporary liberty, had its price in spanish prisons. this vicious system dated from the times when the "alcaide" or head of an establishment, the primary purpose of which was the safe custody of offenders, bought his place and was permitted to recoup himself as best he could out of his charges. the same abominable practice was at one time almost a world-wide practice, but nowhere has it flourished so largely as in spain. no attempt was made to check it; it was acknowledged and practically deemed lawful. in an ancient work on the prison of seville, dating from the sixteenth century, the writer, christobal de chaves, classifies the interior under three heads; the spaces entered respectively by three doors of gold, silver or copper, each metal corresponding to the profits drawn from each. imprisonment might be made more tolerable by payment regulated according to a fixed tariff. for a certain sum any prisoner might go home to sleep, he might purchase food where little, if any, was provided, he might escape fetters or purchase "easement of irons," as in the old english prisons. to enhance the value of the relief afforded worse hardships were inflicted at the outset. restraint was made most irksome in the beginning of imprisonment. the fetters were then the heaviest and most varied, the deepest and vilest dungeons were the first quarters allotted. a plain hint of relaxation and alleviation was given, to be obtained at a price and the converse made equally certain. increased pain and discomfort were the penalty for those who would not, or, worse still, who could not produce the extortionate sums demanded. tasks imposed were rendered more difficult; it was a common practice to oil or grease the rope by which water was raised from a well, so that it should slip through the fingers and intensify the labour. when authority had sold its good will or wrung the life blood from its victims they were handed over to the tender mercies of their fellow prisoners, the self-constituted masters and irresponsible tyrants in the place. the most brutal and overbearing ruled supreme within the walls and levied taxes by the right of the strongest. the "garnish" of the old british prisons, the enforced payments to gain a first footing, was exacted to the last in spain from all new arrivals and was called "_cobrar el patente_," _i. e._ collecting the dues. to hesitate or refuse payment was promptly punished by cruel blows; the defaulters were flogged; they got the _culebrazo_ (whipping) with a rope kept for the purpose. the quite penniless were despoiled of their clothing and consoled with the remark that it was better for them to take to their beds because they were naked, than on account of injuries and wounds, or they wrapped themselves up in some ragged cloak infested with fleas. the bullies or _valientes_ were not interfered with by the authorities but rather supported by them. in fact they played into each other's hands. both worked their wicked will upon their victims and in their own way,--the authorities by right of the legal powers they wielded, the master-prisoners by force of character and the strength of their muscles. both squeezed out money like juice from a lemon, robbed, swindled or stole all that came in their way. guzman de alfarache, the typical thief of the time of philip ii, whose life and adventures are told by the author of the most famous of the picaresque novels, describes his journey from seville to cadiz to embark upon one of the galleys which made up the naval power of spain. "as we started on the road, we came upon a swine-herd with a number of young pigs, which we surrounded and captured, each of us taking one. the man howled to our commissary that he should make us restore them, but he turned a deaf ear and we stuck to our plunder. at the first halt we laid hands on other goods and concealed them inside one of the pigs when the commissary interposed, discovered the things and took possession of them himself." the alcaide of the prison turned everything to profit. he sold the government stores, bedding and clothing to the prison bullies who retailed the pieces to individual prisoners. he trafficked in the disciplinary processes, accepting bribes to overlook misconduct, and pandered to the worst vices of the inmates by allowing visitors of both sexes to have free access to them and to bring in all manner of prohibited articles, unlimited drink, and dangerous weapons, knives and daggers and other arms for use in attack and defence in the quarrels and murderous conflicts continually occurring. a fruitful source of profit was the sale of privileged offices, permits to hawk goods and to trade within the precincts of the prison. salillas when he visited the seville prison not many years ago, saw numbers of prisoners selling cigars and cigarettes in the yards, various articles of food, such as _gazpacho_, the popular salad of andalusia, compounded of oil and bread soaked in water, and drinks including _aguardiente_, that powerful spanish spirit akin to hollands. some kept gaming tables and paid a tax on each game and its profits and especially when the "king" was turned up at "monte." salillas publishes a list of prices that ruled for places, privileges and boons conceded to the prisoners. to become a "_cabo de vara_," a "corporal carrying the stick" or wand of office, cost from eight to sixteen dollars. "who and what was the _cabo de vara_?" he asks and answers the question. "a hybrid creature the offspring of such diverse parents as the law and crime; half murderer, half robber, who after living in defiance of the law is at least prevented from doing further harm in freedom, is locked up and entrusted with executive authority over companions who have passed through the same evil conditions and are now at his mercy. he is half galley-slave chained to the oar, half public functionary wearing the badge of officialdom and armed with a stick to enforce his authority. he represents two very opposite sets of ideas; on the one hand that of good order and the maintenance of penal discipline, on the other that of a natural inclination towards the wrong doing in which he has been a practitioner and for which he is, in a way, enduring the penalty. to succeed he must possess some strongly marked personal qualities; he should be able to bully and impose his will upon those subjected to his influence, overbearing, masterful, swaggering, ready to take the law into his own hands and insist upon its observance as he chooses to interpret its dictates." the post of hospital orderly or cook or laundry-man could be secured for about the same price, while a small fee to the prison surgeon gained a perfectly sound man admission to hospital for treatment he did not need, but in which he was much more comfortable than in the ordinary prison. the place of prison barber was to be bought for four dollars; employment as a shoemaker two dollars; relief from a punishment ordered three dollars; permission to pay a visit home, four dollars. these prices were not definitely settled and unchangeable. where a certain profit could be extracted from a particular post such as the charge of the canteen it was put up to auction and knocked down to the highest bidder. chapter vii presidios at home and abroad the presidio or convict prison--stations at home and in northern africa--convict labour--cruelties inflicted on the presidiarios employed in road making--severity of the régime at valladolid--evils of overcrowding--ceuta--its fortifications--early history--the _entierro_ or "spanish swindle"--several interesting instances--monsignor x--armand carron--m. elked--credulity of the victims--boldness of the swindlers--attempt to dupe a yorkshire squire--discovery of the fraud. the spanish "presidios" or penal establishments for offenders sentenced to long terms are the counterpart of the english convict prisons. they are of two classes, those at home in provincial capitals or in fortresses and strongholds, and those abroad installed in north africa, as the alternative or substitute for the penal colonies beyond the sea established by italy and france. home presidios are at burgos, cartagena, granada, ocana, santona, valladolid and saragossa. there are two at valencia, one at tarragona and two more at alcalá de henares. of the foregoing that of cartagena was especially constructed to meet the needs of the arsenal and dockyard and is spoken of as deplorably deficient by those who visited it. four hundred convicts were lodged miserably in one dormitory; their bedding consisted of a rough mattress and one brown rug; clothing was issued only every two years; the dietaries were supplied by a thievish contractor who supplied a soup consisting of beans boiled in water, abstracting the ration of oil and bacon. a presidio of ancient date was installed in the arsenal of la carraca near cadiz, a survival really of the _galera_ or galleys planted on shore when human motive power ceased to be used in propelling warships. [illustration: _castel dell' ovo_ situated on a high rocky island near the shore of naples, it was a place of great security. a number of the islands in the bay of naples have been utilised as prisons and as penal settlements.] a terrible story is preserved of the cruelties inflicted on a number of these _presidiarios_ employed to make the road between san lucar de barrameda and puerto santa maria. their labour was leased to an inhuman contractor who worked them literally to death. they were half-starved, over-burthened with chains and continually flogged so that within one year half their whole number of one thousand had disappeared; they had died "of privation, of blows, hunger, cold, insufficient clothing and continuous neglect." the contractor cleared a large profit, but lost it and died in extreme poverty after having been arraigned and tried for his life as a murderer. the presidio of valladolid was also condemned for the severity of its régime. the climate alternated between great summer heat and extreme cold in winter, but the convicts worked in the quarries in all weathers. the death record rose in this prison to such a high figure that a third of the average total population of three thousand perished within eighteen months. the general average of the presidios was low but as a rule the death rate was not high. even when twenty per cent. of males and twenty-five per cent. of the females were sick and hospital accommodation was scarce and imperfect, the deaths did not exceed two and a half per cent. per annum and this included the fatal results of quarrels ending in duels to the death. one of the most serious evils was overcrowding. official figures give the prison population as about nineteen thousand and the available house-room was for not more than twelve thousand. salillas puts it at a much lower total, asserting there was barely room for three thousand. while the prisons of cuba are not strictly within the scope of this work, one of historic and particular interest may be mentioned. this is morro castle, which still guards the harbour of havana. it was begun in 1589, soon after the unsuccessful attack on havana by drake, and was finished in 1597. in 1862 it was partly destroyed by the english who captured it and remained in possession of the city for a year. the arms of the city, granted by royal decree, were appropriately three castles of silver on a blue field, and a golden key. the castles were la fuerza, el morro and la punta, guarding the harbour. the ancient fortress has been described as a "great mass of dun coloured rock and tower and battlement and steep, of which the various parts seem to have grown into one another." it contains cells as damp, dark and unwholesome as those in the notorious dungeons of the old world. this is testified to by a california journalist, charles michelson, who was arrested by mistake and thrown into a cell in the castle just before the spanish-american war. although he was liberated in two days, his experience was not soon forgotten. the cell was an arch of heavy masonry, damp with the moisture of years. the only window was high up in the arch, and there was no furniture--no bed, blanket or chair. he was not without company of a kind, however, for the place was full of cockroaches and rats. when he clambered up and tried to look out of the window, which commands a fine view of the harbour, a guard outside poked at him with a bayonet. the soup brought him was, he said, "strong and scummy, and the can had been so recently emptied of its original contents that there was a film of oil over the top of it." his interpreter, who was arrested at the same time, fared worse, for he was bound and kept in even a fouler cell. in the days of spanish sovereignty, many cuban prisoners were shot and their bodies were hurled from the outer wall of the castle to the sharks of the so-called "shark's nest," forty feet below, on the gulf side. there are said to be many caverns in the castle through which the rush and noise of the waves make music, but this is probably due to the winds rather than the tides. spain maintains several presidios beyond sea, chiefly on the north african coast, and there is one also at palma de mallorca, one of the balearic islands. those in africa are alhucemas, melilla, peñon de velez de la gomera, chaferinas and ceuta, immediately opposite gibraltar, which is no doubt the first and original of all spanish presidios. the expression when first used was taken to convey the meaning of a penal settlement, established within a fortress under military rule and guardianship, with its personnel constantly employed on the fortifications, constructing, repairing and making good wear and tear, and answering, if need be, the call to arms in reinforcement of the regular garrison. the early records of ceuta prove this. this stronghold, on one side rising out of the sea, with its landward defences ever confronting a fierce hostile power, was exposed at all times to siege and incursion. when the moorish warriors became too bold the spanish general sallied forth to beat up their quarters, destroy their batteries and drive them back into the mountains. working parties of _presidiarios_, armed, accompanied the troops and did excellent service, eager, as the old chronicler puts it, to clear their characters by their heroism, "always supposing that blood may wash out crime." ceuta was a type of the military colony beyond sea, held by a strong garrison against warlike natives who resisted the invasion and would have driven out the intruders. the settlement was secured by continual fortification in which the abundant penal labour was constantly employed. its social conditions were precisely similar to those which obtained in the early days of australian transportation and such as prevail to-day in the french penal colony of new caledonia. the population is made up of two principal classes, bond and free. the first are convicts serving their sentences and the second the officials who guard them. ordinary colonists have not settled to any large extent in these north african possessions. a few traders and agriculturists have come seeking such fortune as offers and the number of residents is increased by released convicts, the counterpart of the emancipist class in the antipodes, who remain with the prospect of earning a livelihood honestly, instead of lapsing into evil courses on their return to the mother country. ceuta is essentially a convict city, not exactly founded by penal labour but enlarged and improved by it and served by it in all the needs of daily domestic life. the first period of close confinement on arrival is comparatively brief and is spent in the prison proper outside the city at hard labour in association on the fortifications, in the workshops and quarries. in the second period the convicts are permitted to enter the city and are employed under supervision in warehouses, offices and in water carrying. in the third period, commonly called from "gun to gun," extending daily from the morning gun fire until the evening, the convicts are allowed to go freely into the city and work there on their own account. the fourth and last, entered when two thirds of the whole sentence has been completed, is called "under conditions," that is to say, in conditional freedom, and the convicts are let out to private employers precisely as they were "assigned" in old australian days. they may live with their masters, sleep out, and are only obliged to report at the prison once a month for muster. more than a third of the total number are thus employed. the result is that ceuta offers the singular spectacle that it is nominally a prison, but the bulk of the prisoners live beyond the walls, quite unguarded and really in the streets forming part of the ordinary population. convicts are to be met with at every corner, they go in and out through the front doors of houses, no one looks at them in surprise, no one draws aside to let them pass. the situation is described graphically by salillas. "who is the coachman on the box? a convict. who is the man who waits at table? a convict. the cook in the kitchen? a convict. the nursemaid in charge of the children? a convict (male). are their employers afraid of being robbed or murdered? not in the least." another eye witness[11] writes:-[11] relosillas, "four months in ceuta." "could this happen in any other city in spain? if the inhabitants found themselves rubbing shoulders with the scum of the earth, with the worst malefactors, with criminals guilty of the most heinous offences, would they have enjoyed one moment's peace? could they overcome the natural repugnance felt by honest and respectable people for those whom the law has condemned to live apart? the fact is that at ceuta no one objects. the existing state of things is deemed the most natural thing in the world. it has been too long the rule and it is claimed seriously that no evil consequences have resulted. the utmost confidence is reposed in these ex-criminals whose nature has been seemingly quite changed by relegation to the african presidio. they wash and get up linen without losing more pieces than a first class washerwoman, they wait on the children with the tenderest concern, they perform all sorts of household service, go to market, run messages, polish the floors and the furniture with all the zeal and industry of the best servants in the world. the most cordial relations exist between employers and their convict attendants and cases have been known where the former have carried the latter back to spain to continue their service. one was a chinese cook who was excused ten years' supervision to go back with his master." it is claimed by the champions of ceuta that despite the freedom accorded to the convicts their conduct is exemplary. "i can certify," says relosillas[12] "that during a whole year there were but three or four instances of crime amongst the convicts employed in domestic service." others however are not so laudatory. an independent witness, doña concepcion arenal, has little good to say of the prisons. "in them justice is punished or rather crucified," she wrote, "and with it hygiene, morality, decency, humanity, all, in a word, which every one who is not himself hateful and contemptible, respects. it is impossible to give any idea of the _cuartel principal_ or chief convict barrack in the place. we can only refer to its terrible and revolting demoralisation." yet she is inclined to contradict herself and argues that the convict when trusted will behave well. his life on the whole is light and easy; he has sufficient food, congenial company, and can better his position by steady industry; he wears no chains, performs no rude or laborious tasks and is driven neither into insubordination nor crime. [12] "four months in ceuta." the statements just quoted are hardly credible and cannot be reconciled with the reports of others, from personal experience. mr. cook, an english evangelist, who has devoted himself to extensive prison visitation, has drawn a dark picture of this ideal penal settlement as he saw it in 1892. at that date general idleness was the rule. hundreds hung about with no work to do. criminals with the worst antecedents were included in the prison population. one had been a _bandido_ or brigand who had been guilty of seven murders; another had four murders to his credit and one assassin was in a totally dark cell, confined hand and foot, condemned to death and daily expecting to be shot. no fewer than one hundred and twelve slept in one large room without more supervision than that exercised by their fellows discharging the functions of warders. mr. cook expresses his wonder that they did not break out oftener into rebellion. as a matter of fact and as against the statement given above, outbreaks were not uncommon with fierce attacks upon officers and murderous affrays among the prisoners. crime and misconduct are certainly not unknown in ceuta. a gruesome description was given by a correspondent writing to the _london times_ in the year 1876. when he visited the citadel prison he found from eight hundred to one thousand convicts lodged there in a wretched condition, clad only in tattered rags, the cast off uniforms of soldiers, generally insufficient for decency. they tottered in and out of the ruinous sheds supposed to shelter them, quarrelled like hyenas over their meagre and repulsive rations, which were always short through the dishonesty of the thieving contractor, and fought to the death with the knives which every one carried. each shed contained from one to two hundred where they lay like beasts upon the ground. vermin crept up the wall and dirt abounded on all sides. "no words of mine," said this outspoken eye-witness, "can paint the darkness, the filth, the seething corruption of these dens of convicts, dens into which no streak of sunlight, divine or human, ever finds its way, and where nothing is seen or heard but outrage and cruelty on the one hand, misery and starvation and obscenity on the other." there was a worse place, the "presidio del campo," or field prison in which the hard labour gangs[13] employed on the fortifications were housed in still filthier hovels, with less food and more demoralisation. this same correspondent when he enquired his way to the presidio was told by a spanish officer: "they are not presidios but the haunts of wild beasts and nurseries of thieves." obviously there is much discrepancy in the various accounts published. [13] irons are not carried by the convicts, not even by those sentenced to imprisonment "in chains," _con la cadena_. they were considered an interference with the efforts and strength of the labourer. the true state of the case may best be judged by examining and setting forth the conditions prevailing. on the surface the convicts may seem to abstain from serious misconduct, but even this may be doubted from the facts in evidence. "it is a wild beasts' cage," writes one well informed authority. it may be to some extent a cage without bars, or in which the wild beasts are so tamed that they may be allowed to go at large and do but little harm, but evil instincts are at times in the ascendancy as shown in the quarrels and disorders that occur, but to no greater extent says the apologist than in any of the prisons on the spanish mainland. it may be that the régime is so mild that the convicts yield willingly to it without a murmur and seldom rise against it. but the very atmosphere of the place is criminal. there may be few prison offences where rules are easy but if serious offences against discipline are but rarely committed within the limits, others against society are constantly prepared for execution beyond. ceuta is a hot bed of crime, the seed is sown there, nourished and developed to bear baleful fruit afterwards. it is a first class school for the education of thieves, swindlers, coiners, and forgers who graduate and take honours in the open world of evil doing. it is the original home, some say, of the famous fraud, peculiarly spanish, called the _entierro_, which still flourishes and draws profit as ever, not from spain alone, but from far and wide in nearly all civilised countries. the _entierro_, or the "burial" literally translated, means an artful and specious proposal to reveal the whereabouts of a buried treasure. it is another form of the well known "confidence trick" or, as the french call it, the "_vol à l'americaine_," and we cannot but admire the ingenuity and inventiveness so often displayed in its practice, while expressing surprise at the credulity and gullibility of those who are deluded by it. it originates as a rule in a letter addressed from the prison to some prominent person in spain or elsewhere, for the astute practitioner is well provided with lists of names likely to be useful to him in his business. it is on record that a seizure was made in the presidio of granada of a whole stock in trade, a great mass of information secretly collected from all parts of the world to serve in carrying out the fraud of the _entierro_, and with it a number of forms of letters in various european languages. the invitation is marked "very private and confidential" and conveys with extreme caution and mystery the suggestion that for a sufficient consideration the secret hiding place of a very valuable treasure will be confided to the person addressed. colour is given to the proposal by some plausible but not always probable story on which it is based. in one case the writer pretended to be a spanish officer who had received from the hands of napoleon iii himself, when flying to england in september, 1870, a casket of jewels which he was charged to convey to the countess of montijo, mother of the empress eugenie, in madrid. the messenger had however become involved in a carlist or revolutionary movement and was now in prison, but he had succeeded before arrest in burying the jewels in a remote spot so cleverly concealed that he alone possessed the secret. the liberal offer was made to the person addressed of a fourth share of the total value provided he would transmit to the prisoner correspondent through a sure hand, indicated, the sum of three hundred pounds in cash by means of which he could secure release and proceed to unearth the treasure. another story is as follows: one day the regular mail boat brought to ceuta an italian ecclesiastic, a high dignitary of the church, of grave and venerable appearance, who proceeded at once to make a formal call upon the commandant or general commanding for the time being. he was in search of certain information and he more particularly desired to be directed to an address he sought, that of a small house in a retired spot in one of the small little-frequented streets in the hilly town. he carried with him a heavy and rather bulky handbag which when he started from the general's he begged he might leave in his charge on the plea that its contents were valuable. after the lapse of two or three hours the monsignor returned with terrified aspect and evidently in the greatest distress of mind. he entreated that a priest might be summoned to whom he might confess, and his wish was forthwith gratified. the moment he had unbosomed himself to his ghostly adviser, he seized his handbag and ran down to the port just in time to catch the return mail boat to algeciras. the priest who had heard his confession was to be released from the secret confided to him and reveal it to the authorities as soon as the safe arrival of the mail boat at the mainland was signalled across to ceuta. then the whole story came out. monsignor x was one of the most trusted and confidential chaplains of his holiness the pope and he had gone to ceuta in the interests of an ex-carlist general who had the misfortune to be detained there as a political prisoner. a sum of money was needed to compass his escape from the presidio and help him to reach in safety the burying place of a vast treasure, to disinter it and apply it to the furtherance of the civil war in progress. this general seems to have satisfied the papal dignitaries of his identity and good faith; his communication was endorsed with plans and statements pointing to the whereabouts of the hidden treasure, and the method by which the money he needed for his enterprise was to be used, was minutely described. he said he was too closely watched to allow any messenger to reach him direct, but he had friends in ceuta, two titled ladies, near relatives who had been permitted to live in the prison town and to visit him from time to time and who would pass the money to him when it was brought to ceuta. monsignor x landed as we have seen and learned where he was to go, but with commendable caution he hesitated to take his money with him. he would hand it over when he had made the personal acquaintance of the general's aristocratic friends. they did not prove very desirable acquaintances. he found the house he was to visit, was admitted without question, but then the door was shut behind him and he was murderously assailed by half a dozen convicts, knife in hand. he was ordered to give up the money he had brought, and when on searching him it was found missing, he was rifled of everything he carried in his pockets, both his watch and a considerable sum in cash. his life was spared because it was certain that his prolonged absence would lead to a hue and cry, but he was obliged to swear that he would not attempt to leave the house for one clear hour so that the robbers might make good their escape. moreover he was warned if he gave the alarm he would certainly be assassinated. hence his desire to pass beyond the straits of gibraltar before the outrage became known. when the house was visited it was found empty and unfurnished with not a sign of life on the premises. the most interesting feature in the story is that the swindlers should fly at such high game, but it is founded on undoubted fact. the carlist insurrection was often used to father the attempt to defraud. in another case a letter conveyed to the proprietor of a vineyard at maestrazgo the alluring news that a large sum in gold was hidden on his ground, the accumulated contributions of carlist supporters in the neighbourhood. the exact position would be revealed and a plan forwarded in exchange for a sum of four thousand dollars in hard cash, which was to be forwarded to ceuta according to certain precise instructions. the money was sent but no reply came. days and weeks passed and at last, weary of waiting and a little unhappy, the easily duped victim made up his mind to cross to ceuta in person and bring his disappointing correspondent to book. the wine grower unhappily landed in the presidio on the day they were baiting a bull in the streets, a game constantly played and with more danger to the passers-by than the players. the bull goaded into a state of fury attacked the new comer and tossed him so that he fell to the ground with both legs broken. the poor man got no plan and no news of his dollars. all he gained was two months in bed lying between life and death. the writer relosillas, who filled the place of an inspector or surveyor of works at ceuta, has given some of his personal experiences in that convict prison.[14] he describes how on one occasion he was present at a free fight among the convicts in the barracks which had been originally a franciscan convent. he was in his own office at a late hour, hard by, when he heard a terrible uproar in the great dormitory and ran over to exercise his authority and prevent bloodshed. knives were out and being freely used by combatants ranged on two sides, one lot backing up a friend who had been robbed of a photograph of his sister, the other lot defending the thief, who had stolen the portrait for use in a buried treasure swindle. he had created her a marchioness and intended to forward it as a bait to show his intimacy with the aristocracy and prepare the way for the fraud. the case may be quoted to show how minutely the practitioners in the _entierro_ studied their ground and acquired the means of operating. in all spanish prisons and notably in ceuta, cunning convicts are to be found, men of ability and experience, who have travelled far and wide, who are conversant with many languages and well acquainted with prominent people in other countries and the leading facts and particulars of their lives. [14] _catorce meses en ceuta_, malaga, 1886. a few additional stories of swindles akin to the _entierro_ are of much interest. a french landowner by name armand carron, a resident of a small town in the department of finistère, received, some time ago, a letter from ceuta, signed santiago (or james) carron. the writer explained that he was a native of finistère where the frenchman resided; that he was a namesake and a member of the landowner's family, son of a first cousin of his who had left france many years before and settled in spain with wife and three sons, of whom he, santiago carron, now alone survived. this santiago, the letter went on, had been placed by his father in the military college at segovia, had served through all the subaltern grades as an artillery officer, had risen to the rank of brigadier and in that capacity had been sent out in command of the district of the cinco villas in cuba, where he had married the daughter of don diego calderon, a wealthy havana merchant, and the owner of vast sugar plantations. his wife had brought him a dowry of four million reales (£40,000) and had died leaving him a daughter called after her mother, juanita, now about 17 years old. this girl, the only object of her father's love and care, had been by him sent to europe and placed for her education at the convent of the sacre coeur at chamartin near madrid. his career in the army had been for many years very fortunate and his wedded life in cuba exceedingly happy. he had been laden with honours by a grateful government and received many proofs of his country's trust, but lately the officer in charge of the chest of the military district at cinco villas had absconded and run away to new york with a sum of two million reales. as he, the brigadier, was answerable for his subaltern's conduct and was not willing to sacrifice one half of his wife's--now his daughter's--fortune to pay for the defaulter, he had been summoned to spain and then relegated, or sent as a prisoner on parole to the fortress at ceuta to take his trial before a court martial, which owing to the dilatoriness of all things in spain might sit till doomsday. after thus giving an account of himself and his belongings the brigadier proceeded to explain the reasons which induced him to address himself to his unknown french relative. having suffered much from long exposure to the heat of a tropical climate he felt old before his time, and his hereditary enemy, the gout, had by several sharp twinges made him aware of the precariousness of his tenure of life. he had only that one daughter in the world, the sole heiress of a considerable patrimony who might at any moment be deprived of her natural protector and for whose final education and introduction into society it was his duty to provide. the girl had great natural gifts, had inherited her mother's creole beauty, and the accounts of her proficiency, given by the nuns at chamartin were most flattering to his paternal pride. he was anxious to appoint a guardian to his daughter and he could think of no one fitter in every respect for that charge than his only relative, m. armand carron. he (the brigadier) had lately been diligently looking over his father's papers; had found among them very numerous and interesting family documents--ample evidence that a hearty and loving correspondence had for many years been kept up between his father, vincent carron, and the father of m. armand carron, also called armand, and he followed up the narrative with frequent allusions to several incidents occurring in the early youth of the two cousins, with descriptions of localities, common acquaintances and the usual joys and sorrows alternating in their domestic circles. altogether it was a well contrived, plausible story verging so closely upon probability as to avoid shipwreck upon the rock of truth. m. armand carron of finistère did not think it right or expedient to cast doubt on the genuineness of the communication. he answered the brigadier's appeal by calling him "my dear cousin," saying he had a perfect recollection of his father's frequent allusions to vincent carron, the cousin who had grown up with him in their own home and only left their native town on arriving at man's estate. after heartily congratulating the brigadier on his conspicuous career which reflected so much lustre on their own name, and condoling with him about the momentary cloud that had now--undeservedly he felt sure--settled upon it, he assured his newly found relative of his sympathy and of his readiness to look upon the brigadier's daughter as his own child, to receive her into the bosom of his family and take that care of her which so precious a jewel as she was described to be, must fully deserve. so the matter was settled. the correspondence between the two newly found relatives continued for six or seven months and became very affectionate and confidential. the brigadier sent the frenchman his photograph and that of his daughter, both taken in havana and bearing the name and trade mark of the artist. the one represented a middle-aged officer of high rank in full uniform and with the grand cross of san hermengeldo on his breast, a fine manly countenance with long grey silky moustache; the other exhibiting the arch, pretty countenance of a brunette in her teens, with smooth bands of raven hair on either side of her low forehead and the shade of a moonlit night in her dark eyes; a bright blooming creature with dimples and pouting lips and a look of humour and frolic and sense in every feature. together with the photographs came a letter of juanita carron to the brigadier, her father, from the convent, and bearing the chamartin postmark, in which the girl congratulated her father on his discovery of his finistère relative, expressed a firm confidence that her loving father would long be spared to her and concluded that she would for her part, in the worst event, willingly acknowledge her relative as a second father and acquiesce in every arrangement that might be made for her welfare. seven months passed and the post one morning brought m. armand carron a letter with the ceuta postmark, but no longer in his cousin's handwriting. the writer who signed himself don francisco muñoz, parish priest of san pedro in ceuta, announced the death of brigadier santiago carron, which had occurred seven days before the date of the letter. he stated that the brigadier, brought to the last extremity by a sudden attack of gout, had been attended, by him, don francisco, as priest in his last hours, and been instructed to wind up all his earthly affairs both in ceuta and in madrid. he was further empowered to remove the señorita juanita, the brigadier's daughter, from the chamartin convent and take charge of her during her journey to finistère where she should be delivered into the hands of her appointed guardian. the priest's letter enclosed the printed obituary handbill announcing the brigadier's decease, according to spanish custom, the last will and testament of the deceased appointing m. armand carron sole executor, guardian and trustee of his only daughter juanita, and entrusting to him the management of her fortune of one million francs, (£40,000), mentioning the banks in paris and amsterdam in which that sum lay in good state securities. the whole document was duly drawn up by a notary, with witnesses' signatures, seals, etc., and even with certificates of the brigadier's burial, the signatures and stamps of the civil and military authorities at ceuta and those of the governor in command of the place. at the close of this minute statement the priest expressed his readiness to comply with the brigadier's instructions by travelling to madrid, receiving the young juanita from the hands of the sacre coeur nuns and continuing with her the journey to finistère, immediately upon hearing from m. armand carron that he was prepared to receive his lovely ward. m. armand carron answered by return of post that his house and arms were open to welcome his relative's orphan child. where there came after some time another letter from don francisco muñoz explaining that the brigadier, although the most methodical and careful of men, had left some trifling debts at ceuta and there were the doctors' and undertakers' bills to be settled: also the travelling expenses for himself and the young lady which he, the priest, was not able to defray. besides all this the papers, deeds, books and other portable property left by the brigadier, some of it very valuable, but also bulky--among which were the certificates of the state securities deposited in the french and dutch banks--which at the express desire of the deceased would have at once to be conveyed to finistère. he, the priest, would have to be responsible for all this, so that, what with the boarding money and fees due to the nuns, and the clothes, linen and other necessaries the young lady might require to fit herself for appearance in the world, an expense would have to be incurred of which it was difficult to calculate the exact amount. the conclusion was that he could not undertake the journey unless m. armand carron supplied him with a round sum of money, say four thousand francs, which he could forward in french bank notes and in a registered letter addressed not to him but to a doña dolores mazaredo, a pious woman, whom her reduced fortunes had compelled to take service as a washerwoman of the ceuta state prison. the reason alleged by the priest for receiving the money in this roundabout way was that as the brigadier had died in debt to the state and the government might suspect that property belonging to the deceased had come into his, the priest's charge and be subject to the law of embargo on the brigadier's effects, it was desirable that every precaution should be taken to disarm suspicion and prevent injury. the fraud was entirely successful and in due course the letter from finistère enclosing bank notes for four thousand francs was delivered to the washerwoman and from her passed into the hands of the sharpers whose deep laid plan and transcendent inventive powers were thus crowned with full success. m. armand carron heard no more of his orphaned relative. the most astonishing feature in the "spanish swindle," as it is commonly and almost universally known, is the extent to which it is practised and in countries far remote from those in which the trick originates. in one case a resident in the argentine republic received a letter from madrid which he communicated to the press stating that he could not conceive how his name and address had become known. but it was clear that the argentine and many other directories were possessed by the swindler, for similar letters all conveying the usual rosy stories of hidden treasure had come into the country wholesale. the fraudulent agent had long discovered that the credulity and cupidity on which he trades are universal weaknesses and that he is likely to find victims in every civilised part of the world. at another time germany was inundated with typewritten letters from the spanish prisoner, and the correspondent cleverly accounted for his use of the machine by stating that he was employed as a convict clerk in the office of the governor of the prison. an attempt of the same kind was tried on a swiss gentleman of geneva, but it failed signally. the swindler in barcelona thought he had beguiled his correspondent into purchasing certain papers at the price of twelve thousand francs by which a treasure was to be found, and sent a young woman to geneva to receive the cash. but the swiss police, having been informed of the transaction, were on the alert, and when she kept her appointment with the proposed dupe she was taken into custody. an individual staying at the same hotel and said to have been in communication with her was also arrested. the emissary denied all complicity in the intended fraud protesting that she had been commissioned by a stranger she met in barcelona to convey a letter to geneva and bring back another in return. the ubiquity of the swindle is proved by the adventures of a certain m. elked, a restaurateur of buda-pest, who was lured into making a journey to madrid, carrying with him a sum of ten thousand francs in cash. the money was to be used in securing possession of a fortune of three hundred thousand francs, part of which was lying in a trunk deposited in the cloak room of a french railway station and part in the strong room of a berlin bank. elked was to get the half in return for his advance. on arrival in madrid he met the representative of his correspondent and was shown bogus receipts from the railway and bank. to remove all possible doubt it was suggested that telegrams should be sent to the railway station and to the bank and in due course what purported to be replies were brought to elked by a pretended telegraph messenger. the sham telegrams finally convinced him of the genuineness of the business and he arranged to meet the swindler in a certain café to hand over the ten thousand francs. all this time an eye was kept upon elked by a brother hungarian named isray, a commercial traveller, who had come to madrid by the same train and who on hearing the purpose of the restaurateur's visit had vainly tried to persuade him that the affair was a fraud. isray followed his infatuated compatriot to the café in a very low quarter of madrid and arrived just in time to see three men attempting to hustle elked into a carriage. he had apparently hesitated to hand over the money at the last moment and the ruffians were attempting to get him away to a spot where he could be conveniently searched and robbed. isray drew his revolver and fired two or three shots at elked's assailants, but did not succeed in hitting any one. he contrived however to injure the horse and the struggle ended in the three bandits running away, leaving elked still in possession of his money. no passers-by offered the hungarians any assistance during the fight, nor did any police appear on the scene. when elked subsequently complained to the police authorities they simply laughed at him for displaying so much credulity. the victims of the "spanish swindle" are certainly not entitled to much sympathy. although arrests are occasionally made, the spanish police have never been able to cope very successfully with the ancient and ever flourishing fraud. some of the spanish prisoner's lies are the crudest and most transparent attempts at fraud, but a few are really very fine works of art. an english country gentleman once received the following letter: "dear sir and relative: not having the honour to know you but for the reference which my dead wife, mary--your relative--gave me, who in detailing the various individuals of our family warmly praised the honest and good qualities which distinguished you, i now address myself to you for the first time and perhaps for the last one considering the grave state of my health, explaining my sad position and requesting your protection for my only daughter, a child of fourteen years old whom i keep as a pensioner in a college--" this is the prelude to a really clever and picturesque story of the writer's adventures in cuba, where, after having been secretary and treasurer to martinez campos, he had subsequently been driven by general weyler to join the insurgents, and was eventually forced to flee the country taking with him his fortune of thirty-seven thousand pounds. subsequently being summoned to spain by the illness of his "only daughter child" he deposited the money in a london bank under the form of "security document." after this we are introduced to the old mechanism of this venerable swindle. the deposited note was concealed in a secret drawer of the prisoner's portmanteau. the prisoner had been arrested on his arrival in spain, but a trusty friend at large was willing to assist him in recovering the money for the benefit of his child, if only the dear relative in england "would advance the necessary funds for expenses." it is possible to imagine that anyone who had never heard of these ingenious frauds might be taken in by such a plausible narrative, but it is difficult to understand such ignorance. a letter was received from the castle of montjuich in barcelona by a man in dublin, who showed it to several friends in the city explaining the process. it was new to them all, and arrests of persons who had all but succeeded in completing this well-worn confidence trick are constantly made in london. the boldness of these attempts may be seen in the case of the swindlers who despatched three letters identically the same, to three persons who were near neighbours, residing at north berwick near edinburgh. the letter dated from madrid and said:- "sir, detained here as a bankrupt, i ask if you would help me to withdraw the sum of fr. 925,000 (£37,000) at present lodged in a secure place in france. it would be necessary for you to visit madrid and obtain possession of my baggage by paying a lien on it. in one valise concealed in a secret niche is the document which must be produced as a warrant for the delivery of the above mentioned sum. i propose to hand you over a third of the whole in return for your outlay and trouble." the rest of the letter simply contained instructions as to telegraphing an answer to madrid. the whole was a very stupid and clumsy attempt to deceive, lacking all the emotional appeals, the motherless child, the persecuted political adherent of a failing cause. worse yet it openly invited co-operation with a bankrupt seeking to defraud his creditors. nor is there any effort to explain the selection of these three particular persons in the same small town as parties to the fraud, and the only conclusion is that dupes had been found even under such circumstances who were afterward reluctant to reveal their own foolishness. a more elaborate fraud was perpetrated soon after the fall of cartagena; the story ran as follows: two of the well known leaders of the hare-brained republican movement that led to that catastrophe,--general contreras and señor galdez,--both deputies of the constituent cortes, came as fugitives to england and lodged in the bank of england a sum amounting to several millions of reales in state securities, obtaining for them of course the regular certificates and receipt from the bank. these two spanish gentlemen afterwards lived for some time on the continent. general contreras took up his quarters as a political exile in france and señor galdez ventured under a disguise into spain, where he had the misfortune to be recognised, arrested and shut up in the saladero. the certificates had been left in england in trusty hands, in a trunk belonging to señor galdez, who from his prison sent directions that the box should be sent by rail to madrid addressed to a person enjoying his full confidence. this person however had some claim upon señor galdez for an old debt of six thousand francs or about two hundred and forty pounds and insisted upon payment of this sum before he would either part with the trunk or allow it to be opened and the precious certificates to be taken from it. the matter required delicate handling, for señor galdez was a prisoner, general contreras an exile, both beyond reach, and about the money they had placed in the bank there might lie some mystery into which it was not desirable that enquiry should be made. an easy way of getting at the contents of the trunk could be found if any one would think it worth while to supply two hundred and forty pounds, settle the claims of señor galdez's creditor, and laying hold of the certificates, convey them to england and withdraw the securities from the bank. a man whose name was given and whose address was in the calle de la abada or rhinoceros street, madrid, would undertake to carry through the negotiations if any one would call upon him with the needful two hundred and forty pounds and allow him half an hour to rescue the trunk and deliver the certificates. the worthy yorkshire squire to whom intimation had been conveyed of the coup there was to be made, looked upon the story as extremely probable. he fancied it was corroborated by a good deal of circumstantial evidence and thought he might venture on the speculation. a professional adviser whom he consulted undertook to do the job for him and carry the two hundred and forty pounds to the calle de la abada, taking a revolver with him, as a precaution, and intending to deliver the money in bank of england notes, the numbers of which should be stopped the moment he found out that any trick was being played on his good faith. further enquiries were made, however, before any decided steps were taken, and it was ascertained beyond doubt that señor galdez was no longer a prisoner, that general contreras had come back from banishment, that the house in the calle de la abada was a notorious haunt of malefactors and den of thieves, and the whole scheme was another instance of the criminal ingenuity of the spanish swindler. chapter viii life in ceuta dangerous weapons manufactured within the prison walls--frequent quarrels--murderous assaults on warders of constant occurrence--disorders and lack of discipline owing to the employment of prisoners as warders--the "_cabos de vara_"--these posts sold to the highest bidder--salillas' description of these convict warders--worst criminals often promoted to exercise authority over their fellows--terrible evils arising from such a state of affairs--description of ceuta--life at ceuta no deterrent to crime by reason of the pleasant conditions under which the convicts lived--popularity of the theatre in spanish prisons--escapes from ceuta--the case of el niño de brenes--the different characteristics of the andalusians and aragonese--foreigners from spanish colonies imprisoned at ceuta--chinamen and negroes--dolores, the negro convict--his assassination by two fellow convicts--political prisoners--carlists--different types of murderers. life is held cheap in ceuta and indeed in all spanish presidios and gaols. the saying "a word and a blow," may be expanded into "a word and a knife thrust." the possession of a lethal weapon is common to all prisoners and prevails despite prohibiting regulations. fatal affrays are of constant occurrence. at valladolid five men were wounded in a fight over cards, which were openly permitted. an official enquiry followed, with the result that on a search instituted through the prison, numbers of large knives were discovered and many smaller daggers. it is pretended by the authorities that the introduction of such weapons as well as of spirits and packs of cards cannot be prevented. the gate keepers however exercise no vigilance or are readily bribed to shut their eyes. the ruinous condition of many gaols with their numerous cracks and openings and holes in the walls is partially responsible. as a natural consequence blood flowed freely when rage and unbridled passion were so easily inflamed and the means of seeking murderous satisfaction were always ready to hand. quarrels grew at once into fierce fights which could not be prevented and must be fought out then and there even to the death. chains and stone walls and iron bars were ineffective in imposing order. there could be no semblance of discipline where the two essentials were absolutely wanting, supervision and honest service in the keepers. knives were often provided by the ingenious adaptation of all kinds of material within the walls, such as one-half of a pair of scissors firmly fixed in a handle bound round with cloth; or a piece of tin doubled to form a blade and stiffened by two pieces of wood to keep the point sharp; or the handle of a wooden spoon sharpened and as formidable as an inflexible fish bone.[15] other arms carried and used on occasion for premeditated or unexpected attack or in set, formal encounters were a razor, a file, a carpenter's adze, a hammer, a cobbler's awl. [15] i have seen a precisely similar weapon in an english convict prison, the product of an evil-minded prisoner who used it in an assault upon his officer. some surprising figures have been collected by salillas to show how frequent was the appeal to violence and how fatal the consequences of the bloodthirsty strife so constantly breaking out among the more reckless members of this hot-tempered latin race. they had often their origin in drunken quarrels, for _aguardiente_, the spanish equivalent to whiskey or gin, was always plentiful, introduced almost openly by the warders. ancient feuds were revived when the opportunity of settling them was offered by the chance meeting in the gaol. occasionally a homicidal lunatic ran loose about the yards and struck blindly at any inoffensive person he met when the furious fit was on him. salillas tells us that in one year sixteen murderous assaults were committed upon warders,[16] and twenty-four free fights occurred among the prisoners, eleven of whom were killed outright and forty-two seriously wounded. one truculent ruffian fell upon an aged wardsman (a convict also), struck him with a shoemaker's knife and then, brandishing his weapon, defied interference or the rescue of his victim whom he "finished" with repeated blows. a valencian newspaper describes an encounter between two inmates of the torres serranos prison in that city. "without warning or suggesting the cause of difference the two silently hurried to a large empty room, rushed at each other with their knives, and the only sounds heard were those of blows struck and warded off and of shuffling feet as they circled round each other. warders headed by the governor (alcaide) strove to separate the combatants and succeeded at last in doing so but at peril of their lives. both the antagonists were wounded, one had his cheek laid open and the other's face was horribly gashed. at saragossa an old man who complained that one of his blankets had been stolen was fiercely attacked in the shoemaker's shop by the thief, who had been cutting out sole leather with a heavy iron tool. deadly wounds were inflicted on the victim, but the infuriated aggressor stood over him, keeping those who would have interposed at bay until it was clearly evident that death had supervened. [16] an official report dated 1888 gives a total of 221 prisoners in the whole of the establishments admitted into hospital suffering from wounds, fractures and contusions received in the gaols. the primary cause of the chronic discreditable, disgraceful disorder that reigned in the spanish prisons was the prevailing custom of employing prisoners in the service and discipline of the prisons. this practice is now universally condemned as reprehensible and it has been abolished in most civilised countries and even in spain. the excuse offered which long passed current in spain was the expense entailed by employing a proper staff of officers, a necessity in every well ordered prison administration. but till quite a recent date the control and supervision of prisoners in spanish gaols was practically their own affair. there were the usual superior officials, assisted by a few free overseers (_capataces_) but the bulk of the work was entrusted to the _cabos de vara_. the vicious system was the more objectionable from the uncertainty which prevailed in its working. if the _cabo de vara_ had been carefully selected from the best and most exemplary prisoners some of the worst evils might have been avoided. but it was all a matter of chance. not only was there no selection of the best but there was no rejection or elimination of the worst candidates. in some conspicuous cases the office of _cabo de vara_ was suffered to fall into the hands of men altogether unfit to hold it. two in particular may be quoted, those of pelufo and carrillo, who having first committed atrocious crimes, escaped punishment and were actually promoted. one, pelufo, was a convict in the presidio of cartagena who murdered a _cabo_ and cut his way out of the st. augustin prison, knife in hand; the other, carrillo, slew a comrade in a duel in the presidio of san miguel de los reyes (valencia) and both were subsequently appointed _cabos_, "a reward," as a witty official said, "which they had earned by their services to penitentiary methods." with such examples and under such authorities serious crimes were naturally numerous. a few may be mentioned. a _cabo_ named casalta killed a fellow _cabo_ in st. augustin prison of valencia with five cruel thrusts and afterwards stabbed an officer to the heart. when the military guard came up he seriously injured one of the soldiers and wounded two convicts, one in the head, the other in the back. casalta was however condemned to a fresh sentence of twelve years. one ferreiro volta cut a comrade's throat for having given evidence against the man, pelufo, already mentioned. many more cases of the same heinous character where the homicidal instinct had full play may be picked out of the published lists. in one prison thirteen already guilty of murder or attempted murder repeated their crimes as prisoners; in another nine convicted of maliciously wounding, pursued the practice or were guilty of awful threats to murder in the gaols. the cases might be multiplied almost indefinitely but it will suffice to indicate the terrible conditions constantly prevailing. no doubt murderous attacks were often stimulated by the tyranny of the prisoner _cabos_, against whom their fellows, goaded to desperation, rose and wreaked vengeance. the discipline exercised by these prisoner warders was naturally not worth much. it was their duty to correct and restrain their comrades, to assist in their pursuit when they escaped after having originally most probably facilitated the evasion, to side with the authority in cases of serious insubordination and disturbance. but they were weak vessels yielding readily to temptation, accepting bribes hungrily, swallowing drink greedily when offered, quickly cowed by the threats of prison bullies and surrendering at discretion when opposed. but even although there were good and trusty men to be found at times among them, no real reliance could be placed in them. they generally represented fifty per cent. of the staff and the necessity for the substitution of the non-convicted, properly paid, fairly honourable warders has been very wisely decided upon. the chief danger lay in their close and intimate association with the rest, day and night constantly alone when no official supervision was possible. their value depended entirely upon their personal qualifications. if they were weak-kneed and invertebrate, they could apply no check upon the ill-conditioned, could neither intimidate nor repress: if on the other hand they were of masterful character with arrogant, overbearing tempers, they might do immense mischief by tyrannising over their charges and leading them astray. men of this class often claimed an equality with the recognised officials, treated them with off-hand familiarity, spoke without saluting or removing their caps, while insolently puffing the smoke of a half-consumed cigarette in faces of the officers. salillas sums up the type as "semi-functionary, semi-convict and all hangman." the external aspect of ceuta is not unpleasing. it is built on seven hills, the highest of which is topped by the fortress, and in the word "septem" we may trace the name ceuta. it still possesses a few moorish remains, for it was once an important moorish city. some of the streets show a tesselated pavement of red, white and green tiles, and house fronts are to be seen in white, black and serpentine marble with decorated scroll work running in a pattern below the gutter. it has some claims to be picturesque and possesses certain artistic architectural features. an imposing barrack, that called del valle, built by prison labour, is considered one of the finest spanish military edifices. it has also a cathedral dedicated to our lady of africa, engineering and artillery yards, a military hospital, another church, public offices, and above all a palace of the governor and general commanding. the latter in particular, with its extensive grounds, handsome façade, and suites of fine rooms, the whole well mounted and served by a large staff of convict attendants, is the envy of all other government officials. one wide street traverses the city from west to east crossed by a network of smaller ways, all airy and well ventilated by sea breezes and constantly illuminated by a brilliant sun. from time to time convicts in their distinctive dress pass along, but scarcely cast a shadow upon the scene, showing few signs of their thraldom and passing along with light-hearted freedom, smoking excellent tobacco or singing a gay song. no beggars offend the eye, for to solicit public charity is strictly forbidden. generally a contented well-to-do air is worn by the crowd, and even the convicts are decently dressed. other inhabitants, moors from the mainland, and jews long established in commerce seem prosperous and evidently possess ample means gained by their industry and thrift. the presidio or prison proper of ceuta covers a large part of the peninsula or promontory and embraces four distinct districts; the first is situated in the new or modern town; the second lies just outside it; the third is within the old town and the fourth is beyond the outer line of walls. the first part is connected with the third by a drawbridge called _boquete de la sardina_ or the "sardine's entrance"; the second with the third by a portcullis; the third with the fourth and last by the outer gate of the city. in the first are the artisans' quarters, situated in the cloisters of an ancient monastery, that of san francisco, and but for the patching and whitewashing would look quite ruinous. it is neither secure nor of sufficient size. the night guards are posted in the old mortuary house, the bars to many windows are of wood. the building contains offices, schoolhouse, store for clothing and the workshops, these being in a sort of patio or courtyard, or in hollow spaces in the cloisters, and are simply dens and rookeries, in part exactly over the old burial ground. the handicrafts pursued when i visited it were various: men were making shoes; fourteen tailors were at work; a blacksmith with a life sentence constantly hammered out the red hot iron; a tinsmith produced many useful articles; a turner at his lathe worked admirably in the old meat bones and fashioned handles for walking sticks and umbrellas. this turner earned much money and was comfortably lodged. convicts at ceuta are not deprived of their profits and spend their money buying better food, superior clothing and _aguardiente_ and using it to bribe their overseers, or they cleverly conceal it, adding constantly to their store. industry is a chief source of wealth, but many political prisoners bring large sums in with them, or it is smuggled in to them, and a successful hit with the "buried treasure fraud" will supply plenty of cash. other industries followed are carpentering and the construction of trunks and boxes which sell well. a number of looms are engaged in weaving canvas for the manufacture of sails for the local shipping, rough material for sacking and clothing of the convicts, all in large quantities and to a really valuable extent. these workshops are filled by the prisoners in the first stage of their detention. the water-carriers and clerks in the government office are in the second period, and on reaching the third the convicts obtain the privilege of going at large to accept employment in the town "from gun to gun." the prison hospital is situated in this first district, an ancient edifice erected with part of the funds subscribed in times past to purchase freedom for christian captives enslaved by the barbary moors. the building is of good size, well ventilated, and enjoys good hygienic conditions. but the defects and shortcomings in spanish administration extend even to ceuta and the prison hospital, which a local authority says "is detestably organised and mounted miserably." the roof is so slight that it affords no proper protection in summer and the intense heat of the blazing sun striking through is very injurious to the patients. the medical resources are small and inferior; the beds few and unclean; the whole of the interior arrangements, furniture fittings and appliances, insufficient and worn out. there is no mortuary and to add a small detail in proof of the imperfections, autopsies were performed in a small den, part of the hospital proper, without disinfectants and the essential appliances for carrying out post mortems. patients seldom made a long stay in the hospital, for they were rarely admitted until they had reached the last stages of an illness and came in as a rule only to die. the second district contains the principal quarters for convicts. one is in the chief barrack called _cuartel principal_ and another in the fortress _el hacho_.[17] some further evidence of their evil condition may be extracted from an account given by salillas. "it is impossible to conceive," he writes, "a more unsuitable, unsavoury place for a prison. the rooms and dormitories occupied by the convicts are dark and gloomy, always damp, full of pestilential odours and dirty beyond description. the floors are of beaten earth, ever secure hiding places for all forbidden articles, weapons, tools for compassing escape, jars of drink, the fiery and poisonous _aguardiente_. it seems to me extraordinary," he goes on to say, "that life under such conditions is possible. a thousand and odd men who seldom if ever wash, who never change their clothes, are crowded together promiscuously in small, unclean, ill-ventilated, noisome dens and must surely engender and propagate loathsome epidemic disease." the fetid air is foul with the noisome exhalations of many generations of pestiferous people. it is one sink of concentrated malaria--a reeking hot bed of infection. the services of supply are carried out with abominable carelessness: the kitchen is an abode of nastiness: the cooking is performed by repulsive looking convicts in greasy rags who plunge their dirty arms deep into the seething mess of soup which they bail out into buckets, a malodorous compound of the colour and consistency of the mortar used in building a wall. [17] see ante, pp. 159 sqq. close by is another quarter in which convicts are lodged, _el hacho_, or the hilly ground or topmost point of ceuta on which is placed the citadel which crowns the fortifications. it takes the overflow from the principal barrack and is moreover generally occupied by the worst characters, the most insubordinate and incorrigible members of the prison population. the rooms, as in the barrack below, are dirty, overcrowded and insecure, but a few windows of the upper story open on to the mediterranean and are not always protected by either wooden or iron bars. _el hacho_ contains within its limits a certain number of solitary cells, well known and much dreaded by the habitual criminals of spain. they are essentially punishment cells used in the coercion of the incorrigible and are just as dark, damp and wretched as the larger rooms. but the solitary inmate in each cell is generally kept chained to the wall or is as it is styled _amarrado en blanca_, nearly naked and heavily ironed. the treatment is exemplary in its cruelty, but does not necessarily cure the subject. there was one irreclaimable upon whom several years of the _calabozo_ had had no effect. he had been sentenced to be thus chained up as the penalty for murderously wounding an overseer in _el hacho_, but he did not mend his manners. on one occasion on the arrival of a new governor all under punishment were pardoned. this convict when sent out forthwith furiously attacked the first warder he met and was again condemned to be locked up as a ceaseless danger to the presidio. he is remembered as little more than a youth, but with a diabolical countenance and indomitable air. the district of the _barcas_ does not contain a barrack properly speaking, but there is a space cut in the thickness of the line wall entering a patio or courtyard which gives upon seven rooms, some high, some low; of these three and part of the yard were filled with munitions of war, and a battery of artillery was placed over the dormitories on their upper floor. many of the convicts are employed as boatmen and watchmen in the port, others have charge of the walls and carry water up to the guardhouses on the higher level. they also attend to the service of the drawbridge between the old and new town. one who was employed as gatekeeper at the drawbridge was well remembered. he was trusted to call on all convicts who passed to produce their permits of free circulation or to enter and leave the fortress. he had a pleasant rubicund face, was one armed, a little deaf, but with very sharp eyes, not easily hoodwinked. he was a confirmed gossip who picked up all the news which he retailed to all who passed in and out. escapes were of constant occurrence at ceuta, but few occurred by the drawbridge of the _barcas_. half way up the road from the town to the citadel and the fort of the seraglio was the jadu barrack which was occupied by the convicts who were engaged in agricultural work, in making tiles and burning charcoal. many of these were foreigners and negroes. the bulk of the residents was made up of those who had completed three fourths of their sentences and lived "under conditions," or in a state of conditional or semi-freedom. there was little wrong-doing in jadu, thefts were rare, fights and quarrels seldom took place. the seraglio was a fortified barrack of rectangular shape occupied by troops of the garrison and lodging an odd hundred convicts labouring on adjacent farms in private hands. it will be observed that the convicts established in these last-named quarters beyond the walls do not appear to exhibit all the unpleasant features attributed to them by some writers in recording their experiences of ceuta.[18] no doubt the truth lies somewhere between the two extremes but it is certain that the chief penal colony of spain shares to a marked extent the drawbacks inseparable from all forms of penal colonisation. we may see, beyond all question, that at ceuta no beneficial results are achieved by the system. criminals who undergo the penalty are not improved by it; their reformation, too generally a will-o'-the-wisp under the very best auspices, is not even attempted, much less assured. on the other hand, it is perfectly clear that evil is perpetually in the ascendent, that criminal tendencies are largely encouraged by the facilities given in the education and practice of wrong doing; that the presidio itself is a criminal centre where the seeds of crime are sown and their growth fostered despite the difficulties of distance and inconvenience. the fear of penal exile is no deterrent to crime for the simple reason that life in ceuta is not particularly irksome and that the convict finds many compensations there. the obligation to hard labour is not strictly enforced. man must work, but not hard and chiefly for his own advantage, to gain the means of softening and bettering his lot. he passes his time very much as he pleases. though he rises with the sun, as is the universal custom of his country, he turns out of bed without giving a thought to personal cleanliness and proceeds to his appointed labour leisurely, after disposing of his breakfast, adding perhaps more toothsome articles of food, including a morning drink of _aguardiente_ bought from the hawkers and hucksters awaiting him at the prison gates. he is dressed in prison uniform, but it is sufficient and suitably varied with the season. he is not hampered by fetters, as the ancient practice of chaining convicts together in couplets has long since ceased. the wearing of irons fell into disuse years ago at the building of the great barrack del valle, when several deplorable accidents occurred and it was found that chains interfered with the free movement of workmen on scaffolding and so forth. the idea was that irons should again be imposed at the conclusion of the building; "but all who thought so did not know spanish ways, nor the despotism of custom when once established."[19] "to-day (1873)," says same writer, "there are not fifty suits of chains in the storehouse and not more than twenty are worn by special penalty and by no means as a general practice." the convict loafs about the rooms or courtyard or idly handles the tools of his trade, gossiping freely with his comrades, or taking a hand at _monte_ or _chapas_ with the full permission of warders not indisposed to have a "little on the games"; he finds easy means to issue into the streets to carry on some delectable flirtation; there may be a bull baiting afoot, a _novillos_ in which all may join, or a theatrical performance is being given by a convict company in one of the penal establishments. [18] see ante, p. 159. [19] relosillas. the theatre is a passion with the average spaniard and the taste extends to those in durance. cases constantly occur in which popular plays have been reproduced in prisons situated in the principal cities. salillas[20] states that almost all the prisons of spain had their theatre and he gives the names of burgos, ceuta, ocana, valladolid, saladero (madrid) and alcalá de henares. one writer who visited the prison performance at seville of a musical piece, the "viejas ricas de cadiz," said it was given well and that the vocal talent was considerable in that and other prisons. at the presidio of san miguel de los reyes the convicts were heard singing a chorus on christmas eve which was perfectly executed and with great feeling. [20] "vida penal en espana." in the valladolid gaol the theatre was regularly installed by a company of forty convicts who had contributed substantial sums for the purpose. it had working committees with rules and regulations formally sanctioned by the governor of the province. the theatre with seats for an audience of four hundred, and four private boxes holding twelve persons each, was constructed in a building which afterwards became the blacksmith shops. a refreshment room was provided in which a contractor dispensed sweets and pastry and strong drink; real actresses were engaged from outside at a salary of a dollar for each performance; invitations were issued to the free residents and the convicts paid two reales for admission. well known, high class plays were produced, comedies, dramas and comic operas. the whole proceeding was a caricature upon prison discipline and the authorities who permitted it were very properly sharply and severely condemned. they exposed themselves to reproof and worse for flagrant contempt of the most ordinary restrictions in allowing women to pass in constantly, and in permitting the sale of alcoholic liquors. that a place of durance, primarily intended for the restraint and punishment of evil doers should be converted into a show and spectacle was an intolerable misuse of power and a disgraceful travesty of the fitness of things. the positive evil engendered was seen in the wholesale escape of the theatrical company, while the audience patiently waited in front of the curtain which "went up" eventually on a wholly unexpected performance.[21] [21] see ante, p. 128. in the matter of escapes ceuta was famous. it was not difficult to get away from that imperfectly guarded stronghold when the convict had means to bribe officers or buy a boat and had the courage to make the voyage across the straits of gibraltar. the story of one veteran convict who escaped from ceuta is interesting because he was driven to take himself off by what he no doubt deemed the ill-judged severity of his injudicious keepers. this was an old brigand known as "_el niño de brenes_," (the lad of brenes), a name he must have earned some time back for he was a man aged seventy when he "withdrew" (the word is exact) from ceuta. he was a well-behaved, well-to-do convict of affable address who had gained many staunch friends among the officials and his own comrades. the position he had created for himself was one of practical ease and comfort; he lived in _el hacho_ pursuing various industries, usury among the rest, and gradually grew so rich that he gained possession of a strip of land which he cultivated profitably and kept a fine poultry yard as well as many sheep and goats. el niño was a tall well built old man, dark-skinned, with abundant white hair. he was of highly respectable appearance, very stout and sleek, and, being on the best of terms with his masters, he took upon himself to discard the prison uniform and dress himself as an andalusian peasant with gaiters and red sash and _sombrero calañes_ (round hard hat). not strangely this presumption displeased the authorities and he was told that he must conform to the rules and appear in the proper convict clothing and cease to act as a money lender to his poorer brethren. he received this intimation with a smiling protest; he pointed out that he used his influence in pacifying ill-conditioned convicts, in staving off disturbances and preventing quarrels. if his services were not better appreciated and he was tied down to the strict observance of the ordinary rules he would move further away; his remaining in the presidio was quite a matter of favour and he had always at his disposal the means to make his escape, and if he were interfered with he would take his departure. this impudent reply quite exasperated the authorities, who thereupon resolved to employ sharp measures. the facts as he had stated them were more or less true and the blame lay really with the faulty and inefficient régime in force. but the authorities would not tamely submit to be defied and a peremptory order was issued that he should dispose of his private property by a certain date, wind up his financial affairs and renounce all idea of exceptional treatment. el niño took this as a threat to which there could be but one reply. he gathered together his cash and portable property and quietly disappeared. a hue and cry was raised; the usual signals flew at the signal staff; all gates and exits were closely watched; the police were unceasingly active in pursuit, but the fugitive had laid his plans astutely and was never recaptured. having the command of ample means he doubtless used them freely to purchase freedom by taking some sure road past the frontier or across the sea. allies and auxiliaries were never wanting to the enterprising fugitive willing to pay liberally for assistance. in one case a convict had the courage to allow himself to be shut up in a chest half full of tobacco and to be thus conveyed to gibraltar, to which it was returned as containing damaged goods. gibraltar is a free port and the chest was landed without question. then the consignee opened it without delay and extracted the fugitive convict uninjured. the last part of the story is somewhat incredible and we may wonder why the fugitive did not succumb to the discomforts of his narrow receptacle, want of air, the exhalations of the tobacco and the shakings and bumping of the box as it made its voyage, albeit a short one, from ceuta to the rock. an escape on a large scale was effected from the principal barrack when eighteen convicts descended into the drains, and finding their progress unimpeded threaded them safely and passing under the outer wall reached the outlet to the sea. it happened that the water was high and that there was a great conflict of currents in which that setting inward had most force and the exit was blocked by the stormy waves. some of the convicts committed themselves to the waters but were washed back with violence against the rocky fortifications and all of them in terror for their lives raised loud cries, calling for help. the sentries gave the alarm, the guards ran down and recaptured all the fugitives but one, a fine swimmer who persisted in his attempt and was swept seaward clear of the rough water till he was able to regain the shore on the far side of the moorish sentries. the prison population of ceuta is made up of a number of motley, polyglot types of the many diverse families that compose the spanish race and of other distinct nationalities. the spaniards are generally classified under two principal heads: the aragonese and the andalusians. the first named comprises all from the northern provinces who are generally coarse, quarrelsome and brutal, sentenced chiefly for crimes of violence, murders premeditated and committed under aggravated circumstances, the outcome of furious and ungovernable passion. the andalusian is of more generous character, lively and light-hearted, but of unsettled disposition and much impelled to attempt escapes. he is a chronic grumbler constantly moved to complain, dissatisfied with his rations and clamorous for special privileges. the aragonese on the other hand suffers long in silence which leads eventually, after long brooding, into mutinous combination. the andalusian makes his grievances heard by word of mouth, the aragonese rushes without notice into overt action and organised attack. another distinct section of the spanish race is the galician and the native of the asturias, a sober, quiet and well-conducted people at home, who exhibit great ferocity as convicts. sanguinary encounters are little known in these provinces, but when an asturian or galician takes the life of his enemy, he uses artifice and waylays him, decoying him into an ambush and murdering him often with horrible mutilation. a criminal feature, peculiar to the women of these provinces, is their addiction to the use of poison. other spanish females will use violence and inflict lethal wounds openly, but the galician woman administers poison secretly, deliberately choosing her victims among her nearest relatives. the colonial empire of spain, now a thing of the past, contributed in its time a substantial contingent of yellow and black convicts, chinamen from the philippines and negroes from cuba. it was a reprehensible practice to associate these foreigners with the european convicts and it produced many evils. the chinaman was often shamefully ill-treated. he bore it patiently, but at times when goaded beyond endurance, retaliated with bloodthirsty violence. the story of one negro convict, a rather remarkable person, is still remembered at ceuta. he rejoiced in the somewhat inappropriate feminine name of dolores, and despite his colour was a singularly handsome man. he had a slight, active figure, a highly intelligent face and a clear, penetrating eye. his mental faculties were of a high order, although he had received only an indifferent education. he had the fondness of his race for fine clothes and although conforming to the prison uniform wore it with a certain distinction, improving and adding to it where possible and having quite a gentlemanly appearance. he had been guilty of a hideous murder in havana for which he had received a nearly interminable sentence. his behaviour in gaol was orderly and submissive and he always displayed the utmost loyalty to his masters, who in return lightened his lot as far as was possible. dolores, as a rule, was of a patient disposition, although he was easily roused into fits of violent temper and could be at times, according to his treatment, either a lion or a lamb. it seemed almost incomprehensible that the mild eyes so calm and peaceable, when he was unmoved, could blaze with sudden fury or that his small delicately shaped hands could fasten murderously on a fellow creature's throat. tyranny and oppression were intolerable to him and he altogether declined to submit to be domineered over by the chief bully in the prison. his defiance led to an embittered conflict--a duel fought out with knives--in which the black champion conquered after inflicting many deep wounds upon his antagonist. with his victory dolores gained also the implacable ill-will of his fellows. they put him on his trial, in a corner of the principal barrack and condemned him to death, which would certainly have been inflicted had not the authorities interposed to give him their protection. he was removed to _el hacho_ and placed in one of the separate cells used generally for the punishment of the incorrigible.[22] this was fatal to him. two water-carriers belonging to the hostile faction entered the cell when dolores was engaged in writing with his back to the door, and throwing themselves upon him gave him two mortal wounds under the left shoulder. in this supreme moment dolores put forth his tremendous strength, caught his assailants by their necks and broke them before the warders could interfere on either side. dolores died but he is still remembered in the prison annals as one of the most valiant and indomitable convicts who had ever been detained in the presidio. [22] see ante, p. 194. another alien convict to whom relosillas pays a high tribute was his own chinese servant, a convict known as "juan de la cruz, the asiatic." he seems to have been unceasingly loyal and devoted in his service, an admirable cook, an indefatigable nurse, a faithful watchman who guarded his effects and secured his privacy. juan had many accomplishments; he could weave shade hats of the finest palm fibre, he was as clever as any seamstress with his needle; he was a first-class housemaid and laundress; he could make a dollar go further in the market than the most economical housewife. he drove the most astonishing bargains with the hucksters and purveyors of food, fish and game, with which ceuta was plentifully supplied. he had been condemned to a long term for a murder committed in havana at a hotel, of which he was the chief cook. in appearance he was younger than his years, tall, thin, anæmic looking, shortsighted, with jet black hair and oblique eyes. he was a man of great intelligence, a dramatic author in chinese and was released before his time to accompany the director general of prisons to madrid as his cook. in the end he started a fruit shop in the capital and prospered greatly. an entirely different class of prisoners came to ceuta in considerable numbers from time to time,--those exiled for political misdeeds. a whole discipline battalion was composed of military offenders, among them a number of artillerymen condemned for the rising in barcelona and crowds of carlists and those concerned in the so-called cantonal risings. one or two politicals were strange characters, such as the old soldier named "_el cojo_" (the lame man) of cariñena, a conceited veteran very proud of his many campaigns in which he had served, and who went everywhere on donkey back, being infirm and crippled. another was the ex-curé of berraonda, a biscayan priest of ferocious aspect, tall, corpulent, dark-skinned, with an abundant snow white bushy beard, which grew to his waist and which was left untouched by the prison barber. speaking in general terms of the whole body all types of character were represented. some when in funds liked to pose as dandies with fine linen, smart shoes or rope sandals tied with ribbons and coloured sashes (fajas); others, the larger number, were coarse and brutal ruffians, without private means, or too idle to acquire them by the labour of their hands, much given to drunkenness and very quarrelsome in their cups. the attitude of most convicts is mute irritation against everyone, but they especially hate their warders and superiors; they are surly and forbidding in manner, silent as to their past, little disposed to talk of their criminal adventures. yet they display the most contradictory traits. even when they have been guilty of the most horrible misdeeds they often show a calm, innocent face and are little vexed by conscience. one who was noted for his submissive demeanour and who in any trouble always sided with authority, was a parricide who had killed his father under the most revolting conditions. this youth, barely of age at the time of his crime, had sought his father's consent to his marriage with an unworthy character, and when refused, he retaliated by beating in his parent's brain with a pickaxe. the fit of homicidal fury which possessed him drove him to kill his father's donkey also and the dog which had been at his heels. then, having satiated his rage, he went home seemingly undisturbed, and made some paltry excuse for his father's absence. when the corpse was found he was arrested on suspicion, but for want of more than circumstantial evidence escaped the garrote, and was sent to ceuta for life. yet this miscreant betrayed no outward sign of the horrible passions that sometimes dominated him, but was always placid and of an engaging countenance. he was lamblike in his demeanour, most attentive to his religious duties, never missed a mass or failed to confess. he was devoted to children and his greatest pleasure was to fondle the baby child of one of the warders which he carried about in his arms in the streets of ceuta. he seemed absolutely callous and insensible to the prickings of conscience, but he showed in two ways that he was consumed with remorse. when any reference was made to his crime, at the slightest hint or the vaguest question, a fierce look came into his eyes, his mouth closed, his hand sought his knife and he was ready to attempt some fresh act of violence. the other sign of his mental distress was that he seldom slept and never soundly or for long, and his nights were disturbed with groans, deep sighs, even yells of despair. yet his general health was good, he ate with appetite, maintained his strength well, and there was no apparent mental failure. but he was no doubt mad and under a more intelligent system of jurisprudence he would have been relegated to a criminal lunatic asylum. there is no record however that at ceuta he had been seized again by homicidal mania. there were many other types of murderers in ceuta. the husbands who had killed their wives formed a distinct group. jealousy because of real or fancied injury led to the vindictive thirst for revenge and this was more frequently found in the peasant than in the higher and better educated classes. death had been inflicted in most cases by violence, but one aggrieved othello chose poison, rejoicing in the acute suffering produced by arsenic. another, who was half a frenchman, adopted the french method of dismemberment, and to dispose of the damning evidence of the corpse, cut it up into small pieces and distributed them far and wide, but could not hide them effectually. extenuating circumstances were allowed him and he went to ceuta, where he is said to have lived quite contentedly, never regretting the savage act that had avenged his dishonour and made him a widower. ceuta made its own murderers. duels to the death were of constant occurrence as elsewhere, and the authorities rarely interfered even when fatal consequences ensued. on this point relosillas says: "during my stay of fourteen months in ceuta hardly an hour passed without a serious quarrel, not a day when some one was not wounded, not a week without a violent death in the _cuartel principal_. these troubles were due invariably to the same causes, the admission of _aguardiente_ and the facility with which knives and lethal weapons could be obtained--points already noted and discussed at the beginning of this chapter. the drink was always on tap, as it could be introduced without difficulty through the dishonesty of the warders and the unlimited traffic with the townspeople. the weapons were never wanting, as it was impossible to check their presence, for no convict would be without his long sharp knife ready for instant use. chapter ix brigands and brigandage disordered state of spain at the accession of isabella--brigandage raised into an organised system by lawless nobility and rebels--the revival of the santa hermandad or holy brotherhood--this institution revived again in the 19th century under the name of "migueletes"--attack on the mail coach outside madrid--the famous brigand josé maria--his daring robberies in the serrania--his early life--english officers from gibraltar captured and held to ransom--beloved and venerated by the peasants--in 1833 appointed an officer of the migueletes--brigandage not extinct in spain--don julian de zugasti appointed governor of cordova--methods of procedure--the famous robber vizco el borje--his seizure of don pedro de m.--enormous ransom extorted--agua dulce. brigandage, the form of organised highway robbery practised by bands of thieves in countries where roads are long and lonely and imperfectly guarded, has been always popular with the latin races. it suited the tastes and temperament of reckless people who defied the law and laughed at the attempt to protect defenceless wayfarers. their activity was stimulated by the long wastes of rugged country that separated the towns, giving harbourage and security to the robbers who issued forth to prey upon travellers and easily retired to their rocky fastnesses and escaped pursuit. these ishmaelites have been especially active in spain and italy and the aggressive spirit that moved them is not yet entirely extinct. more settled government has produced a more effective police in these latter days, but acts of brigandage in its latest development, that of "holding up" modern means of conveyance, express trains, bicycles and motor cars, have occurred, and may be reasonably expected to increase. brigandage is as old as the hills in spain and some of its earliest phases are well worth describing before they are forgotten or replaced by newer processes. we may look back and gather some idea of those early days in spain. when isabella, the catholic, ascended the throne of castile, she was called upon to govern a country profoundly demoralised, infested with evil doers and dominated by a turbulent and vicious nobility. the throne was an object of contempt, the treasury empty, the people poverty stricken, and the princes of the church rebellious and rejoicing in large revenues. a lawless aristocracy hungry for independent authority were fighting for their own lands or conspiring secretly to overawe the crown. titled alcaldes, traitors and rebels, openly raised brigandage into a system, exacted tribute by blackmail from the lower classes, and made unceasing war upon the higher. within the kingdom a rival pretender aimed at the crown. one near neighbour, alfonso v of portugal, menaced the peace of the country and kept an army on the frontier; another, louis xi of france, crafty and unscrupulous, constantly threatened war and held his army in guipuscoa. in a few short years the whole aspect of the country was changed. isabella brought her rebellious nobles to their knees, all of them asking pardon and promising allegiance; the french army withdrew hastily to france; the portuguese was defeated and expelled; the claimant to the throne was imprisoned and numbers of high-born criminals suffered on the scaffold. the great ecclesiastics disgorged much of their wealth to buy forgiveness, the robber haunts were attacked and destroyed, the high-roads became perfectly safe, thieves and highwaymen took to honest labour. now the revenue was largely improved, the law was respected, crime was actively pursued and rigorously punished. but for the terrors and cruelties practised by the inquisition, spain would have enjoyed unbroken domestic peace and all the benefits accruing from general good government. these satisfactory results were largely achieved by the excellent police organised by isabella and her husband, ferdinand. the revival and consolidation of the "santa hermandad" or holy brotherhood which had always existed in the country districts to secure peace and tranquillity, but heretofore wielding smaller powers, worked wonders. a comprehensive system was now introduced by which all parts were patrolled by well-armed guardians of the law, mounted and on foot, who checked, prevented or punished misdeeds. in every collection of thirty houses or more two officials were appointed to deal with all offenders according to a strict code. every thief when taken was punished with fine, flogging and exile, in penalties proportioned to the amount stolen. for more heinous offences his ears were cut off and he got a hundred lashes, or yet again one of his feet was amputated and he was peremptorily forbidden to ride on a horse or mule at peril of his life. a sentence of death was carried out by shooting with arrows. this ancient hermandad was at one time revived in the _migueletes_, a body of men organised early in the nineteenth century to act as escorts to private travellers, as the regular mails and diligences were under the protection of troops provided by the government. the _migueletes_ were a semi-military force composed of picked youths of courageous conduct, wearing uniform and armed with a short gun, with a sword, a single pistol and carrying a cord by which to secure their prisoners. the _migueletes_ took their name from one miguel de pratz, who had been a lieutenant of caesar borgia. they were often recruited from the robbers who were offered service as a condition of pardon when captured, and afterwards behaved admirably. no one with an escort of ten or twelve _migueletes_ need fear attack. the mail coach was sometimes attacked, and on one occasion was stopped at almuwadiel outside madrid. it carried several passengers, among others an englishman, a german artist and a spaniard. at the first appearance of the brigands, the guard threw himself on the ground with his face in the mud and the postillions did the same. when summoned to deliver up their possessions, the englishman gave up his well filled purse and was warmly thanked; the german artist would have been ill-treated as a punishment for his empty pockets, but was spared when his poverty was explained; the spaniard was caught attempting to conceal his valuables in the carriage lining and narrowly escaped a beating. the coach was at last permitted to proceed and at parting the leader of the band shook hands with the englishman and said he was a real gentleman, the german was ignored and the spaniard was sharply taken to task for his attempted "fraud." to this period (1825-35) belongs the famous brigand, josé maria, the spanish fra diavolo, whose name is still remembered in the "serrania" or mountain country of ronda and throughout southern andalusia, for his daring robberies and continual defiance of the authorities. a "pass" or safe conduct granted by him was a better protection than any official escort. so great was his power that he was known by the proud title of "el señor del campo" (the lord of the country), and he ruled more absolutely in andalusia than king ferdinand in spain. travellers paid him a head tax, blackmail was levied on all public conveyances and, as has been said, he issued passports at a price to all who chose to pay for his protection. strong bodies of troops were sent against him, but he managed always to elude or oppose them successfully. josé maria started in life as a small cultivator in a village near antequera, but, unable to earn a decent living, he took to the more profitable business of smuggling, a profession greatly honoured and esteemed in spain. in one of his operations he was drawn into an affray with the soldiers and unfortunately shot and killed one of them. he at once fled to the mountains, where he was soon surrounded by other no less reckless companions, all of them outlaws like himself, and became the chief and centre of the band which soon spread terror throughout southern spain. his headquarters were in the rugged and lofty mountain district of ronda near the little town of grazalema, but he was ubiquitous in his rapid movements and traversed the whole of andalusia. a story is preserved of an english nobleman who travelled to spain for the express purpose of making his acquaintance but long sought him in vain in his favourite haunts and much disappointed retraced his steps to madrid. but on the road between carmona and ecija[23] he had the questionable good fortune to meet josé maria in person, who thanked him courteously for the compliment he had paid him in seeking an interview, in return for which he proceeded to relieve his lordship of his valuables and his baggage so that he might continue his journey without encumbrance. he had many ways of levying contributions. one was to send a messenger to some landed proprietor, demanding a large sum of money, and declaring that if it was not paid he would swoop down to lay waste his lands and burn his house over his head. another plan was to take post with his gang, all of them well mounted and fully armed, on the highroad just outside some populous city, and "hold up" every one who passed in or out, seizing all ready money and carrying off to some secret fastness all persons known to possess means. [23] this town of ecija is renowned in the history of spanish brigandage as the home of the "seven sons of ecija," a very daring and dangerous band whose achievements have been told by the spanish novelist, fernandez y gonzalez. english officers, part of the garrison of the rock of gibraltar, did not escape the exactions of josé maria. once a shooting party in the woods near gibraltar was suddenly attacked and captured, but after the first surprise they showed fight and a brigand was wounded. the lives of all of them were in danger but were saved on the persuasion of josé maria that they would be more valuable as prisoners for whom a large ransom would be obtained than as corpses. one of the party was accordingly sent to the rock to procure the money while the rest were detained as hostages for his return at a certain hour the next day. the messenger was warned that if a rescue was attempted, the whole of the prisoners would be instantly massacred. he reached the rock after gunfire, but the gates were presently especially opened to admit him, the money was collected, not without difficulty, and was conveyed to the brigands in sufficient time to secure the release of the captives. for some time later english officers were forbidden to go into spain except in sufficient numbers to set the brigands at defiance. in quite recent years (1871) two gentlemen, natives of the rock, were carried off and detained until a large ransom was paid. josé maria dominated the country for nearly ten years. the secret of his long continued impunity may be traced to the fact that many of the local authorities, influenced either by fear or interest, were in collusion with him, and that the peasantry all wished him success; for, as he never oppressed them, but assisted and protected their smuggling transactions in which they are nearly all, in one way or other, engaged by opposing the regular troops, he was greatly beloved and venerated. he was in fact regarded as a hero; for such a life, wild and adventurous, where there is plenty of plunder and no laborious duty, has wondrous charms in the eyes of the lower andalusians, by whom the laws of _meum_ and _tuum_ have never been well understood. how long josé might have continued in power it is impossible to say, but like some other great personages he chose to abdicate. in 1833, he made his own terms with the queen's government, agreeing to break up his band on condition of receiving an _indulto_, or pardon for all past offences, and a salaried appointment as an officer of migueletes, or "police." he did not long exercise this honest calling, for soon after, when attempting to secure some of his former comrades who had taken refuge in a farmhouse, he was shot dead as he burst open the door. with all his bad qualities, josé had some of a redeeming character. among these were his kindness to his female prisoners, his generosity to the poor, and his forbearance, for he frequently restrained his troop from acts of violence, and displayed on occasions a certain chivalrous nobility of character, hardly to be expected from a robber. in person he was very small, scarcely more than five feet in height, with bowed legs; but he was stout, strong and active and made amends in boldness, determination and talent for his physical deficiencies. his success and the long continued control which he exercised over the lawless fellows who composed his band proved that he possessed the difficult art of command. his courage indeed was proverbial. as an instance of it, it is reported that he once ventured into the presence of the prime minister at madrid and dared to beard him in his own house. brigandage has not wholly disappeared in spain although it no longer exists on the grand scale of former days when the mountain passes and lesser highways were infested by robber bands led by daring and unscrupulous chiefs who stopped travellers, blackmailed landed proprietors and carried off country folk whom they held to ransom often for considerable sums. to-day, if the knights of the road are still to be met with occasionally, they are for the most part paltry pilferers bent on stealing small sums from the poorer folk returning from market, or in rare cases holding up some solitary vehicle and its defenceless passengers. these are of the type of the old fashioned _salteadores_ or "jumpers," so named because they jumped out from behind a rock and dropped suddenly on their prey with the old peremptory summons of "_boca abajo!_" "_boca à tierra!_" "faces down! mouth to the ground!" the cry may still be heard, and it means mischief when backed as of old by the muzzle of a gun protruding from the bushes in some narrow pass or defile. they are courageous too, these spanish road agents, ready to fight at need as well as to rob, to overbear resistance and to meet the officers of the law with their own weapons. a story is told of one daring ruffian, rullo de zancayro, who, in 1859, murdered the alcalde of his village and was followed by two _guardias civiles_. at the end of a long chase they went too near some brushwood, when one was shot dead and the fugitive made good his escape. in the year 1870 brigandage was general throughout spain, but the heart and centre of it was the province of andalusia, with branches and ramifications everywhere, spreading dismay and apprehension among all peaceable people. this was in the interregnum that followed the revolution which drove queen isabella from the throne. there was safety for no one. respectable landowners dared not visit nor reside upon their estates for fear of attack, dreading robbery with violence or seizure of their persons, and they constantly received threatening letters demanding the purchase of immunity on the payment of considerable sums. the roads were more than ever insecure, trains and diligences were repeatedly held up, and small parties of travellers or solitary wayfarers were certain to be laid under contribution. it was claimed that the _guardias civiles_, the fine rural police, were no longer active but were diverted from their legitimate duties by political party leaders in power. so many bitter complaints, so many indignant demands for protection, reached the central government in madrid, that the authorities resolved to put down brigandage with a strong hand. a new governor of cordova was appointed, a man of vigour and determination, armed with full powers to purge the province of its desperadoes. the choice fell upon don julian de zugasti y saenz, who had been a member of the cortes and employed as civil administrator, first as governor of teruel, where he had restored order in a period of grave disorder, and at burgos, where he had laid bare a formidable conspiracy against the government. when zugasti undertook the task, it was high time to adopt energetic measures. there was no security for life or property as robberies on a large scale were perpetrated both in town and country. well-to-do citizens were seized in the public streets and carried off to sequestration; farmers and cultivators were compelled to share their produce, their harvests, and their herds with the brigands who swooped down on them; the police were impotent or too much overawed to interfere in the interest of honest folk. the prevailing anarchy and widespread lawlessness were a disgrace to any country that called itself civilised. zugasti did a great work in restoring order and giving security to the disturbed districts. the whole story is told at some length in his book on "bandolerismo,"[24] which deals with brigandage in spain from its very beginnings, describing the principal feats of the banditti. [24] "bandolerismo estudo social y memorias historicas," by don julian de zugasti. madrid, 1876. at the outset he was faced with a most difficult situation. crimes in great number had been committed with impunity. many of their perpetrators were wholly hidden from the authorities, while others were perfectly well known. a crowd of spies were ever on the watch and ready, whether from greed or to curry favour, with abundant information of openings that offered for attempts at crime. on the other hand the _guardias civiles_ were greatly discouraged and far too weak in numbers for the onerous duties they were expected to perform. judges were dishonest and had been known to accept bribes, the ordinary police were torpid, nearly useless and generally despised. a complete reform in the administration of justice was a crying need, as the power and authority of the law were completely broken down. the new governor was helpless and handicapped on every side. his representations to the government for support were but coldly received and he had to rely on such scanty means as he had at hand. he looked carefully into the character of all police employés and dismissed all of doubtful reputation. he established a system of supplying the _guardias civiles_ at all stations with photographs of criminals at large whom they could identify and arrest, and insisted on strictly revising the permits issued to carry arms, allowing none but respectable persons to do so. the prohibition was extended to all kinds of knives, many of them murderous weapons of the well known type. the quarters of all evil doers he heard of were broken up, including the farm which had come to be called ceuta because it harboured a mob of ex-convicts, escaped prisoners who were eager to resume their depredations by joining themselves to the plans and projects of others. these active measures were bitterly resented and vigorously resisted by all evil doers, who went so far as to seek the removal of the governor, and it was falsely announced in more than one newspaper that he had sent in his resignation. the disastrous consequence was the immediate revival of brigandage in various forms. horses and cattle were once more stolen in the open country and a house in the town of estado was broken into and a large amount in cash and securities with much valuable jewelry was seized. at the same time ten prisoners escaped in a body from the gaol of that city. on the highroad between posadas and villaviciosa, seven armed men robbed nineteen travellers, and a party had the audacity to carry off a child of nine and hold him to ransom. the police and well-disposed people were greatly disheartened, the _guardias civiles_, which had done excellent service in capturing more than a hundred prisoners in a short time, slackened in their endeavours, while the municipal police, which had forty captures to its credit, also held their hand. the whole situation was greatly aggravated and crime gained the ascendancy. but zugasti rose to the occasion, publicly denied the report of his resignation; the government published a complimentary decree commending his conduct, and his pursuit of wrong doers was continued with renewed energy. naturally he incurred the bitterest hostility and went constantly in danger of his life. he received anonymous letters containing the most bloodthirsty threats and was warned by his friends that they could not possibly support or protect him. undeterred he held his way, bravely and wisely organised an association akin to the "regulators" of the wild days in the western states of the united states to patrol the country and insure the general safety, and employed a large force of secret police agents to perambulate the country, keeping close watch upon suspicious persons, travelling by all trains, patrolling all roads, visiting taverns in low quarters, entering the prisons in disguise and gaining the confidence of the fellow prisoners. zugasti himself spent long periods in the various gaols, observing, investigating and interviewing notable offenders. the thoroughness of his proceedings might be gathered from the choice he made of his agents. one of the most useful was an idiot boy, whose weak-mindedness was relieved by some glimmerings of sense and who passed entirely unsuspected by those upon whom he spied. his foolish talk and silly ways gained him ready admission into cafés and clubs, where he was laughed at and treated as a butt upon whom food, drink and unlimited cigars were generously bestowed. he had the gift of remaining wide awake while seeming to be sound asleep, his ears ever on the stretch to pick up compromising facts which were openly mentioned before him. he had also a prodigious memory and seldom forgot what he heard, storing up everything to be produced later when he attended upon the governor. in this way zugasti often heard of crimes almost as soon as they were planned, and could hunt up their perpetrators without delay. on one occasion a mysterious crime was unravelled by placing the idiot in the same cell with two of the suspected actors, who entirely believed in the imbecility of their cell companion and unguardedly revealed the true inwardness of the whole affair. the _ladron en grande_, the "robber chief" at the head of a numerous band, is still to be met with, although rarely representing the type of the famous josé maria. these leaders rose to the command of their lawless fellows by force of superior will, and they were unhesitatingly obeyed and followed with reckless devotion in the constant commission of crime. one or two noted specimens have survived till to-day and some account of them may be extracted from recent records. vizco el borje was long a terror to the peaceable people in northern andalusia. he was originally an officer of _carabineros_, the "custom house" regiment of spain, but had been, in his own judgment, unjustly dismissed and found himself deprived of the means of subsistence. falling lower and lower, step by step he became an outcast, an ishmaelite consumed with an intense hatred of all social arrangements, with his hand against every man. he began business as a smuggler and soon took to worse, following the spanish proverb:- "de contrabandista e ladron no haymas que un escalon." "there is only one short step from smuggler to thief," and vizco quickly crossed the narrow space and became a notorious criminal. he carried on the war against law and order with constantly increasing recklessness and more and more daring outrages. his strong personal character, his iron will, his unbounded courage and boldness gave him a great ascendancy over the men who collected around him and who served him with the greatest loyalty and unstinting effort. one of his exploits may be quoted at some length as exhibiting his methods and the success that generally attended them. a certain landowner, don pedro de m----, whose estates were in the neighbourhood of the mountain village of zahrita, was in the habit of providing bulls free of charge for the amusement of the villagers, at the annual festival of their patron saint. amateur bull fighters are always to be found to take part in the performance of a _novillos_, or game with young bulls. don pedro like many of his class was also an _aficionado_, an amateur devoted to bull fighting, and he loved to pick out himself the animals he gave from his herds, trying first their temper and their aptitude for the so-called sport of _tauromaquia_. he was thus engaged, assisted by his steward and a herdsman, and had dismounted with the steward to walk round the herd, when the ominous cry was raised, "_boca abajo!_" and they found themselves covered by the rifles of three brigands who had crept upon them unobserved. resistance was hopeless, though they also were armed, for their guns hung at the saddles of their horses, which they led at the full length of their reins, and to have made any hostile move would have drawn down a murderous fire. the chance soon passed, for one of the robbers quickly took possession of both horses and guns. the seizure was complete and the captors proceeded to carry off their prize. all remounted by order of the chief of the band, who took the lead, and the party started in single file along the narrow mountain path, an armed escort bringing up the rear. they made straight for the upper sierra, avoiding the frequented track until they reached a dense thicket, where a halt was called and a scout sent on ahead. after an interchange of whistled signals, nine other horsemen rode up, the two prisoners were ordered to dismount, their eyes closely bandaged, and they were warned that their lives depended upon their implicit obedience to the orders they received. then the march was resumed. the road led constantly upward, becoming more and more rugged and precipitous till from the utter absence of brushwood and the stumbling of their horses they knew that they were climbing through a mountainous region. another halt was called, all again dismounted, and the prisoners were led on foot along a narrow passage, that from the echoing sounds and the closeness of the air evidently penetrated far into the hill. it opened presently into an extensive cavern, probably the long-abandoned workings of some ancient roman mine. here their bandages were removed and don pedro saw that he was in the presence of the three bandits who had first made him prisoner. the cave contained nothing but a few empty boxes, on one of which was a light, a flickering wick in a saucerful of oil. another box was offered don pedro as a seat, writing materials were produced and he was desired to write from dictation as follows:- "dear father, i am in the power of the 'sequestradores,' who make good plans and bind fast. it is madness to put the government on their track--they will escape and you will lose your son. your secrecy and your money can at once free me. you can send the silver by diego our steward, who is the bearer of this. let him appear on the mountain between grazalema and el bosque, riding a white donkey and bringing ten thousand dollars." here the prisoner stopped short and point blank refused to demand so large a sum, declaring that to pay it his brothers would be robbed of their patrimony and that he had no right to ask even when his life was at stake for more than his individual share as one member of a large family. it was a fair argument and he held out so staunchly that the brigand was pleased to reduce the demand to six thousand dollars. the letter conveying these terms was then completed, signed and delivered to diego, who was told to make the best of his way to xeres, and as dawn had now broken he had no difficulty in finding the road. don pedro was hospitably entertained. a wine skin (_borracha_) was broached and a plentiful supper laid out. the day was spent in sleep, but at nightfall the march was resumed. the prisoner was once more blindfolded, the weary pilgrimage, halting by day, travelling by night for three nights in succession, was resumed. on one occasion he seemed near rescue. a cry of "civiles! civiles!" was raised, an alarm of the near approach of the much dreaded _guardias civiles_. orders were promptly issued to prepare for action. the brigands closed their ranks, sent their prisoner to the rear and took post to open fire. in the confusion don pedro, keenly alert for the deliverance that seemed so near, managed to lift the bandage over his eyes sufficiently to peep around. the party stood on a narrow ledge of the mountain side, straight cliff above, sheer drop below: movement forward or back was alone feasible. meanwhile the increasing clatter of hoofs betrayed the enemy's approach, nearer and nearer, and the brigands barring the narrow road hoped to take them at a disadvantage and, after shooting them down, make good their retreat. but the sight of the first horse showed that it had been a false alarm. these were not "_civiles_" but "_contrabandistas_," smugglers not policemen, friends not foes. a long train of animals, heavily laden with goods that had paid no duty, were being guided across the mountains. don pedro's hopes were crushed out of him when he heard the interchange of friendly greetings: "_muy buenas noches!_" on one side and "_vayan ustedes con dios_," on the other; "good night!" and "go in god's keeping," and room was made by the robbers for the safe passage of the smuggling train. on the third day news came that the authorities were on the alert and it would be unsafe to meet the messenger returning on his white donkey. another tryst was therefore appointed. don pedro's father was desired to send half the whole sum demanded to grazalema and the other half was carried by a man on the white donkey to a lonely spot among the hills. the father started in person on the long ride from xeres to grazalema weighted with three thousand dollars in cash, reached his destination safely but remained there for a couple of days tortured with suspense. on the third morning he was approached by a man leading a pony laden with rolls of the rough brown cloth manufactured in grazalema, who said under his breath as he passed, "follow me." the peddler led the way to a small draper's shop where the same cloth was exposed for sale and, dismounting, passed into the back premises, where another man, also a peddler, was seated waiting. this was vizco el borje himself, who at once asked for the money, producing don pedro's pencil case as his credentials. the dollars had been sewn for security into the pack saddle of the pony which had brought the old man, and they were extracted, counted and handed over. vizco forthwith climbed on top of the pile of cloth carried by his own mount and rode boldly out of the town. meanwhile diego, the steward on the white donkey, with the remaining three thousand dollars patiently hung about the mountain lair to which he had been directed, and at last encountered a goatherd at the entrance of the village, who told him to ride on till he met a woman dressed in black seated by the side of a well. "she will ask you the time, and you will answer twelve o'clock, at which she will guide you to the spot where you are expected." it was a cavern in the hill and he was met there by his young master don pedro safe and sound. the money was handed over, but no release was permitted until news came of the delivery of the other half, when the prisoners were guided to a path familiar to them and they were free to return home. next evening they rode into xeres after a captivity of fifteen days. the end of vizco el borje was such as might be expected. he was shot down by the _guardias civiles_. for a long time he carried his life in his hands and had many hairbreadth escapes, saved always by his fine pluck and resourcefulness. at last the authorities had positive information of his whereabouts, gained through treachery, and he was surrendered. he made a gallant defence, but his retreat was cut off and he was soon overpowered. when he fell his body had been pierced by five rifle bullets. another type of brigand was agua dulce, who worked on a much smaller scale, but was long a terror in the neighbourhood of xeres. he was a mean, contemptible ruffian who preyed upon charcoal burners, poor travellers, carriers and workmen returning home with their hard earned wages. he had one narrow escape. after securing an unusually large sum, the equivalent of £600, all in small coins, he was caught dividing these with two accomplices in a wine shop. his arrest and imprisonment followed. when called upon to account for his possession of the gold, agua dulce explained that he had got it in the course of a business transaction in seville and was removed to that city for trial, where he was acquitted, although little doubt was entertained of his guilt. for years he continued his depredations, committing for the most part small thefts and petty larcenies. now and again he made bold coups, as when, under threat of damaging a herd of valuable mares, he extorted three thousand dollars from a lady who raised horses. he levied a thousand dollars on another landowner by using the same menace and a third gentleman, who had stoutly refused to be blackmailed and who owned a large drove of donkeys, found them all with their throats cut lying by the high road. when his misdeeds became too numerous to be borne the municipal guard of gorez swore to put an end to him. a hot pursuit was organised and he was found at a ford near a wood belonging to the duke of san lorenzo, where he was caught hiding among the trees. two guards opened fire, which was returned, with the result that one guard was killed and one robber. agua dulce, who was still alive, got into the covert, and shots were again and again exchanged, ending in the destruction of the brigand. a later affair with brigands occurred at gibraltar in 1870, when two gentlemen, natives of the rock, much given to hunting and taking long rides in the neighbourhood, were waylaid and made prisoners. they were carried off to a lonely house in the hills near ronda and detained for ransom, which was advanced by the british government through the governor of the fortress of gibraltar, and eventually repaid by the spanish authorities. after the money had been paid over the _guardias civiles_ intercepted the robbers and shot them down. chapter x a bright page in prison history wonderful results achieved by colonel montesinos in the presidio at valencia--montesinos repairs and reconstructs the prison with convict labour--his system of treatment--period--marvellous success in reforming criminals--convicts entrusted with confidential despatches in civil war--armed to resist attack on the prison by insurgents--employed to hunt down brigands--movement towards prison reform in 1844--three new model prisons planned for madrid--executions--the "garrote"--account of the trial and execution of josé de rojas--the condemned cell at the saladero--an englishman's description of a spanish execution. the reader who has followed this detailed description of spanish penal methods has realised the hideous shortcomings of spanish prisons, the horrible practices so constantly prevailing within the walls, the apparently incurable nature of the criminals who regularly fill them, and he might reasonably doubt that definite and substantial amendment was possible. yet the contrary is true and to the most marked and astonishing degree if we are to believe the facts on record. in one instance the personal character of one man, backed by his unshaken determination and the exercise of a resolute and inflexible will, brought a large mass of convicts into an admirable condition of self-control and good behaviour. the story reads like a fairy tale, as set forth in contemporary chronicles. one of the most interesting accounts is to be found in a book of travels entitled "spain as it is," by a mr. hoskins, in which he gives his personal observations of the results achieved in the prison at valencia by the enlightened administration of its governor, colonel montesinos. a brief account of the man himself should precede our appreciation of his work. montesinos was a soldier, trained to arms, whose education and experience were entirely military. he had no previous acquaintance with or insight into prison systems, although he had travelled far and wide in many countries. he had never visited or inspected their penal establishments nor had he penetrated into any single prison in his native spain. he served in the spanish army, beginning as a cadet at fourteen, was actively engaged in the war of independence, and was carried off as a prisoner into france. when set free at the conclusion of peace, he accepted a post in the secretariat of the war office at madrid, where he remained for five years. then came the political troubles which ended in the fall of the constitutional government in 1823 and the surrender of cadiz. with many other soldiers and citizens, he left spain and wandered through europe and america, with no very definite idea of examining into the laws and customs of other countries, but gaining knowledge and breadth of views. on his return to spain when close on forty years of age he was appointed governor of the convict prison in valencia. montesinos entered upon his duties with a firm conviction of the paramount importance of military discipline, of that passive and unquestioning obedience to authority, the absolute surrender of individual volition, the complete subjection of the many to the single will of one superior master, which he believed to be the essence of all personal government and more particularly in a prison. to enforce such discipline was the only effectual method of securing good order and the due subordination of the rough and possibly recalcitrant elements under his command. in this he entirely succeeded and established an extraordinary influence over his charges. he became an autocrat but in the best sense; his prisoners resigned themselves submissively and unhesitatingly to his control, anxious to gain his good will by their exemplary demeanour and their unvarying desire to behave well. what he actually made of his charges, how he succeeded in changing their very natures, in transforming lawbreakers and evil doers into honest, trustworthy persons, successfully restraining their evil instincts, will be best realised by a few strange facts which, if not positively vouched for, would be considered beyond belief. but before relating these marvellous results it will be well to describe in some detail the processes adopted by him and the principles on which he acted. when colonel montesinos was appointed governor of the valencian convent prison, it was located in an ancient mediæval edifice known as the "_torres de cuarte_," two towers flanking the great gate which gave upon the suburb known as "_el cuarte_." this semi-ruinous building, dating from the fifteenth century, lodged about a thousand prisoners, herded together in a number of dark, dirty, ill-kept and insecure chambers, wholly unfit for human habitation. they were on several floors communicating by narrow passages and tortuous staircases, below which were deep underground cellars divided up into obscure foul dungeons, which were always humid from the infiltration from the city ditch and into which neither sunlight nor fresh air came to dry up the damp pavement and the streaming walls. montesinos saw at once that it would be impossible to introduce reforms in such a building and he laboured hard to move into better quarters, securing at length, after a long correspondence, new quarters in the monastery of st. augustine, which indeed was but little better. here also the buildings had fallen into disrepair. a large part was without roof, there was little flooring, and many broken windows and decayed walls offered numerous facilities for escape. extensive repairs were indispensable, yet funds were wanting, for the spanish government was sorely taxed to meet the expenses of the civil war (carlist) now in full swing. nevertheless montesinos, strenuous and indefatigable, a host in himself, transferred his people, a thousand convicts of dangerous character, into their new abode and set them to work to repair and reconstruct the old building. he meant to succeed, by drawing upon his own limitless energies, creating means from his own native resources, and was backed by the ready response of those he brought under the dominion of an indomitable will. all difficulties yielded before his intense spirit. he was the very incarnation of activity and it was enough to look at him to be spurred on to assiduous effort. his personal traits and their effect upon his surroundings are thus described by his biographer, vincente boix,--"there can be no doubt that his martial air, his tall figure and the look in his face, a mixture of imperious command with great kindliness and shrewd appreciation of willing effort, had a marked effect upon his people, and convicts who had been once coerced and driven by the fear of punishment yielded much more readily to his moral force. his obvious determination and strength of character got more out of them than threats or penalties, although, if needs were, he was ready enough to appeal to the strong arm. they acknowledged his superiority, and rough undisciplined men, quite capable of rising against authority when unchecked or weakly held, succumbed to his lightest word like children to their father. they yielded even against the grain absolute compliance to his lightest wish without needing a sharp look or a cross word." it will be interesting to follow montesinos' procedure. under his system the treatment was progressive and divided into three periods; first, that of chains; second, that of labour; and third, that of conditional liberation. this arrangement is in some respects akin to that generally known as the "irish" system as practised many years ago with conspicuous success. (1) the wearing of irons at that time was general in spain, although now the practice has fallen into disuse. with montesinos the rule was to impose irons of varying weight graduated to the length of sentence. a two years' man carried them of four pounds' weight; a four years' man of six pounds, while between six and eight years they were of eight pounds. they consisted of a single chain fastened to a fetter on the right ankle, while the other end was attached to a waist belt, a method supposed to cause no great inconvenience. with montesinos the period of wearing them was of short duration. it terminated on the day that the convict petitioned for regular employment, for on first reception, after having entered the first courtyard, which was kept bright with garden flowers and the songs of many birds in cages hanging around, the new arrival was given no work. he remained at the depot idle and silent, for no conversation was permitted, although he was associated with others, and if he put a question to a neighbour he got no reply. weariness and boredom soon supervened in this period of first probation and the convict was keen to pass on. he appealed to his officer, who told him to seek employment at some trade. "i know none." "then learn one, you cannot get quit of your irons in any other way." if the convict hesitated he was left studiously to himself, unhappy and ashamed, for his condition was deemed disgraceful. he could not hold his head up, for a wide gulf separated him from others who had escaped the chain. he was a marked man, shunned and sneered at, and was required to work from the second day at ignominious and humiliating labour, such as sweeping, cleaning, and so forth. they were the helots and scavengers of the prison. their lot was the more unbearable because they were debarred from many privileges conferred on those who were at regular labour, and who were earning wages to spend in part upon themselves. these regular labourers might buy toothsome food and cigars, the delight of every spaniard's heart. meanwhile the governor had been watching him closely, noting his disposition and whether or not he was desirous of taking up work which was so much to his advantage and of which he would be speedily deprived unless he applied himself to it with zeal and unflagging industry. (2) a wide choice of labour obtained in valencia. trades and handicrafts were varied and numerous. carpenters, turners, saddlers, shoemakers, fanmakers, workers with esparto grass, weavers of palm straw hats, silk spinners, tailors, basket makers, were all represented, and the total was some forty trades, with seven hundred artisans. to-day there would be nothing remarkable in this industrial activity, which may be seen in well governed prisons, but in valencia at that date (1835-40) it was a novelty due very largely to montesinos' initiative, and he could boast that out of three thousand convicts, barely a fourth left prison without having acquired some smattering of a trade. stress must not be laid upon the exact amount of skill possessed by these prison taught artisans, and it is to be feared that it was no more thorough than in these latter days of ours, when the same principles as those of montesinos have actuated prison administration. this is the crux of the system of prison instruction. it cannot be expected to turn out workmen sufficiently well trained and expert to go out into the open labour market, so generally overcrowded, and compete for wages against the free labourer who has had the benefit of full apprenticeship. adults cannot easily acquire knowledge and dexterity in the use of tools, and inevitable waste of materials accompanies the experiments made by unskilled hands. we have no record of how far these drawbacks affected montesinos' well-meant practice. (3) we have no facts to show how far the third period, that of conditional liberation, was successful at valencia. there is no possibility of knowing definitely whether it was really tried or went beyond the enunciation of the theory so long in advance of our modern practice. it is little likely, however, that the effective and elaborate method of police supervision on which it is absolutely dependent was in existence or even understood in spain in the days of montesinos. no permanent results seemed to have been achieved by the montesinos system. there is no record that it survived the man who created it or that the government sought to extend the admirable principles on which it rested. it was essentially a one man system, depending entirely for success on the personal qualities of the individual called upon to carry it out. montesinos was not, however, singular in his remarkable achievement. the german obermaier did much the same in the prison of kaiserslautern, and captain maconochie in norfolk island exercised a notable mastery over the australian convicts. the effects produced by montesinos were little less than phenomenal. he so developed the probity of his convicts that he could rely implicitly upon their honesty and good faith. during the civil war he sent them with confidential despatches to commanders in the field and never had cause to regret the trust placed in them. they were sent out as scouts seeking information of the enemy's movements and brought in news with punctuality and despatch. a message was brought one day to the governor directing him to send a clerk to fetch a thousand dollars from the provincial treasury. montesinos forthwith summoned one of his convicts and despatched him, carrying with him the receipt for the money. within half an hour the man returned with the dollars. whenever a convict escaped from the presidio, a rare occurrence indeed, other convicts were despatched in pursuit and seldom failed to bring in the fugitive. at one time the spanish government decided to build a new prison in the capital and to employ convict labour in the construction. the governor of the presidio of valencia was ordered to send up a number of prisoners, and next day at daylight they marched, taking with them a quantity of material, the whole escorted by a small body of _cabos_, "prisoner warders," and commanded by a veteran overseer. the journey was safely made to madrid without the smallest mishap, not a sign or symptom of misbehaviour shown on the road, and the alcaldes of the towns on the route, after anticipating the worst evils, were agreeably surprised and were satisfied to lodge the travellers at night in private houses if there was no prison accommodation. a second experiment of the kind was made in the same year. on a previous occasion valencia was threatened by a strong force of carlists under that distinguished carlist general, cabrera, and it was feared that he would capture a large body of convicts at that time employed on a new road, las cabrillas, a little distance from the city. there were hardly any troops in the capital except the city militia only recently organised and barely equal to the duties and dangers imposed upon them. great fears were entertained that cabrera would seize the convicts and incorporate with his own force. montesinos was desired to prevent this, and he turned up in person one evening at las cabrillas, where he assumed command and drew off the greater number, happily escaping without attack or interference by the enemy. so loyal was the demeanour of the valencian prisoners that under the direction of montesinos at another time they were armed and resisted an attack made upon the gates of their convent prison by the insurgents in a rising in valencia. the following extraordinary story is related in an official publication by the well known poet don ramon de campoamor, at that time governor of the province of valencia. a formidable band of brigands was devastating the neighbourhood of valencia and a reign of terror prevailed. the governor sent for colonel montesinos and inquired whether there were any old brigands among the convicts in custody and who were willing to atone for past misdeeds by coming to the assistance of the authorities. montesinos, who made it a rule to know all his prisoners by heart, their present dispositions, and indeed their inmost thoughts, spoke confidently of one as quite a reformed character, and at the governor's request entrusted him with the special mission of clearing out the country. the convict, after receiving his instructions, went out with a sufficient escort, hunted down the brigands, broke up their bands, killing or capturing the whole. here the commanding influence of montesinos was paramount even beyond the walls of the presidio. by the power of his strong will he called out fine qualities and exacted loyal service from the worst materials whom he had won to a high sense of discipline. a minor and more sentimental instance is recorded of the confidence he could repose in his reformed criminals. the mother of one of the convicts was at the point of death. the man was summoned to the governor's office and informed of her desperate condition. "do you wish to see her in her last moments?" asked the governor. "can i trust you to return if i give you permission to leave the prison for a time?" the man much moved solemnly promised not to misuse his liberty. he was allowed to exchange his prison uniform for a peasant's dress; he went without escort to his mother's cottage, received her blessing, and went back to durance as had been agreed. the experience of valencia was unique and short-lived. a commendable effort was made to extend the principles on which montesinos had acted, and decrees embodying them and recommending them for general adoption were issued but soon became a dead letter. excellent in theory, their success depended entirely on the man to give them effect. a second montesinos did not appear and spanish prisons continued to exhibit the worst features down to the present day. a movement towards prison reform had been commenced as early as 1844, when three new "model" prisons were planned for madrid, but their construction was long delayed. about the same date a model convict prison was planned at valladolid, but slow progress was made with this and with other new prisons, including that of saragossa, and at the casa de galera of alcalá de henares. a penitentiary was also projected on the island of cabrera, opposite cadiz. the chief effort was concentrated on the model prison of madrid, which was undertaken in 1876 after much debate and discussion. it was to be an entirely new building, to which were devoted all the funds that might have been expended upon the impossible reform and repair of the hideous old saladero. several years passed before the building began, and not until 1884 did the tenants of the dismantled saladero move into the new prison. it is for the most part on the cellular or separate system, by which each individual is held strictly apart from his fellows, according to the most modern ideas, which have claimed to have exerted a potent effect in the reformation of offenders and the diminution of crime. nevertheless the system is still in its trial and its beneficial results are by no means universally conceded. the new prison is a very distinct improvement on the old, and the former horrors and atrocities are fast disappearing, but the secluded solitary life has its own peculiar terrors which press hardly on transgressors, with results that are very distinctly deterrent if not very largely reformatory. what those actually subjected to the treatment feel we may read in their own effusions. the literary quality of prison writers does not rank high but they sometimes put their views forcibly. one says of the "model":--"if i leave this trying place alive i can at least declare that i have been buried underground and had made the acquaintance of the grave diggers." another writer:--"if you wish to know what life is like here, come and take your lodging inside. they are handsome, but curious, well provided with means to drive you out of your mind. there is a water tap which overflows in drought and runs dry in wet weather; a pocket handkerchief and a towel; a plate, a basin and a wooden spoon, a broom, a dust box, one blanket and a mattress with four straws that gives you pain in every limb: many things more, but one alone much needed is absent, a rope by which you commit suicide." it has been said that the worst use to which a man may be put is to shut him up in a prison. a still more wasteful extravagance is to put him out of the world. the penalties known to spanish law have been very various; there have been many forms of imprisonment, perpetual imprisonment, greater or less detention, exile, the application of fetters of several sorts, handcuffs, shackles, the _guarda amigo_ or "holdfriend," the "persuader" or "come along with me"; the leg irons and waist chains of varying weights. penal labour was enforced in _maniobras infimas_ by convicts chained together on public works, fortifications, harbours and mines. all forms of secondary punishment have been inflicted, winding up with capital, the death sentence inflicting the extreme penalty of the law. this last irrevocable act does not find favour with all spanish legists, whose chief objection is the familiar one that when a judicial error has been committed, rectification is altogether impossible. spain can add one to the many well known cases such as those of callas and lesurques, and it may be quoted here as it is probably little known. the case occurred in seville and grew out of a sudden quarrel in a tavern followed by a fight to the death with knives. the combatants went on the ground and attacked each other in the regular fashion when one dropped to the ground mortally wounded and the other with his second ran away. the wounded man's second went up to see whether his principal was dying or already dead, when he got up and declared that he was entirely unhurt. he had slipped upon a stone and fallen with the obviously cowardly desire to escape from his antagonist's attack. the second was furiously angry and rated his man soundly. he retorted fiercely and another quarrel and another encounter ensued, also with knives, in which the first man again fell and this time was killed outright, by his own second, who at once made off. the body lay where it had fallen until next morning, when the police found it. the story of the original quarrel but nothing of the second had become known, and it was naturally concluded that death had been inflicted by the first combatant. on the face of it the evidence was conclusive against him, and he did not attempt to deny the facts as they appeared when arrested and put upon his trial. at that time the law treated homicide in a duel as murder and the victim suffered the extreme penalty without protest, believing himself to be guilty. the truth was never known, until the real offender, years after, confessed the part he had played, but too late of course to prevent the judicial murder of the innocent man. this case has naturally been added to give weight to the many powerful arguments against capital punishment. the extreme penalty of the law is nowadays inflicted in spain by the _garrote_, a method of strangulation by the tightening of an iron collar, the substitute for hanging introduced by king ferdinand vii (1820). till then the hanging was carried out in the clumsiest and most brutal manner. the culprits were dragged by the executioner up the steps of a ladder leaning against the scaffold. at a certain height he mounted on the victim's shoulders and thus seated flung himself off with his victim underneath. as they swung to and fro the hangman's fingers were busily engaged in choking the convict so as to complete the strangulation. the _garrote_ is a very simple contrivance. the condemned man sits on a stool or low seat, leaning his back against a strong, firm upright post to which an iron collar is fixed. this, when opened, encircles his neck, and is closed and tightened by a powerful screw, worked by a lever from behind. death is instantaneous. public executions must prove very popular performances with a people who still revel in a bull fight and flock to look at the hairbreadth escapes of human beings from hardly undeserved death by the horns of a fierce beast tortured into madness. de foresta, an italian traveller,[25] tells us that never was a greater concourse seen in madrid than that which collected in 1877 to witness the execution of two murderers, mollo and agullar, when it was estimated that 80,000 people were present. ford describes an execution in seville in 1845 when the crowd was enormous and composed largely of the lower orders, of the humbler ranks, "who hold the conventions of society very cheap and give loose rein to their morbid curiosity to behold scenes of terror, which operates powerfully on the women, who seem irresistibly impelled to witness sights the most repugnant to their nature and to behold sufferings which they would most dread to undergo," and many of whom "brought in their arms young children at the beginning of life to witness its conclusion." "they desire to see how the criminal will conduct himself, they sympathise with him if he displays coolness and courage, and despise him on the least symptom of unmanliness." [25] la spagna; da irun a malaga, by adolfo de foresta, bologna, 1879. ford in his "gatherings from spain" gives a graphic account of the execution of a highway robber, one of the band of the famous josé maria already mentioned. the culprit, josé de rojas, was nicknamed "veneno," poison, from his venomous qualities and had made a desperate resistance before he was finally overcome by the troops who captured him. he fell wounded with a bullet in his leg, but killed the soldier who ran forward to secure him. when in custody he turned traitor and volunteered to betray his old associates and give such information as would lead to their arrest if his own life was spared. the offer was accepted and he was sent out with a sufficient force to seize them. such was the terror of his name that all surrendered, but not to him. on this quibble the indemnity promised him was withdrawn, he was brought to trial, condemned, and in due course executed on the plaza san francisco, which adjoins the prison in seville and is commonly used for public executions. ford was admitted within the walls and describes veneno "_en capilla_," a small room set apart as a condemned cell, the approach to which was thronged with officers, portly franciscan friars and "members of a charitable brotherhood collecting alms from the visitors to be expended in masses for the eternal repose of the soul of the criminal. the levity of those assembled without, formed a heartless contrast with the gloom and horror of the melancholy interior of the _capilla_. at the head of the cell was placed a table with a crucifix, an image of the virgin and two wax tapers, near which stood a silent sentinel with a drawn sword. another soldier was stationed at the door with a fixed bayonet. in a corner of this darkened compartment lay veneno curled up like a snake, with a striped coverlet drawn closely over his mouth, leaving visible only a head of matted locks, and a glistening dark eye rolling restlessly out of its deep socket. on being approached he sprang up and seated himself on a stool. he was almost naked, but a chaplet of beads hung across his exposed breast and contrasted with the iron chains around his limbs.... the expression of his face though low and vulgar was one which, once seen, was not easily forgotten. his sallow complexion appeared more cadaverous in the uncertain light and was heightened by a black unshorn beard, growing vigorously on a half-dead countenance. he appeared to be reconciled to his fate and repeated a few sentences, the teaching of the monks, as by rote. his situation was probably more painful to the spectator than himself, an indifference to death arising rather from an ignorance of its dreadful import than from high moral courage." when veneno came out to die he was clad in a coarse yellow baize gown, the colour which in spain denotes the crime of murder and appropriated always to judas iscariot in spanish paintings, the colour, too, of the _sanbenito_ or penitential cloak worn by the victims of the inquisition at an _auto da fé_. he walked slowly, stopping often to kiss the crucifix held to his lips by the attendant confessor, a monk of the franciscan order, whom it was the convict's privilege to choose for himself to accompany him to the scaffold. he was met there by the executioner, a young man dressed in black who proceeded to bind his naked legs and arms so tightly that they swelled and turned black: a necessary precaution, as this very executioner's father had been killed when struggling with a convict unwilling to die. veneno made no resistance, but he spoke with supreme contempt of this degraded functionary, saying, "_mi delito me mata no ese hombre_" (my crime kills me and not this creature). he uttered many pious ejaculations, and his dying cry was, "viva la virgen santisima." the last scene was ghastly in the extreme. while the priest stood by, "a bloated corpulent man more occupied in shading the sun from his face than in his ghostly office," the robber sat with a writhing look of agony, grinding his clenched teeth. the executioner took the lever of the screw in both hands, gathered himself up for a strong muscular effort, drew the iron collar tight while an attendant threw a black handkerchief over the face. a convulsive pressure of the hands and a heaving of the chest were the only visible signs of the passing of the convict's spirit. "after a pause of a few moments the executioner cautiously peeped under the handkerchief and, after having given another turn of the screw, lifted it off, carefully put it in his pocket and proceeded to light a cigar. the face of the dead man was slightly convulsed, the mouth open, the eye balls turned into their sockets from the wrench. a black bier with two lanterns fixed on staves was now set down before the scaffold. a small table and a dish into which alms were again collected to be paid to the priests who sang masses for his soul was also brought forward.... the body remained on the scaffold till after noon. it was then thrown into a scavenger's cart and led by the _pregonero_ or common crier beyond the jurisdiction of the city to a square platform called the "mesa del rey," the king's table, where it was to be quartered and cut up. here the carcass was hewed and hacked into pieces by the bungling executioner and his assistants." the condemned cell at the saladero was a part of the prison chapel in which the spanish convict spent the last twenty-four hours of life and was a horrible and painfully gruesome hole. the _capilla_ is described by de foresta, who saw it when it was on the eve of abolition. it was of narrow dimensions, damp, dark, windowless and lighted only with one or two small candles burning upon the altar which occupied a large space filling all one wall. in a corner cut off by a black iron railing from the rest of the chapel was a small space fitted with a bed or stone shelf with rings to which the convict's chains were fastened and where he knelt close to the bars to converse with or confess to the ministering priests. the chapel was dimly lighted by a hanging lamp and one or two wax candles. its walls and floor were damp and it received light and air only through the door. this gruesome den rejoiced in the name _el confortador_, or the "place of comfort." another traveller gives the following graphic account of a spanish execution:-"at seven we find ourselves in the crowd immediately beneath the prison walls. large bodies of troops are drawn up on either side of the _plaza_ and there is a tolerably large concourse of male spectators present. in a few minutes the mournful cortége appears upon the wall. first comes the executioner, the spanish calcraft, a wiry looking fellow, carrying a coil of rope; next comes a very stout padre armed with a baton, and bawling out prayers at the top of his voice; he is followed by the convict, who walks on in prison uniform, with his neck bare and arms pinioned, clasping the cross in his hands and looking literally in a blue fright; a couple more priests and two armed sentries complete the group, who range themselves along the wall, the criminal in the centre. the terrible scene is long protracted. the fat padre roars out _ave marias_, exhortations and prayers, waving his baton frantically in the air and making the miserable wretch repeat after him. he then clasps him in his arms, and sitting down on chairs opposite each other, they are covered with a large black pall held by the supernumerary priests; under this they remain for some time perfectly motionless, while the poor creature is unburdening his soul and pouring forth his load of crimes into the ear of his confessor. "the nerves of the spectators are strained to an intense pitch during the awful pause, as is evident from the oppressive silence which prevails and the anxious looks directed at the scaffold. at length the pall is removed and the executioner proceeds to business. the culprit is made to sit against an upright post to which he is firmly lashed; the _garrote_, a machine consisting of an iron collar worked back by a powerful screw and a long lever, is carefully adjusted round his neck, a small handkerchief thrown over his face and all is ready. the priest recommences shouting while the executioner, preparing himself for a mighty effort, suddenly turns the handle two or three times as quick as lightning; the head of the victim drops, the knees and arms quiver for a few seconds and all is over. priests and sentries retire, calcraft peeps under the handkerchief and, whipping it off with a jerk, immediately disappears, leaving the ghastly corpse exposed to open view. it is a sickening and disgusting sight: the face is of a livid hue, the tongue protruding, and shedding saliva on the breast; the bystanders shudder, the troops march off with drums gaily beating and the crowd slowly disperses. i make a rapid sketch of the body and return to the hotel fully satisfied that, were it not for the cruel state of suspense in which the criminal is kept before the execution, the punishment of the _garrote_ is far more merciful and expeditious than the less speedy death by hanging in this country." the profession of hangman does not entitle those who practise it to the very highest honour, although in france in the case of the sansons it was an hereditary office in which son succeeded father for many generations and the family took considerable pride in their functions. in spain the _verdugo_ is by no means a popular person. de foresta, the italian traveller already quoted, tells us that in several towns he saw a person of forbidding aspect who was walking about with a camp stool under his arm and generally shunned. on enquiry he was informed that this was the gentleman who administered the _garrote_. he was strictly forbidden to take a seat at a café or in any place of public resort, hence the camp stool on which he rested himself when tired. no one recognised or addressed to him a single word. de foresta's comment on this is a story of the french executioner who, when called to nice to guillotine a criminal, was unable to find anywhere to lay his head. he was turned away from every door, was refused a mouthful of food and was obliged to dine on what he could find at the railway station restaurant, and he spent the night in walking up and down the platform. it may not be generally known that in england the executioner is provided with board and lodging in the gaol where his victim is waiting to be "finished." * * * * * transcriber's notes: italic text is denoted by _underscores_. superscript text is represented with carat and brackets (i.e. e=mc^{2} ) minor punctuation and printer errors repaired. available by internet archive (http://www.archive.org) note: images of the original pages are available through internet archive. see http://www.archive.org/details/houseoftormentta00gulliala house of torment a tale of the remarkable adventures of mr. john commendone gentleman to king philip ii of spain at the english court by c. ranger-gull author of "the serf," etc. new york dodd, mead and company 1911 published september, 1911 the quinn & boden co. press rahway, n. j. dedication to david whitelaw souvenir of a long friendship _my dear david,_ _since i first met you, considerably more than a decade ago, in a little studio high up in a great london building, we have both seen much water flow under the bridges of our lives._ _we have all sorts of memories, have we not?_ _late midnights and famishing morrows, in the gay hard days when we were endeavouring to climb the ladder of our art; a succession of faces, a welter of experiences. some of us fell in the struggle; others failed and still haunt the reprobate purlieus of fleet street and the strand! there was one who achieved a high and delicate glory before he died--"tant va la cruche à l'eau qu'à la fin elle se casse."_ _there is another who is slowly and surely finding his way to a certainty of fame._ _and the rest of us have done something, if not--as yet--all we hoped to do. at any rate, the slopes of the first hills lie beneath us. we are in good courage and resolute for the mountains._ _the mist eddies and is spiralled below in the valleys from which we have come, but already we are among the deep sweet billows of the mountain winds, and i think it is because we have both found our "princess galvas" that we have got this far upon the way._ _we may never stand upon the summit and find that tempest of fire we call the sun full upon us. but the pleasure of going on is ours still--there will always be that._ _ever your friend, c. ranger-gull._ contents i in the queen's closet; the four faces ii the house of shame; the ladder of glory iii the meeting with john hull at chelmsford iv part taken in affairs by the half testoon v the finding of elizabeth vi a king and a victim. two grim men vii hey ho! and a rumbelow! viii "why, who but you, johnnie!" ix "misericordia et justitia" x the silent men in black xi in the box xii "tendimus in latium" chapter i in the queen's closet; the four faces sir henry commendone sat upon an oak box clamped with bands of iron and watched his son completing his morning toilette. "and how like you this life of the court, john?" he said. the young man smoothed out the feather of his tall cone-shaped hat. "truly, father," he answered, "in respect of itself it seems a very good life, but in respect that it is far from the fields and home it is naught. but i like it very well. and i think i am likely to rise high. i am now attached to the king consort, by the queen's pleasure. his highness has spoken frequently with me, and i have my commission duly written out as _caballerizo_." "i never could learn spanish," the elder man replied, wagging his head. "father chilches tried to teach me often of an afternoon when you were hawking. what does the word mean in essence?" "groom of the body, father--equerry. it is doubtless because i speak spanish that it hath been given me." "very like, johnnie. but since the queen, god bless her, has come to the throne, and england is reconciled to holy church, thou wert bound to get a post at court. they could not ignore our name. i wrote to the bishop of london myself, he placed my request before the queen's grace, and hence thou art here and in high favour." the young man smiled. "which i shall endeavour to keep," he answered. "and now i must soon go to the queen's lodging. i am in attendance on king philip." "and i to horse with my men at noon and so home to kent. i am glad to have seen thee, johnnie, in thy new life, though i do not love london and the court. but tell me of the queen's husband. the neighbours will all want news of him. it's little enough they like the spanish match in kent. give me a picture of him." "i have been at court a month," john commendone answered, "and i have learned more than one good lesson. there is a spanish saying that runs this way, '_palabras y plumas viento las heva_' (words and feathers are carried far by the wind). i will tell you, father, but repeat nothing again. kent is not far away, and i have ambition." sir henry chuckled. "prudent lad," he said; "thou art born to be about a palace. i'll say nothing." "well then, here is your man, a pedant and a fool, a stickler for little trifles, a very child for detail. her grace the queen and all the nobles speak many languages. every man is learned now. his highness speaks but spanish, though he has a little french. never did i see a man with so small a mind, and yet he thinks he can see deep down into men's hearts and motives, and knows all private and public affairs." sir john whistled. he plucked at one of the roses of burnt silver embroidered upon the doublet of green tissue he was wearing--the gala dress which he had put on for his visit to court, a garment which was a good many years behind the fashion, but thought most elegant by his brother squires in kent. "so!" he said, "then this match will prove as bad for the country as all the neighbours are saying. still, he is a good catholic, and that is something." john nodded carelessly. "more so," he replied, "than is thought becoming to his rank and age by many good catholics about the court. he is as regular at mass, sermons, and vespers as a monk--hath a leash of friars to preach for his instruction, and disputes in theology with others half the night till her grace hath to send one of her gentlemen to bid him come to bed." "early days for that," said the kentish gentleman, "though, in faith, the queen is thirty-eight and----" john started. "whist!" he said. "i'm setting you an evil example, sir. long ears abound in the tower. i'll say no more." "i'm mum, johnnie," sir henry replied. "i'll break in upon thee no more. get on with thy tale." "'tis a bargain then, sir, and repeat nothing i tell you. i was saying about his highness's religion. he consults don diego deza, a dominican who is his confessor, most minutely as to all the actions of life, inquiring most anxiously if this or that were likely to burden his conscience. and yet--though her grace suspects nothing--he is of a very gross and licentious temper. he hath issued forth at night into the city, disguised, and indulged himself in the common haunts of vice. i much fear me that he will command me to go with him on some such expedition, for he begins to notice me more than any others of the english gentlemen in his company, and to talk with me in the spanish tongue...." the elder man laughed tolerantly. "every man to his taste," he said; "and look you, johnnie, a prince is wedded for state reasons, and not for love. the ox hath his bow, the faulcon his bells, and as pigeon's bill man hath his desire and would be nibbling!" john commendone drew himself up to his full slim height and made a motion of disgust. "'tis not my way," he said. "bachelor, i hunt no fardingales, nor would i do so wedded." "god 'ild you, johnnie. hast ever taken a clean and commendable view of life, and i love thee for it. but have charity, get you charity as you grow older. his highness is narrow, you tell me; be not so yourself. thou art not a little pot and soon hot, but i think thou wilt find a fire that will thaw thee at court. a young man must get experience. i would not have thee get through the streets with a bragging look nor frequent the stews of town. but young blood must have its may-day. whilst can, have thy may-day, johnnie. have thy door shadowed with green birches, long fennel, st. john's wort, orphine, and white lilies. wilt not be always young. but i babble; tell me more of king philip." the tall youth had stood silent while his father spoke, his grave, oval face set in courteous attention. it was a coarse age. henry the eighth was not long dead, and the scandals of his court and life influenced all private conduct. that queen mary was rigid in her morals went for very little. the lady elizabeth, still a young girl, was already committing herself to a course of life which--despite the historians of the popular textbooks--made her court in after years as licentious as ever her father's had been. old sir henry spoke after his kind, and few young men in 1555 were so fastidious as john commendone. he welcomed the change in conversation. to hear his father--whom he dearly loved--speak thus, was most distasteful to him. "his highness is a glutton for work," the young man went on. "i see him daily, and he is ever busy with his pen. he hateth to converse upon affairs of state, but will write a letter eighteen pages long when his correspondent is in the next room, howbeit the subject is one which a man of sense would settle in six words of the tongue. indeed, sir, he is truly of opinion that the world is to move upon protocols and apostilles. events must not be born without a preparatory course of his obstetrical pedantry! never will he learn that the world will not rest on its axis while he writeth directions of the way it is to turn." sir henry shook himself like a dog. "and the queen mad for such a husband as this!" he said. "aye, worships him as it were a saint in a niche. a skilled lutanist with a touch on the strings remarkable for its science, speaking many languages with fluency and grace, latin in especial, her grace yet thinks his highness a great statesman and of a polished easy wit." "how blind is love, johnnie! blinder still when it cometh late. a cap out of fashion and ill-worn. 'tis like one of your french withered pears. it looks ill and eats dryly." "i was in the queen's closet two days gone, in waiting on his highness. a letter had come from paris, narrating how a member of the spanish envoy's suit to that court had been assassinated. the letter ran that the manner in which he had been killed was that a jacobin monk had given him a pistol-shot in the head--'_la façon que l'on dit qu'il a etté tuè, sa etté par un jacobin qui luy a donnè d'un cou de pístolle dans la tayte_.' his highness took up his pen and scrawled with it upon the margin. he drew a line under one word '_pístolle_'; 'this is perhaps some kind of knife,' quoth he; 'and as for "_tayte_," it can be nothing else but head, which is not _tayte_, but _tête_ or _teyte_, as you very well know.' and, father, the queen was all smiles and much pleased with this wonderful commentary!" sir henry rose. "i will hear no more," he said. "it is time i went. you have given me much food for thought. fare thee well, johnnie. write me letters with thy doings when thou canst. god bless thee." the two men stood side by side, looking at each other in silence, one hale and hearty still, but with his life drawing to its close, the other in the first flush of early manhood, entering upon a career which promised a most brilliant future, with every natural and material advantage, either his already, or at hand. they were like and yet unlike. the father was big, burly, iron-grey of head and beard, with hooked nose and firm though simple eyes under thick, shaggy brows. john was of his father's height, close on six feet. he was slim, but with the leanness of perfect training and condition. supple as an eel, with a marked grace of carriage and bearing, he nevertheless suggested enormous physical strength. the face was a pure oval with an olive tinge in the skin, the nose hooked like his sire's, the lips curved into a bow, but with a singular graveness and strength overlying and informing their delicacy. the eyes, of a dark brown, were inscrutable. steadfast in regard, with a hint of cynicism and mockery in them, they were at the same time instinct with alertness and a certain watchfulness. he seemed, as he stood in his little room in the old palace of the tower, a singularly handsome, clever, and capable young man, but a man with reservations, with secrets of character which no one could plumb or divine. he was the only son of sir henry commendone and a spanish lady of high birth who had come to england in 1512 to take a position in the suite of catherine of arragon, three years after her marriage to henry viii. during the early part of henry's reign sir henry commendone was much at windsor and a personal friend of the king. those were days of great brilliancy. the king was young, courteous, and affable. his person was handsome, he was continually engaged in martial exercises and all forms of field sports. sir henry was one of the band of gay youths who tilted and hawked or hunted in the great park. he fell in love with the beautiful young juanita de senabria, married her with the consent and approbation of the king and queen, and immediately retired to his manors in kent. from that time forward he took absolutely no part in politics or court affairs. he lived the life of a country squire of his day in serene health and happiness. his wife died when john--the only issue of the marriage--was six years old, and the boy was educated by father chilches, a placid and easy-going spanish priest, who acted as domestic chaplain at commendone. this man, loving ease and quiet, was nevertheless a scholar and a gentleman. he had been at the court of charles v, and was an ideal tutor for johnnie. his religion, though sincere, sat easily upon him. the divorce from rome did not draw him from his calm retreat, the oath enforcing the king's supremacy had no terrors for him, and he died at a good old age in 1548, during the protectorate of somerset. from this man johnnie had learnt to speak spanish, italian, and french. naturally quick and intelligent, he had added something of his mother's foreign grace and self-possession to the teachings and worldly-wisdom of don chilches, while his father had delighted to train him in all manly exercises, than whom none was more fitted to do. sir henry became rich as the years went on, but lived always as a simple squire. most of his land was pasturage, then far more profitable than the growing of corn. tillage, with no knowledge of the rotation of crops, no turnip industry to fatten sheep, miserable appliances and entire ignorance of manures, afforded no interest on capital. but the export of wool and broadcloth was highly profitable, and sir henry's wool was paid for in good double ryals by the manufacturers and merchants of the great towns. john commendone entered upon his career, therefore, with plenty of money--far more than any one suspected--a handsome person, thoroughly accomplished in all that was necessary for a gentleman of that day. in addition, his education was better than the general, he was without vices, and, in the present reign, the consistent catholicity of his house recommended him most strongly to the queen and her advisers. * * * * * "so god 'ild ye, johnnie. come not down the stairs with me. let us make farewell here and now. i go to the constable's to leave my duty, and then to take a stirrup-cup with the lieutenant. my serving-men and horses are waiting at the south of white tower at coal harbour gate. farewell." the old man put his arms in their out-moded bravery round his son and kissed him on both cheeks. he hugged like a bear, and his beard was wiry and strong against the smooth cheeks of his son. then coughing a little, he almost imperceptibly made the sign of the cross, and, turning, clanked away, his sword ringing on the stone floor and his spurs--for he wore riding-boots of spanish leather--clicking in unison. john was left alone. he sat down upon the low wooden bed and gazed at the chest where the knight had been sitting. the little room, with its single window looking out upon the back offices of the palace, seemed strangely empty, momentarily forlorn. johnnie sighed. he thought of the woods of commendone, of the old tudor house with its masses of chimneys and deep-mullioned windows--of all that home-life so warm and pleasant; dawn in the park with the deer cropping wet, silver grass, the whistle of the wild duck as they flew over the lake, the garden of rosemary, st. john's wort, and french lavender, which had been his mother's. then, stifling a sigh, he sprang to his feet, buckled on his sword--the fashionable "whiffle"-shaped weapon with globular pommel and the quillons of the guard ornamented in gold--and gave a glance at a little mirror hung upon the wall. by no means vain, he had a very careful taste in dress, and was already considered something of a dandy by the young men of his set. he wore a doublet of black satin, slashed with cloth of silver; and black velvet trunks trussed and tagged with the same. his short cloak was of cloth of silver lined with blue velvet pounced with his cypher, and it fell behind him from his left shoulder. he smoothed his small black moustache--for he wore no beard--set his ruff of two pleats in order, and stepped gaily out of his room into a long panelled corridor, a very proper young man, taut, trim, and _point device_. there were doors on each side of the corridor, some closed, some ajar. a couple of serving-men were hastening along it with ewers of water and towels. there was a hum and stir down the whole length of the place as the younger gentlemen of the court made their toilettes. from one door a high sweet tenor voice shivered out in song- "filz de venus, voz deux yeux desbendez et mes ecrits lisez et entendez..." "that's mr. ambrose cholmondely," johnnie nodded to himself. "he has a sweet voice. he sang in the sextette with lady bedingfield and lady paget last night. a sweet voice, but a fool! any girl--or dame either for that matter--can do what she likes with him. he travels fastest who travels alone. master ambrose will not go far, pardieu, nor travel fast!" he came to the stair-head--it was a narrow, open stairway leading into a small hall, also panelled. on the right of the hall was a wide, open door, through which he turned and entered the common-room of the gentlemen who were lodged in this wing of the palace. the place was very like the senior common-room of one of the more ancient oxford colleges, wainscoted in oak, and with large mullioned windows on the side opposite to a high carved fire-place. a long table ran down the centre, capable of seating thirty or forty people, and at one end was a beaufet or side-board with an almost astonishing array of silver plate, which reflected the sunlight that was pouring into the big, pleasant room in a thousand twinkling points of light. it was an age of silver. the secretary to francesco capella, the venetian ambassador to london, writes of the period: "there is no small innkeeper, however poor and humble he may be, who does not serve his table with silver dishes and drinking cups; and no one who has not in his house silver plate to the amount of at least £100 sterling is considered by the english to be a person of any consequence. the most remarkable thing in london is the quantity of wrought silver." the gentlemen about the queen and the king consort had their own private silver, which was kept in this their common messroom, and was also supplemented from the household stores. johnnie sat down at the table and looked round. at the moment, save for two serving-men and the pantler, he was alone. before him was the silver plate and goblet he had brought from commendone, stamped with his crest and motto, "_sapere aude et tace_." he was hungry, and his eye fell upon a dish of perch in foyle, one of the many good things upon the table. the pantler hastened up. "the carpes of venison are very good this morning, sir," he said confidentially, while one serving-man brought a great piece of manchet bread and another filled johnnie's flagon with ale. "i'll try some," he answered, and fell to with a good appetite. various young men strolled in and stood about, talking and jesting or whispering news of the court, calling each other by familiar nicknames, singing and whistling, examining a new sword, cursing the amount of their tailors' bills--as young men have done and will do from the dawn of civilisation to the end. john finished his breakfast, crossed himself for grace, and, exchanging a remark or two here and there, went out of the room and into the morning sunshine which bathed the old palace of the tower in splendour. how fresh the morning air was! how brilliant the scene before him! to his right was the coal harbour gate and the huge white tower. two royal standards shook out in the breeze, the leopards of england and blazoned heraldry of spain, with its tower of gold upon red for castile, the red and yellow bars of arragon, the red and white checkers of burgundy, and the spread-eagle sable of sicily. to the left was that vast range of halls and galleries and gardens which was the old palace, now utterly swept away for ever. the magnificent pile of brick and timber known as the queen's gallery, which was the actual royal lodging, was alive and astir with movement. halberdiers of the guard were stationed at regular distances upon the low stone terrace of the façade, groups of officers went in and out of the doors, already some ladies were walking in the privy garden among the parterres of flowers, brilliant as a window of stained glass. the gilding and painted blazonry on the great hall built by henry iii glowed like huge jewels. on the gravel sweep before the palace grooms and men-at-arms were holding richly caparisoned horses, and people were continually coming up and riding away, their places to be filled by new arrivals. it is almost impossible, in our day, to do more than faintly imagine a scene so splendid and so debonair. the clear summer sky, its crushed sapphire unveiled by smoke, the mass of roofs, flat, turreted, embattled--some with stacks of warm, red chimneys splashed with the jade green of ivy--the cupulars and tall clock towers, the crocketed pinnacles and fantastic timbered gables, made a whole of extraordinary beauty. dozens of great gilt vanes rose up into the still, bright air, the gold seeming as if it were cunningly inlaid upon the curve of a blue bowl. the pigeons cooed softly to each other, the jackdaws wheeled and chuckled round the dizzy heights of the white tower, there was a sweet scent of wood smoke and flowers borne upon the cool breezes from the thames. the clocks beat out the hour of noon, there was the boom of a gun and a white puff of smoke from the constable tower, a gay fanfaronade of trumpets shivered out, piercingly sweet and triumphant, a distant bell began to toll somewhere over by st. john's chapel. john commendone entered the great central door of the queen's gallery. he passed the guard of halberdiers that stood at the foot of the great staircase, exchanging good mornings with mr. champneys, who was in command, and went upwards to the gallery, which was crowded with people. officers of the queen's archers, dressed in scarlet and black velvet, with a rose and imperial crown woven in gold upon their doublets, chatted with permanent officials of the household. there was a considerable sprinkling of clergy, and at one end of the gallery, nearest to the door of the ante-room, was a little knot of dominican monks, dark and somewhat saturnine figures, who whispered to each other in liquid spanish. john went straight to the ante-room entrance, which was screened by heavy curtains of tapestry. he spoke a word to the officer guarding it with a drawn sword, and was immediately admitted to a long room hung with pictures and lit by large windows all along one side of its length. here were more soldiers and several gentlemen ushers with white wands in their hands. one of them had a list of names upon a slip of parchment, which he was checking with a pen. he looked up as john came in. "give you good day, mr. commendone," he said. "i have you here upon this paper. his highness is with the queen in her closet, and you are to be in waiting. lord paget has just had audience, and the bishop of london is to come." he lowered his voice, speaking confidentially. "things are coming to a head," he said. "i doubt me but that there will be some savage doings anon. now, mr. commendone, i wish you very well. you are certainly marked out for high preferment. your cake is dough on both sides. see you keep it. and, above all, give talking a lullaby." john nodded. he saw that the other knew something. he waited to hear more. "you have been observed, mr. commendone," the other went on, his pointed grey beard rustling on his ruff with a sound as of whispering leaves, and hardly louder than the voice in which he spoke. "you have had those watching you as to your demeanours and deportments whom you did not think. and you have been very well reported of. the king likes you and her grace also. they have spoken of you, and you are to be advanced. and if, as i very well think, you will be made privy to affairs of state and policy, pr'ythee remember that i am always at your service, and love you very well." he took his watch from his doublet. "it is time you were announced," he said, and turning, opened a door opposite the tapestry-hung portal through which johnnie had entered. "mr. commendone," he said, "his highness's gentleman." an officer within called the name down a short passage to a captain who stood in front of the door of the closet. there was a knock, a murmur of voices, and john was beckoned to proceed. he felt unusually excited, though at the same time quite cool. old sir james clinton at the door had not spoken for nothing. certainly his prospects were bright.... in another moment he had entered the queen's room and was kneeling upon one knee as the door closed behind him. the room was large and cheerful. it was panelled throughout, and the wainscoting had been painted a dull purple or liver-colour, with the panel-beadings picked out in gold. the roof was of stone, and waggon-headed with welsh groins--that is to say, groins which cut into the main arch below the apex. two long venice mirrors hung on one wall, and over the fire-place was a crucifix of ivory. in the centre of the place was a large octagonal table covered with papers, and a massive silver ink-holder. seated at the table, very busy with a mass of documents, was king philip ii of spain. don diego deza, his confessor and private chaplain, stood by the side of the king's chair. seated at another and smaller table in a window embrasure queen mary was bending over a large flat book. it was open at an illuminated page, and the sunlight fell upon the gold and vermilion, the _rouge-de-fer_ and powder-blue, so that it gleamed like a little _parterre_ of jewels. it was the second time that john commendone had been admitted to the privy closet. he had been in waiting at supper, the queen had spoken to him once or twice; he was often in the king consort's lodging, and was already a favourite among the members of the spanish suite. but this was quite different. he knew it at once. he realised immediately that he was here--present at this "domestic interior," so to speak, for some important purpose. had he known the expressive idiom of our day, he would have said to himself, "i have arrived!" philip looked up. his small, intensely serious eyes gave a gleam of recognition. "buenos dias, señor," he said. john bowed very low. suddenly the room was filled with a harsh and hoarse volume of sound, a great booming, resonant voice, like the voice of a strong, rough man. it came from the queen. "mr. commendone, come you here. his highness hath work to do. art a lutanist, lady paget tells me, then look at this new book of tablature with the voice part very well writ and the painting of the initial most skilfully done." the young man advanced to the queen. she held out her left hand, a little shrivelled hand, for him to kiss. he did so, and then, rising, bent over the wonderfully illuminated music book. the six horizontal lines of the lute notation, each named after a corresponding note of the instrument, were drawn in scarlet. the arabic numerals which indicated the frets to be used in producing the notes were black and orange, the initial h was a wealth of flat heraldic colour. "his golden locks time hath to filuer turnde" the queen read out in her great masculine voice,--a little subdued now, but still fierce and strong, like the purring of a panther. "what think you of my new book of songs, mr. commendone?" "a beautiful book, madam, and fit for your grace's skill, who hath no rival with the lute." "'tis kind of you to say so, mr. commendone, but you over compliment me." she bent her brows together, lost in serious thought for a moment, and drummed with lean fingers upon the table. suddenly she looked up and her face cleared. "i can say truly," she continued, "that i am a very skilled player. for a woman i can fairly put myself in the first rank. but i have met others surpassing me greatly." she had thought it out with perfect fairness, with an almost pedantic precision. woman-like, she was pleased with what the young courtier had said, but she weighed truth in grains and scruples--tithe of mint and cummin, the very word and article of bald fact; always her way. "and here, mr. commendone," she continued, "is my new virginal. it hath come from firenze, and was made by nicolo pedrini himself. my lord mayor begged our acceptance of it." the virginal was a fine instrument--spinet it came to be called in elizabeth's reign, from the spines or crow-quills which were attached to the "jacks" and plucked at the strings. the case was made of cypress wood, inlaid with whorls of thin silver and enamels of various colours. "we were pleased at the lord mayor's courtesy," the queen concluded, and the change in pronoun showed john that the interview was over in its personal sense, and that he had been very highly honoured. he bowed, with a murmur of assent, and drew aside to the wall of the room, waiting easily there, a fresh and gallant figure, for any further commands. nor did it escape him that the queen had given him a look of prim, but quite marked approval--as an old maid may look upon a handsome and well-mannered boy. the queen pressed down the levers of the spinet once or twice, and the thin, sweet chords like the ghost of a harp rang out into the room. john watched her from the wall. the divine right of monarchs was a doctrine very firmly implanted in his mind by his upbringing and the time in which he lived. the absolutism of henry viii had had an extraordinary influence on public thought. to a man such as john commendone the monarch of england was rather more than human. at the same time his cool and clever brain was busily at work, drinking in details, criticising, appraising, wondering. the queen wore a robe of claret-coloured velvet, fringed with gold thread and furred with powdered ermine. over her rather thin hair, already turning very grey, she wore the simple caul of the period, a head-dress which was half bonnet, half skull-cap, made of cloth of tinsel set with pearls. small, lean, sickly, painfully near-sighted, yet with an eye full of fierceness and fire--your true tudor-tiger eye--she was yet singularly feminine. as she sat there, her face wrinkled by care and evil passions even more than by time, touching the keys of her spinet, picking up a piece of embroidery, and frequently glancing at her husband with quick, hungry looks of fretful and even suspicious affection, she was far more woman than queen. the great booming voice which terrified strong men, coming from this frail and sinister figure, was silent now. there was pathos even in her attitude. a submissive wife of philip with her woman's gear. the king of spain went on writing, coldly, carefully, and with concentrated attention, and john's eyes fell upon him also, his new master, the most powerful man in the world of that day. king of spain, naples, sicily, duke of milan, lord of franche comté and the netherlands, ruler of tunis and the barbary coast, the canaries, cape de verd islands, philippines and spice islands, the huge west indian colonies, and the vast territories of mexico and peru--an almost unthinkable power was in the hands of this man. as it all came to him, johnnie shuddered for a moment. his nerves were tense, his imagination at work, it seemed difficult to breathe the same air as these two super-normal beings in the still, warm chamber. from outside came the snarling of trumpets, the stir and noise of soldiery--here, warm silence, the scratching of a pen upon parchment, the echo of a voice which rolled like a kettle-drum.... suddenly the king laid down his pen and rose to his feet, a tall, lean, sombre-faced man in black and gold. he spoke a few words to father diego deza and then went up to the queen in the window. the monk went on arranging papers in orderly bundles, and tying some of them with cords of green silk, which he drew from a silver box. john saw the queen's face. it lit up and became almost beautiful for a second as philip approached. then as husband and wife conversed in low voices, the equerry saw yet another change come over mary's twitching and expressive countenance. it hardened and froze, the thin lips tightened to a line of dull pink, the eyes grew bitter bright, the head nodded emphatically several times, as if in agreement at something the king was saying. then john felt some one touch his arm, and found that the dominican had come to him noiselessly, and was smiling into his face with a flash of white teeth and steady, watchful eyes. he started violently and turned his head from the royal couple in some confusion. he felt as though he had been detected in some breach of manners, of espionage almost. "buenos dias, señor, como anda usted?" don diego asked in a low voice. "thank you, i am very well," johnnie answered in spanish. "como está su padre?" "my father is very well also. he has just left me to ride home to kent," john replied, wondering how in the world this foreign priest knew of the old knight's visit. it was true, then, what sir james clinton had said! he was being carefully watched. even in the royal closet his movements were known. "a loyal gentleman and a good son of the church," said the priest, "we have excellent reports of him, and of you also, señor," he concluded, with another smile. john bowed. "_los negocios del politica_--affairs of state," the chaplain whispered with a half-glance at the couple in the window. "there are great times coming for england, señor. and if you prove yourself a loyal servant and good catholic, you are destined to go far. his most catholic majesty has need of an english gentleman such as you in his suite, of good birth, of the true religion, with spanish blood in his veins, and speaking spanish." again the young man bowed. he knew very well that these words were inspired. this suave ecclesiastic was the power behind the throne. he held the king's conscience, was his confessor, more powerful than any great lord or minister--the secret, unofficial director of world-wide policies. his heart beat high within him. the prospects opening before him were enough to dazzle the oldest and most experienced courtier; he was upon the threshold of such promotion and intimacies as he, the son of a plain country gentleman, had never dared to hope for. it had grown very hot; he remarked upon it to the priest, noticing, as he did so, that the room was darker than before. the air of the closet was heavy and oppressive, and glancing at the windows, he saw that it was no fancy of strained and excited nerves, but that the sky over the river was darkening, and the buildings upon london bridge stood out with singular sharpness. "a storm of thunder," said don diego indifferently, and then, with a gleam in his eyes, "and such a storm shall presently break over england that the air shall be cleared of heresy by the lightnings of holy church--ah! here cometh his grace of london!" the captain of the guard had suddenly beaten upon the door. it was flung open, and sir james clinton, who had come down the passage from the ante-room, preceded the bishop, and announced him in a loud, sonorous voice. johnnie instinctively drew himself up to attention, the chaplain hastened forward, king philip, in the window, stood upright, and the queen remained seated. from the wall johnnie saw all that happened quite distinctly. the scene was one which he never forgot. there was the sudden stir and movement of his lordship's entrance, the alteration and grouping of the people in the closet, the challenge of the captain at the door, the heralding voice of sir james--and then, into the room, which was momentarily growing darker as the thunder clouds advanced on london, bishop bonner came. the man _pressed_ into the room, swift, sudden, assertive. in his scarlet chimere and white rochet, with his bullet head and bristling beard, it was as though a shell had fallen into the room. a streak of livid light fell upon his face--set, determined, and alive with purpose--and the man's eyes, greenish brown and very bright, caught a baleful fire from the waning gleam. then, with almost indecent haste, he brushed past john commendone and the eager spanish monk, and knelt before the queen. he kissed her hand, and the hand of the king consort also, with some murmured words which johnnie could not catch. then he rose, and the queen, as she had done upon her arrival from winchester after her marriage, knelt for his blessing. commendone and the chaplain knelt also; the king of spain bowed his head, as the rapid, breathless pattering latin filled the place, and one outstretched hand--two white fingers and one white thumb--quivered for a moment and sank in the leaden light. there was a new grouping of figures, some quick talk, and then the queen's great voice filled the room. "mr. commendone! see that there are lights!" johnnie stumbled out of the closet, now dark as at late evening, strode down the passage, burst into the ante-room, and called out loudly, "bring candles, bring candles!" even as he said it there was a terrible crash of thunder high in the air above the palace, and a simultaneous flash of lightning, which lit up the sombre ante-room with a blinding and ghostly radiance for the fraction of a second. white faces immobile as pictures, tense forms of all waiting there, and then the voice of sir james and the hurrying of feet as the servants rushed away.... it was soon done. while the thunder pealed and stammered overhead, the amethyst lightning sheets flickered and cracked, the white whips of the fork-lightning cut into the black and purple gloom, a little procession was made, and gentlemen ushers followed johnnie back to the royal closet, carrying candles in their massive silver sconces, dozens of twinkling orange points to illumine what was to be done. the door was closed. the king, queen, and the bishop sat down at the central table upon which all the lights were set. don diego deza stood behind philip's chair. the queen turned to john. "stand at the door, mr. commendone," she said, "and with your sword drawn. no one is to come in. we are engaged upon affairs of state." her voice was a second to the continuous mutter of the thunder, low, fierce, and charged with menace. save for the candles, the room was now quite dark. a furious wind had risen and blew great gouts of hot rain upon the window-panes with a rattle as of distant artillery. johnnie drew his sword, held it point downwards, and stood erect, guarding the door. he could feel the tapestry which covered it moving behind him, bellying out and pressing gently upon his back. he could see the faces of the people at the table very distinctly. the king of spain and his chaplain were in profile to him. the queen and the bishop of london he saw full-face. he had not met the bishop before, though he had heard much about him, and it was on the prelate's countenance that his glance of curiosity first fell. young as he was, johnnie had already begun to cultivate that cool scrutiny and estimation of character which was to stand him in such stead during the years that were to come. he watched the face of edmund bonner, or boner, as the bishop was more generally called at that time, with intense interest. boner was to the queen what the dominican deza was to her husband. the two priests ruled two monarchs. in the yellow candle-light, an oasis of radiance in the murk and gloom of the storm, the faces of the people round the table hid nothing. the bishop was bullet-headed, had protruding eyes, a bright colour, and his moustache and beard only partially hid lips that were red and full. the lips were red and full, there was a coarseness, and even sensuality, about them, which was, nevertheless, oddly at war with their determination and inflexibility. the young man, pure and fastidious himself, immediately realised that boner was not vicious in the ordinary meaning of the word. one hears a good deal about "thin, cruel lips"--the queen had them, indeed--but there are full and blood-charged lips which are cruel too. and these were the lips of the bishop of london. there was a huge force about the man. he was plebeian, common, but strong. don diego, commendone himself, the queen and her husband, were all aristocrats in their different degree, bred from a line--pedigree people. that was the bond between them. the bishop was outside all this, impatient of it, indeed; but even while the groom of the body twirled his moustache with an almost mechanical gesture of disgust and misliking, he felt the power of the man. and no historian has ever ventured to deny that. the natural son of the hedge-priest, george savage--himself a bastard--walked life with a shield of brutal power as his armour. the blood-stained man from whom--a few years after--queen elizabeth turned away with a shudder of irrepressible horror, was the man who had dared to browbeat and bully pope clement vii himself. he took a personal and undignified delight in the details of physical and mental torture of his victims. in 1546 he had watched with his own eyes the convulsions of dame anne askew upon the rack. he was sincere, inflexible, and remarkable for obstinacy in everything except principle. as ambassador to paris in henry's reign he had smuggled over printed sheets of coverdale's and grafton's translation of the bible in his baggage--the personal effects of an ambassador being then, as now, immune from prying eyes. during the protectorate he had lain in prison, and now the strenuous opposer of papal claims in olden days was a bishop in full communion with rome. ... he was speaking now, in a loud and vulgar voice, which even the presence of their majesties failed to soften or subdue. --"and this, so please your grace, is but a sign and indication of the spirit abroad. there is no surcease from it. we shall do well to gird us up and scourge this heresy from england. this letter was delivered by an unknown woman to my chaplain, father holmes. 'tis a sign of the times." he unfolded a paper and began to read. "i see that you are set all in a rage like a ravening wolf against the poor lambs of christ appointed to the slaughter for the testimony of the truth. indeed, you are called the common cut-throat and general slaughter-slave to all the bishops of england; and therefore 'tis wisdom for me and all other simple sheep of the lord to keep us out of your butcher's stall as long as we can. the very papists themselves begin now to abhor your blood-thirstiness, and speak shame of your tyranny. like tyranny, believe me, my lord, any child that can any whit speak, can call you by your name and say, 'bloody boner is bishop of london'; and every man hath it as perfectly upon his fingers'-ends as his paternoster, how many you, for your part, have burned with fire and famished in prison; they say the whole sum surmounteth to forty persons within this three-quarters of this year. therefore, my lord, though your lordship believeth that there is neither heaven nor hell nor god nor devil, yet if your lordship love your own honesty, which was lost long agone, you were best to surcease from this cruel burning of christian men, and also from murdering of some in prison, for that, indeed, offendeth men's minds most. therefore, say not but a woman gave you warning, if you list to take it. and as for the obtaining of your popish purpose in suppressing the truth, i put you out of doubt, you shall not obtain it as long as you go to work this way as ye do; for verily i believe that you have lost the hearts of twenty thousand that were rank papists within this twelve months." the bishop put the letter down upon the table and beat upon it with his clenched fist. his face was alight with inquiry and anger. every one took it in a different fashion. philip crossed himself and said nothing, formal, cold, and almost uninterested. don diego crossed himself also. his face was stern, but his eyes flitted hither and thither, sparkling in the light. then the queen's great voice boomed out into the place, drowning the thunder and the beating rain upon the window-panes, pressing in gouts of sound on the hot air of the closet. her face was bagged and pouched like a quilt. all womanhood was wiped out of it--lips white, eyes like ice.... "i'll stamp it out of this realm! i'll burn it out. jesus! but we will burn it out!" the bishop's face was trembling with excitement. he thrust a paper in front of the queen. "madam," he said, "this is the warrant for doctor rowland taylor." mary caught up a pen and wrote her name at the foot of the document in the neat separated letters of one accustomed to write in greek, below the signature of the chancellor gardiner and the lords montague and wharton, judges of the legantine court for the trial of heretics. "i will make short with him," the queen said, "and of all blasphemers and heretics. there is the paper, my lord, with my hand to it. a black knave this, they tell me, and withal very stubborn and lusty in blasphemy." "a very black knave, madam. i performed the ceremony of degradation upon him yestereen, and, by my troth, never did the walls of newgate chapel shelter such a rogue before. he would not put on the vestments which i was to strip from him, and was then, at my order, robed by another. and when he was thoroughly furnished therewith, he set his hands to his sides and cried, 'how say you, my lord, am i not a goodly fool? how say you, my masters, if i were in chepe, should i not have boys enough to laugh at these apish toys?'" the queen crossed herself. her face blazed with fury. "dog!" she cried. "perchance he will sing another tune to-morrow morn. but what more?" "i took my crosier-staff to smite him on the breast," the bishop continued. "and upon that mr. holmes, that is my chaplain, said, 'strike him not, my lord, for he will sure strike again.' 'yes, and by st. peter will i,' quoth doctor taylor. 'the cause is christ's, and i were no good christian if i would not fight in my master's quarrel.' so i laid my curse on him, and struck him not." the king's large, sombre face twisted into a cold sneer. "_perro labrador nunca buen mordedor_--a barking dog is never a good fighter," he said. "i shall watch this clerk-convict to-morrow. methinks he will not be so lusty at his burning." the bishop looked up quickly with surprise in his face. "my lord," the queen said to him, "his majesty, as is both just and right, desireth to see this blasphemer's end, and will report to me on the matter. mr. commendone, come here." johnnie advanced to the table. "you will go to sir john shelton," the queen went on, "and learn from him all that hath been arranged for the burning of this heretic. the king will ride with the party and you in close attendance upon his majesty. only you and sir john will know who the king is, and your life depends upon his safety. i am weary of this business. my heart grieves for holy church while these wolves are not let from their wickedness. go now, mr. commendone, upon your errand, and report to father deza this afternoon." she held out her hand. john knelt on one knee and kissed it. as he left the closet the rain was still lashing the window-panes, and the candles burnt yellow in the gloom. by a sudden flash of lightning he saw the four faces looking down at the death warrant. there was a slight smile on all of them, and the expressions were very intent. the great white crucifix upon the panelling gleamed like a ghost. chapter ii the house of shame; the ladder of glory it was ten o'clock in the evening. the thunderstorm of the morning had long since passed away. the night was cool and still. there was no moon, but the sky above london was powdered with stars. the palace of the tower was ablaze with lights. the king and queen had supped in state at eight, and now a masque was in progress, held in the glorious hall which henry iii painted with the story of antiochus. the sweet music shivered out into the night as john commendone came into the garden among the sleeping flowers. "and the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine are in their feasts." commendone had never read the bible, but the words of the prophet would have well expressed his mood had he but known them. for he was melancholy and ill at ease. the exaltation of the morning had quite gone. though he was still pleasantly conscious that he was in a fair way to great good fortune, some of the savour was lost. he could not forget the lurid scene in the closet--the four faces haunted him still. and he knew also that a strange and probably terrible experience waited him during the next few hours. "god on the cross," he said to himself, snapping his fingers in perplexity and misease--it was the fashion at court to use the great tudor oaths--"i am come to touch with life--real life at last. and i am not sure that i like it. but 'tis too new as yet. i must be as other men are, i suppose!" as he walked alone in the night, and the cool air played upon his face, he began to realise how placid, how much upon the surface, his life had always been until now. he had come to court perfectly equipped by nature, birth, and training for the work of pageantry, a picturesque part in the retinue of kings. he had fallen into his place quite naturally. it all came easy to him. he had no trace of the "young gentleman from the country" about him--he might have started life as a court page. but the real emotions of life, the under-currents, the hates, loves, and strivings, had all been a closed book. he recognised their existence, but never thought they would or could affect him. he had imagined that he would always be aloof, an interested spectator, untouched, untroubled. and he knew to-night that all this had been but a phantom of his brain. he was to be as other men. life had got hold on him at last, stern and relentless. "to-night," he thought, "i really begin to live. i am quickened to action. some day, anon, i too must make a great decision, one way or the other. the scene is set, they are pulling the traverse from before it, the play begins. "i am a fair white page," he said to himself, "on which nothing is writ, i have ever been that. to-night comes master scrivener. 'i have a mind to write upon thee,' he saith, and needs be that i submit." he sighed. the music came to him, sweet and gracious. the long orange-litten windows of the palace spoke of the splendours within. but he thought of a man--whose name he had never heard until that morning--lying in some dark room, waiting for those who were to come for him, the man whom he would watch burning before the sun had set again. it had been an evening of incomparable splendour. the king and queen had been served with all the panoply of state. the duke of norfolk, the earls of arundel and pembroke, lord paget and lord rochester, had been in close attendance. the duke had held the ewer of water, paget and rochester the bason and napkin. after the ablutions the bishop of london said grace. the queen blazed with jewels. the life of seclusion she had led before her accession had by no means dulled the love of splendour inherent in her family. even the french ambassador, well used to pomp and display, leaves his own astonishment on record. she wore raised cloth of gold, and round her thin throat was a partlet or collar of emeralds. her stomacher was of diamonds, an almost barbaric display of twinkling fire, and over her gold caul was a cap of black velvet sewn with pearls. during the whole of supper it was remarked that her grace was merry. the gay lords and ladies who surrounded her and the king--for all alike, young maids and grey-haired dames of sixty must blaze and sparkle too--nodded and whispered to each other, wondering at this high good-humour. when the server advanced with his white wand, heading the procession of yeomen-servers with the gilt dishes of the second course--he was a fat pottle-bellied man--the queen turned to the duke of norfolk. "_dame!_" she said in french, "here is a prancing pie! _ma mye!_ a capon of high grease! methinks this gentleman hath a very single eye for the larder!" "yes, m'am," the duke answered, "and so would make a better feast for polypheme than e'er the lean odysseus." they went on with their play of words upon the names of the dishes in the menu.... "but say rather a porpoise in armour." "halibut engrailed, madam, hath a face of peculiar whiteness like the under belly of that fish!" "a jowl of sturgeon!" "a florentine of puff paste, m'am." "_habet!_" the queen replied, "i can't better that. could you, lady paget? you are a great jester." lady paget, a stately white-haired dame, bowed to the duke and then to the queen. "his grace is quick in the riposte," she said, "and if your majesty gives him the palm--_qui meruit ferat_! but capon of high grease for my liking." "but you've said nothing, lady paget." "my wit is like my body, m'am, grown old and rheumy. the salad days of it are over. i abdicate in favour of youth." again this adroit lady bowed. the queen flushed up, obviously pleased with the compliment. she looked at the king to see if he had heard or understood it. the king had been talking to the bishop of london, partly in such latin as he could muster, which was not much, but principally with the aid of don diego deza, who stood behind his majesty's chair, and acted as interpreter--the dominican speaking english fluently. during the whole of supper philip had appeared less morose than usual. there was a certain fire of expectancy and complacence in his eye. he had smiled several times; his manner to the queen had been more genial than it was wont to be--a fact which, in the opinion of everybody, duly accounted for her grace's high spirits and merriment. he looked up now as lady paget spoke. "_ensalada!_" he said, having caught one word of lady paget's speech--salad. "yes, give me some salad. it is the one thing"--he hastened to correct himself--"it is one of the things they make better in england than in my country." the queen was in high glee. "his highness grows more fond of our english food," she said; and in a moment or two the comptroller of the household came up to the king's chair, followed by a pensioner bearing a great silver bowl of one of those wonderful salads of the period, which no modern skill of the kitchen seems able to produce to-day--burridge, chicory, bugloss, marigold leaves, rocket, and alexanders, all mixed with eggs, cinnamon, oil, and ginger. johnnie, who was sitting at the esquires' table, with the gentlemen of the body and privy closet, had watched the gay and stately scene till supper was nearly over. the lights, the music, the high air, the festivity, had had no power to lighten the oppression which he felt, and when at length the king and queen rose and withdrew to the great gallery where the masque was presently to begin, he had slipped out alone into the garden. "his golden locks time hath to silver turned." the throbbing music of the old song, the harps' thridding, the lutes shivering out their arpeggio accompaniment, the viols singing together--came to him with rare and plaintive sweetness, but they brought but little balm or assuagement to his dark, excited mood. ten o'clock beat out from the roof of the palace. johnnie left the garden. he was to receive his instruction as to his night's doing from mr. medley, the esquire of sir john shelton, in the common room of the gentlemen of the body. he strode across the square in front of the façade, and turned into the long panelled room where he had breakfasted that morning. it was quite empty now--every one was at the masque--but two silver lamps illuminated it, and shone upon the dark walls of the glittering array of plate upon the beaufet. he had not waited there a minute, however, leaning against the tall carved mantelpiece, a tall and gallant figure in his rich evening dress, when steps were heard coming through the hall, the door swung open, and mr. medley entered. he was a thick-set, bearded man of middle height, more soldier than courtier, with the stamp of the barrack-room and camp upon him; a brisk, quick-spoken man, with compressed lips and an air of swift service. "give you good evening, mr. commendone," he said; "i am come with sir john's orders." johnnie bowed. "at your service," he answered. the soldier looked round the room carefully before speaking. "there is no one here, mr. medley," johnnie said. the other nodded and came close up to the young courtier. "the masque hath been going this half-hour," he said, in a low voice, "but his highness hath withdrawn. her grace is still with the dancers, and in high good-humour. now, i must tell you, mr. commendone, that the queen thinketh his highness in his own wing of the palace, and with don diego and don de castro, his two confessors. she is willing that this should be so, and said 'good night' to his highness after supper, knowing that he will presently set out to the burning of dr. taylor. she knoweth that the party sets out for hadley at two o'clock, and thinketh that his highness is spending the time before then in prayer and a little sleep. i tell you this, mr. commendone, in order that you go not back to the masque before that you set out from the tower to a certain house where his highness will be with sir john shelton. you will take your own servant mounted and armed, and a man-at-arms also will be at the door of your lodging here at ten minutes of midnight. the word at the coal harbour gate is 'christ.' with your two men you will at once ride over london bridge and so to duck lane, scarce a furlong from the other side of the bridge. doubtless you know it"--and here the man's eyes flickered with a half smile for a moment--"but if not, the man-at-arms, one of sir john's men, will show you the way. you will knock at the big house with the red door, and be at once admitted. there will be a light over the door. his highness will be there with sir john, and that is all i have to tell you. afterwards you will know what to do." johnnie bowed. "give you good night," he said. "i understand very well." as soon as the esquire had gone, johnnie turned out of the common room, ascended the stairs, went to his own chamber and threw himself upon the little bed. he had imagined that something like this was likely to occur. the king's habits were perfectly well known to all those about him, and indeed were whispered of in the court at large, queen mary, alone, apparently knowing nothing of the truth as yet. the king's unusual bonhomie at supper could hardly be accounted for, at least so johnnie thought, by the fact that he was to see his own and the queen's bigotry translated into dreadful reality. to the keen young student of faces the king had seemed generally relieved, expectant, with the air of a boy about to be released from school. now, the reason was plain enough. his highness had gone with sir john shelton to some infamous house in a bad quarter of the city, and it was there the equerry was to meet him and ride to the death scene. johnnie tossed impatiently upon his bed. he remembered how on that very morning he had expressed his hopes to sir henry that his duties would not lead him into dubious places. a lot of water had run under the bridges since he kissed his father farewell in the bright morning light. his whole prospects were altered, and advanced. for one thing, he had been present at an intimate and private conference and had received marked and special favour--he shuddered now as he remembered the four intent faces round the table in the privy closet, those sharp faces, with a cruel smirk upon them, those still faces with the orange light playing over them in the dark, tempest-haunted room. "i' faith," he said to himself, "thou art fairly put to sea, johnnie! but i will not feed myself with questioning. i am in the service of princes, and must needs do as i am told. who am i to be squeamish? but hey-ho! i would i were in the park at commendone to-night." about eleven o'clock his servant came to him and helped him to change his dress. he wore long riding-boots of spanish leather, a light corselet of tough steel, inlaid with arabesques of gold, and a big quilted spanish hat. over all he fastened a short riding-cloak of supple leather dyed purple. he primed his pistols and gave them to a man to be put into his holsters, and about a quarter before midnight descended the stairs. he found a man-at-arms with a short pike, already mounted, and his servant leading the other two horses; he walked toward the coal harbour gate, gave the word to the lieutenant of the guard, and left the tower. a light moon was just beginning to rise and throw fantastic shadows over tower hill. it was bright enough to ride by, and johnnie forbade his man to light the horn lantern which was hanging at the fellow's saddle-bow. they went at a foot pace, the horses' feet echoing with an empty, melancholy sound from the old timbered houses back to the great bastion wall of the tower. the man-at-arms led the way. when they came to london bridge, where a single lantern showed the broad oak bar studded with nails, which ran across the roadway, johnnie noticed that upon the other side of it were two halberdiers of the tower guard in their uniforms of black and crimson, talking to the keeper of the gate. as they came up the bar swung open. "mr. commendone?" said the keeper, an elderly man in a leather jerkin. johnnie nodded. "pass through, sir," the man replied, saluting, as did also the two soldiers who were standing there. the little cavalcade went slowly over the bridge between the tall houses on either side, which at certain points almost met with their overhanging eaves. the shutters were up all over the little jewellers' shops. here and there a lamp burned from an upstairs window, and the swish and swirl of the river below could be heard quite distinctly. at the middle of the bridge, just by the well-known armourer's shop of guido ponzio, the italian sword-smith, whose weapons were eagerly purchased by members of the court and the officers both of the tower and whitehall, another halberdier was standing, who again saluted commendone as he rode by. it was quite obvious to johnnie that every precaution had been taken so that the king's excursion into _les coulisses_ might be undisturbed. the pike was swung open for them on the south side of the bridge directly they drew near, and putting their horses to the trot, they cantered over a hundred yards of trodden grass round which houses were standing in the form of a little square, and in a few minutes more turned into duck lane. at this hour of the night the narrow street of heavily-timbered houses was quite dark and silent. it seemed there was not a soul abroad, and this surprised johnnie, who had been led to understand that at midnight "the lane" was frequently the scene of roistering activity. now, however, the houses were all blind and dark, and the three horsemen might have been moving down a street in the city of the dead. only the big honey-coloured moon threw a primrose light upon the topmost gables of the houses on the left side of "the lane"--all the rest being black velvet, sombreness and shadow. john's mouth curved a little in disdain under his small dark moustache, as he noted all this and realised exactly what it meant. when a king set out for furtive pleasures, lesser men of vice must get them to their kennels! lights were out, all manifestation of evil was thickly curtained. the shameless folk of that wicked quarter of the town must have shame imposed upon them for the night. the king was taking his pleasure. john commendone, since his arrival in london, and at the court, had quietly refused to be a member of any of those hot-blooded parties of young men who sallied out from the tower or from whitehall when the reputable world was sleeping. it was not to his taste. he was perfectly capable of tolerating vice in others--looking on it, indeed, as a natural manifestation of human nature and event. but for himself he had preferred aloofness. nevertheless, from the descriptions of his friends, he knew that duck lane to-night was wearing an aspect which it very seldom wore, and as he rode slowly down that blind and sinister thoroughfare with his attendants, he realised with a little cold shudder what it was to be a king. he himself was the servant of a king, one of those whom good fortune and opportunity had promoted to be a minister to those almost super-human beings who could do no wrong, and ruled and swayed all other men by means of their divine right. this was a position he perfectly accepted, had accepted from the first. already he was rising high in the course of life he had started to pursue. he had no thought of questioning the deeds of princes. he knew that it was his duty, his _métier_, in life to be a pawn in the great game. what affected him now, however, as they came up to a big house of free-stone and timber, where a lanthorn of horn hung over a door painted a dull scarlet, was a sense of the enormous and irrevocable power of those who were set on high to rule. no! they were not human, they were not as other men and women are. he had been in the queen's closet that morning, and had seen the death warrant signed. the great convulsion of nature, the furious thunders of god, had only been, as it were, a mere accompaniment to the business of the four people in the queen's lodge. a scratch of a pen--a man to die. and then, during the evening, he had seen, once more, the king and queen, bright, glittering and radiant, surrounded by the highest and noblest of england, serene, unapproachable, the centre of the stupendous pageant of the hour. and now, again, he was come to the stews, to the vile quarter of london, and even here the secret presence of a king closed all doors, and kept the pandars and victims of evil silent in their dens like crouching hares. as they came up to the big, dark house, a little breeze from the river swirled down the lane, and fell fresh upon johnnie's cheek. as it did so, he knew that he was hot and fevered, that the riot of thought within him had risen the temperature of his blood. it was cool and grateful--this little clean breeze of the water, and he longed once more, though only for a single second, that he was home in the stately park of commendone, and had never heard the muffled throb of the great machine of state, of polity, and the going hither and thither of kings and queens. but it only lasted for a moment. he was disciplined, he was under orders. he pulled himself together, banished all wild and speculative thought--sat up in the saddle, gripped the sides of his cob with his knees, and set his left arm akimbo. "this is the house, sir," said the trooper, saluting. "very well," johnnie answered, as his servant dismounted and took his horse by the bridle. johnnie leapt to the ground, pulled his sword-belt into position, settled his hat upon his head, and with his gloved fist beat upon the big red door before him. in ten seconds he heard a step on the other side of the door. it swung open, and a tall, thin person, wearing a scarlet robe and a mask of black velvet over the upper part of the face, bowed low before him, and with a gesture invited him to enter. johnnie turned round. "you will stay here," he said to the men. "be quite silent, and don't stray away a yard from the door." then he followed the tall, thin figure, which closed the door, and flitted down a short passage in front of him with noiseless footsteps. he knew at once that he was in queer street. the nondescript figure in its fantastic robe and mask struck a chill of disgust to his blood. it was a fantastic age, and all aberrations--all deviations--from the normal were constantly accentuated by means of costumes and theatric effect. the superficial observer of the manners of our day is often apt to exclaim upon the decadence of our time. one has heard perfectly sincere and healthy englishmen inveigh with anger upon the literature of the moment, the softness and luxury of life and art, the invasion of sturdy english ideals by the corrupt influences of france. "give me the days of good queen bess, the hearty, healthy, strong tudor life," is the sort of exclamation by no means rare in our time. ... "bluff king hal! drake, raleigh, all that rough, brave, and splendid time! think of shakespeare, my boy!" whether or no our own days are deficient in hardihood and endurance is not a question to be discussed here--though the private records of england's last war might very well provide a complete answer to the query. it is certain, however, that in an age when personal prowess with arms was still a title to fortune, when every gentleman of position and birth knew and practised the use of weapons, the under-currents of life, the hidden sides of social affairs, were at least as "curious" and "decadent" as anything montmartre or the quartier latin have to show. it must be remembered that in the late tudor age almost every one of good family, each gentleman about the court, was not only a trained soldier, but also a highly cultured person as well. the renaissance in italy was in full swing and activity. its culture had crossed the alps, its art was borne upon the wings of its advance to our northern shores. grossness was refined.... johnnie twirled his moustache as he followed the nondescript sexless figure which flitted down the dimly-lit panelled passage before him like some creature from a masque. at the end of the passage there was a door. arrived at it, a long, thin arm, in a sleeve of close-fitting black silk, shot out from the red robe. a thin ivory-coloured hand, with fingers of almost preternatural length, rose to a painted scarlet slit which was the creature's mouth. the masked head dropped a little to one side, one lean finger, shining like a fish-bone, tapped the mouth significantly, the door opened, some heavy curtains of flanders tapestry were pushed aside, and the equerry walked into a place as strange and sickly as he had ever met in some fantastic or disordered dream. johnnie heard the door close softly behind him, the "swish, swish" of the falling curtains. and then he stood up, his eyes blinking a little in the bright light which streamed upon them--his hand upon his sword-hilt--and looked around to find himself. he was in a smallish room, hung around entirely with an arras of scarlet cloth, powdered at regular intervals with a pattern of golden bats. the floor was covered with a heavy carpet of flanders pile--a very rare and luxurious thing in those days--and the whole room was lit by its silver lamps, which hung from the ceiling upon chains. on one side, opposite the door, was a great pile of cushions, going half-way up the wall towards the ceiling--cushions as of strange barbaric colours, violent colours that smote upon the eye and seemed almost to do the brain a violence. in the middle of the room, right in the centre, was a low oak stool, upon which was a silver tray. in the middle of the tray was a miniature chafing-dish, beneath which some volatile amethyst-coloured flame was burning, and from the dish itself a pastille, smouldering and heated, sent up a thin, grey whip of odorous smoke. the whole air of this curious tented room was heavy and languorous with perfume. sickly, and yet with a sensuous allurement, the place seemed to reel round the young man, to disgust one side of him, the real side; and yet, in some low, evil fashion, to beckon to base things in his blood--base thoughts, physical influences which he had never known before, and which now seemed to suddenly wake out of a long sleep, and to whisper in his ears. all this, this surveyal of the place in which he found himself, took but a moment, and he had hardly stood there for three seconds--tall, upright, and debonair, amid the wicked luxury of the room--when he heard a sound to his left, and, turning, saw that he was not alone. behind a little table of italian filigree work, upon which were a pair of tiny velvet slippers, embroidered with burnt silver, a sprunking-glass--or pocket mirror--and a tall-stemmed bottle of wine, sat a vast, pink, fleshy, elderly woman. her face, which was as big as a ham, was painted white and scarlet. her eyebrows were pencilled with deep black, the heavy eyes shared the vacuity of glass, with an evil and steadfast glitter of welcome. there were great pouches underneath the eyes; the nose was hawk-like, the chins pendulous, the lips once, perhaps, well curved and beautiful enough, now full, bloated, and red with horrid invitation. the woman was dressed with extreme richness. fat and powdered fingers were covered with rings. her corsage was jewelled--she was like some dreadful mummy of what youth had been, a sullen caricature of a long-past youth, when she also might have walked in the fields under god's sky, heard bird-music, and seen the dew upon the bracken at dawn. johnnie stirred and blinked at this apparition for a moment; then his natural courtesy and training came to him, and he bowed. as he did so, the fat old woman threw out her jewelled arms, leant back in her chair, stuttering and choking with amusement. "_tiens!_" she said in french, "_monsieur qui arrive!_ why have you never been to see me before, my dear?" johnnie said nothing at all. his head was bent a little forward. he was regarding this old french procuress with grave attention. he knew now at once who she was. he had heard her name handed about the court very often--madame la motte. "you are a little out of my way, madame," johnnie answered. "i come not over thames. you see, i am but newly arrived at the court." he said it perfectly politely, but with a little tiny, half-hidden sneer, which the woman was quick to notice. "ah! monsieur," she said, "you are here on duty. _merci_, that i know very well. those for whom you have come will be down from above stairs very soon, and then you can go about your business. but you will take a glass of wine with me?" "i shall be very glad, madame," johnnie answered, as he watched the fat, trembling hand, with all its winking jewels, pouring vin de burgogne into a glass. he raised it and bowed. the old painted woman raised her glass also, and lifted it to her lips, tossing the wine down with a sudden smack of satisfaction. then, in that strange perfumed room, the two oddly assorted people looked at each other straightly for a moment. neither spoke. at length madame la motte, of the great big house with the red door, heaved herself out of her arm-chair, and waddled round the table. she was short and fat; she put one hand upon the shoulder of the tall, clean young man in his riding suit and light armour. "_mon ami_," she said thickly, "don't come here again." johnnie looked down at the hideous old creature, but with a singular feeling of pity and compassion. "madame," he said, "i don't propose to come again." "thou art limn and debonair, and a very pretty boy, but come not here, because in thy face i see other things for thee. lads of the court come to see me and my girls, proper lads too, but in their faces there is not what i discern in thy face. for them it matters nothing; for thee 'twould be a stain for all thy life. thou knowest well whom i am, monsieur, and canst guess well where i shall go--e'en though his most catholic majesty be above stairs, and will get absolution for all he is pleased to do here. but you--thou wilt be a clean boy. is it not so?" the fat hand trembled upon the young man's arm, the hoarse, sodden voice was full of pleading. "_ma mère_," johnnie answered her in her own language, "have no fear for me. i thank you--but i did not understand...." "boy," she cried, "thou canst not understand. many steps down hellwards have i gone, and in the pit there is knowledge. i knew good as thou knowest it. evil now i know as, please god, thou wilt never know it. but, look you, from my very knowledge of evil, i am given a tongue with which to speak to thee. keep virgin. thou art virgin now; my hand upon thy sword-arm tells me that. keep virgin until the day cometh and bringeth thy lady and thy destined love to thee." there were tears in the young man's eyes as he looked down into the great pendulous painted face, from which now the evil seemed to be wiped away as a cloth wipes away a chalk mark upon a slate. as the last ray of a setting sun sometimes touches to a fugitive glory--a last fugitive glory--some ugly, sordid building of a town, so here he saw something maternal and sweet upon the face of this old brothel-keeper, this woman who had amassed a huge fortune in ministering to the pride of life, the pomp, vanity, and lusts of principalities and powers. he turned half round, and took the woman's left hand in his. "my mother," he said, with an infinitely winning and yet very melancholy gaze, "my mother, i think, indeed, that love will never come to me. i am not made so. may the mother of god shield me from that which is not love, but natheless seemeth to have love's visage when one is hot in wine or stirred to excitement. but thou, thou wert not ever...." she broke in upon him quickly. her great red lips pouted out like a ripe plum. the protruding fishy eyes positively lit up with disdain of herself and of her life. "_mon cher_," she said, "_holà!_ i was a young girl once in lorraine. i had a brother--i will tell you little of that old time--but i have blood." "yes," she continued, throwing back her head, till the great rolls of flesh beneath her chin stretched into tightness, "yes, i have blood. there was a day when i was a child, when the poet jean d'aquis wrote of us- 'quand nous habitions tous ensemble sur nos collines d'autrefois, où l'eau court, où le buisson tremble dans la maison qui touche aux bois.' ... it was." suddenly she left johnnie standing in the middle of the room, and with extraordinary agility for her weight and years, glided round the little table, and sank once more into her seat. the door at the other end of the room opened, and a tall girl, with a white face and thin, wicked mouth, and a glorious coronal of red hair came into the room. "'tis finished," she said, to the mistress of the house. "sir john shelton is far in drink. he----" she stopped suddenly, as she saw johnnie, gave him a keen, questioning glance, and then looked once more towards the fat woman in the chair. madame nodded. "this is his highness's gentleman," she said, "awaiting him. so it's finished?" the girl nodded, beginning to survey johnnie with a cruel, wicked scrutiny, which made him flush with mingled embarrassment and anger. "his highness is coming down, mr. esquire," she said, pushing out a little red tip of tongue from between her lips. "his highness...." the old woman in the chair suddenly leapt up. she ran at the tall, red-haired girl, caught her by the throat, and beat her about the face with her fat, jewelled hands, cursing her in strange french oaths, clutching at her hair, shaking her, swinging her about with a dreadful vulgar ferocity which turned john's blood cold. as he stood there he caught a glimpse, never to be forgotten, of all that underlay this veneer of midnight luxury. he saw vile passions at work, he realised--for the first time truly and completely--in what a hideous place he was. the tall girl, sobbing and bleeding in the face, disappeared behind the arras. the old woman turned to johnnie. her face was almost purple with exertion, her eyes blazed, her hawk-like nose seemed to twitch from side to side, she panted out an apology: "she dared, monsieur, she dared, one of my girls, one of my slaves! hist!" a loud voice was heard from above, feet trampled upon stairs, through the open door which led to the upper parts of the house of ill-fame came sir john shelton, a big, gross, athletic man, obviously far gone in wine. he saw johnnie. "ah, mr. commendone," he said thickly. "here we are, and here are you! god's teeth! i like well to see you. i myself am well gone in wine, though i will sit my horse, as thou wilt see." he lurched up to johnnie and whispered in the young man's ear, with hot, wine-tainted breath. "he's coming down," he whispered. "it's your part to take charge of his highness. he's----" sir john stood upright, swaying a little from the shoulders, as down the stairway, framed in the lintel of the door, came king philip of spain. the king was dressed very much as johnnie himself was dressed; his long, melancholy face was a little flushed--though not with wine. his eyes were bright, his thin lips moved and worked. directly he saw commendone his face lit up with recognition. it seemed suddenly to change. "ah, you are here, mr. commendone," he said in spanish. "i am glad to see you. we have had our amusements, and now we go upon serious business." the alteration in the king's demeanour was instant. temperate, as all spaniards were and are, he was capable at a moment's notice of dismissing what had passed, and changing from _bon viveur_ into a grave potentate in a flash. he came up to johnnie. "now, mr. commendone," he said, in a quiet, decisive voice, "we will get to horse and go upon our business. the _señor don_ here is gone in wine, but he will recover as we ride to hadley. you are in charge. let's begone from this house." the king led the way out of the red room. the old procuress bowed to the ground as he went by, but he took no notice of her. johnnie followed the king, sir john shelton came staggering after, and in a moment or two they were out in the street, where was now gathered a small company of horse, with serving-men holding up torches to illumine the blackness of the night. they mounted and rode away slowly out of duck lane and across london bridge, the noise of their passing echoing between the tall, barred houses. several soldiers rode first, and after them came sir john shelton. commendone rode at the king's left hand, and he noticed that his highness's broad hat was pulled low over his face and a riding cloak muffled the lower part of it. behind them came the other men-at-arms. as soon as they were clear of the bridge the walk changed into a trot, and the cavalcade pushed toward aldgate. not a soul was in the streets until they came to the city gate itself, where there was the usual guard. they passed through and came up to the "woolsack," a large inn which was just outside the wall. in the light of the torches commendone could see that the place was obviously one of considerable importance, and had probably been a gentleman's house in the past. large square windows divided into many lights by mullions and transoms took up the whole of the front. the roofs were ornamental, richly crocketed and finialed, while there was a blazonry of painted heraldry and coats of arms over and around the large central porch. large stacks of tall, slender chimney-shafts, moulded and twisted, rose up into the dark, and were ornamented over their whole surface with diaper patterns and more armorial bearings. the big central door of the "woolsack" stood open, and a ruddy light beamed out from the hall and from the windows upon the ground-floor. as they came up, and sir john shelton stumbled from his horse, holding the king's stirrup for him to dismount, commendone saw that the space in front of the inn, a wide square with a little trodden green in the centre of it, held groups of dark figures standing here and there. halberds rose up against the walls of the houses, showing distinctly in the occasional light from a cresset held by a man-at-arms. sir john shelton strode noisily into a big panelled hall, the king and commendone following him, johnnie realising that, of course, his highness was incognito. the host of the inn, putton, hurried forward, and behind him was one of the sheriffs of london, who held some papers in his hand and greeted sir john shelton with marked civility. the knight pulled himself together, and shook the sheriff by the hand. "is everything prepared," he said, "mr. sheriff?" "we are all quite ready, sir john," the sheriff answered, looking with inquiring eyes at commendone and the tall, muffled figure of the king. "two gentlemen of the court who have been deputed by her grace to see justice done," sir john said. "and now we will to the prisoner." putton stepped forward. "this way, gentlemen," he said. "dr. taylor is with his guards in the large room. he hath taken a little succory pottage and a flagon of ale, and seemeth resigned and ready to set out." with that the host opened a door upon the right-hand side of the hall and ushered the party into a room which was used as the ordinary of the inn, a lofty and spacious place lit with candles. there was a high carved chimney-piece, over which were the arms of the vintners' company, sable and chevron _cetu_, three tuns argent, with the figure of bacchus for a crest. a long table ran down the centre of the place, and at one end of it, seated in a large chair of oak, sat the late archdeacon of exeter. three or four guards stood round in silence. dr. rowland taylor was a huge man, over six feet in height, and more than a little corpulent. his face, which was very pale, was strongly cast, his eyes, under shaggy white brows, bright and humorous; the big, genial mouth, half-hidden by the white moustache and beard, both kindly and strong. he wore a dark gown and a flat velvet cap upon his head, and he rose immediately as the company entered. "we are come for you, dr. taylor," the sheriff said, "and you must immediately to horse." the big man bowed, with quiet self-possession. "'tis very well, master sheriff," he said; "i have been waiting this half-hour agone." "bring him out," said sir john shelton, in a loud, harsh voice. "keep silence, master taylor, or i will find a way to silence thee." john commendone shivered with disgust as the leader of the party spoke. even as he did so he felt a hand upon his arm, and the tall, muffled figure of the king stood close behind him. "tell the knight, señor," the king said rapidly in spanish, "to use the gentleman with more civility. he is to die, as is well fitting a heretic should die, for god's glory and the safety of the realm. but he is of gentle birth. tell sir john shelton." commendone stepped up to sir john. "sir," he said, in a voice which, try as he would, he could not keep from being very disdainful and cold--"sir, his highness bids me to tell you to use dr. taylor with civility, as becomes a man of his birth." the half-drunken captain glared at the cool young courtier for a moment, but he said nothing, and, turning on his heel, clanked out of the room with a rattle of his sword and an aggressive, ruffling manner. dr. taylor, with guards on each side, the sheriff immediately preceding him, walked down the room and out into the hall. commendone and the king came last. johnnie was seized with a sudden revulsion of feeling towards his master. this man, cruel and bigoted as he was, the man whom he had seen with fanaticism and the blood lust blazing in his eye, the man whom he had seen calmly leaving a vile house, was nevertheless a king and a gentleman. the young man could hardly understand or realise the extraordinary combination of qualities in the austere figure by his side of the man who ruled half the known world. again, he felt that sense of awe, almost of fear, in the presence of one so far removed from ordinary men, so swift in his alterations from coarseness to kingliness, from relentless cruelty to cold, sombre decorum. dr. taylor was mounted upon a stout cob, closely surrounded by guards, and with a harsh word of command from sir john, the party set out. the host of the "woolsack" stood at his lighted door, where there was a little group of serving-men and halberdiers, sharply outlined against the red-litten façade of the quaint old building, and then, as they turned a corner, it all flashed away, and they went forward quietly and steadily through a street of tall gabled houses. directly the lights of the inn and the square in front of it were left behind, they saw at once that dawn was about to begin. the houses were grey now, each moment more grey and ghostly, and they were no longer sable and shapeless. the air, too, had a slight stir and chill within it, and each moment of their advance the ghostly light grew stronger, more wan and spectral than ever the dark had been. pursuant to his instructions, commendone kept close to the king, who rode silently with a drooping head, as one lost in thought. in front of them were the backs of the guards in their steel corselets, and in the centre of the group was the massive figure of the man who was riding to his death, a huge, black outline, erect and dignified. john rode with the rest as a man in a dream. his mind and imagination were in a state in which the moving figures around him, the cavalcade of which he himself was a part, seemed but phantoms playing fantastic parts upon the stage of some unreal theatre of dreams. he heard once more the great man-like voice of queen mary, but it seemed very far away, a sinister thing, echoing from a time long past. the music of the dance in the palace tinkled and vibrated through his subconscious brain, and then once more he heard the voice of the evil old woman of the red house, the voice of one in hell, telling him to flee youthful lusts, telling him to wait stainless until love should come to him. love! he smiled unconsciously to himself. love!--why should the thoughts of love come to a heart-whole man riding upon this sad errand of death; through ghostly streets, stark and grey?... he looked up dreamily and saw before him, cutting into a sky which was now big and tremulous with dawn, the tower of st. botolph's church, a faint, misty purple. far away in the east the sky was faintly streaked with pink and orange, the curtain of the dark was shaken by the birth-pangs of the morning. the western sky over st. paul's was already aglow with a red, reflected light. the transition was extraordinarily sudden. every instant the aspect of things changed; the whole visible world was being re-created, second by second, not gradually, but with a steady, pressing onrush, in which time seemed merged and forgotten, to be of no account at all, and a thing that was not. johnnie had seen the great copper-coloured moon heave itself out of the sea just like that--the world turning to splendour before his eyes. but it was dawn now, and in the miraculously clear, inspiring light, the countless towers and pinnacles of the city rose with sharp outline into the quiet sky. the breeze from the river rustled and whispered by them like the trailing skirts of unseen presences, and as the cool air in all its purity came over the silent town, the feverishness and sense of unreality in the young man's mind were dissolved and blown away. how silent london was!--the broad street stretched out before them like a ribbon of silver-grey, but the tower of st. botolph's was already solid stone, and no longer mystic purple. and then, for some reason or other, john commendone's heart began to beat furiously. he could not have said why or how. there seemed no reason to account for it, but all his pulses were stirred. a sense of expectancy, which was painful in its intensity, and unlike anything he had ever known before in his life, pervaded all his consciousness. he gripped his horse by the knees, his left hand holding the leather reins, hung with little tassels of vermilion silk, his right hand resting upon the handle of his sword. they came up to the porch of the church, and suddenly the foremost men-at-arms halted, the slight backward movement of their horses sending those who followed backward also. there was a pawing of hooves, a rattle of accoutrements, a sharp order from somewhere in front, and then they were all sitting motionless. the moment had arrived. john commendone saw what he had come to see. from that instant his real life began. all that had gone before, as he saw in after years, had been but a leading up and preparation for this time. standing just outside the porch of the church was a small group of figures, clustering together, white faces, pitiful and forlorn. dr. taylor's wife, suspecting that her husband should that night be carried away, had watched all night in st. botolph's porch, having with her her two children, and a man-servant of their house. the men-at-arms had opened out a little, remaining quite motionless on their horses. sir john shelton, obviously mindful of commendone's warning at the "woolsack," remained silent also, his blotched face grey and scowling in the dawn, though he said no word. the king pulled his hat further over his eyes, and johnnie at his right could see perfectly all that was happening. he heard a voice, a girl's voice. "oh, my dear father! mother! mother! here is my father led away." almost every one who has lived from any depth of being, for whom the world is no grossly material place, but a state which is constantly impinged upon and mingles with the unseen, must be conscious that at one time or other of his life sound has been, perhaps, the most predominant influence in it. now and again, at rare and memorable intervals, the grossness of this tabernacle wherein the soul is encased is pierced by sound. more than all else, sound penetrates deep into the spiritual consciousness, punctuates life, as it were, at rare moments of emotion, gathering up and crystallising a thousand fancies and feelings which seem to have no adequate cause among outward things. johnnie had heard the sound of his mother's voice, as she lay dying--a dry, whispering, husky sound, never to be forgotten, as she said, "johnnie, promise mother to be good; promise me to be good." he had heard the sweet sound of the death mort winded by the huntsman in the park of commendone, as he had run down his first stag--in the voice of the girl who cried out with anguish in the pure morning light, he heard for the third or fourth time, a sound which would always be part of his life. "_o, my dear father! mother! mother! here is my father led away._" she was a tall girl, in a long grey cloak. her hair, growing low upon her forehead, and very thick, was the colour of ripe corn. great eyes of a deep blue, like cut sapphire, shone in the dead white oval of her face. the parted lips were a scarlet eloquence of agony. by her side was a tall, grey-haired dame, trembling exceedingly. one delicate white hand flickered before the elder woman's eyes, all blind with tears and anguish. then the doctor's wife cried, "rowland, rowland, where art thou?" dr. taylor answered, "dear wife, i am here." then she came to him, and he took a younger girl, who had been clinging to her mother's skirts, his little daughter mary, in his arms, dismounting from his horse as he did so, with none to stay him. he, his wife, and the tall girl elizabeth, knelt down and said the lord's prayer. at the sight of it the sheriff wept apace, and so did divers others of the company, and the salt tears ran down johnnie's cheeks and splashed upon his breast-plate. after they had prayed dr. taylor rose up and kissed his wife, and shook her by the hand, and said: "farewell, my dear wife, be of good comfort, for i am quiet in my conscience. god shall stir up a father for my children." after that he kissed his daughter mary and said, "god bless thee and make thee his servant," and kissing elizabeth also he said, "god bless thee. i pray you all stand strong and steadfast unto christ his word, and keep you from idolatry." the tall lady clung to him, weeping bitterly. "god be with thee, dear rowland," she said; "i shall, with god's grace, meet thee anon in heaven." then johnnie saw the serving-man, a broad, thick-set fellow, with a keen, brown face, who had been standing a little apart, come up to dr. taylor. he was holding by the hand a little boy of ten years or so, with wide, astonished eyes, thomas, the doctor's son. when dr. taylor saw them he called them, saying, "come hither, my son thomas." john hull lifted the child, and sat him upon the saddle of the horse by which his father stood, and dr. taylor put off his hat, and said to the members of the party that stood there looking at him: "good people, this is mine own son, begotten of my body in lawful matrimony; and god be blessed for lawful matrimony." johnnie upon his horse was shaking uncontrollably, but at these last words he heard an impatient jingle of accoutrements by his side, and looking, saw that the face of his highness was fierce and angry that an ordained priest should speak thus of wedlock. but this was only for a passing moment; the young man's eyes were fixed upon the great clergyman again in an instant. the priest lifted up his eyes towards heaven, and prayed for his son. he laid his hand upon the child's head and blessed him; and so delivered the child to john hull, whom he took by the hand and said, "farewell, john hull, the faithfullest servant that ever man had." there was a silence, broken only by the sobbing of women and a low murmur of sympathy from the rough men-at-arms. sir john shelton heard it and glanced quickly at the muffled figure of the king. it was a shrewd, penetrating look, and well understood by his highness. this natural emotion of the escort, at such a sad and painful scene, might well prove a leaven which would work in untutored minds. there must be no more sympathy for heretics. sir john gave a harsh order, the guard closed in upon dr. taylor, there was a loud cry from the archdeacon's wife as she fell fainting into the arms of the sturdy servant, and the cavalcade proceeded at a smart pace. john looked round once, and this is what he saw--the tall figure of elizabeth taylor, fixed and rigid, the lovely face set in a stare of horror and unspeakable grief, a star of sorrow as the dawn reddened and day began. and now, as they left london, the progress was more rapid, the stern business upon which they were engaged looming up and becoming more imminent every moment, the big man in the centre of the troop being hurried relentlessly to his end. and so they rode forth to brentwood, where, during a short stay, sir john shelton and his men caused to be made for dr. taylor a close hood, with two holes for his eyes to look out at, and a slit for his mouth to breathe at. this they did that no man in the pleasant country ways, the villages or little towns, should speak to him, nor he to any man. it was a practice that they had used with others, and very wise and politic. "for," says a chronicler of the time, "their own consciences told them that they led innocent lambs to the slaughter. wherefore they feared lest if the people should have heard them speak or have seen them, they might have been more strengthened by their godly exhortations to stand steadfast in god's word, to fly the superstitions and idolatries of the papacy." all the way dr. taylor was joyful and merry, as one that accounted himself going to a most pleasant banquet or bridal. he said many notable things to the sheriff and the yeomen of the guard that conducted him, and often moved them to weep through his much earnest calling upon them to repent and to amend their evil and wicked living. oftentimes, also, he caused them to wonder and rejoice, to see him so constant and steadfast, void of all fear, joyful in heart, and glad to die. at one time during their progress he said: "i will tell you, i have been deceived, and, as i think, i shall deceive a great many. i am, as you see, a man that hath a very great carcase, which i thought would have been buried in hadley churchyard, if i died in my bed, as i well hoped i should have done; but herein i see i was deceived. and there are a great number of worms in hadley churchyard, which should have had a jolly feed upon this carrion, which they have looked for many a day. but now i know we are to be deceived, both i and they; for this carcase must be burnt to ashes; and so shall they lose their bait and feeding, that they looked to have had of it." sir john shelton, who was riding by the side of commendone, and who was now sober enough, the wine of his midnight revels having died from him, turned to johnnie with a significant grin as he heard dr. taylor say this to his guards. shelton was coarse, overbearing, and a blackguard, but he had a keen mind of a sort, and was of gentle birth. "listen to this curtail dog, mr. commendone," he said, with a sneer. "a great loss to the church, i' faith. he talketh like some bully-rook or clown of the streets. and these are the men who in their contumacy and their daring deny the truth of holy church----" he spat upon the ground with disgust. commendone nodded gravely. his insight was keener far than the other's. he saw, in what bishop heber afterwards called "the coarse vigour" of the archdeacon's pleasantry, no foolish irreverence indeed, but the racy english courage and humour of a saintly man, resolved to meet his earthly doom brightly, and to be an example to common men. johnnie was the son of a bluff kentish squire. he knew the english soil, and all the stoic hardy virtues, the racy mannerisms which spring from it. courtier and scholar, a man of exquisite refinement, imbued with no small share of foreign grace and courtliness, there was yet a side of him which was thoroughly english. he saw deeper than the coarse-mouthed captain at his side. the voices of those who had gathered round the porch of st. botolph's without aldgate still rang in his ears. the sheriff and his company, when they heard dr. rowland taylor jesting in this way, were amazed, and looked one at another, marvelling at the man's constant mind, that thus, without any fear, made but a jest at the cruel torment and death now at hand prepared for him. the sun clomb the sky, the woods were green, the birds were all at matins. through many a shady village they passed where the ripening corn rustled in the breeze, the wood smoke went up in blue lines from cottage and manor house, the clink of the forge rang out into the street as the blacksmiths lit their fires, the milkmaids strode out to find the lowing kine in the pastures. it was a brilliant happy morning as they rode along through the green lanes, a very bridal morning indeed. when they were come within two miles of hadley, dr. taylor desired for a while to light off his horse. they let him do it, and the sheriff at his request ordered the hood to be removed from him. the whole troop halted for a minute or two, and the doctor, says the chronicler, "leaped and set a frisk or twain as men commonly do in dancing. 'why, master doctor,' quoth the sheriff, 'how do you now?' he answered, 'well, god be praised, good master sheriff, never better; for now i know i am almost at home. i have not pass two stiles to go over, and i am even at my father's house.' "'but, master sheriff,' said he, 'shall we not go through hadley?' "'yes,' said the sheriff, 'you shall go through hadley.' "'then,' said he, 'o good lord! i thank thee, i shall yet once more ere i die see my flock, whom thou, lord, knowest i have most heartily loved and truly taught. good lord! bless them and keep them steadfast in thy word and truth.'" the streets of hadley were beset on both sides of the way with women and men of the town and the country-side around, who awaited to see dr. taylor. as the troop passed by, now at walking pace, when the people beheld their old friend led to death in this way, their voices were raised in lamentation and there was great weeping. on all sides john commendone heard the broad homely suffolk voices, lifted high in sorrow. "ah, good lord," said one fat farmer's wife to her man, "there goeth our good shepherd from us that so faithfully hath taught us, so fatherly hath cared for us, so godly hath governed us." and again, the landlord of the "three cranes" at hadley, where the troop stopped for a moment to water their horses at the trough before the inn, and the country people surged and crowded round: "o merciful god; what shall we poor scattered lambs do? what shall come of this most wicked world! good lord! strengthen him and comfort him. alack, dear doctor, may the lord help thee!" the great man upon his horse, towering above the yeomen of the guard who surrounded him, lifted his hand. "friends," he said, "and neighbours all, grieve not for me. i have preached to you god's word and truth, and am come this day to seal it with my blood." johnnie would have thought that the people who bore such an obvious love for their rector, and who now numbered several hundreds--sturdy country-men all--would have raised an outcry against the sheriff and his officers. many of them had stout cudgels in their hands, some of them bore forks with which they were going to the fields, but there was very little anger. the people were cowed, that was very plain to see. the power of the law struck fear into them still; the long, unquestioned despotism of henry viii still exercised its sway over simple minds. now and again, as the horses were being watered, a fierce snarl of anger came from the outskirts of the crowd. commendone himself, with his somewhat foreign appearance, and the tall, muffled figure of the king, excited murmurs and insults. "they be spaniards," one fellow cried, "they two be--spaniards from the queen's papist husband. how like you this work, master don?" but that was all. once sir john shelton looked with some apprehension at the king, but the king understood nothing, and though the sturdy country-folk in their numbers might well have overcome the guard, a rescue was obviously not thought of nor was the slightest attempt at it made. all this was quite homely and natural to johnnie. he felt with the people; he had spent his life in the country. down at quiet, retired commendone his father and he were greatly loved by all the farmers and peasants of the estate. his mother--that graceful spanish lady--had endeared herself for many years to the simple folk of kent. old father chilches had said mass in the chapel at commendone for many years without let or hindrance. catholic as the house of commendone had always been, there was nothing bigoted or fanatical in their religion. and now the young man's heart was stirred to its very depths as this homely rustic folk lifted up their voices in sorrow. even then, however, he questioned nothing in his mind of the justice of what was to be done. despite the infinite pity he felt for this good pastor who was to die and his flock who grieved him so, he was yet perfectly loyal in his mind to the power which ordained the execution, part of whose machinery he was. the queen had said so; the monarch could do no wrong. there were reasons of state, reasons of polity, reasons of religion which he himself was not competent to enter into or to discuss, but which he accepted blindly then. and so, as they moved onwards towards aldham common, where the final scene was to be enacted, he moved with the others, one of the ministers of doom. and through all the bright morning air, through the cries and tears of the country-folk, he heard one voice, the voice of a girl, he saw one white and lovely face ever before his eyes. when they came to aldham common there was a great multitude of people gathered there. "what place is this?" dr. taylor asked, with a smile, though he knew very well. "and what meaneth it that so much people are gathered together?" the sheriff, who was a stranger to this part of the country, and who was very agitated and upset, answered him with eager and deprecating civility. "it is aldham common, dr. taylor, the place where you must suffer; and the people are come to look upon you." the good man hardly knew what he was saying. dr. taylor smiled once more. "thanked be god," he said, "i am even at home," and alighted from his horse. sir john shelton, who also dismounted, snatched the hat from the doctor's head, which was shown to be clipped close, like a horse's back in summer time--a degradation which bishop bonner had caused to be performed upon him the night before as a mean and vulgar revenge for the doctor's words to him at the ceremony of his degradation. but when the people saw dr. taylor's reverent and ancient face and his long white beard, they burst into louder weeping than ever, and cried, "god save thee, good dr. taylor! jesus christ strengthen thee, and help thee; the holy ghost comfort thee," and many other suchlike godly wishes. they were now come into the centre of aldham common, where already a posse of men sent by the sheriff of the county were keeping a space clear round a tall post which had been set into the ground, and which was the stake. sir john shelton, who now assumed complete command of the proceedings, gave several loud orders. the people were pressed back with oaths and curses by the yeomen of the escort, and dr. taylor was hurried quickly towards the stake. the long ride from london had not been without a certain quiet and dignity; but from this moment everything that was done was rude, hurried, and violent. the natural brutality of shelton and his men blazed up suddenly. what before had been ineffably sad was now changed to horror, as john commendone sat his horse by the side of the man whose safety he was there to guard, and watched the final scene. dr. taylor, who was standing by the stake and disrobing, wished to speak to the people, but the yeomen of the guard were so busy about him that as soon as he opened his mouth one or another of these fellows thrust a fist or tipstaff into his mouth. they were round him like a pack of dogs, snarling, buffeting him, making him feel indeed the bitterness of death. this was done by sir john shelton's orders, no doubt committed to him from london, for it was obvious that any popular feeling in the martyr's favour must be suppressed as soon as possibly could be done. if dr. taylor had been allowed to speak to the surging crowd that knew and loved him, the well-known voice, the familiar and beloved exhortations might well have aroused a fury against the ministers of the law which they would be powerless to withstand. dr. taylor himself seemed to recognise this, for he sat down upon a stool which was placed near the stake and did not offer to speak again. he looked round while three or four ill-favoured fellows in leather were bringing up bundles of furze and freshly cut faggots to the stake, and as he was obviously not about to address the people, the guard was a little relaxed. he saw pressing on the outskirts of the crowd an old countryman, with a brown wrinkled face. "soyce," he called out cheerily, "i pray thee come and pull off my boots, and take them for thy labour. thou hast long looked for them, now take them." the ancient fellow, who was indeed the sexton of hadley church, came trembling up, and did as the rector asked. then dr. taylor rose up, and put off his clothes unto his shirt, and gave them away. which done, he said with a loud voice, "good people! i have taught you nothing but god's holy word and those lessons that i have taken out of god's blessed book, the holy bible." he had hardly said it when a sergeant of the guard, named homes, gave him a great stroke upon the head with a waster, and said, "is that the keeping of thy promise, thou heretic?" the venerable head, now stained with blood, drooped, and for a moment the vitality and vigour seemed to go from the rector. he saw that it was utterly useless, that there was no hope of him being allowed to address his folk, and so he knelt down and prayed in silence. while he was praying a very old woman, in poor rags, that was standing among the people, ran in and knelt by his side, and prayed with him. homes caught hold of her and tried to drag her from the doctor, but she screamed loudly and clung to the rector's knees. "tread her down with horses; tread her down," said sir john shelton, his face purple with anger. but even the knight's men would not do it, and there was such a deep threatening murmur from the crowd that shelton forbore, and the old woman stayed there and prayed with the doctor. at last he rose, blessing her, and, dressed only in his shirt, big, burly, and very dignified, he went to the stake and kissed it, and set himself into a pitch barrel, which they had put for him to stand in. he stood there so, with his back upright against the stake, with his hands folded together, and his eyes towards heaven, praying continually. four men set up the faggots and piled them round him, and one brought a torch to make the fire. as the furze lit and began to crackle at the bottom of the pile, the man homes, either really mad with religious hatred, or, as is more probable, a brute, only zealous to ingratiate himself with his commander, picked up a billet of wood and cast it most cruelly at the doctor. it lit upon his head and broke his face, so that the blood ran down it. then said dr. taylor, "o friend, i have harm enough; what needed that?" then, with sir john shelton standing close by, and the people round shuddering with horror, the rector began to say the psalm _miserere_ in english. sir john shot out his great red hand and struck the martyr upon the lips with his open palm. "ye knave," he said, "speak latin; i will make thee." at that, john commendone, scarcely knowing what he did, leapt from his horse and caught shelton by the shoulder. with all the strength of his young athletic frame he sent him spinning away from the stake. sir john staggered, recovered himself, and with his face blazing with anger, rushed at the young man. at that the king suddenly wheeled his horse, and interposed between them. "keep you away, sir john," he said in spanish, "that is enough." the knight did not understand the king's words, but the tone and the accent were significant. with a glare of fury at johnnie, he slunk aside to his men. the calm voice of the rector went on reciting the words of the psalm. when it was finished he said the gloria, and as the smoke rolled up around him, and red tongues of flame began to be brightly visible in the sunlight, he held up both his hands, and said, "merciful father of heaven, for jesus christ my saviour's sake, receive my soul into thy hands." so stood he still without either crying or moving, with his hands folded together, until suddenly one of the men-at-arms caught up a halbert and struck him on the head so that the brains fell out, and the corpse sank into the fire. "thus," says the chronicler, "the man of god gave his blessed soul into the hands of his merciful father, and his most dear and certain saviour jesus christ, whom he most entirely loved, faithfully and earnestly preached, obediently followed in living, and constantly glorified in death." chapter iii the meeting with john hull at chelmsford john commendone, sir john shelton, and the king of spain walked up a flight of broad stone steps, which led to the wide-open door of mr. peter lacel's house on the far side of aldham common. it was now about ten o'clock in the morning, or a little after. as soon as the body of the martyr had fallen into the flames, sir john had wheeled round upon his horse, and, attended by his men, had trotted away, breaking through the crowd, who had rushed to the smouldering pyre and were pressing round it. they had gone some three hundred yards on to the common at a quick pace. "i don't like this at all, sire," sir john had muttered to the king. "the people are very turbulent. it will be as well, i think, that we go to the 'crown.' it is that large house on the other side of the common. there we shall find entertainment and refreshment, for i am told it is a good inn by a letter from the sheriff, mr. peter lacel--whom i had looked to see here as was duly arranged." then sir john had stopped suddenly. "he cometh," he cried. "that is mr. lacel with his yeomen," and as the knight spoke johnnie saw a little party upon horseback galloping towards them. foremost of them was a bluff, bearded country gentleman, his face agitated and concerned. "good sir john," said the gentleman as he reined up his horse, "i would not have had this happen for much money. i have mistook the hour, and was upon some county business with two of the justices at my house. is it all over then? hath dr. taylor suffered?" "the runagate is stone dead," shelton replied. "it is all over, and hath passed off as well as may be, though i like not very much the demeanour of the people. but how do you, mr. lacel?" "i do very well, thank you," the sheriff answered, "but i hope much, sir john, that this mischance of mine will not be accounted to me as being any lack of zeal to her grace." shelton waved his hand. "no," he said, "we know you very well, mr. lacel. lack of loyalty will never be put to your charge. but now, doubtless, you will entertain us, for we have ridden since early dawn, and are very tired." mr. lacel's face shone with relief. "come you, sir john," he said, "come you with these gentlemen and your men forthwith to the manor. you must indeed be weary and needing refreshment. but what of yonder?" he pointed in front of him, and sir john turned in his saddle. a few hundred yards away a dense crowd was swaying, and above their heads even now was a column of yellow smoke. "there is no need for you there, mr. lacel," sir john replied. "the sheriff of london and his men are doing all that is needful. i am here with mine, and we shall all be glad to taste your hospitality after this business. this,"--he made a little gesture of the hand towards johnnie--"is mr. commendone, sir henry commendone's son, of kent, attached to the king's person, and here to-day to report of dr. taylor's burning to the queen. this"--here he bowed towards philip--"a spanish nobleman of high degree, who is of his majesty's gentlemen, and who hath ridden with us." "bid ye welcome, gentlemen," said mr. lacel, "and now, an ye will follow me, there is breakfast ready in the manor, and you can forget this nasty work, for i doubt none of you like it better than myself." with that the whole party had trotted onwards towards the sheriff's house. the men-at-arms were met by grooms and servants, and taken round to the buttery. john, shelton, and the king walked up the steps and into a great hall, where a long table was laid for their reception. the king, whose demeanour to his host was haughty and indifferent, spoke no word at all, and sir john shelton was in considerable embarrassment. at all costs, the king's incognito must be preserved. mr. lacel was a catholic gentleman of suffolk, a simple, faithful, unthinking country squire, who, at the same time, had some local influence. it would never do, however, to let the sheriff know that the king himself was under his roof, and yet his highness's demeanour was so reserved and cold, his face so melancholy, frozen, and inscrutable, that shelton was considerably perplexed. it was with a sense of great relief that he remembered the king spoke but little english, and he took mr. lacel aside while serving-men were placing chairs at the table, and whispered that the don was a cold, unlikeable fellow, but high in the royal favour, and must be considered. "not a testoon care i," mr. lacel answered. "i am glad to see ye, sir john, and these court gallants from spain disturb me not at all. now, sit ye down, sit ye down, and fall to." they all sat down at the table. the king took a silver cup of wine, bowed to his host, and sipped. his face was very yellow, his eyes dwindled, and a general air of cold and lassitude pervaded him. suddenly he turned to commendone, who was sitting by his side watching his master with eager and somewhat frightened attention. "señor," he said, in spanish, "señor commendone, i am very far from well. the long ride hath tired me. i would rest. speak to sir john shelton, and ask this worthy _caballero_, who is my host, if i may retire to rest." johnnie spoke at once to mr. lacel, explaining that the spanish nobleman was very fatigued and wished to lie down. the sheriff jumped up at once, profuse in hospitality, and himself led the way, followed by the king and commendone, to an upper chamber. they saw the king lie down upon the bed, and curtains pulled half-way over the mullioned windows of the room, letting only a faint beam of sunlight enter there. "thy friend will be all right now, mr. commendone," said the squire. "these spanish gentlemen are not over-strong, methinks." he laughed roughly, and johnnie heard again, in the voice of this country gentleman, that dislike of spain and of the spanish match, which his own father shared. they went out of the room together, and johnnie shrugged his shoulders--it was absolutely necessary that the identity of the king should not be suspected. "well, well, mr. lacel," he said, linking his arm within his host's, and assuming a friendly country manner--which, of course, came perfectly natural to him, "it is not for you and i to question or to make comment upon those gentlemen from over-seas who are in high favour in london just now. let us to breakfast." in a minute more they were sitting at the table, where sir john shelton was already busy with wine and food. for a few minutes the three men ate in silence. then mr. lacel must have from them every detail of the execution. it was supplied him with great vigour and many oaths by sir john. mr. lacel shook himself. "i am indeed sorry," said he, "that i was not at the execution, because it was my bounden duty to be there. natheless, i am not sorry for myself. to see a rogue or masterless man trussed up is very well, but dr. rowland taylor that was rector here, and hath in times past been a guest at this very table--well, i am glad i did not see the man die. was a pleasant fellow, could wind a horn or throw a falcon with any of the gentry round, had a good lusty voice in a chorus, and learning much beyond the general." "mr. lacel, mr. lacel," sir john shelton said in a loud and rather bullying voice, "surely you have no sympathy nor liking for heretics?" "not i, i' faith," said the old gentleman at the top of the table, striking the thick oak with his fist. "i have been a good catholic ever, and justice must be done. 'twas the man i liked, master shelton, 'twas the man i liked. now we have here as rector a mr. lacy. he is a good catholic priest, and dutiful at all his services. i go to mass three times a week. but father lacy, as a man, is but a sorry scrub. he eateth nothing, and a firkin of ale would last him six months. still, gentlemen, ye cannot live on both sides of a buckler. poor roly taylor was a good, honest man, a sportsman withal, and well loved over the country-side--i am glad i saw not his burning. certainly upon religion he was mad and very ill-advised, and so dies he. i trust his stay in purgation be but short." sir john shelton put down his tankard with a crash. "my friend," he said, "doth not know that his grace of london did curse this heretic? i myself was there and heard it." the ruffian lifted his tankard of wine to his lips, and took a long draught. his face was growing red, his eyes twinkled with half-drunken cunning and suspicion. "aye," he cried, "i heard it--'and by the authority of god the father almighty, and of the blessed virgin mary, of st. peter and paul, and of the holy saints, we excommunicate, we utterly curse and ban, commit and deliver to the devil of hell, ye that have in spite of god and of st. peter, whose church this is, in spite of holy saints, and in spite of our most holy father the pope, god's vicar here on earth, denied the truths of holy church. accursed may ye be, and give body and soul to the devil. we give ye over utterly to the power of the fiend, and thy soul when thou art dead shall lie this night in the pains of hell-fire, as this candle is now quenched and put out.'" as he finished, sir john knocked over a tall glass cruet of french vinegar, and stared with increasing drunkenness at his host. mr. lacel, simple gentleman that he was, was obviously disgusted at his guest. he said very little, however, seeing that the man was somewhat gone in liquor, as johnnie also realised that the stale potations of the night before were wakened by the new drink, and rising up into shelton's brain. "well, well, sir john," mr. lacel replied, "i am no theologian, but i am a good son of the church, and have always been, as you and those at court--those in high places, sir john," he said it with a certain emphasis and spirit--"know very well." the quiet and emphatic voice had its effect. shelton dropped his bullying manner. he was aware, and realised that mr. lacel probably knew also, that he was but a glorified man-at-arms, a led captain, and not at all in the confidence of great people, nor acquainted with private affairs of state. he had been puffed up by his recent association with the king in his vile pleasures, but a clever ruffian enough, he saw now that he had gone too far. he saw also that john commendone was looking at him with a fixed and disdainful expression. he remembered that the young courtier was high in the good graces of the king and queen. "i' faith," he cried, with an entire change of manner--"i' faith, old friend peter, i was but jesting; we all know thou art loyal to church and state, their law. mr. commendone, i ask you, hast seen a more----" johnnie's voice cut into the man's babbling. "sir john," he said, "if i were you i would go upstairs and see how the spanish gentleman doeth." he looked very keenly, and with great meaning, at the knight. sir john pushed his chair from the table. "spine of god," he cried thickly, "and i was near forgetting his highness. i will to him at once." he stumbled away from the table, pulled himself together, and, following mr. lacel's butler, who had just come into the hall, ascended the broad stairway. mr. lacel looked very curiously at johnnie. "sir," he said in a low voice, looking round the hall to see if any servant were within earshot, "that drunkard hath said more than he meant. i am not quite the country fool i seem to be, but least said is soonest mended. i have known sir john shelton for some years--a good man in the chase, a soldier, but a drunken fool withal. i know your name, and i have met your father at the wool exchange in london. we are both of catholic houses, but i think none of us like what is going on now, and like to go on since"--here he dropped his voice almost to a whisper, and glanced upwards to the gallery which ran round the hall--"since her grace had wedded out of the kingdom. but we must say nothing. who that gentleman upstairs is, i do not seek to know, but i tell you this, mr. commendone, that, heretic or none, i go to-morrow morning to father lacy and give him a rose-angel to say masses for the soul of a good dead friend of mine. i shall not tell him who 'tis, and he's too big a fool to ask, but----" the old man's voice caught in his throat. he lifted his cup, and instinctively johnnie did the same. "here's to him," mr. lacel whispered, "and to his dame, a sweet and gracious lady, and to his little lad thomas, and the girl mary; they have oft sat on my knee--for i am an old widower, mr. commendone--when i have told them the tale of the babes in the wood." tears were in the sheriff's eyes, and in the eyes of the young man also, as he raised his cup to his lips and drank the sad and furtive toast. "and here," mr. lacel continued, lifting his cup once more, and leaning forward over the table close to his, "and here's to lizzie, whom dear dr. taylor adopted to be as his own daughter when she was but a little maid of three. here's to elizabeth, the sweetest girl, the most blithe companion, the daintiest, most brave little lady that ever trod the lanes of suffolk----" he had hardly finished speaking, and johnnie's hand was trembling as he lifted the goblet to his lips, when there was a noise in the gallery above, and sir john shelton, pale of face, and followed by the butler, came noisily down the oak stairs. the knight's manner was more than a little excited. "mr. commendone," he said in a quick but conciliatory voice, "his highness--that is to say, the spanish gentleman--is very fatigued, and cannot ride to london to-day." he turned to mr. lacel. "peter," he said, and his voice was now anxious and suave, the voice of a man of affairs, and with something definite to say, "peter, i must claim your hospitality for the night for myself and for my spanish friend. also, i fear, for my men." mr. lacel bowed. "sir john," he said, "my poor house is very gladly at your disposal, and you may command me in all ways." "i thank you," sir john answered, "i thank you very much. you are doing me a service, and perhaps other people a service which----" he broke off shortly, and turned once more to commendone. "mr. commendone," he said, "it is requisite that you will at once to horse with your own servant and one of my men, and ride to london--excuse me, peter, but i have a privy word to say to the esquire." he drew johnnie aside. "you must ride post-haste to the queen," he said, "and tell her that his majesty is very weary or eke unwell. he will lie the night here and come to london with me in the morning, and by the mass, mr. commendone, i don't envy you your commission!" "i will go at once," johnnie answered, looking at his watch. "very good, mr. commendone," sir john answered. "i am not of the privy closet, as you know. you are in communion with her grace, and have been. but if all we of the guard hear is true, then i am sorry for you. natheless, you must do it. tell her grace of the burning--oh, tell her anything that commendeth itself to you, but let her not think that his highness is upon some lover's business. and of duck lane not a word, not a single word, as you value your favour!" "it is very likely, is it not, sir john," commendone answered, "that i should say anything of duck lane?" the sneer in his voice was so pronounced that the big bully writhed uneasily. "surely," he replied, "you are a very pattern and model of discretion. i know it well enough, mr. commendone." johnnie made his adieux to his host. "but what about your horses, sir?" the old gentleman asked. "as i understand it, you ride post-haste to london. your nag will not take you there very fast after your long ride." "i must post, that is all," johnnie answered. "i can get a relay at chelmsford." "nay, mr. commendone, it is not to be thought of," said the squire. "now, look you. i have a plenty horses in my stables. there is a roan mare spoiling for work that will suit you very well. and what servants are you taking?" sir john shelton broke in. "hadst better take thy own servant and two of my men," he said. "you will be riding back upon the way we came, and i doubt me the country folk are too friendly." "that is easy done," said mr. lacel. "i can horse your yeomen also. in four days i ride myself to westminster, where i spend a sennight with my brother, and hope to pay my duties at the court when it moveth to whitehall, as i hear it is about to do. the horses i shall lend you, mr. commendone, can be sent to my brother's, sir frank lacel, of lacel house." "i thank you very much, sir," johnnie answered, "you are very kind." and with that he said farewell, and in a very few minutes was riding over aldham common, on his way back to london. right in the centre of the common there was still a large crowd of people, and he saw a farm cart with two horses standing there. he made a wide detour, however, to get into the main road for hadley, shrinking with a sudden horror, more poignant and more physically sickening than anything he had known before, from the last sordid and grisly details of the martyr's obsequies. ... no! anything would be better than to see this dreadful cleaning up.... the big rawbone mare which he was riding was fresh and playful. johnnie was a consummate horseman, and he was glad of the distraction of keeping the beast under control. she had a hard mouth, and needed all his skill. for four or five miles, followed by his attendants at a distance of two or three hundred yards, he rode at a fast canter, now and then letting the mare stretch her legs upon the turf which bordered the rough country road. after this, when the horse began to settle down to steady work, he went on at a fast trot, but more mechanically, and thought began to be born within him again. until now he had seemed to be walking and moving in a dream. even the horrors he had seen had been hardly real. inexperienced as he was in many aspects of life, he yet knew well that the man with an imagination and sensitive nerves suffers far more in the memory of a dreadful thing than he does at the actual witnessing of it. the very violence of what he had seen done that day had deadened all the nerves, forbidding full sensation--as a man wounded in battle, or with a limb lopped off by sword or shot, is often seen looking with an amazed incredulity at himself, feeling no pain whatever for the moment. it was now that john commendone began to suffer. every detail of dr. taylor's death etched themselves in upon his brain in a succession of pictures which burnt like fire. as this or that detail--in colour, movement, and sound--came back to him so vividly, his heart began to drum, his eyes to fill with tears, or grow dry with horror, the palms of his hands to become wet. he lived the whole thing over again. and once more his present surroundings became dream-like, as he cantered through the lanes, and what was past became hideously, dreadfully real. yet, as the gallant mare bore him swiftly onwards, he realised that the horror and disgust he felt were in reality subservient to something else within him. his whole being seemed quickened, infinitely more alert, ready for action, than it had ever been before. he was like a man who had all his life been looking out upon the world through smoked or tinted glasses--very pleased and delighted with all he saw, unable to realise that there could be anything more true, more vivid. then, suddenly, the glass is removed. the neutral greyness which he has taken for the natural, commendable view of things, changes and falls away. the whole world is seen in an infinity of light and colour undreamed of, unexpected, wonderfully, passionately new. it was thus with johnnie, and the fact for some time was stunning and paralysing. then, as the brain adjusted itself slowly to fresh and marvellous conditions, he began to question himself. what did it mean? what did it mean to him? what lay before? quite suddenly the explanation came, and he knew. it was the face of a tall girl, who stood by st. botolph's tower in the ghostly dawn that had done this thing. it was her voice that had rent aside the veil; it was her eyes of agony which lit up the world so differently. with that knowledge, with the quick hammering of love at a virgin heart, there came also an enormous expectation. till now life had been pleasant and happy. all the excitements of the past seemed but incidents in a long tranquillity. the orchestra had finished the prelude to the play. now the traverse was drawn aside, and action began. as the young man realised this, and the white splendour of the full summer sun was answered by the inexpressible glow within, he realised, physically, that he was galloping madly along the road, pressing his spurs to his horse's flanks, riding with loose rein, the stirrups behind him, crouching forward upon the peaked saddle. he pulled his horse up within two or three hundred yards, though with considerable difficulty, the animal seeming, in some subtle way, to share and be part of that which was rioting within his brain. he pulled her up, however, and she stood trembling and breathing hard, with great clots of white foam covering the rings of the bit. he soothed her, patting the strong veined neck with his hand, bringing it away from the darkening hide covered with sweat. then, when she was a little more at ease, he slipped from the saddle and led her a few paces along the road to where in the hedge a stile was set, upon which he sat himself. he held hold of the rein for a minute until he saw the mare begin to crop the roadside grass quietly enough, when he released her. for a mile or more the road by which he had come stretched white and empty in the sun. there was no trace of his men. he waited there till they could come up to him. he began to talk to himself in slow, measured terms, his own voice sounding strange in his ears, coming to them with a certain comfort. it was as though once more he had regained full command and captaincy of his own soul. there were great things to be done, he was commander of his own legions, and, like a general before a battle, he was issuing measured orders to his staff. "so that it must be; it must be just that; i must find elizabeth"--his subconscious brain heard with a certain surprise and wonder how the slow voice trembled at the word--"i must find elizabeth. and then, when i have found her, i must tell her that she, and she alone, is to be my wife, and my lady ever more. i must sue and woo her, and then she must be my wife. it is that which i have to do. the court is nothing; my service is nothing; it is elizabeth!" the mare raised her head, her mouth full of long sweet grass, and she looked at him with mild, brown eyes. he rose from the stile, put his hand within his doublet, and pulled out a little crucifix of ebony, with a christ of gold nailed to it. he kissed it, and then, singularly heartened and resolute in mind, he mounted again, seeing, as he did so, that his men were coming up behind. he waited till they were near and then trotted off, and in an hour came to the outskirts of chelmsford town. it was now more than two hours after noon, and he halted with his men at the "tun," the principal inn of the place, and adjacent to a brewery of red brick, where the famous chelmsford ale--no less celebrated then than now--was brewed. he rode into the courtyard of the inn, and the ostlers came hurrying up and took his horse away, while he went into the ordinary and sat down before a great round of beef. the landlord, seeing a gentleman of quality, bustled in and carved for him--a pottle-bellied, voluble man, with something eminently kindly and human in his eye. "from the court, sir, i do not doubt?" he said. johnnie nodded. "if i mistake not, you are one of the gentlemen who rode with the sheriff and dr. rowland taylor this morning?" "that was i," johnnie answered, looking keenly at the man. "i would have wagered it was, sir. we saw the party go by early. is the doctor dead, sir?" johnnie nodded once more. "and a very right and proper thing it is," the landlord continued, "that such should die the death." "and why think you that, landlord?" johnnie asked. the landlord scratched his head, looking doubtfully at his guest. "it is not for me to say, sir," he replied, after a moment's hesitation. "i am but a tradesman, and have no concern with affairs of state. i am a child in these things, but doubtless what was done was done very well." johnnie pushed away the pewter plate in front of him. "my man," he said, "you can speak freely to me. what think you in truth?" the landlord stared at him for a moment, and then suddenly sat down at the table. "i don't know, sir," he said, "who or what you may be. as thou art from the court, thou art a good catholic doubtless, or wouldst not be there, but you have an honest face, and i will tell you what i think. under king hal i gat me to church, and profited well thereby in that reign, for the abbey being broke up, and the friars dispersed, there was no more free beer for any rogue or masterless man to get from the buttery, aye, and others of this town with property, and well-liked men, who would drink the monks' brew free rather than pay for mine own. so, god bless king henry, i say, who brought much custom to mine inn, being a wise prince. and now, look you, i go to mass, and custom diminisheth not at all. i have had this inn for thirty years, my father before me for fifty; and in this inn, sir, i mean to die. it is nothing to me whether bread and wine are but bread and wine, or whether they be that which all must now believe. i am but a simple man, and let wiser than i decide, keeping always with those who must certainly know better than i. meanwhile i shall sell my beer and bring up my family as an honest man should do--god's death! what is that?" he started from his chair as johnnie did likewise, for even as the man spoke a most horrid and untoward noise filled all the air. both men rushed to the bulging window of leaded glass, which looked out into the high street. there was a huge shouting, a frightful stamp and clatter as of feet and horses' hooves upon the stones, but above all there came a shrill, snarling, neighing noise, ululating with a ferocity that was not human, a vibration of rage, which was like nothing commendone had ever heard before. "jesus! but what is this?" johnnie cried, flinging open the casement, his face suddenly white with fear--so utterly outside all experience was the dreadful screeching, which now seemed a thousand times louder. he peered out into the street and saw people rushing to the doors and windows of all the houses opposite, with faces as white and startled as his own. he looked to the right, for it was from there the pealing horror of sound was coming, but he could see nothing, because less than twenty yards away the high street made a sudden turn at right angles towards the market place. "it is some devil, certes," the landlord panted. "apollyon must have just such a voice. what----" the words died away upon his lips, and in a moment the two men and all the other watchers in the street knew what had happened. with a furious stamping of hooves, round the corner of an old timbered house, leaping from the ground in ungovernable fury, and in that leaping advancing but very slowly, came a huge stallion, black as a coal, its eyes red with malice, its ears laid back over its head, the huge bull-like neck erect, and smeared with foam and blood. commendone had never seen such a monster; indeed, there were but few of them in england at that time--the product of lanarkshire mares crossed with the fierce flanders stallions, only just then introduced into england by that earl of arran who had been a suitor for the hand of the princess elizabeth. the thing seemed hardly horse, but malignant demon rather, and with a cold chill at their hearts the landlord and his guest saw that the stallion gripped a man by one arm and shoulder, a man that was no more a man, but a limp bundle of clothes, and shook him as a terrier shakes a rat. the bloody and evil eyes glared round on every side as the great creature heaved itself into the air, the long "feather" of silky hair about its fetlocks waving like the pennons of lances. there was a dreadful sense of _display_. the stallion was consciously and wickedly performing, showing what it could do in its strength of hatred--evil, sentient, malign. it tossed the wretched man up into the air, and flung him lifeless and broken at its fore feet. and then, horror upon horror, it began to pound him, smashing, breaking, and treading out what little life remained, with an action the more dreadful and alarming in that it was one absolutely alien to the usual habits of the horse. it stopped at last, stiffened all over, its long, wicked head stretched out like that of a pointing dog, while its eyes roved round as if in search of a new victim. there was a dead silence in the street. then johnnie saw a short, thick-set man, with a big head and a brown face, come out from the archway opposite, where he had been standing in amazement, into the full street, facing the silent, waiting beast. something stabbed the young man's heart strangely. it was not fear for the man; it was quite distinct from the breathless excitement and sickening wonder of the moment. johnnie had seen this man before. with slow, very slow, but resolute and determined steps, the man drew nearer to the stallion. he was within four yards of it, when it threw up its head and opened its mouth wide, showing the great glistening yellow teeth, the purple lips curling away from them, in a rictus of malignity. from the open mouth, covered with blood and foam, once more came the frightful cry, the mad challenge. even as that happened, the man, who carried a stout stick of ash such as drovers used, leapt at the beast and struck it full and fair upon the muzzle, a blow so swift, and so hefty withal, that the ash-plant snapped in twain and flew up into the air. the next thing happened very swiftly. the man, who had a short cloak upon his arm, threw it over the stallion's head with a sudden movement. there was a white flash in the sunshine, as his short knife left his belt, and with one fierce blow plunged deep into the lower portion of the stallion's neck just above the great roll of fat and muscle which arched down towards the chest. then, with both hands at the handle of the knife, the man pulled it upwards, leaning back as he did so, and putting all his strength into what he did, cutting through the living veins and trachea as a butcher cuts meat. there was a dreadful scream, which changed upon an instant to a cough, a fountain of dark blood, and the monster staggered and fell over upon its side with a crash. a minute afterwards commendone was out in the high street mingling with the excited crowd of townspeople. he touched the sturdy brown-faced man upon the shoulder. "come into the inn," he said. "i have somewhat to say to you, john hull." chapter iv part taken in affairs by the half testoon it was seven o'clock in the evening when john commendone arrived at the tower. he went to the queen's gallery, and found that her majesty had just come back from vespers in st. john's chapel, and was in the privy garden with some of her ladies. mr. ambrose cholmondely was lieutenant of the guard at this hour, and johnnie went to him, explaining that he must see the queen at once. "she won't see any one, commendone," young mr. cholmondely answered. "i really cannot send your name to her grace." "but i must see her grace. it is highly important." cholmondely looked at commendone. "you have ridden far and fast," he said. "you might even be the bearer of despatches, my friend john. but i cannot send in your name to the queen. even if i could, i certainly would not do so when you are like this, in such disorder of dress. you've come from no battle-field with news of victory. if the matter urgeth, as you say, then you have your own remedy. the king consort lies ill in his own lodging; he hath not been seen of any one since supper last night. i don't know where you have been or what you have been doing, and it is no concern of mine, i' faith, but you can very well go to the king's quarters, where, if your business is as you say, one of the dons or spanish priests will speedily arrange an audience for you with her grace." johnnie knew the rigid etiquette of the court very well. technically young mr. cholmondely was within his rights. he had received orders and must obey them. upon the other hand, no one knew better than commendone that this young gallant was a fool, puffed up with the favour of ladies, and who from the first had regarded him as in some sense a rival--was jealous of him. john realised in a moment that no one of the court except the queen and king philip's private gentlemen knew of his highness's absence. it had been put about that he was ill. it would have been an easy thing for johnnie to turn away from the gate of the privy garden, where, in the soft sunset light, mr. cholmondely ruffled it so bravely, and find father diego. but he was in no mood at that moment for compromise. he was perfectly certain of his own right to admission. he knew that the tidings he bore were far more important than any point of etiquette. he was cool and suave enough as a general rule--not at all inclined, or a likely person, to infringe the stately machinery which controlled the lives of monarchs. but now he was in a mood when these things seemed shrunken, smaller than they had ever been before. he himself was animated by a great private purpose, he bore a message from the king himself to the queen; he was in a state of exaltation, and looking at the richly dressed young courtier before him, remembering what a popinjay and lap-dog of ladies he was, he felt a sudden contempt for the man who barred his way. he wouldn't have felt it before, but he was older now. he had bitten in upon life, an extraordinary strength and determination influenced him and ran in his blood. "mr. cholmondely," he said, "nevertheless, i will go to the queen, as i am, and go at once." cholmondely was just inside the gates which led to the privy garden, strolling up and down, while outside the gates were two archers of the queen's guard, and a halberdier of the garrison, who was sitting upon a low stone bench. johnnie had passed the men and was standing within the garden. "you will, mr. commendone?" johnnie took a step forward and brushed the other away with his left arm, contemptuously, as if he had been a serving-man. then he strode onwards. the other's sword was out of his scabbard in a second, and he threw himself on guard, his face livid with passion. johnnie made no motion towards his own sword hilt, but he grasped the other's light rapier with his right hand, twisted it away with a swift muscular motion, broke it upon his knee and flung the pieces into cholmondely's face. "i go to her majesty," he said. "when i have done my business with her, i will see you again, mr. cholmondely, and you can send your friend to my lodging." without a further glance at the lieutenant of the guard he hurried down a broad gravelled path, edged with stocks, asters and dark green borders of box, towards where he knew he would find the queen. cholmondely stood, swaying and reeling for a second. no word escaped him, but from his cheek, cut by the broken sword, came a thin trickle of scarlet. johnnie had turned out of the broad walk and into the terraced rose-garden, which went down to the river--where he saw a group of brightly-dressed ladies, rightly conjecturing that the queen was among them--when he heard running steps behind him. cholmondely had almost caught him up, and a dagger gleamed in his right hand. a loud oath burst from him, and he flung himself upon commendone. at the exact moment that he did so, the ladies had turned, and saw what was going on; and while the two young men wrestled together, cholmondely vainly trying to free his dagger-arm from commendone's vice-like grip, there came a loud, angry voice which both knew well, booming through the pergolas of roses. the instant the great voice struck upon their ears they fell away from each other, arms dropped to their sides, breaths panting, eyes of hate and anger suddenly changed and full of apprehension. there were one or two shrieks and feminine twitters, a rustle of silk skirts, a jangle of long silver chatelaines, and like a bouquet of flowers coming towards them, the queen's ladies hurried over the lawn; her grace's small form was a little in advance of the rest. queen mary came up to them, her thin face suffused with passion. "sirs," she shouted, "what mean you by this? are gentlemen of our court to brawl in our gardens? by the mass, it shall go very hard with you gentlemen. it----" she saw commendone. her voice changed in a second. "mr. commendone! mr. commendone! you here? i had looked to see you hours agone. where is----" she had nearly said it, but a warning flash from the young man's eyes stayed the wild inquiry upon her lips. clever as she was, the queen caught herself up immediately. "what is this, sir?" she said, more softly, and in spanish. johnnie sank on one knee. "i have just come to the tower, m'am," he said, "with news for your majesty. as you see, i am but just from my horse. i sought you post-haste, and were told that you were here. unfortunately, i could not persuade mr. cholmondely of the urgency of my business. he had orders to admit no one, and daring greatly, i pushed past him, and in the execution of his duty he followed me." the queen said nothing for a moment. then she turned upon cholmondely. "and who are you, mr. cholmondely," she said in a cold, hard voice, "to deny the esquire our presence when he comes with special tidings to us?" cholmondely bowed low. "i did but hold to my orders, madam," he said, in a low voice. the queen ground her high-heeled shoe into the gravel. "your sword, mr. cholmondely," she said, "you will hand it to the esquire, and you will go to your lodging to await our pleasure." at that, the lieutenant of the guard gave a loud sob, and his face became purple. the queen looked at him in amazement and then saw that his scabbard was empty. in a moment johnnie had whipped out his own riding-sword and pressed it into mr. cholmondely's hand. "stupid!" he said, "here thou art. now give it me in order." the queen had taken it all in immediately. the daughter of a king to whom the forms and etiquette of chivalry were one of the guiding principles of life, she realised in a moment what had occurred. "boys! boys!" she said, impatiently. "a truce to your quarrels. if mr. commendone robbed you of your sword, mr. cholmondely, he hath very well made amends in giving you his. you were right, mr. cholmondely, in not admitting mr. commendone to our presence, because you knew not the business upon which he came. and you were right, mr. commendone, in coming to us as you did at all hazards. art two brave, hot-headed boys. now take each other's hand; let there be no more of this, for"--and her voice became lowing and full of menace again--"if i hear so much as the rattle of thy swords against each other, in future, neither of thee will e'er put hand to pummel again." the two young men touched each other's hand--both of them, to tell the truth, excessively glad that affairs had turned out in this way. "get you back to your post," the queen said to the lieutenant. "mr. commendone, come here." she turned swiftly, passing through her ladies, who all remained a few yards behind. "well, well," she said impatiently, "hath his highness returned? hath he borne the fatigue of the journey well?" most carefully, with studied phrases, furtively watching her face, with the skill and adroitness of an old courtier, johnnie told his story. at any moment he expected an outburst of temper, but it did not come. to his surprise, the queen was now in a quiet and reflective mood. she walked up and down the bowling green with him, her ladies standing apart at one edge of it, nodding and whispering to see this young gallant so favoured, and wondering what his mission might be. the queen asked johnnie minute questions about mr. peter lacel's house. was it well found? would his highness find proper accommodation to lie there? was mr. lacel married, and had he daughters? johnnie assured her grace that mr. lacel was a widower and without children. he could plainly see that the queen had that fierce jealousy of a woman wedded late. not only the torturing of other women, but also the stronger and more pervading dislike of a husband living any life, going through any experiences that she herself did not share. at the same time, he saw also that the queen was doing her very best to overcome such thoughts as these, was endeavouring to assume the matron of common sense and to put the evil thing away from her. then, just as the young man was beginning to feel a little embarrassed at the quick patter of questions, wondering if he would be able to be as adequate as hitherto, remembering guiltily where he had met the king the night before, the queen ceased to speak of her husband. she began to ask him of dr. rowland taylor and his end. he told her some of the details as quietly as he could, trying to soften the horror which even now overwhelmed him in memory. at one question he hesitated for a moment, mistaking its intent, and the queen touched him smartly on the arm. "no, no," she said, "i don't want to hear of the runagate's torment. he suffered rightly, and doubtless his sufferings were great. but tell me not of them. they are not meet for our ears. tell me of what he said, and if grace came to him at last." he was forced to tell her, as he knew others would tell her afterwards, of the sturdy denial of the martyr till the very end. and as he did so, he saw the face, which had been alight with tenderness and anxiety when the king's name was mentioned, gravely judicial and a little disgusted when the actual sufferings of the archdeacon were touched upon, now become hard and cruel, aflame with bigotry. "they shall go," the queen said, rather to herself than to him. "they shall be rooted out; they shall die the death, and so may god's most holy church be maintained." at that, with another and astonishing change of mood, she looked at the young man, looked him up and down, saw his long boots powdered with dust, his dress in disorder, him travel-stained and weary. "you have done well," she said, with a very kindly and eminently human smile. "i would that all the younger gentlemen of our old houses were like you, mr. commendone. his highness trusts you and likes you. i myself have reason to think well of you. you are tired by your long ride. get you to your lodging, and if so you wish it, you shall do as you please to-night, for when his highness returns i will see that he hath no need of you. and take this from your queen." in her hand the queen carried a little volume, bound in nile-green skin, powdered with gold heraldic roses. it was the _tristia et epistolae ex ponto_ of ovid, which she had been reading. johnnie sank upon one knee and took the book from the ivory-white and wrinkled hand. "madam," he said, "i will lose my life rather than this gracious gift." "hey ho!" the queen answered. "tell that to your mistress, mr. commendone, if you have one. still, the book is rare, and when you read of the poet's sorrows at tomi, think sometimes of the giver who--and do not doubt it--hath many sorrows of her own. it is an ill thing to rule we sometimes think, mr. commendone, but god hath put us in our place, and we must not falter." she turned. "lady paget," she called, "i have done with this young spark for the nonce; come you, and help me pick red roses, red roses, for my chamber. the king loveth deep red roses, and i am told that they are the favoured flower of all noble gentlemen and ladies in the dominions of spain." bowing deeply once more, and walking backwards to the edge of the bowling green, johnnie withdrew. he passed through the flower-bordered ways till he came to the gate of the garden. outside the gate this time, on the big gravelled sweep which went in front of the palace, cholmondely was walking up and down, the blood dried upon his cheek, but not washed away. he turned in his sentinel's parade as johnnie came out, and the two young men looked at each other for a moment in silence. "what's it to be?" johnnie said, with a smile--"lincoln's inn fields to-morrow morning? her grace will never know of it." "i was waiting for you, johnnie," the other answered. "no, we'll not fight, unless you wish it. come you to the common room, and the pantler shall boil his kettle and brew us some sack." johnnie thrust his arm into the other's and together they passed away from the garden, better friends at that moment than they had ever been before--friends destined to be friends for two hours before they were to part forever, though during these hours one of them was to do the other a service which would help to alter the whole course of his life. they went into the common room, and the pantler was summoned and ordered to brew them a bowl of sack--simply the hot wine and water, with added spices, which our grandmothers of the present time sipped over their cards, and called negus. commendone sunk down into a big oak chair, his hands stretched out along the arms, his whole body relaxed in utter weariness, his dark face now grown quite white. there were lines about his eyes which had not been there a few hours before. the eyes themselves were dull and glassy, the lips were flaccid. cholmondely looked at him in amazement. "go by, jeronymo!" he said, using a popular tag, or catch-word, of the time, the "what ho, she bumps!" of the period, though there were no music-halls in those days to popularise such gems of phrase. "what ails you, esquire? i was frightened also by her grace, and, i' faith, 'tis a fearful thing to hear the voice of majesty in reproof. but thou camest better out of it than i, though all was well at the end of it for both of us. is it with you still?" johnnie shook his head feebly. "no," he said, lifting a three-handled silver cup of sack to his lips. "'twas not that, though i was sorely angered with you, ambrose; but i have had a long journey into the country, and have returned but half an hour agone. i have seen much--much." he put one hand to his throat, swallowing as he spoke, and then recollecting himself, adding hurriedly, "upon affairs of state." the other gallant sipped his wine. "thou need'st not have troubled to tell me that," he said dryly. "when a gentleman bursts into the privy garden against all order he is doubtless upon business of state. what brought you to this doing i do not know, and i don't ask you, johnnie. all's well that ends well, and i hope we are to be friends." "with all my goodwill," commendone answered. "we should have been friends before." the other nodded. he was a tall, handsome young man, a little florid in face, but of a high and easy bearing. there was, nevertheless, something infinitely more boyish and ingenuous in his appearance than in that of commendone. the latter, perhaps of the same age as his companion, was infinitely more unreadable than the other. he seemed older, not in feature indeed, but in manner and capability. cholmondely was explicit. there was a swagger about him. he was thoroughly typical. johnnie was cool, collected, and aware. "to tell you the truth, commendone," cholmondely said, with a light laugh which rang with perfect sincerity, "to tell you the truth, i have been a little jealous of you since you came to court. thou art a newcomer here, and thou hast risen to very high favour; and then, by the mass! thou dost not seem to care about it all. here am i, a squire of dames, who pursue the pleasures of venus with great ardour and not ever with success. but as for thee, john commendone of kent, i' faith, the women are quarrelling for thee! eyes grow bright when thou comest into the dance. a week agone, at the barrier fight in the great hall, cicily thwaites, that i had marked out for myself to be her knight, was looking at thee with the eyes of a duck in a tempest of thunder. so that is that, johnnie. 'tis why i have not liked thee much. but we're friends now, and see here----" he stepped up to the young man in the chair and clapped his hand upon his shoulder. "see here," he went on in a deeper voice, "thou hast well purged the dregs and leaven of my dislike. thou gav'st me thy sword when hadst disarmed me, and i stood before her grace shamed. i don't forget that. i will never forget it. there will never be any savour or smell of malice between thou and me." the wine had roused the blood in commendone's tired veins. he was more himself now. the terrible fatigue and nerve tension of the past few hours was giving place to a sense of physical well-being. he looked at the handsome young fellow before him standing up so taut and trim, with the sunlight pouring in upon his face from one of the long open windows, his head thrown slightly back, his lips a little parted, bright with the health of youth, and felt glad that ambrose cholmondely was to be his friend. and he would want friends now, for some reason or other--why he could not divine--he had a curious sense that friends would be valuable to him now. he felt immeasurably older than the other, immeasurably older than he had ever felt before. there was something big and stern coming into his life. the diplomatic, the cautious, trained side of him knew that it must hold out hands to meet all those that were proffered in the name of friend. cholmondely sat down upon the table, swinging his legs backwards and forwards, and stroking the smooth pointed yellow beard which lay upon his ruff, with one long hand covered with rings. "and how like you, johnnie," he said, "your attendance upon his majesty? from what we of the queen's household hear, the garden of that service is not all lavender. nay, nor ale and skittles neither." johnnie shrugged his shoulders, his face quite expressionless. in a similar circumstance, ambrose cholmondely would have gleefully entered into a gossip and discussion, but commendone was wiser than that, older than his years. he knew the value of silence, the virtue of a still tongue. "sith you ask me, ambrose," he answered, sipping his wine quietly, "i find the service good enough." the other grinned with boyish malice. there was a certain rivalry between those english gentlemen who had been attached to king philip and those who were of the queen's suite. her majesty was far more inclined to show favour to those whom she had put about her husband than to the members of her own _entourage_. they were picked men, and the gay young english sparks resented undue and too rapid promotion and favour shown to men of their own standing, while, catholics as most of them were, there was yet an innate political distrust instilled into them by their fathers and relations of this spanish match. and many courtiers thought that, despite all the safe-guards embodied in the marriage contract, the marriage might yet mean a foreign dominion over the realm--so fond and anxious was the queen. "each man to his taste," cholmondely said. "i don't know precisely what your duties are, johnnie, but for your own sake i well hope they don't bring you much into the companionship of such gentry as sir john shelton, let us say." johnnie could hardly repress a start, though it passed unnoticed by his friend. "sir john shelton?" he said, wondering if the other knew or suspected anything of the events of the last twenty-four hours. "sir john shelton? it's little enough i have to do with him." "and all the better." johnnie's ears were pricked. he was most anxious to get to know what was behind cholmondely's words. it would be worth a good deal to him to have a thorough understanding of the general court view about the king consort. he affected an elaborate carelessness, even as he did so smiling within himself at the ease by which this boy could be drawn. "why all the better?" he said. "i care not for a bully-rook such as shelton any more than you, but i have nothing to do with him." "then you make no excursions and sallies late o' nights?" commendone's face was an elaborate mask of wonder. "sallies o' nights?" he said. the other young man swung his legs to and fro, and began to chuckle. he caught hold of the edge of the table with both hands, and looked down on johnnie in the chair with an amused smile. "and i had thought you were right in the thick of it," he said. "thy very innocence, johnnie, hath prevented thee from seeing what goes on under thy nose. why, his highness, sir john shelton, and mr. clarence attwood leave the tower night after night and hie them to old mother motte's in duck lane whenever the queen hath the vapours and thinketh her lord is in bed, or at his prayers. phew!"--he made a gesture of disgust. "it stinketh all over the court. i see, commendone, now why thou knowest nothing of this. the king chooseth for his night-bird friends ruffians like shelton and attwood. he would not dare ask one that is a gentleman to wallow in brothels with him. but be assured, i speak entirely the truth." johnnie shrugged his shoulders once more. "i know nothing of it," he said, with a quick, side-long glance at ambrose cholmondely. "i am not asked to be esquire on such occasions, at any rate." "and wouldst not go if thou wert," cholmondely said, loudly. "nor would any other gentleman that i know of--only the very scum and vermin of the court. the game of love, look you, is very well. i am no purist, but i hunt after my own kind, and so should we all do. i don't bemire myself in the stews. well, there it is. and now, much refreshed by this good wine, and much heartened by our compact, i'll leave thee. i must get back to guard at the garden gate. her grace will be leaving anon to dress for supper. perchance to-night the king will be well enough to make appearance. while thou hast been away, he hath been close in his quarters and very sick. the spanish priests have been buzzing round him like autumn wasps. and thorne, the chirurgeon from wood street, a very skilful man, hath, they say, been summoned this morning to the palace. addio!" with a bright smile and a wave of his hand, he flung out of the room. johnnie finished the lukewarm sack in his goblet. he had learnt something that he wished to know, and as he saw his friend pass beyond the windows outside, his feet crunching the gravel and humming a little song, johnnie smiled bitterly to himself. he knew rather more about king philip's illness than most people in england at that moment. and as for duck lane--well! he knew something of that also. as the thought came to him, indeed, he shuddered. he remembered the great ham-like face of the procuress who kept this fashionable hell. he heard her voice speaking to him as, very surely, she spoke to but few people who visited her there. he thought of ambrose cholmondely's fastidiousness, and he smiled again as he wondered what the esquire would say if he only knew. it was not a merry smile. there was no humour in it. it was bitter, cynical, and fraught with something of fear and expectation. he had drunk the wine, and it had reanimated him physically; but he rose now and realised how weary he was in mind, and also--for he was always most scrupulous and careful about his dress--how stained and travel-worn in appearance. he walked out of the common room, his riding sword and spurs clanking as he did so, mounted the stairway of the hall and entered the long corridor which led to his own room. he had nearly got to his doorway when he heard, coming from a little way beyond it, a low, musical, humming voice. he remembered with a start that there was an interview before him which would mean much one way or the other to his private desires. during the interview with the queen and the squabble with ambrose cholmondely--as also afterwards, when he was drinking in the common room--he had lost mental sight and grip of his own private wishes and affairs. now they all came back to him in a flash as he heard the humming voice coming from the end of the corridor- "bartl'my fair! bartl'my fair! swanked i and drank i when i was there; boiled and roast goose and baiting of bear, who plays with cudgels at bartl'my fair?" he turned into his own room and looked round. he saw that some of his accoutrements had been taken away. there were vacant pegs upon the walls. he sat down upon the small low bed, bent forward, clasped his hands upon his knees, and wondered whether he should speak or not. he wondered very greatly whether he dare make a query, start an investigation, nearer to his heart than anything else in the world. at chelmsford he had run out of the tun inn and touched the burly man who had killed the maddened stallion on the shoulder. he had brought him into the ordinary, sat him down in a chair, put a great stoup of ale before him, and then begun to talk to him. "i know who you are," he said, "very well, because i was one of the gentlemen riding from town to hadley with your late master, dr. taylor. i saw you when his reverence was wishing good-bye outside st. botolph, his church, and i heard the words your master said--eke that you were the 'faithfullest servant that ever a man had.' what do you here now, john hull?" the man had drunk his great stoup of ale very calmly. the daring deed in which he had been engaged had seemed to affect his nerves in no way at all. he was shortish, thick-set, with a broad chest measurement, and a huge thickness between chest and back. his face was tanned to the colour of an old saddle, very keen and alert, and he was clean-shaved, a rather odd and distinguishing feature in a serving-man of that time. he told johnnie that, now he knew, he recognised him as one of the company who rode with dr. taylor to his death. he had followed the cavalcade almost immediately, and on foot. the way was long, and he had arrived at chelmsford faint and weary with very little money in his pouch, and been compelled to wait there a time for rest and food. his design was to proceed to hadley, where he knew he could get work and would be welcome. mr. peter lacel, he told johnnie in the inn, would doubtless employ him, for though a catholic gentleman, he had been a friend of the rector's in the past. "you want work, then?" johnnie had said. "you do not wish to be a masterless man, a hedge-dodger, poacher, or a rogue?" "work i must have, sir," john hull replied, "but it must be with a good master. mr. peter lacel will take me on. masterless, i should be a very great rogue." all this happened in the dining-room of the chelmsford inn, johnnie sitting in his chair and looking at the thick, brown-faced man with a cool scrutiny which well disguised the throbbing excitement he felt at seeing him--at meeting him in this strange, and surely pre-ordained fashion. "i'll tell thee who i am," johnnie had said to the man, naming himself and his state. "that the doctor spoke of you as he did when going to his death is enough recommendation to me of your fidelity. i need a servant myself, but i would ask you this, john hull: you are, doubtless, of a certain party. if i took you to my service, how would you square with who and what i am? a led man of mine must be loyal." hull had answered but very little. "ye can but try me, sir," he said, "but i will come with you to london very joyfully. and i well think----" he stopped, mumbled something, and stood there, his hands stained with the blood of the horse he had killed, rather clumsy, very much tongue-tied, but with something faithful and even hungry in his eyes. johnnie's own servant was a man called thumb, a dissolute london fellow, who had been with him for a month, and who had performed his duties in a very perfunctory way. life had been so quick and vivid, so full of movement and the newness of court life, that the groom of the body had hardly had time to remember the personal discomfort he endured from the fellow who had been recommended to him by one of the lieutenants of the queen's archers. he had always meant to get rid of him at the first opportunity. now the opportunity presented itself, though it was not for mere convenience that commendone had engaged his new servitor. he had not the slightest doubt in his own mind that the man was sent to him--put in his way--by the power which ruled and controlled the fortunes of men. living as he did, and had done for many years, in a quiet, fastidious, but very real dream and communion with things that the hand or body do not touch and see, he had always known within himself that the goings-in and goings-out of those who believe depend not at all upon chance. like all men of that day, commendone was deeply religious. his religion had not made him bigoted, though he clung to the church in which he had been brought up. but, nevertheless, it was very real to him. there were good and bad angels in those days, who fought for the souls of men. the powers of good and evil were invoked.... the esquire was certain that this sturdy john hull had come into his life with a set purpose. he was riding back to london with one fixed idea in his mind. one word rang and chimed in his brain--the word was "elizabeth!" he had left chelmsford with john hull definitely enrolled as his servant, had hired a horse for him from the landlord of the "tun," and had taken him straight to the tower. when he had entered within the walls, he had told his man thumb that he would dismiss him on the morrow, and pay him his wages due. he had told him, moreover, that--just as he was hurrying to the privy garden with news for the queen--he must take john hull to his quarters and put him into the way of service. for a moment, thumb had been inclined to be insolent, but one single look from the dark, cool eyes, one hinted flash of anger upon the oval olive-coloured face, had sent the londoner humbly to what he had to do; while the fellow looked, not without a certain apprehension, at the thick-set quiet man who followed him to be shown his new duties.... "the spanish don came over seas, hey ho nonino; a gracious lady tried to please, hey ho nonny. the country fellows strung their bows, hey ho nonino; what 'twill be, no jack man knows! hey ho nonny." johnnie jumped up from his bed, strode out of the room, walked a yard or two down the corridor, and entered another and larger room, which he shared with three other members of the suite. it was the place where they kept their armour, their riding-boots, and some of their swords. as he came in he saw that hull was sitting upon an overturned barrel, which had held quarels for cross-bows. the man had tied a piece of sacking round his waist and over his breeches, and was hard at work. johnnie's three or four damascened daggers were rubbed bright with hog's lard and sand. his extra set of holster pistols gleamed fresh and new--the rust had been all removed from flint-locks and hammers; while the stocks shone with porpoise oil. and now the new servant was polishing a high-peaked spanish saddle, and all the leather trappings of a charger, with an inside crust of barley bread and a piece of apple rind. directly the man saw his new master he stood up and made a saluting motion with his hand. johnnie looked at him coldly, though inwardly he felt an extreme pleasure at the sight of his new recruit so lately added to him, so swift to get to work, and withal so blithe about it. "you must not sing the songs i have heard you singing," he said, shortly. "don't you know where you are?" "i had forgotten, sir," the man replied. "i have a plaguey knowledge of rhymes. they do run in my head, and must out." "they must not, i assure you," johnnie answered, "but i like this well enough. hast got thee to work at once, then." "i love it, sir. to handle such stuff as yours is rare for a man like me. look you here, sir"--he lifted up a small dagger which he withdrew from its sheath of stag's leather, dyed vermilion--"hear how it ringeth!" he twanged the supple blade with his forefinger, and the little shivering noise rang out into the room. the man's keen, brown face was lit up with simple enjoyment. "i love weapons, master," he said, as if in apology. johnnie knew at once that here was the man he had been looking for for weeks. the man who cared, the faithful man; but he knew also, or thought he knew, that it was but poor policy to praise a servant unduly. "well, well," he said, "you can get on with your work. to-morrow morning, i will see you fitted out as becometh my body servant. to-night you will go below with the other men. i have spoken to the intendant that i have a new servant, and you will have your evening-meat and a place to lie in." he turned to go. with all his soul he was longing to ask this man certain questions. he believed that he had been sent to him to tell him of the whereabouts of the girl to whom, so strangely, at such a dreadful hour, he had vowed his life. but the long control over temperament and emotion which old father chilches had imposed upon him--the very qualities which made him, already, a successful courtier--stood him in good stead now. the dominant desire of his heart was to be repressed. he knew very well, he realised perfectly clearly, how intimate a member of dr. taylor's household this faithful servant--"the faithfullest servant that ever man had"--must have been. and knowing it, he felt sure that the time was not yet come to ask john hull any questions. he must arouse no suspicions within the man's mind. hull had entered his service gladly, and promised to be more than adequate and worthy of any trust that could be reposed in him. but he had seen johnnie riding away with his beloved master, one of those who had taken him to torture and death. the very shrewdness and cleverness imprinted upon the fellow's face were enough to say that he would at once take alarm at any questioning about dr. taylor's family, at this moment. john hull scraped with his foot and made a clumsy bow as his new master turned away. then, suddenly, he seemed to remember something. his face changed in expression. "god forgive me, sir," he said, "indeed, i had near forgot it. when i went into your chamber and took this harness for cleaning, there was a letter lying there for you. i can read, sir; dr. taylor taught me to read somewhat. i took the letter, fearing that it might be overlooked or e'en taken away, for there are a plaguey lot of serving-men in this passage. 'tis here, sir, and i crave you pardon me for forgetting of it till now." he handed johnnie a missive of thick yellow-brown paper--such as was woven from linen rags at arches smithfield factory of that day. the letter was folded four-square and tied round with a cord of green silk, and where the threads intersected at the back was a broad seal of dull red wax, bearing the sign of a lamb in its centre. johnnie pulled off the cord, the wax cracked, and the thick yellow paper rustled as he pulled it open. this was the letter: "honoured sir,--this from my house in chepe. thy honoured father who hath lately left the city hath left with me a sum of money which remaineth here at your charges, and for your disposal thereof as you may think fit. this shall be sent to you upon your letter and signature, to-morrow an you so wish. "natheless, should you come to my house to-night i will hand it into your keeping in gold coin. i will say that sir henry expressed hope that you might care to come to my poor house which has long been the agency for commendone. for your father's son, sir, there will be very open welcome. "your obt. svt., and good friend, robert cressemer, alderman of ye city of london." commendone read the letter through with care. his father had been most generous since johnnie had arrived at court, and the young man was in no need of money. sir henry had, indeed, hinted that further supplies would be sent shortly, and he must have arranged it with the alderman ere he left the city. johnnie sighed. his father had always been good to him. no desire of his had ever been left ungratified. many sons of noblemen at court had neither such a generous allowance nor perfect equipment as he had. he never thought of his father and the old house in kent without a little pang of regret. was it worth it all? were not the silent woods of commendone, with their shy forest creatures, better far than this stately citadel and home of kings? his life had been so tranquil in the past. the happy days had gone by with the regularity of some slow-turning wheel. now all was stress and turmoil. dark and dreadful doings encompassed him. he was afloat upon strange waters, and there was no pilot aboard, nor did he know what port he should make, what unknown coast-line should greet his troubled eyes when dawn should come. these thoughts were but fleeting, as he sat in his bedroom, where he had taken the letter from mr. cressemer. he sent them away with an effort of will. the past life was definitely over; now he must gather himself together and consider the immediate future without vain regrets. as he mounted the stairs from the common room he had it in mind to change from his riding costume and sleep. he needed sleep. he wanted to enter that mysterious country so close to the frontiers of death, to be alone that he might think of elizabeth. he knew now how men dreamed and meditated of their loves, why lovers loved to be alone. he held the letter in his hand, looking down at the firm, clear writing with lack-lustre eyes. what should he do? sleep, lose himself in happy fancies, or go to the house of the alderman? he had no court duties that night. he knew robert cressemer's name well. every one knew it in london, but commendone had heard it mentioned at home for many years. mr. cressemer, who would be the next lord mayor, was one of those merchant princes who, ever since the time of that great commercial genius, henry vii, had become such an important factor in the national life. for many years the alderman, the foundation of whose fortune had been the export of english wool, had been in intimate relations, both of business and friendship, with sir henry commendone. the knight's wool all went to the warehouses in chepe. he had shares in the fleet of trading vessels belonging to cressemer, which supplied the wool-fairs of holland and the netherlands. the childlike and absolutely uneconomic act of edward vi which endeavoured to make all interest illegal, and enacted that "_whoever shall henceforth lend any sum of money for any manner of usury, increase, lucre, gain or interest to be had, received, or hoped for, over and above the sum so lent_," should suffer serious penalties, had been repealed. banking had received a tremendous impetus, robert cressemer had adventured largely in it, and sir henry commendone was a partner with him in more than one enterprise. of all this johnnie knew nothing. he had not the slightest idea how rich his father was, and knew nothing of the fortune that would one day be his. he did know, however, that mr. cressemer was a very important person indeed, the admired and trusted confidant of sir henry, and a man of enormous influence. such a letter, coming from such a man, was hardly to be neglected by a young courtier. johnnie knew how, if one of his colleagues had received it, it would have been shown about in the common room, what rosy visions of fortune and paid bills it would invoke! he read the letter again. there was no need to go to mr. cressemer's house that night if he did not wish to do so. he was weary, he wanted to be alone to taste and savour this new thing within him that was called love. yet something kept urging him to go, nevertheless. he could not quite have said what it was, though again the sense that he stood very much alone and friends were good--especially such a powerful one as this--crossed his mind. and, as an instance of the quite unconscious but very real revolution that had taken place in his thoughts during the last forty hours, it is to be noted that he _did_ feel the need of friends and supporters. yet he was high in favour with the king and queen, envied by every one, certain of rapid advancement. but he no longer thought anything of this. those great ones were on one side of a great _something_ which he would not or could not define. he was on the other, he and the girl with eyes of crushed sapphire and a red mouth of sorrow. it would be politic to go.... "i'll put it to chance," he said to himself at length. "how doth ovid have it?... "'_casus ubique valet; semper tibi pendeat hamus: quo minime credas gurgite, piscis erit_.' i remember father chilches' translation: "'there's always room for chance, so drop thy hook, a fish there'll be when least for it you look.' here goes!" he opened his purse to find a coin with which to settle the matter, and poured out the contents into his palm. there were eight or nine gold sovereigns of henry viii, beautiful coins with "_hiberniæ rex_" among the other titles, which were still known as "double ryals," three gold ducats, coined in that year, with the queen and king consort _vis-à-vis_ and one crown above the heads of both, and one little silver half testoon. he put the gold back in his purse and held out the small coin upon his hand. "what is't to be, little testoon?" he said whimsically, looking at the big m and crown, "bed and thoughts of her, or the worshipful master cressemer and, i don't doubt, a better supper than i'm likely to get in the tower? 'm,' i go." he spun the coin, and it came down with the initial uppermost. he laughed and flung it on to a shelf, calling john hull to help him change his dress. nothing told him that in that spin he had decided--or let it better be said there was decided for him--the whole course of his life. at that actual moment! thus the intrusion of the little testoon. chapter v the finding of elizabeth at a little before nine in the late twilight, commendone left the tower. he was attended by john hull, whom he had armed with the short cutlass-shaped sword which serving-men were allowed to wear. he might be late, and the city was no very safe place in those days for people returning home through the dark. johnnie knew, moreover, that he would be carrying a considerable sum in gold with him, and it was as well to have an attendant. they walked towards chepe, johnnie in front, his man a yard or so behind. it was summer-time, but even in summer london went to bed early, and the prentices were returning home from their cudgel-play and shooting at the butts in finsbury fields. the sky was a faint primrose above the spires of the town. the sun, that tempest of fire, had sunk, but still left long lines in the sky, lines which looked as if they had been drawn by a vermilion pencil; while, here and there, were locks, friths, and islands of gold and purple floating in the sky, billowed and upheaved into an infinity of distant glory. they went through the narrow streets beneath the hundreds of coloured signs which hung from shop and warehouse. at a time when the ordinary porter, prentice, and messenger could hardly read, each place of business must signify and locate itself by a sign. a merchant of those days did not send a letter by hand to a business house, naming it to the messenger. he told the man to go to the sign of the three cranes, the gold pig on a black ground, the tower and dragon in such and such a street. london was not lit on a summer night at this hour. in the winter, up to half-past eight or so the costers' barrows with their torches provided the only illumination. after that all was dark, and in summer there was no artificial light at all when the day had gone. they came up to the cross standing to the east of wood street, which was silhouetted against the last gleams of day in the sky. its hexagonal form of three sculptured tiers, which rose from one another like the divisions of a telescope, cut out a black pattern against the coloured background. the niches with their statues, representing many of the sovereigns of england, were all in grey shadow, but the large gilt cross which surmounted it still caught something of the evening fires. to the east there was the smaller tower of octagonal form, which was the conduit, and here also the top was bathed in light--a figure standing upon a gilded cone and blowing a horn. the gutters in the streets were dry now, for the rain storm of two days ago had not lasted long, and they were sticky and odorous with vegetable and animal filth. the two men walked in the centre of the street, as was wiser in those days, for--as still happens in the narrow quarters of old french towns to-day--garret windows were open, and pails were emptied with but little regard for those who were passing by. when they came into chepe itself, things were a little less congested, for great houses were built there, and johnnie walked more quickly. many of the houses of the merchant princes were but little if at all inferior to the mansions of the nobility at that time. they stood often enough in gloomy and unfrequented courts, and were accessible only by inconvenient passages, but once arrived at, their interiors were of extraordinary comfort and magnificence. johnnie knew that mr. cressemer's house was hereabouts, but was not certain of the precise location. he looked up through the endless succession of saracens' heads, tudor roses, blue bears, and golden lambs, but could see nothing in the growing dark. he turned round and beckoned to john hull. "you know the city?" he said. "very well, master," the man answered, looking at him, so johnnie thought, with a very strange expression. "then, certes, you can tell me the house of master robert cressemer, the alderman," said johnnie. hull gave a sudden, violent start. his eyes, always keen and alert, now grew wide. "sir," he said, "i know that house very well, but what do you there?" johnnie stared at him in amazement for a moment. then the blood mantled in his cheeks. "sirrah," he said, "what mean you by this? what is it to you where i go or what i do?" there was nobody in their immediate vicinity at the moment, and the thick-set serving-man, by a quick movement, placed himself in front of his master, his right hand upon the newly-provided sword, his left playing with the hilt of the long knife which had served him so well at chelmsford. "i said i would be loyal to ye, master," the fellow growled, "but i see now that it cannot be. i will be no servant of those who do burn and slay innocent folk, and shalt not to the alderman's if thou goest with evil intent." an enormous surprise almost robbed the young man of his anger. was this man, this "faithfullest servant," some brigand or robber, or assassin, in disguise? what could it mean? his hand was upon his sword in a moment, it was ready to flash out, and the accomplished fencer who had been trained in every art and trick of sword-play, knew well that the strength of the thick-set man before him would avail nothing. but he waited a moment, really more interested and surprised than angered or alarmed. "i don't want to kill you, my good man," he said, "and so i will give you leave to speak. but by the mass! this is too much; an you don't explain yourself, in the kennel and carrion you lie." "i beg your pardon, sir," hull answered, his face taking into it a note of apology, "but you come from the court; you rode with those bloody villains that did take my dear master that was to his death. are you not now going with a like intent to the house of mr. cressemer?" "i don't know," johnnie answered, "why i should explain to you the reason for my visit to his worship, but despite this gross impudence, i will give you a chance, for i have learnt to know that there is often an explanation behind what seemeth most foul. the alderman is one of the oldest and best friends my father, the knight of kent, hath ever had. the letter thou gavest me two hours agone was from his worship bidding me to supper. and now, john hull, what hast to say before i slit you?" for answer, john hull suddenly fell upon his knees, and held out his hands in supplication. "sir," he said, in a humble voice, "i crave that of your mercy and gentleness you will forgive me, and let this pass. sure, i knew you for a gallant gentleman, and no enemy to my people when first i saw you. i marked you outside st. botolph's church, and knew you again at chelmsford. but i thought you meant harm...." his voice died away in an inarticulate mumble. he seemed enormously sincere and penitent, and dreadfully embarrassed also by some knowledge or thought at the back of his mind, something which he feared, or was unable to disclose. johnnie's heart was beating strangely, though he did not know why. he seemed to tread into something strange and unexpected. life was full of surprises now. all he said was: "make a fool of thyself no longer, john hull; get up and lead me to his worship's. i forgive thee. but mark you, i shall require the truth from you anon." the man scrambled up, made a clumsy bow, and hurried on for a few yards, until a narrow opening between two great stacks of houses disclosed itself. he walked down it, his shoes echoing upon a pavement stone. johnnie followed him, and they came out into a dark courtyard in which a single lantern of glass and iron hung over a massive door studded with nails. "this is his worship's house," said john hull. johnnie went up to the door and beat upon it with the handle of his dagger, standing on the single step before it. in less than half a minute, the door was opened and a serving-man in livery of yellow stood before him. "mr. john commendone," johnnie said, "to see his worship the alderman upon an invitation." the man bowed, opened the door still wider, and invited johnnie into a large flagged hall, lit by three silver lamps. "worshipful sir," he said, "my master told me that perchance you would be a-coming this night, and he awaits you in the parlour." "this is my servant," johnnie said to the man, and even as he did so, he saw a look of immense surprise, mingled with welcome, upon the fellow's face. "i will take him to the kitchen, your worship," the man said, and as he spoke, a footman came out of a door on the opposite side of the hall, bowed low to johnnie, and led him up a broad flight of stairs. commendone shrugged his shoulders. there were mysteries here, it seemed, but so far they were none of his, and at any rate he was within the house of a friend. at first there was no evidence of any particular luxury, and johnnie was surprised. though he had little idea how wealthy his own father had become, the great house of commendone was a very stately, well-found place. he knew, moreover, that mr. robert cressemer was one of the richest citizens of london, and he had heard his friends talking at court of the state and splendour of some of those hidden mansions which clustered in the environs of chepeside, wood street, and basinghall street. he had not gone much farther in his progress when he knew. he passed through a pair of folding doors, inlaid with rare woods--a novelty to him at that time, for he had never travelled in italy or france. he walked down a broad corridor, the walls hung with pictures and the floor tesselated with wood, and was shown by another footman who was standing at a door at the end of the corridor into a superb room, wainscoted with cedar up to half of its height, and above it adorned with battles of gods and giants in fresco. the room was brilliantly lit by candles, at frequent intervals all round the panelled walls, and close to the gilded beading which divided them from the frescoes above, were arms of some black wood or stone, which they were he could not have said, stretched out, and holding silver sconces in which the candles were set. it was as though gigantic moors or nubians had thrown their arms through the wall to hold up the light which illuminated this large and splendid place. at one end of the room was a high carved fire-place, and though it was summer, some logs of green elm smouldered and crackled upon the hearth, though the place was cool enough. seated by the fireside was a stout, short, elderly man, with a pointed grey beard, and heavy black eyebrows from beneath which large, slightly prominent, and very alert eyes looked out. his hair was white, and apparently he was bald, because a skull cap of black velvet covered his head. he wore a ruff and a long surtout of wool dyed crimson, and pointed here and there with braid of dark green and thin lace of gold. a belt of white leather was round his middle, and from it hung a chatelaine of silver by his right side, from which depended a pen case and some ivory tablets. on his left side, johnnie noticed that a short serviceable dagger was worn. his trunk hose were of black, his shoes easy ones of spanish leather with crimson rosettes upon the instep. "mr. john commendone," said the footman. mr. cressemer rose from his seat, his shrewd, capable face lighting up with welcome. "ah," he said, "so thou hast come to see me, mr. commendone. 'tis very good of thee, and a welcome sight to eyes which have looked upon your father so often." he went up to the slim young man as the footman closed the door, and shook him warmly by the hand, looking him in the face meanwhile with a keen wise scrutiny, which made johnnie feel young, inexperienced, a little embarrassed. he felt he was being summed up, judged and weighed, appraised in the most kindly fashion, but by one who did not easily make a mistake in his estimate of men. at court, king philip had regarded him with cold interest, the queen herself with piercing and more lively regard. since his arrival in london, johnnie had been used to scrutinies. but this was different from any other he had known. it was eminently human and kindly first of all, but in the second place it was more searching, more real, than any other he had hitherto undergone. in short, a king or queen looked at a courtier from a certain point of view. would he serve their ends? was he the right man in the right place? had they chosen well? there was nothing of this now. it was all kindliness mingled with a grave curiosity, almost with hope. johnnie, who was much taller than mr. cressemer, could not help smiling a little, as the bearded man looked at him so earnestly, and it was his smile that broke the silence, and made them friends from that very moment. the alderman put his left hand upon johnnie's shoulder. "lad," he said, and his voice was the voice of a leader of men, "lad, i am right glad to see thee in my poor house. art thy father's son, and that is enough for me. come, sit you down t'other side of the fire. come, come." with kindly geniality the merchant bustled his guest to a chair opposite his own, and made him sit. then he stood upon a big hearthrug of bear-skin, rubbed his hands, and chuckled. "when i heard ye announced," he said, "i thought to myself, 'here's another young gallant of the court keen on his money; he hath lost no time in calling for it.' but now i see thee, and know thee for what thou art--for it is my boast, and a true one, that i was never deceived in man yet--i see my apprehensions were quite unfounded." johnnie bowed. for a moment or two he could hardly speak. there was something so homelike, so truly kind, in this welcome that his nerves, terribly unstrung by all he had gone through of late, were almost upon the point of breakdown. this was like home. this was the real thing. this was not the court--and here before him he knew very well was a man not only good and kindly, but resolute and great. "now, i'll tell thee what we'll do, master johnnie, sith thou hast come to me so kindly. we will sip a little water of holland--i'll wager you've tasted nothing like it, for it cometh straight from the english exchange house at antwerp--and then we will to supper, where you will meet my dear sister, mistress catherine cressemer, who hath been the long companion of my widowerhood, and ordereth this my house for me." he turned to where a square sheet of copper hung from a peg upon a cord of twisted purple silk. taking up the massive silver pen case at the end of his chatelaine, he beat upon the gong, and the copper thunder echoed through the big room. a man entered immediately, to whom mr. cressemer gave orders, and then sat himself down upon the other side of the fire. "your father," he said confidentially, "came to me after he left you in the tower the morning before this. he was very pleased with what he saw of you, master johnnie, and what he heard of you also. art going to be a big man in affairs without doubt. i wish i had met ye before. i have been twice to commendone park. once when thou wert a little rosy thing of two year old or less, and the señora--holy mary give her grace!--had thee upon her knee. i was staying with the knight. and then again when father chilches was thy tutor, and thou must have been fourteen year or more. i was at the park for three days. but thou wert away with thy aunt, miss commendone, of wanstone court, and i saw nothing of thee." "so you knew my mother," johnnie said eagerly. "aye, that i did, and a very gracious lady she was, master commendone. i will tell thee of her, and thy house in those days, at supper. my sister will be well pleased to hear it also. meanwhile"--he sipped at the white liqueur which the servant had brought, and motioned johnnie towards his own thin green glass with little golden spirals running through it--"meanwhile, tell me how like you the court life?" johnnie started. they were the exact words of his father. "i am getting on very well," he said in reply. "so i hear, and am well pleased," the alderman answered. "you have everything in your favour--a knowledge of spanish, a pleasant presence, and trained to the usage of good society. but, though you may not think it, i have influence, even at court, though it is in no ways apparent. tell me something of your aims, and your views, and i shall doubtless be able to help your advancement. there are ticklish times coming, be certain of that, and my experience may be of great service to you. her grace, god bless her! is, i fear--i speak to you as man to man, mr. commendone--too keen set and determined upon the papal supremacy for the true welfare of this realm. i am catholic. i have always been catholic. but doctrine, and a purely political dominion from rome, aye, or from spain either, is not what we of the city, and who control the finances of the kingdom much more than less, desire or wish to see. after all, mr. commendone, i trust i make myself clearly understood to you, and that you are of the same temper and mind as your father and myself; after all is loudly set and perchance badly done, we have to look to the upholding of the realm, inside and out, rather than to be fine upon points of doctrine." he leant forward in his seat with great earnestness, clasped his right hand, upon the little finger of which was a great ring, with a cut seal of emerald, and brought it down heavily upon the table by his side. "i believe," he said, "in the mass, and if i were asked to die for my belief, that would i do. i would do it very reluctantly, master john. i would evade the necessity for doing it in every way i knew. but if i were set down in front of judges or eke inquisitors, and asked to say that when the priest hath said the words of consecration, the elements are not the very true body of our lord jesus, then i would die for that belief. and of the invocation of saints, and of the greatest saint of all--our lady--i see no harm in it, but a very right and pleasant practice. for, look you, if these are indeed, as we believe and know clustering around the throne of god, which is the holy trinity, then indeed they must hear our prayers, if we believe truly in the communion of saints; and hearing them, being in high favour in heaven, their troubles past and they glorified, certes, we down here may well think their voices will be heard around the throne. that is true catholic doctrine as i see it. but of the power of the bishop of rome to direct and interfere in the honest internal affairs of a country--well, i snap my fingers at it. and of the power of the priesthood, which is but part of the machinery by which his holiness endeavoureth to accrue to himself all earthly power, at that also i spit. from my standpoint, a priest is an ordained man of god; his function is to say mass, to consecrate the elements, and so to bring god near to us upon the altar. but of your confessions, your pryings into family life, your temporal dominion, i have the deepest mistrust. and also, i think, that the cause of holy church would be much better served if its priests were allowed--for such of them as wished it--to be married men. a man is a man, and god hath given him his natural attributes. i am not really learned, nor am i well read in the history of the world, but i have looked into it enough, master commendone, to know that god hath ordained that men should take women in marriage and rear up children for the glory of the lord and the welfare of the state. mark you"--his face became striated with lines of contempt and dislike--"mark you, this celibacy is to be the thing which will destroy the power of the sacrificing priest in the eyes of all before many hundred years have passed. i shall not see it, thou wilt not see it. we are good church of england men now, but what i say will come to pass, and then god himself only knoweth what anarchs and deniers, what blasphemers and runagates will hold the world. "her grace," he went on, "believeth that as moses ordered blasphemers to be put to death, so she thinketh it the duty of a christian prince to eradicate the cockle from the fold of god's church, to cut out the gangrene that it may not spread to the sounder parts. but her grace is a woman that hath been much sequestered all her life till now. she cometh to the throne, and is but--i trust i speak no treason, mr. commendone--a tool and instrument of the priests from spain, and the man from spain also who is her lord. why! if only the church in this realm could go on as king henry started it--not a new church, mind you, but a church which hath thrown off an unnecessary dominion from italy--if it could go on as under the reign of the little king edward was set out and promised very well, 'twould be truly catholic still, and the priests of the church would be all married men and citizens within the state, with a stake in civil affairs, and so by reason of their spiritual power and civil obligations, the very bulwark of society." johnnie listened intently, nodding now and then as the alderman made a point, and as he himself realised the value of it. "look you, master commendone," his worship continued, "look you, only yesterday a worthy clergyman, whom i knew and loved, a man of his inches, a shrewd and clever gentleman of good birth, was haled from the city down to his own parish and burnt as a heretic. heretic doubtless the good man was. he would be living now if he had not denied the blessed and comforting truth of transubstantiation before that blood-stained wolf, the bishop of london. the man i speak of was a good man, and though he was mistaken on that issue, he would, under kindlier auspices, doubtless have returned to the central truth of our religion. he was married, and had lived in honourable wedlock with his wife for many years. she was a lady from wales, and a sweet woman. but it was his marriage as much as any other thing about him that brought him to his death." the alderman's voice sank into something very like a whisper. "one of my men," he said, "was riding down with the sheriff of london to hadley, where dr. taylor, he of whom i speak, suffered this very morning. at five this afternoon my man was back, and told me how the good doctor died. he died with great constancy, very much, mr. commendone, as one of the old saints that the romans did use so cruelly in the early years of our lord's church. yet, as something of a student of affairs--and dr. taylor is not the first good heretic who hath died rather than recant--i see that the married clergy suffer with the most alacrity. and why? because, as i see it, they are bearing testimony to the validity and sanctity of their marriage. the honour of their wives and children is at stake; the desire of leaving them an unsullied name and a virtuous example, combined with a sense of religious duty. and thus the heart derives strength from the very ties which in other circumstances might well tend to weaken it. "i am in mourning to-night, mourning in my heart, mr. commendone, for a good, mistaken friend who hath suffered death." as his voice fell, the alderman was looking sadly into the red embers of the fire with the music of a deep sadness and regret in his voice. he wasn't an emotional man at all--by nature that is--johnnie saw it at once. but he saw also that his host was very deeply moved. johnnie rose from his chair. "you are telling me no news at all, mr. alderman," he said. "i had orders, and i was one of those who rode with sir john shelton and the sheriff to take dr. taylor to the stake at aldham common." mr. cressemer started violently. "mother of god!" he said, "did you see that done?" johnnie nodded. he could not trust himself to speak. the alderman's cry of horror brought home to him almost for the first time not the terror of what he had seen--that he had realised long ago--but a sense of personal guilt, a disgust with himself that he should have been a participator in such a deed, a spectator, however pitying. he felt unclean. then he said in a low voice: "what i tell you, mr. cressemer, will, i know, remain as a secret between us. i feel i am not betraying any trust in telling _you_. i am, as you know, attached to the person of his majesty, and i have been admitted into great confidence both by him and her grace the queen. the king rode to hadley disguised as a simple cavalier, and i was with him as his attendant." he stopped short, feeling that the explanation was bald and unsufficing. the alderman stepped up to johnnie and put his hand upon his arm. "poor lad, poor lad," he said in tones of deepest pity. "i grieve in that thou hadst to witness such a thing in the following of thy duty." "i had thought," the young man faltered, his assurance deserting him for a moment at the words of this reverend and broad-souled man, "i thought you would think me stained in some wise, mr. cressemer. i...." "whist!" the elder man answered impatiently. "have no such foolish thoughts. am i not a man of affairs? do i not know what discipline means? but this gives me great cause for thought. you have confided in me, mr. commendone, and so likewise will i in you. this morning the doctor's wife, his little son, and little daughter mary, set off for the marches of wales with a party of my men and their baggage. mistress taylor was born a rhyader, of a good family in conway town. her brother liveth there, and all her friends are of wales. it was as well that the dame should leave the city at once, for none knoweth what will be done to the relations of heretics at this time----why, man! thou art white as linen, thy hand shakes. what meaneth it?" johnnie, in truth, was a strange sight as he stood in front of his host. all his composure was gone. his eyes burnt in a white face, his lips were dry and parted, there was an almost terrible inquiry in his whole aspect and manner. "'tis nothing," he managed to say in a hoarse voice, which he hardly knew for his own. "pr'ythee continue, sir." mr. cressemer gave the young man a keen, questioning glance before he went on speaking. then he said: "as i tell you, these members of the good doctor's family are now safely on their way, and god grant them rest and peace in their new life. they will want for nothing. but the doctor's other daughter, mistress elizabeth, was not his own daughter, but was adopted by him when she was but a little child. the girl is a very sweet and good girl, and my sister, mistress catherine, has long loved her. and as this is a childless house, alas! the maid hath come to live with us and she will be as my own daughter, if god wills it." "she is well?" johnnie asked, in a hoarse whisper. the alderman shook his head sadly. "she is the bravest maiden i have ever met," he said. "she hath stuff in her which recalls the ladies of old rome, so calm and steadfast is she. there is in her at this time some divine illumination, mr. commendone, that keepeth her strong and unafraid. ah, but she is sore stricken! she knew some hours agone of the doings at hadley, for as i told you, one of my men brought the news. she hath been in prayer a long time, poor lamb, and now my sister is with her to hearten her and give her such comfort as may be. god's ways are very strange, mr. john. who would have thought now that you should come to this house to-night from that butchery?" he sighed deeply. johnnie made the sign of the cross. "god moveth in a mysterious way," he said, "to perform his wonders. he rides upon the tempest, and eke directs the storm, and leadeth pigmy men and women with a sure hand and a certain purpose." "say not 'pigmy,' mr. john," the alderman answered, "we are not small in his eyes, though it is well that we should be in our own. but you speak with a certain meaning. you grew pale just now. i think you may justly confide in me. i am of thy father's age, and a friend of thy father's. what is it, lad?" speaking with great difficulty, looking downwards at the floor, johnnie told him. he told him how he had met john hull and taken him into his service, how that even now the man was in the kitchen among the servants of the alderman. he told of the fellow's menace in chepe, and how inexplicable it had seemed to him. then he hesitated, and his voice sunk into silence. "ye saw the poor lamb?" mr. cressemer said in a low voice, which nevertheless trembled with excitement. "ye saw her weeping as good dr. taylor was borne away? ye took this good varlet hull into thy service? and now thou art in my house. it seemeth indeed that god's finger is writing in the book of thy life; but i must hear more from thee, mr. commendone. tell me, if thou wilt, what it may mean." johnnie straightened himself. he put his hand upon the pummel of his sword. he looked his host full in the eyes. "it means this, sir," he said, in a quiet and resolute voice. "all my life i have kept myself from those pleasures and peccadilloes that young gentlemen of my station are wont to use. i have never looked upon a maiden with eyes of love--or worse. before god his throne, our lady the blessed virgin, and all the crowned saints i say it. but yester morn, when i saw her weeping in the grey, my heart went out from me, and is no more mine. i vowed then that by god's grace i would be her knight and lover for ever and a day. my employment hath not to-day given me the opportunity to go to mass, but i have promised myself to-morrow morn that in the chapel of st. john i will vow myself to her with all fealty, and indeed nor man, nor power, nor obstacle of any sort shall keep me from her, if god allows. wife she shall be to me, and so i can make her love me. all this i swear to you, by my honour"--here he pulled his sword from the scabbard and reverently kissed the hilt--"and to the blessed trinity." and now he pulled his crucifix from his doublet, and kissed it. then he turned away from the alderman, took a few steps to the fire-place, and leant against the carving, his head bowed upon his arms. there was a dead silence in the big room. tears were gathering in the eyes of the grave elderly man, while his mind worked furiously. he saw in all this the direct hand of providence working towards a definite and certain end. he had loved the slim and gracious lad directly he saw him. his heart had gone out to one so gallant and one so debonair, the son of his old and trusted friend. he had long loved the rector of hadley's sweet daughter, who was so idolised also by mistress catherine cressemer, his sister. during the reign of edward vi the girl had often come up to london to spend some months with her wealthy and influential friends. she had a great part in the heart of the childless widower. now this strange and wonderful thing had happened. these thoughts passed through the old man's mind in a few seconds, while the silence was not broken. then, as he was about to turn and speak to johnnie, the door of the room opened quickly, and a short, elderly woman hurried in. she was very simply dressed in grey woollen stuff, though the bodice and skirt were edged with costly fur. the white lace of bruges upon her head framed a face of great sweetness, and now it was alive with excitement. she was a little woman, fifty years of age, with a flat wrinkled face; but her eyes were full of kindness, and, indeed, so was her whole face, although her lips were drawn in by the loss of her front teeth, and this gave her a rather witch-like mouth. "robert! robert!" she said in a high, excited voice. "john hull, that was servant to our dear doctor, is in this house. the men have him in the kitchen--word has just been sent up to me. what shall we do? dear lizzie--she is more tranquil now, and bearing her cross very bravely--dear lizzie had thought not to see him again. will it be well that we should have him up? think you the child can bear seeing him?" the lady had piped this out in a rush of excited words. then suddenly she saw johnnie, who had turned round and stood by the fire, bowing. his face was drawn and white, and he was trembling. "catherine," mr. cressemer said, "strange things are happening to-night, of which i must speak with you anon. but this is mr. john commendone, son of our dear knight of kent, who hath come to see me, and who haply or by design of god was forced to witness the death of dr. rowland this morning." johnnie made a low bow, the little lady a lower curtsey. then, heedless of all etiquette, with the tears streaming down her cheeks, she trotted up to the young man and caught hold of both his hands, looking up at him with the saddest, kindest face he had ever seen. "oh, boy, boy," she said, "thou hast come at the right time. we know with what constancy the doctor died, but our lamb will be well content to hear of it from kindly lips, for she is very strong and stedfast, the pretty dear! and thou hast a good face, and surely art a true son of thy father, sir henry of commendone." chapter vi a king and a victim. two grim men there was a "red mass," a votive mass of the holy ghost, sung on the next morning in the tower. the king and queen, with all the court, were present. johnnie knelt with the gentlemen attached to the persons of the king and queen, the gentlemen ushers behind them, and then the military officers of the guard. the _veni creator spiritus_ was intoned by the chancellor, and the music of the mass was that of dom giovanni palestrina, director of sacred music at the vatican at that time. the music, which by its dignity and beauty had alone prevented the council of trent from prohibiting polyphonic music at the mass, had a marvellous appeal to the esquire. it was founded upon a _canto fermo_, a melody of an ancient plain song of the middle ages, and used in high mass from a very remote period. the six movements of the kyrie, gloria, credo, sanctus, benedictus, and agnus dei were of a superlative technical excellence. the trained ear, the musical mind, were alike enthralled by them. tinel, waddington, and christopher tye had written no music then, and the mellow angelic harmonies of messer palestrina were all new and fresh in their inspiration of dignity, grandeur, and devotion, most precious incense, as it were, about the feet of the lord. the bishop of london was celebrant, and father deza deacon. the queen and king received in the one kind, while two of the re-established carthusians from sheen, and two brigittine monks from sion, held a white cloth before their graces. this was not liked by many there--it had always been the privilege of peers. but of this commendone knew nothing. the hour was for him one of the deepest devotion and solemnity. he had not slept all the night long. for a few moments he had seen elizabeth, had spoken with her, had held her by the hand. his life was utterly and absolutely changed. his mind, excited with want of sleep, irrevocably stamped and impressed by the occupation of the last two days, was caught up by the exquisite music into a passionate surrender of self as he vowed his life to god and his lady. earth and all it held--save only her--was utterly dissolved and swept away. an unspeakable peace and stillness was in his heart. much, we read, is required from those to whom much is given, and johnnie was to go through places far more terrible than the valley of the shadow of death ever is to most men before he saw the dawn. when the mass was said--the final "_missa est_" was to ring in the young man's ears for many a long day--he went to breakfast. he took nothing in the common room, however, but john hull brought him food in his own chamber. the man's brown, keen face beamed with happiness. he was like some faithful dog that had lost one master and found another. he could not do enough for johnnie now--after the visit to mr. cressemer's house. he took charge of him as if he had been his man for years. there was a quiet assumption which secretly delighted commendone. there they were, master and man, a relationship fixed and settled. on that afternoon there was to be a tournament in the tilting yard, and johnnie meant to ride--he had nearly carried away the ring at the last joust. hull knew of it--in a few hours the fellow seemed to have fallen into his place in an extraordinary fashion--and he had been busy with his master's armour since early dawn. while johnnie was making his breakfast, though he would very willingly have been alone, and indeed had retired for that very purpose, hull came bustling in and out of the armour-room his face a brown wedge of pleasure and excitement. the _volante pièce_, the _mentonnière_, the _grande-garde_ of his master's exquisite suite of light milan armour shone like a newly-minted coin. the black and lacquered _cuirasse_, with a line of light blue enamel where it would meet the gorget, was oiled and polished--he had somehow found the little box of bandrols with the commendone colour and cypher which were to be tied above the coronels of johnnie's lances. and all the time john hull chattered and worked, perfectly happy, perfectly at home. already, to commendone's intense amusement, the man had become dictatorial--as old and trusted servants are. he had got some powder of resin, and was about to pour it into the jointed steel gauntlet of the lance hand. "it gives the grip, master," he said. "by this means the hand fitteth better to the joints of the steel." "but 'tis never used that i know of. 'tis not like the grip of a bare hand on the ash stave of a pike...." there was a technical discussion, which ended in johnnie's defeat--at least, john hull calmly powdered the inside of the glaive. he was got rid of at last, sent to his meal with the other serving-men, and commendone was left alone. he had an hour to himself, an hour in which to recall the brief but perfect joy of the night before. they had taken him to elizabeth after supper, his good host and hostess. there was something piteously sweet in the tall slim girl in her black dress--the dear young mouth trembling, the blue eyes full of a mist of unshed tears, the hair ripest wheat or brownest barley. she had taken his hand--hers was like cool white ivory--and listened to him as a sister might. he had sat beside her, and told her of her father's glorious death. his dark and always rather melancholy face had been lit with sympathy and tenderness. quite unconscious of his own grace and grave young dignity, he had dwelt upon the martyr's joy at setting out upon his last journey, with an incomparable delicacy and perfection of phrase. his voice, though he knew it not, was full of music. his extreme good looks, the refinement and purity of his face, came to the poor child with a wonderful message of consolation. when he told her how a brutal yeoman had thrown a faggot at the archdeacon, she shuddered and moaned a little. mr. cressemer and his sister looked at johnnie with reproach. but he had done it of set purpose. "and then, mistress elizabeth," he continued, "the doctor said, 'friend, i have harm enough. what needeth that?'" his hand had been upon his knee. she caught it up between her own--innocent, as to a brother, unutterably sweet. "oh, dear father!" she cried. "it is just what he would have said. it is so like him!" "it is liker christ our lord," robert cressemer broke in, his deep voice shaking with sorrow. "for what, indeed, said he at his cruel nailing? '[greek: pater, aphes autois ou gar oidasi ti poiusi.]'" ... and then they had sent johnnie away, marvelling at the goodness, shrewdness, and knowledge of the alderman, with his whole being one sob of love, pity, and protection for his dear simple mourner--so crystal clear, so sisterlike and sweet! * * * * * it was time to go upon duty. johnnie looked at his thick oval watch--a "nuremberg egg," as it was called in those days--cut short his reverie of sweet remembrance, and went straight to the king consort's wing of the palace. when he was come into the king's room he found him alone with torromé, his valet, sitting in a big leather-covered arm-chair, his ruff and doublet taken off, and wearing a long dressing-gown of brown stuff, a friar's gown it almost seemed. the melancholy yellow face brightened somewhat as the esquire came in. "i am home again, señor," he said in spanish, though "_en casa_" was the word he used for home, and that had a certain pathos in it. "there is a _torneo_, a _justa_, after dinner, so they tell me. i had wished to ride myself, but i am weary from our _viajero_ into the country. i shall sit with the queen, and you, señor, will attend me." he must have seen a slight, fleeting look of disappointment upon commendone's face. himself, as the envoy suriano said of him in 1548, "deficient in that energy which becometh a man, sluggish in body and timid in martial enterprise," he nevertheless affected an exaggerated interest in manly sports. he had, it is true, mingled in some tournaments at brussels in the past, and calvera says that he broke his lances, "very much to the satisfaction of his father and aunts." but in england, at any rate, he had done nothing of the sort, and his voice to commendone was almost apologetic. "we will break a lance together some day," he said, "but you must forego the lists this afternoon." johnnie bowed very low. this was extraordinary favour. he knew, of course, that the king would never tilt with him, but he recognised the compliment. he knew, again, that his star was high in the ascendant. the son of the great charles v was reserved, cautious, suspicious of all men--except when, in private, he would unbend to buffoons and vulgar rascals like sir john shelton--and the icy gravity of his deportment to courtiers seldom varied. commendone was quite aware that the king did not class him with men of shelton's stamp. he was the more signally honoured therefore. "this night," his grace continued, "after the jousts, your attendance will be excused, señor. i retire early to rest." the esquire bowed, but he had caught a certain gleam in the king's small eyes. "duck lane or bankside!" he thought to himself. "thank god he hath not commanded me to be with him." johnnie was beginning to understand, more than he had hitherto done, something of his sudden rise to favour and almost intimacy. the king consort was trying him, testing him in every way, hoping to find at length a companion less dangerous and drunken, a reputation less blown upon, a servant more discreet.... he could have spat in his disgust. what he had tolerated in others before, though loftily repudiated for himself, now became utterly loathsome--in king or commoner, black and most foul. the king wore a mask; johnnie wore one also--there was _finesse_ in the game between master and servant. and to-night the king would wear a literal mask, the "_maschera_," which badovardo speaks of when he set down the frailties of this monarch for after generations to read of: "_nelle piaceri delle donnè è incontinente, predendo dilletatione d'andare in maschera la notte et nei tempi de negotii gravi_." then and there johnnie made a resolution, one which had been nascent in his mind for many hours. he would have done with the court as soon as may be. ambition, so new a child of his brain, was already dead. he would marry, retire from pageant and splendour even as his father had done years and years ago. with elizabeth by his side he would once more live happily among the woods and wolds of commendone. torromé, the _criado_ or valet, came into the room again from the bed-chamber. his highness was to change his clothes once more--at high noon he must be with the queen upon state affairs. the chancellor and lord wharton were coming, and with them brookes, the bishop of gloucester, the papal sub-delegate, and the royal proctors, mr. martin and mr. storey. the prelates, ridley and latimer, were lying in prison--their ultimate fate was to be discussed on that morning. the king had but hardly gone into his bed-chamber when the door of the closet opened and don diego deza entered, unannounced, and with the manner of habitude and use. he greeted commendone heartily, shaking him by the hand with considerable warmth, his clear-cut, inscrutable face wearing an expression of fixed kindliness--put on for the occasion, meant to appear sincere, there for a purpose. "i will await his grace here," the priest said, glancing at the door leading to the bedroom, which was closed. "i am to attend him to the council chamber, where there is much business to be done. so next week, mr. commendone, you'll be at whitehall! the court will be gayer there--more suited to you young gallants." "for my part," johnnie answered, "i like the tower well enough." "hast a contented mind, señor," the priest answered brightly. "but i hap to know that the queen will be glad to be gone from the city. this hath been a necessary visit, one of ceremony, but her grace liketh the palace of westminster better, and her castle of windsor best of all. i shall meet you at windsor in the new year, and hope to see you more advanced. wilt be wearing the gold spurs then, i believe, and there will be two knights of the honoured name of commendone!" johnnie answered: "i think not, father," he said, turning over his own secret resolve in his mind with an inward smile. "but why at windsor? doubtless we shall meet near every day." "say nothing, mr. commendone," the priest answered in a low voice. "there can be no harm in telling you--who are privy to so much--but i sail for spain to-morrow morn, and shall be some months absent upon his most catholic majesty's affairs." shortly after this, the king came out of his room, three of his spanish gentlemen were shown in, and with johnnie, the dominican, and his escort, his highness walked to the council chamber, round the tower of which stood a company of the queen's archers, showing that her grace had already arrived. then for two hours johnnie kicked his heels in the ante-room, watching this or that great man pass in and out of the council chamber, chatting with the members of the spanish suite--bored to death. at half-past one the council was over, and their majesties went to dinner, as did also johnnie in the common room. at half-past three of the clock the esquire was standing in the royal box behind the king and queen, among a group of other courtiers, and looking down on the great tilting yard, where he longed himself to be. the royal gallery was at one end of the yard, a great stage-box, as it were, into which two carved chairs were set, and which was designated, as a somewhat fervent chronicler records, "the gallery, or place at the end of the tilting yard adjoining to her grace's palace of the tower, whereat her person should be placed. it was called, and with good cause, the castle, or fortress of perfect beauty, forasmuch as her highness should be there included." johnnie stood and watched it all with eyes in which there was but little animation. a few days before nothing would have gladdened him more than such a spectacle as this. to-day it was as nothing to him. down below was a device of painted canvas, imitating a rolling-trench, which was supposed to be the besieging works of those who attempted the "fortress of perfect beauty." "upon the top of it were set two cannons wrought of wood, and coloured so passing well, as, indeed, they seemed to be two fair field-pieces of ordnance. and by them were placed two men for gunners in cloth and crimson sarcanet, with baskets of earth for defence of their bodies withal." at the far end of the lists there came a clanking and hammering of the farriers' and armourers' forges. grooms in mandilions--the loose, sleeveless jacket of their calling--were running about everywhere, leading the chargers trapped with velvet and gold in their harness. gentlemen in short cloaks and venetian hose bustled about among the knights, and here and there from the stables, and withdrawing sheds outside the lists, great armoured figures came, the sun shining upon their plates--russet-coloured, fluted, damascened with gold in a hundred points of fire. nothing could be more splendid, as the trumpeters advanced into the lists, and the fierce fanfaronade snarled up to the sky. the garter king-at-arms in his tabard, mounted on a white horse with gold housings, rode out into the centre of the yard, and behind him, though on foot, were blue-mantle and rouge-dragon. the afternoon air was full of martial noise, the clank of metal, the brazen notes of horns, the stir and murmur of a great company. to johnnie it seemed that he did not know the shadow from the substance. it all passed before him in a series of coloured pictures, unreal and far away. had he been down there among the knights and lords, he felt that he would but have fought with shadows. it was as though a weird seizure had taken hold on him, a waking dream enmeshed him in its drowsy impalpable net, so that on a sudden, in the midst of men and day, while he walked and talked and stood as ever before, he yet seemed to move among a world of ghosts, to feel himself the shadow of a dream. once when sir charles paston cooper, a very clever rider at the swinging ring, and also doughty in full shock of combat, had borne down his adversary, the queen clapped her hands. "habet!" she cried, like any roman empress, excited and glad, because young sir charles was a very strong adherent of the crown, and known to be bitterly opposed to the pretensions of the lady elizabeth. "habet!" the queen cried again, with a shriek of delight. she looked at her husband, whose head was a little bent, whose sallow face was lost in thought. she did not venture to disturb his reverie, but glanced behind him and above his chair to where john commendone was standing. "c'est bien fait, n'est-ce pas, monsieur?" she said in french. the young man's face, also, was frozen into immobility. it did not waken to the queen's joyous exclamation. the eyes were turned inwards, he was hearing nothing of it all. her grace's face flushed a little. she said no more, but wondered exceedingly. the stately display-at-arms went on. the sun declined towards his western bower, and blue shadows crept slowly over the sand. a little chill wind arose suddenly, and as it did so, commendone awoke. everything flashed back to him. in the instant that it did so, and the dreaming of his mind was blown away, the curtain before his subconscious intelligence rolled up and showed him the real world. the first thing he saw was the head of king philip just below him. the tall conical felt hat moved suddenly, leaning downwards towards a corner of the arena just below the royal box. johnnie saw the king's profile, the lean, sallow jowl, the corner of the curved, tired, and haughty lip--the small eye suddenly lit up. following the king's glance, he saw below the figure of sir john shelton, dressed very quietly in ordinary riding costume, and by the side of the knight, torromé, the valet of his highness. both men nodded, and the king slightly inclined his head in reply. then his highness leant back in his chair, and a little hissing noise, a sigh of relief or pleasure, came from his lips. immediately he turned to the queen, placed one hand upon her jewelled glove, and began to speak with singular animation and brightness. the queen changed in a moment. the lassitude and disappointment went from her face in a flash. she turned to her husband, radiant and happy, and once more her face became beautiful. it was the last time that john commendone ever saw the face of queen mary. in after years he preferred always to think of her as he saw her then. the tourney was over. everybody had left the tilting yard and its vicinity, save only the farriers, the armour smiths, and grooms. in front of the old palace hardly a soul was to be seen, except the sentinels and men of the guard, who paced up and down the terraces. it was eight o'clock, and twilight was falling. all the windows were lit, every one was dressing for supper, and now and then little roulades of flutes, the twanging of viols being tuned, the mellow clarionette-like voice of the _piccolo-milanese_ showed that the royal band was preparing for the feast. johnnie was off duty; his time was his own now, and he could do as he would. he longed more than anything to go to chepe to be with the cressemers again, to see elizabeth; but, always punctilious upon points of etiquette, and especially remembering the sad case and dolour of his love, he felt it would be better not to go. nevertheless, he took a sheet of paper from his case into the common room, and wrote a short letter of greeting to the alderman. with this he also sent a posy of white roses, which he bribed a serving-man to get from the privy garden, desiring that the flowers should be given to mistress elizabeth taylor. this done, he sought and found his servant. "to-night, john hull," he said, "i shall not need thee, and thou mayest go into the city and do as thou wilt. i am going to rest early, for i am very tired. come you back before midnight--you can get the servant's pass from the lieutenant of the guard if you mention my name--and wake me and bring me some milk. but while thou art away, take this letter and these flowers to the house of master robert cressemer. do not deliver them at once when thou goest, but at ten or a little later, and desire them to be taken at once to his worship." this he said, knowing something of the habits of the great house in chepeside, and thinking that his posy would be taken to elizabeth when she was retiring to her sleep. "perchance she may think of me all night," said cunning johnnie to himself. hull took the letter and the flowers, and departed. johnnie went to his chamber, disembarrassing himself of his stiff starched ruff, took off his sword, and put on the cassock-coat, which was the undress for the young gentlemen of the court when they met in the common room for a meal. he designed to take some food, and then to go straight to bed and sleep until his servant should wake him with the milk he had ordered, and especially with the message of how he had done in chepe. he had just arrayed himself and was wearily stretching out his arms, wondering whether after all he should go downstairs to sup or no, when the door of his bedroom was pushed open and ambrose cholmondely entered. johnnie was glad to see his friend. "_holà!_" he said, "i was in need of some one with whom to talk. you come in a good moment, _mon ami_." cholmondely sat down upon the bed. "well," he said, "didst come off well at the tourney?" johnnie shook his head. "i didn't ride," he said, "i was in attendance upon his grace, rather to my disgust, for i had hoped for some exercise. but you? where were you, ambrose?" "i? well, johnnie, i was excused attendance this afternoon. i made interest with mr. champneys, and so i got off." "venus, her service, i doubt me," johnnie answered. ambrose cholmondely nodded. "yes," he said, "i' faith, a very bootless quest it was. a girl at an inn that i lit upon some time agone--you would not know it--'tis a big hostel of king henry's time without aldgate, the 'woolsack.'" johnnie started. "i went there once," he said. "i should well have thought," cholmondely replied, "it would have been out of your purview. never mind. my business came not to a satisfactory end. the girl was very coy. but i tell you what i did see, and that hath given me much reason for thought. along the road towards essex, where i was walking, hoping to meet my inamorata, came a damsel walking, by her dress and bearing of gentle birth, and with a serving-maid by her side. i was not upon the high road, but sat under a sycamore tree in a field hard by, but i saw all that passed very well. a carriage came slowly down the road towards this lady. out of it jumped that bully-rook john shelton, and close behind him the spanish valet torromé, that is the king's private servant. they caught hold of the girl, shelton clapped a hand upon her mouth, and they had her in the carriage in a moment and her maid with her--which immediately turned round and went back at a quick pace through aldgate. i would have interfered, but i could not get to the high road in time; 'twas so quickly done. johnnie, there will be great trouble in london, if shelton and these spaniards he is so friendly with are to do such things in england. it may go on well enough for a time, but suddenly the bees will be roused from their hive, and there will be such a to-do and turmoil, such a candle will be lit as will not easily be put out." johnnie shrugged his shoulders. in his mood of absolute disgust with his surroundings, the recital interested him very little. he connected it at once with the appearance of shelton and the valet at the end of the tourney, but it was not his business. "the hog to his stye," he said bitterly. "i am going to take some supper, and then to bed, for i am very weary." arm in arm with ambrose cholmondely, he descended the stairs, went into the common room, and made a simple meal. the place was riotous with high spirits, the talk was fast and free, but he joined in none of it, and in a very few minutes had returned to his room, closed the door, and thrown himself upon the bed. almost immediately he sank into a deep sleep. he was dreaming of elizabeth, and in his dream was interwoven the sound of great bells, when the fantastic painted pictures of sleep were suddenly shaken violently and dissolved. they flashed away, and his voice rose in calling after them to stay, when he suddenly awoke. the bells were still going on, deep golden notes from the central cupola over the queen's gallery, beating out the hour of eleven. but as they changed from dream into reality--much louder and imminent--he felt himself shaken violently. a strong hand gripped his shoulder, a hoarse voice mingled with the bell-music in his ears. he awoke. his little room was lit by a lanthorn standing upon the mantel with the door open. john hull, a huge broad shadow, was bending over him. he sat up in bed. "_dame!_" he cried, "and what is this?" "master! master! she has been taken away! my little mistress! most foully taken away, and none know where she may be!" johnnie sprang from his bed, upright and trembling. "i took the letter and the flowers as you bade me. but all was sorrow and turmoil at the house. mistress elizabeth went out in the afternoon with alice her maid. she was to take the air. they have not returned. nothing is known. his worship hath fifty men searching for her, and hath had for hours. but it avails nothing." johnnie suddenly became quite quiet. hull saw his face change. the smooth, gracious contours were gone. an inner face, sharp, resolute, haggard and terribly alive, sprang out and pushed the other away. "his worship writ thee a letter, sir. here 'tis." johnnie held out his hand. the letter was brief, the writing hurried and indistinct with alarm. "dear lad,--they have taken our lizzie, whom i know not. but i fear the worst things. i cannot find her with all my resource. an' if _i_ cannot, one must dread exceeding. i dare say no more. but come to me on the instant, if canst. thou--being at court--i take it, may be able to do more than i, at the moment and in the article of our misfortune. the weight i bring to bear is heavy, but taketh time. command me in every way as seemeth good to you. order, and if needs be threaten in my name. all you do or say is as if i said it, and they that deny it will feel my hand heavy on them. "but come, dear lad. our lady help and shield the little lamb. "your friend, "robert cressemer, "alderman." johnnie thrust the letter into his bosom. "john hull, art ready to follow me to the death, as it may be and very like will?" "certes, master." "anything for her? are you my man to do all and everything i tell thee till the end?" john hull answered nothing. he ran out of the room and returned in an instant with his master's boots and sword. he saw that the holster pistols were primed. he took one of johnnie's daggers and thrust it into the sheath of his knife without asking. the two men armed themselves to the teeth without another word. "i'll be round to the stables," hull said at length. "two horses, master? i will rouse one groom only and say 'tis state business." "you know then where we must go?" "i know not the place. but i guess it. we hear much--we court servants!" he spat upon the floor. "and i saw _him_ looking at her as the doctor rode to hadley." "wilt risk it?--death, torture, which is worse, john hull?" "duck lane, master?" "duck lane." "i thought so. i'm for the horses." a clatter of descending footsteps, a man standing in a little darkling room, his hand upon his sword hilt. his teeth set, his brain working in ice. receding footsteps.... "faithfullest servant that ever man had!" and so to the bitter work! chapter vii hey ho! and a rumbelow! they had ridden over london bridge. the night was dark, and a wind was beginning to rise. again, here and there about the bridge, soldiers were lounging, but commendone and his servant passed over successfully. he was recognised from the last time, three nights ago. as they walked their horses through the scattered houses immediately at the southern end of the bridge, johnnie spoke to hull. "i have plans," he said quietly; "my mind is full of them. but i can give you no hint until we are there and doing. be quick at the uptake, follow me in all i do, but if necessary act thyself, and remember that we are desperate men upon an adventure as desperate. let nothing stand in the way, as i shall not." for answer he heard a low mutter, almost a growl, and they rode on in silence. both were cool and calm, strung up to the very highest point, every single faculty of mind and body on the alert and poised to strike. one, the spanish blood within him turning to that cold icy fury which would stick at nothing in this world to achieve his ends, the while his trained intelligence and high mental powers sat, as it were, upon his frozen anger and rode it as a horse; the other, a volcano of hidden snarling fury, seeing red at each step of his way through the dark, but subordinate and disciplined by the master mind. they came to the entrance to duck lane, walked their horses quietly down it--once more it was in silence--until under the lamp above the big red door of the house of shame, they saw two horses tethered to a ring in the wall, and a man in a cloak walking up and down in front of the house. he looked up sharply as they came into the circle of lamp-light, and johnnie saw, with a fierce throb of exultation, that it was torromé, the king's valet. "it is you, señor," the man said in a low voice of relief. johnnie nodded curtly as he dismounted. "yes," he said, in a voice equally low, putting something furtive and sly into the tones, for he was a consummate actor. "yes, it is i, torromé. i must see his grace at once on matters of high importance." "his grace said nothing," the man began. "i know, i know," johnnie answered. "it was not thought that i should have to come, but as events turn out"--he struck with his hand upon the door as he spoke--"i am to see his highness at once." "i trust her grace----" the man whispered in a frightened voice. "not a word," commendone replied. "take our horses and keep watch over them also. my man cometh in with me. word will be sent out to you anon what to do." the man bowed, and gathered up the bridle of the two new horses on his arm; while as he did so, the big red door swung open a little, and a thin face, covered with a mask of black velvet, peered out at the newcomers. "it is all right," the valet said, in french. "this gentleman is of the suite of his highness." the peering, masked face scrutinised johnnie for a second, then nodded, and the red lips below twisted into a sinister smile. "enter, sir," came in a soft, cooing voice. "i remember you three nights back...." johnnie entered, closely followed by hull, and the door was closed behind him. they stood once more in the quiet carpeted passage, with its sense of mystery, its heavily perfumed air, and once again the tall nondescript figure flitted noiselessly in front of them, and scratched upon a panel of the big door at the end of the passage. there was the tinkle of a bell within. the door was opened. johnnie pushed aside the curtains and entered the room, hung with crimson arras, powdered with the design of gold bats, lit with its hanging silver lamps, and reeking with the odour of the scented gums which were burning there. madame la motte rose from her chair behind the little table as they entered. the big, painted face was quite still and motionless, like a mask, but the eyes glanced with quick, cunning brightness at commendone and his companion--the only things alive in that huge countenance. she recognised johnnie in a moment, and then her eyebrows went up into her forehead and the lower part of her face moved down a little, as if the whole were actuated by the sudden pull of a lever. "_mon gars_," she said, in french, "and what brings you here to-night? and who is this?..." her eyes had fallen upon the broad figure of the serving-man in his leather coat, his short sword hanging from his belt, his hand upon his dagger. she might well look in alarm, this ancient, evil woman, for the keen brown face of the servant was gashed and lined with a terrible and quiet fury, the lips curled away from the teeth, the fore part of the body was bent forward a little as if to spring. johnnie took two steps up to the woman. "madam," he said, in a voice so low that it was hardly more than a whisper, but every syllable of which was perfectly distinct and clear, "a lady has been stolen from her friends, and brought to this hell. where is she?" the woman knew in a moment why they had come. she gave a sudden swift glance towards the door in the arras at the other side of the room, which told commendone all he wanted to know. "it is true, then?" he said. "thou cat of hell, bound mistress of the fiend, she is here?" the huge body of the woman began to tremble like a jelly, slowly at first in little shivers, and then more rapidly until face and shapeless form shook and swayed from side to side in a convulsion of fear, while all the jewels upon her winked and flashed. as the young man bent forward and looked into her face, she found a voice, a horrid, strangled voice. "i know nothing," she coughed. there was a low snarl, like a wakened panther, as commendone, shuddering as he did so, gripped one bare, powdered shoulder. "silence!" he said. with one convulsive effort, the woman shot out a fat hand, and rang the little silver bell upon the table. almost immediately the door swung open; there was a swish of curtains, and the tall, fantastic figure of the creature who had let them into the house stood there. "_allez--la maison en face--viens toi vite,--jules, louis._" commendone clapped his hand over the woman's mouth, just as the eel-like creature at the door, realising the situation in a moment, was gliding through the curtains to summon the bullies of the house. but john hull was too quick for him. he caught him by the arm, wrenched him back into the room, sent him spinning into the centre of it, and took two steps towards him, his right fist half raised to deal him a great blow. the creature mewed like a cat, ducked suddenly and ran at the yeoman, gripping him round the waist with long, thin arms. there was no sound as they struggled--this long, eel-like thing, in its mask and crimson robe twining round his sturdy opponent like some parasite writhing with evil life. john hull rocked, striving to bend forward and get a grip of his antagonist. but it was useless. he could do nothing, and he was being slowly forced backwards towards the door. there was horror upon the man's brown face, horror of this silent, clinging thing which fought with fury, and in a fashion that none other had fought with him in all his life. then, as he realised what was happening, he stood up for a moment, staggering backwards as he did so, pulled out the dagger from his belt and struck three great blows downwards into the thin scarlet back, burying the steel up to the hilt at each fierce stroke. there was a sudden "oh," quite quiet and a little surprised, the sort of sound a man might make when he sees a friend come unexpectedly into his room.... that was all. it was over in some thirty seconds, there was a convulsive wriggle on the floor, and the man, if indeed it was a man, lay on its back stiff in death. the mask of black velvet had been torn off in the struggle, and they saw a tiny white face, painted and hairless, set on the end of a muscular and stringy neck--a monster lying there in soulless death. "have you killed it?" commendone asked, suddenly. "yes, master." hull's head was averted from what lay upon the carpet, even while he was pushing it towards the heap of cushions at the side of the room. leaning over the body, he took a cushion from the heap--a gaudy thing of green and orange--and wiped his boot. "listen!" johnnie said, still with his hand covering the woman's face. they listened intently. not a sound was to be heard. "as i take it," commendone answered, "there are no men in the house except only those two we have come to seek. the alarm hath not been given, and that _eunuque_ is dead. we must settle madame here." he laughed a grim, menacing laugh as he spoke. immediately the figure in his hands began to writhe and tremble, the feet beat a dull tattoo upon the carpet, the eyes protruded from their layers of paint, a snorting, snuffling noise came from beneath commendone's hand. he caught it away instantly, shuddering with disgust. "kill me not! kill me not!" the old woman gasped. "they are upstairs, the king and his friend. the girl is there. i know nothing of her, she was brought to me in the dark by the king's servants. kill me not; i will stay silent." her voice failed. she fell suddenly back in her chair, and looked at them with indescribable horror in her eyes. "i'll see to her, master," hull said in a quiet voice, his face still distorted with mastiff-like fury. he caught up his blood-stained dagger from the floor, stepped to the stiffened corpse, curved by tetanus into a bow, and ripped up a long piece of the gown which covered it. quickly and silently he tied the old woman's ankles together, her hands behind her back--the podgy wrists would not meet, nor near it--and again he went to the corpse for further bonds. "and now to stop her mouth," he said, "or she will be calling." commendone took out his handkerchief. "here," he said. in an instant hull had rolled it into a ball, pressed it between the painted lips, and tied it in its place with the last strip of velvet. all this had taken but hardly a minute. then he stood up and looked at his master. "the time comes," he said. johnnie nodded, and walked slowly, with quiet footsteps, towards the door in the arras at the other side of the room. he felt warily for the handle, found it, turned it gently, and saw a narrow stairway stretching upwards, and lit by a lamp somewhere above. the stair was uncarpeted, but it was of old and massive oak, and, drawing his sword, he crept cautiously up, hull following him like a cat. they found themselves in a corridor with doors on each side, each door painted with a big white number. it was lit, warm, and very still. johnnie put his fingers to his lips, and both men listened intently. the silence was absolute. they might have been in an empty house. no single indication of human movement came to them as they stood there. for nearly a minute they remained motionless. their eyes were fixed and horror-struck, their ears strained to an intensity of listening. then, at last, they heard a sound, quite unexpectedly and very near. it came from the door immediately upon their right, which was painted with the number "3," and was simply the click of a sword in its scabbard. johnnie took two noiseless steps to the door, settled his sword in his hand, flung it open, and leapt in. he was in a large low room panelled round its sides, the panels painted white, the beadings picked out in crimson. a carpet covered the floor, a low fire burnt upon a wide open hearth. there were two or three padded sofa lounges here and there, and in front of the fire-place in riding clothes, though without his hat or gloves, stood sir john shelton. there was a dead silence for several seconds, only broken by the click of the outer door, as hull pushed it into its place, and shot the bolt. shelton grew very white, but said nothing. with his sword ready to assume the guard, johnnie walked to the centre of the room. the bully's face grew whiter still. little drops of moisture glistened on his forehead, and on his blonde moustache. then he spoke. "ah! mr. commendone!" he said, with a horrid little laugh. "news from court, i suppose? is it urgent? his grace is engaged within, but i will acquaint him. his grace is engaged----" there came a titter of discovery and fear from his lips. his words died away into silence. johnnie advanced towards him, his sword pointed at his heart. "what does this mean, mr. commendone?" "death." the man's sword was out in a moment. the touch of it seemed to bring the life back to him, and with never a word, he sprang at commendone. he was a brave man enough, a clever fencer too, but he knew now that his hour had come. he read it in the fixed face before him, that face of frozen fury. he knew it directly the blades touched. indeed he was no match for commendone, with his long training, and clean, abstemious life. but even had he been an infinitely superior swordsman, he knew that he would have had no chance in that moment. there was something behind the young man's arm which no sir john shelton could resist. the blades rattled together and struck sparks in the lamp-light. click! clatter! click!--"ah!" the long-drawn breath, a breath surging up from the very entrails--click! clatter! click! the fierce cold fury of that fight was far beyond anything in war, or the ordinary duello. it was _à outrance_, there was only one end to it, and that came very swiftly. commendone was not fighting for safety. he cared not, and knew nothing, of what the other might have in reserve. he did not even wait to test his adversary's tricks of fence, as was only cautious and usual. nothing could have withstood him, and in less than two minutes from the time the men had engaged, the end came. commendone made a half-lunge, which was parried by the dagger in sir john's left hand, and then, quick as lightning, his sword was through shelton's throat, through and through. the captain fell like a log, hiccoughed, and lay still. "two," said john hull. johnnie withdrew his sword, holding it downwards, watching it drip; then he turned to his servant. "sir john was here on guard," he said; "this is the ante-room to where she is. but i see no door, save only the one by which we entered." "hist!" hull replied, almost before his master had finished speaking. he pointed to the opposite wall, and both men saw a long, narrow bar of orange light, a momentarily widening slit, opening in a panel. the panel swung back entirely, forming a sort of hatch or window, and through it, yellow, livid, and terror-struck, looked the face of the king. without a word john hull rushed towards that part of the wall. when he was within a yard of it he gathered himself up and leapt against it, like a battering-ram. there was a crash, as the concealed door was torn away from its hinges. hull lay measuring his length upon the floor, and johnnie leaped over the prostrate form into the room beyond. this is what he saw: in one corner of the room, close to a large couch covered with rich silks, elizabeth taylor stood against the wall. they had dressed her in a long white robe of the grecian sort, with a purple border round the hem of the skirt, the short sleeves and the low neck. her face was a white wedge of terror, her arms were upraised, the palms of her hands turned outwards, as if to ward off some horror unspeakable. king philip, at the other corner of the room, standing by the débris of the broken door, was perfectly motionless, save only for his head, which was pushed forward and moved from side to side with a slow reptilian movement. he was dressed entirely in black, his clothes in disarray, and the thin hair upon his head was matted in fantastic elf-locks with sweat. he saw the set face of commendone, his drawn and bloody sword. he saw the thick leathern-coated figure of the yeoman rise from the floor. both were confronting him, and he knew in a flash that he was trapped. johnnie looked at his master for a moment, and then turned swiftly. "elizabeth," he said, "elizabeth!" at his voice the girl's hands fell from her face. she looked at him for a second in wild amazement, and then she cried out, in a high, quavering voice of welcome, "johnnie! johnnie! you've come!" he put his arms about her, soothing, stroking her hair, speaking in a low, caressing voice, as a man might speak to a child. and all the time his heart, which had been frozen into deadly purpose, was leaping, bounding, and drumming within him so furiously, so strongly, that it seemed as if his body could hardly contain it. this mortal frame must surely be dissolved and swept away by such a tumult of feeling. she had only seen him once. she had never received his little posy of white flowers, but he was "johnnie" to her. "they have not hurt you, my maid?" he said. "tell me they have not harmed you." she shook her head. happiness sponged away the horror which had been upon her face. "no, johnnie," she answered, clinging, her fingers clutching for a firmer hold of him. "no, johnnie, only they took me away, and alice, that is my maid. they took me away violently, and i have been penned up here in this place until that man came and said strange things to me, and would embrace me." "sit you here, my darling maid," the young man said, "sit you here," guiding her to the couch hard by. "he shall do you no harm. thou art with me, and thy good friend there, thy father's yeoman." she had not seen john hull before, but now she looked up at him over johnnie's arm, and smiled. "'tis all well now," she murmured, drooping and half-faint. "hull is here, and thou also, johnnie." even in the wild joy of finding her, and knowing instinctively that she was to be his, that she had thought of him so much, commendone lost nothing of his sang-froid. he knew that desperate as had been his adventure when he started out from the tower, it was now more desperate still. he and hull had taken their lives in their hands when they went to duck lane. their enterprise had so far been successful, their rescue complete, but--and he was in no way mistaken--the enterprise was not over, and his life was worth even a smaller price than it had been before. with that, he turned from the girl, and strode up to the king, before whom john hull had been standing, grimly silent. commendone's sword was still in his hand; he had not relinquished it even when he had embraced elizabeth, and now he stood before his master, the point upon the floor, his young face set into judgment. "and now, sire?" he said, shortly and quickly. philip's face was flushed with shame and fear, but at these sharp words, he drew himself to his full height. "señor," he said, "you are going to do something which will damn you for ever in the sight of god and our lady. you are going to slay the anointed of the lord. i will meet death at your hands, and doubtless for my sins i have deserved death; but, nevertheless, you will be damned." then he threw his arms out wide, and there came a sob into his voice as the liquid spanish poured from him. "but to die thus!" he said. "mother of god! to die thus! unshrived, with my sins upon me!" johnnie tapped impatiently with the point of his sword upon the floor. "kill you, sire?" he said. "i have sworn the oath of allegiance to her grace, the queen, and eke to you. i break no oaths. kill you i will not. kill you i cannot. i dare not raise my hand against the king." he dropped on one knee. "sire," he said again, "i am your gentleman, and you will go free from this vile house as you came into it." then he rose, took his sword, snapped it across his knee--staining his hands in doing so--and flung it into the corner of the room. "and that is that," he said, with a different manner. "so now as man to man, as from one gentleman to another, hear my voice. you are a gentleman of high degree, and you are king also of half this globe, named, and glad to be named his most catholic majesty. of your kingship i am not at this moment aware. i am not royal. but as a gentleman and a christian, i tell you to your face that you are low and vile. you deceive a wife that loveth you. you take maidens to force them to your will. if you were a simple gentleman i would kill you where you stood. no! if thou wert a simple gentleman, i would not cross swords with thee, because thou art unworthy of my sword. i would tell my man here to slit thee and have done. but as thou art a king"--he spat upon the floor in his disgust--"and i am sworn to thee, i cannot punish thee as i would, thou son of hell, thou very scurvy, lying, and most dirty knave." the king's face was a dead white now. he lifted his hands and beat with them upon his breast. "_mea culpa! mea culpa!_ what have i done that i should endure this?" "what no king should ever do, what no gentleman could ever do." the king's hands dropped to his side. "i am wearing no sword," he said quietly, "as you see, señor, but doubtless you will provide me with one. if you will meet me here and now, as a simple gentleman, then i give you licence to kill me. i will defend myself as best i am able." johnnie hesitated, irresolutely. all the training of his life was up in arms with the wishes and the emotions of the moment--until he heard the voice of common sense. john hull broke in. the man had not understood one word of the spanish, but he had realised its meaning, and the keen, untutored intelligence, focused upon the flying minutes, saw very clearly into the future. "master," he said, "cannot ye see that all this is but chivalry and etiquette of courts? cannot ye see that if ye kill his highness, england will not be big enough to hide thee? cannot ye see, also, that if thou dost not kill him, but let him go, england will not be big enough to hide thee either? master, we must settle this business with speed, and get far away before the hue and cry, for i tell thee, that this bloody night's work will bring thee, and mistress elizabeth, and myself to the rack and worse torture, to the stake, and worse than that. haste! speed! we must be gone. there is but one thing to be done." "and what is that, john hull?" "why, thou art lost in a dream, master! to tie up his highness so that he cannot move or speak for several hours. to send that spaniard which is his man, away from the door outside, and then to fly from this accursed house, you, i, and the little mistress, and hide ourselves, if god will let us, from the wrath to come." the quick, decisive words were so absolutely true, so utterly unanswerable, that johnnie nodded, though he shuddered as he did so. upon that, john hull strode up to the king. "put your hands behind you, sire," he said. the king was wearing a dagger in his belt. as hull came up to him, his face was transfixed with fury. he drew it out and lunged at the man's heart. hull was standing a little obliquely to the blow, the dagger glanced upon his leather surcoat, cut a long groove, and glanced harmlessly away. with that, hull raised his great brown fist and smote king philip in the face, driving him to the floor. he was on him in a moment, crouching over him with one hand upon the royal throat. "quick, master; quick, master! quick, master! bonds! bonds! we must e'en truss him up, as we did her ladyship below." it was done. the king was tied and bound. it was done as gently as possible, and they did not gag him. together they laid him upon the floor. slow, half-strangled, and venomous words came, came in gouts of poisonous sound, which made the sweet spanish hideous.... "the whole world, mr. commendone, will not be wide enough to hide you, your paramour, and this villain from my vengeance." johnnie would have heard anything but that one word--that shameful word. at the word "paramour," hardly knowing what he did, he lifted his hand and struck the bound and helpless king upon the face. a timepiece from the next room beat. it was one o'clock in the morning. johnnie turned to elizabeth. "come, sweetheart," he said, in a hurried, agitated voice, "come away from this place." he took her by the arm, half leading, half supporting her, and together they passed out of the room, without so much as a backward glance at the bound figure upon the floor. as they went through the broken doorway in the ante-room, john hull pressed after them, and walked on the other side of elizabeth, talking to her quickly in a cheery voice. as he looked over the girl's head at his servant, johnnie knew what hull was doing. he was hiding the corpse of sir john shelton from the girl's view. they came into the corridor, and descended the stairs. just as they were about to open the door in the arras, hull stopped them upon the lowest step. "i will go first, master," he said, and again johnnie realised what was meant. when a few seconds afterwards, he and elizabeth entered the tapestry-hung room; the great pile of cushions upon the left-hand side was a little higher, but that was all. the girl raised her hands to her throat. "oh," she said, "johnnie, thank god you came! i cannot bear it. take me home, take me home now, to mr. cressemer and aunt catherine." johnnie took her hands in his own, holding her very firmly by the wrists, and looked full into her face. "dear," he said, "you cannot go to mr. cressemer's. you know nothing of what has happened this night. you do not realise anything at all. will you trust in me?" "yes," she faltered, though her eyes were firm. "then, if you do that, and if god helps us," he said, with a gasp in his throat, "we may yet win to safety and life, though i doubt it. sweetheart, it is right that i should tell you that man upstairs in the room is the king consort, husband of her grace the queen." the girl gave a loud, startled cry, and instantly commendone saw comprehension flash into her face. "sit here," he said to her, putting a chair for her. then he turned. behind the ebony table, motionless, vast, and purple in the face, was the great mummy of the procuress. "what shall we do?" he said to hull. "the first thing, master, is to send the spanish valet away; that you must do, and therein lies our chance." johnnie nodded. he passed out into the passage, went to the front door, pulled aside three huge bolts which worked with a lever very silently, for they were all oiled, and let in a puff of fresh wind from the street. for a moment he could see nothing in the dark. he called in spanish: "torromé, torromé, where are you? come here at once." he had hardly done so when the cloaked figure of the valet came out from behind a buttress. "ah, señor," he said, "i am perished with this cold wind. his highness is ready, then?" johnnie shook his head. "no," he answered, "his highness and sir john are still engaged, but i am sent to tell you that you may go home. i and my man will attend his highness to the tower, but we shall not come until dawn. go you back to the king's lodging, and if his highness doth not come in due time, keep all inquiries at bay. he will be sick--you understand?" torromé nodded. "then get you to horse, leave his highness's horse with ours, and speed back to the tower as soon as may be." commendone waited until the man had mounted, very glad to be relieved of his long waiting, and was trotting towards london bridge. then he closed the door, pulled the lever, and went back into the red, scented room. he saw that hull had cut the strips of red velvet that bound madame la motte, the gag was taken from her mouth, and he was holding a goblet of wine to the thick, swollen, and bleeding lips. there was a long deep sigh and gurgle. the woman shuddered, gasped again, and then some light and understanding came into her eyes, and she stared out in front of her. "what are we to do?" johnnie asked his servant once more. "what have ye done, masters?" came in a dry whisper from the old woman--it was like the noise a man makes walking through parched grass in summer. "what have ye done, masters?" hull answered: "we have killed your servitor, as ye saw," he said, with a half glance towards the piled cushions against the wall. "sir john shelton is dead also; mr. commendone killed him in fair fight." "and the king, the king?"--the whisper was dreadful in its anxiety and fear. "he lieth bound in that room of shame where you took my lady." there was silence for a moment, and the old woman glanced backwards and forwards at hull and commendone. what she read in their faces terrified her, and again she shook horribly. "sir," she said to commendone, "if this be my last hour, then so mote it be, but i swear that i knew nothing. i was told at high noon yesterday that a girl was to be sent here, that sir john and the valet of his highness would bring her. i knew, and know nothing of who she is. i did but do as i have always done in my trade. and, messieurs, it was the king's command. now ye have come, and there is the lady unharmed, please god." "please god!" johnnie said brutally. "you hag of hell, who are you to use that name?" the fat, artificially whitened hands, with their glittering rings fell upon the table with a dull thud. "who am i, indeed?" she said. "you may well ask that, but i tell you others of my women received this lady. i have not seen her until now." "indeed she hath not," came in a low, startled voice from elizabeth. "sir," la motte went on, "i see now that this is the end of my sinful life. kill me an ye wish, i care not, for i am dead already, and so also are you, and the young mistress there, and your man too." "what mean you?" johnnie said. "what mean i? why, upstairs lieth the king, bound. we all have two or three miserable hours, and then we shall be found, and what we shall endure will pass the bitterness of death before death comes. that, messieurs, you know very well. "so what matters it," she continued, her extraordinary vitality overcoming everything, her voice growing stronger each moment, "what matters it! let us drink wine one to the other, to death! in this house of death, in this house to which worse than death cometh apace." she reached out for the flagon of wine before her with a cackle of laughter. it was too true. commendone knew it well. he looked at hull, and together they both looked at elizabeth taylor. the girl, in the long white robe which they had put on her, rose from her seat and came between them, tall, slim, and now composed. she put one hand upon johnnie's shoulder and laid the other with an affectionate gesture upon hull's arm. "look you," she said, "mr. commendone, and you, john hull, my father's friend, what matters it at all? i see now all that hath passed. there is no hope for us, none at all. therefore let us praise god, pray to him, and die. we shall soon be with my father in heaven; and, sure, he seeth all this, and is waiting for us." john hull's face was knitted into thought. he hardly seemed to hear the girl's voice at all. "mistress lizzie," he said, almost peevishly, "pr'ythee be silent a moment. master, look you. 'tis this way. they will come again and find his highness when he returneth not to the tower, but he will dare do nothing against us openly for fear of the queen's grace. were it known that he had come to such a stew as this, the queen would ne'er give him her confidence again. she would ne'er forgive him. doubtless the vengeance will pursue us, but it cannot be put in motion for some hours until the king is rescued, and has had time to confer with his familiars and think out a plan. after that, when they catch us, nothing will avail us, because nothing we can say will be believed. but we are not caught yet." johnnie, who for the last few moments had been quite without hope, looked up quickly at his servant's words. "you are right," he said, "in what you say; there speaketh good sense. very well, then we must get away at once. but where shall we go? if we go to his worship's house, we shall soon be discovered, and bring his worship and mistress catherine with us to the rack and stake. if we go to my father's house in kent, he will not be able to hide us; it will be the first place to which they will look." he spread his arms out in a gesture of despair. "you see," he said, "we in this room to-night have no refuge nor harbour. for a few hours, a day it may be, we can lie lost from vengeance. but after that no earthly power can save us. we have done the thing for which there is no pardon." "i don't like, master, to wait for death in this way," hull answered. "but art wiser than i, and so it must be. but pr'ythee let us have a little course. the hounds may come, but let us run before them, and then, if death is at the end of it, well--well, there's an end on't; and so say i." there was a voice behind them, a voice speaking in broken but fluent english. "you have broken into my house, you have killed my servant, you have prevented me from calling for help from you, a king lies bound in my upper chamber, _v'là_! and now you go to run a little course, to scurry hither and thither before the dogs are at your throats. you are all prepared to die. i also am ready to die if it must be so, but it need not be so if you will listen to me." "what mean you?" johnnie said. as he spoke he saw, with a mingling of surprise and disgust, that the big painted face of madame la motte was full of animation and excitement. she seemed as if the events of the last hour had but stirred her to endeavour, had given a fillip to her sluggish life. more astonishing than all, she rose from her chair, gathering together her vast, unwieldy bulk, came round from behind the table, and joined their conference almost with vivacity. "_tiens_," she said, "there are other countries than this. an army beaten in an engagement is not always routed. retreat is possible within friendly frontiers." the horrible old creature had such a strength and personality about her that, with her blood-stained mouth, her great panting body, her trembling jewelled hands, she yet in that moment dominated them all. "there is one last chance. at dawn--and dawn is near by--the ship _st. iago_ sails from the thames for foreign parts. the master of the ship, clark, is"--she lowered her voice and spoke only to commendone--"is a client of mine here. he is much indebted to me in many ways, and ere day breaks we may all be aboard of her and sailing away. what is't to be, messieurs?" they all looked at each other for a moment in silence. then elizabeth put her arms round the old woman's neck and kissed her. "madame," she said, "surely god put this into your heart to save us all. i will come with you, and johnnie will come, and good john hull withal, and so we may escape and live." the old frenchwoman patted the slim girl upon the back. "_bien, chérie_," she said, "that's a thing done. i will look after you and be a mother to you, and so we will all be happy." commendone and his servant looked on in amazement. at this dreadful hour, in this moment of extremest peril, the wicked old woman seemed to take charge of them all. she did not seem wicked now, only genial and competent, though there was a tremor of fear in her voice and her movements were hurried and decisive. "jean-marie," she called suddenly, and then, "phut! i forgot. it is under the cushions. well, we must even do without a messenger. have you money, master commendone?" johnnie shook his head. "not here." "_mais, mon dieu!_ i have a plenty," she answered, "which is good for all of us. wait you here." she hurried away, and went up the stair towards the rooms above. "shall i follow her, master?" hull said, his hand upon his dagger. johnnie shook his head. "no," he answered, "she is in our boat. she must sink or swim with us." they waited there for five or ten minutes, hearing the heavy noise of madame's progress above their heads. they waited there, and as they did so the room seemed to become cold, their blood ran slowly within them, the three grouped themselves close together as if for mutual warmth and consolation. then they heard a high-pitched voice at the top of the stairs. "send your man up, monsieur, send your man up. i have no strength to lift this bag." at a nod from johnnie, hull ran up the stairs. in a moment more he came down, staggering under the burden of a great leather wallet slung over his shoulder, and was followed by madame la motte, now covered in a fur cloak and hood. she held another on her arm. "put it on, put it on," she said to elizabeth, "quickly. we must get out of this. the dawn comes, the wind freshens, we have but an hour." and then in the ghostly dawn the four people left the house of shame, left it with the red door open to the winds, and hurried away towards the river. none of them spoke. the old dame in her fur robe shuffled on with extraordinary vitality, past straggling houses, past inns from which nautical signs were hung, for a quarter of a mile towards the mud-marsh which fringed the pool of thames. she walked down a causeway of stones, sunk in the mud and gravel, to the edge of the water. it was now high tide and the four came out in the grey light upon a little stone quay where some sheds were set. in front of one of them, heavily covered with tar, a lantern was still burning, wan and yellow in the coming light of day. madame la motte kicked at the door of this shed with her high-heeled shoe. there was no response. she opened the door, burst into a stuffy, foetid place where two men were lying upon coils of rope. she stirred them with her foot, but they were in heavy sleep, and only groaned and snored in answer. "i'll wake them, madame," johnnie said, "i'll stir them up," his voice full of that thin, high note which comes to those who feel themselves hunted. he clapped his hand to his side to find his sword; his fingers touched an empty scabbard. then he remembered. "i am swordless," he cried, forgetting everything else as he realised it. behind him there was a thud and a clanking, as john hull dropped the leathern bag he held. "say not so, master," he said, and held out to the young man a sword in a scabbard of crimson leather, its hilt of gold wire, its guard set with emeralds and rubies, the belt which hung down on either side of the blade, of polished leather studded with little stars and bosses of gold. "what is this?" "look you, sir, as we passed out of madame's room, i saw this sword leaning in a corner of the wall by the door. his highness had left it there, doubtless, ere he went upstairs. 'so,' says i to myself, 'this is true spoil of war, and in especial for my master!'" johnnie took the sword, looked at it for a moment, and then unbuttoned his own belt and girded it on. "so shall it be for a remembrance to me," he said, "for now and always." but he did not need to use it. madame's exertions had been sufficient. her shrill, angry voice had wakened the watermen. they rose to their feet, wiped their eyes, and, seeing persons of quality before them, they hastened down the little hard and embarked the company in their wherry. then they pulled out into the stream. the tide was running fast and free towards the nore, but they made for a large ship of quite six hundred tons, which was at anchor in mid-stream. when they came up to it, and caught the hanging ladder upon the quarter with a boat-hook, the deck was already busy with seamen in red caps, and a tarry, bearded old salt, his head tied up in a woollen cloth, was standing on the high poop, and cursing the men below. madame la motte saw him first. she put two fat fingers in her mouth and gave a long whistle, like a street boy. the captain looked round him, up into the rigging where the sailors were already busy upon the yards, looked to his right, looked to his left, and then straight down from the poop upon the starboard quarter, and saw madame la motte. he stumbled down the steps on to the main deck, and peered over the bulwarks. "mother of god!" he cried, "and what's this, so early in the morning?" the old frenchwoman shrieked up at him in her broken english. "_tiens! tiens!_ send your men to help us up, captain clark. thou art not awake. do as i tell you." the captain rubbed his eyes again, called out some orders, and in a moment or two johnnie had mounted the ladder, and stood upon the deck. "now the ladies," he said in a quick, authoritative voice. elizabeth came up to the side, and then it was the question of madame la motte. john hull stood in the tossing, heaving wherry, and gave the woman her first impetus. she clawed the side ropes, cursing and spitting like a cat as she did so, mounting the low waist of the ship like a great black slug. as soon as she got within arm's length of the captain and a couple of sailors, they caught her and heaved her on board as if she had been a sack, and within ten seconds afterwards john hull, with the leather bag over his shoulder, stood on the deck beside them. johnnie felt in his pocket and found some coins there. he flung them over to the watermen, and they fell in the centre of the boat as it sheered off. mr. clark, captain of the _st. iago_, was now very wide awake. "i will thank ye, madame," he said, "to explain your boarding of my ship with your friends." the quick-witted frenchwoman went up to him, put her fat arms round his neck, pulled his head down, and spoke in his ear for a minute. when she had finished the captain raised his head, scratched his ear, and looked doubtfully at commendone, elizabeth, and john hull. "well," he said, in a thick voice, "since you say it, i suppose i must, though there is little accommodation on board for the likes of you. you pay your passage, madame, i suppose?" "phut! i will make you rich." the captain's eyes contracted with leery cunning. "there is more in this than meets mine eye--that ye should be so eager to leave london. what have ye done, that is what i would like to know? i must inquire into this, though we are due to sail. i must send a man ashore to speak with the sheriff----" "the sheriff! and where would any of your dirty sailors find the sheriff at this hour of the morning? you'll lose the tide, master clark, and you'll lose your money, too." the captain scratched his head again. "natheless, i am not sure," he began. then johnnie stepped forward. "captain clark?" he said, in short, quick accents of authority. "that am i," said the captain. "very good. then you will take these ladies and bestow them as well as you are able, and you will set sail at once. this ship, i believe, belongs to his worship the alderman, master robert cressemer?" the captain touched his forehead. "yes, sir, indeed she does," he answered, in a very different voice. johnnie, from where he had been standing, had looked down into the waist, and had seen the great bags of wool with the alderman's trade-mark upon them. "very well," he said, "you'll heave anchor at once, and this is my warrant." he put his hand into his doublet and pulled out the alderman's letter. he showed him the last paragraph of it. it was enough. "i crave your pardon, master," the captain said. "i did not know that you came from his worship. that old moll, i was ready to oblige her, though it seemed a queer thing her coming aboard just as we were setting sail. why did you not speak at first, sir? well, all is right. the wind is favourable, and off we go." turning away from johnnie, he rushed up to the poop again, put his hand to his mouth, and bellowed out a crescendo of orders. the yards swarmed with men, there was a "heave ho and a rumbelow," a clanking of the winch as the anchor came up, a flapping of unfurled topsails at the three square-rigged masts, and in five minutes more the _st. iago_ began to move down the river. johnnie walked along the open planking of the waist, mounted to the poop, and heard the "lap, lap" and ripple of the river waves against the rudder. he turned and saw not far away to his left the white tower growing momentarily more distinct and clear in the dawn. the whole of the palace and citadel was clear to view, the two flags of england and spain were just hoisted, running out before the breeze. to his left, as he turned right round, were huddled houses at the southern end of london bridge. in one of them, empty, lit and blown through by the morning winds, his most catholic majesty was lying, silent and helpless. he turned again, looked forward, and took in a great breath of the salt air. the cordage began to creak, the sails to belly out, the hoarse voice of the pilot by johnnie's side to call directions. presently sheppey island came into view, and the sky above it was all streaked with the promise of daylight. regardless of captain clark and two other men, who were busied coiling ropes and making the poop ship-shape for the channel, johnnie fell upon his knees, brought the cross-belt of the king's sword to his lips, and thanked god that he was away with his love. chapter viii "why, who but you, johnnie!" three weeks and two days had passed, and the _st. iago_ was off lisbon, and at anchor. the sun beat down upon the decks, the pitch bubbled in the seams, but now and then a cool breeze came off the land. the city with its long white terraces of houses shimmered in a haze of heat, but on the west side of the valley in which the city lay, the florid gothic of the great church of st. jerome, built just five-and-fifty years before, was perfectly clear-cut against the sapphire sky--burnt into a vast enamel of blue, it seemed; bright grey upon blue, with here and there a twinkling spot of gold crowning the towers. twenty-three days the ship had taken to cut through the long oily atlantic swell and come to port. there had been no rough winds in the bay, no tempests such as make it terrible for mariners at other times of the year. * * * * * when they had arrived on board, and the ship had got out of the thames, none of the four fugitives had the slightest idea as to where they were going--madame la motte least of all. the relief at their escape had been too great; strangely enough, they had not even enquired. the old frenchwoman, as soon as the ship was under way, and captain clark could attend to her, had gone below with him for half an hour; while johnnie, hull, and elizabeth remained upon the poop. when la motte returned, the captain was smiling. there was a genial twinkle in his eye. he came up to the others in a very friendly fashion. "s'death," he said, "i am in luck's way. here you are, master commendone, that are my owner's friend and bear a letter from him; and here is mistress la motte, whom i have known long agone. by carrying ye to cadiz i shall be earning the alderman's gratitude, and also good red coins of the mint, which madame hath now paid me." "cadiz?" johnnie said. "cadiz in spain?" "that fair city and none other," the captain answered. "heaven favouring us, we shall bowl along to the city of wine, of fruit, and of fish. you shall sip the sherries of jerez and san lucar, and eke taste the soup of lobsters--langosta, they call it--and _bouillabaisse_ in the southern parts of france--upon the island of san leon, where the folk do go upon a sunday for that refection. but now come you down below and see to your quarters. i have given up my cabin to the ladies, and you, sir," he turned to johnnie, "must turn in with me, to which end i have commandeered the cabin of master mew, that is my chief officer, and a merry fellow from the isle of wight, who will sing you a right good catch of an evening, i'll warrant. and as for this your servant, the bo'son will look to him, and he will not be among the men." they had gone below, and everything was arranged accordingly. the quarters were more comfortable than commendone had expected, and as far as this part of the expedition was concerned all was well. nevertheless, as johnnie came up again upon the poop with the captain, he was in great perturbation. they were sailing to spain! to the very country which was ruled by the man he had so evilly entreated. might it not well be that, escaping scylla, they were sailing into the whirlpool of charybdis? the captain seemed to divine something of the young man's thoughts. he sat down upon a coil of rope and looked upward with a shrewd and weather-beaten eye. "look you here, master," he said. "why you came aboard my ship i know not. you caught me as i was weighing anchor. thou art a gentleman of condition, and yet you come aboard with no mails, and nothing but that in which you stand up. and you come aboard in company with that old moll of flanders, la motte--no fit company for a gentleman upon a voyage. and furthermore, you have with you a young and well-looking lady, who also hath no baggage with her. i tell you truly that i would not have shipped you all had it not been for the letter of his worship the alderman--whose hand of write i know very well upon bills of lading and such. i like the look of you, and as madame there has paid me well, 'tis no business of mine what you are doing or have done. but look you here, if that pretty young mistress is being forced to come with you against her will--and what else can i think when i see her in the company of old moll?--then i will be a party to nothing of the sort. i am not a married man, not regular church-sworn, that is, though i have a woman friend or two in this port or that. and moreover, i have been oft-times to visit the house with the red door. so you'll see i am no puritan. but at the same time i will be no help to the ravishing of maids of gentle blood, and that i ask you well to believe, master." johnnie heard him patiently to the end. "let me tell you this, captain," he said, "that in what i am doing there is no harm of any sort. mistress taylor, which is the name of the younger lady, is the ward of mr. robert cressemer. the alderman is my very good friend. my father, sir henry commendone, of commendone in kent, is his constant friend and correspondent. the young lady was taken away yesterday from her guardian's care, taken in secret by some one high about the court--from which i also come, being a gentleman in the following of king philip. late last night, i received a letter from the alderman, telling me of this, upon which i and my servant immediately set out for where we thought to find the stolen lady, in that we might rescue her. she had been taken, shame that it should be said, to the house of madame la motte in duck lane. from there we took her, but in the taking i slew a most unknightly knight of the court, and offered a grave indignity to one placed even more highly than he was. of necessity, therefore, we fled from that ill-famed house. madame la motte brought us to your ship, knowing you. her we had to take with us, for if not, vengeance would doubtless have fallen upon her for what i did. and that, captain clark, is my whole story. as regards the future, madame la motte, you say, hath paid you well. i have no money with me, but i am the son of a rich man, and moreover, i can draw upon mr. cressemer for anything i require. gin you take us safely to cadiz, i will give you such a letter to the alderman as will ensure your promotion in his service, and will also be productive of a sum of money for you. i well know that master cressemer would give a bag of ducats more than you could lift, to secure the safety of mistress taylor." the captain nodded. "hast explained thyself very well, sir," he replied. "as for the money, i am already paid, though if there is more to come, the better i shall be pleased. but now that i know your state and condition, and have heard your story, rest assured that i will do all i can to help you. we touch at lisbon first. there you can purchase proper clothing for yourself and those who are with you, and there also you can indite a letter to the alderman, which will go to him by an english ship very speedily. you have told your tale, and i ask to know no more. i would not know any more, i' faith, even if thou wert to press the knowledge on me. now do not answer me in what i am about to say, which, in brief, is this: we of the riverside have heard talk and rumours. we know very well who hath now and then been a patron of la motte. it may be that you have come across and offered indignity to the person of whom i speak--i am no fool, mr. commendone, and gentlemen of your degree do not generally come aboard a vessel in the tideway at early dawn in company of a mistress of a house with a red door! if what i say is true--and i do not wish you to deny or to affirm upon the same--then you are as well in cadiz as anywhere else. it is, indeed, a far cry from the tower of london, and no one will know who you are in spain." instinctively johnnie held out his hand, and the big seaman clasped it in his brown and tarry fist. "yes," he said slowly, in answer, weighing his words as he did so, "doubtless we shall be safe in spain for a time, until advices can reach us from england with money and reports of what has happened." "i said so," captain clark answered, "and now you see it also. mark you, any vengeance that might fall upon you could only be secret, because--if it is as i think, and, indeed, well believe--the person who has suffered indignity at your hands could not confess to it, for reason of his state, and where it was he suffered it. in spain it would be different, but who's to know that you are in spain--for a long time, at any rate?" "and by that time," johnnie replied, "i shall hope to have gone farther afield, and be out of the fire of any one to hurt me. but there is this, captain, which you must consider, sith you have opened your mind to me as i to you. enquiry will be made; the wharfingers who brought us aboard may be discovered, and will speak. it will be known--at any rate it _may_ be known--that you and your ship were the instruments of our escape. and how will you do then?" "i like you for saying that," said the captain, "seeing that you are, as it were, in my power. but alarm yourself not at all, master commendone." he rose from the coil of hemp where he had been sitting and spat out into the sea. "by'r lady," he cried, "and dost think that an honest british seafaring man fears anything that a rascally, yellow-faced, jelly-gutted lot of spanish toads, that have fastened them on to our fair england, can do? why! as thinking is now, in the city of london, my owner, master cressemer, and three or four others with him, could put such pressure upon whitehall that ne'er a word would be said. it is them that hath the money, and the train bands at their back, that both pay the piper and call the tune in london city." "i'm glad you take it that way, captain," commendone said, "but i felt bound in duty to put your risk before you. yet if it is as you say, and the power of the merchant princes of the city is so great, why do those about the queen burn and throw in prison so many good men for their religion?" "ah, there you have me," said the captain. "religion is a very different thing--a plague to religion, say i--though i would not say it unless i were walking my own deck and upon the high seas. but, look you, religion is very different. they can burn a man for his religion in england, but if he is in otherwise right, according to the powers that be, they cannot make religion a mere excuse for burning him. now i myself am a good catholic mariner"--he put his tongue in his cheek as he spoke--"when i am ashore i take very good care--these days--to be regular at mass. and this ship hath been baptised by a priest withal! make your mind at rest; they cannot touch me in england for taking of you away. there is too much at my back! and they cannot touch me in spain because no one will know anything about it there. and now 'tis time for dinner. so come you down. there's a piece of pickled beef that hath been in the pot this long time, and good green herbs with it too--the want of which you will feel ere ever you make the tagus." * * * * * it is astonishing--although the observation is trite--how soon people adapt themselves to entirely new conditions of life. the environment of yesterday seems like the experience of another life; that of to-day, though we have but just experienced it, becomes already a thing of use and wont. it was thus with the fugitives. they were not three days out from london river before they had shaken down into their places and life had become normal to them all. it was not, of course, without its discomforts. hull, messing with the bo'son, was very well off and speedily became popular with every one. the brightness and cheeriness of the fellow's disposition made him hail and happy met with all of them, while his great personal strength and general handiness detracted nothing from his popularity. madame la motte, wicked old soldier of fortune as she was, adapted herself to her surroundings with true and cynical french philosophy. she, who was used to live in the greatest personal luxury, put up with the rough fare, the confined quarters, with equanimity, though it was fortunate that their passage was smooth, and that all the time the sea was tranquil as a pond. she was accustomed to drink fine french and italian wines--and to drink a great deal of them. now she found, perforce, consolation in captain clark's puncheons of antwerp spirit, the white fiery _schiedam_. she was a drunkard, this engaging lady, and imbibed great quantities of liquor, much to the satisfaction of the captain, who was paid for it in good coin of the realm. the woman never became confused or intoxicated by what she drank. towards the end of the day she became a little sentimental, and was wont to talk overmuch of her good birth, to expatiate upon the fallen glories of her family. nevertheless, no single word escaped her which could shock or enlighten the sensitive purity of the young girl who was now in her charge. there must have been some truth in her stories, because commendone, who was a thoroughly well-bred man, could see that her manners were those of his own class. there was certainly a free-and-easiness, a rakish _bonhomie_, and a caustic wit which was no part of the attributes of the great ladies johnnie had met--always excepting the wit. this side of the old woman came from the depths into which she had descended; but in other essentials she was a lady, and the young man, with his limited experience of life, marvelled at it, and more than once thanked god that things were no worse. it was during this strange voyage that he learnt, or began to learn, that great lesson of _tolerance_, which was to serve him so well in his after life. he realised that there was good even in this unclean old procuress; that she had virtues which some decent women he had known had lacked. she tended elizabeth with a maternal care; the girl clung to her, became fond of her at once, and often said to johnnie how kind the woman was to her and what an affection she inspired. reflecting on these things in the lonely watches of the night, commendone saw his views of life perceptibly changing and becoming softened. this young man, so carefully trained, so highly educated, so exquisitely refined in thought and behaviour, found himself feeling a real friendship and something akin to tenderness for this kindly, battered jetsam of life. she spoke frankly to him about her dreadful trade of the past, regarding it philosophically. there was a demand; fortune or fate had put her in the position of supplying that demand. _il faut vivre_--and there you were! and yet it was a most singular contradiction that this woman, who for so long had exploited and sold womanhood, was now as kind and tender, as scrupulous and loving to elizabeth taylor as if the girl was her own daughter. it was not without great significance, johnnie remembered, that the soul of the canaanitish harlot was the first that christ redeemed. with elizabeth--and surely there was never a stranger courting--johnnie sank at once into the position of her devoted lover. it seemed inevitable. there was no prelude to it; there were no hesitations; it just happened, as if it were a thing pre-ordained. from the very first the girl accepted him as her natural protector; she looked up to him in all things; he became her present and her horizon. it was on one lovely night, when the moon was rising, the winds were soft and low, and the stars came out in the dark sky like golden rain, that he first spoke to her of what was to happen. it was all quite simple, though inexpressibly sweet. they were alone together in the forward part of the ship, and suddenly he took her slim white hand--like a thing of carved and living ivory--and held it close to his heart. "my dear," he said, in a voice tremulous with feeling, "my dear lizzie, you are my love and my lady. when first i saw you outside st. botolph his church, so slim and sorrowful in the grey dawning, my heart was pierced with love for you, and during the sad day that came i vowed that i would devote my life to loving you, and that if god pleased thou shouldst be my little wife. wilt marry me, darling? nay, thou _must_ marry me, for i need you so sore, to be mine for ever both here in this mortal world and afterwards with god and his angels. tell me, sweetheart, wilt marry me?" she looked up in his face, and the little hand upon his heart trembled as she did so. "why, johnnie," she answered at length, "why, johnnie, who could i marry but you?" he gathered the sweet and fragrant simplicity to him; he kissed the soft scarlet mouth, his strong arms were a home for her. "or ever we get to seville," he said, "we will be married, sweetheart, and never will we part from that day." she echoed him. "never part!" she said. "oh, johnnie, my true love; my dear and darling johnnie!" * * * * * at lisbon, where they lay five days, madame la motte and elizabeth went ashore, and purchased suitable clothes and portmanteaux, while johnnie also fitted himself out afresh. madame la motte had brought a very large sum with her in carefully hoarded gold, while she had also carried away all her jewels, which, in themselves, were worth a small fortune. she placed the whole of her money at commendone's disposal, and made him take charge of it, with an airy generosity which much touched the young man. he explained to her that in the course of three months or so any money that he needed would reach him from england, and that she would be repaid, but she hardly seemed to hear him and waved such suggestion away. and it is a most curious thing that not till a long time afterward did it ever occur to the young man how and in what way the money he was using had been earned. the realisation of that was to come to him later; the time was not yet. at lisbon the passengers on board the _st. iago_ were added to. a small yellow-faced spaniard of very pleasant manners--don pedro perez by name--bought a passage to cadiz from captain clark, and there was another fellow of the lower classes, a tall, athletic young man, very much of johnnie's build, though with a heavy and rather cruel face, who also joined the vessel. this person, who paid the captain a small sum to be carried to the great port, lived with the sailors, and interfered nothing with the life of the others. don perez proved himself an amusing companion and was very courteous to the ladies. from him johnnie made many enquiries and learnt a good deal of what he wanted to know. it will be remembered that commendone's mother was a spaniard, a girl of the senebria family of seville. johnnie knew little of his relations on his mother's side, but old sir henry still kept up some slight intercourse with don josé senebria, the brother of his late wife. now and again a cask of wine and some pottles of olives arrived at commendone, and occasionally the knight returned the present, sending out bales of flemish cloth. it was johnnie's purpose to immediately proceed from cadiz to seville after their arrival at the port. he learnt with satisfaction that don josé still inhabited the old family palace by the giralda, and he felt that he would at least be among friends and sure of a welcome. while the _st. iago_ lay at lisbon, two days before she set sail from there, an english ship arrived, and from that time until she weighed anchor johnnie and none of his companions went ashore. it was extremely unlikely that they would incur any danger, for the _queen mary_, which was the name of the ship, must have sailed at very much the same time as they did. it was as well, however, to undergo no unnecessary risks. on the day before the _st. iago_ sailed for cadiz a great spanish galley came up the tagus, a long and splendid ship, gliding swiftly up the river with its two banks of oars. it was the first galley johnnie had ever seen, and he shuddered as he thought of the chained slaves below, who propelled that sort of vessel, which was spoken of in england as a floating hell. the galley lay at lisbon for several hours, and then at evening left the wharf where she had been tied and once more went down the river for the open sea. johnnie was on deck as she passed, just about sunset, and watched with great interest, for the galley crossed the stern of the _st. iago_ only fifty yards away from him. he heard the regular machine-like chunking of the oars; he heard also a sharper, more pistol-like sound, which he knew was none other than the cracking of the overseers' whips, as they flogged the slaves to greater exertions. he did not see that among a little group of people upon the high castellated poop of the galley there was one figure, a tall figure, muffled in a cloak, and with a broad-brimmed spanish hat low upon its face, who started and peered eagerly at him as the ship went by. nor did he hear a low chuckle of amusement which came from that cloaked figure. elizabeth was standing by his side. he turned to her. "let us go below," he said; "they will be bringing supper. sweetheart, i feel sad to think of those wretched men that pull that splendid ship so swiftly through the seas." chapter ix "misericordia et justitia" (_the ironic motto of the spanish inquisition_) they had passed cape de st. vincent, and, under a huge copper-coloured moon which flooded the sea with light and seemed like a chased buckler of old rome, were slipping along towards faro, southwards and eastwards to cadiz. the night was fair, sweet, and golden. the airs which filled the sails of the square-rigged ship were soft and warm. the "lap, lap" of the small waves upon the cutwater was soothing and in harmony with the hour. elizabeth had been sleeping in the cabin long since, but commendone, old madame la motte, and the little weazened don perez were sitting on the forecastle deck together, among the six brass carronades which were mounted there, ready loaded, in case of an attack by the pirates of tangier. "you were going to tell us, señor," johnnie said, "something of the holy office, and why, when you leave seville, you leave spain for ever." don perez nodded. he rose to his feet and peered round the wooden tower of the forecastle, which nearly filled the bow-deck. "there is nobody there," he said, with a little sigh of relief. "that fellow we took aboard at lisbon is down in the waist with the mariners." "but why do you fear him?" johnnie answered in surprise. the little yellow man plucked at his pointed black beard, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke. "have you noticed his hands, señor?" he asked. "since you say so," johnnie replied, with wonder in his voice, "i have noticed them. he is a proper young man of his inches, strong and an athlete, though i like not his face. but his hands are out of all proportion. they are too large, and the thumbs too broad--indeed, i have never seen thumbs like them upon a hand before." don pedro perez nodded significantly. "_ciertamenta_," he answered dryly. "it is hereditary; it comes of his class. he is a sworn torturer of the holy office." johnnie shuddered. they had been speaking in spanish. now he exclaimed in his own tongue. "good god!" he said, "how horrible!" perez grinned sadly and cynically as the moonlight fell upon his yellow face. "you may well start, señor," he said, "but you know little of the land to which you are going yet." there came a sudden, rapid exclamation in french. madame la motte, speaking in that slow, frightened voice which had been hers throughout the voyage, was interposing. "i don't understand," she said, "but i want to hear what the gentleman has to say. he speaks french; let us therefore use that language." don perez bowed. "i am quite agreeable," he said; "but i doubt, madame, that you will care to hear all i was going to tell the señor here." "phut!" said the frenchwoman. "i know more evil things than you or don commendone have ever dreamed of. say what you will." don perez drew a little nearer to the others, squatting down, with his head against the bow-men's tower. "you have asked me about the inquisition, monsieur and madame," he said in a low voice, "and as ye are going to seville, i will tell you, for you have been courteous and kind to me since i left lisbon, and you may as well be warned. i am peculiarly fitted to tell you, because my brother--god and our lady rest his blood-stained soul!--was a notary of the holy office at seville. we are, originally, lisbon people, and my brother was paying a visit to his family, being on leave from his duties. he caught fever and died, and i am bearing back his papers with me to seville, from which city i shall depart as soon as may be. it is only care for my own skin that makes me act thus as executor to my brother, garcia perez. did i not, they would seek me out wherever i might be." "you go in fear, then?" johnnie asked curiously. "all spaniards go in fear," perez answered, "under this reign. it is the horror of the inquisition that while any one may be haled before it on a complaint which is anonymous, hardly any one ever escapes certain penalties. señor," his voice trembled, and a deep note of feeling came into it, "if the fate of that wretch is heavy who, being innocent of heresy, will not confess his guilt, and is therefore tortured until he confesses imaginary guilt, and is then burned to death, hardly less is the misery of the victim who recants or repenteth and is freed from the penalty of death." "_tiens!_" said la motte, shuddering. "i have heard somewhat of this in paris; but continue, monsieur, continue." "no one knows," the little man answered, "how the holy office is striking at the root of all national life in my country. and no one has a better knowledge of it all at second hand--for, thank our lady, i have never yet been suspected or arraigned--than i myself, for my brother being for long notary and secretary to the grand inquisitor of seville, i have heard much. now i must tell you, that the place of torture is generally an underground and very dark room, to which one enters through several doors. there is a tribunal erected in it, where the inquisitor, inspector, and secretary sit. when the candles are lighted, and the person to be tortured is brought in, the executioner, who is waiting for him, makes an astonishing and dreadful appearance. he is covered all over with black linen garments down to his feet and tied close to his body. his head and face are all hidden with a long black cowl, only two little holes being left in it for him to see through. all this is intended to strike the miserable wretch with greater terror in mind and body, when he sees himself going to be tortured by the hands of one who thus looks like the very devil." johnnie moved uneasily in his seat and struck the breech of a carronade with his open hand. "phew! devil's tricks indeed," he said. "whilst," don perez went on, "whilst the officers are getting things ready for the torture, the bishop and inquisitor by themselves, and other men zealous for the faith, endeavour to persuade the person to be tortured freely to confess the truth, and if he will not, they order the officers to strip him, who do it in an instant. "whilst the person to be tortured is stripping, he is persuaded to confess the truth. if he refuses it, he is taken aside by certain men and urged to confess, and told by them that if he confesses he will not be put to death, but only be made to swear that he will not return to the heresy he hath abjured. if he is persuaded neither by threatenings nor promises to confess his crime, he is tortured either more lightly or grievously according as his crime requires, and frequently interrogated during the torture upon those articles for which he is put to it, beginning with the lesser ones, because they think he would sooner confess the lesser matters than the greater." "criminals are racked in england," johnnie said, "and are flogged most grievously, as well they deserve, i do not doubt." perez chuckled. "aye," he said, "that i well know; but you have nothing in england like the holy office. but let me tell you more as to the law of it, for, as i have said, my brother was one of them." he went on in a low regular voice, almost as if he were repeating something learned by rote.... "what think you of this? the inquisitors themselves must interrogate the criminals during their torture, nor can they commit this business to others unless they are engaged in other important affairs, in which case they may depute certain skilful men for the purpose. "although in other nations criminals are publicly tortured, yet in spain it is forbidden by the royal law for any to be present whilst they are torturing, besides the judges, secretaries, and torturers. the inquisitors must also choose proper torturers, born of ancient christians, who must be bound by oath by no means to discover their secrets, nor to report anything that is said. "the judges also shall protest that if the criminal should happen to die under his torture, or by reason of it, or should suffer the loss of any of his limbs, it is not to be imputed to them, but to the criminal himself, who will not plainly confess the truth before he is tortured. "a heretic may not only be interrogated concerning himself, but in general also concerning his companions and accomplices in his crime, his teachers and his disciples, for he ought to discover them, though he be not interrogated; but when he is interrogated concerning them, he is much more obliged to discover them than his accomplices in any other the most grievous crimes. "a person also suspected of heresy and fully convicted may be tortured upon another account, that is, to discover his companions and accomplices in the crime. this must be done when he hesitates, or it is half fully proved, at least, that he was actually present with them, or he hath such companions and accomplices in his crime; for in this case he is not tortured as a criminal, but as a witness. "but he who makes full confession of himself is not tortured upon a different account; whereas if he be a negative he may be tortured upon another account, to discover his accomplices and other heretics though he be full convicted himself, and it be half fully proved that he hath such accomplices. "the reason of the difference in these cases is this, because he who confesses against himself would certainly much rather confess against other heretics if he knew them. but it is otherwise when the criminal is a negative. "while these things are doing, the notary writes everything down in the process, as what tortures were inflicted, concerning what matters the prisoner was interrogated, and what he answered. "if by these tortures they cannot draw from him a confession, they show him other kind of tortures, and tell him he must undergo all of them, unless he confesses the truth. "if neither by these means they can extort the truth, they may, to terrify him and engage him to confess, assign the second or third day to continue, not to repeat, the torture, till he hath undergone all those kinds of them to which he is condemned." "it is bitter cruel," madame la motte said, "bitter cruel. it is not honest torture such as we have in paris." commendone shuddered. "honest torture!" he said. "there is no torture which is honest, nor could be liked by christ our lord. i saw a saint burned to his death a few weeks agone. it taught me a lesson." the little spaniard tittered. "it must be! it must be!" he said; "and who are you and i, señor, to flout the decrees of holy church? the burning doth not last for long. i have seen a many burned upon the quemadero, and twenty minutes is the limit of their suffering. it is not so in the dungeons of the holy office." "what then do they do?" madame la motte asked eagerly, though she trembled as she asked it--morbid excitement alone being able to thrill her vicious, degenerate blood. "the degrees of torture are five, which are inflicted in turn," perez answered briskly. "first, the being threatened to be tortured; secondly, being carried to the place of torture; thirdly, by stripping and binding; fourthly, the being hoisted on the rack; fifthly, squassation. "the stripping is performed without any regard to humanity or honour, not only to men, but to women and virgins, though the most virtuous and chaste, of whom they have sometimes many in their prison at seville. for they cause them to be stripped even to their very shifts, which they afterwards take off, forgive the expression, and then put on them straight linen drawers, and then make their arms naked quite up to their shoulders.--you ask me what is squassation?" nobody had asked him, but he went on: "it is thus performed: the prisoner hath his hands bound behind his back and weights tied to his feet, and then he is drawn up on high till his head reaches the very pulley. he is kept hanging in this manner for some time, that by the greatness of the weight hanging at his feet, all his joints and limbs may be dreadfully stretched, and on a sudden he is let down with a jerk by slacking the rope, but kept from coming quite to the ground, by the which terrible shake his arms and legs are all disjointed, whereby he is put to the most exquisite pain; the shock which he receives by the sudden stop of the fall, and the weight at his feet, stretching his whole body more intently and cruelly." johnnie jumped up from the deck and stretched his arms. "what fiends be these!" he cried. "is there no justice nor true legal process in spain?" "holy church! holy church, señor!" the don replied. "but sit you down again. sith you are going to seville, as i understand you to say, let me tell you what happened to a noble lady of that city, joan bohorquia, the wife of francis varquius, a very eminent man and lord of highuera, and daughter of peter garcia xeresius, a most wealthy citizen. all this i tell you of my personal knowledge, in that my brother was acquainted with it all and part of the machinery of the holy office. and this is a most sad and pitiful story, which, señor englishman, you would think a story of the doings of devils from hell! but no! 'twas all done by the priests of jesus our lord; and so now to my story. "eight days after her delivery they took the child from her, and on the fifteenth shut her close up, and made her undergo the fate of the other prisoners, and began to manage her with their usual arts and rigour. in so dreadful a calamity she had only this comfort, that a certain pious young woman, who was afterwards burned for her religion by the inquisitors, was allowed her for her companion. "this young creature was, on a certain day, carried out to her torture, and being returned from it into her jail, she was so shaken, and had all her limbs so miserably disjointed, that when she laid upon her bed of rushes it rather increased her misery than gave her rest, so that she could not turn herself without most excessive pain. "in this condition, as bohorquia had it not in her power to show her any or but very little outward kindness, she endeavoured to comfort her mind with great tenderness. "the girl had scarce begun to recover from her torture, when bohorquia was carried out to the same exercise, and was tortured with such diabolical cruelty upon the rack, that the rope pierced and cut into the very bones in several places, and in this manner she was brought back to prison, just ready to expire, the blood immediately running out of her mouth in great plenty. undoubtedly they had burst her bowels, insomuch that the eighth day after her torture she died. "and when, after all, they could not procure sufficient evidence to condemn her, though sought after and procured by all their inquisitorial arts, yet as the accused person was born in that place, where they were obliged to give some account of the affair to the people, and, indeed, could not by any means dissemble it, in the first act of triumph appointed her death, they commanded her sentence to be pronounced in these words: 'because this lady died in prison (without doubt suppressing the causes of it), and was found to be innocent upon inspecting and diligently examining her cause, therefore the holy tribunal pronounces her free from all charges brought against her by the fiscal, and absolving her from any further process, doth restore her both as to her innocence and reputation, and commands all her effects, which had been confiscated, to be restored to those to whom they of right belonged, etc.' and thus, after they had murdered her by torture with savage cruelty, they pronounced her innocent!" "i will not go to spain! they'll have me; they're bound to have me! i dare not go!" la motte spluttered. "hush, madame!" said perez. "even here on the high seas you do not know who hears you--there is that man...." again johnnie leapt to his feet; he paced up and down the little portion of the deck between the forecastle and bowsprit. elizabeth was sleeping quietly down below. he had seen her father die. his mind whirled. "jesus!" he said in a low voice, "and is this indeed thy world, when men who love thee must die for a shadow of belief in their worship! surely some savage pagan god would not exact this from his votaries." he swung round to perez, still sitting upon the deck. "and may not we love god and his mother in spain?" he asked, "without definitions and little tiny rules? then, if this is so, god indeed hides his face from christian countries." "_chiton!_" the spaniard said. "hush! if you said that, señor, or anything like it, where you are going, you would not be twelve hours out of the prisons of the holy office. if that hang-faced dog who is down below with the mariners had heard you, you might well look to your landing in the dominions of his most catholic majesty." he laughed, a bitter and cynical laugh. "well," he said, "for my part, i shall soon be done with it. hitherto i have been protected by my brother, who, as i have told you, is but lately dead; but, knowing what i know, i dare no longer remain in spain. 'tis a wonder to me, indeed, that men can go about their business under the sun in the fashion that they do. but i am not strong enough to endure the strain, and also i know more than the ordinary--i know too much. so when i have delivered the papers that i carry of my brother's to the authorities in seville, i sail away. i have enough money to live in ease for the rest of my life, and in some little vineyard of the apeninnes i shall watch my grapes ripen, live a simple life, and meditate upon the ferocity of men.--but you have not heard all yet, señor." johnnie leant against the forecastle, tall and silent in the moonlight. "then tell me more, señor," he said; "it is well to know all. but"--he looked at madame la motte. "_continuez_," the old creature answered in a cracked voice; "i also would hear it all, if, indeed, there is worse than this." "worse!" perez answered. "let me tell you of the fate of a man i knew well, and liked withal. he was a jew, señor, but nevertheless i liked him well. we had dealings together, and i found him more honest in his walking than many a christian man. orobio was his name--isaac orobio, doctor of physic, who was accused to the inquisition as a jew by a certain moor, his servant, who had, by his order, before this been whipped for thieving. orobio conformed to religion, but the moor accused him, and four years after this he was again accused by an enemy of his, for another fact which would have proved him a jew. but orobio obstinately denied that he was one." "i like not jews," commendone said, with a little shudder, voicing the popular hatred of the day. "art young, señor," the spaniard replied, "and doubtless thou hast not known nor been friends with members of that oppressed race. i have known many, and have had sweet friends among them; and among the ebrews are to be found salt of the earth. but i will give you the story of orobio's torture as i had it from his own mouth. "after three whole years which he had been in jail, and several examinations, and the discovery of the crimes to him of which he was accused, in order to his confession and his constant denial of them, he was, at length, carried out of his jail and through several turnings and brought to the place of torture. this was towards evening. "it was a large, underground room, arched, and the walls covered with black hangings. the candlesticks were fastened to the wall, and the whole room enlightened with candles placed in them. at one end of it there was an enclosed place like a closet, where the inquisitor and notary sat at a table--that notary, señor, was my brother. the place seemed to orobio as the very mansion of death, everything appearing so terrible and awful. here the inquisitor again admonished him to confess the truth before his torment began. "when he answered he had told the truth, the inquisitor gravely protested that since he was so obstinate as to suffer the torture, the holy office would be innocent if he should shed his blood, or even expire in his torments. when he had said this, they put a linen garment over orobio's body, and drew it so very close on each side as almost to squeeze him to death. when he was almost dying, they slackened, at once, the sides of the garment, and after he began to breathe again, the sudden alteration put him to most grievous anguish and pain. when he had overcome this torture, the same admonition was repeated, that he would confess the truth in order to prevent further torment. "and as he persisted in his denial, they tied his thumbs so very tightly with small cords as made the extremities of them greatly swell, and caused the blood to spurt out from under his nails. after this, he was placed with his back against the wall and fixed upon a little bench. into the wall were fastened little iron pulleys, through which there were ropes drawn and tied round his body in several places, and especially his arms and legs. the executioner drawing these ropes with great violence, fastened his body with them to the wall, so that his hands and feet, and especially his fingers and toes, being bound so straitly with them, put him to the most exquisite pain, and seemed to him just as though he had been dissolving in flames. in the midst of these torments, the torturer of a sudden drew the bench from under him, so that the miserable wretch hung by the cords without anything to support him, and by the weight of his body drew the knots yet much closer. "after this a new kind of torture succeeded. there was an instrument like a small ladder, made of two upright pieces of wood and five cross ones, sharpened before. this the torturer placed over against him, and by a certain proper motion struck it with great violence against both his shins, so that he received upon each of them, at once, five violent strokes, which put him to such intolerable anguish that he fainted away. after he came to himself they inflicted on him the last torture. "the torturer tied ropes round orobio's wrists, and then put those ropes about his own back, which was covered with leather to prevent his hurting himself. then, falling backwards, and putting his feet up against the wall, he drew them with all his might till they cut through orobio's flesh, even to the very bones; and this torture was repeated thrice, the ropes being tied about his arms, about the distance of two fingers' breadth from his former wound, and drawn with the same violence. "but it happened to poor orobio that as the ropes were drawing the second time they slid into the first wound, which caused so great an effusion of blood that he seemed to be dying. upon this, the physician and surgeon, who are always ready, were sent for out of a neighbouring apartment, to ask their advice, whether the torture could be continued without danger of death, lest the ecclesiastical judges should be guilty of an irregularity if the criminal should die in his torments. "now they, señor, who were very far from being enemies to orobio, answered that he had strength enough to endure the rest of the torture. and by doing this they preserved him from having the torture he had already endured repeated on him, because his sentence was that he should suffer them all at one time, one after another, so that if at any time they are forced to leave off, through fear of death, the tortures, even those already suffered, must be successively inflicted to satisfy the sentence. upon this the torture was repeated the third time, and then was ended. after this orobio was bound up in his own clothes and carried back to his prison, and was scarce healed of his wounds in seventy days, and inasmuch as he made no confession under his torture, he was condemned, not as one convicted, but suspected of judaism, to wear for two whole years the infamous habit called the _sanbenito_, and it was further decreed that after that term he should suffer perpetual banishment from the kingdom of seville." the frenchwoman, who had been listening with strained attention, broke in suddenly. "_nom de dieu!_" she cried; "to be banished from there would surely be like entering into paradise!" perez went on. he took a morbid pleasure in the telling of these hideous truths. it was obvious that he had long suffered mentally under the obsession that some day some such horrors might happen to himself. connected with it all by family ties, absolutely unable to say a word for many years, now, under the sweet skies of heaven, in the calm and splendid night, he was disemburdening himself of that which had been pent within him for so long. he seemed impatient of interruption, anxious to say more.... "ah," he whispered, "but the _tormento di toca_, that is the worst, that would frighten me more than all--that, the _chafing-dish_, and the _water-cure_. the _tormento di toca_ is that the torturer--that fellow down there with the sailors has doubtless performed it full many a time--the torturer throws over the victim's mouth and nostrils a thin cloth, so that he is scarce able to breathe through it, and in the meanwhile a small stream of water, like a thread, not drop by drop, falls from on high upon the mouth of the person lying in this miserable condition, and so easily sinks down the thin cloth to the bottom of his throat, so that there is no possibility of breathing, the mouth being stopped with water, and his nostrils with the cloth, so that the poor wretch is in the same agony as persons ready to die, and breathing out their last. when the cloth is drawn out of his throat, as it often is, that he may answer to the questions, it is all wet with water and blood, and is like pulling his bowels through his mouth." "what is the _chafing-dish_?" madame la motte asked thinly. "they order a large iron chafing-dish full of lighted charcoal to be brought in and held close to the soles of the tortured person's feet, greased over with lard, so that the heat of the fire may more quickly pierce through them. and as for the _water-cure_, it was done to william lithgow, an englishman, señor, upon whom my brother saw it performed. he was taken up as a spy in malaga, and was exposed to most cruel torments as an heretic. he was condemned in the beginning of lent to suffer the night following eleven most cruel torments, and after easter to be carried privately to granada, there to be burned at midnight, and his ashes to be scattered into the air. when night came on his fetters were taken off. then he was stripped naked, put upon his knees, and his head lifted up by force, after which, opening his mouth with iron instruments, they filled his belly with water till it came out of his jaws. then they tied a rope hard about his neck, and in this condition rolled him seven times the whole length of the room, till he almost quite strangled. after this they tied a small cord about both his great toes, and hung him up thereby with his head down, letting him remain in this condition till the water discharged out of his mouth, so that he was laid on the ground as just dead, and had his irons put on him again." "is this true, señor?" commendone asked in a low voice; but even while he asked it he knew how true it was--had he not seen dr. taylor beaten to the stake? "true, señor?" the little man said. "you do not doubt my word? i see you do not. it was but a natural expression. you are fortunate to be a citizen of england--a citizen of no mean country--but still, as i have heard, now that his most catholic majesty is wedded to your kingdom there are many burnings." "at any rate," johnnie answered hotly, "we have no holy office." "aye, but you will, señor, you _will_! if the queen maria liveth long enough, for they tell me she is sickly, and not like to make a goodly age. but still, to come from england is most deadly unwise, and i cannot think why a _caballero_ should care to do so." johnnie did not answer him for a moment. he knew very well why he had cared, or dared, to do so. he looked at madame la motte with a grim little smile. the woman took him on the instant. "a chevalier, such as monsieur here, hath his own reasons for where he goes and what he does," she said. "take not upon you, monsieur perez, to enquire too much...." johnnie stopped her with a sudden exclamation. "but touching the holy office, señor," he said, "what you have told me is all very well. i am a good catholic, i trust and hope; but surely these circumstances are very occasional. you describe things which have doubtless happened, but not things which happen every day. it is impossible to believe that this is a system." "think you so?" said the little man. "then i will very soon disabuse you of any such idea. i have papers in my mails, papers of my brother's, which--why, who comes here?" his voice died away into silence, as round the other side of the wooden tower of the forecastle--with which all big merchantmen were provided in those days for defence against the enterprise of pirates--a black shadow, followed by a short, thick-set form, came into their view. johnnie recognised hull. "i thought you had been asleep," he said, "but thou art very welcome. we are talking of grave matters dealing with the foreign parts to which we go, and the señor don here hath been telling us much. still, thou wouldst not have understood hadst thou been with us, for don perez speaks naught but the spanish and the french." the little spaniard, standing up against the bulwarks, looked uneasily towards commendone and his servant, comprehending nothing of what was said. "this man is safe?" he asked in a trembling voice. "safe!" johnnie answered. "this is my faithful servant, who would die for me and the lady who is sleeping below." a freakish humour possessed him, a bitter, freakish humour, in this fantastic, brilliant moonlight, this ironic comedy upon the southern-growing seas. "take him by the hand, señor," he said in spanish, "take him by his great, strong right hand, for i'll wager you will not easily shake a hand so honest in the dominions of the king of spain to which we sail." the little man looked round him as if in fear. there was an obvious suggestion in his eyes and face that he was somehow trapped. "hold out thy hand, john hull, and shake that of this honest gentleman," johnnie said. the big brown hand of the englishman went out, the little yellow fingers of the spaniard advanced tentatively towards it. they shook hands. johnnie watched it with amusement. these dreadful stories of unthinkable cruelty had stirred up something within him. he was not cruel, but very tender-hearted, yet this little play upon the doubting spaniard was welcome and fitted in with his mood. then he saw an astonishing thing, and one which he could not explain. the two men, the huge, squat john hull of suffolk, the little weazened gentleman from lisbon, shook hands, looked at each other earnestly in the face, and then, wonder of wonders, linked arms, turned their backs upon johnnie and the sleepy old frenchwoman by the carronade, and spoke earnestly to each other for a moment. their forms were silhouetted against the silver sea. there was an inexplicable motion of arms, a word whispered and a word exchanged, and then don perez wheeled round. in the moonlight and the glimmer from the lantern on the forecastle, johnnie saw that his face, which had been twitching with anxiety, was now absolutely at rest. it was radiant even, excited, pleased--it wore the aspect of one alone among enemies who had found a friend. "'tis all right, señor," perez said. "i will go and fetch you the papers of which i spoke. you may command me in any way now. you are not yourself--by any chance...." john hull shook his head violently, and the little spaniard skipped away with a chuckle. "what is this?" john commendone asked. "how have you made quick friends with the don? what is't--art magic, or what?" "'tis nothing, sir," hull answered, with some embarrassment, "'tis but the craft." "the craft?" johnnie asked. "and what may that be?" "we're brethren, this man and i," hull answered; "we're of the freemasons, and that is why, master." johnnie nodded. he said no more. the whole thing was inexplicable to him. he knew, of course, of the freemasons, that such a society existed, but no evidence of it had ever come to his knowledge before this night. the persecution of freemasonry which was to ensue in queen elizabeth's reign was not yet, and the brethren were a very hidden people in 1555. there was a patter of feet upon the ladder leading up to the forecastle-deck. perez appeared again with a bundle of papers in his hand. "now, then, señor," he said, "you shall see if this of which i have told you is a _system_ or is not. these are documents, forms, belonging to my brother's business as notary of the holy office. thus thou wilt see." he handed a piece of parchment, printed parchment, to commendone. johnnie held it up under the light of the lantern, and read it, with a chilling of the blood. it was "the proper form of torture for women," and it was one of many forms left blank for convenience to record the various steps. as he glanced through it, his lips grew dry, his eyes, straining in the half-sufficient light, seemed to burn. there was something peculiarly terrible in the very omission of a special name, and the consequent thought of the number of wretches whose vain words and torments had been recorded upon forms like this--and were yet to be recorded--froze the young man into a still figure of horror and of silence. and this is what he read: "_she was told to tell the truth, or orders would be given to strip her. she said, etc. she was commanded to be stripped naked._ "_she was told to tell the truth, or orders would be given to cut off her hair. she said, etc._ "_orders were given to cut of her hair; and when it was taken off she was examined by the doctor and surgeon, who said there was not any objection to her being put to the torture._ "_she was told to tell the truth or she would be commanded to mount the rack. she said, etc._ "_she was commanded to mount, and she said, etc._ "_she was told to tell the truth, or her body would be bound. she said, etc. she was ordered to be bound._ "_she was told to tell the truth, or, if not, they would order her right foot to be made fast for the trampazo. she said, etc. they commanded it to be made fast._ "_she was told to tell the truth, or they would command her left foot to be made fast for the trampazo. she said, etc. they commanded it to be made fast. she said, etc. it was ordered to be done._ "_she was told to tell the truth, or they would order the binding of the right arm to be stretched. she said, etc. it was commanded to be done. and the same with the left arm. it was ordered to be executed._ "_she was told to tell the truth, or they would order the fleshy part of her right arm to be made fast for the garrote. she said, etc. it was ordered to be made fast._ "_and by the said lord inquisitor, it was repeated to her many times, that she should tell the truth, and not let herself be brought into so great torment; and the physician and surgeon were called in, who said, etc. and the criminal, etc. and orders were given to make it fast._ "_she was told to tell the truth, or they would order the first turn of mancuerda. she said, etc. it was commanded to be done._ "_she was told to tell the truth, or they would command the garrote to be applied again to the right arm. she said, etc. it was ordered to be done._ "_she was told to tell the truth, or they would order the second turn of mancuerda. she said, etc. it was commanded to be done._ "_she was told to tell the truth, or they would order the garrote to be applied again to the left arm. she said, etc. it was ordered to be done._ "_she was told to tell the truth, or they would order the third turn of mancuerda. she said, etc. it was commanded to be done._ "_she was told to tell the truth, or they would order the trampazo to be laid on the right foot. she said, etc. it was commanded to be done._ "_for women you do not go beyond this._" johnnie finished his reading. then he tore it up into four pieces and flung it out upon the starboard bow. the yellow parchment fluttered over madame la motte's head like great moonlit moths. then he turned and stared at don pedro, almost as if he would have sprung at him. "'tis nothing of mine, señor," the little man said. "you asked me to tell you, and that i have done. i am no enemy of yours, so look not at me in that way. here"--he put his hand out and touched john hull--"here i have a very worthy brother, eke a master of mine, who will answer for me in all that i do." the old frenchwoman began to gather her vast bulk together to descend into the cabin for sleep. johnnie helped her to her feet, and as he did so a sweet tenor voice shivered out beneath the bellying sails, and there was the thrid of a lute accompanying it: "_i sail, i sail the spanish seas, hey ho, in the sun and the cloud to bring fair ladies wool to cadiz, to deck their bodies that are so proud, in the ship of st. james a mariner i_".... suddenly the voice of the singer ceased, shut off into silence. there was a half-frightened shout, a flapping of the sails as the square-rigged ship fell out of the night wind for a moment, and then a clamour of loud voices. "over the side! over the side! the man from lisbon's gone." johnnie had jumped to the port taffrail at the noise, and he saw what had happened. he saw the whole of it quite distinctly. a long, lithe figure had been balancing itself upon the bulwarks, giving its body to the gentle motion of the ship. suddenly it fell backwards, there was a resounding splash in the quiet sea, and something black was struggling and threshing in a pool of silver water. from the sea came a loud cry--"_socorro! socorro!_" from the time the splash was heard and the cry came up to the forecastle the ship had slipped a hundred yards through the still waters. johnnie jumped up upon the bulwarks, held his hands above his head for a moment, judged his distance--ships were not high out of the water in that day--and dived into the phosphorescent sea. he was lightly clad, and he swam strongly, with the long left-arm overhand stroke--conquering an element with joy in the doing of it--glad to be in wild and furious action, happy to throw off the oppression of the dreadful things which the little spaniard had droned upon the deck. he got up to the man easily enough, circled round him, as he rose splashing for the third time, and caught him under the arm-pits, lying on his back with the other above him. the man began to struggle, trying to turn and grip. johnnie raised his head a little from the water, sinking as he did so, and pulling down the other also, and shouted a spanish curse into his ear. "be quiet," he said; "lie still! if you don't i'll drown you!" commendone was a good swimmer. he had swam and dived in the lake at commendone since he was a boy. he knew now exactly what to do, and his voice, though half-strangled with the salt water, and his grip of the drowning man's arm-pits had their effect. there was a half-choked, "_si, señor_," and in twenty to thirty seconds johnnie lay back in the warm water of the atlantic, knowing that for a few minutes, at any rate, he could support the man he had come to save. it was curious that at this moment he felt no fear or alarm whatever. his whole mind was directed towards one thing--that the man he had dived to rescue would keep still. his mouth and nose were just out of the water, when suddenly there came into his mind the catch of an old song. he heard again the high, delicate notes of the queen's lute--"_time hath to siluer turn'd_...." hardly knowing what he did, he even laughed with pleasure at the memory. as that was heard, a strong, lusty voice came to him. "i'm here, master, i'm here! we shall not be long now. ah--ah-h-h!" hull, blowing like a grampus, had swam up to them. "i'll take him, master," he said; "do you rest for a moment. they'll have us out of this 'fore long." there were no life-belts invented in those days, and to lower a boat from the ship was long in doing. but the _st. iago_ was brought up with all sails standing, the boat at the stern was let down most gingerly into the sea, and four mariners rowed towards the swimming men. it was near twenty minutes before hull and commendone heard the chunk of the oars in the rowlocks. but they heard it at last. the tub-like galley shadowed them, there was a loud cry of welcome and relief, and then the two men, still grasping the inert figure of him who had fallen overboard, caught hold of the stern of the boat. willing hands hauled the half-drowned man into the boat. johnnie and hull clambered over the broad stern, sat down amid-ships, and shook themselves. the moonlight was still extraordinarily powerful, and gave a fallen day to this southern world. as commendone shot the water out of his ears, he looked upon the limp, prone figure of the man he had rescued. "_dame!_" he cried; "it is the torturer that we've been overboard for. pity we didn't let him drown." john hull had turned the figure of the spaniard upon its stomach and was working vigorously at the arms, using them like pump-handles, as the sailors got their oars into the rowlocks again, and pulled back towards the shivering, silver ship near quarter of a mile away. "i'll bring the life back to him, master," said john hull. "he's warm now--there! he's vomited a pint or more of sea-water as i speak." "i doubt he was worth saving," johnnie said in a low voice to his servant's ear. "still, he is saved, and i suppose a man like this hath a soul?" hull looked at commendone in surprise. he knew nothing about the man they had rescued; he could not understand why his master spoke in this way. but with his usual dog-like fidelity he nodded an assent, though he did not cease the pumping motion of the half-drowned man's arms. "perhaps he hath no soul, master," hull said, "you know better than i. at any rate, we have got him out of this here sea, and so praise god who hath given us the sturdiness to do it." commendone looked at his henchman and then at the slowly reviving spaniard. "amen," he said. chapter x the silent men in black "sing to us, johnnie." "_mais oui, chantez, monsieur_," said madame la motte. johnnie took up a chitarrone, the archlute, a large, double-necked spanish instrument, which lay upon a marble table by his side in the courtyard. he looked up into the sky, the painted sunset sky of spain, as if to find some inspiration there. the hum of seville came to them in an almost organ-like harmony. bells were tolling from the cathedral and the innumerable churches; pigeons were wheeling round the domes and spires; occasionally a faint burst of music reached them where they sat. the young man looked gravely at the two women. his face at this moment was singularly tranquil and refined. he was dressed with scrupulous care--the long journey over, his natural habits resumed. he had all the air and grace of a gallant in a court. he bowed to madame la motte and to his sweetheart, smiling gently at them. "by your patience, ladies," he said, "i will make endeavour to improvise for you upon a theme. we have spent this day in seeing beauties such as sure i never thought to see with my mortal eyes. we are in the land of colour, of sweet odours; the balmy smells of nard and cassia are flung about the cedarn alleys where we walk. we have sucked the liquid air in a veritable garden of the hesperides, and, indeed, i looked to see the three fair daughters of hesperus along those crispèd shades and bowers. and we have seen also"--his voice was almost dreaming as he spoke--"the greatest church e'er built to god's glory by the hand of man. 'tis indeed a mountain scooped out, a valley turned upsides. the towers of the abbey church at westminster might walk erect in the middle nave; there are pillars with the girth of towers, and which appear so slender that they make one shudder as they rise from out the ground or depend them from the gloomy roof like stalactites in the cave of a giant." madame la motte nodded, purred, and murmured to herself. the whimsical and studied court language did not now fall upon her ears for the first time. in the fashion of that age all men of culture and position learnt to talk in this fashion upon occasion, with classic allusion and in graceful prose. but to sweet elizabeth it was all new and beautiful, and as she gazed at her lover her eyes were liquid with caressing wonder, her lips curved into a bow of pride at such dear eloquence. johnnie plucked the strings of the chitarrone once or twice, and then, his eyes half closed, began a simple improvisation in a minor key, the while he lifted his voice and began to sing his ballad of evening colours: see! limner phoebus paints the sky vermilion and gold and doth with purple tapestry the waning day enfold. --the royal, lucent, tyrian dye king philip wore in thessaly. the lord of morning now doth keep herald for lady night, whose robes of black and silver sweep before his tabard bright. --all silver-soft and sable-deep, as when she brought endymion sleep! now honey-coloured luna she hath lit her lamp on high; and paleth in her majestie the twin dioscuri. --set in gold-powdered samite, she- queen of the night! queen of the sea! his voice faded away into silence; the mellow tenor ceasing in an imperceptible diminuendo of sound. there was a silence, and then lizzie's hand stole out and touched her lover's. "oh, johnnie," she said, "how gracious! and did those lovely words come into thy head as thou sangst them?" "in truth they did, fairest lady of evening," he answered, bending low over her hand. "and sure 'twas thy dear presence that sent them to me, the musick of thy voice hath breathed a soul into this lute." ... they had arrived safely in seville the night before, spending three days upon the journey from cadiz, but travelling in very pleasant and easy fashion. mr. mew, the mate of the _st. iago_, had business in the city, and while the vessel was discharging its cargo at cadiz he went up to seville and took the four travellers with him on board an _alijador_--a long barge with quarters for passengers, and a hold for cargo, which was propelled partly by oars in the narrower reaches of the river, but principally by a large lug sail. don perez had remained in cadiz, but the tall and sinister young fellow whom hull and johnnie had rescued from the atlantic came in the barge also. the fugitives from england had little to say to him, knowing what he was. alonso--which was the man's name--had been profuse in his gratitude. his profuseness, however, had been mingled with a continuous astonishment, a brutish wonder which was quite inexplicable to elizabeth. "he seemeth," she said once to her esquire, "to think as if such a deed of daring as thou didst in thy kindness for a fellow-creature in peril hath never been known in the world before!" madame la motte and commendone, however, had said nothing. they knew very well why this poor wretch, who gained his food by such a hideous calling, was amazed at his rescue. they said nothing to the girl, however, dreading that she should ever have an inkling of what the man was. on the voyage to seville, a happy, lazy time under the bright sun, johnnie could not quite understand an obvious friendship and liking which seemed to have sprung up between alonso and mr. mew, who spoke spanish very adequately. "i cannot understand," he said upon one occasion to the sturdy man from the isle of wight, "i cannot understand, sir, how you that are an english mariner can talk and consort with this tool of hell." mr. mew looked at him with a dry smile. "and yet, master," he said in the true hampshire idiom and drawl, "bless your heart, you jumped overboard for this same man!" "the case is different," johnnie said; "'twas a fellow-creature, and i did as behoved me. but that is no reason to be friendly with such a wretch." "look you, master commendone," said mr. mew, "every man to his trade. i would burn both hands, myself, before i'd live by sworn torturing. but, then, 'tis not my trade. this man's father and his brother have been doing of it almost since birth, and they do it--and sure, a good catholic like yourself," here he smiled dryly, "cannot but remember that 'tis done under the shield and order of holy church! the damned old pope hath ordered it." johnnie crossed himself. "the sovereign pontiff," he said, "hath established the holy office for punishment of heretics. but the punishment is light and without harshness in the states of his holiness. in spain 'tis a matter very different. it was under the holy father innocent iv that this tribunal was created, and the holy office in spain differed in no wise from the comparatively innocuous----" "what is that, master? that word?" "it meaneth 'harmless,' master mew. what was i saying? oh, that it differed nothing at all in spain from the harmless council which was to detect heresy and reprove it. but during the reign of our good king edward iv the holy office was changed in spain. the ebrews were plotting, or said to be plotting, against the realm, and they had come to much wealth and power. pope sixtus made many protests, but the right of appointing inquisitors and directing the operation of the holy office in spain was reserved to the spanish crown. and from this date, master mew, holy church at any rate hath disclaimed to be responsible for it. that was then and is now the true feeling of rome. 'tis true that in spain the church tolerates the inquisition, but its blood-stained acts are from the crown and such priests as are ministers of the crown." father chilches had taught johnnie his history, truly enough. but it seemed to make very little impression upon the mate. "art a gentleman," he said, "and know doubtless more than i, but such peddling with words and splicing of facts are not to my mind. the damned old pope say i, and always shall, when it's safe to speak! but the pith of our talk, master commendone, was that you would not have me give comradeship with this alonso. i see not your point of view. he is of his time and must do his duty." the mate snapped a tarry thumb and finger with a tolerant smile. "you've saved him, so that he may go on with his torturin'," he said, "and i like to talk with him because i find him a good fellow, and that is all about it, master commendone." johnnie had not got much small change from his conference with the mate, but when they arrived at seville, he saw him and the man called alonso no more, and his mind was directed upon very other things. they arrived at the city late at night, and their mails were taken to the great inn of seville known as the posada de las muñecas, or house of puppets, so called from the fact that in days gone by, at the great annual seville fair, a famous performance of marionettes had taken place in front of it. the posada was an old moorish palace, as beautiful under the sunlight as an oriental song, and when they rose in the morning and johnnie had despatched a serving-man to find if don josé senebria was in residence, he and his companions wakened to the realisation of a loveliness of which they had never dreamed. the sky was like a great hollow turquoise; the sun beat down upon the pearl of andalusia with limpid glory, and played perpetually upon the white and painted walls. the orange trees, only introduced into spain some five-and-twenty years before from asia, were globed with their golden fruit among the dark, jade-like leaves of polished green; feathery palms with their mailed trunks rose up to cut the blue, and on every side buildings which glowed like immense jewels were set to greet the unaccustomed northern eye. the posada was a blaze of colour, half moorish, half gothic, fantastic and alluring as a rare dream. johnnie heard early in the morning that don josé would be away for two days, having travelled to his vineyards beyond the old roman village of sancios. the day therefore, and the morrow also, was left to them for sight-seeing. both he and elizabeth had in part forgotten the cloud of distress under which they had left their native land. the child often talked to him of her father, making many half-shy confidences about her happy life at hadley, telling him constantly of that brave and stalwart gentleman. but she now accepted all that had happened with the perfect innocence and trustfulness of youth. upon her white and stainless mind what she had undergone had left but little trace. even now she only half realised her ravishment to the house with the red door, and that madame la motte was not a pattern of kindness, discretion, and fine feeling would never have entered lizzie's simple mind. she was going to be married to johnnie!--it was to be arranged almost at once--and then she knew that there need be no more trouble, no weariness, no further searchings of heart. she and johnnie would be together for ever and ever, and that was all that mattered! indeed, under these bright skies, among the gay, good-humoured, and heedless people of seville, it would have been very difficult for much older and more world-weary people than this young man and maid to be sad or apprehensive. it had all been a feast, a never-ending feast for eye and ear. they had stood before pictures which were world-famous--they had seen that marvellous allegory in pigment, where "a hand holds a pair of scales, in which the sins of the world--set forth by bats, peacocks, serpents, and other emblems--are weighed against the emblems of the passion of christ our lord; and eke in the same frame, which is thought to be the finer composition, death, with a coffin under one arm, is about to extinguish a taper, which lighteth a table besprent with crowns, jewels, and all the gewgaws of this earthly pomp. 'in ictu oculi' are the words which circle the taper's gleaming light, while set upon the ground resteth a coffin open, the corpse within being dimly revealed." they had walked through the long colonnade in the palace of the alcazar, to the baths of maria de padilla, the lovely mistress of pedro the cruel, "at the court of whom it was esteemed a mark of gallantry and loyalty to drink the waters of the bath after that maria had performed her ablutions. upon a day observing that one of his knights refrained from this act of homage, the king questioned him, and elicited the reply, 'i dare not drink of the water, sire, lest, having tasted the sauce, i should covet the partridge.'" all these things they had done together in their love and youth, forgetting all else but the incomparable beauties of art and nature which surrounded them, the music and splendour of love within their hearts. ... a serving-man came through the patio. "_puedo cenar?_" johnnie asked. "_a qué hora es el cenar?_" the man told him that supper was ready then, and together with the ladies johnnie left the courtyard and entered the long _comedor_, or dining-hall, a narrow room with good tapestries upon the walls, and a ceiling decorated with heads of warriors and ladies in carved and painted stucco. it was lit by candle, and supper was spread for the three in the middle of one great table, an oasis of fruit, lights, and flowers. "_este es un vino bueno_," said the waiter who stood there. "it is all good wine in spain," johnnie answered, with a smile, as the man poured out _borgoña_, and another brought them a dish of grilled salmon. they lifted their glasses to each other, and fell to with a good appetite. suddenly johnnie stopped eating. "where is john hull?" he said. "god forgive me, i have not thought of him for hours." "he will be safe enough," madame la motte answered, her mouth full of _salmón asado_. "_mon dieu!_ but this fish is good! fear not, monsieur, thy serving-man can very well take care of himself." "i suppose so," johnnie replied, though with a little uneasiness. "but, johnnie," elizabeth said, "hull told me that he was to be with master mew, the mate of our late ship, to see the town with him, so all will be well." johnnie lifted his goblet of wine; he had never felt more free, careless, and happy in his life. "here," he said, "is to this sweet and hospitable land of spain, whither we have come through long toils and dangers. 'tis our latium, for as the grandest of all poets, vergil yclept, hath it, '_per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum, tendimus in latium, sedes ubi fata quietas ostendunt_.'" "and what may that mean, monsieur?" asked madame la motte, pulling the _botella_ towards her. "my credo, my paternoster, and my ave are all my latin." "it means, madame," johnnie answered, "that we have gone through many troubles and trials, through all sorts of changes in affairs, but we approach towards latium, which the poet meaneth for imperial rome, where the fates will let us live in peace." "in peace!" elizabeth whispered. "aye, sweetheart mine," the young man answered; "we have won to peace at last. thou and i together!" for a moment or two they were all silent, and then the door of the _comedor_ was suddenly opened, not quietly, as for the entrance of a serving-man, but flung open widely and with noise. they all turned and looked towards the archway of the door. in a moment more six or seven people pressed into the room--people dressed in black, people whose feet made no noise upon the floor. ere ever any of them at the table realised what was happening, they found themselves gripped by strong, firm hands, though there was never a word spoken. before he could reach the dagger in his belt--for he was not wearing his sword--johnnie's arms were bound to his side, and he was held fast. it was all done with strange deftness and silence, elizabeth and the frenchwoman being held also, each by two men, though their arms were not bound. johnnie burst out in indignant english, then, remembering where he was, changed to spanish. "in god's name," he cried, "what means this outrage upon peaceable and quiet folk?" his voice was loud and angry, but there was fear in it as he cried out. the answer came from a tall figure which came noiselessly through the door, a figure in a cassock, with a large gold cross hung upon its breast, and followed by two others in the dress of priests. "ah, mr. commendone, we meet again," came in excellent english, as the man removed his broad-brimmed felt hat. "you have come a long way from england, mr. commendone, you and your--friends. but the arm of the king, the hand of the church, which are as the arm of god himself, can stretch swiftly and very far." johnnie's face grew dead white as he heard the well-remembered voice of father diego deza. in a flash he remembered that king philip's confessor and confidential adviser had told him that he was to leave england for spain on the morning of the very day when he had rescued elizabeth from shame. his voice rattled in his throat and came hoarsely through parched lips. he made one effort, though he felt that it was hopeless. "don diego," he said, "i am very glad to see you in spain"--the other gave a nasty little laugh. "don diego," johnnie continued, "i have offended nothing against the laws of england. what means this capture and durance of myself and my companions?" "you are not in england now, mr. commendone," the priest replied; "but you are in the dominion of his most catholic majesty; you are not accused of any crime against the civil law of england or of this country, but i, in my authority as grand inquisitor of the holy office in seville--to do which duty i have now come to spain--arrest you and your companions on charges which will be afterwards disclosed to you. "take them away," he said in spanish to his officers. there was a horrid wail, echoing and re-echoing through the long room and beating upon the ear-drums of all who were there.... madame la motte had heard all that the priest had said in english. she shrieked and shrieked again. "ah-h-h! _c'est vrai alors! l'inquisition! qui lance la mort!_" with extraordinary and sudden strength she twisted herself away from the two sombre figures which held her. she bent forward over the table, snatched up a long knife, gripped the handle firmly with two fat white hands, and plunged it into her breast to the hilt. for quite three seconds she stood upright. her face of horror changed into a wonder, as if she was surprised at what she had done. then she smiled foolishly, like a child who realises that it has made a silly mistake, coughed loudly like a man, and fell in heavy death upon the floor. chapter xi in the box "devant l'inquisition, quand on vient à jubé, si l'on ne soit rôti, l'on soit au moins flambé." it was not light that pressed upon the retina of the eye. there was no vibration to the sensitive lenses. it was a sudden vision not of the eye, but in the memory-cells of the brain which now and then filled the dreadful blackness with a fierce radiance, filled it for an infinitesimal fraction of a second. and then all was dark again. it was not dark with the darkness that ordinary men know. at no time, in all probability, has any man or woman escaped a long sleepless night in a darkened room. the candle is out; the silence begins to nibble at the nerves; there is no sound but the uneasy tossing upon the bed. it seems, one would rather say, that there is no sound save only that made by the sufferer. at such hours comes a dread weariness of life, a restlessness which is but the physical embroidery upon despair. the body itself is at the lowest pitch of its vitality. through the haunted chambers of the mind fantastic thoughts chase each other, and evil things--evil _personalities_ it almost seems--uncoil themselves and erect their heads. but it is not really darkness, not really despair, as people know when the night has gone and dawn begins. nor is it really _silence_. the ear becomes attuned to its environment; a little wind moans round the house. there is the soft patter of falling rain--the distant moaning of the sea. furniture creaks as the temperature changes; there are rustlings, whispers, unexplained noises--the night is indeed full of sound. nor is it really _darkness_, as the mind discovers towards the end of the sick and restless vigil. the eye also is attuned to that which limits and surrounds its potentialities. the blinds are drawn, but still some faint mysterious greyness creeps between them and the window. the room, then, is a real room still! over there is the long mirror which will presently begin to stir and reflect the birth-pangs of light. that squat, black monster, which crouches in the corner of the dark, will grow larger, and become only the wardrobe after all. and soon the air of the chamber will take on a subtle and indefinable change. it will have a new savour, it will tell that far down in the under world the sun is moaning and muttering in the last throes of sleep. the blackness will go. dim, inchoate nothingness will change to wan dove-coloured light, and with the first chirpings of half-awakened birds the casement will show "a slowly glimmering square," and the tortured brain will sink to rest. day has come! there is no longer any need for fear. the nervous pain, more terrible than all, has gone. the heart is calmed, the brain is soothed, utter prostration and despair appears, mercifully, a thing of long ago. some such experience as this all modern men have endured. to john commendone, in the prison of the inquisition where he had been put, no such alleviation came. for him there was no blessed morning; for him the darkness was that awful negation of light--of physical light--and of hope, which is without remedy. he did not know how long it had been since he was caught up suddenly out of the rich room where he was dining with his love--dining among the scent of flowers, with the echo of music in his ears, his whole heart suffused with thankfulness and peace. he did not know how long it had been; he only remembered the hurried progress in a closed carriage from the hotel to the fortress of the triana in the suburbs, which was the prison and assize of the holy office. in all europe in this era prisons were dark, damp holes. they were real graves, full of mould, animal filth, the pest-breeding smells. it was the boast of the inquisition, and even llorente speaks of it, that the prisons were "well-arched, light and dry rooms where the prisoners could make some movement." this was generally true, and commendone had heard of it from don perez. it was not true in his case. he had been taken hurriedly into the prison as night fell, marched silently through interminable courtyards and passage-ways--corridors which slanted downwards, ever downwards--until in a dark stone passage, illuminated only by the torches which were carried by those who conducted him, he had come to a low door, heavily studded with iron. this had been opened with a key. the wards of the lock had shot back with a well-oiled and gentle click. he had bent his head a little as they pushed him into the living tomb--a box of stone five feet square exactly. he was nearly six feet in height; he could not stand erect; he could not stretch himself at full length. the thing was a refinement of the dreadful "little-ease" of the tower of london and many other secular prisons where wretches were tortured for a week before their execution. he had heard of places like them, but he realised that it was not the design of those who had him fast to kill him yet. he knew that he must undergo an infinity of mental and bodily torture ere ever the scarred and trembling soul would be allowed to wing its way from the still, broken body. he was in absolute, complete darkness, buried in a box of stone. the rayless gloom was without any relief whatever; it was the enclosing sable of death itself; a pitchy oblivion that lay upon him like a solid weight, a thing obscene and hopeless. and the silence was a real silence, an utter stillness such as no modern man ever knows--save only the few demoniac prisoners in the _cachot noir_ of the french convict prisons of noumea. once every two days--if there indeed were such things as days and hours in this still hell--the door of the cell was noiselessly opened. there was a dim red glow in the stone corridor without, a pitcher of water, some black bread, and every now and then a few ripe figs, were pushed into the box. then a clang, the oily swish of the bolts, and another eternity of silence. the man's brain did not go. it was too soon for that. he lay a fortnight--ten thousand years it seemed to him--in this box of horror. he was not to die yet. he was not even to lose his mind; of that he was perfectly aware. he was no ordinary prisoner. no usual fate was in store for him; that also he knew. a charge of heresy in his case was absurd. no witnesses could be brought who, speaking truth, could condemn him for heresy. but what don perez had told him was now easily understood. he was in a place where there was no appeal, a situation with no egress. there was not the slightest doubt in his mind that a dreadful vengeance was to be taken upon him for his treatment of the king of spain. the holy office was a royal court provided with ecclesiastical weapons. its familiars had got him in their grip; he was to die the death. as he lay motionless day after day, night after night, in the silence--the hideous silence without light--the walls so close, pressing on him, forbidding him free movement, at every moment seeming as if they would rush together and crush him in this night of erebus, he began to have visitors. sometimes a sulphurous radiance would fill the place. he would see the bowing, mocking figure of king philip, the long yellow face looking down upon him with a malign smile. he would hear a great hoarse voice, and a little woman with a shrivelled face and covered with jewels, would squeak and gibber at him. then, with a clank of armour, and a sudden fresh smell of the fields, sir henry commendone would stand there, with a "how like you this life of the pit, johnnie?" ... "how like you this blackness, my son?" then he would put up his hands and press these grisly phantoms out of the dark. he would press them away with one great effort of the will. they would go, and he remained trembling in the chill, damp negation of light, which was so far more than darkness. he would grope for the pieces of his miserable food, and search the earthen pitcher for water. and all this, these tortures beyond belief, beyond understanding of the ordinary man, were but as soft couches to one who is weary, food to one hungered, water to lips parched in a desert--compared with the deepest, unutterable descent of all. the cold and stinking blackness which held him tight as a fossil in a bed of clay was not the worst. his eyes that saw nothing, his limbs that were shot with cramping pain, his nostrils and stomach that could not endure this uncleaned cage, were a torture beyond thinking. many a time he thought of the mercy of bishop bonner and queen mary--the mercy that let a gentleman ride under the pleasant skies of england to a twenty minutes' death--god! these were pleasant tortures! his own present hopelessness, all that he endured in body--why, dear god! these were but pleasant tortures too, things to bite upon and endure, compared with the satanic horror, the icy dread, the bitter, hopeless tears, when he thought of elizabeth. he had long since ceased praying for himself. it mattered little or nothing what happened to him. that he should be taken out to torture would be a relief, a happiness. he would lie in the rack laughing. they could fill his belly with water, or strain the greasy hempen ropes into his flesh, and still he would laugh and forgive them--dr. taylor had forgiven less than they would do to him, he would forgive more than all for the sake of christ and his maid-mother. how easy that would be! to be given something to endure, to prove himself a man and a christian! but to forgive them for what they might be doing, they might have done, to his dear lady--how could he forgive _that_ to these blood-stained men? through all the icy hours he thought of one thing, until his own pains vanished to nothingness. perchance, and the dreadful uncertainty in his utter impotence and silence swung like a bell in his brain, and cut through his soul like the swinging pendola which they said the familiars of the holy office used, elizabeth had already suffered unspeakable things. he saw again a pair of hands--cruel hands--hands with thick thumbs. had hands like these grasped and twisted the white limbs of the girl he loved? divorced from him, helpless, away from any comfort, any kind voice, was it not true--_was_ it true?--that already his sweetheart had been tortured to her death? he had tried over and over again to pray for elizabeth, to call to the seat where god was, that he might save the dear child from these torments unspeakable. but there was always the silence, the dead physical blackness and silence. he beat his hands upon the stone wall; he bruised his head upon the roof of darkness which would not let him stand upright, and he knew--as it is appointed to some chosen men to know--that unutterable, unthinkable despair of travail which made our lord himself call out in the last hour of his passion, [greek: êli, êli lamà sabachthaní] there was no response to his prayers. into his heart came no answering message of hope. and then the mind of this man, which had borne so much, and suffered so greatly, began to become powerless to feel. a bottle can only hold a certain amount of water, the strings of an instrument be plucked to a certain measure of sound, the brain of a man can endure up to a certain strain, and then it snaps entirely, or is drowsed with misery. physically, the young man was in perfect health when they had taken him to his prison. he had lived always a cleanly and athletic life. no sensual ease had ever dimmed his faculties. and therefore, though he knew it not, the frightful mental agony he had undergone had but drawn upon the reserve of his physical forces, and had hardly injured his body at all. the food they gave him, at any rate for the time of his disappearance from the world of sentient beings, was enough to support life. and while he lay in dreadful hopelessness, while his limbs were racked with pain, and it seemed to him that he stood upon the very threshold of death, he was in reality physically competent, and a few hours of relief would bring his body back to its pristine strength. there came a time when he lay upon his stone floor perfectly motionless. the merciful anodyne that comes to all tortured people when either the brain or body can bear no more, had come to him now. it seemed but a short moment--in reality it was several hours--since his jailors, those masked still-moving figures, had brought him a renewal of his food. he could not eat the bread, but two figs upon the platter were grateful and cooling to his throat, though he was unconscious of any physical gratification. he knew, sometime after, that sustenance had been brought to him, and that he had a great thirst. he stretched out his hand mechanically for the pitcher, rising from the floor and pressing the brim to his lips. he drank deeply, and as he drank became suddenly aware that this was not the lukewarm water of the past darkness, but something that ran through his veins, that swiftly ran through them, and as the blood mounted to his brain gave him courage, awoke him, fed the starved nerves. it was wine he was drinking! wine that perhaps would be red in the light; wine that once more filled him with endeavour, and a desperate desire which was not hope but the last protest against his fate. he lay back once more, by no means the same man he had been some little time agone, and as he reclined in a happy physical stupor--the while his brain was alive again and began to work--he said many times to himself the name of jesus. "jesus! jesus! jesus!"--it was all he could say; it was all he could think of, it was his last prayer. just the name alone. and very speedily the prayer was answered. out of the depths he cried--"_de profundis clamavit_"--and the door opened, as it opened to the apostle paul, and the place where he was was filled with red light. for a moment he was unable to realise it. he passed one wasted and dirty hand before his eyes. "jesus!" he said again, in a dreamy, wondering voice. he felt himself lifted up from where he lay. two strong hands were under his arms; he was taken out of the stinking _oubliette_ into the corridor beyond. he stood upright. he stretched out his arms. he breathed another air. it was a damp, foetid, underground air, but it seemed to him that it came from the gardens of the hesperides. then he became conscious of a voice speaking quietly, quickly, and with great insistence. the voice in his ear! ... "señor, we have had to wait. you have had to lie in this dungeon, and i could do nothing for you--for you that saved my life. it hath taken many days to think out a plan to save you and the señorita. but 'tis done now, 'tis cut and dried, and neither you nor she shall go to the death designed for you both. it hath been designed by the assessor and the procurator fiscal, acting under orders of the grand inquisitor, that you shall be tortured to death, or near to it, and that to the señorita shall be done the same. then you are to be taken to the quemadero--that great altar of stone supported by figures of the holy apostles--and there burnt to death at the forthcoming _auto da fé_." "then what,"--johnnie's voice came from him in a hollow whisper. "hush, hush," the other voice answered him; "'tis all arranged. 'tis all settled, but still it dependeth upon you, señor. will you save your lady love, and go free with her from here, and with your servant also, or will you die and let her die too?" "then she hath not been tortured?" "not yet; it is for to-night. you come afterwards. but you do not know me, señor; you do not realise who i am." at this johnnie looked into the face of the man who supported him. "ah," he said, in a dreamy voice, "alonso!--i took you from the sea, did not i?" everything was circling round him, he wanted to fall, to lie down and sleep in this new air.... the torturer saw it--he had a dreadful knowledge of those who were about to faint. he caught hold of johnnie somewhere at the back of the neck. there was a sudden scientific pressure of the flat thumb upon a nerve, and the sinking senses of the captive came back to him in a flood of painful consciousness. "ah!" he cried, "but i feel better now! go on, go on, tell me, what is all this?..." one big thumb was pressed gently at the back of johnnie's head. "it is this," said the voice, "and now, señor, listen to me as if you had never listened to any other voice in this whole world. in the first place, you have much money; you have much money to be employed for you, in the hands of your servant, and from him i hear that you are noble and wealthy in england. i myself am a young man, but lately introduced to do the work i do. i am in debt, señor, and neither my father nor my brother will help me. there is a family feud between us. now my father is the head sworn-torturer of the holy office; my brother is his assistant, and i am the assistant to my brother. the three of us do rack and put to pain those who come before us. but i myself am tired of this business, and would away to a country where i can earn a more honest and kindly living. therefore if thou wilt help me to do this, all will be well. there is a carrack sailing for the port of rome this very night, and we can all be aboard of it, and save ourselves, if thou wilt do what we have made a plan of." "and what is that?" johnnie asked. "'tis a dangerous and deadly thing. we may win a way to safety and joy, or it may be that we perish. i'll put it upon the throw of the die, and so must you, señor." johnnie clutched alonso by the arm. "man! man!" he said, "there is some doubt in your voice. what is it? what is it? i would do anything but lose my immortal soul to save the señorita from what is to be done to her to-night." "'tis well," the other answered briefly. "then now i will tell you what you must do. 'tis now the hour of sunset. in two hours more the señorita will be brought to the rooms of the question. thy servant is of the height and build of my father. thou art the same as regards my brother. if you consent to what i shall tell you, you and your servant will take the place of my brother and father. no one will know you from them, because we wear black linen garments and a hood which covereth our faces. i will go away, and i will put something in their wine which will send my father and my brother to sleep for long hours--sometimes we put it in the water we give to drink to those who come to us for torture, and who are able, or their relatives indeed, to pay well for such service. my people will know nothing, and you, with juan thy servant, will take their places. nor will the inquisitor know. it hath been well thought out, señor. i shall give you your directions, and understanding spanish you will follow them out as if you were indeed my blood-brother. as for the man juan, it will be your part to whisper to him what he has to do, for i cannot otherwise make him understand." suddenly a dreadful thought flashed into johnnie's mind. this man understood no word of english. how, then, had he plotted this scheme of rescue and escape with john hull? was this not one of those dreadful traps--themselves part of a devilish scheme of torture--of which he had heard in england, and of which don perez had more than hinted? "and how dost _thou_ understand my man john," he said, "seeing that thou knowest no word of his language?" the other made an impatient movement of his hands. "señor," he said, "i marked that you did not seem to trust me. i am here to adventure my life, in recompense for that you did so for me. i am here also to get away from spain with the aid of thy money--to get away to rome, where the holy office will reach none of us. in doing this, i am risking my life, as i have said. and for me i am risking far more than life. i, that have done so many grievous things to others, am a great coward, and go in horrid fear of pain. i could not stand the least of the tortures, and if i am caught in this enterprise, i shall endure the worst of all. in any case, thou hast nothing to lose, for if i am indeed endeavouring to entrap you, you will gain nothing. the worst is reserved for you--as we have previous orders--for it is whispered that yours is not so much a matter of heresy, but that you did things against king philip's majesty in england." johnnie nodded. "'tis true," he said; "but still, tell me for a further sign and token of thy fidelity how thou camest to be in communication with john hull." "did i not tell thee?" the man answered, in amazement. "why, 'twas through the second captain of the _st. iago_, i cannot say his name, who hath been with juan these many days, and speakest spanish near as well as you." johnnie realised the truth at once, surprised that it had not come to him before. it was mr. mew, whom he had tackled for his friendship with alonso! "then what am i to do?" he said. alonso began to speak slowly and with some hesitation. "the work to do to-night," he said, "is to put a carthusian monk, luis mercader, to the torture of the _trampezo_. after that, the señorita will be brought in, interrogated, and is to be scourged as the first of her tortures." the man started away--johnnie had growled in his throat like a dog.... "it will not be, it will not be, señor," alonso said. "when luis is finished with, he will be taken away by the surgeon and afterwards by the jailors. then they will bring the señorita and retire. there will be none in the room of the question but thou, juan, and myself, wearing our linen hoods, and father deza, that is the grand inquisitor newly come from england, his notary, and the physician. the doors leading to the prisons will be locked, for none must see the torture save only the officials concerned therein--as hath long been the law. it will be easy for us three to overpower the inquisitor, the surgeon, and the notary. then we can escape through the private rooms of us torturers, which lead to the back entrance of the fortress. the _caballeros_ will not be discovered, if bound--or killed, indeed--for some hours, for none are allowed to approach the room of question from the prisons until they are summoned by a bell. i shall have everything ready, and mules waiting, so that we may go straight to the _muelle_--the wharf to which the carrack is tied. the captain thereof is the italian mariner pozzi, who hath no love towards spain, and we shall be upon the high seas before even our absence is discovered." "good," johnnie answered, his voice unconsciously assuming the note of command it was wont to use, the wine having reanimated him, his whole body and brain tense with excitement, ready for the daring deed that awaited him. "my friend," he said, "i will not only take you away from all this wickedness and horror, but you shall have money enough to live like a gentleman in italy. i have--now i understand it--plenty of money in the hands of my servant to bring us well to rome. once in rome, i can send letters to my friends in england, and be rich in a few short months. i shall not forget you; i shall see to your guerdon." the man spat upon his hands and rubbed them together--those large prehensile hands. "i knew it," he said, half to himself, "i pay a debt for my life, as is but right and just, and i win a fortune too! i knew it!" "tell me exactly what is to happen," johnnie said. in the flickering light of the torch, once more alonso looked curiously at commendone. he hesitated for a moment, and then he spoke. "there is just the business of the heretic luis," he said. "he must be tortured before ever the señorita is brought in. and you and juan must help in the torture to sustain your parts." johnnie started. until this very moment he had not realised that hideous necessity. he understood alonso's hesitation now. there was a dead silence for a moment or two. alonso broke it. "i shall do the principal part, señor," he said hurriedly. "it is nothing to me. i have done so much of it! but there are certain things that thou must do and thy servant also, or at least must seem to do. there is no other way." johnnie put his poor soiled hands to his face. "i cannot do it," he said, in a low voice, from which hope, which had rung in it before, had now departed. "i cannot do it. i will not stain my honour thus." "so said juan to me at first," the other answered. "they have been hunting high and low for juan, but he hath escaped the familiars, in that i have hid him. for himself, juan said he would do nothing of the sort, but for you he finally said he would do it. 'for, look you,' juan said to me, 'i love the gentleman that is my master, and i love my little mistress better, so that i will even help to torture this spaniard, and let no word escape me in the doing of it that may betray our design.' that was what thy servant said, señor. and now, what sayest thou?" "she would not wish it," commendone half said, half sobbed. "if she knew, she would die a thousand deaths rather than that i should do it." "that may be very sure, señor, but she will never know it if we win to safety. and as for this luis mercader, he must die, anyhow. there is no hope for him. he _must_ be tortured, if not by you, juan, and i, then by myself, my father, and my brother. it is remediless." "i cannot do evil that good may come," johnnie replied, in a whisper. alonso stamped upon the ground in his impatience. he could not understand the prisoner's attitude, though he had realised some possibility of it from his conferences with john hull. he had half known, when he came to commendone, that there would be something of this sort. if the rough man of his own rank turned in horror and dislike from the only opportunity presented for saving the señorita, how much more would the master do so? for himself, he could not understand it. he did his hideous work with the regularity of a machine, and with as little pity. outside in his private life, he was much as other men. he could be tender to a woman he loved, kindly and generous to his friends. but business was business, and he was hardly human at his work. habit makes slaves of us all, and this mental attitude of the sworn torturer--horrible as it may seem at first glance--is very easily understood by the psychologist, though hardly by the sentimentalist, who is always a thoroughly illogical person. alonso tortured human beings. in doing this he had the sanction and the order of his social superiors and his ecclesiastical directors. in 1910 one has not heard, for example, that a pretty and gentle girl refuses to marry a butcher because he plunges his knife into the neck of the sheep tied down upon the stool, twists his little cord around the snout of some shrieking pig and cuts its throat with his keen blade.... alonso could not understand the man whom he hoped to save, but he recognised and was prepared for his point of view. "señor," he said, in a thick, hurried voice, "i will do it all myself. you will have to help in the binding, and to stand by. that is all. think of the little señorita whom you love. that french lady drove a table-knife into her heart, rather than endure the torments. think of the señorita! you will not let her die thus? for you, it is different; i well know that you would endure all that is in store, if it were but a question of saving your own life. but you must think of her, and you must remember always that the man luis is most certainly doomed, and that no action of yours can stay that doom. you will have to look on, that is all--to _seem_ as if you approved and were helping." he had said enough. his cause was won. johnnie had seen dr. rowland taylor die in pious agony, and had neither lifted voice nor drawn sword to prevent it. "i thank you, i thank you, alonso," he said. "i must endure it for the sake of the señorita. and more than all i thank you that you will not require me to agonise this unhappy wretch myself." "good; that is understood," alonso answered. "we have already been talking too long. get you back, señor, into your prison, for an hour or more. then i will come to you. indeed, more depends upon this than upon any other detail of what we purpose. we who are sworn to torture are distinct and separate from the prison jailors. we are paid a larger salary, but we have no jurisdiction or power within the prisons themselves, save only what we make by interest. but the man who bringeth you your food is a friend of my family, and hath cast an eye upon my sister, though she as yet has responded little to his overtures. i have made private cause with isabella, and she hath given him a meeting this very night outside the church of santa ana. he could not meet with her this night, were it not for my intervention. he came to me in great perplexity, longing before anything to meet isabella. i told him, though i was difficult to be approached on the point, that i would myself look after the prisoners in this ward, and that he must give me his keys. this he hath done, and i am free of this part of the prison. so that, señor, in an hour or two i shall come to you again with your dress of a tormentor. i shall take you through devious ways out of the prison proper, and into our room on the other side of the chamber, so all will be well." johnnie took the huge splay hand in his, and stumbled back into the stone box. there was a clang as the door closed upon him, and he sank down upon the floor. he sank down upon the floor no longer in absolute despair. the darkness was as thick and horrible as ever, but hope was there. then he knelt, placed his hands together, recited a paternoster, and began to pray. he prayed first of all for the soul of the man--the unknown man--whose semi-final torture he was to witness, and perchance help in. then he prayed to our lord that there might be a happy issue out of these present afflictions, that if it pleased jesus he, elizabeth, the stout john hull might yet sail away over the tossing seas towards safety. then he made a prayer for the soul of madame la motte--she who had traded upon virtue, she who had taken her own life, but in whom was yet some germ of good, a well and fountain of kindliness and sympathy withal. after that he pulled himself together, felt his muscle, stretched himself to see that his great and supple strength had not deserted him, and remained with a placid mind, waiting for the opening of his prison door again. the anguish of his thoughts about elizabeth was absolutely gone. a cool certainty came to him that he would save her. he was waiting now, alert and aware. every nerve was ready for the enterprise. with a scrutiny of his own consciousness--for he perfectly realised that death might still be very near--he asked himself if he had performed all his religious duties. if he were to die in the next hour or so, he would have no sacramental absolution. that he knew. therefore, he was endeavouring to make his _private_ peace with god, and as he looked upon his thoughts with the higher super-brain, it did not seem to him that there was anything lacking in his pious resignation to what should come. he was going to make a bold and desperate bid for lizzie's freedom, his own, and their mutual happiness. as well as he was able, he had put his house in order, and was waiting. but for don diego deza he did not pray at all. he was but human. that he lacked power to do, and in so far fell away from the example. but as he thought of it, and the words so sacrosanct, he remembered that the torturers of christ knew not what they did. they were even as this man alonso. but don diego, cultured, highly sensitive, a brilliant man, knew what he did very well. even the young man's wholly contrite and more than half-broken heart could send no message to the throne for the grand inquisitor of seville. chapter xii "tendimus in latium" it was very hot. commendone stood in the ante-chamber of the torturers. he wore the garment of black linen, the hood of the same, with the two circular orifices for his eyes. john hull kept touching him with an almost caressing movement--john hull, a grotesque and terrible figure also in his torturer's dress. alonso moved about the place hurriedly, putting this and that to rights, looking after his instruments, but with a flitting, bird-like movement, showing how deeply he was excited. the room was a long, low place. the ceiling but just above their heads. a glowing fire was at one end, and shelves all round the room. at one side of the fire was a portable brazier of iron, glowing with coals, and on the top of it a shape of white-hot metal was lying. alonso came up to commendone, a dreadful black figure, a silently moving figure, with nothing humanly alive about him save only the two slits through which his eyes might be seen. "courage, señor," he whispered, "it will not be long now." johnnie, unaware that he himself was an equally hideous and sinister figure, nodded, and swallowed something in his throat. john hull, short, broad, and dreadful in this black disguise, sidled up to him. "master," he whispered, "it will soon be over, and we shall win away. we have been in a very evil case before, and that went well. now that we are dressed in these grave-clothes and must do bitter business, we must make up our minds to do it. 'tis for the sake of mistress elizabeth, whom we love--jesus! what is that hell-hound doing?" the broad figure shuddered, and into the kindly english voice came a note of horror. johnnie turned also, and saw that the torturer was tumbling several long-handled pincers into a wooden tray. then the torturer took one of them up, and turned the glowing _something_ in the brazier, quietly, professionally, though the red glow that fell upon his horrible black costume gave him indeed the aspect of a devil from the pit--the bloody pantomime which was designed! the two englishmen stood shoulder to shoulder and shuddered, as they saw this figure moving about the glowing coals. johnnie took a half-step forward, when hull pressed him back. "god's death, master," hull said. "_we_ look like that; we are even as he is in aspect; we have to do our work--now!" a door to the right suddenly swung open. two steps led up to it, and a face peeped round. it was the face of a bearded man, with heavy eyebrows and very white cheeks. upon the head was a biretta of black velvet. the head nodded. "we are ready," came the voice from it. the door fell to again. then alonso came up to johnnie. "the work begins," he said, in a gruff voice, from which all respect had gone with design. "you and juan will carry in that brazier of coals." he went to the door, mounted the two stone steps, and held it open. johnnie and hull bore in the brazier up the steps, and into a large room lit, but not very brightly, with candles set in sconces upon the walls. following the directions of alonso, they placed the brazier in a far corner, and stood by it, waiting in silence. they were in a big, arched dungeon, far under ground, as it seemed. at one end of it there was an alcove, brilliantly lit. in the alcove was a daïs, or platform. on the platform was a long table draped with black, and set with silver candlesticks. on the wall behind was a great crucifix of white and black--the figure of the christ made of plaster, or white painted wood, the cross of ebony. in the centre of the long table sat don diego deza. on one side of him was a man in a robe of velvet and a flat cap. on the other, the person who had peeped through the door into the room of the torturers. there came a beating, a heavy, muffled knock, upon a door to the left of the alcove. alonso left the others and hurried to the door. with some effort he pulled back a lever which controlled several massive bolts. the door swung open, there was a red glare of torches, and two dark figures, piloted by the torturer, half-led, half-carried the bound figure of a man into the room. they placed this figure upon an oak stool with a high back, a yard or two away from the daïs, and then quietly retired. as the door leading to the prison closed, alonso shot the bolts into their place, and, returning, stood by the stool on which was the figure. the notary came down from the platform, followed by the physician. in his hand was a parchment and a pen; while a long ink-horn depended from his belt. father deza was left alone at the table above. "i have read thy depositions," the inquisitor said, speaking down to the man, "wherein thou hast not refuted in detail the terrible blasphemies of servetus, and therefore, luis mercader, i thank the son of god, who deputeth to me the power to sentence thee at the end of this thy struggle between holy church and thine own obstinate blasphemies. in accordance with justice of my brother inquisitors, i now sign thy warrant for death, which is indeed our right and duty to execute a blasphemous person after a regular examination. thou art to be burnt anon at the forthcoming act of faith. thou art to be delivered to the secular arm to suffer this last penalty. thy blood shall not be upon our heads, for the holy office is ever merciful. but before thou goest, in our kindness we have ordained that thou shalt learn something of the sufferings to come. for so only, between this night and the day of thy death, shalt thou have opportunity to reason with thyself, perchance recant thy errors, and make thy peace with god." he had said this in a rapid mutter, a monotone of vengeance. as he concluded he nodded to the black figure by the prisoner's chair. alonso turned round. with shaking footsteps, hull and johnnie came up to him, carrying ropes. there was a quick whisper. "tie him up--_thus_--_yes, the hands behind the back of the stool_; the left leg bound fast--it is the right foot upon which we put the _trampezo_." they did it deftly and quietly. under the long linen garments which concealed them, their hearts were beating like drums, their throats were parched and dry, their eyes burnt as they looked out upon this dreadful scene. the notary went back to the daïs, and sat beside father deza. the surgeon took alonso aside. johnnie heard what he said.... "it will be all right; he can bear it; he will not die; in any case the _auto da fé_ will be in three days; he _must_ endure it; have the water ready to bring him back if he fainteth." the chirurgeon went back to the alcove and sat on the other side of the inquisitor. "bring up the brazier," alonso said to commendone. together johnnie and hull carried it to the chair. "now send juan for the pincers...." there came a long, low wail of despair from the broken, motionless figure on the stool. the long pincers, like those with which a blacksmith pulls out a shoe from the charcoal, were produced.... the torturer took the glowing _thing_ on the top of the brazier, and pulled it off, scattering the coals as he did so. close to the foot of the bound figure he placed the glowing shoe. then he motioned to hull to take up the other side of it with his pincers, and put it in place so that the foot of the victim should be clamped to it and burnt away. john hull took up the long pincers, and caught hold of one side of the shoe. johnnie turned his head away; he looked straight through his black hood at the three people on the daïs. the notary was quietly writing. the surgeon was looking on with cool professional eye; but don deza was watching the imminent horror below him with a white face which dripped with sweat, with eyes dilated to two rims, gazing, gazing, _drinking the sight in_. every now and again the inquisitor licked his pallid lips with his tongue. and in that moment of watching, johnnie knew that cruelty, for the sake of cruelty, the mad pleasure of watching suffering in its most hideous forms, was the hidden vice, the true nature, of this priest of courts. at the moment, and doubtless at many other moments in the past, father deza was compensating, and had compensated, for a life of abstinence from sensual indulgence. he was giving scope to the deadlier vices of the heart, pride, bigotry, intolerance, and horrid cruelty--those vices far more opposed to the hope of salvation, and far more extensively mischievous to society, than anything the sensualist can do. the bitterness of it; the horror of it--this was the wine the brilliant priest was drinking, had drunk, and would ever drink. into him had come a devil which had killed his soul, and looked out from his narrow twitching eyes, rejoicing that it saw these things with the symbol of god's pain high above it, with the cloak of god's church upon his shoulders. as johnnie watched, fascinated with an unnameable horror, he heard a loud shout close to his ear. he saw a black-hooded, thick figure pass him and rush towards the daïs. in the hands of this figure was a long pair of blacksmith's pincers, and at the end of the pincers was a shoe of white-hot metal. there was another loud shout, a broad band of white light, as the mass of glowing metal shot through the air in a hissing arc, and then the face of the inquisitor disappeared and was no more. at that moment both commendone and the sworn torturer realised what had happened. they leapt nimbly on to the daïs. from under his robe alonso took a stiletto and plunged it into the throat of the notary; while johnnie, in a mad fury, caught the physician by the neck, placed his open hand upon the man's chin, and bent his head back, slowly, steadily, and with terrible pressure, until there was a faint click, and the black-robed figure sank down. the _trampezo_ was burning into the wooden floor of the daïs. alonso ran back into the room, caught up a pail of water, and poured it upon the gathering flames. there was a hiss, and a column of steam rose up into the alcove. he turned his head and looked at the motionless form of the inquisitor. the face was all black and red, and rising into white blisters. he turned to commendone. "he's dead, or dying," he said, "and now, thou hast indeed cast the die, and all is over. thy man hath spoilt it all, and nothing remains for us but death." "silence!" johnnie answered, captain of himself now, and of all of them there. "how is the next prisoner to be summoned?" the torturer understood him. "why," he said, "we may yet save ourselves!--that bell there"--he pointed to a hanging cord. "that summons the jailors. they are waiting to bring the señorita for judgment. don luis, there, who was to undergo the _trampezo_, would not have been taken back into the prison at once, but into our room, where the surgeon would have attended him. therefore, we will ring for the señorita. she will be pushed into this place very gently. the door will not be opened wide. doors are never widely opened in the holy office. the jailors will see us taking charge of her, and all will be well. if not, get your poignard ready, señor, and you, too, juan, for 'twill be better to die a fighting death in this cellar than to wait for what would come hereafter." he stretched out his hand and pulled down the bell-cord. they stood waiting in absolute silence, alonso and john hull, in their dreadful disguise, standing close to the door. there was not a sound in the brilliantly lit room. the victim that was to be had fainted away, and lay as dead as the three corpses upon the daïs. there was a smell of hot coal, of burning wood, and still there came a little sizzling noise from the half-quenched glowing iron upon the platform. thud! a quiet answering knock from alonso. another thud--the heave of the lever, the slither of the bolts, the door opening a little, murmured voices, and a low, shuddering cry of horror, as a tall girl, in a long woollen garment, a coarse garment of wool dyed yellow, was pushed into the embrace of the black-hooded figures who stood waiting for her. clang--the bolts were shot back. then a tearing, ripping noise, as hull pulled the black hood from his face and shoulders. "my dear, my dear," he cried, "miss lizzie. 'tis over now. fear nothing! i and thy true love have brought thee to safety." the girl gave a great cry. "johnnie! johnnie!" he rushed up to her, and held her in his arms. he was still clothed in the dreadful disguise of a torturer. it had not come into his mind to take it off. but she was not frightened. she knew his arms, she heard his voice, she sank fainting upon his shoulder. * * * * * once more it was john hull speaking in english who brought the lovers to realisation. his strong and anxious voice was seconded by the spanish of alonso. "quick! quick!" both the men said. "all hath gone well. we have a start of many hours, but we must be gone from here at once." johnnie released elizabeth from his arms, and then he also doffed the terror-inspiring costume which he wore. "sweetheart," he said, "go you with john hull and this alonso into the room beyond, where they will give you robes to wear. i will join you in less than a minute." they passed away with quick, frightened footsteps. but as for commendone, he went to the centre of the alcove, and knelt down just below the long black table. the three bodies of the men they had slain he could not see. he could only see the black form of the tablecloth, and above it the great white crucifix. he prayed that nothing he had done upon this night should stain his soul, that jesus--as indeed he believed--had been looking on him and all that he did, with help and favour. and once more he renewed his vow to live for jesus and for the girl he loved. crossing himself, he rose, and clapped his hands to his right side. once more he found he was without a sword. he bowed again to the cross. "it will come back to me," he said, in a quiet voice. he turned to go, he had no concern with those who lay dead above him; but as he went towards the door leading to the place of the torturers, his eye fell upon the oak stool in the middle of the room--the oak chair by which the brazier still glowed, and in which a silent, doll-like figure was bound. he stepped up to the chair, and immediately he saw that don luis was dead. the shock had killed him. he lay back there with patches of grey marked in his hair, as if fingers had been placed upon it--a young face, now prematurely old, and writhed into horror, but with a little quiet smile of satisfaction upon it after all.... * * * * * and so they sailed away to the court of rome, to take a high part in what went forward in the palace of the vatican. they were to be fused into that wonderful revival of learning and the arts known as the renaissance. god willing, and still seeing fit to give strength to the hand and mind of the present chronicler, what they did in rome, all that befell them there, and of johnnie's friendship and adventures with messer benvenuto cellini will be duly set out in another volume during the year of grace to come. _et veniam pro laude peto: laudatus abunde non fastiditus si tibi, lector, ero._ team the vale of cedars; or, the martyr by grace aguilar, author of "home influence," "woman's friendship," etc. 1851 "the wild dove hath her nest--the fox her cave- mankind their country--israel but the grave." byron. memoir of grace aguilar. grace aguilar was born at hackney, june 2nd, 1816. she was the eldest child, and only daughter of emanuel aguilar, one of those merchants descended from the jews of spain, who, almost within the memory of man, fled from persecution in that country, and sought and found an asylum in england. the delicate frame and feeble health observable in grace aguilar throughout her life, displayed itself from infancy; from the age of three years, she was almost constantly under the care of some physician, and, by their advice, annually spending the summer months by the sea, in the hope of rousing and strengthening a naturally fragile constitution. this want of physical energy was, however, in direct contrast to her mental powers, which developed early, and readily. she learned to read with scarcely any trouble, and when once that knowledge was gained, her answer when asked what she would like for a present, was invariably "a book," which, was read, re-read, and preserved with a care remarkable in so young a child. with the exception of eighteen months passed at school, her mother was her sole instructress, and both parents took equal delight in directing her studies, and facilitating her personal inspection of all that was curious and interesting in the various counties of england to which they resorted for her health. from the early age of seven she commenced keeping a journal, which was continued with scarce any intermission throughout her life. in 1825 she visited oxford, cheltenham, gloucester, worcester, ross, and bath, and though at that time but nine years old, her father took her to gloucester and worcester cathedrals, and also to see a porcelain and pin manufactory, &c., the attention and interest she displayed on these occasions, affording convincing proof that her mind was alive to appreciate and enjoy what was thus presented to her observation. before she had completed her twelfth year she ventured to try her powers in composition, and wrote a little drama, called gustavus vasa, never published, and only here recorded as being the first germ of what was afterwards to become the ruling passion. in september, 1828, the family went to reside in devonshire for the health of mr. aguilar, and there a strong admiration for the beauties and wonders of nature manifested itself: she constantly collected shells, stones, seaweed, mosses, &c., in her daily rambles; and not satisfied with admiring their beauty, sedulously procured whatever little catechisms or other books on those subjects she could purchase, or borrow, eagerly endeavoring by their study, to increase her knowledge of their nature and properties. when she had attained the age of fourteen, her father commenced a regular course of instruction for his child, by reading aloud, while she was employed in drawing, needlework, &c. history was selected, that being the study which now most interested her, and the first work chosen was josephus. it was while spending a short time at tavistock, in 1830, that the beauty of the surrounding scenery led her to express her thoughts in verse. several small pieces soon followed her first essay, and she became extremely fond of this new exercise and enjoyment of her opening powers, yet her mind was so well regulated, that she never permitted herself to indulge in original composition until her duties, and her studies, were all performed. grace aguilar was extremely fond of music; she had learned the piano from infancy, and in 1831 commenced the harp. she sang pleasingly, preferring english songs, and invariably selecting them for the beauty or sentiment of the words; she was also passionately fond of dancing, and her cheerful lively manners in the society of her young friends, would scarcely have led any to imagine how deeply she felt and pondered upon the serious and solemn subjects which afterwards formed the labor of her life. she seemed to enjoy all, to enter into all, but a keen observer would detect the hold that sacred and holy principle ever exercised over her lightest act, and gayest hour. a sense of duty was apparent in the merest trifle, and her following out of the divine command of obedience to parents, was only equalled by the unbounded affection she felt for them. a wish was once expressed by her mother that she should not waltz, and no solicitation could afterwards tempt her. her mother also required her to read sermons, and study religion and the bible regularly; this was readily submitted to, first as a task, but afterwards with much delight; for evidence of which we cannot do better than quote her own words in one of her religious works. "this formed into a habit, and persevered in for a life, would in time, and without labor or weariness, give the comfort and the knowledge that we seek; each year it would become lighter, and more blest, each year we should discover something we knew not before, and in the valley of the shadow of death, feel to our heart's core that the lord our god is truth."--_women of israel_, vol. ii, page 43. nor did grace aguilar only study religion for her own personal observance and profit. she embraced its _principles_ (the principles of all creeds) in a widely extended and truly liberal sense. she carried her practice of its holy and benevolent precepts into every minutiae of her daily life, doing all the good her limited means would allow, finding time, in the midst of her own studies, and most varied and continual occupations, to work for, and instruct her poor neighbors in the country, and while steadily venerating and adhering to her own faith, neither inquiring nor heeding the religious opinions of the needy whom she succored or consoled. to be permitted to help and comfort, she considered a privilege and a pleasure; she left the rest to god; and thus bestowing and receiving blessings and smiles from all who had the opportunity of knowing her, her young life flowed on, in an almost uninterrupted stream of enjoyment, until she had completed her nineteenth year. alas! the scene was soon to change, and trials awaited that spirit which, in the midst of sunshine, had so beautifully striven to prepare itself a shelter from the storm. the two brothers of miss aguilar, whom she tenderly loved, left the paternal roof to be placed far from their family at school. her mother's health necessitated a painful and dangerous operation, and from that time for several years, alternate hopes and fears through long and dreary watchings beside the sick bed of that beloved mother, became the portion of her gifted child. but even this depressing and arduous change in the duties of her existence did not suspend her literary pursuits and labors. she profited by all the intervals she could command, and wrote the tale of the "martyr," the "spirit of judaism," and "israel defended;" the latter translated from the french, at the earnest request of a friend, and printed only for private circulation. the "magic wreath," a little poetical work, and the first our authoress ever published, dedicated to the right honorable the countess of munster, also appeared about this time. in the spring of 1835, grace aguilar was attacked with measles, and never afterwards recovered her previous state of health, suffering at intervals with such exhausting feelings of weakness, as to become without any visible disease really alarming. the medical attendants recommended entire rest of mind and body; she visited the sea, and seemed a little revived, but anxieties were gathering around her horizon, to which it became evidently impossible her ardent and active mind could remain passive or indifferent, and which recalled every feeling, every energy of her impressible nature into action. her elder brother, who had long chosen music as his profession, was sent to germany to pursue his studies; the younger determined upon entering the sea service. the excitement of these changes, and the parting with both, was highly injurious to their affectionate sister, and her delight a few months after, at welcoming the sailor boy returned from his first voyage, with all his tales of danger and adventure, and his keen enjoyment of the path of life he had chosen, together with her struggles to do her utmost to share his walks and companionship, contributed yet more to impair her inadequate strength. the second parting was scarcely over ere her father, who had long shown symptoms of failing health, became the victim of consumption. he breathed his last in her arms, and the daughter, while sorrowing over all she had lost, roused herself once more to the utmost, feeling that she was the sole comforter beside her remaining parent. soon after, when her brother again returned, finding the death of his father, he resolved not to make his third voyage as a midshipman, but endeavor to procure some employment sufficiently lucrative to prevent his remaining a burthen upon his widowed mother. long and anxiously did he pursue this object, his sister, whose acquaintance with literary and talented persons had greatly increased, using all her energy and influence in his behalf, and concentrating all the enthusiastic feelings of her nature in inspiring him with patience, comfort, and hope, as often as they failed him under his repeated disappointments. at length his application was taken up by a powerful friend, for her sake, and she had the happiness of succeeding, and saw him depart at the very summit of his wishes. repose, which had been so long necessary, seemed now at hand; but her nerves had been too long and too repeatedly overstrung, and when this task was done, the worn and weary spirit could sustain no more, and sank under the labor that had been imposed upon it. severe illness followed, and though it yielded after a time to skilful remedies and tender care, her excessive languor and severe headaches, continued to give her family and friends great uneasiness. during all these demands upon her time, her thoughts, and her health, however, the ruling passion neither slumbered nor slept. she completed the jewish faith, and also prepared home influence for the press, though very unfit to have taxed her powers so far. her medical attendant became urgent for total change of air and scene, and again strongly interdicted _all_ mental exertion--a trip to frankfort, to visit her elder brother, was therefore decided on. in june, 1847, she set out, and bore the journey without suffering nearly so much as might have been expected. her hopes were nigh, her spirits raised--the novelty and interest of her first travels on the continent gave her for a very transient period a gleam, as it were, of strength. for a week or two she appeared to rally, then again every exertion became too much for her, every stimulating remedy to exhaust her. she was ordered from frankfort to try the baths and mineral waters of schwalbach, but without success. after a stay of six weeks, and persevering with exemplary patience in the treatment prescribed, she was one night seized with alarming convulsive spasms, so terrible that her family removed her next morning with all speed back to frankfort, to the house of a family of most kind friends, where every attention and care was lavishly bestowed. in vain. she took to her bed the very day of her arrival, and never rose from it again; she became daily weaker, and in three weeks from that time her sufferings ceased for ever. she was perfectly conscious to within less than two hours before her death, and took an affectionate leave of her mother and brother. speech had been a matter of difficulty for some time previous, her throat being greatly affected by her malady; but she had, in consequence, learned to use her fingers in the manner of the deaf and dumb, and almost the last time they moved, it was to spell upon them feebly, "though he slay me, yet will i trust in him." she was buried in the cemetery of frankfort, one side of which is set apart for the people of her faith. the stone which marks the spot bears upon it a butterfly and five stars, emblematic of the soul in heaven, and beneath appears the inscription- "give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates."--prov. ch. xxxi, v. 31. and thus, 16th september, 1847, at the early age of thirty-one, grace aguilar was laid to rest--the bowl was broken, the silver cord was loosed. her life was short and checkered with pain and anxiety, but she strove hard to make it useful and valuable, by employing diligently and faithfully the talents with which she had been endowed. nor did the serious view with which she ever regarded earthly existence, induce her to neglect or despise any occasion of enjoyment, advantage, or sociality which presented itself. her heart was ever open to receive, her hand to give. inasmuch as she succeeded to the satisfaction of her fellow beings, let them be grateful; inasmuch as she failed, let those who perceive it deny her not the meed of praise, for her endeavor to open the path she believed would lead mankind to practical virtue and happiness, and strive to carry out the pure philanthropic principles by which she was actuated, and which she so earnestly endeavored to diffuse. october, 1849. the vale of cedars; or, the martyr. chapter i. "they had met, and they had parted; time had closed o'er each again, leaving lone the weary hearted mournfully to wear his chain."--ms. a deliciously cool, still evening, had succeeded the intense heat of a spanish summer day, throwing rich shadows and rosy gleams on a wild, rude mountain pass in central spain. massive crags and gigantic trees seemed to contest dominion over the path, if path it could be called; where the traveller, if he would persist in going onwards, could only make his way by sometimes scrambling over rocks, whose close approach from opposite sides presented a mere fissure covered with flowers and brushwood, through which the slimmest figure would fail to penetrate; sometimes wading through rushing and brawling streams, whose rapid currents bore many a jagged branch and craggy fragment along with them; sometimes threading the intricacies of a dense forest, recognizing the huge pine, the sweet acorn oak, the cork tree, interspersed with others of lesser growth, but of equally wild perplexing luxuriance. on either side--at times so close that two could not walk abreast, at others so divided that forests and streams intervened--arose mountain walls seeming to reach the very heavens, their base covered with trees and foliage, which gradually thinning, left their dark heads totally barren, coming out in clear relief against the deep blue sky. that this pass led to any inhabited district was little probable, for it grew wilder and wilder, appearing to lead to the very heart of the sierra toledo--a huge ridge traversing spain. by human foot it had evidently been seldom trod; yet on this particular evening a traveller there wended his solitary way. his figure was slight to boyishness, but of fair proportion, and of such graceful agility of movement, that the obstacles in his path, which to others of stouter mould and heavier step might have been of serious inconvenience, appeared by him as unnoticed as unfelt. the deep plume of his broad-rimmed hat could not conceal the deep blue restless eyes, the delicate complexion, and rich brown clustering hair; the varying expression of features, which if not regularly handsome, were bright with intelligence and truth, and betraying like a crystal mirror every impulse of the heart--characteristics both of feature and disposition wholly dissimilar to the sons of spain. his physiognomy told truth. arthur stanley was, as his name implied, an englishman of noble family; one of the many whom the disastrous wars of the roses had rendered voluntary exiles. his father and four brothers had fallen in battle at margaret's side. himself and a twin brother, when scarcely fifteen, were taken prisoners at tewkesbury, and for three years left to languish in prison. wishing to conciliate the still powerful family of stanley, edward offered the youths liberty and honor if they would swear allegiance to himself. they refused peremptorily; and with a refinement of cruelty more like richard of gloucester than himself, edward ordered one to the block, the other to perpetual imprisonment. they drew lots, and edwin stanley perished. arthur, after an interval, succeeded in effecting his escape, and fled from england, lingered in provence a few months, and then unable to bear an inactive life, hastened to the court of arragon; to the heir apparent of which, he bore letters of introduction, from men of rank and influence, and speedily distinguished himself in the wars then agitating spain. the character of the spaniards--impenetrable and haughty reserve--occasioned, in general, prejudice and dislike towards all foreigners. but powerful as was their pride, so was their generosity; and the young and lonely stranger, who had thrown himself so trustingly and frankly on their friendship, was universally received with kindness and regard. in men of lower natures, indeed, prejudice still lingered; but this was of little matter; arthur speedily took his place among the noblest chivalry of spain; devoted to the interests of the king of sicily, but still glorying in the name and feeling of an englishman, he resolved, in his young enthusiasm, to make his country honored in himself. he had been five years in spain, and was now four and twenty; but few would have imagined him that age, so frank and free and full of thoughtless mirth and hasty impulse was his character. these last fifteen months, however, a shadow seemed to have fallen over him, not deep enough to create remark, but _felt_ by himself. his feelings, always ardent, had been all excited, and were all concentrated, on a subject so wrapt in mystery, that the wish to solve it engrossed his whole being. except when engaged in the weary stratagem, the rapid march, and actual conflict, necessary for ferdinand's interest, but one thought, composed of many, occupied his mind, and in solitude so distractingly, that he could never rest; he would traverse the country for miles, conscious indeed of what he _sought_, but perfectly unconscious where he _went_. it was in one of these moods he had entered the pass we have described, rejoicing in its difficulties, but not thinking where it led, or what place he sought, when a huge crag suddenly rising almost perpendicularly before him, effectually roused him from his trance. outlet there was none. all around him towered mountains, reaching to the skies. the path was so winding, that, as he looked round bewildered, he could not even imagine how he came there. to retrace his steps, seemed quite as difficult as to proceed. the sun too had declined, or was effectually concealed by the towering rocks, for sudden darkness seemed around him. there was but one way, and stanley prepared to scale the precipitous crag before him with more eagerness than he would a beaten path. he threw off his cloak, folded it in the smallest possible compass, and secured it like a knapsack to his shoulders, slung his sword over his neck, and, with a vigorous spring, which conquered several paces of slippery rock at once, commenced the ascent. some brushwood, and one or two stunted trees, gave him now and then a hold for his hands; and occasional ledges in the rock, a resting for his foot; but still one false step, one failing nerve, and he must have fallen backwards and been dashed to pieces; but to arthur the danger was his safety. where he was going, indeed he knew not. he could see no further than the summit of the crag, which appeared like a line against the sky; but any bewilderment were preferable to the strange stagnation towards outward objects, which had enwrapped him ten minutes before. panting, breathless, almost exhausted, he reached the summit, and before him yawned a chasm, dark, fathomless, as if nature in some wild convulsion had rent the rock asunder. the level ground on which he stood was barely four feet square; behind him sloped the most precipitous side of the crag, devoid of tree or bush, and slippery from the constant moisture that formed a deep black pool at its base. stanley hazarded but one glance behind, then looked steadily forward, till his eye seemed accustomed to the width of the chasm, which did not exceed three feet. he fixed his hold firmly on a blasted trunk growing within the chasm; it shook--gave way--another moment and he would have been lost; but in that moment he loosed his hold, clasped both hands above his head, and successfully made the leap--aware only of the immense effort by the exhaustion which followed compelling him to sink down on the grass, deprived even of energy to look around him. so marvellous was the change of scenery on which his eyes unclosed, that he started to his feet, bewildered. a gradual hill, partly covered with rich meadow grass, and partly with corn, diversified with foliage, sloped downwards, leading by an easy descent to a small valley, where orange and lime trees, the pine and chestnut, palm and cedar, grew in beautiful luxuriance. on the left was a small dwelling, almost hidden in trees. directly beneath him a natural fountain threw its sparkling showers on beds of sweet-scented and gayly-colored flowers. the hand of man had very evidently aided nature in forming the wild yet chaste beauty of the scene; and arthur bounded down the slope, disturbing a few tame sheep and goats on his way, determined on discovering the genius of the place. no living object was visible, however; and with his usual reckless spirit, he resolved on exploring further, ere he demanded the hospitality of the dwelling. a narrow path led into a thicker wood, and in the very heart of its shade stood a small edifice, the nature of which arthur vainly endeavored to understand. it was square, and formed of solid blocks of cedar; neither carving nor imagery of any kind adorned it; yet it had evidently been built with skill and care. there was neither tower nor bell, the usual accompaniments of a chapel, which stanley had at first imagined it; and he stood gazing on it more and more bewildered. at that moment, a female voice of singular and thrilling beauty sounded from within. it was evidently a hymn she chanted, for the strain was slow and solemn, but though _words_ were distinctly intelligible, their language was entirely unknown. the young man listened at first, conscious only of increasing wonderment, which was quickly succeeded by a thrill of hope, so strange, so engrossing, that he stood, outwardly indeed as if turned to stone; inwardly, with every pulse so throbbing that to move or speak was impossible. the voice ceased; and in another minute a door, so skilfully constructed as when closed to be invisible in the solid wall, opened noiselessly; and a female figure stood before him. chapter ii. "farewell! though in that sound be years of blighted hopes and fruitless tears- though the soul vibrate to its knell of joys departed--yet farewell." mrs. hemans. to attempt description of either face or form would be useless. the exquisite proportions of the rounded figure, the very perfection of each feature, the delicate clearness of the complexion--brunette when brought in close contact with the saxon, blonde when compared with the spaniard--all attractions in themselves, were literally forgotten, or at least unheeded, beneath the spell which dwelt in the _expression_ of her countenance. truth, purity, holiness, something scarcely of this nether world, yet blended indescribably with all a woman's nature, had rested there, attracting the most unobservant, and riveting all whose own hearts contained a spark of the same lofty attributes. her dress, too, was peculiar--a full loose petticoat of dark blue silk, reaching only to the ankle, and so displaying the beautifully-shaped foot; a jacket of pale yellow, the texture seeming of the finest woven wool, reaching to the throat; with sleeves tight on the shoulders, but falling in wide folds as low as the wrist, and so with every movement displaying the round soft arm beneath. an antique brooch of curiously wrought silver confined the jacket at the throat. the collar, made either to stand up or fall, was this evening unclosed and thrown black, its silver fringe gleaming through the clustering tresses that fell in all their native richness and raven blackness over her shoulders, parted and braided on her brow, so as to heighten the chaste and classic expression of her features. on a stranger that beautiful vision must have burst with bewildering power: to arthur stanley she united _memory_ with _being_, the _past_ with the _present_, with such an intensity of emotion, that for a few minutes his very breath was impeded. she turned, without seeing him, in a contrary direction; and the movement roused him. "marie!" he passionately exclaimed, flinging himself directly in her path, and startling her so painfully, that though there was a strong and visible effort at self-control, she must have fallen had he not caught her in his arms. there was an effort to break from his hold, a murmured exclamation, in which terror, astonishment, and yet joy, were painfully mingled, and then the heroine gave place to the woman, for her head sunk on his shoulder and she burst into tears. time passed. nearly an hour from that strange meeting, and still they were together; but no joy, nor even hope was on the countenance of either. at first, arthur had alluded to their hours of happy yet unconfessed affection, when both had felt, intuitively, that they were all in all to each other, though not a syllable of love had passed their lips; on the sweet memories of those blissful hours, so brief, so fleeting, but still marie wept: the memory seemed anguish more than joy. and then he spoke of returned affection, as avowed by her, when his fond words had called it forth; and shuddered at the recollection that that hour of acknowledged and mutual love, had proved the signal of their separation. he referred again to her agonized words, that a union was impossible, that she dared not wed him; it was sin even to love him; that in the tumultuary, yet delicious emotions she had experienced, she had forgotten, utterly forgotten in what it must end--the agony of desolation for herself, and, if he so loved her, for stanley also--and again he conjured her to explain their meaning. they had been separated, after that fearful interview, by a hasty summons for him to rejoin his camp; and when he returned, she had vanished. he could not trace either her or the friend with whom she had been staying. don albert had indeed said, his wife had gone to one of the southern cities, and his young guest returned to her father's home; but where that home was, don albert had so effectually evaded, that neither direct questionings nor wary caution could obtain reply. but he had found her now; they had met once more, and oh, why need they part again? why might he not seek her father, and beseech his blessing and consent? his words were eloquent, his tone impassioned, and hard indeed the struggle they occasioned. but marie wavered not in the repetition of the same miserable truth, under the impression of which they had separated before. she conjured him to leave her, to forget the existence of this hidden valley, for danger threatened her father and herself if it was discovered. so painful was her evident terror, that arthur pledged his honor never to reveal it, declaring that to retrace the path by which he had discovered it, was even to himself impossible. but still he urged her, what was this fatal secret? why was it sin to love him? was she the betrothed of another? and the large drops starting to the young man's brow denoted the agony of the question. "no, arthur, no," was the instant rejoinder: "i never could love, never could be another's, this trial is hard enough, but it is all i have to bear. i am not called upon to give my hand to another, while my heart is solely thine." "then wherefore join that harsh word 'sin,' with such pure love, my marie? why send me from you wretched and most lonely, when no human power divides us?" "no human power!--alas! alas!--a father's curse--an offended god--these are too awful to encounter, arthur. oh do not try me more; leave me to my fate, called down by my own weakness, dearest arthur. if you indeed love me, tempt me not by such fond words; they do but render duty harder. oh, wherefore have you loved me!" but such suffering tone, such broken words, were not likely to check young stanley's solicitations. again and again he urged her, at least to say what fatal secret so divided them; did he but know it, it might be all removed. marie listened to him for several minutes, with averted head and in unbroken silence; and when she did look on him again, he started at her marble paleness and the convulsive quivering of her lips, which for above a minute prevented the utterance of a word. "be it so," she said at length; "you shall know this impassable barrier. you are too honorable to reveal it. alas! it is not that fear which restrained me; my own weakness which shrinks from being to thee as to other men, were the truth once known, an object of aversion and of scorn." "aversion! scorn! marie, thou ravest," impetuously exclaimed stanley; "torture me not by these dark words: the worst cannot be more suffering." but when the words were said, when with blanched lips and cheeks, and yet unfaltering tone, marie revealed the secret which was to separate them for ever, arthur staggered back, relinquishing the hands he had so fondly clasped, casting on her one look in which love and aversion were strangely and fearfully blended, and then burying his face in his hands, his whole frame shook as with some sudden and irrepressible anguish. "thou knowest all, now," continued marie, after a pause, and she stood before him with arms folded on her bosom, and an expression of meek humility struggling with misery on her beautiful features. "seã±or stanley, i need not now implore you to leave me; that look was sufficient, say but you forgive the deception i have been compelled to practise--and--and forget me. remember what i am, and you will soon cease to love." "never, never!" replied stanley, as with passionate agony he flung himself before her. "come with me to my own bright land; who shall know what thou art there? marie, my own beloved, be mine. what to me is race or blood? i see but the marie i have loved, i shall ever love. come with me. edward has made overtures of peace if i would return to england. for thy sake i will live beneath his sway; be but mine, and oh, we shall be happy yet." "and my father," gasped the unhappy girl, for the generous nature of arthur's love rendered her trial almost too severe. "wilt thou protect him too? wilt thou for my sake forget what he is, and be to him a son?" he turned from her with a stifled groan. "thou canst not--i knew it--oh bless thee for thy generous love; but tempt me no more, arthur; it cannot be; i dare not be thy bride." "and yet thou speakest of love. 'tis false, thou canst not love me," and stanley sprung to his feet disappointed, wounded, till he scarce knew what he said. "i would give up spain and her monarch's love for thee. i would live in slavery beneath a tyrant's rule to give thee a home of love. i would forget, trample on, annihilate the prejudices of a life, unite the pure blood of stanley with the darkened torrent running through thy veins, forget thy race, descent, all but thine own sweet self. i would do this, all this for love of thee. and for me, what wilt thou do?--reject me, bid me leave thee--and yet thou speakest of love: 'tis false, thou lovest another better!" "ay!" replied marie, in a tone which startled him, "ay, thou hast rightly spoken; thy words have recalled what in this deep agony i had well nigh forgotten. there is a love, a duty stronger than that i bear to thee. i would resign all else, but not my father's god." the words were few and simple; but the tone in which they were spoken recalled arthur's better nature, and banished hope at once. a pause ensued, broken only by the young man's hurried tread, as he traversed the little platform in the vain struggle for calmness. on him this blow had fallen wholly unprepared; marie had faced it from the moment they had parted fifteen months before, and her only prayer had been (a fearful one for a young and loving heart), that stanley would forget her, and they might never meet again. but this was not to be; and though she had believed herself prepared, one look on his face, one sound of his voice had proved how vain had been her dream. "i will obey thee, marie," stanley said, at length, pausing before her. "i will leave thee now, but not--not for ever. no, no; if indeed thou lovest me time will not change thee, if thou hast one sacred tie, when nature severs that, and thou art alone on earth, thou shalt be mine, whatever be thy race." "hope it not, ask it not! oh, arthur, better thou shouldst hate me, as thy people do my race: i cannot bear such gentle words," faltered poor marie, as her head sunk for a minute on his bosom, and the pent-up tears burst forth. "but this is folly," she continued, forcing back the choking sob, and breaking from his passionate embrace. "there is danger alike for my father and thee, if thou tarriest longer. not that way," she added, as his eye glanced inquiringly towards the hill by which he had descended; "there is another and an easier path; follow me--thou wilt not betray it?" "never!" was the solemn rejoinder, and not a word more passed between them. he followed her through what seemed to be an endless maze, and paused before a towering rock, which, smooth and perpendicular as a wall built by man, ran round the vale and seemed to reach to heaven. pushing aside the thick brushwood, marie stood beside the rock, and by some invisible movement, a low door flew open and disclosed a winding staircase. "thou wilt trust me, arthur?" "ay, unto death," he answered, springing after her up the rugged stair. narrow loopholes, almost concealed without by trees and brushwood, dimly lighted the staircase, as also a low, narrow passage, which branched off in zig-zag windings at the top, and terminated, as their woody path had done, in a solid wall. but again an invisible door flew open, closing behind them; and after walking about a hundred yards through prickly shrubs and entangled brushwood that obscured his sight, marie paused, and arthur gazed round bewildered. a seemingly boundless plain stretched for miles around him, its green level only diversified by rocks scattered about in huge masses and wild confusion, as if hurled in fury from some giant's hand. the rock whence he had issued was completely invisible. he looked around again and again, but only to bewilder himself yet more. "the way looks more dreary than it is. keep to the left: though it seems the less trodden path thou wilt find there a shelter for the night, and to-morrow's sun will soon guide thee to a frontier town; thy road will be easy then. night is falling so fast now, thou hadst best not linger, arthur." but he did linger, till once more he had drawn from her a confession of her love, that none other could take his place, even while she conjured him never to seek her again--and so they parted. five minutes more, and there was not a vestige of a human form on the wide-extended plain. chapter iii. "now history unfolds her ample page, rich with the spoils of time." clearly to comprehend the internal condition of spain at the period of our narrative (1479)--a condition which, though apparently purely national, had influence over every domestic hearth--it is necessary to glance back a few years. the various petty sovereignties into which spain had been divided never permitted any lengthened period of peace; but these had at length merged into two great kingdoms, under the names of arragon and castile. the _form_ of both governments was monarchical; but the _genius_ of the former was purely republican, and the power of the sovereign so circumscribed by the junta, the justicia, and the holy brotherhood, that the vices or follies of the monarch were of less consequence, in a national point of view, in arragon, than in any other kingdom. it was not so with castile. from the death of henry the third, in 1404, a series of foreign and civil disasters had plunged the kingdom in a state of anarchy and misery. john the second had some virtues as an individual, but none as a king; and his son henry, who succeeded him in 1450, had neither the one nor the other. governed as his father had been, entirely by favorites, the discontent of all classes of his subjects rapidly increased; the people were disgusted and furious at the extravagance of the monarch's minion; the nobles, fired at his insolence; and an utter contempt of the king, increased the virulence of the popular ferment. unmindful of the disgrace attendant on his divorce from blanche of navarre, henry sought and obtained the hand of joanna, princess of portugal, whose ambition and unprincipled intrigues heightened the ill-favor with which he was already regarded. the court of castile, once so famous for chastity and honor, sank to the lowest ebb of infamy, the shadow of which, seeming to extend over the whole land, affected nobles and people with its baleful influence. all law was at an end: the people, even while they murmured against the king, followed his evil example; and history shrinks from the scenes of debauchery and licentiousness, robbery and murder, which desecrated the land. but this state of things could not last long, while there still remained some noble hearts amongst the castilians. five years after their marriage, the queen was said to have given birth to a daughter, whom henry declared should be his successor, in lieu of his young brother alfonso (john's son, by a second wife, isabella of portugal). this child the nobles refused to receive, believing and declaring that she was not henry's daughter, and arrogated to themselves the right of trying and passing sentence on their sovereign, who, by his weak, flagitious conduct had, they unanimously declared, forfeited all right even to the present possession of the crown. the confederates, who were the very highest and noblest officers of the realm, assembled at avita, and with a solemnity and pomp which gave the whole ceremony an imposing character of reality, dethroned king henry in effigy, and proclaimed the youthful alfonso sovereign in his stead. all present swore fealty, but no actual good followed: the flame of civil discord was re-lighted, and raged with yet greater fury; continuing even after the sudden and mysterious death of the young prince, whose extraordinary talent, amiability, and firmness, though only fourteen, gave rise to the rumor that he had actually been put to death by his own party, who beheld in his rising genius the utter destruction of their own turbulence and pride. be this as it may, his death occasioned no cessation of hostilities, the confederates carrying on the war in the name of his sister, the infanta isabella. her youth and sex had pointed her out as one not likely to interfere or check the projects of popular ambition, and therefore the very fittest to bring forward as an excuse for their revolt. with every appearance of humility and deference, they offered her the crown; but the proudest and boldest shrank back abashed, before the flashing eye and proud majesty of demeanor with which she answered, "the crown is not yours to bestow; it is held by henry, according to the laws alike of god and man; and till his death, you have no right to bestow, nor i to receive it." but though firm in this resolution, isabella did not refuse to coincide in their plans for securing her succession. to this measure henry himself consented, thus appearing tacitly to acknowledge the truth of the reports that joanna was a surreptitious child, and for a brief period castile was delivered from the horrors of war. once declared heiress of castile and leon, isabella's hand was sought by many noble suitors, and her choice fell on ferdinand, the young king of sicily, and heir-apparent to the crown of arragon. love was isabella's incentive. prudence, and a true patriotic ambition, urged the archbishop of toledo not only to ratify the choice, but to smooth every difficulty in their way; he saw at once the glory which might accrue to spain by this peaceful union of two rival thrones. every possible and impossible obstacle was privately thrown by henry to prevent this union, even while he gave publicly his consent; his prejudice against ferdinand being immovable and deadly. but the manoeuvres of the archbishop were more skilful than those of the king. the royal lovers--for such they really were--were secretly united at valladolid, to reach which place in safety ferdinand had been compelled to travel in disguise, and attended only by four cavaliers; and at that period so straitened were the circumstances of the prince and princess, who afterwards possessed the boundless treasures of the new world, that they were actually compelled to borrow money to defray the expenses of their wedding! the moment henry became aware of this marriage, the civil struggle recommenced. in vain the firm, yet pacific archbishop of toledo recalled the consent he had given, and proved that the union not only secured the after-glory of spain, but henry's present undisturbed possession of his throne. urged on by his wife, and his intriguing favorite, the marquis of villena, who was for ever changing sides, he published a manifesto, in which he declared on oath that he believed joanna to be his daughter, and proclaimed her heiress of castile. ferdinand and isabella instantly raised an array, regardless of the forces of portugal (to whose monarch joanna had been betrothed), who were rapidly advancing to the assistance of henry. ere, however, war had regularly commenced, a brief respite was obtained by the death of henry, and instantly and unanimously isabella was proclaimed queen of leon and castile. peace, however, was not instantly regained; the king of portugal married joanna, and resolved on defending her rights. some skirmishing took place, and at length a long-sustained conflict near fero decided the point--ferdinand and the castilians were victorious; the king of portugal made an honorable retreat to his own frontiers, and the marquis of villena, the head of the malcontents, and by many supposed to be the real father of joanna, submitted to isabella. peace thus dawned for castile; but it was not till three years afterwards, when ferdinand had triumphed over the enemies of arragon, and succeeded his father as sovereign of that kingdom, that any vigorous measures could be taken for the restoration of internal order. the petty sovereignties of the peninsular, with the sole exception of the mountainous district of navarre, and the moorish territories in the south, were now all united; and it was the sagacious ambition of ferdinand and isabella to render spain as important in the scale of kingdoms as any other european territory; and to do this, they knew, demanded as firm a control over their own subjects, as the subjection of still harassing foes. above a century had elapsed since spain had been exposed to the sway of weak or evil kings, and all the consequent miseries of misrule and war. rapine, outrage, and murder had become so frequent and unchecked, as frequently to interrupt commerce, by preventing all communication between one place and another. the people acknowledged no law but their own passions. the nobles were so engrossed with hatred of each other, and universal contempt of their late sovereign, with personal ambition and general discontent, that they had little time or leisure to attend to any but their own interest. but a very brief interval convinced both nobles and people that a new era was dawning for them. in the short period of eighteen months, the wise administration of isabella and ferdinand, had effected a sufficient change to startle all ranks into the conviction that their best interests lay in prompt obedience, and in exerting themselves in their several spheres, to second the sovereign's will. the chivalric qualities of ferdinand, his undoubted wisdom and unwavering firmness, excited both love and fear; while devotion itself is not too strong a term to express the national feeling entertained toward isabella. her sweet, womanly gentleness, blended as it was with the dignity of the sovereign; her ready sympathy in all that concerned her people--for the lowest of her subjects; doing justice, even if it were the proud noble who injured, and the serf that suffered--all was so strange, yet fraught with such national repose, that her influence every year increased; while every emotion of chivalry found exercise, and yet rest in the heart of the aristocracy for their queen; her simple word would be obeyed, on the instant, by men who would have paused, and weighed, and reasoned, if any other--even ferdinand himself--had spoken. isabella knew her power; and if ever sovereign used it for the good, the happiness of her people, that proud glory was her own. in spite of the miserable condition of the people during the civil struggles, the wealth of spain had not decreased. it was protected and increased by a class of people whose low and despised estate was, probably, their safeguard--these were the jews, who for many centuries had, both publicly and secretly, resided in spain. there were many classes of this people in the land, scattered alike over castile, leon, arragon, navarre, and also in the moorish territories; some there were confined to the mystic learning and profound studies of the schools, whence they sent many deeply learned men to other countries, where their worth and wisdom gained them yet greater regard than they received in spain: others were low and degraded in outward seeming, yet literally holding and guiding the financial and commercial interests of the kingdom;--whose position was of the lowest--scorned and hated by the very people who yet employed them, and exposed to insult from every class; the third, and by far the largest body of spanish jews, were those who, israelites in secret, were so completely catholic in seeming, that the court, the camp, the council, even the monasteries themselves, counted them amongst them. and this had been the case for years--we should say for centuries--and yet so inviolable was the faith pledged to each other, so awful the dangers around them, were even suspicion excited, that the fatal secret never transpired; offices of state, as well as distinctions of honor, were frequently conferred on men who, had their faith or race been suspected, would have been regarded as the scum of the earth, and sentenced to torture and death, for daring to pass for what they were not. at the period of which we write, the fatal enemy to the secret jews of more modern times, known as the holy office, did not exist; but a secret and terrible tribunal there was, whose power and extent were unknown to the sovereigns of the land. the inquisition is generally supposed to have been founded by ferdinand and isabella, about the year 1480 or '82; but a deeper research informs us that it had been introduced into spain several centuries earlier, and obtained great influence in arragon. confiding in the protection of the papal see, the inquisitors set no bounds to their ferocity: secret informations, imprisonments, tortures, midnight assassinations, marked their proceedings; but they overreached themselves. all spain, setting aside petty rivalships, rose up against them. all who should give them encouragement or assistance were declared traitors to their country; the very lives of the inquisitors and their families were, in the first burst of fury, endangered; but after a time, imagining they had sunk into harmless insignificance, their oppressors desisted in their efforts against them, and were guilty of the unpardonable error of not exterminating them entirely.[a] [footnote a: stockdale's history of the inquisition.] according to the popular belief, the dreaded tribunal slept, and so soundly, they feared not, imagined not its awakening. they little knew that its subterranean halls were established near almost all the principal cities, and that its engines were often at work, even in the palaces of kings. many a family wept the loss of a beloved member, they knew not, guessed not how--for those who once entered those fatal walls were never permitted to depart; so secret were their measures, that even the existence of this fearful mockery of justice and religion was not known, or at that time it would have been wholly eradicated. superstition had not then gained the ascendency which in after years so tarnished the glory of spain, and opened the wide gates to the ruin and debasement under which she labors now. the fierce wars and revolutions ravaging the land had given too many, and too favorable opportunities for the exercise of this secret power; but still, regard for their own safety prevented the more public display of their office, as ambition prompted. the vigorous proceedings of ferdinand and isabella rendered them yet more wary; and little did the sovereigns suspect that in their very courts this fatal power held sway. the existence of this tribunal naturally increased the dangers environing the israelites who were daring enough to live amongst the catholics as one of them; but of this particular danger they themselves were not generally aware, and their extraordinary skill in the concealment of their faith (to every item of which they yet adhered) baffled, except in a very few instances, even these ministers of darkness. chapter iv. "in war did never lion rage more fierce- in peace was never gentle lamb more mild, than was that young and princely gentleman." shakspeare. the wars ravaging spain had nursed many a gallant warrior, and given ample opportunities for the possession and display of those chivalric qualities without which, in that age, no manly character was considered perfect. the armies of ferdinand and isabella counted some of the noblest names and most valiant knights of christendom. the spanish chivalry had always been famous, and when once organized under a leader of such capacity and firmness as ferdinand; when the notice and regard of the queen they idolized could only be obtained by manly virtue as well as the warrior's ardor, a new spirit seemed to wake within them; petty rivalships and jealousies were laid aside, all they sought was to become distinguished; and never had chivalry shone with so pure and glorious a lustre in the court of spain as then, when, invisibly and unconsciously, it verged on its decline. it was amongst all this blaze of chivalry that arthur stanley had had ample opportunity to raise, in his own person, the martial glory of his own still much loved and deeply regretted land. ferdinand had honored him with so large a portion of his coveted regard, that no petty feelings on the part of the spaniards, because he was a stranger, could interfere with his advancement; his friends, however, were mostly among the arragonese; to isabella, and the castilians, he was only known as a valiant young warrior, and a marked favorite of the king. there was one person, however, whom the civil contentions of spain had so brought forward, that his name was never spoken, either in council, court, or camp, palace or hut--by monarch or captive, soldier or citizen--without a burst of such warm and passionate attachment that it was almost strange how any single individual, and comparatively speaking, in a private station, could so have won the hearts of thousands. yet it had been gradually that this pre-eminence had been attained--gradually, and entirely by the worth of its object. at the early age of sixteen, and as page to gonzalos de lara, ferdinand morales had witnessed with all the enthusiasm of a peculiarly ardent, though outwardly quiet nature, the exciting proceedings at avila. his youth, his dignified mien, his earnestness, perhaps even his striking beauty, attracted the immediate attention of the young alfonso, and a bond of union of reciprocal affection from that hour linked the youths together. it is useless arguing on the folly and frivolity of such rapid attachments; there are those with whom one day will be sufficient, not only to awaken, but to rivet, those mysterious sympathies which are the undying links of friendship; and others again, with whom we may associate intimately for months--nay, years--and yet feel we have not one thought in common, nor formed one link to sever which is pain. during alfonso's brief career, ferdinand morales displayed personal qualities, and a wisdom and faithfulness in his cause, well deserving not only the prince's love, but the confidence of all those who were really alfonso's friends. his deep grief and ill-concealed indignation at the prince's mysteriously sudden death might, for the time, have obtained him enemies, and endangered his own life; but the favor of isabella, whom it was then the policy of the confederates to conciliate in all things possible, protected and advanced him. the love borne by the infanta for her young brother surpassed even the tenderest affection of such relatives; all who had loved and served him were dear to her; and at a time when so much of treachery and insidious policy lurked around her, even in the garb of seeming devotion to her cause, the unwavering fidelity and straightforward conduct of morales, combined as it was with his deep affection for alfonso, permitted her whole mind to rest on him, secure not only of his faithfulness, but of vigilance which would discover and counteract every evil scheming of seeming friends. her constantly chosen messenger to ferdinand, he became known and trusted by both that prince and his native subjects. his wealth, which, seemed exhaustless, independent of his preferments, was ever at the service of either isabella or her betrothed; he it was from whom the necessary means for her private nuptials were borrowed. at that scene he was, of course, present, and, at his own desire, escorted ferdinand back to his own domains--an honorable but most dangerous office, performed with his usual unwavering fidelity and skill. that one so faithful in adversity should advance from post to post as soon as dawning prosperity permitted isabella and ferdinand to reward merit as well as to evince gratitude, was not surprising; but no royal favor, no coveted honors, no extended power, could alter one tittle of his single-hearted truth--his unrestrained intercourse with and interest in his equals, were they of the church, court, or camp--his gentle and unassuming manner to his inferiors. it was these things that made him so universally beloved. the coldest natures, if thrown in contact with him, unconsciously to themselves kindled into warmth; vice itself could not meet the glance of that piercing eye without shrinking, for the moment, in loathing from itself. until isabella and ferdinand were firmly established on the throne, and arragon and castile united, there had been little leisure amongst their warriors to think of domestic ties, otherwise it might perhaps have been noticed as somewhat remarkable that ferdinand morales appeared to stand alone; kindred, indeed, he claimed with four or five of the noblest amongst the castilians, but he seemed to have no near relative; and though he mingled courteously, and to some young hearts far too pleasingly, amongst isabella's court, it seemed as if he would never stoop to love. the queen often jested him on his apparent insensibility, and entreating him to wed. at first he had smiled away such words; but two or three months after the commencement of our tale, he acknowledged that his affections had been for some years engaged to one living so completely in retirement as to be unknown to all; he had but waited till peace had dawned for spain, and he might offer her not only his love, but a secure and quiet home. he spoke in confidence, and isabella, woman-like, had listened with no little interest, giving her royal approval of his choice, without knowing more than his own words revealed; but feeling convinced, she said, that ferdinand morales would never wed one whose birth or lineage would tarnish his pure castilian blood, or endanger the holy faith of which he was so true a member. a red flush might have stained the cheek of the warrior at these words, but the deep obeisance with which he had departed from the royal presence concealed the unwonted emotion. ere a year from that time elapsed, not only the ancient city of segovia, where his large estates lay, but all castile were thrown into a most unusual state of excitement by the marriage of the popular idol, don ferdinand morales, with a young and marvellously lovely girl, whom few, if any, had ever seen before, and whose very name, donna marie henriquez, though acknowledged as essentially castilian, was yet unfamiliar. the mystery, however, as to who she was, and where he could have found her, was speedily lost in the universal admiration of her exceeding and remarkable loveliness, and of the new yet equally attractive character which, as a devoted husband, morales thenceforward displayed. many had imagined that he was too grave, too wrapt in his many engrossing duties, alike as statesman and general, ever to play the lover; and he had seemed resolved that this impression should remain, and shrunk from the exposure of such sacred feelings; for none, save isabella, knew he loved until they saw his bride. chapter v. "and we have won a bower of refuge now in this fresh waste." mrs. hemans. the vale of cedars, as described in our first chapter, had been originally the work of a single individual, who had found there a refuge and concealment from the secret power of the inquisition, from whose walls he had almost miraculously escaped: this individual was julien henriquez, the grandfather of marie. for five years he remained concealed, working unaided, but successfully, in forming a comfortable home and concealed retreat, not only for himself but for his family. nature herself appeared to have marked the spot as an impenetrable retreat, and julien's skill and energy increased and strengthened the natural barriers. during these five years the secret search for his person, at first carried on so vigilantly that his enemies supposed nothing but death could have concealed him, gradually relaxed, and then subsided altogether. foes and friends alike believed him dead, and when he did re-appear in the coarse robe, shrouding cowl, and hempen belt, of a wandering friar, he traversed the most populous towns in safety, unrecognized and unsuspected. it was with some difficulty he found his family, and a matter of no little skill to convey them, without exciting suspicion by their disappearance, to his retreat; but all was accomplished at length, and years of domestic felicity crowned every former effort, and inspired and encouraged more. besides his own immediate family, consisting of his wife, a son, and daughter, henriquez had the charge of two nephews and a niece, children of his sister, whose husband had perished by the arm of the same secret power from which henriquez had escaped; their mother had died of a broken heart, from the fearful mystery of her husband's fate, and the orphans were to julien as his own. as years passed, the vale of cedars became not only a safe, but a luxurious home. every visit to the world julien turned to profit, by the purchase first of necessaries, then of luxuries. the little temple was erected by the active aid of the young men, and the solemn rites of their peculiar faith adhered to in security. small as the family was, deaths, marriages, and births took place, and feelings and sympathies were excited, and struggles secretly endured, making that small spot of earth in very truth a world. the cousins intermarried. ferdinand and josephine left the vale for a more stirring life; manuel, henriquez's own son, and miriam, his niece, preferred the quiet of the vale. julien, his nephew, too, had loved; but his cousin's love was given to his brother, and he departed, unmurmuringly indeed, but he dared not yet trust himself to associate calmly with the object of his love: he had ever been a peculiarly sad and silent boy; the fate of his father never for an instant seemed to leave his mind, and he had secretly vowed to avenge him. love, for a while, had banished these thoughts; but when that returned in all the misery of isolation to his own breast, former thoughts regained dominion, and he tried to conquer the one feeling by the encouragement of the other. his brother and his wife constantly visited the vale; if at no other time, almost always at those solemn festivals which generally fell about the period of the catholic easter and michaelmas; often accompanied by faithful friends, holding the same mysterious bond of brotherhood, and to whom the secret of that vale was as precious and secure as to its natural inmates. its aged founder had frequently the happiness of gathering around him from twenty to thirty of his secret race, and of feeling that his work would benefit friends as well as offspring. julien alone never returned to the vale, and his family at length mourned him as one amongst the dead. the career of his brother was glorious but brief; he fell fighting for his country, and his widow and young son returned to the parental retreat. though the cousins had married the same day, the son of ferdinand was ten years older than his cousin marie; manuel and miriam having lived twelve years together ere the longed-for treasure was bestowed. at first, therefore, she had been to the youthful ferdinand but as a plaything, to pet and laugh with: he left the vale as page to his father's companion in arms, gonzalos de lara, when marie was little more than five years old; but still his love for her and his home was such that whenever it was possible, he would snatch if it were but half a day to visit them. gradually, and to him it seemed almost strangely, the plaything child changed into the graceful girl, and then again into the lovely woman; and dearer than ever became his boyhood's home, though years had snatched away so many of its beloved inmates, that, at the period of our story, its sole occupants were marie and her father. had her mother lived, perchance marie had never been exposed to the dangers of an introduction to the world. betrothed, in the secret hearts of not only her own parents, but of ferdinand's mother, to her cousin, if she lived to attain sufficient age, miriam would not have thought it so impossible as manuel did, that the affections of his child might be sought for by, and given to another, if she mingled with the world; she would at least have waited till she was ferdinand's wedded wife, and then sent her forth secure. but such subtle fears and feelings are peculiarly _woman's_; not the tenderest, most devoted father, could of himself have either thought of, or understood them. he might perhaps have owned their justice had they been presented to him by the affectionate warnings of an almost idolized wife; but that voice was hushed, her sweet counsels buried in the grave; and the fond, proud father, only thought of his child's brilliant beauty, and how she would be admired and beloved, could she be but generally known. and so, for her sake, he actually did violence to his own love for the quiet retirement of the vale, and bore her to the care of donna emilie de castro; seeing nothing, feeling nothing, but the admiration she excited, and that she was indeed the loveliest there. one wish he had, and that was, that his nephew could have been there likewise; but being engaged at that time on some important private business for the queen, ferdinand did not even know that his cousin had ever left the vale. that his child's affections could be excited towards any but those of her own race was a circumstance so impossible, and moreover a sin so fearful, that it never entered manuel's mind: he knew not woman's nature, dreamed not of its quick impulses, its passionate yearnings, its susceptibility towards all gentle emotions, or he could not have so trustingly believed in the power of her peculiar faith and creed to guard her from the danger. even his dearest desire that she should become the wife of her cousin she knew not; for the father shrunk from revealing it to either his child or nephew, unless ferdinand loved and sought her himself. what therefore had she to warn her from the precipice on which she stood, when new, strange, yet most exquisitely sweet emotions gradually obtained possession of her heart in her daily intercourse with arthur stanley? what they were indeed she knew not; the word love was never uttered by either; she only knew that his presence, his voice, the pressure of his hand, brought with it a thrilling sensation of intense happiness, such as she had never known, never imagined before. it was indeed but a brief dream, for when he spoke, when he besought her to be his, then indeed she woke to consciousness, not only that she loved, but of the dark and fatal barrier between them, which no human effort could o'erleap. the sacrifice of race, of faith, of family, indeed might be made; but to do this never entered the mind and heart of marie, so utterly was it impossible. to her peculiar feelings it was sin enough thus to have loved. manuel henriquez bore his child back to the vale, little dreaming of the anguish to which his unguarded love had exposed her. she had ever been rather a pensive and gentle girl, and therefore that she should be still serious was no matter of surprise. for fifteen months she had sought to banish every dream of arthur, every thought but that in loving him she had sinned against her god. time and prayer had in some measure softened the first acute agony of her feelings; she thought she was conquering them altogether, when his unexpected appearance excited every feeling anew. yet in that harrowing interview still she had been firm. she had even told him a secret, which it was almost death to reveal, that he might forget her; for how could he wed with her? and yet even that barrier he would have passed, and his generous, his determined love, would linger on her memory spite of every effort to think of him no more. it was a fearful struggle, and often and often she yearned to confess all to her father, whom she loved with no common love; but she knew too well, not only the grief such tidings would be to him, but what his judgment must be, and she shrunk in agony from the condemnation of her feelings by another, constantly as she was condemning them herself. henriquez had been absent from the vale during stanley's unexpected visit, and he tarried long enough to excite the alarm, not only of his child but of their domestics; nor was its cause when explained likely to ease marie's anxiety. he had been attacked on the day of his intended return by a strange sensation of giddiness, followed by insensibility, which appeared to have weakened him more than he had thought compatible with so brief an illness. he made light of it, but still he was uneasy, not that he feared death himself, but that it might take him from his marie ere his wishes were accomplished, and her earthly happiness, as he thought, secured. the first attack was but the forerunner of others, sometimes very slight and brief, at others longer and more alarming, rendering marie more and more determined to keep her fatal secret from him; for it appeared to her that any stronger emotion than customary would be followed by those attacks; and as her love for him seemed to increase in intensity with the anxiety his precarious health occasioned, so did her dread of occasioning him aught of grief. but how fruitless are our best and wisest resolutions! one little hour, and every thought was changed. chapter vi. "oh! praise me not- look gently on me, or i sink to earth not thus." de chatillon. it was the custom of the inmates of the vale of cedars, once in every year, and generally about the season of michaelmas, to celebrate a festival, which ordained the erection of a booth or tent of "branches of thick trees," in which for seven days every meal was taken, and greater part of the day (except the time passed in the little temple) was spent. large branches of the palm and cedar, the willow, acacia, and the oak, cut so as to prevent their withering for the seven days, formed the walls of the tent; their leaves intermingling over head, so as to form a shelter, and yet permit the beautiful blue of the heavens to peep within. flowers of every shade and scent formed a bordering within; and bouquets, richly and tastefully arranged, placed in vases filled with scented earth, hung from the branches forming the roof. fruit, too, was there--the purple grape, the ripe red orange, the paler lemon, the lime, the pomegranate, the citron, all of which the vale afforded, adorned the board (which for those seven days was always spread within the tent), intermingled with cakes made by marie. this was one of the festivals for which many of the secret race would visit the vale; but it so happened that, this year, manuel, his child, and their retainers, kept it alone--a source of disappointment and anxiety to the former, whose health was rapidly (but still to his child almost invisibly) failing. at the close of the solemn fast which always preceded by five days this festival of rejoicing, he had had a recurrence of his deathlike fits of insensibility, longer and more alarming than usual; but he had rallied, and attributed it so naturally to his long fast, that alarm once more gave place to hope in the heart of his daughter. not thus, however, felt her father--convinced that death could not be long delayed, he but waited for his nephew's appearance and acknowledged love for his cousin, at once to give her to him, and prepare her for the worst. parental anxiety naturally increased with every hour that passed, and ferdinand appeared not. it was the eve of the sabbath; one from which in general all earthly cares and thoughts were banished, giving place to tranquil and spiritual joy. the father and daughter were alone within their lovely tent, but both so wrapt in evidently painful thought, that a strange silence usurped the usual cheerful converse. so unwonted was the anxious gloom on manuel's brow, that his child could bear it no longer, and flinging her arms round his neck, she besought him in the tenderest accents to confide in her, as he had ever done, since her mother's death, to tell her what so pained him--might she not remove it? henriquez could not resist that fond yet mournful pleading. he told her, that he felt health was departing, that death seemed ever hovering near, but that its pain, its care, would all depart, could he behold his long-cherished wish fulfilled, and his marie the wife of ferdinand, whose every look and tone during his last visit had betrayed his devoted love. marie heard; and her cheek and lips blanched to such ashy whiteness, that her father in alarm folded her to his breast; and sought to soothe a grief, which he believed was occasioned merely by the sudden and fearful thought of his approaching death; and sought to soothe, by a reference to the endearing love, the cherished tenderness which would still be hers; how ferdinand would be to her all, aye more than all that he had been, and how, with love like his, she would be happier than she had been yet. much he said, and he might have said still more, for it was long ere the startled girl could interrupt him. but when he conjured her to speak to him, not to look upon his death so fearfully, the beautiful truth of her nature rose up against the involuntary deceit. it was not his death which thus appalled her; alas--alas!--and she hated herself for the fearful thought--she had almost lost sight of that, in the words which followed. breaking from his embrace, she sunk down on her knees before him, and buying her face upon his hand, in broken accents and with choking sobs, revealed the whole. how could she do her noble kinsman such fearful wrong as to wed him, when her whole heart, thoughts, nay, life itself, seemed wrapt in the memory of another? and that other! oh! who, what was he? once she looked up in her father's face, but so fearful were the emotions written there--wrath struggling with love, grief, pity, almost terror--that hastily she withdrew her glance, and remained kneeling, bent even to the dust, long after the confession had been poured forth, waiting in fear and anguish for his words. "marie, marie! is it my marie, my sainted miriam's, child, who thus speaks? who hath thus sinned sole representative of a race of ages, in whose pure thoughts such fearful sin hath never mingled. my child so to love the stranger as to reject, to scorn her own! oh god, my god, why hast thou so forsaken me? would i had died before!" and the heavy groan which followed, confirmed the anguish breathed in those broken words. "father!" implored the unhappy girl, clasping his knees in an agony of supplication, though she raised not her head--"oh my father! in mercy do not speak thus! words of wrath, of reproach, fearful as they are from thee, yet i can bear them, but not such woe! oh, think what i have borne, what i must still bear. if i have sinned, my sin will bring, nay, it has already brought its own chastisement. speak to me but one word of love--or, if it must be, wrath.--but not, not such accents of despair!" her father struggled to reply; but the conflux of strong emotion was too powerful, and marie sprung up to support him as he fell. she had often seen him insensible before, when there appeared no cause for such attacks; but was it strange that at such a moment she should feel that _she_ had caused it?--that her sin perchance had killed her father; he might never wake more to say he forgave, he blessed her,--or that in those agonized moments of suspense she vowed, if he might but speak again, that his will should be hers, even did it demand the annihilation of every former treasured thought! and the vow seemed heard. gradually and, it appeared, painfully life returned. his first action was to clasp her convulsively to his heart; his next, to put her gently yet firmly from him, and bury his face in his hands, and weep. no sight is more terrible, even to an indifferent spectator, than to behold tears wrung from the eyes of man--and to his child it was indeed torture. but she controlled the choking anguish--calmly and firmly she spoke, and gradually the paroxysm subsided. "that i have sinned in loving a stranger thus, i have long felt," she said; "and had i been aware of the nature of these feelings, they should never have gained ascendency. but i awoke too late--my very being was enchained. still i may break from these engrossing thoughts--i would do so--pain shall be welcome, if it may in time atone for the involuntary sin of loving the stranger, and the yet more terrible one of grieving thee. oh, my father, do what thou wilt, command me as thou wilt--i am henceforth wholly thine." "and thou wilt wed ferdinand, my child?" "would he still wish it, father, if he knew the whole? and is it right, is it just, to wed him, and the truth still unrevealed? oh, if he do love me, as you say, how can i requite him by deceit?" "tell him not, tell him not," replied henriquez, again fearfully agitated; "let none other know what has been. what can it do, save to grieve him beyond thy power to repair? no, no. once his, and all these fearful thoughts will pass away, and their sin be blotted out, in thy true faithfulness to one who loves thee. his wife, and i know that thou wilt love him, and be true, as if thou hadst never loved another--" "ay, could i not be true, i would not wed," murmured marie, more to herself than to her father; "and if suffering indeed, atone for sin, terribly will it be redeemed. but oh, my father, tell me--i have sworn to be guided by thee, and in all things i will be--tell me, in wedding him whom thou hast chosen, do i not still do foul wrong, if not to him (her voice faltered), unto another, whose love is mine as well?" "better for him, as for thee, to wed another, marie! would'st thou wed the stranger, wert thou free?" she buried her face in his bosom, and murmured, "never!" "then in what can this passion end, but in misery for both? in constant temptation to perjure thy soul, in forsaking all for him. and if thou didst, would it bring happiness? my child, thou art absolved, even had aught of promise passed between you. knowest thou not that a maiden of herself hath no power to vow? her father's will alone absolves it or confirms. thou doest him no wrong. be ferdinand's bride, and all shall be forgiven, all forgotten--thou art my child, my miriam's child once more!" he pressed her again fondly to him; but though she made no reply, his arguments could not convince her. she had indeed told arthur that she never could be his, but yet avowed that she loved him; and if he did meet her as the wife of another, what must he believe her? and ferdinand, if he did so love her, that preoccupied heart was indeed a sad requital. she had, however, that evening but little time to think, for ere either spoke again, the branches at the entrance of the tent were hastily pushed aside, and a tall manly form stood upon the threshold. marie sprang to her feet with a faint cry--could it be that the vow of an hour was already called upon to be fulfilled?--but the intruder attributed her alarm to a different cause, and hastily flinging off his wrapping mantle and deep plumed morion, he exclaimed, "what! alarmed by me, my gentle cousin? dearest marie! am i forgotten?" and henriquez, forgetting all of bodily exhaustion, all of mental suffering, in the deep joy his sudden appearance caused, could only fold the warrior in his feeble arms, and drooping his head on his shoulder, sob forth expressively, "my son! my son!" chapter vii. "and thus how oft do life and death twine hand in hand together; and the funeral shroud, and bridal wreath, how small a space may sever!" ms. one little week did ferdinand spend within the home of his boyhood; and in that brief interval the earthly fate of marie henriquez was decided. he had deferred his visit till such peace and prosperity had dawned for spain, that he could offer his bride not only a home suited to his rank, but the comfort of his presence and protection for an indeterminate time. he had come there purposely to reveal his long-cherished love; to conjure marie to bless him with the promise of her hand; and, if successful, to return, in two short months, for the celebration of their marriage, according to their own secret rites, ere the ceremony was performed in the sight of the whole catholic world. the intermarriages of first cousins had been so common an occurrence in his family, that ferdinand, in spite of some tremblings, as a lover, had regarded his final union with marie with almost as much certainty, and as a thing of course, as his uncle himself. the effects of that agitating interview between father and daughter had been visible to ferdinand; but he attributed it, very naturally, to the cause privately assigned for it by his kinsman--marie's first conviction that her father's days were numbered. he had been greatly shocked at the change in henriquez's appearance, and deeply affected at the solemn and startling earnestness with which he consigned his child to his care, beseeching him, under all circumstances, to love and cherish her. his nephew could scarcely understand, then, such earnest pleadings. alas! ere his life closed, their cause was clear enough. unconscious that her father and cousin were together, or of the nature of their conversation, marie had joined them, unexpectedly, ere the interview was over. from her father's lips, and in a tone of trembling agitation, she heard that his long-cherished prayer was granted, and that she was his nephew's plighted, bride. he joined their hands, blessed them, and left them alone together, ere she had had power to utter a single word; and when voice was recalled by the tender, earnest accents of her cousin, beseeching her to ratify her father's consent--to say she would learn to love him, if she did not then; that she would not refuse the devotedness he proffered--what could she answer? she had so long loved him, venerated him, gloried in his achievements, his honors, as of an elder and much-loved brother, that, had she followed the impulse of her nature, she would have thrown herself as a sister on his neck, and poured forth her tale of sorrow. but she had sworn to be guided by her father, and he had besought her to reveal nothing; and therefore she promised to be his, even while with tears she declared herself unworthy. but such words were of little meaning to her enraptured lover save to bid him passionately deny them, and excite his ardent affection more than ever--satisfied that she could be not indifferent, listening as she did, with such flushed cheek and glistening eye, to the theme of his life since they had parted--the favor of the sovereigns, and the station he had won. during the two months which intervened between don ferdinand's departure and promised return, marie strained every nerve to face her destiny, and so meet it with calmness. had she not loved, it would have been impossible to feel herself the cherished object of her cousin's love without returning it, possessing, as he did, alike inward and outward attraction to win regard. she studiously and earnestly banished every thought of arthur as it rose; she prayed only for strength to be faithful, not only in outward seeming but in inward thought; that stanley might never cross her path again, or, if he did, that his very affections might be estranged from her; that the secret she had revealed might alone be thought upon, till all of love had gone. the torture of such prayer, let those who love decide; but it was the thought of his woe, did he ever know she was another's bride, that haunted her. her own suffering it was comparitively easy to bear, believing as she did, that they were called for by her involuntary sin: but his--so successfully had she conquered herself; that it was only when his countenance of reproach would flit before her, that the groan burst from her heart, and she felt bowed unto the earth. infirmity itself seemed conquered in the rejoicing thankfulness with which henriquez regarded this fulfilment of his wishes. he appeared actually to regain strength and energy; his alarming fainting fits had not recurred since his nephew's visit, and marie hoped he would be spared her longer than he believed. he never recurred to her confession, but lavished on her, if possible, yet more endearing love, and constantly alluded to the intense happiness which her consent to be her cousin's bride had given him. once he left the vale, despite his precarious health, taking with him his old retainer, reuben, and returned, laden with the richest gems and costliest silks, to adorn his child, on her bridal day, as befitted the bride of ferdinand. time passed: the day specified by ferdinand rapidly approached. he was there to meet it--and not alone. thoughtful of his marie's feeling, he had resolved that she should not stand beside the altar without one female friend; and he brought one, the sight of whom awakened associations with such overpowering strength, that marie could only throw herself upon her bosom, almost convulsed with tears. it was donna emelie de castro, at whose house she had joined the world; but her emotion, supposed natural to the agitating ceremony impending, and her father's precarious health, happily for her, passed without further notice than sympathy and love. henriquez, for once, was indifferent alike to the agitation of marie, or the presence of ferdinand. his glance was fixed on one of a little group, all of whom, with the exception of this individual, were familiar to his home and heart. he was clothed as a monk; but his cowl was thrown back, and his gaze so fixed on marie that she blushed beneath it, and turned away. "do not turn from me, my child," he said; and henriquez started at the voice, it was so fraught with memories of the departed. "stranger as i must be, save in name, to thee--thou art none such to me. i seem to feel thy mother once again before me--and never was sister more beloved!--manuel, hast thou, indeed, forgotten julien?" almost ere he ceased to speak, the long separated relatives were clasped in each, other's arms. the five-and-twenty years, which had changed the prime of manhood into advancing age, and blanched the hair of each, had had no power to decrease the strong ties of kindred, so powerful in their secret race. the agitation and excitement of henriquez was so excessive, not only then, but during the few days intervening before the celebration of the bridal, that marie, in spite of the near approach of the dreaded day, could only think of him. ferdinand was no exacting lover: his affection for her was so intense, so true; his confidence in her truth so perfect, that, though he might at times have fancied that she loved not then with fervor equal to his own, he was contented to believe that his devotion would in time create in her as powerful a feeling. he had so watched, so tended her from infancy: she had so clung to and reverenced him, so opened her young heart, without one reservation, to his view--so treated him as her most cherished, most loved friend, that how could he dream she had aught to conceal, or believe that, did she know there was, she could have hesitated, one moment, to refuse his hand, preferring even the misery of so grieving him, to the continued agony of deceit? it was this perfect confidence, this almost childish trust, so beautiful in one tried, as he had been, in the ordeal of the world, that wrung marie's heart with deepest torture. he believed her other than she was;--but it was too late--she dared not undeceive him. the nuptial morning dawned. the party, not more than twelve or fourteen in all, assembled within the little edifice, whose nature had so puzzled arthur. its interior was as peculiar as its outward appearance: its walls, of polished cedar, were unadorned with either carving, pictures, or imagery. in the centre, facing the east, was a sort of raised table or desk, surrounded by a railing, and covered with a cloth of the richest and most elaborately worked brocade. exactly opposite, and occupying the centre of the eastern wall, was a sort of lofty chest, or ark; the upper part of which, arched, and richly painted, with a blue ground, bore in two columns, strange hieroglyphics in gold: beneath this were portals of polished cedar, panelled, and marked out with gold, but bearing no device; their hinges set in gilded pillars, which supported the arch above. before these portals were generally drawn curtains, of material rich and glittering as that upon the reading-desk. but this day not only were the curtains drawn aside, but the portals themselves flung open, as the bridal party neared the steps which led to it, and disclosed six or seven rolls of parchment, folded on silver pins, and filled with the same strange letters, each clothed in drapery of variously colored brocade, or velvet, and surmounted by two sets of silver ornaments, in which the bell and pomegranate were, though small, distinctly discernible. a superb lamp, of solid silver, was suspended from the roof; and one of smaller dimensions, but of equally valuable material, and always kept lighted, hung just before the ark. julien morales, at his own particular request, was to read the ceremony; and three hours after noon he stood within the portals, on the highest step; a slab of white marble divided him from the bride and bridegroom, over whom a canopy was raised, supported by four silver poles. the luxuriant hair of the bride had been gathered up, and, save two massive braids, shading her brow and cheek, was concealed under a head-dress, somewhat resembling an eastern turban, but well suited to her countenance. her dress, of the fashion before described, was all of white--the jacket or bodice richly woven with gold threads; but so thick a veil enveloped face and form, that her sweet face was concealed, until, at one particular part of the mysterious rite (for such, to the spaniards, this ceremony must have been), the veil was uplifted for her to taste the sacred wine, and not allowed to fall again. neither the bridegroom (agitated himself, for his was not a nature to think lightly of the nuptial rite), nor henriquez (whose excitement was extreme) was conscious of the looks of alarm, blended with admiration, which the raising of the veil attracted towards marie. lovely she was; but it was the loveliness of a marble statue, not of life--her very lips were blanched, and every feature still, indeed; but a stillness of so peculiar an expression, so inexpressibly, so thrillingly sad, that admiration appeared indefinably and strangely transformed to pain. the wedding ring was placed upon her hand--a thin crystal goblet broken by ferdinand, on the marble at his feet--and the rites were concluded. an almost convulsive embrace from her father--the unusual wildness of his voice and manner, as he blessed, and called her his own precious child, who this day had placed the seal upon his happiness, and confirmed twenty years of filial devotedness and love--awoke her from that stagnating trance. she folded her arms round his neck, and burst into passionate tears; and there were none, not even ferdinand, to chide or doubt that emotion--it was but natural to her character, and the solemn service of the day. gay and joyous was the meal which followed the bridal. no appurtenances of modern pomp and luxury, indeed, decorated the board: its only ornaments were the loveliest flowers, arranged in alabaster vases, and silver baskets filled with blushing fruit. the food was simple, and the wines not choice; but the guests thought not of mere sensual enjoyment. in these secret meetings, each felt there was something holy; richer homes, more gorgeous feasts, were theirs in the world, whenever they so willed; but such intercourse of brotherhood seldom occurred, and when it came, was consequently hallowed. some time they sat around the board; and so unrestrained, so full of varied interest was their eager converse, that sunset came unheeded; and the silver lamps, fed with sweet incense, were placed upon the table. julien then arose, and solemnly pronounced the usual blessing, or rather thanksgiving, after the bridal feast. marie did not look up during its continuance; but as it concluded, she arose, and was about to retire with donna emilie, when her eye caught her father, and a cry of alarm broke from her. the burning flush had given place to a livid paleness--the glittering of the eye to a fixed and glassy gaze. the frame was, for a moment, rigid as stone, then fearfully convulsed; and reuben, starting forward, caught his master as he fell. there was something so startling and unusual in the seizure, that even those accustomed to his periods of insensibility were alarmed; and vain was every effort of ferdinand to awaken hope and comfort in the seemingly frozen spirit of his bride. henriquez was conveyed to his room, and every restorative applied; but even the skill of julien, well versed as he was in the healing art, was without effect. more than an hour passed, and still he lay like death; and no sound, no sob, broke from the torn heart of his hapless child, who knelt beside his couch; her large dark eyes, distended to even more than their usual size, fixed upon his face; her hands clasped round one of his; but had she sought thus to give warmth she would have failed, for the hand of the living was cold and damp as that of the seeming dead. a slight, almost imperceptible flush floated over that livid cheek--the eyes unclosed, but so quickly closed again that it was more like the convulsive quivering of the muscle than the effort of the will; and marie alone had marked the change. "father!" she almost shrieked in agony, "in mercy speak to me again--say but you forgive--bless--" "forgive" feebly repeated the dying man; and the strong feeling of the father, for a brief interval, conquered even death--"forgive?--my beautiful--my own!--the word is meaningless, applied to thee. art thou not my ferdinand's bride, and hast thou not so taken the sting, the trial even from this dread moment? my precious one!--would i could see that face once more--but it is dark--all dark--kiss me, my child!" she threw herself upon his bosom, and covered his cheek with kisses. he passed his hand feebly over her face, as if the touch could once more bring her features to his sight; and then extending his left hand, feebly called--"ferdinand!" his nephew caught the withered hand, and kneeling down, pressed it reverentially and fondly to his lips. henriquez's lips moved, but there came no word. "doubt me not, my more than father! from boyhood to youth, from youth to manhood, i have doted on thy child. shall i love and cherish her less now, that she has only me? oh, trust me!--if devotion can give joy, she will know no grief, that man can avert, again!" a strange but a beautiful light for a single minute dispersed the fearful shadow creeping over henriquez's features. "my son! my son!--i bless thee--and thou, too, my drooping flower. julien! my brother--lay me beside my miriam. thou didst not come for this--but it is well. my children--my friends--send up the hymn of praise--the avowal of our faith; once more awake the voice of our fathers!" he was obeyed; a psalm arose, solemn and sweet, in accents familiar as their mother tongue, to those who chanted; but had any other been near, not a syllable would have been intelligible. but the voice which in general led to such solemn service--so thrilling in its sweetness, that the most indifferent could not listen to it unmoved--now lay hushed and mute, powerless even to breathe the sobs that crushed her heart. and when the psalm ceased, and the prayer for the dying followed, with one mighty effort henriquez raised himself, and clasping his hands, uttered distinctly the last solemn words ever spoken by his race, and then sunk back--and there was silence. minutes, many minutes, rolled by--but marie moved not. gently, and tenderly, don ferdinand succeeded in disengaging the convulsive hold with which she still clasped her parent, and sought to bear her from that sad and solemn room. wildly she looked up in his face, and then on those beloved features, already fixed and gray in death;--with frantic strength she pushed aside her husband, and sunk down by her father's side. chapter viii. "slight are the outward signs of evil thought: within, within--'twas there the spirit wrought. love shows all changes: hate, ambition, guile, betray no further than the bitter smile." byron. our readers must imagine that nearly a year and a half has elapsed since the conclusion of our last chapter. during that interval the outward life of marie had passed in a calm, even stream; which, could she have succeeded in entirely banishing thoughts of the past, would have been unalloyed enjoyment. her marriage, as we hinted in our fourth chapter, had been solemnized in public, with all the form and ceremony of the catholic church, and with a splendor incumbent on the high rank and immense wealth of the bridegroom. in compliance with marie's wishes, however, she had not yet been presented to the queen; delicate health (which was the fact, for a terrible fever had succeeded the varied emotions of her wedding day) and her late bereavement, was her husband's excuse to isabella for her non-appearance--an excuse graciously accepted; the rather that the queen of castile was then much engrossed with political changes and national reforms, than from any failing of interest in don ferdinand's bride. changed as was her estate, from her lovely home in the vale of cedars, where she had dwelt as the sole companion of an ailing parent, to the mistress of a large establishment in one of the most populous cities of castile; the idolized wife of the governor of the town--and, as such, the object of popular love and veneration, and called upon, frequently, to exert influence and authority--still marie did not fail performing every new duty with a grace and sweetness binding her more and more closely to the doting heart of her husband. for her inward self, marie was calm--nay, at intervals, almost happy. she had neither prayed nor struggled in vain, and she felt as if her very prayer was answered in the fact that arthur stanley had been appointed to some high and honorable post in sicily, and they were not therefore likely yet to meet again. the wife of such a character as morales could not have continued wretched unless perversely resolved so to be. but his very virtues, while they inspired the deepest reverence towards him, engendered some degree of fear. could she really have loved him as--he believed she did--this feeling would not have had existence; but its foundation was the constant thought that she was deceiving him--the remorse, that his fond confidence was so utterly misplaced--the consciousness, that there was still something to conceal, which, if discovered, must blight his happiness for ever, and estrange him from her, were it only for the past deceit. had his character been less lofty--his confidence in her less perfect--his very love less fond and trusting--she could have borne her trial better; but to one true, ingenuous, open as herself, what could be more terrible than the unceasing thought that she was acting a part--and to her husband? often and often she longed, with an almost irresistible impulse, to fling herself at his feet, and beseech him not to pierce her heart with such fond trust; but the impulse was forcibly controlled. what would such confession avail her now?--or him, save to wound? amongst the many spaniards of noble birth who visited don ferdinand's, was one don luis garcia, whose actual rank and office no one seemed to know; and yet, in affairs of church or state, camp or council, he was always so associated, that it was impossible to discover to which of these he was allied; in fact, there was a mystery around him, which no one could solve. notwithstanding his easy--nay, it was by some thought fascinating manners, his presence generally created a restraint, felt intuitively by all, yet comprehended by none. that there is such, an emotion as antipathy mercifully placed within us, often as a warning, we do most strenuously believe; but we seldom trace and recognize it as such, till circumstances reveal its truth. the real character of don luis, and the office he held, our future pages will disclose; suffice it here to state, that there was no lack of personal attractions or mental graces, to account for the universal, yet unspoken and unacknowledged dislike which he inspired. apparently in the prime of life, he yet seemed to have relinquished all the pleasures and even the passions of life. austere, even rigid, in those acts of piety and personal mortifications enjoined by his religion--voluntary fasts, privations, nights supposed to be past in vigil and in penance; occasional rich gifts to patron saints, and their human followers; an absence of all worldly feeling, even ambition; some extraordinary deeds of benevolence--all rendered him an object of actual veneration to the priests and monks with which the goodly city of segovia abounded; and even the populace declared him faultless, as a catholic and a man, even while their inward shuddering belied the words. don ferdinand morales alone was untroubled with these contradictory emotions. incapable of hypocrisy himself, he could not imagine it in others: his nature seemed actually too frank and true for the admission even of a prejudice. little did he dream that his name, his wealth, his very favor with the queen, his influence with her subjects, had already stamped him, in the breast of the man to whom his house and heart alike were open, as an object of suspicion and espial; and that ere a year had passed over his wedded life, these feelings were ripened, cherished--changed from the mere thought of persecution, to palpable resolve, by personal and ungovernable hate. don luis had never known love; not even the fleeting fancy, much less the actual passion, of the sensualist, or the spiritual aspirings of true affection. of the last, in fact, he was utterly incapable. no feeling, with him, was of an evanescent nature: under the cold austerity of the ordinary man, lay coals of living fire. it mattered not under what guise excited--hate, revenge, ambition, he was capable of all. at love, alone, he had ever laughed--exulting in his own security. the internal condition of spain, as we have before said, had been, until the accession of isabella and ferdinand, one of the grossest license and most fearful immorality. encouraged in the indulgence of every passion, by the example of the court, no dictates of either religion or morality ever interfered to protect the sanctity of home; unbridled desires were often the sole cause of murderous assaults; and these fearful crimes continually passing unpunished, encouraged the supposition that men's passions were given to be their sole guide, before which, honor, innocence, and virtue fell powerless. the vigorous proceedings of ferdinand and isabella had already remedied these terrible abuses. over the public safety and reform they had some power; but over the hearts of individuals they had none; and there were still some with whom past license was far more influencing than present restraint and legal severity; still some who paused at no crime so that the gratification of their passions was ensured; and foremost amongst these, though by his secret office pledged to the annihilation of all domestic and social ties, as regarded his own person, was don luis garcia. for rather more than a year, don ferdinand morales had enjoyed the society of his young wife uninterruptedly, save by occasional visits, of brief duration, to valladolid and leon, where isabella alternately held her court. he was now, however, summoned to attend the sovereigns, on a visit to ferdinand's paternal dominions, an office which would cause his absence for a much longer interval. he obeyed with extreme reluctance--nor did marie feel the separation less. there was, in some measure, a feeling of security in his presence, which, whenever he was absent, gave place to fearful tremblings as to what might transpire to shake her faith in her, ere he returned. resolved that not the very faintest breath of scandal should touch _his_ wife, marie, during the absence of morales, always kept herself secluded. this time her retirement was stricter than ever; and great, then, was her indignation and astonishment, when about a fortnight before her husband's expected return, and in direct contradiction to her commands, don luis garcia was admitted to her presence; and nothing but actual flight, for which she was far too proud and self-possessed, could have averted the private interview which followed. the actual words which passed we know not, but, after a very brief interval of careless converse on the part of garcia--something he said earnestly, and in the tones of pitying sympathy, which caused the cheek and lips of marie to blanch to marble, and her whole frame to shiver, and then grow rigid, as if turned to stone. could it be that the fatal secret, which she believed was known only to herself and arthur, that she had loved another ere she wedded ferdinand, had been penetrated by the man towards whom she had ever felt the most intense abhorrence? and that he dared refer to it as a source of sympathy--as a proof that he could feel for her more than her unsuspecting husband? why was speech so frozen up within her, that she could not, for the moment, answer, and give him back the lie? but that silence of deadly terror lasted not long: he had continued to speak; at first she was unconscious of his change of tone, words, and even action; but when his actual meaning flashed upon her, voice, strength, energy returned in such a burst of womanly indignation, womanly majesty, that garcia himself, skilled in every art of evil as he was, quailed beneath it, and felt that he was powerless, save by violence and revenge. while that terrible interview lasted, the wife of morales had not failed; but when once more alone, the most deadly terror took possession of her. she had, indeed, so triumphed as to banish garcia, defeated, from her presence; but fearful threats of vengeance were in that interview divulged--allusions to some secret power, over which he was the head, armed with authority even greater than that of the sovereign's--mysteriously spoken, but still almost strangely intelligible, that in her betrayal or her silence lay the safety or the danger of her husband--all compelled the conviction that her terror and her indignation at the daring insult must be buried deep in her own breast; even while the supposition that don luis knew all the past (though how, her wildest imagination could not discover), and that therefore she was in his power, urged her yet more to a full confession to her husband. better if his heart must be wrung by her, than by a foe; and yet she shrunk in anguish from the task. she was, however, deceived as to the amount of garcia's knowledge of her past life. accustomed to read human nature under all its varied phases--employing an unusually acute penetration so to know his fellows as to enable him, when needed, to create the greatest amount of misery--he had simply perceived that marie's love for her husband was of a different nature to his for her, and that she had some secret to conceal. on this he had based his words: his suspicions were, unhappily, confirmed by the still, yet expressive agony they had occasioned. baffled, as in some measure he had been, his internal rage that he should have so quailed before a woman, naturally increased the whirlwind of contending passions: but schooled by his impenetrable system of hypocrisy to outward quietness and control, he waited, certain that circumstances would either of themselves occur, or be so guided by him as to give him ample means of triumph and revenge. chapter ix. "you would have thought the very windows spake; so many greedy looks of young and old through casements darted their desiring eyes." shakspeare. in an apartment, whose pale, green hangings, embroidered with richly-colored flowers, and whose furniture and ornaments, all of delicate material and refined taste, marked it as a meet boudoir for gentle blood, sat marie and her husband. she occupied her favorite seat--a cushion at his feet, and was listening with interest to his animated history of the sovereign's welcome to saragossa, the popular ferment at their appearance, the good they had accomplished, and would still accomplish, as their judicious plans matured. it was clear, he said, that they had resolved the sovereign power should not be merely nominal, as it had been. by making himself proclaimed and received as grand master of the three great orders of knighthood--saint iago, compostella, and alcantara--the immense influence of those associations must succumb to, and be guided by, ferdinand alone; the power of the nobles would thus be insensibly diminished, and the mass of the kingdom--the people--as a natural consequence, become of more importance, their position more open to the eyes of the sovereigns, and their condition, physically and morally, ameliorated and improved. "i feel and acknowledge this, dearest; though one of the class whose power must be diminished to accomplish it;" he continued, "i am too anxious for the internal prosperity of my country to quarrel with any measures which minds so enlightened as its present sovereigns may deem requisite. but this is but a grave theme for thee, love. knowest thou that her grace reproached me with not bringing thee to join the arragonese festivities? when donna emilie spoke of thee, and thy gentle worth and feminine loveliness, as being such as indeed her grace would love, my sovereign banished me her presence as a disloyal cavalier for so deserting thee; and when i marked how pale and thin thou art, i feel that she was right; i should have borne thee with me." "or not have left me. oh, my husband, leave me not again!" she replied, with sudden and involuntary emotion, which caused him to throw his arm round her, and fondly kiss her brow. "not for the court, dearest; but that gentle heart must not forget thou art a warrior's wife, and as such, for his honor's sake, must sometimes bear the pang of parting. nay, thou tremblest, and art still paler! ere such summons come, thou wilt have learned to know and love thy queen, and in her protecting favor find some solace, should i be called to war." "war! talk they of war again? i thought all was now at peace?" "yes, love, in our sovereign's hereditary dominions; but there can be no lasting peace while some of the fairest territory of spain still dims the supremacy of castile, and bows down to moorish masters. it is towards grenada king ferdinand looks, yearning for the day when, all internal commotions healed, he can head a gallant army to compel subjection; and sad as it will be to leave thee, sweet, thou wilt forgive thy soldier if he say, would that the day were come!" "and will not their present extent of kingdom suffice the sovereigns? when they recall their former petty domains, and compare them with the present, is it not enough?" morales smiled. "thou speakest as a very woman, gentle one, to whom the actual word 'ambition' is unknown. why, the very cause thou namest urges our sovereigns to the conquest of these moors. they are the blot upon a kingdom otherwise as fair and great as any other european land. they thirst to raise it in the scale of kingdoms--to send down their names to posterity, as the founders of the spanish monarchy--the builders and supporters of a united throne, and so leave their children an undivided land. surely this is a glorious project, one which every spanish warrior must rejoice to aid. but fear not a speedy summons, love; much must be accomplished first. isabella will visit this ancient city ere then, and thou wilt learn to love and reverence her as i do." "in truth, my husband, thou hast made me loyal as thyself; but say they not she is severe, determined, stern?" "to the guilty, yes; even the weak crafty will not stand before her repelling glance: but what hast thou to fear, my love? penetrative as she is, seeming to read the heart through the countenance, she can read nought in thee save qualities to love. i remember well the eagle glance she fixed on king ferdinand's young english favorite, senor stanley, the first time he was presented to her. but she was satisfied, for he ranks as deservedly high in her favor as in her husband's. thou hast heard me speak of this young englishman, my marie?" her face was at that moment turned from him, or he might have started at its sudden flush; but she assented by a sign. "he was so full of joyousness and mirth, that to us of graver nature it seemed almost below his dignity as man; and now they tell me he is changed so mournfully; grave, sad, silent, maturity seems to have descended upon him ere he has quite passed boyhood; or he has some secret sorrow, too sacred to be revealed. there is some talk of his recall from sicily, he having besought the king for a post of more active and more dangerous service. ferdinand loves such daring spirits, and therefore no doubt will grant his boon. ha! alberic, what is it?" he continued, eagerly, as a page entered, and delivered a packet secured with floss silk, and sealed with the royal signet, adding that it had been brought by an officer of the royal guard, attended by some men at arms. "give him welcome suited to his rank, boy: i will but peruse these, and attend him instantly." the page withdrew, and don ferdinand, hastily cutting the silk, was speedily so engrossed in his despatches, as to forget for the time even the presence of his wife; and well it was so; for it enabled her with a strong effort to conquer the deadly sickness morale's careless words had caused--the pang of dread accompanying every thought of arthur's return to spain--to still the throbbing pulse and quivering lip, and, outwardly unmoved, meet his joyous glance once more. "'tis as i thought and hoped," he said, with animation: "the sovereigns hold their court for some months in this city; coeval, in antiquity, associations, and loyalty, with valladolid and leon, isabella, with her characteristic thought for all her subjects, has decided on making it occasionally the seat of empire alternately with them, and commissions me, under her royal seal, to see the castle fittingly prepared. listen, love, what her grace writes further--'take heed, my good lord, and hide not in a casket the brightest gem which we have heard adorns thy home. we would ourselves judge the value of thy well-hoarded jewel--not that we doubt its worth; for it would be strange, indeed, if he who hath ever borne off the laurel wreath from the competitors for glory, should not in like manner seek and win the prize of beauty. in simple language, let donna marie be in attendance.' and so thou shalt, love; and by thy gentle virtues and modest loveliness, add increase of honor to thy husband. ha! what says gonzalo de lara?" he added, as his eye glanced over another paper--"'tumults in sicily--active measures--senor stanley--enough on which to expend his chivalric ardor, and evince his devotedness to ferdinand; but sicily quieted--supposed the king will still grant his request--assign him some post about his person, be at hand for military service against the moors.' good! then the war is resolved on. we must bestir ourselves, dearest, to prepare fit reception for our royal guests; there is but brief time." he embraced and left her as he spoke; and for several minutes marie remained without the power even to rise from her seat: one pang conquered, another came. arthur's recall appeared determined; would it be so soon that he would join this sovereigns before they reached segovia? she dared not think, save to pray, with wild and desperate fervor, that such might not be. magnificent, indeed, were don ferdinand's preparations for the banquet with which he intended to welcome his sovereigns to segovia. the castle was to be the seat of their residence, and the actual _locale_ of their court; but it was at his own private dwelling he resolved, by a sumptuous entertainment, to evince how deeply and reverentially he felt the favor with which he was regarded by both monarchs, more especially by isabella, his native sovereign. in the many struggles which were constantly occurring between the spaniards and moors, the former had become acquainted with the light yet beautiful architecture and varied skill in all the arts peculiar to the latter, and displayed their improved taste in both public and private buildings. morales, in addition to natural taste, possessed great affluence, which enabled him to evince yet greater splendor in his establishment than was usual to his countrymen. there was one octangular room, the large panels forming the walls of which were painted, each forming a striking picture of the principal events in the history of spain, from the descent of don palayo, and the mountaineers of asturias, who struck the first blow for spanish freedom, to the accession of ferdinand and isabella. the paintings were not detached pictures, but drawn and colored on the wall itself, which had been previously prepared for the reception of the colors by a curious process, still in use among the orientals.[a] the colors, when dry, were rubbed, till the utmost brilliancy was attained; and this, combined as it was with a freedom and correctness of drawing, produced an effect as striking then as it would be novel to modern eyes. one side, divided into three compartments, contained in one a touching likeness of the young alfonso. his figure, rather larger than life, was clothed in armor, which shone as inlaid with gold. his head was bare, and his bright locks flowed over his shoulders as he wore them in life. his brilliant eye, his lofty brow, and peculiarly sweet expression of mouth, had been caught by the limner, and transferred to his painting in all their original beauty. round him were grouped some of the celebrated cavaliers of his party; and the back-ground, occupied by troops not in regular battalions, but as impelled by some whelming feeling of national excitement, impossible to be restrained. answering to this was a full length of the infanta isabella i., in the act of refusing the crown offered by the confederates. the centre compartment represented the union of castile and arragon by the nuptials of their respective sovereigns in the cathedral church of valladolid. over these pictures were suspended golden lamps, inlaid with gems; so that, day or night, the effect should remain the same. opposite the dais, huge folding-doors opened on an extensive hall, where the banquets were generally held, and down which don ferdinand intended to range the tables for his guests of lesser rank, leaving the octangular apartment for the royal tables, and those of the most distinguished nobles; the one, however, so communicating with the other, as to appear one lengthened chamber. on the right hand of the dais, another large door opened on a withdrawing-room, the floor of which was of marble, curiously tinted; and the walls hung with genoa velvet, ruby-colored, and bordered by a wide fringe of gold. superb vases of alternate crystal and frosted silver, on pedestals of alabaster and of aqua-marine, were ranged along the walls, the delicate beauty of their material and workmanship coming out well against the rich coloring of the hangings behind. the roof, a lofty dome, displayed the light arabesque workmanship, peculiar to moorish architecture, as did the form and ornaments of the windows. this apartment opened into another, much smaller, each side of which, apparently formed of silver plate, reflected as mirrors every object; and the pillars supporting the peculiarly light roof of the same glittering material. some parts of the extensive gardens morales intended to illuminate; and others, for the effect of contrast, to be left in deepest shadow. [footnote a: see art union journal, august, 1845.] nothing was omitted which could do honor to the royal guests, or cast a reproach upon the magnificent hospitality of their hosts. the preparations were but just completed, when an advance guard arrived at segovia with the tidings of the rapid approach of the sovereigns; and morales, with a gallant troop of his own retainers, and a procession of the civil and military officers of segovia, hastened to meet and escort them to the town. with an uncontrollable impulse, marie had followed the example of almost every female in segovia, and, wrapt in her shrouding veil, had stationed herself, with some attendants at a casement overlooking the long line of march. the city itself presented one scene of gladsome bustle and excitment: flags were suspended from every "turret, dome, and tower," rich tapestries hung over balconies, which were filled with females of every rank and grade, vying in the richness and elegance of their apparel, and their coquettish use of the veil and fan, so as to half-hide and half-display their features, more or less beautiful--for beautiful as a nation, the spanish women undoubtedly are. bells were ringing from every church; ever and anon came a burst of warlike music, as detached troops galloped in the town, welcomed with shouts as the officer at their head was recognized. even the priests themselves, with their sober dresses and solemn countenances, seemed touched with the universal excitement, relaxing into smiles and hearty greeting with the laymen they encountered. as the hours waned, popular excitement increased. it was the first visit of isabella to the city; and already had her character been displayed in such actions as to kindle the warmest love towards the woman, in addition to the enthusiastic loyalty towards the queen. at length the rumor rose that the main body was approaching--in little more than a hour the sovereigns would pass the gates, and excitement waxed wilder and wilder, and impatience was only restrained by the interest excited towards the gallant bodies of cavalry, which now in slow and measured march approached, forming the commencement of a line, which for three hours continued to pour within the city in one unbroken strain. even marie herself, pre-occupied as she was in the dread search for one object, could not glance down on the moving multitude beneath her without in some degree sharing the enthusiasm of her countrymen. there were gallant warriors of every age, from the old man to the beardless youth; chargers, superb in form and rich in decoration; a field of spears glittering in the broad sunshine, some bearing the light gay pennoncelle, others absolutely bending beneath the heavy folds of banners, which the light breeze at times extended so as to display their curious heraldic bearings, and then sunk heavily around their staffs. esquires bearing their masters' shields, whose spotless fields flung back a hundred-fold the noonday sun--plumes so long and drooping, as to fall from the gilded crest till they rested on the shoulder--armor so bright as to dazzle the eyes of the beholders, save when partly concealed under the magnificent surcoats and mantles, amongst which the richest velvets, slashed with gold or silver, distinguished the highest nobles. pageantry like this mingled with such stirring sounds as the tramp of the noble horse, curveting, prancing, rearing, as if disdaining the slow order of march--the thrilling blast of many trumpets, the long roll, or short, sharp call of the drum; and the mingled notes of martial instruments, blending together in wild yet stirring harmony, would be sufficient even in this prosaic age to bid the heart throb and the cheek burn, recognizing it, as perhaps we should, merely as the _symbol_, not the _thing_. what, then, must it have been, when men felt such glittering pageant and chivalric seeming, the _realities_ of life? at length came the principal group; the pressure of the crowds increased, and human hearts so throbbed, that it seemed as if they could not breathe, save in the stunning shouts, bidding the very welkin ring. surrounded by a guard of honor, composed indiscriminately of castilians and arragonese, mounted on a jet black steed, which pawed the ground, and shook his graceful head, as conscious of his princely burden, magnificently attired, but in the robes of peace, with a circlet of gold and gems enwreathing his black velvet cap, his countenance breathing this day but the kindly emotions of his more youthful nature, unshadowed by the wile and intrigue of after-years, king ferdinand looked the mighty monarch, whose talents raised his country from obscurity, and bade her stand forth among the first of european nations. but tumultuary as were the shouts with which he was recognized, they were faint in comparison to those which burst forth at sight of the princess at his side. isabella had quitted her litter on re-entering her own dominions, and now rode a cream-colored charger, which she managed with the grace and dignity of one well accustomed to the exercise, alike in processions of peace and scenes of war. the difference of age between the sovereigns was not perceivable,[a] for the grave and thoughtful character of ferdinand gave him rather the appearance of seniority; while the unusual fairness of isabella's complexion, her slight and somewhat small stature, produced on her the contrary effect. the dark gray eye, the rich brown hair and delicate skin of the queen of castile deprived her, somewhat remarkably, of all the characteristics of a spaniard, but, from their very novelty attracted the admiration of her subjects. beautiful she was not; but her charm lay in the variable expression of her features. peculiarly and sweetly feminine, infused, as washington irving observes, with "a soft, tender melancholy," as was their general expression, they could yet so kindle into indignant majesty, so flash with reproach or scorn, that the very color of the eye became indistinguishable, and the boldest and the strongest quailed beneath the mighty and the holy spirit, which they could not but feel, that frail woman form enshrined. [footnote a: isabella was eight or ten years ferdinand's senior.] round the sovereigns were grouped, in no regular order of march, but forming a brilliant _cortã©ge_, many of the celebrated characters of their reign--men, not only of war, but of literature and wisdom, whom both monarchs gloried in distinguishing above their fellows, seeking to exalt the honor of their country, not only in extent of dominion, but by the shining qualities of her sons. it was to this group the strained gaze of marie turned, and became riveted on the queen, feeling strangely and indefinably a degree of comfort as she gazed; to explain wherefore, even to herself, was impossible; but she felt as if she no longer stood alone in the wide world, whose gaze she dreaded; a new impulse rose within her, urging her, instead of remaining indifferent, as she thought she should, to seek and win isabella's regard. she gazed and gazed, till she could have fancied her very destiny was in some way connected with the queen's visit to segovia--that some mysterious influences were connecting her, insignificant as she was, with isabella's will. she strove with the baseless vision; but it would gain ground, folding up her whole mind in its formless imaginings. the sight of her husband, conversing eagerly with the sovereign, in some degree startled her back to the present scene. his cheek was flushed with exercise and excitement; his large dark eyes glittering, and a sunny smile robbing his mouth of its wonted expression of sternness. on passing his mansion he looked eagerly up, and with proud and joyous greeting doffed his velvet cap, and bowed with as earnest reverence as if he had still to _seek_ and win her. the chivalry of don ferdinand morales was proved, yet more _after_ marriage than _before_. it was over: the procession had at length passed: she had scanned every face and form whose gallant bearing proclaimed him noble; but arthur stanley was not amongst them, and inexpressibly relieved, marie morales sunk down on a low seat, and covering her face with her hands, lifted up her whole soul in one wild--yet how fervent!--burst of thanksgiving. chapter x. "yet was i calm. i knew the time my breast would thrill before thy look; but now, to tremble were a crime: we met, and not a nerve was shook." byron. the excitement of the city did not subside with the close of the procession. the quiet gravity and impressive appearance of age, which had always marked segovia, as a city more of the past than present, gave place to all the bustling animation peculiar to a provincial residence of royalty. its central position gave it advantages over valladolid, the usual seat of the monarchs of castile and leon, to sovereigns who were seeking the internal peace and prosperity of their subjects, and were resolved on reforming abuses in every quarter of their domains. the deputation from the city was graciously received; their offering--a golden vase filled with precious stones--accepted, and the seal put to their loyal excitement by receiving from isabella's own lips, the glad information that she had decided on making segovia her residence for the ensuing year, and that she trusted the loyalty which the good citizens of segovia had so warmly proffered would be proved, by their endeavors in their own households to reform the abuses which long years of misrule and misery had engendered. she depended on them, her people, to aid her with heart and hand, and bade them remember, no individual was so insignificant as to remove his shoulder from the wheel on plea of uselessness. she trusted to her citizen subjects to raise the internal glory of her kingdom, as she did to her nobles to guard their safety, elevate her chivalry, and by their untarnished honor and stainless valor, present an invincible front to foreign foes. isabella knew human nature well; the citizens returned to their houses bound for ever to her service. don luis garcia had joined the train of morales when he set forth to meet the sovereigns. his extraordinary austerity and semblance of lowly piety, combined as they were with universal talent, had been so much noised abroad as to reach the ears of ferdinand and isabella; and morales, ever eager to promote the interests of a countryman, took the earliest opportunity of presenting him to them. he was graciously enough received: but, though neither spoke it, an indefinable feeling of disappointment took possession of their minds, the wherefore they knew not. don luis had conversed well, both as to the matter and the manner; but neither ferdinand nor isabella felt the smallest inclination to advance him to any post about themselves. in virtue of his supposed rank, however, he of course mingled with the courtly crowd, which on the appointed evening thronged the mansion of don ferdinand. tremblingly as marie looked forward to that evening, she spared no pains to gratify her husband in the choice of her toilet. sorrow had never made her indifferent, and she sought to please him even in the most trifling occurrences of life. her beautiful hair still lay in soft, glossy bands against the delicate cheeks, and was gathered up behind in a massive plait, forming, as it were, a diadem at the back of the exquisitely shaped head, from which fell a white veil--rather, perhaps, a half mantle, as it shaded the shoulders, not the face--of silver tissue, so delicately woven as to resemble lace, save in its glittering material. a coronet of diamonds was wreathed in and out the plait, removing all semblance of heaviness from the headgear, and completely divesting it of gaudiness. her robe, of blue brocade, so closely woven with silver threads as to glisten in the light of a hundred lamps almost like diamonds, had no ornament save the large pearls which looped up the loose sleeves above the elbow, buttoned the bodice or jacket down the front, and richly embroidered the wide collar, which, thrown back, disclosed the wearer's delicate throat and beautiful fall of the shoulders, more than her usual attire permitted to be visible. the tiny white silk slipper, embroidered in pearl, a collaret and bracelets of the same beautiful ornament, of very large size, completed her costume. not even the presence of royalty could restrain the burst of undisguised admiration which greeted marie, as, led forward by her eager husband, she was presented to the sovereigns, and knelt to do them homage. ferdinand himself gazed on her a moment astonished; then with animated courtesy hastily raised her, and playfully chid the movement as unmeet from a hostess to her guests. a strange moisture had risen to the eyes of the queen as she first beheld marie. it might have been that marvellous perfection of face and form which caused the emotion; for if all perfection, even from man's hand, is affecting even to tears, what must be the work of god? it might have been that on that young, sweet face, to the queen's mental eye, a dim shadow from the formless realms of the future hovered--that, stealing from that outward form of loveliness, she beheld its twin sister, sorrow. whatever it might have been, kind and gentle as isabella's manner ever was, especially to her own sex, to marie it was kinder and gentler still. how false is the charge breathed from man's lips, that woman never admires woman!--that we are incapable of the lofty feeling of admiration of our own sex either for beautiful qualities or beauteous form! there is no object in creation more lovely, more fraught with intensest interest (if, indeed, we are not so wholly wrapt in the petty world of self as to have none for such lofty sympathies) than a young girl standing on the threshold of a new existence; beautiful, innocent, and true; offspring as yet of joy and hope alone, but before whom stretches the dim vista of graver years, and the yearning thoughts, unspoken griefs, and buried feelings, which even in the happiest career must still be woman's lot. there may be many who can see no charm and feel no interest in girlhood's beauty: but not in such is woman's best and holiest nature; and therefore not by such should she be judged. "we will not chide thee, senor, for thy jealous care of this most precious gem," said isabella, addressing don ferdinand, while her eye followed marie, who, re-assured by the queen's manner, had conquered her painful timidity, and was receiving and returning with easy grace and natural dignity the greetings and gallantries of her guests: "she is too pure, too precious to meet the common eye, or breathe a courtly atmosphere." don ferdinand's eye glistened. "and yet i fear her not," he rejoined: "she is as true, as loving, as she is loved and lovely." "i doubt it not: nay, 'tis the spotless purity of soul breathing in that sweet face, which i would not behold tainted, by association with those less pure. no: let her rest within the sanctuary of thy heart and hearth, don ferdinand. we do not command her constant attendance on our person, as we had intended." conscious of the inexpressible relief which this assurance would be to his wife, morales eagerly and gratefully expressed his thanks; and the queen passed on, rejoicing in the power of so easily conferring joy. we may not linger on the splendor of this scene, or attempt description of the varied and picturesque groups filling the gorgeous suite of rooms, pausing at times to admire the decorations of the domed chamber, or passing to and fro in the hall of mirrors, gayly reflected from the walls and pillars. the brilliant appearance of the extensive gardens; their sudden and dazzling illuminations as night advanced; their curious temples, and sparkling fountains sending up sheets of silver in the still air and darkening night, and falling in myriads of diamonds on innumerable flowers, whose brilliant coloring, illuminated by small lamps, concealed beneath their foliage, shone forth like gems; the groups of moorish slaves, still as statues in their various attitudes; the wild, barbaric music, startling, yet delighting all who listened, and causing many an eager warrior to grasp his sword, longing even at such a moment to exchange that splendid scene for the clash and stir of war--we must leave all to the imagination of our readers, and bid them follow us to the banquet hall, where, summoned by the sound of the gong, the numerous guests sat down to tables, groaning beneath the profuse hospitality of their host, and the refined magnificence of the display. all the warrior stirred the soul of the king, as, on taking his seat at the dais, he glanced round and beheld the glorious triumphs of his country so strikingly portrayed. but isabella saw but one picture, felt but one thought; and marie never forgot the look she fixed on the breathing portrait of alfonso, nor the tone with which she inquired-"hadst thou ever a brother, marie?" "never, royal madam." "then thou canst not enter into the deep love i bore yon princely boy, nor the feeling that picture brings. marie, i would cast aside my crown, descend my throne without one regretful murmur, could i but hold him to my heart once more, as i did the night he bade me his glad farewell. it was for ever! thy husband speaks of him sometimes?" "often, often, my gracious liege, till his lip has quivered and his eye has glistened!" isabella pressed her hand, and with even more than her wonted graciousness, turned to receive from the hand of her host the gemmed goblet of wine, which, in accordance with established custom, don ferdinand knelt down to present, having first drunk of it himself. inspiringly sounded the martial music during the continuance of the banquet. brightly sparkled the brimming goblets of the far-famed spanish wine. lightly round the table ran the gay laugh and gayer jest. soft and sweet were the whispers of many a gallant cavalier to his fair companion; for, in compliment to isabella, the national reserve of the daughters of spain was in some degree laid aside and a free intercourse with their male companions permitted. each, indeed, wore the veil, which could be thrown off, forming a mantle behind, or drawn close to conceal every feature, as coquettish fancy willed; nor were the large fans wanting, with which the spanish woman is said to hold as long and desperate a flirtation as the coquette of other lands can do with the assistance of voice and eye. isabella's example had, however, already created reformation in her female train, and the national levity and love of intrigue, had in a great degree diminished. the animation of the scene was at its height when suddenly the music ceased, a single gong was heard to sound, and alberic, the senior page, brought tidings of the arrival of new guests; and his master, with native courtesy, hastened down the hall to give them welcome. marie had not heard, or, perhaps, had not heeded the interruption in the music; for, fascinated by the manner and conversation of the queen, she had given herself up for the time wholly to its influence, to the forgetfulness even of her inward self. the sound of many footsteps and a rejoicing exclamation from the king, excited the attention at once of isabella and her hostess. marie glanced down the splendid hall; and well was it for her that she was standing behind the queen's seat, and somewhat deep in shadow. momentary as was all _visible_ emotion, its effect was such as must have caused remark and wonder had it been perceived: on herself, that casual glance, was as if she had received some invisibly dealt, yet fearful blow. her brain reeled, her eyes swam, a fearful, stunning sound awoke within her ears, and such failing of bodily power as compelled her, spite of herself, to grasp the queen's chair for support. but how mighty--how marvellous is the power of _will_ and _mind_! in less than a minute every failing sense was recalled, every slackened nerve restrung, and, save in the deadly paleness of lip, as well as cheek, not a trace of that terrible conflict remained. aware that it was at a gay banquet he was to meet the king, arthur stanley had arranged his dress with some care. we need only particularize his sword, which was remarkable for its extreme simplicity, the hilt being of the basket shape, and instead of being inlaid with precious stones, as was the general custom of this day, was composed merely of highly burnished steel. he had received it from his dying father: and it was his pride to preserve it unsullied, as it had descended to him. he heeded neither laughter at its uncouth plainness, nor even the malicious sneer as to the poor englishman's incapacity to purchase a handsomer one; rejecting every offer of a real toledo, and declaring that he would prove both the strength and brightness of english steel, so that none should gainsay it. "welcome, don arthur! welcome, senor stanley! by st. francis, i shall never learn thy native title, youth!" exclaimed the monarch, frankly, as he extended his hand, which stanley knelt to salute. "returned with fresher laurels, stanley? why, man, thou wilt make us thy debtor in good earnest!" "nay, my gracious liege: that can never be!" replied stanley, earnestly. "grateful i am, indeed, when there is opportunity to evince fidelity and valor in your grace's service; but believe me, where so much has been and is received, not a life's devotion on my part can remove the impression, that i am the debtor still." "i believe thee, boy! i do believe thee! i would mistrust myself ere i mistrusted thee. we will hear of thy doings to-morrow. enough now to know we are well satisfied with thy government in sicily, and trust our native subject who succeeds thee will do his part as well. away to thy seat, and rejoice that thou hast arrived ere this gay scene has closed. yet stay: our lovely hostess hath not yet given thee welcome. where is the senora? isabella, hast thou spirited her hence? she was here but now." "nay, good my lord: she has vanished unwittingly," replied isabella, as she turned towards the spot where marie had been standing. "don ferdinand, we must entreat thee to recall her!" "it needs not, royal madam: i am here:" and marie stepped forward from the deep shade of the falling drapery behind the royal seats which had concealed her, and stood calmly, almost proudly erect beside the queen, the full light falling on her face and form. but there was little need for light to recognize her: the voice was sufficient; and even the vivid consciousness of where he stood, the hundred curious eyes upon him, could not restrain the sudden start--the bewildered look. could that be marie? could that be the wife of ferdinand morales? if she were the one, how could she be the other, when scarcely eighteen months previous, she had told him that which, if it were true, must equally prevent her union with morales as with himself? in what were they different save in the vast superiority of wealth and rank? and in the chaos of bewildering emotions, so trustful was he in the truth of her he loved, that, against the very evidence of his own senses, he for the moment disbelieved in the identity of the wife of morales with the marie henriquez of the cedar vale. perhaps it was well he did so, for it enabled him to still the tumultuous throbbing of his every pulse as her voice again sounded in his ear, saying he was welcome, most welcome as her husband's friend, and to retire without any apparent emotion to his seat. he had merely bowed reverentially in reply. in any other person the silence itself would have caused remark: but for the last three years stanley's reserve and silence in the company of women had been such, that a departure from his general rule even in the present case would have been more noticed than his silence. thoughts of painful, almost chaotic bewilderment indeed, so chased each other across his mind as to render the scene around him indistinct, the many faces and eager voices like the phantasma of a dream. but the pride of manhood roused him from the sickening trance, and urged him to enter into the details, called for by his companions in arms, of the revolt of the sicilians, with even more than usual animation. one timid glance marie had hazarded towards her husband, and it was met by such a look and smile of love and pride that she was re-assured to perform the duties of the evening unfalteringly to the end. alas! she little knew that her momentary emotion and that of arthur had alike been seen, commented upon, and welcomed with fiend-like glee, as the connecting link of an until then impalpable plot, by one individual in that courtly crowd, whose presence, hateful as it was, she had forgotten in the new and happier thoughts which isabella's presence and notice had occasioned. and who was there, the mere spectator of this glittering pageant, but would have pronounced that there, at least, all was joy, and good-will, and trust, and love? who, even did they acknowledge the theory that one human heart, unveiled, would disperse this vain dream of seeming unalloyed enjoyment, would yet have selected the right individual for the proof, or would not have shrunk back awed and saddened had the truth been told? surely it is well for the young, the hopeful, and the joyous, that in such scenes they see but life's surface--not its depths. the festive scene lasted some time longer, nor did it conclude with the departure of the king and queen: many still lingered, wandering at their own will about the rooms and gardens, and dispersing gradually, as was then the custom, without any set farewell. her attendance no longer required by the queen, and aware that her presence was not needed by her guests, marie sought the gardens; her fevered spirit and aching head yearning to exchange the dazzling lights and close rooms for the darkness and refreshing breeze of night. almost unconsciously she had reached some distance from the house, and now stood beside a beautiful statue of a-water-nymph, overlooking a deep still pool, so clear and limpid, that when the moon cast her light upon it, it shone like a sheet of silver, reflecting every surrounding object. there were many paths that led to it, concealed one from the other by gigantic trees and overhanging shrubs. it was a favorite spot with. marie, and she now stood leaning against the statue, quite unconscious that tears were falling faster and faster from her eyes, and mingling with the waters at her feet. "marie!" exclaimed the voice of stanley at that moment: "canst thou be marie? so false, so--" but his words were checked, for the terror, the tumult of feeling, while it impelled her to start from him, deprived her of all power; and a rapid movement on his part alone prevented her from falling in the deep pool beneath their feet. it was but a moment: she withdrew herself from his supporting arms, and stood erect before him, though words she had none. "speak to me!" reiterated arthur, his voice sounding hollow and changed; "i ask but one word. my very senses seem to play me false, and mock me with thy outward semblance to one i have so loved. her name, too, was marie; her voice soft and thrilling as thine own: and yet, yet, i feel that 'tis but semblance--'tis but mockery--the phantasy of a disordered brain. speak, in mercy! say that it is but semblance--that thou art not the marie i have so loved." "it is true--i am that marie. i have wronged thee most cruelly, most falsely," she answered, in a tone low and collected indeed, but expressive of intense suffering. "it is too late now, either to atone or to explain. leave me, senor stanley: i am another's!" "too late to explain? by heaven but thou shalt!" burst fiercely and wrathfully from stanley. "is it not enough, that thou hast changed my whole nature into gall, made truth itself a lie, purity a meaningless word, but thou wilt shroud thyself under the specious hood of duty to another, when, before heaven, thou wast mine alone. speak!" "ay, i will speak--implore thee by the love thou didst once bear me, arthur, leave me now! i can hear no more to-night." "on condition thou wilt see me in private once again. marie, thou darest not refuse me this! thou canst not have so fallen as to give no reason for this most foul wrong--fancied weak, futile as it may be. we part now, but we meet again!" and with a strong effort at control he strode hastily from her. the moon at that moment breaking from thick clouds, darted her full light upon the pool, till it shone like an illuminated mirror amidst the surrounding darkness; and though arthur had disappeared, its clear surface distinctly reflected the outline of another closely shrouded figure. marie turned in terror, and beheld, gleaming with the triumph of a fiend, the hated countenance of don luis garcia. one look told her that he lad seen all, heard all; but she had no power to speak or move. keeping his basilisk gaze fixed on her, he withdrew backwards into the deep shade till he had entirely disappeared. summoning all her energy, marie fled back towards the house, and at the moment she reached it, don ferdinand crossed the deserted hall. "marie, dearest, here and alone? pale, too, and trembling! in heaven's name, what hath chanced?" a moment more, and she would have flung herself at his feet and told him all--all, and beseeching his forgiveness, conjure him to shield her from arthur, from herself; but as she looked up in his face, and met its beaming animation, its manly reflection of the pure gratification that evening had bestowed, how could she, how dared she be the one to dash it with woe? and, overpowered with this fearful contention of feeling, she threw her arms around him as he bent tenderly over her, and burying her head in his bosom, burst into tears. "thou art exhausted, mine own love! it has been too exciting, too wearying a scene for thee. why, what a poor, weak girl thou art! how fortunate for thee that thy queen demands not thy constant attendance, and that thy husband is not ambitious to behold thee shining in the court, as thy grace and beauty might! i am too glad to feel thee all, all my own. smile on me, love, and then to thy couch. a few hours' quiet rest, and thou wilt be thyself again." and he bore her himself with caressing gentleness to her apartment. chapter xi. "then roderick from the douglas broke, as flashes flame through sable smoke, kindling its wreaths long, dark, and low. to one broad blaze of ruddy glow; so the deep anguish of despair burst in fierce jealousy to air." sir walter scott. "sure, now, pedro, the poor young senor cannot be entirely in his right mind; he does nothing but tramp, tramp, tramp, the whole night long, and mutters so fiercely to himself, and such dark words, it would make one tremble were they not belied by his sweet face and sad smile," was the observation of old juana lopez to her husband some ten days after arthur stanley had been domiciled in their dwelling. the old man muttered something about his being a foreigner from the wild island, where they had all been busy cutting one another's throats, and what could she expect otherwise?" "expect? why that he must have become spanish born and bred since he has been in king ferdinand's service so long, and was such a boy when he left england." "stuff, woman; there's no taking the foreign blood out of him, try as you will," growled the old man, who in common with many of his class, was exceedingly annoyed that a foreigner should possess so much of the king's confidence, and not a little displeased that his dwelling should have been fixed on for the young officer's quarters. "it would not have been isabella, god bless her! to have chosen such a minion; she tolerates him for ferdinand's sake; but they will find him out one day. saint iago forbid the evil don't fall first." "now that is all prejudice, viego pedro, and you know it. bless his beautiful face! there is no thought of evil there, i'd stake my existence. he is tormented in his mind about something, poor youth; but his eyes are too bright and his smile too sad for any thing evil." "hold your foolish tongue: you women think if a man is better looking than his fellows, he is better in every respect--poor fools as ye are; but as for this englisher, with such a white skin and glossy curls, and blue eyes--why i'd be ashamed to show myself amongst men--pshaw--the woman's blind." "nay, viego pedro, prejudice has folded her kerchief round your eyes, not mine," retorted the old dame; and their war of words concerning the merits and demerits of their unconscious lodger continued, till old pedro grumbled himself off, and his more light-hearted helpmate busied herself in preparing a tempting meal for her guest, which, to her great disappointment, shared the fate of many others, and left his table almost untouched. to attempt description of stanley's feelings would be as impossible as tedious; yet some few words must be said. his peculiarly enthusiastic, perhaps romantic disposition, had caused him to cling tenaciously to the memory of marie, even after the revelation of a secret which to other men would have seemed to place an impassable barrier between them. to arthur, difficulties in pursuit of an object only rendered its attainment the more intensely desired. perhaps his hope rested on the conviction not so much of his own faithful love as on the unchangeable nature of hers. he might have doubted himself, but to doubt her was impossible. conscious himself that, wrong as it might be, he could sacrifice every thing for her--country, rank, faith itself, even the prejudice of centuries, every thing but honor--an ideal stronger in the warrior's mind than even creed--he could not and would not believe that her secret was to her sacred as his honor to him, and that she could no more turn renegade from the fidelity which that secret comprised, than he could from his honor. she had spoken of but one relation, an aged father; and he felt in his strong hopefulness, that it was only for that father's sake she had striven to conquer her love, and had told him they might never wed, and that when that link was broken he might win her yet. loving and believing thus, his anguish in beholding her the wife of another may be imagined. the more he tried to think, the more confused and mystifying his thoughts became. every interview which he had with her, and more especially that in the vale of cedars, was written in indelible characters on his heart and brain; and while beholding her as the wife of morales contradicted their every word, still it could not blot them from his memory; and he would think, and think, in the vain search for but one imaginary reason, however faint, however unsatisfactory, for her conduct, till his brain turned, and his senses reeled. it was not the mere suffering of unrequited love; it was the misery of having been deceived; and then, when racked and tortured by the impossibility of discovering some cause for this deceit, her secret would flash across him, and the wild thought arise that both he and don ferdinand were victims to the magic and the sorcery, by means of which alone her hated race could ever make themselves beloved. compelled as he was to mingle with the court as usual, these powerful emotions were of course always under strong restraint, except when in the solitude of his own quarters. that when there he should give them vent, neither conscious of, nor caring for the remarks they excited from his host and hostess, was not very remarkable; perhaps he was scarcely aware how powerfully dislike towards don ferdinand shared his thoughts with his vain suggestions as to the cause of marie's falsity. the reason for this suddenly aroused dislike he could not indeed have defined, except that morales had obtained without difficulty a treasure, to obtain which he had offered to sacrifice so much. so fourteen days passed, and though firmly resolved to have one more interview with marie, no opportunity had presented itself, nor in fact could he feel that he had as yet obtained the self-command necessary for the cold, calm tone which he intended to assume. it happened that once or twice the king had made arthur his messenger to don ferdinand; but since the night of the entertainment he had never penetrated farther than the audience chamber, there performed his mission briefly, and departed. traversing the principal street of segovia one morning, he was accosted somewhat too courteously, he thought, for their slight acquaintance, by don luis garcia. "and whither so early, senor stanley?" he inquired so courteously that it could not give offence, particularly as it followed other queries of a graceful greeting, and was not put forth abruptly. "to the mansion of don ferdinand morales," replied the young englishman, frankly. "indeed! from the king?" stanley answered in the affirmative, too deeply engrossed with his own thoughts, to attend much to his companion, whose interrogations he would undoubtedly in a more natural mood have felt inclined to resent. "don ferdinand morales ranks as high in the favor of the people as of the king--a marvellous conjunction of qualities, is it not, senor stanley?" continued garcia, after walking by his side some minutes in silence. "a monarch's favorite is seldom that of his subjects; but morales is unusually deserving. i wonder not at the love he wins." "neither ferdinand nor isabella bestows favors on the undeserving," briefly, almost sternly answered stanley, with an unconscious change of tone and manner, which did not escape his companion. "and he is so singularly fortunate, every thing he touches seems to turn to gold--an universal idol, possessed too of such wealth and splendor, and, above all, with such a being to share them with him. fortune has marked him favored in all things. didst ever behold a creature equal in loveliness to donna marie, senor stanley?" a momentary, and to any other but don luis, incomprehensible emotion, passed over the countenance of stanley at these words; but though it was instantly recalled, and indifference both in expression of countenance and voice resumed, it passed not unobserved; and don luis, rejoicing in the pain he saw he was inflicting, continued an eloquent panegyric on the wife of morales, the intense love she bore her husband, and the beautiful unity and harmony of their wedded life, until they parted within a short distance of the public entrance to don ferdinand's mansion, towards which stanley turned. don luis looked after his retreating form, and folding his arms in his mantle, bent down his head, assuming an attitude which to passers-by expressed the meek humility of his supposed character. there was a wild gleam of triumph, in his eyes which he knew, and therefore they were thus bent down, and there were thoughts in his heart which might thus be worded:--"i have it all, all. waiting has done better for me than acting; but now the watch is over, and the coil is laid. there have been those who, standing on the loftiest pinnacle, have fallen by a touch to earth; none knew the how or wherefore." and shrouding himself closer in his wrapping mantle, he walked rapidly on till he reached a side entrance into the gardens, which stretched for many acres around don ferdinand's mansion. here again he paused, looked cautiously around him, then swiftly entered, and softly closed the door behind him. already agitated by the effort to retain calmness during garcia's artful words, it was no light matter for stanley to compose himself for his interview with morales. vain was the gentle courtesy of the latter, vain his kindly words, vain his confidential reception of the young englishman, to remove from arthur's heart the wild torrent of passion called forth by garcia's allusion to marie's intense love for her husband. to any one but morales, his abrupt and unconnected replies, his strange and uncourteous manners, must have excited irritation; but don ferdinand only saw that the young man was disturbed and pained, and for this very reason exerted his utmost kindliness of words and manner to draw him from, himself. they parted after an interval of about half an hour, morales to go to the castle as requested; arthur to proceed, as he thought, to the environs of the city. but in vain did he strive with himself. the window of the room in which he had met don ferdinand looked into the garden, and there, slowly pacing a shaded path, he had recognized the figure of marie. the intense desire to speak with her once more, and so have the fatal mystery solved, became too powerful for control. every feeling of honor and delicacy perished before it, and hardly knowing what he did, he retraced his steps, entered unquestioned, passed through the hall to the gardens beyond, and in less than ten minutes after he had parted from her husband, stood in the presence of marie. chapter xii. "if she be false, oh, then heaven mock itself! i'll not believe it." shakspeare. don ferdinand had scarcely quitted his mansion ere fleet steps resounded behind him, and turning, he beheld don luis garcia, who greeted him with such a marked expression, both in voice and face, of sadness, that morales involuntarily paused, and with much commiseration inquired what had chanced. "nothing of personal misfortune, my friend; but there are times when the spirit is tortured by a doubtful duty. to preserve silence is undoubtedly wrong, and may lead to wrong, yet greater; and yet, to speak, is so painfully distressing to my peace-loving disposition, that i am tossed for ever on conflicting impulses, and would gladly be guided by another." "if you would be guided by my counsel, my good friend, i must entreat a clearer statement," replied morales, half smiling. "you have spoken so mysteriously, that i cannot even guess your meaning. i cannot imagine one so straightforward and strong-minded as yourself hesitating and doubtful as to duty, of whatever nature." "not if it concerned myself: but in this case i must either continue to see wrong done, with the constant dread of its coming to light, without my interference; or inflict anguish where i would gladly give but joy; and very probably, in addition, have my tale disbelieved, and myself condemned, though for that matter, personal pain is of no consequence, could i but pursue the right." "but how stands this important case, my good friend?" "thus: i have been so unfortunate as to discover that one is false, whom her doting husband believes most true--that the lover of her youth has returned, and still holds her imagination chained--that she meets him in secret, and has appointed another clandestine interview, from which who may tell the evil that may ensue? i would prevent this interview--would recall her to her better nature, or put her husband on his guard: but how dare i do this--how interfere thus closely between man and wife? counsel me, my friend, in pity!" "if you have good foundation for this charge, don luis, it is your duty to speak out," replied morales, gravely. "and to whom?" "to the lawful guardian of this misguided one--her husband." "but how can i excite his anguish--how turn his present heaven of joy to a very hell of woe, distrust, suspicion?" "does the leech heed his patient's anguish when probing a painful wound, or cutting away the mortified flesh? his office is not enviable, but it is necessary, and; if feelingly performed, we love him not the less. speak out. don luis, openly, frankly, yet gently, to the apparently injured husband. do more: counsel him to act as openly, as gently with his seemingly guilty wife; and that which now appears so dark, may be proved clear, and joy dawn again for both, by a few words of mutual explanation. but there must be no mystery on your part--no either heightening or smoothing what you may have learnt. speak out the simple truth; insinuate nought, for that love is worthless, that husband false to his sacred charge, if he believes in guilt ere he questions the accused." don luis looked on the open countenance before him for a few minutes without reply, thinking, not if he should spare him, but if his plans might not be foiled, did morales himself act as he had said. but the pause was not long: never had he read human countenance aright, if arthur stanley were not at that moment with marie. he laid his hand on don ferdinand's arm, and so peculiar was the expression on his countenance, so low and plaintively musical the tone in which be said, "god give you strength, my poor friend," that the rich color unconsciously forsook the cheek of the hardy warrior, leaving him pallid as death; and so sharp a thrill passed through his heart, that it was with difficulty he retained his feet; but morales was not merely physically, he was mentally brave. with a powerful, a mighty effort of will, he called life, energy, courage back, and said, sternly and unfalteringly, "don luis garcia, again i say, speak out! i understand you; it is i who am the apparently injured husband. marie! great god of heaven! that man should dare couple her pure name with ignominy! marie! my marie! the seemingly guilty wife! well, put forth your tale: i am not the man to shrink from my own words. speak truth, and i will hear you; and--and, if i can, not spurn you from me as a liar! speak out!" don luis needed not a second bidding: he had remarked, seen, and heard quite enough the evening of don ferdinand's banquet, to require nothing more than the simple truth, to harrow the heart of his hearer, even while morales disbelieved his every word. speciously, indeed, he turned his own mere suspicions as to marie's unhappiness, and her early love for arthur, into realities, founded on certain information, but with this sole exception--he told but the truth. without moving a muscle, without change of countenance, or uttering a syllable of rejoinder, don ferdinand listened to garcia's recital, fixing his large piercing eye on his face, with a gaze that none but one so hardened in hypocrisy could have withstood. once only morales's features contracted for a single instant, as convulsed by some spasm. it was the recollection of marie's passionate tears, the night of the festival; and yet she had shed them on _his_ bosom. how could she be guilty? and the spasm passed. "i have heard you, don luis," he said, so calmly, as garcia ceased, that the latter started. "if there be truth in this strange tale, i thank you for imparting it: if it be false--if you have dared pollute my ears with one word that has no foundation, cross not my path again, lest i be tempted to turn and crush you as i would a loathsome reptile, who in very wantonness has stung me." he turned from him rapidly, traversed the brief space, and disappeared within his house. don luis looked after him with a low, fiendish laugh, and plunged once more into the gardens. "is the senora within?" inquired don ferdinand, encountering his wife's favorite attendant at the entrance of marie's private suit of rooms; and though his cheek was somewhat pale, his voice was firm as usual. the reply was in the negative; the senora was in the gardens. "alone? why are you not with her as usual, manuella?" "i was with her, my lord; she only dismissed me ten minutes ago." without rejoinder, don ferdinand turned in the direction she had pointed out. it was a lovely walk, in the most shaded parts of the extensive grounds, walled by alternate orange and lemon trees; some with the blossom, germ, and fruit all on one tree; others full of the paly fruit; and others, again, as wreathed with snow, from the profusion of odoriferous flowers. an abrupt curve led to a grassy plot, from which a sparkling fountain sent up its glistening showers, before a luxurious bower, which morales's tender care had formed of large and healthy slips, cut from the trees of the vale of cedars, and flowery shrubs and variegated moss from the same spot; and there he had introduced his marie, calling it by the fond name of "home!" as he neared the curve, voices struck on his ear--marie's and another's. she was not alone! and that other!--could it be?--nay, it was--there was neither doubt nor hesitation--it was his--his--against whom don luis had warned him. was it for this marie had dismissed her attendant? it could not be; it was mere accident, and don ferdinand tried to go forward to address them as usual; but the effort even for him was too much, and he sunk down on a rustic bench near him, and burying his head in his hands, tried to shut out sight and sound till power and calmness would return. but though he could close his eyes on all outward things, he could not deaden hearing; and words reached him which, while he strove not to hear, seemed to be traced by a dagger's point upon his heart, and from very physical agony deprived him of strength to move. "and thou wilt give me no reason--idle, weak as it must be--thou wilt refuse me even an excuse for thy perjury?" rung on the still air, in the excited tones of arthur stanley. "wealth, beauty, power--ay, they are said to be omnipotent with thy false sex; but little did i dream that it could be so with thee; and in six short months--nay, less time, thou couldst conquer love, forget past vows, leap over the obstacle thou saidst must part us, and wed another! 'twas short space to do so much!" and he laughed a bitter, jibing laugh. "it was short, indeed!" faintly articulated marie; "but long enough to bear." "to bear!" he answered; "nay, what hadst thou to bear? the petted minion of two mighty sovereigns, the idol of a nation--came, and sought, and won--how couldst thou resist him? what were my claims to his--an exile and a foreigner, with nought but my good sword, and a love so deep, so faithful (his voice softened), that it formed my very being? but what was love to thee before ambition? oh, fool, fool that i was, to believe a woman's tongue--to dream that truth could dwell in those sweet-sounding words--those tears, that seemed to tell of grief in parting, bitter as my own--fool, to believe thy specious tale! there could be no cause to part us, else wherefore art thou morales's wife? thou didst never love me! from the first deceived, thou calledst forth affection, to triumph in thy power, and wreck the slender joys left to an exile! and yet i love thee--oh, god, how deeply!" "arthur!" answered marie, and her bloodless lips so quivered, they could scarcely frame the word--"wrong i have done thee, grievous wrong; but oh! blast not my memory with injuries i have not inflicted. look back; recall our every interview. had i intended to deceive, to call forth the holiest feelings of the human heart, to make them a mock and scorn, to triumph in a power, of whose very existence till thou breathed love i was unconscious--should i have said our love was vain--was so utterly hopeless, we could never be other than strangers--should i have conjured thee to leave--aye, and to forget me, had i not felt that i loved too well, and trembled for myself yet more than for thee? oh, arthur, arthur, do not add to the bitterness of this moment by unjust reproaches! i have injured thee enough by my ill-fated beauty, and too readily acknowledged love: but more i have not done. from the first i said that there was a fate around us--thine i might never be!" "then wherefore wed morales? is he not as i am, and therefore equally unmeet mate for thee--if, indeed, thy tale be true? didst thou not tell me, when i implored thee to say if thy hand was pledged unto another, that such misery was spared thee--thou wert free, and free wouldst remain while thy heart was mine?" "ay," faltered marie, "thou rememberest all too well." "then didst thou not deceive? art thou not as perjured now as i once believed thee true--as false as thou art lovely? how couldst thou love, if so soon it was as nought?" "then believe me all thou sayest," replied marie, more firmly--"believe me thus false and perjured, and forget me, senor stanley; crush even my memory from thy heart, and give not a thought to one so worthless! mystery as there was around me when we first met, there is a double veil around me now, which i may not lift even to clear myself with thee. turn thy love into the scorn which my perjury deserves, and leave me." "i will not!" burst impetuously from arthur, as he suddenly flung himself at her feet. "marie, i will not leave thee thus; say but that some unforeseen circumstances, not thine own will, made thee the wife of this proud spaniard; say but that neither thy will nor thy affections were consulted, that no word of thine could give him hope he was beloved--that thou lovest me still; say but this, and i will bless thee!" "ask it not, senor stanley. the duty of a wife would be of itself sufficient to forbid such words; with me gratitude and reverence render that duty more sacred still. wouldst thou indeed sink me so low as, even as a wife, to cease to respect me? rise, senor stanley! such posture is unsuited to thee or me; rise, and leave me; we must never meet alone again." almost overpowered with contending emotions, as he was, there was a dignity, the dignity of truth in that brief appeal, which arthur vainly struggled to resist. she had not attempted a single word of exoneration, and yet his reproaches rushed back into his own heart as cruel and unjust, and answer he had none. he rose mechanically, and as he turned aside to conceal the weakness, a deep and fearful imprecation suddenly broke from him; and raising her head, marie beheld her husband. every softened feeling fled from stanley's breast; the passionate anger which marie's words had calmed towards herself, now burst fourth unrestrained towards morales. his sudden appearance bringing the conviction that he had played the spy upon their interview, roused his native irritation almost into madness. his sword flew from its scabbard, and in fearful passion he exclaimed--"tyrant and coward! how durst thou play the spy? is it not enough that thou hast robbed me of a treasure whose value thou canst never know? for her love was mine alone ere thou earnest between us, and by base arts and cruel force compelled her to be thine. ha! wouldst thou avoid me? refuse to cross my sword! draw, or i will proclaim thee coward in the face of the whole world!" with a faint cry, marie had thrown herself between them; but strength failed with the effort, and she would have fallen had not morales upheld her with his left arm. but she had not fainted; every sense felt wrung into unnatural acuteness except to support her, morales had made no movement; his tall figure was raised to its fullest height, and his right arm calmly uplifted as his sole protection against arthur. "put up your sword," he said firmly, and fixing his large dark eyes upon his irritated adversary, with a gaze far more of sorrow than of anger, "i will not fight thee. proclaim me what thou wilt. i fear neither thy sword nor thee. go hence, unhappy boy; when this chafed mood is past, thou wilt repent this rashness, and perchance find it harder to forgive thyself than i shall to forgive thee. go; thou art overwrought. we are not equals now." stanley involuntarily dropped the point of his sword. "i obey thee," he said, in that deep concentrated tone, which, betrays strong passion yet more than violent words; "obey thee, because i would not strike an undefended foe; but we shall meet again in a more fitting place and season. till then, hear me, don ferdinand! we have hitherto been as companions in arms, and as friends, absent or together; from this moment the tie is broken, and for ever. i am thy foe! one who hath sworn to take thy life, or lose his own. i will compel thee to meet me! ay, shouldst thou shun me, to the confines of the world i will track and find thee. coward and spy! and yet men think thee noble!" a bitter laugh of scorn concluded these fatal words. he returned his sword violently to its sheath; the tread of his armed heel was heard for a few seconds, and then all was silent. morales neither moved nor spoke, and marie lifted her head to look on his face in terror. the angry words of arthur had evidently fallen either wholly unheeded, or perhaps unheard. there was but one feeling expressed on those chiseled features, but one thought, but one conviction; a low, convulsive sob broke from her, and she fainted in his arms. chapter xiii. "why, when my life on that one hope, cast, why didst thou chain my future to her past? why not a breath to say she loved before?" bulwer. "oh leave me not! or know before thou goest, the heart that wronged thee so but wrongs no more." bulwer. in the first painful moments of awakening sense, marie was only conscious of an undefined yet heavy weight on heart and brain; but as strength returned she started up with a faint cry, and looked wildly round her. the absence of morales, the conviction that he had left her to the care of others, that for the first time he had deserted her couch of pain, lighted up as by an electric flash the marvellous links of memory, and the whole of that morning's anguish, every word spoken, every feeling endured, rushed back upon her with such overwhelming force as for the moment to deprive her of the little strength she had regained. why could she not die? was the despairing thought that followed. what had she to live for, when it was her ill fate to wreck the happiness of all who loved her? and yet in that moment of agony she never seemed to have loved her husband more. it was of him she thought far more than of arthur, whose angry words and fatal threat rung again and again in her ears. "my lord had only just left when you recovered consciousness, senora," gently remarked her principal attendant, whose penetration had discovered the meaning of marie's imploring look and passive silence, so far at least that it was don ferdinand she sought, and that his absence pained her. "he tarried till life seemed returning, and then reluctantly departed for the castle, where he had been summoned, he said, above an hour before." "to the castle!" repeated marie internally. "ay, he will do his duty, though his heart be breaking. he will take his place and act his part, and men will report him calm, wise, collected, active as his wont, and little dream his wife, his treasured wife, has bowed his lofty spirit to the dust, and laid low his light of home. tell me when he returns," she said aloud, "and bid all leave me but yourself." two hours passed, and marie lay outwardly still and calm, neither speaking nor employed. but at the end of that time she started up hastily, resumed the robe which had been cast aside, and remained standing, as intently listening to some distant sound. several minutes elapsed, and though she had sunk almost unconsciously on the seat manuella proffered, it was not till full half an hour that she spoke. "the senor has returned," she said calmly; "bid alberic hither." the page came, and she quietly inquired if any strangers had entered with his master. "no, senora, he is alone." "has he long returned?" "almost half an hour, senora. he went directly to his closet, desiring that he might not be disturbed." ten minutes more, and marie was standing in her husband's presence, but unobserved. for the first time in his whole life had her light step approached him unheard. for two hours he had borne a degree of mental suffering which would either have crushed or roused any other man into wildest fury--borne it with such an unflinching spirit, that in neither look nor manner, nor even tone, had he departed from his usual self, or given the slightest occasion for remark. but the privacy of his closet obtained, the mighty will gave way, and the stormy waves rolled over him, deadening every sense and thought and feeling, save the one absorbing truth, that he had never been beloved. father and child had deceived him; for now every little word, every trifling occurrence before his marriage in the vale of cedars rushed back on his mind, and henriquez imploring entreaty under all circumstances to love and cherish her was explained. "ferdinand!" exclaimed a voice almost inarticulate from sobs; and starting, he beheld his wife kneeling by his side. "oh! my husband, do not turn from me, do not hate me. i have none but thee." he tried to withdraw his hand, but the words, the tone, unmanned him, and throwing his arm round her, he clasped her convulsively to his heart, and she felt his slow scalding tears fall one by one, as wrung from the heart's innermost depths, upon her cheek. for several minutes there was silence. the strong man's emotion is as terrible to witness as terrible to feel. marie was the first to regain voice; and in low beseeching accents she implored him to listen to her--to hear ere he condemned. "not thus," was his sole reply, as he tried to raise her from her kneeling posture to the cushion by his side. "yes, thus my husband. i will not rise till thou say'st thou canst forgive; wilt take the loving and the weak back to thy heart, if not to love as thou hast loved, to strengthen and forgive. i have not wronged thee. were i false in word or thought i would not kneel to ask forgiveness, but crawl to thy feet and die! if thou couldst but know the many, many times i have longed to confess all; the agony to receive thy fond caress, thy trusting confidence, and know myself deceiving; the terror lest thou shouldst discover aught from other than myself; oh! were it not for thy deep woe, i could bless this moment, bidding me speak truth once more!" "and say thou hast never loved me? wert true from duty, not from love? marie, can i bear this?" "yes--for i do love thee. oh! my husband, i turn to thee alone, under my god, for rest and peace. if i might not give thee the wild passions of my youth, when my heart was sought, and won ere i was myself conscious of the precipice i neared, i cling to thee now alone--i would be thine alone. oh, take me to thy heart, and let me lie there. ferdinand, ferdinand! forgive me!--love--save me from myself!" "ay, now and ever! come to my heart, beloved one!" answered her husband, rousing himself from all of personal suffering to comfort her; and he drew her to him till her head rested on his bosom. "now tell me thy sorrowing tale, to me so wrapt in mystery. fear not from me. it is enough thou clingest to me in such sweet guileless confidence still." she obeyed him; and the heavy weight of suffering years seemed lightening as she spoke. from her first meeting arthur, to that morning's harrowing interview, every feeling, every incident, every throb of reproach and dread were revealed with such touching and childlike truth, that even in his suffering, morales unconsciously clasped his wife closer and closer to him, as if her very confidence and truth, rendered her yet dearer than before, and inexpressibly soothed at the very moment that they pained. their interview was long, but fraught with mutual comfort. morales had believed, when he entered his closet that day, that a dense cloud was folded round him, sapping the very elements of life; but though he still felt as if he had received some heavy physical blow, the darkness had fled from his spirit, and light dawned anew for both, beneath the heavenly rays of openness and truth. "and arthur?" marie said, as that long commune came to a close; and she looked up with the fearless gaze of integrity in her husband's face. "thou wilt forgive him, ferdinand? he knew not what he said." "trust me, beloved one. i pity and forgive him. he shall learn to love me, despite himself." great was the astonishment and terrible the disappointment of don luis garcia at the visible failure of one portion of his nefarious schemes. though seldom in don ferdinand's actual presence, he was perfectly aware that instead of diminishing, morales' confidence in and love for his wife had both increased, and that marie was happier and more quietly at rest than she had been since her marriage. but though baffled, garcia was not foiled. the calm, haughty dignity which, whenever they did chance to meet, now characterized don ferdinand's manner towards him; the brief, stern reply, if words were actually needed; or complete silence, betraying as it did tire utter contempt and scorn with which his crafty design was regarded, heightened his every revengeful feeling, and hastened on his plans. two or three weeks passed: a calm security and peaceful happiness had taken the place of storm and dread in marie's heart. she felt that it had been a secret consciousness of wrong towards her husband, the dread of discovery occasioning estrangement, the constant fear of encountering stanley, which had weighed on her heart far more than former feelings; and now that the ordeal was past, that all was known, and she could meet her husband's eye without one thought concealed; now that despite of all he could love and cherish, aye, trust her still, she clung to him with love as pure and fond and true as ever wife might feel; and her only thought of stanley was prayer that peace might also dawn for him. it was pain indeed to feel that the real reason of her wedding ferdinand must for ever remain concealed. could that have been spoken, one little sentence said, all would have been explained, and stanley's bitter feelings soothed. it was the custom of ferdinand and isabella to gather around them, about once a month, the wisest and the ablest of their realm--sometimes to hold council on public matters, at others merely in friendly discussion on various subjects connected with, politics, the church, or war. in these meetings merit constituted rank, and mind nobility. they commenced late, and continued several hours through the night. to one of these meetings don ferdinand morales had received a summons as usual. as the day neared, he became conscious of a strange, indefinable sensation taking possession of heart and mind, as impossible to be explained as to be dismissed. it was as if some impassable and invisible, but closely-hovering evil were connected with the day, blinding him--as by a heavy pall--to all beyond. he succeeded in subduing the ascendency of the sensation, in some measure, till the day itself; when, as the hours waned, it became more and more overpowering. as he entered his wife's apartment, to bid her farewell ere he departed for the castle, it rose almost to suffocation in his throat, and he put his arm round her as she stood by the widely-opened casement, and remained by her side several minutes without speaking. "thou art not going to the castle yet, dearest?" she inquired. "is it not much earlier than usual?" "yes, love; but i shall not ride to-night. i feel so strangely oppressed, that i think a quiet walk in the night air will recover me far more effectually than riding." marie looked up anxiously in his face. he was very pale, and his hair was damp with the moisture on his forehead. "thou art unwell," she exclaimed; "do not go to-night, dearest ferdinand,--stay with me. thy presence is not so imperatively needed." he shook his head with a faint smile. "i must go, love, for i have no excuse to stay away. i wish it were any other night, indeed, for i would so gladly remain with thee; but the very wish is folly. i never shrunk from the call of duty before, and cannot imagine what has come over me to-night; but i would sacrifice much for permission to stay within. do not look so alarmed, love, the fresh air will remove this vague oppression, and give me back myself." "fresh air there is none," replied his young wife, "the stillness is actually awful--not a leaf moves, nor a breeze stirs. it seems too, more than twilight darkness; as if a heavy storm were brooding." "it may be; oppression in the air is often the sole cause of oppression in the mind. i should be almost glad if it came, to explain this sensation." "but if thou must go, thou wilt not loiter, ferdinand." "why--fearest thou the storm will harm me, love? nay, i have frightened thee into foreboding. banish it, or i shall be still more loth to say farewell!" he kissed her, as if to depart, but still he lingered though neither spoke; and then, as with an irresistible and passionate impulse, he clasped her convulsively to his heart, and murmuring hoarsely, "god for ever and ever bless thee, my own beloved!" released her, and was gone. on quitting his mansion and entering the street, the dense weight of the atmosphere became more and more apparent. the heat was so oppressive that the streets were actually deserted--even the artisans had closed their stores; darkness had fallen suddenly, shrouding the beautiful twilight peculiar to spain as with a pall. morales unconsciously glanced towards the west, where, scarcely half-an-hour before, the sun had sunk gloriously to rest; and there all was not black. resting on the edge of the hill, was a far-spreading crimson cloud, not the rosy glow of sunset, but the color of blood. so remarkable was its appearance, that don ferdinand paused in involuntary awe. the blackness closed gradually round it; but much decreased, and still decreasing in size, it floated onwards--preserving its blood-red hue, in appalling contrast with the murky sky. slowly morales turned in the direction of the castle, glancing up at times, and unable to suppress a thrill of supernatural horror, as he observed this remarkable appearance floating just before him wherever he turned. denser and denser became the atmosphere, and blacker the sky, till he could not see a single yard before him; thunder growled in the distance, and a few vivid flashes of lightning momentarily illumined the gloom, but still the cloud remained. its course became swifter; but it decreased in size, floating onwards, till, to morales' strained gaze, it appeared to remain stationary over one particularly lonely part of the road, known by the name of the calle soledad, which he was compelled to pass; becoming smaller and smaller, till, as he reached the spot, it faded into utter darkness, and all around was black. that same evening, about an hour before sunset, arthur stanley, overpowered by the heat, and exhausted with some fatiguing military duties, hastily unbuckled his sword, flung it carelessly from him, and, drinking off a large goblet of wine, which, as usual, stood ready for him on his table, threw himself on his couch, and sunk into a slumber so profound that he scarcely seemed to breathe. how he had passed the interval which had elapsed since his interview with marie and her husband, he scarcely knew himself. his military duties were performed mechanically, a mission for the king to toledo successfully accomplished; but he himself was conscious only of one engrossing thought, which no cooling and gentler temper had yet come to subdue. it was a relief to acquit marie of intentional falsehood--a relief to have some imaginary object on which to vent bitterness and anger; and headstrong and violent without control or guide, when his passions were concerned, he encouraged every angry feeling against morales, caring neither to define nor subdue them, till the longing to meet him in deadly combat, and the how to do so, became the sole and dangerous occupation of heart and mind. stanley's heavy and unnatural sleep had lasted some hours, when he was suddenly and painfully awakened by so loud and long a peal of thunder that the very house seemed to rock and shake with the vibration. he started up on his couch; but darkness was around him so dense that he could not distinguish a single object. this sleep had been unrefreshing, and so heavy an oppression rested on his chest, that he felt as if confined in a close cage of iron. he waved his arms to feel if he were indeed at liberty. he moved in free air, but the darkness seemed to suffocate him; and springing up, he groped his way to the window, and flung it open. feverish and restless, the very excitement of the night seemed to urge him forth, thus to disperse the oppressive weight within. a flash of lightning playing on the polished sheath of his sword, he secured it to his side, and threw his mantle over his shoulders. as he did so his hand came in contact with the upper part of the sheath, from which the hilt should have projected; but, to his astonishment and alarm, no hilt was there--the sheath was empty. in vain he racked his memory to ascertain whether he had left his sword in its scabbard, or had laid the naked blade, as was his custom, by him while he slept. the more he tried to think the more confused his thoughts became. his forehead felt circled with burning iron, his lips were dry and parched, his step faltering as if under the influence of some potent spell. he called for a light, but his voice sounded in his own ears thick and unnatural, and no one answered. his aged hosts had retired to rest an hour before, and though they had noticed and drew their own conclusions from his agitated movements, his call was unregarded. in five minutes more they heard him rush from the house; and anxious as she was to justify all the ways and doings of her handsome lodger, old juanna was this night compelled to lean to her husband's ominously expressed belief, that no one would voluntarily go forth on such an awful night, save for deeds of evil. his rapid pace and open path were illumined every alternate minute with, the vivid lightning, and the very excitement of the storm partially removed the incomprehensible sensations under which stanley labored. he turned in the direction of the castle, perhaps with the unconfessed hope of meeting some of his companions in arms returning from the royal meeting, and in their society to shake off the spell which chained him. as he neared the calle soledad the ground suddenly became slippery, as with some thick fluid, of what nature the dense darkness prevented his discovering, his foot came in contact with some heavy substance lying right across his path. he stumbled and fell, and his dress and hands became literrally dyed with the same hue as the ground. he started up in terror; a long vivid flash lingering more than a minute in the air, disclosed the object against which he had fallen; and paralyzed with horror, pale, ghastly, as if suddenly turned to stone, he remained. he uttered no word nor cry; but flash after flash played around him, and still beheld him gazing in stupefied and motionless horror on the appalling sight before him. chapter xiv. 1st monk.--the storm increases; hark! how dismally it sounds along the cloisters! bernard.--as on i hastened, bearing thus my light, across my path, not fifty paces off, i saw a murdered corse, stretched on its back, smeared with new blood, as though but freshly slain. joanna baillie. the apartment adjoining the council-room of the castle, and selected this night as the scene of king ferdinand's banquet, was at the commencement of the storm filled with the expected guests. from forty to fifty were there assembled, chosen indiscriminately from the castilians and arragonese, the first statesmen and bravest warriors of the age. but the usual animated discussion, the easy converse, and eager council, had strangely, and almost unconsciously, sunk into a gloomy depression, so universal and profound, that every effort to break from it, and resume the general topics of interest, was fruitless. the king himself was grave almost to melancholy, though more than once he endeavored to shake it off, and speak as usual. men found themselves whispering to each other as if they feared to speak aloud--as if some impalpable and invisible horror were hovering round them. it might have been that the raging storm without affected all within, with a species of awe, to which even the wisest and the bravest are liable when the almighty utters his voice in the tempest, and the utter nothingness of men comes home to the proudest heart. but there was another cause. one was missing from the council and the board; the seat of don ferdinand morales was vacant, and unuttered but absorbing anxiety occupied every mind. it was full two hours, rather more, from the given hour of meeting; the council itself had been delayed, and was at length held without him, but so unsatisfactory did it prove, that many subjects were postponed. they adjourned to the banquet-room; but the wine circled but slowly, and the king leant back on his chair, disinclined apparently for either food or drink. "the storm increases fearfully," observed the aged duke of murcia, a kinsman of the king, as a flash of lightning blazed through the casements, of such extraordinary length and brilliance, that even the numerous lustres, with which the room was lighted, looked dark when it disappeared. it was followed by a peal of thunder, loud as if a hundred cannons had been discharged above their heads, and causing several glasses to be shivered on the board. "unhappy those compelled to brave it." "nay, better out than in," observed another. "there is excitement in witnessing its fury, and gloom most depressing in listening to it thus." "perchance 'tis the shadow of the coming evil," rejoined don felix d'estaban. "old legends say, there is never a storm like this, without bringing some national evil on its wings." "ha! say they so?" demanded the king, suddenly, that his guests started. "and is there truth in it?" "the lovers of such marvels would bring your grace many proofs that, some calamity always followed such a tempest," replied don felix. "it may or may not be. for my own part, i credit not such things. we are ourselves the workers of evil--no fatality lurking in storms." "fated or casual, if evil has occurred to don ferdinand morales, monarch and subject will alike have cause to associate this tempest with national calamity," answered the king, betraying at once the unspoken, but engrossing subject of his thoughts. "who saw him last?" don felix d'estaban replied that he had seen him that day two hours before sunset. "and where, my lord--at home or abroad?" "in his own mansion, which he said he had not quitted that day," was the rejoinder. "and how seemed he? in health as usual?" "ay, my liege, save that he complained of a strange oppressiveness, disinclining him for all exertion." "did he allude to the council of to-night?" "he did, my lord, rejoicing that he should be compelled to rouse himself from his most unwonted mood of idleness." "then some evil has befallen him," rejoined the king; and the contraction of his brow denied the calmness, implied by his unmoved tone. "we have done wrong in losing all this time, don alonzo," he added, turning to the senor of aguilar, "give orders that a band of picked men scour every path leading hence to morales' mansion: head them thyself, an thou wilt, we shall the more speedily receive tidings. thine eyes have been more fixed on don ferdinand's vacant seat, than on the board this last hour; so hence, and speed thee, man. it may be he is ill: we have seen men stricken unto death from one hour to the other. if there be no trace of him in either path, hie thee to his mansion; but return not without news. impalpable evil is ever worse than the tangible and real." don alonzo scarcely waited the conclusion of the king's speech, so eager was he to depart; and the longing looks cast after him betrayed how many would have willingly joined him in his search. "his wife?" repeated the king, in answer to some suggestions of his kinsman's. "nay, man; hast thou yet to learn, that morales' heart would break ere he would neglect his duty? no: physical incapacity would alone have sufficient power to keep him from us--no mental ill." if the effort to continue indifferent conversation had been difficult before, it now became impossible. the very silence felt ominous. what evil could have befallen? was asked internally by each individual; but the vague dread, the undefined horror of something terrible impending, prevented all reply; and so nearly an hour passed, when, far removed as was the council-room from the main body of the castle, a confusion as of the entrance of many feet, and the tumultuary sound of eager voices, was distinguished, seeming to proceed from the great hall. "it cannot be don alonzo so soon returned," remarked the duke of murcia; but even as he spoke, and before the king had time to make an impatient sign for silence, so intently was he listening, the lord of aguilar himself re-entered the apartment. "saints of heaven!" ejaculated the king, and his exclamation was echoed involuntarily by all around. the cheek of the warrior, never known to blanch before, was white as death; his eye haggard and wild; his step so faltering, that his whole frame reeled. he sunk on the nearest seat, and, with a shuddering groan, pressed both hands before his eyes. "wine! wine! give him wine!" cried ferdinand impetuously, pushing a brimming goblet towards him. "drink, man, and speak, in heaven's name. what frightful object hast thou seen, to bid thee quail, who never quailed before? where is morales? hast thou found him?" "ay," muttered don alonzo, evidently struggling to recall his energies, while the peculiar tone of the single monosyllable caused every heart to shudder. "and where is he? why came he not hither? why neglect our royal summons?" continued the king, hurrying question after question with such an utter disregard of his usual calm, imperturbable cautiousness, that it betrayed far more than words how much he dreaded the senor's reply. "speak, man; what has detained him?" "_death_!" answered the warrior, his suppressed grief and horror breathing in his hollow voice; and rising, he approached the king's seat, and kneeling down, said in that low, concentrated tone, which reaches every ear, though scarce louder than a whisper, "sire, he is murdered!" "murdered!" reiterated the king, as the word was echoed in all the various intonations of horror, grief, and indignation from all around; and he laid his hand heavily on aguilar's shoulder--"man, man, how can this be? who would dare lift up the assassin's hand against him--him, the favorite of our subjects as of ourselves? who had cause of enmity--of even rivalship with him? thou art mistaken, man; it _cannot_ be! thou art scared with the sight of murder, and no marvel; but it cannot be morales thou hast seen." "alas! my liege, i too believed it not; but the murdered corpse now lying in the hall will be too bloody witness of my truth." the king released his hold, and without a word of rejoinder, strode from the apartment, and hastily traversing the long galleries, and many stairs, neither paused nor spoke, till, followed by all his nobles, he reached the hall. it was filled with soldiers, who, with loud and furious voices, mingled execrations deep and fearful on the murderer, with bitter lamentations on the victim. a sudden and respectful hush acknowledged the presence of the sovereign; ferdinand's brows were darkly knit, his lip compressed, his eyes flashing sternly over the dense crowd; but he asked no question, nor relaxed his hasty stride till he stood beside the litter on which, covered with a mantle, the murdered one was lying. for a single minute he evidently paused, and his countenance, usually so controlled as never to betray emotion, visibly worked with some strong feeling, which seemed to prevent the confirmation of his fears, by the trifling movement of lifting up the mantle. but at length, and with a hurried movement, it was cast aside; and there lay that noble form, cold, rigid in death! the king pushed the long, jetty hair, now clotted with gore, from the cheek on which it had fallen; and he recognized, too well, the high, thoughtful brow, now white, cold as marble; the large, dark eye, whose fixed and glassy stare had so horribly replaced the bright intelligence, the sparkling lustre so lately there. the clayey, sluggish white of death was already on his cheek; his lip, convulsively compressed, and the left hand tightly clenched, as if the soul had not been thus violently reft from the body, without a strong: pang of mortal agony. his right hand had stiffened round the hilt of his unsheathed sword, for the murderous blow had been dealt from behind, and with such fatal aim, that death must have been almost instantaneous, and the tight grasp of his sword the mere instinctive movement of expiring nature. awe-struck, chilled to the heart, did the noble friends of the departed gather round him. on the first removal of the mantle, an irresistible yell of curses on the murderer burst forth from the soldiery, wrought into fury at thus beholding their almost idolized commander; but the stern woe on the sovereign's face hushed them into silence; and the groan of grief and horror which escaped involuntarily from ferdinand's lips, was heard throughout the hall. "the murderer?" at length demanded many of the nobles at the same moment. "who has dared do this awful deed? don alonzo, is there no clue to his person--no trace of his path?" "there is trace and clue enough," was the brief and stern reply. "the murderer is secured!" "ha!" exclaimed the king, roused at once; "secured, sayest thou? in our bitter grief we had well-nigh forgotten justice. bring forth the dastardly craven; we would demand the reason of this cowardly blow ere we condemn him to the death of torture which his crime demands. let him confront his victim. why do you pause, my lord? produce the murderer." still don alonzo stood irresolute, and a full minute passed ere he signed to the men who had accompanied him. a figure was instantly led forward, his arms strongly secured in his own mantle, and his hat so slouched over his face, that not a feature could be distinguished. still there was something in his appearance that struck a cold chill of doubt to the heart of the king, and in a voice strangely expressive of emotion, he commanded--"remove his hat and mantle: we should know that form." he was obeyed, for there was no resistance on the part of the prisoner, whose inner dress was also stained with blood, as were his hands. his cheek was ashy pale; his eye bloodshot and pale; and his whole appearance denoting such excessive agitation, that it would have gone far to condemn him, even had there been no other proof. "stanley!" burst from the astonished king, as a wild cry ran round the hall, and "death to the ungrateful foreigner!"--"death to the base-born englishman!"--"tortures and death!" escaped, in every variety of intonation, from the fierce soldiery, who, regardless even of their sovereign's presence, drew closer and closer round, clashing their weapons, and with difficulty restrained from tearing him to pieces where he stood. "he was my foe," muttered the prisoner, almost unconscious of the import of his words, or how far they would confirm the suspicions against him. "he robbed me of happiness--he destined me to misery. i hated him; but i did not murder him. i swore to take his life or lose my own; but not thus--not thus. great god! to see him lying there, and feel it might have been my hand. men, men! would ye quench hatred, behold its object stricken before you by a dastard blow like this, and ye will feel its enormity and horror. i did not slay him; i would give my life to the murderer's dagger to call him back, and ask his forgiveness for the thoughts of blood i entertained against him; but i touched him not--my sword is stainless." "thou liest, false traitor!" exclaimed don felix, fiercely, and he held up the hilt and about four inches of a sword, the remainder of which was still in the body. "behold the evidence to thy black lie! my liege, this fragment was found beside the body deluged in gore. we know the hilt too well to doubt, one moment, the name of its possessor; there is not another like it throughout spain. it snapt in the blow, as if more honorable than its master, it could not survive so foul a stain. what arm should wield it save his own?" a universal murmur of execration, acknowledged this convincing evidence; doubly confirmed, as it seemed to be by the fearful start and muttered exclamation, on the part of the prisoner the moment it was produced. the nobles thronged round the king, some entreating him to sentence the midnight assassin to instant execution; others, to retain him in severest imprisonment till the proofs of his guilt could be legally examined, and the whole european world hear of the crime, and its chastisement; lest they should say that as a foreigner, justice was refused to him. to this opinion the king leaned. "ye counsel well and wisely, my lords," he said. "it shall not be said, because the murdered was our subject, and the murderer an alien, that he was condemned without examination of proofs against him, or being heard in his own defence. seven suns hence we will ourselves examine every evidence for or against him, which, your penetration, my lords, can collect. till then, don felix, the prisoner is your charge, to be produced when summoned; and now away with the midnight assassin--he has polluted our presence too long. away with the base ingrate, who has thus requited our trust and love; we would look on him no more." with, a rapid movement the unfortunate young man broke from the guard, which, at don felix's sign, closed round and sought to drag him from the hall, and flung himself impetuously at ferdinand's feet. "i am no murderer!" he exclaimed, in a tone of such passionate agony, that to any less prejudiced than those around, it must at least have raised doubt as to his guilt. "i am not the base ingrate you would deem me. condemn me to death an thou wilt, i kneel not to sue for life; for, dishonored and suspected, i would not accept it were it offered. let them bring forward what they will, i am innocent. here, before ye all, in presence of the murdered victim, by all held sacred in heaven or on earth, i swear i slew him not! if i am guilty i call upon the dead himself to rise, and blast me with his gaze!" involuntarily every eye turned towards the corpse; for, vague as such an appeal might seem now, the age was then but barely past, when the assistance of the murdered was often required in the discovery of the murderer. many a brave heart grew chill, and brown cheeks blanched, in anticipation of the unearthly sign, so fully were they convinced of stanley's guilt, but none came. the stagnated blood did not flow forth again--the eye did not glare with more consciousness than before--the cold hand did not move to point its finger at the prisoner; and don felix, fearing the effect of stanley's appeal upon the king, signed to the guards, who rudely raised and bore him from the hall. the tumults of these events had naturally spread far and wide over the castle, reaching the apartments of the queen who, perceiving the awe and terror which the raging tempest had excited in her attendants, though incapable of aught like fear herself, had refrained from dismissing them as usual. the confusion below seeming to increase with every moment, naturally excited her surprise; and she commanded one of her attendants to learn its cause. already terrified, none seemed inclined to obey, till a young girl, high spirited, and dauntless almost as isabella herself, departed of her own free will, and in a few minutes returned, pale and trembling, with the dread intelligence, that don ferdinand morales lay murdered in the hall, and that arthur stanley was his murderer. isabella paused not a moment, though the shock was so terrible that for the minute she became faint and sick, and hastily quitting her apartments, she entered the great hall at the moment the prisoner was being borne from it. stupefied with contending feelings. ferdinand did not perceive her entrance. the nobles, drawn together in little knots, were conversing in low eager tones, or endeavoring to reduce the tumultuary soldiery to more order; and the queen moved on unperceived, till she stood beside the corpse. she neither shrunk from it, nor paled; but bending over him, murmured in a tone, that from its startling indication of her unexpected presence, readied the ear of all--"his poor, _poor_ marie!" the effect was electric. until that moment horror and indignation had been the predominant feeling; but with those words came the thought of his young, his beautiful, his treasured wife--the utter, utter desolation which that fearful death would bring to her; the contrast between her present position, and that in which they had so lately beheld her; and there was scarcely a manly spirit there, that did not feel unwonted moisture gather in his eyes, or his heart swell with an emotion never felt before. "now blessings on thy true woman's heart, my isabel!" exclaimed the king, tenderly drawing her from the couch of the dead. "i dare vouch not one of us, mourning the noble dead, has, till now, cast a thought upon the living. and who shall breathe these fearful tidings? who prepare the unfortunate marie for the loss awaiting her, and yet tarry to behold and soothe her anguish?" "that will i do," replied the queen, instantly. "none else will prepare her so gently, so kindly; for none knew her husband's worth so well, or can mourn his loss more deeply. she shall come hither. and the murderer," she continued after a brief pause, and the change was almost startling from the tender sympathy of the woman to the indignant majesty of the queen--"ferdinand, have they told me true as to his person--is he secured?" "ay," answered the king, briefly and bitterly: and from respect to his feelings, isabella asked no more. orders were issued for the body to be laid in one of the state apartments; a guard to be stationed at the entrance of the chamber, and measures taken to keep the events of that fatal night profoundly secret, lest confusion should be aroused in the easily excited populace, or her terrible loss too rudely reach the ears of the most painfully bereaved. these orders were punctually obeyed. chapter xv. "yet again methinks some unknown sorrow, ripe in future's womb, is coming towards me; and my inward soul with nothing trembles. at something it grieves more than the parting with my lord." shakspeare. long did marie morales linger where her husband had left her after his strangely passionate farewell. his tone, his look, his embrace haunted her almost to pain--all were so unlike his wonted calmness: her full heart so yearned towards him that she would have given worlds, if she had had them, to call him to her side once more--to conjure him again to forgive and assure her of his continued trust--to tell him she was happy, and asked no other love than his. why had he left her so early? when she felt as if she had so much to say--so much to confide. and then her eye caught the same ominous cloud which had so strangely riveted don ferdinand's gaze, and a sensation of awe stole over her, retaining her by the casement as by some spell which she vainly strove to resist; until the forked lightnings began to illumine the murky gloom, and the thunder rolled awfully along. determined not to give way to the heavy depression creeping over her, marie summoned her attendants, and strenuously sought to keep up an animated conversation as they worked. not expecting to see her husband till the ensuing morning, she retired to rest at the first partial lull of the storm, and slept calmly for many hours. a morning of transcendent loveliness followed the awful horrors of the night. the sun seemed higher in the heavens than usual, when marie started from a profound sleep, with a vague sensation that something terrible had occurred; every pulse was throbbing, though, her heart felt stagnant within her. for some minutes she could not frame a distinct thought, and then her husband's fond farewell flashed back; but what had that to do with gloom? ringing a little silver bell beside her, manuella answered the summons, and marie anxiously inquired for don ferdinand. had he not yet returned? a sensation of sickness--the deadly sickness of indefinable dread--seemed to stupefy every faculty, as manuella answered in the negative, adding, it was much beyond his usual hour. "send to the castle, and inquire if aught has detained him," she exclaimed; hastily rising as she spoke, and commencing a rapid toilet. she was scarcely attired before alberic, with a pale cheek and voice of alarm, brought information that a messenger and litter from the palace were in the court, bringing the queen's mandate for the instant attendance of donna marie. "oh! lady, dearest lady, let me go with thee," continued the boy, suddenly clasping her robe and bursting into tears. "my master--my good, noble master--something horrible has occurred, and they will not tell me what. every face i see is full of horror--every voice seems suppressed--every--" "hush!" angrily interposed manuella, as she beheld marie's very lips lose their glowing tint, and her eyes gaze on vacancy. "for god's sake, still thine impudent tongue; thou'lt kill her with thy rashness." "kill! who is killed?" gasped marie. "what did he say? where is my husband?" "detained at the palace, dearest lady," readily answered manuella. "this foolish boy is terrified at shadows. my lord is detained, and her grace has sent a litter requiring thine attendance. we must haste, for she wills no delay. carlotta, my lady's mantilla; quick, girl! alberic, go if thou wilt: my lord may be glad of thee! ay, go," she continued some little time afterwards, as her rapid movements speedily placed her passive, almost senseless mistress, in the litter; and she caught hold of the page's hand with a sudden change of tone, "go; and return speedily, in mercy, alberic. some horror is impending; better know it than this terrible suspense." how long an interval elapsed ere she stood in isabella's presence, marie knew not. the most incongruous thoughts floated, one after another, through her bewildered brain--most vivid amongst them all, hers and her husband's fatal secret: had it transpired? was he sentenced, and she thus summoned to share his fate? and then, when partially relieved by the thought, that such a discovery had never taken place in spanish annals--why should she dread an impossibility?--flashed back, clear, ringing, as if that moment spoken, stanley's fatal threat; and the cold shuddering of every limb betrayed the aggravated agony of the thought. with her husband she could speak of arthur calmly; to herself she would not even think his name: not merely lest he should unwittingly deceive again, but that the recollection of _his_ suffering--and caused by her--ever created anew, thoughts and feelings which she had vowed unto herself to bury, and for ever. gloom was on every face she encountered in the castle. the very soldiers, as they saluted her as the wife of their general, appeared to gaze upon her with rude, yet earnest commiseration; but neither word nor rumor reached her ear. several times she essayed to ask of her husband, but the words died in a soundless quiver on her lip. yet if it were what she dreaded, that stanley had fulfilled his threat, and they had fought, and one had fallen--why was she thus summoned? and had not morales resolved to avoid him; for her sake not to avenge arthur's insulting words? and again the thought of their fatal secret obtained ascendency. five minutes more, and she stood alone in the presence of her sovereign. * * * * * it was told; and with such deep sympathy, so gently, so cautiously, that all of rude and stunning shock was averted; but, alas! who could breathe of consolation at such a moment? isabella did not attempt it; but permitted the burst of agony full vent. she had so completely merged all of dignity, all of the sovereign into the woman and the friend, that marie neither felt nor exercised restraint; and words mingled with her broken sobs and wild lament, utterly incomprehensible to the noble heart that heard. the awful nature of don ferdinand's death, isabella had still in some measure concealed; but it seemed as if marie had strangely connected it with violence and blood, and, in fearful and disjointed words, accused herself as its miserable cause. "why did not death come to me?" she reiterated; "why take him, my husband--my noble husband? oh, ferdinand, ferdinand! to go now, when i have so learnt to love thee! now, when i looked to years of faithful devotion to prove how wholly the past was banished--how wholly i was thine alone! to atone for hours of suffering by years of love! oh, how couldst thou leave me friendless--desolate?" "not friendless, not desolate, whilst isabella lives," replied the queen, painfully affected, and drawing marie closer to her, till her throbbing brow rested on her bosom. "weep, my poor girl, tears must flow for a loss like this; and long, long weeks must pass ere we may hope for resignation; but harrow not thyself by thoughts of more fearful ill than the reality, my child. do not look on what might be, but what has been; on the comfort, the treasure, thou wert to the beloved one we have lost. how devotedly he loved thee, and thou--" "and i so treasured, so loved. oh, gracious sovereign!" and marie sunk down at her feet, clasping her robe in supplication. "say but i may see him in life once more; that life still lingers, if it be but to tell me once more he forgives me. oh, let me but hear his voice; but once, only once, and i will be calm--quite calm; i will try to bear this bitter agony. only let me see him, hear him speak again. thou knowest not, thou canst not know, how my heart yearns for this." "see him thou shalt, my poor girl, if it will give thee aught of comfort; but hear him, alas! alas! my child, would that it might be! would for spain and her sovereign's sake, then how much more for thine, that voice could be recalled; and life, if but for the briefest space, return! alas! the blow was but too well aimed." "the blow! what blow? how did he die? who slew him?" gasped marie; her look of wild and tearless agony terrifying isabella, whose last words had escaped unintentionally. "speak, speak, in mercy; let me know the truth?" "hast thou not thyself alluded to violence, and wrath, and hatred, marie? answer me, my child; didst thou know any one, regarding the generous morales with such feelings? could there be one to regard him as his foe?" crouching lower and lower at isabella's feet, her face half burled in her robe, marie's reply was scarcely audible; but the queen's brow contracted. "none?" she repeated almost sternly; "wouldst thou deceive at such a moment? contradict thyself? and yet i am wrong to be thus harsh. poor sufferer!" she added, tenderly, as she vainly tried to raise marie from the ground; "thou hast all enough to bear; and if, indeed, the base wretch who has dared thus to trample on the laws alike of god and man, and stain his own soul with the foul blot of midnight assassination, be him whom we have secured, thou couldst not know him as thy husband's foe. it is all mystery--thine own words not least; but his murder shall be avenged. ay, had my own kinsman's been the hand to do the dastard deed." "murder! who was his murderer?" repeated marie, the horror of such a fate apparently lost in other and more terrible emotion; "who could have raised his sword against my husband? said i he had no foe? had he not one, and i, oh, god! did not i create that enmity? but he would not have murdered him; oh, no--no: my liege, my gracious liege, tell me in mercy--my brain feels reeling--who was the murderer?" "one thou hast known but little space, poor sufferer," replied the queen, soothingly; "one whom of all others we could not suspect of such a deed. and even now, though appearances are strong against him, we can scarce believe it; that young foreign favorite of my royal husband, arthur stanley." "stanley!" repeated marie, in a tone so shrill, so piercing, that the wild shriek which it formed rung for many and many a day in the ears of the queen. and as the word passed her lips she started to her feet, stood for a second erect, gazing madly on her royal mistress, and then, without one groan or struggle, dropped perfectly lifeless at her feet. chapter xvi. list! hear ye, through the still and lonely night, the distant hymn of mournful voices roll solemn and low? it is the burial rite; how deep its sadness sinks into the soul, as slow the passing bell wakes its far ling'ring knoll. charles swain. spain has often been regarded as an absolute monarchy; an opinion, no doubt, founded on the absolute measures of her later sovereigns. ferdinand and isabella certainly laid the foundation of the royal prerogative by the firmness and ability with which they decreased the power of the nobles, who, until their reign, had been like so many petty sovereigns, each with his independent state, and preserving his authority by the sword alone. when ferdinand and isabella, however, united their separate kingdoms under one denomination, neither castile nor arragon could be considered as an absolute monarchy. in castile, the people, as representatives of the cities, had, from, early ages, obtained seats in the cortes, and so in some measure balanced the power of the aristocracy. the cortes, similar to our houses of parliament, could enact laws, impose taxes, and redress grievances, often making the condition of granting pecuniary aid to the sovereign, his consent to the regulations they had laid down, and refusing the grant if he demurred. in addition to these privileges of the cortes of castile, the junta of arragon could coin money, declare war, and conclude peace; and what was still more remarkable, they could be neither prorogued nor dissolved by their sovereign without their own consent. alluding to the castilians, a few years after the period of our tale, robertson says- "the principles of liberty seem to have been better understood, by the castilians than by any other people in europe. they had acquired more liberal notions with respect to their own rights and privileges. they had formed more bold and generous sentiments concerning government, and discovered an extent of political knowledge to which the english themselves did not attain till nearly a century afterwards." when we compare this state of things with the misery and anarchy pervading castile before the accession of isabella, we may have some idea of the influence of her vigorous measures, and personal character, on the happiness and freedom of her subjects. the laws indeed existed before, but they wanted the wisdom and moderation of an enlightened sovereign, to give them force and power to act. in the kingdom of arragon, besides the junta, or national assemblage, there was always a justizia, or supreme judge, whose power, in some respects, was even greater than the king's; his person was sacred; he could remove any of the royal ministers whom he deemed unworthy of the trust, and was himself responsible to none but the cortes or junta by whom he had been elected. the personal as well as the national rights of the arragonese, were also more accurately defined than was usual in that age: no native of arragon could be convicted, imprisoned, or tortured, without fair and legal evidence.[a] [footnote a: see history of spain, by john bigland.] such being the customs of the kingdom of arragon, the power of the crown was more limited than ferdinand's capacious mind and desire of dominion chose to endure: the cortes, or nobles, there were pre-eminent; the people, as the sovereign, ciphers, save that the rights of the former were more cared for than the authority of the latter. but ferdinand was not merely ambitious; he had ability and energy, and so gradually were his plans achieved that he encountered neither rebellion nor dislike. the cortes found that he frequently and boldly transacted business of importance without their interference; intrusted offices of state to men of inferior rank, but whose abilities were the proof of his discernment; took upon himself the office of justizia, and, in conjunction with isabella, re-established an institution which had fallen into disuse through the civil wars, but which was admirably suited for the internal security of their kingdom by the protection of the peasantry and lower classes: it was an association of all the cities of castile and arragon, known as the sainta hermandad, or holy brotherhood, to maintain a strong body of troops for the protection of travellers, and the seizure of criminals, who were brought before judges nominated by the confederated cities, and condemned according to their crime, without any regard to feudal laws. against this institution the nobles of both kingdoms were most violently opposed, regarding it as the complete destroyer, which in reality it was, of all their feudal privileges, and taking from them the long possessed right of trying their own fiefs, and the mischievous facility of concealing their own criminals. thus much of history--a digression absolutely necessary for the clear elucidation of ferdinand and isabella's conduct with regard to the events just narrated. the trial of arthur stanley they had resolved should be conducted with all the formula of justice, the more especially that the fact of his being a foreigner had prejudiced many minds against him. ferdinand himself intended to preside at the trial, with a select number of peers, to assist in the examination, and pronounce sentence, or confirm the royal mandate, as he should think fit. nor was this an extraordinary resolution. neither the victim, nor the supposed criminal, was of a rank which allowed a jury of an inferior grade. morales had been fief to isabella alone; and on ferdinand, as isabella's representative, fell the duty of his avenger. arthur stanley owned no feudal lord in spain, save, as a matter of courtesy, the king, whose arms he bore. he was accountable, then, according to the feudal system, which was not yet entirely extinct, to ferdinand alone for his actions, and before him must plead his innocence, or receive sentence for his crime. as his feudal lord, or suzerain, ferdinand might at once have condemned him to death; but this summary proceeding was effectually prevented by the laws of arragon and the office of the holy brotherhood; and therefore, in compliance with their mandates, royal orders were issued that every evidence for or against the prisoner should be carefully collected preparatory to the trial. more effectually to do this, the trial was postponed from seven to fourteen days after the discovery of the murder. the excitement which this foul assassination excited in segovia was so extreme, that the nobles were compelled to solicit isabella's personal interference, in quieting the populace, and permitting the even course of justice: they had thronged in tumultuary masses round the prison where stanley was confined, with wild shouts and imprecations, demanding his instant surrender to their rage, mingling groans and lamentations with yells and curses, in the most fearful medley. old pedro, who had been arthur's host, unwittingly added fuel to the flame, by exulting in his prophecy that evil would come of ferdinand's partiality for the white-faced foreigner; that he had seen it long, but guessed not how terribly his mutterings would end. by the queen's permission, the chamber of state in which the body lay was thrown open to the eager citizens, who thronged in such crowds to behold the sole remains of one they had well nigh idolized, that the guards were compelled to permit the entrance of only a certain number every day. here was neither state nor pomp to arrest the attention of the sight-loving populace: nought of royalty or gorgeous symbols. no; men came to pay the last tribute of admiring love and sorrow to one who had ever, noble as he was by birth, made himself one with them, cheering their sorrows, sharing their joys; treating age, however poor or lowly, with the reverence springing from the heart, inspiring youth to deeds of worth and honor, and by his own example, far more eloquently than by his words, teaching all and every age the duties demanded by their country and their homes, to their families and themselves. and this man was snatched from them, not alone by the ruthless hand of death, but by midnight murder. was it marvel, the very grief his loss occasioned should rouse to wildest fury men's passions against his murderer? it was the evening of the fifth day after the murder, that with a degree of splendor and of universal mourning, unrivalled before in the interment of any subject, the body of ferdinand morales was committed to the tomb. the king himself, divested of all insignia of royalty, bareheaded, and in a long mourning cloak, headed the train of chief mourners, which, though they counted no immediate kindred, numbered twenty or thirty of the highest nobles, both of arragon and castile. the gentlemen, squires, and pages of morales' own household followed: and then came on horse and on foot, with arms reversed, and lowered heads, the gallant troops who had so often followed morales to victory, and under him had so ably aided in placing isabella on her throne; an immense body of citizens, all in mourning, closed the procession. every shop had been closed, every flag half-masted; and every balcony, by which the body passed, hung with black. the cathedral church was thronged, and holy and thrilling the service which consigned dust to dust, and hid for ever from the eyes of his fellow men, the last decaying remains of one so universally beloved. the coffin of ebony and silver, partly open, so as to disclose the face of the corpse, as was customary with catholic burials of those of high or priestly rank, and the lower part covered with a superb velvet pall, rested before the high altar during the chanted service; at the conclusion of which the coffin was closed, the lid screwed down, and lowered with slow solemnity into the vault beneath. a requiem, chanted by above a hundred of the sweetest and richest voices, sounding in thrilling unison with the deep bass and swelling notes of the organ, had concluded the solemn rites, and the procession departed as it came; but for some days the gloom in the city continued; the realization of the public loss seemed only beginning to be fully felt, as excitement subsided. masses for the soul of the catholic warrior, were of course sung for many succeeding days. it was at midnight, a very short time after this public interment, that a strange group were assembled within the cathedral vaults, at the very hour that mass for the departed was being chanted in the church above their heads; it consisted of monks and travelling friars, accompanied by five or six of the highest nobility; their persons concealed in coarse mantles and shrouding hoods; they had borne with them, through the subterranean passages of the crypt, leading to the vaults, a coffin so exactly similar in workmanship and inscription to that which contained the remains of their late companion, that to distinguish the one from the other was impossible. the real one, moved with awe and solemnity, was conveyed to a secret recess close to the entrance of the crypt, and replaced in the vault by the one they had brought with them. as silently, as voicelessly as they had entered and done their work, so they departed. the following night, at the same hour, the coffin of morales, over which had been nailed a thick black pall, so that neither name, inscription, nor ornament could be perceived, was conveyed from segovia in a covered cart, belonging, it appeared, to the monastery of st. francis, situated some leagues southward, and attended by one or two monks and friars of the same order. the party proceeded leisurely, travelling more by night than by day, diminishing gradually in number till, at the entrance of a broad and desolate plain, only four remained with the cart. over this plain they hastened, then wound through a circuitous path concealed in prickly brushwood, and paused before a huge, misshapen crag, seemingly half buried in the earth: in this a door, formed of one solid stone, flew back at their touch; the coffin, taken with reverence from the cart, was borne on their shoulders through the dark and narrow passage, and down the winding stair, till they stood in safety in the vale; in the secret entrance by which they entered, the lock closed as they passed, and was apparently lost in the solid wall. three or four awaited them--nobles, who had craved leave of absence for a brief interval from the court, and who had come by different paths to the secret retreat (no doubt already recognized by our readers as the vale of cedars), to lay morales with his fathers, with the simple form, yet solemn service peculiar to the burials of their darkly hidden race. the grave was already dug beside that of manuel henriquez; the coffin, resting during the continuance of a brief prayer and psalm in the little temple, was then borne to the ground marked out, which, concealed by a thick hedge of cypress and cedar, lay some little distance from the temple; for, in their secret race, it was not permitted for the house destined to the worship of the most high, to be surrounded by the homes of the dead. a slow and solemn hymn accompanied the lowering of the coffin; a prayer in the same unknown language; a brief address, and the grave was filled up; the noble dead left with his kindred, kindred alike in blood as faith; and ere the morning rose, the living had all departed, save the few retainers of the house of henriquez and morales, to whose faithful charge the retreat had been intrusted. no proud effigy marked those simple graves; the monuments of the dead were in the hearts of the living. but in the cathedral of segovia a lordly monument arose to the memory of ferdinand morales, erected, not indeed for idle pomp, but as a tribute from the gratitude of a sovereign--and a nation's love. chapter xvii. angelo. we must not make a scarecrow of the law, setting it up to fear the birds of prey; and let it keep one shape, till custom make it their perch, and not their terror. escalus. ay, but yet let us be keen, and rather cut a little, than fall and bruise to death. shakspeare. on the evening preceding the day appointed for the trial, isabella, unattended and unannounced, sought her husband's private closet; she found him poring so intently over maps and plans, which strewed the tables before him, that she spoke before he perceived her. "just come when most wished for, dear wife, and royal liege," was his courteous address, as he rose and gracefully led her to a seat beside his own. "see how my plans for the reduction of these heathen moors are quietly working; they are divided within themselves, quarrelling more and more fiercely. pedro pas brings me information that the road to alhama is well nigh defenceless, and therefore the war should commence in that quarter. but how is this, love?" he added, after speaking of his intended measures at some length, and perceiving that they failed to elicit isabella's interest as usual. "thy thoughts are not with me this evening." "with thee, my husband, but not with the moors," replied the queen, faintly smiling. "i confess to a pre-occupied mind; but just now my heart is so filled with sorrowing sympathy, that i can think but of individuals, not of nations. in the last council, in which the question of this moorish war was agitated, our faithful morales was the most eloquent. his impassioned oratory so haunted me, as your grace spoke, that i can scarcely now believe it hushed for ever, save for the too painful witness of its truth." "his lovely wife thou meanest, isabel? poor girl! how fares she?" "as she has been since that long faint, which even i believed was death; pale, tearless, silent. even the seeing of her husband's body, which i permitted, hoping the sight would break that marble calm, has had no effect, save to increase, if possible, the rigidity of suffering. it is for her my present errand." "for her!" replied the king, surprised. "what can i do for her, apart from thee?" "i will answer the question by another, ferdinand. is it true that she must appear as evidence against the murderer in to-morrow's trial?" "isabella, this must be," answered the king, earnestly. "there seems to me no alternative; and yet surely this cannot be so repugnant to her feelings. would it not be more injustice, both to her, and to the dead, to withhold any evidence likely to assist in the discovery of the murderer?" "but why lay so much stress on her appearance? is there not sufficient evidence without her?" "not to satisfy me as to stanley's guilt," replied the king. "i have heard indeed from don luis garcia quite enough, _if it be true evidence_, to condemn him. but i like not this garcia; it is useless now to examine wherefore. i doubt him so much, that i would not, if possible, lay any stress upon his words. he has declared on oath that he saw stanley draw his sword upon morales, proclaim aloud his undying hatred, and swear that he would take his life or lose his own; but that, if i were not satisfied with this assurance, donna marie herself had been present, had seen and heard all, and could no doubt give a very efficient reason, in her own beautiful person, for stanley's hatred to her husband, as such matters were but too common in spain. i checked him with a stern rebuke; for if ever there were a double-meaning hypocrite, this don luis is one. besides, i cannot penetrate how he came to be present at this stormy interview. he has evaded, he thinks successfully, my questions on this head; but if, as i believe, it was dishonorably obtained, i am the less inclined to trust either him or his intelligence. if marie were indeed present, which he insists she was, her testimony is the most important of any. if she confirm don luis's statement, give the same account of the interview between her husband and stanley, and a reason for this suddenly proclaimed enmity; if she swear that he did utter such threatening words, i will neither hope nor try to save him; he is guilty, and must die. but if she deny that he thus spoke; if she declares on oath that she knew of no cause for, nor of the existence of any enmity, i care not for other proofs, glaring though they be. accident or some atrocious design against him, as an envied foreigner, may have thrown them together. let marie swear that this garcia has spoken falsely, and stanley shall live, were my whole kingdom to implore his death. in donna marie's evidence there can be no deceit; she can have no wish that stanley should be saved; as her husband's supposed murderer, he must be an object of horror and loathing. still silent isabel? is not her evidence required?" "it is indeed. and yet i feel that, to demand it, will but increase the trial already hers." "as how?" inquired the king, somewhat astonished. "surely thou canst not mean--" "i mean nothing; i know nothing," interrupted isabella hastily. "i can give your grace no reason, save my own feelings. is there no way to prevent this public exposure, and yet serve the purpose equally?" ferdinand mused. "i can think of none," he said. "does marie know of this summons? and has her anguish sent thee hither? or is it merely the pleadings of thine own heart, my isabel?" "she does not know it. the summons appeared to me so strange and needless, i would not let her be informed till i had sought thee." "but thou seest it is not needless!" answered the king anxiously, for in the most trifling matter he ever sought her acquiescence. "needless it is not, my liege. the life of the young foreigner, who has thrown himself so confidingly on our protection and friendship, must not be sacrificed without most convincing proofs of his guilt. marie's evidence is indeed important; but would not your grace's purpose be equally attained, if that evidence be given to me, her native sovereign, in private, without the dread formula which, if summoned before a court of justice, may have fatal effects on a mind and frame already so severely tried? in my presence alone the necessary evidence may be given with equal solemnity, and with less pain to the poor sufferer herself." king ferdinand again paused in thought. "but her words must be on oath, isabel. who will administer that oath?" "father francis, if required. but it will surely be enough if she swear the truth to me. she cannot deceive me, even if she were so inclined. i can mark a quivering lip or changing color, which others might pass unnoticed." "but how will this secret examination satisfy the friends of the murdered?" again urged the cautious king. "how will they be satisfied, if i acquit stanley from donna marie's evidence, and that evidence be kept from them?" "is not the word of their sovereign enough? if isabella say so it is, what noble of castile would disgrace himself or her by a doubt as to its truth?" replied the queen proudly. "let me clearly understand all your grace requires, and leave the rest to me. if marie corroborates garcia's words, why, on his evidence sentence may be pronounced without her appearance in it at all; but if she deny in the smallest tittle his report, in my presence they shall confront each other, and fear not the truth shall be elicited, and, if possible, stanley saved. i may be deceived, and marie not refuse to appear as witness against him; if so, there needs not my interference. i would but spare her increase of pain, and bid her desolate heart cling to me as her mother and her friend. when my subjects look upon me thus, my husband, then, and then only is isabella what she would be." "and do they not already thus regard thee, my own isabel?" replied the king, gazing with actual reverence upon her; "and as such, will future ages reverence thy name. be it as thou wilt. let marie's own feelings decide the question. she _must_ take part in this trial, either in public or private; she _must_ speak on oath, for life and death hang on her words, and her decision must be speedy. it is sunset now, and ere to-morrow's noon she must have spoken, or be prepared to appear." ere queen isabella reached her own apartments her plan was formed. don luis's tale had confirmed her suspicions as to the double cause of marie's wretchedness; she had herself administered to her while in that dead faint--herself bent over her, lest the first words of returning consciousness should betray aught which the sufferer might wish concealed; but her care had been needless: no word passed those parched and ashy lips. the frame, indeed, for some days was powerless, and she acceded eagerly to isabella's earnest proffer (for it was not command) to send for her attendants, and occupy a suite of rooms in the castle, close to her royal mistress, in preference to returning to her own home; from which, in its desolate grandeur, she shrunk almost in loathing. for seven days after her loss she had not quitted her apartment, seen only by the queen and her own woman; but after that interval, at isabella's gently expressed wish, she joined her, in her private hours, amongst her most favored attendants; called upon indeed for nothing save her presence! and little did her pre-occupied mind imagine how tenderly she was watched, and with what kindly sympathy her unexpressed thoughts were read. on the evening in question, isabella was seated, as was her frequent custom, in a spacious chamber, surrounded by her female attendants, with whom she was familiarly conversing, making them friends as well as subjects, yet so uniting dignity with kindness, that her favor was far more valued and eagerly sought than had there been no superiority; yet, still it was more for her perfect womanhood than her rank that she was so reverenced, so loved. at the farther end of the spacious chamber were several young girls, daughters of the nobles of castile and arragon, whom isabella's maternal care for her subjects had collected around her, that their education might be carried on under her own eye, and so create for the future nobles of her country, wives and mothers after her own exalted stamp. they were always encouraged to converse freely and gayly amongst each other; for thus she learned their several characters, and guided them accordingly. there was neither restraint nor heaviness in her presence; for by a word, a smile, she could prove her interest in their simple pleasures, her sympathy in their eager youth. apart from all, but nearest isabella, silent and pale, shrouded in the sable robes of widowhood--that painful garb which, in its voiceless eloquence of desolation, ever calls for tears, more especially when it shrouds the young; her beautiful hair, save two thick braids, concealed under the linen coif--sat marie, lovely indeed still, but looking like one "whose heart was born to break- a face on which to gaze, made every feeling ache." an embroidery frame was before her, "but the flowers grew but slowly beneath her hand. about an hour after isabella had joined her attendants, a light signal was heard at the tapestried door of the apartment. the queen was then sitting in a posture of deep meditation; but she looked up, as a young girl answered the summons, and then turned towards her sovereign. "well, catherine?" "royal madam, a page, from his grace the king, craves speech of donna marie." "admit him then." the boy entered, and with a low reverence advanced towards marie. she looked up in his face bewildered--a bewilderment which isabella perceived changed to a strong expression of mental torture, ere he ceased to speak. "ferdinand, king of arragon and castile," he said, "sends, with all courtesy, his royal greeting to donna marie henriquez morales, and forthwith commands her attendance at the solemn trial which is held to-morrow's noon; by her evidence to confirm or refute the charge brought against the person of arthur stanley, as being and having been the acknowledged enemy of the deceased don ferdinand morales (god assoilize his soul!) and as having uttered words of murderous import in her hearing. resolved, to the utmost of his power, to do justice to the living as to avenge the dead, his royal highness is compelled thus to demand the testimony of donna marie, as she alone can confirm or refute this heavy and most solemn charge." there was no answer; but it seemed as if the messenger required none--imagining the royal command all sufficient for obedience--for he bowed respectfully as he concluded, and withdrew. marie gazed after him, and her lip quivered as if she would have spoken--would have recalled him; but no word came, and she drooped her head on her hands, pressing her slender fingers strongly on her brow, as thus to bring back connected thought once more. what had he said? she must appear against stanley--she must speak his doom? why did those fatal words which must condemn him, ring in her ears, as only that moment spoken? her embroidery fell from her lap, and there was no movement to replace it. how long she thus sat she knew not; but, roused by the queen's voice uttering her name, she started, and looked round her. she was alone with isabella; who was gazing on her with such unfeigned commiseration, that, unable to resist the impulse, she darted forwards, and sinking at her feet, implored-"oh, madam--gracious madam! in mercy spare me this!" the queen drew her tenderly to her, and said, with evident emotion-"what am i to spare thee, my poor child? surely thou wouldst not withhold aught that can convict thy husband's murderer? thou wouldst not in mistaken mercy elude for him the justice of the law?" "no--no," murmured marie; "let the murderer die; but not stanley! oh, no--no; he would not lift his hand against my husband. who says he slew him? why do they attach so foul a crime to his unshadowed name? let the murderer die; but it is not arthur: i know it is not. oh, do not slay him too!" marie knew not the wild entreaty breathing in her words: but the almost severely penetrating gaze which isabella had fixed upon her, recalled her to herself; a crimson flush mounted to cheek and brow, and, burying her face in the queen's robe, she continued less wildly-"oh, madam, bear with me; i know not what i say. think i am mad; but oh, in mercy, ask me no question. am i not mad, to ask thee to spare--spare--him they call my husband's murderer? let him die," and the wild tone returned, "if he indeed could strike the blow; but oh, let not my lips pronounce his death-doom! gracious sovereign, do not look upon me thus--i cannot bear that gaze." "fear me not, poor sufferer," replied isabella, mildly; "i will ask no question--demand nought that will give thee pain to answer--save that which justice compels me to require. that there is a double cause for all this wretchedness, i cannot but perceive, and that i suspect its cause i may not deny; but guilty i will not believe thee, till thine own words or deeds proclaim it. look up then, my poor child, unshrinkingly; i am no dread sovereign to thee, painful as is the trial to which i fear i must subject thee. there are charges brought against young stanley so startling in their nature, that, much as we distrust his accuser, justice forbids our passing them unnoticed. on thy true testimony his grace the king relies to confirm or refute them. thy evidence must convict or save him." "my evidence!" repeated marie. "what can they ask of me of such weight? save him." she added, a sudden gleam of hope irradiating her pallid face, like a sunbeam upon snow? "did your grace say _i_ could save him? oh, speak, in mercy!" "calm this emotion then, marie, and thou shalt know all. it was for this i called thee hither. sit thee on the settle at my feet, and listen to me patiently, if thou canst. 'tis a harsh word to use to grief such as thine, my child," she added, caressingly, as she laid her hand on marie's drooping head; "and i fear will only nerve thee for a still harsher trial. believe me, i would have spared thee if i could; but all i can do is to bid thee choose the lesser of the two evils. mark me well: for the sovereign of the murdered, the judge of the murderer, alike speak through me." and clearly and forcibly she narrated all, with which our readers are already acquainted, through her interview with the king. she spoke very slowly, as if to give marie time to weigh well each sentence. she could not see her countenance; nay, she purposely refrained from looking at her, lest she should increase the suffering she was so unwillingly inflicting. for some minutes she paused as she concluded; then, as neither word nor sound escaped from marie, she said, with emphatic earnestness--"if it will be a lesser trial to give thine evidence on oath to thy queen alone, we are here to receive it. our royal husband--our loyal subjects--will be satisfied with isabella's report. thy words will be as sacred--thy oath as valid--as if thy testimony were received in public, thy oath administered by one of the holy fathers, with all the dread formula of the church. we have repeated all to which thy answers will be demanded; it remains for thee to decide whether thou wilt speak before his grace the king and his assembled junta, or here and now before thy native sovereign. pause ere thou dost answer--there is time enough." for a brief interval there was silence. the kind heart of the queen throbbed painfully, so completely had her sympathy identified her with the beautiful being, who had so irresistibly claimed her cherishing love. but ere she had had time to satisfy herself as to the issue of the struggle so silently, yet so fearfully at work in her companion, marie had arisen, and with dignity and fearlessness, strangely at variance with the wild agony of her words and manner before, stood erect before her sovereign; and when she spoke, her voice was calm and firm. "queen of spain!" she said. "my kind, gracious sovereign! would that words could speak one-half the love, the devotion, all thy goodness has inspired; but they seem frozen, all frozen now, and it may be that i may never even prove them--that it will be my desolate fate, to seem less and less worthy of an affection i value more than life. royal madam! i will appear at to-morrow's trial! your grace is startled; deeming it a resolve as strange as contradictory. ask not the wherefore, gracious sovereign: it is fixed unalterably. i will obey his grace's summons. its unexpected suddenness startled me at first; but it is over. oh, madam," she continued--tone, look, and manner becoming again those of the agitated suppliant, and she sunk once more at isabella's feet: "in my wild agony i have forgotten the respect and deference due from a subject to her sovereign; i have poured forth my misery, seemingly as regardless of kindness, as insensible to the wide distance between us. oh, forgive me, my gracious sovereign; and in token of thy pardon, grant me but one boon!" "nought have i to forgive, my suffering child," replied the queen, powerfully affected, and passing her arm caressingly round her kneeling favorite; "what is rank--sovereignty itself--in hours of sorrow? if i were so tenacious of dignity as thou fearest, i should have shrunk from that awful presence--affliction from a father's hand--in which his children are all equals, marie. and as for thy boon: be it what it may, i grant it." "thou sayest so now, my liege; but when the hour to grant it comes, every feeling will revolt against it; even thine, my sovereign, kind, generous, as thou art. oh, madam, thou wilt hear a strange tale to-morrow--one so fraught with mystery and marvel, thou wilt refuse to believe; but when the trial of to-morrow is past, then think on what i say now: what thou nearest will be true--true as there is a heaven above us; i swear it! do not look upon me thus, my sovereign; i am not mad--oh, would that i were! dark, meaningless as my words seem now, to-morrow they will be distinct and clear enough. and then--then, if thou hast ever loved me, oh, grant the boon i implore thee now: whatever thou mayest hear, do not condemn me--do not cast me wholly from thee. more than ever shall i need thy protecting care. oh, my sovereign--thou who hast taught me so to love thee, in pity love me still!" "strange wayward being," said isabella, gazing doubtingly on the imploring face upturned to hers; "towards other than thyself such mystery would banish love for ever; but i will not doubt thee. darkly as thou speakest, still i grant the boon. what can i hear of thee, to cast thee from me?" "thou wilt hear of deceit, my liege," replied marie, very slowly, and her eyes fell beneath the queen's gaze; "thou wilt hear of long years of deceit and fraud, and many--many tongues will speak their scorn and condemnation. then wilt thou grant it--then?" "even then," replied isabella fearlessly; "an thou speakest truth at last, deceit itself i will forgive. but thou art overwrought and anxious, and so layest more stress on some trivial fault than even i would demand. go to thy own chamber now, and in prayer and meditation gain strength for to-morrow's trial. whatever i may hear, so it be not meditated and unrepented guilt, (which i know it cannot be,) i will forgive, and love thee still. the holy saints bless and keep thee, my fair child!" and as marie bent to salute the kind hand extended to her, isabella drew her towards her, and fondly kissed her cheek. the unexpected caress, or some other secret feeling, subdued the overwrought energy at once; and for the first time since her husband's death, marie burst into natural tears. but her purpose changed not; though isabella's gentle and affectionate soothing rendered it tenfold more painful to accomplish. chapter xviii. leontes.--these sessions, to our great grief, we pronounce even pushes 'gainst our heart. let us be cleared of being tyrannous, since we openly proceed in justice--which shall have due course, even to the guilt, or the purgation. produce the prisoner!--shakspeare. the day of trial dawned, bright, sunny, cloudless, as was usual in beautiful spain--a joyous elasticity was in the atmosphere, a brilliance in the heavens, which thence reflected on the earth, so painfully contrasted with misery and death, that the bright sky seemed to strike a double chill on the hearts of those most deeply interested. never had the solemn proceedings of justice created so great an excitement; not only in segovia itself, but the towns and villages, many miles round, sent eager citizens and rustic countrymen to learn the issue, and report it speedily to those compelled to stay at home. the universal mourning for morales was one cause of the popular excitement; and the supposition of the young foreigner being his murderer another. the hall of the castle was crowded at a very early hour, isabella having signified not only permission, but her wish that as many of her citizen subjects as space would admit should be present, to witness the faithful course of justice. nearest to the seat destined for the king, at the upper end of the hall, were ranged several fathers from an adjoining convent of franciscans, by whom a special service had been impressively performed that morning in the cathedral, in which all who had been summoned to preside at the trial had solemnly joined. the monks of st. francis were celebrated alike for their sterling piety, great learning, and general benevolence. their fault, if such it could be termed in a holy catholic community, was their rigid exclusiveness regarding religion; their uncompromising and strict love for, and adherence to, their own creed; and stern abhorrence towards, and violent persecution of, all who in the slightest degree departed from it, or failed to pay it the respect and obedience which they believed it demanded. at their head was their sub-prior, a character whose influence on the after position of spain was so great, that we may not pass it by, without more notice than our tale itself perhaps would demand. to the world, as to his brethren and superiors, in the monastery, a stern unbending spirit, a rigid austerity, and unchanging severity of mental and physical discipline, characterized his whole bearing and daily conduct. yet, his severity proceeded not from the superstition and bigotry of a weak mind or misanthropic feeling. though his whole time and thoughts appeared devoted to the interest of his monastery, and thence to relieving and guiding the poor, and curbing and decreasing the intemperate follies and licentious conduct of the laymen, in its immediate neighborhood; yet his extraordinary knowledge, not merely of human nature, but of the world at large--his profound and extensive genius, which, in after years was displayed, in the prosecution of such vast schemes for spain's advancement, that they riveted the attention of all europe upon him--naturally won him the respect and consideration of ferdinand and isabella, whose acute penetration easily traced the natural man, even through the thick veil of monkish austerity. they cherished and honored him, little thinking that, had it not been for him, spain would have sunk at their death, into the same abyss of anarchy and misery, from which their vigorous measures had so lately roused, and, as they hoped, so effectually guarded her. when torquemada, isabella's confessor, was absent from court, which not unfrequently happened, for his capacious mind was never at peace unless actively employed--father francis, though but the sub-prior of a franciscan monastery, always took his place, and frequently were both sovereigns guided by his privately asked and frankly given opinions, not only on secular affairs, but on matters of state, and even of war. with such a character for his sub-prior, the lordly abbot of the franciscans was indeed but a nominal dignitary, quite contented to enjoy all the indulgences and corporeal luxuries, permitted, or perhaps winked at, from his superior rank, and leaving to father francis every active duty; gladly, therefore, he deputed on him the office of heading the monks that day summoned to attend king ferdinand. not any sign of the benevolence and goodness--in reality the characteristics of this extraordinary man--was visible on his countenance as he sat. the very boldest and haughtiest of the aristocracy, involuntarily perhaps, yet irresistibly, acknowledged his superiority. reverence and awe were the emotions first excited towards his person: but already was that reverence largely mingled with the love which some three years afterwards gave him such powerful influence over the whole sovereignty of spain. next to the holy fathers, and ranged according to rank and seniority, were the nobles who had been selected to attend, the greater number of whom, were castilians, as countrymen of the deceased. next to them were the santa hermandad, or brethren of the associated cities, without whose presence and aid, no forms of justice, even though ruled and guided by royalty itself, were considered valid or complete. a semicircle was thus formed, the centre of which was the king's seat; and opposite to him, in the hollow, as it were of the crescent, a space left for the prisoner, accusers, and witnesses. soldiers lined the hall; a treble guard being drawn up at the base of the semicircle, and extending in a wide line right and left, behind the spot destined for the prisoner. there was still a large space left, and this was so thronged with citizens, that it presented the appearance of a dense mass of human heads, every face turned in one direction, and expressive in various ways of but one excitement, one emotion. there was not a smile on either of the stern countenances within the hall. as the shock and horror of don ferdinand's fate in some measure subsided, not only the nobles, but the soldiers themselves, began to recall the supposed murderer in the many fields of honorable warfare, the many positions of mighty and chivalric bearing in which they had hitherto seen the young englishman play so distinguished a part; and doubts began to arise as to the possibility of so great a change, and in so short a time. to meet even a supposed enemy in fair field, and with an equality of weapons, was the custom of the day; such, therefore, between stanley and morales, might have excited marvel as to the _cause_, but not as to the _act_. but murder! it was so wholly incompatible with even the very lowest principles of chivalry (except when the unfortunate victim was of too low a rank to be removed by any other means), that when they recalled the gallantry, the frankness of speech and deed, the careless buoyancy, the quickly subdued passion, and easily accorded forgiveness of injury, which had ever before characterized young stanley, they could not believe his guilt: but then came the recollection of the startling proofs against him, and such belief was almost involuntarily suspended. there was not a movement in that immense concourse of human beings, not a word spoken one to the other, not a murmur even of impatience for the appearance of the king. all was so still, so mute, that, had it not been for the varied play of countenances, any stranger suddenly placed within the circle might have imagined himself in an assemblage of statues. precisely at noon, the folding-doors at the upper end of the hall were thrown widely but noiselessly back, and king ferdinand, attended by a few pages and gentlemen, slowly entered, and taking his seat, gazed a full minute, inquiringly and penetratingly around him, and then resting his head on his hand, remained plunged in earnest meditation some moments before he spoke. it was a strange sight--the noiseless, yet universal rising of the assemblage in honor to their sovereign, changing their position as by one simultaneous movement. many an eye turned towards him to read on his countenance the prisoner's doom; but its calm, almost stern expression, baffled the most penetrating gaze. some minutes passed ere ferdinand, rousing himself from his abstraction, waved his hand, and every seat was instantaneously resumed, and so profound was the silence, that every syllable the monarch spoke, though his voice was not raised one note above his usual pitch, was heard by every member of those immense crowds, as individually addressing each. "my lords and holy fathers, and ye associated brethren," he said, "the cause of your present assemblage needs no repetition. had the murdered and the supposed murderer been other than they are, we should have left the course of justice in the hands of those appointed to administer it, and interfered not ourselves save to confirm or annul the sentence they should pronounce. as the case stands, we are deputed by our illustrious consort and sister sovereign, isabella of castile, to represent her as suzerain of the deceased (whom the saints assoilize), and so ourselves guide the proceedings of justice on his murderer. our prerogative as suzerain and liege would permit us to condemn to death at once; but in this instance, my lords and holy fathers, we confess ourselves unwilling and incapable of pronouncing judgment solely on our own responsibility. the accused is a friendless foreigner, to whom we have been enabled to show some kindness, and therefore one towards whom we cannot feel indifference: he has, moreover, done us such good service both in spain and sicily, that even the grave charge brought against him now, cannot blot out the memories of the past. we find it difficult to believe that a young, high-spirited, honorable warrior, in whose heart every chivalric feeling appeared to beat, could become, under any temptation, under any impulse, that base and loathsome coward--a midnight murderer! on your counsels, then, we implicitly depend: examine, impartially and deliberately, the proofs for and against, which will be laid before you. but let one truth be ever present, lest justice herself be but a cover for prejudice and hate. let not europe have cause to say, that he who, flying from the enemies and tyrants of his own land, took refuge on the hearths of our people, secure there of kindness and protection, has found them not. were it a countryman we were about to judge, this charge were needless; justice and mercy would, if it were possible, go hand in hand. the foreigner, who has voluntarily assumed the name and service of a son of spain, demands yet more at our hands. my lords and holy fathers, and ye associated brethren, remember this important truth, and act accordingly: but if, on a strict, unprejudiced examination of the evidence against the prisoner, ye pronounce him guilty, be it so: the scripture saith, 'blood must flow for blood!'" a universal murmur of assent filled the hall as the king ceased: his words had thrilled reprovingly on many there present, particularly amongst the populace, who felt, even as the monarch spoke, the real cause of their violent wrath against the murderer. ere, however, they had time to analyze why the violent abhorrence of stanley should be so calmed merely at the king's words, the command, "bring forth the prisoner!" occasioned an intensity of interest and eager movement of the numerous heads towards the base of the hall, banishing every calmer thought. the treble line of soldiers, forming the base of the crescent, divided in the centre, and wheeling backwards, formed two files of dense thickness, leaving a lane between them through which the prisoner and his guards were discerned advancing to the place assigned. he was still heavily fettered, and his dress, which he had not been permitted to change, covered with dark, lurid stains, hung so loosely upon him, that his attenuated form bore witness, even as the white cheek and haggard eye, to the intense mental torture of the last fortnight. his fair hair lay damp and matted on his pale forehead; but still there was that in his whole bearing which, while it breathed of suffering, contradicted every thought of guilt. he looked round him steadily and calmly, lowered his head a moment in respectful deference to the king, and instantly resumed the lofty carriage which suffering itself seemed inadequate to bend. king ferdinand fixed his eyes upon him with an expression before which the hardiest guilt must for the moment have quailed; but not a muscle of the prisoner's countenance moved, and ferdinand proceeded to address him gravely, yet feelingly. "arthur stanley," he said, "we have heard from don felix d'estaban that you have refused our proffered privilege of seeking and employing some friends, subtle in judgment, and learned in all the technicalities of such proceedings, as to-day will witness, to undertake your cause. why is this? is your honor of such small amount, that you refuse even to accept the privilege of defence? are you so well prepared yourself to refute the evidence which has been collected against you, that you need no more? or have we indeed heard aright, that you have resolved to let the course of justice proceed, without one effort on your part to avert an inevitable doom? this would seem a tacit avowal of guilt; else, wherefore call your doom inevitable? if conscious of innocence, have you no hope, no belief in the divine justice, which can as easily make manifest innocence as punish crime? ere we depute to others the solemn task of examination, and pronouncing sentence, we bid you speak, and answer as to the wherefore of this rash and contradictory determination--persisting in words that you are guiltless, yet refusing the privilege of defence. is life so valueless, that you cast it degraded from you? as sovereign and judge, we command you answer, lest by your own rash act the course of justice be impeded, and the sentence of the guilty awarded to the innocent. as man to man, i charge thee speak; bring forward some proof of innocence. let me not condemn to death as a coward and a murderer, one whom i have loved and trusted as a friend! answer--wherefore this strange callousness to life--this utter disregard of thine honor and thy name?" for a moment, while the king addressed him as man to man, the pallid cheek and brow of the prisoner flushed with painful emotion, and there was a scarcely audible tremulousness in his voice as he replied: "and how will defence avail me? how may mere assertion deny proof, and so preserve life and redeem honor? my liege, i had resolved to attempt no defence, because i would not unnecessarily prolong the torture of degradation. had i one proof, the slightest proof to produce, which might in the faintest degree avail me, i would not withhold it; justice to my father's name would be of itself sufficient to command defence. but i have none! i cannot so perjure myself as to deny one word of the charges brought against me, save that of murder! of thoughts of hate and wrath, ay, and blood, but such blood as honorable men would shed, i am guilty, i now feel, unredeemably guilty, but not of murder! i am not silent because conscious of enacted guilt. i will not go down to the dishonored grave, now yawning for me, permitting, by silence, your highness, and these your subjects, to believe me the monster of ingratitude, the treacherous coward which appearances pronounce me. no!" he continued, raising his right hand as high as his fetters would permit, and speaking in a tone which fell with the eloquence of truth, on every heart--"no: here, as on the scaffold--now, as with my dying breath, i will proclaim aloud my innocence; i call on the almighty judge himself, as on every saint in heaven, to attest it--ay, and i believe it will be attested, when nought but my memory is left to be cleared from shame--i am not the murderer of don ferdinand morales! had he been in every deed my foe--had he given me cause for the indulgence of those ungovernable passions which i now feel were roused against him so causelessly and sinfully, i might have sought their gratification by honorable combat, but not by midnight murder! i speak not, i repeat, to save my life: it is justly forfeited for thoughts of crime! i speak that, when in after years my innocence will be made evident by the discovery of the real assassin, you will all remember what i now say--that i have not so basely requited the king and country who so generously and trustingly befriended me--that i am no murderer!" "then, if so convinced of innocence, young man, wherefore not attempt defence?" demanded the sub-prior of st. francis. "knowest thou not that wilfully to throw away the life intrusted to you, for some wise purpose, is amenable before the throne of the most high as self-committed murder? proofs of this strongly asserted innocence, thou must have." "i have none," calmly answered the prisoner, "i have but words, and who will believe them? who, here present, will credit the strange tale, that, tortured and restless from mental suffering, i courted the fury of the elements, and rushed from my quarters on the night of the murder _without_ my sword?--that, in securing the belt, i missed the weapon, but still sought not for it as i ought?--who will believe that it was accident, not design, which took me to the calle soledad? and that it was a fall over the murdered body of don ferdinand which deluged my hands and dress with the blood that dyed the ground? who will credit that it was seeing him thus which chained me, paralyzed, horror-stricken, to the spot? in the wild fury of my passions i had believed him my enemy, and sworn his death; then was it marvel that thus beholding him turned me well-nigh to stone, and that, in my horror, i had no power to call for aid, or raise the shout after the murderer, for my own thoughts arose as fiends, to whisper, such might have been nay work--that i had wished his death? great god! the awful wakening from the delusion of weeks--the dread recognition in that murdered corse of my own thoughts of sin!" he paused involuntarily, for his strong agitation completely choked his voice, and shook his whole frame. after a brief silence, which none in the hall had heart to break, he continued calmly, "let the trial proceed, gracious sovereign. your highness's generous interest in one accused of a crime so awful, comprising the death, not of a subject only, but of a friend, does but add to the heavy weight of obligation already mine, and would of itself excite the wish to live, to prove that i am not so utterly unworthy; but i feel that not to such as i, may the divine mercy be so shown, as to bring forward the real murderer. the misery of the last fortnight has shown me how deeply i have sinned in thought, though not in deed; and how dare i, then, indulge the wild dream that my innocence will be proved, until too late, save for mine honor? my liege, i have trespassed too long on the time of this assemblage; let the trial proceed." so powerful was the effect of his tone and words, that the impulse was strong in every heart to strike off his fetters, and give him life and freedom. the countenance of the sub-prior of st. francis alone retained its unmoved calmness, and its tone, its imperturbable gravity, as he commanded don felix d'estaban to produce the witnesses; and on their appearance, desired one of the fathers to administer the oath. chapter xix. "his unaltering-cheek still vividly doth hold its natural hue, and his eye quails not. is this innocence?" mrs. hemans. during the examination of don alonzo of aguilar, and of old pedro and juana, the prisoner remained with his arms calmly folded and head erect, without the smallest variation of feature or position denoting either anxiety or agitation. don alonzo's statement was very simple. he described the exact spot where he had found the body, and the position in which it lay; the intense agitation of stanley, the bloody appearance of his clothes, hands, and face, urging them to secure his person even before they discovered the broken fragment of his sword lying beside the corse. his account was corroborated, in the very minutest points, by the men who had accompanied him, even though cross-questioned with unusual particularity by father francis. old pedro's statement, though less circumstantial, was, to the soldiers and citizens especially, quite as convincing. he gave a wordy narrative of senor stanley's unnatural state of excitement from the very evening he had become his lodger--that he had frequently heard him muttering to himself such words as "blood" and "vengeance." he constantly appeared longing for something; never eat half the meals provided for him--a sure proof, in old pedro's imagination, of a disordered mind, and that the night of the murder he had heard him leave the house, with every symptom of agitation. old juana, with very evident reluctance, confirmed this account; but father francis was evidently not satisfied. "amongst these incoherent ravings of the prisoner, did you ever distinguish the word 'murder?'" he demanded--a question which would be strange, indeed, in the court of justice of the present day, but of importance in an age when such words as blood and vengeance, amongst warriors, simply signified a determination to fight out their quarrel in (so-called) honorable combat. the answer, after some hesitation, was in the negative. "did you ever distinguish any name, as the object of senor stanley's desired vengeance?" pedro immediately answered "no;" but there was a simper of hesitation in old juana, that caused the sub-prior to appeal to her. "please your reverence, i only chanced to hear the poor young man say, 'oh, marie! marie!' one day when i brought him his dinner, which he put away untouched, though i put my best cooking in it." a slight, scarcely perceptible flush passed over the prisoner's cheek and brow. the king muttered an exclamation; father francis's brow contracted, and several of the nobles looked uneasily from one to the other. "at what time did the prisoner leave his apartments the night of the murder?" continued the sub-prior. "exactly as the great bell of the cathedral chimed eleven," was the ready reply from pedro and juana at the same moment. "did you hear nothing but his hasty movements, as you describe? did he not call for attendance, or a light? remember, you are on oath," he continued sternly, as he observed the hesitation with which old pedro muttered "no;" and that juana was silent. "the church punishes false swearers. did he speak or not?" "he called for a light, please your reverence, but--" "but you did not choose to obey at an hour so late!" sternly responded father francis; "and by such neglect may be guilty of accelerating the death of the innocent, and concealing the real murderer! you allege that senor stanley returned from some military duty at sunset, and slept from then till just before eleven, so soundly that you could not rouse him even for his evening meal. this was strange for a man with murder in his thoughts! again, that he called for a light, which, you neglected to bring; and senor stanley asserts that he missed his sword, but rushed from the house without it. your culpable neglect, then, prevents our discovering the truth of this assertion; yet you acknowledge he called loudly for light; this appears too unlikely to have been the case, had the prisoner quitted the house with the intention to do murder." "intention at that moment he might not have had, reverend father," interposed the head of the associated brethren, who had taken an active part in the examination. "were there no evidence as to premeditated desire of vengeance, premeditated insult, and long-entertained enmity, these conclusions might have foundation. as the case stands, they weigh but little. where evil passions have been excited, opportunity for their indulgence is not likely to pass unused." "but evidence of that long-entertained enmity and premeditated vengeance we have not yet examined," replied the sub-prior. "if it only rest on the suppositions of this old couple, in one of whom it is pretty evident, prejudice is stronger than clearly defined truth, methinks that, despite this circumstantial evidence, there is still hope of the prisoner's innocence, more especially as we have one other important fact to bring forward. you are certain," he continued, addressing old pedro, "that the bell chimed eleven when senor stanley quitted your dwelling?" the man answered firmly in the affirmative. "and you will swear that the senor slept from sunset till that hour?" "i dare not swear to it, your reverence, for juana and i were at a neighbor's for part of that time; but on our return, juana took up his supper again, and found him so exactly in the same position as we had left him, that we could not believe he had even moved." "was he alone in the house during this interval?" "no; the maid beta was at her work in the room below senor stanley's." "let her be brought here." the order was so rapidly obeyed, that it was very evident she was close at hand; but so terribly alarmed at the presence in which she stood, as to compel the sub-prior to adopt the gentlest possible tone, to get any answer at all. he merely inquired if, during the absence of her master and mistress, she had heard any movement in the prisoner's room. she said that she thought she had--a quiet, stealthy step, and also a sound as if a door in the back of the house closed; but the sounds were so very indistinct, she had felt them at the time more like a dream than reality; and the commencement of the storm had so terrified her, that she did not dare move from her seat. "and what hour was this?" it might have been about nine; but she could not say exactly. and from the assertion that she did hear a slight sound, though puzzlingly cross-questioned, she never wavered. the king and the sub-prior both looked disappointed. the chief of the santa hermandad expressed himself confirmed in his previous supposition. the prisoner retained his calmness; but a gleam of intelligence seemed to flit across his features. "you would speak, senor stanley," interposed the king, as the girl was dismissed. "we would gladly hear you." "i would simply say, your highness," replied stanley, gratefully, "that it is not unlikely beta may have heard such sounds. i am convinced my evening draught was drugged; and the same secret enemy who did this, to give him opportunity undiscovered to purloin my sword--may, nay, _must_ have entered my chamber during that deathlike sleep, and committed the theft which was to burden an innocent man with his deed of guilt. the deep stillness in the house might have permitted her ear to catch the step, though my sleep was too profound. i could hardly have had time to waken, rise, commit the deed of death, and return to such a completely deceiving semblance of sleep, in the short hour of pedro and juana's absence; and if i had, what madness would have led me there again, and so appalled me, as to prevent all effort of escape?" "conscience," replied the chief of the santa hermandad, sternly. "the impelling of the divine spirit, whom you had profaned, and who in justice so distracted you, as to lead you blindly to your own destruction--no marvel the darkness oppressed, and the storm appalled you; or that heaven in its wrath should ordain the events you yourself have described--the fall over your own victim, and the horror thence proceeding. we have heard that your early years have been honorable, senor stanley, and to such, guilt is appalling even in its accomplishment. methinks, father francis, we need now but the evidence of the premeditation." "your pardon, brother; but such, conclusions are somewhat over-hasty. it is scarcely probable, had senor stanley returned after the committal of such a deed, that his reentrance should not have been heard as well as his departure; whereas the witness expressly declares, that though her attention was awakened by the previous faint sound, and she listened frequently, she never heard another movement, till her master and mistress's return; and as they went into the senor's room directly, and found him without the very least appearance of having moved, justice compels us to incline to the belief in senor stanley's suggestion--that he could scarcely have had sufficient time to rouse, depart, do murder, and feign sleep during pedro benito's brief interval of absence." "we will grant that so it may be, reverend father, but what proof have we that the murder had not been just committed when the body and the assassin were discovered?" father francis replied, by commanding the appearance of don ferdinand's steward, and after the customary formula, inquired what hour his late lamented master had quitted his mansion the night of the murder. the man replied, without hesitation, "exactly as the chimes played the quarter before nine." "but was not that unusually early? the hour of meeting at the castle was ten, and the distance from don ferdinand's mansion not twenty minutes' ride, and scarce forty minutes' walk. are you perfectly certain as to the hour?" "i can take my oath upon it, your reverence, and lopez will say the same. our sainted master (jesu rest his soul!) called to him a few minutes before he entered my lady's room, and told him not to get his horse ready, as he should walk to the castle. lopez asked as to who should attend him, and his reply was he would go alone. he had done so before, and so we were not surprised; but we were grieved at his look, for it seemed of suffering, unlike himself, and were noticing it to each other as he passed us, after quitting my lady, and so quickly and so absorbed, that he did not return our salutation, which he never in all his life neglected to do before. my poor, poor master! little did we think we should never see him again!" and the man's unconstrained burst of grief excited anew the indignation of the spectators against the crime, till then almost forgotten, in the intense interest as to the fate of the accused. lopez was called, and corroborated the steward's account exactly. "if he left his house at a quarter before nine, at what hour, think you, he would reach the calle soledad?" from ten to fifteen minutes past the hour, your reverence, unless detained by calling elsewhere on his way." "did he mention any intention of so doing?" the answer was in the negative. "according to this account, then, the murder must have taken place between nine and ten; and senor stanley was not heard to quit his apartment till eleven. this would corroborate his own assertion, that the deed was committed ere he reached the spot." "but what proof have we that don ferdinand was not detained on his way?" replied the chief of the santa hermandad. "his domestics assert no more than the hour of his quitting the house." "the hour of the royal meeting was ten," rejoined the sub-prior; "he was noted for regularity, and was not likely to have voluntarily lingered so long, as not even to reach the calle till one hour afterwards." "not voluntarily; but we have heard that he appeared more suffering than he was ever seen to do. his illness might have increased, and so cause detention; and yet, on even partial recovery, we know him well enough to believe he would still have endeavored to join his highness." "he would; but there is evidence that when brought to the castle, he had been dead at the very least three hours. let curador benedicto come forward." a respectable man, dressed in black, and recognized at once as the leech or doctor of the royal household, obeyed the summons, and on being questioned, stated that he had examined the body the very moment it had been conveyed to the castle, in the hope of discovering some signs of animation, however faint. but life was totally extinct, and, according to his judgment, had been so at the very least three hours." "and what hour was this?" "just half-an-hour after midnight." a brief silence followed the leech's dismissal; ferdinand still seemed perplexed and uneasy, and not one countenance, either of the nobles or associated brethren, evinced satisfaction. "our task, instead of decreasing in difficulty, becomes more and more complicated, my lords and brethren," observed the sub-prior, after waiting for the chief of the santa hermandad to speak. "had we any positive proof, that senor stanley really slept from the hour of sunset till eleven the same evening, and never quitted his quarters until then, we might hope that the sentence of curador benedicto, as to the length of time life had been extinct in his supposed victim, might weigh strongly against the circumstantial chain of evidence brought against him. believing that the prisoner having slept from the hour of sunset to eleven was a proven and witnessed fact, i undertook the defensive and argued in his favor. the sounds heard by the girl beta may or may not have proceeded from the stealthy movements of the accused, and yet justice forbids our passing them by unnoticed. the time of this movement being heard, and that of the murder, according to the leech's evidence, tally so exactly that we cannot doubt but the one had to do with the other; but whether it were indeed the prisoner's step, or that of the base purloiner of his sword, your united judgment must decide. individual supposition, in a matter of life or death, can be of no avail. my belief, as you may have discovered, inclines to the prisoner's innocence. my brother, the chief hermano, as strongly believes in his guilt. and it would appear as if the evidence itself, supports the one judgment equally with the other; contradictory and complicated, it has yet been truthfully brought forward and strictly examined. your united judgment, senors and hermanos, must therefore decide the prisoner's fate." "but under your favor, reverend father, all the evidence has not been brought forward," rejoined the chief hermano. "and methinks that which is still to come is the most important of the whole. that the business is complicated, and judgment most difficult, i acknowledge, and therefore gladly avail myself of any remaining point on which the scale may turn. sworn as i am to administer impartial justice, prejudice against the prisoner i can have none; but the point we have until now overlooked, appears sufficient to decide not only individual but general opinion. i mean the _premeditated vengeance_ sworn by the prisoner against the deceased--long indulged and proclaimed enmity, and premeditated determination to take his life or lose his own. don ferdinand morales--be his soul assoilized!--was so universally beloved, so truly the friend of all ranks and conditions of men, that to believe in the existence of any other enmity towards his person is almost impossible. we have evidence that the prisoner was at feud with him--was harboring some design against him for weeks. it may be he was even refused by don ferdinand the meeting he desired, and so sought vengeance by the midnight dagger. let the evidence of this enmity be examined, and according or not as premeditated malice is elicited, so let your judgment be pronounced." "ay, so let it be," muttered the king as a loud murmur of assent ran through the hall. "we have two witnesses for this; and, by heaven, if the one differ from the other in the smallest point, the prisoner may still be reprieved!" whether the royal observation was heard or not, there was no rejoinder, for at the summoning of the chief hermano, don luis garcia stood before the assemblage. his appearance excited surprise in many present, and in none more than the prisoner himself. he raised his head, which had been resting on his hand during the address of the sub-prior, and the reply of the hermano, and looked at the new witness with bewildered astonishment. as don luis continued his relation of the stormy interview between the deceased and the accused, and the words of threatening used by the latter, astonishment itself, changed into an indignation and loathing impossible to be restrained. "thou base dishonored villain!" he exclaimed, so suddenly and wrathfully that it startled more by its strange contrast with his former calmness than by its irreverent interruption to the formula of the examination; "where wert thou during this interview? hearing so well, and so invisibly concealed, none but the voluntary spy could have heard all this; so skilfully detailed that thou wouldst seem in very truth _witness_ as well as hearer. what _accident_ could have led thee to the most retired part of don ferdinand's garden, and, being there, detained thee? thou treacherous villain! and on thy evidence--evidence so honorably, so truthfully obtained, my life or death depends! well, be it so." "but so it shall not be," interposed the king himself, ere either sub-prior or the hermano could reply; "even as the prisoner, we ourselves hold evidence dishonestly obtained of little moment--nay, of no weight whatever. be pleased, don luis garcia, to explain the casualty which led you, at such an important moment, to don ferdinand's grounds; or name some other witness. the voluntary listener is, in our mind, dishonorable as the liar, and demanding no more account." with a mien and voice of the deepest humility, don luis replied; grieving that his earnest love of justice should expose him to the royal displeasure; submitting meekly to unjust suspicion as concerned himself, but still upholding the truth and correctness of his statement. the other witness to the same, he added mysteriously, he had already named to his royal highness. "and she waits our pleasure," replied the king; "don felix d'estaban, be pleased to conduct the last witness to our presence." chapter xx. but love is strong. there came strength upon woman's fragile heart and frame; there came swift courage. mrs. hemans. death has no pang more keen than this. oh, wherefore art thou here? mrs. hemans. a profound silence followed don felix's departure. don luis had so evidently evaded the king's demand, as to how he had witnessed this important interview, that even those most prejudiced in his favor, on account of his extreme sanctity, found themselves doubting his honor; and those who had involuntarily been prejudiced against him, by the indefinable something pervading his countenance and voice, doubly rejoiced that their unspoken antipathy had some foundation. in modern courts of justice, to refuse the validity of evidence merely because the manner of obtaining it was supposed dishonorable, would be pronounced the acme of folly and romance. in the age of which we write, and in spain especially, the sense of honor was so exquisitely refined, that the king's rebuke, and determination not to allow the validity of don luis's evidence, unless confirmed by an honorable witness, excited no surprise whatever; every noble, nay, every one of the associated brethren, there present, would have said the same; and the eager wonder, as to the person of the witness on whom so much stress was laid, became absolutely intense. the prisoner was very evidently agitated; his cheek flushed and paled in rapid alternation, and a suppressed but painful exclamation escaped from him as don felix re-entered, leading with him a female form; but the faint sound was unheard, save by the king and the sub-prior, who had been conversing apart during d'estaban's absence--lost in the irrepressible burst of wonder and sympathy, which broke from all within the hall, as in the new witness, despite the change of garb, and look, from the dazzling beauty of health and peace, to the attenuated form of anxiety and sorrow, they recognized at once the widow of the murdered, donna marie. nor was this universal sympathy lessened, when, on partially removing her veil, to permit a clear view of the scene around her, her sweet face was disclosed to all--profoundly, almost unnaturally, calm, indeed--but the cheek and lips were perfectly colorless; the ashy whiteness of the former rendered them more striking from the long black lash resting upon it, unwetted by a single tear: and from the peculiarly dark eye appearing the larger, from the attenuation of the other features. one steady and inquiring glance she was seen to fix upon the prisoner, and then she bent in homage to the sovereign; and emotion, if there were any, passed unseen. "sit, lady," said the king, with ready courtesy, touched more than he could have imagined possible, by the change fourteen short days had wrought. "we would feign render this compelled summons as brief and little fatiguing as may be: none can grieve more than ourselves at this harsh intrusion on thy hours of sorrow; but in a great measure the doom of life or death rests with thee, and justice forbids our neglecting evidence so important. yet sit, lady; we command it." "it needs not, gracious sovereign; my strength will not fail me," replied marie, her sweet voice falling distinctly on every ear, while stanley started at its calmness; and she gracefully refused the seat don felix proffered. "give no more thought to me than to any other witness; it is not a subject's place to sit in presence of her sovereign." but ferdinand's kindliest feelings were excited, and instead of permitting the sub-prior to give the necessary details, he himself, with characteristic brevity, but clearly and kindly, narrated the progress of the evidence for and against the prisoner, and how great the weight laid on the proofs, if there were any, of acknowledged enmity, and premeditated injury, on the part of the accused towards the deceased. the questions to which he was compelled to request her reply were simply, "was she aware of any cause of hatred existing between the accused and the deceased?" "had she ever heard opprobrious and insulting epithets used by the former or the latter?" "or any threat, implying that the death of don ferdinand morales was desired by the prisoner?" "had she ever seen the prisoner draw his sword upon the deceased?--and had she any reason to believe that don ferdinand had ever refused, or intended to refuse to meet the prisoner in honorable combat, and so urged the gratification of vengeance by a deed of murder? reverend father," continued the king, "be pleased yourself to administer the customary oath." father francis instantly rose from his seat, and taking the large and richly embossed silver crucifix from the monk, who had administered the oath to all the other witnesses, himself approached marie. "marie henriquez morales," he said, as he reverentially held the solemn symbol of his religion before her, "art thou well advised of the solemnity of the words thou art called upon to speak? if so, swear to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. swear by the holy symbol which i support; by the unpronounceable name of the father, by the flesh and blood, the resurrection and the life of our lord and saviour christ jesu; by the holy spirit; by the saving and glorious trinity; by the goodly army of saints and martyrs; daughter, swear, and the blessing or the curse be with you as you swear true or falsely." the fine countenance of the sub-prior glowed with the holy enthusiasm of his appeal; his form, as he stood, one hand clasping the crucifix, the other emphatically raised, seemed dilated to unusual height and majesty, and the deep solemnity of his accents so enhanced the awful responsibility of the oath, that it thrilled throughout the multitude as it had never done before. so deep was the stillness which followed, that not one of those vast crowds seemed to breathe. to the prisoner it was a moment of intense emotion: for if, indeed, marie had once told him truth, that oath, to her, even in its solemnity, was as nought; but ere he could even think as to the wording of her answer, that answer came, and so distinct, so unfalteringly spoken, that there was not one person present who even strained his ear to catch the words. "reverend father," she said, "i am grateful for thy counsel; and, believe me, am well advised of the truth and solemnity of the words i speak. but i cannot aid his grace, and these his subjects, in their decision as to the prisoner's sentence. my evidence is valueless. i belong to that race whose word is never taken as witness, for or against, in a court of justice. i cannot take the oath required, for i deny the faith in which it is administered. i am a jewess!" a wild cry, in every variety of intonation--astonishment, horror, wrath, and perhaps terror, ran through the hall--from sovereign, noble, monk, and citizen, simultaneously. father francis staggered back several paces, as if there were contamination in remaining by her side, and then stood as rooted to the ground, his hand convulsively grasping the crucifix which had nearly fallen from his hold; his lips apart, his nostrils slightly distended, and his eyes almost starting from their sockets, in the horrified and astonished gaze he fixed upon the pale and fragile being who had dared speak such impious words. the attendant fathers rose simultaneously, and formed a semicircle round their superior, ready, at his slightest signal, to hurl down on her the anathema of the church; reverence to the sub-prior alone preventing the curse from instantly bursting forth. the nobles, the associated brethren, ferdinand himself, started almost unconsciously to their feet, and an eager rush brought many of the citizens still nearer to the scene of action. the prisoner, with an irresistible impulse, darted forwards, and ere any one had recovered from his trance of bewilderment, had flung himself at marie's feet. "marie! marie!" he exclaimed, in a voice so hoarse and choked, its words were heard by her alone. "oh! why hast thou done this? why not take the required oath, and condemn me at once? marie, i am unworthy of such self-sacrifice!" "ha! didst thou slay him then? have i judged thee too kindly, arthur," she answered; and the hand she laid heavily on his shoulder trembled so violently, it was evident she had thus placed it only to save her from sinking to the ground, for the unnatural strength had gone. "no!" he exclaimed, in a tone and with a look that satisfied her at once, and there was no time for more. the king had perceived that the sub-prior was recovering composure, and with it energy of action; though himself a zealous catholic, he felt compelled to save marie. "hold! hold!" he said hastily, as father francis was about to speak. "reverend father, we pray thee, be not over hasty in this matter; these are strange and terrible words; but they are meaningless; they must be. her misery has turned her brain; she is mad; heed her not; be silent all of ye! see how she glares upon the prisoner! is that the look of sanity? by st. francis, we have done wrong to call her hither! stand back, good fathers. remove the prisoner; and let donna marie be conducted from the hall. our consort should have warned us of this!" "forbear, my liege!" replied the sub-prior sternly. "the blaspheming words were all too calmly and collectively spoken for the ravings of madness. let not the false unbeliever pass hence till at least she has done reverence to the sacred symbol, she has, by daring denial, insulted. as thou wouldst save thine own soul from hell-fire, my liege, interfere not in this!" as he spoke, several soldiers had endeavored rudely to drag arthur from marie: he strove fiercely for freedom, for but one hour's power to protect her, but in vain. and the look she fixed upon him, as he was torn from her, from its contrast with her previous profound calm, did indeed seem almost of madness. the excitement which had enabled her to make this dread avowal--an avowal comprising such variety, and terrible danger, that the magnitude of the sacrifice comprised in the confession can now scarcely be understood; danger, not merely from the vengeance of the church for long years of fraud, nor from the secret and awful tribunal of whose existence she was conscious (though not of its close vicinity); not merely these, but danger from the wrath, and terrors of the secret members of her own faith, who might naturally imagine their own safety endangered in the suspicion, engendered by her rash confession. of all this she had thought; had believed herself strengthened to brave and bear every possible suffering, rather than breathe those words which must seal stanley's fate; but now that she had spoken, though she would not have recalled them if she could--such an overpowering, crushing sense of all she had drawn upon herself, such fearful, spectral shapes of indefinable horror came upon her, that, as the sub-prior stood again before her with the uplifted cross, bidding her kneel and acknowledge him whose fate it imaged--she burst into a wild hysteric laugh, and fell prone upon the floor. "said i not she was mad? and what need was there for this unmanly violence?" angrily exclaimed the monarch; and, starting from his seat, he authoritatively waved back the denouncing monks, and himself bent over marie. the duke of murcia, don felix d'estaban, the lord of aguilar, and several other nobles following the sovereign's example, hastened to her assistance. but to restore animation was not in their power, and on the king's whispered commands, don felix gently, even tenderly raised her, and bore her in his arms from the hall. even in that moment of excitement ferdinand could not forbear glancing at the prisoner, whose passionate struggles to escape from the guard, when marie fell, had been noticed by all, and unhappily, combined with, his previous irritation, but confirmed the unspoken suspicions of many as to the real cause of his enmity against don ferdinand. the expression of his countenance was of such contending, terrible suffering, that the king hastily withdrew his gaze, vainly endeavoring to disbelieve, as he had done, the truth of garcia's charge. order was at length universally restored, and after a brief silence, the chief of the santa hermandad demanded of the prisoner if he had aught to say in his defence, or reply himself to don luis garcia's charge. the reply was a stern, determined negative; and, deputed so to do by the sub-prior, who seemed so absorbed in the horror of marie's daring avowal, as to be incapable of further interference, the hermano proceeded to sum up the evidence. as the widow of the deceased had so strangely, yet effectually deprived them of her evidence, he said, he thought some slight regard ought to be paid to don luis garcia's words; but even without doing so, the circumstantial evidence, though contradictory and complicated, was enough in his opinion to convict the prisoner; but he referred to his associates and to the peers then present, to pronounce sentence. his task was but to sum up the evidence, which he trusted he had done distinctly; his opinion was that of but one individual; there were at least fifty or sixty voices, to confirm or to oppose it. deep and sustained as had been the interest throughout the trial, it was never more intense than during the awful pause which heralded the prisoner's doom. it was spoken at length; the majority alike of the nobles and of the santa hermandad, believed and pronounced him guilty, and sentence of death was accordingly passed; but the duke of murcia then stepped forward, and urged the following, not only in the name of his brother peers, but in the name of his native sovereign, isabella; that in consideration of the complicated and contradictory evidence, of the prisoner's previous high character, and of his strongly protested innocence, a respite of one month should be granted between sentence and execution, to permit prayers to be offered up throughout spain for the discovery of the real murderer, or at least allow time for some proof of innocence to appear; during which time the prisoner should be removed from the hateful dungeon he had till that morning occupied, and confined under strict ward, in one of the turrets of the castle; and that, if at the end of the granted month affairs remained as they were then, that no proof of innocence appeared, a scaffold was to be erected in the calle soledad, on the exact spot where the murder was committed; there the prisoner, publicly degraded from the honors and privileges of chivalry, his sword broken before him, his spurs ignominiously struck from his heels, would then receive the award of the law, death from hanging, the usual fate of the vilest and commonest malefactors. ferdinand and the sub-prior regarded him attentively while this sentence was pronounced, but not a muscle in his countenance moved; what it expressed it would have been difficult to define; but it seemed as if his thoughts were on other than himself. the king courteously thanked the assemblage for their aid in a matter so momentous, and at once ratified their suggestion. the associated brethren were satisfied that it was isabella's will; confident also in their own power to prevent the evasion, and bring about the execution of the sentence, if still required, at the termination of the given time; and with a brief but impressive address from the sub-prior to the prisoner, the assemblage dispersed. but the excitement of the city ceased not with the conclusion of the trial: not alone the populace, but the nobles themselves, even the holy fathers and associated brethren were seen, forming in various groups, conversing eagerly and mysteriously. the interest in the prisoner had in some measure given way to a new excitement. question followed question, conjecture followed conjecture, but nothing could solve the mystery of donna marie's terrible avowal, or decrease the bewilderment and perplexity which, from various causes, it created in every mind. one alone, amongst the vast crowds which had thronged the trial, shunned his fellows. not a change in the calm, cold, sneering expression of don luis garcia's countenance had betrayed either surprise at, or sympathy with, any one of the various emotions stirring that vast multitude of human hearts; he had scarcely even moved his position during the continuance of the trial, casting indeed many a glance on the immediate scene of action, from beneath his thick and shadowy eyebrows, which concealed the sinister gaze from observation. he shunned the face of day; but in his own dark haunts, and with his hellish colleagues, plans were formed and acted on, with a rapidity which, to minds less matured in iniquity, would have seemed incredible. chapter xxi. the quality of mercy is not strain'd, it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. it is twice blessed, it blesseth him that gives, and him that takes; 'tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes the throned monarch better than his crown. shakspeare. the interest attending a trial, in which royalty had evinced such powerful sympathy, naturally extended to every member of isabella's female train: her anxiety as to the issue had been very visible, notwithstanding her calm and quiet demeanor. the infanta isabella and the infant don juan were with her during the morning as usual; but even their infantile caresses, dearer to her true woman's heart than all her vast possessions, had failed to disperse the anxiety of thought. few can peruse the interesting life of isabella of castile without being struck by the fact, that even as her public career was one of unmixed prosperity for her country and herself, her private sorrows and domestic trials vied, in their bitterness, with those of the poorest and humblest of her subjects. her first-born, the infanta isabella, who united all the brilliant and endearing qualities of her mother, with great beauty, both of face and form, became a loving bride only to become a widow--a mother, only to gaze upon her babe, and die; and her orphan quickly followed. don juan, the delight and pride and hope of his parents, as of the enthusiasm and almost idolatry of their subjects, died in his twentieth year. the hapless catherine of arragon, with whose life of sorrow and neglect every reader of english history is acquainted, though they sometimes forget her illustrious parentage; her sorrows indeed isabella was spared, as she died before henry the eighth ascended the english throne. but it was juana, the wife of philip, and mother of charles v., whose intellects, always feeble, and destroyed by the neglect and unkindness of the husband she idolized, struck the last and fatal blow. and she, whom all europe regarded with unfeigned veneration--she whom her own subjects so idolized, they would gladly have laid down a thousand lives for hers--she fell a victim to a mother's heart-consuming grief.[a] who then, after perusing her life, and that of how many other sovereigns, will refuse them, the meed of sympathy, because, raised so far above us in _outward_ things, we deem the griefs and feelings of common humanity unknown and uncared for? to our mind, the destiny of the sovereign, the awful responsibility, the utter loneliness of station, the general want of sympathy, the proneness to be condemned for faults or omissions of which they are, individually, as innocent as their contemners, present a subject for consideration and sympathy, and ought to check the unkind thoughts and hasty condemnation, excited merely because they are placed in rank and circumstances above us. a king of kings has placed them there, and a universal father calls them his children, even as ourselves. [footnote a: isabella had been previously attacked by dangerous indisposition, from which, however, the natural strength of her constitution would have enabled her in some degree to rally; but the springs of life had been injured by previous bereavement. her lungs became affected, and the symptoms of decline rapidly and fatally increased from continual affliction of mind.--_history of spain_.] isabella had not seen marie that morning; her trusty attendant, donna inez de leon, had alone been with her, and had reported that she was calm and composed, and more like herself than she had been since her bereavement. time passed but slowly, and catherine pas, the same high-spirited maiden mentioned in a former chapter, perceiving that the queen's anxiety evidently increased as the hours waned, quietly left the chamber, unbidden, and even unseen. a brief interval saw her return, and with a countenance so expressive of horrified bewilderment, as to excite the astonishment of all. "oh, madam!" she exclaimed, as she flew to the queen's seat, regardless of either decorum or rebuke; "oh, madam, it has killed her; she is dying!" "dying!" repeated isabella, and the whole strength of her character was put forth, to prevent her starting from her seat. "dying!--who is dying? speak out, in santa maria's name!" "donna marie--the poor, unhappy marie; she has been borne from the hall! don felix had her in his arms; i saw her; i followed them, and she looked dead, quite dead; they would not let me go to her at first, till i called them hard-hearted wretches! and i have tried to rouse her, but i could not. oh, save her, gracious madam! do not let her die!" "and have they none with her?" demanded the queen. "but whom can they have, save her own terrified women? inez--leonor--go to her at once! your skill and tenderness will soon revive her; this silly child is terrified at shadows. 'tis but a faint, such as followed the announcement of her husband's death. if any one dare refuse you entrance, tell them you go in your queen's name. foolish trembler," she added, in a tone of relief, as her commands were instantly obeyed, "why this excessive agitation, when thou hast seen a faint like this before?" "nay, but by your leave, gracious madam, i have not," replied catherine, with emotion. "there is far more of horror in this; she is cold--cold, like stone; and they have planted a guard at the entrance of her apartments, and they tell a tale so wild and strange, i cannot give it credence!" "ha! what say they?" demanded the queen hastily, her eyes flashing with light, as they always did when she was excited. "what can it be, too wild and strange for thy hair-brained fancy to believe? marvellous it must be indeed!" isabella spoke jestingly, but her heart was not with her words: and catherine replied with tears starting to her eyes, "oh, do not speak thus, my liege. it is indeed no theme for jest." and she continued so rapidly, that to any but the quickened mind of isabella, her words must have seemed unintelligible. "they say she is a heretic, royal madam! nay, worse--a blaspheming unbeliever; that she has refused to take the oath, on plea of not believing in the holy catholic church; that she has insulted, has trampled on the sacred cross! nor is this all--worse, yet worse; they say she has proclaimed herself a jewess!--an abhorred, an unbelieving jewess!" a general start and loud exclamation of horror was the natural rejoinder to this unlooked-for intelligence; but not from isabella, whose flashing eyes were still fixed on the young girl's face, as to read in her soul the confirmation of these strange words. "what dost thou say?" she said at length, and so slowly, a second might have intervened between each word. "speak! let me hear again! a jewess! santa maria! but no; it _cannot_ be. they must have told thee false!" so the queen spoke; but ere catherine had concluded a calmer repetition of the tale, marie's words of the preceding evening rushed back on her mind, confirming it but too surely. "to-morrow all will be distinct and clear enough!" she had said; ay, distinct it was; and so engrossingly intense became the thoughts thronging in her mind, bewildering succession, that isabella sat motionless, her brow leaning on her hand, wholly unconscious of the lapse of time. a confusion in the gallery, and the words, "the king! the king!" roused her at length; and never was the appearance of ferdinand more welcome, not only to isabella, but to her attendants, as giving them the longed-for opportunity to retire, and so satisfy curiosity, and give vent to the wonderment which, from their compelled silence in isabella's presence, had actually become intolerable. ferdinand speedily narrated the affairs of the morning, and concluded by inquiring if any thing had occurred in her interview with marie to excite suspicion of her mad design. the queen replied by relating, in her turn, all that had passed between them. the idea of madness could no longer exist; there was not the faintest hope that in a moment of frenzy she had spoken falsely. "and yet, was it not madness," the king urged, "thus publicly to avow a determined heresy, and expose herself to all the horrors of the church's vengeance! 'years of deception and fraud!' she told thee, 'would be disclosed.' by st. francis! fraud enough. who could have suspected the wife of don ferdinand morales a jewess? it was on this account he kept her so retired. how could he reconcile his conscience to a union with one of a race so abhorred, beautiful as she is? and where could he have found her? but this matters not: it is all wild conjecture, save the madness of the avowal. what cause could there have been for such self-sacrifice?" "there was a cause," replied the queen earnestly; "cause enough to render life to her of little moment. do not ask me my meaning, dearest ferdinand; i would not do her such wrong as to breathe the suspicion that, spite of myself, spite of incomprehensible mystery, will come, even to thee. do not let us regret her secret is discovered. let her but recover from the agony of these repeated trials, and with the help of our holy fathers, we may yet turn her from her abhorred faith, and so render her happy in this world, and secure her salvation in the next." "the help of the holy fathers!" repeated the king. "nay, isabel, their sole help will be to torture and burn! they will accuse her of insulting, by years of deceit, the holy faith, of which she has appeared a member. nay, perchance of using foul magic on morales (whom the saints preserve), and then thou knowest what will follow!" the queen shuddered. "never with my consent, my husband! from the first moment i beheld this unfortunate, something attracted me towards her; her misery deepened the feeling; and even now, knowing what she is, affection lingers. the holy virgin give me pardon, if 'tis sin!" "for such sin i will give thee absolution, dearest," replied the king, half jestingly, half earnestly. "do not look so grave. no one knows, or values thy sterling piety half so tenderly and reverentially as i do. but this is no common case. were marie one of those base and grovelling wretches, those accursed unbelievers, who taint our fair realm with their abhorred rites--think of nothing but gold and usury, and how best to cheat their fellows; hating us almost as intensely as we hate them--why, she should abide by the fate she has drawn upon herself. but the wife of my noble morales, one who has associated so long with zealous catholics, that she is already most probably one of us, and only avowed her descent from some mysterious cause--by st. francis, she shall be saved!" "but how?" inquired isabella anxiously. "wouldst thou deny her faith to father francis, and persuade him she has spoken falsely?" the king shook his head. "that will never do, isabel. i have had the holy man closeted with me already, insisting on the sanity of her words, and urging me to resign the unbeliever at once to the tender mercy of the church. all must depend on thee." "on me?" repeated isabella, in a tone of surprised yet anxious inquiry. "on thee, love. thy perfect humility is ignorant of the fact--yet it is nevertheless perfectly true--that thou art reverenced, well nigh canonized, by the holy church; and thy words will have weight when mine would be light as air. refuse the holy fathers all access to her; say she is unfitted to encounter them; that she is ill; nay, mad, if thou wilt. bring forward the state in which she was borne from the hall; her very laugh (by st. francis, it rings in my ear still) to confirm it, and they will believe thee. the present excitement will gradually subside, and her very existence be forgotten. let none but thy steadiest, most pious matrons have access to her; forbid thy young maidens to approach or hold converse with her; and her being under thy protection can do harm to none. let her be prisoner in her own apartments, an thou wilt; she deserves punishment for the deception practised towards thee. treat her as thou deemest best, only give her not up to the mercy of the church!" "talk not of it," replied the queen earnestly. "unbeliever though she be, offspring of a race which every true catholic must hold in abhorrence, she is yet a _woman_, ferdinand, and, as such, demands and shall receive the protection of her queen. yet, would there were some means of saving her from the eternal perdition to which, as a jewess, she is destined; some method, without increase of suffering, to allure her, as a penitent and believing child, to the bosom of our holy mother church." "and to do this, who so fitted as thyself, dearest isabel?" answered the king with earnest affection. "thou hast able assistants in some of thy older matrons, and may after a while call in the aid of father denis, whose kindly nature is better fitted for gentle conversion than either francis, or thy still sterner chaplain, torquemada. thy kindness has gained thee the love of this misguided one; and if any one have sufficient influence to convert, by other than sharp means, it can only be thyself." isabella was not long undecided. her heart felt that to turn marie from blindness and perdition by kindness and affection would be indeed far more acceptable to the virgin (her own peculiar saint) than the heretic's blood, and she answered with animation, "then so it shall be, ferdinand; i fear me, alas! that there will be little reason to prevaricate, to deny all spiritual access to her. thy report, combined with my terrified catherine's, gives me but little hope for health or reason. but should she indeed recover, trust me she shall be happy yet." great was the astonishment of the guards as they beheld their sovereign fearlessly enter the chamber of a proclaimed jewess--a word in their minds synonymous with the lowest, most degraded rank of being; and yet more, to hear and perceive that she herself was administering relief. the attendants of isabella--whose curiosity was now more than satisfied, for the tale had been repeated with the usual exaggerations, even to a belief that she had used the arts of sorcery on morales--huddled together in groups, heaping every opprobrious epithet upon her, and accusing her of exposing them all to the horrors of purgatory by contaminating them with her presence. and as the sovereign re-appeared in her saloon with the leech benedicto, whose aid she had summoned, there were many who ventured to conjure her not to expose herself to such pollution as the tending of a jewess--to leave her to the fate her fraud so merited. even catherine, finding to disbelieve the tale any longer was impossible, and awed and terrified at the mysterious words of her companions, which told of danger to her beloved mistress, flung herself on her knees before her, clasping her robe to detain her from again seeking the chamber of marie. then was the moment for a painter to have seized on the face and form of isabella! her eye flashed till its very color was undistinguishable, her lip curled, every feature--usually so mild and feminine--was so transformed by indignation into majesty and unutterable scorn as scarcely to have been recognized. her slight and graceful form dilated till the very boldest cowered before her, even before she spoke; for never had they so encountered her reproof:-"are ye women?" she said at length, in the quiet, concentrated tone of strong emotion; "or are we deceived as to the meaning of your words? pollution! are we to see a young, unhappy being perish for want of sympathy and succor, because--forsooth--she is a jewess? danger to our soul! we should indeed fear it; did we leave her to die, without one effort to restore health to the frame, and the peace of christ to the mind! has every spark of woman's nature faded from your hearts, that ye can speak thus? if for yourselves you fear, tend her not, approach her not--we will ourselves give her the aid she needs. and as for thee," she continued severely, as she forced the now trembling catherine to stand upright before her, "whose energy to serve marie we loved and applauded; child as thou art, must thou too speak of pollution? but example may have done this. follow me, minion; and then talk of pollution if thou canst!" and with a swift step isabella led the way to the chamber of marie. "behold!" she said emphatically, as she pointed to the unhappy sufferer, who, though restored to life, was still utterly unconscious where she was or who surrounded her; her cheek and brow, white and damp; her large eye lustreless and wandering; her lip and eyelid quivering convulsively; her whole appearance proving too painfully that reason had indeed, for the time, fled. the soul had been strong till the dread words were said; but the re-action had been too much for either frame or mind. "catherine! thou hast seen her in her beauty, the cherished, the beloved of all who knew her--seen her when no loveliness could mate with hers. thou seest now the wreck that misery has made, though she has numbered but few more years than thou hast! detest, abhor, avoid her _faith_--for that we command thee; but her sex, her sorrow, have a claim to sympathy and aid, which not even her race can remove. jewess though she be, if thou can look on her thus, and still speak of pollution and danger, thou art not what we deemed thee!" struck to the heart, alike by the marked display of a mistress she idolized and the sympathy her better nature really felt for marie, catherine sunk on her knees by the couch, and burst into tears. isabella watched her till her unusual indignation subsided, and then said more kindly, "it is enough; go, catherine. if we judge thee rightly thou wilt not easily forget this lesson! again i bid thee abhor her faith; but seek to win her to the right path, by gentleness and love, not prejudice and hate." "oh! let me tarry here and tend her, my gracious sovereign," implored catherine, again clasping isabella's robe and looking beseechingly in her face--but from a very different feeling to the prompter of the same action a few minutes before--"oh, madam, do not send me from her! i will be so gentle, so active--watch, tend, serve; only say your grace's bidding, and i will do it, if i stood by her alone!" "my bidding would be but the promptings of thine own heart, my girl," replied the queen, fondly, for she saw the desired impression had been made. "if i need thee--which i may do--i will call upon thee; but now, thou canst do nothing, but think kindly, and judge mercifully--important work indeed, if thou wouldst serve an erring and unhappy fellow-creature, with heart as well as hand. but now go: nay, not so sorrowfully; thy momentary fault is forgiven," she added, kindly, as she extended her hand towards the evidently pained and penitent maiden, who raised it gratefully and reverentially to her lips, and thoughtfully withdrew. it was not, however, with her attendants only, this generous and high-minded princess had to contend--with them her example was enough; but the task was much more difficult, when the following day, as king ferdinand had anticipated, brought the stern sub-prior of st. francis to demand, in the church's name, the immediate surrender of marie. but isabella's decision once formed never wavered. marie was under her protection, she said--an erring indeed, but an unhappy young creature, who, by her very confession, had thrown herself on the mercy of her sovereign--and she would not deliver up the charge. in vain the prior urged the abomination of a jewess residing under her very roof--the danger to her soul should she be tempted to associate with her, and that granting protection to an avowed and blaspheming unbeliever must expose her to the suspicions, or, at least the censure of the church. isabella was inexorable. to his first and second clause she quietly answered as she had done to her own attendants; his third only produced a calm and fearless smile. she knew too well, as did the prior also, though for the time he chose to forget it, that her character for munificent and heartfelt piety was too well established, not only in spain but throughout europe, to be shaken even by the protection of a jewess. father francis then solicited to see her; but even this point he could not gain. isabella had, alas! no need to equivocate as to the reason of his non-admission to marie. reason had indeed returned, and with it the full sense of the dangers she had drawn upon herself; but neither frame nor mind was in a state to encounter such an interview as the prior demanded. the severity of father francis originated, as we have before remarked, neither in weak intellect nor selfish superstition. towards himself indeed he never relented either in severity or discipline; towards others benevolence and humanity very often gained ascendency; and something very like a tear glistened in his eye as isabella forcibly portrayed the state in which marie still remained. and when she concluded, by frankly imparting her intention, if health were indeed restored, to leave no means untried--even to pursue some degree of severity if nothing else would do--to wean her from her mistaken faith, he not only abandoned his previous intentions, but commended and blessed the nobler purpose of his sovereign. to his request that marie might be restrained from all intercourse with the younger members of isabella's female court--in fact, associate with none but strict and uncompromising catholics--the queen readily acceded; and moreover, granted him full permission to examine the mansion of don ferdinand morales, that any books or articles of dangerous or heretical import might be discovered and destroyed. with these concessions father francis left his sovereign, affected at her goodness and astonished at her influence on himself. he had entered her presence believing nothing could change the severity of his intentions or the harshness of his feelings; he left her with the one entirely renounced, and the other utterly subdued. such was the triumph of prejudice achieved by the lofty-minded and generous woman, who swayed the sceptre of castile.[a] and yet, though every history of the time unites in so portraying her; though her individual character was the noblest, the most magnanimous, the most complete union of masculine intellect with perfect womanhood, ever traced on the pages of the past; though under her public administration her kingdom stood forth the noblest, the most refined, most generous, ay, and the freest, alike in national position, as in individual sentiment, amongst all the nations of europe, isabella's was the fated hand to sign two edicts[b] whose consequences extinguished the lustre, diminished the virtues, enslaved the sentiments, checked the commerce, and in a word deteriorated the whole character of spain. [footnote a: we are authorized to give this character to isabella of castile, and annex the lustre of such action to her memory; as we know that even when, by the persuasions and representations of torquemada, the inquisition was publicly established, isabella constantly interfered her authority to prevent _zeal_ from becoming _inhumanity_. rendered unusually penetrating by her peculiarly feeling and gentle nature, she discovered, what was concealed from others, "that many enormities may be committed under the veil of religion--many innocent persons falsely accused; their riches being their only crime. her exertions brought such things to light, and the suborners were punished according to their guilt."--washington irving's _siege of granada_.--of ferdinand too we are told, "_respetã³ la jurisdiction ecclesiastica, y conservo la real_;" he respected the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, but _guarded_ or was _jealous_, for that of the crown. his determination, therefore, to refuse the church's interference in the case of marie, though unusual to his _age_, is warranted by his larger mind and freer policy.] [footnote b: the establishment of the inquisition, and expulsion of the jews.] for fourteen days affairs remained the same. at the end of that period the castle and city of segovia were thrown anew into a state of the wildest excitement by a most mysterious occurrence--marie had disappeared. chapter xxii. "meekly had he bowed and prayed, as not disdaining priestly aid; and while before the prior kneeling, his heart was weaned from earthly feeling: no more reproach, no more despair- no thought but heaven, no word but prayer." byron. time passed slowly on, and no proof appeared to clear arthur stanley's fame. all that man's judgment could counsel, was adopted--secret measures were taken throughout spain, for the apprehension of any individual suspected of murder, or even of criminal deeds; constant prayers offered up, that if arthur stanley were not the real murderer, proofs of his innocence might be made so evident that not even his greatest enemy could doubt any longer; but all seemed of no avail. week after week passed, and with the exception of one most mysterious occurrence, affairs remained the same. so strong was the belief of the nobles in his innocence, that the most strenuous exertions were made in his favor; but, strong as ferdinand's own wish was to save him, his love of justice was still stronger; though the testimony of don luis might be set aside, calm deliberation on all the evidence against him marked it as sufficiently strong to have sentenced any other so accused at once. the resolute determination to purge their kingdom from the black crimes of former years, which both sovereigns felt and unitedly acted upon, urged them to conquer every private wish and feeling, rather than depart from the line laid down. the usual dispensers of justice, the santa hermandad--men chosen by their brother citizens for their lucid judgment, clearness of perception, and utter absence of all overplus of chivalrous feeling, in matters of cool dispassionate reasoning--were unanimous in their belief in the prisoner's guilt, and only acquiesced in the month's reprieve, because it was isabella's wish. against their verdict what could be brought forward? in reality nothing but the prisoner's own strongly-attested innocence--an attestation most forcible in the minds of the sovereign and the nobles, but of no weight whatever to men accustomed to weigh, and examine, and cross-examine, and decide on proof, or at least from analogy, and never from an attestation, which the greatest criminals might as forcibly make. the power and election of these men ferdinand and isabella had confirmed. how could they, then, interfere in the present case, and shackle the judgment which they had endowed with authority, dispute and deny the sentence they had previously given permission to pronounce? pardon they might, and restore to life and liberty; but the very act of pronouncing pardon supposed belief in and proclamation of guilt. there was but one thing which could save him and satisfy justice, and that was the sentence of "not guilty." for this reason ferdinand refused every petition for stanley's reprieve, hoping indeed, spite of all reason, that even at the eleventh hour evidence of his innocence would and must appear. stanley himself had no such hope. all his better and higher nature had been called forth by the awful and mysterious death of morales, dealt too by his own sword--that sword which, in his wild passions, he had actually prayed might shed his blood. the film of passion had dropped alike from mental and bodily vision. he beheld his irritated feelings in their true light, and knew himself in thought a murderer. he would have sacrificed life itself, could he but have recalled the words of insult offered to one so noble; not for the danger to himself from their threatening nature, but for the injurious injustice done to the man from whom he had received a hundred acts of little unobtrusive kindnesses, and whom he had once revered as the model of every thing virtuous and noble--services which morales had rendered him, felt gratefully perhaps at the time, but forgotten in the absorption of thought or press of occupation during his sojourn in sicily, now rushed back upon him, marking him ingrate as well as dishonored. all that had happened he regarded as divine judgment on an unspoken, unacted, but not the less encouraged sin. the fact that his sword had done the deed, convinced him that his destruction had been connived at, as well as that of morales. a suspicion as to the designer, if not the actual doer of the deed, had indeed taken possession of him; but it was an idea so wild, so unfounded, that he dared not give it words. from the idea of death, and such a death, his whole soul indeed revolted; but to avert it seemed so utterly impossible, that he bent his proud spirit unceasingly to its anticipation; and with the spiritual aid of the good and feeling father francis, in some degree succeeded. it was not the horror of his personal fate alone which bade him so shrink from death. marie was free once more; nay, had from the moment of her dread avowal--made, he intuitively felt, to save him--become, if possible, dearer, more passionately loved than before. and, oh! how terrible is the anticipation of early death to those that love!--the only trial which bids even the most truly spiritual, yet while on earth still _human_ heart, forget that if earth is loved and lovely, heaven _must_ be lovelier still. from don felix d'estaban, his friendly warder, he heard of isabella's humane intentions toward her; that her senses had been restored, and she was, to all appearance, the same in health as she had been since her husband's death; only evidently suffering more, which might be easily accounted for from the changed position in which the knowledge of her unbelief had placed her with all the members of isabella's court; that the only agitation she had evinced was, when threatened with a visit from father francis--who, finding nothing in the mansion of don ferdinand morales to confirm the truth of her confession, had declared his conviction that there must be some secret chamber destined for her especial use. as if shrinking from the interview he demanded, marie had said to the senora, to whose care she had been intrusted--"he need not seek me to obtain this information. for my husband's sake alone i concealed the faith in which i glory. let father francis remove a sliding panel beneath the tapestry behind the couch in my sleeping apartment, and he will find not only all he seeks, but the surest proof of my husband's care and tenderness for me, unbeliever though he might deem me." the discovery of this secret closet, don felix continued, had caused much marvel throughout the court. where morales had found her, or how he could have reconciled his conscience not only to make her his wife, but permit her the free exercise of a religion accursed in the sight both of god and man, under his own roof, were questions impossible to solve, or reconcile with the character of orthodox catholicism he had so long borne. the examination had been conducted with the church's usual secrecy; the volumes of heresy and unbelief (it did not signify that the word of god was amongst them) burnt; the silver lamps and other ornaments melted down, to enrich, by an image of the virgin, the church of st. francis; the recess itself purified with incense and sprinkled with holy water; the sign of the cross deeply burnt in the walls; and the panel which formed the secret entrance firmly fastened up, that its very existence should be forgotten. the matter, however, don felix added, was not publicly spoken of, as both the king and queen, in conjunction with the sub-prior, seemed to wish all that had passed, in which donna marie was concerned, should be gradually forgotten. don ferdinand's vast possessions had, in consequence of his widow's being an unbeliever, and so having no power to inherit, reverted to the crown; but in case of marie's conversion, of which don felix appeared to entertain little doubt, the greater part would be restored to her. till then, marie was kept in strict confinement in the palace; but all harsher measures isabella had resolved to avoid. this intelligence relieved stanley's mind of one painful dread, while it unconsciously increased his wish to live. marie free! a catholic! what could come between them then? must she not love him, else why seek to save him? and then again the mystery darkened round her. a wild suspicion as to the _real reason_ of her having wedded ferdinand, had flitted across his mind; but the words of estaban so minutely repeated, seemed to banish it entirely; they alluded but to her husband's forbearing tenderness, felt the more intensely from its being extended by a zealous catholic to one of a race usually so contemned and hated. in vain he tried to reconcile the seeming inconsistency of her conduct; his thoughts only became the more confused and painful, till even the remembrance of her self-devotion lost its power to soothe or to allay them. when don felix again visited his prisoner, his countenance was so expressive of consternation, that stanley had scarcely power to ask what had occurred. marie had disappeared from the castle so strangely and mysteriously, that not a trace or clue could be discovered of her path. consternation reigned within the palace; the king was full of wrath at the insult offered to his power; the queen even more grieved than angry. the guards stationed without the chamber had declared on oath that no one had passed them; the senoras leon and pas, who slept in the room adjoining, could tell nothing wherewith to explain the mystery. in the first paroxsym of alarm they had declared the night had passed as usual; but on cooler reflection they remembered starting from their sleep with the impression of a smothered cry, which having mingled with their dreams, and not being repeated, they had believed mere fancy. and this faint sound was the only sign, the only trace that her departure was not a voluntary act. "father francis! the arm of the church!" gasped stanley, as don felix paused in his recital, astonished at the effect of his words on the prisoner, whose very respiration seemed impeded. "father francis has solemnly sworn," he replied, "that neither he nor any of his brethren had connived at an act of such especial disrespect to the sovereign power, and of injustice towards the queen. torquemada is still absent, or suspicion night rest on him--he is stern enough even for such a deed; but how could even he have withdrawn her from the castle without discovery?" "can she not have departed voluntarily?" inquired stanley, with sudden hope. "the cry you mention may indeed have been but fancy. is it not likely that fear as to her fate may have prompted her to seek safety in flight?" "her grace thinks not, else some clue as to her path must, ere this, have been discovered. besides, escape was literally impossible without the aid of magic, which however her accursed race know well how to use. the guards must have seen her, had she passed her own threshold in any human form. the casement was untouched, remaining exactly as the senora leon secured it with her own hand the preceding evening; and, even had she thence descended to the ground, she could have gone no further from the high and guarded walls. it may be magic: if so, and the devil hides himself in so fair a form, the saints preserve us! for we know not in whom next he will be hid." so spoke, gravely, seriously, undoubtingly, a wise and thoughtful spanish noble, of the fifteenth century; and so then thought the whole european world. stanley scarcely heard the last words; for in his mind, however sorcery might be synonymous with _judaism_ it certainly was not with _marie_; and he could only realize the fact of the utter impossibility of a voluntary flight. "had the queen seen her since her trial?" he inquired. "she had not; a fact which deepens her distress; for she fancies had marie been nearer her person, and aware of the full extent of her merciful intentions, this might have been averted. she believes that the smothered cry alluded to was really donna marie's; but, if so, what the dark power is, which has so trampled on the royal prerogative, is plunged in as impenetrable mystery as every thing else, in which donna marie has been concerned." "even the same dark power which seeks my destruction, and laid morales low," replied stanley, more as if thinking aloud than addressing his companion; "and when the clue to one mystery is found, the rest will follow. some fiend from hell is at work around us. morales is gone. marie has followed, and i shall be the next; and then, perhaps, the demon's reign will end, and the saints of heaven triumph." "would to heaven a jewess had never come amongst us," was the rejoinder; "there is always evil in their train." and the blood rushed to arthur's cheek, his hand involuntarily clenched, and his eye glanced defiance towards don felix, as if, even at such a moment, insult even in thought towards marie should not pass unquestioned; but he restrained himself, and the emotion was unnoticed. from that day so engrossed were the thoughts of the prisoner with vain speculations as to the fate of marie, that the fact of his own position remaining the same, and his hours of life waning fast, seemed actually unheeded. from don felix, in various visits, he heard that marie was no longer publicly spoken of; the excitement occasioned alike by her avowal and disappearance was fast fading from the imagination of the populace. the public jousts and festivals, intended to celebrate the visit of the sovereigns, but which morales's death and the events ensuing had so painfully suspended, were recommencing, and men flocked to them, as glad to escape from the mourning and mystery which had held sway so long. and now only three days intervened ere the expiration of the given month; and each day did the sub-prior of st. francis pass with the prisoner, exhorting, comforting, and strengthening him for the dread passage through which it was now too evident his soul must pass to eternity. it was with difficulty and pain, that stanley could even then so cease to think of marie, as to prepare himself with fitting sobriety and humility for the fate impending; but the warm sympathy of father francis, whose fine feelings had never been blunted by a life of rigid seclusion, won him to listen and to join in his prayers, and, gradually weaning his thoughts from their earthly resting, raised them to that heaven which, if he truly repented of sin, the good father assured him, was fast opening for him. under the inviolable seal of confession, arthur acknowledged his deep and long-cherished love for marie, his dislike to her husband, which naturally followed the discovery of her marriage, and the evil passions thence arising; but he never wavered in the reiteration of his innocence; adding, that he reproached no man with his death. the sentence was just according to the appearances against him. had he himself been amongst his judges, his own sentence would have been the same. yet still he was innocent; and father francis so believed him that, after pronouncing absolution and blessing, he hastened from the prisoner to the king to implore a yet longer reprieve. but ferdinand, though more moved by the prior's recital than he chose to display, remained firm; he had pledged his kingly word to the chief of the santa hermandad that the award of justice should not be waived without proof of innocence, and he could not draw back. one chance only he granted, urged to do so by an irresistible impulse, which how often comes we know not wherefore, till the event marks it as the whisper of some guardian angel, who has looked into the futurity concealed from us. the hour of the execution had been originally fixed for the sixth hour of the morning; it was postponed till noon. the morning dawned, and with its first beams came father francis to the prisoner. he found him calm and resigned: his last thought of earth was to commend marie, if ever found, to the holy father's care, conjuring him to deal gently and mercifully with a spirit so broken, and lead her to the sole fountain of peace by kindness, not by wrath; and to tell her how faithfully he had loved her to the last. much affected, father francis promised--aye, even to protect, if possible, an unbeliever. and stanley once mere knelt in prayer, every earthly thought at rest. the last quarter-bell had chimed; and ere it ceased, the step of don felix was heard in the passage, followed by the heavy tramp of the guard. the prior looked eagerly in the noble's countenance as he entered, hoping even then to read reprieve; but the stern yet sad solemnity on don felix's face betrayed the hope was vain. the hour had indeed come, and arthur stanley was led forth to death! chapter xxiii. "oh! blissful days, when all men worship god as conscience wills! far other times our fathers' grandsires knew. what tho' the skeptic's scorn hath dared to soil the record of their fame! what tho' the men of worldly minds have dared to stigmatize the sister-cause religion and the law with superstition's name! yet, yet their deeds, their constancy in torture and in death- these on tradition's tongue shall live; these shall on history's honest page be pictur'd bright to latest time." grahame. retrospection is not pleasant in a narrative; but, if marie has indeed excited any interest in our readers, they will forgive the necessity, and look back a few weeks ere they again arrive at the eventful day with which our last chapter closed. all that don felix had reported concerning the widow of morales was correct. the first stunning effects of her dread avowal were recovered, sense was entirely restored, but the short-lived energy had gone. the trial to passively endure is far more terrible than that which is called upon to _act_ and _do_. she soon discovered that, though nursed and treated with kindness, she was a prisoner in her own apartments. wish to leave them she had none, and scarcely the physical strength; but to sit idly down under the pressure of a double dread--the prisoner's fate and her own sentence--to have no call for energy, not a being for whom to rouse herself and live, not one for whose sake she might forget herself and win future happiness by present exertion; the past, one yearning memory for the husband, who had so soothed and cherished her, when any other would have cast her from his heart as a worthless thing; the present, fraught with thoughts she dared not think, and words she might not breathe; the very prayer for stanley's safety checked--for what could he be to her?--the future shrouded in a pall so dense, she could not read a line of its dark page, for the torch of hope was extinguished, and it is only by her light we can look forward; isabella's affection apparently lost for ever; was it marvel energy and hope had so departed, or that a deadening despondency seemed to crush her heart and sap the very springs of life? but in the midst of that dense gloom one ray there was, feeble indeed at first as if human suffering had deadened even that, but brightening and strengthening with every passing day. it was the sincerity of her faith--the dearer, more precious to its followers, from the scorn and condemnation, in which it was held by man. the fact that the most catholic kingdom, of spain, was literally peopled with secret jews, brands this unhappy people, with a degree of hypocrisy, in addition to the various other evil propensities with which they have been so plentifully charged. nay, even amongst themselves in modern times, this charge has gained ascendency; and the romance-writer who would make use of this extraordinary truth, to vividly picture the condition of the spanish jews, is accused of vilifying the nation, by reporting practices, opposed to the upright dictates of the religion of the lord. it is well to pronounce such judgment _now_, that the liberal position which we occupy in most lands, would render it the height of dissimulation, and hypocrisy, to conceal our faith; but to judge correctly of the secret adherence to judaism and public profession of catholicism which characterized our ancestors in spain, we must transport ourselves not only to the _country_ but to the _time_, and recall the awfully degraded, crushing, and stagnating position which _acknowledged judaism_ occupied over the whole known world. as early as 600--as soon, in fact, as the disputes and prosecutions of arian against catholic, and catholic against arian, had been checked by the whole of spain being subdued and governed by catholic kings--intolerance began to work against the jews, who had been settled in vast numbers in spain since the reign of the emperor adrian; some authorities assert still earlier.[a] they were, therefore, nearly the original colonists of the country, and regarded it with almost as much attachment as they had felt towards judea. when persecution began to work, "90,000 jews were compelled to receive the sacrament of baptism," the bodies of the more obstinate tortured, and their fortunes confiscated; and yet--a remarkable instance of inconsistency--_they were not permitted to leave spain_; and this species of persecution continued from 600 downwards. once or twice edicts of expulsion were issued, but speedily recalled; the tyrants being unwilling to dismiss victims whom they delighted to torture, or deprive themselves of industrious slaves over whom they might exercise a lucrative oppression; and a statute was enacted, "that the jews who had been baptized should be _constrained_, for the honor of the church, to persevere in the _external practice_ of a religion which they _inwardly_ disbelieved and detested."[b] [footnote a: basnage asserts that the jews were introduced into spain by the fleet of soloman, and the arms of nebuchadnezzar, and that hadrian transported _forty thousand_ families of the tribe of judah, and ten thousand of the tribe of benjamin, etc.] [footnote b: "gibbon's decline and fall," vol. 6, chap. xxxvii, from which all the previous sentences in inverted commas have been extracted.] how, then, can compelled obedience to this statute be termed hypocrisy? persecution, privation, tyranny, may torture and destroy the body, but they cannot force the mind to the adoption of, and belief in tenets, from which the very treatment they commanded must urge it to revolt. of the 90,000 jews forcibly baptized by order of sisebut, and constrained to the external profession of catholicism, not ten, in all probability, became actually christians. and yet how would it have availed them to relapse into the public profession of the faith they so obeyed and loved in secret? to leave the country was utterly impossible. it is easy to talk now of such proceedings being their right course of acting, when every land is open to the departure and entrance of every creed; but it was widely different then, and, even if they could have quitted spain, there was not a spot of ground, in the whole european and asiatic world, where persecution, extortion, and banishment would not equally have been their doom. constant relapses into external as well as internal judaism, there were, but they were but the signal for increased misery to the whole nation; and by degrees they ceased. it was from the forcible baptism of the 90,000 hebrews, by sisebut, that we may trace the origin of the secret jews. from father to son, from mother to daughter, the solemn secret descended, and gradually spread, still in its inviolable nature, through every rank and every profession, from the highest priest to the lowest friar, the general to the common soldier, the noble to the peasant, over the whole land. there were indeed some few in spain, before the final edict of expulsion in 1492, who were hebrews in external profession as well as internal observance; but their condition was so degraded, so scorned, so exposed to constant suffering, that it was not in human nature voluntarily to sink down to them, when, by the mere continuance of external catholicism--which from its universality, its long existence, and being in fact a rigidly enforced statute of the state, _could_ not be regarded either as hypocrisy or sin--they could take their station amongst the very highest and noblest of the land, and rise to eminence and power in any profession, civil, military, or religious, which they might prefer. the subject is so full of philosophical inquiry, that in the limits of a romance we cannot possibly do it justice; but to accuse the secret jews of spain of hypocrisy, of departing from the pure odinances of their religion, because _compelled_ to simulate catholicism, is taking indeed but a one-handed, short-sighted view of an extensive and intensely interesting topic. we may often hope for the _present_ by considering the changes of the _past_; but to attempt to pronounce judgment on the sentiments of the _past_ by reasoning of the _present_, when the mind is always advancing, is one of the weakest and idlest fallacies that ever entered the human breast. digression as this is, it is necessary clearly to comprehend the situation in which marie's avowal of her religion had placed her, and her reason for so carefully wording her information as to the existence of the secret closet, that no suspicion might attach itself to the religion of her husband. her confession sent a shock, which vibrated not only through isabella's immediate court, but through every part of spain. suspicion once aroused, none knew where it might end, or on whom fall. in her first impulse to save arthur, she had only thought of what such confession might bring to herself individually, and that was, comparatively, easy to endure; but as the excitement ceased, as the dread truth dawned upon her, that, if he must die at the expiration of the given month, her avowal had been utterly useless, the dread of its consequences, to the numerous secret members of her faith appalled her, and caused the firm, resolve under no circumstances to betray the religion of her husband. him indeed it could not harm; but that one so high in rank, in influence, in favor with sovereigns and people, was only outwardly a catholic, might have most fatal consequences on all his brethren. that he should have wedded a jewess might excite surprise, but nothing more; and in the midst of her varied sufferings she could rejoice that all suspicion as to his race and faith had been averted. she felt thankful also at being kept so close a prisoner, for she dreaded the wrath of those whom her avowal might have unwittingly injured. such an instance had never been known before, and she might justly tremble at the chastisement it might bring upon her even from her own people. as long as she was under isabella's care she was safe from this; all might feel the vibration, but none dared evince that they did, by the adoption of any measures against her, further than would be taken by the catholics themselves. knowing this, her sole prayer, her sole effort was to obtain mental strength sufficient under every temptation, either from severity or kindness, to adhere unshrinkingly to the faith of her fathers--to cling yet closer to the love of her father in heaven, and endeavor, with all the lowly trust and fervid feelings of her nature, to fill the yearning void within her woman's heart with his image, and so subdue every human love. it seemed to her vivid fancy as if all the misfortunes she had encountered sprung from her first sin--that of loving a nazarene. hers was not the age to make allowances for circumstances in contradistinction to actual deeds. then, as unhappily but too often now, all were sufferings from a misplaced affection--sprung, not from her fault, but from the mistaken kindness which it exposed her to without due warning of her danger. educated with the strong belief, that to love or wed, beyond the pale of her own people was the greatest sin she could commit, short of actual apostacy, that impression, though not strong enough, so to conquer human nature, as to arm against love, returned with double force, as sorrow after sorrow gathered round her, and there were none beside her to whisper and strengthen, with the blessed truth that god afflicts yet more in mercy than in wrath; and that his decrees, however fraught with human anguish, are but blessings in disguise--blessings, sown indeed with tears on earth, to reap their deathless fruit in heaven. but though firmly believing all her suffering was deserved, aware that when she first loved arthur, the rebel-thought--"why am i of a race so apart and hated?" had very frequently entered her heart, tempting her at times with fearful violence to give up all for love of man; yet marie knew that the god of her fathers was a god of love, calling even upon the greatest sinner to return to him repentant and amending, and that even as a little child such should be forgiven. he had indeed proclaimed himself a jealous god, and would have no idol-worship, were it by wood or stone, or, far more dangerous, of human love; and she prayed unceasingly for strength to return to him with an undivided heart, even if to do so demanded not only separation from stanley--but a trial in her desolate position almost as severe--the loss of isabella's confidence and love. few words passed between marie and her guardians; their manner was kind and gentle, but intercourse between rigid catholics and a proclaimed jewess, could not be other wise than restrained. from the time that reason returned, the queen had not visited her, doing actual violence to her own inclinations from tire mistaken--but in that age and to her character natural--dread that the affection and interest she felt towards marie personally, would lessen the sentiments of loathing and abhorrence with which it was her duty to regard her faith. isabella had within herself all the qualifications of a martyr. once impressed that it was a religious duty, she would do violence to her most cherished wishes, sacrifice her dearest desires, her best affections, resign her most eagerly pursued plans--not without suffering indeed, but, according to the mistaken tenets of her religion, the greater personal suffering, the more meritorious was the deed believed to be. this spirit would, had she lived in an age when the catholic faith was the persecuted, not the persecutor, have led her a willing martyr to the stake; as it was, this same spirit led to the establishment of the inquisition, and expulsion of the jews--deeds so awful in their consequences, that the actual motive of the woman-heart which prompted them, is utterly forgotten, and herself condemned. we must indeed deplore the mistaken tenets that could obtain such influence--deplore that man could so pervert the service of a god of love, as to believe and inculcate that such things could be acceptable to him; but we should pause, and ask, if we ourselves had been influenced by such teaching, could we break from it? ere we condemn. isabella's own devoted spirit could so enter into the real reason of marie's self abnegation for arthur's sake, that it impelled her to love her more; while at the very same time the knowledge of her being a jewess, whom she had always been taught and believed must be accursed in the sight of god, and lost eternally unless brought to believe in jesus, urged her entirely to conquer that affection, lest its indulgence should interfere with her resolution, if kindness failed, by severity to accomplish her own version. she was too weak in health, and isabella intuitively felt too terribly anxious as to young stanley's fate, to attempt any thing till after the expiration of the month; and she passed that interval in endeavoring to calm down her own feelings towards her. so fifteen days elapsed. on the evening of the fifteenth, marie, feeling unusually exhausted, had sunk down, without disrobing, on her couch, and at length fell into a slumber so deep and calm, that her guardians, fearing to disturb it, and aware that her dress was so loose and light, it could not annoy her, retired softly to their own chamber without arousing her. how many hours this lethargic sleep lasted, marie knew not, but was at length broken by a dream of terror, and so unusually vivid, that its impression lasted even through the terrible reality which it heralded. she beheld arthur stanley on the scaffold about to receive the sentence of the law--the block, the axe, the executioner with his arm raised, and apparently already deluged in blood--the gaping crowds--all the fearful appurtenances of an execution were distinctly traced, and she thought she sprung towards stanley, who clasped her in his arms, and the executioner, instead of endeavoring to part them, smiled grimly as rejoicing in having two victims instead of one; and as he smiled, the countenance seemed to change from being entirely unknown to the sneering features of the hated don luis garcia. she seemed to cling yet closer to stanley, and knelt with, him to receive the blow; when, at that moment, the scaffold shook violently, as by the shock of an earthquake, a dark chashm yawned beneath their feet, in the centre of which stood the spectral figure of her husband, his countenance ghastly and stern, and his arm upraised as beckoning her to join him. and then he spoke; but his voice sounded unlike his own:-"marie henriquez morales! awake, arise, and follow!" and with such extraordinary clearness did the words fall, that she started up in terror, believing they must have been spoken by her side--and they were! they might have mingled with, perhaps even created her dream. she still lay on her couch; but it seemed to have sunk down through the very floor of the apartment[a] she had occupied, and at its foot stood a figure, who, with upraised arm held before her a wooden cross. his cowl was closely drawn, and a black robe, of the coarsest serge, was secured round his waist by a hempen cord. whether he had indeed spoken the words she had heard in her dream marie could not tell, for they were not repeated. she saw him approach her, and she felt his strong grasp lift her from the couch, which sprung up, by the touch of some secret spring, to the place whence it had descended; and she heard no more. [footnote a: i may be accused in this scene, of too closely imitating a somewhat similar occurrence in anne of geirstein. such seeming plagiarism was scarcely possible to be avoided, when the superstitious proceedings of the _vehmic_ tribunal of germany and the _secret_ inquisition of spain are represented by history as so very similar.] chapter xxiv. "isabel.--ha! little honor to be much believed, and most pernicious purpose--seeming, seeming. i will proclaim thee, angelo! look for't; sign me a present pardon- or, with an outstretch'd throat, i'll tell the world aloud what man thou art. "angelo.--who will believe thee? my unsoil'd name, th' austereness of my life, my vouch against you, and my place i' the state, will so your accusation overweigh that you will stifle in your own report the smile of calumny." shakspeare. when marie recovered consciousness, she found herself in a scene so strange, so terrific, that it appeared as if she must have been borne many miles from segovia, so utterly impossible did it seem, that such awful orgies could be enacted within any short distance of the sovereigns' palace, or their subjects' homes. she stood in the centre of a large vaulted subterranean hall, which, from the numerous arched entrances to divers passages and smaller chambers that opened on every side, appeared to extend far and wide beneath the very bowels of the earth. it was lighted with torches, but so dimly, that the gloom exaggerated the horrors, which the partial light disclosed. instruments of torture of any and every kind--the rack, the wheel, the screw, the cord, and fire--groups of unearthly-looking figures, all clad in the coarse black serge and hempen belt; some with their faces concealed by hideous masks, and others enveloped in the cowls, through which only the eyes could be distinguished, the figure of the cross upon the breast, and under that emblem, of divine peace, inflicting such horrible tortures on their fellow-men that the pen shrinks from their delineation. nor was it the mere instruments of torture marie beheld: she saw them in actual use; she heard the shrieks and groans of the hapless victims, at times mingled with the brutal leers and jests of their fiendish tormentors; she seemed to take in at one view, every species of torture that could be inflicted, every pain that could be endured; and yet, comparatively, but a few of the actual sufferers were visible. the shrillest sounds of agony came from the gloomy arches, in which no object could be distinguished. whatever suffering meets the sight, it does not so exquisitely affect the brain as that which reaches it through the ear. at the former the heart may bleed and turn sick; but at the latter the brain seems, for the moment, wrought into frenzy; and, even though personally in safety, it is scarcely possible to restrain the same sounds from bursting forth. how then must those shrill sounds of human agony have fallen on the hapless marie, recognizing as she did with the rapidity of thought, in the awful scene around her, the main hall of that mysterious and terrible tribunal, whose existence from her earliest infancy had been impressed upon her mind, as a double incentive to guard the secret of her faith; that very inquisition, from which her own grandfather, julien heuriquez, had fled, and in which the less fortunate grandfather of her slaughtered husband, had been tortured and burnt. for a second she stood mute and motionless, as turned to stone; then, pressing both hands tightly on her temples, she sunk down at the feet of her conductor, and sought in words to beseech his mercy; but her white lips gave vent to no sound save a shriek, so wild that it seemed, for the moment, to drown all other sorrows, and startle even the human fiends around her. her conductor himself started back; but quickly recovering-"fool!" he muttered, as he rudely raised her. "i have no power to aid thee; come before the superior--we must all obey--ask him, implore him, for mercy, not me." he bore her roughly to a recess, divided off at the upper end of the hall, by a thick black drapery, in which sat the grand inquisitor and his two colleagues. one or two familiars were behind them, and a secretary sat near a table covered with black cloth, and on which were several writing implements. all wore masks of black crape, so thick that not a feature could be discerned with sufficient clearness for recognition elsewhere; yet, one glance on the stern, motionless figure, designated as the grand inquisitor, sufficed to bid every drop of blood recede from the prisoner's heart with human terror, at the very same moment that it endowed the _woman_ with such supernatural fortitude that her very form seemed to dilate, and her large eye and lovely mouth expressed--if it could be, in such a scene and such an hour--unutterable scorn. antipathy, even as love, will pierce disguise; and that one glance, lit up with almost bewildering light, in the prisoner's mind, link after link of what had before been impenetrable mystery. her husband's discovery of her former love for arthur; his murder; the suspicion thrown on stanley; her own summons as witness against him; her present danger; all, all were traced to one individual, one still working and most guilty passion, which she, in her gentle purity and holy strength, had scorned. she could not be deceived--the mystery that surrounded him was solved--antipathy explained; and marie's earthly fate lay in don luis garcia's hands! the grand inquisitor read in that glance that he was known; and for a brief minute a strange, an incomprehensible sensation, thrilled through him. it could scarcely have been fear, when one gesture of his hand would destine that frail being to torture, imprisonment, and death; and yet never before in his whole life of wickedness, had he experienced such a feeling as he did at that moment beneath a woman's holy gaze. anger at himself for the sensation, momentary as it was, increased the virulence of other passions; but then was not the hour for their betrayal. in low, deep tones, he commenced the mockery of a trial. that her avowal of her faith would elude torture, by at once condemning her to the flames, was disregarded. she was formally accused of blasphemy and heresy, and threatened with the severest vengeance of the church which she had reviled; but that this case of personal guilt would be mercifully laid aside for the present, for still more important considerations. was her late husband, they demanded, of the same blaspheming creed as herself? and a list of names, comprising some of the highest families of spain, was read out and laid before her, with the stern command to affix a mark against all who, like herself, had relapsed into the foul heresy of their ancestors--to do this, or the torture should wring it from her. but the weakness of humanity had passed; and so calm, so collected, so firm, was the prisoner's resolute refusal to answer either question, that the familiar to whom she had clung for mercy looked at her with wonder. again and again she was questioned; instruments of torture were brought before her--one of the first and slightest used--more to terrify than actually to torture, for that was not yet the grand inquisitor's design; and still she was firm, calm, unalterable in her resolution to refuse reply. and then don luis spoke of mercy, which was to consist of imprisonment in solitude and darkness, to allow time for reflection on her final answer--a concession, he said, in a tone far more terrifying to marie than even the horrors around her, only granted in consideration of her age and sex. none opposed the sentence; and she was conducted to a close and narrow cell, in which no light could penetrate save through a narrow chink in the roof. how many days and nights thus passed the hapless prisoner could not have told, for there was nothing to mark the hours. her food was delivered to her by means of a turn-screw in the wall, so that not even the sight of a fellow-creature could disturb her solitude, or give her the faintest hope of exciting human pity. her sole hope, her sole refuge was in prayer; and, oh! how blessed was the calm, the confidence it gave. so scanty was her allowance of food, that more than once the thought, crossed her, whether or not, death by famine would be her allotted doom; and human nature shuddered, but the spirit did not quail! hour after hour passed, she knew not whether it was night or day, when the gloom of her dungeon was suddenly illumined; she knew not at first how or whence, so noiseless was the entrance of the intruder, but gradually she traced the light to a small lamp held in the hand of a shrouded individual, whom she recognized at once. there was one fearful thrill of mortal dread, one voiceless cry for strength from heaven, and marie morales stood before don luis erect and calm, and firm as in her hour of pride. garcia now attempted no concealment. his mask had been cast aside, and his features gleamed without any effort at hypocritical restraint, in all the unholy passions of his soul. we will not pollute our pages with transcribing the fearful words of passions contending in their nature, yet united in their object, with which the pure ear of his prisoner was first assailed--still lingering desire, yet hate, wrath, fury, that she should dare still oppose, and scorn, and loathe him; rage with himself, that, strive as he might, even he was baffled by the angel purity around her; longing to wreak upon her every torture that his hellish office gave him unchecked power to inflict, yet fearing that, if he did so, death would release her ere his object was attained; all strove and raged within him, making his bosom a very hell, from which there was no retracting, yet whose very flames incited deeper fury towards the being whom he believed their cause. "and solitude, darkness, privation--have they so little availed that thou wilt tempt far fiercer sufferings?" he at length demanded, struggling to veil his fury in a quiet, concentrated tone. "thou hast but neared the threshold of the tortures which one look, one gesture of my hand, can gather around thee; tortures which the strongest sinew, the firmest mind, have been unable to sustain--how will that weakened frame endure?" "it can but die," replied the prisoner, "as nobler and better ones have done before me!" "die!" repeated garcia, and he laughed mockingly. "thinkest thou we know our trade so little that such release can baffle us? i tell thee, pain of itself has never yet had power to kill; and we have learned the measure of endurance in the human form so well, that we have never yet been checked by death, ere our ends were gained. and so will it be with thee, boldly as now thou speakest. thou hast but tasted pain!" "better the sharpest torture than thy hated presence," calmly rejoined marie. "my soul thou canst not touch." "soul! has a jewess a soul? nay, by my faith, thou talkest bravely! an thou hast, thou hadst best be mine, and so share my salvation; there's none for such as thee." "man!" burst indignantly from the prisoner. "share thy salvation! great god of israel! that men like these have power to persecute thy children for their faith, and do it in thy name! and speak of mercy! thou hast but given me another incentive for endurance," she continued, more calmly addressing her tormentor. "if salvation be denied to us, and granted thee, i would refuse it with my dying breath; such faith is not of god!" "i came not hither to enter on such idle quibbles," was the rejoinder. "it matters not to me what thou art after death, but before it mine thou shalt be. what hinders me, at this very moment, from working my will upon thee? who will hear thy cry? or, hearing, will approach thee? these walls have heard too many sounds of human agony to bear thy voice to those who could have mercy. tempt me not by thy scorn too far. what holds me from thee now?" "what holds thee from me? god!" replied the prisoner, in a tone of such, thrilling, such supernatural energy, that garcia actually started as if some other voice than hers had spoken, and she saw him glance fearfully round. "thou darest not touch me! ay, villain--blackest and basest as thou art--thou darest not do it. the god thine acts, yet more than thy words blaspheme, withholds thee--and thou knowest it!" "i defy him!" were the awful words that answered her; and don luis sprang forwards. "back!" exclaimed the heroic girl. "advance one step nearer, and thy vengeance, even as thy passion, will alike be foiled--and may god forgive the deed i do." she shook down the beautiful tresses of her long luxuriant hair, and, parting them with both hands around her delicate throat, stood calmly waiting in don luis's movements the signal for her own destruction. "fool!" he muttered, as involuntarily he fell back, awed--in spite of his every effort to the contrary--at a firmness as unexpected as it was unwavering. "fool! thou knowest not the power it is thy idle pleasure to defy; thou wilt learn it all too soon, and then in vain regret thy scorn of my proffer now. thou hast added tenfold to my wild yearning for revenge on thy former scorn--tenfold! ay, twice tenfold, to thy own tortures. yet, once more, i bid thee pause and choose. fools there are, who dare all personal physical torment, and yet shrink and quail before the thought of death for a beloved one. idiots, who for others, sacrifice themselves; perchance thou wilt be one of them. listen, and tremble; or, sacrifice, and save! when in thy haughty pride, and zenith of thy power, thou didst scorn me, and bidding me, with galling contempt, go from thy presence as if i were a loathsome reptile, unworthy even of thy tread, i bade thee beware, and to myself swore vengeance. and knowest thou how that was accomplished? who led thy doting husband where he might hear thine own lips proclaim thy falsity? who poisoned the chalice of life, which had been so sweet, ere it was dashed from his lips by death? who commanded the murderer's blow, and the weapon with which it was accomplished? who laid the charge of his murder on the foreign minion, and brought thee in evidence against him? who but i--even i! and if i have done all this, thinkest thou to elude my further vengeance? i tell thee, if thou refuse the grace i proffer, arthur stanley dies; accept it, and he lives!" "and not at such a price would arthur stanley wish, to live," replied marie calmly. "he would spurn existence purchased thus." "ay, perchance, if he knew it; but be it as thou wilt, he shall know thou couldst have saved him and refused." "and thinkest thou he will believe thee? as little as i believed him my husband's murderer. how little knowest thou the trust of love! he will not die," she continued emphatically; "his innocence shall save him--thy crime be known." "ay!" replied garcia, with a sneering laugh. "give thyself wings as a bird, and still stone walls will encircle thee; dwindle into thin air, and gain the outer world, and tell thy tale, and charge don luis garcia with the deed, and who will believe thee? thinkest thou i would have boasted of my triumphant vengeance to aught who could betray me? why my very tool, the willing minister of my vengeance--who slew morales merely because i bade him--might not live, lest he should be tempted to betray me; i slew him with my own hand. what sayest thou now--shall stanley live, if i say let him die?" there was no reply, but he looked in vain for any diminution in the undaunted resolution which still sustained her. "i go," he continued, after a pause. "yet, once more, i charge thee choose; accept the terms i proffer--be mine--and thou art saved from all further torture thyself, and stanley lives. refuse, and the english minion dies; and when thou and i next meet, it will be where torture and executioners wait but my nod to inflict such suffering that thou wilt die a thousand deaths in every pang. and, jewess--unbeliever as thou art--who will dare believe it more than public justice, or accuse me of other than the zeal, which the service of christ demands? choose, and quickly--wilt thou accept my proffers, and be mine? thou must, at last. what avails this idle folly of tempting torture first?" "thou mayest kill my body, but thou canst not pollute my soul," was the instant reply, and its tones were unchanged. "and as for stanley, his life or death is not in thine hands; but if it were, i could not--nay, thus i _would_ not--save him. i reject thy proffers, as i scorn thyself. now leave me--i have chosen!" don luis did not reply, but marie beheld his cheek grow livid, and the foam actually gather on his lip; but the calm and holy gaze she had fixed upon him, as he spoke, quailed not, nor changed. the invisible door of her cell closed with a deep, sullen sound, as if her tormentor had thus, in some measure, given vent to the unutterable fury shaking his soul to its centre; and marie was alone. she stood for many, many minutes, in the fearful dread of his return; and then she raised her hand to her brow, and her lip blanched and quivered, and, with a long, gasping breath, she sunk down upon the cold floor--all the heroine lost in an agonized burst of tears. chapter xxv. "hovers the steel above his head, suspended by a spider thread: on, on! a life hangs on thy speed; with lightning wing the gallant steed! buoy the full heart up! it will sink if it but pause to feel and think. there is no time to dread his fate: no thought but one--too late, too late!" ms. too soon did marie realize the power of don luis to exercise his threatened vengeance! two days after that terrible interview, she was again dragged to the hall of judgment: the same questions were proposed as before, whether or not she would denounce the secret followers of her own creed, and confess her late husband's real belief; and the same firm answers given. we shrink in loathing from the delineation of horrible tortures applied to that frail and gentle being--shrink, for we know that such things actually have been; and women--young, lovely, inoffensive as marie morales--have endured the same exquisite agony for the same iniquitous purpose! in public, charged to denounce innocent fellow-beings, or suffer; in private--in those dark and fearful cells--exposed to all the horror and terror of such persecution as we have faintly endeavored to describe. it is no picture of the imagination, delighting to dwell on horrors. would that it were! its parallel will be found, again and again repeated, in the annals--not of the inquisition alone--but of every european state where the romanists held sway. but marie's prayer for superhuman strength had been heard. no cry, scarcely a groan, escaped her. she saw don luis at her side; she heard his hissing whisper that there was yet time to retract and be released; but she deigned him no reply whatever. it was not his purpose to try her endurance to the utmost in the first, second, or third trial; though, so enraged at her calmness, as scarcely to be able to restrain it even before his colleagues, and with difficulty controlling his fiendish desire to increase the torture to its utmost at once, he remanded her to her dungeon till his further pleasure should be known. she had fainted under the intolerable pain, and lay for many successive hours, too exhausted even to raise to her parched lips the pitcher of water lying near her. and even the gradual cessation of suffering, the sensation of returning power, brought with them the agonized thought, that they did but herald increased and increasing torture. one night--she knew not how long after she had been remanded to her cell, but, counting by suffering, it felt many weary nights and days--she sunk into a sleep or trance, which transported her to her early home in the vale of cedars. her mother seemed again to stand before her; and she thought, as she heard her caressing voice, and met the glance of her dove-like eyes, she laid her head on her bosom, as she was wont to do in her happy childhood; and peace seemed to sink into her heart so blessedly, so deeply, that the very fever of her frame departed. a voice aroused her with a start; it was so like her mother's, that the dream seemed lingering still. "marie, my beloved one," murmured the voice, and a breath fanned her cheek, as if some one were leaning over her. she unclosed her eyes--the words, the voice, still so kept up the illusion, though the tones were deeper than a woman's, that even the hated dress of a familiar of the inquisition could not create alarm. "hast thou forgotten me, my child? but it matters not now. say only thou wilt trust me, and safety lies before us. the fiends hold not their hellish court to-night; and the arch-fiend himself is far distant, on a sudden summons from the king, which, though the grand inquisitor might scorn, don luis will obey. wilt come with me, my child?" "ay, any where! that voice could not deceive: but 'tis all vain," she continued, the first accents of awakened hope lost in despondency--"i cannot rise." "it needs not. do thou hold the lantern, marie; utter not a word--check even thy breath--and the god of thy fathers shall save thee yet." he raised her gently in his arms; and the hope of liberty, of rescue from don luis, gave her strength to grasp the light to guide them. she could not trace their way, but she felt they left the dungeon, and traversed many long, damp, and narrow passages, seemingly excavated in the solid earth. all was silent, and dark as the tomb; now and then her guide paused, as if to listen; but there was no sound. he knew well the secret paths he trod. the rapid motion, even the sudden change, almost deprived marie of consciousness. she was only sensible, by a sudden change from the close, damp, passages to the free breezes of night, that she was in the open air, and apparently a much freer path; that still her guide pressed swiftly onwards, apparently scarcely feeling her light weight; that, after a lengthened interval, she was laid tenderly on a soft, luxurious couch--at least, so it seemed, compared with the cold floor of her cell; that the blessed words of thanksgiving that she was safe broke from that strangely familiar voice; and she asked no more--seemed even to wish no more--so completely was all physical power prostrated. she lay calm and still, conscious only that she was saved. her guide himself for some time disturbed her not; but after changing his dress, and preparing a draught of cooling herbs, he knelt down, raised her head on his knee with almost woman's tenderness, and, holding the draught to her lips, said, gently-"drink, beloved child of my sainted sister; there is life and health in the draught." hastily swallowing it, marie gazed wildly in his face.--the habiliments of the familiar had been changed for those of a benedictine monk; his cowl thrown back, and the now well remembered countenance of her uncle julien was beaming over her. in an instant, the arm she could still use was thrown round him, and her head buried in his bosom; every pulse throbbing with the inexpressible joy of finding, when most desolate, one relative to love and save her still. julien left not his work of healing and of security incomplete; gradually he decreased, by the constant application of linen bathed in some cooling fluid, the scorching fire which still seemed to burn within the maimed and shrivelled limb; parted the thick masses of dishevelled hair from her burning temples, and bathed them with some cooling and reviving essence; gently removed the sable robes, and replaced them, with the dress of a young novice which he had provided; concealed her hair beneath the white linen hood, and then, administering a potion which he knew would produce deep and refreshing sleep, and so effectually calm the fevered nerves, she sunk down on the soft moss and heath which formed her couch, and slept calmly and sweetly as an infant for many hours. julien morales had entered segovia in his monkish garb, as was frequently his custom, on the evening of the trial.--the excitement of the whole city naturally called forth his queries as to its cause; and the information imparted--the murder of don ferdinand, and incomprehensible avowal of judaism on the part of his niece--demanded a powerful exercise of self-control to prevent, by a betrayal of unusual grief and horror, his near relationship to both parties. hovering about the palace, he heard of isabella's merciful intentions towards marie; and feeling that his presence might only agitate, and could in nothing avail her, he had resolved on leaving the city without seeing her, when her mysterious disappearance excited all segovia anew. julien morales alone, perhaps, amidst hundreds, in his own mind solved the mystery at once. well did he know tire existence of the secret inquisition. as we narrated in one of our early chapters, the fate of his father had so fixed itself upon his mind, that he had bound himself by a secret, though solemn oath, as his avenger. to accomplish this fully, he had actually spent ten years of his life as familiar in the inquisition. the fate of don luis's predecessor had been plunged in the deepest mystery. some whispered his death was by a subtle poison; others, that his murderer had sought him in the dead of night, and, instead of treacherously dealing the blow, had awakened him, and bade him confess his crimes--one especially; and acknowledge that if the mandate of the eternal, "whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," were still to govern man, his death was but an act of justice which might not be eluded. whether these whispered rumors had to do with julien morales or not, we leave to the judgment of our readers.--suffice it, that not only was his vow accomplished, but, during his ten years' residence in these subterranean halls, he naturally became familiarized with all their secret passages and invisible means of egress and ingress--not only to the apparently private homes of unoffensive citizens, but into the wild tracts of country scattered round. by one of these he had, in fact, effected his own escape; and in the mild and benevolent benedictine monk--known alike to the cities and solitudes of spain--none would have recognized the former familiar of the inquisition, and still less have imagined him the being which in reality he was--a faithful and believing jew. to him, then, it was easy to connect the disappearance of marie with the existence of the holy office, even though he was entirely ignorant of garcia's ulterior designs. in an agony of apprehension, he resolved on saving her if possible, even while he trembled at the delay which must necessarily ensue ere he could arrange and execute his plans, more especially as it was dangerous to associate a second person in their accomplishment. with all his haste and skill he was not in time to save her from the barbarity of her misnamed judges. his very soul was wrung, as he stood amongst the familiars a silent witness of her sufferings; but to interfere was impossible. one thing, however, was favorable. he knew she would not be again disturbed till a sufficient time had elapsed for the recovery of such strength as would enable her to endure further torture; and he had, therefore, some time before him for their flight. her voluntary avowal of her faith--aware too, as she was, of the existence of the inquisition--had, indeed, perplexed the good uncle greatly; but she was in no state, even when partially recovered from physical weakness, to enter into explanation then. he saw she was unhappy, and the loss of her husband might well account for it. to the rumors which had reached him in segovia, as to the suppositions of the real cause of stanley's enmity to morales, and marie's self-sacrifice, he would not even listen, so completely without foundation did they seem to him. the second evening after their escape, they left the cave to pursue their journey. father ambrose--for so, now he has resumed his monkish garb, we must term julien--had provided a mule for the novice's use; and thus they leisurely traversed the desolate and mountainous tract forming the boundaries of the provinces now termed old and new castile. neither uncle nor niece spoke of their destined goal; marie intuitively felt she was proceeding to the vale of cedars, the only place of safety now for her; but, so engrossed was her mind with the vain thought how to save arthur, that for herself she could not frame a wish. the second evening of their journey they entered a small, straggling village, so completely buried in mountains that its existence was unknown save to its own rustic inhabitants. the appearance of a monk evidently caused an unusual excitement, which was speedily explained. the chief of the villagers approached father ambrose, and, addressing him with the greatest respect, entreated him to follow him to his house, where, he said, lay a man at the point of death, who had, from the time he became aware of his dangerous position, incessantly called for a priest to shrive him from some deadly sin. he had been found, the villager continued. in a deep pit sunk in a solitary glen half way to segovia, with every appearance of attempted murder, which, being supposed complete, the assassins had thrown him into the pit to conceal their deed; but chancing to hear his groans as he passed, he had rescued him, and hoped to have cured his wounds. for three weeks they seemed to progress favorably, but then fever--occurring, he thought, from great restlessness of mind--had rapidly increased, and, after ten days of fearful struggle between life and death mortification had ensued, and hope could exist no longer at first, perez added, he seemed to shrink from the idea of priestly aid, only harping on one theme--to get strength enough to reach segovia, and speak to the king. they had thought him mad, but humored him; but now he was almost furious in his wild cries for a priest, not only to shrive him, but to bear his message to the king. they had tried to gratify him, but their distance from any town or monastery had prevented it; and they now, therefore, hailed father ambrose almost as sent from heaven to save a sinner by absolution ere he died. this tale was told as the monk and novice hastened with. perez to his house. the poor inhabitants thronged his path to crave a blessing, and proffer every attention their simple means afforded. fearing for marie, julien's only care was for the supposed novice; and therefore perez, at his request, eagerly led her to a large comfortable chamber, far removed from the bustle of the house, and left her to repose. but repose was not at that moment possible, even though her slightly returning strength was exhausted, from the fatigue of a long day's travel. fruit and cakes were before her; but, though her mouth was parched and dry, she turned from them in loathing; and interminable seemed the space till father ambrose returned. ere he spoke, he carefully closed and secured the door, and exclaimed, in a low, cautious tone, "my child, this is indeed the finger of a righteous god--blessed be his name! the unhappy man to whose dying bed they brought me--" "is the murderer of my husband!" interposed marie in a tone of almost unnatural calmness. "i knew it from the first moment perez spoke. we have but to think of one thing now--stanley is innocent, and must be saved!" "and shall be, if possible, my child; but there are fearful difficulties in the way. the unhappy man conjures me not to leave him, and is in such a horrible state of mental and bodily agony that i fear if i do, he will commit some act of violence on himself, and so render his evidence of no avail. we are not much above sixty miles from segovia, but the roads are cross and rugged; so that it will need steadiness and speed, and instant audience with the king." "but time--have we time?" reiterated marie. "say but there is time, and every other difficulty shall be smoothed." "there is full time: the execution is not till the second day after to-morrow. nay, my child," he added, observing her look of doubting bewilderment, "suffering makes the hours seem longer than they are. fear not for time, but counsel me whom to send. who amongst these poor ignorant rustics will ever reach the king--or, failing him, the chief hermano--and make his tale so sufficiently clear as to release the prisoner, and send messengers here with the necessary speed to take down this man's confession? he cannot linger two days more. would that i could go myself; but i can leave neither him nor thee." "and it needs not," was the firm reply. "father, i myself will do thy errand. there must be no delay, no chance of hesitation in its accomplishment. ah! do not look upon me as if my words were wild and vain; were there other means i would not speak them--but he must be saved!" "and again at the sacrifice of thy safety--perchance thy life! marie, marie! what hold has this young stranger upon thee that thou shouldest twice so peril thyself? thy life is dearer to me than his--i cannot grant thy boon." "nay, but thou must. listen to me, my second father! if stanley dies, his blood is on my head!" and struggling with strong emotion, she poured forth her whole tale. "and thou lovest him still--him, a nazarene--thou, child, wife, of an unstained race! and is it for this, thy zeal to save him?" ejaculated julien, retreating several paces from her--"can it be?" "i would save him because he is innocent--because he has borne more than enough for me; for aught else, thou wrongest me, father. he will never be to me more than he is now." it was impossible to resist the tone of mournful reproach in which those simple words were said. julien pressed her to his bosom, bade god bless her, and promised, if indeed there were no other means, her plan should be adopted; objection after objection, indeed, he brought forward, but all were overruled. she pledged herself to retain her disguise, and to return with perez, without hesitation, and accompany her uncle to the vale, as intended. but that she should start at once, he positively refused. how could she hope to accomplish her journey without, at least, two hours' repose? it was then late in the evening. at six the next morning all should be ready for her journey, and there would be still more than twenty-four hours before her; marie tried to be content, but the horrible dread of being too late did not leave her for a moment, even in sleep, and inexpressibly thankful was she when the morning dawned. julien's provident care had been active while she slept. perez, flattered at the trust reposed in him, had offered himself to accompany the young novice to segovia: and at the appointed hour he was ready, mounted himself, and leading a strong, docile palfrey for brother ernest's use. he knew an hostellerie, he said, about twenty miles from the city, where their steeds could be changed; and promised by two hours after noon, the very latest, the novice should be with the king. it could be done in less time, he said; but his reverence had told him the poor boy was unusually delicate, and had, moreover, lost the use of his left arm; and he thought, as there was so much time before them, it was needless to exhaust his strength before his errand was done. julien expressed his entire satisfaction, gave them his blessing, and they were rapidly out of sight. once or twice they halted to give their horses rest and refresh themselves; but so absorbed were the senses of marie, that she was unconscious of fatigue. every mile they traversed seemed bearing a heavy load from her chest, and enabling her to breathe more freely; while the fresh breeze and exciting exercise seemed actually to revive her. it wanted rather more than an hour for noon when they reached the hostellerie mentioned by perez. two fleet and beautiful horses were speedily provided for them, bread and fruit partaken, and perez, ready mounted, was tasting the stirrup cup, when his friend demanded-"is it to segovia ye are bound?" "yes, man, on an important errand, charged by his reverence father ambrose himself." "his reverence should have sent you two hours earlier, and you would have been in time for one of the finest sights seen since isabella--god bless her!--begun to reign. they were common enough a few years back." "what sight? and why am i not in time?" "now, art thou not the veriest rustic to be so entirely ignorant of the world's doings? why, to-day is the solemn execution of the young foreigner whom they believe we have murdered don ferdinand morales--the saints preserve him! he is so brave a fellow, they say, that had it not been for this confounded hostellerie i would have made an effort to be present: i love to see how a brave man meets death. it was to have been two hours after day-break this morning, but juan here tells me it was postponed till noon. the king--" he was proceeding, when he was startled by a sharp cry, and perez, hastily turning, caught the novice as he was in the act of falling from his horse. in an instant, however, he recovered, and exclaiming, in a thrilling tone of excitement-"father ambrose said life or death hung upon our speed and promptness; he knew not the short interval allowed us. this young foreigner is innocent--the real murderer is discovered. on--, on, for mercy, or we shall be too late!"--gave his horse the rein, and the animal started off at full speed. perez was at his side in an instant, leaving his friend open-mouthed with astonishment, and retailing the marvellous news into twenty different quarters in as many seconds. not a word was spoken; not a moment did the fiery chargers halt in their headlong way. on, on they went; on, over wide moors and craggy steeps; on, through the rushing torrent and the precipitous glen; on, through the forest and the plain, with the same unwavering pace. repeatedly did marie's brain reel, and her heart grow sick, and her limbs lose all power either to guide or feel; but she neither spoke nor flagged--convulsively she grasped the reins, and closed her eyes, as the voice and hand of her companion urged their steeds swifter and yet swifter on. an exclamation from perez roused her. the turrets of segovia were visible in the distance, glittering in the brilliant sun; but her blood-shot eye turned with sickening earnestness more towards the latter object than the former. it had not yet attained its full meridian--a quarter of an hour, perhaps twenty minutes, was still before them. but the strength of their horses was flagging, foam covered their glossy hides, their nostrils were distended, they breathed hard, and frequently snorted--the short, quick, sound of coming powerlessness. their steady pace wavered, their heads drooped; but, still urged on by perez's encouraging voice, they exerted themselves to the utmost--at times darting several paces suddenly forward, then stumbling heavily on. the cold dew stood on marie's brow, and every pulse seemed stilled. they passed the outer gates--they stood on the brow of a hill commanding a view of the whole city. the castle seemed but a stone's throw from, them; but the sound of muffled drums and other martial instruments were borne towards them on the air. multitudes were thronging in one direction; the calle soledad seemed one mass of human heads, save where the scaffold raised its frightful sign above them. soldiers were advancing, forming a thin, glittering line through the crowds. in their centre stood the prisoner. on, again, dashed the chargers--scarcely a hundred yards separated them from the palace-gate. wildly marie glanced back once more--there were figures on the scaffold. and at that moment--borne in the stillness more loudly, more heavily than usual, or, at least, so it seemed to her tortured senses--the huge bell of the castle chimed the hour of noon! chapter xxvi. "the outmost crowd have heard a sound, like horse's hoof on harden'd ground; nearer it came, and yet more near- the very deathsmen pause to hear!" sir walter scott. in his private closet, far removed from the excitement stirring without, king ferdinand was sitting, on the morning appointed for stanley's execution: several maps and plans were before him, over which he appeared intently engaged; but every now and then his brow rested on his hand, and his eyes wandered from their object; isabella was at work in a recess of the window near him, conversing on his warlike plans, and entering warmly into all his measures, as he roused himself to speak of them, or silent when she saw him sunk in thought. the history of the period dwells with admiration on the domestic happiness of ferdinand and isabella, and most refreshingly do such annals stand forth amid the rude and stormy scenes, both in public and private life, most usual to that age. isabella's real influence on the far less lofty and more crafty ferdinand was so silent, so unobtrusive, that its extent was never known, either to himself or to her people, till after her death, when in ferdinand's rapid deterioration from the nobler qualities of earlier years, it was traced too clearly, and occasioned her loss to be mourned, yet more than at the moment of her death. the hour of noon chimed, and ferdinand, with unusual emotion, pushed the papers from him. "there goes the knell of as brave and true a heart as ever beat," he said. "if he be innocent--as i believe him--may heaven forgive his murderer! hark! what is that?" he continued hurriedly, as the last chime ceased to vibrate; and, striding to the door of his cabinet he flung it open and listened intently. "some one seeks the king! follow me, isabel. by st. francis, we may save him yet!" he exclaimed, and rapidly threading the numerous passages, in less than a minute he stood within the hall. "who wills speech of ferdinand?" he demanded. "let him step forth at once and do his errand." "i seek thee, king of spain!" was the instant answer, and a young lad in the white garb of a benedictine novice, staggered forwards. "arthur stanley is innocent! the real murderer is discovered; he lies at the point of death sixty miles hence. send--take his confession; but do not wait for that. fly, or it is too late. i see it--the axe is raised--is flashing in the sun; oh, stop it ere it falls!" and with the wild effort to loose the grasp of an old soldier, who more supported than detained him, his exhausted strength gave way, and they laid him, white, stiff, and speechless, on a settle near. with his first word, however, ferdinand had turned to a trusty soldier, and bade him "fly to stop the work of death;" and the man needed not a second bidding: he darted from the hall, flew through the castle-yard, repeated the words to the first individual he met, by whom it was repeated to another, and by him again on and on till it reached the crowds around the scaffold; where it spread like wildfire from mouth to mouth, reaching the ear of don felix, even before his eye caught the rapidly advancing soldier, whom he recognized at once as one of his sovereign's private guards; impelling him, with an almost instinctive movement, to catch the upraised arm of the executioner at the very instant he was about to strike. "wherefore this delay, don felix? it is but a cruel mercy," sternly inquired the chief hermano, whose office had led him also to the scaffold. "behold, and listen: praised be the holy saints, he is saved!" was the rapid reply, as the voice of the soldier close by the foot of the scaffold, was distinguished bidding them "hold! hold! the king commands it. he is innocent; the real murderer is discovered!" and then followed a shout, so loud, so exulting, that it seemed to have burst from those assembled hundreds at the same instant. the prisoner heard it, indeed; but to his bewildered senses--taking the place as it did of the expected blow--it was so utterly meaningless that he neither moved nor spoke; and even don felix's friendly voice charging him--"up, stanley! up, man! thou art saved--thine innocence made known!" failed to convince him of the truth. he rose from his knees; but his limbs shook, and his face--which had changed neither hue nor expression when he had knelt for the fatal blow--was colorless as marble. he laid his trembling hand on father francis's arm, and tried to speak, but he could not utter a sound. "'tis true, my beloved son: thy sinful thoughts have been sufficiently chastised; and the mercy of heaven publicly revealed. our prayers have not been said in vain; thine innocence is known--the guilty one discovered!" to doubt these solemn accents was impossible, and though the effort was mighty to prevent it, nature would have sway, and stanley laid his head on the prior's arm, and burst into tears. and the wild shout that again awoke, seemed to clarion forth a thrilling denial to the charge of weakness, which on such openly demonstrated emotion, some hearts dead to the voice of nature might have pronounced. king ferdinand had not been idle while this exciting scene was enacting; questioning briefly but distinctly the villager who had accompanied the novice; the latter still remaining in a state of exhaustion precluding all inquiries from him. perez, however, could only repeat the lad's words when informed that the execution of senor stanley was to take place that day. father ambrose had merely told him that he (perez) had rendered a most important service to more than one individual by his compassionate care of the dying man, whose desire to communicate with the king was no idle raving. he had also charged him to take particular care of the young novice, who was ailing and weakly; that the emergency of the present case alone had compelled him to send the lad to segovia, as his dress and ability, might gain him a quicker admission to the king or queen, than the rude appearance and uncouth dialect of his companion. the father had also requested him to urge the officers, whom the king might send to take the dying man's confession, to travel at their utmost speed, for he thought death was approaching fast. with his usual rapidity of thought and decision, ferdinand's orders were given and so quickly obeyed, that even before the arrival of the sub-prior and don felix with the released prisoner, a band of men, headed by don alonzo and two of the chief officers of the santa hermandad, had already started for the village. the king still retained perez, not only to reward him liberally, but that his tale might be repeated to the proper authorities, and compared with that of the novice, as soon as he had sufficiently recovered to give it. the entrance of stanley effectually prevented his giving more than a pitying glance towards the poor boy, who had been raised on one of the benches, surrounded by the soldiers, who were doing all their rude kindness suggested to revive him. isabella had followed her husband to the hall, and been a quiet but penetrative observer of all that followed. she had started as the voice of the novice met her ear, and made a few hasty steps forward; but then checked herself, and quietly watched the proceedings of the soldiers. perceiving how wholly ineffectual their efforts appeared, she advanced towards them. with the most reverential affection the men made way for her. they had been so accustomed to see her on the battle-field, tending the wounded and the dying, soothing their anguish and removing their cares, ay, and more than once doing the same kindly office in their rude and lowly homes, that her appearance and gentle tending of the boy, excited no surprise whatever. she motioned them all back, apparently to allow a free current of air--in reality, to prevent them from adopting her own suspicions; she did not remove the somewhat unusually tightly-secured hood; but for her, one glance on that white and chiselled face was sufficient. her skill was at length successful, and with the first symptom of returning animation, she left him to the soldiers, and joined the throng around the king; but her eye, which from long use, appeared literally endowed with power to take in every desired object, however separated, at one glance, still watched him as he painfully endeavored to rise, and threw one searching glance towards the principal group. his eyes rested a full minute on the prisoner, with an expression which isabella alone, perhaps, of all in that hall, could read. a momentary crimson flushed his cheek, and then his face was bowed in his spread hands, and his slight frame shook, with the fervor of the thanksgiving, which his whole soul outpoured. perceiving that the lad had recovered his senses, perez referred all the eager questioners to him, feeling so bewildered at the marvellous transformation of himself, in his own opinion, from, an ignorant rustic, who had never seen the interior of a town, to the permitted companion of his sovereign and his nobles, and even of isabella, and he received from her lips a few words of kindly commendation, that it was almost an effort to speak; and he longed to rush back to his village and astound them all, and still more, triumph over his friend, the hostellerie-keeper, who, lord it as he might, had never been so honored. "come hither, boy," said ferdinand kindly; and the novice slowly and with evident reluctance obeyed. "we could almost wish thy tastes had pointed elsewhere than the church, that our acknowledgments of thy exertions in our service might be more substantial than mere thanks; however, thy patron saint shall not want a grateful offering. nay, our presence is surely not so terrible that thou shouldst tremble thus, poor child! hast thou aught more to communicate?--aught for our private ear, or that of her highness our consort? if not, we will not exhaust thy little strength by useless questions." in a tone so low and faltering, that ferdinand was obliged to bend down his head to hear, the novice replied, that if messengers had been despatched to the village, his errand was sufficiently accomplished. father ambrose had merely charged him to say that the real murderer had himself confessed his crime, and that the sin had been incited, by such a horrible train of secret guilt, that all particulars were deferred till they could be imparted to the authorities of justice, and by them to the sovereigns themselves. for himself he only asked permission to return to the village with perez, and rejoin his guardian, father ambrose, as soon as his grace would please to dismiss him. "thou must not--shalt not--return without my poor thanks, my young preserver," exclaimed stanley, with emotion. "had it not been for exertions which have well nigh exhausted thee, exertions as gratuitous as noble--for what am i to thee?--my honor might have been saved indeed, but my life would have paid a felon's forfeit. would that i could serve thee--thou shouldst not find me ungrateful! give me thine hand, at least, as pledge that shouldst thou ever need me--if not for thyself, for others--thou wilt seek me without scruple." the boy laid his hand on stanley's without hesitation, but without speaking; he merely raised his heavy eyes a moment to his face, and vainly did stanley endeavor to account for the thrill which shot through his heart so suddenly as almost to take away his breath, as he felt the soft touch of that little hand and met that momentary glance. who has not felt the extraordinary power of a tone--a look--a touch? which, "touching th' electric chain, wherewith we are darkly bound," fills the heart and mind with irresistible impulses, engrossing thoughts, and startling memories, all defined and united, and yet lasting for so brief a moment that we are scarcely able to realize their existence ere they are gone--and so completely, that we perplex ourselves again and again with the vain effort to recall their subject or their meaning. and so it was with stanley. the thrill passed and he could not even trace its origin or flitting thought; he only saw a benedictine novice before him; he only felt regret that there was no apparent means with which he could evince his gratitude. on father francis offering to take charge of the boy, till his strength was sufficiently renovated to permit his safe return to the village, isabella spoke, for the first time:-"reverend father! we will ourselves take charge of this poor child. there are some questions we would fain inquire, ere we can permit his return to his guardian: if satisfactorily answered, a munificent gift to his patron saint shall demonstrate, how deeply we feel the exertions he has made; and if we can serve him better than merely allowing his return to his monastery, trust me we shall not fail. follow me, youth!" she continued, as the sub-prior and the king, though surprised at her words, acquiesced. the novice shrunk back and clung to the side of perez, as if most unwilling to comply; but neither the command, nor the look, with which it was enforced could be disobeyed, and slowly and falteringly he followed isabella from the hall. chapter xxvii. 'tis done! and so she droops. oh, woman-heart! how bold and brave to do thy destined part! thro' sorrow's waves press firmly, calmly on, and pause not, sink not, till the goal is won! ms. not a word passed between them, until they had reached isabella's private cabinet; and even then the queen--though she seated herself and signed to the boy to stand before her, as desirous of addressing him--asked not a question, but fixed her penetrating eyes on his pallid features, with a look in which severity was very evidently struggling, with commiseration and regard. to attempt to retain disguise was useless; marie flung aside the shrouding hood, and sinking down at the queen's feet, buried her face in her robe, and murmured in strong emotion-"gracious sovereign--mercy!" "again wouldst thou deceive, again impose upon me, marie? what am i to think of conduct mysterious as thine? wherefore fly from my protection--reject with ingratitude the kindness i would have proffered--mistrust the interest which thou hadst already proved, and then return as now? i promised forgiveness, and continuation of regard, if the truth were revealed and mystery banished, and darker than ever has thy conduct drawn the veil around thee. what urged thy flight, and wherefore this disguise? speak out, and truthfully; we will be tampered with no longer!" but marie vainly tried to obey; her brain was burning; the rapid ride, the sudden transition, from the sickening horror of being too late, to the assurance of stanley's safety, the thought that she had indeed parted from him for ever, and now isabella's evident anger, when her woman-heart turned to her as a child's to its mother's, yearning for that gentle sympathy which, at such a moment, could alone have soothed. words seemed choked within her, and the effort to speak produced only sobs. isabella's eyes filled with tears. "speak," she said, more gently; "marie--say only why thou didst fly me, when i had given no evidence, that the boon thou didst implore me to grant, had become, by thy strange confession, null and void. what urged thy flight?" "not my own will. oh, no--no, gracious sovereign; i would have remained a contented prisoner with thee, but they bore me away to such scenes and sounds of horror that their very memory burns my brain. oh, madam! do with me what thou wilt, but condemn me not to return to that fearful place again. death, death itself--ay, even such a death as arthur has escaped--were mercy in its stead!" "of what speakest thou, marie? who could have dared bear thee from our protection without thine own free will? thy mind has been overwrought and is bewildered still; we have been harsh, perchance, to urge thee to speak now: repose may--". "repose! oh, no--no; let me remain with thee!" she sobbed, as forgetful of either state or form, her head sunk on isabella's knee. "he has borne me from your highness' power once; he can, he may, i know he will again. oh, save me from him! it was not because of my faith he bore me there, and tempted and tortured and laughed at my agony; he taunted me with his power to wreak the vengeance of a baffled passion upon me--for, as a jewess, who would protect me? oh, mighty sovereign! send me not from thy presence. don luis will take me from thy very roof again." "don luis!" repeated isabella, more and more convinced that marie's sufferings had injured her brain. "what power can he have, so secret and so terrible? marie, thou ravest!" "do i rave?" replied the unhappy girl, raising her right hand to her throbbing brow. "it may be so; perhaps it has all been a dream--a wild and fearful dream!--and i am awakened from it now; and yet--yet how can it be; how came my arm thus if it had not been reality--horrible, agonizing reality!" and as she spoke she removed the covering from her left arm. painfully isabella started: the beautiful limb hung powerless from wrist to shoulder, a dry and scorched and shrievelled bone. "and couldst thou think thy sovereign would ordain, or even permit, such suffering?" she exclaimed, after a moment's pause, passing her arm fondly round marie, whom she had raised from the ground to a cushion by her side. "my poor unhappy child, what is this dark mystery? who can have dared to injure thee, and call it justice, zeal--religion, perchance! mother of mercy! pardon the profanation of the word! try and collect thy thoughts, and tell me all. who has dared thus insult our power?" "don luis!--don luis!" repeated marie, clinging like an infant to the queen, and shuddering with terror at the very recollection of a power which she had faced so calmly. "oh, save me from him! torture itself i could bear, but not his words." "don luis!" reiterated the astonished queen. "what has he to do with torture? who is he--what is he, my poor child, that his very name should thus appal thee? he may indeed have dared speak insulting words, but what power has he thus fearfully to wreak his vengeance?" "who is he--what is he?" repeated marie, looking with surprise in the queen's pitying face. "does not your highness know--and yet how shouldst thou?--his very office is as secret as his own black nature? has your highness never heard men whisper of a secret inquisition, hiding itself even in thy domains? oh, my sovereign, it was there they dragged me! [her voice sunk to a low shuddering whisper] and he was grand master there; he--even don luis! and he will bear me there again. oh, save me from those fearful sounds--those horrid sights: they glare before me now!" "and i will save thee, my child! ay, and root out these midnight horrors from my kingdom," exclaimed isabella, indignation flashing in her eye, and flushing on her cheek. "once we have been insulted--once deceived; but never to us can such occur a second time. fearfully shall this deed of infamy recoil upon its perpetrators! tremble not thus, my poor girl, no one shall injure thee; no one can touch thee, for we are warned, and this fearful tale shall be sifted to the bottom! child of a reprobate faith, and outcast race as thou art, thinkest thou that even to thee isabella would permit injury and injustice? if we love thee too well, may we be forgiven, but cared for thou shalt be; ay, so cared for, that there shall be joy on earth, and in heaven for thee yet!" at another moment, those words would have been understood in their real meaning; but marie could then only feel the consoling conviction of security and love. it was not merely personal kindness which had so bound her to her sovereign; it was the unacknowledged but felt conviction, that isabella had penetrated her secret feelings, with regard to arthur stanley; and yet not a syllable of this had ever passed the queen's lips. oh, true sympathy seldom needs expression, for its full consolation to be given and received! the heart recognizes intuitively a kindred heart, and turns to it in its sorrow or its joy, conscious of finding in it, repose from itself. but only a woman can give to woman this perfect sympathy; for the deepest recesses, the hidden sources of anguish in the female heart no man can read. engrossed as isabella was by the mysterious information imparted by marie, indefinitely yet forcibly confirmed by her, then unusual, knowledge of the past history of spain, she was more easily satisfied with marie's hurried and hesitating account of her escape, than she might otherwise have been. to proclaim her relationship with father ambrose was ruin to him at once. he had been one, she said with truth, who had received great obligations from her family, and had vowed to return them whenever it should be in his power so to do; he had, therefore, made the exertion to save her, and was about taking her to her childhood's home on the frontiers of castile, the only place, it appeared to him, sufficiently secret to conceal her from don luis's thousand spies; but that on the providential discovery of the real murderer, and the seeming impossibility of ever seeing the king himself in time--she paused. "could he send thee on such a rapid errand, my child, and suffering thus?" gently inquired isabella. "no, gracious madam," was the unhesitating rejoinder, though a burning blush mounted to her very temples; "it was my own voluntary choice. it was my unhappy fate to have been the actual cause of his arraignment; it was but my duty to save him if i could." "and thou wouldst have returned with perez had we not penetrated thy disguise?" "yes, gracious sovereign." and the flush faded into paleness, ashy as before; but the tone was calm and firm. the queen looked at her intently, but made no further observation; and speedily summoning her before trusted attendants, placed the widow of morales once more in their charge; imparted to them as much of marie's tale as she deemed requisite, and the consequent necessity for her return to the queen's care; nay, her very existence was to be kept secret from all save those to whom she herself should choose to impart it. gratified by her confidence, they were eager to obey; and so skilfully did they enter into her wishes, that their very companions suspected not the identity of the prisoner, in whom, they were told, their sovereign was so much interested. curiosity might have been busy with very many, but their vague conjectures fell far short of the truth; catharine pas was the only one of isabella's younger maidens to whom the real fact was imparted. chapter xxviii. 'twas a dark tale of crime, and awed and chilled e'en indignation seeming horror still'd, men stood beside a murd'rer's couch of death, watching-the glazing-eye and flickering-breath- speaking with look and hurried sign alone, their thoughts, too terror-fraught for word or tone.--ms. the indignation excited in the queen's mind against don louis was destined, very speedily, to be increased. ferdinand had had time to become half angry, and quite impatient, ere his messengers dispatched to the village returned. stanley had been released--was regarded by all as innocent; but this was literally only from a peasant's word and the half broken intelligence of an exhausted boy: he wanted proof, and a vague dread would take possession of him that his fate was but temporarily suspended. at an early hour the next day, however, don alonzo returned; and ferdinand's impatient anger was averted, when he found the delay had been occasioned by their determination, to convey the dying man to segovia, and the caution necessary for its accomplishment. the hermanos had already noted down his confession; but it was so fraught with extended and dangerous consequences, that they felt, they dared not act on their responsibility: all suppressing measures must proceed from the sovereigns themselves. perez was again summoned, and at once swore to the identity of the dying man as the individual he had rescued from a deep pit, in a lonely mountain-pass, about twenty miles from his village; and the man, whose eagerness to speak was evident, though his voice was so faint, as scarcely to be intelligible, commenced his dark and terrible tale. the indignation of the sovereign, and of those whom he had chosen to be present, was excited to the utmost, mingled with horror as the mysterious fates of many a loved companion were thus so fearfully solved; but none felt the recital with the same intensity of emotion as the sub-prior, who, with, head bowed down upon his breast, and hands tightly clenched, knelt beside the penitent. it was not indignation, it was not horror; but agony of spirit that a religion which he loved better than himself, whose purity and honor he would have so jealously guarded, that he would have sacrificed life itself for its service, should have been made the cover for such unutterable villany. few imagined the deeds of painful mortification and bodily penance which, in his solitude, the sub-prior afterwards inflicted on himself; as if his individual sufferings should atone for the guilt of his brethren, and turn from them the wrath of an avenging god. horrible as were the details imparted, incomprehensible as it seemed that so extended and well-organized a power, should exist so secretly throughout spain, as to hide itself even from the sovereigns and ministers of justice themselves, yet none doubted what they heard. sovereigns and nobles well knew that the inquisition had been established both in castile and arragon centuries before, and that the annals of those kingdoms, though mentioning the resistance of the people against this awful power, had been silent as to its entire extirpation. in the first part of his narrative the man had spoken shrinkingly and fearfully, as if still in dread of vengeance on his betrayal; but his voice became bolder when he confessed his own share in the late atrocious crime. accustomed by the strictest and most rigid training, to obey as familiars, the will of their superiors without question--to be mere mindless and feelingless tools, to whom death itself was awarded, if by word or hint, or even sign, they dared evince themselves to be as other men--he had, at the command of the grand inquisitor, deeply drugged senor stanley's evening draught, and, while under its potent influence, had purloined his sword; waylaid don ferdinand in the calle soledad, effectually done the deed, and--aware that it would be many hours ere the english senor could arouse himself from the stupifying effects of the draught--had intended returning to his chamber still more effectually to throw on him the suspicion of the murder. it happened, however, that it was the first time he had ever been chosen by his superiors as their tool for actual murder, and the magnitude of the crime, from the greatness of, and universal love borne towards the victim, had so appalled him, that, combined with the raging storm and pitchy darkness, he had felt utterly bewildered. not well acquainted with segovia, he had found himself, after more than an hour's wandering--instead of, as he expected, again near the senor's lodgings--in the self-same spot whence he had started, and close by the body of his victim. the sight horrified and bewildered him yet more, and he crept behind a low wall, resolved on remaining there till the tempest had at least partially subsided, and then fulfil the remainder of his instructions; knowing that to fail in any one point, would be the signal of his own destruction. fortune, however, so far favored him, as to send the young english senor to the very spot, and there was therefore no occasion for his further interference. he tarried till he had seen stanley's arrest, and had heard the loud execrations of all proclaiming him the murderer--and then returned to his employers. the education of the familiars had so far failed with him, that, though aware of its danger, thoughts would enter his mind, as to how don ferdinand morales could have offended the dread power which he served, and why the foreign senor should be thus implicated in the deed. he hoped to have concealed these doubts; but from the issue, he imagined that some unguarded word spoken to a companion, must have betrayed him. he was chosen by the grand inquisitor as his companion, on some secret expedition two days after the trial, unsuspicious of the danger awaiting him, till the desolate scene on which they unexpectedly entered flashed terror on his mind. his superior had there paused, told him that from the witness of beta, the servant girl, it was quite evident he had disobeyed part of the instructions given, or his _return_ to arthur's lodgings would have been heard by her as well as his _departure_ and thus at once have implicated the englishman as the real murderer; that though chance had thrown equal suspicion upon him, it did net remove his disobedience, and so he was doomed to death; and the blow, instantaneously given, felled him insensible to the ground. when he recovered his senses, he found himself lying in a deep pit, where he had evidently been thrown as dead. the wounds and contusions received in the fall, as far as he could recollect, by producing a most excruciating sense of pain, roused him from temporary insensibility, and he was convinced he heard his murderer's voice--though he could not see him--exclaim distinctly, as if he were leaning over the mouth of the pit, "there goes my last doubt: other men might call it their last fear, but i know not the word! three victims for the possession of one--and who will now dare to brand me? i had slain that faltering craven without his disobedience, he dared to _think_ upon his deed." almost insensible from agony as he was, these words had impressed themselves indelibly; causing the burning desire to live and be revenged. and the opportune succors of the villager, perez, with a party of woodmen; the completely hidden site of the village to which, he had been conveyed; and the, at first, favorable healing of his wounds, appeared to give him every hope of its accomplishment. he had resolved on communicating his tale to none save to ferdinand himself, or to the chief hermano, under strict promise to reveal it to the sovereign: but his intense anxiety had evidently prevented the attainment of his desire, by producing fever; and thence arose his wild and almost maniac cravings to make confession, and bind some holy monk, by a solemn vow, to convey it to the king. it was not till the conclusion of this momentous narration, that the king permitted any questions to be asked; and those he then demanded were so concise and clear, that but few words were needed in which to couch the reply. "and the designer of this hellish plot, the real murderer--through thy hand, of one brave friend, and almost another--is the same who has murdered thee!" he inquired, after learning the exact sites of these mysterious halls; information which caused some of the bravest hearts to shudder, from their close vicinity. the man answered at once in the affirmative. "and he dares assume, in this illegal tribunal, the rank of grand inquisitor?" "ay, gracious liege." "and his name?--that by which he is known to man? speak! and as thy true confession may be the means of bringing a very fiend to justice, so may thy share in his deeds be pardoned." an indescribable expression passed over the fast stiffening features of the dying. he half raised himself, and, laying his clammy hand on ferdinand's robe, whispered, in clear and thrilling tones-"bend low, my liege; even at this moment i dare not speak it loud; but, oh! beware of those who affect superior sanctity to their fellows: there is one who in the sunshine stands forth wisest, and purest, and strictest; and at midnight rules arch-fiend--men call him don luis garcia. _he_ is don ferdinand's murderer! _he_ sought senor stanley's death and mine; but instead of a victim, he has found an accuser! his web has coiled round himself--flee him! avoid him as ye would a walking pestilence, or visible demon! minister as he may be of our holy father, the pope, he is a villain--his death alone can bring safety to spain. ha! what is this? mother of mercy! save me! the cross! the cross! absolution! the flames of hell! father, bid them avaunt! i--a true confession." the words were lost in a fearful gurgling sound, and the convulsion which ensued was so terrible, that some of the very bravest involuntarily turned away; but stanley, who had listened to the tale with emotions too varied and intense for speech, now sprung forward, wildly exclaiming-"three victims for one! where is that one? speak--speak in mercy! oh, god! he dies and says no word!" the eyes of the dying man glared on him, but there was no meaning in their gaze; they rolled in their sockets, glazed, and in another minute all was stiff in death. chapter xxix. "doth heaven woo the free spirit for dishonored breath to sell its birthright? doth heaven set a price on the clear jewel of unsullied faith and the bright calm of conscience?" mrs. hemans. a private council immediately followed the confession received; but though it continued many hours, no active measures could at once be decided upon. secret and illegal, according to spanish laws, as this tribunal was, it was yet an instrument of the pope, acknowledging his supremacy alone, and, in consequence, always receiving his protection. civil justice, it appeared, could not reach those who were protected by; the head of the church; but ferdinand's mind was far too capacious to admit this plea. rooted out of his dominions--in its present form, at least--he resolved it should be, and isabella confirmed the resolve. not only was its secret existence fraught with the most awful crimes and injustice, regarded generally, but it was derogatory and insulting to that sovereign power, which ferdinand and isabella had both determined on rendering supreme. father francis, whose usual energy of thought and counsel appeared completely annihilated from the fearful tale he had heard, strenuously urged the sovereigns to wait the arrival of torquemada, the queen's confessor, who was now every hour expected, and whose sterner and more experienced mind would give them better counsel. to this both sovereigns agreed, but one measure they adopted at once. as grand inquisitor, the principal actor in this atrocious drama might be servant of and solely answerable to the pope; as don luis garcia, he was subject to ferdinand and isabella, and as such amenable to the laws of spain. a schedule was therefore drawn up, stating that whereas the man commonly known as don luis garcia, had been convicted of many atrocious and capital crimes, and, amongst the gravest, of having instigated and commanded the murder of don ferdinand morales, and done to death his own tool, the real committer of the deed, that arthur stanley might be charged with, and executed for, the same; the sovereigns of spain called upon their loving subjects--of every rank and every degree, in all and every part of the realm--to unite in endeavoring to discover, and deliver up the said don luis garcia, to the rigor of the law. an enormous reward was offered for delivering him alive into the hands of justice, and half the sum, should he have resisted to the death. the proclamation was made by sound of trumpet in various parts of segovia, and copies sent, with all possible speed, to every city, town, and even village, over spain. a correct description of his person accompanied the schedule, and every possible measure was adopted that could tend to his apprehension. so strong was the popular feeling against him that every class, almost every individual, felt it a personal duty to assist, in this case, the course of justice. he had deceived all men, and all men in consequence leagued themselves against him. so secretly, and yet so judiciously, were the plans for his seizure carried on, and so universal the popular ferment, that it appeared marvellous how he could have escaped; and yet weeks merged into months, and, though the measures of the santa hermandad in no way relaxed, don luis was still at large, and effectually concealed. we may here state at once--though it carries us much in advance of our present scene--that father francis resolved at all costs to purge the church of spain from this most unholy member; and, authorized by the sovereigns, made a voluntary pilgrimage to the court of st. peter's, obtained an audience with the pope, laid the case before him, and besought the penalty of excommunication to be fulminated against the hypocrite who had dared to use, as cover for most atrocious villany, the pure and sacred ordinances of the church. alexander the sixth, himself a worker of such awful crimes that he was little capable of entering into the pure and elevated character of the sub-prior, heard him calmly, smiled sneeringly, and then informed him, he was too late. the worthy and zealous servant of rome, known to men as don luis garcia, had been before him, made confession of certain passions as exciting erring deeds, to which all men were liable, had done penance, received absolution, and was in a fair way of rising to the highest eminence in the church. father francis remonstrated, urged, dared to speak bolder truths than had ever before reached the papal ear but all without effect: and this truly good and spiritual man returned to spain stricken to the dust. he reported the failure of his mission; heard, with bowed head and aching soul, the natural indignation of ferdinand, and the quieter, but to him, still more expressive sorrow, at this fearful abuse of her holy religion from isabella; and then, with an earnestness impossible to be resisted, conjured the royal permission to retire entirely from all interference in public life. he could not, he said, support the weight of shame, which, falling on his church, had affected him individually. vain were the royal solicitations, vain the love of the people, vain the entreaties of the abbot and brethren of his convent; he resigned the office of sub-prior, relinquished every religious and secular honor, and buried himself in the most impenetrable solitude, fraught with austerity and mortification, personal penance, and yet devoted to such extraordinary acquirements, that, though for long years his very existence was well nigh forgotten, when next he burst upon the astonished eyes of the world, it was no longer as father francis, the sub-prior of a franciscan monastery, a good and benevolent monk, but as the learned priest, the sagacious statesman, the skilful general, ay, and gallant warrior--the great and good cardinal ximenes! to wait the arrival of torquemada, the sovereigns and their council unanimously resolved. it was but a very brief delay, and would permit a more effectual extermination of the secret office than could be decided upon by the laity alone. ere the day closed, and in presence of the sovereigns, of all the nobles, officers of state, the santa hermandad and principal citizens, arthur stanley was formally pronounced innocent of the crime with which he had been charged. the golden spurs, which had been ignominiously hacked from his heels, were replaced by the aged duke of murcia; knighthood again bestowed by the king; and isabella's own hand, with winning courtesy, presented him a sword, whose real toledo blade, and richly jewelled hilt, should replace the valued weapon, the loss of which had caused him such unmerited suffering, and shame. "may it be used for us, as faithfully and nobly as its predecessor," were isabella's concluding words; "and its associations, senor stanley, be nought but those of joy." the young man's cheek burned, but there was a deep shadow on his countenance, which neither the honors he received, nor his own urgent efforts had power to remove. he looked wistfully after the sovereigns as they quitted the church, then with an irresistible impulse, broke from the throng with whom he had been endeavoing to join in animated converse, and, suddenly kneeling before isabella, exclaimed in low, agitated tones-"_she_--she may still be in the villain's power. oh, my liege, wait not for torquemada's arrival and leave her to die! he will wreak his full vengeance upon her." "trust me for her safety, my young friend; measures have been already taken to secure it," was isabella's instant reply, in a tone so full of sympathy, that arthur caught her robe, and pressed it to his lips. she smiled kindly and passed on, still accompanied by ferdinand, not a little astonished at her words, and still more so when marie's whole tale was imparted to him. on retiring to rest that night, his thoughts still engrossed with vain speculations as to the destined fate of marie,--arthur, half unconsciously, unsheathed isabella's magnificent gift, to judge of the temper of the blade; and, as he did so, a scroll, which had been twisted round the steel, fell to the ground. he raised it with hasty curiosity, but his heart throbbed as he recognized the handwriting of the queen, and deciphered the following words:-"to senor stanley, in secrecy and confidence, these: the eye of love is said to pierce through all disguises. in this instance it has proved less discriminative than woman's sympathy, and woman's penetration. she in whom we believe senor stanley interested, and to whose exertions he owes the publication of his innocence in time to save life as well as honor, is safe, and under the protection of her queen. let this suffice for present peace, and speak of it to none. isabella r." arthur's first impulse was to press the precious letter to his lips, and gaze upon it till every letter seemed transferred from the paper to his heart; his next was to sit down on the nearest seat, and bury his face in his hands, actually bewildered by the flash of light, which with those brief words came. disguise--exertion--could it be possible? nay, it must be! the soft touch of that little hand, the speaking look of those lovely eyes, again thrilled through his very soul, and he knew their meaning now. mysterious, bewildering as it was, the novice, the poor, exhausted, seeming boy--was marie! again he owed his life to her, and the wild yearning to gaze on her again, to clasp her to his bosom, to pour forth his gratitude, to soothe and shield, became so painfully intense, as almost to banish the joy, which her rescue from danger ought to have occasioned. had it not been for her refusal to bear witness against him, not even the month's grace would have been allowed him; he would have been executed at once. she had saved him then--she had saved him now! and his heart so swelled he knew not how to contain its fulness, how to calm it down, to wait till the queen's further pleasure should be known. but hope sprung up to give him comfort; isabella would accomplish her intention of conversion; marie could never resist her, and then--then, oh! she would be all, all his own, and life shine, for both the brighter, for its former tempest clouds. meanwhile, he had such sweet thoughts, such lovely images, to rest on. he owed his life, his honor, to her; and he thought that it was his devoted gratitude which so deepened love. how sweet is such illusion! how refreshingly soothing to be grateful, when the object of that gratitude has been, and is still, the dear object of our love! how often we deceive ourselves, and imagine we are experiencing the strongest emotions of gratitude, when, had an indifferent person conferred the same benefit, we might feel it indeed, but it would more pain than pleasure; and be an obligation, so heavy that we should never rest, till in some measure, at least, it was returned. how contrary the impression of benefits from those we love! never before had the appearance of the queen's confessor, the stern, and some said cruel, torquemada, been hailed with such excitement. he was speedily informed of the late transactions, and his counsel most earnestly demanded by both sovereigns. he required some days to deliberate, he said, so momentous and important was the affair; and when he did reply, his counsel was entirely opposed to what many hoped, and ferdinand expected. indignant as he declared himself to be, at the abuses in religion, he yet put a strong and most decided negative on the royal proposition, of utterly exterminating this unlawful tribunal. with all his natural eloquence, and in most forcible language, he declared that, if kept within proper bounds, restrained by due authority, and its proceedings open to the inspection of the sovereign, and under him, the archbishops and other dignitaries of the church, the inquisition would be a most valuable auxiliary to the well-doing and purifying of the most catholic kingdom. he produced argument after argument of most subtle reasoning, to prove that every effort to abolish the office in spain had been entirely useless: it would exist, and if not publicly acknowledged, would always be liable to abuse and desecration; that the only means of exterminating its secret, and too arrogant power, was to permit its public establishment, and so control it, that its measures should be open to the present, and to every successive sovereign. he allowed the necessity, the imperious necessity of rooting out the _secret_ office; but he was convinced this could not be done, nor in fact would the church allow it, unless it should be recognized in the face of all europe, as based on alike the civil and religious laws of spain. on ferdinand the wily churchman worked, by proving that his royal prerogative would be insured rather than injured by this proceeding; that by publicly establishing the inquisition, he proved his resolution to control even this power, and render it a mere instrument in his sovereign hand; that his contemplated conquest of the moors could not be better begun than by the recognition of a holy office, whose glory it would be to bring all heathens to the purifying and saving doctrines of the church of rome. ferdinand, though wary and politic himself, was no match for torquemada's jesuitical eloquence; he was won over to adopt the churchman's views with scarcely an effort to resist them. with isabella the task was much more difficult. he appealed guardedly and gently to her tender regard for the spiritual welfare of her people, sympathized with her in her indignant horror of the crimes committed under religion's name, but persisted that the evil of a secret inquisition would never be remedied, save by the measure he proposed. he pledged himself never to rest, till the present halls and ministers of darkness were exterminated from every part of spain; but it could only be on condition of her assent to his counsel. he used all his eloquence; he appealed to her as a zealous catholic, whose first duty was to further and purify her faith; but for four days he worked in vain; and when she did give her consent, it was with such a burst of tears, that it seemed as if her foreboding eye had indeed read the shrouded annals of the future, and beheld there, not the sufferings of individuals alone, but of the decline and dishonor of that fair and lovely land, which she had so labored to exalt. ere another year from that day had passed, the inquisition was publicly established throughout the kingdom; and torquemada, as first grand inquisitor, reaped the reward of his persevering counsel, and sealed, with blood, the destiny of spain. to her confessor, isabella revealed the story of marie, and her own intentions. torquemada heard the tale with a stern severity, little encouraging to the queen's ideas of mercy; he insisted that her conversion _must_ be effected; if by kindness and forbearance, well and good; but if she were obstinate, harshness must be resorted to; and only on that condition would he grant isabella the desired blessing on her task. he did not fail to bring forward the fact of a zealous catholic, such as don ferdinand morales, wedding and cherishing one of the accursed race, and conniving at her secret adherence to her religion, as a further and very strong incentive for the public establishment of the inquisition, whose zealous care would effectually guard the sons of spain from such unholy alliances in future. he urged the supposition of marie's having become the mother of children by ferdinand; was it not most probable, nay, certain, that she would infuse her own unbelief in them; and then how mixed and defiled a race would take the place of the present pure castilians. isabella could reply nothing satisfactory to this eloquent reasoning. the prejudices of education are strong in every really earnest heart; and though her true woman's nature revolted at every thought of severity, and towards one so suffering as marie, she acknowledged its necessity, in case of kindness failing. under the seal of confession, she imparted her full plan to torquemada, entering more into minute particulars than she had done even to her husband, or in words to herself. it was so fraught with mercy and gentleness that torquemada gave his consent, believing it utterly impossible, if marie really loved, as isabella fancied, that she could resist. on the departure of her confessor, the queen communed, as was her frequent custom, long and severely with her own heart. what was the cause of her extreme dislike to using harshness? with any other member of that detested race, she felt torquemada's counsel would have been all-powerful; she would have left it all to him. it was then mere personal regard, fear of the suffering which, did she cause marie increase of pain, she should inflict upon herself, and this must not be. she was failing in the duty she owed her religion, if she could not summon resolution to sacrifice even affection at its shrine. and so she nerved herself, to adopt torquemada's stern alternative, if indeed it were required. how strange is self-delusion! how difficult, even to the noblest, most unselfish natures, to read another spirit by their own! isabella felt it might be a duty to sacrifice affection for religion, and nerved herself to its performance at any cost. and yet that marie should do so, she could not believe; and if she did, harshness and suffering were to be her sole reward! oh, that in religion, as in every thing else, man would judge his brother man by his own heart; and as dear, as precious, as his peculiar creed may be to him, believe so it is with the faith of his brother! how much of misery, how much of contention, of cruelty and oppression, would pass away from this lovely earth, and give place for heaven's own unity and peace, and harmony and love. chapter xxx. "oh, bear me up against the unutterable tenderness of earthly love, my god! in the sick hour of dying human hope, forsake me not!" mrs. hemans. for some months all was gayety and rejoicing in segovia, not a little heightened by the exciting preparations for the much desired war. the time had now come when ferdinand could, with safety to the internal state of his kingdom, commence the struggle for which he had so impatiently waited, since the very first hour of the union of arragon and castile. troops were marshalling secretly all over spain; the armorers and smiths were in constant requisition. the nobles were constantly flitting from their hereditary domains to the court, eager and active to combine all the pomp and valor of a splendid chivalry with the more regular force; standing armies, which in almost every european land were now beginning to take the place of the feudal soldiery, so long their sole resource. it was necessary for ferdinand, ere he commenced operations, to visit his own dominions; a measure he did not regret, as it effectually concealed his ulterior plans from the moors, who were also at that time too much disturbed by internal dissensions, to give more than a cursory glance on the movements and appearances of their christian foes. in the festivals of the palace the young englishman was naturally the hero of the day; the best feelings of the spanish character had been called into play towards him: he had been unjustly accused and seriously injured; been subject to dishonor and shame; and many might say it had all sprung from prejudice against him as a foreigner. the very failing of the spaniards in this case also operated in his favor; their national jealousy called upon them to make publicly manifest the falsity of such a supposition, and he was courted and fãªted by all, brought forward on every occasion, and raised and promoted both to civil and military distinction, by those very men who, before the late events, would have been the first to keep him back, yielding him but the bare and formal courtesy, which, however prejudiced, no true-born spaniard could refuse. amongst isabella's female train, arthur stanley was ever gladly welcomed, and his presence might have proved dangerous to more than one of isabella's younger attendants, had not his manner been such as to preclude even the boldest and most presuming from any thought of love. one alone he certainly singled out to talk with, and treat with more attention than any other; and that one was the maiden we have more than once had occasion to mention, catherine pas. rallied as she was by her companions, the young girl herself imagined there could be no danger to her peace in associating thus with the handsome young englishman; for _she_ knew, though her companions did not, the real reason of his preference for her society. isabella had once slightly hinted from which of her attendants stanley might hear of marie, and giving them permission to answer his queries. it was a dangerous ordeal for catherine, but she laughed at the idea of permitting her heart to pass into the possession of one who cared nothing for her, save as she could speak of marie. great was the surprise and many the conjectures of the queen's female court, when rather more than six months after her strange disappearance, the widow of morales re-appeared amongst them; not publicly indeed, for at the various fãªtes and amusements of the palace, and elsewhere, marie was never seen. her existence, however, and safety, under isabella's especial protection, were no longer kept secret; and her recent loss was in itself quite sufficient reason for her strict retirement. her identity with brother ernest, the supposed novice, never transpired; he was supposed to have returned with perez to his guardian, father ambrose, who, though seen and questioned by don alonzo at the village, did not accompany his dying penitent to segovia, nor, in fact, was ever seen in that city again. the tender care and good nursing which had been lavished on marie, had restored her sufficiently to health as to permit returning elasticity of mind. all morbid agony had passed, all too passionate emotions were gradually relaxing their fire-bands round her heart; and strength, the martyr strength, for which she unceasingly prayed, to give up all if called upon for her god, seemed dawning for her. that she was still under some restraint, a sort of prisoner in the palace, marie herself was not aware; she had neither wish nor energy to leave the castle, and therefore knew not that her egress, save under watchful guardianship, would have been denied. she had no spirits to mingle with the light-hearted, happy girls, in her sovereign's train, and therefore was unconscious that, with the sole exception of catherine whose passionate entreaties had obtained her this privilege, all intimacy with them would have been effectually prevented. it was enough, more than enough (for the foreboding dread was ever present, that such a blissful calm, such mental and bodily repose, were far, far too sweet for any long continuance) to be employed in little services for and about the person of the queen, and to know that arthur stanley was restored to even more than former favor, and fast rising to eminence and honor. before the sovereigns quitted segovia, stanley left the court to march southward with pedro pas, to occupy a strong fortification on the barrier line, dividing the spanish from the moorish territories, and commanding a very important post, which ferdinand was anxious to secure, and where he intended to commence his warlike operations, as speedily as he could settle affairs at saragossa. twice before stanley's departure did isabella contrive an apparently accidental meeting between him and marie, permitting them, though in her presence, ample opportunity for mutual explanation; but not with much evident success. stanley, indeed, was painfully and visibly agitated, finding it difficult, almost impossible to speak the feelings which had so long filled heart and mind, and been in fancy so often thrown into eloquent words, that he could not understand why in her presence words were frozen up, and he could only _feel_. marie's cheek and lip had indeed blanched as she beheld him, but the deep and quiet calm she had so earnestly sought, even then did not forsake her; once only her voice faltered, when she conjured him to allude no longer to the past, that the exertions she had made for him demanded no such gratitude as he expressed. he would have answered with his usual passionate impetuosity, but there was something in her manner which restrained him; it was no longer the timid, yielding girl, who, even while she told him of the barrier between them, had yet betrayed the deep love she felt: it was the woman whose martyr spirit was her strength. and yet, spite of himself, he hoped. isabella, in parting with him, had spoken such words as sent a thrill of delight over his whole being, and he quitted segovia buoyant and glad-hearted, to wait weeks, months, he thought even years: so certain did he feel of success at last. isabella accompanied ferdinand to arragon, and determined on remaining at saragossa during the commencement of his moorish campaign; but she did not part from him without demanding and receiving his solemn promise to send for her as soon as the residence of females in the camp was practicable. she well knew the inspiring power of her presence in similar scenes, and the joy and increased ardor which the vicinity of near and dear relations, composing her court, would excite in the warrior camp of ferdinand. the promise was given, and the annals of the moorish war tell us how faithfully it was kept, and how admirably isabella performed the part she had assigned herself. months glided slowly and peacefully on; as each passed, the trembling heart of marie foreboded change and sorrow; but it was not till she had been eight months a widow that aught transpired which could account for such strange fears. then, indeed, the trial came: she thought she was prepared, but the aching heart and failing strength with which she listened to the queen's commands, betrayed how little our best endeavors can pave the way for sorrow. isabella spoke gently and kindly indeed, but so decisively, there was no mistaking the meaning of her words: she had waited, she said, till time had restored not only health and strength, but some degree of tranquillity to the heart, and elasticity to the mind. that, as a jewess, marie must have long known, the queen could not continue favor; that she was, in fact, acting without a precedent in thus permitting the attendance of an unbeliever on her person, or appearance in her court; but that she had so acted, believing that when perfectly restored to sense and energy, marie would herself feel the necessity, and gladly embrace the only return she required--a calm deliberation of the catholic faith, and, as a necessary consequence, its acceptance. she therefore desired that marie would devote herself to the instructions of a venerable monk (father denis by name), whom she had selected for the task. that from that day marie would not be called upon for either service or attendance on the queen, but to devote her whole mind and energies to the task proposed; and that when father denis brought her information that marie accepted the cross, that very hour she should resume her place in isabella's court, and be the dearest, most cherished there!--be publicly acknowledged as the inheritrix of her husband's vast possessions, and a future of love and joy would shine before her, so bright as to banish even the memories of the stormy past. marie would have replied, but isabella, with gentle firmness, refused to hear her. "i demand nothing now," she said, "but obedience. a willing heart, and open mind, are all you need bring with you to your task: the father's holy lessons, blessed with god's grace, will do the rest. i cannot believe that all the kindness and affection i have shown have been so utterly without effect, that thou too wilt evince the ungrateful obstinacy, so unhappily the characteristic of thy blinded people. if banishment from our presence be a source of sorrow, which i do believe it is, the term of that banishment rests entirely with thyself. the sooner we can hail the child of the virgin, even as thou art now of our affections, the greater share of happiness wilt thou bestow upon us and upon thyself. we have heard that nought but harshness and severity can have effect on thy hardened race. it may be, but with thee, at least, we will not use it, unless--" and her voice and her look grew sufficiently stern for marie to feel her words were no idle threat--"unless obduracy and ingratitude so conquer affection that we can see no more in the marie morales we have loved than a hardened member of her own stiff-necked race; then--, but we will not pain ourself or thee, by imagining what thine own will may avert. go, and the holy virgin bless thee. not a word; i know what will be thine answer now; but a month hence thou wilt thank me for this seeming severity." and isabella turned somewhat hastily away; for her lip quivered and her eye swelled. marie did not see these indications of emotion, and silently withdrew. chapter xxxi. "i have lost for that faith more than thou canst bestow, as the god who permits thee to prosper doth know. in his hand is my heart, and my hope; and in thine the land, and the life, which for him i resign." byron. marie morales had had many trials. her life had been one of those painful mysteries, as to why such a being should have been thus exposed to scorn, which while on earth we vainly try to solve. yet it is no imaginary picture: hundreds, aye thousands, of israel's devoted race have thus endured; in every age, in every clime, have been exposed to martyrdom--not of the frame alone, but of the heart; doomed but to suffer, and to die. and how may we reconcile these things with the government of a loving father, save by the firm belief, which, blessed--thrice blessed--are those who feel; that, for such sufferers on earth, a future of blessedness is laid up in another and lovelier world--where there is no more sorrow, no more tears! her former trials had been sharp agony and strong excitement. her present had neither the one nor the other; yet it was fraught with as heavy suffering, as any that had gone before it; even though she knew not, guessed not, _all_ that depended upon her conversion. it would have been comparatively easy to have endured, for her faith's sake, harshness and contempt; in such a case, self-respect rises to sustain us, and we value our own tenets the more, from their startling contrast with those which could command the cruelty we endure; but father denis used harshness neither of manner nor of words. firmly impressed in his own mind, that it was utterly vain for a soul to hope for salvation unless it believed in jesus, the virgin, the saints and holy martyrs; he brought heart and soul to his task; and the more he saw of marie, the more painfully did he deplore her blind infatuation, and the more ardently desire, to save her from the eternal perdition which, as a jewess, must await her. he poured forth such soul-breathing petitions, for saving grace to be vouchsafed to her, in her hearing, that marie felt as if she would have given worlds, only to realize the belief for which he prayed; but the more her heart was wrung, the more vividly it seemed that her own faith, the religion of her fathers through a thousand ages, impressed itself upon her mind and heart, rendering it more and more impossible for her to forswear it, even at the very moment that weak humanity longed to do it, and so purchase peace. naturally so meek and yielding, so peculiarly alive to the voice of sympathy and kindness, it was inexpressibly and harrowingly distressing to be thus compelled to resist both; to think also of all isabella's gentle, cherishing, and manifested affection; and to know that the only return she demanded, she dared not, might not give. to some dispositions these considerations would have been of no weight whatever; to marie they were so exquisitely painful, that she could scarcely understand how it was that, feeling them thus acutely, she could yet so clearly, so calmly, reply to father denis, bring argument for argument, and never waver in her steadfast adherence to, and belief in her own creed. the very lessons of her youth, which she had thought forgotten in the varied trials which had been her portion since, returned with full--she fancied superhuman--force and clearness to her mind, rendering even the very wish to embrace the catholic religion, futile. there was a voice within her that _would_ be heard, aye above every human feeling, every strong temptation. she could not drown its clear ringing tones; even where her mental sufferings seemed to cloud and harrow up the brain, to the exclusion of every distinct idea, that voice would breathe its thrilling whisper, telling her it was vain to hope it, she could not be in heart a catholic; and so she dared not be in words. a romance is no place for polemical discussion, and we will therefore leave those painful arguments unrecorded. suffice it, that marie's intimate acquaintance with the holy scriptures in their original tongue--the language of her own people--gave her so decided an advantage over the old monk, that, after nearly three months' trial, he sought his sovereign, and, with the most touching humility, acknowledged his utter incapacity, for the conversion of donna marie, and implored her to dismiss him, and select one more fitted for the task. astonished, and bitterly disappointed, isabella cross-questioned him as to the cause of this sudden feeling of incapacity, and his answers but increased her desire to compel marie to abandon judaism, and become--in semblance at least, a catholic; believing fully that, this accomplished, the holy spirit would do the rest, and she would at least have saved her soul. she retained the father in the palace; desiring him to inform his charge that one fortnight's grace would be allowed her, to ponder on all the solemn truths he had advanced, and on her own decision whether she would not rather yield to kindness, than tempt the severity her obstinacy demanded; but, save this enjoyment, he was to commune with her no further. with a trembling spirit the queen again sought the counsel of her confessor, and reported the information of the holy father. torquemada listened, with a curling lip and contracted brow. he was not surprised, he said, for it was exactly what he had expected. it was a part of their blaspheming creed, to blind by sorcery, the eyes and minds of all those who had ever attempted to win them over by kind and reasonable argument. father denis had been bewitched, as all were, who ever attempted to convert, by other than the harshest means. her grace must see the necessity of severity, and surely could not refuse the using it any longer. but isabella did refuse, till her last resource had been tried; and all she asked was, if she might hold forth a powerful temporal temptation to obtain the end she so earnestly desired? torquemada hesitated; but at length, on being told the severe alternative which isabella would enforce, if her first proposal were rejected, reluctantly acceded; still persisting that nothing but the rack and the flame, or fatal expulsion, would ever purge spain from the horrible infection of so poisonous a race. isabella heard him with a shudder; but, thankful even for this ungracious sanction, waited, with, trembling impatience, the termination of the given fourteen days; hoping, aye praying in her meek, fervid piety, that the mistaken one might be softened to accept the proffered grace, or her own heart strengthened to sacrifice all of personal feeling for the purifying by fire and consequent salvation, of that immortal soul now so fearfully led astray. it was with little hope that the father again sought marie. bewitched he might be, but he was so impressed with the fervid earnestness of her gentle spirit; with the lofty enthusiasm that dictated her decision; so touched with the uncomplaining, but visible suffering, which it cost her to argue with, and reject the voice of kindness--that it required a strong mental effort in the old man, to refrain from conjuring his sovereign, to permit that misguided one to remain unmolested, and wait, till time, and prayer, from those so interested in her, should produce the desired effect. but this feeling was so contrary to the spirit of the age, that it scarcely needed torquemada's representations to convince him, that he was experiencing the effect of the invisible sorcery with which the race of israel always blinded the eyes of their opponents. the kind old man was awed and silenced by his stern superior. liberty of conscience was then a thing unheard of; and therefore it was, that so much of the divine part of our mingled nature was so completely concealed, that it lost alike effect or influence. it was not even the subjection of the weak to the strong; but the mere superiority of clerical rank. the truest and the noblest, the most enlarged mind, the firmest spirit would bend unresistingly to the simple word of a priest; and the purest and kindest impulses of our holier nature be annihilated, before the dictates of those, who were supposed to hold so infallibly, in their sole keeping, the oracles of god. the spiritual in man was kept in rigid bondage; the divinity worshipped by the catholics of that age, represented to the mass like the egyptian idol, with a key upon his lips--his attributes, as his law, hid from them, or imparted by chosen priests, who explained them only as suited their individual purposes. is it marvel, then, that we should read of such awful acts committed in religion's name by man upon his brother? or that we should see the purest and loveliest characters led away by priestly influence to commit deeds, from which now, the whole mind so recoils, that we turn away disappointed and perplexed at the inconsistency, and refuse the meed of love and admiration to those other qualities, which would otherwise shine forth so unsullied? the inconsistency, the seeming cruelty and intolerance, staining many a noble one in the middle ages, were the effects of the fearful spirit of the time; but their virtues were their own. truth if sought, must triumph over prejudice. by inspection and earnest study of facts--of _causes_, as well as of _events_, the mind disperses the mists of educational error, and enables us to do justice, even to the injurer; and enlarges and ennobles our feelings towards one another; till we can attain that perfection of true, spiritual charity, which would look on all men as children of one common parent. liable, indeed, to be led astray by evil inclination, and yet more by evil circumstances; but still our brethren, in the divine part of our nature; which, however crushed, hidden, lost to earth, is still existing--still undying. for such is the immortal likeness of our universal father; in which he made man, and by which he marked mankind as brethren! marie's answer was as father denis feared. she had pondered on all he had said, and the dread alternative awaiting her; but the impossibility of embracing catholicism was stronger than ever. the unfeigned distress of the old monk pained and alarmed her, for it seemed to her as if he were conscious that some dreadful doom was hanging over her, which he shrunk from revealing. she had not long to remain in that torturing suspense: a few hours later in the same day, she was summoned to isabella's presence. the sensation of terror was so intense as to render obedience, for the minute, utterly impossible. every limb shook, and again came the wild longing for power to believe as they desired; for a momentary cessation of the voice of conscience, to embrace the proffered cross, and be at rest. but it _would not_ cease; and, scarcely able to support herself, she stood before the dread princess in whose hand was her earthly fate. chapter xxxii. "she clasped her hands"!--the strife of love--faith--fear, and the vain dream of life, within her woman-heart so deeply wrought- it seemed as if a reed, so slight and weak, _must_, in the rending storm, not quiver only--break! mrs. hemans. isabella's expressive countenance was grave and calm; but it was impossible to doubt the firmness of her purpose, though what that purpose might be, marie had no power to read. she stood leaning against the back of one of the ponderous chairs; her head bent down, and her heart so loudly and thickly throbbing that it choked her very breath. "we have summoned thee hither, marie," the queen said at length, gravely, but not severely, "to hear from thine own lips the decision which father denis has reported to us; but which, indeed, we can scarcely credit. wert thou other than thou art--one whose heavy trials and lovable qualities have bound thee to us with more than common love--we should have delivered thee over at once to the judgment of our holy fathers, and interfered with their sentence no farther. we are exposing ourselves to priestly censure even for the forbearance already shown; but we will dare even that, to win thee from thine accursed creed, and give thee peace and comfort. marie canst _thou_ share the ingratitude--the obstinacy--of thy benighted race, that even with thee we must deal harshly? compel me not to a measure from which my whole heart revolts. do not let me feel that the charge against thy people is true, without even one exception, and that kindness shown to them, is unvalued as unfelt." a convulsive sob was the sole reply. marie's face was buried in her hands; but the tears were streaming through her slender fingers, and her slight figure shook with the paroxysm. "nay, marie, we ask not tears. we demand the proof of grateful affection on thy part; not its weak display. and what is that proof? the acceptance of a faith without which there can be no security in this life, nor felicity hereafter! the rejection of a fearfully mistaken--terribly accursed--creed; condemning its followers to the scorn and hate of man, and abiding wrath of god." "'to the scorn and hate of man?' alas, gracious sovereign, it is even so; but not to the 'abiding wrath of god,'" answered marie, suppressing with a desperate effort, her painful emotion. "the very scorn and loathing we encounter confirms the blessed truth, of our having been the chosen children of our god, and the glorious promise of our future restoration. we are enduring now on earth the effects of the fearful sins of our ancestors; but for those who live and die true to his law, there is a future after death laid up with him; that, how may we forfeit for transitory joy?" "if it were indeed so, we would be the last to demand such forfeit," answered the queen; "but were it not for the blinding veil of wilful rejection cast over the eyes and hearts of thy people, thou wouldst know and feel, that however thy race were _once_ the chosen of god, the distinction has been lost for ever, by their blaspheming rejection of jesus and his virgin mother; and the misery--its consequence--on earth, is but a faint type of that misery which is for everlasting. it is from this we would save thee. father denis has brought before thee the solemn truths which our sainted creed advances, in reply to the mystifying fallacies of thine; and, he tells me, wholly without effect. my arguments, then, can be of such little weight, that i have pledged myself to my confessor to attempt none. we summoned thee merely to tell our decision in this matter; of too vital importance to be left to other lips. once more let me ask--and understand thee rightly!--have all the holy father's lessons failed to convince, even as all our affection has failed to move, thee?" "would--would to heaven i could believe as thou demandest!" answered marie. "would that those lessons had brought conviction! the bitter agony of your grace's displeasure--of feeling that, while my heart so throbs and swells with grateful devotion that i would gladly die to serve thee, yet the proof thou demandest i _cannot_ give; and i must go down to an early grave, leaving with thee the sole impression that thou hadst cherished a miserable ingrate, whom, even as thou hast loved, so thou must now hate and scorn. oh, madam! try me by other proof! my creed may be the mistaken one it seems to thee; but, oh! it is no garment we may wear and cast off at pleasure. have mercy, gracious sovereign! condemn me not as reprobate--hardened--more insensible than the veriest cur, who is grateful for the kindness of his master!--because i love my faith better even than thy love--the dearest earthly joy now left me." "methinks scarcely the dearest," replied isabella, affected, in spite of her every effort for control; "but of that here after. marie, i have pledged myself to my confessor, not to let this matter rest. he has told me that my very affection for thee is a snare, and must be sacrificed if it interfere with my duty; not alone as member of christ's church, but as sovereign of a catholic realm, whose bounden duty it is to purge away all heresy and misbelief. i feel that he is right, and, cost what it may, christ's dictates must be obeyed. the years of fraud--of passing for what thou wert not--i forgive, for thy noble husband's sake; but my confessor has told me, and i feel its truth, that if we allow thy return to thy people as thou art now, we permit a continuance of such unnatural unions, encourage fraud, and expose our subjects to the poisonous taint of jewish blood and unbelief. a christian thou must become. the plan we have decided upon must bring conviction at last; but it will be attended with such long years of mental and physical suffering, that we shrink from the alternative, and only thine own obstinacy will force us to adopt it." she paused for above a minute; but though marie's very lips had blanched, and her large eyes were fixed in terror on the queen's face, there was no answer. "thou hast more than once alluded to death," isabella continued, her voice growing sterner; "but, though such may be the punishment demanded, we cannot so completely banish regard as to expose thy soul, as well as body, to undying flames. thou hast heard, perchance, of holy sisterhoods, who, sacrificing all of earthly joys and earthly ties, devote themselves as the willing brides of christ, and pass their whole lives in acts of personal penance, mortification, self-denial, and austerity; which to all, save those impelled try this same lofty enthusiasm, would be unendurable. the convent of st. ursula is the most strictly rigid and unpitying of this sternly rigid school; and there, if still thou wilt not retract, thou wilt be for life immured, to learn that reverence, that submission, that belief, which thou refusest now. ponder well on all the suffering which this sentence must comprise. it is even to us--a christian--so dreadful, that we would not impose it, could we save thy deluded spirit by any other means. the abbess, from the strict and terrible discipline of long years, has conquered every womanly weakness; and to a jewess placed under her charge, to be brought a penitent to the bosom of the virgin, is not likely to decrease the severity of treatment and discipline, the portion even of her own. once delivered to her charge, we interfere no further. whatever she may command--short of actual torture, or death--thou must endure. marie! wilt thou tempt a doom like this? in mercy to thyself, retract ere it be too late!" "if i can bear the loss of thy favor, my sovereign, i can bear this," replied marie, slowly and painfully. "there is more suffering in the thought, that your grace's love is lost for ever; that i shall never see your highness more; and thou must ever think of me as only a wretched, feelingless ingrate, than in all the bodily and mental anguish such a life may bring." "marie!" exclaimed isabella, with an irrepressible burst of natural feeling. and marie had darted forwards, and was kneeling at her feet, and covering her hand with tears and kisses, ere she had power to forcibly subdue the emotion and speak again. "this must not be," she said at length; but she did not withdraw the hand which marie still convulsively clasped, and, half unconsciously it seemed, she put back the long, black tresses, which had fallen over her colorless cheek, looked sadly in that bowed face, and kissed her brow. "it is the last," she murmured to herself. "it may be the effects of sorcery--it may be sin; but if i do penance for the weakness, it must have way." "thou hast heard the one alternative," she continued aloud; "now hear the other. we have thought long, and watched well, some means of effectually obliterating the painful memories of the past, and making thy life as happy as it has been sad. we have asked and received permission from our confessor to bring forward a temporal inducement for a spiritual end; that even the affections themselves may be made conducive to turning a benighted spirit from the path of death into that of life; and, therefore, we may proceed more hopefully. marie! is there not a love thou valuest even more than mine? nay, attempt not to deny a truth, which we have known from the hour we told thee that arthur stanley was thy husband's murderer. what meant those wild words imploring me to save him? for what was the avowal of thy faith, but that thy witness should not endanger him? why didst thou return to danger when safety was before thee?--peril thine own life but to save his? answer me truly: thou lovest stanley, marie?" "i have loved him, gracious sovereign." "and thou dost no longer? marie, methinks there would be less wrong in loving now, than when we first suspected it," rejoined the queen, gravely. "alas! my liege, who may school the heart? he was its first--first affection! but, oh! my sovereign, i never wronged my noble husband. he knew it all ere he was taken from me, and forgave and loved me still; and, oh! had he been but spared, even memory itself would have lost its power to sting. his trust, his love, had made me all--all his own!" "i believe thee, my poor child; but how came it that, loving stanley, thy hand was given to morales?" for the first time, the dangerous ground on which she stood flashed on the mind of marie; and her voice faltered as she answered--"my father willed it, madam." "thy father! and was he of thy faith, yet gave his child to one of us?" "he was dying, madam, and there was none to protect his marie. he loved and admired him to whom he gave me; for ferdinand had never scorned nor persecuted us. he had done us such good service that my father sought to repay him; but he would accept nothing but my hand, and swore to protect my faith--none other would have made such promise. i was weak, i know, and wrong; but i dared not then confess i loved another. and, once his wife, it was sin even to think of arthur. oh, madam! night and day i prayed that we might never meet, till all of love was conquered." "poor child," replied isabella, kindly. "but, since thou wert once more free, since stanley was cleared of even the suspicion of guilt, has no former feeling for him returned! he loves thee, marie, with such faithful love as in man i have seldom seen equalled; why check affection now?" "alas! my liege, what may a jewess be to him; or his love to me, save as the most terrible temptation to estrange me from my god?" "say rather to gently lure thee to him, marie," replied isabella, earnestly. "there is a thick veil between thy heart and thy god now; let the love thou bearest this young englishman be the blessed means of removing it, and bringing thee to the sole source of salvation, the saviour stanley worships. one word--one little word--from thee, and thou shalt be stanley's wife! his own; dearer than ever from the trials of the past. oh! speak it, marie! let me feel i have saved thee from everlasting torment, and made this life--in its deep, calm joy--a foretaste of the heaven that, as a christian, will await thee above. spare stanley--aye, and thy sovereign--the bitter grief of losing thee for ever!" "would--would i could!" burst wildly from the heart-stricken marie; and she wrung her hands in that one moment of intense agony, and looked up in the queen's face, with an expression of suffering isabella could not meet. "would that obedience, conviction, could come at will! his wife?--stanley's. to rest this desolate heart on his? to weep upon his bosom?--feel his arm around me?--his love protect me? to be his--all his? and only on condition of speaking one little word? oh! why can i not speak it? why will that dread voice sound within, telling me i dare not--cannot--for i do not believe? how dare i take the christians's vow, embrace the cross, and in my heart remain a jewess still?" "embrace the cross, and conviction will follow," replied the queen. "this question we have asked of father tomas, and been assured that the vows of baptism once taken, grace will be found from on high; and to the _heart_, as well as _lip_, conversion speedily ensue. forswear the blaspheming errors of thy present creed--consent to be baptized--and that very hour sees thee stanley's wife!" "no, no, no!--oh! say not such words again! my liege, my gracious liege, tempt not this weak spirit more!" implored marie, in fearful agitation. "oh! if thou hast ever loved me, in mercy spare me this!" "in mercy is it that we do thus speak, unhappy girl." replied isabella, with returning firmness; for she saw the decisive moment had come. "we have laid both alternatives before thee; it rests with thee alone to make thine own election. love on earth and joy in heaven, depends upon one word: refuse to speak it, and thou knowest thy doom!" it was well, perhaps, for marie's firmness, that the queen's appealing tone had given place to returning severity; it recalled the departing strength--the sinking energy--the power once more to _endure!_ for several minutes there was no sound: marie had buried her face in her hands, and remained--half kneeling, half crouching--on the cushion at the queen's feet, motionless as stone; and isabella--internally as agitated as herself--was, under the veil of unbending sternness, struggling for control. the contending emotions sweeping over that frail woman-heart in that fearful period of indecision we pretend not to describe: again and again the terrible temptation came, to say but the desired word, and happiness was hers--such intense happiness, that her brain reeled beneath its thought of ecstasy; and again and again it was driven back by that thrilling voice--louder than ever in its call--to remain faithful to her god. it was a fearful contest; and when she did look up, isabella started; so terribly was its index inscribed on those white and chiselled features. she rose slowly, and stood before the sovereign, her hands tightly clasped together, and the veins on her forehead raised like cords across it. three times she tried to speak; but only unintelligible murmurs came, and her lips shook as with convulsion. "it is over," she said at length, and her usually sweet voice sounded harsh and unnatural. "the weakness is conquered, gracious sovereign, condemn, scorn, hate me as thou wilt, thou must: i must endure it till my heart breaks, and death brings release; but the word thou demandest i _cannot_ speak! thy favor, arthur's love, i resign them all! 'tis the bidding of my god, and he will strengthen me to bear it. imprison, torture, slay, with the lingering misery of a broken heart, but i cannot deny my faith!" disappointed, grieved, as she was at this unexpected reply, isabella was too much an enthusiast in religion herself not to understand the feeling which dictated it; and much as she still abhorred the faith, the martyr spirit which could thus immolate the most fervid, the most passionate emotions of woman's nature at the shrine of her god, stirred a sympathetic chord in her own heart, and so moved her, that the stern words she had intended to speak were choked within her. "we must summon those then to whose charge we are pledged to commit thee," she said with difficulty; and hastily rung a silver bell beside her. "we had hoped such would not have been needed; but, as it is--" she paused abruptly; for the hangings were hastily pushed aside, and, instead of the stern figure of torquemada, who was to have obeyed the signal, the infanta isabella eagerly entered; and ran up to the queen, with childish and caressing glee at being permitted to rejoin her. the confessor--not imagining his presence would be needed, or that he would return to his post in time--had restlessly obeyed the summons of a brother prelate, and, in some important clerical details, forgot the mandate of his sovereign. marie saw the softened expression of the queen's face; the ineffectual effort to resist her child's caresses, and retain her sternness: and, with a sudden impulse, she threw herself at her feet. "oh! do not turn from me, my sovereign!" she implored, wildly clasping isabella's knees. "i ask nothing--nothing, but to return to my childhood's home, and die there! i ask not to return to my people; they would not receive me, for i have dared to love the stranger; but in my own isolated home, where but two aged retainers of my father dwell, i can do harm to none--mingle with none; let me bear a breaking heart for a brief--brief while; and rest beside my parents. i will swear to thee never to quit that place of banishment--swear never more to mingle with either thy people or with mine--to be as much lost to man, as if the grave had already closed over me, or convent walls immured me! oh, madam! grant me but this! will it not be enough of suffering to give up arthur?--to tear myself from thy cherishing love?--to bear my misery alone? leave me, oh! leave me but my faith--the sole joy, sole hope, now left me! give me not up to the harsh, and cruel father--the stern mother of st. ursula! if i can sacrifice love, kindness--all that would make earth a heaven--will harshness gain thine end? plead for me," she continued, addressing the infant-princess, who, as if affected by the grief she beheld, had left her mother to cling round marie caressingly; "plead for me, infanta! oh, madam! the fate of war might place this beloved and cherished one in the hands of those who regard thy faith even as thou dost mine; were such an alternative proffered, how wouldst thou she should decide? my sovereign, my gracious sovereign, oh, have mercy!" "mamma! dear mamma!" repeated the princess at the same moment, and aware that her intercession was required, though unable to comprehend the wherefore, she clasped her little hands entreatingly; "grant poor marie what she wishes! you have told me a queen's first duty is to be kind and good; and do all in her power to make others happy. make her happy, dear mamma, she has been so sad!" the appeal to isabella's nature was irresistible; she caught her child to her heart, and burst into passionate tears. chapter xxxiii. "i will have vengeance! i'll crush thy swelling pride! i'll still thy vaunting! i'll do a deed of blood! now all idle forms are over- now open villany, now open hate- defend thy life!" joanna baillie. "let me but look upon 'her' face once more- let me but say farewell, my soul's beloved, and i will bless thee still." mrs. hemans. some time had elapsed since king ferdinand and his splendid army had quitted saragossa. he himself had not as yet headed any important expedition, but fixing his head-quarters at seville, dispatched thence various detachments under experienced officers, to make sallies on the moors, who had already enraged the christian camp by the capture of zahara. arthur stanley was with the marquis of cadiz, when this insult was ably avenged by the taking of albania, a most important post, situated within thirty miles of the capital. the spaniards took possession of the city, massacred many of the inhabitants, placed strong restrictions on those who surrendered, and strongly garrisoned every tower and fort. nor were they long inactive: the moors resolved to retake what they considered the very threshold of their capital; hastily assembled their forces, and regularly entered upon the siege. while at seville, the camp of ferdinand had been joined by several foreign chevaliers, amongst whom was an italian knight, who had excited the attention and curiosity of many of the younger spaniards from the mystery environing him. he was never seen without his armor. his helmet always closed, keeping surlily aloof, he never mingled in the brilliant jousts and tournaments of the camp, except when arthur stanley chanced to be one of the combatants: he was then sure to be found in the lists, and always selected the young englishman as his opponent. at first this strange pertinacity was regarded more as a curious coincidence than actual design; but it occurred so often, that at length it excited remark. arthur himself laughed it off, suggesting that the italian had perhaps some grudge against england, and wished to prove the mettle of her sons. the italian deigned no explanation, merely saying that he supposed the spanish jousts were governed by the same laws as others, and he was therefore at liberty to choose his own opponent. but arthur was convinced that some cause existed for this mysterious hostility. not wishing to create public confusion, he contended himself by keeping a watch upon his movements. he found, however, that he did not watch more carefully than he was watched, and incensed at length, he resolved on calling his enemy publicly to account for his dishonorable conduct. this, however, he found much easier in theory than practice. the wily italian, as if aware of his intentions, skilfully eluded them; and as weeks passed without any recurrence of their secret attacks. stanley, guided by his own frank and honorable feelings, believed his suspicions groundless, and dismissed them altogether. on the tumultuary entrance of the spaniards, however, these suspicions were re-excited. separated by the press of contending warriors from the main body of his men, stanley plunged headlong into the thickest battalion of moors, intending to cut his way through them to the marquis of cadiz, who was at that moment entering the town. his unerring arm and lightness of movement bore him successfully onward. a very brief space divided him from his friends: the spirited charger on which he rode, cheered by his hand and voice, with one successful bound cleared the remaining impediments in his way, but at that moment, with a piercing cry of suffering, sprung high in the air and fell dead, nearly crushing his astonished master with his weight. happily for stanley, the despairing anguish of the moors at that moment at its height, from the triumphant entry of the spaniards into their beloved albania, aggravated by the shrieks of the victims in the unsparing slaughter, effectually turned the attention of those around him from his fall. he sprung up, utterly unable to account for the death of his steed: the dastard blow had been dealt from behind, and no moor had been near but those in front. he looked hastily round him: a tall figure was retreating through the thickening _melã©e_, whose dull, red armor, and deep, black plume, discovered on the instant his identity. arthur's blood tingled with just indignation, and it was with difficulty that he restrained himself from following, and demanding on the instant, and at the sword's point, the meaning of the deed. the sudden start, and muttered execration of the italian, as stanley joined the victorious group around the marquis, convinced him that his reappearance, and unhurt, was quite contrary to his mysterious enemy's intention. the exciting events of the siege which followed, the alternate hope and fear of the spaniards, reduced to great distress by the moors having succeeded in turning the course of a river which supplied the city with water, and finally, the timely arrival of succors under the duke of medina sidonia, which compelled the moors to raise the siege and disperse--the rejoicing attendant on so great and almost unexpected a triumph, all combined to prevent any attention to individual concerns. the italian had not crossed arthur's path again, except in the general attack or defence; and stanley found the best means of conquering his own irritation towards such secret machinations, was to treat them with indifference and contempt. the halls of alhama were of course kept strongly manned; and a guard, under an experienced officer, constantly occupied the summit of a lofty tower, situated on a precipitous height which commanded a view of the open country for miles, and overlooked the most distant approach of the moors. as was usual to moorish architecture, the tower had been erected on a rock, which on one side shelved down so straight and smooth, as to appear a continuance of the tower-wall, but forming from the battlements a precipice some thousand feet in depth. the strongest nerve turned sick and giddy to look beneath, and the side of the tower overlooking it was almost always kept unguarded. it was near midnight when stanley, who was that night on command, after completing his rounds, and perceiving every sentinel on duty, found himself unconsciously on the part of the tower we have named. so pre-occupied was his mind, that he looked beneath him without shrinking; and then retracing his steps some twenty or thirty yards from the immediate and unprotected edge, wrapped his mantle closely round him, and lying down, rested his head on his arm, and permitted the full dominion of thought. he was in that dreamy mood, when the silence and holiness of nature is so much more soothing than even the dearest sympathy of man; when every passing cloud and distant star, and moaning wind, speaks with a hundred tongues, and the immaterial spirit holds unconscious commune with beings invisible, and immaterial as itself. above his head, heavy clouds floated over the dark azure of the heavens, sometimes totally obscuring the mild light of the full moon; at others merely shrouding her beams in a transparent veil, from which she would burst resplendently, sailing majestically along, seeming the more light and lovely from the previous shade. one brilliant planet followed closely on her track, and as the dark masses of clouds would rend asunder, portions of the heavens, studded with glittering stars, were visible, seeming like the gemmed dome of some mighty temple, whose walls and pillars, shrouded in black drapery, were lost in the distance on either side. gradually, stanley's thoughts became indistinct; the stars seemed to lose their radiance, as covered by a light mist; a dark cloud appearing, in his half dormant fancy, to take the gigantic proportions of a man, hovered on the battlement. it became smaller and smaller, but still it seemed a cloud, through which the moonlight gleamed; but a thrill passed through him, as if telling of some impalpable and indefinable object of dread. with a sudden effort he shook off the lethargy of half sleep, and sprung to his feet, at the very moment a gleaming sword was pointed at his throat. "ha, villain! at thy murderous work again!" he exclaimed, and another moment beheld him closed in deadly conflict with his mysterious foe. a deep and terrible oath, and then a mocking laugh, escaped his adversary; and something in those sounds, nerved stanley's arms with resistless power: he was sure he could not be mistaken, and he fought, not with the unguarded desire of one eager to obtain satisfaction for personal injury--but he was calm, cool, collected, as threefold an avenger. for once, the demon-like caution of the supposed italian deserted him: discovery was inevitable, and his sole aim was to compass the death of the hated foreigner with his own. he tried gradually to retreat to the very edge of the precipice, and stanley's calm and cautious avoidance of the design lashed him into yet fiercer desperation. thick and fast, fell those tremendous blows. the italian had the advantage in height and size, stanley in steady coolness and prudent guard; the italian sought only to slay his adversary, caring not to defend himself; arthur evidently endeavored merely to unhelm the traitor, and bring him but slightly wounded to the ground. for several minutes there was no cessation in that fearful clash of steel; the strokes were so rapid, so continued, a hundred combatants might have seemed engaged. a moment they drew back, as if to breathe; the italian, with a despairing effort, raised his weapon and sprung forwards; arthur lightly leaped aside, and the murderous stroke clove but the yielding earth. another second, and ere the italian had regained his equilibrium, arthur's sword had descended with so true and sure a stroke that the clasp of the helmet gave way, the dark blood bubbled up from the cloven brow, he reeled and fell; and a long, loud shout from the officers and soldiers, who, at the sound of arms, had flocked round, proclaimed some stronger feeling than simply admiration of stanley's well-known prowess. "seize him! seize him! or by heaven he will escape us yet!" were among the few words intelligible. "the daring villain, to come amongst us! did he think for ever to elude heaven's vengeance? bind, fetter, hold him; or his assistant fiends will release him still!" fiercely the fallen man had striven to extricate himself; but stanley's knee moved not from his breast, nor his sword from his throat, until a strong guard had raised and surrounded him: "but the horrible passions imprinted on those lived features were such, that his very captors turned away shuddering. "hadst thou not had enough of blood and crime, thou human monster, that thou wouldst stain thy already blackened soul with, another midnight murder?" demanded stanley, as he sternly confronted his baffled foe. "don luis garcia, as men have termed thee, what claim have i on thy pursuing and unchanging hate? with what dost thou charge me? what wrong?" "wrong!" hoarsely and fiercely repeated don louis. "the wrong of baffled hate; of success, when i planned thy downfall; of escape, when i had sworn thy death! did the drivelling idiots, who haunted, persecuted, excommunicated me from these realms, as some loathed reptile, dream that i would draw back from my sworn vengeance for such as they? poor, miserable fools, whom the first scent of danger would turn aside from the pursuit of hate! i staked my life on thine, and the stake is lost; but what care i? my hate shall follow thee; wither thy bones with its curse; poison every joy; blight every hope; rankle in thy life blood! bid thee seek health, and bite the dust for anguish because it flies thee! and for me. ha, ha! men may think to judge me--torture, triumph, slay! well, let them." and with a movement so sudden and so desperate, that to avert it was impossible, he burst from the grasp of his guards; and with one spring, stood firm and triumphant on the farthest edge of the battlement. "now follow me who dares!" he exclaimed; and, with a fearful mocking laugh; flung himself headlong down, ere the soldiers had recovered his first sudden movement. stanley alone retained presence of mind sufficient to dart forward, regardless of his own imminent danger, in the vain hope of arresting the leap; but quick as were his movements, he only reached the brink in time to see the wretched man, one moment quivering in air, and lost the next in a dark abyss of shade. a cry of mingled disappointment, horror, and execration, burst from all around; and several of the soldiers hastened from the battlements to the base of the rock, determined on fighting the arch-fiend himself, if, as many of them firmly believed, he had rendered don luis invulnerable to air, and would wait there to receive him. but even this heroic resolution was disappointed: the height was so tremendous, and the velocity of the fall so frightful, that the action of the air had not only deprived him of life, but actually loosed the limbs from the trunk, and a fearfully mangled corpse was all that remained to glut the vengeance of the infuriated soldiers. the confusion and excitement attending this important event, spread like wildfire; not only over albania, but reaching to the duke's camp without the city. to send off the momentous information to the king, was instantly decided upon; and young stanley, as the person principally concerned, selected for the mission. ferdinand was astonished and indignant, and greatly disappointed that justice had been so eluded; but that such a monster, whose machinations seemed, in their subtlety and secrecy, to prevent all defeat, no longer cumbered spain, was in itself a relief so great both to monarch and people, as after the first burst of indignation to cause universal rejoicings. it so happened that ferdinand had been desirous of stanley's presence for some weeks; letters from isabella, some little time previous, had expressed an earnest desire for the young man's return to saragossa, if only for a visit of a few days. this was then impossible. three months had elapsed since isabella's first communication; within the last two she had not again reverted to stanley; but the king, thinking she had merely refrained from doing so, because of its present impossibility, gladly seized the opportunity of his appearance at seville, to dispatch him, as envoy extraordinary, on both public and private business, to the court of arragon. isabella was surrounded by her ministers and nobles when stanley was conducted to her presence; she received him with cordiality and graciousness, asked many and eager questions concerning her husband and the progress of his arms, entered minutely into the affair of don luis, congratulated him on his having been the hand destined to unmask the traitor and bring him low; gave her full attention on the instant to the communications from the king, with which he was charged; occupied some hours in earnest and thoughtful deliberation with her counsel, which, on perusal of the king's papers, she had summoned directly. and yet, through all this, arthur fancied there was an even unusual degree of sympathy and kindliness in the tone and look with which she addressed him individually; but he felt intuitively it was sympathy with sorrow, not with joy. he was convinced that his unexpected presence had startled and almost grieved her; and why should this be, if she had still the hope with which she had so infused his spirit, when they had parted. his heart, so full of elasticity a few hours previous, sunk chilled and pained within him, and it was with an effort impossible to have been denied, had it not been for the queen's _unspoken_ but real sympathy; he roused himself sufficiently to execute his mission. but isabella was too much the true and feeling woman, to permit the day to close without the private interview she saw stanley needed; reality, sad as it was, she felt would be better than harrowing suspense; and, in a few kindly words, the tale was told. "i should have known it!" he exclaimed, when the first shock of bitter disappointment permitted words. "my own true, precious marie! how dared i dream that for me thou wouldst sacrifice thy faith; all, all else--joy, hope, strength; aye, life itself--but not thy god! oh, madam," he continued, turning passionately to the queen, "thou hast not condemned her to misery for this! thou hast not revoked thy former heavenly mercy, and delivered her over to the stern fathers of our holy church? no, no! isabella could not have done this!" "nor have we," replied the queen, so mildly that arthur flung himself at her feet, conjuring her to pardon his disrespectful words. "give her to thee, without retracting her fearful misbelief, indeed we dared not, but further misery has not been inflicted. we have indeed done penance for our weakness, severe penance; for father tomas asserts that we have most grievously sinned; and more, have pledged ourselves most solemnly, that what he may counsel for the entire uprooting of this horrible heresy, and accursed race, shall be followed, cost what it may, politically or privately; but to refuse the last boon of the unhappy girl, who had so strangely, perchance so bewilderingly, wound herself about my heart--stanley, i must have changed my nature first!" "her last boon! gracious sovereign--" "nay, her last to her sovereign, my friend. it may be that even yet her errors may be abjured, and grace be granted in her solitude, to become in this world as the next, what we have prayed for; but we dare not hope it; nor must thou. she besought permission to return to the home of her childhood, pledging herself never to leave it, or mingle with her people or ours more." "and she is there! god in heaven bless, reward your highness for the mercy!" burst impetuously from arthur. "i trust she is, nay, i believe it; for jewess as she is, she would not pledge me false. in the garb of the novice, as she saved thee, father denis conducted her to the frontiers of castile. more we know not, for we asked not the site of her home." there was a few minutes' pause, and then, with beseeching eloquence, arthur conjured the sovereign to let him see her once, but once again. he asked no more, but he felt as if he could not sustain the agony of eternal separation, without one last, last interview. he pledged his honor, that no temptation of a secret union should interfere with the sentence of the queen; that both would submit; only to permit them once more to meet again. isabella hesitated, but not for long. perhaps the secret hope arose that stanley's presence would effect that for which all else had failed; or that she really could not resist his passionate pleadings. "one word of retraction, and even now she is thine.--and i will bless thee that thou gavest her to me again," she said in parting; but her own spirit told her the hope was vain. half an hour after this agitating interview arthur stanley was again on horseback, a deep hectic on either cheek; his eye bloodshot and strained, traversing with the speed of lightning the open country, in the direction of castile. chapter xxxiv. "oh! love, love, strong as death--from such an hour pressing out joy by thine immortal power; holy and fervent love! had earth but rest for thee and thine, this world were all too fair: how could we thence be weaned to die without despair! "but woe for him who felt that heart grow still which with its weight of agony had lain breaking on his. scarce could the mortal chill of the hushed bosom, ne'er to heave again, and all the curdling silence round the eye, bring home the stern belief that she could die." mrs. hemans. the glowing light of a glorious sunset lingered on the vale of cedars, displaying that calm and beautiful retreat in all the fair and rich luxuriance of former years. reuben and ruth, the aged retainers of the house of henriquez, had made it their pride and occupation to preserve the cherished retreat, lovely as it had been left. nor were they its only inmates; their daughter, her husband, and children, after various struggles in the christian world, had been settled in the vale by the benevolence of ferdinand morales--their sole duty, to preserve it in such order, as to render it a fitting place of refuge for any who should need it. within the last twelve months, another inmate had been added to them. weary of his wanderings, and of the constant course of deception which his apparent profession of a monk demanded, julien morales had returned to the home of his childhood, there to fix his permanent abode; only to make such excursions from it, as the interests of his niece might demand. her destiny was his sole anxious thought. her detention by isabella convinced him that her disguise had been penetrated, and filled him with solicitude for her spiritual, yet more than her temporal welfare. royal protection of a jewess was so unprecedented, that it could only argue the hope--nay, perhaps conviction--of her final conversion. and the old man actually tried to divorce the sweet image of his niece from his affections, so convinced was he that her unhappy love for arthur, combined with isabella's authority, and, no doubt, the threat of some terrible alternative should she refuse, would compel her acceptance of the proffered cross, and so sever them for ever. how little can man, even the most gentle and affectionate, read woman! it was the day completing the eleventh month after don ferdinand's murder, when julien morales repaired earlier than usual to the little temple, there to read the service for the dead appointed for the day, and thence proceeded to his nephew's grave. an unusual object, which had fallen on, or was kneeling beside the grave, caught his eye, and impelled him to quicken his pace. his heart throbbed as he recognized the garb of a novice, and to such a degree as almost to deprive him of all power, as in the white, chiselled features, resting on the cold, damp sod, he recognized his niece, and believed, for the first agonizing moment, that it was but clay resting against clay; and that the sweet, pure spirit had but guided her to that grave and flown. but death for a brief interval withdrew his grasp; though his shaft had reached her, and no human hand could draw it back. father denis had conducted her so carefully and tenderly to the frontiers of castile, that she had scarcely felt fatigue, and encountered no exposure to the elements; but when he left her, her desire to reach her home became stronger, with the seeming physical incapacity to do so. her spirit gave way, and mental and bodily exhaustion followed. the season was unusually damp and tempestuous, and, though scarcely felt at the time, sowed the seeds of cold and decline, from which her naturally good constitution might, in the very midst of her trials, otherwise have saved her. her repugnance to encounter the eyes or speech of her fellows, lest her disguise should be penetrated, caused her to shrink from entering any habitation, except for the single night which intervened, between the period of the father's leaving her and her reaching the secret entrance to the vale. her wallet provided her with more food than her parched throat could swallow; and for the consuming thirst, the fresh streams that so often bubbled across her path, gave her all she needed. the fellowship of man, then, was unrequited, and, as the second night fell, so comparatively short a distance lay between her and her home, that buoyed up by the desire to reach it, she was not sensible of her utter exhaustion, till she stood within the little graveyard of the vale; and the moon shining softly and clearly on the headstones, disclosed to her the grave of her husband. she was totally ignorant that he had been borne there; and the rush of feeling which came over her, as she read his name--the memories of their happy, innocent, childhood, of all his love for her--that had he been but spared, all the last year's misery might have been averted, for she would have loved him, ay, even as he loved her; and he would have guarded, saved--so overpowered her, that she had sunk down upon the senseless earth which covered him, conscious only of the wild, sickly longing, like him to flee away and be at rest. she had reached her home; exertion no longer needed, the unnatural strength, ebbed fast, and the frail tenement withered, hour by hour, away. and how might julien mourn! her work on earth was done. young, tried, frail as she was, she had been permitted to show forth the glory, the sustaining glory, of her faith, by a sacrifice whose magnitude was indeed apparent, but whose depth and intensity of suffering, none knew but him for whom it had been made. she had been preserved from the crime--if possible more fearful in the mind of the hebrew than any other--apostacy: and though the first conviction, that she was indeed "passing away" even from his affection, was fraught with absolute anguish, yet her uncle could not, dared not pray for life on earth. and in the peace, the calm, the depth, of quietude which gradually sunk on her heart, infusing her every word and look and gentle smile, it was as if her spirit had already the foretaste of that blissful heaven for which its wings were plumed. as the frame dwindled, the expression of her sweet face became more and more unearthly in its exquisite beauty, the mind more and more beatified, and the heart more freed from earthly feeling. the reward of her constancy appeared in part bestowed on earth, for death itself was revealed to her--not as the king of terrors, but as an angel of light, at whose touch the lingering raiment of mortality would dissolve, and the freed soul spring up rejoicing to its home. it was the feast of the tabernacle and the sabbath eve. the tent--formed of branches of thick trees and fragrant shrubs--was erected, as we have seen it in a former page, a short distance from the temple. marie's taste had once again, been consulted in its decorations; her hand, feeble as it was, had twined the lovely wreaths of luscious flowers and arranged the glowing fruit. with some difficulty she had joined in the devotional service performed by her uncle in the little temple--borne there in the arms of old reuben, for her weakness now prevented walking--and on the evening of the sabbath in the festival, she reclined on one of the luxurious couches within the tent, through the opening of which, she could look forth on the varied beauties of the vale, and the rich glorious hues dyeing the western skies. the sabbath lamps were lighted, but their rays were faint and flickering in the still glowing atmosphere. a crimson ray from the departing luminary gleamed through the branches, and a faint glow--either from its reflection, or from that deceiving beauty, which too often gilds the features of the dying--rested on marie's features, lighting up her large and lustrous eyes with unnatural brilliance. she had been speaking earnestly of that life beyond the grave, belief in which throughout her trials had been her sole sustainer. julien had listened, wrapt and almost awe-struck, so completely did it seem as if the spirit, and not the mortal, spoke. "and thine own trials, my beloved one," he said,--"has the question never come, why thou shouldst thus have been afflicted?" "often, very often, my father, and only within the last few weeks has the full answer come; and i can say from my inmost heart, in the words of job, 'it is good that i have been afflicted,' and that i believe all is well. while _on_ earth, we must be in some degree _of_ earth, and bear the penalty of our earthly nature. the infirmities and imperfections of that nature in others, as often as in ourselves, occasion human misery, which our god, in his infinite love, permits, to try our spirit's strength and faith, and so prepare us for that higher state of being, in which the spirit will move and act, when the earthly shell is shivered, and earthly infirmities are for ever stilled. in the time of suffering we cannot think thus; but looking back as i do now--when the near vicinity of another world bids me regard my own past life almost as if it were another's--i feel it in my inmost heart, and bless god for every suffering which has prepared me thus early for his home. there is but one feeling, one wish of earth, remaining," she continued, after a long pause of utter exhaustion. "it is weak, perhaps, and wrong; but if--if arthur could but know that fatal secret which made me seem a worse deceiver than i was--i know it cannot be, but it so haunts me. if i wedded one christian, may he not think there needed not this sacrifice--sacrifice not of myself, but of his happiness. oh! could i but--hush! whose step is that?" she suddenly interrupted herself; and with the effort of strong excitement, started up, and laid her hand on her uncle's arm. "nay, my child, there is no sound," he replied soothingly, after listening attentively for several moments. "but there is. hark, dost thou not hear it now? god of mercy! thou hast heard my prayer--it is _his_!" she exclaimed, sinking powerlessly back, at the moment that even julien's duller ear had caught a rapid step; and in another minute the branches were hastily pushed aside, and stanley indeed stood upon the threshold. "marie--and thus!" he passionately exclaimed; and flinging himself on his knees beside her, he buried his face on her hand, and wept in agony. * * * * * nearly an hour passed ere marie could rally from the agitation of arthur's unexpected presence sufficiently to speak. she lay with her hand clasped in his, and his arm around her--realizing, indeed, to the full, the soothing consolation of his presence, but utterly powerless to speak that for which she had so longed to see him once again. the extent of her weakness had been unknown till that moment either to her uncle or herself, and julien watched over her in terror lest the indefinable change which in that hour of stillness was perceptibly stealing over her features should be indeed the dim shadow of death. to arthur speech was equally impossible, save in the scarcely articulate expressions of love and veneration which he lavished on her. what he had hoped in thus seeking her he could not himself have defined. his whole soul was absorbed in the wild wish to see her again, and the thoughts of death for her had never entered his heart. the shock, then, had been terrible, and to realize the infinite mercy which thus bade sorrow cease, was in such a moment impossible. he could but gaze and clasp her closer and closer, yet, as if even death should be averted by his love. "uncle julien," she murmured, as she faintly extended her hand towards him, "thou wilt not refuse to clasp hands with one who has so loved thy marie! and thou, arthur, oh! scorn him not. without him the invisible dungeons of the inquisition would have been my grave, and thine that of a dishonored knight and suspected murderer." the eyes of her companions met, and their hands were grasped in that firm pressure, betraying unity of feeling, and reciprocal esteem, which need no words. "raise me a little, dearest arthur; uncle julien" put back that spreading bough. i would say something more, and the fresher air may give me strength. ah! the evening breeze is so fresh and sweet; it always makes me feel as if the spirits of those we loved were hovering near us. we hold much closer and dearer communion with the beloved dead in the calm twilight than in the garish day. arthur, dearest, thou wilt think of me sometimes in an hour like this." "when shall i not think of thee?" he passionately rejoined. "oh, marie, marie! i thought separation on earth the worst agony that could befall me; but what--what is it compared to the eternal one of death?" "no, no, not eternal, arthur. in heaven i feel there is no distinction of creed or faith; we shall all love god and one another there, and earth's fearful distinctions can never come between us. i know such is not the creed of thy people, nor of some of mine; but when thou standest on the verge of eternity, as i do now, thou wilt feel this too." "how can i gaze on thee, and not believe it?" he replied. "the loudest thunders of the church could not shake my trust in the purity of heaven, which is thine." "because thou lovest, arthur. thy love for marie is stronger than thy hatred of her race; and, oh! if thou lovest thus, i know thou hast forgiven." "forgiven!" he passionately reiterated. "yes, dearest arthur. is the past indeed so obliterated that the wrong i did thee is forgotten even as forgiven? but, oh, arthur! it was not so unjustifiable as it seemed then. i dared not breathe the truth in isabella's court. i dare not whisper it now save to thee, who would die rather than reveal it. arthur, dearest arthur, it was no christian whom i wedded. we had been betrothed from early childhood, though i knew it not; and when the time came, i could not draw down on me a father's curse, or dash with agony a heart that so cherished, so loved me, by revelation of a truth which could avail me nothing, and would bring him but misery. ferdinand was my cousin--a child of israel, as myself." "now heaven bless thee for those words, my own, true, precious marie!" exclaimed stanley, in strong emotion, and clasping her still closer, he pressed his quivering lips to her forehead, starting in agony as he marked the cold, damp dews which had gathered upon it, too truly the index of departing life. he besought her to speak no more--the exertion was exhausting her; she smiled faintly, drank of the reviving draught which julien proffered, and lay for a few minutes calm and still. "i am better now," she said, after an interval. "it was only the excitement of speaking that truth, which i have so long desired to reveal--to clear my memory from the caprice and inconstancy with which even thy love must have charged me; and now, arthur, promise me that thou wilt not mourn me too long: that thou wilt strive to conquer the morbid misery, which i know, if encouraged, will cloud thy whole life, and unfit thee for the glorious career which must otherwise be thine. do not forget me wholly, love, but deem it not a duty to my memory never to love again. arthur, dearest, thou canst bestow happiness on another, and one of thine own faith, even such happiness as to have been thy wife would have given me. do not reject the calm rest and peacefulness, which such love will bring to thee, though now thou feelest as if the very thought were loathing. she will speak to thee of me; for jewess as she knew me, she has loved and tended me in suffering, and so wept my banishment, that my frozen tears had well nigh flowed in seeing hers. seek her in isabella's court, and try to love her, arthur--if at first merely for my sake, it will soon, soon be for her own." impressively and pleadingly, these words fell on arthur's aching heart, even at that moment when he felt to comply with them was and must ever be impossible. when time had done its work, and softened individual agony, they returned again and yet again; and at each returning, seemed less painful to obey. "and isabella, my kind, loving, generous mistress," she continued, after a very long pause, and her voice was so faint as scarcely to make distinguishable the words, save for the still lingering sweetness, and clearness of her articulation--"oh! what can i say to her? arthur, dearest arthur, thou must repay the debt of gratitude i owe her. her creed condemns, but her heart loves me--aye, still, still! and better (though she cannot think so) than had i for earthly joy turned traitor to my god. oh, tell her how with my last breath i loved and blessed her, arthur; tell her we shall meet again, where jew and gentile worship the same god! oh that i could but have proved--proved--how suddenly it has grown dark! uncle julien, is it not time for the evening prayer?" and her lips moved in the wordless utterance of the prayer for which she had asked, forgetting it had some time before been said; and then her head sunk lower and lower on arthur's bosom, and there was no sound. twilight lingered, as loth to disappear, then deepened into night, and the silver lamps within the tents brighter and more brightly illumined the gloom; but arthur moved not, suppressing even his breath, lest he should disturb that deep and still repose. it was more than an hour ere julien morales could realize the truth, and then he gently endeavored to unclasp arthur's almost convulsive hold, and with, kindly force to lead him from the couch. the light of the lamp fell full upon that sweet, sweet face; and, oh! never had it seemed so lovely. the awful stillness of sculptured repose was indeed there; the breath of life and its disturbing emotions had passed away, and nought but the shrine remained. but like marble sculptured by god's hand, that sweet face gleamed--seeming, in its perfect tracery, its heavenly repose, to whisper even to the waves of agony, "be still--my spirit is with god!" * * * * * julien morales and arthur stanley--the aged and the young--the jewish recluse and christian warrior--knelt side by side on the cold earth, which concealed the remains of one to both so inexpressibly dear. the moonlit shrubs and spangled heaven alone beheld their mutual sorrow, and the pale moon waned, and the stars gleamed paler and paler in the first gray of dawn ere that vigil was concluded. and then both arose and advanced to the barrier wall; the spring answered to the touch, and the concealed door flew back. the young christian turned, and was folded to the heart of the jew. the blessing of the hebrew was breathed in the ear of the englishman, and stanley disappeared. oh, love! thou fairest, brightest, most imperishable type of heaven! what to thee are earth's distinctions? alone in thy pure essence thou standest, and every mere earthly feeling crouches at thy feet. and art thou but this world's blessing? oh! they have never loved who thus believe. love is the voice of god, love is the rule of heaven! as one grain to the uncounted sands, as one drop to the unfathomed depths--is the love of earth to that of heaven; but when the mortal shrine is shivered, the minute particle will re-unite itself with its kindred essence, to exist unshadowed and for ever. chapter xxxv. "why then a final note prolong, or lengthen out a closing song, unless to bid the gentles speed who long have listened to my rede?" sir walter scott. the fickle sun of "merrie england" shone forth in unusual splendor; and, as if resolved to bless the august ceremony on which it gazed, permitted not a cloud to shadow the lustrous beams, which, darted their floods of light through the gorgeous casements of westminster abbey, in whose sacred precincts was then celebrating the bridal of the young heir of england, with a fair and gentle daughter of spain. it was a scene to interest the coldest heart--not for the state and splendor of the accoutrements, nor the high rank of the parties principally concerned, nor for the many renowned characters of church, state, and chivalry there assembled; it was the extreme youth and touching expression, impressed on the features, of both bride and bridegroom. neither arthur, prince of wales, nor catherine, infanta of arragon, had yet numbered eighteen years, the first fresh season of joyous life; but on neither countenance could be traced the hilarity and thoughtlessness, natural to their age. the fair, transparent brow of the young prince, under which the blue veins could be clearly seen, till lost beneath the rich chesnut curls, that parted on his brow, fell loosely on either shoulder; the large and deep blue eye, which was ever half concealed beneath the long, dark lash, as if some untold languor caused the eyelid to droop so heavily; the delicate pink of his downless cheek, the brilliant hue on his lips, even his peculiar smile, all seemed to whisper the coming ill, that one so dear to englishmen would not linger with them to fulfil the sweet promise of his youth. beauty is, perhaps, too strong a word to apply to the youthful bride. it was the pensive sadness of her mild and pleasing features that so attracted--natural enough to her position in a strange land, and the thoughts of early severance from a mother she idolized, but recalled some twenty years afterwards as the dim shadow of the sorrowing future, glooming through the gay promise of the present. and there, too, was prince henry, then only in his twelfth year, bearing in his flashing eye and constantly varying expression of brow and mouth, true index of those passions which were one day to shake europe to the centre; and presenting in his whole appearance a striking contrast to his brother, and drawing around him, even while yet so young, the hottest and wildest spirits of his father's court, who, while they loved the person, scorned the gentle amusements of the prince of wales. henry the seventh and his hapless consort, elizabeth of york, were, of course, present--the one rejoicing in the conclusion of a marriage for which he had been in treaty the last seven years, and which was at last purchased at the cost of innocent blood; the other beholding only her precious son, whose gentle and peculiarly domestic virtues, were her sweetest solace for conjugal neglect and ill-concealed dislike. amongst the many noble spaniards forming the immediate attendants of the infanta, had been one so different in aspect to his companions as to attract universal notice; and not a few of the senior noblemen of england had been observed to crowd round him whenever he appeared, and evince towards him the most marked and pleasurable cordiality. his thickly silvered hair and somewhat furrowed brow bore the impress of some five-and-fifty years; but a nearer examination might have betrayed, that sorrow more than years, had aged him, and full six, or even ten years might very well be subtracted from the age which a first glance supposed him. why the fancy was taken that he was not a spaniard could not have been very easily explained; for his wife was the daughter of the famous pedro pas, whose beauty, wit, and high spirits were essentially spanish, and was the infanta's nearest and most favored attendant; and he himself was constantly near her person, and looked up to by the usually jealous spaniards as even higher in rank and importance that many of themselves. how, then, could he be a foreigner? and marvel merged into the most tormenting curiosity, when, on the bridal day of the prince of wales, though he still adhered to the immediate train of the princess, he appeared in the rich and full costume of an english peer. the impatience of several young gallants could hardly by restrained even during the ceremony; at the conclusion of which they tumultuously surrounded lord scales, declaring they would not let him go, till he had told them who and what was this mysterious friend: lord scales had headed a gallant band of english knights in the moorish war, and was therefore supposed to know every thing concerning spain, and certainly of this anglo-spaniard, as ever since his arrival in england they had constantly been seen together. he smiled good-humoredly at their importunity, and replied-"i am afraid my friend's history has nothing very marvellous or mysterious in it. his family were all staunch lancastrians, and perished either on the field or scaffold; he escaped almost miraculously, and after a brief interval of restless wandering, went to spain and was treated with such consideration and kindness by ferdinand and isabella, that he has lived there ever since, honored and treated in all things as a child of the soil. on my arrival, i was struck by his extraordinary courage and rash disregard of danger, and gladly hailed in him a countryman. i learned afterwards that this reckless bravery had been incited by a wish for death, and that events had occurred in his previous life, which would supply matter for many a minstrel tale." "let us hear it, let us hear it!" interrupted many eager voices, but lord seales laughingly shook his head. "excuse me, my young friends: at present i have neither time nor inclination for a long story. enough that he loved, and loved unhappily; not from its being unreturned, but from a concatenation of circumstances and sorrows which may not be detailed." "but he is married; and he is as devoted to donna catherine as she is to him. i heard they were proverbial for their mutual affection and domestic happiness. how could he so have loved before?" demanded, somewhat skeptically, a very young man. "my good friend, when you get a little older, you will cease to marvel at such things, or imagine, because a man has been very wretched, he is to be for ever. my friend once felt as you do (lord seales changed his tone to one of impressive seriousness); but he was wise enough to abide by the counsels of the beloved one he had lost, struggle to shake off the sluggish misery which was crushing him, cease to wish for death, and welcome life as a solemn path of usefulness and good, still to be trodden, though its flowers might have faded. gradually as he awoke to outward things, and sought the companionship of her whom his lost one had loved, he became sensible that, spiritless as he had thought himself, he could yet, did he see fit, win and rivet regard; and so he married, loving less than he was loved, perchance at the time but scarcely so now. his marriage, and his present happiness, are far less mysterious than his extraordinary interference in the event which followed the conquest of the moors--i mean the expulsion of the jews." "by the way, what caused that remarkable edict?" demanded one of the circle more interested in politics than in individuals. "it is a good thing indeed to rid a land of such vermin; but in spain they had so much to do with the successful commerce of the country, that it appears as impolitic as unnecessary." "impolitic it was, so far as concerned the temporal interests of the kingdom; but the sovereigns of spain decided on it, from the religious light in which it was placed before them, by torquemada. it is whispered that isabella would never have consented to a decree, sentencing so many thousands of her innocent subjects to misery and expulsion, had not her confessor worked on her conscience in an unusual manner; alluding to some unprecedented favor shown to one of that hated race, occasioned, he declared, by those arts of magic which might occur again and yet again, and do most fatal evil to the land. isabella had, it appears, when reproached by torquemada for her act of mercy, which he termed weakness, pledged herself, not to interfere with his measures for the extermination of the unbelief, and on this promise of course he worked, till the edict was proclaimed." "but this stranger, what had he to do with it?" demanded many of the group, impatient at the interruption. "what he had to do with it i really cannot tell you, but his zeal to avert the edict lost him, in a great measure the confidence of ferdinand. when he found to prevent their expulsion was impossible, he did all in his power to lessen their misfortune, if such it may be called, by relieving every unbeliever that crossed his path." an exclamation of horrified astonishment escaped his auditors. "what could such conduct mean? did he lean towards unbelief himself--" "that could hardly be," replied lord scales. "unless he had been a catholic, earnest and zealous as herself, isabella would never have so esteemed him, as to give him as wife her especial favorite, catherine pas, and place him so near the person of her child. when i left spain, i entreated my friend to accompany me, and resume his hereditary title and estate, but i pleaded in vain. some more than common tie seemed to devote him to the interests of the queen of castile, whom he declared he would never leave unless in england he could serve her better than in spain. at that time there was no chance of such an event. he now tells me, that it was isabella's earnest request that he should attend the princess; be always near her, and so decrease the difficulties, which in a foreign land must for a time surround her. the queen is broken in health, and dispirited, from many domestic afflictions; and it was with tears, she besought him to devote his remaining years, to the service of her child, and be to the future queen of england true, faithful, and upright, as he had ever been to the queen of spain. need i say the honorable charge was instantly accepted, and while he resumes his rank and duties as a peer of his native land, the grateful service of an adopted son of spain will ever be remembered and performed." "but his name, his name?" cried many eager voices. "arthur stanley, earl of derby." the spanish brothers. the spanish brothers a·tale·of·the·sixteenth·century. [illustration: the alguazils producing their warrant for arrest. _page 215_] t. nelson and sons _london, edinburgh and new york._ the spanish brothers. a tale of the sixteenth century. _by the author of "the czar: a tale of the first napoleon." &c. &c._ * * * * * "thy loving-kindness is better than life." * * * * * london: t. nelson and sons, paternoster row. edinburgh; and new york. * * * * * 1888. contents. i. boyhood, 9 ii. the monk's letter, 18 iii. sword and cassock, 22 iv. alcala de henarez, 28 v. don carlos forgets himself, 34 vi. don carlos forgets himself still further, 44 vii. the desengano, 49 viii. the muleteer, 58 ix. el dorado found, 70 x. dolores, 78 xi. the light enjoyed, 88 xii. the light divided from the darkness, 91 xiii. seville, 105 xiv. the monks of san isodro, 116 xv. the great sanbenito, 124 xvi. welcome home, 131 xvii. disclosures, 138 xviii. the aged monk, 148 xix. truth and freedom, 152 xx. the first drop of a thunder shower, 160 xxi. by the guadalquivir, 166 xxii. the flood-gates opened, 173 xxiii. the reign of terror, 181 xxiv. a gleam of light, 191 xxv. waiting, 198 xxvi. don gonsalvo's revenge, 205 xxvii. my brother's keeper, 217 xxviii. reaping the whirlwind, 226 xxix. a friend at court, 233 xxx. the captive, 248 xxxi. ministering angels, 255 xxxii. the valley of the shadow of death, 260 xxxiii. on the other side, 271 xxxiv. fray sebastian's trouble, 282 xxxv. the eve of the auto, 290 xxxvi. "the horrible and tremendous spectacle," 300 xxxvii. something ended and something begun, 307 xxxviii. nuera again, 313 xxxix. left behind, 321 xl. "a satisfactory penitent," 329 xli. more about the penitent, 338 xlii. quiet days, 347 xliii. el dorado found again, 357 xliv. one prisoner set free, 367 xlv. triumphant, 374 xlvi. is it too late? 382 xlvii. the dominican prior, 390 xlviii. san isodro once more, 399 xlix. farewell, 409 the spanish brothers. i. boyhood. "a boy's will is the wind's will, and the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts." longfellow. on one of the green slopes of the sierra morena, shaded by a few cork-trees, and with wild craggy heights and bare brown wastes stretching far above, there stood, about the middle of the sixteenth century, a castle even then old and rather dilapidated. it had once been a strong place, but was not very spacious; and certainly, according to our modern ideas of comfort, the interior could not have been a particularly comfortable dwelling-place. a large proportion of it was occupied by the great hall, which was hung with faded, well-repaired tapestry, and furnished with oaken tables, settles, and benches, very elaborately carved, but bearing evident marks of age. narrow unglazed slits in the thick wall admitted the light and air; and beside one of these, on a gloomy autumn morning, two boys stood together, watching the rain that poured down without intermission. they were dressed exactly alike, in loose jackets of blue cloth, homespun, indeed, but so fresh and neatly-fashioned as to look more becoming than many a costlier dress. their long stockings were of silk, and their cuffs and wide shirt-frills of fine holland, carefully starched and plaited. the elder--a very handsome lad, who looked fourteen at least, but was really a year younger--had raven hair, black sparkling eager eyes, good but strongly-marked features, and a complexion originally dark, and well-tanned by exposure to sun and wind. a broader forehead, wider nostrils, and a weaker mouth, distinguished the more delicate-looking younger brother, whose hair was also less dark, and his complexion fairer. "rain--rain! will it rain for ever?" cried, in a tone of impatience, the elder, whose name was juan; or rather, his proper style and title (and very angry would he have felt had any part been curtailed or omitted) was don juan rodrigo alvarez de santillanos y menaya. he was of the purest blood in spain; by the father's side, of noblest castilian lineage; by the mother's, of an ancient asturian family. well he knew it, and proudly he held up his young head in consequence, in spite of poverty, and of what was still worse, the mysterious blight that had fallen on the name and fortunes of his house, bringing poverty in its train, as the least of its attendant evils. "'rising early will not make the daylight come sooner,' nor watching bring the sunshine," said the quick-witted carlos, who, apt in learning whatever he heard, was already an adept in the proverbial philosophy which was then, and is now, the inheritance of his race. "true enough. so let us fetch the canes, and have a merry play. or, better still, the foils for a fencing match." carlos acquiesced readily, though apparently without pleasure. in all outward things, such as the choice of pursuits and games, juan was the unquestioned leader; carlos never dreamed of disputing his fiat. yet in other, and really more important matters, it was carlos who, quite unconsciously to himself, performed the part of guide to his stronger-willed but less thoughtful brother. juan now fetched the carefully guarded foils with which the boys were accustomed to practise fencing; either, as now, simply for their own amusement, or under the instructions of the gray-haired diego, who had served with their father in the emperor's wars, and was now mayor-domo, butler, and seneschal, all in one. he it was, moreover, from whom carlos had learned his store of proverbs. "now stand up. oh, you are too low; wait a moment." juan left the hall again, but quickly returned with a large heavy volume, which he threw on the floor, directing his brother to take his stand upon it. carlos hesitated. "but what if the fray should catch us using our great horace after such a fashion?" "i just wish he might," answered juan, with a mischievous sparkle in his black eyes. the matter of height being thus satisfactorily adjusted, the game began, and for some time went merrily forward. to do the elder brother justice, he gave every advantage to his less active and less skilful companion; often shouting (with very unnecessary exertion of his lungs) words of direction or warning about fore-thrust, side-thrust, back-hand strokes, hitting, and parrying. at last, however, in an unlucky moment, carlos, through some awkward movement of his own in violation of the rules of the game, received a blow on the cheek from his brother's foil, severe enough to make the blood flow. juan instantly sprang forward, full of vexation, with an "ay de mi!" on his lips. but carlos turned away from him, covering his face with both hands; and juan, much to his disgust, soon heard the sound of a heavy sob. "you little coward!" he exclaimed, "to weep for a blow. shame--shame upon you." "coward yourself, to call me ill names when i cannot fight you," retorted carlos, as soon as he could speak for weeping. "that is ever your way, little tearful. _you_ to talk of going to find our father! a brave man you would make to sail to the indies and fight the savages. better sit at home and spin, with mother dolores." far too deeply stung to find a proverb suited to the occasion, or indeed to make any answer whatever, carlos, still in tears, left the hall with hasty footsteps, and took refuge in a smaller apartment that opened into it. the hangings of this room were comparatively new and very beautiful, being tastefully wrought with the needle; and the furniture was much more costly than that in the hall. there was also a glazed window, and near this carlos took his stand, looking moodily out on the falling rain, and thinking hard thoughts of his brother, who had first hurt him so sorely, then called him coward, and last, and far worst of all, had taunted him with his unfitness for the task which, child as he was, his whole heart and soul were bent on attempting. but he could not quarrel very seriously with juan, nor indeed could he for any considerable time do without him. before long his anger began to give way to utter loneliness and discomfort, and a great longing to "be friends" again. nor was juan much more comfortable, though he told himself he was quite right to reprove his brother sharply for his lack of manliness; and that he would be ready to die for shame if carlos, when he went to seville, should disgrace himself before his cousins by crying when he was hurt, like a baby or a girl. it is true that in his heart he rather wished he himself had held his peace, or at least had spoken more gently; but he braved it out, and stamped up and down the hall, singing, in as cheery a voice as he could command,- "the cid rode through the horse-shoe gate, omega like it stood, a symbol of the moon that waned before the christian rood. he was all sheathed in golden mail, his cloak was white as shroud; his vizor down, his sword unsheathed, corpse still he rode, and proud." "ruy!" carlos called at last, just a little timidly, from the next room--"ruy!" ruy is the spanish diminutive of rodrigo, juan's second name, and the one by which, for reasons of his own, it pleased him best to be called; so the very use of it by carlos was a kind of overture for peace. juan came right gladly at the call; and having convinced himself, by a moment's inspection, that his brother's hurt signified nothing, he completed the reconciliation by putting his arm, in familiar boyish fashion, round his neck. thus, without a word spoken, the brief quarrel was at an end. it happened that the rain was over also, and the sun just beginning to shine out again. it was, indeed, an effect of the sunlight which had given carlos a pretext for calling juan again to his side. "look, ruy," he said, "the sun shines on our father's words!" these children had a secret of their own, carefully guarded, with the strange reticence of childhood, even from dolores, who had been the faithful nurse of their infancy, and who still cast upon their young lives the only shadow of motherly love they had ever known--a shadow, it is true, pale and faint, yet the best thing that had fallen to their lot: for even juan could remember neither parent; while carlos had never seen his father's face, and his mother had died at his birth. yet it happened that in the imaginary world which the children had created around them, and where they chiefly lived, their unknown father was by far the most important personage. all great nations in their childhood have their legends, their epics, written or unwritten, and their hero, one or many of them, upon whose exploits fancy rings its changes at will during the ages when national language, literature, and character are in process of development. so it is with individuals. children of imagination--especially if they are brought up in seclusion, and guarded from coarse and worldly companionship--are sure to have their legends, perhaps their unwritten epic, certainly their hero. nor are these dreams of childhood idle fancies. in their time they are good and beautiful gifts of god--healthful for the present, helpful for after-years. there is deep truth in the poets words, "when thou art a man, reverence the dreams of thy youth." the cid campeador, the charlemagne, and the king arthur of our youthful spanish brothers, was no other than don juan alvarez de menaya, second and last conde de nuera. and as the historical foundation of national romance is apt to be of the slightest--nay, the testimony of credible history is often ruthlessly set at defiance--so it is with the romances of children; nor did the present instance form any exception. all the world said that their father's bones lay bleaching on a wild araucanian battle-field; but this went for nothing in the eyes of juan and carlos alvarez. quite enough to build their childish faith upon was a confidential whisper of dolores--when she thought them sleeping--to the village barber-surgeon, who was helping her to tend them through some childish malady: "dead? would to all the saints, and the blessed queen of heaven, that we only had assurance of it!" they had, however, more than this. almost every day they read and re-read those mysterious words, traced with a diamond by their father's hand--as it never entered their heads to doubt--on the window of the room which had once been his favourite place of retirement:- "el dorado yo hé trovado." "i have found el dorado." no eyes but their own had ever noticed this inscription; and marvellous indeed was the superstructure their fancy contrived to raise on the slight and airy foundation of its enigmatical five words. they had heard from the lips of diego many of the fables current at the period about the "golden country" of which spanish adventurers dreamed so wildly, and which they sought so vainly in the new world. they were aware that their father in his early days had actually made a voyage to the indies: and they had thoroughly persuaded themselves, therefore, of nothing less than that he was the fortunate discoverer of el dorado; that he had returned thither, and was reigning there as a king, rich and happy--only, perhaps, longing for his brave boys to come and join him. and join him one day they surely would, even though unheard of dangers (of which giants twelve feet high and fiery dragons--things in which they quite believed--were among the least) might lie in their way, thick as the leaves of the cork-trees when the autumn winds swept down through the mountain gorges. "look, ruy," said carlos, "the light is on our father's words!" "so it is! what good fortune is coming now? something always comes to us when they look like that." "what do you wish for most?" "a new bow, and a set of real arrows tipped with steel. and you?" "well--the 'chronicles of the cid,' i think." "i should like that too. but i should like better still--" "what?" "that fray sebastian would fall ill of the rheum, and find the mountain air too cold for his health; or get some kind of good place at his beloved complutum." "we might go farther and fare worse, like those that go to look for better bread than wheaten," returned carlos, laughing. "wish again, juan; and truly this time--your wish of wishes." "what else but to find my father?" "i mean, next to that." "well, truly, to go once more to seville, to see the shops, and the bull-fights, and the great church; to tilt with our cousins, and dance the cachuca with doña beatriz." "that would not i. there be folk that go out for wool, and come home shorn. though i like doña beatriz as well as any one." "hush! here comes dolores." a tall, slender woman, robed in black serge, relieved by a neat white head-dress, entered the room. dark hair, threaded with silver, and pale, sunken, care-worn features, made her look older than she really was. she had once been beautiful; and it seemed as though her beauty had been burned up in the glare of some fierce agony, rather than had faded gradually beneath the suns of passing years. with the silent strength of a deep, passionate heart, that had nothing else left to cling to, dolores loved the children of her idolized mistress and foster-sister. it was chiefly her talent and energy that kept together the poor remains of their fortune. she surrounded them with as many inexpensive comforts as possible; still, like a true spaniard, she would at any moment have sacrificed their comfort to the maintenance of their rank, or the due upholding of their dignity. on this occasion she held an open letter in her hand. "young gentlemen," she said, using the formal style of address no familiarity ever induced her to drop, "i bring your worships good tidings. your noble uncle, don manuel, is about to honour your castle with his presence." "good tidings indeed! i am as glad as if you had given me a satin doublet. he may take us back with him to seville," cried juan. "he might have stayed at home, with good luck and my blessing," murmured carlos. "whether you go to seville or no, señor don juan," said dolores, gravely, "may very probably depend on the contentment you give your noble uncle respecting your progress in your latin, your grammar, and your other humanities." "a green fig for my noble uncle's contentment!" said juan, irreverently. "i know already as much as any gentleman need, and ten times more than he does himself." "ay, truly," struck in carlos, coming forward from the embrasure of the window; "my uncle thinks a man of learning--except he be a fellow of college, perchance--not worth his ears full of water. i heard him say such only trouble the world, and bring sorrow on themselves and all their kin. so, juan, it is you who are likely to find favour in his sight, after all." "señor don carlos, what ails your face?" asked dolores, noticing now for the first time the marks of the hurt he had received. both the boys spoke together. "only a blow caught in fencing; all through my own awkwardness. it is nothing," said carlos, eagerly. "i hurt him with my foil. it was a mischance. i am very sorry," said juan, putting his hand on his brother's shoulder. dolores wisely abstained from exhorting them to greater carefulness. she only said,-"young gentlemen who mean to be knights and captains must learn to give hard blows and take them." adding mentally--"bless the lads! may they stand by each other as loyally ten or twenty years hence as they do now." ii. the monk's letter. "quoth the good fat friar, wiping his own mouth--'twas refection time." r. browning. fray sebastian gomez, to the honourable señor felipe de santa maria, licentiate of theology, residing at alcala de henarez, commonly called complutum. "most illustrious and reverend señor,- "in my place of banishment, amidst these gloomy and inhospitable mountains, i frequently solace my mind by reflections upon the friends of my youth, and the happy period spent in those ancient halls of learning, where in the morning of our days you and i together attended the erudite prelections of those noble and most orthodox grecians, demetrius ducas and nicetus phaustus, or sat at the feet of that venerable patriarch of science, don fernando nuñez. fortunate are you, o friend, in being able to pass your days amidst scenes so pleasant and occupations so congenial; while i, unhappy, am compelled by fate, and by the neglect of friends and patrons, to take what i may have, in place of having what i might wish. i am, alas! under the necessity of wearing out my days in the ungrateful occupation of instilling the rudiments of humane learning into the dull and careless minds of children, whom to instruct is truly to write upon sand or water. but not to weary your excellent and illustrious friendship with undue prolixity, i shall briefly relate the circumstances which led to my sojourn here." (the good friar proceeds with his personal narrative, but by no means briefly; and as it has, moreover, little or nothing to do with our story, it may be omitted with advantage.) "in this desert, as i may truly style it" (he continues), "nutriment for the corporeal frame is as poor and bare as nutriment for the intellectual part is altogether lacking. alas! for the golden wine of xerez, that ambery nectar wherewith we were wont to refresh our jaded spirits! i may not mention now our temperate banquets: the crisp red mullet, the succulent pasties, the delicious ham of estremadura, the savoury olla podrida. here beef is rarely seen, veal never. our olla is of lean mutton (if it be not rather of the flesh of goats), washed down with bad vinegar, called wine by courtesy, and supplemented by a few naughty figs or roasted chestnuts, with cheese of goat's milk, hard as the heads of the rustics who make it. certainly i am experiencing the truth of the proverb, 'a bad cook is an inconvenient relation.' and marvellously would a cask of xerez wine, if, through the kindness of my generous friends, it could find its way to these remote mountains, mend my fare, and in all probability prolong my days. the provider here is an antiquated, sour-faced duenna, who rules everything in this old ruin of a castle, where poverty and pride are the only things to be found in plenty. she is an asturian, and came hither in the train of the late unfortunate countess. like all of that race, where the very shepherds style themselves nobles, she is proud; but it is just to add that she is also active, industrious, and thrifty to a miracle. "but to pass on to affairs of greater importance. i have presumed, on the part of my illustrious friend, some acquaintance with the sorrowful history of my young pupils' family. you will remember the sudden shadow that fell, like the eclipse of one of the bright orbs of heaven, upon the fame and fortunes of the conde de nuera, known, some fifteen years ago or more, as a brilliant soldier and courtier, and personal favourite of his imperial majesty. there was a rumour of some black treason, i know not what, but men said it even struck at the life of the great emperor, his friend and patron. it is supposed that the emperor (whom god preserve!), in his just wrath remembered mercy, and generously saved the honour, while he punished the crime, of his ungrateful servant. at all events, the world was told that the count had accepted a command in the indies, and that he sailed thither from some port in the low countries to which the emperor had summoned him, without returning to spain. it is believed that, to save his neck from the axe and his name from dire disgrace, he signed away, by his own act, his large property to the emperor and to holy church, reserving only a pittance for his children. one year afterwards, his death, in battle with the araucanian savages, was announced, and, if i am not mistaken, his majesty was gracious enough to have masses said for his soul. but, at the time, the tongue of rumour whispered a far more dreadful ending to the tale. men hinted that, upon the discovery of his treason, he despaired alike of human and divine compassion, and perished miserably by his own hand. but all possible pains were taken, for the sake of the family, to hush up the affair; and nothing certain has ever, or probably will ever, transpire. i am doubtful whether i am not a transgressor in having committed to paper what is written above. still, as it is written, it shall stand. with you, most illustrious and honourable friend, all things are safe. "the youths whom it is my task to instruct are not deficient in parts. but the elder, don juan, is idle and insolent; and withal, of so fiery a temper, that he will brook no manner of correction. the younger, don carlos, is more toward in disposition, and really apt at his humanities, were it not that his good-for-nothing brother is for ever leading him into mischief. don manuel alvarez, their uncle and guardian, who is a shrewd man of the world, will certainly cause him to enter the church. but i pray, as i am bound in christian charity, that it may not occur to him to make the lad a minorite friar, since, as i can testify from sorrowful experience, such go barely enough through this wicked and miserable world. "in conclusion, i entreat of you, most illustrious friend, with the utmost despatch and carefulness, to commit this writing to the flames; and so i pray our lady and the blessed st. luke, upon whose vigil i write, to have you in their good keeping.- your unworthy brother, "sebastian." thus, with averted face, or head shaken doubtfully, or murmured "ay de mi," the world spoke of him, of whom his own children, happy at least in this, knew scarce anything, save words that seemed like a cry of joy. iii. sword and cassock. "the helmet and the cap make houses strong." spanish proverb. don manuel alvarez stayed for several days at nuera, as the half-ruined castle in the sierra morena was styled. grievous, during this period, were the sufferings of dolores, and unceasing her efforts to provide suitable accommodation, not merely for the stately and fastidious guest himself, but also for the troop of retainers he saw fit to bring with him, comprising three or four personal attendants, and half a score of men-at-arms--the last perhaps really necessary for a journey through that wild district. don manuel scarcely enjoyed the situation more than did his entertainers, but he esteemed it his duty to pay an occasional visit to the estate of his orphan nephews, to see that it was properly taken care of. perhaps the only member of the party quite at his ease was the worthy fray sebastian, a good-natured, self-indulgent friar, with a better education and more refined tastes than the average of his order; fond of eating and drinking, fond of gossip, fond of a little superficial literature, and not fond of troubling himself about anything. he was comforted by the improved fare don manuel's visit introduced; and was, moreover, soon relieved from his very natural apprehensions that the guardian of his pupils might express discontent at the slowness of their progress. he speedily discovered that don manuel did not care to have his nephews made good scholars: he only cared to have them ready, in two or three years, to go to the university of complutum, or to that of salamanca, where they might remain until they were satisfactorily provided for--one in the army, the other in the church. as for juan and carlos, they felt, with the sure instinct of children, in this respect something like that of animals, that their uncle had little love for them. juan dreaded, more than under the circumstances he need have done, too careful inquiries into his progress; and carlos, while he stood in great outward awe of his uncle, all the time contrived to despise him in his heart, because he neither knew latin, nor could repeat any of the ballads of the cid. on the third day of his visit, after dinner, which was at noon, don manuel solemnly seated himself in the great carved armchair that stood on the estrada at one end of the hall, and summoned his nephews to his side. he was a tall, wiry-looking man, with a narrow forehead, thin lips, and a pointed beard. his dress was of the finest mulberry-coloured cloth, turned back with velvet; everything about him was rich, handsome, and in good keeping, but without extravagance. his manner was dignified, perhaps a little pompous, like that of a man bent upon making the most of himself, as he had unquestionably made the most of his fortune. he first addressed juan, whom he gravely reminded that his father's _imprudence_ had left him nothing save that poor ruin of a castle, and a few barren acres of rocky ground, at which the boy's eyes flashed, and he shrugged his shoulders and bit his lip. don manuel then proceeded, at some length, to extol the noble profession of arms as the road to fame and fortune. this kind of language proved much more acceptable to his nephew, and looking up, he said promptly, "yes, señor my uncle, i will gladly be a soldier, as all my fathers were." "well spoken. and when thou art old enough, i promise to use my influence to obtain for thee a good appointment in his imperial majesty's army. i trust thou wilt honour thine ancient name." "you may trust me," said juan, in slow, earnest tones. then raising his head, he went on more rapidly: "beside his own name, juan, my father gave me that of rodrigo, borne by the cid ruy diaz, the campeador, meaning no doubt to show--" "peace, boy!" don miguel interrupted, cutting short the only words that his nephew had ever spoken really from his heart in his presence, with as much unconsciousness as a countryman might set his foot on a glow-worm. "thou wert never named rodrigo after thy cid and his idle romances. thy father called thee so after some madcap friend of his own, of whom the less spoken the better." "my father's friend must have been good and noble, like himself," said juan proudly, almost defiantly. "young man," returned don manuel severely, and lifting his eyebrows as if in surprise at his audacity, "learn that a humbler tone and more courteous manners would become thee in the presence of thy superiors." then turning haughtily away from him, he addressed himself to carlos: "as for thee, nephew carlos, i hear with pleasure of thy progress in learning. fray sebastian reports of thee that thou hast a good ready wit and a retentive memory. moreover, if i mistake not, sword cuts are less in thy way than in thy brother's. the service of holy mother church will fit thee like a glove; and let me tell thee, boy, for thou art old enough to understand me, 'tis a right good service. churchmen eat well and drink well--churchmen sleep soft--churchmen spend their days fingering the gold other folk toil and bleed for. for those who have fair interest in high places, and shuffle their own cards deftly, there be good fat benefices, comfortable canonries, and perhaps--who knows?--a rich bishopric at the end of all; with a matter of ten thousand hard ducats, at the least, coming in every year to save or spend, or lend, if you like it better." "ten thousand ducats!" said carlos, who had been gazing in his uncle's face, his large blue eyes full of half-incredulous, half-uncomprehending wonder. "ay, my son, that is about the least. the archbishop of seville has sixty thousand every year, and more." "ten thousand ducats!" carlos repeated again in a kind of awe-struck whisper. "that would buy a ship." "yes," said don manuel, highly pleased with what he considered an indication of precocious intelligence in money matters. "and an excellent thought that is of thine, my son. a good ship chartered for the indies, and properly freighted, would bring thee back thy ducats _well perfumed_.[1] for a ship is sailing while you are sleeping. as the saying is, let the idle man buy a ship or marry a wife. i perceive thou art a youth of much ingenuity. what thinkest thou, then, of the church?" [1] with good interest. carlos was still too much the child to say anything in answer except, "if it please you, señor my uncle, i should like it well." and thus, with rather more than less consideration of their tastes and capacities than was usual at the time, the future of juan and carlos alvarez was decided. when the brothers were alone together, juan said, "dolores must have been praying our lady for us, carlos. an appointment in the army is the very thing for me. i shall perform some great feat of arms, like alphonso vives, for instance, who took the duke of saxony prisoner; i shall win fame and promotion, and then come back and ask my uncle for the hand of his ward, doña beatriz." "ah, and i--if i enter the church, i can never marry," said carlos rather ruefully, and with a vague perception that his brother was to have some good thing from which he must be shut out for ever. "of course not; but you will not care." "never a whit," said the boy of twelve, very confidently. "i shall ever have thee, juan. and all the gold my uncle says churchmen win so easily, i will save to buy our ship." "i will also save, so that one day we may sail together. i will be the captain, and thou shalt be the mass-priest, carlos." "but i marvel if it be true that churchmen grow rich so fast. the cura in the village must be very poor, for diego told me he took old pedro's cloak because he could not pay the dues for his wife's burial." "more shame for him, the greedy vulture. carlos, you and i have each half a ducat; let us buy it back." "with all my heart. it will be worth something to see the old man's face." "the cura is covetous rather than poor," said juan. "but poor or no, no one dreams of _your_ being a beggarly cura like that. it is only vulgar fellows of whom they make parish priests in the country. you will get some fine preferment, my uncle says. and he ought to know, for he has feathered his own nest well." "why is he rich when we are poor, juan? where does he get all his money?" "the saints know best. he has places under government. something about the taxes. i think, that he buys and sells again." "in truth, he's not one to measure oil without getting some on his fingers. how different from him our father must have been." "yes," said juan. "_his_ riches, won by his own sword and battle-axe, and his good right hand, will be worth having. ay, and even worth seeing; will they not?" so these children dreamed of the future--that future of which nothing was certain, except its unlikeness to their dreams. no thing was certain; but what was only too probable? that the brave, free-hearted boy, who had never willingly injured any one, and who was ready to share his last coin with the poor man, would be hardened and brutalized into a soldier of fortune, like those who massacred tribes of trusting, unoffending indians, or burned flemish cities to the ground, amidst atrocities that even now make hearts quail and ears tingle. and yet worse, that the fair child beside him, whose life still shone with that child-like innocence which is truly the dew of youth, as bright and as fleeting, would be turned over, soul and spirit, to a system of training too surely calculated to obliterate the sense of truth, to deprave the moral taste, to make natural and healthful joys impossible, and unlawful and degrading ones fearfully easy and attainable; to teach the strong nature the love of power, the mean the love of money, and all alike falsehood, cowardice, and cruelty. iv. alcala de henarez. "give me back, give me back the wild freshness of morning, her tears and her smiles are worth evening's best light." moore. few are the lives in which seven years come and go without witnessing any great event. but whether they are eventful or no, the years that change children into men must necessarily be important. three years of these important seven, juan and carlos alvarez spent in their mountain home; the remaining four at the university of alcala, or complutum. the university training was of course needful for the younger brother, who was intended for the church. that the elder was allowed to share the privilege, although destined for the profession of arms, was the result of circumstances. his guardian, don manuel alvarez, although worldly and selfish, still retained a lingering regard for the memory of that lost brother whose latest message to him had been, "have my boy carefully educated." and, moreover, he could scarcely have left the high-spirited youth to wear out the years that must elapse before he could obtain his commission in the dreary solitude of his mountain home, with diego and dolores for companions, and for sole amusement, a horse and a few greyhounds. better that he should take his chance at alcala, and enjoy himself there as best he might, with no obligation to severe study, and but one duty strongly impressed on him--that of keeping out of debt. he derived real benefit from the university training, though no academic laurels rested on his brow, nor did he take a degree. fray sebastian had taught him to read and write, and had even contrived to pass him through the latin grammar, of which he afterwards remembered scarcely anything. to have urged him to learn more would have required severity only too popular at the time; but this fray sebastian was too timid, perhaps too prudent, to employ; while of interesting him in his studies he never thought. at alcala, however, he _was_ interested. he did not care, indeed, for the ordinary scholastic course; but he found in the college library all the books yet written in his native language, and it was then the palmy age of spanish literature. beginning with the poems and romances relating to the history of his country, he read through everything; poetry, romance, history, science, nothing came amiss to him, except perhaps theology. he studied with especial care all that had reference to the story of the new world, whither he hoped one day to go. he attended lectures; he even acquired latin enough to learn anything he really wanted to know, and could not find except in that language. thus, at the end of his four years' residence, he had acquired a good deal of useful though somewhat desultory information; and he had gained the art of expressing himself in the purest castilian, by tongue or pen, with energy, vigour, and precision. the sixteenth century gives us many specimens of such men--and not a few of them were spaniards--men of intelligence and general cultivation, whose profession was that of arms, but who can handle the pen with as much ease and dexterity as the sword; men who could not only do valiant deeds, but also describe them when done, and that often with singular effectiveness. with his contemporaries juan was popular, for his pride was inaggressive, and his fiery temper was counterbalanced by great generosity of disposition. during his residence at alcala he fought three duels; one to chastise a fellow-student who had called his brother "doña carlotta," the other two on being provoked by the far more serious offence of covert sneers at his father's memory. he also caned severely a youth whom he did not think of sufficient rank to honour with his sword, merely for observing, when carlos won a prize from him, "don carlos alvarez unites genius and industry, as he would need to do, who is the _son of his own good works_." but afterwards, when the same student was in danger, through poverty, of having to give up his career and return home, juan stole into his chamber during his absence, and furtively deposited four gold ducats (which he could ill spare) between the leaves of his breviary. far more outwardly successful, but more really disastrous, was the academic career of carlos. as student of theology, most of his days, and even some of his nights, were spent over the musty tomes of the schoolmen. like living water on the desert, his young bright intellect was poured out on the dreary sands of scholastic divinity (little else, in truth, than "bad metaphysics"), to no appreciable result, except its own utter waste. the kindred study of casuistry was even worse than waste of intellect; it was positive defilement and degradation. it was bad enough to tread with painful steps through roads that led nowhere; but it became worse when the roads were miry, and the mud at every step clung to the traveller's feet. though here the parallel must cease; for the moral defilement, alas! is most deadly and dangerous when least felt or heeded. fortunately, or unfortunately, according as we look on the things seen or the things not seen, carlos offered to his instructors admirable raw material out of which to fashion a successful, even a great churchman. he came to them a stripling of fifteen, innocent, truthful, affectionate. he had "parts," as they styled them, and singularly good ones. he had just the acute perception, the fine and ready wit, which enabled him to cut his way through scholastic subtleties and conceits with ease and credit. and, to do his teachers justice, they sharpened his intellectual weapon well, until its temper grew as exquisite as that of the scimitar of saladin, which could divide a gauze kerchief by the thread at a single blow. but how would it fare with such a weapon, and with him who, having proved no other, could wield only that, in the great conflict with the dragon that guarded the golden apples of truth? the question is idle, for truth was a luxury of which carlos was not taught to dream. to find truth, to think truth, to speak truth, to act truth, was not placed before him as an object worth his attainment. not the _true_, but the _best_, was always held up to him as the mark to be aimed at: the best for the church, the best for his family, the best for himself. he had much imagination, he was quick in invention and ready in expedients; good gifts in themselves, but very perilous where the sense of truth is lacking, or blunted. he was timid, as sensitive and reflective natures are apt to be, perhaps also from physical causes. and in those rough ages, the church offered almost the only path in which the timid man could not only escape infamy, but actually attain to honour. in her service a strong head could more than atone for weak nerves. power, fame, wealth, might be gained in abundance by the churchman without stirring from his cell or chapel, or facing a single drawn sword or loaded musket. always provided that his subtle, cultivated intellect could guide the rough hands that wielded the swords, or, better still, the crowned head that commanded them. there may have been even then at that very university (there certainly were a few years earlier), a little band of students who had quite other aims, and who followed other studies than those from which carlos hoped to reap worldly success and fame. these youths really desired to find the truth and to keep it; and therefore they turned from the pages of the fathers and the schoolmen to the scriptures in the original languages. but the "biblists," as they were called, were few and obscure. carlos did not, during his whole term of residence, come in contact with any of them. the study of hebrew, and even of greek, was by this time discouraged; the breath of calumny had blown upon it, linking it with all that was horrible in the eyes of spanish catholics, summed up in the one word, heresy. carlos never even dreamed of any excursion out of the beaten path marked out for him, and which he was travelling so successfully as to distance nearly all his competitors. both juan and carlos still clung fondly to their early dream; though their wider knowledge had necessarily modified some of its details. carlos, at least, was not quite so confident as he had once been about the existence of el dorado; but he was as fully determined as juan to search out the mystery of their father's fate, and either to clasp his living hand, or to stand beside his grave. the love of the brothers, and their trust in each other, had only strengthened with their years, and was beautiful to witness. occasional journeys to seville, and brief intervals of making holiday there, varied the monotony of their college life, and were not without important results. it was the summer of 1556. the great carlos, so lately king and kaiser, had laid down the heavy burden of sovereignty, and would soon be on his way to pleasant san yuste, to mortify the flesh, and prepare for his approaching end, as the world believed; but in reality to eat, drink, and enjoy himself as well as his worn-out body and mind would allow him. just then our young juan, healthy, hearty, hopeful, and with the world before him, received the long wished-for appointment in the army of the new king of all the spains, don felipe segunde. the brothers have eaten their last temperate meal together, in their handsome, though not very comfortable, lodging at alcala. juan pushes away the wine-cup that carlos would fain have refilled, and toys absently with the rind of a melon. "carlos," he says, without looking his brother in the face, "remember that thing of which we spoke;" adding in lower and more earnest tones, "and so may god remember thee." "surely, brother. you have, however, little to fear." "little to fear!" and there was the old quick flash in the dark eyes. "because, forsooth, to spare my aunt's selfishness and my cousin's vanity, she must not be seen at dance, or theatre, or bull-feast? it is enough for her to show her face on the alameda or at mass to raise me up a host of rivals." "still, my uncle favours you; and doña beatriz herself will not be found of a different mind when you come home with your promotion and your glory, as you will, my ruy!" "then, brother, watch thou in my absence, and fail not to speak the right word at the right moment, as thou canst so well. so shall i hold myself at ease, and give my whole mind to the noble task of breaking the heads of all the enemies of my liege lord the king." then, rising from the table, he girt on his new toledo sword with its embroidered belt, threw over his shoulders his short scarlet cloak, and flung a gay velvet montero over his rich black curls. don carlos went out with him, and mounting the horses a lad from their country-home held in readiness, they rode together down the street and through the gate of alcala; don juan followed by many an admiring gaze, and many a hearty "vaya con dios,"[2] from his late companions. [2] go with god. v. don carlos forgets himself. "a fair face and a tender voice had made me mad and blind." e.b. browning. don carlos alvarez found alcala, after his brother's departure, insupportably dull; moreover, he had now almost finished his brilliant university career. as soon, therefore, as he could, he took his degree as licentiate of theology. he then wrote to inform his uncle of the fact; adding that he would be glad to spend part of the interval that must elapse before his ordination at seville, where he might attend the lectures of the celebrated fray constantino ponce de la fuente, professor of divinity in the college of doctrine in that city. but, in fact, a desire to fulfil his brother's last charge weighed more with him than an eagerness for further instruction; especially as rumours that his watchfulness was not unnecessary had reached his ears at alcala. he received a prompt and kind invitation from his uncle to make his house his home for as long a period as he might desire. now, although don manuel was highly pleased with the genius and industry of his younger nephew, the hospitality he extended to him was not altogether disinterested. he thought carlos capable of rendering what he deemed an essential service to a member of his own family. that family consisted of a beautiful, gay, frivolous wife, three sons, two daughters, and his wife's orphan niece, doña beatriz de lavella. the two elder sons were cast in their father's mould; which, to speak truth, was rather that of a merchant than of a cavalier. had he been born of simple parents in the flats of holland or the back streets of london, a vulgar hans or thomas, his tastes and capabilities might have brought him honest wealth. but since he had the misfortune to be don manuel alvarez, of the bluest blood in spain, he was taught to look on industry as ineffably degrading, and trade and commerce scarcely less so. only one species of trade, one kind of commerce, was open to the needy and avaricious, but proud grandee. unhappily it was almost the only kind that is really degrading--the traffic in public money, in places, and in taxes. "a sweeping rain leaving no food," such traffic was, in truth. the government was defrauded; the people, especially the poorer classes, were cruelly oppressed. no one was enriched except the greedy jobber, whose birth rendered him infinitely too proud to work, but by no means too proud to cheat and steal. don manuel the younger, and don balthazar alvarez, were ready and longing to tread in their father's footsteps. of the two pale-faced dark-eyed sisters, doña inez and doña sancha, one was already married, and the other had also plans satisfactory to her parents. but the person in the family who was not of it was the youngest son, don gonsalvo. he was the representative, not of his father, but of his grandfather; as we so often see types of character reproduced in the third generation. the first conde de nuera had been a wild soldier of fortune in the moorish wars, fierce and fiery, with strong unbridled passions. at eighteen, gonsalvo was his image; and there was scarcely any mischief possible to a youth of fortune in a great city, into which he had not already found his way. for two years he continued to scandalize his family, and to vex the soul of his prudent and decorous father. suddenly, however, a change came over him. he reformed; became quiet and regular in his conduct; gave himself up to study, making extraordinary progress in a very short time; and even showed what those around him called "a pious disposition." but these hopeful appearances passed as suddenly and as unaccountably as they came. after an interval of less than a year, he returned to his former habits, and plunged even more madly than ever into all kinds of vice and dissipation. his father resolved to procure him a commission, and send him away to the wars. but an accident frustrated his intentions. in those days, cavaliers of rank frequently sought the dangerous triumphs of the bull-ring. the part of matador was performed, not, as now, by hired bravos of the lowest class, but often by scions of the most honourable houses. gonsalvo had more than once distinguished himself in the bloody arena by courage and coolness. but he tempted his fate too often. upon one occasion he was flung violently from his horse, and then gored by the furious bull, whose rage had been excited to the utmost pitch by the cruel arts usually practised. he escaped with life, but remained a crippled invalid, apparently condemned for the rest of his days to inaction, weakness, and suffering. his father thought a good canonry would be a decent and comfortable provision for him, and pressed him accordingly to enter the church. but the invalided youth manifested an intense repugnance to the step; and don manuel hoped that the influence of carlos would help to overcome this feeling; believing that he would gladly endeavour to persuade his cousin that no way of life was so pleasant or so easy as that which he himself was about to adopt. the good nature of carlos led him to fall heartily into his uncle's plans. he really pitied his cousin, moreover, and gladly gave himself to the task of trying in every possible way to console and amuse him. but gonsalvo rudely repelled all his efforts. in his eyes the destined priest was half a woman, with no knowledge of a man's aims or a man's passions, and consequently no right to speak of them. "turn priest!" he said to him one day; "i have as good a mind to turn turk. nay, cousin, i am not pious--you may present my orisons to our lady with your own, if it so please you. perhaps she may attend to them better than to those i offered before entering the bull-ring on that unlucky day of st. thomas." carlos, though not particularly devout, was shocked by this language. "take care, cousin," he said; "your words sound rather like blasphemy." "and yours sound like the words of what you are, half a priest already," retorted gonsalvo. "it is ever the priest's cry, if you displease him, 'open heresy!' 'rank blasphemy!' and next, 'the holy office, and a yellow sanbenito.' i marvel it did not occur to your sanctity to menace me with that." the gentle-tempered carlos did not answer; a forbearance which further exasperated gonsalvo, who hated nothing so much as being, on account of his infirmities, borne with like a woman or a child. "but the saints help the churchmen," he went on ironically. "good simple souls, they do not know even their own business! else they would smell heresy close enough at hand. what doctrine does your fray constantino preach in the great church every feast-day, since they made him canon-magistral?" "the most orthodox and catholic doctrine, and no other," said carlos, roused, in his turn, by the attack upon his teacher; though he did not greatly care for his instructions, which turned principally upon subjects about which he had learned little or nothing in the schools. "but to hear thee discuss doctrine is to hear a blind man talking of colours." "if i be the blind man talking of colours, thou art the deaf prating of music," retorted his cousin. "come and tell me, if thou canst, what are these doctrines of thy fray constantino, and wherein they differ from the lutheran heresy? i wager my gold chain and medal against thy new velvet cloak, that thou wouldst fall thyself into as many heresies by the way as there are nuts in barcelona." allowing for gonsalvo's angry exaggeration, there was some truth in his assertion. once out of the region of dialectic subtleties, the champion of the schools would have become weak as another man. and he could not have expounded fray constantino's preaching;--because he did not understand it. "what, cousin!" he exclaimed, affronted in his tenderest part, his reputation as a theological scholar. "dost thou take me for a barefooted friar or a village cura? me, who only two months ago was crowned victor in a debate upon the doctrines taught by raymondus lullius!" but whatever chagrin carlos may have felt at finding himself utterly unable to influence gonsalvo, was soon effectually banished by the delight with which he watched the success of his diplomacy with doña beatriz. beatriz was almost a child in years, and entirely a child in mind and character. hitherto, she had been studiously kept in the background, lest her brilliant beauty should throw her cousins into the shade. indeed, she would probably have been consigned to a convent, had not her portion been too small to furnish the donative usually bestowed by the friends of a novice upon any really aristocratic establishment. "and pity would it have been," thought carlos, "that so fair a flower should wither in a convent garden." he made the most of the limited opportunities of intercourse which the ceremonious manners of the time and country afforded, even to inmates of the same house. he would stand beside her chair, and watch the quick flush mount to her olive, delicately-rounded cheek, as he talked eloquently of the absent juan. he was never tired of relating stories of juan's prowess, juan's generosity. in the last duel he fought, for instance, the ball had passed through his cap and grazed his head. but he only smiled, and re-arranged his locks, remarking, while he did so, that with the addition of a gold chain and medal, the spoiled cap would be as good, or better than ever. then he would dilate on his kindness to the vanquished; rejoicing in the effect produced, a tribute as well to his own eloquence as to his brother's merit. the occupation was too fascinating not to be resorted to once and again, even had he not persuaded himself that he was fulfilling a sacred duty. moreover, he soon discovered that the bright dark eyes which were beginning to visit him nightly in his dreams, were pining all day for a sight of that gay world from which their owner was jealously and selfishly excluded. so he managed to procure for doña beatriz many a pleasure of the kind she most valued. he prevailed upon his aunt and cousins to bring her with them to places of public resort; and then he was always at hand, with the reverence of a loyal cavalier, and the freedom of a destined priest, to render her every quiet unobtrusive service in his power. at the theatre, at the dance, at the numerous church ceremonies, on the promenade, doña beatriz was his especial charge. amidst such occupations, pleasant weeks and months glided by almost unnoticed by him. never before had he been so happy. "alcala was well enough," he thought; "but seville is a thousand times better. all my life heretofore seems to me only like a dream, now i am awake." alas! he was not awake, but wrapped in a deep sleep, and cradling a bright delusive vision. as yet he was not even "as those that dream, and know the while they dream." his slumber was too profound even for this dim half-consciousness. no one suspected, any more than he suspected himself, the enchantment that was stealing over him. but every one remarked his frank, genial manners, his cheerfulness, his good looks. naturally, the name of juan dropped gradually more and more out of his conversation; as at the same time the thought of juan faded from his mind. his studies, too, were neglected; his attendance upon the lectures of fray constantino became little more than a formality; while "receiving orders" seemed a remote if not an uncertain contingency. in fact, he lived in the present, not caring to look either at the past or the future. in the very midst of his intoxication, at slight incident affected him for a moment with such a chill as we feel when, on a warm spring day, the sun passes suddenly behind a cloud. his cousin, doña inez, had been married more than a year to a wealthy gentleman of seville, don garçia ramirez. carlos, calling one morning at the lady's house with some unimportant message from doña beatriz, found her in great trouble on account of the sudden illness of her babe. "shall i go and fetch a physician?" he asked, knowing well that spanish servants can never be depended upon to make haste, however great the emergency may be. "you will do a great kindness, amigo mio," said the anxious young mother. "but which shall i summon?" asked carlos. "our family physician, or don garçia's?" "don garçia's, by all means,--dr. cristobal losada. i would not give a green fig for any other in seville. do you know his dwelling?" "yes. but should he be absent or engaged?" "i must have him. him, and no other. once before he saved my darling's life. and if my poor brother would but consult him, it might fare better with him. go quickly, cousin, and fetch him, in heaven's name." carlos lost no time in complying; but on reaching the dwelling of the physician, found that though the hour was early he had already gone forth. after leaving a message, he went to visit a friend in the triana suburb. he passed close by the cathedral, with its hundred pinnacles, and that wonder of beauty, the old moorish giralda, soaring far up above it into the clear southern sky. it occurred to him that a few aves said within for the infant's recovery would be both a benefit to the child and a comfort to the mother. so he entered, and was making his way to a gaudy tinselled virgin and babe, when, happening to glance towards a different part of the building, his eyes rested on the physician, with whose person he was well acquainted, as he had often noticed him amongst fray constantino's hearers. losada was now pacing up and down one of the side aisles, in company with a gentleman of very distinguished appearance. as carlos drew nearer, it occurred to him that he had never seen this personage in any place of public resort, and for this reason, as well as from certain slight indications in his dress of fashions current in the north of spain, he gathered that he was a stranger in seville, who might be visiting the cathedral from motives of curiosity. before he came up the two men paused in their walk, and turning their backs to him, stood gazing thoughtfully at the hideous row of red and yellow sanbenitos, or penitential garments, that hung above them. "surely," thought carlos, "they might find better objects of attention than these ugly memorials of sin and shame, which bear witness that their late miserable wearers--jews, moors, blasphemers, or sorcerers,--have ended their dreary lives of penance, if not of penitence." the attention of the stranger seemed to be particularly attracted by one of them, the largest of all. indeed, carlos himself had been struck by its unusual size; and upon one occasion he had even had the curiosity to read the inscription, which he remembered because it contained juan's favourite name, rodrigo. it was this: "rodrigo valer, a citizen of lebrixa and seville; an apostate and false apostle, who pretended to be sent from god." and now, as he approached with light though hasty footsteps, he distinctly heard dr. cristobal losada, still looking at the sanbenito, say to his companion, "yes, señor; and also the conde de nuera, don juan alvarez." don juan alvarez! what possible tie could link his father's name with the hideous thing they were gazing at? and what could the physician know about him of whom his own children knew so little? carlos stood amazed, and pale with sudden emotion. and thus the physician saw him, happening to turn at that moment. had he not exerted all his presence of mind (and he possessed a great deal), he would himself have started visibly. the unexpected appearance of the person of whom we speak is in itself disconcerting; but it deserves another name when we are saying that of him or his which, if overheard, might endanger life, or what is more precious still than life. losada was equal to the occasion, however. the usual greetings having been exchanged, he asked quietly whether señor don carlos had come in search of him, and hoped that he did not owe the honour to any indisposition in his worship's noble family. carlos felt it rather a relief, under the circumstances, to have to say that his cousin's babe was alarmingly ill. "you will do us a great favour," he added, "by coming immediately. doña inez is very anxious." the physician promised compliance; and turning to his companion, respectfully apologized for leaving him abruptly. "a sick child's claim must not be postponed," said the stranger in reply. "go, señor doctor, and god's blessing rest on your skill." carlos was struck by the noble bearing and courteous manner of the stranger, who, in his turn, was interested by the young man's anxiety about a sick babe. but with only a passing glance at the other, each went his different way, not dreaming that once again at least their paths were destined to cross. the strange mention of his father's name that he had overheard filled the heart of carlos with undefined uneasiness. he knew enough by that time to feel his childish belief in his father's stainless virtue a little shaken. what if a dreadful unexplained something, linking his fate with that of a convicted heretic, were yet to be learned? after all, the accursed arts of magic and sorcery were not so far removed from the alchemist's more legitimate labours, that a rash or presumptuous student might not very easily slide from one into the other. he had reason to believe that his father had played with alchemy, if he had not seriously devoted himself to its study. nay, the thought had sometimes flashed unbidden across his mind that the "el dorado" found might after all have been no other than the philosopher's stone. for he who has attained the power of producing gold at will may surely be said, without any stretch of metaphor, to have discovered a golden country. but at this period of his life the personal feelings of carlos were so keen and absorbing that almost everything, consciously or unconsciously, was referred to them. and thus it was that an intense wish sprang up in his heart, that his father's secret might have descended to _him_. vain wish! the gold he needed or desired must be procured from a less inaccessible region than el dorado, and without the aid of the philosopher's stone. vi. don carlos forgets himself still further. "the not so very false, as falsehood goes,- the spinning out and drawing fine, you know; really mere novel-writing, of a sort, acting, improvising, make-believe,- surely not downright cheatery!" r. browning it cost carlos some time and trouble to drive away the haunting thoughts which losada's words had awakened. but he succeeded at length; or perhaps it would be more truthful to say the bright eyes and witching smiles of doña beatriz accomplished the work for him. every dream, however, must have a waking. sometimes a slight sound, ludicrously trivial in its cause, dispels a slumber fraught with wondrous visions, in which we have been playing the part of kings and emperors. "nephew don carlos," said don manuel one day, "is it not time you thought of shaving your head? you are learned enough for your orders long ago, and 'in a plentiful house supper is soon dressed.'" "true, señor my uncle," murmured carlos, looking suddenly aghast. "but i am under the canonical age." "but you can get a dispensation." "why such haste? there is time yet and to spare." "that is not so sure. i hear the cura of san lucar has one foot in the grave. the living is a good one, and i think i know where to go for it. so take care you lose not a heifer for want of a halter to hold it by." with these words on his lips, don manuel went out. at the same moment gonsalvo, who lay listlessly on a sofa at one end of the room, or rather court, reading "lazarillo de tormes," the first spanish novel, burst into a loud paroxysm of laughter. "what may be the theme of your merriment?" asked carlos, turning his large dreamy eyes languidly towards him. "yourself, amigo mio. you would make the stone saints of the cathedral laugh on their pedestals. there you stand, pale as marble, a living image of despair. come, rouse yourself! what do you mean to do? will you take what you wish, or let your chance slip by, and then sit and weep because you have it not? will you be a _priest_ or a _man_? make your choice this hour, for one you must be, and both you cannot be." carlos answered him not; in truth, he dared not answer him. every word was the voice of his own heart; perhaps it was also, though he knew it not, the voice of the great tempter. he withdrew to his chamber, and barred and bolted himself in it. this was the first time in his life that solitude was a necessity to him. his uncle's words had brought with them a terrible revelation. he knew himself now too well; he knew what he loved, what he desired, or rather what he hungered and thirsted for with agonizing intensity. no; never the priest's frock for him. he must call doña beatriz de lavella his--his before god's altar--or die. then came a thought, stinging him with sharp, sudden pain. it was a thought that should have come to him long ago,--"juan!" and with the name, affection, memory, conscience, rose up together within him to combat the mad resolve of his passion. fiery passions slumbered in the heart of carlos. such are sometimes found united with a gentle temper, a weak will, and sensitive nerves. woe to their possessor when they are aroused in their strength! had carlos been a plain soldier, like the brother he was tempted to betray, it is possible he might have come forth from this terrible conflict still holding fast his honour and his brotherly affection. it was his priestly training that turned the scale. he had been taught that simple truth between man and man was a thing of little consequence. he had been taught the art of making a hundred clever, plausible excuses for whatever he saw best to do. he had been taught, in short, every species of sophistry by which, to the eyes of others, and to his own also, wrong might be made to seem right, and black to appear the purest white. his subtle imagination forged in the fire of his kindled passions chains of reasoning in which no skill could detect a flaw. juan had never loved as he did; juan would not care; probably by this time he had forgotten doña beatriz. "besides," the tempter whispered furtively within him, "he might never return at all; he might die in battle." but carlos was not yet sunk so low as to give ear for a single instant to this wicked whisper; though certainly he could not henceforth look for his brother's return with the joy with which he had been wont to anticipate that event. but, in any case, beatriz herself should be the judge between them. and he told himself that he knew (how did he know it?) that beatriz preferred _him_. then it would be only right and kind to prepare juan for an inevitable disappointment. this he could easily do. letters, carefully written, might gradually suggest to his brother that beatriz had other views; and he knew juan's pride and his fiery temper well enough to calculate that if his jealousy were once aroused, these would soon accomplish the rest. ere we, who have been taught from our cradles to "speak the truth from the heart," turn with loathing from the wiles of carlos alvarez, we ought to remember that he was a spaniard--one of a nation whose genius and passion is for intrigue. he was also a spaniard of the sixteenth century; but, above all, he was a spanish catholic, educated for the priesthood. the ability with which he laid his plans, and the enjoyment which its exercise gave him, served in itself to blind him to the treachery and ingratitude upon which those plans were founded. he sought an interview with fray constantino, and implored from him a letter of recommendation to the imperial recluse at san yuste, whose chaplain and personal favourite the canon-magistral had been. but that eloquent preacher, though warm-hearted and generous to a fault, hesitated to grant the request. he represented to carlos that his imperial majesty did not choose his retreat to be invaded by applicants for favours, and that the journey to san yuste would therefore be, in all probability, worse than useless. carlos answered that he had fully weighed the difficulties of the case; but that if the line of conduct he adopted seemed peculiar, his circumstances were so also. he believed that his father (who died before his birth) had enjoyed the special regard of his imperial majesty, and he hoped that, for his sake, he might now be willing to show him some kindness. at all events, he was sure of an introduction to his presence through his mayor-domo, don luis quixada, lord of villagarçia, who was a friend of their house. what he desired to obtain, through the kindness of his imperial majesty, was a latin secretaryship, or some similar office, at the court of the new king, where his knowledge of latin, and the talents he hoped he possessed, might stand him in good stead, and enable him to support, though with modesty, the station to which his birth entitled him. for, although already a licentiate of theology, and with good prospects in the church, he did not wish to take orders, as he had thoughts of marrying. fray constantino felt a sympathy with the young man; and perhaps the rather because, if report speaks true, he had once been himself in a somewhat similar position. so he compromised matters by giving him a general letter of recommendation, in which he spoke of his talents and his blameless manners as warmly as he could, from the experience of the nine or ten months during which he had been acquainted with him. and although the attention paid by carlos to his instructions had been slight, and of late almost perfunctory, his great natural intelligence had enabled him to stand his ground more creditably than many far more diligent students. the fray's letter carlos thankfully added to the numerous laudatory epistles from the doctors and professors of alcala that he already had in his possession. all these he enclosed in a cedar box, which he carefully locked, and consigned in its turn to a travelling portmanteau, along with a fair stock of wearing apparel, sufficiently rich in material to suit his rank, but modest in colour and fashion. he then informed his uncle that before he took orders it would be necessary for him, in his brother's absence, to take a journey to their little estate, and set its concerns in order. his uncle, suspecting nothing, approved his plan, and insisted on providing him with the attendance of an armed guard to nuera, whither he really intended to go in the first instance. vii. the desengaño "and i should evermore be vexed with thee in vacant robe, or hanging ornament, or ghostly foot-fall lingering on the stair." tennyson the journey from the city of oranges to the green slopes of the sierra morena ought to have been a delightful one to don carlos alvarez. it was certainly bright with hope. he scarcely harboured a doubt of the ultimate success of his plans, and the consequent attainment of all his wishes. already he seemed to feel the soft hand of doña beatriz in his, and to stand by her side before the high altar of the great cathedral. and yet, as days passed on, the brightness within grew fainter, and an acknowledged shadow, ever deepening, began to take its place. at last he drew near his home, and rode through the little grove of cork-trees where he and juan had played as children. when last they were there together the autumn winds were strewing the leaves, all dim and discoloured, about their paths. now he looked through the fresh green foliage at the deep intense blue of the summer sky. but, though scarcely more than twenty, he felt at that moment old and worn, and wished back the time of his boyish sports with his brother. never again could he feel quite happy with juan. soon, however, his sorrowful fancies were put to flight by the joyous greeting of the hounds, who rushed with much clamour from the castle-yard to welcome him. there they were, all of them--pedro, zina, pepe, grullo, butron--it was juan who had named them, every one. and there, at the gate, stood diego and dolores, ready to give him joyful welcome. throwing himself from his horse, he shook hands with these faithful old retainers, and answered their kindly but respectful inquiries both for himself and señor don juan. then, having caressed the dogs, inquired for each of the under-servants by name, and given orders for the due entertainment of his guard, he passed on slowly into the great deserted hall. his arrival being unexpected, he merely surrendered his travelling cloak into the hands of diego, and sat down to wait patiently while the servants, always dilatory, prepared for him suitable accommodation. dolores soon appeared with a flask of wine and some bread and grapes; but this was only a _merienda_, or slight afternoon luncheon, which she laid before her young master until she could make ready a supper fit for him to partake of. carlos spent half an hour listening to her tidings of the household and the village, and felt sorry when she quitted the room and left him to his own reflections. every object on which his eyes rested reminded him of his brother. there hung the cross-bow with which, in old days, juan had made such vigorous war on the rooks and the sparrows. there lay the foils and the canes with which they had so often fenced and played; juan, in his unquestioned superiority, usually so patient with the younger brother's timidity and awkwardness. and upon that bench he had carved, with a hunting-knife, his name in full, adding the title that had expired with his father, "conde de nuera." the memories these things recalled were becoming intrusive; he would fain shake them off. gladly would he have had recourse to his favourite pastime of reading, but there was not a book in the castle, to his knowledge, except the breviary he had brought with him. for lack of more congenial occupation, he went out at last to the stable to look at the horses, and to talk to those who were grooming and feeding them. later in the evening dolores told him that supper was ready, adding that she had laid it in the small inner room, which she thought señor don carlos would find more comfortable than the great hall. that inner room was, even more than the hall, haunted by the shadowy presence of juan. but it was usually daylight when the brothers were there together. now, a tapestry curtain shaded the window, and a silver lamp shed its light on the well-spread table with its snowy drapery, and cover laid for one. a lonely meal, however luxurious, is always apt to be somewhat dreary; it seems a provision for the lowest wants of our nature, and nothing more. carlos sought to escape from the depressing influence by giving wings to his imagination, and dreaming of the time when wealth enough to repair and refurnish that half-ruinous old homestead might be his. he pleased himself with pictures of the long tables in the great hall, groaning beneath the weight of a bountiful provision for a merry company of guests, upon whom the sweet face of doña beatriz might beam a welcome. but how idle such fancies! the castle, after all, was juan's, not his. unless, indeed, more difficulties than one should be solved by juan's death upon some french or flemish battle-field. this thought he could not bear to entertain. grown suddenly sick at heart, he pushed aside his plate of stewed pigeon, and, regardless of the feelings of dolores, sent away untasted her dessert of sweet butter-cakes dipped in honey. he was weary, he said, and he would go to rest at once. it was long before sleep would visit his eyelids; and when at last it came, his brother's dark reproachful eyes haunted him still. at daybreak he awoke with a start from a feverish dream that juan, all pale and ghostlike, had come to his bedside, and laying his hand on his arm, said solemnly, "i claim the jewel i left thee in trust." further sleep was impossible. he rose, and wandered out into the fresh air. as yet no one was astir. fair and sweet was all that met his gaze: the faint pearly light, the first blush of dawn in the quiet sky, the silvery dew that bathed his footsteps. but the storm within raged more fiercely for the calm without. there was first an agonizing struggle to repress the rising thought, "better, after all, _not_ to do this thing." but, in spite of his passionate efforts, the thought gained a hearing, it seemed to cry aloud within him, "better, after all, not to betray juan!" "and give up beatriz for ever? _for ever!_" he repeated over and over again, beating it "in upon his weary brain, as though it were the burden of a song." he had climbed, almost unawares, to the top of a rocky hill; and now he stood, looking around him at the prospect, just as if he saw it. in truth, he saw nothing, felt nothing outward, until at last a misty mountain rain swept in his face, refreshing his burning brow with a touch as of cool fingers. then he descended mechanically. exchanging salutations (as if nothing were amiss with him) with the milk-maid and the wood-boy, he crossed the open courtyard and re-entered the hall. there dolores, and a girl who worked under her, were already busy, so he passed by them into the inner room. its darkness seemed to stifle him; with hasty hand he drew aside the heavy tapestry curtain. as he did so something caught his eye. for the hundredth time he re-read the mystic inscription on the glass: "el dorado yo hé trovado." and, as an infant's touch may open a sluice that lets in the mighty ocean, those simple words broke up the fountains of the great deep within. he gave full course to the emotions they awakened. again he heard juan's voice repeat them; again he saw juan's deep earnest eyes look into his; not now reproachfully, but with full unshaken trust, as in the old days when first he said, "we will go forth together and find our father." "juan--brother!" he cried aloud, "i will never wrong thee, so help me god!" at that moment the morning sun, having scattered the mists with the glory of its rising, sent one of its early beams to kiss the handwriting on the window-pane. "old token for good," thought carlos, whose imaginative nature could play with fancies even in the hours of supreme emotion. "and true still even yet. only the good is all for juan; for me--nothing but despair." and so don carlos found his "desengaño," or disenchantment, and it was a very thorough one. body and mind were well-nigh exhausted with the violence of the struggle. perhaps this was fortunate, in so far that it won for the decision of his better nature a more rapid and easy acceptance. in a sense and for a season any decision was welcome to the weary, tempest-tossed soul. it was afterwards that he asked himself how were long years to be dragged on without the face that was the joy of his heart and the life of his life? how was he to bear the never-ending pain, the aching loneliness, of such a lot? better to die at once than to endure this slow, living death. he knew well that it was not in his nature to point the pistol or the dagger at his own breast. but he might pine away and die silently--as many thousands die--of blighted hopes and a ruined life. or--and this was more likely, perhaps--as time passed on he might grow dead and hard in soul; until at last he would become a dry, cold, mechanical mass-priest, mumbling the church's latin with thin, bloodless lips, a keen eye to his dues, and a heart that might serve for a church relic, so much faith would it require to believe that it had been warm and living once. still, laudably anxious to provide against possible future waverings of the decision so painfully attained, he wrote informing his uncle of his safe arrival; adding that he had fully made up his mind to take orders at christmas, but that he found it advisable to remain in his present quarters for a month or two. he at once dispatched two of the men-at-arms with the letter; and much was the thrifty don manuel surprised that his nephew should spend a handful of silver reals in order to inform him of what he knew already. gloomily the day wore on. the instinctive reserve of a sensitive nature made carlos talk to the servants, receive the accounts, inspect the kine and sheep--do everything, in short, except eat and drink--as he would have done if a great sorrow had not all the time been crushing his heart. it is true that dolores, who loved him as her own son, was not deceived. it was for no trivial cause that the young master was pale as a corpse, restless and irritable, talking hurriedly by fitful snatches, and then relapsing into moody silence. but dolores was a prudent woman, as well as a loving and faithful one; therefore she held her peace, and bided her time. but carlos noticed one effort she made to console him. coming in towards evening from a consultation with diego about some cork-trees which a morisco merchantman wished to purchase and cut down, he saw upon his table a carefully sealed wine-flask, with a cup beside it. he knew whence it came. his father had left in the cellar a small quantity of choice wine of xeres; and this relic of more prosperous times being, like most of their other possessions, in the care of dolores, was only produced very sparingly, and on rare occasions. but she evidently thought "señor don carlos" needed it now. touched by her watchful, unobtrusive affection, he would have gratified her by drinking; but he had a peculiar dislike to drinking alone, while he knew he would only render his sanity doubtful by inviting either her or diego to share the luxurious beverage. so he put it aside for the present, and drew towards him a sheet of figures, an ink-horn, and a pen. he could not work, however. with the silence and solitude, his great grief came back upon him again. but nature all this time had been silently working for him. his despair was giving way to a more violent but less bitter sorrow. tears came now: a long, passionate fit of weeping relieved his aching heart. since his early childhood he had not wept thus. an approaching footstep recalled him to himself. he rose with haste and shame, and stood beside the window, hoping that his position and the waning light might together shield him from observation. it was only dolores. "señor," she said, entering somewhat hastily, "will it please you to see to those men of seville that came with your excellency? they are insulting a poor little muleteer, and threatening to rob his packages." yanguesian carriers and other muleteers, bringing goods across the sierra morena from the towns of la mancha to those of andalusia, often passed by the castle, and sometimes received hospitality there. carlos rose at once at the summons, saying to dolores-"where is the boy?" "he is not a boy, señor, he is a man; a very little man, but with a greater spirit, if i mistake not, than some twice his size." it was true enough. on the green plot at the back of the castle, beside which the mountain pathway led, there were gathered the ten or twelve rough seville pikemen, taken from the lowest of the population, and most of them of moorish blood. in their midst, beside the foremost of his three mules, with one arm thrown round her neck and the other raised to give effect by animated gestures to his eager oratory, stood the muleteer. he was a very short, spare, active-looking man, clad from head to foot in chestnut-coloured leather. his mules were well laden; each with three large alforjas, one at each side and one laid across the neck. but they were evidently well fed and cared for also; and they presented a gay appearance, with their adornments of bright-coloured worsted tassels and tiny bells. "you know, my friends," the muleteer was saying, as carlos came within hearing, "an arriero's alforjas[3] are like a soldier's colours,--it stands him upon his honour to guard them inviolate. no, no! ask him for aught else--his purse, his blood--they are at your service; but never touch his colours, if you care for a long life." [3] _arriero_, muleteer; _alforjas_, bags. "my honest friend, your colours, as you call them, shall be safe here," said carlos, kindly. the muleteer turned towards him a good-humoured, intelligent face, and, bowing low, thanked him heartily. "what is your name?" asked carlos; "and whence do you come?" "i am juliano; juliano el chico (julian the little) men generally call me--since, as your excellency sees, i am not very great. and i come last from toledo." "indeed! and what wares do you carry?" "some matters, small in bulk, yet costly, which i am bringing for a seville merchant--medel de espinosa by name, if your worship has heard of him? i have mirrors, for example, of a new kind; excellent in workmanship, and true as steel, as well they may be." "i know the shop of espinosa well. i have been much in seville," said carlos, with a sudden pang, caused by the recollection of the many pretty trifles that he had purchased there for doña beatriz. "but follow me, my friend, and a good supper shall make you amends for the rudeness of these fellows.--andres, take the best care thou canst of his mules; 'twill be only fair penance for thy sin in molesting their owner." "a hundred thousand thanks, señor. still, with your worship's good leave, and no offence to friend andres, i had rather look to the beasts myself. we are old companions; they know my ways, and i know theirs." "as you please, my good fellow. andres will show you the stable, and i shall tell my mayor-domo to see that you lack nothing." "again i render to your excellency my poor but hearty thanks." carlos went in, gave the necessary directions to diego, and then returned to his solitary chamber. viii. the muleteer. "are ye resigned that they be spent in such world's help? the spirits bent their awful brows, and said, 'content!' "content! it sounded like amen said by a choir of mourning men: an affirmation full of pain "and patience,--ay, of glorying, and adoration, as a king might seal an oath for governing." e.b. browning. when carlos stood once more face to face with his sorrow--as he did as soon as he had closed the door--he found that it had somewhat changed its aspect. a trouble often does this when some interruption from the outer world makes us part company with it for a little while. we find on our return that it has developed quite a new phase, and seldom a more hopeful one. it now entered the mind of carlos, for the first time, that he had been acting very basely towards his brother. not only had he planned and intended a treason, but by endeavouring to engage the affections of doña beatriz, he had actually committed one. heaven grant it might not prove irreparable! though the time that had passed since his better self gained the victory was only measured by hours, it represented to him a much longer period. already it enabled him to look upon what had gone before from the vantage-ground that some degree of distance gives. he now beheld in true, perhaps even in exaggerated colours, the meanness and the treachery of his conduct. he, who prided himself upon the nobility of his nature matching that of his birth--he, don carlos alvarez de santillanos y menaya, the gentleman of stainless manners, of reputation untarnished by a single blot--he, who had never yet been ashamed of anything,--in his solitude he blushed and covered his face in shame, as the villany he had planned rose up before his mind. it would have broken his heart to be scorned by any man; and was it not worse a thousand-fold to be thus scorned by himself? he thought even more of the meanness of his plan than of its treachery. of its sin he did not think at all. sin was a theological term which he had been wont to handle in the schools, and to toss to and fro with the other materials upon which he showed off his dialectic skill; but it no more occurred to him to take it out of the scholastic world and to bring it into that in which he really lived and acted, than it did to talk latin to diego, or softly to whisper quotations from thomas aquinas into the ear of doña beatriz between the pauses of the dance. scarcely any consideration, however, could have made him more miserable than he was. past and future--all alike seemed dreary. not a happy memory, not a cheering anticipation could he find to comfort him. he was as one who goes forth to face the driving storm of a wintry night: not strong in hope and courage--a warm hearth behind him, and before him the pleasant starry glimmer that tells of another soon to be reached--but chilled, weary, forlorn, the wind whistling through thin garments, and nothing to meet his eye but the bare, bleak, shelterless moor stretching far out into the distance. he sat long, too crushed in heart even to finish his slight, unimportant task. sometimes he drew towards him the sheet of figures, and for a moment or two tried to fix his attention upon it; but soon he would push it away again, or make aimless dots and circles on its margin. while thus engaged, he heard a cheery and not unmelodious voice chanting a fragment of song in some foreign tongue. listening more attentively, he believed the words were french, and supposed the singer must be his humble guest, the muleteer, on his way to the stable to take a last look at the beloved companions of his toils before he lay down to rest. the man had probably exercised his vocation at some former period in the passes of the pyrenees, and had thus acquired some knowledge of french. half an hour's talk with any one seemed to carlos at that moment a most desirable diversion from the gloom of his own thoughts. he might converse with this stranger when he dared not summon to his presence diego or dolores, because they knew and loved him well enough to discover in two minutes that something was seriously wrong with him. he waited until he heard the voice once more close beneath his window; then softly opening it, he called the muleteer. juliano responded with ready alertness; and carlos, going round to the door, admitted him, and led him into his sanctum. "i believe," he said, "that was a french song i heard you sing. you have been in france, then?" "ay, señor; i have crossed the pyrenees more than once. i have also been in switzerland." "you must, then, have visited many places worthy of note; and not with your eyes shut, i think. i wish you would tell me, for pastime, the story of your travels." "willingly, señor," said the muleteer, who, though perfectly respectful, had an ease and independence of manner that made carlos suspect it was not the first time he had conversed with his superiors. "where shall i begin?" "have you ever crossed the santillanos, or visited the asturias?" "no, señor. a man cannot be everywhere; 'he that rings the bells does not walk in the procession.' i am only master of the route from lyons here; knowing a little also, as i have said, of switzerland." "tell me first of lyons, then. and be seated, my friend." the muleteer sat down, and began his story, telling of the places he had seen with an intelligence that more and more engaged the attention of carlos, who failed not to draw out his information by many pertinent questions. as they conversed, each observed the other with gradually increasing interest. carlos admired the muleteer's courage and energy in the prosecution of his calling, and enjoyed his quaint and shrewd observations. moreover, he was struck by certain indications of a degree of education and even of refinement not usual in his class. especially he noticed the small, finely-formed hand, which was sometimes in the warmth of conversation laid on the table, and which looked as if it had been accustomed to wield some implement far more delicate than a riding-whip. another thing he took note of. though juliano's language abounded in proverbs, in provincialisms, in quaint and racy expressions, not a single oath escaped his lips. "i never saw an arriero before," thought carlos, "who could get through two sentences without half a dozen of them." juliano, on the other hand, was observing his host, and with a far shrewder and deeper insight than carlos could have imagined. during supper he had gathered from the servants that their young master was kind-hearted, gentle, easy-tempered, and had never injured any one in his life; and knowing all this, he was touched with genuine sympathy for the young noble, whose haggard face and sorrowful looks told but too plainly that some great grief was pressing on his heart. "your excellency must be weary of my stories," he said at length. "it is time i left you to your repose." and so indeed it was, for the hour was late. "ere you go," said carlos kindly, "you shall drink a cup of wine with me." he had no wine at hand but the costly beverage dolores had produced for his own especial use. wondering a little what juliano would think of such a luxurious beverage, he sought a second cup, for the proud castilian gentleman was too "finely courteous" not to drink with his guest, although that guest was only a muleteer. juliano, evidently a temperate man, remonstrated: "but i have already tasted your excellency's hospitality." "that should not hinder your drinking to my good health," said carlos, producing a small hunting-cup, forgotten until now, from the pocket of his doublet. then filling the larger cup, he handed it to juliano. it was a very little thing, a trifling act of kindness. but to the last hour of his life, carlos alvarez thanked god that he had put it into his heart to offer that cup of wine. the muleteer raised it to his lips, saying earnestly, "god grant you health and happiness, noble señor." carlos drank also, glad to relieve a painful feeling of exhaustion. as he set down the cup, a sudden impulse prompted him to say, with a bitter smile, "happiness is not likely to come my way at present." "nay, señor, and wherefore not? with your good leave be it spoken, you are young, noble, amiable, with much learning and excellent parts, as they tell me." "all these things may not prevent a man being very miserable," said carlos frankly. "god comfort you, señor." "thanks for the good wish," said carlos, rather lightly, and conscious of having already said too much. "all men have their troubles, i suppose, but most men contrive to live through them. so shall i, no doubt." "but god _can_ comfort you," juliano repeated with a kind of wistful earnestness. carlos, surprised at his manner, looked at him dreamily, but with some curiosity. "señor," said juliano, leaning forward and speaking in a low tone full of meaning. "let your worship excuse a plain man's plain question--señor, _do you know god_?" carlos started visibly. was the man mad? certainly not; as all his previous conversation bore witness. he was evidently a very clever, half-educated man, who spoke with just the simplicity and unconsciousness of an intelligent child. and now he had asked a true child's question; one which it would exhaust a wise man's wisdom to answer. thoroughly perplexed, carlos at last determined to take it in its easiest sense. he said, "yes; i have studied theology, and taken out my licentiate's degree at the university of alcala." "if it please your worship, what may that fine word theology mean?" "you have said so many wise things, that i marvel you know not. science about god." "then, señor, your excellency knows _about god_. but is it not another thing _to know god_? i know much about the emperor carlos, now at san yuste; i could tell you the story of all his campaigns. but i never saw him, still less spoke with him. and far indeed am i from knowing him to be my friend; and so trusting him that if my mules died, or the alguazils seized me at cordova for bringing over something contraband, or other mishap befell me, i should go or send to him, certain that he would help and save me." "i begin to understand you," said carlos; and a suspicion crossed his mind that the muleteer was a friar in disguise. but that could scarcely be, since his black abundant hair showed no marks of the tonsure. "after the manner you speak of, only great saints know god." "indeed, señor! can that be true? for i have heard that our lord christ"--(at the mention of the name carlos crossed himself, a ceremony which the muleteer was so engrossed by his argument as to forget)--"that our lord christ came into the world to make men know the father; and that, to all that believe on him, he truly reveals him." "where did you get this strange learning?" "it is simple learning; and yet very blessed, señor," returned juliano, evading the question. "for those who know god are happy. whatever sorrows they have without, within they have joy and peace." "you are advising me to seek peace in religion?" it was singular certainly that a muleteer should advise _him_; but then this was a very uncommon muleteer. "and so i ought," he added, "since i am destined for the church." "no, señor; not to seek peace in religion, but to seek peace from god, and in christ who reveals him." "it is only the words that differ, the things are the same." "again i say, with all submission to your excellency, not so. it is christ jesus himself--christ jesus, god and man--who alone can give the peace and happiness for which the heart aches. are we oppressed with sin? he says, 'thy sins are forgiven thee!' are we hungry? he is bread. thirsty? he is living water. weary? he says, 'come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and i will give you rest!'" "man! who or what are you? you are quoting the holy scriptures to me. do you then read latin?" "no, señor," said the muleteer humbly, casting his eyes down to the ground. "_no?_" "no, señor; in very truth. but--" "well? go on!" juliano looked up again, a steady light in his eyes. "will you promise, on the faith of a gentleman, not to betray me?" he asked. "most assuredly i will not betray you." "i trust you, señor. i do not believe it would be possible for _you_ to betray one who trusted you." carlos winced, and rather shrank from the muleteer's look of hearty, honest confidence. "though i cannot guess your reason for such precautions," he said, "i am willing, if you wish it, to swear secrecy upon the holy crucifix." "it needs not, señor; your word of honour is as much as your oath. though i am putting my life in your hands when i tell you that i have dared to read the words of my lord christ in my own tongue." "are you then a heretic?" carlos exclaimed, recoiling involuntarily, as one who suddenly sees the plague spot on the forehead of a friend whose hand he has been grasping. "that depends upon your notion of a heretic, señor. many a better man than i has been branded with the name. even the great preacher don fray constantino, whom all the fine lords and ladies in seville flock to hear, has often been called heretic by his enemies." "i have resided in seville, and attended fray constantino's theological lectures," said carlos. "then your worship knows there is not a better christian in all the spains. and yet men say that he narrowly escaped a prosecution for heresy. but enough of what men say. let us hear what god says for once. his words cannot lead us astray." "no; not the holy scriptures, properly expounded by learned and orthodox doctors. but heretics put their own construction upon the sacred text, which, moreover, they corrupt and interpolate." "señor, you are a scholar; you can consult the original, and judge for yourself how far that charge is true." "but i do not want to read heretic writings." "nor i, señor. yet i confess that i have read the words of my saviour in my own tongue, which some misinformed or ignorant persons call heresy; and through them, to my soul's joy, i have learned to know him and the father. i am bold enough to wish the same knowledge yours, señor, that the same joy may be yours also." the poor man's eye kindled, and his features, otherwise homely enough, glowed with an enthusiasm that lent them true spiritual beauty. carlos was not unmoved. after a moment's pause he said, "if i could procure what you style god's word in my own tongue, i do not say that i would refuse to read it. should i discover any heretical mistranslation or interpolation, i could blot out the passage; or, it necessary, burn the book." "i can place in your hands this very hour the new testament of our saviour christ, lately translated into castilian by juan perez, a learned man, well acquainted with the greek." "what! have you got it with you? in god's name bring it then; and at least i will look at it." "be it truly in god's name, señor," said juliano, as he left the room. during his absence carlos pondered upon this singular adventure. throughout his lengthened conversation with him, he had discerned no marks of heresy in the muleteer, except his possession of the spanish new testament. and being very proud of his dialectic acuteness, he thought he should certainly have discovered such had they existed. "he had need to be a clever heretic that would circumvent _me_," he said, with the vanity of a young and successful scholar. moreover, his ten months' attendance on the lectures of fray constantino had, unconsciously to himself, somewhat imbued his mind with liberal ideas. he could have read the vulgate at alcala if he had cared to do so (only he never had); where then could be the harm of glancing, out of mere curiosity, at a spanish translation from the same original? he regarded the new testament in the light of some very dangerous, though effective, weapon of the explosive kind; likely to overwhelm with terrible destruction the careless or ignorant meddler with its intricacies, and therefore wisely forbidden by the authorities; though in able and scientific hands, such as his own, it might be harmless and even useful. but it was a very different matter for the poor man who brought it to him. was he, after all, a madman? or was he a heretic? or was he a great saint or holy hermit in disguise? but whatever his spiritual peril might or might not be, it was only too evident that he was incurring temporal dangers of a very awful kind. and perhaps he was doing so in the simplicity of ignorance. carlos could not do less than warn him of them. he soon returned; and drawing a small brown volume from beneath his leathern jerkin, handed it to the young nobleman. "my friend," said carlos kindly, as he took it from him, "do you know what you dare by offering this to me, or even by keeping it yourself?" "i know it well, señor," was the calm reply; and the muleteer's dark eye met his undauntedly. "you are playing a dangerous game. this time you are safe. but take care. you may try it once too often." "i shall not, señor. i shall witness for my lord just so often as he permits. when he has no more need of me, he will call me home." "god help you. i fear you are throwing yourself into the fire. and for what?" "for the joy of bringing food to the perishing, water to the thirsty, light to those that sit in darkness, rest to the weary and heavy-laden. señor, i have counted the cost, and i shall pay the price right willingly." after a moment's silence he continued: "i leave within your hands the treasure brought at such cost. but god alone, by his divine spirit, can reveal to you its true worth. señor, seek that spirit. nay, be not offended. you are very noble and very learned; and it is a poor and ignorant man who speaks to you. but that poor man is risking his life for your soul's salvation; and thus he proves, at least, how true his desire to see you one day at the right hand of christ, his king and master. adios, señor." he bowed low; and before carlos had sufficiently recovered from his astonishment to say a word in answer, he had left the room and closed the door behind him. "strange being!" thought carlos; "but i shall talk with him again to-morrow." and ere he was aware, his eyelids were wet; for the courage and self-sacrifice of the poor muleteer had stirred some answering chord of emotion in his heart. probably, in spite of all appearances to the contrary, he was a madman; or else he was a heretical fanatic. but he was a man willing to brave numberless sufferings (of which a death of torture was the last and least), to bring his fellow-men something which he imagined would make them happy. "the church has no more orthodox son than i," said don carlos alvarez; "but i shall read his book for all that." then, the hour being late, he retired to rest, and slept soundly. he did not rise exactly with the sun, and when he came forth from his chamber breakfast was already in preparation. "where is the muleteer who was here last night?" he asked dolores. "he was up and away at sunrise," she answered. "fortunately, it is not my custom to stop in bed and see the sunshine; so i just caught him loading his mules, and gave him a piece of bread and cheese and a draught of wine. a smart little man he is, and one who knows his business." "i wish i had seen him ere he left," said carlos aloud. "shall i ever look upon his face again?" he added mentally. carlos alvarez saw that face again, not by the ray of sun or moon, nor yet by the gleam of the student's lamp, but clear and distinct in a lurid awful light more terrible than egyptian darkness, yet fraught with strange blessing, since it showed the way to the city of god, where the sun no more goes down, neither doth the moon withdraw herself. juliano el chico, otherwise julian hernandez, is no fancy sketch, no "character of fiction." it is matter of history that, cunningly stowed away in his alforjas, amongst the ribbons, laces, and other trifles that formed their ostensible freight, there was a large supply of spanish new testaments, of the translation of juan perez. and that, in spite of all the difficulties and dangers of his self-imposed task, he succeeded in conveying his precious charge safely to seville. our cheeks grow pale, our hearts shudder, at the thought of what he and others dared, that they might bring to the lips of their countrymen that living water which was truly "the blood of the men that went for it in jeopardy of their lives." more than jeopardy. not alone did juliano brave danger, he encountered certain death. sooner or later, it was impossible that he should not fall into the pitiless grasp of that hideous engine of royal and priestly tyranny, called the holy inquisition. we have no words in which to praise such heroism as his. we leave that--and we may be content to leave it--to him whose lips shall one day pronounce the sublime award, "well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy lord." but in the view of such things done and suffered for his name's sake, there is another thought that presses on the mind. how real and great, nay, how unutterably precious, must be that treasure which men were found willing, at such cost, not only to secure for themselves, but even to impart to others. ix. el dorado found. "so, the all-great were the all-loving too- so, through the thunder comes a human voice, saying, o heart i made, a heart beats here! face my hands fashioned, see it in myself! thou hast no power, nor mayest conceive of mine: but love i gave thee with myself to love, and thou must love me who have died for thee!" r. browning. three silent months stole away in the old castle of nuera. no outward event affecting the fortunes of its inmates marked their progress. and yet they were by far the most important months don carlos had ever seen, or perhaps would ever see. they witnessed a change in him, mysterious in its progress but momentous in its results. an influence passed over him, mighty as the wind in its azure pathway, but, like it, visible only by its effects; no man could tell "whence it cometh or whither it goeth." again it was early morning, a bright sunday morning in september. already carlos stood prepared to go forth. he had quite discarded his student's habit, and was dressed like any other young nobleman, in a doublet and short cloak of genoa velvet, with a sword by his side. his breviary was in his hand, however, and he was on the point of taking up his hat when dolores entered the room, bearing a cup of wine and a manchet of bread. carlos shook his head, saying, "i intend to communicate. and you, dolores," he added, "are you not also going to hear mass?" "surely, señor; we will all attend our duty. but there is still time to spare; your worship sets us an example in the matter of early rising." "it were shame to lose such fair hours as these. prithee, dolores, and lest i forget, hast thou something savoury in the house for dinner?" "glad i am to hear you ask, señor. hitherto it has seemed alike to your excellency whether they served you with a pottage of lentils or a stew of partridges. but since diego had the good fortune to kill that buck on wednesday, we are better than well provided. your worship shall dine on roast venison to-day." "that will do. and if thou wouldst add some of the batter ware, in which thou art so skilful, it would be better still; for i intend to bring home a guest." "now, the saints help me, that is news! without meaning offence, your worship might have told me before. any noble caballero coming to these parts to visit you must needs have bed as well as board found him. and how can i, in three hours, more or less--" "nay, be not alarmed, dolores; no stranger is coming here. only i wish to bring the cura home to dinner." even the self-restrained dolores could not repress an exclamation of surprise. for both the brothers had been accustomed to regard the ignorant vulgar cura of the neighbouring village with unmitigated dislike and contempt. in old times dolores herself had sometimes tried to induce them to show him some trifling courtesies, "for their soul's health." they were willing enough to send "that beggar"--as don juan used to call him--presents of meat or game when they could, but these they would not have grudged to their worst enemy. to converse with him, or to seat him at their table, was a very different matter. he was "no fit associate for noblemen," said the boys; and dolores, in her heart, agreed with them. she looked at her young master to see whether he were jesting. "he likes a good dinner," carlos added quietly. "let us for once give him one." "in good faith, señor don carlos, i cannot tell what has come to you. you must be about doing penance for your sins, though i will say no young gentleman of your years has fewer to answer for. still, to please your whim, the cura shall eat the best we have, though beans and bacon would be more fitting fare for him." "thank you, mother dolores," said carlos kindly. "in truth, neither don juan nor i had ever whim yet you did not strive to gratify." "and who would not do more than that for so pleasant and kind a young master?" thought dolores, as she withdrew to superintend the cooking operations. "god's blessing and our lady's rest on him, and in sooth i think they do. three months ago he came here looking like a corpse out of the grave, and fitter, as it seemed to me, to don his shroud than his priest's frock. but the free mountain air wherein he was born is bringing back the red to his cheek and the light to his eye, thank the holy saints. ah, if his lady mother could only see her gallant sons now!" meanwhile don carlos leisurely took his way down the hill. having abundance of time to spare, he chose a solitary, devious path through the cork-trees and the pasture land belonging to the castle. his heart was alive to every pleasant sight and sound that met his eye and ear; although, or rather because, a low, sweet song of thankfulness was all the while chanting itself within him. during his solitary walk he distinctly realized for the first time the stupendous change that had passed over him. for such changes cannot be understood or measured until afterwards, perhaps not always then. drawing from his pocket juliano's little book, he clasped it in both hands. "_this_, god be thanked, has done it all, under him. and yet, at first, it added to my misery a hundred-fold." then his mind ran back to the dreary days of helpless, almost hopeless wretchedness, when he first began its perusal. much of it had then been quite unintelligible to him; but what he understood had only made his darkness darker still. he who had but just learned from that stern teacher, life, the meaning of sorrow, learned from the pages of his book the awful significance of that other word, sin. bitter hours, never to be remembered without a shudder, were those that followed. already prostrate on the ground beneath the weight of his selfish sorrow for the love that might never be his, cruel blows seemed rained upon him by the very hand to which he turned to lift him up. "all was his own fault," said conscience. but had conscience, enlightened by his book, said no more, he could have borne it. it was a different thing to recognize that all was his own _sin_--to feel more keenly every day that the whole current of his thoughts and affections was set in opposition to the will of god as revealed in that book, and illustrated in the life of him of whom it told. but this sickness of heart, deadly though it seemed, was not unto death. the word had indeed proved a mirror, in which he saw his own face reflected with the lines and colours of truth. but it had a farther use for him. as he did not fling it away in despair, but still gazed on, at length he saw in its clear depths another face--a face radiant with divine majesty, yet beaming with tender love and pity. he whom the mirror thus gave back to him had been "not far" from him all his life; had been standing over against him, watching and waiting for the moment in which to reveal himself. at last that moment came. he looked up from the mirror to the real face; from the word to him whom the word revealed. he turned himself and said unto him, "rabboni, which is to say, my master." he laid his soul at his feet in love, in trust, in gratitude. and he knew then, not until then, that this was the "coming" to him, the "believing" on him, the receiving him, of which he spoke as the condition of life, of pardon, and of happiness. from that hour he possessed life, he knew himself forgiven, he was _happy_. this was no theory, but a fact--a fact which changed all his present and was destined to change all his future. he longed to impart the wonderful secret he had found. this longing overcame his contempt for the cura, and made him seek to win him by kindness to listen to words which perhaps might open for him also the same wonderful fountain of joy. "now i am going to worship my lord, afterwards i shall speak of him," he said, as he crossed the threshold of the little village church. in due season the service was over. its ceremonies did not pain or offend carlos in any way; he took part in them with much real devotion, as acts of homage paid to his lord. still, if he had analyzed his feelings (which he did not), he would have found them like those of a king's child, who is obliged, on days of courtly ceremonial, to pay his father the same distant homage as the other peers of the realm, and yet knows that all this for him is but an idle show, and longs to throw aside its cumbrous pomp, and to rejoice once more in the free familiar intercourse which is his habit and his privilege. but that the ceremonial itself could be otherwise than pleasing to his king, he had not the most distant suspicion. he spoke kindly to the priest, and inquired by name after all the sick folk in the village, though in fact he knew more about them himself by this time than did father tomas. the cura's heart was glad when the catechism came to a termination so satisfactory as an invitation to dine at the castle. whatever the fare might be--and his expectations were not extravagantly high--it could scarce fail to be an improvement on the olla of which he had intended to make his sunday repast. moreover, one favour from the castle might be the earnest of others; and favours from the castle, poor though its lords might be, were not to be despised. nor was he ill at ease in the society of an accomplished gentleman, as a man just a little better bred would probably have been. a wealthy peasant's son, and with but scanty education, father tomas was so hopelessly vulgar that he never once imagined he was vulgar at all. carlos bore as patiently as he could with his coarse manners, and conversation something worse than commonplace. not until the repast was concluded did he find an opportunity of bringing forward the topic upon which he longed to speak. then, with more tact than his guest could appreciate, he began by inquiring--as one himself intended for the priesthood might naturally do--whether he could always keep his thoughts from wandering while he was celebrating the holy mysteries of the faith. father tomas crossed himself, and answered that he was a sinner like other men, but that he tried to do his duty to our holy mother church to the best of his ability. carlos remarked, that unless we ourselves know the love of god by experience we cannot love him, and that without love there is no acceptable service. "most true, señor," said the priest, turning his eyes upwards. "as the holy st. augustine saith. your worship quotes from him, i believe." "i have quoted nothing," said carlos, beginning to feel that he was speaking to the deaf; "but i know the words of christ." and then he spoke, out of a full heart, of christ's work for us, of his love to us, and of the pardon and peace which those receive that trust him. but his listener's stolid face betrayed no interest, only a vague uneasiness, which increased as carlos proceeded. the poor parish cura began to suspect that the clever young collegian meant to astonish and bewilder him by the exhibition of his learning and his "new ideas." indeed, he was not quite sure whether his host was eloquently enlarging all the time upon catholic truths, or now and then mischievously throwing out a few heretical propositions, in order to try whether he would have skill enough to detect them. naturally, he did not greatly relish this style of entertainment. nothing could be got from him save a cautious, "that is true, señor," or, "very good, your worship;" and as soon as his notions of politeness would permit, he took his leave. carlos marvelled greatly at his dulness; but soon dismissed him from his mind, and took his testament out to read under the shade of the cork-trees. ere long the light began to fade, but he sat there still in the fast deepening twilight. thoughts and fancies thronged upon his mind; and dreams of the past sought, as even yet they often did, to reassert their supremacy over his heart. one of those apparently unaccountable freaks of memory, which we all know by experience, brought back to him suddenly the luscious perfume of the orange-blossoms, called by the spaniards the azahar. such fragrance had filled the air, and such flowers had been strewed upon his pathway, when last he walked with donna beatriz in the fairy gardens of the alcazar of seville. keen was the pang that shot through his heart at the remembrance. but it was conquered soon. as he went in-doors he repeated the words he had just been reading, "'he that cometh unto me shall never hunger; he that believeth on me shall never thirst.' and _this_ hunger of the soul, as well as every other, he can stay. having him, i have all things. 'el dorado yo hé trovado.' father, dear, unknown father, i have found the golden country! not in the sense thou didst fondly seek, and i as fondly dream to find it. yet the only true land of gold i have found indeed--the treasure unfailing, the inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for me." x. dolores. "oh, hearts that break and give no sign, save whitening lip and fading tresses; till death pours out his cordial wine, slow dropped from misery's crushing presses, if singing breath or echoing chord to every hidden pang were given, what endless melodies were poured, as sad as earth, as sweet as heaven." o.w. holmes. a great modern poet has compared the soul of man to a pilgrim who passes through the world staff in hand, never resting, ever pressing onwards to some point as yet unattained, ever sighing wearily, "alas! that _there_ is never _here_." and with deep significance adds his christian commentator, "in christ _there_ is _here_." he who has found christ "is already at the goal." "for he stills our innermost fears, and fulfils our utmost longings." "in him the dry land, the mirage of the desert, becomes living water." "he who knows him knows the reason of all things." passing all along the ages, we might gather from the silent lips of the dead such words as these, bearing emphatic witness to what human hearts have found in him. yet, after all, we would come back to his own grand and simple words, as best expressing the truth: "i am the bread of life;" "i will give you rest;" "in me ye shall have peace." with the peace which he gave there came to carlos a strange new knowledge also. the testament, from its first page to its last, became intelligible to him. from a mere sketch, partly dim and partly blurred and blotted, it grew into a transparency through which light shone upon his soul, every word being itself a star. he often read his book to dolores, though he allowed her to suppose it was latin, and that he was improvising a translation for her benefit. she would listen attentively, though with a deeper shade of sadness on her melancholy face. never did she volunteer an observation, but she always thanked him at the end in her usual respectful manner. these readings were, in fact, a trouble to dolores. they gave her pain, like the sharp throbs that accompany the first return of consciousness to a frozen member, for they awakened feelings that had long been dormant, and that she thought were dead for ever. but, on the other hand, she was gratified by the condescension of her young master in reading aloud for her edification. she had gone through the world giving very largely out of her own large loving heart, and expecting little or nothing in return. she would most gladly have laid down her life for don juan or don carlos; yet she did not imagine that the old servant of the house could be to them much more than one of the oak tables or the carved chairs. that "señor don carlos" should take thought for her, and trouble himself to do her good, thrilled her with a sensation more like joy than any she had known for years. little do those whose cups are so full of human love that they carry them carelessly, spilling many a precious drop as they pass along, dream how others cherish the few poor lees and remnants left to them. moreover carlos, in the eyes of dolores, was half a priest already, and this lent additional weight, and even sacredness, to all that he said and did. one evening he had been reading to her, in the inner room by the light of the little silver lamp. he had just finished the story of lazarus, and he made some remark on the grateful love of mary, and the costly sacrifice by which she proved it. tears gathered in the dark wistful eyes of dolores, and she said with sudden and, for her, most unusual energy, "that was small wonder. any one would do as much for him that brought the dear dead back from the grave." "he has done a greater thing than even that for each of us," said carlos. but dolores withdrew into her ordinary self again, as some timid creature might shrink into its shell from a touch. "i thank your excellency," she said, rising to withdraw, "and i also make my acknowledgments to our lady, who has inspired you with such true piety, suitable to your holy calling." "stay a little, dolores," said carlos, as a sudden thought occurred to him; "i marvel it has so seldom come into my mind to ask you about my mother." "ay, señor. when you were both children, i used to wonder that you and don juan, while you talked often together of my lord your father, had scarce a thought at all of your lady mother. yet if she had lived _you_ would have been her favourite, señor." "and juan my father's," said carlos, not without a slight pang of jealousy. "was my noble father, then, more like what my brother is?" "yes, señor; he was bold and brave. no offence to your excellency, for one you love i warrant me _you_ could be brave enough. but he loved his sword and his lance and his good steed. moreover, he loved travel and adventure greatly, and never could bear to abide long in the same place." "did he not make a voyage to the indies in his youth?" "he did; and then he fought under the emperor, both in italy, and in africa against the moors. once his imperial majesty sent him on some errand to leon, and there he first met my lady. afterwards he crossed the mountains to our home, and wooed and won her. he brought her, the fairest young bride eyes could rest on, to seville, where he had a stately palace on the alameda." "you must have grieved to leave your mountains for the southern city." "no, señor, i did not grieve. wherever your lady mother dwelt was home to me. besides, 'a great grief kills all the rest.'" "then you had known sorrow before. i thought you lived with our house from your childhood." "not altogether; though my mother nursed yours, and we slept in the same cradle, and as we grew older shared each other's plays. at seven years old i went home to my father and mother, who were honest, well-to-do people, like all my forbears--good 'old christians,' and noble--they could wear their caps in the presence of his catholic majesty. they had no girl but me, so they would fain have me ever in their sight. for ten years and more i was the light of their eyes; and no blither lass ever led the goats to the mountain in summer, or spun wool and roasted chestnuts at the winter fire. but, the year of the bad fever, both were stricken. christmas morning, with the bells for early mass ringing in my ears, i closed my father's eyes; and three days afterwards, set the last kiss on my mother's cold lips. nigh upon five-and-twenty years ago,--but it seems like yesterday. folks say there are many good things in the world, but i have known none so good as the love of father and mother. ay de mi, señor, _you_ never knew either." "when your parents died, did you return to my mother?" "for half a year i stayed with my brother. though no daughter ever shed truer tears over the grave of better parents, i was not then quite broken-hearted. there was another love to whisper hope, and to keep me from desolation. he--alphonso ('tis years and years since i uttered the name save in my prayers) had gone to the war, telling me he would come back and claim me for his bride. so i watched for him hour by hour, and toiled and spun, and spun and toiled, that i might not go home to him empty-handed. but at last a lad from our parish, who had been a comrade of his, returned and told me all. _he_ was lying on the bloody field of marignano, with a french bullet in his heart. señor, the sisters you read of could 'go to the grave and weep there.' and yet the lord pitied them." "he pities all who weep," said carlos. "all good christians, he may. but though an old christian, i was not a good one. for i thought it bitter hard that my candle should be quenched in a moment, like a wax taper when the procession is done. and it came often into my mind how the almighty, or our lady, or the saints, could have helped me if they would. may they forgive me; it is hard to be religious." "i do not think so." "i suppose it is not hard to learned gentlemen who have been at the colleges. but how can simple men and women tell whether they are keeping all the commandments of god and holy church? it well may be that i had done something, or left something undone, whereby our lady was displeased." "it is not our lady, but our lord himself, who holds the keys of hell and of death," said carlos, gaining at the moment a new truth for his own heart. "none enter the gates of death, as none shall come forth through them, save at his command. but go on, dolores, and tell me how did comfort come to you?" "comfort never came to me, señor. but after a time there came a kind of numbness and hardness that helped me to live my life as if i cared for it. and your lady mother (god rest her soul!) showed me wondrous kindness in my sorrow. it was then she took me to be her own maiden. she had me taught many things, such as reading and various cunning kinds of embroidery, that i might serve her with them, she said; but i well knew they were meant to turn my heart away from its own aching. i went with her to seville. i could be glad for her, señor, that god had given her the good thing he had denied to me. at last it came to be almost like joy to me to see the great deep love there was between your father and her." this was a degree of unselfishness beyond the comprehension of carlos just then. he felt his own wound throb painfully, and was not sorry to turn the conversation. "did my parents reside long in seville?" he asked. "not long, señor. their life there was a gay one, as became their rank and wealth (for, as your worship knows, your father had a noble estate then). but soon they both grew tired of the gay world. my lady ever loved the free mountains, and my lord--i scarce can tell what change passed over him. he lost his care for the tourney and the dance, and betook himself instead to study. both were glad to withdraw to this quiet spot. here your brother don juan was born; and for nigh a year afterwards no lord and lady could have led a happier and, at the same time, more pious and orderly life, than did your noble parents." the thoughtful eye of carlos turned to the inscription on the window, and kindled with a strange light. "was not this room my father's favourite place of study?" he asked. "it was, señor. of course, the house was not then as it now is. though simple enough, after the seville palace with its fountains and marble statues, and doors grated with golden network, it was still a seemly dwelling-place for a noble lord and lady. there was glass in all the windows then, though through neglect and carelessness it has been broken (even your worship may remember how don juan sent an arrow through a quarrel-pane in the west window one day), so we thought it best to remove the traces." "my parents led a pious life, you say?" "truly they did, señor. they were good and charitable to the poor; and they spent much of their time reading holy books, as you do now. ay de mi! what was wrong with them i know not, save that perhaps they were scarce careful enough to give holy church all her dues. and i used sometimes to wish that my lady would show more devotion to the blessed mother of god. but she _felt_ it all, no doubt; only it was not her way, nor my lord's either, to be for ever running about on pilgrimage or offering wax candles, nor yet to keep the father confessor every instant with his ear to their lips." carlos started, and turned an earnest inquiring gaze upon her. "did my mother ever read to you as i have done?" he asked. "she sometimes read me good words out of the breviary, señor. all thing went on thus, until one day when a letter came from the emperor himself (as i believe), desiring your father to go to him, to antwerp. the matter was to be kept very private, but my lady used to tell me everything. my lord thought he was to be sent on some secret mission where skill was needed, and perchance peril was to be met. for it was well known that he loved such affairs, and was dexterous in the management of them. so he parted cheerily from my lady, she standing at the gate yonder, and making little don juan kiss hands to him as he rode down the path. woe for the poor babe, that never saw his father's face again! and worse woe for the mother! but death heals all things, except sin. "after three weeks or a month, more or less, two monks of st. dominic rode to the gates one day. the younger stayed without in the hall with us; while the elder, a man of stern and stately presence, had private audience of my lady in this chamber where we sit now--a place of death it has seemed to me ever since. for the audience had not lasted long until i heard a cry--such a cry!--it rings in my ears even now. i hastened to my lady. she had swooned--and long, long was it before sense returned again. do not keep looking at me, señor, with eyes so like hers, or i cannot tell you more." "did she speak? did she reveal anything to you?" "_nothing_, señor. during the days that followed, only things without meaning or connection, such as those in fever speak, or broken words of prayer, were on her lips. until the very last, and then she was worn and weak, and could but receive the rites of the church, and whisper a few directions about the poor babes. she bade us give you the name you bear, since _he_ had said that his next boy should be called for the great emperor. then she prayed very earnestly, 'lord, take him thyself--take him thyself!' doctor marco, who was present, thought she meant the poor little new-born babe--supposing, and no wonder, that it would be better tended in heaven by our lady and the angels, than here on earth. but i _know_ it was not you she thought of." "my poor mother--god rest her soul! nay, i doubt not that now she rests in god," carlos added, softly. "and so the curse fell on your house, señor; and in such sorrow were you born. yet you grew up merry lads, you and don juan." "thanks to thy care and kindness, well-beloved and faithful nurse. but, dolores, tell me truly--have you never heard anything further of, or from, my father?" "from him, never. of him, that i believed, _never_." "and what do you believe?" carlos asked, eagerly. "i know nothing, señor. i have heard all that your worship has heard, and no more." "do you think it is true--what we have all been told--of his death in the indies?" "i know nothing, señor," dolores repeated, with the air of a person determined to _say_ nothing. but carlos would not allow her to escape thus. both had gone too far to leave the subject without probing it to its depths. and both felt instinctively that it was not likely again to be discussed between them. laying his hand on her arm, and looking steadily in her face, he asked,-"dolores, are you sure my father is dead?" seemingly relieved by the form the question had taken, she met his gaze without flinching, and answered in tones of evident sincerity, "sure as that i sit here--so help me god." after a long pause she added, as she rose to go, "señor don carlos, be not offended if i counsel you this once, since i held you a babe in my arms, and you will find none that loves you better--if a poor old woman may say so to a young and noble caballero." "say all you think to me, my dear and kind nurse." "then, señor, i say, leave vain thoughts and questions about your father's fate. 'there are no birds in last year's nests;' and 'water that has run by will turn no mill.' and i entreat of you to repeat the same to your noble brother when you find opportunity. look before you, señor, and not behind; and god's best blessings rest on you!" dolores turned to go, but turning back again, stood irresolute. "what is it, dolores?" carlos asked; hoping, perhaps, for some further glimmer of light upon that dark past, from which she implored him to turn his thoughts. "if it please you, señor don carlos--" and she paused and hesitated. "can i do anything for you?" said carlos, in a kind, encouraging tone. "ay, señor, that you can. with your learning and your good book, surely you can tell me whether the soul of my poor alphonso, dead on the battle-field without shrift or sacrament, has yet found rest with god?" thus the true woman's heart, though so full of sympathy for others, still turned back to its own sorrow, which lay deepest of all. carlos felt himself unexpectedly involved in a difficulty. "my book tells me nothing on the subject," he said, after some thought. "but i am sure you may be comforted, after all these years, during which you have diligently prayed, and sought the church's prayers for him." the long eager gaze of her wistful eyes asked mournfully, "is this _all_ you can tell me?" but her lips only said, "i thank your excellency," as she withdrew. xi. the light enjoyed. "doubt is slow to clear and sorrow is hard to bear, and each sufferer has his say, his scheme of the weal and the woe; but god has a few of us whom he whispers in the ear; the rest may reason and welcome, 'tis we musicians _know_." r. browning. bewildering were the trains of thought which the conversation just narrated awakened in the mind of carlos. on the one hand, a gleam of light was shed upon his father's career, suggesting a possible interpretation of the inscription on the window, that thrilled his heart with joy. on the other, the termination of that career was involved in even deeper obscurity than before; and he was made to feel, more keenly than ever, how childish and unreal were the dreams which he and his brother had been wont to cherish upon the subject. moreover, dolores, just before she left him, had drawn a bow at a venture, and most unintentionally sent a sharp arrow through a joint in his harness. why could he find no answer to a question so simple and natural as the one she had asked him? why did the book, which had solved so many mysteries for him, shed not a ray of light upon this one? whence this ominous silence of the apostles and evangelists upon so many things that the church most loudly proclaimed? where, in his book, was purgatory to be found at all? where was the adoration of the virgin and the saints? where were works of supererogation? but here he started in horror, as one who suddenly saw himself on the brink of a precipice. or rather, as one dwelling secure and contented within a little circle of light and warmth, to whom such questions came as intimations of a chaos surrounding it on every side, into which a chance step might at any moment plunge him. most earnestly he entreated that the lord of his life, the guide of his spirit, would not let him go forth to wander there. he prayed, expressly and repeatedly, that the doubts which began to trouble him might be laid and silenced. his prayer was answered, as all true prayer is sure to be, but it was not _granted_. he whose love is strong and deep enough to work out its good purpose in us even against the pleadings of our own hearts, saw that his child must needs pass through "a land of darkness" to reach the clearer light beyond. conflicts fierce and terrible must be his portion, if indeed he were to take his place amongst those "called and chosen and faithful" ones who, having stood beside the lamb in his contest with antichrist, shall stand beside him on the sea of glass mingled with fire. already carlos was in training for that contest--though as yet he knew not that there was any contest before him, save the general "striving against sin" in which all christians have to take part. for the joy of the lord is the christian's strength in the day of battle. and he usually prepares those faithful soldiers whom he means to set in the forefront of the hottest battle, by previously bestowing that joy upon them in very full measure. he who is willing to "sell all that he hath," must first have found a treasure, and what "the joy thereof" is none else may declare. in this joy carlos lived now; and it was as yet too fresh and new to be greatly disturbed by haunting doubts or perplexing questions. these, for the present, came and passed like a breath upon a surface of molten gold, scarcely dimming its lustre for a moment. it had become his great wish to receive orders as soon as possible, that he might consecrate himself more entirely to the service of his lord, and spread abroad the knowledge of his love more widely. with this view, he determined on returning to seville early in october. he left nuera with regret, especially on account of dolores, who had taken a new place in his consideration, and even in his affections, since he had begun to read to her from his book. and, though usually very calm and impassive in manner, she could scarcely refrain from tears at the parting. she entreated him, with almost passionate earnestness, to be very prudent and careful of himself in the great city. carlos, who saw no special danger likely to menace him, save such as might arise from his own heart, felt tempted to smile at her foreboding tone, and asked her what she feared for him. "oh, señor don carlos," she pleaded, with clasped hands, "for the love of god, take care; and do not be reading and telling your good words to every one you meet. for the world is an ill place, your worship, where good is ofttimes evil-spoken of." "never fear for me," returned carlos, with his frank, pleasant smile. "i have found nothing in my book but the most catholic verities, which will be useful to all and hurtful to none. but of course i shall be prudent, and take due care of my words, lest by any extraordinary chance they might be misinterpreted. so that you may keep your mind at peace, dear mother dolores." xii. the light divided from the darkness. "i felt and feel, what'er befalls, the footsteps of thy life in mine." tennyson. in the glorious autumn weather, don carlos rode joyfully through cork and chestnut groves, across bare brown plains, and amidst gardens of pale olives and golden orange globes shining through dark glossy leaves. he had long ago sent back to seville the guard with which his uncle had furnished him, so that his only companion was a country youth, trained by diego to act as his servant. but although he passed through the very district afterwards immortalized by the adventures of the renowned don quixote, no adventure fell to his lot. unless it may count for an adventure that near the termination of his journey the weather suddenly changed, and torrents of ruin, accompanied by unusual cold, drove him to seek shelter. "ride on quickly, jorge," he said to his attendant, "for i remember there is a venta[4] by the roadside not far off. a poor place truly, where we are little likely to find a supper. but we shall find a roof to shelter us and fire to warm us, and these at present are our most pressing needs." [4] an inn. arrived at the venta, they were surprised to see the lazy landlord so far stirred out of his usual apathy as to busy himself in trying to secure the fastening of the outer door, that it might not swing backwards and forwards in the wind, to the great discomfort of all within the house. the proud indifferent spaniard looked calmly up from his task, and remarked that he would do all in his power to accommodate his worship. "but unfortunately, señor and your excellency, a _very_ great and principal nobleman has just arrived here, with a most distinguished train of fine caballeros--his lordship's gentlemen and servants; and kitchen, hall, and chamber are as full of them as a hive is full of bees." this was evil news to carlos. proud, sensitive, and shy, there could be nothing more foreign to his character than to throw himself into the society of a person who, though really only his equal in rank, was so much his superior in all that lends rank its charm in the eyes of the vulgar. "we had better push on to ecija," said he to his reluctant attendant, bravely turning his face to the storm, and making up his mind to ten miles more in drenching rain. at that moment, however, a tall figure emerged from the inner door, opening into the long room behind the stable and kitchen, that formed the only tolerable accommodation the one-storied venta afforded. "surely, señor, you do not intend to go further in this storm," said the nobleman, whose fine thoughtful countenance carlos could not but fancy that he had seen before. "it is not far to ecija, señor," returned carlos, bowing. "and 'first come first served,' is an excellent proverb." "the first-comer has certainly one privilege which i am not disposed to waive--that of hospitably welcoming the second. do me the favour to come in, señor. you will find an excellent fire." carlos could not decline an invitation so courteously given. he was soon seated by the wood fire that blazed on the hearth of the inner room, exchanging compliments, in true spanish fashion, with the nobleman who had welcomed him so kindly. though no one could doubt for an instant the strangers possession of the pure "sangre azul,"[5] yet his manners were more frank and easy and less ceremonious than those to which carlos had been accustomed in the exclusive and privileged class of seville society--a fact accounted for by the discovery, afterwards made, that he was horn and educated in italy. [5] "blue blood." "i have the pleasure of recognizing don carlos alvarez de santillanos y meñaya," said he. "i hope the babe about whom his worship showed such amiable anxiety recovered from its indisposition?" this then was the personage whom carlos had seen in such close conversation with the physician losada. the association of ideas immediately brought back the mysterious remark about his father he had overheard on that occasion. putting that aside, however, for the present, he answered, "perfectly, i thank your grace. we attribute the recovery mainly to the skill and care of the excellent dr. cristobal losada." "a gentleman whose medical skill cannot be praised too highly, except, indeed, it were exalted at the expense of his other excellent qualities, and particularly his charity to the poor." carlos heartily acquiesced, and added some instances of the physician's kindness to those who could not recompense him again. they were new to his companion, who listened with interest. during this conversation supper was laid. as the principal guest had brought his own provisions with him, it was a comfortable and plentiful repast. carlos, ere he sat down, left the room to re-arrange his dress, and found opportunity to ask the innkeeper if he knew the noble strangers name. "his excellency is a great noble from castile," returned mine host, with an air of much importance. "his name, as i am informed, is don carlos de seso; and his illustrious lady, doña isabella, is of the blood royal." "where does he reside?" "his gentlemen tell me, principally at one of his fine estates in the north, villamediana they call it. he is also corregidor[6] of toro. he has been visiting seville upon business of importance, and is now returning home." [6] mayor. pleased to be the guest of such a man (for in fact he was his guest), carlos took his seat at the table, and thoroughly enjoyed the meal. an hour's intercourse with a man who had read and travelled much, but had thought much more, was a rare treat to him. moreover, de seso showed him all that fine courtesy which a youth so highly appreciates from a senior, giving careful attention to every observation he hazarded, and manifestly bringing the best of his powers to bear on his own share of the conversation. he spoke of fray constantino's preaching, with an enthusiasm that made carlos regret that he had been hitherto such an inattentive hearer. "have you seen a little treatise by the fray, entitled 'the confession of a sinner'?" he asked. carlos having answered in the negative, his new friend drew a tract from the pocket of his doublet, and gave it to him to read while he wrote a letter. carlos, after the manner of eager, rapid readers, plunged at once into the heart of the matter, disdaining beginnings. almost the first words upon which his eyes fell arrested his attention and drew him irresistibly onwards. "such has been the pride of man," he read, "that he aimed at being god; but so great was thy compassion towards him in his fallen state, that thou abasedst thyself to become not only of the rank of men, but a true man, and the least of men, taking upon thee the form of a servant, that thou mightest set me at liberty, and that by means of thy grace, wisdom, and righteousness, man might obtain more than he had lost by his ignorance and pride.... wast thou not chastised for the iniquity of others? has not thy blood sufficient virtue to wash out the sins of all the human race? are not thy treasures more able to enrich me than all the debt of adam to impoverish me? lord, although i had been the only person alive, or the only sinner in the world, thou wouldst not have failed to die for me. o my saviour, i would say, and say it with truth, that i individually stand in need of those blessings which thou hast given to all. what though the guilt of all had been mine? thy death is all mine. even though i had committed all the sins of all, yet would i continue to trust thee, and to assure myself that thy sacrifice and pardon is all mine, though it belong to all." so far he read in silence, then the tract fell from his hand, and an involuntary exclamation broke from his lips--"passing strange!" de seso paused, pen in hand, and looked up surprised. "what find you 'passing strange,' señor?" he asked. "that he--that fray constantino should have felt precisely what--what he describes here." "that such a holy man should feel so deeply his own utter sinfulness? but you are doubtless aware that the holiest saints in all ages have shared this experience. st. augustine, for instance, with whose writings so ripe a theological scholar is doubtless well acquainted." "such," returned carlos, "are not worse than others; but they know what they are as others do not." "true. tried by the standard of god's perfect law, the purest life must appear a miserable failure. we may call the marble of our churches and dwellings white, until we see god's snow, pure and fresh from heaven, upon it." "ay, señor," said carlos, with joyful eagerness; "but the hand that points out the stains can cleanse them. no snow is half so pure as the linen clean and white which is the righteousness of saints." it was de seso's turn to be astonished now. in the look that, half leaning over the table, he bent upon the eager face of carlos, surprise and emotion blended. for a moment their eyes met with a flash, like that which flint strikes from steel, of mutual intelligence and sympathy. but it passed again as quickly. de seso said, "i suspect that i see in you, señor don carlos, one of those admirable scholars who have devoted their talents to the study of that sacred language in which the words of the holy apostles are handed down to us. you are a grecian?" carlos shook his head. "greek is but little studied at complutum now," he said, "and i confined myself to the usual theological course." "in which, i have heard, your success has been brilliant. but it is a sore disgrace to us, and a heavy loss to the youth of our nation, that the language of st. john and st. paul should be deemed unworthy of their attention." "your excellency is aware that it was otherwise in former years," returned carlos. "perhaps the present neglect is owing to the suspicion of heresy which, truly or falsely, has attached itself to most of the accomplished greek scholars of our time." "a miserable misapprehension; the growth of monkish ignorance and envy, and popular superstition. heresy is a convenient stigma with which men ofttimes brand as evil the good they are incapable of comprehending." "most true, señor. even fray constantino has not escaped." "his crime has been, that he has sought to turn the minds of men from outward acts and ceremonies to the great spiritual truths of which these are the symbols. to the vulgar, religion is nothing but a series of shows and postures." "yes," answered carlos; "but the heart that loves god, and truly believes in our lord and saviour, is taught to put such in their proper place. 'these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.'" "señor don carlos," said de seso, with surprise he could no longer suppress, "you are evidently a devout and earnest student of the scriptures." "i search the scriptures; in them i think i have eternal life. and they testify of christ," promptly responded the less cautious youth. "i perceive that you do not quote the vulgate." carlos smiled. "no, señor. to a man of your enlightened views i am not afraid to acknowledge the truth. i have seen--nay, why should i hesitate?--i possess a rare treasure--the new testament of our lord and saviour jesus christ in our own noble castilian tongue." even through the calm and dignified deportment of his companion carlos could perceive the thrill that this communication caused. there was a pause; then he said softly, "and your treasure is also mine." the low quiet words came from even greater depths of feeling than the eager tremulous tones of carlos. for _his_ convictions, slowly reached and dearly purchased, were "built below" the region of the soul that passions agitate,- "based on the crystalline sea of thought and its eternity." the heart of carlos glowed with sudden ardent love towards the man who shared his treasure, and, he doubted not, his faith also. he could joyfully have embraced him on the spot. but the force of habit and the sensitive reserve of his character checked this impetuous demonstrativeness. he only said, with a look that was worth an embrace, "i knew it. your excellency spoke as one who held our lord and his truth in honour." "_ella es pues honor a vosotros que creeis._"[7] [7] unto you who believe he is precious," or "an honour." it would have been hard to begin a verse that carlos could not at this time have instantly completed. he went on: "_mas para los que no creen, la piedra que los edificatores reprobaron_."[8] [8] "but unto those that believe not, the stone that the builders reject." "a sorrowful truth," said de seso, "which my young friend must needs bear in mind. his word, like himself, is rejected by the many. its very mention may expose to obloquy and danger." "only another instance, señor, of those lamentable prejudices about heresy about which we spoke anon. i am aware that there are those that would brand me (_me_, a scholar too!) with the odious name of heretic, merely for reading god's word in my own tongue. but how utterly absurd the charge! the blessed book has but confirmed my faith in all the doctrines of our holy mother church." "has it?" said de seso, quietly, perhaps a little drily. "most assuredly, señor," carlos rejoined, with warmth. "in fact i never understood, or, i may say, truly believed those holy verities until now. beginning with the credo itself, and the orthodox catholic faith in our lord's divinity and atonement." here their conversation was interrupted by the entrance of the attendants, who removed supper, replenished the lamp, and heaped fresh chestnut logs on the fire. but as soon as the room was cleared they returned eagerly to subjects so interesting to both. "our salvation rests," said de seso, "upon the great cardinal truths you have named. by the faith which receives into your heart the atonement of christ as a work done for you, you are justified." "i am forgiven, and i shall be justified." "pardon me, señor; scripture teaches that your justification is already complete. therefore, _being justified by faith_, we have peace with god." "but that cannot surely be the apostle's meaning," said carlos, "ay de mi! i know too well that i am not yet completely justified. far from it; evil thoughts throng my heart; and not with heart alone, but with lips, eyes, hands, i transgress daily." "yet, you see, peace can only be consequent on justification. and peace you have." carlos looked perplexed. misled by the teaching of his church, he confused justification with sanctification; consequently he could not legitimately enjoy the peace that ought to flow from the one as a complete and finished work, because the other necessarily remained imperfect. de seso explained that the word justify is never used in scripture in its derivative sense, to _make_ righteous; but always in its common and universally accepted sense, to _account_ or _declare_ righteous. quite easily and naturally he glided into the teacher's place, whilst carlos gladly took that of the learner; not, indeed, without astonishment at the layman's skill in divinity, but with too intense an interest in what he said to waste much thought upon his manner of saying it. hitherto he had been like an unlearned man, who, without guide or companion, explores the trackless shores of a newly-discovered land. should such an one meet in his course a scientific explorer, who has mapped and named every mountain, rock, and bay, who has traced out the coast-line, and can tell what lies beyond the white hills in the distance, it is easy to understand the eagerness with which he would listen to his narrative, and the intentness with which he would bend over the chart in which the scene of his own journeyings lies portrayed. thus de seso not only taught carlos the true meaning of scripture terms, and the connection of scripture truths with each other; he also made clear to him the facts of his own experience, and gave names to them for him. "i think i understand now," said carlos after a lengthened conversation, in which, moving from point to point, he had suggested many doubts and not a few objections, and these in turn had been taken up and answered by his friend. "god be thanked, there is no more condemnation, no more punishment for us. nothing, either in act or suffering, can be added to the work of christ, which is complete." "ay, now you have grasped the truth which is the source of our joy and strength." "it must then be our sanctification which suffering promotes, both in this life and in purgatory." "all god's dealings with us in this life are meant to promote our sanctification. joy may do it, by his grace, as well as sorrow. it is written, not alone, 'he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger,' but also, 'he fed thee with manna, to teach the secret of life in him, from him, and by him.'" "but suffering is purifying--like fire." "not in itself. criminals released from the galleys usually come forth hardened in their crimes by the lash and the oar." having said this, de seso rose and extinguished the expiring lamp, while carlos remained thoughtfully gazing into the fire. "señor," he said, after a long pause, during which the stream of thought ran continuously underground, to reappear consequently in an unexpected place--"señor, do you think god's word, which solves so many mysteries, can answer every question for us?" "scarcely. some questions we may ask, of which the answers, in our present state, would be beyond our comprehension. and others may indeed be answered there, but we may miss the answers, because through weakness of faith we are not yet able to receive them." "for instance?" "i had rather not name an instance--at present," said de seso, and carlos thought his face had a sorrowful look as he gazed at it in the firelight. "i would not willingly miss anything my lord meant to teach. i desire to know _all_ his will, and to follow it," carlos rejoined earnestly. "it may be that you know not what you desire. still, name any question you wish; and i will tell you freely whether in my judgment god's word contains an answer." carlos stated the difficulty suggested by the inquiry of dolores. who can tell the exact moment when his bark leaves the gently-flowing river for the great deep ocean? that of carlos, on the instant when he put this question, was met by the first wave of the mighty sea upon which he was to be tossed by many a storm. but he did not know it. "i agree with you as to the silence of god's word about purgatory," returned his friend; and for some time both gazed into the fire without speaking. "this and similar discoveries have sometimes given me, i own, a feeling of blank disappointment, and even of terror," said carlos at length. for with him it was one of those rare hours in which a man can bear to translate into words the "dark misgivings" of the soul, usually unacknowledged even to himself. "i cannot say," was the answer, "that the thought of passing through the gate of death into the immediate presence of my glorified lord affects me with 'blank disappointment' or 'terror.'" "how?--what do you say?" cried carlos, starting visibly. "'absent from the body, present with the lord.' 'to depart and to be with christ is far better.'" "but it was san pablo, the great apostle and martyr, who said that. for us,--we have the church's teaching," carlos rejoined in quick, anxious tones. "nevertheless, i venture to think that, in the face of all you have learned from god's word, you will find it a task somewhat of the hardest to prove purgatory." "not at all," said carlos; and immediately he bounded into the arena of controversy, laid his lance in rest, and began an animated tilting-match with his new friend, who was willing (of course, thought carlos, for argument's sake alone, and as an intellectual exercise) to personate a lutheran antagonist. but not a few doughty champions have met the stern reality of a bloody death in the mimic warfare of the tilting-field. at every turn carlos found himself answered, baffled, confounded. yet, how could he, how dared he, acknowledge defeat, even to himself, when with the imperilled doctrine so much else must fall? what would become of private masses, indulgences, prayers for the dead? nay, what would become of the infallibility of mother church herself? so he fought desperately. fear, ever increasing, quickened his preceptions, baptized his lips with eloquence, made his sense acute and his memory retentive. driven at last from the ground of scripture and reason, he took his stand upon that of scholastic divinity. using the weapons with which he had been taught to play so deftly for once in terrible earnest, he spun clever syllogisms, in which he hoped to entangle his adversary. but de seso caught the flimsy webs in the naked hand of his strong sense, and crushed them to atoms. then carlos knew that the battle was lost. "i can say no more," he acknowledged, sorrowfully bowing his head. "and what i have said--is it not in accordance with the word of god?" with a cry of dismay on his lips, carlos turned and looked at him--"god help us! are we then lutherans?" "it may be christ is asking another question--are we amongst those who follow him _whithersoever_ he goeth?" "oh, not _there_--not to _that_!" cried carlos, rising in his agitation and beginning to pace the room. "i abhor heresy--i eschew the thought. from my cradle i have done so. anywhere but that!" pausing at last in his walk before the place where de seso sat, he asked, "and you, señor, have you considered whither this would lead?" "i have. i do not ask thee to follow. but this i say: if christ bids any man leave the ship and come to him upon these dark and stormy waters, he will stretch out his own right hand to uphold and sustain him." "to leave the ship--his church? that would be leaving him. and leaving him, i am lost, soul and body--lost--lost!" "fear not. at his feet, clinging to him, soul of man was never lost yet." "i will cleave to him, and to the church too." "still, if one must be forsaken, let not that one be christ." "never, _never_--so help me god!" after a pause he added, as if speaking to himself, "lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." he stood motionless, wrapt in thought; while de seso rose softly, and going to the window, put aside the rude shutter that had been fastened across it. "the night is bright," said carlos dreamily. "the moon must have risen." "that is daylight you see," returned his companion with a smile. "time for wayfarers to seek rest in sleep." "prayer is better than sleep." "true, and we who own the same precious faith can well unite in prayer." with the willing consent of carlos, his new friend laid their common desires and perplexities before god. the prayer was in itself a revelation to him; he forgot even to wonder that it came from the lips of a layman. for de seso spoke as one accustomed to converse with the unseen, and to enter by faith to the inner sanctuary, the very presence of god himself. and carlos found that it was good thus to draw nigh to god. he felt his troubled soul returning to its rest, to its quiet confidence in him who, he knew, would guide him by his counsel, and afterwards receive him into glory. when they rose, instinctively their right hands sought each other, and were locked in that strong grasp which is sometimes worth more than an embrace. "we have confidence each in the other," said de seso, "so that we need exchange no pledge of faithfulness or secrecy." carlos bowed his head. "pray for me, señor," he said. "pray that god, who sent you here to teach me, may in his own time complete the work he has begun." then both lay down in their cloaks; one to sleep, the other to ponder and pray. in the morning each went his several way. and never was it given to carlos, in this world, to look upon that face or to grasp that hand again. he who had thus crossed his path, as it were for a moment, was perhaps the noblest of all the heroic band of spanish martyrs, that forlorn hope of christ's army, who fought and fell "where satan's seat was." his high birth and lofty station, his distinguished abilities, even those more superficial graces of person and manner which are not without their strong fascination, were all--like the precious ointment with the odour of which the house was filled--consecrated to the service of the lord for whom he lived and died. the eye of imagination lingers with special and reverential love upon that grand calm figure. but our simple story leads us far away amongst other scenes and other characters. we must now turn to a different part of the wide missionary harvest-field, in which the lowly muleteer juliano hernandez, and the great noble don carlos de seso, were both labouring. was their labour in vain? xiii. seville. "there is a multitude around, responsive to my prayer; i hear the voice of my desire resounding everywhere." a.l. waring. don carlos felt surprised, on returning to seville, to find the circle in which he had been wont to move exactly as he left it. his absence appeared to him a great deal longer than it really was. moreover, there lurked in his mind an undefined idea that a period so fraught with momentous change to him could not have passed without change over the heads of others. but the worldly only seemed more worldly, the frivolous more frivolous, the vain more vain than ever. around the presence of doña beatriz there still hung a sweet dangerous fascination, against which he struggled, and, in the strength of his new and mighty principle of action, struggled successfully. still, for the sake of his own peace, he longed to find some fair pretext for making his home elsewhere than beneath his uncle's roof. one great pleasure awaited his return--a letter from juan. it was the second he had received; the first having merely told of his brother's safe arrival at the headquarters of the royal army at cambray. don juan had obtained his commission just in time for active service in the brief war between france and spain that immediately followed the accession of philip ii. and now, though he said not much of his own exploits, it was evident that he had already begun to distinguish himself by the prompt and energetic courage which was a part of his character. moreover, a signal piece of good fortune had fallen to his lot. the spaniards were then engaged in the siege of st. quentin. before the works were quite completed, the french general--the celebrated admiral coligny--managed to throw himself into the town by a brilliant and desperate _coup-de-main_. many of his heroic band were killed or taken prisoners, however; and amongst the latter was a gentleman of rank and fortune, a member of the admiral's suite, who surrendered his sword into the hands of young don juan alvarez. juan was delighted with his prize, as he well might be. not only was the distinction an honourable one for so young a soldier; but the ransom he might hope to receive would serve very materially to smooth his pathway to the attainment of his dearest wishes. carlos was now able to share his brother's joy with unselfish sympathy. with a peculiar kind of pleasure, not quite unmixed with superstition, he recalled juan's boyish words, more than once repeated, "when i go to the wars, i shall make some great prince or duke my prisoner." they had found a fair, if not exactly literal, fulfilment, and that so early in his career. and a belief that had grown up with him from childhood was strengthened thereby. juan would surely accomplish everything upon which his heart was set. certainly he would find his father--if that father should prove to be after all in the land of the living. carlos was warmly welcomed back by his relatives--at least by all of them save one. to a mild temper and amiable disposition he united the great advantage of rivalling no man, and interfering with no man's career. at the same time, he had a well-defined and honourable career of his own, in which he bid fair to be successful; so that he was not despised, but regarded as a credit to the family. the solitary exception to the favourable sentiments he inspired was found in the bitter disdain which gonsalvo, with scarcely any attempt at disguise, exhibited towards him. this was painful to him, both because he was sensitively alive to the opinions of others; and also because he actually preferred gonsalvo, notwithstanding his great and glaring faults, to his more calculating and worldly-minded brothers. force of any kind possesses a real fascination for an intellectual and sympathetic, but rather weak character; and this fascination grows in intensity when the weaker has a reason to pity and a desire to help the stronger. it was not altogether grace, therefore, which checked the proud words that often rose to the lips of carlos in answer to his cousin's sneers or sarcasms. he was not ignorant of the cause of gonsalvo's contempt for him. it was gonsalvo's creed that a man who deserved the name always got what he wanted, or died in the attempt; unless, of course, absolutely insuperable physical obstacles interfered, as they did in his own case. as he knew well enough what carlos wanted before his departure from seville, the fact of his quietly resigning the prize, without even an effort to secure it, was final with him. one day, when carlos had returned a forbearing answer to some taunt, doña inez, who was present, took occasion to apologize for her brother, as soon as he had quitted the room. carlos liked doña inez much better than her still unmarried sister, because she was more generous and considerate to beatriz. "you are very good, amigo mio," she said, "to show so great forbearance to my poor brother. and i cannot think wherefore he should treat you so uncourteously. but he is often rude to his brothers, sometimes even to his father." "i fear it is because he suffers. though rather less helpless than he was six months ago, he seems really more frail and sickly." "ay de mi, that is too true. and have you heard his last whim? he tells us he has given up physicians for ever. he has almost as ill an opinion of them as--forgive me, cousin--of priests." "could you not persuade him to consult your friend, doctor cristobal?" "i have tried, but in vain. to speak the truth, cousin," she added, drawing nearer to carlos, and lowering her voice, "there is another cause that has helped to make him what he is. no one knows or even guesses aught of it but myself; i was ever his favourite sister. if i tell you, will you promise the strictest secrecy?" carlos did so; wondering a little what his cousin would think could she surmise the weightier secrets which were burdening his own heart. "you have heard of the marriage of doña juana de xeres y bohorques with don francisco de vargas?" "yes; and i account don francisco a very fortunate man." "are you acquainted with the young lady's sister, doña maria de bohorques?" "i have met her. a fair, pale, queenly girl. she is not fond of gaiety, but very learned and very pious, as i have been told." "you will scarce believe me, don carlos, when i tell you that pale, quiet girl is gonsalvo's choice, his dream, his idol. how she contrived to gain that fierce, eager young heart, i know not--but hers it is, and hers alone. of course, he had passing fancies before; but she was his first serious passion, and she will be his last." carlos smiled. "red fire and white marble," he said. "but, after all, the fiercest fire could not feed on marble. it must die out, in time." "from the first, gonsalvo had not the shadow of a chance," doña inez replied, with an expressive flutter of her fan. "i have not the least idea whether the young lady even knows he loves her. but it matters not. we are alvarez de meñaya; still we could not expect a grandee of the first order to give his daughter to a younger son of our house. even before that unlucky bull-feast. _now_, of course, he himself would be the first to say, 'pine-apple kernels are not for monkeys,' nor fair ladies for crippled caballeros. and yet--you understand?" "i do," said carlos; and in truth he _did_ understand, far better than doña inez imagined. she turned to leave the room, but turned back again to say kindly, "i trust, my cousin, your own health has not suffered from your residence among those bleak inhospitable mountains? don garçia tells me he has seen you twice, since your return, coming forth late in the evening from the dwelling of our good señor doctor." there was a sufficient reason for these visits. before they parted, de seso had asked carlos if he would like an introduction to a person in seville who could give him further instruction upon the subjects they had discussed together. the offer having been thankfully accepted, he was furnished with a note addressed, much to his surprise, to the physician losada; and the connection thus begun was already proving a priceless boon to carlos. but nature had not designed him for a keeper of secrets. the colour mounted rapidly to his cheek, as he answered,-"i am flattered by my lady cousin's solicitude for me. but, i thank god, my health is as good as ever. in truth, doctor cristobal is a man of learning and a pleasant companion, and i enjoy an hour's conversation with him. moreover, he has some rare and valuable books, which he is kind enough to lend me." "he is certainly very well-bred, for a man of his station," said doña inez, condescendingly. carlos did not resume his attendance upon the lectures of fray constantino at the college of doctrine; but when the voice of the eloquent preacher was heard in the cathedral, he was never absent. he had no difficulty _now_ in recognizing the truths that he loved so well, covered with a thin veil of conventional phraseology. all mention, not absolutely necessary, of dogmas peculiarly romish was avoided, unless when the congregation were warned earnestly, though in terms well-studied and jealously guarded, against "risking their salvation" upon indulgences or ecclesiastical pardons. the vanity of trusting to their own works was shown also; and in every sermon christ was faithfully held up before the sinner as the one all-sufficient saviour. carlos listened always with rapt attention, usually with keen delight. often would he look around him upon the sea of earnest upturned faces, saying within himself, "many of these my brethren and sisters have found christ--many more are seeking him;" and at the thought his heart would thrill with thankfulness. but even at that moment some word from the preacher's lips might change his joy into a chill of apprehension. it frequently happened that fray constantino, borne onward by the torrent of his own eloquence, was betrayed into uttering some sentiment so very nearly heretical as to make his hearer tingle with the peculiar sense of pain that is caused by seeing one rush heedlessly to the verge of a precipice. "i often thank god for the stupidity of evil men and the simplicity of good ones," carlos said to his new friend losada, after one of these dangerous discourses. for by this time, what de seso had first led him to suspect, had become a certainty with him. he knew himself _a heretic_--a terrible consciousness to sink into the heart of any man in those days, especially in catholic spain. fortunately the revelation had come to him gradually; and still more gradually came the knowledge of all that it involved. yet those were sorrowful hours in which he first felt himself cut off from every hallowed association of his childhood and youth; from the long chain of revered tradition, which was all he knew of the past; from the vast brotherhood of the church visible--that mighty organization, pervading all society, leavening all thought, controlling all custom, ruling everything in this world, even if not in the next. his own past life was shattered: the ambitions he had cherished were gone--the studies he had excelled and delighted in were proved for the most part worse than vain. it is true that he believed, even still, that he might accept priestly ordination from the hands of rome (for the idolatry of the mass was amongst the things not yet revealed to him); but he could no longer hope for honour or preferment, or what men call a career, in the church. joy enough would it be if he were permitted, in some obscure corner of the land, to tell his countrymen of a saviour's love; and perpetual watchfulness, extreme caution, and the most judicious management would be necessary to preserve him--as hitherto they had preserved fray constantino--from the grasp of the holy inquisition. to us, who read that word in the lurid light that martyr fires kindled after this period have flung upon it, it may seem strange that carlos was not more a prey to fear of the perils entailed by his heresy. but so slowly did he pass out of the stage in which he believed himself still a sincere catholic into that in which he shudderingly acknowledged that he was in very truth a lutheran, that the shock of the discovery was wonderfully broken to him. nor did he think the danger that menaced him either near or pressing, so long as he conducted himself with reserve and prudence. it is true that this reserve involved a degree of secrecy, if not of dissimulation, that was fast becoming very irksome. formerly the kind of fencing, feinting, and doubling into which he was often forced, would rather have pleased him, as affording scope for the exercise of ingenuity. but his moral nature was growing so much more sensitive, that he began to recoil from slight departures from truth, in which heretofore he would only have seen a proper exercise of the advantage which a keen and quick intellect possesses over dull ones. moreover, he longed to be able to speak freely to others of the things which he himself found so precious. though quite sufficiently afraid of pain and danger, the thought of disgrace was still more intolerable to him. keener than any suffering he had yet known--except the pang of renouncing beatriz--was the consciousness that all those amongst whom he lived, and who now respected and loved him, would, if they guessed the truth, turn away from him with unutterable scorn and loathing. one day, when walking in the city with his aunt and doña sancha, they turned down a side-street to avoid meeting the death procession of a murderer on his way to the scaffold. the crime for which he suffered had been notorious; and with the voluble exclamations of horror and congratulations at getting safely out of the way to which the ladies gave expression, were mingled prayers for the soul of the miserable man. "if they knew all," thought carlos, as the slight, closely-veiled forms clung trustingly to him for protection, "they would think _me_ worse, more degraded, than yon wretched being. they pity _him_, they pray for _him_; _me_ they would only loathe and execrate. and juan, my beloved, my honoured brother--what will he think?" this last thought was the one that haunted him most frequently and troubled him most deeply. but had he nothing to counter-balance these pangs of fear and shame, these manifold dark misgivings? he had much. first and best, he had the peace that passeth all understanding shed abroad in his heart. its light did not grow pale and faint with time; on the other hand, it increased in brightness and steadiness, as new truths arose like stars upon his soul, every new truth being in itself "a new joy" to him. moreover, he found keen enjoyment in the communion of saints. great was his surprise when, after sufficiently instructing him in private, and satisfactorily testing his sincerity, losada cautiously revealed to him the existence of a regularly-organized lutheran church in seville, of which he himself was actually the pastor. he invited carlos to attend its meetings, which were held, with due precaution, and usually after nightfall, in the house of a lady of rank--doña isabella de baena. carlos readily accepted the perilous invitation, and with deep emotion took his place amongst the band of "called, chosen, and faithful" men and women, every one of whom, as he believed, shared the same joys and hopes that he did. they were not at all such a "little band" as he expected to find them. nor were they, with very few exceptions, of the poor of this world. if that bright southern land, so rich in all that kindles the imagination, eventually to her own ruin rejected the truth of god, at least she offered upon his altar some of her choicest and fairest flowers. many of those who met in doña isabella's upper room were "chief men" and "devout and honourable women." talent, learning, excellence of every kind was largely represented there; so also was the _sangre azul_, the boast of the proud spanish grandees. one of the first faces that carlos recognized was the sweet, thoughtful one of the young doña maria de bohorques, whose precocious learning and accomplishments had often been praised in his hearing, and in whom he had now a new and peculiar interest. there were two noblemen of the first order--don domingo de guzman, son of the duke of medina sidonia, and don juan ponce de leon, son of the count of baylen. carlos had often heard of the munificent charities of the latter, who had actually embarrassed his estates by his unbounded liberality to the poor. but while ponce de leon was thus labouring to relieve the sorrows of others, a deep sadness brooded over his own spirit. he was wont to go forth by night, and pace up and down the great stone platform in the prado san sebastian, that bore the ghastly name of the quemadero, or _burning-place_, while in his heart the shadow of death--the darkest shadow of the dreadest death--was struggling with the light of immortality. did the rest of that devoted band share the agony of apprehension that filled those lonely midnight hours with passionate prayer? some amongst them did, no doubt. but with most, the circumstances and occupations of daily life wove, with their multitudinous slender threads, a veil dense enough to hide, or at least to soften, the perils of their situation. the protestants of seville contrived to pass their lives and to do their work side by side with other men; they moved amongst their fellow-citizens and were not recognized; they even married and were given in marriage; though all the time there fell upon their daily paths the shadow of the grim old fortress where the holy inquisition held its awful secret court. but then, at this period the holy inquisition was by no means exhibiting its usual terrible activity. the inquisitor-general, fernando de valdez, archbishop of seville, was an old man of seventy-four, relentless when roused, but not particularly enterprising. moreover, he was chiefly occupied in amassing enormous wealth from his rich and numerous church preferments. hitherto, the fires of st. dominic had been kindled for jews and moors; only one protestant had suffered death in spain, and valladolid, not seville, had been the scene of his martyrdom. seville, indeed, had witnessed two notable prosecutions for lutheranism--that of rodrigo de valer and that of juan gil, commonly called dr. egidius. but valer had been only sent to a monastery to die, while, by a disgraceful artifice, retraction had been obtained from egidius. during the years that had passed since then, the holy office had appeared to slumber. victims who refused to eat pork, or kept sabbath on saturday, were growing scarce for obvious reasons. and not yet had the wild beast "exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron and his nails of brass," begun to devour a nobler prey. did the monster, gorged with human blood, really slumber in his den; or did he only assume the attitude and appearance of slumber, as some wild beasts are said to do, to lure his unwary victims within the reach of his terrible crouch and spring? no one can certainly tell; but however it may have been, we doubt not the master used the breathing-time thus afforded his church to prepare and polish many a precious gem, destined to shine through all ages in his crown of glory. xiv. the monks of san esodro. "the earnest of eternal joy in every prayer i trace; i see the likeness of the lord in every patient face. how oft, in still communion known, those spirits have been sent to share the travail of my soul, or show me what it meant." a.l. waring. it is amongst the perplexing conditions of our earthly life, that we cannot first reflect, then act; first form our opinions, then, and not till then, begin to carry them out into practice. thought and action have usually to run beside each other in parallel lines; a terrible necessity, and never more terrible than during the progress of momentous inward changes. a man becomes convinced that the star by which he has hitherto been steering is not the true pole-star, and that if he perseveres in his present course his barque will inevitably be lost. at his peril, he must find out the one unerring guide; yet, while he seeks it, his hand must not for an instant quit his hold on the helm, for the winds of circumstance fill his sails, and he cannot choose whether he will go, he can only choose where. this lies at the root of much of the apparent inconsistency which has often been made a reproach to reformers. though carlos did not feel this difficulty as keenly as some of his brethren in the faith, he yet felt it. his uncle was continually pressing him to take orders, and to seek for this or that tempting preferment; whilst every day he had stronger doubts as to the possibility of his accepting any preferment in the church, and was even beginning to entertain scruples about taking orders at all. during this period of deliberation and uncertainty, one of his new friends, fray cassiodoro, an eloquent jeromite friar, who assisted losada in his ministrations, said to him, "if you intend embracing a religious life, señor don carlos, you will find the white tunic and brown mantle of st. jerome more to your taste than any other habit." carlos pondered the hint; and shortly afterwards announced to his relatives that he intended to "go into retreat" for a season, at the jeromite convent of san isodro del campo, which was about two miles from seville. his uncle approved this resolution; and none the less, because he thought it was probably intended as a preparation for taking the cowl. "after all, nephew, it may turn out that you have the longest head amongst us," he said. "in the race for wealth and honours, no man can doubt that the regulars beat the seculars now-a-days. and there is not a saint in all the spains so popular as st. jerome. you know the proverb,- "'he who is a count, and to be a duke aspires, let him straight to guadaloupe, and sing among the friars.'" gonsalvo, who was present, here looked up from his book and observed sharply,-"no man will ever be a duke who changes his mind three times within three months." "but i only changed my mind once," returned carlos. "you have never changed it at all, that i wot of," said don manuel. "and i would that thine were turned in the same profitable direction, son gonsalvo." "oh yes! by all means. offer the blind and the lame in sacrifice. put heaven off with the wreck of a man that the world will not condescend to take into her service." "hold thy peace, son born to cross me!" said the father, losing his temper at by no means the worst of the many provocations he had recently received. "is it not enough to look at thee lying there a useless log, and to suffer thy vile temper; but thou must set thyself against me, when i point out to thee the only path in which a cripple such as thou could earn green figs to eat with his bread, not to speak of supporting the rank of alvarez de meñaya as he ought." here carlos, out of consideration for the feelings of gonsalvo, left the room; but the angry altercation between the father and son lasted long after his departure. the next day don carlos rode out, by a lonely path amidst the gray ruins of old italica, to the stately castellated convent of san isodro. amidst all his new interests, the young castilian noble still remembered with due enthusiasm how the building had been reared, more than two hundred years ago, by the devotion of the heroic alonzo guzman the good, who gave up his own son to death, under the walls of tarifa, rather than surrender the city to the moors. before he left seville, he placed a copy of fray constantino's "sum of christian doctrine" between two volumes of gonsalvo's favourite "lope de vega." he had previously introduced to the notice of the ladies several of the fray's little treatises, which contained a large amount of scripture truth, so cautiously expressed as to have not only escaped the censure, but actually obtained the express approbation of the holy office. he had also induced them occasionally to accompany him to the preachings at the cathedral. further than this he dared not go; nor did he on other accounts think it advisable, as yet, to permit himself much communication with doña beatriz. the monks of san isodro welcomed him with that strong, peculiar love which springs up between the disciples of the same lord, more especially when they are a little flock surrounded by enemies. they knew that he was already one of the initiated, a regular member of losada's congregation. both this fact, and the warm recommendations of fray cassiodoro, led them to trust him implicitly; and very quickly they made him a sharer in their secrets, their difficulties, and their perplexities. to his astonishment, he found himself in the midst of a community, protestant in heart almost to a man, and as far as possible acting out their convictions; while at the same time they retained (how could they discard them?) the outward ceremonies of their church and their order. he soon fraternized with a gentle, pious young monk named fray fernando, and asked him to explain this extraordinary state of things. "i am but just out of my novitiate, having been here little more than a year," said the young man, who was about his own age; "and already, when i came, the fathers carefully instructed the novices out of the scriptures, exhorting us to lay no stress upon outward ceremonies, penances, crosses, holy water, and the like. but i have often heard them speak of the manner in which they were led to adopt these views." "who was their teacher? fray cassiodoro?" "latterly; not at first. it was dr. blanco who sowed the first seed of truth here." "whom do you mean? we in the city give the name of dr. blanco (the white doctor), from his silver hairs, to a man of your holy order, certainly, but one most zealous for the old faith. he is a friend and confidant of the inquisitors, if indeed he is not himself a qualificator of heresy:[9] i speak of dr. garçias ariâs." [9] one of the learned men who were appointed to assist the inquisitors, and whose duty is was to decide whether doubtful propositions were, or were not, heretical. "the same man. you are astonished, señor; nevertheless it is true. the elder brethren say that when he came to the convent all were sunk in ignorance and superstition. the monks cared for nothing but vain repetitions of unfelt prayers, and showy mummeries of idle ceremonial. but the white doctor told them all these would avail them nothing, unless their hearts were given to god, and they worshipped him in spirit and in truth. they listened, were convinced, began to study the holy scriptures as he recommended them, and truly to seek him who is revealed therein." "'out of the eater came forth meat,'" said carlos. "i am truly amazed to hear of such teaching from the lips of garçias ariâs." "not more amazed than the brethren were by his after conduct," returned fray fernando. "just when they had received the truth with joy, and were beginning heartily to follow it, their teacher suddenly changed his tone, and addressed himself diligently to the task of building up the things that he once destroyed. when lent came round, the burden of his preaching was nothing but penance and mortification of the flesh. no less would content him than that the poor brethren should sleep on the bare ground, or standing; and wear sackcloth and iron girdles. they could not tell what to make of these bewildering instructions. some followed them, others clung to the simpler faith they had learned to love, many tried to unite both. in fact, the convent was filled with confusion, and several of the brethren were driven half distracted. but at last god put it into their hearts to consult dr. egidius. your excellency is well acquainted with his history, doubtless?" "not so well as i should like to be. still, for the present, let us keep to the brethren. did dr. egidius confirm their faith?" "that he did, señor; and in many ways he led them into a further acquaintance with the truth." "and that enigma, dr. blanco?" fray fernando shook his head. "whether his mind was really changed, or whether he concealed his true opinions through fear, or through love of the present world, i know not. i should not judge him." "no," said carlos, softly. "it is not for us, who have never been tried, to judge those who have failed in the day of trial. but it must be a terrible thing to fail, fray fernando." "as good dr. egidius did himself. ah, señor, if you had but seen him when he came forth from his prison! his head was bowed, his hair was white; they who spoke with him say his heart was well-nigh broken. still he was comforted, and thanked god, when he saw the progress the truth had made during his imprisonment, both in valladolid and in seville, especially amongst the brethren here. his visit was of great use to us. but the most precious boon we ever received was a supply of god's word in our own tongue, which was brought to us some months ago." carlos looked at him eagerly. "i think i know whose hand brought it," he said. "you cannot fail to know, señor. you have doubtless heard of juliano el chico?" the colour rose to the cheek of carlos as he answered, "i shall thank god all my life, and beyond it, that i have not heard of him alone, but met him. he it was who put this book into my hand," and he drew out his own testament. "we also have good cause to thank him. and we mean that others shall have it through us. for the books he brought we not only use ourselves, but diligently circulate far and wide, according to our ability." "it is strange to know so little of a man, and yet to owe him so much. can you tell me anything more than the name, juliano hernandez, which i repeat every day when i ask god in my prayers to bless and reward him?" "i only know he is a poor, unlearned man, a native of villaverda, in campos. he went to germany, and entered the service of juan peres, who, as you are aware, translated the testament, and printed it, juliano aiding in the work as compositor. he then undertook, of his own free will, the task of bringing a supply into this country; you well know how perilous a task, both the sea-ports and the passes of the pyrenees being so closely watched by the emissaries of the holy office. juliano chose the overland journey, since, knowing the mountains well, he thought he could manage to make his way unchallenged by some of their hazardous, unfrequented paths. god be thanked, he arrived in safety with his precious freight early last summer." "do you know where he is now?" "no. doubtless he is wandering somewhere, perhaps not far distant, carrying on, in darkness and silence, his noble missionary work." "what would i give--rather, what would i not give--to see him once more, to take his hand in mine, and to thank him for what he has done for me!" "ah, there is the vesper bell. you know, señor, that fray cristobal is to lecture this evening on the epistle to the hebrews. that is why i love tuesday best of all days in the week." fray cristobal d'arellano was a monk of san isodro, remarkable for his great learning, which was consecrated to the task of explaining and spreading the reformed doctrines. carlos put himself under the tuition of this man, to perfect his knowledge of greek, a language of which he had learned very little, and that little very imperfectly, at alcala. he profited exceedingly by the teaching he received, and partially repaid the obligation by instructing the novices in latin, a task which was very congenial to him, and which he performed with much success. xv. the great sanbenito. "the thousands that, uncheered by praise, have made one offering of their days; for truth's, for heaven's, for freedom's sake, resigned the bitter cup to take." hemans. young as was the protestant church in seville, she already had her history. there was one name that carlos had heard mentioned in connection with her first origin, round which there gathered in his thoughts a peculiar interest, or rather fascination. he knew now that the monks of san isodro had been largely indebted to the instructions of doctor juan gil, or egidius. and he had been told previously that egidius himself had learned the truth from an earlier and bolder witness, rodrigo de valer. this was the name that losada once coupled in his hearing with that of his own father. why then had he not sought information, which might have proved so deeply interesting to him, directly from losada himself, his friend and teacher? several causes contributed to his reluctance to broach the subject. but by far the greatest was a kind of chivalrous, half romantic tenderness for that absent brother, whom he could now truly say that he loved best on earth. it is very difficult for us to put ourselves in the position of spaniards of the sixteenth century, so far as at all to understand the way in which they were accustomed to look upon heresy. in their eyes it was not only a crime, infinitely more dreadful than that of murder; it was also a horrible disgrace, branding a man's whole lineage up and down for generations, and extending its baleful influence to his remotest kindred. carlos asked himself, day by day, how would the high-hearted don juan alvarez, whose idol was glory, and his dearest pride a noble and venerated name, endure to hear that his beloved and only brother was stained with that surpassing infamy? but at least it would be anguish enough to stab juan once, as it were, with his own hand, without arming the dead hand of the father whose memory they both revered, and then driving home the weapon into his brother's heart. rather would he let the matter remain in obscurity, even if (which was extremely doubtful) he could by any effort of his own shed a ray of light upon it. still he took occasion one day to inquire of his friend fray fernando, who had received full information on these subjects from the older monks, "was not that rodrigo de valer, whose sanbenito hangs in the cathedral, the first teacher of the pure faith in seville?" "true, señor, he taught many. while he himself, as i have heard, received the faith from none save god only." "he must have been a remarkable man. tell me all you know of him." "our fray cassiodoro has often heard dr. egidius speak of him; so that, though his lips were silenced long before your time or mine, señor, he seems still one of our company." "yes, already some of our number have joined the church triumphant, but they are still one with us in christ." "don rodrigo de valer," continued the young monk, "was of a noble family, and very wealthy. he was born at lebrixa, but came to reside in seville, a gay, light-hearted, brilliant young caballero, who was soon a leader in all the folly and fashion of the great city. but suddenly these things lost their charm for him. much to the astonishment of the gay world, to which he had been such an ornament, he disappeared from the scenes of amusement and festivity he had been wont to love. his companions could not understand the change that came over him--but _we_ can understand it well. god's arrows of conviction were sharp in his heart. and he led him to turn for comfort, not to penance and self-mortification, but to his own word. only in one form was that word accessible to him. he gathered up the fragments of his old school studies--little cared for at the time, and well-nigh forgotten afterwards--to enable him to read the vulgate. there he found justification by faith, and through it, peace to his troubled conscience. but he did not find, as i need scarcely say to you, don carlos, purgatory, the worship of our lady and the saints, and certain other things our fathers taught us." "how long since was all this?" asked carlos, who was listening with much interest, and at the same time comparing the narrative with that other story he had heard from dolores. "long enough, señor. twenty years ago or more. when god had thus enlightened him, he returned to the world. but he returned to it a new man, determined henceforth to know nothing save christ and him crucified. he addressed himself in the first instance to the priests and monks, whom, with a boldness truly amazing, he accosted wherever he met them, were it even in the most public places of the city, proving to them from scripture that their doctrines were not the truth of god." "it was no hopeful soil in which to sow the word." "no, truly; but it seemed laid upon him as a burden from god to speak what he felt and knew, whether men would hear or whether they would forbear. he very soon aroused the bitter enmity of those who hate the light because their deeds are evil. had he been a poor man, he would have been burned at the stake, as that brave, honest-hearted young convert, francisco de san romano, was burned at valladolid not so long ago, saying to those who offered him mercy at the last, 'did you envy me my happiness?' but don rodrigo's rank and connections saved him from that fate. i have heard, too, that there were those in high places who shared, or at least favoured his opinions in secret. such interceded for him." "then his words were received by some?" carlos asked anxiously. "have you ever heard the names of any of those who were his friends or patrons?" fray fernando shook his head. "even amongst ourselves, señor," he said, "names are not mentioned oftener than is needful. for 'a bird of the air will carry the matter;' and when life depends on our silence, it is no wonder if at last we become a trifle over-silent. in the lapse of years, some names that ought to be remembered amongst us may well chance to be forgotten, from this dread of breathing them, even in a whisper. always excepting dr. egidius, don rodrigo's friends or converts are unknown to me. but i was about to say, the inquisitors were prevailed upon, by those who interceded for him, to regard him as insane. they dismissed him, therefore, with no more severe penalty than the loss of his property, and with many cautions as to his future behaviour." "i hold it scarce likely that he observed them." "very far otherwise, señor. for a short time, indeed, his friends prevailed on him to express his sentiments more privately; and fray cassiodoro says that during this interval he confirmed them in the faith by expounding the epistle to the romans. but he could not long hide the light he held. to all remonstrances he answered, that he was a soldier sent on a forlorn hope, and must needs press forward to the breach. if he fell, it mattered not; in his place god would raise up others, whose would be the glory and the joy of victory. so, once again, the holy office laid its grasp upon him. it was resolved that his voice should be heard no more on earth; and he was therefore consigned to the living death of perpetual imprisonment. and yet, in spite of all their care and all their malice, one more testimony for god and his truth was heard from his lips." "how was that?" "they led him, robed in that great sanbenito you have often seen, to the church of san salvador, to sit and listen, with the other weeping penitents, while some ignorant priest denounced their heresies and blasphemies. but he was not afraid after the sermon to stand up in his place, and warn the people against the preacher's erroneous doctrine, showing them where and how it differed from the word of god. it is marvellous they did not burn him; but god restrained the remainder of their wrath. they sent him at last to the monastery of san lucar, where he remained in solitary confinement until his death." carlos mused a little. then he said, "what a blessed change, from solitary confinement to the company of just men made perfect; from the gloom of a convent prison to the glory of god's house, eternal in the heavens!" "some of the elder brethren say _we_ may be called upon to pass through trials even more severe," remarked fray fernando. "i know not. being amongst the youngest here, i should speak my mind with humility; still i cannot help looking around me, and seeing that everywhere men are receiving the word of god with joy. think of the learned and noble men and women in the city who have joined our band already, and are eager to gain others! new converts are won for us every day; not to speak of that great multitude among fray constantino's hearers who are really on our side, without dreaming it themselves. moreover, your noble friend, don carlos de seso, told us last summer that the signs in the north are equally encouraging. he thinks the lutherans of valladolid are more numerous than those of seville. in toro and logrono also the light is spreading rapidly. and throughout the districts near the pyrenees the word has free course, thanks to the huguenot traders from béarn." "i have heard these things in seville, and truly my heart rejoices at them. but yet--" here carlos broke off suddenly, and remained silent, gazing mournfully into the fire, near which, as it was now winter, they had seated themselves. at last fray fernando asked, "what do _you_ think, señor?" carlos raised his dark blue eyes and fixed them on the questioner's face. "of the future," he said slowly, "i think--_nothing_. i dare not think of it. it is in god's hand, and he thinks for us. still, one thing i cannot choose but see. where we are we cannot remain. we are bound to a great wheel that is turning--turning--and turn with it, even in spite of ourselves, we must and do. but it is the wheel, not of chance, but of god's mighty purposes; that is all our comfort." "and those purposes, are they not mercy and truth unto our beloved land?" "they may be; but i know not. they are not revealed. 'mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant,' that indeed is written." "we are they that keep his covenant." carlos sighed, and resumed the thread of his own thought,-"the wheel turns round, and we with it. even since i came here it has turned perceptibly. and how it is to turn one step further without bringing us into contact with the solid frame of things as they are, and so crushing us, truly i see not. i see not; but i trust god." "you allude to these discussions about the sacrifice of the mass now going on so continually amongst us?" "i do. hitherto we have been able to work underground; but if doubt must be thrown upon _that_, the thin shell of earth that has concealed and protected us, will break and fall in upon our heads. and then?" "already we are all asking, 'and then?'" said fray fernando. "there will be nothing before us but flight to some foreign land." "and how, in god's name, is that to be accomplished? but god forgive me these words; and god keep me, and all of us, from the subtle snare of mixing with the question, 'what is his will?' that other question, 'what will be our fate if we try to do it?' as the noble de seso said to me, all that matters to us is to be found amongst those who 'follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth.' _but he went to calvary._" the last words were spoken in so low a tone that fray fernando heard them not. "what did you say?" he asked. "no matter. time enough to hear if god himself speaks it in our ears." their conversation was interrupted by the entrance of a lay brother, who informed carlos that a visitor awaited him in the convent parlour. as it was one of the hours during which the rules of the house (which were quite liberal enough, without being lax) permitted the entertainment of visitors, carlos went to receive his without much delay. he knew that if the guest had been one of "their own," their loved brethren in the faith, even the attendant would have been well acquainted with his person, and would naturally have named him. he entered the room, therefore, with no very lively anticipations; expecting, at most, to see one of his cousins, who might have paid him the compliment of riding out from the city to visit him. a tall, handsome, sunburnt man, who had his left arm in a sling, was standing with his back to the window. but in one moment more the other arm was flung round the neck of carlos, and heart pressed to heart, and lip to lip--the brothers stood together. xvi. welcome home. "we are so unlike each other, thou and i, that none would guess we were children of one mother, but for mutual tenderness." e.b. browning. after the first tumult of greeting, in which affection was expressed rather by look and gesture than by word, the brothers sat down and talked. eager questions rose to the lips of both, but especially to those of carlos, whose surprise at juan's unexpected appearance only equalled his delight. "but you are wounded, my brother," he said. "not seriously, i hope?" "oh no! only a bullet through my arm. a piece of my usual good luck. i got it in the battle." no adjective was needed to specify the glorious day of st. quentin, when flemish egmont's chivalrous courage, seconded by castilian bravery, gained for king philip such a brilliant victory over the arms of france. carlos knew the story already from public sources. and it did not occur to juan, nor indeed to carlos either, that there had ever been, or would ever be again, a battle so worthy of being held in everlasting remembrance. "but do you count the wound part of your good luck?" asked carlos. "ay, truly, and well i may. it has brought me home; as you ought to have known ere this." "i received but two letters from you--that written on your first arrival, and dated from cambray; and that which told of your notable prize, the french prisoner." "but i wrote two others: one, i entrusted to a soldier who was coming home invalided--i suppose the fellow lost it; the other (written just after the great st. laurence's day) arrived in seville the night before i made my own appearance there. his majesty will need to look to his posts; certes, they are the slowest carriers to be found in any christian country." and juan's merry laugh rang through the convent parlour, little enough used to echo such sounds. "so i have heard almost nothing of you, brother; save what could be gathered from the public accounts," carlos continued. "all the better now. i have only such news as is pleasant for me to tell; and will not be ill, i think, for thee to hear. first, then, and in due order--i am promised my company!" "good news, indeed! my brother must have honoured our name by some special deed of valour. was it at st. quentin?" asked carlos, looking at him with honest, brotherly pride. he was not much changed by his campaign, except that his dark cheek wore a deeper bronze, and his face was adorned with a formidable pair of _bigotes_. "that story must wait," returned juan. "i have so much else to tell thee. dost thou remember how i said, as a boy, that i should take a noble prisoner, like alphonso vives, and enrich myself by his ransom? and thou seest i have done it." "in a good day! still, he was not the duke of saxony." "like him, at least, in being a heretic, or huguenot, if that be a less unsavoury word to utter in these holy precincts. moreover, he is a tried and trusted officer of admiral coligny's suite. it was that day when the admiral so gallantly threw himself into the besieged town. and, for my part, i am heartily obliged to him. but for his presence, there would have been no defence of st. quentin, to speak of, at all; but for the defence, no battle; but for the battle, no grand victory for the spains and king philip. we cut off half of the admiral's troops, however, and it fell to my lot to save the life of a brave french officer whom i saw fighting alone amongst a crowd. he gave me his sword; and i led him to my tent, and provided him with all the solace and succour i could, for he was sorely wounded. he was the sieur de ramenais; a gentleman of provence, and an honest, merry-hearted, valiant man, as it was ever my lot to meet withal. he shared my bed and board, a pleasant guest rather than a prisoner, until we took the town, making the admiral himself our captive, as you know already. by that time, his brother had raised the sum for his ransom, and sent it honourably to me. but, in any case, i should have dismissed him on parole, as soon as his wounds were healed. he was pleased to give me, beside the good gold pistoles, this diamond ring you see on my finger, in token of friendship." carlos took the costly trinket in his hand, and duly admired it. he did not fail to gather from juan's simple narrative many things that he told not, and was little likely to tell. in the time of action, chivalrous daring; when the conflict was over, gentleness and generosity no less chivalrous, endearing him to all--even to the vanquished enemy. no wonder carlos was proud of his brother! but beneath all the pride and joy there was, even already, a secret whisper of fear. how could he bear to see that noble brow clouded with anger--those bright confiding eyes averted from him in disdain? turning from his own thoughts as if they had been guilty things, he asked quickly,-"but how did you obtain leave of absence?" "through the kindness of his highness." "the duke of savoy?" "of course. and a braver general i would never ask to serve." "i thought it might have been from the king himself, when he came to the camp after the battle." don juan's cheek glowed with modest triumph. "his highness was good enough to point me out to his catholic majesty," he said. "and the king spoke to me himself!" it is difficult for us to understand how a few formal words of praise from the lips of one of the meanest and vilest of men could be looked upon by the really noble-hearted don juan alvarez as almost the crowning joy of his life. with the enthusiastic loyalty of his age and country he honoured philip the king; philip the man being all the time a personage as utterly unknown to him as the sultan of turkey. but not choosing to expatiate upon a theme so flattering to himself, he continued,-"the duke contrived to send me home with despatches, saying kindly that he thought my wound required a little rest and care. though i had affairs of importance" (and here the colour mounted to his brow) "to settle in seville, i would not have quitted the camp, with my goodwill, had we been about any enterprise likely to give us fair fighting. but in truth carlos, things have been abundantly dull since the fall of st. quentin. though we have our king with us, and henry of france and the duke of guise have both joined the enemy, all are standing at gaze as if they were frozen, and doomed to stay there motionless till the day of judgment. i have no mind for that kind of sport, not i! i became a soldier to fight his catholic majesty's battles, not to stare at his enemies as if they were puppets paid to make a show for my amusement. so i was not sorry to take leave of absence." "and your important business in seville. may a brother ask what that means?" "a brother may ask what he pleases, and be answered. wish me joy, carlos; i have arranged that little matter with doña beatriz." and his light words half hid, half revealed the great deep joy of his own strong heart. "my uncle," he continued, "is favourable to my views; indeed, i have never known him so friendly. we are to have our betrothal feast at christmas, when your time of retreat here is over." carlos "wished him joy" most sincerely. fervently did he thank god that it was in his power to do it; that the snare that had once wound itself so subtly around his footsteps was broken, and his soul escaped. he could now meet his brother's eye without self-reproach. still, this seemed sudden. he said, "certainly you did not lose time." "why should i?" asked juan with simplicity. "'by-and-by is always too late,' as thou wert wont to say; and i would they learned that proverb at the camp. in truth," he added more gravely, "i often feared, during my stay there, that i might have lost all through my tardiness. but thou wert a good brother to me, carlos." "mayest thou ever think so, brother mine," said carlos, not without a pang, as his conscience told him how little he deserved the praise. "but what in the world," asked juan hastily, "has induced thee to bury thyself here, amongst these drowsy monks?" "the brethren are excellent men, learned and pious. and i am not buried," carlos returned with a smile. "and if thou wert buried ten fathoms deep, thou shouldst come up out of the grave when i need thee to stand beside me." "do not fear for that. now thou art come, i will not prolong my stay here, as otherwise i might have done. but i have been very happy here, juan." "i am glad to hear it," said the merry-hearted, unsuspecting juan. "i am glad also that you are not in too great haste to tie yourself down to the church's service; though our honoured uncle seems to wish you had a keener eye to your own interest, and a better look-out for fat benefices. but i believe his own sons have appropriated all the stock of worldly prudence meant for the whole family, leaving none over for thee and me, carlos." "that is true of don manuel and don balthazar, not of gonsalvo." "gonsalvo! he is far the worst of the three," juan exclaimed, with something like anger in his open, sunny face. carlos laughed. "i suppose he has been favouring you with his opinion of me," he said. "if he were not a poor miserable weakling and cripple, i should answer him with the point of my good sword. however, this is idle talk. little brother" (carlos being nearly as tall as himself, the diminutive was only a term of affection, recalling the days of their childhood, and more suited to masculine lips than its equivalent, dear)--"little brother, you look grave and pale, and ten years older than when we parted at alcala." "do i? much has happened with me since. i have been very sorrowful and very happy." don juan laid his available hand on his brother's shoulder, and looked him earnestly in the face. "no secrets from me, little brother," he said. "if thou dost not like the service of holy church after all, speak out, and thou shalt go back with me to france, or to anywhere else in the known world that thou wilt. there may be some fair lady in the case," he added, with a keen and searching glance. "no, brother--not that. i have indeed much to tell thee, but not now--not to-day." "choose thine own time; only remember, no secrets. that were the one unbrotherly act i could never forgive." "but i am not yet satisfied about your wound," said carlos, with perhaps a little moral cowardice, turning the conversation. "was the bone broken?" "no, fortunately; only grazed. it would not have signified, but for the treatment of the blundering barber-surgeon. i was advised to show it to some man of skill; and already my cousins have recommended to me one who is both physician and surgeon, and very able, they say." "dr. cristobal losada?" "the same. your favourite, don gonsalvo, has just been prevailed upon to make trial of his skill." "i am heartily glad of it," returned carlos. "there is a change of mind on his part, equal to any wherewith he can reproach me; and a change for the better, i have little doubt." thus the conversation wandered on; touching many subjects, exhausting none; and never again drawing dangerously near those deep places which one of the brothers knew must be thoroughly explored, and that at no distant day. for juan's sake, for the sake of one whom he loved even more than juan, he dared not--nay, he would not--avoid the task. but he needed, or thought he needed, consideration and prayer, that he might speak the truth wisely, as well as bravely, to that beloved brother. xvii. disclosures. "no distance breaks the tie of blood; brothers are brothers evermore; nor wrong, nor wrath of deadliest mood, that magic may o'erpower." keble. the opportunity for free converse with his brother which carlos desired, yet dreaded, was unexpectedly postponed. it would have been in accordance neither with the ideas of the time nor with his own feelings to have shortened his period of retreat in the monastery, though he would not now prolong it. and though don juan did not fail to make his appearance upon every day when visitors were admitted, he was always accompanied by either of his cousins don manuel or don balthazar, or by both. these shallow, worldly-minded young men were little likely to allow for the many things, in which strangers might not intermeddle, that brothers long parted might find to say to each other; they only thought that they were conferring a high honour on their poorer relatives by their favour and notice. in their presence the conversation was necessarily confined to the incidents of juan's campaign, and to family matters. whether don balthazar would obtain a post he was seeking under government; whether doña sancha would eventually bestow the inestimable favour of her hand upon don beltran vivarez or don alonso de giron; and whether the disappointed suitor would stab himself or his successful rival;--these were questions of which carlos soon grew heartily weary. but in all that concerned beatriz he was deeply interested. whatever he may once have allowed himself to fancy about the sentiments of a very young and childish girl, he never dreamed that she would make, or even desire to make, any opposition to the expressed wish of her guardian, who destined her for juan. he was sure that she would learn quickly enough to love his brother as he deserved, even if she did not already do so. and it gave him keen pleasure that his sacrifice had not been in vain; that the wine-cup of joy which he had just tasted, then put steadily aside, was being drained to the dregs by the lips he loved best. it is true this pleasure was not yet unmixed with pain, but the pain was less than a few months ago he would have believed possible. the wound which he once thought deadly, was in process of being healed; nay, it was nearly healed already. but the scar would always remain. grand and mighty, but perplexing and mournful thoughts were filling his heart every day more and more. amongst the subjects eagerly and continually discussed with the brethren of san isodro, the most prominent just now was the sole priesthood of christ, with the impossibility of his one perfect and sufficient sacrifice being ever repeated. but these truths, in themselves so glorious, had for those who dared to admit them one terrible consequence. their full acknowledgment would transform "the main altar's consummation," the sacrifice of the mass, from the highest act of christian worship into a hideous lie, dishonouring to god, and ruinous to man. to this conclusion the monks of san isodro were drawing nearer slowly but surely every day. and carlos was side by side with the most advanced of them in the path of progress. though timid in action, he was bold in speculation. to his keen, quick intellect to think and to reason was a necessity; he could not rest content with surface truths, nor leave any matter in which he was interested without probing it to its depths. but as far at least as the monks were concerned, the conclusion now imminent was practically a most momentous one. it must transform the light that illuminated them into a fire that would burn and torture the hands that held and tried to conceal it. they could only guard themselves from loss and injury, perhaps from destruction, by setting it on the candle-stick of a true and faithful profession. "better," said the brethren to each other, "leave behind us the rich lands and possessions of our order; what are these things in comparison to a conscience void of offence towards god and towards man? let us go forth and seek shelter in some foreign land, destitute exiles but faithful witnesses for christ, having purchased to ourselves the liberty of confessing his name before men." this plan was the most popular with the community; though there were some that objected to it, not because of the loss of worldly wealth it would entail, but because of its extreme difficulty, and the peril in which it would involve others. that the question might be fully discussed and some course of action resolved upon, the monks of san isodro convened a solemn chapter. carlos had not, of course, the right to be present, though his friends would certainly inform him immediately afterwards of all that passed. so he whiled away part of the anxious hours by a walk in the orange grove belonging to the monastery. it was now december, and there had been a frost--not very usual in that mild climate. every blade of grass was gemmed with tiny jewels, which were crushed by his footsteps as he passed along. he fancied them like the fair and sparkling, but unreal dreams of the creed in which he had been nurtured. they must perish; even should he weakly turn aside to spare them, god's sun would not fail ere long to dissolve them with the warmth of its beams. but wherefore mourn them? would not the sun shine on still, and the blue sky, the emblem of eternal truth and love, still stretch above his head? therefore he would look up--up, and not down. forgetting the things that were behind, and reaching forth unto those that were before, he would fain press forward towards the mark for the prize. and then his heart went up in fervent prayer that not only he himself, but also all those who shared his faith, might be enabled so to do. turning into a path leading back through the grove to the monastery, he saw his brother coming towards him. "i was seeking thee," said don juan. "and always welcome. but why so early? on a friday too!" "wherein is friday worse than thursday?" asked juan with a laugh. "you are not a monk, or even a novice, to be bound by rules so strict that you may not say, 'vaya con dios' to your brother without asking leave of my lord abbot." carlos had often noticed, not with displeasure, the freedom which juan since his return assumed in speaking of churchmen and church ordinances. he answered, "i am only bound by the general rules of the house, to which it is seemly that visitors should conform. to-day the brethren are holding a chapter to confer upon matters pertaining to their discipline. i cannot well bring you in-doors; but we do not need a better parlour than this." "true. i care for no roof save god's sky; and as for glazed and grated windows, i abhor them. were i thrown into prison, i should die in a week. i made an early start for san isodro, on an unusual day, to get rid of the company of my excellent but tiresome cousins; for in truth i am sick unto death of their talk and their courtesies. moreover, i have ten thousand things to tell you, brother." "i have a few for your ear also." "let us sit down. here is a pleasant seat which some of your brethren contrived to rest their weary limbs and enjoy the prospect. they know how to be comfortable, these monks." they sat down accordingly. for more than an hour don juan was the chief speaker; and as he spoke out of the abundance of his heart, it was no wonder that the name oftenest on his lips was that of doña beatriz. of the long and circumstantial story that he poured into the sympathizing ear of carlos no more than this is necessary to repeat--that beatriz not only did not reject him (no well-bred spanish girl would behave in such a singular manner to a suitor recommended by her guardian), but actually looked kindly, nay, even smiled upon him. his exhilaration was in consequence extreme; and its expression might have proved tedious to any listener not deeply interested in his welfare. at last, however, the subject was dismissed. "so my path lies clear and plain before me," said juan, his fine determined face glowing with resolution and hope. "a soldier's life, with its toils and prizes; and a happy home at nuera, with a sweet face to welcome me when i return. and, sooner or later, _that_ voyage to the indies. but you, carlos--speak out, for i confess you perplex me--what do _you_ wish and intend?" "had you asked me that question a few months, i might almost say a few weeks, ago, i should not have hesitated, as now i do, for an answer." "you were ever willing, more than willing, for holy church's service. i know but one cause which could alter your mind; and to the tender accusation you have already pleaded not guilty." "the plea is a true one." "certes; it cannot be that you have been seized with a sudden passion for a soldier's life," laughed juan. "that was never your taste, little brother; and with all respect for you, i scarce think your achievements with sword and arquebus would be specially brilliant. but there is something wrong with you," he said in an altered tone, as he gazed in his brother's anxious face. "not _wrong_, but--" "i have it!" said juan, joyously interrupting him. "you are in debt. that is soon mended, brother. in fact, it is my fault. i have had far too large a share already of what should have been for both of us alike. in future--" "hush, brother. i have always had enough, more than i needed. and thou hast many expenses, and wilt have more henceforward, whilst i shall only want a doublet and hosen, and a pair of shoes." "and a cassock and gown?" carlos was silent. "i vow it is a harder task to comprehend you than to chase coligny's guard with my single arm! and you so pious, so good a christian! if you were a dull rough soldier like me, and if you had had a huguenot prisoner (and a very fine fellow, too) to share your bed and board for months, one could comprehend your not liking certain things over well, or even"--and juan averted his face and lowered his voice--"your having certain evil thoughts you would scarcely care to breathe in the ears of your father confessor." "brother, i too have had thoughts," said carlos eagerly. but juan suddenly tossed off his montero, and ran his fingers through his black glossy hair. in old times this gesture used to be a sign that he was going to speak seriously. after a moment he began, but with a little hesitation, for in fact he held the _mind_ of carlos in as true and unfeigned reverence as carlos held his _character_. and that is enough to say, without mentioning the additional respect with which he regarded him, as almost a priest. "brother carlos, you are good and pious. you were thus from childhood; and therefore it is that you are fit for the service of holy church. you rise and go to rest, you read your books, and tell your beads, and say your prayers, all just as you are ordered. it is the best life for you, and for any man who _can_ live it, and be content with it. you do not sin, you do not doubt; therefore you will never come into any grief or trouble. but let me tell you, little brother, you have a scant notion what men meet with who go forth into the great world and fight their way in it; seeing on every side of them things that, take them as they may, will _not_ always square with the faith they have learned in childhood." "brother, i also have struggled and suffered. i also have doubted." "oh yes, a churchman's doubts! you had only to tell yourself doubt was a sin, to make the sign of the cross, to say an ave or two, then there was an end of your doubts. 'twere a different matter if you had the evil one in the shape of an angel of light--at least in that of a courteous, well-bred huguenot gentleman, with as nice a sense of honour as any catholic christian--at your side continually, to whisper that the priests are no better than they ought to be, that the church needs reform; and heaven knows what more, and worse, beside.--now, my pious brother, if thou art going to curse me with bell, book, and candle, begin at once. i am ready, and prepared to be duly penitent. let me first put on my cap though, for it is cold," and he suited the action to the word. the voice in which carlos answered him was low and tremulous with emotion. "instead of cursing thee, brother beloved, i bless thee from my heart for words which give me courage to speak. i have doubted--nay, why should i shrink from the truth? i have learned, as i believe, from god himself that some things which the church teaches as her doctrines are only the commandments of men." don juan started, and his colour changed. his vaguely liberal ideas were far from having prepared him for this. "what do you mean?" he cried, staring at his brother in amazement. "that i am now, in very truth, what i think you would call--_a huguenot_." the die was cast. the avowal was made. carlos waited its effects in breathless silence, as one who has fired a powder magazine might await the explosion. "may all the holy saints have mercy upon us!" cried juan, in a voice that echoed through the grove. but after that one involuntary cry he was silent. the eyes of carlos sought his face, but he turned away from him. at last he muttered, striking with his sword at the trunk of a tree that was near him, "huguenot--protestant--_heretic_!" "brother," said carlos, rising and standing before him--"brother, say what thou wilt, only speak to me. reproach me, curse me, strike me, if it please thee, only speak to me." juan turned, gazed full in his imploring face, and slowly, very slowly, allowed the sword to fall from his hand. there was a moment of doubt, of hesitation. then he stretched out that hand to his brother. "they who list may curse thee, but not i," he said. carlos strained the offered hand in so close a grasp that his own was cut by his brother's diamond ring, and the blood flowed. for a long time both were silent, juan in amazement, perhaps in consternation; carlos in deep thankfulness. his confession was made, and his brother loved him still. at last juan spoke, slowly and as if half bewildered. "the sieur de ramenais believes in god, and in our lord and his passion. and you?" carlos repeated the apostles' creed in the vulgar tongue. "and in our lady, mary, mother of god?" "i believe that she was the most blessed among women, the holiest among the holy saints. yet i ask her intercession no more. i am too well assured of his love who says to me; and to all who keep his word, 'my brother, my sister, my mother.'" "i thought devotion to our lady was the surest mark of piety," said juan, in utter perplexity. "then, i am only a man of the world. but oh, my brother, this is frightful!" he paused a moment, then added more calmly, "still, i have learned that huguenots are not beasts with horns and hoofs; but, possibly, brave and honourable men enough, as good, for this world, as their neighbours. and yet--the disgrace!" his dark cheek flushed, then grew pale, as there rose before his mind's eye an appalling vision--his brother robed in a hideous sanbenito, bearing a torch in the ghastly procession of an _auto-da-fé_! "you have kept your secret as your life? my uncle and his family suspect nothing?" he asked anxiously. "nothing, thank god." "and who taught you this accursed--these doctrines?" carlos briefly told the story of his first acquaintance with the spanish new testament; suppressing, however, all mention of the personal sorrow that had made its teaching so precious to him; nor did he think it expedient to give the name of juliano hernandez. "the church may need reform. i am sure she does," juan candidly admitted. "but carlos, my brother," he added, while the expression of his face softened gradually into mournful, pitying tenderness, "little brother, in old times so gentle, so timid, hast thou dreamed--of the peril? i speak not now of the disgrace--god wot that is hard enough to think of--hard enough," he repeated bitterly. "but the peril?" carlos was silent; his hands were clasped, his eyes raised upwards, full of thought, perhaps of prayer. "what is that on thy hand?" asked juan, with a sudden change of tone. "blood? the sieur de ramenais' diamond ring has hurt thee." carlos glanced at the little wound, and smiled. "i never felt it," he said, "so glad was my heart, ruy, for that brave grasp of faithful brotherhood." and there was a strange light in his eye as he added, "perchance it may be thus with me, if christ indeed should call me to suffer. weak as i am, he can give, even to me, such blessed assurance of his love, that in the joy of it pain and fear shall be unfelt, or vanish." juan could not understand him, but he was awed and impressed. he had no heart for many words. he rose and walked towards the gate of the monastery grounds, slowly and in silence, carlos accompanying him. when they had nearly reached the spot where they were to part, carlos said, "you have heard fray constantino, as i asked you?" "yes, and i greatly admire him." "he teaches god's truth." "why can you not rest content with his teaching, then, instead of going to look for better bread than wheaten, heaven knows where?" "when i return to the city next week i will explain all to thee." "i hope so. in the meantime, adios." he strode on a pace or two, then turned back to say, "thou and i, carlos; we will stand together against the world." xviii. the aged monk. "i will not boast a martyr's might to leave my home without a sigh- the dwelling of my past delight, the shelter where i hoped to die." anon. much was carlos strengthened by the result of his interview with don juan. the thing that he greatly feared, his beloved brother's wrath and scorn, had not come upon him. juan had shown, instead, a moderation, a candour, and a willingness to listen, which, while it really amazed him, inspired him with the happiest hopes. with a glad heart he repeated the psalmist's exulting words: "the lord is my strength and my shield; my heart hath trusted in him and i am helped; therefore my heart danceth for joy, and in my song will i praise him." he soon perceived that the chapter was over; for figures, robed in white and brown, were moving here and there amongst the trees. he entered the house, and without happening to meet any one, made his way to the deserted chapter-room. its sole remaining occupant was a very aged monk, the oldest member of the community. he was seated at the table, his face buried in his hands, and his frail, worn frame quivering as if with sobs. carlos went up to him and asked gently, "father, what ails you?" the old man slowly raised his head, and gazed at him with sad, tired eyes, which had watched the course of more than eighty years. "my son," he said, "if i weep, it is for joy." carlos wondered; for he saw no joy on the wrinkled brow or in the tearful face. but he merely asked, "what have the brethren resolved?" "to await god's providence here. praised be his holy name for that." and the old man bowed his silver head, and wept once more. to carlos also the determination was a cause for deep gratitude. he had all along regarded the proposed flight of the brethren with extreme dread, as an almost certain means of awakening the suspicions of the holy office, and thus exposing all who shared their faith to destruction. it was no light matter that the danger was now at least postponed, always provided that the respite was purchased by no sacrifice of principle. "thank god!" reiterated the old monk. "for here i have lived; and here i will die and be buried, beside the holy brethren of other days, in the chapel of don alonzo the good. my son, i came hither a stripling as thou art--no, younger, younger--i know not how many years ago; one year is so like another, there is no telling. i could tell by looking at the great book, only my eyes are too dim to read it. they have grown dim very fast of late; when doctor egidius used to visit us, i could read my breviary with the youngest of them all. but no matter how many years. they were many enough to change a blooming, black-haired boy into an old man tottering on the grave's brink. and i to go forth now into that great, wicked world beyond the gate! i to look upon strange faces, and to live amongst strange men! or to die amongst them, for to that it would come full soon! no, no, señor don carlos. here i took the cowl; here i lived; and here i will die and lie buried, god and the saints helping me!" "yet for the truth's sake, my father, would you not be willing to make even this sacrifice, and to go forth in your old age into exile?" "if the brethren must needs go, so, i suppose, must i. but they are _not_ going, st. jerome be praised," the old man repeated. "going or staying, the presence of him whom they serve and for whom they witness will be with them." "it may be, it may be, for aught i know. but in my young days so many fine words were not in use. we sang our matins, our complines, our vespers; we said the holy mass and all our offices, and god and st. jerome took care of the rest." "but you would not have those days back again, would you, my father? you did not then know the glorious gospel of the grace of god." "gospel, gospel? we always read the gospel for the day. i know my breviary, young sir, just as well as another. and on festival days, some one always preached from the gospel. when fray domingo preached, plenty of great folks used to come out from the city to hear him. for he was very eloquent, and as much thought of, in his time, as fray cristobal is now. but they are forgotten in a little while, all of them. so will we, in a few years to come." carlos reproached himself for having named the gospel, instead of him whose words and works are the burden of the gospel story. for even to that dull ear, heavy with age, the name of jesus was sweet. and that dull mind, drowsy with the slumber of a long lifetime, had half awaked at least to the consciousness of his love. "dear father," he said gently, "i know you are well acquainted with the gospels. you remember what our blessed lord saith of those who confess him before men, how he will not be ashamed to confess them before his father in heaven? and, moreover, is it not a joy for us to show, in any way he points out to us, our love to him who loved us and gave himself for us?" "yes, yes, we love him. and he knows i only wish to do what is right, and what is pleasing in his sight." afterwards, carlos talked over the events of the day with the younger and more intelligent brethren; especially with his teacher, fray cristobal, and his particular friend, fray fernando. he could but admire the spirit that had guided their deliberations, and feel increased thankfulness for the decision at which they had arrived. the peace which the whole community of spanish protestants then enjoyed, perilous and unstable as it was, stood at the mercy of every individual belonging to that community. the unexplained flight of any obscure member of losada's congregation would have been sufficient to give the alarm, and let loose the bloodhounds of persecution upon the church; how much more the abandonment of a wealthy and honourable religious house by the greater part of its inmates? the sword hung over their heads, suspended by a single hair, which a hasty or incautious movement, a word, a breath even, might suffice to break. xix. truth and freedom. "man is greater than you thought him; the bondage of long slumber he will break, his just and ancient rights he will reclaim, with nero and busiris he will rank the name of philip." schiller. never before had it fallen to the lot of don juan alvarez to experience such bewilderment as that which his brother's disclosure occasioned him. that brother, whom he had always regarded as the embodiment of goodness and piety, who was rendered illustrious in his eyes by all sorts of academic honours, and sanctified by the shadow of the coming priesthood, had actually confessed himself to be--what he had been taught to hold in deepest, deadliest abomination--a lutheran heretic. but, on the other hand, from the wise, pious, and in every way unexceptionable manner in which carlos had spoken, juan could not help hoping that what, probably through some unaccountable aberration of mind, he himself persisted in styling lutheranism, might prove in the end some very harmless and orthodox kind of devotion. perhaps, eventually, his brother might found some new and holy order of monks and friars. or even (he was so clever) he might take the lead in a reformation of the church, which, there was no use in an honest man's denying, was sorely needed. still, he could not help admitting that the sieur de ramenais had sometimes expressed himself with nearly as much apparent orthodoxy; and he was undoubtedly a confirmed heretic--a huguenot. but if the recollection of this man, who for months had been his guest rather than his prisoner, served, from one point of view, to increase his difficulties, from another, it helped to clear away the most formidable of them. don juan had never been religious; but he had always been hotly orthodox, as became a castilian gentleman of purest blood, and heir to all the traditions of an ancient house, foremost for generations in the great conflict with the infidel. he had been wont to look upon the catholic faith as a thing bound up irrevocably with the knightly honour, the stainless fame, the noble pride of his race, and, consequently, with all that was dearest to his heart. heresy he regarded as something unspeakably mean and degrading. it was associated in his mind with jews and moors, "caitiffs," "beggarly fellows;" all of them vulgar and unclean, some of them the hereditary enemies of his race. heretics were moslems, infidels, such as "my cid" delighted in hewing down with his good sword tizona, "for god and our lady's honour." heretics kept the passover with mysterious, unhallowed rites, into which it would be best not to inquire; heretics killed (and perhaps ate) christian children; they spat upon the cross; they had to wear ugly yellow sanbenitos at _autos-da-fé_; and, to sum up all in one word, they "smelled of the fire." to give full weight to the last allusion, it must be remembered that in the eyes of don juan and his cotemporaries, death by fire had no hallowed or ennobling associations to veil its horrors. the burning pile was to him what the cross was to our fore-fathers, and what the gibbet is to us, only far more disgraceful. thus it was not so much his conscience as his honour and his pride that were arrayed against the new faith. but, unconsciously to himself, opposition had been silently undermined by his intercourse with the sieur de ramenais. it would probably have been fatal to protestantism with don juan, had his first specimen of a protestant been an humble muleteer. fortunately, the new opinions had come to him represented by a noble and gallant knight, who "in open battle or in tilting field forbore his own advantage;" who was as careful of his "pundonor"[10] as any castilian gentleman, and scarcely yielded even to himself in all those marks of good breeding, which, to say the truth, don juan alvarez de santillanos y meñaya valued far more than any abstract dogmas of faith. [10] point of honour. this circumstance produced a willingness on his part to give fair play to his brother's convictions. when carlos returned to seville, which he did about a week after the meeting of the chapter, he was overjoyed to find juan ready to hear all he had to say with patience and candour. moreover, the young soldier was greatly attracted by the preaching of fray constantino, whom he pronounced, in language borrowed from the camp, "a right good camerado." using these favourable dispositions to the best advantage, carlos repeated to him passages from the new testament; and with deep and prayerful earnestness explained and enforced the truths they taught, taking care, of course, not unnecessarily to shock his prejudices. and, as time passed on, it became every day more and more apparent that don juan was receiving "the new ideas;" and that with far less difficulty and conflict than carlos himself had done. for with him the reformed faith had only prejudices, not convictions, to contend against. these once broken down, the rest was easy. and then it came to him so naturally to follow the guidance of carlos in all that pertained to _thinking_. unmeasured was the joy of the affectionate brother when at last he found that he might safely venture to introduce him privately to losada as a promising inquirer. in the meantime their outward life passed on smoothly and happily. with much feasting and rejoicing, juan was betrothed to doña beatriz. he had loved her devotedly since boyhood; he loved her now more than ever. but his love was a deep, life-long passion--no sudden delirium of the fancy--so that it did not render him oblivious of every other tie, and callous to every other impression; it rather stimulated, and at the same time softened his whole nature. it made him not less, but more, sensitive to all the exciting and ennobling influences which were being brought to bear upon him. in doña beatriz carlos perceived a change that surprised him, while, at the same time, it made more evident than ever how great would have been his own mistake, had he accepted the passive gratitude of a child towards one who noticed and flattered her for the true deep love of a woman's heart. doña beatriz was a passive child no longer now. on the betrothal day, a proud and beautiful woman leaned on the arm of his handsome brother, and looked around her upon the assembled family, queen-like in air and mien, her cheek rivalling the crimson of the damask rose, her large dark eye beaming with passionate, exulting joy. carlos compared her in thought to the fair, carved alabaster lamp that stood on the inlaid centre table of his aunt's state receiving-room. love had wrought in her the change which light within always did in that, revealing its hidden transparency, and glorifying its pale, cold whiteness with tints so warmly beautiful, that the clouds of evening might have envied them. the betrothal of doña sancha to don beltran vivarez quickly followed. don balthazar also succeeded in obtaining the desired government appointment, and henceforth enjoyed, much to his satisfaction, the honours and emoluments of an "_empleado_." to crown the family good fortune, doña inez rejoiced in the birth of a son and heir; while even don gonsalvo, not to be left out, acknowledged some improvement in his health, which he attributed to the judicious treatment of losada. the mind of an intelligent man can scarcely be deeply exercised upon one great subject, without the result making itself felt throughout the whole range of his occupations. losada's patients could not fail to benefit by his habits of independent thought and searching investigation, and his freedom from vulgar prejudices. this freedom, so rare in his nation, led him occasionally, though very cautiously, even to hazard the adoption of a few remedies which were not altogether "_cosas de espana_."[11] [11] things of spain. the physician deserved less credit for his treatment of juan's wounded arm, which nature healed, almost as soon as her beneficent operations ceased to be retarded by ignorant and blundering leech-craft. don juan was occasionally heard to utter aspirations for the full restoration of his cousin gonsalvo's health, more hearty in their expression than charitable in their motive. "i would give one of my fingers he could ride a horse and handle a sword, or at least a good foil with the button off, and i would soon make him repent his bearing and language to thee, carlos. but what can a man do with a _thing_ like that, save let him alone for very shame? yet he is dastard enough to presume on such toleration, and to strike those whom his own infirmities hinder from returning the blow." "if he could ride a horse or handle a sword, brother, i think you would find a marvellous change for the better in his bearing and language. that bitterness, what is it, after all, but the fruit of pain? or of what is even worse than pain, repressed force and energy. he would be in the great world doing and daring; and behold, he is chained to a narrow room, or at best toils with difficulty a few hundred paces. no wonder that the strong winds, bound in their caverns, moan and shriek piteously at times. when i hear them i feel far too much compassion to think of anger. and i would give one of my fingers--nay, i would give my right hand," he added with a smile, "that he shared our blessed hope, juan, my brother." "the most unlikely person of all our acquaintance to become a convert." "so say not i. do you know that he has given money--he that has so little--more than once to señor cristobal for the poor?" "that is nothing," said juan. "he was ever free-handed. do you not remember, in our childhood, how he would strike us upon the least provocation, yet insist on our sharing his sweetmeats and his toys, and even sometimes fight us for refusing them? while the others knew the value of a ducat before they knew their angelus, and would sell and barter their small possessions like dutch merchants." "which you spared not to call them, bearing yourself in the quarrels that naturally ensued with undaunted prowess; while i too often disgraced you by tearful entreaties for peace at all costs," returned carlos, laughing. "but, my brother," he resumed more gravely, "i often ask myself, are we doing all that is possible in our present circumstances to share with others the treasure we have found?" "i trust it will soon be open to them all," said juan, who had now come just far enough to grasp strongly his right to think and judge for himself, and with it the idea of emancipation from the control of a proud and domineering priesthood. "great is truth, and shall prevail." "certainly, in the end. but much that to mortal eyes looks like defeat may come first." "i think my learned brother, so much wiser than i upon many subjects, fails to read well the signs of the times. whose word saith, 'when ye see the fig-tree put forth her buds, know ye that summer is nigh, even at the door'? everywhere the fig-trees are budding now." "still the frosts may return." "hold thy peace, too desponding brother. thou shouldst have learned another lesson yesterday, when thou and i watched the eager thousands as they hung breathless on the lips of our fray constantino. are not those thousands really for _us_, and for truth and freedom?" "no doubt christ has his own amongst them." "you always think of individuals, carlos, rather than of our country. you forget we are sons of spain, castilian nobles. of course we rejoice when even one man here and there is won for the truth. but our spain! our glorious land, first and fairest of all the earth! our land of conquerors, whose arms reach to the ends of the world--one hand taming the infidel in his african stronghold, while the other crowns her with the gold and jewels of the far west! she who has led the nations in the path of discovery--whose fleets gem the ocean--whose armies rule the land,--shall she not also lead the way to the great city of god, and bring in the good coming time when all shall know him from the least to the greatest--when they shall know the truth, and the truth shall make them free? carlos, my brother, i do not dare to doubt it." it was not often that don juan expressed himself in such a lengthened and energetic, not to say grandiloquent manner. but his love for spain was a passion, and to extol her or to plead her cause words were never lacking with him. in reply to this outburst of enthusiasm, carlos only said gently, "amen, and the lord establish it in his time." don juan looked keenly at him. "i thought you had faith, carlos?" he said. "faith?" carlos repeated inquiringly. "such faith," said juan, "as i have. faith in truth and freedom!" and he rang out the sonorous words, "_verdad y_ _libertad_," as if he thought, as indeed he did, that they had but to go forth through a submissive, rejoicing world, "conquering and to conquer." "i have faith _in christ_," carlos answered quietly. and in those two brief phrases each unconsciously revealed to the other the very depths of his soul, and told the secret of his history. xx. the first drop of a thunder shower. "closed doorways that are folded and prayed against in vain." e.b. browning. meanwhile the happy weeks glided on noiselessly and rapidly. they brought full occupation for head and heart, as well as varied and intense enjoyment. don juan's constant intercourse with doña beatriz was not the less delightful because already he sought to imbue her mind with the truths which he himself was learning every day to love better. he thought her an apt and hopeful pupil, but, under the circumstances, he was scarcely the best possible judge. carlos was not so well satisfied with her attainments; he advised reserve and caution in imparting their secrets to her, lest through inadvertence she might betray them to her aunt and cousins. juan considered this a mark of his constitutional timidity; yet he so far attended to his warnings, that doña beatriz was strongly impressed with the necessity of keeping their religious conversations a profound secret, whilst her sensibilities were not shocked by any mention of words so odious as heresy or lutheranism. but there could be no doubt as to juan's own progress under the instructions of his brother, and of losada and fray cassiodoro. he began, ere long, to accompany carlos to the meetings of the protestants, who welcomed the new acquisition to their ranks with affectionate enthusiasm. all were attracted by don juan's warmth and candour of disposition, and by his free, joyous, hopeful temperament; though he was not beloved by any as intensely as carlos was by the few who really knew him, such as losada, don juan ponce de leon, and the young monk, fray fernando. partly through the influence of his religious friends, and partly through the brilliant reputation he had brought from alcala, carlos now obtained a lectureship at the college of doctrine, of which the provost, fernando de san juan, was a decided and zealous lutheran. this appointment was an honourable one, considered in no way derogatory to his social position, and useful as tending to convince his uncle that he was "doing something," not idly dreaming his time away. occupations of another kind opened out before him also. amongst the many sincere and anxious inquirers who were troubled with perplexities concerning the relations of the old faith and the new, were some who turned to him, with an instinctive feeling that he could help them. this was just the work that best suited his abilities and his temperament. to sympathize, to counsel, to aid in conflict as only that man can do who has known conflict himself, was god's special gift to him. and he who goes through the world speaking, whenever he can, a word in season to the weary, will seldom be without some weary one ready to listen to him. upon one subject, and only one, the brothers still differed. juan saw the future robed in the glowing hues borrowed from his own ardent, hopeful spirit. in his eyes the spains were already won "for truth and freedom," as he loved to say. he anticipated nothing less than a glorious regeneration of christendom, in which his beloved country would lead the van. and there were many amongst losada's congregation who shared these bright and beautiful, if delusive dreams, and the enthusiasm which had given them birth, and in its turn was nourished by them. again, there were others who rejoiced with much trembling over the good tidings that often reached them of the spread of the faith in distant parts of the country, and who welcomed each neophyte to their ranks as if they were adorning a victim for the sacrifice. they could not forget that name of terror, the holy inquisition. and from certain ominous indications they thought the sleeping monster was beginning to stir in his den. else why had new and severe decrees against heresy been recently obtained from rome? and above all, why had the bishop of terragona, gonzales de munebrãga, already known as a relentless persecutor of jews and moors, been appointed vice-inquisitor general at seville? still, on the whole, hope and confidence predominated; and strange, nay, incredible as it may appear to us, beneath the very shadow of the triana the lutherans continued to hold their meetings "almost with open doors." one evening don juan escorted doña beatriz to some festivity from which he could not very well excuse himself, whilst carlos attended a reunion for prayer and mutual edification at the usual place--the house of doña isabella de baena. don juan returned at a late hour, but in high spirits. going at once to the room where his brother sat awaiting him, he threw off his cloak, and stood before him, a gay, handsome figure, in his doublet of crimson satin, his gold chain, and well-used sword, now worn for ornament, with its embossed scabbard and embroidered belt. "i never saw doña beatriz look so charming," he began eagerly. "don miguel de santa cruz was there, but he could not get so much as a single dance with her, and looked ready to die for envy. but save me from the impertinence of luis rotelo! i shall have to cane him one of these days, if no milder measures will teach him his place and station. _he_, the son of a simple hidalgo, to dare lift his eyes to doña beatriz de lavella? the caitiff's presumption!--but thou art not listening, brother. what is wrong with thee?" no wonder he asked. the face of carlos was pale; and the deep mournful eyes looked as if tears had been lately there. "a great sorrow, brother mine," he answered in a low voice. "_my_ sorrow too, then. tell me, what is it?" asked juan, his tone and manner changed in a moment. "juliano is taken." "juliano! the muleteer who brought the books, and gave you that testament?" "the man who put into my hands this precious book, to which i owe my joy now and my hope for eternity," said carlos, his lip trembling. "ay de mi!--but perhaps it is not true." "too true. a smith, to whom he showed a copy of the book, betrayed him. god forgive him--if there be forgiveness for such. it may have been a month ago, but we only heard it now. and he lies there--_there_." "who told you?" "all were talking of it at the meeting when i entered. it is the sorrow of all; but i doubt if any have such cause to sorrow as i. for he is my father in the faith, juan. and now," he added, after a long, sad pause, "i shall _never_ tell him what he has done for me--at least on this side of the grave." "there is no hope for him," said juan mournfully, as one that mused. "_hope!_ only in the great mercy of god. even those dreadful dungeon walls cannot shut him out." "no; thank god." "but the prolonged, the bitter, the horrible suffering! i have been trying to contemplate, to picture it--but i cannot, i dare not. and what i dare not think of, he must endure." "he is a peasant, you are a noble--that makes some difference," said don juan, with whom the tie of brotherhood in christ had not yet effaced all earthly distinctions. "but carlos," he questioned suddenly, and with a look of alarm, "does not he know everything?" "_everything_," carlos answered quietly. "one word from his lips, and the pile is kindled for us all. but that word will never be spoken. to-night not one heart amongst us trembled for ourselves, we only wept for him." "you trust him, then, so completely? it is much to say. they in whose hands he is are cruel as fiends. no doubt they will--" "hush!" interrupted carlos, with a look of such exceeding pain, that juan was effectually silenced. "there are things we cannot speak of, save to god in prayer. oh, my brother, pray for him, that he for whom he has risked so much may sustain him, and, if it may be, shorten his agony." "surely more than two or three will join in that prayer. but, my brother," he added, after a pause, "be not so downcast. do you not know that every great cause must have its martyr? when was a victory won, and no brave man left dead on the field; a city stormed, and none fallen in the breach? perhaps to that poor peasant may be given the glory--the great glory--of being honoured throughout all time as the sainted martyr whose death has consecrated our holy cause to victory. a grand lot truly! worth suffering for!" and juan's dark eye kindled, and his cheek glowed with enthusiasm. carlos was silent. "dost thou not think so, my brother?" "i think that christ is worth suffering for," said carlos at last. "and that nothing short of his personal presence, realized by faith, can avail to bring any man victorious through such fearful trials. may that--may he be with his faithful servant now, when all human help and comfort are far away." xxi. by the guadalquivir. "there dwells my father, sinless and at rest, where the fierce murderer can no more pursue." schiller. next sunday evening the brothers attended the quiet service in doña isabella's upper room. it was more solemn than usual, because of the deep shadow that rested on the hearts of all the band assembled there. but losada's calm voice spoke wise and loving words about life and death, and about him who, being the lord of life, has conquered death for all who trust him. then came prayer--true incense offered on the golden altar standing "before the mercy-seat," which only "the veil," still dropped between, hides from the eyes of the worshippers.[12] but in such hours many a ray from the glory within shines through that veil. [12] see exodus xxx. 6. "do not let us return home yet, brother," said carlos, when they had parted with their friends. "the night is fine." "whither shall we bend our steps?" carlos named a favourite walk through some olive-yards on the banks of the river, and juan set his face towards one of the city gates. "why take such a circuit?" said carlos, showing a disposition to turn in an opposite direction. "this is far the shorter way." "true; but it is less pleasant." carlos looked at him gratefully. "my brother would spare my weakness," he said. "but it needs not. twice of late, when you were engaged with doña beatriz, i went alone thither, and--to the prado san sebastian." so they passed through the puerta de triana, and having crossed the bridge of boats, leisurely took their way beneath the walls of the grim old castle. as they did so, both prayed in silence for one who was pining in its dungeons. don juan, whose interest in the fate of juliano was naturally far less intense than his brother's, was the first to break that silence. he remarked that the dominican convent adjoining the triana looked nearly as gloomy as the inquisitorial prison itself. "i think it looks like all other convents," returned carlos, with indifference. they were soon in the shadow of the dark, ghostlike olive trees. the moon was young, and gave but little light; but the large clear stars looked down through the southern air like lamps of fire, hanging not so much in the sky as from it. were those bright watchers charged with a message from the land very far off, which seemed so near to _them_ in the high places whence they ruled the night? carlos drank in the spirit of the scene in silence. but this did not please his less meditative brother. "what art thou pondering?" he asked. "'they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.'" "art thinking still of the prisoner in the triana?" "of him, and also of another very dear to both of us, of whom i have for some time been purposing to speak to thee. what if thou and i have been, like children, seeking for a star on earth while all the time it was shining above us in god's glorious heaven?" "knowest thou not of old, little brother, that when thy parables begin i am left behind at once? i pray thee, let the stars alone, and speak the language of earth." "what was the task to which thou and i vowed ourselves in childhood, brother?" juan looked at him keenly through the dim light. "i sometimes feared thou hadst forgotten," he said. "no danger of that. but i had a reason--i think a good and sufficient one--for not speaking to thee until well and fully assured of thy sympathy." "my sympathy? in aught that concerned the dream, the passion of my life!--of both our young lives! carlos, how couldst thou even doubt of this?" "i had reason to doubt at first whether a gleam of light which has been shed upon our father's fate would be regarded by his son as a blessing or a curse." "do not keep a man in suspense, brother. speak at once, in heaven's name." "i doubt no longer _now_. it will be to thee, juan, as to me, a joy exceeding great to think that our venerated father read god's word for himself, and knew his truth and honoured it, as we have learned to do." "now, god be thanked!" cried juan, pausing in his walk and clasping his hands together. "this indeed is joyful news. but speak, brother; how do you know it? are you certain, or is it only dream, hope, conjecture?" carlos told him in detail, first the hint dropped by losada to de seso; then the story of dolores; lastly, what he had heard at san isodro about don rodrigo de valer. and as he proceeded with his narrative, he welded the scattered links into a connected chain of evidence. juan, all eagerness, could hardly wait till he came to the end. "why did you not speak to losada?" he interrupted at last. "stay, brother, and hear me out; the best is to come. i have done so lately. but until assured how thou wouldst regard the matter, i cared not to ask questions, the answers to which might wound thy heart." "you are in no doubt now. what heard you from señor cristobal?" "i heard that dr. egidius named the conde de nuera as one of those who befriended don rodrigo. and that he had been present when that brave and faithful teacher privately expounded the epistle to the romans." "there!" juan exclaimed with a start. "there is the origin of my second and favourite name, rodrigo. brother, brother, these are the best tidings i have heard for years." and uncovering his head, he uttered fervent and solemn words of thanksgiving. to which carlos added a heartfelt "amen," and resumed,-"then, brother, you think we are justified in taking this joy to our hearts?" "without doubt," cried the sanguine don juan. "and it follows that his crime--" "was what in our eyes constitutes the truest glory, the profession of a pure faith," said juan with decision, leaping at once to the conclusion carlos had reached by a far slower path. "and those mystic words inscribed upon the window, the delight and wonder of our childhood--" "ah!" repeated juan- "'el dorado yo hé trovado.' but what they have to do with the matter i see not yet." "you see not? surely the knowledge of god in christ, the kingdom of heaven opened up to us, is the true el dorado, the golden country, which enriches those who find it for evermore." "that is all very good," said juan, with the air of a man not quite satisfied. "i doubt not that was our father's meaning," carlos continued. "i doubt it, though. up to that point i follow you, carlos; but there we part. _something_ in the new world, i think, my father must have found." a lengthened debate followed, in which carlos discovered, rather to his surprise, that juan still clung to his early faith in a literal land of gold. the more thoughtful and speculative brother sought in vain to reason him out of that belief. nor was he much more successful when he came to state his own settled conviction that they should never see their father's face on earth. not the slightest doubt remained on his own mind that, on account of his attachment to the reformed faith, the conde de nuera had been, in the phraseology of the time, quietly "put out of the way." but whether this had been done during the voyage, or on the wild unknown shores of the new world, he believed his children would never know. on this point, however, no argument availed with juan. he seemed determined _not_ to believe in his father's death. he confessed, indeed, that his heart bounded at the thought that he had been a sufferer "in the cause of truth and freedom." "he has suffered exile," he said, "and the loss of all things. but i see not wherefore he may not after all be living still, somewhere in that vast wonderful new world." "i am content to think," carlos replied, "that all these years he has been at rest with the dead in christ. and that we shall see his face first with christ when he appears in glory." "but i am not content. we must learn something more." "we shall never learn more. how can we?" asked carlos. "that is so like thee, little brother. ever desponding, ever turned easily from thy purpose." "well; be it so," said carlos meekly. "but what _i_ determine, that i do," said juan. "at least i will make my uncle speak out," he continued. "i have ever suspected that he knows something." "but how is that to be done?" asked carlos. "nevertheless, do all thou canst, and god prosper thee. only," he added with great earnestness, "remember the necessities of our present position; and for the sake of our friends, as well as of our own lives, use due prudence and caution." "fear not, my too prudent brother.--the best and dearest brother in the world," he added kindly, "if he had but a little more courage." thus conversing they hastily retraced their steps to the city, the hour being already late. * * * * * quiet weeks passed on after this unmarked by any event of importance. winter had now given place to spring; the time of the singing of birds was come. in spite of numerous and heavy anxieties, and of _one_ sorrow that pressed more or less upon all, it was still spring-time in many a brave and hopeful heart amongst the adherents of the new faith in seville. certainly it was spring-time with don juan alvarez. one sunday a letter arrived by special messenger from nuera, containing the unwelcome tidings that the old and faithful servant of the house, diego montes, was dying. it was his last wish to resign his stewardship into the hands of his young master, señor don juan. juan could not hesitate. "i will go to-morrow morning," he said to carlos; "but rest assured i will return hither as soon as possible; the days are too precious to be lost." together they repaired once more to doña isabella's house. don juan told the friends they met there of his intended departure, and ere they separated many a hand warmly grasped his, and many a voice spoke kindly the "vaya con dios" for his journey. "it needs not formal leave-takings, señores and my brethren," said juan; "my absence will be very short; not next sunday indeed, but possibly in a fortnight, and certainly this day month i shall meet you all here again." "_god willing_," said losada gravely. and so they parted. xxii. the flood-gates opened. "and they feared as they entered into the cloud." for the first stage of don juan's journey carlos accompanied him. they spent the time in animated talk, chiefly about nuera, carlos sending kind messages to the dying man, to dolores, and indeed to all the household. "remember, brother," he said, "to give dolores the little books i put into the alforjas, specially the 'confession of a sinner.'" "i shall remember everything, even to bringing thee back tidings of all the sick folk in the village. now, carlos, here we agreed to part;--no, not one step further." they clasped each other's hands. "it is not like a long parting," said juan. "no. vaya con dios, my ruy." "quede con dios,[13] brother;" and he rode off, followed by his servant. [13] remain with god. carlos watched him wistfully; would he turn for a last look? he _did_ turn. taking off his velvet montero, he gaily bowed farewell; thus allowing carlos to gaze once more upon his dark, handsome, resolute features, keen, sparkling eyes and curling black hair. whilst juan saw a scholar's face, thoughtful, refined, sensitive; a broad pale forehead, from which the breeze had blown the waving fair hair (fair to a southern eye, though really a bright soft brown), and lips that kept the old sweetness of expression, though, whether from the manly fringe that graced them or from some actual change, the weakness which marred them once had ceased to be apparent now. another moment, and both had turned their horses' heads. carlos, when he reached the city, made a circuit to avoid one of the very frequent processions of the host; since, as time passed on, he felt ever more and more disinclined to the absolutely necessary prostration. afterwards he called upon losada, to inquire the exact address of a person whom he had asked him to visit. he found him engaged in his character of physician, and sat down in the patio to await his leisure. ere long dr. cristobal passed through, politely accompanying to the gate a canon of the cathedral, for whose ailments he had just been prescribing. the churchman, who was evidently on the best terms with his physician, was showing his good-nature and affability by giving him the current news of the city; to which losada listened courteously, with a grave, quiet smile, and, when necessary, an appropriate question or comment. only one item made any impression upon carlos: it related to a pleasant estate by the sea-side which munebrãga had just purchased, disappointing thereby a relative of the canon's who desired to possess it, but could not command the very large price readily offered by the inquisitor. at last the visitor was gone. in a moment the smile had faded from the physician's care-worn face. turning to carlos with a strangely altered look, he said, "the monks of san isodro have fled." "fled!" carlos repeated, in blank dismay. "yes; no fewer than twelve of them have abandoned the monastery." "how did you hear it?" "one of the lay brethren came in this morning to inform me. they held another solemn chapter, in which it was determined that each one should follow the guidance of his own conscience, those, therefore, to whom it seemed best to go have gone, the rest remain." for some moments they looked at each other in silence. so fearful was the peril in which this rash act involved them all, that it almost seemed as if they had heard a sentence of death. the voice of carlos faltered as he asked at last,--"have fray cristobal or fray fernando gone?" "no; they are both amongst those, more generous if not more wise, who have chosen to remain and take what god will send them here. stay, here is a letter from fray cristobal which the lay brother brought me; it will tell you as much as i know myself." carlos read it carefully. "it seems," he said, when he had finished, "that the consciences of those who fled would not allow them any longer to conform, even outwardly, to the rules of their order. moreover, from the signs of the times, they believe that a storm is about to burst upon the company of the faithful." "god grant it may prove that they have saved _themselves_ from its violence," losada answered, with a slight emphasis on "themselves." "and for us?--god help us!" carlos almost moaned, the paper falling from his trembling hand. "what shall we do?" "be strong in the lord, and in the power of his might," returned losada bravely. "no other strength remains for us. but god grant none of us in the city may be so unadvised as to follow the example of the brethren. the flight of one might be the ruin of all." "and those noble, devoted men who remain at san isodro?" "are in god's hands, as we are." "i will ride out and visit them, especially fray fernando." "excuse me, señor don carlos, but you will do nothing of the kind; that were to court suspicion. i will bear any message you choose to send." "and you?" losada smiled, though sadly. "the physician has occasion to go," he said; "he is a very useful personage, who often covers with his ample cloak the _dogmatizing heretic_." carlos recognized the official phraseology of the holy office. he repressed a shudder, but could not hide the look of terror that dilated his large blue eyes. the older man, the more experienced christian, could compassionate the youth. losada, himself standing "face to face with death," spoke kind words of counsel and comfort to carlos. he cautioned him strongly against losing his self-possession, and thereby running needlessly into danger. "especially would i urge upon you, señor don carlos," he said, "the duty of avoiding unnecessary risk, for already you are useful to us; and should god spare your life, you will be still more so. if i fall--" "do not speak of it, my beloved friend." "it will be as god pleases," said the pastor calmly. "but i need not remind you, others stand in like peril with me. especially fray cassiodoro, and don juan ponce de leon." "the noblest heads, the likeliest to fall," carlos murmured. "then must younger soldiers step forth from the ranks, and take up the standards dropped from their hands. don carlos alvarez, we have high hopes of you. your quiet words reach the heart; for you speak that which you know, and testify that which you have seen. and the good gifts of mind that god has given you enable you to speak with the greater acceptance. he may have much work for you in his harvest-field. but whether he should call you to work or to suffer, shrink not, but 'be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the lord thy god is with thee whithersoever thou goest.'" "i will try to trust him; and may he make his strength perfect in my weakness," said carlos. "but for the present," he added, "give me any lowly work to do, whereby i may aid you or lighten your cares, my loved friend and teacher." losada gladly gave him, as indeed he had done several times before, instructions to visit certain secret inquirers, and persons in distress and perplexity of mind. he passed the next two or three days in these ministrations, and in constant prayer, especially for the remaining monks of san isodro, whose sore peril pressed heavily on his heart. he sought, as much as possible, to shut out other thoughts; or, when they would force an entrance, to cast their burden, which otherwise would have been intolerable, upon him who would surely care for his own church, his few sheep in the wilderness. one morning he remained late in his chamber, writing a letter to his brother; and then went forth, intending to visit losada. as it was a fast-day, and he kept the church fasts rigorously, it happened that he had not previously met any of his uncle's family. the entrance to the physician's house did not present its usual cheerful appearance. the gate was shut and bolted, and there was no sign of patients passing in or out. carlos became alarmed. it was long before he obtained an answer to his repeated calls. at last, however, some one inside cried, "_quien es_?"[14] [14] who is there? carlos gave his name, well known to all the household. then the door was half opened, and a mulatto serving-lad showed a terrified face behind it. "where is señor cristobal?" "gone, señor." "gone!--whither?" the answer was a furtive, frightened whisper. "last night--the alguazils of the holy office." and the door was shut and bolted in his face. he stood rooted to the spot, speechless and motionless, in a trance of horror. at last he was startled by feeling some one grasp his arm without ceremony, indeed rather roughly. "are you moonstruck, cousin don carlos?" asked the voice of gonsalvo. "at least you might have had the courtesy to offer me the aid of your arm, without putting me to the shame of requesting it, miserable cripple that i am!" and he gave vent to a torrent of curses upon his own infirmities, using expressions profane and blasphemous enough to make carlos shiver with pain. yet that very pain did him real service. it roused him from his stupor, as sharp anguish sometimes brings back a patient from a swoon. he said, "pardon me, my cousin, i did not see you; but i hear you now--with sorrow." gonsalvo deigned no answer, except his usual short, bitter laugh. "whither do you wish to go?" "home. i am tired." they walked along in silence; at last gonsalvo asked, abruptly,-"have you heard the news?" "what news?" "the news that is in every one's mouth to-day. indeed, the city has well nigh run mad with holy horror. and no wonder! their reverences, the lords inquisitors, have just discovered a community of abominable lutherans, a very viper's nest, in our midst. it is said the wretches have actually dared to carry on their worship somewhere in the town. ah, no marvel you look horror-stricken, my pious cousin. _you_ could never have dreamed that such a thing was possible, could you?" after one quick, keen glance, he did not look again in his cousin's face; but he might have felt the beating of his cousin's heart against his arm. "i am told," he continued, "that nearly two hundred persons have been arrested already." "_two hundred!_" gasped carlos. "and the arrests are going on still." "who is taken?" carlos forced his trembling lips to ask. "losada; more's the pity. a good physician, though a bad christian." "a good physician, and a good christian too," said carlos in the voice of one who tries to speak calmly in terrible bodily pain. "an opinion you would do more wisely to keep to yourself, if a reprobate such as i may presume to counsel so learned and pious a personage." "who else?" "one you would never guess. don juan ponce de leon, of all men. think of the count of baylen's son being thus degraded! also the master of the college of doctrine, san juan; and a number of jeromite friars from san isodro. those are all i know worth a gentleman's taking account of. there are some beggarly tradesfolk, such as medel d'espinosa, the embroiderer; and luis d'abrego, from whom your brother bought that beautiful book of the gospels he gave doña beatriz. but if only such cattle were concerned in it, no one would care." "some fools there be," don gonsalvo continued after a pause, "who have run to the triana, and informed against themselves, thinking thereby to get off more easily. _fools_, again i say, for their pains." and he emphasized his words by a pressure of the arm on which he was leaning. at length they reached the door of don manuel's house. "thanks for your aid," said gonsalvo. "now that i remember it, don carlos, i hear also that we are to have a grand procession on tuesday with banners and crosses, in honour of our lady, and of our holy patronesses justina and rufina, to beg pardon for the sin and scandal so long permitted in the midst of our most catholic city. you, my pious cousin, licentiate of theology and all but consecrated priest--you will carry a taper, no doubt?" carlos would fain have left the question unanswered; but gonsalvo meant to have an answer. "you will?" he repeated, laying his hand on his arm, and looking him in the face, though with a smile. "it would be very creditable to the family for one of us to appear. seriously; i advise you to do it." then carlos said quietly, "_no_;" and crossed the patio to the staircase which led to his own apartment. gonsalvo stood watching him, and mentally retracting, at his last word, the verdict formerly pronounced against him as "a coward," "not half a man." xxiii. the reign of terror. "though shining millions around thee stand, for the sake of him at thy right hand think of the souls he died for here, thus wandering in darkness, in doubt and fear. "the powers of darkness are all abroad- they own no saviour, and they fear no god; and we are trembling in dumb dismay; oh, turn not thou thy face away." hogg. it was late in the evening when carlos emerged from his chamber. how the intervening hours had been passed he never told any one. but this much is certain,--he contended with and overcame a wild, almost uncontrollable impulse to seek refuge in flight. his reason told him that this would be to rush upon certain destruction: so sedulously guarded were all the ways of egress, and so watchful and complete, in every city and village of the land, was the inquisitorial organization; not to speak of the "hermandad," or brotherhood--a kind of civil police, always ready to co-operate with the ecclesiastical authorities. still, if he could not be saved, juan might and should. this thought was growing gradually clearer and stronger in his bewildered brain and aching heart while he knelt in his chamber, finding a relief in the attitude of prayer, though few and broken were the words of prayer that passed his trembling lips. indeed, the burden of his cry was this: "lord, have mercy on us. christ, have mercy on us. thou that carest for us, forsake us not in our bitter need. for thine is the kingdom; even yet thou reignest." this was all he could find to plead, either on his own behalf or on that of his imprisoned brethren; though for them his heart was wrung with unutterable anguish. once and again did he repeat--"_thine_ is the kingdom and the power. thine, o father; thine, o lord and saviour. thou _canst_ deliver us." it was well for him that he had juan to save. he rose at last; and added to the letter previously written to his brother a few lines of most earnest entreaty that he would on no account return to seville. but then, recollecting his own position, he marvelled greatly at his simplicity in purposing to send such a letter by the king's post--an institution which, strange to say, spain possessed at an earlier period than any other country in europe. if he should fall under suspicion, his letter would be liable to detention and examination, and might thus be the means of involving juan in the very peril from which he sought to deliver him. a better plan soon occurred to him. that he might carry it out, he descended late in the evening to the cool, marble-paved court, or _patio_, in the centre of which the fountain ever murmured and glistened, surrounded by tropical plants, some of them in gorgeous bloom. as he had hoped, one solitary lamp burned like a star in a remote corner; and its light illumined the form of a young girl seated on a low chair, before an inlaid ebony table, writing busily. doña beatriz had excused herself from accompanying the family on an evening visit, that she might devote herself in undisturbed solitude to the composition of her first love-letter--indeed, her first letter of any kind: for short as he intended his absence to be, juan had stipulated for this consolation, and induced her to promise it; and she knew that the king's post went northwards the next day, passing by nuera on his way to the towns of la mancha. so engrossing was her occupation that she did not hear the step of carlos. he drew near, and stood behind her. pearls, golden agni, and a scarlet flower or two, were twined with her glossy raven hair; and the lamp shed a subdued radiance over her fine features, which glowed through their delicate olive with the rosy light of joy. an exquisite though not very costly perfume, that carlos in other days always associated with her presence, still continued a favourite with her, and filled the place around with fragrance. it brought back his memory to the past--to that wild, vain, yet enchanting dream; the brief romance of his life. but there was no time now even for "a dream within a dream." there was only time to thank god, from the depths of his soul, that in all the wide world there was no heart that would break for _him_. "doña beatriz," he said gently. she started, and half turned, a bright flush mounting to her cheek. "you are writing to my brother." "and how know you that, señor don carlos?" asked the young lady, with a little innocent affectation. but carlos, standing face to face with terrible realities, pushed aside her pretty arts, as one hastening to succour a dying man might push aside a branch of wild roses that impeded his path. "i most earnestly request of you, señora, to convey to him a message from me." "and wherefore can you not write to him yourself, señor licentiate?" "is it possible, señora, that you know not what has happened?" "vaya, vaya, don carlos! how you startle one.--do you mean these horrible arrests?" carlos found that a few strong, plain words were absolutely necessary in order to make beatriz understand his brother's peril. she had listened hitherto to don juan's extracts from scripture, and the arguments and exhortations founded thereon, conscious, indeed, that these were secrets which should be jealously guarded, yet unconscious that they were what the church and the world branded as heresy. consequently, although she heard of the arrest of losada and his friends with vague regret and apprehension, she was far from distinctly associating the crime for which they suffered with the name dearest to her heart. she was still very young; and she had not thought much--she had only loved. and she blindly followed him she loved, without caring to ask whither he was going himself, or whither he was leading her. when at last carlos made her comprehend that it was for reading the scriptures, and talking of justification by faith alone, that losada was thrown into the dungeons of the triana, a thrilling cry of anguish broke from her lips. "hush, señora!" said carlos; and for once his voice was stern. "if even your little black foot-page heard that cry, it might ruin all." but beatriz was unused to self-control. another cry followed, and there were symptoms of hysterical tears and laughter. carlos tried a more potent spell. "hush, señora" he repeated. "we must be strong and silent, if we are to save don juan." she looked piteously up at him, repeating, "save don juan?" "yes, señora. listen to me. _you_, at least, are a good catholic. you have not compromised yourself in any way: you say your angelus; you make your vows; you bring flowers to our lady's shrine. _you_ are safe." she turned round and faced him--her cheek dyed crimson, and her eyes flashing,-"i am safe! is that all you have to say? who cares for that? what is _my_ life worth?" "patience, dear señora! your safety aids in securing his. listen.--you are writing to him. tell him of the arrests; for hear of them he must. use the language about heresy which will occur to you, but which--god help me!--i could not use. then pass from the subject. write aught else that comes to your mind; but before closing your letter, say that i am well in mind and body, and would be heartily recommended to him. add that i most earnestly request of him, for our common good and the better arrangement of our affairs, not to return to seville, but to remain at nuera. he will understand that. lay your own commands upon him--your _commands_, remember, señora--to the same effect." "i will do all that.--but here come my aunt and cousins." it was true. already the porter had opened for them the gloomy outer gate; and now the gilt and filagreed inner door was thrown open also, and the returning family party filled the court. they were talking together; not quite so gaily as usual, but still eagerly enough. doña sancha soon drew near to beatriz, and began to rally her upon her occupation, threatening playfully to carry away and read the unfinished letter. no one addressed a word to carlos; but that might have been mere accident. it was, however, scarcely accidental that his aunt, as she passed him on her way to an inner room, drew her mantilla closer round her, lest its deep lace fringe might touch his clothing. shortly afterwards doña sancha dropped her fan. according to custom, carlos stooped for it, and handed it to her with a bow. the young lady took it mechanically, but almost immediately dropped it again with a look of scorn, as if polluted by its touch. its delicate carved ivory, the work of moorish hands, lay in fragments on the marble floor; and from that moment carlos knew that he was under the ban, that he stood alone amidst his uncle's household--a suspected and degraded man. it was not wonderful. his intimacy with the monks of san isodro, his friendship with don juan ponce de leon, and with the physician losada, were all well-known facts. moreover, had he not taught at the college of doctrine, under the direct patronage of fernando de san juan, another of the victims? and there were other indications of his tendencies which could scarcely escape notice, once the suspicions of those who lived under the same roof with him were awakened. for a time he stood silent, watching his uncle's countenance, and marking the frown that contracted his brow whenever his eye turned towards him. but when don manuel passed into a smaller saloon that opened upon the court, carlos followed him boldly. they stood face to face, but could hardly see each other. the room was darkness, save for a few struggling moonbeams. "señor my uncle," said carlos, "i fear my presence here is displeasing to you." don manuel paused before replying. "nephew," he said at length, "you have been lamentably imprudent. the saints grant you have been no worse." a moment of strong emotion will sometimes bring out in a man's face characteristic lineaments of his family, in calmer seasons not traceable there. thus it is with features of the soul. it was not the gentle timid don carlos who spoke now, it was alvarez de santillanos y meñaya. there was both pride and courage in his tone. "if it has been my misfortune to offend my honoured uncle, to whom i owe so many benefits, i am sorry, though i cannot charge myself with any fault. but i should be faulty indeed were i to prolong my stay in a house where i am no longer what, thanks to your kindness, señor my uncle, i have ever been hitherto, a welcome guest." having spoken thus, he turned to go. "stay, young fool!" cried don manuel, who thought the better of him for his proud words. they raised him, in his estimation, from a mark for his scorn to a legitimate object for his indignation. "there spoke your father's voice. but i tell you, for all that, you shall not quit the shelter of my roof." "i thank you." "you may spare the pains. i ask you not, for i prefer to remain in ignorance, to what perilous and fool-hardy lengths your intimacy with heretics may have gone. without being a qualificator of heresy myself, i can tell that you smell of the fire. and indeed, young man, were you anything less than alvarez de meñaya, i would hardly scorch my own fingers to hold you out of it. the devil--to whom, in spite of all your fair appearances, i fear you belong--might take care of his own. but since truth is the daughter of god, you shall have it from my lips. and the plain truth is, that i have no desire to hear every cur dog in seville barking at me and mine; nor to see our ancient and honourable name dragged through the mire and filth of the streets." "i have never disgraced that name." "have i not said that i desire no protestations from you? whatever my private opinion may be, it stands upon our family honour to hold that yours is still unstained. therefore, not from love, as i tell you plainly, but from motives that may perchance prove stronger in the end, i and mine extend to you our protection. i am a good catholic, a faithful son of mother church; but i freely confess i am no hero of the faith, to offer up upon its shrine those that bear my own name. i pretend not to such heights of sanctity, not i." and don manuel shrugged his shoulders. "i entreat of you, señor my uncle, to allow me to explain--" don manuel waved his hand with a forbidding gesture. "none of thy explanations for me," he said. "i am no silly cock, to scratch till i find the knife. dangerous secrets had best be let alone. this i will say, however, that of all the contemptible follies of these evil times, this last one of heresy is the worst. if a man _will_ lose his soul, in the name of common sense let him lose it for fine houses, broad lands, a duke's title, an archbishop's coffers, or something else good at least in this world. but to give all up, and to gain nothing, save fire here and fire again hereafter! it is sheer, blank idiocy." "i _have_ gained something," said carlos firmly. "i have gained a treasure worth more than all i risk, more than life itself." "what! is there really a meaning in this madness? have you and your friends a secret?" don manuel asked in a gentler voice, and not without curiosity. for he was the child of his age; and had carlos told him that the heretics had made the discovery of the philosopher's stone, he would have seen nothing worthy of disbelief in the statement; he would only have asked him for proofs. "the knowledge of god in christ," began carlos eagerly "gives me joy and peace--" "_is that all?_" cried don manuel with an oath. "fool that i was, to imagine, for half an idle minute, that there might be some grain of common sense still left in your crazy brain! but since it is only a question of words and names, and mystical doctrines, i have the honour to wish you good evening, señor don carlos. only i command you, as you value your life, and prefer a residence beneath my roof to a dungeon in the triana, to keep your insanity within bounds, and to conduct yourself so as to avert suspicion. on these conditions we will shelter you. eventually, if it can be done with safety, we may even ship you out of the spains to some foreign country, where heretics, rogues, and thieves are permitted to go at large." so saying, he left the room. carlos was stung to the quick by his contempt; but remembered at last that it was a fragment of the true cross (really the first that had fallen to his lot) given him to wear in honour of his master. sleep would not visit his eyes that night. the next day was the sabbath, a day he had been wont to welcome and enjoy. but never again should the reformed church of seville meet in the upper room which had been the scene of so much happy intercourse. the next reunion was appointed for another place, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. doña isabella de baena and losada were in the dungeons of the triana. fray cassiodoro de reyna, singularly fortunate, had succeeded in making his escape. fray constantino, on the other hand, had been amongst the first arrested; but carlos went as usual to the cathedral, where that eloquent voice would never again be heard. a heavy silent gloom, like that which precedes a thunderstorm, seemed to fill the crowded aisles. yet it was there that the first gleam of comfort reached the breaking heart of carlos. it came to him through the familiar words of the latin service, loved from childhood. he said afterwards to the trembling children of one of the victims, whose desolated home he dared to visit, "for myself, horror took hold of me. i dared not to think. i scarce dared to pray, save in broken words that were only like cries of pain. the first thing that helped me was that grand verse in the te deum, chanted by the sweet childish voices of the cathedral choir--'tu, devicto mortis aculeo, aperuesti credentibus regna coelorum.' think, dear friends, not death alone, but its sting, its sharpness,--for us and our beloved,--he has overcome, and they and we in him. the gates of the kingdom of heaven stand open; opened by his hands, and neither men nor fiends can shut them again." such words as these did carlos find opportunity to speak to many bereaved ones, from whom the desire of their eyes had been taken by a stroke far more bitter than death. this ministry of love did not greatly increase his own peril, since the less he deviated from his ordinary habits of life the less suspicion he was likely to awaken. but had it been otherwise, he was not now in a position to calculate. perhaps he was too near heaven; at all events, he had already ventured too much for christ's sake not to be willing, at his call, to venture a little more. meanwhile, the isolation of his position in his uncle's house grew overpowering. no one reproached him, no one taunted him, not even gonsalvo. he often longed for some bitter word, ay, though it were a curse, to break the oppressive silence. every eye looked upon him with hatred and scorn; every hand shrank from the slightest, most accidental contact with his. almost he came to consider himself what all others considered him,--polluted, degraded--under the ban. once and again would he have sought escape by flight from an atmosphere in which it seemed more and more impossible to breathe. but flight meant arrest; and arrest, besides its overwhelming terrors for himself, meant the danger of betraying juan. his uncle and his uncle's family, though they seemed now to scorn and hate him, had promised to save him if they could, and so far he trusted them. xxiv. a gleam of light. "it is a weary task to school the heart, ere years or griefs have tamed its fiery throbbings, into that still and passive fortitude which is but learned from suffering." hemans shortly afterwards, the son and heir of doña inez was baptized, with the usual amount of ceremony and rejoicing. after the event, the family and friends partook of a merienda of fruit, confectionery, and wine, in the patio of don garçia's house. much against his inclination, carlos was obliged to be present, as his absence would have occasioned remark and inquiry. when the guests were beginning to disperse, the hostess drew near the spot where he stood, near to the fountain, admiring, or seeming to admire, a pure white azalia in glorious bloom. "in good sooth, cousin don carlos," she said, "you forget old friends very easily. but i suppose it is because you are going so soon to take orders. every one knows how learned and pious you are. and no doubt you are right to wean yourself in good time from the concerns and amusements of this unprofitable world." no word of this little speech was lost upon one of the greatest gossips in seville, a lady of rank, who stood near, leaning on the arm of losada's former patient, the wealthy canon. and this was what the speaker, in her good nature, probably intended. carlos raised to her face eyes beaming with gratitude for the friendly notice. "no change of state, señora, can ever make me forget the kindness of my fair cousin," he responded with a bow. "your cousin's little daughter," said the lady, "had once a place in your affections. but with you, as with all the rest, i presume the boy is everything. as for my poor little inez, her small person is of small account in the world now. it is well she has her mother." "nothing would give me greater pleasure than to renew my acquaintance with doña inez, if i maybe permitted so to do." this was evidently what the mother desired. "go to the right then, amigo mio," she said promptly, indicating the place intended by a quick movement of her fan, "and i will send the child to you." carlos obeyed, and for a considerable time paced up and down a cool spacious apartment, only separated from the court by marble pillars, between which costly hangings were suspended. being a spaniard, and dwelling among spaniards, he was neither surprised nor disconcerted by the long delay. at last, however, he began to suspect that his cousin had forgotten him. but this was not the case. first a painted ivory ball rolled in over the smooth floor; then one of the hangings was hastily pushed aside, and the little doña inez bounded gaily into the room in search of her toy. she was a merry, healthy child, about two years old, and really very pretty, though her infantine charms were not set off to advantage by the miniature nun's habit in which she was dressed, on account of a vow made by her mother to "our lady of carmel," during the serious illness for which carlos had summoned losada to her aid. she was followed almost immediately, not by the grave elderly nurse who usually waited on her, but by a girl of about sixteen, rather a beauty, whose quick dark eyes bestowed, from beneath their long lashes, bashful but evidently admiring glances on the handsome young nobleman. carlos, ever fond of children, and enjoying the momentary relief from the painful tension of his daily life, stooped for the ball and held it, just allowing its bright red to appear through his fingers. as the child was not in the least shy, he was soon engaged in a game with her. looking up in the midst of it, he saw that the mother had come in silently, and was watching him with searching anxious eyes that brought back in a moment all his troubles. he allowed the ball to slide to the ground, and then, with a touch of his foot, sent it rolling into one of the farthest corners of the spacious hall. the child ran gleefully after it; while the mother and the attendant exchanged glances. "you may take the noble child away, juanita," said the former. juanita led off her charge without again allowing her to approach carlos, thus rendering unnecessary the ceremony of a farewell. was this the mother's contrivance, lest by spell of word or gesture, or even by a kiss, the heretic might pollute or endanger the innocent babe? when they were alone together, doña inez was the first to speak. "i do not think you can be so wicked after all; since you love children, and play with them still," she said in a low, half-frightened tone. "god bless you for those words, señora," answered carlos with a trembling lip. he was learning to steel himself to scorn; but kindness tested his self-control more severely. "amigo mio," she resumed, drawing nearer and speaking more rapidly, "i cannot quite forget the past. it is very wrong, i know, and i am weak. ay de mi! if it be true you really are that dreadful thing i do not care to name, i ought to have the courage to stand by and see you perish." "but my kinsfolk," said carlos, "do not intend me to perish. and for the protection they afford me i am grateful. more i could not have expected from them; less they might well have done for me. but i would to god i could show them and you that i am not the foul dishonoured thing they deem me." "if it had only been something _respectable_," said doña inez, with a sort of writhe, "such as some youthful irregularity, or stabbing or slaying somebody!--but what use in words? i would say, i counsel you to look to your own safety. do you not know my brothers?" "i think i do, señora. that an alvarez de meñaya should be defamed of heresy would be more than a disgrace--it would be a serious injury to them." "there be more ways than one of avoiding the misfortune." carlos looked inquiringly at her. something in her half-averted face and the quick shrug of her shoulders prompted him to ask, "do you think they mean me mischief?" "daggers are sharp to cut knots," said the lady, playing with her fan and avoiding his eye. with so many ghastlier terrors had the mind of carlos grown familiar, that this one came to him in the guise of a relief. so "the sharpness of death" for him might mean no more than a dagger's thrust, after all! one moment here, the next in his saviour's presence. who that knew aught of the tender mercies of the holy office could do less than thank god on his bended knees for the prospect of such a fate! "it is not _death_ that i fear," he answered, looking at her steadily. "but you may as well live; nay, you had better live. for you may repent, may save your unhappy soul. i shall pray for you." "i thank you, dear and kind señora; but, through the grace of god, my soul is saved already. i believe in jesus christ--" "hush! for heaven's sake!" doña inez interrupted, dropping her fan and putting her fingers in her ears. "hush! or ere i am aware i shall have listened to some dreadful heresy. the saints help me! how should i know just where the good catholic words end, and the wicked ones begin? i might be caught in the web of the evil one; and then neither saint nor angel, no, nor even our lady herself, could deliver me. but listen to me, don carlos, for at all events i would save your life." "i will listen gratefully to aught from your lips." "i know that you dare not attempt flight from the city at present. but if you could lie concealed in some safe and quiet place within it till this storm has blown over, you might then steal away unobserved. don garçia says that now there is such a keen search made after the lutherans, that every man who cannot give a good account of himself is like to be taken for one of the accursed sect. but that cannot last for ever; in six months or so the panic will be past. and those six months you may spend in safety, hidden away in the lodging of my lavandera."[15] [15] washerwoman. "you are kind--" "peace, and listen. i have arranged the whole matter. and once you are there, i will see that you lack nothing. it is in the morrero;[16] a house hidden in a very labyrinth of lanes, a chamber in the house which a man would need to look for very particularly ere he found it." [16] moorish quarter of the city. "how shall _i_ succeed in finding it?" "you noticed the pretty girl who led in my little inez? pepe, the lavandera's son, is ready to die for the love of her. she will describe you to him, and engage his assistance in the adventure, telling him the story i have told her, that you wish to conceal yourself for a season, having stabbed your rival in a love affair." "o doña inez! _i!_--almost a priest!" "well, well; do not look so horror-stricken, amigo mio. what could i do? i dared not give them a hint of the truth, or both my hands full of double ducats would not have tempted them to stir in the affair. so i thought no shame of inventing a crime for you that would win their interest and sympathy, and dispose them to aid you." "passing strange," said carlos. "had i only sinned against the law of god and the life of my neighbour, they would gladly help me to escape; did they dream that i read his words in my own tongue, they would give me up to death." "juanita is a good little christian," remarked doña inez; "and pepe also is a very honest lad. but perhaps you may find some sympathy with the old crone of a lavandera, who is of moorish blood, and, it is whispered, knows more of mohammed than she does of her breviary." carlos disclaimed all connection with the followers of the false prophet. "how should i know the difference?" said doña inez. "i thought it was all the same, heresy and heresy. but i was about to say, pepe is a gallant lad, a regular _majo_; his hand knows its way either amongst the strings of a guitar, or on the hilt of a dagger. he has often served caballeros who were out of nights serenading their ladies; and he will go equipped as if for such an adventure. you, also, bind a guitar on your shoulder (you could use one in old times, and to good purpose too, if you have not forgotten all christian accomplishments together); bribe old sancho to leave the gates open, and sally forth to-morrow night when the clock strikes the midnight hour. pepe will wait for you in the calle del candilejo until one." "to-morrow night?" "i would have named to-night, but pepe has a dance to attend. moreover, i knew not whether i could arrange this interview in sufficient time to prepare you. now, cousin," she added anxiously, "you understand your part, and you will not fail in it." "i understand everything, señora my cousin. from my heart i thank you for the noble effort to save me. whether in its result it shall prove successful or no, already it is successful in giving me hope and strength, and renewing my faith in old familiar kindness." "hush! that step is don garçia's. it is best you should go." "only one word more, señora. will my generous cousin add to her goodness by giving my brother, when it can be done with safety, a hint of how it has fared with me?" "yes; that shall be cared for. now, adios." "i kiss your feet, señora." she hastily extended her hand, upon which he pressed a kiss of friendship and gratitude. "god bless you, my cousin," he said. "vaya con dios," she responded. "for it is our last meeting," she added mentally. she stood and watched the retreating figure with tears in her bright eyes, and in her heart a memory that went back to old times, when she used to intercede with her rough brothers for the delicate shrinking child, who was younger, as well as frailer, than all the rest. "he was ever gentle and good, and fit to be a holy priest," she thought. "ay de mi, for the strange, sad change! yet, after all, i cannot see that he is so greatly changed. playing with the child, talking with me, he is just the same carlos as of old. but the devil is very cunning. god and our lady keep us from his wiles!" xxv. waiting. "our night is dreary, and dim our day, and if thou turn thy face away, we are sinful, feeble, and helpless dust, and have none to look to and none to trust." hogg. thus was carlos roused from the dull apathy of forced inaction. with the courage and energy that are born of hope, he made the few and simple preparations for his flight that were in his power. he also visited as many as he could of his afflicted friends, feeling that his ministry among them was now drawing to a close. he rejoined his uncle's family as usual at the evening meal. don balthazar, the empleado, was not present at its commencement, but soon came in, looking so much disturbed that his father asked, "what is amiss?" "there is nothing amiss, señor and my father," answered the young man, as he raised a large cup of manzanilla to his lips. "is there any news in the city?" asked his brother don manuel. don balthazar set down the empty cup. "no great news," he answered. "a curse upon those lutheran dogs that are setting the place in an uproar." "what! more arrests," said don manuel the elder. "it is awful. the number reached eight hundred yesterday. who is taken now?" "a priest from the country, doctor juan gonzalez, and a friar named olmedo. but that is nothing. they might take all the churchmen in all the spains, and fling them into the lowest dungeons of the triana for me. it is a different matter when we come to speak of ladies--ladies, too, of the first families and highest consideration." a slight shudder, and a kind of forward movement, as if to catch what was coming, passed round the table. but don balthazar seemed reluctant to say more. "is it any of our acquaintances?" asked the sharp, high-pitched voice of doña sancha at last. "every one is acquainted with don pedro garçia de xeres y bohorques. it is--i tremble to tell you--his daughter." "_which?_" cried gonsalvo, in tones that turned the gaze of all on his livid face and fierce eager eyes. "st. iago, brother! you need not look thus at me. is it my fault?--it is the learned one, of course, doña maria. poor lady, she may well wish now that she had never meddled with anything beyond her breviary." "our lady and all the saints defend us! doña maria in prison for heresy--horrible! who will be safe now?" the ladies exclaimed, crossing themselves shudderingly. but the men used stronger language. fierce and bitter were the anathemas they heaped upon heresy and heretics. yet it is only just to say that, had they dared, they might have spoken differently. probably in their secret hearts they meant the curses less for the victims than for their oppressors; and had spain been a land in which men might speak what they thought, gonzales de munebrãga would have been devoted to a lower place in hell than luther or calvin. only two were silent. before the eye of carlos rose the sweet thoughtful face of the young girl, as he had seen it last, radiant with the faith and hope kindled by the sublime words of heavenly promise spoken by losada. but the sight of another face--still, rigid, deathlike--drove that vision away. gonsalvo sat opposite to him at the table. and had he never heard the strange story doña inez told him, that look would have revealed it all. neither curse nor prayer passed the white lips of gonsalvo. not one of all the bitter words, found so readily on slighter occasions, came now to his aid. the fiercest outburst of passion would have seemed less terrible to carlos than this unnatural silence. yet none of the others, after the first moment, appeared to notice it. or if they did observe anything strange in the look and manner of gonsalvo, it was imputed to physical pain, from which he often suffered, but for which he rejected, and even resented, sympathy, until at last it ceased to be offered him. having given what expression they dared to their outraged feelings, they once more turned their attention to the unfinished repast. it was not at all a cheerful meal, yet it was duly partaken of, except by gonsalvo and carlos, both of whom left the table as soon as they could without attracting attention. willingly would carlos have endeavoured to console his cousin; but he did not dare to speak to him, or even to allow him to guess that he saw the anguish of his soul. one day still remained to him before his flight. in the morning, though not very early, he set out to finish his farewell visits to his friends. he had not gone many paces from the house, when he observed a gentleman in plain black clothing, with sword and cloak, look at him regardfully as he passed. a moment afterwards the same person, having apparently changed his mind as to the direction in which he wished to go, hurried by him at a rapid pace; and with a murmured "pardon, señor," thrust a billet into his hand. not doubting that one of his friends had sent an emissary to warn him of some danger, carlos turned into one of the narrow winding lanes with which the semi-oriental city abounds, and finding himself safe from observation, cast a hasty glance at the billet. his eye just caught the words, "his reverence the lord inquisitor--don gonsalvo--after midnight--revelations of importance--strict secrecy." what did it all mean? did the writer wish to inform him that his cousin intended betraying him to the inquisition? he did not believe it. but the sound of approaching footsteps made him thrust the paper hastily away; and in another moment his sleeve was grasped by gonsalvo. "give it to me," said his cousin in a breathless whisper. "give you what?" "the paper that born idiot and marplot put into thy hands, mistaking thee for me. curse the fool! did he not know i was lame?" carlos showed the note, still holding it. "is this what you mean?" he asked. "you have read it! _honourable!_" cried gonsalvo, with a bitter sneer. "you are unjust to me. it bears no address; and i could not suppose otherwise than that it was intended for myself. however, i only read the few disconnected words upon which my eye first chanced to fall." the cousins stood gazing in each other's faces; as those might do that meet in mortal combat, ere they close hand to hand. each was pondering whether the other was capable of doing him a deadly injury. yet, after all, each held, at the bottom of his heart, a conviction that the other might be trusted. carlos, though he had the greater cause for apprehension, was the first to come to a conclusion. almost with a smile he handed the note to gonsalvo. "whatever yon mysterious billet may mean to don gonsalvo," he said, "i am convinced that he means no harm to any one bearing the name of alvarez de meñaya." "you will never repent that word. and it is true--in the sense you speak it," returned gonsalvo, taking the paper from his hand. at that moment he was irresolute whether to confide in carlos or no. but the touch of his cousin's hand decided him. it was cold and trembling. one so weak in heart and nerve was obviously unfit to share the burden of a brave man's desperate resolve. carlos went his way, firmly believing that gonsalvo intended no ill to him. but what then did he intend? had he solicited the inquisitor for a private midnight interview merely to throw himself at his feet, and with impassioned eloquence to plead the cause of doña maria? were "important revelations" only a blind to procure his admission? impossible! who, past the age of infancy, would kneel to the storm to implore it to be still, or to the fire to ask it to subdue its rage? perhaps some dreamy enthusiast, unacquainted with the world and its ways, might still be found sanguine enough for such a project, but certainly not don gonsalvo alvarez de meñaya. or had he a bribe to offer? inquisitors, like other churchmen, were known to be subject to human frailties; of course they would not touch gold, but, according to a well-known spanish proverb, you were invited to throw it into their cowls. and munebrãga could scarcely have fed his numerous train of insolent retainers, decked his splendid barge with gold and purple, and brought rare plants and flowers from every known country to his magnificent gardens, without very large additions to the acknowledged income of the inquisitor-general's deputy. but, again, not all the wealth of the indies would avail to open the gates of the triana to an obstinate heretic, however it might modify the views of "his reverence" upon the merits of a _doubtful_ case. and even to procure a few slight alleviations in the treatment of the accused, would have required a much deeper purse than gonsalvo's. moreover, carlos saw that the young man was "bitter of soul;" ready for any desperate deed. what if he meant to accuse _himself_. amidst the careless profanity in which he had been too wont to indulge, many a word had fallen from his lips that might be contrary to sound doctrine in the estimation of inquisitors, comparatively lenient as they were to _blasphemers_. but what possible benefit to doña maria would be gained by his throwing himself into the jaws of death? and if it were really his resolve to commit suicide, by way of ending his own miseries, he could surely accomplish the act in a more direct and far less painful manner. thus carlos pondered; but in whatever way he regarded the matter, he could not escape from the idea that his cousin intended some dangerous or fatal step. gonsalvo was too still, too silent. this was an evil sign. carlos would have felt comparatively easy about him had he made him shrink and shudder by an outburst of the fiercest, most indignant curses. for the less emotion is wasted in expression, the more remains, like pent-up steam, to drive the engine forward in its course. moreover, there was an evil light in gonsalvo's eye; a gleam like that of hope, but hope that was certainly not kindled from above. although the very crisis of his own fate was now approaching, and every faculty might have had full occupation nearer home, carlos was haunted perpetually by the thought of his cousin. it continued to occupy him not only during his visits to his friends, but afterwards in the solitude and silence of his own apartment. we all know the strange perversity with which, in times of suspense and sorrow, the mind will sometimes run riot upon matters irrelevant, and even apparently trivial. with slow footsteps the hours stole on; miserable hours to carlos, except in so for as he could spend them in prayer, now his only resource and refuge. after pleading for himself, for juan, for his dear imprisoned brethren and sisters, he named gonsalvo; and was led most earnestly to implore god's mercy for his unhappy cousin. as he thought of his misery, so much greater than his own; his loneliness, without god in the world; his sorrow, without hope,--his pleading grew impassioned. and when at last he rose from his knees, it was with that sweet sense that god would hear--nay, that he _had_ heard--which is one of the mysteries of the new life, the precious things that no man knoweth save he that receiveth them. then, believing it was nearly midnight, he quickly finished his simple preparations, took his guitar (which had now lain unused for a long time), and sallied forth from his chamber. xxvi. don gonsalvo's revenge. "our god, the all just, unto himself reserves this royalty, the secret chastening of the guilty heart; the fiery touch, the scourge that purifies- leave it with him. yet make not that thy trust; for that strong heart of thine--oh, listen yet!- must in its depths o'ercome the very wish of death or torture to the guilty one, ere it can sleep again." hemans. don manuel's house had once belonged to a moorish cid, or lord. it had been assigned to the first conde de nuera, as one of the original _conquistadors_ of seville; and he had bequeathed it to his second son. it had a turret, after the moorish fashion, and the upper chamber of this had been given to carlos on his first arrival in the city; from an idea that the theological student would require a solitary place for study and devotion, or, at least, that it would be decorous to suppose so. the room beneath had been occupied by don juan, but since his departure it was appropriated by gonsalvo, who liked solitude, and took advantage of his improved health to escape from the ground-floor, to which his infirmities had long confined him. as carlos stole noiselessly down the narrow winding stair, he noticed a light in his cousin's room. this in itself did not surprise him. but he certainly felt a little disconcerted when, just as he passed the door, don gonsalvo opened it, and met him face to face. he also was fully equipped in sword and cloak, and carried a torch in his hand. "vaya, vaya, don carlos," he said reproachfully; "after all, thou couldst not trust me." "nay, i did trust you." from fear of being overheard, both entered the nearest room--don gonsalvo's--and its owner closed the door softly. "you are stealing away from fear of me, and thereby throwing yourself into the fire. do it not, don carlos; be advised, and do it not." he spoke earnestly, and without a shadow of the old bitterness and sarcasm. "nay, it is not thus. my flight was planned ere yesterday; and in concert with one who both can and will provide me with the means of safety. it is best i should go." "enough said then," returned gonsalvo, more coldly. "farewell; i seek not to detain you. farewell; for though we may go forth together, our paths divide, and for ever, at the door." "your path is perhaps less safe than mine, don gonsalvo." "talk of what you understand, cousin. my path is safety itself. and now that i think of it (if you could be trusted), you might aid me perhaps. did you know all, i dare not doubt that you would rejoice to do it." "god knows how joyfully i would aid you if i could, don gonsalvo. but i fear you are bound on a useless, and worse than useless, errand." "you know not my errand." "but i know to whom you go this night. oh, my cousin, is it possible you can dream that prayer of yours will soften hearts harder than the nether millstone?" "i know the way to one heart; and though it be the hardest of all, i shall reach it." "were you to pour the wealth of el dorado at the feet of gonzales de munebrãga, he neither would nor could unloose one bolt of that prison." gonsalvo's wild look changed suddenly into one of wistful earnestness, almost of tenderness. he said, lowering his voice,-"near as death, the revealer of secrets, may be to me, there are still some questions worth the asking. perchance _you_ can throw a gleam of light upon this horrible darkness. we are speaking frankly now, and as in god's presence. tell me, _is that charge true_?" "frankly, and in the sense in which you ask--it is." the last fatal words carlos only whispered. gonsalvo made no answer; but a kind of momentary spasm passed across his face. carlos at length went on in a low voice: "she knew the evangel long before i did, though she is so young--not yet one-and-twenty. she was the pupil of dr. egidius; but he was wont to say he learned more from her than she did from him. her keen, bright intellect cut through sophistries, and reached truth so quickly. and god gave her abundantly of his grace; making her willing, for that truth, to endure all things. oft have i seen her sweet face kindle and glow whilst he who taught us spoke of the joy and strength given to those that suffer for the name of christ. i am persuaded he is with her now, and will be with her even to the end. could you gain access to her where she is, i think she would tell you she possesses a treasure of peace of which neither death nor suffering, neither cruelty of fiends nor worse cruelty of fiend-like men, can avail to rob her." "she is a saint--she will be a blessed saint in heaven, let them say what they may," murmured gonsalvo hoarsely. then the fierce look returned to his face again. "but i think the old christians of castile, the men whose good swords made the infidels bite the dust, and planted the cross on their painted towers, are no better than curs and dastards." "in that they suffer these things?" "yes; a thousand times, yes. in the name of man's honour and woman's loveliness, are there, in our good city of seville, neither fathers, nor brothers, nor lovers left alive? no man who thinks the sweetest eyes ever seen worth six inches of steel in five skilful fingers? no one man, save the poor forgotten cripple, don gonsalvo alvarez. but he thanks god this night that he has spared his life, and left strength enough in his feeble limbs to beat him into a murderer's presence." "don gonsalvo! what do you mean?" cried carlos, shrinking from him. "lower thy voice, an' it please thee. but why should i fear to tell thee--_thee_, who hast good cause to be the death-foe of inquisitors? if thou art not cur and dastard too, thou wilt applaud and pray for me. for i suppose heretics pray, at least as well as inquisitors. i said i would reach the heart of gonzales de munebrãga this night. not with gold. there is another metal of keener temper, which enters in where even gold cannot come." "then you mean--_murder_?" said carlos, again drawing near him, and laying his hand on his arm. gonsalvo sank into a seat, half mechanically, half from an instinct that led him to spare the strength he would need so sorely by-and-by. in the momentary pause that followed, the clock of san vicente tolled the midnight hour. "yes," replied gonsalvo steadily; "i mean murder--as the shepherd does who strangles the wolf with his paw on the lamb." "oh, think--" "i have thought of everything. and mark me, don carlos, i have but one regret. it is that my weapon deals an instantaneous death. such revenge is poor and flavourless after all. i have heard of poisons whose least drop, mingling with the blood, ensures a slow agonizing death--time to learn what torture means, and to drain to the dregs the cup filled for others--to curse god and man ere he dies. for a phial of such, wherewith to anoint my blade, i would sell my soul to-night." "o gonsalvo, this is horrible! they are wild, wicked words you speak. pray god to pardon you!" "i adjure him by his justice to prosper me," said gonsalvo, raising his head defiantly. "he will not prosper you. and do you dream that such a mad achievement (suppose you even succeed in it) will open prison-doors and set captives free? alas! alas! that we are not at the mercy of a tyrant's _will_. for tyrants, the worst of them, sometimes relent; and--they are mortal. that which is crushing us is not a living being, an organism with nerves, and brain, and blood. it is a system, a thing, a terrible engine, that moves on in its resistless way, cold and lifeless, without will or feeling. strong as adamant, it kills, tortures, destroys; obeying laws far away out of our sight. were valdez and munebrãga, and all the board of inquisitors, dead corpses by the morning light, not a single dungeon in the triana would open its pitiless gate." "i do not believe _that_," replied gonsalvo, rather more quietly. "surely there must be some confusion, of which advantage may be taken by friends of the prisoners. this, indeed, is the motive which now induces me to confide in you. _you_ may know those who, if they had the chance, could strike a shrewd blow to save their dearest on earth from torture and death." but gonsalvo read no answer in the sorrowful face of carlos to the searching look of inquiry with which he said this. after a silence he went on,-"suppose the worst, however. the holy office sorely needs a little blood-letting, and will be much the better for it. whoever succeeds, munebrãga will have my dagger flashing in his eyes, and will take care how he deals with his prisoners, and whom he arrests." "i implore you to think of yourself," said carlos. gonsalvo smiled. "i know i shall pay the forfeit," he said, "even as those who slew the inquisitor pedro arbues before the high altar in saragossa. but"--here the smile faded, and the stern set look returned to his face--"i shall not pay more, for a man's triumphant vengeance, than those fiends will dare to inflict upon a tender, delicately nurtured girl for the crime of a mystic meditation, or a few words of prayer not properly rounded off with an ave." "true. but then you will suffer alone. she has god with her." "i _can_ suffer alone." for that word carlos envied him. _he_ shrank in terror from loneliness, from suffering, shuddering at the very thought of the dungeon and the torture-room. and just then the first quarter of his hour of grace chimed from the clock of san vicente. what if he and pepe should fail to meet? he would not think of that now. whatever happened, gonsalvo _must_ be saved. he went on,-"here you can suffer alone and be strong. but how will you endure the loneliness of the long hereafter, away from god's presence, from light and life and hope? are you content that you, and she for whom you give your life, should be sundered throughout eternity?" "nay; i am casting my lot in with hers. if the church curses her (pure and holy as she ever was), its anathema shall fall on me too. if only the church's key opens heaven, she and i will both stand without." "yet you know she will enter heaven. shall _you_?" gonsalvo hesitated. "it will not be the blood of a villain that will bar my way," he said. "god says, 'thou shalt not kill.'" "then what will he do with gonzales de munebrãga?" "he will do that with him of which, if you but dreamed, it would change your fiercest hate into saddest, deepest pity. have you realized what a span is our life here compared with the countless ages of eternity? think! for god's chosen a few weeks, or months at most, of solitude and fear and pain, ended perhaps by--but that is as he pleases; _ended_, at all events. then add up the million years, fill them with the joy of victory, and the presence and love of christ himself. can they not, and we for them, be content with this?" "are you content with it yourself?" gonsalvo suddenly interrupted. "you seek flight." the glow faded from the face of carlos, and his eyes sank to the ground. "christ has not called me yet," he answered in a lower tone. there was a silence; then he resumed: "turn now to the other side. would you change, even this hour, with gonzales de munebrãga? but take him from his wealth, and his pomp, and his sinful luxuries, all defiled with blood, and what remains for him? everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." "everlasting fire!" gonsalvo repeated, as if the thought pleased him. "leave him in god's hand. it is a stronger hand than yours, don gonsalvo." "everlasting fire! i would send him there to-night." "and whither would you send your own sinful soul?" "god might pardon, though the church cursed." "possibly. but to enter god's heaven you need something besides pardon." "what?" asked gonsalvo, half wearily, half incredulously. "'holiness; without which no man can see the lord.'" "holiness?" gonsalvo questioned, as if the word was strange to him, and he attached no meaning to it. "yes," carlos went on, with intense and ever increasing earnestness; "unless, even from that passionate heart of yours, revenge and hatred are banished, you can _never_ see god, never come where--" "hold thy peace, trifler!" gonsalvo interrupted with angry impatience. "too long have i tarried, listening to thine idle talk. priests and women are content with words; brave men _act_. farewell to thee!" "one word more, only one." carlos drew near and laid his hand on his cousin's arm. "nay, you _shall_ listen to me. seemeth it to you a thing incredible that that heart of yours can be changed and softened to a love like his who prayed on the cross for his murderers? yet it can be. _he_ can do it. he gives pardon, holiness, peace. peace of which you dream not now, but which _she_ knows full well. o don gonsalvo, better join her where she is going, than wildly, rashly, and most uselessly peril your soul to avenge her!" "uselessly! were that true indeed--" "ay de mi! who can doubt it?" "would i had time for thought!" "take it, in god's name, and pray him to keep you from a great crime." for a few moments he sat still--still as the dead. then he started suddenly. "already the hour is passing," he exclaimed; "i shall be too late. fool that i was, to be almost moved from my purpose by the idle words of a--the weakness is past now. still, ere we part, give me thy hand, don carlos, for, on my faith, i never liked thee half so well." very sorrowfully carlos extended it, rather wondering as he did so that the energetic gonsalvo failed to spring from his seat and prepare to be gone. gonsalvo stirred not, even to take the offered hand. a deathlike paleness overspread his face, and a cry of terror had well nigh broken from his lips. but he choked it back. "something is strangely wrong with me," he faltered. "i cannot move. i feel dead--_dead_--from the waist down." "god has spoken to you from heaven," said carlos solemnly. he felt as if a miracle had been wrought in his presence. his protestantism had not freed him from the superstitions of his age. had he lived three centuries later, he would have seen nothing miraculous in the disease with which gonsalvo was stricken, but rather have called it the natural result of intense agitation and excitement, acting upon a frame already weakened. yet the reckless gonsalvo was the more superstitious of the two. he was at war with the creed in which he had been nurtured; but that older and deeper kind of superstition which has its root in human nature had, for this very reason, a stronger hold upon him. "dead--dead!" he repeated, the words falling from his lips in broken, awe-struck whispers. "the limbs i misused! the feet that led me into sin! god--god have mercy upon me! it is thy hand!" "it is his hand; a sign he has not forsaken thee; that he means to bring thee back to himself. oh, my cousin, do not despair. hope yet in his mercy, for it is great." carlos knelt down beside him, took his passive hand in his, and spoke earnest, loving words of hope and comfort. the last quarter, ere the single stroke that should announce that the hour appointed for his own flight was past, chimed from the clock on the church tower. yet he did not move--he had forgotten self. at last, however, he said, "but it may be something can be done to relieve you. you ought to have medical aid without delay. i should have thought of this before. i will rouse the household." "no; that would endanger you. go on your way, and bid the porter do it when you are gone." it was too late, the household _was_ roused. a loud authoritative knocking at the outer gate sent the blood back from the hearts of both with sudden and horrible fear. there was a sound of opening gates, followed by footsteps--voices--cries. gonsalvo was the first to understand all. "the alguazils of the holy office!" he exclaimed. "i am lost!" cried carlos, large drops gathering on his brow. "conceal yourself," said gonsalvo; but he knew his words were vain. already his quick ear had caught the sound of his cousin's name; and already footsteps were on the stairs. carlos glanced round the room. for a moment his eye rested on the window, eighty feet above the ground. better spring from it and perish! no, that would be self-murder. in god's name he would await them manfully. "you will be searched," gonsalvo whispered hurriedly; "have you aught about your person that may add to your danger?" carlos drew from its place of concealment the heroic juliano's treasured gift. "i will hide it," said his cousin; and taking it hastily, he slipped it beneath his inner vest, where it lay in strange neighbourhood with a small, exquisitely tempered poniard, destined never to be used. the torch-light within, perhaps the voices, guided the alguazils to that room. a hand was placed on the door. "they are coming, don carlos," cried gonsalvo; "i am thy murderer." "no--no fault of thine. always remember that," said carlos, in his sharpest anguish generous still. then for one brief moment, that seemed an age, he was deaf to all outward things. afterwards he was himself again. and something more than himself perhaps. now, as in other moments of intense excitement, the spirit of his race descended on him. when the alguazils entered, it was don carlos alvarez de santillanos y meñaya who met them, with folded arms, with steadfast eye, and pale but dauntless forehead. all was quiet, regular, and most orderly. don manuel, roused from his slumbers, appeared with the alguazils, and respectfully requested a sight of the warrant upon which they proceeded. it was produced; and all could see that it was duly signed, and sealed with the famous seal--the sword and olive branch, the dog with the flaming brand, the sorely outraged, "justitia et misericordia." had don manuel alvarez been king of all the spains, and carlos his heir-apparent, he dared not have offered the least resistance then. he had no wish to resist, however; he bowed obsequiously, and protested his own and his family's devotion to the faith and the holy office. but he added (perhaps merely as a matter of form), that he could bring many witnesses of unimpeachable character to testify to his nephew's orthodoxy, and hoped to succeed in clearing him from whatever odious imputation had induced their reverences to order his arrest. meanwhile gonsalvo gnashed his teeth in impotent rage and despair. he would have bartered his life for two minutes of health and strength in which to rush suddenly on the alguazils, and give carlos time to escape, let the consequences of such frantic audacity be what they might. but the bands of disease, stronger than iron, made the body a prison for the indignant, tortured spirit. carlos spoke for the first time. "i am ready to go with you," he said to the chief of the alguazils. "do you wish to examine my apartment? you are welcome. it is the chamber over this." having gone over every detail of such a scene a thousand times in imagination, he knew that the examination of papers and personal effects usually formed a part of it. and he had no fears for the result, as, in preparation for his flight, he had carefully destroyed everything that he thought could implicate himself or any one else. "don carlos--cousin!" cried gonsalvo suddenly, as surrounded by the officers he was about to leave the room. "vaya con dios! a braver man than you have i never seen." carlos turned on him one long, sorrowful gaze. "_tell ruy_," he said. that was all. then there was trampling of footsteps overhead, and the sound of voices, not excited or angry, but cool, business-like, even courteous. then the footsteps descended, passed the door of gonsalvo's room, sounded along the corridor, grew fainter on the great staircase, died away in the court. less than an hour afterwards, the great gate of the triana opened to receive a new victim. the grave familiar held it, bowing low, until the prisoner and his guard had passed through. then it was swung to again, and barred and bolted, shutting out from don carlos alvarez all help and hope, all charity and all mercy--save only the mercy of god. xxvii. my brother's keeper. "since she loved him, he went carefully, bearing a thing so precious in his hand." george eliot. about a week afterwards, don juan alvarez dismounted at the door of his uncle's mansion. his shout soon brought the porter, a "pure and ancient christian," who had spent nearly all his life in the service of the family. "god save you, father," said juan. "is my brother in the house?" "no, señor and your worship,"--the old man hesitated, and looked confused. "where shall i find him, then?" cried juan; "speak at once, if you know." "may it please your noble excellency, i--i know nothing. at least--the saints have mercy on us!" and he trembled from head to foot. juan thrust him aside, nearly knocking him down in his haste, and dashed breathless into his uncle's private room, on the right hand side of the patio. don manuel was there, seated at a table, looking over some papers. "where is my brother?" asked juan sternly and abruptly, searching his face with his keen dark eyes. "holy saints defend us!" cried don manuel, nearly startled out of his ordinary decorum. "and what madness brings _you_ here?" "where is my brother?" juan repeated, in the same tone, and without moving a muscle. "be quiet--be reasonable, nephew don juan. do not make a disturbance; it will be worse for all of us. we did all we could--" "for heaven's sake, señor, will you answer me?" "have patience. we did all we could for him, i was about to say; and more than we ought. the guilt was his own, if he was suspected and taken--" "_taken!_ then i come too late." sinking into the nearest seat, he covered his face with both hands, and groaned aloud. don manuel alvarez had never learned to reverence the sacredness of a great sorrow. "rushing in" where such as he might well fear to tread, he presumed to offer consolation. "come, then, nephew don juan," he said, "you know as well as i do that 'water that has run by will turn no mill,' and that 'there is no good in throwing the rope after the bucket.' no man can alter that which is past. all we can do is to avoid worse mischief in future." "when was it?" asked juan, without looking up. "a week agone." "seven days and nights!" "thereabouts. but _you_--are you in love with destruction yourself, that, when you were safe and well at nuera, you must needs comes hither again?" "i came to save him." "unheard of folly! if _you_ have been meddling with these matters--and it is but too likely, seeing you were always with him (though, the saints forbid i should suspect an honourable soldier like you of anything worse than imprudence)--do you not know they will wring the whole truth out of _him_ with very little trouble, and your life is not worth a brass maravedì?" juan started to his feet, and glared scorn and defiance in his uncle's face. "whoever dares to hint so vile a slander," he cried, "by my faith he shall repent it, were he my uncle ten times over. don carlos alvarez never did, and never will, betray a trust, let those wretches deal with him as they may. but i know him; he will die, or worse,--they will make him mad." here juan's voice failed, and he stood in silent horror, gazing on the dread vision that rose before his mind. don manuel was daunted by his vehemence. "you are the best judge yourself of what amount of danger you may be incurring," he said. "but let me tell you, señor don juan, that i hold you rather a dangerous guest to harbour under the circumstances. to have the alguazils of the holy office twice in my house would be enough to cost me all my places, not to mention the disgrace of it." "you shall not lose a real by me or mine," returned juan proudly. "i did not mean, however, to refuse you hospitality," said don manuel, relieved, yet a little uneasy, perhaps even remorseful. "but i mean to decline it, señor. i have only two favours to ask of you," he continued: "one, to allow me free intercourse with my betrothed; the other, to permit me"--his voice faltered, stopped. with a great effort he resumed--"to permit me to examine my brother's room, and whatever effects he may have left there." "now you speak more rationally," said his uncle, mistaking the self-control of indignant pride for genuine calmness. "but as to your brother's effects, you may spare your pains; for the alguazils set the seal of the holy office upon them on the night of his arrest, and they have since carried them away. as to the other matter, what doña beatriz may think of the connection, after the infamy in which your branch of the family is involved, i cannot tell." a burning flush mounted to juan's cheek as he answered, "i trust my betrothed; even as i trust my brother." "you can see the lady herself. she may be better able than i to persuade you to consult for your own safety. for if you are not a madman, you will return at once to nuera, which you ought never to have quitted; or you will take the earliest opportunity of rejoining the army." "i shall not stir from seville till i obtain my brother's deliverance; or--" juan did not name the other alternative. involuntarily he placed his hand on his belt, in which he had concealed certain old family jewels, which he believed would produce a considerable sum of money; for his last faint hope for carlos lay in a judicious appeal to the all-powerful "don dinero."[17] [17] the lord dollar. "you will _never_ leave it, then," said don manuel. "and you must hold me excused from aiding and abetting your folly. your brother's business has cost me and mine more than enough already. i had rather ten thousand times that a man had died of the plague in my house, were it for the scandal's sake alone! nor, bad as it is, is the scandal all. since that miserable night, my unhappy son gonsalvo, in whose apartment the arrest took place, has been sick unto death, and out of his mind." "don gonsalvo! what brought my brother to his room?" "the devil, whose servant he is, may know; i do not. he was found there, in his sword and cloak, as if ready to go forth, when the officers came." "did he leave no message--no word for me?" "not one word. i know not if he spoke at all, save to offer to show the alguazils his personal effects. to do him justice, nothing suspicious was found amongst them. but the less said on the subject the better. i wash my hands of it, and of him. i thought he would have done honour to the family; but he has proved its sorest disgrace." "señor, what you say of him you say of me also," said juan, growing white with anger. "and already i have heard quite enough." "that is as you please, señor don juan." "i shall only trespass upon you for the favour you have promised me--permission to wait upon doña beatriz." "i shall apprise her of your presence, and give her leave to act as she sees fit." and glad to put an end to the interview, don manuel left the room. juan sank into a seat once more, and gave himself up to an agony of grief for his brother. so absorbed was he in his sorrow, that a light footstep entered and approached unheard by him. at last a small hand touched his arm. he started and looked up. whatever his anguish of heart might be, he was still the loyal lover of doña beatriz. so the next moment found him on his knees saluting that hand with his lips. and then followed certain ceremonies abundantly interesting to those who enact them, but apt to prove tedious when described. "my lady's devoted slave," said don juan, using the ordinary language of the time, "bears a breaking heart to-day. we knew neither father nor mother; there were but the two of us." "did you not receive my letter, praying you to remain at nuera?" asked the lady. "pardon me, queen of my heart, in that i dared to disregard a wish of yours. but i knew _his_ danger, and i came to save him. alas! too late." "i am not sure that i do pardon you, don juan." "then, i presume so far as to say, that i know doña beatriz better than she knows herself. indeed, had i acted otherwise, she would scarce have pardoned me. how would it have been possible for me to consult for my own safety, leaving him, alone and unaided, in such fearful peril?" "you acknowledge there is peril--_to you_?" "there may be, señora." "ay de mi! why, in heaven's name, have you thus involved yourself? o don juan, you have dealt very cruelly with me!" "light of my eyes, life of my life, what mean you by these words?" "was it not cruel to allow your brother, with his gentle, winning ways, and his soft specious words, to lead you step by step from the faith of our fathers, until he had you entangled in i know not what horrible heresies, and made you put in peril your honour, your liberty, your life--everything?" "we only sought truth." "truth!" echoed the lady, with a contemptuous stamp of her small foot and twirl of her fan. "what is truth? what good will truth do me if those cruel men drag you from your bed at midnight, take you to that dreadful place, stretch you on the rack?" but that last horror was too much to bear; doña beatriz hid her face in her hands, and wept and sobbed passionately. juan soothed her with every tender, lover-like art. "i will be very prudent, dearest lady," he said at last; adding, as he gazed on her beautiful face, "i have too much to live for not to hold life very precious." "will you promise to fly--to leave the city _now_, before suspicions are awakened which may make flight impossible?" "my first and my only love, i would die to fulfil your slightest wish. but this thing i cannot do." "and wherefore not, señor don juan?" "can you ask? i must hazard everything, spend everything, in the chance--if there be a chance--of saving him, or, at least, of softening his fate." "then god help us both," said doña beatriz. "amen! pray to him day and night, señora. perhaps he may have pity on us." "there is no chance of saving don carlos. know you not that of all the prisoners the holy house receives, scarce one in a thousand goes forth again to take his place in the world?" juan shook his head. he knew well that his task was almost hopeless; yet, even by doña beatriz, he was not to be moved from his determination. but he thanked her in strong, passionate words for her faith in him and her truth to him. "no sorrow can divide us, my beloved," he said, "nor even what they call shame, falsely as they speak therein. you are my star, that shines on me throughout the darkness." "i have promised." "my uncle's family may seek to divide us, and i think they will. but the lady of my heart will not heed their idle words?" doña beatriz smiled. "i am a lavella," she said. "do you not know our motto?--'true unto death.'" "it is a glorious motto. may it be mine too." "take heed what you do, don juan. if you love me, you will look well to your footsteps, since, wherever they lead, mine are bound to follow." saying this, she rose, and stood gazing in his face with flushed cheek and kindling eyes. the words were such as might thrill any lover's heart with joy and gratitude. yet there was something in the look which accompanied them that changed joy and gratitude into vague fear and apprehension. the light in that dark eye seemed borrowed from the fire of some sublime but terrible resolve within. juan's heart quailed, though he knew not why, as he said, "my queen should never tread except through flowery paths." doña beatriz took up a little golden crucifix that, attached to a rosary of coral beads, hung from her girdle. "you see this cross, don juan?" "yes, señora mia." "on that horrible night when they dragged your brother to prison, i swore a sacred oath upon it. you esteemed me a child, don juan, when you read me chapters from your book, and talked freely to me about god, and faith, and the soul's salvation. perchance i was a child in some things. for i supposed them good words; how could they be otherwise, since you spoke them? i listened and believed, after a fashion; half thinking all the time of the pretty fans and trinkets you brought me, or of the pattern of such and such an one's mantilla that i had seen at mass. but your brother tore the veil from my eyes at last, and made me understand that those specious words, with which a child played childishly, were the crime that finds no pardon here or hereafter. of the hereafter i know not; of the here i know too much, god help me! there be fair ladies, not more deeply involved than i, who have changed their gilded saloons for the dungeons of the triana. but then it matters not so much about me. for i am not like other girls, who have fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers to care for them. saving don carlos (who was good to me for your sake), no one ever gave me more than the half-sorrowful, half-pitying kindness one might give a pet parrot from the indies. therefore, thinking over all things, and knowing well your reckless nature, señor don juan, i swore that night upon this holy cross, that if by evil hap _you_ were attainted for heresy, _i_ would go next day to the triana and accuse myself of the same crime." juan did not for a moment doubt that she would do it; and thus a chain, light as silk but strong as adamant, was flung around him. "doña beatriz, for my sake--" he began to plead. "for _my_ sake, don juan will take care of his life and liberty," she interrupted, with a smile that, if it had a little sadness, had very far more of triumph in it. she knew the power her resolve gave her over him: she had bought it dearly, and she meant to use it. "is it _still_ your wish to remain here," she continued; "or will you go abroad, and wait for better times?" juan paused for a moment. "no choice is left me while carlos pines uncomforted in a dungeon," he said at last, firmly, though very sorrowfully. "then you know what you risk, that is all," answered the lady, whose will was a match for his. in a marvellously short time had love and sorrow transformed the young and childish girl into a passionate, determined woman, with all the fire of her own southern skies in her heart. ere he departed, juan pleaded for permission to visit her frequently. but here again she showed a keen-sighted apprehensiveness for _him_, which astonished him. she cautioned him against their cousins, manuel and balthazar; who, if they thought him in danger of arrest, were quite capable of informing against him themselves, to secure a share of his patrimony. or they might gain the same end, without the disgrace of such a baseness, by putting him quietly out of the way with their daggers. on all accounts, his frequent presence at the house would be undesirable, and might be dangerous; but she agreed to inform him, by means of certain signals (which they arranged together), when he might pay a visit to her with safety. then, having bidden her farewell, don juan turned his back on his uncle's house with a heavy heart. xxviii. reaping the whirlwind. "all is lost, except a little life." byron. nearly a fortnight passed away before a tiny lace kerchief, fluttering at nightfall through the jealous grating of one of the few windows of don manuel's house that looked towards the street, told juan that he was at liberty to seek admission the next day. he was permitted to enter; but he explored the patio and all the adjacent corridors and rooms without seeing the face of which he was in search. he did not, indeed, meet any one, not even a domestic; for it was the eve of the feast of the ascension, and nearly all the household had gone to see the great tabernacle carried in state to the cathedral and set up there, in preparation for the solemnities of the following day. he thought this a good opportunity for satisfying his longing to visit the apartment his brother had been wont to occupy. in spite of what his uncle had said to the contrary, and indeed of the dictates of his own reason, he could not relinquish the hope that something which belonged to him--perhaps even some word or line traced by his hand--might reward his careful search. he ascended the stairs; not stealthily, or as if ashamed of his errand, for no one had the right to forbid him. he reached the turret without meeting any one, but had hardly placed his foot upon the stair that led to its upper apartment, when a voice called out, not very loudly,-"chien va?" it was gonsalvo's. juan answered,-"it is i--don juan." "come to me, for heaven's sake!" a private interview with a madman is not generally thought particularly desirable. but juan was a stranger to fear. he entered the room immediately, and was horror-stricken at the change in his cousin's appearance. a tangled mass of black hair mingled with his beard, and fell neglected over the pillow; while large, wild, melancholy eyes lit up the pallor of his wasted face. he lay, or rather reclined, on a couch, half covered by an embroidered quilt, but wearing a loose doublet, very carelessly thrown on. of late the cousins had been far from friendly. still juan from compassion stretched out his hand. but gonsalvo would not touch it. "did you know all," he said, "you would stab me where i lie, and thus make an end at once of the most miserable life under god's heaven." "i fear you are very ill, my cousin," said juan, kindly; for he thought gonsalvo's words the offspring of his wandering fancy. "from the waist downwards i am dead. it is god's hand; and he is just." "does your physician give hope of your recovery from this seizure?" with something like his old short, bitter laugh, gonsalvo answered--"i have no physician." "this must be one of his delusions," thought juan; "or else, since he cannot have losada, he has refused, with his usual obstinacy, to see any one else." he said aloud,--"that is not right, cousin don gonsalvo. you ought not to neglect lawful means of cure. señor sylvester areto is a very skilful physician; you might safely place yourself in his hands." "only there is one slight objection--my father and my brothers would not permit me to see him." juan was in no doubt how to regard this statement; but hoping to extract from him some additional information respecting his brother, he turned the conversation. "when did this malady seize you?" he asked. "close the door gently, and i will tell you all. and oh! tread softly, lest my mother, who lies asleep in the room beneath, worn out with watching, should wake and separate us. then must i bear my guilt and my anguish unconfessed to the grave." juan obeyed, and took a seat beside his cousin's couch. "sit where i can see your face," said gonsalvo; "i will not shrink even from _that_. don juan, i am your brother's murderer." juan started, and his colour changed rapidly. "if i did not think you were mad--" "i am no more mad than you are," gonsalvo interrupted. "i _was_ mad, indeed; but that horrible night, when god smote my body, i regained my reason. i see all things clearly now--too late." "am i to understand, then," said juan, rising from his seat, and speaking in measured tones, though his eye was like a tiger's--"am i to understand that you--_you_--denounced my brother? if so, thank god that you are lying helpless there." "i am not quite so vile a thing as that. i did not intend to harm a hair of his head; but i detained him here to his ruin. he had the means of escape provided, and but for me would have been in safety ere the alguazils came." "well for both of us your guilt was not greater. still, you cannot expect me--just yet--to forgive you." "i expect no forgiveness from man," said gonsalvo, who perhaps disdained to plead in his own exculpation the generous words of carlos. juan had by this time changed his tone towards his cousin, and assumed his perfect sanity; though, engrossed by the thought of his brother, he was quite unconscious of the mental process by which he had arrived at this conclusion. he asked,-"but why did you detain him? how did you come to know at all of his intended flight?" "he had a safe asylum provided for him by some friend--i know not whom," said gonsalvo, in reply. "he was going forth at midnight to seek it. at the same hour i also"--(for a moment he hesitated, but quickly went on)--"was going forth--to plunge a dagger in my enemy's heart. we met face to face; and each confided his errand to the other. he sought, by argument and entreaty, to move me from a purpose which seemed to him a great crime. but ere our debate was ended, god laid his hand in judgment upon me; and whilst don carlos lingered, speaking words of comfort--brave and kind, though vain--the alguazils came, and he was taken." juan listened in gloomy silence. "did he leave no message, not one word, for me?" he asked at last, in a low voice. "yes; one word. filled with wonder at the calmness with which he met his terrible fate, i cried out, as they led him from the room, 'vaya con dios, don carlos, a braver man than you have i never seen!' with one long mournful look, that haunts me still, he said, '_tell ruy!_'" strong man as he was, don juan alvarez bowed his head and wept. they were the first tears the great sorrow had wrung from him--almost the first that he ever remembered shedding. gonsalvo saw no shame in them. "weep on," he said--"weep on; and thank god that thy tears are for sorrow only, not for remorse." hoarse and heavy sobs shook the strong frame. for some time they were the only sounds that broke the stillness. at length gonsalvo said, slowly,-"he gave me something to keep, which in right should belong to thee." juan looked up. gonsalvo half raised himself, and drew a cushion from beneath his head. first he took off its outer cover of fine holland; then he inserted his hand into an opening that seemed like an accidental rip, and, not without some trouble, drew out a small volume. juan seized it eagerly: well did he know his brother's spanish testament. "take it," said gonsalvo; "but remember it is a dangerous treasure." "perhaps you are not sorry to part with it?" "i deserve that you should say so," answered gonsalvo, with unwonted gentleness. "but the truth is," he added, with a wan, sickly smile, "nothing can part me from it now, for i have learned almost every word of it by heart." "how could you, in so short a time, accomplish such a task?" asked juan, in surprise. "easily enough. i was alone long hours of the day, when i could read; and in the silent, sleepless nights i could recall and repeat what i read during the day. but for that i should be in truth what they call me--mad." "then you love its words?" "i _fear_ them," cried gonsalvo, with strange energy, flinging out his wasted arm over the counterpane. "they are words of life--words of fire. they are, to the church's words, the priest's threatenings, the priest's pardons, what your limbs, throbbing with healthy vigorous life, are to mine--cold, dead, impotent; or what the living champion--steel from head to heel, the toledo blade in his strong right hand--is to the painted san cristofro on the cathedral door. because i dare to say so much, my father pretends to think me mad; lest, wrecked as i am in mind and body, i should still find one terrible consolation,--that of flinging the truth for once in the face of the scribes and pharisees, and then suffering for it--like don carlos." he was silent from exhaustion, and lay with closed eyes and deathlike countenance. after a long pause, he resumed, in a low, weak voice,-"some words are good--perhaps. there was san pablo, who was a blasphemer, and injurious." "don gonsalvo, my brother once said he would give his right hand that you shared his faith." "oh, did he?" a quick flush overspread the wan face. "but hark! a step on the stairs! my mother's." "i am neither afraid nor ashamed to be found here," said don juan. "my poor mother! she has shown me more tenderness of late than i deserved at her hands. do not let us involve her in trouble." juan greeted his aunt with due courtesy, and even attempted some words of condolence upon his cousin's illness. but he saw that the poor lady was terribly disconcerted, and indeed frightened, by his presence there. and not without cause, since mischief, even to bloodshed, might have followed had don manuel or either of his sons found juan in communication with gonsalvo. she conjured him to go, adding, by way of inducement,-"doña beatriz is taking the air in the garden." "availing myself of your gracious permission, señora my aunt, i shall offer her my homage there; and so i kiss your feet.--adiõs, don gonsalvo." "adiõs, my cousin." doña katarina followed him out of the room. "he is not sane," she whispered anxiously, laying her hand on his arm; "he is out of his mind. you perceive it clearly, don juan?" "certainly i shall not dispute it, señora," juan answered, prudently. xxix. a friend at court. "i have a soul and body that exact a comfortable care in many ways." r. browning. don juan's peril was extreme. well known as he was to many of the imprisoned lutherans, it seemed a desperate chance that, amongst the numerous confessions wrung from them, no mention of his name should occur. he knew himself deeply implicated in the crime for which they were suffering--the one unpardonable crime in the eyes of rome. moreover, unlike his brother, whose temperament would have led him to avoid danger by every lawful means, he was by nature brave even to rashness, and bold even to recklessness. it was his custom to wear his heart on his lips; and though of late stern necessity had taught him to conceal what he thought, it was neither his inclination nor his habit to disguise what he felt. probably, not even his desire to aid carlos would have prevented his compromising himself by some rash word or deed, had not the soft hand of doña beatriz, strong in its weakness, held him back from destruction. not for one instant could he forget her terrible vow. with this for ever before his eyes, it is little marvel if he was willing to do anything, to bear anything--ay, almost to feign anything--rather than involve her he loved in a fate inconceivably horrible. and--alas for the brave, honest-hearted, truthful don juan alvarez!--it was often necessary to feign. if he meant to remain in seville, and to avoid the dungeons of the inquisition, he must obviate--or remove--suspicion by protesting, both by word and action, his devotion to the catholic church, and his hatred of heresy. could he stoop to this? gradually, and more and more, as each day's emergency made it more and more necessary, he _did_ stoop to it. he told himself it was all for his brother's sake. and though such a line of conduct was intensely repugnant to his character, it was not contrary to his principles. to conceal an opinion is one thing, to deny a friend quite another. and while carlos had found a friend, juan had only embraced an opinion. he himself would have said that he had found truth--had devoted himself to the cause of freedom. but where were truth and freedom now, with all the bright anticipations of their ultimate triumph which he had been wont to indulge? as far as his native land was concerned (and it must be owned that his native eye scarcely reached beyond "the spains"), a single day had blotted out his glowing visions for ever. almost at the same moment, as if by some secret preconcerted signal, the leading protestants in seville, in valladolid, all over the kingdom, had been arrested and thrown into prison. swiftly, silently, with the utmost order and regularity, had the whole thing been accomplished. every name that juan had heard carlos mention with admiration and sympathy was now the name of a helpless captive. the reformed church of spain existed no longer, or existed only in dungeons. in what quarter the storm had first arisen, that burst so suddenly upon the community of the faithful, don juan never knew. it is probable the holy office had long been silently watching its prey, waiting for the moment of action to arrive. in seville, it is said, a spy had been set upon some of losada's congregation, who revealed their meeting to the inquisitors. while in valladolid, the foul treachery of the wife of one of the protestants furnished the holy office with the means of bringing her husband and his friends to the stake. don juan, whose young heart had lately beat so high with hope, now bowed his head in despair. and despairing of freedom, he lost his confidence in truth also. in opinion he was still a decided lutheran. he accepted every doctrine of the reformed as against the roman catholic creed. but the hold he once had upon these doctrines as living realities was slackened. he did not doubt that justification by faith was a scriptural dogma, but he did not think it necessary to die for it. compared with the tremendous interest of the fate of carlos and the peril of beatriz, and amidst his desperate struggles to aid the one and shield the other, doctrinal questions grew pale and faint to him. nor had he yet learned to throw himself, in utter weakness, upon a strength greater than his own, and a love that knows no limits. he did not feel his weakness: he felt strong, in the strength of a brave heart struggling against cruel wrong; strong to resist, and, if it might be, to conquer his fate. at first he cherished a hope that his brother was not actually in the secret dungeons of the inquisition. for so great was the number of the captives, that the public gaols of the city and the convent prisons were full of them; and some had to be lodged even in private houses. as carlos had been one of the last arrested, there seemed reason to suppose that he might be amongst those thus accommodated; in which case it would be much easier both to communicate with him, and to alleviate his fate, than if he were within the gloomy walls of the triana; there might be, moreover, the possibility of forming some plan for his deliverance. but juan's diligent and persevering search resulted at last in the conviction that his brother was in the "santa casa" itself. this conviction sent a chill to his heart. he shuddered to think of his present suffering, whilst he feared the worst for the future, supposing that the inquisitors would take care to lodge in their own especial fortress those whom they esteemed the most heinous transgressors. he engaged a lodging in the triana suburb, which the river, spanned by a bridge of boats, separated from the city. there were several reasons for this choice of residence; but by far the greatest was, that those who lingered beneath the walls of the grim old castle could sometimes see, behind its grated windows, spectral faces raised to catch the few scanty gleams of daylight which fell to their lot. long weary hours did juan watch there, hoping to recognize the face he loved. but always in vain. when he went into the city, it was sometimes for other purposes than to visit doña beatriz. it was as often to seek the precincts of the magnificent cathedral, and to pace up and down that terrace whose massive truncated pillars, raised when the romans founded a heathen temple on the spot, had stood throughout the long ages of moslem domination. now the place was consecrated to christian worship, and yet it was put to no hallowed use. rich merchants, in many a varying garb, that told of different nations, trod the stately colonnade, and bought and sold and made bargains there. for in those days (strange as seems to us the irreverence of the so-called "ages of faith") that terrace was the royal exchange of seville, then a mercantile city of great importance. don juan alvarez diligently resorted thither, and held many a close and earnest conversation with a keen-eyed, hawk-nosed jew, whom he met there. isaac osorio, or more properly, isaac ben osorio, was a notorious money-lender, who had often "obliged" don manuel's sons, not unfairly requiring heavy interest to counter-balance the hazardous nature of his investments. callings branded as unlawful are apt to prove particularly gainful. the jew was willing to "oblige" don juan also, upon certain conditions. he was not by any means ignorant of the purpose for which his money was needed. of course he was himself a christian in name, for none other would have been permitted to live upon spanish ground. but by what wrongs, tortures, agonies worse than death, he and those like him had been forced to accept christian baptism, will never be known until christ comes again to judge the false church that has slandered him. will it be nothing in his sight that millions of the souls for whom he died have been driven to hate his name--that name so unutterably precious? osorio derived grim satisfaction from the thought that the christians were now imprisoning, torturing, burning each other. it reminded him of the grand old days in his people's history, when the lord of hosts was wont to stretch forth his mighty arm and trouble the armies of the aliens, turning every man's hand against his brother. let the gentiles bite and devour one another, the child of abraham could look upon their quarrels with calm indifference. but if he had any sympathy, it was for the weaker side. he was rather disposed to help a christian youth who was trying to save his brother from the same cruel fangs in which so many sons of israel had writhed and struggled. don juan, therefore, found him accommodating, and even lenient. from time to time he advanced to him considerable sums, first upon the jewels he brought with him from nuera, and then, alas! upon his patrimony itself. not without a keen pang did juan thus mortgage the inheritance of his fathers. but he began to realize the bitter truth that a flight from spain, and a new career in some foreign land, would eventually be the only course open to him--if indeed he escaped with life. nor would the armies of spain henceforth be more free to him than her soil. fortunately, the necessity for rejoining his regiment had not arisen. for the brief war in which he served was over now; and as the promised captaincy had not yet been assigned to him, he was at liberty for the present to remain at home. he largely bribed the head-gaoler of the inquisitorial prison, besides supplying him liberally with necessaries and comforts for his brother's use. gaspar benevidio bore the worst of characters, both for cruelty and avarice; still, juan had no resource but to trust implicitly to his honour, in the hope that at least some portion of what he gave would be allowed to reach the prisoner. but not a single gleam of information about him could be gained from benevidio, who, like all other servants of the inquisition, was bound by a solemn oath to reveal nothing that passed within its walls. he also bribed some of the attendants and satellites of the all-powerful inquisitor, munebrãga. it was his desire to obtain a personal interview with the great man himself, that he might have the opportunity of trying the intercession of don dinero, to whose advances he was known to be not altogether obdurate. for the purpose of soliciting an audience, he repaired one evening to the splendid gardens belonging to the triana, to await the inquisitor, who was expected shortly to return from a sail for pleasure on the guadalquivir. he was sick at heart of the gorgeous tropical plants that surrounded him, of the myrtle-blossoms that were showered on his path; of all that told of the hateful pomp and luxury in which the persecutor lived, while his victims pined unpitied in loathsome dungeons. yet neither by word, look, nor sign dared he betray the rage that was gnawing his heart. at length the shouts of the populace, who thronged the river's side, announced the approach of their idol; for such munebrãga was for the time. clad in costly silks and jewels, and surrounded by a brilliant little court, composed both of churchmen and laymen, the "lord inquisitor" stepped from his splendid purple-decked barge. don juan threw himself in his way, and modestly requested an audience. his bearing, though perfectly respectful, was certainly less obsequious than that to which munebrãga had been accustomed of late. so the minister of the holy office turned from him haughtily, though, as juan bitterly thought, "his father would have been proud to hold the stirrup for mine." "this is no fitting time to talk of business, señor," he said. "we are weary to-night, and need repose." at that moment a franciscan friar advanced from the group, and with his lowest bow and most reverent manner approached the inquisitor. "with the gracious permission of my very good lord, i shall address myself to the caballero, and report his errand to your sanctity. i have the honour of some acquaintance with his excellency's noble family." "as you please, fray," said the voice accustomed to speak the terrible words that doomed to the rack and the pulley, though no one would have suspected this from the bland, careless good-nature of its tones. "but see that you tarry not so as to lose your supper. howbeit, there is little need to caution you, or any other son of st. francis, against undue neglecting of the body." the son of st. francis made no answer, either because it was not worth while, or because those who take the crumbs from the rich man's table must ofttimes take his taunts therewith. he disengaged himself from the group, and turned towards juan a broad, good-humoured, not unintelligent face, which his former pupil recognized immediately. "fray sebastian gomez!" he exclaimed in astonishment. "and very much at the service of my noble señor don juan. will your excellency deign to bear me company for a little time? in yonder walk there are some rare flowers of rich colouring, which it were worth your while to observe." they turned into the path he indicated, while the lord inquisitor's silken train swept towards that half of the triana where godless luxury bore sway; the other half being consecrated to the twin demon, cruelty. "will it please your worship to look at these indian pinks?" said the friar. "you will not see that flower elsewhere in all the spains, save in the royal gardens. his imperial majesty brought it first from tunis." juan all but cursed the innocent flowers; but recollected in time that god made them, though they belonged to gonzales de munebrãga. "in heaven's name, what brings you here, fray sebastian?" he interrupted impatiently. "i thought to see only the black cowls of st. dominic about the--the minister of the holy office." "a little more softly, may i implore of your excellency? yonder casement is open.--pues,[18] señor, i am here in the capacity of a guest. nothing more." [18] well, or well then "every man to his taste," said juan, drily, as with a heedless foot he kicked off the beautiful scarlet flower of a rare cactus. "have a care, señor and your excellency; my lord is very proud of his cactus flowers." "then come with me to some spot of god's free earth where we can talk together, out of sight of him and his possessions." "nay, rest content, señor; and untire yourself in this fair arbour overlooking the river." "at least, god made the river," said juan, flinging himself, with a sigh of irritation and impatience, on the cushioned seat of the summer-house. fray sebastian seated himself also. "my lord," he began to explain, "has received me with all courtesy, and is good enough to desire my continual attendance. the fact is, señor, his reverence is a man of literary taste." juan allowed himself the solace of a quiet sneer. "oh, is he? very creditable to him, no doubt." "especially he is a great lover of the divine art of poesy." no _genuine_ love of the gentle art, whose great lesson is sympathy, did or could soften the inquisitor's hard heart. nor, had his wealth been doubled, could he have hired one real poet to sing his praise in strains worthy the ear of posterity. in an atmosphere so cold, the most ethereal spirit would have frozen. but it was in his power to buy flattery in rhyme, and it suited his inclination so to do. he liked the trick of rhyme, at once so easy and so charming in the sonorous castilian tongue--it was a pleasure of the ear which he keenly appreciated, as he did also those of the eye and the palate. "i addressed to him," fray sebastian continued with becoming modesty, "a little effort of my muse--really a mere trifle--on the suppression of heresy, comparing the lord inquisitor to michael the archangel, with the dragon beneath his feet. you understand, señor?" juan understood so well that it was with difficulty he refrained from flinging the unlucky rhymester into the river. but of late he had learned many a lesson in prudence. still, his words sounded almost fierce in their angry scorn. "i suppose he gave you in return--a good dinner." but fray sebastian would not take offence. he answered mildly, "he was pleased to express his approval of my humble effort, and to admit me into his noble household; where, except my poor exertions to amuse and untire him by my conversation may be accounted a service, i am of no service to him whatever." "so you are clad in purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day," said juan, with contempt that he cared not to conceal. "as to purple and fine linen, señor, i am an unworthy son of st. francis; and it is well known to your excellency that by the rules of our order not even one scrap of holland---but you are laughing at me, as you used in old times, señor don juan." "god knows, i have little heart to laugh. in those old times you speak of, fray, there was no great love between you and me; and no marvel, for i was a wild and idle lad. but i think you loved my gentle brother, don carlos!" "that i did, señor, as did every one. has any evil come upon him? st. francis forbid!" "worse evil than i care to name. he lies in yonder tower." "the blessed virgin have pity on us!" cried fray sebastian, crossing himself. "i thought you would have heard of his arrest," juan continued, sadly. "i, señor! never a breath. holy saints defend us! how could i, or any one, dream that a young gentleman of noblest race, well learned, and of truly pious disposition, would have had the ill luck to fall under so foul a suspicion? doubtless it is the work of some personal enemy. and--ah, woe is me! 'the clattering horse-shoe ever wants a nail'--here have i been naming heresy, 'talking of halters in the house of the hanged?'" "hold thy tongue about hanging," said juan, testily, "and listen to me, if thou canst." fray sebastian indicated, by a respectful gesture, his profound attention. "it has been whispered to me that the door of his reverence's heart may be unlocked by a golden key." fray sebastian assured him this was a foul slander; concluding a panegyric on the purity of the inquisitor's administration with the words, "you would forfeit his favour for ever by presuming so far as to offer a bribe." "no doubt," answered juan with a sneer, and a hard, worldly look in his face that of late was often seen there. "i should deserve to pay that penalty were i the fool to approach him with a bow, and, 'here is a purse of gold for your sanctity.' but 'one take is worth two i give you's,' and there is a way of saying 'take' to every man. and i ask you, for old kindness, to show me how to say it to his lordship." fray sebastian pondered. after an interval he said, with some hesitation, "may i venture to inquire, señor, what means you possess of clearing the character of your noble brother?" juan only answered by a sorrowful shake of the head. darker and darker grew the friar's sensual but good-natured face. "his excellent reputation, his brilliant success at college, his blameless life should tell in his favour," juan said at length. "have you nothing more direct? if not, i fear it is a bad business. but 'silence is called holy,' so i hold my peace. still, if indeed (which the saints forbid) he has fallen inadvertently into error, it is a comfort to reflect that there will be little difficulty in reclaiming him." juan made no reply. did he expect his brother to retract? did he _wish_ him to do it? these were questions he scarcely dared to ask himself. from any reply he could give to them he shrank in shuddering dread. "he was ever gentle and tractable," fray sebastian continued, "and ofttimes but too easy to persuade." juan rose, took up a stone, and threw it into the river. when the circles it made in the water had died away, he turned back to the friar. "but what can _i_ do for him?" he asked, with an undertone of helpless sadness, touching from the lips of one so strong. fray sebastian put his hand to his forehead, and looked as if he were composing another poem. "let me see, your excellency. there is my lord's nephew and pet page, don alonzo (where he has got the 'don' i know not, but don dinero makes many a noble); i dare say it would not hurt the donzelo's soft white hand to finger a purse of gold ducats, and those same ducats might help your brother's cause not a little." "manage the matter for me, and i will thank you heartily. gold, to any extent that will serve _him_, shall be forthcoming; and, my good friend, see that you spare it not." "ah, señor don juan, you were always generous." "my brother's life is at stake," said juan, softening a little. but the hard look returned as he added, "those who live in great men's houses have many expenses, fray. always remember that i am your friend, and that my ducats are very much at your service also." fray sebastian thanked him with his lowest bow. juan's look changed again; this time more rapidly. "if it were possible," he added, in low, hurried tones--"if you could only bring me the least word of tidings from him--even one word to say if he lives, if he is well, how he is entreated. three months it is now since he was taken, and i have heard no more than if they had carried him to his grave." "it is a difficult matter, a _very_ difficult matter that you ask of me. were i a son of st. dominic, i might indeed accomplish somewhat. for the black cowls are everything now. still, i will do all i can, señor." "i trust you, fray. if under cover of seeking his conversion, of anything, you could but see him." "impossible, señor--utterly impossible." "why? they sometimes send friars to reason with the--the prisoners." "always dominicans or jesuits--men well-known and trusted by the board of the inquisition. however, señor, nothing that a man may do shall be wanting on my part. will not that content your excellency?" "_content_ me? well, as far as you are concerned, yes. but, in truth, i am haunted day and night by one horrible dread. what if--if they should _torture_ him? my gentle brother, frail in mind and body, tender and sensitive as a woman! terror and pain would drive him mad." the last words were a quick broken whisper. but outward expressions of emotion with don juan were always speedily repressed. recovering apparent calmness, he stretched out his hand to fray sebastian, saying, with a faint smile, "i have kept you too long from my lord's supper-table--pardon me." "your excellency's condescension in conversing with me deserves my profound gratitude," replied the monk, in true castilian fashion. his residence at the inquisitor's court had certainly improved his manners. don juan gave him his address, and it was agreed that he should call on him in a few days. fray sebastian then offered to bring him on his way through the garden and court of that part of the triana which formed the inquisitor's residence. but juan declined the favour. he could not answer for himself when brought face to face with the impious pomp and luxury of the persecutor of the saints. he feared that, by some wild word or deed, he might imperil the cause he had at heart. so he hailed a waterman who was guiding his little boat down the tranquil stream in the waning light. the boat was soon brought to the place where the inquisitor had landed from his barge; and juan, after shaking the dust from his feet, both literally and metaphorically, sprang into it. the popular ideal of a persecutor is very far from the truth. at the word there rises before most minds the vision of a lean, pale-faced, fierce-eyed monk, whose frame is worn with fasting, and his scourge red with his own blood. he is a fanatic--pitiless, passionate, narrow-minded, perhaps half insane--but penetrated to the very core of his being with intense zeal for his church's interest, and prepared in her service both to inflict and to endure all things. very unlike this ideal were _most_ of the great persecutors who carried out the behests of antichrist. they were generally able men. but they were pre-eminently men wise in their generation, men _of_ their generation, men who "loved this present world." they gave the church the service of strong hand and skilful brain that she needed; and she gave _them_, in return, "gold, and silver, and precious stones, and pearls; and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet; and all sweet wood; and all manner of vessels of ivory, and all manner of vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and of iron, and marble; and cinnamon, and odours, and ointment, and frankincense; and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat; and beasts, and sheep, and horses and chariots, and slaves and souls of men." it was for these things, not for abstract ideas, not for high places in heaven, that they tortured and murdered the saints of god. whilst the cry of the oppressed reached the ears of the most high, those who were "wearing them out" lived in unhallowed luxury, in degrading sensuality. gonzales de munebrãga was a good specimen of the class to which he belonged--he was no exceptional case. nor was fray sebastian anything but an ordinary character. he was amiable, good-natured, free from gross vices--what is usually called "well disposed." but he "loved wine and oil," and to obtain what he loved he was willing to become the servant and the flatterer of worse men than himself, at the terrible risk of sinking to their level. with all the force of his strong nature, don juan alvarez loathed munebrãga, and scorned fray sebastian. gradually a strange alteration appeared to come over the little book he constantly studied--his brother's spanish testament. the words of promise, and hope, and comfort, in which he used to delight, seemed to be blotted from its pages; while ever more and more those pages were filled with fearful threatenings and denunciations of doom--against hypocritical scribes and pharisees, false teachers and wicked high priests--against great babylon, the mother of abominations. the peace-breathing, "father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," grew fainter and more faint, until at last it faded completely from his memory; while there stood out before him night and day, in characters of fire, "serpents, generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" xxx. the captive. "ay, but for _me_--my name called--drawn like a conscript's lot from the lap's black yawn he has dipped into on the battle dawn. bid out of life by a nod, a glance, stumbling, mute mazed, at nature's chance with a rapid finger circling round, fixed to the first poor inch of ground to fight from, where his foot was found, whose ear but a moment since was free to the wide camp's hum and gossipry- summoned, a solitary man, to end his life where his life began, from the safe glad rear to the awful van." r. browning. on the night of his arrest, when don carlos alvarez was left alone in his dungeon, he stood motionless as one in a dream. at length he raised his head, and began to look around him. a lamp had been left with him; and its light illumined a cell ten feet square, with a vaulted roof. through a narrow grating, too high for him to reach, one or two stars were shining; but these he saw not. he only saw the inner door sheathed with iron; the mat of rushes on which he was to sleep; the stool that was to be his seat; the two earthen pitchers of water that completed his scanty furniture. from the first moment these things looked strangely familiar to him. he threw himself on the mat to think and pray. he comprehended his situation perfectly. it seemed as if he had been all his life expecting this hour; as if he had been born for it, and led up to it gradually through all his previous experience. as yet he did not think that his fate was terrible; he only thought that it was inevitable--something that was to come upon him, and that in due course had come at last. it was his impression that he should always remain there, and never more see anything beyond that grated window and that iron door. there was a degree of unreality about this mood. for the past fortnight, or more, his mind had been strained to its utmost tension. suspense, more wearing even than sorrow, had held him on the rack. sleep had seldom visited his eyes; and when it came, it had been broken and fitful. now the worst had befallen him. suspense was over; certainty had come. this brought at first a kind of rest to the overtaxed mind and frame. he was as one who hears a sentence of death, but who is taken off the rack. no dread of the future could quite overpower the present unreasoning sense of relief. thus it happened that an hour afterwards he was sleeping the dreamless sleep of exhaustion. well for him if, instead of "death's twin-brother," the angel of death himself had been sent to open the prison doors and set the captive free! and yet, after all, _would_ it have been well for him? so utter was his exhaustion, that when food was placed in his cell the next morning, he only awaked for a moment, then slept again as soundly as before. not till some hours later did he finally shake off his slumber. he lay still for some time, examining with a strange kind of curiosity the little bolted aperture which was near the top of his door, and watching a solitary broken sunbeam which had struggled through the grating that served him for a window, and threw a gleam of light on the opposite wall. then, with a start, he asked himself, "_where am i?_" the answer brought an agony of fear, of horror, of bitter pain. "lost! lost! god have mercy on me! i am lost!" as one in intense bodily anguish, he writhed, moaned--ay, even cried aloud. no wonder. hope, love, life--alike in its noblest aims and its commonest joys--all were behind him. before him were the dreary dungeon days and nights--it might be months or years; the death of agony and shame; and, worst of all, the unutterable horrors of the torture-room, from which he shrank as any one of us would shrink to-day. slowly and at last came the large burning tears. but very few of them fell; for his anguish was as yet too fierce for many tears. all that day the storm raged on. when the alcayde brought his evening meal, he lay still, his face covered with his cloak. but as night drew on he rose, and paced his narrow cell with hasty, irregular steps, like those of a caged wild animal. how should he endure the horrible loneliness of the present, the maddening terror of all that was to come? and this life was to _last_. to last, until it should be succeeded by worse horrors and fiercer anguish. words of prayer died on his lips. or, even when he uttered them, it seemed as if god heard not--as if those thick walls and grated doors shut him out too. yet one thing was clear to him from the beginning. deeper than all other fears within him lay the fear of denying his lord. again and again did he repeat, "when called in question, i will at once confess all." for he knew that, according to a law recently enacted by the holy office, and sanctioned by the pope, no subsequent retraction could save a prisoner who had once confessed--he must die. and he desired finally and for ever to put it out of his own power to save his life and lose it. as every dreary morning dawned upon him, he thought that ere its sun set he might be called to confess his master's name before the solemn tribunal. at first he awaited the summons with a trembling heart. but as time passed on, the delay became more dreadful than the anticipated examination. at last he began to long for _any_ change that might break the monotony of his prison-life. the only person, with the exception of his gaoler, that ever entered his cell, was a member of the board of inquisitors, who was obliged by their rules to make a fortnightly inspection of the prisons. but the dominican monk to whom this duty was relegated merely asked the prisoner a few formal questions: such as, whether he was well, whether he received his appointed provision, whether his warder used him with civility. to these carlos always answered prudently that he had no complaint to make. at first he was wont to inquire, in his turn, when his case might be expected to come on. to this it would be answered, that there was no hurry about the matter. the lords inquisitors had much business on hand, and many more important cases than his to attend to; he must await their leisure and their pleasure. at length a kind of lethargy stole over him; though it was broken frequently by sharp bursts of anguish. he ceased to take note of time, ceased to make fruitless inquiries of his gaoler, who would never tell him anything. upon one occasion he asked this man for a breviary, since he sometimes found it difficult to recall even the gospel words that he knew so well. but he was answered in the set terms the inquisitors taught their officials, that the book he ought now to study was the book of his own heart, which he should examine diligently, in order to the confession and repentance of his sins. during the morning hours the outer door of his cell (there were two) was usually left open, in order to admit a little fresh air. at such times he often heard footsteps in the corridors, and doors opening and shutting. with a kind of sick yearning, not unmixed with hope, he longed that some visitant would enter his cell. but none ever came. some of the inquisitors were keen observers and good students of character. they had watched carlos narrowly before his arrest, and they had arrived at the conclusion that utter and prolonged solitude was the best remedy for his disease. such solitude has driven many a weary tortured soul to insanity. but that divine compassion which no dungeon walls or prison bars avail to shut out, saved carlos from such a fate. one morning he knew from the stir outside that some of his fellow-captives had received a visit. but the deep stillness that followed the dying away of footsteps in the corridor was broken by a most unwonted sound. a loud, clear, and even cheerful voice sang out,- "vençidos van los frailes; vençidos van! corridos van los lobos; corridos van!" [there go the friars; there they run! there go the wolves, the wolves are done!][19] [19] everything related of juliano hernandez is strictly true. every nerve and fibre of the lonely captive's heart thrilled responsive to that strain. evidently the song was one of triumph. but from whose lips? who could dare to triumph in the abode of misery, the very seat of satan? carlos alvarez had heard that voice before. a striking peculiarity in the dialect rivetted this fact upon his mind. the words were neither the pure sonorous castilian that he spoke himself, nor the soft gliding sibilant andaluz that he heard in seville, nor yet the patois of the manchegan peasants around his mountain home. in such accents one, and one alone, had ever spoken in his hearing. and that was the man who said, "for the joy of bringing food to the perishing, water to the thirsty, light to those that sit in darkness, rest to the weary and heavy-laden, i have counted the cost, and i shall pay the price right willingly." whatever men had done to the body, it was evident that juliano hernandez was still unbroken in heart, strong in hope and courage. a fettered, tortured captive, he was yet enabled, not only to hold his own faith fast, but actually to minister to that of others. his rough rhyme intimated to his fellow-captives that "the wolves" of rome were leaving his cell, vanquished by the sword of the spirit. and that, as he overcame, so might they also. carlos heard, understood, and felt from that hour that he was not alone. moreover, the grace and strength so richly given to his fellow-sufferer seemed to bring christ nearer to himself. "surely god is in this place--even here," he said, "and i knew it not." and then, bowing his head, he wept--wept such tears as bring help and healing with them. up to this time he had held christ's hand indeed, else had he "utterly fainted." but he held it in the dark. he clung to him desperately, as if for mere life and reason. now the light began to dawn upon him. he began to see the face of him to whom he had been clinging. his good and gracious words--such words as, "let not your heart be troubled," "my peace i give unto you"--became again, as in old times, full of meaning, instinct with life. he "remembered the years of the right hand of the most high;" he thought of those days that now seemed so long ago, when, with such thrilling joy, he received the truth from juliano's book. and he knew that the same joy might be his even in that dreary prison, because the same god was above him, and the same lord was "rich unto all that call upon him." on the next occasion when juliano raised his brave song of victory, carlos had the courage to respond, by chanting in the vulgar tongue, "the lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the god of jacob defend thee. send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of zion." but this brought him a visit from the alcayde, who commanded him to "forbear that noise." "i only chanted a versicle from one of the psalms," he explained. "no matter. prisoners are not permitted to disturb the santa casa," said gasper benevidio, as he quitted the cell. the "santa casa," or holy house, was the proper style and title of the prison of the holy inquisition. at first sight the name appears a hideous mockery. we seem to catch in it an echo of the laughter of fiends, as in that other kindred name, "the society of jesus." yet, just then, the triana was truly a holy house. precious in the sight of the lord were those who crowded its dismal cells. many a lonely captive wept and prayed and agonized there, who, though now forgotten on earth, shall one day shine with a brightness eclipsing kings and conquerors--"a star for ever and ever." xxxi. ministering angels. "thou wilt be near, and not forsake, to turn the bitter pool into a bright and breezy lake, the throbbing brow to cool; till, left awhile with thee alone, the wilful heart be fain to own that he, by whom our bright hours shone, our darkness best may rule." keble. the overpowering heat of an andalusian summer aggravated the physical sufferings of the captives. and so did the scanty and unwholesome provisions, which were all that reached them through the hands of the avaricious benevidio. but this last hardship was little felt by carlos. small as were the rations he received, they usually proved more than enough for him; indeed, the coarse food sometimes lay almost untasted in his cell. one morning, however, to his extreme surprise, something was pushed through the grating in the lower part of his inner door, the outer door being open, as was usual at that hour. the mysterious gift consisted of white bread and good meat, of which he partook with mingled astonishment and thankfulness. but the relief to the unvaried monotony of his life, and the occupation the little circumstance gave his thoughts, was much more to him than the welcome novelty of a wholesome meal. the act of charity was repeated often, indeed almost daily. sometimes bread and meat, sometimes fruit--the large luscious grapes or purple figs of that southern climate--were thus conveyed to him. endless were the speculations these gifts awakened in his mind. he longed to discover his benefactor, not only to express his gratitude, but to supplicate that the same favours might be extended to his fellow-sufferers, especially to juliano. moreover, would not one so kindly disposed be willing to give him what he longed for far more than meat or drink--some word of tidings from the world without, or from his dear imprisoned brethren? at first he suspected the under-gaoler, whose name was herrera. this man was far more gentle and compassionate than benevidio. carlos often thought he would have shown him some kindness, or at least have spoken to him, if he dared. but dire would have been the penalty even the slightest transgression of the prison rules would have entailed. carlos naturally feared to broach the matter, lest, if herrera really had nothing to do with it, the unknown benefactor might be betrayed. the same motive prevented his hazarding a question or exclamation at the time the little gifts were thrust in. how could he tell who might be within hearing? if it were safe to speak, surely the person outside would try the experiment. it was generally very early in the morning, at the hour when the outer door was first opened, that the gifts came. or, if delayed a little later, he would often notice something timid and even awkward in the way they were pushed through the grating, and the approaching and retreating footsteps, for which he used to listen so eagerly, would be quick and light, like those of a child. at last a day came, marked indeed with white in the dark chronicle of prison life. bread and meat were conveyed to him as usual; then there was a low knock upon the door. carlos, who was standing close to it, responded by an eager "_chien es?_" "a friend. kneel down, señor, and put your ear to the grating." the captive obeyed, and a woman's voice whispered, "do not lose heart, your worship. friends outside are thinking of you." "one friend is with me, even here," carlos answered. "but," he added, "i entreat of you to tell me your name, that i may know whom to thank for the daily kindnesses which lighten my captivity." "i am only a poor woman, señor, the alcayde's servant. and what i have brought you is your own, and but a small part of it." "my own! how?" "robbed from you by my master, who defrauds and spoils the poor prisoners even of their necessary food. and if any one dares to complain to the lords inquisitors, he throws him into the masmurra." "the--what?" "a deep, horrible cistern which he hath in his house." this was spoken in a still lower voice. carlos was not yet sufficiently naturalized to horrors to repress a shudder. he said, "then i fear it is at great risk to yourself that you show kindness to me." "it is for the dear lord's sake, senor." "then _you_--you too--love his name!" said carlos, tears of joy starting to his eyes. "_chiton_,[20] señor! _chiton!_ but as far as a poor woman may, i _do_ love him," she added in a frightened whisper. "what i want now to tell you is, that the noble lord, your brother--" [20] hush. "my brother!" cried carlos; "what of him? oh, tell me, for christ's dear sake!" "let your excellency speak lower. we may be overheard. i know he has seen my master once and again, and has given him much money to provide your worship with good food and other conveniences, which he, however, not having the fear of god before his eyes--" the rest of the sentence did not reach the ear of carlos; but he could easily guess its import. "that is little matter," he said. "but oh, kind friend, if i could send him a message, were it only one word." perhaps the wistful earnestness of his tone awakened latent mother instincts in the poor woman's heart. she knew that he was very young; that he had lain there for dreary months alone, away from the bright world into which he was just entering, and which was now shut to him for ever. "i will do all i can for your excellency," she said, in a tone that betrayed some emotion. "then," said carlos, "tell him it is well with me. 'the lord is my shepherd'--all that psalm, bid him read it. but, above all things, say unto him to leave this place--to fly to germany or england. for i fear, i fear--no, do not tell him _what_ i fear. only implore of him to go. you promise?" "i promise, young sir, to do all i can. god comfort him and you." "and god reward you, brave and kind friend. but one word more, if it may be without risk to you. tell me of my dear fellow-prisoners. especially of dr. cristobal losada, don juan ponce de leon, fray constantino, and juliano hernandez, called juliano el chico." "i do not know anything of fray constantino. i think he is not here. the others you name have--_suffered_." "not death!--surely not death!" said carlos, in terror. "there be worse things than death, señor," the poor woman answered. "even my master, whose heart is iron, is astonished at the fortitude of señor juliano. he fears nothing--seems to feel nothing. no tortures have wrung from him a word that could harm any one." "god sustain him! oh, my friend," carlos went on with passionate earnestness, "if by any deed of kindness, such as you have shown me, you could bring god's dear suffering servant so much comfort as a cup of cold water, truly your reward would be rich in heaven. for the day will come when that poor man will take his station in the court of the king of kings, and at the right hand of christ, in great glory and majesty." "i know it, señor. i have tried--" just then an approaching footstep made carlos start; but the poor woman said, "it is only the child, god bless her. but i must go, señor; for she comes to tell me her father has arisen, and is making ready to begin his daily rounds." "her father! does benevidio's own child help you to comfort his prisoners?" "even so, thank the good god. i am her nurse. but i must not linger another moment. adiõs, señor." "vaya con dios, good mother. and god repay your kindness, as he surely will." and surely he did repay it; but not on earth, unless the honour of being accounted worthy to suffer shame and stripes and cruel imprisonment for his sake be called a reward.[21] [21] the story of the gaoler's servant and his little daughter is historical. xxxii. the valley of the shadow of death. "and shall i fear the coward fear of standing all alone to testify of zion's king and the glory of his throne? my father, o my father, i am poor and frail and weak, let me not utter of my own, for idle words i speak; but give me grace to wrestle now, and prompt my faltering tongue, and name thy name upon my soul, and so shall i be strong." mrs. stuart menteith. many a weary hour did carlos shorten by chanting the psalms and hymns of the church in low voice for himself. at first he sang them loudly enough for his fellow-prisoners to hear; but the commands of benevidio, which were accompanied even by threats of personal violence, soon made him forbear. not a few kindly deeds and words of comfort came to him through the ministrations of the poor servant maria gonsalez, aided by the gaoler's little daughter. on the whole, he was growing accustomed to his prison life. it seemed as though it would last for ever; as though every other kind of life lay far away from him in the dim distance. there were slow and weary hours, more than he could count; there were bitter hours--of passionate regret, of dark foreboding, of unutterable fear. but there were also quiet hours, burdened by no special pain or sorrow; there were sometimes even happy hours, when christ seemed very near, and his consolations were not small with his prisoner. it was one of the quiet hours, when thoughts of the past, not full of the anguish of vain yearning, as they often were, but calm and even pleasant, were occupying his mind. he had been singing the te deum for himself; and thinking how sweetly the village choristers used to chant it at nuera; not in the time of father tomas, but in that of his predecessor, a gentle old man with a special taste for music, whom he and his brother, then little children, loved, but used to tease. he was so deeply engaged in feeling over again his poignant distress upon one particular occasion when juan had offended the aged priest, that all his present sorrows were forgotten for the moment, when he heard the large key grate harshly in the strong outer door of his cell. benevidio entered, bearing some articles of dress, which he ordered the prisoner to put on immediately. carlos obeyed in silence, though not without surprise, perhaps even a passing feeling of indignation. for the very form and fashion of the garments he was thus obliged to assume (a kind of jacket without sleeves, and long loose trowsers), meant to the castilian noble keen insult and degradation. "take off your shoes," said the alcayde. "prisoners always come before their reverences with uncovered head and feet. now follow me." it was, then, the summons to stand before his judges. a thrilling dread took possession of his soul. heedless of the alcayde's presence, he threw himself for one brief moment on his knees. then, though his cheek was pale, he could speak calmly. "i am ready," he said. he followed his conductor through several long and gloomy corridors. at length he ventured to ask, "whither are you leading me?" "_chiton!_" said benevidio, placing his finger on his lips. speech was not permitted there. at last they drew near an open door. the alcayde quickened his pace, entered first, made a very low reverence, then drew back again, and motioned carlos to go forward alone. he did so; and found himself in the presence of his judges--the board, or "table of the inquisition." he bowed, though rather from the habit of courtesy, than from any special respect to the tribunal, and stood silent. before any one addressed him, he had ample leisure for observation. the room was large, lofty, and surrounded by pillars, between which there were handsome hangings of gilt leather. at one end, the furthest from him, stood a great crucifix, larger than life. around the long table on the estrada six or seven persons were seated. of these, one alone was covered, he who sat nearest the door by which carlos had entered, and facing the crucifix. he knew that this was gonzales de munebrãga, and the thought that he had once pleaded earnestly for that man's life, helped to give him boldness in his presence. at munebrãga's right hand sat a stern and stately man, whom carlos, though he had never seen him before, knew, from his dress and the position he occupied, to be the prior of the dominican convent adjoining the triana. one or two of the subordinate members of the board he had met occasionally in other days, and he had then considered them very far his own inferiors, both in education and in social position. at length munebrãga, half turning, motioned him to approach the table. he did so, and a person who sat at the opposite end, and appeared by his dress to be a notary, made him lay his hand on a missal, and administered an oath to him. it bound him to speak the truth, and to keep everything secret which he might see or hear; and he took it without hesitation. a bench at the inquisitor's left hand was then pointed out to him, and he was desired to be seated. a member of the board, who bore the title of the promoter-fiscal, conducted the examination. after some merely formal questions, he asked him whether he knew the cause of his present imprisonment? carlos answered immediately, "i do." this was not the course usually taken by prisoners of the holy office. they commonly denied all knowledge of any offence that could have induced "their reverences" to order their arrest. with a slight elevation of the eyebrows, perhaps expressive of surprise, his examiner continued, gently enough, "are you then aware of having erred from the faith, and by word or deed offended your own soul, and the consciences of good christians? speak boldly, my son; for to those who acknowledge their faults the holy office is full of tenderness and mercy." "i have not erred, consciously, from the true faith, since i knew it." here the dominican prior interposed. "you can ask for an advocate," he said; "and as you are under twenty-five years of age, you can also claim the assistance of a curator.[22] furthermore, you can request a copy of the deposition against you, in order to prepare your defence." [22] guardian. "always supposing," said munebrãga himself, "that he formally denies the crime laid to his charge.--do you?" he asked, turning to the prisoner. "we understand you so to do," said the prior, looking earnestly at carlos. "you plead not guilty?" carlos rose from his seat, and advanced a step or two nearer to the table where sat the men who held his life in their hands. addressing himself chiefly to the prior, he said, "i know that by taking the course your reverence recommends to me, as i believe out of kindness, i may defer my fate for a little while. i may beat the air, fighting in the dark with witnesses whom you would refuse to name to me, still more to confront with me. or, i may make you wring out the truth from me slowly, drop by drop. but what would that avail me? neither for the truth, nor yet for any falsehood i might be base enough to utter, would you loose your hand from your prey. i prefer that straight road which is ever the shortest way. i stand before your reverences this day a professed lutheran, despairing of mercy from man, but full of confidence in the mercy of god." a movement of surprise ran around the board at these daring words. the prior turned away from the prisoner with a pained, disconcerted look; but only to meet a half-triumphant, half-reproachful glance from his superior, munebrãga. but munebrãga was not displeased; far from it. it did not grieve him that the prisoner, a mere youth, "was throwing himself into the fire." that was his own concern. he was saving "their reverences" a great deal of trouble. thanks to his hardihood, his folly, or his despair, a good piece of work was quickly and easily accomplished. for it was the business of the inquisitors first to convict; retractations were an after consideration. "thou art a bold heretic, and fit for the fire," he said. "we know how to deal with such." and he placed his hand on the bell that was to signal the termination of the interview. but the prior, recovering from his astonishment, once more interposed. "my lord and your reverence, be pleased to allow me a few minutes, in which i may set plainly before the prisoner both the wonted mercy and lenity of the holy office to the repentant, and the fatal consequences of obstinacy." munebrãga acquiesced by a nod, then leant back carelessly in his seat; this was not a part of the proceedings in which he felt much interest. no one could doubt the sincerity with which the prior warned carlos of the doom that awaited the impenitent heretic. the horrors of the death of fire, the deeper, darker horror of the fire that never dies, these were the theme of his discourse. if not actually eloquent, it had at least the earnestness of intense conviction. "but to the penitent," he added, and the hard face softened a little, "god is ever merciful, and his church is merciful too." carlos listened in silence, his eyes bent on the ground. but when the dominican concluded, he looked up again, glanced first at the great crucifix, then fixed his eyes steadily on the prior's face. "i cannot deny my lord," he said. "i am in your hands, and you can do with me as you will. but god is mightier than you." "enough!" said munebrãga, and he rang the hand-bell. after a very short delay, the alcayde reappeared, and led carlos back to his cell. as soon as he was gone, munebrãga turned to the prior. "my lord," he said, "your wonted penetration is at fault for once. is this the youth whom you assured us a few months of solitary confinement would render pliant as a reed and plastic as wax? whereas we find him as bold a heretic as losada, or d'arellano, or that imp of darkness, little juliano." "nay, my lord, i do not despair of him. far from it. he is much less firm than he seems. give him time, with a due mixture of kindness and severity, and, i trust in our lord and st. dominic, we will see him a hopeful penitent." "i am of your mind, reverend father," said the promoter-fiscal. "it is probable he confessed only to avoid the question. many of them fear it more than death." "you are right," answered munebrãga quickly. the notary looked up from his papers. "please your lordships," he said, "i think it is the _sangre azul_ that makes him so bold. he is alvarez de meñaya." "keep to thy quires and thine ink-horn, man of law," interposed munebrãga angrily. "thy part is to write down what wiser men say, not to prate thyself." it was well known that the inquisitor, far from boasting the _sangre azul_ himself, had not even what the spaniards call "good red blood" flowing in his veins; hence his irritation at the notary's speech. there is often a great apparent similarity in the effects of quite opposite causes. that which results from a degree of weakness of character may sometimes wear the aspect of transcendent courage. a bolder man than don carlos alvarez might, in his circumstances, have made a struggle for life. he might have fought over every point as it arose; have availed himself of every loophole for escape; have thrown upon his persecutors the onus of proving his crime. but such a course would not have been possible to carlos. as a running leap is far more easy than a standing one, so to sensitive temperaments it is easier to rush forward to meet pain or danger than to stand still and fight it off, knowing all the time that it must come at last. he would have been astonished had he guessed the impression made upon his examiners. to himself it seemed that he had confessed his lord in much weakness. still, he had confessed him. and shut out as he was from all ordinary "means of grace," the act of confession became a kind of sacrament to him. it was a token and an evidence of christ's presence with him, and christ's power working in him. he could say now, "in the day that i called upon thee thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul." and from that hour he seemed to live in greater nearness to christ, and more intimate communion with him, than he had ever done before. it was well that he had strong consolation, for his need was great. two other examinations followed after a short interval; and in both of these munebrãga took a far more active part than he had done in the first. the inquisitors were at that time extremely anxious to procure evidence upon which to condemn fray constantino, who up to this point had steadily resisted every effort they had made to induce him to criminate himself. they thought it probable that don carlos alvarez could assist them if he would, especially since there had been found amongst his papers a highly laudatory letter of recommendation from the late canon magistral. still, his assistance was needed even more in other matters. it is scarcely necessary to say that munebrãga, who forgot nothing, had not forgotten the mysterious appointment made with him, but never kept, by a cousin of the prisoner's, who was now stated to be hopelessly insane. what did that mean? was the story true; or were the family keeping back evidence which might compromise one or more of its remaining members? but carlos was expected to resolve a yet graver question; or, at least, one that touched him more nearly. his own arrest had been decreed in consequence of two depositions against him. first, a member of losada's congregation had named him as one of the habitual attendants; then a monk of san isodro had fatally compromised him under the torture. the monk's testimony was clear and explicit, and was afterwards confirmed by others. but the first witness had deposed that _two_ gentlemen of the name of meñaya had been wont to attend the conventicle. who was the second? hitherto this problem had baffled the inquisitors. don manuel alvarez and his sons were noted for orthodoxy; and the only other meñaya known to them was the prisoner's brother. but in his favour there was every presumption, both from his character as a gallant officer in the army of the most catholic king, and from the fact of his voluntary return to seville; where, instead of shunning, he seemed to court observation, by throwing himself continually in the inquisitor's way, and soliciting audience of him. still, of course, his guilt was possible. but, in the absence of anything suspicious in his conduct, some clearer evidence than the vague deposition alluded to was absolutely necessary, in order to warrant proceedings against him. according to the inquisitorial laws, what they styled "full half proof" of a crime must be obtained before ordering the arrest of the supposed criminal. and the key to all these perplexities had now to be wrung from the unwilling hands of carlos. this needed "half proof" could, and must, be furnished by him. "he _must_ speak out," said those stern, pitiless men, who held him in their hands. but here he was stronger than they. neither arts, persuasions, threats, nor promises, availed to unseal those pale, silent lips. would torture do it? he was told plainly, that unless he would answer every question put to him freely and distinctly, he must undergo its worst horrors. his heart throbbed wildly, then grew sick and faint. a dread far keener than the dread of death prompted one short sharp struggle against the inevitable. he said, "it is against your own law to torture a confessed criminal for information concerning others. for the law presumes that a man loves himself better than his neighbour; and, therefore, that he who has informed against himself would more readily inform against other heretics if he knew them." he was right. his early studies had enabled him to quote correctly one of the rules laid down by the highest authority for the regulation of the inquisitorial proceedings. but what mattered rules and canons to the members of a secret and irresponsible tribunal? munebrãga covered his momentary embarrassment with a sneer. "that rule was framed for delinquents of another sort," he said. "you lutheran heretics have the command, 'thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,' so deeply rooted in your hearts, that the very flesh must needs be torn from your bones ere you will inform against your brethren.[23] i overrule your objection as frivolous." [23] words actually used by this monster. and then a sentence, more dreaded than the terrible death-sentence itself, received the formal sanction of the board. once more alone in his cell, carlos flung himself on his knees, and pressing his burning brow against the cold damp stone, cried aloud in his anguish, "let this cup--only this--pass from me!" his was just the nature to which the thought of physical suffering is most appalling. keenly sensitive in mind and body, he shrank in unspeakable dread from what stronger characters might brave or defy. his vivid imagination intensified every pang he felt or feared. his mind was like a room hung round with mirrors, in which every terrible thing, reflected a hundred times, became a hundred terrors instead of one. what another would have endured once, he endured over and over again in agonized anticipation. at times the nervous horror grew absolutely insupportable. fearfulness and trembling took hold upon him. he felt ready to pray that god in his great mercy would take away his life, and let the bearer of the dreaded summons find him beyond all their malice. one thought haunted him like a demon, whispering words of despair. it had begun to haunt him from the hour when poor maria gonsalez told him she had seen his brother. what if they dragged that loved name from his lips! what if, in his weakness, he became juan's betrayer! once it had been in his heart to betray him from selfish love; perhaps in judgment for that sin he was now to betray him through sharp bodily anguish. even if his will were kept firm all through (which he scarcely dared to hope), would not reason give way, and wild words be wrung from his lips that would too surely ruin all? he tried to think of his saviour's death and passion; tried to pray for strength and patience to drink of _his_ cup. sometimes he prayed that prayer with strong crying and tears; sometimes with cold mute lips, too weary to cry any longer. if he was heard and answered, he knew it not then. days of suspense wore on. they were only less dreary than the nights, when sleep fled from his eyes, and horrible visions (which yet he knew were less horrible than the truth) rose in quick succession before his mind. one evening, seated on his bench in the twilight, he fell into an uneasy slumber. the dark dread that never left him, mingling with the sunny gleam of old memories, wove a vivid dream of nuera, of that summer morning when the first great conflict of his life found an ending in the strong resolve, "juan, brother! i will never wrong thee, so help me god!" the grating of the key in the door and the sudden flash of the lamp aroused him. he started to his feet at the alcayde's entrance. this time no change of dress was prescribed him. he knew his doom. he cried, but to no human ear. from the very depths of his being the prayer arose, "father, save--sustain me; _i am thine_!" xxxiii. on the other side. "happy are they who learn at last,- though silent suffering teach the secret of enduring strength, and praise too deep for speech,- peace that no pressure from without, no storm within can reach. "there is no death for me to fear, for christ my lord hath died: there is no curse in all my pain, for he was crucified; and it is fellowship with him that keeps me near his side." a.l. waring. when the light of the next morning streamed in through the narrow grating of his cell, carlos was there once more, lying on his bed of rushes. but was it indeed the next morning, or was it ten years, twenty years afterwards? without a painful effort of thought and memory, he himself could scarcely have told. that last night was like a great gulf, fixed between his present and all his past. the moment when he entered that torch-lit subterranean room seemed a sharp, black dividing line, sundering his life into two halves. and the latter half seemed longer than that which had gone before. nor could years of suffering have left a sadder impress on the young face, out of which the look of youth had passed, apparently for ever. brow and lips were pale; but two crimson spots, still telling of feverish pain, burned on the hollow cheeks, while the large lustrous eyes beamed with even unnatural brilliance. the poor woman, who was doing the work of god's bright angels in that dismal prison, came softly in. how she obtained entrance there carlos did not know, and was far too weak to ask, or even to wonder. but probably she was sent by benevidio, who knew that, in his present condition, some human help was indispensable to the prisoner. maria gonsalez was too well accustomed to scenes of horror to be over-much surprised or shocked by what she saw. silently, though with a heart full of compassion, she rendered the few little services in her power. she placed the broken frame in as easy a position as she could, and once and again she raised to the parched lips the "cup of cold water" so eagerly desired. he roused himself to murmur a word of thanks; then, as she prepared to leave him, his eyes followed her wistfully. "can i do anything more for you, señor?" she asked. "yes, mother. tell me--have you spoken to my brother?" "ay de mi! no, señor," said the poor woman, whose ability was not equal to her goodwill. "i have tried, god wot; but i could not get from my master the name of the place where he lives without making him suspect something, and never since have i had the good fortune to see his face." "i know you have done--what you could. my message does not matter now. not so much. still, best he should go. tell him so, when you find him. but, remember, tell him nought of this. you promise, mother? he must never know it--_never_!" she spoke a few words of pity and condolence. "it _was_ horrible!" he faltered, in faint, broken tones. "worst of all--the return to life. for i thought all was over, and that i should awake face to face with christ. but--i cannot speak of it." there was a long silence; then his eye kindled, and a look of joy--ay, even of triumph--flashed across the wasted, suffering face. "but _i have overcome_! no; not i. christ has overcome in me, the weakest of his members. now i am beyond it--on the other side." to the poor tortured captive there had been given a foretaste, strange and sweet, of what they feel who stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of god in their hands. men had done their worst--their very worst. he knew now all "the dread mystery of pain;" all that flesh could accomplish in its fiercest conflict with spirit. yet not one word that could injure any one he loved had been wrung from his lips. _all_ was over now. in that there was mercy--far more mercy than was shown to others. he had been permitted to drain the cup at a single draught. _now_ he could feel grateful to the physicians, who with truly kind cruelty (and not without some risk to themselves) had prevented, in his case, that fiendish device, "the suspension of the torture." even according to the execrable laws of the inquisition, he had won his right to die in peace. as time passed on, a blessed sense that he was now out of the hands of man, and in those of god alone, sank like balm upon his weary spirit. fear was gone; grief had passed away; even memory had almost ceased to give him a pang. for how could he long for the loved faces of former days, when day and night christ himself was near him? so strangely near, so intimately present, that he sometimes thought that if, through some wonderful relenting of his persecutors, juan were permitted to come and stand beside him, that loved brother would still seem further away, less real, than the unseen friend who was keeping watch by his couch. and even the bodily pain, that so seldom left him, was not hard to hear, for it was only the touch of his finger. he had passed into the clear air upon the mountain top, where the sun shines ever, and the storm winds cannot come. nothing hurt him; nothing disturbed him now. he had visitors; for what had really placed him beyond the reach of his enemies was, not unnaturally, supposed by them to have brought him into a fitting state to receive their exhortations. so inquisitors, monks, and friars--"persons of good learning and honest repute"--came in due course to his lonely cell, armed with persuasions and arguments, which were always weighted with threats and promises. their voices seemed to reach him faintly, from a great distance. into "the secret place of the lord," where he dwelt now, they could not enter. threats and promises fell powerless on his ear. what more could they do to him? as far as the mere facts of the case were concerned, this security may have been misplaced--nay, it _was_ misplaced; but it saved him from much suffering. and as for promises, had they thrown open the door of his dungeon and bid him go forth free, only that one intense longing to see his brother's face would have nerved him to make the effort. arguments he was glad to answer when permitted. it was a joy to speak for his lord, who had done, and was doing, such great things for him. as far as he could, he made use of those scripture words with which his memory was so richly stored. but more than once it happened that he was forced to take up the weapons which he had learned in the schools to use so skilfully. he tore sophisms to pieces with the dexterity of one who knew how they were constructed, and astonished the students of aristotle and thomas aquinas by vanquishing them on their own ground. reproach and insult he met with a fearless meekness that nothing could ruffle. why should he feel anger? rather did he pity those who stood without in the darkness, not seeing the face he saw, not hearing the voice he heard. usually, however, those who visited him yielded to the spell of his own sweet and perfect courtesy, and were kinder than they intended to be to the "professed impenitent heretic." his heart, now "at leisure from itself," was filled with sympathy for his imprisoned brethren and sisters. but, except to maria gonsalez, he dared not speak of them, lest the simplest remark or question might give rise to some new suspicion, or supply some link, hitherto missing, in the chain of evidence against them. but those who came to visit him sometimes gave him unasked intelligence about them. he could not, however, rely upon the truth of what reached him in this way. he was told that losada had retracted; he did not believe it. equally did he disbelieve a similar story of don juan ponce de leon, in which, unhappily, there was some truth. the constancy of that gentle, generous-hearted nobleman had yielded under torture and cruel imprisonment, and concessions had been wrung from him that dimmed the brightness of his martyr crown. on the other hand, the waverer, garçias arias, known as the "white doctor," had come forward with a hardihood truly marvellous, and not only confessed his own faith, but mocked and defied the inquisitors. of fray constantino, the most contradictory stories were told him. at one time he was assured that the great preacher had not only admitted his own guilt, but also, on the rack, had informed against his brethren. again he was told, and this time with truth, that the emperor's former chaplain and favourite had been spared the horrors of the question, but that the eagerly desired evidence against him had been obtained by accident. a lady of rank, one of his chief friends, was amongst the prisoners; and the inquisitors sent an alguazil to her house to demand possession of her jewels. her son, without waiting to ascertain the precise object of the officer's visit, surrendered to him in a panic some books which fray constantino had given his mother to conceal. amongst them was a volume in his own handwriting, containing the most explicit avowal of the principles of the reformation. on this being shown to the prisoner, he struggled no longer. "you have there a full and candid confession of my belief," he said. and he was now in one of the dark and loathsome subterranean cells of the triana. amongst those who most frequently visited carlos was the prior of the dominican convent. this man seemed to take a peculiar interest in the young heretic's fate. he was a good specimen of a character oftener talked about than met with in real life,--the genuine fanatic. when he threatened carlos, as he spared not to do, with the fire that is never quenched, at least he believed with all his heart that he was in danger of it. carlos soon perceived this, and accepting his honest intention to benefit him, came to regard him with a kind of friendliness. besides, the prior listened to what he said with more attention than did most of the others, and even in the prison of the inquisition a man likes to be listened to, especially when his opportunities of speaking are few and brief. many weeks passed by, and still carlos lay on his mat, in weakness and suffering of body, though in calm gladness of spirit. surgical and medical aid had been afforded him in due course. and it was not the fault of either surgeon or physician that he did not recover. they could stanch wounds and set dislocated joints, but when the springs of life were sapped, how could they renew them? how could they quicken the feeble pulse, or send back life and energy into the broken, exhausted frame? at this time carlos himself felt certain--even more certain than did his physician--that never again would his footsteps pass the limits of that narrow cell. once, indeed, there came to him a brief and fleeting pang of regret. it was in the spring-time; everywhere else so bright and fair, but making little change in those gloomy cells. maria gonsalez now sometimes obtained access to him, partly through benevidio's increased inattention to all his duties, partly because, any attempt at escape on the part of the captive being obviously out of the question, he was somewhat less jealously watched. and more than once the gaoler's little daughter stole in timidly beside her nurse, bearing some trifling gift for the sick prisoner. to carlos these visits came like sunbeams; and in a very short time he succeeded in establishing quite an intimate friendship with the child. one morning she entered his cell with maria, carrying a basket, from which she produced, with shy pleasure, a few golden oranges. "look, señor," she said, "they are good to eat now, for the blossoms are out.[24] i gathered some to show you;" and filling both her hands with the luscious wealth of the orange flowers, she flung them carelessly down on the mat beside him. in her eyes they were of no value compared with the fruit. [24] the people of seville do not think the oranges fit to eat until the new blossoms come out in spring. with carlos it was far otherwise. the rich perfume that filled the cell filled his heart also with sweet sad dreams, which lasted long after his kindly visitors had left him. the orange-trees had just been in flower last spring when all god's free earth and sky were shut out from his sight for ever. only a year ago! what a long, long year it seemed! and only one year further back he was walking in the orange gardens with doña beatriz, in all the delicious intoxication of his first and last dream of youthful love. "better here than there, better now than then," he murmured, though the tears gathered in his eyes. "but oh, for one hour of the old free life, one look at orange-trees in flower, or blue skies, or the grassy slopes and cork-trees of nuera! or"--and more painfully intense the yearning grew--"one familiar face, belonging to the past, to show me it was not all a dream, as i am sometimes tempted to think it. thine, ruy, if it might be--o ruy, ruy!--but, thank god, i have not betrayed thee!" in the afternoon of that day visitors were announced. carlos was not surprised to see the stern narrow face and white hair of the dominican prior. but he was a little surprised to observe that the person who followed him wore the gray cowl of st. francis. the prior merely bestowed the customary salutation upon him, and then, stepping aside, allowed his companion to approach. but as soon as carlos saw his face, he raised himself eagerly, and stretching out both his hands, grasped those of the franciscan. "dear fray sebastian!" he cried; "my good, kind tutor!" "my lord the prior has been graciously pleased to allow me to visit your excellency." "it is truly kind of you, my lord. i thank you heartily," said carlos, frankly and promptly turning towards the dominican, who looked at him with somewhat the air of one who is trying to be stern with a child. "i have ventured to allow you this indulgence," he said, "in the hope that the counsels of one whom you hold in honour may lead you to repentance." carlos turned once more to fray sebastian, whose hand he still held. "it is a great joy to see you," he said. "only to-day i had been longing for a familiar face. and you are changed never a whit since you used to teach me my humanities. how have you come hither? where have you been all these years?" poor fray sebastian vainly tried to frame an answer to these simple questions. he had come to that prison straight from munebrãga's splendid patio, where, amidst the gleam of azulejos and of many-coloured marbles, the scent of rare exotics and the music of rippling fountains, he had partaken of a sumptuous mid-day repast. in this dark foul dungeon there was nothing to please the senses, not even god's free air and light. everything on which his eye rested was coarse, painful, loathsome. by the prisoner's side lay the remains of a meal, in great contrast to his. and the sleeve, fallen back from the hand that held his own, showed deep scars on the wrist. he knew whence they were. yet the face that was looking in his, with kindling eyes, and a smile on the parted lips, might have been the face of the boy carlos, when he praised him for a successful task, only for the pain in it, and, far deeper than pain, a look of assured peace that boyhood could scarcely know. repressing a choking sensation, he faltered, "señor don carlos, it grieves me to the heart to see you here." "do not grieve for me, dear fray sebastian, for i tell you truly, i have never known such happy hours as since i came here. at first, indeed, i suffered; there was storm and darkness. but then"--here for a moment his voice failed, and his flushed cheek and quivering lip betrayed the anguish a too hasty movement cost the broken frame. but, recovering himself quickly, he went on: "then he arose and rebuked the wind and the sea; and there was a great calm. that calm lasts still. and oftentimes this narrow room seems to me the house of god, the very gate of heaven. moreover," he added, with a smile of strange brightness, "there is heaven itself beyond." "but, señor and your excellency, consider the disgrace and sorrow of your noble family--that is, i mean"--here the speaker paused in perplexity, and met the keen eye of the prior, fixed somewhat scornfully, as he thought, upon him. he was quite conscious that the dominican was thinking him incapable, and incompetent to the task he had so earnestly solicited. he had sedulously prepared himself for this important interview, had gone through it in imagination beforehand, laying up in his memory several convincing and most pertinent exhortations, which could not fail to benefit his old pupil. but these were of no avail now; in fact, they all vanished from his recollection. he had just begun something rather vague and incoherent about holy church, when the prior broke in. "honoured brother," he said, addressing with scrupulous politeness the member of a rival fraternity, "the prisoner may be more willing to listen to your pious exhortations, and you may have more freedom in addressing him, if you are left for a brief space alone together. therefore, though it is scarcely regular, i will visit a prisoner in a neighbouring apartment, and return hither for you in due time." fray sebastian thanked him, and he withdrew, saying as he did so, "it is not necessary for me to remind my reverend brother that conversation upon worldly matters is strictly forbidden in the holy house." whether the prior visited the other prisoner or no, it is not for us to inquire; but if he did, his visit was a short one; for it is certain that for some time he paced the gloomy corridor with troubled footsteps. he was thinking of a woman's face, a fair young face, to which that of don carlos alvarez bore a startling likeness. "too harsh, needlessly harsh," he murmured; "for, after all, _she_ was no heretic." but which of us is always in the right? ave maria sanctissima, ora pro me! but if i can, i would fain make some reparation--to _him_. if ever there was a true and sincere penitent, he is one." after a little further delay, he summoned fray sebastian by a peremptory knock at the inner door, the outer one of course remaining open. the franciscan came, his broad, good-humoured face bathed in tears, which he scarcely made an effort to conceal. the prior glanced at him for a moment, then signed to herrera, who was waiting in the gallery, to come and make the door fast. they walked on together in silence, until at length fray sebastian said, in a trembling voice, "my lord, you are very powerful here; can _you_ do nothing for him?" "i _have_ done much. at my intercession he had nine months of solitude, in which to recollect himself and ponder his situation, ere he was called on to make answer at all. judge my amazement when, instead of entering upon his defence, or calling witnesses to his character, he at once confessed all. judge my greater amazement at his continued obstinacy since. when a man has broken a giant oak in two, he may feel some surprise at being battled by a sapling." "he will not relent," said fray sebastian, hardly restraining his sobs. "he will die." "i see one chance to save him," returned the prior; "but it is a hazardous experiment. the consent of the supreme council is necessary, as well as that of my lord vice-inquisitor, and neither may be very easy to obtain." "to save his body or his soul?" fray sebastian asked anxiously. "both, if it succeeds. but i can say no more," he added rather haughtily; "for my plan is bound up with a secret, of which few living men, save myself, are in possession." xxxiv. fray sebastian's trouble. "now, with fainting frame, with soul just lingering on the flight begun, to bind for thee its last dim thoughts in one, i bless thee. peace be on thy noble head, years of bright fame, when i am with the dead! i bid this prayer survive me, and retain its power again to bless thee, and again. thou hast been gathered into my dark fate too much; too long for my sake desolate hath been thine exiled youth; but now take back from dying hands thy freedom." hemans. it was late in august. all day long the sky had been molten fire, and the earth brass. every one had dozed away the sultry noontide hours in the coolest recesses of dwellings made to exclude heat, as ours to exclude cold. but when at last the sun sank in flame beneath the horizon, people began to creep out languidly to woo the refreshment of the evening breeze. the beautiful gardens of the triana were still deserted, save by two persons. one of these, a young lad--we beg pardon, a young gentleman--of fifteen or sixteen, sat, or rather reclined, by the river-side, eating slices from an enormous melon, which he cut with a small silver-hilted dagger. a plumed cap, and a gay velvet jerkin lined with satin, had been thrown aside for coolness sake, and lay near him on the ground; so that his present dress consisted merely of a mass of the finest white holland, delicately starched and frilled, velvet hosen, long silk stockings, and fashionable square-toed shoes. curls of scented hair were thrown back from a face beautiful as that of a girl, but bold and insolent in its expression as that of a spoiled and mischievous boy. the other person was seated in the arbour mentioned once before, with a book in his hand, of which, however, he did not in the course of an hour turn over a single leaf. a look of chronic discontent and dejection had replaced the good-humoured smiles of fray sebastian gomez. everything was wrong with the poor franciscan now. even the delicacies of his patron's table ceased to please him; and he, in his turn, was fast ceasing to please his patron. how could it be otherwise, when he had lost not only his happy art of indirect ingenious flattery, but his power to be commonly agreeable or amusing? no more poems--not so much as the briefest sonnet--on the suppression of heresy were to be had from him; and he was fast becoming incapable of turning a jest or telling a story. it is said that idiots often manifest peculiar pain and terror at the sound of music, because it awakens within them faint stirrings of that higher life from which god's mysterious dispensation has shut them out. and it is true that the first stirrings of higher life usually come to all of us with pain and terror. moreover, if we do not crush them out, but cherish and foster them, they are very apt to take away the brightness and pleasantness of the old lower life altogether, and to make it seem worthless and distasteful. a new and higher life had begun for fray sebastian. it was not his conscience that was quickened, only his heart. hitherto he had chiefly cared for himself. he was a good-natured man, in the ordinary acceptation of the term; yet no sympathy for others had ever spoiled his appetite or hindered his digestion. but for the past three months he had been feeling as he had not felt since he clung weeping to the mother who left him in the parlour of the franciscan convent--a child of eight years old. the patient suffering face of the young prisoner in the triana had laid upon him a spell that he could not break. to say that he would have done anything in his power to save don carlos, is to say little. willingly would he have lived for a month on black bread and brackish water, if that could have even mitigated his fate. but the very intensity of his desire to help him was fast making him incapable of rendering him the smallest service. munebrãga's flatterer and favourite might possibly, by dint of the utmost self-possession and the most adroit management, have accomplished some little good. but fray sebastian was now consciously forfeiting even the miserable fragment of power that had once been his. he thought himself like the salt that had lost its savour, and was fit neither for the land nor yet for the dunghill. absorbed in his mournful reflections, he continued unconscious of the presence of such an important personage as don alonzo de munebrãga, the lord vice-inquisitor's favourite page. at length, however, he was made aware of the fact by a loud angry shout, "off with you, varlets, scum of the people! how dare you put your accursed fishing-smack to shore in my lord's garden, and under his very eyes?" fray sebastian looked up, and saw no fishing-boat, but a decent covered barge, from which, in spite of the page's remonstrance, two persons were landing: an elderly female clad in deep mourning, and her attendant, apparently a tradesman's apprentice, or serving-man. fray sebastian knew well how many distracted petitioners daily sought access to munebrãga, to plead (alas, how vainly!) for the lives of parents, husbands, sons, or daughters. this was doubtless one of them. he heard her plead, "for the love of heaven, dear young gentleman, hinder me not. have you a mother? my only son lies--" "out upon thee, woman!" interrupted the page; "and the foul fiend take thee and thy only son together." "hush, don alonzo!" fray sebastian interposed, coming forward towards the spot; and perhaps for the first time in his life there was something like dignity in his tone and manner. "you must be aware, señora," he said, turning to the woman, "that the right of using this landing-place is restricted to my lord's household. you will be admitted at the gate of the triana, if you present yourself at a proper hour." "alas! good father, once and again have i sought admission to my lord's presence. i am the unhappy mother of luis d'abrego, he who used to paint and illuminate the church missals so beautifully. more than a year agone they tore him from me, and carried him away to yonder tower, and since then, so help me the good god, never a word of him have i heard. whether he is living or dead, this day i know not." "oh, a lutheran dog! serve him right," cried the page. "i hope they have put him on the pulley." fray sebastian turned suddenly, and dealt the lad a stinging blow on the side of his face. to the latest hour of his life this act of passion remained incomprehensible to himself. he could only ascribe it to the direct agency of the evil one. "i was tempted by the devil," he would say with a sigh, "vade retro me, satana." crimson to the roots of his perfumed hair, the boy sought his dagger. "vile caitiff! beggarly trencher-scraping franciscan!" he cried, "you shall repent of this." but apparently changing his mind the next moment, he allowed the dagger to drop from his hand, and snatching up his jerkin, ran at full speed towards the house. fray sebastian crossed himself, and gazed after him bewildered; his unwonted passion dying as suddenly as it had flamed up, and giving place to fear. meanwhile the mother of abrego, to whom it did not occur that the buffet bestowed on the page could have any serious consequences, resumed her pleadings. "your reverence seems to have a heart that can feel for the unhappy," she said. "for heaven's sake refuse not the prayer of the most unhappy woman in the world. only let me see his lordship--let me throw myself at his feet and tell him the whole truth. my poor lad had nothing at all to do with the lutherans; he was a good, true christian, and an old one, like all his family." "nay, nay, my good woman; i fear i can do nothing to help you. and i entreat of you to leave this place, else some of my lord's household are sure to come and compel you. ay, there they are." it was true enough. don alonzo, as he ran through the porch, shouted to the numerous idle attendants who were lounging about, and some of them immediately rushed out into the garden. in justice to fray sebastian, it must be recorded, that before he consulted for his personal safety, he led the poor woman back to the barge, and saw her depart in it. then he made good his own retreat, going straight to the lodging of don juan alvarez. he found juan lying asleep on a settle. the day was hot; he had nothing to do; and, moreover, the fiery energy of his southern blood was dashed by the southern taint of occasional torpor. starting up suddenly, and seeing fray sebastian standing before him with a look of terror, he asked in alarm, "any tidings, fray? speak--tell me quickly." "none, señor don juan. but i must leave this place at once." and the friar briefly narrated the scene that had just taken place, adding mournfully, "ay de mi! i cannot tell what came over me--_me_, the mildest tempered man in all the spains!" "and what of all that?" asked juan rather contemptuously. "i see nothing to regret, save that you did not give the insolent lad what he deserved, a sound beating." "but, señor don juan, you don't understand," gasped the poor friar. "i must fly immediately. if i stay here over to-night i shall find myself before the morning--_there_." and with a significant gesture he pointed to the grim fortress that loomed above them. "nonsense. they cannot suspect a man of heresy, even _de levi_,[25] for boxing the ear of an impudent serving-lad." [25] lightly. "ay, and can they not, your worship? do you not know that the gardener of the triana has lain for many a weary month in one of those dismal cells; and all for the grave offence of snatching a reed out of the hand of one of my lord's lackeys so roughly as to make it bleed?"[26] [26] a fact. "truly? now are things come to a strange pass in our free and royal land of spain! a beggarly upstart, such as this munebrãga, who could not, to save himself from the rack, tell you the name of his own great-grandfather, drags the sons and brothers--ay, and god help us! the wives and daughter--of our knights and nobles to the dungeon and the stake before our eyes. and it is not enough for him to set his own heel on our necks. his minions--his very grooms and pages--must lord it over us, and woe to him who dares to chastise their insolence. nathless, i would feel it a comfort to make every bone in that urchin's body ache soundly. i have a mind--but this is folly. i believe you are right, fray. you should go." "moreover," said the friar mournfully, "i am doing no good here." "no one can do good now," returned juan, in a tone of deep dejection. "and to-day the last blow has fallen. the poor woman who showed him kindness, and sometimes told us how he fared, is herself a prisoner." "what! she has been discovered?" "even so: and with those fiends mercy is the greatest of all crimes. the child met me to-day (whether by accident or design, i know not), and told me, weeping bitterly." "god help her!" "some would gladly endure her punishment if they might commit her crime," said don juan. there was a pause; then he resumed, "i had been about to ask you to apply once more to the prior." fray sebastian shook his head. "that were of no use," he said; "for it is certain that my lord the vice-inquisitor and the prior have had a misunderstanding about the matter. and the prior, so far from obtaining permission to deal with him as he desired, is not even allowed to see him now." "and yourself?--whither do you mean to go?" asked juan, rather abruptly. "in sooth, i know not, señor. i have had no time to think. but go i must." "i will tell you what to do. go to nuera. there for the present you will be safe. and if any man inquire your business, you have a fair and ready answer. _i_ send you to look after my affairs. stay; i will write by you to dolores. poor, true-hearted dolores!" don juan seemed to fall into a reverie, so long did he sit motionless, his face shaded by his hand. his mournful air, his unwonted listlessness, his attenuated frame--all struck fray sebastian painfully. after musing a while in silence, he said at last, very suddenly, "señor don juan!" juan looked up. "have you ever thought since on the message _he_ sent you by me?" don juan looked as though that question were worse than needless. was not every word of his brother's message burned into his heart? this it was: "my ruy, thou hast done all for me that the best of brothers could. leave me now to god, unto whom i am going quickly, and in peace. quit the country as soon as thou canst; and god's best blessings surround thy path and guard thee evermore." one fact carlos had most earnestly entreated fray sebastian to withhold from his brother. juan must never know that he had endured the horrors of the question. the monk would have promised almost anything that could bring a glow of pleasure to that pale, patient face. and he had kept his promise, though at the expense of a few falsehoods, that did not greatly embarrass his conscience. he had conveyed the impression to don juan that it was merely from the effects of his long and cruel imprisonment that his brother was sinking into the only refuge that remained to him--a quiet grave. after a pause, he resumed, looking earnestly at juan--"_he_ wished you to go." "do you not know that next month they say there will be--_an auto_?" "yes; but it is not likely--" they gazed at each other in silence, neither saying _what_ was not likely. "any horror is _possible_," said juan at last. "but no more of this. until after the auto, with its chances of _some_ termination to this dreadful suspense, i stir not from seville. now, we must think for you. i know where to find a boat, the owner of which will take you some miles on your way up the river to-night. then you can hire a horse." fray sebastian groaned. neither the journey itself, its cause, nor its manner were anything but disagreeable to the poor friar. but there was no help for him. juan gave him some further directions about his way; then set food and wine before him. "eat and drink," he said. "meanwhile i will secure the boat. when i return, i can write to dolores." all was done as he planned; and ere the morning broke, fray sebastian was far on his way to nuera, with the letter to dolores stitched into the lining of his doublet. xxxv. the eve of the auto. "it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth he sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. he putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope." lamentations iii, 27-29. on the 21st of september 1559, all seville wore a festive appearance. the shops were closed, and the streets were filled with idle loiterers in their gay holiday apparel. for it was the eve of the great auto, and the preliminary ceremonies were going forward amidst the admiration of gazing thousands. two stately scaffolds, in the form of an amphitheatre, had been erected in the great square of the city, then called the square of st. francis; and thither, when the work was completed, flags and crosses were borne in solemn procession, with music and singing. but a still more significant ceremonial was enacted in another place. outside the walls, on the prado san sebastian, stood the ghastly quemadero--the great altar upon which, for generations, men had offered human sacrifices to the god of peace and love. thither came long files of barefooted friars, carrying bushes and faggots, which they laid in order on the place of death, while, in sweet yet solemn tones, they chanted the "miserere" and "de profundis." very close together on those festive days were "strong light and deep shadow." but our way leads us, for the present, into the light. turning away from the square of st. francis, and the prado san sebastian, we enter a cool upper room in the stately mansion of don garçia ramirez. there, in the midst of gold and gems, and of silk and lace, doña inez is standing, busily engaged in the task of selecting the fairest treasures of her wardrobe to grace the grand festival of the following day. doña beatriz de lavella, and the young waiting-woman who had been employed in the vain though generous effort to save don carlos, are both aiding her in the choice. "please your ladyship," said the girl, "i should recommend rose colour for the basquina. then, with those beautiful pearls, my lord's late gift, my lady will be as fine as a duchess; of whom, i hear, many will be there.--but what will señora doña beatriz please to wear?" "i do not intend to go, juanita," said doña beatriz, with a little embarrassment. "not intend to go!" cried the girl, crossing herself in surprise. "not go to see the grandest sight there has been in seville for many a year! worth a hundred bull-feasts! ay de mi! what a pity!" "juanita," interposed her mistress, "i think i hear the señorita's voice in the garden. it is far too hot for her to be out of doors. oblige me by bringing her in at once." as soon as the attendant was gone, doña inez turned to her cousin. "it is really most unreasonable of don juan," she said, "to keep you shut up here, whilst all seville is making holiday." "i am glad--i have no heart to go forth," said doña beatriz, with a quivering lip. "nor have i too much, for that matter. my poor brother is so weak and ill to-day, it grieves me to the heart. moreover, he is still so thoughtless about his poor soul. that is the worst of all. i never cease praying our lady to bring him to a better mind. if he would only consent to see a priest; but he was ever obstinate. and if i urge the point too strongly, he will think i suppose him dying." "i thought his health had improved since you had him brought over here." "certainly he is happier here than he was in his father's house. but of late he seems to me to be sinking, and that quickly. and now, the auto--" "what of that?" asked doña beatriz, with a quick look, half suspicious and half frightened. doña inez closed the door carefully, and drew nearer to her cousin. "they say _she_ will be amongst the relaxed,"[27] she whispered. [27] those delivered over to the secular arm--that is, to death. "does he know it?" asked beatriz. "i fear he suspects something; and what to tell him, or not to tell him, i know not--our lady help me! ay de mi! 'tis a horrible business from beginning to end. and the last thing--the arrest of the sister, doña juana! a duke's daughter--a noble's bridge. but--best be silent. 'con el re e la inquisicion, chiton! chiton!'"[28] [28] "with the king or the inquisition, hush! hush!" _a spanish proverb._ thus, only in a few hurried words, spoken with 'bated breath, did doña inez venture to allude to the darkest and saddest of the horrible tragedies in that time of horrors. nor shall we do more. "still, you know, amiga mia," she continued, "one must do like one's neighbours. it would be so ridiculous to look gloomy on a festival day. besides, every one would talk." "that is why i say i am glad don juan made it his prayer to me that i would not go. for not to look sorrowful, when thy father, don manuel, and my aunt, doña katarina, are both doing their utmost to drive me out of my senses, would be past my power." "have they been urging the suit of señor luis upon thee again? my poor beatriz, i am truly sorrow for thee," said doña inez, with genuine sympathy. "urging it again!" beatriz repeated with flashing eyes. "nay; but they have never ceased to urge it. and they spare not to say such wicked, cruel words. they tell me don juan is dishonoured by his brother's crime. dishonoured, forsooth! think of dishonour touching him! after the day of st. quentin, the duke of savoy was not of that mind, nor our catholic king himself. and they have the audacity to say that i can easily get absolved of my troth to him. absolved of a solemn promise made in the sight of god and of our lady, and all the holy saints! if _that_ be not heresy, as bad as--" "hush!" interrupted doña inez. "these are dangerous subjects. moreover, i hear some one knocking at the door." it proved to be a page bearing a message. "if it please doña beatriz de lavella, don juan alvarez de santillanos y meñaya kisses the señora's feet, and most humbly desires the favour of an audience." "i go," said beatriz. "request señor don juan to have the goodness to untire himself a little, and bring his excellency fruit and wine," added doña inez. "my cousin," she said, turning to beatriz as soon as the page left the room, "do you not know your cheeks are all aflame? don juan will think we have quarrelled. rest you here a minute, and let me bathe them for you with this water of orange-flowers." beatriz submitted, though reluctantly, to her cousin's good offices. while she performed them she whispered, "and be not so downcast, amiga mia. there is a remedy for most troubles. and as for yours, i see not why don juan himself should not save you out of them once for all." she added, in a whisper, two or three words that more than undid all the benefit which the cheeks of beatriz might otherwise have derived from the application of the fragrant water. "no use," was the agitated reply. "even were it possible, _they_ would not permit it." "you can come to visit me. then trust me to manage the rest. the truth is, amiga mia," doña inez continued hurriedly, as she smoothed her cousin's dark glossy hair, "what between sickness, and quarrelling, and the faith, and heresy, and prisons, there is so much trouble in the world that no one can help, it seems a pity not to help all one can. so you may tell don juan that if doña inez can do him a good turn she will not be found wanting. there, i despair of your cheeks. yet i must allow that their crimson becomes you well. but you would rather hear that from don juan's lips than from mine. go to him, my cousin." and with a parting kiss beatriz was dismissed. but if she expected any flattery that day from the lips of don juan, she was disappointed. his heart was far too sorrowful. he had merely come to tell his betrothed what he intended to do on the morrow--that dreadful morrow! "i have secured a station," he said, "from whence i can watch the whole procession, as it issues from the gate of the triana. if _he_ is there, i shall dare everything for a last look and word. and a desperate man is seldom baffled. if even his dust is there, i shall stand beside it till all is over. if not--" here he broke off, leaving his sentence unfinished, as if in that case it did not matter what he did. just then doña inez entered. after customary salutations, she said, "i have a request to make of you, my cousin, on the part of my brother, don gonsalvo. he desires to see you for a few moments." "señora my cousin, i am very much at your service, and at his." juan was accordingly conducted to the upper room where gonsalvo lay. and at the special request of the sick man, they were left alone together. he stretched out a wasted hand to his cousin, who took it in silence, but with a look of compassion. for it needed only a glance at his face to show that death was there. "i should be glad to think you forgave me," he said. "i do forgive you," juan answered. "you intended no evil." "will you, then, do me a great kindness? it is the last i shall ask. tell me the names of any of the--the _victims_ that have come to your knowledge." "it is only through rumour one can hear these things. not yet have i succeeded in discovering whether the name dearest to me is amongst them." "tell me--has rumour named in your hearing--doña maria de xeres y bohorques?" juan was still ignorant of the secret which doña inez had but recently confided to his betrothed. he therefore answered, without hesitation, though in a low, sad tone, "yes; they say she is to die to-morrow." don gonsalvo flung his hand across his face, and there was a great silence. which the awed and wondering juan broke at last. guessing at the truth, he said, "it may be i have done wrong to tell you." "no; you have done right. i knew it ere you told me. it is well--for her." "a brave word, bravely spoken." "nigh upon eighteen months--long slow months of grief and pain. all ended now. to-morrow night she will see the glory of god." there was another long pause. at last juan said,-"perhaps, if you could, you would gladly share her fate?" gonsalvo half raised himself, and a flush overspread the wan face that already wore the ashy hue of approaching death. "share _that_ fate?" he cried, with an eagerness contrasting strangely with his former slow and measured utterance. "change with _them_? ask the beggar, who sits all day at the king's gate, waiting for his dole of crumbs, would he gladly change with the king's children, when he sees the golden gate flung open before them, and watches them pass in robed and crowned, to the presence-chamber of the king himself." "your faith is greater than mine," said juan in surprise. "in one way, yes," replied gonsalvo, sinking back, and resuming his low, quiet tone. "for the beggar dares to hope that the king has looked with pity even on _him_." "you do well to hope in the mercy of god." "cousin, do you know what my life has been?" "i think i do." "i am past disguise now. standing on the brink of the grave, i dare speak the truth, though it be to my own shame. there was no evil, no sin--stay, i will sum up all in one word. _one_ pure, blameless life--a man's life, too--i have watched from day to day, from childhood to manhood. all that your brother don carlos was, i was not; all he was not, i was." "yet you once thought that life incomplete, unmanly," said juan, remembering the taunts that in past days had so often aroused his wrath. "i was a fool. it is just retribution that i--i who called him coward--should see him march in there triumphant, with the palm of victory in his hand. but let me end; for i think it is the last time i shall speak of myself in any human ear. i sowed to the flesh, and of the flesh i have reaped--_corruption_. it is an awful word, don juan. all the life in me turned to death; all the good in me (what god meant for good, such as force, fire, passion) turned to evil. what availed it me that i loved a star in heaven--a bright, lonely, distant star--while i was earthy, of the earth? because i could not (and thank god for that!) pluck down my star from the sky and hold it in my hand, even that love became corruption too. i fulfilled my course, the earthly grew sensual, the sensual grew devilish. and then god smote me, though not then for the first time. the stroke of his hand was heavy. my heart was crushed, my frame left powerless." he paused for a while, then slowly resumed. "the stroke of his hand, your brother's words, your brother's book--by these he taught me. there is deliverance even from the bondage of corruption, through him who came to call not the righteous, but sinners. one day--and that soon--i, even i, shall kneel at his feet, and thank him for saving the lost. and then i shall see my star, shining far above me in his glorious heaven, and be content and glad." "god has been very gracious to you, my cousin," said juan in a tone of emotion. "and what he has cleansed i dare not call common. were my brother here to-day, i think he would stretch out to you the right hand, not of forgiveness, but of fellowship. i have told you how he longed for your soul." "god can fulfil more desires of his than that, don juan, and i doubt not he will. what know we of his dealings? we who all these dreary months have been mourning for and pitying his prisoners, to-morrow to be his crowned and sainted martyrs? it were a small thing with him to flood the dungeon's gloom with light, and give--even here, even now--all their hearts long for to those who suffer for him." juan was silent. truly the last was first, and the first last now. gonsalvo had reached some truths which were still far beyond _his_ ken. he did not know how their seed had been sown in his heart by his own brother's hand. at length he answered, in a low and faltering voice, "there is much in what you say. fray sebastian told me--" "ay," cried gonsalvo eagerly, "what did fray sebastian tell you of _him_?" "that he found him in perfect peace, though ill and weak in body. it is my hope that god himself has delivered him ere now out of their cruel hands. and i ought to tell you that he spoke of all his relatives with affection, and made special inquiry after your health." gonsalvo said quietly, "it is likely i shall see him before you." juan sighed. "to-morrow will reveal something," he said. "many things, perhaps," gonsalvo returned. "well--doña beatriz waits you now. there is no poison in that wine, though it be of an earthly vintage; and god himself puts the cup in your hand; so take it, and be comforted. yet stay; have you patience for one word more?" "for a thousand, if you will, my cousin." "i know that in heart you share his--_our_ faith." juan shrank a little from his gaze. "of course," he replied, "i have been obliged to conceal my opinions; and, indeed, of late all things have seemed to grow dim and uncertain with me. sometimes, in my heart of hearts, i cannot tell what truth is." "'he came not to call the righteous, but sinners,'" said gonsalvo. "and the sinner who has heard his call _must_ believe, let others doubt as they may. thank god, the sinner may not only believe, but love. yes; in that the beggar at the gate may take his stand beside the king's children unreproved. even i dare to say, 'lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that i love thee.' only to them it is given to prove it; while i--ay, there was the bitter thought. long it haunted me. at last i prayed that if indeed he deigned to accept me, all sinful as i was, he would give me for a sign something to do, to suffer, or to give up, whereby i might prove my love." "and did he hear you?" "yes. he showed me one thing harder to give up than life; one thing harder to do than to brave the torture and the death of fire." "what is that?" once more gonsalvo veiled his face. then he murmured--"harder to give up--vengeance, hatred; harder to do--to pray for _their_ murderers." "_i_ could never do it," said juan, starting. "and if at last--at last--_i_ can,--i, whose anger was fierce, and whose wrath was cruel, even unto death,--is not that his own work in me?" juan half turned away, and did not answer immediately. in his heart many thoughts were struggling. far, indeed, was he from praying for his brother's murderers; almost as far from wishing to do it. rather would he invoke god's vengeance upon them. had gonsalvo, in the depths of his misery, remorse, and penitence, actually found something which don juan alvarez still lacked? he said at last, with a humility new and strange to him,-"my cousin, you are nearer heaven than i." "as to time--yes," said gonsalvo, with a faint smile. "now farewell, cousin; and thank you." "can i do nothing more for you?" "yes; tell my sister that i know all. now, god bless you, and deliver you from the evils that beset your path, and bring you and yours to some land where you may worship him in peace and safety." and so the cousins parted, never to meet again upon earth. xxxvi. "the horrible and tremendous spectacle."[29] "all have passed: the fearful, and the desperate, and the strong. some like the barque that rushes with the blast; some like the leaf borne tremblingly along; and some like men who have but one more field to fight, and then may slumber on their shield- therefore they arm in hope." hemans. at earliest dawn next morning, juan established himself in an upper room of one of the high houses which overlooked the gate of the triana. he had hired it from the owners for the purpose, stipulating for sole possession and perfect loneliness. [29] so called by the inquisitor, de pegna. at sunrise the great cathedral bell tolled out solemnly, and all the bells in the city responded. through the crowd, which had already gathered in the street, richly dressed citizens were threading their way on foot. he knew they were those who, out of zeal for the faith, had volunteered to act as _patrinos_, or god-fathers, to the prisoners, walking beside them in the procession. amongst them he recognized his cousins, don manuel and don balthazar. they were all admitted into the castle by a private door. ere long the great gate was flung open. juan's eyes were rivetted to the spot. there was a sound of singing, sweet and low, as of childish voices; for the first to issue from those gloomy portals were the boys of the college of doctrine, dressed in white surplices, and chanting litanies to the saints. clear and full at intervals rose from their lips the "ora pro nobis" of the response; and tears gathered unconsciously in the eyes of juan at the old familiar words. in great contrast with the white-robed children came the next in order. juan drew his breath hard, for here were the penitents: pale, melancholy faces, "ghastly and disconsolate beyond what can be imagined;"[30] forms clothed in black, without sleeves, and barefooted--hands carrying extinguished tapers. [30] report of de pegna. those who walked foremost in the procession had only been convicted of such _minor_ offences as blasphemy, sorcery, or polygamy. but by-and-by there came others, wearing ugly sanbenitos--yellow, with red crosses--and conical paper mitres on their heads. juan's eye kindled with intenser interest; for he knew that these were lutherans. not without a wild dream--hope, perhaps--that the near approach of death might have subdued his brother's fortitude, did he scan in turn every mournful face. there was luis d'abrego, the illuminator of church books; there, walking long afterwards, as far more guilty, was medel d'espinosa, the dealer in embroidery, who had received the testaments brought by juliano. there were many others of much higher rank, with whom he was well acquainted. altogether more than eighty in number, the long and melancholy train swept by, every man or woman attended by two monks and a patrino. but carlos was not amongst them. then came the great cross of the inquisition; the face turned towards the penitent, the back to the _impenitent_--those devoted to the death of fire. and now juan's breath came and went--his lips trembled; all his soul was in his eager, straining eyes. now first he saw the hideous zamarra--a black robe, painted all over with saffron-coloured flames, into which devils and serpents, rudely represented, were thrusting the impenitent heretic. a paper crown, or carroza, similarly adorned, covered the victim's head. but the face of the wearer was unknown to juan. he was a poor artizan--juan de leon by name--who had made his escape by flight, but had been afterwards apprehended in the low countries. torture and cruel imprisonment had almost killed him already; but his heart was strong to suffer for the lord he loved, and though the pallor of death was on his cheek, there was no fear there. but the countenances of those that followed juan knew too well. never afterwards could he exactly recall the order in which they walked; yet every individual face stamped itself indelibly on his memory. he would carry those looks in his heart until his dying hour. no less than four of the victims wore the white tunic and brown mantle of st. jerome. one of these was an old man--leaning on his staff for very age, but with joy and confidence beaming in his countenance. the white locks, from which garçias arias had gained the name of doctor blanco, had been shorn away; but juan easily recognized the waverer of past days, now strengthened with all might, according to the glorious power of him whom at last he had learned to trust. the accomplished cristobal d'arellano, and fernando de san juan, master of the college of doctrine, followed calm and dauntless. steadfast, too, though not without a little natural shrinking from the doom of fire, was a mere youth--juan crisostomo. then came one clad in a doctor's robe, with the step of at conqueror and the mien of a king. as he issued from the triana he chanted, in a clear and steady voice, the words of the hundred and ninth psalm: "hold not thy peace, o god of my praise; for the mouth of the ungodly, yea, the mouth of the deceitful, is opened upon me: and they have spoken against me with false tongues. they compassed me about also with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.... help me, o lord my god: o save me according to thy mercy; and they shall know how that this is thine hand, and that thou, lord, hast done it. though they curse, yet bless thou." so died away the voice of juan gonsalez, one of the noblest of christ's noble band of witnesses in spain. all these were arrayed in the garments of their ecclesiastical orders, to be solemnly degraded on the scaffold in the square of st. francis. but there followed one already in the full infamy, or glory, of the zamarra and carroza, with painted flames and demons;--with a thrill of emotion, juan recognized his friend and teacher, cristobal losada--looking calm and fearless--a hero marching to his last battle, conquering and to conquer. yet even that face soon faded from juan's thoughts. for there walked in that gloomy death procession _six_ females--persons of rank; nearly all of them young and beautiful, but worn by imprisonment, and more than one amongst them maimed by torture. yet if man was cruel, christ, for whom they suffered, was pitiful. their countenances, calm and even radiant, revealed the hidden power by which they were sustained. their names--which deserve a place beside those of the women of old who were last at his cross and first beside his open sepulchre--were, doña isabella de baena, in whose house the church was wont to meet; the two sisters of juan gonsalez; doña maria de virves; doña maria de cornel; and, last of all, doña maria de bohorques, whose face shone as the first martyr's, looking up into heaven. she alone, of all the female martyr band, appeared wearing the gag, an honour due to her heroic efforts to console and sustain her companions in the court of the triana. juan's brave heart well-nigh burst with impotent, indignant anguish. "ay de mi, my spain!" he cried; "thou seest these things, and endurest them. lucifer, son of the morning, thou art fallen--fallen from thy high place amongst the nations." it was true. from the man, or nation, "that hath not," shall be taken "even that which he seemeth to have." had the spirit of chivalry, spain's boast and pride, been faithful to its own dim light, it might even then have saved spain. but its light became darkness; its trust was betrayed into the hand of superstition. therefore, in the just judgment of god, its own degradation quickly followed. spain's chivalry lost gradually all that was genuine, all that was noble in it; until it became only a faint and ghastly mockery, a sign of corruption, like the phosphoric light that flickers above the grave. absorbed in his bitter thoughts, juan well-nigh missed the last of the doomed ones--last because highest in worldly rank. sad and slow, with eyes bent down, don juan ponce de leon walked along. the flames on his zamarra were reversed; poor symbol of the poor mercy for which he sold his joy and triumph and dimmed the brightness of his martyr crown. yet surely he did not lose the glad welcome that awaited him at the close of that terrible day; nor the right to say, with the erring restored apostle, "lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that i love thee." all the living victims had passed now. and don carlos alvarez was not amongst them. juan breathed a sigh of relief; but not yet did his straining eyes relax their gaze. for rome's vengeance reached even to the grave. next, there were borne along the statues of those who had died in heresy, robed in the hideous zamarra, and followed by black chests containing their bones to be burned. not there!--no--not there! at last juan's trembling hands let go the framework of the window to which they had been clinging; and, the intense strain over, he fell back exhausted. the stately pageant swept by, unwatched by him. he never saw, what all seville was gazing on with admiration, the grand procession of the judges and counsellors of the city, in their robes of office; the chapter of the cathedral; the long slow train of priests and monks that followed. and then, in a space left empty out of reverence, the great green standard of the inquisition was borne aloft, and over it a gilded crucifix. then came the inquisitors themselves, in their splendid official dresses. and lastly, on horseback and in gorgeous apparel, the familiars of the inquisition. it was well that juan's eyes were turned from that sight. what avails it for lips white with passion to heap wild curses on the heads of those for whom god's curse already "waits in calm shadow," until the day of reckoning be fully come? curses, after all, are weapons dangerous to use, and apt to pierce the hand that wields them. his first feeling was one of intense relief, almost of joy. he had escaped the maddening torture of seeing his brother dragged before his eyes to the death of anguish and shame. but to that succeeded the bitter thought, growing soon into full, mournful conviction, "i shall see his face no more on earth. he is dead--or dying." yet that day the deep, strong current of his brotherly love was crossed by another tide of emotion. those heroic men and women, whom he watched as they passed along so calmly to their doom, had he no bond of sympathy with them? was it so long since he had pressed losada's hand in grateful friendship, and thanked doña isabella de baena for the teaching received beneath her roof? with a thrill of keen and sudden shame the gallant soldier saw himself a recreant, who had flaunted his gay uniform on the parade and at the field-day, but when the hour of conflict came, had stepped aside, and let the sword and the bullet find out braver and truer hearts. _he_ could not die thus for his faith. on the contrary, it cost him but little to conceal it, to live in every respect like an orthodox catholic. what, then, had they which he had not? something that enabled his young brother--the boy who used to weep for a blow--to stand and look fearless in the face of a horrible death. something that enabled even poor, wild, passionate gonsalvo to forgive and pray for the murderers of the woman he loved. what was it? xxxvii. something ended and something begun. "o sweet and strange it is to think that ere this day is done, the voice that now is speaking may be beyond the sun; for ever and for ever with those just souls and true- and what is life that we should mourn, why make we such ado?" tennyson. late in the afternoon of that day, doña inez entered her sick brother's room. a glitter of silk, rose-coloured and black, of costly lace and of gems and gold, seemed to surround her. but as she threw aside the mantilla that partially shaded her face, and almost sank on a seat beside the bed, it was easy to see that she was very faint and weary, if not also very sick at heart. "santa maria! i am tired to death," she murmured. "the heat was killing; and the whole business interminably long." gonsalvo gazed at her with eager eyes, as a man dying of thirst might gaze on one who holds a cup of water; but for a while he did not speak. at last he said, pointing to some wine that lay near, beside an untasted meal,-"drink, then." "what, my brother!" said doña inez, reproachfully, "you have not touched food to-day! you--so ill and weak!" "i am a man--even still," said gonsalvo with a little bitterness in his tone. doña inez drank, and for a few moments fanned herself in silence, distress and embarrassment in her face. at last gonsalvo, who had never withdrawn his eager gaze, said in a low voice,-"sister, remember your promise." "i am afraid--for you." "you need not," he gasped. "only tell me _all_." doña inez passed her hand wearily across her brow. "everything floats before me," she said. "what with the music, and the mass, and the incense; and the crosses, and banners, and gorgeous robes; and then the taking of the oaths, and the sermon of the faith." "still--you kept my charge?" "i did, brother." she lowered her voice. "hard as it was, i looked at _her_. if it comforts you to know that, all through that long day, her face was as calm as ever i have seen it listening to fray constantino's sermons, you may take that comfort to your heart. when her sentence had been read, she was asked to recant; and i heard her answer rise clear and distinct, 'i neither can nor will recant.' ave maria sanctissima! it is all a great mystery." there was a silence, then she resumed,-"and señor cristobal losada--" but the thought of the kind and skilful physician who had watched beside her own sick-bed, and brought back her babe from the gates of the grave, almost overcame her. turning quickly to other victims, she went on-"there were four monks of st. jerome. think of the white doctor, that every one believed so good a man, so pious and orthodox! another of them, fray cristobal d'arellano, was accused in his sentence of some wicked words against our lady which, it would seem, he never said. he cried out boldly, before them all, 'it is false! i never advanced such a blasphemy; and i am ready to prove the contrary with the bible in my hand.' every one seemed too much amazed even to think of ordering him to be gagged: and, for my part, i am glad the poor wretch had his word for the last time. i cannot help wishing they had equally forgotten to silence doctor juan gonzales; for it does not appear that he was speaking any blasphemy, but merely a word of comfort to a poor pale girl, his sister, as they told me. two of them are to die with him--god help them!--holy saints forgive me; i forgot we were told not to pray for them," and she crossed herself. "does my sister really believe that compassionate word a sin in god's sight?" "how am i to know? i believe whatever the church says, of course. and surely there is enough in these days to inspire us with a pious horror of heresy. _pues_," she resumed, "there was that long and terrible ceremony of degrading from the priesthood. and yet that gonsalez passed through it all as calm and unmoved as though he were but putting on his robes to say mass. his mother and his two brothers are still in prison, it is said, awaiting their doom. of all the relaxed, i am told that only don juan ponce de leon showed any sign of penitence. for the sake of his noble house, one is glad to think he is not so hardened as the rest. ay de mi! whether it be right or wrong, i cannot help pitying their unhappy souls." "pity your own soul, not theirs," said gonsalvo. "for i tell you christ himself, in all his glory and majesty, at the right hand of the father, will _stand up_ to receive them this night, as he did to welcome st. stephen long ago." "oh, my poor brother, what dreadful words you speak! it is a mortal sin even to listen to you. take thought, i implore you, of your own situation." "i _have_ taken thought," interrupted gonsalvo, faintly. "but i can bear no more--just now. leave me, i pray you, alone with god." "if you would even try to say an ave!--but i fear you are ill--suffering. i do not like to leave you thus." "do not heed me; i shall be better soon. and a vow is upon me that i must keep to-day." once more he flung the wasted hand across his face to conceal it. irresolute whether to go or stay, she stood for some minutes watching him silently. at length she caught a low murmur, and hoping that he prayed, she bent over him to hear. only three words reached her ear. they were these--"father, forgive them." after an interval, gonsalvo looked up again. "i thought you were gone," he said. "go now, i entreat of you. but so soon as you know _the end_, spare not to come and tell me. for i wait for that." thus entreated, doña inez had no choice but to leave him alone, which she did. evening had worn to night, and night was beginning to wear towards daybreak, when at last don garçia ramirez, and those of his servants who had accompanied him to the prado san sebastian to see the end, returned home. doña inez sat awaiting her husband in the patio. she looked pale and languid; apparently the great holiday of seville had been anything but a joyful day to her. don garçia divested himself of his cloak and sword, and dismissed the servants to their beds. but when his wife invited him to partake of the supper she had prepared, he turned upon her with very unusual ill-humour. "it is little like thy wonted wit, señora mia, to bid a man to his breakfast at midnight," he said. yet he drank deeply of the xeres wine that stood on the board beside the venison pasty and the manchet bread. at last, after long patience, doña inez won from his lips what she desired to hear. "oh yes; all is over. our lady defend us! i have never seen such obstinacy; nor could i have believed it possible unless i had seen it. the criminals encouraged each other to the very last. those girls, the sisters of gonsalez, repeated their credo at the stake; whereupon the attendant brethren entreated them to have so much pity on their own souls as to say, 'i believe in the _roman_ catholic church.' they answered, 'we will do as our brother does.' so the gag was removed, and doctor juan cried aloud, 'add nothing to the good confession you have made already.' but for all that, order was given to strangle them; and one of the friars told us they died in the true faith. i suppose it is not a sin to hope they did." after a pause, he continued, in a deeper tone, "señor cristobal amazed me as much as any of them. at the very stake, some of the brethren undertook to argue with him. but seeing that we were all listening, and might hear somewhat to the hurt of our souls, they began to speak in the latin tongue. our physician immediately did the same. i am no scholar myself; but there were learned men there who marked every word, and one of them told me afterwards that the doomed man spoke with as much elegance and propriety as if he had been contending for an academic prize, instead of waiting for the lighting of the fire which was to consume him. this unheard-of calmness and composure, whence is it? the devil's own work, or"----he broke off suddenly and resumed in a different tone, "señora mia, have you thought of the hour? in heaven's name, let us to our beds!" "i cannot go to rest until you tell me one thing more. doña maria de bohorques?" "vaya, vaya! have we not had enough of it all?" "nay; i have made a promise. i must entreat you to tell me how doña maria de bohorques met her doom." "with unflinching hardihood. don juan ponce tried to urge her to yield somewhat. but she refused, saying it was not now a time for reasoning, and that they ought rather to meditate on the lord's death and passion. (they believe in _that_, it seems.) when she was bound to the stake, the monks and friars crowded round her, and pressed her only to repeat the credo. she did so; but began to add some explanations, which, i suppose, were heretical. then immediately the command was given to strangle her; and so, in one moment, while she was yet speaking, death came to her." "then she did not suffer? she escaped the fire! thank god!" five minutes afterwards, doña inez stood by her brother's bed. he lay in the same posture, his face still shaded by his hand. "brother," she said gently--"brother, all is over. she did not suffer. it was done in one moment." there was no answer. "brother, are you not glad she did not feel the fire? can you not thank god for it? speak to me." still no answer. he could not be asleep! impossible!--"speak to me, gonsalvo!--_brother!_" she drew close to him; she touched his hand to remove it from his face. the next moment a cry of horror rang through the house. it brought the servants and don garçia himself to the room. "he is dead! god and our lady have mercy on his soul!" said don garçia, after a brief examination. "if only he had had the holy sacrament, i could have borne it!" said doña inez; and then, kneeling down beside the couch, she wept bitterly. so passed the beggar with the king's sons, through the golden gate into the king's own presence-chamber. his wrecked and troublous life over, his passionate heart at rest for ever, the erring, repentant gonsalvo found entrance into the same heaven as d'arellano, and gonsalez, and losada, with their radiant martyr-crowns. in the many mansions there was a place for him, as for those heroic and triumphant ones. he wore the same robe as they--a robe washed and made white, not in the blood of martyrs, but in the blood of the lamb. xxxviii. nuera again. "happy places have grown holy; if ye went where once ye went, only tears would fall down slowly, as at solemn sacrament. household names, that used to flutter through your laughter unawares, god's divine one ye can utter with less troubling in your prayers." e.b. browning. a chill and dreary torpor stole over juan's fiery spirit after the auto. the settled conviction that his brother was dead took possession of his mind. moreover, his soul had lost its hold upon the faith which he once embraced so warmly. he had consciously ceased to be true to his best convictions, and those convictions, in turn, had ceased to support him. his confidence in himself, his trust in his own heart, had been shaken to its foundations. and he was very far from having gained in its stead that strong confidence in god which would have infinitely more than counterbalanced its loss. thus two or three slow and melancholy months wore away. then, fortunately for him, events happened that forced him, in spite of himself, to the exertion that saves from the deadly slumber of despair. it became evident, that if he did not wish to see the last earthly treasure that remained to him swept out of his reach for ever, he must rouse himself from his lethargy so far as to grasp and hold it; for now don manuel _commanded_ his ward to bestow her hand upon his rival, señor luis rotelo. in her anguish and dismay, beatriz fled for refuge to her kind-hearted cousin, doña inez. doña inez received her into her house, where she soothed and comforted her; and soon found means to despatch an "esquelita," or billet, to don juan, to the following effect:--"doña beatriz is here. remember, my cousin, 'that a leap over a ditch is better than another man's prayer.'" to which juan replied immediately:-"señora and my cousin, i kiss your feet. lend me a helping hand, and i take the leap." doña inez desired nothing better. being a spanish lady, she loved an intrigue for its own sake; being a very kindly disposed lady, she loved an intrigue for a benevolent object. with her active co-operation and assistance, and her husband's connivance, it was quickly arranged that don juan should carry off doña beatriz from their house to a little country chapel in the neighbourhood, where a priest would be in readiness to perform the solemn rite which should unite them for ever. thence they were to proceed at once to nuera, don juan disguising himself for the journey as the lady's attendant. doña inez did not anticipate that her father and brothers would take any hostile steps after the conclusion of the affair--glad though they might have been to prevent it--since there was nothing which they hated and dreaded so much as a public scandal. all juan's latent fire and energy woke up again to meet the peril and to secure the prize. he was successful in everything; the plan had been well laid, and was well and promptly carried out. and thus it happened, that amidst december snows he bore his beautiful bride home to nuera in triumph. if triumph it could be called, overcast by the ever-present memory of the one who "was not," which rested like a deep shadow upon all joy, and subdued and chastened it. few things in life are sadder than a great, long-expected blessing coming thus;--like a friend from a foreign land whose return has been eagerly anticipated, but who, after years of absence, meets us changed in countenance and in heart, unrecognizing and unrecognized. dolores welcomed her young master and his bride with affection and thankfulness. but he noticed that the dark hair, at the time of his last visit still only threaded with silver, had grown white as the mountain snows. in former days dolores could not have told which of the noble youths, her lady's gallant sons, had been the dearer to her. but now she knew full well. her heart was in the grave with the boy she had taken a helpless babe from his dying mother's arms. but, after all, _was_ he in the grave? this was the question which she asked herself day by day, and many times a day. she was not quite so sure of the answer as señor don juan seemed to be. since the day of the auto, he had assumed all the outward signs of mourning for his brother. fray sebastian was also at nuera, and proved a real help and comfort to its inmates. his very presence served to shield the household from any suspicions that might have been awakened with regard to their faith. for who could doubt the orthodoxy of don juan alvarez, while he not only contributed liberally to the support of his parish church, but also kept a pious franciscan in his family, in the capacity of private chaplain? though it must be confessed that the fray's duties were anything but onerous; now, as in former days, he showed himself a man fond of quiet, who for the most part held his peace, and let every one do what was right in his own eyes. he was now on far more cordial terms with dolores than he had ever been before. this was partly because he had learned that worse physical evils than ollas of lean mutton, or cheese of goat's milk, _might_ be borne with patience, even with thankfulness. but partly also because dolores now really tried to consult his tastes and to promote his comfort. many a savoury dish "which the fray used to like" did she trouble herself to prepare; many a flask of wine from their diminishing store did she gladly produce, "for the kind words that he spake to _him_ in his sorrow and loneliness." in spite of the depressing influences around her, doña beatriz could not but be very happy. for was not don juan hers, all her own, her own for ever? and with the zeal love inspires, and the skill love imparts, she applied herself to the task of brightening his darkened life. not quite without effect. even from that stern and gloomy brow the shadows at length began to roll away. don juan could not speak of his sorrow. for weeks indeed after his return to nuera his brother's name did not pass his lips. better had it been otherwise, both for himself and for dolores. her heart, aching with its own lonely anguish and its vague, dark surmisings, often longed to know her young master's true innermost thought about his brother's fate. but she did not dare to ask him. at last, however, this painful silence was partially broken through. one morning the old servant accosted her master with an air of some displeasure. it was in the inner room within the hall. holding in her hand a little book, she said,--"may it please your excellency to pardon my freedom, but it is not well done of you to leave this lying open on your table. i am a simple woman; still i am at no loss to know what and whence it is. if you will not destroy it, and cannot keep it safe and secret, i implore of your worship to give it to me." juan held out his hand for it. "it is dearer to me than any earthly possession," he said briefly. "it had need to be dearer than your life, señor, if you mean to leave it about in that fashion." "i have lost the right to say so much," juan answered. "and yet, dolores--tell me, would it break your heart if i sold this place--you know it is mortgaged heavily already--and quitted the country?" juan expected a start, if not a cry of surprise and dismay. that alvarez de meñaya should sell the inheritance of his fathers seemed indeed a monstrous proposal. in the eyes of the world it would be an act of insanity, if not a crime. what then would it appear to one who loved the name of santillanos y meñaya far better than her life? but the still face of dolores never changed. "nothing would break my heart _now_," she said calmly. "you would come with us?" she did not even ask _whither_. she did not care: all her thoughts were in the past. "that is of course, señor," she answered. "if i had but first assurance of _one_ thing." "name it; and if i can assure you, i will." instead of naming it she turned silently away. but presently turning again, she asked, "will your excellency please to tell me, is it that book that is driving you into exile?" "it is. i am bound to confess the truth before men; and that is impossible here." "but are you sure then that it is the truth?" "sure. i have read god's message both in the darkness and in the light. i have seen it traced in characters of blood--and fire." "but--forgive the question, señor--does it make you happy?" "why do you ask?" "because, señor don juan"--she spoke with an effort, but firmly, and fixing her eyes on his face--"he who gave you yon book found therein that which made him happy. i know it; he was here, and i watched him. when he came first, he was ill, or else very sorrowful, i know not why. but he learned from that book that god almighty loved him, and that the lord and saviour christ was his friend; and then his sorrow passed away, and his heart grew full of joy, so full that he must needs be telling me--ay, and even that poor dolt of a cura down there in the village--about the good news. and i think"--but here she stopped, frightened at her own boldness. "what think you?" asked juan, with difficulty restraining his emotion. "well, señor don juan, i think that if that good news be true, it would not be so hard to suffer for it. blessed virgin! could it be aught but joy to me, for instance, to lie in a dark dungeon, or even to be hanged or burned, if that could work out _his_ deliverance? there be worse things in the world than pain or prisons. for where there's love, señor---moreover, it comes upon me sometimes that the lords inquisitors may have mistaken his case. wise and learned they may he, and good and holy they are, of course--'twere sin to doubt it--yet they _may_ mistake sometimes. 'twas but the other day, my old eyes growing dim apace, that i took a blessed gleam of sunlight that had fallen on yon oak table for a stain, and set to work to rub it off; the lord forgive me for meddling with one of the best of his works! and, for aught we know, just so may they be doing, mistaking god's light upon the soul for the devil's stain of heresy. but the sunlight is stronger than they, after all." "dolores, you are half a lutheran already yourself," answered juan in surprise. "i, señor! the lord forbid! i am an old christian, and a good catholic, and so i hope to die. but if you must hear all the truth, i would walk in a yellow sanbenito, with a taper in my hand, before i would acknowledge that _he_ ever said one word or thought one thought that was not catholic and christian too. all his crime was to find out that the good lord loved him, and to be happy on account of it. if that be your religion also, señor don juan, i have nothing to say against it. and, as i have said, god granting me, in his great mercy, one assurance first, i am ready to follow you and your lady to the world's end." with these words on her lips she left the room. for a time juan sat silent in deep thought. then he opened the testament, and turned over its leaves until he found the parable of the sower. "'some fell upon stony places,'" he read, "'where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and, because they had no root, they withered away.' there," he said within himself, "in those words is written the history of my life, from the day my brother confessed his faith to me in the garden of san isodro. god help me, and forgive my backsliding! but at least it is not too late to go humbly back to the beginning, and to ask him who alone can do it to break up the fallow ground." he closed the book, walked to the window and looked out. presently his eye was attracted to those dear mystic words on the pane, which both the brothers had loved and dreamed over from their childhood,- "el dorado yo hé trovado." and at that moment the sun was shining on them as brightly as it used to do in those old days gone by for ever. no vague dream of any good, foreshadowed by the omen to him or to his house, crossed the mind of the practical don juan. but he seemed to hear once more the voice of his young brother saying close beside him, "look, ruy, the light is on our father's words." and memory bore him back to a morning long ago, when some slight boyish quarrel had been ended thus. over his stern, handsome face there passed a look that shaded and softened it, and his eyes grew dim--dim with tears. but just then doña beatriz, radiant from a morning walk, and with her hands full of early spring flowers, tripped in, singing a spanish ballad,- "ye men that row the galleys, i see my lady fair; she gazes at the fountain that leaps for pleasure there." beatriz was a child of the city; and, moreover, her life hitherto had been an unloved and unloving one. now her nature was expanding under the wholesome influences of home life and home love, and of simple healthful pleasures. "look, don juan, what pretty things grow in your fields here! i have never seen the like," she said, breaking off in her song to exhibit her treasures. don juan looked carelessly at them, lovingly at her. "i would fain hear a morning hymn from those sweet, tuneful lips," he pleaded. "most willingly, amigo mio,- 'ave sanctissima--'" "hush, my beloved; hush, i entreat of you." and laying his hand lightly on her shoulder, he gazed in her face with a mixture of fond and tender admiration and of gentle reproach difficult to describe. "_not that._ for the sake of all that lies between us and the old faith, not that. rather let us sing together,- 'vexilla regis prodeunt.' for you know that between us and our king there stands, and there needs to stand, no human mediator. do you not, my beloved?" "i know that _you_ are right," answered beatriz, still reading her faith in don juan's eyes. "but we can sing afterwards, whatever you like, and as much as you will. i pray you let us come forth now into the sunshine together. look, what a glorious morning it is!" xxxix. left behind. "they are all gone into a world of light, and i alone am lingering here." henry vaughan. the change of seasons brought little change to those dark cells in the triana, where neither the glory of summer nor the breath of spring could come. while the world, with its living interests, its hopes and fears, its joys and sorrows, kept surging round them, not even an echo of its many voices reached the doomed ones within, who lay so near, yet so far from all, "fast bound in misery and iron." not yet had the deliverer come to carlos. more than once he had seemed very near. during the summer heats, so terrible in that prison, fever had wasted the captive's already enfeebled frame; but this was the means of prolonging his life, for the eve of the auto found him unable to walk across his cell. still he heard without very keen sorrow the fate of his beloved friends, so soon did he hope to follow them. and yet, month after month, life lingered on. in his circumstances restoration to health was simply impossible. not that he endured more than others, or even as much as some. he was not loaded with fetters, or buried in one of the frightful subterranean cells where daylight never entered. still, when to the many physical sufferings his position entailed was added the weight of sickness, weakness, and utter loneliness, they formed together a burden heavy enough to have crushed even a strong heart to despair. long ago the last gleam of human sympathy and kindness had faded from him. maria gonsalez was herself a prisoner, receiving such payment as men had to give her for her brave deeds of charity. god's payment, however, was yet to come, and would be of another sort. herrera, the under-gaoler, was humane, but very timid; moreover, his duties seldom led him to that part of the prison where carlos lay. so that he was left dependent upon the tender mercies of gaspar benevidio, which were indeed cruel. and yet, in spite of all, he was not crushed, not despairing. the lamp of patient endurance burned on steadily, because it was continually fed with oil by an unseen hand. it has been beautifully said, "the personal love of christ to you, felt, delighted in, returned, is actually, truly, simply, without exaggeration, the deepest joy and the deepest feeling that the heart of man or woman can know. it will absolutely satisfy your heart. it would satisfy your heart if it were his will that you should spend the rest of your life alone in a dungeon." just this, nothing else, nothing less, sustained carlos throughout those long slow months of suffering, which had now come to "add themselves and make the years." it proved sufficient for him. it has proved sufficient for thousands--god's unknown saints and martyrs, whose names we shall learn first in heaven. those who still occasionally sought access to him, in the hope of transforming the obstinate heretic into a penitent, marvelled greatly at the cheerful calm with which he was wont to receive them and to answer their arguments. sometimes he would even brave all the wrath of benevidio, and raising his voice as loud as he could, he would make the gloomy vaults re-echo to such words as these: "the lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall i fear? the lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall i be afraid?" or these: "whom have i in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that i desire beside thee. my flesh and my heart faileth; but god is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever." but still it was not in christ's promise, nor was it to be expected, that his prisoner should never know hours of sorrow, weariness, and heart-sinking. such hours came sometimes. and on the very morning when don juan and doña beatriz were going forth together into the spring sunshine through the castle gate of nuera, carlos, in his dungeon, was passing through one of the darkest of these. he lay on his mat, his face covered with his wasted hands, through which tears were slowly falling. it was but very seldom that he wept now; tears had grown rare and scarce with him. the evening before, he had received a visit from two jesuits, bound on the only errand which would have procured their admission there. irritated by his bold and ready answers to the usual arguments, they had recourse to declamation. and one of them bethought himself of mentioning the fate of the lutherans who suffered at the two great autos of valladolid. "most of the heretics," said the jesuit, "though when they were in prison they were as obstinate as thou art now, yet had their eyes opened in the end to the error of their ways, and accepted reconciliation at the stake. at the last great act of faith, held in the presence of king philip, only don carlos de seso--" here he stopped, surprised at the agitation of the prisoner, who had heard their threatenings against himself so calmly. "de seso! de seso! have they murdered him too?" moaned carlos, and for a few brief moments he gave way to natural emotion. but quickly recovering himself he said, "i shall only see him the sooner." "were you acquainted with him?" asked the jesuit. "i loved and honoured him. my avowing that cannot hurt him _now_," answered carlos, who had grown used to the bitter thought that any name would be disgraced and its owner imperilled, by _his_ mentioning it with affection. "but if you will do me so much kindness," he added, "i pray you to tell me anything you know of his last hours. any word he spoke." "he could speak nothing," said the younger of his two visitors. "before he left the prison he had uttered so many horrible blasphemies against holy church and our lady that he was obliged to wear the gag during the whole ceremony, 'lest he should offend the little ones.'"[31] [31] a genuine inquisitorial expression. this last cruel wrong--the refusal of leave to the dying to speak one word in defence of the truths he died for--stung carlos to the quick. it wrung from lips so patient hitherto words of indignant threatening. "god will judge your cruelty," he said. "go on, fill up the measure of your guilt, for your time is short. one day, and that soon, there will be a grand spectacle, grander than your autos. then shall you, torturers of god's saints, call upon the mountains and rocks to cover you, and to hide you from the wrath of the lamb." once more alone, his passionate anger died away. and it was well. surrounded as he was on every side by strong, cold, relentless wrong and cruelty, if his spirit had beaten its wings against those bars of iron, it would soon have fallen to the ground faint and helpless, with crushed pinions. it was not in such vain strivings that he could find, or keep, the deep calm peace with which his heart was filled; it was in the quiet place at his saviour's feet, from whence, if he looked at his enemies at all, it was only to pity and forgive them. but though anger was gone, a heavy burden of sorrow remained. de seso's noble form, shrouded in the hideous zamarra, his head crowned with the carroza, his face disfigured by the gag,--these were ever before his eyes. he well-nigh forgot that all this was over now--that for him the conflict was ended and the triumph begun. could he have known even as much as we know now of the close of that heroic life, it might have comforted him. don carlos de seso met his doom at the second of the two great autos celebrated at valladolid during the year 1559. at the first, the most steadfast sufferers were francisco de vibero cazalla, one of a family of confessors; and antonio herezuelo, whose pathetic story--the most thrilling episode of spanish martyrology--would need an abler pen than ours. during his lingering imprisonment of a year and a half, de seso never varied in his own clear testimony to the truth, never compromised any of his brethren. informed at last that he was to die the next day, he requested writing materials. these being furnished him, he placed on record a confession of his faith, which llorente, the historian of the inquisition, thus describes:--"it would be difficult to convey an idea of the uncommon vigour of sentiment with which he filled two sheets of paper, though he was then in the presence of death. he handed what he had written to the alguazil, with these words: 'this is the true faith of the gospel, as opposed to that of the church of rome, which has been corrupted for ages. in this faith i wish to die, and in the remembrance and lively belief of the passion of jesus christ, to offer to god my body, now reduced so low.'" all that night and the next morning were spent by the friars in vain endeavours to induce him to recant. during the auto, though he could not speak, his countenance showed the steadfastness of his soul--a steadfastness which even the sight of his beloved wife amongst those condemned to perpetual imprisonment failed to disturb. when at last, as he was bound to the stake, the gag was removed, he said to those who stood around him, still urging him to yield, "i could show you that you ruin yourselves by not following my example; but there is no time. executioners, light the fire that is to consume me." even in the act of death it was given him, though unconsciously, to strengthen the faith of another. in the martyr band was a poor man, juan sanchez, who had been a servant of the cazallas, and was apprehended in flanders with juan de leon. he had borne himself bravely throughout; but when the fire was kindled, the ropes that bound him to the stake having given way, the instinct of self-preservation made him rush from the flames, and, not knowing what he did, spring upon the scaffold where those who yielded at the last were wont to receive absolution. the attendant monks at once surrounded him, offering him the alternative of the milder death. recovering self-possession, he looked around him. at one side knelt the penitents, at the other, motionless amidst the flames, de seso stood, "as standing in his own high hall." his choice was made. "i will die like de seso," he said calmly; and then walked deliberately back to the stake, where he met his doom with joy. another brave sufferer at this auto, don domingo de roxas, ventured to make appeal to the justice of the king, only to receive the memorable reply, never to be read without a shudder,--"i would carry wood to burn my son, if he were such a wretch as thou!" all these circumstances carlos never heard on this side of the grave. but in the quiet sabbath-keeping that remaineth for the people of god, there will surely be leisure enough to talk over past trials and triumphs. at present, however, he only saw the dark side--only knew the bare and bitter facts of suffering and death. he had not merely loved de seso as his instructor; he had admired him with the generous enthusiasm of a young man for a senior in whom he recognizes his ideal--all that he himself would fain become. if the spains had but known the day of their visitation, he doubted not that man would have been their leader in the path of reform. but they knew it not; and so, instead, the chariot of fire had come for him. for him, and for nearly all the men and women whose hands carlos had been wont to clasp in loving brotherhood. losada, d'arellano, ponce de leon, doña isabella de baena, doña maria de bohorques,--all these honoured names, and many more, did he repeat, adding after each one of them, "at rest with christ." somewhere in the depths of those dreary dungeons it might be that the heroic juliano, his father in the faith, was lingering still; and also fray constantino, and the young monk of san isodro, fray fernando. but the prison walls sundered them quite as hopelessly from him as the river of death itself. earlier ties sometimes seemed to him only like things he had read or dreamed of. during his fever, indeed, old familiar faces had often flitted round him. dolores sat beside him, laying her hand on his burning brow; fray sebastian taught him disjointed, meaningless fragments from the schoolmen; juan himself either spoke cheerful words of hope and trust, or else talked idly of long-forgotten trifles. but all this was over now: neither dream nor fancy came to break his utter, terrible loneliness. he knew that he was never to see juan again, nor dolores, nor even fray sebastian. the world was dead to him, and he to it. and as for his brethren in the faith, they had gone "to the light beyond the clouds, and the rest beyond the storms," where he would so gladly be. why, then, was he left so long, like one standing without in the cold? why did not the golden gate open for him as well as for them? what was he doing in this place?--what _could_ he do for his master's cause or his master's honour? he did not murmur. by this time his saviour's prayer, "not my will, but thine be done," had been wrought into the texture of his being with the scarlet, purple, and golden threads of pain, of patience, and of faith. but it is well for his tried ones that he knows longing is not murmuring. very full of longing were the words--words rather of pleading than of prayer--that rose continually from the lips of carlos that day,--"and now, lord, _what wait i for_?" xl. "a satisfactory penitent." "how long in thraldom's grasp i lay i knew not; for my soul was black, and knew no change of night or day." campbell. carlos was sleeping tranquilly in his dungeon on the following night, when the opening of the door aroused him. he started with sickening dread, the horrors of the torture-room rising in an instant before his imagination. benevidio entered, followed by herrera, and commanded him to rise and dress immediately. long experience of the santa casa had taught him that he might as well make an inquiry of its doors and walls as of any of its officials. so he obeyed in silence, and slowly and painfully enough. but he was soon relieved from his worst fear by seeing herrera fold together the few articles of clothing he had been allowed to have with him, preparatory to carrying them away. "it is only, then, a change of prison," he thought; "and wherever they bring me, heaven will be equally near." his limbs, enfeebled by two years of close confinement, and lame from the effects of one terrible night, were sorely tried by what he thought an almost interminable walk through corridors and down narrow winding stairs. but at last he was conducted to a small postern door, which, greatly to his surprise, benevidio proceeded to unlock. the kind-hearted herrera took advantage of the moment when benevidio was thus occupied to whisper,-"we are bringing you to the dominican prison, señor; you will be better used there." carlos thanked him by a grateful look and a pressure of the hand. but an instant afterwards he had forgotten his words. he had forgotten everything save that he stood once more in god's free air, and that god's own boundless heaven, spangled with ten thousand stars, was over him, no dungeon roof between. for one rapturous moment he gazed upwards, thanking god in his heart. but the fresh air he breathed seemed to intoxicate him like strong wine. he grew faint, and leaned for support on herrera. "courage, señor; it is not far--only a few paces," said the under-gaoler, kindly. weak as he was, carlos wished the distance a hundred times greater. but it proved quite long enough for his strength. by the time he was delivered over into the keeping of a couple of lay brothers, and locked by them into a cell in the dominican monastery, he was scarcely conscious of anything save excessive fatigue. the next morning was pretty far advanced before any one came to him; but at last he was honoured with a visit from the prior himself. he said frankly, and with perfect truth,-"i am glad to find myself in your hands, my lord." to one accustomed to feel himself an object of terror, it is a new and pleasant sensation to be trusted. even a wild beast will sometimes spare the weak but fearless creature that ventures to play with it: and don fray ricardo was not a wild beast; he was only a stern, narrow, conscientious man, the willing and efficient agent of a terrible system. his brow relaxed visibly as he said,-"i have always sought your true good, my son." "i am well aware of it, father." "and you must acknowledge," the prior resumed, "that great forbearance and lenity have been shown towards you. but your infatuation has been such that you have deliberately and persistently sought your own ruin. you have resisted the wisest arguments, the gentlest persuasions, and that with an obstinacy which time and discipline seem only to increase. and now at last, as another auto-da-fé may not be celebrated for some time, my lord vice-inquisitor-general, justly incensed at your contumacy, would fain have thrown you into one of the underground dungeons, where, believe me, you would not live a month. but i have interceded for you." "i thank your kindness, my lord. but i cannot see that it matters much how you deal with me now. sooner or later, in one form or other, it must be death; and i thank god it can be no more." while a man might count twenty, the prior looked silently in that steadfast sorrowful young face. then he said,-"my son, do not yield to despair; for i come to thee this day with a message of hope. i have also made intercession for thee with the supreme council of the holy office; and i have succeeded in obtaining from that august tribunal a great and unusual grace." carlos looked up, a sudden flush on his cheek. he hoped this unusual grace might be permission to see some familiar face ere he died; but the prior's next words disappointed him. alas! it was only the offer of escape from death on terms that he might not accept. and yet such an ofter really deserved the name the prior gave it--a great and unusual grace. for, as has been already intimated, by the laws of the inquisition at that time in force, the man who had _once_ professed heretical doctrines, however sincerely he might have retracted them, was doomed to die. his penitence would procure him the favour of absolution--the mercy of the garotte instead of the stake: that was all. the prior went on to explain to carlos, that upon the ground of his youth, and the supposition that he had been led into error by others, his judges had consented to show him singular favour. "moreover," he added, "there are other reasons for this course of action, upon which it would be needless, and might be inexpedient, to enter at present; but they have their weight, especially with me. for the preservation, therefore, both of your soul and your body--upon which i take more compassion than you do yourself--i have, in the first place, obtained permission to remove you to a more easy and more healthful confinement, where, besides other favours, you will enjoy the great privilege of a companion, constant intercourse with whom can scarcely fail to benefit you." carlos thought this last a doubtful boon; but as it was kindly intended, he was bound to be grateful. he thanked the prior accordingly; adding, "may i be permitted to ask the name of this companion?" "you will probably find out ere long, if you conduct yourself so as to deserve it,"--an answer carlos found so enigmatical, that after several vain endeavours to comprehend it, he gave up the task in despair, and not without some apprehension that his long imprisonment had dulled his perceptions. "amongst us he is called don juan," the prior continued. "and this much i will tell you. he is a very honourable person, who had many years ago the great misfortune to be led astray by the same errors to which you cling with such obstinacy. god was pleased, however, to make use of my poor instrumentality to lead him back to the bosom of the church. he is now a true and sincere penitent, diligent in prayer and penance, and heartily detesting his former evil ways. it is my last hope for you that his wise and faithful counsels may bring you to the same mind." carlos did not particularly like the prospect. he feared that this vaunted penitent would prove a noisy apostate, who would seek to obtain the favour of the monks by vilifying his former associates. nor, on the other hand, did he think it honest to accept without protest kindnesses offered him on the supposition that he might even yet be induced to recant. he said,-"i ought to tell you, señor, that my mind will never change, god helping me. rather than lead you to imagine otherwise, i would go at once to the darkest cell in the triana. my faith is based on the word of god, which can never be overthrown." "the penitent of whom i speak used such words as these, until god and our lady opened his eyes. now he sees all things differently. so will you, if god is pleased to give you the inestimable benefit of his divine grace; for it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of god that showeth mercy," said the dominican, who, like others of his order, ingeniously managed to combine strong predestinarian theories with the creed of rome. "that is most true, señor," carlos responded. "but to resume," said the prior; "for i have yet more to say. should you be favoured with the grace of repentance, i am authorized to hold out to you a well-grounded hope, that, in consideration of your youth, your life may even yet be spared." "and then, if i were strong enough, i might live out ten or twenty years--like the last two," carlos answered, not without a touch of bitterness. "it is not so, my son," returned the prior mildly. "i cannot promise, indeed, under any circumstances, to restore you to the world. for that would be to promise what could not be performed; and the laws of the holy office expressly forbid us to delude prisoners with false hopes.[32] but this much i will say, your restraint shall be rendered so light and easy, that your position will be preferable to that of many a monk, who has taken the vows of his own free will. and if you like the society of the penitent of whom i spoke anon, you shall continue to enjoy it." [32] but these laws were often broken or evaded. carlos began to feel a somewhat unreasonable antipathy to this penitent, whose face he had never seen. but what mattered the antipathies of a prisoner of the holy office? he only said, "permit me again to thank you, my lord, for the kindness you have shown me. though my fellow-men cast out my name as evil, and deny me my share of god's free air and sky, and my right to live in his world, i still take thankfully every word or deed of pity and gentleness they give me by the way. for they know not what they do." the prior turned away, but turned back again a moment afterwards, to ask--what for the credit of his humanity he ought to have asked a year before--"do you stand in need of any thing? or have you any request you wish to make?" carlos hesitated a moment. then he said, "of things within your power to grant, my lord, there is but one that i care to ask. two brethren of the society of jesus visited me the day before yesterday. i spoke hastily to one of them, who was named fray isodor, i think. had i the opportunity, i should be glad to offer him my hand." "now, of all mysterious things in heaven or earth," said the prior, "a heretic's conscience is the most difficult to comprehend. truly you strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. but as for fray isodor, you may rest content. for good and sufficient reasons, he cannot visit you here. but i will repeat to him what you have said. and i know well that his own tongue is a sharp weapon enough when used in the defence of the faith." the prior withdrew; and shortly afterwards one of the monks appeared, and silently conducted carlos to a cell, or chamber, in the highest story of the building. like the cells in the triana, it had two doors--the outer one secured by strong bolts and bars, the inner one furnished with an aperture through which food or other things could be passed. but here the resemblance ceased. carlos found himself, on entering, in what seemed to him more like a hall than a cell; though, indeed, it must be remembered that his eye was accustomed to ten feet square. it was furnished as comfortably as any room needed to be in that warm climate; and it was tolerably clean, a small mercy which he noted with no small gratitude. best perhaps of all, it had a good window, looking down on the courtyard, but strongly barred, of course. near the window was a table, upon which stood an ivory crucifix, and a picture of the madonna and child. but even before his eye took in all these objects, it turned to the penitent, whose companionship had been granted him as so great a boon. he was utterly unlike all that he had expected. instead of a fussy, noisy pervert, he saw a serene and stately old man, with long white hair and beard, and still, clearly chiselled, handsome features. he was dressed in a kind of mantle, of a nondescript colour, made like a monk's cowl without the hood, and bearing two large st. andrew's crosses, one on the breast and the other on the back; in fact, it was a compromised sanbenito. as carlos entered, he rose (showing a tall, spare figure, slightly stooped), and greeted his new companion with a courteous and elaborate bow, but did not speak. shortly afterwards, food was handed through the aperture in the door; and the half-starved prisoner from the triana sat down with his fellow-captive to what he esteemed a really luxurious repast. he had intended to be silent until obliged to speak, but the aspect and bearing of the penitent quite disarranged his preconceived ideas. during the meal, he tried once and again to open a conversation by some slight courteous observation. all in vain. the penitent did the honours of the table like a prince in disguise, and never failed to bow and answer, "yes, señor," or "no, señor," to everything carlos said. but he seemed either unable or unwilling to do more. as the day wore on, this silence grew oppressive to carlos; and he marvelled increasingly at his companion's want of ordinary interest in him, or curiosity about him. until at length a probable solution of the mystery dawned upon his mind. as he considered the penitent an agent of the monks deputed to convert him, very likely the penitent, on his side, regarded _him_ in the light of a spy commissioned to watch his proceedings. but this, if it was true at all, was only a small part of the truth. carlos failed to take into account the terrible effect of long years of solitude, crushing down all the faculties of the mind and heart. it is told of some monastery, where the rules were so severe that the brethren were only allowed to converse with each other during one hour in the week, that they usually sat for that hour in perfect silence: they had nothing to say. so it was with the penitent of the dominican convent. he had nothing to say, nothing to ask; curiosity and interest were dead within him--dead long ago, of absolute starvation. yet carlos could not help observing him with a strange kind of fascination. his face was too still, too coldly calm, like a white marble statue; and yet it was a noble face. it was, although not a thoughtful face, the face of a thoughtful man asleep. it did not lack expressiveness, though it lacked expression. moreover, there was in it a look that awakened dim, undefined memories--shadowy things, that fled away like ghosts whenever he tried to grasp them, yet persistently rose again, and mingled with all his thoughts. he told himself many times that he had never seen the man before. was it, then, an accidental likeness to some familiar face that so fixed and haunted him? certainly there was something which belonged to his past, and which, even while it perplexed and baffled, strangely soothed and pleased him. at each of the canonical hours (which were announced to them by the tolling of the convent bells), the penitent did not fail to kneel before the crucifix, and, with the aid of a book and a rosary, to read or repeat long latin prayers, in a half audible voice. he retired to rest early, leaving his fellow-prisoner supremely happy in the enjoyment of his lamp and his book of hours. for it was two years since the eyes of the once enthusiastic young scholar had rested on a printed page, or since the kindly gleam of lamp or fire had cheered his solitude. the privilege of refreshing his memory with the passages of scripture contained in the romish book of devotion now appeared an unspeakable boon to him. and although, accustomed as he was to a life of unbroken monotony, the varied impressions of the day had produced extreme weariness of mind and body, it was near midnight before he could prevail upon himself to close the volume, and lie down to rest on the comfortable pallet prepared for him. he was just falling asleep, when the midnight bell tolled out heavily. he saw his companion rise, throw his mantle over his shoulders, and betake himself to his devotions. how long these lasted he could not tell, for the stately kneeling figure soon mingled with his dreams--strange dreams of juan as a penitent, dressed in a sanbenito, and with white hair and an old man's face, kneeling devoutly before the altar in the church at nuera, but reciting one of the songs of the cid instead of _de profundis_. xli. more about the penitent. "ay, thus thy mother looked, with such a sad, yet half-triumphant smile, all radiant with deep meaning." hemans. a slight incident, that occurred the following morning, partially broke down the barrier of reserve between the two prisoners. after his early devotions, the penitent laid aside his mantle, took up a besom made of long slips of cane, and proceeded, with great deliberation and gravity, to sweep out the room. the contrast that his stately figure, his noble air, and the dignity of all his movements, offered to the menial occupation in which he was engaged, was far too pathetic to be ludicrous. carlos could not but think that he wielded the lowly implement as if it were a chamberlain's staff of office, or a grand marshal's baton. he himself was well accustomed to such tasks; for every prisoner of the santa casa, no matter what his rank might be, was his own servant. and it spoke much for the revolution that had taken place in his ideas and feelings, that though taught to look on all servile occupations as ineffably degrading, he had never associated a thought of degradation with anything laid upon him to do or to suffer as the prisoner of christ. and yet he could not endure to see his aged and stately fellow-prisoner thus occupied. he rose immediately, and earnestly entreated to be allowed to relieve him of the task, pleading that all such duties ought to devolve on him as the younger. at first the penitent resisted, saying that it was part of his penance. but when carlos continued to urge the point, he yielded; perhaps the more readily because his will, like his other faculties, was weakened for want of exercise. then, with more apparent interest than he had shown in any of his previous proceedings, he watched the rather slow and difficult movements of his young companion. "you are lame, señor," he said, a little abruptly, when carlos, having finished his work, sat down to rest. "from the pulley," carlos answered quietly; and then his face beamed with a sudden smile, for the secret of the lord was with him, and he tasted the sweet, strange joy that springs out of suffering borne for him. that look was the wire that drew an electric flash of memory from the clouds that veiled the old man's soul. what that sudden flash revealed was a castle gate, at which stood a stately yet slender form robed in silk. in the fair young face tears and smiles were contending; but a smile won the victory, as a little child was held up, and made to kiss a baby-hand in farewell to its father. in a moment all was gone; only a vague trouble and uneasiness remained, accompanied by that strange sense of having seen or felt just the same thing before, with which we are most of us familiar. accustomed to solitude, the penitent spoke aloud, perchance unconsciously. "why did they bring you here?" he said, in a half fretful tone. "you hurt me. i have done very well alone all these years." "i am sorry to incommode you, señor," returned carlos. "but i did not come here of my own will; neither, unhappily, can i go. i am a prisoner like yourself; but, unlike you, i am a prisoner under sentence of death." for several minutes the penitent did not answer. then he rose, and taking a step or two towards the place where carlos sat, gravely extended his hand. "i fear i have spoken uncourteously," he said. "so many years have passed since i have conversed with my fellows, that i have well-nigh forgotten how i ought to address them. do me the favour, señor and my brother, to grant me your pardon." carlos warmly assured him no offence had been given; and taking the offered hand, he pressed it reverently to his lips. from that moment he loved his fellow-prisoner in his heart. there was an interval of silence, then the penitent of his own accord resumed the conversation. "did i hear you say you are under sentence of death?" he asked. "i am so actually, though not formally," carlos replied. "in the language of the holy office, i am a professed impenitent heretic." "and you so young!" "to be a heretic?" "no; i meant so young to die." "do i look young--even yet? i should not have thought it. to me the last two years seem like a long lifetime." "have you been two years, then, in prison? poor boy! yet i have been here ten, fifteen, twenty years--i cannot tell how many. i have lost the account of them." carlos sighed. and such a life was before him, should he be weak enough to surrender his hope. he said, "do you really think, señor, that these long years of lonely suffering are less hard to bear than a speedy though violent death?" "i do not think it matters, as to that," was the penitent's not very apposite reply. in fact, his mind was not capable, at the time, of dealing with such a question; so he turned from it instinctively. but in the meantime he was remembering, every moment more and more clearly, that a duty had been laid upon him by the authority to which his soul held itself in absolute subjection. and that duty had reference to his fellow-prisoner. "i am commanded," he said at last, "to counsel you to seek the salvation of your soul, by returning to the bosom of the one true catholic and apostolic church, out of which there is no peace and no salvation." carlos saw that he spoke by rote; that his words echoed the thought of another, not his own. it seemed to him, under the circumstances, scarcely generous to argue. he spared to put forth his mental powers against the aged and broken man, as juan in like case would have spared to use his strong right arm. after a moment's thought, he replied,-"may i ask of your courtesy, señor and my father, to bear with me for a little while, that i may frankly disclose to you my real belief?" appeal could never be made in vain to that penitent's courtesy. no heresy, that could have been proposed, would have shocked him half so much as the supposition that one castilian gentleman could be uncourteous to another, upon any account. "do me the favour to state your opinions, señor," he responded, with a bow, "and i will honour myself by giving them my best attention." carlos was little used to language such as this. it induced him to speak his mind more freely than he had been able to do for the last two years. but, mindful of his experience with old father bernardo at san isodro, he did not speak of doctrines, he spoke of a person. in words simple enough for a child to understand, but with a heart glowing with faith and love, he told of what he was when he walked on earth, of what he is at the right hand of the father, of what he has done and is doing still for every soul that trusts him. certainly the faded eye brightened; and something like a look of interest began to dawn in the mournfully still and passive countenance. for a time carlos was aware that his listener followed every word, and he spoke slowly, on purpose to allow him so to do. but then there came a change. the _listening_ look passed out of the eyes; and yet they did not wander once from the speaker's face. the expression of the whole countenance was gradually altered, from one of rather painful attention to the dreamy look of a man who hears sweet music, and gives free course to the emotions it is calculated to awaken. in truth, the voice of carlos _was_ sweet music in his fellow-captive's ear; and he would willingly have sat thus for ever, gazing at him and enjoying it. carlos thought that if this was their reverences' idea of "a satisfactory penitent," they were not difficult to satisfy. and he marvelled increasingly that so astute a man as the dominican prior should have put the task of his conversion into such hands. for the piety so lauded in the penitent appeared to him mere passiveness--the submission of a soul out of which all resisting forces had been crushed. "it is only life that resists," he thought; "the dead they can move whithersoever they will." intolerance always sets a premium on mental stagnation. nay, it actually produces it; it "makes a desert, and calls it peace." and what the inquisition did for the penitent, that it has done also for the penitent's fair fatherland. was the resurrection of dead and buried faculties possible for _him_? is such a resurrection possible for _it_? and yet, in spite of the deadness of heart and brain, which he doubted not was the result of cruel suffering, carlos loved his fellow-prisoner every hour more and more. he could not tell why; he only knew that "his soul was knit" to his. when carlos, for fear of fatiguing him, brought his explanations to a close, both relapsed into silence; and the remainder of the day passed without much further conversation, but with a constant interchange of little kindnesses and courtesies. the first sight that greeted the eyes of carlos when he awoke the next morning, was that of the penitent kneeling before the pictured madonna, his lips motionless, his hands crossed on his breast, and his face far more earnest with feeling--it might be thought with devotion--than he had ever seen it yet. carlos was moved, but saddened. it grieved him sore that his aged fellow-prisoner should pour out the last costly libation of love and trust left in his desolated heart before the shrine of that which was no god. and a great longing awoke within him to lead back this weary and heavy-laden one to the only being who could give him true rest. "if, indeed, he is one of god's chosen, of his loved and redeemed ones, he will be led back," thought carlos, who had spent the past two years in thinking out many things for himself. certain aspects of truth, which may be either strong cordials or rank poisons, as they are used, had grown gradually clear to him. opposed to the dominican prior upon most subjects, he was at one with him upon that of predestination. for he had need to be assured, when the great water floods prevailed, that the chain which kept him from drifting away with them was a strong one. and therefore he had followed it up, link by link, until he came at last to that eternal purpose of god in which it was fast anchored. since the day that he first learned it, he had lived in the light of that great centre truth, "i have loved thee"--_thee_ individually. but as he lay in the gloomy prison, sentenced to die, something more was revealed to him. "i have loved thee _with an everlasting love, therefore_ with loving-kindness have i drawn thee." the value of this truth, to him as to others, lay in the double aspect of that word "everlasting;" its look forward to the boundless future, as well as backward on the mysterious past. the one was a pledge and assurance of the other. and now he was taking to his heart the comfort it gave, for the penitent as well as for himself. but it made him, not less, but more anxious to be god's fellow-worker in bringing him back to the truth. in the meantime, however, he was quite mistaken as to the feelings with which the old man knelt before the pictured virgin and child. his heart was stirred by no mystic devotion to the queen of heaven, but by some very human feelings, which had long lain dormant, but which were now being gradually awakened there. he was thinking not of heaven, but of earth, and of "earth's warm beating joy and dole." and what attracted him to that spot was only the representation of womanhood and childhood, recalling, though far off and faintly, the fair young wife and babe from whom he had been cruelly torn years and years ago. a little later, as the two prisoners sat over the bread and fruit that formed their morning meal, the penitent began to speak more frankly than he had done before. "i was quite afraid of you, señor, when you first came," he said. "and perhaps i was not guiltless of the same feeling towards you," carlos answered. "it is no marvel. companions in sorrow, such as we are, have great power either to help or to hurt one another." "you may truly say that," returned the penitent. "in fact, i once suffered so cruelly from the treachery of a fellow-prisoner, that it is not unnatural i should be suspicious." "how was that, señor?" "it was very long ago, soon after my arrest. and yet, not soon. for weary months of darkness and solitude, i cannot tell how many, i held out--i mean to say, i continued impenitent." "did you?" asked carlos with interest. "i thought as much." "do not think ill of me, i entreat of you, señor," said the penitent anxiously. "i am _reconciled_. i have returned to the bosom of the true church, and i belong to her. i have confessed and received absolution. i have even had the holy sacrament; and if ill, or in danger of death, it is promised i shall receive 'su majestad'[33] at any time. and i have abjured and detested all the heresies i learned from de valero." [33] "his majesty," the ordinary term applied by spaniards to the host. "from de valero! did you learn from him?" the pale cheek of carlos crimsoned for a moment, then grew paler than before. "tell me, señor, if i may ask it, how long have you been here?" "that is just what i cannot tell. the first year stands out clearly; but all the after years are like a dream to me. it was in that first year that the caitiff i spoke of anon, who was imprisoned with me--you observe, señor, i had already asked for reconciliation. it was promised me. i was to perform penance; to be forgiven; to have my freedom. _pues_, señor, i spoke to that man as i might to you, freely and from my heart. for i supposed him a gentleman. i dared to say that their reverences had dealt somewhat hardly with me, and the like. idle words, no doubt--idle and wicked. god knows, i have had time enough to repent them since. for that man, my fellow-prisoner, he who knew what prison was, went forth straightway and delated me to the lords inquisitors for those idle words--god in heaven forgive him! and thus the door was shut upon me--shut--shut for ever. ay de mi! ay de mi!" carlos heard but little of this speech. he was gazing at him with eager, kindling eyes. "were there left behind in the world any that it wrung your heart to part from?" he asked, in a trembling voice. "there were. and since you came, their looks have never ceased to haunt me. why, i know not. my wife, my child!" and the old man shaded his face, while in his eyes, long unused to tears, there rose a mist, like the cloud in form as a man's hand, that foretold the approach of the beneficent rain, which should refresh and soften the thirsty soil, making all things young again. "señor," said carlos, trying to speak calmly, and to keep down the wild tumultuous throbbing of his heart--"señor, a boon, i entreat of you. tell me the name you bore amongst men. it was a noble one, i know." "true. they promised to save it from disgrace. but it was part of my penance not to utter it; if possible, to forget it." "yet, this once. i do not ask idly--this once--have pity on me, and speak it," pleaded carlos, with intense tremulous earnestness. "your face and your voice move me strangely; it seems to me that i could not deny you anything. i am--i ought to say, i _was_--don juan alvarez de santillanos y meñaya." before the sentence was concluded, carlos lay senseless at his feet. xlii. quiet days. "i think that by-and-by all things which were perplexed a while ago and life's long, vain conjecturings, will simple, calm, and quiet grow. already round about me, some august and solemn sunset seems deep sleeping in a dewy dome, and bending o'er a world of dreams." owen meredith. the penitent laid carlos gently on his pallet (he still possessed a measure of physical strength, and the worn frame was easy to lift); then he knocked loudly on the door for help, as he had been instructed to do in any case of need. but no one heard, or at least no one heeded him, which was not remarkable, since during more than twenty years he had not, on a single occasion, thus summoned his gaolers. then, in utter ignorance what next to do, and in very great distress, he bent over his young companion, helplessly wringing his hands. carlos stirred at last, and murmured, "where am i? what is it?" but even before full consciousness returned, there came the sense, taught by the bitter experience of the last two years, that he must look within for aid--he could expect none from any fellow-creature. he tried to recollect himself. some bewildering, awful joy had fallen upon him, striking him to the earth. was he free? was he permitted to see juan? slowly, very slowly, all grew clear to him. he half raised himself, grasped the penitent's hand, and cried aloud, "_my father!_" "are you better, señor?" asked the old man with solicitude. "do me the favour to drink this wine." "father, my father! i am your son. i am carlos alvarez de santillanos y meñaya. do you not understand me, father?" "i do not understand you, señor," said the penitent, moving a little away from him, with a mixture of dignified courtesy and utter amazement in his manner strange to behold. "who is it that i have the honour to address?" "o my father, i am your son--your very son carlos." "i have never seen you till--ere yesterday." "that is quite true; and yet--" "nay, nay," interrupted the old man; "you are speaking wild words to me. i had but one boy--juan--juan rodrigo. the heir of the house of alvarez de meñaya was always called juan." "he lives. he is captain don juan now, the bravest soldier, and the best, truest-hearted man on earth. how you would love him! would you could see him face to face! yet no; thank god you cannot." "my babe a captain in his imperial majesty's army!" said don juan, in whose thoughts the great emperor was reigning still. "and i," carlos continued, in a broken, agitated voice--"i, born when they thought you dead--i, who opened my young eyes on this sad world the day god took my mother home from all its sin and sorrow--i am brought here, in his mysterious providence, to comfort you, after your long dreary years of suffering." "your mother! did you say your mother? my wife, _costanza mia_. oh, let me see your face!" carlos raised himself to a kneeling attitude, and the old man laid his hand on his shoulder, and gazed at him long and earnestly. at length carlos removed the hand, and drawing it gently upwards, placed it on his head. "father," he said, "you will love your son? you will bless him, will you not? he has dwelt long amongst those who hated him, and never spoke to him save in wrath and scorn, and his heart pines for human love and tenderness." don juan did not answer for a while; but he ran his fingers through the soft fine hair. "so like hers," he murmured dreamily. "thine eyes are hers too--_zarca_.[34] yes, yes; i do bless thee--but who am i to bless? god bless thee, my son!" [34] blue; a word applied by the spaniards only to blue eyes. in the long, long silence that followed, the great convent bell rang out. it was noon. for the first time for twenty years the penitent did not hear that sound. carlos heard it, however. agitated as he was, he yet feared the consequences that might follow should the penitent omit any part of the penance he was bound by oath to perform. so he gently reminded him of it. "father--(how strangely sweet the name sounded!)--"father, at this hour you always recite the penitential psalms. when you have finished, we will talk together. i have ten thousand things to tell you." with the silent, unreasoning submission that had become a part of his nature, the penitent obeyed; and, going to his usual station before the crucifix, began his monotonous task. the fresh life newly awakened in his heart and brain was far from being strong enough, as yet, to burst the bonds of habit. and this was well. those bonds were his safeguard; but for their wholesome restraint, mind or body, or both, might have been shattered by the tumultuous rush of new thoughts and feelings. but the familiar latin words, repeated without thought, almost without consciousness, soothed the weary brain like a slumber. meanwhile, carlos thanked god with a full heart. here, then--_here_, in the dark prison, the very abode of misery--had god given him the desire of his heart, fulfilled the longing of his early years. now the wilderness and the solitary place were glad; the desert rejoiced and blossomed as the rose. now his life seemed complete, its end answering its beginning; all its meaning lying clear and plain before him. he was satisfied. "ruy, ruy, i have found our father!--oh, that i could but tell thee, my ruy!"--was the cry of his heart, though he forced his lips to silence. nor could the tears of joy, that sprang unbidden to his eyes, be permitted to overflow, since they might perplex and trouble his fellow-captive--_his father_. he had still a task to perform; and to that task his mind soon bent itself; perhaps instinctively taking refuge in practical detail from emotions that might otherwise have proved too strong for his weakened frame. he set himself to consider how best he could revive the past, and make the present comprehensible to the aged and broken man, without overpowering or bewildering him. he planned to tell him, in the first instance, all that he could about nuera. and this he accomplished gradually, as he was able to bear the strain of conversation. he talked of dolores and diego; described both the exterior and interior of the castle; in fact, made him see again the scenes to which his eye had been accustomed in past days. with special minuteness did he picture the little room within the hall, both because it was less changed since his father's time than the others, and because it had been his favourite apartment. "and on the window," he said, "there were some words, written with a diamond, doubtless by your hand, my father. my brother and i used to read them in our childhood; we loved them, and dreamed many a wondrous dream about them. do you not remember them?" but the old man shook his head. then carlos began,- "'el dorado--'" "'yo hé trovado.' yes, i remember now," said don juan promptly. "and the golden country you had discovered--was it not the truth as revealed in scripture?" asked carlos, perhaps a little too eagerly. the penitent mused a space; grew bewildered; said at last sorrowfully, "i know not. i cannot now recall what moved me to write those lines, or even when i wrote them." in the next place, carlos ventured to tell all he had heard from dolores about his mother. the fact of his wife's death had been communicated to the prisoner; but this was the only fragment of intelligence about his family that had reached him during all these years. when she was spoken of, he showed emotion, slight in the beginning, but increasing at every succeeding mention of her name, until carlos, who had at first been glad to find that the slumbering chords of feeling responded to his touch, came at last to dread laying his hands upon them, they were apt to moan so piteously. and once and again did his father say, gazing at him with ever-increasing fondness, "thy face is hers, risen anew before me." carlos tried hard to awaken don juan's interest in his first-born. it is true that he cherished an almost passionate love for juanito the babe, but it was such a love as we feel for children whom god has taken to himself in infancy. juan the youth, juan the man, seemed to him a stranger, difficult to conceive of or to care about. yet, in time, carlos did succeed in establishing a bond between the long-imprisoned father and the brave, noble, free-hearted son, who was so like what that father had been in his early manhood. he was never weary of telling of juan's courage, juan's truthfulness, juan's generosity; often concluding with the words, "_he_ would have been your favourite son, had you known him, my father." as time wore on, he won from his father's lips the principal facts of his own story. his past was like a picture from which the colouring, once bright and varied, has faded away, leaving only the bare outlines of fact, and here and there the shadows of pain still faintly visible. what he remembered, that he told his son; but gradually, and often in very disjointed fragments, which carlos carefully pieced together in his thoughts, until he formed out of them a tolerably connected whole. just three-and-twenty years before, on his arrival in seville, in obedience to what he believed to be a summons from the emperor, the conde de nuera had been arrested and thrown into the secret dungeons of the inquisition. he well knew his offence: he had been the friend and associate of de valero; he had read and studied the scriptures; he had even advocated, in the presence of several witnesses, the doctrine of justification by faith alone. nor was he unprepared to pay the terrible penalty. had he, at the time of his arrest, been led at once to the rack or the stake, it is probable he would have suffered with a constancy that might have placed his name beside that of the most heroic martyrs. but he was allowed to wear out long months in suspense and solitude, and in what his eager spirit found even harder to bear, absolute inaction. excitement, motion, stirring occupation for mind and body, had all his life been a necessity to him. in the absence of these he pined--grew melancholy, listless, morbid. his faith was genuine, and would have been strong enough to enable him for anything _in the line of his character_; but it failed under trials purposely and sedulously contrived to assail that character through its weak points. when already worn out with dreary imprisonment, he was beset by arguments, clever, ingenious, sophistical, framed by men who made argument the business of their lives. thus attacked, he was like a brave but unskilful man fencing with adepts in the noble science. he _knew_ he was right; and with the vulgate in his hand, he thought he could have proved it. but they assured him they proved the contrary; nor could he detect a flaw in their syllogisms when he came to examine them. if not convinced, then surely he ought to have been. they conjured him not to let pride and vain-glory seduce him into self-opinionated obstinacy, but to submit his private judgment to that of the holy catholic church. and they promised that he should go forth free, only chastised by a suitable and not disgraceful penance, and by a pecuniary fine. the hope of freedom burned in his heart like fire; and by this time there was sufficient confusion in his brain for his will to find arguments there against the voice of his conscience. so he yielded, though not without conflict, fierce and bitter. his retractation was drawn up in as mild a form as possible by the inquisitors, and duly signed by him. no public act of penance was required, as strict secrecy was to be observed in the whole transaction. but the inquisitor-general, valdez, felt a well-grounded distrust of the penitent's sincerity, which was quickened perhaps by a desire to appropriate to the use of the holy office a larger share of his possessions than the moderate fine alluded to. probably, too, he dreaded the disclosures that might have followed had the count been restored to the world. he had recourse, therefore, to an artifice often employed by the inquisitors, and seriously recommended by their standard authorities. the "fly" (for such traitors were common enough to have a technical name as well as a recognized existence) reported that the conde de nuera railed at the holy office, blasphemed the catholic faith, and still adhered in his heart to all his abominable heresies. the result was a sentence of perpetual imprisonment. don juan's condition was truly pitiable then. like samson, he was shorn of the locks in which his strength lay, bound hand and foot, and delivered over to his enemies. because he could not bear perpetual imprisonment he had renounced his faith, and denied his lord. and now, without the faith he had renounced, without the lord he had denied, he _must_ bear it. it told upon him as it would have told on nine men out of ten, perhaps on ninety-nine out of a hundred. his mind lost its activity, its vigour, its tone. it became, in time, almost a passive instrument in the hands of others. and then the dominican monk, fray ricardo, brought his powerful intellect and his strong will to bear upon him. he had been sent by his superiors (he was not prior until long afterwards) to impart the terrible story of her husband's arrest to the lady of nuera, with secret instructions to ascertain whether her own faith had been tampered with. in his fanatical zeal he performed a cruel task cruelly. but he had a conscience, and its fault was not insensibility. when he heard the tale of the lady's death, a few days after his visit, he was profoundly affected. accustomed, however, to a religion of weights and balances, it came naturally to him to set one thing against another, by way of making the scales even. if he could be the means of saving the husband's soul, he would feel, to say the least, much more comfortable about his conduct to the wife. he spared no pains upon the task he had set himself; and a measure of success crowned his efforts. having first reduced the mind of the penitent to a cold, blank calm, agitated by no wave of restless thought or feeling, he had at length the delight of seeing his own image reflected there, as in a mirror. he mistook that spectral reflection for a reality, and great was his triumph when, day by day, he saw it move responsive to every motion of his own. but the arrest of his penitent's son broke in upon his self-satisfaction. it seemed as though a dark doom hung over the family, which even the father's repentance was powerless to avert. he wished to save the youth, and he had tried to do it after his fashion; but his efforts only resulted in bringing up before him the pale accusing face of the lady of nuera, and in interesting him more than he cared to acknowledge in the impenitent heretic, who seemed to him such a strange mixture of gentleness and obstinacy. surely the father's influence would prevail with the son, originally a much less courageous and determined character, and now already wrought upon by a long period of loneliness and suffering. perhaps also--monk, fanatic, and inquisitor though he was--the pleasantness of trying the experiment, and cheering thereby the last days of the pious and docile penitent, his own especial convert, weighed a little with him; for he was still a man. moreover, like many hard men, he was capable of great kindness towards those whom he liked. and, with the full approbation of his conscience, he liked his penitent; whilst, rather in spite of his conscience, he liked his penitent's son. carlos did not trouble himself over-much about the prior's motives. he was too content in his new-found joy, too engrossed in his absorbing task--the concern and occupation of his every hour, almost of his every moment. he was as one who toils patiently to clear away the moss and lichen that has grown over a memorial stone; that he may bring out once more, in all their freshness, the precious words engraven upon it. the inscription was there, and there it had been always (so he told himself); all that he had to do was to remove that which covered and obscured it. he had his reward. life returned, first through love for him, to the heart; then, through the heart, to the brain. not rapidly and with tingling pain, as it returns to a frozen limb, but gradually and insensibly, as it comes to the dry trees in spring. but, in the trees, life shows itself first in the extremities; it is slowest in appearing in those parts which are really nearest the sources of all life. so the penitent's interest in other subjects, and his care for them, revived; yet in one thing, the greatest of all, these seemed lacking still. there did _not_ return the spiritual light and life, which carlos could not doubt he had enjoyed in past days. sometimes, it is true, he would startle his son by unexpected reminiscences, disjointed fragments of the truth for which he had suffered so much. he would occasionally interrupt carlos, when he was repeating to him passages from the testament, to tell him "something don rodrigo said about that, when he expounded the epistle to the romans." but these were only like the rich flowers that surprise the explorer amidst the tangled weeds of a waste ground, showing that a carefully tended garden has flourished there once--very long ago. "it is not that i desire him above all things to hold this doctrine or that," thought carlos; "i desire him to find christ again, and to rejoice in his love, as doubtless he did in the old days. and surely he will, since christ found him--chose him for his own even before the foundation of the world." but in order to bring this about, perhaps it was necessary that the faded colours of his soul should be steeped in the strong and bitter waters of a great agony, that they might regain thereby their full freshness. xliii. el dorado found again. "and every power was used, and every art, to bend to falsehood one determined heart; assailed, in patience it received the shock, soft as the wave, unbroken as the rock." crabbe. what are you doing, my father?" carlos asked one morning. don juan had produced from some private receptacle a small ink-horn, and was moistening its long-dried contents with water. "i was thinking that i should like to write down somewhat," he said. "but whereto will ink serve us without pen and paper?" the penitent smiled; and presently pulled out from within his pallet a little faded writing-book, and a pen that looked--what it was--more than twenty years old. "long ago," he said, "i used to be weary, weary of sitting idle all the day; so i bribed one of the lay brothers with my last ducat to bring me this, only that i might set down therein whatever happened, for pastime." "may i read it, my father?" "and welcome, if thou wilt;" and he gave the book into the hand of his son. "at first, as you see, there be many things written therein. i cannot tell what they are now; i have forgotten them all;--but i suppose i thought them, or felt them--once. or sometimes the brethren would come to visit me, and talk, and afterwards i would write what they said. but by degrees i set down less and less in it. many days passed in which i wrote nothing, because nothing was to write. nothing ever happened." carlos was soon absorbed in the perusal of the little book. the records of his father's earlier prison life he scanned with great interest and with deep emotion; but coming rather suddenly upon the last entry, he could not forbear a smile. he read aloud: "'a feast day. had a capon for dinner, and a measure of red wine.'" "did i not judge well," asked the father, "that it was time to give over writing, when i could stoop low enough to record such trifles? yes; i think i can recall the bitterness of heart with which i laid the book aside. i despised myself for what i wrote therein; and yet i had nothing else to write--would never have anything else, i thought. but now god has given me my son. i will write that down." looking up, after a little while, from his self-imposed task, he asked, with an air of perplexity,-"but when was it? how long is it since you came here, carlos?" carlos in his turn was perplexed. the quiet days had glided on swiftly and noiselessly, leaving no trace behind. "to me it seems to have been all one long sabbath," he said. "but let me think. the summer heats had not come; i suppose it must have been march or april--april, perhaps. i remember thinking i had been just two years in prison." "and now it is growing cool again. i suppose it may have been four months--six months ago. what think you?" carlos thought it nearer the latter period than the former. "i believe we have been visited six times by the brethren," he said. "no; only five times." these visits of inspection had been made by command of the prior--himself absent from seville on important business during most of the time--and the result had been duly reported to him. the monks to whom the duty had been deputed were aged and respectable members of the community; in fact, the only persons in the monastery who were acquainted with don juan's real name and history. it was their opinion that matters were progressing favourably with the prisoners. they found the penitent as usual--docile, obedient, submissive, only more inclined to converse than formerly; and they thought the young man very gentle and courteous, grateful for the smallest kindness, and ready to listen attentively, and with apparent interest, to everything that was said. for more definite results the prior was content to wait: he had great faith in waiting. still, even to him six months seemed long enough for the experiment he was trying. at the end of that time--which happened to be the day after the conversation just related--he himself made a visit to the prisoners. both most warmly expressed their gratitude for the singular grace he had shown them. carlos, whose health had greatly improved, said that he had not dreamed so much earthly happiness could remain for him still. "then, my son," said the prior, "give evidence of thy gratitude in the only way possible to thee, or acceptable to me. do not reject the mercy still offered thee by holy church. ask for reconciliation." "my lord," replied carlos, firmly, "i can but repeat what i told you six months agone--that is impossible." the prior argued, expostulated, threatened--in vain. at length he reminded carlos that he was already condemned to death--the death of fire; and that he was now putting from him his last chance of mercy. but when he still remained steadfast, he turned away from him with an air of deep disappointment, though more in sorrow than in anger, as one pained by keen and unexpected ingratitude. "i speak to thee no more," he said. "i believe there is in thy father's heart some little spark, not only of natural feeling, but of the grace of god. i address myself to him." whether don juan had never fully comprehended the statement of carlos that he was under sentence of death, or whether the tide of emotion caused by finding in him his own son had swept the terrible fact from his remembrance, it is impossible to say; but it certainly came to him, from the lips of the prior, as a dreadful, unexpected blow. so keen was his anguish that fray ricardo himself was moved; and the rather, because it was impossible to the aged and broken man to maintain the outward self-restraint a younger and stronger person might have done. more touched, at the moment, by his father's condition than by all the horrors that menaced himself, carlos came to his side, and gently tried to soothe him. "cease!" said the prior, sternly. "it is but mockery to pretend sympathy with the sorrow thine own obstinacy has caused. if in truth thou lovest him, save him this cruel pain. for three days still," he added, "the door of grace shall stand open to thee. after that term has expired, i dare not promise thy life." then turning to the agitated father--"if _you_ can make this unhappy youth hear the voice of divine and human compassion," he said, "you will save both his body and his soul alive. you know how to send me a message. god comfort you, and incline his heart to repentance." and with these words he departed, leaving carlos to undergo the sharpest trial that had come upon him since his imprisonment. all that day, and the greater part of the night that followed it, the two wills strove together. prayers, tears, entreaties, seemed to the agonized father to fall on the strong heart of his son like drops of rain on the rock. he did not know that all the time they were falling on that heart like sparks of living fire; for carlos, once so weak, had learned now to endure pain, both of mind and body, with brow and lip that "gave no sign." passing tender was the love that had sprung up between those two, so strangely brought together. and now carlos, by his own act, must sever that sweet bond--must leave his newly-found father in a solitude doubly terrible, where the feeble lamp of his life would soon go out in obscure darkness. was not this bitterness enough, without the anguish of seeing that father bow his white head before him, and teach his aged lips words of broken, passionate entreaty that his son--his one earthly treasure--would not forsake him thus? "my father," carlos said at last, as they sat together in the moonlight, for their light had gone out unheeded--"my father, you have often told me that my face is like my mother's." "ay de mi!" moaned the penitent--"and truly it is. is that why it must leave me as hers did? ay de mi, costanza mia! ay de mi, my son!" "father, tell me, i pray you, to escape what anguish of mind or body would you set your seal to a falsehood told to her dishonour?" "boy, how can you ask? never!--nothing could force me to that." and from the faded eye there shot a gleam almost like the fire of old days. "father, there is one i love better than ever you loved her. not to save myself, not even to save you, from this bitter pain, can i deny him or dishonour his name. father, i cannot!--though this is worse than the torture," he added. the anguish of the last words pierced to the very core of the old man's heart. he said no more; but he covered his face, and wept long and passionately, as a man weeps whose heart is broken, and who has no longer any power left him to struggle against his doom. their last meal lay untasted. some wine had formed part of it; and this carlos now brought, and, with a few gentle, loving words, offered to his father. don juan put it aside, but drew his son closer, and looked at him in the moonlight long and earnestly. "how can i give thee up?" he murmured. as carlos tried to return his gaze, it flashed for the first time across his mind that his father was changed. he looked older, feebler, more wan than he had done at his coming. was the newly-awakened spirit wearing out the body? he said,-"it may be, my father, that god will not call you to the trial. perhaps months may elapse before they arrange another auto." how calmly he could speak of it;--for he had forgotten himself. courage, with him, always had its root in self-forgetting love. don juan caught at the gleam of hope, though not exactly as carlos intended. "ay, truly," he said, "many things may happen before then." "and nothing _can_ happen save at the will of him who loves and cares for us. let us trust him, my beloved father. he will not allow us to be tempted above that we are able to bear. for he is good--oh, how good!--to the soul that seeketh him. long ago i believed that; but since he has honoured me to suffer for him, once and again have i proved it true, true as life or death. father, i once thought the strongest thing on earth--that which reached deepest into our nature--was pain. but i have lived to learn that his love is stronger, his peace is deeper, than all pain." with many such words--words of faith, and hope, and tenderness--did he soothe his weary, broken-hearted father. and at last, though not till towards morning, he succeeded in inducing him to lie down and seek the rest he so sorely needed. then came his own hour; the hour of bitter, lonely conflict. he had grown accustomed to the thought, to the _expectation_, of a silent, peaceful death within the prison walls. he had hoped, nay, certainly believed, that in the slow hours of some quiet day or night, undistinguished from other days and nights, god's messenger would steal noiselessly to his gloomy cell, and heart and brain would thrill with rapture at the summons, "the master calleth thee." now, indeed, it was true that the master called him. but he called him to go to him through the scornful gaze of ten thousand eyes; through reproach, and shame, and mockery; the hideous zamarra and carroza; the long agony of the auto, spun out from daybreak till midnight; and, last of all, through the torture of the doom of fire. how could he bear it? sharp were the pangs of fear that wrung his heart, and dread was the struggle that followed. it was over at last. raising to the cold moonlight a steadfast though sorrowful face, carlos murmured audibly, "what time i am afraid i will put my trust in thee. lord, i am ready to go with thee, whithersoever thou wilt; only--with thee." he woke, late the following morning, from the sleep of exhaustion to the painful consciousness of something terrible to come upon him. but he was soon roused from thoughts of self by seeing his father kneel before the crucifix, not quietly reciting his appointed penance, but uttering broken words of prayer and lamentation, accompanied by bitter weeping. as far as he could gather, the burden of the cry was this, "god help me! god forgive me! _i have lost it!_" over and over again did he moan those piteous words, "i have lost it!" as if they were the burden of some dreary song. they seemed to contain the sum of all his sorrow. carlos, yearning to comfort him, still did not feel that he could interrupt him then. he waited quietly until they were both ready for their usual reading or repetition of scripture; for carlos, every morning, either read from the book of hours to his father, or recited passages from memory, as suited his inclination at the time. he knew all the gospel of john by heart. and this day he began with those blessed words, dear in all ages to the tried and sorrowing, "let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in god, believe also in me. in my father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, i would have told you. i go to prepare a place for you." he continued without pause to the close of the sixteenth chapter, "these things i have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. in the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; i have overcome the world." then once more don juan uttered that cry of bitter pain, "ay de mi! i have lost it!" carlos thought he understood him now. "lost that peace, my father?" he questioned gently. the old man bowed his head sorrowfully. "but it is in him. 'in me ye might have peace.' and him you have," said carlos. don juan drew his hand across his brow, was silent for a few moments, then said slowly, "i will try to tell you how it is with me. there is one thing i could do, even yet; one path left open to my footsteps in which none could part us.--what hinders my refusing to perform my penance, and boldly taking my stand beside thee, carlos?" carlos started, flushed, grew pale again with emotion. he had not dreamed of this, and his heart shrank from it in terror. "my beloved father!" he exclaimed in a trembling voice. "but no--god has not called you. each one of us must wait to see his guiding hand." "once i could have done it bravely, nay, joyfully," said the penitent. "_not now._" and there was a silence. at last don juan resumed, "my boy, thy courage shames my weakness. what hast thou seen, what dost thou see, that makes this thing possible to thee?" "my father knows. i see him who died for me, who rose again for me, who lives at the right hand of god to intercede for me." "_for me?_" "yes; it is this thought that gives strength and peace." "peace--which i have lost for ever." "not for ever, my honoured father. no; you are his, and of such it is written, 'neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.' though your tired hand has relaxed its grasp of him, his has never ceased to hold you, and never can cease." "i was at peace and happy long ago, when i believed, as don rodrigo said, that i was justified by faith in him." "once justified, justified for ever," said carlos. "don rodrigo used to say so too, but--i cannot understand it now," and a look of perplexity passed over his face. carlos spoke more simply. "no! then come to him now, my father, just as if you had never come before. you may not know that you are justified; you know well that you are weary and heavy laden. and to such he says, 'come. he says it with outstretched arms, with a heart full of love and tenderness. he is as willing to save you from sin and sorrow as you are this hour to save me from pain and death. only, you cannot, and he can." "come--that is--believe?" "it is believe, and more. come, as your heart came out to me, and mine to you, when we knew the great bond between us. but with far stronger trust and deeper love; for he is more than son or father. he fulfils all relationships, satisfies all wants." "but then, what of those long years in which i forgot him?" "they were but adding to the sum of sin; sin that he has pardoned, has washed away for ever in his blood." at that point the conversation dropped, and days passed ere it was renewed. don juan was unusually silent; very tender to his son, making no complaint, but often weeping quietly. carlos thought it best to leave god to deal with him directly, so he only prayed for him and with him, repeated precious scripture words, and sometimes sang to him the psalms and hymns of the church. but one evening, to the affectionate "good-night" always exchanged by the son and father with the sense that many more might not be left to them, don juan added, "rejoice with me, my son; for i think that i have found again the thing that i lost- 'el dorado yo hé trovado.'" xliv. one prisoner set free. "all was ended now, the hope and the fear, and the sorrow; all the aching of heart, the restless unsatisfied longing, all the dull deep pain, and constant anguish of patience." longfellow. the winter rain was pouring down in a steady continuous torrent. it was long since a gleam of sunshine had come through the windows of the prison-room. but don juan alvarez did not miss the sunlight. for he lay on his pallet, weak and ill, and the only sight he greatly cared to look upon was the loving face that was ever beside him. it is possible, by means of the embalmer's art, to enable buried forms to retain for ages a ghastly outward similitude to life. tombs have been opened, and kings found therein clothed in their royal robes, stern and stately, the sceptre in their cold hands, and no trace of the grave and its corruption visible upon them. but no sooner did the breath of the upper air and the finger of light touch them than they crumbled away, silently and rapidly, and dust returned to dust again. thus, buried in the chill dark tomb of his seclusion, don juan might have lived for years--if life it could be called--or, at least, he might have lingered on in the outward similitude of life. but carlos brought in light and air upon him. his mind and heart revived; and, just in proportion, his physical nature sank. it proved too weak to bear these powerful influences. he was dying. tender and thoughtful as a woman, carlos, who himself knew so well all the bitterness of unpitied pain and sickness, ministered to his father's wants. but he did not request their gaolers to afford him any medical aid, though, had he done so, it would have been readily granted. he had good reason for seeking no help from man. the daily penance was neglected now; the rosary lay untold; and never again would "ave maria sanctissima" pass the lips of don juan alvarez. therefore it was that carlos, after much thought and prayer, said quietly to him one day, "my father, are you afraid to lie here, in god's hands, and in his alone, and to take whatever he pleases to send us?" "i am not afraid." "do you desire _any_ help they can give, either for your soul or for your body?" "_no_," said the conde de nuera, with something like the spirit of other days. "i would not confess to them; for christ is my only priest now. and they should not anoint me while i retained my consciousness." a look of resolution, strange to see, passed over the gentle face of carlos. "it is well said, my father," he responded. "and, god helping me, i will let no man trouble you." "my son," said don juan one evening, as carlos sat beside him in the twilight, "i pray you, tell me a little more of those who learned to love the truth since i walked amongst men. for i would fain be able to recognize them when we meet in heaven." then carlos told him, not indeed for the first time, but more fully than ever before, the story of the reformed church in spain. almost every name that he mentioned has come down to us surrounded by the mournful halo of martyr glory. with special reverential love, he told of don carlos de seso, of losada, of d'arellano, and of the heroic juliano hernandez, who, as he believed, was still waiting for his crown. "for him," he said, "i pray even yet; for the others i can only thank god. surely," he added, after a pause, "god will remember the land for which these, his faithful martyrs, prayed and toiled and suffered! surely he will hear their voices, that cry under the altar, not for vengeance, but for forgiveness and mercy; and one day he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him!" "i know not," said the dying man despondingly. "the spains have had their offer of god's truth, and have rejected it. what is there that is said, somewhere in the scriptures, about noah, daniel, and job?" carlos repeated the solemn words, "'though noah, daniel, and job were in it, as i live, saith the lord god, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.' do you fear that such a terrible doom has gone forth over our land, my father? i dare to hope otherwise. for it is not the spains that have rejected the truth. it is the inquisition that is crushing it out." "but the spains must answer for its deeds, since they consent to them. they heed not. there are brave men enough, with weapons in their hands," said the soldier of former days, with a momentary return to old habits of thought and feeling. "yet god may give our land another trial," carlos continued. "his truth is sometimes offered twice to individuals, why not to nations?" "true; it was offered twice to me, praised be his name." after an interval of silence, he resumed, "my son always speaks of others, never of himself. not yet have i learned how it was that you came to receive the word of god so readily from juliano." then in the dark, with his father's hand in his, carlos told, for the first and last time, the true story of his life. before he had gone far, don juan started, half-raised himself, and exclaimed in surprise, "what, and you!--_you_ too--once loved?" "ay, and bitter as the pain has been, i am glad now of all except the sin. i am glad that i have tasted earth's very best and sweetest; that i know how the wine is red and gives its colour in the cup of life he honours me to put aside for him." his voice was low and full of feeling as he said this. presently he resumed. "but the sin, my father! especially my treachery in heart to juan; that rankled long and stung deeply. juan, my brave, generous brother, who would have struck down any man who dared to hint that i could do, or think, aught dishonourable! he never knew it; and had he known it, he would have forgiven me; but i could not forgive myself. i do not think the self-scorn passed away until--_that_ which happened after i had been nigh a year in prison. o my father, if god had not interposed to save me by withholding me from that crime, i shudder to think what my life might have been. i am persuaded i should have sunk lower, lower, and ever lower. perhaps, even, i might have ended in the purple and fine linen, and the awful pomp and luxury of the oppressors and persecutors of the saints." "nay," said don juan, "that would _never_ have been possible to thee, carlos. but there is a question i have often longed to ask thee. does juan, my juan rodrigo, know and love the word of god?" he had asked that question before; but carlos had contrived, with tact and gentleness, to evade the answer. up to this hour he had not dared to tell his father the truth upon this important subject. besides the terrible risk that in some moment of fear or forgetfulness the prior or his agents might draw an incautious word from the old man's lips, there was a haunting dread of listeners at key-holes, or secret apertures, quite natural in one who knew the customs of the holy office. but now he bent down close to the dying man, and spoke to him in a long earnest whisper. "thank god," murmured don juan. "i would have no earthly wish unsatisfied now--if only _you_ were safe. but still," he added, "it seemeth somewhat hard to me that juan should have _all_, and you nothing." "i _nothing_!" carlos exclaimed; and had not the room been in darkness his father would have seen that his eye kindled, and his whole countenance lighted up. "my father, mine has been the best lot, even for earth. were it to do again, i would not change the last two years for the deepest love, the brightest hope, the fairest joy life has to offer. for the lord himself has been the portion of my cup, my inheritance in the land of the living." after a silence, he continued, "moreover, and beside all, i have thee, my father. therefore to me it is a joy to think that my beloved brother has also something precious. how he loved her! but the strangest thing of all, as i ponder over it now, is the fulfilment of our childhood's dream. and in me, the weak one who deserved nothing, not in juan the hero who deserved everything. it is the lame who has taken the prey. it is the weak and timid carlos who has found our father." "weak--timid?" said don juan, with an incredulous smile. "i marvel who ever joined such words with the name of my heroic son. carlos, have we any wine?" "abundance, my father," answered carlos, who carefully treasured for his father's use all that was furnished for both of them. having given him a little, he asked, "do you feel pain to-night?" "no--no pain. only weary; always weary." "i think my beloved father will soon be where the weary are at rest"--"and where the wicked cease from troubling," he added mentally, not aloud. he would fain have dropped the conversation then, fearing to exhaust his father's strength. but the sick man's restlessness was soothed by his talk. ere long he questioned, "is it not near christmas now?" well did carlos know that it was; and keenly did he dread the return of the season which ought to bring "peace upon earth." for it would certainly bring the prisoners a visit; and almost certainly there would be the offer of special privileges to the penitent, perhaps sacramental consolation, perhaps permission to hear mass. he shuddered to think what a refusal to avail himself of these indulgences might entail. and once and again did he breathe the fervent prayer, that whatever came upon _him_, neither violence, insult, nor reproach might be allowed to touch his father. moreover, amongst the great festivities of the season, it was more than likely that a solemn auto-da-fé might find place. but this was a secret inner thought, not often put into words, even to himself. only, if it were god's will to call his father first! "it is december," he said, in answer to don juan's question; "but i have lost account of the day. it may be perhaps the twelfth or fourteenth. shall i recite the evening psalms for the twelfth, 'te dicet hymnus'?" as he did so, the old man fell asleep, which was what he desired. half in the sleep of exhaustion, half in weary restlessness, the next day and the next night wore on. once only did don juan speak connectedly. "i think you will see my mother soon," said carlos, as he bore to his lips wine mingled with water. "true," breathed the dying man; "but i am not thinking of that now. far better--i shall see christ." "my father, are you still in peace, resting on him?" "in perfect peace." and carlos said no more. he was content; nay, he was exceeding glad. he who in all things will have the pre-eminence, had indeed taken his rightful place in the heart of the dying, when even the strong earthly love that was "twisted with the strings of life" had paled before the love of him. and in the last watch of the night, when the day was breaking, he sent his angel to loose the captive's bonds. so gentle was the touch that freed him, that he who sat holding his hand in his, and watching his face as we watch the last conscious looks of our beloved, yet knew not the exact moment when the deliverer came. carlos never said "he is going!" he only said "he is gone!" and then he kissed the pale lips and closed the sightless eyes--in peace. none ever thanked god for bringing back their beloved from the gates of the grave more fervently than carlos thanked him that hour for so gently opening unto his those gates that "no man can shut." "my father, thy rest is won!" he said, as he gazed on the calm and noble countenance. "they cannot touch thee now. not all the malice of men or of fiends can give one pang. a moment since so fearfully in their power; now so completely beyond it! thank god! thank god!" the rain was over, and ere long the sun arose, in his royal robes of crimson and purple and gold--to the prisoner from the dungeon of the triana an ever fresh wonder and joy. yet not even that sight could win his eyes to-day from the deeper beauty of the still and solemn face before him. and as the soft crimson light fell on the pallid cheek and brow, the watcher murmured, with calm thankfulness,--"'to him sun and daylight are as nothing, for he sees the glory of god.'" xlv. triumphant. "for ever with the lord! amen! so let it be!" montgomery. carlos was still sitting beside that couch, with scarcely more sense of time than if he had been already where time exists no longer, when the door of his cell was opened to admit two distinguished visitors. first came the prior; then another member of the table of the inquisition. carlos rose up from beside his dead, and said calmly, addressing the prior, "my father is free!" "how? what is this?" cried fray ricardo, his brow contracting with surprise. carlos stood aside, allowing him to approach and look. with real concern in his stern countenance, he stooped for a few moments over the motionless form. then he asked,-"but why was i not summoned? who was with him when he departed?" "i,--his son," said carlos. "but who besides thee?" then, in a higher key and with more hurried intonation,--"who gave him the last rites of the church?" "he did not receive them, my lord, for he did not desire them. he said that christ was his priest; that he would not confess; and that they should not anoint him while he retained consciousness." the dominican's face grew white with anger, even to the lips. "_liar!_" he cried, in a voice of thunder. "how darest thou tell me that he for whom i watched, and prayed, and toiled, after years and years of faithful penance, has gone down at last, unanointed and unassoiled, to hell with luther and calvin?" "i tell thee that he has gone home in peace to his father's house." "blasphemer! liar, like thy father the devil! but i understand all now. thou, in thy hatred of the faith, didst refuse to summon help--didst let his spirit pass without the aid and consolations of the church. murderer of his soul--thy father's soul! not content even with that, thou canst stand there and slander his memory, bidding us believe that he died in heresy! but that, at least, is false--false as thine own accursed creed!" "it is true; and you believe it," said carlos, in calm, clear, quiet tones, that contrasted strangely with the dominican's outburst of unwonted rage. and the prior did believe it--there was the sharpest sting. he knew perfectly well that the condemned heretic was incapable of falsehood: on a matter of fact he would have received his testimony more readily than that of the stately "lord inquisitor" now standing by his side. in the momentary pause that followed, that personage came forward and looked upon the face of the dead. "if there be really any proof that he died in heresy," he said, "he ought to be proceeded against according to the laws of the holy office provided for such cases." carlos smiled--smiled in calm triumph. "you cannot hurt him now," he said. "look there, señor. the king immortal, invisible, has set his own signet upon that brow, that the decree may not be reversed nor the purpose changed concerning him." and the peace of the dead face seemed to have passed into the living face that had gazed on it so long. carlos was as really beyond the power of his enemies as his father was that hour. they felt it; or at least one of them did. as for the other, his strong heart was torn with rage and sorrow: sorrow for the penitent, whom he truly loved, and whom he now believed, after all his prayers and efforts, a lost soul; rage against the obstinate heretic, whom he had sought to befriend, and who had repaid his kindness by snatching his convert from his grasp at the very gate of heaven, and plunging him into hell. "i will _not_ believe it," he reiterated, with pale lips, and eyes that gleamed beneath his cowl like coals of fire. then, softening a little as he turned to the dead--"would that those silent lips could utter, were it only one word, to say that death found thee true to the catholic faith!--not one word! so end the hopes of years. but at least thy betrayer shall be with thee amongst the dead to-morrow.--heretic!" he said, turning fiercely to carlos, "we are here to announce thy doom. i came, with a heart full of pity and relenting, to offer counsel and comfort, and such mercy as holy church still keeps for those who return to her bosom at the eleventh hour. but now, i despair of thee. professed, impenitent, dogmatizing heretic, go thine own way to everlasting fire!" "to-morrow! did you say to-morrow?" asked carlos, standing motionless, as one lost in thought. the other inquisitor took up the word. "it is true," he said. "to-morrow the church offers to god the acceptable sacrifice of a solemn act of faith. and we come to announce to thee thy sentence, well merited and long delayed--to be relaxed to the secular arm as an obstinate heretic. but if even yet thou wilt repent, and, confessing and deploring thy sins, supplicate restoration to the bosom of the church, she will so effectually intercede for thee with the civil magistrate that the doom of fire will be exchanged for the milder punishment of death by strangling." something like a faint smile played round the lips of carlos; but he only repeated, "to-morrow!" "yes, my son," said the inquisitor, promptly; for he was a man who knew his business well. he had come there to improve the occasion; and he meant to do it. "no doubt it seems to thee a sudden blow, and but a brief space left thee for preparation. but, at the best, our life here is only a span; 'man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery.'" carlos did not look as if he heard; he still stood lost in thought, his head sunk upon his breast. but in another moment he raised it suddenly. "to-morrow i shall be with christ in glory!" he exclaimed, with a countenance as radiant as if that glory were already reflected there. some faint feeling of awe and wonder touched the inquisitor's heart, and silenced him for an instant. then, recovering himself, and falling back for help upon wonted words of course, he said,-"i entreat of you to think of your soul." "i have thought of it long ago. i have given it into the safe keeping of christ my lord. therefore i think no more of it; i only think of him." "but have you no fear of the anguish--the doom of fire?" "i have no fear," carlos answered. and this was a great mystery, even to himself. "christ's hand will either lift me over it or sustain me through it; which, i know not yet. and i am not careful; he will care." "men of noble lineage, such as you are--of high honour and stainless name, such as you _were_," said the inquisitor--"ofttimes dread shame more than agony. you, who were called alvarez de meñaya, what think _you_ of the infamy, the loathing of all men, the scorn and mockery of the lowest rabble--the zamarra, the carroza?" "i shall joyfully go forth with him without the camp, bearing his reproach." "and stand at the stake beside a vile caitiff, a miserable muleteer, convicted of the same crimes?" "a muleteer? juliano hernandez?" carlos questioned eagerly. "the same." a softer light played over the features of carlos. then he should see that face once more--perhaps even grasp that hand! truly god was giving him everything he desired of him. he said,-"i am glad to stand, here to the last, at the side of that faithful soldier and servant of christ. for when we go in there together, i dare not hope to be so highly honoured as to take a place beside him." at this point the prior broke in. "señor and my brother, your words are wasted. he is given over to the power of the evil one. let us leave him." and drawing his mantle round him, he turned to go, without looking again towards carlos. but carlos came forward. "pardon me, my lord; i have a few words yet to say to you;" and, stretching out his hand to detain him, he unconsciously touched his arm with it. the prior flung it off with a gesture of angry scorn. there was contamination in that touch. "i have heard too many words from your lips already," he said. "to-morrow night my lips will be dust, my voice silent for ever. so you may well bear with me for a little while to-day." "speak then; but be brief." "it gives me the last pang i think to know on earth, to part thus from you; for you have shown me true kindness. i owe you, not forgiveness as an enemy, but gratitude as a sincere though mistaken friend. i shall pray for you--" "an impenitent heretic's prayers--" "will do my lord the prior no harm; and there may come a day when he will not be sorry he had them." there was a short pause. "have you anything else to say?" asked the prior rather more gently. "only one word, señor." he turned and looked at the dead. "i know you loved him well. you will deal gently with his dust, will you not? a grave is not much to ask for him. you will give it; i trust you." the stern set face relaxed a little before that pleading look. "it is _you_ who have sought to rob him of a grave," said the prior--"you who have defamed him of heresy. but your testimony is invalid; and, as i have said, i believe you not." with this declaration of purely official disbelief, he left the room. his colleague lingered a moment. "you plead for the senseless dust that can neither feel nor suffer," he said; "you can pity that. how is it you cannot pity yourself?" "that which you destroy to-morrow is not myself. it is only my garment, my tent. yet even over that christ watches. he can raise it glorious from the ashes of the quemadero as easily as from the church where the bones of my fathers sleep. for i am his, soul and body--the purchase of his blood. and why should it be a marvel in your eyes that i rejoice to give my life for him who gave his own for me?" "god grant thee even yet to die in his grace!" answered the inquisitor, somewhat moved. "i do not despair of thee. i will pray for thee, and visit thee again to-night." so saying, he hastened after the prior. for a season carlos sat motionless, his soul filled to overflowing with a calm, deep tide of awed and wondering joy. no room was there for any thought save one--"i shall see his face; i shall be with him for ever." over the thing that lay between he could spring as joyously as a child might leap across a brook to reach his father's outstretched hand. at length his eye fell, perhaps by accident, on the little writing-book which lay near. he drew it towards him, and having found out the place where the last entry was made, wrote rapidly beneath it,- "to depart and to be with christ is far better. my beloved father is gone to him in peace to-day. i too go in peace, though by a rougher path, to-morrow. surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life, and i shall dwell in the house of the lord for ever. "carlos alvarez de santillanos y menaya." and with a strange consciousness that he had now signed his name for the last time, he carefully affixed to it his own especial "rubrica," or sign-manual. then came one thought of earth--only one--the last. "god, in his great mercy, grant that my brother may be far away! i would not that he saw my face to-morrow. for the pain and the shame can be seen of all; while that which changes them to glory no man knoweth, save he that receiveth it. but, wherever thou art, god bless thee, my ruy!" and drawing the book towards him again, he added, as if by a sudden impulse, to what he had already written, "god bless thee, my ruy!" soon afterwards the alguazils arrived to conduct him back to the triana. then, turning to his dead once more, he kissed the pale forehead, saying, "farewell, for a little while. thou didst never taste death; nor shall i. instead of thee and me, christ drank that cup." and then, for the second time, the gate of the triana opened to receive don carlos alvarez. at sunrise next morning its gloomy portals were unlocked, and he, with others, passed forth from beneath their shadow. not to return again to that dark prison, there to linger out the slow and solitary hours of grief and pain. his warfare was accomplished, his victory was won. long before the sun had arisen again upon the weary blood-stained earth, a brighter sun arose for him who had done with earth. all his desire was granted, all his longings were fulfilled. he saw the face of christ, and he was with him for ever. xlvi. is it too late? "death upon his face is rather shine than shade; a tender shine by looks beloved made: he seemeth dying in a quiet place." e.b. browning. the mountain-snow lay white around the old castle of nuera; but within there was light and warmth. joy and gladness were there also, "thanksgiving and the voice of melody;" for doña beatriz, graver and paler than of old, and with the brilliant lustre of her dark eyes subdued to a kind of dewy softness, was singing a cradle-song beside the cot where her first-born slept. the babe had just been baptized by fray sebastian. with a pleading, wistful look had dolores asked her lord, the day before, what name he wished his son to bear. but he only answered, "the heir of our house always bears the name of juan." another name was far dearer to memory; but not yet could he accustom his lips to utter it, or his ear to bear the sound. now he came slowly into the room, holding in his hand an unsealed letter. doña beatriz looked up. "he sleeps," she said. "then let him sleep on, señora mia." "but will you not look? see, how pretty he is! how he smiles in his sleep! and those dear small hands--" "have their share in dragging me further than you wot of, my beatriz." nay; what dost thou mean? do not be grave and sad to-day--not to-day, don juan." "my beloved, god knows i would not cloud thy brow with a single care if i could help it. nor am i sad. only we must think. here is a letter from the duke of savoy (and very gracious and condescending too), inviting me to take my place once more in his catholic majesty's army." "but you will not go? we are so happy together here." "my beatriz, i _dare_ not go. i would have to fight"--(here he broke off, and cast a hasty glance round the room, from the habit of dreading listeners)--"i would have to fight against those whose cause is just the cause i hold dearest upon earth. i would have to deny my faith by the deeds of every day. but yet, how to refuse and not stand dishonoured in the eyes of the world, a traitor and a coward, i know not." "no dishonour could ever touch thee, my brave and noble juan." don juan's brow relaxed a little. "but that men should even _think_ it did, is what i could not bear," he said. "besides"--and he drew nearer the cradle, and looked fondly down at the little sleeper--"it does not seem to me, my beatriz, that i dare bring up this child god has given me to the bitter heritage of a slave." "a slave!" repeated doña beatriz, almost with a cry. "now heaven help us, don juan; are you mad? you, of noblest lineage--you, alvarez de meñaya--to call your own first-born a slave!" "i call any one a slave who dares not speak out what he thinks, and act out what he believes," returned don juan sadly. "and what is it that you would do then?" "would to god that i knew! but the future is all dark to me. i see not a single step before me." "then, amigo mio, do not look before you. let the future alone, and enjoy the present, as i do." "truly that baby face would charm many a care away," said juan, with another fond glance at the sleeping child. "but a man _must_ look before him, and a christian man must ask what god would have him to do. moreover, this letter of the duke demands an answer, yea or nay." "señor don juan. i desire to speak with your excellency," said the voice of dolores at the door. "come in, dolores." "nay, señor, i want you here." this peremptory sharpness was very unlike the wonted manner of dolores. don juan came forth immediately. dolores signed to him to shut the door. then, not till then, she began,--"señor don juan, two brethren of the society of jesus have come from seville, and are now in the village." "what then? surely you do not fear that they suspect anything with regard to us?" asked juan, in some alarm. "no; but they have brought tidings." "you tremble, dolores. you are ill. speak--what is it?" "they have brought tidings of a great act of faith, to be held at seville, upon a day not yet fixed when they left the city, but towards the end of this month." for a moment the two stood silent, gazing in each other's faces. then dolores said, in an eager breathless whisper, "you will go, señor?" juan shook his head. "what you are thinking of dolores, is a dream--a vain, wild dream. long since, i doubt not, he rests with god." "but if we had the proof of it, rest might come to us," said dolores, large tears gathering slowly in her eyes. "it is true," juan mused; "they may wreak their vengeance on the dust." "and for the assurance that would give that nothing more was left them, i, a poor woman, would joyfully walk barefoot from this to seville and back again." juan hesitated no longer. "_i go_" he said. "dolores, seek fray sebastian, and send him to me at once. bid jorge be ready with the horses to start to-morrow at daybreak. meanwhile, i will prepare doña beatriz for my sudden departure." * * * * * of that hurried winter journey, don juan was never afterwards heard to speak. no one of its incidents seemed to have made the slightest impression on his mind, or even to have been remembered by him. but at last he drew near seville. it was late in the evening, however, and he had told his attendant they should spend the night at a village eight or nine miles from their destination. suddenly jorge cried out. "look there, señor, the city is on fire." don juan looked. a lurid crimson glow paled the stars in the southern sky. with a shudder he bowed his head, and veiled his face from the awful sight. "that fire is _without the gate_," he said at last. "pray for the souls that are passing in anguish now." noble, heroic souls! probably juliano hernandez, possibly fray constantino, was amongst them. these were the only names that occurred to don juan's mind, or were breathed in his fervent, agitated prayer. "yonder is the posada, señor," said the attendant presently. "nay, jorge, we will ride on. there will be no sleepers in seville to-night." "but, señor," remonstrated the servant, "the horses are weary. we have travelled far to-day already." "let them rest afterwards," said juan briefly. motion, just then, was an absolute necessity to him. he could not have rested anywhere, within sight of that awful glare. two hours afterwards he drew the rein of his weary steed before the house of his cousin doña inez. he had no scruple in asking for admission in the middle of the night, as he knew that, under the circumstances, the household would not fail to be astir. his summons was speedily answered, and he was conducted to a hall opening on the patio. thither, after a brief interval, came juanita, bearing a lamp in her hand, which she set down on the table. "my lady will see your excellency presently," said the girl, with a shy, frightened air, which was very unlike her, but which juan was too preoccupied to notice. "but she is much indisposed. my lord was obliged to accompany her home from the act of faith before it was half over." juan expressed the concern he felt, and desired that she would not incommode herself upon his account. perhaps don garçia, if he had not yet retired to rest, would converse with him for a few moments. "my lady said she must speak with you herself," answered juanita, as she left the room. after a considerable time doña inez appeared. in that southern climate youth and beauty fade quickly; and yet juan was by no means prepared for the changed, worn, haggard face that gazed on him now, there was no pomp of apparel to carry off the impression. doña inez wore a loose dark dressing-robe; and a hasty careless hand seemed to have untwined the usual ornaments from her black hair. her eyes were like those of one who has wept for hours, and then only ceased for very weariness. she stretched out both her hands to juan--"o don juan, i never meant it! i never meant it!" "señora and my cousin, i have but just arrived here. i do not understand you," said juan, rising to greet her. "santa maria! then you know not!--horrible!" she sank into a seat. juan stood gazing at her eagerly, almost wildly. "yes; i understand all now," he said at last. "i suspected it." _he_ saw in imagination a black chest, with a little lifeless dust within it; a rude shapeless figure, robed in the hideous zamarra, and bearing in large letters the venerated name, "alvarez de santillanos y meñaya." while _she_ saw a living face, that would never cease to haunt her memory until death shadowed all things. "let me speak," she gasped; "and i will try to be calm. i did not wish to go. it was the day of the last auto, you remember, that my poor brother died, and altogether---but don garçia insisted. he said everybody would talk, and especially when the taint had touched our own house. besides, doña juana de bohorques, who died in prison, was to be publicly declared innocent, and her property restored to her heirs. out of regard to the family, it was thought we ought to be present. o don juan, if i had but known! i would rather have put on a sanbenito myself than have gone there. god grant it did not hurt him!" "how could it possibly hurt him, my tender-hearted cousin?" "hush! let me go on now, while i can speak of it; or i shall never, never tell you. and i must. _he_ would have wished---well, we were seated in what they called good places; very near the condemned; in fact, the scaffold opposite was plain to us as you are to me now. but that last time, and doña maria's look, and dr. cristobal's, haunted me, so that i did not dare to raise my eyes to where _they_ sat;--not until long after the mass had begun. and i knew besides there were so many women there--eight on that dreadful top bench, doomed to die. but at last a lady who sat near me bade me look at one of the relaxed, a little man, who was pointing upwards and making signs to his companions to encourage them. 'do not look, señora,' said don garçia, quickly--but too late. o don juan, i saw his face!" "his living face? not his living face?" cried juan, with a shudder that convulsed his strong frame from head to foot. and the name--the one awful name that rises to all human lips in moments of supreme emotion--broke from his in a wail of anguish. doña inez tried to speak; but in vain. thoroughly broken down, she wept and sobbed aloud. but the sight of the rigid, tearless face before her checked her tears at last. she gained power to go on. "i saw him. worn and pale, of course; yet not changed so greatly, after all. the same dear, kind, familiar face i had seen last in this room, when he caressed and played with my child. not sad, not as though he suffered. rather as though he had suffered long ago; but was beyond it all, even then. a still, patient, fearless look, eyes that saw everything; and yet nothing seemed to trouble him. i bore it until they were reading the sentences, and came to his. but when i saw the alguazil strike him--the blow that relaxed to the secular arm--i could endure no more. i believe i cried aloud. but in fact i know not what i did. i know nothing more till don garçia and my brother don manuel were carrying me through the crowd." "no word? was there no word spoken?" asked juan wildly. "_no_; but i heard some one near me say that he talked with that muleteer in the court of the triana, and spoke words of comfort to a poor woman amongst the penitents, whom they called maria gonsalez." all was told now. maddened with rage and anguish, juan rushed from the room, from the house; and, without being conscious of any settled purpose, in five minutes found himself far on his way to the dominican convent adjoining the triana. his servant, who was still waiting at the gate, followed him to ask for orders, and with difficulty overtook him, and arrested his steps. juan sternly silenced his faltering, agitated question as to what was wrong with his lord. "go to rest," he said, "and meet me in the morning by the great gate of sun isodro." nothing was clear to him; but that he must shake off as soon as possible the dust of the wicked, cruel city from his feet. and san isodro was the only trysting-place without its walls that happened at the moment to occur to his bewildered brain. xlvii. the dominican prior. "oh, deep is a wounded heart, and strong a voice that cries against mighty wrong! and full of death as a hot wind's blight, doth the ire of a crushed affection light." hemans. tell the prior don juan alvarez de santillanos y meñaya desires to speak with him, and that instantly," said juan to the drowsy lay brother who at last answered his impatient summons, lantern in hand. "my lord has but just retired to rest, and cannot now be disturbed," answered the attendant, looking with some curiosity, not to say surprise, at the visitor, who seemed to think three o'clock of a winter morning a proper and suitable hour to demand instant audience of a great man. "i will wait," said juan, walking into the court. the attendant led him to a parlour; then, holding the door ajar, he said, "let his excellency pardon me, i did not hear distinctly his worship's honourable name." "don juan alvarez de santillanos y meñaya. the prior knows it--too well." it was evident from his face that the poor lay brother knew it also. and so that night did every man, woman, and child in seville. it had become a name of infamy. with a hasty "yes, yes, señor," the door was closed, and juan was left alone. what had brought him there? did he mean to accuse the dominican of his brother's murder, or did he only intend to reproach him--him who had once shown some pity to the captive--for not saving him from that horrible doom? he himself scarcely knew. he had been driven thither by a wild, unreasoning impulse, an instinct of passionate rage, prompting him to grasp at the only shadow of revenge that lay within his reach. if he could not execute god's awful judgments against the persecutors, at least he could denounce them. a poor substitute, but all that remained to him. without it his heart must break. yet that unreasoning impulse had a kind of unconscious reason in it, since it led him to seek the presence of the dominican prior, and not that of the far more guilty munebrãga. for who would accuse a tiger, reproach a wolf? words would be wasted upon such. for them there is no argument but the spear and the bullet. a man can only speak to men. to do fray ricardo justice, he was so much of a man that sleep did not visit his eyes that night. when at length his attendants thought fit to inform him that don juan desired to see him, he was still kneeling, as he had knelt for hours, before the crucifix in his private oratory. "saviour of the world, so much didst thou suffer," this was the key-note of his thoughts; "and shall i weakly pity thine enemies, or shrink from seeing them suffer what they have deserved at thy hands and those of thy holy church?" "alvarez de santillanos y meñaya waits below!" just then don fray ricardo would rather have held his right hand in the fire than have gone forth to face one bearing that name. but, for that very reason, no sooner did he hear that don juan awaited him than he robed himself in his cowl and mantle, took a lamp in his hand (for it was still dark), and went down to meet the visitor. for that morning he was in the mood to welcome any form of self-torture that came in his way, and to find a strange but real relief in it. "peace be with thee, my son," was his grave but courteous salutation, as he entered the parlour. he looked upon juan with mournful compassion, as the last of a race over which there hung a terrible doom. "let your peace be with murderers like yourselves, or with slaves like those that work your will; i fling it back to you in scorn," was the fierce reply. the dominican recoiled a step--only a step, for he was a brave man, and his face, pale with conflict and watching, grew a shade paler. "do you think i mean to harm you?" cried juan in yet fiercer scorn. "not a hair of your tonsured head. see there!" he unbuckled his sword, and threw it from him, and it fell with a clang on the floor. "young man, you would consult your own safety as well as your own honour by adopting a different tone," said the prior, not without dignity. "my safety is little worth consulting. i am a bold, rough soldier, used to peril and violence. would it were such, and such alone, that you menaced. but, fiends that you are, would no one serve you for a victim save my young, gentle, unoffending brother; he who never harmed you nor any one? would nothing satisfy your malice but to immure him in your hideous dungeons for two-and-thirty long slow months, in what suffering of mind and body god alone can tell; and then, at last, to bring him forth to that horrible death? i curse you! i curse you! nay, that is nothing; who am i to curse? i invoke god's curse upon you! i give you up into god's hands this hour! when he maketh inquisition for blood--another inquisition than yours--i pray him to exact from you, murderers of the innocent, torturers of the just, every drop of blood, every tear, every pang of which he has been the witness, as he shall be the avenger." at last the prior found a voice. hitherto he had listened spell-bound, as one oppressed by nightmare, powerless to free himself from the hideous burden. "man!" he cried, "you are raving; the holy office--" "is the arch-fiend's own contrivance, and its ministers his favourite servants," interrupted juan, reckless in his rage, and defying all consequences. "blasphemy! this may not be borne," and fray ricardo stretched out his hand towards a bell that lay on the table. but juan's strong grasp prevented his touching it. he could not shake off that as easily as he had shaken off a pale thin hand two days before. "i shall speak forth my mind this once," he said. "after that, what you please.--go on. fill your cup full to the brim. immure, plunder, burn, destroy. pile up, high as heaven, your hecatomb of victims, offered to the god of love. at least there is one thing that may be said in your favour. in your cruelties there is a horrible impartiality. it can never be spoken of you that you have gone out into the highways and hedges, taken the blind and the lame, and made of them your burnt sacrifice. no. you go into the closest guarded homes; you take thence the gentlest, the tenderest, the fairest, the best, and of such you make your burnt-offering. and you--are your hearts human, or are they not? if they are, stifle them, crush them down into silence while you can; for a day will come when you can stifle them no longer. that will begin your punishment. you will feel remorse." "man, let me go!" interrupted the indignant yet half-frightened prior, struggling vainly to free himself from his grasp. "cease your blasphemies. men only feel remorse when they have sinned; and i serve god and the church." "yet, servant of the church (for god's servant i am not profane enough to call you), speak to me this once as man to man, and tell me, did a victim's pale face never haunt you, a victim's agonized cry never ring in your ears?" for just an instant the prior winced, as one who feels a sharp, sudden pain, but determines to conceal it. "there!" cried juan--and at last he released his arm and flung it from him--"i read an answer in your look. you, at least, are capable of remorse." "you are false there," the prior broke in. "remorse is not for me." "no? then all the worse for you--infinitely the worse. yet it may be. you may sleep and rise, and go to your rest again untroubled by an accusing conscience. you may sit down to eat and drink with the wail of your brother's anguish ringing in your ears, like munebrãga, who sits feasting yonder in his marble hall, with the ashes yet hot on the quemadero. until you go down quick into hell, and the pit shuts her mouth upon you. then, then shall you drink of the wine of the wrath of god, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and you shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the lamb." "thou art beside thyself," cried the prior; "and i, scarce less mad than thou, to listen to thy ravings. yet hear me a moment, don juan alvarez. i have not merited these insane reproaches. to you and yours i have been more a friend than you wot of." "noble friendship! i thank you for it, as it deserves." "you have given me, this hour, more than cause enough to order your instant arrest." "you are welcome. it were shame indeed if i could not bear at your hands what my gentle brother bore." the last of his race! the father dead in prison; the mother dead long ago (fray ricardo himself best knew why); the brother burned to ashes. "i think you have a wife, perhaps a child?" asked the prior hurriedly. "a young wife, and an infant son," said juan, softening a little at the thought. "wild as your words have been, i am yet willing, for their sakes, to show you forbearance. according to the lenity which ministers of the holy office--" "have learned from their father the devil," interrupted juan, the flame of his wrath blazing up again. "after what the stars looked down on last night, dare to mock me with thy talk of lenity!" "you are in love with destruction," said the prior. "but i have heard you long enough. now hear me. you have been, ere this, under grave suspicion. indeed, you would have been arrested, only that your brother endured the question without revealing anything to your disadvantage. that saved you." but here he stopped, struck with astonishment at the sudden change his words had wrought. a man stabbed to the heart makes no outcry, he does not even moan or writhe. nor did juan. mutely he sank on the nearest seat, all his rage and defiance gone now. a moment before he stood over the shrinking inquisitor like a prophet of doom or an avenging angel; now he cowered crushed and silent, stricken to the soul. there was a long silence. then he raised a changed, sad look to the prior's face. "he bore _that_ for me," he said, "and i never knew it." in the cold gray morning light, now filling the room, he looked utterly forlorn and broken. the prior could even afford to pity him. he questioned, mildly enough, "how was it you did not know it? fray sebastian gomez, who visited him in prison, was well aware of the fact." in juan's present mood every faculty was stimulated to unnatural activity. this perhaps enabled him to divine a truth which in calmer moments might have escaped him. "my brother," he said, in a low tone of deep emotion, "my heroic, tender-hearted brother must have bidden him conceal it from me." "it was strange," said the prior, and his thoughts ran back to other things which were strange also--to the uniform patience and gentleness of carlos; to the fortitude with which, whilst acknowledging his own faith, he had steadily refused to compromise any one else; to the self-forgetfulness with which he had shielded his father's last hours from disturbance. granted that the heretic was a wild beast, "made to be taken and destroyed," even the hunter may admire unblamed the grace and beauty of the creature who has just fallen beneath his relentless weapon. something like a mist rose to the eyes of fray ricardo, taking him by surprise. still, the interests of the faith were paramount with him. all that had been done had been well done; he would not, if he could, undo any part of it. but did his duty to the faith and to holy church require that he should hunt the remaining brother to death, and thus "quench the coal that was left"? he hoped not; he thought not. and, although he would not have allowed it to himself, the words that followed were really a peace-offering to the shade of carlos. "young man, i am willing, for my own part, to overlook the wild words you have uttered, regarding them as the outpourings of insanity, and making moreover due allowance for your natural fraternal sorrow. still you must be aware that you have laid yourself open, and not for the first time, to grave suspicion of heresy. i should not only sin against my own conscience, but also expose myself to the penalties of a grievous irregularity, did i take no steps for the vindication of the faith and your just and well-merited punishment. therefore give ear to what i say. _this day week_ i bring the matter before the table of the holy office, of which i have the honour to be an unworthy member. and god grant you the grace of repentance, and his forgiveness." having said this, fray ricardo left the room. he disappears also from our pages, where he occupied a place as a type of the less numerous and less guilty class of persecutors--those who not only thought they were doing god service (munebrãga may have thought that, but he was only willing to do god such service as cost him nothing), but who were honestly anxious to serve him to the best of their ability. his future is hidden from our sight. we cannot even undertake to say whether, when death drew near,--if the name of alvarez de meñaya occurred to him at all,--he reproached himself for his sternness to the brother whom he had consigned to the flames, or for his weakness to the brother to whom he had generously given a chance of life and liberty. it is not usually the most guilty who hear the warning voice that denounces their crimes and threatens their doom. such words as don juan spoke to fray ricardo could not, by any conceivable possibility, have been uttered in the presence of gonzales de munebrãga. soon afterwards a lay brother, the same who had admitted don juan, entered the room and placed wine on the table before him. "my lord the prior bade me say your excellency seemed exhausted, and should refresh yourself ere you depart," he explained. juan motioned it away. he could not trust himself to speak. but did fray ricardo imagine he would either eat bread or drink water beneath the roof that sheltered _him?_ still the poor man lingered, standing before him with the air of one who had something to say which he did not exactly know how to bring out. "you may tell your lord that i am going," said juan, rising wearily, and with a look that certainly told of exhaustion. "if it please your noble excellency--" and the lay brother stopped and hesitated. "well?" "let his excellency pardon me. could his worship have the misfortune to be related, very distantly no doubt, to one of the heretics who--" "don carlos alvarez was my brother," said juan proudly. the poor lay brother drew nearer to him, and lowered his voice to a mysterious whisper. "señor and your excellency, he was here in prison for a long time. it was thought that my lord the prior had a kindness for him, and wished him better used than they use the criminals in the santa casa. it happened that the prisoner whose cell he shared died the day before his--_removal_. so that the cell was empty, and it fell to my lot to cleanse it. whilst i was doing it i found this; i think it belonged to him." he drew from beneath his serge gown a little book, and handed it to juan, who seized it as a starving man might seize a piece of bread. hastily taking out his purse, he flung it in exchange to the lay brother; and then, just as the matin bells began to ring, he buckled on his sword and went forth. xlviii. san isodro once more. "and if with milder anguish now i bear to think of thee in thy forsaken rest; if from my heart be lifted the despair, the sharp remorse with healing influence pressed, it is that thou the sacrifice hast blessed, and filled my spirit, in its inmost cell, with a deep chastened sense that all at last is well." hemans. the cloudless sky above him, the fresh morning air on his cheek, the dew-drops on his feet, don juan walked along. the river--his own bright guadalquivir--glistened in the early sunshine; and soon his pathway led him amidst the gray ruins of old italica, while among the brambles that half hid them, glittering lizards, startled by his footsteps, ran in and out. but he saw nothing, felt nothing, save the passionate pain that burned in his heart. during his interview with fray ricardo he had been, practically and for the time, what the prior called him, insane--mad with rage and hate. but now rage was dying out for the present, and giving place to anguish. is the worst pang earth has to give that of witnessing the sufferings of our beloved? or is there yet one keener, more thrilling? that they should suffer alone; no hand near to help, no voice to speak sympathy, no eye to look "ancient kindness" on their pain. that they should die--die in anguish--and still alone,- "with eyes turned away, and no last word to say." don juan was now drinking that bitter cup to its very dregs. what the young brother, his one earthly tie, had been to him, need not here be told; and assuredly he could not have told it. he had been all his life a thing to protect and shield--as the strong protect the weak, as manhood shields womanhood and childhood. had god but taken him with his own right hand, juan would have thought it a light matter, a sorrow easily borne. but, instead, he stood afar off--he did not help; whilst men, cruel as fiends from the bottomless pit, did their worst, their very worst, upon him. and with refined self-torture he went through all the horrible details, as far as he knew or could guess them. nor did he spare to stab his own heart with that keenest weapon of all--"it was _for me_; for me he endured the question." the cry of his brother's anguish--anguish borne for him--seemed to sound in his ears and to haunt him: he felt that it would haunt him evermore. of course, there was a well of comfort near, which a child's hand might have pointed out to him: "all is over now; he suffers no longer--he is at rest." but who ever stoops to drink from that well in the parching thirst of the first hour of such a grief as his? in truth, all was over for carlos; but all was _not_ over for juan. he had to pass through his dark hour as really as carlos had passed through his. again the agony almost maddened him; again wild hatred and rage against his brother's torturers rose and surged like a flood within him. and with these were mingled thoughts, too nearly rebellious, of him whom that brother trusted so firmly and served so faithfully; as if he had used his servant hardly, and forsaken him in his hour of sorest need. he shrank with horror from every wayfarer he chanced to meet, imagining that his eyes might have looked on his brother's suffering. but at last he came unawares upon the gate of san isodro. left unbarred by some accident, it yielded to his touch, and he entered the monastery grounds. at that very spot, three years ago, the brothers parted, on the day that carlos avowed his change of faith. yet not even that remembrance could bring a tear to the hot and angry eyes of juan. but just then he happened to recollect the book he had received from the lay brother. he took it from its place of concealment, and eagerly began to examine it. it was almost filled with writing; but not, alas! from that beloved hand. so he flung it aside in bitter disappointment. then becoming suddenly conscious of bodily weakness, he half sat down, half threw himself on the ground. his vigorous frame and his strong nerves saved him from swooning outright: he only lay sick and faint, the blue sky looking black above him, and a strange, indistinct sound, as of many voices, murmuring in his ears. by-and-by he became conscious that some one was holding water to his lips, and trying, though with an awkward, trembling hand, to loose his doublet at the throat. he drank, shook off his weakness, and looked about him. a very old man, in a white tunic and brown mantle, was bending over him compassionately. in another moment he was on his feet; and having briefly thanked the aged monk for his kindness, he turned his face to the gate. "nay, my son," the old man interposed; "san isodro is changed--changed! still the sick and weary never left its gates unaided; and they shall not begin now--not now. i pray you come with me to the house, and refresh and rest yourself there." juan was not reckless enough to refuse what in truth he sorely needed. he entered the monastery under the guidance of poor old fray bernardo, who had been passed by, perhaps in scorn, by the persecutors: and so, after all, he had his wish--he should die and be buried in peace where he had passed his life from boyhood to extreme old age. yet there was something sad in the thought that the storm that swept by had left untouched the poor, useless, half-withered tree, while it tore down the young and strong and noble oaks, the pride of the now desolated forest. the few cowed and terrified monks who had been allowed to remain in the convent received don juan with great kindness. they set food and wine before him: food he could not touch, but wine he accepted with thankfulness. and they almost insisted on his endeavouring to take some rest; assuring him that when his servant and horses should arrive, they would see them properly cared for, until such time as he might be able to resume his journey. his journey would not brook delay, as he knew full well. that his young wife might not be a widow and his babe an orphan, he "charged his soul to hold his body strengthened" for the work that both had to do. back to nuera for these dear ones as swiftly as the fleetest horses would bear him, then to seville again, and on board the first ship he could meet with bound for any foreign port,--would the term of grace assigned him by the inquisitor suffice for all this? certainly not a moment should be lost. "i will rest for an hour," he said. "but i pray you, my fathers, do me one kindness first. is there a man here who witnessed--what was done yesterday?" a young monk came forward. juan led him into the cell which had been prepared for him to rest in, and leaning against its little window, with his face turned away, he murmured one agitated question. three words comprised the answer,-"_calmly_, _silently_, _quickly_." juan's breast heaved and his strong frame trembled. after a long interval he said, still without looking,-"now tell me of the others. name him no more." "no less than _eight_ ladies died the martyr's death," said the monk, who cared not, before _this_ auditor, to conceal his own sentiments. "one of them was señora maria gomez; your excellency probably knows her story. her three daughters and her sister died with her. when their sentences were read, they embraced on the scaffold, and bade each other farewell with tears. then they comforted each other with holy words about our lord and his passion, and the home he was preparing for them above." here the young monk paused for a few moments; then went on, his voice still trembling: "there were, moreover, two englishmen and a frenchman, who all died bravely. lastly, there was juliano hernandez." "ah! tell me of him." "he died as he had lived. in the morning, when brought out into the court of the triana, he cried aloud to his fellow-sufferers,--'courage, comrades! now must we show ourselves valiant soldiers of jesus christ. let us bear faithful testimony to his truth before men, and in a few hours we shall receive the testimony of his approbation before angels, and triumph with him in heaven.' though silenced, he continued throughout the day to encourage his companions by his gestures. on the quemadero, he knelt down and kissed the stone upon which the stake was erected; then thrust his head among the fagots to show his willingness to suffer. but at the end, having raised his hands in prayer, one of the attendant priests--dr. rodriguez--mistook the attitude for a sign that he would recant, and made intercession with the alguazils to give him a last opportunity of speaking. he confessed his faith in a few strong, brief words; and knowing the character of rodriguez, told him he thought the same himself, but hid his true belief out of fear. the angry priest bade them light the pile at once. it was done; but the guards, with kind cruelty, thrust the martyr through with their lances, so that he passed, without much pain, into the presence of the lord whom he served as few have been honoured to do." "and--fray constantino?" juan questioned. "he was not, for god took him. they had only his dust to burn. they have sought to slander his memory, saying he raised his hand against his own life. but we knew the contrary. it has reached our ears--i dare not tell you how--that he died in the arms of one of our dear brethren from this place--poor young fray fernando, who closed his eyes in peace. it was from one of the dark underground cells of the triana that he passed straight to the glory of god."[35] [35] at the auto they produced his effigy, of the size of life, clad in his canon's robe, and with the arms stretched out in the gesture he had been wont to use in preaching; but it caused such a demonstration of feeling among the people, that they were obliged hastily to withdraw it. it was at this auto that maria gonsalez was sentenced to receive two hundred lashes, and to be imprisoned for ten years, for the kindnesses she had shown the prisoners. an equally severe punishment was awarded to the under-gaoler herrera for the offence of having allowed a mother and three daughters, who were imprisoned in separate cells, an interview of half an hour; while the many cruelties and peculations of the infamous benevidio were only chastised by the loss of his situation and its advantages, and banishment from seville. "i thank you for your tidings," said juan, slowly and faintly. "and now i pray of you to leave me." after a considerable time, one of the monks softly opened the door of their visitor's cell. he sat on the pallet prepared for him, his head buried in his hands. "señor," said the monk, "your servant has arrived, and begs you to excuse his delay. it may be there are some instructions you wish him to receive." juan roused himself with an effort. "yes," he said; "and i thank you. will you add to your kindness by bidding him immediately procure for us fresh horses, the best and fleetest that can be had?" he sought his purse; but, remembering in a moment what had become of it, drew a ring from his finger to supply its loss. it was the diamond ring that the sieur de ramenais had given him. a keen pang shot through his heart. "no, not that; i cannot part with it." he took two others instead--old family jewels. "bid him bring these," he said, "to isaac ozorio, who dwells in la juderia[36]--any man there will show him the house; take for them whatever he will give him, and therewith hire fresh horses--the best he can--from the posada where he rested, leaving our own in pledge. let him also buy provisions for the way; for my business requires haste. i will explain all to you anon." [36] the jewish quarter of seville. while the monk did the errand, don juan sat still, gazing at the diamond ring. slowly there came back upon his memory the words spoken by carlos on the day when the sharp facets cut his hand, unfelt by him: "if he calls me to suffer for him, he may give me such blessed assurance of his love, that in the joy of it pain and fear will vanish." could it be possible he _had_ done this? oh, for some token, to relieve his breaking heart by the assurance that thus it had been! and yet, wherefore seek a sign? was not the heroic courage, the calm patience, given to that young brother, once so frail and timid, as plain a token of the sunlight of god's peace and presence as is the bow in the cloud of the sun shining in the heavens? true; but not the less was his soul filled with passionate longing for one word--only one word--from the lips that were dust and ashes now. "if god would give me _that_," he moaned, "i think i could weep for him." it occurred to him then that he might examine the book more carefully than he had done before. don juan, of late, had been no great reader, except of the spanish testament. instead of glancing rapidly through the volume with a practised eye, he carefully began at the beginning and perused several pages with diligence, and with a kind of compelled and painful attention. the writer of the diary with which the book seemed filled had not prefixed his name. consequently juan, who was without a clue to the authorship, saw in it merely the effusions of a penitent, with whose feelings he had but little sympathy. still, he reflected that if the writer had been his brother's fellow-prisoner, some mention of his brother would probably reward his persevering search. so he read on; but he was not greatly interested, until at length he came to one passage which ran thus:-"christ and our lady forgive me, if it be a sin. ofttimes, even by prayer and fasting, i cannot prevent my thoughts from wandering to the past. not to the life i lived, and the part i acted in the great world, for that is dead to me and i to it; but to the dear faces my eyes shall never see again. my costanza!"--("costanza!" thought juan with a start, "that was my mothers name!")--"my wife! my babe! o god, in thy great mercy, still this hungering and thirsting of the heart!" immediately beneath this entry was another. "_may 21._ my costanza, my beloved wife, is in heaven. it is more than a year ago, but they did not tell me till to-day. does death only visit the free?" yet another entry caught the eye of juan. "burning heat to-day. it would be cool enough in the halls of nuera, on the breezy slope of the sierra morena. what does my orphaned juan rodrigo there, i wonder?" "nuera! sierra morena! juan rodrigo!" reiterated the astonished reader. what did it all mean? he was stunned and bewildered, so that he had scarcely power left even to form a conjecture. at last it occurred to him turn to the other end of the book, if perchance some name, affording a clue to the mystery, might be inscribed there. and then he read, in another, well-known hand, a few calm words, breathing peace and joy, "quietness and assurance for ever." he pressed the loved handwriting to his lips, to his heart. he sobbed over it and wept; blistering it with such burning tears as scarcely come from a strong man's eyes more than once in a lifetime. then, flinging himself on his knees, he thanked god--god whom he had doubted, murmured against, almost blasphemed, and who yet had been true to his promise--true to his tried and suffering servant in the hour of need. when he rose, he took up the book again, and read and re-read those precious words. all but the first he thought he could comprehend. "my beloved father is gone to him in peace." would the preceding entries throw any light upon _that_ saying? once more, with changed feelings and quickened perceptions, he turned back to the records of the penitent's long captivity. slowly and gradually the secret they revealed unfolded itself before him. the history of the last nine months of his brother's life lay clearly traced; and the light it shed illumined another life also, longer, sadder, less glorious than his. one entry, almost the last, and traced with a trembling hand, he read over and over, till his eyes grew too dim to see the words. "he entreats of me to pray for my absent juan, and to bless him. my son, my first-born, whose face i know not, but whom he has taught me to love, i do bless thee. all blessings rest upon thee--blessings of heaven above, blessings of the earth beneath, blessings of the deep that lieth under! but for _thee_, carlos, what shall i say? i have no blessing fit for thee--no word of love deep and strong enough to join with that name of thine. doth not he say, of whose tenderness thou tellest me ours is but the shadow, 'he will _be silent_ in his love'? but may he read my heart in its silence, and bless thee, and repay thee when thou comest to thy home, where already thy heart is." it might have been two hours afterwards, when the same friendly monk who had narrated to don juan the circumstances of the auto-da-fé, came to apprise him that his servant had fulfilled his errand, and was waiting with the horses. don juan rose and met him. his face was sad; it would be a sad face always; but there was in it a look as of one who saw the end, and who knew that, however dark the way might be, the end was light everlasting. "look here, my friend," he said, for no concealment was necessary there; truth could hurt no one. "see how wondrously god has dealt with me and mine. here is the record of the life and death of my honoured father. for three-and-twenty years he lay in the dominican monastery, a prisoner for christ's sake. and to my heroic martyr brother god has given the honour and the joy of unravelling the mystery of his fate, and thus fulfilling our youthful dream. carlos has found our father!" he went forth into the hall, and bade the other monks a grateful farewell. old fray bernardo embraced and blessed him with tears, moved by the likeness, now discerned for the first time, between the stately soldier and the noble and gentle youth, whose kindness to him, during his residence at the monastery three years before, he well remembered. then don juan set his face towards nuera, with patient endurance, rather sad than stern, upon his brow, and in his heart "a grief as deep as life or thought," but no rebellion, and no despair. something like resignation had come to him; already he could say, or at least try to say, "thy will be done." and he foresaw, as in the distance, far off and faintly, a time when he might even be able to share in spirit the joy of the crowned and victorious one, to whom, in the dark prison, face to face with death, god had so wondrously given the desire of his heart, and not denied him the request of his lips. xlix. farewell. "my country is there; beyond the star pricked with the last peak of snow." e.b. browning. about a fortnight afterwards, a closely veiled lady, dressed in deep mourning, leaned over the side of a merchant vessel, and gazed into the sapphire depths of the bay of cadiz. a respectable elderly woman was standing near her, holding her pretty dark-eyed babe. they seemed to be under the protection of a franciscan friar; and of a stately, handsome serving-man, whose bearing and appearance were rather out of keeping with his supposed rank. it was said amongst the crew that the lady was the widow of a rich sevillian merchant, who during a residence in london some years before had married an englishwoman. she was now going to join her kindred in the heretical country, and much compassion was expended on her, as she was said to be very catholic and very pious. it was a signal proof of these dispositions that she ventured to bring with her, as private chaplain, the franciscan friar, who, the sailors thought, would probably soon fall a martyr to his attachment to the faith. but a few illusions might have been dispelled, if the conversation of the party, when for a brief space they had the deck to themselves, could have been overheard. "dost thou mourn that the shores of our spain are fading from us?" said the lady to the supposed servant. "not as i should once have done, my beatriz; though it is still my fatherland, dearest and best of all lands to me. and you, my beloved?" "where thou art is my country, don juan. besides," she added softly, "god is everywhere. and think what it will be to worship him in peace, none making us afraid." "and you, my brave, true-hearted dolores?" asked don juan. "señor don juan, my country is _there_; with those that i love best," said dolores, with an upward glance of the large wistful eyes, which had yet, in their sorrowful depths, a look of peace unknown in past days. "what is spain to me--spain, that would not give to the noblest of them all a few feet of her earth for a grave?" "do not let us stain with one bitter thought our last look at those shores," said don juan, with the gentleness that was growing upon him of late. "remember that they who denied a grave to our beloved, are powerless to rob us of one precious memory of him. his grave is in our hearts; his memorial is the faith which every one of us now standing here has learned from him." "that is true." said doña beatriz. "i think that not all thy teaching, don juan, made me understand what 'precious faith' is, until i learned it by his death." "he gave up all for christ, freely and joyfully," juan continued. "while i gave up nothing, save as it was wrenched from my unwilling hand. therefore for him there is the 'abundant entrance,' the 'crown of glory.' for me, at the best, 'seekest thou great things for thyself, seek them not. but thy life will i give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.'" fray sebastian drew near at the moment, and happening to overhear the last words, he asked, "have you any plan, señor, as to whither you will go?" "i have no plan," don juan answered. "but i think god will guide us. i have indeed a dream," he added, after a pause, "which may, or may not, come true eventually. my thoughts often turn to that great new world, where, at least, there should be room for truth and liberty. it was our childhood's dream, to go forth to the new world and to find our father. and the lesser half of it, comparatively worthless as it is, may fitly fall to my lot to fulfil, another worthier than i having done the rest." his voice grew gentler, his whole countenance softened as he continued,--"that the prize was his, not mine, i rejoice. it is but an earnest of the nobler victory, the grander triumph, he enjoys now, amongst those who stand evermore before the king of kings--called, chosen, and faithful." historical note. it may be asked by some thoughtful reader who has followed the narrative of the foregoing pages, how much is fact, how much fiction? as the writers sole object is to reveal, to enforce, and to illustrate truth, an answer to the question is gladly supplied. all is fact, except what concerns the personal history of the brothers and their family. whatever relates to the rise, progress, and downfall of the protestant church in spain, is strictly historical. especially may be mentioned the story of the two great autos at seville. but much of interest on the subject remains untold, as nothing was taken up but what would naturally amalgamate with the narrative; and it was not designed to supersede history, only to stimulate to its study. except in the instance of a conversation with juliano hernandez, another with don carlos de seso, and a few words required by the exigencies of the tale from losada, the glorious martyr names have been left untouched by the hand of fiction. it was a sense of their sacredness which led the writer to choose for hero a character not historical, but typical and illustrative. but nothing is told of him which did not occur over and over again, if we except the act of mercy which is supposed to have shed a brightness over his last days. he is merely a given example, a specimen of the ordinary fate of such prisoners of the inquisition as were enabled to remain faithful to the end; and, thank god, these were numerous. he is even a favourable specimen; for the conditions of art require that in a work of fiction a veil should be thrown over some of the worst horrors of persecution. those who accuse protestant writers of exaggeration in these matters, little know what they say. easily could we show greater abominations than these; 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(i.e. negociate/negotiate; aragon/arragon; de alpizcueta/d'alpizcueta/d'alpizcueta; escurial/escorial.) llorente's history of the inquisition. the history of the inquisition of spain, from the time of its establishment to the reign of ferdinand vii. composed from the original documents of the archives of the supreme council, and from those of subordinate tribunals of the holy office. abridged and translated from the original works of d. juan antonio llorente, formerly secretary of the inquisition, _chancellor of the university of toledo, knight of the order of charles iii., &c. &c. &c._ _second edition._ london: printed for geo. b. whittaker, ave-maria-lane. mdcccxxvii. london: printed by william clowes, stamford street. contents. page chapter i.--first epoch of the church till the conversion of the emperor constantine 1 chap. ii.--establishment of a general inquisition against heretics in the thirteenth century 12 chap. iii.--of the ancient inquisition of spain 16 chap. iv.--of the government of the old inquisition 20 chap. v.--establishment of the modern inquisition in spain 30 chap. vi.--creation of a grand inquisitor-general--of a royal council of the inquisition--of subaltern tribunals and organic laws--establishment of the holy office in aragon 39 chap. vii.--additional acts to the first constitution of the holy office--consequences of them, and appeals to rome against them 46 chap. viii.--expulsion of the jews--proceedings against bishops--death of torquemada 53 chap. ix.--of the procedure of the modern inquisition 59 chap. x.--of the principal events during the ministry of the inquisitors deza and cisneros 71 chap. xi.--an attempt made by the cortes of castile and aragon to reform the inquisition--of the principal events under adrian, fourth inquisitor-general 84 chap. xii.--conduct of the inquisitors towards the morescoes 94 chap. xiii.--of the prohibition of books and other articles 100 chap. xiv.--particular trials for suspicion of lutheranism, and some other crimes 113 chap. xv.--prosecution of sorcerers, magicians, enchanters, necromancers, and others 129 chap. xvi.--of the trial of the false nuncio of portugal, and other important events during the time of cardinal tabera, sixth inquisitor-general 142 chap. xvii.--of the inquisitions of naples, sicily, and malta, and of the events of the time of cardinal loaisa, seventh inquisitor-general 157 chap. xviii.--of important events during the first years of the administration of the eighth inquisitor-general--religion of charles v. during the last years of his life 164 chap. xix.--of the proceedings against charles v. and philip ii. as schismatics and favourers of heresy--progress of the inquisition under the last of these princes--consequences of the particular favour which he shewed towards it 179 chap. xx.--the inquisition celebrates at valladolid, in 1559, two autos-da-fé against the lutherans, in the presence of some members of the royal family 196 chap. xxi.--history of two autos-da-fé, celebrated against the lutherans in the city of seville 212 chap. xxii.--of the ordinances of 1561, which have been followed in the proceedings of the holy office, until the present time 227 chap. xxiii.--of some autos-da-fé celebrated in murcia 253 chap. xxiv.--of the autos-da-fé celebrated by the inquisitions of toledo, saragossa, valencia, logroño, grenada, cuença, and sardinia, during the reign of philip ii. 269 chap. xxv.--of the learned men who have been persecuted by the inquisition 277 chap. xxvi.--offences committed by the inquisitors against the royal authority and magistrates 323 chap. xxvii.--of the trials of several sovereigns and princes undertaken by the inquisition 347 chap. xxviii.--of the conduct of the holy office towards those priests who abused the sacrament of confession 355 chap. xxix.--of the trials instituted by the inquisition against the prelates and spanish doctors of the council of trent 357 chap. xxx.--of the prosecution of several saints and holy persons by the inquisition 371 chap. xxxi.--of the celebrated trial of don carlos, prince of the asturias 377 chap. xxxii.--trial of the archbishop of toledo 409 chap. xxxiii.--continuation of the trial, until the archbishop went to rome 442 chap. xxxiv.--end of the trial of carranza--his death 459 chap. xxxv.--trial of antonio perez, minister and first secretary of state to philip ii. 472 chap. xxxvi.--of several trials occasioned by that of antonio perez. 488 chap. xxxvii.--of the principal events in the inquisition during the reign of philip iii. 500 chap. xxxviii.--of the trials and autos-da-fé during the reign of philip iv. 502 chap. xxxix.--the inquisition during the reign of charles ii. 512 chap. xl.--of the inquisition in the reign of philip v. 518 chap. xli.--of the inquisition during the reign of ferdinand vi. 524 chap. xlii.--of the inquisition under charles iii. 539 chap. xliii.--of the spanish inquisition under charles iv. 546 chap. xliv.--of the inquisition during the reign of ferdinand vii. 565 advertisement. the compiler of the following pages has only attempted to give a condensed translation of a complex and voluminous history, with the hope that it might prove of more utility in its present form than in the original works. those portions which are not calculated to interest or instruct the general reader, and afford no illustrations of the subject, have been passed over. those trials have been selected which serve as examples of the various laws of the inquisition, and of its state at different epochs, and which include the persecutions of the most eminent men. the curious will be amply gratified by the perusal of the history of the secret tribunal; the man of leisure cannot fail in finding occupation and amusement in the pages of llorente; and the philosopher will discover in them ample scope for reflection on the aberrations of human reason, and on the capability of our nature, when under the influence of fanaticism, to inflict, with systematic indifference, death, torture, misery, anxiety, and infamy, on the guilty and the innocent. all the records of the fantastic cruelties of the heathen world do not afford so appalling a picture of human weakness and depravity as the authentic and genuine documents of the laws and proceeding of this holy office, which professed to act under the influence of the doctrines of the redeemer of the world! i offer, with humility, this abridgement of the work to the public, and while i hope that it will be kindly and favourably received, i believe that it may prove interesting and useful to every class of readers. _june, 1826._ preface. although a tribunal has existed for more than three hundred years in spain, invested with the power of prosecuting heretics, no correct history of its origin, establishment, and progress has been written. writers of many countries have spoken of inquisitions established in different parts of the world, where the roman catholic faith is the religion of the state, and yet not one is worthy of confidence. the work of m. lavallée, entitled the "history of the inquisitions of italy, spain, and portugal," and published in 1809, has only added to the historical errors of the authors who preceded him. the spanish and portuguese writers on the same subject deserve no higher credit; and have not detailed, with accuracy, the circumstances which led to the establishment of this dreadful tribunal. these writers even differ in their statements of the period of its origin, and place it between the years 1477 and 1484. one affirms, with confidence, that the latter date is the true one, because in that year the regulations of the tribunal were enacted; another decides that it originated in 1483, because in that year thomas torquemada was appointed inquisitor-general by the pope. the inquisition of spain was not a new tribunal created by ferdinand v. and isabella, the queen of castile, but only a reform and extension of the ancient tribunal, which had existed from the thirteenth century. no one could write a complete and authentic history of the inquisition, who was not either an inquisitor or a secretary of the holy office. persons holding only these situations could be permitted to make memoranda of papal bulls, the ordinances of sovereigns, the decisions of the councils of the "_suprême_," of the originals of the preliminary processes for suspicion of heresy, or extracts of those which had been deposited in the archives. _being myself the secretary of the inquisition at madrid_, during the years 1789, 1790, and 1791, i have the firmest confidence in my being able to give to the world _a true code of the secret laws by which the interior of the inquisition was governed, of those laws which were veiled by mystery from all mankind_, excepting those men to whom the knowledge of their political import was exclusively reserved. a firm conviction, from knowing the deep objects of this tribunal, that it was vicious in principle, in its constitution, and in its laws, notwithstanding all that has been said in its support, induced me to avail myself of the advantage my situation afforded me, and to collect every document i could procure relative to its history. my perseverance has been crowned with success far beyond my hopes, for in addition to an abundance of materials, obtained with labour and expense, consisting of unpublished manuscripts and papers, mentioned in the inventories of deceased inquisitors, and other officers of the institution, in 1809, 1810, and 1811, when the inquisition in spain was suppressed, _all the archives were placed at my disposal_; and from 1809 to 1812, i collected everything that appeared to me to be of consequence in the registers of the council of the inquisition, and in the provincial tribunals, for the purpose of compiling this history. never has a prisoner of the inquisition seen either the accusation against himself, or any other. no one was ever permitted to know more of his own cause than he could learn of it by the interrogations and accusations to which he was obliged to reply, and by the extracts from the declarations of the witnesses, which were communicated to him, while not only their names were carefully concealed, and every circumstance relating to time, place, and person, by which he might obtain a clue to discover his denouncers, but even if the depositions contained any thing favourable to the defence of the prisoner. the maxim on which this was founded, is, that the accused ought not to occupy himself but in replying to the chief points of his accusation, and that it was the province of the judge afterwards to compare the answers that he had made with those which had been given favourable to his acquittal. philip limborch, and many more of veracity, have erred in their histories, from their ignorance of the method of conducting an inquisitorial trial. those authors relied wholly on the accounts of prisoners, who knew nothing of the groundwork of their own case; and the details in eymerick, paramo, pegna, carena, and some other inquisitors, are too limited to yield the necessary information. these facts make me hope that i shall not transgress the bounds of propriety when i say, that i only can give a true history of the inquisition, as i only possess the materials necessary for the undertaking. i have read the most celebrated trials of the modern inquisition, and the details given by me differ essentially from those of other historians, not excepting those of limborch, who is the most exact of them. the trials of don carlos of austria, prince of the asturias, of don bartholomew carranza, archbishop of toledo, and of antony perez, the first minister and secretary of philip ii., have been greatly illustrated in many important particulars. i have established the truth of that which concerns the emperor charles v.; jeanne of albret, queen of navarre; henry iv., king of france, her son, and of margaret of bourbon, the sovereign duchess of bar, her daughter; of don james of navarre, son of don carlos, prince of biana, surnamed the infant of tudela; of john pic de mirandola; of don john of austria, son of philip iv.; of alexander farnèse, duke of parma, and grandson of charles v.; don philip of arragon, son of the emperor of morocco; of cæsar borgia, son of pope alexander vi., and relation of the king of navarre; of jean albret, duke of valentinois, peer of france; of don peter louis borgia, last grand-master of the military order of montessa, and of many other princes against whom the inquisition exercised its power. the lover of history will find the details of the trials of seven archbishops, twenty bishops, and a great number of learned men, among whom are many of the members of the council of trent, who were unfortunately suspected of entertaining or favouring the lutheran doctrines. to this list i have added the suits instituted by the _holy office_ against many _saints_, and other personages, held in reverence by the church of spain, and also of many literati persecuted by this tribunal. these, for the sake of perspicuity, i have divided into two classes; the first class comprises those learned theologians who were accused of lutheranism, for having, in their zeal, corrected the text of bibles already published, or latin translations from the greek and hebrew editions. the second class consists of those learned men, designated by the holy office under the title of false philosophers, and who were persecuted for having manifested a wish to destroy, in spain, superstition and fanaticism. this history will make known numberless attempts perpetrated by the inquisitors against magistrates who defended the rights of sovereign authority, in opposition to the enterprises of the _holy office_ and the court of rome; and which enables me to state the trials of many celebrated men and ministers who defended the prerogatives of the crown, and whose only crimes were having published works on the right of the crown, according with the true principles of jurisprudence. these trials will display the counsellors of the inquisition carrying their audacity to such a height, as to deny that their temporal jurisdiction was derived from the concession of their sovereign, and actually prosecuting all the members of the council of castile, as rash men, suspected of heresy, for having made known and denounced to the king this system of usurpation. in addition to these intolerable acts, will be found accounts of their assumption of superiority over viceroys, and other great officers of state. i have also shewn, that these ministers of persecution have been the chief causes of the decline of literature, and almost the annihilators of nearly all that could enlighten the people, by their ignorance, their blind submission to the monks who were qualifiers, and by persecuting the magistrates and the learned who were anxious to disseminate information. these monks were despicable scholastic theologians, too ignorant and prejudiced to be able to ascertain the truth between the doctrines of luther and those of roman catholicism, and so condemned, as lutheran, propositions incontestably true. the horrid conduct of this _holy office_ weakened the power and diminished the population of spain, by arresting the progress of arts, sciences, industry, and commerce, and by compelling multitudes of families to abandon the kingdom; by instigating the expulsion of the jews and the moors; and by immolating on its flaming piles more than _three hundred thousand victims_!! so replete with duplicity was the system of the inquisitors-general, and the council of this _holy office_, that if a papal bull was likely to circumscribe their power, or check their vengeance, they refused to obey, on the pretext of its being opposed to the laws of the kingdom, and the orders of the spanish government. by a similar proceeding, they evaded the ordinances of the king, by alleging that papal bulls prevented them from obeying, under pain of excommunication. secrecy, the foe of truth and justice, was the soul of the tribunal of the inquisition; it gave to it new life and vigour, sustained and strengthened its arbitrary power, and so emboldened it, that it had the hardihood to arrest the highest and noblest in the land, and enabled it to deceive, by concealing facts, popes, kings, viceroys, and all invested with authority by their sovereign. this _holy office_, veiled by secrecy, unhesitatingly kept back, falsified, concealed, or forged the reports of trials, when compelled to open their archives to popes or kings. the inquisitors constantly succeeded, by this detestable knavery, in concealing the truth, and facilitated their object by being careful not to number the reports. this was practised to a great extent in the trials of the archbishop of toledo, of the prothonotary, and others. facts prove beyond a doubt, that the extirpation of judaism was not the real cause, but the mere pretext, for the establishment of the inquisition by ferdinand v. the true motive was to carry on a vigorous system of confiscation against the jews, and so bring their riches into the hands of the government. sixtus iv. sanctioned the measure, to gain the point dearest to the court of rome, an extent of domination. charles v. protected it from motives of policy, being convinced it was the only means of preventing the heresy of luther from penetrating into spain. philip ii. was actuated by superstition and tyranny to uphold it; and even extended its jurisdiction to the excise, and made the exporters of horses into france liable to seizure by the officers of the tribunal, as persons suspected of heresy! philip iii., philip iv., and charles ii., pursued the same course, stimulated by similar fanaticism and imbecility, when the re-union of portugal to spain led to the discovery of many jews. philip v. maintained the inquisition from considerations of mistaken policy, inherited from louis xiv., who made him believe that such rigour would ensure the tranquillity of the kingdom, which was always in danger when many religions were tolerated. ferdinand vi. and charles iii. befriended this _holy office_, because they would not deviate from the course that their father had traced, and because the latter hated the freemasons. lastly, charles iv. supported the tribunal, because the french revolution seemed to justify a system of surveillance, and he found a firm support in the zeal of the inquisitors-general, always attentive to the preservation and extension of their power, as if the sovereign authority could find no surer means of strengthening the throne, than the terror inspired by an inquisition. _during the time i remained in london, i heard some catholics affirm that the inquisition was useful in spain, to preserve the catholic faith, and that a similar establishment would have been useful in france._ these persons were deceived, by believing that it was sufficient for people to be good catholics not to have any fear of the _holy office_. they knew not that nine-tenths of the prisoners were deemed guilty, though true to their faith, because the ignorance or malice of the denouncers prosecuted them for points of doctrine, which were not susceptible of heretical interpretation, but in the judgment of an illiterate monk, is considered erudite by the world, because he is said to have studied the theology of the schools. the inquisition encouraged hypocrisy, and punished those who either did not know how, or would not, assume the mask. this tribunal wrought no conversion. the jews and morescoes, who were baptized without being truly converted, merely that they might remain in spain, are examples which prove the truth of this assertion. the former perished on the pyres of the inquisition, the latter crossed over into africa with the moors, as much mahometans as their ancestors were before they were baptised. i conclude with declaring that the contents of this history are original; and that i have drawn my facts with fidelity, from the most authentic sources, and might have greatly extended them[1]. history of the inquisition. chapter i. first epoch of the church till the conversion of the emperor constantine. the christian religion was scarcely established before heresies arose among its disciples. the apostle st. paul instructs titus, the bishop of crete, in his duty towards heretics, saying, that a man who persists in his heresy, after the first and second admonition, shall be rejected: but st. paul does not say that the life of the heretic shall be taken; and our saviour, addressing st. peter, commands that a sinner shall be forgiven, not only seven times, but seventy times seven, which infers that he ought never to be punished with death by a judgment of the church. such was the doctrine of the church during the three first centuries, until the peace of constantine. heretics were never excommunicated until exhortation had been employed in vain. as this system was adopted, it was natural that some persons should write against heresy to prevent its increase. this was done by st. ignatius, castor agrippa, st. irenæus, st. clement of alexandria, st. justin, st. denis of corinth, tertullian, origen, and many others. these faithful imitators of the benevolence of their divine master were averse to oppressive measures. although the evil produced by the religion of the impious manès was so great, that archelaüs, bishop of caschara, in mesopotamia, judged it necessary to imprison him, yet he renounced that design when marcellus (to whom manès had written) proposed another conference with him. archelaüs succeeded in converting the heretic, and not only gave up his intention of detaining him, but saved his life when the people would have stoned him to death. it is possible that the church was in a certain degree compelled to act in this manner, from the impossibility of employing the coercive measures of temporal power against heretics during the reigns of the heathen princes; but this was not the only motive for her tolerance, since it is certain that when no edicts of persecution existed against the christians, the emperors received the appeals of the bishops in the same manner as those of their other subjects: this is proved by the history of the heretic paul of samosata, bishop of antioch. the council of that town, assembled in 272, perceiving that paul had relapsed into heresy, after the abjuration which he had made before the council of 266, deposed him, and elected domnus in his place. the episcopal house being still occupied by the deposed bishop, he was ordered to quit it, that his successor might take possession. paul having refused to obey, the bishops applied to the emperor aurelian, who had not then begun to persecute the christians: he received their complaint, and replied, that as he did not know which of the two parties was right, they must conform to the decision of the bishop of rome and his church. the holy see was then occupied by felix i., who confirmed the decision of the council, and the emperor aurelian caused it to be executed. as toleration was universal in the christian church, it is not to be supposed that the church of spain followed different principles. basilides and marcial, bishops of astorga and merida, apostatized; they were reconciled to the church without any punishment but degradation, to which they submitted before the year 253, when they appealed to pope stephen. the council of elvira in 303 decreed, that if an heretic demanded to be re-admitted into the bosom of the church, he should be reconciled, without suffering any punishment but a canonical penance of ten years, which was the more remarkable, as this council established more severe punishments for many crimes which appear less heinous. this seems to prove that the spanish bishops who composed this council, among whom were the great osius of cordova, sabinus of seville, valerius of saragossa, and melantius of toledo, were persuaded, like origen, that leniency was the means to convert heretics, in order to prevent them from falling into obstinacy and impenitence. second epoch.--_from the fourth to the eighth century._ if the primitive system of the church towards heretics had been faithfully pursued, as it ought to have been, after the peace of constantine, the tribunal of the inquisition would never have existed, and, perhaps, the number and duration of heresies would have been less; but the popes and bishops of the fourth century, profiting by the circumstance of the emperors having embraced christianity, began to imitate, in a certain degree, the conduct which they had reprehended in the heathen priests. these pontiffs, though respectable for the holiness of their lives, sometimes carried their zeal for the triumph of the catholic faith, and the extirpation of heresy, to too great a height; and to ensure success, engaged constantine and his successors to establish civil laws against all heretics. this first step, which the popes and bishops had taken contrary to the doctrine of st. paul, was the principle and origin of the inquisition; for when the custom of punishing a heretic by corporeal pain, although he was a good subject, was once established, it became necessary to vary the punishments, to augment their number, to render them more or less severe, according to the character of each sovereign, and to regulate the manner of prosecuting the culprit. the emperor theodosius published, in 382, an edict against the manicheans, decreeing that they should be punished with death, and their property confiscated for the use of the state, and commissioning the prefect (préfet du prétoire) to appoint inquisitors and spies to discover those who should conceal themselves. it is here that inquisition and accusation are first mentioned in relation to heresy, for until that time only those great crimes which attacked the safety of the empire were permitted to be publicly denounced. the successors of theodosius modified these edicts, some of which menaced heretics with the prosecutions of the impartial judges, if they did not voluntarily abjure their errors. notices were given to known heretics who did not abjure after the publication of the edicts, that if they were converted in a certain time, they would be admitted to a reconciliation, and would only suffer a canonical penance. when these conciliatory measures were unavailing, various punishments were adopted. those doctors who, in contempt of the laws, promulgated their false opinions, were subjected to considerable fines, banishment from cities, and even transportation. in certain cases, their property was confiscated; in others they were obliged to pay a fine of ten pounds of gold, or they were scourged with leathern thongs, and sent to islands from whence they could not escape. besides these punishments, they were forbidden to hold assemblies, and the offenders were liable to proscription, banishment, transportation, and even death in some cases. the execution of these decrees was intrusted to the governors of provinces, magistrates charged with the administration of justice, commanders of towns and their principal officers, who were all liable to various punishments in case of negligence. the establishment of most of these laws had been solicited by popes and bishops of known sanctity, and it must be allowed that it was not their intention to carry those which decreed the punishment of death into execution; they only desired to intimidate innovators by their publication. the church of spain continued faithful to the general discipline, under the authority of the roman emperors; the arian heresy was afterwards established among them under the goths; but since their princes have embraced the catholic faith, the laws and councils of spain inform us of their treatment of heretics. the fourth council of toledo, assembled in 633, at which st. isidore, archbishop of seville, assisted, was occupied with the judaic heresy: it was decreed, with the consent of king sisinand, that they should be at the disposal of the bishops, to be punished, and compelled by fear to return to christianity a second time: they were to be deprived of their children, and their slaves set at liberty. in 655, the ninth council of toledo decreed, that baptized jews should be obliged to celebrate the christian festivals with their bishops, and that those who should refuse to conform to this discipline should be condemned either to the punishment of scourging, or abstinence, according to the age of the offender. we find that greater severity was shown towards those who returned from christianity to idolatry. king récarede i. proposed to the third council of toledo, in 589, that the priests and civil judges should be commissioned to extirpate that species of heresy, by punishing the culprits in a degree proportioned to the crime, yet without employing capital punishment. these rigorous measures did not appear sufficient, and the twelfth council of toledo, in 681, at which king erbigius assisted, decided that, if the offender was noble, he should be subject to excommunication and exile; if he was a slave, he should be scourged and delivered to his master loaded with chains, and if the proprietor could not answer for him, that he should be placed at the disposal of the king. in 693, the sixteenth council of toledo assembled in the presence of king egica, added, to the measures already established, a law, by which all who opposed the efforts of the bishops and judges to destroy idolatry were condemned, if noble, to be excommunicated and pay a fine of three pounds of gold; and if of a low condition, to receive a hundred strokes of a whip, and have half his property confiscated. recesuinte, who reigned from 663 to 672, established a particular law against heretics: it deprived them indiscriminately of the wealth and dignities they might possess, if they were priests, and added to these punishments, perpetual banishment for laymen, if they persisted in heresy. third epoch.--_from the eighth century to the pontificate of gregory vii._ in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries, the ecclesiastics obtained many privileges from the kings and emperors, and the judicial power became, in some cases, a right of the episcopacy. these acquisitions, and the universal ignorance which followed the irruption of the barbarians, were the causes of the influence which the pontiffs of rome acquired over the christian people, who were persuaded that the authority of the pope should be without bounds, and that he had supreme power both in ecclesiastical and temporal affairs. in 726, when the romans deposed their last duke, basil, pope gregory ii. usurped the civil government of rome, and had recourse to the protection of charles martel, mayor of the palace, against the king of lombardy, who aspired to the command in that capital. his successor, gregory iii., offered the dignity of patrician to charles martel, as if he had the right of disposing of it. zachary, who was elected pope, in 741, acted as the temporal sovereign of rome, and permitted pepin, son of charles martel, to take the title of king of france, after having deposed childeric iii., who was the legitimate sovereign. pepin was crowned in france by stephen ii., who became pope in 752. at last, leo iii. crowned charlemagne emperor of the west, on christmas day, in the year 800. in this ceremony, which took place at rome, charlemagne was proclaimed the first emperor of the restoration. the popes employed the great influence they had gained over general opinion, to extend and preserve their dominion. pepin and charlemagne did not foresee how fatal their example would prove to their successors, when they solicited stephen ii. to release the french from their oath of fidelity to childeric iii. when the doctrine, that a pope possessed the power of releasing subjects from their oath of fidelity, was once established, it became necessary that kings should endeavour to conciliate the popes. succeeding events show that this doctrine was favourable to the rise of the inquisition. the idea that excommunication produced all the effects attached to infamy, not only to the christian on whom it fell, but to all who held any communion with him, was another cause of the great influence of the popes, and the progress of the inquisition. the barbarians had preserved the doctrine of the druids, which forbade a gaul to assist one whom the priests had declared impious and abhorred of the gods, on pain of being deemed guilty towards the gods, and unworthy of the society of men. the priests, finding this opinion established, did not combat it, because it added force to the anathemas of the church. fortunately the popes of the middle ages had not yet thought of commissioning men to ascertain if christians were orthodox, and the ancient discipline of the church was still pursued towards heretics. felix, bishop of urgel, in spain, had embraced the erroneous opinion that jesus christ was the son of god only by adoption. he returned to the faith of the church, but relapsed some time after into the same error, although he had abjured, before the council of ratisbonne, in 792, and before pope adrian, at rome. the conduct of felix was very reprehensible, yet leo iii. would not excommunicate him in a simple manner, but only pronounced, the anathema against him, in case he refused to abjure a second time. felix afterwards abjured, and suffered no punishment but deprivation of his dignity. the emperor michel, in 811, renewed all the laws which condemned the manichean heretics to death. the patriarch nicephorus represented to him that it was better to convert them by gentle means; but the spirit of the church at that time was so far from moderation, that the abbot theophanes, celebrated for his piety, does not hesitate to speak of nicephorus and the other counsellors of the prince, as ignorant and ill advised; and adds, that the maxims of holy writ warrant the custom of burning heretics, because they can never be brought to repent. theodore critinus, chief of the iconoclastes, was called before the seventh council general, assembled at constantinople in 869. he was convicted of entertaining opinions contrary to the doctrines of the church: he abjured his heresy, with several of his sect, and was reconciled without being subjected to any penance. the emperor basil, who assisted at the council, honoured him with a kiss of peace. we may conclude from this, that if the conduct of the church had always been equally lenient, heresy would not have been so frequent among the christians. in 1022, certain heretics, who appeared to profess the doctrines of the manicheans, were discovered in orleans, and several other towns; among them was stephen, confessor to queen constance, wife of robert. that prince assembled a council at orleans: stephen was summoned to appear before it, and attempts were made, but in vain, to bring him back to the true faith. the bishops resolved to punish these heretics, and those who were ecclesiastics were degraded and excommunicated with the others. the king immediately afterwards condemned them to be burnt. several, when they felt the flames, exclaimed that they were willing to submit to the church; but it was too late, all hearts were closed against them. these examples show the difference which was made between the manichean and other heresies. it is necessary to mention several maxims which had been introduced into the ecclesiastical government, and which passed at that time for incontestable truths. the first of these opinions was, that it was necessary not only to punish obstinate heretics with excommunication, but to employ it against every species of crime, which abuse was carried to such a height, that cardinal st. peter damian reproached pope alexander with it. according to the second maxim, if an excommunicated christian persisted for more than a year in refusing to submit and demand absolution, after having been subjected to a canonical penance, he was considered as an heretic. the third maxim held that it was a meritorious act to prosecute heretics, and apostolical indulgences were granted as a recompense for this service to the cause of religion. these maxims, and several others which prevailed during the fourth epoch, prepared the minds of the people for the establishment of the inquisition, which was destined to persecute heretics and apostates. fourth epoch. the celebrated hildebrand ascended the pontifical throne in 1073, under the name of gregory vii., soon after his predecessor, alexander ii., had summoned the emperor henry iii. to rome, to be judged by a council. this prince had been denounced by the saxons, who revolted against him, as an heretic. as he did not appear, the pope excommunicated him, released his subjects from their oath of fidelity, and caused them to elect, in his stead, rodolph, duke of suabia. the authority which this pope acquired over the christian princes greatly surpassed that of his predecessors, and although it was directly contrary to the spirit of the new testament, his successors employed every means to preserve it. the famous french monk gerbert being elected pope in 999, under the name of sylvester ii., addressed a letter to all christians, in which he supposes the church of jerusalem speaking from its ruins, and calling upon them to take up arms and fight boldly to deliver it from oppression. gregory vii. also undertook, in 1074, to form a crusade against the turks, in favour of michael, emperor of the east; but as he died before he could put his plan into execution, his successor, urban ii., caused it to be proclaimed in the council of clermont, in the year 1095. the efforts of the pope had an incredible success; a numerous army left europe soon after, which first took the city of antioch, and afterwards jerusalem in 1099. the injustice of this war, and the other expeditions of the same kind which succeeded it, would have disgusted all europe, if the people had not been prepossessed with the absurd idea, that it was meritorious to make war for the exaltation and glory of christianity: the consequences of a system so fatal to temporal power were felt in france at the time of the patarians, catharians, and other sects of manès. alexander iii., having sent peter, bishop of meaux, to count raymond v. of toulouse, that legate made him and all his nobles take an oath that they would not favour the heretics who had taken up arms in defence of their party; and in the council of lateran, the following year, the fathers declared that though the church did not approve of sanguinary measures, yet she would not refuse the assistance offered by christian princes: in consequence, alexander not only excommunicated the heretics and their adherents, but promised all those who should die in the war against them absolution and salvation, and for the present granted indulgences for two years to all who should take up arms. in 1181, cardinal henry, bishop of alva, was sent into france to pursue the war against the albigenses; but this expedition did not entirely destroy that party, and a new council was held, in whose decrees cardinal fleury supposes he has discovered the origin of the inquisition. he was not mistaken in this opinion, but it was not at that time actually instituted, since the bishops alone, as they had always been, were commissioned to preserve the faith. the council recommended that the bishops, or their archdeacons, should visit the dioceses once or twice a year, and that they should cause the inhabitants to take an oath that they would denounce all heretics, or persons who held meetings, to the bishop or archdeacon. the council also decreed that counts, barons, and other nobles should take an oath to discover heretics and punish them, on pain of excommunication and deprivation of their estates and employments. in 1194, cardinal gregory st. angelo instigated alphonso ii., king of aragon, to publish an edict banishing heretics of all sects indiscriminately from his states; and peter ii., son of alphonso, published another in 1197, with nearly the same injunctions, which proves that the former edict had little effect. chapter ii. establishment of a general inquisition against heretics in the thirteenth century. in 1203, pope innocent iii. commissioned peter de castelnau and ralph, two monks of the order of cistercians, in the monastery of fontfroide, in narbonnese gaul, to preach against the albigenses. their exhortations were not in vain, and the success of their mission was a favourable introduction to a plan which pope innocent had formed of instituting inquisitors independent of the bishops, with the privilege of prosecuting heretics, as delegates of the holy see. on the 4th of june, in the seventh year of his pontificate, he named the abbot of the cistercians, with peter and ralph, apostolical legates. he gave them full powers to prosecute all heretics; and to facilitate the execution of the orders of the holy see, they were to engage in the name of the pope, philip ii., king of france, his son, and all his nobles, to pursue the heretics, and to promise them full indulgences as a recompense for their zeal. the pope invested these monks with the necessary powers to enable them to destroy or establish whatever they might judge to be favourable to their design, in the ecclesiastical provinces of aix, arles, narbonne, and other bishoprics where heretics might be found, only recommending that they should apply to the holy see in all difficult cases; at the same time he wrote to philip, requesting him to assist his commissioners, and even, if it was necessary, to send the presumptive heir to his throne with an army against the heretics. the legates encountered many difficulties, because their mission was displeasing to the bishops. the king of france took no part in the affair, but the counts of toulouse, foix, beziers, cominges, and carcassone, and the other nobles of these provinces, seeing that the albigenses had singularly increased, and persuaded that a very small number would be converted, refused to banish them from their states, as it would lessen the population, and, consequently, be against their interests: an additional motive for this refusal was, that these heretics were all peaceful and submissive subjects. peter and ralph commenced preaching against the heretics; they held conferences with these fanatics, but the number of the converted was very small. arnauld, abbot of the cistercians, called upon twelve abbots of his order to assist him; and (during their sojourn at montpellier) they admitted two spaniards to share their labours, who were known under the names of diego acebes, a bishop of osma, who was returning to his diocese, and st. dominic de guzman, a regular canon of the order of st. augustine. they both converted several albigenses, and when the spanish bishop returned to his diocese, he permitted st. dominic to remain in france. the great feudal chiefs of provence and narbonne refused to execute the orders of the legates, to pursue the heretics in their states, alleging that they were always at war with each other; but the legates threatened to excommunicate them, and to release their subjects from their oaths of fidelity. these menaces alarmed the nobles, and they consented to sign a peace. the most powerful of these princes was raymond vi., count of toulouse. his conduct towards peter de castelnau, who had threatened him several times for not performing his promises, induced the albigenses who were his subjects to assassinate the legate, who was beatified in 1208. the pope wrote to all the nobles of the provinces of narbonne, arles, embrun, aix, and vienne in dauphiny, pressing them to unite and march against the heretics, and promising them the same indulgences which had been granted to the crusaders. the assassination of peter de castelnau had excited among the catholics the greatest indignation against his murderers. arnauld took advantage of this moment to execute the orders which he had received from the pope. he commissioned the twelve monks, and others whom he had associated, to preach a crusade against the heretics, to grant indulgences, to note those who refused to engage in the war, to inform themselves of their creed, to reconcile the converted, and place all obstinate heretics at the disposal of simon de montfort, commander of the crusaders. this was the beginning of the inquisition in 1208. pope innocent iii. died on the 16th of july, 1216, before he had succeeded in giving a permanent form to the delegated inquisition: the continuation of the war against the albigenses, and the opposition which he met with from the bishops in the council of lateran, were perhaps the causes of his failure. honorius iii., who succeeded him, prepared to finish his undertaking. innocent had sent st. dominic de guzman to toulouse, that he might choose one of the religious orders approved by the church, for the institution which he intended to form. he preferred that of st. augustine; and on his return to rome with his companions, honorius approved his choice on the 22nd of december, 1216. st. dominic also established an order for laymen. this order has been designated as the _third order of penitence_, but most commonly as the _militia of christ_, because those who were members of it fought against heretics, and assisted the inquisitors in the exercise of their functions; they were considered as part of the inquisitorial family, and on that account bore the name of _familiars_. this association afterwards gave rise to that which was called the _congregation of st. peter martyr_; it was approved by honorius, and confirmed by his successor, gregory ix. another association was formed in narbonne, which also bore the name of _militia of christ_; it was soon after blended with the third order of st. dominic. honorius having formed a constitution against heretics, the emperor frederic ii. gave it the sanction of civil law at his coronation. in 1224 the inquisition already existed in italy under the ministry of the dominican friars, which is proved by an edict of the emperor frederic against heretics at padua. the efforts of the inquisition in narbonne had not succeeded according to the expectation of the pope, who imputed its failure to the negligence of cardinal conrad, whom he recalled, and sent cardinal roman in his place. the importunity of this legate induced louis viii., king of france, to place himself at the head of an army to march against the nobles who protected the albigenses. but louis died in the same year, and the pope followed him, without having succeeded in giving a permanent form to the new tribunal which had been introduced into france. gregory ix., who ascended the pontifical throne in 1227, finally established the inquisition: he had been the zealous protector of st. dominic, and the intimate friend of st. francis d'assiz. cardinal roman was more fortunate than the legates who preceded him: the nobles, weary of a war which had lasted twenty years, wished for peace. the count of toulouse, raymond vii., after the death of his father, who had begun the war, reconciled himself to st. louis and the church in a council of narbonne, and promised to drive the heretics from his domains. in 1229 another council was held at toulouse. the decrees were nearly the same as those made at the councils of lateran and verona, except that laymen were then first prohibited from reading the scriptures in the vulgar tongue. in the succeeding year, many other edicts were published, increasing in severity; but it appears that these rigorous measures failed in effect, as the heresy of the albigenses penetrated even to the capital of christendom. chapter iii. of the ancient inquisition of spain. in 1233, when the inquisition in france had received the established form which was bestowed on it by st. louis, spain was divided into four christian kingdoms, besides the mahometan states. castile was under the dominion of st. ferdinand, who added to it the kingdoms of seville, cordova, and jaen. james i. governed aragon, and conquered the kingdoms of valencia and majorca; navarre was possessed by sancho viii., who died in the course of the following year, and left his crown to theobald i., count de champagne and de brie. sancho ii. reigned in portugal. many convents of dominicans existed in these kingdoms after the establishment of the order, but there are no authentic records, to prove that the inquisition was introduced before the year 1232, when pope gregory ix. addressed a brief to don esparrago, archbishop of taragona, and to his suffragan bishops, in which he most earnestly exhorted them to oppose the progress of heresy by every means in their power. the archbishop sent the bull to gil rodriguez de valladares, first provincial of the spanish dominicans; he also sent it to don bertrand, bishop of lerida, in whose diocese the first spanish inquisition was founded. pope innocent vi. conferred many privileges on the dominican friars, and in 1254 extended the rights of the inquisitors, and in the same brief decreed that the depositions of witnesses should be considered valid, although their names were unknown. urban vi. and clement vi. also augmented their privileges. the kings of aragon continued to protect the inquisition, and james ii., in 1292, published a decree, commanding the tribunals of justice to assist the dominicans, to imprison all who might be denounced, to execute the judgments pronounced by the monks, to remove every obstacle which they might meet with, _&c_. the hatred which the office of an inquisitor everywhere inspired in the first ages of the inquisition caused the death of a great number of dominicans and some cordeliers: the honours of martyrdom were assigned to them, but st. peter of verona was the only one canonized by the pope. nothing certain is known of the state of portugal during this period: it appears that in the thirteenth century the inquisition was established only in the dioceses of taragona, barcelona, urgel, lerida, and girona. the convents of dominicans having multiplied in spain, a chapter-general of the order decreed, in 1301, that it should be divided into two provinces; that the first in rank should be named the province of spain, and comprise castile and portugal; and that the second should have the title of aragon, and be composed of valencia, catalonia, rousillon, cerdagne, majorca, minorca, and iviza. the provincial of the dominicans of castile, designated as the provincial of spain, possessed the right of naming the apostolical inquisitor in the other provinces. in 1302 father bernard was inquisitor of aragon, and celebrated several _autos-da-fé_ in the same year. in 1308 pope clement v. commanded the king of aragon and the inquisitors to arrest all the knights templars who had not been prosecuted, and to confiscate their property for the use of the holy see; the templars in castile and portugal were also arrested. in 1314, other heretics were discovered in the kingdom of aragon; bernard puigceros, the inquisitor-general, condemned several to banishment, the others were burnt. many who abjured were reconciled. in 1325, f. arnaldo burguete, inquisitor-general of the kingdom, arrested pierre durand de baldhac, who had relapsed into heresy, and he was burnt alive in the presence of king james, his sons, and two bishops. in 1334, f. william da costa condemned f. bonato to the flames, and reconciled many persons who had been perverted by that monk. in 1350, father nicholas roselli discovered a sect of heretics named _begards_, whose chief was named jacobus justis; they were all reconciled, and jacobus was condemned to perpetual imprisonment. the bones of three of these heretics who had died impenitent were disinterred and burnt. roselli being elected cardinal in 1356, nicholas eymerich succeeded him. eymerich composed a book entitled "the guide of inquisitors," in which the most minute details of his judgments, and those of other inquisitors of aragon, are found. it is not certain whether the provincial of castile exercised his privilege of naming inquisitors; perhaps heresy had not penetrated into the states of castile. pope gregory ix. dying in 1378, the romans named urban vi. as his successor; but several cardinals assembled out of rome, and elected another pope under the name of clement vii. the great schism of the west then began, and lasted till the election of martin v., in the council-general of constance in 1417, where don gil muñoz, who had been elected as clement viii., renounced the papacy. this revolution influenced the state of the inquisition as much as the other points of ecclesiastical discipline. castile followed the party of clement vii., and portugal that of urban vi. the order of dominicans was equally divided, and elected different vicars-general. urban vi. died in 1389, and his party elected boniface ix., who appointed f. rodrigo de cintra apostolical inquisitor-general of portugal. he afterwards named f. vicente de lisboa inquisitor-general of spain. castile, navarre, and aragon were under the dominion of benedict xiii., who was elected pope after the death of clement vii. such was the state of the inquisition in spain towards the end of the fourteenth century. it is uncertain if the inquisition existed in castile in the beginning of the fifteenth century; for, though boniface ix. appointed f. vicente de lisboa inquisitor-general, his authority was not recognized, as that kingdom belonged to the party of benedict xiii., who, after the council of constance, was designated as the anti-pope peter de luna. the town of perpignan was the seat of one of the provincial inquisitions of aragon, whose jurisdiction extended over the countships of rousillon and cerdagne, and over the islands of majorca, minorca, and iviza. benedict xiii., who was recognized in this part of spain, divided this province and appointed two inquisitors, who celebrated several _autos-da-fé_, and burnt a considerable number of people. the election of martin v. having put an end to the great schism of the west, the portuguese monks ought to have submitted to the authority of the provincial of spain, who was then a monk of their nation, named f. juan de santa justa; but the dominicans who were at constance persuaded the pope that his jurisdiction was too extensive, which induced the pontiff to subdivide the province of spain into three parts: the first part was named the province of spain, and comprised castile, toledo, murcia, estremadura, andalusia, biscay, and the asturias de santillana; the second, santiago, was composed of the kingdom of leon, galicia, and the asturias of oviedo; and the third, that of portugal, extended over all the dominions of the monarch. martin v. established a provincial inquisition at valencia, in 1420, at the request of alphonso v., king of aragon; hitherto commissioners had only been sent there. the inquisitor of aragon, 1441, was f. michael ferriz, and that of valencia, f. martin trilles, who reconciled in their districts several wickliffites, and condemned many others to be burnt. several inquisitors succeeded these till 1474, when isabella, wife of ferdinand of aragon, king of sicily, ascended the throne of castile, after the death of henry iv. her brother. john ii., king of aragon, dying in 1479, his son, ferdinand, united that kingdom to sicily; he soon after conquered the kingdom of grenada, which belonged to the moors, and lastly that of navarre, which was secured to him by the capitulation of the inhabitants. chapter iv. of the government of the old inquisition. although the popes, in establishing the inquisition, had only proposed to punish the crime of heresy, yet the inquisitors were commissioned to pursue those christians who were only suspected, because it was the only means of discovering those who were really guilty. there were many crimes which came under the jurisdiction of a civil judge, which the popes considered no one could be guilty of without being tainted with a false doctrine; and although they were pursued by secular tribunals, the inquisitors were enjoined to consider the accused as suspected of heresy, and to proceed against them, in order to ascertain if they committed these crimes from the depravity natural to man, or from the idea that they were not criminal; which opinion caused a suspicion that their doctrine was erroneous. a species of blasphemy which was called heretical, belonged to this class of crimes; it was committed against god or his saints, and showed in the offender erroneous opinions of the omniscience or other attributes of the deity. it rendered the blasphemer liable to be suspected of heresy, as the inquisitor might consider it a proof that his habitual thoughts were contrary to the faith. the second species of crime which caused a suspicion of heresy, was sorcery and divination. if the offenders only made use of natural and simple means of discovering the future, such as counting the lines in the palm of the hand, they came under the jurisdiction of a civil judge; but all sorcerers were liable to be punished for heresy by the inquisition, if they baptized a dead person, re-baptized an infant, made use of holy water, the consecrated host, the oil of extreme unction, or other things which proved contempt or abuse of the sacraments and the mysteries of religion. the same suspicion affected those who addressed themselves to demons in their superstitious practices. a third species of crime was the invocation of demons. nicholas eymerich informs us that, in his office of inquisitor, he had procured and burnt, after having read them, two books which treated of that subject; they both contained an account of the power of demons, and of the mode of worshipping them. the same author adds, that in his time a great number of trials for this crime took place in catalonia, and that many of the accused had gone so far as to worship satan, with all the signs, ceremonies, and words of the catholic religion. a fourth kind of crime which caused suspicion of heresy, was, to remain a year, or longer, excommunicated without seeking absolution, or performing the penance which had been imposed. the popes affirmed that no catholic, irreproachable in his faith, could live with so much indifference under the censure of the church. schism was the sixth case where heresy was suspected. it may exist either without heresy or with it. to the first class belong all schismatics, who admit the articles of the faith, but deny the authority of the pope, as head of the catholic church, and vicar of jesus christ. the second is composed of those who hold the same opinions as the first, and also refuse to believe in some of the articles; such as the greeks, who hold that the holy ghost proceeds only from the father, and not from the son. the inquisition also proceeded against concealers, favourers, and adherents of heretics, as being suspected of professing the same opinions. the seventh class was composed of all those who opposed the inquisition, and prevented the inquisitors from exercising their functions. the eighth class comprehended those nobles who refused to take an oath to drive the heretics from their states. the ninth class consisted of governors of kingdoms, provinces and towns, who did not defend the church against heretics, when they were required by the inquisition. the tenth class comprised those who refused to repeal the statutes in force in towns and cities, when they were contrary to the measures decreed by the holy office. the eleventh class of suspected persons, were all lawyers, notaries, and other persons belonging to the law, who assisted heretics by their advice; or concealed papers, records, and other writings, which might make their errors, dwellings, or stations known. in the twelfth class of suspected were those persons who have given ecclesiastical sepulture to known heretics. those who refused to take an oath in the trials of heretics when they were required to do it, were also liable to suspicion. the fourteenth class were deceased persons who had been denounced as heretics. the popes, in order to render heresy more odious, had decreed that the bodies of dead heretics should be disinterred and burnt, their property confiscated, and their memory pronounced infamous. the same suspicion fell upon writings which contained heretical doctrines, or which might lead to them. lastly, the jews and moors were considered as subject to the holy office, when they engaged catholics to embrace their faith, either by their writings or discourse. although all the persons guilty of the crimes above-mentioned were under the jurisdiction of the holy office, yet the pope, his legates, his nuncios, his officers, and familiars were exempt; and if any of these were denounced as heretics, the inquisitor could only take the secret information and refer it to the pope. bishops were also exempt, but kings had not that privilege. as the bishops were the ordinary inquisitors by divine right, it seems just that they should have had the power of receiving informations, and proceeding against the apostolical inquisitors in matters of faith; but the pope rendered his delegates independent, by decreeing that none but an apostolical inquisitor could proceed against another. the inquisitor and the bishop acted together, but each had the right of pursuing heretics separately: the orders for imprisonment could only be issued by both together, and if they did not accord they referred to the pope. the inquisitors could require the assistance of secular power in the exercise of their authority, and it could not be refused without incurring the punishment of excommunication and suspicion of heresy. the bishop was obliged to lend his house for the prisoners; besides this, the inquisitors had a particular prison to secure the persons of the accused. the first inquisitors had no fixed salary: the holy office was founded on devotion and zeal for the faith; its members were almost all monks, who had made a vow of poverty, and the priests who were associated in their labours, were generally canons, or provided with benefices. but when the inquisitors began to make journeys, accompanied by recorders, alguazils, and an armed force, the pope decreed that all their expenses should be defrayed by the bishops, on the pretence that the inquisitors laboured for the destruction of heresy in their dioceses. this measure displeased the bishops, still more as they were deprived of part of their authority. the expenses of the inquisition were afterwards defrayed by the fines and confiscations of the condemned heretics: these resources were the only funds of the holy office; it never possessed any fixed revenue. _of the manner of proceeding in the tribunals of the old inquisition._ when a priest was appointed an inquisitor by the pope, or by a delegate of the holy see, he wrote to the king, who issued a royal mandate to all the tribunals of the towns where the inquisitor would pass to perform his office, commanding them, on pain of the most severe penalties, to arrest all the persons whom he should mark as heretics, or suspect of heresy, and to execute the judgments passed upon them. the same order obliged the magistrates to furnish the inquisitor and his attendants with a lodging, and to protect them from insult and every inconvenience. when the inquisitor arrived at the town where he intended to enter upon his office, he officially informed the magistrate, and required his attendance, fixing the time and place. the commander of the town presented himself before the delegate, and took an oath to put in force all the laws against heretics. if the officer or magistrate refused to obey, the inquisitor excommunicated him; if he made no difficulty, the inquisitor appointed a day for the people to meet in the church, when he preached, and read an edict which commanded that all informations should be given within a certain period. the inquisitor afterwards declared that all who should voluntarily confess themselves heretics, should receive absolution, and be subjected to a slight penance, but that those who were denounced should be proceeded against with severity. if any accusations took place during the interval, they were registered, but did not take effect until it was known that the accused would not come voluntarily before the tribunal. after the expiration of the period allowed, the informer was summoned; he was told that there were three ways of proceeding to discover the truth,--accusation, information, and inquisition, and was asked to which he gave the preference. if he chose the first, he was invited to accuse the denounced person, but at the same time to consider that he was subject to the law of retaliation if he was found to be a calumniator. this manner of proceeding was adopted by very few persons: the greater number declared, that fear of the punishments with which the holy office menaced those who did not inform against heretics was the cause of their appearance; and they desired that their information might be kept secret, on account of the danger they incurred of being assassinated if they were known. the inquisitor interrogated the witnesses, assisted by the recorder and two priests, who were commissioned to observe if the declarations were faithfully taken down, and to be present when they were read to the witnesses, who were then asked if they acknowledged all that was read to them. if the crime or suspicion of heresy was proved in the information, the criminal was arrested and taken to the ecclesiastical prison. after his arrest, he was examined, and his answers compared with the testimony of the witnesses. if the accused confessed himself guilty of one heresy, it was in vain for him to assert that he was innocent of the others; he was not permitted to defend himself, because his crime was proved. he was asked if he would abjure the heresy of which he acknowledged himself guilty. if he consented, he was reconciled, and the canonical penance was imposed on him, with some other punishment; if he refused, he was declared an obstinate heretic, and was delivered up to secular justice, with a copy of his sentence. if the accused denied the charge, and undertook to defend himself, a copy of the process was given to him, but without the names of the accuser or the witnesses, and with every circumstance omitted which might lead to their discovery. the accused was asked if he had enemies, and if he knew their motives for hating him. he was also permitted to declare that he suspected any particular person of wishing to ruin him. in either case the proof was admitted, and the inquisitor considered it in passing judgment. the inquisitor sometimes asked the accused if he knew certain persons; these individuals were the accusers and witnesses; if he replied in the negative, he could not afterwards challenge them as enemies: in the course of time, every one concluded that these persons were the accuser and the witnesses, and the custom was abandoned. the accused person was also permitted to appeal to the pope, who rejected or admitted his appeal, according to the rules of justice. there was no regular proceeding before the inquisition, and the judges did not fix a time to establish the proof of the facts. after the replies and defence of the accused, the inquisitor and the bishop of the diocese, or their delegates, proceeded to pass sentence without any other formalities. if the accused denied the charges, although he was convicted or strongly suspected, he was tortured, to force him to confess his crime; or if it was thought that there was no necessity for it, the judges proceeded to pass the final sentence. if the crime imputed to the accused was not proved, he was acquitted, and a copy of the declaration given to him, but the name of his accuser was not communicated. if he had been calumniated, he was obliged to clear himself publicly by the canonical method, in the town where it had taken place; he afterwards abjured all heresy, and received the absolution _ad cautelam_[2] for all the censures which he had incurred. in order to proportion the punishment to the suspicion, it was divided into three degrees, named _slight_, _serious_, and _violent_. the person who was declared to be suspected, though in the least degree, was called upon to renounce all heresies, and particularly that of which he was suspected. if he consented, he was reconciled, and was subjected to punishments and penances; if he refused, he was excommunicated; and if he did not demand absolution, or promise to abjure after the space of one year, he was considered as an obstinate heretic, and proceeded against as such. if the accused was a _formal_ heretic, willing to abjure, and not guilty of having relapsed, he was reconciled with penances. a person was considered as relapsed if he had already been condemned, or _violently_ suspected of the same errors. the abjurations were made in the place where the inquisitor resided, sometimes in the episcopal palace, in the convent of dominicans, or in the house of the inquisitor, but most generally in the churches. the sunday before this ceremony, the day on which it was to take place was announced in all the churches of the town, and the inhabitants were requested to attend the sermon which would be preached by the inquisitor against heresy. on the appointed day the clergy and the people assembled round a scaffold, where the person _slightly suspected_ stood bare-headed, that he might be seen by every one. the mass was performed, and the inquisitor preached against the particular heresy which was the cause of the ceremony; he announced that the person on the scaffold was _slightly suspected_ of having fallen into it, and read the process to the people: he concluded by saying, that the culprit was ready to abjure. a cross and the bible was given to the offender, who read his abjuration, and signed it, if he could write; the inquisitor then gave him absolution, and imposed upon him those penances which were thought most useful. when the suspicion of heresy was _violent_, the _auto-da-fé_ took place on a sunday, or festival-day, and all the other churches were closed, that the concourse of people might be greater in that where the ceremony was to be performed. the offender was warned, not only to be a good catholic for the future, but to conduct himself in such a manner as not to be accused a second time; as, if he relapsed, he would suffer capital punishment, although he might abjure and be reconciled. if the offender was suspected in the highest degree, he was treated as an heretic, and wore the habit of a penitent during the ceremony; it was composed of brown stuff, with a scapulary which had two yellow crosses fastened on it. if the suspected person was to clear himself from calumny by the canonical method, the ceremony was also announced before it took place, and he was obliged to take an oath that he was not an heretic, and to produce twelve witnesses who had known him for the last ten years, to swear that they believed his affirmation to be true. he then abjured all heresies. if the accused was repentant, and demanded to be reconciled after having relapsed, he was to be delivered over to secular justice, and was destined to suffer capital punishment. the inquisitors, after having passed judgment on him, engaged some priests, who were in their confidence, to inform him of his situation, and induce him to demand the sacrament of penance and the communion. when these ministers had passed two or three days with the prisoner, an _auto-da-fé_ was announced; the sentence was read which delivered the culprit over to secular justice, and recommended the judges to treat him with humanity. if the accused was an impenitent heretic, he was condemned, but the _auto-da-fé_ was never celebrated until every means had been tried to convert him; if he was obstinate, he was delivered up to the justice of the king, and burnt. if the unfortunate heretic had relapsed, it was in vain for him to return to the true faith; he could not avoid death, and the only favour shewn him was, that he was first strangled, and afterwards burnt. those who escaped from the prisons, or fled to avoid being arrested, were burnt in effigy. the tribunal of the inquisition being ecclesiastical, had originally only the power of inflicting spiritual punishments; but the laws of the emperors during the fourth and following centuries, and other circumstances, caused the inquisitors of the thirteenth century to assume the right of imposing punishments entirely temporal, except that of death. the sentence of the inquisition imposed a variety of fines and personal penalties; such as entire or partial confiscation; perpetual, or a limited period of imprisonment; exile, or transportation; infamy, and the loss of employments, honours, and dignities. those persons who abjured as _seriously suspected_ of heresy, were condemned to be imprisoned for a certain time proportioned to the degree of suspicion. if the accused was _violently suspected_, he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, but the inquisitor had the power of mitigating the sentence, if he judged that the prisoner repented sincerely. if the abjurer had been a _formal_ heretic, he was imprisoned for life, and the inquisitor had not the power of shortening the duration of the punishment. among the punishments to which heretics were condemned, must be enumerated that of wearing the habit of a penitent, known in spain under the name of _san benito_, which is a corruption of _saco bendito_. its real name in spanish was _zamarra_. the first became the common name, because the penitential habit was called _sac_ in the jewish history. before the thirteenth century it was the custom to bless the _sac_ which was worn in public penance, and hence it derived the epithet of _bendito_ (blessed). it was a close tunic, made like the cassock of a priest, with crosses of a different colour affixed to the breast. st. dominic and the other inquisitors caused the _reconciled heretics_ to wear these crosses, as a protection against the catholics who massacred all known heretics, although they might be unarmed. the _reconciled heretics_ wore two crosses to distinguish them from pure catholics, who only wore one as crusaders. chapter v. establishment of the modern inquisition in spain. the state of the inquisition in the kingdom of aragon, at the accession of ferdinand and isabella, has been shown in a preceding chapter. this tribunal was then introduced into the kingdom of castile, after having been reformed by statutes and regulations so severe, that the aragonese violently resisted the fresh burdens which were imposed on them. this is the inquisition which has reigned in spain since the year 1481, which was destroyed, to the satisfaction of all europe, and which has since been re-established to the grief of all enlightened spaniards. the war against the albigenses was the first cause of the establishment of the inquisition; and the pretended necessity of punishing the apostacy of the newly-converted spanish jews, was the reason for introducing it in a reformed state. it is important to remark, that the immense trade carried on by the spanish jews had thrown into their hands the greatest part of the wealth of the peninsula; and that they had acquired great power and influence in castile under alphonso ix., peter i., and henry ii.; and in aragon under peter iv. and john i. the christians, who could not rival them in industry, had almost all become their debtors, and envy soon made them the enemies of their creditors. this disposition was fostered by evil-minded men, and popular commotions were the consequence in almost all the towns of the two kingdoms. in 1391, five thousand jews were sacrificed to the fury of the people in different towns. several were known to have escaped death by becoming christians; many others sought to save themselves in following their example; and in a short time more than a million persons renounced the law of moses to embrace the christian faith. the number of conversions increased considerably during the ten first years of the fifteenth century, through the zeal of st. vincent ferrier and several other missionaries; they were seconded by the famous conferences which took place in 1413 between several rabbis and the converted jew, jerome de santafé. the converted jews were named _new christians_; they were also called marranos, or the cursed race, from an oath which the jews were in the habit of using among themselves. as the fear of death was the cause of most of these conversions, many repented, and secretly returned to judaism, though they outwardly conformed to christianity. the constraint to which they were obliged to submit was sometimes too painful, and several were discovered. this was the ostensible reason for the establishment of a tribunal which gave ferdinand an opportunity of confiscating immense riches, and which sextus iv. could not but approve, as it tended to augment the credit of the maxims of the court of rome; it is to these projects, concealed under the appearance of zeal for religion, that the inquisition of spain owes its origin. in 1477, philip de barbaris, inquisitor of the kingdom of sicily, went to seville, to obtain from ferdinand and isabella the confirmation of a privilege granted in 1233, by the emperor frederic, which gave to the inquisition of sicily the right of seizing a third part of the property of condemned heretics. barbaris, through zeal for the interests of the pope, endeavoured to persuade the king that the christian religion derived the greatest advantages from the fear which the judgments of the inquisition inspired. he was eagerly seconded by alphonso de hojida, prior of the convent of dominicans at seville; and nicholas franco, the nuncio of the pope at the court of spain. a report was then spread in different parts of the kingdom that the _new christians_, with the unbaptized jews, insulted the images of jesus christ, and had even crucified christian children in mockery of his sufferings on the cross. ferdinand was willing to receive the inquisition into his states: the only obstacle was the refusal of isabella; that excellent queen could not approve of measures so contrary to the gentleness of her character, but her consent was obtained by alarming her conscience: she was told that it became a religious duty to adopt them in the present circumstances. isabella suffered herself to be led away by the representations of her council, and commissioned her ambassador at rome, don francis de santillan, bishop of osma, to solicit in her name a bull for the establishment of the inquisition in castile, which was granted in 1478. it authorized ferdinand and isabella to name the priests who were to be commissioned to discover in their states all heretics, apostates, and favourers of these crimes. as this measure was displeasing to isabella, her council, by her order, suspended the execution of the bull until less severe remedies had been tried. the queen commissioned d. diego alphonso de solis, bishop of cadiz, diego de merlo, and alphonso de hojida, prior of the convent of dominicans, to observe the effects produced by gentle means, and give a faithful account of them. their reports were such as might be expected from the situation of affairs; and the dominican fathers, the nuncio, and even the king, desired that the measures preferred by isabella should be declared insufficient. the events of this year proved how displeasing the institution was to the castilians. in the beginning of the year 1480, the cortes assembled at toledo. it was occupied in providing means to prevent the evil which the communication of the jews with christians might produce: the ancient regulations were renewed; and among others, those which obliged unbaptized jews to wear some distinguishing mark, and to inhabit separate quarters, to which they were compelled to retire before night: they were also prohibited from exercising the professions of physicians, surgeons, merchants, barbers, and innkeepers; yet the cortes had no intention either of approving or demanding that the inquisition should be established in the kingdom. the consent of the queen was obtained; and while the two sovereigns were at medina del campo, on the 17th of november, 1480, they named as the first inquisitors michael morillo and john de san martin, both dominicans, as adviser and accessor of these two monks, doctor john ruiz de medina, a counsellor of the queen's; and as (procurator-fiscal) attorney, john lopez del barco, the queen's chaplain. on the 9th of october an order was sent by the king and queen to all the governors of provinces to furnish the inquisitors and their suite with everything they might require in their journey to seville; an extraordinary circumstance in that time, and which proves the influence which the dominicans had already acquired. their privileges were the same as those granted in 1223 by the emperor frederic. the castilians were so far from being pleased at the introduction of the inquisition, that the inquisitors, on their arrival at seville, found it impossible to collect the small number of persons necessary to the performance of their functions, although they shewed their commission; and the council of spain was obliged to issue another order, that the prefect and other authorities of seville, and the diocese of cadiz, should assist the inquisitors in their installation; this order was also interpreted in such a manner that it was only executed in those towns which belonged to the queen. the _new christians_ then immediately emigrated into the states of the duke de medina sidonia, the marquis of cadiz, the count d'arcos, and other nobles; and the new tribunal declared that their heresy was proved by their emigration. the inquisitors established their tribunal in the dominican convent of st. paul, at seville; and on the 2nd of january, 1481, they issued their first edict, which commanded the marquis of cadiz, the count d'arcos, and all grandees of spain, to seize the persons of the emigrants within fifteen days; and to send them under an escort to seville, and sequestrate their property, on pain of excommunication, besides the other punishments to which they would be liable as favourers of heresy. the number of prisoners was soon so considerable, that the convent assigned to the inquisitors was not sufficiently large to contain them, and the tribunal was removed to the castle de triana, situated near seville. the inquisitors soon published a second edict, named the edict of grace, to engage those who had apostatized to surrender themselves voluntarily: it promised that if they came with true repentance, their property should not be confiscated, and they should receive absolution; but if, on the contrary, they suffered the time of _grace_ to elapse, or were denounced by others, they would be prosecuted with all the severity of the tribunal. several suffered themselves to be persuaded; but the inquisitors only granted them absolution when they had declared upon oath the names, condition, and place of dwelling, of all the apostates whom they knew or had heard spoken of. they were also obliged to keep these revelations secret; and by these means a great number of _new christians_ fell into the hands of the inquisitors. when the period of grace was passed, a new edict was published, which commanded all persons to denounce those who had embraced the judaic heresy, on pain of mortal sin and excommunication. the consequence of this edict was, that an heretic was only informed that he was accused, at the moment when he was arrested and dragged to the dungeons of the inquisition. the same fate awaited the _converted_ jew, who might have acquired certain habits in his infancy, which, though not contrary to christianity, might be represented as certain signs of apostacy. the inquisitors mentioned in their edict several cases where accusation was commanded. the following cases are so equivocal, that altogether they would scarcely form a simple presumption in the present time. a convert was considered as relapsed into heresy, if he kept the sabbath out of respect to the law which he had abandoned; this was sufficiently proved if he wore better linen and garments on that day than those which he commonly used, or had not a fire in his house from the preceding evening; if he took the suet and fat from the animals which were intended for his food, and washed the blood from it; if he examined the blade of the knife before he killed the animals, and covered the blood with earth; if he blessed the table after the manner of the jews; if he has drunk of the wine named caser, (a word derived from caxer, which means _lawful_,) and which is prepared by jews; if he pronounces the bahara, or benediction, when he takes the vessel of wine into his hands, and pronounces certain words before he gives it to another person; if he eats of an animal killed by jews; if he has recited the psalms of david without repeating the gloria patri at the end; if he gives his son a hebrew name chosen among those used by the jews; if he plunges him seven days after his birth into a basin containing water, gold, silver, seed-pearl, wheat, barley, and other substances, pronouncing at the same time certain words, according to the custom of the jews; if he draws the horoscope of his children at their birth; if he performs the ruaya, a ceremony which consists in inviting his relations and friends to a repast the day before he undertakes a journey; if he turned his face to the wall at the time of his death, or has been placed in that posture before he expired; if he has washed, or caused to be washed, in hot water the body of a dead person, and interred him in a new shroud, with hose, shirt, and a mantle, and placed a piece of money in his mouth; if he has uttered a discourse in praise of the dead, or recited melancholy verses; if he has emptied the pitchers and other vessels of water in the house of the dead person, or in those of his neighbours, according to the custom of the jews; if he sits behind the door of the deceased as a sign of grief, or eats fish and olives instead of meat, to honour his memory; if he remains in his house one year after the death of any one, to prove his grief. all these articles show the artifice used by the inquisitors in order to prove to isabella that a great number of judaic heretics existed in the dioceses of cadiz and seville. these measures, so well adapted to multiply victims, could not fail in their effect, and the tribunal soon began its cruel executions. on the 6th of january, 1481, six persons were burnt, seventeen on the 26th of march following, and a still greater number a month after; on the 4th of november, the same year, two hundred and ninety-eight _new christians_ had suffered the punishment of burning, and seventy-nine were condemned to the horrors of perpetual imprisonment in the town of seville alone. in other parts of the province and in the diocese of cadiz, two thousand of these unfortunate creatures were burnt; according to mariana, a still greater number were burnt in effigy, and one thousand seven hundred suffered different canonical punishments. the great number of persons condemned to be burnt, obliged the prefect of seville to construct a scaffold of stone in a field near the town, name tablada; it was called quemadero, and still exists. four statues, of plaster, were erected on it, and bore the name of the _four prophets_; the condemned persons were enclosed alive in these figures, and perished by a slow and horrible death[3]. the dread which these executions inspired in the _new christians_ caused a great number to emigrate to france, portugal, and even to africa. many of those who had been condemned for contumacy had fled to rome, and demanded justice of the pope against their judges. the sovereign pontiff wrote on the 29th of january to ferdinand and isabella, and complained that the inquisitors did not follow the rule of right in declaring those to be heretics who were not guilty. his holiness added that he would have pronounced their deprivation but from respect to the royal decree which had instituted them in their office, but he revoked the authorization which he had given. on the 11th of the following month the pope despatched a new brief, in which, without mentioning the first, he says, the general of the dominicans, alphonso de st. cebriant, having proved to him the necessity of increasing the number of inquisitors, he had appointed to that office alphonso de st. cebriant, and seven monks of his order. it was at this time that queen isabella requested the pope to give the inquisition a permanent form which should be satisfactory to all parties; she required that the judgments passed in spain should be definitive and without appeal to rome, and complained at the same time that many persons accused her of being influenced in all that she did for the tribunal by a desire to seize the wealth of the condemned. when sixtus iv. received this letter he had just learnt that his bulls had met with some resistance in sicily from the viceroy and other magistrates, and artfully took advantage of isabella's request to confirm his authority in that kingdom. he replied to the queen, and praised her zeal for the inquisition; appeased her scruples of conscience in regard to the confiscations; and assured her that he would have complied with all her demands, if the cardinals, and those charged with the administration of affairs, had not found insurmountable difficulties in so doing. he exhorted her to maintain the inquisition in her states, and above all to take proper measures that the apostolical bulls should be received and executed in sicily. the councillors to whom the pope had submitted the demands of isabella, approved of the creation of an apostolical judge of appeal in spain; and proposed at the same time that no person descended from the jews, either by the male or female side, should be admitted among the inquisitorial judges. don inigo manrique was named sole judge of appeals in all matters of faith. chapter vi. creation of a grand inquisitor-general; of a royal council of the inquisition; of subaltern tribunals and organic laws: establishment of the holy office in aragon. in 1483, father thomas de torquemada was appointed inquisitor-general of aragon, and the immense powers of his office were confirmed in 1486, by innocent viii. and by the two successors of that pontiff. it would have been impossible to find a man more proper to fulfil the intentions of ferdinand in multiplying the number of confiscations than torquemada. he first created four inferior tribunals at seville, cordova, jaen, and villa-real (now ciudad-real); the latter was soon after transferred to toledo. he then permitted the dominican fathers to exercise their functions in the kingdom of castile: these monks, who held their commission from the holy see, did not submit to the authority of torquemada without some resistance; they declared that they were not his delegates. torquemada did not pronounce their deposition, as he feared it would injure the execution of the enterprise which he was commencing, but prepared to form laws which he found very necessary. he chose as assistants and councillors, two civilians, named john gutierrez de chabes, and tristan de medina. at this time ferdinand, perceiving how important it was to the interest of the revenue to organize the tribunal, created a royal council of the inquisition, and appointed torquemada president, and as councillors, don alphonso carillo, bishop of mazara in sicily, sancho velasquez de cuellar and ponce de valencia, both doctors of law. torquemada commissioned his two assistants to arrange the laws for the new council, and convoked a junta, which was composed of the inquisitors of the four tribunals which he had established, the two assistants, and the members of the royal council. this assembly was held at seville, and published the first laws of the spanish tribunal under the name of instructions in 1484. these instructions were divided into twenty-eight articles. the 1st article regulated the manner in which the establishment of the inquisition should be announced in the country where it was to be introduced. the 2nd article commanded that an edict should be published, accompanied with censures against those who did not accuse themselves voluntarily during the term of grace. by the 3rd, a delay of thirty days was appointed for heretics to declare themselves. the 4th regulated that all voluntary confessions should be written in the presence of the inquisitors and a recorder. the 5th, that absolution should not be given secretly to any individual voluntarily confessing, unless no person was acquainted with his crime. the 6th ordained, that part of the penance of a _reconciled heretic_ should consist in being deprived of all honourable employments, and of the use of gold, silver, pearls, silk, and fine wool. by the 7th article, pecuniary penalties were imposed on all who made a voluntary confession. by the 8th, the person who accused himself after the term of grace could not be exempted from the punishment of confiscation. the 9th article decreed, that if persons under twenty years of age accuse themselves after the term of grace, and it is proved that they were drawn into error by their parents, a slight punishment shall be inflicted. the 10th obliged the inquisitors to declare, in their act of reconciliation, the exact time when the offender fell into heresy, that the portion of property to be confiscated might be ascertained. the 11th article decreed, that if a heretic, detained in the prisons of the holy office, demanded absolution, and appeared to feel true repentance, that it might be granted to him, imposing, at the same time, perpetual imprisonment. by the 12th, if the inquisitors thought the repentance of the prisoner was pretended, in the case indicated by the former article, they were permitted to refuse the absolution, to declare him a false penitent, and as such condemn him to be burnt. by the 13th, if a man, absolved after his confession, should boast of having concealed several crimes, or if information should be obtained that he had committed more than he had confessed, he was to be arrested and judged as a false penitent. by the 14th article, the accused was to be condemned as impenitent, if he persisted in his denials even after the publication of the testimony. by the 15th, if a semi-proof existed against a person who denied his crime, he was to be put to the torture; if he confessed his crime during the torture, and afterwards confirmed his confession, he was punished as convicted; if he retracted, he was tortured again, or condemned to an extraordinary punishment. the 16th article prohibited the communication of the entire deposition of the witnesses to the accused. the 17th article obliged the inquisitors to interrogate the witnesses themselves, if it was not impossible. the 18th article decrees, that one or two inquisitors should be present when the prisoner was tortured, or appoint a commissioner if they were occupied elsewhere, to receive his declarations. by the 19th article, if the accused did not appear when summoned, according to the prescribed form, he was condemned as a heretic. the 20th article decrees, that if it is proved that any person died a heretic, by his writings or conduct, that he shall be judged and condemned as such, his body disinterred and burnt, and his property confiscated. by the 21st, the inquisitors were commanded to extend their jurisdiction over the vassals of nobles; if they refused to permit it, they were to be censured. the 22nd decreed, that if a man, burnt as a heretic, left children under age, a portion of their father's property should be granted to them under the title of alms, and the inquisitors shall be obliged to confide their education to proper persons. by the 23rd, if a heretic, reconciled during the term of grace, without having incurred the punishment of confiscation, possessed property belonging to a condemned person, this property was not to be included in the pardon. the 24th obliged the reconciled to give his christian slaves their liberty, when his property was not confiscated, if the king granted the pardon on that condition. the 25th prohibited the inquisitors, and other persons attached to the tribunal, from receiving presents, on pain of excommunication, deprivation of their employments, restitution, and a penalty of twice the value of the gifts received. the 26th recommends to the officers of the inquisition to live in peace together. the 27th commands that they shall carefully watch the conduct of their inferior officers. the 28th and last, commits to the prudence of the inquisitors the discussion of all points not mentioned in the foregoing articles. ferdinand having convoked at tarazona the cortes of his kingdom of aragon, decreed that the inquisition should be reformed in a privy-council. after this resolution, torquemada named gaspard juglar, a dominican, and peter arbuès d'epila, as inquisitors for the archbishopric of saragossa. a royal ordinance commanded all the authorities to aid and assist them in their office, and the magistrate known by the name of chief justice of aragon, took the oath with several others. this circumstance did not prevent the resistance which the aragonese opposed to the tribunal; on the contrary it augmented, and rose to such a height, that it might have been termed national. the principal persons employed in the court of aragon were descended from _new christians_: among these were louis gonzalez, the royal secretary for the affairs of the kingdom; philip de clemente, prothonotary; alphonso de la caballeria, vice-chancellor; and gabriel sanchez, grand treasurer; who were all descended from jews condemned, in their time, by the inquisition. these men, and many others employed in the court, had allied themselves to the principal grandees in the kingdom, and used the influence which they derived from this circumstance, to engage the representatives of the nation to appeal to the pope and the king, against the inquisitorial code. commissioners were sent to rome and the court of spain, to demand the suspension of the articles relating to confiscation, as contrary to the laws of the kingdom of aragon. they were persuaded that the inquisition would not maintain itself if this measure was abandoned. while the deputies of the cortes of aragon were at rome, and with the king, the inquisitors condemned several _new christians_ as judaic heretics. these executions increased the irritation of the aragonese; and when the deputies wrote from the court of spain, that they were not satisfied with the state of affairs, they resolved to sacrifice one or two of the inquisitors, with the hope that no one would dare to take the office, and that the king would renounce his design. the project of assassination having been approved by the conspirators, a voluntary contribution was raised among all the aragonese of the jewish race; and it was proved by the trials of sancho de paternoy and others, that don blasco d'alagon received ten thousand reals, which were destined to reward the assassins of the inquisitor arbuès, john de la abadia, a noble of aragon, but descended from jewish ancestors on the female side, took upon himself the direction of the enterprise. the assassination was confided to john d'esperaindeo, to vidal d'uranso, his servant, to matthew ram, tristan de leonis, anthony gran, and bernard leofante. they failed several times in their attempts, as peter arbuès, being informed of their design, took the necessary precautions to secure his life. it appears, from the examination of some of the murderers, that the inquisitor wore a coat of mail under his vest, and a kind of helmet covered with a cap. he was at last assassinated in the metropolitan church, during the performance of the matins, on the 15th of november, 1485. vidal d'uranso wounded him so severely in the back of the neck, that he died two days after. the next day the murder was known in the town, but its effects were different from what had been expected, for all the _old christians_, or those who were not of jewish origin, persuaded that the _new christians_ had committed the crime, assembled to pursue them and revenge the death of the inquisitor. the disturbance was violent, and its consequences would have been terrible, if the young archbishop, don alphonso of aragon, had not shewn himself, and assured the multitude that the criminal should be punished. policy inspired ferdinand and isabella with the idea of honouring the memory of arbuès with a solemnity which contributed to make him pass for a saint, and caused a particular worship to be addressed to him. this took place long after, when pope alexander vii. had beatified him as a martyr, in 1664. a magnificent monument was erected to his memory, by ferdinand and isabella. while the sovereigns were occupied in honouring the remains of peter arbuès, the inquisitors of saragossa were labouring without ceasing to discover the authors and accomplices of his murder, and to punish them as judaic heretics and enemies to the holy office. it would be difficult to enumerate the number of families plunged into misery through their vengeance; two hundred victims were soon sacrificed. vidal d'uranso, one of the assassins, revealed all he knew of the conspiracy, which was the cause of the discovery of its authors. there was scarcely a single family in the three first orders of nobility, which was not disgraced by having at least one of its members in the _auto-da-fé_, wearing the habit of a penitent. don james diaz d'aux armendarix, lord of the town of cadreita, a knight of navarre, and ancestor of the dukes of albuquerque, was condemned to a public penance, for having concealed in his house, for one night, several persons who fled from saragossa. the same punishment was inflicted on several other illustrious knights of the town of tudela in navarre, for having received and concealed other fugitives. don james de navarre (the son of eleanor, queen of navarre, and gaston de foix) was imprisoned in the dungeons of the inquisition, and was subjected to a public penance for having assisted several of the conspirators in their flight. the inquisitors knew, when they had the audacity to imprison him, that he was not beloved by ferdinand, who always feared him, although he was not legitimate. don lope ximenez de urrea, first count of aranda; don louis gonzalez, secretary to the king; don alphonso de la caballeria, vice-chancellor of the kingdom; and many other persons of equal rank, were condemned to the same punishment. john de esperaindeo and the other assassins of arbuès were hung, after having their hands cut off. their bodies were quartered, and their limbs exposed in the highways. john de l'abadia killed himself in prison the day before the execution, but his corpse was treated in the same manner as the others. the hands of vidal d'uranso were not cut off until he had expired, because he had been promised his pardon if he discovered the conspirators. all the other provinces of aragon made an equal resistance to the introduction of the new inquisition. the seditions at teruel were only quelled in 1485, by extreme severity. the town and bishopric of lerida, and other towns in catalonia, obstinately resisted the establishment of the reform, and were not reduced to obedience until 1487. barcelona refused to acknowledge torquemada or any of his delegates, on account of a privilege which it possessed of having an inquisitor with a special title. the king applied to the pope, who instituted torquemada special inquisitor of the town and bishopric of barcelona, with the power of appointing others to the office. the king was obliged to employ the same method with the inhabitants of majorca and those of sardinia, who did not receive the inquisition until 1490 and 1492. it is an incontestable fact in the history of the spanish inquisition, that it was introduced entirely against the consent of the provinces, and only by the influence of the dominican monks. chapter vii. additional acts to the first constitution of the holy office; consequences of them, and appeals to rome against them. the inquisitor-general judged it necessary to augment the laws of the holy office; and added eleven new articles to them; the substance of them is as follows:-1st. that each inferior tribunal should consist of two inquisitors as civilians, an attorney, an alguazil, a recorder and other persons, if necessary, who were to receive a fixed salary. the same article prohibits the admission of the servants or creatures of the inquisitors into the tribunal. 2nd. that if any of the persons employed should receive presents from the accused or his family, he should be immediately deprived of his office. 3rd. that the holy office should employ an able civilian at rome, under the title of agent, and that this expense, should be supported by the money arising from the confiscations. 4th. that the contracts signed before the year 1479, by persons whose property had since been seized, should be regarded as valid; but if it was proved that any deception had been used in the transactions, that the culprits should be punished by a hundred strokes of a whip, and branded on the face with a red-hot iron. 5th. that the nobles who should receive fugitives in their estates, should be compelled to deliver up to government the property committed to their care; and if they claimed the fulfilments of contracts signed by the accused for their profit, that the attorney should commence an action to reclaim the property at belonging to the revenue. 6th. that the notaries of the inquisition should keep an account of the property of the condemned persons. 7th. that the stewards of the holy office could sell the confiscated property, and receive the rents of the estates which might be let. 8th. that each steward should inspect the property belonging to his tribunal. 9th. that a steward could not sequestrate the property of a condemned person, without an order from the inquisition; and even in that case, that he should be accompanied by an alguazil, and place the effects and an inventory of them in the hands of a third person. 10th. that the steward should pay the salaries of the inquisitors quarterly, that they might not be obliged to receive presents. 11th. that in all circumstances not foreseen in the new regulations, the inquisitors should conduct themselves with prudence, and apply to the government in all difficult cases. the nature of these articles proves that the number of confiscations had been considerable. ferdinand and isabella often gave the property of the condemned persons to their wives and children, granted them pensions on the property, or a certain sum to be paid by the receiver-general. these sums, and the care which people took to conceal their effects, diminished the funds of the inquisition; besides which, most of the _new christians_ were merchants or artisans, and it often happened that the receivers who paid the royal gifts were unable to pay the salaries of the inquisitors. torquemada, in 1488, decreed that the royal gifts should not be paid, until the salaries and other expenses of the inquisition had been defrayed, and wrote to request the approbation of ferdinand, who refused it. the inquisitor-general was then obliged to permit the inquisitors to impose pecuniary penalties on reconciled persons (which permission was afterwards revoked). as experience showed that the revenue of the inquisition was never sufficient, on account of the great number of prisoners which it was obliged to maintain, and the expenses incurred by the agent at rome, ferdinand and isabella requested the pope to place at the disposal of the holy office, a prebendary in each cathedral in their dominions; to which he consented in 1501. the receivers finding themselves unable to defray the expenses of the administration, demanded restitution of many persons whom they accused of retaining estates belonging to the inquisition. this conduct caused so many complaints, that the council of the inquisition was obliged to prohibit the receivers from molesting the proprietors of estates which had been sold before the year 1479. it is not surprising that the receivers should employ such measures to augment the revenue, when the inquisitors contributed to impoverish it themselves, by disposing of it according to their caprices, and without the permission of the sovereigns. this abuse rose to such a height, that ferdinand and isabella complained to the pope, who prohibited the inquisitors from disposing of their revenues without an order from the king, on pain of excommunication. the inquisitors were afterwards obliged to refund the sums which they had seized. in 1488 the inquisitor-general formed, with the assistance of the supreme council, a new ordinance, which consisted of fifteen articles. the first decreed that the regulations of 1484 should be followed in all things, except in regard to the confiscations, which were to be regulated by the rules of equity. the 2nd enjoins the inquisitors to proceed in a uniform manner, on account of the abuses produced by a contrary system. the 3rd prohibits inquisitors from delaying to pass sentence, on the pretence of waiting for the full proof of the crime. the 4th imports, that as there are not in all the tribunals civilians of sufficient ability to be consulted in the preparation of the definitive sentences, the inquisitors shall send the writings of the trials to the inquisitor-general, in order to be examined by the civilians of the supreme council. the 5th decrees that no person shall be allowed to hold any communication with the prisoners, except the priests, who were obliged to visit the prisons once in a fortnight. the 6th commands that the testimony of witnesses shall be received in the presence of as small a number of persons as possible, that secrecy may not be violated. the 7th, that the writings and papers belonging to the inquisition shall be kept in the place of residence of the inquisitors, and locked up in a chest; the key of which shall be kept by the notary of the tribunal, who must not give it up, on pain of losing his place. the 8th article decrees, that if the inquisitors of a district arrest a man already pursued by another tribunal, all the papers relating to his trial shall be placed in the hands of the first. the 9th article decrees, that if there are papers in the archives of a tribunal which may be of use to another, the expenses incurred in sending them shall be paid by it. the 10th article declares, that as there are not prisons enough for all who are condemned to perpetual imprisonment, they shall be permitted to remain in their houses, but not to go out, on pain of being punished with the utmost severity. in the 11th, the inquisitors are recommended to execute rigorously all those laws which prohibit the children and grandchildren of condemned persons from exercising any honourable employment, and from wearing any garment of silk, or fine wool, or any ornament of gold, silver, or precious stones. the 12th article decrees, that males cannot be admitted to reconciliation and abjuration before the age of fourteen years, or females before that of twelve; if they had abjured before that age, a ratification was necessary. the 13th prohibited the receivers from paying the royal gifts, until the expenses of the inquisition were defrayed. the 14th declares, that the holy office should petition the sovereigns to build a prison in each town where it was established, for the reception of those who might be condemned to that punishment. it also recommends that the cells should be arranged in such a manner, that the prisoners might exercise their respective professions, and thus maintain themselves. the 15th and last article obliged the notaries, fiscals, and alguazils, and other officers of the inquisition, to perform their functions in person. the inquisitor-general found that these regulations were not sufficient to prevent abuses; he therefore convoked a junta of inquisitors at toledo. the decrees of this assembly were published at avila in 1498, and were as follows:-first, that each tribunal should be composed of two inquisitors, one a civilian, the other a theologian. they were prohibited from inflicting imprisonment or torture, or communicating the charges made by the witnesses, without the consent of both. secondly, that the inquisitors should not allow their dependents to carry any defensive arms, except where their office obliges them to do so. thirdly, that no person should be imprisoned if his crime had not been sufficiently proved; and that when the arrest had taken place, his judgment should be immediately pronounced, without waiting for fresh proofs. fourthly, that the inquisition should acquit deceased persons, if sufficient proof was not produced, and not delay the trial to wait for fresh accusations, as it was injurious to the children, whose establishment was prevented, from the uncertainty of the result of the trial. fifthly, that the entire failure of the funds of the holy office should not occasion the imposition of a greater number of pecuniary penalties. sixthly, that the inquisitors should not change imprisonment, or any other corporeal punishment, to a pecuniary penalty, but for the punishment of fasting, alms, pilgrimages, or other similar penances. seventhly, that the inquisitors should carefully examine into the expediency of admitting to reconciliation those who confessed their crimes after their arrest, since they might be considered as contumacious, as the inquisition had been established many years. eighthly, that the inquisitors should punish false witnesses publicly. ninthly, that two men related in any degree should not be employed in the holy office, nor a master and his servant, even in case their functions should be entirely distinct. tenthly, that each tribunal should have archives secured by three locks, the keys of which should be placed in the hands of the two notaries and the fiscal. eleventhly, that the notary should receive the testimony of witnesses only in the presence of an inquisitor, and that the two priests commissioned to prove the truth of the deposition should not belong to the tribunal. twelfthly, that the inquisitor should establish the inquisition in all towns where it did not already exist. thirteenthly, that in all difficult cases the inquisitors should consult the council. fourteenthly, that the women should have a prison separated from that of the men. fifteenthly, that the officers of the tribunal should perform their functions six hours in a day, and that they should attend the inquisitors whenever they were required. sixteenthly, that after the inquisitors had received the oath of the witnesses in presence of the fiscal, he should be obliged to retire. besides these ordinances, torquemada established several particular regulations for each individual belonging to the tribunal: all the persons employed were obliged to take an oath that they would not reveal anything they might see or hear: the inquisitor was not allowed to remain alone with the prisoner; the gaoler could not allow any person to speak with him, and was obliged to examine if any writings were concealed in the food which was given him. these were the last regulations framed by torquemada, but diego deza, his successor, published a fifth _instruction_ at seville, in 1500. such were the laws of the holy office in spain. this code caused the emigration of more than a hundred thousand families useful to the state, and the loss of many millions of francs which were spent at the court of rome, either for the bulls which it expedited, or by those who repaired thither to solicit their absolution from the popes. the holy see was far from complaining of this practice, as it brought immense sums to the treasury, and no person who presented himself with his money before the apostolical penitentiary, failed of obtaining the absolution he solicited, or an order for absolution elsewhere. this conduct displeased the inquisitors: depending on the protection of ferdinand and isabella, they expostulated with the pope, who annulled the absolutions already granted, thus deceiving those who had spent the greatest part of their fortunes in endeavouring to obtain them. he then promised new pardons on new conditions, contrary to the engagement he had entered into with ferdinand, to abolish every means of appeal to the court of rome. such was the constant practice of the holy see during thirty years after the establishment of the inquisition in spain. chapter viii. expulsion of the jews.--proceedings against bishops.--death of torquemada. in 1492 ferdinand and isabella conquered the kingdom of grenada. this event offered a multitude of victims to the holy office in the persons of the moors, who were converted merely in the hope of obtaining consideration, and after their baptism returned to mahometanism. john de navagiero, in his travels in spain, states, that ferdinand had promised the morescoes, (as those moors were called who became christians,) that the inquisition should not interfere with them for the space of forty years, but that the inquisition was established in the kingdom of grenada, on the pretence that many jews had taken refuge there. this statement is not exact; the sovereigns only promised that the moorish christians should not be prosecuted except for serious crimes, and the inquisition was not introduced among them before 1526. it was in the year 1492 that the unbaptized jews were expelled from spain. they were accused of persuading those of their nation who had become christians to apostatize, and of crucifying children on good-friday, in mockery of the saviour of the world, and of many other offences of the same nature. the jewish physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries, were also accused of having taken advantage of their professions, to cause the death of a great number of christians, and among others, that of henry iii., which was attributed to his physician, don maïr. the jews, in order to avert the danger which threatened them, offered to supply ferdinand with thirty thousand pieces of silver to carry on the war against grenada; they promised to live peaceably, to comply with the regulations formed for them, in retiring to their houses in the quarters assigned to them before night, and in renouncing all professions which were reserved for the christians. ferdinand and isabella were willing to listen to these propositions; but torquemada, being informed of their inclinations, had the boldness to appear before them with a crucifix in his hand, and to address them in these words:-"judas sold his master for thirty pieces of silver, your highnesses are about to do the same for thirty thousand; behold him, take him, and hasten to self him." the fanaticism of the dominican wrought a sudden change in the minds of the sovereigns, and they issued a decree on the 31st of march 1492, by which all the jews were compelled to quit spain before the 31st of july ensuing, on pain of death, and the confiscation of their property; the decree also prohibited christians from receiving them into their houses after that period. they were permitted to sell their stock, to carry away their furniture and other effects, _except gold and silver, for which they were to accept letters of change, or any merchandise not prohibited_. torquemada commissioned all preachers to exhort them to receive baptism, and remain in the kingdom. a small number suffered themselves to be persuaded; the rest sold their goods at so low a price, that andrew bernaldez (a contemporary historian) declares, in his history of the catholic kings, that he saw _the jews give a house for an ass, and a vineyard for a small quantity of cloth or linen_. according to mariana, eight hundred thousand jews quitted spain, and if the moors, who emigrated to africa, and the christians who settled in the new world, are added to the number, we shall find that ferdinand and isabella lost, through these cruel measures, two millions of subjects. bernaldez affirms, that the jews carried a quantity of gold with them, concealed in their garments and saddles, and even in their intestines, for they reduced the ducats into small pieces, and swallowed them. a great number afterwards returned to spain, and received baptism. some returned from the kingdom of fez, where the moors had seized their money and effects, and even killed the women, to take the gold which they expected to find within them. these cruelties can only be attributed to the fanaticism of torquemada, to the avarice and superstition of ferdinand, and to the inconsiderate zeal of isabella, who, nevertheless, possessed great gentleness of character, and an enlightened mind. the other european courts were not thus influenced by fanaticism, and paid no attention to a bull of innocent viii., which commanded all governments to arrest, at the desire of torquemada, the fugitives whom he should designate, on pain of excommunication; the monarch was the only person exempted from the penalty. the insolent fanatic, torquemada, while he affected to refuse the honour of episcopacy through modesty, was the first who gave the fatal example of subjecting bishops to trial. not satisfied with having obtained from sixtus iv. the briefs which prohibited bishops of jewish origin from interfering in the affairs of the inquisition, he even wished to put two on their trial, namely, don juan arias davila, bishop of segovia; and don pedro de aranda, bishop of calahorra. he made his resolution known to the pope, who informed him that his predecessor, boniface viii., had prohibited the inquisition from proceeding against bishops, archbishops, or cardinals, without an apostolical commission; but if any prelate was accused of heresy, he charged torquemada to send him a copy of the informations, that he might decide on the method to be pursued. torquemada immediately began to take secret informations of the conduct of the bishops, and the pope sent antonio palavicini, bishop of tournai, to spain, with the title of apostolical nuncio, when he received the informations of torquemada, and returned to rome, where the two bishops were cited to appear and defend themselves. don juan arias davila was the son of diego arias davila, who was of jewish origin, and was baptized after the preaching of st. vincent ferrier; he afterwards became chief financier to the kings john ii. and henry iv. henry iv. ennobled him, and gave him the lordship of the castle of puñonrostro, and several other places which form the countship of puñonrostro, and the title of grandee of spain, which has been possessed by his descendants from the time of pedro arias davila, the first count, and brother to the bishop, and who was also chief financier to henry iv. and ferdinand v. the rank of the bishop did not intimidate torquemada; informations were taken by his order, and the result was, that diego arias davila died a judaic heretic: the object which the inquisitor-general had in view, was to condemn his memory, confiscate his property, and to disinter his body, in order to burn it with his effigy. as, in all affairs of this nature, the children are cited to appear, don juan arias davila was obliged to repair to rome in 1490, to defend his father and himself, although he had arrived at a great age, and had been bishop of segovia thirty years. he was well received by alexander vi., who appointed him to accompany his nephew, the cardinal montreal, to naples, when he went to crown ferdinand ii. davila returned to rome, and died there in 1497, after having cleared the memory of his father. don pedro aranda, bishop of calahorra, was not so fortunate. he was the son of gonzales alonzo, a jew, who was also baptized in the time of st. vincent ferrier, and who was afterwards master of a chapel. gonzales had the pleasure of seeing both his sons attain the dignity of bishops: the eldest was archbishop of montreal in sicily, the second was made bishop of calahorra, in 1478, and president of the council of castile in 1482; yet in 1488 he was the object of a secret instruction, directed by torquemada, which however did not prevent him from convoking a synod in the town of logrogna, in 1492. at that period torquemada, and the other inquisitors of valladolid, undertook the trial of gonzales alonzo, to prove that he had died a judaic heretic. the inquisitors of valladolid and the bishop of the diocese could not agree on the sentence to be pronounced on the accused; and his son, don pedro aranda, obtained a brief from alexander vi., by which this affair was referred to don inigo manrique, bishop of cordova, and john de st. john, prior of the benedictines at valladolid. they were commissioned to pronounce judgment and execute the sentence, without any interference on the part of the inquisition. their decision was favourable to gonzales. the bishop, his son, gained the esteem of the pope, who made him chief major-domo of the pontifical palace, and sent him as ambassador to venice, in 1494. these marks of favour did not cause the inquisitors to relax in their zeal: they proceeded in their trial against don pedro, for heresy: his judges were the archbishop, the governor of rome, and two bishops, auditors of the apostolical palace. don pedro called one hundred and one witnesses for his defence; but unfortunately every one of them had something to advance against him, on different points. the judges made their report to the pope, in a secret consistory, in 1498, who, with the cardinals, condemned the bishop to be deprived of his offices and benefices, to be degraded from his episcopal dignity, and reduced to the rank of a simple layman. he was confined in the castle of santangelo, where he died some time after. thomas de torquemada, first inquisitor-general of spain, died the 16th of november, 1498. the miseries which were the consequences of the system which he adopted, and recommended to his successors, justify the general hatred which followed him to the tomb, and compelled him to take precautions for his personal safety. ferdinand and isabella permitted him to use an escort of fifty _familiars_ of the inquisition on horseback, and two hundred others on foot, whenever he travelled. he also kept the horn of a unicorn on his table, which was supposed to discover and neutralize poisons. it is not surprising that many should have conspired against his life, when his cruel administration is considered: the pope himself was alarmed at his barbarity, and the complaints which were made against him; and torquemada was obliged to send his colleague, antonio badoja, three times to rome, to defend him against the accusations of his enemies. at last alexander vi., weary of the continual clamours of which he was the object, resolved to deprive him of his dignity, but was deterred from so doing through consideration for the court of spain. he therefore expedited a brief in 1494, saying, that as torquemada had arrived at a great age, and suffered from many infirmities, he had named four inquisitors-general, invested with the same powers which he possessed. the familiars of the holy office, who were employed as the body-guard of the inquisitor-general, were the successors of the familiars of the old inquisition. they were commissioned to pursue the heretics, and persons suspected of heresy, to assist the officers of the tribunal in taking them to prison, and to do all that the inquisitors might require. it has been shown that the spaniards received the inquisition with reluctance; but as they were obliged to endure it when once established, some prudent persons thought they should be more secure from the danger of incurring suspicion, if they appeared devoted to the cause, which was the reason why several illustrious gentlemen offered to become _familiars of the holy office_, and were admitted into the congregation of st. peter. their example was followed by the inferior classes, and encouraged by ferdinand and isabella, who bestowed several immunities and privileges on them. chapter ix. of the procedure of the modern inquisition. after the death of the inquisitor-general, torquemada, ferdinand and isabella proposed don diego deza, a dominican, to the pope, as his successor. deza was bishop of jaen, and afterwards became archbishop of seville. the pope signed his bulls of confirmation on the 1st of december, 1498, but limited his authority to the affairs of the kingdom of castile. deza was displeased at a restriction which did not exist in the bulls of his two colleagues, and refused to accept the nomination, until the pope invested him with the same power over aragon, in a bull, in 1499. the new inquisitor-general did not show less severity in the exercise of his office than his predecessor; but, before i enter on this part of the history, it is necessary to give some account of the mode of proceeding of the holy office, as it was the work of torquemada, the effect of the laws which he formed, and properly belongs to his history. the processes in the inquisition began by a denunciation, or some other information, such as a discovery accidentally made before the tribunal in another trial. when the denunciation is signed, it takes the form of a declaration, in which the informer, after having sworn to the truth of his deposition, designates those persons whom he presumes, or believes, to have anything to depose against the accused person. these persons are then heard, and their depositions, with that of the first witness, form the _summary of the information, or the preparatory instruction_. _inquest._ when the tribunal judged that the actions or words which were denounced were sufficient to warrant an inquiry to establish the proofs, the persons who had been cited as knowing the object of the declaration were examined, and were obliged to take an oath not to reveal the questions which were put to them. none of the witnesses were informed of the subject on which they were to make their depositions; they were only asked in general terms, _if they had ever seen or heard anything which was, or appeared, contrary to the catholic faith, or the rights of the inquisition_. personal experience has shown me that the witnesses who were ignorant of the cause of their citation often recollected circumstances entirely foreign to the subject, which they made known, and were then interrogated as if their examination had no other object; this accidental deposition served instead of a denunciation, and a new process was commenced. the declarations were written down by the commissary or notary, who usually aggravated the denunciation, as much as the arbitrary interpretation of the improper or equivocal expressions used by ignorant persons would permit. the declaration was twice read to the witnesses, _who did not fail to approve all that had been written_. _censure of the qualifiers._ when the inquisitors examine the preliminary _instruction_, if they find sufficient cause to proceed, they send a circular to all the tribunals in the province to inquire if any charges against the accused exist in their registers. this proceeding is called the _review of the registers_. extracts are made of the propositions against the accused, and if each is expressed in different terms, which is almost always the case, they are sent as accusations advanced on different occasions. this writing was then remitted to the theologians, _qualifiers of the holy office_, who write at the bottom of the page if the propositions merit the _theological censure_, as heretical, if they give occasion to suppose that the person who pronounced them approved of any heresy, or if he is only suspected of that crime. the declaration of the _qualifiers_ determines the proceedings against the accused, until the trial is prepared for the definite sentence. the _qualifiers_ were generally scholastic monks, almost entirely unacquainted with true dogmatic theology, and who carried fanaticism and superstition to such a height as to find heresy in everything which they had not studied: this disposition has often caused them to censure some of the doctrines of the fathers of the church. _prisons._ when the qualification has been made, the procurator-fiscal demands that the denounced person shall be removed to the _secret prisons_ of the _holy office_. the tribunal has three sorts of prisons, public, intermediate, and secret. the first are those where persons are imprisoned, who are not guilty of heresy, but of some crime which the inquisition has the privilege of punishing: the second are destined for those servants of the holy office who have committed some crime in the exercise of their functions, without incurring suspicion of heresy. those who are detained in these prisons are permitted to communicate with others, unless they are condemned to solitary confinement. the secret prisons are those where all heretics, or persons suspected of heresy, are confined; they can only communicate with the judges of the tribunal. these prisons are not, as they have been represented, damp, dirty, and unhealthy; they are vaulted chambers, well lighted, not damp, and large enough for a person to take some exercise in. the real horrors of the prisons are, that no one can enter them without becoming infamous in public opinion; and the solitude and the darkness to which the prisoner is condemned for fifteen hours in the day during the winter, as he is not allowed light before the hour of seven in the morning, or after four in the evening. some authors have stated, that the prisoners were chained; these means are only employed on extraordinary occasions, and to prevent them from destroying themselves. _first audiences._ in the three first days following the imprisonment of the culprit, he had three _audiences_ of _monition_, or caution, recommending him to speak the truth, without concealing anything that he had done or said, or that he can impute to others, contrary to the faith. he was told that if he followed this recommendation he would be treated leniently; but in the contrary case, he would be proceeded against with severity. until then the prisoner is ignorant of the cause of his arrest; he is only told that no person is taken to the prison of the holy office without sufficient proof that he has spoken against the catholic faith, and, therefore, it is for his interest to confess his crimes voluntarily. some prisoners confessed themselves guilty of the crimes stated in the preparatory instruction; others acknowledged more; others less; generally the prisoners declared that their consciences did not reproach them, but that they would endeavour to recollect the faults which they had committed if the accusations of the witnesses were read to them. the advantages of the confession were, that it lessened the duration of the trial, and rendered the punishments inflicted on the accused less severe when the reconciliation took place. whatever promises might be made to the prisoners, they could not avoid the disgrace of the _san-benito_ and _auto-da-fé_, or preserve their honour or their property, if they acknowledged themselves _formal_ heretics. another custom of the inquisition was to examine the prisoner on his genealogy and parentage, in order to discover by the registers of the tribunal if any of his family had been punished for heresy, supposing that he might have inherited the erroneous doctrines of his ancestors. he was also obliged to recite the _pater_, the _credo_, and other forms of christian doctrine, because the presumption that he had erred in his faith was stronger, if he did not know them, had forgotten them, or if he made mistakes in the repetition. in short, the inquisition employed every means, and neglected nothing in the trial of the prisoners, to make them appear guilty of heresy, and all this was done with an appearance of charity and compassion, and in the name of jesus christ. _charges._ when the ceremony of the three first audiences is finished, the procurator-fiscal forms his act of accusation against the prisoner, from the preliminary instruction. although a semi-proof only exists, he reports the facts in the depositions as if they were proved; and what is still more illegal, he does not reduce the articles of his _requisition_ to the number of facts, but following the practice in forming the extracts of the propositions for the act of _qualification_, he multiplies them according to the variations in the statements; so that an accusation which ought to be reduced to one point, contains five or six charges, which appear to indicate that the accused has advanced so many heretical opinions on different occasions, without any foundation but the different manner in which each witness relates the conversation. this mode of proceeding produces the worst effects; it confuses the prisoner where the charges are read to him, and if he has not coolness and intelligence, he imagines that several crimes are imputed to him, and replies, for instance, to the third article, and relates the facts in different words from those which he employed in answering the second; this variation taking place in each article, he sometimes contradicts himself, and thus furnishes the fiscal with fresh accusations against him, for he is accused of not adhering to truth in his replies. _torture._ although the prisoner has confessed all that the witnesses deposed against him in the first audiences, yet the fiscal terminates his _requisition_ by saying, that he is guilty of concealment and denial, that he is, therefore, impenitent and obstinate, and demands that the question shall be applied to the accused. it is true, that it is so long since torture has been inflicted by the inquisitors, that the custom may be looked upon as abolished, and the fiscal only makes the demand in conformity to the example of his predecessors, yet it is equally cruel to make the prisoners fear it. in former times, if the inquisitors judged that the prisoner had not made a full confession, they ordered him to be tortured: the object was to make him confess all that formed the substance of the process. i shall not describe the different modes of torture employed by the inquisition, as it has been already done by many historians: i shall only say that none of them can be accused of exaggeration. when the accused acknowledged the crimes imputed to them, during the torture, they were obliged the next day to ratify or retract their confession upon oath. almost all confirmed their first statement, because they were subjected to the torture a second time if they dared to retract. _requisition._ the requisition or accusation of the procurator-fiscal was never given to the prisoner in writing, that he might not reflect on the charges in prison and prepare his replies. the prisoner is conducted to the audience-chamber, where a secretary reads the charges, in the presence of the inquisitors and the fiscal: between each article he calls upon the prisoner to reply to it instantly, and declare if it is true or false. it is evident that this proceeding is intended to embarrass the prisoner, by compelling him to reply without previous reflection. such stratagems are allowed in other tribunals where the prisoners are guilty of homicide, theft, or other offences against society; but it must be allowed that it is against the spirit of christianity to employ them where zeal for religion and the salvation of others seem to be the motives for acting. _defence._ when the charges and the _accusation_ have been read, the inquisitors ask the prisoner if he wishes to make a defence; if he replies in the affirmative, a copy of the _accusation_ and the replies is taken. he is then required to select the lawyer whom he wishes to employ for his defence, from the list of those belonging to the holy office. some prisoners required permission to seek a defender out of the tribunal, a pretension which is not contrary to any law, particularly if the lawyer has taken an oath of secrecy; yet this simple and natural right has seldom been granted by the inquisitors. it is of little consequence to the accused to be defended by an able man, as the lawyer is not allowed to see the original process, or to communicate with his client. one of the notaries draws up a copy of the result of the _preliminary instruction_, in which he reports the deposition of the witnesses, without mentioning their names, or the circumstances of time or place, and (what is more extraordinary) without stating what has been said in defence of the prisoner. he entirely omits the declarations of the persons who, having been summoned and interrogated by the tribunal, have persisted in affirming that they knew nothing of the subject on which they were examined. this extract is accompanied by the censure of the _qualifiers_, and the demand of the fiscal for the examination, and the accusation, and the replies of the accused. this is all that is given to the defender in the audience-chamber, where the inquisitors have commanded him to attend. he is then obliged to promise to defend the prisoner if he thinks that it is just to do so; but, in the contrary case, that he will use all the means in his power to persuade him to solicit his pardon of the tribunal, by a sincere confession of his sins, and a demand to be reconciled to the church. those who have acquired any experience in criminal proceedings, are aware of the great advantages which may be derived from the comparison of the testimony of the witnesses in the defence of the accused; but the direction given to the proceedings by the inquisition is such, that the lawyer can rarely find any means of defence but that which arises from the difference and variations in the depositions on the actions and words imputed to the prisoner. as this is not sufficient, (because the semi-proof exists,) the defender generally demands to see the prisoner, that he may inquire if it is his intention to challenge the witnesses, to destroy, either in part, or entirely, the proof established against him. if he replies in the affirmative, the inquisitors order proceedings to prove the irregularity of the witnesses. _proof._ it is then necessary to separate all the original declarations of the witnesses from the process, and send them to the places which they inhabit to receive a _ratification_. this takes place without the knowledge of the prisoner, and as he is not represented by any person during this formality, it is impossible that the challenge of a witness should succeed, even if he was the greatest enemy of the prisoner. if the witness was at madrid at the time of the instruction, and afterwards went to the philippine isles, the course of the trial was suspended, and the prisoner was obliged to wait till the ratification arrived from asia. if he demanded an audience, to complain of the delay, he was answered with ambiguity, that the tribunal could not proceed with greater haste, as it was occupied with particular measures. the prisoner made his challenge of the witnesses by naming those whom he considered as his enemies, giving his reasons for mistrusting them, and writing on the margin of each article the names of those persons who could attest the facts which are the causes of the challenge. the inquisitors decree that they shall be examined, unless some motive prevents it. as the prisoner is not acquainted with the proceedings, he often accuses persons who have not been summoned as witnesses. the article in which they are mentioned is passed over with those of the witnesses who have not deposed against him, or who have spoken in his favour. thus he encounters his accusers only by chance. it sometimes happens that the procurator-fiscal secretly obtains the proof of the morality of the witnesses, in order to destroy the effect of the challenge; and as this is more easy to accomplish than the measures taken by the prisoner, they are generally rendered useless, because in doubtful cases the inquisitors are always disposed to depend upon the witness, if he is not known to be the declared enemy of the accused. _publication of the proofs._ when the proof is established, the tribunal publishes the state of the trial, the depositions, and the act of judgment. but these terms are not to be understood in the common sense, since the publication was only an unfaithful copy of the declarations and other facts contained in the extract formed for the use of the defender. a secretary reads it to the prisoner in the presence of the inquisitors; after each article he asks him if he acknowledges the truth of what he has just heard; he then reads the declarations, and if the prisoner has not yet alleged any thing against the witnesses, that privilege is given him, because, after hearing the deposition, he is generally able to designate the person who has made it. this reading is only a fresh snare; for if the least contradiction is perceived, he may be considered guilty of duplicity, concealment, or a false confession, and the tribunal may refuse to grant the reconciliation, although he demand it, and even condemn him to _relaxation_. _definitive censure of the qualifiers._ after this ceremony the _qualifiers_ are summoned, who receive the original writing of the sentence passed in the _summary_ instruction, with the extract of the replies of the prisoner in his last examination, and the declarations of the witnesses which were communicated to him. they are commissioned to qualify the propositions a second time, to examine his explanation, and to decide if his replies have destroyed the suspicion of heresy which he had incurred, or if he had confirmed it, and was to be looked upon as a _formal_ heretic. every one must be sensible of the importance of this censure, since it led to the definite sentence; yet the _qualifiers_ scarcely took the trouble to hear a rapid perusal of the proceedings; they hastily gave their opinion, and this was the last important act in the proceedings, as the rest was a mere formality. _sentence._ the trial was then considered as finished. the diocesan in ordinary was convoked, that with the inquisitors he might decide upon the proper sentence. in the first ages of the holy office these functions were confided to _consultors_: these were doctors of law, but as they could only give their opinion, and as the inquisitors pronounced the definitive sentence, the latter always prevailed if they chanced to differ. the accused had the right of appealing to the _supreme_ council, but appeals to rome were more frequent. the inquisitors of the provinces were afterwards obliged to submit their opinion to the council before they pronounced the definitive sentence; the council modified and reformed it; their decision was sent to the inquisitors, who then established the judgment in their own names, although it might be contrary to their previous opinion. this proceeding rendered the office of the consultors useless, and it was discontinued. although the prisoner was acquitted, he was not acquainted with the names of his denouncers and the witnesses. he rarely obtained a more public reparation than the liberty of returning to his house with a certificate of absolution. _execution of the sentence._ the nature of the punishments inflicted by the inquisition has been already described; it is, therefore, only necessary to remark that the sentences were not communicated to the victims until the commencement of the execution, since the condemned were sent to the _autos-da-fé_, either to be reconciled or given over to secular justice; on leaving prison the _familiars_ attired them in the _san-benito_, with a paper mitre on their heads, a cord round their necks, and a wax taper in their hands. when the prisoner arrives at the place of execution, his sentence is read, and he is then reconciled or _relaxed_, which means, that he is condemned to be burnt by the justice of the king. _san-benito._ the _san-benito_ was a species of _scapulary_, which only descended to the knees, that it might not be confounded with those worn by some monks: this motive also made the inquisitors prefer common woollen stuff of a yellow colour with red crosses for the _san-benito_. such were the penitential habits in 1514, when cardinal ximenez de cisneros altered the common crosses for those of st. andrew. the inquisitors afterwards had a different habit for each class of penitents. those who abjured as _slightly_ suspected of heresy, wore the scapulary of yellow stuff without the cross. if he abjured as _violently suspected_, he wore half the cross; if he was a _formal heretic_, he wore it entire. there were also three different kinds of garments for those who were condemned to death. the first was for those who repented before they were sentenced. it was a simple yellow scapulary with a red cross, and a conical cap, denominated _caroza_, which was formed of the same stuff as the _san-benito_, and decorated with similar crosses. the second was destined for those who had been condemned to be burnt, but who had repented after their sentence, and before they were conducted to the _autos-da-fé_. the _san-benito_ and the _caroza_ were made of the same stuff. on the lower part of the scapulary a bust was painted, in the midst of a fire, the flames of which were reversed, to show that the culprit was not to be burnt until he had been strangled. the _caroza_ was painted in the same manner. the third was for those who were impenitent. it was similar to the others, with a bust, and the flames in the natural direction, to show that the person who wore it was to be burnt alive; grotesque figures of devils were also painted on the _san-benito_ and _caroza_. chapter x. of the principal events during the ministry of the inquisitors deza and cisneros. the new inquisitor-general was scarcely in possession of his office, when he began to establish regulations to increase the activity of the inquisition. in 1500 he published a constitution in seven articles; and in 1504 four new articles relative to the confiscations. to prove his zeal, deza proposed to ferdinand that the inquisition should be introduced into sicily and naples in its present form, and that it should be under the authority of the spanish inquisitor-general, instead of being dependent on the court of rome. the king undertook to introduce it into sicily by a decree in 1500; but the inhabitants made great resistance, and he was obliged to pursue the plan which had succeeded in aragon, by commanding the viceroy and other magistrates to assist the inquisitors. several seditions were quelled before the sub-delegated inquisitor-general, don pedro velorad, archbishop of messina, could enter upon his office. in 1516 the sicilians, weary of the proceedings of the inquisition, revolted and set all the prisoners at liberty. melchior de cervera, the inquisitor, only escaped death by a concurrence of extraordinary circumstances; the viceroy was also in the greatest danger. the islanders were thus freed from the yoke of this detested tribunal; but they did not long enjoy liberty, for they were not able to resist the power of charles v., who obliged them to receive it a second time. naples was more fortunate. ferdinand, in 1504, commanded the viceroy, gonzales fernandez de cordova, surnamed _the great captain_, to assist the archbishop of messina with all his power, in establishing the inquisition; but the neapolitans opposed it so obstinately, that the viceroy judged it prudent to desist, and informed the king that it would be extremely dangerous to combat so decided a resistance. in 1510 ferdinand again attempted to introduce the new inquisition; but his efforts were unavailing, and he was obliged to declare that he would be satisfied if the neapolitans would banish all the _new christians_ who had taken refuge in their towns when they were driven from spain. deza persuaded ferdinand and isabella to introduce the inquisition into the kingdom of grenada, although a promise to the contrary had been made to the baptized moors. the queen rejected the proposition, but granted one that differed little from it, namely, that the jurisdiction of the inquisitors of cordova should extend over grenada, but permitting them to prosecute only in cases of actual apostasy. from that period the moors have been known in history by the name of _morescoes_. the principal inquisitor of cordova was don diego de lucero; the severity of his character caused great misery throughout the kingdom of cordova. the moderation and exhortations of ximenez de cisneros, archbishop of toledo, and don ferdinand de talavera, had converted more than 50,000 moors, and the conversions would have been still more numerous, if some priests had not treated the moors with severity, and excited a general revolt. in 1501 the sovereigns declared in an edict, that by the grace of god, there were no infidels in the kingdom of grenada, and to render the conversions more secure, they forbade any moors to enter the territory; they also prohibited the slaves of that nation from holding any communication with others, that their conversion might not be retarded, or with those who had been baptized, as they might induce them to apostatize. all who did not conform to these laws incurred the punishment of death. in february, 1502, ferdinand and isabella commanded all the free moors of both sexes, above fourteen and twelve years of age, to quit the kingdom of spain before the month of may following: they were allowed to sell their goods as the jews had been; but were prohibited from going to africa, which was then at war with spain. the states of the grand seignior and other countries were assigned to them as places of refuge: as several baptized moors sold their property and went to africa, a royal ordinance was published, importing that, for the space of two years, no person could sell his property, or leave the kingdom of castile, except to go into aragon or portugal, without a permission, which would only be granted to those who gave a security for their return when they had terminated their affairs. deza was not contented with exciting the zeal of ferdinand and isabella against the moors; he also proposed measures against the jews on the occasion of the arrival of different strangers in spain, but who were not of those expelled in 1492. he obtained a royal ordinance in 1499, which applied those measures to them which had been established against the first jews. the council of the inquisition had already decreed that the converted jews should be obliged to prove their baptism, and that they lived with the other christians; that those who had been rabbins or masters of the law should be obliged to change the place of their residence; that they should appear every sunday and on festival days in the churches, and be carefully instructed in the christian doctrine. ferdinand permitted the inquisitors of aragon to take cognizance of usury and other crimes foreign to their jurisdiction, contrary to the oath which he had taken to observe the laws of that kingdom, which ordained that they should be punished by the secular judge. deza was at the head of the inquisition eight years. if the calculation of his victims is formed after the inscription at seville, we shall find that 38,440 persons were punished during that time, of whom 2592 were burnt in person, 896 in effigy, and 34,952 condemned to different penances. among this crowd of persons who were persecuted by the inquisition, there were many distinguished by their birth, their learning, their fortunes, and their offices. the sanguinary inquisitor, lucero, made the venerable don ferdinand de talavera, first archbishop of grenada, the object of a shameful persecution. he became jealous of the reputation for sanctity and charity which this prelate had acquired, and raised doubts of his faith, by reminding isabella, that he had opposed the establishment of the inquisition in 1478, and the following years; and by publishing that, although his father was noble, and of the illustrious family of contreras, yet he was of jewish origin by the mother's side. the inquisitor concluded from these circumstances that he could commence a _secret instruction_ against the holy prelate. deza commissioned the archbishop of toledo, ximenez de cisneros, to receive the preparatory informations on the faith of the archbishop of grenada; cisneros informed the pope of the commission which he had received, and the pontiff commanded his apostolical nuncio, the bishop of bristol, to take the affair under his direction, and prohibited deza and the inquisitors from pursuing it. the pope, in a council of cardinals and bishops, acquitted the archbishop of grenada, who died in 1507, some months after this judgment, after three years of the greatest anxiety, as the inquisitor lucero had caused many of his relations to be arrested, although they were all innocent. the persecution suffered by the learned antonio lebrija was not less cruel. he had been tutor to isabella, and was honoured by the friendship and protection of ximenez de cisneros: he was well acquainted with the greek and hebrew, and discovered and corrected in the latin text of the vulgate some errors which had been committed by the transcribers before the invention of printing. he was accused by some scholastic theologians; his papers were seized, and after being treated with the greatest cruelty, he had the grief of seeing the suspicion of heresy established against him, and was obliged to live in that species of disgrace until he could write his apology under the protection of ximenez de cisneros. the inhumanity of the inquisitor lucero had still more serious consequences: as he declared almost all the accused persons guilty of concealment, and condemned them as _false penitents_, some persons added imaginary circumstances to their confessions, and declared that synagogues were held in different houses in cordova, grenada, and other towns; they added, that even monks and nuns attended at them, and went in procession from all parts of castile; they also affirmed that many spanish families of _old christians_, whom they named, assisted at the jewish feasts. in consequence of these declarations, lucero arrested such an immense number of persons, that cordova was on the point of revolting against the inquisition. the municipality, the bishop, the chapter of the cathedral, and all the nobility sent deputies to the inquisitor-general, to demand that lucero should be recalled. deza refused to listen to their claim, until the cruelties of which lucero was accused were proved. lucero had then the audacity to note down as favourers of judaism, knights, ladies, canons, monks, nuns, and respectable persons of every class. at this period, 1506, philip i. ascended the throne of castile; the bishop of cordova informed him of what was passing, and the relations of the prisoners demanded that they should be tried by another tribunal. philip commanded deza to retire to his archbishopric of seville, and to invest don diego ramirez de guzman, bishop of catania, with the powers of inquisitor-general; at the same time all the papers relative to this affair were submitted to the supreme council of castile. ramirez de guzman suspended lucero, and the other inquisitors of cordova, from their functions. the affair would have terminated happily, but for the death of the king in the same year. deza was no sooner informed of that event than he again resumed his office of inquisitor-general, and annulled all that had been done during his retirement. ferdinand v. resumed the government of the kingdom, as father of queen joanna, widow of philip i., as her mind was disordered. some time elapsed, however, before he began to reign, as he was at naples at the time of the death of the king of spain. at this period, all the inhabitants of cordova, and some members of the council of castile, declared against deza, and published that he was of the race of _marranos_, that is, a descendant of the jews. the marquis de priego excited the cordovans to a revolt; they forced the prisons of the holy office, and liberated an immense number of prisoners. they seized the persons of the procurator-fiscal, one of the notaries, and several other officers of the tribunal; priego would also have arrested lucero, but he escaped by means of an excellent mule. these events alarmed the inquisitor-general to such a degree, that he resigned his office, and retired to his diocese with the greatest precaution. this proceeding restored tranquillity in cordova, but did not terminate the trials. when the regent of spain arrived in that kingdom, he named don francisco ximenez de cisneros inquisitor-general for the crown of castile, and don juan enguera, bishop of vic, for that of aragon. the pope expedited their bulls in 1507, and made cisneros a cardinal. ximenez de cisneros began to exercise his new employment on the 1st october, when the conspiracy against the holy office had become almost general, on account of the events at cordova, of which the council of castile took cognizance. all its members who had been of the party of philip i. signalized themselves by their hatred against the inquisition. this aversion made ximenez de cisneros feel the necessity of conducting himself with extreme caution, that he might not give occasion for a general convocation of the cortes, which would have deprived him of the high office of governor of the kingdom, which he then possessed. the events at cordova forced a great number of persons to appeal to rome. the pope appointed two prelates to examine the trials, and made cardinal cisneros judge of appeals, with the power of bringing all the trials begun by the apostolical commissioners before him. the cardinal immediately suspended the inquisitor lucero, and sent him prisoner to burgos; he also imprisoned all those witnesses who were suspected of having made false depositions, because some of the charges were so absurd that no one could believe them. the examination of the trials made the cardinal perceive, that an affair which implicated some of the most illustrious families of spain could not be treated with too much delicacy:--he therefore obtained the king's permission to form a junta, which he named the _catholic congregation_: it was composed of twenty-two respectable persons, namely, the inquisitor-general (who was the president); the inquisitor-general of aragon; the bishop of ciudad rodrigo; those of calahorra and barcelona; the mitred abbot of the benedictines at valladolid; the president of the council of castile, and eight of its members; the vice-chancellor and the president of the chancery of aragon; two counsellors of the _supreme_; two provincial inquisitors, and an auditor of the chancery of valladolid. their first assembly was held at burgos, on ascension-day, in 1508, and on the 9th of july they decreed that the characters of the witnesses were vile, contemptible, and unworthy of confidence; that their declarations were full of contradictions; that they contained things unworthy of belief, and contrary to common sense; that the prisoners were consequently at liberty; that their honour, and that of the prisoners who had died, was re-established; that the houses which had been destroyed, as having been used for synagogues, should be rebuilt; and that the judgment and the notes in the register should be erased. this decision of the _catholic junta_ was proclaimed at valladolid on the 1st august, in the same year, in the presence of the king, and a multitude of nobles, and other inhabitants of all classes. cardinal ximenez de cisneros had genius, knowledge, and was just, which he proved in the affair of cordova, and in the protection which he granted to lebrija and other learned men on different occasions. i shall here remark the error into which several writers have fallen, in accusing cisneros of having taken a great part in the establishment of the holy office, when it is certain that, in concert with cardinal mendoza and talavera, he endeavoured to prevent it. when he was chosen as chief of an institution which had more power and was better obeyed than many sovereigns, circumstances made it a duty to uphold and defend it, and he was obliged to oppose innovations in the manner of proceeding, although the events at cordova had shown him the inconveniences of the secrecy preserved by the tribunal. the division of the kingdoms of aragon and castile, which took place at this time, and the idea that it was no longer necessary to have as many inquisitorial tribunals as bishoprics, were the reasons that induced cisneros to distribute them by provinces. he established the holy office at seville, cordova, jaen, toledo, in estremadura, at murcia, valladolid, and calahorra, and determined the extent of territory for the jurisdiction of each tribunal: at this time he also sent inquisitors to the canary isles. in 1513, the inquisition was introduced at cuença; in 1524, at grenada; under philip ii., at santiago de galicia; and under philip iv., at madrid. cisneros also judged it necessary, in 1516, to have a tribunal at oran, and soon after in america. the inquisitor-general of aragon adopted the same system, and sent inquisitors to saragossa, barcelona, valencia, majorca, sardinia, and sicily; and, at a later period, to pampeluna, after the conquest of navarre: but this kingdom being united in 1515 to that of castile, its tribunal was subjected to the inquisitor-general of that kingdom, who suppressed it some time after, and transferred the territory to that of calahorra. during the eleven years of his ministry, (which ended by his death in 1517,) cisneros permitted the condemnation of 52,855 individuals, 3564 were burnt in person, 1232 in effigy, and 4832 suffered different punishments. although this number of executions is immense, yet it must be acknowledged that cisneros had taken measures to relax the activity of the inquisition; the most important was, that he assigned particular churches to the _new christians_, and charged the curates to increase their zeal in instructing them, and to visit them often in their own houses. _offer made to the king to obtain the publicity of the proceedings._ in 1512, a report being spread among the _new christians_ that ferdinand intended to make war against his nephew, the king of navarre, they offered him 600,000 ducats of gold towards the expenses of the war if he would consent to make a law that the trials of the inquisition should be public: the king was on the point of treating with the _new christians_, when cisneros placed a large sum of money at his disposal; the king accepted it, though it was less than the first, and abandoned the idea of a reform. after the death of that prince, and while charles v. was in flanders, in 1517, the _new christians_ again offered, on the same conditions, 800,000 ducats for the expenses of his journey to spain. william de croy, duke d'ariscot, the favourite governor of the young monarch, persuaded him to consult the colleges, universities, and learned men of spain and flanders; they all replied that the communication of the names and the entire depositions of the witnesses was consonant to all rights natural, human, and divine. when the cardinal-inquisitor was informed of this decision, he sent deputies, and wrote to the king to combat it; he reminded him that a similar proposal had been refused by his grandfather; but he did not tell him the most important circumstance, that he had refused it for a sum of money. charles v. left the affair undecided until his arrival in spain, but he terminated it according to the general hopes after the death of cisneros, in 1518. the particular favour which ferdinand granted to the inquisition did not prevent him from maintaining the rights of his crown. in 1509, he published a law which prohibited, on pain of death, any person from presenting to the inquisitors any bull, or writing of that nature, obtained from the pope, or his legates, without first applying to the king that it might be examined by his council. this right of the crown of spain over the decisions of the pope has been lately renewed by a law of charles iii.; yet the law has often been impotent against the enterprises, the decisions, and the briefs of the popes. ferdinand named don louis mercader inquisitor-general for the kingdom of aragon, after the death of the bishop of vic. mercader died in 1516, while the government was in the hands of charles of austria, the grandson of ferdinand, who died in the same year, leaving no children by his second marriage. charles, his grandson, resided in flanders, but he sent into spain several men who enjoyed his confidence: amongst them were his governor, the duke d'ariscot, and adrian de florencio, who was dean of louvain, and born at utrecht. as the two sovereignties of castile and aragon were now united, it appeared natural that there should be but one inquisitor-general for the monarchy, but cisneros had too much penetration to omit this opportunity of recommending himself to the favorite, and, consequently, to the prince. instead of demanding this union, he wrote to the king to represent that it appeared to him expedient to bestow the bishopric of tortosa and the office of inquisitor-general of aragon on the dean of louvain, and it was easy to obviate the difficulty of his being a foreigner by giving him letters of naturalization. this plan was executed; the double nomination was sent to rome, and the pope granted the bulls. adrian took possession of majorca on the 7th of february, 1517: this nomination was followed by one to the office of cisneros, who died on the 6th of november following. although he was elected pope on the 9th of january, 1522, he continued in his office until the 10th of september in the following year, when he signed the bulls of his successor, don alphonso manrique de lara, archbishop of seville. during the period that the inquisition remained separate from that of castile, it was often violently attacked, and more than once was on the point of being abolished, or at least subjected to a reform, which would have left it without the power of exciting terror. ferdinand having assembled the cortes of the kingdom at monzon, in 1510, the deputies of the towns and cities loudly complained that the inquisitors abused their powers, not only in matters of faith, but in several points which were not in their jurisdiction. the deputies also represented, that they interfered in the regulation of the contributions, and that the taxes were shamefully diminished by the reductions which they made in the lists; that their authority had made them so bold and insolent, that they created themselves judges in all doubtful cases; and where their competence was denied, they had recourse to excommunication; that they oppressed the magistrates, who feared that they should be obliged to do public penance in an _auto-da-fé_; that this misfortune had already happened to the viceroys and governors of barcelona, valencia, majorca, sardinia, and sicily, and to several persons of high rank; in consequence, they entreated his majesty to maintain the execution of the laws and statues of the kingdom of aragon, and to oblige the officers of the inquisition to confine themselves to matter of faith, and to pursue them according to the rules of common law, in giving them the publicity of criminal proceedings. this representation of the cortes acquainted the king with the disposition of the public; yet he avoided giving a direct reply, and said that it was impossible to decide upon so important an affair without having acquired a profound knowledge of facts; that he requested them to collect all that came to their knowledge, and to lay them before him in the first assembly. this took place in the same town, in 1512. the resolutions which were then adopted form a treaty between the sovereign and his people: it contains twenty-five articles, all tending to restrain the extent of the jurisdiction of the inquisitors. it was there stated that they could not interfere in trials for bigamy and usury, unless the culprits had fallen into the crime of heresy in asserting that these offences were not sinful; nor in the proceedings instituted against blasphemers by other tribunals, unless the blasphemy was heretical: they were also prohibited from proceeding in a trial without the concurrence of the _ordinaire diocesan_: the inquisitor-general was likewise restrained from pronouncing judgment in cases of appeal without the consent of his counsellors; and that the execution of the sentence which had caused it should be delayed. no measures were taken for the publicity of the proceedings, or with regard to the confiscations; but it was agreed that the contracts and other engagements, signed by one who had the reputation of a good catholic, should be valid, although he should be afterwards proved to have been a heretic at the time of the transaction. the king soon repented of having given his word to the cortes; and, seconded by the intrigues of the inquisitors, he solicited and obtained a dispensation from his promise, on the 30th of april, 1513. one of the clauses of the dispensation reinstates the tribunals of the holy office in all the privileges which they had formerly possessed. this conduct of the king caused a general revolt; and he was obliged to request the pope to confirm the regulations of the cortes, and subject those who did not conform to them to the censure of the church. the pope saw the necessity of compliance, and granted the bull in 1515. chapter xi. an attempt made by the cortes of castile and aragon to reform the inquisition.--of the principal events under adrian, fourth inquisitor-general. the inquisition was never in so much danger as during the first year of the reign of charles v. when the young monarch arrived in spain, he was disposed to abolish the inquisition, or at least to regulate the proceedings according to those of other tribunals. in 1518 a general assembly of the cortes was held at valladolid, when the representatives solicited that his highness would command the office of the holy inquisition to conform to the rules of the canons and the common law. the cortes likewise sent ten thousand pieces of gold to the chancellor selvagio, and promised the same sum when the decree which they solicited should be put in execution. the king replied that he would take proper measures to remedy the evil of which they complained: in consequence, he engaged the cortes to publish the abuses which had been introduced, and to indicate the means of abolishing them. when the assembly at valladolid had terminated their labours, charles convoked the cortes of aragon at saragossa, where he was accompanied by the chancellor selvagio, who had prepared a royal ordinance, to be published according to the demand of the cortes of castile. it was composed of thirty-nine articles: the proceedings of the tribunal were regulated in it, with the ages, the rank, and salaries of the judges and subaltern officers. the result of this new code was, that the inquisitors could not question a witness to obtain information on any subject but that for which he was summoned. that each denouncer should be subject to a strict examination, to discover his motives for the accusation. that the order for imprisonment could not be given without the concurrence of the diocesan in ordinary, or until they had examined each witness a second time. that the prisons should be public, neat, and convenient. that the prisoners should be allowed to see their relations, their friends, and their counsel. that they might choose a lawyer or procurator in whom they placed confidence. that the accusation should be immediately communicated to them, with the name of the place where, and the time when, the witnesses had declared the crime to have been committed. that if the accused demanded a copy of the accusation and the examination, it should be given to him. that when the proofs and the depositions were all received, they should be communicated entirely to the prisoner, _as in the present time there are no persons powerful enough to inspire the witnesses with fear, except in cases where the prisoner is a duke, marquis, count, bishop, or in possession of some other dignity of the church_. that in this case, in order to conceal the names of the witnesses, the judge shall draw up a writing, declaring upon oath, that he believes this measure to be necessary for the preservation of the lives of the witnesses; that this act shall deprive the prisoner of his right of appealing against it. that if it is considered absolutely necessary to make use of the torture, it shall only be administered in moderation, and without recurring to the cruel inventions hitherto employed. that it shall only be employed once for what personally concerns the accused; never to obtain from him information of other individuals; and only in the case of persons mentioned in the law. that the definitive sentences, and even the interlocutory orders, shall be subject to the right of appeal, as to their double effect. that when the preparatory examination of the judgment is commenced, the parties and their counsel may attend at this revision of the process, and demand that the reading may be made in their presence. that if the proof of the crime is not then established, the prisoner shall be acquitted, without being liable to a punishment as being still suspected. that if the accused desires to clear himself, on oath, he shall be allowed to seek witnesses, and to converse with them in private; and that their being descendants of the jews shall not prevent their admission. that the challenge of witnesses shall be permitted; and if one of those called by the procurator-fiscal is convicted of giving false testimony, he shall be subject to the punishment of retaliation, according to a law of ferdinand and isabella, in the beginning of their reign. that when an accused person has been reconciled, he shall not be arrested for things which he has not confessed, because it is to be supposed that he forgot them. that no persons shall be molested or imprisoned for a simple presumption of heresy, arising from their having been brought up among jews or heretics. that the san-benitos shall be taken out of the churches, and that they no longer be worn in the streets. that the punishment of perpetual imprisonment shall be abolished, _because the prisoners die of hunger, and cannot serve god_. that the statutes recently established to prevent _new christians_ from being admitted into convents, shall be considered as null and void, because they are contrary to all laws, human and divine. that where an individual is sentenced to imprisonment, an inventory shall be taken of his property, and they shall not be sequestrated or sold. that he, and his wife, and children, shall possess his revenues during his detention, and shall be allowed to employ them to prepare his means of defence against the inquisition. that when a man is condemned, his children shall inherit his property. that no donation shall be made on their property, until it has been definitively confiscated. that the spirit and letter of the canons shall be complied with in all things, without regard to any particular custom previously in use. that the king shall be supplicated to obtain a bull from the pope to ratify these measures. that until this bull is obtained, the king shall be requested to command the inquisitors to conform to these regulations, in the trials already commenced, and in those which may begin from this time. this excellent code of laws was never put in execution, because the chancellor selvagio, who framed it, died before its publication; and cardinal adrian so totally changed the ideas and inclinations of charles v. that he became an ardent defender of the inquisition. charles v. had sworn at saragossa, in 1518, to respect the privileges and customs of the aragonese, particularly the resolutions of the cortes at saragossa, tarazona, and monzon, and consequently that he would not suffer the inquisitors to commence any trials for usury. but a new assembly of the cortes having been convoked at saragossa, towards the end of the year 1518, the deputies of aragon represented to the king, that the agreement of the cortes at monzon, in 1512, was not sufficient to remedy the abuses which the inquisitors had introduced; they therefore entreated his majesty to add to it thirty-one articles which they had adopted. these articles differed little from those of the cortes of castile. the king, after having consulted his council, replied, "_that it was his pleasure that the holy canons, and the decrees of the holy see, should be conformed to in regard to all the articles which had been presented to him. that if difficulties or doubts should occur, which required explanation, they should apply to the pope_; that if any person wished to accuse an inquisitor of abuse in the exercise of his office, he might do so by applying to the inquisitor-general, who would pronounce sentence according to equity; and that the king would cause them to be punished as an example; _that he engaged by oath to observe himself, and cause others to observe, the order and declaration which he addressed to the assembly, as well as the articles which the pope might add to those of the cortes_; that he also promised, upon oath, never to demand a dispensation from his promise; and that if one was addressed to him he would never make use of it, as he at that time renounced all the rights which might arise from it." this reply induced the cortes to believe that the king had granted all their requests; they considered that the trials would be there conducted as before other ecclesiastical tribunals. persuaded that this was the king's intention, the cortes resolved to show their gratitude by a voluntary contribution of money. some time elapsed before the agreement was approved by the pope. the emperor wrote the following letter from cologne, in 1520, to his ambassador at rome:--"in regard to the transactions of the cortes, it will be sufficient if his holiness will approve an act sent to don louiz carroz, and afterwards to don jerome vich, which is written by the hand of the venerable cardinal of tortosa, and that of the great chancellor, without any extension or interpretation, as i have often demanded earnestly." the aragonese, who did not even believe it possible to obtain this last point, entreated the inquisitor-general to command the inquisitors of saragossa to conform immediately to the regulations of the agreement, without waiting for the confirmation of the pope, because almost all the articles were the same as those in the convention of 1512, which the pope had approved. cardinal adrian complied with the request, and wrote to the inquisitors. they replied, that they thought themselves obliged to take the orders of the king before they obeyed him. charles addressed an ordinance to them, in which he commanded them to execute all that he had promised and sworn in the preceding year. at last the pope confirmed the resolutions by a bull, which was proclaimed with great solemnity. however, it soon appeared that this publication would have no effect, because the promise of the king was, that the canons and apostolical ordinances should be strictly observed in regard to the articles; and in conforming to this they only executed the bull of 1515. on the 21st of january, 1521, the emperor ordered the secretary of the cortes to be set at liberty; for although the inquisitor-general, in 1520, had decreed that he should be _relaxed_, and the prisoner had been informed of it, yet he refused to quit the prison, affirming that the decree which set him at liberty, tended more to make him appear guilty than innocent, by the use of the word _relaxed_. similar debates took place in catalonia, where the king convoked a cortes at barcelona, in 1519, to take the oath of maintaining the privileges of the province. the catalans, informed of the effect produced by the representations of the cortes of aragon, likewise demanded a reform of several abuses of their inquisition relative to the taxes, as well as usury, bigamy, and other crimes of that class. the king, after having heard their remonstrances, made nearly the same reply as to the cortes of saragossa, and wrote to the pope to demand a ratification of the articles. the pope approved them in a bull in 1520; but charles did not wait for its arrival to enforce the execution of his promise, which is proved by his order to don diego de mendoza, his lieutenant-general in catalonia. yet he declares in his letter to his lieutenant, that he only made these promises _on account of the importunities of some representatives_ of towns, and some _men who were among the members of the cortes_. in consequence of some events in aragon, during the period which elapsed before the bull of confirmation was issued, leo x. was on the point of destroying the inquisition; but intimidated by the policy of charles v., he left the hydra in the same state. john prat, the secretary of the cortes of aragon, drew up the proposition of the representatives, and the reply of the king, to be addressed to the pope; the chancellor of the king had done the same. this proceeding particularly displeased the inquisitors of saragossa; and to avoid the danger which they believed themselves to be in, they began to intrigue at court, and soon succeeded in rendering the king averse to the cause of the deputies of aragon. they insinuated that prat had drawn up the act which was to be sent to rome, in such a manner, as to represent the reply of the king as obligatory, not only in the literal sense of the words, but in supposing that he had admitted the articles as being conformed to the common law; and that they, consequently, only wanted the ratification of the pope, which there was no doubt of obtaining, as it was known that the deputies of aragon were supported by several cardinals, and had sent them considerable sums of money. the papers which contained these details were sent to cardinal adrian, who communicated them to the king, and obtained permission to order the inquisitors of saragossa to make an inquiry if this recital was true, when they would be authorized to arrest prat. everything happened according to the hopes of the inquisitors. prat was arrested on the 5th of may, 1509, and the next day the king wrote to the pope, to request that he would not expedite the bull. it was intended that the prisoner should be transferred to barcelona, but the _permanent deputation_ (who then represented the aragonese during the intervals of the assembling of the cortes) wrote to the king, that this proceeding was contrary to the statutes which he had sworn to maintain. the deputation also judged it necessary to convoke a new cortes, who represented to the king the dangerous consequences of the removal of secretary prat, whose fidelity had been particularly remarked during the reign of ferdinand; and entreated him to set prat at liberty, not only because they believed him to be just, faithful, and loyal, but that it was impossible to levy the supply which had been offered to the king, unless this request was granted. the king prevented the removal of the prisoner, but would not liberate him. the deputation of the cortes sent commissioners to barcelona, to say that the sum of money offered to the king was conditional, and at the same time convoked the _tiers-état_. charles being informed of it, commanded the dissolution of the assembly, which replied, that the kings of aragon had no right to use so violent a measure, without the consent of the people; it decreed that the levy should not be raised, and applied to the court of rome for the ratification of the articles of saragossa. leo x. was at that time displeased with the inquisition of spain, on account of its refusal to admit certain briefs of inhibition in the tribunals of toledo, seville, valencia, and sicily; and forgetting the consideration which he owed to charles (who was then emperor of germany), he resolved to reform the holy office, and to compel it to submit to the rules of common law. in consequence of this resolution he expedited three briefs addressed to the king, the cardinal inquisitor-general, and the inquisitors of saragossa, in which, after explaining his intention, he decrees that the inquisitors shall be deprived of their offices, and that the bishops and their chapters should present two canons to the inquisitor-general, who should appoint one: he added that this choice should be confirmed by the holy see, and that these new inquisitors should be subjected every two years to a judicial censure. the deputies received these briefs, and immediately required the inquisitors to conform to them; they replied that they would await the orders of their immediate chief. the king wrote to his uncle don alphonso of aragon, archbishop of saragossa, to enter into an agreement with the deputies, and at the same time he sent an ambassador-extraordinary to rome to demand a revocation of the briefs. the aragonese then promised to levy the supply if the secretary prat was liberated, but protested that they would not admit any proposition contrary to the promise which the king had made. this prince instructed his ambassador to inform the pope of all that had passed in the cortes of castile, but to keep silence on the most important circumstances, and to assure his holiness that no complaints had been made of the inquisition since cardinal adrian had been inquisitor-general. charles also required that no brief should be expedited to cause the _san-benitos_ to be removed from the churches, or to prohibit them from being worn in the streets. the pope, seeing the importance which charles attached to these things, wrote to cardinal adrian, that although he was perfectly informed of all that was passing, and that he had resolved to do justice to the claims of the cortes, yet he would not carry the affair further without the consent of the king, to whom he promised to make no innovations; but he requested him to pay great attention to what was passing, as he heard serious complaints every day from all parts of the kingdom, of the avarice and injustice of the inquisitors. this brief offended the deputies, but they continued their importunities at the court of rome with so much ardour, that their credit balanced the power of charles v.; and though they did not obtain the extension of the articles, they prevented the revocation of the reforming briefs, and charles was obliged to be satisfied with that addressed to cardinal adrian. leo x. died on the 1st of december, 1521, and cardinal adrian succeeded him on the 9th of january, 1522: he did not quit his office of inquisitor-general until the 10th of september, 1523, when he bestowed it on don alphonso manrique, archbishop of seville. according to the most moderate calculation from the inscription at seville, it appears that 240,025 persons were condemned by the inquisition during the five years of the ministry of adrian; 1620 were burnt in person; 560 in effigy; and 21,845 subjected to different penances. if the year 1523, which may be considered as an interregnum until the inscription of seville, which is of the year 1524, is added to this, the number of victims sacrificed by the inquisition may be estimated at 234,526 persons, an immense number, though it is far below the truth. chapter xii. conduct of the inquisitors towards the morescoes. the new christians of jewish origin flattered themselves, at the commencement of the ministry of don alphonso manrique, that they should obtain the publication of the names and charges of the witnesses, as he had supported their request in 1516: but the inquisitors persuaded him that such a proceeding tended to the destruction of the holy office, and the triumph of the enemies of the faith; and that the appearance of two new sects of _morescoes_ and _lutherans_ rendered a great degree of severity indispensable. it has been already stated, that an order from ferdinand and isabella, in 1502, had compelled all those moors who refused to become christians, to quit spain. although this law was executed in castile, it did not affect the moors of aragon, as the king had yielded to the solicitations of the nobles, who represented the immense injury which it would do them, in destroying the population of their domains, where there were scarcely any baptized inhabitants. the two sovereigns renewed their promise in 1510, and charles v. took an oath to the same effect in the cortes of saragossa in 1519. a civil war soon after broke out in aragon, similar to one in castile, about the same time. the factious were almost all common people, who hated the nobles: they endeavoured to injure them as much as possible; and knowing that the moors, who were their vassals, were obliged to serve them in a more laborious manner, on account of the difference of their religion, they baptized all the moors who fell into their hands. above sixteen thousand thus received baptism; but as they were forced to it, many afterwards returned to their former creed. the emperor punished the chiefs of the insurrection, and many moors, fearing the same fate, quitted spain, and retired to the kingdom of algiers; so that in 1523, more than five thousand houses were left without inhabitants. charles v., irritated at this conduct, persuaded himself that he ought not to suffer any moors to remain in his dominions, and demanded a dispensation from his oath to the cortes of saragossa. the pope at first refused, on account of the scandal of such a proceeding; but the emperor insisted, and it was granted in 1524: the pope, however, engaged him, at the same time, to charge the inquisitors to accelerate the conversion of the moors, by announcing, that if they did not become christians within a certain period, they would be obliged to quit spain, on pain of being reduced to slavery. doubts were afterwards raised, of the validity of the baptism administered to the moors in valencia by the rebels; but charles assembled a council, which, after many debates, decided, on the 23d of march, 1525, that it was valid, as the infidels had not offered any resistance. the greatest part of the moorish people fled to the mountains and the sierra de bernia, and resisted the arms of charles, until the month of august, when they surrendered, after obtaining an amnesty. the moors of almonacid refused baptism, and took up arms; their town was taken, and several put to death, and the rest became christians. in the borough of correa, the moors assassinated the lord of the district, and seventeen christians, who endeavoured to compel them to embrace christianity. at last the revolt became general throughout the kingdom of valencia, where they formed nearly twenty-six thousand families; they fortified themselves in the town of the sierra d'espadan, and a considerable period elapsed before they were reduced by the royal army. they then implored the protection of germaine de foix, second wife to ferdinand v., and who was then married to don ferdinand of aragon, duke of calabria. this princess granted a passport to twelve of their deputies, whom they sent to court to learn the real intentions of the emperor. they demanded a delay of five years before they became christians, or left spain by the port of alicant. these demands being refused, they offered to become christians, on condition that the inquisitors should not be permitted to prosecute them for the space of forty years; this was also cruelly refused them. they then applied to the inquisitor-general manrique, who received them graciously, and supposing that they would freely consent to receive baptism, he offered to employ his influence with the emperor. on the 16th of january, 1526, they remitted a memorial to him, in which they demanded, 1st, that during forty years they should not be liable to be prosecuted by the holy office; 2ndly, that they might be allowed to preserve their language, and their manner of clothing themselves; 3rdly, that they might have a cemetery separate from that of the old christians; 4thly, that they might be able to marry their relations during the space of forty years, and that the marriages already contracted should not be interfered with; 5thly, that the ministers of their religion should continue to receive the revenues of the mosques converted into churches; 6thly, that they might be allowed the use of arms like other christians; 7thly, that the charges and rents which they paid to their lords should not be more burdensome than those of other christians; 8thly, that they should not be obliged to pay the municipal expenses of royal towns, unless they were allowed to hold offices, and enjoy the honours depending on them. these articles being submitted to the emperor, they were granted, with a few restrictions, and the moors were all baptized, with the exception of some thousands who fled to the mountains, and resisted the royal force during the year 1526. when they were reduced, they received baptism, and the punishment of slavery which they had incurred was commuted for a fine of twelve thousand ducats. the aragonese, fearing that the moors dispersed among them would be subjected to the same laws as those of valencia, represented to the emperor, through the medium of his relation the count de ribagorza, that they had never caused any trouble either in politics or religion; that they could not have any communication with africa, on account of the distance of the countries; and that many of them were excellent workmen in the fabrication of arms, and, consequently, their banishment would occasion great loss to the kingdom of aragon. the representations of the aragonese were unavailing: the emperor commanded the inquisitors to subject the moors of aragon to the same laws as those of valencia, and they were baptized without resistance in 1526. in 1530 the pope gave the inquisitor-general, the necessary power to absolve all the moors of aragon as often as they should relapse into heresy and repent, without inflicting any public penance or infamous punishments. the motives expressed in the bull for this conduct were, that they were much sooner converted by gentle means than severity. it is natural to inquire why a different policy was adopted with respect to the jews; they were all rich merchants, while scarcely one in five thousand was found among the moors. occupied in the cultivation of the ground and the care of their flocks, they were always poor; sometimes workmen of singular intelligence, talent, and address were found among them. the morescoes of grenada also occupied the attention of the emperor, although the events which passed among them were of less importance. when the emperor was at grenada in 1526, a memorial from the morescoes was presented to him, by don ferdinand benegas, don michael d'aragon and diego lopez benaxara; they were all members of the municipality, and illustrious nobles, as they were descended in the direct male line from the moorish kings of grenada. they represented that the moors suffered much from the priests, judges, notaries, alguazils, and other old christians. the emperor appeared touched by the recital, and commissioned a bishop to go into the countries inhabited by the moors and examine into the state of religion. the bishop visited the kingdom of grenada, and found that the moors had reason to complain; but he also discovered that there were scarcely seven catholics among all these people; all the others had returned to mahometanism, either because they had not been properly instructed, or because they were permitted to exercise their old religion in public. the emperor convoked a council, which decreed that the inquisitorial tribunal of jaen should be transferred to grenada. several other measures were adopted and approved by the emperor; the most important was a promise of pardon to the moors for all that had passed, and a notice that they would be treated with the utmost severity, if they again relapsed into heresy. the morescoes submitted, and obtained for eighty thousand ducats the privileges of wearing the costume of their nation, and that the inquisition should not be allowed to seize their property if they relapsed. the inquisitors of grenada celebrated an _auto-da-fé_ in 1528 with the greatest ceremony, in order to inspire the moors with more respect and fear. however no moors were burnt, but only baptized jews who had returned to judaism. the moors still continued to emigrate to africa, although they were treated with moderation. philip ii. obtained a brief from paul iv., by which the confessors were authorized to absolve the moors secretly, without imposing any penance or pecuniary penalty, on the condition that they demanded absolution voluntarily. the system of indulgence which bad been adopted did not prevent louis albosein from being condemned to the flames. after emigrating to africa, he returned to valencia with several other renegadoes, with the intention of exciting the morescoes to a revolt; the plot was discovered, the conspirators disarmed, and louis was burnt in 1562. in 1567 the pope expedited a brief in favour of the morescoes of valencia, but those of grenada revolted, and elected for their king don ferdinand valor, a descendant of their former sovereigns of the dynasty of abenhumeyas. this rebellion continued for some time; and philip ii. endeavoured to quell it by issuing edicts of pardon even for those crimes which came under the jurisdiction of the inquisition. an amnesty was granted to the moors on condition that they came to solicit it, and many took advantage of the permission. to prevent emigration, the king remitted the penalty of confiscation, but the inquisitors, by means of the impenetrable secrecy which they always preserved, rendered the benevolent intentions of the sovereign of no avail. they did not publish the briefs of indulgence granted by the court of rome, knowing that a great number of the _relapsed_ would take advantage of them; these people, not being aware of their privileges, were condemned and burnt. these examples of cruelty increased the hatred of the moors for this sanguinary tribunal, and were the cause of many seditions, which, in 1609, led to the entire expulsion of the moors, to the number of a million souls; so that in the space of an hundred and thirty-nine years the inquisition deprived the kingdom of spain of three millions of inhabitants, jews, morescoes, and moors. chapter xiii. of the prohibition of books and other articles. the opinions of luther, carolstadt, zuingle, oecolampadius, melancthon, muncer, and calvin, were first promulgated during the ministry of don alphonso manrique, the fifth inquisitor-general. these reformers were called _protestants_ after the imperial diet at spire, in 1529. leo the xth had already condemned the opinions of luther as heretical, which induced manrique to enact severe punishments for those who should openly maintain or write in favour of them. in 1490 several hebrew bibles and books written by jews were burnt at seville; at salamanca more than six thousand volumes of magic and sorcery were committed to the flames. in 1502 ferdinand and isabella appointed the presidents of the chanceries of valladolid and ciudad real, the archbishops of seville, toledo, grenada, the bishops of burgos, salamanca, and zamora, to decide on all affairs relating to the examination, censure, printing, introduction, or sale of books. in 1521 the pope wrote to the governors of the provinces of castile during the absence of charles v., recommending them to prevent the introduction of the works of luther into the kingdom; and cardinal adrian, in the same year, ordered the inquisitors to seize all books of that nature: this order was repeated in 1523. in 1530 the _supreme_ council wrote to the inquisitors during the absence of cardinal manrique, on the necessity of executing the measures which had been ordained; adding, that information had been received that the writings of luther had been introduced into the kingdom under fictitious titles, or as works entirely composed by catholics authors; and in order to repress this intolerable abuse, they were commanded to visit all public libraries for those books, and to add to the edict of denunciation, a particular article, to oblige all catholics to denounce any person who might read or keep them in their houses. in 1535 cardinal manrique addressed an order to the inquisitors, and another in the same year prohibiting the universities of the kingdom from explaining, reading, or even selling the _colloquies of erasmus_. in 1528 he anathematised some other works of the same author, although he had defended him in 1527, in an assembly which met to examine his writings. erasmus was considered in spain as a supporter of the catholic faith against the doctrine of luther, and his enemies were only a few scholastic theologians, who were not acquainted with the greek and hebrew tongues. the spanish theologians who wrote against him were, diego lopez de zuñiga, sancho de carranza, professor of theology in the university of alcala de henarés, brother louis de carjaval, a franciscan, edward lee, the english ambassador, and pedro vittoria, a theologian of salamanca. after this first attack, in the lent of the year 1527, two monks denounced several propositions in the works of erasmus, as heretical. alphonso manrique (although he was then the friend of erasmus) was obliged to submit these propositions to the examination of qualifiers; but he appointed the most learned men of the kingdom to that office. this assembly of doctors lasted two months, when the plague, which then desolated some parts of the kingdom, obliged them to separate, before they had decided on the judgment to be pronounced; it appears from several letters written by erasmus about that time that he hoped it would be favourable to him.[4] but the supreme council qualified his _colloquies_, his _eulogy of folly_, and his _paraphrase_, and prohibited them from being read. in later times, this prohibition was extended to several other books of the same author, and the inquisition recommended in its edicts that the works of erasmus should be read with caution. the emperor charles v. commissioned the university of louvain to form a list of dangerous books, and in 1539 he obtained a bull of approbation from the pope. the index was published in 1546 by the university in all the states of flanders, six years after a decree had been issued to prohibit the writings of luther from being read or bought on pain of death.[5] this severe measure displeased all ranks. the princes of germany openly complained of it, and offered to assist charles in his war against the turks, if he would allow the people liberty in matters of religion. charles paid no attention to their remonstrances, and this bad policy accelerated the progress of lutheranism. in 1549, the inquisitor-general, with the approbation of the supreme council, added some new works to the list of those which had been prohibited, and addressed two ordinances to the inquisitors, enjoining them in the first, not to allow any person to possess them, and in the second, commanding the consultors of the holy office neither to read nor keep them, though the execution of the decrees might throw them into their hands. in 1546 the emperor commanded the university of louvain to publish the index, with additions. this work appeared in 1550, and the prince remitted it to the inquisitor-general, and it was printed by the order of the supreme council, with a supplement composed of books prohibited in spain; some time after the council framed another index, which was certified by the secretary. all the inquisitions received copies, and a bull from julius iii., which renewed the prohibitions and revoked the permissions contrary to the new bulls: he charged the inquisitors to seize as many books as they could; to publish prohibitory edicts, accompanied by censures; to prosecute those who did not obey them, as suspected of heresy; and to give an account of the books which they had read and preserved. the pope added, that he was informed that a great number were in the possession of librarians and private persons, particularly the spanish bibles mentioned in the catalogue, and the missal and diurnal in the supplement. the council of trent, after acknowledging the necessity of treating the writings of heretics with great severity, commissioned the celebrated carranza to compose the catalogue. after having examined the great number of books submitted to the council, he sent all those which did not contain any thing reprehensible to the dominican convent in the city of trent, and caused the rest to be burnt, or torn, and thrown into the adige.[6] carranza soon after accompanied philip ii. to england, where he not only converted many lutherans, but caused many bibles which had been translated to be burnt. some bibles, which had been introduced into spain, and were not upon the list, were also prohibited; and the inquisitors were commanded to publish the interdict, and to employ severe measures against those who refused to obey it. the ordinances of the council of castile, composed by the order of the king, and approved by him, were published in the same year; they gave the council the privilege of permitting books to be printed, on the condition that they should be examined previously, if the subject of which they treated was important. charles v. and philip ii. had regulated the circulation of books in their american states. in 1543 the viceroys and other authorities were commanded to prevent the introduction or printing of tales and romances. in 1550 a new decree obliged the tribunal of the commerce of seville to register all the books destined for the colonies, to certify that they were not prohibited. in 1556 the government commanded that no work relating to the affairs of america should be published without a permission from the council of the indies, and that those already printed should not be sold unless they were examined and approved, which obliged all those who possessed any to submit them to the council. the officers of the customs in america were also obliged to seize all the prohibited books which might be imported, and remit them to the archbishops and bishops, who, in this case, possessed the same powers as the inquisitors of spain. lastly, philip ii. in 1560 decreed new measures, and the _surveillance_ was afterwards as strictly observed in the colonies of the new world as in the peninsula. although charles v. and philip ii. neglected nothing that could prevent the introduction of prohibited books into spain, several which were favourable to the lutheran heresy penetrated into the kingdom. in 1558 the inquisitor-general published an edict more severe than any of the preceding; and also drew up an instruction for the use of the inquisitors; importing, that all books mentioned in the printed catalogue should be seized; that a public _auto-da-fé_ should be made of those tending to heresy; that the commentaries and notes attributed to melancthon should be suppressed in all the treatises on grammar where they were introduced; that the bibles marked as being suspected should be examined; that no books should be seized except those mentioned in the list; that all the books printed in germany since 1519 without the name of the author should be examined; that the translation of _theophylact_ by _oecolampadius_ should be seized; likewise some volumes of the works of st. john chrysostom, which had been translated by that arch-heretic and _wolfang nusculus_; that the commentaries by heretics on works composed by catholics should be suppressed; and that a book on medicine might be seized, although it was not mentioned in the index. when this edict was published, francis sanchez, professor of theology in the university of salamanca, wrote to inform the supreme council, that he had occupied himself for several years in examining dangerous books, and gave his opinion on the course which ought to be pursued. the council, in consequence, decreed that those theologians in the university who had studied the oriental languages, should be obliged, as well as other persons, to give up their hebrew and greek bibles to the commissaries of the holy office, on pain of excommunication; that the proprietors of greek, arabic, and hebrew books, not mentioned in the list, should not be molested; that the order concerning the books printed without the name of the author, related only to modern productions; that the request made by some persons to be allowed to keep _pomponius mela_, with the commentary of _nadicano_, should be refused; that these books should be remitted to the council to be examined; that the order to seize all works containing errors should only be applied to modern books; and that the _summa armata_ of durand, of cajetan, peter lombard, origen, theophylact, tertullian, lactantius, lucian, aristotle, plato, seneca, and other authors of that class, should be allowed to circulate; that the council, being informed that several catalogues of prohibited books existed, would unite them, and compose one general catalogue. in the year 1558 the terrible law of philip ii. was published, which decreed the punishments of death and confiscation for all those who should sell, buy, keep, or read, the books prohibited by the holy office; and, to ensure the execution of this sanguinary law, the index was printed, that the people might not allege ignorance in their defence. a bull of 1559 enjoins confessors to interrogate their penitents on this subject, and to remind them that they were obliged to denounce the guilty on pain of excommunication. a particular article subjects the confessors to the same punishment if they neglected this duty, even if their penitents were of the highest rank. this severe law was however mitigated in 1561, when the cardinal of alexandria, inquisitor-general of rome, published a decree, announcing, in the name of pius. iv., that some of the prohibitions of books had been withdrawn. this decree also granted permission to read and possess some books which had been suppressed only because they were written by heretics. valdes, the inquisitor-general of spain, immediately wrote to the inquisitors of the provinces, to suspend the execution of the edict, until he had received the orders of the king, to whom he had represented the danger arising from a measure which annulled the punishment of excommunication; but valdes had another motive in the proceeding. in 1559, this inquisitor had published a printed catalogue of prohibited books, which was much more extended than that of 1558, and in which, according to the advice of francis sanchez, he had introduced all the works mentioned in the catalogues of rome, lisbon, louvain, and those of spain of an earlier date. he divided them into six classes. the first consisted of latin books; the second of those written in castilian; the third of those in the teutonic language; the fourth of german books; the fifth of french; and the sixth of portuguese. valdes, in a note at the end of his index, gave notice that there were many books subject to the prohibition, not mentioned in the list, but that they would be added. he appointed the punishment of excommunication, and a penalty of two hundred ducats, for those persons who should read any of these books, and in this number were included some which were permitted to be read by the last edict of the pope. valdes had inserted in his catalogue some books which had not only been considered catholic, but were in the hands of everybody and full of true piety, particularly some works of don hernand de talavera, the venerable juan d'avila, bartholomew carranza de miranda, archbishop of toledo; hernand de villegas, louis de granada, a dominican; and st. francis borgia. the catalogue of valdes contained other general prohibitions. this proscription included all hebrew books, and those in other tongues which treated of the jewish customs; those of the arabs, or those which in any way treated of the mahometan religion; all works composed or translated by an heretic, or a person condemned by the holy office; all treatises in the spanish language with a preface, letter, prologue, summary, notes, additions, paraphrase, explanation, glossary, or writing of that nature added by an heretic; all sermons, writings, letters, discourses on the christian religion, its mysteries, sacraments, or the holy scriptures, if these works were inedited manuscripts. lastly, the same prohibition was extended to a multitude of translations of the bible, and other books which had been written by men of great piety, and had always been considered at proper guides to virtue: of this number were the works of denis, _the carthusian_; the author known by the same of _the idiot_; the bishop roffense, and many other writers. in the eighteenth session of the council of trent (which began on the 26th february, 1562), the bishops found that it was necessary to examine the books which were denounced as suspicions, on account of the complaints which had been made on the prohibition of the great number of works which had been unjustly enrolled in the decree of paul iv. the council appointed commissioners to examine them, and they made a report of their labour in the last session in 1563: they had drawn up a catalogue of the works which they considered necessary to be prohibited. it was submitted to pius v., who published it in 1564, with ten general rules for the solution of any difficulties which might be discovered. a great number of books, which had been unjustly condemned by valdes, were omitted in this index, and the catechism of carranza was declared to be orthodox by an assembly of theologians who had been appointed to examine it. in 1565 the doctor gonzales illescas published the first part of his _pontifical history_. it was immediately seized by the holy office, and the second part, printed at valladolid in 1567, shared the same fate. a short time after, illescas was persecuted by the inquisitors of valladolid; and, to preserve himself from becoming their victim, was obliged to suppress his work and write another, omitting the articles against some of the popes: this work appeared in 1574. although the holy office had so carefully suppressed the first edition, it was inserted in the index of 1583, as if some copies had been still in existence. in 1567 the council commanded the theological works of brother john fero, a franciscan of italy, to be seized, with the notes and corrections of brother michael de medina, and some other works of the same author, who ended his days in the dungeons of the inquisition in 1578, before his sentence had been pronounced. after his death, his _apology for john fero_ was inserted in the expurgatory index. in 1568 the supreme council charged the officers of the inquisition to watch the frontiers of guipuscoa, navarre, aragon, and catalonia, with the greatest vigilance, to prevent the introduction of prohibited books. this resolution was adopted, because information had been received that a great number of lutheran books in the castilian tongue were packed and sent in hogsheads of the wines of champagne and burgundy, with so much art, that the officers of the customs could not discover the deception. in 1570 the council prohibited a work on the pentateuch by brother jerome de holcastro; and the _petit office_, printed at paris in 1556. the motive for this suppression was singular: the frontispiece was decorated with a cross and a swan, with the motto, "in hoc cigno vinces." it is plain that the _petit office_ was prohibited, because a c was used instead of the s in the word _signo_. the same severity was shewn in all cases where the books had this symbol, or any allegories of that nature. in 1571 the inquisitors caused a spanish bible, printed at baste, to be seized, and philip ii. wrote to the duke of alva, the governor of the low countries, to compose an index for the use of the flemish people, with the assistance of the learned arias montanus. he presided in an assembly of theologians, who judged that the new index should only consist of the latin prohibited by the inquisition, or which it was necessary to correct. this measure was applied only to some well-known authors who were dead, and to some others, still living; but more particularly to the works of erasmus, and with circumstances which might lead to the supposition, that his books were the principal objects of the prohibition, and that of the other authors merely a pretext to conceal the injury done to him. this catalogue was printed at antwerp in 1571, with a preface by arias montanus, a royal decree and a proclamation of the duke of alva enforcing the execution of it. this list is known by the name of the _expurgatory index of the duke of alva_. the holy office had no part in this affair, as the flemings had refused to recognise their authority. in 1582 the inquisitor-general, don gaspard de quiroga, published a new _prohibitory index_. it is remarkable _that the index of his predecessor valdes is mentioned in this list_. that which was published in 1584 was drawn up by juan de mariana, who soon after had some of his own works prohibited. in 1611, a new index was formed under the inquisitor-general don bernard de roxas de sandoval. the cardinal zapata, who succeeded roxas, adopted one more extended in 1620, and it was used by his successor, don antonio de sotomayer, in 1630. this catalogue was the first which the inquisitors presumed to publish from their own authority, and without being commissioned by government. don diego sarmiento valladares, inquisitor-general, in 1681, began to reprint it with additions, and it was finished by don vidal marin, who published it in 1707. don francis perez del prado, another inquisitor-general, commissioned the jesuits casani and carrasco to compose a new catalogue. although these monks were not authorized by the supreme council, they inserted in the list all the books which they supposed to be favourable to the jansenists, baius and father quesnel. their conduct was denounced to the supreme council by the dominican concina, and some other monks; the jesuits were examined, and defended themselves: the council, though it could not approve, did not carry the affair further; it had not sufficient power to balance the influence of the jesuit francis rabago, who was confessor to ferdinand vi. among the books which they prohibited were the works of cardinal _norris_, which were held in general estimation by the learned throughout christendom. benedict xiv., in 1748, addressed a brief to the inquisitor-general, commanding him to revoke the prohibition; as this order was not obeyed, the pope complained to the king, but was unable to obtain his request until ten years after, when the jesuit rabago no longer directed the conscience of the monarch. the index of the jesuits also contained several treatises of the venerable don juan de palafox y mendoza, archbishop and viceroy of mexico. the congregation of rites afterwards declared that there was nothing in them worthy of censure, and the inquisitor-general was obliged to revoke the prohibition in an edict, the copies of which were immediately bought up by some friends of the jesuits. to give an idea of the criticism of perez del prado, it is sufficient to say that he bitterly lamented the misfortunes of the age he lived in, saying, "_that some individuals had carried their audacity to the execrable extremity of demanding permission to read the holy scriptures in the vulgar tongue_, without _fearing to encounter mortal poison therein_." in 1792 a new index was published, without the consent, and even in opposition to the supreme council, by don augustine rubin de cevallos, inquisitor-general. it is this index which is still in force, but the prohibitions and expurgatory measures have since been multiplied. the prohibitory decrees are preceded by _qualification_. the process is instituted before the supreme council; but as the information is generally laid before the inquisitors of the court, they appoint the qualifiers who censure the book. a copy of the work and the denunciation is sent to the first qualifier, and afterwards to the second, unsigned by the opinion of the first; if they do not accord, copies are sent a third time before it is submitted to the supreme council. the inquisitors of the provinces have likewise the privilege of receiving informations: they proceed in the same manner; but the council always commission the inquisitors of the court to censure books, because they were more sure of their qualifiers. if any person presumed to buy, keep, or read prohibited books, he rendered himself liable to be suspected of heresy by the inquisitors, although it might not be proved that he became an heretic from such reading; he incurred the punishment of major excommunication, and was proceeded against by the tribunal: the result of this action was the absolution _ad cautelam_. during the last years of the eighteenth century, no person has been imprisoned for reading prohibited books, unless he was convicted of having advanced or written heretical propositions. the punishment inflicted was merely a pecuniary penalty, and a declaration that the individual was slightly suspected of heresy; it must be acknowledged that this qualification was omitted, if there was any reason to suppose that the accused had erred from motives of curiosity, and not from a tendency to false doctrine. nevertheless all these proceedings are arbitrary, and the inquisitors have the power of pursuing the infringers of this law as if they were heretics. the permission to read prohibited books, rendered all actions instituted against those who violated the law ineffectual. the pope granted it for a sum of money, without inquiring if the person who demanded it was capable of abusing the permission. the inquisitor-general of spain acted with more prudence; he took secret informations on the conduct of the solicitor, and required him to state in writing the object of his demand, and the subject on which he wished to consult the prohibited books. where the permission granted was general, the books mentioned in the edicts were excepted. in this sense the works of rousseau, montesquieu, mirabeau, diderot, d'alembert, voltaire, and several other modern philosophers, among whom was filangieri, were excepted from the privilege. during the last years of the inquisition, the permissions granted by the court of rome did not defend the persons who received them from the inquisitorial actions; they were subject to revision, and the inquisitor-general did not authorize the use of them without great difficulty, and as if the court of rome had never granted them. the inquisition also prohibited pictures, medals, prints, and a number of other things, with as much severity as books. thus fans, snuff-boxes, mirrors, and other articles of furniture, were often the cause of great troubles and difficulties to those who possessed them, if they happened to be adorned with the mythological figure which might be considered as indecent. chapter xiv. particular trials for suspicion of lutheranism, and some other crimes. _edicts against lutherans, illuminati, &c._ the inquisitor-general, who perceived the necessity of arresting the progress of lutheranism in spain, decreed, in concert with the council of the inquisition, several new articles in addition to the annual edict. these articles oblige every christian to declare, if he knows or has heard of any person who has said, maintained, or thought that the sect of luther is good, or that his partisans will be saved, and approved nor believed any of his condemned propositions: for example, that it is not necessary to confess sins to a priest, and that it is sufficient to confess to god; that neither the pope nor the priests have the power of remitting sins; that the body of jesus is not actually present in the consecrated host; that it is not permitted to pray to saints, or expose images in churches; that faith and baptism are sufficient for salvation, and that good works are not necessary; that every christian may, although not of the priesthood, receive the confession of another christian, and administer the sacrament to him; that the pope has not the power of granting indulgences; that priests and monks may lawfully marry; that god did not establish the regular religions orders; that the state of marriage is better and more perfect than that of celibacy; that there ought to be no festivals but the sabbath, and that it is not sinful to eat meat on friday, in lent, or on other fast-days. alphonso manrique also gave permission to the inquisitors of the provinces to take any measures they might think proper, to discover those persons who had embraced the heresy of the _illuminati_, (_alumbrados_.) these people, who were also called _dejados_ (_quietists_), formed a sect whose chief, it is said, was that _muncer_ who had already established that of the anabaptists. some time after, the council of the inquisition added several articles relative to the _illuminati_ to those already mentioned. i am of opinion, that the first spaniards who followed the doctrines of luther were franciscan monks; for clement vii., in 1526, authorized the general and provincials of the order of minor friars of st. francis d'assiz, to absolve those of the community who had fallen into that heresy, after they had taken an oath to renounce it for ever. several monks of the same order had already represented to the pope, that by the privileges granted to them in the bull _mare magnum_, and confirmed by other decrees of the holy see, no stranger had a right to interfere in their affairs, and that they did not recognize any judge but the judge of their institution, even in cases of apostasy. manrique, embarrassed in his ministry by the pretensions of the franciscans, wrote to the pope, who expedited, in 1525, a brief, by which the inquisitor-general was empowered to take cognizance of these affairs, assisted by a monk named by the prelate of the order, and that, in cases of appeal from judgment, the pope should be applied to: but these appeals were afterwards ordered to be made before the inquisitor-general. _trials of several persons._ during the ministry of the inquisitor-general manrique, history points out several illustrious and innocent victims of the tribunal, who were suspected of lutheranism: such was the venerable juan d'avila, who would have been beatified, if he had been a monk, but he was only a secular priest: he was called, in spain, the _apostle of andalusia_, on account of his exemplary life and his charitable actions. st. theresa de jesus informs us, in her works, that she derived much assistance from his counsels and doctrine. he preached the gospel with simplicity, and never introduced into his discourses those questions which at that time so disgracefully agitated the scholastic theologians. some envious monks, irritated at his aversion for disputes, united to plan his ruin. they denounced some of his propositions to the inquisition, as tending to lutheranism and the doctrines of the _illuminati_. in 1534, juan d'avila was confined in the secret prison of the holy office, by an order of the inquisitors; they did not make their resolution known to the supreme council or to the ordinary, on the pretence that this measure was only ordained in case of a difference of opinion. although this proceeding was contrary to the laws of the inquisition, to the royal ordinances, and those of the supreme council, yet they contemned these violations, and even tacitly approved them, as no reprimand was addressed to the offenders. this act of the inquisition, which took place at seville, much affected the inquisitor-general: he occupied the see of that city, and had the greatest esteem for juan d'avila, whom he regarded as a saint, which was a fortunate circumstance for him, as the protection of manrique, as chief of the inquisition, greatly contributed to prove his innocence; d'avila was acquitted, and continued to preach with the same zeal and charity until his death. this year was more fatal to two men, who are celebrated in the literary history of spain--juan de vergara, and bernardin de tobar, his brother: they were arrested by the inquisition of toledo, and were not released from its dungeons, until they had been subjected to the abjuration (_de levi_) of the lutheran heresy, to receive the absolution of censures _ad cautelam_, and to several penances. juan de vergara was a canon of toledo, and had been secretary to cardinal ximenez de cisneros, and to don alphonso de fonseca, his successor in the see of that city. nicholas antonio has inserted, in his library, a notice of the literary productions of this spaniard, and does justice to his virtue and merit. his profound knowledge of the greek and hebrew languages was the cause of his misfortune; he had remarked some faults in the translation of the vulgate, and thus gave the signal for persecution to some monks who had only studied latin and the jargon of the schools. the chapter of toledo honoured his memory in placing on his tomb an epitaph, which is preserved by the author i have cited. vergara had a claim on the gratitude of this community, for having composed the inscriptions which decorate the choir of their church. bernardin de tobar is less known, but peter martyr d'angleria mentions him among the learned men of the sixteenth century, and john louis vives, a learned man of that age, says, in writing to erasmus: "we live in a difficult time; it is dangerous either to speak or be silent; vergara, his brother bernardin de tobar, and several other learned men, have been arrested in spain[7]." among this number was one of whom vives could not give a particular account. i speak of alphonso virues, a benedictine, born at olmedo, and one of the best theologians of his time. he had a profound knowledge of the oriental languages, and had composed several works. he was a member of the commission which judged the works of erasmus in 1527, and preacher to charles v., who listened to his discourses with so much pleasure that he took him to germany, and on his return to spain would not hear any other person. these distinctions excited the envy of the monks, and they would have succeeded in their endeavours to ruin him, but for the firmness and constancy of the emperor in protecting him. virues was suspected of being favourable to the opinions of luther, and thrown into the secret prisons of the holy office at seville. the emperor, who knew him well, both from his sermons, and the intercourse which took place during their travels in germany, felt this blow acutely, and not doubting that virues was the victim of an intrigue which the inquisitor-general ought to have prevented, he exiled manrique, who was obliged to retire to his archbishopric of seville, where he died in 1538. not content with this, charles commanded the supreme council to address an ordinance to all the tribunals of the inquisition, importing, that in case of a preliminary instruction sufficiently serious to cause the arrest of a monk, the decree of imprisonment should be delayed, and that the inquisitors should send an entire and faithful copy of the commencement of the proceedings to the supreme council, and wait for the orders which would be sent them after the examination of the writings. the unfortunate virues, nevertheless, suffered all the horrors of a secret imprisonment for four years. during this period, as he writes to charles v., "he was scarcely allowed to breathe, or to occupy himself with anything but charges, replies, testimonies, defences, libels, means, acts (_nomina quæ et ipso poene timendo sono ... words which cannot be heard without terrors_), or with heresies, blasphemies, errors, anathemas, schisms, and other monsters, which, with labour that may be compared to those of hercules, i have at last conquered with the aid of jesus christ, so that i am now justified through your majesty's protection[8]." one of the means employed by virues for his defence, was to demand that the tribunal should pay attention to the points of doctrine which he had established, and prepared to attack melancthon and other lutherans before the diet of ratisbon; but this demand did not gain the object which he had in view, which was a complete absolution, because his enemies had denounced propositions advanced in public. although he proved that they were extremely catholic, when examined with the text, yet he could not prevent them from incurring the theological censure in the form given by the denunciation: he was obliged to submit to an abjuration of all heresies, particularly that of luther and his adherents. the definitive sentence was pronounced in 1537: he was declared to be suspected of professing the errors of luther, and condemned to be absolved from the censures _ad cautelam_; to be confined in a monastery for two years, and prohibited from preaching the word of god for two years after his release. the emperor, when informed of these transactions, complained to the pope, who, in 1538, addressed a brief to virues, which contained a dispensation from the different penances to which he had been condemned: it also re-instated him in his office of preacher; and declared, that what had passed could not exclude him from any office, not even from episcopacy. it is surprising that the affair of virues, and many others, did not make charles v. perceive the nature of the inquisition, and that he still continued to protect that institution. however, the trial of his preacher, and several other crosses which he experienced about that time, were the reasons why he deprived the holy office of the royal jurisdiction in 1535, and it was not restored until the year 1545. this favour for virues was so constant, that he soon after presented him to the pope for the bishopric of the canaries; but the pope refused him, alleging that the suspicions raised against the purity of his faith rendered him improper to be invested with the dignity of a bishop, although the bull had declared him to be eligible. the emperor insisted, and the pope at length yielded to his pressing solicitations. virues was made bishop of the canaries in 1540. in 1527 the inquisition of valladolid was occupied by an affair, of which it is necessary to give an account, that the compassion and indulgence which the inquisitors always professed in their acts, and other forms of justice, may be justly appreciated. one diego vallejo, of the village of palacios de meneses, in the diocese of palencia, having been arrested for blasphemy by the inquisition, declared, among other things, that two months before, on the 24th of april, 1526, two physicians, named alphonso garcia and juan de salas, were disputing on the subject of medicine, before him and ferdinand ramirez, his son-in-law: the first maintained his opinion on the authority of certain writers; salas affirmed that these writers were deceived; garcia replied that his opinion was proved by the text of the evangelists, which caused salas to say _that they had lied as well as the others_. ferdinand ramirez (who had also been arrested upon suspicion of judaism) was examined the same day; his deposition was the same as that of vallejo, but he added, that salas returned to his house some hours after, and in speaking of what had passed, said, "_what folly i have asserted!_" when the tribunal had finished the affair of ramirez and vallejo, they arrested juan de salas. the inquisitors (without the concurrence of the diocesan, without consultors or qualifiers, and without communicating with the supreme council) decreed the arrest of juan de salas on the 14th of february, 1527, as if the declarations of ramirez and vallejo had been sufficient. the audiences of _admonition_ were granted, and the depositions were communicated without the names of the persons or place. he replied that the circumstances were not correctly stated. the other physician was then called, who declared, that in conversing with salas on the evangelists, he heard him say, _that some of them had lied_. he was asked if any one had reproached salas for this expression; garcia replied, that an hour after he had advised him to give himself up to the inquisition, and that he had promised to do so. the inquisitor then asked if he was inimical to the accused; the witness replied in the negative. on the 16th of april the ratification of ramirez and garcia took place. on the 6th of may the prisoner presented two requisitions or means of defence: in the first he protested against all that had been said contrary to his declaration, and pointed out the differences in the depositions of the witnesses; the second was an _interrogatory_ in thirteen questions, two of which tended to prove his orthodoxy, and the others to justify the motives of the challenge which he had presented against certain persons who had been called upon to depose in his trial. this piece contains, in the margin, the witnesses to be consulted for each question. it will be seen that the prisoner took advantage of the laws of the holy office in his defence; but the inquisitors, instead of conforming to their own regulations, erased the names of several persons designated in the list of the accused witnesses on his side, and would not hear them. nevertheless, the facts mentioned in the interrogatory were proved by fourteen witnesses, and on the 25th of may the fiscal gave his conclusions. the fact related by ramirez, the contradictions in the depositions of the witnesses; the difference in the report of both, from that of the accuser; the important advantages gained by the prisoner in justifying his challenge, in only having two witnesses against him (who had both been prosecuted, one for blasphemy, the other for judaism), and in being accused of only one proposition; lastly, the possibility that the accused had forgotten many things during the space of a year, are circumstances which would make any one suppose that juan de salas would have been acquitted, or that they would, at least, (if they supposed that he had denied the truth,) have contented themselves with imposing the penance of the suspicion _de levi_ upon him; but instead of this, the inquisitor moriz, without the concurrence of his colleague alvarado, decreed that salas should be tortured, as guilty of concealment. in this act the following deposition is found:--"we ordain that the said torture be employed in the manner and during the time that we shall think proper, after having protested as we still protest, that, in case of injury, death, or fractured limbs, the fault can only be imputed to the said licentiate salas." the decree of moriz took effect: i subjoin the verbal process of the execution. "at valladolid, on the 21st of june, 1527, the licentiate moriz, inquisitor, caused the licentiate juan de salas to appear before him, and the sentence was read and notified to him. after the reading, the said licentiate salas declared, that _he had not said that of which he was accused_; and the said licentiate moriz immediately caused him to be conducted to the chamber of torture, where, being stripped to his shirt, salas was put by the shoulders into the _chevalet_, where the executioner, pedro porras, fastened him by the arms and legs with cords of hemp, of which he made _eleven turns_ round each limb; salas, during the time that the said pedro was tying him thus, was warned to speak the truth several times, to which he always replied, _that he had never said what he was accused of_. he recited the creed, "quicumque vult," and several times gave thanks to god and our lady; and the said salas being still tied as before mentioned, a fine wet cloth was put over his face, and about a pint of water was poured into his mouth and nostrils, from an earthen vessel with a hole at the bottom, and containing about two quarts: nevertheless, salas still persisted _in denying the accusation_. then pedro de porras _tightened the cords_ on the right leg, and poured a second measure of water on the face; the cords _were tightened a second time_ on the same leg, but juan de salas still persisted in _denying that he had ever said any thing of the kind_; and although pressed to tell the truth several times, _he still denied the accusation_. then the said licentiate moriz, having declared that _the torture was_ begun but not finished, commanded that it should cease. the accused was withdrawn from the chevalet or rack, at which execution, i, henry paz, was present from the beginning to the end.--henry paz, notary." if this execution was but the beginning of the torture, how was it to finish? by the death of the sufferer? in order to understand this statement, it is necessary to know that the instrument, which in castilian is called _escalera_ (and which has also the name of _burro_, and is translated into french by the word _chevalet_), is a machine of wood, invented to torture the accused. it is formed like a groove, large enough to hold the body of a man, without a bottom, but a stick crosses it, over which the body falls in such a position, that the feet are much higher than the head; consequently, a violent and painful respiration ensues, with intolerable pains in the sides, the arms, and legs, where the pressure of the cords is so great, even before the _garot_ has been used, that they penetrate to the bone. if we observe the manner in which the people who carry merchandise on mules or in carts tighten the cords by means of sticks, we can easily imagine the torments which the unfortunate john de salas must have suffered. the introduction of a liquid is not less likely to kill those whom the inquisitors torture, and it has happened more than once. the mouth, during the torture, is in the most unfavourable position for respiration, so much so, that a person would die if he remained several hours in it; a piece of fine wet linen is introduced into the throat, on which the water from the vessel is poured so slowly, that it requires an hour to consume a pint, although it descends without intermission. in this state the patient finds it impossible to breathe, as the water enters the nostrils at the same time, and the rupture of a blood-vessel in the lungs is often the result. raymond gonzales de montes (who, in 1558, was so fortunate as to escape from the prisons of the holy office at seville) wrote a book in latin, on the inquisition, under the name of _reginaldus gonsalvius montanus_[9]. he informs us that the cord was wound eight or ten times round the legs. eleven turns were made round the limbs of salas, besides those of the _garot_. we may form an idea of the humanity of the inquisition of valladolid, from the definitive sentence pronounced by the licentiate moriz and his colleague, doctor alvarado, without any other formality, after they had taken (if we may believe them) the advice of persons noted for their learning and virtue, but without the adjournment which ought to have preceded it, and without the concurrence of the diocesan in ordinary. they declared that the fiscal had not entirely proved the accusation, and that the prisoner had succeeded in destroying some of the charges; but that on account of the suspicion arising from the trial, juan de salas was condemned to the punishment of the public _auto-da-fé_, in his shirt, without a cloak, his head uncovered, and with a torch in his hand; that he should abjure heresy publicly, and that he should pay ten ducats of gold to the inquisition, and fulfil his penance in the church assigned. it is seen, by a certificate afterwards given in, that juan de salas performed his _auto-da-fé_ on the 24th of june, 1528, and that his father paid the fine: the trial offers no other peculiarity. this affair, and several others of a similar nature, caused the supreme council to publish a decree in 1558, commanding that the torture should not be administered without an order from the council. _letter-orders, relating to the proceedings._ the abuse of the secrecy of the proceedings caused a number of complaints to be addressed to the inquisitor-general. he usually referred them to the supreme council, which, during the administration of manrique, addressed several circulars to the provincial tribunals: it is necessary to make known the most important. in one of these writings, dated march 14th, 1528, it is said, that if an accused person (when asked a general question) declares at first that he knows nothing on the subject, and afterwards, when questioned on a particular fact, confesses that he is acquainted with it (in case the inquisitors think proper to take down the second declaration, to make use of it against a third), they should insert the first question and the answer of the accused in the same verbal process, because it might assist in determining the degree of confidence to be placed in his declarations. on the 16th of march, 1530, another instruction of the council appeared. it directed that the facts related by the witnesses in favour of the prisoner should be mentioned as well as those against him. this direction, however just, has not been strictly followed, since it was never observed in the extract of the publication of the depositions given to the accused and his defender; consequently, no advantage could be derived by the prisoner from the declarations in his favour. another circular of the 13th of may in the same year, says, that if an accused person challenges a witness, he must be interrogated on the foundation of the proceedings, as he might have facts to depose against the accused. on the 16th june, 1531, the council wrote to the tribunals, that if the accused challenged several persons, on the supposition that they will depose against him, the witnesses whom he calls to prove the facts which caused the challenge, shall be examined on each individual, although they have not made any deposition, in order that the accused may not suppose at the time of the publication of the depositions, from an omission (if there should be any), that some have deposed against him, and that the others are not mentioned, or have not said anything. another instruction on the 13th of may, 1532, directs, that the relations of the accused shall not be admitted as witnesses in the proof of the challenge. in another decree of the 5th march, 1535, it is ordained that the witness shall be asked if there is any enmity between them and the accused. on the 20th of july, the council obliged the tribunals to insert in the extract of the publication of the depositions, the day, the month, and the hour when each witness gave his evidence. in march, 1525, it was decreed, that when the extract was given to the accused, he was not to be informed that any witness had declared the fact to be known to others, because if they said nothing against him, it was not proper to inform the accused of it, as he would learn, from that circumstance, that some persons had spoken in his favour, or at least had declared that they knew nothing against him. another regulation of the 8th of april, 1533, prohibited the inquisitors from communicating the extract of the publication of the depositions to the accused, before the ratification of the declarations. the council decreed, on the 22d december, 1536, that in transacting any business relating to circumstances which took place in the house of a person deceased, so that the corpse was still exposed to view, and that its position, figure, or other circumstance, might tend to discover if he died a heretic or not, the name of the defunct, his house, and other details, should be communicated to the witnesses, that they might be enabled to recollect the event, and to assist them in making their declaration. yet the council, on the 30th august, 1537, decreed that the time and place of the events should be inserted in the extract of the publication of the depositions, because it was of consequence to the interests of the accused; it would be done even in supposing that he would learn from it the names of the witnesses. this rule is too contrary to the inquisitorial system, not to inspire a wish to seek for the principle and the cause; it may be found in the bad reputation which the inquisition had acquired by the proceedings against alphonso virues, which induced charles v. to deprive it of the royal jurisdiction: but although the council registered the order of the sovereign, he decreed, on the 15th of december, in this year, and on the 22nd of february, 1538, that the extract should not contain any article which could make known the witnesses; thus annulling the order imposed in the preceding year. during the last years of the inquisition, neither the time nor place were indicated in the act of the publication of the depositions. in june, 1537, the council being consulted by the inquisition of toledo, decreed, as general rules--1st, that all who _calmly_ uttered the blasphemies, _i deny god, i abjure god_, should be punished severely; but those who uttered these words in anger, should not be subject to prosecution: 2nd, to punish all christians accused of bigamy, if the guilty person supposed it permitted; and in the contrary case to abstain from prosecution; 3rdly, to ascertain, in cases of sorcery, if there had been any compact with the devil; if the compact had existed, the inquisition was directed to judge the accused--if it had not, they were to leave the cause to the secular tribunals. the second and third of these regulations are contrary to the system of the holy office, which leads me to suppose that the temporary disgrace and exile of manrique contributed to this moderation, which could not last long: the inquisitors have always proceeded against persons guilty of these crimes, on the pretence of examining if any circumstance might cause suspicion of heresy. the same spirit is found in another order of the 19th february, 1533: it obliges the inquisitors to receive all the papers which the relations of the accused wish to communicate to them. the council made this rule, because these writings (though useless on the trial) might yet be serviceable in proving the innocence or guilt of the accused. on the 10th may, 1531, the council decreed, that if bulls of dispensation from the use of the _san-benito_, imprisonment, or other punishments, were presented to the inquisition, the procurator-fiscal should demand that they should be suppressed, as well as those obtained by the children and grandchildren of persons declared infamous by the holy office: the council supported this rule by alleging that children always followed the example of their heretical ancestors, and that it was a scandal to see them occupying honourable employments. on the 22nd of march in the same year the council wrote to the tribunal of the provinces, that it had remarked, in one of the trials, that certain writings had not been digested in the places where the facts mentioned had happened; whence they concluded that these formalities had not been fulfilled at the proper time, but at the moment when the proceedings were to begin: the council then recommended them to avoid these abuses, as contrary to the instructions. but the orders of the council were not obeyed: the same irregularity was renewed, and produced another still more dangerous, which during my time had the most serious consequences. in order to supply what might be omitted in the course of the trial, the inquisitors adopted the custom of writing each act, declaration, and deposition, on separate sheets of paper. as in these tribunals they did not make use of stamped paper, and as the pieces of the process were not numbered, it often happened that those which they wished to conceal from the council, the diocesan in ordinary, or other interested parties, were changed or suppressed. this manoeuvre was employed by the inquisitors in the affair of the archbishop of toledo, carranza, and i have myself seen several attestations of the secretary changed at the request of the inquisitors of madrid. the circular of the 11th of july in the same year is more remarkable, and had more success than the preceding. the inquisitors of the provinces were directed to refer to the supreme council all sentences pronounced without the unanimity of the inquisitors, the diocesan and the consulters, even supposing that there was only one dissentient voice. the inquisitors were afterwards obliged to consult the council on all the judgments which they passed; and i must confess that this measure was extremely useful, because, in a difference of opinion, the decisions of the _supreme_ were much more just than those of the tribunals of the provinces, from being composed of a greater number of enlightened judges. the council displayed the same love of justice in 1536, when it decreed that those convicted of making use of gold, silver, silk, or precious stones, should be punished by pecuniary fines, and not by fire, although they had been prohibited from so doing on pain of being _relaxed_. the decree most contrary to the wisdom which ought to have animated the council, was that of the 7th of december, 1532, in which it was ordained that each provincial inquisition should state the number and rank of the persons condemned to different punishments within their jurisdictions, since their establishment, and to deposit in the churches those _san-benitos_ which had not been placed there, without even excepting those of persons who had confessed and suffered their punishment during the term of grace. this direction was executed with a severity worthy of the inquisition; at toledo those san-benitos were renewed which had been destroyed by time, and they were likewise sent to the parishes of the condemned persons. the consequences of these proceedings were the ruin and extinction of many families, as the children could not establish themselves according to the rank they had possessed; while the condemnation of their ancestors by the inquisition remained unknown. the council discovered too late the injustice it had committed in respect to the _san-benito_ since it revoked the decree seven years after, in 1539. it is not necessary to give the history of the quarrels which took place between the inquisition and the different civil authorities, during the administration of manrique. a scandalous enterprise of the supreme council ought nevertheless to be mentioned. in 1531, it presumed to condemn the president of the royal court of appeals, in majorca, to ask pardon of the holy office, to attend mass (as a penitent), with a wax taper in his hand, and to receive the absolution of censures, for having defended the jurisdiction of the criminal tribunal in an affair which involved several persons, among whom was one gabriel nebel, a servant of the summoner of the holy office. chapter xv. prosecutions of sorcerers, magicians, enchanters, necromancers, and others. under the administration of the inquisitor-general, manrique, the inquisition was particularly occupied by the sect of sorcerers. pope adrian vi. (who had been inquisitor-general in spain), published a bull on the 20th july, 1523, in which he says, that in the time of his predecessor julius ii. a numerous sect had been discovered in lombardy, which abjured the christian faith, and abused the ceremonies of religion and the eucharist. these sectarians acknowledged the devil as their patron, and promised obedience to him. they sent maladies to animals and destroyed the fruits of the earth by their enchantments. an inquisitor having attempted to arrest and bring them to punishment, the ecclesiastical and secular judges opposed him, which led julius ii. to declare that these crimes were within the jurisdiction of the inquisition, as well as all other heresies. in consequence adrian vi. reminded the different inquisitions of their duty in this respect. this bull was not necessary in spain, as the inquisition of aragon had taken cognizance of magic and sorcery, since the pontificate of john xxii. it appears that the inquisition of calahorra, burnt more than thirty women as sorceresses and magicians in the year 1507. in 1527, a great number of women who practised magic were discovered in navarre. these crimes increased so much in the province of biscay, that charles v. found it necessary to notice it. persuaded that the ignorance in which the people were left by the priests was the cause of these superstitions, he wrote in december, 1527, to the bishop of calahorra, and to the provincials of the dominicans and franciscans, to select a number of able preachers from their communities, to teach the doctrine of the christian religion on this point. but these ministers of the gospel, even those who had acquired a reputation for learning, believed as well as the enchanters in these illusions. nevertheless, father martin de castañaga, a franciscan monk, composed in that time, a book in spanish, entitled, _a treatise on superstitions and enchantments_. i have read this work, and i acknowledge (with the exception of a few articles, in which the author appears too credulous,) that it would be difficult even in the present time to write with more moderation or discernment. the bishop of calahorra, don alphonso de castilla, having read this treatise, had it printed in quarto, and sent it to the priests in his diocese, with a pastoral letter, in 1529. the inquisition of saragossa condemned several sorceresses who had formed part of the association in navarre, or had been sent into aragon to gain disciples. the inquisitors, the ordinary, and the consulters, were not of the same opinion; the greatest number voted for the execution of the sorceresses, the others for reconciliation and perpetual imprisonment. the minority gave up their opinion in deference to the greater number, and thus relaxation was pronounced unanimously, without any of the formalities prescribed, and the unfortunate women perished in the flames. the _supreme_ council which was informed of this event by one of its members, who had learnt it from an inquisitor of saragossa, addressed a circular on the 23rd of march, 1536, to all the tribunals, stating the inquisition of saragossa had failed in its duty, in not having consulted the council, after having found that the opinions of its members were different. the inquisitor-general manrique, being informed that the sect of sorcerers made great progress in different parts of the peninsula, added several articles to the edict of denunciation: the substance of them was, that all christians were obliged to declare to the inquisition: first, if they had heard that any person had familiar spirits, and that he invoked demons in circles, questioning them and expecting their answer, as a magician, or in virtue of an express or tacit compact; that he had mingled holy things with profane objects, and worshipped in the creature that which belongs only to the creator. secondly, if he had studied judicial astrology to discover the future, by observing the conjunction of the stars at the birth of persons. thirdly, if any person in order to discover the future, had employed _geomancy_, _hydromancy_, _aëromancy_, _piromancy_, _onomancy_, _necromancy_, or sorceries by beans, dice, or wheat. fourthly, if a christian had made an express compact with the devil, practised enchantments by magic, with instruments, circles, characters, or diabolical signs; by invoking and consulting demons, with the hope of a reply, and placing confidence in them; by offering them incense, or the _smoke_ of good or bad substances; by offering sacrifices to them; in abusing sacraments or holy things; by promising obedience to them, and adoring or worshipping them in any manner. fifthly, if any one constructed, or procured mirrors, rings, phials, or other vessels, for the purpose of attracting, enclosing, and preserving a demon, who replies to his questions, and assists him in obtaining his wishes; or who had endeavoured to discover the future, by interrogating the demons in possessed people; or tried to produce the same effect by invoking the devil under the name of _holy angel_ or _white angel_, and by asking things of him with prayers and humility; by practising other superstitious ceremonies with vases, phials of water, or consecrated tapers; by the inspection of the nails, and of the palm of the hand rubbed with vinegar; or by endeavouring to obtain representations of objects by means of phantoms, in order to learn secret things, or which had not then happened. sixthly, if any one had read or possessed, or read or possessed at present, any manuscript or book on these matters, or concerning all other species of divination, which is not performed by natural and physical effects. although the edicts and punishments for sorcery were extremely severe, they have appeared from time to time in different parts of spain. the history of the sorceresses of the valley of bastan, in navarre, has been particularly celebrated. these women were taken before the inquisition of logroño, and confessed the greatest extravagancies. they were condemned to an _auto-da-fé_, in 1610; their history was published at madrid, in 1810, with very pleasant remarks by the moliere of spain, don leandro de moratin, who deserves a better fate than he experiences. _history of a famous magician._ the history of doctor eugene torralba, a physician of cuença, ought not to be passed over, as it offers several remarkable events, and is mentioned in the _history of the famous knight, don quixote de la mancha_. this person is also introduced in different parts of a poem, entitled, _carlos famoso_[10], composed by louis zapata, dedicated to philip ii., and printed at valencia, in 1556. the author of _don quixote_, in the adventure of the countess trifaldi, represents that famous knight, as mounted upon _clavileno_, with sancho panza behind him, having their eyes covered; the squire wishes to uncover his eyes to see if they had arrived at the region of fire. don quixote says, "take care not to do it, and remember the true history of the licentiate torralba, who being mounted on a cane, with his eyes covered, was conveyed through the air by devils, and arrived at rome in twelve hours, and descended on the tower of nona, which is in a street of that city, where he saw the tumult, assault, and death of the constable de bourbon, and returned to madrid before morning, where he gave an account of what he had seen. he also related that while he was in the air, the devil told him to open his eyes, and that he saw himself so near the moon that he might have touched it with his hand, and that he did not dare to look towards the earth for fear of fainting." the doctor eugene torralba was born in the town of cuença. in an examination he stated, that at the age of fifteen he went to rome, where he was made a page of don francis soderini, bishop of volterra, who was made a cardinal in 1503. he studied medicine under several masters, who in their disputes attacked the immortality of the soul, and though they did not succeed in convincing him, caused him to incline to pyrrhonism. torralba was a physician in 1501, at which period he became intimately acquainted with master alphonso of rome, who had renounced the law of moses for that of mahomet, which he quitted for the christian doctrine, and finished by preferring natural religion. alphonso told him that jesus christ was only a man, and supported his opinion with several arguments: this doctrine did not entirely eradicate the faith of torralba, but he no longer knew on which side the truth lay. among the friends he acquired at rome, was a monk of st. dominic, called brother peter. this man told him one day that he had in his service one of the good angels, whose name was _zequiel_, so powerful in the knowledge of the future, that no other could equal him; but that he abhorred the practice of obliging men to make a compact with him; that he was always free, and only served the person who placed confidence in him through friendship, and that he allowed him to reveal the secrets he communicated, but that any constraint employed to force him to answer questions made him for ever abandon the society of the man to whom he had attached himself. brother peter asked him if he would not like to have _zequiel_ for his friend, adding that he could obtain that favour on account of the friendship which subsisted between them; torralba expressed the greatest desire to become acquainted with the spirit of brother peter. _zequiel_ soon appeared in the shape of a young man, fair, with flaxen hair, dressed in flesh colour, with a black surtout; he said to torralba, _i will belong to thee as long as thou livest, and will follow thee wherever thou goest_. after this promise _zequiel_ appeared to torralba at the different quarters of the moon, and whenever he wished to go from one place to another, sometimes in the figure of a traveller, sometimes like a hermit. _zequiel_ never spoke against the christian religion, or advised him to commit any bad action; on the contrary, he reproached him when he committed a fault, and attended the church service with him: he always spoke in latin or italian, although he was with torralba in spain, france, and turkey: he continued to visit him during his imprisonment but seldom, and did not reveal any secrets to him, and torralba desired the spirit to leave him, because he caused agitation and prevented him from sleeping; but this did not prevent him from returning and relating things which wearied him. torralba went to spain in 1502. some time after he travelled over all italy, and settled at rome under the protection of cardinal volterra; he there acquired the reputation of a good physician, and engaged the favour of several cardinals. he studied chiromancy, and acquired some knowledge of the art. _zequiel_ revealed to torralba the secret virtues of several plants in curing certain maladies; having made use of this information to procure money, _zequiel_ reproached him for it, saying, that as these remedies had cost him no labour, he ought to bestow them gratuitously. torralba having appeared sad sometimes because he was in want of money, the angel said to him, _why are you sad for want of money?_ some time after, torralba found six ducats in his chamber, and the same thing was repeated several times, which made him suppose that _zequiel_ had placed them there, although he would not acknowledge it when questioned. the greatest part of the information which _zequiel_ communicated to torralba related to political occurrences. thus, when torralba returned to spain in 1510, being at the court of ferdinand the catholic, _zequiel_ told him that this prince would soon receive disagreeable news. torralba hastened to inform the archbishop of toledo, ximenez de cisneros, and the great captain gonzales fernandez de cordova; and the same day a courier brought letters from africa, which announced the failure of the expedition against the moors, and the death of don garcia de toledo, son of the duke of alva, who commanded it. ximenez de cisneros having learnt that the cardinal de volterra had seen _zequiel_, expressed a wish to see him also, and to become acquainted with the nature and qualities of this spirit. torralba, to gratify the archbishop, entreated the angel to appear to him under any human form: _zequiel_ did not think proper to do so; but to soften the severity of his refusal, he commissioned torralba to inform ximenez de cisneros that he would be a king, which was in a manner verified, as he became absolute governor of the spains and the indies. another time when he was at rome, the angel told him that peter margano would lose his life if he went out of the city. torralba had not time to inform his friend; he went out, and was assassinated. _zequiel_ told him that cardinal sienna would come to a tragical end, which was verified in 1517, after the sentence which leo x. pronounced against him. when he returned to rome in 1513, torralba had a great desire to see his intimate friend thomas de becara, who was then at venice. _zequiel_, who knew his wish, took him to that city, and brought him back to rome in so short a time, that the person with whom he was in the habit of associating did not perceive his absence. the cardinal de santa cruz, in 1516, commissioned torralba to pass a night with his physician, doctor morales, in the house of a spanish lady named _rosales_, to ascertain if what this woman related of a phantom which she saw every night in the form of a murdered man, was to be believed; doctor morales had remained a whole night in the house, and had not seen anything when the spanish lady announced the presence of the ghost, and the cardinal hoped to discover something by means of torralba. at the hour of one the woman uttered her cry of alarm; morales saw nothing, but torralba perceived the figure, which was that of a dead man; behind him appeared another phantom with the features of a woman. torralba said to him with a loud voice, _what dost thou seek here?_ the phantom replied, _a treasure_, and disappeared. _zequiel_, on being questioned, replied that under the house there was the body of a man who had been assassinated with a poignard. in 1519, torralba returned to spain, accompanied by don diego de zuñiga, a relation of the duke de bejar, and brother to don antonio, grand prior of castile, who was his intimate friend. at barcelonetta, near turin, while they were walking with the secretary acebedo (who had been marshal of the camp in italy and savoy), acebedo and zuñiga thought they saw something pass by torralba which they could not define; he informed them that it was his angel _zequiel_, who had approached to speak to him. zuñiga wished much to see him, but _zequiel_ would not appear. at barcelona, torralba saw, in the house of the canon juan garcia, a book on chiromancy, and in some notes a process for winning money at play. zuñiga wished to learn it, and torralba copied the characters, and told his friend to write them himself on paper with the blood of a bat, and keep them about his person while he played. being at valladolid in 1520, torralba told don diego that he would return to rome, because he had the means of getting there in a short time, by being mounted on a stick and guided through the air by a cloud of fire. torralba really went to that city, where cardinal volterra and the grand prior requested him to give up his _familiar spirit_ to them. torralba proposed it to _zequiel_, and even entreated him to consent, but without success. in 1525 the angel told him that he would do well if he returned to spain, because he would obtain the place of physician to the infanta eleonora, queen dowager of portugal, and afterwards married to francis i., king of france. the doctor communicated this affair to the duke de bejar, and to don stephen-manuel merino, archbishop of bari; they solicited and obtained for him the place which he aspired to. lastly, on the 5th of may in the same year, _zequiel_ told the doctor that rome would be taken by the imperial troops the next day. torralba entreated his angel to take him to rome to witness this important event; he complied, and they left valladolid at the hour of eleven at night: when they were at a short distance from the city, the angel gave torralba a knotted stick, and said to him, _shut your eyes, do not fear, take this in your hands, and no evil will befal you_. when the moment to open his eyes arrived, he found himself so near the sea, that he might have touched it with his hand; the black cloud which surrounded them was succeeded by a brilliant light, which made torralba fear that he should be consumed. _zequiel_ perceiving his fear, said, _reassure yourself, fool!_ torralba again closed his eyes, and when _zequiel_ told him to open them, he found himself in the tower of nona in rome. they then heard the clock of the castle st. angelo sound the fifth hour of the night, which is midnight according to the manner of computing time in spain, so that they had been travelling one hour. torralba went all over rome with _zequiel_, and afterwards witnessed the pillage of the city: he entered the house of the bishop copis, a german, who lived in the tower of st. ginia; he saw the constable de bourbon expire, the pope shut himself up in the castle of st. angelo, and all the other events of that terrible day. in an hour and a half they had returned to valladolid, where _zequiel_ quitted him, saying, _another time you will believe what i tell you_. torralba published all that he had seen; and as the court soon received the same news, torralba (who was then physician to the admiral of castile) was spoken of as a great magician. these rumours were the cause of his denunciation; he was arrested at cuença by the inquisition in the beginning of the year 1508. he was denounced by his intimate friend diego de zuñiga, who, after having been as foolishly captivated as torralba, with the miracles of the good angel, became fanatical and superstitious. torralba at first confessed all that has been related of _zequiel_, supposing that he should not be tried for the doubts he had expressed of the immortality of the soul and the divinity of our saviour. when the judges had collected sufficient evidence, they assembled to give their _votes_, but as they did not accord, they applied to the council, which decreed that torralba should be tortured, _as much as his age and rank permitted_, to discover his motives in receiving and keeping near him the spirit _zequiel_; and if he believed him to be a bad angel, as a witness declared that he had said so; if he had made a compact with him; what had passed at the first interview; if at that time or afterwards he had employed conjurations to invoke him; immediately after this the tribunal was to pronounce the definitive sentence. torralba had never varied, until that time, in his account of his familiar spirit, whom he always affirmed to be of the order of good angels, but the torture made him say, that he now perceived him to be a bad angel, since he was the cause of his misfortune. he was asked if _zequiel_ had told him that he would be arrested by the inquisition; he replied that he had told him of it several times, desiring him not to go to cuença, because he would meet with a misfortune there, but that he thought he might disregard this advice. he also declared that there was no compact between them, and that every circumstance had passed as he had related it. the inquisitors considered all these details to be true; and after taking a new declaration from torralba, they suspended his trial for the space of one year, from motives of compassion, and with the hope of seeing if this famous necromancer would be converted, and confess the compact and sorcery which he had constantly denied. a new witness recalled the memory of his dispute, and his doubts of the immortality of the soul, and the divinity of jesus christ, which caused another declaration of the doctor in january, 1530. the council being informed of it, commanded the inquisition to commission some pious and learned persons to endeavour to convert the accused. francisco antonio barragan, prior of the dominican convent at cuença, and diego manrique, a canon of the cathedral, undertook this task, and exhorted him vehemently. the prisoner replied that he sincerely repented of his faults, but that it was impossible for him to confess what he had not done, and that he could not follow the advice given him, to renounce all communication with _zequiel_ because the spirit was more powerful than he was; but he promised that he would not desire his presence, or consent to any of his propositions. on the 6th of march, 1531, torralba was condemned to the usual abjuration of all heresies, and to suffer the punishment of imprisonment and the _san-benito_ during the pleasure of the inquisitor-general; to hold no further communion with the spirit _zequiel_, and never to attend to any of his propositions: these conditions were imposed on him for the safety of his conscience and the good of his soul. the inquisitor soon put an end to the punishment of torralba, in consideration, as he said, of all that he had suffered during an imprisonment of four years: but the true motive of the pardon granted to torralba was the interest which the admiral of castile took in his fate; he retained him as his physician for several years after his judgment. the truth of the marvellous facts related by torralba rests solely upon his confession, and the report of the witnesses whom he had induced to believe all that he had told them. torralba cited none but deceased persons in eight declarations which he made, except don diego de zuñiga. it was necessary to remark this to show the degree of confidence to be placed in some parts of his narration. it may be supposed that a great number of different accounts of this affair were spread, to which i attribute the additions and alterations in some circumstances which louis zapata introduced into his poem of _carlos famoso_, thirty years after the sentence passed on torralba, and of those details which cervantes eighty years later thought proper to put in the mouth of don quixote. i terminate, by this account of doctor torralba, the history of the administration of cardinal don alphonso manrique, archbishop of seville, who died in that city on the 28th of september, 1538, with the reputation of being a friend and benefactor to the poor. his charity and some other qualities worthy of his birth have gained him a place among the illustrious men of his age. he had several natural children before he entered into orders: don jerome manrique is cited as having been most worthy of his father; he successively attained the dignities of provincial inquisitor, counsellor of the _supreme_, bishop of carthagena and avila, president of the chancery of valladolid, and, lastly, inquisitor-general. at the death of don alphonso manrique, there were nineteen provincial tribunals; they were established at seville, cordova, toledo, valladolid, murcia, calahorra, estremadura, saragossa, valencia, barcelona, majorca, in the canaries, at cuença, in navarre, grenada, sicily, sardinia, in tierra firma, and the isles of the american ocean. the inquisition of jaen had been united to that of grenada. the inquisition had afterwards three tribunals in america, at mexico, lima, and carthagena. in the indies they had been decreed but not organized. by omitting the tribunals of america, sardinia, and sicily, we shall find that there were fifteen in spain, which respectively burnt, annually, about ten individuals in person, five in effigy, and subjected fifty to different penances: so that in all spain one hundred and fifty persons were burnt every year; sixty-five in effigy, and seven hundred and fifty suffered different canonical penances, which, multiplied by the fifteen years of the administration of manrique, shows that two thousand two hundred and fifty individuals were burnt, one thousand one hundred and twenty-five in effigy, and eleven thousand two hundred and fifty condemned to penances; in all, fourteen thousand, six hundred and twenty-five condemnations. this number scarcely deserves to be mentioned in comparison with those of preceding times; but still it appears enormous, particularly if the excessive abuse of the secret proceedings is considered. chapter xvi. of the trial of the false nuncio of portugal, and other important events during the time of cardinal tabera, sixth inquisitor-general. _quarrels of the inquisition with the court of rome._ charles v. appointed cardinal don juan pardo de tabera, archbishop of toledo, to succeed cardinal manrique, in the office of inquisitor-general; his bulls of institution were expedited in september 1539, and a month after he entered upon his office, so that the _supreme_ council governed the inquisition for the space of one year. it was under the inquisitor tabera, that the congregation of the holy office was founded at rome, on the 1st of april, 1543. it gave the title and privilege of inquisitors-general of the faith, for all the christian world, to several cardinals; two of the number were spaniards, don juan alvarez de toledo, bishop of burgos, a son of the duke of alva, and don thomas badia, cardinal-priest of the title of st. silvestre, and master of the sacred palace. these two cardinals were of the order of st. dominic. this new creation alarmed the inquisition of spain for its supremacy; but the pope formally declared that it was not his intention to alter anything that had been established, and the institution of the inquisitors-general would not interfere with the privileges of the other inquisitors. yet the general inquisition attempted several times to give laws to that of spain, particularly in the prohibition of some writings which had been proscribed at rome. the inquisitors-general wrote to those of spain, to register the censure of the theologians, because they were to be looked upon as the most learned of the catholic church, and because their opinion was supported by the confirmation of the supreme head of the church, whom the cardinals asserted to be infallible when he acted (as in this case) as sovereign pontiff. he approved and commanded the decrees of the congregation of cardinals, to be received and executed with submission. these pretensions of the court of rome did not inspire the inquisitors of spain with any awe; they have always defended their privileges with so much vigour, that they often refused to execute the apostolical briefs, when they were contrary to the decisions they had made conjointly with the _supreme_ council. we find examples of this resistance under urban viii., in the condemnation of the works of the jesuit, john baptist poza, which had been pronounced at rome; and under benedict xiv., when the inquisitor-general, don francis perezdel prado, bishop of teruel, refused to enter upon the _prohibitory index_ the works of cardinal noris, in opposition to the request, and even the formal demand, of that great pope. although the inquisitors of spain pretended that their authority was canonical and spiritual, and had been delegated to them by the sovereign pontiff, who is infallible when he pronounces _ex cathedrâ_, yet they always opposed this infallibility in fact, and refused to submit to his decrees, when contrary to their particular system. the inquisitors would have acted differently, if they had not been certain that by applying to the king and interesting his policy, they would force the royal authority to take a part in their quarrels, and oppose the measures of the pontiff, who, if they had not possessed that powerful support, would have treated them as rebels, and degraded them to the rank of simple priests by depriving them of their employments. _history of the viceroys of sicily and catalonia._ in 1535, charles v. had deprived the inquisition of the right of exercising the royal jurisdiction, and it was not restored to them till 1545; consequently, in 1543, they had not the privilege of trying their officers, familiars, or other secular attendants of the holy office, for matters not relating to religion. this royal decree was known to the captain-general of catalonia, don pedro cardona, when he commenced proceedings against the gaoler, a familiar and a servant of the grand-serjeant of the inquisition of barcelona, for carrying arms, which was prohibited in his government. the inquisitors of barcelona had become insolent, from having always prevailed in affairs of this nature, and they instituted proceedings against don pedro cardona, as a rebel against the holy office; without respecting his high situations of captain-general, and military governor of the province, or the rank and name of his illustrious family. being informed that the emperor was only nine leagues from barcelona, they denounced the act of his lieutenant to him, and represented, through cardinal tabera, that if cardona was not condemned to make a public reparation, the people would lose all respect for the inquisition, and an incalculable injury be done to the catholic religion throughout the kingdom. the emperor, blinded by fanaticism, not only favoured the inquisitors against all justice, and in contempt of his own ordinance of 1535; but he wrote to cardona, that the interests of the faith required that he should submit to receive the absolution _ad cautelam_. this order deeply afflicted don pedro, but he resolved to obey his master, and demanded absolution. the inquisitors, to render their triumph greater, celebrated an _auto-da-fé_, in the cathedral of barcelona, where cardona was compelled to attend, standing without a sword, and with a taper in his hand, during the celebration of mass, and the ceremony of his absolution. charles v. had also deprived the inquisition of sicily of the royal jurisdiction, for the space of five years, and afterwards prolonged it to ten; but the inquisitors represented, through cardinal tabera, that the inconveniences arising from this measure were so great, that don ferdinand gonzaga, prince de malfeta, the viceroy and captain-general of the island, was informed that the suspension was to be revoked at the expiration of the tenth year, without a particular order. the marquis de terranova had been viceroy and governor-general; he was constable and admiral of naples, a grandee of spain of the first class, and related to the emperor through the house of aragon. two familiars of the inquisition had been taken before the civil tribunal, by his orders, for some crimes which they had committed. philip of austria, prince of asturias, the eldest son of charles v., then aged sixteen, governed the spanish dominions during the absence of his father; and as he was not less superstitious, his conduct towards the marquis de terranova was the same as that of the emperor to don pedro cardona. i consider it necessary to give the letter of the prince to the marquis de terranova; it was as follows:-"i, the prince, honourable marquis, admiral and constable, our dear counsellor: you know what happened when you commanded two familiars of the holy office to be whipped (while you were governor of this kingdom, and not well informed of the affair). so great a contempt for that holy tribunal has been the result, that it has been impossible for it to command anything with the success which it formerly obtained. on the contrary, several persons of this kingdom have presumed to insult and use violence towards the officers of the inquisition, and to prevent and disturb them in the exercise of their office, according to the complaints and informations which we have received on this affair. the reverend cardinal of toledo, inquisitor-general, and the members of the council of the general inquisition, have deliberated with his majesty, and it has been found proper and convenient that you should do penance for the fault you have committed; saying that it should be gentle and moderate, in consideration of the services you have rendered his majesty. in consequence, the inquisitor-general and the council, guided by their esteem for your person, have commanded the inquisitor gongora to speak to you, and represent your fault, that you may accomplish the penance imposed, which (according to the nature of the fact, and the evil which has been the result) ought to have been much more severe, as you will learn from what the inquisitors have been commanded to say to you. as to the rest, this has only been decreed for the glory of god, the honour of the holy office, and the good of your conscience. we require and charge you, for the sake of the good example which you owe to others, to accept and accomplish this penance, with the submission which is due to the church, and without waiting to be compelled by means of excommunication and ecclesiastical censures; the submission which we ask of you will not affect your honour, but will be profitable to you in freeing you from all inquietude and vexation; it is approved by his majesty, will give us pleasure, and we undertake to treat you in all that concerns you with the favour that we have used towards you, and which we will show whenever there is an opportunity. given at valladolid, 15th december, 1543. i, the prince." this letter is marked by several members of the council, and countersigned _juan garcia, pro-secretary_. the silence which is observed on the nature of the penance imposed on the viceroy is remarkable; but whatever gentleness and moderation was affected, it was the same as that of don pedro cordona. the only difference to be observed was, that it did not take place in the cathedral, but in the church of the dominican convent; it was also thought necessary, by way of compensation, to prevent the marquis from kneeling, except during the elevation of the host, that he might be more exposed to the sight of the people, and to condemn him to pay an hundred ducats to the familiars whom he had punished. _history of the false nuncio of the pope in portugal._ the history of the quarrels of the inquisition with the royal authority affords another conflict of jurisdiction. i speak of the affair of the famous juan perez de saavedra mentioned in histories, romances, and dramatic pieces, under the name of _the false nuncio of portugal_, and who generally passes for the founder of the inquisition in that kingdom. the critic feijoo has supposed that the history of this affair was fabulous. the narration of saavedra, which feijoo quotes, contains fables, but it also contains truths belonging to the history of the inquisition. it is necessary to enter into the details of this history: i shall first relate the facts according to the narrative which saavedra wrote for the cardinal espinosa in 1567; i shall afterwards establish the truth on some points which that impostor contrived to obscure. juan perez de saavedra was born at cordova. his father was a captain in a regiment of infantry, and a perpetual member of the municipality of that city, from a privilege acquired by his family; his mother, anne de guzman, was descended from a family as noble as that of her husband. saavedra, who was possessed of great talents and information, employed himself for some time in forging apostolical bulls, royal ordinances, regulations of councils and tribunals, letters of change, and the signatures of a great number of persons: he imitated them so perfectly, that he made use of them without exciting any doubts of their authenticity, and passed for a knight commander of the military order of st. jago, and received the salary, which was three thousand ducats, for the space of a year and a half. in a short time, by means of the royal orders which he counterfeited, he acquired three hundred and sixty thousand ducats, and the secret of this great fortune would never have been revealed (as he expresses himself in his confession) _if he had not clothed himself in scarlet_, that is, if he had not taken it into his head to feign himself a cardinal, in order to exercise the functions of a legate _à latere_. he says, that being in the kingdom of algarves, a short time after the institution of the jesuits had been confirmed by paul iii., a priest of that society arrived in the country, furnished with an apostolical brief, which authorized him to found a college of the order in the kingdom of portugal; that having heard him preach on st. andrew's day, he was so pleased with him, that he invited him to dinner, and kept him several days in his house. the jesuit, having discovered his talent during this period, expressed a wish to have a _fac-simile_ of his brief, containing an eulogy on the society of jesus. he performed this task with so much success, that the brief might have been taken for the original; and they at last agreed that, to complete the good which would accrue to portugal from the establishment of the society of jesus, it would be proper to introduce the inquisition on the same plan as that of spain. saavedra then went to tabilla, a town in the same province, where, with the assistance of the jesuit, he made the apostolical bull which was necessary for their purpose, and forged letters from charles v. and prince philip his son, to the king of portugal, john iii. this bull was supposed to have been sent to saavedra, as legate, to establish the inquisition in portugal, if the king consented. saavedra afterwards passed the frontier, and went to ayamonte, in the kingdom of seville. the provincial and franciscan monks of andalusia had lately arrived there from rome. saavedra thought he would try if the bull would pass as authentic: he told the provincial that some individual going to portugal had dropped a parchment on the road, which he showed him, and begged to know if it was of importance, as, in that case, he would lose no time in restoring it to the person who had dropped it. the provincial took the parchment for an original writing and true bull; he made the contents known to saavedra, and expatiated on the advantages which portugal would derive from it. saavedra went to seville, and took into his service two confidants, one of whom was to be his secretary, the other his major-domo; he bought litters and silver-plate, and adopted the dress of a roman cardinal; he sent his confidants to cordova and grenada to hire servants, and commanded them to go with his suite to badajoz, where they gave out that they were the familiars of a cardinal from rome, who would pass through the city in his way to portugal, to establish the inquisition by the order of the pope; they also announced that he would soon arrive, as he travelled post. at the appointed time saavedra appeared at badajoz, where his servants publicly kissed his hand as the pope's legate. he left badajoz for seville, where he was received into the archiepiscopal palace of cardinal loaisa, who resided at madrid in the quality of apostolical commissary-general of the holy crusade. he received the greatest marks of respect and devotion from don juan fernandez de temiño, the vicar-general. he remained eighteen days in this city, and during that time obtained, by false obligations, the sum of eleven hundred and thirty ducats from the heirs of the marquis de tarifa. he afterwards took the road to llerena (where the inquisition of estremadura had been established), after going to different towns in the province; he was lodged in part of the buildings of the inquisition, which was then occupied by the inquisitors don pedro alvarez becerra and don louis de cardenas, to whom he said that he meant to visit the inquisition of llerena in his quality of legate; and, after having fulfilled that part of his mission, he should proceed to portugal, where he should establish the holy office on the plan of that of spain. saavedra then returned to badajoz, from whence he sent his secretary to lisbon with his bulls and papers, that the court being informed of his arrival, might prepare to receive him. the mission of this agent caused great doubts and agitation at the court, where such a novelty was little expected: nevertheless, the king sent a nobleman to the frontier to receive the cardinal legate, who made his entry into lisbon, where he passed three months, and was treated with every mark of respect: he then undertook a long journey into different parts of the kingdom, going over the dioceses, and taking a detailed account of them; it would have been difficult to discover the aim of his apostolical solicitude, if some unforeseen circumstances had not put an end to his imposture. the inquisition of spain discovered this intrigue through the address of cardinal tabera, who shared the cares of government with the prince of asturias, at the time when charles v. was absent in france. in consequence of the measures concerted between the cardinal and the marquis de villaneuva de barcarrota, the governor of badajoz, saavedra was arrested at nieva de guadiana in the portuguese territory, on the 23rd of january, 1541, where he was at table with the curate of the village, who had entreated that he would do him the honour of visiting his parish, as he had the others in the diocese. this request was only a snare, in order to arrest the impostor with more safety. saavedra says that, when he was arrested, three treasures which he had with him were seized; one of twenty thousand ducats, the produce of the fines of the condemned, destined for the holy office; the second of a hundred and fifty thousand ducats, which, he said, he intended to apply to the use of the church, and other good works; the third of ninety thousand ducats, which belonged to himself. saavedra was taken to madrid by the order of the procurator-general of the kingdom, and there imprisoned. the alcaldes of the court went to him, and received his declaration, which was necessary to the trial. the tribunal of the inquisition had not then been established at madrid, which was subject to that of toledo. the inquisitors pretended that this affair ought to come before them, because it was to be presumed that the prisoner had renounced the catholic religion, from the fictions which he had invented to procure money; as if catholics did not commit greater crimes every day! as the inquisitor-general was the lieutenant of the prince, the holy office was sure to prevail. tabera, wishing to satisfy both parties, decreed that the alcaldes should remain in possession of the person of saavedra, and proceed against him for his exactions, forgeries, and other political crimes, and that the holy office should take cognizance of the crimes against the faith which he had been guilty of, under the title of a cardinal. the inquisitor reflected that saavedra was a man of great talent, and that he therefore should be treated with moderation; besides that, he had always conducted himself like a real judge, except that he only condemned the accused to pay fines. saavedra declared that these reasons made the inquisitor-general wish to be personally acquainted with him; that he caused him to be brought before him, heard him with interest, and offered to protect him, promising to give him for a judge any one that he named: that he then expressed a wish to be judged by doctor arias, inquisitor at llerena; this was granted, and caused great murmurs against the cardinal and the court at madrid, where it was whispered that tabera had appropriated the ninety thousand ducats which had been taken from saavedra: that doctor arias condemned him to serve ten years in the king's galleys; that, after a detention of two years, the alcaldes of madrid pronounced his definitive sentence, one of the principal parts of which was, that after having fulfilled the inquisitorial sentence, he could not be set at liberty, or quit the galleys without the permission of his majesty, on pain of death; that he was sent to the galleys in 1544; that in 1554, although the period of his punishment had expired, he could not obtain his liberty: then, persuaded that his affair depended more on the inquisition than the alcaldes of the court, he endeavoured to interest the pope in his fate, representing that he had done several things extremely useful to religion and the state, in the exercise of his false legation; that paul iv. sent him a brief, which was addressed to the inquisitor-general don ferdinand valdes, whom his holiness charged to obtain saavedra's liberty; that he received this brief when the king's galleys were in the port of st. mary; that he immediately forwarded it to the bishop coadjutor of seville, and he sent it to the inquisitor-general, who was his archbishop. valdes having communicated the affair to philip ii., that prince gave orders that saavedra should be set at liberty, that he might immediately repair to court. saavedra arrived there in 1562, after having passed nineteen years in the galleys. he was presented to the king, who desired to hear his history from his own lips, and to have it in writing; while saavedra related it to the king, antonio perez wrote down the singular events of his life: lastly, saavedra himself wrote it in 1567, for the inquisitor-general, don diego espinosa. the history of saavedra has furnished the subject for a spanish comedy, entitled the "_false nuncio of portugal_," in which not only all the unities of time, place, and action are wanting, but the rule which only admits probable events is infringed; but this ought not to surprise in poets, since the hero himself has taken the same liberty in the narrative which he composed for the amusement of cardinal espinosa. it is certain that he was imprisoned on the 25th of january, 1541, as he states in his history. but this point, so well established, proves that he imposed in other circumstances; for example, if what he relates of the jesuit in algarves is true, it could not have happened until the year 1540, because paul iii. only expedited his bull of approval for the _society of jesus_, on the 27th of september, 1540; now the sermon preached by the jesuit on st. andrew's day corresponds with the 30th of november in the same year, that is, on the fifty-second day before his imprisonment; this interval would not be sufficient for his journeys to ayamonte, llerena, seville, badajoz, and in portugal. thus saavedra did not speak truth, either in stating the period of his appearing to the world as a cardinal, and the motives which induced him to enter into the intrigue with the jesuit; or when he said that he sustained his part for three months at lisbon, and during three months which he employed in visiting different towns in the kingdom. besides, the number and names of the disciples of st. ignatius were known at that period; and it is certain that before the bull of approbation was obtained, the founder of the order had appointed st. francis xavier and simon rodriguez, a portuguese, to preach in portugal; and that these monks left rome on the 15th of march, 1540, with the portuguese ambassador; that on their arrival at lisbon, john iii. wished to receive them into his palace; that they refused that honour, and lodged in the hospital; that st. francis xavier embarked for the east indies, with the new governor, on the 8th of april, 1541, and that rodriguez remained in portugal to preach, as he had already done, to the great satisfaction of the inhabitants, who had a high opinion of his virtues: these circumstances render it improbable that the jesuit would ask for a forged brief, and enter into an intrigue with a layman. saavedra says, that the court of lisbon was disturbed at the news of the arrival of a nuncio in portugal. this would not be extraordinary, as neither the pope nor any other person had written to the court on the subject, and as the pope had appointed don henry, archbishop of braga, the king's brother, inquisitor-general in the preceding year. but if the arrival of the legate caused so much surprise, it was natural that the king should write to the pope, whose answer would have arrived two months afterwards, and saavedra would have been detected before the end of the third month, and thus there would have been no necessity for the king of spain to arrest him. it is not more certain that saavedra established the inquisition in portugal. the expulsion of the jews took place in 1492; many of them retired to portugal: among them were some that had been baptized, and john ii. consented to receive them into his states, if they would behave like faithful christians. king manuel ordered them to quit the kingdom, and to leave all their children under the age of fourteen, who were to be made christians; they offered to receive baptism, if the king would promise not to establish the inquisition for twenty years; the king granted their request, and also that the names of the witnesses should be communicated to them, if they were accused of heresy after that period, besides the power of bequeathing their effects if they were condemned. in 1507, manuel confirmed these privileges, prolonging the first twenty years, and rendering the others perpetual: in 1520, john renewed the first concession for another twenty years. clement vii., being informed that the baptized jews in portugal did not show much attachment to the christian religion, and that the protestant and lutheran heresies made great progress in the kingdom, appointed brother diego de silva inquisitor for that country. he attempted to exercise his functions, but the new christians claimed their rights, which were to last for several years; a trial was the result of this opposition. clement vii. died, and his successor, paul iii., granted to the new christians a privilege which they could not obtain in portugal; that they might confide, to persons chosen by themselves, their defence before the prince of the sense to be given to the dispositions of their privileges, which had been interpreted to their prejudice. in the same year, the pope granted them a pardon for all that had passed. the king afterwards represented that the converted jews abused their privileges, some returning to judaism, and others adopting the errors of the protestants. this circumstance induced the pontiff to publish another bull on the 25th of march, 1536, which is considered as the foundation of the inquisition in portugal. the pope appointed as inquisitors, the bishops of coïmbra, lamego, and ceuta; and decreed at the same time, that another bishop or priest of the king's nomination should be associated with them. the pope granted to each inquisitor the power of proceeding against heretics and their adherents, in concert with the diocesan in ordinary, or alone, if he refused to assist; they were likewise obliged for the first three years, in the proceedings against heretics, to conform to the manner of proceeding in cases of theft or homicide, and after that period to the rules of common law; the practice of confiscation was abolished, and the heirs of the condemned could inherit as if he died intestate. lastly, the pope commanded that a sufficient number of tribunals should be instituted, for the execution of these measures[11]. the king appointed don diego de silva, bishop of ceuta, first inquisitor-general. such was the origin of the inquisition in portugal, four years before saavedra arrived in that country. in 1539, the pope appointed don henry, archbishop of braga, to succeed the first inquisitor-general. the third grand inquisitor was don george de almeida, archbishop of lisbon. all that i have now stated is taken from authentic documents. i conclude from them that juan perez de saavedra forged his brief of cardinal _à latere_, presented it in december, 1540, and succeeded in concealing his forgery; that what he related of the jesuit was not true, or happened differently; that seeing the inquisition established in a manner contrary to his opinions, he insinuated that it would be better to take that of spain as a model, which was well known to the inquisitors of llerena, and that he would visit the different parts of the kingdom to facilitate this design; that he travelled through part of the kingdom in the month of december, and continued his journeys in january in the following year, when he was arrested, before the court of lisbon received information of his imposture. i have no doubt that saavedra amassed great sums, but i am far from thinking that they were as considerable as he affirmed them to be. cardinal tabera, sixth inquisitor-general, died on the 1st of august, 1545: at his death the number of tribunals was the same as when he was placed at the head of the inquisition: he had re-established that of jaen, but the tribunal of navarre was united with that of calahorra. the number of victims, calculated as it was for the time of manrique, affords, for the seven years of cardinal tabera's ministry, seven thousand seven hundred and twenty individuals condemned and punished; eight hundred and forty were burnt in person, four hundred and twenty in effigy; the rest, in number five thousand, four hundred, and sixty, were subjected to different penances. i firmly believe that the number was much more considerable; but faithful to my system of impartiality, i have stated the most moderate calculation. chapter xvii. of the inquisitions of naples, sicily, and malta, and of the events of the time of cardinal loaisa, seventh inquisitor-general. _naples._ charles v. appointed, to succeed cardinal pardo de tabera, cardinal don garcia de loaisa, archbishop of seville, who was the seventh inquisitor-general. this prelate had arrived at a great age, since he had signed different ordinances of the supreme council in 1517. he had been the confessor of charles v., prior-general of the order of st. dominic, bishop of osma and siguenza, and apostolical commissary of the holy crusade. the court of rome expedited his bulls of confirmation on the 18th of february, 1546, and he died on the 22nd of april, in the same year. in 1546, charles v. resolved to establish the inquisition at naples, although his grandfather had failed in the attempt in 1504 and 1510. he commissioned his viceroy, don pedro de toledo, marquis of villa franca del bierzo, to select inquisitors and officers from among the inhabitants, to send to the government a list of the persons chosen, and all the necessary documents, that the inquisitor-general might be able to delegate the necessary powers to the new inquisitors: when these measures had been taken, the tribunal was to be established with all the forms of the inquisitorial jurisdiction. frederic munter, professor of theology in the literary academy at copenhagen, has supposed that the intrigues of don pedro de toledo were the causes of the introduction of the inquisition; but he was not able to consult the original documents, which are now in my hands, and this impossibility was the cause of his errors in his history of the sicilian inquisition. the efforts of charles v., to establish the inquisition at naples, arose from the progress which lutheranism made in germany, and his fear that it would penetrate into other countries. his inclinations were fostered by cardinal loaisa, and the councillors of the inquisition: the only part that don pedro took in this affair, was, that he was the first person to whom the emperor confided his intentions, and the only one who had sufficient wisdom to advise his master to relinquish his designs, when he found the evil they would cause. the orders of the emperor were executed without meeting any opposition; but scarcely was it known that some persons had been arrested by the new inquisition, than the people rebelled, crying, "_long live the emperor! perish the inquisition!_" the neapolitans flew to arms, they compelled the spanish troops to retire to the fortresses, and charles v. was obliged to abandon his enterprise. it is worthy of remark, that paul iii. openly protected the neapolitan rebels; being displeased that the inquisition of naples should depend on that of spain, he complained that his predecessors, innocent viii., alexander vi., and julius ii., had done much evil in not making the inquisitors entirely dependant on the popes, and in allowing an intermediate authority, which rendered that of the holy see of no effect. paul iii., without communicating these motives to the neapolitans, told them that they were right in resisting the will of their master, since the spanish inquisition was extremely severe, and did not follow the example of that of rome, which had been established three years, and of which no complaints had been made. in 1563, philip ii. attempted to introduce his favourite tribunal at naples, but the inhabitants had recourse to their usual method, and the despot was obliged to yield. _sicily and malta._ the holy office of sicily triumphed in the same year still more completely than it had done in 1543. in 1500, ferdinand v. endeavoured to establish the spanish inquisition in that kingdom, after having suppressed that of the pope's, which was confided to the monks of st. dominic; but all his efforts failed, until the year 1503. in 1520, charles v. wrote to the pope to request that he would not admit any appeals from persons condemned by the sicilian inquisition, because they could apply for that purpose to the inquisitor-general of spain, in virtue of apostolical concessions granted by his predecessors, and confirmed by himself. this proceeding, and the particular favour which the emperor bestowed on the holy office, singularly increased the pride of the inquisitors, and their audacity in abusing the secrecy of their trials. but the hatred of the people for the inquisition, and their rebellion in 1535, compelled charles v. to revoke the privileges which he had granted, and deprive it of the royal jurisdiction for five years. this measure humiliated the inquisitors, but they contrived to re-establish their authority in 1538, when the inquisitor don arnauld albertius was viceroy _ad interim_: his presence emboldened them to persecute all who offended them; but their despotism was not of long duration. the viceroy returned to sicily; and finding that the aversion of the inhabitants for the inquisition was still the same, he communicated it to the emperor, who, as an indispensable measure, prolonged the suspension of their privileges for a fresh term of five years. the aversion inspired by the holy office was not without a cause, as will be seen in the following affair, which happened in 1532. antonio napoles, a rich inhabitant of the island, had been thrown into the secret prisons of the inquisition: francis napoles, his son, applied to the pope, and described this act of authority as the result of a miserable intrigue of some men of the lowest class, of whom the inquisitors had been the dupes, and had granted them a degree of confidence which nothing could justify, since his father had acted like a good catholic from his infancy. he represented that the dean of the inquisitors had leagued with his father's enemies, and detained him in prison five months, to the scandal and discontent of the inhabitants of palermo, and without affording him any means of defence; francis entreated his holiness not to allow the inquisitor to judge his father. the pope referred the affair to his commissioners in sicily, don thomas guerrero and don sebastian martinez. scarcely had the inquisitors of madrid received information of this event, than they pressed the emperor and cardinal manrique to write to the pope, and represent to him that the existence of this commission destroyed the privileges of the spanish inquisition, on which that of sicily depended. the weak clement vii. hastened to suppress the commission, and caused guerrero to send all the writings of the process to the spanish inquisitor-general. he appointed doctor don augustin camargo, inquisitor of sicily, to continue the trial, or in his place any other inquisitor, so that antonio napoles fell into the hands of his enemy. he was condemned as an heretic, his property confiscated, (although he was admitted to reconciliation,) and to be imprisoned for life. what can justify the conduct of the pope, the cardinal, and the judges? the inquisitors of sicily depended on the protection of the court of madrid, and supposed, that when all fear of rebellion had ceased, their privileges would be restored: this was really the case; the emperor, in 1543, signed a royal ordinance, which annulled the suspension at the end of the tenth year. this event inspired the inquisitors with the boldness to signify to the marquis de terranova, that he must accomplish the penance to which he had been condemned. an act appeared on the 16th of june, 1546, renewing the former concessions, and granting new ones. the inquisition resolved to celebrate its victory; a solemn _auto-da-fé_ was celebrated, in which four contumacious persons were burnt in effigy. similar ceremonies took place in 1549 and 1551. the inquisitors now became as insolent as formerly, treated the sicilians of all classes with so much severity, that a new sedition was excited in palermo against the holy office, at the time when the edict _of the faith_ was about to be published. the viceroy succeeded in restoring tranquillity, and the inquisitors appeared more moderate, at least while they were under the influence of fear, and instead of the solemn _autos-da-fé_ which had caused so much indignation, satisfied themselves with celebrating them, from time to time, privately in the hall of the tribunal; but in 1569 they ordained one which was general, and gave rise to a circumstance which deserves to be recorded. among the prisoners of the inquisition, was an unfortunate creature who had inspired the marchioness of pescari, the wife of the viceroy, with some interest. the inquisitors, thinking it necessary to conciliate the first magistrate of the island, remitted his punishment at the request of the marchioness, but at the same time informed the inquisitor-general of the circumstance, to avoid all reproach. the supreme council having deliberated on the affair, addressed a severe reprimand to the inquisitors, for having assumed a right which they did not possess, _because, in affairs of that nature, intercession could not be admitted_. when the island of malta belonged to the spanish monarchy, it was subject to the inquisition of sicily; but when it was given to the knights of st. john of jerusalem, it would have been contrary to the dignity of the grand-master to permit the exercise of foreign jurisdiction in it, after having received that of ecclesiastical power from the pope. a man was arrested in the island as an heretic, and the inquisition of sicily took informations on the affair. the grand-master wrote to demand them; the inquisitors consulted the council, which directed them, in 1575, not only to refuse them, but to claim the prisoner. the grand-master, resolved to defend his privileges, caused the man to be tried in the island, and he was acquitted. this act displeased the inquisitors, who, to revenge themselves, took advantage of an occurrence which took place in the following year. don pedro de la roca, a spaniard, and a knight of malta, killed the first alguazil of the sicilian inquisition in the city of messina. he was arrested and conducted to the secret prisons of the holy office. the grand-master claimed his knight, as he alone had a right to try him. the council being consulted, commanded the inquisitors to condemn and punish the accused as an homicide. the inquisitor-general communicated this resolution to philip ii., who wrote to the grand-master to terminate the dispute. the quarrels between the secular powers and the inquisition were not less violent in sicily: in 1580 and 1597 attempts were made to appease them, but without success; and in 1606 the sicilians had the mortification of seeing their viceroy, the duke de frias, constable of castile, prosecuted and subjected to their censures. in 1592 the duke of alva, who was then viceroy, endeavoured by indirect means to repress the insolence of the inquisitors. perceiving that the nobility of all classes were enrolled among the _familiars_ of the holy office, in order to enjoy its privileges, and to keep the people in greater order, he represented to the king that the power of the sovereign and the authority of his lieutenant were almost null, and would be entirely so in time, if these different classes continued to enjoy privileges which had the effect of neutralizing the measures of government. charles ii. acknowledged that this state of things was contrary to the dignity of his crown; and he decreed that no person employed by the king should possess those prerogatives, even if he was a _familiar_ or officer of the inquisition. the people then began to feel less respect for the tribunal; and this was the commencement of its decline. in 1713, sicily no longer formed a part of the spanish dominions, and charles de bourbon in 1739 obtained a bull, which created an inquisitor-general for that country, independent of spain; and in 1782, ferdinand iv., who succeeded charles, suppressed this odious tribunal. during the two hundred and seventy-nine years of its existence, the solemn and general _autos-da-fé_ were celebrated of which munter speaks, and several others which were performed in the hall of the tribunal. in the year 1546, which corresponds with the administration of cardinal loaisa, the number of condemned in the fifteen spanish tribunals amounted to seven hundred and eighty individuals. chapter xviii. of important events during the first years of the administration of the eighth inquisitor-general; religion of charles v. during the last years of his life. _trials during the first years of the ministry of valdés._ don ferdinand valdes was the successor of cardinal loaisa in the archbishopric of seville, and the office of inquisitor-general. at the time of his appointment he was bishop of siguenza, and president of the royal council of castile, after having been successively a member of the grand college of st. bartholomew de salamanca, of the council of administration for the archbishopric of toledo, for the cardinal ximenez de cisneros, visitor of the inquisition of cuença and of the royal council of navarre, a member of the council of state, canon of the metropolitan church of santiago de galicia, counsellor of the supreme inquisition, bishop of elna, orensa, oviedo and leon, and president of the royal chancery of valladolid. so many honours could not render him insensible to the mortification of not being a cardinal like his predecessors, and of seeing bartholomew carranza elevated to the see of toledo. this was the true cause of his cruel persecution of carranza. the pope approved the nomination of valdés in january, 1547, and he took possession of his office in the following month. valdés displayed an almost sanguinary disposition during his administration. it led him to demand from the pope the power of condemning lutherans to be burnt, even though they had not relapsed, and had desired to be reconciled. i shall here make known the most illustrious of the victims sacrificed before the abdication of charles v., as it is necessary to make a separate article for the events of that nature under the reign of philip ii. among the condemned persons who appeared in the _auto-da-fé_ of seville in 1552, was juan gil, a native of olvera, in aragon, and a canon in the metropolitan church of that city; he is better known by the name of doctor _egidius_. he was first condemned, as violently suspected, to abjure the lutheran heresy, and to be subjected to a penance; but four years after his death, in 1556, he was condemned, and, as having relapsed, his body was disinterred, and burnt with his effigy; his memory was declared infamous, and his property confiscated, for having died as a lutheran. raymond gonzales de montes was his companion in prison, but succeeded in escaping, and was burnt in effigy. in a work written on the spanish inquisition, he has introduced several particulars relating to the life of _juan gil_. he informs us that egidius studied theology at alcala de henares, and there obtained the title of doctor. he acquired so great a reputation, that he was compared to peter lombard, to st. thomas d'aquinas, to john scott, and other theologians of the greatest merit. his talents induced the chapter of seville to offer him unanimously the office of preacher to the cathedral. egidius had very little talent for preaching, and the canons soon repented of having appointed him. rodrigo de valero told egidius that the books from which he derived his knowledge were worth nothing, and that his preaching would never be admired, if he did not study the bible. egidius took his advice, and in time acquired a style of preaching extremely agreeable to the people, but his success raised him many enemies. the emperor gave him the bishopric of tortosa in 1550, which increasing the envy and hatred of his enemies, they denounced him to the inquisition of seville as a lutheran heretic, for some propositions which he had advanced in his sermons, and which they separated from the other parts, to give them a different sense from what they would otherwise have had; they took advantage of the favour he showed to rodrigo valero in 1540 during his trial, and of some other circumstances, to injure him. egidius was taken to the secret prisons of the holy office in 1550: he made use of this opportunity to compose his apology, which rendered the storm his enemies had raised still more violent. his simplicity had made him, in his apology, establish as certain principles, some propositions which the scholastic theologians looked upon as erroneous, and tending to heresy. the conduct and morals of egidius were so pure, that the emperor wrote in his favour, the chapter of seville followed his example, and (what is still more remarkable) the licentiate, correa, dean of the inquisitors, was touched by his innocence, and undertook to defend him against his colleague, pedro diaz, who bore the greatest hatred to the accused. this circumstance was particularly mortifying to egidius, as his enemy formerly held the same opinions, and had likewise studied in the school of rodrigo valero. the interest which egidius had inspired induced the inquisitors to accede to his proposal of a discussion between him and some learned theologians. brother garcia de arias, of the convent of st. isidore of seville, was chosen; but his opinion was not deemed sufficient, and juan gil demanded the dominican friar, dominic soto, should be summoned to the conference. this incidence retarded the trial, but soto at last arrived at seville. according to gonzales de montes, this theologian held the same opinions as egidius; but to prevent the suspicions which might arise from this circumstance, he persuaded egidius to draw up a sort of confession of faith. they agreed that both should write their opinions, and only communicate them to each other in public. this author states that these confessions of faith were compared, and found to accord perfectly. the inquisitors being informed of this arrangement, declared that, as the reputation of a bishop was concerned, it was necessary to convoke a public assembly, where dominic soto should explain the object of the meeting in a sermon, and read his confession of faith; that egidius should afterwards read his, that the assembly might judge of the conformity of their opinions. the inquisitors caused two pulpits to be prepared, but, either by chance, or from a private order, they were so far apart, that egidius could not hear what soto said. soto[12] read an exposition of his principles entirely different from that on which they had agreed in their private conferences; and as egidius did not hear him, and supposed that he was reading the same confession which he had approved, he consequently made signs with his head and hands that be accorded with his propositions. egidius then began to read his confession of faith, but those who understood the subject, soon perceived that there was not the slightest resemblance between them, and that egidius held several opinions entirely opposite to some propositions advanced by dominic soto, and acknowledged as dogmatical by _the tribunal of the faith_: this circumstance effaced the favourable impressions produced by the gestures of egidius. the inquisitors added these writings to those of the trial, and passed judgment upon egidius according to the advice of soto. he was declared violently suspected of the lutheran heresy, and condemned to three years' imprisonment; he was prohibited from preaching, writing, or explaining theology for the space of ten years, and never to leave the kingdom on pain of being considered and punished as a formal heretic. egidius remained in prison until 1555; he was at first extremely astonished at his situation, after having perfectly agreed with the dominican on all the points in question. he was not undeceived, until some of his fellow-prisoners informed him of the difference of his articles with those of soto, and the treachery of that monk. egidius took advantage of the short interval of liberty which followed his imprisonment to go to valladolid, where he had an interview with doctor cazalla and other lutherans in that city: on his return to seville he fell sick, and died in 1556. the tribunal being informed of his intercourse with heretics, instituted another trial, and pronounced that he died an heretic; his body was disinterred, and burnt with his effigy, in a solemn _auto-da-fé_, his memory declared infamous, and his property confiscated: this sentence was executed in 1560. it will be necessary here to quote a letter of don bartholomew carranza to brother louis de la cruz, a dominican, and his disciple. the archbishop mentions as a well-known circumstance, that his catechism had been presented to the holy office; brother melchior cano and dominic soto had been commissioned to censure it, and that they had judged unfavourably of his work. he complained much of this conduct in soto; he said he could not comprehend such scruples _in a man who had been so indulgent to the doctor egidius who was considered as an heretic, while, on the contrary, the author of the catechism had combated the opinions of the heretics of england and flanders_; that soto had judged the book of a dominican monk no less favourably, while he treated an archbishop, whom he was bound to respect, without consideration; that he would, in consequence, write to rome and flanders, where he hoped that his propositions would be more favourably received than at valladolid; but that, at all events, pedro de soto, confessor to the emperor, would write to dominic, and he hoped that the almighty would allay the tempest which had been raised around him. brother pedro wrote to dominic soto, and a correspondence ensued between him and the archbishop carranza, on the censure of the catechism, and other works. these letters were found among the papers of carranza, when he was arrested by the inquisition. they proved that dominic soto had violated the secrecy which he had sworn to maintain before the inquisition: some details were found in them relating to the violence which had been used to make him condemn the catechism of carranza; he was arrested by the inquisition of valladolid, on account of these expressions. it appears from the archbishop's letter, that the censure of brother dominic on egidius was mild and conciliating, which does not accord with the substitution of the false exposition of his principles mentioned by gonzales de montes. i must observe that this author writes like a man blinded by his hatred of his enemies, whom he calls papists, hypocrites, and idolaters; he even carries his fanaticism so far as to look upon the deaths of the three judges of egidius during his lifetime as a particular effect of divine justice. as the affair of juan gil is connected with the history of rodrigo valero, i shall here relate it. he was born of a good family in lebrija. in his youth, he was extremely irregular and dissipated, but all at once he quitted society, and shut himself up to study the scriptures with so much ardour, that his conversation, and his contempt for food and clothing, made him pass for a madman. he endeavoured to persuade priests and monks, that the roman church was far from holding the pure doctrine of the evangelists, and became one of the sect of luther. his attachment to their doctrine was so great, that when he was asked from whom he held his mission, he replied from god himself through the inspiration of the holy spirit. this fanatic was denounced to the holy office, which paid no attention to it, being persuaded that rodrigo was mad. but as he continued to preach in the streets in favour of lutheranism, and as no part of his conduct showed that he was deranged, he was arrested, and would have been condemned to be delivered over to secular justice, if the inquisitors had not persisted in believing him to be mad, and if his disciple egidius, whose opinions were not then known, had not undertaken his defence. nevertheless, he was condemned in 1540 as an heretic and _false apostle_; he was admitted to reconciliation, deprived of his property, condemned to the _san-benito_, to perpetual imprisonment, and to assist on every sunday at the grand mass of st. saviour of seville. several times, when he heard the preacher advance propositions contrary to his own, he raised his voice, and reproached him for his doctrine: this boldness confirmed the inquisitors in the opinion that he was deprived of reason: he was shut up in a convent in the town of san lucar de barrameda, where he died at the age of fifty. gonzales de montes considers him as a man miraculously sent by god to preach the truth: he adds, that his _san-benito_ was suspended in the metropolitan church of seville, where it excited great curiosity, as he was the first person condemned as a _false apostle_. although, during the period of which i have related the history, there were fewer judaic heretics than in former times, yet there were many more than might be supposed. of this number was _mary de bourgogne_, who was born at saragossa: her father-in-law was a native of burgundy, of jewish extraction. a _new christian_ slave, (who had renounced the law of moses, to obtain his liberty, and was afterwards burnt for having relapsed,) in 1552, denounced mary de bourgogne, who resided in the city of murcia, and had attained her eighty-fifth year. this man deposed that, before his conversion, some person asked him if he was a christian; he replied that he was a jew, and that mary then said to him, _you are right, for the christians have neither faith nor law_. it will no doubt appear incredible, but the trial proves that in 1557 she was still in prison, waiting until sufficient proof was found to condemn her. after having waited in vain, the inquisitors commanded that mary should be _tortured, though she was then ninety years old_, and the council had decreed that in such cases the criminal should only be intimidated by the preparations. the inquisitor cano says, that the _moderate_ torture was applied; but such were the effects of this gentle application, that the unfortunate mary ceased to live and suffer in a few days after. the inquisitors took advantage of some expressions which escaped from the unfortunate woman during the torture, to condemn her as a judaic heretic, in order to confiscate her property, which was considerable. her memory, her children, and her descendants in the male line were declared infamous, her bones and effigy were burnt, and her property confiscated. the supreme council showed a certain degree of moderation in another affair, before the tribunal of toledo. michael sanchez died in prison, before his sentence, which was a pecuniary penalty, could be announced to him: the inquisitors were uncertain if his property was liable for this penalty; they applied to the council, which replied in the negative. i now terminate the history of the remarkable events of the reign of charles v. after a reign of forty years, this prince abdicated the crown in favour of his son philip ii., on the 16th of january, 1556. he did not long survive his abdication; he died in the convent of the jeronimites, at yuste in the province of estremadura, on the 21st of september, 1558, aged fifty-seven years and twenty-one days. he had made his will at brussels on the 16th of june, 1554, and a codicil in the monastery of yuste, twelve days before his death. _religion of charles v._ some historians have asserted, that charles v. adopted, in his retreat, the opinions of the german protestants; that in his last illness he confessed himself to constantine ponce de la fuente, his preacher, who was afterwards known to be a lutheran; that after his death philip ii. commissioned the inquisitors to examine the affair, and that the holy office took possession of the emperor's will, to examine if it contained anything contrary to the true faith. these statements compel me to enter into some details which will elucidate this point of history. to ascertain that the report on the religion of charles v. is only an invention of the protestants and the enemies of philip ii., it is sufficient to read the life of that prince, and that of his father, composed by gregorio leti. although this historian has made use of the least authentic documents, in his work, he is entirely silent on this point. he enters into a minute detail of the life and occupations of charles v. in his retreat, and he relates many decisive proofs of his attachment to the catholic faith, and his zeal in wishing that it might triumph over the lutheran heresy; and though no dependance can be placed on what he says concerning the conversations of the emperor with the archbishop carranza, (since there is nothing relating to them in his trial, which i have read,) yet it must be confessed that his recital is otherwise very exact. it is not true that constantine ponce de la fuente attended the emperor in his last moments, either as his preacher, (which office he had filled in germany,) or as a bishop, since he did not possess that dignity, as foreign authors have asserted without any foundation, or as his confessor, since he had never directed his conscience, though the emperor had always looked upon him as one of the most learned and respectable priests in his kingdom. lastly, ponce de la fuente could not assist charles v. in his last moments, since it appears from his trial before the inquisition of seville, that he was in the secret prisons of the holy office long before the illness of the emperor. don prudent de sandoval, bishop of tui and pampeluna, speaking of the last circumstances of the life of charles v., relates that when that prince heard of the imprisonment of ponce, he said, _oh! if constantine is an heretic, he is a great heretic_: an expression very different from that which he used on hearing that a monk named dominic de guzman had been arrested in the same city: _they might rather imprison him as a fool than an heretic._ in his codicil, written twelve days before his death, charles v. thus expresses himself: "when i had been informed that many persons had been arrested in some provinces, and that others were to be taken, as accused of lutheranism, i wrote to the princess my daughter, to inform her in what manner they should be punished, and the evil remedied. i also wrote afterwards to louis quixada, and authorized him to act in my name in the same affair; and although i am persuaded that the king my son, the princess my daughter, and the ministers, have already, and will always, make every possible effort to destroy so great an evil, with all the severity and promptitude which it requires; yet, considering what i owe to the service of our lord, the triumph of his faith, the preservation of his church and the christian religion, (in the defence of which i have performed such painful labours at the risk of my life, as every one knows;) and particularly desiring, above all, to inspire my son, whose catholic sentiments i know, with the wish of imitating my conduct, and which i hope he will do, from knowing his virtue and piety, i beg and recommend to him very particularly, as much as i can and am obliged to do, and command him moreover in my quality of father, and by the obedience which he owes me, to labour with diligence, as in a point which particularly interests him, that the heretics shall be prosecuted and chastised with all the severity which their crimes deserve, _without permitting any criminal to be excepted, without any respect for the entreaties, or rank, or quality of the persons_: and that my intentions may have their full and entire effect, i desire him to protect the holy office of the inquisition, for the great numbers of crimes which it prevents or punishes, _remembering that i have charged him to do so in my will_, that he may fulfil his duty as a prince, and render himself worthy that the lord should make his reign prosperous, conduct his affairs, and protect him against his enemies, to my consolation[13]." i have already stated, that no dependance can be placed on the account given by gregorio leti of the conversations of the emperor with don bartholomew carranza de miranda, archbishop of toledo. it is certain that the emperor had a great esteem for carranza, which induced him to give him the bishopric of cusco in america, in 1542, and of the canaries in 1549; to send him as theologian of the emperor to the council of trent, in 1545 and 1551; and to london with his son philip ii., king of naples and england, in 1554, to preach against the lutherans. nevertheless, when he was informed, in his retreat at yuste, that carranza had accepted the archbishopric of toledo, to which king philip had appointed him, he began to feel less esteem for him, because he did not know that carranza had refused that dignity, and named three persons whom he considered more worthy to occupy it. philip was not only displeased at this refusal, but he commanded him to obey the will of his sovereign, and wrote to the pope, who supported his order by a particular brief addressed to br. bartholomew. charles v., at this period, had br. juan de regla, a jeronimite, and a learned theologian, for his confessor. he had assisted at the council of trent with carranza, whom he always treated as an enemy, because he was jealous of his great reputation. i shall hereafter prove the disposition of juan de regla towards carranza; at present i shall only show that he had great part in his disgrace with the emperor, for being suspected of professing the same doctrines as egidius, constantine, cazalla, and others. regla became more fanatic than charitable, during the persecution which he suffered from the inquisition of saragossa, when he was prior of the convent of santa fè; he was condemned to abjure eighteen lutheran propositions, of which the inquisitors declared him to be suspected. the emperor was also informed, through the private correspondence of his children, that the inquisition was occupied in preparing the trial of the archbishop for heresy, when he came to visit him in his last illness; and his presence was so disagreeable, that, instead of conversing with him, as leti affirms, he did not speak one word. sandoval, with more probability, thus expresses himself: "this evening the archbishop of toledo, carranza, arrived, but he could not see the emperor. this prince had waited for him with much impatience since he had quitted england, because he wished to have an explanation on certain things which had been reported of him, and seemed to show that his faith was suspected; for that of the prince was extremely lively, and anything which appeared contrary to sound doctrine gave him great pain. the archbishop returned on another day; the emperor who wished much to hear him, admitted him into his presence, and told him to sit down, but did not talk to him, and on that night he became much worse.[14]" the animosity of juan de regla against the archbishop of toledo, was soon manifested in two voluntary informations before the inquisitor-general valdes, on the 9th and 23rd of december, in 1558, at valladolid. i shall at a future period explain all the articles of the denunciation of juan de regla, but it is necessary to anticipate the order of time in affairs, to prove that charles v. was not disposed to favour carranza in the latter part of his life. the first denunciation took place on the 9th of december: it imported, that on the day before the death of the emperor, the archbishop of toledo kissed his majesty's hand, and left the room; that he soon after returned; and that he did so several times, _though the emperor showed very little desire to see him_, and that he gave him absolution before he confessed him; which juan da regla imputed to the archbishop as a sign of contempt or neglect of the sacrament: that in one of these visits he said to the emperor, _your majesty may be full of confidence, for there is not, nor ever has been any sin, the death of jesus having sufficed to efface it_; that this discourse appeared bad to him, and that there were present br. pedro de sotomayor and br. diego ximenez, dominicans; br. marcos oriols de cardona and br. francis villalba, monks of st. jerome: the last was his majesty's preacher; the count de oropesa and don diego de toledo his brother; don louis d'avila zuñiga, grand commander of the military order of alcantara, and don louis de quixada, major-domo to the emperor. the inquisitor-general would not admit the dominican monks as witnesses, because he supposed them subject to the archbishop: the evidences of count oropesa and his brother were likewise rejected, because they were his friends. the monk of st. jerome declared that the archbishop arrived at yuste on a sunday, two days before the death of the emperor; that this prince _would not see him or allow him to enter_, but his major-domo, don louis de quixada, undertook to introduce him; that carranza threw himself on his knees in the chamber, and that the emperor, _without saying a word to him_, fixed his eyes upon him, like a person who wishes to express himself by a look: that the persons who were present retired: that when the archbishop came out of the chamber he appeared discontented, and he the witness believed that he was so, having heard from william, the emperor's barber, that on the day when the news of the nomination of carranza to the archbishopric of toledo arrived, his majesty said, _when i gave him the bishopric of the canaries he refused it; now he accepts the archbishopric of toledo; we shall see what we are to think of his virtue_; that their private interview lasted a quarter of an hour, and the archbishop called in the attendants. when they entered, the archbishop threw himself on his knees, and his majesty made a sign for him to sit down, and repeat some words of consolation; that the prelate again threw himself on his knees, and repeated the four first verses of the psalm _de profundis_, not literally, but paraphrasing the text. his majesty made him a sign to stop, and carranza then retired with the other attendants; that on another day, about the hour of ten in the evening, just before the emperor expired, carranza visited him, because he had been informed of his danger, and gave him the crucifix to kiss, and at the same time addressed some words of consolation to him, at which the monks juan de regla, francis de villalba, francis angulo, prior, and louis de st. gregoria, were scandalized. these persons conversed together afterwards, and said that the prelate ought not to have spoken thus; but the witness could not recollect what the words were. they were repeated to him, and he replied that he believed they might be the same, but that he could not be certain, as he was reading the passion of our saviour, _according to st. luke_, at the time; he only remarked that the monks looked at one another with a kind of mystery. neither francis angulo, nor louis de st. gregoria were examined, perhaps they were dead. francis de villalba, preacher to the emperor, declared, that he had not heard anything in the emperor's apartment which was worthy of being reported to the inquisition. being questioned as to what he thought of the discourse which the archbishop had addressed to the emperor, he replied that he was only present once, when the prelate recited some verses of the _de profundis_; that don louis d'avila afterwards requested him to speak to the emperor, and that he made him an exhortation. when examined on the subject of the words and the scandal, he replied that he did not hear or see anything that could offend him. don louis d'avila y zuñiga cited the entrance of the prelate; and that he took a crucifix and knelt down, saying with a loud voice, _behold him who answers for all; there is no longer any sin, all is pardoned_. the witness did not recollect if the archbishop said, _and however numerous the sins may be, they are all pardoned_: that these words did not appear proper to him, and he requested the emperor's preacher to make him an exhortation, who afterwards told him that his majesty appeared satisfied. don louis de quixada deposed that the archbishop was with the emperor, three times before his death, that he saw him take a crucifix, and that he pronounced some words on the subject of jesus christ dying for our sins, but he could not recollect them, because his employment as major-domo occupied him at the time. these circumstances show that charles v. was far from being inclined to lutheranism at his death. it is equally false that the inquisitors took his will, to examine if it contained any sentiments tending to heresy. i have read or consulted a multitude of books and papers in the archives of the inquisition, and could not discover anything to support the opinion; so that nothing now remains but to seek the origin of this fable. a number of circumstances may have caused the inquisition to be mentioned in relating the death of charles v. the first is, that carranza, who attended him at his death, was soon after arrested by the holy office; the second, that his two preachers, constantine ponce and augustine cazalla, were condemned by that tribunal; the third, that his confessor, juan de regla, was obliged to abjure certain propositions; the fourth, that the emperor himself had been threatened with excommunication three years before, as a favourer of heretics, by paul iv.; the fifth, that philip ii. made use of the inquisition in a variety of circumstances entirely political. charles v. died a catholic; and it is only to be regretted that he associated so many superstitions with his catholicism, and showed so much attachment to the inquisition during his life. chapter xix. of the proceedings against charles v. and philip ii.: as schismatics and favourers of heresy.--progress of the inquisition under the last of these princes.--consequences of the particular favour which he showed towards it. _trials of charles v., philip ii., and the duke of alva._ in 1555, john peter carafa, a noble neapolitan, and as such the subject of charles v. and philip ii., was elevated to the holy see, under the name of paul iv., at the age of seventy-nine years. charles v. had then renounced the crown of sicily, in favour of prince philip, who was about to marry the queen of england. the new pope mortally hated the emperor, not only because he could not bear to be a subject to the house of austria, but because this prince and his son favoured the families of _colonna_ and _sforza_, which he looked upon as the rivals of his house. the kingdom of naples passed at that time for a fief of the holy see. paul iv. undertook to deprive charles of the imperial purple, and his son of the crown of sicily, and to dispose of it in favour of one of his nephews, with the assistance of the king of france, or to give the kingdom to some french prince. he commenced the proceedings against charles v. and philip, by the preparatory instruction, to show that they were enemies of the holy see, particularly in protecting the families of _sforza_ and _colonna_, whose hatred for the pontiff was well known. to these reasons it was to be alleged that charles v. was a favourer of heretics, and suspected of lutheranism, since the publication of the imperial decrees at the diet of augsburg, in 1554. the fiscal of the apostolical chamber then demanded that the pope should declare charles v. to be deprived of the imperial crown, and that of spain and its dependencies, and philip of the throne of naples; that bulls of excommunication should be issued against them, and the people of germany, spain, italy, and particularly of naples, released from their oath of fidelity. paul iv. suspended the trial at this stage of the proceedings, to continue it when he judged it convenient. he revoked at the same time all the bulls which his predecessors had expedited in favour of the spanish monarchs, for the collection of the annual subsidy imposed on the clergy, and for the funds destined for the _holy crusade_. the pope was not content with this hostile measure; he entered into an alliance with henry ii., king of france, to make war upon the house of austria, until its princes were deprived of their kingdoms. charles v. was then at brussels, occupied in ceding the empire of germany to his brother ferdinand, king of hungary and bohemia, and in making over the crown of spain and the countship of flanders to his son. this policy was useful to charles v., as it threw the weight of the embarrassment on philip, who had just arrived from england to receive his father's instructions how to govern spain. the circumstances in which they found themselves required the greatest prudence, for they not only had to fear the abuse which the pope might make of his apostolical and temporal power, but also the consequences of the alliances which his holiness had just signed with the king of france. besides the council of state (which charles and philip always consulted before they decided on any subject) they deemed it necessary to have judgments of _conscience_, to balance the authority of the supreme head of the catholic church. on the 15th of november, 1555, the famous consultation of brother melchior cano was framed at valladolid, which was published at madrid in 1809, in my _collection of different papers, ancient and modern, on matrimonial dispensations, and other ecclesiastical dispensations_. the decision of cano was, that in all similar cases the only and proper remedy is not only to deprive the temporal sovereign of rome of the power of injuring, but to reduce him to the necessity of accepting reasonable terms, and of acting with more prudence in future. other theologians decided that the concessions made by the court of rome were irrevocable, and had the force of a true contract passed for the benefit of an empire or kingdom. the pope, informed of these decisions, commanded the inquisitor-general to punish the authors of it; he was supported by most of the prelates of the kingdom, at the head of whom was the cardinal siliceo, archbishop of toledo, who had been the king's preceptor. philip, who had been king of spain from january, 1556, wrote from london, in the month of july following, the letter to his sister, the governess of the kingdom, which i have inserted in my diplomatic collection. it is as follows:-"since i informed you of the conduct of the pope, and of the news received from rome, i have learnt that his holiness proposes to excommunicate the emperor and me, to put my states under an interdict, and to prohibit the divine service. having consulted learned men on this subject, it appears that it is not only an abuse of the power of the sovereign pontiff, founded only on the hatred and passion, which, certainly, has not been provoked by our conduct, but that we are not obliged to submit to what he has ordained in respect to our persons, on account of the great scandal which would be caused by our confessing ourselves guilty, since we are not so, and the great sin which we should commit in so doing. in consequence, it has been decided, that if i am interdicted from certain things, i am not obliged to deprive myself of them, as those do who are excommunicated, although a censure may be sent to me from rome, according to the disposition of his holiness. for after having destroyed the sects in england, brought this country under the influence of the church, pursued and punished the heretics without ceasing, and obtained a success which has always been constant, i see that his holiness evidently wishes to ruin my kingdom, without considering what he owes to his dignity; and i have no doubt that he would succeed if we consented to his demands, since he has already revoked all the legations which cardinal pole received for this kingdom, and which had produced so much benefit. these reasons, other important considerations, the necessity of preparing for all events, and of protecting our people from being surprised, have induced us to draw up, in the name of his majesty, and in our own, an act of recusation in form, of which i intended to send you a copy; but as this piece is very long, and the courier is setting out for france, it could not be done, and i will send it by the courier going by sea, who will soon set out. when you receive it, you must write to the prelates, the grandees, to the cities, universities, and the heads of orders, and inform them of all that has passed: you must direct them to look upon the censures and interdict sent from rome as non-existent, because they are null, unjust, and without foundation, for i have taken counsel on what is permitted in these circumstances. if any act of the pope should arrive in the interim, it will be sufficient to prevent it from being received, accepted, or executed; but to preclude the necessity of coming to this extremity, you must cause the frontiers to be strictly guarded, as we have done in england, that none of these pieces should be notified or delivered, and _punish very severely any person who shall dare to distribute them, because it is not to be permitted that we should continue to dissimulate_. if it is impossible to prevent their introduction, and if any one attempts to put them in force, you must oppose their execution, as we have powerful motives for this command; and this prohibition must extend to the kingdom of aragon, to which you must write if it is necessary. it has been since known, that in the bull published on holy thursday, the pope has excommunicated all those who have taken or shall take the property of the church, _whether they are kings or emperors_, and that on good friday, he commanded the prayer for his majesty to be omitted, although the jews, moors, heretics, and schismatics are prayed for on that day. this proves that the evil is becoming serious, and induces us to recommend more particularly the execution of the measures which we have prescribed, and of which we shall give an account to his majesty[15]." philip, for the time, prevented the inquisitor-general from trying any of those persons who had been marked as suspected of heresy, among whom were not only the theologians and canonists who had been consulted, but many counsellors of state who supported their opinion against cardinal siliceo and his adherents[16]. the pope was obstinate in his resolutions; and deceived by the tranquillity which philip suffered him to enjoy in rome, he placed himself at the brink of the precipice. the duke of alva, who was viceroy of naples (and whose character was at least as harsh as that of the pope), in september 1556, left his government, and occupied the states of the holy see, even to the gates of rome; and paul iv., finding that the republic of venice had deserted him, and being pressed by the cardinals and people, demanded an armistice, which was granted. instead of taking advantage of this favour to make peace on reasonable terms, the pope confirmed his alliance with henry ii., and raised a war between that monarch and the king of spain, although charles v. had, in 1555, signed a truce of five years with that prince. henry, having lost the famous battle of st. quentin, on the 10th of august, 1557, the pope became so alarmed, that he demanded a peace at the time when the duke of alva was preparing to enter rome at the head of his army. the viceroy renounced his design, but had the boldness to tell the pope that he would not make peace until he had asked pardon of the king, his master, for having treated him with so little respect. this message increased the alarm of the old pontiff, who had recourse to the mediation of venice. the pope refused to negociate with the duke of alva, but said that he would consent to any proposal from the king of spain, as he was persuaded that he would not impose any condition on him contrary to his honour, or to the dignity of the holy see. the duke of alva wrote to philip, to request that, in this instance, he would display the severity necessary to prevent new divisions. but this prince (who had signed on the 10th of july, 1556, the excellent letter already quoted) had no person in the following year to inspire him with sufficient energy to follow the advice of his viceroy. he wrote to command him to conclude a peace immediately, "as he would rather lose the privileges of his crown, than infringe those of the holy see in the slightest degree." the duke of alva was extremely displeased at this resolution, but he immediately obeyed his master, and this singular peace was signed on the 14th of september, 1557, by the duke of alva, and cardinal carafa, nephew and plenipotentiary to the pope. the envoy made no reparation to philip ii., and the following singular article is part of the treaty:--"his holiness will receive from the catholic king, through his plenipotentiary, the duke of alva, all the necessary submissions to obtain the pardon of his offences, without prejudicing the engagement of the king to send an ambassador extraordinary for the particular object of the pardon which he demands, it being understood that his holiness will restore him to favour as a submissive son, and worthy to share the benefits which the holy see is accustomed to bestow on its children and the other christian princes." the haughty pontiff acknowledged that he had obtained more than he had hoped for, and to show his satisfaction, bestowed the highest honours on the duke of alva; he invited him to eat at his own table, and received him in the palace of the vatican. gregorio leti is right in attributing all the evils that have since arisen from the excessive authority which the priests have arrogated over laymen, to this conduct of philip ii. paul iv. soon displayed his contempt for philip ii. and his father, since, in five months after the treaty, on the 13th of february, 1558, he addressed a brief to the inquisitor-general valdés, in which he revived all the regulations of the councils and pontiffs against heretics and schismatics. he commanded him to prosecute them, and punish them according to the constitutions, and, above all, to deprive all such persons of their dignities and offices, whether they were bishops, archbishops, patriarchs, cardinals, or legates, _barons, counts, marquisses, dukes, princes, kings, or emperors_. fortunately, neither charles v. nor his son had embraced the opinions of luther, yet it was certainly the intention of the pope to subject them to the dispositions of his bull. _of the inquisitions of sardinia, flanders, milan, naples, galicia, america, and the sea._ in 1562, philip ii. commanded the inquisition of sardinia to conform rigorously to the rules of the holy office of spain in prosecuting the accused, although it was represented to him that they had hitherto only known those of ferdinand v., which were less severe. philip did not treat his flemish subjects with less rigour. in 1522 charles v. appointed francis de hult, a lay counsellor of brabant, inquisitor-general for the states of flanders; and adrian vi. invested him with the apostolical jurisdiction, on the condition that he had priests and theologians for assessors. soon after three provincial inquisitors were appointed, the overseer of the regular canons of ypres for flanders and its dependencies; the overseer of the clergy of mons for hainault, and the dean of louvain for brabant, holland, and the other provinces. the inquisitors-general appointed by clement vii. were cardinal everard de la marche, bishop of liege, and francis de hult, before mentioned. this measure did not deprive the other inquisitors of their privileges; those of louvain, in 1527, celebrated several _autos-da-fé_, and condemned sixty persons to different punishments. in 1529 terrible edicts were issued against heretics, which were renewed in 1531, but with some mitigation. at the death of the dean of louvain, paul iii. in 1537, appointed as inquisitor-general for the low country the successor in the deanery, and the canon douce; they were approved by charles v. in 1555 julius iii. authorised the sub-delegates of the dean and canon; paul iv. did the same in 1560 for the overseer of valcanet, and the theological doctor of louvain, michael bayo. all these men took the title of _ecclesiastical ministers_ from the year 1550, when charles v. prohibited them from ever taking the name of _inquisitors_, because it was obnoxious to the people. the flemish inquisition was extremely severe in the first period of its existence; it inflicted the same punishments as that of spain, but applied them to a greater number of cases. philip ii. moderated the action of this tribunal by an edict in 1556. such was the state of the flemish inquisition in 1559, when a bull of paul iv. was received from rome, by which three ecclesiastical provinces were created, the bishoprics of which were subjected to the jurisdiction of the archbishops of malines, cambray, and utrecht: twelve canons were instituted for each cathedral, three of whom were to be inquisitors for life. this measure caused the first indication of the rebellion which raged in holland and the united provinces in 1562. the people maintained that they had only tolerated the inquisitors since 1522, because they considered them as temporary agents; but that they would never allow the permanent establishment of an institution so obnoxious to the provinces. this opposition increased when it was known that philip ii. intended to organize the eighteen inquisitions of flanders, on the plan of that of spain, which had long been regarded as a sanguinary tribunal. this project was the more dreaded, as many spaniards had fled from the inquisition to holland. these emigrations were most numerous after the year 1550, when several bibles, which had been printed in the spanish language in the low countries, were prohibited as containing the opinions of the new heretics. notwithstanding the obstinacy with which the king of spain pursued the establishment of the inquisition in flanders, he failed in his enterprise, and also in his attempt to force the low countries to receive the regular tribunal. the flemings persisted in opposing everything resembling the inquisition, and their resistance was the cause of the long and bloody wars which exhausted the treasures and armies of spain during half a century. in the following year, 1563, philip ii. decreed the necessary measures to establish the inquisition at milan. he communicated his design to the pope, who appeared to approve it, but was really displeased, because it tended to diminish the power of the holy see. the milanese immediately protested against the introduction of a tribunal, of which they had formed the most unfavourable opinion. the bishops of lombardy were not less averse to it, as they knew that in spain the bishops were not only deprived of all power, but had fallen into contempt from the despotism of the inquisitors, who had taken possession of the episcopal privileges, and enjoyed them in peace under the protection of the sovereign, who had no adviser in these affairs but the inquisitor-general. the city of milan sent deputies to the pope (who was a native of that place), to entreat him to preserve his country from the danger which threatened it. they also sent deputies to madrid to demand that things should remain in the same state, and applied at the same time to the milanese bishops at the council of trent to support their cause before that celebrated assembly. pius iv. told the deputies that he would never allow the spanish inquisition to be established in milan, _as he knew its extreme severity_, and promised that their tribunal should be dependent on the court of rome, whose decrees were extremely mild, and gave the accused every facility in their defence. during the course of this negotiation, the duke de sesa, wishing to execute his master's private orders, established the tribunal of the inquisition in the city of milan, of which he was the governor, and published the names of the sub-delegated inquisitors. this declaration displeased the milanese, who began to excite popular commotions, and cried _long live the king! perish the inquisition!_ the milanese bishops at the council of trent disinclined all the italian prelates to the spanish inquisition; the legates of the pope who presided at the council, declared in favour of the milanese, and cardinal s. charles borromeo pleaded the cause of his countrymen in the college of cardinals, and placed them under their protection. the duke de sesa, who observed all that passed, foresaw that the result would be disagreeable to his master, and wrote to philip, who abandoned his design[17]. these events did not prevent philip ii. from attempting to introduce the inquisition at naples, although both ferdinand v. and charles v. had failed in the enterprise; but his efforts only served to disgrace him and destroy his authority in naples, as they had before done in flanders and milan. it may be supposed that philip did not forget his american dominions. ferdinand v. having resolved to establish the inquisition in the new world, charged cardinal ximenez de cisneros with the conduct of the affair, and in 1516 he appointed don juan quevedo, bishop of cuba, the _delegated_ inquisitor-general, for the spanish colonies then known by the name of the _kingdom of terra firma_, and gave him the power of appointing judges and officers for the tribunal. charles v. wished to extend the benefits of this _pious_ institution, and cardinal adrian, by his order, appointed, on the 7th of january, 1519, don alphonso manso, bishop of porto rico, and brother pedro de cordova, inquisitors for the _indies and isles of the ocean_, and gave them the requisite powers to establish the tribunal. the new inquisitors began to prosecute the baptized indians, who still retained some idolatrous practices. the viceroys informed the king of spain of the evils produced by this system: in fact the indians fled into the interior, and joined the savage tribes, which considerably retarded the progress of population in those vast countries. charles v. in 1538 prohibited the inquisitors from prosecuting the indians, who were to be under the jurisdiction of the bishops. the inquisitors of america were not more submissive than those of spain, which obliged the prince to renew his orders in 1549. philip ii. undertook to organize the tribunal on the plan of that of spain. in 1553 and 1565 he renewed his father's injunctions to leave the indians under the jurisdiction of the bishops; and in 1569 he published a royal ordinance, importing that the inquisitor-general had appointed inquisitors, and commanding the viceroys and governors to give them every assistance in their establishment. these inquisitors were received with great ceremony at panama and lima, when they first formed the tribunal. in 1570 philip ii. appointed an inquisition at mexico, and in 1571 established three tribunals for all america; one at lima, one at mexico, and the other at carthagena, assigning to each the extent of territory which they were to possess, and subjecting them to the authority of the inquisitor-general and the supreme council. the first _auto-da-fé_ in mexico took place in 1574; it was celebrated with so much pomp and splendour, that eye-witnesses have declared that it could only be compared to that of valladolid in 1559, at which philip ii. and the royal family attended. a frenchman and an englishman were burnt as impenitent lutherans; eighty persons were reconciled, and subjected to different penances. the inquisition of carthagena was not established at this period; it was founded in 1610 by philip iii. the great fleet of the catholic league against the emperor of constantinople, which gained the famous battle of lepanto, inspired philip ii. with the project of creating an inquisition for heretics who might be found in ships. as the authority of the inquisitor-general did not extend beyond the dominions of the king of spain, it was considered necessary to apply to the pope, who in 1571 granted the brief, which was demanded, authorizing the inquisitor-general to create the new tribunal, and appoint judges and officers. it was first known by the name of the _inquisition of the galleys_, but it was afterwards called the _inquisition of the fleets and armies_; it existed but for a short period, as it was found to impede the progress of navigation. the inquisition was unknown in galicia for more than a century before this period. this province formed part of the district subject to the holy office of old castile and the kingdom of leon; it had escaped this scourge, but at last philip ii. resolved that it should have an inquisition to superintend the sea-ports, in order to prevent the introduction of pernicious books, and the entrance of persons who would teach the doctrines of the protestants. the royal ordinance which established the inquisition in galicia was expedited in 1574, and the tribunal was organised in the same year. _disputes with the inquisition of portugal._ the establishment of the power of philip ii. in portugal, after the death of the cardinal king don henry, who had occupied the throne until 1580, gave that prince another opportunity of signalizing his zeal for the inquisition. i have already indicated the period of its institution, and the attendant circumstances[18]. don henry was inquisitor-general from 1539 to 1578, when he succeeded to the crown of portugal, after the death of his nephew don sebastian. he bestowed the archbishopric of lisbon, which he occupied at the time of his accession, on don george almeida, and likewise appointed him the third inquisitor-general of the kingdom. in 1544, don henry (who then occupied the see of evora), and cardinal don juan pardo de tabera, inquisitor-general of spain, with the consent of their respective sovereigns, published a circular, in which they announced, that as the two states were so near each other, and the extent of the frontier favoured the flight of the persons prosecuted by the inquisition, they had agreed, 1st, to communicate reciprocally everything which might interest the inquisition; 2nd, to arrest in their respective jurisdictions those subjects who were designated; 3rdly, to keep them prisoners, and to claim the writings of the trial, because this measure was less inconvenient than the exchange of the prisoners. this convention was observed for some time; but in 1588 the inquisitors of lisbon sent a requisition to those of valladolid, to deliver up to them gonzales baez, who had been arrested at medina del campo: they replied that this demand could not be admitted, as it was contrary to the convention. the inquisitors of portugal acknowledged the justice of this claim; but those of spain, who in 1568 found themselves in the same situation, refused to conform to the measure, because they had at their head cardinal espinosa, who was all-powerful with philip. the cardinal informed don henry that he had not ratified the convention, and that he considered it more proper that the prisoner should be given up to the tribunal which had instituted the trial. he requested cardinal henry to apply to both their sovereigns, and promised to propose to the king of spain a measure which should be a general rule for all cases in future. don henry commissioned francis pereira, the portuguese ambassador at madrid, to terminate this dispute with cardinal espinosa. while this affair was being negotiated, several spaniards who had been condemned by the tribunal of llerena to be burnt in effigy as contumacious, were arrested in portugal by the inquisitors of evora, who immediately demanded the writings of the trial according to the convention of 1544. the tribunal of llerena replied that it was impossible not to follow the example of cardinal espinosa. almost at the same time these inquisitors arrested some portuguese who had escaped from their country. the bishop of portalegre, inquisitor of evora, reclaimed the prisoners, but the tribunal refused to give them up, if the inhabitants of albuquerque, who had been arrested by the inquisition of evora, were not returned. cardinal henry yielded to the spanish inquisition, but wrote to them on the 5th of december to address a formal requisition on this subject, while the inquisition of evora would do the same to cardinal espinosa. the supreme council consented to this arrangement, and the prisoners were exchanged. the inquisitor-general, don henry, died in 1580. the crown of portugal then descended to philip ii., as being the son of the empress isabella, the sister of john iii., king of portugal. as the office of grand-inquisitor was vacant, he wished to suppress it, and place portugal under the dominion of that of spain. he represented to the pope that there would be more unity in the proceedings: but this attempt was unsuccessful, as he had only been acknowledged king, on condition that the crown should continue independent of that of spain. when the duke of braganza was proclaimed king of portugal in the reign of philip iv., don francis de castro grand-inquisitor, and don john de vasconcellas, a member of the council of the inquisition, remained faithful to the king of spain. the new sovereign (who had taken the name of john iv.) wished to increase his party. influenced by the advice of england, which had favoured the insurrection, he resolved to restore to the jews the liberty which they enjoyed before the establishment of the inquisition; but he was opposed by the two inquisitors above mentioned. the council even condemned a decision of the university of paris, in which it was said that the king could appoint and consecrate bishops without bulls from rome, if pope innocent x. refused to grant them. john iv. threatened the inquisitors with imprisonment, and even with death, but they were ready to suffer anything rather than consent to the emancipation of the jews. don francis de castro died, and it was necessary to appoint another inquisitor-general; but the bulls of confirmation were not less difficult to obtain than those for bishops, as the popes, urban viii., innocent x., and alexander vii., avoided declaring in favour of either the king of spain or the duke of braganza. at last portugal triumphed over the efforts of spain, and the inquisitions of the two kingdoms seldom had any communication. that i may not pass over any event tending to prove the attachment of philip ii. for the inquisition, i shall here mention a project for a military order of the holy office, which would never have been conceived, if the partiality of the monarch for this tribunal had not been generally known. some fanatics thought to please him by founding a new military order under the name of _st. mary of the white sword_. the object of this institution was to defend the catholic religion, the kingdom of spain, its frontiers, and forts, from any invasion; to prevent the ingress of jews, moors, and heretics; and to execute any measures which the inquisitor might command. to be a member of this order it was necessary to produce proofs and witnesses that they descended neither from jews, moors, nor any spaniard condemned and punished by the holy office; nobility was not necessary. the members of this association were independent of the jurisdiction of the bishops and civil authorities; they were all to take the field and fight in defence of the frontier towns, but they acknowledged no chief but the inquisitor-general. this scheme was adopted by the provinces of castile, leon, the asturias, aragon, navarre, galicia, guipuscoa, alava, biscay, valencia, and catalonia. the statutes of the order received the approbation of the inquisitor-general and the supreme council; the founders and the representatives of the metropolitan churches of toledo, seville, santiago, grenada, tarragona, saragossa, valencia, and forty-eight noble families known for having never mixed their blood with that of the new christians, addressed an humble supplication to the king to obtain the confirmation of them. they represented that the order of the _white sword_ offered the greatest advantages to spain; that it would increase the army without any expense of public treasure; that its services would reform and ameliorate the morals of the people; lastly, that it would shed fresh lustre on the nobility of the kingdom. philip commissioned his sovereign council to examine the plan of this institution, which was likewise discussed in several assemblies appointed by his majesty. the opinions were various; but i shall make known that of a spanish gentleman, as it deserves to be recorded. don pedro venegas, of cordova, represented to the king, that the new order was not necessary, as the inquisition had not found the want of it in the most difficult circumstances; that the bishops reformed the morals of the people as much as could be expected from human nature; that spain had never wanted troops even when part of the peninsula was occupied by enemies; that other military orders existed, who were obliged to obey their respective grand-masters; that these dignities were now possessed by the monarch in virtue of apostolical bulls; that the new establishment might one day attack the authority of the sovereign, if the inquisitor-general made a bad use of the troops at his disposal; that several similar instances had been known of the grand-masters of the orders above mentioned; that this institution would create two parties in the kingdom, that of the old christians and that of the new, and that the distinction granted to the first would cause murders and civil wars, and threaten the monarchy with ruin. philip ii. thought seriously on what the grand-masters of the military orders had done, and being jealous of his authority, he was not disposed to place an army in the power of the inquisitor-general, who might follow their example; he therefore commanded that the proceedings should be suspended, and the interested persons informed that it had not been found necessary to create a new order. chapter xx. the inquisition celebrates at valladolid, in 1559, two autos-da-fe against the lutherans, in the presence of some members of the royal family. _first auto-da-fé._ the trial of juan gil, bishop of tortosa, so much alarmed many lutherans, that they quitted the kingdom. of this number were cassiodorus de beina, juan perez de pineda, cyprian de valera, and julian hernandez; the three first published catechisms, translations of the bible, and other works written in the castilian tongue, in foreign countries[19]. juan perez published his at venice in 1556, and they were soon after introduced into spain by hernandez, who was arrested by the inquisition. the citations and inquiries made in consequence of the trial of hernandez, in order to discover the religious opinions of the persons with whom he associated, caused an infinite number of trials to be instituted during the fifteen years following, in all the tribunals of spain, particularly in those of seville and valladolid. in 1557 and 1558, the inquisition arrested a great number of persons distinguished by their birth, their offices, or their doctrine. some indications found in the writings of the trials, of a vast scheme tending to the propagation of the opinions of luther, persuaded philip ii. and the inquisitor valdés that it was necessary to treat all the convicted persons with the utmost severity. philip wrote to rome on the subject on the 4th january, 1559. the pope addressed to valdés a brief, in which he authorized him to give over to secular justice all dogmatizing lutherans, even those who had not relapsed, and who, to avoid capital punishment, had given equivocal signs of repentance. if history had nothing to allege against philip ii. and the inquisitor valdés, but the solicitation for this bull, it would be sufficient to devote their names to infamy. on the 5th of january, 1559, a second bull revoked all the permissions granted for reading prohibited books, and charged the inquisitor-general to prosecute all who should read or keep them in their houses; and as his holiness was informed that a great number of writings which tended to propagate the lutheran doctrines were circulating in spain, the bull commanded the confessors to ask their penitents if they knew or had heard of any persons possessing, reading, or dispersing them; that they should also impose upon them the obligation of communicating such circumstances to the holy office on pain of excommunication; and that the confessors who omitted this duty should be punished as guilty, even if persons they absolved were bishops, archbishops, patriarchs, cardinals, _kings_, or _emperors_. it is easy to perceive how much these measures must have increased the number of accusations; and to encourage the informers, philip renewed the edict of ferdinand v., published at toro in 1505, by which they were entitled to the fourth part of the confiscated property. the multitude of accusations caused by these bulls, induced the inquisitor-general to delegate his powers to don pedro de la gasca, bishop of palencia, who established himself at valladolid, and to don juan gonzales de munebrega, bishop of tarragona, who repaired to seville. valdés at the same time executed the dispositions of another bull, which granted to the holy office, on account of its increased expenses in travelling and maintaining so great a number of prisoners, the revenues of a canonship in each metropolitan church, cathedral, and college, in the kingdom. another brief granted them a subsidy of one hundred thousand ducats of gold, to be imposed on the ecclesiastical revenues of the kingdom, to pay the debts contracted from the same cause. it is surprising that, after eighty years of confiscation, the establishment should complain of distress. these bulls, however, were not sufficient to procure money, owing to the resistance of several chapters, particularly that of majorca. in 1574 they still remained unexecuted, when gregory xiii. confirmed them, and the king of spain was obliged to force the rebel canons to submit. the arrest and trial of so great a number of spaniards necessarily caused an _auto-da-fé_ to be celebrated in many tribunals; but as the victims in those of valladolid and seville were persons distinguished, some for their nobility, others for their doctrine, and all for the purity of their lives, the ceremonies in these cities were more noted than the others; and i do not hesitate in affirming that all that has been written against the spanish inquisition in germany and france was only caused by the treatment of the lutherans at seville and valladolid (for, until then, scarcely anything had been written on the subject), though the number of lutherans who perished was small, when compared to the enormous and almost incredible number of those who had suffered as jews or mahometans. the first solemn _auto-da-fé_ of valladolid was celebrated on the 21st of may, 1559, in the grand square, and in the presence of the prince don carlos, and the princess juana, of the civil authorities, and of a considerable number of the grandees of spain, besides an immense multitude of people. the arrangement of the scaffolds and seats have been already described in several works, and represented in prints. fourteen persons were relaxed, the bones and effigy of a woman burnt, and sixteen individuals were admitted to reconciliation, with penances. some details of the principal persons may be found interesting. donna eleonora de vibero (the wife of pedro cazalla, who held an office in the treasury), daughter of juan de vibero, who had a similar employment, and constance ortiz, was proprietress of a chapel in the benedictine convent of valladolid. she had been interred without any doubt of her orthodoxy; but she was accused of lutheranism by the fiscal of the inquisition, though he said she had concealed her opinions, by receiving the sacraments and the eucharist at her death. he supported his accusation by the testimony of several witnesses who had been tortured or threatened, the result of which was that the house of eleonora de vibero had been used as a temple by the lutherans. her memory and her posterity were condemned to infamy, her property confiscated, her body disinterred and burnt with her effigy, and her house razed to the ground, and prohibited from being rebuilt; a monument with an inscription relating to this event was placed on the spot. i have seen the column and the inscription; i have heard that it was destroyed in 1809. the other principal persons who perished in this _auto-da-fé_ were, doctor augustin cazalla, priest and canon of salamanca, almoner and preacher to the king and emperor; he was the son of pedro cazalla and eleonora de vibero, and descended from the jews both by his father and mother. he was accused of professing the lutheran heresy; of having dogmatized in the lutheran conventicle of valladolid, and corresponded with the heretics of seville. cazalla denied the facts imputed to him in several declarations on oath, and in others which he presented when the _publication of the proofs_ took place. the torture was decreed: cazalla, on the 4th of march, was conducted to the dungeon where it was to be inflicted, but it did not take place, as the prisoner promised to make a confession. he gave it in writing, and ratified it on the 16th, acknowledging that he was a lutheran, but denied having taught the doctrine. he explained the motives which had prevented him from making this declaration before; and promised to be a good catholic for the future, if reconciliation was granted to him; but the inquisitors did not think proper to spare him the capital punishment, as the witnesses affirmed that he had dogmatized. cazalla, however, continued to give every possible proof of conversion until his execution: when he saw that death was inevitable, he began to preach to his companions in misfortune. two days before his death, he related some particulars of his life. he was born in 1510: at the age of seventeen he had bartholomew carranza de miranda for his confessor, in the college of st. gregory at valladolid; he continued his studies at alcala de henares, where he remained till 1536. in 1545 charles v. made him his preacher; in the following year he accompanied that prince to germany, and stayed there till 1552, preaching against the lutherans; he returned in that year to spain, and retired to salamanca, where he lived for three years, going sometimes to valladolid. he once attended, by the emperor's order, at an assembly where don antonio fonseca, president of the royal council of castile, presided, and at which the licentiate otalora, the doctors ribera and velasco, auditors of the council and chancery, and brothers alphonso de castro and bartholomew carranza assisted. the object of the meeting was to decide on the course to be pursued on the occasion of certain briefs which the court of rome had expedited against those who approved of the decrees of the council of trent, which continued to assemble in that city, though the pope had commanded that it should be transferred to bologna. cazalla declared that all the members of the junta acknowledged that the pope only acted from motives of personal interest; and that bartholomew carranza particularly distinguished himself by inveighing against the abuses of the court of rome. on the 20th of may, the day before his death, he received a visit from brother antonio de la carrera, a monk of st. jerome, who was sent to him by the inquisitors, to inform him that they were not satisfied with his declarations, and to exhort him, for the good of his conscience, to confess all that he knew of himself and others. cazalla answered, that he could not say more, without bearing false-witness. the monk replied, that he had always denied that he had dogmatized, though the contrary was proved by the witnesses. he said, that this crime had been unjustly imputed to him; that he was guilty of not having undeceived those who held bad doctrines; but that he had only spoken of his opinions to persons who thought as he did: brother antonio then exhorted him to prepare for death on the following day. this information was a thunderbolt to cazalla, who had expected to be admitted to a reconciliation. he demanded if his punishment might not be commuted: carrera told him, that if he confessed what he had hitherto concealed, he might hope for mercy. _well then_, said cazalla, _i must prepare to die in the grace of god; for it is impossible that i should add anything to what i have already said, unless i lie_. he then began to encourage himself to suffer death; he confessed several times in the same night, and the next day to antonio de la carrera. when he arrived at the place of the _auto-da-fé_, he asked permission to preach to those who were to suffer with him; he could not obtain it, but he addressed a few words to them: as he was a penitent, he was strangled before, he was burnt. when he was fastened to the stake, he confessed for the last time, and his confessor was so affected by all that he had seen and heard during the last twenty-four hours, that he afterwards wrote, "that he had no doubt that doctor cazalla was in heaven." francis de vibero cazalla, brother to augustin, a priest, and curate of hormigos in the diocese of palencia, at first denied the charges, confessed them when tortured, ratified his confession, and demanded to be admitted to reconciliation. this was refused, as it was supposed that he had only confessed from the fear of death. in fact, he ridiculed his brother's exhortations on the scaffold, and expired in the flames without showing any signs of repentance. he was degraded from the priesthood, as well as his brother, before he ascended the scaffold. donna beatrice de cazalla, sister to the above-mentioned persons, and alphonso perez, at first denied the charges, confessed during the torture, demanded reconciliation, but were strangled and burnt. don christobal de ocampo, of seville, a knight of the order of st. john, and almoner to the grand prior of castile and leon, and don christobal de padilla, a knight and inhabitant of zamora, were condemned to the same punishment for lutheranism. the licentiate antonio herrezuelo, a lawyer of the city of toro, condemned as a lutheran, died without any signs of repentance. doctor cazalla addressed some words to him in particular; antonio ridiculed his discourse, although he was already fastened to the stake. one of the archers, furious at so much courage, plunged his lance into the body of herrezuelo; he died without uttering a word. juan garcia, a goldsmith of valladolid, and the licentiate perez de herrera, judge of the court against smugglers, in logrono, suffered as lutherans. gonzalez baez, the portuguese mentioned in the preceding chapter, suffered as a judaic heretic. donna catherine de ortega, widow of the commander loaisa, and daughter to hernand diaz, fiscal of the royal council of castile, was condemned as a lutheran, and made her confession. she suffered the same fate with catherine roman de pedrosa, isabella d'estrada, and jane blazquiez, a servant of the marchioness d'alcanizes. none of these persons had dogmatized, none had relapsed, but they were condemned because they only confessed during the torture. among the persons reconciled were distinguished,--don pedro sarmiento de roxas, a knight of the order of st. jago, commander of quintana, and the son of the first marquis of poza. he was condemned as a lutheran, deprived of his orders, clothed in the perpetual _san-benito_, imprisoned for life, devoted to infamy, and his property confiscated. don louis de roxas, nephew of the above, was charged with the same crime; he was exiled from madrid, valladolid, and palencia, and prohibited from leaving spain; his property was confiscated, and he was declared incapable of succeeding to the marquisate of poza, which passed to his youngest brother. donna mencia de figueroa, wife of don pedro sarmiento de roxas, and an attendant of the queen of spain, was condemned, for lutheranism, to wear the _san-benito_, to imprisonment for life, and the confiscation of her property. donna anna henriquez de roxas, daughter of the marquis d'alcanizes, and the wife of don juan alphonso de fonseca mexia, was condemned as a lutheran. she appeared in the _auto-da-fé_ with the _san-benito_, and was afterwards shut up in a monastery. she was twenty-four years of age, was perfectly acquainted with the latin tongue, and had read the works of calvin, and those of constantine ponce de la fuente. donna maria de roxas, a nun of the convent of st. catherine of valladolid, and daughter to the first marquis de poza. she was condemned as a lutheran, conducted to the _auto-da-fé_ with the _san-benito_, and secluded for life in her convent. the inquisition commanded that she should be treated as the lowest in the community in the choir and refectory, and deprived of the power of voting. don juan de ulloa pereira, a knight commander of the order of st. john of jerusalem. he was son and brother to the lords de la mota, who were soon after made marquisses, and an inhabitant of toro. he was condemned, for lutheranism, to wear the _san-benito_, to be imprisoned for life, and to be deprived of his property. he was declared infamous, incapable of obtaining dignities, stript of the habit and cross of his order, and banished from madrid, valladolid, and toro, but was prohibited from quitting the kingdom. in 1565, ulloa represented his situation to the pope, reminding him of his services in fighting against the turks, particularly when he took five ships of the pirate caramani arraez; he added that the inquisitor-general had remitted the continuation of his penance for more than a year, but that he wished to regain his rank as a knight, as he was still capable of serving. the pope granted a brief in favour of ulloa, rehabilitating him in his privileges as a knight, with a particular clause, stating that what had passed could not prevent him from attaining the superior dignities of his order, provided the inquisitor-general and the grand master of malta approved the decree. ulloa was then reinstated in his commandery. juan de vibero cazalla, a brother of augustin, and donna juana silva de ribera, his wife, were condemned, as lutherans, to be deprived of their liberty and their property, and to wear the _san-benito_. donna constance de vibero cazalla, sister of augustin, and widow of hernand ortiz, was condemned to wear the _san-benito_, to perpetual imprisonment, and the confiscation of her property. when augustin saw his sister pass, he turned to the princess governess, and said to her: _princess, i entreat your highness to have compassion on that unfortunate woman, who will leave thirteen orphans_. eleonora de cisneros, aged twenty-four, the wife of antonio herrezuelo, and donna francisca zuñiga de baeza, were condemned to the _san-benito_, imprisonment, and confiscation. marina de saavedra, the widow of juan cisneros de soto, a distinguished gentleman, isabella minguez, a servant of donna beatrice cazalla, and antonio minguez, the brother of isabella, suffered the same punishment. anthony wasor, an englishman, servant to don louis de roxas, was condemned to wear the _san-benito_, to lose his property, and be confined in a convent for one year. daniel de la quadra lost his liberty and property, and took the perpetual _san-benito_, as a lutheran. the sermon on the faith was preached by the celebrated melchior cano, after all the assembly had witnessed a scandalous transaction. when the court and all the other attendants had taken their places, don francis baca, inquisitor of valladolid, advanced towards the prince of asturias, don carlos, and his aunt, the princess juana, to demand and receive from them an oath to maintain and defend the inquisition, and to reveal to it all that might have been said against the faith by any person within their knowledge. it had been decreed at the establishment of the inquisition, that the magistrate who presided at an _auto-da-fé_ should take a similar oath, but sovereigns cannot be considered as magistrates. don carlos and his aunt took the oath, but subsequent events show how much he was displeased at the boldness of this inquisitor: he was then aged fourteen years. _second auto-da-fé._ the second _auto-da-fé_ of valladolid took place on the 8th of october, in the same year, 1559; it was still more splendid than the first, on account of the presence of philip ii. the inquisitors had waited his return from the low countries, to do him honour in this grand festival. thirteen persons, with a corpse and an effigy, were burnt, and sixteen admitted to reconciliation. the king was accompanied by his son, his sister, the prince of parma, three ambassadors from france, the archbishop of seville, the bishops of palencia and zamora, and other bishops elect; there were also present, the constable and admiral, the dukes de naxara and d'arcos, the marquis de denia, afterwards duke of lerma, the marquis d'astorga, and the count de ureña, afterwards duke of ossuna, the count de benavente, the count de buendia, the last grand-master of the military order of montesa, don louis borgia, the grand prior of castile and leon, a knight of the order of st. john of jerusalem, don antonio de toledo, son and brother to the dukes of alva; several other grandees of spain, not named in the verbal-process of this execution, and many persons of lower rank: the countess de ribadabia, and other ladies of distinction, besides the councils, the tribunals, and other authorities. the sermon on the faith was preached by the bishop of cuença: the bishops of palencia and zamora degraded the condemned priests; and the inquisitor-general, the archbishop of seville, demanded and received from the king the same oath which had been administered to don carlos. the condemned persons were:-don carlos de seso, a noble of verona, son to the bishop of placenza in italy, and one of the most noble families in the country; he was forty-three years of age, passed for a learned man, who had rendered great services to the emperor, and had held the office of corregidor of toro. he married donna isabella de castilla, daughter of don francis de castilla, who were descended from the king don pedro _the cruel_. after his marriage he settled at villamediana, near logroño. he there openly preached heresy, and was the principal author of the progress of lutheranism at valladolid, palencia, zamora, and the boroughs depending on those cities. he was arrested at logroño, and taken to the secret prisons of valladolid. he answered the requisition of the fiscal on the 28th of june, 1558. his sentence was communicated to him on the 7th of october, 1559, and he was told to prepare to suffer death on the following day. de seso asked for ink and paper, and wrote his confession, which was entirely lutheran; he said that this doctrine, and not that taught by the roman church, which had been corrupted for several centuries, was the true faith of the gospel; that he would die in that belief, and that he offered himself to god in memory of the passion of jesus christ. it would be difficult to express the vigour and energy of his writing, which filled two sheets of paper. de seso was exhorted during the night, and on the morning of the 8th, but without success; he was gagged, that he might not have the power of preaching his doctrine. when he was fastened to the stake, the gag was taken from his mouth, and he was again exhorted to confess himself; he replied with a loud voice, and great firmness: "if i had sufficient time, i would convince you that you are lost, by not following my example. hasten to light the wood which is to consume me." the executioners complied, and de seso died impenitent. pedro de cazalla, curate of the parish of pedrosa; he was the brother of augustin cazalla, and aged thirty-three. he was arrested on the 23rd of april, 1558, and confessed that he was a lutheran. he demanded to be reconciled, but was sentenced to be _relaxed_ because he had preached the heretical doctrine. on the 7th of october he was informed of his sentence, but refused to confess; when he was fastened to the stake, he asked for a confessor, and was then strangled, and afterwards burnt. dominic sanchez, a priest of villamediana, adopted the lutheran heresy, after having heard de seso and read his books. he was condemned to be burnt, and followed the example of pedro de cazalla. dominic de roxas, a dominican priest; he was a disciple of bartholomew carranza. his father was the marquis de poza, who had two children punished in the first _auto-da-fé_. brother dominic was forty years of age. he was taken at calahorra, disguised as a layman; he had taken the habit to conceal himself from the agents of the inquisition, until he could escape to flanders, after an interview which he wished to have with don carlos de seso. he made his first declaration before the holy office, on the 13th of may, 1558; he was obliged to make several others, because he retracted in one what he advanced in another; he was condemned to the torture for these recantations. brother dominic intreated that he might be spared the horrors of the question, as he dreaded it more than death. this request was granted on condition that he would promise to reveal what he had hitherto concealed; he consented, and added several new declarations to the first; he afterwards demanded to be reconciled. on the 7th of october, he was exhorted to prepare for death; he then made some discoveries in favour of persons against whom he had spoken in the preceding examinations; but he refused to confess, and when he descended from the scaffold of the _auto-da-fé_, he turned towards the king, and exclaimed, that he was going to die for the true faith, which was that of luther. philip ii. commanded that he should be gagged. he was still in that situation when he was fastened to the stake; but when they began to light the fire his courage failed, he demanded a confessor, received absolution, and was strangled. juan sanchez, a servant of pedro de cazalla, and donna catherine hortega; he was thirty-three years of age. the fear of being arrested by the inquisition induced him to go to valladolid, in order to escape to the low countries, under the forged name of juan de vibar. the inquisitors were informed of his intention by his letters written at castrourdiales, addressed to donna catherine hortega, while she was in prison. the inquisitors gave information to the king, who commissioned don francis de castilla alcalde, of the court, to arrest him. sanchez was taken at turlingen, and transferred to valladolid, where he was condemned to _relaxation_, as a dogmatizing and impenitent lutheran. he was gagged until he was fastened to the stake. as he did not ask for a confessor, the pile was lighted, and when the cords which held him were burnt, he darted to the top of the scaffold, from whence he could see that several of the condemned confessed, that they might avoid the flames. the priests again exhorted him to confess, but seeing that de seso remained firm in his resolution, he returned and told them to add more wood, for that he would die like don carlos de seso. the archers and executioners obeyed his injunctions, and he perished in the flames. donna euphrosyne rios, a nun of the order of santa clara of valladolid, was convicted of lutheranism by twenty-two witnesses; she continued impenitent until she was fastened to the stake, when she confessed, and was strangled and burnt. donna marina de guevara, a nun of the convent of belen at valladolid, of the order of cistercians; she was related to the family of poza. marina confessed the facts, but could not avoid her condemnation, though she demanded to be reconciled. this was the more surprising, as the inquisitor-general made great efforts to save her life; he was the intimate friend of several of her relations, and being informed that the inquisitors of valladolid intended to condemn her, he authorized don alphonso tellez giron, lord of montalban and cousin to marina, and the duke of ossuna, to visit the accused, and press her to confess what she denied, and the witnesses affirmed; but marina said that she could not add anything to what she had already declared. she was condemned to be _relaxed_, but the sentence was not immediately published, as it was the custom to do so only on the day before the _auto-da-fé_; and as the rules of 1541 allow the sentence of death to be revoked if the criminals repent before they are given up to secular justice, the inquisitor-general sent don alphonso giron a second time to his cousin, to exhort her to confess all, and avoid death. this conduct of valdés displeased the inquisitors of valladolid, who spoke of it as a singular and scandalous preference. valdés applied to the supreme council, which commanded that the visit should be made in the presence of one or two inquisitors. this last attempt did not succeed better than the first; marina persisted in her declaration, and was burnt. donna catherine de reinoso, a nun in the same convent, donna margaret de santisteban, and donna, maria de miranda, nuns of santa clara at valladolid, were likewise strangled and burnt as lutherans. pedro de sotelo and francis d'almarzo suffered the same punishment for lutheranism, with francis blanco, a new christian; who had abjured mahometanism, and had afterwards fallen into error. jane sanchez, of the class of women called beates, was condemned as a lutheran: when she was informed of her sentence, she cut her throat with a pair of scissors, and died impenitent some days after in prison. her corpse was taken to the _auto-da-fé_ on a bier, and burnt with her effigy. sixteen persons were condemned to penances. i shall only mention those distinguished for their rank or the nature of their trials. donna isabella de castilla, the wife of don carlos de seso, voluntarily confessed that she had adopted some of her husband's opinions; she was condemned to wear the _san-benito_, to be imprisoned for life, and to be deprived of her property. donna catherine de castilla, the niece of the above, suffered the same punishment. donna francisca de zuñiga reinoso, sister to donna catherine, who was burnt in the same _auto-da-fé_, and a nun in the same convent was condemned, with donna philippina de heredia and donna catherine d'alcaraz, two of her companions, to be deprived of the power of voting in her community, and prohibited from going out of the convent. antonio sanchez, an inhabitant of salamanca, was punished as a false witness; it was proved that he had deposed falsely for the purpose of causing a jew to be burnt: he was condemned to receive two hundred stripes; was deprived of half his property, and sent to the galleys for five years. the compassion of the inquisitors for this sort of criminals is an incontestable fact, although they did not hesitate to condemn heretics to death, if they had only concealment, or an insincere repentance to reproach them with. pedro d'aguilar, a shearer, born at tordesillas, pretended to be an alguazil of the inquisition, and appeared at valladolid with the _wand_ of the holy office on the day of the celebration of the first _auto-da-fé_; he afterwards went to a town in the province of campos, where he said that he was commissioned to open the tomb of a bishop, and take the bones to be burnt in an _auto-da-fé_, as belonging to a man who had died in the judaic heresy. pedro was condemned to receive four hundred stripes, to have his property confiscated, and to be sent to the galleys for life. this affair proves that the inquisitors considered it a much greater crime to pretend to be an alguazil of the holy office, than to bear false-witness, and to cause the death of a man, the confiscation of his property, and the condemnation of his posterity to infamy! such is the history of the two celebrated _autos-da-fé_ of valladolid, of which so much has been said, although nothing certain was known of them. it is an interesting circumstance that the inquisition was at the same time proceeding against forty-five persons distinguished for their rank or personal qualities; of these forty-five persons, ten had been arrested. it is not to be supposed that the inquisitors only prosecuted these persons: the trial of carranza, archbishop of seville, was the origin of a great number against bishops and other distinguished individuals. i have confined myself to those of which i could consult the papers; it would be a task beyond the strength of one man to read all that have accumulated in the archives. chapter xxi. history of two autos-da-fe, celebrated against the lutherans in the city of seville. an _auto-da-fé_ was celebrated on the 24th of september, 1559, in the place of st. francis, at seville, not less remarkable for the rank of the condemned, than for the nature of their trials. four bishops attended at it; the coadjutor of seville, those of largo and the canaries, who happened to be in the city, and of tarrazona, whom the king had authorized to reside at seville as vice-inquisitor-general. the inquisitors of the district of seville were don michel del carpio, don andres gasco, and don francis galdo; don juan de obando represented the archbishop. i make this remark, to show that none of the judges were named _vargas_, as the author of a romance entitled _cornelia bororquia_ has asserted. this _auto-da-fé_ was celebrated before the royal court of justice, the chapter of the cathedral, some grandees of spain, and a great number of titled persons and gentlemen; the duchess of bejar was present with several ladies, and an immense concourse of people. twenty-one persons were _relaxed_, with an effigy of a contumacious person, and eighty persons condemned to penances, the greatest number of whom were lutherans; i shall mention the most remarkable instances. the effigy was that of francis zafra, the beneficed priest of the parish of st. vincent of seville, who was condemned as a lutheran, but had made his escape. gonzalez de montes gives a long account of this man, which i found to be correct, on examining the papers of the holy office. he says that francis zafra was well versed in the scriptures; for some time he succeeded in concealing his inclination to lutheranism, and was employed by the inquisitors to qualify denounced propositions, and that he was thus enabled to save many persons from being condemned. he had received into his house one of the women called _beates_, who (after obstinately supporting the new doctrines) became so much deranged, that he was obliged to confine and scourge her, to calm her violence. in 1555, this woman escaped, and denounced three hundred persons as lutherans to the inquisition: the inquisitors drew up a list of them; francis zafra was summoned, and although he was mentioned as one of the principal heretics, proved that they could not receive the evidence of a person whose mind was so much disordered[20]. as the holy office never neglected anything that could assist in discovering heresy, this list caused the conduct of many persons to be strictly observed, and more than eight hundred were arrested; francis zafra was one of the prisoners, but he contrived to escape, and was burnt in effigy as contumacious. the first person i shall mention as condemned to relaxation, was donna isabella de baena, a rich lady of seville. her house was razed to the ground for having served as a temple to the lutherans. i find, among the other victims at seville, don juan ponce de leon, youngest son to the count de baylen; he was cousin-german to the duke d'arcos, and related to the duchess de bejar, who were both present at his _auto-da-fé_. he was condemned as an impenitent lutheran: he at first denied the charges, but confessed during the torture: the inquisitors sent a priest, with whom he was well acquainted, to persuade him that it would be to his advantage if he confessed the truth. ponce was deceived, and made the confession they required; but on discovering his mistake, the day before the _auto-da-fé_, he made one truly lutheran, and treated the priest who attended him with contempt. gonzalez de montes pretends that he persisted in his sentiments, but he is mistaken, for ponce confessed when he was fastened to the stake, and strangled before he was burnt. don juan gonzalez, a priest of seville, and a celebrated preacher of andalusia, embraced mahometanism at twelve years of age, because his parents were moors, but he was reconciled by the inquisition. some time after he was imprisoned as a lutheran, but obstinately persisted in refusing to confess, even when tortured; affirming that his opinions were founded on the holy scriptures, and that, consequently, he could not be a heretic. this example was imitated by his two sisters, who suffered in the same _auto-da-fé_: when the gags were taken from their mouths, don juan told them to sing the 106th psalm. they died (say the protestants) in the faith of jesus christ, and detesting the errors of the _papists_. brother garcia de arias (surnamed the _white doctor_, on account of the extreme whiteness of his hair) was a jeronimite of the convent of st. isidore, at seville; he was condemned as an impenitent lutheran, and perished in the flames. he had professed the doctrines of luther for several years, but his sentiments were known only to the principal partisans of the heresy, such as vargas, egidius, and constantine: his prudence was so great, that he was looked upon as an orthodox theologian and of the greatest piety: he even carried his dissimulation so far as to profess to be an enemy to the lutherans. he was several times employed to qualify heretical propositions, and appeared to be so devoted to the inquisitorial system, that though he was denounced several times, the inquisitors declared that the informers acted out of hatred to him. however, the informations were communicated to him, that he might be more cautious in his conversations with suspicious persons. his conduct towards gregorio riuz ought to be recorded. riuz was denounced for some explanations of doctrine in a sermon; being obliged to appear and defend his doctrine before theologians, he applied to his friend, the white doctor, who wished to hear his exposition of the principles he intended for his defence, and the solutions he had prepared for the difficulties which he might meet with. when the assembly took place, the inquisitors commissioned arias to argue against riuz, who was much surprised to see him at this conference, and still more so, when he heard him speak in such a manner, that the answers he had prepared were entirely useless. riuz sunk under this attack, and the doctor arias was severely reproached for his treachery by the lutheran doctors, vargas, egidius, and constantine. arias taught the lutheran doctrine to some monks of his convent: one of them (brother cassiodorus) made so much progress in it, that he converted almost all the monks of the community, so that the monastic exercises were no longer practised. twelve of these persons being alarmed at this state of things fled to germany; the rest who remained at seville, were condemned by the inquisition. the same fate awaited garcia d'arias; the depositions against him continued to multiply, and he was at last arrested. foreseeing the result of his trial, he made a confession of his faith, and undertook to prove, that the opinions of luther were founded on the gospel. he persevered in his impenitence, and no catholic could convert him, because he understood doctrine better than those who disputed with him. donna maria de virues, donna maria cornel, and donna maria bohorques, also perished in this _auto-da-fé_. they were all young, and of the highest class of nobility. the history of the last of these ladies ought to be made known, on account of some circumstances in her trial, and because a spaniard has composed a _novel_ under the title of _cornelia bororquia_, which he affirms to be rather a history than a romance, although it is neither the one nor the other, but a collection of scenes and events badly conceived, in which he has not even given the actors their true names, from not having understood the history of the inquisition by limborch. this historian has mentioned two of the ladies by the names of _cornelia_ and _bohorquia_, which means _donna maria cornel_, and _donna maria bohorquia_. the spanish author has united these names, to designate _cornelia bororquia_ an imaginary person. he has supposed a love-intrigue between her and the inquisitor-general, which is absurd, since he was at madrid. he has also introduced examinations which never took place in the tribunal; in short, the intention of the author was to criticise and ridicule the inquisition, and the fear of being punished for it induced him to fly to bayonne. a good cause becomes bad when falsehood is employed in its defence: the true history of the inquisition is sufficient to show how much it merits the detestation of the human race, and it is therefore useless to employ fictions or satire. the same may be said of the _gusmanade_, a french poem, containing assertions false and injurious to the memory of st. dominic de guzman, whose personal conduct was very pure, though he may be blamed for his conduct to the albigenses. donna maria de bohorques, was the natural daughter of pedro garcia de xerez bohorques of one of the first families of seville, and from which sprung the marquises de ruchena, grandees of the first class. she was not twenty-one years of age when she was arrested as a lutheran. she had been instructed by the doctor, juan gil (or egidius), was perfectly acquainted with the latin language, and understood greek; she had many lutheran books, and had committed to memory the gospels, and some of the principal works which explain the text in a lutheran sense. she was conducted to the secret prisons, where she acknowledged her opinions, and defended them as catholic. she said that some of the facts and propositions contained in the depositions were true, but denied the others, either because she had forgotten them, or was afraid to compromise others. she was then tortured, and confessed that her sister, jane bohorques, was acquainted with her sentiments, and had not disapproved them. the fatal consequences of this confession will be shown hereafter. the definitive sentence was pronounced, and maria bohorques was condemned to _relaxation_. as the sentence was not communicated to the prisoner till the day before the _auto-da-fé_, the inquisitors desired that maria should be exhorted during the interval. two jesuits and two dominicans were successively sent to her. they returned full of admiration at the learning of the prisoner, but displeased at her obstinacy, in explaining the texts of scripture which they proposed, in a lutheran sense. on the day before the _auto-da-fé_, two other dominicans went with the first, to make a last effort to convert maria, and they were followed by several other theologians of different religious orders. maria received them with as much pleasure as politeness, but she told them, that they might spare themselves the trouble of speaking to her of their doctrines, as they could not be more concerned for her salvation than she was herself; that she would renounce her opinions if she felt the least uncertainty; but that she was still more convinced that she was right, since so many _popish_ theologians had not been able to advance any arguments, for which she had not prepared a solid and conclusive answer. at the place of execution, don juan ponce de leon, who had abjured heresy, exhorted maria to do the same. she received his advice very ill, and called him _ignorant, an idiot, and a babbler_: she added, that it was no longer a time to dispute, and that the few moments they had to live ought to be employed in meditating on the passion and death of their redeemer, to reanimate the faith by which they were to be justified and saved. although she was so obstinate, several priests, and a great number of monks, earnestly entreated that she might be spared, in consideration of her extreme youth and surprising merit, if she would consent to repeat the _credo_. the inquisitors granted their request; but scarcely had maria finished it, than she began to interpret the articles on the catholic faith, and the judgment of the quick and the dead, according to the opinions of luther: they did not give her time to conclude; the executioner strangled her, and she was afterwards burnt. such is the true history of maria bohorques, according to the writings of the inquisition. paul iv. died at rome on the 18th of august, 1559, a few days before the _auto-da-fé_ at seville. when the romans learnt this event, they went in crowds to the inquisition, set all the prisoners at liberty, and burnt the house and the archives of the tribunal. it cost much money and trouble to prevent the enraged populace from burning the convent _de la sapienza_ of the dominicans, who conducted all the affairs of the roman inquisition. the principal commissioner was wounded, and his house burnt. the statue of paul iv. was taken from the capitol and destroyed; the arms of the house of carafa were everywhere defaced, and even the mortal remains of the pope would have been abused, if the canons of the vatican had not interred him secretly, and if the guards had not defended the pontifical residence[21]. this revolt of the romans did not alarm the inquisitors of spain, where the people had been brought up by the monks in different principles from those professed by their ancestors under the reign of ferdinand, and the first ten years of that of charles v. _auto-da-fé of the year 1560._ the inquisitors of seville, who had perhaps depended on the presence of philip ii., prepared another _auto-da-fé_ for him similar to that of valladolid. when they had lost all hope of that honour, the ceremony was performed: it took place on the 22nd of december, 1560. fourteen individuals were burnt in person (_i. e._ relaxed), and three in effigy; thirty-four were subjected to penances, and the reconciliation of three other persons was read before the _auto-da-fé_. the effigies were those of the doctors egidius, constantine, and juan perez. constantine ponce de la fuente was born at _san clemente de la mancha_, in the diocese of cuença; he finished his studies at alcala de henares, with the doctor juan gil, or _egidius_; and with vargas, who died during his trial. these three theologians were the principal chiefs of the lutherans at seville, whom they secretly directed, enjoying at the same time the reputation of good catholics and virtuous priests. egidius preached much in the metropolitan church; constantine was less ardent in his zeal, but he obtained as much applause; vargas explained the scriptures in the pulpit of the municipality. constantine refused the dignity of magisterial canon, which was offered to him both by the chapter of cuença and that of toledo. charles v. appointed him his almoner and preacher; in this quality he took him to germany, where he made a long stay. on his return to seville, he directed the college _de la doctrina_, and there established a pulpit to preach the holy scriptures, of which he appointed the salary: he undertook to fill the office, and during this period the canons' corporation offered him the place of magisterial canon; exempting him from the usual competition. some of the canons recollecting the unfortunate consequences of the election of juan gil (who was appointed in the same manner), wished that the competition should take place. constantine was requested to submit to it, and assured that he would triumph over the competitors. this, in fact, took place in 1556, in opposition to the appeals and intrigues of the only person who had the courage to compete with him. while constantine continued to enjoy general esteem, the declarations of a great number of prisoners who were arrested for lutheranism, caused his arrest in 1558, some months before the death of charles v. during the time that he was preparing his defence, an accident happened which rendered it useless. isabella martinez, a widow of seville, was arrested as a lutheran. her property was sequestrated; but it was soon found, that francis beltran, her son, had concealed several chests of valuable effects before the inventory was taken. constantine had committed some prohibited books to the care of this woman, who concealed them in her cellar. the inquisitors sent louis sotelo, the alguazil of the holy office, to francis beltran, to claim the effects which he had concealed. francis, on seeing the alguazil, did not doubt that his mother had declared the concealment of the books given to her care by constantine, and without waiting until sotelo should tell him the cause of his visit, he said, _señor sotelo, i suppose that you come for the things deposited in my mother's house. if you will promise that i shall not be punished for not giving information of them, i will show you what there is hidden there._ beltran then conducted the alguazil to his mother's house, and pulled down part of the wall, behind which the lutheran books of constantine had been concealed; sotelo, astonished at this sight, told him that he should take possession of the books, but that he did not consider himself bound by his promise, as he only came to claim the effects which he had concealed. this declaration increased the alarm of beltran, and he gave everything up to the alguazil, on condition that he might remain free in his house. this denunciation had been made by a servant, who hoped to obtain the benefit of the act of ferdinand v., which assigns the fourth part of the concealed effects to the informer. among the prohibited books, were found several writings by constantine ponce de fuente, which treated of the true church according to the principles of the lutherans, and proved in their manner, that this church was not that of the _papists_: he also discussed in them several other points on which the lutherans differed from the catholics. constantine could not deny these papers, as they were in his own hand-writing; he confessed that they contained the profession of his faith, but refused to name his accomplices and disciples. the inquisitors, instead of decreeing the torture, plunged him into a deep, humid, and obscure dungeon, where the air, impregnated with the most dangerous miasma, soon altered his health. overcome by this persecution, he exclaimed, "_my god, were there no scythians or cannibals into whose hands to deliver me, rather than to let me fall into the power of these barbarians!_" this situation could not last long; constantine fell sick, and died of a dysentery: it was reported, when the _auto-da-fé_ was celebrated, that he had killed himself to avoid his punishment. his trial was as celebrated as his person. the inquisitors caused the _merits_ or charges against him to be read in a pulpit close to their seats, where the people could not hear them; the corregidor calderon remarked the circumstance twice, and they were obliged to begin it again where those of the other trials were read. constantine had published the first part of a catechism; the second was not printed. the following works of constantine were inserted in the prohibitory index, published in 1559, by don ferdinand valdés:--an abridgment of the christian doctrine; a dialogue on the same subject, between a master and his disciple; the confession of a sinner to jesus christ; a christian catechism; an exposition of the psalm, _beatus qui non abiit in concilio impiorum_. alphonso de ulloa, in his life of charles v., gives the highest praise to the works of constantine, particularly his treatise on the christian doctrine, which was translated into italian[22]. the effigy of contantine was not like those of the other condemned persons (which were an unformed mass surmounted by a head); it was an entire figure with the arms spread, as constantine was accustomed to do when preaching, and was clothed in garments which appeared to have belonged to him. after the _auto-da-fé_, this figure was taken back to the holy office, and a common effigy was burnt with the bones of the condemned. another prisoner died in the dungeons of the inquisition; he was (according to gonzalez de montis) a monk of the convent of st. isidore, named ferdinand. the same author affirms, that one olmedo, a lutheran, was likewise carried off by an epidemic disease which ravaged the prisons, and that he uttered groans similar to those of constantine when he was dying. i have not found that any inquisition in spain has, of late years, condemned any person to this sort of dungeon, unless the torture was decreed; the inquisitors of that time cannot be pardoned for making them a common prison. the doctor juan perez de pineda, whose effigy was the third in the _auto-da-fé_, was born at montilla in andalusia; he was placed at the head of the college _de la doctrina_, in which the young people of seville were educated. he made his escape when he was informed that the inquisitors were about to arrest him as suspected of lutheranism. proceedings were instituted against him as contumacious, and he was condemned as a formal lutheran heretic. he had composed several works: the index prohibited the following: the holy bible, translated into the castilian tongue; a catechism, printed at venice in 1556 by pedro daniel; the psalms of david in spanish; and a summary of the christian doctrine. juan perez had attained a great age when he was condemned. of the fourteen persons who were reconciled in the second _auto-da-fé_ the most remarkable were:-julian hernandez, surnamed the _little_, a native of villaverdè. the wish to promulgate lutheran books in seville induced him to go to germany. he gave the books to don juan ponce de leon, who undertook to distribute them. he passed more than three years in the prisons of the holy office, and was tortured several times, to force him to discover his accomplices. he bore the torture with a fortitude far above his physical strength, and remained faithful to his creed. when he arrived at the stake he arranged the wood around him so as to burn quickly; the doctor ferdinand rodriguez, who attended him, demanded that the gag should be taken from his month, that he might make his confession, but júlian opposed it, and he was burnt. nicholas burton, born in england, was condemned at an impenitent lutheran heretic. it is impossible to justify the conduct of the inquisitors to this englishman, and several other foreigners who had not settled in spain, and were merely returning to their respective countries after having transacted their commercial affairs. this man came to spain in a vessel laden with merchandise, which, he said, was all his own property, but of which some part belonged to john fronton, who was reconciled in this _auto-da-fé_. burton refused to abjure, and was burnt alive; the inquisitors seized his vessel and its freight, thus proving that avarice was the principal motive of the inquisition. the inquisitors were guilty of a great cruelty in this instance, and the commerce of spain would perhaps have been destroyed, if the violence committed against burton, and some others, had not been protested against by the different powers, which induced philip iv. to prohibit the inquisitors from molesting foreign merchants and travellers, if they did not attempt to promulgate heretical opinions; but the inquisitors eluded this order, by pretending that they brought prohibited books into the kingdom, or spoke in favour of heresy. gonzalez de montes speaks of the arrival in spain of a very rich stranger, named rehukin, whose vessel was finer and better built than any that had ever appeared at san-lucar de barrameda. the inquisition arrested him as an heretic, and confiscated his property; the merchant proved that the vessel did not belong to him, and that it could not be included in the confiscation; but his efforts to recover it were useless. two other foreigners shared the fate of burton. one was an englishman named william brook, born at sarum, and a sailor; the other was a frenchman of bayonne, named fabianne, whose trade required his presence in spain. the _beata_ protected by francis zafra, who had recovered her senses, but persisted in her heresy, was burnt in this _auto-da-fé_, with five women of her family. thirty-four persons were condemned to penances. the most remarkable instances were:-john fronton, an englishman of the city of bristol, who came to seville, where he was informed of the arrest of nicholas burton. he was the proprietor of a considerable part of the merchandise taken from burton, and after proving this fact by documents which he brought from england he claimed restitution. he was subjected to great delays and expenses, but as it was impossible to deny his rights, the inquisitors promised to restore the merchandise: in the mean time they contrived that witnesses should appear and depose that john fronton had advanced heretical propositions, and he was taken to the secret prisons. the fear of death induced fronton to say everything that the inquisitors required, and he demanded reconciliation. he was declared to be _violently suspected_ of the lutheran heresy. this was sufficient to authorize the inquisitors to seize his property, and he was reconciled, condemned to forfeit his merchandise, and to wear the _san-benito_ for the space of one year. this is a remarkable proof of the mischief produced by the secrecy of the inquisitorial proceedings. if the affair of john fronton had been made public, any lawyer would have shown the nullity and falsehood of the _instruction_. yet there are englishmen who defend the tribunal of the holy office as a useful institution, and i have heard an _english catholic priest_ speak in its defence. i represented that he did not understand the nature of the tribunal; that i was not less attached to the catholic religion than he, or any inquisitor might be; but that if the spirit of peace and charity, humility and disinterestedness, inculcated by the holy scriptures, is compared with the system of severity, craft, and malice, dictated by the laws of the holy office, and the power possessed by the inquisitors (from the secrecy of their proceedings) of abusing their authority in defiance of natural and divine laws, the orders of the popes and the royal decrees, it will be impossible not to detest the tribunal as only tending to produce hypocrisy. gaspard de benavides was an alcalde of the prison of the inquisition, and appeared in the _auto-da-fé_ with a flambeau; he was banished for life from seville, and lost his place, for _having failed in zeal and attention in his employment_. let this qualification and the sentence be compared with the crime of which he was accused. he purloined part of the small rations of the prisoners, the food which he gave them was of a bad quality, and he made them pay for it, as if it was superior; he did not take care to prepare it properly, it was badly cooked and seasoned; he deceived them in the price of wood, and made false bills of expenditure. if any of the prisoners complained, he removed them to a dark and humid dungeon, where he left them for a fortnight or even longer, to punish them for murmuring; he did not fail to tell them that he did this by the order of the inquisitors, and that they were released at his intercession. when any prisoner demanded an audience, gaspard (fearing that they would denounce him) did not inform the inquisitors of the request, and told the prisoner the next day that the inquisitors were so much occupied that they could not grant audiences. in short, there was no sort of injustice which he did not commit, until the moment when his conduct was discovered by chance. maria gonzalez, a servant of this man, was condemned to receive two hundred stripes, and to be banished for ten years. her crime was, having received money from some prisoners, and having permitted them to see and converse with each other. donna jane bohorques was declared innocent. she was the legitimate daughter of don pedro garcia de xeres y bohorques, and the sister of donna maria bohorques, who perished in a former _auto-da-fé_. she had married don francis de vargas, lord of the borough of higuera. she was taken to the secret prisons when her unfortunate sister declared that she was acquainted with her opinions, and had not opposed them; as if silence could prove that she had admitted the doctrine to be true. jane bohorques was six months gone with child; but this did not prevent the inquisitors from proceeding in her trial, a cruelty which will not surprise, when it is considered that she was arrested before any proof of her crime had been obtained. she was delivered in the prison; her child was taken from her at the end of eight days, in defiance of the most sacred rights of nature, and she was imprisoned in one of the common dungeons of the holy office. the inquisitors thought they did all that humanity required in giving her a less inconvenient cell than the common prison. it fortunately happened that she had as a companion in her cell a young girl who was afterwards burnt as a lutheran, and who pitying her situation, treated her with the utmost tenderness during her convalescence. she soon required the same care; she was tortured, and all her limbs were bruised and almost dislocated. jane bohorques attended her in this dreadful state. jane bohorques was not yet quite recovered, when she was tortured in the same manner. the cords with which her still feeble limbs were bound penetrated to the bone, and several blood vessels breaking in her body, torrents of blood flowed from her mouth. she was taken back to her dungeon in a dying state, and expired a few days after. the inquisitors thought they expiated this cruel murder by declaring jane bohorques innocent, in the _auto-da-fé_ of this day. under what an overwhelming responsibility will these monsters appear before the tribunal of the almighty! chapter xxii. of the ordinances of 1561, which have been followed in the proceedings of the holy office, until the present time. the ancient laws of the holy office had been almost entirely forgotten, and the inquisitors merely followed a kind of routine in transacting their affairs. the inquisitor-general valdés found it necessary to remedy this evil; and as a multitude of extraordinary cases had occurred since the publication of the codes of torquemada and his successor deza, which had obliged the inquisitors to publish supplements and new declarations, he resolved to frame a new code, composed of those laws which experience had shown to be useful. this edict was published at madrid, on the 2nd of september, 1561; it was composed of eighty-one articles, which have been, till the present time, the laws by which the proceedings of the inquisition have been regulated. _preamble._ "we, don ferdinand valdés, by the grace of god, archbishop of seville, apostolical inquisitor-general against heresy and apostacy in all the kingdoms and domains of his majesty, &c.; we inform you, venerable apostolical inquisitors, that we understand, that although it has been provided by the ordinances of the holy office, that the same manner of proceeding should be exactly followed in all the inquisitions, there are, nevertheless, some tribunals where this measure has not been, and is not well observed. in order to prevent any difference for the future, in the conduct of the tribunals, and the forms which should be followed, it has been resolved, after communicating and consulting with the council of the general inquisition, that the following order shall be observed by the tribunals of the holy office:-1st. when the inquisitors admit an information, which shows that propositions have been advanced which ought to be denounced to the holy office, they must consult theologians of learning and integrity, and capable of qualifying the said propositions; they shall give their opinion in writing, accompanied by their signature. 2nd. if it is certain from the opinion of the theologians that the object of their examination is a matter of faith, or if it is apparent without consulting them, and the denounced fact is sufficiently proved, the procurator-fiscal shall denounce the author of it, and the individuals implicated, if there are any, and shall require that they be arrested[23]. 3rd. the inquisitors shall be assembled to decide if imprisonment should be decreed; in doubtful cases, they shall summon consultors, if they find it necessary[24]. 4th. when the proof is not sufficient to cause the arrest of the denounced person, the inquisitor shall not cite him to appear, or subject him to any examination, because experience has shown, that an heretic who is at liberty will not confess, and this measure only makes him more reserved and attentive in avoiding everything that may increase the suspicions or the proofs brought against him. 5th. if the inquisitors are not unanimous in decreeing an arrest, the writings of the trial shall be sent to the council, and this must likewise take place even when they are unanimous in their decisions, if the individuals to be arrested are persons of quality and consideration. 6th. the inquisitors shall sign the decree of arrest, and address it to the _grand alguazil_ of the holy office. when it relates to a formal heresy, this measure shall be immediately followed by the sequestration of the property of the denounced person. if several persons are to be imprisoned, a decree of arrest shall be expedited for each individual, distinct and independent of each other, to be separately executed: this precaution is necessary to ensure secrecy, in case one _alguazil_ cannot arrest all the criminals. a note shall be entered in the trial, stating the day on which the decree of arrest was delivered, and the person who received it. 7th. the _alguazil_ shall be accompanied, in the execution of the decree of imprisonment, by the recorder of the sequestrations, and the stewards. he shall appoint a depositary, and if the steward does not approve of the person mentioned, he shall appoint another himself, as he is responsible for the property. 8th. the recorder of the sequestrations shall note all the effects separately, with the day, the month, and year of the seizure; he shall sign it with the _alguazil_, the steward, the depositary, and the witnesses; he shall give a copy of this writing to the depositary; but if the others demand copies, he is permitted to require payment for them. 9th. the _alguazil_ shall deduct from the sequestrated property a sufficient portion to defray the expenses of the food, lodging, and journey of the prisoner; he shall give an account of what he received when he arrives at the inquisition. if any money remains he shall give it to the cashier, to be employed in the maintenance of the prisoner. 10th. the _alguazil_ shall require the prisoner to give up his money, papers, arms, and everything which it might be dangerous for him to be in possession of; he shall not allow him to have any communication, either by speech or writing with the other prisoners, without receiving permission from the inquisitors. he shall remit all the effects found upon the person of the prisoner to the goaler, and shall take a receipt, with the date of the day on which the remittance took place. the gaoler shall inform the inquisitors of the arrival of the prisoner, and he shall lodge him in such a manner, that he cannot have at his disposal anything which might be dangerous in his hands, unless they are confided to him, and he is obliged to be responsible. one of the notaries of the holy office shall be present, and shall draw up the verbal process of the decree of imprisonment and its execution; even the hour when the prisoner entered the prison must be mentioned, as this point is important in the accounts of the cashier. 11th. the gaoler shall not lodge several prisoners together; he shall not permit them to communicate with each other, unless the inquisitors allow it. 12th. the gaoler shall be provided with a register, in which all the effects in the chamber of the prisoner, with the clothes and food which he receives from each detained person, shall be noted; he shall sign the statement with the recorder of the sequestrations, and shall give notice of it to the inquisitors; he shall not remit any food or clothing to the prisoners without examining them with great attention, to ascertain if they contain letters, arms, or anything of which they might make a bad use. 13th. when the inquisitors think proper, they shall order the prisoner to be brought into the chamber of audience; they shall cause him to sit on a bench or small seat, and take an oath to speak the truth, at this time, and on all succeeding audiences; they shall ask him his name, his surname, his age, his country, the place where he dwells, his profession and rank, and the time of his arrest; they shall treat him with humanity, and respect his rank, but without derogating from the authority of judges, that the accused may not infringe the respect due to them, or commit any reprehensible act towards their persons. the accused shall stand while the act of denunciation by the fiscal is read. 14th. the accused shall be afterwards examined on his genealogy. he shall be asked if he is married: if more than once, what woman he married: how many children he had by each marriage, their age, as well as their rank and place of dwelling. the recorder shall write down these details, paying attention to place each name at the beginning of a line, because this practice is useful in consulting registers, to discover if the accused is not descended from jews, moors, heretics, or other individuals punished by the holy office. 15th. when the preceding ceremony has passed, the accused shall be required to give an abridged history of his life, mentioning those towns where he has made a considerable stay, the motives of his sojourn, the persons he associated with, the friends he acquired, his studies, the masters he studied under, the period when he began them, and the time that he continued them; if he had been out of spain, at what time and with whom he had quitted the country, and how long he had been absent. he shall be asked if he is instructed in the truths of the christian religion, and shall be required to repeat the _pater-noster_, the _ave maria_, and the _credo_. he shall be asked if he has confessed himself, and to what confessors. when he has given an account of all these things, he shall be asked if he knows or suspects the cause of his arrest, and his reply shall regulate the questions put to him afterwards. the inquisitors shall avoid interrupting the accused while he is speaking, and shall allow him to express himself freely while the recorder writes down his declarations, unless they are foreign to the trial. they shall ask all necessary questions, but shall avoid fatiguing him by examining him on subjects not relating to the trial, unless he gives occasion for it by his replies. 16th. it is proper that the inquisitors should always suspect that they have been deceived by the witnesses, and that they shall be so by the accused, and that they should not take either side; for, if they adopt an opinion too soon, they will not be able to act with that impartiality which is suitable to their station, and on the contrary will be liable to fall into error. 17th. the inquisitors shall not speak to the accused during the audience, or at other times, of any affair not relating to his own. the recorder shall write down the questions and replies; and, after the audience, he shall read it to the accused, that he may sign it. if he wishes to add, retrench, alter, or elucidate, any article, the recorder shall write after his dictation, without suppressing or certifying the articles already written. 18th. the fiscal shall present his act of accusation within the time prescribed by the ordinances; he shall accuse the prisoner of being an heretic in general terms, and afterwards mention, in particular, the facts and propositions of which he is charged. the inquisitors have not the right of punishing an accused person for crimes which do not relate to matters of faith; but if the preparatory instruction mentions any, the fiscal shall make it the object of an accusation, because this circumstance, and that of his general good or bad conduct, assists in determining the degree of credence to be given to his replies, and serves for other purposes in his trial. 19th. although the accused may confess all the charges brought against him in the first audiences of _admonition_, yet the fiscal shall draw up and present his act of accusation, because experience has shown, that it is better that a trial, caused by the _denunciation_ of a person who is a party in the cause, should be continued and judged at the prosecution of the _denunciator_; that the inquisitors may be at liberty to deliberate on the application of punishments and penances, which would not be the case if they proceeded _officially_. 20th. whenever the accused shall be admitted to an audience, he shall be reminded of the oath which he has taken to speak the truth. 21st. at the end of his requisition, the fiscal shall introduce a clause, importing, that if the inquisitors do not think his accusation sufficiently proved, they are requested to decree the torture for the accused, because, as it cannot be inflicted without previous notice, it is proper that the accused should be informed that it has been required; and this moment appears the most convenient, because the prisoner is not prepared for it, and he will receive the notice with less agitation. 22nd. the fiscal shall himself present his requisition, or demand in accusation, to the inquisitors; the recorder shall read it in the presence of the prisoner, the fiscal shall make oath that he does not act from bad intentions, and retire; the accused shall then reply successively to all the articles of the act, and the recorder shall write down his answers in the same order, even if they are only denials. 23rd. the inquisitors shall give the prisoner to understand that it is of great consequence to him to speak the truth. one of the advocates of the holy office shall be appointed to defend him, who shall communicate with him in the presence of an inquisitor, in order to prepare himself to reply in writing to the accusation, after swearing fidelity to the accused, and secrecy to the tribunal, although he had already taken that oath at the time that he was appointed the _advocate of the prisoners of the holy office_. he must endeavour to persuade the accused that it is of the greatest consequence to be sincere, to ask pardon and submit to a penance if he acknowledges his guilt. his reply shall be communicated to the fiscal, who, with the prisoner and his advocate, shall be present at the audience, and shall demand the proofs. the inquisitors shall admit the requisition, but without naming the day or informing the parties of it, because neither the accused nor any other person in his name has the right of being present when the witnesses take their oaths. 24th. the recorder shall read to the advocate all that the accused has declared relating to himself, but shall omit all that he has said concerning others; this communication is necessary to the advocate, that he may establish the defence of his client. if he wishes to make any additions to his declaration, the advocate must be obliged to retire. 25th. if the accused has attained the age of twenty-five years, a guardian shall be appointed for him before the accusation is read. the advocate may fill that office, or any other person of known honour and integrity. the prisoner, with the approbation of his guardian, shall ratify all that he has declared in former audiences; and he shall afterwards be attended by the same person in all the circumstances of the trial. 26th. where the proof has been admitted, the fiscal shall announce in the presence of the accused, that he reproduces and presents the witnesses and the proofs which existed in the writings and the registers of the holy office; he shall demand that they proceed to the _ratification_ of the witnesses who have been examined in the preparatory instruction, that the witnesses shall be confronted and the depositions published. if the accused or his advocate speak at this time, the recorder shall write down all that they say. 27th. if the accused confesses himself guilty of another crime, after the proof is admitted, the fiscal shall accuse him of it, and he shall be prosecuted according to the ordinary forms. if the proof of the first crime is increased, it will be sufficient to inform the prisoner of the circumstance. 28th. in the interval between the proof and the publication, the prisoner may demand audiences, through the gaoler. the inquisitors must grant them without delay, in order to profit by the inclination of the accused, which may change from day to day. 29th. the inquisitors must not neglect to cause the _ratification_ of the witnesses, or to take any measures to discover the truth. 30th. the _ratification_ of the witnesses shall take place before responsible persons, such as two priests, christians of an ancient race, and of a pure life and reputation. the witnesses shall be asked in their presence if they recollect having deposed in any trial before the inquisition: if they reply in the affirmative, they shall be questioned on the circumstances, and the persons interested in it. when they have given satisfaction on this article, they shall be informed that the fiscal has presented them as witnesses in the trial of the prisoner. their first declaration shall be read to them, and if they say that they have attested those facts, they shall be required to ratify them, making any additions, suppressions, explanations, and alterations, which they may think proper. these shall all be mentioned in the verbal process: it shall also be stated if the witness is at that time at liberty or detained in the chamber of audience, or in his chamber, and why he has not appeared in the ordinary place. 31st. when the ratification of the witnesses is concluded, the publication shall be prepared, taking a copy of each deposition; it shall be literal, except in all that may tend to discover the witnesses to the accused. if the declaration is too long, it shall be divided into several chapters. at the publication of the depositions, they shall not be read to the accused all at once, nor all the articles of a long declaration. the first head of the deposition of the first witness shall be read to him, that he may reply to it with more precision and facility; they shall then pass to the second chapter, then to the third, following the same order in all the depositions. the inquisitors shall hasten, as much as possible, the publication of the depositions, to spare the accused the anxiety of a long delay; they shall avoid all that may lead him to suppose that new charges have been brought against him, or that those already made are more extended than in their own declarations; and although such circumstances may have occurred, and the accused has denied the charges, they shall cause the delay of the formalities and the conclusion of the trial. 32nd. the inquisitors shall fulfil the form of the _publication_, dictating to the recorder all that is to be written in the presence of the accused, or they shall write it themselves and sign it. this writing shall be dated with the year, the month, and the day, when the witness deposed, provided that it is not convenient to do so; it would be improper if the deponent was in prison. they shall also mention the time and place when the facts occurred, because this is useful to the accused in his defence; but the place must only be designated in general terms. in the copy of the deposition the _third person_ shall be used, although the witness spoke to the _first_. thus it must be said: the witness has seen or heard the accused conversing with an individual, &c.[25] 33rd. if an accused, who has made declarations in several sittings, reveals crimes committed by persons whom he named, and afterwards makes new declarations, only cites these persons in a vague and general manner, employing for example, the words, _all those whom i have named_, or a similar expression; these accusations cannot be brought against any accused person, as they do not apply in a direct manner; this must oblige the inquisitors to pay attention to the prisoner who speaks of different individuals, and cause him to name them one after the other, and afterwards to state the facts or words which he imputes to them. 34th. although the accused has denied the charges, the publication of the depositions must be read to him, that he may not call in question the regularity of the proceedings of the tribunal which has arrested him, and that the judges may rely with more confidence on the law when they pass sentence; for this discretionary power exists only if the accused is convicted and confesses himself guilty; otherwise the charges brought against him by the witnesses, whose declarations have not been mentioned to him, cannot be of any value, particularly in a trial of this kind, when the accused is not present at the oath of the witnesses. 35th. when the accused has replied to the publication of the depositions, he shall be permitted to consult with his advocate, in the presence of an inquisitor and the recorder, that he may prepare his defence. the recorder shall write down the particulars of the conference which he considers worthy of attention. neither the inquisitor nor recorder, still less the advocate, shall remain alone with the accused. it shall be the same with all other persons, except the gaoler or his deputy. it is sometimes eligible that learned and pious persons should visit the accused, to exhort them to confess what they obstinately deny, though they have been convicted. these interviews can only take place in the presence of the recorder or an inquisitor. procurators shall not be permitted to be appointed for the prisoner, though the _old instructions_ have established this measure, because experience has shown that great inconvenience arises from it[26]; besides which, the accused derives little advantage from it[27]. if any unforeseen circumstance renders this measure necessary, the advocate may be appointed to fill the office. 36th. if the accused wishes to write, to fix the points of his defence, he shall be furnished with paper: but the sheets shall be counted and numbered by the recorder, that the accused may give them back again either written upon or blank. when his work is finished, he shall be allowed to converse with his advocate, to whom he may communicate what he has written, on condition that his defender restores the original without taking a copy when he presents his address to the tribunal. when there is an examination in the defence of the prisoner, he shall be required to name, on the margin of each article, the witnesses he wishes to call, that those who are the most worthy of credit may be examined. he must also be required to name as witnesses none but christians of an ancient race, who are neither his servants nor relations, unless it is a case when the questions can only be answered by them[28]. before the address is presented by the advocate, if the accused requires it, it shall be communicated to him, and the inquisitors shall desire the advocate to confine himself to the defence of the accused in what he has to say, and to observe a strict silence on everything said in the world, as experience has shown the inconvenience of this sort of revelations, even in respect to the accused persons; they shall cause him to restore all the papers, without taking copies of them, or even of the address, of which he must give up the notes, if there are any. 37th. whenever the prisoner is admitted to an audience, the fiscal shall examine the state of the trial, to ascertain if he has declared anything new of himself or others; he shall receive his declaration judicially, and mark the names of the persons of whom he has said anything, and all the other points which might elucidate the affair, in the margin. 38th. the inquisitors shall receive the informations relative to the defence of the accused, the depositions in his favour, the indirect proofs and challenges of the witnesses, with as much care and attention as they receive those of the fiscal; that the detention of the prisoner, which prevents him from acting for himself, may not be an obstacle to the discovery of the truth. 39th. when the inquisitors receive important information in defence of the prisoner, he shall be brought before the tribunal accompanied by his advocate; they shall inform him that the proofs of all the circumstances which might mitigate his crime have been received, and that they can conclude the trial, unless any other demand occurs on their part, in which case they will do everything which may be permitted for the prisoner. if he declares that he has nothing more to say, the fiscal may give in his conclusions. it will be proper, however, that he should not do it immediately, that he may take advantage of every circumstance that may take place. if the accused demands the publication of the depositions in his defence, it must be refused, as it may tend to discover the persons who have deposed against him[29]. 40th. when the trial is so far advanced that the sentence may be passed, the inquisitors shall convoke the ordinary and the consulters. as there is no reporter, the dean of the inquisitors shall report the trial, without giving any opinion, and the recorder shall read it in the presence of the inquisitors and the fiscal, who shall sit by the consultors, and retire when he has heard the report, before the judges give their votes. the consultors shall give their votes first, and then the ordinary, the inquisitors after him, and the dean the last. each voter shall be at liberty to make any observations which he thinks proper in giving his vote, without being interrupted or prevented. if the inquisitors gave different votes, they shall explain their motives, to prove that there is nothing arbitrary in their conduct. the recorder shall write each opinion in a register prepared for the purpose, and shall afterwards join it to the trial, to give testimony of it. 41st. when the accused confesses himself guilty, and his confessions have the required conditions, if he is not relapsed, he shall be admitted to reconciliation; his property shall be seized; he shall be clothed in the habit of a penitent, or a _san-benito_ (which is a scapulary of linen or yellow cloth, with two crosses of st. andrew of another colour), and he shall be confined in the prison for those who are condemned to perpetual imprisonment, namely, that of _mercy_. as to the colours of the habit he is to wear, and the confiscation of his property, there are _fueros_ and privileges existing in some provinces of aragon, and other rules and customs which must be conformed to, in acquitting the criminal, and restoring his ordinary garments to him, according to the sentence. if it is proper that he should remain in prison for an unlimited time, it shall be said in his sentence, that his punishment shall last as long as the inquisitors think proper. if the accused has really relapsed, after abjuring a _formal_ heresy, or is a _false penitent_ when he has abjured as _violently_ suspected, and is convicted in the present trial of the same heresy, he shall be given up to the common judge according to the civil law, and his punishment shall not be remitted, although he may protest that his repentance is sincere, and his confession true in this case. 42nd. the abjuration must be written after the sentence, and signed by the accused: if he is incapable of signing it, this ceremony must be performed by an inquisitor and the recorder: if the condemned abjures in a public _auto-da-fé_, the abjuration must be signed the next day, in the chamber of audience. 43rd. if the accused is convicted of heresy, bad faith, and obstinacy, he shall be _relaxed_, but the inquisitors must not neglect to endeavour to convert him, that he may die in the faith of the church. 44th. if an accused who has been condemned, and informed of his sentence on the day before the _auto-da-fé_, repents during the night and confesses his sins, or part of them, in a manner that shows true repentance, he shall not be conducted to the _auto-da-fé_, but his execution shall be suspended, because it might be improper to allow him to hear the names of the persons condemned to death, and those condemned to other punishments, for this knowledge and the report of the offence might assist him in preparing his judicial confession. if the accused is converted on the scaffold of the _auto-da-fé_, before he has heard his sentence, the inquisitors must suppose that the fear of death has more influence in this conversion than true repentance; but if, from different circumstances and the nature of the confession, they wish to suspend the execution, they are permitted to do so, considering at the same time that confessions made in such circumstances are not worthy of belief, and more particularly those which accuse other individuals. 45th. the inquisitors must maturely consider motives and circumstances before they decree the torture; and when they have resolved to have recourse to it, they must state the motive: they must declare if the torture is to be employed _in caput proprium_, because the accused is subjected to it as persisting in his denials, and incompletely convicted in his own trial; or if he suffers it _in caput alienum_, as a witness who denies, in the trial of another accused, the facts of which he has been a joint witness. if he is convicted of bad faith in his own cause, and is consequently liable to be _relaxed_, or if he is equally so in any other affair, he may be tortured, though he must be given up to the secular judge for what concerns him personally. if he does not reveal anything in being tortured as a witness, he shall nevertheless be condemned as an accused; but if the question forces him to confess his crime, and that of another person, and he solicits the indulgence of his judges, the inquisitors shall conform to the rules of right. 46th. if only a semi-proof of the crime exists, or if appearances will not admit of the acquittal of the prisoner, he shall make an abjuration as being either _violently_ or _slightly_ suspected. as this measure is not a punishment for the past, but a precaution for the future, pecuniary penalties shall be imposed; but he shall be informed that if he again commits the crime for which he was denounced, he will be considered as having _relapsed_, and be delivered over to the secular judge: for this purpose he shall sign his act of abjuration. 47th. in cases where only the semi-proof, or some indications of a crime exist, the accused has been sometimes permitted to clear himself canonically before the number of persons appointed in the ancient instructions; the inquisitors, the ordinary, and the consultors, may therefore allow it if they think proper, but they must observe that this proceeding is very dangerous, not often used, and can only be employed with great caution[30]. 48th. the third manner of proceeding in this case is to employ the _question_. this measure is thought to be dangerous and not certain, because its effects depend upon the physical strength of the subject; consequently no rule can be prescribed on this point, but it is left to the prudence and equity of the judges. nevertheless the question shall only be decreed by the ordinary, the consultors, and the inquisitors, or applied without their concurrence, as circumstances may occur, when their presence would be necessary[31]. 49th. when it is necessary to decree the torture, the accused shall be informed of the motives for employing it, and the offences for which he is to suffer it; but after it has been decided he shall not be examined on any particular fact, he shall be allowed to say what he pleases. experience has shown that if he is questioned on any subject when pain has reduced him to the last extremity, he will say anything that is required of him, which may be injurious to other persons, in making them parties concerned, and producing other inconveniences. 50th. the question shall not be decreed until the process is terminated, and the defence of the accused has been heard. as the sentence of recourse to the question admits of an appeal, the inquisitors shall consult the council, if the case is doubtful; if the accused can maintain his appeal, it shall be admitted. but if the point of law is clear, the inquisitors are not required to consult the council, or to admit the application of the accused; they are at liberty to proceed immediately to execution, as if it had not been made. 51st. if the inquisitors think that the appeal ought to be admitted, they shall send the writings of the process to the supreme council, without informing the parties, or any individual not belonging to the tribunal, because the council will send an order to the inquisitors, if it is considered proper that they should be made acquainted with it. 52nd. if an inquisitor is challenged, and there is another in the tribunal, the first shall abstain from performing his office, and the second shall take his place, after the council has been informed of the circumstance. if there is only one inquisitor in the tribunal, the proceedings shall be suspended until the decision of the supreme council has been received; the same course shall be pursued if there are several inquisitors, and they are all challenged. 53rd. twenty-four hours after the accused has been put to the question, he shall be asked if he persists in his declarations, and if he will ratify them. the notary of the tribunal shall appoint the time for this formality, and likewise that for the application of the question. if at this moment the accused confesses his crimes, and afterwards ratifies his declarations in such a manner that the inquisitors may believe him to be converted, repentant, and sincere in his confessions, he may be admitted to reconciliation, notwithstanding the article in the ordinance of seville, in 1484. if the accused retracts his declaration, the inquisitors shall proceed according to rule. 54th. when the inquisitors, the ordinary, and the consultors decree the question, they shall not decide on what is to be done after it has been administered, as the result is uncertain, nothing being regulated on this point. if the accused resists the torture, the judges shall deliberate on the nature, form, and quality of the torture which he has suffered; on the degree of intensity with which it was inflicted; on the age, strength, health, and vigour of the patient: they shall compare all these circumstances, with the number, the seriousness of the indications which lead to the supposition of his guilt, and they shall decide if he is already cleared by what he has suffered; in the affirmative they shall declare him free from prosecution, in the other case he shall abjure according to the nature of the suspicion. 55th. the judges, notary, and the executioners shall be present at the torture; when it is over, the inquisitors shall cause an individual who has been wounded to be properly attended, without allowing any suspected person to approach him, until he has ratified his declarations. 56th. the inquisitors shall take every precaution that the gaoler shall not insinuate anything to the accused relating to his defence, that he may only follow his inclination in all that he says. this measure does not allow the gaoler to fill the office of guardian or defender to the prisoner, or even representative of the fiscal; he may however serve as a writer for the accused, if he does not know how to write: in this case he shall be prohibited from substituting his own ideas for those of the accused. 57th. the affair being for the second time in a state for passing sentence, there shall be a new audience of the inquisitors, the ordinary, the consultors, the fiscal and the notary. the fiscal shall hear the report of the last incidents, to ascertain if it contains anything important relating to his office; after it has been read he shall retire, that the judges may remain alone when they proceed to vote. 58th. when the inquisitors release an accused person from the secret prisons, he shall be conducted to the chamber of audience; they shall there ask him if the gaoler treated him and the other prisoners well, or ill; if he has communicated with him or other persons on subjects foreign to the trial; if he has seen or known that other prisoners conversed with persons not confined in the prison, or if the gaoler gave them any advice. they shall command him to keep secret these details, and all that has passed since his detention, and shall make him sign a promise to this effect, if he knows how to write, that he may fear to break it. 59th. if a prisoner dies before his trial is terminated, and his declarations have not extenuated the charges of the witnesses, so as to give a sufficient cause for reconciliation, the inquisitors shall give notice of his death to his children, his heirs, or other persons who have the right of defending his memory and property; and, if there is cause to pursue the trial of the deceased, a copy of the depositions and the act of accusation shall be remitted to them, and all that they advance in defence of the accused shall be received. 60th. if the mind of an accused person becomes deranged before the conclusion of the trial, a guardian or defender shall be appointed for him; if the children or relations of the accused present any means of defence in his favour to the tribunal, when he is in possession of his senses, the inquisitors shall not permit them to be joined to the other writings of the process, because neither the children nor relations of the accused are lawful parties; yet in a distinct and separate writing they may decree what they think fit, and take measures to discover the truth, without communicating with the prisoner, or the persons who represent him. 61st. when sufficient proof exists to authorize proceedings against the memory and property of a deceased person, according to the _ancient instruction_, the accusation of the fiscal shall be signified to the children, the heirs, or other interested persons, each of whom shall receive a copy of the notification. if no person presents himself to defend the memory of the accused, or to appeal against the seizure of his goods, the inquisitors shall appoint a defender, and pursue the trial, considering him as a party. if any one interested in the affair appears, his rights shall be admitted, although he should be a prisoner in the holy office at the time; but he shall be obliged to choose a free person to act for him. until the affair is terminated, the sequestration of the property cannot take place, because it has passed into other hands: yet the possessors shall be deprived of it, if the deceased is found guilty. 62nd. if a person is found not liable to prosecution, this resolution of the tribunal shall be announced in the _auto-da-fé_ by a public act, in any manner most suitable to the interested party; the errors with which he was charged shall not be designated, if the accusation is not proved. if a deceased person is pronounced free from prosecution, the judgment shall be formally published, because the action was public and notorious. 63rd. when a defender is appointed for the memory of a person accused after his death, in default of interested persons to take his defence, the choice must only fall on a person not belonging to the inquisition; but he must be required to keep all the proceedings secret, and not to communicate the _depositions_ and the accusations to any but the lawyers of the prisoners, unless a decision of the inquisitors authorize him to make them known to other persons. 64th. when absent individuals are to be tried, they shall be summoned to appear, by three public acts of citation at different intervals, according to the known or supposed place of their residence. the fiscal shall denounce them contumacious, at the end of each citation. 65th. the inquisitors may take cognizance of several crimes which occasion suspicion of heresy, although they do not consider the accused an heretic, on account of certain circumstances; such as bigamy, blasphemy, and suspicious propositions. in these cases the application of the punishments depends upon the prudence of the judges, who ought to follow the rules of right, and consider the gravity of the offence. however, if they condemn the accused to corporeal punishment, such as whipping, or the galleys, they shall not say that it may be commuted for pecuniary penalties; for this measure would be an extortion, and an infringement of the respect due to the tribunal. 66th. if the inquisitors and the ordinary differ in opinion when they assemble to give their votes on the definitive sentence, the trial shall be referred to the supreme council; but if the division is produced by the manner in which the consultors have voted, the inquisitors may pass them over, (although they may be more numerous,) and establish the definitive sentence on their own votes, and that of the ordinary, unless the importance of the case compels them to apply to the council, even if the inquisitors, the consultors, and ordinary are unanimous[32]. 67th. the _secret notaries_ shall draw up as many literal and certified copies of the declarations of the witnesses, and the confessions of the accused, as there are persons designated as guilty, or suspected of the crime of heresy, that there may be a separate proceeding against each; for the writings which contain the original charges are not sufficient, since experience has shown that it always causes confusion, and the prescribed method has been employed several times, although it increases the labour of the notaries. 68th. when the inquisitors are informed that any of the prisoners have communicated with other detained persons, they shall ascertain the truth of the fact, inform themselves of the name and quality of the denounced persons, and if they are accused of the same species of crime. these details shall be mentioned in the process of each prisoner. in these cases little credit can be given to any subsequent declarations made by these persons, either in their own cause, or in the trial of another. 69th. where a trial has been suspended by the inquisitors, if another commences, though for a different crime, the charges of the first shall be added to those of the second, and the fiscal shall maintain them in his act of accusation, because they aggravate the new crime of which the prisoner is accused. 70th. when two or more prisoners have been placed in the same prison, they shall not be afterwards separated, or introduced to other companions; if extraordinary circumstances make it impossible to comply with this order, they shall be stated in the process of each person, and this incident ought to diminish the weight of their declarations after the change; for it is certain that each prisoner will tell his companions all that he knows and has seen, and that these reports will influence the other prisoners in the recantations which they sometimes oppose to their first confessions. 71st. if a prisoner falls sick, the inquisitors must carefully provide him with every assistance, and more particularly attend to all that relates to his soul. if he asks for a confessor, the inquisitors shall summon a learned man, worthy of possessing their confidence; they shall recommend that he shall not undertake any commission for any person, during the sacramental confession; and if the accused gives him one out of the tribunal of penance, that he shall communicate to the inquisition everything relating to his trial. the confessor shall be required to inform the accused that he cannot be absolved in the sacrament of penitence, unless he confesses the crime of which he is accused. if the sick person is in danger of dying, or is a woman about to be delivered, the rules appointed for such cases shall be followed. if the accused does not ask for a confessor, and the physician declares that he is in danger, he shall be induced to make the request, and to confess himself. if the accused makes a judicial confession of his crime, agreeing with the charges, he shall be reconciled, and when he has been acquitted by the tribunal, the confessor shall give him absolution. in case of death, ecclesiastical sepulture shall be granted, but secretly, unless it is inconvenient. if the accused demands a confessor when he is in good health, it may be useful to refuse it, as he cannot be absolved until after his reconciliation; unless he has already judicially confessed enough to justify the charges: in that case the confessor may encourage him to be patient. 72nd. the witnesses in a trial shall not be confronted, because experience has shown that this measure is useless and inconvenient, independently of the infringement of the law of secrecy which is the result. 73rd. when an inquisitor visits the towns of the district of his tribunal, he shall not undertake any trial for heresy, or arrest any denounced person, but he shall receive the declarations and send them to the tribunal. yet if it is the case of a person whose flight may be apprehended, he may be arrested and sent to the prisons of the holy office; the inquisitor may also decide upon affairs of small consequence, such as heretical blasphemies, which may be judged without arresting the parties. the inquisitor shall not exercise this authority without being empowered by the ordinary. 74th. in the definitive sentence pronounced against an individual declared guilty of heresy, and condemned to be deprived of his property, the period when he first fell into heresy shall be indicated, because this knowledge may be useful to the steward of the confiscations; it shall likewise be mentioned if this declaration is founded on the confession of the accused, on the depositions of the witnesses, or on both. if this formality is omitted, and the steward demands that it shall be fulfilled, the inquisitors shall comply; if it cannot be done by all together, it shall at least be executed by one of them, or the consultors. 75th. an account shall be given by the gaoler of the common and daily nourishment of each prisoner, according to the price of the eatables; if there is in the prison a person of quality, or who is rich and has several domestics, he shall be supplied with the quantity of food which he requires, but only on condition that the remnants be distributed to the poor, and not given to the gaoler. 76th. if the prisoner has a wife or children, and they require to be maintained from his sequestrated property, a certain sum for each day shall be allowed them, proportioned to their number, age, quality, and the state of their health, as well as to the extent and value of these possessions. if any of the children exercise any profession, and can thus provide for themselves, they shall not receive any part of the allowance. 77th. when any trials are terminated and sentences passed, the inquisitors shall fix the day for the celebration of an _auto-da-fé_. they give notice of it to the ecclesiastical chapter and the municipality of the town, and likewise to the president and the judges of the royal court, if there is one, that they may assemble with the tribunal, and accompany it to the ceremony according to custom. they shall use proper means that the execution of those who are to be _relaxed_ shall take place before night, in order to prevent accidents. 78th. the inquisitors shall not permit any person to enter the prisons on the day before the _auto-da-fé_, except the confessors and the _familiars_ of the holy office when their employments make it necessary. the _familiars_ shall receive the prisoner and be responsible for him, after the notary has taken evidence of it in writing, and shall be required to take him back to the prisons after the ceremony of the _auto-da-fé_, if he is not given over to the secular judge; they shall not allow any person to speak to him on the road, or inform him of anything that is passing. 79th. on the day after the _auto-da-fé_, the inquisitors shall cause all the reconciled persons to be brought into their presence. they shall explain to each the sentence which had been read the day before, and shall tell him to what punishment he would have been condemned if he had not confessed his crime; they shall examine them all, particularly on what passes in the prisons, and they shall afterwards give them into the custody of the gaoler of the _perpetual_ prisons, who shall be commissioned to observe that they accomplish their penances, and to inform them when they fail. he shall also be required to supply the prisoners with everything they want, and to procure work for those who can occupy themselves, that they may contribute to their subsistence, and be able to alleviate their misery. 80th. the inquisitors shall visit the _perpetual_ prisons from time to time, to observe the conduct of the prisoners, and if they are well treated. in those places where there is no _perpetual_ prison, a house shall be provided instead; for without this precaution it is impossible to inflict the punishment of imprisonment on those who are condemned to it, or to ascertain if they faithfully accomplish their penances. 81st. the _san-benitos_ of all those persons who have been condemned to _relaxation_, shall be exposed in their respective parishes, after they have been burnt in person or in effigy; the same shall be done with the _san-benitos_ of the reconciled persons, after they have left them off: no _san-benitos_ shall be suspended in the churches for those individuals who have been reconciled before the term of grace, as they have not been condemned to wear them. the inscription for the _san-benito_ shall consist of the names of the condemned persons, a notice of the heresies for which they were punished, and of the time when they suffered their penance in order to perpetuate the disgrace of the heretics and their descendants. as this formulary is still in force in the tribunals of the holy office, it appeared to me useless to follow minutely the details of the events of the reign of each inquisitor-general, since the nature of the institution may be known by the picture i have given of its laws and ordinances, and by the observations which i shall have occasion to make in the remainder of the history. i shall only add, that don ferdinand valdés was, in 1566, succeeded by don diego espinosa, bishop of siguenza and president of the council of castile. espinosa died on the 5th of september, 1572. don pedro ponce de leon, bishop of placentia and estremadura, was the next inquisitor-general, but he died before he had entered on his office. the king appointed the cardinal gaspard de quiroga, archbishop of toledo, to be the eleventh inquisitor-general: he died on the 20th november, 1594. don jerome manrique de lara succeeded quiroga; he was bishop of avila, and the son of cardinal manrique, who had filled the same office under charles v. don jerome died in september, 1595, and after him don pedro portocarrero, bishop of cordova, was at the head of the inquisition. the fourteenth inquisitor-general was the cardinal don ferdinand niño de guevara, archbishop of seville, who took possession in december 1599, during the reign of philip iii. it was under philip ii. that the inquisition committed the greatest cruelties; and the reign of this prince is the most remarkable period of the history of the holy office. chapter xxiii. of some autos-da-fe celebrated in murcia. the opinions of luther, calvin, and the other protestant reformers, were not disseminated in the other cities in spain with the same rapidity as at seville and valladolid; but there is reason to believe that all spain would soon have been infected with the heresy, but for the extreme severity shown towards the lutherans. from 1560 to 1570 at least one _auto-da-fé_ was celebrated every year in every inquisition of the kingdom, and some heretics of the new sect always appeared among the condemned persons. yet the progress of lutheranism cannot be compared to that of judaism and mahometanism, because these religions had been long established, and the ancestors of a great number of spanish families had professed them. an opinion may be formed of what passed in the other tribunals from some notices of the proceedings of that of murcia. on the 7th of june, 1557, a solemn _auto-da-fé_ was celebrated at murcia, where eleven individuals were burnt, and forty-three were reconciled. on the 12th of february, 1559, thirty victims were burnt with five effigies, and forty-three were reconciled. on the 14th february, in the same year, 1560, fourteen persons were burnt, and twenty effigies: twenty-nine persons were subjected to penances. on the 8th of september, in the same year, sixteen individuals perished in the flames, and forty-eight were condemned to penances. on the 15th of march, 1562, another _auto-da-fé_ took place, composed of twenty-three persons, who were burnt, and of sixty-three who were condemned to penances. they were all punished as judaic heretics: among the first may be remarked, fray louis de valdecañas, a franciscan, descended from the ancient jews; he was condemned for having preached the law of moses; juan de santa-fé, alvarez xuarez, and paul d'ayllon, alderman or sheriffs; pedro gutierrez, a member of the municipality; and juan de leon, syndic of the city. an _auto-da-fé_ was celebrated in the same town on the 20th of may, 1563; seventeen persons were burnt in person, and four in effigy; forty-seven others were subjected to penances. i shall mention those distinguished by their rank or some particularity in their trials. don philip of aragon, son of the emperor of fez and morocco, came to spain while he was very young, and became a christian; he had for his godfather ferdinand of aragon, viceroy of valencia, duke of calabria, and eldest son of the king of naples, frederic iii. neither his rank, as the son of an emperor, nor the advantage of having a prince for his godfather, were sufficient to prevent the inquisitors from exposing him to the disgrace of appearing in a solemn _auto-da-fé_; he was introduced in the ceremony with the paper mitre on his head, terminated by long horns, and covered with figures of devils. in this state he was admitted to public reconciliation, after which he was to be imprisoned for three years in a convent, then banished for ever from the town of elche where he had settled, and from the kingdoms of valencia, aragon, murcia, and grenada. the inquisitors boasted much of the lenity of this sentence, and informed the public that it was occasioned by don philip's having given himself up, instead of taking flight as he might have done. it appears that, after his baptism, he had shown some interest and inclination to the sect of mahomet; he had also given assistance to some apostates, and had shown himself a favourer and concealer of heretics. he was also accused of having made a compact with the devil, and having practised sorcery. the licentiate antonio de villena, a native of albacete, and a priest and preacher much esteemed at court, appeared in the _auto-da-fé_ in his shirt, with his head uncovered and a flambeau in his hand; he abjured heresy as slightly suspected. he was reconciled, and condemned to one year's imprisonment, without the privilege of celebrating the holy mysteries; deprived for ever of the power of preaching, banished from madrid for two years, and obliged to pay five hundred ducats toward the expenses of the holy office. his crime was having spoken ill of the inquisition, and of the inquisitor-general valdés, saying that he persecuted him, and that he would find an opportunity of complaining to the king. he had also been unfortunate enough to betray the system of the prisons of the holy office, after having been detained there twice for suspicious propositions. juan de sotomayor, of jewish origin, and a native of the town of murcia, appeared in the _auto-da-fé_ as a penitent, with the gag and the cord round his neck. he was condemned to receive two hundred stripes, to wear the _san-benito_, and to be imprisoned in the _house of mercy_ for life, with a threat that he should be treated with still greater severity if he presumed to converse with any one on the affairs of the inquisition. juan de sotomayor had already been arrested and condemned to a penance, as suspected of judaism. when he was set at liberty, he conversed with several persons on the subject, repeated the confession he had made, and some other circumstances. this was the crime for which he was condemned to receive two hundred stripes, and to be imprisoned for life! francis guillen, a merchant, of jewish origin, appeared in the _auto-da-fé_, with several persons condemned to be _relaxed_, in virtue of a definitive sentence confirmed by the supreme council, which was to be read during the ceremony, with the charges against him. in the midst of the _auto-da-fé_ francis announced that he had new declarations to make. immediately don jerome manrique (son of the cardinal of that name, and who was afterwards inquisitor-general) descended from the tribunal, took off the insignia of _relaxation_, and gave francis those belonging to a person intended to be reconciled. the history of this trial proves the arbitrary conduct, and the disorder with which the inquisitors pursued and judged the causes, and executed their sentences. more than twenty witnesses deposed that francis guillen had attended assemblies of the jews in 1551, and the following years. he was sent to the secret prisons, and his sentence of _relaxation_ was pronounced in december, 1561. the process having been sent to the supreme council, the council remarked that two new witnesses having been heard before the end of the trial, their depositions had not been communicated to the condemned; in consequence they commanded that this formality should be fulfilled, and that the votes should be afterwards given, according to law. the inquisitors obeyed, but they did not agree on the sentence; some voted for relaxation, the others that the trial should be suspended, and that the accused should be induced to acknowledge that which was admitted to be true, from the state of the depositions. francis had three audiences, in which he confessed several other facts which related to himself, or concerned other persons; the inquisitors then voted a second time for the definitive sentence. francis was unanimously declared to be a false penitent, for having confessed only a part of his crimes, and he was condemned to be _relaxed_; but it was agreed that as he had concealed facts concerning persons of consideration, he should be induced to make a more extended declaration. on the 27th of april, guillen named twelve accomplices in his heresy, and ratified his declaration. on the 9th of may it was decreed that he should be told to prepare to die the next day. francis inquired if his life would be spared, supposing that he revealed all he knew: they replied that he might depend upon the clemency of his judges. he demanded another audience, named a great many persons as his accomplices, and designated fray louis de valdecanas as the principal preacher of the party. some time after he accused other persons. on the night of the 19th the inquisitors assembled, with the ordinary and consultors, and decided that francis should appear in the _auto-da-fé_ with the habit of the _relaxed_ persons, in order to make him suppose that he was condemned to die; but that he should be reconciled, with the punishment of the _san-benito_, perpetual imprisonment, and confiscation. when he was placed among those destined to the flames, francis demanded an audience. the inquisitor marinque then informed him of his sentence; and when he was taken back to the prison, he made a new declaration against nine persons, alleging that he had forgotten them in his other depositions: he ratified these on the 22nd of the same month. some days after the inquisitor-general caused the tribunal to be visited; the visitor declared that the judges had acted contrary to the laws in conducting francis to the _auto-da-fé_ in the habit of a relaxed person, when they had decided on his reconciliation. the inquisitors endeavoured to justify themselves by saying that they thought it would frighten the accused into making new declarations. the visitor commanded that francis should be reconciled and taken to the prison of the _penitents_, likewise called that of _mercy_. francis, who was probably a little deranged, declared several times that he had deceived the inquisitors by accusing some persons as heretics who were innocent, because he hoped that he should escape death by this proceeding. these words were reported to the inquisitors, and francis was taken to the secret prisons. there was an act of accusation against him; he acknowledged all the articles of the fiscal, and affirmed upon oath that all his declarations were true; he ratified them, and begged that he might be pardoned. on the 19th of january, 1564, he was condemned to appear in the _auto-da-fé_ with the gag, to receive two hundred stripes, and to pass three years in the house of _penitence_. francis suffered the stripes, but they did not render him more prudent, for he declared, even in the prison, that he was unjustly treated, for all that he had said was false, and dictated by fear. in 1565, the inquisition of murcia received the visit of a new commissary, who obliged francis to appear before him as a witness, to ratify a declaration which he had made against catherine perez, his wife, for judaism. the following dialogue took place between the visitor and the witness:-do you remember making a declaration against catherine perez, your wife?--yes. what was that declaration?--it will be found in the writings of the trial. (the declaration was here read to francis.) is what you have just heard true?--no. why then did you affirm that it was so?--because i heard an inquisitor say it. are the declarations against other persons true?--no. why did you make them?--because i perceived in the _auto-da-fé_ at which i assisted, that the contents were read in the publication of the depositions, and i thought that if i declared it to be true, i should avoid death as being a good penitent. why did you make your ratification after the _auto-da-fé_, when the fiscal presented you as a witness against your wife, and other persons?--for the same reason. after this conversation, francis was sent back to the prison, where he wrote a kind of memorial, in which he said that none of the witnesses were admissible against him, because they differed and contradicted each other in their declarations. when the visitor was gone, the inquisitors recommenced their prosecution; the fiscal accused francis guillen of the crime of _revocation_, saying that he had imposed on them from fear, ignorance, or some other motive. when francis again found himself in danger, he, as might have been expected, declared that his first depositions were true, and that the cause of his retracting was a mental indisposition, with which he had been affected. on the 10th november, 1565, francis was condemned to appear in the _auto-da-fé_, to receive three hundred stripes, and to pass the rest of his life in a prison. the punishment of imprisonment was commuted for that of serving in the galleys, as long as the strength and health of francis allowed of it. the judges reserved the right of deciding this point themselves. the prisoner was conducted to the _auto-da-fé_ on the 9th of december, and suffered the punishment of whipping; he was then transferred to the common royal prison. after he arrived there, he wrote to his judges, declaring himself incapable of serving in the galleys. the tribunal revised the judgment, and sent him to the house of _mercy_. this proceeding displeased the fiscal, who protested against it, saying, that the office of the judges did not extend beyond the sentence, and that they had not the right of commuting the punishment, without the consent of the inquisitor-general; the affair stopped here, and francis had been sufficiently punished for his indiscretion to render him more cautious for the future. the irregularity and disorder of the proceedings of this tribunal may be seen still more clearly in another trial before the inquisition of murcia, about the same time, and which was undertaken in consequence of the depositions of guillen. it was instituted against _melchior hernandez_, a merchant of toledo, which place he afterwards left to establish himself at murcia. as he was descended from the jews, he was suspected of being attached to the religion of his ancestors. after being taken to the secret prisons from the informations of seven witnesses, he had his first audience of _admonition_ on the 5th of june, 1564; he was accused of having frequented a clandestine synagogue in murcia, from 1551 to 1557, when the assembly was discovered; and of having acted and discoursed in a manner that proved his apostasy. two witnesses afterwards appeared, and the accused having denied all the charges, the publication of the nine deponents was given to him: he persisted in his denial, and by the advice of his defender, alleged that the evidence of the witnesses could not be admitted, as they contradicted each other, and several of them were known to be his enemies. to prove this, and to challenge some other persons, he presented a memorial which was admitted, although it was afterwards considered to have failed in disproving the charges. a new witness was heard, when melchior fell dangerously ill. on the 25th of january, 1565, he made the sacramental confession, and on the 29th demanded an audience, when he said that his memory was bad, but he remembered being in a house in 1553, where a number of persons, whom he named, were assembled; he denied having uttered anything concerning the law of moses, and that the only thing he could reproach himself with, was not having declared that the others had made it the subject of conversation. four days after, he declared that all that had been said in the assembly was spoken in jest. several days after this he said that he had not heard what these persons said; and that he had affirmed the contrary, because the witnesses had deposed to that effect. another witness, who was in the prison, was produced, who deposed, that after melchior had written his memorial, he formed a plan of escaping, and endeavoured to induce his companions to accompany him. the procurator-fiscal read to him the act of accusation, and he denied all that it contained. at this period, the visitor don martin de coscojales arrived, and examined the prisoner, who affirmed that if he had said anything, he was induced to do it from the fear of death. the advocate made his defence; melchior wrote a memorial, which he read to his judges, in which he challenged several persons as if they had deposed against him. on the 24th september, 1565, melchior suffered the _question in caput alienum_, with the view of making him confess what he knew of some suspected persons, but he bore it without speaking. on the 18th of october he was declared to be a jewish heretic, guilty of concealment in his judicial confession, and condemned to _relaxation_, as a false penitent and obstinate heretic. although the sentence was pronounced, it was resolved to press melchior once more to reveal the truth. the _auto-da-fé_ was to be celebrated on the 9th of december, 1565; he was exhorted on the 7th; he replied that he had confessed all he knew; yet, when he was told on the 8th to prepare for death, he demanded an audience, and declared that he had seen and heard the suspected persons and several others, and that they spoke of the law of moses, but that he considered these conversations to be of no consequence, and a mere pastime. on the 9th, before daylight, melchior was dressed in the garb of the _relaxed_ persons, when perceiving that his confessions were not sufficient to save him, he demanded an audience, and mentioned the persons designated in the information, as forming part of the assembly, besides twelve other individuals who had not been named to him; but he added that he did not approve of their doctrine. some minutes after, finding that the marks of condemnation were not taken from him, he added the names of two or three accomplices, declared the name of the person who had preached on the law of moses, and even confessed that he approved of some of the things which he had heard. lastly, when his confessions did not produce the effect he wished, he said, that he really believed in what was preached in the synagogue, and persisted in this belief for a year; but that he had not confessed, because he thought there was no proof of his heresy in the depositions of the witnesses. the inquisitors decreed that melchior should not appear in the _auto-da-fé_ of this day, and that they would consult on the proper measures to be taken. on the 14th of december, melchior ratified his propositions of the 9th, but on the condition that all that had passed should not separate him from the catholic communion, or cause him to be considered as a judaic heretic. on the 18th he desired another audience, and again confessed that he believed in the law of moses. yet on the 29th of june, 1566, he declared that the holy scriptures were read in the assembly, that he believed part of what he heard, and had consulted a priest on the subject; that the priest told him it ought to be held in contempt, and that this decision had regulated his subsequent conduct. on the 6th of may, 1566, the tribunal assembled to decide whether the definitive sentence pronounced against melchior should be executed. two of the consultors voted in the affirmative; the inquisitors, the ordinary, and the other consultors agreed that melchior had confessed enough to entitle him to reconciliation. in an audience on the 28th of may, the accused again asked pardon, alleging that he had only believed what he heard, until he was undeceived by the priest. on the 30th he declared that he thought all he had heard necessary to salvation. in the october following, he was again admitted to an audience, where he spoke against the inquisitor, who had received his confession on the day of the _auto-da-fé_ (this was don jerome manrique); he complained of the ill treatment he had been subjected to, in order to obtain new declarations. he acknowledged that his confessions on that day were true, but added that the presence of two inquisitors was necessary to prevent the abuse of authority which took place in his case. the fiscal protested against the act of reconciliation granted to melchior on the 6th of may, 1566, and demanded that the sentence of _relaxation_ pronounced on the 8th of october, 1565, should be executed, because the accused had shown no signs of true repentance, and would not fail to seduce others into heresy if he was pardoned. the inquisitors consulted the supreme council, which decided that the prisoner should be examined again before the ordinary and consultors, and the affair submitted to the council. the sentence was pronounced on the 9th of may, 1567; three of the judges voted for the _relaxation_, and two for the _reconciliation_ of the accused. the supreme council decreed on the 6th of may, that melchior should be _relaxed_, and the tribunal of murcia pronounced a second definitive sentence according to the orders which they received. the execution was to take place on the 8th of the following month. in contempt of the rules of common law, melchior was called up on the 5th, 6th, and 7th of june, and exhorted to discover his accomplices; as he did not know that he was already sentenced, he referred them to what he had confessed before. but when he found that he was to be arrayed in the habit of a _relaxed_ person, he declared that he could name other accomplices. the inquisitor went to the prison, and melchior designated another house where the jews assembled, and named seven persons, whom he said he had seen there; he also wrote a list of seven synagogues, and of fourteen persons who frequented them. he afterwards named another house of judaic heretics. he was conducted to the _auto-da-fé_ with the other persons condemned to be burnt. when he arrived at the place of execution, he demanded another audience, in which he named two other houses, and twelve heretics; on being told that this declaration was not sufficient to confirm the result of the trial, he said he would endeavour to recollect others, and a few minutes after he denounced seven persons. before the conclusion of the _auto-da-fé_, he desired to make a third confession, and named two houses and six individuals; the inquisitors then agreed to suspend the execution, and to send melchior back to the prison. this was what he wished, and on the 12th of june he signed his ratification; but when told that he was suspected of having other accomplices, he replied that he did not remember any other. on the 13th, melchior declared that he was mistaken in naming a certain person among his accomplices, but pretended to remember another house, and two persons whom he named. the procurator-fiscal again spoke in favour of the _relaxation_ of the accused, alleging that he had been guilty of concealment; melchior, supposing that his death was resolved upon, demanded an audience on the 23rd of june, and endeavoured to excite the compassion of his judges. "what more could i do," he exclaimed, "than accuse myself falsely? know that i have never been summoned to any assembly, that i never attended them for any purposes but those of commerce." melchior was summoned to fifteen audiences during the months of july, august, and september; his replies were always the same. on the 16th of october another witness appeared, but melchior denied his statement, as well as that of a witness who was examined on the 30th of december. melchior wrote his defence, and demanded that his own witnesses should be heard, in order to prove that he was not at murcia, but at toledo, at the time specified by his accusers; but the inquisitors did not think the evidence offered by the accused sufficient to invalidate that of the witnesses against him. melchior was at last sentenced to _relaxation_ for the third time, on the 20th of march; he, however, had not forgotten the means he had formerly used to save himself, and returned from the _auto-da-fé_. in five subsequent audiences, he made a long declaration against himself, and denounced a great number of persons. he was then told that he was still guilty of concealment in not mentioning several persons not less distinguished and well known than those he had already denounced, and that he could not be supposed to have forgotten them. this proceeding destroyed the tranquillity which melchior had hitherto shown; and after a long invective against the inquisitors and all who had appeared on the trial, he said, "what can you do to me? burn me? well, then, be it so: i cannot confess what i do not know. nevertheless know that all i have said of myself is true, but what i have declared of others is entirely false. i have only invented it because i perceived that you wished me to denounce innocent persons; and being unacquainted with the names and quality of these unfortunate people, i named all whom i could think of, in the hope of finding an end of my misery. i now perceive that my situation admits of no relief, and i therefore retract all my depositions; and now i have fulfilled this duty, burn me as soon as you please." the trial was sent to the supreme council, which confirmed the sentence of _relaxation_ for the third time, and wrote to reprimand the tribunal for having _summoned_ the accused before them after passing the sentence, since an audience should only take place at the request of the accused. instead of submitting to this opinion, the inquisitors called melchior before them on the 31st of may, and asked him if he had nothing else to communicate; he replied in the negative: they then represented to him that his declarations contained many contradictions, and that it was necessary for the good of his soul, that he should finally make a confession of the truth, respecting himself and all the guilty persons he was acquainted with. these words show the cunning of the inquisitors; their object was to induce the accused to retract his last declaration: but melchior, knowing the character of the inquisitors, replied, that if they wished to know the truth, they would find it in the declaration which he made before the señor _ayora_, when he visited the tribunal. this writing was examined, and it was found that melchior had said, _that he knew nothing of the subject on which he was examined_. the following conversation then took place:-"how can this declaration be true, when you have several times declared that you have attended the jewish assemblies, believed in their doctrines, and persevered in the belief for the space of one year, until you were undeceived by a priest?"--"i spoke falsely when i made a declaration against myself." "but how is it that what you have confessed of yourself, and many other things which you now deny, are the result of the depositions of a great many witnesses?"--"i do not know if that is true or false, for i have not seen the writings of the trial; but if the witnesses have said that which is imputed to them, it is because they were placed in the same situation as i am. they do not love me better than i love myself; and i have certainly declared against myself both truth and falsehood." "what motive had you for declaring things injurious to yourself, if they were false?"--"i did not think it would be injurious to me; on the contrary, i expected to derive great advantages from it, because i saw that if i did not confess anything, i should be considered as impenitent, and the truth would lead me to the scaffold. i thought that falsehood would be most useful to me, and i found it so in two _autos-da-fé_." on the 6th of june melchior hernandez was informed that he must prepare for death on the following day. he was clothed in the habit of the persons condemned to be burnt, and a confessor was appointed for him. at two o'clock in the morning he demanded an audience, saying that he wished to acquit his conscience. an inquisitor, attended by a secretary, went to his cell; melchior then declared "that, at the point of appearing before the tribunal of the almighty, and without any hope of escaping from death by new delays, he thought himself bound to declare that he had never conversed with any person on the mosaical law; that all he had said on this subject was founded on the wish to preserve life, and the belief that his confessions were pleasing to the inquisitors; that he asked pardon of the persons implicated, that god might pardon him, and that no injury might be done to their honour and reputation." the inquisitor represented that he ought not to speak falsely, even from a motive of compassion for the denounced persons; that the declarations of the witnesses had every appearance of truth, and he therefore entreated him, in the name of god, not to increase his sins at the hour of death. melchior merely repeated that all his former declarations were false. the royal judge condemned him to be strangled, and his body was afterwards burnt. some doubts may be entertained of the sincerity of the last declarations of melchior hernandez, but the extreme irregularity of the proceedings of the tribunal must be evident to every one. the intervention of the supreme council proves that the same system was pursued in the other tribunals, since it approved of their proceedings, and exercised the rights of revocation and censure. in 1564 another _auto-da-fé_ took place at murcia, one person and eleven effigies were burnt; there were also forty-eight penitents, but the following circumstance was the cause of this ceremony being more particularly remembered. pedro hernandez had been reconciled in 1561, as suspected of judaism. in 1564 he fell sick, and through the mediation of his confessor demanded an audience of the inquisitors. one of them went to his house, and pedro told him that he had denied the crime of which he was accused, and had afterwards made a confession, alleging as an excuse for this conduct, that a french priest had given him absolution. he now confessed that this was not true, and that he wished to relieve his conscience by acknowledging it before he died. the inquisitors presented this declaration to the tribunal, which immediately caused pedro to be taken from his bed and conveyed to their prisons, where he died three days after. three other _autos-da-fé_ took place at murcia in the years 1565, 1567, and 1568, in which thirty-five persons were burnt, and a considerable number condemned to penances. chapter xxiv. of the autos-da-fe celebrated by the inquisitions of toledo, saragossa, valencia, logrono, grenada, cuenca, and sardinia, during the reign of philip ii. _inquisition of toledo._ on the 25th of february, 1560, the inquisitors of toledo celebrated an _auto-da-fé_, in which several persons were burnt, with some effigies, and a great number subjected to penances. this _auto-da-fé_ was performed to entertain the new queen, elizabeth de valois, the daughter of henry ii., king of france. it is rather surprising that this melancholy ceremony was chosen to amuse a royal princess of thirteen years of age, and who in her native country had been accustomed to brilliant festivals, suitable to her rank and age. the cortes general of the kingdoms was also assembled at toledo at the same time, to swear allegiance to the heir-presumptive, don carlos, so that this _auto-da-fé_, with the exception of the number of victims, was as solemn as any of those in valladolid. in 1561, another _auto-da-fé_ took place in the same town; four impenitent lutherans were burnt, and eighteen reconciled. among those condemned to penances was one of the king's pages, a native of brussels, named don _charles estrect_, but the young queen elizabeth obtained his pardon. on the 17th of june, 1565 (which was trinity sunday), an _auto-da-fé_ of forty-five persons was celebrated; eleven were burnt, and thirty-four condemned to penances. some of these were lutherans, but the greater number were jews. among those designated as protestants, some were called _lutherans_, others the _faithful_; there was a third called _huguenaos_, after _huguenots_. although the inquisition of toledo celebrated as many _autos-da-fé_ as the other tribunals, i do not find any persons of distinction among the victims, until the _auto-da-fé_ of the 4th of june, 1571, when two men were burnt in person, and three in effigy, for lutheranism, and thirty-one individuals were condemned to penances. one of the men who were burnt ought to be particularly mentioned. he was called the _doctor sigismond archel_, of cagliari, in sardinia. he had been arrested at madrid, in 1562, as a dogmatizing lutheran, and after remaining for a long time in the prisons at toledo, he contrived to make his escape. he had not time to get out of the kingdom; descriptions of his person were sent to all parts of the frontier, and he was again arrested, and fell into the hands of his judges. he persisted in denying the facts imputed to him, until the _publication of the witnesses_, when he confessed, and maintained not only that he was not a heretic, but that he was a better catholic than the _papists_. he was condemned to be burnt, but persevered in his system, and declared that he was a martyr; he insulted the priests when they exhorted him, and was then gagged until he was fastened to the stake. the archers, perceiving that he pretended to the glory of martyrdom, pierced him with their lances, while the executioners were lighting the faggots. _inquisition of saragossa._ the inquisition of saragossa also celebrated an _auto-da-fé_ every year, when several people were burnt, and about twenty reconciled. most of these were _huguenots_ who had quitted bearn, to establish themselves as merchants in saragossa, huesca, barbastro, and other cities. the progress which the calvinistic doctrines had made in spain, is proved by an ordinance of the supreme council, in which we read, that "don louis de benegas, the ambassador of spain at vienna, informed the inquisitor-general, on the 14th of april, 1568, that he had learnt from particular reports, that the calvinists congratulated each other on the peace signed between france and spain, and that they hoped that their religion would make as much progress in spain as in england, flanders, and other countries, because the great number of spaniards who had secretly adopted it might easily hold communication with the protestants of bearn, through arragon." these, and other reports, induced the council to recommend additional vigilance to the inquisitors. the following circumstance shows the injustice and cruelty of the inquisition in a strong light. in 1578, a man was condemned, on suspicion of heresy, to receive two hundred stripes, to be sent for five years to the galleys, and to pay an hundred ducats. his crime was sending spanish horses into france. since the reign of alphonso xi., in the fourteenth century, the introduction of spanish horses into france was prohibited, on pain of death and confiscation; the particular circumstances which caused so disproportionate a punishment to the crime to be established are not known; it was however renewed in 1499, by ferdinand the catholic. no one will deny that the officers of the customs were the proper persons to arrest these smugglers; but when the civil wars broke out between the catholics and protestants in france, philip thought proper to employ the inquisition in repressing the practice, pretending, according to the papal bull, that those who furnished the protestants with arms, ammunition, &c., were favourers of heretics, and liable to suspicion of heresy. philip ii. commissioned the inquisition of logroño, saragossa, and barcelona, to take cognizance of all the crimes relating to the introduction of spanish horses into france. the council of the inquisition added a clause to the annual edict of denunciations, which obliged every spanish catholic christian to denounce persons known to have bought horses to send to france, for the use of the protestants. besides these motives of religion, the zeal of the inhabitants was excited by the promise of a reward. in 1575, the punishment of whipping was decreed for this crime; but though the law is expressed in general terms, the following event shows that it was only inflicted on those whose power and credit were small. in 1576, a commissary of the inquisition met a servant of the viceroy of arragon going into france with two horses; he seized the horses, but allowed the servant to go away. he gave an account of his proceedings to the inquisitors, who approved of his conduct in not arresting the servant; their opinion was confirmed by the supreme council. the inquisitors were on the point of writing to the viceroy, to demand an explanation of the conduct of his servant, and the destination of the horses, when the council ordered them to desist, if they thought it would be disagreeable to the viceroy. this law was afterwards applied to those who were suspected of smuggling, and to those who favoured the practice. in 1607, philip ii. ordered the inquisitors to offer rewards to those who intercepted this trade, and the people were at last inspired with so great a horror of it, and those who practised it became so odious, that the government was obliged to declare that the misfortune of being convicted and punished for this crime, did not exclude a person from enjoying honours and offices. the inquisitors, always eager to extend their jurisdiction, wished to have the right of undertaking the trials for smuggling saltpetre, sulphur, and gunpowder; this attempt did not succeed, and was, in fact, the cause of their being deprived of the powers bestowed on them by philip, respecting the introduction of horses into france. _inquisition of grenada._ in the yearly _autos-da-fé_ of the inquisition of grenada, there generally appeared about twenty condemned persons; for although the morescoes who denounced themselves were treated with great clemency, yet there were many who refused to accuse themselves, either from the fear which the severity of the inquisition inspired, or because they were persuaded that those who declared they had been treated with great gentleness, did not dare to assert the contrary; and others, after having emigrated to africa, had returned to spain without considering the danger they were in of being arrested by the inquisition. on the 27th of may, 1593, a grand _auto-da-fé_ took place at grenada; five individuals were burnt in person, and five in effigy; eighty-seven were condemned to penances. the only considerable person among these, was donna inez alvarez, the wife of thomas martinez, alguazil to the royal chancery. she was condemned to be burnt, but making a confession on the scaffold, she was reconciled. the proceedings were the same in the inquisition of valencia. the number of morescoes who relapsed into mahometanism, and refused to accuse themselves, was so considerable, that many appeared in every _auto-da-fé_, either to be burnt as _impenitent_, or to suffer different penances. _inquisition of logroño._ the inquisition of logroño was not less active in prosecuting heretics. an _auto-da-fé_ 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 logroño, 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 circumstance, 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, ambassador 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 logroño were preparing for the _auto-da-fé_ 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 asserted 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 assembled to vote for the definitive sentence, resolved to refer the case to the supreme council, which pronounced 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 constitutions 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-fé_. an _auto-da-fé_ took place at logroño, 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-fé_ every year was so well established, that when the inquisitors of cuença, in 1558, gave up a man to secular justice in a _particular auto-da-fé_, 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-fé_ prevailed, unless any very particular circumstance made it necessary to deviate from it. _inquisition of sardinia._ i have already stated, that philip ii. introduced the spanish constitution 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 principal 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 zuñiga, his ambassador 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 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 _oecolampadius_ 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_. chapter xxvi. offences committed by the inquisitors against the royal authority and magistrates. in addition to the prevention of the progress of literature, the inquisition was so much dreaded by the magistrates, that criminals were frequently left unpunished. ferdinand and his successors had granted privileges to this tribunal, which the encroachments of the inquisitors soon rendered insupportable. they even endeavoured to humiliate three sovereigns: clement viii.; the prince of bearn, king of navarre; and the grand master of the order of st. john of jerusalem, at malta. they also attacked and qualified, as suspected of heresy, the whole council of castile; excited seditions in several cities by their arbitrary measures; and persecuted several members of their own _supreme_ council. this system of domination has never been repressed either by the general laws of spain and america, the particular resolutions taken in each of the kingdoms of the crown of aragon, the king's ordinations, or the circular letters of the council of the inquisition. the inquisitors have been punished (though rarely) by being deprived of their offices; this, however, had no effect. lastly, the general conventions have not been less impotent in restraining the ambition which led them to endeavour to establish their dominion throughout the world by fear. the inquisition presents to our view a tribunal, whose judges have neither obeyed the laws of the kingdom in which it was established, the bulls of the popes, the first constitutions of the tribunal, or the particular orders of its chiefs; which has even dared to resist the power of the pope, in whose name it acts, and has disowned the king's authority eleven different times; which has suffered books to circulate, favouring regicides and the authority of the popes to dethrone kings, and at the same time condemned and prohibited works containing a contrary doctrine, and defending the rights of the sovereign; which acted in this manner in circumstances entirely foreign to the crime of heresy, which was the only one they were competent to judge. some examples will be given of the contests for jurisdiction which have so much injured spain. in 1553, the inquisitors of calahorra excommunicated and arrested the licentiate izquierdo, _alcalde-major_ of arnedo, for having attempted to prosecute juan escudero, a familiar of the holy office, who had assassinated a soldier. they also ordered divine service to cease at arnedo. the chancery of valladolid demanded the writings of the trial, but the inquisitors eluded two of their ordinances. in the mean time the culprit was left at liberty in the town of calahorra, and afterwards made his escape, so that the crime remained unpunished. in 1567, the inquisitors of murcia excommunicated the chapter of the cathedral, and the municipality of that city; their competence was contested, and the supreme council decided that some members of the chapter and municipality should make public reparation in the capital of the kingdom, and receive absolution; they received it in public, and in the character of penitents, before the altar. in 1568, a royal ordinance prescribed the execution of the convention, known as that of _cardinal espinoza_. it was issued, on the inquisitors of valencia claiming the right of judging in affairs concerning the police of the city and many others, such as contributions, smuggling, trade, _&c._ they asserted that this right belonged to them, particularly if one of the individuals concerned in the affair was in the service of the inquisition. they would not allow any criminal to be arrested in the houses of the inquisitors either in the town or country, while even the churches were no longer a refuge for those they pursued. in 1569, the tribunal of barcelona excommunicated and imprisoned the military deputy and the civil vice-governor of the city, and several of their people. their crime was, having exacted from an usher of the inquisition a certain privilege called _la merchandise_. the royal council of aragon contested the competence of the council of the inquisition; but philip ii. put an end to the dispute, by liberating the prisoners: the inquisitors were not punished for disobeying the law, which forbids them to excommunicate a magistrate. in 1574 the inquisition of saragossa excommunicated the members of the deputation which represented the kingdom of aragon during the interval of the assembly of the cortes. the deputies complained to pius v., who paid no attention to them: after his death they applied to his successor, gregory xiii. the pope commissioned the inquisitor-general to arrange the affair; but, being influenced by the supreme council, he rejected the papal commission, and asserted that the cognizance of the complaint belonged to him by right. philip ii., that fanatical protector of the holy office, commanded his ambassador at rome to defend the inquisition to the pope; and he obtained what he required, while the deputies were still suffering under the excommunication, which lasted nearly two years. it must be remarked, that this deputation was composed of eight persons: two of them were ecclesiastics, generally bishops; two for the highest order of nobility, who were counts or grandees of spain; two gentlemen of illustrious birth to represent the second class of nobility; and two for the third class, selected from the most distinguished citizens. in 1588, the inquisitors of toledo excommunicated the licentiate gudiel, alcalde of the king's house, and judge of the royal court of justice at madrid: this magistrate had prosecuted iñigo ordoñez, secretary of the holy office, for having wounded juan de berrgos, who died in consequence, and for having wilfully fired a pistol at the canon don francis monsalve. the council of the inquisition pleaded the cause of the culprit before the king, and excused the use of censures, alleging that _such was the usual proceeding of the holy office_. in 1591, violent contests took place between the inquisition of saragossa and the chief justice of aragon. two seditions were the result, and several grandees of spain, many gentlemen, and a still greater number of private individuals, were condemned to death. an account of the intrigues of the inquisitors in this affair will be given in the trial of antonio perez. in 1598, the inquisitors of seville went to the metropolitan church, with the president and members of the royal court of justice, to attend the funeral of philip ii.; they pretended that they ought to precede the judges, who resisted, and the inquisitors excommunicated them in the church. the king's attorney protested against this act, and the scandalous scene which ensued may be easily conceived. the judges repairing to the place where they held their sessions, declared that the inquisitors had used violence in proceeding against the law, and passed a decree commanding the inquisitors to take off the excommunication. the inquisitors did not obey the order, and the judges repeated it, with the threat of depriving them of all civil rights, and condemning them to banishment and confiscation. philip iii. disapproved of the conduct of the inquisitors, commanded them to take off the excommunication and repair to madrid, where they were confined to the city. in the december following, the king issued a decree, importing that the inquisitors should only take precedence in the ceremony of the _auto-da-fé_. the inquisitor-general portocarrero was deprived of his office, and banished to his bishopric of cuença. in 1622 the town of lorca, which was within the jurisdiction of the inquisition of murcia, appointed a familiar of the holy office to be the collector of a tax upon the sale of goods called _alcabala_. the man refused the employment, but his representations were not admitted, upon which the inquisitors excommunicated the judge of lorca, and required the assistance of don pedro porres, the corregidor of murcia, to take him to their prisons. on his refusal, they excommunicated him also, and decreed that divine service should cease in all the churches of murcia. this measure threw the inhabitants into the greatest consternation, and they entreated their bishop, don antonio trejo, to interpose his authority. this prelate remonstrated with the inquisitors; but not succeeding, in order to tranquillize the people, he published a mandate, announcing that he was not obliged to submit to the interdict, or to the order for the _cessation of divine service_. don andres pacheco, the inquisitor-general, condemned the mandate, and ordered this measure to be proclaimed in all the churches of murcia. at the same time he imposed a penalty of eight thousand ducats on the bishop, and cited him to appear within twenty days at madrid, to answer the complaint preferred against him, by the fiscal of the supreme council, on pain of another penalty of four thousand ducats. the bishop and the chapter of his cathedral sent the dean and a canon to madrid as his deputies. the inquisitor-general excommunicated them, without hearing their defence, and threw them into separate prisons, and at the same time caused this excommunication to be announced in all the pulpits of madrid. the inquisitors also excommunicated the curé of st. catherine, who refused to submit to this interdict without an order from his bishop. the king and the pope were at last obliged to interfere, they re-established the bishop in his rights; but this act of justice did not destroy the cause of the evil which was complained of. in the same year, the inquisitors of toledo excommunicated the sub-prefect of that city, who had seized and sentenced a butcher as a thief, and convicted him of having sold bad meat with false weights: the inquisitors pretended that the culprit came under their jurisdiction, because he furnished the holy office with meat, and they accordingly required that the prisoners and the writings of the trial should be given up to them. their demand was refused, because the offence was committed in the exercise of a public profession. the inquisitors then published the excommunication in all the churches of toledo; they imprisoned the usher and the porter of the sub-prefect for having obeyed their master, and they remained in prison several days; they were then subject to the punishment of having their beards and hair shaven, which was at that time considered infamous, and to appear in the chamber of audience without their shoes and girdles; they were examined on their genealogy, to discover if they were descended from the moors or jews; they were made to repeat the catechism as if they were heretics, and were then condemned to perpetual banishment; the inquisitors even refused to give them a certificate, to show that they had not been condemned for heresy. the compassion excited by the fate of these unfortunate men was so general, that the people rose against the inquisition; but some persons of high rank, and who were devoted to the public good, succeeded in appeasing the tumult. the king being informed of what had passed by the council of castile, appointed an extraordinary commission of eleven members selected from his councils; they passed several resolutions against the inquisitors, which had only the effect of correcting the present disorder, without entirely destroying the evil. in the following year, the inquisitors of grenada excommunicated don louis gudiel de peralta, and don mathias gonzalez; the first a member of the royal civil court, and the other the king's procurator in the same court. they condemned as heretical two works of these excellent jurisconsults, in which they defended the rights of the royal jurisdiction in all cases of _competence_. the council of castile respectfully remonstrated with the king, and showed that the inquisitors acted in opposition to _instructions to the holy office of 1485_, which directed them to consult the king in affairs of this nature. in order to remedy this abuse, a committee was appointed in 1625, to decide upon all difficulties which might arise on this subject. this committee did not exist long, but it was re-established in 1657. in 1530, the inquisitors of valladolid behaved with still greater insolence. the bishop of that city (who was at the same time president of the royal chancery) was to officiate pontifically in a solemn mass. the inquisitors chose that day to publish the edict of _denunciations_; and asserting that their power as inquisitors was superior to that of the bishop, they attempted to take away the canopy which was raised when the prelate officiated. the canons resisted, and the inquisitors sent some of their officers to the church, who arrested don alonso niño the chanter, and don francis milan a canon; they carried them away in their canonical robes, and deposited them in that dress in the prisons of the holy office. the council of castile made a representation to the king on this event, which was the origin of the convention of the following year, known as that of _cardinal zapata_. several resolutions were passed, and it was decided that censures should only be employed in cases of emergency; but this had little effect on the inquisitors. much more would have been done, if the king had taken the advice of the council of castile, which (after giving an account of evils arising from the system of the inquisitors) recommended, that he should allow the other tribunals to proceed against them for abuse of power. this advice was addressed to the king by his councils, in the consultations of the year 1634, 1669, 1682, 1696, 1761, and in several others, when the inquisition of spain prohibited works in which the privileges of the crown were defended, particularly that of don joseph de mur, president of the royal court at majorca. it was printed in that island in 1615, and called, _allegations in favour of the king, on the conflicts for jurisdiction which have arisen between the royal court of justice and the tribunal of the inquisition of majorca_. in 1634, another contest took place on the subject of competency, concerning certain taxes which had been received from an inhabitant of vicalboro, near madrid. the inquisitors of toledo excommunicated a judge of the royal court, and of the king's court, and committed the greatest excesses against the authority of the council of castile, which, impressed with a sense of its dignity, as the supreme senate of the nation, commanded the dean-inquisitor of toledo to repair to madrid, to answer in person the charges brought against him, and threatened, in case he refused, to deprive him of his property and temporal rights. it also condemned a priest, the secretary of the holy office, to banishment and confiscation, and ordered the inquisitor of madrid to give up the prisoners and the writings of the trial to the chamber of judges of the court. the council made an address to the king, requesting him to forbid the inquisitors the use of censures, and to deliver his people from the oppression under which they suffered. the king merely renewed the prohibition of employing excommunication without an absolute necessity, and decreed that it should never be employed against judges without a particular permission. this ordinance shows the neglect or contempt into which the convention of cardinal zapata had fallen, only three years after it had been established. in 1640 the inquisitors of valladolid had another contest with the bishop, who complained to the king, representing that the permission granted by royal council to print or publish, without suppressing what those authors who depend on the inquisition write on the privileges of that tribunal, would have the most fatal consequences. this assertion was proved in 1641. some disputes arose on the subject of competency, between the inquisition and the chancery of valladolid; the council of castile was obliged to consult the king several times during the course of the affair, and in one of its memorials stated, _that the jurisdiction which the inquisitors exercise in the name of the king is temporal, secular, and precarious, and cannot be defended by the use of censures_. the members of the council of the inquisition in which don antonio de sotomayor the inquisitor-general presided, carried their presumption so far as to convoke an assembly of ignorant scholastic theologians, all chosen from the monks, to _qualify_ the proposition advanced by the council of castile. these qualifiers, eager to display their penetration, divided it into three parts. "_first part._ the jurisdiction which the inquisitors exercise in the name of the king is temporal and secular.--qualification. _this proposition is probable, if considered on the fairest side._" "_second part._ the said jurisdiction is precarious.--qualification. _this proposition is false, improbable, and contrary to the welfare of his majesty._" "_third part._ ecclesiastical censures cannot be employed to defend the said jurisdiction.--qualification. _this proposition is audacious, and approaching to heresy._" after this measure, the fiscal of the council of the inquisition accused the council of castile; he demanded that the tribunal should procure the copies and the minutes of the consultation addressed to the king; that the condemnation of it should be published, and the authors should be proceeded against. the council of the holy office, intending to act according to circumstances, represented all that had passed to the king, referring to the judgment of the theologians. the king, with the carelessness which was natural to him, merely told the inquisitor-general that he had failed in his duty, in approving a proceeding so contrary to the honour and dignity of the senate of the nation. the effects of the obstinacy and violence of the inquisitors was felt for some time after. in 1643, the king obliged don antonio de sotomayor to give in his resignation. in america, the ordinances of the king, and other regulations, could not prevent violent quarrels from arising between the civil tribunals and those of the holy office. but in all these affairs the viceroys showed more firmness, and repressed the arrogance of the inquisitors with more success than was displayed in the peninsula. this is not surprising, because in distant countries the inquisitors are not supported by an inquisitor-general, who, possessing the king's favour, may influence him in private conversations. besides this, the viceroys, jealous of the power with which they are invested, are careful that it shall meet with no obstacles or contradictions. in 1686, a quarrel arose between the inquisitors of carthagena in america, and the bishop. the inquisitor don francis barela, after excommunicating the prelate, caused his decree to be read in all the churches. the bishop replied, and showed by his manner to the inquisitor, his contempt for the excommunication. don francis (in concurrence with his consultors) arrested and threw into prison the bishop and many respectable persons of the cathedral and the city, who had spoken freely on the subject. the pope being informed of this affair on the 13th february, 1687, commanded the inquisitor-general, don diego sarmiento de valladares, to cause the inquisitor barela and the consultors to be brought to madrid, and to deprive them of their offices. this order not being obeyed, on the 15th of december he expedited a second brief, which was comminatory. the inquisitor-general then had recourse to the king, and gave so unfaithful an account of the transaction, that neither his majesty nor the council of the indies were ever informed of the truth. the pope persisted in his resolution, and wished to decide on the affair himself. it was not finished when clement xi. ascended the pontifical throne; this pope assembled the cardinals, and taking their opinions, confirmed by a formal decree all that the bishop had done, and annulled the extravagant measures of the inquisitor. a bull, in 1706, commanded the restitution of the penalties which had been imposed, and suppressed the tribunal of carthagena. this suppression was not executed, because it was contrary to the king's policy. in 1713, the cardinal francis judice, inquisitor-general, prohibited a work of don melchior macanaz, procurator of the king in the council of castile: the cardinal knew that this work had been printed by the order of philip v., who had approved it after having read it. the king was at first very much irritated at this proceeding; but the cardinal, accustomed to the intrigues of rome and paris, succeeded in eluding the orders of his sovereign; although he was not in the kingdom, he continued to exercise his office, and sent orders to his creatures which were extremely displeasing to philip. this prince could not obtain the dismission of judice, until cardinal alberoni had exerted his influence at rome and paris, to second his master's views. judice retired in 1716. don melchior macanaz continued to live in exile. his trial became important, from the great number of denunciations which were made against different works which he had written: in some of these he inveighed against the abuses which were committed at the court of rome, against those of the immunities of the clergy and of the ecclesiastical tribunals, and called the public attention to the fatal effects of increasing the number of monks and other societies. the qualifiers, in judging his works, clearly showed the spirit of hatred and revenge which actuated them. in the trial of macanaz, one of his works, called _a critical defence of the inquisition_, is mentioned; the inquisitors qualified it as _ironical_, because they found some things in it which were not true. they were confirmed in their opinion some time after, by another work of macanaz, called _an apology for the defence of fray nicolas jesus de belando, in favour of the civil history of spain, unjustly prohibited by the inquisition_. although the inquisitors treated him with so much severity, ferdinand vi., and the inquisitor-general don manuel quintano bonifaz, permitted macanaz to return to spain, and the king sent him to aix-la-chapelle as his ambassador. in 1768, the inquisitors endeavoured to obtain the right of trying persons for polygamy: charles iii. ordered that the cognizance of this offence should belong to the secular judge, except when the criminals thought that it was permitted. it was his pleasure that the inquisitors "should only punish heresy and apostasy, and, above all, that none of his people should be subjected to the disgrace of an arrest, if they had not been previously convicted of a crime." in 1771, the council of the inquisition represented to the king, that the simple fact of marrying another person, while the first wife was alive, was sufficient to create a suspicion that the persons guilty of it erred in faith on the article of marriage. for this reason the inquisitors continued to receive the denunciations on this pretended heresy, and to take cognizance of it. in 1781, the inquisitor-general commanded that the confessionals in the convents of nuns should be placed within sight of the persons in the churches. this was done by the inquisitors, without consulting the archbishops and bishops of the dioceses; they were extremely offended at this conduct, but dissembled their anger, that the public tranquillity might not be disturbed. in 1797, the inquisitors of grenada removed the confessional of the convent of the nuns of st. paul, which was under the immediate direction of the archbishop: the ecclesiastical governor of the archbishopric complained to the king. the minister of justice, don gaspar melchior de jovellanos, resolved to take advantage of this event; he addressed himself to the archbishop of burgos, inquisitor-general, to the bishops of huesca, tuy, placentia, osma, avila, and to don joseph espiga, the king's almoner, and requested them to propose "whatever they thought most proper to correct the abuses committed in the holy office, and to destroy the false principles on which that tribunal founded all its measures." the archbishop (as may be supposed) sent notes favourable to the tribunal; those of all the others were of quite an opposite nature. this attempt, however, did not lead to any satisfactory result: jovellanos quitted the ministry before charles iv. had decided on the subject; the minister who succeeded him had other views, and jovellanos was denounced on suspicion of heresy. _of the magistrates who were persecuted._ the examples which have been given of the quarrels between the inquisition and the civil tribunals, sufficiently prove the constant attention of the inquisitors in endeavouring to extend their influence and privileges, even in defiance of the sovereign power; yet a list of the persecuted magistrates may be useful and interesting. _almodovar_ (don christopher ximenez de gongora, duke of). he was ambassador to the court of vienna, and published a work _on the establishments of the european nations beyond sea_. this book is only a free translation of that of the abbé raynal. he concealed his name under that of _eduardo malo de luque_, which is the anagram of el duque de almodovar. he presented some copies of his book to the king, but though he had taken this precaution, and had suppressed some articles, he was denounced to the inquisition as being tinctured with the opinions of the incredulous philosophers. the inquisitors endeavoured to find out how the duke conversed in society with learned men; but they did not learn enough to authorize an accusation, as it almost always happened, during the reigns of charles iii. and charles iv., when they wished to attack the literati. _aranda_ (don pedro-paul abarca de bolea y ximenez d'urrea, count d'), grandee of spain. he rendered himself more illustrious by his talents and learning than he was by his birth and high offices. as a soldier he attained the rank of captain-general, which is equivalent to that of field-marshal: his diplomatic talents obtained the office of ambassador to paris; his knowledge as a statesman, that of prime-minister, secretary of state, under charles iv.; and for his talents as a politician he was made president of the council of castile. in these four branches of the art of governing he was always truly great. he was president in the royal council extraordinary, assembled by charles iii. to consider the affairs of the jesuits. although the members of this assembly deliberated in secret, the public were informed not only of its objects in general, but the particular opinions of each councillor. the count d'aranda was denounced to the holy office as being suspected of professing the sentiments of the philosophers of the eighteenth century, because his political opinions were extremely liberal. the ordinance signed by charles iii. in 1770 (forbidding the inquisitors to take cognizance of any crime but heresy) was thought to be the work of the count d'aranda, and the inquisitors hated him in consequence. the trial of don paul olavide, which took place about this time, furnished some details which caused a suspicion that the opinions of the count d'aranda on the subject of mere exterior devotion were the same as those of the accused. however the inquisitors could not obtain a sufficient mass of evidence to authorize proceedings against him, and he died after having been denounced four times to the holy office, but without ever being put upon his trial. _arroyo_ (don stephen d'), corregidor of ecija, a town in andalusia, and a member of the royal civil court of the district of granada. he was excommunicated by the inquisition of cordova in 1664, because he opposed the attempts made by the inquisitors to extend their jurisdiction at the expense of the civil tribunals. _avalos_ (don diego lopez d'), corregidor of the city of cordova, was threatened to be excommunicated and imprisoned in 1501, because he refused to give up two archers of the holy office, who had been taken to the royal prison, unless they were demanded with the proper forms. _azara_ (don joseph nicolas d'), born in aragon, was successively director of the office of the minister for foreign affairs, minister plenipotentiary at rome, and ambassador extraordinary to paris. he published a translation of the _life of cicero_, with notes, illustrations, and plates. he was considered one of the most learned men in spain during the reigns of charles iii. and his successor. although he almost always resided in italy or france, his name was in the registers of the holy office. he was denounced at saragossa and madrid as an incredulous philosopher; but there were no proofs, and the trial was suspended until fresh charges should be brought against him. _aragon_ (the deputation of). see the preceding article. _aragon._ the chief justice of aragon was invested with supreme power, and placed between the king and the nation, to decide without appeal, if the king's ministers infringed the laws established at the beginning of the monarchy. even the king was obliged to submit to the decisions of this magistrate in all constitutional affairs. in order to prevent disputes between the two powers, the chief justice and his tribunal were independent of the king in the criminal proceedings. the inquisitors of saragossa, regardless of these regulations, commenced proceedings against the chief justice, and in 1591 threatened to excommunicate him. some account of this affair will be given in the trial of antonio perez. _bañüelos_ (don vincent) was excommunicated by the inquisition of toledo, for endeavouring to defend the jurisdiction of the civil tribunal in a trial for homicide. _barcelona._ see the preceding article. _barrientos_ (the commandant), knight of the military order of st. jago, and corregidor and sub-prefect of logroño, was obliged, in 1516, to go to madrid, and appear before the inquisitor-general of the supreme council, to ask pardon for having refused to lend assistance to the archers of the holy office in arresting some monks. he was subjected to the lesser _auto-da-fé_, attended mass, standing with a torch in his hand, and received some slight strokes of a whip from the inquisitor; this ceremony was concluded by a solemn absolution from all censures. _benalcazar_ (the count de) was excommunicated and menaced with an arrest by the inquisitors of estremadura in 1500. the same threat was made to the governor of the fortress of benalcazar; their offence was having defended their temporal power against the pretensions of the holy office, in the case of a woman who was arrested for having uttered some words against the faith. _campomanes_ (don pedro rodriguez de campomanes, count de) was, perhaps, the most eminent literary man in spain, during the reigns of charles iii. and charles iv. he is the author of several works mentioned in the _spanish library of the time of charles iii._ published by don juan de sempere guarinos. he first filled the office of procurator to the king in the council of castile, and in the chamber of the king, of which he was afterwards the governor. in all his works he constantly maintained the independence of sovereigns with respect to the court of rome, the obligation that all the citizens of the state should pay their part of the public expenses, and the impossibility that the contentious jurisdiction should form part of the ecclesiastical power, unless accorded by the special favour of the sovereign. it is easy to suppose that campomanes had a great many enemies among the clergy; he was denounced to the holy office as an anti-catholic philosopher. the charges were numerous, but they did not prove that he had advanced any heretical proposition; they only tended to create a suspicion that his works were opposed to the spirit of christianity. he was invited to attend the _auto-da-fé_ of don paul olavide, in order to inform him of the punishment he would incur by professing the same opinions; but though the inquisitors knew him to be their enemy, they did not dare to go any further. _cardona_ (don pedro de), captain-general of catalonia. see chapter 16. _castile_ (council of). see preceding article. _chaves_ (don gregorio antonio de), corregidor and sub-prefect of cordova, was excommunicated and threatened with imprisonment by the inquisitors of cordova in 1660. _chumacero_ (don juan), count de guaro, president of the council of castile, ambassador at rome, composed several works which are mentioned by nicolas antonio, and some discourses in defence of the temporal against the ecclesiastical power, and in favour of the independence of sovereigns against the abuses of the court of rome. the inquisitors of spain, at the instigation of the pope's nuncio, undertook to condemn his doctrine, and to prohibit his works, with those of some other authors who wrote in the same spirit, in order to force them to retract, on pain of excommunication and imprisonment. _cordova_ (don pedro fernandez de), marquis de priego, member of the municipality of cordova, was persecuted by the inquisition in 1506. see chapter 10. _cordova_ (don diego fernandez de), count de cabra, and also a member of the municipality of cordova, was treated in the same manner. _ibid._ _godoy_ (don manuel), prince of peace, duke of alcudia, secretary of state to charles iv. see chapter 43. _gonzalez_ (don mathias). see the preceding article. _gudiel_ (the licentiate). _ibid._ _gudiel de peralta_ (don louis). _ibid._ _guzman_ (don gaspar de), count-duke d'olivarez, prime minister to philip iv. see chapter 37. _izquierdo_ (the licentiate). see the preceding article. _jovellanos_ (don gaspard melchior de), secretary of state in the department of grace and justice under charles iv., was one of the most learned men in spain; he wrote several pamphlets on politics and different branches of literature. in 1798 he resolved to reform the mode of proceeding in the holy office, and intended to take advantage of a memorial which i had composed in 1794, according to the orders of the inquisitor-general abad-y-la-sierra; but from a secret court intrigue he was denounced to the inquisition as a jansenist and an enemy to the tribunal. charles iv. was persuaded first to banish him to his native place gijon, in the asturias, and afterwards to confine him in the chartreuse, in the island of majorca, where he was informed that he was to study the christian doctrine. this treatment was extremely unjust, for jovellanos was not only a good catholic, but a just and irreproachable man, whose memory will do honour to spain. _juan_ (d. gabriel de), president of the royal court of appeal at majorca, was excommunicated in 1531; he maintained the rights of the sovereign against the inquisitors. _lara_ (don juan perez de), procurator to the king, and fiscal of the royal court of appeal at seville, was extremely ill-treated by the inquisitors in 1637, because he maintained the rights of the royal jurisdiction in a manifesto, which the inquisitors declared contained propositions offensive to the holy office. _macanaz_ (don melchior de). see the preceding article. _moñino_ (don joseph), count de florida-blanca, first secretary of state under charles iii., and charles iv. he had been successively an advocate at madrid, procurator to the king and fiscal of the council of castile, and minister plenipotentiary at rome. his celebrity as a lawyer was the origin of his elevation, and his subsequent conduct fully justified the favourable opinion which had been formed of him. in his quality of fiscal he wrote several works. don juan sempere guarinos, in his _catalogue of the authors of the reign of charles iii._, has inserted notices of those which had been printed and those which remained unpublished. among the first are some of great merit: the _advice of a fiscal_, which he gave to the council on the memorial presented to charles iii. by don isidro carbajal y lancaster, bishop of cuença, and on the _impartial judgment_ of the brief issued by clement xiii. against the sovereign duke of parma, induced some ignorant and prejudiced priests to denounce him to the inquisition as an enemy to religion. the count furnished them with additional arms against himself, when he gave his opinion as procurator-fiscal on the abuses committed by the inquisitors in the prohibition of books, and on the system which they had adopted of taking cognizance of crimes not relating to doctrine. however, the inquisitors, not finding in his writings any proposition which might be qualified as heretical, were afraid to continue the trial of a minister for whom the king showed the greatest esteem. _mur_ (don joseph de), president of the royal court of appeal at majorca, being obliged to maintain the rights of the tribunal against the holy office, composed, in 1615, a work on competency, in which he supported the royal jurisdiction against the ecclesiastical power in all contests not relating to spiritual concerns. the holy office made the author suffer much, and inserted his work in the _index_. philip iv. caused it to be erased in 1641, at the request of the council of castile. _ossuna_ (the duke of). see chapter 37. _olavide_ (don paul), born at lima, in peru, _assistant_, that is, prefect of seville, and director of the towns and villages recently built in the _sierra-morena_ and in andalusia, was arrested in 1776, and taken to the secret prisons of the inquisition of madrid; on the suspicion that he held impious opinions, particularly those of rousseau and voltaire, with whom he maintained an intimate correspondence. it appeared from the trial, that olavide had, in the new towns which he governed, uttered the opinions of these philosophers, on the exterior worship which is rendered to god in this country. the accused denied many of the words and actions imputed to him; he explained others which might not have been understood by the witnesses, but he confessed enough to induce the inquisitors to believe that he secretly held the same opinions as his two friends. olavide asked pardon for his imprudence, but declared that he could not do so for the crime of heresy, as he had never lost his interior faith. on the 24th of november, 1778, an _auto-da-fé_ was celebrated with closed doors, in the hall of the inquisition of madrid, in the presence of sixty persons of high rank: don paul olavide appeared before them, in the habit of a penitent, and holding in his hand an extinguished torch. the sentence declared him to be convicted of _formal heresy_; he ought to have appeared in the _san-benito_, with a cord round his neck, but this was dispensed with, as well as the obligation of wearing the _san-benito_ afterwards. he was condemned to pass eight years in a convent, and to live according to the orders of a spiritual director chosen by the inquisition; to be banished from madrid, seville, cordova, and the new town in the sierra morena. his property was confiscated; he was forbidden to possess any office or honourable title; to ride on horseback, or to wear any jewels or ornaments of gold, silver, pearls, diamonds, precious stones, or habits of silk, or fine wool, but only those of coarse serge or some other stuff of that kind. the reading of the _factum_ of his trial, by the secretary, lasted four hours; the fiscal accused him of having advanced seventy heretical propositions, and seventy-two witnesses were examined. towards the conclusion, olavide exclaimed, _whatever the fiscal may say, i have never lost my faith_. no answer was made to him. when he heard his sentence he fainted, and fell off the bench on which he had been permitted to sit. when he had recovered, and the reading of the sentence was finished, he received absolution on his knees, after having read and signed his profession of faith; he was then taken back to the prison. the sixty individuals who were invited to this ceremony were dukes, counts, marquises, generals, members of the councils, and knights of different military orders; they were most of them his friends. these persons were, from some circumstances in the trial, suspected of partaking his opinions, and the invitation was intended to inform them of what they might expect, and to induce them to be more reserved in their conversation. olavide went to the convent where he was to be confined, but made his escape some time after, and retired to france. he lived at paris under the name of the _count de pilo_, a title which he had never borne in spain. a few years after he published a work, called _the gospel triumphant; or, the converted philosopher_. this composition obtained his pardon, and permission to return to spain, where no penances were imposed on him. _perez_ (antonio). see chapter 35. _ramos del manzano_ (don francis), count de francos, tutor of charles ii. and president of the sovereign council of the indies, composed some treatises on politics, which are mentioned by nicolas antonio. in these writings he maintains the prerogatives and independence of the sovereigns against the indirect powers of the popes, the abuses of the court of rome, and the ecclesiastical judges in the holy office. the count de francos suffered much persecution, and his works were prohibited; if philip iv. had not protected him, he would have been arrested, and his books burnt. _ricla_ (the count de), minister of war, and lieutenant-general in the army under charles iii., was denounced to the holy office as having adopted the opinions of the philosophers of the eighteenth century. there was not sufficient proof against him, and the trial was suspended. _roda_ (don manuel de), marquis de roda, minister and secretary of state in the department of grace and justice, under charles iii. he had been a celebrated advocate at madrid, and minister-plenipotentiary at rome; his talents and learning made him of the greatest use to charles iii. in the important affairs relative to the expulsion of the jesuits. the imputation of jansenism, incurred by the archbishops and bishops of the council extraordinary, was also brought against this minister, who had made many enemies by advising charles iii. to reform the six great colleges established at salamanca, alcala, and valladolid. this denunciation failed, because it contained no _particular proposition_ which deserved to be censured. _salcedo_ (don pedro gonzalez de), procurator to the king in the council of castile, published a treatise _on political law_, and some other works, in which he attacked the abuses committed by the judges of the privileged tribunals, and the pretensions of the inquisitors and other ecclesiastics to the royal jurisdictions. he was persecuted, and his works were condemned, but philip iv. revoked the prohibition; however some passages were afterwards retrenched, and they are not found in the later editions. _salgado_ (don francis de), member of the council of castile, published some works in defence of the royal jurisdiction against the ecclesiastical authority; they are mentioned by nicolas antonio. the court of rome condemned them; the inquisitors of spain persecuted the author, but when they were on the point of publishing the prohibition of his works, philip iv. commanded them to suspend their proceedings. _samaniego_ (don philip de), priest, archdeacon of pampeluna, knight of the order of st. james, counsellor to the king, and chief secretary and interpreter of foreign languages. he was invited to attend the _auto-da-fé_ of don paul olavide, and was so alarmed that he voluntarily denounced himself. he presented a declaration, in which he confessed that he had read prohibited books, such as those of voltaire, mirabeau, rousseau, hobbes, spinosa, montesquieu, bayle, d'alembert, diderot, and others; that from this course of reading he had fallen into a religious pyrrhonism; that having thought seriously on the subject, he had resolved to remain firmly attached to the catholic faith, and that in consequence he had resolved to demand to be absolved from the censures _ad cautelam_. the tribunal ordered that he should confirm his declaration by taking an oath. they then obliged him to confess by what means he had obtained the books, whom he had received them from, and where they were at that time; with what persons he had conversed on the subject of religion, and revealed his opinions; what individuals had refuted or adopted them; who had appeared to be ignorant of the doctrine, or were acquainted with it; and lastly, how long he had known it himself: these declarations were the conditions on which he was to receive absolution. samaniego wrote a declaration, in which almost all the learned men of the court were implicated. some of these persons had been invited to the _auto-da-fé_ of don paul olavide. _sardinia_ (the viceroy of) was excommunicated in 1498, and punished by the inquisitors for having lent assistance to the archbishop of cagliari in taking a criminal from the prisons of the holy office to those of the archbishopric. _sesé_ (don joseph de), president of the royal court of appeal of the kingdom of aragon. this magistrate wrote a work, in which he had collected many definitive sentences which had been pronounced in trials for competency; they were all favourable to the secular power. the author was the victim of his zeal; he was persecuted, and his work prohibited, but philip iv. caused it to be revoked. _solorzano_ (don juan de), member of the sovereign council of the indies. he was the author of a work on _indian politics_, and several others of the same nature. they were written in the same spirit as those of salgado; solorzano and his works shared his fate. _sotomayor_ (don guiterre de), knight commander of the order of alcantara, brother of the count de benalcazar, and governor of the fortress of that name. see _benalcazar_. _terranova_ (the marquis de). see chapter 16. _toledo_ (the royal judge of) was excommunicated, imprisoned, and received much ill treatment from the inquisitors in 1622, in a contest for jurisdiction. _valdés_ (don antonio), member of the royal council of castile. he was excommunicated by the inquisitors in 1639, because he refused to exempt the familiars of the holy office who possess land, from paying a contribution. _valencia_ (the viceroy of), captain-general, was obliged in 1488, to appear before the supreme council of the inquisition, and ask pardon and absolution for having set at liberty a soldier who was detained in the prisons of the holy office. he had the mortification of being obliged to appear in a _lesser auto-da-fé_. _vera_ (don juan-antonio de). see chapter 36. _zarate_ (diego ruiz de), chief alcade of cordova, was punished by the supreme council in 1500, and suspended from his office for six months, because he refused to allow the inquisitors of cordova to take cognizance of the trial of the chief alguazil of that city. many other instances might be quoted: but these are sufficient to show that the nature of the tribunal of the holy office will be contrary to the independence of the sovereign, while the royal jurisdiction is confounded with that of the inquisitors, and while the members of the holy office are exempted from the civil and criminal jurisdiction of the royal tribunals. chapter xxvii. of the trials of several sovereigns and princes undertaken by the inquisition. it is not surprising that the inquisition should persecute magistrates and learned men, when it has not scrupled to attack kings, princes, and grandees. some writers (particularly the french and flemish) have singularly exaggerated the accounts of these trials; some of them having but a vague and slight foundation for what they have advanced, and others have filled their accounts with invectives and fictions. the history is derived from the archives and writings of the trials of the inquisition, and i have attended more to these authentic documents than to the narratives of those who have not had the same advantages. this chapter will contain _all that is certainly known_ of the trials of the princes and other potentates by the inquisition. the _holy tribunal_ was scarcely established in aragon, when it attacked don james de navarre, sometimes called the _infant of tudela_, and the _infant of navarre_. his crime was an act of benevolence. the assassination of pedro arbues, the first inquisitor of aragon, which took place in 1485, obliged many of the principal inhabitants of saragossa to take flight. one of these persons went to tudela de navarre, where the infant of navarre resided, and asked and obtained an asylum in his house for several days, until he could make his escape into france. the inquisitors being informed of this humane action, arrested and took don james to their prisons in 1487, as an enemy to the holy office. he was condemned to hear solemn mass, standing in the presence of a great concourse of people, and of his cousin don alphonso of aragon (a natural son of ferdinand v. and archbishop of saragossa), and to receive absolution from the censures which he was supposed to have incurred, after submitting to be _scourged_ by two priests, and having gone through all the ceremonies prescribed in such cases by the roman ritual. in 1488, the inquisition tried john pic de la mirandola and de concordia, a prince who was considered a prodigy of science, from the age of twenty-three years. innocent viii. instigated them to this measure by a brief addressed to ferdinand and isabella, dated the 16th of december, 1487, in which he said, that he had been informed that john pic was going into spain, with the intention of maintaining, in the universities and other schools of the kingdom, the erroneous doctrine of several theses which he had already published at rome, and had abjured, which rendered him still more culpable. his holiness added, that he was most afflicted in perceiving that the youth, the pleasing manners and agreeable conversation of the prince would gain him many partisans; he said that these considerations had induced him to request the two sovereigns to arrest the prince when he arrived in spain, as the fear of corporal punishment might have more effect than the anathemas of the church. de la mirandola doubtless received information of what awaited him in spain, as he did not undertake the journey; at least nothing is to be found in the archives concerning it. the learned historian fleury must have been ignorant of the existence of this bull, since he says that the affair of the prince de la mirandola terminated in the suppression of his theses at rome, in 1486. this prince had published and defended nine hundred propositions on theology, mathematics, physics, cabala, and other sciences. thirteen of these were examined and qualified as heretical; the author published an apology, showing the ignorance of his judges. his adversaries, finding that they could not dispute with him, accused him of being a magician; and asserted, that so much knowledge in so young a person could only be acquired by a compact with the devil. in 1507 the inquisition, instigated by ferdinand v., undertook to prosecute and arrest cæsar borgia, duke de valentinois, and brother-in-law to john d'albret, king of navarre. it is most probable that this prince would have been taken, if he had not been killed in the same year before viana, not far from logroño, by the governor of a fortress, juan garces de los fayos. cæsar borgia was the natural son of don rodrigo de borgia (afterwards raised to the papal see, by the name of alexander vi.), and the famous _vanoci_. he had been a cardinal, but, in 1499, his father, in compliance with the request of louis xii. king of france, who adopted him, granted him dispensations to marry the sister of the king of navarre; he then obtained the titles and estates of the dukedom of valentinois. a short time after the death of cæsar borgia's father, in 1503, he was arrested at naples, by the order of gonzalo de cordova, viceroy of that monarchy, on the pretence that he disturbed the tranquillity of the kingdom. he was taken to spain, and confined in the castle of medina del campo, from whence he made his escape, and fled to navarre. ferdinand, finding that his niece, the queen of navarre, would not give up this prince to him, resolved to secure him by means of the inquisition. it has been already stated that the inquisitors did not prosecute the memory of charles v.; but in 1565, they were concerned in the proceedings against jane d'albret, the hereditary queen of navarre, and against her son, henry de bourbon, afterwards henry iv. of france, and his sister, margaret de bourbon albret, who married the sovereign duke of bar. the holy office, however, did not take an active part in this affair. after ferdinand v. had taken possession of the five districts of the kingdom of navarre, called _merindades_, he refused to recognise either jane or henry de bourbon as sovereigns of navarre. these princes were deprived of all their dominions, except the sixth _merindade_ of navarre, by a papal bull in 1512; the court of rome also refused to grant them the title of kings of navarre until the year 1561. the first to whom it was given was anthony de bourbon. charles v. had ordered in his will that the right of his successors to the crown of navarre should be examined, and that it should be restored to its rightful owners if it had been unjustly seized. in 1561, philip ii., who had not yet thought of executing the intentions of his father, perceiving that the king, anthony de bourbon, inclined towards calvinism, entered into a negociation with him on this subject. in order to attach him to the catholic party, philip promised to obtain a dissolution of his marriage with jane, who was a heretic, to induce his holiness to excommunicate her, and to give her states to him, with the consent of the kings of france and spain; to restore navarre, or to give the island of sardinia in exchange for it, and to negotiate a marriage between him and mary stuart, queen of scotland. anthony accepted this offer, but died before it could be executed. philip then, through the intrigues of his agents at rome, obtained the excommunication of jane d'albret, and that her states should be offered to the first catholic prince who would take possession of them on the condition of expelling the heretics. pius v. published a bull on the 28th september, 1563, excommunicating queen jane, for having adopted the heresy of calvin, and promulgating his doctrines in her states; and according to the requisition of the procurator-fiscal of the inquisition, his holiness summoned her to appear at rome, within six months, to answer these charges. catherine de medicis, regent of france, who was then reconciled to the prince of condé, the brother of the late king of navarre, was displeased at the inquisition of rome; and in order to stop the proceedings, sent an ambassador extraordinary to the pope, with a very learned memorial, which has been printed, with the bull, in the _mémoires du prince de condé_. charles ix., and catherine de medicis, his mother, wrote to philip ii., (who was married to elizabeth of france, the daughter of catherine,) and informed him of what had passed, requesting that he would act in concert with them. philip replied, that he not only disapproved of the conduct of the court of rome, but he offered to protect the princess jane against any one who should attempt to deprive her of her states. it has, however, been proved by the letters of the french king to the cardinal d'armagnac, that philip at the same time offered assistance to the catholic subjects of jane, to induce them to rebel against her, and that he privately introduced spanish troops into her territories. this event was the origin of a confederation, known by the name of the _catholic league_, which forms part of the histories of m. de varillas, and of the secret memoirs of m. de villeroi. the spanish monarch endeavoured to obtain, by means of the inquisition of spain, what he had been refused by that of rome. the inquisitor-general cardinal espinosa, in concert with the cardinal de lorraine, caused several witnesses to be examined, to prove that jane d'albret and her children were huguenots, and that, as they encouraged this heresy in their states, it might spread into spain. espinosa (who pretended that philip was ignorant of his proceedings) informed the council that it was necessary to impart this circumstance to his majesty, and entreat him to do all in his power to prevent jane from persecuting the catholics. philip secretly directed the affairs of the _league_ in france by means of communications with the chiefs of the party; and according to his orders the inquisitor-general formed a plot to carry off the queen of navarre and her two children, and confine them in the dungeons of the inquisition of saragossa. he hoped to succeed in this enterprise, through the assistance afforded him by the cardinal de lorraine, and the other chiefs of the _league_. those french historians who wrote after this period (such as the abbé st. real, mercier, and others) have endeavoured to throw all the odium of this plot on philip ii. and the duke of alva; but as truth is the first duty of historians, i am compelled to say, that the de guises were the authors of it. nicolas de neuville, lord of villeroy, minister and first secretary of state during the reigns of charles ix., henry iii., henry iv., and louis xiii., has left details of this affair, in a _memoir_ which was found after his death among his papers, and which has been printed with many others, under the title of _secret memoirs of m. de villeroi_. this author, who was a contemporary, and acquainted with the secrets of the government, seems to be more deserving of confidence than any other. philip ii. took advantage of the attempt, though it entirely failed; and wrote to represent to the pope, that his subjects in the neighbourhood of france might imbibe the heresy, and demanded and obtained an order to separate from the bishopric of bayonne the villages of the valley of bastan, and those of the arch-priesthood of fontarabia. in 1563, the inquisition of murcia condemned another prince, called don philip of aragon. see chapter 23. in 1589, the prince alexander farnese, governor-general of the low countries and flanders, and uncle to philip ii., was denounced to the inquisition of spain, as suspected of lutheranism, and a favourer of heretics; it was also said, that he intended to become the sovereign of flanders, for which purpose he courted the protestants. no proofs of heresy were produced, and the inquisitor-general suspended the proceedings. although the enemies of prince farnese made every effort to ruin him, philip did not deprive him of his office, and he remained governor of the low countries till his death in 1592. it has been said that he was poisoned by philip ii. the cardinal quiroga, and the council of the inquisition, treated the sovereign pontiff, sextus quintus, with little respect. this pope published a translation of the bible in italian, and prefaced it by a bull, in which he recommended every one to read it, saying, that the faithful would derive the greatest advantages from it. this conduct of the pope was contrary to all the regulations from the time of leo x. all doctrinal works had been forbidden to be in the vulgar tongue for fifty years, by the expurgatory index of the council, and by the inquisitions of rome and madrid. the cardinals, quiroga at madrid, and toledo at rome, and others, represented to philip ii., that great evils would arise from it, if he did not employ his influence to induce the pope to relinquish his design. philip commissioned the count d'olivarez to expostulate with the pontiff; the count obeyed, but at the peril of his life, for sextus quintus was on the point of depriving him of it, without respect for the rights of nations, or for the privileges of olivarez as an ambassador. this formidable pope died in 1592, and philip was suspected of having shortened his days by slow poison. after this event, the inquisition of spain having received witnesses to prove that the _infallible_ oracle of the law was a favourer of heretics, condemned the sextine bible, as they had already condemned those of cassiodorus de reyna, and many others. a preparatory instruction was commenced against don john of austria, a natural son of philip iv., but the proceedings were suspended by the king. this event was caused by the intrigues of the inquisitor-general, john everard nitardo, who was the mortal enemy of don john; and some persons were found base enough to accuse the king's brother of lutheranism, in order to flatter him. the grandees of spain may be numbered among the princes, since charles v. declared them to possess that title, and that they were equal in rank to the sovereigns of the circles of germany; they had likewise the privileges of being seated and covered in the presence of the king, as, for example, when the emperor was crowned. among the princes humiliated by the inquisition, the following persons must be included. the marquis de priego, the grand-master of the military order of montesa, the duke de gandia, st. francis de borgia, the blessed juan de ribera, the venerable don juan de palafox, and many others, among whom were several ladies. none of these trials had any serious result; the denounced persons only received a severe remonstrance, except in the case of the dowager marchioness d'alcanices, who was imprisoned in the convent of st. catherine, at valladolid. these persons were all innocent; the only foundation for the accusations was their intimacy with the doctors pedro and augustine cazalla, fray dominic de roxas, and don pedro samiento de roxas: they were also accused of having heard conversations on justification, and of not having denounced them. chapter xxviii. of the conduct of the holy office towards those priests who abused the sacrament of confession. while the inquisition was occupied in persecuting the peaceable lutherans, they were obliged to take measures to punish catholic priests, who abused the ministry of confession, by seducing their penitents. the inquisitors were compelled to act with great reserve and caution in this affair, that they might not furnish the lutherans with new arguments against auricular confession, and the catholics with a motive for employing it less frequently. on the 18th of january, 1556, paul iv. addressed a brief to the inquisitors of granada, in which his holiness commanded them to prosecute those priests whom the _public voice_ accused of seduction, and not to pardon _one_ of them. he also recommended that they should ascertain if the doctrine of the priests on the sacrament of penitence was orthodox, and if it was necessary to pursue the course prescribed for the prosecution of heretics. the inquisitors communicated this brief to the archbishop of granada, and the council of the inquisition, which informed them in reply, that the publication of the brief in the usual form would produce great inconveniences, and that it was necessary to act with prudence and moderation. for this reason the archbishop summoned the curés, and other ecclesiastics, while the inquisitors did the same with the prelates of the regular communities, to recommend to them to notify the brief of the pope to all the confessors, that they might be more strict in their conduct for the future, and that the people might not be made acquainted with the order of his holiness. at the same time, informations were taken against those who were suspected, and some who were guilty were privately punished under other pretexts. this measure convinced the pope that the abuse was not confined to the kingdom of granada; and, in 1561, he addressed a brief to the inquisitor-general valdés, authorizing him to proceed against the confessors guilty of this crime in the domains of philip, as if they were heretics. as this bull did not affect the inquisitors-general who succeeded valdés, several others were afterwards expedited. it was the custom to read the _edict of denunciations_ in the churches every year, on some sunday in lent, and as the number of crimes increased, new articles were added to the edict. the inquisitors of some provinces introduced that of the priests who corrupted their penitents, and raynaldus gonzalvius montanus, speaking of the occurrences at seville after the publication of this edict, declares that it was published in 1563, and that the denunciations were so numerous that the notaries of the holy office refused to receive them, and that the inquisitors were obliged to relinquish the prosecution of the criminals. the edict was not published till 1564, and the denunciations were much less numerous than he pretends. the denunciations ceased, because the obligation imposed on the penitents to inform against the criminals was annulled by the supreme council. several other edicts were afterwards published on this subject, and they were framed to include a great number of cases. this crime is never punished in a public _auto-da-fé_, because it might prevent the faithful from confessing themselves. the _auto-da-fé_ was held in the hall of the holy office; the secular confessors were summoned to attend it, two from each of the establishments in the town, and four from that of the condemned person, if there were any. no laymen were permitted to be present, except the notaries. when the sentence, and the motives for it, had been read, the dean of the inquisitors exhorted the criminal to acknowledge his crime, and prepared him to make the abjuration of all heresies in general, and of that of which he was suspected in particular. he then placed himself on his knees, pronounced his confession of faith, and signed his abjuration: the inquisitor absolved him _ad cautelam_ from all the censures he had incurred: this act terminated the _auto-da-fé_, the criminal was taken back to the prison, and the next day he was transferred to the convent in which he was to be imprisoned, according to his sentence. the confessors who attended this ceremony, were commanded to inform others of the affair, to deter them from committing the same crime. chapter xxix. of the trials instituted by the inquisition against the prelates and spanish doctors of the council of trent. _prelates._ eight venerable prelates and nine doctors of theology, who were sent by spain to the council of trent, were attacked in secret by the inquisition of their country. from particular circumstances, rather than from the will of the inquisitors, some of these trials were suspended, before any attempt had been made on the liberty of the doctors. the trial of the archbishop of toledo ought to be introduced in this place, but its importance and interest renders it worthy of a separate chapter. _don pedro guerrero_, born at leza-de-rio-leza, in rioxa, archbishop of granada, was one of those prelates who, from their learning and virtue, had the greatest influence in the council of trent. he was prosecuted by the inquisition of valladolid, for the favourable opinion he expressed in 1558, of the catechism of carranza, and for the letters he wrote to him in the following year. it was also known that he voted for the archbishop, in the commission employed by the council of trent to examine his book, and likewise in the particular congregation of that assembly, which approved his conduct in 1563. guerrero averted the danger by retracting his opinion in 1574, when he was informed of the inclinations of philip on this subject. he then gave a new opinion, entirely different from the first, persuaded that it would be sent to rome, which in fact was done, in order to strengthen the charges against carranza: this is proved by the letter of the supreme council to philip ii., in which it announces that the censures which his majesty had demanded of the archbishop of granada were prepared, and that it was absolutely necessary to send them to rome, because _it was to be apprehended that the affair would be soon concluded, that the trial went on quickly_[33], and _that it was necessary to send this document, on account of the high esteem in which the opinion of the archbishop was held in rome_. it would be difficult to give a just idea of the intrigues which were employed to obtain so contrary an opinion from guerrero. the pope commanded, in a particular brief, that those censors who had been favourable to the catechism should examine and censure it again, and afterwards give their opinions of the inedited works of carranza. on the arrival of this brief, the cardinal quiroga, who was in the king's confidence, despatched persons whom he could depend upon, to the archbishop of granada, to induce him to renew his censure, _without saying that he had done it before, to conform to the king's intentions, but as if he only did it in obedience to the orders of his holiness_. this intrigue is proved by the private instructions which quiroga gave to his messengers. it must be confessed that the conduct of the archbishop of granada does little honour to his memory, but it must also be remembered how formidable the policy of philip ii. rendered him, and that guerrero was advanced in years. _don francisco blanco_, born at capillas, in the bishopric of leon, had been bishop of orense and malaga, when he was prosecuted on suspicion of lutheranism, for the same reason as guerrero. the arrest of carranza alarmed blanco so much, that he wrote immediately to the inquisitor-general, and sent him several inedited works of the archbishop of toledo. he received an order to repair to valladolid, where he entered into the convent of augustins: he made his declarations on the 14th of september, and on the 13th of october, 1559, acknowledged two of his approbations, but declared that he could not consent to ratify them, until he had re-examined the book, since he had given them without reflection, and was only influenced by the great reputation of carranza. it is impossible to read his declarations, and the letters which he wrote to the inquisitor-general, without perceiving the extreme terror which had seized him. he had recourse to the same means as guerrero, to extricate himself from his embarrassment. this prelate died in 1581, after having composed several works, which are mentioned by nicholas antonio. _don francisco delgado_, born at villa de pen, in rioxa, founder of the eldership of the counts de berberana, bishop of lugo, and afterwards of jaen, and one of the fathers of the council of trent, was suspected of heresy for the same reasons as the two preceding prelates. he avoided the sentence which threatened him, by retracting his opinions in 1574. _don andres cuesta_, bishop of leon, was prosecuted for the same cause. the inquisitor-general wrote to him before the arrest of carranza, to know if he had given a favourable opinion of his catechism. the bishop replied in the affirmative, and sent him a copy of his opinion. valdés kept this paper, but could not make any use of it. as the archbishop of toledo had then been arrested, the trial of the bishop of leon was begun, and the inquisitor-general resolved to summon him to valladolid. valdes informed the king of this resolution, and he wrote to cuesta, saying, that all that was to be done was in the cause of god, and the service of his majesty. the bishop of leon submitted without resistance; and on the 14th of october, 1559, he was examined in the council of the inquisition, and in the presence of all its members. the opinion which he had given of the catechism, in 1558, was shown to him, and he acknowledged it to be his, but said that if he examined it again, he should be able to judge differently of carranza's doctrine. he returned to his diocese, and sent another favourable opinion of the catechism to the inquisitor-general; it was founded on many doctrinal considerations and reflections, which he had not made in that which he sent to carranza. his letters, declarations, and opinions, show a bold and strong mind, which may induce one to believe that he was not provoked to retract in 1574, or that his trial recommenced at that period; for the inquisitor-general and the supreme council finding in 1560 that the trial of carranza caused them much trouble and embarrassment, resolved to _suspend_ the trials of the other bishops, until the result of the first was known. _don antonio gorrionero_, bishop of almeria, was prosecuted for his favourable opinion of the catechism, and some letters which he wrote on the subject. he however attended the third convocation of the council of trent, which took place in 1560, and the following years. _don fray melchior cano_, born in tarancon, in the province of cuença: he had resigned the bishopric of the canaries, and attended the second session of the council of trent, in 1552. he was a member of the order of st. dominic, as well as carranza, and his rival in the government and administration of the affairs of his order, particularly after carranza had obtained the preference, when they were both candidates for the office of provincial of castile. when the catechism was denounced to the inquisition, valdés appointed cano to examine it, affecting to favour its author, by choosing qualifiers from the monks of his order, but not doubting, at the same time, that the opinion of fray melchior would be unfavourable. fray melchior examined the catechism, and some inedited works of carranza; but it appears that he did not strictly observe the secrecy recommended by the inquisitors, since carranza received information of what was passing, while he was in flanders, and wrote to fray melchior, who replied to him from valladolid, in 1559. about this time, fray dominic de roxas, and some other lutherans confined in the secret prisons of the holy office, deposed to certain facts, which caused some suspicion of fray melchior. however, the prosecution begun against him had no result; for at the time when cano was about to be reproved by the inquisitor-general, he offered him the dedication of his treatise _de locis theologicis_, which was accepted; and as he had not time to publish it, he left it to the inquisitor-general in his will, some time before his death, which happened in 1560. his censure of the catechism of carranza, and some propositions which he had maintained against the archbishop, and which caused the faith of that prelate to be suspected, contributed to preserve him from punishment. his calumnious discourse concerning carranza was no doubt the reason why he was thought to be his denouncer. _don pedro del frago_, bishop of jaca, was born in 1490, in uncastillo, in the diocese of jaca. pedro studied at paris, and became a doctor of the sorbonne: he learnt hebrew and greek, and was considered one of the best latin poets of his age. he was appointed theologian to charles v., for the first convocation of the council of trent; he assisted at it in 1545, and when the second assembly took place in 1551, he preached a latin sermon to the fathers, on assumption-day: this discourse forms part of the collection of documents relating to the council. in 1561, philip ii. created him bishop of alguer in sardinia, and he attended the third convocation of the council in that quality. don pedro was made, first, bishop of jaca, in 1572; and in the following year, when he was sixty-four years of age, the council of the inquisition commanded the inquisitors of saragossa to take informations against this worthy prelate, as suspected of heresy, because he had been denounced as not being known to confess himself, and that he had no regular confessor; he was likewise accused of not celebrating mass with sufficient solemnity. it is surprising that the council should admit these charges, since a bishop is not obliged to have a regular confessor, and it is not necessary for any person to confess, so that the public may be informed of it. the other charge brought against an old man of sixty-four, shows that there was nothing more serious to accuse him of. philip ii., to reward his services, gave don pedro the bishopric of huesca, in 1577, where he founded an episcopal seminary. he died in 1584. he held a synod at huesca, in which he established constitutions, which he had drawn up and caused to be printed; he also composed a journal of the most remarkable events in the council of trent, from the year 1542 to 1560, and much latin poetry. among the doctors of theology of the council of trent, who were persecuted or punished by the inquisition, the most celebrated is _benedict arias montano_, perhaps the most learned man of his age in the oriental tongues. several towns in spain have disputed the honour of being the place of his birth. montano understood hebrew, chaldee, syriac, arabic, greek, latin, french, italian, english, dutch, and german: he was almoner to the king, a knight of the order of st. jago, and doctor of theology in the university of alcala. as there were no more copies in the trade of the _polyglott_ bible of the cardinal ximenez de cisneros, the celebrated plantin, a printer at antwerp, represented to philip ii. the advantages which might arise from a new edition, with corrections and additions. the king approved of the scheme, and in 1568 appointed arias montano to be the director of the undertaking; he went to flanders to fulfil the intentions of that monarch, and to compose the expurgatory _index_, known as that of the duke of alva's. in order to make the re-impression of the polyglott bible as perfect as possible, a great number of unpublished copies of the bible, in all languages, were procured; this great work is in eight folio volumes. st. pius v. and gregory xiii. expressed their approbation of the execution of this undertaking, in particular briefs addressed to their nuncios in flanders. arias montano went to rome, and presented a copy to the pope in person: he made a very eloquent speech in latin on the occasion, which gave great pleasure to the pope and cardinals. the king of spain made presents of these bibles to all the princes of christendom: it has been called the _royal bible_, because it was done by the king's command; the _philippine_, from his name; of _antwerp_, because it was printed in that place; _plantinian_, from the name of the printer; _polyglott_, from being in several tongues; and of _montano_, because he had the direction of it, though he was assisted by many learned men of the universities of paris, louvain, and alcala de henares. arias returned to spain, where the reputation he had acquired caused many persons to become his enemies, particularly among the jesuits, because he had not consulted diego lainez, alphonso salmeron, or the other jesuits of the council of trent: he made another enemy in leon de castro, a secular priest, professor of the oriental languages at salamanca, because he did not consult the university, and employ him in the work. the certainty that he should be protected by the jesuits induced him to denounce arias montano to the inquisition of rome: this denunciation was in latin: he addressed another, in spanish, to the supreme council at madrid. leon de castro accused him of having given the hebrew text of the bible according to the jewish mss., and of having made the version accord with the opinions of the rabbis, without regarding those of the fathers of the church. he also qualified him as suspected of judaism, because he affected to take the title of rabbi, _master_; this, however, may be looked upon as a calumny, for in a copy of this bible, which i have seen, his superscription is that of _thalmud_, which means _disciple_. other accusations were brought against him by the jesuits. leon de castro, impatient to see arias arrested, wrote on the 9th of november, 1576, to don fernando de la vega de fonseca, a counsellor of the _supreme_, and renewed his denunciation, showing by his letter that he was only actuated by resentment, at finding his pretended zeal so ill repaid. there is no doubt that arias would have been arrested, if he had not been protected by the king, and if the pope had not signified his approbation of his bible by a special brief; he, however, thought it necessary to go to rome to justify himself. leon de castro circulated copies of his denunciation, and the jesuits did the same. he was attacked by fray luis estrada, in a discourse addressed to montano, in 1574; and his denunciation was also refuted by pedro chacon, another learned spaniard, who proved the injury that would accrue to the christian religion, if it was admitted that the hebrew mss. were falsified. de castro published a reply, which he called _apologetic_. arias returned from rome, and he could depend upon the favour of the king; he was not arrested, but confined to the city of madrid. the council decreed that a copy of the denunciations should be given to him; arias replied to and refuted the charges, insinuating that this attack was a plot of the jesuits. the inquisitor-general, in concert with the council, appointed different theologians as qualifiers in the trial of arias, and remitted to them the denunciation of de castro and his apology, the reply of the accused, and the two writings of estrada and chacon. the principal censor was juan de mariana, a jesuit, who was considered very learned in the oriental languages, and in theology. this choice, in which the jesuits had some influence, induced them to suppose that arias would be condemned. they were, however, disappointed; for though mariana declared that the polyglott bible was full of errors and inaccuracies, he acknowledged that they were of no importance, and were not deserving of theological censure. this decision induced the council to pronounce in favour of arias, who was soon after informed that he had gained his cause at rome. mariana was never forgiven by the jesuits for his impartiality, and they afterwards made him a victim of the inquisition. _doctor don diego sobaños_, rector of the university of alcala, a theologian of the third convocation of the council of trent, not only expressed a favourable opinion of the catechism of carranza, but chiefly by his ascendancy over the theologians of his university, induced them to approve the work. he was tried by the inquisition of valladolid, and condemned to a pecuniary penalty, and to be absolved _ad cautelam_, from the censures which he had incurred by approving the catechism. _diego lainez_, born in almazan, in the diocese of siguenza, second general of the society of jesus, was denounced to the inquisition as suspected of lutheranism, and the heresy of the _illuminati_. the jesuits did not pardon valdés for having prosecuted their general, and they contributed to his dismission in 1566. diego lainez, who was at rome, succeeded in evading the jurisdiction of the inquisition of spain. _fray juan de regla_, a jeronimite, who had been confessor to charles v., and provincial of his order in spain, theologian of the council of trent at the second convocation, was arrested by the inquisition of saragossa, on the denunciation of the jesuits, as suspected of lutheranism: he abjured eighteen propositions, was absolved and subjected to a penance. _fray francisco villalba_, a jeronimite of montamarta, born at zamora, was one of the theologians at the second council of trent, and preacher to charles v. and philip ii. he attended the emperor at his death, and pronounced his funeral oration. philip ii. had often consulted him. the inquisition of toledo began an action against him as a lutheran, and being descended from the jews. this arose from the envy of some monks of his order, who denounced him. the general of his order, and his coadjutors, made inquiries on the genealogy of villalba, and discovered that he was not descended either from the jews or any persons punished by the inquisition. the protection of the king prevented the inquisition from obtaining witnesses soon enough to substantiate the charges, and they did not dare to arrest him without further information. at this period, in 1575, villalba died at the escurial, leaving, among honest spaniards, the reputation of being a good catholic. _fray michel de medina_, a franciscan, was a theologian of the third convocation of the council of trent. he was born at benalcazar, and became a member of the college of st. peter and st. paul at the university of alcala, and guardian of the convent of franciscans at toledo; he died in 1578, in the secret prisons of that city, after having been sentenced as suspected of professing the opinions of luther. this accusation was occasioned by his great esteem for the theological writings of fray juan de fero, a monk of his order. he published some of his works, which were denounced to the inquisition, and medina wrote an apology for them, which was placed in the index by cardinal quiroga, in 1583. nicolas antonio has given notices of some works of medina, and asserts that he justified himself on his doctrine. this statement is inaccurate, for medina was declared to be suspected, and however innocent he may be supposed, his works were condemned, and he would have been obliged to abjure and receive absolution _ad cautelam_, if death had not arrested the progress of his trial. _fray pedro de soto_, a dominican, confessor to charles v. and first theologian of pope pius iv. in the third convocation of the council of trent. he was persecuted by the inquisition of valladolid in 1560, on suspicion of lutheranism: this suspicion was founded on the declarations of some accomplices of cazalla, of the favourable opinion given by fray pedro on the catechism of carranza, of his letters to the archbishop, his efforts to induce fray dominic de soto to retract his first opinions of the work, and to approve it, and on what he said at the council. pedro de soto was not arrested, as he died at trent in 1563, during the first forms of his trial. he was taken by philip ii. to england, to labour in the cause of religion. nicolas antonio mentions his works. _fray dominic de soto_, a dominican, professor at salamanca, attended the two first convocations of the council of trent; he had a great knowledge of theology, but he showed himself full of deceit and without any resolution, when, wishing to favour two adverse parties at the same time, he lost the esteem of both. an account of his conduct towards the doctor egidius has been already given. he did not act with more sincerity in the affair of the companion of his studies, the archbishop of toledo. the inquisitors of valladolid commissioned him to examine and censure the catechism of carranza: he noted two hundred propositions, as _heretical_, _ill-sounding_, or _favouring the heretics_. the archbishop being informed of his conduct, wrote to pedro de soto in september, 1558, to complain of fray dominic, and begged that he would take his part and defend him. an epistolary correspondence was the result of this letter, and when carranza was arrested, the letters were found among his papers: among them was one which deserves particular attention; in it fray dominic speaks of the trials he had been put to by the inquisitors of valladolid, and the violence which was used to make him censure the catechism as he had done, although he had said that he thought it good and according with sound doctrine. these words were the origin of his trial, and it is certain that he would have been arrested and taken to the secret prisons; but he died on the 17th of december, 1560, when his trial began to assume a dangerous aspect. _fray juan de ludeña_, dominican, born at madrid, prior of the convent of st. paul at valladolid, and the author of several controversial works against the lutherans. he was prosecuted by the inquisition of valladolid in 1559 for lutheranism, because he gave a favourable opinion of the catechism of carranza. he was not taken to the prisons, but appeared at the _audiences of the charges_ in the hall of the tribunal. he justified himself by declaring that he had only read the work through rapidly, on account of his great confidence in the virtue of the author, and because he did not discover any error in doctrine: he was condemned to a private penance, which was not at all humiliating. this precaution, which prevented his trial from becoming public, gave him the liberty of attending the third convocation of the council of trent in the quality of procurator to the bishop of siguenza, and of preaching before the fathers of that assembly on the first sunday in advent, 1563. if ludeña had had the boldness to defend his censure, he would certainly have been punished severely. to this account a list of other prelates prosecuted by the inquisition is added, but those mentioned in the former chapters are omitted. _abad y la sierra_ (don augustine), bishop of barbastro. he was denounced at madrid in 1796 as a jansenist, because he corresponded with some of the french bishops who had taken the oaths. this denunciation had no result. he was attacked a second time at saragossa in 1801. his accusers renewed the charge of correspondence with the french bishops, and his having granted matrimonial dispensations according to a royal order was imputed to him as a crime. this accusation failed as well as the former. _abad y la sierra_ (don manuel), archbishop of selimbria _in partibus infidelium_, inquisitor-general after don augustine rubin de cevallos. in 1794 charles iv. commanded him to quit his office, and to retire to sopetran, a benedictine monastery near madrid. don manuel was possessed of great talents and profound learning; his opinions were enlightened in the highest degree. in 1793 this prelate commanded me to make him a plan for an establishment of learned qualifiers to censure books and persons. after being informed of the principles of my system, he commissioned me to write a work to expose the vices of the procedure of the holy office, and to propose one more useful to religion and the state. when this prelate lost his office of inquisitor-general, he was denounced as a jansenist by a fanatical monk, but the information was neglected. _arrellano_ (don joseph xavier rodriguez d'), archbishop of burgos, and a member of the council extraordinary of charles iii. this prelate has composed a great number of works on the theological principles of the _summary of st. thomas_, which are taught by the dominicans, and are in opposition to the moral of the jesuits. the partisans of the jesuits, and some friends of the inquisition, denounced arellano as a jansenist, because he expressed opinions favourable to temporal power, and defended the royal and civil authorities against the holy office. the inquisitors could not take any advantage of the denunciation, because it did not express any particular proposition. _buruaga_ (don thomas saenz de). he was archbishop of saragossa, and incurred the same danger as arellano. _muzquiz_ (don raphaël de), born at viana in navarre. he was almoner and preacher to charles iii. and charles iv., confessor of the queen louisa, successively bishop of avila and archbishop of santiago. he was implicated in the affairs of don antonio de la cuesta and his brother, and this was sufficient to induce the inquisitors to prosecute him. this prelate was one of the persecutors of the two brothers. charles iv., having ordered the writings of the trial to be submitted to him, discovered the intrigue, and condemned the archbishop to pay a considerable fine, and receive a reprimand. _acuña_ (don antonio), bishop of zamora, commander of one of the armies of castile, which were raised by the people for the war of the _commons_ against the oppression of the flemings, who governed spain in the name of charles v. that prince wished that the bishop and the priests who engaged in the war, as soldiers, should be punished by the inquisition as suspected of heresy, because they acted in opposition to the spirit of peace taught by jesus christ and his apostles, and contrary to the spirit of the catholic church. leo x., however, pretended that it would be a scandal if the bishop was punished by the holy office; and that it would be sufficient if he was judged at rome, and the priests by their diocesan prelates. _la plana-castillon_ (don joseph de), bishop of tarragona. he was a member of the council-extraordinary convoked by charles iii. the inquisitors noted him as a jansenist for the same reasons as _arellano_. _mendoza_ (don alvarez de), bishop of avila. he was noted in the registers of the inquisition as suspected of heresy, from the declarations of some of the witnesses in the trial of carranza. chapter xxx. of the prosecution of several saints and holy persons by the inquisition. an account has been already given of the persecutions of don ferdinand de talavera, first archbishop of granada; of juan davila, surnamed the apostle of andalusia; and of san juan de dios, founder of the congregation of hospitallers. the following is a list of other holy persons who have been prosecuted by the holy office:-st. ignacius de loyola was denounced as an _illuminati_ to the inquisition of valladolid; and when the inquisitors were about to arrest him, he went to france, afterwards to italy, and arrived at rome, where he was tried and acquitted; after having been so likewise in spain by a juridical sentence of the vicar-general of the bishop of salamanca. his real name was iñigo. melchior cano says, in an unpublished work written during the life of iñigo, "that he fled from spain when the inquisition intended to arrest him as a heretic of the sect of _illuminati_. he went to rome, and wished to be judged by the pope. as no person appeared to accuse him, he was discharged." it is certain that st. ignacius was arrested at salamanca in 1527, as a _fanatic_ and _illuminati_, and that he recovered his liberty in about twenty-two days; he was enjoined in his preaching from qualifying mortal or venial sins, until he had studied theology four years. it is also true that when the inquisitors of valladolid learnt that the saint was in prison, they wrote to cause an inquest to be made of the words and actions which caused a suspicion that he was one of the _illuminati_. but it is not proved that ignacius quitted spain to escape from punishment; it appears that he only fulfilled his intention of studying theology at paris. the humility of the saint was so great, that when he was denounced a second time in that city, to matthew d'ory the apostolical inquisitor, he surrendered himself voluntarily, and had no difficulty in proving his orthodoxy. it is not more certain that he went to rome at that time, since he was still at paris in 1535, and he afterwards returned to spain, where he remained a year without being molested, though he preached in several provinces. he then embarked for italy, went first to bologna, and then to venice, where he was a third time denounced as a heretic, but justified himself to the papal nuncio, and was admitted into the priesthood in that city. ignacius arrived in rome in 1538. it cannot be proved that he was acquitted at rome because he had no accuser, since any criminal may be prosecuted by the minister of the public and punished. it is true that there was not at that time a particular tribunal of the inquisition at rome; but the civil judges could punish heretics, and the procurator-fiscal impeached the criminals. st. ignacius was again denounced by a spaniard named navarro. the informer deposed that ignacius had been accused and convicted of several heresies in spain, france, and venice, and charged him with some other crimes. fortunately his three judges knew his innocence, and he was acquitted. his accuser was banished for life, and three spaniards who had supported his evidence were condemned to retract. thus it appears that melchior cano was misinformed when he wrote, ten years after, that iñigo was acquitted because no accuser appeared. st. francis de borgia, a disciple of loyola, and third general of his order, succeeded lainez, in 1565, and died 1572. he had been the duke de gandia, and was cousin to the king in the third degree, by his mother, jane of arragon. in 1559, the inquisition of valladolid tried several lutherans, who were condemned. many of these heretics, who endeavoured to justify themselves by supporting their doctrine by the opinions of st. francis de borgia, whose virtue was well known, related some discourses and actions of this saint, to prove that they thought as he did on the justification of souls by faith, on the passion and death of jesus christ; and added, to strengthen their defence, the authority of some mystic treatises. among these involuntary persecutors, was fray dominic de roxas, his near relation, and advantage was taken of a former denunciation of his _treatise on christian works_, which he composed while he was known as the duke of gandia. this book, the discourse of melchior cano, and the dominicans, caused him to be accused as favouring the heresy of the _illuminati_. neither his merit, nor his near relationship to the king, would have saved him from the prisons of valladolid, if he had not hastened to rome the moment he was informed that his trial had commenced, and that his enemies would endeavour to secure his person. he escaped from the inquisition, but he had the mortification of seeing his work twice placed in the index, in 1559 and in 1583. juan de ribera was a natural son of don pedro afan de ribera, duke of alcala, and viceroy of naples and catalonia. in 1568, he passed from the bishopric of badajoz to the archbishopric of valencia. his life was irreproachable; but his great charity and ardent zeal, in endeavouring to reform the clergy, made him many enemies. in 1570 philip ii. commanded him to visit the university of valencia, and reform some of its rules. the archbishop began to fulfil his commission, but offended some of the doctors, who conspired against him. they circulated defamatory libels concerning him, during a whole year, and the affair was carried so far that a monk prayed for his conversion publicly in the church of valencia. ribera was denounced to the inquisition, as a heretic, fanatic, and one of the _illuminati_. st. juan de ribera would not demand the punishment of his slanderers; but the procurator-fiscal being informed that onuphrius gacet, a member of the college, was the principal author of the intrigue, denounced him to the provisor and vicar-general of the archbishop. gacet being convicted, was imprisoned. the archbishop did not think it proper that a judge belonging to his own household should take cognizance of offences which concerned him personally; and in order to remove all suspicion of partiality, he wished that the trial should be transferred to the inquisition of valencia, as some of the libels and texts of scripture were employed in so scandalous a manner, that they came under the jurisdiction of the tribunal. st. juan de ribera communicated his design to the cardinal espinosa, inquisitor-general, who commanded the inquisitors of valencia to continue the trial. the inquisitors had already begun the preparatory instruction against the archbishop according to the denunciations; witnesses were found to support them, which is not surprising, since every accuser caused the men devoted to his party to sign his deposition as witnesses. the trial, however, took a sudden turn; instead of proceeding in the usual forms, the inquisitor caused a decree to be read in all the churches of valencia, enjoining every individual to denounce all those who employed passages of the holy scriptures in a scandalous manner, on pain of excommunication. the informations began, and the inquisitors arrested both priests and laymen. the affair was carried on as a matter of faith; some of the accused were already condemned, and others on the point of being so, when the procurator of the holy office declared that doubts existed of the competence of the inquisitors, and advised that the affair should be referred to the pope, who would appease the scruples. the tribunal approved of the proposition, and in 1572, gregory xiii. expedited a brief, which contained all that has been here related, and authorized the inquisitor-general, and the provincial inquisitors, to decide in similar cases, and at the same time sanctioned all that had been done. the inquisitors then condemned several persons, some to corporal punishments, others to pecuniary penalties, declaring that they should have been more severe, but from consideration for the archbishop, who had solicited the pardon of the criminals, that no person might suffer from an injury done to him. st. theresa de jesus, one of the most celebrated women in spain for her talents, was accused before the inquisition of seville. she was not imprisoned, because the trial was suspended after the preparatory instructions. she was born at avila, in 1515. st. juan de la crux, who united with st. theresa in reforming the convents of carmelites, was born at ontiveros in the diocese of avila, in 1542. he was prosecuted by the inquisitions of seville, toledo, and valladolid. he was denounced as a fanatic, and of the _illuminati_: the proceedings did not go farther than the preparatory instruction. st. juan de la crux died at ubeda, in 1591. he composed several works on mental orisons. st. joseph de calasanz, founder of the institute of regular clerks of the christian schools. he was imprisoned in the dungeons of the holy office as a fanatic, and of the _illuminati_; but he justified himself and was acquitted. he died some time after, at the age of ninety-two. he was born in 1556. _venerables._ the venerable fray louis de grenada, born in 1504, was the disciple of juan d'avila; he was of the order of st. dominic, and left several works on religion. he was implicated in the trial of the lutherans at valladolid; fray dominic de roxas defended his opinions, by saying that they were the same as those of fray louis de grenada, carranza, and other good catholics. the procurator-fiscal made fray dominic renew his declaration, with the intention of producing him as a witness in the trial of fray louis: fray dominic was burnt five days after. a sentence condemning some of his works was also brought against fray louis. he was denounced a third time as one of the _illuminati_, but was acquitted. fray louis died in 1588. his works are well known: it is singular that the index in which his condemnation was published, was afterwards prohibited by the inquisitor-general quiroga. the venerable don juan de palafox y mendoza, the natural son of don james palafox, afterwards marquis de hariza and of donna maria de mendoza (who soon after became a carmelite); he was born in 1600. he was made bishop de la puebla de los angelos, in america, in 1639; afterwards archbishop and viceroy of mexico; and lastly, bishop of osma, in spain, in 1653. he died in 1659, leaving several works on history, devotion, and mysticity, and with so great a reputation of sanctity, that his canonization is pending at rome. don juan had great disputes with the jesuits in america, on account of the privileges of his rank, of which the fathers wished to deprive him. the most important of his writings, is his letter to pope innocent x., who terminated their disputes, to a certain degree, by a brief, in 1648. the jesuits did not consider themselves vanquished; they denounced the archbishop as one of the _illuminati_ and a false devotee, at rome, at madrid, and at mexico. the provincial inquisitors of the last city applied to the supreme council, and the venerable palafox suffered everything from them which they could inflict, except imprisonment. they condemned and prohibited the writings which the archbishop had published in his defence, and circulated those of his adversaries, and some libels which they had framed to ruin don antonio gabiola, procurator-fiscal to the inquisition, who openly disapproved of the conduct of the jesuits. this officer wrote to palafox in 1647, exhorting him to make every effort, that the trials before the inquisition of mexico should proceed in a regular manner, according to the spirit of the institution, and encouraging him to oppose his formidable enemies. the jesuits, by their intrigues, succeeded in causing some of the works of palafox to be placed in the index, but the congregation of cardinals having afterwards declared that they contained nothing reprehensible, or which could impede his beatification, the inquisitors were obliged to efface them from the catalogue. chapter xxxi. of the celebrated trial of don carlos, prince of the asturias. all europe has believed that philip ii. caused the inquisition to proceed against don carlos his only son; that the inquisitors condemned the prince to death, and that they only differed on the manner in which the sentence was to be executed. some writers have gone so far as to record the conversations which took place, on this occasion, between philip and the inquisitor-general, don carlos and other persons, with as much confidence as if they had been present at them, and have even quoted part of the sentence as if they had read it. as it has been my principal aim to ascertain the truth, i have examined the archives of the council of the inquisition and others, and i, in consequence, affirm, that don carlos was never tried or condemned by the inquisition; an opinion only was given against the prince by the councillors of state, whose president was the cardinal espinosa, who at that time was the king's favourite. the circumstance of the cardinal being inquisitor-general may have been the cause of the mistake; the deaths of the count de egmont and other noblemen, and the intention of establishing the inquisition in the low countries, may have tended to confirm the general opinion. don carlos lost his life in consequence of a verbal sentence approved by his father, and the holy office was not concerned in it. as i wrote only the history of the inquisition, this fact renders it unnecessary to say more on the subject; but as almost all the historians of europe have said that the inquisitors condemned don carlos, the beat way of disproving it is to relate the facts as they occurred. don carlos was born at valladolid, on the 8th of july in 1545, and lost his mother, maria of portugal, four days after his birth. charles v. scarcely ever saw him until the year 1557, when he abdicated and retired to the monastery of st. juste in estremadura. he visited his grandson in passing through valladolid. it is not true that charles v. educated don carlos, and formed his mind; but during his various journeys he gave him good preceptors. the young prince was nine years old, and his father was on the point of embarking for england, when the emperor wrote a letter from germany, dated the 3rd of july, 1554, in which he speaks (among other tutors intended for his grandson) of don honorato juanez, one of the greatest humanists of his age, and afterwards bishop of osma[34]. it is evident that don carlos was not fond of learning, by a letter from his father, dated brussels, 15th of march, 1558, in which he thanks the preceptor for the trouble he took to give his pupil a taste for reading and to inculcate moral principles; he desires him to pursue the same plan, adding, that "though don carlos may not profit by it so much as he ought, it will not be entirely useless. i have also written to don garcia to pay particular attention in selecting those who see and visit the prince; it will be better to put a taste for study into his head than many other things[35]." philip had imbibed a very disadvantageous opinion of his son's character; he had been informed that the prince amused himself with cutting the throats of the young rabbits which were brought to him, and that he appeared to take pleasure in seeing them expire. fabian estrada relates that the same thing was remarked by a venetian ambassador[36]. war had been declared between france and spain, and the two powers were on the point of giving battle in august, 1558, but at the same time were negotiating a peace in the secret conference held at the abbey of corpans. one of the articles states that don carlos, when he arrived at a proper age, should marry isabella, daughter to henry ii., king of france: the prince was thirteen years of age, and the princess twelve. this circumstance, and the custom observed at that period, of keeping the preliminaries of a peace secret till its conclusion, entirely disproves all that has been said of the love of the young princess, which is the more improbable, as she had never even seen the prince's picture, and very unfavourable accounts of his education had been received. charles v., after his retirement, had been heard to say, that he thought his grandson showed a very vicious disposition. this may be attributed to the education given him by his uncle and aunt, maximilian, king of bohemia, afterwards emperor, and jane of austria. they paid the greatest attention to the health of don carlos, but neglected to repress his violent inclinations, and confided the care of forming his character to his governor, his master, and his principal chaplain. the secret preliminaries only preceded the definitive treaty of peace, which was concluded at cambray on the 8th of april, 1559. mary, queen of england, died during the interval, and philip ii., being then a widower, and only thirty-two years of age, while don carlos was scarcely fourteen, henry ii. thought it better to marry his daughter to the king. the marriage of isabella to philip was therefore agreed upon in the twenty-seventh article, and the secret article in the preliminaries was not mentioned. the marriage was celebrated at toledo, on the 2nd of february, 1560. the general cortes of the kingdom was then held: the members took the oaths of fidelity to don carlos, and acknowledged him as the successor to the crown, on the 22nd of the same month. the young queen could not attend this ceremony, as she was attacked by the small pox a few days after her marriage. don carlos had also fallen sick of the quartan fever, some time before the arrival of the queen in spain. although this disorder did not prevent him from riding on horseback, and attending at the assembly of the cortes, it appears, from contemporary writers, that it rendered him thin, weak, and pale. this circumstance makes it improbable that he was handsome, and renders the journey which mercier pretends that he made to meet the queen at alcala extremely doubtful. when she became convalescent, isabella must certainly have been made acquainted with the neglected education of don carlos, his bad principles, and his insupportable pride. she could not be ignorant how ill he treated his attendants; that when he was angry he broke anything he could seize; and she was probably informed of his behaviour to the duke of alva, at the assembly of the cortes. the duke had the entire regulation of everything relating to the ceremonies, and was so much occupied, that he forgot to attend don carlos when he ought to have taken the oath of fidelity. he was sought for, and found, but the young prince was furious, and insulted him so grossly, that he almost made him forget the respect which was due to him. the king compelled don carlos to make an apology to the duke; but it was too late, they hated each other mortally all their lives. i have not found in the mss. i have examined, anything which might lead to the supposition that don carlos was in love with the queen; the opinion must have been founded on the article in the secret preliminaries, which, there is reason to suppose, the prince was never acquainted with. he had scarcely recovered, and the queen was still in a state of convalescence, when the king sent him to alcala de henares. he was accompanied by don john of austria, his uncle, and by alexander farnese, the hereditary prince of parma, his cousin; his governor, master, and almoner, also attended him, with other domestics. the king expected that this journey would restore the health of his son, and also wished that he should apply himself to his studies, for he did not yet understand latin. don honorato juanez perceived his dislike to learning foreign languages, and therefore gave him his lessons in spanish. on the 9th of may, 1552, don carlos, who was then seventeen years of age, fell down the staircase of his palace, and received several wounds, principally in the spine and head, some of which appeared to be mortal. as soon as the king was informed of the accident, he set off for the palace, that he might give him every assistance, and ordered all the archbishops, and other superior ecclesiastics of the kingdom, to offer up prayers for the recovery of his son. the king, supposing him to be already at the point of death, sent for the body of the blessed diego, a lay franciscan, by which it was said that many miracles had been performed. this body was laid upon that of don carlos, and as he began to recover from that time, it was attributed to the protection of st. diego, who was canonized a short time after, at the request of philip ii. it must be observed, that the prince was attended by the celebrated don andrea basilio, the king's physician, who opened his skull, freed it from a considerable quantity of water which had accumulated, and thus saved his life; but he never entirely recovered, and was subject to pains and weakness in the head, which prevented him from studying, and by producing a disorder in his ideas, rendered his character still more insupportable. don carlos returned to court in 1564, emancipated from his masters: philip recompensed don honorato juanez, by making him bishop of osma. the solid piety and amiableness of this prelate had inspired don carlos with an affection which their separation did not interrupt: this is proved by his letters, which do not give a very advantageous idea of his capacity or information. he often left sentences imperfect, and a different meaning might be inferred from them from what he wished to express. the following is a letter addressed to the prelate:-"to my master the bishop.--my master: i have received your letter in the wood: i am well. god knows how much i should have been delighted to go to see you with the queen[37]: let me know how you were, and if there was much expense. i went from alameda to buitrago, which appeared to me very well. i went to the wood in two days; i returned here in two days, where i have been from wednesday till to day. i am well; i finish. from the country, june 2nd. my best friend in this world. i will do every thing that you wish: i, the prince." he finishes another letter dated on st. john's day, in the same terms. don carlos was so much attached to the bishop, that he obtained a brief from the pope, granting him permission to reside half the year in madrid, that he might enjoy his society; but the infirmities of don honorato prevented him from making use of the permission, and soon caused his death. this prelate availed himself of the attachment of don carlos to give him good advice: the prince appears to have received it as he ought, but his conduct was not improved by it. he gave himself up without restraint to the impetuosity of his passions. some instances may undeceive those who approve the pompous eulogium bestowed on the talents and generosity of don carlos, by st. real, mercier, and others. one day, when the prince was hunting in the wood of aceca, he was in such a passion with his governor, don garcia de toledo, that he rode after him to beat him. don garcia, fearing that he should be forced to forget the respect due to his prince, took flight, and did not stop till he reached madrid, where philip ii. bestowed several favours on him to induce him to forget the insult he had received: he, however, requested to be dismissed, and the king appointed in his place ruy gomez de sylva, prince of evoli. this nobleman was also subjected to the most disagreeable scenes from the violent fits of rage to which don carlos gave way[38]. don diego espinosa (afterwards a cardinal, and bishop of siguenza, inquisitor-general and councillor of state) was the president of the council of castile, and banished from madrid a comedian named _cisneros_, at the time when he was about to perform in a comedy in the apartment of don carlos. the prince desired the president to suspend the sentence until after the representation; but receiving an unfavourable answer, he ran after him in the palace with a poniard in his hand. in a transport of rage he insulted him publicly, saying to him, "what, little priest, do you dare to oppose me, and prevent cisneros from doing as i wish? by the life of my father, i will kill you!" he would have done so, if some grandees who were present had not interposed, and if the president had not retired[39]. don antonio de cordova, brother of the marquis de las navas, and the prince's chamberlain, slept in his apartment. it once happened that he did not wake soon enough to attend the prince when he rung his bell; don carlos quitted his bed in a fury, and attempted to throw him out at the window. don alphonso, fearing to fail in respect to the prince in resisting him, cried out, and the servants immediately came in; he then repaired to the king's apartment, who, on being informed of what had passed, took him into his own service[40]. he often struck his servants. his boot-maker having unfortunately brought him a pair of boots which were too small, he had them cut to pieces and cooked, and forced the man to eat them, which made him so ill that he nearly lost his life. he persisted in going out of the palace at night contrary to all advice, and in a short time his conduct became extremely scandalous and irregular. it is scarcely possible that the queen could be ignorant of all these occurrences; and if she was acquainted with them, it cannot be reasonably supposed that she could have any inclination for don carlos. in 1565, don carlos attempted to go secretly to flanders, contrary to the will of his father; he was assisted in this enterprise by the count de gelbes and the marquis de tabera, his chamberlain. the prince intended to take his governor, the prince d'evoli, with him (not considering that he was in the confidence of the king); he thought his presence would make it supposed that he travelled with the king's consent. his flatterers procured fifty thousand crowns for him, and four habits to disguise themselves when they left madrid: they were persuaded that if the prince d'evoli began the journey, he would be obliged to go on, or that they might get rid of him; but that able politician baffled this scheme in the manner related by cabrera in his life of philip ii. the bishop of osma being informed of the irregular conduct of don carlos, and having also received private orders from the king, wrote a long letter to him[41], directing him how to behave to the king's ministers, and demonstrating the incalculable evils that would arise from a different line of conduct. he took particular pains to avoid an insinuation that the prince stood in need of these admonitions. don carlos received the letter with the respect he always showed for the worthy prelate, but he did not follow his advice, and had given himself up to the greatest excesses, when he learnt that his father had bestowed the government of flanders on the duke of alva. the duke went to take leave of the prince, who told him that the government was more suitable to the heir of the crown. the duke replied, that doubtless the king did not wish to expose him to the dangers which he would incur in the low countries from the quarrels which had arisen between the principal noblemen. this reply, instead of appeasing don carlos, irritated him still more; he drew his dagger, and endeavoured to stab the duke, crying, _i will soon prevent you from going to flanders, for i will stab you to the heart before you shall go_. the duke avoided the blow by stepping back; the prince continued the attack, and the duke had no means of escaping but by seizing don carlos in his arms, and although their strength was very unequal, he succeeded in arresting the blows of this madman. as don carlos still struggled, the duke made a noise in the apartment, and the chamberlains entered; the prince then made his escape, and retired to his cabinet to await the result of this scene, which could not but be disagreeable if the king was informed of it[42]. the vices of don carlos could not destroy the affection of the emperor of germany, his uncle, or that of the empress maria, his aunt. these sovereigns wished to marry him to anne of austria, their daughter: this princess had been known to don carlos from her earliest years, as she was born at cigales in spain in 1549. philip consented to this marriage; but fearing, perhaps, to make his niece miserable if the character and morals of don carlos did not change, he proceeded in the affair with his usual tardiness. on the contrary, as soon as the prince was informed of what was in contemplation, he wished to marry his cousin immediately; and for that purpose resolved to go to germany without the consent of his father, hoping that his presence at vienna would induce the emperor to overcome all difficulties. full of this idea, he employed himself in the execution of his design, and was assisted by the prince of orange, the marquis de berg, the counts horn and egmont, and by the baron de montigny, the chiefs of the conspiracy in flanders. don carlos must be also included among the victims of this conspiracy[43]. the marquis de berg and the baron de montigny were sent to madrid as the deputies of the provinces of flanders, with the consent of margaret of austria, then governess of the low countries, to arrange some points relative to the establishment of the inquisition, and other circumstances which had caused disturbances. these deputies discovered the prince's intention; they endeavoured to confirm him in his resolution, and offered to assist him: it was necessary to make use of an intermediate person in this affair, and they had recourse to m. de vendome, the king's chamberlain. they promised don carlos to declare him chief governor of the low countries, if he would allow liberty of opinion in religion. gregorio leti speaks of a letter from don carlos to the count d'egmont, which was found among the papers of the duke of alva, and was the cause of the execution of the counts egmont and horn: the prince of orange made his escape. at the same time the government was preparing (though by indirect means) the punishment of the deputies in spain. the prince did not accept the money offered by these noblemen for his journey, and the steps he took to obtain it himself, occasioned the discovery of the conspiracy. he wrote to almost all the grandees of spain, to request their assistance in an enterprise which he had planned. he received favourable answers; but most of them contained the condition, _that the enterprise should not be directed against the king_. the admiral of castile was not satisfied with this precaution. the mysterious silence in which this scheme was wrapped, and his knowledge of the small share of understanding possessed by don carlos, made him suspect that the enterprise was criminal. in order to prevent the danger, the admiral remitted the prince's letter to the king, who had already been informed of the affair by don john of austria, to whom don carlos had communicated it. some persons suspected that the assassination of the king formed part of the conspiracy, but the letters only prove the attempt to obtain money. don carlos had taken into his confidence garci alvarez osorio, his valet-de-chambre, and commissioned him to give explanations of the design alluded to in the letters which he carried. this confidant made several journeys to valladolid, burgos, and other cities in castile, in pursuance of his master's plan. the prince did not obtain as much money as he required, and on the 1st of december, 1567, wrote to osorio from madrid; the letter was countersigned by his secretary, martin de gaztalu. he says that he had only received six thousand ducats on all the promises and letters of change which had been negotiated in castile, and that he wanted six hundred thousand for the plan in question. in order to procure this sum he sent him twelve blank letters, signed by himself, and with the same date, that he might fill them up with the names and surnames of the persons to whom they were remitted: he also ordered him to go to seville, and make use of these letters[44]. as the hopes of succeeding in his plan increased, don carlos gave way to more criminal thoughts, and before christmas in the same year he had formed the design of murdering his father. he acted without any plan or discretion, and by the little pains he took to conceal his secret and secure himself from danger, proved that his resolution was that of a madman, rather than of a villain and a conspirator. philip ii. was at the escurial, and all the royal family at madrid; they were to confess and take the sacrament on sunday the 28th of december, which was innocents' day. this was a custom established at the court of madrid, to obtain a jubilee granted to the kings of spain by the popes. don carlos confessed on the 27th to his confessor in ordinary, fray diego de chaves (afterwards confessor to the king). the prince soon after told several persons, that having declared his intention of killing a man of very high rank, his confessor had refused to give him absolution, because he would not promise to renounce his intention. don carlos sent for other priests, but received the same refusal from them all. he then endeavoured to exact a promise from fray juan de tobar, prior of the convent of the dominicans of _atocha_, to give him an unconsecrated wafer at the sacrament; he wished to make it appear that he could approach the altar as well as don john of austria, alexander farnese, and the rest of the royal family. the prior perceived that the prince was a madman, and in that persuasion he asked who the person was that he wished to assassinate, adding, if he was made acquainted with his rank it might induce him not to require the renunciation of his design. this was a bold proposition, but the prior only wished to make don carlos name the individual, and he succeeded. the unfortunate don carlos did not hesitate to name the king, and afterwards made the same declaration to his uncle, don john. one of the prince's ushers, who witnessed all that passed, has given a faithful relation of it. as it is of great importance, and has never been printed, a copy of it is inserted in the account of the arrest of don carlos, at which he was also present. garcia alvarez osorio soon procured a sufficient sum of money at seville, and don carlos prepared to commence his journey towards the middle of january, 1568. he requested his uncle, don john, to accompany him according to a promise he had made when informed of his design. don carlos made many promises to his uncle, who replied that he was ready to do whatever he thought proper, but that he feared the journey could not take place, on account of the danger they would incur. don john informed the king, who was at the escurial, of this circumstance; philip consulted several theologians and jurisconsults to ascertain if he could conscientiously continue to feign ignorance, in order to cause his son to perform his journey. martin d'alpizcueta (so celebrated under the title of the doctor navarro) was one of the persons consulted; he advised the king not to allow don carlos to depart, urging that it was the duty of a sovereign to avoid civil wars, which were likely to be the result of such a journey, as the loyal subjects of flanders might go to war with the rebels. cabrera says that melchior cano was likewise consulted in this affair[45], but fray melchior died in 1560. the prince communicated his intentions to fray diego de chaves, who endeavoured to dissuade him, but without success. don carlos went to make a visit to the wife of don diego de cordova, the king's master of the horse. this lady discovered, from some expressions which dropped from don carlos, that he was prepared to depart, and immediately informed her husband, who was at the escurial with the king, and who gave the letter to his majesty. at last, on the 17th january, 1568, don carlos sent an order to don ramon de tasis, director-general of the posts, to have eight horses ready for him on the following night. tasis, fearing that this order covered some mystery, and knowing the prince's character, replied that all the post-horses were engaged, and gained sufficient time to inform the king. don carlos sent a more peremptory order, and tasis, who dreaded his violence, sent all the post-horses out of madrid, and repaired to the escurial. the king went to the pardo (a castle about two leagues from madrid), where don john joined him. don carlos, who was ignorant of his father's removal, wished to have a conference with his uncle, and went as far as _retamar_[46], whence he sent for him to come to him. the prince recounted all the arrangements for his journey. don john replied that he was ready to set out with him, but as soon as he left him, he returned to the king to tell him all that he had heard. the king immediately went to madrid, where he arrived a few minutes after don carlos[47]. the arrival of the king altered the measures of don carlos, and prevented him from insisting upon having horses that night. louis cabrera has given some details of the circumstances of his arrest, but i prefer inserting the account of the affair, which was written by the usher a few days after. "the prince, my master," says he, "had been for some days unable to take a moment's rest; he was continually repeating that he wished to kill a man whom he hated. he informed don john of austria of his design, but concealed the name of the person. the king went to the escurial, and sent for don john. the subject of their conversation is not known; it was supposed to be concerning the prince's sinister designs. don john, doubtless, revealed all he knew. the king soon after sent post for the doctor velasco; he spoke to him of his plans, and the works at the escurial, gave his orders, and added that he should not return immediately. at this time happened the day of jubilee, which the court was in the habit of gaining at christmas; the prince went on the saturday evening to the convent of st. jerome[48]. i was in attendance about his person. his royal highness confessed at the convent, but could not obtain absolution, on account of his evil intentions. he applied to another confessor, who also refused. the prince said to him, '_decide more quickly_.' the monk replied, '_let your highness cause this case to be discussed by learned men_.' it was eight o'clock in the evening; the prince sent his carriage for the theologians of the convent of _atocha_[49]. fourteen came, two and two; he sent us to madrid to fetch the monks albarado, one an augustine, the other a maturin; he disputed with them all, and obstinately persisted in desiring to be absolved, always repeating that he hated a man until he had killed him. all these monks declaring that it was impossible to comply with the prince's request, he then wished that they should give him an unconsecrated wafer, that the court might believe that he had fulfilled the same duties as the rest of the royal family. this proposal threw the monks into the greatest consternation. many other delicate points were discussed in this conference, which i am not permitted to repeat. everything went wrong; the prior of the convent of _atocha_ took the prince aside, and endeavoured to learn the quality of the person he wished to kill. he replied that he was a man of very high rank, and said no more. at last the prior deceived him, saying, '_my lord, tell me what man it is; it may, perhaps, be possible to give you absolution according to the degree of satisfaction your highness wishes to take._' the prince then declared that it was the king, his father, whom he hated, and that he would have his life. the prior then said, calmly, '_does your highness intend to kill the king yourself, or to employ some person to do it?_' the prince persisted so firmly in his resolution, that he could not obtain absolution, and lost the jubilee. this scene lasted until two hours after midnight; all the monks retired overwhelmed with sorrow, particularly the prince's confessor. the next day i accompanied the prince on his return to the palace, and information was sent to the king of all that had passed. "the monarch repaired to madrid on saturday[50]; the next day he went to hear mass in public, accompanied by his brother and the princes[51]. don john, who was ill with vexation, went to visit don carlos on that day, who ordered the doors to be shut, and asked him what had been the subject of his conversation with the king. don john replied that it was about the galleys[52]. the prince asked him many questions to find out something more, and when he found that his uncle would not be more explicit, he drew his sword. don john retreated to the door; finding it shut, he stood on his defence, and said, '_hold, your highness_.' those who were outside having heard him, opened the doors, and don john retired to his hotel. the prince, feeling indisposed, went to bed, where he remained till six in the evening; he then rose and put on a dressing-gown. as he was still fasting at eight o'clock, he sent for a boiled capon; at half-past nine he again retired to bed. i was on duty on that day also, and i supped in the palace. "at eleven o'clock i saw the king descending the stairs; he was accompanied by the duke de feria, the grand prior[53], the lieutenant-general of the guards, and twelve of his men: the king wore arms over his garments, and had a helmet on; he walked towards the door where i was; i was ordered to shut it, and not to open it to any person whatever. these persons were already in the prince's chamber, when he cried '_who is there?_' the officers went to the head of his bed, and seized his sword and dagger. the duke de feria took an arquebuse loaded with two balls[54]. the prince, having uttered cries and menaces, was told, '_the council of state is present_.' he endeavoured to seize his arms, and to make use of them; he had already jumped out of bed when the king entered. his son then said to him, '_what does your majesty want with me?_' '_you will soon know_,' replied the king. the door and windows were fastened; the king told don carlos to remain quietly in that apartment until he received further orders; he then called the duke de feria, and said, '_i give the prince into your care, that you may guard him and take care of him_:' then addressing louis quijada, the count de lerma, and don rodrigo de mendoza[55], he said to them, '_i commission you to serve and amuse the prince; do not do anything he commands you without first informing me. i order you all to guard him faithfully, on pain of being declared traitors._' at these words the prince began to utter loud cries, and said, '_you had much better kill me, than keep me a prisoner; it is a great scandal to the kingdom: if you do not do it, i shall know how to kill myself._' the king replied, '_that he must take care not to do so, because such acts were only committed by madmen_.' the prince said, '_your majesty treats me so ill, that you will force me to come to that extremity, either from madness or desperation_.' some other conversation passed between them, but nothing was decided on, because neither the time nor place permitted it. "the king retired; the duke took the keys of the doors, and sent away the valets and other servants of the prince. he placed guards in the cabinet, four _monteros d'espinosa_, four spanish halberdiers, and four germans with their lieutenant. he afterwards came to the door where i was, and placed there four _monteros_, and four guards, and told me to retire. the keys of the prince's escrutoires and trunks were then taken to the king; the beds of the valets were taken away. the duke de feria, the count de lerma, and don rodrigo, watched by his highness that night; he was afterwards watched by two chamberlains, who were relieved every six hours. the persons appointed by the king for this service, were the duke de feria, the prince of evoli, the prior, don antonio de toledo, louis quijada, the count de lerma, don fadrique enriquez, and don juan de valesco[56]; they did not wear arms for this service. the guards did not allow us to approach either night or day. two chamberlains prepared the table; the major-domo came to fetch the dinner in the court. no knives were allowed, the meat was taken in already cut up. mass was not said in the prince's apartment, and he has not heard it since he was imprisoned[57]. "on monday[58] the king assembled in his apartment all the councillors and their presidents; he made to each council a report of the arrest of his son; he said that it had taken place for things which concerned the service of god and the kingdom. eye-witnesses have assured me that his majesty shed tears in making this recital. on tuesday, his majesty convoked in his apartment the members of the council of state; they remained there from one o'clock till nine in the evening. it is not known what they were occupied with. the king made an inquest; hoyos was the secretary[59]. the king was present at the declarations of each witness; they were written down, and formed a pile six inches in height. he gave to the council the privileges of the _majorats_[60], as well as those of the king and prince of castile, that they might take cognizance of them. "the queen and the princess were in tears[61]. don juan went to the palace every evening; he went once plainly dressed and in mourning; the king reproached him, and told him to dress himself as usual. on the monday above-mentioned his majesty gave orders that all the prince's valets-de-chambre should retire to their respective homes, promising to provide for them. he caused don fadrique, the admiral's brother, and the prince's major-domo, and don juan de valesco to enter into the service of the queen." _here finishes the relation of the usher._ philip ii. saw very plainly that an event of this nature could not long remain concealed, and would not fail to excite the curiosity of the public. he therefore thought it necessary to give notice of it to all the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, to the pope, the emperor of germany, to several sovereigns of europe, to catherine of austria, queen of portugal, widow of john iii., sister of charles v., aunt and mother-in-law of philip ii., grandmother of the unfortunate prisoner, and aunt and grandmother of anne of austria, to whom he was to have been married. this relationship is the reason why philip calls her in his letter _the mother and mistress of all the family_. louisa cabrera says, that this letter was addressed to the empress of germany, his sister, to whom he also wrote; but the queen of portugal was the only one to whom the title could be applied. in the letter addressed to the pope, and dated from madrid on the 20th of january, the king says, that though he is afflicted, he has the consolation of knowing that he had done his utmost to procure a good education for his son, and had shut his eyes to all that might arise from his physical organization; but that the service of god and his duty to his subjects would no longer permit him to tolerate his conduct. he finishes by promising to inform his holiness further of the affair, and asks his prayers for a happy result. on the same day philip wrote another letter to queen catherine, his aunt, in which he imparts all his paternal grief. he reminds her that he had already informed her of some preceding circumstances which caused fears for the future, and tells her that the arrest would not be followed by any other punishment, but that it had been decided on to put a stop to his irregularities: the letter to the empress is in much the same terms. in that which the king addressed to the cities, he said, that if he only had been a father, he should never have decided upon such a determination, but that as a king he could not to do otherwise, and that it was only in acting thus that he could prevent the evils which his clemency would have occasioned. don diego colmenares has inserted, in his history of segovia, the letter sent by the king to that city. all the other cities and the different authorities received similar letters, which were inclosed in others to the corregidors. in that to the corregidor of madrid, philip commands him to prevent the municipality from making representations in favour of his son, since it was not necessary that a father should be solicited to grant a pardon. he also commands that, in the reply, no detail of the affair should be entered into. on the address from murcia, the king (who had read them all) wrote the following note: "_this letter is written with prudence and reserve_." as it has never been published, and will show the style approved by philip on this occasion, it is here inserted. "sacred, catholic, and royal majesty:--the municipality of murcia has received your majesty's letter containing your determination relating to the imprisonment of our prince. the municipality kisses your majesty's feet a thousand times for the distinguished favour shown them in informing them of this event; it is fully persuaded that the reasons and motives which have guided your majesty were so important, and so conducive to the public good, that you could not do otherwise. your majesty has governed your kingdom so well, maintained your subjects in such a state of peace, and caused religion to prosper so much, that it is natural to conclude, that in an affair which concerns you so nearly, your majesty has only resolved on it for the service of god, and the general welfare of your people. nevertheless, this city cannot help experiencing unfeigned sorrow, for the important causes which have given fresh grief to your majesty; it cannot consider without emotion, that it possesses a sovereign sufficiently just and attached to the good of his kingdom to prefer it before everything, and to make him forget his tender affection for his own son. so great a proof of love must compel your majesty's subjects to testify their gratitude by their submission and fidelity. this city, which has always been distinguished for its zeal, will, at this time, give a greater proof of it in immediately obeying your majesty's commands. god preserve the royal and catholic person of your majesty! in the municipal council of murcia, february 16th, 1568." pius v., and all the other persons to whom philip had written, replied, by interceding for his son. they said it might be hoped that so striking an event would be a check to the prince, and induce him to alter his conduct. no one made more earnest intercessions than maximilian ii.; it is true that he was more interested on account of the marriage intended for his daughter. he was not satisfied with writing, but sent the archduke charles to madrid, for the purpose of interfering. the journey which the archduke was obliged to make into flanders and france, was the ostensible motive for that to madrid. philip was inflexible; he not only detained the prince as a prisoner, but proved, by the following ordinance, that he intended to keep him so. it was confirmed by the secretary pedro del hoyo, and the execution of it confided to the prince of evoli, who was appointed his lieutenant-general in everything relating to the prince. it was as follows:-"the prince of evoli is the chief of all the persons employed in the service of the prince, in guarding, supplying him with food, and in his health, and other ways. he shall cause the door to be fastened by a latch, and not locked, either night or day, and he shall not allow the prince to come out. his majesty appoints to guard, serve, and keep the prince company, the count de lerma, don francis manrique, don rodrigo de benavides, don juan de borgia, don juan de mendoza, and don gonzalo chacon. no other individual (except the physician, the barber, and the _montero_[62], who has the care of the prince's person) shall be allowed to enter the apartment, without the king's permission. the count de lerma shall sleep in the chamber of don carlos. if he cannot do this, one of his colleagues must take his place; one of them shall watch all night: this duty they may fulfil in turns. during the day they shall endeavour to be all together in the apartment, that don carlos may be diverted and enlivened by their company; and they shall not dispense with this duty, unless they are compelled by business. these noblemen shall converse on indifferent topics with the prince; they shall take care to avoid conversing on anything relating to his affair, and as much as possible all that concerns the government; they shall obey all the orders which he gives for his service or satisfaction, but they shall not take charge of any commission from him to people without. if don carlos happens to speak of his imprisonment, they shall not answer him; and they shall relate all that passes to the prince d'evoli. the king particularly recommends to them (if they would not fail in the fidelity and obedience they have sworn), never to report elsewhere anything that has been said or done in the interior, without first obtaining his consent; if any of them hear the affair spoken of, in the city, or in particular houses, he or they must report it to the king. mass shall be said in the chapel, and the prince shall hear it from his chamber, in the presence of two of the noblemen who have the care of him. the breviary, hours, rosary, and any other books which he asks for, shall be given him, provided they treat of nothing but devotion. the six _monteros_ who guard and serve the prince shall take the food for his table into the first saloon, to be served to his highness by the noblemen: a _montero_ shall take the dishes in the second chamber. the _monteros_ shall be employed, and serve night and day, according to the regulations of rui gomez de sylva. two halberdiers shall be placed in the porch of the hall, leading to the court; they shall not allow any person to enter, without the permission of the prince d'evoli. in his absence, they shall ask it of the count de lerma, or of any one of the others, who is appointed to act as chief in their absence. rui gomez de sylva is commissioned to command, in the name of the king, the lieutenant-captains of the spanish and german guards, to place eight or ten halberdiers outside the porch. these men shall also mount guard at the doors of the infantas; two shall be placed in the apartment of rui gomez, from the time when the great gate of the palace is opened, until midnight, when the prince's chamber shall be closed, and the _monteros_ commence their service. each nobleman is permitted to have a servant for his own use; he shall select from his people the one he has most confidence in. all these persons shall make oath, before the prince d'evoli, to execute faithfully the regulations contained in this ordinance. rui gomez, and the noblemen under his orders, shall inform the king of any negligence in this respect. the said rui gomez is commanded to supply all that shall be considered necessary in the service, and which has not been stated in this ordinance. as all the responsibility rests upon him, his orders must be executed by the people under him." the secretary hoyo read this ordinance to all the persons employed, and to each in particular; they all took the oath required. it has been shown by the recital of the usher, that philip gave orders for the trial of his son. the king having proceeded to the interrogation of the witnesses, by means of the secretary hoyo, created a special commission to examine into the affair. it was composed of cardinal espinosa, the inquisitor-general, the prince of evoli, and don diego bribiesca de muñatones, a counsellor of castile: the king presided. muñatones was charged with the instruction of the process. philip, who wished to give this affair the air of a proceeding for a crime of _lese-majesté_, caused to be brought from the royal archives of barcelona, the writings of a trial instituted by his great-great grandfather, john ii., king of aragon and navarre, against charles, his eldest son, prince of biana and girone, who had already been acknowledged as the successor to the throne. the ordinance concerning the imprisonment of don carlos was so strictly observed, that the queen and the princess jane, who wished to see and console him, were refused permission to do so by the king. philip was so suspicious of every one, that he lived in a kind of captivity, and did not make his accustomed excursions to aranjuez, the pardo, and the escurial. he kept himself shut up in his apartment; the least noise in the street drew him to the window, such was his dread of some tumult. he had always suspected the flemings, or other persons, of being the prince's partisans, or at least to affect it. the unhappy don carlos, who was not accustomed to conquer his passions, could never make use of any means to palliate his misfortune. he gave himself up to the greatest impatience, and refused to confess, to enable himself to fulfil the duty always performed by the royal family on palm sunday. his old master, the bishop of osma, had died in 1566. the king commanded the doctor suarez de toledo, his first almoner, to visit him, and try to persuade him: his efforts were unavailing, though don carlos always treated him with great respect. on easter-day, suarez wrote a long and touching letter to him, in which he proved by unanswerable arguments, that his highness did not take the proper means of terminating the affair favourably. he represented that his highness had no longer either friends or partisans, and reminded him of several scandalous scenes which had increased the number of his enemies; he finishes his letter in the following terms: "your highness may easily imagine all that will be said when it is known that you do not confess, and when many other terrible things are discovered; some are so much so, that if it concerned any other person than your highness, _the holy office would be entitled to inquire if you are really a christian_. i declare to your highness, with all truth and fidelity, that you only expose yourself to lose your rank, and (what is worse) your soul. i am obliged to say, in the grief and bitterness of my heart, that there is no remedy, and the only advice i can give you, is to return towards god and your father, who is his representative on earth. if your highness will follow my advice, you will apply to the president, and other virtuous persons, who will not fail to tell you the truth, and conduct you in the right way." this letter had no more success than any of the other attempts; the prince still refused to confess. the despair which don carlos soon felt, made him neglect all regularity in taking food and rest. he became so heated by the rage which preyed on him, that iced water (which he used continually) had no effect on him. he caused a great quantity of ice to be put into his bed, to temper the dryness of his skin, which was become insupportable. he walked about naked, and without shoes or stockings, on the pavement, and remained whole nights in this state. in the month of june, he refused all nourishment but iced water, for eleven days, and became so weak that it was supposed he had not long to live. the king being informed, went to visit him, and addressed some words of consolation to him, the result of which was to induce the prince to eat more than was proper for him in his weak state, and this excess brought on a malignant fever, accompanied by a dangerous dysentery. the prince was attended by doctor olivares, chief physician to the king; he went in alone to the patient, and when he returned, held a consultation with the other physicians of the king, in the presence of the prince d'evoli. the preliminary case, drawn by don diego bribiesca de muñatones, was sufficiently advanced in the month of july, to allow of a final sentence, without examining the criminal, or to appoint a procurator for the king, who in quality of fiscal accused the prince of the crimes stated in the _preparatory instruction_. no judicial notice was sent to the prince; they had only the declarations of the witnesses, letters, and other papers. these writings proved that, according to the laws of the kingdom, don carlos must be condemned to death, for high treason, on two counts: first, for having attempted parricide; and secondly, for having framed a plan to usurp the sovereignty of flanders, by means of a civil war. muñatones made a report of this, and the punishments established for such crimes, to the king; he added, that particular circumstances, and the rank of the criminal, might authorize his majesty to declare, that general laws could not affect the eldest sons of kings, because they were subject to laws of a higher nature, those which related to policy, and the welfare of the state; lastly, that the monarch might, for the good of his subjects, commute the punishment. cardinal espinosa and the prince of evoli were of the opinion of muñatones; philip then said, that his heart inclined him to follow their advice, but that his conscience would not permit him to do so: that he thought it would be far from being a benefit to spain; that, on the contrary, he thought it would be the greatest misfortune that could happen to his kingdom, to be governed by a king devoid of knowledge, talents, judgment, or virtue, full of vices and passions, and, above all, furious, ferocious and sanguinary; that these considerations compelled him, notwithstanding his attachment to his son, and his anguish at so terrible a sacrifice, to suffer the laws to take their course; but considering that the health of don carlos was in such a state that there was no hope of prolonging his life, he thought it would be better to suffer him to satisfy himself in his inclinations in eating and drinking, since, from the disorder of his ideas, he would not fail to commit some excess, which would lead him to the tomb: that the only thing which concerned him, was the necessity of persuading his son that his death was inevitable, and that in consequence he must confess himself to ensure salvation; that this was the greatest proof of affection which he could show to his son and the spanish nation. this decision of the king is not mentioned in the writings of the trial. there was no sentence written or signed; but the secretary hoyo, in a note, says, _that at this period of the trial the prince died of his malady, and this was the reason why no sentence was pronounced_. the proof of the fact exists in other papers, in which the curious anecdotes of the time have been related. although these documents are not authentic, they merit attention, as they were written by persons employed in the king's palace, and accord with what some writers have insinuated. it is true that they did think proper not to speak plainly on such delicate subjects, but they have said enough to lead to the truth. cardinal espinosa and the prince of evoli thought that they should fulfil the intentions of philip in hastening the death of don carlos; they agreed that the physician should inform the prince of his condition, without saying anything of the king's displeasure or of the trial, and that he should prepare him to receive the exhortations which would be made for the benefit of his soul: by these means they hoped to induce him to confess and prepare himself for death, which would put an end to his misfortunes. the prince of evoli held a conference with the doctor olivares. he spoke to him in that mysterious and important manner which persons versed in the politics of courts know so well how to employ, when it is necessary to further the views of their sovereign, or their own designs. rui gomez de sylva was perfect in this art, according to the opinion of his friend antonio perez, the first secretary of state, who was well acquainted with all that passed. in one of his letters he says, _that after the death of the prince of evoli, there would be no one but himself initiated in these mysteries_. olivares perfectly understood that he was expected to execute the sentence of death pronounced by the king; and that it was to be done in such a manner, that the prince's honour should not be affected; in short, that his death was to appear natural. he therefore endeavoured to express himself, so as to inform the prince of evoli that he comprehended him, and considered it as an order from the king. on the 20th of july, olivares ordered a medicine which don carlos took. louis cabrera, who was employed in the palace at that time, and who often saw rui gomez, says in his history of philip ii., that "_this medicine did not produce any beneficial effect; and the malady appearing to be mortal_, the physician informed the patient, that he must prepare to die like a good christian, and receive the sacraments." the histories published by cabrera, wander-hamen, opmero and estrada, all agree with the secret memoirs of the times which i have read. it is not surprising, then, that the prince of orange, in his manifesto against philip ii., should impute to him the death of his son[63]; that james augustus de thou, a french contemporary historian, has done the same, from the accounts given him by louis de foix, a french architect, employed in building the escurial, and pedro justiniani, a venetian nobleman, who resided some time in spain; although he was mistaken in making the holy office interfere in this affair; in supposing that the prince died, in a few hours, from poison; and in advancing some other errors on the authority of his two informants[64]. it is not more surprising that the authors cited by gregorio leti have stated things which appear to be written by the pen of a novelist or romance writer, because the death of the prince being occasioned by a mysterious medicine, administered according to a private order, no one doubted that it was caused by violence, and endeavoured to conjecture how it was done. but the truth is always discovered sooner or later, and after a century and a half, we find so many isolated facts and accounts of this event, that they produce conviction, and show that the death of don carlos had the external appearances of a natural death, and that he himself considered it to be so. the accounts of some foreign historians, of the result of the medicine, have been refuted by authentic documents: those of the writers, who have composed romances under the names of histories, are equally disproved. i shall therefore proceed to relate the facts as they occurred. don carlos, on being informed by olivares that death was approaching, desired that fray diego de chaves, his confessor, might be sent for: his orders were executed on the 21st of july. the prince commissioned the monk to ask pardon of his father, in his name; the king sent to tell him, that he granted it with all his heart, as well as his blessing, and that he hoped his repentance would obtain pardon from god. on the same day he received the sacraments of the eucharist and extreme unction with great devotion. he also, with the king's consent, made a will, which was written by martin de gatzelu, his secretary. on the 22nd and 23rd he was in a dying state, and tranquilly listened to the exhortations of his confessor and doctor suarez de toledo. the ministers proposed to the king that he should see his son, and give him his blessing in person, as it would be a consolation to him on his death-bed. philip asked the opinion of the two ecclesiastics above-mentioned. they said that don carlos was well-disposed, and it might be feared that the sight of his father would occasion some disturbance in his mind. this motive restrained him for the present; but being informed, on the night of the 23rd, that his son was at the point of death, he went to his apartment, and extending his arms between the prince of evoli and the grand prior, he gave him his blessing a second time, without being perceived. he then retired weeping, and don carlos expired soon after, at four o'clock in the morning of the 24th of july, which was the day before the festival of st. james, the patron saint of spain. the death of don carlos was not kept secret. he was interred, with all the pomp due to his rank, in the church of the convent of the nuns of st. dominic _el real_, at madrid, but there was no funeral oration. philip ii. announced the death of don carlos to all the authorities who had been informed of his imprisonment. the city of madrid also celebrated solemn obsequies on the 14th of august. the sermon was preached by fray juan de tobar, the same monk who had deceived the prince, to make him confess who he wished to kill. in the same year a long account of the sickness, death, and funeral of don carlos was printed. the municipality of madrid had ordered it to be written by juan lopez del hoyo, professor of latin in that capital. spain regretted the death of don carlos, as the king had no other son. by his third wife, elizabeth or isabella of france, he had only had two daughters, and that virtuous princess died of a miscarriage in the same year, 1568. this misfortune (and the bad opinion conceived by all europe of philip ii., who was considered as a cruel and hypocritical prince) occasioned the imputation of having caused the queen's death. he was first accused of it by the prince of orange, and afterwards by many other persons. france had proofs of the contrary, since charles ix. sent an ambassador extraordinary to madrid, with compliments of condolence to the king, who was really inconsolable for the loss of his expected heir. juan lopez del hoyo, in 1569, published a faithful account of the illness and death of the queen; and some circumstances which he mentions seem incompatible with the use of poison, which is said to have occasioned her death. it is evident that the prince of orange suffered himself to be misled by hatred and revenge. the reality of a crime cannot be believed when neither the end nor motives for it can be perceived, and philip was certainly interested in the queen's life. some writers, after having supposed that the crime was committed, have endeavoured to discover the cause, and some romance-writers have thought that they discovered it in the pretended intrigue with don carlos. supposing it to be true, there are historical proofs that it could not have commenced till after his return from alcala, and at that time he ardently wished to marry his cousin, anne of austria. this princess became the fourth wife of philip, and the mother of his successor, philip iii. philip ii., wishing to commemorate the justice of his conduct towards his son, ordered that the writings of the trial, with the original, and translation from the catalonian tongue of that of don charles, prince of biana, should be collected and preserved. don francis de mora, marquis de castel rodrigo, who became the king's confidant after the death of rui gomez de sylva, in 1592, deposited these writings in a green coffer, which the king afterwards sent shut, and without a key, to the royal archives of simancas, where it is still, if it has not been carried away by the order of the french government, as it has been reported in spain. chapter xxxii. trial of the archbishop of toledo. one of the most illustrious victims of the holy office was don bartholomew carranza de miranda, archbishop of toledo. the writings of the trial amount to twenty-four folio volumes, each containing one thousand or twelve hundred pages. this immense mass of writings must doubtless contain many facts unknown to don pedro salazar de mendoza, the author of the life of carranza. this respectable writer spared no expense to discover the truth, but could not penetrate the mystery which envelopes the proceedings of the inquisition. i have read this trial, which enables me to fill up the omissions of salazar de mendoza, and correct his involuntary errors. bartholomew carranza was born in 1503, at _miranda de arga_, a little borough in the kingdom of navarre: he was the son of pedro carranza, and grandson of bartholomew, both members of the nobility of miranda. his true family name, consequently, was _carranza_; but while he was a dominican monk, he was only called miranda. when he was made archbishop of toledo, he was named carranza de miranda, to prove the identity: he, however, only signed the name fray bartholomeus toletanus, according to the custom of the times. the family of carranza has been perpetuated to the eighteenth century, in the direct male line from pedro, brother to the archbishop. at twelve years of age, bartholomew, through the interest of his uncle sancho de carranza, a doctor in the university of alcala de henares, and the antagonist of erasmus, was received into the college of st. eugenius, which was dependant on the university. when he attained his fifteenth year, he passed into the college of st. balbina, to study what was then called _philosophy and the arts_, which was confined to some general ideas of logic, metaphysics, and physics. in 1520 he took the habit of a dominican, in the convent of _venaleç_, in the _alcarria_, which was afterwards transferred to the city of _guadalaxara_. as soon as he had professed, he was sent to study theology in the college of st. stephen of salamanca and in 1525 he was placed in that of st. gregory of valladolid. a proof of the rapid progress of bartholomew may be seen in his trial. fray michel de st. martin, a dominican monk, and a professor in the same college at valladolid, denounced him to the holy office, in 1530, deposing that, two or three years before, he had had several conversations with carranza, on subjects concerning his conscience; that he had remarked that he limited the power of the pope, relating to the ecclesiastical ceremonies; and that he had reprimanded him for so erroneous an opinion. carranza was also denounced in 1530, by fray juan de villamartin, as having been the ardent defender of erasmus, even on the subject of the sacrament of penance, and the frequent confession of persons who are only in a state of venial sin; that having opposed to him the example of st. jerome, he maintained that it was impossible to support the fact by the authority of any respectable ecclesiastical historian; that carranza also said erasmus ought not to be contemned, for saying that the apocalypse was not the work of st. john the evangelist, but of another priest, who bore the same name. these denunciations were not made use of until the instruction of the trial of the archbishop was far advanced, when every method was employed to find materials for accusations; the _denunciations_ and _suspended trials_ were then looked over, and those above-mentioned were found. they were noted as declarations of witnesses, under the numbers ninety-four and ninety-five; while, according to the dates, they ought to have been the first. as these denunciations were not known out of the holy office, the rector and counsellors of the college of st. gregory de valladolid presented carranza, in 1530, as a professor of philosophy; in 1534 he was appointed professor of theology, and soon after a qualifier to the holy office of valladolid. in 1539 he was sent to rome, to attend a general chapter of his order, where he was chosen to maintain the theses, which were only confided to persons capable of performing their duty well: the talents he displayed in these exercises obtained him the rank of doctor and master of theology; and paul iii. permitted him to read prohibited books. on his return to spain, he professed theology, with the greatest success, in his college of st. gregory. the harvest having entirely failed in the mountains of leon and santander in 1540, the inhabitants went to valladolid in great numbers. carranza not only maintained forty of these poor people in his college, but sold his books to assist others in the city, only retaining his bible, and the _summary_ of st. thomas. during this period he was continually occupied, either at the holy office as a qualifier, or at home in censuring books sent to him by the supreme council, or in preaching sermons at the _auto-da-fé_. in the same year, 1540, carranza was appointed bishop of cuzco, but he refused to go to south america, except as a preacher of the gospel. in 1544, carranza was sent to the council of trent, as theologian to charles v. he remained there three years, and it was there that cardinal pacheco (dean of the spanish prelates who attended at the council) engaged him to preach on _justification_ before the fathers. in 1546, he published at rome one of his works, called _the summary of councils_; and another at venice, of _theological controversies_. in 1547 he published a treatise _on the residence of bishops_, which created him many enemies, and which was attacked by fray ambrose caterino, and defended by fray dominic de soto, both dominicans. on his return to spain, in 1548, he refused the appointment of confessor to philip ii., then prince of the asturias, and in 1549 declined accepting the bishopric of the canaries. he was elected in the same year prior of the dominicans of palencia, which he accepted. in 1550 he was made provincial of the convents of castile, and visited his province. the council of trent being again convoked in 1651, carranza was commanded by the emperor to attend it, and furnished with full powers by the cardinal archbishop of toledo; he assisted at the different assemblies until 1552, when he was suspended the second time. among the different commissions confided to him, was that of preparing an _index_. on his return to spain, the period of his provincialship had expired, and he re-entered his college of st. gregory of valladolid. the alliance between philip ii. and mary, queen of england, being fixed, fray bartholomew, in 1554, went to england in order to assist cardinal pole in preparing the kingdom to return to the catholic faith. carranza passed the greatest part of his time in preaching, and succeeded in converting a great number of heretics. when the king left england to go to brussels, carranza remained with the queen, to whom he was useful in supporting the catholic doctrine in the universities, and arranging other affairs of the greatest importance. he revised, by the order of cardinal pole, the canons which had been decreed by a national council, and caused several obstinate heretics to be punished, particularly thomas cranmer, archbishop of canterbury, and martin bucer; his zeal often exposed him to great danger. in 1557 he went to flanders, where he caused all books infected with the heresy of luther to be burnt. he did the same at frankfort, and also informed the king that many of these books were introduced into spain by way of aragon. philip, in consequence, gave the necessary orders to the inquisitor-general to intercept these works. in order to render this measure more effectual, carranza drew up a list of suspected spaniards who had fled to germany and flanders. the original copy of this list was found among his papers when he was arrested. on the death of cardinal siliceo, archbishop of toledo, the king appointed carranza to succeed him; he however refused to accept the dignity, and named don gaspard de zuñiga y avellanada, bishop of segovia, don francis de navarra, bishop of badajoz, and don alphonso de castro, a franciscan, as more worthy of the king's choice than himself. he persisted in his refusal, until the king commanded him on his allegiance to accept the archbishopric: the original of this royal order was also found among the papers of carranza. paul iv. dispensed with the usual formalities; he was _preconised_ in a full consistory on the 16th december, 1557, and his bulls were expedited. pedro de merida, canon of palencia, administrated until the arrival of the archbishop. the inquisition of valladolid afterwards prosecuted him for some letters which he had written to carranza, and which were found among his papers; he was also implicated by fray dominic de roxas, and by other accomplices of dr. cazalla. the archbishop carranza was consecrated at brussels on the 27th of february in the same year, by the cardinal granville, afterwards first archbishop of malines. he published at antwerp his catechism in spanish, under the title of _commentaries of the very reverend fray bartholomew carranza de miranda, archbishop of toledo, on the christian catechism, in four parts_[65]. he afterwards returned to spain, and assisted several times at the councils of castile and the inquisition. about the middle of september he went to the monastery of st. juste, to make a report to charles v. of some affairs confided to him by philip ii., and to pay his respects to the emperor, who was then ill, and died two days after. an account has been given in the eighteenth chapter of what passed at this visit. he then repaired to his archbishopric, where he remained six months, and then went to alcala de henares, with the intention of visiting his diocese. during the six months that he passed in the capital, his conduct was exemplary, passing his time in preaching, distributing alms, visiting the prisoners and the sick, and in causing prayers to be said for the dead. he employed himself in the same manner in all the places he passed through, until he arrived at torrelaguna, where he was arrested by the inquisition on the 22nd of august. he was taken back to valladolid, and imprisoned in a house belonging to the eldest branch of the family of don pedro gonzalez de leon, where don diego gonzalez, an inquisitor, was appointed to guard him. carranza had made enemies of several bishops, when he published his treatise _on the residence of bishops_: the reputation which he acquired for learning in the council of trent, at the expense of several individuals who considered themselves superior to him, rendered them also his enemies, or at least his rivals. of this number were melchior cano, who has been already mentioned; their rivalry was changed into open jealousy on his part, and on that of fray juan de regla, when carranza was appointed archbishop of toledo. this hatred became common to others, when, after refusing the archbishopric, fray bartholomew recommended the three persons before mentioned to the king: among them were don ferdinand valdes, inquisitor-general; don pedro de castro, bishop of cuença, a son of the count de lemos; and a man of much greater merit, don antonio augustine, archbishop of tarragona, who was the luminary of spain in sacred literature. these persons endeavoured to conceal their sentiments, but their words and actions betrayed them. besides this principal motive for the conspiracy against the archbishop, we may be permitted to suppose another. carranza had given a copy of his catechism to the marchioness d'alcañices in several detached pieces; when it was printed, he distributed it as it came from the press. the marchioness d'alcañices intrusted the work to several pupils or partisans of the archbishop, among whom were fray juan de la peña, fray francis de tordesillas, and fray louis de la cruz; it was also read by melchior cano, who, in different conversations, plainly insinuated that it contained propositions tending to the lutheran heresy. don ferdinand valdés being informed of these circumstances, bought several copies of the catechism, and sent them to persons with whose opinions he was well acquainted, desiring them to read it attentively, and to observe all that merited theological censure, but not to give their opinions in writing until they had again communicated with him. the persons he selected, were fray melchior cano, fray dominic soto, fray dominic cuevas, the master carlos, and fray pedro ibarra, provincial of the franciscans. this work was also sent to don pedro de castro, bishop of cuença; and it may be said that his reply, dated from pareja, april 28, 1558, was the foundation of the trial of carranza. it appears from the letter to the inquisitor-general, that he had requested to know the opinion of de castro on the catechism, and he informs him that he thinks it a dangerous work, promises to give him his reasons for it, and adds that the article on _justification_ tends towards lutheranism. he says that having heard the author speak in the same manner at the council of trent, he had conceived a bad opinion of his doctrine, although he did not think that carranza really held such erroneous sentiments. don pedro further says, that his present opinion is supported by facts, which he had already communicated to doctor andres perez, a member of the supreme council. it appears, by a paper signed by the same bishop, on the first of september, 1559, that his communications to the counsellor were confined to the following articles: that being present at a sermon preached by carranza before the king in london, he observed that he spoke of the _justification of men by a lively faith in the passion and death of jesus christ_, in terms approaching to lutheranism; that fray juan de villagarcia informed him that don bartholomew had preached the sermon in the preceding year at valladolid, and that he then thought it reprehensible. the bishop adds, that he spoke to carranza on the subject, and attributed his silence to humility; that at another time when he was preaching before the king, he said, that some sins were irremissible. at first he thought he had not understood him, but carranza afterwards repeated the same proposition several times. the bishop concluded by stating, that in another sermon preached before the king, don bartholomew spoke of the indulgences granted by the bull of the crusade, as if they might be bought for two rials (_ten pence_); and that he thought such language very dangerous to hold in england in the midst of heretics. all this accords with the declaration of fray angel del castillo, after the arrest of the archbishop, who deposed that de castro said that _carranza had preached like philip melancthon_. it appears from this statement, that don pedro de castro did not feel any scruples until three years after his journey to london, and did not think himself obliged to denounce carranza, until he had lost all hope of becoming archbishop of toledo; if don bartholomew had remained a single month, he would never have been accused. the inquisitor-general gave up the letter he had received from de castro, to begin the proceedings, but he did not mention that which he had written himself, which shows that it was not official. the counsellor don andrea perez neither deposed nor proved any of the facts related by the bishop, so that the declaration was not entered in the proceedings when the order for the arrest was issued; about a year and a half after, it was thought proper to supply the place of it, by the insertion of a writing signed by the bishop. the court of rome was astonished at the irregularity of the proceedings, when it received the writings of the trial. fray juan de villagarcia, being already imprisoned, in 1561, declared that he perfectly remembered hearing de castro mention the sermon preached by carranza in london, but not that he had been scandalized at it, or that he had said anything which could produce that effect. villagarcia said, that as the confidant of the archbishop, and having been employed to transcribe his works, he was more capable of defending the purity of his faith than any other person; and endeavoured to prove that there was none but catholic propositions in his works. it is evident that the trial originated in the malice of the inquisitor-general, which induced him to give the catechism to the enemies of carranza: when he was informed by cano of the existence of the propositions which caused the denunciation, he sent the work officially to him, and to the other _qualifiers_, soto and cuevas; but this did not take place till after some circumstances occurred, during the trials of several lutherans, which seem to have caused that of carranza, although the fact was entirely false. the inquisitor-general being informed that carranza was intimate with the marquises d'alcañices and de poza, many of whose friends and relations were in the prisons of the inquisition, ordered the inquisitors of valladolid to obtain information of the prisoners concerning the faith of the archbishop. a report was also spread, that several persons had discovered a similarity between the opinions of carranza and cazalla; which succeeded so well, that a partisan of cano had the audacity to announce from the pulpit, when cazalla was arrested, that an order had been issued to arrest the archbishop of toledo. on the 25th of april, 1558, donna antoinia mella deposed, that christopher de padilla had given her a ms. containing lutheran doctrines, which he said was written by carranza. this declaration was not communicated to the archbishop, because the work was composed by fray dominic de roxas. on the 17th of the same month, pedro de sotelo made a similar declaration. on the 29th of april, donna anne henriquez d'almanza deposed, that she asked fray dominic de roxas if he should treat of points of doctrine with the archbishop, and that he said he should not, because carranza had just written a book against the lutherans. she added that she had heard francis de vibero say, that the archbishop would burn in hell, because, knowing better than any person that the doctrine of luther was orthodox, he had condemned several persons to the flames in england, for professing it. francis de vibero, on being interrogated, declared that he did not remember to have used these words, and that he thought it doubtful, because carranza had always been a roman catholic. donna catherine de rios, prioress of the convent of st. catherine, at valladolid, deposed, on the 24th of april, that she heard fray dominic de roxas say, that don bartholomew had declared that _he did not find any evidence of the existence of purgatory in the holy scriptures_: she added however, on the following day, that she was persuaded that carranza did believe in purgatory, because he always exhorted his monks to perform masses for the dead; she deposed, that having asked donna anne henriquez, if the archbishop held the same opinion, that she did; she replied, that on the contrary he had written a book in refutation of them; that donna bernardina de roxas told her that she had learnt from fray dominic, that the archbishop had advised him _not to suffer himself to be led away by his genius_; that sabino astete, canon of zamora, assured her that he had heard fray dominic declare that he had the greatest compassion for carranza, because he did not hold the same opinions as he did. this declaration was not communicated to the archbishop in the _publication of the depositions of the witnesses_, because it contained nothing against him. if these declarations had been made known to his defender, he might have derived great benefit from them. fray dominic de roxas being summoned on the proposition relating to purgatory, declared that don bartholomew had always spoken on that subject like a good catholic. fray juan manuelez, a dominican, deposed on the 18th october, 1560, that nine or ten years before, he conversed with don bartholomew concerning a lutheran who was condemned to be burnt, but could not be certain whether the archbishop advanced the following proposition: _it is certain that the holy scriptures do not assure us that there is a purgatory_,--this witness makes his deposition a year after the arrest of the archbishop, and is not certain of the fact. would he not have denounced him ten years before, if he had heard him speak in that manner? on the 4th of may, 1559, pedro de cazalla deposed that in 1554 he heard don charles de seso deny the existence of a purgatory, and repeat the proposition before don bartholomew carranza, who appeared scandalized, but did not attempt to refute or denounce him. the deponent also said, that fray dominic de roxas told him, that he had informed carranza that he could not reconcile the doctrines of justification and purgatory, and he replied that _it would not be a great evil if there was no purgatory_; that having answered from the decision of the church, his master said to him, _you are not yet capable of understanding this matter_. don charles de seso being interrogated on this subject on the 27th june, replied that don bartholomew had told him that he ought to believe in the existence of purgatory, and that if he was not obliged to depart, he would answer his arguments in a satisfactory manner; that pedro cazalla was the only person to whom he had communicated his conversation with carranza; that he had reason to believe his present summons was occasioned by the declaration of cazalla, who had not spoken the truth. on the 20th and 23rd, fray dominic declared that carranza had always spoken of purgatory like a good catholic. thus it appears that the declarations of cazalla were proved to be false, before the order for an arrest was issued. on the 7th of may, 1559, the inquisitor, william, remitted a letter from carranza, in which he mentions don charles de seso, and says that he did not denounce him, because he thought he had only been led into error; which was proved by the reply of seso, when reprimanded by him, that he would only believe that which was really commanded by the catholic religion, and that he then told him he could not do better. garcia barbon de bexega, an alguazil of the inquisition of calahorra, deposed on the 12th of may, that he arrested fray dominic de roxas, when he endeavoured to fly from spain, and that when conversing with him on the increase of the number of lutherans, he asked if his master carranza was of that sect; roxas replied in the negative; that he was not going to seek him in flanders for that reason, but to obtain from the king the favour of not being degraded. this declaration was not communicated to the archbishop in the _publication of the depositions_. on the 13th of may, fray dominic de roxas declared that fray francis de tordesillas had expressed pity for him, when he heard him speak of _justification_, and make use of phrases in his discourses tinctured with lutheranism; that this also happened to carranza. fray francis, on being examined, deposed, that having copied several works of the archbishop, and translated others into latin, for the marchioness d'alcañices and different persons, he had introduced a _preface_ into one ms., stating that the way to avoid falling into error in reading these works, was to understand in a catholic sense some propositions on _justification_, which might be interpreted in a different manner; that all that carranza had written was in the spirit of the catholic religion; that he, deponent, knew his intentions to be pure, because he had seen him practise good works, and his sermons, conferences, and private life, perfectly accorded with the true principles of faith. donna frances de zuñiga, deposed on the 2d of june, that carranza had told her, that provided she was not in a state of mortal sin, she might approach the holy table without confessing; that on the 13th of july she heard fray dominic de roxas say that carranza thought as he did on some of luther's opinions, but not on all; that the nuns of the convent of bethlehem did not believe in purgatory, because pedro cazalla had told them that such was the opinion of carranza. fray dominic, being summoned, made the depositions relating to purgatory above mentioned: he added, on the 21st of march, that don bartholomew always explained his propositions in a catholic sense, and detested the lutheran doctrine; and that if he, deponent, had always profited by these explanations, he would not have fallen into error. pedro cazalla being interrogated concerning the nuns of bethlehem, replied that he did not remember to have spoken in that manner, but that he had concluded that such were the opinions of carranza when he did not denounce don charles de seso. on the 13th of july the inquisitors seized all the books composed by carranza in the house of the marchioness d'alcañices, who on the 28th deposed, that having read the _commentaries on the prophecies of isaiah_, written by carranza, she asked fray juan de villagarcia from what book the author had taken so much erudition? fray juan replied that it was contained in a work of luther, and that the book could not be confided to every person, because the good was too often mixed with evil in those authors. fray juan de villagarcia being interrogated on this subject, replied that it was a work of _oecolampadius_, and that the archbishop always kept it concealed; that it was true that he had taken from it materials for the treatise in which he explained the prophecies of isaiah; but he was accustomed to say that no confidence could be placed in the heretical authors; that the archbishop had been seduced by them, but always defended the catholic religion. it has been already stated that paul iii. granted him permission to read prohibited works; the brief was found among his papers. on the 3rd of july, elizabeth estrada deposed, that fray dominic de roxas had told her, that it depended upon don bartholomew to make her sister the marchioness d'alcañices adopt the errors of luther, and that he hoped to see that event take place, because then the king and all spain would embrace that religion. the deponent also said that fray dominic told her that don bartholomew had read the works of luther. fray dominic, being examined, replied that he often spoke in that manner to the nuns who were of his opinions, and to other individuals of his society of lutherans, adding that carranza thought as he did on _justification_ and purgatory; that he (roxas) composed an _explanation of the articles of faith_, according to his own creed, and attributed it to carranza, to give it more consequence; that he always said the archbishop approved the doctrine of luther, to persuade those persons to persevere in the faith, but that he never said that don bartholomew had read the works of luther, because he did not know that he had. the deponent declared that the changes in his situation induced him to confess the truth; that the archbishop had never adopted such doctrines, and that he always gave a catholic meaning to those phrases which would bear a contrary interpretation. on the 23rd of august, fray bernardin de montenegro, and fray juan de meceta, (both monks of the convent of st. francis, at valladolid,) voluntarily denounced a sermon, which was preached by the archbishop two days before, in the convent of st. paul, and in which he used some expressions similar to those employed by the heretics. he also said, that converted heretics should be treated with clemency, and that persons were sometimes called heretics, illuminati, or quietists, merely because they were seen on their knees before a crucifix, and smiting their breasts with a stone: he invoked the authority of st. bernard, to support his last proposition, which (according to the denouncers) did not agree with what he had advanced. the sermon being afterwards found among the papers of the archbishop, was examined by the qualifiers, and did not appear to contain any proposition deserving of censure. yet the inquisitors presumed to demand officially of the princess jane, governess of the kingdom, what she thought of the sermon; the princess had the complaisance to reply, that she only remembered to have heard some propositions which appeared to her to be improper. on the 25th of the same month, ferdinand de sotelo denounced don bartholomew, for having said in the presence of pedro de sotelo, his brother, and christopher padilla, that if he had a notary with him when he was dying, he would desire him to draw up an act of _renunciation of all his good works_. pedro and christopher declared that they did not remember that they had repeated this to ferdinand de sotelo. but fray dominic de roxas deposed, during the torture, on the 10th of september, 1559, that he thought he remembered being once in the village of alcañices, and hearing don bartholomew say, that at the point of death he should wish to have a notary, to draw up an act of renunciation of the merit of his good works, because he relied solely on those of jesus christ, and that he considered his sins as nothing, because jesus had expiated them; dominic added, that don louis de roxas, his nephew, related the same thing, as having occurred at his return from flanders in the king's suite, and that all these expressions did not make him consider the archbishop as a lutheran, but as a good catholic; because the heretics denied that the good works of the creature could expiate sin, and attributed the expiation to the merits of jesus christ, while carranza only asserted, that the expiation by the good works of a sinner was so little when compared with the infinite merits of our redeemer, that the sinner might regard them as nothing if he fervently prayed for the application of the merits of our saviour dying on the cross. there seems to be no doubt that fray dominic was the author of the denounced proposition; he explained it to the advantage of the accused during the torture. on the 8th of september, fray dominic declared that don bartholomew had said, that the expression, _say the mass_, was not exact; that it would be more correct to say _perform the mass_, from the latin, _facere rem sacram_, and that he used this expression in the pulpit and in his writings. this accusation was certainly not sufficient to authorize a decree of arrest. on the 23rd of september, doctor cazalla declared, that ten or twelve years before, he heard fray dominic de roxas say, that don bartholomew held the doctrines of the lutherans. fray dominic on being examined denied the fact, but afterwards, on being tortured, confessed, that he had often declared that don bartholomew believed in the doctrines of the lutherans, to give weight to his own opinions, and acknowledged that he did not speak the truth. the same doctor cazalla (being examined on the evidence of donna francis de zuñiga, who said he had instructed her in the doctrine of luther) declared, that donna frances, and her brother juan, had told him, that they were instructed by don bartholomew. the brother and sister denied the fact, and cazalla being tortured, retracted his declaration. on the 9th of december, fray ambrose de salazar, dominican, being summoned to declare if it was true that he had said, that some persons held the same language as the heretics of germany, replied that it was true, and that he alluded to dominic de roxas, christopher padilla, and juan sanchez. he was pressed to name all those to whom his allusion could be applied, and he said that he did not remember any others. he was then requested to consult his memory, and return the next day to the tribunal of the inquisition. he obeyed, but did not add anything to his former declaration. he was then told that the inquisitors had been informed that he alluded to some other person, that he must endeavour to recollect him, and then return. the monk repaired to the inquisition on the 14th of the same month, and said, that he had thought the questions put to him related to the archbishop, particularly after a report that his trial had commenced; that until then he had been far from suspecting the most zealous defender of the catholic religion of heresy; that his words agreed with his writings; that he had converted many heretics, and burnt some others; that if he adopted certain phrases used by the heretics, he always explained them in an orthodox manner, and that in this case he only followed the example of several saints. don francis manrique de lara, bishop of salamanca, deposed, on the 10th of october, that, at naxera, he heard it said, that the archbishop had been arrested on account of his catechism, and that fray ambrose remarked, _it may not be for that alone; it is possible that his belief in purgatory was suspected_. when the _publication of the depositions_ took place, the evidence of salazar was not mentioned, and the defenders of the accused never knew that he had given it. it is thus that the inquisitors in their proceedings violate natural right, in concealing all that may be taken advantage of by a defender. on the 9th of december, fray juan de regla voluntarily denounced carranza, for some expressions used by him to charles v., on the forgiveness of sins. this affair has already been mentioned in the thirteenth chapter. on the 23rd fray juan again denounced don bartholomew, for having supported the arguments of the lutherans, in the second session of the council of trent, concerning the holy sacrifice of mass; and for having dared to say _ego hæro certe_, which scandalized several fathers of the council; he admitted that the accused afterwards explained his words, but said it was without energy. this monk was the only witness who deposed to this fact. don diego de mendoza, ambassador of spain to the council, who had been punctual in attending the sessions, declared that he did not remember the circumstance, which had not been denounced before by any of the numerous rivals of carranza. fray juan was extremely mortified that he could not obtain a bishopric, and we may suppose that nothing but jealousy could inspire him with such scruples, sixteen years after the event. it must be observed that he had been condemned by the inquisition of saragossa, that he had abjured eighteen propositions, and had been pursued by the jesuits, of whom he and cano had shown themselves the most violent adversaries, while don bartholomew was their friend. cano and de regla, therefore, endeavoured to mortify carranza, and persecuted him as being secretly attached to the jesuits. the licentiate hornuza, judge of appeals of the district of santiago, states in a writing annexed by the fiscal to the trial six weeks after the arrest of the archbishop, that this prelate, having presented to the council of trent some arguments in favour of luther, he acknowledged that they might be answered conclusively; the witness added that doctor grados could confirm the truth of his testimony. the doctor was not examined. who, indeed, can believe that carranza would have spoken in that manner in the council of trent? on the 14th december, fray dominic de roxas presented a writing, containing a confession of his errors and a prayer for pardon: he made the same declarations concerning the archbishop as before; adding, that _he was obliged to confess that he thought_ if the prelate and some _others had not been prepared by the syrup of the lutheran phrases, the works of the heresiarch would not have made so much impression on their minds_. fray dominic said this to palliate his own crime, and in the hope of being reconciled; but being informed, on the 7th october, 1559, that he must prepare to die the next day, he demanded an audience, in order to make a declaration necessary to the repose of his soul; and having obtained it, he said "that he had never heard don bartholomew utter any words contrary to the doctrine of the holy church, that he always spoke against the lutherans, and explained those phrases which he (fray dominic) had seen in heretical books, and heard from the preachers in valladolid, in an orthodox sense." the above are all the declarations contained in the process of the archbishop of toledo when a brief was denounced for his arrest. it may even be supposed that there were not so many, since the brief was expedited on the 7th january, 1559, and therefore it must have been demanded, at the latest, in the beginning of december 1558. the censure of the works of carranza and the opinion of the bishop of cuença were also made use of as a motive for the demand. the qualifiers were melchior cano, dominic cuevas, dominic soto, pedro ybarra, and the master carlos. the following is a list of the ms. works of the archbishop which are mentioned with the printed catechism in this part of the process. 1. notes on the explanation of the book of job, by another author. 2. notes on the explanation of the verse _audi filia_ of the 44th psalm, by juan d'avila, 83. 3. explanation of psalm 83. 4. explanation of psalm 129. 5. explanation of psalm 142. 6. explanation of the prophet isaiah. 7. explanation of the epistle of st. paul to the romans. 8. ditto galatians. 9. ditto ephesians. 10. ditto philippians. 11. ditto colossians. 12. explanation of the canonical epistle of st. john. 13. treatise on the love of god to man. 14. ditto on the sacrament of the order, with notes on the same subject. 15. ditto on the holy sacrifice of mass. 16. ditto on the celibacy of priests. 17. ditto on the sacrament of marriage. 18. ditto on the utility and efficacy of prayer. 19. ditto on the tribulation of the just. 20. ditto on the christian widow. 21. ditto on christian liberty. 22. remarks on the commandments of god and the sins of mortals. 23. apology for the _commentaries on the catechism_. 24. proofs taken from holy writ for the defence of the publication of a catechism in the spanish language. 25. abridgment of the _commentaries on the catechism_. 26. sermons for all the year. 27. ditto on the love of god. 28. ditto, _super flumina babylonis_. 29. ditto on the manner of hearing mass. 30. ditto on holy thursday. 31. sermons preached before the prince at valladolid. 32. ditto on the circumcision of our saviour. 33. ditto, intituled _poenitentiam agite_. 34. ditto, _si revertamini et quiescatis salviti eritis_. 35. ditto on prayer. 36. ditto, _hora est jam nos de somno surgere_. 37. ditto, _dirigite viam domine_. 38. ditto, _spiritus est deus_. 39. ditto on the psalm _de profundis clamavi_. 40. ditto, _filius quidem hominis vadit_. 41. abridgment of two sermons sent to flanders to the licentiate herrera. some ms. copies which had been given to the marchioness d'alcañices, and other persons, before the catechism was printed, were also annexed to the process; the contents were the same, except some corrections afterwards made by the author. the marchioness d'alcañices gave them to don diego de cordova, a member of the supreme council, who died soon after. the mss. were then taken by st. francis de borgia, who informed carranza, on his return from flanders, that they were in his possession, but that he wanted them to assist him in composing a sermon. don bartholomew being arrested before the mss. were returned to him, st. francis de borgia sent them to the grand-inquisitor, in whose house they were lost; it is stated in the process that only one of them was found there some time after. the holy office endeavoured to ascribe to carranza some other works condemned on the trial: these were the explanation of the articles of the faith, by fray dominic de roxas. opinions on the interpretation of the holy scriptures, by juan valdés, secretary to charles v., who became a lutheran. treatise on prayer and meditation, which appears to have been written by some other lutheran author. explanation of the book of job, of which carranza only wrote the notes, which refute the text in several places. explanation of the verse _audi filia_, explanatory notes only by carranza. several papers which fray dominic de roxas and christopher de padilla had distributed, maliciously attributing them to don bartholomew, although they belonged to fray dominic, and other lutherans. as to the _exposition of the canonical epistle of st. john_, the archbishop declared that, in the state in which it was, he did not acknowledge it as his work; that he had only given it verbally to his pupils, and that, doubtless, one of them had written it from memory; that although the foundation of it was what he had taught, the errors which it contained could not be imputed to him. the grand-inquisitor was at first only acquainted with the catechism of carranza, the censure of which was confided to cano and others. cano, whose heart was full of hatred, wanted no incitements to condemn it; of the inclinations of the others we may judge by letters, in which fray dominic de soto speaks of his embarrassment at being obliged to censure some propositions which he considered very orthodox. of all the works of carranza, those only were marked with the theological censure which are numbered 3, 4, 13, 27, 28, 29, and 30. the master carlos, and afterwards cano and cuevas, were employed in this work. as there were among the lutherans many persons intimate with the archbishop, and even some who had been his pupils, he wished to be informed of the state of their affairs. fray juan de la peña, fray francis de tordesillas, and fray louis de la cruz, sent the details to flanders to fray juan de villagarcia, the companion of the archbishop, and by this means he learnt that his catechism was to be condemned for two reasons: first, on the pretext that it contained several heretical propositions; and secondly, because the principle which caused the bible in the vulgar tongue to be prohibited in spain in the present state of the kingdom, would not admit of the permission of a work on _justification_, and other points of controversy with the lutherans, in the same language. the archbishop first commissioned villagarcia, and afterwards the jesuit gil gonzalez, to translate his catechism into latin, with notes on the obscure passages: they began, but never finished the work. the archbishop, however, was far from suspecting that he would be attacked for his personal profession of faith, when he received a letter from fray louis de la cruz, dated valladolid, may 21, 1558, in which he informed him that the lutherans declared he partook their opinions. carranza replied, that he was more grieved for their misfortune in having embraced heresy than for their false testimony against him. as he was perfectly convinced of the purity of his faith, and believed that he had given sufficient proofs of it in combating the opinions of the heretics, he persuaded himself that only the sense of his _commentaries_ was to be dismissed. he therefore returned to spain, expecting to arrange the affair on a few conferences with the grand inquisitor; and in order to facilitate the attainment of his object, he obtained approbations of his work from some of the most famous theologians in spain,--don pedro guerrero, archbishop of granada; don francis blanco, archbishop of santiago; don francis delgado, bishop of lugo and jaen; don andrea cuesta, bishop of leon; don antonio gorrionero, bishop of almeria; don diego sobaños, rector of the university of alcala; fray pedro de soto, confessor to charles v.; fray dominic soto, professor of salamanca; don hernando de barriovero, canon, magistrate, and professor of toledo; and fray mancio del corpus, professor of alcala; besides many other doctors of salamanca, valladolid, and alcala. while the archbishop was at valladolid in 1558, he demanded that the theological censures of his works should be communicated to him, that he might reply to them, and give any satisfaction required of him. he thought he had a right to this concession, for several reasons: first, as he was the author; secondly, as the primate of spain; and thirdly, as a man who might expect such an act of deference from the holy office, in consideration of his labours in its cause. but the grand-inquisitor valdés (who was his enemy, though he pretended to be his friend) would not grant his request, alleging that it was not the custom to hear an author on the qualification of his works. carranza then endeavoured to avail himself of the approbations he had obtained from the illustrious theologians already mentioned, who were almost all of them fathers of the council of trent; but they were not received, and he experienced the same rejection from the supreme council. the mystery which shrouded all the proceedings of that body was impenetrable, and he departed from valladolid in ignorance of the causes of his trial. he, however, afterwards obtained information, that some witnesses had been examined on his personal faith, and that the censurers of his work noted it, as containing _heresies, propositions savouring of heresy, fomenting heresy, tending to heresy, and capable of causing it_. some idea may be formed of the state of his mind from his application to the king and the pope, to whom he sent an account of all that had passed between him and the grand-inquisitor, and implored their protection; the minutes of this account, and the letters which accompanied it, were afterwards found among his papers. on the 20th of september, he arrived at yuste, in estremadura. his misfortune, it may be presumed, rendered him prudent in his exhortations to charles v.; it is not likely that he would use the phrases attributed to him by fray juan de regla, without adding expressions to limit the absolute sense which the denouncer imputed to him. on the 5th of october he again wrote to the king, on the occasion of the death of the emperor, and also to ruy gomez de sylva, and to don antonio de toledo, grand-prior of the order of st. john, both high in favour with his majesty, and with whom he was intimate, but more particularly with don antonio, who always endeavoured to be useful to him. his letters and those of many others at rome, who wished to serve him, were found among his papers. the papal nuncio in spain had already informed his court of what was passing at madrid, and it was believed that the grand-inquisitor acted in concert with the king; this circumstance prevented paul iv. (though he esteemed carranza) from interfering in the affair, until he clearly perceived what was to be thought of it. philip ii., who then resided at brussels, was far from being capable of arresting the progress of a trial undertaken by the inquisitors for a matter of faith; he contented himself with promising to protect carranza, as long as it was compatible with the catholic religion. the demand of being heard in his defence, before the condemnation of his catechism, might have been granted, if the depositions concerning his personal faith had not presented an obstacle. don ferdinand valdés represented to the princess jane, governess of the kingdom, the declarations of the witnesses, which, read by a person without discrimination, and with the intention of injuring, made the archbishop appear to be a real heretic. the princess communicated this to the king, her brother, who being naturally suspicious, and knowing that valdés was inimical to carranza, resolved to take the cowardly part of remaining inactive, and waiting until the affair should be elucidated. it is not true that philip repented of having elevated carranza to the see of toledo; the proof of this exists in the procedure: he was favourably disposed towards the archbishop, till valdés and the counsellors of the inquisition persuaded him that carranza was an hypocritical heretic. the absolute inactivity of this prince's character, and the formidable and continual activity of valdés, were the cause of the misfortunes of carranza. the archbishop now thought it would be better to submit in order to avoid the infamy, and without waiting for replies from brussels and rome, on the 21st of september, 1558, he addressed a petition to don sancho lopez de otalora, counsellor of the inquisition, in which he consented that his catechism should be placed in the index, provided his name was not mentioned, and that the prohibition did not extend beyond spain, because the work was in the spanish language. he hoped by these means to preserve the reputation of being a catholic author, the only fame of which he was ambitious. in november, he sent letters to the grand-inquisitor and others, and remitted petitions to the supreme council, earnestly requesting, that in order to terminate all difficulties as soon as possible, his catechism might be printed in spanish, and given to him to be revised, corrected, and translated into latin. his efforts were unsuccessful; the grand-inquisitor, far from wishing to serve him, obtained from the pope the brief which completed his disgrace. he perceived that he ought to have followed the advice which had been given to him in flanders, to repair to rome, instead of spain. the bishop of orense gave him to understand that there were in his case some things savouring of heresy, when he made the following reply:--_unless this crime entered by the sleeve of my habit, i am, thank god, innocent of any thing of the kind. i shall therefore allow the affair to take the common course._ on the 7th of june, 1558, paul iv. declared in full consistory, "that being informed that the heresies of luther, and some others, had been propagated in spain, he had reason to suspect that several prelates had adopted them; and in consequence he authorized the grand-inquisitor _for two years from that day_, to make inquests concerning all the bishops, archbishops, patriarchs, and primates, of that kingdom: to commence their trials, and, in case that an _attempt to escape_ was suspected, to arrest them and lodge them in a place of security, and that the inquisitor should _immediately_ report the same to the sovereign pontiff, and send the criminals to rome as soon as possible, with their process sealed up." the archbishop received notice of the expedition of this brief, in a letter from cardinal theatire, on the 18th of january. valdés also demanded of the king, his permission to put it in execution. a letter from don antonio de toledo to carranza, dated brussels, 27th of february, informed him, that his majesty had commanded the grand-inquisitor to suspend the proceedings till he arrived in spain; adding, that his majesty was quite convinced of the wickedness with which the archbishop was treated. valdés renewed his demand in march, representing the inconveniences of delay, and at last obtained permission to execute the brief. during this period, the inquisitors of valladolid continued to receive every possible deposition unfavourable to the archbishop, to justify the proceedings against him. on the 20th of february, 1559, fray gaspard tamayo, a franciscan, voluntarily denounced the catechism: he said, he thought it wrong in the author, to exhort the faithful to read the scriptures, and not to address to the saints the prayers beginning _pater-noster_ and _ave-maria_. on the 11th of april, don juan de acuña, count de buendia, deposed that the archbishop had recommended him to renounce that practice, and to pray to the saints in the manner he had taught in his book; that he and all his family, and donna francisca de cordova, had followed his advice, until the bishop of ciudad rodrigo had persuaded them to the contrary: the deponent added, that he knew that carranza had given the same advice to several other persons employed in the palace. this deposition was followed by those of the countess his wife, their chaplain, and seven of their servants. on the same day, fray dominic de roxas deposed, that the marquis de roza, his father, asked carranza if he should cause a thousand masses to be said for his soul during his life, or after his death, and that the archbishop replied, "_if my lord the marquis will believe me, he will say the masses during his life_." the deponent further said, that the archbishop, in going to trent to attend the second convocation of the council, was in company with some lutherans who were with the king of bohemia; that he disputed with one of them in the presence of the bishop of segovia, and though he appeared to have the advantage in the argument, he afterwards said privately to the deponent, "_i was never so much embarrassed as to-day; although i am a master of theology, yet i am not so learned in the scriptures as this lutheran, who is only a layman._" the witness also said, that the archbishop had read and approved his _explanation of the articles of the faith_, and that he had even inserted part of it in his catechism. it has been also stated, that fray dominic recanted all his depositions before his death. on the 5th of may, donna catherine de castilla, who was a prisoner of the holy office, declared that she believed the archbishop to be a lutheran; but repenting, she retracted her declaration, and said that she knew that carranza had maintained to don carlos de seso, her husband, that he committed a fatal error in denying the existence of purgatory. she persisted in her recantation. i appeal to my readers, if the state of the trial and the depositions of the witnesses were sufficient allegation: canino the fiscal, reserving to himself the right of accusing him with more formality hereafter, demanded that the person of the archbishop should be seized, that he should be imprisoned, and his goods and revenues sequestrated, to be at the disposal of the grand-inquisitor. valdés, after consulting the supreme council, commanded the fiscal to present the papers of which he had spoken in his requisition: these were the catechism with the qualifications of cano, cuevas, soto, and ybarra; two mss. bound, containing the articles of faith by fray dominic de roxas, and the other works of carranza mentioned under the numbers 3, 4, 13, 27, 28, 29, and 30, with their qualifications; two sermons sent by carranza to the licentiate herrera, judge of the trials for smuggling, who was under arrest for lutheranism; the depositions of the witnesses, with a summary of them, and to cause the archbishop to be pronounced attainted of heresy. valdés, having drawn up, on the 8th of april, a verbal process of the reception of the powers granted by the pope, the licentiate canino, fiscal of the council of the inquisition, on the 6th of may, presented to the grand-inquisitor a requisition, in which he demanded the execution of the brief, and declared that he would designate, in time and place, the person which it was to strike. valdés remitted a declaration, in which he announced that he was ready to do justice whenever he was required. on the same day, the fiscal presented another requisition, in which he stated that don bartholomew carranza, archbishop of toledo, had preached, insinuated, written, and taught, in his conferences, his sermons, and his catechism, and in other books and writings, several heresies of luther, according to the depositions of witnesses, and the books and writings which he presented to support his charges: the letters were those of the bishop of cuenza, don pedro de castro; a letter from the archbishop to doctor cazalla, dated brussels, 18th of february, 1558, in reply to compliments on his elevation to the see of toledo; (in this letter he begs cazalla to "_pray that he may have the light necessary to govern his diocese well_;" adding, "_that it was more needful to ask it then than before, for those who formed part of the church of god_;") two letters of juan sanchez, a lutheran, in which he says _that he was going to flanders, because he hoped to be well received by carranza_. as these formalities were all fulfilled in one day, it is not to be doubted that it was a concerted scheme between the grand-inquisitor, some members of the council, and the fiscal: if this had not been the case, three days would have been necessary for these ceremonies. on the 13th of may, the grand-inquisitor and the council determined that carranza should be cited to appear, and reply to the accusations of the fiscal. when the king had given his consent that the archbishop should be prosecuted, he required that he should be treated _with the respect due to his dignity_: this he repeated in a letter to cardinal pacheco, who informed him that carranza had demanded that his affair should be judged at rome. the king also wrote two letters to carranza on the 30th of march, and the 4th april, in which he promised to protect him. the letter to cardinal pacheco induced the grand-inquisitor to write to the king on the 19th of may, when he informed him of the measure which had been decreed, adding, that he thought a citation to appear more moderate, less humiliating, and more private than an arrest by alguazils. the king, however, had still some regard for carranza, since he did not approve of what had been done. at this period don antonio de toledo, who continued to correspond with carranza, informed him, that though he did not think the affair had taken so favourable a turn as might be wished, yet he thought he still perceived some marks of attachment for him in the king, in spite of the evil report made of him. at last, on the 26th of june, the king sent an answer to the inquisitor-general, in which he gives his consent to what had been resolved upon; adding, that he hoped the execution of this measure would be attended _with all the consideration due to the merit of carranza, and the dignity with which he was invested_. the prelate was informed of this event, in a letter written by don antonio de toledo, the next day. the approbation of the king was received on the 10th of july, and on the 15th the fiscal presented a second requisition, in which he insisted on the execution of the demand contained in the first, that carranza should be arrested, and his goods seized. he represented that the instruction of the process furnished proofs which ought to have been considered sufficient on the 13th of may; that nevertheless he would add to them the deposition of donna louisa de mendoza, wife of don juan vasquez de molina, secretary to the king. this lady deposed, that the marchioness d'alcañices told her, that, _according to the instructions of the archbishop, it was not meritorious in the sight of god to deprive ourselves of pleasures, and that it was not necessary to wear haircloth_. the marchioness, who was examined, declared that she had never said anything of the kind, but only that all these things were less meritorious; that she had been intimate with the archbishop for more than twenty years, and had been his penitent, but during all that time she had never heard him say any thing against the faith. on the 1st of august, the grand-inquisitor, in concert with the supreme council, and several consultors, issued the order for the arrest of the archbishop. at this juncture, philip ii. wrote to his sister, the governess of the kingdom, saying, that in order to avoid the scandal and inconveniences arising from the measures decreed by the holy office, it would be proper to send for the archbishop to court upon some decent pretext. don antonio de toledo having heard some hints of this, hastened to communicate it to carranza, on the 19th of july: this was the last letter that faithful friend wrote to him. among the papers of the archbishop, were found letters from persons, who afterwards, from want of courage, joined his enemies. there was also found the minutes of a representation in latin, addressed to the pope, in the name of the chapter of toledo, entreating his holiness not to allow the cause of carranza to be judged by the holy office of spain, alleging that its members were swayed by human motives, and not from zeal to religion: it is not certain if this petition reached the court of rome, but the chapter behaved to the prelate with great generosity. the regent wrote a letter to the archbishop on the 3rd of august, in which she says, that before the arrival of the king, which would soon take place, she wished to communicate some affairs to him, and therefore begged him to repair immediately to valladolid, adding, that as the least delay might occasion very disagreeable consequences, she should be pleased if he came as soon as possible, even if without ceremony or equipage, and that she sent don rodrigo de castro that he might not lose time, and might inform her of his arrival. this don rodrigo de castro was the nephew of the bishop of cuença, the first denouncer of carranza: he departed from valladolid on the 4th of august; on the 6th he delivered the letter to the archbishop, who, on the next day, replied to the princess that he would obey her orders. he immediately sent his equipages and part of his household to valladolid, but followed slowly, that he might visit the towns and villages of his diocese, which he was to pass through. during this interval, don rodrigo wrote several letters to valdés, one dated the 4th of august, from arevalo, and four from alcala de henares, dated the 7th, 9th, 10th, and 14th, from which the inquisitor-general concluded that the delay of eight days was too long, and concealed some bad design: he pretended to think that carranza intended to make his escape to rome, yet don rodrigo de castro lodged in the same house, and never lost sight of him. this pretext, futile as it was, gave valdés the opportunity of issuing a mandate on the 17th, appointing don rodrigo and don diego ramirez de sedeño inquisitors of the districts of toledo and valladolid. he commissioned them and the chief alguazil of valladolid to seize the person of the archbishop, to sequestrate his goods, and draw up an inventory of them. this order was executed at torre-laguna, on the 22nd, before day, and while the archbishop was still in bed. when he was told that he was under arrest, he demanded to know by whose order he was made prisoner; that of the inquisitor-general, and the brief of the pope, were shown to him. he replied that the brief was general, and that it ought to be a special commission expedited with a knowledge of the cause, which was out of the jurisdiction of the inquisitor-general: that even supposing him to be competent, the conditions prescribed in the brief were not observed in his case, since nothing but malice could inspire the fear that he should attempt to escape; that, from all these considerations, he protested against the order of the grand-inquisitor, and the violence of his measures, and demanded satisfaction of the pope for the insult he had received. not being able at that moment to put his intentions into execution, the archbishop desired juan de ledesma, the notary of the holy office, who was present at his arrest, to write down his replies to the inquisitors, and that he obeyed the order only to avoid ill-treatment. the archbishop requested that great care might be taken of his papers, some of which belonged to trials concerning the archiepiscopal see, and were of great importance. all that he requested was complied with on this subject. on the 23rd of august he left torre-laguna, and arrived at valladolid on the 28th; he was imprisoned in the house of don pedro gonzalez de leon: his portfolio, and a box containing papers, were sent to the inquisitor-general, who immediately caused them to be opened, and an inventory taken of their contents. on the 6th of september he addressed a letter to the king, giving an account, in his manner, of the arrest, and alleging his pretended fear of the flight of carranza, as the motive for it. he added, that the archbishop appeared to be informed of his proceedings; an insinuation which might have injured don antonio de toledo, whose correspondence he had read. chapter xxxiii. continuation of the trial until the archbishop went to rome. the enemies of carranza procured new witnesses, in order to justify their conduct. valdés and his coadjutors feared that public opinion would be against them, if, when they pronounced the definitive sentence, the archbishop was not proved, to all europe, to be guilty of heresy. to attain this end, the inquisitors examined ninety-six witnesses, who, most of them, unfortunately, added nothing to what had been already deposed; some of them attested the purity of carranza's faith, and the few who were against him deposed only what they had heard from other persons, who either did not confirm, or denied the facts. it is worthy of remark, that the greatest number of the witnesses who spoke in favour of the archbishop were in the dungeons of the inquisition, and made their depositions during or after the torture, and when they were liable to have it renewed, and to be subject to the cruel treatment of the judges, whose schemes they frustrated. while these miserable people showed so much courage, the bishops, archbishops, and theologians, who aspired to the episcopacy, basely retracted their first and true opinion, and qualified, as _violently suspected of lutheranism_, the man whom they had before considered almost as an apostle, and that in the same trial and for the same work. on the 26th of august, the grand-inquisitor delegated his powers to the counsellors valtodano and simancas, reserving to himself the right of pronouncing the definitive sentence; at the same time he appointed baca, riego, and gonzalez, inquisitors of valladolid, to take the proper measures to guard the archbishop, and sequestrate his property. when the prelate arrived at the house intended for his prison, he was asked what domestics he wished to have; he named six, but only two were permitted to attend him. he begged valtodano and simancas not to allow any person to see certain papers and letters from the pope, fray ferdinand de st. ambrose, and the licentiate cespedes, because they related to a trial for the lordship of cazorla: he asked the same favour for a bundle of letters from the king, on some affairs which it had been improper to make public. he demanded the original of his consultations, and some approbations of his book, because he wished to present them to the pope, who was the only competent judge of his trial; and lastly, some other writings relative to conferences which took place at the council of trent, in england, and in flanders, and which were so many proofs of his efforts in the cause of the catholic religion. on the 1st of september, valtodano and simancas summoned the archbishop to take an oath to speak the truth. the prelate replied that he would do so when he received an order from the pope or the king; that he protested against all that had been done, because they were not competent; that he did not acknowledge the grand-inquisitor as his judge, until he was furnished with special powers for that purpose; that, supposing him to have sufficient authority, he did not believe that he could delegate it; that he should prove his assertions much better if he had the brief, of which he demanded a copy. his request was granted the next day; on the 3rd, the grand-inquisitor, after a consultation with the council, declared that he was a competent judge, and that he could delegate his powers; he announced that he should attend with the council at the sessions of the tribunal: he attended on the 4th, and required carranza to take the oath to speak the truth, either against himself or any other person, informing him that if he confessed all he knew, he would be treated with clemency, but in the contrary case he would be used with all the rigour of justice: he also told him that if he was reluctant to reply in the presence of the council, he would be permitted to do so before two counsellors, or the inquisitors of valladolid. carranza made the same reply as on the preceding day, adding, that he was not certain that truth had been spoken in soliciting the brief from the pope; since at that time there were no spanish prelates suspected of heresy; that, if they had him in view, he was not in spain at the time, but in flanders, occupied in labouring for the defence of the catholic religion, and converting heretics; that he exerted himself to destroy all the heresies, and for that purpose informed the king that heretical books were sold even at his palace-gates, and that the king, in consequence, gave the necessary orders to prevent the evil, which would be proved by the testimony of the king and the noblemen of his court. not satisfied with these arguments, the archbishop challenged the grand-inquisitor for reasons which he explained at the same session, and in his presence: on the 5th and the following days he continued to give the motives for his challenge in writing; his charges against valdés were numerous, and very serious. he mentions persons, times, subjects, and reasons, which authorized him to represent valdés as a perfidious, envious, vindictive man; to maintain that he continually abused his authority in order to satisfy his vengeance, which could be proved by some writings which were registered: he particularly applied himself to show that valdés concealed his hatred to him, under the mask of an hypocritical zeal for religion; that this enmity was caused by his spite and envy after he (carranza) was elevated to the see of toledo, and had published his work on the residence of bishops;--in short, he filled eight folio sheets in a small hand, with the motives which induced him to challenge valdés, and added those concerning the counsellors perez and cobos, promising to establish the proofs. the archbishop chose for his advocates those men whom he considered most able to defend him; but they were, by different intrigues, induced to refuse their assistance: this plan was pursued with all the others whom he chose in case of their default, so that he was obliged to apply to some advocates who defended in the chancery his right to the lordship of some villages, although they knew nothing of the affairs of the holy office. don juan sarmiento de mendoza, counsellor of the indies, for valdés, and the licentiate isunza, judge of the civil court of valladolid, for the fiscal, were appointed arbitrators, to decide on the validity of the challenge. on the 23rd of february, 1560, they pronounced that the allegations were just, reasonable, and well proved. the fiscal not being satisfied with the decision, intended to appeal to rome, but soon renounced the measure; in fact, how could the inquisitor-general think of sending a trial to rome, which, if made public, would cover him and many others, who afterwards attained the highest dignities of the church, with eternal infamy? however, this appeal took place at a later period, after a thousand intrigues, but valdés was not the inquisitor-general at that time. the lodgings assigned to the archbishop were neither commodious, agreeable, nor airy; he was allowed only two rooms for himself, a monk, and his page. he complained of the inconvenience, but the fiscal presented a verbal process, stating that the house was large, convenient, and healthy: this was true, for he spoke of it in general, and did not mention the place where carranza was confined. the rooms were very remote from all communication; in 1561 there was a great fire at valladolid, which consumed four hundred houses in the quarter nearest to the prison of the archbishop, yet he heard neither the cries of the people, nor the noise which must have been occasioned by such an event, and only learnt that it had happened, a long time after, when he was at rome. this privation of air and exercise produced in the archbishop a tertian fever, which weakened him considerably, but the inquisitors had not sufficient humanity to remove him to a more suitable place. they dreaded that he would appeal to the pope, or the king, on whom however it would not have had any effect, as valdés had contrived to persuade him, in some private conversations, that carranza was really an heretic, and that all that he had done in england and flanders was intended to conceal his opinions. although valdés persisted in maintaining that he had the right of delegating his powers to prosecute the archbishop, yet as several counsellors, and particularly baco de castro, held a contrary opinion, he was obliged to appeal to the pope. paul iv. was dead, and had been succeeded by pius iv., who, on the 23rd of february, confirmed to valdés the powers granted to him by his predecessor, and that of delegating confidential persons to proceed in the trial of the archbishop of toledo. this brief was of no use, because the arbitrators had declared on the same day that the motives for the challenge were just and valid; his holiness, in consequence, expedited another special brief, confirming all that had passed, provided that the proceedings had been lawful, and authorizing philip ii. to choose judges in his own name, to whom he gave from that moment the power of continuing the trial until it was in a state to be terminated, for the space of two years, beginning from the 7th of january, 1561. this brief was interpreted at madrid to be a permission to pass a definitive sentence. the pope being informed of this circumstance, on the 3rd of july issued a fourth brief, in which he disapproved of the interpretation of that preceding it, and commanded that the trial should be remitted to him, _instructed_ but not judged, within a certain time. philip ii. appointed don gaspard de zuñiga y avellanada, archbishop of santiago, to be the judge, with the power of delegating his authority. this choice was pleasing to carranza, because that prelate was one of the persons he had proposed for the see of toledo; in fact, he derived some advantage from the change of his guards, and other measures. but zuñiga appointed valtodano and simancas, who had begun the trial, to be the judges. carranza intended to challenge them, as having voted his arrest; but being told that the king had said that no person who had ordered the imprisonment of a criminal could afterwards be his judge, if this challenge was allowed, he abandoned his design. the right which the prelate had intended to make use of, is now recognised as a principle among civilized nations; to it we owe the establishment of _juries_. the trial having been commenced more than two years after the arrest of the archbishop, he was at last permitted, in consequence of an order from the king, to choose four advocates: these were doctor martin d'alpizcueta, known by the name of _doctor_ navarro; don antonio delgado, canon of toledo; doctor santander, archdeacon of valladolid; and doctor morales, an advocate of the chancery. the two first of these lawyers were allowed to see the archbishop, but the writings of the trial were not communicated to any of them, consequently it was impossible for them to demonstrate the insufficiency of the proofs of the charges brought against him by the witnesses. it is true that the answers of carranza were decided and conclusive. the unqualified works of carranza, and even some of those which had been examined, were confided to fray diego de chabes, who had been the confessor of don carlos, and afterwards of the king; to fray juan d'ybarra, and to fray rodrigo de vadillo, and fray juan de azoloros, who were afterwards the bishops of cephalonia and the canaries. these qualified as heretical some propositions contained in works not written by carranza, but found among his papers; others were qualified as approaching to heresy, and likely to cause it; and the author was declared to be violently suspected of being an heretic. the edicts condemning the catechism, and the explanation of the canonical epistle of st. john, had been already published. the council of trent having been convoked for the third time, valdés feared that the fathers might take notice of the affairs of carranza, and he persuaded the king that it was important to the rights of the crown to prevent them from taking cognizance of the trial. philip had appointed the count de luna to be the ambassador to the council, and on the 30th october, 1562, he sent him instructions, in which he says, that he has been informed that it was intended to form a _general index_ of the prohibited books contained in the _index_ of paul iv., which had occasioned much expostulation. the king added, that he could not allow this measure to extend its influence into spain, which had an _index_, and particular regulations; that this exception might also apply to other christian countries, since books, which were dangerous in one, might not be so in others. the king commanded his ambassador to oppose such a resolution in the council, because he could not receive into spain books approved by the council which had been prohibited in that kingdom, and _some persons suspected that this project concealed particular views_; that he had already commanded his ambassador at rome, and the marquis of pescara, to use every effort, consistent with prudence, to baffle the scheme. these instructions show very plainly that the court of madrid were afraid that the council would approve the catechism of carranza, and the explanation of st. john, which had been prohibited in spain. the fathers, who were displeased to see the proceedings so long in the hands of the inquisitors, addressed several remonstrances to the pope against them and the king of spain, and even refused to open the letters which that prince wrote to them, until he had atoned for the offence committed against the episcopal dignity, in the person of one of its members. at last the fathers declared that they would not assemble, unless his holiness did not cause the proceedings, and the person of the archbishop, to be sent to rome. the pope had just prolonged the period destined for the trial (which would otherwise have expired on the 7th of january, 1568); he however replied that he would write to philip, to demand that the archbishop of toledo and the writings of his trial should be sent to him; and to prove how much he wished to satisfy the fathers, he sent this letter by odescalchi, to whom he gave the title of nuncio extraordinary. on the 15th of august following, philip replied, with an energy unusual to him, that he was very much surprised that the fathers of the council occupied themselves with particular affairs, instead of those which concerned religion in general; that the imperative dispositions of the brief presented by the nuncio were contrary to the rights of his sovereignty and the honour of his person, and that he hoped his holiness would not take it ill, if he did not order it to be published, and continued the trial. the pope feared to irritate philip, who was already offended that the ambassador of france had obtained the precedence, and therefore he granted the delay requested by that prince; at the same time, he charged the cardinal-legate, president of the council, to pacify the fathers, promising to do what they desired when the process was _instructed_. his holiness also commanded that the archbishop should be treated with as much gentleness as was consistent with the proceedings. the resolution of the pope appeased the fathers of the council for the present; but they soon began to discuss an affair equally displeasing to the king of spain. the bishops and theologians commissioned to examine books, pronounced the doctrine of the catechism of carranza to be catholic. they communicated their decision to the archbishop of prague, who was president of the congregation of the _index_, who, together with the theologians composing it, approved the catechism, and resolved to send an act of their approbation to carranza, that he might make use of it in his defence. the decree of approbation was to be confirmed by the general assembly, but violent measures were employed to prevent it. the pope permitted the catechism to be printed at rome on the 26th of june. the spanish ambassador, the count de luna, vehemently protested against this resolution; he said that, as the catechism was prohibited by the inquisition of spain, it was an insult to his master and the supreme council to declare it orthodox, and he demanded that the decree of the congregation should be revoked. don antonio d'augustine, bishop of lerida, was a member of the congregation of the _index_, and had not been present on the 2nd of june, when the members approved the catechism. this circumstance induced him to support the count de luna. his enmity to carranza, and his desire to please the king, made him go so far as to say that _the congregation approved heresies, since the catechism contained them_. the archbishop of prague, anxious to defend his honour and that of his colleagues, addressed to the papal legates a formal complaint against the bishop of lerida, demanding in their names and his own a public reparation for the injury they had received, and protesting that if it was refused, they would not attend the assemblies. the cardinal succeeded in reconciling the two parties, by proposing to maintain the decree of approbation, but to forbid a literal copy to be given, and to commission the count de luna to obtain that which had been already remitted to the agent of carranza, on the condition that the bishop made a public apology to the congregation, and one in private to the president. the bishop complied, and the count de luna, by his entreaties and promises, at last succeeded in obtaining the decree which the agent had received; but he had already sent an authenticated copy into spain[66]. philip ii., on the 3rd of august, wrote to the count de luna, complaining bitterly of all that had occurred, and charging him to represent to the pope and the council, that this resolution was the effect of an intrigue which tended to favour particular views, _as injurious to the pope_ as to himself, and to give the authors of the decree to understand that they could not expect to succeed in causing the trial to be transferred to rome, as the king would never permit it. on the 26th of october, the count de luna wrote to his master, informing him of all that he had done. he said that after he had received his instructions, he endeavoured to suppress the commission for the examination of books, or to render their decrees concerning books prohibited in spain null and void; that the cardinal legates had assured him that it was impossible to grant his request, because the commission was the work of the council, and not of the pope; that he must, therefore, apply to the general assembly, but that he must not expect to succeed, and the only thing that he could ask would be that the commission should not go beyond its powers. the count de luna also said, that though the commission was formed to examine the book contained in the _index_ of paul iv., a particular brief had been obtained from pius iv. to extend the examination to the prohibited books of the other indexes of christendom; that the affair concerning the catechism of carranza had been carried on unknown to the bishop of lerida, and to doctor pedro _zumel_, canon of malaga, commissary of the inquisition; that in consequence, the bishop of lerida and the bishop of caba had appealed against the decree of the congregation, and demanded that it should be annulled; that he could still make a remonstrance in full synod, but that he found it necessary to renounce that intention, _as it might be the occasion of great inconveniences_[67]; and that the only cause for this event was that the cardinal de lorraine, the archbishop of braga, the bishop of modena, and several others, defended carranza to the pope. the fathers of the council could not succeed in their attempt to cause the trial of carranza to be transferred to them. when the assembly was dissolved, the grand-inquisitor, who had now only the pope to contend with, commissioned the council of the inquisition to request the king to obtain a brief to allow the trial to be terminated in spain; representing to him that he might say that it would be useful in alarming those spaniards who had adopted heretical opinions; that the king of spain merited such a favour, because he was the only prince who had used every means to extirpate heresy; that the ancient canons permitted that the trial should take place where the crime was committed; that _if that of carranza was transferred to rome, the names of the witnesses would be revealed_, which would occasion serious consequences; that the trial must be translated into latin or italian, which would take much time, and that none but spaniards could understand the strength of the expressions of the witnesses; that the procurator-fiscal would be obliged to go to rome, where he would have the mortification of not being heard or well received, because many persons of high rank had been zealous in the cause of the archbishop; that the crimes were committed before he was raised to the episcopal dignity; that it would not be convenient to allow the archbishop to go to rome, and that the trial could not be properly judged unless he did so; that from all these considerations it would be better for the sovereign pontiff to appoint persons to finish the trial in spain, in concert with the supreme council. on the other side, don martin d'alpizcueta represented to the king all the ill treatment which the archbishop had suffered, and demanded that he should be sent to rome. he represented that the archbishop might have made his escape to rome, but that he did not do so, because his majesty _had commanded him in a letter written with his own hand, not to apply to any one but himself, and to have confidence in his protection_. alpizcueta, speaking of the injustice carranza had suffered, says that his arrest was decreed before anything was proved against him, since all impartial persons would see that the propositions imputed to him were not heretical; that his catechism had been approved by the council of trent, and that it was read in every country but spain, where his enemies resided. the advocate states, that suspected judges had been appointed, and that nothing but the fear of displeasing his majesty could prevent his client from challenging them; that his enemies, taking advantage of his captivity, always prevented him from informing the king and the pope of the secret intrigues; that his act of accusation had been divided into fifteen or twenty parts, and the same charges multiplied into four hundred articles, while it might and ought to have been reduced to thirty points; that he had been accused of having advanced heretical propositions, when they were perfectly catholic; that the accusations had been accumulated to embarrass his client, and cause him to contradict himself; that the copies of the requisitions of the fiscal were not given to him until the period allowed for the reply had nearly expired; that the archbishop might render his detention longer by demanding fresh delays, or might reply without reflection; that works had been imputed to him, of which he was not the author; that consequently he did not expect to be tried fairly unless the process was transferred to the throne; that the king ought not to listen to his flatterers; that all spain murmured at the treatment the archbishop had received, and that it was spoken of still more severely than in other countries. he then goes on to accuse the judges of partiality, and says that their boldness in preferring their judgment to that of the council of trent, resembles that of the lutherans who were prosecuted by them. the advocate continues, "these judges are so offended at this decision, (concerning the catechism,) that one of them said to my two colleagues and myself, _all the council could not defend two propositions contained in that book_; he quoted one, which i immediately proved to be catholic, and told him that if i had the authority of the grand-inquisitors, i should perhaps denounce him, for i thought there was as much heresy in looking upon a catholic proposition as heretical, as in thinking an heretical opinion catholic; besides, it is certain that it is heretical, to suppose that the council can approve a doctrine as catholic, which is not so." that the lutherans, when they found that the king had more confidence in the inquisition of spain than in the sovereign pontiff, would take advantage of the circumstance, to persist in their opposition to the holy see, and would say that his majesty's faith was subordinate to his interest; that he had been informed in a _confession_, that the _real design_ of these men was to let the archbishop die in prison, _without concluding his trial_; that such proceedings lead to the supposition, _that the authors of them dissipate the revenues of the archbishopric to their own profit, which they really do, without any person to call them to an account_; besides that such a plan is equivalent to a condemnation, since every one will suppose that his client is guilty, if the inquisitors do not judge him; that it even concerned the honour of his majesty, because it would be said, that he spared heretics of high rank, and punished those of no importance. alpizcueta concludes, by declaring that he believes the archbishop would be acquitted and received with the greatest honours, if he was sent to rome, and conjures the king to grant permission that the trial should be transferred. alpizcueta was doubtless a very learned man, and told the king many truths; but he did not understand the character of that prince, for the letter he wrote to the pope, on the 15th of april, shows that he had become even more unjust than the judges. persuaded that carranza was an heretic, he resolved to show the world that if he knew how to reward merit, he also knew how to punish his creatures. he therefore resolved to demand permission of the pope to conclude the trial in spain. he selected for this commission don rodrigo de castro, to whom were remitted on the 24th november, 1564, the instructions decreed by the council, and others from the king, which were private, and without a date; an alphabet of the cipher, in which he was to correspond with the king, and letters of credit to the pope, and many cardinals. the king, who foresaw the events which might arise from this journey, also sent letters to the king and queen of france, to the constables of that kingdom, and his own ambassador there, to his ambassador at genoa, to the viceroy of naples, the governor of milan, the grand duke of tuscany, and prince marcantonio colonna. among the instructions, the following may be remarked: "that although it is to be hoped that god will influence the decision of the pontiff, yet the means of succeeding in so just an enterprise ought not to be neglected: therefore _the persons who have most influence in the affair must be gained over by any means which may appear most convenient_." don rodrigo de castro succeeded in obtaining the required permission. on the 13th of july, 1565, pius iv. appointed as judges, the cardinal buoncompagni (afterwards pope gregory xiii.) with the title of legate; the archbishop of rosano (afterwards pope urban vii.), the auditor of the _rota_, aldobrandini, and the general of the franciscans (afterwards sextus quintus). the pope informed philip of these nominations in a brief, dated the 21st of august following. the papal envoys arrived in spain in the month of november. philip went to alcala to meet the legate, and received him in the most flattering manner, to induce him to consent that the counsellors of the inquisition should be associated with the papal judges: this, the legate, who was aware of the inexpedience of the measure, refused. many powerful intrigues were by the king's order employed to obtain his wish, but they were in vain; and the pope dying on the night of the 8th of december, buoncompagni, who wished to assist at the conclave, immediately set off for rome, without even informing the king of his intention, and leaving the archbishop and his trial in exactly the same state as in the year 1562. on the 17th of january, 1566, pius v. was elected. buoncompagni was informed of this event while he was on the road, and stopped at avignon. philip sent a courier to the new pontiff, to entreat him to confirm the arrangements of his predecessor, which was complied with; his holiness at the same time commanded the cardinal to return to spain; he replied that he thought it necessary to have a private conference with his holiness, before he obeyed his orders, and therefore continued his journey. as soon as he arrived at rome, he proved to the new pontiff that the trial of carranza could never be judged with impartiality in spain, even by judges appointed by the holy see; pius iv. then determined that the archbishop of toledo, and the writings of his trial, should be transferred to rome, and that don ferdinand valdés should be deprived of the office of inquisitor-general: this he considered necessary, in case the proceedings required that fresh witnesses should be examined in spain. salazar de mendoza says, that philip obeyed immediately, but he had not read the history of the trial: it is certain that a great contest ensued; that pius iv. was firm, and the pride of philip was obliged to give way, when the pope threatened to excommunicate him, and to put his kingdom under an interdict. the writings of the trial are still in existence; and _i refer to those documents_. the king appointed don diego espinosa, bishop of siguenza, to be inquisitor-general; and on the 9th of september, the pope expedited a bull, in which he says, that on account of the great age and infirmities of valdés, he had thought proper to appoint don diego espinosa to be his coadjutor, authorizing him to act as inquisitor-general, without any dependance on valdés. this bull was published, that valdés might not be dishonoured; but his holiness privately imparted his intentions to espinosa, in a brief on the 1st of october, commanding him to avoid speaking of the trial of carranza to valdés. the pope sent pietro camayani, bishop of asculi, to spain, with the title of nuncio-extraordinary, and with the most positive orders not to return to rome without the archbishop, and the writings of his trial. on the 30th of july he addressed a brief to camayani, which it is necessary to abridge, though of much importance. his holiness says, that the delay of the trial, and the detention of carranza, had scandalized all christendom. he commands him, on pain of excommunication, to signify to the archbishop of seville, the council of the inquisition, and the other persons concerned in the trial of carranza, with a menace of the same penalties, the absolute revocation of all the powers intrusted to them; and a positive order, on pain of _excommunication in its full extent_, to set carranza immediately at liberty without delay or protestation, and even without requiring any security from him; to place all the papers of the trial in the hands of the nuncio, to be by him transferred to rome; to subject the detainers of the papers to the same censures, if they did not give them up immediately; to inform the archbishop, when set at liberty, of the order to repair to rome, and to permit him to appoint an administrator for his see. nothing, however, was done as the pope had ordained. the archbishop was not liberated; the king sent a detachment of his guards to escort him to carthagena, where he was to embark. he was detained at valladolid so long by the preparations for his departure, that he only reached rome on the 29th of may in the following year. the nuncio was obliged to issue fresh menaces of excommunication, before he could obtain the papers, which detained the archbishop at carthagena for four months. the ignorance of the nuncio concerning the affair was taken advantage of, and only part of the proceedings were remitted to him, the rest being claimed when the deficiency was discovered at rome, and thus the delay of a whole year occurred; in short, it was evident that the inquisitors wished to defer the conclusion of the trial till after the death of carranza. the members of the chapter of toledo were remarkable for their courageous devotion to their chief; they appointed two of their body to attend him during his detention, and to render him every service in their power, charging them never to leave him during his voyage and his residence at rome. carranza left his prison on the 5th of december, 1566, after seven years, three months, and fourteen days' captivity, which he had passed in two rooms, from which he could see neither the country nor the street, and without conversing with any persons but his two domestics, and his two advocates. he was not permitted to name an administrator to his archbishopric according to the commands of the pope: the reason given for this was, that his holiness did not know that an administrator had been already appointed by the king, and that paul iv. had confirmed the nomination. carranza travelled in a litter, and was accompanied by don diego gonzalez, inquisitor of valladolid, and don lope de avellaneda, who had been appointed his gaoler in 1561. on his arrival at carthagena, gonzalez and the guard returned to valladolid, as the captain-general of the province was then responsible for his person. on the 27th of april, 1567, he embarked, and on the 25th of may he arrived at civita vecchia, where the spanish ambassador, and paul vislersio, nephew to the pope and captain of his guards, received him, and on the 29th he arrived at rome. besides his servants and avellaneda, he was accompanied by two counsellors of the inquisition, don diego de simancas, and don antonio pazos; by don pedro fernandez de temiño, inquisitor of callahorra, don jerome ramirez, fiscal to the supreme council, sebastian de landeta and alphonso de castellon, secretaries to the inquisition of valladolid, and several _familiars_, who all travelled at the archbishop's expense. he had also with him don martin de alpizcueta and don alonso delgado, his advocates. chapter xxxiv. end of the trial of carranza.--his death. on the arrival of carranza at rome, the pope assigned to him the apartments occupied by the sovereign pontiffs in the castle of st. angelo: the size of these rooms allowed him to take exercise, and he enjoyed a view of the country. his health became better, and his strength returned; he was also allowed three more domestics. the pope forbade any person to speak to him of his trial, and while it lasted he was not permitted to take the sacrament, or to say mass. in spain he was not suffered to confess, but in rome he was allowed to do so four times in a year. pius v. appointed sixteen consultors for the trial: these were cardinals reviva, pacheco, gambaya, and chiesa; the archbishop of tarragona; the bishop of ciudad rodrigo; the bishop of pati in sicily; the bishop of chefalu; don pedro fernandez de temiño, counsellor of the spanish inquisition; fray thomas manrique, a dominican; the archbishop of st. severin; the bishop of st. agatha; the bishop of arezzo; the bishop of fiesoli, and doctor artimo, auditor of the causes of the apostolical palace. the pope also appointed the fiscal of the supreme council to the same office; two italian secretaries, and the two who came from spain. the rest of the year 1567, and part of the following, were employed in translating the trial into italian. the canons of toledo presented a letter to the pope, entreating him to take into consideration the merit of the archbishop and his high rank, as well as the honour and consolation of their church, which had been deprived of its pastor for eight years, and soliciting him to show him as much favour as was compatible with religion and justice. this his holiness promised to do, and expressed great satisfaction at the noble sentiments contained in the letter, and the tender interest the chapter displayed for the welfare of their pastor. the works and mss. of the archbishop remained in spain; they were claimed and sent to rome in 1570: this circumstance caused fresh delays. when the translation was finished, the fiscal required that no conferences of the consultors should take place unless the pope was present, which prolonged the affair excessively, as his holiness was often unable to attend. the fiscal also challenged fray thomas manrique, because he was the friend of carranza. the pope then appointed doctor toledo, a jesuit, but he was also challenged, because he was related to don antonio de toledo, another friend of the archbishop. don gomez tellez giron, governor of the archbishopric, dying at this time, the chapter of toledo wrote to the pope a second time, expressing the utmost anxiety to see the trial terminated. his holiness replied to this letter with peculiar graciousness, excusing himself on account of his numerous avocations, and the nature of the trial, and promising to hasten the conclusion, which he said he had already endeavoured to do. when the writings were arranged, it was discovered that several sheets were missing; pius v. therefore considering that it would be difficult to express in writing what he thought on this subject, sent john de bedoya, agent of the council of the inquisition, into spain, with a brief addressed to the king, requesting him to listen to the commission of john de bedoya with his usual benevolence and goodness. it is not known what bedoya said to the king, but the trial informs us that he caused the papers concerning the trial to be sought for, and that some of these were given by the inquisitor-general to the king, to be sent to rome: among these were found some qualifications and depositions, which were favourable to the archbishop. the persons who had concealed these documents were so blinded by passion, that they did not consider that they were cited in the papers which had been sent. although his holiness and philip intended to transfer all the papers concerning carranza, yet all the ms. copies of the catechism, which were taken from the marchioness d'alcañices, and which had been used in the qualification of the work, and the duplicates and triplicates of the unprinted works, remitted by alphonso de castro, and doctor astete, were retained in spain. this omission was not at first supposed to be occasioned by malevolence, since all the rest had been sent; but it was afterwards discovered that the papers were retained to be made use of on some other opportunity, which in fact occurred; and to give occasion for fresh delays if they were claimed by the pope. pius v. prepared the definitive sentence; but he did not pronounce it until he knew the inclinations of philip, whom he did not wish to offend. in his judgment he declared that the accusation of the fiscal was not proved, and acquitted the prelate. he commanded that the _catechism_ should be restored to the author, to be translated into latin, and that he should insert the necessary corrections, and explain the censured propositions in a catholic sense; secondly that the prohibition of that work should be held to be valid, until the explanations were furnished; that that of the _explanation of st. john_ should remain, and that none of the manuscript works of carranza should be printed or published, until he had made the necessary corrections. the pope sent this sentence to the king of spain, by alessandro casali, his chamberlain. he was persuaded that philip would be pleased to see that he had acknowledged the innocence of carranza, and that he would be satisfied with the measures taken to prevent the books from being dangerous. the pope did not understand the character of philip ii., who considered himself as much dishonoured as the holy office, by the exoneration of carranza. he wrote to his holiness, to prove that it was impossible that the works of the prelate could contain so many of the errors of luther, if he was not an heretic. he therefore requested the pope to defer the judgment until the return of his chamberlain, to whom he would give important documents proving the truth of his statement. the king ordered a _refutation of the apology for the catechism of carranza, published by alpizcueta and delgado_, to be composed, and also another work by the abbot of alcala de henares, under the title of a _new qualification of the catechism of carranza, and the faith of its author_. philip sent these two writings to rome, in 1572, by casali. when he arrived, he found that his master, pius v. was dead, and gregory xiii., his successor, received the documents, and joined them to the trial. the death of pius has been attributed to the agents of the inquisition. such reports are not often worthy of credit, but there are letters on the subject in existence, which contain very bold expressions. one of them says, "the death of a man who showed himself so much attached to a dominican monk, and who compromised by his discourse the honour of the spanish inquisition, ought not to be considered of much importance. it (the inquisition) would be benefitted by the death of such a pope." philip ii. congratulated the new pontiff on his accession, and at the same time requested him to suspend the judgment of the trial, until he had heard the opinions of four spanish theologians, whom he intended to send to throw a new light on the affair: these doctors were, don francis sancho, professor of theology at salamanca; fray diego de chabes, confessor to the king; fray juan ochoa, and fray juan de la fuente, masters of theology. their censures were joined to the trial. philip ii. perceiving the turn which the affair now took, made a last effort, and the counsellors of the inquisition, in order to obtain a recantation of the favourable opinions emitted by respectable theologians before the arrest of carranza, made use of terror and persuasion: the first by making them dread that they would be arrested as being suspected of professing the errors which they had approved; and the second, by offering them an honourable pretext for reforming their first judgment, in the discovery of the inedited works of carranza, in which there were a greater number of propositions susceptible of an heretical interpretation. the first who fell into the snare was a man truly respectable for his learning, his virtues, his birth, and many eminent qualities; but his great age, and his dread of the dungeons of the inquisition, may be considered as an excuse for his weakness, as well as for that of the venerable osius. on the 30th of march, 1574, the archbishop qualified, as erroneous, seventy-five propositions of the same printed catechism, which he had before pronounced to be orthodox; he however added, that the errors were owing to the castilian language in which the work was written, and that if it was published in latin, it would be necessary to suppress, correct, or explain thirty-one propositions. the prelate also declared, that there were two hundred and ninety-two errors in the mss., numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, and sixty-six in the explanations and sermons (of which a list has been given in a former part of this work), and from thence he concluded that the author was _violently suspected_ of heresy. serrano, the reporter of the supreme council, who had taken these works to the archbishop of grenada, returned full of triumph to madrid. the supreme council, in a letter to the king, expresses great satisfaction on this account, and says, "it is absolutely necessary to send this qualification to rome, because the activity with which the affair is proceeded in makes it likely that it will soon be concluded, and this measure is the more important as the opinion of the archbishop of grenada will have much influence." this letter was accompanied by a false estimate of the censures, plainly showing the animosity of the council towards carranza. serrano then repaired to don francis blanco, then bishop of malaga. this prelate, on the 29th of april, retracted the opinion he had given in 1558. he censured sixty-eight propositions of the catechism, although he had formerly praised the work. serrano immediately informed the council of it, and that the bishop had pronounced carranza to be _violently suspected_ of heresy. the archbishopric of santiago being vacant at this time, the king bestowed it on this prelate. don francis delgado followed his example, and censured three hundred and fifteen propositions. don francis delgado obtained the see of santiago, on the death of blanco, but he did not live long enough to take possession of it. the king did not send the opinions of the prelates to rome, but wrote to the pope, and told him that he was informed that the archbishops of santiago and grenada had many important things to reveal concerning carranza, and that he hoped his holiness would command all that was necessary to be done on this occasion. on the 7th of august in the same year, gregory xiii. expedited a brief, in which he commissioned don gaspar de quiroga, inquisitor-general, to receive the declarations of the prelates in the presence of a notary, and of witnesses, and to send them signed and sealed to rome. a similar brief was sent on the 17th of october, to the bishop of jaen, the magistral canon of toledo, and professor mancio. the inquisitor-general appointed commissioners, to whom he gave written instructions. they were directed to exact an oath to speak the truth and observe secrecy, to induce the prelates to declare that the change in their opinion was founded on a more strict examination of the work, and a knowledge of the other writings of the author; lastly, to make them state in a separate paper what they now thought of the works and faith of carranza, and not to allow them to say that they did so in obedience to the king, as they had stated at first, but to declare that they acted according to the brief. these declarations were sent to rome in december. don francis blanco, who had only censured sixty-eight propositions of the catechism on the first examination, now censured two hundred and seventy-three in the catechism and pamphlets together, sixty-three of which he pronounced to be heretical. this extraordinary change was attributed by the prelates to a love of justice, to conscience, zeal for religion, and a wish to please god. the declarations of five new witnesses of so much consequence, entirely changed the appearance of the trial. gregory xiii. fell into the snare, which it was indeed difficult to avoid, since the intrigue which produced it was conducted by so powerful a sovereign as philip, and so formidable and able a body as the spanish inquisition. gregory had discovered the intrigues when at madrid, and informed st. pius v. that it would be impossible even for foreign judges to terminate the trial in an equitable manner in spain; but he was far from supposing that the animosity of carranza's enemies would be still more active at rome. the pope loved justice, and thought he was obeying its dictates, in commanding, on the 14th of april, 1576, that the archbishop of toledo should abjure all heresies in general, and particularly the sixteen lutheran propositions which he was _violently_ suspected of believing. he was suspended for five years from performing his archiepiscopal duties, and condemned to be confined during that time in the dominican convent of orvietta in tuscany, and for the present in that of the minerva at rome, where some penances were also imposed, one of which was to visit in one day the seven churches of st. peter, st. paul, st. john de lateran, santa croce of jerusalem, st. sebastian, st. mary major, and st. laurence. the prohibition of the catechism by the holy office was maintained. the sixteen lutheran propositions abjured by carranza were the following:-1. works performed without the spirit, of whatever nature, are sins, and offend god. 2. faith is the first and principal means of obtaining justification. 3. man is formally justified by the justice of jesus christ; by that, christ has merited for us. 4. no one can obtain the justice of christ, except by firmly believing that he has obtained it. 5. those who are in a state of mortal sin cannot comprehend the holy scriptures, or discern things relating to faith. 6. natural reason is contrary to faith, in all that relates to religion. 7. the _germ_ of sin exists in baptized persons with the quality of sin. 8. true faith does not exist in the sinner when he has lost grace by sin. 9. repentance is equal to baptism, and is equal to a new life. 10. our lord jesus christ has atoned for our sins in so efficacious and entire a manner, that no other atonement is required of us. 11. faith without works is sufficient for salvation. 12. jesus christ was not a legislator, and it did not enter into his plan to give laws. 13. the actions and works of saints can only serve for an example, but they cannot aid us in any way. 14. the use of holy images, and the veneration for the relics of saints, are customs purely human. 15. the church of the present age has not the same light, or an authority equal to the primitive church. 16. the condition of the apostles and a religious life, do not differ from the common state of christians. the declarations of the witnesses do not prove that carranza ever uttered any of these propositions, and from this censures we may perceive that he only advanced in writing some which led the censurers to suppose that he professed those and many others, since he was not obliged to abjure several hundred propositions which had been censured, or the seventy-two which were qualified as heretical. as it could not be proved that he had ever spoken or expressed in writing any of the sixteen propositions considered as lutheran, i do not hesitate to say that this sentence cannot be approved by upright men. the archbishop heard his sentence with humility, and was absolved _ad cautelam_; he performed mass on the four first days of the holy week, and on the 23rd of april he performed his penance of visiting the churches. he refused the letter which the pope offered him, as a public testimony of his esteem and interest in his fate. he celebrated mass on another day in the church of st. john lateran, for the last time in his life; he expired at three o'clock in the morning of the 2nd of may, 1576, aged seventy-two years, eighteen of which he had passed in prison. the pope being informed of his illness, on the 30th of april sent him a pontifical absolution and exemption of the penance imposed on him; the holy father did this for the consolation of carranza, who in fact showed great satisfaction, and received extreme unction with tranquillity, and even with some demonstrations of joy. he made his will in the presence of one of the secretaries of his trial, and appointed as his executors his faithful friend don antonio de toledo; the doctors d'alpizcueta and delgado, who never forsook him; don juan de navarra y mendoza, chanter, dignitary, and canon of the cathedral of toledo (he was the son of the count de lodosa, and descended in the direct male line from the kings of navarre); fray ferdinand de san ambrosio, his procurator, always faithful to his cause; and fray antonio d'utrilla, a model of fidelity and affection, who voluntarily shared his captivity for eighteen years. he had not obtained the permission which was necessary for bishops, to make a will; but as the popes at that time disposed of the revenues of the stewardships, he approved and confirmed the pious arrangements of the archbishop. on the 30th of april, after the prelate had received absolution, and before he pronounced his act of faith, he made the following declaration in latin, in the presence of the three secretaries, several spaniards, and some italians, speaking slowly and with a distinct utterance, that all present might hear him. "considering that i have been suspected of having fallen into the errors imputed to me, i think it my duty to make known my sentiments on this subject; it was for this purpose that i requested the attendance of the four secretaries who have been employed in my trial. i call, then, to witness the celestial court, and for my judge the sovereign lord, whose sacrament i am about to receive, the angels who accompany him, whom i have always chosen as my intercessors; i swear by that almighty god, by my approaching death, by the account i shall soon render up to god, that while i professed theology in my order, and afterwards when i wrote, taught, preached, and argued in spain and germany, italy and england, i always intended to make the faith of our lord jesus christ triumphant, and to combat heretics. his divine majesty came to my assistance, since in england i converted several heretics to the catholic faith; with the king's permission i caused the bodies of the greatest heretics of those times to be disinterred, and they were burnt, to secure the power of the inquisition. the catholics, as well as the heretics, have always given me the title of _first defender of the faith_. i can truly affirm that i have always been one of the first to labour in this holy work, and have done many things concerning it by the order of the king my master. his majesty has been a witness of part of what i have asserted. i have loved him, and i still love him truly; no son could have a greater affection for him than i have. "i also declare, that in the whole course of my life i have never taught, preached, or maintained any heresy, or anything contrary to the true faith of the roman church; that i never fell into any of the errors of which i have been suspected, from having different meanings attributed to my words to what i gave them myself; i swear by all that i have already said, by that god to whom i have appealed as my judge, that the errors i have mentioned or those reported in my trial never entered into my mind; that i never had the least doubt of any of these points of doctrine; but on the contrary i have professed, written, taught, and preached the holy faith, with the same firmness as i now believe and profess it at the hour of my death. "nevertheless i acknowledge my sentence to be just, because it was pronounced by the vicar of christ; i have received and regarded it as such, because to the quality of vicar of jesus christ the person who pronounced it joins the character of an upright and prudent judge. i pardon, at the hour of my death, as i have always done, all offences, of whatever nature, which have been committed against me; i also pardon those who have shown themselves against me in my trial; also those who have taken the smallest part in it. i have never felt any resentment against them; on the contrary, i have always recommended them to god; i do so at this moment, loving them with all my heart, and i promise that if i go to that place where i hope to be by the mercy of our lord, that i will not ask any thing against them, but pray to god for all." the corpse of the archbishop was deposited, on the 3rd of may, in the choir of the convent of _the minerva_, between two cardinals of the family of medicis. the pope caused an inscription to be engraved on his tomb, in which he calls him a _man illustrious by his doctrine and his sermons_. from this it appears probable that he did not consider his works full of heresies; but, perhaps, it was occasioned by the protestation of carranza before his death. solemn obsequies were performed at rome; and those celebrated at toledo, some time after, were still more magnificent. although the holy office had obtained an unjust victory, the inquisitors were vexed that carranza had not been degraded from his dignity. the suspension for five years appeared to them a singularly slight punishment, and they feared that the pope would grant him a dispensation from it, which he, in fact, did, eight days after the sentence. their rage is displayed in several letters written from rome on the three first days after the judgment, and which were found among the papers of the trial at madrid. among many things which are disgraceful to the writers, is the advice given to the king, not to permit carranza to return to spain, and, above all, not to suffer him to govern his see even after the lapse of the suspension; their envy and animosity making them suppose, that it would be a disgrace to the diocese of toledo to be governed by a man who had been prosecuted by the inquisition: they said that it would be better for the king to request the pope to induce carranza to give up his diocese and accept a pension, that some person might be placed in his see more worthy to occupy it; but god in his infinite wisdom destroyed, by the death of the archbishop, the cause, the motive, and the matter for new intrigues. in the writings of the process i saw with sorrow, that, far from relinquishing their pursuits, the inquisitors had prepared a fresh persecution for him. chapter xxxv. trial of antonio perez, minister and first secretary of state to philip ii. antonio perez was another illustrious victim to the inquisition and the evil disposition of philip ii. the misfortunes of perez commenced when philip put to death juan escobedo, secretary to don john of austria; he succeeded in making his escape to aragon, where he hoped to live in tranquillity under a government which only allowed the sovereign to have an accusing fiscal in the tribunals. it is not necessary to relate all that perez suffered at madrid during twelve years before he made his escape; these details may be found in a work published by this minister, under the title of _relations_, in the recital which antonio valladares de sotomayor inserted in the _seminario erudito_, and in a volume in octavo which appeared in 1788, entitled _the trial of antonio perez_. antonio perez having retired to aragon in 1590, philip issued an order for his arrest, which took place at calatayud. perez having protested against this measure, and claimed the privilege of the _manifestados_, he was conducted to saragossa, and confined in the prison of the _kingdom_, or of _liberty_. the prisoners were there free from the immediate authority of the king, and only depended on an intermediate judge called the chief justice of aragon. it was also called the prison of the _fuero_ or _constitutional_, because the constitution of the king alone was named the _fuero d'aragon_; it was sometimes named the prison of the _manifestados_; no persons were received into it except those who presented themselves, or claimed the benefit of the constitution, in order to avoid the royal prison, and declared that they submitted to the laws of the kingdom, and invoked the support of its privileges: those of a prisoner in the case of perez consisted in not being put to the torture; in being set at liberty, after taking an oath to present himself to reply to the charges, and being allowed even if condemned to death by any other judge, to appeal to the tribunal of the chief justice of aragon[68], who examined if the execution of the sentence was contrary to any _fuero_ of the kingdom. this tribunal resembles that of france called the _court of cassation_. philip ii., after many earnest but useless endeavours to induce the permanent deputation of the kingdom to transfer perez to madrid, sent the commencement of the trial into aragon, and gave the necessary powers to his fiscal at saragossa, to accuse him of having made false reports to the king, which had induced him to put juan escobedo to death; of having forged letters from the cabinet, and revealed state secrets. after many incidents, perez reduced the king to the necessity of renouncing the prosecution, by a public act on the 18th of august, in order to avoid the disgrace of seeing him acquitted. his majesty, however, reserved to himself the right of making use of his privileges; and to prevent perez from obtaining his liberty, he caused another trial to be commenced, under the form of an _inquest_[69], before the regent of the royal audience of aragon. to give occasion for this trial, it was decided that the domestics of the king were exempted from the privileges of the _fueros_, and that antonio perez was the king's servant, in the office of secretary of state. perez asserted that the secretary of state was a servant of the public, and had never been confounded with the king's domestics; that supposing he had been of that class, the law could only extend to the secretary of state for aragon; that the constitution only alluded to those royal domestics who were natives of aragon; that no one could be tried twice for the same crime before two different tribunals; that he had been tried at madrid in 1582; that he then submitted to much ill-treatment, rather than justify himself by divulging the private letters of the king, which he had in his possession; lastly, that though the papers useful in his defence had been obtained from his wife by fraudulent means, yet he had still documents enough to justify himself entirely. perez had, in fact, retained several notes in the king's own hand-writing, which were sufficient to exculpate him: he sent copies of them to the marquis d'almenara and other persons attached to the king, and told them that having been informed that his majesty was vexed that his letters had been exposed in the trial, he wished to spare him the pain of seeing other original documents presented, which contained very important secrets relating to different people; but if the disposition to persecute him continued, he would produce them, because he was no longer capable of making useless sacrifices to the prejudice of his wife and seven children. the _inquest_ was then given up, and perez demanded his liberty on his parole, or at least on giving security; this was refused by the regent: he then appealed to the privileges of the kingdom against force, before the tribunal of the chief justice, who did not show him more favour. it appears that perez then, with his companion in misfortune, juan francis mayorini, formed a plan to escape into bearn. their design was discovered at the moment they were about to execute it, but perez conducted himself with so much address, that he reduced his part in the transaction to a simple suspicion. the deposition of the witnesses before the regent furnished the inquisition with a pretext to prosecute perez; this event was agreeable to the court, because no means to prolong the _inquest_ could be invented. on the 19th of february, 1591, the regent wrote to the inquisitor, molina, that perez and mayorini intended to escape from prison to go to bearn, and to other places in france, where the heretics resorted, with intentions which would be proved by the declarations of witnesses. the proof mentioned in this letter is an attestation, without date, given by the notary, juan montañes, into which had been copied the 8th chapter of the first additions and the 5th of the second, which had been made to the principal charges against perez by the royal fiscal, and the depositions which had been obtained from juan louis de luna, anton de la almuñia and diego bustamente. in these chapters an attempt had been made to prove, "that antonio perez and juan francis mayorini intended to escape from confinement, saying that they intended to go to bearn, to vendome and his sister[70], and to other parts of france, where they would find many heretics inimical to his majesty; that he hoped to be well received, because perez knew a great many state secrets which he could communicate to them; that they had added to this discourse many expressions criminal and offensive to the majesty of the king, and that they were resolved to do him as much harm as they could." i should not have believed that such depositions would have been sufficient to denounce perez to the inquisition as guilty of heresy, if i had not seen the writings of the trial. we may be permitted to suppose, from what passed at madrid, and the commencement of the _inquest_ which threatened perez with capital punishment, that the accusation of heresy was a stroke of policy of the agents of the king. they did not dare to present the depositions they had obtained as being decisive, but they hoped that when the holy office began the trial of their victim, the charges would be multiplied. the inquisitors of saragossa were don alphonso molina de medrano, and don juan hurtado de mendoza: the one was the cousin of the marquis d'almenara, and the other an intriguing and immoral man, who wished to obtain a bishopric at any price. for this reason the marquis placed more confidence in him than in his cousin, who was less learned, and too good to become a persecutor. in fact, don juan avoided, as much as possible, taking any part in this transaction, and even obtained leave to remove to another tribunal. molina received the letter of the regent, and the depositions which accompanied it; but instead of communicating them to the tribunal, he sent them by the first courier to quiroga, the inquisitor-general. the marquis d'almenara gave information of the event to the count de chinchon, who communicated it the king; after having consulted the cardinal, philip commanded him to take proper measures to prove the heresy of perez, and to punish him accordingly. on the 5th of march, quiroga ordained that molina alone should receive the depositions; that the inquisitors should examine them without the concurrence of the diocesan and consultors, and send them immediately to madrid. on the 20th of march ten witnesses were examined: diego bustamente, the servant of perez, and juan de basante, a teacher of latin, who often saw him in prison, quoted sentences which, in the original, did not prove anything against him, but which, on being separated from the others, had a meaning which gave an appearance of justice to the measure employed. the tribunal remitted the information to quiroga, who sent it to fray diego de chabes, who qualified four propositions imputed to perez, and one to mayorini. the latter was reduced to some indecent oaths, used by italians, which had escaped mayorini in losing at play, and were qualified as _heretical blasphemies_; this was sufficient to authorize his imprisonment. _first proposition, taken from the testimony of diego de bustamente._--some one told perez not to speak ill of don john of austria: he replied, "after being accused by the king of having disguised the sense of my letters, and betraying the secrets of the council, it is just that i should vindicate myself without respect of persons: _if god the father put any obstacle in the way of it, i would cut off his nose for having permitted the king to behave like a disloyal knight towards me._"--qualification. this proposition is blasphemous, scandalous, offensive to pious ears, and approaching to the heresy of the vaudois, who suppose that god the father has a body. _second proposition, taken from the deposition of juan de basante._--antonio perez considering the bad state of his affairs, said to me one day, in a fit of grief and anger: "i shall perhaps no longer believe in god. _one would say that he sleeps during my trial; if he does not perform a miracle in my favour, i shall lose all faith._"--qualification. this proposition is scandalous, offensive to pious ears, and suspected of heresy, because it supposes that god sleeps, and has an intimate relation with the preceding proposition. the two remaining accusations were very similar, with similar qualifications. it appears that the words he used were uttered in moments of grief and despair. it is remarkable that the inquisition has provided for this case, for in one of their ordinances it is decreed, that no person shall be arrested for uttering a blasphemy, when excited by impatience or rage. to this may be added, that the proof was defective, since the second proposition rested solely on the testimony of basante. with respect to the three others, i shall quote the third article of the instruction of toledo, in 1498. "we also command the inquisitors to be prudent when a person is to be arrested, and not to issue the decree _until they_ have obtained sufficient proof of the crime of heresy imputed to the accused." however, as religion was only the ostensible motive for this trial, the supreme council, after having seen the censures, decreed on the 21st of may, that perez and mayorini should be arrested and confined in the secret prisons of the inquisition, that they should be strictly watched, and arrested so promptly, that no one should have any suspicion of it. on the 24th of may, the inquisitors sent an order to the grand alguazil of the holy office, to seize the persons of the accused. the gaoler of the prison of the kingdom declared, that he could not give them up without an order from the chief justice, or one of his lieutenants. the inquisitors wrote on the same day to the lieutenant, and commanded him on pain of excommunication, and a penalty of a thousand ducats, to give up the prisoners in the space of three hours, _without allowing the fuero of the manifestation to be any obstacle, since it could not be applied to a trial for heresy; and for that reason the inquisitors revoked and annulled any such interpretation of the fuero, as preventing the free exercise of the holy tribunal_. the secretary presented these letters to the chief justice, don juan de la nuza, in a public audience, in the presence of five judges who formed his council, and of all the persons employed in his tribunal. the chief justice submitted to the order of the inquisitors, and the prisoners were conducted to the inquisition in separate carriages. it was afterwards known that the courier, who brought the order from madrid, also brought letters from the count de chinchon to the marquis d'almenara, who, in a private conversation with the chief justice, persuaded him not to insist upon his privileges; and that the two letters of the inquisitors were written on the same night, though they were dated the 24th, because they were previously informed by the marquis of what would take place. perez, who foresaw his danger, had imparted his fears to the count d'aranda and other nobles, who resolved to oppose this measure as an infraction of the most valuable privilege of the kingdom. don diego fernandez de heredia, baron de barboles, afterwards declared, in the trial which brought him to the scaffold, that the count and perez agreed to assassinate the marquis d'almenara, because if they got rid of him, the king and the count de chinchon would renounce their plan of making a castilian the viceroy of aragon, who would not fail to destroy all their privileges in succession. perez, in his _relations_, informs us that the father of the count d'aranda above mentioned, and several other persons, claimed and were allowed the privileges of the _fuero de manifestados_, when arrested by the inquisition. when perez was transferred to the prison of the holy office, he told his servants to inform the baron de barboles and several other gentlemen of the circumstance. at this news the aragonese excited the people of saragossa to revolt, by cries of "treason! treason! live the nation! live our liberty! live the fueros! death to the traitors!" in less than an hour, more than a thousand men, under arms, surrounded the house of the marquis d'almenara, and treated him with so much violence, that he would have been killed if he had not been immediately taken into the royal prison, where he died of his wounds fourteen days after. the insurgents insulted the archbishop, and threatened to kill him and burn his hotel if he did not make the inquisitors give up the prisoners: they menaced the viceroy bishop of teruel in the same manner, and assembling to the number of three thousand men, began to set fire to the castle of aljaferia, (an ancient palace of the moorish kings, where the inquisition was held,) crying that they would burn the inquisitors if they did not give up perez and mayorini. many other events occurred in the city, because molina de medrano obstinately persisted in endeavouring to quell the insurrection, contrary to the entreaties twice repeated of the archbishop, the viceroy, of the counts d'aranda and morata, and of many of the first noblemen of aragon. at last, finding that the danger increased, he appeared to yield, and announced that he would not set the prisoners at liberty, but would give them for the prison of the holy office that of the kingdom, and they were removed thither on the same day. the inquisitors were left in a critical situation, and did not dare to arrest any one; they addressed several letters to the commissioners of the holy office, some of them accompanied by the order to the lieutenants and their decree, to show that they had not violated the prison of the kingdom, but had only received the persons given up to them by the chief justice: the others were sent with the bull of pius v., dated 1st of april, 1569, concerning those who opposed the exercise of the holy office; they also proposed to publish an edict, excommunicating several persons already noted in the registers of the inquisition as having opposed the execution of the orders of the inquisitors, but they were persuaded to relinquish the intention by the archbishop. at this period, some persons who fled to madrid when the revolt took place, and who were known to be devoted to the king, were examined as witnesses; and it appeared from their depositions, that the counts d'aranda and morata, the barons de barboles, de biescas, de purroy, de la laguna, and many others of the first noblemen of the country, had excited the people to sedition, and increased the disturbance by persuading them that the _fuero_ was attacked. the members of the permanent deputation of the kingdom thought, that being interested in the defence of the political constitution, they might be accused of having failed in their duty; they therefore endeavoured to justify themselves, by declaring that as theirs was not an armed body or a judicial authority, they could not prevent the revolt. they also thought proper to pronounce by a commission of jurisconsults, that those who had given up the prisoners to the inquisitors, from the prison of the kingdom, had violated its privileges. however the secret intrigues of the inquisitors, the archbishop, the viceroy, and the chief justice were so adroitly conducted, that some members remarked, that four lawyers were not enough to discuss the rights of the king and the holy office. this observation caused nine other jurisconsults to be appointed, and it was decreed that they should decide by a majority of three votes. they declared that the inquisitors had exceeded their powers, when they cancelled the _manifestation_, because no authority could do so, except that of the king, and the deputies assembled in cortes; but that if the inquisitors required the prisoners to be given up to them, and the _privilege of manifestation was suspended_ during their prosecution, it would not be contrary to the laws of the kingdom. antonio perez wrote to the deputation, to represent that his cause was that of all the aragonese; several of his friends undertook to shew, that the _suspension_ was equally contrary to the laws, since the prisoner might be tortured, was deprived of his right to his liberty on oath, and was exposed to the misery of an interminable trial; these efforts were all in vain. it was privately decided that the inquisitors should demand the prisoners a second time, without threats or orders, and resting only on the _suspension of the privileges_. the king was given to understand that it would be useful if he wrote to the duke de villahermosa, and the counts d'aranda, de morata, and de sastago, to engage them to lend assistance to the viceroy, with their relations and friends, and to aid the constituted authorities, if any event rendered it necessary. philip followed the advice, and his letters to those noblemen were as gracious and flattering, as if he had been ignorant of the part they had taken in the late disturbances. perez now saw no safety except in flight, and had everything in readiness to force his prison, when he was betrayed some hours before, by the perfidious juan de basante, his false friend and accomplice. the removal of perez was to take place on the 24th of september; the inquisition, the viceroy, the archbishop, the deputation of the kingdom, the municipality, and the civil and military governors, were all to assist. the inquisitors had summoned to saragossa, from the neighbouring towns, a great number of the _familiars_ of the holy office, and the military governor had in attendance three thousand men, well armed. this expedition was to have been made without the knowledge of the inhabitants; but the barons de barboles, de biescas, and de purroy, and some other individuals, were informed of it. at the moment when the prisoners were coming out of the prison, in the presence of the principal magistrates of the city, and while the avenues and streets through which they were to pass were lined with soldiers, a furious troop of insurgents broke through the lines, killed a great number of men, dispersed the others, put the magistrates to flight, and seizing perez and mayorini, carried them off in triumph, shouting, _live our liberty! live the fueros of aragon!_ perez and mayorini were received into the house of the baron de barboles; when they had reposed for a few minutes, they were taken out of the town, and taking different roads, hastened away from it. perez repaired to tauste, with the intention of crossing the pyrenees by the valley of ronçal, but as the frontiers were strictly guarded, he returned to saragossa. he entered it in disguise, on the 2nd of october, and remained concealed in the house of the baron de biescas until the 10th of november. he then thought it dangerous to remain there longer, because don alphonso de vargas was advancing with an army to take the town, and punish the rebels. this event has been related very incorrectly in several histories. the presence of perez in saragossa was suspected by means of some letters from madrid, which basante had seen, and of which he had given information. the inquisitors searched the houses of the baron de barboles and several other persons. don antonio morejon, the second inquisitor[71], suspected that de biescas knew the place of his concealment, and pressed him to discover it, promising that perez should be well treated if he presented himself voluntarily. perez had several times declared that he would surrender to the holy office, if he was not almost certain that he should be given up to the government, which would immediately execute the sentence of death passed upon him in 1590, without allowing him to be heard. on the 11th of november, perez went to sallen, in the pyrenees, on the estates of the baron de biescas. on the 18th he wrote to the princess of bearn, to ask an asylum in the states of her brother, henry iv., or to be permitted to pass through them to some other country. this letter was given to the princess by gil de mesa, an aragonese gentleman, and an old and faithful friend of perez. catherine received perez into her brother's states on the 24th of november, when the barons de concas and de la pinilla arrived at sallen, with three hundred men, to take him; they had offered to betray him if they were pardoned: the first had been condemned by the inquisition, for having sent horses to france, and the other was to be executed for having excited a revolt, in an attempt of the same nature. perez went to pau, and while he was in that place the inquisitor morejon again requested the baron de biescas to persuade him to submit to the inquisition; he replied that he would do so, if they would promise to try him at saragossa instead of madrid, and that he should require that his wife and children should be set at liberty, of which they had been deprived, although they were innocent. perez made the same reply to another requisition. in order to satisfy the curiosity of the princess catherine and her subjects, perez composed two little works, the first called _morceau historique, sur ce qui est arrivée a saragosse d'aragon, le_ 24th septembre, 1591; and the other, _précis du récit des avantures d'antoine perez, depuis le commencement, de sa première detention jusqu'a sa sortie des domaines du roi catholique_. these works were printed at pau, without the name of the author; the inquisitors examined them, and derived from them some additional charges. philip ii. and the inquisitors offered life, offices, money, and honours, to any condemned criminal who would kill perez or bring him as a prisoner into spain. i refer the reader for all that relates to this part of the history to the work entitled _relations_, in which perez takes the name of _raphaël peregrino_. perez obtained leave from henry iv. to go to london, where he was extremely well received by queen elizabeth and the earl of leicester; he afterwards went to paris, where he passed the rest of his life, pining unceasingly for his wife and children. on the 15th of february, 1592, the inquisitors declared antonio perez to be a fugitive; they affixed an edict on the metropolitan church of saragossa, summoning him to appear within one month; this measure was most revoltingly unjust, since they well knew that perez was in a country then at war with spain, and the laws of the holy office allowed even the space of a year, according to the distance the accused had to travel. the declarations of the witnesses who were interrogated at madrid, after the first revolt of saragossa in 1591, deposed to facts to which no importance could have been attached, if they had related to other persons and events. but antonio perez was concerned in them, and that was sufficient to cause them to be censured as _audacious_, and _suspected of heresy_. i shall not stay to prove the insufficiency of this act, but shall give the third of the propositions as an example of the rest. "in speaking of philip ii., and of vendome, antonio perez said that the king was a tyrant, but that vendome would be a great monarch, for he was an excellent prince, and governed the state to the satisfaction of every one; that he therefore rejoiced on hearing of his victories, and _that it was not heresy to pay court to him and speak to him_." qualification. "the accused shews himself to be impious in respect to god and the holy catholic faith, a favourer and violently suspected of heresy; and as he now lives in the midst of heretics, it proves that he is himself an heretic." the inquisitors, who wished to favour the views of the court at any rate, took advantage of a vague report, communicated to them by one of their _familiars_, that antonio perez was descended from the jews, because in the borough of hariza, near montreal, from whence his family came, there had lived a new christian called juan perez, who was burnt by the inquisition as a judaizing heretic. the registers of the holy office were immediately consulted, and it appeared that one juan perez de fariza had been burnt, and that antonio perez de fariza had died a heretic. pascual gilberte, a priest and commissioner of the holy office, was appointed, on the 16th of april, 1592, to ascertain if there was any degree of relationship between the condemned heretics and the father of antonio perez. many witnesses were examined, both in montreal, and the neighbouring towns, but they all declared that the two families were perfectly distinct. all that is known concerning the genealogy of perez is, that he was the natural son of gonzalez perez and donna jane d'escobar, and that he was legitimatized by charles v. that his paternal grandfather was bartholemew perez, secretary to the inquisition of calahorra, that his grandmother was donna louisa perez del hierro, of a noble family of segovia; that he was great grandson to juan perez, an inhabitant of montreal, and of mary tirado his wife; and that there was no relationship, direct or indirect, between his family and that of juan and antonio perez de fariza. this was afterwards fully proved by the wife and children of antonio perez. it must be observed, that if the inquisitors had wished to be truly informed, they might have had a copy of the contract of marriage between perez and donna jane coello, which states that his father was born at segovia. in that city, at calahorra, and even in the supreme council, they might have found his real genealogy. however, the fiscal abused the privilege of secrecy, in the accusation he brought against perez, on the 6th of july, by supposing that he was descended from the jews, in order to strengthen the suspicion of heresy, according to the custom of the inquisition. the accusation was composed of forty-three articles, each more vague than the others, and only founded on words uttered without reflection, during a fit of rage, or in extreme pain, which had no connexion with doctrine, and concerning which no two witnesses agreed in the time, place, or circumstances. on the 14th of august the fiscal demanded that the depositions of the witnesses should be published; and on the 16th the qualifiers again assembled to censure the propositions already noted, and the works printed at pau. they censured sixteen as _audacious_ and _erroneous_; some others as _blasphemous_, and _approaching to heresy_, and concluded that antonio perez was _suspected of heresy in the most violent degree_[72]. on the 18th the fiscal required that perez should be declared contumaceous, and that the definitive sentence should be pronounced. on the 7th of september, the diocesan, different consultors, and jurisconsults (among whom was the first informer, don urban ximenez de aragues, regent of the royal audience) were convoked, and voted the punishment of _relaxation_ in effigy. the supreme _council_ confirmed the sentence on the 13th of october, and on the 20th the judges pronounced the definitive sentence, condemning perez as a _formal heretic_, _a convicted hugonot_, and _an obstinate impenitent_, to be _relaxed_ in person when he could be taken, and in the mean time to suffer that punishment in effigy, with the mitre and san-benito. his property was confiscated, and his children and grandchildren in the male line devoted to infamy, besides other penalties. many other persons suffered in this _auto-da-fé_, of whom an account will be given in the next chapter. perez was in england when he was condemned to death. a conspiracy against his life by some spaniards was discovered there: it was renewed at paris by the baron de la pinilla, who declared that he had been sent to kill him by don juan idiaquez, minister to philip ii. the death of that prince, and the consequent change in the politics of the government, inspired perez with the hope of arranging his affairs at madrid; but the misfortune of having been prosecuted by the inquisition rendered his efforts unavailing. the reader is referred to the _relations_ for all that concerns this part of the history. perez had, at paris, been intimate with fray francis de sosa, general of the franciscans, then bishop of the canaries, and a counsellor of the inquisition, who often advised him to give himself up to the holy office, as the only means of obtaining a reconciliation. perez replied that he would do so, and even wished it, but was deterred by the fear of being arrested by the government, after being set at liberty by the inquisition. sosa then tried to persuade him that he would avoid that danger by obtaining a safe conduct from the inquisitor-general and the supreme council, promising that he should be set at liberty when his trial was terminated by the holy office. sosa, at that time, was little acquainted with the inquisition, of which he was afterwards a member. perez wrote again to sosa in 1611 concerning this affair; the bishop replied, and his letter determined perez to inform him that he was ready to surrender to the inquisition as soon as the safe conduct was sent to him: he sent at the same time to his wife, a petition addressed to the supreme council, in which he renewed his promise. his wife presented it, and added to it one from herself, to interest the judges in her husband's favour. the attempt was fruitless, and perez died at paris on the 3rd of november, in the same year, after giving many proofs of his catholicism, which were afterwards useful to his children in obtaining the revocation of the sentence given at saragossa in 1592, and in _rehabilitating_ his memory. chapter xxxvi. of several trials occasioned by that of antonio perez. the trial of antonio perez was the cause of a great number of prosecutions against persons who had taken part in the tumults and the flight of perez and his companion. the censures and penalties of the bull of pius v., destined to punish those who opposed the exercise of the ministry of the holy office, were applied to them. on the 12th of november, 1591, don alphonso de vargas entered saragossa at the head of his army; this expedition re-established the inquisitors, and they secretly informed against the instigators of the rebellion. on the 8th of january, 1592, the fiscal of the holy office gave in a complaint against the rebels in general, as suspected in matters of faith; and he composed a list of the authors of the sedition, and of those who were suspected of being implicated in it: it amounted to three hundred and seventy-two individuals, who had compromised themselves either by their words or actions. the inquisitors imprisoned a hundred and seventy, and made arrangements for the arrest of others who were only suspected, as the charges were not proved against them. of this number, only a hundred and twenty-three individuals were taken, because the others had either been already taken to the royal prison by the command of vargas, to be tried by doctor lanz, a senator of milan, and the king's special commissioner on this occasion, or had made their escape; some who had only taken an indirect part in the event came under the jurisdiction of the commissioner, and obtained permission to remain as prisoners in their own houses. the following are some of the most remarkable trials, from the high rank of the individuals:-don juan de la nuza, chief justice of aragon, not only had not opposed the exercise of the holy office, but might have been reproached for having given up more than the privileges of the kingdom allowed. he however suffered the fate of a rebel subject, because in the struggle which ensued he was unfortunately the weakest. the oath which the king had taken to observe the privileges of the kingdom did not allow him to send into it more than five hundred soldiers. the permanent deputation, on being informed of the preparations for the entrance of the army of vargas, remonstrated; philip replied that they were destined for france: the deputies then represented the danger which might arise from their being permitted to pass through saragossa; they were then informed that the army would only remain in their city for the period necessary to restore the authority of justice, which had been almost entirely destroyed in the late seditions. the deputies, on receiving this last reply, consulted thirteen lawyers on the sense of the _fueros_; they declared that their rights were infringed by the entrance of the troops into aragon, and that every aragonese was bound to resist and prevent them. circulars were then sent to all the towns, and to the permanent deputation of catalonia and valencia, to demand the aid stipulated by the treaties, in case either country was invaded. the chief justice, whom the laws of the kingdom called to the command, was ordered to place himself immediately at the head of the troops. when the castilians came within six miles of saragossa, the chief justice found himself almost deserted, and consequently retired and left the passage free to the troops, who entered the town. on the 28th of november, don francis de borgia, marquis de lombay, arrived at saragossa; he was commissioned to treat with the permanent deputies and the principal gentlemen of the kingdom concerning the points on which it was asserted the privileges had been infringed. several conferences took place without any result, because the deputies declared that the _fueros_ did not permit them while the country was occupied by foreign troops. philip ii. appointed the count de morata to be viceroy in the place of the bishop of teruel, who had retired to his see, alarmed at the danger he had incurred. the viceroy made his public entry into saragossa, on the 6th of december, to the great joy and satisfaction of the inhabitants; but their joy was of short duration. on the 18th of the same month, don gomez velasquez arrived with a commission to arrest a great number of persons, and with a positive order to behead the chief justice of aragon, as soon as he entered the town; this order was obeyed with so much expedition, that on the 28th don juan de la nuza was no longer in existence. all aragon was filled with consternation at the news of this execution. it is impossible to express how much la nuza was respected by the people on account of his high office, which had been filled by the illustrious members of his family for more than a hundred and fifty years. on this event, many gentlemen fled to france and geneva, and those who, from an ill-founded confidence, remained, soon had cause to repent. don francis d'aragon, duke de villahermosa, count de ribagorza, did not escape the persecution, although he had the advantage of being of royal blood, being descended from john ii. king of aragon and navarre, by his son don alphonso d'aragon. in his trial before the inquisition he was not accused of having opposed the measures of the tribunal during the insurrections, or of taking any part in them: but don francis torralba, lieutenant to the chief justice (who had been deprived of his office in consequence of some serious complaints of perez), pretended that the duke was, by the nature of his blood, an enemy to the holy tribunal, since he descended from jews, who had been burnt and subjected to penances, by estengua conejo, a jewess, who, on her baptism, took the name of mary sanchez, and afterwards became the wife or concubine of don alphonso d'aragon, first duke of villahermosa, and grandfather to the present duke, whom he denounced. torralba minutely detailed the proofs of what he asserted. when the inhabitants of saragossa resolved to oppose the entrance of the castilian army in their city, the duke, according to the laws of the kingdom, offered his services to the chief justice. the royal commissioner, not satisfied with his trial before the inquisition, arrested him on the 19th of december, and sent him into castile, in contempt of another law of the _fuero_. the duke was beheaded at burgos, as convicted of treason; his property was confiscated, and the king bestowed the duchy on the next in succession. the count d'aranda, don louis ximenez de urrea, was also arrested on the 19th of december, but died in the prison of alaejos, on the 4th of august, 1592. it appears from his trial by the inquisition, that when perez was sent to the prison of the kingdom, he declared himself his protector, according to a promise he had given to the wife of perez at madrid; that he was one of the principal instigators of the popular commotions; that he had influenced the lawyers, who declared the act, by which perez was consigned a second time to the inquisition, to be illegal; and lastly, that he had assisted in the military arrangements for the resistance of the royal troops. it has been already stated, that diego de heredia accused the count d'aranda and antonio perez of having conspired against the life of the marquis d'almenara. this deposition is not found in the trial, but don diego declared he had already informed the senator lanz, while he was imprisoned by that magistrate. but if the circumstances independent of this conspiracy may be considered as crimes, why did philip after the first revolt write to request him to lend assistance to the authorities, and afterwards to thank him for having so well performed his mission? it must excite indignation, to see a powerful monarch deceiving his subjects, and punishing them by surprise. the count de morata, don michael martinez de luna, viceroy of aragon, was denounced to the inquisition, after the insurrection of saragossa. it appears that he blamed the conduct of the tribunal and the civil authorities towards perez. some witnesses supposed that he was one of the principal instigators of the first insurrection; but that afterwards learning that philip had said that perez was an unfaithful minister, he ceased to defend him. this is certainly an historical error, for the declaration of the king concerning perez was made in august, 1590, after the act by which the king abandoned the prosecution relating to the death of escobedo, and the insurrections at saragossa took place in may, 1591. the change in the opinions of martinez de luna must have had some other cause. some circumstances in his trial lead to the belief that he was acquainted with the proceedings of the council appointed at madrid to consider the affairs, and that he foresaw that the consequences would be serious, which induced him to change his system. when he was made viceroy, the inquisitor suppressed the preparatory instruction of the trial, and the decree of arrest which had already been resolved upon. the tribunal had received another information against the count in 1577, concerning some _ill-sounding_ propositions, but they had not sufficient proof to proceed upon. although the inquisitors had been so indulgent to the count, he was not devoted to their party. his indifference induced the fiscal to bring a complaint against him in 1592, and to require that he should be arrested. he founded his requisition on the following allegation: the inquisitor-general quiroga had published an edict of grace in favour of all the criminals who had not been arrested, that they might be absolved from all censures; and this edict having been communicated to the count before the publication, he declared that it was impertinent, useless, and ridiculous. the fiscal gave this as an instance of the contempt of the count for the censures under which he pretended that he had fallen, as the principal instigator of the first revolt. some other expressions were construed into a sign of his hatred of the inquisition. it is certain that the count would not have escaped the vengeance of the inquisitors, in his quality of viceroy. when he quitted his office they were fully occupied with other trials, and his affair was too unimportant, and too old, to attract the attention of their successors. the opinion of the count on the edict of grace was very just. this _grace_ was not accorded until the inquisitors had celebrated a solemn _auto-da-fé_ in which seventy-nine inhabitants of the town were _relaxed_, and a much greater number of honourable persons condemned to infamy, on pretence of publicly absolving them from censure; besides that, those already in prison were excluded from the pardon. after the executions of the chief justice, the duke de villahermosa, and the count d'aranda, the king granted a general pardon on the 24th december, 1592, with the exception of many individuals who had excited and directed the sedition. this edict saved the lives of several thousand aragonese; palliating circumstances afterwards caused the capital punishment to be remitted to all those who were excepted in the general pardon. the baron de barboles, don diego fernandez de heredia, brother and presumptive heir to the count de fuentes, a grandee of spain, was to have been arrested by the inquisition; but he was taken by order of vargas, claimed his privilege, and was taken to the prison of the _manifestados_, and on the 9th of october, 1592, had his head struck off at the back of the neck as guilty of treason. he had made several depositions before the senator lanz, and all that concerned antonio perez was communicated to the inquisitors; he had already been examined twice on that subject as a witness of the fiscal, and deposed to a great number of facts which proved that he had excited the people, and kept up the rebellion with the count d'aranda and others, and that he was engaged in the plan to assassinate the marquis d'almenara, but that he repented and revoked the orders he had given concerning it; nevertheless some witnesses deposed that they had seen him in the road encouraging the assassins. the baron de barboles also declared that he was the principal author of the complaint brought by antonio perez before the ordinary judge of saragossa, against the secretary, major-domo, and squire of the marquis d'almenara and several other persons, whom he accused of having, by order of the marquis, suborned several witnesses in 1591, to depose against perez several facts required by the inquisitors; that he had directed and instigated the efforts which were made to find witnesses to confirm by their declarations the articles of their complaint, and that he had deposed as from himself what he had only heard from the agent of perez. another inquest against don diego existed in the inquisition, in which he was accused of having made use of necromancy to discover treasures, and sending horses to france. the judge torralba also deposed that he had heard it said that don diego had been arrested by the inquisition of valencia for having concealed a moresco from an alguazil; he added that it was not surprising that don diego was an enemy to the holy office, because though the blood of his ancestors had not been sullied by that of the jews, his children had not that advantage, since his wife, the baroness d'alcaraz, was of jewish origin. philip ii. wished to show the count de fuentes that though he punished the guilty he knew how to reward a faithful subject, and made him governor of the low countries. the count hated perez, whom he considered as the cause of the misfortunes of de barboles; it is not therefore surprising that he took an active part in the conspiracy formed in london against his life. this attempt did not succeed, and two of the conspirators were put to death at the requisition of the english fiscal, who had been commanded by queen elizabeth to prosecute the authors of the plot. the baron de purroy, don juan de luna, a member for the nobility in the deputation of the kingdom, was executed on the same day with barboles; the charges against him were very similar to the preceding. his offences against the inquisition were, that he was the cause of the resolution taken in the committee of the deputation to defend the independence of the prison of the _manifestados_ against the pretensions of the inquisitors; to confine their jurisdiction to the crime of heresy, and to prevent them from taking cognizance of offences in the revolt and similar crimes, which they undertook, because they said that some of the persons concerned in it opposed the exercise of their office; lastly, don juan was implicated in the subornation of witnesses in the affair of perez. the baron de biescas, don martin de la nuza, lord of sallen and the towns of the valley of tena, fled to france, but afterwards returned to spain; he was arrested in tudela of navarre, and was beheaded. the trial before the inquisition states, that besides the crimes committed like the other rebels, the baron de biescas was guilty of having received antonio perez into his house, and concealed him until he could fly to france; and of entering into the spanish territory at several points with a corps of bearnese troops, and declaring that he would not lay down his arms until he had driven the castilian army out of aragon, and revenged the death of his relation the chief justice. the senator lanz likewise condemned to death many other noble gentlemen, besides labourers and artisans. many who fled to france or geneva were condemned to death: these individuals remained in exile till after the death of philip ii. his successor, philip iii., permitted them to return to their country, and annulled all the articles in the sentences pronounced against those who had been executed, which were contrary to the interests of their families; _the king declaring that none of them were guilty towards the state: and that he acknowledged that each person had considered himself bound to defend the rights of his country_. the cruelty of the inquisitors was not satiated by these executions. they represented to the supreme council that they did not dare to demand the prisoners of the general vargas, although it would be much better if they were tried by the inquisition: but that nevertheless they thought it would be useful if the baron de barboles was given up to them, since his execution, in that case, would strike more terror into the guilty. the council rejected the request of the inquisitors; they, however, retained in their prisons many illustrious persons, among whom were some women. when the inquisitors published the edict of grace, more than five hundred persons presented themselves to demand absolution. each person confessed the crime for which they were to be absolved; some of these are rather ludicrous. mary ramirez declares, that on seeing antonio perez taken to prison, she exclaimed--_poor wretch! after such long imprisonments, they have not yet found him an heretic._ christoval de heredia _confesses that he has often wished that perez might get out of his troubles_. donna geronima d'arteaga, _that she raised a little subscription for antonio perez, during his imprisonment, because he could not enjoy his own property_. louis de anton, _that he was the prosecutor of perez, and that he did several things to serve him_. martina de alastuey, _that she prepared the food of perez, in her house, and that her son antonio añoz, who was his servant, carried it to him in the prison_. don louis de gurrea _demands absolution only to reassure his conscience, although it does not reproach him_! don michael de sese also claims it, _to appease the same scruples_! doctor murillo, _that he visited perez in the prison when he was ill_. the following are instances of a spirit quite contrary to the preceding examples:-the doctor don gregory de andia, vicar of the parish of st. paul, being informed that a priest had refused absolution to more than two hundred persons, because they had not been absolved from the censures incurred by the bull of st. pius v., could not help saying, _that priest is an ignorant fellow. let all those people come to me, and also all those who revolted: i would absolve them with pleasure of all their sins, and feel no fear for such an action._ the vicar was arrested for his boldness, and taken to the secret prisons. many persons shared his fate, among whom were,-juan de cerio, a familiar of the holy office, who, on hearing it remarked that the aragonese ought not to endure the inquisition any longer, replied: "as for me, they may burn the house, the papers, the prisons, and even the inquisitors: i shall have nothing to say against it." a brother of the trinity, who, on hearing that the castilians wished to reduce the aragonese, and destroy their privileges, said, "_if jesus christ was a castilian, i would not believe in him._" michael urgel, procurator of the royal audience, confessed that after he had heard the declaration of the four counsellors, that it was an infringement of the _fueros_ to transfer perez to the inquisition, he said: "we must treat the letters of the inquisitors with contempt, and if the king supports them, he is a tyrant: let us get rid of him and elect a native king of aragon, since we have a right to do so." these are a few instances of the pretended sins for which absolution was demanded, and for which many persons were arrested, but they are sufficient to shew the spirit of the people and of the inquisitors. donna juana de coello, the wife of perez, and her young children, were also victims to the events at saragossa. they had been detained in the castle of pinto, two leagues from madrid, since the month of april, 1590, where that heroine had favoured the escape of her husband at the expense of her own liberty. after his second flight from saragossa, their imprisonment became still more rigorous. it is proved by the trial of perez, that he often said when in prison, that nothing should induce him to renounce the privileges of the prison of the kingdom, except the assurance that his wife and children enjoyed their liberty; but that he was certain if he gave himself up to the inquisitors he should be sent to madrid and executed. this information induced the inquisitors at the end of september, 1591, to request that donna juana and her children might be more strictly imprisoned, since he would hear of it, and it might induce him to return to the prison of the kingdom. this idea was inspired by the perfidious basante. in fact, perez was informed that his wife and children were removed to a sort of bastion or tower of the castle, which was much more inconvenient than the former prison; however, donna juana requested her husband to think only of his own safety, since the news of his flight had been sufficient to keep her and her children in good health. donna juana remained in prison during the life of philip ii., who on his death advised his successor to set her and her family at liberty. all the events above-mentioned were occasioned by the trial of antonio perez, but the original cause was the extreme attachment of the aragonese to a privilege which philip ii. wished to destroy, because it set bounds to his despotism; they had not forgotten that this prince made use of the inquisition, in his political schemes, which they had experienced in some attempts made twenty years before. the insurrection offered to philip the opportunity he had so long desired, of making himself absolute monarch of aragon, by the abolition of the intermediate office of the chief justice, and of all the _fueros_ of the primitive constitution, which bounded the extent of his power. another cause of the revolt was, the policy which disgraced and kept in a perpetual state of uneasiness, all the first families of the kingdom, a great number of the second order, and even of the people. it was well known that these misfortunes were the consequence of the system of the inquisitors, who were always eager to disgrace and humiliate those who did not debase themselves before the lowest among them, and to sacrifice every man who did not acknowledge their tribunal to be the most holy of institutions, and the only bulwark of faith, which they still declare and publish through their partisans, though in their hearts they are convinced of the contrary. chapter xxxvii. of the principal events in the inquisition during the reign of philip iii. philip ii. died on the 13th of september, 1598, and left the crown to his son, philip iii., whose education had made him more worthy of wearing the habit of st. dominic, than of governing a kingdom: the inquisition was then as formidable and powerful as before the constitutions of 1561. as the new king wished to have an inquisitor-general of his own choice, he took advantage of a bull, commanding all bishops to reside in their dioceses, to invite don pedro porto-carrero to retire to his see of cuença, and appointed as his successor, in 1599, don ferdinand niño de guevara, cardinal of the roman church, and afterwards archbishop of seville. this prelate retired to his diocese in 1602, in consequence of an order from the king; his successor was don juan de zuñiga, bishop of carthagena, who died in the same year. juan baptiste de acebedo, bishop of valladolid, took his place, and died in it in 1607, with the title of patriarch of the indies. he was succeeded by don bernardo de sandoval roxas, cardinal archbishop of toledo, brother to the duke de lerma. at his death don fray louis aliaga, a dominican confessor to the king, was appointed inquisitor-general; philip iv., on his accession, deprived him of his office. philip iii., in 1607, assembled the cortes of the kingdom at madrid, where they remained for more than a year. the members represented to the king, that in 1579 and 1586, they had required a reform of the abuses committed in the tribunal of the inquisition, to put an end to the right, which the inquisitors had usurped, of taking cognizance of crimes not relating to heresy; that philip ii. had promised to do this, but died before he could perform it, and that in consequence they renewed the request. philip replied, that he would take proper measures to satisfy the cortes. in 1611, when he convoked the new cortes, they made the same request and received the same answer, but nothing was attempted, and the inquisitors daily became more insolent, and filled their prisons with victims. the archbishop of valencia, don juan de ribera, represented to philip iii., that it was impossible to convert the morescoes of valencia, and that their skill in agriculture and the arts gave just cause of apprehension, that they might some day disturb the public tranquillity, with the assistance of the moors of algiers, and the other african cities, with whom they held constant intercourse; he therefore advised his majesty to banish them from the kingdom. the gentlemen whose vassals the morescoes were, complained of the immense loss it would occasion, if their estates were thus depopulated; they also declared that the statement of the archbishop was shamefully exaggerated, since the holy office had never failed to punish every moresco who returned to his heresy. the king summoned his council, and after many discussions, it was resolved to send the morescoes out of the kingdom of valencia, on the 11th of september, 1609, and all the others in the following year. this emigration cost spain a million of useful and industrious inhabitants, who all went to africa: they were invited by henry iv. to colonise the _landes_ in gascony on condition that they professed the catholic religion, but they feared that they should be persecuted in the same manner, at some future period. the inquisitors principally contributed to induce philip iii. to take this resolution, and they noted all who had condemned the measure, as suspected of heresy: among these was the duke of ossuna, whose process they began. this trial had no particular result, because the charges did not offer any heretical propositions, though some were qualified as audacious, scandalous, and offensive to pious ears. the duke was appointed viceroy of naples, but was deprived of the office some years after, and imprisoned by the king. the inquisitors seized this opportunity to renew their charges, but they were disappointed; the duke died in prison before the definitive sentence was pronounced. on the 7th and 8th of november 1610, the inquisition of logroño celebrated an _auto-da-fé_, in which six persons were burnt, with five effigies, twenty-one individuals were reconciled, and twenty condemned to different penances; among these were eighteen sorcerers[73]. a sufficient number of the trials of the inquisition, during the reign of philip iii., have already been cited; therefore, that of don antonio manriques, count de morata, need only be mentioned: in 1603 he abjured some heretical propositions without being disgraced by an _auto-da-fé_. chapter xxxviii. of the trials and autos-da-fe during the reign of philip iv. philip iv. ascended the throne on the 31st of march, 1621; and during the thirty-four years that he reigned, the following persons filled the office of inquisitor-general: don andres pacheco, in 1621; cardinal don antonio de zapata mendoza, in 1626; in 1632, don fray antonio de sotomayor; and in 1643, don diego de arce y reinoso. don diego died on the same day as the king. many circumstances had shewn the necessity of a reform in the inquisition, but the indolence of philip iv. prevented him from attempting it; on the contrary, he permitted the inquisitors to take cognizance of the offence of exporting copper money, and to dispose of a fourth of what fell into their hands. on the 21st of june, 1621, the inquisition celebrated the accession of philip iv. by the _auto-da-fé_ of maria de la conception, a _beata_, and famous hypocrite of the preceding reign, who had deceived many persons by her feigned revelations and pretended sanctity. she appeared in the _auto-da-fé_ gagged, with the _san-benito_, and the mitre. on the 30th of november, 1630, another _auto-da-fé_ was held at seville, when six persons were burnt in effigy, and eight in person; fifty were reconciled, and six absolved _ad cautelam_. on the 21st of december, 1627, a general _auto-da-fé_ was celebrated at cordova, composed of eighty-one condemned persons; fifty-eight were reconciled, among whom were three sorcerers. in 1532, a grand general _auto-da-fé_ was held at madrid, at which the king and all the royal family attended. seven persons were burnt, with four effigies, and forty-two reconciled; they were almost all portuguese, or of portuguese parents. the following circumstance has rendered this _auto-da-fé_ very famous. miguel rodriguez, and isabella martinez albarez, his wife, were the proprietors of a house used by the condemned as a synagogue. they were accused of having struck the image of jesus christ with a whip, and of having crucified and insulted it in various ways, as if to revenge themselves upon it for all the evils which the christians made them suffer. the holy office caused this house to be razed to the ground, and an inscription was placed on the spot. a monastery for the capuchins was afterwards built on the site, and named the convent of patience, in allusion to the outrages which our saviour allowed them to commit on his image: a report was then spread that the image spoke to the jews three times, and that they did not hesitate to burn it. solemn masses were performed at madrid and other cities in the kingdom, to expiate the sacrilege which had been committed. on the 22nd of june, 1636, another general _auto-da-fé_ was held at valladolid, composed of twenty-eight persons. the punishment inflicted on the jews seems entirely novel: one hand was nailed to a wooden cross, and in that state they were obliged to hear read the report of their trial, and the sentence which condemned them to perpetual imprisonment for having insulted our saviour and the virgin by their blasphemies. a _beata_ also appeared in this _auto-da-fé_; she was known by the name of _lorenza_: her crimes were the same as those of the other women of her class; she pretended that she had seen apparitions of the devil, jesus christ, and the virgin mary, and an infinity of revelations, but she was, in fact, nothing but a libertine woman. another _beata_, who was more celebrated, appeared before the tribunal of valladolid, she was called _louisa de l'ascension_. m. lavellée has spoken of the fragments of the cross which had belonged to this woman, in his history of the inquisition, published at paris in 1809. this author (_who has only added to the errors of the writers of the two last centuries_) says, that this cross was one of those which the inquisitors suspended round the necks of the condemned. this practice was never known in the inquisition; the cross belonged to the _beata_. m. lavellée has not explained the inscription correctly. i have seen a cross entire; on the upper part are the letters i. n. r. i., which are the initials of _jesus nazarenius rex judæorum_; on the mounting and on the arm, and towards the foot, are these words--_jesus. la très sainte marie, conçue sans péché originel. soeur louise de l'ascension, esclave indigne de mon très doux jesus. jesus. maria santissima concibida sin pecado original. indigna soror luisa de la ascencion, esclava de dulcisimo jesus_. this _beata_ gave similar crosses to those who, deceived by her reputation for sanctity, came to demand her prayers. this cross being once given, the wish to possess them became so general, that they were engraved and became the occasion and the subject of a trial: the inquisition caused all that could be found to be remitted to them, and thus several were to be seen at madrid and valladolid. louisa de l'ascension must not be confounded with the hypocrites and false devotees, such as mary de la conception, lorenza de simancas, magdalena de la croix, and some others, who were vicious women. the constant virtue of louisa was acknowledged by the nuns of st. clara de carrion, and by the inhabitants of that place and of the country. on the 23rd of january, 1639, there was a general _auto-da-fé_ at lima in peru, in which seventy-two persons appeared. eleven persons were burnt, and one effigy. in this _auto-da-fé_ were seen, on elevated seats, six persons who had been accused by false witnesses. the cities of toledo, cuença, grenada, and seville, also celebrated _autos-da-fé_ in 1651, 1654, and 1660, when many persons were burnt. besides the public _autos-da-fé_ and trials mentioned in the chapters 24, 25, and 26, several others worthy of notice took place in the reign of philip iv. don rodrigo calderona, marquis de siete inglesias, secretary to philip iii., was prosecuted by the inquisition, which had not time to condemn him, because he was beheaded at madrid in 1621, according to the sentence of the royal judges. the inquisitors accused him of having bewitched the king, in order to gain his favour. this charge was also brought against him by the fiscal of the civil tribunal of madrid, but the judges paid no attention to it. it is certain that calderona was the victim of a court intrigue, and the count duke de olivares did an irreparable injury to his memory, in coldly witnessing the execution of a man, who, during his favour, had rendered him great services. don fray louis aliaga, archimandrite of sicily, confessor to philip iii., and inquisitor-general, resigned his place by the command of philip iv.; and a short time after cardinal zapata had succeeded him, he was prosecuted by the inquisition of madrid, for some propositions suspected of lutheranism and materialism. aliaga died in 1626, when his trial had not advanced further than the preparatory instruction. in the year 1645, the inquisition of madrid prosecuted don gaspard de guzman, count duke de olivares, favourite and prime-minister to philip iv. this took place under the ministry of the inquisitor-general, don diego de arce, on whom he had bestowed the bishoprics of tui, avila, and placencia. don diego did not forget his benefactor, and it was to his prudence that the duke owed the favourable issue of an affair, which, in other hands, might have had the most fatal result. this minister was disgraced in 1643: a short time after, memorials were presented to the king, accusing him of the most heinous crimes. the tribunal, where every false report was received, also seized this opportunity to prosecute him; he was denounced to the inquisition as a believer in judicial astrology; and as a proof that he was an enemy to the church, it was asserted that he attempted to poison urban viii.; the apothecary at florence, who prepared the poison, and the italian monk, who was to administer it, were mentioned; in fact, proofs were offered of all the crimes he had committed. the inquisitors commenced the preparatory instruction, but their proceedings were so dilatory, that the count duke died before the order for his arrest could be issued. the jesuit, count juan baptiste de poza, occupied the inquisitions of spain and rome for some time with his writings, during the reign of philip iv., particularly from the year 1629 to 1636. i have spoken in chapter 15 of the memorial presented by the university of salamanca against the jesuits, in order to prevent the imperial college of madrid, which was under the direction of these fathers, from being made an university; poza wrote several pamphlets in defence of the pretensions of his order, which were all condemned by the inquisition of rome in 1632. the enemies of the jesuits hoped that the spanish inquisition would do the same, but the inquisitors were afraid of offending the count duke de olivares, whose confessor was a jesuit. at this period, francis roales, doctor of the university of salamanca, almoner and councillor of the king, professor of mathematics, and preceptor to the cardinal-infant don ferdinand, published a work which created a great sensation. the author denounces the writings of poza to the catholic church in general, and to each of its members in particular, as heretical and tainted with atheism, and also denounces all the jesuits who defended his doctrine. urban viii. would have pronounced poza to be an heretic, if he had not feared to offend the court of madrid; he therefore contented himself with depriving him of his professorship, and commanding that he should be sent to a house of the jesuits, in some small town in castile, and forbade him to preach, teach, or write. although the jesuits in their fourth vow, promised to obey the pope without restriction, and they were, generally speaking, the most zealous supporters of his authority, yet, in this instance, they refused to obey, because they were supported by the court of madrid. at this time the work of alphonso vargas[74] was published out of spain; vargas exposes the stratagems, the perfidious politics, and the bad doctrine of the jesuits. their general alleged, as an excuse for their disobedience, that they were forbidden to execute the orders of his holiness by the king of spain: this was the state of the affair when olivares was disgraced. the works of poza were then prohibited in spain, and he was condemned to abjure several heresies. juan nicolas diana, another jesuit, known for the very relaxed morals of his printed works, was prosecuted by the inquisition of sardinia for some propositions contained in a sermon, and was condemned to recant. the jesuit published his defence, and went to spain where he demanded to be tried by the supreme council. the council, after taking the opinions of several qualifiers, annulled the sentence, and not only acquitted the jesuit, but made him a qualifier. _ali arraez ferrarés_, surnamed the _renegado_, was tried by the inquisition of sicily in this reign. he was a moor of tunis, and high in the favour of the king of that country: having been taken prisoner to palermo, he was ransomed and sent back to tunis. some christian slaves, who were in that city, expressed their surprise that an apostate had been ransomed instead of being sent to the dungeons of the inquisition. the tribunal, being informed of the opinion of these slaves, published that they were ignorant that ali arraez ferrarés had been a christian, and that he was surnamed the _renegado_. ali was taken a second time in 1624, and though no other proof of his guilt existed but the report above-mentioned, he was taken to the prisons of the holy office. a great number of sicilians, genoese, and others, who had known him at tunis, were examined; they all declared that he was called the _renegado_, and some added that they had heard him say that he had been a christian. ali denied the fact, but the tribunal considered him as convicted, and condemned him to be burnt. the supreme council decided that the proof was not complete, annulled the sentence, and commanded that the prisoner should be tortured, in order to obtain additional proofs, and that the sentence should then be renewed. ali still persisted in denying that he had been a christian, and found means to inform the king of tunis of his situation; the moorish king received his letter at the moment when fray bartholomew ximenez, fray ferdinand de reina, fray diego de la torre, and three other carmelites, were brought in captive; they had been taken in going to rome. the king commanded them to write to the inquisitors of sicily to set ali arraez at liberty, and to accept his ransom, and, in case they refused, to inform them that he would imprison and torture all the christian slaves in his power. the monks excused themselves by alleging that they did not know the inquisitors, and the affair was dropped. at this period the supreme council commanded that ali should be confined in a dungeon and ironed. in 1628, ali found means to convey another letter to the moorish king, informing him that he was imprisoned in a dark and fetid dungeon, with a christian captain, and that they were almost starved. when the king received the letter, the spanish monks were negotiating their ransom. he sent for them, and said, "why do they endeavour to make this renegado a christian by their tortures? if this inquisition is not suppressed, or if the inquisitors do not send the renegado immediately to the galleys with the other slaves, i will burn all the christians who are in my power: write, and tell them so." the monks obeyed, and added, that if justice and religion required the execution of the prisoner, they were ready to suffer martyrdom. the king of tunis afterwards accepted the ransom of the monks. after detaining ali for sixteen years, the inquisitors had no greater proof of his crime, and yet they refused to exchange him for a christian priest, alleging that the relations of the priest ought to ransom him, and that it would be taking an active part in the heresy and damnation of the renegado to set him at liberty: it was represented that their refusal might have the most fatal consequences to the christian slaves at tunis; but this consideration did not affect them. an affair, which created a great sensation, occupied the supreme council at this time. a convent for benedictine nuns had been founded in the parish of st. martin. the director and confessor, fray francis garcia was considered a learned and holy man. donna theresa de sylva, whose relation had founded the convent for her, was the abbess, though only twenty-six years of age. the community was composed of thirty nuns, who all appeared to be virtuous, and had voluntarily embraced the monastic life. while the new convent enjoyed the highest reputation, the gestures and words of one of the nuns indicated that she was in a supernatural state: fray garcia exorcised her, and on the 8th of september she was pronounced to be a demoniac. in a short time, the abbess and twenty-five nuns were attacked in the same manner. many consultations took place on the condition of these women, between men of learning and virtue, who believed that they were really _possessed_,--their confessor repeated his exorcism every day, and even spent days and nights in the convent to renew them. he at last brought the tabernacle of the holy sacrament into the room where the nuns worked, and they said the prayers of forty hours. this singular scene lasted for three years, when the inquisition of toledo put a stop to it in 1631, by arresting the confessor, the abbess, and some of the nuns. fray francis garcia was denounced as an _illuminati_, and it was said that he had corrupted the nuns, who pretended to be possessed. the trial was terminated in 1633; the confessor and the nuns were declared to be suspected of having fallen into the heresy of the _alumbrados_. they were condemned to several penances, and sent to different convents; the abbess was exiled, and deprived of the privilege of consulting for four, and of voting for eight years: when this period had expired, she returned to her own convent, and was commanded by her superiors to demand a revision of her trial. the abbess obeyed, declaring at the same time, that she did it solely for the honour of her nuns and those of the other houses of st. benedict. the enterprise was difficult, but the power of her relation, the prothonotary of aragon, and of the count duke de olivares, overcame every obstacle. in 1642 the supreme council acknowledged the innocence of the nuns, but not of fray francis, became he had been so imprudent as to hold a correspondence with the demons to satisfy his curiosity, before he drove them from the nuns. donna theresa gives an account of her own feelings when possessed, and says that she was in a state of delirium, and did the most foolish things. don jerome de villanueva, prothonotary of aragon, that is, the royal secretary of state for that kingdom, had, in his youth, been the secretary to the inquisition. he was prosecuted by the tribunal on the disgrace of the count duke de olivares, as his creature and principal confidant. several heretical propositions were imputed to him, and he was arrested in 1645, and condemned to abjure: this sentence was pronounced on the 18th of june, 1647. when he was set at liberty to accomplish his penance, he appealed to pope innocent x., complaining of the injustice with which he had been treated in depriving him of the means of defending himself, and protesting that he had only submitted to the sentence, that he might bring his cause before an impartial tribunal; he therefore demanded that his trial should be revised by judges appointed by his holiness. don pedro navarro, an opulent gentleman, went to rome to negotiate the affair, out of friendship to villanueva; and although philip requested through his ambassador that navarro should be compelled to leave rome, his holiness refused, and would not allow him to be arrested. the pope issued a brief of commission to the bishops of calahorra, segovia, and cuença, to revise the trial, but philip iv., in consequence of the insinuations of the inquisitor-general, forbade them to accept the commission, because it was contrary to the prerogatives of the crown. the pope then commanded that the process should be transferred to rome; after some opposition he was obeyed, and villanueva was acquitted. the resistance and the injustice witnessed by the pope in this case induced him to expedite a second brief in 1653, in which he declared that he had discovered great irregularities in the trial of villanueva, and charged the inquisitor-general to observe that the laws were more strictly followed, and the trials conducted with more justice, gravity and circumspection. new contests soon arose between the courts of madrid and rome, and the pope sent francis mancini as his nuncio to madrid, to settle the dispute, but he could not obtain an audience of the king, and in 1654 was obliged to apply in the name of his holiness to the inquisitor-general, who told him that the pope had offended the king in the affair above-mentioned; he asserted that the prosecution of villanueva had been properly conducted, and that the pope had approved it. if this assertion was true, the pope must have expressed his approbation before he took cognizance of the trial, for when it was transferred to the tribunal of rome, the injustice and defects were discovered. chapter xxxix. the inquisition during the reign of charles ii. charles ii. succeeded his father on the 17th of september, 1665, when he was only four years of age. the grand inquisitors, during his reign, were, cardinal don pascual d'aragon, archbishop of toledo; father john everard de nitardo, a german jesuit; don diego de sarmiento de valladarés, bishop of oviedo and placentia; don juan thomas rocaberti, archbishop of valencia; cardinal don alphonso fernandez de cordova y aguilar; and don balthazar de mendoza-sandoval, bishop of segovia. the infancy of charles ii., the ambition of his brother don john of austria, the imperious temper of the queen-mother, maria anne of austria, and the machiavelism of the jesuit nitardo, gave occasion for a number of scandalous events during this reign. the weakness of the government was the principal cause of the insolent conduct of the inquisitors. when charles ii. married maria louisa de bourbon in 1680, the taste of the nation was so depraved, that a grand _auto-da-fé_, composed of a hundred and eighteen victims, was considered as a proper and flattering homage to the new queen; nineteen persons were burnt, with thirty-four effigies. none of the cases were remarkable, and may therefore be passed over in silence, together with another _auto-da-fé_ which was celebrated in the church of the convent of the nuns of st. dominic. some manuscript notes indicate that some of the condemned avoided the fate which awaited them, by bribing the inferior officers of the tribunal; i am persuaded that this assertion is incorrect, because the subalterns had very little influence after the criminals were arrested. the most celebrated trial of the inquisition in this reign is that of fray froilan diaz, bishop elect of avila, and confessor to the king. the habitual weakness of charles ii., and the failure of an heir, created a suspicion that he was _bewitched_. the cardinal portocarrero and the inquisitor-general rocaberti believed in sorcery, and after persuading the king that he was bewitched, they entreated him to suffer himself to be exorcised according to the formulary of the church. charles consented, and was exorcised by his confessor. the novelty of this proceeding occasioned many remarks, and froilan was informed that another monk was at that time exorcising a nun at cangas de tineo, in order to free her from the demons, which, she said, tormented her. froilan and the inquisitor-general charged the exorcist of the _demoniac_ to command the demon, by the formula of the ritual, to declare if charles ii. was bewitched or not, and if he replied in the affirmative, to make him reveal the nature of the sorcery; if it was permanent; if it was attached to anything that the king had eaten or drank, to images or other objects; in what place it might be found; and lastly, if there were any natural means of preventing its effects: the confessor added several other questions, and desired the exorcist to urge them with all the zeal which the interest of the king and the state required. the monk at first refused to question the demon, because it is forbidden by the church; but on being assured by the inquisitor-general that it would not be sinful in the present circumstances, he faithfully performed all that had been requested of him. the demon declared by the mouth of the demoniac, that a spell had been put upon the king by a person who was named. according to the private notes of that time, the criminal was an agent of the court of vienna; but cardinal portocarrero and the confessor diaz were the partisans of france for the succession of spain. diaz was very much alarmed at this information, and redoubled his conjurations until he learned some method of destroying the enchantment. before this operation was concluded, rocaberti died, and was succeeded by don balthazar de mendoza, who was of the austrian party; he signified to the king that all that had taken place had arisen from the imprudent zeal of his confessor, and that he must be removed. the king followed his advice, and made froilan bishop of avila; but the new inquisitor-general, not contented with preventing the expedition of the bulls, prosecuted him for having made use of demons to discover hidden things. mendoza directed this attack in concert with torres palmosa, the king's confessor, who was as eager for the ruin of froilan diaz as himself; this man communicated to mendoza the letters which diaz had received from cangas, which were found among his papers. mendoza examined witnesses, and after combining their declarations with the contents of the letters, he gave them to five qualifiers who were devoted to him, and made don juan arcemendi, a counsellor of the inquisition, and don dominic de la cantolla, official of the secretaryship of the supreme council, their president and secretary. however, the five qualifiers declared that the trial offered no fact or proposition worthy of theological censure. this decision was very displeasing to mendoza; but relying on his influence in the council, he proposed that diaz should be arrested: the councillors refused, because the measure was unjust, and contrary to the laws of the holy office, according to the decision of the five qualifiers. this resistance irritated the inquisitor-general, who caused the decree to be drawn up, signed it, and sent it to the council, with an order to register it with the ordinary forms. the councillors replied that they could not perform a ceremony which they considered illegal, because the resolution had not been adopted by a majority of votes. during these transactions, diaz made his escape to rome: mendoza, who could depend upon the king's confessor, induced him to persuade the king that this was an offence against the rights of the crown, and obtained a letter from him to the duke de uzeda, his ambassador at rome, commanding him to seize the person of diaz, and send him under an escort to carthagena. the anonymous author of anecdotes of the court of rome says, that diaz went thither to show to the pope the will of charles ii., by which philip de bourbon was called to the throne of spain; and that his return as a prisoner was occasioned by a court intrigue; but there is no evidence to prove this assertion. the inquisitor-general sent froilan diaz to the prison of the inquisition of murcia, and commanded the inquisitors to begin his trial. they appointed as qualifiers nine of the most learned theologians of the diocese, who unanimously gave the same answer as those of the supreme council: the inquisitors consequently declared that there was no cause for the arrest. the inquisitor-general then caused diaz to be transferred to madrid. mendoza afterwards charged the fiscal of the inquisition to accuse him as a dogmatizing arch-heretic, for having said that an intercourse with the demon might be permitted, in order to learn the art of curing the sick. charles ii. died about this time, and philip was at first too much engaged with the war against the archduke charles of austria, to discover the intrigues and artifices of mendoza. he at last submitted the affair to the council of castile, on the 24th of december, 1703, which decided that the arrest of diaz was contrary to the common laws, and those of the holy office. the supreme council then decreed that diaz should be set at liberty and acquitted. it must be observed, that the demon affirmed that god had permitted a spell to be put upon the king, and that it could not be taken off, because the holy sacrament was in the church without lamps or wax candles, the communities of monks dying of hunger, and other reasons of the same nature. two other demons who were interrogated, only agreed in declaring the necessity of favouring the churches, convents, and communities of dominican monks; perhaps because the inquisitor-generals rocaberti and diaz were of that order. this prince convoked the _grand junta_, composed of two councillors of state, two members of each of the councils of castile, aragon, italy, the indies, the military orders and the finances, and one of the king's secretaries. the royal secretary informed the junta that the disputes between the inquisitors and the civil judges had caused so much disturbance, that the king had resolved to commission the assembly to propose a plain and fixed rule, to secure to the inquisition the respect due to it, and to prevent the inquisitors from undertaking trials foreign to the jurisdiction of the holy office. the king commanded the six councils to remit to the junta all the papers necessary for the examination of the affair. on the 21st of may, 1696, the grand junta made a report, stating that it appeared from the papers which had been examined, that the greatest disorder had long existed in the different jurisdictions, because the inquisitors had arbitrarily extended their power, so that the common tribunals had scarcely anything to do; that they punished the slightest offence against themselves or their domestics with the greatest severity, as if it was a crime against religion; that not content with exempting their officers from taxes, they gave their houses the privileges of an asylum, so that a criminal could not be taken from them, even by a judicial order; and if the public authorities exercised their powers, they dared to complain of it as a sacrilegious violation of the church; that in their official letters, and in the conduct of their affairs, they showed an intention of weakening the respect of the people towards the royal judges, and even to make the authority of superior magistrates contemptible; and that they affected a certain independent manner of thinking on the subjects of administration and public economy, which made them forgetful of the rights of the crown. the junta then stated that these abuses had caused complaints from the subjects, division among the ministers, discouragement to the tribunals, and much trouble to his majesty in settling their differences. that this conduct had appeared so intolerable, even in the beginning, that the powers of the inquisition had been suspended for ten years by charles v., until it was restored by philip ii., in the absence of his father, with some restrictions, which had not been well observed; that the extreme moderation with which the inquisitors had been treated was the cause of their boldness. the junta proposed for the reformation of the holy office; 1st. that the inquisition should not make use of censures in civil affairs. 2nd. that in case they employed them, the royal tribunals should be charged to oppose them by the means in their power. 3rd. that the privileges of the inquisitorial jurisdiction should be limited, in respect to the ministers and familiars of the inquisition, and the relations of the inquisitors. 4th. that measures should be adopted to ensure the immediate settlement of affairs relating to competence and mutual pretensions. the count de frigiliana, councillor of state, added that the inquisitors ought to be compelled to give an account of the revenues of the holy office. these observations, and the propositions of the junta, had no effect; for the inquisitor-general rocaberti, and froilan diaz, succeeded in changing the favourable inclinations of the king. chapter xl. of the inquisition in the reign of philip v. philip v. succeeded his uncle charles ii. on the 1st of november, 1700; he died on the 9th of july, 1746. the grand-inquisitors, during this period, were, don balthazar mendoza y sandoval; don vidal marin, bishop of ceuta; don antonio ibañez de la riba-herrera, archbishop of saragossa; cardinal don francis judice; don joseph de molinos; don diego de astorga cespedes, bishop of barcelona; don juan de camargo, bishop of pampeluna; don andres de orbe larreategui, archbishop of valencia; don manuel-isidore manrique de lara, archbishop of santiago; and don francis perez de prado cuesta, bishop of teruel, who was still in office at the death of philip v. the court had always been so favourable to the inquisition, that the inquisitors thought that a solemn _auto-da-fé_ in celebration of his accession would be agreeable to the king. it took place in 1701, but philip refused to be present at this barbarous scene. he however protected the tribunal of the holy office, according to the advice of his grandfather, louis xiv., who told him, that he must support the inquisition as the surest means of maintaining the tranquillity of his kingdom. this system acquired fresh importance in his eyes when don vidal marin, the inquisitor-general, published an edict excommunicating all those who did not denounce the persons who had been heard to say, that they thought themselves permitted to violate the oath of fidelity to philip v. this edict gave occasion for several trials, but none of them were followed by a definitive sentence. judaism was nearly extirpated during the reign of philip v.; it had been secretly propagated for the second time in a remarkable manner, after the reunion of portugal to spain. a yearly _auto-da-fé_ was celebrated by all the tribunals of the inquisition, during the reign of this prince; some of them held two, and three were performed at seville and grenada. thus, without including those of america, sardinia and sicily, seven hundred and eighty-two _autos-da-fé_ took place at madrid, barcelona, the canaries, cordova, cuença, grenada, jaen, llerena, logroño, majorca, murcia, santiago, seville, toledo, valencia, valladolid and saragossa. in fifty-four of these ceremonies seventy-four persons were burnt, with sixty-three effigies, and eight-hundred and eighty-one condemned to penances. from this statement we may calculate, that during the forty-six years of the reign of philip v. fourteen thousand and sixty-six individuals were condemned by the inquisition to different punishments. it has been a common opinion, that the inquisition began to be less severe towards heretics, when the princes of the house of bourbon ascended the throne of spain; but other causes seem to have decreased the number of its victims, which will be considered in the following chapters. among the pretended sorcerers condemned by the inquisition was juan perez de espejo, who was punished at madrid in 1743, as a blasphemous hypocrite and a sorcerer. this person, after taking the name of _juan de st. esprit_, is said to have been the founder of the _congregation of hospitaliers_ or of the _divine shepherd_, which still exists. he was condemned to receive two hundred stripes, and to be imprisoned ten years in a fortress. a number of the disciples of _molinos_ were also condemned. don joseph fernandez de toro, bishop of oviedo, was condemned for this doctrine in 1721. the inquisition of logroño burnt don juan de causados, a prebend of tudela, the most intimate friend and disciple of _molinos_; he had promulgated his mystic doctrines with great zeal and enthusiasm. his nephew, juan de longas, maintained this doctrine after his death; he is still known in navarre, rioxa, burgos, and soria, by the name of _brother john_. the inquisitors of logroño condemned him, in 1729, to receive two hundred stripes, and sent him for ten years to the galleys: he was afterwards imprisoned for life. unfortunately some monks of his order had adopted his sentiments, and had communicated them to several nuns of the convents of lerma and corrella, which gave occasion to several _autos-da-fé_. donna agueda de luna was the principal of these: she was born of noble parents at corella, in navarre. in 1712 she entered the carmelite convent at lerma, with so great a reputation for virtue, that she was looked upon as a saint. in 1713 she had already adopted the heresy of molinos; she passed twenty years in the convent, and her fame was continually increased by the accounts of her ecstasies and miracles, which were promulgated by juan de longas, the prior de lerma, the provincial, and other monks of the first rank, who were all accomplices in the imposture of agueda, and interested in her reputation for sanctity. a convent was founded at the place of her birth, and she was made prioress; in this character she continued her iniquitous course of life without losing any of her reputation, which, on the contrary, became so great, that the inhabitants of all the neighbouring countries repaired to her to implore her intercession with god. after having passed a life full of iniquity, concealed by an appearance of sanctity, agueda was denounced to the inquisition of logroño; she was taken to the secret prison, where she died from the consequences of the torture, before her trial was terminated. she confessed during the question that her sanctity was an imposture; she appeared to repent in her last moments, and received absolution. it was said in the informations taken during the trial, that agueda had made a compact with the demon, and had sold her soul to him. she was also accused of infanticide, and some bones were found in the spot where it was said that her children were murdered and buried. fray juan de la vega, provincial of the barefooted carmelites, was also prosecuted as an accomplice of agueda; he was her spiritual director, and, according to the evidence in his trial, had participated in her crimes, and seduced several other nuns. several persons declared that fray juan had likewise made a compact with the demon; but he denied the fact, and resisted the severity of the torture, although he was advanced in years. he only confessed that he had received the money for eleven thousand eight hundred masses which had not been said. he was declared to be suspected in the highest degree, and sent to the desert convent of duruelo, where he died a short time after. the provincial, and the secretary, and the two monks who had held those offices in the three preceding years, were implicated in the charges, arrested, tortured, and denied the facts; they were confined in the convents of their order in majorca, bilboa, valladolid, and osma. the annalist of the order confessed his crime, and appeared in the _auto-da-fé_ with the _san-benito_. the other nuns who were found guilty were dispersed in different convents. the trial of don balthazar mendoza-sandoval, bishop of segovia and inquisitor-general, was equally famous, though from a different cause. the conduct of this bad prelate towards froilan diaz has been related in the preceding chapter. when the supreme council refused to sanction the enormous abuse of his powers which he meditated, mendoza ordered the arrest of three of the councillors who had been the most remarkable in their opposition; he requested of the king, in a false representation, the dismissal of don antonio zambrana, don juan arzemendi, and don juan miguelez, whom he sent loaded with chains to santiago de grenada, and formed the bold design of depriving the council of the right of intervention in the trials submitted to them, and the members of the power of voting a definitive sentence. this act of despotism roused the resolution of philip v. on the 24th of december he submitted the affair to the council of castile. on the 21st of january, 1704, the council proposed that the supreme council should be re-established in the possession of the privileges it had enjoyed since the foundation of the inquisition, and that the three members should be restored to their office. the king took this advice, and commanded mendoza to give in his resignation and leave madrid. mendoza complained to the pope, who wrote to the king to remonstrate on the manner of treating one of his sub-delegates. the king, however, maintained his resolution with firmness, and mendoza was obliged to obey. the king gave another proof of his firmness in defending the privileges of the crown, in his conduct towards the inquisitor-general judice, in the affair of don melchior macanaz[75]. philip, however, endured an insult from the inquisition, which it is surprising that he did not avenge. he had complained of a decree which cardinal judice had signed at marli in 1714, prohibiting the works of macanaz. the members of the supreme council had the boldness to reply that his majesty might _suppress_ the holy office if he thought proper, but _that, according to the apostolic bulls, he could not prevent it from exercising its office while it continued in existence_. the council of castile, on the 3rd of november, 1714, gave the king substantial reasons for the suppression of the holy office. the ordinance for that purpose was prepared, and the blow would have been struck, but for the intrigues of the queen, isabella farnese; the jesuit daubenton, her confessor, and cardinal alberoni, who made the faithful and zealous conduct of macanaz appear in a criminal light. they reminded the king of the advice of louis xiv., and obtained another decree annulling the first. in this ordinance the king acknowledges that he had paid too much attention to the evil advice of perfidious ministers, and approves the prohibition of the works of macanaz as favourable to the rights of the crown, re-establishes the counsellors who had been dismissed, and praises the conduct of cardinal judice. the inquisition prohibited the works of _barclay_ and _talon_ in the same edict with those of macanaz, because they defended the rights of the crown against the pretensions of the court of rome, and philip had the weakness to sanction an act so prejudicial to his own authority. it was during this reign that the works of nicolas belando and don joseph quiros were prohibited[76]. among the trials i examined at saragossa, was one very similar to that of corellas, but the criminals had not committed the crime of infanticide, or made a compact with the demon. chapter xli. of the inquisition during the reign of ferdinand vi. philip v. left his crown to ferdinand vi., his eldest son by his first wife, gabriella of savoy. this prince reigned from the 9th of july, 1746, to the 10th of august, 1759; he died without children. he was succeeded by his brother, charles iii. of naples, the son of philip v. and isabella farnese, his second wife. don francis perez del prado, bishop of teruel, held the office of inquisitor-general at the accession of ferdinand. he was succeeded by don manuel quintano bonifaz, archbishop of pharsala, who was still in office at the death of that prince. the rise of good taste in literature in spain, the restoration of which was prepared under philip v., was dated from the reign of ferdinand vi. on this circumstance is founded the opinion that the accession of the bourbons caused a change in the system of the inquisition; yet these princes never gave any new laws to the institution, or suppressed any of the ancient code, and, consequently, did not prevent any of the numerous _autos-da-fé_ which were celebrated in their reigns. but philip established at madrid two royal academies for history and the spanish language, on the model of that of paris, and favoured a friendly intercourse between the _literati_ of the two nations. the agreement made in 1737 with the court of rome, concerning the contributions to be imposed on the clergy, and some other points of discipline, had rendered appeals to the pope more rare; and many opinions were admitted to be reasonable, which had been long represented as unfavourable to religion and piety, by the ignorance and superstition of one side, and the malevolence of the other. the establishment of weekly papers made the people acquainted with works they had never before heard of, and informed them of resolutions of the catholic princes, concerning the clergy, which a short time before they would have considered as an outrage against religion and its ministers. the _diario de los literatos_ (journal de savans) also opened the eyes of many persons, who, till then, had not been able to judge of books. these circumstances, and some other causes, during the reign of philip v. prepared the way for the interesting revolution in spanish literature under ferdinand vi. this change was followed by a great benefit to mankind; the inquisitors, and even their inferior officers, began to perceive that zeal for the purity of the catholic religion is exposed to the admission of erroneous opinions. the doctrine of macanaz no longer shocked the people, who heard with tranquillity all that had been written on the appeal against violence (_fuerzas_), and without dreading the anathemas fulminated every year by the popes in the bull _in coena dominum_. the effect of this change in opinion was particularly conspicuous in the reduction of the number of trials for judaism and, consequently, in the victims in the _autos-da-fé_. during the reign of ferdinand, no general, and not more than thirty-four private _autos-da-fé_ were celebrated; the persons who appeared in them were condemned for blasphemy, bigamy, and pretended sorcery. ten persons only were relaxed, and one hundred and seventy subjected to penances: those who were burnt had relapsed into judaism. the jews had been so severely persecuted in the preceding reigns, that scarcely any remained. jansenism and freemasonry particularly occupied the inquisition under ferdinand vi. the jesuits called those persons jansenists who did not adopt the opinions of molina, on grace and free-will: their adversaries designated them as pelagians. these parties reciprocally accused each other of favouring heresy. but the faction of the jesuits prevailed during the reigns of philip v. and his successor, because their confessors were of that order. freemasonry was an object entirely new to the inquisition. clement xii. had expedited on the 28th of april, 1738, the bull _in eminenti_, in which he excommunicates the freemasons. in 1740 philip issued a royal ordinance against them, and many were arrested and sent to the galleys. the inquisitors took advantage of the example, and treated the members of a lodge discovered at madrid with great severity. the punishment of death was decreed against freemasons, in 1739, by the cardinal vicar of rome, in the name of the high-priest of the god of peace and mercy! benedict xiv. renewed the bull of clement, in 1751. fray joseph torrubia, examiner of books for the holy office, denounced the existence of freemasons, and ferdinand published an ordinance against them in the same year, in which it was said, that all who did not conform to the regulations contained in it, would be punished as state criminals guilty of _high treason_. charles iii., then king of naples, prohibited the masonic assemblies on the same day. the following pages contain the notice of a trial of this nature, which took place at madrid, in 1757. m. tournon, a frenchman, had been invited into spain, and pensioned by the government, in order to establish a manufactory of brass or copper buckles, and to instruct spanish workmen. on the 30th of april, 1757, he was denounced to the holy office as suspected of heresy by one of his pupils, who acted in obedience to the commands of his confessor. the charges were: 1st. that m. tournon had asked his pupils to become freemasons, promising that the _grand orient_ of paris should send a commission to receive them into the order, if they should submit to the trials he should propose, to ascertain their courage and firmness; and that their titles of reception should be expedited from paris. 2nd. that some of these young workmen appeared inclined to comply, if m. tournon would inform them of the object of the institution. that in order to satisfy them, he told them several extraordinary things, and showed them a sort of picture on which were figured instruments of architecture and astronomy. they thought that these representations related to sorcery, and they were confirmed in the idea, on hearing the imprecations which, according to m. tournon, were to accompany the oath of secrecy. it appeared from the depositions of three witnesses that m. tournon was a freemason. he was arrested and imprisoned on the 20th of may. the following conversation, which took place in the first audience of _monition_, may be interesting to some readers. after asking his name, birth-place, and his reason for coming to spain, and making him swear to speak the truth, the inquisitor proceeded:-_question._ do you know or suppose why you have been arrested by the holy office? _answer._ i suppose it is for having said that i was a freemason. _q._ why do you suppose so? _a._ because i have informed my pupils that i was of that order, and i fear that they have denounced me; for i have perceived lately that they speak to me with an air of mystery, and their questions lead me to believe that they think me an heretic. _q._ did you tell them the truth? _a._ yes. _q._ you are then a freemason? _a._ yes. _q._ how long have you been so? _a._ for twenty years. _q._ have you attended the assemblies of freemasons? _a._ yes, at paris. _q._ have you attended them in spain? _a._ no; i do not know if there are any lodges in spain. _q._ if there were, should you attend them? _a._ yes. _q._ are you a christian, a roman catholic? _a._ yes; i was baptized in the parish of st. paul, at paris. _q._ how, as a christian, can you dare to attend masonic assemblies, when you know, or ought to know, that they are contrary to religion? _a._ i did not know that; i am ignorant of it at present, because i never saw or heard anything there which was contrary to religion. _q._ how can you say that, when you know that freemasons profess _indifference_ in matters of religion, which is contrary to the article of faith, which teaches us that no man can be saved who does not profess the catholic, apostolic, and roman religion? _a._ the freemasons do not profess that _indifference_. but it is _indifferent_ if the person received into the order be a catholic or not. _q._ then the freemasons are an _anti-religious_ body? _a._ that cannot be; for the object of the institution is not to combat or deny the necessity or utility of any religion, but for the exercise of charity towards the unfortunate of any sect, particularly if he is a member of the society. _q._ one proof that _indifference_ is the religious character of freemasons is, that they do not acknowledge the holy trinity, since they only confess one god, whom they call the _great architect of the universe_, which agrees with the doctrine of the heretical philosophers, who say that there is no true religion but _natural religion_, in which the existence of god the creator only is allowed, and the rest considered as a human invention. and as m. tournon has professed himself to be of the catholic religion, he is required by the respect he owes to our saviour jesus christ, true god and man, and to his blessed mother, the virgin mary, our lady, to declare the truth according to his oath; because in that case, he will acquit his conscience, and it will be allowable to treat him with that mercy and compassion which the holy office always showed towards sinners who confess: and if, on the contrary, he conceals anything, he will be punished with all the severity of justice, according to the holy canons and the laws of the kingdom? _a._ the mystery of the holy trinity is neither maintained nor combated in the masonic lodges: neither is the religious system of the natural philosophers approved or rejected; god is designated as the great architect of the universe, according to the allegories of the freemasons which relate to architecture. in order to fulfil my promise of speaking truth, i must repeat, that in the masonic lodges nothing takes place which concerns any religious system, and that the subjects treated of are foreign to religion, under the allegories of architectural works. _q._ do you believe as a catholic, that it is a sin of superstition to mingle holy and religious things with profane things? _a._ i am not sufficiently acquainted with the particular things which are prohibited as contrary to the purity of the christian religion; but i have believed till now, that those who confound the one with the other, either by mistake, or a vain belief, are guilty of the sin of superstition. _q._ is it true that in the ceremonies which accompany the reception of a mason, the crucified image of our saviour, the corpse of a man, and a skull, and other objects of a profane nature, are made use of? _a._ the general statutes of freemasonry do not ordain these things: if they are made use of, it must have arisen from a particular custom, or from the arbitrary regulations of the members of the body, who are commissioned to prepare for the reception of candidates; for each lodge has particular customs and ceremonies. _q._ that is not the question; say if it true that these ceremonies are observed in masonic lodges? _a._ yes, or no, according to the regulations of those who are charged with the ceremonies of the initiation. _q._ were they observed when you were initiated? _a._ no. _q._ what oath is it necessary to take on being received a freemason? _a._ we swear to observe secrecy. _q._ on what? _a._ on things which it may be inconvenient to publish. _q._ is this oath accompanied by execrations? _a._ yes. _q._ what are they? _a._ we consent to suffer all the evils which can afflict the body and soul if we violate the oath. _q._ of what importance is this oath, since it is believed that such formidable execrations may be used without indecency? _a._ that of good order in the society. _q._ what passes in these lodges which it might be inconvenient to publish? _a._ nothing, if it is looked upon without prejudice; but as people are generally mistaken in this matter, it is necessary to avoid giving cause for malicious interpretations; and this would take place if what passes when the brothers assemble was made public. _q._ of what use is the crucifix, if the reception of a freemason is not considered as a religious act? _a._ it is presented to penetrate the soul with the most profound respect at the moment that the novice takes the oath. it is not used in every lodge, and only when particular grades are conferred. _q._ why is the skull used? _a._ that the idea of death may inspire a horror of perjury. _q._ of what use is the corpse? _a._ to complete the allegory of hiram, architect of the temple of jerusalem, who, it is said, was assassinated by traitors, and to induce a greater detestation of assassination and other offences against our neighbours, to whom we ought to be as benevolent brothers. _q._ is it true that the festival of st. john is celebrated in the lodges, and that the masons have chosen him for their patron? _a._ yes. _q._ what worship is rendered him in celebrating his festival? _a._ none; that it may not be mingled with profane things. this celebration is confined to a fraternal repast, after which a discourse is read, exhorting the guests to beneficence towards their fellow-creatures, in honour of god, the great architect, creator, and preserver of the universe. _q._ is it true that the sun, moon, and stars, are honoured in the lodges? _a._ no. _q._ is it true that their images or symbols are exposed? _a._ yes. _q._ why are they so? _a._ in order to elucidate the allegories of the great, continual, and true light which the lodges receive from the great architect of the world, and these representations belong to the brothers, and engage them to be charitable. _q._ m. tournon will observe that all the explanations he has given of the facts and ceremonies which take place in the lodges, are false and different from those which he voluntarily communicated to other persons worthy of belief; he is therefore again invited, by the respect he owes to god and the holy virgin, to declare and confess the heresies of _indifferentism_, the errors of _superstition_, which mingle holy and profane things, and the errors of _idolatry_, which led him to worship the stars: this confession is necessary for the acquittal of his conscience and the good of his soul; because if he confesses with sorrow for having committed these crimes, detesting them and humbly soliciting pardon (before the fiscal accuses him of these heinous sins), the holy tribunal will be permitted to exercise towards him that compassion and mercy which it always displays to repentant sinners; and because if he is judicially accused, he must be treated with all the severity prescribed against heretics by the holy canons, apostolical bulls, and the laws of the kingdom. _a._ i have declared the truth, and if any witnesses have deposed to the contrary, they have mistaken the meaning of my words; for i have never spoken on this subject to any but the workmen in my manufactory, and then only in the same sense conveyed by my replies. _q._ not content with being a freemason, you have persuaded other persons to be received into the order, and to embrace the heretical superstitions and pagan errors into which you have fallen. _a._ it is true that i have requested these persons to become freemasons, because i thought it would be useful to them if they travelled into foreign countries, where they might meet brothers of their order, who could assist them in any difficulty; but it is not true that i engaged them to adopt any errors contrary to the catholic faith, since no such errors are to be found in freemasonry, which does not concern any points of doctrine. _q._ it has been already proved that these errors are not chimerical; therefore let m. tournon consider that he has been a dogmatizing heretic, and that it is necessary that he should acknowledge it with humility, and ask pardon and absolution for the censures which he has incurred; since, if he persists in his obstinacy he will destroy both his body and soul; and as this is the first audience of _monition_, he is advised to reflect on his condition, and prepare for the two other audiences which are granted by the compassion and mercy which the holy tribunal always feels for the accused. m. tournon was taken back to the prison; he persisted in giving the same answers in the first and second audiences. the fiscal presented his act of accusation, which, according to custom, was divided into the articles similar to the charges of the witnesses. the accused confessed the facts, but explained them as he had done before. he was desired to choose an advocate, but he declined this, alleging that the spanish lawyers were not acquainted with the masonic lodges, and were as much prejudiced against them as the public. he therefore thought it better for him to acknowledge that he was wrong, and might have been deceived from being ignorant of particular doctrines; he demanded absolution, and offered to perform any penance imposed on him, adding, that he hoped the punishment would be moderate, on account of the good faith which he had shown, and which he had always preserved, seeing nothing but beneficence practised and recommended in the masonic lodges, without denying or combating any article of the catholic faith. the fiscal consented to this arrangement, and m. tournon was condemned to be imprisoned for one year, after which he was to be conducted under an escort to the frontiers of france; he was banished from spain for ever, unless he obtained permission to return from the king or the holy office. during the first month of his imprisonment, he was directed to perform spiritual exercises, and a general confession; to spend half an hour every morning in reading the meditations on the book of _spiritual exercises_ of st. ignatius de loyola, and half an hour in the evening in reading the considerations of father john eusebius nieremberg, in his work on the _difference between temporal and eternal_; to recite every day part of the rosary of our lady, and often to repeat the acts of faith, hope, charity, and contrition; to learn by heart the catechism of father astete, and to prepare himself to receive absolution, at christmas, easter, and pentecost. a private _auto-da-fé_ was celebrated in the hall of the tribunal, in which m. tournon appeared without the _san-benito_, and signed his abjuration, with a promise never again to attend the assemblies of the freemasons. m. tournon went to france, and it does not appear that he ever returned to spain. the society of freemasons has occupied the learned men, since the middle of the seventeenth century, and the number of fables which have been published concerning it have confused the subject, and done much injury to it. the mysterious initiations of this order first began to attract observation in england, during the reign of charles i., who perished on the scaffold in 1649. the enemies of cromwell and the republican system then established the dignity of _grand master_ of the english lodges, to prepare the minds of the freemasons for the re-establishment of the monarchy. william iii. was a freemason, and though the dynasty was changed by the accession of george i., it does not appear that freemasonry was suspected in england. it was introduced into france in 1723, and ramsay, a scotchman, established a lodge in london in 1728, giving out that the society had been founded in 1099, by godfrey de bouillon, king of jerusalem; preserved by the knights templars, and brought to edinburgh, where it was established by king robert bruce in 1314. in 1729 the order was introduced into ireland. holland received it in 1731, and the first lodges were opened in russia in the same year: it appeared in boston in america in 1733, and in several other towns of the new world, subject to england. it was also established in italy in that year, and two years after freemasons were found at lisbon. i believe the first severe measure against the freemasons in europe, was that which was decreed on the 14th of december, 1733, by the chamber of police of the chatelet at paris: it prohibited freemasons from assembling, and condemned m. chapelot to a penalty of six thousand livres, for having suffered them to assemble in his house. louis xv. commanded that those peers of france, and other gentlemen who had the privilege of the _entry_, should be deprived of that honour, if they were members of a masonic lodge. the grand-master of the parisian lodges, being obliged to quit france, convoked an assembly of freemasons to appoint his successor. louis xv., on being informed of it, declared that if a frenchman was elected, he would send him to the bastile. however, the duke d'antin was chosen, and after his death, louis de bourbon, prince of conti, succeeded him. louis de bourbon, duke de chartres, another prince of the blood, became grand-master. in 1737, the dutch prohibited the assemblies of freemasons as a precautionary measure, without charging them with any crimes; the members of a lodge assembled, they were arrested and prosecuted, but they defended themselves with so much energy, that they were acquitted, and the prohibition revoked. the elector palatine of the rhine also prohibited the order in his states, and arrested several members at manheim, in consequence of their disobedience. john gaston, grand duke of tuscany, published a decree of proscription against the lodges in the same year. this prince died soon after, and the masons again assembled: they were denounced to pope clement xii. this pontiff sent an inquisitor to florence, who imprisoned several members of the society, but francis of lorraine, when he became grand duke, set them at liberty. he declared himself the protector of the institution, and founded several lodges in florence, and other towns in his states. if i was a member of the society, i would do all in my power to abolish those things which gave the inquisitors and other ecclesiastics occasion to say, that sacred and profane things are mingled in the masonic ceremonies; particularly the following, which have already appeared in printed works. in the sixth grade, or rank, which is that of _particular secretary_ (_secretary intime_,) the history of hiram, king of tyre, is taken from the ninth chapter of the third book of kings for the masonic allegories; and _jehovah_, the ineffable name of god, for the _sacred_ word of freemasonry; this custom is likewise observed with some slight differences in several other grades. in the eighteenth, called the _rosicrusian of haradom_ of kilwiniug, is a representation of columns with inscriptions; the highest is as follows: _in the name of the holy and indivisible trinity_: lower down, _may our salvation be eternal in god_; still lower, _we have the happiness of being in the pacific unity of the sacred numbers_. the history of the second chapter of the first, and the nineteenth of the second book of esdras is made use of; the word of order between two freemasons of the same rank is inri, which some persons have supposed to be _jesus nazarenus, rex judæorum_: the word _passe_ is added, which means emmanuel, or _god is with us_. the rank of rosicrusiaci, in the scotch lodges, is the perfection of the order; the meaning is developed in fifteen sections. in the fifth, the allegories are the mounts of salvation, mounts _moriah_ and _calvary_, the first for the sacrifices of abraham, david, and solomon, the second for that of jesus of nazareth: other allegories relate to the holy spirit, designated as the _majesty of god_ which descended on the tabernacle, and on the temple at the moment of its dedication. in the twelfth section a _holy mountain_ is seen, on which is a large church in the form of a cross from east to west, in the neighbourhood of a city, which is the image of the _celestial jerusalem_; in the thirteenth, three great lights, symbols of the natural law, the laws of moses and of jesus christ, and the cabinet of wisdom, designated as the _stable for oxen_, in which is a faithful chevalier and his holy wife, and the sacred names of _joseph_, _mary_, and _jesus_; the fourteenth is an allusion to the descent of our saviour into the _limbos_ after his death, his resurrection and ascension; lastly, the fifteenth has the words _consummatum est_, which jesus pronounced on the cross. in the twenty-seventh grade of the _grand commander of the temple_, a cross is made on the forehead of the brother with the thumb of the right hand; the sacred word inri; the scarf has four crosses, the _disc_ a triangle of gold, with the hebrew characters of the ineffable name, _jehovah_. the seal of the order has between the devices of the shield of arms across, the arch of alliance, a lighted candle in a candlestick on each side, and above the inscription, glory to god. (laus deo). all these things, and many others which allude to the sacred history of the temple of jerusalem, built by solomon, re-established by esdras, restored by the christians, and defended by the knights templars, present a mixture liable to an interpretation similar to that in the information of the witnesses at florence, which was the first apostolical condemnation; it was renewed under pius vii., in an edict of cardinal gonsalvi, in 1814. there was not less inconvenience in the execratory oath of the famous masonic secret, for which no adequate object has been discovered, unless it was one which no longer exists. john mark larmenio (who secretly succeeded the grand-master of the templars, the unfortunate james de molay, who requested him to accept the dignity) invented, in concert with some knights who had escaped the proscription, different signs of words and actions, in order to recognise and receive knights into the order secretly, and by means of a novitiate, during which they were to be kept in ignorance of the object of the association (which was to preserve the order, to re-establish it in its former glory, and to revenge the deaths of the grand-master, and the knights who perished with him); when the qualities of the new member were perfectly well known, the grand secret was to be confided to him, after a most formidable oath. the secret signs were intended as a precaution against admitting into the order those templars who had formed a schism during the persecution; they retired into scotland, and refused to acknowledge john larmenio as grand-master, and pretended that they had re-established the order; this pretension was refuted by a chapter of legitimate knights: after this the new chief issued his diploma in 1324, and his successors have followed his example, on attaining the dignity of secret grand-master of the order of templars in france. the list of grand-masters until the year 1776 has been published. philip de bourbon, duke of orleans, was appointed in 1705, louis augustus de bourbon, duke de maine, in 1724, louis henry de bourbon conde, in 1737, louis francis de bourbon conti, in 1745, louis henry timoleon de cossé brissac, in 1776, and bernard raymond fabre, in 1814. the knights templars who retired to scotland, founded an establishment in 1314, under the protection of robert bruce; their objects and their measures were the same, and they were concealed under the title of _architects_; this was the origin of _freemasonry_. they soon, however, forgot the most criminal part of the execratory oath: since the deaths of clement v. and philip the fair, the persecutors of the knights, deprived them of the power of revenging the executions of james de molay and his companions, and had no other object but the re-establishment of the order; this intention shared the fate of the first, after the deaths of the authors of it, and their first disciples. from these facts it appears, that the execratory oath is without a motive or object in modern masonic lodges. chapter xlii. of the inquisition under charles iii. charles iii. succeeded his brother ferdinand on the 10th of august, 1759, and died on the 17th of november, 1788. the inquisitors-general during this reign were don manuel quintano bonifaz, archbishop of pharsala; don philip bertran, bishop of salamanca, and don augustin rubin de cevallos, bishop of jaen. the characters of these persons were humane, compassionate, and inclined to benevolence; qualities which caused a remarkable decrease in the number of public _autos-da-fé_. if the reign of charles iii. is compared with that of philip v., his father, they appear as if they had been separated by a period of several centuries. the progress of knowledge was very rapid under this prince; even the provincial inquisitors, though the laws of the inquisition had not been altered, adopted principles of moderation, which were unknown under the austrian princes. it is true, that from time to time great severity was shown towards unimportant offences; but among the trials of this reign, i have seen several which were suspended, though the proofs were much more conclusive than many which were sufficient to condemn the criminal to _relaxation_, under philip ii. yet, though the system was comparatively moderate, the number of trials was still immense, because all the denunciations were received. the witnesses of the preparatory instruction were examined immediately, in order to discover some charge, which the prejudices of the age rendered serious. if out of an hundred trials which were begun ten had been concluded, the number of persons subjected to _penances_ would have been greater than under ferdinand v.; but the tribunal was no longer the same. almost all the trials were suspended before the decree of arrest was issued. the denounced was sometimes induced to repair to the tribunal on the pretext of business, and then informed of the charges against him; he replied to them, and returned home, after having promised to return a second time when summoned. sometimes the proceedings were abridged, and the criminal was only condemned to a private penance, which might be performed without the knowledge of any person but the commissary of the tribunal. several trials which were commenced against persons of rank, were not proceeded in after the preliminary instruction; such were those of the marquis de roda, minister secretary of state, of grace and justice; of the count de aranda, president of the council of castile, and captain-general of new castile, who was afterwards ambassador to paris, and lastly, prime-minister; of the count de florida blanca, then fiscal of the council of castile for civil affairs, afterwards successor to the marquis de roda, and prime-minister; of the count de campomanes, fiscal for criminal affairs, and afterwards governor of the same council; of those of the archbishops of burgos and saragossa, and of the bishops of tarazona, albarracin, and orihuela, who had composed the council extraordinary, in 1767, for the expulsion of the jesuits. the trials of all these distinguished men had the same origin. the bishop of cuença, don isidro de carbajal y lancaster, highly respectable from his family, which was that of the dukes of abrantés, and from his dignity, his irreproachable conduct, and his charity to the poor, was less acquainted with the true principles of the canonic law than zealous for the maintenance of the ecclesiastical privileges. influenced by this motive, he was so indiscreet as to represent to the king, that the _church was persecuted in its rights, property and ministers_, and drew a picture of the reign of charles iii., which would have been more applicable to that of the emperor julian. the king commissioned the council of castile to examine if the complaint was just, and to propose measures to repair the injury, if any had taken place. the two fiscals of the council both made learned replies, in which the ignorance of the bishop, and the consequences of his imprudent zeal, were exposed. these answers, and the other papers belonging to the proceedings, were printed by the king's order, and though they were generally approved, some priests and monks, who regretted the inordinate power once possessed by the church, denounced several propositions contained in them, as lutheran, calvinistic, or defended by other parties inimical to the roman church. the two archbishops, and the three bishops, already mentioned, who had voted for the requisition addressed to the pope for the expulsion of the jesuits, were also denounced, as suspected of professing the impious doctrines of philosophism, which, it was said, they had only adopted to please the court. they were commissioned to take cognizance of several affairs relating to the jesuits, and only accidentally spoke of the inquisition, and expressed opinions contrary to its system. the inquisitors were all creatures of the jesuits, without even the exception of the inquisitor-general: it is not therefore surprising that they received so many denunciations. the exclusive right possessed by the court of rome to try bishops, never prevented the inquisitors from secretly examining witnesses against them, because it gave them a pretence to write to the pope, and request permission to carry on the proceedings; and though it was the custom of the holy see to transfer the trials of bishops to rome, the _supreme council_ of spain always put forward its fiscal, in order to justify its conduct in prosecuting bishops: this was the case in the affair of carranza. the denunciations had not the effect expected by the enemies of the prelates, because no _singular_ and independent proposition, opposed to true doctrine, was proved to have been advanced. in a less enlightened age, these prelates would have been exposed to great mortification from this attack; but at this time the inquisition found it dangerous to be too severe, because the court had adopted the system of vigorously opposing all the ancient doctrines which favoured the pretensions of the ecclesiastics at the expense of the royal prerogatives; and on the occasion of the publication of some conclusions on the canonical law, which were entirely favourable to the pope and the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, a royal censor was appointed for each university, without whose approbation no conclusion could be published or maintained. the perseverance of the government in the new system prevented the inquisitors from venturing to sentence the prelates of the extraordinary council: they however thought proper to endeavour to avert the storm, and applied to don fray joachim de eleta, the king's confessor. this man was an ignorant _recollet_, and known for his blind attachment to the court of rome. the prelates declared that they condemned several propositions advanced by the two fiscals in their work called _an impartial judgment of the monitory of parma_, which was written by the king's order, because they thought they tended to the infringement of the privileges of the church. after this declaration, the prelates used every means to make the confessor persuade charles iii., that the printed copies ought not to be published, and that the work should be reprinted, after the suppression of several propositions. the inquisitor-general and the supreme council being informed of this circumstance, the affair took another turn, and the faction of the jesuits became more calm. these events exposed to great danger a person who had entered into them without being aware of it. m. clement, a french priest, treasurer of the cathedral of auxerre, and afterwards bishop of versailles, arrived at madrid in 1768, at the time when the event above mentioned occupied every mind. he held several conversations on this subject with the marquis de roda, the fiscals of the council, and the bishops of tarazona and albarracin[77]. the zeal of this theologian for the purity of doctrine on all points of discipline induced him to say, that the good dispositions of the court of madrid ought to be taken advantage of, and proposed three measures. the first was to place the inquisition under each bishop, who should be the chief, with a deliberative vote, with the addition of two inquisitors with a consultive vote; the second, to oblige the monks and nuns to acknowledge the bishop as their chief, and to obey him as such after renouncing all the privileges contrary to this arrangement; the third to abolish the distinct schools of theology, under the titles of thomists, scotists, suarists, or others, and to have only one system of theology for the schools and universities, founded on the principles of st. augustin and st. thomas. it is sufficient to be acquainted with spain, and the state of the monks at that period, to foresee the persecution which the author of such a plan would incur. the confessor of the king and the inquisitor-general were informed of it by their political spies, and several monks denounced m. clement to the holy office, as a lutheran, a calvinistic heretic, and an enemy of the regular orders. m. clement suspected the existence of this intrigue, from some expressions made use of by a dominican, with whom he was intimate. the inquisitors, who saw that m. clement was received at court, did not dare to arrest him, but they requested their chief to oblige him to quit the kingdom. the treasurer of auxerre imparted his fears to the count de aranda, and the marquis de roda; who being, from his connexion at court, acquainted with all that had passed, advised him to depart, but without informing him of what it was useless for him to know. m. clement followed his advice, and though he had intended to go to portugal, he returned immediately to france, to avoid the _sbirri_ of the holy office, who might have arrested him on his return from lisbon, if the system of the court was changed. in fact a great number of charges were brought against him after his departure, but they were not made public, and he wrote his travels without knowing anything of the plots against him. all that passed on the occasion of the apostolical prohibition of the catechism of mesengui was made public: charles iii. had ordered that it should be made use of in the religious instruction of charles iv.; and the inquisitor-general was openly and justly blamed, for having published the brief of prohibition, without waiting to obtain the consent of the king. this proceeding was the cause of the exile of the inquisitor-general. his disgrace might have rendered him more prudent, but in his reply to the king, in 1769, concerning some measures taken by the extraordinary council of five prelates, he advanced, as certain, several propositions concerning the inquisition, which might have been proved to be false, if the marquis de roda had consulted the registers of the supreme council. he said that the inquisition had met with nothing but opposition from the beginning; that it was conspired against in the most cruel manner; that all the proceedings of the council were made public, except the trials for heresy, but that even those were always submitted to his majesty; and that the charge against it of acting with _entire independence_ was not just, he concluded with saying, that his majesty might appoint an ecclesiastic as his secretary to attend the council, and inform him of all that passed. it is impossible to find a reason for the necessity here imposed upon the king to have a _priest_ for his secretary, since the inquisitors employed seculars in their offices, who were permitted to see the trial, though obliged to take an oath of secrecy, and two members of the council of castile also attend the supreme council. yet neither an ecclesiastic nor a layman could prevent fraud: the same may be said of the members of the council of castile, because in case of any intrigues, for example, in a conflict for jurisdiction, the counsellors assembled at the house of the inquisitor-general, and their chief sealed their papers with his private seal. the most decisive proof of the _entire_ independence of the inquisition, exists in two laws of charles iii., concerning bigamy and the prohibition of books; they were insufficient to restrain the inquisitors within their jurisdiction. yet though these abuses and many others were still continued, i do not hesitate to say that the inquisitors of the reigns of charles iii. and his successors were men possessed of extreme prudence and singular moderation in comparison with those of the time of philip v. and the preceding reigns. this is confirmed by the very small number of _autos-da-fé_ celebrated under the two kings, a period of twenty-nine years; only ten persons were condemned, four of whom were burnt, and fifty-six individuals subjected to penances. all the other trials were terminated by _individual autos-da-fé_; the condemned was taken into a church to hear his sentence read, when it was confirmed by the supreme council, without waiting for other prisoners to form a particular _auto-da-fé_. other trials are concluded by a _lesser auto-da-fé_ in the audience-hall of the tribunal; another mode, which was the least severe, was to celebrate the _auto-da-fé_ in the presence of the secretaries of the inquisition alone; no greater indulgence than this could be shown. the individual _auto-da-fé_ was decreed in two famous trials of the reign of charles iii. of the first, that of olavide, an account has been given in chapter 26. the second was that of don francisco de leon y luna, a priest and knight of the military order of st. jago. he was condemned as violently suspected of having fallen into the heresies of the _illuminati_ and of molinos, for having seduced several women, for communicating several times with the consecrated wafer from superstitious motives, and for preaching a false and presumptuous mysticity to several nuns and other women who were the dupes of his error and their own weakness. leon was imprisoned for three years in a convent; he was then banished for seven years from madrid, and forbidden to exercise the ministry of a confessor. the council of the orders requested the king to deprive leon of his cross and knighthood, according to the statutes which ordain that measure towards all who commit a crime which incurs an infamous punishment. but the council ought to have known that the _suspicion_ of heresy was not sufficient, since the tribunal always declares, if the condemned desire it, that this sort of sentence does not prevent them from attaining offices and dignities. at saragossa the marquis d'aviles, intendant of aragon, was accused before the holy office of having read prohibited books; but this denunciation, and that of the bishop of barcelona for jansenism at madrid, and several others of the same nature, were passed over without further notice. chapter xliii. of the spanish inquisition under charles iv. charles iv. ascended the throne on the 17th november, 1788; he abdicated on the 19th march, 1808, in consequence of the popular commotions at aranjuez. the inquisitors-general under charles iv. were don augustin rubin de cevallos, bishop of jaen; don manuel de abad-y-la-sierra, archbishop of selimbra; the cardinal archbishop of toledo, don francisco lorenzana; and don ramon joseph de arce, archbishop of burgos. the two obstacles which had principally contributed to impede the progress of learning during the three preceding reigns, were removed by the reform of the six grand colleges and the expulsion of the jesuits. before this revolution, all the canonical offices and magistracies were given to the members and fellows of the colleges; while the immense influence of the jesuits prevented all who were not their disciples, or jesuits of the _short robe_, from obtaining any offices or honours. the marquis de roda was the author of this politic measure, which caused him to be hated by the disciples of st. ignatius. but this minister has obtained an honourable place in history, because in granting to _all_ classes the rewards due to merit, he excited a general emulation, which increased the influence of knowledge and a taste for the sciences. this has caused it to be said that the restoration of good spanish literature was the work of de roda, but the commencement of that change may be more correctly dated from the reign of philip v. during the twenty years preceding the accession of charles iv. a multitude of distinguished men had arisen, who would doubtless have led spain to rival france in the good taste and perfection of literary works, if one of the most terrible events recorded in history had not arrested the impulse these great men had given. the french revolution caused a great number of works to be written on the rights of man, of citizens, and of nations; the principles contained in them could not but alarm charles iv. and his ministers. the spaniards read these books with avidity; the minister dreaded the contagion of this political doctrine, but in attempting to arrest its progress, he caused the human mind to retrograde. he charged the inquisitor-general to prohibit and seize all the books, pamphlets, and french newspapers, relating to the revolution, and to recommend to his agents to use the greatest vigilance in preventing them from being clandestinely introduced into the kingdom. another measure employed by the government was to suppress the office of teacher of the natural law in the universities and seminaries. the count de florida-blanca was then prime-minister; this conduct entirely destroyed the good opinion entertained of him by the nation. he was said to be a novice in the art of government, because the prohibition would only excite greater curiosity. the commissioners of the holy office received an order to oppose the introduction of the works of the modern philosophers, as contrary to the sovereign authority, and commanded every person to denounce whom they knew to be attached to the principles of insurrection. it would be difficult to calculate the number of denunciations which followed this order. the greatest number of the denounced were young students of the universities of salamanca and valladolid. those who wished to read the french writings braved the prohibition, and employed every means to obtain them; so that the laws of nature and of persons were more studied than before the suppression of the office of teacher. the severity of the administration only caused the commencement of an immense number of trials, which were never finished, for want of proofs. many spaniards, some of illustrious birth and others of great learning, were the objects of secret informations, as suspected of impiety and philosophism. the history of their trials, and those of many distinguished persons for jansenism, have been given in the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth chapters. don bernardo-maria de calzada, colonel of infantry, and brother-in-law to the marquis de manca, interested me much, when he had the misfortune to be arrested by the duke de medina-celi, grand provost of the holy office: i accompanied him as secretary, the notary for the sequestrations being ill. don bernardo was the father of a very large family, who were reduced to indigence by this event, and it gave me the greatest grief to witness the sad situation of their mother. i presume that that lady has not forgotten my conduct on that mournful night and on the following day, when i returned to visit her. the unfortunate calzada, whose appointment in the office of the minister of war was not sufficient to maintain his very numerous family, had undertaken the translation of some french books, and composed a satirical work, by which he made enemies of some fanatics and monks, who, affecting the most austere morals, were intolerant towards all who did not agree with their opinions. by their denunciations they ruined this family. calzada, after passing some time in the prisons of the holy office, submitted to an abjuration _de levi_, which is almost equivalent to an absolution, and was banished from madrid, after giving up his place and all hope of advancement. the inquisition of the _court_ was more indulgent towards the marquis de narros: although many witnesses deposed that they had heard him maintain some heretical propositions of voltaire and rousseau, whose works he boasted that he had read, as well as those of mirabeau, montesquieu, the baron d'holbac, and other philosophers of the same school, he was spared the disgrace of an imprisonment and a public censure. it was thought more decent to request the count de florida-blanca to write to him by the ordinary courier to guipuscoa, where he then resided, and inform him that the king commanded him to repair to madrid on some affairs of the government. the marquis hastened to court, flattering himself (as he informed his relation the duke of grenada) that he would be appointed sub-governor to the prince of asturias, now ferdinand vii. on the next day he received an order not to quit madrid, and to attend a summons to the inquisition. some time after he confessed the truth of the charges, and added some other circumstances, protesting at the same time that he had always been a good catholic, and that a desire of passing for the most learned man in his country induced him to advance the propositions. he abjured _de levi_; some private penances were imposed on him, and the affair was only known to a few persons. the inquisitors of valencia prosecuted fray augustine cabades, commander of the convent of the nuns of the order of mercy, and professor of theology in that city; he abjured, and was then released from prison. when he had obtained his liberty, he demanded a revision of his judgment; the supreme council acknowledged the justice of his appeal, and the sentence was declared null and void. don mariano louis de urquijo, prime-minister and secretary of state under charles iv., was also an object for the persecutions of the holy office. his great strength of mind, and a careful education, raised him above the errors of his age. he made himself known in his early youth by a translation of the _death of cæsar_, a tragedy by voltaire, which he published with a preliminary _essay on the origin of the spanish theatre, and its influence on morals_. this production, which only displays a generous wish to acquire fame, and the ardent genius of its young author, attracted the attention of the inquisition. private informations were taken concerning the religious opinions of the chevalier de urquijo, and the tribunal ascertained that he manifested great independence in his opinions, with a decided taste for philosophy, which the inquisition called the doctrine of unbelievers. everything consequently was prepared for his arrest, when the count d'aranda, then prime-minister, who discovered his merit (and had remarked his name in the list of distinguished youths destined to serve the state, belonging to the count de florida-blanca his predecessor,) proposed to the king that he should be initiated into public affairs. charles iv. appointed him to the office of first secretary of state in 1792. the inquisitors changed their manner of proceeding when they saw the elevation of their intended victim. their policy at this time led them to shew a deference towards the ministry which had not been observed in preceding ages. they converted the decree of imprisonment into another called the _audience of charges_, by which de urquijo was required to appear privately before the inquisition of the court whenever he was summoned. the sentence pronounced him to be only _slightly suspected_ of partaking the errors of the unbelieving philosophers. he was absolved _ad cautelam_, and some spiritual penances were imposed on him which he might perform in private. the tribunal exacted his consent to the prohibition of his preliminary essay and the tragedy; but as a remarkable testimony of consideration, his name was not mentioned in the edict, either as the author or translator. the inquisitors, even of modern times, have rarely shewn themselves so moderate; but the fear of offending the count d'aranda (who abhorred the tribunal) was the real motive of their conduct. urquijo, at the age of thirty, became prime-minister, and in that quality exerted himself to extirpate abuses, and to destroy the errors which opposed the prosperity of his party and the progress of knowledge. he encouraged industry and the arts, and the public owes to him the immortal work of the baron de humboldt. contrary to the custom of spain, he allowed him to travel in america, and supported him with the zeal of a person passionately attached to the arts and sciences. with the assistance of his friend admiral mazarredo he raised the navy. he was the first in europe who meditated the abolition of slavery; and at that time concluded a treaty with the emperor of morocco for the exchange of prisoners of war, which is still in force. in the year 1800, when fortune seemed everywhere to attend the french arms, and the government persecuted the august house of bourbon, he had the glory of establishing a throne in etruria for a prince of that family, who had married a daughter of charles iv., and signed the treaty to that effect at st. ildephonso with general berthier, afterwards prince of wagram. the death of pius vi. gave him an opportunity of freeing spain, to a certain degree, from its dependance on the vatican. on the 5th september, 1799, he induced the king to sign a decree which restored to the bishops the powers which had been usurped by the court of rome, and delivered the people from an annual impost of several millions, produced by the sale of dispensations and other bulls and briefs. the reform of the inquisition ought to have followed this bold step. the minister wished to suppress the tribunal entirely, and apply its revenues to the establishment of useful and charitable institutions. he drew up the edict for that purpose, and presented it to charles iv. for signature. though urquijo did not succeed in this attempt, he convinced the king of the necessity of reforming the tribunal. among the many wise regulations suggested to the king by urquijo, was that published in the form of an ordinance in 1799, on the liberty and independence of all the books, papers and effects of the foreign consuls established in the sea-ports, and in the trading towns belonging to spain. it was occasioned by an inconsiderate disturbance made by the commissioners of the holy office at alicant, in the house of don leonard stuck, consul for holland, and at barcelona, at the residence of the french consul. those happy dispositions of the court of spain vanished at the fall of the minister who had inspired them. the victim of an intrigue, he shared the fate of those great men who do not succeed in destroying the prejudices and errors which they oppose. urquijo was confined, and kept in the strictest solitude, in the humid dungeons of the citadel of pampluna, where he was unable to obtain books, ink, paper, fire, or light. ferdinand vii., on his accession to the throne, declared his treatment to have been unjust and arbitrary; and forgetting the persecutions he had suffered for eight years, he blessed, in ferdinand, the sovereign who would make the necessary reforms, and had voluntarily put a period to his sufferings. he repaired to vittoria, when that prince stopped there on his way to bayonne, and used every means to prevent him from making that fatal journey. the letters he wrote on this subject to his friend, general cuesta, contain an exact prophecy of all the miseries which have since overwhelmed spain[78], and point out the means of avoiding them. urquijo refused to repair to bayonne, although napoleon sent him three orders to do so, until the renunciation and abdication of charles iv., ferdinand vii., and the princes of that house, had been made known. after the royal family had left the place, he went there, and endeavoured to persuade napoleon to give up his plans. he accepted the appointment of secretary to the junta of notables, which was then assembled at bayonne, and soon after the office of minister-secretary of state. his generous intentions need no comments; they are known to all. the eulogium of this great man has just been made by our energetic and sincere advocate; the public will read it with pleasure and interest. during his ministry, he had the happiness of witnessing the decree which suppressed the formidable tribunal of the holy office, and declared it to be injurious to sovereignty. urquijo died at paris, after an illness of six days, at the age of forty-nine. he died as he had lived--full of that courage, serenity, that philosophy, and love of virtue, which belong to the virtuous and wise alone. he was buried on the 4th of may, 1817, in the cemetery of père la chaise, where a magnificent monument of white carrara marble has been erected to his memory. in 1792 the inquisitors of saragossa received a denunciation, and examined witnesses against don augustin abad-y-la-sierra, bishop of barbastro, who was accused of jansenism, and of approving the principles which were the basis of the civil constitution of the french clergy under the constitutional assembly. during the progress of this affair, don manuel abad-y-la-sierra, the brother of don augustin, was made inquisitor-general, and the inquisitors were afraid to carry it on. when don manuel was dismissed from his office, he also was denounced as a jansenist, but he was not prosecuted. the bishop of murcia and carthagena, victoriano lopez gonzalo, was denounced in 1800 as suspected of jansenism and other heresies, and for having permitted certain propositions on some points of doctrine to be maintained in his seminary. the trial of the bishop was not carried farther than the summary instruction; because, on being informed of the plots of some scholastic doctors who were partisans of the jesuits, he defended himself so ably before the inquisitor-general, that the members of council did not proceed against him; but they continued the prosecution of the theses, when they perceived that they were favourable to some conclusions on miracles, which had been condemned by qualifiers. the subject of jansenism created a great sensation in spain. the jesuits, who had been permitted to return to that kingdom in 1798, soon acquired a numerous party, and accused all who did not adopt their opinions of jansenism. their conduct was so impolitic, that they were a second time banished from the kingdom. they were the authors of the denunciations against the countess de montijo, and many other distinguished persons, of whom an account has been given in a former chapter. the accusation of jansenism against don antonio and don jerome de la cuesta was the cause of the trial of don raphaël muzquiz, archbishop of santiago, who had been confessor to queen louisa, wife of charles iv. the energetic defence of don jerome de la cuesta obliged muzquiz to defend himself against the imputation of calumny: he made representations which injured his cause, for he vilified the inquisitors of valladolid, and even the inquisitor-general, and accused them of partiality and collusion with cuesta: his rank protected him from the danger of an arrest which he incurred by this temerity, but he was condemned to pay a penalty of eight thousand ducats, and the bishop of valladolid four thousand. muzquiz would have been more severely punished, if he had not been protected by a person, who obtained from the prince of peace that the affair should not be carried farther. the same pretence of jansenism was the cause of the trial of don joseph espiga, almoner to the king, and a member of the tribunal of the nunciature in 1799. his accusers represented him as the author of the royal decree of the 5th of september in that year, after the death of pius vi., forbidding any person to apply to rome for matrimonial dispensations. espiga was then the most intimate friend of the minister urquijo, but he never allowed any one to influence him in official affairs. the nuncio cassoni made many useless representations to the king on this subject; however, he partly obtained his end by political intrigues, for though the bishops had promised to obey the ordinance, yet most of them avoided granting matrimonial dispensations, and those who did so were accused of jansenism. the inquisitors, though they were all sold to the nuncio and the jesuits, were afraid to proceed, and the trial of espiga was suspended. when his friend urquijo was deprived of his office, he was obliged to retire to the cathedral of lerida, of which he was a dignitary. the year 1796 is remarkable for the prosecution commenced against the prince of peace, the king's cousin, by his marriage with donna maria theresa de bourbon, the daughter of the infant don louis. it may be easily supposed that much address was necessary in conducting an attack against a person so high in favour. three denunciations were received at the holy office, accusing him of atheism, because he had not confessed himself or taken the pascal communion for eight years, and because he was married to two women at the same time, and the life he led with many others was a source of great scandal to the public. the three denouncers were monks, and there is some reason to suppose that they were directed by the authors of a court intrigue, to cause the prince to be disgraced. the head of the inquisition at that time was cardinal lorenzana, who was simple and easily deceived, but too timid not to be on his guard against anything which might displease the king and queen. although the denunciations were presented to him, he did not dare to examine witnesses, or even the accusers. don antonio despuig, archbishop of seville, and don raphaël muzquiz, who were at the head of this intrigue, made every effort to induce lorenzana to cause a private instruction to be taken, to arrest the prince in concert with the supreme council, and to obtain the approbation of the king, of which they thought themselves certain, if they could prove that his favourite was an atheist. this attempt was so repugnant to the disposition of lorenzana, that the two conspirators agreed that despuig should press his friend the cardinal vincenti, famous for his intrigues, to persuade pius vi. to write to lorenzana, and reproach him for the indifference with which he beheld a scandal so injurious to the purity of the religion professed by the spanish nation. vincenti obtained the letter from the pope; lorenzana promising, that if the pope decided that the measure was necessary, he would do what they desired. napoleon bonaparte, who was then a general of the french republic, intercepted a courier from italy at genoa. the letter of cardinal vincenti to despuig, enclosing that of the pope to lorenzana, was found among his despatches: bonaparte thought it necessary to the continuance of the good intelligence then established between france and spain, to inform the prince of peace of the intrigue, and he commissioned general pérignon, ambassador at madrid, to remit the correspondence to godoy. the favourite opposed another intrigue to his enemies, and succeeded in freeing himself from them by sending lorenzana, despuig, and muzquiz to rome, to carry the condolences of the king to the pope, on the occasion of the entrance of the french army into his states. their commission was dated the 14th march, 1797. at this period the inquisition was in imminent danger of being deprived of the power of arresting individuals without the consent of the king. this circumstance arose from the trial of don ramon de salas, which is related in the twenty-fifth chapter. the affair of jovellanos also took place at this time. in 1799 the inquisitors of valladolid, with the approbation of the council, condemned don mariano and don raymond de santander, booksellers of that city, to two months seclusion in a convent, to a suspension of their trade for two years, and to banishment; they were also forbidden to approach valladolid, madrid, and other royal residences, within eight leagues. they were obliged to pay a penalty, and after having been a long time in the secret prisons, don mariano could not obtain permission to remove to another place, though he was subject to attacks of epilepsy. their only offence was having received and sold prohibited books; for though some fanatics had accused them of heresy, no proofs were obtained. on the 10th of november, don mariano solicited the inquisitor-general to allow them to reside in valladolid, representing, that if this favour was refused, their families must die in poverty, and they offered to purchase the permission by paying another penalty. the affair of a beata at cuença created a great sensation. she was the wife of a labourer at villar d'aguilar. among other fictions which she invented to make people suppose her a saint, she said that jesus christ revealed to her that he had changed her flesh and blood into the same substance as his own body. this imposture caused great theological discussion among the priests and monks. some maintained that it was impossible, others that it was not impossible, if the infinite power of god was considered; others believed all, and were astonished that any person could be so incredulous, for they thought that the beata could have no interest in deceiving them; lastly, there were some who were witnesses of the life of this _beata_, and were her accomplices from the beginning of her imposture, or who were the dupes of their credulity, and who continued to believe, or appeared to do so, in her supernatural state. they carried their folly so far as to adore this woman; they conducted her in procession in the streets and to the churches with lighted tapers; they burnt incense before her as before the consecrated host; lastly, they prostrated themselves before her, and committed many other sacrileges. the inquisition could not but notice these scenes. the pretended saint and some of her accomplices were taken to the secret prisons, where the _beata_ ended her days. one of the articles of the sentence commanded that her effigy should be taken to the _auto-da-fé_ on a traineau, and burnt; the curate of villar, and two monks, who were her accomplices, were condemned to follow the effigy barefooted, clothed in short tunics, and with a cord round their necks; they were degraded and banished for life to the philippine isles. the curate of casasimarro was suspended for six years, and two men of the lowest class received two hundred stripes, and were imprisoned for life; one of her servants was sent to the house of the _recogidas_ for ten years. i do not know any judgment of the inquisition more just than this. another _beata_ at madrid, called clara, did not profit by this example. she did not carry her phrensy so far as the other, but her miracles and her sanctity made a great noise; she pretended that she was paralytic, and could not leave her bed. on this report every one went to see her. the most distinguished ladies in madrid repaired to her, and thought themselves happy in being admitted to see her; she was entreated to be the mediatrix with god for the cure of different maladies, to enlighten judges on the eve of an important judgment, and graces and assistances were implored against many other misfortunes. clara replied to them all in an emphatic style, like an inspired person who saw into the future. she announced that, by an especial call from the holy spirit, she was destined to be a capuchin nun, and she was extremely grieved that she had not the strength and health necessary for living in a community and a cloister. she imposed so well on the persons who surrounded her, that pius vii. permitted her, in a special brief, to make her profession before don athanasius de puyal, bishop coadjutor of the archbishop of toledo, at madrid, and granted her a dispensation from the cloistered life, and the exercises of a community. from that moment nothing was spoken of in society but the miracles and heroic virtue of sister clara. the bishop who had received her vows obtained permission from the pope and the archbishop of toledo to erect an altar in her chamber opposite her bed; several masses were performed there every day, and even the holy sacrament was placed there in a tabernacle. clara communicated every day, and persuaded those who came to see her that she took no sustenance but the bread of the eucharist. this delusion lasted for several years: but in 1802, clara was taken to the prison of the holy office; her mother was likewise arrested, and a monk whom she had taken for her director. they were accused of having assisted the nun in her impostures, in order to obtain considerable sums of money, which the ladies of madrid and other devout persons placed in her hands to be distributed as alms. when her deceit, her pretended sickness, and the other circumstances of her life were proved, clara, her mother, and her director, were condemned to seclusion and other punishments, much less severe than they deserved. another _beata_ appeared after these, but the circumstances of her imposture are not so interesting. the inquisitors no longer thought of condemning criminals to the flames. a proof of this laudable change in their system may be seen in the trial of don miguel solano, curate of esco in aragon[79]. it was proved by the depositions of the witnesses, that he had advanced several propositions condemned by the church. he was conducted to the secret prisons of saragossa, where he confessed all, alleging, that having meditated for a long time with a sincere desire to discover the truth of the christian religion, and that, without the assistance of any book but the bible, he had convinced himself that there was no truth in anything but which was contained in the holy scriptures; that all the rest might be erroneous, because though several fathers of the church maintained these opinions, they were but men, and, consequently, liable to err; that he considered all that had been established by the roman church, in opposition to the proper and literal meaning of the scriptural text, as false, and that it was possible to fall into error, in admitting that which did not result either directly or indirectly from the text; that he considered it certain that the ideas of purgatory and the limbos were the invention of man, since jesus spoke of only two receptacles for souls, paradise and hell; that it was a sin to receive money for performing mass, although it was called an alms, and for the support of the celebrator; and that the priests and other ministers of religion ought to receive their salaries from the government, like the judges and other officers. he thought that the introduction and establishment of tithes was a fraud of the priests, and the manner of explaining the commandment of the church, which ordained that they should be paid without any deductions for seed, or the expenses of the harvest, was a shameful robbery; that no attention ought to be paid to the commands of the pope, because no god but avarice is adored at rome, and all the measures of that government only tend to take money from the people on religious pretences. solano had made a complete body of doctrine of these articles, and had composed a book on it, which he confided to his bishop and other theologians, as if he incurred no danger from such a proceeding. the inquisitors of saragossa undertook to persuade solano to renounce his opinions, and employed for that purpose some respectable theologians; they exhorted him to acknowledge his errors and repent, and threatened him with _relaxation_. don michel replied that he was aware of his danger, but if he was induced to retract, he would be condemned before the tribunal of god, and that if he was in error, god would enlighten him or pardon him. the infallibility of the church, and the opinions of the saints and learned men who had decided on the meaning of the obscure texts, were represented to him; he replied, that in all their discussions the court of rome had interfered, and rendered their good intentions of no avail. it was impossible to make solano recant, and the inquisitors passed sentence of _relaxation_; it must be confessed that they could not do otherwise, according to the code of the inquisition. but the supreme council, wishing to spare the spanish nation the spectacle of an _auto-da-fé_, had recourse to the extraordinary measure of examining some persons who had been mentioned by the witnesses, but had been neglected, commanding the inquisitors, at the same time, to use every effort to make solano retract. it was in vain, and the inquisitors, though they well knew the motives which led the council to vote against their sentence, did not dare to disobey the law. they pronounced sentence of _relaxation_ a second time, and the council took advantage of a declaration made by one of the witnesses, to order an inquest to be taken among all the curates, priests, and physicians of esco and the neighbourhood, in order to discover if solano had ever suffered an illness which weakened or deranged his mind. the result of this inquest was to be communicated to the council, and in the mean time the trial was suspended. the physician, who suspected what they wished him to say, declared that solano had had a severe illness for several years, before he was arrested, and that it was not surprising that it had weakened his mental powers; he said, that from that time he had spoken more frequently of his religious opinions, which were not those of the catholics in spain. on receiving this deposition, the council decreed, that, without pronouncing definitively on the subject, every means should be used to convert the accused. at this juncture, solano fell dangerously ill; the inquisitors charged the most able theologians of saragossa to endeavour to make him return to the faith, and even entreated the bishop coadjutor of the archbishop of saragossa, don fray miguel suarez de santander, to exhort him with that tenderness and goodness which were characteristic of that worthy prelate. the curate appeared to be sensibly affected at all that was done for him, but he said that he could not renounce his opinions, without fearing that he offended god by betraying the truth. on the twentieth day of his illness, the doctor told him that he was dying, and desired him to take advantage of the few moments which were left him. "i am," said solano, "in the hands of god; i have nothing more to do." thus died the curate of esco, in the year 1805; he was refused ecclesiastical sepulture, and was privately buried within the walls of the tribunal. the inquisitors reported all that had passed to the supreme council, which forbade them to continue the trial, that solano might not be burnt in effigy. two years after the intrigue intended to ruin the prince of peace, another event which took place at alicant ought to have been sufficient to cause the tribunal to be reformed, or even suppressed. on the death of don leonard stuck, consul for the batavian republic in that city, his executor, the vice-consul of france, put his seals upon the property of the deceased, until the formalities of the law had been fulfilled. the commissary of the inquisition desired the governor of the town to take off the seals and give him the keys of the house, that he might register the books and prints, as some of them were prohibited. the governor demanded time, in order to consult his majesty's minister. the commissary, who was disconcerted at this delay, went in the night with his alguazils, broke the seals, opened the door, and made the inventory; and when he had done, replaced the seals as well as he could, and went away. the ambassador of the batavian republic complained to the government of this violation of the law of nations, and the king wrote to the inquisitor-general, through his minister urquijo, informing him, that the inquisition must avoid similar infringements for the future, and bounding its office to the care of observing that, on the death of foreign ministers, no prohibited books were sold to spaniards or naturalized foreigners. nearly the same thing happened to the french consul at barcelona. it may have been seen in the preceding chapters, that the inquisition has been several times in danger of being suppressed, or subjected to the general forms of law. these occasions were more frequent during the reign of charles iv. the counts d'aranda, de florida-blanca, and campomanes, and the extraordinary council, represented the continual abuses committed by the _holy office_ to charles iii., but he contented himself with passing some ordinances to curtail its power. in 1794, don manuel abad-y-la-sierra, inquisitor-general under charles iv., wished to reform the procedure of the tribunal, and commanded me to compose a work, entitled, _a discourse on the procedure of the holy office_, in which i represented the vices of the actual practice, and the means of obviating them, even though the proceedings for heresy should still continue to be secret. but, by various intrigues, an order was obtained from charles iv., which forced the inquisitor-general to quit madrid, and resign his office. another attempt was made, when the prince of peace discovered the plot against him; the royal decree for the suppression was drawn up, but never presented for the signature of the king, because godoy was the dupe of counter-intrigue. in the following year, jovellanos wished to make use of the work i had composed for don manuel abad-y-la-sierra, of which i had given him a copy, but he failed in his design; and charles iv., who was ill-informed, and deceived by intriguers, commanded that minister to retire to his house at gijon in the asturias. the attempt of urquijo has been already mentioned. in 1808, napoleon buonaparte decreed the suppression of the inquisition, at chamastin, near madrid; he alleged that the tribunal was an encroachment on the royal authority. in 1813, the cortes-general of the kingdom adopted the same measures, after declaring that the existence of the privileged tribunal of the holy office was incompatible with the political constitution which had been decreed, published, and received by the nation. in spite of these two last suppressions, the tribunal still exists; because the greatest number of the men who surround the throne have been and will always be the partisans of ignorance, of the ultra-montane opinions, and of those which influenced the world before the invention of printing. these opinions are strenuously supported by the jesuits, who have been recently recalled to spain by ferdinand vii. chapter xliv. of the inquisition during the reign of ferdinand vii. charles iv. abdicated the crown in favour of his eldest son, ferdinand, who began to reign on the same day, before any public act had proved the validity of the abdication. the royal and supreme council of castile considered it necessary to observe the national custom on this occasion, and commissioned the royal fiscals to examine into the validity of the abdication, that the people might be informed that they were released from their oath of allegiance to charles. but a strict order was immediately sent to the council to renounce the measure, to proclaim the validity of the abdication, and acknowledge ferdinand as king. charles protested against his abdication; he said that it was not voluntary, since he had only done it to save his own life and that of the queen, in the sedition at aranjuez. ferdinand paid no attention to this protestation; the emperor napoleon took advantage of the event, and the bourbons ceased to reign in spain. while charles iv. was at marseilles, and ferdinand at valencé, joseph napoleon, king of naples, was proclaimed king of spain; ferdinand wrote to joseph to congratulate him, and request his friendship, and commanded all spaniards to recognise him, to prevent the ruin and desolation of their country. when joseph was acknowledged king of spain, the archives of the supreme council and of the inquisition of the court were confided to me, in consequence of an order from his majesty. with his approbation, i burnt all the criminal processes, except those which belonged to history, from their importance, and the rank of the accused; but i preserved all the registers of the resolutions of the council, the royal ordinances, the papal bulls and briefs, the papers of the affairs of the tribunal, and all the informations taken concerning the genealogies of the persons employed in the holy office, on account of their utility in proving relationship in trials when it is necessary. i have read in a work, intituled _acta latomorum_, that in the month of october, 1809, a grand national lodge of spanish freemasons was founded even in the buildings of the inquisition of madrid. this assertion i consider entirely false, because at that time the keys of the building were in the possession of a subaltern under my orders, who would never have consented to give them up for such a purpose. i presume that the authors of this article wished to astonish, by the striking contrast between the different destinations of the same edifice. my acquaintance with the archives already mentioned enabled me to compose for the royal academy of history (of which i have the honour to be a member), a dissertation, under the title of _a memorial, in which the opinion of the spaniards concerning the inquisition is examined_. the academy published my work. the above-mentioned materials, some others which i had collected since the year 1789, and some which were sent to me from valladolid and other towns, enabled me to publish, in 1812 and 1813, two volumes of the _annals of the inquisition_, which comprehended all the events which passed in the tribunals from 1477 to 1530. i was not able to finish that work, being obliged to repair to france in 1813. on the 22d of february, in the same year, the spanish assembly at cadiz, which styled itself the _general cortes_, suppressed the inquisition, restoring to the bishops and secular judges their jurisdictions, that they might prosecute heretics in the same manner as before the existence of the inquisition. this measure was the cause of long discussions in the tribune, and many orators pronounced speeches of great eloquence. the liberty of the press which then existed allowed many works to be published both for and against the holy office. its partisans neglected nothing in its defence; in short, all that could possibly be advanced in favour of such a tribunal as the inquisition, was published at cadiz during this celebrated discussion. but reason prevailed; not because the majority of the voters were irreligious persons, or jacobins (as it has since been unjustly said), but because the cortes found an irresistible strength in the reasoning which condemned a tribunal which had been so fatal to the prosperity of the nation for three centuries. the representatives of spain received an infinite number of letters and addresses, returning thanks for the benefit bestowed on the nation: several of these letters were signed by persons employed in the inquisition. i have the satisfaction to be able to declare, that this triumph of reason and humanity was principally owing to the documents which i furnished, and which became known to the public in 1812, by means of the _memorial on the opinion of the spaniards concerning the inquisition_, and the first volume of the _annals of the inquisition_. this is proved by the manifesto addressed by the cortes to the spanish people; in which the representatives say, that they had seen the apostolical bulls addressed to the inquisition, and the complaints and appeals of the prisoners: these details could only have been obtained from the works above mentioned, but they were not cited, because i was then a counsellor of state to king joseph. these measures of the cortes were however useless. buonaparte restored the crown of spain to ferdinand, by a treaty at valencé, in 1813, and in march, 1814, the king re-entered spain; on his arrival at valencia, he was immediately surrounded by persons imbued with the gothic prejudices of the age of chivalry, and one of the first measures of his administration was the re-establishment of the holy office, on the 21st of july, 1814. in the preamble to the royal decree, ferdinand informed the people, that the object of the restoration of the inquisition was to repair the evil caused to the religion of the state by the foreign troops, who were not catholics; to forestall that which might be caused hereafter by the heretical opinions imbibed by a great number of spaniards, and to preserve the tranquillity of the kingdom; that this measure was desired by learned and virtuous prelates, and by different bodies and corporations, who reminded him that, in the sixteenth century, spain had preserved herself from the contagion of heresy, and the errors which desolated other countries; while the arts and sciences flourished under many men, who were famed for their learning and sanctity; that this happy influence of the inquisition, was the reason why buonaparte had destroyed the tribunal, and that the same resolution was afterwards adopted by the junta, falsely calling itself the _general cortes_ of the kingdom, on the pretence that the inquisition was opposed to the constitution of cadiz, and that it was only decreed in the midst of tumults, and against the wishes of the nation. the decree also declares, that as it had been found necessary to frame new laws, to correct certain abuses and to limit privileges, it was his majesty's intention that they should be observed, and to appoint two members of the council of castile, and two of that of the _holy office_, to propose the necessary reforms and alterations in the mode of procedure concerning personal affairs, and the prohibition of books. it appears that these commissioners were, don manuel de lardizabal uribe and don sebastian de torres, of the council of castile; don joseph armarilla, and don antonio galarza, counsellors of the inquisition. these persons might have proposed a reform, which would have remedied several evils, or entirely destroyed them. i do not know what these commissioners have yet done to justify the confidence placed in them, but it is certain that hitherto no reform has been made public. on the 5th of may, 1815, don francis xavier de mier y campillo, the inquisitor-general, published an edict, commanding all those who felt themselves guilty, to denounce themselves before the end of the year, and announcing that _spain was infected by the new and dangerous doctrines which had ruined the greatest part of europe_. the inquisitor-general condemned the _new_ and _dangerous doctrines_ which followed the entrance of the french army, and did not mention the systems which were propagated and put in practice by the spanish partisans for the war, though they really came under his jurisdiction, because they were formerly opposed to the letter and spirit of the gospel. this circumstance induces me to lay it before my readers, in order to prove that the _re-established_ inquisition differs little from that which was _suppressed_, since, if the latter allowed works inculcating regicide to be circulated, and condemned books which supported the royal authority, the former began by condemning the doctrine which taught us, that men were not slaves or animals to be bought and sold, and at the same time allowed such maxims as the following to be acted upon:-1st. that it was allowable during the invasion, to assassinate any frenchman in spain, whether he was a soldier or not, without distinction of circumstances or means, because they were all enemies of the country, the defence of which ought to be the first consideration. 2nd. that according to the same principal it was lawful to kill any spaniard, who was a partisan of the superior power, designated as a _francisé_. 3rd. that any spaniards of the same party might be despoiled of their money, goods, or the produce of their estates, and that their houses, vineyards, olive-grounds, and other plantations might be burnt. 4th. that an oath of fidelity, taken on the sacrament, might be broken, even if no mental reservation was made, because the person was persuaded that it was the only means to avoid the danger threatened by the superior power, which could execute its threats, according to the general laws of war. 5. that the priests and monks were authorised to abandon their tranquil life, and engage in a military career, provided it was against the french and the francisés. this doctrine prevailed even when it was seen that the ecclesiastics and monks had become the chiefs of bands of robbers, and carried infamous concubines in their suites, and that they had imposed arbitrary contributions on different towns. 6th. that the war against france was a war of religion, and, consequently, that those who perished were to be considered as martyrs. 7th. that it was allowable, and even praiseworthy, to refuse sacramental absolution to a penitent who had submitted to the superior force, unless he promised to abandon it, and to contribute by every means to its destruction. 8th. that it was preferable to eat meat on fridays and other fast-days without permission, than to receive it from the apostolical commissary-general of the holy crusade of spain, resident at madrid, who was charged by the pope with this commission. 9th. that it was permitted to preserve an eternal hatred, and to excite others to an implacable war against the spaniards who had submitted to the superior force. it is not my intention to accuse the bishop of almeira, or the present inquisitors, of abusing their powers. the edict, on the whole, expresses an intention of pursuing mild measures, and hitherto it does not appear that they have been unfaithful to this maxim; for i cannot credit certain reports circulated in paris, or what was said in 1815, in _acta latomorum_. the author, after announcing the re-establishment of the inquisition by ferdinand vii., adds, that he had forbidden the masonic lodges, on pain of the punishments for high-treason. in another article of the same work, on the events of the year 1814, it is said,-"on the 25th of september, twenty-five individuals were arrested, on suspicion that they were the members of a masonic lodge, and partisans of the cortes: among them were the marquis tolosa; the canon marina, a learned and distinguished member of the academy; doctor luque, the court physician; and some french, and italians, and germans, who had settled in spain. the brave general alava, who was chosen by general wellington for his aide-de-camp, on account of his merit, has been imprisoned by the holy office, as a freemason." i consider the latter assertion to be entirely false, because letters worthy of credit, and the gazettes of spain, only stated that an order to leave madrid had been sent to the general by the king, but it was revoked, as his majesty discovered that he had been deceived; it is certain that ferdinand, some time after, sent him as his ambassador into the low countries. the account given in the madrid gazette on the 14th may, 1816, of an _auto-da-fé_ celebrated by the inquisition of mexico on the 27th december, 1815, is more worthy of belief. don joseph-maria morellos, a priest, had placed himself at the head of his countrymen, with the intention of freeing his country from the dominion of the king of spain. the holy office prosecuted him for heresy, while the viceroy arrested him for rebellion. the prisons of the holy office were preferred to that of the government, and some witnesses were found who deposed to certain facts which the mexican qualifiers thought sufficient to authorize them to pronounce morellos suspected of atheism, materialism, and other errors. one proof of his guilt was, that he had two children. the accused abjured, and was absolved in an _auto-da-fé_, which was celebrated with as much parade as in the reign of philip ii. when the inquisitors treated morellos with so much moderation, they knew that the viceroy would hang him; before his execution he was degraded from the priesthood by the bishop of antequera in america. i do not know if the spanish inquisition has celebrated an _auto-da-fé_ since its re-establishment. i shall only say, that if its members wish to follow the precepts of the gospel more faithfully than their predecessors, they ought to follow the example of their chief, pius vii. a letter from rome, dated the 31st of march, 1816, announces that his holiness had abolished the use of torture in all the tribunals of the holy office, and that the resolution had been communicated to the ambassadors of spain and portugal[80]. a second letter from the same city on the 17th of april following, says that the procedure of the inquisition was to be similar to that of the other tribunals, and to be made public[81]. a third letter on the 9th may, states that the inquisition of rome had annulled the sentence which that of ravenna had pronounced against solomon moses viviani, who had relapsed into judaism, after having abjured it to become a christian. in confirming the revocation, the pope said: "the divine law is not of the same nature as that of man, but a law of persuasion and gentleness; persecution, exile, and imprisonment, are only suitable to false prophets and the apostles of false doctrines. let us pity the man who does not see the true light, or who even refuses to see it; the cause of his blindness may tend to fulfil the profound designs of providence, &c." his holiness having since presided at a congregation of the holy office, has decreed that, "in all trials of heresy, the accuser shall be confronted with the accused, in the presence of the judges, and has expressed an intention that the trials shall be so conducted as to avoid the punishment of death[82]." another letter from rome, of the 17th january, 1817, contains the following article: "it is reported that the holy office will be reformed this year. it appears that it will only be allowed to proceed in the same manner as the other tribunals. the government considers it to be dangerous to allow a body to exist which is useless, and always armed against the progress of reason. you may believe that the inquisition has already ceased to exist[83]." in march, 1816, the portuguese ambassador had sent a diplomatic note to the cardinal-secretary of state to his holiness, in which he informs him, in the name of his court, of the condemnation of a work printed by the inquisitor louis de paramo, of the formal and judicial suppression of the holy office, and of the re-establishment of the bishops in their former privileges[84]. these just and moderate measures ought to be the rule and guide of the spanish inquisitors; if they would make the proceedings public, and liberate the prisoners on bail, i confess that i should not be afraid to present myself to be tried by that tribunal. since this article was printed, i have been informed, that the inquisitor-general mier campillo is dead, and that ferdinand has appointed monseigneur jerome castillon de salas, bishop of taragona, as his successor. god grant that he may understand the spirit of the gospel, and the necessity of reforming the inquisition, better than his predecessor! number of the victims of the inquisition. it is impossible to determine the exact number of persons who perished in the first years after the establishment of the holy office. persons were burnt in the year 1481, and the supreme council was not created until 1483. the registers in its archives, and those of the inferior tribunals, are of a still later date; and as the inquisitor-general accompanied the court, which had no fixed residence until the reign of philip ii., many of the trials must have been lost during these journeys. these circumstances oblige me to found my calculations on the combination of certain data, which i found in the registers and writings of the holy office. mariana, in his history of spain, informs us that, in 1481, the inquisitors of seville condemned two thousand persons to _relaxation_, that is, to be burnt, and that there were as many effigies; the number of persons reconciled was one thousand seven hundred. the latter were always subjected to severe penances. the _autos-da-fé_ of this period, which i examined at saragossa and toledo, lead me to suppose that each tribunal of the inquisition celebrated at least four _autos-da-fé_ every year. the provincial tribunals were successively organised. i do not speak of those of mexico, lima, carthagena in america, sicily or sardinia, although they were subject to the inquisitors-general and the supreme council, because i am only enabled to establish my calculation for those of the peninsula and the neighbouring isles. andres bernaldez, a contemporary historian, and very much attached to the new institution, in which he held the office of almoner to the second inquisitor, states, in his inedited history of the catholic kings, that from 1482 to 1489, more than seven hundred individuals were burnt, and more than five thousand subjected to penances, at seville: he does not mention the effigies. in 1481 the number equalled that of the persons burnt. i will, however, suppose that these were only half that number, to avoid all exaggeration, though it was in general much more considerable; i may, therefore, say, that in each year of this period, 88 persons were burnt at seville, 44 in effigy, and 600 condemned to different penances; total, 757. the same mode of calculation may be applied to the other tribunals of the province which were then founded. in the castle of triana, at seville, where the inquisitorial tribunal was held, is an inscription, placed there in 1524, importing that in the space of time from 1492 to that year, about 1000 persons had been burnt, and 20,000 condemned to penances;--i will suppose that 1000 individuals were burnt, and 500 effigies, which will give for each year 32 burnt, 16 effigies, and 625 subjected to penances. i might admit a similar result for all the tribunals of the kingdom, but i prefer taking the half, on the supposition that the commerce carried on in the kingdom of seville drew thither many jewish families. with respect to the years 1490, 91, and 92, which elapsed between those mentioned by bernaldez and the period of the inscription of triana, i prefer calculating according to the thirty-two years after the inscription. such are the foundations of my calculations for the first eighteen years of the inquisition. i shall consider it from that time as entirely belonging to the government of torquemada, the first inquisitor-general; for, although his office was not created till 1483, the two preceding years may be united to his administration, because he was at that time one of the inquisitors appointed by the pope. i shall, however, carefully distinguish the time when the inferior tribunals began to act, as a greater number of persons perished in the first year, because they were not sufficiently observant of their words and actions. 1481. seville, the only tribunal. burnt, 2000. effigies, 2000. penances, 1700. total, 21,000. i do not mention aragon, where the old inquisition was in full activity. 1482. seville. burnt, 88. effigies, 44. penances, 625. total, 757. the tribunals of aragon, catalonia, valencia, and majorca, belonged to the old inquisition. 1483. seville. ditto. tribunals were established in this year at cordova, jaen, and toledo; it is probable that as many persons were condemned at these places as in the first year at seville, but i shall take the tenth part of that number. cordova. burnt, 200. effigies, 200. penances, 17. total, 2100. jaen, ditto. toledo, ditto. total, 7057. 1484. seville. burnt, 88. effigies, 44. penances, 625. total, 757. i calculate half that number for each of the three additional tribunals. total, 1892. 1485. seville, ditto. cordova, ditto. jaen, ditto. toledo, ditto. valladolid, estremadura, murcia, calahorra, saragossa, and valencia; each, burnt, 200. effigies, 200. penances, 1700. total, 2100. for the ten tribunals. total, 12,930. 1486. seville, as before. cordova, jaen, and toledo, ditto. valladolid, llerena, murcia, logroño, saragossa, and valencia; same number as cordova. for the ten tribunals. total, 4149. 1487. seville, and the other tribunals; the same number as the preceding year. barcelona and majorca, burnt, 200. effigies, 200. penances, 1700. total for the twelve tribunals, 8359. 1488. seville, ditto. eleven other tribunals, same number as before. total, 4915. 1489. same as the preceding year. here finish the calculations founded on the statements of mariana and bernaldez. 1490. seville. burnt, 32. effigies, 16. penances, 625. total, 663. according to the calculation from the inscription of triana. the eleven other tribunals may be considered to have punished half that number. total for the twelve, 4369. 1491 to 1498. according to my system of reduction, the total number of victims for the eight last years of torquemada, was 34,952. total for the eighteen years of his administration, 105,294. 1499 to 1507. _second inquisitor-general._ don fray diego deza. for the twelve tribunals during the eight years of his administration. burnt, 1664. effigies, 832. penances, 32,456. total, 34,952. 1507 to 1518. _third inquisitor-general._ cardinal ximenes de cisneros. in 1513 he separated the tribunal of cuença from that of murcia. number of persons condemned during the eleven years of his administration. burnt, 2536. effigies, 1368. penances, 47,263. total, 51,163. 1518 to 1524. _fourth inquisitor-general._ cardinal adrian. number of tribunals in the peninsula, the same as under his predecessor. burnt, 1344. effigies, 662. penances, 26,214. total, 28,230. 1524 to 1539. _fifth inquisitor-general._ cardinal manrique. for each year of this administration, i calculate that in each of the tribunals 10 were burnt, 5 in effigy, and 50 subjected to penances; total, 65. there were thirteen tribunals in the peninsula, and two in the adjacent isles. according to the preceding calculation, we find that during the fifteen years of the administration of manrique, there were, burnt, 2250. effigies, 1120. penances, 11,250. total, 14,625. 1539 to 1545. _sixth inquisitor-general._ cardinal tabera. his administration may be considered as having lasted seven years. for the fifteen tribunals during that period, i calculate, burnt, 840. effigies, 420. penances, 4200. total, 5460. _seventh inquisitor-general._ cardinal loaisa was appointed in 1546, and died in the same year; the time of his administration may be said to be twelve months. in the fifteen tribunals, burnt, 120. effigies, 60. penances, 600. total, 780. _eighth inquisitor-general._ don ferdinand valdés, archbishop of seville. twenty years in the fifteen tribunals, burnt, 2400. effigies, 1200. penances, 12,000. total, 19,600. _ninth inquisitor-general._ cardinal espinosa, six years. burnt, 720. effigies, 360. penances, 3600. total, 4680. _tenth inquisitor-general._ don pedro de cordova, ponce de leon, succeeded in 1572, and died in january, 1573, before he could enter on his office. _eleventh inquisitor-general._ cardinal quiroga, twenty-two years. another tribunal was established in galicia. in the sixteen tribunals were burnt, 2816. effigies, 1408. penances, 14,080. total, 18,304. _twelfth inquisitor-general._ don jerome manrique de lara, bishop of carthagena and avila, one year. total for the sixteen inquisitions, burnt, 180. effigies, 64. penances, 640. total, 832. _thirteenth inquisitor-general._ don pedro de porto-carrero, bishop of cuença, three years. burnt, 184. effigies, 92. penances, 1920. total, 2196. _fourteenth inquisitor-general._ cardinal guevara, three years. burnt, 240. effigies, 96. penances, 1728. total, 2064. _fifteenth inquisitor-general._ don juan de zuñiga, bishop of carthagena, one year. burnt, 84. effigies, 32. penances, 576. total, 688. _sixteenth inquisitor-general._ don juan bautista de acebedo, archbishop _in partibus infidelium_, five years. burnt, 400. effigies, 116. penances, 2880. total, 3440. _seventeenth inquisitor-general._ cardinal sandoval y roxas, eleven years. burnt, 880. effigies, 352. penances, 6336. total, 7568. _eighteenth inquisitor-general._ don fray louis de aliaga, two years. burnt, 240. effigies, 96. penances, 1728. total, 2064. _nineteenth inquisitor-general._ don andres pacheco, four years. burnt, 200. effigies, 128. penances, 1280. total, 1664. _twentieth inquisitor-general._ cardinal mendoza, six years. burnt, 384. effigies, 192. penances, 1920. total, 2496. _twenty-first inquisitor-general._ don fray antonio de sotomayor, archbishop _in partibus infidelium_, eleven years. burnt, 704. effigies, 352. penances, 3520. total, 4576. _twenty-second inquisitor-general._ don diego de arce y reynosa, bishop of placencia, twenty-three years. burnt, 1472. effigies, 736. penances, 7360. total, 9568. _twenty-third inquisitor-general._ cardinal d'aragon. dismissed before he entered on his office. _twenty-fourth inquisitor-general._ don juan everard nitardo, three years. burnt, 144. effigies, 48. penances, 576. total, 768. _twenty-fifth inquisitor-general._ don diego sarmiento de valladares, twenty-six years. burnt, 1248. effigies, 416. penances, 4992. total, 6656. _twenty-sixth inquisitor-general._ don juan thomas rocaberti, archbishop of valencia, five years. burnt, 240. effigies, 80. penances, 960. total, 1280. _twenty-seventh inquisitor-general._ cardinal aguilar. died before he entered on his office. _twenty-eighth inquisitor-general._ don balthazar mendoza y sandoval, bishop of segovia, five years. burnt, 240. effigies, 80. penances, 960. total, 1280. _twenty-ninth inquisitor-general._ don vidal marin, bishop of ceuta, four years. seventeen tribunals. burnt, 136. effigies, 68. penances, 816. total, 1020. _thirtieth inquisitor-general._ don antonio ibañez de la riva herrera, archbishop of saragossa, two years. burnt, 68. effigies, 34. penances, 408. total, 510. _thirty-first inquisitor-general._ cardinal judice, six years. burnt, 204. effigies, 102. penances, 1224. total, 1530. _thirty-second inquisitor-general._ don joseph molines, auditor de rote at rome, two years. burnt, 68. effigies, 34. penances, 408. total, 510. _thirty-third inquisitor-general._ don juan de arzamendi. died before he entered on the office. _thirty-fourth inquisitor-general._ don diego de astorga y cespedes, bishop of barcelona, two years. burnt, 68. effigies, 34. penances, 408. total, 510. _thirty-fifth inquisitor-general._ don juan de camargo, bishop of pampluna, thirteen years. burnt, 442. effigies, 221. penances, 2652. total, 3315. _thirty-sixth inquisitor-general._ don andres de orbe y larreategui, archbishop of valencia, seven years. burnt, 238. effigies, 119. penances, 1428. total, 1785. _thirty-seventh inquisitor-general._ don manuel isidro manrique de lara, archbishop of santiago, four years. burnt, 336. effigies, 68. penances, 816. total, 1020. _thirty-eighth inquisitor-general._ don francisco perez de prado y cuesta, bishop of teruel. he was confirmed by the pope in 1746; i do not know the exact term of his administration, but i have fixed it in 1757, before the death of ferdinand vi., who appointed his successor. burnt, 10. effigies, 5. penances, 107. total, 122. _thirty-ninth inquisitor-general._ don manuel quintano bonifaz, archbishop of pharsala, seventeen years. burnt, 2. penances, 10 in public, a greater number in private. _fortieth inquisitor-general._ don philip bertran, bishop of salamanca, nine years. two were burnt every year of this administration, six condemned to public, and a great number to private penances[85]. _forty-first inquisitor-general._ don augustin rubin de cevallos, bishop of jaen, nine years. fourteen condemned to public penances, and a considerable number condemned intra muros. _forty-second inquisitor-general._ don manuel abad y la sierra, archbishop of selimbria, two years. sixteen individuals condemned to public, a greater number to private penances. _forty-third inquisitor-general._ cardinal lorenzana, three years. public penances, 14. a very great number condemned to private penances. one effigy was burnt at cuença. _forty-fourth inquisitor-general._ don ramon joseph de arce, archbishop of saragossa, eleven years. twenty individuals were condemned to public, and a very considerable number to private penances. the curate of esco was condemned to the flames, but the grand-inquisitor and the supreme council would not permit the sentence to be executed. number of persons who were condemned and perished in the flames 31,912 effigies burnt 17,659 condemned to severe penances 291,450 -------- 341,021 the end. london: printed by william clowes, stamford-street. * * * * * the following typographical errors have been corrected by the etext transcriber: those already in in prison were excluded from the pardon=>those already in prison were excluded from the pardon john guiterrez de chabes=>john gutierrez de chabes don diego deza, a dominician=>don diego deza, a dominican entirely composed by catholics authors=>entirely composed by catholic authors he went out, and was assasinated=>he went out, and was assassinated more favourably received than at vallodolid=>more favourably received than at valladolid expences in travelling and maintaining=>expenses in travelling and maintaining mind was so much disorderered=>mind was so much disordered from the secresy of their proceedings=>from the secrecy of their proceedings secresy, and two members of the council of castile=>secrecy, and two members of the council of castile inquisitor in ordinary of the diocease=>inquisitor in ordinary of the diocese he ackowledges his guilt=>he acknowledges his guilt nicholas antonio say that he died, with the reputation of being a saint=>nicholas antonio says that he died, with the reputation of being a saint haping occasion to say=>having occasion to say it appears, from cotemporary=>it appears, from contemporary made several journies to valladolid=>made several journeys to valladolid the queen and the princes were in tears=>the queen and the princess were in tears his death was invitable=>his death was inevitable afterwards transferred to the the city of=>afterwards transferred to the city of when cazella was arrested=>when cazalla was arrested decree of the congregation shuld be revoked.=>decree of the congregation should be revoked. majorca, bilboa, valladolid, aud osma=>majorca, bilboa, valladolid, and osma cemetery of pére la chaise=>cemetery of père la chaise there was a third called called huguenaos=>there was a third called huguenaos * * * * * footnotes: [1] the following fact shews that the inquisitors of our own days do not fall below the standard of those who followed the fanatic torquemada. * * * * was present when the inquisition was thrown open, in 1820, by the orders of the cortes of madrid. twenty-one prisoners were found in it, not one of whom knew the name of the city in which he was: some had been confined three years, some a longer period, and not one knew perfectly the nature of the crime of which he was accused. one of these prisoners had been condemned, and was to have suffered on the following day. his punishment was to be death by the _pendulum_. the method of thus destroying the victim is as follows:--the condemned is fastened in a groove, upon a table, on his back; suspended above him is a pendulum, the edge of which is sharp, and it is so constructed as to become longer with every movement. the wretch sees this implement of destruction swinging to and fro above him, and every moment the keen edge approaching nearer and nearer: at length it cuts the skin of his nose, and gradually cuts on, until life is extinct. it may be doubted if the holy office in its mercy ever invented a more humane and rapid method of exterminating heresy, or ensuring confiscation. this, let it be remembered, was a punishment of the secret tribunal, a.d. 1820!!! [2] the _absolution ad cautelam_ is that granted by inquisitors to persons who have been suspected of heresy. [3] since the publication of this work, the author has been informed that the convicts were only fastened to the statues of the _four prophets_, and not enclosed in them. andrew bernaldez, a contemporary writer, and eye-witness of the executions, from whom this fact was taken, is not sufficiently explicit to remove all doubt. [4] erasmus, letters 884, 907, 910. [5] sandoval. hist. charles v. b. 24, § 23. [6] salazar de mendoza, life of don bartholomew carranza, ch. vii. [7] mayan's life of john louis vives, in the introduction to the new edition of his works. [8] virues: _philippics against melancthon_, in the dedication of the edition of antwerp, 1541. [9] reginaldus gonzalvius montanus, _sanctæ inquisitionis hispanicæ, artes aliquot detectæ_. this work is now extremely rare; it was published in 8vo. at heidelberg in 1567. [10] charles v. is the hero of this poem. [11] don antonio cajetan de souza has inserted this bull in his genealogical history of the royal house of portugal; vol. ii. [12] continued from gonzales de montes. [13] sandoval's history of charles v., vol. ii. [14] sandoval's history of charles v., tom. ii. [15] cabrera, hist. philip ii., book 2. chap. vi. [16] cabrera, ibid. b. i. chap. viii. and ix. [17] leti, life of philip ii. book 17.--reinaldi, annales eccles. an. 1563, no. 146.--palavicini, hist. council of trent, book 22, chap. viii.--sarpi, hist. council of trent, book 8. no. 42. [18] see chapter xvi. [19] pellecyr, ensago de biblioteca de traductores españoles. articles, _reina_, _perez_, and _valera_. [20] regnialdus gonzalirus montanus, _sanctæ inquisitionis hispanicæ artes aliquot detectæ_, in the rubric _publicato testium_, p. 50. [21] fleury, hist. ecoles, liv. 154, ann. 1559, no. 14. [22] ulloa, _vita di carlos v._, edition of venice; 1589, p. 237. [23] the _informer_ is admitted as a witness, in contempt of the rule of right, and the punishment due to a false witness is not inflicted, if he is discovered to be such. [24] they never found this measure necessary. the old bulls and the cortes had provided that the interlocutory act of arrest should be consented to, and signed by the inquisitor in ordinary of the diocese. reason dictated this measure, because the decree for an arrest does not permit the summons. [25] this form is very prejudicial to the prisoner, when the conversation takes place with one person, because the manner of relating the fact supposes three, the accused, the interlocutor, and the individual who has seen or heard. [26] this inconvenience was the danger to which the secrecy of the holy office was exposed from the activity of these procurators. [27] this is false; the advantages on the contrary were very important, because the procurators who knew the persons capable of proving the challenge of presumed witnesses, informed them of it, in order to favour the accused. [28] the new christians, the relations, the servants, malefactors, infamous persons, in fact every man, a wife, a child, are admitted to depose against the accused, and he cannot call as a witness any person who is a relation or a servant! [29] this is an injustice. if an accused person had seen the proved articles of the examination in his defence, or if they had been communicated to his lawyer, he would have often derived conclusive arguments from them against the depositions for the prosecution. [30] _it was not often used_, because the inquisitors were unwilling to reveal the secret of their irregular proceedings; they considered it _dangerous_, because it was favourable to the accused, in the few cases where it had been employed; they wished it to be used with great caution, because they felt that those who are not inquisitors act like judges. the canonical proof takes place in the presence of twelve persons, who declare upon oath whether they believe the accused to be innocent or guilty. they were a kind of jury, to whom the inquisitors were obliged to show the original process, and thus the accused depended more upon the jury than on the inquisitors. [31] i have not read any process which proves that more than one inquisitor has assisted at this execution; i have never seen either the ordinary, or the consultors present at it; the question was only applied in the presence of the inquisitor, the notary, and the executioners. [32] it was afterwards regulated that this should be done in all definitive sentences. [33] the trial began in 1558; it had already lasted more than fifteen years, yet the council said that it went on quickly! [34] father kircher has inserted this letter in his work called _principis christiani archetipon politicum_. [35] kircher has inserted the whole of this letter in the work before mentioned. [36] estrada: decades of the war of flanders. decade i. b. 7. [37] this refers to the queen's journey to bayonne, to confer with her mother on the political affairs of the league. it took place in 1565. [38] cabrera: history of philip ii., chap. 28. [39] wander-hamer: history of philip ii., p. 115. cabrera: prudence of philip ii., b. vii. chap. 22. [40] cabrera. ibid. chap. 28. [41] kircher: _vide_ the work before mentioned, b. ii. chap. 2. [42] estrada: wars of flanders, decade i. b. 7. [43] cabrera: hist. philip ii., b. vii. chap. 28. [44] wander-hamen: life of don john of austria, book i. [45] cabrera: hist. philip ii., book vii. chap. 22. [46] retamar is a place situated half-way between madrid and the pardo. [47] cabrera, book vii. chap. 22.--wander-hamen: life of don john of austria, book i. [48] st. jerome is a monastery of the order of jeronimites, founded by henry iv. near this monastery is the old royal palace called _buen retiro_. [49] _atocha_ is a convent of dominicans near _buen retiro_, on the east side. [50] this was not the saturday following, which was on the 3rd of january, 1568, but on the 17th of january, the day before don carlos was arrested. [51] the princes of bohemia and hungary, then at madrid, also don john of austria and alexander farnese. [52] some galleys which were then being prepared under the command of don john. [53] grand prior of the order of st. john of jerusalem: his name was don antonio de toledo, brother to the duke of alva, and a councillor of state. [54] the duke de feria was captain-general of the king's guards, and a councillor of state. [55] louis quijada was lord of villagarcia, son of him who was major-domo to charles v. in his retirement. the count de lerma was afterwards first duke and favourite of philip iii. don rodrigo de mendoza was the eldest son of the prince d'evoli. [56] son of don gabriel, count de siruela. [57] mass was afterwards said in the prince's apartment; this shows that the account was written before the 2nd of march, when the order was given to have it performed. [58] the 19th of january, 1568. [59] hoyos. his name was pedro del hoyo. [60] that is of the eldest sons who have the right of succeeding to the crown, which is a _majorat_, or a perpetual substitution by the order of primogeniture. [61] jane, the king's sister, who had brought up don carlos before he had masters. [62] the _monteros_ are the king's body-guard for the night. all the individuals of this guard are called _monteros de espinosa_, because they ought to have been born in the borough called _espinosa de la monteros_; this is a privilege which was granted to them by the sovereign count of castile, ferdinand gonzalez, as a recompense for a distinguished act of fidelity. [63] watson: history of the reign of philip ii., in english and french, appendix. [64] de thou: history of his time, in latin, vol. ii. b. 43. [65] comentarios del reverendissimo señor fray barthome carranza de miranda, arzobispo de toledo, sobre el cathecismo christiano, divididos en quatro partes, les quales contienent odo lo que profesamos en el santo bautismo, como se vera en la plana siguiente, dirigida al serenisimo senor rey de espana, &c., nuestro senor. en anveres, en casa de martin nucio, anno m. d. lviii., con privilegio real. [66] reinaldo: ecclesiastical annals for 1563, no. 137. paul sarpi: history of the council of trent, b. viii. p. 32. [67] these expressions show that the count foresaw that the resolution of the council would be favourable to the catechism; and in that case the holy office of spain would be dishonoured. [68] the chief justice of aragon was an intermediate judge between the king and his subjects, and independent of him as an officer of justice, before whom the king only was the pleading party. this magistracy had been established by the constitution of the kingdom; the person invested with it was authorized to declare, at the demand of any inhabitant, that the king, his judges, or his magistrates, abused their power, and acted against the law in violating the constitution and privileges of the kingdom; in this case, the chief justice could defend the oppressed by force of arms against the king, and of course against his agents or lieutenants. [69] this expression is ancient in the aragonese dialect, and taken from the french, which derived it from the latin _inquisitio_. it is the title given in the code of _fueros_ to the sentence pronounced against magistrates or other public officers guilty of infidelity, abuse of power, or other crimes. [70] henry iv. of france, then called the duke of vendome, and catherine de bourbon, afterwards sovereign duchess of bar. [71] molina was then at madrid, where he had been rewarded by a place in the council of military orders. he was succeeded at saragossa by don pedro de zamora. [72] see _relations_ of perez. [73] see chapter xv. [74] see chapter 15. [75] see chapter 26. [76] see chapter 25. [77] a work, by m. clement, was printed at paris, in 1802, called _a journal of correspondences and journeys for the peace of the church_. [78] these letters will be found in the second volume of the _memoires pour servir à l'histoire de la révolution d'espagne_, by don juan nellerto, nos. 34, 59, 67. [79] don miguel juan antonio solano was born at veroline in aragon. nature had endued him with an inventive, penetrating genius, inclined to mathematical applications; he learned the trade of a joiner, for his own amusement. he invented a plough which would work without oxen or horses, and presented it to the government, but little notice was taken of it. desiring to make himself useful to his parishioners, he undertook to fertilize the earth in a ravine situated between two mountains, and completely succeeded. he had brought into the ravine the waters of a fountain, which was about a quarter of a spanish league from the spot. a long and severe illness had made him lame, and during his convalescence, he invented a chair in which he could go out into his garden. when his age inclined him to meditations of another nature, as he had not many books, he particularly applied himself to the study of the bible, and from it he formed his religious system, which differed little from that of the reformed protestants, who are most attached to the discipline of the first ages of the church; he was persuaded that all that is not expressed in the new testament, or is opposed to the literal sense of the text, was invented by man. he put his sentiments in writing, and sent the work to his bishop, requesting him to instruct him and give his opinion. the bishop lopez gil promised to send him an answer; but as it did not arrive, solano communicated his opinions to some professors of theology in the university of saragossa, and to some curates in his neighbourhood: he was in consequence denounced to the inquisition of saragossa, who proceeded to take informations, and arrest the criminal. a curate, who called himself his friend, received the commission to arrest the unfortunate solano, while entire liberty was allowed him to enable him to recover. solano, however, found means to convey himself to oleron, the nearest town on the french frontier; but soon after, depending on the goodness of his intentions, hoping that the inquisitors would respect his innocence, and show him his errors, if he had fallen into any, he returned to spain, and wrote to inform them that he would submit to anything, in order to be enlightened and convinced. his conduct proved that he was little acquainted with the tribunal of the inquisition. [80] see _gazette de france_, for the 14th april, 1816, no. 103. [81] _gazette de france_, _journal du soir_, for the 1st may, 1816. [82] _gazette de france_, 22nd may, 1816, no. 41. [83] _gazette de france_, january 21st, 1817, no. 31. [84] _gazette de france_, april 3rd, 1816, no. 94. [85] the last person burnt by the inquisition was a beata, for having made a compact with the devil. she suffered on the 7th of november, 1781. the inquisition of spain works by the same author. _a history of the inquisition of the middle ages._ in three volumes, octavo. _a history of auricular confession and indulgences in the latin church._ in three volumes, octavo. _an historical sketch of sacerdotal celibacy in the christian church._ third edition. (_in preparation._) _a formulary of the papal penitentiary in the thirteenth century._ one volume, octavo. (_out of print._) _superstition and force._ essays on the wager of law, the wager of battle, the ordeal, torture. fourth edition, revised. in one volume, 12mo. _studies in church history._ the rise of the temporal power, benefit of clergy, excommunication, the early church and slavery. second edition. in one volume, 12mo. _chapters from the religious history of spain, connected with the inquisition._ censorship of the press, mystics and illuminati, endemoniadas, el santo niño de la guardia, brianda de bardaxi. in one volume, 12mo. _the moriscos of spain, their conversion and expulsion._ in one volume, 12mo. a history of the inquisition of spain by henry charles lea, ll.d. in four volumes volume iii. new york the macmillan company london: macmillan & co., ltd. 1907 _all rights reserved_ copyright, 1907 by the macmillan company set up and electrotyped. published january. 1907 contents of vol. iii. book vi--practice (continued). chapter vii--torture. page general use of torture in secular courts 1 the inquisition not exceptionally cruel 2 more moderate than the roman holy office 3 formal preliminaries to prevent its abuse 4 the threat of torture 6 conditions justifying torture 7 torture of witnesses--torture _in caput alienum_ 11 no exemptions admitted 13 limitations of torture 14 the administration of torture 16 varieties of torture 18 severity of torture 22 record of administration 24 confession under torture must be ratified 27 repetition of torture 28 endurance without confession 30 frequency of use of torture 33 fees of the torturer 35 chapter viii--the trial. gradual development of procedure 36 the audience--the three monitions 37 the charges withheld 39 the accusation 41 the advocate for the defence--his function 42 the curador for minors 50 the patrones teólogos 51 publication of evidence 53 the defence--recusation of judges 56 insanity 58 _tacha_ and _abonos_ 63 evidence for the defence 64 the argument of the advocate 69 examination of the accused 70 the _consulta de fe_ 71 delays 75 prosecution of the dead 81 of the absent 86 book vii--punishment. chapter i--the sentence. the two forms of sentence 93 the culprit kept in ignorance 94 appeals 95 modification of sentence 97 severity or benignity 99 enforcement of the sentence 101 acquittal 105 suspension 108 admission to bail 111 compurgation or wager of law 113 used by the inquisition in doubtful cases 114 formula of procedure 117 chapter ii--minor penalties. reprimand 121 abjuration 123 exile 126 razing houses 128 spiritual penances 131 unusual penalties 132 chapter iii--harsher penalties. the scourge 135 vergüenza 138 the galleys--the presidio 139 reconciliation 146 the perpetual prison 151 commutations 160 the sanbenito 162 its display in churches 164 disabilities 172 clerical offenders 180 chapter iv--the stake. burning for heresy in the public law of europe 183 responsibility of the church 184 conversion before or after sentence--strangling before burning 190 conditions entailing relaxation--pertinacity 195 denial--the _negativo_ 198 partial confession--the _diminuto_ 199 the dogmatizer or heresiarch 200 relapse 202 disappearance of relaxation 208 chapter v--the auto de fe. impressiveness of the _auto publico general_ 209 preparations and celebration 213 the _auto particular_ or _autillo_ 220 it replaces the general public auto 221 celebration in churches 224 the auto de fe as a spectacular entertainment 227 book viii--spheres of action. chapter i--jews. neglect of instruction of coerced converts 231 slenderness of proof required for prosecutio 232 gradual disappearance of judaism 234 influx of portuguese judaizers after the conquest of portugal 237 portugal--treatment of jewish refugees 237 joão iii resolves to introduce the inquisition 238 struggle in rome between joão and the new christians 239 joão obtains an unrestricted inquisition 253 activity of the inquisition 259 tribunal established in goa but not in brazil 261 organization of the portuguese inquisition 262 cases of george buchanan and damião de goes 263 increased activity after the spanish conquest 265 the general pardon of 1604 267 the portuguese new christians in spain 270 active persecution in portugal 273 discussions as to expulsion 275 rebellion of 1640--joão iv favors the new christians 280 padre antonio vieira s. j. appeals for them to rome 284 innocent xi orders modifications of procedure 289 unabated prejudice in spain--olivares opposes the inquisition 290 dread of jewish propaganda--case of lope de vera 293 persistent persecution of portuguese 296 gradual obsolescence of jewish observances 300 restriction of emigration or expulsion 303 catastrophe of majorca 305 recrudescence of persecution after the war of succession 308 extinction of judaism in spain 311 exclusion of foreign jews 311 readmission to spain under constitution of 1869 315 chapter ii--moriscos. toleration of the mudéjares--capitulations of granada 317 talavera and ximenes in granada 319 rising of the moors--enforced conversion 322 isabella compels conversion in castile--instruction neglected 324 persecution of the new converts 328 situation in granada 331 oppressive edict of philip ii in 1567 334 rebellion of the moriscos 338 they are deported and scattered--their prosperity 339 the moors under the crown of aragon 342 valencia--coercive baptism by the germanía 346 investigation as to its extent and character 348 decision to enforce adhesion to the faith 351 charles v gives all moors the alternative of exile or baptism--they submit 352 the concordia of 1528 grants them exemption from the inquisition 357 the inquisition disregards the agreement 358 fines substituted for confiscation 360 activity of the inquisition--case of don cosme abenamir 362 futile efforts at instruction and conversion 365 edicts of grace--their failure 371 intermittent trials of moderation 373 deplorable condition of the moriscos--emigration forbidden 375 questions as to baptism, marriage, slaughtering meat 380 dangerous discontent of the moriscos 382 ravages of moorish corsairs on the coast 383 plots with foreign powers for a rising 384 plans to avert the danger--expulsion resolved on 388 its execution in valencia, september, 1609 393 expulsion from granada and andalusia in january, 1610 398 simultaneously from castile 399 from aragon and catalonia in may, 1610 401 final rooting out of the _moriscos antiguos_ 403 expulsion delayed in murcia until january, 1614 404 number and fate of the exiles 406 squandering of the confiscations 409 chapter iii--protestantism. exaggeration of the protestant movement in spain 411 pre-reformation freedom of speech--erasmus 412 first efforts of repression, in 1521 413 the enchiridion of erasmus--persecution of erasmists--of catholics 414 protestant foreigners 421 native protestants 423 dr. egidio and the seville protestants--the protestant propaganda 424 the protestants of valladolid--general alarm exploited by valdés 429 the autos de fe of may 21, and october 8, 1559 437 prosecutions in seville--autos of 1559, 1560, 1562, 1564 and 1565 442 native protestantism crushed--dread of foreign propaganda and ideas 448 few scattering cases of native protestants 452 prosecution of foreigners for real or suspected protestantism 457 obstruction of commercial intercourse--treaties with england, holland and france 462 exclusion of foreigners, except in the army 472 conversion of foreign heretics 476 chapter iv--censorship. censorship originally a function of the state 480 the lutheran revolt leads the inquisition to assume it in 1521 482 papal power granted in 1539 482 licences to print issued by the state--books condemned by the inquisition 483 the _index librorum prohibitorum_ or _expurgandorum_ 484 examination of all libraries and book-shops 487 savage law of philip ii in 1558 488 use of the edict of faith and of the confessional 490 triviality of expurgation 491 divergence between the inquisition and the holy see 492 successive indexes--of quiroga, sandoval, zapata, sotomayor, vidal marin, prado y cuesta and the indice ultimo 493 practice of expurgating books and libraries--the escorial 497 vigilant supervision over book-shops and libraries--estates of the dead 501 supervision over importations and internal traffic 504 impediments to commerce and culture 508 precautions against smuggling--_visitas de navíos_ 510 interference with commerce--the case of bilbao 513 become purely financial--effort to revive them in 1819 519 licences to read prohibited books 521 penalties for disregard of the censorship 525 prohibition of vernacular bibles 527 various abuses of censorship 530 quarrel with rome over the _regalistas_--the inquisition secures its independence 533 it turns against the crown--carlos iii controls its censorship 539 censorship directed against the revolution 542 censorship of morals and art 545 influence of censorship 548 appendix--statistics of offences and penalties 551 documents 555 the inquisition of spain. book vi. (continued). chapter vii. torture to the modern mind the judicial use of torture, as a means of ascertaining truth, is so repellant and illogical that we are apt to forget that it has, from the most ancient times, been practised by nearly all civilized nations. with us the device of the jury has relieved the judge of the responsibility resting upon him in other systems of jurisprudence. that responsibility had to be met; a decision had to be reached, even in the most doubtful cases and, where evidence was defective and conflicting, the use of torture as an expedient to obtain a confession, or, by its endurance, to indicate innocence, has seemed, until modern times, after the disuse of compurgation and the judgements of god, to be the only means of relieving the judicial conscience. it was admitted to be dangerous and fallacious, to be employed only with circumspection, but there was nothing to take its place.[1] that it should be used by the inquisition was a matter of course, for the crime of heresy was often one peculiarly difficult to prove; confession was sought in all cases and, from the middle of the thirteenth century, the habitual employment of torture by the holy office had been the most efficient factor in spreading its use throughout christendom, at the expense of the obsolescent barbarian customs. it is true that spain was loath to admit the innovation. in castile, which rejected the inquisition, alfonso x, notwithstanding his admiration of the roman law, required that confession must be voluntary and insisted that, if obtained by torture, it must subsequently be freely ratified, without threats or pressure.[2] in the kingdoms of aragon, which admitted the inquisition, torture remained illegal, and it was only by the positive commands of clement v that it was employed, in 1311, on the templars.[3] by the time that the spanish inquisition was organized, however, torture in castile was in daily use by the criminal courts, and there could be no question as to the propriety of its employment by the holy office. in aragon, peña tells us that, although it was forbidden in secular jurisprudence, it was freely permitted in matters of faith. yet its use was jealously watched, for when the aid of torture was sought in the case of a prisoner accused of the murder of a familiar, the córtes of 1646 complained of it as an unprecedented innovation, which was only prevented by the active intervention of the diputados and viceroy.[4] valencia had been less rigid in excluding torture from its courts, but so limited its use that, in 1684, the tribunal reported that, in cases of unnatural crime (of which it had cognizance, subject to the condition of trial by secular process), it no longer used torture, because the methods permitted by the fueros were so light that the accused felt no fear of them, and they were useless in extracting confession.[5] [sidenote: _more moderate than in rome_] we shall see that occasionally tribunals abused the use of torture, but the popular impression that the inquisitorial torture-chamber was the scene of exceptional refinement in cruelty, of specially ingenious modes of inflicting agony, and of peculiar persistence in extorting confessions, is an error due to sensational writers who have exploited credulity. the system was evil in conception and in execution, but the spanish inquisition, at least, was not responsible for its introduction and, as a rule, was less cruel than the secular courts in its application, and confined itself more strictly to a few well-known methods. in fact, we may reasonably assume that its use of torture was less frequent, for its scientific system of breaking down resistance, in its long-drawn procedure, was more effective than the ruder and speedier practice of the secular courts where, as we are told by archbishop pedro de castro of granada, it was notorious that no one confessed except when overcome by torture.[6] in this respect, the comparison between the spanish and the roman inquisition is also eminently in favor of the former. we shall have occasion presently to see the limitations which it placed on the use of torture, while in rome it was the rule that all who confessed or were convicted in matters of faith were tortured for the further discovery of the truth and the revelation of accomplices. in addition to this there were many classes of cases in which torture was employed by rome to extort confession and in which it was forbidden in spain--those involving mere presumption of heresy, such as solicitation, sorcery, blasphemy etc. moreover in rome the _in arbitrio judicum_ applied not only to the kind and duration of the torture but also to its repetition.[7] spanish writers on practice, therefore, were justified in claiming for their own tribunals a sparing use of torture unknown in italy, while, as regards its severity, the frequency with which in the trials we find that the accused overcame the torture would indicate that habitually it was not carried to extremity, as it so frequently was in the secular courts. no torture-chamber in the inquisition possessed the resources of the corregidor who labored for three hours, in 1612, to obtain from diego duke of estrada confession of a homicide--the water torture, the mancuerda, the potro, hot irons for the feet, hot bricks for the stomach and buttocks, garrotillos known as bone-breakers, the trampa to tear the legs and the bostezo to distend the mouth--and all this was an every-day matter of criminal justice.[8] the indirect torture of especially harsh imprisonment was not unknown to the inquisition, and was occasionally employed for the purpose of breaking down obstinacy. it was not, as in the medieval inquisition, prescribed as an ordinary resource, but it was at the discretion of the tribunal and could at any time be brought into play, as in the case of a pertinacious heretic, in 1512, who was consigned to the most noisome part of the prison, and afflicted in various ways, in the hope of enlightening his understanding.[9] in the later period of leisurely action, protracted imprisonment was frequently resorted to, in the hope of inducing repentance and conversion, when wearing anxiety and despair weakened the will as effectually as the sharper agonies of the pulley and rack. there was also the ingenious device, frequently effective, by which the fiscal concluded his formal accusation with a demand that, if necessary, the accused should be tortured until he confessed. this was unknown in the earlier period, but the instructions of 1561 recommend it, giving as a reason its good results, and also that torture requires a demand from the prosecutor and a notification to the defendant, who is unprepared for it at this stage of the trial.[10] after this it became the universal custom in all cases admitting of torture, and the profound impression produced on the unfortunate prisoner can be readily conceived. [sidenote: _preliminaries_] torture itself, however, was regarded as too serious to be left to the arbitrary temper of a baffled or angry inquisitor, and was preceded by formalities designed to prevent its abuse. it was the last resort when the result of a trial left doubts to be satisfied. after the prosecution and defence had closed, and the consulta de fe had assembled to consider the sentence, if the evidence was too weak for condemnation while the innocence of the accused was not clear, it could adopt a vote to torture and postpone the decision to await the outcome. even in the ferocity of the early period this deliberateness was frequently observed, although in the reckless haste of procedure it was often omitted. thus, in the case of diego garcía, a priest accused of having said twenty years before, when a boy, that the sacrament was bread, the consulta held two meetings, january 18 and 19, 1490, and finally voted torture. there was no haste however and it was not until february 11th that garcía was exposed to the very moderate water-torture of about a quart of water. no confession was obtained and he was untied, with the protest that he had not been sufficiently tortured, but it was not repeated and, on february 26th, he was acquitted and restored to his fame and honor, though, with the curiously perverse inquisitorial logic, he was made to abjure _de vehementi_ and forbidden to celebrate mass for six months.[11] the vote of the consulta however was not universal and, in 1518, the suprema ordered it to be always observed, but a clause in the instructions of 1561, reminding inquisitors that they must not inflict torture until after hearing the defence shows how difficult it was to restrain their arbitrary action.[12] even in the early eighteenth century, in reviewing a summary of cases of valencia, from 1705 to 1726, the suprema rebuked the tribunal for torturing sebastian antonio rodríguez without previous consultation, but at this period the consulta de fe was becoming obsolete and everything was centering in the suprema.[13] the vote of the consulta was still only preliminary. after it, the accused was brought into the audience-chamber, where all the inquisitors and the episcopal ordinary were required to be present. he was notified of the decision of the consulta; if he was a _diminuto_, the points in which his confession had failed to satisfy the evidence were pointed out; if a _negativo_, no explanations were necessary; if it was on intention or in _caput alienum_ he was made to understand it. he was adjured, in the name of god and the blessed virgin, to confess fully, without false evidence as to himself or others and, if this failed to move him, a formal sentence of torture was signed by all the judges and read to him. it recited that, in view of the suspicions arising against him from the evidence, they condemned him to be tortured for such length of time as they should see fit, in order that he might tell the truth of what had been testified against him, protesting that, if in the torture he should die or suffer effusion of blood or mutilation, it should not be attributed to them, but to him for not telling the truth. if the torture was to discover accomplices, care was taken to make no allusion to him and to give him no chance of clearing himself, for he was assumed to be already convicted.[14] even this sentence was not necessarily a finality for, if the accused offered a new defence, it had to be considered and acted upon before proceeding further.[15] moreover he had theoretically a right to appeal to the inquisitor-general from this, as from all other interlocutory sentences. this right varied at different times. a ruling by the suprema, in 1538, appears to indicate that it was granted as a matter of right, but the instructions of 1561 tell inquisitors that, if they feel scruple, they should grant it, but if satisfied that the sentence is justified they should refuse the appeal as frivolous and dilatory.[16] still the right to ask it was so fully recognized that, if the accused was not twenty-five years of age and thus a minor, his _curador_ or guardian was required to be present, in order to interject an appeal if he saw fit, and i have met with an instance of this in the case of angela pérez, a morisco slave, before the toledo tribunal in 1575, where it was as usual unsuccessful, for the suprema confirmed the sentence.[17] tribunals seem not infrequently to have allowed appeals, but, with the growing centralization in the suprema, they became superfluous and a formula, drawn up in 1690, directs that no attention be paid to them.[18] [sidenote: _conditions_] when the indications of guilt were too slender to justify torture, the consulta de fe sometimes voted to threaten torture.[19] then the sentence was formally drawn up and read to the accused, he was taken to the torture-chamber, stripped and perhaps tied on the _potro_ or _escalera_, without proceeding further. a curious case of this was that of leonor pérez who, at the age of seventy, was sentenced, may 3, 1634, in valladolid, to be placed _in conspectu tormentorum_. when stripped, on may 10th, the executioner reported marks of previous torture; the proceedings were suspended and, on may 13th, she admitted that, twenty years before, she had been tortured in coimbra. on june 14th the sentence was again executed, but, before being stripped, she confessed to some jewish beliefs and then fainted. a postponement was necessary and two days later she revoked her confession. the case dragged on and it was not until august 1, 1637 that she was condemned to abjure _de vehementi_, to six years of exile, a fine of two hundred ducats, and to be paraded in _vergüenza_, but we still hear of her as in prison, early in 1639.[20] it required strong nerves to endure this threat of torture, with its terrifying formalities and adjurations, and it was frequently effective. * * * * * the conditions held to justify torture were that the offence charged was of sufficient gravity, and that the evidence, while not wholly decisive, was such that the accused should have the opportunity of "purging" it, by endurance proportionate to its strength. from the inquisitor's point of view, it was a favor to the accused, as it gave him a chance which was denied to those whose condemnation was resolved upon. this is illustrated by a highly significant case in the toledo tribunal in 1488. juan del rio had lived long in rome, where he was present in the jubilee of 1475; by the arts of the courtier he won the favor of sixtus iv and returned to spain about 1483, loaded with benefices--among them a prebend in the toledo cathedral--which excited cupidity and enmity. he was an old christian, of pure biscayan descent, who could not be suspected of judaism, but he was a loose and inconsiderate chatterer; in the spain which he had left there was much licence, in the rome where he had so long sojourned there was more; he could not, on his return, accommodate himself to the new order of things, and his reckless talk gave the opportunity of making vacancies of his numerous preferments. the evidence against him was of the flimsiest; the most serious charge was that, when a tenant had been unable to pay rent on account of the inquisition, he had petulantly wished it at the devil. at a later period he would have had a chance to purge the evidence by the water-torture, but this was not permitted him; he was hurried to the stake as a pertinacious _negativo_, leaving his spoils to those who could grasp them.[21] it was a well-accepted maxim of the civil law that torture should not be employed when the penalty of the crime charged was less severe than the infliction of torture--an equation of suffering which afforded to the doctors ample opportunity of defining the unknown quantity. this was fully accepted by the inquisition and we are told that torture is not indicated for propositions merely offensive, rash, scandalous or blasphemous, or for the assertion that simple fornication is not a mortal sin, or for heretical blasphemy, or sorcery, or for propositions arising from ignorance, or for bigamy or solicitation in the confessional, or for lying under excommunication for a year, or for other matters which infer only light suspicion of heresy, even though for some of these offences the punishment was scourging and the galleys. torture is freely alluded to as an irreparable injury the use of which would be unjustifiable in such matters.[22] [sidenote: _conditions_] this, however, was, like everything else in this nebulous region, open to considerable laxity in application. when francisco de tornamira, a boy of eighteen and page of the duke of pastrana, was tried in 1592, on the charge of having said that jews and moors could be saved if they had faith in their respective beliefs, he denied and was tortured till he confessed, and then the triviality of his offence was admitted by subjecting him only to abjuration _de levi_, to hearing a mass as a penitent in the audience-chamber, and to a reprimand. the same tribunal in 1579, tried stefano grillen, an italian, who, in a discussion with some chance fellow-travellers, maintained that the miracles at the shrines of our lady of atocha and of la caridad were wrought by the virgin herself and not by her images. he freely confessed but was tortured--apparently on intention--and was dismissed with the same trivial punishment as tornamira.[23] even more suggestive is the case of juan pereira, a boy of fifteen, tried, in 1646, for judaism at valladolid. the proceedings were dilatory and he gradually became demented; nothing could be done with him and opinions were divided as to the reality of his insanity. the suprema was applied to and sagely ordered torture to find out. it was administered, april 22, 1648, but the method of diagnosis was not as successful as its ingenuity deserved and, in august, he was sent to a hospital for six months, with instructions to observe him carefully. as his name after this disappears from the records, he probably died in the hospital.[24] it is evident that the inquisition did not take to heart the warning issued by the suprema, in 1533, that torture was a very delicate matter.[25] when we come to inquire as to the character of evidence requiring torture for its elucidation, we find how illusory were all the attempts of the legists to lay down absolute rules, and how it all ended in leaving the matter to the discretion of the tribunal. as confession, though desired, was not essential to conviction, the _negativo_ who was convicted on sufficient evidence was not to be tortured, but was to be relaxed. even this rule, however, could be set aside at the caprice of the judge, though he was warned, in such cases, to put on record a protest that he did not direct the torture against the matters that had been proved, for the very good reason that endurance of torture might purge them and nullify the proof.[26] it was impossible to reduce to a logical formula that which in its essence was illogical, or to frame an accurate definition of evidence that was insufficient for conviction yet sufficient for torture. it was easy to say that _semiplena_ evidence suffices, but what was semiplena? one authority will tell us that a single witness, even an accomplice, justifies torture, another that three accomplice witnesses are requisite. one impartial and unexceptionable witness, again, is sometimes held to require public fame as an adjuvant, but the records are full of cases in which torture was employed on the unsupported testimony of a single witness. the weight of other more or less confirmatory evidence was also keenly debated, without reaching substantial agreement--whether flight before arrest, or breaking gaol, or vacillation and equivocation when examined, or even pallor, was sufficient justification.[27] it is not surprising, therefore, that, as a practical result, we are told that all these questions must be left to the discretion of the judge, to be decided in each individual case.[28] under such conditions it would be useless to expect consistency of practice in all tribunals and at all periods. we have seen above that cases were sometimes suspended because evidence had not been ratified, yet the toledo tribunal, in 1584, tortured lope el gordo for that very reason, because the chief witness against him had not ratified his testimony, and it is satisfactory to add that lope endured the torments and thus earned suspension of his case.[29] the _diminuto_, whose confession did not cover all the adverse evidence, was, according to rule, to be tortured in order to account for the deficiency. if he endured without further admission, he was to be punished on the basis of what he had confessed, but if he did not thus purge the evidence, he was to be sent to the galleys. this was sometimes done in mere surplusage, apparently to gratify the curiosity of the tribunal, as in the toledo case of antonio de andrada, in 1585, who confessed what was amply sufficient for his punishment, but, as there were some omissions, was tortured to elucidate them. in the seventeenth century, however, we are assured that there was much caution used in torturing diminutos, and that it was not done unless the omitted matters were such as to call for relaxation. if they concerned accomplices, however, whom the culprit was suspected of shielding, he was tortured _in caput alienum_. retraction or vacillation of confession necessarily required torture to reconcile the contradiction; this occurred chiefly with timid persons, frightened by the demand of the fiscal for torture, and thus led to make admissions which they subsequently recalled, thus bringing upon themselves what they had sought to avoid.[30] the question of intention, in the performance of acts in themselves indifferent, was, as we have seen, the frequent occasion of torture, as there was no other means known to the jurisprudence of the period, which was bent on ascertaining the secrets of the offender's mind. [sidenote: _witnesses_] yet it is possible that in some cases, when torture appears to be pure surplusage, there may have been the kindly intention of contributing to the salvation of the sufferer, by inducing or confirming his conversion; for habitual persecution for the greater glory of god induced a state of mind precluding all rational intellectual processes, where the faith was concerned. thus rojas tells us that there should be no hesitation in the use of torture, when the salvation of the culprit's soul was involved, so that he might be reconciled to the church and undergo penance through which he might be saved.[31] this reasoning was urged in the case of réné perrault, in 1624, by some of the consultores of the tribunal of toledo. his crime of maltreating the host was public and unquestionable, but he had varied in his statements as to his faith; the consulta de fe was unanimous in ordering torture to discover possible accomplices, but some of the members desired a special additional torture in order to confirm him in the faith and save his soul.[32] * * * * * that witnesses should be tortured, in order to obtain or confirm their testimony, is an abuse which, repulsive as it may seem to us, has been, with more or less disguise, a practice wherever torture has been used. it is true that the roman law prohibited that one who had admitted his own guilt should be examined as to that of another, and this principle, adopted in the false decretals, became a part of the early canon law.[33] the inquisition, however, regarded the conviction of a heretic as only the preliminary to forcing him to denounce his associates; the earliest papal utterance, in 1252, authorizing its use of torture, prescribed the employment of this means to discover accomplices and finally paul iv and pius v decreed that all who were convicted and confessed should, at the discretion of the inquisitors, be tortured for this purpose.[34] the _question préalable_ or _définitive_, in which the convict was tortured to make him reveal his associates, became, through the influence of the inquisition, a part of the criminal jurisprudence of all lands in which torture was employed. it was, in reality, the torture of witnesses, for the criminal's fate had been decided, and he was thus used only to give testimony against others. the spanish inquisition was, therefore, only following a general practice when it tortured, _in caput alienum_, those who had confessed their guilt. no confession was accepted as complete unless it revealed the names of those whom the penitent knew to be guilty of heretical acts, if there was reason to suspect that he was not fully discharging his conscience in this respect, torture was the natural resort. even the impenitent or the relapsed, who was doomed to relaxation, was thus to be tortured and was to be given clearly to understand that it was as a witness and not as a party, and that his endurance of torture would not save him from the stake. the instructions of 1561, however, warn inquisitors that in these cases much consideration should be exercised and torture _in caput alienum_ was rather the exception in spain, than the rule as in rome.[35] in the case of the _negativo_, against whom conclusive evidence was had, and who thus was to be condemned without torture, the device of torturing him against his presumable accomplices afforded an opportunity of endeavoring to secure his own confession and conversion. we have seen this fail, in 1596, in the mexican case of manuel diaz, nor was it more successful in lima, in 1639, with enrique de paz y mello, although the final outcome was different. he persistently denied through five successive publications of evidence, as testimony against him accumulated in the trials of his associates. he was sentenced to relaxation and torture _in caput alienum_; it was administered with great severity without overcoming his fortitude, and he persisted through five other publications as fresh evidence was gathered. yet at midnight before the auto de fe, in which he was to be burnt, he weakened. he confessed as to himself and others and his sentence was modified to reconciliation and the galleys, while good use was made of his revelations against thirty of his accomplices.[36] [sidenote: _no exemptions_] the torture of witnesses who were not themselves under trial was permitted when they varied or retracted, or so contradicted other witnesses that it was deemed necessary thus to ascertain the truth; but whether clerical witnesses could be so treated was a subject of debate. as a rule torture in such cases was directed to be moderate, neither light nor excessive, but when testimony was revoked it could be repeated up to three inflictions.[37] as we have seen above (vol. ii, p. 537) slaves testifying in the cases of their masters could always be tortured if necessary to confirm their evidence. in the prosecution of juan de la caballería, in 1488, as accessory to the murder of san pedro arbués, his slave-girl lucía gave compromising evidence which she was persuaded to retract, with the result that she was twice tortured and confirmed it.[38] * * * * * like _majestas_, in heresy there were no privileged classes exempt from torture. nobles were subject to it and so were ecclesiastics of all ranks, but the latter were to be tortured less severely than laymen, unless the case was very grave, and they were entitled to a clerical torturer if one could be found to perform the office. as in their arrest, so in torture the sentence, by a carta acordada of 1633, had to be submitted to the suprema for confirmation.[39] as regards age, there seems to have been none that conferred exemption. llorente, indeed, in describing a case in which a woman of ninety was tortured at cuenca, says that this was contrary to the orders of the suprema which prescribed that the aged should only be placed _in conspectu tormentorum_,[40] but i have never met with such a rule. in 1540 the suprema ordered that consideration should be given to the quality and age of the accused and, if advisable, the torture should be very moderate, while the instructions of 1561, which are very full, impose no limit of age and leave everything to the discretion of the tribunal.[41] cases are by no means infrequent in which age combined with infirmity is given as a reason for omitting torture or inflicting it with moderation, but age alone offered no exemption. at a toledo auto de fe we find isabel canese, aged seventy-eight, who promptly confessed before the torture had proceeded very far, and isabel de jaen, aged eighty who, at the fifth turn of the cords fainted and was revived with difficulty.[42] in 1607, at valencia, jaime chuleyla, aged seventy-six, after confessing certain matters, was accused by a new witness of being an alfaquí; this he denied and was duly tortured.[43] not much more respect was paid to youth. in 1607, at valencia, isabel madalena, a girl of thirteen, who was vaguely accused of moorish practices, was tortured, overcame the torture and was penanced with a hundred lashes. in the same year that tribunal showed more consideration for joan de heredia, a boy of ten or eleven, whom a lying witness accused of going to a house where moorish doctrines were taught. on his steadfast denial, he was sentenced to be placed _in conspectu tormentorum_, which was carried out in spite of an appeal by his procurator, but he persisted in asserting his innocence and the case was suspended.[44] mental incapacity, short of insanity, was not often allowed exemption and it is creditable to the valencia tribunal that when, about 1710, the suprema ordered the torture of joseph felix, for intention with regard to certain propositions, it remonstrated and represented that he was too ignorant to comprehend the object of the torture.[45] * * * * * [sidenote: _condition of patient_] it was a universal law that torture should not endanger life or limb and, although this was often disregarded when the work was under way, it called for a certain amount of preliminary caution to see that the patient was in condition promising endurance--caution admitted in theory but not always observed in practice. when there was doubt, the physician of the inquisition was sometimes called in, as in the case of rodrigo pérez, at toledo, in 1600, who was sick and weak, and the medical certificate that torture would endanger health and life sufficed to save him, but the suprema was not so considerate when, in 1636, it ordered the valencia tribunal to torture joseph pujal before transferring him to the hospital, as was done afterwards on account of his illness.[46] pregnancy has always been deemed a sufficient reason for at least postponing the infliction, but the madrid tribunal, in instructions of 1690, only makes the concession of placing pregnant women on a seat, in place of binding them on the rack, while applying the exceedingly severe torture of the _garrote_--sharp cords, two on each arm and two on each leg, bound around the limb and twisted with a short lever.[47] hernia was regarded, at least in the earlier time, as precluding torture, and i have met with several cases in which it served to exempt the patient but, in 1662, the official instructions of the suprema order that no exceptions be made on that account, save the omission of the _trampazo vigoroso_, which causes downward strain; in the other tortures a good strong truss suffices to avert danger and it should always be kept on hand in readiness for such subjects.[48] in accordance with this the madrid tribunal in 1690, orders for hernia cases the use of the seat provided for pregnant women. as regards women who were suckling, there seems to have been no established rule. in 1575, when the valencia tribunal proposed to torture maría gilo, the physician who was called in reported that it would expose the child to imminent risk and the purpose was abandoned. in 1608, however, at toledo, when the same question arose in the case of luisa de narvaez, the consulta voted in discordia and the suprema ordered her to be tortured.[49] besides these generalities, there were occasional special cases in which torture was abandoned in consequence of the condition of the patient--heart disease, excessive debility, repeated faintings during the administration and other causes. the physician and the surgeon were always called in, when the prisoner was stripped, to examine him and they were kept at hand to be summoned in case of accident. the tribunals seem to have been more tender-hearted than the suprema which, in its instructions of 1662, reproved inquisitors who avoid sentencing to torture on account of weakness or of a broken arm. this, it says, is not proper, because it forfeits the opportunity of obtaining confession in the various preliminaries of reading the sentence, carrying to the torture-chamber, stripping him and tying him to the trestle; besides, after commencing, the torture is always to be stopped when the physician so orders.[50] there was another salutary precaution--that there should be a proper interval between the last meal and the torture. about 1560, inquisitor cervantes says that the patient is not to have food or drink on the evening before or on the morning of the infliction and, in 1722, a writer specifies eight hours for the preliminary fasting.[51] * * * * * [sidenote: _the executioner_] in the administration of torture, all the inquisitors and the episcopal representative were required to be present, with a notary or secretary to record the proceedings. no one else save the executioner was allowed to be present, except when the physician or surgeon was called in. in the earlier period, there was some trouble in providing an official to perform the repulsive work. an effort seems to have been made to compel the minor employees to do it but with doubtful success. ferdinand, in a letter of july 22, 1486, to torquemada, complains that the inquisitors of saragossa had employed a torturer because the messengers had refused to do the work, and he suggests that a messenger be discharged and the torturer serve in his place without increase of salary; if this cannot be done the salary should be reduced. no salaried torturer appears in the pay-rolls; the duties were not constant and doubtless when wanted proper functionaries were called in and paid--but there is suggestiveness in a letter of ferdinand, in 1498, ordering the restoration of a certain pedro de moros, who had been dropped, to serve as messenger and "for such other duties as the inquisitors might order" at five hundred sueldos a year.[52] at one time the alcaide of the prison seems to have been the official torturer for, in 1536, the suprema writes to the inquisitors of navarre that, if their alcaide is not skilled in the business, they must find some one who is, and not work the implements themselves, as they seem to have done, for it is not befitting the dignity of their persons or office.[53] in 1587, at valencia, we hear that the messenger and portero served as assistants and the suprema ordered the work to be entrusted to a confidential familiar.[54] eventually however the tribunals employed the public executioner of the town, who was skilled in his vocation. when, in 1646, at valladolid, isabel lópez was ordered to be tortured on november 23d, the alcaide reported that the public functionary was absent and the time of his return was uncertain; the torture was necessarily postponed and, on the 27th, isabel took it into her head to confess and thus escaped the infliction.[55] in madrid, from march to august, 1681, alonso de alcalá, the city executioner, was paid by the tribunal forty-four ducats, for eleven torturings, at four ducats apiece.[56] it seems strange that objection should be made to the torturer being disguised but, in 1524, the suprema forbade him to wear a mask or to be wrapped in a sheet; subsequently he was permitted to wear a hood and to change his garments and, in the seventeenth century, a mask and other disguise were permissible, if it were thought best that he should not be recognized.[57] at every stage in the preliminaries, after reading the sentence, taking the prisoner down to the torture-chamber, calling in the executioner, stripping the prisoner and tying him to the trestle, there was a pause in which he was solemnly adjured to tell the truth for the love of god, as the inquisitors did not desire to see him suffer.[58] the exposure of stripping was not a mere wanton aggravation but was necessary, for the cords around the thighs and arms, the belt at the waist with cords passing from it over the shoulders from front to back, required access to every portion of the body and, at the end of the torture, there was little of the surface that had not had its due share of agony. women as well as men were subjected to this, the slight concession to decency being the _zaragüelles_ or _paños de la vergüenza_, a kind of abbreviated bathing-trunks, but the denudation seems to have been complete before these were put on.[59] the patient was admonished not to tell falsehoods about himself or others and, during the torture, the only words to be addressed to him were "tell the truth." no questions were to be put and no names mentioned to him, for the reason, as we are told, that the sufferers in their agonies were ready to say anything that was in any way suggested, and to bear false-witness against themselves and others. the executioner was not to speak to the patient, or make faces at him, or threaten him, and the inquisitors should see that he so arranged the cords and other devices as not to cause permanent crippling or breaking of the bones. the work was to proceed slowly with due intervals between each turn of the _garrotes_ or hoist in the _garrucha_, or otherwise the effect was lost, and the patient was apt to overcome the torture. it was a universal rule that torture could be applied only once, unless new evidence supervened which required purging, but this restriction was easily evaded. though torture could not be repeated, it could be continued and, when it was over, the patient was told that the inquisitors were not satisfied, but were obliged to suspend it for the present, and that it would be resumed at another time, if he did not tell the whole truth. thus it could be repeated from time to time as often as the consulta de fe might deem expedient.[60] the secretary faithfully recorded all that passed, even to the shrieks of the victim, his despairing ejaculations and his piteous appeals for mercy or to be put to death, nor would it be easy to conceive anything more fitted to excite the deepest compassion than these cold-blooded, matter-of-fact reports. * * * * * as for the varieties of torture currently employed, it must be borne in mind that the inquisition largely depended on the public executioners, and its methods thus were necessarily identical with those of the secular courts; while even when its own officials performed the duty, they would naturally follow the customary routine. the inquisition thus had no special refinements of torture and indeed, so far as i have had opportunity of investigation, it confined itself to a few methods out of the abundant repertory of the public functionaries. [sidenote: _varieties_] in the earlier period only two tortures were generally in vogue--the _garrucha_ or pulleys and the water-torture. these are the only ones alluded to by pablo garcía and both of them were old and well-established forms.[61] the former, known in italy as the _strappado_, consisted in tying the patient's hands behind his back and then, with a cord around his wrists, hoisting him from the floor, with or without weights to his feet, keeping him suspended as long as was desired and perhaps occasionally letting him fall a short distance with a jerk. about 1620 a writer prescribes that the elevating movement should be slow, for if it is rapid the pain is not lasting; for a time the patient should be kept at tiptoe, so that his feet scarce touch the floor; when hoisted he should be held there while the psalm miserere is thrice repeated slowly in silence, and he is to be repeatedly admonished to tell the truth. if this fail he is to be lowered, one of the weights is to be attached to his feet and he is to be hoisted for the space of two misereres, the process being repeated with increasing weights as often and as long as may be judged expedient.[62] the water-torture was more complicated. the patient was placed on an _escalera_ or _potro_--a kind of trestle, with sharp-edged rungs across it like a ladder. it slanted so that the head was lower than the feet and, at the lower end was a depression in which the head sank, while an iron band around the forehead or throat kept it immovable. sharp cords, called _cordeles_, which cut into the flesh, attached the arms and legs to the side of the trestle and others, known as _garrotes_, from sticks thrust in them and twisted around like a tourniquet till the cords cut more or less deeply into the flesh, were twined around the upper and lower arms, the thighs and the calves; a _bostezo_, or iron prong, distended the mouth, a _toca_, or strip of linen, was thrust down the throat to conduct water trickling slowly from a _jarra_ or jar, holding usually a little more than a quart. the patient strangled and gasped and suffocated and, at intervals, the toca was withdrawn and he was adjured to tell the truth. the severity of the infliction was measured by the number of jars consumed, sometimes reaching to six or eight. in 1490, in the case of the priest diego garcía, a single quart satisfied the inquisitors and he was acquitted.[63] in the mexican case of manuel díaz, in 1596, the cordeles were applied; then seven garrotes were twisted around arms and legs, the toca was thrust down his throat and twelve jarras of a pint each were allowed to drip through it, the toca being drawn up four times during the operation. in the toledo case of marí rodríguez, in 1592, the operation was divided, the cordeles being applied while she was seated on the _banquillo_, and were given eight turns; she was then transferred to the trestle, and the garrotes were used, followed by the water; at the second jarra she vomited profusely; she was untied and fell to the floor. the executioner lifted her up and put on her chemise; she was told that if she would not tell the truth the torture would be continued; she protested that she had told the truth and it was suspended. for nine months she was left in her cell, then the consulta de fe voted to suspend the case and she was told to be gone in god's name.[64] it was probably not long after this that these forms of torture gradually fell into disuse and were replaced by others which apparently were regarded as more merciful. in 1646 the suprema applied to the tribunal of córdova for information concerning the garrucha and silla and for a description of the _trampa_ and _trampazo_ which it used, with an estimate of their severity. the tribunal replied that the silla had been abandoned because it could scarce be called a torture and the garrucha on account of the danger of causing dislocations. for more than thirty years the tribunal, as well as the secular courts, had discontinued its use as also the brazier of coals, heated plates of metal, hot bricks, the toca with seven pints of water, the _depiñoncillo_, _escarabajo_, _tablillas_, _sueño_ and others. the methods in use were the cordeles and garrotes, of which there were three kinds, the _vuelta de trampa_, the _mancuerda_ and stretching the accused in the _potro_ or rack. [sidenote: _varieties_] the letter proceeds to describe at great length and in much detail these somewhat complicated processes. in abandoning the pulleys and the water-jar, the patient gained little. he was adjusted for torment by a belt or girdle with which he was swung from the ground; his arms were tied together across his breast and were attached by cords to rings in the wall. for the trampa or trampazo the ladder in the potro had one of its rungs removed so as to enable the legs to pass through; another bar with a sharp edge was set below it and through this narrow opening the legs were forcibly pulled by means of a cord fastened around the toes with a turn around the ankle. each _vuelta_, or turn given to the cord, gained about three inches; five vueltas were reckoned a most rigorous torture, and three were the ordinary practice, even with the most robust. leaving him stretched in this position, the next step was the mancuerda, in which a cord was passed around the arms, which the executioner wound around himself and threw himself backward, casting his whole weight and pushing with his foot against the potro. the cord, we are told, would cut through skin and muscle to the bone, while the body of the patient was stretched as in a rack, between it and the cords at the feet. the belt or girdle at the waist, subjected to these alternate forces was forced back and forth and contributed further to the suffering. this was repeated six or eight times with the mancuerda, on different parts of the arms, and the patients usually fainted, especially if they were women. after this the potro came in play. the patient was released from the trampa and mancuerda and placed on the eleven sharp rungs of the potro, his ankles rigidly tied to the sides and his head sinking into a depression where it was held immovable by a cord across the forehead. the belt was loosened so that it would slip around. three cords were passed around each upper arm, the ends being carried into rings on the sides of the potro and furnished with garrotes or sticks to twist them tight; two similar ones were put on each thigh and one on each calf, making twelve in all. the ends were carried to a _maestra garrote_ by which the executioner could control all at once. these worked not only by compression but by travelling around the limbs, carrying away skin and flesh. each half round was reckoned a _vuelta_ or turn, six or seven of which was the maximum, but it was usual not to exceed five, even with strong men. formerly the same was done with the cord around the forehead, but this was abandoned as it was apt to start the eyes from their sockets. all this, the cordova tribunal concludes, is very violent, but it is less so and less dangerous than the abandoned methods. these remained practically the tortures in use. in 1662 the suprema, in ordering the tribunal of galicia to "continue" the torture of antonio méndez, called upon it to report as to its manner of administering torture. its answer of may 13th shows that it was using the mancuerda and potro, though after a somewhat primitive fashion. to this, by order of the suprema, gonzalo bravo replied, may 22d with elaborate instructions, especially as to the trampazo, indicating that substantially the methods described by córdova were recognized officially. galicia appears to have puzzled over this until september 19th, when it apologized for its lack of experience and asked for detailed plans and drawings of the form of potro required. it is fairly presumable from all this that thenceforward these new methods were adopted in all the tribunals.[65] * * * * * [sidenote: _severity_] there was and could be no absolute limitation on the severity of torture. the instructions of 1561 say that the law recognizes it as uncertain and dangerous in view of the difference in bodily and mental strength among men, wherefore no certain rule can be given, but it must be left to the discretion of judges, to be governed by law, reason and conscience.[66] all that gonzalo bravo can say, in the instructions of 1662, is that its proper regulation determines the just decision of cases, and the verification of truth; the discretion and prudence of the judges must look to this, tempered by the customary compassion of the holy office, in such way that it shall neither exceed nor fall short. how this discretion was exercised depended wholly on the temper of the tribunal. one authority tells us that torture should never be prolonged more than half an hour, but the cases are numerous in which it lasted for two and even three hours. in that of antonio lópez, at valladolid, in 1648, it commenced at eight o'clock and continued until eleven, leaving him with a crippled arm; in a fortnight he endeavored to strangle himself, and he died within a month.[67] such cases were by no means rare. gabriel rodríguez, at valencia, about 1710, was tortured thrice and condemned to the galleys, but this was commuted on finding that he was crippled "por la violencia de la tortura."[68] nor was death by any means unknown. in 1623, diego enríquez, at valladolid, was tortured december 13th. in the process an "accident" occurred and he was carried to his cell. on the 15th the physician reported that he should be removed to a hospital, which was done with the greatest secrecy and he died there. there is something hideously suggestive in such a matter of fact record as that of blanca rodríguez matos, at valladolid, which simply says that she was voted to torture, may 21, 1655, and it having been executed she died the same day; the case was continued against her fame and memory and, in due course, was suspended, november 19th.[69] the very large number of cases recorded in which the accused overcame the torture without confession would argue that it was frequently light. this is doubtless true to a great extent, but the surprising endurance sometimes displayed shows that this was not always the case. thus tomás de leon, at valladolid, november 5, 1638, was subjected to all the successive varieties and overcame them, although at the end it was found that his left arm was broken. so, in 1643, in the same tribunal, engracia rodríguez, a woman sixty years of age, had a toe wrenched off while in the _balestilla_. nevertheless the torture proceeded until, in the first turn of the mancuerda, an arm was broken. it then was stopped without having extorted a confession, but her fortitude availed her little, for fresh evidence supervened against her and, some ten months later, she confessed to jewish practices. another of the same group, florencia de leon, endured the balestilla, three turns of the mancuerda and the potro without confessing, but she did not escape without reconciliation and prison.[70] the process and its effects on the patient can best be understood from the passionless business-like reports of the secretary, in which the incidents are recorded to enable the consulta de fe to vote intelligently. they are of various degrees of horror and i select one which omits the screams and cries of the victim that are usually set forth. it is a very moderate case of water-torture, carried only to a single jarra, administered in 1568 by the tribunal of toledo to elvira del campo, accused of not eating pork and of putting on clean linen on saturdays. she admitted the acts but denied heretical intent and was tortured on intention. on april 6th she was brought before the inquisitors and episcopal vicar and, after some preliminaries, was told that it was determined to torture her, and in view of this peril she should tell the truth, to which she replied that she had done so. the sentence of torture was then read, when she fell on her knees and begged to know what they wanted her to say. the report proceeds: [sidenote: _reports_] she was carried to the torture-chamber and told to tell the truth, when she said that she had nothing to say. she was ordered to be stripped and again admonished, but was silent. when stripped, she said "señores, i have done all that is said of me and i bear false-witness against myself, for i do not want to see myself in such trouble; please god, i have done nothing." she was told not to bring false testimony against herself but to tell the truth. the tying of the arms was commenced; she said "i have told the truth; what have i to tell?" she was told to tell the truth and replied "i have told the truth and have nothing to tell." one cord was applied to the arms and twisted and she was admonished to tell the truth but said she had nothing to tell. then she screamed and said "i have done all they say." told to tell in detail what she had done she replied "i have already told the truth." then she screamed and said "tell me what you want for i don't know what to say." she was told to tell what she had done, for she was tortured because she had not done so, and another turn of the cord was ordered. she cried "loosen me, señores and tell me what i have to say: i do not know what i have done, o lord have mercy on me, a sinner!" another turn was given and she said "loosen me a little that i may remember what i have to tell; i don't know what i have done; i did not eat pork for it made me sick; i have done everything; loosen me and i will tell the truth." another turn of the cord was ordered, when she said "loosen me and i will tell the truth; i don't know what i have to tell--loosen me for the sake of god--tell me what i have to say--i did it, i did it--they hurt me señor--loosen me, loosen me and i will tell it." she was told to tell it and said "i don't know what i have to tell--señor i did it--i have nothing to tell--oh my arms! release me and i will tell it." she was asked to tell what she did and said "i don't know, i did not eat because i did not wish to." she was asked why she did not wish to and replied "ay! loosen me, loosen me--take me from here and i will tell it when i am taken away--i say that i did not eat it." she was told to speak and said "i did not eat it, i don't know why." another turn was ordered and she said "señor i did not eat it because i did not wish to--release me and i will tell it." she was told to tell what she had done contrary to our holy catholic faith. she said "take me from here and tell me what i have to say--they hurt me--oh my arms, my arms!" which she repeated many times and went on "i don't remember--tell me what i have to say--o wretched me!--i will tell all that is wanted, señores--they are breaking my arms--loosen me a little--i did everything that is said of me." she was told to tell in detail truly what she did. she said "what am i wanted to tell? i did everything--loosen me for i don't remember what i have to tell--don't you see what a weak woman i am?--oh! oh! my arms are breaking." more turns were ordered and as they were given she cried "oh! oh! loosen me for i don't know what i have to say--oh my arms!--i don't know what i have to say--if i did i would tell it." the cords were ordered to be tightened when she said "señores have you no pity on a sinful woman?" she was told, yes, if she would tell the truth. she said, "señor tell me, tell me it." the cords were tightened again, and she said "i have already said that i did it." she was ordered to tell it in detail, to which she said "i don't know how to tell it señor, i don't know." then the cords were separated and counted, and there were sixteen turns, and in giving the last turn the cord broke. she was then ordered to be placed on the potro. she said "señores, why will you not tell me what i have to say? señor, put me on the ground--have i not said that i did it all?" she was told to tell it. she said "i don't remember--take me away--i did what the witnesses say." she was told to tell in detail what the witnesses said. she said "señor, as i have told you, i do not know for certain. i have said that i did all that the witnesses say. señores release me, for i do not remember it." she was told to tell it. she said "i do not know it. oh! oh! they are tearing me to pieces--i have said that i did it--let me go." she was told to tell it. she said "señores, it does not help me to say that i did it and i have admitted that what i have done has brought me to this suffering--señor, you know the truth--señores, for god's sake have mercy on me. oh señor, take these things from my arms--señor release me, they are killing me." she was tied on the potro with the cords, she was admonished to tell the truth and the garrotes were ordered to be tightened. she said "señor do you not see how these people are killing me? señor, i did it--for god's sake let me go." she was told to tell it. she said "señor, remind me of what i did not know--señores have mercy upon me--let me go for god's sake--they have no pity on me--i did it--take me from here and i will remember what i cannot here." she was told to tell the truth, or the cords would be tightened. she said "remind me of what i have to say for i don't know it--i said that i did not want to eat it--i know only that i did not want to eat it," and this she repeated many times. she was told to tell why she did not want to eat it. she said, "for the reason that the witnesses say--i don't know how to tell it--miserable that i am that i don't know how to tell it--i say i did it and my god how can i tell it?" then she said that, as she did not do it, how could she tell it--"they will not listen to me--these people want to kill me--release me and i will tell the truth." she was again admonished to tell the truth. she said, "i did it, i don't know how i did it--i did it for what the witnesses say--let me go--i have lost my senses and i don't know how to tell it--loosen me and i will tell the truth." then she said "señor, i did it, i don't know how i have to tell it, but i tell it as the witnesses say--i wish to tell it--take me from here--señor as the witnesses say, so i say and confess it." she was told to declare it. she said "i don't know how to say it--i have no memory--lord, you are witness that if i knew how to say anything else i would say it. i know nothing more to say than that i did it and god knows it." she said many times, "señores, señores, nothing helps me. you, lord, hear that i tell the truth and can say no more--they are tearing out my soul--order them to loosen me." then she said, "i do not say that i did it--i said no more." then she said, "señor, i did it to observe that law." she was asked what law. she said, "the law that the witnesses say--i declare it all señor, and don't remember what law it was--o, wretched was the mother that bore me." she was asked what was the law she meant and what was the law that she said the witnesses say. this was asked repeatedly, but she was silent and at last said that she did not know. she was told to tell the truth or the garrotes would be tightened but she did not answer. another turn was ordered on the garrotes and she was admonished to say what law it was. she said "if i knew what to say i would say it. oh señor, i don't know what i have to say--oh! oh! they are killing me--if they would tell me what--oh, señores! oh, my heart!" then she asked why they wished her to tell what she could not tell and cried repeatedly "o, miserable me!" then she said "lord bear witness that they are killing me without my being able to confess." she was told that if she wished to tell the truth before the water was poured she should do so and discharge her conscience. she said that she could not speak and that she was a sinner. then the linen toca was placed [in her throat] and she said "take it away, i am strangling and am sick in the stomach." a jar of water was then poured down, after which she was told to tell the truth. she clamored for confession, saying that she was dying. she was told that the torture would be continued till she told the truth and was admonished to tell it, but though she was questioned repeatedly she remained silent. then the inquisitor, seeing her exhausted by the torture, ordered it to be suspended. it is scarce worth while to continue this pitiful detail. four days were allowed to elapse, for experience showed that an interval, by stiffening the limbs, rendered repetition more painful. she was again brought to the torture-chamber but she broke down when stripped and piteously begged to have her nakedness covered. the interrogatory went on, when her replies under torture were more rambling and incoherent than before, but her limit of endurance was reached and the inquisitors finally had the satisfaction of eliciting a confession of judaism and a prayer for mercy and penance.[71] [sidenote: _ratification of confession_] it is impossible to read these melancholy records without amazement that the incoherent and contradictory admissions through which the victim, in his increasing agonies, sought to devise some statement in satisfaction of the monotonous command to tell the truth, should have been regarded by statesmen and lawgivers as possessed of intrinsic value. the result was a test of endurance and not of veracity. in one case we find a man of such fibres and nerves that all the efforts of the torturer fail to elicit aught but denial--the cords may rasp through the flesh to the bone and limbs be wrenched to the breaking without affecting his constancy. in another, when a few turns of the garrote have twisted a single cord into his arm--or even at the mere aspect of the torture-chamber, with its grimly suggestive machinery--he will yield and confess all that is wanted as to himself and all the comrades whose names he can recall in the dizziness of his suffering. yet, with full knowledge of this, for centuries the secular and ecclesiastical courts of the greater part of christendom persisted in the use of a system which, in the name of justice, perpetrated an infinite series of atrocities. * * * * * yet, as though still more effectually to deprive the system of all excuse, the confession obtained at such cost was practically admitted to be in itself worthless. to legalize it, a ratification was required, after an interval of at least twenty-four hours, to be freely made, without threats and apart from the torture-chamber. this was essential in all jurisdictions, and the formula in the inquisition was to bring the prisoner into the audience-chamber, where his confession was read to him as it had been written down. he was asked whether it was true or whether he had anything to add or to omit and, under his oath, he was expected to declare that it was properly recorded, that he had no change to make and that he ratified it, not through fear of torture, or from any other cause, but solely because it was the truth. such ratification was required even when the confession was made on hearing the sentence of torture read or when placed _in conspectu tormentorum_.[72] this was customarily done on the afternoon of the next day, to allow the full twenty-four hours to expire, but there was sometimes a longer interval. thus, in the case of catalina hernández, at toledo, who confessed on being stripped, july 13, 1541, it was not until the 27th that her ratification was taken, the inquisitors explaining that press of business had prevented it earlier.[73] the declaration in the ratification, that it was not made through fear of torture was a falsehood, for, in all jurisdictions, a retraction of the confession called for a repetition of torment, and in fact we sometimes find that when the confession was made the prisoner was warned not to retract for, if he did so, the torture would be "continued."[74] this was possibly to evade a singularly humane provision in the instructions of 1484, to the effect that, if the confession is ratified, the accused is to be duly punished, but if he retracts, in view of the infamy resulting from the trial, he is to abjure publicly the heresy of which he is suspect and be subjected to such penance as the inquisitors may compassionately assign. the mercy of this, however, is considerably modified by a succeeding clause that it is not to deprive them of the right to repeat the torture in cases where by law they can and ought to do so.[75] still, it was probably the first portion of the provision that guided the toledo tribunal, in 1528, in the case of diego de uceda, on trial for lutheranism. at the sight of the torture-chamber he broke down and admitted all that the witnesses had testified, but could not remember what it was. as this was evidently inspired by fear, the torture went on when, at the first turn of the garrote, he inculpated himself so eagerly that he was warned not to bear false-witness against himself. he declared it to be the truth and was untied. before he was called upon to ratify, he asked for an audience in which he ascribed his confession to fear and declared himself ready to die for the faith of the church, and a week later he ratified this revocation, saying that he was out of his senses under the torture. he was not tortured again and his sentence, some months later, was in accordance with the instructions of 1484--to appear in an auto de fe, to abjure _de vehementi_ and to be fined at the discretion of the inquisitors.[76] [sidenote: _repetition_] such cases, however, were exceptional and the regular practice was to repeat the torture, when a confession followed by another revocation, subjected the victim to a third torture.[77] whether the process could be carried on indefinitely was a doubtful question which some legists answered in the negative on the general philosophic assumption that nature and justice abhorred infinity, but this reasoning, however, academically conclusive, was not respected in practice when a conviction was desired. there was one dissuasive from revocation, which was brought to bear when culprits gave unreasonable trouble, which was the penalty incurred by _revocantes_. this is illustrated, as also the troublesome questions which sometimes perplexed the tribunals, by the case of miguel de castro, tried for judaism, at valladolid, in 1644. as a negativo, he was tortured and confessed, after which he ratified, revoked and ratified again. a process was commenced against him for revoking; he was tortured again, until an arm was dislocated and he lost two fingers, during which he confessed and then revoked the confession. he would have been tortured a third time had not the physician and surgeon declared him to be unable to endure it. the suprema ordered him to be relaxed to the secular arm, if he could not be induced to repent and return to the church, when, under the persuasion of two calificadores, he begged for mercy and confessed as to himself and others. finally he was sentenced to reconciliation and irremissible prison and sanbenito, with a hundred lashes as a special punishment for revocation, which was executed january 21, 1646.[78] some culprits, we are told, cunningly took advantage of the opportunity of retraction, by confessing at once, as soon as subjected to torture, then recanting and repeating this process indefinitely, to the no small disgust of the inquisitors. a writer of the close of the seventeenth century, who mentions this, shows that the subject was then in an indeterminate condition, by suggesting as a remedy that they should be subjected to extraordinary penalties.[79] a case at cuenca, in 1725, in which these tactics were successful, indicates that by that time a third torture was not recognized as lawful. dr. diego matheo lópez zapata, as soon as the torturer was ready to begin, exclaimed that he was ready to confess, and made a detailed confession of judaic practices followed for nearly fifty years. the next day he revoked and, when the torture was resumed, he repeated his confession, only to revoke it as before. the tribunal appears to have been powerless and contented itself with making him appear in an auto de fe as a penitent, with a sanbenito to be immediately removed, abjuration _de vehementi_ and twenty years' exile from cuenca, murcia and madrid.[80] at an earlier period he would scarce have escaped without scourging, galleys and irremissible prison. * * * * * when torture was administered, without eliciting a confession, the logical conclusion, if torture proved anything, was that the accused was innocent. in legal phrase, he had purged the evidence and was entitled to acquittal.[81] such, indeed, was the law, but there was a natural repugnance to being baffled, or to admit that innocence had been so cruelly persecuted, and excuses were readily found to evade the law. on such a subject there could be no definite line of practice prescribed, and the situation is reflected by the instructions of 1561, which tell the inquisitor that, in such cases, he must consider the nature of the evidence, the degree of torture employed, and the age and disposition of the accused; if it appears that he has fully purged the evidence, he should be fully acquitted, but if it seems that he has not been sufficiently tortured he can be required to abjure either for light or vehement suspicion, or some pecuniary penalty can be imposed, although this should be done only with great consideration.[82] thus the matter was practically left to the discretion of the tribunal, with the implied admission that, when torture proved unsuccessful, it was merely surplusage. [sidenote: _endurance without confession_] the authorities naturally are not wholly at one with regard to the practical applications of these principles--except that acquittal should rarely be granted and, in fact, while the records are full of cases in which torture was overcome, it is somewhat unusual to find the parties acquitted, or their cases even suspended. about 1600 a writer tells us that these cases are to be treated with some extraordinary penalty or with acquittal or suspension, according to the degree of suspicion that remains, but that moriscos, however light the suspicion, must appear in an auto de fe and abjure _de vehementi_ and, if there has been evidence by single witnesses, they must be sent to the galleys for three years or more; with other culprits, if the suspicion is light, there may be acquittal or suspension, but suspension is the more usual. it all depends upon the degree in which the evidence has been purged by the torture.[83] as this degree was a matter purely conjectural, inquisitorial discretion was unlimited. the rule as to moriscos is borne out by the valencia auto de fe of 1607, in which there appeared sixteen who had overcome the torture, most of whom were visited with imprisonment, scourging or fines.[84] with their expulsion in 1609-10, there was no further call for discrimination, and the general practice is expressed about 1640, by an experienced inquisitor, who tells us that, when there have been several single witnesses, the accused who overcomes the torture should be subjected to some severe extraordinary punishment, such as abjuring _de vehementi_, with confiscation of half his property, or a heavy fine--the latter being preferable as it is more easily collected and the culprit endures it better in order to preserve his credit.[85] that this reflects the current practice would appear from a cuenca auto de fe, june 29, 1654. don andrés de fonseca had been required to abjure _de vehementi_, at valladolid in 1628; the evidence of his relapse was strong, but insufficient for conviction; he endured torture without confessing; then further evidence supervened and he was again tortured with the same ill-success; he appeared in the auto as a penitent, abjured _de levi_, with ten years' exile and a fine of five hundred ducats. doña theodora paula had overcome the torture and had abjuration de lev, six years' exile and a fine of three hundred ducats. doña isabel de miranda had been unsuccessfully tortured and was sentenced to two years' exile and three hundred ducats. so, after fruitless torture, doña isabel henríquez had the same punishment, and manuel lorenzo madureyra was sentenced to abjuration _de vehementi_, ten years' exile and five hundred ducats fine.[86] it is to the credit of the valladolid tribunal that, in 1624, it showed itself more lenient and suspended six cases in which torture proved fruitless, inflicting no punishment except six years of exile on maría pérez, who was charged with false-witness.[87] perhaps the frequency with which torture was overcome may be partially explained by bribery of the executioner. this was rendered difficult by the secrecy surrounding all the operations of the tribunals, yet it was possible, and the kindred of one who was arrested would naturally seek to propitiate the minister of justice in case the prisoner should fall into his hands. at a valencia auto de fe, in 1594, there appeared ninety-six morisco penitents of whom fifty-three had been tortured without extracting confessions.[88] it may possibly be only a coincidence that, in 1604, luis de jesus, the torturer of the tribunal was prosecuted for receiving money from moriscos, but we may readily imagine that communities, living in perpetual dread of the inquisition, might tax themselves to subsidize the executioner regularly.[89] a similar case occurs in the córdova auto of june 13, 1723, in which appeared the executioner, carlos felipe, whose offence is discreetly described as fautorship of heretics and unfaithfulness in their favor, in the discharge of his office.[90] * * * * * [sidenote: _frequency_] it is a little remarkable that, although the use of torture was so frequent and must have been generally known, there appears to have been a shrinking from admitting it in the sentences publicly read in the autos de fe, which habitually recited the details of the trials--possibly attributable, in part at least, to a desire to preserve secrecy, although it is particularly marked in the early period when secrecy had not become so rigid as it was subsequently. indeed, in the sentence of juan gonzález daza, who confessed under torture in 1484, at ciudad real, it is mendaciously asserted that he pertinaciously denied until he learned that his accomplice, fernando de theba, had confessed, when he did so freely.[91] this continued as a rule, though occasionally there is less reticence. in one sentence i have found it alluded to--that of mari gómez, at toledo, in 1551.[92] sometimes there is a veiled allusion to it, as though the inquisitors could not conceal it wholly, but felt a certain shame in admitting it openly. thus in the sentence of elvira del campo (see p. 24), which gives a very detailed account of the incidents of the trial, it is stated that, on using "mas diligencias," with her she admitted the charges, and in the sentence of doctor zapata, in 1725, "cierta diligencia" is alluded to as having been employed.[93] * * * * * it would of course be impossible to compile statistics of the torture-chamber, or to form a reasonably accurate estimate of the number of cases in which it was employed during the career of the inquisition. some fragmentary data, however, can be had, as in the record of the toledo tribunal between 1575 and 1610. during this period it tried four hundred and eleven persons for heretical offences admitting of the use of torture, and in these it was used once on one hundred and nine, and twice on eight, besides two cases in which it had to be stopped on account of the fainting of the patient, and seven in which confession was obtained before it commenced. there were also five cases in which the accused was placed in _conspectu tormentorum_.[94] in all, we may say that here its agency was invoked in about thirty-two per cent. of heretical prosecutions. this is probably less than the average. in a number of cases tried by the tribunal of lima between 1635 and 1639, nearly all the accused appear to have been tortured, while the report of the tribunal of valladolid for 1624 shows that of eleven cases of judaism and one of protestantism, eleven were tortured and, in 1655, every case of judaism, nine in number, was subjected to torture.[95] after all, numbers, however they may impress the imagination, are not supremely important. they are simply a measure of the greater or less activity of the tribunals and not of the principles involved. whenever there was a doubt to solve, whether as to the sufficiency of the evidence, the intention of the accused, the completeness with which he had denounced his associates, or other inscrutable matter, recourse to torture was a thing of course. in not a few cases, indeed, there seems to have been an almost infantile confidence in its power as a universal solvent. about 1710, fernando castellon, on trial at valencia for judaism, claimed not to be baptized and was promptly tortured to find out, but without success.[96] in 1579 the toledo tribunal had to deal with anton moreno, an aged peasant, accused of entertaining views too liberal as to salvation; torture seemed the only means of definition and, between the turns of the garrote, he was made to express his opinions as to the saving effects of death-bed repentance and the viaticum on a sinner who had been duly baptized with the water of the holy ghost. there was ghastly ludicrousness in the attempt, under such persuasion, to ascertain the beliefs of an untutored old man, on these subtle questions of scholastic theology, ending with the result that he was adjudged to be worthy only of abjuration _de levi_, with a reprimand and hearing of a mass in the audience-chamber.[97] [sidenote: _fees_] as the activity of the inquisition diminished, in the latter half of the eighteenth century, the use of torture naturally decreased but, until, the suppression in 1813, the formal demand for it was preserved in the accusation presented by the fiscal. one of the early acts of fernando vii, on his restoration in 1814, was the issue of a cédula, july 25th, addressed to all officers of justice, reciting that, in 1798, when the royal council learned that, in the courts of madrid, the accused were subjected to the severest pressure to extort confessions, it investigated the matter and found that thumb-screws and other methods more or less rigorous were employed, and that this was without authority of law: consequently on february 5, 1803, the discontinuance of these was ordered, except fetters to the feet, and at the same time inquiries made of all courts in the kingdom showed that various kinds of compulsion were used whereby the innocent were sometimes compelled to convict themselves falsely. in view of all of this fernando now ordered that in future no judge should use any kind of pressure or torment to obtain confession from the accused or testimony from witnesses, all usages to the contrary being abolished.[98] this can scarce have applied to the inquisition but, under the restoration, it had little to do with actual heresy and, before it was thoroughly reorganized, all doubts were removed by pius vii. llorente tells us that the _gazette de france_ of april 14, 1816, contained a letter from rome of march 31st, stating that the pope had forbidden the use of torture in all tribunals of the inquisition, and had ordered that this be communicated to the ambassadors of france and portugal.[99] i see no reason for doubting this, although no such brief appears in the bullarium of pius vii, and we may assume that at last the spanish holy office closed its career relieved of this disgrace. * * * * * according to an _arancel_, or fee-list, of 1553, the executioner was entitled to one real for administering torture, or to half a real if the infliction was only threatened. in the lay courts the sufferer was obliged to pay his tormentor, for there is a provision that, if he is poor, the executioner is to receive nothing and is not allowed to take his garments in lieu of the money.[100] in the inquisition where, for offences justifying torture, arrest was accompanied with sequestration, the tribunal necessarily took upon itself the payment and, as we have seen, in 1681, the fee had increased to four ducats. in cases which did not end with confiscation, the outlay was undoubtedly included among the costs of the trial charged against the sequestrated estate. in the roman inquisition, where torture was used so much more indiscriminately, a decision of the congregation, in 1614, relieved the accused from payment of the fee.[101] chapter viii. the trial the procedure of the inquisition was directed to procuring conviction rather than justice, and in some respects it bore a resemblance to that of the confessional. the guilt of the accused was assumed, and he was treated as a sinner who was expected to seek salvation by unburdening his conscience and contritely accepting whatever penance might in mercy be imposed on him. pressure of all kinds, mental and bodily, was scientifically brought to bear upon him to induce confession, and his refusal to confess, in the face of what was considered sufficient evidence, was treated as hardened and pertinacious impenitence, aggravating his guilt and rendering him worthy of the severest penalty. the arrest, as we have seen, was preceded by careful preliminaries. evidence was accumulated, in some cases for years, and, when the accused was thrown into the secret prison, he was to a great extent prejudged. it was the business of the tribunal, while preserving outward forms of justice, to bring about either confession or conviction; the defence was limited and embarrassed in every way and, when the outcome of all this was doubt, it was settled in the torture-chamber, always with the reservation that, if suspicion remained, that in itself was a crime deserving due punishment. * * * * * [sidenote: _audiences_] in the earliest period there were few formalities and no absolute _estilo_, or recognized method of procedure. in the enormous work crowded upon the inexperienced tribunals, the main object was the despatch of business, and the success attained in this is seen in the frequent and enormous autos de fe. the records of the trials are hasty and imperfect, showing that little attention was paid to forms that might cause delay. the instructions of 1484 are crude, merely meant to supplement the traditional system of inquisitorial procedure with such regulations as should adapt it to the needs of the situation and to the intentions of ferdinand and isabella. they are largely devoted to the questions of confiscation and the fines accruing under the edicts of grace and, for the rest, they conclude by saying that, as all circumstances cannot be foreseen and provided for, everything is left to the discretion of the inquisitors who, in all that is not especially prescribed, must conform themselves to the law and act according to the dictates of their consciences for the service of god and the sovereigns.[102] the result of this discretion was that, in the assembly of the inquisitors in 1488, a long debate was required to reach the conclusion that there should be uniformity in the procedure and acts of all the tribunals, the existing diversity having led to many embarrassments.[103] it is therefore scarce worth while to examine in detail the simple and varying forms of this period, except as we shall find them interesting in comparison with later practice. the desired uniformity was gradually attained by the suprema which, under the independent organization of the spanish holy office, developed an elaborate system of procedure, set forth in the instructions of 1561 and furnished, in 1568, with all necessary formulas in the _orden de processar_ of pablo garcía. subject to such changes as subsequent experience demanded, this remained the standard to the last and was followed, with more or less exactitude by the tribunals. * * * * * when the accused was thrown into the secret prison his case, in the hurry of the earlier period, was heard and despatched with promptitude, but subsequently it became the custom for the inquisitors to exercise their discretion as to when they would call him before them, and we shall see what exasperating and calculated delays they sometimes interposed. he could, however, ask for an audience at any time, and it was an invariable rule to grant such requests, for the reason that he might have an impulse to repent and confess which might be transitory. such audiences, however, did not count in the progress of the case. when summoned to his first regular audience, he was sworn to tell the truth in this and all future hearings and to keep silence as to all that he might see or hear, and as to everything connected with his own affair. he was made to declare his name, his age, his birthplace, his occupation and the length of time since his arrest. after these formalities, if the case was one of heresy, there came an investigation into his genealogy. this, which accumulated a mass of information as to all infected families, and facilitated greatly researches into limpieza, was not a feature of the early trials; in those of from 1530 to 1540, it was still very informal, but by the middle of the century it had become minute, extending back to two generations and including all uncles, aunts and cousins, describing of what race they were, whether any of them had been tried by the inquisition and, if so, how punished. the punctilious observance of this takes a somewhat ludicrous aspect in the trial at lima, in 1763, of a mandingo negro slave for superstitious cures. he was seventy years of age and had been brought from guinea when a child, but was interrogated minutely as to parents and grandparents, uncles and aunts, and was made to declare that they were all of the race and caste of negroes, and that none of them had been penanced, reconciled or punished by the inquisition.[104] the accused was then interrogated as to his baptism, confirmation and observance of the rites of religion; he was made to sign and cross himself, repeat the creed and usual prayers, and finally to give an account of his past life. after these preliminaries, of which the results were carefully recorded, he was asked whether he knew, presumed or suspected the cause of his arrest. with rare exceptions, the reply was in the negative and then followed what was known as the first of three monitions. there is no trace of these in the earliest trials, but toward 1490 an informal monition makes its appearance and the instructions of 1498, in requiring the formal accusation to be presented within ten days after arrest, prescribed that within that time the necessary admonitions shall be given.[105] in 1525 a letter of manrique shows that these monitions then were three, but they still were negligently observed, and in trials from that time until 1550 they vary from none to three.[106] [sidenote: _the three monitions_] after the instructions of 1561, the three monitions became the established rule in cases of heresy, while one sufficed in lighter matters. the formula was formidable. the accused was told that, in the holy office, no one was arrested without sufficient evidence of his having done or witnessed something contrary to the faith or to the free exercise of the inquisition, so that he must believe that he has been brought hither on such information. therefore, by the reverence due to god and his glorious and blessed mother, he was admonished and charged to search his memory and confess the whole truth as to what he feels himself inculpated, or knows of other persons, without concealment or false-witness, for in so doing he will discharge his conscience as a catholic christian, he will save his soul and his case will be despatched with all speed and befitting mercy, but otherwise justice will be done. at intervals a second and a third monition were given, the last one ending with the warning that the fiscal desired to present an accusation against him, and it would be for his benefit, both for the relief of his conscience and for the favorable and speedy despatch of his case, if he would tell the truth before its presentation, as thus he could be treated with the mercy which the holy office was wont to show to good confessors; otherwise he was warned that the fiscal would be heard and justice would be done.[107] this brought an exceedingly effectual pressure to bear upon the anxious prisoner, especially when the system of delay, whether calculated or merely procrastinating, left him for months, and perhaps years, to lie in his cell, shut out from the world, brooding over his fate, and torturing himself with conjectures as to the evidence so confidently assumed to be conclusive against him. he was simply admonished to discharge his conscience, being kept in the dark as to the crimes of which he was accused, and left to search his heart and guess as to what he had done to bring him before the terrible tribunal. this had the further utility that in many cases it led to confession of derelictions unknown to the prosecution, his impassible judges coldly accepting his revelations and remanding him to his cell with fresh adjurations to search his memory and clear his conscience. this cruel device of withholding all knowledge of the charge appears to have been introduced gradually. in some cases, of about 1530, slight intimations of the nature of the accusation are given, but by 1540 complete reticence seems to be general. there was no formal instruction prescribing it, but it became the universal custom, based perhaps on the principle that the confession, like that to a priest, to be trustworthy must be spontaneous, showing the change of heart and conversion which alone could render the culprit worthy of mercy. yet, towards the end of its career, under carlos iii and after the restoration, the inquisition occasionally granted an _audiencia de cargos_, in which the accused was apprized of the charges against him and, in trivial matters, this frequently took the shape of summoning him under some pretext that would save his reputation, informing him of the alleged offences and, after hearing his explanations, determining what course to pursue. even in so serious a matter as the celebration of mass by a married layman, the santiago tribunal, in 1816, after throwing angel sampayo into the secret prison, gave him an audiencia de cargos before proceeding further.[108] how systematic reticence sometimes succeeded is indicated by the case of angela pérez, before the toledo tribunal in 1680. after lying in prison for eleven months she asked an audience, may 19th, to inquire why she had been brought to toledo. she was admonished that she had already been told that no one was arrested who had not said or done something contrary to the faith; if she wished to discharge her conscience she would be heard, and, on her asserting that she had nothing to confess, she was sent back to her cell with an admonition to think it over and discharge her conscience. on june 13th she sought another audience, for the same purpose and with the same result. then, on june 22d she was transferred from the _carceles medias_ to the secret prison and, on the 25th, she obtained another audience in which she entreated the inquisitors, in the name of the virgin, to bring the charges, but all that she obtained was to have her genealogy taken and to receive the first monition. to this she replied that she had nothing to confess and wanted her case despatched as she had been thirteen months in prison. the implacable methods of the inquisition triumphed, however, for the next day she sought an audience in which she confessed that for eight years she had observed the law of moses.[109] [sidenote: _the accusation_] even more suggestive, though in a different way, is the mexican case of the priest joseph brunon de vertiz, who was one of the dupes of some women pretending to have revelations. they were all arrested and he was thrown in prison september 9, 1649. in repeated audiences he vainly sought to learn the charges against him; he fairly grovelled at the feet of the inquisitors; he made profuse statements of everything concerning himself and his accomplices; he submitted himself humbly to the church and was ready to confess whatever was required of him, but all to no purpose. the strain proved too great for a mind not overly well-balanced, and it began to give way. the first symptoms were complaints of demoniacal possession, followed, after an incarceration of two years and a half, by his writing a paper full of the wild imaginings of a disordered brain, in which he denounced the inquisition as a congregation of demons and the jesuits as the most detestable enemies of god. then he lay in his cell for more than two years, until, july 23, 1654, he presented another incoherent paper. finally he died, april 30, 1656, after more than six and a half years of imprisonment, without ever learning of what he was accused. his body was thrust into unconsecrated ground and the prosecution was continued against his fame and memory. on may 11, 1657, the fiscal at last presented an informal accusation for the purpose of summoning the kindred to defend the case; on october 22, 1659, more than ten years after the arrest, the formal accusation was presented and, as defence was impracticable, brunon de vertiz was condemned and his effigy was burnt in the auto de fe of november of the same year.[110] * * * * * when, in the third monition, the accused was warned that, if he did not confess, the fiscal would present an accusation, there was implied deceit for, whether he confessed or not, the trial went on in its inevitable course. it was usually in the same audience, after he had replied to the monition, that the fiscal was introduced with the accusation, to which he swore and then retired. this formidable document was framed so as to be as terrifying as possible. in cases of heresy it represented that the accused, being a christian baptized and confirmed, disregarding the fear of the justice of god and of the inquisition, with great contempt for religion, scandal of the people and condemnation of his own soul, had been and was a heretic, an impenitent, perjured negativo and feigned confessor; that he had committed many and most grievous crimes against the divine majesty and the free exercise of the inquisition, and was a fautor and receiver of heretics. then followed the recital of the acts developed by the evidence, arranged in articles, reduplicated and exaggerated and presented in the most odious light. besides this he was a perjurer, by refusing to confess in the audiences, after swearing to tell the truth, from which it was presumable that he was guilty of other and greater crimes, of which he was now accused generally and would be specifically in due time. wherefore the fiscal prayed that the accused should be found guilty of the crimes recited, condemning him to confiscation and relaxing his person to the secular arm and declaring him to have incurred all the other penalties and disabilities provided by papal letters, instructions of the holy office, and pragmáticas of the kingdoms, executing them with all rigor so as to serve as a punishment for him and an example to others. after this followed the terrible clause, known as the _otrosi_, demanding that he be tortured as long and as often as might be necessary to force him to confess the whole truth. one thoroughly unjustifiable feature of the accusation was that, if there was evidence of other misdoings of the accused, wholly outside of the jurisdiction of the inquisition, they were inserted because, as the instructions of 1561 remark, they serve as an aggravation of his heresies and show his unchristian life, whence may be derived indications as to matters of faith.[111] as soon as the accusation was read, it was gone over again, article by article, and the accused, while still confused by its menaces, taken at advantage, wholly unprepared and without assistance of any kind, was required to answer each on the spot, his replies or explanations being taken down by the secretary as part of the record of the case. after this he was told to choose an advocate to aid in his defence. * * * * * [sidenote: _the advocate for the defence_] the custom of allowing counsel in criminal cases is so comparatively recent in english law that their admission by the inquisition may be regarded as an evidence of desire to render justice. in spain, however, it was customary, and defendants too poor to retain them were supplied at the public expense. in the royal chancellería, as organized by ferdinand and isabella, there were two _abogados de los pobres_.[112] in the medieval inquisition, during its earlier centuries, counsel were not allowed to the accused and it became a settled principle of the canon law that advocates who undertook the defence of heretics were suspended from their functions and were perpetually infamous.[113] towards the close of the fifteenth century, however, in witchcraft trials, we find advocates admitted, but under the strict limitations that we shall see in spain, and those who showed themselves too zealous in defence of their clients were subject to excommunication as fautors of heresy.[114] when the spanish inquisition was founded, it was therefore a matter of course that the accused should be allowed the assistance of trained lawyers and not only this but of procurators, who attended to the business of the defence, performing the functions, in some sort, of the english solicitor, while the _letrado_ represented the barrister and drew up the argument. in a number of trials at ciudad real, in 1483, there appears to have been considerable freedom of choice, the accused selecting both advocates and procurators. during the persecution at guadalupe, in 1485, the defendants were mostly represented by doctor de villaescusa as advocate and by juan de texeda as procurator, and the arguments in defence were well and forcibly presented.[115] this was in accordance with the instructions of 1484, which order that if the accused shall ask for an advocate and procurator, the inquisitors shall grant the request, receiving from the advocate an oath to assist him faithfully, without cavils or malicious delays, but that if, at any stage of the case, he finds that his client has not justice on his side, he will help him no longer and report to the inquisitors; if the accused has property, they shall be paid from it, but if he has none they shall be paid out of other confiscations, for such are the orders of the sovereigns.[116] yet this liberality was nullified by the clause requiring advocates to betray their clients, thus destroying all confidence between them and fatally crippling the defence. it was, however, in accordance with the ethics of the age, and we shall see how it developed in a manner to render illusory the services of the advocate. it would seem that the tribunals sometimes chafed under these rules and asserted discretion to disregard them for, in the case of the priest, diego garcía, in 1488, when he was told to select an advocate and a procurator, the fiscal refused consent, and he had to conduct his own defence, though, at a subsequent stage of the trial, diego tellez appeared for him.[117] it was possibly in consequence of such cases and of other impediments to the defence, that the suprema issued a provision that all prisoners should be allowed to take a procurator and advocate, provided they were fitting persons. also that the children and kindred of the accused should not be prohibited from consulting as freely as they pleased with the counsel, and that he should have copies of the accusation, the depositions of the witnesses and other papers in conformity with the instructions.[118] all this, which was demanded by the simplest demands of justice, became, as we shall see, a dead letter. [sidenote: _official advocates_] that the danger awaiting a too zealous advocate was not purely hypothetical is seen in the case of casafranca, deputy of ferdinand's treasurer-general of catalonia, who was burnt in the auto de fe of january 17, 1505, and his wife in that of june 23d; his father-in-law had been reconciled and his mother, after condemnation, died in the secret prison. francisco franch, the royal advocate-fiscal, had defended casafranca, and the inquisition prosecuted him for his unsuccessful attempt to avert his client's fate, although at that time he had risen to the position of regent of the royal chancellery. ferdinand, who felt much interest in his behalf, made inquisitor-general deza write in his favor to francisco pays de sotomayor, an inquisitor specially deputed to hear the case, but this did not save him from bitter humiliation and dishonor. february 28, 1505, sotomayor pronounced sentence in which his offence was described as endeavoring to induce a witness to revoke his testimony, and as impeding the inquisition by useless and procrastinating delays, by which he had incurred excommunication, and moreover he was guilty of perjury by asserting a false and erroneous conclusion, for all of which he had humbly begged pardon and mercy. after obtaining absolution from a priest he was to stand the next day before the high altar of santa maría de jesu during mass, with a lighted candle, in penitential guise, and forfeit all payment for his services--which would have come out of casafranca's confiscated estate. both he and the fiscal accepted the sentence, but there was delay in his public penance, for he refused to utter certain words interlined in the sentence, which he asserted had been inserted since it was read to him. the fiscal threatened to appeal to the inquisitor-general and demanded that franch be detained in prison until the appeal was decided, whereupon he yielded and the ceremony was performed on march 1st.[119] when the efforts of counsel in behalf of their clients were thus effectually discouraged, nothing but the most perfunctory services could be expected from them, and the inquisitors need apprehend little trouble. even this, however, was thought to give the accused too much chance, and all risk of inconvenient zeal was averted by depriving him of the right to select his defender and confining the function to one or two appointees of the tribunal, who could be relied upon to favor the faith. the first intimation of this policy comes in the memorials of jaen and llerena in 1506, which complain bitterly that the inquisitors refuse to allow the accused to select their advocates and procurators, forcing them to take such as they appoint who will do their bidding. the jaen memorial describes them as enemies of the people, who desire arrests to be multiplied, as they charge three thousand maravedís in every case which, for the two hundred prisoners, amounts to six hundred thousand.[120] this abuse, probably originating with lucero, was so conformable to the tendencies of the holy office that it gradually became the rule. in 1533, one of the petitions of the córtes of monzon was that prisoners should be allowed to select their advocates and procurators, and to this no direct answer was made.[121] in 1537 the _abogados de los presos_ were already recognized as officials appointed by the tribunals. they were exclusively entitled to conduct the defence and, in 1540, the suprema, in reply to a petition, said that, if the party desired a different advocate, it could only be on condition that he should act in consultation with the official one. even this poor privilege was withdrawn for, in 1562, valdés decreed that the official counsel should communicate with no other advocate.[122] it is true that, in 1551, the suprema had admitted that, if the tribunal had not been able to find a fitting lawyer for appointment, the accused could select one, but this was merely yielding to necessity.[123] the chief qualification for an _abogado de los presos_ was his limpieza and that of his wife; his subservience to the tribunal was assured by his dependent position, but, to render this more absolute, about 1580 the suprema ordered the lima tribunal--and probably all others--to make its advocates familiars, an office which bound them to the strictest obedience.[124] allowing for natural exaggeration, there is probably truth in the description given, in 1559, by antonio nieto, a prisoner in valencia, to his cell-mate pedro luis verga, who, after his first audience, was felicitating himself on inquisitor arteaga's promise to give him an advocate and a procurator. nieto told him not to count upon it for, though the inquisitor might give him an advocate he would give him nothing good, but a fellow who would do only what the inquisitor wanted and, if by chance he asked for an advocate or a procurator not of the inquisition, they would not serve for, if they went contrary to the inquisitor's wishes, he would get up some charge of false belief or want of respect and cast them into prison.[125] [sidenote: _function of the advocate_] the advocate thus became one of the officials of the tribunal, duly salaried and working in full accord with the inquisitors. in 1584, we find him of valencia petitioning to have a place assigned to him in the autos de fe, where he could be recognized as such and, at his ease, see his clients sentenced. the petition was granted and he was allotted the last place among the salaried and commissioned officers.[126] this became the established rule, but in time professional dignity was wounded at thus being relegated to a position inferior to the messengers and apparitors and gaolers. in valladolid and granada the advocates obtained promotion to outrank the physicians and surgeons and, in 1670, the licentiate juan márquez, advocate in the seville tribunal, addressed to the suprema a formidable memorial of seventy-five quarto pages of text and fifteen of index, representing the slight thus put upon them, and setting forth the dignity of the legal profession, the respect due to its learning and, as regards the advocates of prisoners, the confidential position occupied and the fidelity with which they served the tribunals. it seems never to have occurred to him to put forward a claim based upon fidelity to their clients.[127] in fact, the so-called advocate was simply an official instrument for securing confession and conviction, for which his ostensible position of friendly adviser gave him peculiar opportunity. no communication between him and his client was allowed, except in presence of the inquisitors and of the secretary, who made record of all that passed between them, thus keeping watch to see that he performed his duty. it is true that he was sworn to defend the prisoner with all care and diligence and fidelity, if there was ground for it, and if not to undeceive him, but his real duty is described as urging the prisoner to confess fully as to himself and others, and to throw himself upon the mercy of the tribunal, for by denial he would only prejudice his case and suffer in the end.[128] how any deviation from this was treated, appears in the case of benito ferrer, in 1621, before the toledo tribunal. in the consultation, his advocate argendona suggested some points of defence displeasing to the inquisitors, who promptly ordered him out of the audience-chamber and sent benito back to his cell to refresh his memory and discharge his conscience, and two days later argendona had to put in the written defence without further opportunity of conference. the licentiate egas had a more accurate conception of his duty, when serving as advocate for isabel reynier, tried, in 1571, for protestantism in toledo. the official record states that, after unavailing efforts to induce her to confess, he asked whether she had any enemies to disable, on which he could frame a defence, when she named several, but, as the señores inquisidores wanted to despatch the case, he told her that this would avail her nothing, for there was no presumption that enmity had caused false-witness, and he went on to persuade her that she had already confessed enough to render her case hopeless. the impatience of the inquisitors was gratified, for the unfortunate woman was sent to the stake without egas troubling them by putting in a written defence.[129] the old rule remained in force forbidding the advocate to defend an impenitent heretic. it made no difference of course in the result, but still permission to do so would have saved appearances. such cases occasionally occurred, like that of benito peñas at toledo in 1641, a harmless lunatic with some vague speculative heresies. his advocate, juan díaz suelto, after a conference in which his client obstinately rejected his advice to forsake his errors and beg for mercy, reported that his efforts had been in vain, so that it was necessary for him to abandon the defence, in order not to incur the censures and other penalties imposed by the papal briefs, and also for the speedier despatch of the case.[130] even as late as 1753, at valencia, the same occurred in the trial of a swindling german named horstmann.[131] [sidenote: _procurators not admitted_] if, even under these shackles, an advocate desired really to defend his client, he was deprived of the means to do so. originally, as we have seen, the kindred and children were allowed freely to communicate with him, to furnish indispensable assistance and information, and to gather witnesses, and he was also supplied with copies of the depositions of the witnesses and other necessary papers. it seems to have been lucero, the evil inquisitor of córdova, who changed all this, for the memorials of jaen and llerena complain bitterly of such denial of justice, rendering nugatory all the means of defence, and depriving the kindred of all knowledge of the nature of the accusation.[132] it expedited business however and facilitated conviction, and its usefulness overcame all scruples. in 1522 cardinal adrian forbade all communication between the advocate and the children or kinsmen of the accused, and this prohibition was repeated until it became the invariable rule. in the same spirit, the only document, that he was allowed to have, was a copy of the publication of evidence, which was a very different thing from the original depositions. to repress all initiative on his part he was prohibited from putting forward any defence save what the accused might suggest, in their open consultations in the audience-chamber, or to call for any witnesses whom the latter did not name, and the inquisitors were instructed to punish any infractions of this rule because they were troublesome and impeded the course of business.[133] if an advocate was suspected of undue zeal, the inquisitors had a right to interrogate him as to the measures taken for the defence, the sources of his information and other details; the defence in every way was obliged to play _cartes sur table_, while the fiscal's hand was carefully guarded, and only such knowledge was permitted as served to confuse and mislead. it would seem scarce likely, under such regulations, that advocates would be guilty of really assisting their clients, but to guard against such possible derelictions of duty, inspectors were ordered, when visiting tribunals, to inquire whether they defend the accused "maliciously" and employ cavils for delay and finally, whether or not they are necessary.[134] at the same time, in its affectation of fairness, the inquisition insisted on the accused having counsel. when, in 1565, pedro hernández was tried at toledo for calvinism, he confessed at once, professed conversion and begged for mercy. when told to select an advocate he refused, until informed that it was imperative for him to have one to conduct his defence. of course this was a mere formality for he was duly burnt in the auto de fe of june 17th.[135] inquisitors, moreover, were required to admit all documents offered to them, and to listen to any one who might have the hardihood to appear in favor of a prisoner.[136] simultaneously with the development of restrictions on the advocate, the disappearance of the procurator completed the system of enabling the inquisitor to control the defence as well as the prosecution. one of the latest references to the procurator is a regulation of 1545, which infers that, if the accused made application, the tribunal would grant him one, with the reservation that this did not entitle the kindred to aid in the defence.[137] this jealousy of outside assistance constantly increased and some tribunals, such as seville and córdova, commenced to refuse admission to procurators, except in prosecutions of the absent and dead; the kindred might suggest the names of witnesses to the inquisitor, who would summon and examine them. finally inquisitor cervantes, when in 1560 he made a report on barcelona, took the opportunity of pointing out the disadvantages of such representatives of the accused; through them, he argued, the case became known, they anticipate the witnesses before they give evidence, they are able to identify them and furnish to the accused reasons for disabling them. the bishop of avila, a member of the suprema, promptly admitted the force of this, and declared that procurators ought no longer to be allowed. this opinion prevailed and, in the instructions of 1561, their admission was forbidden, although in case of necessity, special powers might be given to the advocate.[138] they continued, however, to be appointed in trials of the absent and dead, where it was unavoidable. the roman inquisition did not follow this example of the spanish and allowed the employment of procurators.[139] [sidenote: _the curador_] besides the advocate there appears in many trials a personage known as the _curador_, or guardian, a living evidence of the fatherly care of the inquisition toward the helpless. following the traditions of the roman law, spanish jurisprudence provided that, in suits and actions involving those who had not attained the full age of twenty-five years, the assent of a curador, either permanent or temporary _ad hoc_, was necessary to validate the legal acts of the minor.[140] this provision, intended for the protection of the youthful and incapable, was retained in the practice of the inquisition, because it was necessary to render valid the various compulsory acts of the accused in the successive steps of his trial, but in order that it might not by any chance be of value to him, and to preserve the secrecy of the holy office, the custom was adopted of appointing the advocate or preferably the gaoler, or messenger, or some other underling of the tribunal to serve as curador. as it was thus wholly subversive of the object for which the function was created, there is grotesque cynicism in the pompous formalities through which the curador was interjected into the proceedings. he took a solemn oath that he would diligently and faithfully defend his ward, alleging all that was to his advantage and preventing all that was injurious, advising with his advocate and doing all that a good guardian could do for a ward. and, if the latter, through his negligence, suffered injury, he pledged his person and property to make it good, giving as security another person (a fellow subordinate) who united with him in the liability, jointly and severally, renouncing all legal defence and placing themselves and all their possessions in the hands of the inquisitors.[141] being thus a mere formality, or rather a deception, involving the perjury of those who took the formidable oath, it may be dismissed from further consideration, except to cite a case illustrative of the rigid formalism of procedure. in 1638, at valladolid, blanca enríquez, on trial for judaism, represented herself as twenty-two years of age and as usual was given a curador. she confessed to having been reconciled at córdova, nine or ten years before; a vote in discordia carried the case to the suprema, which discovered that her previous trial had occurred in 1623, when she was fifteen and consequently she was now thirty. the curador therefore had rendered the trial irregular, and the suprema ordered it to be repeated from the beginning.[142] there was another form of assistance allowed to the accused, when the questions at issue involved nice theological points, beyond the capacity of the ordinary advocates. learned doctors were called in as _patrones teólogos_, to aid the accused, after he had been heard in defence of his incriminated propositions. in ordinary practice, the propositions and his answers were read to them; to each one they said whether he had satisfactorily explained it or not; or whether he ought to retract, or whatever other conclusion they might reach; then the whole was submitted to the calificadores, who pronounced their final censure.[143] nominally the patrones were selected by the accused but in this, as in everything else, the inquisition sought to control the defence. when, in 1574, fray luis de leon was told that he could have patrones, he named four from various places. the valladolid tribunal referred the nominations to the suprema, which replied by asking whom it was accustomed to give from among its calificadores and, on being informed, ordered that the routine custom should be followed. fray luis's protest that he did not want calificadores, who had already pronounced against him, was set aside; patrones were not meant to defend the accused in his heresies, but to undeceive him and tell him what he should believe. it is true that the suprema finally receded from this position but, by a juggle continued for months, fray luis was forced to take a man whom he did not want, and who was only a new and disguised calificador; conference between them was denied, and the opinion which the patron rendered was withheld from him.[144] the wisest course for a theologian, in the hands of the inquisition, was that adopted by fray thomas de nieba, in 1642, when on trial at valladolid for certain conclusions defended by him in scholastic debate. he refused both advocate and patrones, saying that he was subject to correction by the church and by learned theologians, and he did not propose to defend the inculpated propositions.[145] * * * * * [sidenote: _publication of evidence_] we have seen that, after the accusation was read and answered, the prisoner was told to choose an advocate. possibly two names were mentioned to him, both equally unknown; more often only a single name. he was not at liberty to refuse and, on his giving assent, the advocate, who had been kept in readiness in the antechamber, was called in. the proceedings up to that point were read to him, and he at once performed the duty of urging his client to confess. whether successful or not in this, he stated that the next thing in order was to conclude; the fiscal was called in, who similarly announced that he concluded, and the inquisitors notified both parties of the conclusion. these formalities being over, the case was formally received to proof. the fiscal asked that his witnesses be ratified and publication of evidence be made. ratification, as we have seen, frequently caused considerable delay, until the device was invented of ratifying at the time of deposition. when the evidence was thus in proper shape, the next move was its so-called publication. this might or might not be the final step of the prosecution, for it never was precluded from bringing in new evidence, and there might be half a dozen or more successive publications, especially when a group of judaizers were on trial and they broke down one by one and told what they knew about their associates. the effectiveness of this is illustrated by the case of engracia rodríguez at valladolid, in 1643. after her case had apparently reached its end, the consulta de fe voted her to torture, which was duly administered, without eliciting a confession. then from time to time came new publications of evidence, until her resolution gave way and, at the seventh publication, eleven months after her torture, she confessed to judaism. she probably recognized that her kindred and friends were yielding, one after another and incriminating her, and that it was useless to resist longer, with the certainty--of which her advocate doubtless informed her--that persistence would indubitably end in her burning alive as an impenitent _negativa_.[146] as this publication of evidence was the only inkling afforded to the accused of what was the case against him, and as it was assumed to give him ample opportunity of defence, it is worth a little special consideration. we have seen that the pretext of protecting witnesses was held as justifying the suppression of their names and of all circumstances that might lead to their identification. even under the most rigid construction, this crippled greatly the defence, but rigid construction of their powers was not common among the tribunals. when once it was admitted that portions of the evidence could lawfully be suppressed, the selection of what should be made known became largely discretional. the endeavor to lay down rules for guidance as to this led to an infinity of instructions, more or less rigid or lax. in 1498, the suprema called attention to the evils that had hitherto followed publication, wherefore in future care must be taken to omit all circumstances giving a clue to the identity of the witnesses, and this was repeated in 1499.[147] yet the glaring injustice of withholding from the accused a knowledge of details that might enable him to disprove the charges was recognized, but all instructions forbidding this were framed with an "if" that virtually authorized the wrong. for instance, the specification of time and place at which an act was said to have been performed was indispensable, if the accused were to have a chance of detecting false swearing, yet such details might possibly lead him to identify the witness, and these opposing reasons gave rise to a series of varying orders which indicate how the suprema vacillated between the desire to secure the advantage and the consciousness of the wrong. in 1525 it condemned the practice of the toledo tribunal in omitting time and place. it was difficult to make the inquisitors observe this and, in 1527, a general order was issued to state the evidence as the witnesses had given it, neither more nor less. in 1530 it made a concession by ordering that it should be consulted when there was "inconvenience" in stating the month or year. then, in 1532, it laid down the positive rule that place and time and persons must be stated, for the principle that the witness must be protected was to be construed as preventing only direct recognition and not inferential. this was again modified, in 1537, when, while again ordering that all the evidence must be given, this was qualified by the old injunction to suppress all circumstances by which the witnesses could be identified. about 1560, some instructions to barcelona order that the time should be stated, while place is to be indicated in such general terms as shall not betray the witness. finally, in the definitive instructions of 1561, time and place are ordered to be given, but at the same the omission is prescribed of all that may betray the witness. a caution that no evidence is to be used that is not in the publication gives a hint of other irregularities of even a more serious nature.[148] the publication being a matter of supreme importance, it was the duty of the inquisitors personally to draw it up, and not entrust it to subordinates, least of all to the fiscal, who was technically the prosecutor. orders to this effect were issued in 1529; they were repeated in the instructions of 1561 but, in 1568, the suprema was obliged to take the barcelona tribunal to task for allowing the fiscal to do it, and a later writer informs us that inquisitors continued to shirk the labor and threw it upon the secretaries.[149] the labor was doubtless great, when the witnesses were numerous and loquacious, and the delicate duty was apt to be recklessly performed by subordinates, fearful of rebuke if they allowed too much to be known. the custom was to give the evidence of each witness separately, as deposed by "a certain person" and, when practicable, to divide it up into articles, each covering a separate charge or fact. in this process the elimination of all circumstances that might give a clue to the identity of the witnesses was easy, and there was little scruple in misleading the defendant or in omitting whatever might be thought to weaken the case. in the publication read to marí gómez la sazeda, when on trial at toledo in 1544, the evidence of one witness is divided and represented as given by two, with the object, as noted on the margin, of preventing her from identifying him.[150] in the case of gaspar de torralva, before the same tribunal in 1531, the publication bears such notes as "the evidence of the seventh witness omitted," "the evidence of the eighth witness omitted."[151] there was no possible supervision or control over this; the discretion of the inquisitors was absolute and the prisoner was at their mercy. [sidenote: _publication of evidence_] in many cases the publication was scarce more than a slovenly repetition of the fiscal's accusation and afforded to the accused no possible aid in his defence, as in that given to juan de la barra, tried for lutheranism at toledo, in 1656.[152] when it was drawn up more elaborately, it became confusing in the highest degree. one reads the long array of the assertions, or the conjectures, or the gossip retailed by twenty-five or thirty witnesses, vaguely set forth as what a "certain person" said or thought about another certain person, with no specifications of time or place, and one wonders how the prisoner could even grasp it sufficiently to form any definite conception of the character and weight of the evidence against him. and, with his life perhaps hanging in the balance, he was required to answer all this on the spot, article by article, and was closely cross-examined on his replies. that even an innocent man should compromise himself in the pitfalls thus cunningly laid for him was not unlikely, and yet this publication of evidence was represented as a special favor granted in view of the other restrictions imposed on the defence--a favor not always conceded in the secular courts.[153] * * * * * after this ordeal was passed the advocate was called in and furnished with the publication and the answers of the accused. the two conferred together, under the eye of the inquisitor and pen of the secretary; if the accused rejected the renewed advice of the advocate to confess and discharge his conscience, the plan of defence was concerted. what this was, as a rule, made little difference. when, in 1499, the inquisitors-general felt it necessary to instruct inquisitors that they must pay attention to the defences and exceptions alleged by the accused, it indicates how they were recognized as prosecutors rather than judges. yet it was freely admitted that, in view of the limitations of the defence, they should be most zealous in considering whatever it presented.[154] the defence was so perfunctory a routine that the systematic writers mostly dismiss it with the curt observation that its witnesses must be zealous christians and in no way connected with the defendant. simancas, however, treats it at greater length, and his enumeration of its possibilities shows how restricted they were. he admits at the start the legal maxim that it is impossible to prove a negative, which was virtually, in most cases, the task imposed on the accused. then he proceeds to define what the defendant can do. he can call on witnesses to prove his religious character or to disable for enmity the opposing witnesses, or to show that at a certain time or place he did not say what was attributed to him. then there are general pleas in abatement, extreme youth, second childishness, insanity, drunkenness, thoughtless speech, ignorance, jocularity, the pressure of fear under threats, or intense grief. or he may recuse the judge, which should be referred to the suprema and not to arbiters, who cause much delay.[155] [sidenote: _the defence--recusation_] recusation of a judge was a right recognized in the traditional legislation of spain.[156] it was admitted in the inquisition and we have seen, in the cases of carranza and villanueva, how little the accused profited thereby, even when nominally successful. it was a recourse practically open only to the powerful or to the trained, at best but a dangerous expedient, and of necessity had to be done at the commencement of a trial. it evidently was not employed often enough for a definite form of procedure to have been provided. the instructions of 1561 require that, if an inquisitor be recused, he must abandon the case to his colleague; if he has none, or if both are recused, the matter must await the decision of the suprema.[157] this would indicate that the recused judge retired as a matter of course, but the carranza and villanueva cases prove that the objections of the prisoner had to be demonstrated as legitimate and this is further indicated when the troublesome jesuit, padre juan bautista poza's extravagant mariolatry was condemned at rome and approved in spain. it took seven years after his _elucidarium deiparæ_ had been placed on the roman index, in 1628, before the spanish inquisition could be compelled by the nuncio to prosecute him for his rebellious defiance. when on trial by the toledo tribunal, he recused the inquisitor cienfuegos; his reasons were examined by the suprema, which consulted the other inquisitors and the recusation was sustained. how unusual was this proceeding is indicated by the boast of his triumphant brethren that this was one of the remarkable events that had occurred in spain.[158] yet an incident in the trial of fray luis de leon shows the advantage taken of any obstacle to prevent recusation. after two and a half years of seclusion in prison from the world, he asked to know the names of the existing inquisitor-general and members of the suprema, in order that he might recuse any whom he regarded as inimical, yet this elementary piece of information was denied, in spite of repeated applications, in which his counsel joined, showing that the latter was debarred from telling him what was of public notoriety.[159] strictly speaking, recusation was not a defence but merely a preliminary to it, and its rarity renders it of minor importance. of the pleas in abatement enumerated by simancas, that of youth amounted to little for, as we have seen, as soon as the age of responsibility was reached, the offender was liable to punishment, and there was little mercy shown. in fact, there was a device, when the culprit was below the age of fourteen, of postponing the sentence until he had attained that age.[160] [sidenote: the defence--insanity] insanity was of much greater moment. the insane were recognized as irresponsible and were sent to hospitals. it was not infrequently pleaded, and the tribunals were constantly on the watch to protect themselves against deception, yet it was long before definite rules were adopted with regard to the matter. in the enlightened view taken by the inquisition regarding witchcraft, instructions of 1537 indicate a disposition to regard reputed witches as insane; whenever the inquisitors considered this to be the case, all acts and words leading to such conclusion were to be scrupulously detailed in the records. barcelona at the time had on hand a witch named juana rosquells, whom the physician and consultors considered to be out of her mind; not knowing what to do they referred to the suprema, which ordered her discharge and somewhat inconsistently required her to be put under bail.[161] even more tentative was the case of toledo, in 1541, of juan garcía, a day-laborer, favored with revelations of the wildest kind. in his audiences he replied unintelligibly to the questions asked and, when the case came before the consulta de fe, it summoned him and asked whether he would take a hundred lashes or confinement in a hospital. he very sensibly declined both, and the session terminated with a vote that his sanity be investigated. this was done in the most superficial way, the consulta de fe when reassembled voted to acquit him, with a warning that if he persisted in his wild talk he should have a hundred lashes, whether insane or not. he was accordingly told to be gone in god's name.[162] there evidently was as yet no method prescribed for dealing with such cases and it is somewhat remarkable that the instructions of 1561 allude only to those, by no means infrequent, in which prisoners became demented during trial, and in these it is only ordered that they be provided with a curador, which infers that the trial was to be continued.[163] in conformity with this, at granada, in 1665, a prisoner who had become insane after confessing, was furnished with a curador under whose auspices the case was carried to conclusion. he was condemned as a heretic and his property was confiscated; as he had confessed and begged for mercy while still in his senses, he was absolved from censures so that he might enjoy the suffrages of the church, while as to the penances requiring sanity for their performance, such as reconciliation, abjuration, exile, etc., their determination was postponed till he should regain his reason.[164] when madness occurred after conviction and sentence, peña tells us that the execution should be postponed until the reason is restored, for perhaps the culprit may repent and he is sufficiently punished by the madness. even when it is feigned this should be done, for it is a less evil that the crime should be unpunished than to destroy his soul by putting him to death impenitent. in any event confiscation is to be enforced.[165] when the accused was decided to be insane the plan adopted was to transfer him to a hospital, but in 1570 the suprema required to be consulted before this was done. hospitals were not always willing to receive such patients, but they were constrained to do so, as appears by an order of the suprema in 1574, in such a case.[166] the diagnosis of insanity is sufficiently obscure to modern science, and it is not surprising that the inquisition experienced difficulty in protecting itself against attempts at imposition, which were regarded as frequent. peña informs us that insanity was always looked upon with suspicion, as probably fictitious, but he can only suggest that the gaolers should keep careful watch, and the inquisitors threaten or employ torture, to which there was no objection, unless there was risk of death, and which was an effective means of detecting imposture.[167] there was, in fact, as we have seen, no hesitation in having recourse to it when other means failed, but it is to the credit of the inquisition that it was ready to exhaust all its resources in doubtful cases, to determine the question of sanity, however much its ultimate conclusions might be warped by prejudice or preconceptions. an exceedingly illustrative case was that of benito ferrer, a wandering beggar, wearing priestly garments, arrested in madrid, august 24, 1621, by the archiepiscopal police and confined in the spiritual prison. he was about to be discharged when, on september 20th, while mass was being celebrated in the oratory, he sprang forward at the elevation of the host, snatched it from the hands of the celebrant, crushed it and cast part of it on the floor, exclaiming "o traitor god, now you shall pay me!" the sacrilege of course caused the greatest excitement and indignation. the archiepiscopal court took cognizance of the matter and was about to discharge benito as crazy, when the inquisition claimed him and sent him to toledo for trial, with orders to push the case. before leaving madrid he was examined by the commissioner, when he asserted his entire sanity and explained his act by asserting that the host was not consecrated, for the priest and everyone else whom he saw were enchanted demons. [sidenote: _the defence--insanity_] benito was undoubtedly a monomaniac for, in his subsequent audiences, he stated that, in 1609, he had been bewitched, since when everyone he met was a demon, with much other wild talk. his advocate asked for an investigation into his sanity, which was performed somewhat perfunctorily with the result that his extravagance was pronounced to be feigned. still the consulta de fe, on november 23d, voted in discordia and the suprema ordered further examination into his record and antecedents. twenty years before, in his native catalonia, he had endeavored to enter religion; two convents had refused to receive him and two others had expelled him after a few months. the tribunals of valencia and barcelona were set to work on these faint traces; the friars of that time were dead or scattered, but, after six months of search, two or three were found who vaguely remembered him as a melancholy person of little sense, who seemed to be possessed. then followed further examinations of fellow-prisoners and physicians, concurring in the belief that his insanity was a fiction, and fruitless efforts were made to induce him to admit it. another consulta de fe, held september 10, 1622, voted unanimously for relaxation, but the suprema was not yet satisfied and ordered torture as a last resort. when the sentence was read to him he simply said that he was ready for what the divine majesty might be pleased to do with him. then for three hours he was exposed to the extremity of torment, the blood dripping to the floor from his lacerated flesh, but, amid his shrieks and groans, nothing more could be extracted from him than "god suffered more; i am here to serve his pleasure" and an offer that, if they would give him a bible, he would prove them all to be demons. if torture meant anything as a test, this proved his insanity to be real, but two days later a consulta de fe unanimously voted his relaxation as an _impenitente negativo_. still the suprema was not satisfied; it thought that the torture had been insufficient and it ordered him to be confined with persons of confidence, who should keep strict watch over him. accordingly, on november 23d, his cell was changed and he was given as companions two friars and a physician awaiting trial, duly sworn and instructed. february 8, 1623, they were examined and pronounced him sane, but dr. antonio gómez, who examined him, thought him liable to delusions; many persons, he said were sane in everything but one topic, on which they were insane. still the suprema hesitated and ordered continued observations, which were prolonged until november 4th, with the same result, when another consulta de fe unanimously voted for relaxation. the suprema could hold out no longer against these repeated convictions; it confirmed the sentence and he was burnt alive as an impenitent, january 21, 1624.[168] erroneous as the conclusion may seem to us, it was not reached without a prolonged and conscientious investigation, such as no other tribunal of the period would have given to such a case, though the archiepiscopal authorities were wiser, when they promptly recognized benito's madness. [sidenote: _the defence--insanity_] a nymphomaniac, in 1688, caused the valencia tribunal an even longer term of perplexity. francisca garcía was arrested, march 28th, as an _alumbrada_--one of the mystics against whom the inquisition waged unrelenting warfare. she frankly admitted her sexual excesses, which she said were in obedience to the voice of god. during audiences at long intervals her talk was so irrational that insanity was suspected. physicians were called in, who reported that she seemed to suffer from some mental weakness, and the alcaide said that he could not determine whether it was weakness or malice. calificadores were consulted, who postponed for further decision the question whether she was hallucinated, crazy, or possessed. so it went on for two years and a half until, on september 19, 1690, it was resolved to keep her in prison but that, before presenting the accusation, another consultation with calificadores should be had. they examined her and reported that she cried aloud and wept and ejaculated and answered no questions directly, but still asserted that carnal indulgence was embracing god, so they reserved their opinions till another time. eighteen months passed away and, in march, 1692, she sought an audience in which she threw herself on the ground and with tears begged to be taught; she knew that she ought to be content with her husband and, with screams and cries she declared that she could not resist temptation save with the aid of god. a consulta de fe was promptly held, and another in january, 1693, which could only recommend her detention, in view of the evils to be apprehended if she were allowed to communicate with others. then two years and a half more elapsed, with occasional reports from the alcaide and secretary, to the effect that latterly the poor creature no longer talked lasciviously, in view of which it was voted, july 1, 1695, that the accusation should be presented and that calificadores should again examine her. to the report of this the suprema replied in vigorous language, pointing out that this was only recommencing the eternal round, and that the case promised to be immortal; it ordered that the prosecution should be promptly carried on in the usual way and the sentence be submitted for its approbation. here the record before us breaks off and the final action is unknown, but it is evident that the unfortunate woman was to be treated as responsible, the hesitation of the tribunal having only resulted in her incarceration for more than seven years in a dungeon (_calabozo_) where, if not insane at first, she probably became so in the darkness and despair of interminable confinement.[169] however humane intentions might be, prejudice and ignorance misled them to cruelty. it marks a progressive improvement when, in time, it became customary, on receiving a denunciation, to interrogate the informer whether he knew if the accused was a drunkard or suffered from any mental disturbance and, in instructions to commissioners in taking testimony, these inquiries were directed always to be made. this was a praiseworthy precaution, and the modern softening of temper produced a marked improvement in the treatment of the insane. this is well exhibited in 1818, in the case of pedro benito lobariñas, in which the suprema ordered the santiago tribunal to treat him with especial kindness, and to give him every comfort compatible with his safe-keeping. confidential persons, as well as the physicians, are to be admitted to him, who in friendly talk could form an estimate of his mental condition, while investigations were also to be made at his place of abode. still, the outcome of the case shows the conflict between humanity and extreme dread of doctrinal error. his offence was simply some "propositions" and, in view of his sanity in all else, and his experience as a garden laborer, he was to be handed over to the gardener of some convent so walled as to prevent his escape, and to forbid his speaking with any one, so that he might have no chance to disseminate his heresies.[170] as for the other pleas in abatement, such as intoxication, sudden anger, thoughtlessness, ignorance, jocularity and the like, they could only be advanced in minor cases, like blasphemy and propositions not involving formal heresy. in such matters they were often alleged in extenuation and were given more or less consideration, according to the temper of the tribunal, the penalties, not infrequently, being moderated in consequence. * * * * * defence, when the accused denied the charge, was practically limited to _tachas_ and _abonos_--the former being the disabling of witnesses by proving enmity or other disability, the latter being the accumulation of evidence to prove good character and assiduous religious observance. the _interrogatorio de indirectas_, to secure testimony disproving or explaining away specific accusations, was occasionally employed, and sometimes flaws or contradictions in the incriminating evidence were exposed, or an alibi might be proved when time and place were specified in the publication, but these cases were exceptional. in the great mass of trials on serious charges, no attempt at defence was made except by _tachas_ and _abonos_. to the latter little attention was usually vouchsafed, and the struggle, as a rule, was over the former. [sidenote: _evidence for the defence_] in this the defence was heavily handicapped by the suppression of witnesses' names and the garbling of evidence in the publication to protect them from recognition. while occasionally the accused could identify one or two, in general he could only grope blindly and indicate persons with whom he had quarrelled, in the desperate hope that they might chance to be those who had given damaging testimony. slender as was the prospect of accomplishing this, it was rendered additionally difficult by the obstructions placed in the way of his obtaining and presenting his evidence. he was permitted only to furnish the names of those whom he suspected, with a list of the witnesses on whom he relied to prove enmity and a series of questions to be put to the latter who, during the years of his incarceration might have died or disappeared. we have seen how rigid were the qualifications exacted of witnesses for the defence, so that the inquisitor exercised his discretion as to whom he would admit, nor was he bound to put any interrogations which he deemed irrelevant, or of which he disapproved--indeed, it was held to be the duty of the inquisitor to expurgate the interrogatories and if, in those of _tachas_, there was anything affecting the reputation of a married woman, or the limpieza of a family, it was to be struck out.[171] the whole matter was absolutely in his hands and he could even refuse to admit the prisoner to any defence, as in the case of martin de jaen, a morisco, burnt in the toledo auto de fe of 1606, or manuel de mesones, penanced in that of 1610, on the ground that what they asked for was unnecessary or irrelevant.[172] when defence was permitted, neither the accused nor his advocate had the privilege of examining such witnesses as were admitted, or of drawing forth all that they might have to tell. if they were residents of the city, the inquisitor would summon them; if at a distance, the interrogatories were sent to a commissioner; the witness, to each bald question, would answer yes or no, or perhaps might give some vague details or say that he knew nothing, and there the taking of testimony ended. if inquiries were directed against parties who had not testified, they were generally suppressed, although the instructions were to investigate them also, in order more perfectly to keep the accused in the dark, and it was also suggested that they be examined personally because, as enemies, they might have additional damaging testimony to give. when the witnesses for the defence, as frequently happened, were widely scattered, all this consumed considerable time, during which the prisoner in his cell was gnawing his heart in suspense, and when it was finished he was brought into the audience-chamber, curtly informed that what he had requested had been duly attended to, and asked if he had anything more to say. under the instructions of 1561, the results of the interrogations were carefully withheld from him as we have seen above (vol. ii, p. 543). in this system, in which the burden of proof was thrown upon the accused, while he was crippled in every way as to the means of proving innocence, injustice could only be averted by judges acting virtually as counsel for the defence, in place of which they habitually served as parties to the prosecution. how it worked can best be understood by a few instances, with varying results. in 1494, diego sánchez of zamora was prosecuted for judaism in the tribunal of toledo. he had been trained, from his fourteenth year, in the cathedral, where he had risen, twenty years before, to the position of organist and beneficiary. there were but two witnesses against him--pedro de toledo, a chaplain of the archbishop, who testified to seeing him eat squabs on a saturday and eggs in lent and remove fat from meat. the other was maría de santa cruz, a servant-girl, burnt for heresy, who on her way to the _quemadero_, being urged to clear her conscience by denouncing her accomplices, said that once when he was sick his father told him that he would not get well unless he sent some oil to the synagogue, whereupon he sent both oil and candles. she was beyond the reach of vengeance but, as usual, her name and the circumstances were suppressed. there is grim comedy in the efforts made by sánchez and his advocate to unravel this story. they repeatedly requested the dead witness to be recalled and re-examined and to have the date fixed, for sánchez had once been delirious for some days and it might have occurred then; a formal series of interrogatories was drawn up to be put to her, and eight witnesses were to be examined to prove the truth of the delirium, all of which the inquisitors met with profound silence. then, in hopes of discovering all possible enemies who might have testified, a long series of quarrels was detailed which he had had with members of his family and others. in this he chanced to stumble upon maría de la cruz, who had been his servant, but was a thief and, becoming pregnant, had accused a man-servant of his as the father. he dismissed them both, but took back the man; the girl fell into evil courses and was scourged through the streets, which she attributed to him and repeatedly threatened revenge. he failed to identify pedro de toledo, but he proved an irreproachable career in the cathedral for twenty-five years, and he escaped with abjuration _de levi_ and suspension for a year from celebrating mass--enough to dishonor him.[173] [sidenote: _evidence for the defence_] this hopeless floundering in the effort to rebut evidence of which the source was so carefully concealed appears still more strongly in the case of diego de uceda, in 1528, before the same tribunal, on a charge of lutheranism, founded on a chance talk with a stranger at cerezo, while travelling from burgos to córdova. the suppression of time and place and of details, in the publication, threw him on a false scent and he imagined the accusation to have arisen from a conversation some nights later at guadarrama, with the archpriest of arjona, and all his energies were wasted on the attempt to prove that the latter talk was blameless, leaving the real testimony against him uncontroverted. it was a game at cross-purposes, in which the inquisitors allowed him to entangle himself hopelessly. incidentally, the record affords a vivid picture of the agony of suspense endured by the prisoner in his cell during the inevitable delays arising from the method of procedure. he was chamberlain of fernando de córdova, clavero or treasurer of the order of calatrava; as such he had followed the court, and his witnesses _in abono_ were necessarily scattered. six months were consumed in finding them and securing their testimony, during which he sought repeated audiences, imploring the inquisitors for the love of god to despatch his case. at one time a second messenger was sent at his expense, to burgos and to valladolid, with long instructions, and he counted the days that it would take at ten leagues a day, the customary allowance for foot-couriers. at last he was summoned to an audience and told that all his witnesses save four had been examined and he could name others in their place. this he declined; he had produced ample testimony as to character but of course had failed to rebut the evidence of the unknown witnesses who had denounced him. as we have already seen, he was tortured, confessed and revoked and was sentenced to appear in an auto de fe, to abjure _de vehementi_, with a fine of sixty ducats and some spiritual penances, leaving him a dishonored and ruined man for a few careless words to a stranger.[174] it is to the credit of the tribunals that they seem generally ready to make all effort necessary to obtain the testimony of the witnesses whom they admitted. in 1573, the suprema orders the barcelona tribunal to advise a french prisoner so that he could procure from the king of france a safe-conduct for the persons whom he sends thither to procure evidence for him, and the receiver is instructed to pay sixty-four ducats for the expenses of the commission--of course out of the sequestrated property.[175] in 1682, in the trial at barcelona of margarita altamira, a worthless woman, she named as a witness a day-laborer whom she knew only as isidro. he was hunted for in the city without success and efforts were made to trace him. in cardona an isidro giralt was found and examined but proved not to be the man. then it was thought that he might be somewhere in the parish of maya, and the commissioner of solsona was ordered to find him and send him and his wife to barcelona, but the search was vain and no one of the name could be found there. margarita was then asked if she could give any further indications to aid in finding him: she thought that perhaps maría barranco might know something, but on investigation maría was found to be dead. then she mentioned other witnesses who could testify to her good character, and they were duly summoned and interrogated.[176] all this was as it should be, but it depended on the temper of the tribunal and the prisoner had no power to help himself. this customary defence of disabling the witnesses for enmity, although it was mostly blind groping to identify them, was sometimes successful. the most extensive use of the _tacha_ that i have met occurs in the toledo case of gaspar torralba, in 1531. his prosecution for lutheranism was merely an effort to get rid of a troublesome and truculent neighbor, in the little village of vayona, near chinchon. there were thirty-five witnesses against him, for he was generally hated and feared. in his defence he enumerated no less than a hundred and fifty-two persons, including his wife and daughter, as his mortal enemies, and he gave the reason in each case which amply justified their enmity. in this comprehensive drag-net he succeeded in catching nearly all of the adverse witnesses and, in addition, he adduced _abonos_ and _indirectas_ to prove his orthodoxy and regular religious observance. the tribunal evidently recognized the nature of the accusation; he was admitted to bail, july 1, 1532, and finally escaped with a moderate penance.[177] life must have been scarce worth living in vayona when he was let loose. [sidenote: _the defence_] at valencia, in 1604, there was quite a group of cases showing successful disabling of witnesses among moriscos. gaspar alcadi, accused by two women of saying that he did not believe in christianity, identified them and proved enmity, so that his case was suspended. one woman accused two men, vicente sabdon and fay vicente and three women, angela bastant, angela barday and gerónima alamin, but they all succeeded in fastening it upon her and showing her hostility, with the result of a suspension of prosecutions. in 1607 there were several more cases of the same kind.[178] a still more striking instance occurred in 1658, at valladolid, when a dissolute woman accused three men and thirteen women of sanabria as judaizers. they seem to have found little difficulty in identifying and disabling her and were all acquitted, february 1, 1659.[179] in general, however, the records show that the main recourse of the accused, in seeking to identify and disable witnesses for enmity, was rarely successful. * * * * * after the wholesale forcible conversions of jews and moors a defence was sometimes advanced by the accused that he was not baptized and consequently not a christian nor subject to the jurisdiction of the inquisition. there were subtile questions involved in this, on which theologians were not wholly in accord, but in practice the main point turned on whether the fiscal was obliged to prove the baptism. against this was urged a decree of paul iv, in 1556, when some portuguese in italy defended themselves with this plea, and he ordered the prosecutions to proceed on the ground that, if they had not been baptized, they would not have been tolerated in portugal. an old inquisitor, about 1640 says that in saragossa he had a case of a morisco who advanced such a plea and, on examination of his parish registers, no record of his baptism could be found, although there were those of his elder and younger brother. in spite of this, on the strength of the papal decision, the prosecution went on and his sentence of reconciliation was confirmed by the suprema.[180] * * * * * in all this the function of the advocate was reduced to a minimum. he was to make no suggestions to his client except to confess; he was not to advise him to disable any of the witnesses or to name witnesses of his own. his sole duty, we are told, was to abandon a pertinacious heretic and to admonish a christian to tell the truth. if he chanced to gain outside information, he was not to communicate it to the prisoner but to the inquisitors and, if any friend or kinsman spoke to him about the case, he was to say that he knew nothing of it. so, in the written defence which he was required to present, he could use no information of his own, for the accused alone could state facts, and the advocate could only set them forth. he could receive nothing from the prisoner or his friends, even after the case was ended; the tribunal fixed his fee, which was paid to him by the receiver.[181] under such circumstances the argument which he would frame was not likely to be of any benefit to his client. if he were young, bright and ambitious, he might endeavor to impress the tribunal with his ability, although the strict secrecy imposed deprived him of the incentive which publicity would give. for the most part, however, he would discharge his nominal duties with as little waste of energy as possible; he had nothing to gain by zeal, and would be careful not to offend the inquisitors and fiscal on whom he was dependent. while, therefore, we occasionally meet with a careful and well-reasoned argument, presenting the case of the accused in the most favorable light, and pointing out the irregularities and illegality and weakness of the evidence, in general the defence is perfunctory, of no real service to the accused, while ostensibly giving him the benefit of defence by a trained lawyer and enabling the tribunal to overrule what might be alleged in his favor. * * * * * [sidenote: _examination of the accused_] meanwhile, at each stage of the case, the accused was subjected to searching examination. by rule, this had to be conducted by the inquisitors, and if there were two, both were required to be present; as the suprema declared, about 1520, this was necessary to enable them to vote intelligently.[182] the fiscal, very properly, was not allowed to be present, and the notaries or secretaries were ordered to confine themselves to their duties in recording and not to interpose questions. the general instructions for these examinations are praiseworthy. in 1518 the suprema ordered the avoidance of superfluous questioning, as it might lead the accused to contradict himself through ignorance and, in 1529, as the result of a visitation of saragossa, it rebuked the inquisitors for asking irrelevant questions instead of confining themselves to the subject matter, as required by the instructions. the questions were to be clearly and intelligibly put, and the accused was to answer them categorically, yes or no. he was not to be deceived or misled by being made to believe that there was evidence where none existed, nor was he to be questioned about accomplices, unless there were sufficient indications concerning them.[183] unlike the medieval inquisition, where every kind of deceit was allowed to entrap the accused into compromising himself, the final rules, formally expressed by pablo garcía, were that the inquisitors must carefully abstain from interrogating the prisoner about matters not included or indicated in the evidence, and from leading him to believe that mere suspicions were knowledge founded on proof.[184] yet, with marked inconsistency, the monitions with which the trials opened, assumed, as we have seen, the guilt of the prisoner, that ample information existed of it, and that his confession was wanted for his own salvation. as a rule, in these earlier audiences, no questions were put except to ask the accused what he had remembered, and he was left to spontaneous confession, without a guide as to what was expected of him. sometimes, however, in the later periods a special _audiencia de preguntas_ was ordered, which might last for several days, as in the case of beatriz lópez, at valladolid, in 1697.[185] ordinarily the real examinations began when the accused answered to the accusation, and were continued after his replies to the publication. at any time, moreover, if he made admissions or a partial confession, the opportunity was taken, by skilful questioning, to bring him, step by step, to full acknowledgement of his offences. in this, leading questions were forbidden. all examinations were to be searching and thorough and, in 1654, the suprema complained that many crimes remained unpunished because of the carelessness and looseness with which this duty was performed. inquisitors in general were, therefore, instructed to repeat their questions again and again, until every detail of time, place and circumstance was ascertained.[186] * * * * * when the prosecution and defence had thus exhausted all their resources, the latter was required to conclude and the case was pronounced to be concluded, although the fiscal could open it again, if new evidence appeared, and the accused could appeal from this as from all other sentences. it was then ripe for judgement, but the inquisitors were not authorized to pronounce sentence alone. the necessity for episcopal concurrence required the intervention of a representative of the bishop of the prisoner's diocese and, in addition, the rule of the old inquisition was preserved under which some graduates in law and theology were assembled to deliberate and vote with the others. these were called consultors and we have seen that they were a recognized portion of the inquisitorial organization. the whole body formed what was known as the _consulta de fe_, in whose hands lay the fate of the accused. the number of consultors was uncertain. in 1488, at barcelona, we hear of a consulta in which five masters of theology and five doctors of canon law were called in, and of another in which there were twelve of each, but such assemblies were unwieldy and, in 1596, the suprema restricted the number to two theologians and three jurists. there was a scandalous practice allowed by the instructions of 1561, of having the fiscal present without a vote, in order to give information--information which would be apt to expand into argument. subsequently this seems to have been confined to some tribunals, but in all he could be called upon to elucidate any doubtful point, either orally or in writing.[187] no such privilege was allowed to the accused. even lawyers who served as _abogados de los presos_ were declared, in 1538, to be ineligible for service as consultors.[188] [sidenote: _the consulta de fe_] in the imperfect records of the early trials, there is often no allusion to a consulta de fe, although the sentence generally contains the customary formula that it has been rendered with the advice of learned and god-fearing men. even this is sometimes omitted, but it is probable that the formality was usually observed although, in the haste of those terrible days, it was, as a rule, little more than a formality. the ordinary custom was to assemble a consulta when a sufficient number of finished cases had accumulated to render an auto de fe desirable, and it could scarce find time for a conscientious scrutiny of the evidence. how business was sometimes despatched is seen in the preparations for the great auto de fe at ciudad real, february 23, 1484. among the victims were juan de fez and his wife, on whom the consulta passed sentence, january 28th, although juan had only confessed, under threat of torture, the day before, and it was not until february 6th that he ratified his confession, so that the condemnation was pronounced before the case was finished.[189] yet discussion was not wholly wanting. in the case of diego garcía, at the consulta held january 18, 1490, eight voted for torture and three for perpetual prison, but at a meeting next day they were unanimous for torture, which diego endured without confession and thus escaped with moderate penance.[190] in those early days it was possible, as the records inform us was done, to read the whole case from beginning to end, for, in those hurried proceedings, the records were brief. in later times when the documents of a trial extended perhaps over hundreds--or it might be thousands--of folios, this was manifestly impossible, and there was submitted to the consulta only an abstract containing what was deemed important, when of course it would be within the power of the tribunal to present it in such fashion as it desired. there was a salutary limitation on this by the suprema, in 1560, when it forbade the preparation of these abstracts by the fiscal, but the necessity for such prohibition is suggestive of existing abuses.[191] occasionally the consulta exercised the power of summoning and examining the accused, as we have seen in the case of juan garcía, in 1541, when there were doubts as to his sanity. it did the same with juan vázquez, at toledo in 1605, which resulted in dismissing the case.[192] whether, in these assemblies, the consultors had a deliberative or merely a consultative vote, was a matter of some discussion. in 1515, cardinal adrian, and in 1518 the suprema, instructed inquisitors that though they must not render judgement without consulting jurists, they need not follow their advice, but could consult others and state the reasons for rejecting the previous opinions.[193] arnaldo albertino, on the contrary, after debating the question at length, decides that, under the canon law, inquisitors are bound by the majority vote.[194] this ignored the self-dependent organization of the spanish inquisition, and rojas asserts positively that the vote of the consultors is consultative and not decisive.[195] simancas decides that the true rule is that the inquisitors are not bound by the opinion of the consultors, although the question is debated; the suprema instructed the tribunal of córdova that, if the inquisitors and ordinary are in accord, their opinion prevails over that of all the consultors, yet in valladolid, unless there is a majority, even if the inquisitors and ordinary agree, there is _discordia_ and the case is referred to the suprema.[196] all this was settled by the instructions of 1561, which declared that, if the inquisitors and ordinary were unanimous, their vote was decisive against consultors more numerous, but that, whenever there was discordia between the former, the matter was to be referred to the suprema and, in important cases, even when there was unanimity, it was to be consulted before executing the vote.[197] [sidenote: _delays_] we have seen how the gradual centralization in the suprema required all sentences, whether of torture or judgement, to receive its confirmation. under this influence the consulta de fe declined in importance, and tribunals began to neglect the formality of summoning it or even of appointing consultors. the concurrence of the ordinary was theoretically indispensable, but that sufficed, and the suprema was quite content to overlook irregularities which marked the diminishing importance of the tribunals. thus, in 1717, at barcelona, in the case of dr. estevan perpiñan for impeding the inquisition, the ordinary could not attend and the inquisitors voted on it alone; they could not agree on a sentence, and the suprema sent the case back with orders to vote on it again, in conjunction with the ordinary; they did so, but this time all three disagreed and the suprema finally rendered the sentence.[198] it seems never to have thought of instructing them to call in experts and form a consulta de fe. thus the time-honored institution, coeval with the establishment of the inquisition in the thirteenth century, came to an end. in a series of votes of the tribunal of madrid, extending through the eighteenth century, there is no indication of consultors being called in. sometimes there are two inquisitors with the ordinary and sometimes one; sometimes two inquisitors without the ordinary, and occasionally, though rarely, a single inquisitor by himself.[199] in the enumeration of the personnel of all the tribunals, about the middle of the century, the insignificant one of majorca had eight consultors, granada had four, córdova three, valladolid, cuenca and santiago one each and the others had none. the institution was rapidly dying out and men no longer aspired to the honor of belonging to it. so it was under the restoration. in the sentences of the period which i have seen there is no reference to it save in some pronounced by the canary tribunal, which have the clause "without a consultor because it is united in the ordinary."[200] before the suprema had rendered the tribunals mere agencies for collecting evidence and attending to the formalities of trials, the consulta de fe may occasionally have been of service in preventing or diminishing injustice. incidents related above show that the consultors formed opinions of their own, and that the votes were often far from unanimous. this was encouraged by the routine of voting, in which the consultors voted first and the senior inquisitor last, although doubtless, when there had been a preliminary discussion, the views of the inquisitors had been made known. occasionally we meet with debates in which each member of the consults accompanies his vote with an exposition of his reasons, and sometimes even with elaborate written opinions, showing a conscientious expenditure of thought and labor. unfortunately, doubts and disagreements generally were compromised by recourse to torture, after which the consulta would be reconvened to formulate the definitive sentence. * * * * * not the least cruel feature of the inquisitorial trial was the interminable delay to which the victim was commonly exposed. in ordinary criminal practice, especially in capital cases, the accused may seek perhaps to postpone the evil day, but in the inquisition, where he was denied all communication with the outside world, and was kept in ignorance as to the progress of his own case, the agony of suspense concerning himself and those dear to him during dreary months and years was, in itself, a most severe and protracted punishment. this was thoroughly understood, not only from the repeated despairing cries of prisoners to have their cases despatched, but from the habitual promise of such despatch held out as an inducement for confession. the slow torture of delay was a well-understood device of the old inquisition to procure confession, when five, ten, or twenty years' interval between arrest and sentence was not infrequent,[201] but, except in special cases, this would not seem to be the motive in spain. it is rather attributable to callous indifference and the habit of procrastination. the prisoner was presumably guilty and no good christian need waste sympathy on the sufferings, mental and bodily, of a heretic too pertinacious for confession and conversion. in spain, speedy justice was constantly urged on the tribunals as soon as the mad rush of the early years was over. while this lasted such urgency was superfluous, for haste was necessitated by the enormous amount of work to be done, and was stimulated by impatience for the fines and confiscations, though the formalities of procedure were cumbrous and there were multitudes of cases jostling each other as they wore through their several stages. in the great auto de fe at ciudad real, february 23, 1484, where there were seventy-six burnings in person or in effigy, besides the large number of reconciliations, there could have been no time wasted on each case. among those relaxed was juan gonzález daza, whose trial commenced december 1, 1483, when the inquisitors granted nine days for presenting proof. on december 10th, the fiscal asked an extension of time in view of his other occupations and the absence of witnesses, but he was obliged to take an oath that these were his reasons and not malice. on december 8th evidence for the defence was already being taken before two deputies of the inquisitors and, on the 12th, that for the prosecution before two other deputies. considering that human life was at stake, the work was most expeditious.[202] possibly this speed soon slackened; whether it did so or not, the suprema was dissatisfied, for the instructions of 1488 ordered that prisoners should not be worn out in gaol with postponements, and proceedings must be so prompt as to afford no cause of complaint. this urgency was repeated in the instructions of 1498, which fixed a limit of ten days between arrest and the presentation of the accusation, during which the three monitions were to be given; after this cases were to be pushed with all despatch and without awaiting further proof, for this had led to prolonged detention, causing injury to persons as well as to property. again, in 1500, the tribunals were ordered to proceed summarily and not to permit delays--all these instructions showing that the procrastination was attributable to the prosecution and not to the defence.[203] [sidenote: _delays_] these instructions received scant obedience and the delays were felt as a serious grievance by the accused. in 1510 we have a petition to ferdinand from five women appealing for a speedy decision of their cases, which had been "concluded," to which he responded by ordering the inquisitors to expedite them in accordance with justice.[204] so among the aragonese petitions at the córtes of monzon, in 1533, is a complaint that the prisoners of the inquisition were vexed with the prolonged delays in giving them the accusation and postponing the publication of evidence, wherefore the inquisitor-general was prayed to prescribe briefer terms. to this the reply was merely that provision would be made for the good administration of justice and the speedy disposition of cases.[205] if there were any intention of fulfilling this promise it was resultless. procrastination was habitual in all spanish tribunals, as we learn from the repeated remonstrances of the castilian córtes of the period, which vainly represented that pleaders were impoverished and exhausted in the vain attempt to obtain justice, and that the gaols throughout the land were crowded with prisoners.[206] the inquisition shared in this indifference to the sufferings of those in its hands; there were causes of delay in ratifying evidence and looking up the witnesses for the defence, and it had besides a practice, in all cases serious enough to appear in an auto de fe, of allowing them to accumulate until there were enough to render the solemnity impressive. this abuse was forbidden by the suprema in 1518, 1532, 1539 and 1540, but its commands were disregarded.[207] that it was a real grievance is shown by a summons addressed, in 1534, by the toledo fiscal to the vicar-general blas ortiz, reciting that it was four years since the tribunal had celebrated an auto de fe; its prisoners were suffering much thereby in person, honor, and property, and the inquisition was defamed in consequence. on the part of the accused and their kindred there had been bitter complaints to the inquisitor-general and suprema, to the emperor and royal council, and to persons of influence, and three or four months ago the suprema and inquisitor-general had come to toledo to see what was the matter and had ordered the cases to be despatched and an auto de fe to be held. when, however, we learn that the concurrence of the vicar-general was needed only for the torture of nine persons and the sentencing of ten, we see how little occupation the tribunal had had during those four years, rendering the delay inexcusable, while moreover the effort to shift the blame on blas ortiz was transparent for, under the clementines, inquisitors were required to wait only nine days for the ordinary.[208] the custom of waiting for an auto de fe continued and if, in 1570, 1571 and 1577, there were repeated orders that the cases of poor prisoners should be despatched promptly, without holding them for an auto, this urgency savors more of thrift than of mercy, for it infers that the rich, who could defray their prison expenses, might linger.[209] [sidenote: _delays_] the provision that the accusation should be presented within ten days after arrest was repeated in 1518 and seems to have been considered as still in force in 1594, for its observance is included in interrogatories prepared for a visitation in that year, but the instructions of 1561, while requiring the fiscal to present it within that limit, give discretion to the inquisitors as to the time of admitting the prisoner to an audience after his arrest, and prescribe no definite intervals between the monitions.[210] this discretion was abused to the utmost and the suprema seems to have abandoned all effort to check procrastination, except in special cases which threatened to become immortal. the tribunals kept their unfortunate prisoners lying for months before granting the first audience and, as this required no preparation, its postponement was mere callous indifference without excuse. in a group of eight cases at valladolid, in 1647, a year was allowed to elapse between the arrest and first audience, and subsequent intervals, varying from one month to eight, before the third monition which was synchronous with the accusation.[211] when there was this heartless delay at the commencement of a case, it is not to be supposed that there would be any alacrity in speeding the subsequent stages of the cumbrous routine, or any conscientious awakening from the supine indifference of the tribunals, with their multitude of officials and diminishing work. i have already alluded to the mexican case of joseph brunon de vertiz, in which there was nothing to prevent a regular and speedy course of action; and a brief abstract of the successive steps of his trial will show how he was tortured through suspense and anxiety to death. between january 25, 1650, and his end on april 30, 1656, he was but once summoned to an audience and then it was only to ask him whether he had anything more to say.[212] similar examples can be cited in the peninsula. gabriel escobar, a cleric in the lower orders, was arrested by the toledo tribunal in 1607, on a charge of illuminism and, in 1622, he died in prison, leaving his trial unfinished.[213] on a similar charge, vicente hernan was arrested in valencia, september 23, 1592, and on august 25, 1695, the suprema took the tribunal to task, because the accusation had not yet been presented, and pointed out that two years and a half had elapsed since his last audience, and the case was no nearer an end than before.[214] this procrastination continued to the end. a writer, about 1750, attributes the endless prolongation of the trials to the inefficiency of the inquisitors, and this again to the meagreness of the salaries, which prevents the selection of capable men, but the suprema itself was frequently to blame by its delay in acting when everything had to be submitted to its approval. thus when the logroño tribunal sent to it, september 9, 1818, a _sumaria_, on statement of the evidence, against fernando de la hoceja for irreverence to the sacrament, it was not until june 9, 1819, that it ordered prosecution and, when valladolid proposed, november 12, 1818, to grant _audiencias de cargos_ to lazaro matilla, this was not confirmed until june 15, 1819.[215] * * * * * prosecution of the absent and of the dead formed, especially in the earlier period, a large part of the work of the inquisition. the sudden development of systematized persecution naturally caused the exodus of thousands of conversos, in spite of the arbitrary measures adopted to prevent their escape, while the details adduced in the trials furnished evidence against other thousands, who had died in external orthodoxy. it was no part of the policy of either church or state to condone the offences of the fugitive or of the dead. if the faith could not be vindicated by burning their bodies, it could at least exhume the bones of the departed for cremation and could symbolically consume with fire the effigies of those of whom neither the bodies nor the bones could be had, while the fisc gathered in the confiscations which followed on condemnation, including the collection of debts and the forfeiting of alienations. [sidenote: _prosecution of the dead_] in this there was nothing repugnant to the spirit of the age, or of the latin systems of jurisprudence. in the spiritual sphere the church had long been accustomed to pass judgement on those who had passed to the judgement-seat of god, and to exhume the remains of any heretic buried in consecrated ground.[216] the imperial jurisprudence was equally unforgiving in cases of _majetas_, or treason, in which the dead could be prosecuted and their estates be confiscated, and the theodosian code extended this to heresy.[217] as recently as 1600, in scotland, the bodies of the earl of gowrie and his brother were brought into court to be present at their trial, and were duly sentenced to be hanged, quartered and gibbeted; in 1609, robert logan of restalrig, three years after death, was accused of complicity in the gowrie conspiracy, when his bones were exhumed to grace the trial in which he was convicted and his estate was confiscated.[218] as regards fugitives, in the continental systems of criminal law it was regarded as absurd to allow contumacious absence to defeat justice. in aragon the absentee was summoned at his domicile to appear within fifteen days, after which he was reputed contumacious and his trial proceeded, but he had the right, even after sentence, to return and appeal, on reimbursing to the accuser his expenses.[219] the abundant harvest thus provided for the early inquisition may be estimated from the statement by a contemporary that, at the toledo auto de fe of july 25, 1485, there were burned the effigies of more than four hundred dead and as many in that of may 25, 1490. the ceremony was impressive. a great monument, covered with black, was erected in front of the staging occupied by the inquisitors. the sentence of each culprit was read and, as his name was called, the monument was opened and an effigy, arrayed in jewish grave-clothes, was brought out and condemned as a heretic. then a great fire was built in the centre of the plaza, and all the effigies were consumed, together with the disinterred bones. after this their names were announced in the cathedral, with a summons to the heirs to appear, within twenty days, and render an account of their inheritances which belonged to the king.[220] we might suspect these figures of exaggeration were there not other evidences of the magnitude of the work in progress and of the informal haste with which it was conducted. in 1484, at ciudad real, a single proclamation to the children and heirs, to appear and defend the deceased, contains the names of sixty-one dead persons on trial and a single sentence condemns forty-two, with a common enumeration of the judaizing practices asserted to be proved against them. in none of these cases did the children and heirs put in an appearance to defend the memory and fame of the dead.[221] these reckless and indecent proceedings were based on the instructions of 1484, which evidently reflect the current practice in ordering the prosecution of those who had been dead even for thirty or forty years, and their property with its fruits to be taken from whomsoever is found in possession, although a ms. copy contains a clause, omitted in the printed editions, exempting from confiscation property held in good faith by good catholics, for fifty years or more.[222] in view of the activity at ciudad real and toledo, it seems somewhat superfluous that torquemada, in his supplementary instructions of 1485, deemed it necessary to warn the tribunals that the prosecution of the living should not cause them to neglect the dead, so that their bodies may be disinterred and burnt and their property be seized by the fisc.[223] how far back the retroactive energy of the tribunals extended may be gathered from the case of fernan sánchez who had been converted about 1416, had lived as a christian until his death in 1456, and who yet was disinterred and burnt and his estate confiscated by the tribunal of cuenca and sigüenza, probably about 1525.[224] [sidenote: _prosecution of the dead_] notwithstanding the massing of cases in the citations and sentences, the formalities of the somewhat cumbrous procedure were duly observed. the trials were not speedy, but, as large numbers were in progress together, only the scantiest attention could be paid to each and the result was a foregone conclusion. a single case will illustrate the process. at ciudad real, august 8, 1484, the fiscal is recorded as appearing and saying that he desires to proceed against certain deceased persons and among them beatris gonzález. he asks the inquisitors to issue their letters of summons, citation and edict, so that the children, heirs, kindred and others who wish to defend their bodies and bones, their fame and property, may appear. the same day the edict is issued, directed to the representatives of beatris and two others, some of the kindred addressed being named and others included under the generalization of parties interested. the edict recites that the fiscal is about to accuse beatris and the others of judaism, and asks to have them summoned in defence, wherefore they are cited to appear within thirty days after the edict is read to them, or before their house-doors, or published in the public square, or read in the church of san pedro and affixed to one of its doors; if they come, they will be heard with the fiscal, and justice will be rendered; if they do not appear, the fiscal will be heard and the case will go on without them to the end. the thirty days constituted three terms of ten days each, at the end of each of which the fiscal appeared before the inquisitors and accused the _rebeldia_ or contumacy of the parties cited and, at the end of the third, on september 6th, he presented the accusation, a copy of which was ordered to be given to the children, with nine days in which to answer it. at the expiration of this time, on september 14th, the fiscal accused the further rebeldia and concluded; the inquisitors received the case to proof and assigned thirty days for it. on october 20th, the fiscal presented four witnesses, who were separately and secretly examined by the inquisitors, the testimony consisting of the usual details of observing the sabbath by lighting candles and wearing clean linen, with an intimation of having chickens killed by decapitation. then followed an interval, until january 18, 1485, when the fiscal asked for publication of evidence. the inquisitors granted this, ordering copies given to him and to the children if they ask for it, and assigning a term of six days for concluding. on january 24th the fiscal accuses the persistent rebeldia and concludes; the inquisitors hold the children to be contumacious and conclude the case, assigning for sentence the third or any following day. all this was in preparation for the great auto de fe of march 15th, where the sentence was read, condemning in mass a large number of the dead, confiscating their property and ordering their bones to be dug up and burnt.[225] this was the procedure under which thousands of the dead were condemned and their properties seized from the existing owners; the forms of justice were comfortably preserved; no heirs or children ventured to appear in defence, and the condemnation might as well have been pronounced at the beginning. this facility offered temptations to act on insufficient evidence and occasionally, when persons of importance were concerned, there was a contest, as at saragossa where, on march 10, 1491, the fiscal presented his _clamosa_ against a number of the dead, whose representatives defended them with persistent energy until december, 1499, when there were eight condemnations and three acquittals.[226] some check on the abuses inevitable to the system was attempted, in the reformatory instructions of 1498, which order that no prosecution of the dead is to be commenced unless there is proof sufficiently complete for condemnation; the practice of suspending cases where proof is imperfect is prohibited, in view of the hardship endured by the heirs, who are unable to marry or to dispose of their property and, under such circumstances, acquittal is ordered. procrastination and delay are also forbidden, and cases must be determined speedily.[227] [sidenote: _prosecution of the dead_] sequestration under these circumstances inflicted great suffering until, as we have seen, in the instructions of 1561, it came under the general prohibition of sequestrating property in the hands of third parties. by this time, prosecution of the dead had shrunk to an inconsiderable part of inquisitorial business, and this may possibly account for other ameliorations in procedure. the preliminary necessity of sufficing proof was insisted upon; pains were to be taken to ascertain whether there were descendants, so as to cite them in person; no one who appeared as a defender was to be refused, even though he might be a prisoner on trial, who could empower a representative; if no defender appeared, the inquisitor was to appoint a skilful and sufficient person, who was not an official of the tribunal.[228] by this time, also, another rule had established itself which diminished the number of prosecutions--that they could only lie for formal heresy. crimes involving suspicion of heresy, such as fautorship, receiving and defending heretics and many others, were excluded, for the reason that suspicion, however violent, was held to be extinguished by death.[229] it was also generally admitted that stronger proof was required for prosecution of the dead than of the living because, as rojas explains it, _semiplena_ or half-proof, suffices for the latter--apparently alluding to the fact that the dead could not be tortured.[230] if they could not be tortured, so neither could they save themselves from relaxation by confession and abjuration. this naturally resulted in burning in effigy, except in the case of death during trial, when, if the prisoner had manifested repentance and sought readmission to the church, his effigy was solemnly reconciled in the auto de fe, nor does this somewhat grotesque ceremony appear to have aroused a sense of incongruity. death in prison, as we have seen, was by no means infrequent and, as the cases when once commenced were continued to the end, they furnish, during the later period, a considerable portion of the prosecutions of the dead. suicide in prison was held to be confession of guilt and pertinacity. the sentence pronounced on the dead was even more impressive than that on the living. it declared him to have lived and died a heretic, his memory and fame were condemned and his property was confiscated. "and we order that, on the day of the auto, an effigy representing his person shall be placed on the scaffold, with a mitre of condemnation and a sanbenito bearing on one side the insignia of the condemned and on the other a placard with his name, which effigy, after the reading of this our sentence, shall be delivered to the secular arm and justice, and his bones shall be disinterred, if they can be distinguished from those of faithful christians, and be delivered to the said justice to be publicly burnt, in detestation of such great and grievous crimes. and, if there is any inscription on his tomb, or if his arms are anywhere displayed, they shall be erased, so that no memory of him shall remain on the face of the earth, except of our sentence and of the execution which we order in it. and, that it may the more remain in the memory of the living, we order that the said sanbenito or one like it, with the said insignia and name of the condemned, shall be placed in the cathedral or parochial church of ----, of which he was parishioner, in a prominent place where it shall remain for ever. moreover we order that the children and the grandchildren by the male line, be deprived of all dignities and benefices and public positions that they possess, and be incapacitated for others, as well as to ride on horseback and carry arms and wear silk, camlet and fine cloth, gold, silver and corals and other things forbidden by the laws."[231] * * * * * we have already seen how numerous, in the opening years of the inquisition, were the trials of absentees, as shown by the burning of their effigies in the autos de fe. this arose not only from the flight of those alarmed by the activity of persecution, but also from the investigation of the records of all who, for years before, had changed their places of residence or had betaken themselves to the moors of granada or beyond seas. this proportion of the early period was not maintained after the first hurried rush of expatriation was past, but still there continued to be many cases. when a judaizer or morisco was arrested, all who had been associated with him recognized the impending danger and, if there was possibility of concealment or of leaving the country, prudence counselled absence. the inquisition sought energetically to trace those against whom evidence was obtained and, if it failed, it prosecuted them _in absentia_. in some respects this procedure differed from that in prosecution of the dead. [sidenote: _prosecution of the absent_] the instructions of 1484 give minute and precise details with regard to it, pointing out three courses which may be followed. the first is recommended as the safest and least rigorous and is that furnished by the canon law in cap. _contumaciam_ (cap. 7, tit. 2 in sexto lib. v) which provides that, as contumacy renders suspicion vehement, a man who is suspect in the faith is to be excommunicated, when, if he remains under the censure for a year, he is to be condemned as a heretic. under this process, which conveniently converted suspicion into formal heresy, justifying condemnation, testimony was superfluous and conviction certain, so that, although it cost some delay, we can understand the preference expressed for it. it simply required the party to be summoned, with the customary monitions, to defend himself in matters of faith and a special charge of heresy, under pain of excommunication. if he did not appear, the inquisitor ordered the fiscal to accuse his contumacy and to demand letters denouncing him as an excommunicate and then, if he persisted in his contumacy for a year, he was declared a formal heretic. the citations were made by the customary edicts, proclaimed and affixed to the church-doors of his domicile, and the excommunication was published in the churches with the customary solemnities. the second method was more speedy and was adapted to cases where the heresy could be completely proved. the accused was cited by edict to appear and prove his innocence, with steps similar to those used in summoning defenders in prosecutions of the dead; when the terms allowed were passed, if the evidence was conclusive, the absentee could be condemned without further delay. the third process was suitable for cases where the evidence, though incomplete, justified vehement presumption. an edict was issued against the accused summoning him to appear within a specified time and furnish canonical purgation, with notice that, if he did not present himself, or if he failed in his purgation, he would be held as convicted and be treated accordingly. this was the simplest and speediest, but the instructions say that, although rigorous, it was well grounded in law, and inquisitors, at their discretion, could adopt either of the three courses as best adapted to the case in hand.[232] the first of these methods, utilizing the device of contumacy became the one almost universally employed, when time was of no consequence but, in the impatient temper of the early period, speedier processes were preferred. the case of sancho de ciudad and marí díaz his wife, was tried by the second process and will serve as an illustration. sancho was regidor of ciudad real and a well-known citizen. on november 14, 1483, the fiscal represented that many persons defamed for heresy had fled from the inquisition, among whom notoriously were sancho and his wife, whom he intended to accuse, and he asked the inquisitor, on receiving due proof, to cite them to appear. two witnesses then deposed that it was notorious that they were absent and, as they had departed about fifteen days before the inquisition came, it presumably was through fear. the edict was issued and the case took its course, all citations and summonses being gravely pronounced before sancho's house by a notary as though he were personally on trial. when the case reached the stage of proof, the fiscal presented thirty-four witnesses--the most damaging one being sancho's daughter catalina, who gave the names of her brothers and of numerous others accustomed to assemble in her father's house to participate in jewish ceremonies. all the formalities of the trial were observed and duly notified before sancho's door. by january 22, 1484, the consulta de fe voted for relaxation, which sancho was duly summoned to hear read, and it was read in the audience-chamber, january 30th, empowering the authorities of any place, where sancho and his wife might be found, to inflict on them the penalties of the law, and meanwhile, as their persons could not be had, it ordered their effigies then present, to be subjected to the execution of the said penalties.[233] [sidenote: _prosecution of the absent_] if there is something grotesque in all this, at least the proceedings were decently in order and, if sancho and his wife had cared to risk it, they could have been heard. how hurried and informal the process sometimes was is manifested by a case at guadalupe in 1485. on july 13th three witnesses were heard as to ten persons who had left that place from twelve to sixteen years before, and of whom public fame reported that they had gone to málaga or to some other moorish town, and had turned jews. on july 21st the fiscal presented his accusation, asking for sentence without previous citation or other notice, because by law in such cases and crimes of heresy, when notoriety is proved, nothing further is required. this was expressly assented to in the sentence, although it alluded to some kind of citation with three terms, published in the plaza and affixed to the church-doors, and also to a consulta de fe, but all this was probably mythical for, in an auto de fe held on august 1st, seven of the parties were included in one sentence, their effigies were relaxed to the secular arm and their property was declared to be confiscated, while judges everywhere were empowered to seize and proceed against them.[234] neither of the three methods described in the instructions of 1484 could have been employed in the interval of eighteen days between denunciation and execution, but, as one of the inquisitors was francisco de la fuente, an experienced judge from the tribunal of ciudad real, we must presume that there was nothing irregular in this quick despatch. although in these sentences the condemned is abandoned to any secular justice for burning, the whole proceeding was merely designed to secure the confiscations and enhance the solemnities of the autos de fe with additional comburation of effigies. its nullity in other respects was admitted by the rule that, if a culprit who had been burnt in effigy should return spontaneously, confessing and repenting, he could be admitted to reconciliation or, if he asserted his innocence, he was to be heard in his defence. this was decreed by torquemada, october 10, 1493, with the reservation that it was a matter of grace and did not affect the confiscation. in 1494 there was a further provision that, if the condemnation had been the result of false-witness, it was the duty of the inquisitors to revoke the sentence _ex officio_, without awaiting the appearance of the convict.[235] no change of importance was introduced in the procedure by the instructions of 1561. in practice, the prosecution for contumacy was the one ordinarily employed; the second method was sometimes used when the testimony was complete and the third, summoning the accused to compurgation, became obsolete. the formula of the sentence, in the first method, avoids all allusion to the crimes alleged against the accused and bases the condemnation wholly on his remaining for a year under excommunication, thus proving himself to be an apostate heretic, the penalties for which are to be executed on his person, if it can be had and, in his absence, upon the effigy representing him.[236] of course condemnation to the stake was inevitable, when once the process was commenced, whether there was substantial evidence against the accused or not. some authorities held that, whenever he could be caught, he was to be burnt, but simancas expresses the considerate practice of the inquisition in assuming that he is entitled to a hearing, whether he presents himself spontaneously or is captured, for there is no prescription of time against defence; if he comes within a year he can plead against confiscation, but after the year he can be heard only as to himself, unless he is manifestly innocent or has been detained by a just impediment.[237] it may justly be doubted whether any fugitive was ever burnt for contumacy, and the ordinary practice is seen in the case of nine judaizers of beas, whose arrest was ordered by the tribunal of murcia, april 5, 1656. when the warrants reached beas, april 12, they were found to have departed secretly about the end of february. five of them were traced to málaga and four were reported to have gone to pietrabuena, but all efforts to capture them failed and, on july 27th, the fiscal asked for edicts of citation. the regular process in contumacy followed leisurely, ending in a sentence of relaxation if the culprits should be found and if not, that their effigies should be burnt. this was confirmed by the suprema and was pronounced december 5, 1659, and executed april 13, 1660, in an auto de fe at seville. nearly twenty years later two of the fugitives, ana enríquez and her husband diego rodríguez silva, were arrested at daimiel. they were tried anew; the previous records were brought from murcia and used, as well as evidence concerning their career during the interval. there was no thought of executing the former sentence; the consulta de fe voted for reconciliation with two years of prison and sanbenito, which the suprema changed to perpetual irremissible, and it was duly published in an auto de fe of december 17, 1679.[238] [sidenote: _burning of effigies_] dilatory as were the proceedings _in absentia_ in this case, they were speedy when compared with some others. the valladolid tribunal issued a warrant of arrest against the capitan enrique enríquez, june 6, 1650, but he eluded it. his trial for contumacy dragged on until july 30, 1659, when sentence was rendered, confirmed by the suprema november 24th and sent to seville, to be executed in the auto de fe of april 13, 1660.[239] it would appear that these delays did not please the suprema for, in 1666, it called upon the tribunals to report the sentences agreed upon against the absent and dead and to push forward all unfinished trials. to this barcelona replied that it had in hand three cases of absentees guilty of "propositions," two of bigamy, one of a fraile who was said to have fled to france in order to embrace protestantism, and another of a dead huguenot--all of which would indicate that these cases constituted a considerable portion of the diminishing business of the tribunals. the suprema thereupon ordered that if, on examination, prosecution appeared to be called for, the cases should be followed up closely to a vote in the consulta de fe, which was to be submitted to it for decision.[240] effigies of the dead and absent continued to be one of the attractions of the autos de fe. in the great madrid celebration of 1680, the procession was headed with thirty-four, of which all but two were burnt; they bore mitres with flames, on their breasts were placards with their names in large letters and some of them carried chests containing their bones.[241] at that of granada, in 1721, there were no living persons burnt, but there were seven effigies, and the chronicler of the occasion assures us that the glory of catholic zeal is acquired as much by carrying to the flames the dead as the living and, in this case, the inquisitors, the alguacil mayor and the secretaries bore them in the procession. fired by this example, after the sentences were read, the ministers of the royal chancellería exultingly carried them from the staging to the brasero where they were burnt.[242] even as late as 1752, at llerena, there were six effigies of fugitives and one of a dead woman.[243] * * * * * it will be seen from this presentation of facts from the records that the inquisitorial process, as developed in the spanish holy office, so far from being the benignant and equitable procedure asserted by its representatives and re-echoed by modern apologists, was one which violated every principle of justice. the guilt of the accused was assumed in advance; the prosecution was favored in every way; the defence was so crippled as to be scarce more than a pretext, while the judge, who was in reality the prosecutor, was shielded, by impenetrable secrecy, from all responsibility except to the suprema. many cases cited above show that the arbitrary power thus conferred was not always abused, for the individuals were not necessarily as vicious as the system, but the power existed and its exercise for good or for evil depended on temperament and temptation.[244] book vii. punishment. chapter i. the sentence. in the infliction of punishment, the inquisition differed from secular courts in one important respect. public law provided for impenitent heresy death by fire and confiscation, and visited on the penitent and on descendants certain disabilities, but apart from these, in its extensive field of jurisdiction over penitent heresy, suspected heresy and other offences, the inquisition had full discretion and was bound by no rules. it was the only tribunal known to the civilized world which prescribed penalties and modified them at its will. in this, as in so much else, it combined the legislative and the executive functions.[245] * * * * * the culmination of the work of the tribunal was the sentence which embodied the result of its labors and decided the fate of the accused. in all cases that appeared in public autos de fe, the sentence was publicly read, and the opportunity was not lost of impressing on the minds of the people the lofty duties of the holy office and the enormity of the guilt which merited such chastisement. it afforded an occasion for the display of power, which was turned to the best account. there were two forms of sentence--_con meritos_ and _sin meritos_. the former recited at length the misdeeds of the culprit; the latter was briefer and merely stated the character of the offence. the consulta de fe, when it agreed upon a verdict, usually defined which form should be used, and also whether or not the culprit should appear in a public auto. this, in itself, was a severe infliction, aggravated by the reading of a sentence _con meritos_. for lighter cases the sentence was read in an _auto particular_, in the audience-chamber, of which there were several varieties, as will be seen hereafter. the sentence _con meritos_ commenced with a full recital of the details of the trial, through all the various steps of the cumbrous process, represented as a suit between the fiscal and the accused, and it specified the crimes proved against or confessed by the culprit. it was thus sometimes enormously long. in the famous case of magdalena de la cruz, a fraudulent _beata revelandera_, whose fictitious sanctity and miracles had deceived all spain throughout a long career, the reading of the sentence at córdova, may 13, 1546, occupied from six in the morning until four in the afternoon.[246] in the sentence of don pablo de soto, convicted of bigamy at lima, in 1761, all the examinations are detailed at full length, including information volunteered by him concerning persons and matters in no way connected with the case; the secretary appears to have copied verbatim the records of the successive audiences, as though to prolong the shame of the penitent.[247] after these prolix recitals there followed the verdict "christi nomine invocato," in which, if the trial had resulted in conviction, the inquisitors found that the fiscal had duly proved his charges, wherefore they must declare the accused guilty of the heresy alleged, with its corresponding penalties.[248] * * * * * [sidenote: _delayed until the auto de fe_] as a rule, prisoners were left in ignorance of their fate until, on the morning of the auto de fe, they were prepared for it by being arrayed in the insignia which designated their punishments. so jealously were they kept in the dark that, when the customary proclamation was made of an auto, fifteen days in advance, with drum and trumpet, the officials were not allowed to approach the inquisition, lest the inmates should hear the sounds and guess what was in preparation. at the great auto of lima, in 1639, we are told that, when the proclamation was made, the negro assistants of the gaoler were shut up in a place where they could not hear it, so that they might not carry the information to the prisoners, and the workmen employed in making the mitres, sanbenitos and crosses were assigned a room in the inquisition where they could labor unseen, under an oath of secrecy.[249] the effect of the sudden revelation, when it came, is indicated in the advice that it was better to give to those who were to appear their breakfasts in their cells than to wait until they were all brought together for the procession, for then there was shame and confusion and suffering, the fathers seeing their sons and the daughters their mothers in the sanbenitos and other insignia that designated their punishments.[250] the despair induced by the preceding long-drawn suspense occasionally found expression, as in the case of diego gonzález, who was reconciled for judaism in the valladolid auto of july 25, 1644. on the morning of that day, when the gaoler entered his cell to give him breakfast, he was found pale and faint, with the blood flowing freely from a wound in his arm, made with a nail from his bedstead, under the impression that he was to be burnt, and he had to be carried to the solemnity in a sedan-chair. llorente recounts a similar case, of which he was an eyewitness, in 1791, when a frenchman named michel maffre des rieux hanged himself in consequence of being thus kept in ignorance.[251] the object of the delay in thus communicating the sentence was to prevent appeals to the suprema. we have seen how, in opposing appeals to rome, the inquisition and the monarchs argued that they were wholly superfluous, in view of the appellate jurisdiction of the inquisitor-general, who was always prompt to rectify injustice committed by the tribunals, but this nominal opportunity was rendered for the most part illusory by this device of withholding knowledge of the sentence until appeal was impossible. this came about by degrees. originally it would seem that the tribunals exercised discretion as to withholding the sentence until the auto, although exceptions were rare. the instructions of 1561, while admitting a right of appeal in some cases, nullified it by ordering, in such cases, the tribunals to send the proceedings in advance to the suprema, without allowing the accused to know of it.[252] there evidently were contending influences, of justice on one side and convenience on the other, for in 1568 it was ordered that, in cases not of heresy, when the penalty was arbitrary, the culprit should be notified in advance of the auto de fe, and this was extended, in 1573, by instructions that, in cases admitting appeal, the parties should be notified in time to enable them to do so. this concession to justice caused trouble and, on april 11, 1577 the tribunals were ordered to report on the evils arising from it. apparently the inquisitors reported adversely for, on september 18th, they were ordered to return to the former practice of not notifying culprits prior to the auto de fe.[253] there was, however, quite an extensive class of cases in which the right of appeal was not completely cut off by this. these were the more trivial ones, in which the sentence was rendered in the audience-chamber, and in these both parties, the culprit and the fiscal, were required to assent on the spot, when either could appeal, for the fiscal had the same right as his opponent; it was included, in the commission issued to fiscals, in the long enumeration of their powers and duties, and was a right not infrequently exercised.[254] although the culprit thus had an opportunity to appeal, he was obliged to act without advice. in the case of maría cazalla, in toledo, december 19, 1534, when called upon to assent to her sentence in the audience-chamber, she asked for delay; then, in the afternoon, she begged to be allowed to consult her husband or her counsel and, on this being refused, she accepted the sentence.[255] still, as public autos diminished and private _autillos_ multiplied, the opportunity for appeals became more frequent and were sometimes successful. [sidenote: _appeals_] this was more apt to benefit ecclesiastics than laymen for, except in cases involving degradation, they were never exhibited in public autos; their sentences were read in the audience-chamber, and they were more likely than the ordinary culprit to possess the education and intelligence requisite to profit by the opportunity. cases of appeal by them are consequently not infrequent. fray lucas de allende, guardian of the franciscan convent of madrid, was one of the dupes of lucrecia de leon, an impostor who pretended in dreams to have converse with god and the saints. he busied himself in writing out her revelations and was tried at toledo, where he lay in prison from june, 1590, until april, 1596. he was sentenced to a reprimand and warning not to meddle with such matters, to accept certain definitions laid down by the tribunal, and to strict reclusion in a convent for a year. he vigorously protested that the sentence was absurd and he appealed from it, to which the fiscal retorted by likewise interjecting an appeal. the suprema heard both appeals and decided, july 30, 1596, by confirming the sentence as to reprimand and warning, and omitting the rest. even this did not satisfy the obstinate franciscan for when read to him, august 2d, he refused to accept it and appealed to the pope, but, on being warned to reflect well, he on the same day withdrew this appeal and submitted. there can be little doubt however that the inquisitors suppressed the revocation of part of the sentence, for there follows a petition from him to be allowed to visit his native villarubia before entering upon his reclusion, deceit of this kind being perfectly practicable in the profound secrecy of the tribunals.[256] more successful was the geronimite fray martin de cazares, prosecuted in valladolid for superstitious curing of the sick and sentenced, in 1655, to reprimand and four years' exile from certain places. the suprema had confirmed the sentence and yet on appeal from him it remitted the exile.[257] by this time the suprema was supervising all action of the tribunals and, as it gradually became the whole inquisition, appeals grew to be superfluous, yet the custom of withholding the sentence was persistent. there was one class of cases, however, in which notification of the sentence was always made prior to the auto de fe--those in which the culprit was condemned to relaxation. the object of this was to give him a chance of saving his soul by confession and conversion; in the earlier period the notification was short, being only at midnight before the auto, but this, as we shall see hereafter, was subsequently extended to three days. * * * * * in the medieval inquisition, the inquisitor, when rendering sentence, always reserved the right to modify it, in the direction either of mercy or of severity, or to remove it wholly. he could do this, for he was practically independent and irresponsible to any superior, the only authority over him being the distant and almost inaccessible holy see. the spanish inquisitor occupied a wholly different position, being held in strict and constantly increasing subordination to the suprema and, as commutations early became a source of large revenue, it is easy to understand that the tribunals were not permitted to participate in the proceeds. already in 1498, the instructions thus undertook to limit the power of inquisitors to modify sentences, by ordering that they should not grant commutations for money or favor or without just cause and, when such existed, the commutation must be into fasts, almsgiving and other pious uses; there could be no release from wearing the sanbenito and the rehabilitation of descendants was reserved for the inquisitor-general.[258] it was difficult to enforce restrictions which recognized any right of inquisitors to modify sentences and, in 1513, ximenes deprived them of it wholly and concentrated the power in the hands of the inquisitor-general.[259] it was wholly a matter of finance and we have seen (book <small>v</small>, chap, iii) how it was thenceforth utilized. the tribunal was recognized to have no power to modify a sentence when once pronounced; as an experienced writer says, although by common law inquisitors and ordinaries can change or mitigate sentences, it is otherwise under the instructions which declare that this is reserved for the inquisitor-general, the reason being that they have exhausted their powers.[260] [sidenote: _severity or benignity_] in the indies, where distance rendered application to the suprema virtually impossible, the tribunals seem to have retained the power of modifying sentences, even though they may rarely have exercised it. in 1663 an old woman, known as isabel de montoya, tried for sorcery in mexico, was sentenced to appear in an auto de fe with the sanbenito, to receive two hundred lashes and to serve for life in a hospital. in the audience-chamber, november 5th, the sentence was read to her, in presence of the fiscal and her advocate. with the assent of the latter, she begged that the sanbenito and the scourging be omitted; she had only been an impostor and had had no pact, expressed or implied, with the demon, and in view of her age and sickness and crippling in the torture she supplicated mercy. on november 7th the fiscal replied to this, asking an aggravation of punishment because it proved her to be an impenitent in denying her pact and intention. november 21st the consulta de fe assembled and unanimously confirmed its former sentence. the auto de fe was not celebrated until may 4, 1664; on the 6th she was duly scourged through the streets and on the 15th she was delivered to the hospital del amor de dios. her pitiful prayer, urging age and sickness, was justified for, on june 17th, a messenger from the hospital announced her death, and the inquisitors briefly ordered it to bury her.[261] * * * * * as regards cruelty, it is impossible to generalize, where in the earlier periods so much discretion was allowed to the tribunals, and so much depended on the temper of the inquisitors, who might be stern or humane. in the case of the obstinate heretic or of the _impenitente negativo_ there was no question; the law of the land and universal public opinion alike condemned him to the stake but, in the wide sphere of the penitent heretic and of the numerous offences of which the inquisition had cognizance, there was an ample field for the display of severity or benignity. against the barbarity of a case like that of isabel de montoya, which had too many parallels, may be set the tendencies of the toledo tribunal about 1600. in its reports to the suprema at that period there, frequently occur explanatory remarks, as though to apologize for the mildness of the sentences, which indicate its readiness to temper its judgements--such expressions as "she was a poor and ignorant woman," "she was simple and ignorant," "she was spared heavier penance because she was only sixteen years old," "she seemed a very simple and a very good woman," "recent baptism and drunkenness." occasionally, in bigamy cases, involving scourging and the galleys according to rule, the omission of these is justified by the age or weakness of the culprit. sometimes, but not often, the suffering which the prisoner has endured during prolonged imprisonment is taken into consideration, and is admitted as part of the punishment.[262] this tendency towards mercy becomes more marked in the period of decadence, when the humanitarian development of the age made itself felt even in the inquisition, and it offers a suggestive contrast to the savage fanaticism of the secular courts of a land which claimed to be more enlightened than spain. in 1765 a wooden crucifix on the bridge at abbeville was mutilated and the bishop of amiens published a _monitoire_ ordering, under pain of excommunication, any one having knowledge of the matter to denounce the offender. duval de saucourt, a counsellor in the court of abbeville, who was inimical to the abbess of villancourt, accused her nephew, the chevalier de la barre, a youth of nineteen. the only evidence was that he had once passed a procession without lifting his hat, that he had talked against the eucharist and had sung impious and licentious songs. he was doubtless irreligious and debauched, and his evil reputation sufficed, in the court of abbeville, to justify a sentence of amputating his tongue and right hand and burning him alive. appeal was made to the parlement of paris which, by a vote of fifteen to ten, confirmed the sentence, with the mitigation of beheading before concremation and this was duly executed, july 1, 1766.[263] the annals of the spanish inquisition offer nothing more hideous than this, and the comparison is the more instructive in that its penalty for sacrilegiously outraging an image of christ, the virgin or the saints, with aggravating circumstances, was merely appearance in an auto de fe with the insignia of a blasphemer, abjuration _de levi_ and a hundred lashes or vergüenza or exile, according to the character of the offence and of the culprit.[264] the inquisition boasted that it was no respecter of persons and, in one point at least, its rules offer a favorable contrast to those of the secular law. in spanish law the privileges of gentility were fully recognized and, for many crimes, the penalties assigned to gentle blood were much milder than those inflicted on the commonalty. this was reversed in the inquisition, where it was prescribed that, in matters of faith, nobles should be punished more severely than plebeians.[265] this was doubtless owing to the assumption that they were more intelligently trained and less exposed to error, besides the fact that their example was more impressive. on the other hand, however, the clergy, for whom less excuse could be found, were treated with much greater leniency than the laity and, far from being utilized as examples, their frailties and errors were shielded as much as possible from public view, in order not to diminish popular reverence for the church. [sidenote: _non-performance_] the penal resources of the inquisition, as we shall see, were endless. while, for certain well-defined offences, certain penalties were customary, the discretion of the consultas de fe was bound by no definite limitations as to what were known as _penas extraordinarias_, and they could devise whatever seemed appropriate to special cases. infinite gradations and intricate combinations were resorted to in the effort to fit the penalty to the offence of each individual, and also doubtless often to secure unanimity in the consulta de fe, so that not infrequently there are six or eight separate and distinct inflictions in a single sentence. it would be too much to expect that, in so composite an institution, during more than three centuries of existence, there should have been strict consistency in the exercise of this discretional power, but, making allowance for the infirmities of human nature under the temptation of irresponsibility, it can scarce be said that it habitually abused its authority, according to the barbarous standard of the times, except in the infliction of pecuniary penalties on which its finances depended, and in the vindication of its authority against all who dared to question its supremacy. it was callous to the sufferings of those whom it prejudged as guilty; it devised the most atrocious formulas of procedure; but, when it had secured confession or conviction, it was not systematically and ferociously cruel as has so often been asserted. * * * * * as regards the enforcement of the sentence, it is to be observed that the penalties divide themselves into two classes. some, such as relaxation, confiscation, fines, scourging, the galleys, reconciliation and abjuration, were within the power of the tribunal. others, like imprisonment, the sanbenito, exile and reclusion, depended to a greater or less degree on the will or the fears of the penitent. theoretically, as we have seen, punishment was regarded as penance, voluntarily accepted by the penitent for the salvation of his soul, but the inquisition, unlike the father confessor, did not rely wholly on the penitential ardor of the sinner. punishment retained enough of the character of penance to justify the theologian in treating its non-performance as a proof that repentance had been feigned, and that the offender had relapsed into heresy, the penalty for which, under the canons, was death by fire without trial. in the earlier time this was enforced in so far as was possible. thus, in 1486, at saragossa, rodrigo de gris, who had been condemned to perpetual imprisonment in a designated house, with the penalty of relapse for leaving it, escaped and was burnt in effigy as a relapsed and, in 1487, cristóval gelva, to whom the hospital of nuestra señora de la gracia was assigned as a perpetual prison, was burnt in effigy for escaping.[266] this continued for some time to be the theory but, in practice, while summoning the fugitive as an impenitent relapsed, to appear for judgement, it was deemed safer to proceed against him in the ordinary way _in absentia_, waiting for a year and prosecuting him for contumacy. such a case appears to be that of bartolomé gallego, who escaped in 1525 from the penitential prison of toledo and was condemned to relaxation in effigy, november 3, 1527.[267] some forty years later, pablo garcía explains that the suspicion arising from flight, joined with that of remaining under excommunication for a year, afforded sufficient proof for declaring the fugitive a relapsed heretic and relaxing his effigy. it was only when evidence could be had of subsequent acts of heresy that direct proceedings for relapse were justified, and this was decided in a case where a fugitive was relaxed in effigy, and the suprema revoked the sentence and rescinded the confiscation.[268] [sidenote: _non-performance_] the theory of relapse was evidently giving way. simancas tells us that, although supported by high authorities, it is cruel and false and not founded in law; the fugitive is impenitent, not relapsed; if he returns or is captured he is to be heard, and if prepared to obey the church, his flight only deserves an increase of penalty.[269] how rapidly the ancient severity was disappearing is manifested by a case in valencia, in 1570. pedro luis verga was prosecuted for protestantism on a vague accusation that, when studying in paris in 1555, he had consorted with the dreaded juan pérez and had shared his opinions, for which he was reconciled and sentenced not to leave the kingdom. he disobeyed and, in 1570, he was heard of in genoa, giving utterance to heretical opinions. now this was a case of relapse, as well as of non-fulfilment of penance, but he was prosecuted for contumacy as a simple fugitive.[270] it was an evidence that the old rule had become obsolete when inquisitors sometimes prescribed in their sentences that the penance was to be performed under pain of impenitent relapse, as in the case of juan franco, condemned at toledo, in 1570, to eight years of galleys for protestantism, and of juan cote, by the same tribunal, in 1615, to irremissible perpetual prison for the same heresy.[271] towards the middle of the seventeenth century, alberghini gives the various opinions held on the subject, and concludes that that of simancas was commonly accepted.[272] cases of non-fulfilment were not infrequent for, as we shall see, the discipline of the penitential prisons was exceedingly lax; any penitent could absent himself and then throw off the sanbenito, which was the customary accompaniment of imprisonment, but, although this was canonically relapse, such cases were treated with what in those days might be considered as mercy. thus diego gonzález, reconciled for judaism at valladolid, in 1644, and condemned to prison and habit, was recognized in 1645, at medina de rioseco, without the sanbenito. on being tried for this, the consulta de fe was not unanimous and the suprema sentenced him to a hundred lashes.[273] it was the same with sentences of exile. in 1667, at toledo, francisco lópez rodríguez, who had been reconciled in 1665 and had already been prosecuted for non-fulfilment of penance, was tried for doing so again, and was condemned only to a hundred lashes and two years more of exile. so in 1669, juan lópez peatin, for infraction of exile, had only two years added to the original term.[274] a curious case, however, in 1606, shows how penitents were expected to fulfil their penances. gaspar godet, a morisco, had been condemned at valencia to reconciliation, a hundred lashes, and perpetual prison, of which the first eight years were to be passed in the galleys. after five years' service, his galley was captured by the english, near lisbon, and he was set free. he ought strictly to have conveyed himself on board of another galley to serve out his term, but he seems to have imagined that he was released from his sentence; he quietly returned to his native torre de llovis and resumed his profession of surgeon. he was, of course, reported to the tribunal, which seized him in august, 1606, and condemned him not only to complete his sentence but to undergo a hundred lashes and to pay a fine of two hundred libras, although the maximum fine that could legally be imposed on a morisco was ten ducats.[275] the renewed activity of the inquisition, in the early eighteenth century, seems to have been accompanied with a recrudescence of severity in these cases. in the valencia auto de fe of february 24, 1723, antonio rogero was reconciled and condemned to irremissible prison and sanbenito. he escaped but was captured and, in the auto of march 12, 1724, he was condemned to two hundred lashes and five years of galleys, after which he was to be returned to prison, but the inquisitor-general mercifully commuted the scourging and galleys to five years of presidio, or labor in an african garrison. so, in the valencia auto of june 25, 1724, joseph ventura, of fez, a moorish convert, had been reconciled with three years of prison and sanbenito; he fled, was captured and, in the auto of july 1, 1725, his prison was made perpetual and irremissible; again he fled, to be again caught and, in the auto of september 17, 1725, he was condemned to five years of galleys, after which he was to be returned to prison.[276] [sidenote: _non-fulfilment of penance_] all these were cases of formal heresy, for relapse in which the canonical punishment was burning. for offences less heinous, which inferred only suspicion of heresy, there was an occasional practice of including in the sentence a penalty for non-fulfilment of the penance. this was in every respect an arbitrary matter, concerning which no generalization can be formulated, for it is frequently impossible to divine why, in a group of similar cases, some sentences should carry this threat and some should not. this apparently objectless diversity is markedly exhibited in the auto of may 13, 1565, at seville, where there were a large number of penitents thus arbitrarily differentiated. in the cases where the threat was employed, there was slender indication of mercy, for where exile for life or for a term of years was imposed, the penalty for non-fulfilment was that it should be completed in the galleys. in one case, that of abel jocis, for conveying arms to barbary, the sentence was merely a prohibition to sail to barbary, but a violation of this was visited with the galleys for life.[277] it should be added, however, for the credit of the inquisition, that it not infrequently made threats which it had not the cruelty to execute. thus the tribunal of toledo, on a charge of divination, banished from spain a priest named fernando betanzas, with a threat of the galleys for disobedience. not long afterwards the bishop of salamanca found and arrested him, and the suprema, december 22, 1636, ordered the tribunal of valladolid to investigate the case, after which the suprema contented itself with deporting him to portugal, and warning him that, if he returned again, he should be sent to the galleys.[278] the case of the augustinian fray diego caballero, in 1716, indicates how non-fulfilment of penance might convert into formal heresy that which was mere suspicion. for uttering unacceptable propositions, he had been sentenced by the tribunal of córdova to reclusion for four years in the convent of guadix. he fled from there and continued to repeat his erroneous utterances, for which the toledo tribunal pronounced him to be relapsed in grave crime and sentenced him to abjure _de vehementi_, to be suspended from his orders for a year, to perpetual deprivation of preaching, confessing and the right to vote and be voted for, to ten years' exile from a number of places, to four years' reclusion in a designated house, where for six months he was to be confined in a cell. he was also to wear a sanbenito, while his sentence was read in the audience-chamber, and the next day it was to be read to the assembled brethren of his toledo convent, who were to administer to him a circular discipline, and he was to forfeit half his peculium--and all this under pain of being held as an impenitent relapsed.[279] what is noteworthy here is not only the severity of this long accumulation of penalties, but also the abjuration _de vehementi_ which rendered reincidence in the abjured errors a matter for the stake. * * * * * in the medieval inquisition it may be said that acquittal was virtually prohibited--a sentence of not proven might possibly be rendered, but acquittal was an admission of fallibility and was regarded as a bar to subsequent proceedings in case further evidence was obtained.[280] this principle was maintained in the roman inquisition, although, in the eighteenth century, exception was made in cases where the adverse evidence was clearly proved to be fraudulent.[281] the spanish holy office was not quite so sensitive, and had no hesitation as to repeated prosecutions, so that to it acquittal was a less serious matter. moreover, while sentences of not proven were not unknown, there was an equivalent device by which the accused could be dismissed without admitting his innocence--suspending the case and discharging him, subject to the liability of its being reopened at any time. the furious zeal of torquemada rendered acquittal peculiarly distasteful to him, and we have seen above (vol. i, p. 175) a case in which he set aside acquittals at medina del campo, and insisted on conviction although, at his instance, the parties had been tried twice and had been tortured without confession. this temper on his part could not but impress itself on his subordinates, and yet we occasionally meet with acquittals in this early time--acquittals, however, which manifest a strange mental confusion, and betray the unwillingness to admit the prosecution of the innocent, for they couple acquittal with punishment. thus at guadalupe, in 1485, in the case of andrés alonso of trogillano, the sentence recites that the fiscal had not proved his accusation as fully as he ought, wherefore the inquisitors absolved the accused but, as the evidence aroused some suspicion in their hearts, for the satisfaction of their consciences and his, they sentenced him to abjure _de levi_ and, as some infamy had accrued to him from the accusation, they removed it and restored him to his former good repute, and lifted the sequestration on his property. whereupon he duly abjured _de levi_, renouncing all manner of heresy, and especially that of which he was accused, promising to be always obedient to the church, after which he was absolved _ad cautelam_ from any excommunication which he might have incurred, and of all this he asked to have a certificate.[282] all the acquittals that i have met, of this period, bear this illogical character, sometimes even requiring abjuration _de vehementi_ and inflicting penalties for the offence of which the accused is pronounced innocent. [sidenote: _acquittal_] in barcelona, the inquisition had been established twelve years before the first acquittal was granted, and, from such record as we have, it would appear that there were acquittals of more than one kind--conditional and unconditional. thus, in 1499, jayme castanyer and eufrosina pometa were acquitted, but were required to abjure publicly on may 2d, and, on october 5th, luys palau was acquitted. in 1500, on september 18th, four women were acquitted absolutely, two men were acquitted with penance, and two women and a man were acquitted with abjuration. then, on october 5th, the memory and fame of juan de ribes altes were cleared and, on december 20, 1501, blanquina darla was acquitted absolutely.[283] in a record of the toledo tribunal, from 1484 to 1531, there are eighty-six cases of acquittal, or an average of somewhat less than two per annum which, in view of the intense activity of the earlier period, indicates how few escaped when once the inquisition had laid its hand upon them. some of these cases show how long the conditional acquittal persisted. thus of those acquitted, hernando parral was required to abjure, and francisca ramírez and catalina beata negra abjured _de vehementi_. unless there is a mistake by the scribe, leonora de la oliva of ciudad real was acquitted and scourged, october 3, 1521, and again had the same sentence october 13, 1530. in 1520 alonso hernández was acquitted with public penance and, in 1513, sancho de ribera was acquitted with confiscation. one entry is difficult of comprehension--that of inez gonzález, who was voted to acquittal with reconciliation and confiscation, but the confiscation was remitted.[284] practically acquittal amounted only to a sentence of not proven. in the formula for it, pablo garcía calls special attention to the omission of the word "definitive," pointing out that it is not final, for the case could be reopened at any time that fresh evidence was obtained--and even without it, as we have seen in the case of villanueva. in matters of faith there was no finality, no _cosa juzgada_, and it was so declared by pius v, in the bull _inter multiplices_, invalidating all letters of absolution and acquittal issued by inquisitors and other spiritual judges.[285] in strict accordance with this principle was the rule that sentences of acquittal of the living were not to be read at the autos de fe, unless at their especial request, while acquittals of the dead were read; in either case, the sentence simply stated that he had been accused of heresy and no details were given; if living he did not appear at the auto and if dead there was no effigy.[286] all this was in direct contradiction to the glowing eulogy of páramo who, as we have seen, states that the inquisitors used every means to prove the innocence of the accused and, when they succeeded, took care that he should go forth like a conqueror crowned with laurel and the palm of victory.[287] yet páramo had some justification in the fact that there were rare exceptional cases in which the acquitted was thus honored. the only instance of this that i have met in spain was that referred to above (vol. ii, p. 561), where fourteen residents of cádiz were falsely accused. in peru, however, several cases are recorded. in the lima auto of 1728 doctor agustin valenciano appeared in the procession on a white horse, with a palm, and proclamation was made of his innocence. in the great auto of january 23, 1639, there were seven thus honored after their three years of incarceration, and in that of october 19, 1749, the effigy of don juan de loyola, who had died in prison in 1745, headed the procession, bearing a palm. this last case is perhaps explicable by jesuit influence, for he was of the family of st. ignatius, and further reparation was made by creating his brother, don ignacio de loyola y haro alguazil mayor of the tribunal, while three nephews were made familiars.[288] the reluctance of the tribunals to pronounce a sentence of acquittal is illustrated in the case of francisco marco, tried at barcelona for bigamy, in 1718. unable to prove the charge, which was punishable with scourging and galleys, the tribunal sentenced him to have his sentence _con meritos_ read in the audience-chamber, to be reprimanded and threatened, and to be banished from barcelona and madrid for six years. in the earlier period this sentence would have stood, but by this time the suprema was in full control and it expressed great surprise at so unjust a decision, inflicting so foul a stigma on the accused. it declared null and void all the acts of the process, it ordered marco to be discharged at once, and that the inquisitors should defray out of their salaries all the cost of his imprisonment.[289] [sidenote: _suspension_] the indisposition to acquit found expression in the device known as suspension. when the effort to convict failed, the case could be suspended, thus leaving matters as they stood; the accused was neither acquitted nor convicted, the case could at any moment be reopened and prosecuted to the end, and it hung over the unfortunate victim while it saved the infallibility of the tribunal. the earliest allusion to it that i have met occurs in the instructions of 1498, which show that it was a usage already established and abused, for it is forbidden in prosecutions of the dead, except when further evidence is expected, and acquittal is ordered when the proof is imperfect, because there are many cases of suspension that inflict hardship through the sequestrations continuing in force.[290] suspension was a convenient resource for a tribunal, unable to convict yet unwilling to acquit, and desirous to conceal its failure. at first it was comparatively rare, but in time it became a favorite method of escaping a decision and, as it gradually, for the most part, replaced acquittal, in its development it might even remove the stigma; in the great majority of cases it was practically the end of the matter, and it was usually accompanied with lifting the sequestration. some authorities held that a case could not be entered as suspended, if there was enough in it to justify a reprimand, or even when the offence was trivial and the defendant was cautioned not to speak or act in that fashion, but this rigidity of definition was not observed in practice. when suspension was decided upon, the accused was not permitted to know it. he was simply brought into the audience-chamber; if he had been confined in the secret prison he was put through the customary inquiries as to what he had seen and heard, and was sworn to secrecy; he was told that for just reasons he was granted the favor of returning home and that he must seek to discharge his conscience for his case was still pending.[291] this mystery served to keep him in suspense, but, after he found the sequestration or embargo lifted from his property, he could doubtless fathom its meaning. if he demanded a definite sentence of conviction or acquittal, he had the right to do so, but i have met with no instance of this, and few could have been hardy enough thus to tempt their fate. if he asked for a certificate that he was freely discharged, or that his case was suspended, it was not to be given, but the suprema might grant him one to the effect that he was discharged without penance or condemnation.[292] suspension wholly without penance was, however, unusual, for the infallibility of the inquisition was commonly emphasized by accompanying it with some infliction, more or less severe. the lightest of these was the reprimand and warning administered when discharging the accused. in 1650 the tribunal of toledo summarily got rid of quite a number of cases in this fashion--four on june 18th, two on the 25th and three on the 30th, and those were fortunate who escaped so lightly. about the same time, doña gabriela ramírez de guzman, accused of superstitious sorcery, was not only reprimanded, when her case was suspended, but was banished for a year from toledo and madrid, and the same penance was assigned to domingo de acuña, when his trial for propositions was suspended.[293] how little incongruity was recognized in this is illustrated by the case of martin mitorovich, at madrid, in 1801, when one of the inquisitors voted to suspend the case and confine him for life in the hospital of ceuta.[294] in fact, as suspension grew more frequent in the closing years of the inquisition, it was often coupled with severe inflictions. thus, august 30, 1815, the tribunal of llerena suspended the case of maría del carmen cavallero y berrocal, but sentenced her to reprimand, two hundred lashes and three years' seclusion in a hospital; at the same time, in view of her ingenuous confession, the scourging was suspended until her amendment should earn its forgiveness, and the same phrases were used with her accomplice, nicolás sánchez espinal, who was sentenced to reprimand, certain spiritual exercises and perpetual exile from the province.[295] [sidenote: _admission to bail_] in cases like these, however, suspension had somewhat outgrown its original purpose of a substitute for acquittal, and was a more than doubtful mercy, for the case remained unconcluded, though visited with full penalties, and could at any moment be reopened. that originally it was merely a convenient device for escaping the admission of having prosecuted the innocent is manifested by cases of which the records are full. thus, in 1607, francisco dendolea, a morisco of xea, was tried at valencia on the evidence of a witness that, when _limosnero_ or almoner of xea, he had, under pretext of begging for the poor, used his office to serve notices of the commencement of the fast of ramadan and give other ceremonial instructions. he proved that he never was limosnero and the charge fell to the ground, but the case was merely suspended. so, in 1653, doña isabel del castillo was prosecuted for judaism at toledo. she had previously been reconciled at valladolid, and it was found that the evidence related to a period prior to the reconciliation. she of course ought to have been acquitted, but the case was suspended.[296] even more self-evident is the case of the benedictine padre francisco salvador, tried at valladolid, in 1640, for sundry propositions presented in a competition for a professorship. the consulta de fe voted to suspend the case and the suprema, in confirming the sentence, added that a certificate should be given to him that no offence had been found that would in any way prejudice him.[297] there was also a kind of imperfect or informal acquittal, which consisted in admitting the accused to bail at the end of the trial. it saved the tribunal from the trouble of a decision and of an acknowledgement that the prosecution had been in error, but it was cruel to the party involved, as it left him but partly liberated and with the stigma of heresy. its working is fairly exemplified by the case of petronila de lucena, tried in 1534, at toledo on a charge of lutheranism. after nearly a year's incarceration, her brother, also under trial, revoked in the torture the evidence which he had given against her. there was no other testimony, yet she was not acquitted but merely released, march 20, 1535, under bail of a hundred thousand maravedis, to present herself when summoned. the security was furnished and she was delivered to the bondsmen as her gaolers. on june 27th, she petitioned for release, for the discharge of the bondsmen and for the removal of the sequestration, which included some articles of personal necessity in the hands of the gaoler; she was, she pleaded, poor and an orphan, she needed the property and wished to be free to dispose of herself. no notice was taken of this and, sixteen months later, on october 20, 1536, she applied again; this time an order to lift the sequestration was issued, but there is no record of her having been released from subjection to bail. she thus remained under the ban and, at the age of 25, the two careers open to a spanish woman--marriage and the nunnery--were virtually closed to her.[298] there was yet another kind of acquittal, still more informal, in which the accused was simply discharged and bade to be gone, without a sentence, leaving him under the dreadful uncertainty of what might be his position. an instance of this is the case of miguel mezquita, tried for lutheranism at valencia, in 1536. the evidence was of the flimsiest, and the inquisitors merely ordered him to be released from prison without making further provision.[299] the comparative frequency of these various forms of release, in the earlier period, may be inferred from the record of the toledo tribunal from 1484 to 1531, in which there are eighty-six cases of acquittal, to only four of suspension, four of release under bail, and two of simple discharge--the latter forms thus being negligible quantities.[300] the proportions changed rapidly with time, showing how much more in harmony with the spirit of the institution were the forms which evaded acknowledgement of error. a record of the same tribunal, from 1575 to 1610, contains an aggregate of eleven hundred and seventy-two cases of all kinds, in which there were fifty-one acquittals, ninety-eight suspensions and thirty simple discharges.[301] this tendency continued with increasing development. a toledo record from 1648 to 1694, comprises twelve hundred and five cases, of which but six ended in acquittal, one in discharge for mistaken identity, and a hundred and four in suspension, nearly all of the latter coupled with a reprimand in the audience-chamber--apparently a scolding for having given the tribunal so much bootless trouble. the suspensions were, in nearly every case, ordered by the suprema, as though the inquisitors shrank from the admission which it involved.[302] [sidenote: _compurgation_] this repugnance existed to the last. in 1806, don matias brabo, an ex-agonizante and calificador of the saragossa tribunal, was tried in madrid on the charge of uttering certain propositions; he was acquitted but, in view of his disorderly life, especially in regard to the sixth commandment, he was sentenced to a reprimand, to fifteen days of spiritual exercises, and to make a general confession at such time as he could do so without disrepute.[303] the same spirit is seen in the instructions of the suprema, october 14, 1819, to the cuenca tribunal, authorizing the arrest and trial of maría martínez for propositions. in case, it says, the trial shows that she has not erred in the matters charged, or in anything else, she is to be reprimanded and warned and told that the tribunal is keeping a watch over her acts.[304] there was another kind of suspension, by far the most frequent of all. it often happened, especially in the later periods, that the _sumaria_, or collection of evidence against a presumed offender, proved insufficient to justify prosecution. in such cases it would be quietly voted to suspension; it was filed away in its place among the records, ready to be exhumed at any time, when further information might supply deficiencies and induce active proceedings. thousands of these abortive processes reposed in the _secreto_ of the tribunals, the subjects of which were unconscious of the dangers which had threatened them, or that their names were on the lists of suspects of the dreaded tribunal. that they were kept under surveillance is indicated by an occasional note, such as one respecting a certain johann wegelin, a calvinist--"there is a sumaria which has been withdrawn because he became insane and returned to his own country," or in another case "suspended because he died in 1802."[305] * * * * * yet, taking it as a whole, when we consider that the inquisitorial system was so framed as to put every temptation in the way of the judges to condemn, for the sake of confiscations, fines, penances, dispensations and commutations, it is rather creditable that acquittals and suspensions should occur in the records even as frequently as we find them there, though of course we have no means of knowing whether those who thus escaped were among the wealthy or the poor. * * * * * there was still another possible form of sentence. the barbarians who overthrew the roman empire brought with them an ancestral custom, known as compurgation or, in england, as the wager of law, by which a defendant, in either a civil or criminal action, could maintain his title or his innocence by taking an oath and bringing a specified number of men who swore to their belief in its truth. they were known as conjurators or compurgators and were in no sense witnesses; they pretended to no knowledge of the facts but only to their confidence in the veracity of their principal. this crude method of establishing the truth was maintained in all the lands occupied by the teutonic tribes except in spain, where the wisigoths early yielded to the influence of the roman law. it was eagerly adopted by the clergy, who found in it a convenient means of escaping from the harsher expedients of the ordeal or the wager of battle, so that it acquired the name of canonical purgation.[306] in the thirteenth century, the inquisition found it used in the trial of heretics and necessarily included it among the resources for doubtful cases, although inquisitorial methods were too thorough to call for its frequent employment. the spanish inquisition naturally inherited compurgation among the other traditions of the institution. when conviction could not be had by evidence or torture, and yet the suspicion was too grave to justify acquittal, it could sentence the accused to undergo compurgation. he could not demand it, nor could he decline it, though he might appeal from the sentence; and failure in compurgation was equivalent to conviction, while success was not acquittal but required abjuration and penance at the discretion of the tribunal, because, although legally shown not to be a heretic, the accused had to be punished for "suspicion." [sidenote: _compurgation_] the early instructions are silent on the subject, and such cases of the period as i have met indicate that there was no rigidly prescribed method of procedure, although, in the main, they accord in showing it to be a kind of trial by jury, after the tribunal had failed to reach a decision. the general features of the process can be gathered from the case at saragossa of beatriz beltran, wife of the juan de la caballería, accused of complicity in the murder of san pedro arbues, who died in prison and was relaxed in effigy in the auto of july 8, 1491. she was put on trial for judaism in 1489; the evidence against her was by no means decisive, while the defence discredited the witnesses and proved by abundant testimony her devotion to the church, her regular attendance at mass and confession for more than twenty years, her liberality in the celebration of masses and her long hours spent in daily prayer. she could not be tortured in view of her advanced age and severe infirmities and, on august 9, 1492, the consulta de fe voted unanimously that, as torture was out of the question, she be sentenced to canonical purgation, at the judgement of the inquisitors when, if she should purge herself, she should abjure publicly as vehemently suspect of heresy and of judaizing, and should perform penance at the discretion of the tribunal. the next day the inquisitors pronounced that she was not convicted but vehemently suspect, wherefore she should purge herself with twelve conjurators. they were duly selected and a term of three days was assigned, within which the ceremony should be performed. they assembled in the aljafería on august 23d, when the publication of evidence and the defence were read to them. she was sworn to tell the truth and was asked whether she had committed these crimes, to which she replied in the negative and was then removed from the room. the inquisitors again read the accusatory evidence and the defence, the compurgators were sworn to tell the truth, and the inquisitors polled them. the first one, pedro monterde, said that he believed beatriz to have sworn truly, for he had known her for fifteen years and had always held her to be a good christian, the rest unanimously concurred and the purgation was successful. then, on september 8th, she appeared in an auto as a penitent and, on the 17th, she abjured all heresies and especially those of which she was vehemently suspected, after which the inquisitors rendered sentence, declaring her to be vehemently suspect of the crimes which she had abjured and, as these suspicions and crimes could not be left unpunished, they penanced her with forbidding her to commit these crimes, with the payment of all costs of her trial, the taxation of which they reserved to themselves, and with performing such penance as they might impose on her. the record fails to inform us what was that penance, but it probably transferred to the tribunal a large portion of the property that had escaped her husband's confiscation.[307] the threat that failure would imply condemnation was by no means an idle one. about this time, fray juan de madrid was tried before the tribunal of toledo; there was much adverse evidence in full detail, and the only defence lay in disabling the witnesses. this was partially successful, but enough remained to justify the inquisitors in saying in the sentence that he could have been condemned on it but that, in benignity and mercy, he was offered compurgation. he willingly accepted it and named his compurgators, but half of them refused to sustain his oath of denial, declaring that through their knowledge of him they held him as suspect. this was conclusive; he was considered to be convicted of the charges and the consulta de fe had no hesitation in voting him to relaxation. in like manner, on february 3, 1503, jayme benet was burnt at barcelona because he failed in the compurgation enjoined on him.[308] a change, probably attributable to the growing desire for absolute secrecy, prescribed by the instructions of 1500, altered profoundly the prevailing theory of compurgation, for it prohibited the reading to the compurgators of the evidence and defence. in their presence the accused was to deny under oath the charges which were recapitulated by the inquisitors, and the compurgators were simply to be asked whether they believed that he swore the truth, and no other questions.[309] there seems to have been some trouble in abrogating the custom of reading the evidence, for the prohibition had to be repeated in 1514.[310] [sidenote: _compurgation_] in the project presented to charles v, in 1520, by the conversos, with the object of rendering the inquisitorial process less effective, there was included a modification of compurgation in such wise as to facilitate escape.[311] of course no attention was paid to this, but that some alteration of the process was required by justice is manifest from one or two minor reforms soon afterwards. in 1523 it was ordered that the fiscal should not be present after the compurgators were sworn, which is suggestive of his influencing them adversely. still more essential was a regulation of 1529, forbidding those who had testified against the accused from serving as his compurgators.[312] apparently it was one of the results of suppressing the names of witnesses that the poor wretch, in his ignorance, would sometimes call upon those to save him who had been procuring his destruction, and the inquisitors had not sufficient sense of justice to exclude them, although they had power to refuse admission to any one supposed to be friendly to him. there was also a favorable modification of the ancient practice requiring unanimity on the part of the conjurators, for simancas tells us that the inquisitors, when specifying the number to act, could also designate how many defections would be allowed without prejudicing the result.[313] yet by the middle of the century, when simancas wrote, compurgation was becoming obsolete. he denounces it as blind, perilous and deceitful, and says that it especially should not be forced upon those of jewish or moorish descent, for it is equivalent to sending them on the direct road to the stake, since no one could help thinking ill of them, or at least doubting their innocence. besides, nearly all men are now so corrupt, and christian charity is so cold, that scarce any one can be found who will purge another, or who will not have an evil suspicion and interpret matters for the worst. to defeat the accused it suffices for the conjurators to say that they do not know, or that they doubt whether he has told the truth, and who is there who will not feel uncertain when he knows that no one is exposed to purgation unless he is vehemently suspected.[314] this is echoed by the instructions of 1561, which indicate how compurgation was passing out of use by the brief allusion vouchsafed to it. it is to be performed in accordance with the instructions, with such number of compurgators as the consulta de fe may prescribe, but inquisitors must bear in mind that the malice of men at the present time renders it perilous, that it is not much in use, and that it must be employed with the utmost caution.[315] still, subsequently to this, pablo garcía gives full and curious details as to procedure, which show how it had become hedged around with limitations that rendered it a desperate expedient for the accused. the compurgators had to be old christians, zealous for the faith, who had known the accused for a specified number of years, and were not of kin or well disposed towards him. he was required to name more than the number designated, so as to allow for those who might have died or be absent, showing that he had to act in the solitude of the cell where perhaps he had been confined for years. when the sentence of compurgation was announced to him, he was given a certain term in which to make his selection and, if he allowed this to elapse, he was at the discretion of the tribunal. no communication with the compurgators was allowed, and when they were assembled each one was separately and secretly examined to ascertain whether he lacked any of the necessary qualifications, what were his relations with the accused, whether he would give anything to secure his discharge, whether any one had spoken with him and asked him to serve, or whether he had intimated to any of the kindred that he was willing to act. while thus carefully guarding against possible friendship, it is significant that there is no instruction to inquire into possible enmity. the ceremony was performed with considerable impressiveness. on the table of the audience-chamber there were placed with much solemnity a cross, the gospels, and two lighted candles. the prisoner was brought in, his list of selections was read to him and he was asked if he recognized them, to which he assented and said that he presented them as his compurgators. they were then asked if they wished to serve or not; if they accepted, a solemn oath was taken by the prisoner to tell the truth and not to conceal it for fear of death or of loss of property or of honor or for any other reason. the inquisitors then recited the charges which created vehement suspicion and asked him, under his oath, whether he was guilty of them and, after he had answered, he was led back to his cell. then, if necessary, the nature of compurgation was explained to the compurgators and they were sworn to answer truly and not to deny the truth for hate, or love, or fear, or affection, or other motive. they were kept apart, without communication with each other, and each was examined separately and in secret whether he understood what had passed and whether, in accordance with what he knew of the accused, he believed that he had told the truth, and after replying he was made to promise secrecy under pain of excommunication. the answers were carefully taken down and were signed by the compurgators.[316] [sidenote: _compurgation_] conducted after this fashion it is easy to understand why compurgation should be characterized as blind and perilous. the accused had to make his selection blindly, and the qualifications required of conjurators almost insured their unfavorable opinion, at a time when the operations of the inquisition had caused every man to look upon his neighbor with suspicion, especially when that neighbor was one whom the tribunal required to undergo compurgation. yet, although the inquisition thus risked little in subjecting doubtful cases to it, there was ample reason for allowing it to fall into desuetude. secrecy had become a cardinal principle in all inquisitorial proceedings and it was violated by calling in a dozen laymen to see the prisoner, to hear the charges against him and to participate in the judgement to be passed upon him. besides, it was an acknowledgement that there were cases in which the assumed omniscience and infallibility of the holy office were at fault, and had to be supplemented by the random opinions of a few men selected by the accused. as practised for centuries in the ecclesiastical courts, it had been an easy method for the guilty to escape merited chastisement; as modified by the inquisition, it became a pitfall for the innocent; it was wholly at variance with the inquisitorial process as developed in spain and, while its place in the canon law prevented its formal abolition, the tribunals had exclusive discretion as to its employment, and that discretion was used to render it obsolete. still, it maintained its place as a legal form of procedure. even as late as 1645, among the interrogatories provided for a visitation, the question was still retained as to whether the forms of the instructions were observed in canonical compurgation, although a writer of the same period tells us that it is not to be employed because, if the accused overcomes sufficient torture, he is to be discharged.[317] in the roman inquisition we find compurgation ordered as late as 1590, in the case of a priest of piacenza, accused of certain heretical propositions; the compurgators were to be five beneficed priests of good character and acquainted with the life of the accused. if the purgation was successful he was to be proclaimed of good repute as to the faith, and was to perform salutary penance for the imprudence of his utterances.[318] by the middle of the seventeenth century, however, carena tells us that it had been virtually disused by the congregation, as most perilous, fallacious and uncertain.[319] * * * * * from this brief review of the various characteristics of the sentence, it will be seen that the inquisition had at hand formulas adapted to every possible exigency, in the administration of its extensive and highly diversified jurisdiction. until the development of the authority of the suprema over the local tribunals, the use made of these formulas depended on the temperament of the individual inquisitors, shielded as they were from responsibility by secrecy and by the virtual suppression of the right of appeal, except in trivial matters. it must be borne in mind, moreover that, even when their sentences may seem merciful, there was always behind them the most grievous infliction of an infamy which affected the honor and the fortunes of a whole lineage. chapter ii. minor penalties in the preceding chapter the general penal system of the inquisition has been considered, but for its proper comprehension a brief exposition of its several penalties is requisite. in this it is unnecessary to treat of confiscation and pecuniary penance which have already been discussed as constituting the financial basis of the existence of the holy office. reprimand. of the minor inflictions, the most nearly universal was the reprimand. it is naturally absent from the severer sentences of reconciliation and relaxation but, with these exceptions, scarce any defendant escaped it, no matter how groundless the accusation was proved to be, or how plainly his innocence was manifested. the freedom with which it was administered is evidenced in a phrase of frequent occurrence in the reports of the toledo tribunal--"as no offence was proved, he was reprimanded and warned for the future."[320] we have seen that some strict constructionists held that reprimand was incompatible with suspension, but that this principle was universally disregarded. the same authority asserts that no reprimand was to be administered without a formal sentence, but cases are numerous in which it is expressly recorded that the party was reprimanded without a sentence, and sometimes this was by the special command of the suprema. in the valladolid tribunal there were eight such cases in the year 1641.[321] to scold the defendant was one of the prerogatives of the inquisitor, from the use of which he rarely abstained, especially as it afforded the opportunity of expatiating on the benignity which imposed penalties so incommensurate with the offences. the severity of the infliction varied with his temper and power of invective, but constant practice rendered him skilful in detecting the sensitive places, and in applying the lash where it would be most keenly felt. there were those among the victims who regarded this as a severer penalty than a pecuniary penance, and it is not surprising that it occasionally drew forth remonstrance and retort, which were promptly suppressed by the infliction of a fine for the expenses of the tribunal.[322] no record was made of reprimands, beyond the fact of their utterance, but there is one which chances to have been preserved as it seems to have been carefully elaborated and reduced to writing. it was administered by the licentiate juan de mañozca, who had been president of the chancellery of granada, to an unlucky gentleman prosecuted for having said that belief in matters of faith was good breeding. he had made the case worse by arguing, in his defence, that he could conceive of no word more applicable to the matter than _cortesía_, and that his long residence at the court had familiarized him with all the niceties of the castilian tongue. for this, as a proposition ill-sounding and savoring of heresy, mañozca belabored him through ten closely-written pages of savage ridicule. "in the andalusian tunny fishery" he said "there may be seen an infinity of tunnies, the smallest of them as big as you, and yet not one of them will show the least particle of salt, although they have lived in the midst of salt." so he went on, quoting the scriptures, the classic poets and plato, to prove that the unfortunate culprit was an ignoramus, closely approaching a heretic. such ignorance was likened to the unfruitful ears of corn which, according to christ, are only fit to be swept up and burnt, and the diatribe concluded with the significant warning that it was the inquisition which gathered such worthless stocks and delivered them to the secular arm, that they might pass through temporal to eternal flame.[323] doubtless the culprit was a fool, but his folly merited no such terrific warning. abjuration. suspicion of heresy, as we have seen, was, in itself, a crime requiring punishment. in accusations of formal heresy which failed of proof, there remained, as a rule, at least suspicion, and there was besides a number of offences which, though not in themselves heretical, were brought under the jurisdiction of the inquisition by a more or less forced assumption that they inferred suspicion of heresy--that no one who believed rightly as to sacraments and points of doctrine could be guilty of them. in the old inquisition, this suspicion was classified as light, vehement or violent and these distinctions were retained in the new. violent suspicion, however, may be discarded from consideration here, for it sufficed for condemnation and, in practice, it admitted of no disproof or explanation for, although theoretically it might be explained away, this was but a bare possibility. as peña says, it created presumption of law, as when a man remained for a year under excommunication.[324] the distinction between light and vehement suspicion was somewhat nebulous. like everything else in the vague region of morals, it was incapable of accurate definition, and each case had to be decided on its own merits, according to the temper of the judges. alberghini's attempted test of infrequent or habitual performance of acts inferring suspicion fails utterly in practice and moreover leaves unsettled the more important and common class of cases where testimony was insufficient for conviction and yet too strong for acquittal.[325] moreover, suspicion might be modified by exterior circumstances, as when miguel calvo tells us that, with moriscos, however slender may be the suspicion, it must be treated as vehement.[326] it was evidently impossible to prescribe any absolute rule, and it is to the credit of the inquisition that it rarely pronounced suspicion to be vehement, while light suspicion occurs in almost all sentences short of reconciliation. thus, in the toledo record from 1648 to 1794, there are three hundred and fourteen abjurations _de levi_ and only fifty-one _de vehementi_--or about an average of one every three years.[327] whatever other punishment might be visited on suspicion, abjuration of heresy in general, and especially of the heresy suspected, was indispensable. this could be administered either in the audience-chamber, or in a public auto de fe, and was an impressive ceremony. in the face of a cross and with his hand on the gospels, the culprit swore that he accepted the catholic faith and detested and anathematized every species of heresy, and especially that of which he was suspect. he pledged himself always to keep the faith of the church and to be obedient to the pope and the papal decrees. he declared that all who opposed the catholic faith were worthy of condemnation, promising never to join them, but to persecute them and denounce them to prelates and inquisitors. he swore to receive patiently and humbly all penance imposed on him, and to fulfil it with all his strength. if the abjuration was for light suspicion, he consented and desired that, if he failed in any part of this, he should be held as impenitent and he submitted himself to the correction and severity of the canons, so that the penalties prescribed in them should be executed on his person, and finally he called upon the notary to record it and on all present to serve as witnesses. if the abjuration was for vehement suspicion, he consented and desired that, if he failed in his promises, he should be held and considered as a relapsed and suffer the penalties provided for relapse. this was the difference between abjuration _de levi_ and abjuration _de vehementi_, so often alluded to above, and it was of no small import under the canons. after the former, reincidence in the offence entailed no special penalty; it was at the discretion of the tribunal merely to repeat the previous sentence, or to aggravate it, as the case might appear to deserve. but, after the latter, reincidence was relapse, for which the canons decreed irrevocable burning, _ipso facto_ and without trial. to impress this on the penitent, his abjuration _de vehementi_ was written out and he was made to sign it. then, on the next day after the auto de fe, he was brought into the audience-chamber, it was read to him and he was warned to observe its conditions for, if he should again fall into any heresy whatever, he would be treated as a relapsed without mercy, and it would be the same if he did not perform the penance imposed.[328] [sidenote: _abjuration_] in spite of these impressive formalities, i think it doubtful whether, after the first furious rush of persecution was past, the extreme penalty of relaxation, for reincidence after abjuration _de vehementi_, was customary. as a rule, in the later periods, inquisitors rather endeavored to avoid relaxation and, while they were callous, they were not apt to be unnecessarily cruel. i have not happened to meet with such a case, while i have found more than one in which the canons were not observed. in fact, a learned writer of the second half of the seventeenth century argues elaborately, with the citation of many authorities, to show that reincidence after abjuration _de vehementi_ does not incur the punishment of relapse, despite the penalties expressed in the formula, and this would appear to have been tacitly accepted, for a custom arose of specifying in the sentence whether or not the abjuration should entail the penalty. thus, in 1725 at cuenca, doctor zapata, accused of judaism, was required to abjure _de vehementi_ with liability to relaxation, while in 1794, at toledo, damaso josé lópez de cruz, for heretical propositions, was sentenced to similar abjuration without such liability.[329] there was another distinction between the two forms of abjuration, for those who abjured _de vehementi_ were subject to the disgrace of appearing in an auto de fe and of wearing a sanbenito _de media aspa_--or with one band of color across it, before and behind.[330] the instructions of 1561 state that, when there is semi-proof, or such indications that the accused cannot be acquitted, there are three remedies, compurgation, torture or abjuration; but this is scarce correct, for those who succeeded in compurgation were always, and those who overcame torture were generally, required to abjure. the instructions add that abjuration, whether for light or vehement suspicion, is rather a measure to inspire fear for the future than a punishment for the past, and therefore it is usually accompanied with pecuniary penance.[331] in fact, it was only in trifling cases, or in suspensions, that abjuration was not associated with much severer penalties. this was inevitable in the large class of offences which, by a strained construction, inferred suspicion of heresy. in these, when guilt was proven, it received its appropriate punishment, perhaps of scourging or the galleys, and the abjuration was a mere formality to satisfy the artificial ascription of heretical belief. in cases of suspicion of real heresy, abjuration, whether _de levi_ or _de vehementi_, was a necessary adjunct to the punishment. thus in the toledo auto of february 7, 1694, luis de vargas, for "suspicions of judaism," was sentenced to abjure _de levi_, to pay a fine of two hundred ducats and to be exiled for six years from various places. so, in 1715, at toledo, the carmelite fray francisco martínez de salazar, "for crimes vehemently suspect of heresy," appeared in the audience-chamber with a sanbenito _de media aspa_, in the presence of twelve priests; he abjured _de vehementi_, was sternly reprimanded and threatened, and sentenced to a long list of penalties, including deprivation of functions, reclusion for six years in a convent and a circular discipline in the carmelite house of toledo.[332] on this composite sentence the consulta de fe had evidently exhausted its ingenuity, and the abjuration was merely a formal necessity to justify the rest. yet, while abjuration in itself can scarce be termed a punishment it was, even when only _de levi_, an infliction of no little severity, in consequence of the infamy which it entailed, as we have seen in the villanueva case, where the victim and his kindred struggled for so many years in rome to have it removed. exile. [sidenote: _exile_] frequent allusions above to exile as occurring in sentences indicate how customary a feature it was in the penal system of the inquisition. by itself, or in combination with other penalties, it was an unfailing resort in offences that did not incur the graver punishment of imprisonment. it could be varied indefinitely, to suit the peculiarities of each case, and the tribunals exercised the widest discretion in its employment. in its usual form it designated certain places and a fixed number of leagues around them, which the penitent was forbidden to enter. the list of proscribed localities as a rule included madrid, or rather the royal residences, the seat of the tribunal, the dwelling-place of the culprit, if this was not comprised in the others, and any other towns, sometimes amounting to four or five, where he had been known in his guilty career. although this was a convenient resource to the tribunal, it was a somewhat irrational penalty, the severity of which could hardly be guessed at, for while it might be scarce more than an inconvenience to one offender, it might be the destruction of a career to a merchant established in business, or to a professional man with an assured _clientèle_. considerations of this kind, however, rarely influenced the tribunals and, in the toledan record of 1575-1610 we find exile included in a hundred and sixty-seven sentences. the length of exile was always specified, and varied from some months to a life-time, but it usually was a term of a few years. sometimes it was divided into two portions, the first _preciso_ or absolute, the second _voluntario_ or dependent upon the will of the tribunal--apparently as an incentive to amendment. a variant of this occurs in the case of diego de toro, sentenced for bigamy at toledo in 1652, to four years of exile absolutely and four years more which he was to fulfil whenever the tribunal should see fit to order it, thus holding it over him indefinitely.[333] it was not often that the inquisition exercised the power of banishment from spain, but it did not hesitate to assume such authority when it saw fit, and a converse to this was the occasional prohibition to leave spain, of which an instance is cited above (p. 102). another form, in which the wide discretion of the tribunals was exhibited, was forbidding the penitent to approach within a specified distance of the sea-coast. this was not infrequent in sentences on moriscos, whose relations with barbary always excited apprehension, but it is not apparent why the valladolid tribunal, in 1659, when sentencing diego de la peña for jewish tendencies, should have included an inhibition to approach within eight leagues of any sea-port without a special licence.[334] again, we sometimes find a penitent exiled to some particular place for a term of years, and this is frequently combined with provisions for keeping him under surveillance. thus the valladolid tribunal, in 1659, sentenced isabel rubía and maría martin, for sorcery, to reside for four years in a place to be designated, where there was an official to whom they must present themselves monthly and who would report as to their amendment.[335] this was sometimes a form of commutation for imprisonment, as in the case of isabel núñez, sentenced at cuenca to prison and sanbenito, which was modified to four years' exile at san clemente. december 24, 1657, she presented a notarial certificate of her being there and begged that, as she was 74 years old and very poor and miserable, she might be released, in honor of the birth of the prince (felipe-prosper) or at least have the place changed to alcalá, guadalajara or pastrana, where there were people who would help her. this pitiful petition was simply endorsed to be filed with the papers of the case, which indicates that it was refused.[336] a more rigorous example of this, which shows that no limit was placed on the discretion of the inquisition, was the banishment for life to the philippines, in 1802, of two frailes concerned in the imposture of isabel maría herraiz, known as the beata of cuenca.[337] conversely, a penitent might be prohibited to leave a designated place, as when, in 1599, rodrigo ramírez, a morisco of yepes, was forbidden for three years to leave yepes without licence.[338] as the ordinary form of exile was easily violated, the sentence, as we have seen above, was frequently accompanied with a threat of increased penalties for non-fulfilment. in toledo this seems ordinarily to be a doubling of the original term, but frequently it was more severe as, in 1604, at valencia, the sentence of bartolomé posca added to this a hundred lashes and, in 1607, francisco xiner, condemned to five years' exile, was threatened with three years of galleys.[339] it was probably to check, in some degree, the facility for evasion that the suprema, in 1665, required the tribunals to furnish it with a description of the culprit whenever they pronounced a sentence of exile. as this always comprised madrid and, as the capital was likely to attract the homeless waifs, details which might assist in their identification were useful.[340] razing houses. [sidenote: _razing houses_] in the imperial jurisprudence, houses in which heretics held their conventicles were forfeited to the church and this provision was adopted in the legislation of alfonso x.[341] when prosecution was systematized in the thirteenth century, this was modified to tearing down all houses in which heretics were found, the site remaining forever accursed and unfit for human habitation. this was accepted by the church and found its way into all the lands that admitted the inquisition.[342] aragon adopted it and when, about 1340, the spiritual franciscan fray bonanato was burnt, and his disciples were scattered, the building which they had occupied at villafranca del panadés, near barcelona, was levelled to the ground.[343] in the early days of the spanish inquisition, the strict enforcement of the rule would have led to great destruction and serious impairment of the value of confiscations. it seems therefore to have been reserved for buildings in which the heretics or apostates had been accustomed to assemble, and then the king, as the recipient of confiscations, decided the matter. a letter of ferdinand, may 23, 1501, to aliaga his receiver at valencia, states that the inquisitors have asked him to decree the destruction of a house in which a synagogue had been found, to which he assents with the suggestive addition that the civic authorities must be ordered to offer no opposition. it turned out that ferdinand had already given the house to juan pérez, the scrivener of sequestrations, whereupon he ordered aliaga to have it appraised and to pay the value to pérez.[344] he seems to have offered no opposition to lucero's operations in córdova, where a number of houses were torn down as having served as synagogues, and he ordered them rebuilt when the congregacion católica assembled at valladolid, in 1509, pronounced the prosecutions fictitious.[345] when the confiscations passed to the inquisition, financial considerations apparently got the better of zeal, for when, in 1539, at valencia, trials of a number of judaizers revealed that a crucifix had been maltreated in a house used for their assemblies, and the tribunal desired authority for its destruction and the erection of a memorial chapel, the suprema replied cautiously with a number of questions as to value, location and expense, as there were no funds for the purpose, and it ordered the auto de fe to be held, reserving decision as to the house.[346] the subsequent proceedings against the convicts, who revoked their confessions, show that the house was still standing four or five years later. there was no such hesitation in the stimulated excitement following the discovery of protestantism in high places in 1559. when, in the valladolid auto de fe of may 21, the cazalla family were nearly exterminated, the house of the mother, leonor de vibero, where the little group used to assemble, was razed, and a pillar was erected on the spot, with an inscription that can still be read--"during the pontificate of paul iv and the reign of philip ii, the holy office of the inquisition condemned this building of pedro de cazalla and leonor de vibero his wife to be torn down and levelled with the ground, since here the lutherans assembled to hold meetings against our holy catholic faith and the church of rome, may 21, 1559." similarly in the great auto of seville, september 24, 1559, the houses of luis de alerego and isabel de baena, which had served as protestant conventicles, were destroyed.[347] [sidenote: _spiritual penances_] a thrifty disposition to restrain inconsiderate zeal for obliterating the receptacles of heresy was manifested by the suprema, in 1565, when it forbade the razing of a house unless it belonged to the delinquents and thus would not have to be paid for.[348] this restriction, however, was not observed on an occasion which was perhaps the latest as well as the most conspicuous example of the practice. in the great madrid auto of july 4, 1632, which was honored by the presence of philip iv, among those who were burnt were miguel rodríguez and his wife isabel núñez alvárez, in whose house not only were held jewish meetings, but an image of christ had been scourged and when it shed blood and thrice spoke to them they consumed it with fire. of course it was doomed and on the day after the execution the inquisition ordered it to be appraised in order that the owner might be compensated. he was the licentiate barquero, a highly respected jurist, who protested against its destruction until he received good security for its value. no time was lost. on the 6th the inquisitor cristóval de ibarra, accompanied by the admiral of castile, the duke of medina de la torres and other gentlemen, many familiars and a crowd of workmen, and preceded by a guard of halberdiers with banner and drums, marched to the spot, where a secretary read a proclamation of the toledo tribunal to the effect that it ordered the demolition of the house where a holy christ had been scourged and maltreated. then the drums beat and the workmen assailed the structure so zealously that by nine o'clock that night there was not a vestige of it left, the populace eagerly aiding them in tearing the stones from the walls and carrying off the timbers. the site was not left, as the canons direct, to be a receptacle of filth. money was raised and a capuchin convent was erected, known as la paciencia, in remembrance of the patience with which christ had borne the indignities heaped upon him.[349] spiritual penances. it might be presupposed that, in dealing with spiritual offences, and professing that its main object was the salvation of souls, the inquisition would incline rather to spiritual exercises than to pecuniary and corporal punishments--that it would seek to instruct and elevate the spirit rather than to afflict the body. religious persecution, however, has always preferred the harshness of coercion, and has held that the surest way to bring conviction to the soul was to torment the flesh. we need therefore not be surprised to see how insignificant a place spiritual penances held in the sentences of the holy office, and it would scarce be worth while to consider them except to note how little was the importance attributed to them by the tribunals. except in trifling cases, which merited no real punishment, such spiritual penances as we occasionally meet with are conjoined with material penalties. a man sentenced to imprisonment may perhaps be required to fast on fridays for six months or a year, and to recite on those days a prescribed number of ave marias and paternosters or other prayers. pilgrimages to shrines as distant as st. thomas of canterbury or st. james of compostela, so frequently prescribed in the medieval inquisition, were unknown. it is true that the formula of sentence on the reconciled, condemning them to prison, requires them on saturdays to make a pilgrimage to some designated shrine in the vicinity, where on their knees they must repeat with devotion five paters, ave marias, credos and salve reginas, but this was not often used in practice.[350] clerical offenders, sentenced to reclusion in convents, frequently had spiritual exercises included among numerous other inflictions. while this moderation was the rule, occasionally of course the unlimited discretion of the tribunals made exceptions, as in a singularly ill-judged penance imposed at toledo, in 1653, on gerónima mendes, a child ten years of age, convicted of judaism, who was sentenced to a month's instruction in the faith and the daily recitation of the rosary for a year. seeing that the rosary consists of seventeen paternosters, sixteen gloria patris, a hundred and fifty-three ave marias and the apostles' creed, one can estimate the burden imposed on a child of such tender years and how little it would conduce to training the youthful penitent in a love for the faith.[351] such an infliction however was exceptional, and it frequently happens, in the reports of the tribunals, after detailing the material portions of a sentence, that there is a mere general allusion to "some spiritual penances," which suggests how slender was the consideration bestowed on them. there is one type of better promise, not infrequent in the later period, such as a sentence pronounced at toledo, in 1777, on antonio rubio and diego gonzález, condemned for heretical acts and blasphemy, the former to five years' labor in the arsenal of cartagena and the latter to three years in the presidio of ceuta, both of whom were required, before leaving prison, to perform fifteen days of spiritual exercises under a director who would instruct them.[352] the hearing of mass as a penitent, which was a very frequent infliction, cannot be classed as a spiritual penance--it was a simple humiliation and was so intended, especially when performed publicly in church. unusual penalties. [sidenote: _unusual penalties_] a few instances will indicate how the tribunals sometimes used their wide discretion in adapting to any given case what was deemed an appropriate penalty. it is true that when valencia, in 1539, made fray torres, a priest, appear in a public auto de fe, with a bridle in his mouth and a pannier of straw on his back, the suprema rebuked it and forbade such eccentricities for the future.[353] so when, in 1568, inquisitor morales reported that, during his visit to san sebastian, he had condemned certain offenders to have sermons preached at their expense, the suprema mildly remarked that this was a novelty.[354] in an auto de fe at llerena, in 1579, there was a negress named catalina, the slave of a man of zafra. it was doubtless through consideration of his interests that she was spared the corporal chastisement visited on her accomplices, but there was a distinct invasion of his rights in a prohibition to him to sell her without licence from the inquisitors.[355] in 1607, at valencia, a single witness accused maría tubarri, a morisca midwife, of using moorish ceremonies in baptising infants, and of circumcising the males; the proof, against her denial, was not thought sufficient to justify torture and she was required only to abjure _de levi_, but she was deprived for life of practising her profession.[356] there was wisdom, if a trifle arbitrary, in a sentence at toledo, in 1685, on lucas morales for blasphemy, for it included, among other penalties, a prohibition to gamble--a sensible provision against relapse, for gaming was recognized as the most prolific source of blasphemy.[357] there was the same latitude in vindictive as in deterrent punishments. at valladolid, from 1635 to 1637, there were several judaizers convicted of maltreating an image of christ. the consultors voted for relaxation, but the suprema approved the decision of the inquisitors that they should have the right arm nailed to a stake in the form of a cross, while their sentences were being read in an auto de fe.[358] less symbolical and still more original was a spectacle devised for the mexican auto of december 7, 1664, where one of the penitents was stripped to the waist, while two indians smeared him with honey and covered him with feathers, in which guise he was made to stand in the sun for four hours on the staging.[359] even recruiting for the army was not beneath the dignity of the tribunal as when, in 1650, toledo condemned andrés de herrera calderon, for blasphemy, to serve for four years in the campaigns against portugal and catalonia, where doubtless he enriched his vocabulary of expletives.[360] there evidently was no defined limit to the power of suiting the penalty to the inquisitorial conception of the offence, and the tribunals made ample use of their prerogative. chapter iii. harsher penalties. the scourge. although at first sight the use of the lash, as a persuasive to correct religious belief, may appear somewhat incongruous, it must be borne in mind that, under the euphemy of the discipline, it has always formed a prominent feature of penance, especially among the monastic orders where, in the daily or weekly chapters, it was liberally administered for all infractions of the rule or other sins, as a preliminary to absolution. in fact, the touching of the penitent's shoulder with a wand by the priest in absolution from excommunication, is a symbol of the discipline which was anciently indispensable. in the old inquisition it was in frequent use, although there it was rendered a matter of edification, through its infliction by priests during divine service or in religious processions. that it should form part of the penal resources of the spanish holy office was therefore natural, although it lost its penitential aspect and became purely punitive and vindictive. it was no longer the priest who wielded the discipline with an indeterminate number of strokes during an indeterminate series of feast-days. the tribunal prescribed the number of lashes and they were laid on by the vigorous arm of the public executioner. the penitents who had to suffer appeared in the auto de fe with halters around their necks; if there was one knot in the halter, it signified a hundred lashes, if two, two hundred and so on, one hundred being the unit and the minimum number. the next day the populace was treated to the spectacle. mounted astride of asses, bared to the waist, with halter and mitre bearing inscription of their offences and a _pié de amigo_ holding the head erect, they were paraded through the accustomed streets, with a guard of mounted familiars and a notary or secretary to make record, while the executioner plied the _penca_, or leather strap, on the naked flesh, until the tale was complete, and the town-crier proclaimed that it was by order of the inquisition for the crimes specified. a clause in the proclamation, after the great madrid auto of 1680, forbidding, under pain of excommunication, any one to throw stones at the penitents, indicates that the populace had a playful habit of thus manifesting its detestation of heresy.[361] in 1568 the suprema rebuked the barcelona tribunal for condemning to public scourging penitents reconciled for heresy. this, it said, was contrary to the _estilo_ of the inquisition, and in future the lash was not to be used unless there was some other crime than heresy.[362] this indicates how completely the scourge had become punitive and how it was dissociated from the ancient discipline, but if such regulation existed it met with scant recognition. all the offences subjected to the inquisition were constructively heretical, and there never seems to have been any discrimination exercised between them. indeed, we have seen that the lash was especially indicated for heretics who were tardy or variable in their confessions, and judaizers are constantly seen to be subjected to it. [sidenote: _scourging_] scourging was a favorite penalty which was lavishly and often mercilessly employed. in the saragossa auto of june 6, 1585, out of a total of seventy-nine penitents, twenty-two were scourged; in that of valencia, in 1607, of forty-seven penitents, twenty-four received the lash.[363] this, however, exceeds the average. the toledo reports, from 1575 to 1610, present a hundred and thirty-three cases of scourging which, allowing for a break in the record, give about four per annum.[364] on the other hand, a collection of autos de fe celebrated between 1721 and 1727, embracing in all nine hundred and sixty-two cases, affords two hundred and ninety-seven sentences of scourging, or about thirty per cent.[365] when we recall that, in the list of officials reported by murcia, in 1746, there figures joseph garcía bentura as _notario de açotaciones_--a notary of scourgings--to keep record of the stripes, with a salary of about 2500 reales, we realize how prominent a feature it was in inquisitorial penology.[366] the brutalizing effect on the populace of these wholesale exhibitions of flogging, especially of women, can readily be estimated. the usual number of lashes prescribed was two hundred, though in occasional cases a hundred sufficed. in the two hundred and ninety-seven just alluded to, two hundred and ninety were of two hundred lashes and only seven of one hundred. it was rare that two hundred were exceeded in any one infliction, though sometimes it was mercilessly duplicated, as in the seville auto of september 24, 1559, martin fernando saldrian, a shepherd, for blasphemy was scourged in seville and again in his native town; alonso martin of carmona, for lutheranism, was scourged in both seville and carmona and juan de aragon of málaga, who had pretended to be a familiar, was scourged in málaga and again in the scene of his offence.[367] probably two hundred lashes were about the limit of safety, especially with those enfeebled by prolonged incarceration, for the infliction was excessively severe. we hear of margarita altamira reduced to such extremity after a scourging that the viaticum was administered to her.[368] there was no mercy for age or sex. in the valencia auto of january 7, 1607, isabel madalina conteri, a morisca girl of 13, after overcoming torture, had a hundred lashes, jayme chulayla, a morisco of 76, who had been tortured, had a hundred and the same was administered to francisco marquino, aged 86 for sorcery in treasure-seeking, while magdalena cahet, aged 60, who had escaped torture on account of heart-disease, was not spared a hundred.[369] as the eighteenth century advanced there appears to be more readiness to remit the execution of sentences of scourging on account of age and infirmities and of "accidentes," which probably mean crippling by torture. then there developes a tendency to spare women and finally men; the sentences continue to be pronounced, but they are remitted by the inquisitor-general. in 1769, at toledo, gerónimo clos, for bigamy, was pardoned the two hundred lashes of his sentence, which could not have been for infirmity, as he was not released from hard labor for five years in the royal works at cartagena.[370] from this time scourging may be regarded as obsolescent and soon to become obsolete. under the restoration, from 1814 to 1820, in the _votos secretos_, there is not a case in which the lash was inflicted, for when included in the sentences, it was always remitted by the suprema.[371] the clergy, of course, were not subjected to the disgrace of public scourging. in their cases it took the form known as a circular discipline, administered in a convent by all the inmates in turn. vergüenza. vergüenza, or shame, was the same as scourging, with the lashes omitted. the culprit, stripped to the waist and with the _pié de amigo_, was paraded through the streets, with the insignia of his offence, while the town-crier proclaimed his sentence. it was naturally regarded as less severe than scourging and was sometimes substituted for the latter, when the penitent was too aged or feeble to endure the lash. for the beldams and ruffians who were often its subjects it could have had but few terrors, but it was greatly dreaded by those of sensitive nature. the inquisitors took little count of this, when dealing with judaizers and moriscos, who had a keen sense of personal dignity, and pedraza informs us that those exposed to it regarded death as a mercy, preferring to die rather than to endure a life of infamy.[372] to young women the exposure was especially humiliating, yet, on the whole, it may be regarded as more humane than the pillory of our forefathers, for the penitent was not exposed to the missiles of a brutal populace. vergüenza was a comparatively infrequent punishment. in the toledo reports of 1575-1610 it occurs in but twenty-six sentences, which may be compared with the hundred and thirty-three scourgings, and the records of the same tribunal from 1648 to 1794 present but ten vergüenzas to ninety-two scourgings. in the very severe series of autos de fe between 1721 and 1727, the comparison is thirteen to two hundred and ninety-seven. [sidenote: _the gag--the galleys_] mordaza. the _mordaza_ or gag, as we have seen, was regarded as increasing greatly the severity of the infliction of which it formed part. it was sometimes used in scourging and vergüenza, when the so-called penitent was a hardened blasphemer or likely in some way to create scandal. it was likewise employed in the autos de fe, on pertinacious and impenitent heretics of whom it was feared that they might on their way to the stake produce an impression on those not firm in the faith.[373] its use was not frequent, although, in the dread inspired by protestantism, in 1559, at the great seville auto of september 24th, twelve of the victims wore the mordaza. there were also twelve thus gagged in the madrid auto of 1680, but these numbers were exceptional.[374] the galleys. enslavement in the galleys, to labor at the oar, would appear to be even more incongruous than scourging as penance for spiritual offences. it was a spanish device, unknown to the elder inquisition, and had its origin in the thrifty mind of ferdinand. we shall presently see how exercised were the monarch and the holy office over the problem presented by the maintenance of those condemned to the canonical penalty of perpetual prison, and ferdinand, whose sicilian possessions required a powerful navy, bethought him of the expedient of utilizing his able-bodied prisoners to man his galleys--the galley propelled by oars being as yet the equivalent of the modern battle-ship. galley-service was recognized as so severe that the old fueros of aragon forbade it under heavy penalties, except with the free assent of the individual, and it was not until the curtailment of ancient privileges, in the córtes of tarazona in 1592, that judges were permitted to use it as a punishment for robbers.[375] in castile, the pressure for slaves to man the galleys is indicated by a royal cédula of november 14, 1502, commuting the death-sentence of criminals in the secular courts, and ordering them to be sent to the galleys.[376] it was probably about this time that ferdinand turned to the inquisition, which was bound by no laws, for relief from overcrowded prisons and undermanned galleys. even the callous morality of the age seems to have been shocked at this and, as usual, the sanction of the holy see was sought for the iniquity. it was of course granted, and alexander vi, in a brief addressed to the inquisitors, may 26, 1503, recited that ferdinand and isabella had represented to him that those condemned to perpetual prison relapsed into heresy; that there was a lack of prisons in which they could be confined without perverting others, and that multiplication of prisons would lead to dissemination of heresy; that their power to commute imprisonment into other perpetual punishment had been called into question, and that they had asked him to provide a remedy. as the chief solicitude of the inquisitors should be the prevention of relapse, he therefore empowered them to change the perpetual prison of penitents into other penalties--deportation to the colonies, or imprisonment in the royal galleys, where, in perpetual confinement, they might render enforced service, or to any other perpetual punishment, according to their quality and offences.[377] [sidenote: _the galleys_] that full advantage was taken of this there can be no doubt, to the relief of the prison funds and the facilitation of the conquest of naples. we chance to hear of the transfer at barcelona, january 24, 1505, of nineteen prisoners from the gaol of the inquisition to the galleys of ramon de cardona, which we may fairly accept as an example of what was on foot everywhere.[378] in fact, the eagerness of the tribunals to disembarrass themselves of their prisoners seems to have led to their discharging on the galleys those in every way unfit for the service, for the suprema was obliged, in 1506, to declare that men over 60, clerics and women were exempt from the punishment of the galleys.[379] even ferdinand himself, towards the close of his career, seems to have shrunk from the responsibility of openly authorizing an extension of this heartless business for when, in 1513, the inquisitor of sicily asked permission to send to the galleys those condemned to perpetual prison, ferdinand threw the decision back on him; to build prisons will cost much money, he said, but the galleys may deter men from confessing their heresy; the inquisitor is therefore to think the matter over and do what he deems best.[380] the conclusion reached is unknown, but we may reasonably surmise that the palermo tribunal did not waste its funds in constructing prisons. ferdinand's hesitation seems to have been shared by charles v for, in 1527, the suprema ordered that penitents should not be sent to the galleys but should have other penances.[381] the motive for this humane provision, however, did not long withstand the more pressing economical considerations. in 1529, rodrigo portuondo, captain-general of the galleys, was instructed that no one sent to them by the inquisition should hold any office or administration, or have charge of the rations, showing that the prohibition had been rescinded.[382] apparently the superior intelligence of the penitents had rendered them more useful as petty officers and accountants than as slaves of the oar, but this alleviation of their misery did not satisfy the spirit of persecution and it was probably to prevent it that the formula of the sentence was service at the oar without pay--unless, indeed, the penitent was of gentle blood, in which case he could be sent to serve as a gentleman or as a soldier.[383] we have already seen to what profitable account the inquisition turned the power which it had assumed to grant dispensations from this abhorrent servitude, and a case in 1558 indicates how it guarded against any invasion of its prerogative. philip ii was led to interest himself in the case of andrés de frias, condemned to the galleys, and asked to have him dispensed from the remainder of his term. to this the suprema demurred, saying that the statement of frias was untrue, for in rome he had treacherously stabbed to death the procurator of the inquisition, doctor puente, after dining with him and promising to sup with him; moreover the seventeen months which he claimed to have served had not been as a galley-slave, as required by his sentence. still, if he would present himself and manifest repentance there might be opportunity for the king to show him mercy, but otherwise it would greatly impair the authority of the inquisition.[384] philip was not given to interceding for those sent to his galleys, for galley-slaves continued to be in great demand. in 1567 the venitian envoy, antonio tiepolo, explains the weakness of the spanish navy by the fact that its galleys were manned with slaves and _forçats_, who were not numerous enough to keep many galleys at sea. it would be, he says, impossible to man them with free-men, as in venice, for no one would serve voluntarily, as the ill-treatment of the crews is notorious and their dying for lack of the necessaries of life.[385] it is true that there was a curious source of supply, besides the ordinary criminals and heretics, for the prelates of the religious orders were accustomed to condemn their peccant brethren to the galleys, from the same economical motive that had actuated ferdinand--to save the expense of maintaining them in prison.[386] still, the needs of the armadas were pressing; philip turned to the inquisition for aid, and, in 1567, the suprema issued two decrees intended to assist in manning the royal galleys. one bore that sentences must not be for less than three or four years, for otherwise the penitents cost the king more than the service he got from them, and this was enforced by a royal cédula of 1584.[387] the other suggested--suggestion being equivalent to an order--that sentences to the galleys could be substituted for those to prison and sanbenito. the practical deduction drawn from this is expressed by a writer of the period, who says that, if the accused confesses but does not satisfy the evidence, he is to be tortured and, if he still fails to satisfy the evidence, it is customary to send him to the galleys, but this must be for not less than three years.[388] to appreciate fully this atrocity, it must be borne in mind that torture could only be used in cases of doubt where the evidence was defective, so that, besides the torture the victim was sent to the galleys for suspicion of heresy. [sidenote: _the galleys_] even this did not satisfy the royal exigency and a further inexcusable step was taken. we have seen that tardy and imperfect confessions were visited with scourging and sometimes with the galleys, while the _buen confitente_, who confessed promptly and freely, was allured with promises of special consideration and mercy. yet, in 1573, the suprema issued a carta acordada ordering that conversos, even when _buen confitentes_, should be sent to the galleys, and this it repeated in 1591, with injunctions for its enforcement.[389] the name of religion has not often been more brutally prostituted than in these provisions, and their success may be measured by a report of the inquisitors of saragossa to philip, of an auto celebrated june 6, 1585, in which they call his special attention to their zeal in furnishing him with twenty-nine galley-slaves for six years, besides three left over from a previous auto--and this in aragon, which forbade galley-service as a punishment for the most heinous crimes.[390] the galley-captains naturally were not punctilious in discharging the men when their terms had expired, giving rise to perpetual friction. the sentence ordinarily was to a term of prison or exile, of which the first three years or more were to be passed at the oar, and this was set forth in the certificates given to the penitents. the tribunals kept watch over them, and demanded their return to serve out the rest of their sentences, but this was not an easy task. the vigilance exercised is illustrated by a royal cedula addressed to the captain of a galley, ordering him to release two men whose terms had expired, and warning him that in future all such persons were to be returned to the tribunal that had sentenced them.[391] this was followed, in 1568, by general instructions to don john of austria, as captain-general of the sea, and to all captains of galleys, reciting the complaints of the sicilian tribunal that its reclamations of its penitents were not complied with, and ordering their restoration to their tribunals without waiting for demands.[392] this was ineffectual and, in 1575, we find the barcelona tribunal instructed to prosecute the captains who impede the discharge of those who had served out inquisitorial sentences.[393] the trouble was perennial and, in 1645, we have a formula of requisition for the return of the party specified, under pain of excommunication and of five hundred ducats, and the tribunal of the port where the galleys lie is requested to see to its execution. a significant note however adds that this is scantly courteous to such great men as the generals of the galleys, and that it is better to ask the tribunal of the port to procure the release by friendly negotiation.[394] the cases could not have been infrequent in which men, utterly unfit for the privations and ill-usage of the galley-slave, were condemned to this hard service, and no doubt many perished in consequence. yet exemptions on this ground were reluctantly admitted, if we may judge from a rebuke administered, in 1665, by the suprema to the barcelona tribunal, in a case where this was asked; the opinions of the physician and surgeon were insufficient; other professionals must be called in and examination be made as to the penitent's condition when, if it appears that he is unfit for the service, the sentence can be commuted to eight years of exile as proposed.[395] it is a marked expression of the humanitarian development of the eighteenth century that, even in the fierce persecution of its first quarter, in 1721 it was ordered that, before imposing a sentence to the galleys, the delinquent should be examined by the physician and surgeon and, if incapacitating weakness appeared, it should be mentioned in the vote of the consulta de fe that, in consequence of it, the sentence was commuted to irremissible imprisonment.[396] the succeeding autos show that this bore fruit in sundry commutations, although the alternative of irremissible prison was not observed, and less severe penalties were sometimes substituted.[397] [sidenote: _the galleys_] in the sixty-four autos de fe between 1721 and 1727, of which we possess details, there were ninety-two sentences to the galleys and seven to service in the presidios. there was a certain relation between the two. in the seventeenth century legislation on offences connected with the coinage, the galleys were provided for commoners and presidio service for gentlemen and, as the century drew to a close, we find the inquisition no longer sending gentlemen to serve as soldiers on the galleys but to oran, ceuta, gibraltar, badajoz, peñon and other royal works and garrisons.[398] in the eighteenth century inquisition, the galleys for all classes were gradually supplanted by the presidio, if we include in the term enforced labor in the royal dock-yards and arsenals as well as in the african garrisons. galleys were disappearing from the sea and, in the inquisition, they were superseded by the _bagne_, in its various forms of hard work. in 1742, the toledo tribunal condemned rafael nuñez hernández, for certain errors, to eight years of exile of which the first five were to be passed serving the king in the unwholesome quicksilver mines of almaden, and the last sentences to the galleys that i have met occur in 1745, when nicholas serrano was condemned at toledo for bigamy to eight years of service in them, and miguel gutiérrez and francisco garcía, at valladolid, for relapse into judaism, to ten years. after this the galleys may be said to be obsolete, even for bigamy, as is seen in a sentence of the valencia tribunal in 1781.[399] the presidio continued as a punishment under the restoration, but cases were so rare that there was question as to the reception of the convicts in their places of destination. in 1818, the seville tribunal sentenced three persons--two for propositions and one for bigamy--to two years' service in ceuta or melilla, and it asked the suprema to get the minister of war to issue orders to the governors to receive them. the suprema replied that this was the business of the tribunal; it must do as on former occasions, and if necessary could write to the governors. the _forçats_ were duly received and, it is pleasant to add that, in six months, the suprema humanely remitted the punishment in order that they might return and support their families. for this an order from the secretary of the council of war was required and procured.[400] for women, the equivalent of the galleys was service without pay in hospitals, houses of correction and similar institutions. apparently these female convicts were not always regarded as desirable inmates and though, in the pre-revolutionary times, no opposition was ventured, under the restoration there was sometimes difficulty in securing their admission. in 1819 the seville tribunal appealed to the suprema, representing that it had been unable thus to dispose of juana de luna, for the same reasons which it had experienced in the cases of ana barbero and leonor macias. the inquisition inspired no such terror as of old, for the suprema could suggest no means of overcoming the difficulty, and could only instruct the tribunal to devise some method of executing its sentences.[401] * * * * * it is not to the credit of the roman inquisition that it followed the example of the spanish and included the galleys in its list of punishments. carena, indeed, tells us that it was the most usual of all and was the customary penalty in a wide variety of offences.[402] reconciliation. that reconciliation to the church, which was represented as a loving mother, eager to welcome back to her bosom her erring children, should be regarded as a punishment, seems a contradiction in terms, yet so it was, and the suprema did not hesitate to speak of those "who had been condemned to reconciliation."[403] it would not be easy to invent a more emphatic illustration of the perversion of the spirit of religion by persecuting fanaticism. the apostate or the heretic, who had abandoned the church after admission through the waters of baptism, could only be reincorporated by abjuring his errors and applying for reconciliation. in the case of conversos, who secretly adhered to the mosaic or mahometan law, there could be no question as to this, nor was there with such heretics as protestants. to what extent other errors might constitute formal heresy requiring reconciliation, or might infer suspicion of heresy, light or vehement, was a problem for the calificadores, and sometimes was an intricate one, for the gradations of theological error are infinite and subtile. [sidenote: _reconciliation_] in the tumultuous proceedings of the early period when, under edicts of grace, penitents came forward by the thousand, confessing their errors and begging for reconciliation, the ceremony was naturally simple. under the instructions of 1484, the form described by joan andrea was to be used: the inquisitors declared that the penitent had been an apostate heretic, who had followed the rites and ceremonies of the jews and had incurred the penalties of the law but, as he now says that he has been converted and desires to return to the faith, with a pure heart and faith unfeigned, and is ready to accept and perform the penances to be imposed, they must absolve him from the excommunication incurred through the said crime and must reconcile him to holy mother church, if, as he says, he is converted to the holy faith truly and without fiction.[404] no mention is made here of any subsequent ceremonies, although at least abjuration must probably have followed. when procedure was less hurried and there had been time for its elaboration, the process became impressive. the sentence recited that the penitent was admitted to reconciliation; that as penance he was to appear in an auto de fe, without girdle or cap, in a penitential habit of yellow cloth, with two red _aspas_ or bands forming a st. andrew's cross, and a candle in his hand when, after his sentence is read, he should publicly abjure the errors confessed and all other errors and apostasy, after which "we order him to be absolved and we absolve him from any excommunication which he has incurred and we unite and reincorporate him in the bosom and union of the holy mother catholic church, and we restore him to participation in the holy sacraments and communion of the faithful"--to which was appended a recital of the various punishments to which he was condemned. after the auto de fe was ended, the abjuration was administered. this was similar to the abjuration _de vehementi_ already given and in it he consented, in case of relapse, to submit to the penalties of the canons. on the conclusion of this, he was formally absolved and the next day his abjuration was read over to him, with a warning that in case of relapse he would be burnt.[405] as described in an account of the madrid auto de fe of 1632, this ceremony was imposing. the penitents to be reconciled were brought before the inquisitor-general who was presiding. while they kneeled before him he read a short catechism, comprising the creed with some additions, to each question of which they answered "yes, i believe." then the secretary recited the abjuration, in which they followed him. the inquisitor-general then pronounced the exorcism and the customary prayers and the royal chapel chanted the miserere, during which the chaplains of the inquisition struck the penitents with rods on the shoulders. after this the inquisitor-general recited the customary verses and prayers and the royal chapel sang a hymn, while the black cloth was removed from the cross, which had been covered as a sign of mourning, and the inquisitor-general concluded the solemnities with a hymn.[406] superficially, there is nothing formidable in this reception of a wandering sheep back into the fold, but the serious aspect of reconciliation, justifying its characterization as a punishment, lay in the penalties which were virtually inseparable from it, and were customarily included in the sentence--imprisonment, sanbenito, confiscation and disabilities, with occasionally scourging and the galleys, some of which we have already considered while others will be treated hereafter. there was further the fact that the canons pardoned the heretic but once. if, after reconciliation, he was guilty of reincidence, there was no mercy for him on earth, although the church in its kindness, would not close the portals of heaven on him and, if truly contrite, would admit him to the sacraments, although it would not spare him the stake.[407] the crucial question of relapse, however, will be considered in the next chapter and meanwhile it should be said that the spanish inquisition did not always enforce this cruel precept. in the later period second reconciliations were by no means infrequent, and, even in the earlier time, men sometimes shrank from the holocausts which the strict enforcement of the rule would have caused amid a population terrorized into suddenly forswearing their ancestral faith. in majorca, under the edict of grace, there were three hundred and thirty-eight reconciliations, august 18, 1488, followed by ninety-six on march 26, 1490. soon after this an edict of mercy was published, under which there were reconciled a second time no less than two hundred and eighty-eight of the previous penitents. one of these, antonia, wife of ferrer pratz was even reconciled a third time, june 28, 1509. scattering cases of second reconciliations can also be found elsewhere.[408] [sidenote: _reconciliation_] there was a rule that the reconciled were not to be subjected to scourging or the galleys, even though they might have deserved them by varying and revoking confessions, but i cannot find that this was observed for, in both the earlier and later periods, cases as we have seen were numerous in which reconciliation was accompanied with these corporal punishments.[409] on the other hand, although the principle was absolute that reconciliation carried with it confiscation and perpetual prison, cases sometimes occur in which these penalties were lightened. in the toledo auto of november 30, 1651, there were nine reconciliations, in which the accompanying punishments were mostly trivial--in one case the sanbenito was removed immediately on return to the inquisition.[410] it seems almost a travesty on solemn religious observances that effigies of the dead should be admitted to reconciliation but, as the grave afforded no refuge from the inquisition, this was a logical outcome of the system, when a defunct heretic had recanted and sought reincorporation with the church. as he could not be reconciled in person he had to be reconciled in effigy, especially as the sentence was necessary to secure confiscation of his estate. the only occasion of this was the death, during trial, of a prisoner who had confessed, professed conversion and received sacramental absolution on his death-bed. his trial would necessarily be continued and result in reconciliation, and the inquisition saw no incongruity in parading his image before the people, and performing with it the solemn farce of reconciliation. there was a somewhat inexplicable instance in majorca of three judaizers, who had died in prison during their trials, in 1678, after manifesting the necessary signs of repentance; they were not included among the two hundred and twelve reconciliations, in the autos de fe of 1679, but, thirteen years afterwards, their effigies were reconciled in the auto of july 2, 1691 and no theologian seems to have asked himself what was their spiritual condition during this prolonged interval.[411] this reconciliation in effigy, was not, as llorente states, an innovation introduced under philip iii, but was practised from the beginning, for there was an instance of it in beatrix sener, deceased, thus reconciled may 2, 1499, at barcelona.[412] apparently the age of responsibility was the only minimum limit in reconciliation. in the madrid auto of 1632, catalina méndez, a child of 12, was reconciled with sanbenito and six months' imprisonment. at toledo, in 1659, beatriz jorje and ana pereira, portuguese judaizers each ten years old, were reconciled; the former had her sanbenito removed at once; the latter was sentenced to confiscation and four months of prison.[413] reconciliation brought with it one alleviation, for the reconciled, as penitents, were entitled to the fuero of the inquisition. this was derived from the penitential system of the middle ages, which deprived the penitent of bearing arms during the long series of years for which penance was imposed, and no one could be expected to assume it unless protected by the church against his enemies. in this the inquisition stood in the place of the church, and cast its jurisdiction over its penitents during their term of penance. in 1501, we find a certain pan besante of teruel, a _reconciliado_, to whom ferdinand had restored his confiscated property, complaining to the king that he was persecuted and maltreated by his debtors and his neighbors, and that the inquisitors, to whom he had appealed for protection, neglected to aid him, whereupon ferdinand promptly ordered them to come to his assistance, to enforce, by their officials, the payment of his just claims and to punish the aggressors.[414] so far was this carried that at granada, in 1654, the reconciled penitents had an advantage in trade over the faithful, by claiming exemption from the _alcavala_, or royal tax on sales. when the citizens complained of this discrimination, the fiscal of the tribunal admitted that the question was a difficult one; to subject the penitents to the royal jurisdiction would give rise to great embarrassments, yet at the same time the inquisitorial jurisdiction ought to be a punishment and not a reward.[415] that it was a reward we have seen from the eagerness with which it was claimed by all who could put forward the slenderest pretext. [sidenote: _the penitential prison_] the perpetual prison. imprisonment for life was the penance imposed by the canons on the heretic who, under the persuasive methods of persecution, sought reconciliation to the church. it was so decreed, indeed, by pope and emperor before the inquisition was organized, and that institution relentlessly enforced the laws. that the spanish holy office should accept it was a matter of course. its expense, however, had proved a source of tribulation in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and it was none the less so in spain for, large as were the confiscations and pecuniary penances, they were squandered as fast as they accrued. in torquemada's supplementary instructions of december, 1484, the receivers are ordered to provide for the maintenance of the prisons, which shows that the sovereigns admitted their responsibility,[416] but, in the chronic financial disorder of the time, no regular provision was made, either for their establishment or support. it is true that, in 1486, at the earnest request of the inquisitors of saragossa, ferdinand ordered the receiver to construct a perpetual prison, in accordance with their desires, but it is safe to assume that he prudently postponed replying to their inquiry as to the maintenance of the captives.[417] in 1492, when the tribunal sentenced brianda de bardaxí to five years' imprisonment, it was to the tower of saliana and this, in a few days, was changed to the convent of santo sepolcro in saragossa.[418] in fact, for want of prisons, the custom was general of consigning reconciled penitents to strongholds, hospitals, convents, or even to their own houses--the latter presumably being such shelter as friends or kindred could afford to those who had been stripped by confiscation. the instructions of 1488, indeed, authorize inquisitors, in view of the multitudes condemned to perpetual imprisonment and the lack of prisons, to designate to the penitents their houses, where they must confine themselves under the penalties provided by the laws. but this, it was added, was only meant to be temporary, and the sovereigns were supplicated to order that, at each tribunal, the receiver should provide a large enclosure with little huts and a chapel, where the prisoners could hear mass and could each work at his trade and earn his living, and thus relieve the inquisition from heavy burdens, due care being taken to keep the sexes apart.[419] the only answer to this prayer seems to have been the device of relieving the prisons for the benefit of the galleys. the laxity of quartering penitents on public institutions or in private houses led to impracticable rules in the effort to counteract its evils. an instruction issued about this time by the suprema orders that no one be admitted to reconciliation without condemning him to confiscation and perpetual prison, if he has been a heretic, and those thus condemned must perform their penance most rigidly, not speaking with any one except on the days when they go to mass and hear sermons; on other days, both in going out and in eating, they must show themselves true penitents, holding no intercourse with wives and children.[420] this seems to have received scant obedience and, in 1506, the suprema ordered that sanbenitos be placed on all prisoners, and that they must not leave their houses and then, in 1509, it prescribed that perpetual prisons must be provided. apparently this was partially successful, for it was followed by instructions that all who had been or should be condemned must be placed in them, where they can ply their trades, or their kindred can supply them with food, or they may beg alms for their support. thus, in 1510, llerena selected two pairs of houses for the purpose, which ferdinand ordered the governor of leon to have appraised. cuenca also seems to have obtained a prison, but an inadequate one, for in 1511 the suprema authorized the tribunal to permit all the sick, and all who had been confined for two years, to betake themselves to their homes. where such prisons existed the discipline must have been exceedingly lax for, in 1512, the suprema issued a general provision empowering the tribunals to allow the destitute occupants of the perpetual prisons to go out by turns to beg in the cities, but they must wear their sanbenitos and return by nightfall, under penalty of relapse, and this was repeated in 1513. then the further effort to provide prisons seems to have been abandoned for, in 1514, ximenes issued an order permitting the reconciled to fulfil their penances in their own homes.[421] [sidenote: _the penitential prison_] this fluctuating policy and the extraordinary laxity which it reveals were not due to any humanitarian impulses. it was simply a continuous effort to shirk the responsibility of maintaining those whose property had been confiscated, and who were required by the canons to be incarcerated for life. the inquisition obtained the plunder, it inflicted on its victims disabilities, which increased enormously the difficulty of self-support, it rendered them odious to the population by making them wear the sanbenito, it was in duty bound to provide prisons where they could be immured and prevented from infecting the community, but it neglected this duty and virtually told them that they might beg or starve. that death by starvation, indeed, was not uncommon is asserted in the project of reform drawn up, in 1518, by order of charles v. still the tribunals seem to have made some progress in providing themselves with penitential prisons for, in 1524, the suprema deemed it worth while to order that they should be inspected monthly, and the results be recorded in a book to be kept for that purpose.[422] by no means all had done so however. barcelona, which occupied the royal palace, had found room there, in 1489, for its penitents, and in 1544 we hear of gerónimo de quadras as alcaide, on a salary of fifty ducats, out of which he was to pay for a person to conduct the prisoners to mass and to bring them back. valencia was less advanced, for it could have had no prison in 1540, when it sentenced three women to keep as a prison such place as should be designated to them, but in 1546 it secured the services of gerónimo de quadras as alcaide, at a salary of thirty ducats. in 1550, however, he complained that he had never received his pay and, in 1554, we find the perpetual prison of brianda de garcete commuted to confinement in her own house, or other designated place, which would indicate that the attempt to establish a prison had been abandoned.[423] in 1553, logroño apparently had none, for it assigned, to juan prebost, bilbao and two leagues around as a prison, with the sanbenito.[424] this need not surprise us for, if in some tribunals there was an attempt to provide a perpetual prison, it was exceptional. in 1537 the suprema had formally declared that it would be a novelty to support the penitents at the cost of the fisc; this could not and ought not to be done; there was no objection to their performing their penance in their own homes and the tribunals could arrange it accordingly. a few months later this was repeated; the reconciled could be sent to their houses to perform their penance, if they had no other means of support.[425] at length the instructions of 1561 endeavored to introduce some system in this scandalous state of things. the sentence of reconciliation condemned the penitent to prison and sanbenito for a specified term, during which he was to wear the _abito_ publicly over his other garments; he was to be confined in the perpetual prison, going to mass and sermon on sundays and feast days, and on saturdays performing certain devotions at a designated shrine.[426] to enforce this discipline the instructions stated that, as many tribunals had no perpetual prison, houses should be bought for the purpose as, without them there were no means of knowing whether the reconciled performed their penance. the alcaide should help them in their necessity by giving them materials to work at their trades and help to support themselves, and the inquisitors should visit the prison several times a year.[427] this seems to have been followed by an effort to induce the tribunals to provide prisons, for, in 1562, toledo was taken to task for having none. it not only did not supply the deficiency but demurred to the suggestion that it should at least furnish a person to see that the penitents performed their penance, and it was told that for three or four thousand maravedís of extra pay the portero could attend to this.[428] [sidenote: _the penitential prison_] in 1570 the suprema resumed the attempt to bring about this much needed reform. it told the tribunals that they could rent houses until they should be able to purchase, and they must appoint proper persons as alcaides to keep watch over the penitents.[429] the result of this pressure was gradual. in 1577 the cistercian convent of santa fe, in saragossa, made formal complaint to the pope of the number of penitents quartered upon it, and cardinal savelli, the head of the roman inquisition, interposed with the suprema to relieve it of this oppression.[430] it was not until 1598 that the mexican tribunal, nearly thirty years after its foundation, built a capacious prison adjoining its own structure.[431] in 1600, for the first time, there is an allusion in the toledo record to a "carcel de la peniténcia" and, in 1609, valencia was busy in erecting one at a cost of 5110 libras; it had been planned to have three floors, but was economically reduced to two.[432] whether all the tribunals yielded to the pressure and established penitential prisons it would be impossible to say, but they probably did so, if only in some perfunctory fashion that justified the appointment of an alcaide. simultaneously with this there came a change in the name, and the _carcel perpetua_ was known as the _casa de la peniténcia_ or _de la misericórdia_. it does not follow that the establishment of prisons was attended with any increased strictness of discipline. the inquisition persistently refused to accept the burden of supporting its prisoners and left them to shift for themselves. where prisons existed there were few penitents in them, although condemnations to imprisonment were frequent and, in 1641, philip iv conceived the idea of liberating them all. the suprema sent his decree to the tribunals with orders to report whether they had any prisoners and what were their cases, to which valencia replied that it had one, imprisoned for persistent sorcery, whereupon the suprema ordered the sentence to be commuted and the prisoner to be discharged.[433] the royal project fell through. all prisons were not as empty as that of valencia and a discussion occurring, in 1654, at granada, to which allusion has already been made, illustrates the character of the imprisonment rendered necessary by the refusal to support the prisoners. they gained their living chiefly by hawking goods around the city; this at length aroused the shopkeepers, and the corregidor represented to the tribunal that scandals were occasioned by their entering houses and committing indecencies; there was loss to the king for, as penitents, they were not subject to the _alcavala_ and other imposts; thus favored they undersold the shopkeepers, who had lost half of their trade, while the penitents grew rich, for they came almost naked from the secret prison and, in a short time, they were well clothed and enriched. the tribunal admitted the force of this and, on december 24, 1654, issued an order that, for two weeks, they might cry their wares through the streets, but not enter houses, and subsequently be restricted to selling in shops. at this the prisoners complained bitterly of the deprivation of a privilege of long standing in all places where there was a tribunal, for without it they could not earn a living or support their wives and families. thereupon the fiscal, doctor joseph francisco cresco de escobar, seeing that both sides would appeal to the suprema, printed for its enlightenment a memorial which reveals to us the character of penitential imprisonment. he states that, in accordance with the instructions of 1488, the tribunals had provided penitential prisons, the one at granada being of ample capacity for the observance of the instructions of 1561. he quotes the canons and conciliar decrees to show that recanting heretics are to be immured for life, whence he argues that the prison should be afflictive and penal. now, however, it is only nominal; the so-called prisoners go out at all hours of the day, without restriction, without a companion, without labor save what they voluntarily undertake, all of which is liberty and not captivity. they wander at will through the city and suburbs, they amuse themselves at the houses of their friends, they spend, if they choose, only part of the night in the prison, which serves them as a comfortable lodging-house, free of rent. the instructions require that the alcaide shall see that they perform their penance, but this has become impossible, and there are no means of restricting their intercourse with the faithful. as for their plea that they leave the secret prison broken in health and stripped of their property, that they have no chance to learn trades and must support their families by trading, the answer is that only through the mercy of the holy office do they escape burning, and they should be thankful that their lives are spared; their poverty is a trifling penalty for their crimes, and their children only share the punishment of paternal heresy.[434] [sidenote: _the penitential prison_] with all this laxity, there was a pretence of maintaining the old rigor, which regarded prison-breaking as relapse, but the real offence lay in the fugitive throwing off the sanbenito. there seems to have been little desire to recapture those who absented themselves, for the formula of the mandate to search for and arrest fugitives only concerns itself with those who escape from the secret prison and who thus are still on trial,[435] but when from any cause penitents were returned to the tribunal, their treatment is exemplified in the case of juan gonzález, who escaped from the _casa de la peniténcia_ of valladolid, july 3, 1645. his story was that, having gone out to collect some money due to him, he gambled it away, got drunk, went to sleep under the walls of the carmelite convent in the suburbs and, on awaking next morning and fearing punishment, he wandered away, throwing off the sanbenito and seeking work. thus he reached irun and designed passing into france, but was recognized by a priest who had seen him in valladolid; he was handed over to the commissioner and was passed from familiar to familiar till he was lodged in the secret prison of valladolid. the fiscal claimed that his flight and throwing off the sanbenito proved him to be an impenitent and pertinacious relapsed into judaism who must be relaxed; but his sentence was only two hundred lashes and irremissible prison.[436] sentences to imprisonment continued as usual, but growing indifference as to providing for their execution is indicated by a correspondence between barcelona and the suprema in 1718. at that time the tribunal had but four cases under trial; it still occupied the ancient royal palace but, after it had condemned for judaism maría meneses to irremissible, and her daughter catalina de solis, to perpetual prison, it did not know what to do with them and applied for instructions. there was, it said, no penitential prison nor could it find that there ever had been one, neither was there an alcaide; it possessed no house that could be used for the purpose, and no official could be spared from his other duties. the suprema replied by inquiring whether there was a prison for familiars in which a room could be used for the women, or whether some little house near the palace could be had and some official or familiar could serve as alcaide. the tribunal rejoined negativing the proposed use of the prison for familiars; it would see whether a house could be had, but there was no money for the purpose; as for the officials, they were all fully occupied and no one would take the position without salary. this the suprema met with a peremptory order to rent a little house and appoint an alcaide at the ordinary wages. under this pressure some kind of provision must have been made for, in an auto of january 31, 1723, the tribunal condemned four judaizers to irremissible prison.[437] during the recrudescence of persecution at this period, the number of condemnations to imprisonment was large; in the granada auto of december 21, 1720, there were twenty-seven and, in sixty-four autos between 1721 and 1727, there were seven hundred and forty.[438] how these numerous prisoners were accommodated it would be difficult to guess, for the neglect of the penitential prisons was progressive and, in the census of all the tribunals, about 1750, but three reported to have alcaides--córdova, granada and murcia.[439] it does not follow that others had not prisons, but only that they had no prisoners and cared to have none. for instance, in 1794, when the suprema inquired of valencia whether its prison would suit for the priest juan fernández sotelo, whose health required a change from the convent where he was recluded, the tribunal craftily replied that its prison was constructed with cells and dungeons and that, in the eyes of the people, confinement in it produced infamy, so that quarters for sotelo had better be found in some convent in the suburbs. apparently it forgot all this when, in 1802, it complained that the salaries of its secretaries had not been raised in 1795, while that of the alcaide of the penitential prison had been increased from a hundred and twenty to twenty-two hundred reales, although he had nothing to do, and enjoyed the use of a house in the prison as good as those of the inquisitors.[440] [sidenote: _duration of imprisonment_] in fact, by this time penitential imprisonment was virtually obsolete. after the subsidence of the active persecution of judaism, the toledo tribunal which, in 1738, pronounced twelve sentences of prison, did not utter another until 1756. then a long interval occurs, of thirty-eight years, before the next one, which was for heretical propositions.[441] it would not, perhaps, be safe to say that, in the concluding years of the inquisition, this form of punishment was wholly unknown, but no cases of it have come under my observation. * * * * * there was the same reduction in the duration of imprisonment as in its severity, owing presumably to the same economical motive. as we have seen, the medieval church recognized only lifelong imprisonment as the fitting penalty for the heretic who saved his forfeited life by recantation and, in recognition of this, the penitential prison in spain was officially known as the perpetual prison, the sentences being always for perpetual imprisonment. at a very early period, however, it was clearly recognized that the literal enforcement of this was a physical impossibility. bernaldez tells us that in seville, up to 1488, there had been five thousand reconciled and condemned to perpetual imprisonment, but they were released after four or five years with sanbenitos and these were subsequently removed to prevent the spread of infamy throughout the land.[442] at barcelona the tribunal had scarce been established, when we find it drawing a distinction in its sentences to perpetual imprisonment, some being _cum misericordia_ and others _absque misericordia_--thus anticipating the so-called "irremissible" perpetual prison--and from the sentences it would appear that "without mercy" was exceptional.[443] this inevitable laxity provoked opposition on the part of the more rigid authorities and, in 1509, while ximenes was in oran, there was a discussion on the subject in the suprema, when we are told that his temporary representative, rojas archbishop of granada, stood alone against the other members.[444] what was the nature of the decision is not recorded, but it probably favored the laxer view, for ximenes and the suprema, in 1516, deemed it necessary to order that all sentences to prison and sanbenito must be perpetual, in accordance with the canon law; if, in any case, the inquisitors thought there should be a remission it must be left to the discretion of the inquisitor-general.[445] the tendency to shorten the term was irresistible; the conservatives had to yield and, by the middle of the sixteenth century, simancas tells us that perpetual prison was customarily defined to be three years, if the penitent was repentant, while those condemned to irremissible prison were usually released after eight years.[446] so purely technical did the term "perpetual prison" become that inquisitors saw nothing incongruous in such sentences as "perpetual prison for one year" or "for six months," which are constantly met with, as well as "perpetual prison" followed by terms of exile. the real infliction was therefore much less severe than it appears on the records, and when periods longer than eight years were intended, they were specified, as when salvador razo, for molinism, was sentenced, in the granada auto of july 4, 1745, to ten years, of which the first five were to be spent in the galleys--a hardship remitted on account of his infirmities.[447] [sidenote: _duration of imprisonment_] the terms of imprisonment were frequently shortened, moreover, sometimes, from humane motives, but more often from financial considerations, for the dispensing power in this, as in the other penalties, was a source of profit. thus mayor garcía, a morisca of daimiel, condemned in the toledo auto of september 21, 1550, to perpetual prison for six months, on january 13, 1551, petitioned the tribunal for release "as was customary with others," saying that her husband would pay what the inquisitors should demand. the matter was promptly arranged with inquisitor alonso pérez for four ducats, to help to build the staging for an auto de fe--a somewhat heavy payment for two months' relief.[448] this dispensing power was the subject of a prolonged struggle between the tribunals and the suprema. in the early period, at barcelona, the former endeavored to secure it by the device of discretional sentences, which inquisitors could curtail or extend at will, and this was recognized in a letter of the suprema, october 4, 1499, authorizing them, under such sentences, to dispense with the imprisonment but not with the sanbenito.[449] in 1513, however, ximenes forbade this without his consent and the repetition of the order in 1514 and 1516 shows that it was difficult of enforcement.[450] in spite of this when the valencia tribunal, february 25, 1540, condemned five moriscos to "habit and prison for as long a time as we shall determine," the suprema insisted that, when discretion was specified, it must alone be that of the inquisitor-general, a mandate that had to be repeated more than once, even as late as 1592.[451] the question of this, as of all other commutations, was inevitably settled, as we have seen, in favor of the inquisitor-general. in many cases there was no concealment that it was purely an affair of bargain and sale, but it is pleasant to record that often it was prompted by humanity. petitions for abridgement of the penance were numerous and were usually sent in at the time of the greater feasts, which are alleged as a reason for mercy, in addition to the misery of the penitent. as an example of these petitions may be mentioned the case of violante rodríguez who, with her husband duarte valentin, was arrested for judaism march 15, 1664. after a three years' trial, she was sentenced at granada, february 24, 1667, to two years' imprisonment, while her husband was similarly sentenced at cuenca. about august 10th she petitioned for commutation, alleging that she had eight little children, deprived of both parents. the suprema promptly sent to granada for the details of the case, but the tribunal delayed until october 8th, when it accompanied its report with the suggestion that she should be released with spiritual penances after the expiration of the first year, as she had manifested true repentance. growing impatient, on december 24th, she again petitioned the suprema, alluding to her seven children, thus showing that one had meanwhile died. that she was duly discharged in february there can be no doubt, and there is no trace in the correspondence of any pecuniary consideration. some of the petitions for release, in truth, were well calculated to inspire compassion, such as that of simon méndez soto, in 1666, wherein he describes himself as 84 years old, blind, deaf, crippled on both sides with many infirmities and penniless, and he supplicates release that he may seek for cure.[452] there would appear to have been no minimum age for imprisonment short of irresponsibility. the toledo tribunal condemned for judaism garcía son of pedro the potter of aguda, a boy eleven years of age, to perpetual prison. in the cuenca auto of june 29, 1654, for the same offence, escolástica gómez, aged 12 and isavel díaz jorje, aged 14 had the same penalty and, in the toledo auto of october 30, 1701, josé de leon, a boy of 16 was sentenced to irremissible prison.[453] the sanbenito. the sanbenito, or penitential garment, was the invariable accompaniment of reconciliation and prison, constituting together the "carcel y abito" of the sentences, although it was not exclusively reserved for such cases. it was not invented by the spanish inquisition, even though we can scarce agree with an enthusiastic writer, who traces its origin to the fall, when god made the delinquents put on penitential habits of skins, corresponding with the _sacos benditos_ now used in the tribunals.[454] [sidenote: _the sanbenito_] the penitential habit of sackcloth sprinkled with ashes, customary in the early church, has passed into a proverb. that the penitents of the inquisition should be required to wear such a garment was inevitable and, from the foundation of the institution, in the thirteenth century, they were distinguished from other penitents by two yellow crosses, one on the breast and the other on the back. from eymerich we learn that in aragon this garment was like the scapular worn by the religious orders.[455] this _saco bendito_ became known as the sanbenito or, more commonly, _abito_ and was necessarily inherited by the new inquisition. in 1486, at the toledo auto of december 11th, two hundred penitents, reconciled under the edict of grace, were required to wear in public such a garment for a year, under penalty of relapse.[456] for those reconciled after trial, the infliction was more severe. in 1490, torquemada ordered that they should wear during life a _sanbenitillo_ of black or gray cloth, eighteen inches long and nine inches wide, like a small tabard, hanging on breast and back, with a red cross before and behind, occupying nearly the entire field. this was hung over the outer garment, and was a conspicuous indication to all beholders of the shame of the wearer, rendering it a punishment regarded as exceedingly severe.[457] in 1514, ximenes changed the cross to an _aspa de san andrés_, a st. andrew's or oblique cross, of which the bars traversed diagonally the breast and back.[458] finally the instructions of 1561 describe the _abito penitencial_ as made of yellow linen or cloth, with two red _aspas_, although in some parts of aragon there are particular customs as to colors which must be observed--referring probably to the use of green cloth in place of yellow, which seems to have been the case in valencia and sicily.[459] in some tribunals there was also in use, for those who abjured _de vehementi_, a sanbenito _de media aspa_, or half cross, consisting of a single diagonal band. those who were to be relaxed appeared in the auto de fe in a black sanbenito, on which were painted flames and sometimes demons thrusting the heretic into hell.[460] llorente tells us that abjuration _de levi_ was performed in a _zamarra_, or yellow sanbenito without aspas, but i have met with no allusion to its use.[461] the distinction between the sanbenito _de dos aspas_ and the one _de media aspa_ was maintained, and the former was understood to indicate that the wearer had been guilty of formal heresy, that he and his children were subject to the consequent disabilities, and that he was liable to the stake in case of relapse. the latter was worn only during the auto de fe, after which it was laid aside.[462] although, in the early period, the sanbenito was imposed perpetually, the expression is to be taken in the same sense as imprisonment. as a rule, the two were coterminous and the sentences are almost invariably "habit and prison for two years," or perpetual or irremissible as the case may be. where, indeed, the heresy was trivial or technical rather than real, or the conversion seemed genuine and spontaneous, the sanbenito was merely a symbol, to be worn only during the auto, or even for a briefer period, although it none the less left its ineffaceable stigma. there were gradations suited to every case, as is well illustrated in the granada auto of may 27, 1593, where, in three cases, it was removed after reading the sentence, in two, after returning to the inquisition, in two, after twenty-four hours (one of these being the licentiate juan fernández, who had judaized for thirty-six years), in one case it was imposed for two years and in another for three, and leonor fernández had two years of sanbenito and four of prison. it was even put on the effigy of doña inez de tórres, from which it was removed after reading the sentence, because she had confessed and died as a catholic, with ample signs of contrition.[463] thus the tribunal could vary the penalty at its discretion, and was not bound to the rule of coterminous _abito y carcel_. in the toledo auto of march 15, 1722, two girls of 14, manuela díaz and maría de mendoza, were sentenced to six months of prison and two months of sanbenito, while in that of february 24, 1723, manuel ximenes had perpetual prison and one year of sanbenito.[464] from the fact that, in the sentences, the penitents are told that they are not to go out of their prisons or their houses without the sanbenito, it is inferable that it was not worn within doors. discarding it, as we have seen, was a grave offence, punishable as non-fulfilment of penance and, in the edicts of faith, the denunciation of this, as of other infractions, was required. there was one occasion, however, in which this was done on a large scale with impunity, for in the palermo rising of 1516 against the inquisition, there was a universal throwing off of sanbenitos. when order was restored and the tribunal was re-established, there was a fruitless effort made to reimpose them. in 1522 the suprema wrote to inquisitors calvete and cervera calling attention to this as a great disservice to god and a heavy charge on the souls of the penitents, who must be compelled to resume them, and all secular and ecclesiastical authorities were commanded to assist. then again, in 1525, inquisitor-general manrique insisted on the resumption of the sanbenitos, but at the same time he cautioned the inquisitors not to cause scandal or trouble, and we may assume that the attempt was practically abandoned.[465] * * * * * [sidenote: _sanbenitos in churches_] cruel as was the imposition of the sanbenito, it was a punishment inherited from the elder inquisition, but spanish ingenuity invented a still more cruel use of it to stimulate the detestation of heresy. this was the preservation of the sanbenitos, with suitable inscriptions, conspicuously displayed in the churches, thus perpetuating to future generations the memory of the crime and punishment of the delinquent. the origin of this may perhaps be traceable to the ceremonies observed in the early period, when penitents were relieved of the _abito_. as described, in 1490, at barcelona, they were assembled in the inquisition and preached to by the inquisitor. a fortnight later they gathered in the parish church of santa maría del pino and heard mass; then they marched in procession to the chapel of our lady of monserrat, again heard mass, offered twelve dineros apiece to the virgin, and passed the night, after which their sanbenitos were taken off and hung in a prominent place near the door.[466] of course, in the case of those who were burnt, the sanbenito was hung up at once, and this remained the rule, as we learn from the instructions of 1561--the sanbenito of the reconciled was hung when it was removed, whether during the auto or after years of prison; that of the relaxed, immediately after the auto.[467] the custom must have been of gradual growth. there is no allusion to it in the _instrucciones antiquas_, nor have i found any indication as to the time when it became imperative except that, in 1512, there is a decision of the suprema expressing the will of the king and the cardinal that the sanbenitos of the relaxed and reconciled of the campo de calatrava shall be hung in the churches, except those of the reconciled in the time of grace, and that, if any of the latter have been hung, they are to be removed.[468] this indicates a custom favored by the authorities, spreading, but as yet subject to question. it had already passed to sicily, where one of the incidents of the rising of 1516 was the tearing down of the sanbenitos in the churches, and so great was the popular detestation of it that, at the end of the century, it had not been possible to restore the practice.[469] it mattered little to the descendants that the sanbenitos of the victims in the early years had escaped this publicity. the perversity which inspired it developed into such malignity that, in 1532, the suprema ordered the tribunals to make from their records lists of all burnt or reconciled, even under edicts of grace, and to suspend in the churches whatever sanbenitos were found to be lacking. the inexcusable cruelty of including the voluntary reconciliados under edicts of grace caused this portion of the order to be revoked in 1538, but, in 1539, this was declared inapplicable to those which had already been hung--if they had been removed, they must be replaced. the question was revived, in 1552, and opinions were divided, but the decision to retain them prevailed. meanwhile, in 1548, the suprema stimulated the tribunals to fill all vacancies, whether arising from omissions or the surreptitious removal of old ones, and it ordered the hanging of new ones as soon as the autos were held, in order to anticipate the complaints and importunities of the sufferers and their kindred. then, as though the tribunals were slack in their duty, in 1555 the order of 1532 was revived and repeated.[470] the wilful viciousness of this is indicated by the instructions of 1561, which point out that, as those reconciled in time of grace are exempt from wearing the sanbenito, so their sanbenitos ought not to be suspended in the churches.[471] [sidenote: _sanbenitos in churches_] the object was the cruel one of perpetuating the infamy of the victim and rendering it as galling as possible to his kindred and descendants. as the sanbenitos wore out or became illegible with time, they were replaced, and finally superseded by yellow linen cloths, bearing full details of the name, lineage, crime and punishment of the culprit.[472] originally they were hung in the cathedral of the city of the inquisition, but this did not bring the disgrace sufficiently close to the descendants and, in some places at least, they were ordered to be transferred to the parish churches of the delinquents, whose infamy was thus kept alive in the memory of their neighbors. a single instance will illustrate the spirit actuating this. in 1519 the suprema ordered this transfer made by the tribunal of cuenca, but the command was slackly obeyed and was repeated in 1529. then the descendants of lope de leon and alvar hernández de leon, residents of belmonte, petitioned the suprema, saying that the wives of lope and alvar had been reconciled; they were natives of quintanar, where they had committed their heresy, and the descendants now begged that the sanbenitos be hung in the church of quintanar and not of belmonte. to this the suprema replied, april 15, 1529, by instructing the tribunal to hang the sanbenitos in the residence of the descendants, in a place so public that the reconciliation of the women should be notorious to all. it is true that the descendants secured delay until the pressing orders came of 1548, when, on november 9th the sanbenitos of the women were hung in the church of belmonte.[473] this policy of distribution cannot have been universal for, when the toledo cathedral desired to be relieved of the great accumulation of sanbenitos, the suprema forbade it, adding that if it was desired to have them in the parish churches it must be done with new ones, leaving the originals in the cathedral. at length, in 1538, the inquisitors yáñez and loaysa distributed them among the parish churches, when sebastian de orozco tells us that it caused infinite misery to the descendants, leading them all or nearly all to change their family names, so that in toledo the names actually borne by the conversos disappeared.[474] change of name was not the only device resorted to by the descendants, for they were constantly at work removing surreptitiously the evidence of their infamy. as early as 1518, the saragossa tribunal was ordered to prosecute with rigor those who had abstracted them from the dominican church.[475] their zeal was stimulated by the fact that the inquisitors, in making up the records, included all who had been reconciled under edicts of grace, thus affording legitimate ground of complaint, as shown by a long-continued struggle at frejenal. in 1556, doctor ramírez, inquisitor of llerena, protested to the suprema against the efforts of the people of frejenal for the removal of the names of those reconciled in time of grace; it would leave but few for, in 1491, there had been three hundred and fifty-seven reconciliations there, of which three hundred and fifty-four had been under the edict. to render ancestral infamy more accessible to the public, besides the sanbenitos, the names and details were inscribed on a tablet of parchment. this became torn and nearly illegible and, on august 23, 1563, it was solemnly replaced by another, written in large letters, with printer's ink, and varnished to insure its preservation. the secret warfare waged against this perpetuation of infamy is described, in 1572, in a deposition of the familiar rodrigo carvajo. the people of the town, he said, were mostly descendants of conversos, resorting to perjury and every other means to conceal their origin. the sacristans were generally conversos, who connived at the methods employed to destroy the evidence, and the sanbenitos were stolen; there used to be five hundred and ninety-nine, and now there were only ten or a dozen, worn and torn and so placed that they could not be read, while the tablet with the names was gradually being defaced and rendered illegible. thus it continued until 1576, when inquisitor montoyo brought to frejenal a new set of sanbenitos prepared from the records, which were duly suspended, and a tablet containing names and details was placed where all could read it. this list shows the obstinate persistence with which the names of the spontaneously reconciled were retained. it contained a hundred and sixty-two relaxed and four hundred and nine reconciled, all, with very few exceptions, in the years from 1491 to 1495. there were none between 1499 and 1511, and none later than 1511.[476] struggles similar to this were doubtless on foot in numerous other places. [sidenote: _sanbenitos in churches_] the churches themselves do not seem to have looked with favor on this desecration of their sacred precincts. at cuenca, there was apparently an attempt to hide the sanbenitos of which the tribunal complained in 1571, when the suprema ordered it to see that nothing was put before them, even on feast-days.[477] the parish church of san salvador, at cifuentes, went further and, in 1561, appealed to pius iv, explaining to him the spanish custom, and representing that not only was the attractiveness of the church marred by the prominence assigned to the sanbenitos, but that they led to many scandals, all of which would be prevented if they were removed to some less prominent place or laid away altogether, but that licence from the holy see was requisite for this. the pope gave the required licence, subject to the assent of the inquisition to the removal, which of course rendered it inoperative.[478] the cathedral of granada was more fortunate for when, in 1610, inquisitor-general sandoval consecrated as archbishop pedro gonzález de mendoza, the latter asked him, as a special favor to his bride, that she should be relieved of the sanbenitos. sandoval assented and the permission came soon after mendoza had reached granada. it was celebrated with great rejoicings and ringing of bells; the sanbenitos of the moriscos were transferred to the church of san salvador, in the albaycin, while those of the judaizers were hung in the church of santiago, which was the parish church of the inquisition.[479] even when there was not this open antagonism, there was apt to be neglect which was practically more damaging. in 1642, the valencia tribunal learned that some of those in the cathedral had fallen and were allowed to lie. it made an investigation and, from the report, it would seem as though every available spot was thus decorated and that all required attention for their preservation. the sacristans promised to do what was necessary, but apparently they had been quite willing to see them disappear.[480] conscious of this ecclesiastical indifference and of the constant effort of those interested to make way with the visible records of their infamy, the suprema was incessantly active to counteract the results. the instructions of 1561 insist imperatively on the duty of hanging the new sanbenitos and renewing the old, so that the memory of the infamy of heretics shall be preserved forever, and inquisitors on their visitations are commanded to see that the parish churches are kept with unbroken lines of the _mantetas y insinias_ of their culprit parishioners.[481] philip ii was no less urgent. in his instructions of 1595 to manrique de lara, he calls special attention to the subject; there are sanbenitos now to be hung and others which have never been hung, apparently through favoritism, for which the inquisitors deserve rigorous punishment, for this is the severest penalty which the holy office can inflict on heretics and their descendants, and manrique is to see that all deficiencies are made good.[482] in fact, the most pressing business of the inquisitor in visiting his district was to attend to this. in 1569 the suprema ordered every one, before starting, to have full lists made out of the relaxed and reconciled of the region to be traversed and, in each place, these lists were to be compared with the existing sanbenitos and all that had disappeared were to be replaced. in 1600 and 1607 these instructions were repeated with still greater urgency, as a matter not to be neglected for a single day, in view of the evils that would follow.[483] that nothing was to be allowed to interfere with this pious duty is seen when valencia had no money wherewith to defray the expense of renewals and was told to borrow it from the _depositario de los pretendientes_--the sacred deposits of those seeking to prove their limpieza, which were thus used to preserve the muniments that might destroy their hopes.[484] how, in fact, the sanbenitos were employed for this purpose is indicated in a perquisition conducted at tortosa, in 1577, by the inquisitor, juan de zúñiga. the sanbenitos were carefully examined and lists were made out, classified firstly into those of which the trials could be identified and those of which no trace could be found in the records, and secondly into the penalties inflicted. then two of the oldest residents--a notary and a priest--were summoned; the lists were gone over with them and their evidence was taken as to the descendants of the culprits, especially whether any had changed their names so as to elude disabilities. thus a close watch was kept on them and every care was taken that the infamy of their ancestors should be lasting.[485] * * * * * [sidenote: _sanbenitos in churches_] as the seventeenth century wore on, it would seem that the zeal of the tribunals in the matter of sanbenitos was flagging. a general carta acordada of february 27, 1657, assumes this, in calling their attention to the instructions of 1561 and to subsequent orders of similar import. as many autos de fe had recently been held, and as it was understood that, in some places, the sanbenitos had not been hung in the churches, the tribunals were commanded forthwith to make out lists of the relaxed and the reconciled, and to have corresponding sanbenitos suspended in the churches, as well as to renew the old ones which were worn out. in view of the importance of this to the service of god, a full report in detail was imperatively required to be furnished within four months. this may have excited the tribunals to spasmodic activity but, if so, its influence was but temporary for, in 1691, we find the suprema ordering reports as to the length of time that had elapsed since sanbenitos had ceased to be hung in the churches; lists of deficiencies were called for; the old sanbenitos were to be examined and statements were to be rendered as to what were lacking and what had become illegible, so that the suprema might take requisite action.[486] this looks as if the custom had been falling into desuetude, but it was by no means abandoned and, as late as august 26, 1753, when a deceased delinquent named horstmann was burnt in effigy at valencia, two sanbenitos were ordered to be suspended, one in the cathedral and one in the parish church of san lorenzo.[487] still the same tribunal furnishes, in 1783, a refreshing evidence of the decline of intolerant zeal in the gradual diffusion of enlightenment. the cathedral had been undergoing restoration, during which the sanbenitos had been carefully stored in a room of the inquisition. on the completion of the work, the tribunal suggested to inquisitor-general beltran that it would not redound to the service of god or of the public to hang them up again, to which beltran assented; if the chapter did not ask for them, the tribunal was not to raise the question, or to do any thing in the matter and, from an endorsement on the letter, it is to be inferred that the sanbenitos were allowed to repose undisturbed.[488] it is not to be supposed that, when the córtes of cadiz, february 22, 1813, abolished the inquisition, it was satisfied to permit the continued existence of the sanbenitos which perpetuated so many dreadful memories. a decree of the same day recited that article 305 of the constitution provided that no punishment should extend beyond the criminal to his family; that the means by which, in public places, the memory of penalties inflicted by the inquisition was preserved, brought infamy on families, and even exposed to evil repute persons of the same name. therefore all portraits, pictures, or inscriptions, recording the punishments imposed by the inquisition, existing in churches, cloisters, convents and other places, were to be removed or blotted out within three days after receipt of the decree.[489] the condition of spain was not such as to insure any wide obedience of this decree, although it is scarce likely that the french armies had left many sanbenitos hanging in towns occupied by them during the war. what occurred elsewhere may probably be guessed by the example of majorca, when the constitution of cadiz was enthusiastically received and the sanbenitos were removed from the church of san domingo, but they were providently stored away and were again hung up after the restoration in 1814. in the revolution of 1820, however, they were torn down and burnt and the inquisition was levelled to the ground.[490] the custom of suspending in the churches the _habitelli_ or sanbenitos of the reconciled and relaxed seems to have been borrowed by italy from spain, at least in some places. it is to the credit of the roman inquisition that it disapproved this barbarous practice, as appears from a decree of 1627 ordering them to be removed from the cathedral of faenza and to be secretly burnt.[491] disabilities. disabilities have already been considered in their relation to the finances of the inquisition, arising from the sale of dispensations, but they formed too important a portion of the penal system not to require further treatment in this connection. they differed however from other punishments in that, although specified in the sentences, they were the inseparable consequences of condemnation for heresy and thus, in some sense, self-operative, for the severity of the laws for the suppression of misbelief was not content with confiscating the property of those whose lives were spared. the reconciled heretic was not only turned adrift penniless, but was subjected to restrictions incapacitating him from earning a livelihood. as this refinement of cruelty could not be applied to those who were burnt, it was visited on their descendants. [sidenote: _disabilities_] this latter provision was derived from the imperial legislation against treason, which disabled children of traitors from holding office and succeeding to collateral estates.[492] frederic ii, in his ravenna decree of 1232, made this applicable to the children and grandchildren of heretics, which was eagerly incorporated into the legislation of alexander iv and honorius iv, although boniface viii mitigated it slightly by exempting grandchildren in the female line.[493] as part of the canon law this of course governed the spanish inquisition and, if there were those who questioned the justice of punishing orthodox children for their parents' heresy, they were triumphantly silenced by alfonso de castro, who pointed to original sin as an irrefragable proof that this was in accordance with the law of god.[494] the application of these restrictions to reconciled penitents apparently originated with the council of béziers, in 1246, which ordered that penitents should not hold public office, or serve as physicians or notaries, or wear silk garments or gold and silver ornaments or other vanities--in short, that their apparel should befit those whose lives constructively were to be passed in repentance.[495] these provisions were not carried into the canon law but apparently became traditional in the holy office. in the instructions of 1484 there is nothing said as to the disabilities of descendants, but inquisitors were instructed to order penitents, after completing their penance, never to hold public office or benefices or to serve as procurators, tax-collectors, farmers of the revenue, grocers, apothecaries, physicians, surgeons, bleeders or brokers, thus prohibiting the professions which they had specially made their own. moreover, they were not to wear gold or silver, coral, pearls or other precious stones or garments of silk or camlet or other finery or to ride on horse-back or bear arms, and all this during life, under penalty of relapse.[496] there was evidently doubt as to the application of these restrictions to the descendants of those relaxed, but that there was an effort made in that direction is shown by their procuring, in 1486, from innocent viii, a brief enabling them to farm the revenues of churches.[497] in the assembly of inquisitors, in 1488, the matter excited considerable debate, resulting in instructions that each tribunal in its own district should enforce, under heavy penalties, the disability of children and grandchildren to hold any office or dignity that could be considered public, and the list of prohibited callings was enlarged by including those of merchants, notaries, scriveners, advocates, farmers of revenues and some others. the sumptuary restrictions were not extended to them, for they were not penitents, but they were forbidden to wear the insignia of any dignity, secular or ecclesiastic.[498] the omission was made good in a decree issued by torquemada, april 22, 1494, but it was so slackly obeyed that when, in 1502, the sovereigns ordered its enforcement, they allowed a certain time for those affected to become acquainted with its provisions.[499] ferdinand himself had had occasion to recognize the hardship of the rule for, in 1500, the mother of pero rúiz, a member of his royal guard, was condemned and consequently he was incapacitated from riding and bearing arms. unwilling to lose him, ferdinand wrote to torquemada for letters of dispensation to be brought back by the messenger.[500] we have seen how, in the struggle over the profits of dispensation, the sovereigns abandoned to the inquisition the _cosas arbitrarias_, or sumptuary restrictions, and assumed to themselves, by the pragmáticas of 1501, control over the disability to hold office and to follow certain professions and trades, which limited so greatly the ability of the reconciled and of the children and grandchildren of the condemned to support themselves.[501] a humane exception was made however, in 1502, under which children reconciled below the age of 14 were exempted from the operation of the pragmáticas.[502] as these were municipal laws they were subject to the secular officials, who were ordered to enforce them under pain of confiscation and loss of office for negligence. [sidenote: _disabilities_] it was easier to publish edicts than to get them executed. the civil magistrates seem to have paid little attention to the pragmáticas, while the inquisition did what it could within its allotted sphere. the suprema issued orders to the tribunals to punish with all rigor those who disregarded the sumptuary restrictions, who were said to be numerous, in great contempt of the holy office. it was probably to stimulate zeal that, in 1509, it modified the penalty of relapse to a pecuniary penance, which it authorized the inquisitors to impose at discretion, bearing in mind the gravity of the case and the wealth of the offender.[503] the sums thus realized were considerable enough to tempt the cupidity of the courtiers for, may 9, 1514, we find the king making over to four of his ushers the penalties levied on the sons of alonso gallo of toledo, and on april 1st he ordered vázquez de busto, alguazil of toledo, to collect all the penances of this kind, to pay one-half to the receiver for the tribunal, and divide the other half between the fiscal, martin ximenes, and a servant of secretary calcena.[504] the punishments decreed in the pragmáticas were also modified to fines, as we learn from a letter of june 20, 1515, dividing those incurred in seville between calcena and aguirre, after setting aside one-third for the tribunal, and from another letter of january 8, 1516, bestowing on fernando de hoyos, portero of the cuenca tribunal, the penalties incurred by the wives of pedro de vaguera and of quiros and jayme boticario, for exercising the profession of apothecary.[505] at length it was recognized that the inquisition was the only instrumentality to be depended upon for the enforcement of the pragmáticas and charles v, in a cédula of march 30, 1528, placed the whole business in its hands. he recited the laws of ferdinand and isabella, with their severe penalties for negligent officials, in spite of which he was informed that, in many places, they were disregarded, wherefore he granted to the inquisition all necessary powers and ordered it to see to the execution of the law. possibly there may have been some opposition by the secular authorities to this invasion of their jurisdiction, which called for a repetition of the cédula, march 2, 1543. in pursuance of this the suprema, in cartas acordadas of 1548, 1549 and 1566, called the attention of the tribunals to the number of persons engaged in prohibited callings or wearing forbidden articles, and it urged them to be active in detecting and punishing the offenders.[506] the construction of the laws was rigorous. there was a nice question whether, when a parent was condemned _in absentia_ as contumacious, the children were subject to the disabilities, for the heresy was presumptive and not proven. farinacci held that they were not, for the absentee, even though burnt in effigy, could always return and prove his innocence. peña represents the stricter spanish view, that the fugitive was condemned as a heretic and his children were incapacitated. the matter was threshed out in the case of the son of antonio pérez, who was deprived of a pension on the church of cuenca. this was the final decision of the rota after full argument; it served as a precedent, and the sentence of the absent contained the same enumeration of disabilities as that of one who was burnt in person.[507] some doubts arose as to whether the pragmáticas prohibited trade in general; all such points were reserved to the king and when, in 1566, it was proposed to prosecute some merchants, the suprema ordered the cases to be suspended until he should be consulted. it was less cautious when, in 1542, it forbade all reconciled penitents to keep schools, or even to teach children their letters. a question arose whether the prohibition to ride on horseback comprehended mules, but simancas decides it in the affirmative, and even desires to include vehicles, as it is fitting that all such persons should walk on foot.[508] even the limits of the canon law were disregarded in the panic occasioned by the discovery of protestantism in 1559, for in the seville auto of september 24th, when juan ponce de leon was burnt, the disabilities of his descendants in the male line were extended to the fourth generation.[509] an ecclesiastical career was closed to penitents and their descendants, who were forbidden to enter holy orders. there was some question raised whether those who were in orders could obtain or retain benefices, but it was decided in the negative. the practice, as stated about 1640, was that on their visitation the inquisitors dealt summarily with cases concerning the _cosas arbitrarias_ while those which involved the holding of benefices or public office were sent to the tribunal for trial.[510] in the edicts of faith which they published, denunciations were invited, and all persons were required to give information as to any infractions of the laws of which they were cognizant.[511] [sidenote: _disabilities_] as everyone who had the misfortune to fall into the hands of the inquisition was a marked man thereafter, and was liable to the suspicion that he had incurred disabilities--a suspicion apt to grow stronger with time and to affect his descendants--it became important for those who were not thus affected to have some evidence of the fact. in the earlier time the inquisition was chary about affording this relief, but did not absolutely refuse it when the sufferer applied to the suprema. it was not everyone however who could obtain the intervention of the suprema; popular prejudice was strong, and no one knew what took place within the precincts of the tribunals. blighted careers were thus numerous. escobar, in his work on limpieza, tells us that, at the origin of the inquisition it punished the lightest offences with extreme severity and this, after the lapse of a century and a half, was still disastrously affecting the descendants; it was inhuman that a word inadvertently spoken through levity, or anger, or in jest should bring infamy on the delinquent and his posterity without limitation of time.[512] the memorial of 1623, by a member of the suprema, discusses the same evil. the writer says that the inquisition is surrounded by enemies who are daily multiplied through those afflicted by the tribunals. it is not merely those who are relaxed or reconciled or compelled to abjure _de vehementi_, but there are many well-affected old christians, punished with lighter penalties who, if they remain defamed and their posterity disabled from honors, must necessarily add to the number of enemies and it is pitiable thus to afflict them for trivial causes.[513] the tribunals did not cease to afflict the people, but some relief was afforded by a practice, which gradually came into use, of including, in a sentence for light offences or of acquittal, a clause declaring that the party and his descendants were not subject to disabilities and that he could have a certificate to that effect. two examples of this, occurring in valladolid in 1638 will suffice. in the case of agustin lópez, tried for blasphemy, the consulta de fe could not agree and the suprema sentenced him to reprimand and exile, adding that the sentence should be no bar to offices of honor or in the inquisition. so a sentence, acquitting miguel rúiz of a charge of sorcery, says that his imprisonment shall not be an obstacle to him and his children, and that he shall have a certificate to that effect. that rúiz had not even been confined in the secret prison but in the public gaol shows how sensitive was the popular mind.[514] these certificates _de no obstancia_, as they were called, would appear, as a rule, not to be issued unless specially applied for, and yet how important they were to the individual and his posterity is manifested by a petition presented, january 17, 1818, by the licenciate mariano de santander y alvárez setting forth that, twenty years before, in 1798, his father had been arrested and prosecuted by the valladolid tribunal because, in his trade as a bookseller, he had sold prohibited books. in the final sentence it was declared that his imprisonment and prosecution did not prejudice him or his descendants in the enjoyment of their civil rights, but the secrecy of the inquisition, and the loss of the certificate given to the father, prevented the petitioner from furnishing the proofs necessary to his admission as an advocate in the royal chancellery, wherefore he begged for a proper testimonial. the suprema had the statement verified and ordered a certificate to be duly issued.[515] from this, as well as from the memorial of 1623, it appears that not merely reconciliation but even abjuration or lesser penalties inflicted disabilities, if not as to the _cosas arbitrarias_ at least as to the attainment of an honorable career. in the closing years of the inquisition this sometimes led to a merciful moderation of the sentence, as in that pronounced, august 27, 1817, on francisco mosquera villamarino, of santiago, "bachiller clasico y profesor del 6º cuerpo de canones en su real universidad," for certain propositions. he escaped with a reprimand in the audience-chamber and without abjuration, it being expressly stated that he was treated with this benignity in order not to prejudice him in his career, though he was warned that the inquisition would keep a watch on him.[516] [sidenote: _disabilities_] popular prejudice, as we have seen, intensified the cruelty of the cruel laws. how inveterate was this is manifested in the case of josef calot who, in 1791, sought in marriage the daughter of pablo bordo, a merchant of valencia. the parents refused assent and the lovers eloped. bordo brought the matter before the royal audiencia, showing that calot was the great-grandson of clara muñoz who, at the age of 19, was reconciled for judaism in the barcelona auto de fe of april 2, 1724, and was sentenced to irremissible "carcel y abito," though after two years her husband, antonio antonelli, obtained her release. in view of this descent the audiencia decided that bordo's opposition to the marriage was reasonable and just, thus inflicting an indelible stigma on calot and his posterity. in some way the affair reached the suprema, which wrote to valencia for details and, in transmitting them, the inquisitors added an expression of sympathy for calot in the dishonor cast upon him; the punishment of his great-grandmother did not disable him from the professions, but it would be difficult to restore him to his good fame without calling in question the justice of the sentence of the audiencia.[517] even the inquisition did not venture to repair an injustice caused by its assiduous training of the population in an unreasoning abhorrence of heresy. * * * * * the penalty for disregarding the disabilities settled down to the thrifty one of a fine. as regards those imposed by the pragmáticas, the suprema, in 1531, replied to an inquiry from the tribunal of avila and segovia that, although the laws prescribed confiscation for infractions, yet the practice was to penance culprits in accordance with their wealth and station and the degree of the offence. so, in respect to the _cosas arbitrarias_, it decreed in 1536, that although the instructions of 1484 provided the pain of relapse, they did not require the inquisitors to condemn the infraction as such, and the practice was to impose pecuniary and spiritual penances.[518] cases of prosecution for infraction are not very numerous in the records, chiefly owing, we may presume, to the customary sale of rehabilitations; in the tribunal of toledo they amount only to ninety-one and of these it is noteworthy that there are only three posterior to 1586--two in 1600 and one in 1616.[519] when they occurred, the penalty was at the discretion of the tribunal, and toledo exercised this with great moderation, in 1579, when bernardino de aldana, a ribbon-weaver, spontaneously denounced himself. his mother, isabel alvárez, had been burnt by the cuenca tribunal, yet he had worn a velvet cap, had carried a sword and had ridden on a mule with a saddle; he was married and had done this to satisfy his wife and her kindred, and besides his brother had told him that they had been rehabilitated. his artless story seems to have moved his judges, for he escaped with a reprimand and a fine of two ducats.[520] in 1703 the tribunal of madrid was more severe with simon de andrade, a reconciled penitent, who had worn the prohibited articles. he was harshly reprimanded, was fined in fifty ducats, was banished for a year and was required to surrender the _cosas arbitrarias_, but we are told that he was permitted to keep the garments which he had on to cover his nakedness, especially as they were of ordinary cloth.[521] clerical offenders. in a land where theocratic influence was so strong, it was inevitable that there should be especial favor shown to erring ecclesiastics. the church has ever sought to conceal from the public the knowledge of weaknesses that might diminish veneration for its ministers, and scandal has been more dreaded than sin. the inquisition established its jurisdiction over both the secular and the regular clergy, but it exercised that jurisdiction in accordance with the general policy of the church. every care was taken to keep clerical offences from public knowledge, except in cases of formal heresy or of administering the sacraments by those who held only the lower orders. as a rule, in place of being confined in the secret prison during trial, they were housed in some convenient convent, where their presence need excite no surprise. when convicted, they were not exposed in the public autos de fe, but their sentences were read in the audience-chamber with closed doors, though in certain cases a prescribed number of other clerics were summoned to be present as witnesses; even then they did not wear the penitential habit as did laymen.[522] [sidenote: _clerical offenders_] for aggravated offences, the ordinary punishment was reclusion in a designated convent for a specified term, a penalty which might be infinitely varied. perhaps six months or a year was to be passed in a cell; the culprit was to be last in choir and refectory; he might be suspended for a term or perpetually from some or all of his functions and of the right to vote or to be voted for; spiritual penances might be superadded or, at his entrance, he might be subjected to a _zurra de rueda_, or circular discipline, in which all the members of the house, including the lay-brethren, took a hand. all these greater or less aggravations could be varied or accumulated to meet the exact shades of guilt. this conventual reclusion was adopted, perhaps, partly for concealment and partly as a milder form of incarceration, but the mercy was doubtful if we may trust the story told by llorente of a capuchin guilty of aggravated abuse of the confessional who, when condemned to five years' reclusion in a convent of his order, begged to have it changed to incarceration in the secret prison; he had been, he said, provincial and guardian, he knew how the brethren treated those thrust upon them as criminals, and it would cost him his life. his prayer was refused and his prevision was correct, for he died within three years.[523] i have met, however, with cases in which the recluded fraile survived longer terms; as a rule, no doubt, life was not rendered pleasant, but it depended on circumstances. the franciscan, francisco ortiz, sentenced to confinement for two years in a cell in the convent of torrelaguna, without intercourse with his brethren, refused to leave his retirement on the expiration of the term and remained there till his death, twelve years later, the object of veneration to all around him.[524] there might or might not be sympathy for the penitent and his treatment naturally corresponded. when, however, the offence was formal heresy, entailing reconciliation or relaxation, the cleric was obliged to appear in an auto de fe, like any other culprit. cases of the kind were common enough in the early period, when many conversos had entered the church but, after the thorough weeding out by the inquisition, they became rare. an essential preliminary was degradation from the priesthood, which was of two kinds, verbal and formal--the former sufficing for cases of reconciliation, while relaxation required the latter. verbal degradation effaced the orders, but not the priestly _character_ and, in the later period, publicity was often avoided by executing the sentence in the audience-chamber, as in the toledo cases of jacinto vásquez aranso, a priest convicted of judaism and condemned to the galleys, december 4, 1688, and of buenaventura frutos, cura of mocejon, sentenced february 19, 1722.[525] originally the ministration of a single bishop sufficed for verbal degradation, while two were required for formal, until gregory ix, to facilitate the operations of the inquisition, decreed that, in cases of heresy, the bishop of the culprit could perform the ceremony, in the presence of some abbots and other learned men, and finally, in 1551, the council of trent permitted a single bishop to officiate in all cases of formal degradation, and his vicar-general in verbal degradation.[526] the ceremony of public formal degradation was impressive. the culprit marched in the procession bearing the mitre and sanbenito of relaxation, which were removed on the staging in order that he might be seen in his priestly vestments and tonsure. in the case of fray joseph díaz pimiento, a relapsed judaizer, burnt at the seville auto de fe of july 25, 1720, we are told that an immense crowd was assembled, for no degradation had been witnessed there since 1623. the auto was celebrated in the church of san pablo but, as soon as fray joseph's sentence was read, he was taken by a number of officials to a scaffold in the plaza de san francisco, where the bishop of lycopolis, the assistant of the archbishop, performed the ceremony. his tongue, the palms of his hands and finger tips were scraped and rubbed with tow, the tonsure was erased by cutting his hair and he was deprived of his orders one by one in the reverse order of their bestowal. he was then handed over to his superiors of the mercenarian order, who stripped him of the habit, after which the mitre and sanbenito with painted flames were replaced on him and he was taken to the _juzgado_, or secular court, and delivered to the deputy assistente of the city to be formally sentenced and conducted to the _brasero_.[527] chapter iv. the stake. the condemnation of a human being to a death by fire, as the penalty of spiritual error, is so abhorrent to the moral sense and so oppugnant to the teachings of christ, that modern apologists have naturally sought to relieve the church from responsibility for such atrocity. on the surface a tolerably plausible argument can be made. the ministers of religion, the spiritual courts, the inquisition itself rendered no judgements of blood. any ecclesiastic who might be concerned in them incurred "irregularity" requiring a dispensation before he could validly perform his functions or obtain preferment. the execution of heretics was a matter purely of secular law and burning them alive is not prescribed in canon or decretal. the earliest recorded example of concremation is that administered by robert the pious of france to the cathari of orleans in 1017, and its embodiment in positive law has not been found earlier than in the decrees against waldenses by pedro ii of aragon in the council of gerona in 1197. in 1231 frederic ii included it in the sicilian constitutions and, in 1238, by his cremona decree, extended it throughout the empire, while alfonso the wise of castile, in 1255, adopted it for christians who turned jews or moors.[528] it thus became part of the public law of christendom, not so much from the initiative of rulers, as from a recognition of what had become a custom through the spontaneous ferocity of popular fanaticism. the inquisition, through whose agency heretics were consigned to the stake, did not itself condemn them to it, but merely pronounced them to be heretics of whose conversion no hope was entertained; it cut them off from the church, which had nothing further to do with them, and abandoned or "relaxed" them to the secular arm for due punishment. it assumed that it condemned the crime and the civil judge the criminal and, in relaxing him, it adjured the judge to spare his life and not to spill his blood. this latter was a device invented by innocent iii, before the inquisition existed, to preserve from irregularity the spiritual courts in degrading clerics guilty of forgery and handing them over to the secular authorities for execution.[529] [sidenote: _responsibility of the church_] this shifting of responsibility to the civil power was not through any sense that the laws punishing heresy with burning were cruel or unjust, for the church taught this to be an act so eminently pious that it accorded an indulgence to any one who would contribute wood to the pile, thus assuming the responsibility and expending the treasure of the merits of christ in stimulating popular ferocity. that this indulgence was well known in spain appears in the evidence in the trial of jan of antwerp for lutheranism at toledo in 1561.[530] in fact, when luther argued that the burning of heretics was contrary to the will of the spirit, leo x included this among his heresies condemned in the bull _exsurge domine_.[531] consequently the secular power had no choice as to what it should do with heretics delivered to it; its act was purely ministerial, and if it listened to the hypocritical plea for mercy, it was liable to prosecution as a fautor of heresy and to deprivation of its functions.[532] the church enforced this by embodying in the canon law a provision that princes and their officials must punish duly and promptly all heretics delivered to them by inquisitors, under pain of excommunication, which became heresy if endured for a year; and inquisitors were required to proceed against them, but were cautioned to speak only of executing the laws, without alluding to the death-penalty, in order to escape irregularity.[533] as elsewhere, so in spain. the inquisition abandoned the unrepentant or relapsed heretic to the secular arm, which was bound to sentence and execute him. in the hurried informality of the early period, it seems to have been indifferent whether the magistrate pronounced a sentence or not. a contemporary account of the toledo auto of august 14, 1486, describes the reading of the sentences of the inquisitors and the condemned being carried at once to the vega for execution, where they were burnt till not a bone remained, without any allusion to the formality of intervention by the secular power.[534] when, however, the form of a condemnation by the alcalde was observed, as at córdova in 1484, he uttered it by virtue of the sentence of the inquisitors, which rendered unnecessary anything more than condemning the culprit to be burnt alive, wherefore he ordered the alguazil mayor to carry it into effect.[535] in the inquisitorial sentences of the period the adjuration for mercy is generally lacking. in that of mencia alonso, condemned at guadalupe, november 21, 1485, not only is it absent but the duties of the secular officials are treated as purely ministerial, for it ends "as a limb of the devil and accursed and excommunicate, she shall be taken to the place of burning so that by the secular justice of this town, or by other laymen, justice shall be executed upon her according to the custom of these kingdoms."[536] that the function of the magistrate was not judicial is manifested in the refusal to communicate the trial to him. when those of brescia, in 1486, refused to execute the sentences of the inquisitor without seeing the trials, innocent viii ordered the inquisitor to excommunicate them if they delayed more than six days, no matter what the local laws might be, for heresy was a purely ecclesiastical crime.[537] in accordance with this is the assertion of the _repertorium de pravitate hæreticorum_, printed at valencia in 1494, that the magistrate has no right to have the process shown to him that he may judge as to the justice of the sentence; inquisitors are not to concede any such right, for his sole duty is to execute it without delay, and if he hesitates he is subject to deprivation of office and condemnation as a heretic.[538] this principle was fully admitted by secular jurists themselves. torreblanca, who was attached to the royal chancellery of granada, states that the duty of the civil magistrate is purely executive and he has no right to examine into the merits of a case or to act in a judicial capacity.[539] [sidenote: _responsibility of the church_] in fact, the secular power could be dispensed with altogether. the venetian signory was not always as prompt as it should be in suppressing heresy so, to avoid delays and embarrassing questions, the papal nuncio there, with his fiscal, auditor and other officials, had faculties to condemn to mutilation and death all heretics without incurring irregularity or other ecclesiastical penalties, notwithstanding all canons and decretals to the contrary. such provisions were issued in 1547 by paul iii and in 1550 by julius iii and were doubtless customary.[540] peña reduces this to a general principle for, without referring to special papal faculties, he asserts that the intervention of the secular judge is unessential and that, if he is not accessible, the tribunal can condemn the heretic to death; if accessible he must execute the sentence if he wishes to escape the heavy penalties of fautorship and impeding the inquisition.[541] there was little danger of such reluctance on the part of secular officials in spain, where the oath exacted of them by the inquisition obliged them to execute whatever sentences the tribunal might require.[542] in fact, the only indication i have met with, of possible hesitation involving punishment, occurs in a mandate, september 5, 1725, to the toledo tribunal, directing that, in autos de fe, the first sentences read should be those of relaxation--thus reversing the usual order--so that the convicts might be delivered at once to the royal judge, without permitting delay in the execution of the sentences, under any pretext, since the tribunal had complete jurisdiction to compel him, by censures and other penalties, to its exact performance.[543] the inquisition regarded the sentence of the magistrate as a mere perfunctory formality. the doctors had pointed out conclusively that heresy was a crime over which he had no jurisdiction, and if he were to assert it he would render illusory the sentence of the bishop or inquisitor.[544] consequently, in preparation for an auto de fe, the tribunal, in advance, gave to the secular authorities a list of the condemnations so that the sentences might be drawn up and the wood, the stake and the garrotes be prepared for immediate execution.[545] it is true that thrift induced a certain amount of equivocation when, in 1579, the royal alguaziles of saragossa claimed payment from the confiscations for their services and for the cost of the wood, and philip ii emphatically rejected the demand as unexampled, adding that the inquisitors could not order such payment without irregularity, and that the executions were in virtue of the sentences of the secular judges and not of the inquisitors.[546] this, however, was the merest quibble. in _autos generales_, the magistrates were asked to be present to receive the convicts and "execute on them the penalties imposed by the canon law of the kingdom." in _autos particulares_, held in churches which must not be polluted by judgements of blood, the suprema pointed out, in a consulta of april 7, 1690, that the secular judges could wait at a designated place, when it sufficed that a notary informed them in writing that "n. has been declared a heretic by sentence of the holy office," simultaneously delivering the convict, when they must accept this assertion, and without delay execute the sentence, unless they wish the holy office to prosecute them as fautors of heretics and impeders of its free jurisdiction. at the same time the judges are to continue as usual to pronounce the formal sentence.[547] still, the _estilo_ of the inquisition required the ghastly comedy of asking mercy. in the official formula of the sentence the clause announcing relaxation to the civil magistrate proceeds "whom we ask and charge most affectionately to treat him benignantly and mercifully." in sentences of the absent and dead, where the effigy alone was abandoned to the secular arm, there is no prayer for mercy, as there was no effusion of blood to create irregularity.[548] in the rigid formalism of inquisitorial procedure, after the suprema had established its minute control, it is safe to assume that this official formula was universally followed. [sidenote: _responsibility of the church_] all this affords ample proof that the avoidance of irregularity was the only motive that actuated the inquisition in this matter, but if further evidence is required it is furnished by the fact that still greater scruple existed in the exercise of the temporal jurisdiction acquired by the spanish holy office over all matters concerning its officials, because such cases were not provided for in the commissions of the inquisitors-general, from which were delegated the powers of the tribunals. in 1514 the question arose when micer castillo, assessor in the saragossa tribunal, was murdered, and two of his assassins, joan uguet and pere gasco, were tried and convicted. the inquisitors dared not deliver them to the secular arm for execution, and various devices were discussed, but the matter was settled by procuring from leo x his motu proprio _cum sicut accepimus_, january 28, 1515, in which he granted faculties to the inquisitors to arrest, try and deliver for punishment to the secular authorities, any one who had struck, mutilated or slain an official of the inquisition, even if it entailed effusion of blood or mutilation or death, without incurring any note of irregularity.[549] under this the tribunals acted when such cases arose, notably in granada, about 1545, when seven persons were thus relaxed--six moriscos and an old christian--who, while in prison, killed the alcaide and his assistant and who were hanged before burning.[550] in time the cardinals of the roman inquisition were beset with similar scruples and, to relieve their consciences, pius v, october 9, 1567, granted a decree empowering them to participate in sentences of blood without incurring irregularity.[551] this applied only to italy, but it was otherwise with the terrible bull _si de protegendis_, april 1, 1569, commanding the delivery to the secular arm, for the punishment due to high treason, of any one maltreating or even threatening an official of the inquisition or destroying or altering its records. this was ordered to be published throughout the world; the spanish inquisition claimed the benefit of it, and had a castilian version of it published every year. it made no illusion to irregularity, tacitly assuming that none was incurred and it was often cited in spain to that effect.[552] still, when in 1579, the toledo tribunal desired the death-penalty for francisco de la bastida, for personating an official of the inquisition, and there was no secular law to that effect, a special brief was obtained from gregory xiii empowering it to find him guilty of death and deliver him to the secular arm for execution without incurring irregularity.[553] there seems to have arisen a fresh sense of insecurity about 1605. the brief of leo x was well-nigh forgotten; some tribunals had copies of it, but most of them had not, and the bull _si de protegendis_ did not specifically meet cases that arose. application was therefore made to paul v to extend to spain the 1567 decree of pius v, which he granted by a brief of november 29, 1605, repeated in 1607. in this he bestowed the fullest powers, not only on inquisitors but on all their officials, in all cases whether of faith or not, coming within their competence, to participate in sentences of torture, mutilation, or death without incurring irregularity.[554] this would appear ample enough to remove all possible scruples and yet subsequently contingencies occasionally arose which excited debate, or called for papal intervention to quiet sensitive consciences.[555] * * * * * in the work of exterminating heresy, the rules which governed the spanish inquisition were more merciless than those framed by its predecessor. at first, in the medieval tribunals, it was only the pertinacious and impenitent heretic who was consigned to the stake; he who recanted and professed conversion, even at the last moment, was admitted to reconciliation. then gradually, as it was found that these enforced conversions were frequently insincere, relapse was regarded as proof of impenitence and pertinacity and was subjected irremissibly to the death-penalty, and this included those who had abjured for vehement suspicion. the treatment is exemplified in the case of fray bonato, the head of a little body of spiritual franciscans in catalonia. he was pertinacious until the flames had roasted him one side, when his resolution gave way; he professed conversion and was rescued, but some years later he was found to be still cherishing his heresies and, in 1335, he was burnt alive.[556] [sidenote: _recantation_] the number of burnings in the spanish inquisition, during its first half century, could never have occurred under the old rules. indeed, in the first rush and fury, the case of juan chinchilla in 1483 (vol. ii, p. 468) indicates that even frank confession failed to save from the stake those who had sought reconciliation in a term of grace, but had been prevented by causes beyond their control. even when rules began to be framed, the instructions of 1484 placed the lives of those on trial at the discretion of the tribunal, for they required that repentance and asking for reconciliation must be expressed prior to rendering the final sentence, to entitle the culprit to mercy; while even then, if the inquisitors considered that the repentance was feigned, and they had not fair hope of genuine conversion, they were empowered to declare him an impenitent and relax him to the secular arm--all of which was left to their consciences.[557] the rule thus expressed presents two points, the development of which requires separate consideration. as regards the time of confessing and begging mercy, which the instructions limit to the period prior to the rendering of the sentence, this was extended to the time of reading of the sentence at the auto de fe. yet this was grudgingly admitted by the instructions of 1561, which say that often when convicts on the staging profess conversion the inquisitors receive them to reconciliation, but this ought rarely to be done, for it is a very perilous thing which should be suspected to come from dread of death rather than from true repentance.[558] yet, in spite of this warning, it was customary to suspend proceedings with those who, at the auto de fe, before the reading of their sentences, claimed to be penitent. they were remanded to the inquisition and, if they confessed fully as to themselves and others, they were reconciled with appropriate punishment. such cases were of constant occurrence; in the córdova auto of april 12, 1722, there were four. even while the sentence was being read, the doubt was thrown in favor of the culprit, as in the murcia auto of may 17, 1722, when inez alvárez pereira, convicted as an impenitent judaizer, begged mercy during the reading of her sentence, professed that she wished to confess and be converted, and was sent back to prison, where she was reconciled.[559] in fact, in public autos, where there were convicts to be relaxed, there was always a room arranged under the staging to which the repentant culprit was at once transferred and one of the inquisitors descended to take his confession before he should have time to change his good resolutions. in such cases reconciliation was accompanied with confiscation, irremissible prison and sanbenito and usually one or two hundred lashes for tardy confession.[560] the instructions of 1561 were justified in claiming that little reliance was to be placed on conversions thus obtained. for the most part the awful experience led penitents, who thus escaped, to cherish their beliefs in secret, but occasionally there was one whose conscience could not pardon the weakness that led to a betrayal of faith. diego lópez duro, an humble retailer of tobacco, condemned for judaism, recanted while on the staging and was reconciled with imprisonment. in 1700, one day, when hearing mass, he stood apart from his fellow-prisoners and, in a loud voice, told the priest that he lied for the law of moses was the only true one. he would have been slain on the spot had he not been hurried out to save him from popular wrath, but for him there could be no mercy. the inquisitors labored long to save his soul by inducing him to recant without success; he was pertinacious to the last and was burnt alive in the seville auto of october 28, 1703--one of those martyrs whose constancy explains why judaism has been indestructible.[561] [sidenote: _garrotting before burning_] after the reading of the sentence was concluded, recantation did not avert the death-penalty, as in the elder inquisition, but it was modified to garrotting or strangling before burning, for it was received as a principle that a christian was not to be burnt alive. this was recognized at least as early as 1484, when in a saragossa auto a culprit is recorded as strangled before burning "porque murio reducido."[562] in addition to this, the traditions of the old inquisition introduced at first a certain irregularity in practice, and it did not follow that delivery to the secular arm inevitably inferred execution. in a list of _quemados y relaxados_ at ciudad real, there are several cases, up to 1523, of those who were "relaxed" and yet had penances of various kinds, showing that they had recanted after delivery to the magistrate and yet were spared the death-penalty.[563] in fact, it continued for some time to be a matter of debate, in which opinions were divided, whether a man who had been returned by the secular judge to the inquisitors, because he recanted and promised full confession, could be again relaxed for execution. the older doctors inclined to the merciful view and simancas tells us of such a case in cuenca, which was referred to the suprema, when many experts held that the culprit could not be again relaxed, for he had made a true confession, and the secular arm had renounced its rights. even as late as 1640 an inquisitor says that the rigor of executing a man who repents after delivery to the magistrate is not customary in spain.[564] in this he would seem to be mistaken. i have never met with a case, later than those alluded to, in which conversion professed after sentence secured reconciliation. the tendency to rigor was too strong. the instructions of 1561 make no allusion to such a possibility, as they grudgingly allow mercy for earlier confession. peña forbids it; he admits that it was the ancient custom, but such conversions are not to be trusted and experience shows that such penitents are only rendered worse.[565] it was the universal practice to garrote those who professed repentance after sentence, and the dreadful alternative of death by fire, when thus impending so imminently, wrought so many conversions on the way to the _brasero_, even among those whose resolve had held out thus far, that burning alive became comparatively infrequent. in the first three autos held at barcelona in 1488 and 1489, all the converts professed a desire to die in the christian faith and all were strangled before burning.[566] at the great auto of may 21, 1559, at valladolid where dr. cazalla and other protestants suffered, there were fourteen relaxed in person, of whom only one, the bachiller herrezuelo, is characterized as a pertinacious heretic and consequently burnt alive, the rest being garrotted as repentant converts.[567] in 1571 there were hanging, in the parish church of logroño, 157 sanbenitos, of which 101 were of those reconciled and 56 of those relaxed. of the latter nine were in effigy and 47 in person, of whom only four are specified as burnt alive.[568] the weakness of human nature afforded but rare examples of those who could stand the final test of fiery martyrdom. notwithstanding the practice of executing all who delayed conversion until after hearing their sentences, there still were those who argued that they should be admitted to reconciliation, basing their contention on the ancient rule and on the silence of the instructions of 1561 on this point. in 1674 the suprema felt called upon to quiet the doubts of the granada tribunal, by insisting that this rigor had been the invariable custom of the holy office. still the question was debated until a carta acordada of may 24, 1699, disposed of it authoritatively. this declared that, in consequence of existing doubts, the suprema had examined the matter carefully, reaching the conclusion that technically the delivery to the secular arm was coincident with the reading of the sentence; the inquisition thus remained without jurisdiction which had passed to the royal justice for the execution of the sentence. therefore, if the convict was not converted before the reading of the sentence, he was not to have mercy or to be admitted to reconciliation, even if he begged for it, but the royal justice was to execute and fulfil the sentence. if the conversion was real and not feigned--the latter being presumable at such a time--any of the confessors who assisted the culprit could reconcile him to the church and confess him sacramentally.[569] thus his body was irrevocably forfeited, although his soul might be saved. after so formal a definition, no arguments in favor of mercy could be urged. in the sixty-four autos de fe, between 1721 and 1727, there was a total of seventy-seven cases of relaxation in person. in the relations it is not always stated distinctly whether the victim was burned alive or garrotted but, from the details given, the estimate cannot be far wrong that not over thirteen, or about one in six, endured the severer punishment. in the granada auto of january 21, 1722, there were eleven relaxed, all of whom professed conversion after their sentences were read, and all were garrotted before burning. so rigid was the interpretation of the rule that it could not be dispensed with even to gratify the intense longing for expiation which sometimes possessed the eleventh hour convert. in the córdova auto of april 12, 1722, antonio gabriel de torre zavallos, relaxed for judaism, was converted after the reading of his sentence. at the brasero, with copious tears and signs of repentance, he loudly proclaimed his christian faith, praising the mercy of god and of the holy office and demanding to be burnt alive, in order to offer to god satisfaction for his sins, but this was refused; he was duly garrotted and "he gave his soul to god to the great consolation and edification of all the people."[570] [sidenote: _pertinacity_] an unpleasant doubt obtrudes itself whether in all cases the preliminary strangling really relieved the sufferer from death by fire. spanish executioners are said to possess such dexterity in manipulating the garrote that they can prolong the death-agony for hours when they are not bribed to give a speedy release. in the universal venality of the period, it is possible that those, whose friends failed to earn the good-will of the minister of justice, were by no means insensible when the torch was applied to the faggots. there may have been more than mere lack of skill in the incident at the cuenca auto of june 29, 1654, which gave bartolomé lópez the opportunity of displaying his nerve. he had delayed professing conversion until after the reading of his sentence and was consequently relaxed for strangulation and burning. at the brasero, seeing that the executioner, pedro de alcalá, bungled in garrotting violante rodríguez and ana de guevara, he said to him "pedro, if you do not treat me better, you had better burn me alive."[571] * * * * * according to inquisitorial jurisprudence, there were several causes which entailed relaxation. the first of these was pertinacity--the obstinacy which led the heretic or apostate to avow and defend his errors, and to resist the well-meant effort of his judges to save his soul by inducing conversion. this heroic temper, which preferred martyrdom to denying what it believed to be the truth, was not common, but the annals of the inquisition are illustrated by cases of unknown and forgotten victims, whose persistence through torment and persuasion, to the fiery death at the brasero, ennobles human nature, whether they were moslems or jews, protestants or mystics. it was a blind perversity that refused to see in this aught but hardness of heart, inspired by satan, and with empty rhetoric sought to draw a distinction between this and true martyrdom. thus simancas tells us that we should not be surprised to see heretics sometimes carried rejoicing to the stake. this is not true alacrity but madness, not patience but fierceness, and there is wide difference between barbarous fierceness and the modest constancy of the true martyr. then there are those who, by certain arts, so benumb the body that it does not feel torments; there are also those who deprive the mind of sense, so that they meet death without fear, but that gentleness and placidity, that sublime humility and humble sublimity, we see only in the martyrs of christ.[572] yet, to do it justice, the inquisition--at least after the first fury of its career was spent--earnestly sought the salvation of its victims, rather than to send them through temporal to eternal flame. we have seen that, in the case of those sentenced to relaxation, it advanced the notification of their fate, in order to enlarge the opportunity of the ghostly counsellors, whom it deputed to labor with them. even before this extension, the instructions of 1561 order inquisitors to do everything in their power to induce conversion, so that, if nothing else can be accomplished, the culprit may not die without the knowledge of god.[573] during the fortnight previous to an auto de fe those sentenced to relaxation were to be summoned to repeated audiences, when they were to be earnestly entreated to confess and recant, with promises of mercy, and learned theologians were required to be present to aid in the exhortations.[574] even prior to the consulta de fe, pious inquisitors spared no effort to convince the erring of their errors. one relates how, in 1630, he had to deal with two protestants, an englishman and a frenchman, who were pertinacious, saying that they had been brought up in their pretended reformed religion and knew nothing of catholicism. their simplicity went so far as to ask to be allowed to return to their native lands, or that persons learned in both religions should dispute before them, so that they might learn which was best for, as they were illiterate, they could not themselves dispute. the inquisitor set theologians to work upon them when, after considerable labor, they were converted; devotional books were given to them, which they eagerly devoured; the trial was delayed and, by the time the witnesses were ratified, the heretics were good catholics.[575] [sidenote: _pertinacity_] when three days' notice of impending relaxation was given, the time was utilized to the utmost. there was a pertinacious heretic to suffer in the seville auto of december 10, 1719--a moorish slave, baptized under the name of francisco andrés, who had renegaded and was persistent when his sentence was made known to him. then twelve calificadores--two each from the orders of mercenarians, minims, franciscans, dominicans, augustinians and jesuits--with eight familiars were assigned to his conversion. they were successful and he escaped with prison and sanbenito for four years.[576] a remarkable case, at the seville auto of july 5, 1722, shows however that, after delivery to the secular arm, the inquisition considered that its functions were ended. there were four pertinacious jews, two men and two women. nine calificadores and eleven familiars labored with them in vain during the three days; they persisted through the reading of the sentences and were delivered to the secular magistrate. the two men and the elder of the women succumbed at the last, professed conversion and were garrotted and burnt. the younger woman, known as la almiranta, at the brasero begged audience of the deputy assistente, told him that she desired to confess and give evidence as to other jews and was remanded to the royal prison. word was sent to the tribunal, which replied that it had nothing further to do with her. she was kept until the 7th and, when taken to the brasero was more pertinacious, than ever, saying that, as her companions had died as catholics, they were accursed and that she had pretended to yield in order that her ashes, which were holy, should not be mingled with theirs. of course she had the martyrdom which she craved.[577] in exceptional cases pertinacity seems to have been allowed the privilege of preliminary strangulation. at a valladolid auto of may 29, 1691, there were five pertinacious women condemned for judaism, described as being from 24 to 27 years of age and very handsome, who excited general compassion. on being delivered to the magistrate two of them weakened, while three persisted in their faith, yet they were all garrotted before burning.[578] a large portion of the cases of pertinacity arose from the death in prison, during trial, of those who did not ask on the death-bed for the consolations of religion, and who had no opportunity of obtaining mercy by conversion. thus in the granada auto of may 13, 1725, out of seven burnings in effigy, six were of those who had died in prison.[579] suicide in prison was treated harshly, for simancas tells us that the suicide is to be condemned as fully convicted and impenitent, even though he had previously confessed and professed repentance, to which rojas adds that, although his effigy is to be burnt, his heirs are allowed to prove insanity, difficult as that is.[580] * * * * * [sidenote: _the negativo--the diminuto_] the _negativo_--the man who denied his heresy in the face of what was deemed competent testimony of guilt--was classed as an impenitent heretic and doomed to relaxation. this was the inevitable logic of the inquisition, although it led to the most tragic of all situations--that of being tortured to death in honor of the faith which the sufferer held. it was impossible, under the inquisitorial system, to allow a possible heretic to escape merely because he unflinchingly affirmed his orthodoxy, and yet when a man asserted it up to the brasero, knowing that it would not avail him, it was impossible not to recognize in him a true believer who would not save his body at the expense of falsely confessing apostasy. three such there were in the granada auto of may 27, 1593, burnt as negativos and consequently burnt alive.[581] such men were true martyrs, especially as rigid constructionists denied them the consolations of religion in their last moments. at the toledo auto of october 28, 1723, diego de quiros was in this position, and a jesuit who heard him in sacramental confession was severely censured for doing so while he persisted in maintaining his innocence. again the question came up in the toledo auto of july 1, 1725. fernando de castro was relaxed as an impenitent negativo and was sentenced to burning alive. on account of the heat the execution was postponed until the afternoon, and the convict was meanwhile placed in the public prison. with cries he earnestly begged for sacramental confession, but the frailes in attendance declined unless he should admit his heresy, which he steadfastly refused to do, asserting the witnesses to be perjured, and the judgement unjust. at this juncture there came a jesuit father who yielded to the despairing appeals of the poor wretch and heard him in confession, whereupon the judge took the responsibility of modifying the sentence to preliminary strangulation. the frailes loudly rebuked the jesuit, and were joined by the public, disappointed of the promised spectacle of the burning alive of a fellow-creature. considerable debate followed and a priest named candido múñoz wrote an argument justifying the jesuit, but his labor was superfluous for, while his tract was in the press, the suprema issued a carta acordada, october 11th, ordering that in such cases the priest should hear the confession and confer absolution or not, according to the disposition manifested, but in future no one but the appointed theologians were to attend the convict to the last.[582] thus it was left to this late date to admit the dying victim to the sacraments, probably, we may assume, on the doctrine that the blood of martyrdom is the most efficacious of all sacraments. such cases could not have been common, but those must have been numerous in which the unjustly convicted negativo found his resolution give way at the approach to the brasero and, in order to escape burning alive and to obtain the sacraments, falsely confessed to having entertained heresies which his soul abhorred. * * * * * there was also the _diminuto_, who made a confession that did not "satisfy the evidence" and thus was held to be imperfect. a confession that was not full was regarded as fictitious; it inferred impenitence and therefore entailed relaxation. we have seen how, under the early edicts of grace, any omissions in the hurried confessions was construed as rendering them imperfect and subjecting the penitent to prosecution and relaxation. especially was imperfect denunciation of accomplices regarded as _diminucio_; if the accused confessed all that was in evidence against himself and omitted the acts of accomplices who were proved to have been with him, or if he named only those who were absent or dead or already convicted, it was proof of malice and impenitence; he was not truly converted and was subject to relaxation after torture _in caput alienum_.[583] the denial of heretical intention in acts confessed, which was frequent in those against whom judaic or moorish customs were proved, constituted the accused a negativo in the substantial part of heresy, which is intention, or a diminuto, implying, according to the common opinion, impenitence and pertinacity involving relaxation.[584] thus hernando de palma, a morisco, accused of teaching and conducting moorish ceremonies, denied and overcame severe torture, whereupon the consulta de fe voted for appearance in an auto and abjuration _de levi_. ignorant of this, he asked for an audience and confessed that, for seven or eight years, he had practised some moorish rites, without regarding them as contrary to the faith. in this he persisted and was burnt in the toledo auto of 1606. revocation of confession was similarly impenitence and pertinacity, as in the case of manuel thomas, who confessed to judaism after the accusation was presented, then revoked the confession and persisted in the revocation, for which he was relaxed in the toledo auto of 1585.[585] * * * * * when the reformation plunged the church into a struggle for life, of which no man might foretell the result, there arose a demand for sharper measures of repression. the dogmatizer or heresiarch--he who not only condemned his own soul to perdition but sought to carry others along with him, by disseminating his pestiferous doctrines--might recant and make his peace with god, but not with god's earthly ministers. simancas well expresses the hatred intensified by fear, which was aroused by the teachers of the new doctrines. the heresiarch, he says, the master of errors, is to be relaxed and, under no circumstances, is to be received back into the church. he is unworthy of pardon who has led others into error, like a murderer who has slain many. he is a crafty homicide, who daily sheds the blood of souls. he who teaches heresy slays, not with the sword, but with the poison of his doctrine; he kills not the body but the soul, not with temporary but with eternal death, wherefore he is worthy of the severest punishment. and, of all others, the teachers of the lutheran heresies are in no way to be pardoned.[586] [sidenote: _heresiarchs_] yet the church had always professed to welcome to reconciliation its erring children, who renounced their errors and begged for mercy, provided they were not relapsed, and the inquisition from its inception had acted on this principle. on this were based the powers deputized to it and when, in 1558 the discovery of the protestants of valladolid was so exploited as to throw spain into agitation, and it was desired to make an example of doctor agustin cazalla, some further grant of faculties was felt to be necessary. paul iv was nothing loath. in 1555 he had apparently desired to show that rome was not to be outdone by geneva in persecuting rigor and that, if calvin in 1553 had burnt servet for denying the trinity, he could be equally zealous for the faith. by the bull _cum quorundam_ he decreed that all who denied the trinity, the divinity of christ, his conception through the holy ghost, his death for human salvation, or the perpetual virginity of the virgin, and who did not confess to inquisitors and abjure their errors within three months, and all who in future should maintain those heresies, should be treated as though they were relapsed and as such should be forthwith relaxed to the secular arm.[587] having thus extended the catalogue of unpardonable heresies, he was quite ready to grant the additional powers sought by the spanish inquisition. by a brief of january 4, 1559, he bestowed on the inquisitor-general and suprema a faculty to relax all heresiarchs and other heretics, even though they were not relapsed, and though they desired to abjure their heresies, when it was believed with verisimilitude that the abjuration was not sincere but was only to escape punishment.[588] this was, in fact, no more than the power assumed in the instructions of 1484, but under it, as we shall see hereafter, were relaxed some conspicuous heretics, such as doctor cazalla at valladolid and juan ponce de leon at seville, although they had renounced their errors and sought reconciliation in advance of the autos de fe. it thus became a principle in inquisitorial jurisprudence that the inquisitor-general and suprema could relax dogmatizers, irrespective of pertinacity or relapse.[589] this was not confined to protestants. about 1600, the suprema had to decide the case of a morisco alfaquí, accused of being a teacher of islam, who confessed to teaching his wife but denied other proselytism. a consulta presented to the suprema argued that, although by law a dogmatizer must be relaxed yet, if he spontaneously denounces himself and is sincerely repentant, he can be reconciled, for his conversion and humility serve as an example to those whom he has misled. in the present case, however, the alfaquí has only confessed partially and to save himself, wherefore he should be relaxed--and to this the suprema assented.[590] yet this severity had exceptions. in the seville auto of july 5, 1722, pedro de alpuin, reconciled with perpetual prison and sanbenito, had five years of galleys added for being a teacher of the law of moses, and even these were remitted in consideration of his infirmities.[591] * * * * * relapse was the most fruitful source of relaxation, at least after the first rage of the inquisition had exhausted itself. it has been already stated that, after reconciliation or abjuration _de vehementi_, any backsliding was held to indicate that the conversion had been fictitious, that the culprit was impenitent and pertinacious, and that he was to be abandoned to the secular arm without hope of mercy. this was an unvarying principle of the canon law. the suprema, in a case brought before it, in 1536, declared that it could not dispense for that which the law enjoined, and therefore it was powerless to relieve the relapsed from his punishment.[592] simancas is equally emphatic--the relapsed is to be condemned without hope of pardon.[593] in the first audience of the accused, the inquisitor was required to tell him that, if he would discharge his conscience, his case would be despatched with speed and mercy but, if the charge was relapse, the word mercy was to be omitted because no mercy could be shown.[594] even prompt and full confession was of no avail; the law was absolute and implacable.[595] [sidenote: _relapse_] this severity was greatly enhanced by the elastic definition given to relapse. the reconciled penitent had to walk warily, for any unconscious return to ancestral habits was sufficient to convict him. about 1500 the suprema decreed that penitents communicating with unreconciled heretics were to be held as relapsed, and all evidence coming before the tribunals was to be scrutinized for proof that would justify prosecution--evidently of those who might chance to be incidentally named in it--and then, if this proved insufficient for conviction, any admission of the accused, not contained in his former confession, could be used to condemn him as a fictitious convert.[596] how this was construed in practice, we learn from simancas, who says that he is considered a relapsed who, after abjuring heresy, talks with heretics, or visits them, or makes presents to them, or favors and communicates with them, so that he cannot but be held to do it as a consequence of his heresy.[597] the man who had been reconciled thus lived in unceasing danger that, at any moment, some acquaintance might be tried and convicted and his name might occur in the evidence as being on good terms with him. safety, indeed, could only be secured by resolutely isolating himself from his family and his race. it was the same with those who had only abjured for vehement suspicion. the instructions of 1561 declare absolutely that, if they confess or are convicted, they must be relaxed, for the inquisitors have no power to reconcile them, although they are not truly but only fictitiously relapsed.[598] still, there were some exceptions. self-denunciation for relapse, it was admitted, required relaxation under the law, but it was argued that such second confession was not really a conviction, for it showed that the penitent was not incorrigible and should be admitted to mercy.[599] such cases must have been exceedingly rare, but we have seen one in that of ursule de la croix (vol. ii, p. 572) where, it will be remembered, a third self-denunciation was visited with the stake. moriscos enjoyed a special exception. the wholesale enforced conversion of the moors of castile in 1502 and of the kingdoms of aragon in 1525, filled the land with nominal christians, whose baptism served no other purpose than subjecting them to the inquisition. they were largely vassals of nobles, to whom their services were indispensable, and to subject whole populations to the penalties of a relapse which was inevitable was a prospect that might well stagger the statesman if not the churchman. in the unsparing rigor of the canon law, escape from this was to be sought only in rome and, in march, 1510, ferdinand asked for a bull enabling the converts to avoid the penalties of relapse.[600] the request was doubtless granted and was followed by numerous papal briefs, issued during the remainder of the century, which bore the shape of empowering the inquisitors-general to appoint confessors with power to absolve morisco penitents with secret absolution and penance, even if they had relapsed repeatedly, or to proclaim terms of grace, during which absolution could be had irrespective of relapse, together with other devices, the futility of all which we shall see hereafter.[601] this was but one of the many attempts to solve the increasing difficulties of the morisco problem, and its only relation to the general policy of the inquisition is to prove how easily, when sufficient motive existed, the unsparing cruelty of the canon law could be set aside. under that law, we can readily conceive how large a portion of the executions were due to relapse. details are lacking as to the earlier period of activity, but the later records are sufficient to indicate how efficient an agent it was in procuring victims. in the great madrid auto of 1680, there were eighteen judaizers relaxed in person, of whom ten were for relapse, six for pertinacity and two for denial or imperfect confession.[602] in the terrible mallorquin autos of 1691, all the relaxed--thirty-eight in person and seven in effigy--were condemned for relapse, having been reconciled in 1679, and of these only three were burnt alive as pertinacious.[603] at the granada auto of january 31, 1723, of the eleven judaizers relaxed, all were relapsed; at that of cordova, april 23, 1724, seven out of eight were relapsed, and the same was the case with all of the six relaxed in the cuenca auto of july 23, 1724.[604] in these last three autos only one person was pertinacious; the rest all professed contrition and conversion and would have escaped with reconciliation instead of strangulation had it not been for the rigor in the treatment of relapse. [sidenote: _relapse_] a case already alluded to exemplifies this and is worth relating in some detail, if only for its psychological interest. fray joseph díaz pimiento was born in cuba, of old christian parents, in 1687. he was bred to the church and his life was an example of the licence pervading the colonies. he drifted around the shores of the caribbean, involved in all kinds of disreputable adventures. in mexico, he forged a certificate of baptism in order to obtain ordination under age. in the dutch colony of curaçoa, he professed conversion to judaism and was circumcised, in the hope of getting a few hundred dollars from the jews. after incredible hardships he fell into the hands of the inquisition of cartagena de las indias, where he recanted, was reconciled and was sent to spain for reclusion in a convent. while confined in the episcopal prison he broke gaol, but was captured at xeres, and was put in a convent, heavily fettered, where he endeavored to get assistance from some new christians who were under suspicion, but in this he failed, although to excite their compassion, he wrote to the commissioner of the inquisition that he was a jew. then again he escaped and fled to lisbon, where he worked for a dutch ship-master, who promised to carry him to holland, whence he could sail for jamaica. then a sudden impulse took possession of him, which carried him to seville, where he presented himself to the inquisition. at first he professed to be a christian but, after a few days, he told the alcaide that he was a jew, and in this he persisted, stubbornly refusing to make defence. necessarily, as a relapsed, he was condemned to relaxation in the auto of july 25, 1720, and, during the three days prior to the auto, all the learning and piety of seville were enlisted in his conversion, while prayers for his soul were put up in all the churches. then came another revulsion and, after two days, he announced that the grace of god had touched him, and that he was a christian. but for his relapse, this would have saved him; as it was, it only obtained for him preliminary strangulation and this he sought to reject for, at the stake, he begged to be burnt alive in order to prove that his conversion was the result of conviction and not of fear. this could not be permitted, and the deputy assistente sentenced him to be garrotted and burnt, and his ashes scattered as usual. the pile was fired at 5 <small>p.m.; it took until day-break to reduce the body to ashes, and it was observed that the customary stench was absent. then the hermandad de la caridad asked to have the ashes to give them christian burial, as he had died a christian, but the assistente refused and ordered them to be scattered over the fields, in obedience to the royal pragmáticas and apostolical constitutions--all of which, we are told, was done, to the great honor of the holy catholic faith.[605] yet, notwithstanding the canons that prohibited mercy to the relapsed and withheld, even from the inquisitor-general, the power to pardon, cases, as has been stated above (p. 148), are not infrequent, in which the relapsed were admitted to a second reconciliation. even as early as 1486, we hear of micer gonzalo de santa maría, of the great converso family of burgos, who was thrice penanced by the inquisition and who finally died, not at the stake, but in gaol, under a sentence of perpetual prison.[606] some scattering cases of penances subsequent to reconciliation occur at barcelona between 1491 and 1502, mingled with others in which the full penalty of relaxation was inflicted, though no reasons are alleged for the distinction.[607] in 1511, at cuenca, leonor and juana rodríguez who had been reconciled in time of grace, were reconciled again for fresh delinquencies.[608] in the later period, instances of the same benignity occur more frequently, although accompanied with punishment severe enough to show that the trivial evidence required to prove persistency was far exceeded. thus, in the toledo auto of december 27, 1654, gaspar de los reyes was sentenced, as a relapsed observer of the law of moses, to abjure _de vehementi_, to six years of galleys and a fine of a thousand ducats, while his wife, isabel rodríguez, and his mother, maría lópez, both relapsed, had the same sentence, save that exile replaced the galleys and the fine was six hundred ducats each. a more unusual case was that of manuel rodríguez moreira, who was relaxed for relapse in the toledo auto of september 8, 1704, after rejecting an offer of mercy. there is even an instance, december 8, 1681, of a sentence of reconciliation, _citra p[oe]nam relapsi_--without the punishment of relapse--but this is explained by the tender age of the culprit, diego de castro, who was but ten years old.[609] [sidenote: _relapse_] remembering the prudent intimation given to inquisitors that sometimes fines were more productive than confiscation, the heavy mulcts inflicted on the relapsed who were admitted to mercy, suggest that possibly there may have been financial reasons, in special cases, for benignity. we have seen the number of executions for relapse in the mallorquin autos of 1691. besides these there were twenty-two cases of those who had been reconciled in 1679 who were not relaxed but penanced in various ways, including fines ranging from one to five hundred libras, and aggregating in all sixty-five hundred libras.[610] it is difficult not to recognize in this a speculative exercise of rigor or mercy. as the eighteenth century wore on, it would seem that the canonical penalty of relaxation came to be enforced only on the relapsed who were pertinacious, or refused to confess and beg for mercy. in the valladolid auto of june 13, 1745, there are three illustrative cases. luis de la vega, who had been reconciled in 1701, was relaxed as an impenitent relapsed, who persisted in denying his guilt. miguel gutiérrez, reconciled in 1699, and franciso garcía, reconciled in 1706, were admitted again to reconciliation, with irremissible prison and sanbenito, ten years of galleys and two hundred lashes--a somewhat doubtful mercy but, if the sentence was justifiable, the offence unquestionably under the canons, called for relaxation.[611] it was only in formal heresy that relapse entailed relaxation for, as we have seen, the stake was reserved for heretics. where heresy was merely inferential, as in bigamy, blasphemy, solicitation in the confessional, reading prohibited books, and other offences reserved to the inquisition, relapse was treated only as an aggravation, to be punished with such additional severity as the circumstances might indicate. even relapse in the crime of administering the sacraments without being in orders, which the roman inquisition treated as the equivalent of heresy, was visited in spain only with the ordinary penalties in somewhat rigorous measure. thus juan vicente esquirel y morales--a man with a number of aliases who had been a foot-soldier--was penanced for this offence at granada in 1727. he persisted in his evil courses and, in the córdova auto of march 4, 1731, he was forbidden to wear clerical garments and was sentenced to two hundred lashes and ten years of galleys.[612] the latter half of the eighteenth century witnessed the gradual disappearance of relaxation. llorente tells us that during the reign of carlos iii (1759-1788) he has found accounts of only ten autos de fe, in which there were but four cases.[613] probably the latest instance was that of isabel maría herraiz, an impostor known as the _beata de cuenca_, who died in prison without confession and, being thus unable to recant and beg mercy, was burnt in effigy in 1802.[614] when it came to relaxing a living fellow-creature, however, the inquisition by this time was honestly desirous of escaping the necessity. padre miguel sorano, cura of esco in aragon, was an unmanageable heretic, who discarded tradition and the fathers and held that scripture was the sole authority; purgatory and limbo were human inventions; fees for masses were simony; tithes were a fraud; the pope was not the vicar of christ and his decretals were mere devices to raise money. all this he embodied in a book which he audaciously submitted to his bishop and other theologians. tried by the saragossa tribunal, he was pertinaciously impenitent, impervious alike to argument and threats, and there was no alternative but to vote for relaxation. then the suprema ordered fresh testimony to be sought and renewed efforts at conversion, but all proved fruitless and again relaxation was voted. as a last resource the suprema ordered an investigation into his sanity. all the population of the vicinage was examined, and one doctor was found to say that some years before he had been dangerously sick, which might have affected his brain, and since then he had talked freely of these heretical doctrines. taking advantage of this, renewed efforts were made to convert him without coming to a vote. while this was in progress he was attacked with mortal illness and, at the end of twenty days, he was told that the end was near. he merely said that he was in the hands of god; he refused all the consolations of religion and passed away unrepentant in 1805, to be buried in unconsecrated ground, when the suprema ordered the case to be closed, without proceeding to conviction and burning in effigy.[615] we shall see that twenty years later the episcopal inquisition was less merciful. chapter v. the auto de fe. the act of faith--the auto de fe--was the name by which the spanish holy office dignified the _sermo_ of the old inquisition. in its full development it was an elaborate public solemnity, carefully devised to inspire awe for the mysterious authority of the inquisition, and to impress the population with a wholesome abhorrence of heresy, by representing in so far as it could the tremendous drama of the day of judgement.[616] it was regarded as an eminently pious duty. ferdinand, in 1499, congratulating the inquisitors of saragossa on the reports of their autos, and the consequent edification of the people, exhorts them to continue to serve god and to discharge their consciences and his. in a similar mood cardinal adrian, in 1517, urged the tribunal of sicily to celebrate one as early as possible for, besides the service to god, it would greatly edify the people.[617] the old designation of sermo was derived from the sermon with which the proceedings commenced--originally preached by one of the inquisitors, but subsequently by some eloquent fraile, who dilated on the supreme importance of preserving the faith in its purity and of exterminating heresy and heretics. to insure a large attendance, an indulgence, usually of forty days, was granted to all present at the pious work. at the height of its power the inquisition spared no labor or expense to lend impressiveness to the _auto publico general_, as a demonstration of its authority and of the success with which it performed its functions. in the earlier and busier period, the exhibition was simpler, and confined to the practical work in hand. thus in the first one celebrated in toledo, august 16, 1486, the victims were marched on foot to the plaza, their hands tied with ropes across the breast, wearing sanbenitos of yellow linen with their names and the inscription "herege condenado," and bearing mitres on their heads. in the plaza they were ranged in tiers on a staging, while the inquisitors and their officials occupied another staging opposite. the sentence of each one was read and, although the culprits were numerous, the affair, commencing at 6 <small>a.m., was over by noon, when the convicts were carried to the _brasero_ or _quemadero_ for burning. apparently the exhibition consisted only of those condemned to the stake, to the exclusion of the reconciled or otherwise penanced.[618] the autos of the period, moreover, were not confined to the seats of the tribunals. we hear of them in the smaller towns, and, from a letter of ferdinand, november 21, 1498, it appears that the convicts were distributed to their several bishoprics where the celebration and execution, though on a minor scale, would bring the terror of the inquisition and the danger of heresy more directly home to the people.[619] by 1515, however, we may assume that they were centralized in the tribunal cities, for a royal cédula of that year orders the tribunal of murcia to confine its autos to the city of murcia and not to celebrate them in orihuela.[620] it was evidently desired to render them more impressive, and this was further accomplished, about the same time, by requiring all penitents to appear in them for, in 1517, we find the suprema instructing the tribunal of navarre that, in future, abjurations _de levi_ were not to be made privately, but in the public autos, which were to be celebrated with all solemnity.[621] there was cruelty in this, for appearance in an auto was in itself a severe punishment, and we shall see that subsequently _autos particulares_, or private autos, were instituted which enabled those guilty of lighter offences to escape without public humiliation. [sidenote: _imposing solemnities_] thus far autos were held at the discretion of the tribunals, which celebrated them whenever there was an accumulation of finished trials requiring relief to the prisons. a consulta de fe would be assembled, the sentences would be agreed upon, and a day would be appointed. it probably was not often that any external interference was apprehended, as at cuenca, in 1520, where the tribunal had so excited popular passion by arresting the deputy corregidor, in some collision of jurisdictions, that it was obliged to procure a royal cédula instructing the corregidor not to permit the inquisitors to be impeded in the performance of their functions.[622] gradually, however, in this, as in so much else, the suprema assumed control. a commencement of this is seen, in 1537, when it ordered that, whenever an auto was proposed, it should be apprised before any one else, but even the instructions of 1561 leave as yet the determination with the tribunals.[623] it could not have been long after this, however, that the permission of the suprema became requisite for, in 1585, we find the inquisitor of cuenca, ximenes de reynoso, writing, september 3d, for a decision of certain cases, and for authority to hold an auto, as there were thirty penitents, many of whom being poor were a charge on the fisc. the suprema delayed its answer and, on october 14th, reynoso sent a special courier, asking the reply to be returned by him; the auto was necessary for the benefit of the sick prisoners, as there was a pestilence raging, and also for the relief of the treasury; it was only by special entreaty that the receiver had paid the expenses of the last month, saying that there were no funds. this brought a speedy answer, with the desired permission.[624] finally, the customary routine was for the tribunal to send a list of the cases in readiness and to ask for licence to hold an auto; if the suprema approved, it ordered the auto to be celebrated without delay. apparently in the active work of the eighteenth century there was an effort to regain control of the matter, for a carta acordada of june 5, 1720, orders that no auto be held without advising the suprema and awaiting its commands.[625] as public autos became less frequent, they lost the simplicity of the earlier period and grew to be imposing demonstrations of the authority of the inquisition. possession was taken of the principal square of the city, and two vast stagings were erected, one for the penitents and their ghostly attendants, and the other for the inquisitors with their officials and all the ecclesiastical and secular authorities, while the windows of the surrounding houses were filled with the notables of the place and their families. the participation of prelate and magistrate, in the processions and spectacle, was compulsory, for though, as a rule, they were proud to take their places, causes of quarrel were too frequent and bitter not occasionally to render them unwilling thus to do honor to their imperious adversaries. in 1486, the local authorities of valencia absented themselves from an auto and, when this was reported to ferdinand, he rebuked them and ordered them in future always to be present, for nothing was so important as the service of god.[626] similar commands had to be repeated not infrequently. about 1580, a royal cédula to the viceroy and officials of majorca instructs them to lend the weight of their authority to the inquisition, by accompanying the inquisitors in the procession to the staging, and then conducting them back to their palace. in 1588, the president of the royal council of castile issued a general order to all the judges of the royal courts to march in the processions and, in 1598, the inquisitors were empowered to compel by excommunication the attendance of all public officials.[627] the staging, on great occasions, was elaborate and costly, and the question of defraying the expense was variously decided. in 1553, we find the suprema settling it, in cuenca, by requiring the city to erect it, as was customary in toledo. these two cities and madrid remained charged with it, but elsewhere it was paid by the tribunals. at the great madrid auto of 1632, philip iv ordered the city to construct the staging in conformity with plans drawn by his chief architect, and the same course was followed in that of 1680, where we have long details of the complicated structure erected under the superintendence of commissioners of high rank, who esteemed the duty to be an honor.[628] [sidenote: _police power of the tribunal_] it was essential that both inquisitors should be present, and a single inquisitor was forbidden to celebrate a public auto in the absence of his colleague. the day selected must be a feast-day--ordinarily a sunday--in order to insure a larger attendance. it sometimes chanced, however, in the eccentricities of spiritual jurisdiction, that the city lay under an interdict on the day appointed and, in such case, the inquisition had to yield. in 1582 the suprema instructed the tribunals that, when this occurred, they should endeavor to have the interdict lifted for the occasion, but, if those who had cast it refused, the inquisitors must not assume to lift it of their own authority, and must postpone the auto or do the best they could.[629] in all other respects the inquisitors were masters of the situation. repeated royal cédulas, commencing in 1523, addressed to the authorities of the cities, made the inquisitors virtual rulers for the time. they were authorized to erect stagings in the public plazas, to regulate the police arrangements of the towns, and even to assign to the secular and clerical officials such seats and precedence as they saw fit. the climax would appear to be reached when philip ii empowered them to distribute at their will the windows of the private houses overlooking the scene. against this, in 1595, the president and judges of the audiencia of granada protested, begging that house-owners should be allowed to rent their windows, and pointing out the hardship of a gentleman of high degree securing the use of a window for his family, and being turned out because the inquisitors chose to give it to a notary for the use of his wife. philip, however, held good, except in so far that he gave the inquisitors instructions to have special consideration for the houses of the judges and alcaldes.[630] how the tribunals exercised the police power thus conferred on them is exemplified in the seville auto of september 24, 1559, when they forbade any one, between the preceding midnight and the close of the solemnity, to carry arms or ride on horseback in the city, under penalty, for common folk, of a hundred lashes, and for gentlemen, of forfeiture of the horse or mule, thirty days of prison, and a fine of fifty thousand maravedís.[631] * * * * * numerous relations are extant, in print and in ms., of the great _autos publicos generales_, giving in more or less detail the elaborate ceremonial which developed itself, in the effort to render impressive these crowning manifestations of the piety that regarded, as the highest service to god, the extermination of those who persisted in worshipping him according to their own consciences. these show that fashions varied somewhat with time and place; they give the point of view of the spectator, and we may preferably take as our guide a memoir of the seventeenth century showing the internal machinery, according to the custom of toledo, drawn up for the instruction of succeeding inquisitors.[632] the minuteness of the rules prescribed shows what importance was attached to rendering the spectacle imposing and to making manifest the subordination of the civil power, while the care taken to designate the exact place of every man or body of men indicates how fruitless was the authority granted to the tribunal in these matters to prevent the inveterate quarrels as to precedence. at the great madrid auto of 1632, the franciscans, indignant at the position assigned to them in the procession, after lively altercation, retired sullenly to their convent, for which the suprema prosecuted them. these undignified squabbles were so much a matter of course that our author, in describing the report to be made to the suprema, assumes that a place must be reserved in it for them, and for the reasons which governed the tribunal in its decisions. when cases sufficient for an auto have accumulated, the tribunal reports them to the suprema, which orders it to be held. then the inquisitors determine on a feast-day, which should be at least a month off, in order to give sufficient time for the preparations. word is then sent to the corregidor and the dean of the cathedral chapter to convene their respective bodies at nine o'clock the next morning, to receive a communication from the inquisition and, at the appointed hour, some of the higher officials, with familiars, announce to them and to the bishop the expected celebration. then in due time mounted familiars and notaries, with drums and trumpets and clarions and the standard of the inquisition, move in procession through the streets, and at stated places a bell-man rings a bell and the town crier proclaims "know all dwellers in this city that the holy office of the inquisition, for the glory and honor of god and the exaltation of our holy catholic faith, will celebrate a public auto de fe at such a place on such a day." [sidenote: _preparations_] no time is lost in making preparation. commissioners are appointed for the erection and ornamentation of the staging, and wax is provided for the candles in the procession of the green cross on the evening before the auto. all the mendicant orders and the parish churches are invited to take part in the procession and the auto. letters of convocation are despatched, summoning all familiars, notaries, commissioners, consultores and calificadores of the district, under penalties and censures, to come on the day previous to the procession of the green cross.[633] the frailes, who are to assist the condemned during their last night on earth, are selected and notified. _corozas_ (conical mitres, about three quarters of an ell in height) are ordered, with flames for those who are to be relaxed, and in the ordinary form for bigamists, sorcerers and false-witnesses; also sanbenitos with flames for the relaxed, with two aspas for the reconciled, and with one aspa, behind and before, for those abjuring _de vehementi_; also halters for the relaxed and for those to be scourged. if there are effigies, they are made half length, to be carried on poles by porters; if there are bones, the boxes containing them are black, to be placed at the foot of those to which they belong; the effigies wear mitres with flames, and sanbenitos with flames on one side and, on the other, the name, residence and crime of the culprit.[634] green crosses are also provided to be carried by the relaxed, yellow wax candles for the penitents and bundles of osiers for the reconciliation ceremonies. there must also be a box for carrying the sentences, of crimson velvet with gold fringe and a gilt lock and key, while a list of the relaxed and the effigies is given to the magistrates, so that they may have the sentences ready. besides these there is the large green cross to be borne by the dominican prior, and the white cross by the mayordomo of the cofradia, in the procession of the preceding evening. the standard to be carried by the fiscal is to be made of crimson damask, richly embroidered on one side with the royal arms, a green cross rising from the crown, and the sword and olive-branch to right and left, on the other side a shield with arms of san pedro martir; the staff is to be gilt, ending in a cross, with pendant cords bearing gold and silver tassels. elaborate trappings are to be provided for the mules ridden by the officials, and silver-plated batons for the familiars who marshal the procession. the parish church usually supplies the carpets, hangings, and other adornments of the staging, and the singers for the evening procession and the reconciliation ceremonies. then the preacher is appointed--usually a dominican calificador--though in galicia a bishop is generally selected and, in madrid, the royal confessor. the day before the auto, the altar on the staging is decorated, and torches and candles are arranged around the place where the green cross is to be set. the inquisitors assign all the windows overlooking the plaza; they order that no coaches shall traverse the streets, and decide where the barriers are to be erected; the municipal authorities surrender the city to them and do whatever they require. [sidenote: _the celebration_] in the evening preceding the auto, the procession of the green cross takes place--a solemn affair in which the standard is borne by a crowd of familiars and gentlemen; the white cross follows with the religious orders, the cross of the parish church with its clergy, the green cross carried by the dominican prior and his frailes with torches and chanting the miserere. the procession winds through the designated streets to the plaza, where the green cross is planted above the altar and is guarded by dominicans during the night. the white cross is carried on to the brasero, where it is guarded by a body, existing in some cities, known as the soldiers of the zarza, whose function is to guard the brasero and plaza and to furnish the wood for the burning.[635] the inquisition itself is guarded during the night by soldiers who, before day-break, arouse the officials by beat of drum. within the building, the sanbenitos and insignia are arranged in order and porters are assembled in readiness to carry the effigies and bones and such penitents as have been disabled from walking. at 9 <small>p.m. the senior inquisitor, with a secretary, visits those who are to be relaxed and informs them of their approaching fate; with each of them he leaves two frailes to guide them. if any of the pertinacious or negativos are converted, they are to be heard immediately and their confessions received, when the inquisitors with the ordinary determine whether to admit them to reconciliation, and the same is done with those converted on the staging. before dawn mass is celebrated in the audience-chamber, and also at the altar of the green cross. by daylight breakfast is given to all who are to appear in the auto, and also to the frailes assigned to the relaxed.[636] they are not taken from their cells till the hour of forming the procession, when the penitents are ranged along the walls of the audience-chamber in the order of their marching; all are dressed in their sanbenitos with the requisite insignia. the procession starts with the soldiers of the zarza at its head; then the cross of the parish church, shrouded in black, with an acolyte who tolls a bell mournfully at intervals. then come the penitents, one by one, each with a familiar on either side; first are the impostors, then personators of officials of the inquisition, followed in order by blasphemers, bigamists, judaizers, protestants, the effigies and chests of bones and finally those to be relaxed, each with two frailes. mounted officials follow, then familiars in pairs, the standard of the inquisition, and finally the inquisitors bring up the rear. thus the procession moves through the designated streets, filled with a densely packed crowd, kept off by railings, to the plaza, where the culprits are seated in the same order, the lightest offenders on the lowest benches. the staging is provided with two pulpits, from which the sentences are read alternatively. between them is a bench elevated on two steps, on which the penitents are brought successively, to sit with their faces to the tribunal and hear their sentences read; the bench is furnished with a rail, kindly provided for them to cling to, in case of fainting, for, with the exception of the relaxed, this is the first definite announcement to them of their fate. below the seats of the tribunal there is a room handsomely fitted up for refreshments, to which the inquisitors, officials, municipal officers and clergy resort from time to time, and a similar one is provided for the familiars and persons of note. to the former is brought any pertinacious convict who may be converted on the staging previous to hearing his sentence, and there an inquisitor and secretary take his confession, after which the inquisitors and ordinary consider the case: if he is to be admitted to reconciliation he is sent back to the inquisition in a coach or chair, or is replaced on the staging, to return with the rest of the penitents. if any culprit dies on the staging, if he is condemned to relaxation his sentence is read, and his body is delivered to the secular arm; if he is one of those to be reconciled, he is absolved and the parish church buries him in consecrated ground; if simply one penanced, he is absolved _ad cautelam_ and the church buries him. after the preaching of the sermon, a secretary mounts a pulpit and, in a loud voice, reads the customary oath, elaborately pledging all the officials and people present to obedience to the holy office, and to the active persecution of heretics and heresy, to which every one responds amen! if the king is present, the senior inquisitor goes to his balcony and, on the cross and gospels, administers to him an oath to defend the faith, to persecute heretics and to show all necessary favor to the inquisition.[637] [sidenote: _the celebration_] then the sentences are read from the alternate pulpits, the alguazil mayor producing each culprit to hear his sentence. in this there must be no interruption, as all the sentences must be read, if it lasts till nightfall, for which torches and torch-bearers must be in readiness.[638] although the sentences of the relaxed are left to the last, yet, if the auto is prolonged into the night they are introduced earlier, as it is essential that the burning should be executed in broad day-light. as these sentences are read, the effigies and chests of bones are ranged on one side of the stage, and the living convicts on the other. they are then delivered to the secular arm, and the judge who utters the sentences does so, either on the stage, or at the table of the secretaries or outside of the staging. if there is a _compañia de la zarza_, it marches in squadron into the plaza, when the sentences are read, and the men discharge their arquebuses. they surround the condemned and march with them to the brasero, to protect them from the populace which, in some places, is accustomed to maltreat and even to kill them, against which the inquisitors give special instructions. the magistrates provide the asses on which they ride and the wood to burn them. the frailes in charge attend them to the last breath and exhaust all effort to bring about their repentance and conversion. the public solemnities conclude with the ceremonies of abjuration and reconciliation, after which the alguazil mayor and familiars conduct the penitents back to the inquisition, where they have supper and are locked up, three or four in a cell. the priests of the parish church remove the black veil from their cross and take it back, while the dominicans bear the green cross to the inquisition, singing psalms and escorted by the municipal officials. the next morning the reconciled have the terms of their sentences read over to them; they and the other penitents take the oath of secrecy, and they are conveyed by the alcaide to the penitential prison. at ten o'clock the alguazil mayor, with a secretary and familiars, all mounted, with the public executioner and town-crier, take out those sentenced to scourging and vergüenza, and the punishment is duly administered through the customary streets. on their return, those whose sentences include the galleys are furnished a certificate of their length of service and are transferred to the royal prison, and with this concludes the stately ceremony by which the holy office, at the height of its power, impressed its terror on the population. the place of burning--the quemadero or brasero--as a rule was outside of the city. with this the tribunal had nothing to do, except that a secretary and alguazil were present to certify and report as to the execution of the sentences.[639] consequently the documents of the inquisition furnish no details, but some may be gleaned from a relation of the madrid auto of 1632. for this occasion the city had constructed the brasero beyond the puerta de alcalá; as there were seven to be burnt, it was made fifty feet square, and had the requisite stakes with garrotes. the confusion and crowd were great, and so also was the fire, which lasted until eleven o'clock at night, by which time the bodies were reduced to ashes, so that the memory of the impious might vanish from the earth.[640] the scattering of the ashes over the fields, or into running water, was a prescription of old standing, to prevent disciples of heresiarchs from preserving fragments to be venerated as relics. this was not an easy matter, for the total calcination of a human skeleton requires a prolonged intensity of heat not likely to be maintained where wood was expensive, and the bones found with the cinders on the site of the old quemadero of madrid, when, about 1868, the calle de carranza was cut through it, would indicate that part, at least, of the remains of the victims were allowed to lie where they had perished. * * * * * [sidenote: _the auto particular_] the _auto público general_, while looming large in popular imagination, represented, in truth, but a small part of inquisitorial activity. it was a solemnity on a grand scale, in which the holy office magnified its importance, but by far the greater number of cases were despatched in _autos particulares_ or _autillos_, held in churches, or in the audience-chamber, or anywhere that circumstances might dictate. in the toledo record, from 1575 to 1610, there are contained but twelve autos generales, in which three hundred and eighty-six culprits appeared, while seven hundred and eighty-six cases were settled in autos particulares.[641] as stated above, appearance in a public auto was, in itself, a severe punishment, and the sentence always specified whether the offender was to be subjected to a humiliation entailing consequences on him and his family so greatly dreaded that, at a toledo auto of december 13, 1627, juan nuñez saravia, a wealthy portuguese, vainly offered twelve thousand ducats to escape it.[642] the great majority of cases deserved no such severity. the jurisdiction of the inquisition extended over a wide field; it was, in a certain sense, a _custos morum_ and took cognizance of a vast number of comparatively trivial offences--careless speeches, blasphemies, propositions of all kinds, indecent writings and works of art, sorceries and conjurations more or less innocent and the like--which it disposed of without summoning the entire population as spectators. clerical offenders, moreover, as we have seen, unless degraded for formal heresy, were shielded from the scandal of publicity in the audience chamber. the _auto particular_, or private auto, was often celebrated in a church, to which the spiritual and civil authorities were not invited, but where such portion of the public as could find room were at liberty to be present. more frequently it was held in the _sala_, or audience-chamber, and here again there was a distinction, for the sentence defined whether it should be with open doors or closed and, in the former case, the bell was often tolled in order to invite a curious crowd of spectators. even the apartments of the senior inquisitor were sometimes used in this manner, as when, march 23, 1680, three alguaziles of the corregidor of toledo, for maltreating the purveyor of the tribunal, were sentenced in the apartments to various terms of exile. when nuns were the culprits, the _autillo_ was customarily performed in their convent, as in the case, august 8, 1658, of sor josefa de villegas, for superstitions and sorceries, who was sentenced to various penances, through the grating of the augustinian nunnery of san torquato, in presence of the nuns and, on february 13, 1685, sor dionisia de rojas was sentenced in the choir of the franciscan house of santa isabel, in the presence of the superior and four elderly sisters.[643] as financial distress grew more and more acute, in the seventeenth century, the tribunals shrank from the heavy expenses attendant on the elaborate demonstrations of the great public autos which, however gratifying to their pride, bore too heavily upon their diminishing resources, exposed as they were to the royal exactions. in barcelona, there would seem to have been no public auto between 1627 and the revolt of 1640; in valladolid, none between 1644 and 1667. in toledo one was held, after prolonged consideration, january 1, 1651, in which the number of culprits shows that it relieved the prisons of a long accumulation; it was the last public auto celebrated in toledo, and there was none even in a church, between 1656 and 1677.[644] seville appears to have been less hampered and celebrated public autos generales in 1631, 1643, 1648, 1656, and a most impressive one in 1660 at which less fortunate tribunals unloaded their convicts, for there were seven relaxations in person, twenty-seven in effigy and fifty-two penitents, but this appears to be the last of its kind there.[645] [sidenote: _contributory autos_] in fact, the public auto would have been abandoned ere this, but for the rule that judgements of blood must not be rendered in churches. as early as 1568 the suprema had decreed that, when there was a relaxation, the auto must be held in the plaza and not in a church, which was in accordance with the ancient authorities.[646] when the public autos became an onerous burden, we can imagine that this led to hesitation in pronouncing death-sentences for, when this was unavoidable, the convict became a troublesome personage. a suggestive case was that of juan lópez, condemned to relaxation for judaism, at valladolid, in 1633; after he lay in prison for thirty months with no prospect of getting rid of him, the suprema ordered him to be tortured and another vote to be taken, which resulted, september 1, 1637, in a revised sentence of reconciliation, with severe punishments.[647] a device less damaging to the purity of faith was to transfer a convict from one tribunal to another for execution. thus when, at valencia, the morisco gerónimo buenaventura was condemned for pertinacity, there was no auto in which to execute the sentence. on november 19, 1635, the suprema ordered him to be sent to valladolid, apparently under the impression that he could be burnt there but, after two years, valladolid reported that it had no public auto in which to despatch him, so, in 1638 the suprema ordered his transfer to saragossa.[648] whether he met a speedy death there we have no means of knowing, but there is something peculiarly revolting in thus sending a poor wretch from one corner of spain to another, in order to find some place in which to burn him economically. when any tribunal managed to celebrate a public auto, it was utilized to disembarrass the others. thus the toledo auto of 1651 had effigies contributed by cuenca, córdova and seville. in 1655 santiago celebrated a public auto, to which valladolid sent for relaxation one living person and four effigies, two of the latter having been kept waiting since 1644 and 1648. the consulta de fe of murcia, on july 18, 1658, voted to relax nine fugitive judaizers of beas, but the formal sentence was delayed until december 5, 1659, in preparation for the great public auto at seville, april 13, 1660, when the effigies were duly cremated.[649] the imposing madrid auto of 1680--the last of its kind--was a general gaol delivery to which all the tribunals contributed their embarrassing convicts. there was no prospect of an improvement in the situation, although it was supremely humiliating to the inquisition that it could not afford to burn those whom it condemned, promptly and on the scene of their transgressions, under the alternative of exercising a compulsory mercy. some relief must be found, and a partial attempt was made, in a carta acordada of september 4, 1657, permitting effigies to be relaxed at autos particulares in churches. toledo promptly availed itself of this by relaxing, december 9th, eight effigies of fugitives in such an auto,[650] but the other tribunals seem to have discountenanced the device. the further step, of overthrowing the traditional prohibition of uttering sentences of blood in churches, appears to have been under consideration in 1664, when the suprema called on the tribunals for information as to relaxations in person or in effigy in autos particulares. in reply, valencia reported that the sentence of gaspar lópez, to be relaxed in effigy, voted in 1641, had never been published, for lack of an auto, although the corresponding sentence of confiscation had been executed--which the suprema pronounced to be highly irregular.[651] it required time to familiarise the conscience with so revolutionary a measure, and the project slumbered for a quarter of a century, but the pressure to escape the burden of public autos increased, and the suprema finally conquered its scruples. a carta acordada, of september 23, 1689, pointed out that, in view of the diminished resources from confiscations and of the increased cost of celebrating these public functions with due solemnity, they were avoided as far as possible, and it was no longer practicable to reserve for them the relaxed, whose numbers unfortunately were daily increasing. they had to be fed while lying forgotten in their cells, after their cases were finished; even the expense of transferring them from one tribunal to another was considerable, and it was kindly added that there was risk to their souls in detaining them so long while in ignorance of their fate. weighing all this and, in view of the fact that there were cases of relaxation in churches both before and after the instructions of 1561, and that the council of constance, sitting in the cathedral, had condemned jerome of prague, the suprema reached the conclusion that judgement of relaxation could be rendered in churches, provided the sentence of the civil magistrate was uttered outside. the tribunals were therefore instructed that they could relieve themselves of their convicts in autos particulares in churches, delivering them to the secular arm outside of the sacred limits. to such autos the civic and cathedral chapters were not to be invited, and the rule as to time was to be observed, so that the burning could be performed by daylight.[652] [sidenote: _autos held in churches_] against this there arose a protest on the part of the secular magistrates, who felt slighted at not being invited and having seats allotted to them. to meet this, the suprema, april 7, 1690, addressed to the king a consulta deploring the impossibility of celebrating the autos with the ceremonial and impressiveness of old. but great numbers of those deserving relaxation had accumulated in most of the tribunals; there were not funds to maintain them in prison, or to despatch them in general autos, and to bring them together would excite horror, as occurred in the auto of 1680. it therefore proposed that the secular officials be stationed outside of the church, where the convicts could be delivered to them, but this was not acceptable to the civil authorities and a compromise was effected, july 20th, designating the single official who was to represent the secular arm. the tribunal was to send him a message, appointing time and place; he was to be at the church door when the procession arrived; he was to follow the inquisitors, the fiscal and the ordinary, and have a seat near them and, after the sentences of relaxation were pronounced, he was to leave the church for a place agreed upon, where the convicts were to be brought to him, when he sentenced them and executed the sentences.[653] thus came to an end the gorgeous general public autos in which, during its more prosperous days, the inquisition had made so profound an impression on the imaginations of men. thenceforth, no matter how many living beings and effigies were consigned to the quemadero, the ceremony was conducted within the sacred precincts of a church, in a simpler and more economical fashion. the great autos of majorca, in 1691, in which so many unfortunates perished, were held in the church of san domingo. yet still there was elaboration of display. a writer, in 1724, giving an account of the autos celebrated in seville since 1719, is vastly more concerned with enumerating the names of officials and familiars, with describing the ceremonial and dilating upon the crimson velvet chairs and cushions and canopies embroidered in gold and silver and the diamond badges worn by the functionaries, than with the real work of the tribunal, grim and cruel though it continued to be.[654] these gauds might gratify the vanity of the inquisitors, but the old attractiveness of the imposing public ceremonial had vanished. the population no longer poured in from all the surrounding district, camping out in the fields, in the vast crowds described with so much pride in the relations of the great autos. when we remember the thousand familiars and officials in logroño, and the grandees who eagerly competed for positions of honor in the processions, we can estimate the change that compelled the complaint of the seville tribunal, in 1729. it denounced the luke-warmness of the familiars in accompanying its processions, whereby it was losing the respect of the people, and compared unfavorably with the public demonstrations of the audiencia and civic authorities. it was with this object that the familiars had been so greatly increased in numbers and had been favored with so many privileges and exemptions. besides the occasional autos, the tribunal made _salidas_, or processions, on five principal feasts of the year, and it ordered the hermandad de san pedro martir to nominate eight familiars, from among whom it would select four, two to accompany it on the regular salidas and two for the autos, with threats of fine and imprisonment for neglect of duty.[655] yet it would not be safe to conclude from this that fanaticism was extinct. at the llerena auto of june 25, 1752, there were six effigies of fugitives to be burnt and one of a dead woman with her bones. it had always been the custom to have these borne in the procession and to the brasero by carriers of the lowest class, drawn from the hospital for vagrants, who were paid for the service but, on this occasion, it chanced that none of these could be had. the inquisitors were greatly exercised and, as a last expedient, they represented to the lieutenant-governor, don manuel de la fuente y dávila, that this was an exalted religious duty which the noblest might be proud to perform, and they offered that the officials of the inquisition would carry the effigies to the church and then to the secular magistrate, if don manuel and other nobles would bear them thence to the brasero. don manuel assented and his example was followed by the governor, the marquis of torre mexia and other nobles; the officials were persuaded to do their share, and thus, we are told, the old custom, so derogatory to the sacredness of the function, was successfully discarded. the procession to the brasero was a triumphal march, to the sound of trumpets, with the escort of all the troops that could be assembled.[656] [sidenote: _spectacular autos_] notwithstanding such occasional bursts of zeal, the glory of the inquisition was rapidly departing and, with the extermination of the few remaining judaizers, its functions continuously dwindled. in the toledo tribunal, the last auto held in a church was on march 7, 1778, for a single penitent condemned to vergüenza for sorcery. after that, to the close of the century, it had but nine autillos, all held in the audience-chamber, sometimes with open and sometimes with closed doors, and in each of them there was but a single penitent. five of the cases were for propositions, two for solicitation in the confessional, one for bigamy, and one for administering sacraments without priests' orders.[657] to this had shrunk the activity of a once prominent tribunal and with this shrinkage the power to impress the popular imagination with its imposing demonstrations. * * * * * there is one aspect of the auto de fe which reflects the intensity of spanish fanaticism in a most suggestive manner. when the spaniard regarded it as a celebration fitted for a day of rejoicing, or as a spectacular entertainment acceptable to distinguished national guests, he did so in the conviction that it was the highest exhibition of piety, and a service to god, glorious to the land which organized it, and stimulating the devotion of all participants. probably no autos were celebrated in honor of ferdinand and isabella, for the stern and rapid work of the period scarce admitted of the pageantry requisite to adapt the spectacle to royal courtliness, and the burgundian fashions had not superseded the ancient castilian simplicity. none of their successors, however, of the house of hapsburg, were without such a testimonial of pious loyalty. when, in 1528, charles v passed through valencia, there was celebrated in his honor an auto, in which there were thirteen men and women relaxed in person, besides ten in effigy.[658] in 1560, the toledo tribunal contributed an auto, with several relaxations, to the joyous celebration of the marriage of philip ii with isabelle de valois, daughter of henry ii of france. it was a notable spectacle, for the royal wedding and the meeting of the córtes to swear allegiance to the young don carlos brought to toledo all that was most distinguished in spain.[659] when, in february, 1564, philip was in barcelona for the catalan córtes, an auto was arranged in his honor, in which there were eight relaxations in person and numerous condemnations to the galleys. they were mostly frenchmen whom saint-sulpice, the french ambassador, had vainly sought to protect.[660] [sidenote: _spectacular autos_] the accession of philip iii was celebrated by an auto at toledo, march 6, 1600, in the presence of the king, his queen, margarita of austria, the duke of lerma and all the court, where philip took the oath to protect and favor the holy office. toledo had but few culprits, as it had held an auto the year before, but a total of forty-six were accumulated by drawing upon córdoba, granada, cuenca, llerena, valladolid and seville. there were but two relaxations in effigy and one in person--the latter being a huguenot named jacques pinzon, whom the granada tribunal had been leisurely endeavoring to wean from his heresy for a couple of years. he was needed to complete the attraction at toledo, and his trial was concluded so hurriedly that the suprema ordered his transfer thither before it had received for confirmation the vote condemning him, so the sentence was made out in blank and sent after him for the toledan inquisitors to sign. as he is characterized as pertinacious he was probably burnt alive.[661] the great auto of madrid, in 1632, was held there by the special order of the king, in celebration of the recovery from confinement of isabelle de bourbon, wife of philip iv, and was graced with the presence of both and of their son don carlos. there were thirty-seven penitents besides seven relaxations in person and two in effigy.[662] the revolted catalans, who had given themselves to france, took the same means of honoring the viceroy condé, on the eve of his departure for paris, by an auto celebrated november 7, 1647, in which there were two relaxations in person and two in effigy.[663] the ostensible purpose of the crowning glory at madrid, june 30, 1680, which fitly ended the long series of _autos publicos generales_, was to honor the marriage of the young carlos ii with louise marie d'orléans. there were sixty-seven penitents and fifty-one relaxations, of which nineteen were in person. a _compañia de la zarza_ was formed, numbering two hundred and fifty members, with francisco de salcedo as captain. on june 28th they were taken to the puerta de alcalá, where each man was furnished with a fagot. then they marched to the royal palace, where salcedo took a fagot, specially prepared for the purpose, and handed it to the duke of pastrana, who carried it to the king. carlos with his own hands bore it to his queen and exhibited it and then sent it back by pastrana with the message that it should be taken in his name to the brasero and be the first that was thrown upon the fire.[664] the religious training of the young monarch had evidently not been neglected. it was an earnest of better things in store for spain when, in 1701, philip v refused to be present at an auto general proposed to be celebrated in honor of his accession, and the project was abandoned.[665] * * * * * we have thus considered the organization of the inquisition and its general methods of action. it remains for us to examine the application of those methods to the various classes of offenders subjected to its extensive jurisdiction. book viii. spheres of action. chapter i. jews. as the apostasy of the enforced converts from judaism was the proximate cause of the establishment of the spanish holy office, so they continued to be almost the exclusive object of its energies, until the similar treatment of the moors created, in the moriscos, a class with even greater claims on its solicitude. the rooting out of the latter, however, in the early years of the seventeenth century, was so complete that they virtually disappeared from the records of the tribunals, while the jewish new christians remained, and, for more than another century provided the major portion of their more serious work. it had been easy, since 1391, to compel baptism by the alternatives of exile or death, but it had never been deemed necessary to supplement this by instruction in the new faith, or by efforts to effect a real conversion. when ferdinand and isabella were aroused to the fact that the conversos were christians only in name, terrorism was the sole method that suggested itself of accomplishing the great task of securing the desired unity of faith. so, when the expulsion of 1492, filled the land with a new multitude of neophytes, there was the same disregard of the duty of persuasion and instruction. the only utterances on the subject seem to assume that they would in some way instruct and fortify themselves in their new religion. when, in 1496, a royal pragmática forbade them for three years to farm the royal revenues, the reason alleged was that such occupation would distract them from obtaining due instruction in christian doctrine. in 1499, the suprema ordered that the conversos anterior to 1492 should live scattered among old christians, while the recent ones should be separated from their rabbis, living by themselves in towns and strengthening their faith by punctual attendance on divine service.[666] it was not until 1500 that it bethought itself to provide that all the banished jews who returned, claiming to be baptized, must exhibit certificates of baptism for themselves and their children; they must observe the feasts and attend mass and sermons, and all children, over six years of age, must, within six months, know the four prayers, the seven mortal sins and the confession of faith.[667] when the enforced conversion of the moriscos created an even greater multitude of nominal christians, there were a few equally ineffective instructions issued as to both classes, to which little attention was paid. the simplicity of belief in the adequacy of these measures was apparently grounded on faith in the effectiveness of the inquisitorial process, of which we have incidentally seen so many illustrations during the early period. that confidence continued unabated, and the enforcement of uniformity in this fashion was followed energetically, with only such intermissions as might arise from the lack of accessible material, or from indolence in searching for it. where there was zeal there was little scruple, as appears from a letter addressed, about 1540, by the tribunal of llerena to all the inquisitors of spain and portugal. it had arrested twenty-one persons, in addition to three fugitives and two deceased, on suspicion--probably because they were on their way to portugal--and it now asked to have all the registers of the peninsula ransacked for evidence to justify their prosecution.[668] we have had occasion to see how slender was the proof required for this--the slightest adherence to any of the ancestral customs of judaism, whether of religious significance or not, sufficed, and lists of these observances were carefully drawn up for the guidance of inquisitors. the more obvious, such as the avoidance of pork and lard, the removal of fat from meat, the observance of the sabbath by changing linen, lighting lamps and abstaining from work, the killing of fowls by decollation, the keeping of stated fasts, eating meat in lent and the like, were known of all men, and perpetual watch was kept by old christians on the households of conversos, so that all such lapses were eagerly reported to the tribunals, as required by the edicts of faith. they furnished ample ground for suspicion, justifying arrest and trial, when inquisitorial methods insured that no lurking judaic tendencies could escape detection. [sidenote: _evidence of judaism_] an illustrative case was that of elvira del campo, tried at toledo in 1567. she was of converso descent and was married to alonso de moya, a scrivener of madridejos, who seems to have been an old christian. according to witnesses who had lived with her as servants, or were her near neighbors, she went to mass and confession and gave all outward sign of being a good christian; she was kind and charitable, but she would not eat pork and, when she cooked it for the household, she handled it with a rag so as not to touch it, which she explained by saying that she had a throat-trouble which made it disagree with her, and that handling it made her hands smell. there was a little cumulative evidence about putting on clean linen on saturdays and not working, but this was insignificant and the case rested on pork. the chief witnesses were two of her husband's employees, pedro de liano and alonso collados, who lived in the house, and their evidence went much into detail as to their spying about the kitchen, peeping into cupboards, and watching all the details of her housekeeping. liano testified that once he and collados talked about her putting a leg of mutton into water to soak over night, when collados said he thought there was some jewish ceremony in this, and it would please him much to know it, for he would accuse her to the inquisition, as he was on bad terms with her. yet collados, before the tribunal, concluded his testimony by saying that he wished her well for her good treatment of him, that he held her to be a good christian, because she went to mass and spoke ill of no one and was very reserved, rarely leaving her home and talking with but few people. elvira was arrested early in july, and at first her trial was pushed with speed, as she was pregnant, but her confinement, august 31st, caused a delay of three months. she admitted not eating pork, but attributed this to medical advice, for a disease communicated to her by her husband, which she desired to conceal. little stress was laid on the other charges and she strenuously asserted her orthodoxy. of the twelve witnesses against her she identified six, but her effort to disable them for enmity failed, except as regarded the two most damaging ones, collados and diego hernández. of thirteen witnesses for character, consisting of ecclesiastics and neighbors, all but one--who professed ignorance--gave emphatic testimony as to her being a good christian, attentive and regular in all religious duties, obedient to the precepts of the church, and in no way the object of suspicion. there was evidently nothing to do but to torture her. this, as we have seen above (p. 24) was administered twice, and resulted in her stating that when she was eleven years old her mother had told her not to eat pork and to observe the sabbath, and she knew this to be against the christian law--but, as her mother had died when she was eleven years old, we can not unreasonably doubt its truth. the next day a ratification was obtained in the shape that her not eating pork, changing her chemise and observing the sabbath, were in pursuance of the law of moses as taught her by her mother; she had never mentioned this to anyone, for her father would have killed her and she feared her husband. on the strength of this, in the consulta de fe, there was one fanatic who voted her relaxation, but the rest agreed upon reconciliation with its disabilities, confiscation and three years of prison and sanbenito, which were duly imposed in an auto of june 13, 1568, but, in a little more than six months, the imprisonment was commuted to spiritual penances, and she was told to go where she chose. thus, besides the horrors of her trial, she was beggared and ruined for life, and an ineffaceable stain was cast upon her kindred and descendants. what became of the infant born in prison is not recorded, but presumably it was fortunate enough to die. trivial as may seem the details of such a trial, they are not without importance as a sample of what was occupying the tribunals of all spain, and they raise the interesting question whether in truth the inquisitors believed what they assumed in the public sentence, that they had been laboring to rescue elvira from the errors and darkness of her apostasy and to save her soul. the minute points on which the fate of the accused might depend are illustrated by the insistence with which they dwell on her abstinence from pork, on her refusal to eat buttered cakes, on her use of two stewing-pots, and on the time at which she changed her chemise and baked her bread.[669] [sidenote: _eradication of judaism_] subjected, on the one hand, to the ceaseless espionage of servants and neighbors and, on the other, to the pitiless zeal of the tribunals, even the heroic obstinacy of judaism, which had triumphed over the countless miseries of the dispersion, gradually succumbed to this all-pervading persecution, so ceaselessly and relentlessly applied. as generation succeeded generation, with no hope of relief, this unremitting pressure seemed gradually to be attaining its object. the prosecutions for judaism commenced to diminish sensibly. valencia had a large converso population and, during the first quarter of the sixteenth century, the trials averaged between thirty and forty a year. then came the enforced baptism of the moors, who for some time furnished a predominant contingent. the latter were temporarily released from inquisitorial jurisdiction in 1540, and, during the three years, 1541, 1542 and 1543, there was not a single trial for heresy. in 1546 they were again relieved from the inquisition and, in the following sixteen years, until 1562, the total number of trials for heresy was but forty-eight--in fact, in the ten years between 1550 and 1560, there were but two, showing that judaism there had almost ceased to be the object of inquisitorial activity.[670] in toledo, which included madrid, during the sixteen years, 1575-1590 inclusive, there were but twenty-three cases.[671] in 1565, an auto at seville presented seventy-four penitents without one judaizer, and there were none in a cuenca auto of 1585 in which figured twenty-one moriscos.[672] even as early as 1558, when the suprema was magnifying its services to obtain from paul iv the grant of prebends, it admitted that for some years there had been but few judaizers found, but it alluded vaguely to some recent discoveries of them in murcia, who would soon be punished.[673] in fact, not long afterward, paolo tiepolo, the venetian envoy, alludes to the arrest in murcia of a large number of jews.[674] coincident with this diminution of material for persecution, there seems to have been a disposition to resort to milder methods, attributable perhaps to an expectation that judaism would ere long disappear. in 1567, pius v, at the request of philip ii, empowered inquisitor-general espinosa, for three years, to have the judaizing new christians of murcia and alcaraz absolved, either publicly or privately, with a salutary and benignant, but not pecuniary, penance; clerics, however, were not to be habilitated to obtain orders or benefices.[675] there is a story that dom joão soares, bishop of coimbra, after the council of trent, made a pilgrimage to jerusalem, in the course of which, at cyprus, he met many spanish and portuguese refugees, from whom he gathered information which he communicated to the tribunal of llerena, resulting in the detection of many judaizers in extremadura.[676] they were treated like those of murcia, for philip, in 1573, obtained from gregory xiii a brief similar to that of 1567, for the benefit of the judaizers of the district of llerena, except that the faculty was limited to one year.[677] even greater privileges were granted, in a brief obtained by philip, in 1597, to the judaizers of ecija and its district, for not only were they to be absolved like those of murcia, but all prisoners under trial were to enjoy the benefit of the pardon, with no note of infamy on themselves or their descendants, and this time of grace was to endure for four years.[678] these may not have been the only instances of such favors, and they indicate a tendency towards an entire change of policy. that there was hopefulness that the inquisition was accomplishing its work is seen in a careful state paper drawn up for the suprema, in 1595, by a distinguished prelate, juan bautista pérez, bishop of segorbe, who felt justified in assuming that the baptized jews remaining in spain, after the expulsion of 1492, had now become good christians, except one here and there, and that their law was forgotten.[679] [sidenote: _inquisition of portugal_] in this the good bishop was careful to limit his praise to the descendants of those who had been baptized a century before, three full generations having passed under the chastening hands of the holy office. he evidently was aware that a new factor had been injected into the religious problem--a factor which was to give the inquisition occupation for nearly a century and a half more. this was due to the conquest of portugal by philip ii, in 1580. although the union of the two kingdoms was merely dynastic, and their separate organizations were preserved, the facility of intercourse which followed led to a large emigration of new christians from the poorer to the richer land. they had not been exposed as long as their spanish brethren to inquisitorial rigor and, for the most part, they were crypto-jews. the fresh justification which they afforded for the activity of the inquisition, after the suppression of spasmodic protestantism and the expulsion of the moriscos, and the part which they played in spanish judaism seem to require a brief review of the curious history of the early portuguese inquisition. it also affords an insight into the relations between the new christians and the holy see, and thus throws a reflected light on the struggles of ferdinand and charles v with the curia.[680] we have seen (vol. i, pp. 137, 140) the reception by joão ii of the multitudes who flocked to portugal at the time of the expulsion and their kindly treatment by king manoel at his accession in 1495. in contracting marriage, however, with isabella, daughter of ferdinand and isabella, the condition was imposed on him of expelling all refugees who had been condemned by the spanish inquisition and, under this impulsion, seconded by his confessor the frade jorje vogado, he issued a general edict of expulsion, excepting children under fourteen, who were torn from their parents--a measure which caused the most deplorable distress, many of the jews slaying their offspring rather than surrender them to be brought up as christians. by various devices the departure of the exiled was delayed, until after the time when they incurred the alternative of slavery, and thus they were coerced to accept baptism. to temper this, manoel granted, may 30, 1497, that for twenty years they should be exempt from persecution; that subsequently all accusations of judaism should be brought within twenty days of the acts charged; that the trial should be conducted under ordinary secular procedure, and that confiscations should enure to the heirs. moreover, he promised never to legislate for them as a distinct race.[681] this latter pledge was soon broken, by edicts of april 21 and 22, 1499, forbidding them to leave the kingdom without royal permission and prohibiting the purchase from them of lands or bills of exchange. popular aversion increased and culminated in the awful lisbon massacre of 1506. this wrought a revulsion of feeling; in 1507 the restrictive laws of 1499 were repealed; the new christians were allowed freely to trade and to come and go; they were in all things assimilated to the natives, and were entitled to the common law of the land. in 1512 the twenty years' exemption was extended to 1534, and although, in 1515, dom manoel applied to leo x for the introduction of the inquisition, on the request being delayed the matter was dropped and was not revived. until manoel's death, in 1521, the new christians thus enjoyed toleration and flourished accordingly. they grew rich and prosperous, they intermarried with the noblest houses, and they largely entered the church. externally their religious observance was unimpeachable, and portugal naturally became a haven of refuge for spanish conversos, nor is it likely that the restrictions on such immigration, enacted in 1503, were rigidly observed.[682] [sidenote: _inquisition of portugal_] his successor, dom joão iii, a youth of 20, was a fanatic of narrow mind and limited intelligence, but the influence of manoel's counsellors, who continued in the direction of affairs, procured, between 1522 and 1524, the confirmation of the privileges granted by the late king. ecclesiastical pressure and popular prejudice, however, made themselves felt and, in 1524, a secret inquest brought the testimony of parish priests that the new christians were suspected of being christians only in name.[683] then joão's marriage, in 1525, with catalina, sister of charles v--the only portuguese queen admitted to a seat in the council of state--brought a powerful influence to bear; the growing strength of these tendencies gradually overcame considerations of plighted faith and, early in 1531, dr. brás neto, the ambassador at rome, was instructed to procure secretly from clement vii briefs establishing in portugal an inquisition on the spanish model. we have seen in spain the objections of the holy see to the royal control of the institution and to the abandonment of all share in the confiscations, and these probably explain the delays which postponed, until december 17th, the issue of a brief conferring on the royal nominee, frade diogo da silva, the requisite faculties as inquisitor-general. this was followed, january 13, 1532 by one ordering him to assume the office; the two reached lisbon in february, but it seems to have been feared that their publication would lead to an immediate exodus of the new christians, and they were kept secret until laws could be framed reviving, with additional rigor, the edicts of 1499, prohibiting, for three years, departure from the kingdom, the sale of real estate and the negotiation of bills of exchange. these were issued june 14th, after which there was a pause, explicable only by the lavish employment of money in both lisbon and rome. the new christians evidently had obtained knowledge of the threatened measure; much of the active capital of the kingdom was in their hands, and the danger called for energetic work and sacrifice. a fitting emissary to rome was found in duarte da paz, a converso of no ordinary ability, energy and audacity; the king was entrusting him with a mission beyond the borders, under cover of which he made his way to the papal court, where for ten years he continued to act as agent for his fellows. then, in september, there came marco della rovere, bishop of sinigaglia, sent as nuncio on this special business, who was speedily bought by the new christians, and they probably won over by the same means the frade diogo da silva, who complicated matters irretrievably by refusing to accept the office of inquisitor-general. duarte da paz also was not idle, and the confusion became inextricable when, by a brief of october 17th, clement vii suspended temporarily the one of the previous december, and prohibited not only da silva but all bishops from proceeding inquisitorially against the new christians.[684] as we have seen in spain, the curia recognized that here was a numerous and wealthy class of heretics, to whom it could sell protection and then abandon them, until their fears or their sufferings should produce a new harvest. this speculation in human agony was all the more undisguised and lucrative that portugal was a comparatively feeble kingdom, which could be treated with much less ceremony than spain, and joão iii a man of wholly different type from ferdinand or charles v, while his invincible determination to have an inquisition in his realm prolonged the struggle and rendered especially productive the game of inclining to either side by turns. this was so self-evident that joão almost openly reproached clement vii with it, and the committee of cardinals entrusted with the conduct of the affair rejoined that inquisitors were ministers of satan and inquisitorial procedure a denial of justice.[685] joão's reproaches were justified when clement, by a brief of april 7, 1533, granted what was virtually a pardon for all past offences, without disability to hold office in church or state, while those defamed for heresy could justify themselves before the nuncio--a function which he turned to account for, when recalled in 1536, he was said to have carried with him to rome some thirty thousand crowns. joão threw obstacles in the way of the execution of this brief, which called forth from clement, in july and october, strenuous orders for its enforcement, followed by another of december 18th suspending it. it became the subject of active negotiation and cardinal pucci or santiquatro, the "protector" of portugal, suggested that it might be modified and, in the guise of fines, some twenty or thirty thousand ducats be extorted from the new christians, to be divided with the pope. in transmitting this proposal, henrique de meneses, the portuguese ambassador, added that nothing could be done in the curia without money, for this was all they wanted, and that clement was dissatisfied with joão because he had received nothing from him. clement, however, who was rapidly approaching his end, on july 26th, ordered the nuncio to overcome by excommunication all opposition to the pardon and forbade all prosecution for past heresies, moved to this, as santiquatro told paul iii, by his confessor, who insisted that, as he had received the money of the new christians, he was bound to protect them.[686] [sidenote: _inquisition of portugal_] clement died, september 25, 1534, and the struggle was renewed under paul iii, who referred the matter to a commission, and meanwhile suspended the pardon-brief but ordered that all prosecutions must cease, for an active episcopal inquisition had been organized, which continued its operations in spite of the papal commands. the commission reported in favor of the pardon-brief and of an inquisition under limitations, with appeals to rome. joão refused to accept this, and a lull in the negotiations occurred, during which the nuncio della rovere entered into a contract with the new christians, dated april 24, 1535, under which they promised to pay to paul iii thirty thousand ducats if he would prohibit the inquisition, confining prosecution to the bishops, who should be limited to ordinary criminal procedure; smaller sums moreover were provided for less desirable concessions. the curia honestly endeavored to earn the money, and made several propositions to joão, which he rejected; then, on november 3d, a bull was solemnly published in rome, renewing the pardon-brief, annulling all trials, releasing all prisoners, recalling all exiles, removing all disabilities, suspending all confiscations, prohibiting all future prosecutions for past offences, and enforcing these provisions by excommunication.[687] in this rome held that it had fulfilled its part of the bargain, but the new christians thought otherwise; they declined to pay the full amount, and della rovere was not able--at least so he said--to remit more than five thousand ducats. this parsimony came at an unfortunate moment. charles v was in rome, radiant with the glory of his tunisian conquest, and warmly supporting the demands of his brother-in-law. the result of this was seen in a brief of may 23, 1536, which constituted an inquisition on the spanish model, except that for three years the forms of secular law were to be observed, and for ten years confiscations were to pass to the heirs of the convicts. diogo da silva was to be inquisitor-general, with the right of the king to appoint an associate. diogo was solemnly invested with his office, october 5th, and the brief was published on the 22d.[688] this probably taught the new christians a lesson on the subject of ill-timed economy for a brief of january 9, 1537, addressed to girolamo recanati capodiferro, a new nuncio appointed for portugal, gave him complete appellate power, even to evoking cases on trial and deciding them, while a supplementary brief of february 7th authorized him to suspend the inquisition. his instructions also required him to labor vigorously for the repeal of the law prohibiting expatriation, and this was emphasized by a brief of august 31st threatening excommunication and suspension for any interference with those leaving the kingdom to carry their grievances and appeals to rome.[689] these appeals were a source of large profit to the curia, which sold at round prices absolutions and exemptions to all applicants; the tribunals threw all possible obstacles in the way of this traffic and it was important to rome to keep open the course of the golden stream. at the moment it was of less interest to the new christians, for capodiferro was as venal as his predecessor and exploited his large powers to the utmost, selling absolutions and pardons for what he could get. as joão asserted, in a letter of august 4, 1539, his scandalous traffic had rendered the judaizers so sure of impunity that they sinned with audacity. while demanding his recall, the king sought to curb him by appointing his brother dom henrique, a young man of 27, to the vacant post of additional inquisitor-general. henrique was archbishop of braga, a post which he resigned in favor of diogo da silva, who retired from the inquisitor-generalship, and henrique remained, until his death in 1580, at the head of the inquisition. at the moment the plan was of little avail, as capodiferro treated him with imperious arrogance, and even called in question his powers owing to defect in age, and paul iii refused to confirm him.[690] [sidenote: _inquisition of portugal_] paul yielded in so far to joão's urgency as to promise that capodiferro should leave portugal on november 1st. at the same time, as the three years were about to expire during which the inquisition was restricted to secular procedure, he listened to the supplications of the new christians and in the bull _pastoris æterni_, october 12, 1539, he modified in many ways the inquisitorial process, so as to limit its powers of injustice and to provide ample opportunity of appeals to rome. a leading clause was that witnesses' names were only to be suppressed when grave dangers to them were to be apprehended. through the treachery of a courier employed by the new christians, this bull did not reach lisbon until december 1st. capodiferro delayed his departure until december 15th, and then left lisbon without publishing it, because, as mascarenhas the portuguese ambassador reported, the new christians refused to pay the extortionate price demanded for it. mascarenhas intimates that the pope was privy to this, which is not unlikely, for capodiferro was received with all favor. he and della rovere were placed in charge of the affairs of the portuguese inquisition; he was soon afterwards promoted to the great office of datary, and eventually reached the cardinalate. his nunciature had not proved as profitable as he had expected, for he lost fifteen thousand cruzados at sea, and brought with him to rome only as much more. on his arrival in portugal he had demanded of the new christians two thousand cruzados to start with, and was regularly paid by them eighteen hundred per annum during his stay, and this in addition to his pardon traffic. there was nothing unusual in this. in 1554, julius iii, in a moment of wrathful candor, told the portuguese ambassador that nuncios were sent there to enrich themselves as a reward for previous services.[691] with the return of capodiferro, after a little diplomatic sparring, paul iii dropped the whole question for nearly two years. joão was quite content; the three years' limitation to secular procedure had expired, the bull _pastoris æterni_ had not been published, the inquisition had full swing, and its activity began to rival that of spain. its first auto de fe was celebrated in lisbon, september 20, 1540, with twenty-three penitents and no relaxations and was speedily followed by others.[692] it is not until december 2, 1541 that christovão de sousa, then ambassador, refers to the new christians who, he says, were earnestly at work to have another nuncio sent, and he had had a thousand discussions over it with the pope whose intention was fixed, because so many were burnt and so many thousands more were in prison. the new christians offered to pay eight or ten thousand cruzados to the pope, and two hundred and fifty a month to the nuncio. at a subsequent audience, paul said that the nuncio would have a salary of a hundred cruzados a month, to which the new christians could add a hundred and fifty, thus raising him above the temptation of bribery, to which sousa rejoined that this would convert him from their judge to their advocate. then, on a later occasion, he read a remonstrance from the king so vigorous that the pope walked up and down the room, crossing himself and saying that it was the work of the devil. sousa replied by dwelling on the misdeeds of preceding nuncios, and even offered to let the inquisition be withdrawn if it would relieve the kingdom from the evil of a nuncio.[693] [sidenote: _inquisition of portugal_] further discussion was abruptly terminated by an explosion. miguel da silva, bishop of viseu and minister of joão, a man of high culture, had been ambassador at rome in the time of leo x, and had formed lasting friendships with the future clement vii and paul iii. he had recently fallen into disfavor at court and was about to be arrested, when he fled and found refuge in italy. joão tried to entice him back with flattering letters, while employing, as silva says, bravos to follow and assassinate him. paul could wound the king in no more sensitive spot than by announcing, as he did on december 2, 1541, silva's appointment as cardinal. joão's rage was unbounded; he promptly deprived the new cardinal not only of his offices and temporalities, but of his citizenship, thus rendering him an outlaw and, on january 24, 1542, a special courier carried to sousa peremptory orders to leave rome as soon as he could present his letters of recall. his report of the manner in which this abrupt sundering of relations was received indicates that it gave rise to fears that portugal was about to withdraw from the roman obedience.[694] this deprived the new christians of such aid as they had purchased in rome and left henrique in peaceable possession of the inquisitorship, which he improved by establishing six tribunals--lisbon, evora, coimbra, lamego, porto and thomar--of which the first three remained permanent and the others were subsequently discontinued as superfluous.[695] on the other hand, paul iii persevered in his intention to inflict another nuncio on portugal, and appointed to that post luigi lippomano, coadjutor-bishop of bergamo. an intercepted letter of diogo fernandez, the roman agent of the new christians may 18, 1542, shows the anxiety with which his coming was awaited and throws light on their relations with the curia. he is expecting the money with which to pay the thousand cruzados to the nuncio, who demands it at once, although his orders were not to pay it until lippomano was outside the walls of rome. every one is clamoring for money, until he is near losing his senses. he has agreed to pay a hundred and forty cruzados apiece for the pardons of pero de noronha and maria thomaz, which he sends, and asks for an immediate remittance. then, on the 19th, he adds that he has that day been compelled to pay the thousand cruzados to the nuncio; he has raised the amount by giving security and, though he has disobeyed orders, he prays that the money be sent, as without it all their labor and expense would be wasted. a postscript on the 20th alludes to a general pardon which the pope had agreed to grant at a future time. people, he says, are wasting their money in getting special letters; the pope prefers that it should all be done in a general provision, to which all should contribute, and it is the most important of all things to accomplish. it would appear from the case of antonio fernandez of coimbra that, when letters of exemption were obtained, the king promptly banished the recipients, who then procured fresh letters requiring the king to grant them safe-conducts and permission to sell their property, real and personal.[696] joão wrote to lippomano not to come, and he persisted in this against the entreaties of charles v. nevertheless the nuncio set out, and we hear of him in aragon in august, where he encountered the portuguese treasurer sent to detain him. the latter was fully aware of the payment of the thousand ducats and of the monthly stipend, as to all of which the nuncio professed the most innocent ignorance, and he further stated that the intercepted letters showed that cardinal silva was to receive two hundred and fifty crowns a month to act as "protector" of the jews. nevertheless the treasurer was finally persuaded to write favorably to his master, and lippomano resumed his journey towards valladolid.[697] joão refused to be placated. on learning that the nuncio had reached castile he wrote ordering him to advance no further until he should hear from the pope, to whom, on september 18th, he addressed a vigorous letter, demanding that no nuncio should be sent to interfere with the inquisition; he was not actuated, he said, by greed, for there was no confiscation, and indeed, from another source we have the assertion that the maintenance of the inquisition was costing him ten or eleven thousand ducats a year.[698] [sidenote: _inquisition of portugal_] lippomano had assured the portuguese treasurer that he did not come to interfere with the inquisition; that his orders were only to see whether the inquisitors observed justice; if they did not, conscience would require the pope to make the necessary provisions. his secret instructions, however, were of a very different tenor. he was told that he need not hesitate to act with energy, though observing external courtesy, for portugal was fatally weakened and approaching ruin; the king was completely impoverished, oppressed with debt, at home and abroad, hated by his people, and wholly under the influence of the friars, while his relations with france and with the emperor were unfriendly. as for the infante henrique, if he was not to be deprived of the inquisitor-generalship, he must at least seek a dispensation for lack of age, ask absolution for the past and ratify or annul all the preceding trials. as for the inquisition, it would be a most holy thing to abolish it and commit the jurisdiction to the bishops; the nuncio was furnished with faculties to do this, or to suspend it, and these he was to show openly, that it might be known that this was at his discretion. meanwhile he could issue letters to all who asked for them, on their making payment, and even if the price was small the aggregate would be large, as there were fifty thousand of them. the declaratory bull of november 13, (_sic_) 1539, suppressed by capodiferro, was to be published without consulting the king; it need not be affixed to the church-doors, but copies could be given to all who asked, so that they could use it when on trial, and henrique was to be notified that all procedure must conform to it; if he protested, he was to be told that such was the papal will and he could write to the pope if he so chose. lippomano was finally told that pressure of all kinds would be brought to bear on him, but he must be firm and remind them that he had power to abolish the whole institution. whatever we may think of joão's blind fanaticism, we cannot wonder at his objection to admitting in his kingdom an emissary who came to set him at defiance and to upset all his most cherished plans. on the other hand, a letter in december, from the spokesman of the new christians to their roman agent, remitting to him two thousand cruzados, depicts their agonized anxiety for the coming of the nuncio; it will be their salvation and his absence is their destruction; it is useless to spend money on briefs when there is no one to enforce them.[699] they might well feel desperate, for the inquisition was active and unsparing. at an auto held in lisbon, october 14, 1542, there appeared a hundred culprits, of whom twenty were relaxed and joão de mello, in reporting this to the king, complained that it left the prisons still crowded with those on trial. nor was this all, for herculano gives a terrible picture, full of revolting details, of the atrocities perpetrated everywhere, such as we have seen set forth in the memorials of llerena and jaen.[700] although ignorant of the nuncio's instructions, joão persisted in refusing him admittance, until he should have an answer to his letter of september 18th. this was long in coming, and lippomano vainly complained of the disrespect to the holy see shown in making him wander from one tavern to another. for awhile he remained in salamanca and then, on false news that he would be received, he went to badajoz, only to find the frontier closed to him, and there he was forced to stay, for some months, hopeless and querulous.[701] meanwhile, francisco botelho, who had been sent with joão's letter, was conferring with the pope, who blandly assured him that lippomano's mission was only to notify the king of the approaching convocation of the council of trent. at length it was arranged that he should confine himself to this, and to such other matters as the king should permit. a brief to this effect, satisfactory to the portuguese agents, was framed and despatched from rome november 3d. it can scarce have reached portugal before the early months of 1543 for a letter of joão of march 2d mentions its arrival and his satisfaction at the settlement, in which he hopes that the pope's acts may correspond with his words. lippomano, thus shorn of his powers and with no financial prospect before him, was anxious for his recall, but he was not permitted to return until the close of 1544; he obeyed the final instructions and abstained from aiding the new christians.[702] possibly paul's yielding in this may be explained by a negotiation on foot early in 1543. through the cardinal of burgos, it was proposed to joão that the pope would concede to portugal an inquisition identical with that of castile, if, for a term of years, one half of the confiscations should belong to the holy see. this cold-blooded offer to sell out the new christians shows how purely mercantile had been the fluctuating protection accorded to them hitherto, and it was met by joão in the same spirit. protesting that he had never sought for gain in his efforts to serve god, he instructed his envoy that he might agree to three years, but must endeavor to reduce the papal share to a quarter.[703] the attempted bargain came to naught, but rome was apprehensive that portugal might follow the example of england, and joão was propitiated with a renewed offer of a cardinal's hat for the infante henrique. to this he at first replied surlily, that when he had asked for it, it had been given to silva, and now that he had not asked, it did not seem fitting to accept it. subsequently, however, he assented and, in december, 1545, henrique received the honor. moreover, in october, 1543, a signal favor was granted to the inquisition, by a perpetual brief empowering the officials to enjoy the fruits of benefices _in absentia_, although, as we have seen, in spain the grant was only quinquennial. it is true that this was not wholly gratuitous, for it cost two hundred and fifty cruzados in addition to the regular fees of seventy.[704] [sidenote: _inquisition of portugal_] the inquisition was assisted in another way. through the subsidized cardinal of paris, the portuguese ambassador, balthasar de faria, was enabled to inspect all papal letters granted to new christians. in a letter of february 18, 1544, he describes the use made of this information, for he opposed each one, and it was fought over bitterly, the unfortunate pope being assailed on both sides and driven to change his decisions repeatedly, as the rival influences prevailed. information, moreover, was sent in advance to henrique, so as to enable him to forestall the papal graces or render them ineffective. henrique was instructed to disregard as surreptitious everything that faria had not seen, to appeal to the pope and to report to faria, for this was the way that the castilian inquisitors managed. it was a kind of guerrilla warfare, in the interval of the greater struggles.[705] one of these conflicts was close at hand. paul iii resolved to send another nuncio, charged with the duty of wrenching from the king cardinal silva's temporalities and of moderating the severity of the inquisition. for this he selected giovanni ricci da montepulciano who, at the same time, was advanced to the archbishopric of siponto. faria flattered himself that he had succeeded in postponing the nuncio's departure till the king should be heard from, but in spite of this ricci started july 17, 1544.[706] he travelled leisurely and did not reach valladolid until november 5th, where he found awaiting him christovão de castro with letters from the king forbidding his admittance. he succeeded in making de castro believe that he had no instructions concerning silva or the inquisition that would offend the king, who accordingly wrote november 28th, cautiously admitting him under these presumptions. it so chanced however that, before the courier started with this letter, lippomano, who was still acting as nuncio, received and affixed at the church doors a papal brief of september 22d, inhibiting all inquisitors and ecclesiastical judges from executing any sentences pronounced on new christians, or from proceeding to sentence in any cases, until ricci should arrive, investigate and report as to the conduct of the inquisition, after which the papal pleasure should be made known. this settled the question; copies of the brief were sent to de castro to justify to the spanish court the absolute refusal to admit ricci until joão should have an answer to letters demanding explanation and reparation, despatched by a special courier. at the same time the brief was obeyed, for there were no more autos after june, 1544, until 1548.[707] considering all that had occurred during the past ten years, there was an inexcusable aggravation about all this, which it is difficult to understand in the absence of information as to the secret working of the new christians in rome, unless it was to convince joão that he would have to pay roundly for the pleasure of persecuting his subjects. he exhaled his wrath in one or two letters to balthasar de faria and, on january 13, 1545, he despatched simão da veiga in hot haste with instructions to demand the installation of the inquisition in satisfaction of the royal grievances; the recent brief must be revoked, and ricci must come under the limitations imposed on his predecessor and must say nothing about cardinal silva. a prolix letter to the pope, to be read in consistory, was free-spoken but not intemperate and, considering the provocation, was much more moderate than the papal duplicity had deserved.[708] [sidenote: _inquisition of portugal_] this letter remained unanswered for nearly six months, during which another experiment was tried on joão's credulity. cardinal sforza, one of the papal grandsons, wrote in the name of the pope that, if the nuncio was admitted, all that he asked for the inquisition would be conceded, and cardinal crescenzio confirmed this verbally. with natural distrust, however, the king asked to have paul himself ratify this to faria, and then he would admit ricci. as late as june 22, 1545, he was writing in this sense, not knowing that on june 16th the pope had responded to his letter in a brief in which, with exasperating affectation of benignity, he pardoned joão's asperity; against joão's assertions of the wickedness of the new christians and the mildness of the inquisition, he set the constant complaints reaching him of its cruelty and injustice, and the numerous burnings of the innocent; as it was under his jurisdiction, he was responsible and he could not forego the duty of investigating the truth of these conflicting statements; there was also the spoliation of cardinal silva which must be redressed. the brief closed with the significant threat that, if these matters were not remedied, he could not expose himself before almighty god to the charge of negligence in an affair of such moment.[709] the devious ways of the papal court are hard to follow. four days before the date of this brief, on june 12th, cardinal sforza sent to joão the written assurance that was demanded, promising that if he would admit the nuncio, the pope would grant all that he desired as to the inquisition. on receiving this in august, the king at once replied that, in reliance on the cardinal's assurances, he would permit ricci to enter portugal and he asked to have the necessary bull made out and sent by simão da veiga. at the same time he gave ricci permission to come, cautiously adding that it must be under the limitations imposed on lippomano. ricci, detained by sickness, did not arrive until september 9th, and then he was the bearer of the minatory brief of june 16th. that joão was thunderstruck may well be believed and he wrote to his envoys that he knew not what to say.[710] the pope sought a compromise, offering to revoke the brief of september 22, 1544, and that, after the nuncio had reported, he would leave everything in the king's hands, but he refused to carry out the promises of cardinal sforza. no answer was given to this, but the brief of revocation was made out and reached ricci, january 18, 1546, accompanied with one empowering him to act in case he discovered abuses in the inquisition, but the only investigation that joão would permit was that he should examine the papers in four or five cases and interrogate the inquisitor concerning them. the first case submitted was that of a septuagenarian, burnt some years before. he was one of those who had been converted by force; he had at once confessed more than had been testified against him, and had begged for mercy. ricci asked the inquisitor, joão de mello, why he had burnt him, as this was not a case of relapse, to which mello replied that his repentance was simulated because he had varied in the three examinations, but on investigating the record the variations were found to be trifling. ricci asked for a copy of the process to send to rome, and it was promised but not given. his report was naturally adverse to the inquisition and the pope, assuming that the brief of 1536 had established it for ten years only, notified joão that the term had expired: in deference to him it was prolonged for a year, but he was told that, within that time, the question as to the new christians must be definitely settled; it was suggested that a general pardon could be granted, or that he could banish them all from his kingdom.[711] we may fairly assume that, in such a crisis as this, the gold of the new christians had not been spared in lisbon or in rome. joão evidently felt that the turning-point had come and that some supreme effort must be made to outbid his subjects. he had not been niggardly, on his side, in responding to the urgent calls of his ambassadors for liberality towards the cardinals. cardinal farnese, the favorite grandson of paul iii, and the most influential member of the sacred college, had a pension from him of thirty-two hundred cruzados, assigned in 1544 equally on the sees of braga and coimbra to assure its continuance: at a critical moment, in 1545, the arrearages and two years in advance were paid to him, in a lump sum of thirteen thousand cruzados. so little reserve was there in these matters that, after the death of cardinal santiquatro, the "protector" of portugal, joão actually suggested the employment of paul iii as his successor, pointing out the large "propinas" that would enure to him from certain provisions as to bishops which the king was soliciting. for these and for the payment to farnese, he forwarded bills of exchange for thirty-three thousand cruzados. julius iii was as mercenary as his predecessor. in 1551 joão, in response to a hint that a present was desirable, sent him a magnificent diamond, valued by the roman jewellers at a hundred thousand cruzados. julius was greatly pleased and declared that he would make it an heirloom in his family, but when the next year he intimated that another gift would be acceptable, joão, who was dissatisfied with him at the time, refused to respond, saying that when the pope acceded to his demands to make henrique perpetual legate it would be time to think of giving him something. this brought julius to terms; in 1553 the appointment was made and in 1554 joão sent him a brooch.[712] [sidenote: _inquisition of portugal_] in such matters it was difficult for subjects to compete with their monarch. under the pressure so skilfully applied by rome, a brilliant idea occurred to joão and, in a letter of february 20, 1546, to balthazar de faria, he suggested that, in return for a free inquisition, he would grant to cardinal farnese the administration and revenues of the see of viseu, which he had been withholding from cardinal silva, thus at once obtaining the object of his desires and gratifying his rancor against that unfortunate prelate by depriving him of papal support.[713] this dazzling bribe overcame paul's scruples as to his responsibility to the almighty and his friendship for silva. the holy see has been stained with many examples of nepotism and rapacity, but its history has furnished few transactions of more shameless effrontery in sacrificing those whom it was pledged to protect. still, paul strove to maintain some semblance of decency in abandoning the new christians, and he advanced a demand that there should be a general pardon for past offences and the granting of a term during which those desiring to emigrate could leave portugal. joão was determined to get all that he could, and a series of intricate negotiations took place, occupying the whole of 1546 and 1547, in which each side endeavored to outwit the other with little regard to consistency. matters were complicated by the question of the accrued revenues of viseu, which joão was loath to refund, and which paul demanded, for the convenient receptacle of the fabric of st. peter's. ignatius loyola took a hand in the fray and so did two members of the council of trent, frade jorje de santiago, an inquisitor, and the carmelite balthazar limpo, bishop of porto, an honest and free-spoken fanatic, who was much scandalized by ascertaining that a brief of safe-conduct had been secretly issued, inviting the portuguese new christians to italy, with assurance of not being disturbed on account of their religion. thus, as the bishop said, those who had been baptized at birth came and were immediately circumcised and filled the synagogues under the very eyes of the pope--the inference being that he desired free emigration from portugal, in order that italy might benefit by the intelligence and industry of the apostates, an argument which was freely used and was not easy to answer.[714] [sidenote: _inquisition of portugal_] in the spring of 1547, as matters seemed to approach a settlement, the necessary briefs were successively drafted. one of may 11th granted a general pardon for past offences; all prisoners were to be released, all confiscations returned, all disabilities removed, and reincidence was not to incur the penalty of relapse. one of july 1st addressed to cardinal henrique announced to him that the pope had granted the inquisition, with full powers of procedure. one of july 5th, to joão informed him that the bearer, cav. giovanni ugolino (a nephew of the late cardinal santiquatro) carried the bull for the inquisition and exhorted him to see that the inquisitors exercised their powers with moderation. ugolino was also empowered to take possession for farnese of the see of viseu and the other benefices of silva, and to collect the arrears of revenue for the fabric of st. peter's. there were two briefs of july 15th, one appointing farnese administrator for life of the see and the benefices; the other withdrew and annulled all the letters of exemption from the inquisition which the new christians had been for so many years purchasing at heavy cost. finally, under date of july 16th, came the long sought-for bull, _meditatio cordis,_ instituting for portugal a free and untrammelled inquisition. it declared that the pope, desiring the rigorous punishment of the atrocious crime of heresy, revoked all previous limitations on its powers, and conferred on it all faculties at any time granted to inquisitors. to render effective the withdrawal of the letters of exemption, it evoked to the pope all cases pending before other judges than cardinal henrique, and committed them to him and his deputies with full powers. that paul did not, without some qualms of conscience, thus abandon the new christians who had contributed so liberally to the curia, is suggested by a subsequent brief of november 15th, in which he told the king that, as he had granted to portugal a free inquisition, he earnestly exhorted him to see that the inquisitors acted with charity and not with judicial severity, in consideration of the weakness of the neophytes, for this would be most gratifying to him.[715] the pope's anxiety to save appearances is visible in the instructions to ugolino. those from paul bore that his wishes were that, under the pardon brief, all prisoners were to be discharged; those who had to abjure should do so before a notary and not in an auto de fe; that for a year no one was to be relaxed, no arrests were to be made save for public and scandalous offences, and prosecutions were to be conducted as in other crimes, while, if the law prohibiting emigration could not be repealed, it should be kept quiet for a year--thus hiding for a twelvemonth his betrayal of the friendless.[716] the instructions from farnese were more openly cynical. to disarm joão's distrust, he had agreed not to take possession of silva's temporalities until the affair of the inquisition should be settled, while ambassador faria and the bishop of porto had pledged that joão should raise no difficulties; it was on that condition that the pope had granted the inquisition, in the confidence that both should be settled together. joão was to be persuaded to accede to the general pardon and graces asked for, in lieu of the permission to emigrate, for that would enable the pope to answer the appeals and complaints of the new christians, by telling them that these were sufficient. the pope was anxious that, for a year, the inquisition should not employ rigor and that procedure be that of secular law; this was of slender importance but it would seem to them a great matter. they were also to be told that, as in previous cases, the pope could have had from them twenty thousand cruzados for the pardon, while he had granted it without getting a single farthing. it was further significant that both ugolino and the nuncio ricci were warned to be specially careful to exact nothing from the new christians.[717] how joão regarded these pleadings for the victims is seen in a letter to faria after the settlement. he had accepted, he said, the conditions as to the inquisition, knowing that further protests would only bring worse terms, but he intended that the inquisition should proceed in the form conceded by the bull. those pardoned under the pardon brief, if they committed heresy during the year, could be arrested and prosecuted at once, but should not be sentenced or relaxed until after the expiration of the year. for a year the inquisitors should be directed to proceed mildly, but, as for treating heresy like other crimes, it would be unreasonable, because the pope ordered otherwise in the bull itself. as for the prohibition of emigration, it was not for the service of god to repeal the law as the pope desired. the pardon should be published and the prisoners released; those who had to abjure should not so do on a staging but publicly at the church doors.[718] thus brutally was brushed aside the mask under which paul had sought to disguise his abandonment of the new christians. [sidenote: _inquisition of portugal_] since may, 1547, ugolino waited in daily expectation of orders to start, but it was not until december 1st that he left rome with the bulls that decided the fate of portugal. it was probably in january, 1548, that he reached lisbon, where fresh delays occurred in settling details, and only on march 24th was the agreement respecting silva's temporalities signed; joão grumbled at the assignment of the accrued revenues to the fabric of st. peter's; he had not agreed to surrender them and did not intend to do so, but he finally submitted. the pardon was published in lisbon, june 10th, the prisons were emptied and the abjurations, we are told, for the most part were private.[719] thus, after a contest lasting through seventeen years, the inquisition was fastened upon portugal and, in reviewing the kaleidoscopic vicissitudes of the struggle, we cannot trace, in any act of the holy see, a higher motive than the sordid one of making, out of human misery, a market for the power of the keys and selling it to the highest bidder. [sidenote: _inquisition of portugal_] the new christians promptly sought to save a fragment from the wreck, by obtaining the publication of the names of witnesses, based on the canonical provision that they were to be suppressed only in the case of powerful delinquents, who could wreak vengeance on accusers. with this view they procured from paul iii a brief of january 8, 1549, defining that new christians and others could only be deemed powerful men, in respect to the communication of witnesses' names, provided they were nobles exercising jurisdiction over vassals, public magistrates, or officers in the royal palace. there seems to have been some delay in the publication of this but, when it came to the knowledge of the king, he sent, august 13, 1550, a copy of it to julius iii, with an urgent request for its revocation as it would prove the total destruction of the inquisition.[720] a long struggle ensued between the portuguese ambassadors and the new christians, in which, for some time, the latter were successful. into these details it is not worth while to enter, but the final incidents are too illustrative of the course of business in the papal court to be passed over. paul iv succeeded to the pontificate may 23, 1555; while yet a cardinal he had expressed opposition to the brief, and the ambassador, affonso de lencastro, with the assistance of the grand inquisitor, cardinal alessandrino--the future pius v--had not much difficulty in winning him over. the brief of revocation was drafted and approved and sent to the dataria for despatch. the deputy there chanced to be a castilian new christian and, when the ambassador's secretary called for the brief, he was told that paul iii had done a just and holy thing, and that in portugal the inquisitors wanted to burn everybody. the brief was withheld and, when complaint was made to the pope that his datary refused to obey orders, he promised to look into it. nothing more could be got from him at the time, and his reckless war with philip ii gave him ample occupation for the next few years. lencastro however continued his efforts until replaced, in april, 1559, by lourenço pirez de tavora, who brought urgent instructions to procure the brief of revocation. peace with philip was proclaimed april 5, 1559, but paul iv, in his 84th year, was broken and was moreover engrossed with his prosecution of cardinal morone. lencastro and pirez, however, labored with the congregation of the inquisition which, on july 22, approved of the revocatory brief. they carried it at once to the pope and, with the aid of cardinal alessandrino, obtained the promise of his signature. to their dismay they learned the next day that it had not been signed. paul had called for his signet-ring, had drawn it from its bag and was about to append it, when he glanced over the brief; the preamble did not suit him, for it was not easy to give a reason for revocation without inferring blame. he laid it aside, and this was almost his last act, for he died august 18th and for three weeks no briefs had been expedited. the conclave was prolonged and pius iv was not elected till december 26th. pirez lost no time and, on his visit of congratulation, january 2, 1560, before the coronation, he urged the matter on the pope. cardinal alessandrino was sent for and gave his approval. the secretary aragonia was instructed to draft the brief and it was, as pirez thought, the first one signed after the coronation. pirez attributed his success to the profound secrecy which kept the measure from the knowledge of its opponents and, in the midst of his self-congratulation, he twice solemnly warned cardinal henrique to use his powers with moderation for, under the brief, it would be easy to burn the new christians. it was in vain that they sought to obtain its revocation; their agents and their memorials were alike disregarded, and the suppression of the names of witnesses became the established practice in portugal as in spain. all hope of relief, moreover, was extinguished when, in september, prospero de santa croce was sent as nuncio, cardinal henrique was reappointed legate a _latere_, in all matters concerning the faith, thus cutting off all appeal and all interference with the holy office.[721] the earnest persistence with which permission to withhold the names of witnesses was sought shows how great a hindrance to condemnation their publication proved, and this probably explains the fact that, during the continuance of the prohibition, the activity of the inquisition was restricted. a list of autos de fe, as complete as research could compile, indicates that of the three established tribunals, lisbon celebrated no auto prior to 1559, nor coimbra until 1567. there may be some defect in the archives to account for this, and they may have been better preserved in evora, for there we find autos recorded in 1551, 1552, 1555 and 1560. after this they became more frequent and increased in severity, but, up to the time of the conquest by philip ii, in 1580, the whole number of autos recorded in the three tribunals was only thirty-four, in which there were a hundred and sixty-nine relaxations in person, fifty-one in effigy and nineteen hundred and ninety-eight penitents.[722] the insignificant number of relaxations in effigy, when compared with the multitudes that figure in the early spanish autos, would seem to indicate that they were merely those who escaped from prison or died during trial and that, in the absence of confiscation, the portuguese inquisitors were not earnest in tracing the heresies of ancestors or in following up the records of fugitives. the question of confiscation, in fact, had been left by paul iii in the hands of the king, who found in it a financial resource for his bankrupt treasury by granting, for a consideration, decennial periods of exemption--a practice continued by the regency after joão's death. probably in 1568, the new christians hesitated to pay the price demanded, for a brief of pius v, dated july 10th of that year, recites that the last term had expired on june 7th, and that king sebastian had not renewed it, finding that it served as an incentive to heresy, and that he had asked the pope not to listen to appeals. this pius willingly promised and withdrew all privileges which the new christians might enjoy. doubtless this induced them to come to terms, for the exemption was renewed. after this decennium, sebastian again granted it in his efforts to provide for his ill-starred african expedition, but henrique, on succeeding to the throne, felt his conscience much disturbed at this concession to apostasy. he applied to gregory xiii who, by a brief of october 6, 1579, renewed the one of 1568, and permitted henrique to revoke the grant made by sebastian.[723] as portugal the next year passed into the hands of philip ii, we hear nothing more of exemption from confiscation. it is somewhat remarkable that joão neglected to extend to his colonial possessions the blessings of the inquisition. the new christians had largely availed themselves of the opportunities presented by the colonial trade, and had established themselves in goa and its dependencies. the comparative freedom there had doubtless encouraged them to observe less caution than at home, for st. francis xavier had scarce begun his missionary labors when he was scandalized by what he saw and, on november 30, 1545, he wrote urgently to the king as to the necessity of an inquisitorial tribunal. no response was made to his appeal. joão died june 11, 1557, leaving the crown to his grandson dom sebastian, a child in his third year, under the regency of the dowager queen catalina, who resigned it, in 1562, in favor of cardinal henrique. the regency was more mindful of the spiritual needs of the indies than the late king and, in march, 1560, henrique sent to goa as inquisitor aleixo diaz falcão who, by the end of the year, founded a tribunal which in time earned a sinister renown as the most pitiless in christendom.[724] when lourenço pirez, the ambassador at rome, learned through egypt of this establishment, he expressed to the regency his apprehension that this zeal for religion would prove a disservice to god and to the kingdom, for it would drive to bassorah and cairo many who would aid the enemy in both finance and war.[725] his prevision was justified more fully than he anticipated for, to the activity of the tribunal was largely attributable the decay of the once flourishing indian possessions of portugal. after exhausting the new christians, it turned its attention to the native christians, who rewarded so abundantly the missionary labors of the jesuits, for portugal did not follow the wise example of spain in exempting native converts from the inquisition. it was impossible for these poor folk to abandon completely the superstitious practices of their ancestors, and any relapse into these, however trifling, was visited with the rigor with which were treated similar lapses by the conversos of the peninsula. even philip ii recognized the impolicy of this and, in 1599, he procured from clement viii a brief empowering the inquisitors to commute the penalties of relaxation and confiscation for relapse, up to a third relapse but no further, and the faculty was limited to the term of five years.[726] it is not a little remarkable that no tribunal was established in brazil, although the new christians who abounded there proved a very troublesome element, from the encouragement which they gave to the dutch in their efforts to obtain a foothold.[727] there was a commissioner there, but his powers were limited to collecting evidence and transmitting it with the accused to lisbon, where they were tried and punished.[728] it may be worth noting that, in the treaty of 1810 with england, portugal bound itself never to establish the inquisition in its american possessions.[729] in general, it may be said that the portuguese inquisition was modelled on that of castile. a series of edicts issued by dom sebastian and dom henrique and confirmed by later kings, granted to officials and familiars the privileges, exemptions and immunities which they enjoyed in the sister kingdom. this gave rise to similar quarrels and _competencias_, and to a multiplication of the privileged class even greater than in spain. in 1699 we find dom pedro ii endeavoring to enforce a decree of 1693, which limited to six hundred and four the familiars allowed in the larger towns, while small places were to be reduced to one or two each.[730] the main difference in the organization of the inquisitions of the two kingdoms was in the portuguese officials known as _deputados_, of whom at least four were appointed by the inquisitor-general, as assistants to the three inquisitors constituting each tribunal. they were required to possess qualifications entitling them to promotion as inquisitors; they performed such duties as might be assigned to them and, in the consulta de fe, they replaced the spanish consultores, with the distinction that they cast decisive and not merely consultative votes. to render a sentence legal at least five votes were required besides that of the ordinary.[731] there was no appeal from a definitive sentence, for the reason that it was not made known to the culprit before the auto in which it was pronounced, but all interlocutory sentences and intermediate proceedings were subject to appeal, and the supreme council came to exercise minute supervision over every act of the tribunals even earlier than we have seen was the case in spain.[732] the minuteness, indeed, of the details prescribed in the _regimento_ of inquisitor-general de castro, printed in 1640, left little to the discretion of the inquisitor, and their systematic arrangement, in an authoritative code of procedure, affords a strong contrast to the cumbersome and often contradictory _cartas acordadas_, which lumbered up the _secreto_ of the spanish tribunals. [sidenote: _inquisition of portugal_] although the object of the inquisition was the purification of the land from judaism, it was not confined to this, and it early proved that it could exercise its blighting influence on the intellectual development as well as on the material prosperity of portugal. among the learned foreigners whom andré de gouvêa, at the request of joão iii, brought to portugal, in 1547, to found a college of arts in his university of coimbra, was george buchanan, as professor of greek. gouvêa died within a year, and soon afterwards the foreigners were driven out to be replaced by jesuits, who were becoming the dominant power in the land. the process was a simple one. buchanan and two others were prosecuted by the inquisition and thrown in prison. the accusation against the former was that he had written a poem against the franciscans, that he had spoken disrespectfully of the friars, that he had eaten meat in lent, that he had said that st. augustin's views on the eucharist were akin to those condemned by rome, and generally that he was thought to be ill-affected towards the holy see. after incarceration for eighteen months, he was sentenced to reclusion in a monastery for instruction by the monks, whom he describes as good-natured enough but wholly ignorant. on his liberation joão offered to retain him, but he took the earliest opportunity to escape to england.[733] a still more effective deadening of intellectual aspiration was the persecution of damião de goes, the foremost scholar of portugal in the sixteenth century. when a youth of 22, he had been sent to flanders as secretary to the portuguese factory. it was not until 1528 that his thirst for learning was awakened, he studied latin, went to padua, and speedily made himself known to scholars throughout europe. in 1545, joão recalled him to portugal, where rivalry arose between him and simon rodríguez the jesuit provincial, who had met him in padua and now accused him to the inquisition for heretical utterances made there nine years before, the details of which he could not remember, but had a general impression that they were lutheran. nothing came of this and, in 1550, rodríguez repeated his accusation, with the same result. goes made enemies in his literary career and, in 1571, the denunciation of rodríguez, made twenty-six years before, was resuscitated. he was now seventy years old, he had been an invalid for twenty years, and was scarce able to stand, but he was cast into a dungeon, april 4, 1571, while his trial dragged on. no further evidence of any account could be found against him, but he freely confessed that, when he went to flanders, he fell into the errors of considering indulgences of little value, and that general confession sufficed, that after learning latin and studying, he had abandoned these errors and had since been strictly orthodox, at the request of cardinal sadoleto he had written to melanchthon, in hopes of winning him over, and he had given a letter of introduction to luther to frei roque de almeida, whose object was to acquire a knowledge of the heresy so as to confute it. on this confession exclusively was based the sentence, which declared him to be a lutheran heretic, but considering that it was when he was an ignorant youth of 21 and that, on learning latin, he had abandoned his errors, he was mercifully condemned only to reconciliation, confiscation, and perpetual prison, the abjuration to be private in view of his quality and his reputation abroad. the monastery da batalha was assigned as his prison, and the certificate of his delivery there is dated december 16, 1572; on the 9th the _juez do fisco_ had already received the certificate of confiscation. the "perpetual" prison of the portuguese inquisition must have been temporary, like the spanish, for goes is said to have died in his own house, either by apoplexy or killed by his own servants, at a date which is not known.[734] if forty years of orthodoxy could not atone for a youthful vacillation on one or two points of faith, it can readily be estimated how potent an instrumentality was the holy office in stunting the development of portuguese intellect. [sidenote: _inquisition of portugal_] when, in august, 1578, cardinal henrique succeeded to the crown of his grand-nephew sebastian, he did not resign the inquisitor-generalship for fifteen months. he had previously, however, on february 24, 1578, on account of age and infirmity, procured the appointment as coadjutor, with the right of succession, of manoel bishop of coimbra, but the latter disappeared with his sovereign in the disastrous rout of alcazar-quibir, and it was not until december 27, 1579 that, at henrique's request, gregory xiii replaced him with jorje de almeida, archbishop of lisbon.[735] henrique's death soon followed, january 31, 1580, when he passed away, universally detested and only regretted because, in the rivalry of claimants to the throne, and in the exhaustion of the land through famine and pestilence, the way was open to the easy conquest by philip ii. in the reorganization under the spanish crown, the inquisition was not merged with that of castile, but was left as an independent institution under the archbishop of lisbon, for gregory xiii refused the request of philip ii for a brief adding it to the jurisdiction of the spanish inquisitor-general.[736] the nomination, however, accrued to the spanish crown and, in 1586, on almeida's death, the post was given to the cardinal-archduke albrecht of austria, who was also governor of portugal.[737] with his advent, the activity of the inquisition increased. in the twenty years, 1581-1600, the three tribunals held in all fifty autos de fe. of these the records of five are lost, but in the other forty-five there were a hundred and sixty-two relaxations in person, fifty-nine in effigy, and twenty-nine hundred and seventy-nine penitents.[738] as the penitents, for the most part, must have suffered confiscation, we can estimate the severity of the persecution in a population so limited. large as must have been the receipts, from the beginning, derived from the confiscations of the wealthy new christians, they were insufficient to satisfy its exigencies, diverted as they had been by the compositions paid to the crown. sebastian, in continuing this practice, satisfied his conscience by representing to gregory xiii that the income of the inquisition did not exceed 5000 cruzados, which was insufficient for its support, wherefore the pope granted to it two-thirds of the fruits of the first prebend falling vacant in each of the cathedrals of lisbon, evora and coimbra and one-half of one in each of the other sees of the kingdom. it is probable that this evoked a sturdy resistance on the part of the churches, for it was never carried into effect and, when philip ii became master of portugal, although the confiscations were no longer compounded for, he renewed the request, stating that 14,000 cruzados a year were requisite while the revenues did not exceed 10,000 ducats. gregory responded with a brief of june 28, 1583 in which he renewed the grant, at the same time reducing it to one-half of a prebend in lisbon, evora and coimbra and one-third in the other sees, nor is it likely that, under the stern rule of philip, the grant was allowed to be nugatory.[739] * * * * * it is not difficult to apprehend the impulses which led to a wholesale emigration to spain of those who felt themselves aliens in the land of their birth. under spanish rule the condition of portugal was deplorable, as described, in 1595, by the venetian envoy francesco vendramini. lisbon, which had been a rich and populous city, was almost uninhabited; it formerly owned seven hundred ships, but five hundred had been captured by the enemy (mostly by the english) and but two hundred remained. all this was not, he says, displeasing to the king, who desired to keep them impoverished, because they were unwilling subjects.[740] thus the rewards of commercial enterprise were more promising in spain, and the emigrant might hope that, in the absence of knowledge of his antecedents, the danger of persecution would be less. the immigration thus was large, and before long its effects began to show themselves in the records of the spanish inquisition. convictions for judaism, which had become comparatively few, increased rapidly and, where the nativity of the delinquents happens to be specified, the term portuguese occurs with ominous frequency. in 1593, toledo had seven portuguese on trial but, as there was but a single witness and they did not confess under torture, their cases were suspended. the next year the same tribunal held an auto in which appeared five portuguese in person and nine effigies were burnt of others, either fugitive or dead.[741] in 1595, at seville, there was an auto in which were punished eighty-nine judaizers, besides four burnt in effigy, and soon afterwards, in quintanar del rey (cuenca), there were thirty discovered, of whom the obstinate ones were burnt and the rest were reconciled.[742] the portuguese new christians, both at home and in spain, were growing restive under increasing pressure; they were wealthy and could afford to pay for a respite in the shape of a general pardon for past offences, including cases on trial. in 1602 negotiations were opened with philip iii for a papal brief to that effect; portuguese orthodoxy took the alarm, and the archbishops of lisbon, braga and evora hastened to valladolid, where the court lay, to present remonstrances. spanish piety, to which such transactions were a novelty, was no less exercised, and direful predictions were made as to the evils that it would bring upon the land. philip and his favorite lerma, however, were desperately in need of cash, and all scruples were overcome by the dazzling bribe of 1,860,000 ducats to the king, besides fifty thousand cruzados to lerma, forty thousand to joão de borja and thirty thousand to pedro alvarez pereira, members of the suprema council, and thirty thousand to its secretary fernão de mattos. the papal brief was issued, august 23, 1604 but, at the last moment, the bargain came near being wrecked by the demand of the new christians to have eight years in which to raise the sum. a threat, however, to suspend the execution of the brief sufficed to bring them to reason.[743] it empowered the portuguese inquisitor-general, the archbishop of lisbon and the papal collector, or any two of them or their deputies, to reconcile all portuguese new christians, whereever they might be settled, with the injunction only of spiritual penances. it included all who were on trial, or who had been condemned provided their sentences had not been published. it released all confiscations that had not been covered into the fisc, and it gave to the portuguese in europe a year and to those outside of europe two years, in which to come forward and avail themselves of its provisions. the reconciliation thus obtained was not to entail relaxation in case of relapse, and all inquisitors were forbidden to interfere.[744] [sidenote: _the pardon of 1604_] the brief was received in valladolid about october 1st, but was not published in lisbon until january 16, 1605. a royal cédula, however, was obtained, prohibiting the publication or execution of any sentences until this brief should take effect, thus including in its benefits all portuguese who were in the hands of the spanish tribunals, as well as in those of portugal.[745] the effect of this was dramatically exhibited without delay. on october 20th the seville tribunal announced a great auto de fe for november 7th. the stagings erected were on an unusually large scale; on the evening of the 6th took place the procession of the green cross, in which more than five hundred familiars participated; the people flocked in from the country in numbers beyond the capacity of the city to accommodate them. at night the confessors were introduced in the cells of those condemned to relaxation and, after completing all the preparations for the solemnity, the junior inquisitor, fernando de acebedo, sought his bed about eleven o'clock. suddenly a courier arrived, armed with an order to admit him to the inquisitors, wherever they might be, whether in their houses or their beds, in consulta de fe or on the staging at the auto. he had left valladolid at midnight on the 3d and, at break-neck speed, had made the distance to seville in seventy-two hours, getting through the closed gates of the towns on the road, and arriving in time to serve on the inquisitors a royal cédula forbidding the celebration of the auto. some there were who held that a royal decree was not to be obeyed unless rubricated by the suprema, but this was an opinion not as yet established and, after a brief consultation, measures were hurriedly taken to suspend the celebration, to the blank astonishment of all seville. surmises were various, some explained it by the recent treaty with england, under which englishmen in spain were not to be troubled on account of heresy; others attributed it to the planets; others thought that among the condemned there was some one of lofty station and influence, whose friends had been able to save him, but the suggestion which found the widest acceptance was that it was due to the portuguese new christians, numerous and wealthy, who had offered large sums, estimated at eight hundred thousand ducats, to stave it off, and this was supported by the fact that the midnight horseman, before going to the inquisition, had stopped at the house of etor autunez, a wealthy portuguese merchant, who had given him fifty ducats for his good news.[746] under this perdon general, the three tribunals in portugal liberated four hundred and ten prisoners simultaneously on january 16, 1605,[747] and there can be no doubt that the great body of portuguese judaizers in spain obtained valid absolution for all past sins during the twelvemonth of its duration, although the inquisition threw what obstacles it could in their way. in 1605, at toledo, antonio fernández paredes, a portuguese on trial with three witnesses against him, was obliged to insist on his right under the pardon, and to argue that his wife isabel díaz had been released at coimbra in virtue of it, until the tribunal referred the matter to the suprema, which ordered his discharge, although subsequently, during the same year six other portuguese were tried and sentenced without any reference being made to it.[748] still, the hands of the inquisition were tied and it lent its energies to detecting the portuguese in new delinquencies. it sent out the brief to the tribunals, april 15th and, on april 20, 1606, it called their attention to the fact that the year had expired on january 16th, wherefore they were immediately to examine their records as to the portuguese who had been discharged in virtue of the brief and to proceed against all who had not taken advantage of it as well as against those who had been guilty of heresy after its expiration.[749] notwithstanding this, there must have been for some years a marked interruption of persecution. a writer remarks, in 1611, that in seville the castle of triana was used as a penitential prison, for there was no one on trial, the judaizers having all been pardoned, the moriscos expelled and the protestants suppressed.[750] this episode, however could have no permanent influence and its chief interest lies in its manifestation of the numbers and wealth of the new class of offenders coming forward to replace the expelled moriscos in furnishing material for autos de fe and in stimulating activity with the prospect of fines and confiscations. after this we hear little of the old spanish conversos; nearly all judaizers are portuguese and all portuguese are presumably judaizers--suspects who existed only on sufferance. in 1625, at salamanca, the corregidor, in his nightly round, entered a tavern to arrest a priest who had committed murder. he had words with a party of portuguese and forthwith arrested them all, charging them with being fugitives from the portuguese inquisition. he reported this to the suprema, which communicated with the tribunal of coimbra and they were all sent to it for trial.[751] when, in 1633, an effort was made to remove the disabilities under which the new christians labored, the licenciate juan adan de la parra, in an argument against it, urged as his principal reason the obstinacy of the portuguese neophytes: even the advocates of the measure admitted that it would be inapplicable to them, and parra pointed out the impossibility of distinguishing between them and the castilians.[752] [sidenote: _portuguese jews_] some efforts were made to check this influx and to prevent transit through spain to france and holland, where the refugees were of material assistance to the national enemies. in 1567, during the minority of dom sebastian, the old laws were revived forbidding new christians to leave the kingdom, or to seek the colonies, or to sell real estate without a special royal licence. sebastian subsequently repealed this, but it was renewed by philip ii, in 1587, and remained at least nominally in force, though difficult of execution. partial relief was obtained, in 1601, when they paid philip iii two hundred thousand ducats for an irrevocable free permission to go to the colonies of both crowns, and to sell landed property but, with the faithlessness customary in dealing with the proscribed race, this irrevocable permission was withdrawn in 1610 and, in 1611 and 1612, the suprema forwarded to the viceroy of goa a royal provision ordering him to expel all of jewish blood, to which he refused obedience, saying that all commerce was in their hands and the colonies would be ruined by their expulsion.[753] another decree of philip iii, april 20, 1619, called the attention of the inquisitor-general to the evils resulting from the multitudes of portuguese passing, with their families and property, to france. all who could not show a licence under the portuguese crown to leave that kingdom were to be seized and their property sequestrated without further orders, in accordance with which the suprema promptly issued the necessary instructions to its commissioners in the sea-ports and frontier towns.[754] this doubtless led to increased restrictions in portugal on emigration, and to it we may probably attribute an eloquent memorial, without date, from the portuguese new christians, asking for the removal of all limitations. gentlemen of the noblest houses, they stated, had intermarried with them, both in portugal and the colonies, and they had lavished their substance in the good work of founding churches, embellishing cofradías, endowing chapels, and liberal almsgiving. free permission to enter spain would work no harm to religion, for the inquisition was everywhere, and the benefit arising from unrestricted intercourse was manifested in the revenues derived from the frontier towns, which were formerly farmed out for thirteen millions of maravedís, irregularly paid, and now were farmed for thirty-six millions, attributable to the spices, perfumes, porcelains, stuffs and other wares brought in by them. it was the same with the spanish manufactures exported through biscay--the wools and cloths of segovia, the silks and other goods. the only objection to free intercourse was that they might take advantage of it to seek other prohibited lands, and this was sufficiently answered elsewhere, in addition to the fact that portugal had so many ports that emigration could not be prevented, as two hours sufficed to reach the sea and embark, while land travel was slow and expensive, and could be stopped at the frontier towns. the new christians had greatly enriched the kingdom and the colonies by their labors. in brazil, where they could hold real estate, nearly all the sugar plantations were in their hands, and these they were constantly increasing, to the great profit of the colony and of the revenue. as by law they were excluded from all offices and dignities, commerce was their only resource.[755] possibly these representations may have been convincing, for the prohibition was withdrawn, to be subsequently renewed as we shall see. [sidenote: _portuguese jews_] if they desired to escape from portugal, portugal was quite as anxious to get rid of them, by extermination or otherwise. the pious intensity of hatred towards them finds expression, in 1621, in a ferocious work by vicente da costa mattos, of which the declared object was to drive them from the land. all the old stories of their malice to christians were raked together and set forth as uncontradicted truths. they were enemies of mankind, wandering like gypsies through the world and living on the sweat of others. they had possessed themselves of all trade, farming the lands of individuals and the royal patrimony, with no capital but industry and lack of conscience. they live only for the perdition of the world; of old, god punished those who ill-treated them, but now he punishes those who endure them; the decline of the spanish kingdoms was the punishment sent by god for tolerating them. they were all idolators and sodomites, and wherever they went they infected the land with their abominations, and were constantly seeking to convert christians to their foul belief. luther commenced by judaizing; all heretics were either jews or descendants of judaizers, as was seen in england, germany and other parts where they flourished; calvin called himself the father of jews, like many other deniers of the trinity, and bucer in his will declared that christ was not the savior promised. their perverse obstinacy was sufficiently proved, by the numbers who were every day burnt, and the still greater numbers who escaped by penance after conviction.[756] this crazy ebullition of ignorant hate accorded so well with the prejudices of the time that a second edition was called for in 1633; in 1629 it was translated into castilian by fray diego gavilan vera, and this was reprinted in 1680. the hatred, indeed, was quenchless which was not satisfied with what the inquisition was doing. in 1623 we chance to hear of the tribunal of evora arresting a hundred new christians of the little town of montemor o novo.[757] the autos de fe were frequently conducted on a scale unknown in contemporary castile. the tribunal of coimbra held one, august 16, 1626, with two hundred and forty-seven penitents and _relaxados_, another on may 6, 1629, with two hundred and eighteen and another on august 17, 1631 with two hundred and forty-seven. the statistics between 1620 and 1640 are not complete, for there were ten autos of which the details have not been preserved but, even without these, the fearful aggregate is two hundred and thirty relaxed in person, a hundred and sixty-one in effigy and forty-nine hundred and ninety-five penanced--and this is in addition to several hundred prisoners discharged under two pardons granted in 1627 and 1630, which no doubt were heavily paid for.[758] besides these pardons an edict of grace was published in 1622 but, as we have seen, such mercies were burdened with intolerable conditions, and only sixteen persons came forward under it--twelve in lisbon and four in evora--and all these had already been testified against.[759] in 1630, the royal confessor sotomayor reported that, in interviewing the deputies of the new christians, he found that they wanted no more edicts of grace; the last one, they said, had done them no good but much harm, as it brought infinite denunciations against them and filled the prisons.[760] there is very likely exaggeration, but nothing more than exaggeration, in the assertion of luys de melo that, in this period, the activity of the inquisition had virtually depopulated the cities of coimbra, oporto, braga, lamego, braganza, evora, beja and part of lisbon, and the towns of santarem, tomar, trancoso, avero, guimaraens, vinais, villaflor, fundan, montemor o velho and o novo and many other places, while the prisons of the three tribunals were always full and the autos so frequent that each tribunal celebrated one almost every year. one in coimbra occupied two days, there being more than a hundred each day, and among them professors, canons, priests, curas with cure of souls, vicars-general, frailes, nuns, knights, including some of the military orders of kin with the highest of the land, and there was even a discalced franciscan so pertinacious that he was burnt alive.[761] [sidenote: _portuguese jews_] notwithstanding these superhuman exertions the inquisitors complained that their labors were unavailing; judaism was steadily increasing; the misfortunes of the land were attributable to the idolatry of this evil rabble, and they clamored for more drastic measures. the supreme council, january 17, 1619, addressed to philip iii a consulta urging that prompt action was necessary in view of the contamination, and of the infinite sacrileges committed, to the scandal of the faithful. the king, it said, did not want vassals only, but good vassals, and it therefore suggested that, when a penitent was condemned to confiscation, he should also be banished; he would thus be stripped of everything and would not take wealth to enrich the enemy as now was the case. it also said that a general visitation was on foot which had already produced much result; presumably there were many in madrid who should be investigated, and the king was asked to order a visitation there. one member of the council, mendo de la mota, went even further, and wanted banishment for all required to abjure for vehement suspicion. philip responded to this with chilling indifference; if those who abjured for suspicion were banished, they would take their money with them; it was a doubtful measure and he wished the council to consider it further; as regarded the portuguese in castile, if a list was furnished, with notes as to grounds for suspicion, he would have them investigated. the list was duly supplied, but the investigation was not made.[762] the effort was resumed the next year. on april 30, 1620, the tribunals of lisbon and evora sent to philip relations of the autos held by them on the previous september 29th, so that he might see the large numbers punished on those occasions, and recognize the necessity of more active measures of repression. among them were three canons of coimbra, three frailes and several lawyers. six canons of coimbra, all new christians, had been arrested; they were all appointees of the pope, and the king was prayed to ask him to close the door on all applicants for benefices of that race; also to order that none should be admitted to the church, either as seculars or regulars, and none to public office--which indicates how little the prohibitory laws were respected.[763] the youthful philip iv was scarce more than seated on the throne when, in 1622, fernando mascarenhas, bishop of faro, urged him to provide some remedy for the political dangers apprehended from the new christians. it was in evidence, he said, that they were all secretly jews and the state was in great peril from them as they were very numerous. there was no city in which they were not powerful through their wealth and the important positions held by them, while the danger of detection and punishment might lead them to cause serious trouble through alliance with enemies. it was found that they secretly invested their capital in dealings with the dutch, and in dutch commercial companies and, if they ventured their wealth with these rebels, they would conspire with them, especially as the inquisition was pushing them hard, arresting them all and they had no other remedy.[764] israel has rarely had a more flattering tribute to its intellectual superiority than the fears excited by this remnant surviving through near a century of pitiless persecution. doubtless there were other urgent warnings which have not reached us and, in 1628, philip called for a formal expression of opinion from his portuguese prelates. by his order they assembled at tomar and summoned to their aid all who were most distinguished in the kingdom for learning and virtue. after prolonged debates they submitted to him a series of suggestions to which he replied seriatim. in view of the failure of all previous efforts to abate the evils wrought and threatened by the new christians, the remedy they preferred was the thorough expulsion of the whole race; if this were not practicable, at least those who were full-blooded jews, excepting such as could prove their christianity, should be banished, and their property be confiscated; as for those of half or quarter blood, all should go who had been, or who in future should be reconciled, or sentenced to abjure de vehementi, unless inquisitors were satisfied of their true repentance and conversion. to this philip replied, proposing delay in the case of the full-blooded conversos, and assenting to the exile of the reconciled and vehemently suspect. for the further relief of the kingdom, the bishops proposed that all who desired could, within a year, irrevocably expatriate themselves, selling their property and taking with them the proceeds, but not in jewels or the precious metals. to this the royal answer was that already there was unrestricted liberty to go, but as evils had arisen from their return, in future it should be prohibited. the next suggestion was significant; to check the spread of judaic infection, by intermarriage, which was destroying the lustre of the nobility, no dower in such unions should exceed two thousand cruzados, and the husband should be disabled from holding positions of honor and dignity. to the first clause the king assented; to the latter he said that the existing laws in favor of the nobility should be enforced. to prevent the constant profanation of the sacraments it was proposed that papal briefs should be procured prohibiting all entrance into the church of all who were new christians, even in the tenth degree. to this the king promised to apply for such briefs and meanwhile the bishops should refuse to install persons bearing dispensations and report to him, and also represent to the pope the evils attendant on such preferment. the next suggestion was that the king should ratify and enforce the prohibition to hold secular offices and dignities, to which he replied that it should be strictly enforced. finally, the bishops proposed that the new christians should be wholly excluded from trade and commerce or, if this was not possible, at least from that which concerned the royal revenues, but to this philip answered rather curtly that it was none of their business.[765] such were the views of christian prelates, and even the partial concessions of the king seemed sufficient to threaten the new christians with virtual extinction, but the whole portentous transaction served only to put on record the extremes to which bigotry could reach. as luys de melo suggestively says, after giving the documents in full, the orders issued by the king were not executed, and it would be superfluous to explain the cause of this to any one acquainted with the methods of government of the period. yet it had one result, for the new christians, in fear of the threatened consequences, paid to king philip eighty thousand ducats for the privilege of leaving portugal and, under this, some five thousand families emigrated to castile, besides a countless number of individual stragglers, so that it would be a wonder to find any place in spain not filled with portuguese jews.[766] they felt themselves in perfect safety, for the castilian tribunals refused to honor requisitions from those of portugal.[767] efforts were also made to obtain modification of procedure, but in vain. by a cédula of december 20, 1633, philip expressed his approbation of the existing rules and refused all change; moreover, he gave to inquisitor-general de castro all the memorials, petitions and arguments presented to him, thus furnishing to the inquisition the names of those upon whom to wreak its vengeance.[768] the question of transit to france came up again in 1632, when the suprema notified philip that the commissioner at pampeluna reported that troops of portuguese families were passing into france, many of them people of wealth, with litters and coaches, and the inquisition did not interfere with them, as the last instructions were that they should not be impeded. the result of this representation was that the orders of 1619 were repeated.[769] not content with retaining those who wished to expatriate themselves, when the admiral of castile, in 1636, captured saint-jean de luz, and there were hopes of conquering guienne, which was ripe for revolt, the inquisition took steps to seize the refugees who might have settled there, though it had no evidence that they were judaizers. it assumed that they were apostates and as such not included in the promises held out to the inhabitants at large, and that anyhow the cause of the faith was privileged. the king was therefore asked to order the admiral to send to the border all whom its agents might designate, so that they could be seized without attracting attention.[770] it is possible that some victims may thus have been procured during the brief time in which the spaniards held their advantage. [sidenote: _portuguese jews_] the refugees, however, mainly bent their steps to holland, where they enjoyed free toleration and could work for their own advancement and the detriment of their oppressors. this was the leading cause of the effort to prevent emigration, and it was a matter of much concern. luys de melo says that there had passed to holland more than two thousand families and, in those rebel states, they had purchased the right to establish synagogues. those who publicly judaized there were the same as those who, quitting portugal as _sanbenitados_, published that their confession of judaism was under coercion of the inquisition. many who had lived in misery in portugal were rich in holland; they paid contributions to those rebel states, and assisted to maintain their fleets and armies; they invested largely in the east india company, and thus were absorbing a great part of spanish commerce and, under feigned names and in vessels of the united provinces, they did a large trade in contraband goods.[771] in short, their commercial aptitudes were impoverishing spain and enriching her enemies. the writer unconsciously points out how large a part intolerance played in the decadence of the state. nor was this the only mischief wrought by their hostility to the land that had driven them forth. in 1634, the capitan esteban de ares fonseca, in a memorial to the suprema, represents the refugees in holland as aiding actively the enemies of spain, and as holding constant correspondence with spies residing there in the guise of merchants. the dutch west india company, he says, was controlled by jews, who were large stockholders, and its chief profits were derived from piracy in the colonies, especially those of portugal on the brazilian coast, where the new christians were numerous and were in correspondence with the enemy. it was two jews, nuño alvarez franco and manuel fernandez drago, residents of bahía, who planned and executed the capture of that place by the dutch in 1625. franco, he adds, now lives in lisbon as a spy, under orders from holland, and his brother jacob franco carries intelligence back and forth disguised as a fleming of antwerp. drago is still in bahía; he is a great rabbi and teacher of the jews, and moreover is a spy who last year sent word to the dutch to return there. the capture of pernambuco was the work of the jews of amsterdam, chief among whom was antonio vaez henriquez, known as cohen, who had lived there, who arranged the plans and accompanied the expedition; he is now residing in seville as a merchant, but is nothing but a spy. last year he went to amsterdam with a plan for the capture of havana, where he has a correspondent named manuel de torres. at present a large fleet of eighteen sail is fitting out for the relief of pernambuco, under command of david peixoto, a jew, who proposes to call at buarcos and penetrate to coimbra, where the inquisition is to be burnt and the prisoners are to be liberated. it was a jew of amsterdam, named francisco de campos, who took the island of fernando de noronha; it could readily be recaptured, as it has a garrison of only thirty-four men with four cannon. in san sebastian, there is a jew named abraham ger, who calls himself juan gilles, under dutch pay; he works much mischief to spain and keeps a man named rafael mendez, who is constantly travelling back and forth.[772] we need not accept all this as literally true, but it had an undoubted substratum of fact. in 1640, the tribunals of lima and cartagena de las indias reported that in recent autos de fe it had been discovered that many judaizing portuguese in the colonies had correspondence with the synagogues in holland and the levant, assisting the dutch and the turks with information and money. to verify this, orders were given to open, on a certain day, all letters addressed to portuguese throughout spain. the information was found to be true; a cypher was discovered, used in correspondence with the synagogues of holland, and further, that a million and a half of money had been pledged from spain. the matter was appropriately referred for investigation to the inquisitor-general and two inquisitors.[773] what was the result, we have no means of knowing, but we may be reasonably sure that the rumors, which attributed to the new christians of portugal a share in the rebellion of 1640, were not wholly without foundation. [sidenote: _portuguese jews_] they certainly benefited at first by the change of masters. it is true that joão iv conciliated the inquisition by intervening in its favor in a quarrel which it had, in 1643, with the jesuits of evora, and by attending, with his family and court, two autos de fe held in lisbon, april 6, 1642 and june 25, 1645, in one of which there were six relaxations in person and four in effigy, with seventy-five penitents, and in the other eleven relaxations in person and two in effigy, with sixty-one penitents,[774] but this we may assume to have been a matter of policy rather than of conviction, for his tendencies were towards liberality. he is even said to have contemplated granting freedom of conscience and liberty of residence to jews, but to have been forced to abandon the purpose by the stubborn resistance of the inquisitor-general francisco de castro, bishop of guarda,[775] but this is probably a spanish exaggeration of an intention to modify the rigor of inquisitorial procedure, which he was obliged to forego through the impossibility of obtaining the requisite papal confirmation.[776] spanish influence in italy sufficed to prevent the holy see from recognizing or holding relations with the house of braganza, until, by the treaty of lisbon in 1668, spain abandoned her futile efforts at reconquest--a position which resulted in the vacancy of the portuguese sees, as the bishops dropped off, until there was but one left, francisco de sotomayor, a dominican who chanced to be bishop of targa _in partibus_ and who was made bishop of lamego in 1659.[777] this impossibility of negotiating with rome rendered necessary an indirect method of accomplishing his desire to abolish confiscation, which he recognized as a serious impediment to commercial credit and prosperity, especially through the sequestration of property at arrest. as it was provided by the canons it could only be abrogated by a papal rescript, and to evade this difficulty, in his decree of february 6, 1649, he disclaimed all intention of interfering with the functions of the holy office, which should continue to include confiscation in its sentences but, after this declaration, he made to the culprits a free gift of their forfeited property, which they could dispose of at will, provided it was in favor of catholics, and he also abolished sequestration at arrest. but this was not only a free gift but a binding contract, under which the merchants engaged to form a trading company to enrich the country with colonial commerce and to provide, at its own expense, thirty-six war ships to serve as convoys for the merchantmen, all of which was impossible so long as the capital of the company was liable to be imperilled by sequestration and confiscation imposed on the shareholders. the inquisitor-general was ordered to have this decree filed in the secreto of the tribunals, and to enforce its observance, while joão obligated himself never to revoke it.[778] the inquisition subsequently boasted that it had excommunicated all who advised the king to this measure, and it actually succeeded in obtaining from innocent x a brief of october 25, 1650, thanking god for what it had done and urging it to persevere.[779] notwithstanding this, the companhia da bolsa was organized and, through its means, pernambuco was recovered from the dutch. there was flattering prospect of restoring portuguese commerce but, when joão iv died, in 1656, leaving the kingdom under the regency of his widow lucía de guzman, during the minority of affonso vi, the inquisition not only resumed confiscation but proceeded to collect the arrears since 1649. altogether, padre vieira tells us, about 1680, they had gathered in up to that time some twenty-five millions, of which not more than half a million cruzados reached the royal treasury.[780] [sidenote: _portuguese jews_] when bishop de castro died, in 1653, the attitude of the holy see towards portugal precluded the appointment of a successor, and the general council acted from that date until 1672, when d. pedro de lencastre, archbishop of side, _in partibus_, was appointed. the lack of a head seems rather to have stimulated than to have repressed its energies, and one can scarce comprehend how, after a century of such earnest work, so small a territory can have furnished so unfailing a supply of victims. autos were held in each tribunal nearly every year, with so copious a number of culprits that occasionally they occupied two days, and one at coimbra, in february, 1677, required three days to despatch its nine personal relaxations and its two hundred and sixty-four penitents. peace or war seems to have made no difference. evora celebrated an auto, june 23, 1663, with a hundred and forty-two penitents, although don john of austria, with a hostile spanish army, was occupying the city.[781] the explanation of this exhaustless reservoir of material for autos is to be found in the strictness with which the infection of blood was reckoned, without limit of generations; all who had the slightest admixture were reckoned as new christians and were held to be jews at heart. intermarriages had been frequent, and so large a portion of the population was thus contaminated that foreigners generally regarded the portuguese as all jews.[782] thus the field of operation of the inquisition was almost unlimited, and every one whom it penanced became a source of stronger infection. the death of joão iv removed what little restraint he may have ventured to exercise and, in 1662, the oppressed population, comprising so large a portion of the wealth and intelligence of the kingdom, made an attempt to purchase alleviation of suffering. a new christian named duarte, who had been penanced, in the name of his fellows, made a liberal offer of money and troops for the defence of the land, in return for a general pardon, the publication of witnesses' names and permission to found a synagogue in which professing jews might worship. considering that in rome there was a synagogue, there is some inconsistency in the energetic brief of alexander vii, february 17, 1663, denouncing the project and urging the inquisition to resist it to the utmost.[783] of course the attempt was abortive. then, in 1671, the new christians were suddenly threatened with a catastrophe. in the church of orivellas, a pyx with a consecrated host was stolen. we have seen with what equanimity the roman inquisition regarded this offence, but in portugal the whole kingdom was thrown into consternation. the regent pedro and the court put on mourning; an edict ordered that for some days no one should leave his house, so that everybody might be compelled to give an account of himself on the fatal night. all efforts to identify the sacrilegious thief proving fruitless, it was assumed that the new christians must be guilty, and the regent signed an edict banishing them all from portugal--a measure opposed by the inquisition, doubtless because its occupation would be gone. before the expulsion could be enforced, however, it happened that a young thief near coimbra, named antonio ferreira, was arrested, and in his possession was found the pyx with its contents. the most searching investigation failed to discover in him a trace of jewish blood; he was duly burnt and the new christians were saved.[784] after this narrow escape, there came a gleam of promise. few members of the society of jesus, at that time, were more distinguished than antonio vieira, who had earned the name of the apostle of brazil. he had long regarded the new christians with compassion and had urged joão iv not only to abolish confiscation but to remove the distinctions between them and the old christians. he had made enemies and the inquisition readily undertook his punishment; his writings in favor of the oppressed were condemned as rash, scandalous, erroneous, savoring of heresy and well adapted to pervert the ignorant.[785] after three years of incarceration, he was penanced in the audience-chamber of coimbra, december 23, 1667, and his sympathy for the victims of the holy office was sharpened by his experience of its unwholesome prisons, where he tells us that five unfortunates were not uncommonly herded in a cell nine feet by eleven, where the only light came from a narrow opening near the ceiling, where the vessels were changed only once a week, and all spiritual consolation was denied.[786] then, in the safe refuge of rome, he raised his voice for the relief of the oppressed, in numerous writings in which he characterized the holy office of portugal as a tribunal which served only to deprive men of their fortunes, their honor and their lives, while unable to discriminate between guilt and innocence; it was known to be holy only in name, while its works were cruelty and injustice, unworthy of rational beings, although it was always proclaiming its superior piety.[787] [sidenote: _portuguese jews_] the society of jesus could scarce fail to resent the affront put upon one of its most distinguished members; it was still a power in portugal, and it made its influence felt. the new christians took heart and, in 1673, they made an organized effort to gain relief. they asked to have the procedure of the inquisition modified to that of rome and, in order that the new system might have a fair start, that a general pardon be granted to those under trial.[788] the extent of the considerations offered for these very moderate concessions shows how desperate was the condition of the sufferers, for they proposed to place within a year four thousand troops in india, and then yearly to send twelve hundred men, or fifteen hundred in case of war, besides an annual payment of twenty thousand cruzados and various other considerable contributions, including some important matters which there were reasons for keeping secret.[789] against this proposal the inquisition protested in two elaborate remonstrances, revealing the temper in which it habitually exercised its powers. it could find no words too strong to describe the wickedness of the new christians, whose invincible adherence to their errors showed that punishment and not pardon was the only means to be employed; in place of mitigating the laws they should be sharpened, as heresy was steadily increasing, and to ask for the roman procedure was scandalous, and in itself worthy of punishment. the regent was told that he had no power to overthrow the laws and he was threatened, on the one hand, with an uprising of the people, and, on the other, with an appeal to the pope. in fine, the proposed reform would bring desolation on the land and result in portugal becoming a judea. on the other side, the arrangement was warmly supported by many ecclesiastics, to which jesuit influence doubtless contributed. not only did the archbishop of lisbon favor it, but also thirty masters and doctors of theology, the professors of the university of coimbra, seven ministers of the inquisition, and many men of high position among both the regular and the secular clergy. the regent and his council gave it their approval and the matter was referred to the pope for his decision.[790] [sidenote: _portuguese jews_] the debate was thus transferred to rome where, in 1674, both sides submitted their arguments to the commission of cardinals formed for the purpose. the advocates of the new christians presented a scathing indictment of the inquisition, doubtless one-sided and exaggerated and yet affording an insight into the abuses inevitable when secret and irresponsible power fell into unworthy hands. the great mass of victims, they asserted, were fervent and loyal christians, who either were burnt for denying judaism or obtained reconciliation by falsely confessing. a case occurring only the year previous, 1673, at evora, was that of two nuns, burnt as _negativas_. one of them had lived for forty years in her nunnery, with unblemished reputation and filling all the official positions in turn; the confessors who heard her before the auto were overcome by the fervent piety which she manifested and, when the procession was formed, she recognized among the penitents her own sister and nieces, who had saved their lives by denouncing her. she pardoned them and made a most exemplary end, invoking christ with her last breath as the garrote was applied. indeed, it was the evidence of many confessors that the greater part of those to whom they ministered at the autos were true and fervent christians, and this was confirmed by the university of evora, by padre manoel diaz, s. j., confessor of the crown-prince, and numerous ecclesiastics of high standing.[791] the trade of false witness was a thriving one, both for gain and the gratification of enmity. there were regular associations of perjurers, who made a living by levying black-mail on rich new christians, accusing those who refused their demands, so that the unfortunate class lived in perpetual terror and purchased temporary safety by compliance. the matter was reduced to a fine art. the accusing witness would give a fictitious name and address, so that the accused could never recognize and disable him. sometimes, indeed, when additional evidence was necessary, a witness would change his name and garments and give the required corroborative testimony.[792] as an illustration of the arbitrary abuse of power, allusion was made to a notorious case occurring at evora, in 1643. according to custom, a student of the jesuit college was appointed to superintend the market. the servant of an inquisitor desired to buy a load of honey, in order to retail it at an advance, but the student interposed, because it had already been purchased for the use of the college, and would only let the servant have enough to supply his master's table. for this he was imprisoned, tried, required to abjure and penanced as unsound in the faith. when the sentence was read in the presence of a number of ecclesiastics, the professor of theology, a jesuit of high standing, appealed to the holy see, to which one of the inquisitors replied that from that holy tribunal the only appeal was to the holy trinity, and the unlucky appellant was gaoled and severely handled. jesuits were not accustomed to such treatment; the matter was laid before urban viii, who summoned the inquisitors to appear before him but, in the confusion of the war with spain, the affair blew over.[793] the statements as to confiscation explain the tenacity of the inquisition in maintaining its position. the crown supported the inquisition and was entitled to the results of its industry, but obtained little. the sequestrations were in the hands of the tribunals during the trials, which were protracted for five, ten or twelve years to the intense distress of the prisoners. during this time the management of the property was irresponsible; no accounts were rendered and, of the immense sums received, only occasional trifling payments were made to the state. the inquisitor-general had authority to make donations to the inquisitors, and this was liberally exercised in granting them sums of six, or eight, or even fourteen thousand crowns at a time. commerce was most disastrously affected for, when a merchant with foreign correspondents was arrested and his property was sequestrated, his foreign consignors or creditors clamored in vain for the goods or debts belonging to them and, as this was a fate overhanging every man, portuguese trade suffered accordingly. in short, while we may not accept literally the assertion that the inquisition brought irreparable ruin upon portugal, we cannot but regard it as one of the largely contributing factors to the rapid decadence of the kingdom.[794] the contest in rome was stubborn, but the new christians gradually gained the advantage and, on october 3, 1674, clement x, as a preliminary, issued a brief reciting their complaints, in view of which he evoked to himself all pending cases and committed them to the roman inquisition, inhibiting further action in portugal, under pain of deprivation of office and other penalties, for all officials, including the inquisitor-general. coimbra treated this as a general pardon and, on november 18th, discharged all those under trial, but the other tribunals seem to have detained their prisoners. it was probably with the object of releasing them that, in 1676, innocent xi instructed his nuncio to permit the inquisitors to finish the trials, but not to inflict sentences of relaxation, confiscation, or perpetual galleys. if this was the object, it was unsuccessful. the inquisition was sullen and celebrated no auto de fe between the years 1674 and 1682, save three private ones in the lisbon audience-chamber, in each of which there was but a single penitent.[795] the inquisitorial agents in rome denied the assertions as to the arbitrary injustice of procedure and the coercion of good christians to confess judaism by the terrible alternative of relaxation as negativos. in the conflict of statement, it was proposed that the truth could be ascertained by the examination of the records, and innocent consequently ordered the transmission to rome of the papers in some specimen cases of convicted negativos. the inquisitor-general, verissimo de lencastre, archbishop of braga, refused obedience, on the ground that it would reveal the secrets of procedure. the pope naturally pronounced the reason to be frivolous, and treated this imitation of arce y reynoso's course in the villanueva affair with greater decision than his predecessor. after meeting repeated refusals, he peremptorily ordered, by a brief of december 24, 1678, that, within ten days after notice, four or five of the prescribed cases should be delivered to the nuncio marcello, under pain of _ipso-facto_ suspension of the inquisitor-general and all his subordinates; if they continued to act, the inquisitor-general was interdicted from entering a church, and the others incurred excommunication removable only by the holy see, while, during suspension, the episcopal ordinaries were restored to their jurisdiction with full powers. even this did not break down inquisitorial contumacy and, on may 27, 1679, another brief formally suspended them, while letters of the same date to the nuncio instructed him to prosecute them and report the result. this decisive action at length brought the partial submission that two processes were sent to the portuguese ambassador to be delivered to the pope, but evidently this was deemed insufficient, for the suspension was not removed until 1681, when a brief of august 22d gave as a reason that the episcopal ordinaries, owing to various impediments, had not been able to exercise jurisdiction and the prisoners were suffering through the delay. the raising of the suspension, however, was conditioned on the future observance of numerous modifications of procedure, under threat of reincidence of the penalties previously prescribed. the new christians had especially asked for a change in the rule respecting negativos but this, as we have seen, was unfortunately an essential part of the system and their desire was ungratified. the changes granted were of minor importance, and are interesting only as evidence of some specially iniquitous practices against which they were directed, and better treatment of prisoners was enjoined.[796] whether these modifications were observed and mitigated the rigor of procedure; whether the inquisition was humbled and weakened by its defeat in the struggle with the papacy, or whether the material for its autos was becoming exhausted, it would be impossible now to determine, but there is no question that, after its resumption in 1681, the number of its victims diminished notably. the renewal of operations was celebrated by autos de fe held in the early months of 1682, with processions and illuminations and other demonstrations of rejoicing, but, in the nineteen years including 1682 and 1700, there were but fifty-nine relaxed in person, sixty-one in effigy and thirteen hundred and fifty-one penanced--an aggregate deplorable in itself, yet encouraging in comparison with its predecessors.[797] * * * * * [sidenote: _prejudice inflamed_] from this sketch of the portuguese inquisition, we can readily estimate its efficiency in keeping the spanish institution supplied with material as the native stock grew christianized. not the least unfortunate effect of this was its influence in maintaining the prejudice that might otherwise have subsided, and that consequently became one of race as much as of religion. the venom which we have seen in the work of da costa mattos was, if possible, exceeded in the _centinela contra judíos_ of padre fray francisco de torrejoncillos, published as late as 1673 and reprinted in 1728 and 1731. in this popular exposition of christian rancor, no story is too wild and unnatural to be unworthy of credence, if it illustrates the innate and ineradicable depravity of the jew, and his quenchless desire to work evil to the christian. the fables of the _fortalicium fidei_ are repeated as incontestable truths, and new ones are invented to prove that the virus is as active as ever. it makes no difference if the jew is baptized, for this does not change his nature and his faith, and he remains the same implacable enemy.[798] the same temper is manifested in a memorial, drawn up about this time by an inquisitor, in answer to a proposition for moderating the harshness of inquisitorial procedure. the writer was evidently a man of learning and culture, but his paper is a bitter tirade against the jews, insisting upon their diabolical nature and asserting them to be much worse now than when they crucified christ. the evil is in their blood, forcing them to hate and rage against christ, the virgin and all who profess the christian faith.[799] popular beliefs that they had tails, and that they were distinguishable by a peculiar odor which they exhaled and that, as physicians, they killed one out of five of their christian patients, were persistent outgrowths of the hatred thus inculcated.[800] even to call a man a jew was an offence justiciable by the inquisition, for when, in 1646, padre boil, a royal preacher, in a sermon stigmatized as a jew fray enríquez, of his own mercenarian order, the tribunal of toledo promptly sent for him and, after detaining him for six months, sentenced him to two years' exile from the court, during which he was forbidden to preach.[801] when, about 1632, the new christians made an effort to procure a removal of their disabilities, juan adan de la parra who, though an inquisitor was a poet and a man of culture, opposed it in an elaborate essay, cautiously couched in latin, for the matter was too delicate for popular discussion. he did not pander to vulgar prejudice, but addressed himself to arguments of state policy, which are a curious illustration of what, on such a subject, an intelligent man regarded as conclusive. he deplores the decline of population, of agriculture, of shipping and of the mechanic arts, which he attributes to the insidious practices of the jews, their avoidance of manual labor and their addiction to usury. look at portugal, he says, where this traitorous race stimulated the ardor of foreign conquest, until it embraced the east and west indies, and then cunningly corrupted the native virtue with the wealth and luxury thus acquired, until they have succeeded in eliminating the heroes and destroying the heroic spirit which rendered portugal so formidable. it is this craving for oriental luxuries, shrewdly stimulated by the new christians, which is undermining the robustness of spanish virtue; the useful is neglected for the superfluous, and thus agriculture declines. he scarcely seems to recognize the tribute which he pays to the superior endowment of the jew, when he winds up by foretelling that, if the restrictions and disabilities imposed on the new christians are removed, they will acquire such power that they will reduce the old christians to subjection.[802] there was some foundation for the fear that the barriers between the races would be removed. in the exhaustion of spanish finance, olivares, in 1634, opened negotiations with the jews of africa and the levant, and royal licences were granted for the admission of individuals. in 1641, relations were resumed; they sent representatives whom he received and kept with him for a considerable time, silencing the remonstrances of the suprema with the assertion that they were there on the service of the king. it was proposed that they should be allowed to reside in the suburbs of madrid, in a separate quarter, with a synagogue, as in rome. he won over some members of the royal council and some theologians to his plans, but the inquisition was inexorable, and cardinal monti, the nuncio, told the king, in public audience, that olivares must be dismissed if the harvest of the lord was to be cleansed of tares and the risk be averted of ruining the faith of spain. incidentally olivares interfered with the inquisition, by demanding the papers in certain cases; inquisitor-general sotomayor refused but, finding himself powerless to resist, placed the documents at the foot of a crucifix, whence they were carried to olivares, who burnt them and released a number of prisoners. it is even said that he contemplated abolishing the inquisition, but philip iv was too profoundly convinced of its necessity to both church and state to entertain the project, and there may well be truth in the assertion that his quarrel with the holy office was contributory to his downfall. this put an end to all negotiations and, in 1643, we find the suprema instructing the valencia tribunal to forbid the landing of the jews who were coming from oran.[803] [sidenote: _proselytism_] some stir was caused, in 1645, by two jews, salamon zaportas and bale zaportas, who presented themselves in valencia with a royal licence, dated in 1634, and one from the marquis of viana, governor of oran. they applied to the tribunal for permission to attend to their business in the city and to wear christian garments, so as not to be mobbed. the tribunal was puzzled and ordered them not to leave the city under pain of two hundred pesos, while it consulted the suprema. the latter represented to the king the danger impending on the faith from this disregard of his orders by ministers who issued licences, to which he responded with instructions to send them back to oran: the causes leading to the cédula of 1634 no longer existed; if in future their coming were considered necessary, the governor of oran must report and await the royal decision and a special licence.[804] there is no reason to suppose that the venturesome israelites had anything more important in view than private business. one of the most prominent reasons urged for the establishment and perpetuation of the inquisition was the zeal of the crypto-jews in proselyting and the danger to which the purity of religion was thus exposed--an argument which served its purpose, however discrediting to the firmness of spanish faith. cases, however, were never cited in proof, nor could they be, for judaism is a matter of race as much as of dogma; the jews have never sought to convert the gentiles and, in spain of all lands, it was clearly preposterous that men, who could only exist by concealing their belief, would incur the certainty of detection and of pitiless punishment, by the unpardonable offence of seeking the apostasy of their christian neighbors. what conversions there were were spontaneous, and these served to intensify the horror of judaism and to keep alive the sense of danger arising from the presence of those suspected of cherishing the ancient faith. fray diogo da assumpçao, burnt in lisbon, in 1603, as a convert to the law of moses, is said to have been led to this fatal step by witnessing the constancy in martyrdom of those who suffered for their belief.[805] a more remarkable case was that of lope de vera, which aroused universal interest throughout spain, and pointed the moral that the safety of religion lay in the ignorance of the faithful, thus justifying the prescience of valdés, when he placed on the first spanish index a translation of josephus's antiquities of the jews.[806] lope de vera was the son of a gentleman of san clemente, of gentle blood and limpieza. at the age of nineteen he was a student at salamanca, so deeply learned in hebrew and arabic that, in july, 1638, he competed for a chair of hebrew. his studies led him to embrace judaism and, with the zeal of a convert, he sought to win over a fellow student, who denounced him to the inquisition. there was a second witness, and yet the consulta de fe of valladolid was not unanimous in voting his arrest; it had to be ordered by the suprema, and was executed june 24, 1639. he freely admitted the truth of the accusation and much more, but denied intention, assuming that what he had said was for the sake of argument, and asserting that he went to confession and communion and carried a rosary. there was variation and equivocation in his successive audiences; there was delay and doubt on the part of the inquisition, and the trial dragged on. on april 16th and may 23, 1641, he revoked all that he had confessed and then suddenly, on may 29th, he announced that he wished to be a jew and to hold all that the jews believed, for this was the truth revealed to them by god, which he would defend with his life. hitherto he had believed what the church taught, but now he adhered to the law given by god to israel; the religion of rome and all other religions were false; he had never practised the jewish observances but would do so in the future; no one had taught him this, but god, in his mercy, had brought him to the truth. learned men were called in to wean him from his errors, but they declared his pertinacity to be terrible and that, with his knowledge of hebrew, he would be most dangerous. he refused to have an advocate or to make defence, persisting that he was a jew and would die for the law of moses. on august 8th the alcaide reported that he had circumcised himself with a bone, and the physician sent to examine him verified this and reported that he said he hoped to be burnt alive, for he sought the honor of martyrdom and would go to paradise. [sidenote: _proselytism_] earnest and protracted efforts were made to reclaim him but in vain. then he was asked to set forth the hebrew texts on which he relied, so that the calificadores could confute them. to enable him to do this he was furnished, december 23d, with a bible, paper, ink and a goose-quill, but the latter he rejected, saying that it was forbidden by the law of moses, and a bronze pen (pluma de bronce) was given to him. further conferences followed, and much patience was manifested, until he refused absolutely to speak in the audiences. the baffled tribunal appealed to the suprema, which ordered fifty lashes; he endured them unflinchingly on june 17, 1642, and maintained his unbroken silence. this was most obstructive, for his ratification of his confessions was necessary but, when they and the evidence were read to him, he closed his ears with his fingers and refused even to listen. it was proposed to torture him, but the suprema humanely discarded formalities and ordered the case to be closed and voted upon. the vote was taken, january 27, 1643, to relax him with confiscation, but in confirming it the suprema ordered further efforts for his conversion. there was no haste in executing the sentence. in january, 1644, he was still persisting in silence, except that, when the inquisitors made their weekly visits, he would cry "viva la ley de moisen," after which not another word could be extracted from him. at length, on june 25, 1644, he was burnt alive, maintaining to the end his unalterable constancy. the inquisitor moscoso, in a letter to the countess of monterey, declared that he had never witnessed so ardent a desire for death, such perfect assurance of salvation, or such unconquerable firmness. his fate made a profound impression on his co-religionists. some years later, juan pereira, a youth on trial before the valladolid tribunal, referred to him repeatedly and declared that he had seen him after death, riding on a mule and glistening with the sweat that was on him when he was taken to the quemadero.[807] lope de vera was a most undesirable convert, for his case could not fail to arouse afresh the dread of infection and to stimulate the inquisition to increased activity. yet such stimulus was scarce needed, for it was incessantly vigilant and was troubled with few scruples when on the track of a suspect. an illustrative case offers itself when, in september, 1642, the tribunal of galicia wrote to valladolid that a prisoner on trial testified that antonio lópez, in manzaneda de tribes, had practised judaism, and it asked for his arrest. an antonio lópez was readily found in valladolid and was promptly thrown in prison, september 16th. he denied the accusation; no other testimony could be found against him and his trial dragged on until, february 3, 1644, there was a vote _in discordia_. the case went to the suprema, which ordered further inquiry to be made of the galician tribunal, when it was discovered that the prisoner had never been in manzaneda. this should have been conclusive but, when another vote was reached, august 13th, it was again in discordia, and the suprema again ordered investigations which proved fruitless. a third inconclusive vote was taken in 1645, and then the suprema ordered the arrest of a second antonio lópez, a painter, who had been discovered in sanabria. he was arrested in december, 1645, and easily proved himself to be an old christian of strict observance, but to no purpose, for the blundering consulta de fe voted in discordia, april 30, 1646, and the suprema ordered him to be exposed to threatened torture. he was stripped and bound on the trestle, but his nerves did not give way and he steadily asserted his orthodoxy. the resources of the baffled tribunal were now exhausted and, on july 14th, the suprema ordered the cases to be suspended, when the two antonio lópez were released--not acquitted--after one had been in prison nearly four years, and the other had been subjected to the agony of impending torture, merely because they bore a name which chanced to be mentioned in a distant tribunal as that of a judaizer. not quite so hard was the case of gaspar rodríguez, arrested by the tribunal of valladolid, october 4, 1648, on the strength of advices from cuenca, and discharged october 2, 1649, because it was tardily recognized that he did not correspond with the description of the real culprit.[808] [sidenote: _activity of persecution_] how slender was the evidence required when a portuguese was concerned is seen in another case at valladolid. when the inquisitor pedro múñoz made a visitation of oviedo in 1619-20, two women testified that lucía núñez, a portuguese settled in benavente, put on clean chemises on saturdays. when, march 5, 1620, the tribunal voted on the cases brought in by múñoz, this was suspended, but the suprema ordered the papers to be sent to it and, on august 17, 1621, it instructed the tribunal to arrest lucía and sequestrate her property. she was accordingly brought to valladolid, october 30, 1621, and thrown into the secret prison. on her first audience, in reply to the ordinary question whether she knew the cause of her arrest, she said that it was because she changed her linen on fridays and saturdays, as she did every day, for the sake of cleanliness, especially when she was suckling her children, and she did not know that she was committing any offence. it was true that she was born in portugal, but both her parents were castilians and old christians. the trial went through its regular course; nothing else could be found against her and, on march 15, 1622, the consulta de fe voted to acquit her and lift the sequestration, which was done accordingly the next day, after nearly five months of incarceration.[809] when this kind of work was on foot throughout spain, it is easy to realize how the unfortunate portuguese were tracked, from one refuge to another, by the implacable vigilance of the inquisition, with its net-work of tribunals, in constant correspondence, and its commissioners and familiars everywhere on the watch. that vigilance was kept alive by the frequent discovery of communities of judaizers, more or less numerous, whose trials revealed the names of abundant accomplices. the tribunal of llerena was busy, from 1635 to 1638, with the "complicidad de badajoz," a group of portuguese, whom it had unearthed at badajoz and, when the suprema called for a list of those inculpated by the prisoners, whom it had not been able to arrest, they amounted to a hundred and fifty.[810] in 1647, juan del cerro, of ciudad rodrigo, was a prisoner in the royal gaol of valladolid. apparently hoping for release, he denounced himself to the inquisition and told a story of a congregation of jews at ciudad rodrigo, which met every friday in the house of the president, pablo de herrera, paymaster of the army on the portuguese frontier, when the ceremony of scourging images of christ and the virgin was performed and then, during holy week, they were burnt. numerous arrests were made and the trials dragged on until 1651; torture was employed, parents and children, brothers and sisters testified against each other, but there were no pertinacious impenitents or negativos and none were relaxed. that juan del cerro's story of the outrages on the sacred images was recognized as fictitious is evident from the suspension of ten of the cases, including those of the so-called officers of the congregation, but the tribunal secured a satisfactory number of convictions, as well as fines amounting to thirty-seven hundred ducats. juan del cerro made nothing by his device for, though he was not prosecuted for false-witness, when the trials were over in 1651, he was handed back to the royal court.[811] toledo was equally active for, in an auto held the same year, it had thirty-two judaizers in person and thirty effigies of fugitives.[812] nearly the whole of these were portuguese for, by this time, castilian judaizers were of comparatively rare occurrence. in the great seville auto of 1660, out of eighty-one judaizers, nearly all portuguese, a group of thirty-seven were from osuna and another of eight from utrera. there were forty-seven reconciled, seven relaxed in person and twenty-seven in effigy.[813] the numerous effigies which figure in the autos indicate those who were compromised in the confessions of the penitents, and who succeeded for a time in eluding arrest. as a rule it may be said that this was but a temporary reprieve from the all-pervading vigilance of the inquisition. sooner or later, it gathered them in despite change of residence and name, and all the precautions of the hunted against the hunter. this is well illustrated in the vicissitudes of a colony of portuguese, some twenty or thirty in number, in the little town of beas (jaen), which throw a vivid light on the miseries of these unfortunates. they had succeeded in living there obscurely for ten years or more, supporting themselves by such industries as they could follow, when some imprudence, or the watchfulness of some neighbor, drew upon them the attention of the tribunal of cuenca, which arrested thirteen of them. from these the names of nine others were obtained, for whom warrants of arrest were issued but, when these were sent for execution, in april, 1656, it was found that they had left beas secretly in february, abandoning their property. five of them were traced to málaga; the other four were said to have gone to pietrabuena, but there the track was lost. all were duly prosecuted in absentia and their effigies formed part of the seville auto of 1660. [sidenote: _activity of persecution_] the party that went towards portugal was a family group of five--diego rodríguez silva, his wife ana enríquez, her father antonio enríquez francia, and her brother and sister-in-law, diego enríquez and isabel rodríguez. they pushed through without stopping to rioseco, where they rested four days and then, hiring a guide, they traversed the mountains of portugal, travelling only by night. settling in villa pinhel, they tried to mend their broken fortunes, ana enríquez by keeping a shop and diego rodríguez by turning his hand to whatever he could find to do--at one time we hear of him as driving a thousand sheep to lisbon for sale. apparently by way of precaution, they appeared spontaneously before the tribunal of coimbra, which treated them mercifully, imposing no fines but ordering them not to leave pinhel without permission. misfortune pursued diego and, in 1671, he returned to spain, stopping at talavera de la reina, whence he sent for his wife and children and father-in-law, telling the rest to remain. he took the name of del aguila for himself and de los rios for his wife, and settled for two years in seville, where his father-in-law died. thence they removed to daimiel, where the inquisition found them at last and arrested them, february 18, 1677, some seventeen years after they had been burnt in effigy in seville. as two or three of the beas fugitives, who had gone to málaga, were on trial at toledo in 1667, it is probable that none escaped save those who remained in portugal. two years and a half were spent on the trials of diego and ana, ending with a sentence of irremissible prison and sanbenito. ana had broken down under this wandering life of incessant vicissitudes and anxiety; she had become the victim of epilepsy, melancholia and hypochondria, when her pitiless judges sent her to prison for life in vindication of a religion of infinite love and charity.[814] an even more pitiful illustration of the miseries endured by these unfortunates, under the implacable vigilance of the inquisition, is afforded by the case of isabel, wife of francisco palos, of ciudad rodrigo. in 1608, when 22 years of age, she was tried by the valladolid tribunal. subsequently she was tried twice, in 1621 and 1626, at llerena, twice at cuenca, in 1653 and 1655, and finally in 1665 at toledo. altogether, about eighteen years were spent in these trials; the last one, in which she was thrice tortured, continued until 1670, when she was in her eighty-fourth year and eluded her tormentors by dying in prison, to be burnt in effigy with her bones as a _difunta_.[815] little colonies of portuguese, like that of beas, were frequently discovered. simon múñoz of pastrana, on trial at toledo, in 1679, gave the names of twenty-nine accomplices residing there, nearly all of whom figured in an auto particular of december 21, 1680. they had long succeeded in eluding inquisitorial vigilance, for one of them, maría enríquez, then sixty years old, testified that she had been brought thither from lisbon by her parents, when a little child and had always lived there.[816] a similar group of portuguese, in the little town of berin (orense) were tried between 1676 and 1678, by the tribunal of santiago, and furnished to the madrid auto of 1680 two victims relaxed as pertinacious jews--baltasar lópez cardoso and feliz lópez his cousin. there were more than twenty of them in all, and they had long been settled there; antonio lópez, one of them, said, in 1677, that he was thirty-two years old and had been born in berin.[817] [sidenote: _decay of judaism_] it was only by the most stringent caution that existence could be maintained under these conditions. gaspar de campos, one of the pastrana group, gives, in his confession, some account of the devices adopted for concealment. on the sabbath the mother and girls would sit with reels or spinning wheels before them and, if any one came in, would pretend to be at work. on fast days the servant-girl would be sent out on an errand; during her absence food would be taken out of the olla and plates and spoons would be greased, they would then go to the house of a neighbor jewess and, when the servant followed them, she would be sent back to get her dinner, telling her that they had dined, and then the neighbor would do the same. even in the closest family circle the utmost reserve was often practised. children were not allowed to know anything of judaism until of an age at which their discretion could be trusted. parents, indeed, frequently brought up their children as catholics, and left it to others to convert them fortuitously. pedro núñez marques, tried in madrid in 1679, testified that he had been inducted into judaism in villaflor (portugal) by maría pinto, wife of alvaro de morales. after he returned to his father's house, in torre de moncorvo, he hesitated for months to let his parents know of his conversion, at last, in 1653, he told his mother, when she approved of it and said that both she and his father, francisco núñez ramos, were jews. there were eight children of them; he knew them all to be jews but could give no details, except as to three sisters: they all assumed each other to be so, but each one attended to his own affairs, to earn a living, and to live with the utmost precaution. as his sister angela núñez marques expressed it, they all knew each other to be portuguese; that was sufficient, and further confidences were superfluous.[818] as a matter of course, punctilious regard was paid to all catholic observances--mass, confession and communion, feast-days and fasts. the dying were duly shriven and had the viaticum, the dead had christian burial in the churches. living thus scattered in small groups or isolated families, concealing their secret faith with the utmost care, and in perpetual dread of betrayal, it is not surprising that distinctive jewish observances were gradually reduced to a minimum, and were becoming to a great degree forgotten. they had no rabbis to keep them instructed in the countless prescriptions of the oral law and the incidence of days of observance. circumcision, of course, was out of the question; it was too compromising and there was no one to perform it, unless some specially zealous youth might betake himself to france or to italy for the purpose. we hear nothing in the trials of abstinence from pork, or the removal of fat from meat, or the mortuary laying-out of the dead. there was an attempt to fast on the day of queen esther, when that was known, and perhaps on other days of no special note, as a spiritual exercise; we hear of washing the hands before meals and giving thanks to the god of israel; lamps might be lighted on friday night, but it sufficed to light one and let it burn till it went out. the sabbath was to be kept by cessation from work, but even this was not always observed, and the changing of body-linen is rarely alluded to. angela núñez marques said that ana de niebes and maría de murcia had taught her the law of moses and its ceremonies, which were to rest on the sabbath and to observe fasts of four and twenty hours without food or drink, yet, during the twenty years of her residence in pastrana, she had kept only fifteen sabbaths, for fear of discovery by her husband and servants. isabel mendes correa, who appeared in the madrid auto of 1680, when sick some years before, had vowed that, if she recovered, she would rest on saturdays and light lamps on fridays, for she deemed her illness a punishment for neglecting the law of moses. in short, judaism seems to have resolved itself into sabbath-keeping with occasional fasting, and into hoping to be saved in the law of moses and denying christ and christian doctrine.[819] all this increased the difficulty of detection and vexed the souls of the inquisitors, in both spain and portugal. an exhortation addressed to the new christians, in 1640, in granada, by maestro gabriel rodríguez de escabias, denounces them roundly for thus betraying their faith. so at the lisbon auto of september 6, 1705, where the sermon was preached by diogo da annunciasam, archbishop of cranganor, he commenced by addressing the sixty-six penitents before him--"miserable relics of judaism! unhappy fragments of the synagogue! last remains of judea! scandal of the catholics and detestable objects of scorn even to the jews themselves!... you are the detestable objects of scorn to the jews, for you are so ignorant that you cannot observe the very law under which you live"--a truly christian welcome to repentant sinners, which was deemed worthy of perpetuation by the printing-press.[820] yet in this duplicity, so reprehensible in inquisitorial eyes, there was promise of the final success of the work so unremittingly prosecuted for two centuries. the hammer was gradually wearing away the anvil; only the marvellous constancy of judaism had enabled it to maintain itself under such conditions, and eventually the portuguese judaizers were to be incorporated in the church as, for the most part, their spanish brethren had been already. [sidenote: _continued persecution_] still, the activity of the inquisition continued to be rewarded with abundant success, and indeed we may say that but for judaism it would have found little to do. in the public autos of córdova, from 1655 to 1700, out of three hundred and ninety-nine persons and effigies brought forward, three hundred and twenty-four were for judaizing. in toledo, from 1651 to 1700, there were eight hundred and fifty-five cases tried of every kind, trivial and important, of which five hundred and fifty-six were for the same offence. towards the closing years of the century, there seems to be a decided falling off in the numbers, as though vigilance were becoming relaxed, or the efforts of the tribunals were being crowned with success; but, in a report of pending cases in valladolid, made july 8, 1699, out of eighty-five, seventy-eight were judaizers.[821] this activity however seems to be largely confined to castile, as though the portuguese had not found the kingdoms of aragon attractive. reports of cases pending in valencia in 1694-5-6, show in all but sixteen, among which there is not a single judaizer.[822] it is perhaps worthy of passing remark that, in the treaty of 1668, by which spain recognized the independence of portugal, article 4 provides that the subjects of each power, in the territories of the other, shall enjoy the privileges and immunities granted to british subjects by the treaties of 1630 and 1667.[823] these guaranteed them against molestation for matters of conscience, so long as they gave no occasion for scandal, but, from what we have seen above, it does not appear that the inquisition of either country paid any attention to this, nor is it likely that either government complained of infraction. * * * * * during this period, the laws restricting the emigration of the new christians seem to have been mostly in abeyance, but when, in 1666, the false messiah, zabathia tzevi, appeared in palestine and drew a large following of misguided jews, the suprema took the alarm. the sea-port tribunals were warned that some of the portuguese would seek to join him, so that if any portuguese should come and endeavor to embark, they were to be detained under some pretext, their property was to be seized and examined and a report be sent to the suprema. some four months later, barcelona forwarded the testimony taken in the case of four portuguese thus detained, when the suprema ordered their release and that in future, when the evidence showed that they were not fugitives or bound for some suspicious place, they should be allowed to proceed. in this same year a muleteer named francisco núñez redondo was punished at toledo as a judaizer, and for conducting judaizers out of the country, the two hundred lashes added, in his sentence to reconciliation and prison, being evidently the penalty for this special offence.[824] in 1672, there was another similar alarm. the suprema informed the tribunals that many families of portuguese were arranging to pass by way of bayonne to france. all the roads and paths were therefore to be guarded, and all portuguese who seemed to be seeking to leave the kingdom were to be seized with their property. each individual was to be closely examined, his genealogy taken, his past life recorded, his destination and the motives of his journey to be stated, with all other details necessary for a thorough knowledge of his antecedents and purposes, and this information was to be forwarded to the suprema with the opinion of the tribunal. similar precautions were ordered at the mediterranean sea-ports, but the object of this action was not stated.[825] [sidenote: _the mallorquin tribunal_] valladares, who was inquisitor-general from 1669 to 1695, seems to have taken a different view of this curiously perverse policy of preventing the emigration of disaffected apostates. august 12, 1681, he sent, to some one near the king, an anonymous memorial setting forth the invincible obstinacy of the jews; penance and punishment left them as wicked as before, resulting in many evils, such as the engagement in noble houses of jewish wet-nurses, who infect the children with their milk, the employment by conversos of young children whom they pervert, the sacrilege of the sacraments administered to them, and the like. the remedy for this was the immediate exile of all who were penanced or, if they were allowed to remain, the branding of them on the forehead with the arms of the inquisition. valladares was probably the author of the memorial, for he makes this hideous suggestion his own, urging it with all the authority of the inquisition, and invoking the judgement of heaven on his correspondent if he fails to lay the paper before the king. carlos sent it to the suprema for its opinion, and the matter went no further, but the document is not without interest as a revelation of the methods which persecutors were willing to adopt to escape from the consequences of their own acts.[826] * * * * * although it was the portuguese immigration which supplied the apparently inexhaustible harvest of culprits throughout the seventeenth century, there was one corner of spain which escaped the influx and where the old conversos continued to cherish their secret faith with little or no molestation. allusion has more than once been made above to the majorca catastrophe of 1691 and, as an episode of spanish judaism, its details deserve consideration. in the massacre of 1391, some of the mallorquin jews escaped to barbary, but the majority remained. the governor, francisco sagariga, had been wounded in endeavoring to protect them; they were won over to conversion by the terror of death, and the promise of the authorities to give them twenty thousand libras wherewith to pay their debts,--a promise which seems never to have been fulfilled. they continued to inhabit the _call_, or jewish quarter and, although the aljama came to an end in 1410, its members remained as a separate community.[827] the conversion was as superficial as was to be anticipated and though, as nominal christians, they were not affected by the expulsion of 1492, when the inquisition was introduced we have seen, from the numbers who came in under edicts of grace, that they must all have been jews at heart for, between 1488 and 1491, there were no less than five hundred and sixty-eight reconciliations, besides those who, by special mercy, were reconciled twice. after this, for awhile the tribunal was fairly active. between 1489, when it commenced operations, and 1535 it sentenced a hundred and sixty-four to reconciliation, ninety-nine to relaxation in person, and four hundred and sixty to relaxation in effigy, all of whom presumably were judaizers except, in 1535, five moriscos who were relaxed.[828] after this, persecution grew inert, relaxations disappear and reconciliations become few. so insignificant had the tribunal become that when, in 1549, the offices of fiscal and receiver fell vacant, valdés wrote to ask what was the necessity of filling them.[829] he might well ask the question: between 1552 and 1567 the tribunal had but two reconciliations to show and, during the remainder of the century, only thirty, together with a single relaxation, and of these few culprits the majority were not judaizers. in the seventeenth century, the record was even slenderer. engaged, for the most part as we have seen, in unappeaseable conflicts with the ecclesiastical authorities, the duties of persecution were neglected, and heretic and apostate breathed in comparative peace. the reconciliation of maría díez, september 6, 1579, was followed by a century in which not a single judaizer was reconciled, although, in 1675, one from madrid was relaxed. the inhabitants of the _call_ might well deem themselves secure, especially as the churchmen were free in their denunciations of the tribunal. in 1668 the inquisitor complained to the suprema that the priests of the episcopal party talked of the inquisition as a secret heresy, and that it was a den of robbers which should be abolished, all of which led to much licence of speech among the suspected persons who dwelt "in the separate barrio."[830] [sidenote: _the mallorquin tribunal_] from this sense of security there was a rude awakening. in 1677 or 1678 a meeting, held in a garden outside of the city, attracted the inquisitor's attention. it was designated as a synagogue, and doubtless there was some imprudence. secret investigation developed evidence justifying wholesale arrests, and the prison was soon crowded. the result appeared in four autos celebrated in 1679, in which there were no less than two hundred and nineteen reconciliations. there was no spirit of martyrdom; in all cases it was a first conviction, and when all confessed and begged for mercy there was no opportunity for relaxation. a noteworthy feature was the absence of prosecutions of the dead, which could have been numerous had the tribunal been disposed to take the trouble, but this is doubtless explicable by the fact that as the whole community of new christians was involved, all its property was confiscated, and there would have been no profit in looking up ancestral heresies. the confiscations were enormous; the culprits were merchants and traders and bankers, whose houses and lands, censos and merchandise and credits were swept away. the sum realized is stated at 1,496,276 pesos, which is probably far below the real value of the assets seized. we have seen how the king was gradually shouldered out of his share of the spoils; the tribunal secured a goodly portion with which it rebuilt the palace of the inquisition in a style so sumptuous that it passed for one of the finest in spain, until it was demolished, in 1822, and its site converted into a public plaza.[831] the tribunal ordered all new christians to dwell in the _call_ and required them, on all feasts of precept, to attend mass in the cathedral in a body, preceded by a minister of the inquisition and in charge of an alguazil. impoverished, dishonored and watched, the position became intolerable. a number resolved to expatriate themselves and secretly made arrangements with an english ship lying in the harbor to carry them away. the passage-money was paid and they succeeded in embarking, but rough weather detained the ship; they had not procured the necessary licences to leave spain, they were seized and cast into prison with the members of their families. this occurred in 1688 and three years were consumed in their trials. the result was seen in the four autos held in march, may and july, 1691. for those who had been reconciled in 1679 and were now convicted of relapse there could be no pardon. a huge brasero, eighty feet square and eight feet high, with twenty-five stakes, was prepared on the sea-shore, two miles from the city, in order that the people might not be incommoded by the stench. in all thirty-seven were relaxed in person, of whom only three were pertinacious to the last and were burnt alive. eight were relaxed in effigy, of whom four were fugitives and four were dead--three of the latter having died in prison. there were fifteen reconciliations in person and three in effigy. finally there were twenty-four who, although among the reconciled of 1679, escaped with abjuration _de levi_ and fines amounting to sixty-four hundred libras.[832] this shows that the little community had already begun to repair its shattered fortunes, and renders it probable that the confiscations of the relaxed and reconciled rewarded the tribunal abundantly for its labors. the lesson seems to have been sufficiently severe to serve its purpose. we hear nothing more of judaism in majorca; during the height of persecution elsewhere, the tribunal celebrated two autos, may 31, 1722 and july 2, 1724, in which nine penitents appeared, but none of them were judaizers.[833] although the new christians were still confined to their separate quarter, in time, as we have seen, they became thoroughly catholic. * * * * * with the opening of the eighteenth century it looked as though the victory over judaism had been virtually won. the war of succession must of course have interfered with the operations of the inquisition, but this does not suffice to explain the marked falling off in the number of judaizers in the autos, so far as manifested by the records before me. in catalonia, which held out long after the rest of spain was pacified, the inquisition was fairly re-established in 1715, after which, for three years, the barcelona tribunal, out of a total of twenty-five cases, had but three of jews--a mother and two daughters who had fled from seville and had been traced to catalonia.[834] in córdova the records are imperfect but, as far as they go, from 1700 to 1720, they show but five cases.[835] in toledo, during the same twenty-one years, out of a total of eighty-eight trials, only twenty-three were for judaism.[836] [sidenote: _revival of persecution_] the fires of persecution, however, were only slumbering and broke out again suddenly with renewed fierceness. possibly this may be attributable to the discovery in madrid of an organized synagogue, composed of twenty families who, since 1707, had been accustomed to meet for their devotions and, in 1714, had elected a rabbi, whose name they sent to leghorn for confirmation. comparative immunity had brought recklessness and we are told that they observed the christian fast-days with dancing and guitar-playing. five of them were relaxed in the auto of april 7, 1720.[837] it was probably this discovery that aroused the other tribunals to renewed activity, which was abundantly rewarded, for there seems at this time to have been little concealment by judaizers. in the toledo auto of march 19, 1721, sebastian antonio de paz, _administrador del tabaco_, is asserted to have married the daughter of his wife, and francisco de mendoza y rodríguez his first cousin, "according to the law of moses."[838] for some years this revival of persecution raged with a virulence rivalling that of the earlier period. in a collection of sixty-four autos, held between 1721 and 1727, there were in all eight hundred and sixty-eight cases, of which eight hundred and twenty were for judaism, nor did the tribunals err on the side of mercy. there were seventy-five relaxations in person and seventy-four in effigy, while scourging, the galleys and imprisonment were lavishly imposed.[839] the geographical distribution of the culprits is worthy of note. the kingdoms of the crown of aragon show few traces of judaism. valencia contributed but twenty cases, barcelona five, saragossa one and majorca none--or twenty-six in all. among the tribunals of the crown of castile, logroño held no auto during these years; santiago furnished only four cases, while granada had two hundred and twenty-nine, seville a hundred and sixty-seven and córdova seventy-eight. the years 1722 and 1723 were those in which persecution was most active, the number diminishing rapidly afterwards.[840] it still, however, continued at intervals. in córdova there were autos in 1728, 1730 and 1731, in which there were in all twenty-six cases of judaism; then there was an interval until 1745, when only two cases occurred.[841] in toledo, after 1726, there was no case of judaism until 1738, when there were fourteen. this seems to have exhausted the material for prosecution, for until the toledan record ends in 1794, there was but a single subsequent case, which occurred in 1756.[842] in madrid there were several jews relaxed in 1732, charged with scourging and burning an image of christ, in a house in the calle de las infantas.[843] in valladolid, at an auto, june 13, 1745, there was one judaizer relaxed and four reconciled, while in seville, july 4, although there were four moslems there was not a single jew.[844] at llerena, in 1752, we hear of the relaxation of six effigies of fugitives and one of a dead woman, which must evidently have been cases of judaism.[845] [sidenote: _foreigners excluded_] these scattering details can make no pretension to completeness, and yet they suffice to show that judaism at last was substantially rooted out of spanish soil, after a continuous struggle of three centuries. how complete was this eradication is manifested by a summarized list of all cases of every kind, coming before all the tribunals, from 1780 until the suppression of the inquisition in 1820, embracing an aggregate of over five thousand. in these forty years, the whole number of prosecutions connected with judaism was but sixteen, and of these ten were foreigners who had evaded the laws prohibiting entrance to jews while, of the six natives, four were prosecuted for suspicions and propositions. the latest case was at córdova, in 1818, of manuel santiago vivar for judaizing acts--the final scene in the long tragedy which had secured uniformity of faith at the cost of so much blood and suffering.[846] * * * * * during this later period, the exclusion of foreign jews was exercising the holy office much more than the detection of native ones. the savage law will be remembered by which, in 1499, ferdinand and isabella prohibited the return of the expelled jews or the entrance of foreigners under pain of death and confiscation.[847] although this law was retained on the statute-book, it probably was not enforced in all its ferocity, but the maintenance of the exclusion was inevitable when such unremitting pains were taken to exterminate judaism. when the _visitas de navíos_, or examination of all ships arriving at spanish ports, were organized, the keeping out of jews was held in view as much as that of lutheran heretics and books; if a jew were found on board, he was to be examined; if he admitted baptism he was to be seized and his goods were to be confiscated; if unbaptized and he made no attempt to land, he was to be allowed to depart with the ship.[848] still, the indefatigable mercantile energy of the jews and the venality of officials, to a limited extent, neutralized these precautions. in 1656, the trial at murcia of enrique pereira, whose domicile was in lucca and who was arrested while trading at beas, shows that there was intercourse between the portuguese in spain and their brethren in italy; those of spain would go by sea to nice or elsewhere to enjoy freedom of worship, while italian jews came to spain to trade, in spite of inquisitorial vigilance.[849] these furtive attempts, with their perils, were but tantalizing to those who looked with longing on the tempting spanish market; licences to come were much more desirable and we have seen that, in 1634, under olivares, they were sometimes issued. they were grudgingly recognized by the tribunals, as in the case mentioned above in 1645. more unlucky, in 1679, was samuel de jacob, who was thrown in prison, although he held a licence, and we are told that, although those who held licences could not be prosecuted as heretics, still, if they blasphemed or derided the faith, they could be chastised with fines, scourging or the galleys, according to the resultant scandal, while attempts to proselyte incurred capital punishment.[850] in 1689, special orders were issued to disregard an agreement which don pedro ronquillo, under powers from the king, had made with an english jew, enabling him to land at any port in spain.[851] [sidenote: _foreigners excluded_] such care was exercised to avert any danger of polluting the spanish soil by a jewish foot that when, in 1713, by the treaty of utrecht, gibraltar was ceded to england, it was under the condition that no jews or moors should be permitted to reside there.[852] the inobservance of this by england was the subject of complaint, but it is not likely that many intruders risked the dangers that attended an attempt of a foreign jew to enter spain. in january, 1697, abraham rodríguez, travelling from france to portugal under the name of antonio mazedo, was arrested at ledesma and brought to the tribunal of valladolid. two years and a half later his trial was still in progress, but, though we do not know the result, the experience was not such as to invite imitation.[853] when, in the general relaxation of the eighteenth century, the sternness of these laws was tacitly abandoned, embarrassing precautions rendered sojourn uninviting. in 1756, abraham salusox, a jew of jerusalem, ventured to valencia with a lion for sale. the shipmaster reported him and a familiar was deputed to accompany him day and night, on board and on shore, never to let him out of his sight or to communicate with any one. the count of almenara bought the lion and salusox was permitted to be in the count's house for a few days, until a cage was constructed for the beast, after which he re-embarked. the same course was followed in 1759, with a jew who came with merchandise from gibraltar; a familiar never left him till his goods were sold and he departed, while his books and papers were carefully scrutinized to see that they contained nothing prejudicial. there were others who came in 1761 and 1762, who were treated in the same fashion. then, in 1795 a royal order was issued through the suprema, to the effect that a jewish subject of the bey of morocco would come to valencia and remain for eight or ten days, who was not to be troubled in any way; the tribunal consequently took no notice of his coming and going.[854] these were all the cases that search through the records of valencia could find, from 1645 to 1800, and their paucity shows how rarely jews braved the dangers of visiting spain. those who tried to do so in secret took the chances of detection. in 1781, jacobo pereira landed at cadiz under a false name and concealing his faith, but he was found out, arrested and the seville tribunal at once commenced his prosecution.[855] it is true that a royal order of april 25, 1786, permitted the entrance of jews who bore licence from the king, but these were sparingly granted and only on special occasions. the question of greater liberality came up, in 1797, when the finance minister, don pedro de varela, as a means of reviving the commerce and industry of spain, proposed that jews might be allowed to establish factories in cadiz and other ports, but the council of ministers rejected the project as contrary to the laws.[856] apparently the discussion continued and, in 1800, the suprema called on all the tribunals for reports as to their treatment of jews seeking admission, and the result appears in a royal cédula of june 8, 1802, declaring in full force all laws and pragmáticas theretofore issued, and ordering the rigorous execution of the penalties therein provided, while any default in lending to the inquisition due assistance for this holy purpose was threatened with the royal indignation.[857] the confusion of the napoleonic wars afforded opportunities for enterprising jews, which were not likely to be overlooked, and fernando vii deemed it necessary, august 16, 1816, to issue a decree renewing and confirming the cédula of 1802.[858] it was easier to publish the decree than to enforce it. the tribunal of seville, june 12, 1819, represented to the suprema its perplexities arising from the influx of jews at algeciras, cadiz and seville, who came to the tribunal begging for baptism. they were indigent beggars and probably fugitive criminals but, as occasionally there might be one whose object was really salvation, to deprive him of this would be a heavy burden on the conscience, and consequently the tribunal asked for instructions.[859] this resulted in an order of the inquisitor-general, july 10th, to all the tribunals, insisting on the strict enforcement of the decrees of 1786 and 1802; such jews as obtained a royal licence were to be vigilantly watched and, if the secular officials manifested lack of zeal in coöperation, the inquisitor-general was to be notified.[860] [sidenote: _modern toleration_] at the same time orders were sent, to the commissioners at all the ports, to observe strictly the old instructions as to the _visitas de navíos_ and to report as to the current practice. barcelona replied that the visits were made only when there were jews on board. alicante reported that the disuse of the visits had led to a rapid immigration of jews into murcia. cartagena said that no visits were made but that, if suspicious persons arrived, the custom-house officers notified the commissioner. cadiz and algeciras answered that the health-officer notified the commissioner of the arrival of jews, renegades and other forbidden persons, when he took the necessary steps to avert the evil. motril said that visits were made only when there was a jew on board. santiago merely responded that it had the royal decrees of 1786 and 1802 and the recent instructions of the suprema.[861] evidently there was little attention paid to the enforcement of the laws by both the royal and inquisitorial officials, but the government was determined to enforce the exclusion of jews, and an order was promptly sent to all the royal officials that no jew was to be allowed to set foot on spanish territory, unless he bore a royal licence; if he had one, he was to present himself to the inquisition or its commissioner, so that a record could be made of him, and the tribunal was instructed to keep him under strict supervision. the ministry of gracia y justicia communicated this, august 31, 1819, to the suprema, which in turn forwarded it, september 6th, to all the tribunals with orders for its strict observance.[862] the inquisition came to an end a few months after this, but the prejudices which it had done so much to foster postponed the removal from the statute-book of the laws representing the fierce intolerance of the earlier time. in 1848 we are told that, although unrepealed, they were not enforced and that jews could travel and trade in spain without molestation,[863] but when, in 1854, constitutional córtes were assembled to frame a new constitution, and the german jews sent dr. ludwig philipson, rabbi of magdeburg, on a mission to procure free admission of their race, his eloquence was unavailing. it was not until fifteen years later, when the revolution, which drove isabella ii from the throne, called for a new organic law, that the constitution of 1869 proclaimed freedom of belief and guaranteed it to all residents in spain, and this was likewise applicable to natives professing other religions than the catholic. this principle was preserved in the constitution of 1876, which forbade all interference with religious belief, while not allowing public ceremonies other than those of catholicism.[864] it was a remarkable proof of conversion from ancient error when, in 1883, the jewish refugees from russia, sent by the organizing committees of germany, were enthusiastically received, although the experiment ended in disastrous failure.[865] the ancestral antipathy which they had to encounter was, however, still active, as expressed by a pious franciscan, who declared that bringing them was a sin of moral and political treason, and that they would devour the whole spanish nation.[866] chapter ii. moriscos.[867] we have seen that, in the progress of the reconquest, as moorish territories were successively won, the inhabitants were largely allowed to remain, under guarantees for the free enjoyment of their religion and customs. these mudéjares, as they were called, formed a most useful portion of the population, through their industry and skill in the arts and crafts. when, in 1368, charles le mauvais of navarre granted to the mudéjares of tudela a remission of half their taxes for three years, in reward of their assistance during his wars, especially in fortification and engineering, it shows that the conquering race depended on them not merely for manual labor but for the higher branches of applied knowledge.[868] as a rule they were faithful in peace and war, during the long centuries of internal strife between the christians, and of struggles with their co-religionists. it was the jews against whom was directed the growing intolerance of the fifteenth century and, in the massacres that occurred, there appears to have been no hostility manifested against the mudéjares. when alfonso de borja, archbishop of valencia (afterwards calixtus iii), supported by cardinal juan de torquemada, urged their expulsion on juan ii of aragon, although he appointed a term for their exile, he reconsidered the matter and left them undisturbed.[869] so when, in 1480, isabella ordered the expulsion from andalusia of all jews who refused baptism and when, in 1486, ferdinand did the same in aragon, they both respected the old capitulations and left the mudéjares alone.[870] the time-honored policy was followed in the conquest of granada, and nothing could be more liberal than the terms conceded to the cities and districts that surrendered. the final capitulation of the city of granada was a solemn agreement, signed november 25, 1491, in which ferdinand and isabella, for themselves, for their son the infante juan and for all their successors, received the moors of all places that should come into the agreement as vassals and natural subjects under the royal protection, and as such to be honored and respected. religion, property, freedom to trade, laws and customs were all guaranteed, and even renegades from christianity among them were not to be maltreated, while christian women marrying moors were free to choose their religion. for three years, those desiring expatriation were to be transported to barbary at the royal expense, and refugees in barbary were allowed to return. when, after the execution of this agreement, the moors, with not unnatural distrust, wanted further guarantees, the sovereigns made a solemn declaration in which they swore by god that all moors should have full liberty to work on their lands, or to go wherever they desired through the kingdoms, and to maintain their mosques and religious observances as heretofore, while those who desired to emigrate to barbary could sell their property and depart.[871] it was the wise traditional policy of incorporating the conquered population in the state, on an equal footing with other subjects, and trusting to time to merge them all into a common mass, holding one faith and owing allegiance to one country. [sidenote: _conversion of granada_] whether it was distrust of christian good faith that impelled them, or a natural desire to leave the scene of their defeat, a large portion of the granadan moors, including most of the nobles, promptly availed themselves of the right of expatriation. before the year 1492 was out, it was reported to the sovereigns that the abencerrages had gone, almost in a body, and that, in the alpujarras, few were left save laborers and officials. the emigration continued and, in 1498, a letter of ferdinand indicates that he was inclined to stimulate it.[872] while there might be good reasons for diminishing the large population of those recently vanquished, who presumably might cherish hopes of independence and had not forgotten the bitterness of unsuccessful struggle, this was accompanied with a readiness to increase the number of mudéjares, who had adapted themselves to the situation, and who were regarded as in every way a desirable element in the community. when manoel of portugal expelled the moors who refused baptism, ferdinand and isabella welcomed them to spain. royal letters were issued, april 20, 1497, permitting their entrance with all their property, either to settle or in transit to other lands; they were taken under the royal protection and all molestation of them was forbidden.[873] up to this time, at least, there was no recognition of the political necessity of unity of faith, which subsequently served as justification for cruel intolerance and unwise statesmanship. yet the statesmanship of the day, if not yet prepared to regard unity of faith as a political necessity, considered it politically advantageous, while pious zeal inevitably sought the salvation of the multitudes of souls thus brought under christian rule. the "third king of spain," gonzález de mendoza, cardinal-archbishop of toledo, and other prelates at the court urged upon the sovereigns that gratitude to god required them to give to their new subjects the alternative of baptism or exile. ferdinand and isabella, however, turned a deaf ear to this advice, either not caring to break the faith so recently pledged, or to provoke another war; the work of conversion had already been commenced with fair prospects of success and it could safely be left to time.[874] isabella's confessor, the saintly hernando de talavera, had been made archbishop of granada; he was devoting his revenues and his tireless labors to missionary work, inculcating christianity by example more potent than precept. he relieved suffering, he preached and he taught all who would listen to him; he required his assistants to learn arabic and he acquired it himself. he won many converts and there was a flattering prospect that his apostolic methods would bring the mass of the population into the fold.[875] [sidenote: _conversion of granada_] the process however was too slow for the impatience that looked for immediate results. ferdinand and isabella were in granada from july until november, 1499, and called in ximenes to the aid of talavera. his extraordinary energy and imperious temper soon made themselves felt; with liberal presents he gained the favor of the principal moors; he held conferences with the alfaquíes, whom he induced to instruct their people and, it is said that, on december 18th, three thousand were baptized and the mosque of the albaycin, or moorish quarter, was consecrated as the church of san salvador. the stricter moslems became alarmed and endeavored to check the movement by persuasion, whereupon ximenes had them imprisoned in chains; he summoned the alfaquíes to surrender all their religious books, of which five thousand--many of them priceless specimens of art--were publicly burnt. the situation was becoming strained; the moors were restive under the disregard of their guarantees, and ximenes grew more and more impetuous. rupture, under these conditions was inevitable and ximenes soon brought it about. christian renegades, known as _elches_, were protected under the capitulations, but he argued that this did not extend to their children who, if not baptized, ought to have been, and who thus were subject to the inquisition. from inquisitor-general deza he procured a delegation of power to deal with them and used it for their arrest. it chanced that a young daughter of a renegade, thus arrested, while being dragged through the plaza of bib-el-bonut, cried out that she was to be forcibly baptized in violation of the capitulations. a crowd collected and from words soon came to blows; the alguazil was slain with a paving-stone, and his companion escaped only by a moorish woman conveying him away and hiding him under a bed. the agitation increased; the moors flew to arms, skirmished with the christians and besieged ximenes in his house. he had a guard of two hundred men who defended the place until the morning, when the captain-general tendilla came down from the alhambra with troops and drove away the mob. for ten days talavera, ximenes and tendilla parleyed with the moors, who urged that they had not risen against the sovereigns but in defence of the royal faith; that the officials had violated the capitulations, the observance of which would restore peace. then talavera, with his chaplain and a few unarmed servants, went to the plaza bib-el-bonut, where the moors kissed the hem of his garments as of old. tendilla followed and promised pardon if they should lay down their arms, as it should be understood that they were not in revolt, but had only sought to maintain the capitulations, which should be strictly observed in future. the city became quiet; those who had slain the alguazil were surrendered, and four of them were hanged; the moors cast aside their arms and returned to work. with such a population, kindness and fair-dealing alone were required to accomplish the desired result, but the inflexible temper of ximenes had been aroused, and he was resolved on the forcible accomplishment of his purpose. the rumors of the disturbance had greatly alarmed the court at seville, and ximenes was bitterly reproached, but he hurried thither, gave his own version of the affair, and pointed out that the moors had forfeited life and property by rebellion, so that pardon should be conditioned on accepting baptism or expatriation. with fatal facility his arguments were accepted; tendilla's promises were ignored; the capitulations were cast aside; the moors were to be taught how little reliance was to be placed on christian faith; distrust and hatred were to be rendered ineradicable, and a religion was to be forced upon them which could not but be odious, as the visible sign of their subjection. from this false step sprang the incurable trouble which weakened spain until statesmanship could devise no remedy, save the deplorable expulsion of the most useful and efficient portion of her population. it was not without reason that the admiring biographer of ximenes admits that, so imperious was his temper that he sometimes acted through fury rather than through prudence, as was seen in the conversion of the granadan moors and in the attempt to conquer africa.[876] he returned to granada, armed with full powers, and offered to the people the alternative of baptism or punishment, while a royal judge, sent for the purpose, sharpened their apprehension by executing or imprisoning the more active of the rioters. the choice was readily made and they came forward in thousands for the saving waters of baptism. instruction in the new faith was impossible, nor was it wanted. when they asked for it in their own language, and talavera had the offices and parts of the gospels printed in arabic, ximenes objected; it was, he said, casting pearls before swine; it was in the nature of the vulgar to despise what they could understand and to reverence that which was mysterious and beyond their comprehension. he cared little for heart-felt conversion so long as he could secure outward conformity. the number thus rudely inducted into the faith, in the city and the vega, was estimated at from fifty to seventy thousand and the process which converted them could result only in undying hate for the religion thus forced upon them.[877] although no outbreak occurred during this forcible missionary work, the discontent which it excited was threatening, and ferdinand returned to granada where he made no secret of his displeasure at the imprudent zeal of ximenes, especially as it interfered with his designs on naples. these had to be postponed to meet the imminent danger at home for, although emigration had been large, many had taken refuge in the alpujarras and were exciting the mountaineers to revolt. to meet this he wrote, january 27, 1500, to the leading moors, assuring them that all reports that they were to be christianized by force were false, and pledging the royal faith that not a single compulsory baptism would be made. to reconcile those who had been baptized and to attract others he issued, february 27th, a general pardon to all new christians for crimes committed prior to baptism and renouncing his claims to confiscation.[878] meanwhile he had been engaged in raising an army as large as though the conquest was to be repeated, and with this he was engaged, during the rest of the year, in quelling the revolts which broke out in one place after another, supplementing military operations with friars despatched through the mountains to instruct the converts. massacre and baptism went hand in hand, until the alpujarras were pacified and the army was disbanded, january 14, 1501.[879] [sidenote: _conversion of granada_] then there came trouble in the western districts of ronda and the sierra bermeja, where the mountaineers rose, in dread of enforced conversion. another army was raised, which suffered a severe defeat at caladui. this brought a pause, during which the insurgents asked to be allowed to emigrate. ferdinand drove a hard bargain with them, demanding ten doblas for the passage-money and requiring those who could not pay this to remain and submit to baptism. the baptized lowlanders, who had taken to the mountains, were allowed to return home, surrendering their arms and suffering confiscation. large numbers escaped to africa, but more remained to curse the faith thus imposed on them. to these new christians, as we have seen, expatriation was forbidden. baptism imposed an indelible _character_, and incorporation with the church subjected them to a jurisdiction which could not be shaken off. it was vitally important that these new christians should be interfused with the rest of the population, with the same rights and privileges, so that in time they might form a contented whole, but this was not to be. one wrong always breeds another. the disregard of compacts and the violent methods of conversion inevitably rendered them objects of suspicion, and an edict of september 1, 1501 prohibited the new converts from bearing or possessing arms, publicly or secretly, under penalty, for a first offence, of confiscation and two months' imprisonment and of death for a second--an edict which was repeated in 1511 and again in 1515.[880] not only was this a bitter humiliation but a serious infliction, at a time when weapons were a necessity for self-protection. there was however another distinction between the classes favorable to the new christians, for it was provided that, for forty years, they should not be subjected to the inquisition, in order that they might have full time to acquire knowledge of their new faith.[881] yet, like all other promises, this was made only to be broken. it was thus, in less than ten years after the capitulation, that the moors of granada found themselves to be christians in defiance of the pledges so solemnly given. such a commencement could have but one result and we shall see its outcome. something might be urged in palliation of this forcible propaganda in that it was unpremeditated and brought about in the turbulence of a settlement between hostile races and religions, and that those who rejected conversion were allowed to depart. all this was lacking in the next step towards enforcing unity of faith. we have seen how the mudéjares of castile were loyal and contented subjects, living under compacts centuries old, which guaranteed them the full enjoyment of their religion and laws. to disturb this and convert them, by a flagrant breach of faith, into plotting domestic enemies, without even a colorable pretext, would appear to be an act of madness. yet it was this that isabella was led to do, under the influence of her ghostly counsellors, among whom ximenes can probably be reckoned as the most influential. in bringing about the conversion of granada, he had cared for little beyond outward conformity and this could be secured among the scattered and peaceful mudéjares, without encountering the risk attending the attempt among the mountaineers of the alpujarras, while subsequently the inquisition could be depended upon for what might be lacking in religious conviction. god should no longer be insulted by infidel rites in spain, and the land could not fail to be blessed when thus united in the true faith. such we may assume to have been the reasoning which led isabella to a measure so disastrous. that ferdinand's practical sense disapproved of it may be inferred from the fact that, when he talked of similar action in aragon, he readily yielded to the remonstrances of his nobles. persuasion, backed by threats, was first essayed. instructions were sent to the royal officials that the mudéjares must adopt christianity and, when the corregidor of córdova replied that force would be necessary, the sovereigns replied, september 27, 1501, that this was inadmissible, as it would scandalize them; they were to be told that it was for the good of their souls and the service of the king and queen and, if this proved insufficient, they could be informed that they would have to leave the kingdom, for it was resolved that no infidels should remain.[882] but four years had elapsed since the refugee moors from portugal had been invited to settle in castile, and this sudden change of policy shows what influences had been brought to bear on isabella during that brief interval. [sidenote: _conversion in castile_] this tentative measure seems to have met with success so slender that more stringent methods were recognized as necessary and, on february 12, 1502, a pragmática was issued, shrewdly framed to give at least the appearance of voluntary action to the expected conversion. it alluded to the scandal of permitting infidels to remain after the conversion of granada; to the gratitude due to god, which would fitly be shown by the expulsion of his enemies, and to the protection of the new christians from contamination. all moors were therefore ordered to leave the kingdoms of leon and castile by the end of april, abandoning their children, the males under fourteen and the females under twelve years of age, who were to be detained. the exiles were allowed to carry with them their property, except gold and silver and other prohibited articles. there was nothing said as to an alternative of baptism, but the conditions of departure rendered expatriation so difficult that it was self-evident that there was no intention of losing so valuable a portion of the population. under pain of death and confiscation, the exiles were to sail only from ports of biscay; they were not allowed to go to navarre or the kingdoms of aragon; as there was war with the turks and with the moors of africa, they were not to seek refuge with either, but were told that they might go to egypt or to any other land that they might select. they were never to return, nor were moors ever to be admitted to the castilian kingdoms, under penalty of death and confiscation, and any one harboring them after april was threatened with confiscation. one exception was made in favor of masters of moorish slaves, who were not deprived of them, but they were to be distinguished by the perpetual wearing of fetters.[883] the voluntary character of the conversion which ensued is revealed in the fact that when zealous moslems, in spite of almost insuperable obstacles, preferred to risk the perils of emigration they were not allowed to do so, but were forced to become christians.[884] during the brief interval allowed, there was some pretence of preaching and instruction and, as it neared its end, the mudéjares were baptized in masses. a report from avila, april 24th, to the sovereigns, says that the whole aljama, consisting of two thousand souls, will be converted and none will depart.[885] in badajoz, we are told that the bishop, alfonso de manrique--the future inquisitor-general--won them over by kindness, so that they were all baptized and took his name of manrique.[886] thus, externally at least, the kingdoms of the crown of castile enjoyed unity of faith, but this was not accompanied with the desirable assimilation of the population. the new converts continued to form a class apart and came to be known by the distinctive name of moriscos. the nominal christianity thus imposed upon those reared in the tenets of islam was only the beginning of the task assumed by the state. the more difficult labor remained of rendering them true christians, if the advantage was to be secured of moulding discordant races into a homogeneous community, which alone could justify the violent measures adopted. the unity of faith, which was the ideal at the time of both churchman and statesman, means more than mere outward conformity; it means that all should form a united nation, animated with the same aspirations and the same hopes, here and hereafter, and conscientiously sharing a common belief. in a land like spain, populated by diverse races, this was an object worth many sacrifices; if it could not be attained, the enforced baptism of a powerful minority only exaggerated divergence and perpetuated discord. [sidenote: _lack of instruction_] to secure the desired result by the employment of force, through the inquisition, could not fail to intensify abhorrence of a religion which, while professing universal love and charity, was known only as an excuse for oppression and cruelty. yet the only alternative was the slow and laborious process of disarming the prejudices already aroused, and winning over the reluctant convert by gentleness and persuasion, by kindly instruction and demonstration that the truths of christianity were not mere theological abstractions, of no vitality in practical life. we have seen the embodiment of the two methods in ximenes and talavera, and it was the fatal error of those who ruled the destinies of spain that they had not patience and self-denial resolutely to follow the latter. haltingly and spasmodically they tried to do so, with only persistence enough to put themselves in the wrong and deprive of justification the concurrent employment of the easier process of coercion. from one cause or another, as we shall have occasion to see, the intermittent and ineffective attempts at persuasion failed miserably, while the perpetual irritation of persecution led inevitably to chronic exasperation. five years had elapsed since the coercive baptism which, under the precepts of the church, should have been preceded by competent understanding of the mysteries of the faith, when ximenes attained, in 1507, the inquisitor-generalship. one of his earliest acts was a letter to all the churches prescribing the deportment, in religious matters, of the new christians and their children, including regular attendance at the mass, instruction in the rudiments of the faith, and avoidance of judaic and mahometan rites.[887] presumably this accomplished little and, in 1510, ferdinand addressed all his prelates, pointing out the neglect of christian observances by the conversos, and ordering the bishops to enforce their presence at mass and to provide for their instruction, matters to which the parish priests must devote special attention.[888] the council of seville, in 1512, responded to this by calling attention to the number of new converts who greatly needed religious instruction. the prelates, who were responsible for the salvation of souls, were ordered to depute for that purpose learned men, who should specially investigate their manner of life and their commission of sins pertaining to their old faith. all parish priests were ordered to make out lists of the converts and see that they conformed to the mandates of the church, and special lists were to be compiled of those who had been reconciled by the inquisition, with orders to attend mass on sundays and feast-days, so that their fulfilment of their sentences could be enforced.[889] from what we know of the failure of subsequent measures of this kind we may safely assume that these received little attention from those who would have been obliged to expend money and labor in their execution. simultaneously with his letters of 1510, ferdinand had applied to julius ii, representing that, since 1492, there had been converted many jews and moors who, through insufficient instruction, had been led to commit many heretical crimes; he had ordered their instruction, but it would be inhuman to visit them with the full rigor of the canons, and he therefore asked faculties to publish an edict of grace, under which those coming in could be reconciled without confiscation and public abjuration, so that, in case of relapse, they could escape relaxation.[890] the conditions appended to edicts of grace so reduced their effectiveness that this has importance only as an indication that ferdinand, as we shall see elsewhere, was rather disposed to check inquisitorial ardor in the prosecution of moriscos, but he atoned for this on his death-bed, by a clause in his will commanding his grandson charles to appoint inquisitors zealous for the destruction of the sect of mahomet.[891] this was superfluous for, as the stock of judaizers became reduced, moriscos supplied their place, and the inquisition required curbing rather than stimulation. that charles recognized this is seen in various edicts of grace issued in their favor, for certain districts, between 1518 and 1521, edicts which relieved them from confiscation and the sanbenito but did not protect from relapse or exempt from denunciation of accomplices.[892] [sidenote: _persecution_] there was little practical relief to be expected from such measures, but at least they indicate the conviction of the rulers that it was both unjust and impolitic to visit with the rigor of the canons those who had been forced into the church and had had no spiritual instruction. still, the canon law was a positive fact; an elaborate machinery had been instituted for its enforcement, with no corresponding organization to render the new religion attractive instead of odious, and a situation had been created for which there was no radical cure. alleviation was the only resource, and this was attempted, although the fluctuating policy adopted only intensified the evil for the future. in pursuance of this cardinal adrian, august 5, 1521, issued orders that no arrests should be made except on evidence directly conclusive of heresy, and even then it must first be submitted to the suprema. this seems to have received so little obedience that archbishop manrique, april 28, 1524, repeated it in more decisive fashion. he recited the conversion of the moriscos by ferdinand and isabella, who promised them graces and liberties, in pursuance of which cardinal adrian had issued many provisions in their favor, ordering the tribunals not to prosecute them for trifling causes and, if any were so arrested, they were to be discharged and their property be returned to them. in spite of this, the inquisitors continued to arrest them on trivial charges, and on the evidence of single witnesses. as they were ignorant persons, who could not readily prove their innocence, these arrests had greatly scandalized them, and they had petitioned for relief, wherefore the suprema ordered inquisitors not to arrest them without conclusive evidence of heresy, and when there was doubt it was to be consulted. all who were held for matters not plainly heretical were to have speedy justice, tempered with such clemency as conscience might permit.[893] how completely these instructions were ignored is manifest in the trials of the moriscos where, as in those of the judaizers, any adherence to customs, which for generations had formed part of daily life, was sufficient for arrest and prosecution. it was not merely the fasting of the ramadan, the practice of circumcision, the guadoc or bath accompanied with a ritual, or the taor, another kind of bath used prior to the zala, or certain prayers uttered with the face turned to the east, at sunrise, noon, sunset and night. these were well-defined religious ceremonies admitting of no explanation, but there were numerous others, innocent in themselves, which implied suspicion of heresy, and suspicion was in itself a crime. under skilful management, including the free use of torture, arrest for these simple observances might lead to further confessions, and the opportunity was not to be lost. abstinence from pork and wine was amply sufficient to justify prosecution, and we hear of cases in which staining the nails with henna, refusal to eat of animals dying a natural death, killing fowls by decollation, the _zambras_ and _leilas_, or songs and dances used at merry-makings and nuptials, and even cleanliness, were gravely adduced as evidences of apostasy.[894] in pursuance of this policy, elaborate lists of all moorish customs were made out for the guidance of inquisitors; abstracts of these were included in the edicts of faith, where every one who had seen or heard of such things was required under pain of excommunication to denounce them; the moriscos were subjected to perpetual espionage, and any unguarded utterance, which might be construed as inferring heretical leaning, was liable to be reported and to lead to arrest and probable punishment. it is true that from these slender indications the inquisitorial process frequently led up to full confession, but this did not render the position of the morisco less intolerable, and constraint and anxiety contributed largely to intensify his detestation of the religion which he knew only as the cause of persecution. bishop pérez of segorbe, in 1595, when enumerating fifteen impediments to the conversion of the moriscos, included their fear of the inquisition and its punishments which made them hate christianity.[895] at all events, it secured outward conformity, at least in castile, where they were gradually assimilating themselves to the old christians; they had long since abandoned their national dress and language; they were assiduous in attendance at mass and vespers, the confessional and the sacrament of the altar; they participated in processions and interments and were commonly regarded as christians, whatever might be the secrets of their hearts.[896] [sidenote: _granada_] doubtless, as time wore on, many were won over and became sincerely attached to their new faith, but every now and then little communities of apostates were brought to light. thus, in 1538, juan yañés, inquisitor of toledo, included daimiel in a visitation. it had a morisco population, which had been baptized in 1502, and had apparently been overlooked so long that it had grown somewhat careless. a woman reported to yañés that she had lived with moriscos for twelve years and had observed that they did not use pork or wine, on the plea that these things disagreed with them. this sufficed to start an investigation which so crowded the secret prison that we hear of nine women confined in a single cell, and of the hall of the inquisition being used as a place of detention. yet this vigorous work did not extirpate the evil for, in 1597, the toledo tribunal was busy with heretics from daimiel.[897] more shocking was a case in which maría páez, daughter of diego páez limpati of almagro, figured, for she accused all her kindred and friends. her father was burnt in 1606, as an impenitent negativo; her mother, who confessed, was reconciled and imprisoned, and in all twenty-five moriscos of almagro suffered, of whom four were relaxed. in the toledo record, from 1575 to 1610, there are a hundred and ninety cases of moriscos as against a hundred and seventy-four of judaizers, and forty-seven of protestants, showing that, notwithstanding the influx of portuguese, the moriscos were the most numerous heretics with which the tribunal had to deal.[898] the old mudéjares of castile had fallen upon evil times, but worse were in store for them. * * * * * granada presented a more difficult and dangerous problem, requiring the most sagacious statesmanship to reconcile political safety with the demand for unity of faith, yet this delicate situation was treated with a blundering disregard of common-sense characteristic of philip ii. the population was almost wholly morisco, and the country was rugged and mountainous, offering abundant refuge for the despairing. the so-called conversion of 1501 had worked no change in their belief. they were hard-working, moral, honorable in their dealings, and charitable to their poor, but they were moslems at heart; if they went to mass, it was to escape the fine; if they had their children baptized, they forthwith washed off the chrism and circumcised the males; if they confessed during lent, it was merely to obtain the certificate; if they learned the prayers of the church, it was in order to get married, after which they were forgotten with all convenient speed. they had been promised forty years' exemption from the inquisition, but they were rendered disaffected by the abuses of judicial avarice and the insolent domination of the officials, secular and ecclesiastical.[899] in 1526 charles v was in granada, where, in the name of the moriscos, three descendants of the old moorish kings, fernando vinegas, miguel de aragon and diego lópez benexara, appealed to him for protection against the ill-treatment by the priests, the judges, the alguaziles and other officials, whereupon he appointed a commission to investigate and report. fray antonio de guevara, shortly to be bishop of guadix, was one of the commissioners and, in a letter to a friend, he describes the moriscos as offering so much that required correction that it had better be done in secret, rather than by public punishment; they had been so ill-taught, and the magistrates had so winked at their errors, that remedying it for the future would be enough without disturbing the past.[900] this shows the spirit in which the commission performed its work; the incriminated priests and officials had turned the tables on their accusers, who were now defendants. the report of the commission confirmed the complaints of ill-usage, but stated that among the moriscos there were not to be found more than seven true christians. this was submitted to a junta, presided over by inquisitor-general manrique, and the result was an edict known as that of 1526. it granted no relief from oppression, but concerned itself with the apostasy of the moriscos, which it sought to cure, not by instructing them, but by rendering their condition still more intolerable. in violation of promises, the inquisition of jaen was transferred to granada. amnesty for past offences was granted, and a term of grace was provided for those confessing voluntarily, after which the laws against heresy were to be rigorously enforced, although for some years fines were substituted for confiscation and time was allowed in which the penitents could earn them.[901] [sidenote: _granada_] this was supplemented with a series of most vexatious regulations, prohibiting the use of arabic and of moorish garments and of baths; christian midwives were to be present at all births; disarmament was enforced by a rigid inspection of licences; the doors of moriscos were to be kept open on feast-days, fridays, saturdays and during weddings, to prevent the use of moorish ceremonies; schools to train children in castilian were to be established at granada, guadix and almería: no moorish names were to be used and moriscos were not to keep _gacis_ or unbaptized moors, whether free or slave.[902] this naturally caused great agitation; the moriscos held a general assembly and raised eighty thousand ducats to be offered to charles for a withdrawal of the edict. his advisers were doubtless propitiated and, before leaving granada, he suspended it during his pleasure and permitted the carrying of a sword and dagger in the towns and of a lance in the open country. a special tax, known as _farda_, probably dates from about this period, under which the use of moorish garments and language was permitted and, in 1563, we chance to learn that this amounted to twenty thousand ducats per annum.[903] it would seem that, for awhile, the inquisition troubled the moriscos but little for, in its first general auto, held in 1529, out of eighty-nine culprits, while there were seventy-eight for judaism there were but three for mahometanism, and one of these was in effigy.[904] still it provoked disquiet and, in 1532, captain-general mondéjar suggested to charles its suspension, since it had done nothing and could find nothing against the moriscos. this was unfortunate, for it stimulated the tribunal to greater activity against them, leading to numerous offers on their part to charles and, after his abdication, to philip ii, of liberal payments for relief. charles's necessities prompted him to listen to these propositions, but the inquisition managed to prevent their success, while philip of course turned a deaf ear to them. even inquisitor-general valdés, in 1558, during his disfavor at court, seems to have taken a hand in these negotiations, for we find him promising a _subsidio_ of a hundred thousand ducats from the moriscos of granada.[905] the condition of the moriscos was steadily growing worse, and the situation in granada was becoming dangerously explosive. the inquisition was more active than ever; all the old oppressions by the priests and judicial officers continued unchecked, and a new source of intense irritation was the progressive spoliation of their lands by "judges of boundaries" who, in the name of the king, deprived them of properties inherited or purchased--in short, they were _gente sin lengua y sin fabor_--friendless and defenceless.[906] then, in 1563, an old order to present to the captain-general all licences to bear arms was revived under a penalty of six years of galleys.[907] in 1565 a fresh source of trouble was created by extending the royal jurisdiction over the lands of the nobles, in which many moriscos, who in years past had committed crimes, had sought asylum. eager for fees, the notaries and justices searched the records and made arrests, until there was scarce a morisco who did not live in daily fear. many took to the mountains, joining the bands of _monfíes_, or outlaws, and committing outrages, while the measures taken for their suppression only increased the disorder.[908] the condition of granada was one which required firmness and conciliation, but infatuation prevailed in philip's court, and the occasion was seized to aggravate irritation beyond endurance. guerrero, archbishop of granada, in returning from trent in 1563, had tarried in rome, where he lamented to pius iv that his flock was christian only in name. pius sent by him an urgent message to philip, reinforced by orders to his nuncio, the bishop of rossano, to the same purport. guerrero, on reaching home, assembled a provincial council in 1565, in which he endeavored to restrain the oppression of the moriscos by the ecclesiastics, but his chapter appealed from the conciliar decrees and the effort was nugatory. he had more success in inducing the bishops to join in urging upon the king the adoption of measures to prevent the moriscos from concealing their apostasy, and he wrote to philip, begging him to purify the land from this filthy sect; it could readily, he said, be found who were really christians by prohibiting the things through which their rites were kept from view.[909] [sidenote: _granada_] philip referred guerrero's memorial to a junta presided over by diego de espinosa, recently made president of castile and soon to be inquisitor-general. it reported that, presuming the moriscos to be christians by baptism, they must be compelled to be so in fact, to which end they must be required to abandon the language, garments and customs of moors, by reviving the edict of 1526, and this was solemnly charged upon the royal conscience. philip thereupon consulted privately dr. otadui, professor of theology at salamanca, and shortly to be bishop of avila, who, in his reply, told the king that, if any of the lords of the moriscos should cite the old castilian proverb "the more moors the more profit" he should remember an older and truer one, "the fewer enemies the better" and combine the two into "the more dead moors the better, for there will be fewer enemies"--advice which, we are told, greatly pleased the monarch, in place of opening his eyes to the policy which was converting his subjects into his enemies.[910] a pragmática was speedily framed, embodying the most irritating features of the edict of 1526, and pedro de deza, a member of the suprema and of espinosa's junta, was appointed president of the chancellery of granada and sent there, may 4, 1566, under orders to publish and enforce it without listening to remonstrances. it illustrates philip's method of government that captain-general mondéjar, although at the court, was not even apprised of the measure, until an order was conveyed to him through espinosa to return to granada and be present at the publication. he was captain-general by inheritance, being grandson to the tendilla placed there at the conquest; he had lived in granada from his boyhood, he had been captain-general for thirty years and was thoroughly familiar with the situation. he represented that granada was destitute of troops and of munitions, and he begged either that the measure be suspended or that he be furnished with forces to suppress the revolt that he foresaw to be inevitable. it was in vain; espinosa curtly told him to go to his post and mind his own business and, although the council of war supported him, he was given only three hundred men to guard the coast, where he was ordered to reside during certain months and to visit frequently.[911] deza reached granada, may 25, 1566, where he at once assembled his court and had the pragmática printed to be in readiness for publication on january 1, 1567, the anniversary of the surrender of the city, as though to create additional exasperation. its provisions were sufficiently exasperating in themselves. after three years the use of arabic was absolutely prohibited, in speech and writing; so were moorish garments after one year for silken and two years for woollen; house doors were to be kept open on friday afternoons, feast-days and marriage celebrations; zambras and leilas, though not contrary to religion, were forbidden on fridays and feast-days; the use of henna for staining was to be abandoned; moorish names were not to be used; all artificial baths, public and private, were to be destroyed, and no one in future was to use them.[912] provisions for instructing the moriscos in the faith were conspicuous by their absence. all this could only seem to them a wanton interference with habits that had become a second nature and when, on january 1, 1567, the edict was published it created indescribable excitement. as an earnest of its enforcement, all baths were forthwith destroyed, commencing with those of the king. the aljamas throughout the kingdom consulted with the leaders of the albaycin, or morisco quarter of the city, and it was agreed that, if relief was not to be had by entreaty, resort must be had to rebellion, for life was insupportable under such tyranny. even deza recognized the threatening prospect and wrote to the court that precautions should be taken against a rising; during 1567, he mitigated, in some degree, the enforcement of the law and inflicted no punishment under it. the moriscos appealed to philip, but, when he referred the memorial to espinosa, the latter replied that no suspension could be considered; religious men had charged the king's conscience, telling him that he was responsible for the souls of the apostates. in the council of state, the duke of alva and the commendador of alcántara were in favor of suspension, and the council suggested the gradual enforcement of one article a year, but espinosa and deza had more influence than soldiers and statesmen--it was a religious question with which the latter had nothing to do.[913] [sidenote: _granada_] on january 1, 1568, orders were issued to abandon all moorish silken garments, and the priests were instructed to take all morisco children, between the ages of three and fifteen, and place them in schools, where they should learn castilian and christian doctrine. this increased the agitation and a deputation was sent to remonstrate with deza, who gave assurances that their children were not to be taken from them, but that the king was resolved to save their souls and enforce the pragmática.[914] the naked alternative was before them of submission or rebellion. desperate as rebellion might seem, it was not wholly hopeless. the moriscos estimated that they could raise a hundred thousand fighting men, lamentably deficient in arms, it is true, but hardy and enured to privation. they counted largely on aid from barbary, hoping that the rulers there would not miss the opportunity of striking a deadly blow at their traditional enemy. their brethren, too, in valencia, who were equally oppressed, might reasonably be expected to rise and throw off the spanish yoke. they could not, moreover, be ignorant that the imposing spanish monarchy was in reality exhausted--that its internal strength in no way corresponded with its external appearance. all the venetian envoys of the period, in fact, describe the absence of military resources in spain, the difficulty of raising troops and the unfamiliarity with arms of those who made such splendid soldiers when disciplined and trained. it was in this very year that antonio tiepolo, when commenting on the strange neglect which exposed the southern coast to the ravages of the barbary corsairs, expresses apprehension that an invasion from africa, supported by the moriscos, might expose spain to the fate which it experienced of old.[915] it had been bled to exhaustion by charles v and philip was continuing the process. as with men, so was it with money. charles had left such an accumulation of debt that philip, on his accession, seriously contemplated repudiation, and he staggered under an ever-increasing burden, from which the treasures of the new world afforded no relief. his revenues were consumed in advance, and during the rebellion it was with the utmost difficulty that moderate sums could be furnished for the most pressing necessities. it was most fortunate for the monarchy that the hopes of the insurgents as to external aid were disappointed, for a united effort of the crescent against the cross might have changed the destiny of the peninsula. as it was, the moriscos of valencia were kept quiet; the sultan held aloof; the barbary princes only gave permission for adventurers to go as volunteers, and some five or six hundred straggled in small bands across the sea. yet the resources of spain were strained to the utmost in subduing the isolated rebellion thus heedlessly provoked. arrangements were made for a rising on holy thursday (april 18, 1568), but the secret was betrayed and the design was postponed. even this failed to induce the precaution of placing granada in a state of defence and, when the rebellion broke out, december 23d, it found the christians wholly unprepared. mondéjar met the crisis with great vigor and ability. raising a hurried force of a few thousand men, he marched out of the city on january 2, 1569 and, in a difficult winter campaign amid the mountain snows, by the middle of february he had virtually crushed resistance. deza, however, backed by those who thirsted for rapine and plunder, poisoned the mind of the king; mondéjar's agreements for the submission of the insurgents were set aside; philip sent his half-brother, don john of austria, then an inexperienced youth, to take command, assisted by a council of war, each member of which had his own plan of campaign, while no action was to be taken without the approval of the king. this _opéra bouffe_ method of making war had its natural result. the rebellion revived and grew stronger than ever, making raids on the vega, almost to the gates of the city, in which don john and his council were virtually beleaguered. [sidenote: _granada_] the details of the war that ensued do not concern us here except to say that it was carried on with ferocious greed and cruelty. military expeditions were frequently mere slave-hunts, in which the men were massacred, while women and children were brought in thousands to the auction-block and were sold to the highest bidders. nor were the moriscos the only sufferers, for the córtes of 1570 complained bitterly of the rapine and excesses of the troops on their way to the scene of action.[916] hostilities were prolonged until the opening months of 1571 and, when resistance was finally suppressed, spain was well-nigh exhausted. the pacification was as ruthless as the prosecution of the war. in advance, it had been proposed at the court to remove the whole population to the mountains of northern spain, and deza, the evil genius of granada, never lost sight of the suggestion.[917] at his earnest solicitation it was commenced with the albaycin, as early as june, 1569. no distinction was made between loyalists and rebels. the men were shut up in the churches and then transferred to the great hospital real, a gunshot from the city, where they were divided into gangs, with their hands tied to ropes like galley-slaves, and were marched off to their destinations under guard. the women were left for a time in their houses, to sell their effects and follow. some seven or eight thousand were thus disposed of, and even the chroniclers are moved to compassion in describing the misery and despair of those thus torn from their homes without warning and hurried off to the unknown. many died on the road of weariness, of despair or of starvation, or were slain or robbed and sold as slaves by those set to protect them. it relieved the christians of fear, we are told, but it was deplorable to see the destruction of prosperity and the vacancy left where had been so much life and industry.[918] this policy was carried out everywhere, as one district after another was reduced. final instructions from philip to don john, october 25, 1570, ordered the deportation of all and designated the provinces to which they were to be taken, some of them as far as leon and galicia. families were not to be separated; they were to move in bands of fifteen hundred men, with their women and children, under escort of two hundred foot and twenty horse, with a commissioner who made lists of those under his charge, provided them with food and distributed them in their respective destinations. these orders were carried out. don john writes, november 5th, from guadix to ruy gómez, that the number removed from that district had been large; the last party had been sent off that day and it was the most unfortunate thing in the world, for there was such a tempest of wind, rain and snow that the mother would lose her daughter on the road, the wife her husband and the widow her infant. it cannot be denied, he added, that the depopulation of a kingdom is the most pitiful thing that can be imagined. it was more than pitiful in some districts, where the undisciplined soldiery, entrusted with the task, converted it into pillage, massacre and the enslavement of the women and children.[919] such was the outcome of the pledges given, eighty years before, by ferdinand and isabella, but the object of clearing granada of its morisco population was measurably accomplished. in an auto de fe celebrated there, in 1593, there appeared eighty-one delinquents convicted of judaism and only one charged with mahometanism.[920] the sufferings of the exiles did not end with deportation. leonardo donate, the venetian envoy, who was an eye-witness, tells us that many perished through miseries and afflictions, which, in fact, was inevitable under the conditions.[921] their distribution was entrusted to a special _concejo de poblaciones_, and an elaborate edict, in twenty-three sections, issued october 6, 1572, specified the regulations under which they were permitted to exist. these scattered them among christians, kept them under close and perpetual surveillance, and reduced them almost to the status of predial serfs, bound to the soil. no weapons were permitted, save a pointless knife, and savage punishments were provided for the enforcement of the prescriptions. children were to be brought up, as far as possible, in christian families, and were to be taught reading, writing and christian doctrine. the pragmática of 1566 was declared to be in force, with added penalties for the use of arabic; any one writing or speaking it, even in his own house, incurred, for a first offence, thirty days' prison in chains, for a second double, for a third a hundred lashes and four years of galleys.[922] the severity of this latter provision shocked even the town-council of córdova, which had shown itself by no means favorable to the exiles. it represented to the alcalde that god alone could enable them to speak a language of which they were ignorant, especially as the alguaziles were constantly arresting and punishing them, and it begged that action should be suspended until schools could be organized for their instruction, but the alcalde replied that he had no choice and must execute the edict.[923] [sidenote: _the granadan exiles_] in spite of these restrictions on exiles suddenly cast adrift, penniless in strange places, their indomitable industry and thrift soon carved out careers which aroused the envious hostility of the indolent populations among whom they were thrown. cervantes, in his _colloquio de los perros_, stigmatizing them as a slow fever which slew as certainly as a violent one, gives expression to the feelings with which the spaniard, whose only ambition was a position in the army, the church or the service of the state, and who was a consumer, looked upon the producer and grudged him the product of his toil.[924] already, in 1573, the córtes took the alarm and petitioned philip that they should not be allowed to act as architects or builders, or to hold public office or judicial positions.[925] in truth, only ten years after the exile, an official report complains that the numbers of the deported moriscos are increasing, because none go to war or enter religion, and they are so hard-working that, after coming to castile ten years before, without owning a handsbreadth of land, they are now well off and many are rich, so that, if it continues at the same rate for twenty years, the natives will be their servants. this grievance only increased with time. in 1587, martin de salvatierra, bishop of segorbe, in an enumeration of the evil deeds of the moriscos, includes the fact that the exiles from granada had already become farmers of the royal revenues in castile, depositing cash as security in place of giving bondsmen; that there were individuals worth more than a hundred thousand ducats in pastrana, guadalajara, salamanca and other places and that, if the king did not devise some remedy, they would soon greatly surpass the old christians in both numbers and wealth.[926] this jealousy found official utterance in the córtes of 1592, which represented to philip that previous ones had asked him to remedy the evils of the granadan exiles scattered through castile. those evils were constantly increasing; they had obtained possession of trade, and were becoming so rich and powerful that they controlled the secular and ecclesiastical tribunals and lived openly in disregard of religion. the response to this was an edict ordering all magistrates to enforce rigidly the restrictive legislation of 1572.[927] this effected nothing for, in 1595, the venetian envoy describes them as constantly increasing in numbers and wealth, as they never went to the wars and devoted themselves exclusively to trade.[928] in 1602, archbishop ribera bears the same testimony; they were hard-working and thrifty, and as they spent little on food or drink or clothing, they worked for what would not support an old christian, so that they were preferred by employers and consumers; they monopolized the mechanic arts and commerce, as well as daily labor.[929] the envious prejudices which thus found expression were a factor not unimportant among the causes leading to the expulsion. all the exiles however were not thus peacefully laborious. about 1577, there arose complaints of seven or eight bands of moriscos who lived by robbery and murder and terrorized the districts in which they operated. there was also a noted centre of lawlessness in hornachos, near badajos, populated by moriscos. for thirty thousand ducats they bought from philip the privilege of bearing arms; they had a regular organization and a treasury and a mint employing thirteen operatives for the coinage of counterfeit money, while, by judicious bribery of the courts, they protected their criminals when caught. in 1586 the llerena tribunal made a raid on them with such success that it was obliged to hire houses to accommodate its prisoners, but the effect of this was temporary and, in october 1608, an alcalde of the court, gregorio lópez madera, was sent there to investigate and punish. alcaldes of the court were noted for unsparing justice, and madera did not belie this reputation. his inquest resulted in finding eighty-three dead bodies in the vicinity; he hanged ten members of the town-council and its executioner; he sent a hundred and seventy men to the galleys, scourged a large number, and left the place peaceful for the short interval before it was depopulated by the expulsion.[930] * * * * * [sidenote: _aragon_] in the kingdoms of the crown of aragon the position of the moriscos was different from that in castile. they were mostly vassals of the nobles, settled on lands of which they held the _dominium utile_, while their lords owned the _dominium directum_. for these lands they paid tribute in money, in kind, or in service, and we are told that these imposts amounted to the double of what could be exacted from christians.[931] it is easy to appreciate the old proverb "the more moors the more profits," and also that the nobles were vitally interested in protecting their vassals from external interference. their ability to do this was largely owing to the sturdy independence with which the ancient fueros and privileges were maintained. alarm was taken early for, in 1495, the córtes of tortosa obtained from ferdinand a fuero that he would never expel or consent to the expulsion of the moors of catalonia and, after the occurrences in castile, the córtes of barcelona, in 1503, represented the destruction which it would cause and obtained a repetition of the pledge.[932] at the córtes of monzon, in 1510, he renewed this, with the addition that he would make no attempt to convert them by force, nor throw any impediment in the way of their free intercourse with christians and, to the observance of this, he took a solemn oath, a repetition of which was exacted of charles v, on his accession in 1518.[933] under these guarantees, both the moors and their lords might well imagine themselves secure. as we have seen, the jurisdiction of the inquisition did not extend to the unbaptized, so long as they committed no offences against religion. it had little scruple however in disregarding its limitations and, in valencia as early as 1497, it undertook to prevent the wearing of moorish costume and sent officials to serra to arrest some women for disobedience. they were not recognized and were maltreated, while the women were conveyed away. we have seen how the tribunal arbitrarily avenged itself by arresting all residents of serra who chanced to come to valencia and that, when appeal was made to ferdinand, he expressed his displeasure and ordered greater moderation in future--yet the leaders in the resistance at serra were imprisoned for three years and suffered confiscation and banishment, leading to considerable correspondence in which ferdinand sought to mitigate the harshness of the tribunal. he showed the same disposition towards the moorish aljama of fraga, which was concerned in the confiscation of a certain galceran de abella, and also towards the moors of saragossa, when involved in trouble with that tribunal by reason of harboring a female slave who had escaped from borja.[934] after the enforced conversion of the castilian moors, the tribunal of aragon overstepped its powers by endeavoring, indirectly if not directly, to compel submission to baptism. the duke and duchess of cardona, the count of ribagorza and other magnates complained, in 1508, to ferdinand, who reprimanded the inquisitors sharply for exceeding their jurisdiction, with much scandal to the moors and damage to their lords. no one, he said, should be converted or baptized by force, for god is served only when confession is heartfelt, nor should any one be imprisoned for simply telling others not to turn christian. in future, no moor was to be baptized unless he applied for it; any who were imprisoned for counselling against conversion were to be released at once, and the papers were to be sent to inquisitor-general enguera for instructions, nor were arrests to be made without his orders. as it was reported that others had fled in fear of forcible conversion or imprisonment, steps must be taken to bring them home with full assurance against violence.[935] in the same spirit, in 1510, when some moors in aragon had been converted, and had consequently been abandoned by their wives and children, ferdinand ordered the inquisitors to permit them to return, and not to exert pressure on them or to baptize them forcibly.[936] ferdinand understood his aragonese subjects and had learned when to respect their fueros. [sidenote: _valencia_] these incidents indicate that there was a movement on foot which sometimes overstepped the limits of persuasion. there was, in fact, a process of voluntary conversion, affording hope that in time the wished-for unity of faith might be accomplished without coercion. a catalan alfaquí, named jacob tellez, was baptized and brought several aljamas to embrace christianity, when ferdinand to aid him granted him licence to travel everywhere and to have entrance into all aljamas, whose members were required to assemble and listen to him.[937] the moors of caspe sought baptism in 1499; in the district of teruel and albarracin, in 1493, a mosque was converted into the church of the trinity and, in 1502, the whole population embraced christianity.[938] wholesale conversions such as these were apt to furnish backsliders and, when the inquisition undertook to punish those of teruel and albarracin, charles v interposed, in 1519; he understood, he said, that many of the children of the conversos, who had lapsed, desired to return to the faith, but were deterred through fear of punishment, wherefore he granted them a term of grace for a year, during which they could come forward and confess without incurring confiscation, and similar concessions were made in tortosa and other cities.[939] valencia, which had the largest and densest moorish population, was also the scene of considerable proselyting and of vigorous inquisitorial action. an influential alfaquí, named abdallah, was converted, took orders as a priest, under the title of maestro mossen andrés, and devoted himself to winning over his brethren. he wrote a work controverting the koran chapter by chapter, which was printed and circulated.[940] the little town of manices must have been converted almost in mass, for we happen to have a sentence uttered in the church there, by the inquisitors of valencia, april 8, 1519, on two hundred and thirty moriscos, then present, who had come in under an edict of grace, confessing and abjuring the errors into which they had relapsed. they were received to reconciliation, apparently without confiscation, and the penances prescribed were purely spiritual, although in addition they were subjected to the customary severe disabilities. there must have been not a little cruel preliminary work for, in the list of these penitents, no less than thirty-two women are described as the wives or daughters of men who had been burnt.[941] it is easy for us now to recognize how powerful an impediment was this method of preserving the purity of the faith by obstructing the wished-for conversion, for the mudéjares who refused baptism could congratulate themselves that they were not subject to a jurisdiction which visited with such severity the adherence to ancestral habits that had become a second nature. [sidenote: _valencia_] the missionary work thus impeded received an unlooked for impulse from the insurrection known as the germanía or brotherhood, which suddenly broke out in 1520. this was a revolt of the people against the oppression of the nobles which, in its peaceful beginning, won the approval of charles and of his representative, cardinal adrian. it speedily developed into civil war, in which the nobles had the aid of their moorish vassals; these formed a large portion of the forces with which the duke of segorbe won the victories of oropesa and almenara, early in july, 1521, and they constituted a third of the infantry, under the viceroy mendoza, in the disastrous rout of gandía, july 25. to cripple the nobles, the leaders of the germanía conceived the idea of baptizing by force the moors, thus giving them the status of christians and releasing them from vassalage.[942] urgelles, the chief captain, mortally wounded at the siege of játiva, which surrendered july 14th, was already busily engaged in compelling the baptism of the moors in the places under his control; and his successor, vicente peris, who won the decisive victory of gandía, adopted the same policy. full particulars as to proceedings in the different towns and villages were obtained by a commission, formed in 1524 to ascertain whether the baptisms were voluntary or coerced, and the evidence in its report shows that bands of _agermanados_ traversed the territory between valencia and oliva, terrorizing the moors and offering them the alternative of baptism or death. a few homicides punctuated their commands, and the helpless infidels flocked to the baptismal font for safety. of course there was no pretence of instruction or of ascertaining what the neophytes knew of the religion thus imposed upon them; they were baptized by sprinkling them in batches and squads and, when holy water was not at hand, that from running streams was employed. the only redeeming feature in the evidence is the frequent allusion to friendly relations between christians and moors and to the refuge and protection willingly given to the terrified victims, showing how the antagonism of race was gradually subsiding and how its extinction might have been hopefully anticipated if matters had been allowed to develop naturally.[943] attempts were also made to convert the mosques into churches. in a few places they were consecrated; in some others only a paper picture of christ or the virgin was hung up, or attached to the door. occasionally divine service was performed, which the neophytes attended with more or less regularity, but their adhesion to their new faith lasted only while the impression of terror continued. in some places they felt safe to recur to their old religion in three weeks, in others they remained nominally christian for a few months, but everywhere, as soon as they felt the danger to be passed, they resumed their moslem rites and worshipped in their mosques as before. in this, for the most part, they were encouraged by their lords, who assured them that the coercive baptism was invalid, and that they were free to revert to their faith. others more prudently seized the opportunity to escape to africa, and it was estimated that no less than five thousand houses were left vacant, inferring an emigration of some twenty-five thousand souls.[944] the suppression of the germanía, in 1522, enabled the inquisition to commence action against those who had been brought under its jurisdiction by baptism. inquisitor churrucca of valencia entertained no scruple as to the validity of the sacrament, but there was difficulty in the fact that the hurried proceedings had precluded the making of records that would identify individuals. when the officiating priests had made lists he demanded their surrender and, towards the close of 1523, he was busy in obtaining evidence from eye-witnesses. some fragmentary documents show that he was partially successful, and that he was prosecuting those whom he could prove to be apostates, but there was no disposition to treat them harshly. it would appear, indeed, that cardinal adrian adopted a policy of toleration which, after his elevation to the papacy, enabled the advocates of the moriscos to claim that they had the benefit of a dispensation.[945] the situation, in fact, was perplexing. in castile, enforced conversion had been universal, under threat of expulsion; all were constructively baptized and could legally be held to the consequences. in valencia, however, the germanía had occupied but a portion of the territory, and even there the work had been partial, and so irregularly executed that identification was impossible save in isolated cases. as soon as the pressure was removed all had reverted to their pristine belief, and the sovereign was under a solemn oath that no compulsion should be employed. the simplest solution that offered was to complete the work and to convert the whole moorish population, after securing the assent of the nobles by conceding that their rights should not be affected, and that converts should not be permitted to change their domicile.[946] missionaries were therefore sent to try the effect of persuasion, prominent among whom was fray antonio de guevara. in a letter of may 22, 1524, he says that for three years he had labored at the task, doing nothing but dispute in the aljamas, preach in the morerías and baptize in the houses.[947] well-meant as was this effort, its success was not commensurate with its merits; the question refused to be solved, and the claims of the inquisition to exercise jurisdiction over the so-called apostates inevitably provoked discussion as to the validity of enforced baptism, the degree of coercion by the agermanados, and the sufficiency of the rite so irregularly performed. [sidenote: _valencia_] we have seen above (vol. i, p. 41) that, when the goths coerced their jewish subjects to baptism, the fourth council of toledo enunciated the principle that, while the act was wrong, the baptism was indelible and the baptized must be forced to remain in the church, a principle which became embodied in the canon law. still there was a question as to the degree of coercion and boniface viii, while assuming to exempt those whose coercion was absolute, took care to define that the fear of death was not such coercion.[948] in the refinement of scholastic theology, two kinds of coercion were distinguished--conditional or interpretative and absolute; it was decided that coerced volition is still volition, and absolute coercion was reduced to the proposition that, if a man tied hand and foot were baptized while uttering protests, the rite would be invalid.[949] such was the received practice of the church, although a few schoolmen of high repute denied the validity of the sacrament under coercion, rather as an academical question, for the church assumes consent and compels the so-called convert to the observance of the faith imposed on him.[950] it was inevitable that the converts of the germanía were to be held to their responsibilities as christians. charles v had already resolved on his policy and had applied to clement vii to be released from his oath not to impose christianity on the moors, but the proceedings of inquisitor churrucca were exciting murmurs, and a decent show of preliminary investigation was advisable. charles at first ordered this to be done by the governor of valencia in conjunction with the inquisitors and some theologians and jurists, but this was not a sufficiently authoritative body to justify the far-reaching measures in contemplation and manrique suggested, january 23, 1524, the formation of a junta under his presidency, in view of the opposition of the nobles and gentry, who dreaded the loss accruing to them from the christianization of their vassals.[951] that this was merely to save appearances is evident from the fact that, when charles, on february 11th, gave orders for the assembling of the junta, he wrote on the same day to germaine, vice-queen of valencia, instructing the inquisitors and vicar-general to take due action with the apostate moriscos.[952] nine days later, manrique issued a commission to churrucca and his assessor andrés palacio to make a complete investigation into all the circumstances of the conversion and backsliding of the moriscos--a selection which indicates the foregone conclusion, as they had already committed themselves on all the questions involved. two other commissioners--martin sánchez and juan de bas--were added to them when, in november, they started on their work, and meanwhile the inquisitors had been taking testimony on their own account.[953] the investigation lasted only from november 4th to the 24th, as the commission moved from place to place, in the little district between alcira and denia. a hundred and twenty-eight witnesses were interrogated on a series of questions drawn up by manrique and their evidence established beyond doubt that submission to baptism was under the influence of mortal terror. the report of the commission consisted simply of the testimony, as taken down by the secretary, but it was supplemented by a learned argument in scholastic form by the fiscal of the tribunal, fernando loazes, the future archbishop of valencia. in this he made no pretence that the baptism was voluntary. the violence he admitted to be a crime, for which the actors should be punished, but the effect was good and should be maintained; it was the way in which god evokes good out of evil. the moors had been saved from perdition and from slavery to the demon and, as this was a public benefit, the converts must be compelled to adhere to the catholic faith, and those who upheld them in apostasy must be prosecuted as fautors and defenders of heresy. all doctors agree that, when there is danger of infecting the faith, the prince can compel uniformity or can expel the unbelievers.[954] [sidenote: _valencia_] it was an imposing assemblage to which the report was submitted, consisting of a reunion of the councils of castile, of aragon, of the inquisition, of military orders and of indies, together with eminent theologians, and it was under the presidency of manrique. there evidently was not unanimity, for the discussion occupied twenty-two days, and some of the theologians, with jaime benet, the most eminent canonist of spain at their head, denied the validity of the baptisms. still, the inevitable conclusion was that, as the neophytes had made no resistance or complaint, they must adhere to the faith, willingly or unwillingly. on march 23, 1525, the emperor attended a meeting, in which manrique announced to him the decision, which he confirmed and ordered measures to be taken for its enforcement. in pursuance of this a royal cédula on april 4th, after reciting the care bestowed on the question, and the unanimous conclusion reached, declared the baptized moors to be christians, and ordered their children to be baptized, while churches in which mass had been celebrated were not to be used as mosques.[955] it would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of this action on the fate of the moriscos, for all that followed was its necessary consequence. without loss of time an imposing inquisitorial commission was organized, with gaspar de avalos, bishop of guadix, at its head, and a retinue of counsellors and familiars. on may 10th they arrived at valencia and, on sunday the 14th, the bishop in a sermon ordered the publication of the royal cédula, with an edict granting thirty days within which apostates could return with security for life and property, after which they would forfeit both.[956] it could scarce have been intended to execute this atrocious threat, and no attempt seems to have been made to do so. the apostates were not easily distinguishable among their unbaptized brethren, among whom they constituted perhaps ten per cent., but the commissioners endeavored to identify them, travelling through the land, making out lists, and confirming all whom they could discover, as a preliminary to prosecuting the backsliders.[957] their numbers suggested moderation, for which papal authority was requisite. it was obtained, for a brief of clement vii, june 16, 1525, recites that charles had applied to him for a remedy; the multitude of delinquents called for gentleness and clemency, wherefore they were to be prosecuted with a benignant asperity; those who should return to the light of truth, publicly abjure their errors and swear never to relapse, could be absolved without incurring the customary infamy and disabilities.[958] threats and promises availed little. the ten or fifteen thousand moriscos, who had passed through the hands of the agermanados, did not wait to experience the benignant asperity of the commission, but took refuge in the sierra de bernia, and the nobles, so far from attempting to dislodge them, favored them, in hopes that their resistance might lead charles to abandon his purpose. he had been moved to indignation on hearing that the magistrates of valencia had begged the commission not to ill-treat the alfaquíes, as the prosperity of the land depended on the moors, and he now rebuked the nobles, ordering them to go to their estates and teach their vassals to be good christians. preparations at length were made to attack the refugees of bernia, who had held out from april until august; they surrendered under promise of immunity and were taken to murla where they were absolved and kindly treated.[959] the commission, wearied with its fruitless labors, was about to abandon the field, when it received a letter from charles, stating that, as god had granted him the victory of pavia, he could evince his gratitude in no way more effective than by compelling all the infidels in his dominions to submit to baptism; they were therefore ordered to remain and to undertake this new conversion, in conjunction with a fresh colleague, fray calcena, afterwards bishop of tortosa.[960] we have seen that, in preparation for this, he had, near the end of 1523 or in the early part of 1524, applied to clement vii to absolve him from the oath taken in 1518 not to expel or make forced conversions, and clement is said to have at first refused the request, declaring it to be scandalous.[961] the persistence of the ambassador, the duke of sesa, however prevailed over clement's scruples and the brief was issued, may 12, 1524, though for a time it was kept secret. [sidenote: _valencia_] it commenced by reciting the papal grief on learning that, in valencia, catalonia and aragon, charles had many moorish subjects, with whom the faithful could not hold intercourse without danger, and who served as spies for their brethren in africa. he was therefore exhorted to order the inquisitors to preach to them and, in case of obstinacy, he was to designate a term after which they should be expelled, under pain of perpetual slavery, to be rigorously enforced. the tithes, which they had never paid, should in future accrue to their lords, in recompense for the damage caused by the expulsion, under condition that the lords should supply the churches with what was requisite for divine service, while the revenues of the mosques should provide endowments for benefices. the fateful brief concluded by formally releasing charles from his oath of 1518, absolving him from all penalties and censures for perjury, and granting him whatever dispensation was necessary for the due execution of the foregoing, and it further conferred on the inquisitors ample faculties to suppress opposition, notwithstanding all apostolical constitutions and all laws of the land.[962] charles was thus set free to work his will, in despite of oaths and of laws. yet for eighteen months he held the brief without using it, waiting perhaps for the settlement of the question of baptism and for the agitation in valencia to subside. at length, on september 13, 1525, he addressed letters to the nobles, informing them of his irrevocable resolve not to allow a moor or an infidel to dwell in his dominions except as a slave; he recognized that expulsion would affect their interests, and consequently he urged them to go to their estates and co-operate with the commissioners in procuring the conversion and instruction of their vassals. accompanying this was a brief letter to the moors, informing them of the determination to which he had been inspired by almighty god that his law should prevail throughout the land, and of his desire for their salvation, wherefore he exhorted and commanded them to submit to baptism; if they did so, they should have the liberties of christians and good treatment; if they refused, he would find other means. the next day a proclamation was addressed to the moors, emphatically repeating these threats and promises, and forbidding any interference with conversion or insults to converts, under penalty of five thousand florins and the royal wrath. the same day a letter to queen germaine tacitly admitted the futility of depriving the moriscos of their religion without providing a substitute. he had learned, he said, that in many villages of the converts there were no priests to give instruction or to celebrate mass, and he ordered her to see that they were instructed and ministered to, thriftily adding that, in lands of royal jurisdiction, care must be taken to reserve the patronage of the new churches to the crown.[963] the commissioners, armed with full powers as inquisitors, lost no time in announcing to the moors the irrevocable resolve of the emperor, with a term of grace of eight days, after which they would execute the decrees. the frightened aljamas deputed twelve alfaquíes to supplicate of charles the revocation of the edict. queen germaine granted them a safe-conduct, and they were received at court, carrying with them fifty thousand ducats to propitiate persons of importance and, although at the moment they accomplished nothing, eventually, as we shall see, they secured a concordia which, as usual, was granted only to be violated.[964] [sidenote: _valencia_] meanwhile, on november 3d, charles enclosed the papal brief to the inquisitors, with instructions to enforce it without delay. at the same time he notified the authorities, secular and ecclesiastical, that it invalidated all the fueros, privileges and constitutions to which he had sworn; that he had instructed the inquisition to enforce it, and that the local magistrates, under pain of ten thousand florins, must execute whatever the inquisitors might decree.[965] having thus made the moors understand the fate in store for them, on november 25th he issued a general decree of expulsion. all those of valencia were to be out of spain by december 31st, and those of catalonia and aragon by january 31, 1526. as in 1502, there was no exemption promised for conversion, but similarly the obstacles thrown in the way of expatriation showed the real intent of the edict. the valencians were ordered to register and obtain passports at sieteaguas, on the cuenca frontier, and then plod their weary way to coruña, where they were to embark, under pain of confiscation and slavery, while the nobles were threatened with a fine of five thousand ducats for each one whom they might retain. at the same time was published a papal brief ordering, under pain of excommunication, all christians to aid in enforcing the imperial decrees, and all moors to listen without replying to the teachings of the gospel. still another edict, which ordered that all moors must be baptized by december 8th, or be prepared to leave the country, showed by implication that conversion would relieve from exile. then the inquisition gave notice that it was prepared to act, and it published tremendous censures, with a penalty of a thousand florins, against all failing to aid it against those who obstinately resisted the sweetness of the gospel and the benignant plans of the emperor.[966] when the alfaquíes reported the failure of their mission, the great bulk of the valencian moors submitted to baptism. fray antonio de guevara, who was foremost in the work, boasts that he baptized twenty thousand families, but the moriscos subsequently asserted that this wholesale conversion was accomplished by corraling them in pens and scattering water over them, when some would seek to hide themselves and others would shout "no water has touched me!" they endured it, they said, because their alfaquíes assured them that deceit was permissible, and that they need not believe the religion which they were compelled to profess.[967] many hid themselves; some took refuge in benaguacil which surrendered, march 27th, after a five weeks' siege, but the sierra de espadan was the scene of a more formidable revolt, which was not subdued until september 19th, with considerable slaughter. others again betook themselves to the sierra de bernia, to guadalete and confridas, but these mostly succeeded in escaping to africa. thus was valencia converted and pacified; the moriscos, we as may now call them, were disarmed, the pulpits of their alfaquíes were torn down, their korans were burnt, and orders were given to instruct them competently in the faith--orders, as we shall see, perpetually reissued and never executed.[968] [sidenote: _valencia_] in aragon, before the edicts, premonitions of the future had aroused much agitation. the moors ceased to labor in the fields and shops, causing great anxiety as to impending famine. the diputados were called upon to act and, while preparing to send envoys to charles, they gave to the count of ribagorza, who chanced to be at the court, a memorial addressed to him. this appealed to the solemn oaths taken by him and ferdinand; it represented that the whole industry and prosperity of the land rested upon the moors, who raised the harvests and produced the manufactures, while the incomes of churches and convents, of benefices and the gentry, of widows and orphans, were derived from their censos or loans. they were practically the slaves of their feudal lords, to whom they were obedient, and they had never been known to pervert a christian or cause scandal; they lived at a distance from the coast, so that they could hold no intercourse with barbary, and the law punished by enslavement all attempts to leave the kingdom; their expulsion would cause ruin while, if converted, they would be enfranchised and enabled to go abroad. as they had ceased to sow their lands, immediate relief of their fears was necessary to avert a famine. ribagorza's influence procured a brief delay, but charles's practical reply was a proclamation, published in saragossa december 22d, forbidding any moor to leave the kingdom, prohibiting all purchases of property from them, closing their mosques and abolishing their public shambles.[969] this increased the alarm, and risings occurred in some places, followed by others after the publication of the edict of expulsion, but they were not serious. the date of expulsion was postponed until march 15, 1526, and, as it approached, there were other risings, but they were readily suppressed; the moors were disarmed and, as a whole, they submitted to baptism.[970] the whole morisco population was now at the mercy of the inquisition, but every consideration, both of policy and of charity, dictated a tolerant exercise of power, until they could be instructed and won over to their new faith. this the suprema recognized by ordering that they should be treated with great moderation.[971] possibly this may explain the absence of trials for heresy by the valencia tribunal in 1525 and 1527, but, in the intermediate and subsequent years, there is no abatement in its activity, which was not only in disobedience of the commands of the suprema, but a direct violation of the concordia, agreed to january 6, 1526, although not published until 1528. this concordia was the result of the labors of the alfaquíes sent to the court in 1525. it was granted with the consent of inquisitor-general manrique; it was solemnly confirmed by charles in the córtes of monzon, in 1528, when it was declared to comprehend all the kingdoms of the crown of aragon, but when it was published by the bayle-general of valencia, under orders from charles, manrique rebuked him for so doing. its main provisions are worth reciting if only to show the questions arising and as an instance of the faithlessness habitually shown to the moriscos, for scarce one of the articles favorable to them was observed. it set forth that the new converts could not at once abandon the moorish ceremonies, which they observed rather through habit than with intention, and that prosecution by the inquisition would be their total destruction, wherefore the inquisition should not proceed against them for forty years, as had been granted to the moors of granada. as for their garments, they might wear out those existing, but new ones must be made in the christian fashion. as most of the men and all the women could speak only arabic, they could use it for ten years, during which time they must learn castilian or valencian. new cemeteries were to be consecrated for them, near the mosques now converted into churches. dispensations were to be granted by the legate or the pope for all existing marriages and betrothals within the prohibited degrees, but future ones must conform to the canons. to the request that their arms should be restored to them, the answer was that they should be treated like other christians. to the argument that they could not pay the old tributes and imposts, if they were forbidden to work on feast-days, nor was it reasonable that they should be prevented from changing domicile, the equivocal reply was that they should be treated like other christians, but without prejudice to third parties. there was also permission to continue as corporations the old morerías in royal territory. all this charles guaranteed for himself and for prince philip, and ordered its strict observance by all officials, from the highest to the lowest, under pain of the royal wrath and a fine of three thousand ducats.[972] [sidenote: _valencia_] the inquisition, however, was a law unto itself and was bound by no compacts. in a few months after the promulgation of the concordia, the suprema published everywhere a declaration that it referred only to trivial customs and did not condone the use of moorish rites and ceremonies, and that those who performed them or lapsed from the faith were to be duly prosecuted, to all of which it stated that the emperor acceded.[973] when, therefore, the aragonese nobles, in 1529, presented remonstrances to charles and to manrique, the latter replied that it was their salvation and not their injury that was sought, and that he hoped that god might lay his hands upon them, so that all would eventuate well.[974] the hand of god, as laid upon them through the inquisition, was not merciful for, in 1531, the valencia tribunal had fifty-eight trials for heresy, with some thirty-seven burnings in person, most of whom presumably were moriscos. saragossa was somewhat milder for, in 1530, it reported that in the last auto it had reconciled a number of moriscos, commuting confiscation and prison into fines and, in some cases, to scourging; that the fines had been assigned to a cleric who should instruct the penitents, but the receiver had refused to surrender the money, whereupon the suprema suggested a separate collection of fines and their payment to instructors.[975] thus the inquisition went imperturbably on its way and, when the córtes of the three kingdoms complained that it was notorious that there had been no attempt to instruct the moriscos, or to provide churches for them, and that it was a great abuse to prosecute them as heretics, cardinal manrique unctuously replied that they had been treated with all moderation and benignity and that, for the future, provision would be made, with the assent of the emperor, as best comported with the service of god and the salvation of their souls.[976] even more defiantly self-willed was the conduct of the inquisition with regard to confiscations. we have seen that these were the property of the crown and that, when the inquisition was allowed to retain the proceeds, it was a concession dependent upon the will of the sovereign. yet it sturdily set aside the laws of the land and the commands of the emperor, and persisted in confiscating the property of its penitents. the earliest fuero of valencia, granted by jaime i after the conquest, provided that, in capital cases of heresy and treason, allodial lands and personal property should accrue to the king, while feudal lands and those held under rent-charge or other service, should revert to the lord. the new inquisition disregarded this and, in 1488, the córtes of orihuela demanded its observance, to which ferdinand assented. still the inquisition persisted and he agreed to the demands of the córtes of 1510, that he should compound for all lands thus illegally obtained. this was equally fruitless and, in 1533, the córtes of monzon repeated the complaint; it was the lords and churches that suffered by the confiscations inflicted on their vassals, and some compromise should be reached as to past infractions of the fuero. to this the answer was equivocal; there was no confiscation and, please god, with the efforts on foot for the instruction of the converts, there would be no necessity for it in the future but, if there should be, provision would be made to protect the lords, and meanwhile a commission could decide as to what would be just for the past.[977] charles, in fact, the next year, at saragossa, issued a pragmática ordering that, when the new converts incurred confiscation, the property should be made over to the legal catholic heirs, without prejudice to the lords of the delinquents. the inquisition, however, was equal to the occasion; it obeyed the law in the letter but not in the spirit, for, in 1547, the córtes complained to the inquisitor-general that, in lieu of confiscation, the saragossa tribunal imposed fines greater than the wealth of the penitents who, to meet them, were obliged to sell all their property and impoverish their kindred. to this the contemptuous answer was returned that if any one was aggrieved he could apply to the inquisitors or to the suprema.[978] in valencia the contest was more prolonged. the córtes of 1537 reiterated the old complaints and asked charles to order the tribunals to obey the law, which he promised to do. the suprema rejoined, in a consulta, that confiscation was the most efficient penalty for the suppression of heresy; the culprit could escape burning by reconciliation and, without confiscation, heresy would be unpunished. the inquisition accordingly went on confiscating and, in 1542, under urgent complaints by the córtes, charles assented to a law that the _dominium utile_ of the culprit should revert to the _dominium directum_ of the lord and that the royal officials, under pain of a thousand florins, should put the lord in possession. the pope seems to have been appealed to, to make the inquisition obey, for in a brief of august 2, 1546, which virtually suspended it, he decreed that for ten years, and during the pleasure of the holy see, there should be neither fines nor confiscation in the case of moriscos.[979] royal and papal utterances were alike in vain. in 1547, the córtes renewed the complaint of the persistence of the inquisition and introduced the new feature of asking that the inquisitor-general should join in signing the fuero, thus recognizing him as an independent power in the state. prince philip promised to obtain his signature, but it was not done. again in 1552 and 1564 the same comedy was acted, but philip's promise in the latter year was neutralized by specific instructions of the suprema, to the valencia tribunal, to confiscate morisco property, without regarding what the people might say about having a privilege against confiscation.[980] [sidenote: _valencia_] at length a compromise was reached. in 1537 the córtes had suggested a payment to the inquisition of four hundred ducats per annum in return for morisco impunity from pecuniary penance, but the suprema had refused the proposition as inadequate and as a disservice to god.[981] in 1571, negotiations were renewed, resulting in a royal cédula of october 12th, reciting that inquisitor-general espinosa had condescended to grant to the moriscos of valencia the articles presented by them. these provided that, in consideration of an annual payment of fifty thousand sueldos, or twenty-five hundred ducats, to the tribunal, the property of those contributing to it should be exempt from confiscation. warning, moreover, was taken from the experience of aragon, and fines were limited to ten ducats, but the aljamas of the culprits were responsible for their payment. it rested with the aljamas whether or not to come into the arrangement, but so many of them did so that thenceforth it was spoken of commonly as in force throughout valencia.[982] this suited the inquisition as assuring it a settled income; it relieved the moriscos from the ever-present dread of pauperism and the miseries of sequestration, and it gratified the nobles and churches by securing them from the alienation of their lands and the impoverishment of their vassals. to the rigid churchman, however, it was a compact with evil and an encouragement of heresy. archbishop ribera of valencia protested against it, and bishop pérez of segorbe, in 1595, advocated its revocation, but philip ii resolved that it should continue during the period agreed upon for the instruction of the moriscos.[983] the tribunal naturally took care to increase its assured income by exploiting to the fullest its remaining power of inflicting fines, and it did so with little regard to the limitation. in 1595, the aljamas complained of these infractions.[984] that such complaint continued to be justified would appear from the auto de fe of january 7, 1607, alluded to above (vol. ii, p. 395) where there were twenty fines of ten ducats each on moriscos, of whom only eight were reconciled, besides other fines, one of twenty, one of thirty and one of fifty. the table in the appendix shows that, while the activity of the inquisition seemed to diminish somewhat after the concordia, towards the close of the century it increased greatly, there being two hundred and ninety-one cases in 1591 and a hundred and seventeen in 1592. the record furnishing these figures ends with 1592 and we have no means of ascertaining the work in the years which immediately follow, but the rigor of persecution continued. in the auto of september 5, 1604, there were twenty-eight abjurations _de levi_, forty-nine _de vehementi_, eight reconciliations and two relaxations--all moriscos, except a frenchman penanced for blasphemy. in that of january 7, 1607, there appeared thirty-three moriscos, of whom one was relaxed, besides six whose cases were suspended, and in the trials torture was employed fifteen times.[985] the fluctuations in the number of cases can be accounted for by evidence occasionally enabling the tribunal to make a raid on some morisco village when, as they were all moors at heart, the whole community would be gathered in. thus, in 1589 and 1590 the little settlement of mislata, near valencia, furnished a hundred cases and we are told that in the town of carlet there were two hundred and forty households that observed the fast of ramadan.[986] in fact, as the moorish faith of the moriscos was notorious, the whole population was at the mercy of the inquisition, and the comparative moderation shown by the records may perhaps be explained by a system of secret bribery or compositions whereby immunity was purchased. the possibility of this is suggested by a case which throws considerable light upon the manner in which the inquisitorial power was exercised. [sidenote: _valencia_] the family of don cosme, don juan and don hernando abenamir of benaguacil ranked among the first of the old moors of valencia; the brothers were rich and influential; they held licences to bear arms, and inquisitor miranda had appointed them familiars--a position which they resigned at the instance of the duke of segorbe, on whose lands they dwelt, for he said that they had no need of such protection, as they had only to appeal to him if aggrieved. in may, 1567, during the absence of inquisitor miranda, the fiscal presented to the other inquisitor, gerónimo manrique, a _clamosa_ against the brothers. their arrest was voted but, in view of the importance of the case, the suprema was consulted, which confirmed the vote and, on july 1st, the warrants were issued. the accused could not be found; edicts summoning them were published and, on january 12, 1568, don cosme presented himself. it is his trial that has been preserved, but presumably the others took the same course, except that don hernando's name disappears towards the end, probably in consequence of death. at the first audience don cosme said that he presumed he had been baptized when a child, yet he did not consider himself a christian but a moor; he had through life performed moorish rites and had gone to confession only to conform with the edicts, but in future he desired to be a christian and to do whatever the inquisitors might require. he offered no defence in the various stages of his trial, but on july 15th, in consequence of the crowded condition of the secret prison, he was given the city as a prison on furnishing security in two thousand ducats. notwithstanding this he visited madrid where, for seven thousand ducats, he purchased for himself and his brothers a pardon from the king, the inquisitor-general and the suprema, and he also exercised important influence in securing the concordia of 1571. his stay in the capital was prolonged when, after an interval of nearly three years, the tribunal suddenly revived his case, may 25, 1571 and, on june 6th, it summoned his bondsmen to produce him within nine days, a term extended to twelve days on their protesting that it was notorious that he was in madrid, on business with the suprema. this action brought from the suprema a curt letter stating that don cosme complained that, after compounding his case, it had been revived, and ordering the tribunal to drop the matter and explain its motives. this it did and received from the suprema a second order to do nothing, but to send the papers and await instructions. subsequently don cosme returned to valencia and exhibited certificates of the pardons for himself and his brothers to juan de rojas, then inquisitor, who told him to go _enhorabuena_, for they were pardoned and the inquisition had nothing further to do with them. six years passed away when suddenly, without further evidence being sought for, on september 3, 1577, the suprema returned to the tribunal the papers in the cases of don cosme and don juan, and ordered it to summon them, examine them, vote on them and report to the suprema for its decision. don cosme by that time seems to have been impoverished, and was supporting himself by farming the revenues at genoves; after some delay he was brought to the prison, december 24th and his trial was resumed. at first he refused to be examined, alleging his pardon, but it was elaborately explained to him that it was not intended to interfere with it but to render it operative, for which it was necessary for him to abjure his errors and be reconciled, to which end he must make full confession as to himself and his accomplices; if he refused, it would show that he desired to remain in his old errors and under excommunication. after some fencing, he submitted and described how, about the age of twelve, his mother had taught him to perform the zala and fast the ramadan and to believe in one god; that santa maría was a virgin and holy, but not the mother of god; that the lord jesus christ was a son of god and prophet of god, who had ever spoken truth, and it was a sin not to believe in what he had uttered, but that mahomet was also a prophet of god, whose utterances were to be believed; he had also been taught to commit no murder, not to covet his neighbor's daughter and not to bear false witness--all of which would seem to indicate that there was developing among the moriscos an intermediate faith which in time would have become christian had opportunity been allowed. don cosme further declared that, since his first arrest, he had always been a christian and desired to live and die in the faith of christ; he repeated all the christian prayers accurately, in both latin and romance, and wished that he had been born among christians, as it would have been better for him, both in body and in soul. this went on, until february 21, 1578, when he was allowed the city as a prison, under bail, and on march 26th he was permitted to return home, keeping himself subject to summons. [sidenote: _valencia_] then fifteen months elapsed, until july 17, 1579, his case was voted upon _in discordia_, requiring its reference to the suprema which, october 2d, ordered torture at discretion for don cosme and don juan. preliminary audiences, however, were prescribed in order that they might discharge their consciences and satisfy the evidence, especially as to accomplices, giving them to understand that this was necessary to enable them to enjoy the pardon of 1571. under this the trial was resumed, but the record ends before the stage of torture was reached, and the archivist, don julio melgares marin, who copied it, assumes that the case remained suspended. probably either the two brothers had succeeded in raising a sum sufficient to satisfy the suprema, or they were recognized as too poor to be worth further prosecution.[987] * * * * * from such a case as this, it can readily be conceived how efficient an instrument was the inquisition in exciting and perpetuating among the moriscos an abhorrence of the religion imposed on them by force, and scarce known to them save as an excuse for cruelty and exaction. to some extent this was recognized by the governing powers. after the wise toleration had been discarded, which had rendered the mudéjares contented subjects, the apostasy of the neophytes was the source of grave concern in the spiritual field, and their known hostility was the cause of even greater disquiet in the sphere of statesmanship. for more than three-quarters of a century it was the subject of a constant series of efforts and experiments, alternating between moderation and severity. with an efficient and honest administration, something might have been accomplished by a consistent policy, but vacillation, incompetence and greed resulted only in increasing exasperation. the story is long and intricate and the barest summary must suffice here to indicate its leading features and the causes of the failure to assimilate the races, on which depended the peace and prosperity of spain. we have seen the mistaken policy adopted in granada; in valencia it was less unreasonable in spirit, but failed miserably in execution. after the germanía and the edict of 1525, some futile attempts were made at missionary work among the so-called converts, but the situation, in 1526, is correctly described by navigero, the venetian envoy, who says that there was so little care about teaching them, priestly gains being the main object, that they either were as much moors as before or had no religion of any kind.[988] it was self-evident that to christianize a large population, scattered over the land, for the most part in exclusive communities, would require a complete organization of parish churches with schools and all the necessary appliances. a basis for this existed in the property of the mosques, which clement vii, in 1524, had ordered to be converted into churches, and in the tithes, which were now imposed as a fresh burden upon the converts. these were spoils which all, who saw a chance for gain, hastened to grasp. to recompense the lords for the expected loss of tribute from their vassals, who were promised to be treated in all things like christians, the tithes were made over to them, in return for which they were to provide the churches with what was requisite for divine service, while the revenues of the mosques were expected to furnish foundations for benefices, the patronage of which was given to the lords. for this, as we have seen, the requisite papal authority was procured, but the measure was attacked in innumerable suits, some of which were carried up to the roman rota, with the consequent interminable delays.[989] in some fashion, two hundred and thirteen mosques were converted into churches in the archbishopric of valencia, fourteen in the see of tortosa, ten in segorbe and fourteen in orihuela, but the object kept in view was the revenues, and not the religious training of the moriscos.[990] [sidenote: _valencia_] nearly ten years passed away with nothing accomplished. a thorough reorganization was seen to be necessary, and papal faculties were obtained empowering cardinal manrique to provide persons to instruct the converts, to erect and unite churches, to appoint and dismiss priests, to regulate tithes and to decide summarily all the suits that were expected from archbishops, bishops, chapters, abbeys, priests and secular lords, thus rendering him and his delegates independent of the bishops who thus far had done nothing.[991] under this, in 1534, manrique despatched commissioners with detailed instructions, including provisions to be made for a college to be founded for the instruction of morisco children, who should in turn instruct their parents.[992] the scheme, however, though well intended, was wrecked on the money-question which, to the end, proved an obstacle frustrating all intelligent work in conversion. the revenues of the mosques, the tithes and first-fruits seem to disappear--swallowed up by noble and prelate and, although they derived their incomes in great part from the labor of the moriscos, it seemed impossible to wring from them what was necessary to support the new establishment. in 1544, st. thomas of vilanova, then archbishop of valencia, urged the emperor to place zealous and exemplary rectors in the morisco villages, with ample salaries to enable them to distribute alms, but it does not seem to have occurred to him that this was part of his duty and that of the church.[993] manrique's commissioners established a hundred and ninety rectories, endowed with the beggarly stipend of thirty crowns a year. it was impossible to find suitable priests for such livings, and the complaint was general that they were, for the most part, ignorant and depraved, creating repulsion rather than attraction to the religion which they assumed to teach. many were non-resident and neglected their duties entirely, or found vicars at still lower salaries to replace them. there was no one to inspect them or keep them in order. a pension of two thousand ducats a year had been levied on the archbishopric of valencia, to maintain the projected college for morisco youths, but two-thirds of this was diverted to the support of the rectories and the rest was made up from various sources, not always adequate, for some holders of benefices refused to pay the moderate assessments made on them.[994] it was in vain that one effort after another was made to remedy these deficiencies. the indifference of the ecclesiastical authorities, or their opposition when asked for funds, paralyzed every plan devised. in 1564, the córtes of monzon pointed out the failure of all attempts to instruct the converts, who were punished for their ignorance, and they made some remedial suggestions. philip in response assembled a junta under the presidency of valdés, the conclusions of which were embodied in a royal cédula. this confided the instruction of the moriscos to the bishops in their several dioceses, who were to appoint proper persons and keep them under supervision, treating the neophytes with the utmost kindness, rewarding the good according to their deserts, and appointing the more prominent among them to familiarships. archbishop ayala, on his return from this junta, called a provincial council, but the bishops took no action to carry out the provisions of the cédula, contenting themselves with inflicting heavy fines on those who did not have their children baptized at birth in the best clothes that they could afford; on alfaquíes who visited the sick, and on secular officials who neglected to denounce moorish observances. the pious hope was expressed that, by compelling them to attend mass on ash wednesday, maundy thursday, good friday and all saints, they might be attracted to christian worship, and their salvation was cared for by ordering them on the death-bed to give something for the benefit of their souls, in default of which the heirs must at least have three masses sung for them.[995] [sidenote: _valencia_] this was the spirit in which the prelates conceived their duties towards those whom clerical pressure had made their spiritual children, and to whom they owed great part of their revenues. juan de ribera who, in 1568, succeeded to the archbishopric of valencia was a man of different stamp. he preferred the radical cure of expulsion but, so long as the moriscos remained, he recognized the duty of laboring for their conversion. in 1575 he held a conference with the bishops of tortosa and orihuela (segorbe being vacant), when it was agreed that the rectorial stipends were inadequate, as there were no offerings at the altar, which led many to abandon their cures, while those who would accept the position were mostly unfitted, through ignorance and character. it was therefore resolved to increase the stipends to a hundred crowns. the king made a contribution, and a sum of seven thousand ducats per annum (or 7350 libras) was assessed on the bishops and those who enjoyed the tithes of the moriscos. ribera's share of this was thirty-six hundred ducats, levied on the income of his "table," which was forty thousand ducats, so that the assessment was 9 per cent. the rest fell upon ecclesiastics, except a negligible amount to be paid by five laymen. a brief of june 16, 1576, was obtained from gregory xiii confirming this arrangement, and ribera punctually paid his portion into the _taula_ or bank of valencia, but the other churchmen were recalcitrant. the share of his cathedral chapter was eight hundred libras a year, which it not only refused to pay but organized a league to contest the whole measure; the procrastinating resources of litigation were limitless and, in 1597, philip sent to valencia the licentiate covarrubias to settle the matter if possible. for three years he labored, and finally induced the chapter to obey the papal brief, but on some pretext it refused to abide by the agreement and the litigation continued. the chapter of segorbe, although its portion was only seventy libras a year, threatened to raise a tumult if it was forced to pay, and sent its treasurer to rome to work for the revocation of the brief; in 1604 it procured an inhibition on the execution of the brief, but finally, in 1606, the matter was decided against the chapters. by this time their arrearages amounted to a hundred and fifty thousand crowns, which philip iii forgave them and, for the few remaining years they paid their assessments. meanwhile, ribera's contribution had gone on accumulating with interest until it amounted to 157,482 libras 13 s., 11 d. of this about thirty-two thousand libras had been expended on the rectories; in 1602, sixty thousand were devoted to the college for morisco youths and, in 1606, thirty-one thousand were given to endow a girl's college; part went for expenses and, in 1607, a balance of over thirteen thousand was given to the collegiate seminary of corpus christi which he had founded.[996] thus this well-intended plan came to naught, like all other attempts, through the covetousness and indifference of those whose duty and interests alike demanded their earnest co-operation. what might have been accomplished by zealous christian prelates can be gathered from the experience of feliciano de figueroa, bishop of segorbe. he had long been ribera's secretary and was thoroughly familiar with the question. promoted to the see of segorbe, in 1599, he writes, in 1601, that there were twenty morisco villages in his diocese; at his own cost he put resident rectors in them, with _doctrineros_, or religious teachers, and twelve preachers, supervising the whole work himself. already he reports a notable reformation in the adults, while the children manifested affection and readiness to embrace the faith; moreover, during the past forty years, many moorish ceremonies had fallen into disuse. again, in 1604, he describes his continued labors without discouragement, although he complains of the obstacles thrown in his way by the secular authorities, who aided the alfaquíes in opposing his efforts.[997] this alludes to a serious difficulty which aided in bringing about the catastrophe. the lords of morisco vassals were actuated by the most purely selfish motives. exploiting their dependents to the utmost, they feared that, if the latter became christians in fact as well as in name, they would be unable to extort the imposts and tribute which they exacted almost at discretion, for the moriscos were helpless and defenceless, and the pledges that they should be treated as christians were forgotten. the lords therefore discouraged all missionary work and, as far as they could, protected their vassals against the inquisition. when the latter obtained evidence of this interference with conversion, it did not hesitate to prosecute the highest nobles. in 1570 it condemned don sancho de cardona, admiral of aragon, to abjure _de levi_, to a fine of two thousand ducats and to reclusion in a convent at the pleasure of the suprema--reclusion which proved perpetual, for he died in the convent of his confinement. he deserved much more if the testimony was true which asserted that he advised his vassals to appeal to the king, to the pope, and finally to the grand turk to induce him to threaten to persecute the christians in his dominions if the moriscos were not left in peace, and further that he advised them to rise and promised to arm them if they would do so. this was not the only case for, in 1571 the master of montesa and two other nobles appeared in an auto for the same offence and, in 1578, two others were the subjects of investigation.[998] the lords further made themselves obnoxious by seeking to protect their vassals from the ceaseless exactions of the alguaziles set over them to see that they attended mass regularly, and to fine those who did not, or who worked on feast-days. these gentry were paid by a half or a third of their collections; their position was not enviable, threatened as they were both by the lords and the moriscos in the remoter districts, and it was impossible to fill the position with men of fitting character.[999] * * * * * these spasmodic and fruitless efforts to convert the so-called converts were accompanied with frequent relaxations of the rigid canons against heresy, interesting because they infer a dim conception that toleration, after all, might be a more practical method of winning human souls than oppression and persecution. unfortunately, this fluctuating policy was the most irrational that could be devised. the moriscos had been so sedulously taught to abhor christianity and to distrust their conquerors that leniency could be regarded only as dictated by fear, and as affording licence to follow more undisguisedly the practices of their ancient faith, while the alternations of severity only increased their hatred of the religion of their oppressors. [sidenote: _valencia_] edicts of grace were the favorite resort when there was a disposition to show moderation, but these, as we have seen, were, for the most part, nugatory, because they were contingent on recorded confessions and the obligation to denounce accomplices. the recorded confession rendered the penitent liable to the terrible penalties of relapse and, as the latter was sure to occur, the morisco naturally hesitated to incur the liability. to obviate this objection, the unprecedented concession was made of suspending the canons concerning relapse. this could be done only by papal authority and it was repeatedly tried. the earliest instance seems to be a brief of clement vii, december 5, 1530, empowering manrique to appoint confessors with faculties to absolve penitents, even if they had relapsed repeatedly, with secret absolution and penance, and to release them and their descendants from all penalties, disabilities and confiscation, the reason alleged for this liberal condonation of apostasy being the lack of priests in the morisco districts to instruct the converts in the faith. it was not, however, until 1535 that manrique transmitted this to the valencia tribunal with orders to execute it, and even then it does not seem to have exercised much influence on the number of trials, though if honestly put into operation it would have superseded them.[1000] this policy continued to be followed spasmodically and grants exonerating from the penalties of relapse were repeatedly made during the rest of the century.[1001] there was also, in the edicts of grace, the necessity of denouncing accomplices, which the moriscos, to their credit, could rarely persuade themselves to do. bishop figueroa of segorbe pointed this out to philip iii as a matter of supreme importance, as it required them to accuse their parents, their wives and their children, which even the secular laws pretermitted as a matter so horrible to human nature.[1002] still it was required by the canon law, and could not be omitted without special papal authority. philip ii was so convinced of its impolicy that, when a crucial effort was to be made to test whether the moriscos could be converted, as an alternative to expulsion, by an edict of grace on the most favorable terms, he endeavored to have this condition removed, but clement viii, as we have seen (vol. ii, p. 462) while granting, in 1597, an edict covering relapse and conceding that confession could be made to the episcopal ordinaries, insisted that confession must include full denunciation of the apostasy of others.[1003] various causes delayed the publication of the edict until 1599, after philip iii had succeeded to the throne. great preparations were made for it as for a final experiment; rectors, preachers and commissioners were sent through the land, under detailed instructions from ribera, who told them that the work was difficult but not impossible; ribera's fund was drawn upon for the colleges; the barons were to found schools for the instruction of young children, and a _hermandad_ was organized to place girls in convents or in the families of old christians.[1004] the edict was duly published in valencia, august 22, 1599; its term was for only one year, but it was extended to eighteen months. philip iii eagerly awaited the result, which was conveyed to him in a report of august 22, 1601, by the tribunal. during the eighteen months of the edict, the inquisitors said, only thirteen persons had come forward to take advantage of it and these had made such fictitious confessions, and had so protected their accomplices, that they deserved condemnation rather than absolution; some of them, indeed, had already been denounced to the inquisition, so that they had evidently been impelled by fear rather than by the desire of conversion. the inquisitors went on to describe the moriscos as moors who would always be moors and, if the inquisition did not convert them, it at least compelled them to sin with less publicity and thus diminished their evil example.[1005] this failure may be regarded as virtually deciding the fate of the moriscos. archbishop ribera emphasized it in two strong memorials addressed to philip iii, and expulsion came to be recognized as the only solution of the situation, although the vacillation and irresolution of the court postponed for some years the execution of the measure. [sidenote: _valencia_] a glance at the tables in the appendix will show how little influence the successive edicts of grace had on the operations of the inquisition, which reaped its harvests irrespective of them. yet those tables reveal that, between 1540 and 1563, there were periods during which the tribunal was idle, at least as to cases of heresy. these intervals represent some remarkable efforts to try the effect of moderation, which, although neutralized by lack of coöperative work in winning over the converts, merit examination as measures without example in the career of the spanish holy office. the nobles of valencia complained forcibly of the disquiet caused among their vassals by the operations of the inquisition, and the córtes petitioned that thirty or forty years might be allowed for their instruction during which they should be exempt from prosecution. charles assembled a junta of prelates and theologians, which suggested various plans of moderation and conciliation, from among which he selected that of granting a term of grace for past offences, allowing them to confess sacramentally to confessors, and that a period should be provided for their instruction, during which the inquisition should not prosecute them. this period was liberally fixed at twenty-six years, with the warning that, as they should use or abuse it, it would be extended or shortened. we have seen the failure to provide them with churches and instructors, and it is scarce surprising that they commenced to live openly as moors, saying that, as they had thirty years in which to do as they pleased, they would take full advantage of it.[1006] this could not be permitted, and the effort to convert by toleration came to a speedy end. the tribunal which had no cases in 1541, 1542 and 1543 resumed operations and had 79, 37 and 49 in 1544, 1545 and 1546--a portion of which, however were undoubtedly the judaizers prosecuted for revoking confessions (vol. ii, p. 584). then, in 1547, came a reversion to a milder policy. a brief dated august 2, 1546, was obtained from paul iii, of so liberal a character that it virtually superseded the inquisition, by granting faculties to appoint confessors with full power to absolve _in utroque foro_--both sacramentally and judicially--even those who had been condemned by the inquisition, and to relieve them and their descendants from all disabilities.[1007] unfortunately the faculty to appoint confessors was conferred on antonio ramírez de haro, who had for some years been acting as "apostolic commissioner" in valencia, with extensive powers over everything relating to the moriscos, but he had, in 1545, left valencia, on a summons, as bishop of segovia, to attend the council of trent--from which summons he succeeded in getting himself excused--and had not subdelegated his authority. according to the archbishop st. thomas of vilanova, this made little difference, because the brief was ineffective, inasmuch as it required abjuration _de vehementi_, entailing relaxation for relapse, to which none of the converts would expose themselves. he, therefore, suggested that more extensive faculties should be obtained, to absolve and pardon without legal forms, seeing that these people had been forcibly converted, that they had never been instructed, and that their intercourse with barbary indisposed them to christianity.[1008] what followed is strikingly illustrative of the procrastination and neglect that rendered spanish administration so ineffective. the commission of the bishop of segovia superseded both the inquisitorial and the episcopal jurisdiction, and his absence left everything in confusion. archbishop thomas wrote, april 12, 1547, to prince philip that, since the bishop had gone, the moriscos had daily become bolder in performing their moorish ceremonies, as there was no one to restrain them; the bishop had left no one to represent him, and no time should be lost in getting him to subdelegate some one who could come at once. promises were made that a person should shortly be sent, but the habitual mañana postponed it indefinitely. on november 10th, the archbishop again represented the complete liberty enjoyed by the conversos, with no one empowered to correct them, but his representations were neglected and, in 1551 and 1552, he was still calling for some one authorized to keep the moriscos in order. even when, in 1551, the bishop of segovia, who still retained his commission, appointed the inquisitor gregorio de miranda as a delegated commissioner, he granted him no inquisitorial power, and the valencia moriscos remained, for ten years longer, free from persecution.[1009] [sidenote: _oppression_] this anomalous condition explains why the tables show only a few cases in 1547, 1548 and 1549, and then an entire cessation up to and including 1562, the former being probably the unfinished work of previous years. in 1561, paul iv empowered valdés to grant faculties to the archbishop of valencia and his ordinary to reconcile secretly the new christians: in those cases which could be judicially proved, the confessions were to be made before a notary and delivered to the tribunal, where they remained of record against both the penitent and his accomplices, while in cases that could not be proved, the penances were to be purely spiritual.[1010] this fresh experiment indicates a revival of interest in the morisco question, to be necessarily followed by a return to the old methods. in 1562, accordingly, the tribunal began to act in teruel, where the town of xea had the reputation of an asylum for malefactors; it was exclusively morisco, no old christian being permitted to reside there. finally, all restrictions were removed and, in 1563, the inquisition was vigorously at work, with sixty-two cases, and held two autos, in which appeared nine cases from xea.[1011] after that there was no further interference with its functions, and it continued to the end to contribute its share to rendering christianity odious. what archbishop ayala thought of its influence in this direction is indicated by his offer, in 1564, to undertake the instruction of the moriscos at his own expense, but only on condition that the inquisition should have nothing to do with them, except in cases of open and defiant sin.[1012] * * * * * even without the aggravation of the inquisition, the condition of the moriscos was deplorable. they had been promised, in return for baptism, that they should have all the privileges of christians, but this, like all other pledges, was made only to be broken. enforced conversion had added to their burdens and had brought no compensatory relief--they were christians as regards duties and responsibilities, but they remained moors in respect to liabilities and inequality before the law. in 1525 the syndics of the aljamas pointed out that, in order to enjoy their religion, they had been subjected by their lords to many imposts and servitudes which they could not render as christians, for they would not be allowed to work on sundays and feast-days, wherefore they asked to be taxed only as christians. to this it was replied, in the concordia of 1528, that they should be treated as christians and that, to avoid injury to parties, investigation should be made to prevent injustice. their lords, however, did not admit this and, in the same year, the córtes of valencia declared that they retained all their rights over their vassals, who were forbidden to change their domiciles.[1013] the lords accepted the tithes and the first-fruits as a compensation, but merely added these fresh burdens on their vassals, who were powerless to resist. [sidenote: _exactions_] charles recognized this injustice and his responsibility for it, but he dared not raise a conflict with the nobles, and he sought to shield himself behind the awful authority of the inquisition. he therefore procured from clement vii, july 15, 1531, a remarkable brief reciting that, when the saracens were converted, the barons and knights, in compensation for the loss inflicted on them, were empowered to exact from their vassals the tithes and first-fruits, but they have not only enjoyed these new imposts but have continued to extort the personal services and _açofras_[1014] and other demands of the ante-conversion period. thus the converts, unable to endure these accumulated burdens, allege them as justifying their retaining their old customs and disregarding the christian feasts and ceremonies. as charles had asked him for a remedy, and as he knew nothing of the matter, he committed it to manrique with power to hear complaints and render justice, enforcing his decisions with censures.[1015] the rôle of protector of the moriscos was novel for the inquisition and manrique kept the brief until january, 1534, when, in sending fray antonio de calcena and antonio ramírez de haro as commissioners to organize the morisco churches, he informed them that the king ordered the concordia to be enforced; the new christians were in all things to be treated like the old; they were to investigate secretly and report whether this was the case.[1016] apparently the inquisition shrank from the unaccustomed task; there is no trace of its intervention in behalf of the oppressed moriscos, and its only prosecutions of the nobles were for favoring their vassals against its persecution. as for the córtes, their sole efforts were directed to increase the burdens of the vassals and, in case of their condemnation, to profit by the confiscations. thus they were mercilessly pillaged. besides the division of the crops, of which one-third or one-half went to the lord, and besides the tithes and first-fruits, there were innumerable imposts of all kinds and forced loans or benevolences. in 1561, one of the numerous consultas on the morisco question alludes to the hardship of forcing them to live like christians and pay like moors. the king, it added, ought to relieve them from these unjust impositions, but it would throw the whole kingdom into confusion and impede the work of conversion, so the commissioners ought to see how it could be brought about that they should pay no more than the christians. this continued to the end. in 1608, padre antonio sobrino, s. j., argued that one of the chief obstacles to conversion was the tyranny of the lords and, in addition to the exactions in money and kind, he alludes to the forced labors imposed on them, on meagre wages and still more meagre food, or frequently with no wages.[1017] in fact, they were virtually _taillables et corvéables à miséricorde_, and their oppression was tempered only by the ever-present apprehension of rebellion and, in the coast districts, by the facilities of escape to africa. even their ecclesiastical persecutors were almost moved to pity by the hopeless misery of their lot, but we are told that there was no compassion felt for this, as it was generally deemed advisable to keep them impoverished and in subjection.[1018] the control of the lords over their vassals was further safe-guarded by a pragmática of charles v, in 1541, forbidding the moriscos of valencia, under pain of death and confiscation, from changing either domicile or lord, and any one accepting them as vassals, without special royal licence, was fined five hundred florins, or was scourged in default of the money. granadan and castilian moriscos were threatened with death for entering valencia and this, in 1545, was extended to those of aragon. this ferocious legislation was repeated in 1563 and 1586.[1019] akin to this was the suicidal policy of forbidding the emigration of those who were recognized as dangerous domestic enemies. this, as we have seen, was begun by ferdinand and isabella and was rigidly persisted in--partly, no doubt, from a pious scruple of allowing the baptized to apostatize in barbary, and partly to protect the lords from the loss of their vassals. in time this was enforced in aragon by the inquisition, which published edicts to that effect, including the guidance over the mountains of emigrants by christians. in the auto of june 6, 1585, the tribunal punished two who were seeking to leave the country and two who served as guides, with scourging and the galleys for three men and scourging and imprisonment for a woman.[1020] not only was this a grievous hardship, by depriving the oppressed of all hope of relief, but it was a fatal error for, if the discontented had been allowed to expatriate themselves, the remainder could have commanded better treatment, and the morisco question which, for half a century, distracted spanish statesmanship, might have settled itself without the desperate expedient of expulsion. disarmament was another precaution entailing a grievance which was keenly felt. we have seen it in granada, and that in valencia it was a prudent preliminary to enforced baptism in 1525. in the concordia of 1528, the moriscos asked that their arms be restored to them, and were told that they would be treated as old christians. this promise, like the rest, was broken. the pragmática of 1541, among its other restrictions, included that of bearing arms. this was not enforced and, in 1545, orders were sent to carry it into effect, but the methods suggested show that it was regarded as a dangerous business, and the purpose was abandoned. in 1552, st. thomas of vilanova urged that it should be done, and so did inquisitor miranda in 1561. finally, in 1563, the work was done by a sudden simultaneous action of the lords, when the inventories compiled show that, in 16,377 morisco houses, there were seized 14,930 swords, 3,454 cross-bows and a long list of other weapons, indicating how industriously the moriscos had provided themselves.[1021] [sidenote: _disarmament--limpieza_] in aragon, the matter was confided to the inquisition. the tribunal of saragossa issued a decree, november 4, 1559, forbidding the moriscos from carrying arms, but the nobles appealed to the suprema and procured its indefinite suspension.[1022] the question was revived, in 1590, but a quarrel with the archbishop on a point of precedence delayed its consideration, and then the troubles of antonio pérez distracted attention. finally, in 1593, philip ii ordered the disarmament, the execution of which was entrusted to the tribunal. two inquisitors traversed the land and collected 7,076 swords, 3,783 arquebuses, 489 cross-bows, 1,356 pikes, lances and halberds and large numbers of other weapons. knives were permitted, but these increased in size until they became formidable; after two or three officials of the inquisition had been killed with them when making arrests, a royal edict of 1603 limited them to a third of an ell in length and required them to be pointless.[1023] the result of these precautions was seen when the edict of expulsion was enforced and the desperate wretches who essayed a hopeless resistance were slaughtered. the growth of the absurd cult of limpieza brought another hardship of no little moment. at first there was a disposition to exempt moriscos from its exclusiveness. when, in 1565, philip ii was trying conciliation he ordered that leading and influential moriscos should be appointed as familiars, and we have seen that inquisitor miranda gave commissions to the brothers abenamir. paul iv forbade admission to holy orders to the descendants of jews to the fourth generation and, in 1573, gregory xiii extended this to the moriscos, but the córtes of monzon, in 1564, had decreed that those trained in the morisco college of valencia should be allowed to hold benefices and the cure of souls among their people, and we are told that it graduated some good priests and preachers and doctors of theology.[1024] yet in time the exclusion became general, and throughout spain no distinction was made between descendants of jews and mudéjares. in a land where a career in office, secular or ecclesiastical, was the ambition of every man who had a smattering of education, this barrier condemned to obscurity able men who naturally devoted their energies to stimulating disaffection and provoking revolt. navarrete, as we have seen, even thinks that the necessity of the expulsion would have been averted but for this; that the moriscos could have been christianized, if they had had the opportunity to identify themselves with the nation and to share in its public life, in place of being driven to desperation and to hatred of religion by the indelible stigma imposed upon them.[1025] the baptism of morisco children furnished a perpetual source of irritation. rigid regulations were prescribed to ensure the administration of the sacrament, as it was essential to their salvation and to rendering them subject to inquisitorial jurisdiction. no morisco woman was allowed to act as midwife, but in every village there was a christian midwife, carefully selected and instructed. she kept watch on all pregnant women, under a fine of a hundred reales for every case she missed. after putting the infant to the breast, her first duty was to notify the priest and alguazil, after which she was not to leave the bed-side save for indispensable household duties. the baptism was performed the same day or the next, and careful registers were kept, so that identification could be secured. there is doubtless truth in the universal assertion that, on returning home, the father scraped and washed the spots touched by the chrism, in the belief that he thereby effaced the sacrament.[1026] [sidenote: _prohibited marriages_] marriage was the source of infinite trouble. the church had prohibited unions within the fourth degree of kinship and, by inventing spiritual affinity, it had complicated and enlarged the incestuous area while, by assuming for the pope the profitable power of selling dispensations, it admitted that the restriction was purely artificial. among the moors, marriage between first cousins was permitted and, as the moriscos dwelt confined in their morerías, or in small, isolated villages, without power to change domicile, intermarriage throughout generations had created such complexity of relationship that unions lawful under the canon law must have been exceptional. we have seen the question raised in the concordia of 1528, with the result that existing marriages and betrothals were dispensed for, but that future ones must conform to the canons. this was a virtual impossibility; the rectors sought to make their subjects purchase dispensations, but we are told that they rarely did so; that, in some places, they merely told the lord that the parties were of kin and that, if he made no objection, the marriage would take place--an indifference for which more than one noble was prosecuted and publicly penanced.[1027] under such circumstances, there could have been no christian marriage-rites, and the union was legally pure concubinage, or at best clandestine marriage, which the council of trent, in 1563, pronounced invalid.[1028] it was probably the conciliar definitions that induced the córtes of monzon, in 1564, to petition that facilities should be afforded for obtaining dispensations from the commissioner of the santa cruzada, who possessed the requisite faculties, and further that the offspring of such unions should be legally legitimate. to this not unreasonable request the bishops of the council of valencia, in 1565, replied by threatening excommunication and other penalties on all marrying within the prohibited degrees, and on all concerned in evasions of the canons.[1029] the matter was universally admitted to be of supreme importance, but it was treated with the customary negligence and procrastination. at length, in 1587, philip ii represented it to sixtus v, but he only obtained a brief, january 25, 1588, granting to the valencia bishops, for six months only, faculties to validate such marriages, legitimate the children and absolve the parents _in utroque foro_, with salutary penance, for all of which no fees were to be exacted. it is not likely that the officials took much interest in performing this gratuitous labor, or that the moriscos, even if they chanced to hear of the brief, exposed themselves to the annoyances which it entailed. the last recorded action in the matter is that philip, in 1595, resolved to apply for another brief of the same nature. he doubtless obtained it with the same nugatory result.[1030] the moorish rule, to eat no meat slaughtered by the uncircumcised, was made the pretext for some troublesome intermeddling. in the granada decree of 1526, charles v forbade all slaughtering by moriscos, in places where there was an old christian; where there was none, the priest was to designate a person to perform the office.[1031] little attention appears to have been paid to the matter, until archbishop ribera issued an edict prohibiting moriscos from eating meat that had not been slaughtered by an old christian. this was trespassing on the jurisdiction of the inquisition and, in 1579, the suprema called upon the valencia tribunal for a report, including what bishop gallo of orihuela had done with regard to the same matter. the tribunal replied that the edict was obeyed, but that the moriscos would eat no meat slaughtered by old christians, except in a few places, under compulsion by their lords. the edict ought to be perpetuated, for the refusal to eat the meat of a christian butcher was proof of suspicion, requiring prosecution by the inquisition. in orihuela there was doubt whether a cow killed at aspe had been properly slaughtered; the moriscos refused to eat of it, for which the murcia tribunal punished a number of them, leading bishop gallo to order that, at aspe and nobelda, the butchering should be done by old christians. it was probably this which led to general legislation forbidding moriscos to follow the trade of butchers, or even to kill a fowl for a sick man, a law repeated as late as 1595.[1032] * * * * * [sidenote: _ravages on the coast_] subjected to the perpetual exasperation of interference with their habits and customs, to the oppression of their lords and the persecution of the inquisition, denied all opportunity to rise in the social scale, forbidden to enjoy the faith of their ancestors, while sedulously trained to hate the religion imposed on them, and despairing of relief in the future, it is no wonder that the moriscos were discontented subjects, eager to throw off the insupportable yoke and to rise against their oppressors. they were, however, but little more than half a million of souls, weaponless and untrained, in a population of eight or ten millions--a negligible quantity in the vigorous days of ferdinand and even in the earlier years of charles v. the spanish monarchy, however, had squandered its strength on distant enterprises; even before the fearful drain in the netherlands, the exhaustive effort required to crush the moriscos of granada showed that it was already bankrupt in resources. that episode was a warning which spanish statesmanship might well take to heart, and, year by year, the fear grew greater of what might be the fate of spain if internal enemies should unite with external. there had long been a source of humiliation and annoyance, though not in itself of danger, in the ravages of moorish corsairs along the southern coast, for which the moriscos were held responsible. undoubtedly they aided by conveying information, maintaining relations with barbary, and availing themselves of the razzias to escape thither when they could, but the primary fault lay in the incredible fatuity of a policy, so preoccupied with foreign ambitions and the fatal burgundian inheritance, that it neglected the protection of the spanish shores, until it became a proverb that these were the indies of the turkish and moorish sea-rovers. complaints of these ravages commence with the christianization of granada and continue uninterruptedly for more than a century, while the measures to guard against these attacks were spasmodic and miserably insufficient. boronat gives a list of thirty-three descents, between 1528 and 1584, but this cannot include the innumerable landings from small vessels to carry away bands of moriscos and such pillage as could hastily be gathered--little raids such as that picturesquely described by cervantes, with its characteristic feature of the fortified church, in which the christians of the sea-coast village defended themselves, while the moriscos eagerly hurried to embark.[1033] in the larger expeditions, the moriscos sometimes escaped in considerable numbers. in 1559, dragut carried off twenty-five hundred; in 1570, all those of palmera were taken; in 1584, an algerine fleet removed twenty-three hundred, and the next year another fleet took away the whole population of callosa, all of which was exceedingly damaging to the lords who lost their vassals.[1034] these raids were practically unresisted and unavenged, for the coasts were unguarded by land or sea. occasionally, as in 1519, we hear of a few hundred troops sent, when news was received of an expected hostile fleet: sometimes there were negotiations between the central government and the exposed provinces to maintain a force on the water, but the inadequacy of these precautions is illustrated by the bargaining in 1547, when the catalan córtes complained of the irreparable damage inflicted by the moorish corsairs and asked that six of the castilian galleys be sent to winter there. prince philip would only promise that he would do what was suitable, which brought an offer that catalonia would equip and man one galley while valencia promised one or two, and philip acceded to the request that the castilian galleys should coöperate with them.[1035] another expedient was based on the assumed collusion of the moriscos with the corsairs, and it seemed easier to exclude them wholly from the coast than to guard it effectually. as early as 1507 ferdinand undertook to depopulate it from gibraltar to almería, but the experiment proved a failure.[1036] it was tried again repeatedly, in various savage laws to prevent moriscos from travelling within prescribed distances from the sea, and from holding communication with the corsairs, but this naturally effected nothing.[1037] in 1604, the córtes of valencia even proposed to enlist the coöperation of the moriscos, by suggesting that they should redeem all christians captured and enslaved on the valencian coast, in return for which the rigor of the inquisition should be relaxed and their evidence against each other should not be required, but it is needless to say that the plan was rejected.[1038] while this matter of the corsairs was comparatively trivial in itself, it bore a disproportionately large share in the discussions on the morisco question, and undoubtedly had its influence on the final decision. the result, indeed, showed that there was a connection between the moriscos and the corsairs, for one of the benefits derived from the expulsion was relief to the coasts.[1039] vastly greater, however, in the eyes of statesmen, was the impending danger of rebellion, coincident with attack from barbary or from the turk or, in later years, from france. [sidenote: _conspiracies_] even as early as 1512, peter martyr, in describing the disturbed condition of granada, declared that if some daring pirate leader should march into the interior, the population would rise and, as ferdinand was occupied with the conquest of navarre, all would go to ruin.[1040] in 1519, there was a scare in valencia over a report that the moors of algiers were coming to seize the kingdom, in concert with the moriscos.[1041] it is somewhat remarkable that, when a conspiracy was discovered in 1528, the eagerness of the valencia tribunal to defend its jurisdiction actually led it to protect the conspirators. the authorities had arrested pere de alba and his mother-in-law isabel, as the leaders of the plot. the tribunal claimed them as apostates and, when they were sent to it for examination, it threw them into its prison and refused to surrender them, although the viceroy demanded them as essential to unravelling the details of the conspiracy. cardinal manrique was obliged to despatch a special courier with a letter expressing his surprise, as the safety of the state was the first consideration, but even then the tribunal only gave them up with a warning that they must not be made to suffer in life or limb.[1042] when philip ii returned to spain, in 1559, he called for a report on the moriscos, and the information submitted to him comprised an account of a plot with the turks for an invasion.[1043] in 1565, a number of arrests were made on charges of treasonable correspondence with the turk, and it was public rumor that thirty thousand moriscos were enrolled, awaiting only the capture of malta to rise in aid of an invasion. the french ambassador, who reported this, subsequently added that the story of the conspiracy was contradicted, but the moriscos were so badly treated by the inquisition that despair might readily lead them to rise in arms to aid the turk.[1044] in 1567, the trial of gerónimo roldan, by the valencia tribunal, revealed evidence of envoys from the ruler of algiers with a letter urging the moriscos to rise, together with plans to organize and arm them.[1045] it is true that the rebellion of granada showed that there was no such eagerness to invade spain as was apprehended, but, on the other hand if, with the aid of five or six hundred moors and turks, the insurgents had taxed to the utmost the power of the kingdom, what was the prospect if a powerful fleet, holding command of the sea, should land a heavy force of trained and well-armed fighting men? during the rebellion, the venetian envoy, sigismondo cavalli, pointed out that assistance from barbary would involve the kingdom in the greatest straits, for there were about six hundred thousand moriscos to help an invader. so, in 1575, lorenzo priuli, estimating them at four hundred thousand, described them as the source of perpetual danger.[1046] the peril constantly increased with time. it was universally recognized that, through the drain to the colonies, the external wars, and the growth of the celibate clergy, the old christians were constantly diminishing in numbers, while the moriscos were rapidly increasing; the material and especially the military resources of spain were becoming gradually exhausted, and spanish statesmen looked forward anxiously to the time when, as fray bleda tells us, the moriscos hoped eventually, to reconquer the land with the aid of the moors and turks.[1047] [sidenote: _conspiracies_] nor was this all for, with the pacification of france under the able control of henry iv, there loomed before them a new and more dangerous enemy. henry had a long debt of vengeance to pay, and was but awaiting his opportunity. he was in alliance with the turk and had no conscientious scruple as to moslem aid. even as early as 1583, while as yet he was only king of navarre, there was a scare over an asserted combination between him and the turk, for an invasion in combination with the moriscos, which led the suprema, in january, 1584, to order from the saragossa tribunal a report on all the evidence in the records as to plots for rebellion.[1048] this was furnished in detail and shows the incessant vigilance and constant anxieties, since 1565, to which the disaffection of the moriscos had given rise, and their correspondence not only with the barbary states and the turk, but with the french huguenots. a portion of the evidence was undoubtedly manufactured by the spies in the pay of the inquisition, but there was enough of genuine to show that plots and intrigues were constantly on foot among the moriscos. henry iv was quite ready to utilize their disaffection in furtherance of his plans for the overthrow of the spanish monarchy and, in 1602, he entered into negotiations with them, through the marshal duke de la force, his governor in béarn and navarre. they promised to raise eighty thousand men and to deliver three cities, one of them a seaport and, as an earnest of their resolve, they paid to la force, at pau, in 1604 or 1605, a hundred and twenty thousand ducats, but henry decided that the moment was not favorable and the plan was postponed.[1049] then, in 1608, there came a fresh alarm through negotiations of the valencian moriscos with muley cidan, a pretender to the throne of morocco, to whom they promised two hundred thousand men, if he would bring twenty thousand and seize a seaport, while certain hollanders agreed to furnish transportation. philip iii was so impressed with this that, in sending the report to the royal council, he ordered it to consider the matter to the exclusion of everything else. he admitted the defenceless condition of spain; muley cidan was its declared enemy; sultan ahmed i had his hands free from the war with persia and had suppressed his own rebels; spain's italian possessions were exhausted and ripe for revolt, while at home the moriscos were impatient for liberation. the council was therefore ordered to consider the means of preserving peace, short of butchering them all.[1050] this scare passed away; muley cidan rejected the morisco overtures, and ahmed sent his fleet against the coasts of italy. the impression remained, however; the final impulsion had been given, and thenceforth the expulsion of the moriscos was only a question of means and opportunity. its execution can scarce be said to have been premature for, although those of valencia were deported in the autumn of 1609 and those of aragon in the spring of 1610, henry iv still relied on those who were left to aid him in his plans for the destruction of spain. a part of his design was an invasion by la force with ten thousand men, trusting to the coöperation of the moriscos, with whom negotiations had been resumed. la force was in consultation with him, and was in his carriage on may 14, 1610, when, in the rue de la ferronerie, the knife of ravaillac gave spain a respite.[1051] it was evidently supposed that the expulsion had been imperfect and that spain was still an easy prey. the baron de salignac, french ambassador at constantinople, wrote to henry, may 2, 1610, that no matter how many moriscos had been banished, enough remained to give the spaniards trouble; war that elsewhere could cost a crown would not there cost a maravedí, and when it should begin spain would find it more difficult to raise a maravedí than it would be to raise a doubloon elsewhere.[1052] as events turned out, these were vain speculations, but they have interest as showing how, in the estimation of her enemies, spain had fatally crippled herself by the mismanagement of her morisco subjects. to the spanish statesmen of the time the situation had become one from which extrication was imperative at whatever cost. * * * * * it can readily be believed that the matter had long before awakened the earnest solicitude of philip ii and his counsellors. as early as 1581, when in lisbon consolidating his rule over portugal, he formed a junta of his chief advisers to formulate a definite conclusion. that which they reached was the merciful one of sending to sea all the moriscos who would not be catechised or did not desire to remain, embarking them on worthless ships which were to be scuttled, for it was deemed unwise to add to the population of africa; it was resolved that, when the fleet returned from the azores, the plan should be executed by antonio de leyva but, when the fleet arrived, it was wanted in flanders, and the project was abandoned. when, in 1602, philip iii was informed of this, he expressed his pleasure because it justified what was then in contemplation.[1053] [sidenote: _deliberations_] as fray diego de chaves, confessor of philip ii, was a member of the junta, there could have been no conscientious scruples concerning this wholesale murder. the church for centuries had taught that death was the penalty for heresy; this was past discussion and was accepted as a matter of course, so that anything short of it was a grace undeserved--slavery, the galleys, the mines, castration, were mercies for which the culprits should feel grateful. so all theologians taught and so fray bleda learnedly set forth in his hideous book, the _defensio fidei_, which was approved in rome after careful examination, and was printed at the expense of philip iii.[1054] yet, for the honor of humanity, it must be said that there were a few rare souls who held that religion should be spread by love and charity--at least we may so assume from a memorial presented to the lisbon junta, setting forth that the proper means of conversion had never yet been tried; that the cure had failed through the use of violence, for the disease was not incurable and the fault lay in the methods adopted; christ had sent forth the apostles to convert the world by preaching the gospel, and the effort should be to find teachers of exemplary life, who would preach with love and gentleness. the memorial recited calmly and temperately the mistakes that had been made in the use of coercion and the absence of instruction and persuasion, and it proposed a series of measures which show that the writer was familiar with the difficulties of the task, the essential condition of which was that those entrusted with it should persuade themselves that it was not impossible. the junta contented itself with proposing that, if the king so desired, the memorial could be sent to the prelates of valencia, aragon and granada, for examination and report. it seems to have been so sent, but only two answers are on record. archbishop ribera replied with the alternative of immediate expulsion or, what would be better, thinning out the moriscos by appointing a body of special inquisitors, who should execute speedy justice, until there should be so few left that they could be expelled without trouble, thus calmly proposing to burn men and women by the hundred thousand. a shade less ferocious was the suggestion of the inquisitor of valencia, ximenez de reynoso, who favored expulsion to newfoundland, under the guard of soldiers, who should receive allotments of land and vassals, similar to those of the conquistadores in the new world.[1055] such an expulsion averted the danger of increasing the african population and was recommended, with a characteristically savage addition, by martin de salvatierra, bishop of segorbe, when, in 1587, his advice was sought by philip. he responded by a long and brutal attack on the moriscos, and suggested deportation to newfoundland, where they would speedily perish, especially if the precaution were taken of castrating all the males, old and young.[1056] it is to the credit of philip ii and his counsellors that, after the failure of the lisbon project of 1581, they refused to entertain the inhuman suggestions of their ecclesiastical advisers. the matter continued to be threshed out, over and over again, in repeated juntas and councils, in innumerable consultas, and in the system, which philip had reduced to perfection, of endless talking and writing, which served as an excuse for inaction. one device after another was discussed, such as reducing all the moriscos to slavery, or sending the able-bodied to the galleys, but the idea of expulsion gradually forged to the front. in this confused tangle of prejudice, passion and fanaticism, it is refreshing to meet with a more statesmanlike view, expressed in a letter of the royal secretary, francisco de idiaquez, october 3, 1594, concerning a paper, submitted to him by the king, from some zealous but unpractical person, who argued that the existing scarcity arose from overpopulation, which would be relieved by the expulsion of the moriscos. so far from this being the case, said idiaquez, spain had less inhabitants than for the last two or three centuries. if the presence of this vile race were as safe as it was profitable, there was not a corner of land that should not be placed in their hands, for they alone would bring fertility and plenty by their skill and thrift, which would reduce the price of provisions and with them that of other products. cheapness was not caused by scanty population but by dense, if the people would work; the high prices were the result of the vice, the idleness, the luxury and the excessive superfluities indulged in by all classes.[1057] [sidenote: _deliberations_] the panic fear entertained of the moriscos is reflected in an elaborate memorial presented to philip iii, on his accession in 1598, by the marquis of velada, who had been his tutor and was his _mayordomo mayor_, seriously urging sicilian vespers to prevent them from adopting the same expedient.[1058] yet the simpler solution of allowing the irreconcilables to depart was not without its advocates, and at one time came near to adoption. in 1598, don martin gonzález de cellorigo submitted to secretary idiaquez the suggestion that they should be permitted or required to leave spain, scattering the rest throughout castile, on their abjuring their heresies, and subjecting them to the restrictions imposed on the exiles from granada.[1059] even as late as 1607, the _junta de tres_, to which the whole affair of the moriscos had been entrusted, in a consulta of january 1st, favored the plan of allowing all, who would not accept christianity, to betake themselves to barbary, pointing out the futility of the objection that this would increase the power of the moors, and this it repeated, october 29th, adding the suggestion that the moriscos of castile should be scattered and confined to agricultural labor, in all of which philip signified his concurrence.[1060] this was too sensible and humane to suit the ecclesiastics, who were bent on getting rid of the obnoxious apostates by expulsion or extermination, and spain was not to be allowed so easy a solution of the difficulties created by a century of fanaticism and wrong-doing. in the irresolute and vacillating policy of the court, a final effort was made, as we have seen, to conciliate and instruct, in the edict of grace of 1599, under conditions that rendered it nugatory. its failure, in 1601, was followed by the memorials of archbishop ribera urging expulsion, and any subsequent efforts to convert, such as a junta of bishops held in 1608 and 1609, were merely to keep the moriscos amused and in ignorance of the more drastic measures proposed, during the years in which philip iii and his advisers discussed and rediscussed the question, pondered over details and avoided an irrevocable decision. when, under pressure of the alarm about muley cidan, philip called upon his council of state for an immediate decision, it admitted that there had been too much delay and that the matter must not be left for the next generation, for the christians, through wars and religion and dissolute lives, were constantly diminishing in numbers, while the moriscos, through peace and frugality, were multiplying until in time they would be the majority. the alternatives of massacre or slavery, or the galleys, or allowing the discontented to emigrate were barely alluded to, and expulsion was in the minds of all. the external relations of spain rendered the opportunity propitious and it ought not to be wasted. the work should commence with valencia, which was the most dangerous centre, and the other kingdoms could be kept quiet with assurances that the expulsion was not to go further. the opposition of the nobles could be bought off by granting them the real and personal property of their vassals, and preparations should be made to have a powerful fleet off the coast by the end of spring, and sufficient forces on land to crush resistance. as the inquisition was in the habit of making many arrests, it could readily seize the influential moriscos, so as to deprive the rest of their leadership. this sketched out the plan eventually followed, and the only partially dissentient voice was that of the royal confessor, cardinal fray gerónimo xavierr, who pleaded the forcible baptism and the futile endeavors to instruct by ministers, many of whom were of lives so depraved that they wrought harm by their evil example; he asked that efforts to convert should continue and if, by the time set for expulsion, there was no prospect of improvement, the proposed rigor would be justified. a process could then be formed by the inquisition as to their apostasy, when they could be condemned for treason against god, or, if rebellion were proved, for treason against the king.[1061] this last suggestion refers to a characteristic scruple. ribera had alluded to it in his second memorial, to the effect that expulsion would be an invasion of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, depriving it of inflicting the canonical punishments, but this, he suggested, could be removed by application to the pope.[1062] it was doubtless in view of this scruple, and to avoid interference by the inquisition, which was interested in maintaining the existing situation, that the edict of expulsion represented the measure as purely secular, caused by the treasonable correspondence of the moriscos with the enemies of spain, and by the necessity of placating god for their heresies.[1063] [sidenote: _expulsion_] still there were irresolution and delay, and the die was not cast until, in april, 1609, the council of state presented a consulta unanimously agreeing on expulsion and virtually determining that the work should commence in autumn, the interval being employed in organizing the militia, bringing troops from italy, and assembling squadrons to command the coast. early in may orders were sent to the viceroys of sicily, naples and milan to have the galleys in readiness and, at the end of june, the squadrons were instructed to rendezvous at majorca on august 15th. even after this there were evidences of hesitation and vacillation, but the plan was adhered to.[1064] early in august, don agustin de mexia, an officer of high rank, who had distinguished himself at the siege of ostend, was sent to valencia, ostensibly to inspect the fortifications, but armed with full powers to carry out the expulsion. he bore a letter from the king to ribera, expatiating on the influence which the latter had had in leading him to a decision. ribera had obtained more than he had bargained for. his somewhat selfish theory had been that, by expelling the moriscos from the rest of spain, those of valencia and aragon could be controlled, and he shrank from the loss and misery to be inflicted on his immediate surroundings. as late as december 19, 1608, he had urged this view in a letter to the royal secretary, arguing that they were an injury to castile and andalusia, while their removal would be ruin to valencia and aragon, now the most flourishing kingdoms of spain. the larger cities, he said, lived on the provisions brought by the moriscos; the churches, hospitals, monasteries, brotherhoods, pious bequests, nobles, gentry and citizens depended on their services and were supported by the censos charged on their communities; he often wished to die rather than to witness such destruction.[1065] so, when mexia reached valencia, august 20th, and, after conference with the viceroy caracena, ribera was sent for and read the royal letter, he repeated these arguments and proposed that all three should join in appeal to the king to commence with andalusia. when the conference ended at 4 <small>p.m., he was still firm and was told that a courier for madrid would start at midnight when he could write what he saw fit. on reflection he concluded that the king wanted obedience, not advice, and he sent to the palace, in time for the courier, a letter to the king, and word to mexia and caracena, setting forth that the royal resolution came from heaven and he would further it with all his power. still, he could not reconcile himself to the prospect of poverty. on august 23d he wrote to secretary de prada repeating his urgency that commencement be made with castile and andalusia and, on september 3d, he said to fray bleda and the dominican prior alcocer "padres, we may well in the future have to eat bread and herbs and to mend our own shoes."[1066] the secret had been admirably kept, but the mission of mexia on a duty so incompatible with his rank caused suspicions which grew from day to day. the moriscos commenced to fortify their houses, to cease laboring and bringing provisions to the city, which suffered in consequence; the nobles brought their families to town to be prepared for the worst, and ribera's action in increasing his guard and laying in stores of victuals increased the excitement. the _estamento militar_, or house of nobles, held two or three stormy meetings, in which it was resolved to send a deputation to the king to represent the ruin which expulsion would bring upon every class in the kingdom, where eleven millions of ducats were invested in the censos charged on the morisco communities. the envoys went but, when they reached madrid, they were told by the king that it was too late, for the edict had been already published in valencia.[1067] everything, in fact, had worked with precision. by september 17th the fleet, consisting of sixty-two galleys and fourteen galleons, conveying about eight thousand disciplined troops, had reached their stations at alicante, denia and the alfaques de tortosa, and had commenced landing the men. possession was taken of the sierra de espadan, while castilian cavalry guarded the frontiers. when all was in readiness, royal letters to the jurados, diputados and estamento militar were read and, on the 22d, the edict was published. [sidenote: _expulsion_] the comparative liberality of the terms and the short notice allowed manifest the sense of weakened power. under irremissible pain of death, within three days after publication in the several towns and villages, all moriscos were to depart for the port of embarkation designated by a commissioner. they could take such portable property as they could carry on their backs; they would find vessels ready to carry them to barbary and would be fed on the voyage. during the three days all must remain at home awaiting the orders of the commissioners and, after that, any one absent from his domicile could be robbed by the first comer and carried to a magistrate or be slain if offering resistance. as the king gave to the lords all real and personal property not carried off, any firing of houses or harvests or hiding of portable things would be punished by putting to death all the inhabitants of the place. in order to preserve the houses, the sugar mills, the rice crop and the irrigating canals, six per cent. of the moriscos were allowed to remain. the same permission was given to those who, for two years, had lived among christians without attending the meetings of the aljamas, as well as those admitted to communion by their priests. children under four years of age desiring to stay could do so, with consent of parents or guardians. children under six, whose fathers were old christians, were to stay, together with their morisco mothers: if the father was a morisco and the mother an old christian, he was to go and children under six were to stay with their mother. sheltering fugitives was forbidden, under pain of six years of galleys, and all soldiers and old christians were strictly forbidden to insult or injure moriscos by word or deed. as an evidence of good faith, after every instalment had been carried to barbary, ten were allowed to return and report to their fellows what their treatment had been.[1068] the publication was followed by days of anxious suspense. the people, we are told, rejoiced, for they hated both the moriscos and the nobles, and there were symptoms of a rising against the latter. the lords grieved over the ruin of their lands and the religious communities over the loss of their enormous investments in censos. the moriscos at first were inclined to resist and, after vainly offering large sums to the viceroy, they sought to arm themselves by forging ploughshares and reaping-hooks into pikes, which with slings were their only weapons.[1069] then suddenly their purpose changed. they were awed by the large bodies of disciplined troops and by the cavalry on the border. a meeting was held of their alfaquíes and leaders, in which it was agreed that resistance was hopeless and that, in case of defeat, their children would be brought up as christians, while prophecies were talked of which promised an unexpected blessing. consequently it was resolved that all should go, including the six per cent. allowed to remain, and that any one who stayed should be regarded as an apostate. this had such an effect that those who had been offering large sums to be included in the six per cent. now refused to stay, although asked to name their own terms. the duke of gandía, who had an enormous sugar crop and who could get no other skilled labor to work his mills, vainly offered whatever they might ask. the only condition they would accept was the free exercise of their religion; the duke applied to the viceroy, but ribera declared it to be a concession beyond the power of king or pope to grant, for they were baptized.[1070] the nobles, for the most part, loyally accepted the situation and aided in the execution of the decree. the duke of gandía who, next to the duke of segorbe, had the largest number of vassals, wrote to the king, october 9th, that on september 28th the marquis of santa cruz had embarked for him five thousand of them, whom he desired to be the first, in order to quiet the apprehensions of the rest as to the safety of the voyage. to protect and reassure their vassals, a number of the nobles--the duke of gandía, the marquis of albaida and others--accompanied them and saw them safely on shipboard, and the duke of maqueda even sailed with them to oran, the point of debarkation.[1071] all, however, were not thus self-sacrificing. bishop balaguer of orihuela reported, october 31st, that some were retaining their vassals by threats or by force, and that, unless energetic commissioners were sent, many would be kept.[1072] the moriscos objected to abandoning their personal effects to their lords and sought to convert what they possessed into money. gandía and some others permitted this, but many insisted on their rights and, on october 1st, the viceroy issued a proclamation forbidding all sales, but this led to imminent danger of rebellion and was wisely abandoned. the land became a universal fair in which stock, produce and household gear were sold at a fraction of their value, and finally were given away. the grao or port of valencia, while the exiles were awaiting fair winds, became a bazaar, in which exquisite moorish garments, rare embroideries, rich gold and silver laces and the like were bought for a song.[1073] [sidenote: _expulsion_] as soon as the first shock was over, of abandoning home and possessions, the prospect of reaching a land, where they could openly profess their faith and escape paralyzing oppression, stimulated them to intense eagerness to leave spain. they contended for places in the first embarkation, and the commissioners had no trouble in assembling and leading them to the designated ports. troops escorted them to protect them from the savage greed of the old christians, who gathered in bands, robbing and often murdering those whom they encountered. royal edicts commanding swift justice were issued, gallows were erected along the roadsides and executions were numerous, but it was impossible to prevent outrages. in spite of this the moriscos pressed forward to the shores. at alicante they came with music and song, thanking allah for the happiness of returning to the land of their fathers, which suggests how simple a solution of the question it would have been to permit the emigration of the discontented. many, indeed, distrusting the royal faith, preferred to charter ships and pay for transportation, which was encouraged by providing elaborate regulations to ensure, as far as possible, their safe passage and fair treatment. all the spanish ports were ordered to send their ships to the valencia coast, even discharging those which were loaded, and all arrivals were pressed into service. seeing this eagerness, the promise of free passage was broken after the first embarkation, and the royal galleys charged the same fare as the private vessels--seventy-five reales per head for all over sixteen and thirty-five for those younger. in all there were three embarkations, occupying about three months and including, according to lists kept at the ports, over a hundred and fifty thousand souls.[1074] this eagerness to go was, however, not universal. there were many who, not unreasonably, felt little confidence in the royal faith and preferred the chances of resistance. gathering into bands they sought refuge in two easily defensible positions, one on a peak in the val del aguar, where their numbers were reckoned at from fifteen to twenty-five thousand, and the other in the muela de cortes, where there were said to be nine thousand. mexia paid no attention to them, until the business of embarkation was nearly concluded, when they were readily reduced. in the val del aguar it was a massacre of the weaponless wretches, rather than a battle; three thousand moriscos were slain and only one spaniard, bautista crespo, who was killed by his own firelock. the survivors, starved, frozen and dying with thirst, surrendered at discretion, november 28th, and were conducted to the port of embarkation, but many perished of exhaustion on the road and many women and children were stolen by the soldiers and sold as slaves, while of those who embarked but few reached africa. at the muela de cortes they surrendered on promise of safety to life and property, provided they embarked within three days, but the soldiery, disappointed at the loss of expected booty, fell upon them. only three thousand were brought to the sea-ports, and more than two thousand scattered among the mountains, where for a year or two they gave much trouble. they had elected as king vicente turixi, who was tracked to a cave and brought to valencia, where he was put to a cruel death, december 18th. he died as a good christian and made a most edifying end, for we are told that he had been a most liberal almsgiver and was devoted to the virgin and to the religious orders.[1075] this ended the only open resistance to the expulsion throughout spain. [sidenote: _expulsion_] the unexpected ease of the affair in valencia, regarded as the most dangerous district, quickened the preparations for the other kingdoms. thus far it had been represented as confined exclusively to valencia, but the rest felt that their turn was to come, and remonstrances were showered upon the government, which met them with equivocating denials and assurances. the mask was gradually thrown off. towards the end of october the marquis of san german was sent to seville to prepare for the expulsion from murcia, granada and andalusia. murcia succeeded in obtaining a suspension of the decree, which was published for the other provinces on january 12, 1610, after the galleys and troops had been brought from valencia. it gave the exiles thirty days--subsequently reduced to twenty--after which they were threatened with death and confiscation without trial or sentence. their lands were confiscated to the king, for the service of god and the public, but they were allowed to sell movable property and carry away the proceeds in merchandise bought of spanish subjects, but were forbidden to take bills of exchange, jewels, bullion or money, beyond what was needed for transportation. they could take their children with them, provided they went to christian lands, which led many to charter vessels, ostensibly for france, but in reality for africa. in spite of the reports of the cruelties perpetrated in algiers on the valencia exiles, they are said to have gone with cheerfulness, and many of them sought morocco. by april, andalusia was reported clear of moriscos and that a few remained on the coast of granada, waiting for vessels. the whole number was estimated at from eighty to a hundred thousand, besides twenty thousand who had voluntarily gone in advance. they were reported to have carried much wealth with them, which is not improbable, as many, especially those of seville, were rich and prosperous and held positions of honor. a significant incident was the desire of córdova to retain six per cent. of them and, when this was refused, it petitioned for the retention of two morisco saddlers, for the encouragement of horsemanship, especially as they were old and childless. apparently there were no spaniards capable of making harness.[1076] yet, at first, there were some exceptions made. it had been represented to the king that there were many descendants of mudéjares, voluntarily converted prior to the enforced baptism, who were spaniards in dress, language and religion, including many _beatas_ and persons vowed to chastity. accordingly an order was issued, february 7, 1610, to the bishops to examine all such cases and report to san german those whom they found worthy to be retained. this, however, amounted only to a brief reprieve. their cases were referred to the royal council and those who did not, within the impossibly brief term of thirty or sixty days, obtain favorable decisions were hunted like wild beasts and forcibly carried off.[1077] expulsion from castile had been resolved upon by the council of state, september 15, 1609, but was deferred to await the result in valencia. in preparation, an attempt was made in october to organize the militia, by enrolling one in five of the able-bodied men--a measure twice attempted in vain by philip ii--but it met with resistance which forced its abandonment, for there was no military ardor in spain, even for local service. then an enumeration of the moriscos was ordered which, in conjunction with events in valencia, aroused much excitement. appeals to the court were unanswered, while orders to the magistrates intended to quiet alarm only increased it. many commenced to sell their lands, and this diminution of prospective confiscations was met, towards the end of october, by prohibiting sales, but they were continued under various devices.[1078] on november 3d, the count of salazar was appointed to superintend the expulsion from old and new castile, la mancha and extremadura. from their anxiety to sell their lands he assumed that they mostly would go voluntarily, and he suggested the granting of permission to emigrate. this was adopted, and a royal cédula of december 28th allowed them to leave spain within thirty days, under the same conditions as those of andalusia. such multitudes arranged to pass through biscay into france that the term was extended for thirty days and, on january 19, 1610, salazar was sent to burgos to register them and issue certificates. under this arrangement 16,713 persons, of 3,972 families were registered up to may 1st, when intimations that further admissions to france would be refused, turned the stream to cartagena, where 10,642 embarked, nominally for christian lands, in order to retain their children.[1079] the prohibition to carry money or jewels was naturally evaded as far as possible and, for infractions of it, more than thirty were hanged at burgos. there were also at hand obliging portuguese brokers, who undertook the transmission of the forbidden valuables and who were detected and prosecuted. a safer conduit was found through the french ambassador at madrid, who received very large sums, to be repaid in various french cities. his steward was despatched with the documents, but the spanish authorities were on the alert; he was arrested at buitrago and brought back to madrid, whereupon the ambassador threatened that, if the letters were opened, thereafter no spanish courier should pass through france without seizure of his papers. after an angry correspondence, the spaniards yielded, and the steward was allowed to resume his journey.[1080] [sidenote: _expulsion_] aragon and catalonia were next taken in hand. there had been much disquiet there, which the glozing assurances from the court failed to allay. the old christians began to maltreat the moriscos, who ceased their labors and commenced to sell their movables, while their creditors and holders of censos became alarmed and proceeded to collect their claims with rigor. envoys were sent to the king from aragon with an elaborate memorial detailing the enormous damage to result from expulsion, and the impolicy of reducing the diminishing population of spain. philip made fruitless efforts to prevent the mission from coming, and when it came it was put off with reassuring generalities.[1081] the edicts for aragon and catalonia were the same as that for valencia, except in two points. the catalan one retained children under seven years of age, whose parents were going to infidel lands, which led them to make their way through france to barbary. the other exception, induced by the expense of the valencia expulsion, the cost of which had been swelled to eight hundred thousand ducats, threw upon the exiles all the charges, not only of the journeys and voyage, but the wages of the superintending officials and half a real per head as export duty on what they carried with them, all of which amounted to twenty-four reales at the alfaques de tortosa. the rich were required to pay for the poor, and the commissioners were unmerciful in their exactions, making them pay for the water in the brooks and the shade of the trees in their long summer journeys, besides exacting from them as wages much more than was due.[1082] the edicts were published simultaneously, in saragossa and barcelona, on may 29, 1610. no resistance was attempted, but there went up a cry of despair which moved even their persecutors to compassion; they protested that they were christians and would die as such, even though torn to pieces, but it was too late for this, and they were led submissively in bands of from one to four thousand souls, without guards, although they suffered severely from the brigandage of the old christians. this apathy of despair was most fortunate for spain, as resistance would have been overcome with difficulty. the troops, debarked at the alfaques de tortosa, had not been paid since they left italy; after vainly clamoring for their money, they disbanded, leaving none but the officers, who were fain to gather together such raw recruits as they could find. from aragon the number of exiles was estimated at seventy-five thousand and from catalonia at fifty thousand.[1083] france was inundated by the emigration. henry iv had anticipated it and, in february, had issued an ordonnance permitting those who would profess the catholic faith to settle in the lands beyond the garonne and dordogne, while shipping should be provided for those desiring to sail for barbary.[1084] under this the immigration from castile had been taken care of, but his assassination in may threw everything into confusion, and there was no preparation for the twenty or twenty-five thousand from aragon, who passed through navarre, or sought to make their way over the mountains. la force, after some delay, arranged to admit them in bands of a thousand each, so as not to oppress the population of the sterile district through which they had to pass, and thus they struggled on towards marseilles and other ports where they hoped to find shipping.[1085] there was one body, of some fourteen thousand souls, that was refused admission to france, after they had reached canfranc, the last spanish town on the mountain road over the pyrenees. they had paid forty thousand ducats for permission to go to france, besides the export duties on what they carried, and the expense of the commissioners in charge of them. forced to turn back on the long road to the alfaques, so many of them sickened and died in the summer heat that it was feared that they would bring pestilence to the ships.[1086] in short the story of the exodus from aragon is one of heartless greed and reckless inhumanity. [sidenote: _expulsion_] the dangers which had weighed so heavily on spanish statesmanship were thus removed, but fanaticism and race hatred were not yet satisfied, and it was resolved to root out all traces of the old moorish population. an edict of july 10, 1610, banished all moriscos of granada, valencia and aragon, who were settled in the castilian kingdoms, and this was followed, august 2d, by a similar provision for the kingdoms of aragon. these edicts exempted those who had lived as good christians, but this was a point difficult to establish, and the claims under it were multitudinous and embarrassing. to save the trouble of deciding them an end was put to the matter by banishing all who had thus far been exempted, including even the _moriscos antiguos_, descendants of the old mudéjares. this was effected by orders of march 22d and may 3, 1611, to the corregidores, stating that it was for the service of god and the kingdom that the matter be perfected, wherefore all who had previously been exempted and all who, after expulsion, had returned, were given two months to leave the kingdom, under the irrevocable penalty of death and confiscation, the only exceptions being priests, nuns and the wives of old christians with their children.[1087] this final rooting-out gave infinite trouble. there was often nothing to distinguish these moriscos from old christians, in language, dress or mode of life, and there was no lack of persons to harbor them, whether from compassion or to have the benefit of their services. commissioners were sent to the different provinces with instructions that no privileges or antiquity should avail them, while the courts were expressly prohibited from interference; it was added, indeed, that those who bore the reputation of old christians could appeal to the king, but his representatives soon grew tired of the multitude of perplexing cases thus thrust upon them. the number thus expelled was computed at about six thousand, exclusive of young children, who were given to old christians to bring up. the difficulty of effecting this final clearance was increased by the number of exiles who persisted in returning, in spite of an edict of september 12, 1612, which consigned them all to the galleys. the work seemed endless and finally it was confided to the count of salazar. in this he labored long and strenuously. at almagro he found more than eight hundred returned exiles, of whom he consigned some to the galleys, others to the quicksilver mines of almaden, and the rest he sent abroad at the expense of the magistrates, who had been remiss in detecting and punishing them. his greatest trouble, we are told, lay in deciding the numerous suits of those who claimed that they were not comprised in the edicts and, to cut matters short, on october 26, 1613, he issued, in the name of the king, an edict commanding all moriscos to leave the kingdom within fifteen days; any person receiving or harboring them was threatened with confiscation and, as he included in this fiefs, castles, vassals and royal grants, it shows that nobles were sheltering them. finally a reward of ten ducats was offered for information leading to the capture of a morisco.[1088] in this insane determination to purify the land of all trace of moorish blood, and in the confusion of the process, many catholics as sincere as their persecutors must have been consigned to infidel lands. the time came at last for the moriscos of murcia and the val de ricote to share the fate of their brethren. influence had been exercised to procure the suspension of the edict of december 9, 1609, and of a subsequent one of october 8, 1611, but, after the work was completed elsewhere, the duke of lerma and the royal confessor, fray aliaga, sent investigators who of course reported them to be christians only in name. lerma insisted, philip yielded, and a cédula of october 6, 1613, ordered salazar to enforce the edicts. he was hurried from madrid, november 20th, with instructions to lose no time and, in january 1614, some fifteen thousand were deported, although many old people and invalids were allowed to remain. many women married old christians in order to obtain exemption, and numerous husbands and wives of honorable birth entered religion, to the great enrichment of the monasteries, for which the bishops and the superiors of the orders cheerfully granted licence. early in february, salazar returned to madrid with his work accomplished, although some had escaped to valencia and had returned on being driven out from there. in 1615 salazar reported that he had sent his assistant manrique to murcia to complete the expulsion, but there were still some moriscos in tarragona and the balearic isles, and he knew of others in sardinia and the canaries.[1089] [sidenote: _expulsion_] for some years yet the effort was continued to discover and eject those who were concealed among the old christians--an effort complicated by the numbers who persisted in returning after experiencing the inhospitable reception accorded to them in africa. they offered themselves as slaves to those who would receive them, and in this manner many succeeded in remaining. to prevent this, royal orders were repeatedly issued, but they were ineffective, and the royal council at length grew tired of reiterating them, so that bleda, writing in 1618, deplores the fact that he would die without seeing his land purified of this evil seed. total purification, in fact, was impossible. we are told that, in valencia, la mancha, and granada, there are still communities which in dress, customs and tendencies may be regarded as moriscos with scarce any trace of christianity, and padre boronat ascribes to this element the growth of modern scepticism and the mingled fanaticism and superstition which afflict certain portions of spain.[1090] however this may be, in so far as the inquisition was concerned, the expulsion was a success. in such of its records as i have been able to examine, the _cosas de moros_ virtually disappeared, the exceptions being scarce more than enough to show that vigilance was unrelaxed. for awhile, it is true, there were morisco slaves to be looked after. a letter of march 14, 1616, from the commissioner at denia, asks for instructions concerning some baptized morisco slaves, who had plotted to escape to barbary, which shows how carefully they were watched.[1091] then the exiles who chanced to be captured in moorish corsairs, or who were brought to spain as slaves, or who were in the royal galleys, were subject to prosecution as apostates because they had been baptized, until, in 1629, the suprema mercifully decreed that they should not be molested unless they gave occasion for scandal.[1092] the scattering cases of mahometanism, which figure in the autos de fe subsequent to the expulsion, are mostly of christian renegades, captured at sea, or of moorish slaves taken in the perpetual warfare of the mediterranean, who were baptized under legislation of 1626, repeated in 1638 and 1712.[1093] occasionally, however, we hear of a morisco, such as gerónimo buenaventura--probably one of the children detained in 1609 or 1610--condemned to relaxation by the tribunal of valencia, transferred in 1635 to valladolid and, in 1638 to saragossa, to be burnt for pertinacity.[1094] yet, in spite of the sleepless vigilance of the inquisition, there were descendants of the old moriscos who managed to preserve an organization for the perpetuation of their faith. in 1727 such a one was discovered in granada, so numerous that it furnished forty-five reconciled in an auto of may 9, 1728, followed by twenty-eight more in that of october 10. they must have been wealthy, for the confiscations proved so profitable that the inquisition granted to the chief informer and his heirs a perpetual pension of a hundred ducats.[1095] probably one of these granadans, escaped to jaen, was the ana del castillo, condemned in the córdova auto of march 4, 1731, as a _herege mahometana_, to reconciliation, confiscation and irremissible prison.[1096] the latest allusions to these persistent moriscos occurs in a report, in 1769, by the inquisition to carlos iii, that it had verified the existence, in cartagena, of a mosque maintained by new christians.[1097] details are lacking but, if there were prosecutions and convictions, they may safely be assumed to be the last endured by moriscos. in the complete record of the operations of all the tribunals from 1780 to 1820, there is not a single case of a morisco and the only mahometans are renegades.[1098] * * * * * [sidenote: _expulsion_] contemporary estimates of the number of exiles vary from three hundred thousand to three millions, and the statistics furnished are too fragmentary to admit of accurate computation.[1099] in modern times llorente assumes a total of a million, while janer estimates at the same figure the total morisco population, of whom a hundred thousand perished or were enslaved, leaving nine hundred thousand exiles. vicente de la fuente reduces the number to a hundred and twenty thousand, while danvila y collado, after a careful comparison of all official statistics, reaches an estimate of something under five hundred thousand souls, which padre boronat accepts.[1100] this is probably somewhat under the mark. the nearest approach to a contemporary official statement is that of sebastiano gigli, the lucchese envoy, august 12, 1610, placing the number at six hundred thousand. this he doubtless procured at head-quarters, for he adds that the ministers assured him that it was much greater than they had foreseen.[1101] considering how large had been the mudéjar population and its notorious fecundity, these figures indicate how many had been christianized and had merged into the general mass. one cannot help concluding that with time and reasonable treatment, there would have been no morisco question to perplex the statesmen of spain. the fate of the exiles parallelled that of the jews in 1492, and indeed was even worse, for they were banished more precipitately, and were absolutely forbidden to return even as christians. they were thrust into the new and strange life before them under most unpromising conditions, intensified by the inhumanity of their reception in the homes which they sought. the transit to africa in the royal ships was doubtless safe enough, but the masters of the vessels chartered by them had no scruple in robbing and murdering them, despite the regulations adopted for their safety. many who sailed were never accounted for as arriving. it was not that the spanish authorities were indifferent. fonseca relates that in barcelona, on december 12, 1609, he witnessed the execution of the captain and crew of a barque which had sailed with seventy moriscos. falling in with a neapolitan felucca, the united crews conspired to kill the passengers and divide the booty, amounting to three thousand ducats. under promise of pardon a dissatisfied sailor revealed the crime, when not only were the spaniards punished but the viceroy wrote to naples with details that enabled the authorities there to seize and execute the crew of the felucca.[1102] in france, la force no doubt did what he could to minimize the sufferings of the outcasts, but their hardships were such as to call forth energetic remonstrances from ambassador salignac and from ahmed i himself. cardinal richelieu tells us that some of the officials commissioned to superintend their passage were guilty of much thievery and even permitted murder, but they were punished with such severity that the outrages ceased.[1103] france, however, was only a place of transit. some who passed through sought refuge in italy, where their reception was not hospitable. in 1610 and 1611 the holy see refused to allow those arriving at civita vecchia to remain but, in 1612, some seventy, who reached recanati and asked to be allowed to live as christians, were permitted to settle at a distance from the coast, broken up into small parties and under close surveillance.[1104] barbary, however, was the destination of the vast majority of the exiles, whether direct from spain or by way of france, and their reception by their fellow religionists was terrible. they were landed at oran, whence they had to make their way to the moorish states; they had the reputation of bringing money with them and, after the first embarkation had been safely convoyed by paying heavily for a guard, they were plundered and slain without mercy, and their women were taken from them. even before the year 1609 was out, the count of aguilar, governor-general of oran, wrote that, through fear of the arabs, many were remaining and were starving; twenty of their principal men had come to him, professing to be christians, for they had not known what to believe until they had seen the abominations of the moors, and now they desired to remain and die as christians. in his perplexity, aguilar threw them into prison and applied for instructions. what were given to him we know not, but there is doubtless truth in the statement of the comendador de nuestra señora de las mercedes of oran that, what between disease and the atrocities of the arabs, two-thirds of the exiles had perished. indeed, the general estimate was that the proportion was at least three-quarters.[1105] [sidenote: _expulsion_] these horrors are heightened by the fact that, in the vigorous determination to eradicate every vestige of islam, and in the cruel haste of the process, many who were really christians were cast upon the tender mercies of the infidel. discrimination was difficult and doubt was settled adversely. a typical case is furnished in a petition, november 26, 1609, of gaspar galip, a priest and vicar of the general hospital of valencia, in favor of his two brothers-in-law, francisco castillo and vicente de alcázar. galip himself was the son of a morisco father and old christian mother; his sisters were christians and so were their husbands and children, two in each family, the latter being even ignorant that they had morisco blood. yet ribera was pitiless and both families were deported, doubtless to perish among unbelievers.[1106] escolano tells us that in tunis some of the castilians continued to hear mass and to live as christians, and he prints a letter from a valencian in algiers expressing his determination to persevere in the faith.[1107] if remorse were possible to those who believed that they were rendering a service to god, it might have been felt by the prime movers of the expulsion when they learned that in tetuan, exiled moriscos, firm in the faith, were lapidated or otherwise put to death, because they resolutely refused to enter the mosques.[1108] these were true martyrs, and the church might well have canonized them, in place of beatifying their persecutor ribera.[1109] * * * * * among the arguments advanced in favor of expulsion was that the confiscation of morisco property would bring permanent relief to the treasury and enable it to discharge the enormous and constantly increasing indebtedness. undoubtedly the amounts realized from the rapacious seizure of the property of the exiles were large. already, in october, 1610, the council of finance reported that, in ocana and madrid, it had mostly been sold, and that two hundred thousand ducats had been paid in.[1110] whatever was the magnitude of the receipts, they were quickly dissipated to the greedy courtiers who profited by philip's reckless prodigality. sir francis cottingham, the english ambassador, in letters of march 4th and may 16, 1610, reports that commissioners had been sent to the provinces to sell the houses and farms of the exiles, but the king did not propose to lighten the burdens of the state, for he was dividing the proceeds among his favorites in advance with scandalous liberality. to lerma were assigned two hundred and fifty thousand ducats, to his son, the duke of uceda, a hundred thousand, to his daughter, the countess of lemos, fifty thousand and to her husband a hundred thousand.[1111] we need not be surprised, therefore, to find philip, in 1611, when appealing to the córtes for relief, enumerating, among the reasons for his poverty, the expulsion of the moriscos, in which he had postponed the interest of the treasury to the service of god and of the state.[1112] * * * * * thus, nine hundred years after the overthrow of the gothic monarchy, spain purified her land of the invader by a stroke which cardinal richelieu qualified as the boldest and most barbarous in human annals.[1113] the yearning for unity of faith was gratified, and the anxiety as to attack from without was allayed. that the price paid was heavy is seen in the premature decrepitude which overtook the monarchy during the rest of the century. the causes of decadence were many, but not least among them must be reckoned the fierce intolerance which led to the expatriation of the most economically valuable classes of the population. chapter iii. protestantism. the fate of the little band of spanish protestants has, not unnaturally, excited the earnest sympathy of modern students. much has been written about them; their works have been gathered and reprinted with pious care, and the importance of the reformatory movement has been largely exaggerated. there never was the slightest real danger that protestantism could make such permanent impression on the profound and unreasoning religious convictions of spain in the sixteenth century, as to cause disturbance in the body politic; and the excitement created in valladolid and seville, in 1558 and 1559, was a mere passing episode leaving no trace in popular beliefs. yet, coming when it did, it exercised an enduring influence on the fortunes of the inquisition, and on the development of the nation. at the moment, the career of the holy office might almost seem to be drawing to a close, for it had nearly succeeded in extirpating judaism from spain, while the influx of portuguese new christians had not commenced, and its operations against the moriscos of valencia were suspended. the panic, skilfully excited at the appearance of lutheranism, raised it to new life and importance and gave it a claim on the gratitude of the state, which enabled it to dominate the land during the seventeenth century, while its audacious action against carranza showed that no one was so high-placed as to be beyond its reach. it gained moreover a firmer financial basis than it had previously enjoyed, while, at the same time, inquisitor-general valdés was saved from banishment and disgrace. yet more important even than all this was the dread inspired of heresy, which served as a reason for isolating spain from the rest of europe, excluding all foreign ideas, arresting the development of culture and of science, and prolonging medievalism into modern times. this was the true significance of the little protestant movement and its repression, and it is this which deserves the attention of the student rather than the ghastly dramas of the autos de fe. before the lutheran revolt there was much liberty of thought and speech allowed throughout catholic europe. neither erasmus nor popular writers and preachers had scruple in ridiculing and holding up to detestation the superstitions of the people, the vices, the greed and the corruptions of the clergy, and the venality and oppression of the holy see. the franciscan, thomas murner, who subsequently became the most virulent reviler of luther, castigated the clergy, both regular and secular, with more vigor if with less skill than erasmus. erasmus himself, in his _enchiridion militis christiani_, or manual of the christian soldier, did not hesitate to stigmatise, as a new judaism, the reliance reposed on external observances, which had supplanted true piety, causing the teachings of christ to be neglected--and the enchiridion had been approved by adrian vi, at that time the head of the university of louvain. [sidenote: _repression commenced_] when, however, it became necessary, in order to cure these universally admitted evils, to strike at the dogmas of scholastic theology, of which these evils were the outcome; when northern europe was rising almost unanimously in luther's support, and when the curia recognized that it had to deal, not with a mere scholastic debate between monks, but with a rapidly developing revolution, the necessity was soon felt of a rigid definition of orthodoxy, while the licence which had been good-naturedly tolerated, so long as it did not threaten the loss of power and wealth, became heresy, to be diligently inquired into and relentlessly punished. men who esteemed themselves good catholics, and had no thought of withdrawing from obedience to the holy see, found themselves accused of heresy and liable to its penalties. prior to the definitions of the council of trent, there was a certain amount of debatable ground, within which no authoritative decision had as yet rendered the speculations of the schoolmen articles of faith. erasmus, for instance, had not been called to account for asserting that sacramental confession was not of divine law but, as the conflict grew more desperate, and the church found defence of its outworks to be requisite, it became heretical to question the divine origin of confession, even before the council had made it _de fide_. we shall then find the chief sufferers from inquisitorial action divided into two classes. before the middle of the century they largely consist of unconscious heretics--of men who, prior to the condemnation of luther, would have been reckoned as undoubtedly orthodox. after 1550, with some exceptions, like carranza, they were those who had knowingly and consciously embraced more or less of the doctrines of the reformation. outside of these another, and by no means the least numerous class, can be defined of those who incurred more or less vehement suspicion of heresy through mere carelessness, in the constantly increasing rigor of external observance. it is doubtless to the first of these classes that we may refer the earliest victim of so-called lutheranism whom i have found recorded--gonsalvo the painter of monte alegre in murcia, a resident in majorca, relaxed, in 1523, by that tribunal as a lutheran. it is inconceivable that lutheran errors could have penetrated at that time to majorca, or that the inquisitor could have had any clear conception of what they were and, as gonsalvo is described as a _negativo_, he doubtless considered himself a good catholic and perished because he would not admit himself to be otherwise.[1114] it was not until 1521 that the curia was aroused to the necessity of preventing the dissemination in spain of the new doctrines in the writings of luther. the nuncio aleander, writing from worms, february 18th of that year, mentioned that in flanders spanish versions of luther's books were in press, through the efforts of the marrani, and that charles v had given orders to suppress them.[1115] acting promptly on this, leo x, on march 21st, addressed briefs to the constable and admiral of castile--the governors in charles's absence--exhorting them to prevent the introduction of such works, and cardinal adrian lost no time in ordering, april 7th, the tribunals to seize all the obnoxious volumes that they could find, an order which he repeated may 7, 1523, together with instructions to the corregidors to enforce the surrender of the books to the inquisitors.[1116] very earnest letters were also written, april 12 and 13, 1521, to charles v, by an assembly of grandees, and by the president and council of state, urging him to adopt strong measures to prevent the spread of lutheranism, which had been introduced into spain and threatened to develop.[1117] [sidenote: _erasmists_] these may be regarded as measures rather precautionary than called for by existing exigencies. so far as the records of the inquisition have been searched there is no trace, for some years as yet, of prosecutions for lutheranism, save the solitary case above referred to. with the return of charles to spain, in 1522, the influence of erasmus seemed to promise a perpetuation of the freedom and even licence of speech, of which he was the protagonist. the emperor was his admirer and he became the fashion among courtiers and churchmen pretending to culture. the inquisitor-general manrique openly defended him, and so did the primate, alfonso fonseca, archbishop of toledo. his immense reputation, the immunity conferred on him by the patronage of successive popes against the vindictiveness of the religious orders, provoked by his merciless ridicule, and the futility of condemnations by scholastic faculties, seemed a guarantee for those who merely echoed the opinions to which he had given currency so wide. so it continued until, in 1527, a translation of his enchiridion was issued by alonso fernández de madrid, archdeacon of alcor. it was dedicated to archbishop manrique, who had it duly examined and authorized its publication; its success was immediate, and it was universally read. from the standpoint of scholastic theology, however, it was too vulnerable not to invite attack from the religious orders. the pulpits, which they virtually monopolized, resounded with their denunciations until manrique felt obliged to interfere. many prominent frailes were summoned before the suprema and sharply reproved for exciting the people against erasmus, in defiance of repeated edicts; if they found errors in the book, they should denounce them to the inquisition. the challenge was promptly accepted and, with the assistance of the english ambassador, edward lee, subsequently archbishop of york, a list of twenty-one articles was drawn up, ranging from arianism to irreverence towards the virgin and the denial of various essentials of sacerdotalism. these were submitted to an assembly of twenty theologians and nine frailes, who disputed for a month over the first two articles; the debate promised to be interminable, and manrique suspended it, at the same time issuing an absolute prohibition to write against erasmus. as we have seen, however, he fell into disgrace in 1529 and was relegated to his see of seville; charles left spain the same year, carrying with him some of the most powerful protectors of the erasmists, and the inquisitors, who were largely frailes, were eager to detect the heresy latent in the latitude of speech which had become common among those who prided themselves on culture.[1118] a typical case of this kind is that of diego de uceda, to which allusion has already been made on other accounts (_supra_, p. 68). he was an hidalgo of córdova of unblemished old christian stock. although a courtier, he was studious and deeply religious, even entertaining thoughts of entering the geronimite order. greatly admiring erasmus, the failure of the effort to condemn him by the inquisition gave assurance that his works were approved, and diego earned some reproof by constantly quoting his opinions and endeavoring to impress them on others. in february, 1528, he was journeying from burgos to córdova and, one evening at corezo, he fell into discussion with a man named rodrigo duran who, with his servant, juan de avella, was on his way to seville to embark for the west indies. the talk fell upon confession and then upon images, in which diego quoted the views of erasmus; then upon miracles, when he expressed disbelief in a story of a christian slave in africa who prayed for deliverance to our lady of guadalupe; his master overheard him, placed him in a chest, made his own bed on top and slept there, with the result that next morning the chest was in guadalupe with the master inside and the christian on top. something also was said about luther, whose name got mixed up with that of erasmus. duran, on reaching toledo, denounced diego to the tribunal, his serving-man furnishing the necessary _conteste_, and went on his way to the indies. diego was tracked to córdova and was sent back as a prisoner to toledo, where he vainly protested his orthodoxy and offered submission to the church, although his frequent allusions to erasmus probably did his case no good. he proved by witnesses that he habitually confessed four times a year, that he took all indulgences and that he was a man of blameless life and strong religious convictions, but it was all in vain. i have already shown how he was tortured, confessed and then revoked, and how he was condemned to a humiliating penance, july 22, 1529, ruining his career and leaving an indelible stain on a family that had boasted of its limpieza.[1119] [sidenote: _erasmists_] the danger impending over erasmists is still more forcibly illustrated by the case of one who was regarded as perhaps the foremost among them in spain. no man stood higher for learning and culture than doctor juan de vergara. he had been secretary of ximenes as archbishop of toledo, and subsequently to fonseca, who succeeded to the primatial dignity in 1524. ximenes had made him professor of philosophy at alcalá, where he translated the wisdom of solomon for the complutensian polyglot, and the treatises _de anima_, _de physica_ and _de metaphysica_ for the projected edition of aristotle. he was an elegant latin poet, and menéndez y pelayo tells us that he was the father of historical criticism. he was regarded with favor by manrique and was a warm defender of erasmus in the contest over the enchiridion.[1120] we shall have occasion hereafter to treat of the adventures of the _alumbrada_ francisca hernández and the men whom she entangled in her toils; among them was bernardino de tovar, also an erasmist, half-brother of vergara, who incurred her enmity by rescuing him from her clutches. to revenge herself, when on trial in 1530, she accused vergara of holding all of luther's doctrines, except as to confession, and of possessing some of luther's works--the latter accusation being true, but when, in 1530, manrique ordered the surrender of all such books, vergara, after some delay, carried them to the tribunal. another of francisca's disciples, fray francisco ortiz, when on trial, also accused vergara of denying the efficacy of indulgences and abusing the university of paris for condemning the writings of erasmus, in which, he said, the church had found no heretical errors. the tribunal collected some other evidence against vergara and industriously searched for more, even as far as flanders. in may, 1533, a willing witness was found in diego hernández, a buffoon of a priest, whom maría cazalla had employed as confessor until she dismissed him for seducing a nun and asserting that it was no sin. this worthy produced a list of seventy lutheran heretics, qualified according to their degrees of guilt, among whom vergara figured as _fino lutherano endiosado_ (mystically abstracted). whatever hesitation there may have been in arresting such a man, however, disappeared when it was found, in april, 1533, that he had been communicating with tovar in prison, by bribing the officials. the fiscal presented his clamosa, may 17th, accusing vergara of being a fautor and defender of heretics, a defamer of the inquisition and a corrupter of its officials, and his arrest and imprisonment followed on june 24th. this occasioned general surprise. archbishop fonseca was deeply moved and endeavored to obtain his release under bail for fifty thousand ducats, or to have him confined in a house under guard, but the only result of his efforts was to lead the tribunal to shut up the windows of vergara's cell, converting it into a dungeon and seriously affecting his health. the trial proceeded through the regular stages. he refused the services of an advocate and, on january 29, 1534, he presented his defence, denying nearly all the errors attributed to him and explaining the rest in a catholic sense. after this a fresh accusation was presented based on his friendship for and correspondence with erasmus, to whom he had induced archbishop fonseca to grant a pension. fonseca had died, february 24th, so that his evidence was unattainable, but vergara pronounced the story as to the pension to be false, though had it been true it would have been innocent. everyone knew that erasmus had neither income nor benefice, never having been willing to accept either, and that he was supported by the liberality of gentlemen who contributed to him from all parts. fonseca had only offered him an income if he would come to reside at alcalá, an offer which ximenes had previously made. it was true that, when erasmus dedicated to him his edition of st. augustin, fonseca sent him two hundred ducats, scarce enough, in the case of so large a work, to give the printers their customary _pour-boire_. fonseca felt this, and, when he heard of the death of archbishop warham of canterbury (+ 1532), who was accustomed to provide liberally for erasmus, he said that he ought to pay for the printing of the book, whereupon vergara wrote that he would send something, but it was not done. as for corresponding with erasmus, popes and kings and the emperor himself were gratified to have letters from him and, in the printed collections of his epistles, were to be found his answers to vergara, showing that the latter had urged him to write in confutation of luther. the day after this defence was presented, there came the most serious evidence as yet offered against him. this was from another distinguished erasmist, then on trial, alonso de virués, who testified that, four years before, in a discussion whether the sacrament worked _ex opere operato_, vergara ridiculed it as a fantastic opinion, and further, that he did not hold as he should, certain pious and catholic doctrines. it is true that the council of trent had not yet pronounced, as it did in 1547 (sess. vii, de sacramentis, can. viii) the self-operation of the sacrament to be _de fide_, but the doctrine was coeval with the development of the sacramental theory in the twelfth century and was indispensable in vindication of its validity in polluted hands against the donatist heresy. to deny it, even in disputation, could not fail to prejudice vergara's case, which dragged on, in spite of the efforts of his friends, and even of the empress, to expedite it. at length, on december 21, 1535, he was sentenced to appear as a penitent in an auto de fe, to abjure _de vehementi_, to be recluded in a monastery for a year irremissibly, and to pay a fine of fifteen hundred ducats. in three months, however, manrique charitably transferred him to the cathedral cloister and, on february 27, 1537, his confinement came to an end.[1121] he incurred no disabilities; his reputation seems not to have suffered, for he retained his toledo canonry and, as we have seen, he incurred, in 1547, the displeasure of archbishop silicio by opposing the statute of limpieza. [sidenote: _erasmists_] virués was a similar victim to the revulsion against erasmus. he was benedictine abbot of san zoilo, a learned orientalist and the favorite preacher of charles v, who had carried him to germany. envy of his favor at court caused his denunciation; isolated passages in his sermons were cited against him, and he was thrown in prison in 1533. his incarceration lasted for four years, in spite of charles's efforts for his liberation; it was in vain that he pleaded that, some fourteen years before, erasmus had been regarded as orthodox, and that he adduced the arguments which he had used against melanchthon in the diet of ratisbon. in 1537, he was declared to be suspect of lutheranism, he was required to abjure and was recluded in a convent for two years, with suspension from preaching for two more. charles was so much interested in him that, notwithstanding his strenuous objection to papal interference, he procured from paul iii a brief of may 29, 1538, by which the sentence was set aside and virués was declared capable of any preferment, even episcopal. when juan de sarvia, bishop of canaries, died in 1542, virués was appointed his successor and died in 1545.[1122] contemporary with these cases was that of pedro de lerma, a member of one of the leading families of burgos. he was a canon of the cathedral and abbot of alcalá, renowned as a preacher and a man of the highest consideration. he had spent fifty years in the university of paris, where the sorbonne made him dean of its faculty. happening to read some of the works of erasmus, he was so impressed that they influenced his sermons. he was denounced to the inquisition, which imprisoned him and, after a long trial he was required, in 1537, to recant eleven propositions publicly in all the towns where he had preached, confessing that he had taught them at the instigation of the devil to propagate error in the church. he was so humiliated that he abandoned spain for paris, where he was warmly received as dean of the faculty, and where he died in 1541. the people of burgos, we are told, who had regarded him with the greatest reverence, were so impressed by this that those who had sent their sons abroad to study at once recalled them.[1123] this atmosphere of all-pervading suspicion, and this exaggerated sensitiveness to possible error, exposed everyone to prosecution for the most innocently unguarded remark. miguel mezquita, a gentleman of formiche (teruel) appeared january 19, 1536, before the valencia tribunal in obedience to a citation and, under the usual formula of being told to search his conscience, he intuitively recurred to erasmus and related a talk which he had, some five or six years previous, with a dominican, in which he had defended the enchiridion on the ground that it had been subjected to examination without being condemned. this however proved not to be the cause of his summons, for pedro forrer, a priest of teruel, had denounced him as having said that luther preached the gospel and was therefore called an evangelist, while the followers of the pope were called papists, and that luther was right in maintaining that scripture did not say that christ gave power to st. peter, but to all the apostles. mezquita explained that he had been several times to italy and had been sent to flanders; the priest had asked him what was said about luther, and he had merely gratified his curiosity by repeating what he had heard abroad in common talk. he earnestly implored to be released, for he had eight children, four of them studying in salamanca and, when suddenly carried off from home, he had left but six sueldos in his house. fortunately for him, the inquisitors were not unreasonable and, on january 29th, he was allowed to return to his family, but the case remained on the records to be brought up against him should any malevolent neighbor see fit to distort some careless utterance.[1124] mysticism and illuminism, which, about this time, commenced their development in spain, furnished another source of accusations of lutheranism, due to their common tendency to cast aside the observances of sacerdotalism and to bring the sinner into direct relations with god, but this field of inquisitorial activity demands separate consideration. meanwhile the above cases will probably suffice to indicate the way in which catholics, who had no thought of wandering from the faith, fell under suspicion of partaking in the new heresies and were consequently subjected to persecution more or less distressing. it would scarce be worth while to follow in detail the long succession of those who had similar experience. the case of carranza has already been discussed. fray juan de regla, confessor of charles v at san yuste, and one of the witnesses against carranza, was imprisoned by the saragossa tribunal and was required to abjure eighteen propositions. fray francisco de villalba, who preached the funeral sermon of charles v, was denounced for lutheranism and was saved only by the protection of philip ii. miguel de medina, one of the theologians of the council of trent, was so orthodox that, in his _disputatio de indulgentiis_, he ascribes to indulgences a virtue so great that without them christianity would be a failure, yet this did not prevent his prosecution for defending certain propositions thought to savor of lutheranism and, after four years' detention, he died in prison with his trial unfinished.[1125] [sidenote: _lutheranism_] all these were cases of good catholics, whose prosecution is attributable to a hyperæsthesia of orthodoxy. as regards the real protestantism, there was necessarily a double duty, one with respect to its literature and the other to its professors. the former will be discussed in the next chapter and it suffices here to point out that although there was as yet no organized censorship of the press, the possession or reading of any of luther's books was forbidden, under pain of excommunication, in 1520, by leo x, in the bull _exsurge domine_, and this was extended to the works of all his followers in the recension of the bull _in c[oe]na domini_ by adrian vi.[1126] we have seen the flurry produced, in 1521, by the dread of the introduction of this literature into spain, and it would appear that there was a demand for it, or that the german heretics were endeavoring to create one for, in 1524, we hear that a ship from holland for valencia, captured by the french and recaptured, was brought into san sebastian, when two casks of lutheran books were found in her cargo, which were publicly burnt. some eight months later, three venetian galeasses brought large quantities of similar books to a port in granada, where the corregidor seized and burnt them and imprisoned the captains and crews.[1127] as yet, however, there seems to have been no definite penalty, save the papal censures, for possessing this forbidden literature. we have seen juan de vergara simply surrendering what he had; in 1527 we chance to find a commission, issued by the suprema, to absolve a fraile from the excommunication thus incurred and, in 1528, a similar one for the benefit of the licenciado fray diego de astudillo.[1128] as regards heretics in person, the relations of spain with the netherlands and germany, at this period, were too intimate for it to escape their intrusion. the earliest case i have met occurred in 1524, when a german named blay esteve was condemned by the tribunal of valencia.[1129] again the same tribunal, in 1528, tried cornelis, a painter of ghent, for saying that luther was not a heretic and for denying the existence of purgatory, the utility of masses, confession etc. he had not the spirit of martyrdom but pleaded intoxication and that he had abandoned in spain the errors which he had entertained in flanders; he was sentenced to reconciliation and perpetual prison and, in the papers of the trial, there is an allusion to the prosecution of jacob torres, apparently another lutheran. valencia, in 1529, had another case in the person of melchor de württemberg, who came there by way of naples. he preached in the streets, saying that he had searched the world in vain for a true follower of christ, and he predicted that in three years the world would be drowned in blood. he was probably an anabaptist and, when on trial, he admitted that he had visited martin luther to learn whether the lutheran sect possessed the truth. the tribunal referred the case to the suprema, which replied that, if he held any lutheran errors, justice should be done; if not, the case was trifling and a hundred lashes would suffice. the papers are imperfect and we can only gather that he denied lutheranism and escaped with the scourging.[1130] [sidenote: _persecution organized_] cases of this kind were doubtless occurring in the various tribunals, but it was some time as yet before systematic action was taken by the inquisition. clement vii addressed a brief, may 8, 1526, to the observantine franciscans, empowering them to receive all lutherans desiring to return to the church, who were to be reincorporated on accepting salutary penance, and to be absolved and relieved from all the penalties decreed by leo x and by others.[1131] this was evidently designed for temporary effect in germany and, although sent to spain, it was too subversive of the exclusive jurisdiction of the inquisition to be observed there. the earliest action of the suprema to protect spain from the dissemination of the new heresies would seem to be a letter, in 1527, to the provisor of lugo and to the dominican provincial and franciscan guardian there, about the heretics arriving at the galician ports, and ordering them to enquire after lutheran books, which they were required to seize.[1132] coruña was one of the chief ports of commerce with the northern seas, thus calling for special watchfulness, and, though a tribunal had recently been provided for galicia, apparently on this account, it seems not to have been in working order. still the heretics continued to come, and the suprema issued, april 27, 1531, a _carta acordada_ instructing the tribunals to publish special edicts of faith requiring the denunciation of persons suspected of holding lutheran opinions.[1133] apparently the time had arrived when some definite position with regard to the growing danger had to be taken; there seems to have been doubt felt as to the authority of the inquisition to deal with it, and as to the policy to be observed towards these heretics, for a brief was procured, july 15th of the same year, from clement vii empowering manrique and his deputies to proceed against the followers of martin luther, their fautors and defenders, and a clause to this effect continued subsequently to be included in the commissions of the inquisitor-general. the brief moreover extended manrique's personal jurisdiction, for this heresy, over archbishops and bishops, although these were not to be arrested and imprisoned; impenitents were to be relaxed, in accordance with the canons, while those who sought reconciliation were to be admitted, with due punishment, and could even be dispensed for irregularity and be relieved of all disabilities and note of infamy.[1134] there was evidently as yet a disposition to treat these new heretics with special tenderness. for some time as yet the labors of the inquisition, in the suppression of lutheranism, were confined to foreigners, the most conspicuous of whom was hugo de celso, a learned burgundian doctor of both laws and author of a serviceable _reportorio de las leyes_, which saw the light at valladolid in 1538 and again at alcalá in 1540. in 1532 he seems to have been prosecuted without conviction at toledo, but fell again under suspicion and was finally burnt in 1551.[1135] it is true that queen mary of hungary, sister of charles v, did not escape suspicion,[1136] but the earliest undoubted heretic recorded of spanish blood would seem to be francisco de san roman of burgos. engaged, while still a young man, in business in the netherlands, his affairs took him to bremen, where he was converted and became so ardent a proselyte that, after various adventures, he undertook to convert charles v at ratisbon. persisting in the attempt, he was sent in chains to spain and, as he refused to recant, there was nothing to do with him save to give him the fiery death that he courted--the first of the few spanish martyrs to protestantism. carranza attended him at the stake and urged him to submit to the church, but the ferocious crowd pierced him with their swords--a not infrequent occurrence at the autos de fe. we have no dates, but an allusion to charles's expedition to tunis would seem to place his career about 1540.[1137] nearly at the same time there appeared another, who was classed as a lutheran, although he seems to have worked out his heresies independently. all that we know of rodrigo de valero rests on the unreliable testimony of gonzález de montes, who describes him as a wealthy youth of lebrija, near seville, suddenly converted from the vanities of the world to an assiduous study of scripture and the conviction that he was a new apostle of christ. his special heresies are not recorded, but they led to his trial by the seville tribunal, which confiscated his property and discharged him as insane. he continued his apostolate and, on a second trial, he was condemned to perpetual prison and sanbenito. here, in the obligatory sunday attendance at mass, he contradicted the priest until, to silence him, he was recluded in a convent at san lucar de barrameda, where he lay until his death.[1138] [sidenote: _moderation_] valero was not without importance, for he was the perverter of juan gil, or doctor egidio, the founder of the little protestant community of seville which came, as we shall see, to an untimely end. egidio was magistral canon of the cathedral and a man of the highest consideration for learning and eloquence; indeed, he was nominated by charles v to the see of tortosa, which was vacant from 1548 to 1553. on his post-mortem trial, in 1559, evidence showed that, as early as 1542, he had preached to the nuns of santa clara on the uselessness of external works, denying the suffrages of the saints, and stigmatizing image-worship as idolatry.[1139] a letter of charles to valdés, from brussels, january 25, 1550, shows that egidio was then on trial in seville; charles ordered valdés to investigate the case personally in seville and consult him before concluding it, all of which must be done speedily for that church (tortosa) must be provided with a prelate.[1140] charles's solicitude shows that the matter was regarded as important. egidio, in fact, was the centre of a little band of lutherans whom the inquisition was eagerly tracking. the suprema wrote, july 30, 1550, to valdés at seville, urging him to expedite the case, and adding that it had written to charles about the arrest of those in paris and flanders implicated with dr. egidio, and about dr. zapata who had delivered lutheran books to antonio de guzman.[1141] yet when egidio's trial ended, august 21, 1552, he was treated with singular moderation. he was obliged publicly to abjure as heretical ten propositions which he admitted to have uttered, subjecting himself to the penalty of relapse for reincidence. eight more propositions he recanted as false and erroneous, and seven he explained in a catholic sense--all of these being more or less lutheran. he was sentenced to a year's confinement in the castle of triana and never to leave spain; for a year after release he was not to celebrate mass and for ten years he was suspended from preaching, confessing and partaking in disputations.[1142] death in 1556 saved him from a harsher fate, although, as we shall see, his bones were exhumed and burnt in 1560. the mildness of the inquisition shows that thus far there was no alarm to stimulate severity, nor was there any cause for it. we hear a good deal of the missionary efforts of the german or other heretics; but up to this time there is slender trace of such work. the only indication--and that a very dubious one--that i have met of such attempts, is the case of gabriel de narbonne, before the valencia tribunal in 1537. he was a frenchman, who had learned heresy during four years spent in germany and switzerland. as a wandering mendicant in spain, he spoke freely of his beliefs to all whom he met. when arrested, he confessed fully to all the leading tenets of lutheranism and begged mercy; after a year's confinement, under threat of torture, he stated that he had been sent by the swiss heretics to spain as a missionary; there were three others, one named beltran, who was likewise in spain, one was destined to venice and the other to savoy. he had wandered, he said, on foot for two years through the whole peninsula, from catalonia and navarre to lisbon, disseminating his heresies wherever he could find a listener, especially among the clergy. had the tribunal believed his story, he would have been sharply tortured to discover his converts; as it was, he was merely reconciled with irremissible prison, while his nephew, another gabriel de narbonne, who spontaneously denounced himself as having been perverted by his uncle, was reconciled with spiritual penance and forbidden to leave the kingdom.[1143] [sidenote: _the seville group_] it would seem as though the holy see were desirous to arouse the spanish inquisition to a sense of its inertness in combating these dangerous innovations for, in 1551, julius iii sent to inquisitor-general valdés a brief empowering him to punish lutheranism irrespective of the station of the offender--a wholly superfluous grant, for he already possessed by his commission all requisite faculties, except as regards bishops, and the case of carranza shows that they were not included in the brief.[1144] if the object was to stimulate, it failed, for the cases of lutheranism continued for some time to be few and mostly of foreigners. the year 1558 may be taken as a turning-point in the history of spanish protestantism and up to that time the industrious researches of dr. ernst schäfer, into the records of all the tribunals, have only resulted in finding an aggregate of a hundred and five cases, of which thirty-nine are of natives and sixty-six of foreigners.[1145] of course, in the chaos of archives, no such statistics can be regarded as complete, but, on the other hand, the tribunals were in the habit of classing as "lutheranism" any deviation, even in a minor degree, from dogma or observance, or any careless speech, such as those of which we have had examples above. as a whole, the figures are significant of the slender impression thus far made on spanish thought by the intense religious excitement beyond the pyrenees. a few individuals--mostly those who had been abroad--are all that can be regarded as really infected with the new doctrines. thus far there had been nothing of organization, of little associations or conventicles, in which those of common faith assembled for worship, for mutual encouragement or for planning measures to disseminate their belief, but something of the kind was beginning to develop in seville, where the teachings of rodrigo de valero and dr. egidio gradually spread through a widening circle. after egidio's death, in 1556, the leading figure was doctor constantino ponce de la fuente, who was elected by the chapter to the vacant magistral canonry, and who was a man of the highest consideration, having served charles v in flanders as confessor and chaplain. another important personage was maestro garcía arias, known as doctor blanco, prior of the geronimite house of san isidro, all the brethren of which became converts, as well as some of the inmates of the geronimite nunnery of santa paula. an influential beneficiary of the church of san vicente named francisco de zafra also joined the group which, although largely composed of clerics, secular and regular, contained many laymen. we hear of two rag-pickers, francisco and antonio de cardenas, while there was also a noble of the highest rank, don juan ponce de leon, of the great house of the dukes of arcos. every class of society was represented in the little band, which numbered altogether over a hundred and twenty, besides doctor juan pérez de pineda and julian hernández, who had sought safety in flight, probably about the time of the arrest of dr. egidio.[1146] [sidenote: _the valladolid group_] in 1557, from some cause, suspicion was aroused and the tribunal commenced a secret investigation, which seems to have reached the ears of some of the inculpated, and eleven of the geronimites of san isidro sought safety in flight, among whom were two who became noteworthy--cipriano de valera and cassiodoro de reina.[1147] this increased the suspicion and certain writings of doctor constantino were subjected to examination; they had passed current without animadversion for ten years, but, in 1557, a carta acordada addressed to all the tribunals called attention to them, followed, january 2, 1558, by a list of books to be burnt,[1148] to which were added three of his to be seized but not burnt. finally the tribunal was able to obtain positive evidence against individuals. juan pérez, in the refuge of geneva, had been busy in preparing propagandist works.[1149] to convey them into spain was a perilous task, but it was undertaken by julian hernández, who had spent some years in paris, had then wandered to scotland and germany, and had become a deacon in the walloon church of frankfort. the story that he reached seville with two large casks of pérez's testament, psalms and catechism is probably an exaggeration, but he brought a supply of them, reaching seville in july, 1557. the books were deposited outside the walls and were smuggled in at night, or were brought in by don juan ponce de leon in his saddlebags. julian made a fatal blunder with a letter and a copy of the _imajen del antichristo_, addressed to a priest, which he delivered to one of the same name who was a good catholic. when the latter saw as the frontispiece the pope kneeling to satan, and read that good works were useless, he hastened with the dangerous matter to the inquisition which made good use of the clue thus furnished. don juan promptly fled to ecija and julian to the sierra morena, but they were tracked and brought back on october 7th. other arrests speedily followed and the prisons began to fill.[1150] with its customary unwearied patience, the tribunal traced out all the ramifications of the heretical conventicle, arresting one after another as denunciations of accomplices were obtained from prisoners. dr. constantino and his friend dr. blanco were not seized until august, 1558, and the first auto de fe was not celebrated until september 24, 1559. meanwhile, almost simultaneously, a similar association of protestants had been discovered at valladolid, then the residence of the court. an italian gentleman, don carlos de seso, said to be the son of the bishop of piacenza, had been converted about 1550, apparently by the writings of juan de valdés. he came to spain, bringing with him heretical books and ardently desiring to spread the reformed faith. he settled first in logroño, where he made some converts, and then, through the influence of his wife, isabel de castilla, of royal blood and highly esteemed, he was appointed corregidor of toro, about 1554. there he converted the bachiller antonio de herrezuelo and his wife, leonor de cisneros, doña ana enríquez, daughter of elvira, marchioness of alcañizes, juan de ulloa pereira, comendador of san juan, and others of more or less distinction, while, in pedrosa, a town lying between toro and valladolid, pedro de cazalla, the parish priest, also fell under his influence and became a missionary in his turn. among his converts was his sacristan, juan sánchez, whose imprudent zeal greatly alarmed cazalla; in 1557, sánchez left pedroso for valladolid, where he entered the service of doña catalina de hortega, whom he soon converted, and with her doña beatriz de vivero, a sister of cazalla. through them, seven nuns of the cistercian house of nuestra señora de belen were brought to the new faith, but the greatest conquest, about may, 1557, was made when beatriz de vivero and pedro cazalla won their brother, doctor agustin de cazalla. no ecclesiastic was of higher repute or greater influence with all classes; he was the favorite preacher of charles v, who had carried him to germany in 1543, where possibly his debates with heretics may have unconsciously undermined his faith. next to him among the converts might be ranked the dominican fray domingo de rojas, whose reputation for learning and eloquence was of the highest. he had been a fellow student of pedro de cazalla; he had accompanied carranza to trent, in 1552, where he had encountered heretics, and since then some of his utterances had led his brother dominicans to entertain suspicions, but, when beatriz de vivero first sought to convert him, he was firm and even thought of denouncing her. in the autumn of 1557, however, agustin cazalla and carlos de seso won him over to heresy and he, in his turn, brought in his brother, don pedro sarmiento and his nephew don luis de rojas, heir to the marquisate of pozo. as in seville, the reformers thus included men of the highest consideration, socially and ecclesiastically, as well as those of the lower classes. still, their numbers were few; the wild estimates of five hundred or six thousand are baseless, for they did not exceed fifty-five or sixty, wholly without organization, being scattered from logroño to zamora, though the house of doña leonor de vivero, the widowed mother of the cazallas, served occasionally as a meeting-place. of her ten children, four sons, agustin and pedro cazalla, francisco and juan de vivero, and two daughters, beatriz and costanza, were involved; the rest seem to have escaped. she herself, after the prosecutions commenced, was only confined to her house; she speedily died and received christian burial, but her bones were subsequently exhumed and burnt. notwithstanding this, one of the sons, gonzalo pérez de cazalla, obtained, may 12, 1560, a dispensation from the _cosas arbitrarias_.[1151] [sidenote: _the valladolid group_] it was inevitable that such a propaganda should be discovered, and the only source of surprise is that it should have been carried on for two or three years without betrayal, but this came at last almost simultaneously from several sources. in zamora, christóbal de padilla, steward of the marchioness of alcañizes, was unguarded in his talk; towards easter of 1558 the publication of the edict of faith led to two denunciations, on which he was arrested by the bishop and thrown into the public prison. as he was not _incomunicado_ he was able to send word to his accomplices and herrezuelo promptly advised pedro de cazalla, with warning that no reliance could be placed on padilla's reticence. even more threatening than this was the inconsiderate zeal of francisco de vivero and his sister beatriz, in seeking to convert two friends, doña antonia de branches and doña juana de fonseca. their confessors refused absolution and easter communion unless they would obtain full information; this they did and the tribunal was speedily in possession of the names of nearly all the converts, and made arrangements to seize them all. despite its profound secrecy, dr. cazalla chanced to hear it said that there were heretics in valladolid who had been denounced by juana de fonseca. the purport of this was unmistakable and wild confusion reigned among the little band. desperate plans of escape were projected, but the time was too short. some sought mercy by surrendering themselves and denouncing their accomplices; others silently awaited arrest. only three attempted flight. fray domingo de rojas, disguised in secular apparel, hastened to logroño to carlos de seso and the two tried to escape through navarre; at pampeluna they secured a pass from the viceroy, but the agents of the inquisition were in hot pursuit; they were recognized and conducted back under guard of twelve familiars and some mounted officials, which was rather for their protection than to prevent escape for, wherever they passed, crowds assembled with demonstrations of burning them. fray domingo was in mortal fear lest his kinsmen should slay him on the road, and it was deemed necessary to enter valladolid at night to avoid lapidation by the mob. of all concerned, the only one who succeeded in leaving spain was juan sánchez, who found at castro de urdiales a vessel bound for flanders and he, as we have seen, was caught a year later and shared the fate of his associates.[1152] inquisitor-general valdés, whose disgrace was imminent, promptly took advantage of the situation to save himself. it is easy for us now to recognize the absurdity of the fear that a couple of hundred more or less zealous protestants, in seville and valladolid, could constitute any real danger to the faith so firmly intrenched and so powerfully organized in spain, but, at the moment, no man could know how far the infection had spread. there was reasonable cause for alarm at the simultaneous discovery, in places so far apart, of heresy numbering among its disciples those of high rank in the world and of distinguished position in the church. this alarm it was the business of valdés to intensify, in order to render himself indispensable, and the most exaggerated rumors were industriously spread. abbot illescas, who was an eye-witness, treats it as a most terrible conspiracy which, if the discovery had been postponed for two or three months, would have set all spain aflame, resulting in the gravest misfortune that had ever befallen the land. that hideous stories were circulated is shown by his assertion that matters too horrible to mention were proved; in the cazalla house nocturnal conventicles were held, abominable and satanic gatherings, in which lutheran doctrines were preached.[1153] the legend was industriously maintained. the venetian envoy, leonardo donato, referring to the matter, in 1573, says that if it had not been remedied with speedy punishment, every one believes that the evil weed would have grown apace and would have infected all spain, and this, perhaps, was not one of the least causes that induced philip ii to make peace with france and return home.[1154] so inquisitor páramo, towards the close of the century, tells us that no one doubts but that a great conflagration would have resulted had it not been for the vigilance of the holy office and that, in the nocturnal conventicles held in the cazalla house, the heretics polluted themselves with horrid wickedness.[1155] [sidenote: _exploitation by valdes_] that the government should feel keen anxiety at the unknown proportions of the portentous discovery was natural. charles v was nearing his end in the retirement of yuste, and philip was in flanders, engrossed in the war with france. his sister, the infanta juana, the temporary ruler, was a woman of very moderate capacity and she and her advisers, in view of the religious disquiet in france and germany, might reasonably view with dread the prospect of civil dissension which in that age was the usual result of dissidence in faith. the outbreak in seville had not excited much attention, but now this one at the court, involving such personages, portended unknown evils and came just in time to save valdés from disgrace, as we have seen above (vol. ii, p. 47). on march 23, 1558 the princess juana had written to her father that when he had ordered the body of his mother juana to be transferred to granada, she had commanded valdés to accompany it and then to visit his diocese of seville; he had endeavored to excuse himself at the moment but promised to arrange so as to obey shortly. then, when urged to do so some days later he raised further difficulties; it made no difference whether the body was buried then or in september; everybody was endeavoring to drive him away; troubles with his chapter required his presence at the court or in rome; besides, he was occupied with some heresies which had arisen in seville and in murcia, and was busy in endeavoring to get a subsidy from the moriscos of granada. evidently he was belittling the seville heresies, lest they should serve as an excuse for sending him thither and, when juana referred his letter to the council of state, it insisted that he could be properly obliged to reside in his diocese.[1156] it can therefore be easily conceived how eagerly he grasped the opportune explosion in valladolid and how it was magnified so as to produce on the court a vastly greater impression than the more dangerous one in seville. in a letter of may 12th to philip, the suprema briefly announced the discovery; the heretics were so numerous and the time had been so short that it could give no details, but it suggestively insisted on the necessity of the presence of valdés to urge the matter forward and it hoped that, with the royal favor, action would be taken for the salvation of the delinquents and the example and restraint of others.[1157] as we have seen this produced immediate effect, for philip, who had written june 5th that he must be relegated to his see, on the 14th countermanded the order. charles had already been induced to take the same position. as early as april 27th, juan vázquez reported to him the arrest of dr. cazalla and the alarming outlook, adding that the remedy should be speedy and that the inquisitor-general and suprema were actively at work.[1158] charles was thoroughly aroused. he had spent his strength and his life in combating heresy; it had baffled his policies and frustrated his ambitions; it had been a thorn in the flesh, rankling and crippling him at every turn. it had fairly worn him out and driven him to abdication, and now its spectre broke in upon the repose for which his wearied soul and exhausted body had longed. he was appalled by the prospect of a renewal of the struggle, in the only land as yet preserved from its influence, and his religious zeal was enkindled with the conviction that only by the enforcement of unity of faith could public order and even the monarchy itself be maintained. [sidenote: _alarm of charles v_] accordingly, on may 3d, he wrote to juana asking her most earnestly to order that valdés should not leave the court, where his presence was so necessary. she must give him and the suprema all the support requisite to enable them to suppress so great an evil by the rigorous punishment of the guilty. had he the bodily strength, he would himself come and share the labor. juana sent for valdés and showed him the letter, which assured him that he had regained his position, and the work went on of arresting the heretics, reports of which were duly sent to charles. the more he pondered over the situation, the more excited he grew. on may 25th, in a long letter to juana, he magnified the danger and the urgency of stern measures. "i do not know," he said, "that in these cases it will suffice to follow the common law that the guilty of a first offence can secure pardon by begging mercy and professing conversion for, when at liberty, they will be free to repeat the offence.... the admission to mercy was not provided for cases like these for, in addition to their enormity, from what you write to me, it appears that in another year, if unchecked, they would have dared to preach in public, thus inferring their dangerous designs, for it is clear that they could not do so without organization and armed leaders. it must therefore be seen whether they can be prosecuted for sedition and disturbance of the republic, thus incurring the penalty of rebellion without mercy." he goes on to instance his own cruel edicts in the netherlands, under which the pertinacious were burnt alive and the repentant were beheaded, a policy which he urged philip to continue and which the latter practised in england, as though he were its natural king, leading to so many and such pitiless executions, even of bishops. "there must" he concluded "be no competencias of jurisdiction over this, for believe me, my daughter, if this evil be not suppressed at the beginning, i cannot promise that there will be a king hereafter to do it. so i entreat you, as earnestly as i can, to do everything possible, for the nature of the case demands it and, that the necessary action be taken in my name, i order luis quijada to go to you and to talk to such persons as you may direct."[1159] not satisfied with this, charles, on the same day, sent to philip a copy of this letter and begged him to give orders for the unsparing punishment of the guilty, for the service of god and the preservation of the kingdom were at stake. philip's marginal note on this was to thank him for what he had done, to ask him to press the matter, and to assure him that the same would be done from flanders.[1160] we shall see that charles's cruel desire was fulfilled, though it was done ecclesiastically and not by distorting the secular law. there followed a brisk correspondence between valladolid and san yuste, charles burning with impatience and urging speedy action, and valdés assuring him that all possible effort was making by the inquisition in its crippled condition for want of funds. philip was kept advised and wrote to juana, from his camp near dourlens, september 6th, expressing his satisfaction with what had been done; they were not to delay by communicating with him, who was busy with the war, but were to take orders from the emperor to whom he had written, asking him to take charge of the affair.[1161] valdés was now master of the situation, both in this and the affair of carranza, which hinged upon it to a large extent. to exploit it to the utmost he addressed, september 9th, to paul iv a letter in which he gave a brief account of the development of lutheranism in valladolid and seville; he dwelt upon the dangers impending, the labors of the inquisition and the poverty which crippled its efforts. adopting the argument of charles v, he pointed out that this lutheranism was a kind of sedition or tumult, occurring as it did among persons of importance by birth, religion and wealth, so that there was peril of greater evils if they were treated with the same benignity as the converts from islam and judaism, who were mostly of low estate and not to be feared. lutheranism promised relief from church burdens, which bore hardly on the people who would welcome liberation, while tribunals might scruple to relax persons of quality who would not patiently endure penance and imprisonment and, from their rank and the influence of their kindred, great evils might arise, both to religion and the peace of the kingdom. a papal brief would be highly desirable, therefore, under which the tribunals, without scruple or fear of irregularity, could and should relax the guilty from whom danger to the republic might be feared, no matter what their dignity in church or state, giving to the inquisitors full power to employ the rigor required by the situation, even if it went beyond the limits of the law.[1162] we have seen (vol. ii p. 426) how successful was this appeal in establishing on a firm basis the finances of the inquisition, nor was it less so in obtaining the cruel power for which charles v aspired, and also a faculty which enabled valdés to destroy carranza. allusion has already been made (vol. ii, p. 61; vol. iii, p. 201) to the briefs of january 4 and 7, 1559 by which paul iv granted a limited jurisdiction over the episcopal order and authorized the relaxation of penitents who begged for mercy, when it was believed that their conversion was not sincere. in both these directions, as was customary with the inquisition, the limitation was disregarded and the grant of power was freely exercised.[1163] [sidenote: _valladolid auto de fe_] having obtained authority to set aside the law, the inquisition was prepared to impress the people with a sense of the danger of wandering from the faith. nothing was spared to enhance the effect of the auto de fe of trinity sunday, may 21, 1559, in which the first portion of the valladolid prisoners were to suffer. it was solemnly proclaimed fifteen days in advance, during which the buildings of the inquisition were incessantly patrolled, day and night, by a hundred armed men, and guards were stationed at the stagings in the plaza mayor, for there were rumors that the prison was to be blown up and that the stagings were to be fired. along the line of the procession, palings were set in the middle of the street, forming an unobstructed path for three to march abreast, intrusion on which was forbidden under heavy penalties, but this and the numerous guards were powerless to keep it clear. every house-front along the line and around the plaza had its stagings; people flocked in from thirty and forty leagues around and encamped in the fields; except the familiars, no one was allowed to ride on horseback or to bear arms, under pain of death and confiscation. the procession was headed by the effigy of leonor de vivero, who had died during trial, clad in widow's weeds and bearing a mitre with flames and appropriate inscription, and followed by a coffin containing her remains to be duly burnt. those who were to be relaxed in person numbered fourteen, of whom one, gonzalo baez, was a portuguese convicted of judaism. those admitted to reconciliation, with penance more or less severe, were sixteen in number, including an englishman variously styled anthony graso or bagor--probably baker--punished for protestantism, like all the rest, excepting baez. when the procession reached the plaza, agustin cazalla was placed in the highest seat, as the conspicuous chief of the heresy, and next to him his brother, francisco de vivero. melchor cano at once commenced the sermon, which occupied an hour, and then valdés and the bishops approached the princess juana and prince carlos, who were present, and administered to them the oath to protect and aid the inquisition, to which the multitude responded in a mighty roar, "to the death!" cazalla, his brother and alonso pérez, who were in orders, were duly degraded from the priesthood, the sentences were read, those admitted to reconciliation made the necessary abjurations and those condemned to relaxation were handed over to the secular arm. mounted on asses, they were carried to the plaza de la puerta del campo, where the requisite stakes had been erected, and there they met their end.[1164] with one exception they were not martyrs in any true sense of the word, for all but one had recanted, had professed repentance, had begged for mercy, and had given full information as to their friends and associates. under the law, with perhaps two or three exceptions, who might be regarded as dogmatizers, they would have been entitled to reconciliation, but the brief of january 4th had placed them at the mercy of the inquisition and an example was desired. [sidenote: _agustin cazalla_] of these there were only two or three who merit special consideration. cazalla, on his trial, had at first equivocated and denied that he had dogmatized, asserting that he had only spoken of these matters to those already converted. as a rule, all the prisoners eagerly denounced their associates; he may have been more reticent at first, for he was sentenced to torture _in caput alienum_, but when stripped he promised to inform against them fully, which he did, including carranza among those who had misled him as to purgatory.[1165] he recanted, professed conversion and eagerly sought reconciliation. the tribunal insisted on regarding him as chief of the conventicle and, on the afternoon preceding the auto, it sent to his cell the prior of the geronimite convent of nuestra señora de prado, with one of his monks, fray antonio de la carrera, to endeavor to extract further information. as officially reported by fray antonio, they found him in a dark cell, loaded with chains and with a _pié de amigo_ encircling his head. he greeted them warmly but, when informed of their object, protested that he had nothing to add to his confessions without bearing false witness against himself or others. for two hours they labored with him in vain and then told him that he was condemned to die. in the seclusion of his prison he knew nothing of the papal brief; he had fully expected to be admitted to reconciliation, and the announcement came like a thunder-stroke--one version of the interview states that he fainted and lay insensible for an hour; another, that he was incredulous, asking whether it could be possible and whether there was no escape. he was told that he might be saved if he would make a more complete confession, but he repeated that he had already told the whole truth. then he confessed sacramentally and received absolution, after which he spent the time until morning in begging mercy of god and thanking god for sending him this affliction for his salvation; he blessed and praised the holy office and all its ministers, saying that it had been founded, not by the hand of man but by that of god; he willingly accepted the sentence, which was just and merited; he did not wish for life and would not accept it for, as he had misused it in the past, so would it be in the future. all this was repeated when the usual confessors were admitted to his cell and, when morning came and the sanbenito was brought, he kissed it, saying that he put it on with more pleasure than any garment he had ever worn. he declared that, when opportunity offered in the auto, he would curse and detest lutheranism and persuade everyone to do the same, with which purpose he took his place in the procession.[1166] so great was his emotional exaltation that he fulfilled this promise with such exuberance during the auto that he had to be checked. after the sentences were read and those who were to be relaxed were brought down, when he reached the lowest step he met his sister, who was condemned to perpetual prison; they embraced, weeping bitterly and, when he was dragged away, she fell senseless. on the way to the brasero he continued to exhort the people and directed his efforts especially to the heroic herrezuelo, who had stedfastly refused to abandon his faith and was to be burnt alive. we might possibly feel some suspicion of the accuracy of all this, especially as the inquisition took the unusual step of having an official report of his behavior drawn up and a briefer one attested, june 5th, by simon de cabezon and francisco de rueda, the notaries who recorded the delivery of the relaxed to the magistrates.[1167] we have, however, the independent testimony of an eye-witness, the abbot illescas, who tells us that, after the degradation, cazalla, with mitre on head and halter around his neck, shed tears so copiously and loudly expressed his repentance with such unexampled fervor that all present were satisfied that, through divine mercy, he was saved. he said and did so many things that everyone was moved to commiseration. most of his comrades in death showed resignation and all retracted publicly, though it was understood that with some this was rather to escape burning alive than with any good purpose.[1168] [sidenote: _second auto de fe_] it was otherwise with herrezuelo, the only martyr in the group. he avowed his faith and resolutely adhered to it, in spite of all effort to convert him and of the dreadful fate in store for him. on their way to the brasero, cazalla wasted on him all his eloquence. he was gagged and could not reply, but his stoical endurance showed his unyielding pertinacity. when chained to the stake, a stone thrown at him struck him in the forehead, covering his face with blood but, as we are told, it did him no good. then he was thrust through the belly by a pious halberdier, but this moved him not and, when the fire was set, he bore his agony without flinching and, to the general surprise, he thus ended diabolically.[1169] illescas, who stood so near that he could watch every expression, reports that he seemed as impassive as flint but, though he uttered no complaint and manifested no regret, yet he died with the strangest sadness in his face, so that it was dreadful to look upon him as on one who in a brief moment would be in hell with his comrade and master, luther.[1170] perhaps the most pitiful case of all was that of his young wife, leonor de cisneros. but twenty-three years old, with life opening before her, she had yielded so promptly to the methods of the inquisition that she escaped with perpetual prison. in the weary years of the _casa de la penitencia_, the burden on her soul grew more and more unendurable and the example of her martyred husband stood before her in stronger light. at last she could bear the secret torture no longer; with clear knowledge of her fate, she confessed her heresy and, in 1567, she was put on trial again. as a relapsed there could be no mercy for her, but recantation might at least preserve her from death by fire, and earnest efforts were made to save her soul. they were unavailing; she declared that the holy spirit had enlightened her and that she would die as her husband had died, for christ. nothing could overcome her resolution and, on september 28, 1568, she atoned for her weakness of ten years before and was burnt alive as an obstinate impenitent.[1171] the remainder of the valladolid reformers were reserved for another celebration, october 8th, honored with the presence of philip ii, who obediently took the customary oath, with bared head and ungloved hand. it was, if possible, an occasion of greater solemnity than the previous one. a flemish official, who was present, estimates the number of spectators at two hundred thousand and, though he must have been hardened to such scenes at home, he cannot repress an expression of sympathy with the sufferers.[1172] besides a morisco who was relaxed, a judaizer reconciled and two penitents for other offences, there were twenty-six protestants. the lesson was the same as in the previous auto, that few had the ardor of martyrdom. thirteen had made their peace in time to secure reconciliation or penance. even juana sánchez, who had managed to bring with her a pair of scissors and had cut her throat, recanted before death, but her confession was considered imperfect and she was burnt in effigy. of the twelve relaxed in person, five manifested persistence, but only in two cases did this withstand the test of fire. carlos de seso was unyielding to the end and, when we are told that he had to be supported by two familiars to enable him to stand when hearing his sentence, we can guess the severity of torture endured by him. juan sánchez was likewise pertinacious; when the fire was set it burnt the cord fastening him to the stake; he leaped down and ran in flames; it was thought that he wanted to confess but, when a confessor was brought, he refused to listen to him; one account says that the guards thrust him back into the flames, another, that he looked up and saw carlos de seso calmly burning and himself leaped back into the blazing pile. fray domingo de rojas presented a brave front and, after his degradation, addressed the king, asserting his heresies until dragged away and gagged, but when brought to the stake his heart failed him; he declared that he wished to die in the faith of rome and was garroted. it was the same with pedro de cazalla and pedro de sotelo, who were gagged as unrepentant, but were converted at the brasero. those who had merited mercy by prompt confession and denunciation of accomplices were, as a rule, not severely penanced and, in many cases, their punishment was abbreviated.[1173] there would appear to have been some especially severe disabilities inflicted on the descendants of carlos de seso, extending to the female line, removable only by the holy see for, in 1630, urban viii, at the special request of philip iv, granted to caterina de castilla, grand-daughter of isabel de castilla, wife of carlos de seso, a dispensation to hold honors and dignities, secular and spiritual.[1174] [sidenote: _seville auto de fe_] thus was exterminated the nascent protestantism of valladolid. meanwhile the seville tribunal had been struggling with the mass of work thrown upon it by the capture of julian hernández and don juan ponce de leon. so numerous were the arrests that the rule had to be broken which forbade the confinement of accomplices together and, as the circle widened, arrests had to be postponed in expectation of an auto de fe that should empty the cells until, on june 6, 1559, the tribunal asked for power to requisition houses to serve as prisons. to hasten the work, early in 1559, bishop munebrega of tarazona, an old inquisitor, was sent to seville to aid the tribunal, but he was excessively severe, desiring to burn everyone; he soon became involved in bickering and recrimination with the inquisitors carpio and gasca, of whom he complained bitterly; votes in discordia were frequent, appeals to the suprema were constant and the work was delayed.[1175] it was not until september 24, 1559, that an auto could be celebrated. if all old castile had poured into valladolid, so all andalusia manifested its religious zeal by crowding into seville. three days in advance the people began to assemble, until the city could hold no more and they were obliged to sleep in the fields. the stagings and scaffoldings were on the most extensive scale and a place was specially provided for the duchess of bejar and her friends, who apparently desired the pleasure of seeing her kinsman, juan ponce de leon relaxed.[1176] as was so often the case, the solemnities were somewhat marred by an unseemly contest for precedence, between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, which was renewed at the auto of 1560 and was not settled for several years.[1177] the services of thirty-eight frailes and jesuits were required to prepare for their doom those who were to be relaxed. the most prominent of the victims was don juan ponce de leon, who had remained hardened, during his two years of confinement, in the belief that a man of his rank would not be burnt. he was an ardent protestant; he had founded in his lands a sort of church, where worship was conducted in secret; he had gone to the brasero where, raising his hands to heaven, he had wished to god that he could be burnt there to ashes, with his wife and children, in defence of his faith, and he had said that if he had an income of twenty thousand ducats he would spend it all in evangelizing spain but, when he learned his fate that night, he professed conversion; on the staging, he busied himself in urging his fellow-convicts to abandon their errors, and he made an exemplary end with tears and repentance. the next most conspicuous sufferer was the licenciado juan gonzález, a famous preacher. he was of moorish descent and, when only twelve years old, had been penanced at córdova for moorish errors. throughout his trial he had steadily refused to incriminate others and, during the night, he answered the padres' exhortations with the psalms of david. on the staging he talked heresy with his two sisters until he was gagged and all three were burnt. the most interesting victim was maría de bohorques, aged 26, natural daughter of pero garcía de xeres, a prominent citizen of seville. she was a disciple of cassiodoro de reina, highly educated and thoroughly conversant with scripture, in both its literal and spiritual senses. when the confessors entered her cell that night, she received them pleasantly and expressed no surprise at their fateful message. it was in vain that relays of frailes sought her conversion--dominicans following jesuits and franciscans succeeding to carmelites. she met all their arguments with biblical texts, and was the only one of the condemned who defended her faith. thus she passed the night until summoned to the procession. on the staging ponce de leon sought to convert her but she silenced him, saying that it was a time for meditation on the savior. she treated the frailes who surrounded her as troublesome intermeddlers but, at three o'clock, she yielded to their entreaties, relapsing soon afterwards, however, to her errors, and she was burnt. another prominent culprit was hernando de san juan, master of the _doctrina christiana_ for children in seville. he was an obstinate heretic, who resisted all efforts at conversion. after his sentence was read, the inquisitors asked whether he persisted in his errors, when he emphatically answered in the affirmative. thereupon he was gagged, which he endured as though thanking god that it was given him to suffer for his sake. at length, however, he was persuaded by the frailes to escape burning alive by conversion, but his salvation, we are told, was uncertain as he had been impenitent until then.[1178] [sidenote: _seville autos de fe_] altogether, at this auto, there were relaxed in person eighteen lutherans, besides the effigy of the fugitive francisco de zafra. two of these were foreigners--carlos de brujas, a fleming and antonio baldie a frenchman, master of the ship unicornio. evidently full use was made of the power to execute repentant converts, but whether any persisted to the end and were burnt alive cannot be gathered with certainty from any of the relations. the only guide we have is the general assertion of illescas that, in this and subsequent autos in seville, there were forty or fifty lutherans executed, of whom four or five suffered themselves to be burnt alive.[1179] besides those executed there were eight lutherans reconciled, three abjured for vehement suspicion and ten for light suspicion, making forty in all. two houses were ordered to be torn down and sowed with salt--those of luis de abrego and isabel de baena--which had been used for meetings. there were also thirty-four culprits for other offences--fourteen moriscos of whom three were relaxed, one judaizer reconciled, four bigamists, two blasphemers, twelve for holding fornication not to be a sin, and one false-witness, making a total of seventy-four and giving the crowd ample entertainment.[1180] the work went on with unrelaxing vigor, but it was not until december 22, 1560, that another gaol-delivery could be arranged. of this auto we have the dry official report, which shows that there were fourteen relaxations in person and three in effigy, the latter being the deceased doctor egidio and doctor constantino, and the fugitive juan pérez de pineda. there were fifteen reconciled and imprisoned, five abjurations _de vehementi_ and three de levi, and there was one acquittal, making forty-one in all, but soon afterwards there were sixteen spaniards and twenty-six foreigners discharged as innocent, showing how reckless and indiscriminating had been the arrests. whether any of the relaxed persisted to the end and were burnt alive is not recorded, for the only remark accompanying the report is that there were no offensive speeches, because those likely to utter them were duly gagged in advance.[1181] of these there were two or three deserving special notice. at the head of the list of sufferers stood julian hernández, who had left his safe retreat in frankfort on the desperate errand of evangelizing spain. he had lain three years in prison and, if gonzález de montes is to be believed, he bore unshrinkingly repeated torture without betraying his associates and, when carried back to his cell, would inspirit his fellow-prisoners by chanting along the corridors vencidos van los frayles, vencidos van. corridos van los lobos, corridos van. montes adds that he persisted to the end, when, after the faggots were lighted, a fraile had his gag removed in hopes of his yielding and, disgusted with his obduracy, cried "kill him! kill him!" when the guards thrust their weapons into him. it may be hoped that he was spared the final agonies, but there are not wanting indications that, towards the close of his imprisonment, his resolution gave way and that he furnished evidence against his comrades.[1182] the one acquittal was that of doña juana de bohorques, wife of don francisco de vargas and sister of the maría de bohorques who had perished in the previous auto. she died in prison and it was her fame and memory that were absolved. gonzález de montes says that her death was caused by atrocious torture and the case has, thanks to llorente, served as a base for one of the severest accusations against the inquisition. in the absence of the documents the truth of the story cannot be ascertained but, if true, it manifests more readiness to render a righteous judgment at the cost of self-condemnation than we are accustomed to attribute to the inquisition.[1183] [sidenote: _seville autos de fe_] seville, as the chief commercial centre of spain, naturally attracted many merchants and mariners, and this auto furnishes an illustration of inquisitorial methods in discouraging commerce. among the relaxed there were three foreigners--a frenchman named bartolomé fabreo and two englishmen, william bruq (brooks) and nicolas bertoun (burton or britton). of the two former we know only their fate, but of the latter we chance to have some details. burton was a shipmaster or supercargo, who made no secret of the reformed faith in which he had been trained, wherefore he was arrested and all the merchandize in his charge was sequestrated. one of the owners, seeking to recover his property, sent a young man named john frampton to reclaim it. after months of delay he was told that his papers were insufficient, when he went back to london and returned to seville with what was needed. more delays ensued and then he was cast into the secret prison on the charge that a suspicious book had been found in his baggage--the book being an english translation of cato. his trial was protracted, though he made no secret of his belief; he was tortured until he fainted and, when his endurance was exhausted, he consented to adopt catholicism. burton was more persistent and was burnt. frampton, after fourteen months of confinement, escaped with reconciliation, confiscation and a year of sanbenito and prison, with orders never to leave spain. all the goods under burton's charge were confiscated; frampton figured his own loss at £760 and the whole confiscations at the auto at the enormous sum of £50,000--doubtless an exaggeration, but the whole affair indicates that the profitable side of persecution was not lost to sight.[1184] the next auto was celebrated april 26, 1562, and comprised forty-nine cases of lutheranism. there were nine relaxed in person and, as none of them are described as obstinate, it may be assumed that all were garrotted. there was one effigy of the dead and fifteen of fugitives. of the latter, nine were monks of san isidro, among whom were cipriano de valera and cassiodoro de reina. that the native stock of heretics was becoming exhausted is seen in the fact that, of the thirty-three persons figuring in the auto, twenty-one were foreigners, mostly frenchmen. this was followed by another auto, october 28th of the same year, in which there were thirty-nine cases of lutheranism, of which nine were relaxations in person and three of fugitives in effigy, none of the culprits being described as impenitent. there were nine reconciliations, seventeen abjurations _de vehementi_ and one _de levi_. the number of ecclesiastics is a noteworthy feature of this auto for, besides the prior of san isidro, maestro garcí arias blanco, there were four priests burnt in person and one in effigy, and seven who abjured _de vehementi_. they contributed largely to the fines levied, amounting to 5050 ducats and 50,000 maravedís, besides four confiscations of half the property. it may be remarked, moreover, that the officers and crew of the ship angel seem to have fallen victims in a body, for three were burnt, six were reconciled and four abjured _de vehementi_.[1185] trading with spain was becoming more and more perilous. the little band of seville protestants was thus almost rooted out, and the succeeding autos show a constantly preponderating number of foreigners. that of april 19, 1564, only presented six relaxations in person and one in effigy, of which all the former were of flemings, and two abjurations _de vehementi_, both of foreigners.[1186] the next was celebrated may 13, 1565, in which there were six relaxations in effigy for protestantism, the offenders having fled. of these only two were spaniards, one being the last inculpated monk of san isidro. of seven reconciliations, all were of foreigners, six being flemish or breton sailors. of five abjurations _de vehementi_, three were of flemings. there was also a cruel warning against harboring and protecting these foreign heretics, for two flemings of puerto real, for this offence, were visited, one with four hundred lashes and the other with two hundred, besides fines and banishment.[1187] we have thus virtually reached the end of native spanish protestantism, but the impression produced by the valladolid and seville heretics was still profound. philip ii addressed, november 23, 1563, to the spanish bishops, a letter enlarging upon the efforts of the lutherans to spread their doctrines throughout spain. in these perilous times, he says, the inquisition must be aided by having everywhere those who will report to it all suspect of lutheran or other errors. the bishop is to see to this and also that preachers shall confine themselves to setting forth catholic belief, making no allusions to heresies, even to confute them. confessors are to be instructed to charge their penitents to denounce to the inquisition all whom they know to entertain these errors. no one is to be allowed to teach school without a preliminary examination, by both the ecclesiastical and secular authorities, who must be satisfied with his character and habits.[1188] it is evident that extraordinary precautions and universal vigilance were deemed necessary to exclude the obnoxious doctrines. [sidenote: _missionary efforts_] yet these efforts were rewarded with no new discoveries, for spanish protestantism was a mere episode, of no practical moment save as its repression fortified the inquisition and led to the segregation of spain from the intellectual and industrial movement of the succeeding centuries. a few sporadic cases may be noted from time to time, but the persecution of jew and morisco had trained the nation too thoroughly in enthusiastic fanaticism, and the organization of monarchy and church was too absolute for there to be any real danger that protestantism could obtain a foothold. yet the danger was deemed so pressing that extreme measures were justified to protect the land from the intrusion of foreign ideas. philip ii had lost no time, after his return from flanders, in issuing the pragmática of november 22, 1559, by which all spanish youth studying abroad were ordered home within four months, and all spanish subjects for the future were forbidden to seek foreign lands for study under penalty, for laymen, of confiscation and perpetual exile, and for clerics, of forfeiture of temporalities and loss of citizenship. the only exceptions allowed were the college of albornoz in bologna and those of rome and naples, for spaniards residing in italy and that of coimbra for the professors there.[1189] it would be difficult to exaggerate the unfortunate influence of this in retarding spanish development, yet it was but the first of a series of measures which, by isolating spain, crippled its energies in every direction. the spectre of active proselytism on the part of protestants abroad was vigorously conjured up to stimulate vigilance and justify repression. undoubtedly the refugees in the rhinelands and switzerland were earnestly desirous of evangelizing their native land, and they labored industriously to this end, but the difficulties in the way were too great and the reports as to their efforts were systematically exaggerated. carranza, in his defence, dwelt on his exertions in flanders to check this traffic, but though he was told of barrels full of a forged letter of philip ii and of a papal bull, at the frankfort fair for shipment to spain, and of shops in medina del campo and málaga to which heretic books were sent, the net results of his energy show how little substratum of fact there was in all this.[1190] the career of julian hernández proves that men who took their lives in their hands might occasionally bring in a few books, but his fate was not encouraging. if some times a missionary undertook such work his mission was apt to be brief. hughes bernat of grenoble landed at lequeitio (biscay) august 10, 1559, on such an errand. on the road to guadalupe he fell in with a minim named fray pedro, who pretended inclination to lutheranism and led bernat to unbosom himself as to his plans and hopes, resulting in his speedy arrest by the tribunal of toledo, when he boldly confessed as to himself and was tortured to discover his accomplices. he was sentenced to relaxation in the auto of september 25, 1560, and as he is not described as pertinacious, he probably professed conversion when, for some reason, his sentence was not executed.[1191] in the trial of gilles tibobil (or bonneville), at toledo, in 1564, we hear of francisco borgoñon, a french haberdasher who, in his trips from france, brought with him heretic books, but they were for the benefit of a little huguenot colony in toledo; the number of such frenchmen and flemings in spain was large and this, rather than projects of evangelization, probably explains the greater part of the smuggling, attempted or performed.[1192] [sidenote: _missionary efforts_] there were constant rumors, however, of propagandism on a larger scale which served to magnify the importance of the inquisition and to justify interference with commerce. in 1566, don francisco de alava, a spanish envoy to france, was busy in montpellier endeavoring to trace the agency by which heretic books were conveyed to catalonia, where the number of frenchmen was large,[1193] and, in the same year, margaret of parma, from the netherlands, sent to philip the absurd statement that thirty thousand of calvin's books had been transmitted through seville, whereupon the suprema issued vigorous orders for their seizure.[1194] in january, 1572, it announced to all the tribunals that the princess of béarn (jeanne d'albret) had recently held an assembly of lutherans, in which it was resolved to send some of their ministers in disguise to spain as missionaries. the utmost vigilance was enjoined to counteract this effort; all the commissioners were to be warned and prelates be asked to order all priests and preachers to be on the watch.[1195] in june, 1578, it sent letters to a number of tribunals, stating that advices from valladolid showed that the heretics had printed a new testament in spanish, with a venetian imprint, and were flooding the land with copies, and also that the heretic ministers had correspondents in spain. great watchfulness was therefore commanded at all sea-ports and frontier towns, and all persons found in possession of the prohibited volume were to be sent to madrid for trial. a month later, this scare was renewed on the strength of information from flanders, but the records of the toledo tribunal at this period do not indicate that these efforts were rewarded with any captures.[1196] whatever proselyting zeal protestantism may have had passed away with the early years of the seventeenth century. the latest work of the kind of which we hear is that, in 1603, the prince of anhalt introduced into seville a number of copies of the bible of cipriano de valera and, when catherine, duchess of bar, sister of henry iv, heard of this, she ordered six hundred copies printed and sent a huguenot gentleman, named hierosme de taride, to the duke of la force at pau, to learn how to transmit them to saragossa, when la force gave him the names of parties there who could be trusted to handle them, but the death of the duchess in 1604 put an end to the project.[1197] the thirty years' war gave the german protestants ample occupation at home and, after the peace of westphalia, proselytism was out of fashion. yet it was a curious episode of the war of succession that when, in 1706, the archduke charles and his english allies seemed for a brief space to be at the point of success, when all the kingdoms of the crown of aragon had acknowledged him and he even for a time occupied madrid, the opportunity was seized to circulate a catechism of anglican doctrine in spanish and other books prejudicial to the faith. the energetic measures adopted by the inquisition to meet this assault show the strength of its apprehension. it ordered the most careful watch to be kept at all ports and frontier towns. edicts were to be published forbidding these and all other works of evil doctrine introduced by heretics, and inquisitors were told to be energetic in punishing the guilty, enforcing their sentences by censures, interdicts and cessatio a divinis when, if these proved futile they were to abandon, in solemn procession, the disobedient cities, even at the risk of their lives.[1198] the rising of the spanish people, in this same year, soon limited the territory occupied by the allies; we hear nothing more of this attempt at conversion under the shadow of the sword and, taken as a whole, the efforts to evangelize spain have attracted vastly more attention than their intrinsic importance deserves. * * * * * [sidenote: _occasional victims_] unsuccessful as were the endeavors to introduce the new doctrines in spain, there continued to be occasional cases of spaniards embracing them partially or wholly, of which a few examples may be cited. there was arrested and brought to the toledo tribunal, december 24, 1562, hernando díaz, a cowherd of san roman, near talavera. he was a simple-minded creature, who had been at times _melancolico_. in the sierra morena there had been much talk among the shepherds of the lutheran doctrines made known in the seville autos. while working there he had heard of them, they fixed themselves in his wandering mind and, when the fit was on him, he could not help talking of his _imaginaciones_ as he called them, although his wife and daughter and his neighbors, cautioned him against it. at his first audience he freely admitted having denied the power of pope and priest and asserted that salvation came by faith and love of god and charity and love of one's neighbor, and not by the laws of the church or by indulgences and images and pilgrimages. the inquisitors treated him kindly, exhorting him to cast aside these fancies, which he professed willingness to do but could not control them. physicians were called in who bled and purged him; he begged for mercy, but could not conquer his beliefs. this went on for a couple of months when he announced his conversion through the teaching of his cell-companion, a priest named juan ramírez, who confirmed it, stating that díaz had talked like a lutheran until the feast of the conversion of st. paul, when he had read to him from his breviary the services of the day and had urged his conversion; díaz had wept and professed his belief in the church and ramírez held him to be sincere. thus far the conduct of the case had been eminently humane and considerate, but when the consulta de fe met, may 17th, two of the consultors voted for relaxation, while the two inquisitors, the ordinary and two others voted for reconciliation, confiscation and irremissible perpetual prison and sanbenito. at an auto held, september 19th, this sentence was duly pronounced and, when the city of toledo was assigned to him for a prison, he was thrust into the streets to take his chance of starvation.[1199] the case is not without interest as showing that the sentences read at the autos might be as effective as the dreaded missionaries. a heretic of different calibre was don caspar centellas of valencia, a gentleman of birth and culture. during his trial, he evaded the accusation with skill but, when his counsel drew up for him a defence in which he was made to recognize the roman church and pope as the church of god, in which he wished to live and die, he refused to sign it. he renounced all defence and was obdurate to the arguments of the theologians, who were repeatedly summoned to convert him; there was nothing to do but to burn him, which was executed accordingly, september 17, 1564.[1200] his brother, don miguel centellas, comendador of montesa, was likewise exposed to a prolonged trial, but was acquitted in 1567.[1201] connected with don gaspar was doctor sigismondo arquer who, though not a spaniard, was a spanish subject, being from cagliari. his trial at toledo occupied nine years; he was unrepentant to the last and when, in the auto of june 4, 1571, he was delivered to the secular arm, a curious debate arose. the official entrusted with the execution of the sentences declared that, under the law in other offences, there was no burning alive and he ordered arquer to be garroted. the pious zeal of the populace could not endure this ill-timed mercy; a riot occurred in which arquer was pierced with halberds and other weapons; fire was finally set and so, half dead already, he was burnt.[1202] by this time it was rare to find a native spaniard tried for protestantism, and women virtually disappear as culprits. moreover, the cases which are classed in the records as cosas de luteranos are nearly all those in which some trifling aberration or careless speech was qualified by the calificadores as savoring of lutheranism, so that the statistics unconsciously exaggerate greatly the prevalence of protestantism. such cases were mostly treated with leniency, as that of mosen monserrat, a beneficed priest of the church of san salvador, accused in 1567 of calvinism, to the valencia tribunal, for saying that extreme unction was not as efficacious as formerly, that it was mortal sin to administer the sacraments in mortal sin, and that the religious orders were not as strong as they had been. he escaped with having to revoke his utterances in presence of the chapter of san salvador and with celebrating nine masses.[1203] so, in 1581, juan de aragon, a peasant, was tried at toledo, on a charge of saying that masses for the dead were absurd, for the priest was a sinner who could do nothing with god, and that it sufficed to recommend oneself to god and the saints. he denied the accusation, the consulta de fe voted in discordia and the suprema merely sentenced him to abjure _de levi_, to hear mass as a penitent and to pay a fine of twelve ducats.[1204] while such trivial matters form the bulk of the cases of so-called lutheranism there were occasionally more serious ones, such as that of juan lópez de baltuena of calatayud in 1564, at saragossa. in his written defence there were sundry heresies, qualified as lutheran, for which he was condemned to abjure _de vehementi_, to serve in the galleys for life and never to read, write or talk about theology.[1205] nor were there altogether lacking cases, like those of centellas and arquer, in which conscientious conviction carried the delinquent to the stake, as that of pedro mantilla, a student of vezerril in old castile, who, in 1585, was relaxed at saragossa as a pertinacious heretic, who was arian in denying the trinity and lutheran in rejecting papal authority.[1206] [sidenote: _occasional victims_] the last relic of the movement of 1558 was the catalan, pedro galés, reckoned as one of the most learned spaniards of the age, and highly valued as a correspondent by such scholars as isaac casaubon, cujas and arias montano. as early as 1558 he had commenced to reject some of the catholic dogmas, but he escaped suspicion and enjoyed intimate relations with archbishop antonio agustin, who made him one of the interlocutors in his celebrated _dialogi de emendatione gratiani_--the first assault on the authority of the false decretals. about 1563 he left spain for italy, where he made progress in heresy, leading to his prosecution by the roman inquisition and the loss of an eye under torture. abjuration saved him and, in 1580, he returned to spain, where don juan de idiaquez sought to secure him as tutor to his son alonso. in 1582 he passed through italy to geneva, where he married and occupied the chair of philosophy until 1586. he rejected some of the calvinist doctrines and, leaving geneva, he taught in nîmes, orange and castres, holding frequent disputes with huguenot preachers. accompanied by his wife and two little daughters, he was on his way to bordeaux, in august, 1593, when the leaguers at marmande arrested him as a huguenot, with his precious accumulation of mss. and books in ten bales. he was delivered to the capitan pedro saravía, who had been placed by philip ii at the service of the marquis of villars, governor of guyenne. he made no secret of his belief and sarravía was impressed with the extreme importance of the information which the inquisition could extract from him as to his co-religionists, but the governor of marmande refused to convey him across the border and, when villars was applied to, he obligingly offered to hang or drown the heretic, but shrunk from the responsibility of extraditing him. the distracted wife was imploring the officials to liberate her husband and sarravía was consumed with anxiety lest she should succeed while he was seeking the intervention of philip. in this he succeeded; galés was surrendered to the tribunal of saragossa, where he freely admitted his faith and stubbornly refused conversion, but his endurance was mercifully spared by sickness and death after his third audience and, as an impenitent, his bones and effigy were burnt in the auto of april 17, 1597.[1207] in all, the cases of so-called lutheranism, collected by dr. schäfer, up to 1600, amount to 1995, of which 1640 are of foreigners and 355 of spaniards, and he estimates that he has succeeded in finding about two-fifths of the autos de fe of the thirteen tribunals of the mainland.[1208] this probably conveys a reasonably accurate impression as to the comparative numbers of the two classes, but it would be a gross error to regard all the spaniards as real protestants, for the great majority may be assumed to have been protestant only in the imagination of the calificadores. in the seventeenth century scattering cases continue to occur from time to time among spaniards, but their treatment indicates that there was no longer felt the necessity of making examples. fray juan gonzález de carvajal, a benedictine who had been expelled from his order for repeated escapes, embraced calvinism, which he confessed in france and obtained absolution; again he confessed it judicially in the roman inquisition, and yet again in the toledo tribunal and was reconciled. then, in 1622, he was tried in valladolid, where he told all this freely, but with such signs of repentance that the consulta de fe voted only to reconcile him in a public auto, with ten years of galley-service and perpetual prison. while waiting an auto he sought an audience and confessed that he had again relapsed; there was no choice now but to sentence him to degradation and relaxation, but the suprema mercifully modified this to reading his sentence in the audience-chamber, where his sanbenito was to be removed, perpetual deprivation of his functions as deacon and life-long imprisonment.[1209] there was less disposition to mercy, in 1630, in the case of maría gonzález, widow of pedro merino of canaca, one of the exceedingly rare instances of a spanish female protestant. to the valladolid tribunal she freely confessed her belief and persisted in it, despite earnest and prolonged efforts to undeceive her. there was no escape from condemning her to relaxation and the suprema confirmed the sentence, but whether it would have been executed cannot be told for persistent labors were crowned with success; she was finally converted and the sentence was changed to reconciliation.[1210] there may have been subsequent cases of spaniards relaxed for protestantism, but i have not met with them. in 1678, thomas castillanos was kindly sent to an insane hospital by the tribunal of toledo. in 1718, pedro ortiz of valencia was reconciled with perpetual prison in the córdova auto of april 24th, and, in that of november 30, 1722, at seville, joseph sánchez of cádiz appeared as a "calvinist and lutheran" and was reconciled with irremissible prison.[1211] [sidenote: _foreigners_] the augustinian fray manuel santos de san juan, better known as berrocosa, would, in the sixteenth century, have been burnt as an undoubted lutheran, although when arrested, in 1756, it was merely as a _regalista_ or upholder of the supremacy of the state. his _ensayo de el theatro de roma_, circulated in ms., was an essay to prove this, in a manner highly offensive to the hierarchy, and for this he was relegated for ten years to the strict convent of risco. during his confinement he wrote tracts to prove that rome was babylon, that the existing church in no way resembled that of the apostles, that there should be no order higher than the priesthood, that capital punishment for heresy was in itself a heresy, and other doctrines which no calificador could help qualifying as the rankest lutheranism, but berrocosa was not relaxed, although he found associates to copy these heretical documents and circulate them. when his ten years' confinement ended, in 1767, he was again strictly secluded in a cell, from which, in 1768, he managed to escape, eluding pursuit until, in january, 1770, he was recaptured and delivered to the toledo tribunal. here he underwent a second trial, resulting in a sentence of confinement for life in the convent of sarria (galicia), where he was to be kept _incomunicado_.[1212] this case illustrates why, during the decadence of the inquisition, we hear little or nothing of protestantism among spaniards, although the spirit of persecution was unabated. revolt against ultramontanism was no longer styled lutheranism but regalism or jansenism. with those whose dissidence went beyond discipline to dogma, it took the shape of the fashionable philosophy of the period and became naturalism or philosophism, deism or atheism, as the case might be. the inquisition still did its work with more or less rigor, but the arena had shifted. * * * * * while thus there had been little tendency to protestantism among natives, since the inconsiderable outbreaks of 1558, foreigners furnished an ample field of labor. spain had a reputation for wealth which rendered it attractive to the stranger; its people held in contempt the arts and crafts in which frenchmen and flemings and italians were adepts, and its internal peace seemed to offer a refuge to those whose industries were precarious in the incessant clash of arms through which the old order of things gave way to the new. consequently every city in spain had a considerable population of foreigners, intent on earning a livelihood without much thought of spiritual matters. some trials in the toledo tribunal, about 1570, allude to french and flemish printers then under arrest in toledo, barcelona, alcalá, salamanca, valladolid and granada.[1213] in 1600, the count of benavente, viceroy of valencia, estimated the number of frenchmen there at fourteen or fifteen thousand and added that there were vast numbers in aragon.[1214] while many of these were undoubtedly calvinists, sedulously concealing their faith, the majority were catholics, more or less sincere, but even their orthodoxy was not of a quality to suit the spanish standard. they had been accustomed to live in contact with heretics; they had no such fanatical horror of heresy as was universal in spain, and they were apt to be careless in the observances which the spaniard regarded as indispensable. all foreigners were thus objects of suspicion, and the catholic was as liable to arrest as the calvinist. jacques zacharie, a dealer in rosaries and images in burgos, in 1637, chanced to be relating his adventures with the heretics in france who, in examining his baggage, had said "let him take these wares to spain and bring us back good money," when one of his hearers expressed surprise that the most christian king would let heretics dwell in his land. this led jacques patriotically to defend them as good baptized christians, who lived righteously according to their law. he was asked how they could be christians when they did not go to mass and confess to priests, when, in the heat of discussion, he replied that there was not scriptural command of sacramental confession. for this he was denounced to the valladolid tribunal; he was arrested and tried and all his property was sequestrated.[1215] [sidenote: _foreigners_] it is no wonder therefore that the tribunals were kept busy with these cases and that the records are full of them, especially under the crown of aragon, owing to the propinquity of south-western france, where huguenotism was in the ascendant. in saragossa the relaxations for lutheranism, from 1546 to 1574, though amounting to only seven, were all of frenchmen.[1216] barcelona was more active. in an auto of may 16, 1561, there appeared for lutheranism, eleven frenchmen, one piedmontese and one maltese. in that of july 11, 1563, there were thirty-four frenchmen, two italians and two catalans, of whom eight frenchmen were relaxed in person and three in effigy. in that of march 5, 1564, there were twenty-eight frenchmen, two catalans and one swiss, of whom eight frenchmen were relaxed in person and two in effigy.[1217] from a report by dr. zurita of his visitation in the summer of 1564, we obtain a glimpse of how these autos were fed. at perpignan, for lutheranism, five persons were arrested with sequestration, of whom four, and possibly all five, were french. at castellon de ampurias, maestre macian, a frenchman, was sent to barcelona for trial. jean de adin, a frenchman of aldas, escaped arrest by flight, and the arrest was ordered of pere bayrach, a frenchman of flasa.[1218] when, simultaneously with this, the ambassador saint-sulpice complained to philip ii of the cruelty exercised on his fellow-countrymen, who were peaceably plying their industries, without creating scandal, the king coolly replied that the inquisition acted without regard to persons, but nevertheless he would speak with the inquisitor-general.[1219] the complaint of cruelty was justified. in the rebuke which the suprema administered to the tribunal of barcelona, in 1568, as the result of de soto salazar's visitation, allusion is made to a case, in 1565, of a frenchman named antoine aymeric, arrested without evidence; his first audience was held at his own request february 23d, the second on july 27th, when, without more ado, he was tortured and sentenced to reconciliation and confiscation. in another case of a frenchman, armand jacobat, he was tortured without confession, but subsequently admitted some lutheran errors, begged for mercy and desired to be converted, in spite of which he was relaxed and burnt, for which the suprema held the tribunal to be gravely in fault.[1220] what became of those not burnt is seen in a report of december, 1566, to charles ix, by his ambassador m. de fourquevaux, that seventy poor frenchmen, prisoners of the barcelona tribunal, had been condemned to the galleys and had been delivered, in november, to don alvar de bazan, who had taken the fleet to winter near cádiz. in february, 1567, he writes that, on complaint to the duke of alva, the latter had assured him on his honor that they were all dogmatizing huguenots; that frenchmen were never arrested for protestantism if they had not said or done something scandalous. this was as mendacious as the repeated promises to release the galley-slaves, which were always evaded until fourquevaux recommended the seizure as a hostage, at narbonne, of andrea doria, the naval commander-in-chief. at last, on december 20th, he reported the sending of royal letters to doria to release them, but it is fairly questionable whether the order was obeyed. again, in a list of complaints made by charles ix to philip, there was one concerning five of his subjects arrested in havana and sent to seville for trial, to which philip replied that he was not accustomed and did not desire to interfere in such affairs, but nevertheless he would have the inquisitor-general requested to order the tribunal to despatch these cases with all speed.[1221] a more pleasing international episode is connected with the case of robert fitzwilliam, an englishman, condemned by the seville tribunal to ten years of galleys and perpetual prison. he was received on board, february 25, 1578 and, in november 1582, his wife ellen presented herself in the court of madrid, with a letter from queen elizabeth to philip ii, representing that the poor woman had beseeched her interposition, and that the liberation of the husband would be a favor which she would be glad to reciprocate. under any other jurisdiction, the granting of such a royal request would have been a matter of course, but the assent of the holy office had to be secured. the existing papers fail to inform us of the result, but that it was favorable can scarce be doubted, for the devotion of the faithful wife made a strong impression even on the hardened officials, whose correspondence alludes to her in terms of respect and admiration.[1222] more summary was the process when, in 1572, the barcelona tribunal sent a commissioner into french territory on some duty, and he was seized and held as a hostage for a frenchman arrested by the tribunal, leading to an exchange of prisoners.[1223] the val d'andorra furnished another source of international questions, for the barcelona tribunal claimed jurisdiction over it, while jeanne d'albret, as queen of navarre, held that it was her fief. in 1572, she put a french veguer there to administer justice, whereupon the inquisitors commenced to gather information about him, as a presumable huguenot, and the suprema ordered them to arrest him if sufficient evidence could be found, but, as the attempt was likely to prove dangerous, it need not be made unless the viceroy would furnish a sufficient guard, which apparently he declined to do.[1224] [sidenote: _diminishing numbers_] all foreigners thus were objects of suspicion, and the jurisdiction of the inquisition was stretched to the utmost to prevent their infecting the faithful. in 1572, the suprema ordered the tribunals of aragon, catalonia and valencia to see that no frenchmen were employed as teachers of reading and writing anywhere within their districts, experience having shown the dangers thence arising.[1225] intercourse with foreigners was dangerous and was discouraged. in 1568, inquisitor moral, in reporting a visit to san sebastian, expressed a desire to punish those who received and entertained and had particular friendship and dealings with french and english strangers, sometimes even giving them information enabling them to escape arrest, on all of which the suprema commented by characterizing these as grave cases, which should have been sent to logroño for trial.[1226] the spaniard, too, who went abroad was an object of suspicion, and was held to strict accountability for his acts during absence. in the barcelona auto of june 21, 1627, there appeared a merchant of manresa who, while in france, had listened to huguenot preaching and had eaten flesh on friday, for which he was penanced in a thousand ducats and was recluded in a convent for three years.[1227] that, under these influences, coupled with the growing poverty of spain and the curse of its debased currency, the number of resident foreigners diminished greatly after the opening of the seventeenth century, may be assumed from the reduction in the cases of protestantism in the records. those of toledo, from 1575 to 1610, show a total of forty-seven, of which the last one occurred in 1601, while those from 1648 to 1794 contain only eleven.[1228] in valladolid, the reports of twenty-nine years, between 1622 and 1662, show only eighteen cases.[1229] in the madrid tribunal, from 1703 to 1751, there is only a single case of a "huguenot."[1230] in the sixty-four autos celebrated by all the tribunals between 1721 and 1727, there are only three cases.[1231] in valencia, between 1705 and 1726, there was but a single case--a calvinist who spontaneously denounced himself.[1232] scattering and imperfect as are these statistics, they suffice to indicate how rapidly the number of foreign delinquents fell off, after the year 1600, and that this was not the result of progress in enlightenment and toleration we shall see hereafter. it was simply that the inquisition had succeeded in its efforts to limit intercourse between spain and its neighbors, and to isolate it from european civilization. * * * * * [sidenote: _foreign heretics_] if this was the case in regard to nations presumably catholic, we can readily conceive how much greater vigilance was exercised towards those which had lapsed into heresy. commercial intercourse with them was unavoidable, but it was a necessary evil, to be restricted within the narrowest limits by deterrent regulations. for awhile, indeed, the heretic trader took his life and fortune in his hands when he ventured to make a spanish harbor, as we have seen in the case of the good ship angel. even castaways were the legitimate prey of the inquisition, as was experienced by seventeen english sailors of a fishing-boat, who were captured by a french vessel and were thrown on shore on fuerte ventura, one of the canaries. they were tried and escaped burning by conversion, after which four of them, richard newman, edward stephens, john ware, and edward stride managed to escape. as this showed them to be impenitent, they were prosecuted in absentia for relapse, and their effigies were solemnly burnt in an auto of july 22, 1587.[1233] the number of merchant vessels touching at the canaries, in fact, furnished to the tribunal at one time the major portion of its work. a record of prisoners entered in its secret prison, during six months of 1593, shows thirteen belonging to the german ship san pedro, seventeen to the flemish ship la rosa, and fifteen to the flemish ship el leon colorado, besides a dozen english sailors whose vessel is not specified. these comprise all hands, officers and crews, merchants and passengers, and presumably, if the cargoes were not confiscated, they were effectually looted in the absence of their guardians.[1234] that such was the motive, rather than the protection of spain from the infection of heresy, is inferable from a sentence of the granada tribunal, in 1574, condemning to reconciliation and life-long galley-service jean moreno, a frenchman, resident in málaga, because he had warned some protestant sailors not to enter the port of almería.[1235] when there was prospect of a fat confiscation, indeed, the inquisition paid little respect to the justice of the case or to the parties who might suffer. there was a long dispute between rome and madrid over two cargoes of alum, which the papal camera was sending to england, when the ships were seized and the cargoes sequestrated by the tribunal of seville, on the ground that the english crews were heretics.[1236] this barbarous policy necessarily made itself felt in the cost of foreign commodities, especially after the troubles in the netherlands had cut off or reduced that portion of the carrying trade. under this pressure, in 1597, an exception was made in favor of the hansa. instructions were issued by the suprema that, when its ships arrived with merchandise, the persons in them were not to be interrogated about their religion, nor on that account were the ships or cargoes to be sequestrated or confiscated, unless while in port they had offended against the catholic faith and, in such case, only the property of delinquents was to be seized; search, however, for prohibited books was to be made, as was customary with catholic vessels.[1237] there was also an approach to admitting the dutch, in a royal order of february 27, 1603, providing that holland vessels and crews, bearing passports from the archdukes of the netherlands, were to be allowed entrance to spanish ports, and their persons and property were to be secure, but this was revoked, december 11, 1604, subject to the twelve months' notice provided in the order.[1238] a treaty of peace with england, covering this matter, was ratified by james i, august 29/19, 1604 and by philip iii, june 16, 1605. during this interval, in november, 1604, an english ship, with a crew of twenty men, coming for a load of corn, touched at messina and then at palermo. in the latter port it was visited by the officials of the inquisition, when the men admitted that they were protestants and wished to live in that faith. they were all arrested and appealed to the viceroy, the duke of feria. he was powerless save to write a private letter in which he declared that the arrest was a disservice to the king and tended to destroy the treaty agreed upon, wherefore the inquisition ought to dissemble and treat the heretics well, for the public good. the inquisitors thereupon assembled ten consultors, reaching the conclusion that the englishmen could be liberated only on condition of giving ample security that they would go to spain and present themselves before the inquisitor-general. for strangers this was a virtual impossibility, and it doubtless proved to be so for, in 1605, we hear of certain englishmen, who had been admitted to penance with the sanbenito and required to live for two years in certain monasteries for instruction in the faith; they had contrived to escape, but were tracked and found on board a french ship, without their sanbenitos. as the tribunal did not care to support them, they were ordered to be distributed separately to monasteries in the mountains, far from the sea, where they were, for ten years, to perform labor without pay.[1239] when such irrational cruelty was habitual, international comity and commercial interests alike demanded that a curb should be placed on the irresponsibility of the inquisition. accordingly, in the english treaty of 1604, article 21 provided that the vassals of king james, coming to or residing in the netherlands or spain, should not be molested or disturbed on account of matters of conscience, so long as they gave no occasion for scandal, and that corresponding instructions should be issued by the king. this philip did, under the same date of june 15, 1605, ordering that english subjects should not be held accountable for acts prior to their coming to spain. while in spain they were not to be compelled to enter churches but, if entering voluntarily, due respect must be paid to the venerable sacrament and, if it was met on the street, they must kneel, or take another street or enter a house. if any one were prosecuted for contravention of these rules, only his own property was to be seized, and not a vessel or cargo, or the goods of others in his charge, and to the observance of all this the king pledged his royal faith and word. the suprema had previously, december 11, 1604, issued instructions similar to those of 1597 for the hansa; on july 14, 1605, it transmitted to the tribunals the articles of the treaty, but it seems to have objected to the royal declaration, for it delayed until october 8th embodying its provisions in a carta acordada.[1240] [sidenote: _foreign heretics_] this was too reasonable to be acceptable to spanish fanaticism. archbishop ribera, in 1608, varied his efforts for morisco expulsion with an earnest appeal to the king, expressing the grief which he had never ceased to feel since he heard of the peace with england, fearing, as he did, the offence given to god which would bring many evils on spain. his affliction had increased in view of the excesses committed by the english in valencia, living publicly in their religion and causing great scandal and evil example to the faithful and, at much length and with many instances, he proved that peace with infidels was forbidden by holy writ. this memorial was duly considered in the council of state, when the comendador mayor of leon reported that the king had ordered the inquisitor-general to be notified, so that he might instruct the tribunals to exercise great vigilance and to punish all who gave occasion for scandal.[1241] when, in 1609, the twelve years' truce was concluded with the united provinces, the dutch naturally claimed the same privileges as the english, and these were embodied in article 7 of the treaty.[1242] the inquisition did not submit quietly to this restriction on its powers and, in 1612, it issued a carta acordada, repeated in 1616, asserting that these privileges applied only to transient strangers, and that those who were resident and kept houses were subject to the tribunals in all matters of faith like any spanish subjects; it invoked, moreover, an old regulation of 1581, ordering special watch to be kept on them, so that what they did in private as well as in public might be known, full reports being sent to the suprema. in 1620 it revived another instruction of 1581 forbidding foreigners in the seaports to keep inns or lodging houses.[1243] whether any trouble arose from these arbitrary constructions of international compacts does not appear, but at least they manifested a desire to render the position of foreign heretics as precarious and uncomfortable as possible. when the truce with holland expired, in 1621, of course the privileges of the dutch were withdrawn and, when war with england came in 1624, the inquisition eagerly assumed the office of purifying spain from heretical infection. inquisitor-general pacheco informed the king that papal permission had been necessary to enable philip iii to enter into the treaty of 1605; now that the peace had been broken and the causes of the papal permission had ceased, he was, as inquisitor-general, obliged in conscience to obviate the evils of catholic intercourse with such pertinacious and pernicious heretics as the english and scotch, by not permitting them to remain in his majesty's dominions, for otherwise he would be lacking in his duty to the king and to his office. he had therefore ordered an edict to be published that all englishmen and scotchmen, who were not catholics, should leave the king's dominions within twenty days, notifying them that after that date they would be punished by the holy office. as it was a weighty matter, of which the king should be notified, pacheco added that he had not wished to execute it without informing him and he could issue such orders as he saw fit.[1244] it may be assumed that philip did not approve of this insolent invasion of the royal power, for it was not till april 22, 1626, that he issued a proclamation forbidding all commercial intercourse with england and ordering the confiscation of all english goods imported in contravention of its commands, when the inquisition followed by a carta acordada of may 29th, prescribing the prosecution, in the regular way, of all english heretics who had sinned against the faith.[1245] [sidenote: _foreign heretics_] when peace was restored, in 1630, article 19 of the treaty revived the article of 1604 and philip, as before, promised to provide that english subjects should not be molested so long as they caused no scandal.[1246] as before, the suprema followed this, january 28, 1631, with detailed instructions that those who kept house should be treated as spanish subjects and be subjected to special surveillance.[1247] this unjustifiable distinction between transient and resident foreigners gave ample opportunity for molestation and blackmail. it was construed as applying the index of prohibited books to residents for, in 1645, we find the canary tribunal ordering its commissioner at orotava to search the houses of the english merchants and report whether they found any forbidden books or books that had not passed the censure. the duty was performed and lists were forwarded, not only of books but of pictures and prints and, as nothing objectionable was reported, we may not uncharitably surmise that the commissioner's labor was not unprofitable.[1248] as the rule had no legal basis, it probably called forth protests for, in 1652, the suprema submitted the question of its legality to a number of calificadores, who unanimously agreed that it was not in accordance with the treaties, when presumably it was withdrawn.[1249] the espionage to which foreign merchants were exposed is portrayed, in 1648, by pedro de villareal, commissioner at bilbao, who reports that there were sixteen houses in which the english and dutch traders were lodged; he was confident that nothing heretical could escape his knowledge, for the keepers of the houses were faithful spies and very zealous in matters of religion.[1250] a treaty of commerce with denmark, in 1641, placed the danes on the same footing as the english and, in the treaty of munster, january 30, 1648, the dutch obtained the same terms, while a special article placed the hanse towns on the same footing as holland.[1251] meanwhile, in 1645, the english merchants in andalusia, by a payment of twenty-five hundred ducats in silver, had secured certain commercial privileges, one of which indicates how grudgingly their treaty rights had been interpreted. a foreign heretic appearing in court, either as party or witness, was asked whether he was a catholic; if he replied in the negative, his oath was not received. this humiliating and injurious distinction was abrogated, and the englishman's oath was declared to be legal and binding, like the spaniard's, but it was difficult to make the courts accept the innovation, and the royal order, issued march 19th had to be repeated june 26th and again november 9th. by the munster treaties this privilege was extended to holland and the hanse towns, and it was confirmed by the treaty of utrecht in 1713.[1252] [sidenote: _foreign heretics_] we have seen how difficult it was to make the inquisition respect municipal law, and it was not likely to regard international obligations. excuses could readily be found to bring the hated foreign heretic under its jurisdiction and, in the chronic penury of the time, the opportunity of rich confiscations was not likely to be lost sight of. in 1621 we hear of a number of englishmen arrested in málaga, with sequestration of property, and the same occurred in seville, in 1622.[1253] of one case we chance to have details--that of george penn, brother of admiral--then captain--penn, and uncle of william penn, the founder of pennsylvania. he was in no sense a bigoted protestant, or he would scarce have married a catholic wife in flanders. he took her to seville, where he conducted a prosperous business until 1643, when he was arrested. his account of his sufferings is manifestly exaggerated though we may believe him when he says that he was tortured until he confessed all that was required of him--that he was a heretic who had married a catholic in antwerp, intending to take her to england and pervert her and their children from the faith. he was required to abjure in a public auto and ordered to leave spain within three months, while his wife was taken from him and he says was married to a spaniard. the property confiscated amounted, according to disinterested appraisers, to £6000 of his own and £6000 belonging to other parties. on his return to england, beggared and broken in health, he sought to obtain redress and, about 1664, charles ii appointed him envoy to spain, to enable him to urge his claims to advantage, but being then 63 years old he did not venture to go. during the negotiations at utrecht, william penn endeavored to obtain consideration of this case, but apparently without success.[1254] the superb imperturbability of the inquisition as to international obligations is evinced in a case occurring soon after the treaty of munster. paul jerome estagema, a citizen of hoorn, was arrested at alicante and tried by the valencia tribunal. influential people in holland urged his release, and the dutch ambassador, anthony brun, made forcible representations to the king, who wrote, september 15, 1651, to the suprema, urging a prompt decision of the case and pointing out that, under the treaty, estagema, as a citizen of the united provinces, was not subject to the inquisition. the royal request was treated with absolute indifference; ambassador brun kept urging the matter and, on december 16th, philip repeated his application to the suprema, and asserted the necessity of satisfying the hollanders. then the suprema condescended to forward the royal letters to the tribunal, telling it to despatch the case without delay, which could readily be done as the trial had been finished on september 7th, and ordering it to report the sentence when pronounced.[1255] at this period, political exigencies rendered both france and spain desirous of an alliance with england. don alonso de cardenas, the spanish ambassador, endeavored to negotiate a treaty with cromwell in 1653 and again in 1655, but the protector insisted on larger toleration. in the draft of the projected treaty, articles 22 and 35 not only repeated the previous provisions but added that englishmen conducting business in spain should be permitted, in their houses and ships, to perform divine service in their own manner, and to use their bibles and other books, and that they should not be arrested for so doing or their property be sequestrated. when the treaty was submitted to philip, he sent these articles to the suprema for its advice, protesting that he was unalterably resolved to risk all his dominions and spill the last drop of his blood, rather than to yield anything that would be to the disservice of god, or prejudice in the least degree the purity of religion. in response to this the suprema declared that the royal words ought to be recorded in imperishable bronze; it easily proved that by divine, canon and municipal law, a sovereign had no right to permit such toleration; it quoted gregory xv as ordering, in 1622, all rulers, under heavy penalties, to expel all heretics from their dominions, and it pointed out that heretics employed catholic servants who would be corrupted, and that all cognizant of heresy incurred mortal sin and excommunication if they did not denounce it. these arguments were as applicable to the treaties of 1605, 1630, and 1648 as to the proposed one, but they sufficed; it was rejected, and cromwell turned to france.[1256] doubtless admiral penn felt a special personal satisfaction, when he avenged his brother by wresting jamaica from spain in 1655. a secret treaty, in 1656, between the wandering charles ii and philip, pledged the former to bring about freedom of conscience in england, but was discreetly silent about toleration in spain. with the restoration, in 1660, peace ensued and the treaty of 1630 was revived. in 1663, when a new treaty was discussed, england again put forward the stipulations of cromwell, and philip again consulted the suprema with the same result. on philip's death, in 1665, the treaty of december 17th continued in force the provisions of 1630 and extended to all englishmen the privileges granted, in 1645, to those of andalusia. then, in 1667, the treaty of may 23d defined more clearly that the pretext of conscience should not be used to inflict injury on englishmen or raise any dispute so long as no manifest public scandal was caused nor offence committed. in this shape the relations between the kingdoms continued; the treaty of utrecht in 1713 and those of 1763 and 1783 merely confirmed that of 1667.[1257] [sidenote: _foreign heretics_] with france, of course, relations were wholly different. when the huguenot was grudgingly tolerated at home, he could expect no protection for his religion abroad, especially when, as in spain, he could reside only by pretending catholicism. the peace of the pyrenees, november 7, 1659, merely provides, in article 5, that the vassals of each power shall have free ingress, residence and egress in the territories of the other, observing the laws and customs of the country.[1258] this did not, however, preclude reclamation in cases of special malfeasance, as when, in 1672, the french ambassador villars complained of an outrage in majorca. a french ship, arriving there from barbary, september 6th, with a cargo of wheat, chanced to have as a passenger a huguenot of position, m. de la fent, governor of the bastion de france, with a large sum of money. on learning this, the inquisitor arranged to seize him and embargo his property; he assembled a force and armed two vessels with which to take possession of the french ship, and he would have done so had not m. de la fent prevailed upon the master to make sail. the queen-regent forwarded this to the suprema, october 28th, for explanation, but it was not until november 19th that it replied, merely saying that the inquisitor of majorca had reported, on september 21st, the arrival of a heretic and that, on october 3d, it had ordered him to take such action as comported with the service of the queen, the public peace, and the consideration due to the subjects of the french king, who were to be treated like the english and the dutch.[1259] as the attempt had failed, the suprema made the best excuse it could, but with manifest equivocation, for the french heretic had not such treaty protection as the english. this was manifested, after the revocation of the edict of nantes, in 1685, when it was thought that fugitive huguenots might have settled in spain. in 1687, the papal nuncio and the french ambassador called the attention of the inquisitor-general to the matter, suggesting that the holy office should not permit their residence. carlos ii seconded their representations, and issued a cédula, february 28th, ordering his officials to lend all necessary assistance to the inquisition. the suprema sent this to the tribunals and followed it, june 14th, with detailed instructions, ordering a general perquisition to be conducted through the parish priests throughout spain. each tribunal was to collect the results, investigate them and vote, reporting the vote to the suprema. extreme vigilance was enjoined and the suprema was to be kept informed.[1260] judging from such statistics of the period as are accessible, this proved to be a false alarm, leading to no results, but none the less it indicates the dread inspired by the prospect of the intrusion of foreign heretics. there seems to have been a similar scare, in 1698, when the suprema instructed the tribunals to order all their commissioners to report whether, in their districts, there were any heretics, transient or resident, giving in detail the nationality, sect, occupation etc. of each one, and this without loss of time.[1261] this policy continued. in 1784 similar lists were called for. the answer from valencia showed how successful had been the exclusion of protestants, and how precarious was the position of those who ventured to reside in spain. the tribunal reported, august 29, 1785, that it had instructed its commissioners everywhere and, where there were no commissioners, satisfactory persons, to make this secret investigation, with the result that there were no protestants in the kingdom of valencia, except in the city, where there were two--mons. champane, a frenchman and dueclaux, whose nationality could not be ascertained. both were protestants, although it was difficult to verify the fact, on account of their extreme care in attending church and in accompanying the sacrament when it was carried to the sick.[1262] [sidenote: _foreign heretics_] with the outbreak of the french revolution, the desire to exclude heretics extended itself to foreigners generally, with the view of completely isolating spain. in 1791 a decree of carlos iv required all foreigners to be registered; those who desired to be naturalized must be catholics and take the necessary oath of allegiance; transient residents were compelled to take out licences in which, among other details, their religion was specified; they were not allowed to exercise any profession or art or craft, or to follow any retail trade, or even to be servants, and all engaged in such pursuits were given two months in which to leave the country.[1263] when, however, the peace of 1795 put an end to the disastrous war with the french republic and aroused apprehension of an approaching rupture with england, there was a feverish desire to placate france, showing itself in a royal cédula of may 1, 1796, prohibiting all tribunals, including the inquisition, from molesting frenchmen on account of religion, but those only were to be recognized as frenchmen who wore the tricolor cockade. when war broke out with england, a further advance was made; carlos ordered his representatives abroad to assure all foreign powers that in spain strangers enjoyed full liberty of conscience, and in august, 1797, he forbade the inquisition to trouble foreigners about their faith.[1264] we may be permitted, however, to doubt the sincerity of this. when, in the same year, the attention of the valencia tribunal was drawn to a german merchant named johann foch, who called himself a protestant, it applied at once to the captain-general to know whether he held the licence authorizing his residence in spain, not being a catholic. it proceeded with the case but suspended it because of his marriage with bernarda maría pellicer, a parishioner of santo tomás.[1265] this liberality, whether genuine or not, was only a passing episode. a document of 1801 shows that the decree of 1791 was still in force, and that the inquisition was relied upon to carry it into effect. it is a series of questions addressed by the suprema to the tribunals, with the answers from valencia, and explains itself. q. whether, prior to the royal order of 1791, foreigners not catholics were allowed to reside, in the cases provided by the treaties and, if they were not permitted, what measures were taken to ascertain whether they professed calvinism? a. in case of their not having the benefit of those treaties, as soon as the tribunal had knowledge of them, it made the requisite investigation and, on ascertaining it to be true, it notified them to quit the kingdom, if they had not special permission from the king. q. if investigation led to the belief that a stranger was catholic and it was subsequently found that he was not, but that he did not speak ill of our religion, or cause scandal, or insult sacred objects, to what punishment was he condemned? a. no recent case of this kind has occurred but, from some former ones, it is deduced that the suprema was consulted. q. have those who established themselves in spain, in virtue of the royal order of 1791, complied with the formalities which it prescribes? a. as no advice has been sent to this tribunal by the junta del comercio y moneda, nor by the intendente of the kingdom, it is inferred that no non-catholic artists have established themselves, or else that the prescription to advise the tribunal has not been obeyed. q. whether they (non-catholic foreigners) contract marriage with catholics and, in that case, what is the religion of the children? a. but one case of such marriage is known--that of juan foch, a german of lindau, who called himself a travelling merchant, with bernarda maría pellicer of this city. this was in virtue of a papal brief, passed by the council of castile and with the royal exequatur, providing that he should allow his wife to remain a catholic and his children to be brought up in the same faith, and she promising to persuade him to conversion. they were married privately, outside of the church and without banns or other public ceremonies. we learn from the vicar of los santos juanes, where they live, that they cause no scandal, comply with the obligations and that a boy has been baptized. q. since the royal order, about how many non-catholic strangers have established themselves, naming some of the principal ones and their nation or sect? a. this could be answered only by examining the registers required to be kept by the captain-general and royal justicias. this tribunal can only have notice by denunciations, which has occurred only with foch. q. how many _autillos públicos_ have been held with strangers since 1759 when carlos iii ascended the throne? state the name, country, religion and principal offences. a. since 1759 there has been no autillo público for strangers.[1266] this document has interest not only as showing the continued vigilance as to foreign heretics, but as indicating how thoroughly successful had been the policy of exclusion. the district of the tribunal embraced a long stretch of sea-coast, including such commercial cities as valencia and alicante, yet the non-catholic stranger was still almost unknown, as he had been when the report of 1785 was made. spain was a land to be shunned by all who were liable to be dealt with by the inquisition, and it was left to its isolation. for those who ventured it, concealment of heresy was worse than its avowal. david bonoran, a french protestant, domiciled in bilbao, succeeded in passing as a good catholic. becoming converted, he applied to the tribunal of logroño to abjure his errors and be incorporated in the church, when, in 1791, he was promptly prosecuted for having feigned catholicism.[1267] this sensitiveness survived the peninsular war and was vigorous to the last. in 1816 there is considerable correspondence respecting the wife of don rufino de acha, settled in bilbao as a merchant, who had married in england a protestant named doña juana de ancell--presumably jane hansell. from this it appears that, after a discussion lasting nearly a year, she was given the alternative of leaving spain or of conversion and that she accepted the latter.[1268] [sidenote: _heretic troops_] this persistent dread of heretics is vividly reflected in one of the last acts of the suprema prior to its suppression. in 1819 it issued an elaborate series of instructions for the guidance of commissioners at the sea-ports in the _visitas de navios_, or examination of all ships on their arrival. this was principally intended to prevent the introduction of prohibited books, which will be considered hereafter, but the sections devoted to heretics show that the regulations adopted at the treaty of 1605 were still in force. foreign heretics were not to be prosecuted for acts committed abroad but, for anything done in spain and causing scandal, they were to be arrested and transmitted to the tribunal for trial. they were not to be compelled to enter churches but, if they did so, they were to pay due respect to the sacrament and, on meeting it in the street, they were to kneel or remove themselves out of the way. strangers were forbidden to keep public houses for the entertainment of protestant shipmasters and sailors or travellers. the commissioner was to be vigilant in ascertaining and reporting to the tribunal everything they said against the catholic faith, how they behaved in public and in private and whether any scandal was caused to the faithful.[1269] spain was the same as it had been two centuries before. * * * * * there was one exception, however, to the prohibition of the hated presence of heretics on spanish soil. constantly recurring war necessitated the employment of whatever troops could be had, irrespective of their spiritual condition. it was the german bands of lutherans under georg fronsberg who sacked rome for charles v in 1527. foreign mercenaries were continually in spanish service, and they grew more indispensable in the seventeenth century with the decline both in population and military ardor. the revolts of portugal and catalonia, in 1640, rendered spain the battle-field, and recruits from any source were welcome, who of course could not be subjected to inquisitorial interference, no matter what their faith. the inquisition in vain pointed out the dangers thence arising. in a consulta of november 13, 1647, the suprema related with grief that four hundred german soldiers, landed at san sebastian, on their way to catalonia, were disseminating their errors, distributing heretic books and outraging images.[1270] there was no help for it and, after war had ceased on spanish territory, the employment of foreign regiments continued to excite its susceptibilities. in 1668, the suprema arguing in a consulta for the maintenance of its prerogatives, urged that they were especially necessary, in view of the presence of such bodies of soldiers, many of whom were heretics.[1271] still, there was an effort made to preserve the spanish organizations from wolves in sheep's clothing. fernando vi issued a decree, december 31, 1756, imposing the death-penalty on any heretic who pretended to be a catholic in order to enlist and, in 1765, carlos iii modified this to expulsion from the kingdom under pain of ten years' labor in the _bagne_, adding that, if the heretic when enlisting had sworn that he was a catholic, he should run the gauntlet twice before expulsion.[1272] [sidenote: _admission of converts_] there was some slight compensation, for the presence of these heretics, in the field which they furnished for missionary work. there were frequent conversions, especially when the chaplains were zealous for the salvation of souls. one of these was francisco columbano burke, chaplain of the first swiss battalion, who held a faculty for this purpose as commissioner of the inquisition. he writes, may 23, 1764 from tarragona to the barcelona tribunal, forwarding the abjurations of six converts in the swiss regiment of st. gall and giving the names of twenty-four others, who were ready for conversion. they were duly gathered in when there proved to be ten calvinists and fifteen lutherans.[1273] the exclusive jurisdiction of the inquisition over heresy rendered its interposition necessary in this, for it alone could admit the heretic to incorporation in the church, it alone could judge of the degree of his sin, determine whether he was rightfully a son of the church through baptism, and whether he was worthy of admission through repentance. in theory he was a heretic spontaneously denouncing himself and, when these conversions became frequent, early in the seventeenth century, they took the form of a regular trial, in which the fiscal acted on one side and the convert had counsel assigned to him on the other while, in the form of abjuration administered, he pledged submission to the penalties of relapse in case of backsliding.[1274] indeed the suprema felt it necessary, april 22, 1605, to warn the tribunals that foreigners coming forward voluntarily and confessing their errors were not to be imprisoned but were to be welcomed; their reconciliation was to be in the audience chamber, without sanbenito or confiscation, and with spiritual penances only; then they were to confess their errors sacramentally and receive absolution for their sins.[1275] heresy, even congenital, was a mortal sin, to be duly atoned for. subsequently the rigor of these formalities was abandoned and the process was facilitated, although it was still formidable. printed instructions for commissioners, apparently drafted in the eighteenth century, prescribe a minute examination into the life and history of the convert and his motives, so as to be satisfied that his object is really salvation. all details as to his baptism are to be specially inquired into, so as to be assured whether or not he is really baptized, and, if there is any doubt, proceedings are to be suspended until the tribunal can be consulted. he is also made to specify all the errors of his former religion, and to utter a profession of faith in which he promises to reduce, as far as he can, all heretics to catholicism and to denounce them to the inquisition. he is also to be asked whether he knows of any heretics save those permitted for the sake of trade, and whether any of the latter have transgressed the conditions of their residence. also, whether he has ever professed catholicism, and whether he has been instructed in it sufficiently to incur the obligation of its profession, in which case he is required to abjure and to be formally reconciled and is absolved from the excommunication which he has incurred, while, if he has never known catholicism, he is absolved _ad cautelam_. if he is less than 25 years of age, a curador is to be appointed, with all the formalities, who is to be present and to consent to all the proceedings. there is suggestiveness in the contrast of this cautious detail with the multitudinous sprinkling by which jews and moors were incorporated in the church. [sidenote: _protestantism_] among converts the most curious case in the records is that of joh. heinrich horstmann--with many aliases--of borgenstreich, who supported himself during a long life by trading on the rivalry between protestantism and catholicism. born about 1663, he was educated as a catholic by the jesuits of prague. when about 25, he changed his religion at dresden, studied at wittenberg, and for many years wandered through germany, living on charitable contributions given to him as a convert. he even went to england, where the archbishops of canterbury and york assisted him. then, in the protestant cantons of switzerland, he supported himself as a catholic ready for conversion, and in the catholic ones as a lutheran seeking salvation in the church. finally in the latter capacity he hit upon the lucrative device of saying that he had been baptized in the lutheran fashion of one person administering the material and another the form; theologians would pronounce this invalid, and that rebaptism was necessary; some prominent person would be induced to act as godfather and would encourage him with a donation of twenty or thirty ducats, and possibly there was an additional collection from the faithful. on this he traded for the rest of his life, varied with an episode of having himself circumcised in amsterdam and living for some years on the jews there. this subsequently gave him trouble, for in rome he was recognized as a jew, he was tried by the inquisition and sent to the galleys for ten years, after which he resumed the profession of a candidate for baptism. from lisbon to paris and naples, he imposed on the credulity of the faithful, and it was reckoned that in all he had been baptized twenty-one times. a second visit to spain, however, brought his career to an end in his eighty-ninth year. repeated baptisms in cádiz, madrid and valencia aroused suspicion. all the tribunals were ordered to be on the watch for him and, after a year of searching, he was arrested at valencia in 1751. he told his story freely and fully; at first he said that his repeated baptisms were merely to gain a living, but subsequently he asserted that he was possessed by a demon, whom he hoped to eject by the repetition of the rite. the _consulta de fe_ voted that, as an apostate and relapsed heretic and _diminuto_ he had forfeited his life, but that efforts should be made to save his soul, after which another vote should be taken. at this conjuncture he fell mortally sick; he refused to speak to those who sought his salvation and, when one of them told him, if he desired to die in calvinism, to squeeze his hand, he seized it with such a grip that assistance was necessary to unloosen it. thus he passed away in his heresy on february 28, 1752; the body was buried in unconsecrated ground in a box of quick-lime and, in an auto held august 26, 1753, the bones and effigy were reduced to ashes and scattered.[1276] * * * * * thus, when divested of legendary amplification, spanish protestantism is seen to have been of importance only as serving to tighten the bonds which restricted the development of the nation. one of the most efficient means to this end remains to be considered in the censorship of the press. chapter iv. censorship. censorship of the press was not the least effective function of the inquisition in arresting the development of the spanish intellect. that it should suppress the utterance of heresy in print as well as in speech would appear to be inevitable, and yet no such power was included in the commissions of the earlier inquisitors-general, nor at first was this regarded as one of its duties. it is true that, as early as 1490, it burnt a large number of hebrew bibles and other jewish books and, soon afterwards in salamanca, it consigned to the flames in an auto some six thousand volumes of works on judaism and sorcery.[1277] we have seen also that ximenes in granada burnt a mass of moorish mss., but these were extra-judicial acts, which there was none to call in question. in the instructions issued by torquemada and his immediate successors, there is no reference to censorship as an inquisitorial duty and, in the earliest manual, printed in valencia in 1494, the only allusion to it is the prescription, derived from the canon law, that any one obtaining possession of an heretical book is bound, within eight days, to burn it or to deliver it to the bishop or inquisitor.[1278] [sidenote: _early toleration_] in fact, the matter was not regarded as pertaining especially to the inquisition. the earliest provision for censorship, called forth by the development of the art of printing, is a faculty granted, march 17, 1479, by sixtus iv to the rector and dean of the university of cologne, to proceed with censures against the printers, sellers and readers of heretical books.[1279] alexander vi, in 1501, assumed it to be an episcopal function, when he called on the german bishops to keep a vigilant watch on the press.[1280] so ferdinand and isabella, in 1502, when they promulgated the earliest law regulating the issue of books, made no mention of the inquisition. this law formed the basis of all subsequent legislation, and its uncompromising character foreshadowed the relations that were henceforth to exist between the government and the intelligence of spain. no book was to be printed, imported or exposed for sale without preliminary examination and licence. in valladolid this duty was imposed on the president judges of the royal courts; in toledo, seville and granada on the archbishops, in burgos on the bishop, and in salamanca and zamora on the bishop of salamanca, who were to act through examiners, paid by a moderate salary, not oppressive to booksellers and printers. when a ms. had been thus licensed, it was, after printing, to be carefully compared with the sheets to see that no changes had been made. any book printed or imported and offered for sale, without such licence, was to be seized and publicly burnt; the printer or vendor was incapacitated from continuing in business and was fined in twice the amount received for any copies that he might have sold.[1281] that the censorship thus created was enforced with more or less regularity may be inferred from a remark of chancellor gattinara, in 1527, reassuring erasmus against expected attacks--that nothing was permitted to be published in spain without careful previous examination, and he fervently wished that an equally wholesome rule could be established in germany.[1282] the motive for this sharp and comprehensive legislation can only be conjectured. before the reformation there was little demand for the services of the censor. the church was worldly; its supremacy in all matters of faith and discipline seemed to be so immutably established that it regarded with good-natured indifference abstract speculations such as those of marsiglio ficino, pomponazzi and agustino nifo, and concrete ridicule like that of sebastian brandt, thomas murner and erasmus. it was otherwise when the lutheran revolt threatened the overthrow of latin christianity and spread with such rapidity that no man could foretell its limits. we have seen that, as early as 1521, rome called upon spain to prevent the introduction and dissemination of lutheran writings, and that cardinal adrian promptly assumed that it was the function of the inquisition to do so. there is no trace of any delegation of such faculty, from either the holy see or the civil power, but his action was not likely to be called in question, and the civil authorities were under oath to obey the mandates of the inquisitors, where the faith was concerned accordingly, his decree of april, 1521, is couched in the most absolute terms; the books in question had been prohibited by the inquisitors and spiritual judges, wherefore the tribunals were instructed to order, under heavy censures and civil penalties, that no one should possess or sell them, whether in latin or romance, but should, within three days after notice, bring them to the inquisition to be publicly burnt; the edict was to be published in a sermon of faith and, after publication, any one possessing or selling them, or knowing that others possessed them and not denouncing the offenders, was to suffer the penalties announced by the inquisitors, while all ecclesiastical and secular authorities were ordered to render whatever aid might be necessary.[1283] thus, at a bound, the inquisition claimed and exercised the power of enforcing the prohibition of condemned books. the next step--that of condemning books--would seem to have been taken, in 1525, in an order to the vicar of alcalá de henares to seize all copies of a certain book of expositions of the psalter.[1284] then followed, in 1530 and 1531, various edicts showing the activity of the inquisition in exploiting its new field of action. the heretics were printing their works under assumed names, or adding heretic commentaries to authorized books, for the detection of which the utmost vigilance of the tribunals was invoked; a clause was to be added to the edict of faith requiring the denunciation of all such works; the tribunals were to send executory letters to all towns demanding the surrender of luther's writings, and discreet persons were to be appointed to investigate the book-shops in search of this evil literature. when, in 1535, the tribunal of valencia admitted that it had neglected to do this it was commanded to make the appointments forthwith and to have all condemned books seized.[1285] [sidenote: _confided to the inquisition_] the inquisition had assumed and was exercising authority to condemn books, to seize those in circulation and to punish their possessors, although it had no formal authority for any of these acts. it seems to have felt that the punishment of offenders, at least, required papal faculties and, when inquisitor-general tavera, in 1539, succeeded manrique, a clause was inserted in his commission empowering him and his successors to proceed against those who owned or read heretical books.[1286] the authority of the holy office was thus complete with regard to books after they were printed, but as to the equally important function of granting licences to print, its policy at first varied somewhat. the law of 1502 had confided this duty explicitly to judges and bishops, but, in 1527, the inquisition invaded this by granting licences for antonio de obregon's translations of some of st. bernard's and san vicente de ferrer's works. even individual inquisitors seem to have arrogated to themselves power to grant licences for, in 1530, the suprema forbade them to do so, but it assumed for itself entire control over the matter, in 1536, by issuing orders that no book should be printed without a preliminary examination by the holy office.[1287] reflection, and possibly experience, however, showed that this assumption of power carried with it a responsibility that occasionally might prove embarrassing, for books which it thus approved might subsequently, in the growing sensitiveness of orthodoxy, be condemned, and a carta acordada of 1550 definitely prohibited all such licences, adding that the suprema did not grant them.[1288] it was wiser that preliminary approval and subsequent judgement should be in different hands, and this was provided for in an edict of charles v and prince philip, in 1554, confining to the royal council the duty of issuing licences, after careful examination of the mss. submitted, which, in the case of all important works, were to be retained for comparison with the printed sheets.[1289] yet the inquisition retained the right to stop the printing of any book denounced to it as heretical, and it seems for awhile to have occasionally issued licences, for a carta acordada of 1575 alludes to the approval of books and their licensing by inquisitors.[1290] this was probably the end of it, and the inquisition tacitly declined to risk its reputation for infallibility by approving books in advance, which it might subsequently have to condemn. the inquisition thus restricted itself to the duty of condemnation. the prohibition might be total and the book be wholly suppressed, or partial, in which case its circulation was suspended _donec corrigatur_--until it should be expurgated of passages regarded as erroneous, misleading or offensive. for this duty it provided no machinery and did not profess to take the initiative. in the edicts of faith, it was made the duty of everyone to denounce whatever was contrary to the faith, and there were plenty of acute theologians and captious critics to whom it was an agreeable task to call attention to any word or sentence or proposition to which exception could be taken. the book was then submitted to calificadores, and their verdict, whether for suppression or expurgation, was submitted to the suprema, or the book itself might be sent there for examination; in any case the decision rested with it and was communicated to the tribunals by an edict, which was read in all the churches and affixed to their portals, so that no one could plead ignorance. all who possessed the inculpated book were summoned, within a limited time, to surrender it for suppression, if it were prohibited, or for expurgation if objectionable passages were to be blotted out, and this under penalty of excommunication and fine, with threat of prosecution for persistent disobedience.[1291] [sidenote: _the index_] everything thus centred in the suprema, whose action was required in even the most trivial matters, and its correspondence on these affairs was incessant. as condemnations and expurgations multiplied, it became impossible to trust the records of the tribunals or the memory of the faithful. some authentic list or catalogue was required to aid inquisitors in their work, and to warn booksellers and readers, and thus gradually was developed the _index librorum prohibitorum_ or _expurgandorum_, which has become one of the most efficient of instrumentalities for repressing the human intellect and aiding the forces of reaction. henry viii has the credit of setting the example, in a brief list of prohibited books, issued in 1526, although in the same year charles v published in the netherlands a _plakaat_ naming half a dozen authors whose books were to be burnt. the earliest allusion that i have met to such a catalogue in spain occurs in a letter of september, 1540, from the suprema to loazes, then inquisitor of barcelona, complaining of the inefficiency of the efforts to prevent the importation of prohibited books, which the germans were using every means to disseminate, while merchants and booksellers felt no fear of the penalties imposed by the inquisition. greater activity and heavier punishment were necessary, for which instructions were enclosed, with a list of prohibited and suspected books, to which loazes was to add his suggestions.[1292] this was merely for use within the inquisition. the first formal printed index was compiled, in 1546, by the university of louvain. a copy of this was sent, in 1547, to inquisitor-general valdés, at seville, who forwarded it to the suprema. this had it printed, with an appendix containing the books prohibited in spain, and sent it out, september 1st, to the tribunals, with some ms. additions of later prohibitions.[1293] this is the earliest spanish index, hitherto unknown, which has left no other trace, and it serves to mark the commencement of another duty undertaken by the suprema, that of examining books for the purpose, without awaiting denunciations, for, in 1545 there is an order to pay dr. alvaro de moscoso forty ducats for labor of this kind.[1294] then, in 1550, the university of louvain issued an enlarged list and this, by order of charles v, was reprinted and circulated by the inquisition in 1551, with its own additions, constituting what has been reckoned as the first spanish index.[1295] the energies of the suprema were now turned to the scriptures. vast numbers of latin bibles had been circulated, correct as to the text, but rendered insidiously dangerous by heretical notes and commentaries. many of these were contained in the index of 1551, and diligent search was made for others at salamanca and alcalá, and their errors were scrupulously noted. the results of these labors were communicated to the tribunals, with orders to examine all the bibles seized under the index of 1551; if among them were found editions not in the list enclosed, they were to be scrupulously examined by learned men and be sent to the suprema, which would then determine what was to be done with the great accumulation of corrupt bibles in the land. it concluded not to order a wholesale destruction and, in 1554, it issued the first expurgatory index, devoted to the scriptures, specifying the edition and the passages to be _borrado_ or blotted out; this was sent to the tribunals with orders for its publication everywhere. all the bibles seized and all that might be brought in were to be expurgated and returned to their owners, with a certificate. after the expiration of the term of grace allowed, the most strenuous efforts were to be made to ascertain whether any prohibited or unexpurgated bibles remained in the hands of individuals or institutions, the owners of which were to be punished with the utmost rigor.[1296] [sidenote: _general inspection_] it was evidently the books conveyed by julian hernández that furnished a fresh list sent to the tribunals, october 22, 1557, of works described as printed in venice and brought from flanders and germany by a spaniard to seville. edicts concerning them were to be published everywhere, the book-shops were to be sedulously searched and any one found in possession of them was to be punished with the greatest severity. this was followed, september 2, 1558, by an additional list of books ordered to be burnt.[1297] the suprema was thus obtaining material for an independent index. paul iv had caused one to be compiled in 1557, which was printed and suppressed, to appear, in 1559, in an authentic form.[1298] the spanish inquisition, however, already asserted its independence of the roman holy office in these matters; the excitement over the lutherans of valladolid and seville suggested a comprehensive prohibition of heretic books; valdés procured from the pope the necessary delegation of power and, in 1559, the first indigenous index appeared. it was distributed to the tribunals with instructions that all books contained in it were to be called in; those of heretic authors were to be publicly burnt in the autos, and the rest carefully stored, making lists of them and of their owners, which were to be sent to the suprema for its action. books on the humanities and catholic books with heretic notes, if the latter could be effaced, were to be returned to the owners; all anonymous books and books without imprint of place and printer and all books printed abroad since 1519 were to be seized and examined and, if found suspicious, were to be detained. the general clause in the index, covering all books savoring of heresy, was explained to mean that everything not contained in it that was heretical or suspect was to be seized, and whenever there was doubt the suprema was to be consulted.[1299] the preparation of the index had been a work of no little labor and perplexity. among others, the learned doctor francisco sancho had for some years been employed by the suprema in examining and seizing books and, early in 1559, he wrote that he had a large number in his possession and that, in the course of his duties many doubts had arisen, which he set forth in a series of questions. one of these suggests the difficulty of censorship applied to a theology undergoing reconstruction at the council of trent, but which was assumed to have been unalterable from the beginning. sancho calls attention to the clause in the edicts forbidding all books containing any thing against the faith and the church and its observances. there are many books, he continues, containing such errors, as those of richard of armagh, durandus, caietano, the master of sentences, origen, theophylact, tertullian, lactantius, lucian, aristotle, plato, seneca and others, much used both in and out of the schools, and it is doubted whether they can be permitted under condition of noting the errors. the suprema shrank from the absurdity of suppressing the works of the most eminent medieval theologians and the leading classics, and it graciously allowed their circulation until further orders.[1300] the issue of the index was followed by a vigorous search through all the book-shops and libraries of spain. examiners or revisors were appointed everywhere, with instructions to scrutinize all collections of books, whether in shops, monasteries, universities and private libraries, to detect not only those named in the index but all others containing suspicious matter. all owners of books were commanded to submit them for examination, under penalty of excommunication and two hundred ducats. not only the prohibited books but all regarded as suspicious were to be sent, together with information as to their owners, to the suprema, which would do justice in the premises.[1301] the examination of all the books accumulated in spain was a formidable undertaking, but it was attempted to the discomfiture of all men of culture and learning, and the raising of innumerable questions which gave ample occupation to the suprema. a specimen of this is found in the report of fray pedro de quintanilla of valladolid, concerning books in his hands belonging to bartolomé de robles, a prominent bookseller. most of these, he says, are of erasmus, such as the adagia, paraphrases and anotaciones which are not prohibited, and he thinks may be returned to the owner, to which the response is that books of erasmus not in the index may be returned. then there is conrad gesner _de piscibus et de avibus_, containing only the painted bird and fish, which he thinks may be returned, which is assented to. then there is a book called petrus galatinus, containing a tract "de arte cabalistica;" if this were removed, some who have examined it say that the rest is good, to which the reply was to take out the cabalistic tract and return the book. then there are other books, which have prologues or annotations by heretics, and he thinks that if the names of such authors were blotted out, the books might be returned, as to which he was told to specify the books.[1302] we can readily conceive the exasperation caused by this laborious and meddlesome trifling, and its repressive influence on the studies of the learned. [sidenote: _secular legislation_] all this was in furtherance of a savage pragmática evidently motived by the lutheran scare. it was issued september 7, 1558, by the infanta juana in the name of philip ii, and shows that the civil power coöperated with the inquisition, while providing an effective machinery for a state censorship. it recited that, in spite of the law of 1502 and the labors of inquisitors and bishops, there were many heretical works in circulation, and that foreign heretics were making great efforts thus to disseminate their doctrines, while there were also many useless and immoral books, so that the córtes had petitioned for a remedy. it was therefore ordered, under penalty of death and confiscation, that no bookseller or other person should sell or keep any book condemned by the inquisition, and all such books should be publicly burnt. the index of prohibited books must be printed and every bookseller must keep a copy exposed, where the public could consult it. no books in romance printed abroad, even in the kingdoms of aragon, were to be imported, under the same terrible penalty, unless they had a printed licence from the royal council, but books in romance previously printed abroad, and not prohibited by the inquisition, were to be presented to the local magistrates, who were to send lists of them to the royal council for decision, pending which they were not to be kept for sale under pain of confiscation and exile. moreover, a general inspection was ordered of all books in the kingdom; those in book-shops and private libraries by the bishops, in conjunction with royal officials and universities, and those in religious houses by the superiors of the orders. everything regarded as suspicious or immoral was to be sequestrated, until judgement should be passed upon it by the royal council, and this was to be repeated annually. existing and foreign books being thus provided for, a stringent censorship of the press was organized. death and confiscation were decreed for any one who should give out for printing a book without first submitting it to the royal council for examination when, if found unobjectionable, a licence would be issued. to prevent alterations, every page of the ms. must be signed by a secretary of the royal chamber, who must rubricate every correction and state at the end the number of pages and corrections. after printing, the ms. must be returned with one or two printed copies for comparison. every book must have in front the licence, the _tassa_ or price at which it was sold, the privilege, if there was one, and the names of author, printer and place of publication. new editions were subject to the same regulations, but legal documents and official papers of the inquisition and the cruzada indulgence were excepted. even writing was subjected to the same restrictions as printing, for death and confiscation were threatened for all who should own or exhibit to others a ms. on any religious subject without submitting it to the council, which should either license it or destroy it. this ferocious law was confirmed, in 1627, by philip iv and remained unrepealed until the revolution, its enforcement being rigorously enjoined by carlos iv, in 1804.[1303] that any one suffered death for its violation is unlikely, and inquisitorial trials of theologians show that they accumulated masses of papers on religious subjects without thought of submitting them to the royal council, but the impediments which it threw in the way of authorship were rigidly enforced and coöperated with the inquisition in exercising a most repressive influence on the intellectual progress of spain. it was not difficult to secure from the papacy its aid in rendering this censorship effective. the suprema, in its letter of september 9, 1558, to paul iv respecting the lutheran development, called attention to the negligence of confessors in requiring their penitents to surrender prohibited books and to denounce offenders, and paul, in a brief of january 5, 1559, commanded all confessors in the spanish dominions to enquire of penitents whether they owned or read such works, or knew of any one owning or printing or selling them, when absolution was to be refused, unless the books were surrendered or the culprits denounced. for obedience to this, on the part of confessors, remission of sins was promised, while negligence was threatened with fines, deprivation of functions and benefice and disability for reinstatement, penalties which were discretional with the inquisitor-general.[1304] [sidenote: _captious expurgation_] thus papal, royal and inquisitorial powers were concentrated in the effort to purify the land of heretical literature. by the edicts of faith and by the confessional the whole population was enlisted as spies and informers on those who contravened the prohibitions, which rapidly succeeded each other in the inquisitorial edicts, and all readers of books were required to denounce any passages which might seem to them suspicious or offensive. it is probably to this latter source that are attributable most of the incredibly trivial expurgations with which the later indexes are burdened. how it sometimes fared with authors, indubitably orthodox but careless in expression, is exemplified in the case of the maestro fray hernando de santiago who, in 1597, published at salamanca, of course after the preliminary censorship, his _consideraciones sobre todos los domingos y fiestas de la quaresma_. it was denounced to the inquisition as containing some heretical propositions and many that were erroneous and scandalous. the toledo tribunal summoned him and after examination voted to suspend his case with a reprimand and order to be more reticent in his sermons and to write no more scandalous books, which was an admission that the work contained nothing especially objectionable. the suprema, however, set the vote aside and ordered his trial to be vigorously pushed and all his papers to be seized. a struggle, prolonged until 1602, ensued over an infinite number of expressions to which the calificadores took exception, resulting in his being severely reprimanded in the presence of representatives of all the religious orders, with banishment from castile and suspension from preaching for three years, the first year of which was to be passed in reclusion in the monastery of cuenca as a penitent. from his book were to be expurgated all the passages noted as objectionable by the calificadores, and the list of these as printed in the indexes is formidable in length rather than in quality, for captious criticism had wreaked itself on the minutest points. it was justified in correcting "assur king of persia" to "assur king of assyria;" possibly also in altering "the day when peter renounced christ" to "denied christ," but only slavish adulation could require that "the day when a tyrant king" should be changed to "tyrant captain." still, the indomitable maestro was not silenced, for in the following year, 1603, he issued another book, _consideraciones sobre los evangelios de los santos_, for which he escaped prosecution, though his book likewise found its way into the index, with, however, a smaller array of expurgations.[1305] inquisitorial censorship, it will thus be seen, by no means confined itself to suppressing the works of foreign heretics, for which it was primarily instituted. had it done so, it would have exercised a sufficiently benumbing influence on spanish intelligence, for it excluded many works because of their authors rather than of their contents and it never was able to settle definitely the troublesome questions arising from works of high scientific and intellectual merit, in which the authorship or an occasional passage might offend the hyper-sensitiveness so zealously cultivated. this was sufficiently restrictive on culture, not only in itself but in the obstruction which, as we shall see, it imposed on the introduction of all books from abroad, but even more unfortunate in its influence was the censorship extended over the whole field of native literature, interposing barriers on authorship seeking publicity, and exposing even the most orthodox writers to the danger of seeing their works suppressed, or to the humiliation of having them disfigured with blotted passages in which the perverse ingenuity of some theological expert might detect possible danger to the unwary. yet, to do the spanish inquisition justice, in this it was more considerate than the roman censorship. in 1564 appeared the index of pius iv, known as the tridentine index. this is the basis of all succeeding roman indexes, which are strictly of prohibited books--that is, all books, to which exception of any kind could be taken, were prohibited, whether their errors were systematic or only occasional. no indication was given as to what were the objectionable points, although the author, by humble supplication to the congregation of the index, might obtain information and reprint his book with corrections, at the risk of its being again prohibited.[1306] the spanish inquisition was more laborious, for it prepared expurgatory indexes, in which, when books were not absolutely prohibited, the objectionable passages were designated and, when these were _borrado_, or blotted out, the book could be circulated. [sidenote: _the indexes_] working thus on different lines, there was little harmony between spain and the holy see. in fact, as we shall have occasion to observe, the inquisition asserted entire independence of the roman censorship, disregarding its prohibitions and issuing its own without reference to rome. this commenced early, as is shown in some curiously contradictory utterances, in 1568, respecting the tridentine index. february 7th, a carta acordada orders the observance of the spanish index of 1559; then another, of june 14th, recites that the tridentine index is not observed and that persons are using books prohibited in it, wherefore inquisitors are to order it to be obeyed and to tell preachers to urge this from their pulpits; finally a third carta, a fortnight later, on june 29th, practically revokes this by commanding that the index of 1559 is the only one to be followed.[1307] what between the activity of the press, the widening knowledge of heretical literature, and the increasing sensitiveness of criticism, the work promised to be endless and preparations were soon under way for the preparation of a new index. the labor proved to be no light one. the tribunals, the prelates and the universities were called upon for information; as this was received it was sent to maestro francisco sancho, who selected from the university of salamanca a junta to frame from these materials the new index. then sancho left salamanca and recommended as his successor his assistant doctor diego de vera. the suprema grew impatient and, in a letter of december 6, 1572, it charged the theologians of the university with the prosecution of the work; in view of its importance and the urgency of speedy completion, it was to be preferred to all other business and was to be pushed forward unremittingly.[1308] they doubtless labored conscientiously and disputed zealously, but the result was still far off. in 1574 we hear that the index was expected to be completed shortly; in 1575, the licenciado velarde, in charge of the matter, was urged to complete it; in 1578 it was so far advanced that it was submitted to the universities for their revision and in 1579 they were asked for their opinions on the general rules drawn up to accompany it.[1309] still there was delay, for the outcome of this careful and prolonged labor was a vast increase over previous indexes, appearing in two volumes, known as the indexes of quiroga, the inquisitor-general. the first was an index of prohibited books, issued in 1583, consisting mostly of the names of authors all of whose works were forbidden. this was followed, in 1584, by an expurgatory index--the first of its kind--giving the expurgations necessary to render current the works enumerated. a carta acordada of october 16th contained directions for the enforcement of its prescriptions. although it had been published in the principal towns, it was to be published again, on a sunday or feast-day, after convoking the people by proclamation, when it was to be read after the sermon in the same way as the edict of faith. the preacher was to announce that all persons having prohibited books were to deliver them at once to the tribunal, or to a person designated in each town; those having books to be expurgated could do so in their own houses, but within six months must submit them to the said persons for approval and signing, without which they would not be considered as expurgated. obedience seems to have been slack; on june 13, 1585, the time limit was extended for four months; then successive prorogations followed and, in 1587, a further delay was accorded until the end of 1588.[1310] the business was as interminable as the labors of the danaïdes. already, in 1586, the theological faculties of salamanca, alcalá and valladolid were informed that omissions had been reported, and they were asked to assemble and consider what should be done. in 1594 we hear of preparations on foot for another index and doctor neroni, abbot of alcalá was instructed to form a junta of doctors and masters competent for the work.[1311] progress, however, was interrupted by the strife which arose between the dominicans and the jesuits over the propositions of molina and the insoluble questions connected with sufficing and efficacious grace. the correspondence on the subject was continuous and voluminous; all the theologians of spain, who were numerous and highly vocal, were involved in a prodigious uproar which monopolized the energies of the censorship. even the inquisition was powerless to restore peace between the raging factions and, in 1598, the strictest orders were sent to all the universities, forbidding debate or discussion on the subject and any allusion to it in lectures. yet the tempest continued to growl and even in 1612 we find an edict concerning it.[1312] [sidenote: _the indexes_] still the work was making progress, with enormous labor. we happen to learn that, in 1596, the tribunal of murcia was instructed to confide to dr. arce and his brother the expurgation of theodore zwinger's _theatrum vitæ humanæ_, an enormous work, in eight folio volumes, published in basle in 1565. how long they were engaged upon the task may be inferred from the fact that, in 1610, the tribunal was ordered to give to padre arce the copy of the book on which he had labored, and the result appears in thirty-eight pages of the index, occupied by his expurgations.[1313] in 1605 we find commissions granted to sundry calificadores to take from the book-shops whatever books they needed for examination. a junta was formed, probably in 1608, the members of which received the liberal salary of a ducat a day and, in 1610, lists of books were sent to all the tribunals, with instructions to submit them to learned men for consideration.[1314] the expenditure was large for it was not until 1612 that the new index, known by the name of sandoval y rojas, the inquisitor-general, saw the light. it was both a prohibitory and an expurgatory index in one stout volume. the next index was issued under the authority of inquisitor-general zapata, in 1632, forming a large folio. then, in 1640, another appeared in a still larger volume, known as the index of sotomayor. sixty-seven years elapsed before the publication of another, in 1707, under inquisitor-general vidal marin. its preparation had been entrusted to antonio alvárez de la puente and fernando gallego calderon, the latter of whom died and the work was carried to completion by the former. it contained not only the list of sotomayor and the works condemned or expurgated during the interval, but many others discovered by the industry of the compilers or by the revisors appointed by the various tribunals, under orders of may 31, 1706, to examine all book-shops and libraries.[1315] it occupied two folios of rather smaller size than the single one of its predecessor. the next index was issued in 1747, under inquisitor-general prado y cuesta, in one large folio. its preparation had been committed to two jesuits, without supervision, who abused their position by gratifying the interests of the society of jesus through including a large number of authors who had never been condemned, giving rise to a long debate, of which more hereafter.[1316] [sidenote: _expurgation of books and libraries_] although this index was thoroughly discredited, it was not until 1782 that the suprema invited proposals for a new one. a memorial, apparently by a member of that body, in response to this, pointed out the inconvenience of the previous issues, with their constant growth, rendering them costly and difficult to consult. the writer suggested the roman index of benedict xiv as a model--all the works to be gathered into one alphabet; the long lists of expurgations to be replaced with the roman _donec corrigatur_ and a reference to the edict denouncing them. allusion was made to the many intricate and delicate questions involved, largely owing to the irreconcilable pretensions of the roman and spanish inquisitions, and to the conflict between the royal prerogative and the papal claims. thus he says that the roman condemnations were not to be regarded unless they emanate from the congregation of the index (not the roman inquisition) or a papal brief, and even the congregation prohibited many books meriting no theological censure, because they were adverse to the assumptions of the curia. then there was the difficulty of preserving an impartial balance between the rights of the crown and the power of the church, and of determining the numerous questions presented by many books--the circumspection necessary to distinguish between rights and claims, between exterior and interior discipline, and between discipline and dogma. in fact, the construction of an index involved much beyond the mere definitions of theology, for it affected the large issues of national policy as well as the multitudinous interests of whole classes of society and religious organizations. as the writer said, the task was too great for any one man, however wise and learned; it could only be performed by a carefully selected junta.[1317] most of these suggestions were adopted in the _indice ultimo_, which appeared in 1790, in a moderate-sized volume, easy of reference, although the absence of expurgations deprived the possessors of books requiring correction of the facilities afforded by the ponderous tomes of the older indexes. during the long intervals between the successive issues, the tribunals were expected to compile for themselves lists of the books condemned in the frequent edicts sent to them. in 1781 we find the valencia tribunal taken to task for not knowing that a french translation of robinson crusoe had been prohibited by decree of january 16, 1756, and it was told that, if it had not kept such a list, it must seek for one in some tribunal that had done so.[1318] booksellers likewise were expected to note all new prohibitions in the copies of the indexes which they were required to keep, and a decree of 1627 instructed the tribunal to furnish to them copies of all edicts as they appeared, so that they could not plead ignorance and escape punishment.[1319] as regards the performance of expurgation, so long as the published index was merely prohibitive, it was necessary for the owner to deliver the book to the tribunal or to a commissioner to have the objectionable passages blotted out and some documents of 1563 and 1568 show this to be the practice.[1320] when the expurgatory index of quiroga appeared, in 1584, we have seen that owners were empowered to do this and that they were negligent, which perhaps explains why the privilege was subsequently withdrawn. it was difficult to enforce obedience and the duty was troublesome, leading to the expedient of licensing professional expurgators, who were authorized to do the work and give certificates of its due performance, with the condition that, when working in libraries, if they found prohibited books, they would seize and deliver them to the nearest commissioner.[1321] when books were delivered to the tribunals for expurgation, the habitual delays must have been exasperating. in 1688 we find don juan de la torre, whose patience was exhausted, obtaining from the suprema a letter to the valencia tribunal ordering it to expurgate a book of his and deliver it to him.[1322] we can scarce wonder that owners were negligent, as a remedy for which a carta acordada of october 5, 1712, ordered the tribunals to state in their edicts that the expurgations were on record there, and all owners were to send their books to have the offending passages blotted out by persons deputed for the purpose.[1323] then, in 1790, the owner was again permitted to do it on condition of presenting the book within two months to show that it had been done, but, as the indice ultimo gave no indication of the expurgations required, it was left for the owner to discover them.[1324] no matter what plan was adopted, expurgation rendered the ownership of books a source of anxiety and trouble, and exercised a deterrent influence on the diffusion of culture, for there was no class of literature, whether fiction, poetry, history, devotion, statecraft, law or science, as well as theology, in which some lynx-eyed critic could not discover a phrase or sentiment which called for revision. edicts were continually being issued prescribing the expurgation of individual books, sometimes thirty or forty years after their publication, and frequently on the most trivial grounds, and the lover of literature or science had to be constantly on the watch to escape the penalties of neglect. the process of expurgation was the application with a brush of a coat of printing ink to the peccant word or passage, so as to render it perfectly illegible. when the mexican tribunal took a notion to condemn all engraved portraits of the saintly juan de palafox, bishop of puebla, the face was thus daubed over with ink so as to render the features indistinguishable. when, in a book, the length of the offending passage made this too troublesome, the ruder process was adopted of tearing out the pages, regardless of the innocent matter thus removed and destroying the connection of the parts thus sundered.[1325] literature was of small account to the butchers of books. [sidenote: _expurgation of books and libraries_] booksellers and book-buyers were subjected to constant investigation conducted in the rudest manner, the influence of which could not fail to be most depressing. the examination of book-shops and public and private libraries, which we have seen attempted as early as 1530 and resolutely prosecuted in 1559, was a settled policy and was pushed with especial vigor after the issue of every new index, but it was not limited to those times. the correspondence of the suprema is full of letters and instructions showing the unremitting vigilance with which the work was carried on. in 1600 the tribunals of valencia, barcelona and murcia were ordered to send to the suprema the books of the constable of castile--a work of some duration for, in 1602, there is still a box of them on the way. then the seville tribunal was instructed to examine the books of fray diego davila and forward those which montoya had indicated. then the murcia tribunal was told to send to doctor montoya the books of don juan de hoces. in 1602 the books of the confessor to the queen were ordered to be sent to the suprema. all these were private collectors, whose tastes or zeal for learning subjected them to these vexations and humiliations, to the unlimited detention of their cherished books, to loss from carelessness or pilfering and to the irreparable damage of artistic bindings. the mere possession of books rendered the owner an object of suspicion and investigation. if this was the case with private collectors of all ranks, we can readily appreciate the endless troubles and ruinous prosecutions to which booksellers were exposed. in this same year 1600, the suprema advised the toledo tribunal that doctor juan martínez had been examining the book-shops of madrid, resulting in the statement enclosed, as to which it was to do justice--the customary formula in prosecutions.[1326] this is merely an indication of the continuous warfare waged against culture and learning, from which no one was safe. in 1627 a decree commanded booksellers, under penalty of forty ducats and excommunication, to report all prohibited books and those requiring expurgation, which they might meet in private libraries.[1327] in 1618, the seville tribunal was ordered to seize all the hebrew books that had belonged to arias montano.[1328] even the royal library of the escorial was subjected to the most humiliating regulations. when the index of 1612 appeared, the geronimite prior of san lorenzo petitioned the suprema, stating the wish of the king that the prohibited books should not be removed or expurgated, as it was distinct from the convent library, and the only keys to it were held by him and the chief librarian. thereupon the inquisitor-general sent fray francisco de jesus to examine and report the arrangements of the library, after which, on november 12, 1613, it decreed as follows. all books which are literary and not religious or offensive, by authors of the first class (those of whom all the works were condemned), are to be separated, marked and have a prefatory note that the author is condemned, but permission is given for them to remain where they can be read by the prior, the chief librarian and the professors of the college. all books by such authors, treating of religion and cognate matters, such as chronologies, sacred histories and histories of the popes, seeing that the king does not wish them removed, shall be stored in a separate room, always locked as in an archive, and no one shall read them save the prior and chief librarian, by special licence of the inquisitor-general and suprema: there shall be two keys (locks) one kept by the chief librarian and the other by the suprema, and two lists shall be made of them, one kept in the locked room and the other by the suprema. with these shall also be placed two mss. by heresiarchs from the ms. department. rabbinical books and bibles in romance can remain, but shall be put in a separate case and be marked as prohibited, but they can be read as hitherto, by the prior, chief librarian and professors. the fraile in charge of the pharmacy of the convent, but he alone, can read books on medicine by authors of the first class, for distillation of quintessences and other matters of importance.[1329] a quarantine against the deadliest infection could scarce have been more carefully devised. [sidenote: _expurgation of books and libraries_] there was a slight relaxation in this when, in 1616, inquisitor-general sandoval was at the escorial and extended to all the professors of the college the privilege of reading books of the first class on religion. after the zapata index of 1632 appeared, the question again came up and inquisitor-general sotomayor confirmed the arrangement of 1613.[1330] on the publication of his index, in 1640, the frailes of san lorenzo petitioned the suprema that the library, as belonging to the king, should not be expurgated under the new index. to this the suprema replied in a consulta to the king, november 16, 1641, arguing that, as the library was the greatest in the world and belonged to the king, it was especially important that it should set the example of containing nothing contrary to catholic doctrine. still, there might be a secluded place, in which all books by heretic writers and of evil doctrine could be set aside, and the key of it be kept by the inquisitor-general, on condition that the library should furnish to the suprema whatever books it might need.[1331] there can be little doubt that some such arrangement was reached. the vigilant supervision over book-shops and libraries was unrelaxing, and the depressing influence which it exercised on the book-trade and on culture in general can be estimated from the regulations accompanying the index of vidal marin, in 1707. the tribunals were authorized to appoint an unlimited number of _revisores de libros_, empowered, at such times as suited them, to examine the public libraries and auctions and book-shops. the revisor was to require from booksellers inventories of stock and to see that these were complete; he was to order sent to his house or to that of another revisor, all prohibited books and those requiring examination, and report the result to the tribunal; he was to expurgate and certify with his signature all books requiring expurgation. he was to report all omissions or contraventions by booksellers of the rules of the index, and for this his inspections must be frequent. he was to familiarize himself with these inventories and also with those which the booksellers were obliged to render to the tribunal at the beginning of each year, with details of all sales made during the year, so that he should become thoroughly informed and the booksellers be deterred from committing their customary frauds. all this was to be done at the expense of the owners of the books or, in the case of public libraries, of the town. as this was expected to produce much dissatisfaction, any "licentious" talk against the index was to be reported for due punishment.[1332] the expected dissatisfaction was not lacking. the powers granted to the revisors gave so large an opportunity for oppression and extortion that the position was eagerly sought. commissions were recklessly multiplied, until the number of these literary spies and blackmailers aroused general complaint. nor was this a mere temporary abuse, for a letter of the suprema, october 5, 1712, calls attention to the excessive number of appointees and the evils thence arising, for the palliation of which it proposed to issue an edict.[1333] this inspection of public and private libraries and of book-shops continued till the suppression of the inquisition. we find, june 25, 1817, the seville tribunal sending to that of madrid a list of books belonging to juan gualberto gonzález, royal fiscal in the council of indies and, on august 18th, the fiscal sends to an unnamed tribunal the translation for which it had asked of a list of books belonging to the marquis of narros, the linguistic attainments of the inspectors having apparently been insufficient. in the financial distress of the inquisition, the work seems now to be performed by officials of the tribunals, doubtless eager to do anything that would bring in fees, for, in 1819, we have the report of the secretary of the valencia tribunal that, in the inspection of the book-shop of pedro juan mallen, he had found a sermon in italian, which he seized as suspicious and which was duly submitted to calificadores.[1334] [sidenote: _estates of the dead_] death afforded an opportunity not neglected of expurgating private libraries. when the owner died, the inquisition stepped in to investigate and control the disposition of his books. in 1651, it would seem that all books had to pass through its hands for, in the case of don alonso de la torre, the suprema orders the valencia tribunal to forward to it the packages delivered by the heirs, the prohibited ones separate from those approved.[1335] the instructions of 1707 apparently limit this interference to cases of sale, for they provide that when, on account of death or other cause, a library is sold, the booksellers must furnish the revisor with a list of all books and their prices, so that prohibited or suspected ones may be surrendered, for which the booksellers can take receipts.[1336] in 1748 the case of doctor teodoro tomás, canon of the cathedral of valencia, indicates that the executors had to render to the tribunal a detailed statement under oath of the disposition made of all books and papers. the prohibited books were given to the dominican convent, which had a licence enabling it to hold them, and the rest were sold to juan bautista malet and manuel cortés, booksellers. the papers were also accounted for--those pertaining to cathedral affairs were delivered to the chapter, those which seemed useless were burnt and the servants sold some to an apothecary.[1337] in this case the necessary preliminary of submitting an inventory to a revisor had evidently been complied with. when this was omitted the resultant trouble is exemplified in the library of gregorio mayans y siscar, the most eminent man of letters of his day, who died in 1781. his library was large and valuable, and his widow sought to make the most of it for his children. she was a pious woman but through ignorance did not observe the requisite formalities. she sold a large portion to the augustinian convent, which had a licence to hold prohibited books, and when she learned that this was unlawful she made great efforts to get it back; the augustinians resisted but were finally obliged to submit. then she applied to the suprema for a licence to sell the prohibited books, which was referred to the valencia tribunal. it replied, november 8, 1803, that the augustinian provincial had exhibited the licence, and had been told that the convent had a right to hold them, but the widow had no right to sell them. the inquisitor sympathized with her, but pointed out that to grant her request would open the door to fictitious transactions, and he recommended that at most she should be allowed to sell those which the augustinians had bought, for there were others. the library was large; it had taken long to make an inventory and still longer to find a revisor to go over it and note the prohibited books. this, however, had at last been accomplished, and the widow had been furnished with two lists--one of prohibited books to be surrendered to the inquisition, and the other of those which must be expurgated before she could sell them. the suprema, before deciding, required to see a list of the prohibited books sold to the augustinians, which was duly furnished, and we may hope that, in the end, the widow was able to dispose of her husband's books, although the proceeds must have been wofully diminished by the fees and expenses and the confiscation of those prohibited.[1338] there was scant encouragement in spain for scholars to accumulate the means of study and research. while this case was dragging along, irrepressible zeal in pursuit of prohibited books threatened a foreign complication. leonhardt schuck, the dutch consul at alicante, died, leaving the french vice-consul as his executor. the house and effects were duly sealed with the royal seal during the execution of certain legal formalities, but the commissioner of the inquisition called on the governor to remove the seal and deliver the keys to him, so that he might inventory the books, papers and prints, for he was informed that there were prohibited articles of all three kinds. the governor refused until he could consult the king, when the commissioner at night broke the seal, made his way in, compiled an inventory and replaced the seal as best he could. the dutch ambassador complained to carlos iv, and the minister urquijo, who was unfriendly to the inquisition, took occasion to issue a _carta orden_ of october 11, 1799, severely rebuking it for this and other similar occurrences, which had contributed greatly to increase its evil reputation abroad.[1339] this supervision over the libraries of the dead continued under the restoration. in 1815 orders were sent to all commissioners to see that no books belonging to estates were sold at auction until exact lists were submitted to the tribunal and its permission was obtained and, in 1817, when fray raymundo garcía, prior of the convent of montesa at onda, died, the valencia tribunal had his library examined with the result of finding quite a number of prohibited books, mostly of a jansenist character.[1340] despite the ceaseless vigilance of the inquisition, the seekers after forbidden literature took the risk of gratifying their longings. * * * * * [sidenote: _prevention of smuggling_] this forbidden literature was necessarily foreign. under the preliminary restrictions on printing, which weighed with such deadly pressure on authorship, and under such vigilance as that which prompted the suprema, in 1602, to order the tribunals to instruct their commissioners to seize all new books, or those of new authors or new editions, and report about them without delivering them to any one,[1341] it was impossible that native works of dangerous tendency could reach the public, and censorship was confined to theological subtilties or to trivialities. the only real danger to be guarded against came from abroad, and the inquisition's most effective service to obscurantism was rendered in the quarantine which it established to preserve the nation from the infection of new ideas. to this were directed the unremitting energies of the state, which found in the holy office its most useful instrument. we have seen above how early it took the alarm in 1521. in 1532 the royal council adopted the heroic measure of prohibiting the importation and sale of all recently printed books[1342]--a measure which, if enforced, would have cut off spain from all foreign literature, without preventing the introduction of heretical books concealed in packages of other merchandise. if not speedily repealed, it at least soon became obsolete, and the function of guarding the land from the importation of heretical matter naturally fell into the hands of the inquisition, which alone possessed the authority and the ability to decide between what was innocent and what was obnoxious. this function consisted of two duties--that of separating the wheat from the tares in books regularly imported through the custom-houses, and in the suppression of smuggling. precisely at what time the inquisition undertook these duties it would be impossible to say, but its activity and organization of the work would seem to date from the lutheran scare of 1557 and 1558. in a letter of may 12, 1558, from the suprema to charles v, it declares that all the inquisitors had been instructed to use the greatest vigilance at the sea-ports and along the french frontier, but such was the audacity of the heretics that this did not suffice, as was proved by the number of books daily seized in spite of the most rigorous punishment.[1343] so, in its report of september 9th to the pope, it stated that to prevent the importation of heretic books, inquisitors with their officials had been established along the coasts and in the places of greatest trade, which was a falsehood for the purpose of obtaining papal sanction for despoiling the church, since no new tribunals were established, though the existing ones were urged to special vigilance. how this was exercised is detailed in a letter of october 25th from the seville inquisitors, in response to an exhortation to diligence. they declare that all possible care was taken; instructions had been given for the visiting of all ships on arrival; no merchandise of any kind could be discharged or opened without the presence of a commissioner, who saw that there were no books in the packages or, if there were, they were sent to the tribunal. all packages for seville were sealed and not opened save in the presence of their inspector, to see whether there were books enclosed. all books arriving were delivered to the tribunal and examined, when those found to be prohibited or suspicious were detained; it had not come to their knowledge that any one had received and distributed books without this previous examination.[1344] this shows that already the system had been established, which continued with little modification to the end. all packages of books were carefully inspected, those prohibited or subject to expurgation, and the new and unknown ones regarded as suspicious were removed and sent to the tribunal to await its decision, which usually inferred consultation with the suprema and indefinite delay. every package of merchandise, moreover--box, bale or barrel--was opened in presence of the commissioner in search of concealed books. thus the whole importing commerce of spain passed through the hands of the inquisition, whose officials employed in the business were unpaid, except by the fees which they could exact from merchants, leading to interminable squabbles, insufferable delays and grievous impediments to the commercial activity of the nation. [sidenote: _supervision of book-trade_] the trade in books suffered especially. it evidently was regarded as a thing to be restricted as far as possible, and was subject to any caprice of the authorities. in the sixteenth century orders were sometimes sent to special ports to forward all packages of books unopened and finally this was adopted as a universal rule, the whole foreign book-trade thus passing through the hands of the suprema. a carta acordada of june 17, 1666, complains of the inobservance of these instructions, which must be obeyed by the commissioners at all the ports; the carriers must be bound under a penalty to return, within a fixed time, the receipt of the secretary of the suprema, and a separate letter of advice must inform the suprema who he is and at what tavern in madrid he is accustomed to lodge.[1345] no trade could be profitably carried on which was subject to such vexatious and costly interference, while the suprema was constantly scolding the tribunals for their negligence. how their ignorant scrupulousness affected trade may be guessed by an incident occurring at barcelona in 1666. a bookseller of that city imported a number of copies of a book just printed in lyons--a _pharmacop[oe]ia medico-chemica_, by johannes schoderius, m.d., physician in ordinary to the republic of frankfurt a/m. in the index of 1640, the inquisitors found, among authors of the first class, the name of joan. schroderus, qualified as "philosophus et theologus german. luther. august. confess.," all of whose works were condemned. they seized the pharmacop[oe]ias and reported to the suprema, which ordered a copy forwarded. it was duly submitted to calificadores and five months afterwards the tribunal was notified that the books might be delivered to the owner.[1346] the internal traffic in books was trammelled by the closest supervision. in 1645 the valencia tribunal was instructed to issue no licences to take books to castile without a formal order from the suprema.[1347] while their departure was thus closely scrutinized, a second inspection was required on their arrival, as appears from a petition, in 1665, of juan antonio bonet, bookseller of madrid, representing that, in 1663, he had forwarded to miguel paysso, a bookseller of barcelona, certain books, among which the barcelona tribunal found and seized a copy of the works of quevedo, in two volumes, which he prays to be released, as it was printed in madrid, where it enjoyed free circulation.[1348] it was the same with exports. in 1573 the books of some frailes going to the canaries require a special order from the suprema to commissioners in seville, granada, córdova and badajoz to pass them if there were none prohibited among them.[1349] the instructions of 1707 provide that, when books are to be exported, lists of them are to be submitted to the revisers that they may retain any that are prohibited or are unknown to them and thus require examination.[1350] a transaction in 1788 shows that a special permit was required for each shipment of books to the colonies, and a royal order of august 8, 1807, prescribed that the examination should be made conjointly by the commissioners of the inquisition, the royal revisor and a delegate of the _juez de imprentas_.[1351] even books in transit were subject to the watchful eye of the inquisition, as we learn when, in 1560, some that had belonged to cardinal pole were shipped through spain to venice and were diligently investigated.[1352] books in fact were regarded with almost an insane fear, as the most dangerous of all articles of commerce, and the more thoroughly that spain could be prevented from knowing what men were thinking and doing in foreign lands, the safer it was for society. the regulations adopted for importations were well adapted to protect the spanish intellect from such dangers. the requirement of sending all packages to the suprema unopened seems to have been abandoned, but other obstacles were sufficiently onerous. all books, with which the commissioner of the inquisition was not acquainted, had to be submitted to calificadores or sent to the suprema for decision. as foreign books, especially the new ones, came under this category, the consequent delays and the risk of prohibition exposed the importing bookseller to hardships rendering trade almost impracticable. thus, in 1772, pierre crozier, a bookseller of valencia, imported a copy of the _essais de morale_ of pierre nicole. it had to be referred to the suprema, which, by letter of august 29th, ordered it to be examined and reported upon. after the lapse of four years we find crozier still begging the tribunal to decide whether it will be permitted, as well as copies of the _discours de fleuri_ and the _histoire de la bible_ of royaumont. if prohibited, he asks permission to sell them to some one who holds a licence or to return them to france.[1353] how much longer he had to wait we can only conjecture. these impediments to importation were aggravated by a regulation of the royal council, in 1784, requiring a licence before a new foreign book could be exposed for sale and, out of the small number on which the dealer could venture to try the market, he had, when applying for a licence, to give two copies and to pay the examining censor a real per sheet for reading it, with the prospect that if the licence was obtained, the inquisition might subsequently prohibit it.[1354] [sidenote: _supervision of imports_] the books seized were detained by the tribunals, and their fate is revealed in a letter from that of valencia, july 28, 1798, in answer to orders from the suprema to return to don josef joaquin de soria a copy of the _lettres provinciales_ in four languages, and to send to madrid, under seal, the books brought from holland (some ten years before) by don pedro antonio casas. the tribunal explained at much length its inability to comply. the practice of entering the name of the owner in books seized is recent. the accumulation of prohibited books is large, and the room in which most of them are stored is so hot and so infested with book-worms that in a fortnight a book is pierced through and through. if those of casas were placed there or left in their boxes there would not be a leaf remaining. besides, a bookseller was formerly employed to come monthly and dust them, and he carried away all that he wanted, as appeared in his prosecution on that charge in 1789. this explains why only a portion of casas's books can be found; as to soria's _lettres provinciales_, two copies of that edition have been found, but each has a different owner's name.[1355] verily, the inquisition was the grave-yard of books. the outbreak of the french revolution brought fresh activity and redoubled watchfulness for the exclusion of dangerous literature. politics and religion were inextricably intermingled, and the revolutionary propaganda was as much dreaded as the religious had been in the sixteenth century. in 1792, the suprema ordered all the tribunals to be especially zealous in preventing the introduction of the books, which the french were industriously disseminating for the purpose of exciting rebellion and imperilling religion and the monarchy. with this it circulated a royal order commanding special examination of books and papers from foreign parts. wherever there was a custom-house, there were two revisors appointed, one royal and the other inquisitorial, who were to examine together all books and papers arriving. these were to be divided into three parts; those allowed currency and unknown works on history and science, which could be delivered to the owners; those included in the index, to be retained by the inquisitorial revisor, and those unknown and suspected, to be kept by the royal revisor, until the king's pleasure could be ascertained. thus the forces of the state and the inquisition were marshalled together in defence of the faith and of the crown; unfortunately they did not always work harmoniously for, in 1805 these instructions were reissued with urgent appeals for cordial coöperation.[1356] it would be useless to follow in detail the numerous exhortations to vigilance in the succeeding years. in spite of precautions, foreign ideas drifted through the custom-houses and embodied themselves in the constitution of 1812 and, when the reaction came under the restoration, the supervision of importations was confided exclusively to the inquisition. in 1816 a question arose as to the functions of the _subdelegado de imprentas_ and the _revisor real_, when fernando vii decided that it pertained alone to the tribunals to decide what books should pass through the custom-houses, and that their permission was necessary.[1357] * * * * * if these efforts to control the legitimate importation of books exercised an unfortunate influence on the intellectual development of spain, its commercial interests suffered likewise from the precautions adopted to prevent the smuggling of the dreaded literature. these were known as the _visitas de navios_, which rendered the ports of spain an object of dislike to all merchantmen, whether of native or foreign origin. their systematization is attributable to the protestant scare of 1558, when no means were deemed too radical which should serve to defeat the propagandist energy ascribed to the spanish refugees and their heretical allies. [sidenote: _visitas de navios_] when a vessel cast anchor, before it could break cargo, it was visited by the representatives of various jurisdictions--health, war and customs. subsequently health and war were combined, under the name of _almirantazgo_ and there was added a visit from the commissioner of the inquisition, with his notary and alguazil. as these officials were unsalaried, they claimed to be paid for their time and for the expense of a carriage and boat, by fees exacted of the vessel. then, after inspecting the crew and passengers and examining any books belonging to them, a guard was stationed to prevent the surreptitious landing of books. when the cargo was discharged, the commissioner opened and inspected every package and, if it was a bale of books, of course each one had to be compared with the index. for all this additional fees were charged, constituting a tax, not alone on the book-trade but on commerce in general, deeply resented by all the commercial interests, nor was the opposition lessened by the arbitrary methods habitual with all the officials of the inquisition. complaints of abuses became loud and numerous from all the sea-ports while, on the other hand, the frequent reports of heretical machinations led to constant exhortations from the suprema for increased vigilance. some feeble attempts were made to check abuses. in 1602 there was a prohibition that visiting officials should require to have meals served, should place guards, or insist on having salutes fired; in 1606 it was forbidden for commissioners to take with them notaries or familiars who were merchants, and who thus learned the nature of the cargo and had opportunities to buy or to sell; but no attention was paid to these reforms.[1358] then, in 1607, a royal cédula provided that commissioners should levy no fees for visiting ships, and this was repeated in 1610, but these commands were disobeyed on the plea that they passed through the council of castile and not through the suprema, wherefore, as the latter said, the commissioners were bound to obey them but not to execute them.[1359] the royal attention was finally called to the injurious effect of the system on spanish commerce and, in january, 1632, a cédula was sent to the corregidores of the sea-ports, in which the king stated that he had been informed that the continual vexations inflicted on those who came to trade at spanish ports, arising from the abuses practised by the numerous officials visiting their ships at their arrival and departure, had not only been the cause of the decline of commerce but of its total destruction, for every vessel was visited by so many jurisdictions that the extortions and impositions were great and had much increased of late. he was therefore obliged to enquire what proper methods could be adopted to encourage trade on the part of both natives and foreigners, without abolishing the necessary visits and precautions. there followed a list of searching questions as to the number of visits, officials, fees, methods, etc., with a request for suggestions. although directed nominally to the abuses of all the jurisdictions, the inquisition evidently was especially aimed at, for copies of the cédula were sent by the suprema to all the tribunals of the crown of castile.[1360] a junta was assembled to frame a reform on the basis of the information thus obtained. it sat until the end of 1633 but, if it reached any conclusions, they left no trace on legislation or practice. the only paper laid before it that i have met is a complaint from don pedro de barreda, customs inspector of guipuzcoa, of the excesses committed by officials of the inquisition, under pretext of visiting the vessels coming to the ports of his district.[1361] the probability is that, as so frequently the case in spanish administration, the junta did nothing but submit to the king long consultas representing the conflicting views of the individual members, and that the king by that time had lost his interest in the matter and cast them aside without reading. [sidenote: _visitas de navios_] as was inevitable, the aggressiveness of the officials led to frequent quarrels. in 1616 there was one in sardinia, in which the inquisitor excommunicated the governor of sasser, when the viceroy retaliated with a decree banishing the inquisitor. it was published with trumpet and cymbals and so frightened the inquisitorial people that the consultors did not dare to assemble and the familiars took to the mountains. the affair was referred to the council of aragon and the suprema, which effected a truce by annulling the acts on both sides.[1362] that the junta of 1633 brought no harmony is seen in a similar outbreak arising from the same cause in 1634, between the viceroy of majorca and the tribunal, which had to be carried up to the king.[1363] in 1635, the royal secretary addressed the suprema, stating that a squadron was being organized for service on the coast of guipuzcoa and that, to avoid the extortions and vexations of the commissioner at san sebastian, the king desired that the head chaplain of the squadron should be appointed as commissioner, so that he could perform the duty of visiting the ships and prizes when they entered port. to this the suprema returned an emphatic protest; such visits were essential and not to be omitted; the cause of complaint was not the extortions of the commissioners but their zealous discharge of their duties. as there is no endorsement on this consulta, the king apparently did not press the matter.[1364] perhaps the bitterest struggle was that carried on by bilbao for more than a hundred years. as one of the busiest ports of spain, it naturally recalcitrated against the burdens laid upon its trade. the system had scarce been fairly organized when, in 1560, complaints already came to the suprema of extortionate and illegal fees. bartolomé de robles, a bookseller of alcalá, represented that he had imported through bilbao forty bales of books, which were forwarded in one lot by ten muleteers; they had all been duly examined and sealed, the commissioner charging one real for each seal and then, in place of giving one certificate for the lot, he made out forty certificates at four reales apiece. the suprema forwarded this to the tribunal of calahorra (logroño), with a table of fees, commanding that all exorbitant charges should be returned to it for distribution to the parties aggrieved.[1365] it was not alone the booksellers, but merchants in general, who suffered from the opening of their packages and the fees charged on each, and the shipmasters exposed to the extortions attendant upon the visits. the mercantile community of bilbao was well organized, having a _casa de contratacion_ to regulate commerce, with a _fiel_ or executive officer, a prior and consuls. they made their grievances heard and a compromise was reached with the tribunal, in 1561, which was not observed; it was the same with another agreement made in 1567 and yet another in 1576, under which all fees were abolished. to enforce this the contratacion brought suit, resulting in an agreement in 1577, confirmed by the suprema, by which the commissioner received fifty ducats a year in lieu of all fees, except two reales on each package of books, the examination of which was admitted to be laborious.[1366] trouble soon recommenced; in spite of repeated exhortation to moderation by the suprema, fees were levied on every package and cask of merchandise. the royal cédula of 1607 abolishing fees was published february 18th, but received no attention and, in 1609, bilbao sent a strong remonstrance to the king, to which the logroño tribunal replied, asserting it to be false; the labor was great; it always had been and must be paid by fees, which were always the subject of contention, especially at bilbao where there were a prior and consuls to defend the merchants.[1367] then came the royal cédula of 1610, again abolishing fees, which received no more attention than the previous one. in february, 1612, the suprema wrote to logroño that great complaints continued to come to the king, especially from bilbao, and it suggested that an increase in the fifty ducats might be obtained in lieu of fees. acting on this, a formal agreement was signed in july and confirmed by the suprema, raising the annual payment to two thousand reales, the two reales on book packages being retained. it is not likely that this was observed by the commissioner for, in 1616, at the request of the merchants and shipmasters, a return was made to the fee system and a definite scale was agreed upon. this scale, however, did not long content the commissioner for, in 1631, the complaints reaching the suprema led it to make an investigation, in which its fiscal admitted that the excessive fees and vexations were leading shipmasters to abandon those ports, especially bilbao; the fees exacted were fifty per cent. greater than the agreed scale; vessels bringing fish were compelled in addition to give so many fish out of each barrel, and the delays were damaging. at the same time the existing commissioner, pedro de villareal, was highly commended. he had merely accepted conditions as he found them established by his predecessors; his term of service extended from 1625 to 1662 and was subsequently looked back upon as a halcyon time of peace.[1368] [sidenote: _visitas de navios_] this came to an end, in 1663, with the appointment of a new commissioner, the licentiate domingo de leguina, whose excessive exactions and arbitrary methods excited the bitterest dissatisfaction. one thing which was the subject of especial complaint was that, in place of examining merchandise in the warehouses of the consignees, he insisted on opening the packages on the quay, cutting the cords and scattering the contents, which were thus subjected to theft and to the vicissitudes of the weather; he even bored holes in casks of tar and explored the interior with a stick in the search for hidden books. commerce on a large scale could scarce be conducted under such conditions, the prosperity of the port was seriously threatened, passions on both sides were enkindled and a controversy of the fiercest kind raged for years. the señorio of biscay took sides with the merchants and represented forcibly to the queen-regent the absurdity of ruining commerce and risking complications with foreign nations on the pretext of preventing the smuggling of prohibited books, considering the risks attendant on the attempt and the lack of purchasers for them if successful, in a community so ardent for the faith.[1369] both sides resorted to extreme measures. the contratacion in 1667 ordered the merchants not to pay fees; the tribunal, with the approval of the suprema, ordered leguina to collect them; he seized goods and sold them by auction; he prosecuted some of the merchants and compromised with them for money; the english and dutch ambassadors intervened with protests against the disregard of treaty stipulations; the queen-regent annulled the decree of the contratacion forbidding the payment of fees, and against this the señorio of biscay, in a solemn assembly, november 7, 1668, protested, as a violation of the fueros, and adopted a decree prohibiting their payment; if attempts should be made to collect them it would resist and, if other remedies failed, a junta general would be assembled to determine on further measures. meanwhile, any secular official assisting leguina was declared to be disabled for insaculation in the choice by lot for public office. this decree was published in bilbao to sound of drum and fife, with general popular rejoicing, and leguina could find no official to assist him in his work, even his notary being disqualified for an office to which he aspired. then the council of castile intervened may 15, 1669, with an order to leguina to levy no fees for visiting ships, an action probably induced by a forcible protest from the earl of sandwich, the english ambassador, in which the exactions of the commissioner were represented as infractions of the treaties of 1665 and 1667.[1370] the serious character of the questions thus raised made an impression on the court and led to a royal decree of july 19, 1669, informing the suprema that the vexations and excessive dues levied by leguina on the commerce of bilbao had aroused such hatred that means must be taken to avoid greater evils, by removing the officials and replacing them with others who would perform their duties without arousing complaints. an immediate answer was required to this, but the suprema waited until december 23d and then replied in a long consulta, insisting that leguina had been right from the beginning; that all laws or regulations infringing the immunities of the inquisition were invalid, and the mere attempt subjected its authors to punishment. as the suprema was immovable, an attack was made directly on leguina by a royal letter and provision of the royal council, january 22, 1670, ordering him to collect no fees for visiting ships and to make his visits as his predecessors had done. when this was served upon him he made an unseemly reply and stopped the commerce of the port until there were eighteen ships waiting to discharge their cargoes. to overcome this, a solemn mandate in the name of the king and queen-regent was addressed to him, february 14th, reciting his misdeeds and ordering him to quit the kingdom or to present himself at court under penalty of twenty thousand maravedís. when this was served upon him by a notary, on february 23d, he reverently placed it on his head and said he respected it as the act of his king, but the next day he served upon the notary his _declinatoria_ (denial of jurisdiction), stating that he was simply the servant of the suprema and of the logroño tribunal, in which capacity he had complied with the obligations of his office, and the suprema had never brought a charge against him, wherefore he supplicated the king to inform himself from the suprema as to the matters contained in these royal provisions, which had been obtained surreptitiously, and to recognize the justice of his reply and of his proceedings.[1371] the authority of the suprema evidently was superior to that of the king. [sidenote: _visitas de navios_] thus baffled, the queen-regent turned again to the suprema, with a decree of april 1, 1670, in which she rehearsed the agreements of 1561, 1567 and 1576 as providing that no fees were to be levied; the visits must be made in the former fashion, so as to give no occasion of complaints of the violation of treaties, and leguina must be removed. to this the suprema replied, april 24th, insisting on the necessity of the visits; the resistance of bilbao had proved contagious; the other ports were refusing to pay fees, and this would extend to the whole monarchy; the labor had to be paid for and the inquisition had no funds for salaries. it further explained that, in view of the hostility felt for leguina, the logroño tribunal had replaced him, on january 3d, by joan de zabala, who had found himself unable to act, everybody being terrorized and refusing to assist him, so leguina had resumed his duties. then, on february 14th the council of state had intervened and allowed the eighteen waiting ships to discharge their cargoes without examination, which was an invasion of the jurisdiction of the inquisition and consequently null. at the end of february leguina had been replaced by don iñigo zubiaur who had been well received by the merchants--a fallacious welcome for soon afterwards it was learned that zubiaur, though he reduced the fees, could get no assistance; his life was threatened and he asked to be relieved on june 20th.[1372] it would be a weariness to follow in further detail these obscure quarrels which were carried on with equal tenacity by both sides. a new commissioner, pedro de irazagarria butron, was succeeded by miguel de jarabeytía, who were as little successful as their predecessors. at length, on may 26, 1680, the king sent to the suprema a protest from the dutch ambassador as to the detention of vessels and damage to goods for the purpose of extorting illegal fees. this was followed, june 26th, by another from the ambassador of france, claiming that french vessels should be exempted, and that only packages of books should be examined. then, on september 4th the king transmitted one from the english ambassador, and accompanied it by a sharp message to the effect that at the moment it was especially desirable to avoid giving just cause of offence to england, and that a prompt remedy must be applied. it was not until october 22d that the suprema replied, insisting upon the enforcement of the visits; more books entered the port of bilbao than all the other ports of the kingdom combined, and since these troubles began the visits had been so impeded that immense numbers of books of evil doctrine were filling all the public and private libraries.[1373] the suprema was willing to embroil spain with half of europe rather than to spend a few hundred ducats in salaries, and equally reckless was its assertion as to the commerce in books at bilbao. when, in 1648, it had called for reports on the _visitas de navios_ from all the northern ports, commissioner villareal stated that no books had come to bilbao for eight years. at none of the other ports was there any allusion made to books, except at san sebastian, where it was added that they rarely came.[1374] when we recall the forty bales imported in one lot through bilbao for robles of alcalá, in 1561, we can estimate the success of the inquisition, during the interval, in securing the intellectual isolation of spain and the flimsiness of the pretext on which was based this prolonged struggle. still the struggle went on, stimulated by fresh protests from the english and french ambassadors and met by the suprema with vociferous assertions of the masses of heretical literature introduced into spain. at length, on june 12, 1681, the corregidor of bilbao, don juan gonzález de leon, a member of the royal council and judge in the chancellery of valladolid, in conjunction with the general deputies of the señorio, issued a proclamation imposing a fine of fifty ducats on all shipmasters, merchants and others who should pay the fees, thus uniting the royal and provincial authorities in resistance to the inquisition. the suprema met this, july 17th, by ordering jarabeytía to collect the fees, in which if necessary he was to employ excommunication and collect evidence to prosecute those who impeded the inquisition. this was a declaration of war, but it was accompanied with secret instructions that he was not to seize goods but to keep a record for future use, and that he was to lose no opportunity of reaching a compromise with the contratacion, which could take the shape, as formerly suggested, of a lump sum in payment on every ship according to its tonnage.[1375] here the documents at my disposal come to an end, but there can be little doubt that, on some such basis, a compromise was reached, as the contratacion had shown a willingness to pay a handsome sum in gross, in the confidence apparently, that when the stimulus of fees for each package was removed, the examinations would be nominal and the commissioners would render their office a sinecure. [sidenote: _visitas de navios_] barcelona was more fortunate than bilbao. the opposition of the viceroy and the intervention of the banco regio prevailed against the efforts of the tribunal. in 1819 it reported that there was no trace of commissioners ever having visited ships, except when there were jews on board, and that a letter of 1677 showed that visits were not made because shipmasters would not pay the fees.[1376] elsewhere, abuses were rife. at cádiz, among seafaring men, the santo oficio was generally known as the santo ladronicio, although there and in málaga a judicious system of bribery was established, which removed most of the impediments of commerce, together with the obstacles to the importation of prohibited books.[1377] i have met with complaints about valencia, alicante and other ports and, in view of the prevalence of official venality, it may be assumed that at least many commissioners used their virtually irresponsible power for profit either by omitting supervision or rendering it unduly onerous. in 1705 an elaborate digest of all previous instructions was sent to the tribunals with orders to impress upon their commissioners the necessity of constant vigilance to prevent the introduction of prohibited books; not only were bales, hogsheads, casks, packages and especially packs of playing cards to be examined, but the chests and beds of the sailors, yet the utmost tact and dexterity were to be employed, so as to avoid exciting the repugnance felt for these visits. if any controversy arose, the commissioners were not to proceed judicially but the matter was to be referred directly to the suprema.[1378] in 1742 and 1764, there were royal orders issued prescribing rules and fees, which have interest only as showing the control acquired by the crown over the inquisition. in 1801, the suprema called upon the tribunals for information as to details and fees, the answer to which from valencia indicates the purely financial view of the matter entertained by the officials. since the royal orders of 1742 and 1764, it said, and for many years previous, no visits had been made, because the fee for large vessels was eight reales and four for small ones, while it was necessary to hire a carriage from the city to the grao and a boat to the ship, so the cost was greater than the gain. in denia the visits had been performed anciently, but for many years they had been abandoned.[1379] in fact, it had for the most part become simply an impost levied for the benefit of the inquisition on ships from foreign parts. the suppression of the inquisition by the córtes of cádiz, in 1813, was followed by a decree stating that at almost all the sea-ports of spain there was collected for the inquisition a fee known as _derecho de inquisicion_ on all foreign vessels or those from foreign parts, and that in some places there was further levied on all packages of books and merchandise another fee for registration--all of which the córtes now suppressed.[1380] with the revival of the inquisition under the restoration, the _visitas de navios_ were naturally resumed, whenever the opposition of shipmasters and foreign consuls permitted. desiring to reorganize the system, the suprema, june 17, 1816, called for information, the responses to which show that, at the ports of the northern coasts, for the most part, it was maintained as far as practicable, while on the mediterranean shore, except in majorca and velez málaga, it was in a thoroughly demoralized condition. no visits were made to the ships. where they could, commissioners collected fees from vessels arriving from foreign ports, but consuls raised objections and, when subsequently the suprema ordered the commissioner of cádiz to enforce payment, he could not persuade the consuls to assent, as they simply referred him to their ambassadors. the matter slumbered until, in january, 1819, the minister of marine addressed to the inquisitor-general a complaint from the hydrographic office that it had been obliged to pay to a commissioner eight reales for examining two cases containing articles for it. this opened the way, and the suprema laid before the king a long consulta, urging a reorganization of the system and presenting an elaborate series of regulations for his consideration, as the matter was of immense importance to religion and the state. the scheme resuscitated all the old details in the most rigorous form; indeed, as regards books, it provided that the packages should be sealed with sealing-wax, the duties were to be paid and the packages forwarded to the suprema by some confidential person.[1381] no more effective plan could have been devised for preserving spain from the contagion of foreign ideas and, even without this, the other provisions gave to the inquisition the power of embarrassing largely the whole foreign commerce of the land. the scheme is of interest as revealing the aims of the inquisition on the brink of its extinction. how it was regarded by the court we have no means of knowing for, before it could be acted upon, the revolution of 1820 put an end to the active existence of the holy office. [sidenote: _licences_] the restrictions which censorship imposed on learning and culture were slightly relieved by the licences which were granted to possess or to read prohibited books. in the struggle with heresy, its confutation required that some persons should be allowed to read the works in which it was taught, and it became customary to grant the privilege to those whose firmness in the faith could be trusted. the bull in _c[oe]na domini_ of paul iii, in 1536, excommunicates all who read lutheran books without papal licence, showing that already licences were issued and that the power was reserved to the pope. this power was valuable, and the officials of the curia, to whom it was confided, were subject to temptations which, in that age of venality, were not likely to be resisted. inquisitors, moreover, assumed that this was included in their delegated apostolical faculties and undertook to issue licences, leading to a multiplication of privileged persons which nullified to some extent the prohibitory edicts. to remedy this, in 1547, the suprema revoked all such licences and forbade their future issue by the tribunals, a provision which had to be repeated in 1549 and 1551.[1382] this still left the papal licences in the hands of those possessing them, but these were similarly annulled, in 1550, by julius iii, in a brief, from which we learn that papal legates also issued them.[1383] they speedily multiplied again, and the suprema took advantage of the lutheran excitement of 1558 to procure their withdrawal. in its report of september 9th of that year to paul iv, it represented that many prelates and frailes kept prohibited books, in spite of edicts and censures, refusing to surrender them on the plea that they held papal licences; in view of the danger thence arising to the faith, the pope was asked for a brief revoking all such licences, ordering their surrender under heavy penalties and authorizing rigorous prosecution of transgressors.[1384] paul did more than merely respond to this petition. by a brief of december 21st, he revoked all papal licences and then, by another of january 4, 1559, he committed the execution of this to inquisitor-general valdés, who printed it in his index of that year.[1385] these briefs granted to the spanish inquisition no power to issue licences. so jealously was this reserved to the holy see that, in 1574, gregory xiii gave a special licence to inquisitor-general quiroga, with a faculty to extend it to members of the suprema, in order to enable them to decide cases of heresy.[1386] this caution contrasts strangely with the favors shown to the society of jesus. pius v, while yet inquisitor-general, granted to the jesuit general faculty to issue licences; this was confirmed, _vivæ vocis oraculo_, by gregory xiii and, to establish it more firmly, he was asked to embody it in a brief which he did, january 9, 1575, moreover releasing them from any censures or other penalty, by whomsoever inflicted, in so far as necessary to render the concession effective. under this the jesuits claimed to be independent of the edicts of the spanish inquisition, but it asserted its jurisdiction. in 1584 we find padre mariana applying for and obtaining a licence, through the toledo tribunal, to read certain specified books--a licence which was withdrawn the same year. still more aggressive was its action when, in 1587, it learned that some books had been received by the jesuit provincial, and the suprema sent lists of them to the tribunals of saragossa, seville and valladolid, with orders to examine them and detain such as they deemed proper. this assertion of control was repeated in 1602, when the murcia tribunal was instructed to examine certain books belonging to the jesuits and to return them if found unobjectionable.[1387] [sidenote: _licences_] the earliest formal grant of power to the spanish inquisition to issue licences would appear to have been made by paul v early in the seventeenth century,[1388] but it had been exercised long before. the index of quiroga, issued in 1583, in its preliminary rules 3, 4, 5 and 8, assumes that inquisitors can grant written licences, but this power was held subject to the inquisitor-general and suprema for, in the orders accompanying the distribution of the index, consultation with them was prescribed as a necessary preliminary.[1389] from some examples of the period it would seem that only special and not general licences were granted, and that much circumspection was used with regard to them. even philip iv had no general licence until, about 1640, he wrote to inquisitor-general sotomayor that he had been amusing his leisure with guicciardini's history, until he was told that it was prohibited. he therefore asked for a licence to read it and other prohibited books not treating of matters of faith, for he would not accept a licence to read them.[1390] a curious partial licence was one granted in 1614, to padre gullo sabell (william saville?) to read catholic books in the english tongue--apparently the language sufficed to render them prohibited.[1391] the tendency of the spanish inquisition to assert its independence of rome in matters of censorship was especially manifested with regard to licences. when in 1622, gregory xv and, in 1631, urban viii, revoked all licences, the suprema declared that it was not the papal intention to interfere with the licences granted by the inquisitor-general, and that they remained in force.[1392] the next step was to invalidate all papal licences and accordingly, january 18, 1627, the suprema presented a consulta to philip iv, representing that many persons in spain obtained them, and supplicating him to order his ambassador to urge the pope not to grant them, adding that meanwhile it was deemed necessary to issue an edict annulling them. philip was not prepared to sanction so flagrant an assault on papal authority, and replied that he would ask the pope to transmit them through the inquisitor-general, but that, until the answer was received, no innovation must be attempted. urban took advantage of the request to assert his supreme authority in a manner for which the suprema had not bargained, for he annulled all licences, both papal and those issued by the inquisitor-general, the only exception being the one held by the inquisitor-general himself. as all the bishops in spain were ordered to publish this brief, the inquisition could not suppress it, however humiliating it was. cardinal zapata accordingly published it, february 21, 1628, requiring the surrender of all licences within twenty days, under heavy penalties, and when he issued his index of 1632 he included in it the brief and his edict.[1393] urban pursued his victory by instructing cardinal mellini to write, december 6, 1628, to zapata defining his authority to be that of granting licences to learned persons who furnished security that they wished to combat heresy, but the licences were to be limited in time, and to require the recipients to show to the inquisition what they wrote.[1394] this however was a failure, for no attention seems to have been paid to the prescribed limitations. the inquisition continued its independent course and finally carried its point, to a certain degree, by instructing the tribunals that, if papal licences were presented to them, they were not to be admitted, but were to be forwarded to the inquisitor-general for his action.[1395] [sidenote: _penalties_] towards the close of the eighteenth century, llorente tells us that licences were difficult to obtain. when an application was made, the inquisitor-general instituted secret inquiries as to the character of the applicant and, if the result was favorable, he was required to state his object and the nature of the works that he desired to consult; if the licence was granted, it was limited to a specified number of books in a definite branch of literature; permission to keep them was rarely granted, and all licences excepted works directed against catholicism, such as the writings of modern philosophers.[1396] doubtless this strictness may be true of certain times, but the practice varied according to the temper of the inquisitor-general or suprema. there sometimes was great laxity, if we may believe the reasons alleged, in 1747, by prado y cuesta, for revoking all licences, for he says that on investigation he had found that they were not sought by men of learning, but by the frivolous of both sexes to gratify idle curiosity; many persons merely made a verbal request to read a single book and extended the permission to cover all that they wanted, while others, seeing that ignorant people were licensed, thought that the privilege was general and availed themselves of it without asking.[1397] licences, moreover, were by no means so restricted in character as llorente asserts. some issued by inquisitors-general bonifaz and beltran cover all prohibited books, except machiavelli, sarpi's council of trent, works assailing the catholic religion and obscenities,[1398] and we have seen that religious houses generally and even occasionally individuals held licences enabling them to purchase from estates considerable miscellaneous lots of prohibited books, the possession of which, by deceased scholars, shows that they too must have enjoyed similar privileges. from the very numerous applications for licences made about this time it appears that they were customarily addressed to the suprema, which referred them to the appropriate tribunal for report as to the age, the learning and the judgement of the applicant. under the restoration this inquiry was extended to his moral and political conduct, showing that discrimination was made in favor of those whose conservative tendencies were approved.[1399] * * * * * we have seen the ferocious penalties of death and confiscation provided in the law of 1558 for unauthorized printing. with these the inquisition had nothing to do, as its censorship was concerned only with books after publication, and its treatment of those who violated its rules was much more moderate. with its jurisdiction over them it allowed no interference, even from rome, for, about 1565, it suppressed a papal jubilee indulgence, because it contained faculties of absolution for keeping prohibited books.[1400] in the index of 1559, the penalties threatened for reading, possessing, buying or selling prohibited books were excommunication _latæ sententæ ipso facto_, two hundred ducats and a menace of prosecution for suspicion of heresy and disobedience.[1401] in the special edicts prohibiting individual books, there appears to be no established formula. sometimes the penalty threatened is excommunication and two hundred ducats, sometimes excommunication and punishment at discretion, sometimes excommunication, fine and punishment at discretion.[1402] this discretion manifested itself in a great variety of penalties, moderate and severe, both as regards readers and booksellers, though the latter appear commonly to be the more harshly visited. a rehabilitation granted, september 28, 1647, to luis sanaren, bookseller of saragossa, infers that he had been reconciled and deprived of his civil rights.[1403] miguel rodríguez, a bookseller of madrid, for importing and selling prohibited books, was sentenced, august 1, 1763, to reprimand, absolution _ad cautelam_, certain spiritual penances, all costs of trial and banishment from madrid for six years, of which the first three were to be spent in an african presidio. this of course meant his utter ruin.[1404] at logroño, in 1645, fray tomas de nieva, for teaching in his professorial chair from a prohibited book, was condemned to grave reprimand before his colleagues, to retract certain propositions, to four years' reclusion, and to perpetual deprivation of teaching and of voting and being voted for.[1405] on the other hand, in 1803, don jacobo maría de parga y puga, for the inveterate habit of reading prohibited books, knowing them to be prohibited, in contempt for many years of the authority of the inquisition, was sentenced by the madrid tribunal to fifteen days' spiritual exercises and to a private reprimand in the apartments of the inquisitor.[1406] so, in 1816, the suprema, acting on a _sumaria_, and without subjecting the delinquents to a trial, sent to the santiago tribunal a sentence on juan romero for reading prohibited books and on josef manuel garcía for selling and recommending them; they were to present themselves before the nearest commissioner, who was to reprimand and warn them that for a repetition of the offence they would not be treated with the same benignity.[1407] [sidenote: _the scriptures_] cases of infraction, until a comparatively recent period, are not frequent. after the excitement of the reformation was suppressed, intellectual activity in spain seems to have been reduced to such torpor that the forbidden fruit was little sought. in the toledo record from 1575 to 1610 there is not a single case, nor is there one in the same record from 1648 to 1794.[1408] in the disturbance of thought, preceding and during the revolutionary epoch, prosecutions become more frequent, although still not as numerous as might be expected from the importance claimed by the inquisition for its services. from 1780 until 1820, in the whole of spain, the total aggregate amounts only to three hundred and five. during this period, from 1808 to 1815, inclusive, the inquisition was virtually dormant, having only five cases in all, which would leave, for the remaining years, an average slightly under nine. the crowding of a hundred and one cases into the six years, 1801 to 1806, reflects the urgency with which the government of carlos iv was endeavoring to restrict the press, and that there were twenty in 1819 is significant of the agitation leading to the revolution of january, 1820.[1409] the slenderness of the whole record is the measure of the success which attended the combined action of the state and of the inquisition in benumbing for nearly three centuries the spanish intellect. * * * * * although censorship was instituted for the suppression of heresy and for keeping heretical books and propositions from the people, it developed its utility in many directions, more or less connected with its primary object. it was inevitable that it should wage incessant warfare with the countless editions of the bible with protestant notes and commentaries, and we have seen how industriously valdés prepared for his expurgatory index of the scriptures in 1554. it was, however, the vernacular versions that caused the greatest anxiety. prior to the reformation there was practically no restriction on the circulation of the bible in the vulgar tongue. it is true that, in the early thirteenth century, the struggle with the waldenses and the cathari, who possessed versions of their own, led to prohibitions by innocent iii, in 1199, and by jaime i of aragon in 1234, while the council of toulouse, in 1229, prohibited the possession by laymen of any portion of the bible, even in latin, as well as of the breviary and hours of the virgin in the vernacular, because they contained extracts. the decree of pope innocent became embodied in the corpus juris and thus remained familiar to canon lawyers; it was adduced in the repertorium inquisitorum of 1494, but only in a kind of _obiter dictum_, showing that at that time it was regarded as of no practical moment.[1410] yet from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century there was no proscription of vernacular bibles. the temporary causes which had led to their prohibition had passed away, and many translations were made, especially in germany. one in catalan, by bonifacio ferrer, brother of san vicente ferrer, was printed in valencia, in 1478, under the editorship of the inquisitor jaime borell.[1411] [sidenote: _the scriptures_] it was natural that the use made of the bible by the reformers should cause the revival of these obsolete prohibitions. even before the compilation of the indexes, we find inquisitor-general tavera granting to the duchess of soma, wife of the admiral of naples, a licence to keep and read a bible in italian, but the permission is limited to one year, showing how carefully it was guarded.[1412] it was therefore a matter of course that the index of 1551 should contain a prohibition of the bible in spanish or any other vulgar tongue.[1413] this zeal was intensified by the versions which the spanish refugees--francisco de enzinas, juan pérez, cipriano de valera and cassiodoro de reina--perfected and strove to introduce into spain, but the prohibition was not confined to these. it extended to all fragments and extracts, however orthodox the rendering, as though to keep the unlearned ignorant of the existence of the bible, or at least to make them understand that it was a wholly forbidden book. the index of 1559 condemns twenty-two editions of the hours of the virgin in romance, together with all others containing similar superstitions, but the real objection was the passages of scripture contained in them, and, in 1573, all hours in romance were forbidden, as the council of toulouse had done in 1229.[1414] the extreme care with which the public was guarded from the bible is seen in the 1583 index of quiroga, which, in forbidding all portions of scripture in romance, only excepts the fragments embodied in the canon of the mass, and the texts which catholic writers may cite and explain, provided they are not printed alone but are in sermons and other works of edification.[1415] so unreasoning was this jealousy that, according to azpilcueta, there were earnest men who desired to suppress vernacular versions of the creed, the paternoster, the ave maria and the salve regina, a zeal which found practical expression, in 1674, when the inquisition prohibited a work entitled _exercicios de devocion_ because it contained translations of the miserere, the magnificat, the te deum and the athanasian symbol.[1416] the people were to be kept in such profound ignorance that the sotomayor index of 1640 prohibits, not only the vernacular bible and all its parts, but even summaries and compendiums of it and, as though to render it hateful, in the edicts of faith, it was classed with the koran and other mahometan books, the possession of which was to be denounced to the inquisition.[1417] it had to watch not only over its spanish flock, but over its converts in the indies, when it found that the english society for the propagation of the gospel had caused versions to be made in the indian tongues and was circulating them in america. this unexpected missionary work called for fresh exertion and, in 1710, we find clement xi congratulating inquisitor-general ibañez on his efforts and urging him to persistent watchfulness.[1418] this treatment of the bible seems to have piqued the curiosity of the intelligent for, in 1747, inquisitor-general prado y cuesta complains of the inordinate desire of many persons to have it in the vernacular, but, among the mass of the people it produced the impression desired. in 1791, villanueva tells us that they, who once sought it, now regard it with horror and detestation; many care nothing for it and more are ignorant of its very existence.[1419] yet, within a decade of prado's utterance, the policy of the church changed. although, in 1713, clement xi, in the bull _unigenitus_, had condemned the use of the bible by the laity as a jansenist error, yet, only forty-four years later, the congregation of the index, in 1757, conceded the use of vernacular versions, if approved by the holy see and accompanied with orthodox comments.[1420] this was followed, in 1771, by a version of the acts of the apostles by catenacci, dedicated to clement xiv and, in 1778, by the brief _in tanta librorum_, in which pius vi approved of a translation of the whole bible by archbishop martini.[1421] the spanish inquisition promptly followed the papal example. in 1782, inquisitor-general beltran issued a decree reciting that ample cause had existed for exceeding the tridentine rule, but these causes had ceased and, in view of the usefulness of the sacred text, the spanish rule was modified to conform to that of trent, to the decree of the congregation of 1757 and to the brief of 1778.[1422] in 1783 the suprema ordered that the french version of le maître de saci should be freely allowed[1423] and, in 1790, there appeared in valencia a complete spanish translation by scio de san miguel, which was speedily and repeatedly reprinted. no such evils have followed as were dreaded for two centuries, showing how much wiser would have been the policy of meeting the heretic scriptures with an orthodox version, fortified with appropriate comments. [sidenote: _extension of jurisdiction_] the same jealousy of admitting the vulgar to too great a familiarity with spiritual things showed itself with regard to works of devotion and edification. in 1570 a consulta of the suprema to the inquisitor-general recommended that the catechism should not be printed in romance.[1424] in the preface to the index of 1583, the prohibition of works by men of the highest christian repute, such as fisher of rochester, thomas more, gerónimo osorio, francisco de borja, luis de granada, juan de avila and others is explained, partly by books having been falsely attributed to them, partly by occasional incautious passages, and partly by their not being fitted for circulation in the vulgar tongue. the case of the _obras del cristiano_ of st. francisco de borja is illustrative. in the index of 1559 it is simply prohibited. after his death, in 1572, as general of the society of jesus, quiroga, in the index of 1583, added "only in romance or other vulgar tongue." he was beatified in 1624, but the canonization proceedings were delayed in consequence of his book being in the spanish index and, in 1662, the jesuit procurator-general applied to the inquisition to rubricate the leaves of a copy and send it to the congregation of rites, so as to remove the impediment, but it was not until 1671 that he was finally enrolled in the catalogue of saints.[1425] the effort to suppress mysticism manifested itself, about 1620, in numerous edicts to suppress books of mystic devotion and lives of men and women who evidently were mystics. books of ritual were scrutinized with the same captiousness. june 15, 1568, the pontificals printed in dueñas and valladolid were ordered to be seized. in 1583 some pernicious errors were discovered in the breviary printed in salamanca, in 1575. even books so elementary as _cartillas_, or primers, could not escape. a carta acordada of november 6, 1577, alludes to a previous one of june 14th, ordering the suppression of cartillas containing an article entitled "castigo y doctrina de caton." since then, it goes on to say, there have been found in other cartillas various matters pernicious and contrary to the teaching of the church, especially in those printed by juan de la plaza in toledo, wherefore all cartillas of every kind are to be seized, in the shops and in the hands of children going to school, and orders are consequently given that no one, under pains and censures, shall hold, read, or sell them.[1426] there was little, indeed, to which the inquisition could not extend the jurisdiction of its censorship. the fifth council of lateran had alluded to the danger to the public peace arising from libellous attacks on individuals, as one of the reasons for the examination and licensing of books before printing, but this was a purely secular matter, and the faculties conferred on the inquisitor-general looked solely to the suppression of heresy. clement viii, however, in his index of 1596, included, as subjects of condemnation, defamatory memorials against religion or princes, and this opened the way to much else. it is true that an experienced writer assures us that, although such writing can be suppressed by edict, it cannot be under pain of excommunication, but only as a command under pain of mortal sin, and that the inquisition cannot proceed against the author unless the faith is involved.[1427] these limitations, however, were easily overpassed. we have seen (vol. i, p. 488) how inquisitor-general pacheco, in 1623, condemned some legal arguments in defence of the chancellery of granada and commenced prosecutions of the counsel who had drawn them up. his successor zapata, in 1627, was a trifle more cautious in a conflict wherein the inquisition was not concerned. the universities of salamanca, valladolid and alcalá united in an attack on the jesuits and their new college, when the inquisition ordered the paper suppressed on the ground that it was anonymous and harsh in style. then salamanca came forward and acknowledged the authorship; the jesuit procurator still asked for its suppression, but the inquisition decided that it had not the _calidad de oficio_ and withdrew the prohibition, but still assumed authority to require the removal of asperities. philip iv was dissatisfied, as he favored the jesuits, and asked in what this case differed from others in which pacheco had suppressed similar papers.[1428] in 1687, the tribunal of toledo, in a quarrel with the carthusian house of el paular, suppressed four memorials of its adversaries to the king, and punished the printer, lucas antonio bedmar with four years' exile from toledo and madrid; the grounds alleged were that they were scandalous, insulting, untrue and defamatory of those mentioned in them; there was no assumption that the faith was in any way involved and it was simply an expeditious way of putting an opponent out of court.[1429] other similar cases will come before us presently and meanwhile we may observe that there was even no scruple in prosecuting individuals, in matters with which the inquisition seemingly had no concern or jurisdiction, as in the case of fray bonifaz de san pablo, tried in 1791, by the barcelona tribunal, for attempting to print a satirical paper on his own carmelite order, and in that of josefa and jacinto lópez, prosecuted by toledo, in 1797, on suspicion of having posted some pasquinades, characterized as "infamatorios y hereticales."[1430] the powers of the inquisition were so elastic that they included the privilege of self-definition; none dared to call them in question, and it seems have been invoked to supply any deficiency in the ordinary machinery of justice--or of injustice. [sidenote: _the regalias_] still less concerned with heresy was an important field in which the censorial functions of the inquisition were employed by the crown, in its frequent struggles with the holy see. in the middle ages papal domination encroached in many ways on the prerogatives of the temporal ruler, encroachments submitted to, with more or less resistance, by the loosely organized feudal monarchies. as these, in the sixteenth century, transformed themselves into absolutism, it was natural that they should grow restive, and the reformation, which divided europe into two hostile religious camps, gave to those sovereigns who remained faithful to rome the opportunity of advancing their claims as the price of their support. the spanish kings had always been distinguished by their resistance to papal pretensions and though, throughout the sixteenth century, they sternly kept their people in the roman obedience, they were none the less resolute in asserting the _regalías_, or royal prerogatives, which in many ways conflicted with what rome asserted as its rights. in the struggles thence arising, valuable assistance was derived from the works of legists, learned in the imperial jurisprudence and in the fueros, and these _regalistas_ became especially obnoxious to the holy see. rome has never hesitated to use the powerful aid of the index in support of ultramontanism, and it took special care to condemn and prohibit the books of the regalistas. it was impossible for a temporal sovereign to allow the suppression of works written in defence of his sovereignty, and the inquisition, at least for a time, willingly supported the crown in this, not from loyalty, but because it afforded the opportunity of declaring and maintaining its independence of the hated congregations of the inquisition and of the index. when melchor cano, in 1555, at the request of charles v, drew up a memoir in which he assailed, with the bitterest invective, the pretensions of the curia, and paul iv summoned him, as a son of perdition, to rome for trial, the spanish inquisition sided with the sovereign and did not put the obnoxious paper in the index.[1431] melchor cano was forgiven, but the causes of dissension remained. one of the chief of these was the jurisdiction exercised by the papal nuncio, bringing in its train a long series of abuses, relief from which was sought by the _recurso de fuerza_, like the french _appel comme d'abus_, admitting appeals to the council of castile from all ecclesiastical tribunals. the curia claimed this to be an invasion of clerical liberty, and the struggle over it was long and envenomed. in 1591 juan de roa printed, with a dedication to the king and the approbation of an inquisitor, a treatise entitled "apologia de juribus principalibus defendendis," arguing in favor of the royal jurisdiction in such cases, which excited no little indignation in rome, where it was promptly condemned and burnt. gregory xiv and the roman inquisition instructed the nuncio millino to induce philip ii to follow this example, and the succeeding nuncio caietano was ordered to labor with the utmost zeal to have the very memory of the book obliterated. so far was he from success that the inquisition did not censure the work, and philip rewarded the author with presentation to a priory worth fifteen hundred ducats per annum, of which he was promptly deprived by the nuncio, on account of his unspeakable crimes. so bitter was the quarrel that cardinal baronius, in his annals, so far forgot the impartiality of an historian as to introduce an indecent personal attack on roa in his account of the priscillianists of the fifth century. this led to a rumor that his volume would be condemned by the spanish inquisition, whereat he complained loudly, in a letter to padre antonio talpa, inveighing against the incredible audacity of the spanish inquisition, which placed on its index whatever it chose.[1432] [sidenote: _independence of rome_] it was probably this case that led clement viii, in the rules prefixed to his index, which have been retained in all succeeding indexes, to order the expurgation of whatever was contrary to ecclesiastical immunity, liberty and jurisdiction. this did not prevent spanish legists and theologians from defending the regalías. about 1600, henrique henríquez, one of the most learned doctors of his day, produced his "de clavibus romani pontificis" in which, like roa, he maintained the _recurso de fuerza_. by order of the papal nuncio, this was suppressed and burnt so successfully that only three or four copies have survived.[1433] that an organized government should permit within its territory an antagonistic foreign power to suppress books defending what it claimed to be its rights was an anomaly which could not be patiently endured. rome was immovable, and a clash was inevitable. in 1613 appeared the "tractatus de cognitione per viam violentiæ" by gerónimo de cevallos and, in 1617, philip iii, on learning that its condemnation was under consideration in rome, wrote earnestly to his ambassador to prevent it, and declared that such condemnation would not be received or executed in spain. this may have delayed but did not prevent the adverse decision, which came december 12, 1624, when philip iv carried out his father's threat. the spanish inquisition did not condemn the work, but merely ordered some clauses altered, and its independence in the matter of censorship was tacitly asserted.[1434] rome persisted, and independence was definitely asserted. in february, 1627, the count of oñate, ambassador to the holy see, reported the issue of a decree condemning books, some of which were in defence of the regalías. in june, philip sent this to the suprema, asking its advice. it replied that, when the decree should come, it would be examined and reported to the king without allowing its publication, for no ecclesiastic or layman in spain could do so without orders from the inquisitor-general and suprema. if such attempts were made, an appropriate remedy would be applied.[1435] the issue promptly came. the decree appeared, april 12, 1628, and one of the books condemned was the "tractatus de regia protectione," by salgado de somoza, president of the royal council and a vigorous upholder of the regalías. when the decree arrived, the king ordered the inquisitor-general to deliver it to him and wrote to all the bishops forbidding them to publish it.[1436] having thus established its independence, the inquisition refused to recognize roman condemnations of books of all kinds. when one was received, it caused the book to be examined by its own calificadores and voted on their report, either to approve or to condemn; whatever was done was its own act and not that of rome. another of the works condemned in the decree of april 1, 1628, was a book of extravagant mariolatry, entitled _elucidarium deiparæ_, by the jesuit juan bautista poza, which had been current in spain for a couple of years. poza wrote two abusive letters to urban viii, asserting that the roman congregations had no jurisdiction in spain, where its own inquisition was supreme, and, in 1632, the congregation retorted by condemning all his works. the nuncio monte made great efforts to have this published, but the suprema had the books examined and only prohibited them until they should be expurgated. it was not always easy, however, to array the bishops in opposition to the holy see, and in valencia the self-willed archbishop acevedo claimed the right to publish the papal decree, and the tribunal there was involved in some trouble with the episcopal officials.[1437] [sidenote: _independence of rome_] this was speedily followed by a similar struggle over a vastly more important book--the _dialogo_ of galileo, on the copernecan system.[1438] in a consulta of december 13, 1633, the suprema represented to philip that, under the papal delegations, the inquisition had exclusive control over censorship in spain. in rome, prohibitions were issued by the congregations of inquisition and index, which were similar bodies to the suprema, and it did not recognize them, but only the pope, as its superior. the nuncios were always endeavoring to extend their jurisdiction and required to be watched to avert greater evils. the inquisitors of cuenca had just written that, by the nuncio's order, the provisor had affixed to the church-doors an edict regarding a book entitled "galileo galilei fiorentino," without having first given notice to the inquisitor-general. the results of allowing the nuncio to do this were foreseen when the count of oñate reported from rome the prohibition of certain books defending the regalías and, as the nuncios were continually endeavoring thus to invade the exclusive jurisdiction of the inquisition in matters of censorship, the king was asked to sign the accompanying letters to the archbishops and bishops, similar to those despatched in 1627.[1439] of course the king signed the letters; whether the suprema had galileo's book examined or not, we have no means of knowing, but the inquisition escaped the discredit of condemning him, and the name of the illustrious florentine appears nowhere in the spanish indexes. in the matter of the regalistas, philip, in a letter of april 10, 1634, to cardinal borja, pointed out the unfairness of suppressing legal works defending his side of the controversy with the holy see, in which the faith was not concerned, and he ordered urgent representations to be made to urban viii, with the intimation that, if rome continued its course, he would suppress all books supporting the papal claims.[1440] remonstrance was in vain. in 1640, salgado de somoza's "tractatus de supplicatione ad sanctissimum" was condemned; in 1642, solorzano's "disputationes de indiarum jure" and, in 1646, six or eight similar works, for which the nuncio was instructed to demand similar prohibition in spain.[1441] imperious as was this, the act was rendered doubly offensive by causing the condemnation to be published without transmitting it through the inquisition, thus disregarding the independence claimed by the latter and the courtesy due to a friendly government. provocation so extreme could scarce have been ventured but for the desperate position of spain, battling at once with france, with portugal and with catalonia. yet spain was not sunk so low as to submit. after deliberation in the various councils, philip, on october 16th, sent to the suprema three consultas which they had presented and ordered it to advise him. with unusual promptitude it replied, october 20th, expressing its unreserved adhesion to the regalías claimed by the crown, which were founded in rights inseparable from sovereignty, in papal bulls, and in immemorial prescription. the unlawful act of the nuncio was of the highest prejudice; the books condemned had in no way transcended proper limits; their authors were pious catholics and the works had been circulated in sight of the inquisition, whose duty it was to watch over such matters. the consulta ended with a promise to suppress the papal decree and to make the fact known everywhere, so as to avert the injury which its publication might have caused.[1442] thus supported by the indignation of all his advisers, philip issued a decree in november ordering the papal decree to be suppressed; the nuncio was rebuked and told that the royal indignation would seek other means of expression; the ambassador at rome was instructed to represent the deep resentment which was felt, and to tell the holy see that this was not a mere matter of opinion, in which it could interfere and dictate to spain about rights coeval with the crown and always uninterruptedly enjoyed. opportunity was also taken to reassert emphatically the independence of the spanish inquisition and the nullity, without its approval, of the acts of the roman congregations.[1443] notwithstanding this, the progressive decadence of spain encouraged the curia to make another attempt, in 1687, when the nuncio sent a decree of the congregation of the inquisition to the bishops, with orders to publish it. the suprema lost no time in presenting two earnest consultas to the king, urging him to take prompt action in repelling this attempt to subject spain to the roman inquisition.[1444] the persistence of the curia was fruitless. the established custom, resulting from these disputes, as described by an experienced inquisitor, was that, when the nuncio received a brief from the congregations, he sent it to the suprema, which ordered the book to be examined by its calificadores and, if they pronounced it objectionable, the suprema issued a corresponding edict. twice, he says, the nuncio, in order to evade these rules, caused edicts to be posted in the court-yard of his palace, but the suprema abrogated them, punished those who did it, and reported to the king in order that he might warn the nuncio to observe the regulations. sometimes, however, a brief came directly from the pope. then the matter was in the hands of the king, who retained it and supplicated the pope that it should be published by the inquisition. in sicily, no brief was published without receiving the exequatur of the viceroy.[1445] [sidenote: _used against the crown_] the inquisition had thus, by supporting the royal jurisdiction against the papal claims, achieved its independence of rome, but it was fighting for its own hand and, when its object was attained, its allegiance to the church outweighed its allegiance to the sovereign. when the question was between its own jurisdiction and that of the crown, its attitude was most decisive. the condemnation by pacheco of the arguments of don luis de gubiel, in the competencia with the chancellery of granada, was not an isolated instance of this. in 1637, there was a bitter controversy between the seville tribunal and the royal audiencia, over the banishment of a familiar by the latter, in the course of which the suprema ordered the suppression of various arguments prepared in support of the royal jurisdiction, and among them one by juan pérez de lara, the fiscal of the audiencia, written in the strict line of his duty. to this the council of castile took exception, in a consulta complaining that it was of great prejudice to the regalías; the paper contained nothing contrary to the faith, rendering it liable to the censure of the inquisition, wherefore the council asked that all the documents suppressed should be examined by disinterested persons, and that the suprema be ordered in future not to suppress any paper in favor of the royal jurisdiction without preliminary notice to the king. to this temperate expostulation the suprema replied with lofty disdain. the king was told that he should answer all remonstrances as charles v did, may 17, 1519, to the diputados of aragon--"as an affair of the inquisition, it is not for us to interfere, nor can the fueros of the kingdom impede what the inquisitor-general does, as it is an ecclesiastical case." it was astonished that there should be any question as to the power of the inquisition, established by papal bulls, decrees of councils and inviolable custom, while the rule of the index extends this power without limitation, at the discretion of the inquisitors. that the regalías had been threatened was easy of disproof, for the peace and prosperity of the king's dominions were due to the unity of faith procured by the watchful care of the inquisition. the object of the council of castile was to limit the jurisdiction of the inquisition and to reduce its censorship to a matter of competencias, but the inquisition alone could decide what belonged to it and what did not belong.[1446] such being the temper and spirit of the holy office, it is not surprising that, when it had secured its own emancipation from rome, it should no longer prove an ally of the crown in defence of the regalías. llorente mentions two authors--ramos del manzano and pedro gonzález de salcedo, whose works it condemned for defending the royal prerogative.[1447] it could not be depended on for suppressing those which impeached the regalías, and the state, in defending itself, was obliged to resort to its own censorship, as in case of the work entitled "casos reservados à su santidad," attributed to doctor francisco barambio, in 1694. it never appeared in the index, but a royal auto condemned it as subversive of the regalías and prerogatives of the crown, and ordered its suppression under pain of half confiscation and arbitrary penalties.[1448] [sidenote: _restrictions_] we have already (vol. i, pp. 315, 321) seen how, in the eighteenth century, the inquisition, in the cases of macanaz and the works of barclay and le vayer, and in that of the catechism of mesengui, took sides against the royal prerogative. although in the former philip v weakly yielded, carlos iii in the latter, not only temporarily suspended inquisitor-general bonifaz, but took steps to protect more thoroughly the crown against papal encroachment, and to limit the censorial powers of the inquisition. november 27, 1761, he laid down the basis of subsequent legislation in instructions to the council of state to frame a law adequate to the necessities of the case. in consequence, the _pragmática del exequatur_ of january 18, 1762, ordered that no bull, brief or papal letter, addressed to any tribunal, junta, judge or prelate, should be published without having first been presented to the king for his approval by the nuncio, while those for individuals should be submitted to the royal council to see whether they affected the concordat, or prejudiced the regalías or the good customs and usages of the kingdom. this was followed by a cédula of august 18th imposing restrictions on inquisitorial censorship, but both of these were withdrawn by decree of july 15, 1763--a decree obtained by the royal confessor, padre eleta, working on the king's superstition by representing the loss of havana as an evidence of divine wrath.[1449] this respite, however, was not of long duration. at a junta called, in 1768, to consider matters growing out of the expulsion of the jesuits, the counts of floridablanca and campomanes presented a memorial calling attention to the surreptitious introduction of several papal briefs, and to the disastrous influence of the censorship in flooding the land with ignorance. the result of the discussion was the re-enactment of the _pragmática del exequatur_, with more enlarged provisions, and a cédula of june 6th providing that the inquisition should not prohibit any work by a catholic of good repute, without giving him a hearing or, if he were a foreigner or dead, without appointing for him an advocate of competent character. the circulation of books was not to be suspended under pretext that they were undergoing examination; in those to be expurgated the objectionable passages were to be speedily designated, so that the current reading of them should not be interrupted, and any special propositions condemned were to be clearly indicated, so that they could be expurgated by the owners. prohibition was to be confined to errors and superstitions and lax opinions prejudicial to religion and morality, and no edict was to be published until it had been approved by the king.[1450] these reforms were in the spirit of those by which benedict xiv, in the bull _sollicita ac provida_, had endeavored to soften the rigor of the roman censorship, but they were largely impracticable. they excited lively opposition, especially the provision allowing the circulation of books during the process of examination, and llorente tells us that, for the most part, the inquisition eluded their restrictions. it was of course impossible for the king to pass judgement on all the condemnatory edicts which followed each other in rapid succession and were submitted to him without explanation or record of the author having been heard in his defence.[1451] this latter provision however seems to have been observed. in 1775 we find the suprema sending to valencia certain conclusions commencing "sistema phisicum de hominis generatione," together with the papers concerning their condemnation and the cédula of june 16, 1768, so that the party could be heard in defence.[1452] the author, however, was not allowed to print and circulate his defence, though he might have licence for enough copies to supply the members of the suprema; in a case in which he distributed them through the universities they were called in and suppressed, and if he attacked the witnesses and calificadores, he was liable to the savage penalties of the bull _si de protegendis_.[1453] yet to the end the author was entitled to a hearing. in a case occurring at llerena, in 1816, the suprema instructs the tribunal to suppress a certain pamphlet in the next edict, but it is to ask the author, dr. martin batincas, whether he desires to defend it; if so to furnish him with the censures, but not the names of the calificadores, when the matter will take its regular course. the provision for a defender in the cases of deceased and foreign authors was similarly maintained. in 1816 the suprema instructed the madrid tribunal to take up the case of a book entitled "el niño instruido," which had been suspended on account of the troubles; now a new edition had appeared, which must be seized and a copy of the censures be furnished to the general of the barefooted carmelites; if he should not desire to put forward a defender, the tribunal was to appoint a _defensor de oficio_. so scrupulously was this observed that, in 1817, a single copy of a french book, printed in 1801, entitled "du mariage dans ses rapports avec la religion et avec les lois nouvelles," found in possession of canon miguel cortés, was duly condemned by calificadores when padre cento was appointed to defend it and, on his refusal, proceedings appear to have been dropped.[1454] * * * * * [sidenote: _politically employed_] during this later period, the inquisition and the state were in firm alliance, against their common enemy the revolution, and the state made full use of the inquisition as a political instrument, although it had its own elaborate and effective censorship. this employment of the inquisition was a new development, for in the earlier time, the instances in which inquisitorial censorship was called upon for political service are surprisingly few. in the case of antonio pérez, it was inevitable that the inquisition should prohibit his writings and unauthorized accounts of his persecutions. there was less excuse for suppressing, in 1609, padre mariana's volume of essays on account of his criticism of the ruinous debasement of the coinage.[1455] there was unworthy complaisance to the holy see when, in 1606, the suprema forbade the possession by any one of the papers and memorials issued by venice, in its quarrel with paul v, on the pretext of their being scandalous to christendom, and an even greater misuse of its power when it arrested and prosecuted francisco de la cueva, a lawyer whom the venetian ambassador had employed to write in defence of the republic.[1456] on the eve of the catalan revolt, in 1640, the protest of barcelona to the king was suppressed as coming under the rules of the expurgatorio, being seditious, insulting and scandalous, and this precedent was followed with all writings on the subject during the revolt.[1457] on the whole, however, throughout the first three centuries of its existence, the political use made of the inquisition, in this and other ways, was wonderfully small. it was otherwise when the upheaval came which threatened the stability of all monarchical institutions, and nothing was more dreaded than public opinion, which might develop into action. all the agencies at command of the state were felt to be needed, and carlos iv hastened to open the way for the inquisition by declaring, in an edict of 1789, that all which contributed to spread revolutionary principles was heresy, being a doctrinal error, contrary to the teachings of the apostles peter and paul, and this was speedily reduced to practice by an edict of the inquisition ordering the surrender of all papers coming from france and conveying revolutionary ideas.[1458] watchfulness on importations, especially from france, by both royal and inquisitorial officials, was redoubled, and for years new methods were constantly devised to keep the population in ignorance of events beyond the pyrenees.[1459] it was in vain. french newspapers and books were smuggled across the frontier, and forbidden speculations on the laws of nature and the rights of man were widely disseminated. when the crisis came, with the deportation of the royal family and the napoleonic invasion, there was a leaven of liberalism sufficient to find expression in the demand for a new order of things. the extraordinary córtes, elected by universal suffrage and assembled at cádiz in 1810, lost no time in framing a law for the freedom of the press. yet the tradition of the necessity of censorship was so strong that the decree of february 22, 1813, suppressing the inquisition, transferred to the bishops the jurisdiction over censorship as well as over heresy. the law on the press had provided a control by the state over all printing, and works on religion were subjected to a second episcopal examination, with full power of condemnation and suppression, while elaborate provisions were made for an authoritative index.[1460] this cumbrous scheme never had vitality, and the restoration of 1814 restored to the inquisition its jurisdiction over the press. as soon as it could spare time, during the labor of reconstruction, it addressed itself to the suppression of the revolutionary literature of the previous six years. a carta acordada of october 25, 1814, ordered the tribunals, as speedily as possible, to notify the suprema of all objectionable books, pamphlets and papers that had been written or printed in their districts, with all details as to authorship and place of publication. from this was compiled a list of a hundred and eighty-three prohibited publications, including thirty-five journals, but an edict of july 22, 1815, described this as incomplete; the faithful were referred to the rules of the index as defining whatever had been omitted, and all such were to be surrendered within six days, under the traditional penalty of excommunication and two hundred ducats; all the old regulations and indexes were declared to be in force and, on august 3d, each tribunal was ordered to suppress all objectionable matter printed within its district.[1461] [sidenote: _politically employed_] the correspondence of the suprema, at this period, shows minute and constant watchfulness over the press, and a large part of the labors of the inquisition, during its brief resuscitation, was devoted to censorship, mostly of a political character. the constitutionalist refugees, who had fled from the vengeance of the reaction, were busy, with such slender means as they could command, in propagating their ideas, as the protestant refugees had been in the sixteenth century, and there was the same anxious vigilance to counteract their efforts, while the danger was greater, for a large part of the population was known to secretly share their views. thus, in 1818, circulars were received in madrid, announcing the appearance in london of a weekly entitled _el español constitucional_. immediately the royal council sent out orders to the judicial and military authorities to seize all copies, and the juez de imprentas did the same to his subordinates, all of which resulted in finding enough of the circulars to show that they had been widely distributed. then the aid of the inquisition was invoked and, on august 3d, the suprema ordered the tribunals not only to seize all copies but to arrest everybody concerned. then, on september 13th, the king reported that the wicked refugees in london, who had been, through lack of funds, obliged to abandon the project, had recently obtained contributions and had resumed it, wherefore fresh diligence was enjoined. two days later the suprema forwarded this to the tribunals, with orders to exert themselves in seizing the circulars and periodical and also the accomplices in the so-called conspiracy. again, on november 4th, the suprema called renewed attention to its former letters and enclosed a royal order stating that the london ambassador reported the appearance of the second number of the journal, and insisting on every precaution to prevent its circulation in spain. there is no trace, however, of any copy of the mysterious periodical being captured by the inquisition, or of the arrest of any one concerned. simultaneously with this, on november 5th, the suprema transmitted another royal order stating that letters intercepted in the mails contained prospectuses of a periodical entitled "gabinete de curiosidades politicas y literarias de españa y indias," to be issued in london by gallardo, former librarian of the córtes. the suprema consequently issued instructions enjoining the utmost vigilance in seizing the prospectus and copies of the periodical.[1462] the happy faculty of confusing the spiritual and the temporal, so valuable to the medieval church, had evidently not been lost to the spanish monarchy. * * * * * although in general the inquisition carefully abstained from intrusion in the field of morals, yet in censorship it undertook to guard the public from that which might contaminate virtue as well as from what affected faith. this was justified by the rules of the tridentine index as well as of that of clement viii, in 1596, where lascivious books and illustrations were to be prohibited or expurgated.[1463] literature however largely escaped, at least until the later period. the _celestina_ of francisco de rojas, of which more than thirty editions were printed in the sixteenth century, its popularity leading to its use as a schoolbook notwithstanding its somewhat crude indecency, escaped attention, until the index of 1640 ordered the expurgation of about fifty lines, and it was not prohibited until that of 1790.[1464] art attracted earlier attention, especially when its employment in sacred subjects lacked dignity, however stimulating it might be to the piety of the unlettered public. the first allusion i have met to this function of the inquisition occurs in 1568, when inquisitor moral, in reporting his visitation of san sebastian, mentions penancing gracia de caldiere for possessing a _pintura deshonesta_, whereupon the suprema told him that he should have sent the picture to it--apparently, as a matter of censorship, it reserved the decision to itself.[1465] the next is a carta acordada of 1571, ordering the suppression of some figures on linen of the crucifixion and the trinity, in which the calificadores had discovered symbols of lutheran doctrines, and a series of twelve wood cuts of the passion, with an epitome on the backs in latin and french.[1466] this is emphasized in the expurgatory index of quiroga, in 1583, of which the twelfth rule is directed against all representations of sacred persons or objects which savor of irrision or irreverence.[1467] spanish piety, in fact, occasionally manifested itself in somewhat grotesque form, as in certain images on linen of the christ-child, in military uniforms, the suppression of which was ordered in 1619.[1468] in 1649, the suprema was scandalized at the great irreverence and diabolical indecency, with a savor of sacrilege, of ribbons which were called "bowels of angels" or "hearts or entrails of apostles," and, under the customary penalties, it forbade asking for, buying or selling ribbons with such names. a few weeks later it prohibited all razors or knives on the handles of which were engraved images of christ, the virgin, the saints or the instruments of the passion; all found in the shops were to be seized, and the commissioners at the ports were to see that none were imported.[1469] [sidenote: _morals and art_] after the more serious work of the inquisition was accomplished, in the elimination of judaism, protestantism and islam, its energies were more actively employed in this direction. in 1787 we find the valencia tribunal prosecuting francisca lazaro for indecent songs. in 1803 the _caprichos_ of goya, the leading artist of the period, wounded inquisitorial sensibilities; he was summoned and his prosecution was commenced, but he was saved by the intervention of carlos iv. two of the last acts of the valencia tribunal in 1820 were proceedings against the "rime e prose del doctor tomaso crudeli," which it pronounced to be obscene and impious, and the condemnation of a book called _il zibaldone_, for lascivious propositions. the theatre also became subject to inquisitorial censorship. in 1817 a tragedy entitled "la obstinacion de un padre" was presented on the valencian stage, october 9th and 10th; it seems to have excited disapproval and, on the 13th, the ms. was presented to the tribunal for its censure. in madrid, the suprema acted as a preliminary censor; in 1815 we find it ordering the local tribunal to examine the opera "el hombre de mal genio y buen corazon," and the comedy "el no de las niñas" and, on the report that the fiscal had no objection to their representation, it gave its assent. so, in 1819, the suprema returns to the seville tribunal its _calificacion_ of four _saynetes_, or farces, with orders to put it into more intelligible shape, to vote on it and return it for final decision.[1470] works of art, however, were the principal objects of inquisitorial puritanism. in 1793, the valencia tribunal formed a process concerning a certain snuff-box with a scandalous picture, supposed to be in possession of don jacinto de castro, governor of the _sala del crimen_. solicitude for the public morals was so acute that, october 2, 1815, the suprema approved a decree of the madrid tribunal, ordering all the hairdressers of the city to remove from their windows, or alter to decency, the wax busts which they exhibited as specimens of their art--apparently because they made too exuberant a display of their charms. artists and dealers in pictures were held to a strict accountability. but a week before the last case, the suprema had considered a prosecution by the seville tribunal of juan rodríguez and domingo alvarez of cádiz, the former for painting and the latter for exhibiting in his shop a picture called diana, provocative by its posture and nudity. they were ordered to appear before the commissioner of cádiz, who should reprimand and absolve them from the excommunication incurred, and warn them that a repetition of the offence would be visited with the penalties provided by regla <small>xi of the expurgatorio--banishment and five hundred ducats fine. six months later, pasqual franchini for two _pinturas obscenas_ was fined a hundred ducats and, as he was ordered to be set at liberty, it is evident that he had been imprisoned; he pleaded poverty and his fine was kindly reduced. three months later, santiago schmidt and his son josef were sentenced, by the madrid tribunal, for selling to the prussian ambassador an indecent picture for eight thousand reales; for this they were fined two thousand reales, which the suprema benignantly reduced to fifty ducats.[1471] doubtless in this case ambassadorial privilege saved the purchaser from prosecution, for the possession of objects regarded as immoral was _calidad de oficio_, and the records are full of cases against those who owned snuff-boxes, watches, packs of cards etc., with indecent figures or inscriptions, as well as of pictures, engravings and books with plates that offended the modesty of the censors. no doubt much of what was condemned was thoroughly vicious and disreputable, but the resultant purification scarce compensated for the invasion of private life and the stimulus to the detestable habit of espionage and denunciation, through which alone such matters could come to the knowledge of the tribunals. much good art, moreover, was undoubtedly sacrificed by ignorant censors, for the objects thus condemned were destroyed. in 1805 at valencia a painting on copper of the adultery of venus was thus ordered to be effaced, and when this was done the sheet of copper was delivered to the alcalde del crimen, to be restored to the owner. akin to this was the tearing out of objectionable plates from books, which happens to be mentioned, in 1819, in the case of don luis monfort, a captain of artillery.[1472] * * * * * [sidenote: _influence_] thus the censorship of the inquisition was all-embracing, from the most dangerous heresies of luther and calvin, the popularization of scripture, the relations between church and state and the liberalism of the modern era, down to the veriest trifles. it was an engine of immense power, constantly applied for the furtherance of obscurantism, the repression of thought, the exclusion of foreign ideas, and the obstruction of progress. it was accompanied by a state censorship, based upon the law of 1558, perfected in innumerable successive regulations, of a character most vexatious and embarrassing to authorship, and this duplication of censors exercised a most deplorably depressing influence on literature and culture. authorship was discouraged by the uncertainty whether works, on which perhaps years of labor had been spent, would secure a licence to print; the business of publication was rendered extra-hazardous by the fact that a book, printed with due licence from the state, might at any moment be prohibited by the inquisition and the whole edition be seized and destroyed, while purchasers who had bought such a licensed book were liable to be deprived of it without compensation. thus, between the state and the inquisition, whether working in unison or at cross-purposes, the intellectual development which, in the sixteenth century, promised to render spanish literature and learning the most illustrious in europe, was stunted and starved into atrophy, the arts and sciences were neglected, commercial and industrial progress was rendered impossible, and the character which spain acquired among the nations was tersely expressed in the current saying that africa began at the pyrenees. appendix. statistics of offences and penalties. (see p. 93). it is manifestly impossible to compile the statistics of inquisitorial activity during the centuries of its existence and amid its numerous tribunals, but some fragmentary figures may serve to illustrate the comparative frequency of the offences with which it had to deal and the character of the punishments which it inflicted. as regards the latter it will be remembered that the sentences usually comprised several penalties. offences. the following summary of cases acted upon by the tribunal of toledo is condensed from the "catálogo de los causas contra la fe seguidas ante el tribunal del santo oficio de toledo" (madrid, 1903) prepared by padre fresca, s. j., and don miguel gómez del campillo, from the original records. as the earliest case is of 1483 (p. 192) and the latest of 1819 (p. 81) it would appear to cover the whole activity of the tribunal, but it is manifestly imperfect, in view of the masses of judaizers reconciled and the effigies burnt of the dead and fugitives, in the early years of the organization (vol. i, pp. 165-72, 183). in a minor degree this is also shown by comparison with tables below of portions of the period from other sources. these latter also have interest as indicating changes in the character of offences at successive periods. the classification of señor gómez del campillo is as follows: bigamy 188| insults to officials 186 blasphemy 755| personating priesthood 33 fornication not a sin 259| judaizers 977 personating officials and | prohibited books 34 forged licences 48| moriscos 219 fautorship of heretics 60| irreverence and scandalous sorcery 296| speeches 551 heresy--illuminism 39| false witness 34 anglicanism 14| propositions, erroneous 60 calvinism 18| scandalous 63 lutheranism 79| heretical 46 freemasonry 3| marriage in orders 16 general 72| sacrilege 74 deluded and deluders 25| solicitation in confession 105 impeding the inquisition 62| various 43 violation of disabilities 91| a ms. volume in the library of the university of halle (yc, 20, tom. i) contains the reports to the suprema by the tribunal of toledo of its operations, from the auto de fe of september 4, 1575, to that of february 7, 1610. the auto of 1595 is however missing and the report of the last one is incomplete, breaking off at the tenth case. so far as it goes, the record for these 35 years embraces 1172 cases, an analysis of which yields the following results: bigamy 53| propositions- blasphemy 46| on offerings for the dead 3 fornication not a sin 264| on the eucharist 3 personating officials 13| on the sacraments 1 sorcery 18| on canonization and saints 3 heresy, illuminism 12| on the authority protestant sects 47| of scripture 1 greek christians 3| on the miracle of the offences against the | loaves and fishes 1 inquisition 22| on the stigmata of personating priesthood 25| st. francis 1 judaizers 174| on excommunication 1 moriscos 190| on marriage and adultery 9 irreverence 5| on oaths 1 false witness 8| on holy orders 1 do in cases of limpieza 57| on moors 1 solicitation in confession 52| on self-damnation 1 propositions, marriage | on infidelity 1 better than priesthood 30| on impeccability 1 scholastic discussion | on sin inevitable 1 at alcalá 7| on the papal power 2 ridicule of pious | on women 1 observances 3| on homicide 1 story about st. peter 4| on the inquisition 3 excuse for blasphemy 1| on the royal power 3 on god 9| on incest 1 on christ 5| on the defeat of on the virgin 4| the armada 1 on magdalen 4| various 8 on belief in virgin | offences of officials 22 and saints 1| slander 1 on the grace of god 1| hermaphrodite 1 on salvation 12| quarrel over an irish benefice 1 on the resurrection 6| imposture 1 on the future life 4| smuggling of horses 1 on indulgences 9| apostate frailes 2 on images 6| favoring vandoma (henry iv) 1 on the necessity of mass 6| irregularities 1 on confession 5| on intercessory prayer 1| in legajo i of the archivo histórico nacional, inquisicion de toledo, there is a volume of which the introductory lines state that on february 8, 1648, gonzalo bravo graxera, then inspecting the tribunal, reminded the inquisitors that a _carta acordada_ of may 22, 1570, required a register to be kept of all penitents appearing in the autos, with their punishments. thereupon a book was procured for the purpose and the record commenced. it extends from 1648 to 1794 and is doubtless complete. an analysis of this yields the following results: [sidenote: _statistics of offences and penalties_] bigamy 62| marriage in orders 10 blasphemy 37| solicitation in confessional 68 fornication not a sin 3| _mala doctrina_ in do 9 personating officials 4| rebaptism (greek) 1 fautorship 16| errors 1 sorcery 100| _hipocrita_ 1 illuminism (molinism etc.) 17| fray berrocosa 2 protestantism 11| gypsy 1 heresy 3| greek 1 suspicion of heresy 2| atheism 1 deluded and deluders 16| burlesque sermon 1 impeding the inquisition 13| threatening a witness 1 insulting officials 3| hiding confiscated property 1 disrespect to inquisition 5| offence of a notary 1 speaking ill of do 1| blackmailing 1 personating priesthood 12| breaking prison 2 judaism 659| do exile and presidio 4 mahometanism 5| non-performance of sentence 1 apostasy 2| _cofradia execrable_ 1 irreverence and sacrilege 3| improper rules for a congregation 1 propositions 74| printing without licence 1 in the royal library of berlin qt. 9548 is a volume containing relations of sixty-four autos held in various tribunals, between 1721 and 1727. during this period inquisitorial energy was mainly directed against judaism, as will be seen from the following summary of the cases: bigamy 35| personating officials 1 blasphemy 4| judaism 824 fautorship 2| apostasy 6 sorcery etc. 57| mahometanism 1 protestantism 3| marriage in orders 1 heresy 4| false witness 17 deluders 2| rebaptism 2 personating priesthood 1| breaking prison 3 punishments. in the toledo record of 1575-1610 the sentences include relaxation in person 15| to be last in choir and refectory 26 in effigy 18| the discipline 11 confiscation 185| spiritual penances 17 fines (aggregating | hearing mass as penitent in 2,586,625 mrs.) 141| church 66 reconciliation 207| do in audience-chamber 150 in effigy 1| abjuration _de vehementi_ 21 sanbenito 186| _de levi_ 49 imprisonment 175| reprimand or warning 56 reclusion in convent or hospital 87| to write no more books 1 galleys 91| temporary suspension from scourging 133| priestly functions 1 vergüenza 26| public recantation 1 exile 167| cases dismissed 30 prohibition to leave spain 6| suspended 98 gagging 20| acquittals 51 deprivation of confessing 42| disability for orders 10| the toledo record from 1648 to 1794 yields the following summary: relaxation in person 8| vergüenza 10 in effigy 63| exile 566 confiscation 417| deprivation of confessing 68 fines (aggregating 30,600 ducats) 50| disability for orders 3 do of half property of | suspension from orders 4 culprits 14| do from confessing 1 reconciliation 445| do from preaching 11 prison and sanbenito, short | deprivation of priestly terms 183| functions 5 do do perpetual 161| degradation from priesthood 1 do do irremissible 82| abjuration _de vehementi_ 51 reclusion in convents etc. 91| do _de levi_ 314 galleys, presidios and arsenals 98| reprimand 467 scourging 92| cases suspended 104 | acquittals 6 the sentences in the sixty-four autos de fe between 1721 and 1727 include: relaxation in person 77| prison etc. irremissible 275 do in effigy 74| galleys and presidio 99 confiscation 776| scourging 297 fine of one-half of property 12| vergüenza 13 reconciliation 630| exile 189 prison and sanbenito, | abjuration _de vehementi_ 31 short terms 252| do _de levi_ 125 do perpetual 113| documents. i. conclusion of sentence of relaxation of don gaspar de centellas, for protestantism, valencia, september 17, 1564. (mss. of library of university of halle, yc, 20, tom. xi). (see p. 94). christi nomine invocato. ffallamos, attento los auttos y meritos del dicho processo que el dicho promoter fiscal provó bien y cumplidamente su acusacion y querella, damos y pronunciamos su intencion por bien provada, en consequencia de lo qual que devemos declarar y declaramos el susodicho don gaspar centellas ser herege y estar suficientamente convencido por suficiente numero de testigos y demas desto haver confessado, affirmado y defendido pertinazmente ante nos las dichas proposiciones hereticas y por tales condenadas y declaradas y que le devemos condenar y condenamos que el dia del aucto de la fe salga al cadahalso con insignias de relaxado y que alli le sea leyda publicamente esta nuestra sentencia por la qual le declaramos por herege abominable, pertinaz, obstinado y endurecido y por ello haver cahido y yncurrido en todas las penas en que cahen y yncurren los semejantes hereges ympenitentes y pertinaces, y porque por todas vias se ha procurado con el susodicho con toda solicitud y cuydado de attraerlo y reduzirlo a nuestra santa fe catolica, ofreciendole toda benignidad y misericordia de que el no se ha querido ni quiere aprovechar y pues la santa madre yglesia no tiene otra cosa ni remedio de que usar con el susodicho, pues el la menosprecia, sino relaxarlo à la justicia y brazo seglar como à miembro podrido, ynfecto, pestifero y nocivo, porque otros no se dañen ni padezcan con el, por esta nuestra sentencia, como à herege pertinaz y obstinado, lo relaxamos al muy ilustre señor don joan lorencio de villamasa, visorrey y capitan general por su magestad en esta ciudad y reyno ò al muy magnifico mossen quille ramon catalan, justicia criminal en esta dicha ciudad, ò à quien la punicion y castigo del dicho crimen pueda pertenecer y pertenezca y à su señoria pedimos por merced y al dicho justicia muy affectadamente rogamos y encargamos que con el susodicho se manden haver y ayan misericordiamente. otrosi por quanto el dicho delicto y crimen de la heregia excede y es muy mayor sin comparacion que otro alguno por ser cometido contra la divina magestad y por su graveza por que en las personas de los perpetradores del no puede ser suficientemente punido ni castigado y la pena del sestiende à los bienes, progenie y posteridad de los que lo cometen, por esta nuestra sentencia declaramos sus bienes ser confiscados à la camara y fisco real de su magestad desde el tiempo que cometiò los dichos delictos con los quales mandamos acudir al magnifico mossen bernardino gutierrez recetor deste s^{to} officio en su nombre, y los hijos, hijas, nietos y nietas del dicho don gaspar centellas, herege ympenitente pertinaz y obstinado, descendientes por linea masculina en segundo grado y por feminina en primero, ser privados de todas y qualesquier dignidades, beneficios y officios ecclesiasticos y seglares que sean publicos y de honrra que los susodichos tienen y possehen, y ser inabiles e yncapaces para ympetrar, tener y posseher otros de nuevo, ni poder ser justicias, jurados, clerigos ni notarios ni otro ninguno officio publico de onrra, e no poder traer sobre si ni en su persona oro, plata, perlas, piedras preciosas, seda, grana, chamelote ni paño fino, armas, ni cavalgar en cavallo, hazer ni traer otra cosa alguna de las que por derecho e ynstructiones deste s^{to} officio le son prohibidas, y por esta nuestra sentencia definitiva juzgando ansi lo pronunciamos, sentenciamos y mandamos en estos escritos y processo pro tribunali sedendo. el licenciado aguliera. don miguel vich. sentencia dada y promulgada por el señor inquisidor el licenciado bernardino de aguilera los dia mes y año susodichos en presencia de las partes susodichas las quales passaron por ella. presentes fueron por testigos à la publicacion de la dicha sentencia los discretes miguel perez de huermeda, pere lopez y francisco pastor notarios y muchos otros vezinos de valencia. passo ante me, miguel bellot, notario. ii. release from perpetual prison and sanbenito. (proceso de mari gomez, fol. xxxx.--ms. in possession of the author). (see p. 161). [sidenote: _documents_] nos los del consejo de sus mag^{des} que iintendemos en las cosas tocantes al officio de la s^{ta} inq^{on} hazemos saber a vos los r^{dos} inq^{res} contra la heretica pravedad y apostasia en la cibdad y arçobpãdo de toledo y su partido que vimos la relacion que por ñro mandado embiastes de los meritos del processo de mari gomez muger de diego carrillo herrero vezino de daimiel por la qual paresce que fue rrecibida a rreconciliacion y condenada a carcel perpetua y habito en diez y seiss dias del mes de julio del año pasado de quinientos y quarenta e un años y que despues aca cumple bien su penytencia, por lo qual y por otras cabsas que nos mueven, queriendo usar de piedad y clemencia con la dha mari gomez nuestra voluntad es de le mandar comutar la penytencia de la dha carcel perpettua y habicto en otras penytencias espirituales, por ende nos vos encargamos y mandamos que luego que esta nuestra provision vos fuere presentada comuteys a la dha mari gomez la penytencia de la dha carcel perpettua y habicto en otras penytencias espirituales de ayunos, rromerias y oraciones como à vos otros bien visto fuere, y ansi comutada mandadle quitar el dho habito y soltar de la carcel en que estoviere para que se haya y este libremente do quisiere e por bien toviere, con tanto que no sea fuera de los reynos y señorios de castilla y de leon y con que haga y cumpla todas las otras cosas contenidas en la sentencia que contra ella se dio e pronuncio que fasta aqui no obiere fecho y cumplido e fuere obligada a fazer y cumplir. fecha en la villa de madrid a xvi dias del mes de noviembre de myll e quinientos e quarenta y cinco años. iii. disabilities of descendants of prisoners. (archivo general de simancas, registro de genealogias, no. 916, fol. 61). (see p. 178). d. cristóbal de cos y vivero, secretario del rey nuestro señor del consejo de s. m. de la santa general inquisicion por lo tocante á la corona de castilla y de leon etc.--certifico: que en el dia diez y siete del corriente mes de enero se acudió al exmo. señor obispo inquisidor general por parte del licenciado don mariano de santander y albarez y hizo presente ser publico y notorio que en año pasado de mil setecientos noventa y ocho fué procesado por el tribunal del santo oficio de dicha ciudad d. mariano santander su padre y que lo es tambien que no lo fué por delitos de heregia ó apostasia y sí solo por asuntos relativos á su comercio de libros y haberse excedido tal vez en el exercicio de su profesion. que el expresado tribunal con un pleno conocimiento de el proceso manifestó en su definititiba que la formacion de causa y prision que sufrió con lo demas que en ella expresó no le perjudicaba ni obstaba á sus hijos y descendientes para disfrutar de todos los efectos civiles de los que á consecuencia de este decision ha gozado sin interrupcion y goza actualmente: que sin embargo por lo reserbado de los asuntos que se tratan en el santo oficio y mucho mas por haberse tambien traspapelado con el transcurso del tiempo el certificado que de la decision de la causa se dió por dicho tribunal al padre del exponente para su resguardo y el de sus descendientes no era facil tratandose de unas pruebas formales como necesitaba para incorporarse en el ilustre colegio de abogados de aquella real chancillería hacer constar sin ningun genero de duda quanto llebaba expuesto. por lo que suplicaba se le mandase dar la correspondiente certificacion de no obstancia.--y vista en el expresado consejo de s. m. de la santa general inquisicion la suso dicha representacion con los antecedentes que obran en su archivo concernientes á la causa seguida en el tribunal de valladolid y determinado en el año pasado de mil setecientos noventa y ocho contra don mariano santander, padre del exponente, por comercio ilicito de libros prohibidos vino en declarar y declaró en decreto de diez y nuebe de este mismo mes que la referida causa no obsta al nominado don mariano santander y albarez, ni le perjudica como ni tampoco á sus descendientes para obtener empleos publicos y de honra ni para disfrutar plenamente de todos los efectos civiles, mandando se le diese certificacion para su resguardo y lo demas que le convenga. en cuyo cumplimiento doy la presente sellado con la sella de la general inquisicion en madrid á viente y siete de enero de mil ochocientos diez y ocho. cristoval de cos y vivero. iv. consulta of the spureme council of portugal, january 17, 1619. (mss. of bodleian library of oxford, arch. seld. a, subt. 17). (see p. 275). [sidenote: _documents_] señor--los inquisidores de la ciudad de coimbra y su distrito enviaron a v. m^{d} la relacion inclusa de las personas que salieron en el auto de la fe que se celebrò en aquella ciudad el noviembre passado, algunos de los quales poco antes avian sido presos en la ciudad del puerto, y con esta ocasion el obispo inquisidor general escribiò à v. m^{d} que sin ningun escrupulo affirmaba que todo portugal en la materia de judaismo estaba contaminado y que convenia aplicar remedio pronto para que aquellos reynos de v. m^{d} no tuviessen los castigos que amenazaban tantas heregias, porque el judaismo era muchissimo, los sacrilegios infinitos, canonigos presos, frayles huidos, y quatro monjas inclusas en las carceles del s^{to} of^{io} y que pudiera decir à v. m^{d} que le impiden las lagrimas y que vuelve à acordar à v. m^{d}, acabando de celebrar, que es necessario remedio breve en que muestre v. m^{d} su pecho catolico, reformando estos males; porque no ay reyno sin fe y buenos costumbres; y que à v. m^{d} le conviene no solo tener vasallos sino buenos vasallos, como lo dicen los santos; y que postrado à los reales pies de v. m^{d} dice lo que entiende y lo en que ha pensado muchos tiempos ha. todo lo que el obispo inquisidor general apunta de quan inficionados de judaismo estan aquellos reynos con continuos sacrilegios y graves offensas de dios n^{ro} s^{r}, de que se sigue grandissimo escandalo al pueblo christiano, es muy presente al consejo, y con el sentimiento que se debe à calidad de materia tan grave, se ha tratado muchas vezes del remedio que puede aver, para expurgar aquellos reynos de gente tan infiel y pertinaz, sin daño comun, evitando los castigos generales y trabajos que por su respeto se entiende que padecen los mismos reynos tantos años ha. y porque unos de los medios mas adequados para lo que tanto importa al servicio de dios y de v. m^{d} se juzga que seria de desterrar á los christianos nuevos que, siendo presos por el s^{to} of^{io} fuessen condenados en perdimiento de las haciendas para el fisco, pues iendo pobres no podran ayudar à los enemigos de v. m^{d} con gruessos caudales como aora lo hacen, y se escribiò al marques de alenquer, virrey, que de parte de v. m^{d} encargasse al obispo inq^{r} gen^{l} que tratasse este punto con los del consejo general del s^{to} of^{io} y el modo con que se podia executar, para que considerandolo todo consultassen à v. m^{d} por orden del mismo virrey, lo que se les offreciesse, que como se satisfaga à esta diligencia (que debe ser con brevedad) dira el consejo à v. m^{d} lo que le pareciere y de ella huviere resultado, y mendo de la mota propone en su voto, que esta muy bien considerado y tendra entonces mas propio lugar. y porque en portugal se hace aora visita general del s^{to} of^{io} de que se ha seguido notable fruto; porque se prendieron muchos christianos nuevos en la ciudad del puerto, particularmente dos monjas de s. francisco y otra de s. bernardo y en coimbra dos canonigos de aquella iglesia, de los quales es uno fernando diaz de la sylva que vino proveido de roma en un canonicato y por instancias que hizo el nuncio, en nombre de su santidad, en su favor, permitiò v. m^{d} que se le diesse la possession, y en lisboa à marcial nuñez que era juez apostolico, de todo lo qual consta lo poco que se puede fiar de qualquiera persona de essa nacion. en esa corte viven muchos de ella, naturales de portugal, que, por no ser conocidos, se presume con fundamento que tienen necessidad de ser visitados por la inq^{n}. acuerda el consejo à v. m^{d} que debe mandar ordenar al consejo general del s^{to} of^{io} que trate de hacerlos visitar. mendo de la mota acrecienta que, siendo la principal obligacion de v. m^{d} limpiar sus reynos de toda especie de herejia ò infidelidad, y aviendo mostrado la experiencia por tan largo discurso de tiempos quantos males ha causado en los reynos de portugal la perfidia judaica y judaismo, que se entiende ser una de las dos causas principales porque dios le ha dado tan graves castigos. le parece que tiene v. m^{d} obligacion en ley divina y natural à mandar desterrar de sus reynos y señorios todos aquellos que ò fueren declarados por herejes ò abjuraren de vehementi sospechosos en la fe; y que assi lo debe v. m^{d} mandar executar luego en los que han salido en este cadahalso de coimbra y en todos los demas que fueren condenados y declarados de aqui adelante por herejes. porque de lo contrario se sigue estar siempre viva la semilla del judaismo, quedando las mismas raizes en el reyno con que se aumenta y conserva. y que demas de la pureza de la religion catholica à que v. m^{d} como rey esta obligado y los grandes y continuos sacrilegios que esta gente comete, profanando y injuriando los sacramentos, consideran que por si solos bastaban para mover el catholico y real animo de v. m^{d} ordenar assi. porque no puede dexar de estar expuesto à muchos peligros el reyno que tiene dentro de sus venas humor tan pestilente y de que naceran crueles enemigos como son los que engendra la diferencia de religion y que no podra ser de ningun inconveniente irse esta gente à otros reynos extrangeros. porque como se le confisca la hacienda por el crimen de la herejia, queda tan pobre y mesquina que en ningun parte pueda dar cuidado: antes por este medio ira v. m^{d} limpiando sus reynos poco à poco, sin hacer ningun movimiento en ellos, hasta que dios sea servido descubrir otro camino para limpiarlos del todo. decreto de su magestad. [sidenote: _documents_] en una consulta del consejo de portugal de 17 de henero de 1619 se trata de los de la nacion hebrea que ay en aquel reyno con ocasion del auto de inq^{n} que se hizo el año antes en coimbra y uno de los puntos de esta consulta es que convendria desterrar no solo à los que fueron declarados y condenados por herejes sino tambien à los que huvieren abjurado de vehementi: y se entiende à esta segunda calidad de gente no se le confiscan los bienes por el s^{to} of^{io}. aviseme el consejo que opinion tiene quanto à esto; y si aurian de ser desterrados del reyno aun en caso que no se les confiscassen los bienes: pues en el seria forzoso que saliendo del reyno sacassen tambien sus bienes. cosa en que parece ay razones para reparar, no siendo este remedio obligatorio y necessario en conciencia, que siendolo claro està que se ha de vencer qualquier inconveniente que se pudiesse representar. en otro de lo puntos trata el consejo de portugal que convendria visitar expressamente todos los de la nacion que de aquel reyno huviessen passado à los de castilla; y para hacer esta visita es necessario que el inq^{r} gen^{l} ó consejo de la inq^{n} de portugal embie una lista de los christianos nuevos de aquel reyno que andan por castilla. y si algunos de ellos tuviere sobre si causas de particular sospecho en materia de la fe lo apunten en la margen. y se me embiaran las cartas para el inq^{r} gen^{l} de portugal en la forma y por la via que se suele, para que yo las firme. y en lo demas que contiene la dicha consulta quedo mirando para responder à ella.--rey. v. cases of heresy tried by the tribunal of valencia between 1455 and 1592. (archivo historico nacional, inquisicion de valencia, legajo 98). (see p. 345). year. cases.| year. cases. 1455 3| 1514 63 1461 7| 1515 34 1482 11| 1516 41 1485 19| 1517 25 1486 14| 1518 21 1487 15| 1519 22 1488 18| 1520 36 1489 20| 1521 31 1490 28| 1522 40 1491 51| 1523 37 1492 6| 1524 40 1493 4| 1526 47 1494 10| 1528 42 1495 10| 1529 44 1496 15| 1530 20 1497 24| 1531 58 1499 15| 1532 1 1500 35| 1533 61 1501 36| 1534 25 1502 9| 1535 2 1503 11| 1536 39 1505 31| 1537 69 1506 20| 1538 112 1507 7| 1539 79 1508 14| 1540 53 1509 26| 1544 79 1510 10| 1545 37 1511 12| 1546 49 1512 32| 1547 12 1513 41| 1548 15 1549 4| 1577 13 1558 2| 1578 15 1560 15| 1579 24 1563 62| 1580 37 1564 38| 1581 22 1565 66| 1583 8 1566 41| 1584 29 1567 54| 1586 64 1568 68| 1587 35 1570 16| 1588 21 1571 55| 1589 94 1572 32| 1590 49 1573 34| 1591 270 1574 16| 1592 117 1575 20| amounting in all to 3125 cases. 1576 16| in legajo 300 of the same archives there is a list of relaxations in valencia from 1486 to 1593. as customary in these registers it is arranged alphabetically under the baptismal names and is unfortunately incomplete, ending with the letter n. from other similar lists it appears that the letters a-n comprise substantially four-fifths of the whole and therefore if twenty-five per cent. be added to these figures it will probably give a close approximation to the whole number. arranged chronologically it presents the following results. relaxed | relaxed in in effigy | in in effigy. year person. absent. dead. | year. person. absent. dead. 1486 10 | 1524 13 1487 10 | 1526 15 1489 8 | 1528 23 1490 18 | 1529 24 1492 12 | 1530 1 1493 18 | 1531 37 1496 1 | 1533 8 1497 4 79 | 1536 12 1498 1 28 | 1537 1 1499 63 | 1538 11 1500 3 | 1539 4 1501 15 | 1540 4 1502 13 | 1544 3 1503 4 | 1545 3 1505 13 51 | 1553 1 1506 4 22 | 1554 15 1508 48 | 1563 6 1509 12 3 | 1564 3 1 1510 9 4 10 | 1566 3 1511 32 | 1567 4 1512 1 8 | 1568 2 1513 12 1 | 1571 1 1514 52 8 | 1572 5 1517 4 6 | 1573 3 1520 27 | 1574 7 1521 8 3 | 1575 2 1 1522 6 | 1576 1 1 1 1523 8 | 1577 5 [sidenote: _documents_] relaxed | relaxed in in effigy | in in effigy. year person. absent. dead. | year. person. absent. dead 1578 3 1 | 1586 3 2 1579 1 | 1590 1 2 1 1581 1 1 | 1592 6 4 1583 4 1 | 1593 5 1584 2 | the aggregate of this list is 515 relaxed in person and 383 in effigy, of whom 189 were fugitives and 194 were dead. if to these figures we add twenty-five per cent. for the missing portion of the record we shall have 644 relaxations in person and 479 in effigy as the result of a hundred and eight years of the most active period of the tribunal of valencia. vi. brief of clement vii to inquisitor-general manrique, july 15, 1531, respecting lutheranism. (bulario del orden de santiago, lib. i. de copias, fol. 98). (see p. 423). dilecto filio alfonso manrique, sancti calixti presbytero cardinali, hispalensi nuncupato, clemens pp. vii. [sidenote: _documents_] dilecte fili, salutem et apostolicam benedictionem. cum sicut veredica relatione ad nostri apostolatus auditum displicenter pervenit, propter libros errores lutheranos continentes qui ad loca castellæ et legionis ac aragonum regnorum et dominiorum charissimi in christo filii nostri caroli romanorum imperatoris semper augusti qui etiam hispaniarum rex existit delati fuerunt, damnata hæresis lutherana in aliquibus locis regnorum et dominiorum prædictorum pullulare c[oe]perit et ad presens varia et erronea iniquitatis filii hæresiarchæ martini lutheri dogmata jam usque adeo invaluerunt et in dictis regnis et dominiis multi reperiantur qui hujusmodi errores et dogmata imitent et publicent ac tales libros vendant et nonnulli hujusmodi erroribus infecti sanctæ matris ecclesiæ præcepta contemnant ac sanctorum patrum decreta parvifacienda mendaciter affirment et multas blasphemias in omnipotentem deum ejusque gloriosam genetricem intemeratam semperque virginem mariam ac sanctos dei proferant et varios hæreses introducant ac diversos errores committant in gravissimam divinæ majestatis offensam et catholicæ et orthodoxæ fidei scandalum et auctoritatis apostolicæ enervationem ac animarum salutis perniciem et irreparabile detrimentum: nos, quorum est pro salute gregis dominici huic nefariæ hæresi ne in deteriora procedat omni quo possumus remedio occurrere ac illius sectatores debita arctatione et correctione compescere, circumspectioni tuæ, quæ ecclesiæ hispalensi ex concessione et dispensatione apostolica præesse dignoscitur et inquisitor generalis in partibus illis existit et de cujus prudentia et rectitudine specialem in domino fiduciam obtinemus contra quoscumque cujuscumque status, gradus, ordinis et conditionis seu præeminentiæ existant, et quacumque ecclesiastica, episcopali et archiepiscopali dignitate seu mundana etiam ducali auctoritate præfulgeant ipsius martini et aliorum erroneorum dogmatum sectatores, sequaces, fautores et defensores aut illis auxilium consilium et favorem, directe vel indirecte publice vel occulte præstantes, auctoritate nostra inquirendi ac hujusmodi labe infectos, non tamen episcopos et archiepiscopos, capiendi et carceribus mancipandi, necnon juxta canonicas sanctiones et sanctorum patrum instituta, prout qualitas excessuum exegerit vel conscientiæ fuerit et videbitur expedire puniendi, et ad cor redire nolentes a dictæ ecclesiæ communione veluti putrida membra separatos et divisos esse ac damnationi æternæ cum sathana et angelis ejus addictos, et perpetuo infames et intestabiles esse, et corpora eorum postquam defuncti fuerint sepultura ecclesiastica carere debere denuntiandi et declarandi; et si ad veritatis lumen redire et hujusmodi hæresim abjurare voluerint, etiam si archiepiscopi et episcopi fuerint, postquam errorem suam deposuerint ac de præmissis doluerint idque humiliter petierint, si alias relapsi non fuerint, ab omnibus et singulis excommunicationis, suspensionis et interdicti aliisque ecclesiasticis sententiis, censuris et p[oe]nis quas præmissorum occasione quomodolibet incurrerint, et ab hujusmodi excessibus, delictis et criminibus in forma ecclesiæ consueta absolvendi et super irregularitate quomodolibet contracta dispensandi omnemque inhabilitatis et infamiæ notam sive maculam penitus absolvendi ac eos rehabilitandi et ad nostrum et sedis apostolicæ gremium necnon gratiam et benedictionem restituendi et reponendi, omniaque et singula alia quæ ad hujusmodi pestem reprimendam et radiciter extirpandam necessaria et opportuna esse dignoscuntur et ad officium inquisitoris tam de jure quam consuetudine pertinent et quæ tibi et aliis inquisitoribus generalibus in partibus illis pro tempore deputatis, tam per quoscunque romanos pontifices prædecessores nostros quam per nos quomodolibet concessa sint, faciendi, ordinandi et exequendi ac auxilium brachii sæcularis invocandi et ad præmissa omnia et singula si et quando expedire videris viros aptos et idoneos cum simili aut limitata facultate subdelegandi et deputandi ipsosque quotiens eis opportunum videbitur revocandi ac loco ipsorum alios similiter idoneos deputandi, plenam et liberam auctoritate apostolica tenore præsentium facultatem concedimus. nonobstantibus fe. re. bonifacii papæ viii, prædecessoris nostri de una et concilii generalis de duabus diætis et aliis apostolicis constitutionibus contrariis quibuscumque; aut si lutheranis adhærentibus, fautoribus receptoribus et aliis præfatis vel quibusvis aliis communiter vel divisim a dicta sit sede indultum quod interdici, suspendi vel excommunicari aut extra vel ultra certa loca ad judicium evocari non possint per litteras apostolicas non facientes plenam et expressam ac de indulto hujusmodi mentionem et quibuslibet aliis privilegiis et litteris tam apostolicis quam regularibus sub quibuscumque tenoribus singulis præfatis concessis per quæ præsentium litterarum et vestræ jurisdictionis in præmissis executio quomodolibet impediri vel differri posset quæ quoad hoc ipsis vel alicui ipsorum nullatenus suffragari posse nec debere decernimus. dat. romæ apud sanctum petrum sub annulo piscatoris, die xv. julii mdxxxi., pontificatus nostri anno octavo.--evangelista. vii. letter of charles v to inquisitor-general valdes from brussels, january 25, 1550. (archivo de simancas, inquisicion de barcelona, córtes, legajo 17, fol. 83). (see p. 425). erasso nos mostro la relacion que embiastes de lo sucedido sobre el derrocamiento de aquellas casas de valladolid, y por lo que los del consejo de la inquisicion nos han consultado lo havemos entendido mas particularmente, y cierto ello ha sido de qualidad que se pudiera llevar por otros terminos, y no ponerse este negocio tan adelante por que dello no puede haberse seguido ningun buen fruto, y los rreyes de bohemia mis hijos me han escripto lo que habian mandado proveer sobre todo, y paresce que aquello esta bien por que si se obiera de pasar mas adelante no pudiera ser sin notable inconveniente, y porque no sucedan semejantes cosas se provee que se ponga en execucion lo que ordenamos los dias pasados, y se nos inbie relacion dello junto con lo que parescera para que se tome algun termino en estos negocios y se terna el respeto que es razon a lo tocante al santo oficio. de los que nombrastes en el memorial pasado habemos elegido para la plaza de la inquisicion que esta vaca por cortes al licenciado otalora; encargamos os le deis luego el despacho en la forma que se acostumbra. la provision de las iglesias que estan vacas aun no se ha hecho quando se tratare dello se mirara en lo que nos habeis escrito cerca de la perpetuidad de los salarios de los inquisidores y otros oficiales, pues que estan muy cargados de pension. en lo del doctor egidio acaso han visto las proposiciones que contra el resultaron y lo que ultimamente tomaron a escribir los inquisidores de sevilla, y pues os hallais en esa ciudad encargamos os proveais que se averigue muy bien la verdad, y con la mas brevedad que ser pueda, y se nos consulte lo que parescera en su causa antes que se determine, porque de una manera ò de otra combiene al servicio de dios y nuestro que aquella iglesia se de prelado, y porque frai domingo de soto nos hablo algunas veces en este negocio diciendo lo que cerca del le escrevistis por lo que se le mostraron las escripturas que embiaron los del consejo y por esta causa y sus letras y doctrina creemos que convenia que entendiesse en las qualificaciones deste negocio, paresciendose assi proveereis que se le comuniquen. despues desto escrive erasso que podria ser que con aver vacado lo de sanctiago oviesse mas comodidad para esto. viii. letter of inquisitor-general valdes to paul iv, september 9, 1558. (archivo de simancas, inquisicion, sala 40, libro 4, fol. 230). (see pp. 436 and 521). para su sanctidad. sanctisimo padre: [sidenote: _documents_] no he scripto antes a v. s^{t} de los herexes lutheranos que en estas partes nuevamente se an descubierto por pensar que siendo los negocios como son de muy grand inportancia convenia primero hacerse las dilixencias que se an hecho para descubrir mas en ellos y aunque parezca que a avido alguna dilacion en esto suplico a v. s. no lo atribuya a culpa de descuido ni de otra cosa sino al deseo que yo y los ministros del sancto officio que tratamos estas cosas tenemos en cumplir con toda vigilancia lo que es a nuestro cargo en servicio de dios y descargo de v. s. a quien humilmente suplico se acuerde de mandar las cosas que tocaren al servicio de v. s. y de su sancta sede apostolica con la confiança que merece mi deseo y fidelidad de hijo y siervo muy obediente y que siempre tenga memoria de favorecer las cosas del sancto officio con la aficion y voluntad que lo a hecho para que en tiempo de su felicisimo pontificado se extirpen las herexias y se ahumente la fee catholica y rreligion christiana como espero en dios sera ansi y por no cansar a v. s. con larga carta me rremito a la rrelacion que va con esta por mano del dean de oviedo y de joan de vedoya que tienen cargo en esa corte de los negocios del oficio de la santa inquisicion de las provincias que estan a mi carga. guarde dios la muy sancta persona de v. beatitud por muchos años para su servicio y buen govierno de su yglesia. en valladolid 9 de setiembre 1558. s. v. servus humilis, f. hispalens. la relacion que se embio con la carta a su santidad-despues que se a tenido noticia de las herexias y herrores de lutero y sus secaces y se an estendido por muchas partes de la cristiandad la provincia que por la gracia de dios mas libre a estado desta macula a sido los rriñones de españa por el gran cuidado y vixilencia de los ministros del santo oficio de la inquisicion aunque algunos pocos naturales y otros estranjeros dellos an sido convencidos y condenados por herexes destos herrores y executados en sus personas las penas que merecian en los que an podido ser avidos y contra otros que se an ausentado se a procedido en rebeldia y an sido condenados en su ausencia y contumacia. a sucedido de un año a esta parte poco mas ó menos que como los inquisidores de sevilla por ciertos avisos e yndicios que tuvieron començaron a inquirir y hacer dilixencias contra ciertas personas de aquella cibdad y esto vino a noticia de unos frailes del monesterio de sancti ysidro extramuros della que son de la orden de los hermitanos de sant geronimo y entendieron ser culpados luego se ausentaron del monesterio y del arçobispado y del reyno y entiendese que estan en alemania los nombres de los quales van en una memoria questa con esta y de los que quedaron en el monesterio estan presos en la inquisicion de sevilla ochos frailes demas de otras personas sus conplices. a esta saçon que esto acaecio supose tanbien como hera venido a sevilla un hombre español llamado julian que venia de alemaña y traia cartas de un herexe que alla esta deste reyno llamado joan perez para ciertas personas principales de aquella cibdad y que tanbien avia traido muchos libros de herexes ansi en latin como en lengua española y los avia repartido por ciertas personas que se los pagavan bien. este hombre fue avisado y encubierto y persuadido que luego se ausentase porque los inquisidores lo sabrian y le quemarian y ansi se ausento de manera que por buena dilixencia de los inquisidores fue preso en la sierra morena treinta leguas de sevilla adonde fue traido y esta preso el qual aunque al principio muchos dias estuvo muy pertinaz en sus herexias y dixo de otras muchas personas ya parece que muestra arrepentimiento y que quiere rreducirse a la yglesia catholica. de la prision deste y de los otros an rresultado otras muchas prisiones que se an hecho y estan presos y otras se espera que lo seran en sevilla e su comarca. entiendese que toda la mayor parte del daño que se a hallado en sevilla rresulto de algunos companeros y debotos del doctor exidio canonigo de la magistral de aquella iglesia ya defunto que fue admitido el año de cinquenta y tres a abjuracion de muchos herrores que tuvo cerca de estas materias aunque segund se sospecha falsa y finxidamente y que engaño a los inquisidores de manera que quedaron muchos inficionados de su ponçona en que ay personas principales illustres y letrados los quales hasta aora ay alli presos demas de los frailes de sant ysidro verse an por la memoria que va con esta. demas de lo dicho abra cinco o seis meses que por ciertos indicios y avisos quel inquisidor general y el consejo e inquisidores tuvieron se entendio que en valladolid salamanca çamora toro palencia logroño se domaticavan muy secretamente malas doctrinas de los herrores lutheranos y aunque la averiguacion y inquisicion desto se començo a hacer con toda la disimulacion y secreto posible no dexo de venir a noticia de algunos de los culpados entre los quales fue frai domingo de rrojas fraile y predicador de la orden de sancto domingo hijo del marques de poça e don carlos de seso que huieron con toda dilixencia el fraile en abito seglar y fueron presos en navarra adonde ya tenian salvo conduto para se pasar en francia como lo hicieran si la buena dilixencia de la inquisicion no los previniera embiando por todos los puertos y pasos de los confines de los reynos despaña ansi maritimos como de la tierra fueron traidos a la inquisicion de valladolid adonde esta la corte y rreside el inquisidor general y consejo de inquisicion y se an prendido y estan presos otros muchos conplices ansi personas principales e illustres e letrados cuios nonbres van en el memorial e sus causas y procesos se oyen y prosiguen con todo cuydado e dilixencia porque demas de los inquisidores que de asiento rresiden en la inquisicion de valladolid el inquisidor general a proveido que dos de los del consejo que asisten con el vaian cada dia mañana y tarde a la audiencia de las carceles a oyr a los presos y tomar sus confisiones y proveer lo necesario y por ser los presos muchos y las causas y personas tan calificadas se a mandado venir otros inquisidores y oficiales de otros partidos para que todos juntos se ayuden para la brevedad y buena expedicion de los negocios y conclusos los procesos esta acordado que se llamen perlados y letrados theologos y juristas de los mexores y de mas auctoridad que se hallaren para que juntamente con los inquisidores los vean y determinen conforme a derecho y a la calidad y gravedad de cada uno. [sidenote: _documents_] hanse embiado inquisidores que hagan dilixencia en salamanca toro çamora palencia logroño y en otros lugares donde los principales domatistas y culpados questan presos han frequentado mas sus comunicaciones de que se presume an hecho mucho daño y a sevilla se embio el obispo de taraçona que a sido inquisidor muchos años para que como persona de expiriencia y de la dignidad que tiene asista con los inquisidores y personas que entienden en los negocios de alla y de color y auctoridad a lo que alli se hiciere demas de lo que el inquisidor general y el consejo de la inquisicion aiudan de la corte con todo el cuidado y dilixencia posible por la auctoridad rreal porque la mag^{t} inperial y rreal y la serenisima princesa en su nonbre han hecho toda demostracion y dado todo favor ansi con sus cartas y provisiones como socorriendo con diez mill ducados para los gastos que se an hecho y hacen porque del officio no avia un maravedi que aun para las prisiones de los que se avian ausentado fue necesario quel arçobispo inquisidor general lo proveiese de su camara. puesto que se an hecho las dilixencias posibles en que no se vendan ni se traigan a estos reynos libros prohibidos que an sido la principal causa deste daño y sean hecho censuras dellos todavia los herexes que stan en alemania y en otras partes que parece han tenido correspondencia con algunos destos partes an tenido forma para meterlos y para que en el rremedio desto aya mas vixilancia y que la comunicacion de estranxeros de provincias dañadas no hagan mas daño en estas se da orden que vaian y rresidan inquisidores con sus officiales por las costas de la mar y lugares donde suele aver concurso de tractantes y gentes de la calidad que esta dicho. y aunque al principio que se instituio el officio de la sancta inquisicion en estos rreynos en tiempo de los reyes catholicos de gloriosa memoria avia ynquisiciones con todos los oficiales que heran menester para inquisicion formada casi en cada obispado y como yvan diminuendo las confiscaciones de las haciendas de los condenados con que se pagavan los officiales se ivan tanbien acortando el numero de las inquisiciones hasta que quedo en las pocas que agora son que ay inquisicion que tiene en su partido quince obispados y aun para los officiales que en ella rresiden no ay con que cumplir los salarios tenues que les estan señalados que no a sido de poco inconviniente para la auctoridad del sancto officio y aun de algun escrupulo para los que tractamos y aunque algunas veces se a puesto en platica por los sumos pontificos pasados el rremedio desto no se a dado creese que por neglixencia de los que solicitaron y segund el tiempo es tan peligroso de las herexias que se an levantado parece muy conviniente y necessario que se accrecentasen mas inquisiciones como al principio las avia y que los salarios fuesen para poder sustentar los officiales y se perpetuasen lo qual se podria hazer facilmente mandando su s^{t} aplicar algunas rrentas eclesiasticas que sirven de poco fructo a la iglesia de dios y seria mexor enpleado en sustentarse la inquisicion que a andado y anda muy quebrantado por falta desto y aunque en todos estos negocios se entiende con toda la dilixencia posible no savemos en que parara para adelante si el sancto officio de la inquisicion no tiene de que se susentar el rremedio de lo qual se spera de su santidad segund la aficion y cuydado particular a tenido siempre y tiene de hazer merced y favor al sancto officio. considerado bien estos negocios parece que no dexan de tener el principio de mas lexos y que las herexias que el maestro joan de oria fue acusado y los herrores que vinieron los quales llamavan alumbrados o dexados naturales de guadalaxara y de otras lugares de reyno de toledo y de otras partes heran de la simiente destas herexias lutheranas sino que los inquisidores que en aquel tienpo conocieron de aquellos causas no estavan praticos destos herrores lutheranos para usar de la execucion que conviniera hacerse con mas rrigor lo qual y aver ydo algunos de los culpados a rroma y aver hallado alli buena acoxida y y dispensando con ellos les dieron ocasion de atreverse a ser pertinaces en sus herrores y dexar sucesion dellos como tanbien se a entendido que de averse admitido el doctor exidio a rreconciliacion el año de cinquenta y tres por no alcançar los jueces los inconvinientes que para adelante se rrepresentan con la espiriencia en las cosas desta qualidad como esta dicho a sucedido el daño que aora se descubre en sevilla por ser los principales culpados de los que fueron apasionados y aficionados y sequaces del doctor egidio de quien les quedo el lenguaxe de sus herrores y falsa doctrina. [sidenote: _documents_] ansi mesmo se tiene entendido que algunos perlados y frailes y otras personas particulares en estos rreinos tienen libros prohibidos de auctores herexes y de herrores lutheranos y aunque se an publicado las censuras que por el sancto officio estan proveidas y discernidas para que no los tengan y los exhiban a los officiales que para esto estan nombrados por el sancto officio no los dexan de tener diciendo que tienen facultad y licencia apostolica para ello y demas del peligro que podria suceder en los que los tienen en leerlos como se entiende que de leerse an dañado algunos letrados y otras personas es tanbien de mucho peligro que algunos de los que los tienen dexan libremente leerlos a los de su casa y personas que entran en ella segund se tiene rrelacion dello convernia que su santidad proveyese rrevocando por su breve todas las licencias y facultades que se an dado para tener libros prohibidos por la iglesia catholica y por el santo officio mandando con graves penas que no los tengan y que los que tienen los entreguen luego al sancto officio y que pueda proceder con todo rrigor contra los que hizieren lo contrario e imponiendo grandes censuras y excomunion late sentencie a los confesores ansi curas frailes como otros qualesquier sacerdotes hagan preguntas particulares a los penitentes si tienen libros prohibidos o de mala doctrina o si saben o hagan oydo quien los tenga o ayan dicho alguna cosa contra nuestra sancta fee catholica o contra lo que tiene la sancta madre iglesia de rroma y que los que hallaren que algo desto tienen o saben no los asuelban sino que vaian a decirlo a la inquisicion porque del descuido o malicia de algunos confesores se entiende que a avido mucho daño so color de correcion fraterna y no parece que dexa de ser de mucho ynconviniente la clausula que en las bulas de cruçada y otras bulas se concede facultad de poder elexir confesor qual quisieren por que con esto no pueden tener buena cuenta los curados de sus perochianos. atento lo qual y que estos herrores y herexias que se an començado a domaticar y sembrar de luthero y sus secaces en españa an sido a manera de sedicion o motin y entre personas principales a sido en linaxe rreligion y hacienda como en deudos principales de quien ay gran sospecha que podrian suceder mayores daños si se usase con ellos de la benignidad que se a usado en el sancto officio con los convertidos de la ley de moisen y de la secta de mahoma que comunemente an sido gente baxa y de quien no se temia alteracion ni escandalo en el reyno como se podria tener o sospechar en los culpados destas materias lutheranas ansi por lo ya dicho como por ser materia de libertad de obligaciones y preceptos de la iglesia que el pueblo tiene por pesados y se aficionaria facilmente a libertarse y podria ser que los inquisidores apostolicos y consultores y tanbien los ordinarios que an de ser llamados para la determinacion de los negocios o algunos dellos al tiempo de votar y sentenciar los procesos tuviesen algun escrupulo de rrelaxar al braço seglar alguno de los culpados que serian personas de calidad para admitirlos a misericordia se sospecha que no cunplirian las penitencias o carceles que les fuesen impuestas con la humildad y paciencia que lo suelen hacer las otras personas de mas baxa suerte y por la qualidad de las tales personas y de sus deudos podrian suceder mayores inconvinientes y escandalos ansi en lo de la rrelixion como en lo de la publica paz y sosiego del rreyno y por todo esto convernia mucho que su santidad concediese y mandase por un breve a los inquisidores apostolicos y consultores que sin temor ni escrupulo de yrregularidad ni de otra cosa pudiesen rrelaxar y rrelaxasen al braço seglar ansi a las personas culpadas de quien verisimilmente se pudiese temer o sospechar alteracion en la republica christiana o perturbacion de la paz y quietud del reyno como a los domagtitas destas herexias y a los que principalmente fueren culpados en quien a los jueces pareciere conviniente usar de la execucion de la justicia exemplar aunque fuesen personas constituidas en qualquier dignidad seglar o pontifical y eclesiastica y de qualquier orden habito y rreligion y estado que sean conociendo de sus causas y procediendo contra ellos a cautura y execucion de sus sentencias dando a los dichos inquisidores y consultores libre poder y alvedrio para usar del rrigor que la calidad de los negocios y tiempos y del temor de lo contrario dellos para lo fucturo lo rrequiere y que se puedan estender etiam ultra terminos juris communis. algunos años a que en estas inquisiciones no se hallaran culpados sino muy pocos en los herrores de la lei de moisen hasta aora de pocos dias aca que en la inquisicion de murcia se an descubirto muchos personas culpadas en esto del judaismo y aunque de algunos se a hecho justicia en un acto solene que alli se celebro de la fee estan presos y para prenderse otras muchas personas de calidad que no es de menos ynportancia que los otros negocios que se ofrecen. ansi mesmo a avido y ai mucho en que entender con los nuevos convertidos de moros de los reinos de castilla granada aragon y valencia que por bivir libremente en la seta de mahoma se pasavan a ververia y los mas de los que quedavan no dexavan de guardar las cerimonias de la dicha secta a se dado la mejor orden que a sido posible para mas asegurarlos de que an de ser tractados con clemencia como parecio que convenia para su quietud y para su enmienda y buena ynstrucion y doctrina christiana para que cesen las ofensas que cometian contra dios nuestro señor con su mal bivir y para justificar la execucion de la justicia y castigo que se hiciere en los culpados. ix. expulsion of english and scotch protestants in 1625. (archivo de simancas, inquisicion, libro 19, fol. 239). (see p. 466). [sidenote: _documents_] señor. luego que por el año de 1605 se hicieron las paces entre el señor rey don felipe 3, padre de v. mag^{d} (que santa gloria aya) y serenisimos archiduques con los reynos de inglaterra y escocia, para que los capitulos de ellas pertenecientes al comercio tuviesen efecto, precediendo permision de su santidad, parecio conveniente ordenar que no fuesen molestados las personas que de los dichos reynos de inglaterra y escocia pasasen a los de v. mag^{d}, por razon de la conciencia y religion, como con efecto se mandó á las inquisiciones de estos reynos, solo con fin de asegurar mas la contratacion y paz, y haviendose rompido como es notorio sin causa ni razon por los dichos reynos de inglaterra tomando las armas contra los de v. mag^{d} cesan las causas de la permision que su santidad dió en consideracion de las paces, y me hallo obligado en conciencia á procurar obiar los inconvenientes y daños que pueden resultar á los catholicos de la comunicacion y trato con tan perniciosos y pertinaces herejes como son los naturales de aquellos reynos, no permitiendo que vivan ni esten en estos de v. mag^{d} y lo contrario sera contravenir á la voluntad de su santidad y faltar yo á las obligaciones de fiel vasallo de v. mag^{d} y de mi officio y para cumplir con todo he ordenado que se publique un edicto en esta corte y en las ciudades y lugares principales de estos reynos para que todos los naturales de los de inglaterra y escocia que no fueren catholicos y reconocieren á la santa iglesia catholica romana salgan dentro de veynte dias de todos los reynos y señorios de v. mag^{d} con apercebimiento que pasado el dicho termino seran castigados por el santo officio los transgresores, y de hacerlo assi resulta muy gran servicio á dios y benefficio á estos reynos, donde la santa fe catholica se ha conservado en su pureza mediante el santo celo y vigilancia de v. mag^{d} y los señores reyes sus predecesores, y por ser negocio grave y de que es razon tenga v. mag^{d} noticia no lo he querido executar sin dar dello cuento primero a v. mag^{d} que en todo mandara lo que fuere servido. en madrid, 9 de noviembre de 1625. señalada del ill^{mo} señor inquisidor general. x. edict of prohibition of a book. (from a formulary in archivo histórico nacional, inquisicion de toledo, legajo 498). (see p. 484). carta para remitir edictos. con esta se le remite el edicto yncluso en que se prohiven los papeles y libros que en el se mencionan, y asi en reciviendole en el primer dia de domingo ó fiesta de guardar, le hara publicar al ofertorio de la misa combentual que se dixere en la parrochial de la villa ó lugar, y un tanto del autorizado del notario se pondra á las puertas principales de dicha parrochial (y le remitira original á los lugares que se contienen á la margen). y esto se dice quando se remite el mismo á otras partes y se le ponen los lugares á la margen, y se firma dicha carta de los señores inquisidores y se refrenda de un secretario. quando se le remite algun expurgatorio se le dice al comisario que ante dos religiosos los mas doctos, y sino hubiere dos sacerdotes, haga el expurgatorio al tenor del que se le remite, y que ponga en el principio de los que expurgare y borrare como los expurgó en tantos de tal mes y año. edicto en que se prohiben libros. nos los inquisidores appostolicos contra la heretica pravedad y apostasia en todo el reyno de navarra, obispado de calahorra y la calzada y de su distrito etc. hacemos saver á todos y qualesquier personas de qualquier estado preheminencia y condicion que sean, exemptos y non exemptos, deste nuestro distrito que, al servicio de dios nuestro señor, bien y utilidad de nuestra santa fee catholica y religion christiana, combiene y es necesario se recojan y prohivan yn totum los libros y papeles siguientes. primeramente (aqui se ponen los libros que se prohiven y acavando se dice). por tanto por el tenor de las presentes mandamos so pena de excomunion mayor latæ sententiæ, trina canonica monicione premisa, y de cada cinquenta mil maravedis para gastos del santo officio, que ninguna persona en cuyo poder se hallaren dichos libros ó papeles no pueda leerlos mano escriptos ni ympresos de los dichos ni de otras qualesquier impresiones, benderlos ni ymprimirlos de nuebo, antes bien dentro de tercero dia los traigan á este santo officio ó los entreguen al comisario en cuio distrito se hallare, con apercivimiento que lo no haciendo dentro del dicho termino procederemos contra los que reveldes fueren por todo rigor del derecho, como contra personas ynobedientes á los mandamientos y censuras del santo officio. dado en la inquisicion de logroño á.... firman los señores inquisidores y rrefrendalo un secretario. y se escrive en papel á lo ancho. xi. commission for the examination of libraries. (archivo de simancas, inquisicion, sala 40, libro 4, fol. 233). (see p. 487). [sidenote: _documents_] nos, don fernando de valdés, por la divina miseracion arzobispo de sevilla etc. confiando de las letras y recta conciencia de vos el r^{do} licenciado martin del pozo provisor en el obispado de tarazona, y que bien y dilixentemente hareis lo que por nos vos fuere encomendado, por el thenor de la presente vos damos poder y facultad para que podais visitar y visiteis todas las librerias de qualesquier libreros, monesterios, universidades y personas particulares que estan y rresiden en todo el destricto del dicho obispado para ver si ay algunos libros hereticos, sospechosos y escandalosos ansi de los contenidos en el cathalogo de los libros rreprovados como de los que contengan en si algun herror ò sospecha del y mandamos à todos y qualesquier personas de qualquier estado orden y rreligion y qualidad que sean, que vos muestren y dexen ver las dichas sus librerias y libros que tuvieren para el dicho efecto, lo qual hagan y cumplan so pena de sentencia dexcomunion mayor late sentencie y de docientos ducados de oro à cada uno que lo contrario hiciere para los gastos del sancto officio, y los rreprobados, sospechosos ò malsonantes que hallaredes y las informaciones que recibieredes contra las personas que tuvieren los dichos libros las remetid à los r^{dos} inquisidores de çaragoça para que vista hagan en el dicho negocio justicia, para lo qual todo vos damos el dicho nuestro poder y cometemos nuestras veces. dada en valladolid à 13 dias de abril, año 1559. f. hispalens. por mandado de su sº ill^{mo}, pedro de tapia. xii. licence to read a bible in italian. (archivo de simancas, sala 40, libro 4, fol. 126). (see p. 528). nos, don juan tavera, inquisidor general contra la heretica pravedad en los reinos y señorios de su magestad etcetera. por quanto por parte de vos la muy ilustre señora duquesa de soma nos ha seido pedido que se vos diese licencia de tener biblia traducida en vulgar toscano y leer en ella, confiando de vuestro buen celo y devocion, vos damos licencia y facultad para que tengais la dicha biblia en toscano y leais en ella por espacio y termino de un año no embargante qualquier prohibicion que en contrario sea fecha sin caer ni incurrir por ella en pena alguna, en testimonial de lo qual mandamos dar la presente firmada de nuestro nombre y refrendado del secretario de la general inquisicion. dada en la villa de madrid à veinte de hebrero de mil quinientos quarenta y tres años. i. cardinalis. por mandado de su ilustrisima y reverendisima señoria. hieronimo zurita. * * * * * a history of the inquisition of the middle ages by henry c. lea, ll.d. author of "a history of the inquisition of spain," etc. three volumes, octavo. $7.50, _net_, per set. "there are some books which reveal the loftiest effort of a broad and earnest life; such a book springs from the highest aims, and will therefore be recognized not only as scientific, but as giving impulse to the intellectual action and aspiration of its epoch. such a book is the 'history of the inquisition of the middle ages,' by henry charles lea."--_frankfurter zeitung_, january 10, 1906. * * * * * history of the united states from the compromise of 1850 to the restoration of home rule at the south in 1877 by james ford rhodes, ll.d. member of the massachusetts historical society seven volumes, octavo. cloth, $17.50, _net_, per set; half calf, $32.00, _net_, per set; three-quarters levant, $40.00, _net_, per set. "the work is thoroughly admirable in point of style--clear, concise, and really fascinating in its narrative. a more thoroughly readable book has seldom been written in any department of literature." "it is not probable that we shall see a more complete or better balanced history of our great civil war."--_the nation._ * * * * * a history of modern england by herbert paul five volumes, 8vo., cloth, $12.50, _net_, per set. "readers of mr. paul's 'matthew arnold,' in the english men of letters series, will expect from him a book fearlessly and engagingly written, to say the least. far from being disappointed by this brilliant young student, journalist and politician (we use the word in its best sense), they are here to receive all this and much more.... he has that particular recommendation of being able to evoke again in the reader of today a live interest in political questions settled long ago, and to reintroduce into the politics of the mid-century the personal element so likely to be wanting in the merely constitutional history.... all in all, the author has given us a history instinct with the life of the english nation. he has the rare virtue of understanding his countrymen, and, though he has the pride of an englishman in the achievements of england, he is scrupulously just in treating of her political activity.... indeed, besides a full account of english politics and intellectual life, we have a practically complete history of european affairs during the same period."--_the new york times._ * * * * * the cambridge modern history planned by the late lord acton, ll.d., regius professor of modern history in the university of cambridge. edited by a. w. ward, litt.d., g. w. prothero, litt.d., and stanley leathes, m.a. to be complete in twelve royal 8vo. volumes, each $4.00, _net_ (carriage extra), issued at the rate of two volumes a year. i. the renaissance. _ready._ vii. the united states. _ready._ ii. the reformation. _ready._ viii. the french revolution. _ready._ iii. the wars of religion. _ready._ ix. napoleon. _ready._ iv. the thirty years' war. _ready._ x. restoration and reaction. v. bourbons and stuarts. xi. the growth of nationalities. vi. the eighteenth century. xii. the latest age. */ _press comment on the work as issued:_ "the most full, comprehensive and scientific history of modern times in the english language, or in any language."--_the evening post_, new york. "there can be no question about the great value of the work--in fact, it is invaluable to every historical student."--_the public ledger_, philadelphia. "a work of great value. it may justly claim to have no rival in english."--_the atlantic monthly_, boston. the macmillan company 64-66 fifth avenue new york footnotes: [1] "res est fragilis et periculosa et quæ veritatem fallit."--l. 1, § 23, dig. xlviii, xviii. [2] partidas, p. <small>iii, tit. xiii, leyes 4, 5. [3] see "history of the inquisition of the middle ages," iii, 313, 315. [4] pegnæ comment. 110 in eymerici director. p. <small>iii.--bibl. nacional, mss., mm., 122. [5] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 61. [6] pedraza, hist. eccles. de granada, fol. 275 (granada, 1638). [7] collectio decretor. s. congr. s^{ti} officii, p. 407 (ms. _penes me_).--decreta sac. congr. s^{ti} officii, p. 569 (bibl. del r. archivio di stato in roma, fondo camerale, congr. del s. officio, vol. 3).--ristretto cerca li delitti più frequenti nel s. officio, p. 18, 148 (ms. _penes me_).--praxis procedendi, cap. 18, n. 2, 3, 5 (archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia). [8] vida de don diego duque de estrada (mem. hist. español, xiii. 55-60.) estrada relates that, after the torture, he paid the executioner two hundred ducats to preserve him from being crippled. the process was very painful, consisting of stretching the limbs and rubbing with an ointment composed of equal parts of fat of man, snake, bear, lion, viper and frog, melted over a slow fire with oil of sweet almonds, of pericon, camomile, rosado and balsam of the east. the treatment was successful. for a frightful case of torture in antwerp, as late as 1792, extending at intervals over more than a year, see eugène hubert, la torture dans les pays-bas autrichiens, pp. 124-9 (bruxelles, 1897). [9] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, libro 939, fol. 121. [10] instrucciones de 1561, § 21 (arguello, fol. 30) [11] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 99, n. 25. [12] ibidem, leg. 54, n. 356.--boletin, xxiii, 335-7.--instrucciones de 1561, § 50 (arguello, fol. 34). [13] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 3, n. 7, fol. 393. [14] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 27-8. [15] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 299, fol. 80. [16] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 939. fol. 113.--instrucciones de 1561, § 50 (arguello, fol. 34). [17] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 6).--mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [18] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 934. [19] simancæ enchirid., tit. lii, n. 33. [20] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 17, 22, 23. [21] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 176, n. 679. [22] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 299, fol. 80; leg. 61.--archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 342 [23] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20. t. i [24] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 36. [25] ibidem, lib. 939, fol. 110 (lib. 4). [26] elucidationes s^{ti} officii, § 21 (archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 244.) [27] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 299, fol. 80.--elucidationes sancti officii, § 22 (_ubi sup._).--bibl. nacional, mss., v, 377, cap. ii, §§ 3, 4; cap. v, § 4.--pegnæ comment. 110 in eymerici direct. p.<small>iii.--simancæ de cath. institt. tit. lxv, n. 23-34; ejusd. enchirid. tit. liii, n. 17, 19.--archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 933. [28] archivo hist. nacional. inquisicion de valencia, leg. 299, fol. 80.--pegnæ, _loc. cit._--simancæ de cath. institt., _loc. cit._ [29] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20. t. i. [30] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 299, fol. 80.--mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i.--bibl. nacional, mss., pp, 28; ibidem, v, 377, cap. ii, §§ 6, 7; cap. v. [31] rojas de hæret., p. i, n. 374. [32] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. vi. [33] const. 17, cod. <small>ix, ii.--pseudo-julii epist. <small>ii, cap. xviii.--gratiani decret. p. <small>ii, caus. v, q. 3, c. 5. [34] innocent. p p. iv bull. _ad extirpanda_, §26 (bullar. roman. i, 91).--locati opus judiciale inquisitor, p. 477 (romæ, 1570). [35] praxis procedendi, cap. 18, n. 16-21 (archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia).--simancæ enchirid. tit. lii, n.31.--instrucciones de 1561, § 45(arguello, fol. 33). [36] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 812, lima, fol. 20-24. [37] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 61.--praxis procedendi, cap. 18, n. 13 (ibidem). [38] bibl. nationale de france, fonds espagnol, n. 81. [39] pegnæ comment. 110 in eymerici director. p. <small>iii.--simancæ de cath. institt. tit. lxv, n. 50.--mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 269. [40] llorente, hist. crít., cap. <small>xviii, art. 1, n. 24. [41] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 110.--instrucciones de 1561, §§ 48-55 (arguello, fol. 33-4). [42] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [43] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 2, n. 10, fol. 74. [44] ibidem, leg. 2, n. 7, fol. 5; n. 10, fol. 37, 79. [45] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 3, n. 7, fol. 346. [46] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i.--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 9, n. 1, fol. 102, 148. [47] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 934. [48] ibidem, lib. 977, fol. 267. [49] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 396.--mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20. t. i. [50] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 934. [51] ibidem, _loc. cit._--praxis procedendi, cap. 18, n. 29 (archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia). [52] archivo gen. de la c. de aragon, regist. 3684, fol. 102.--archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. i. [53] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 78, fol. 56. [54] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 5, n. 3, fol. 143. [55] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 35. [56] ibidem, leg. 1480, fol. 13. in the accounts these are mostly described discreetly as "diligencias secretas." [57] ibidem, lib. 939, fol. 110.--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 299, fol. 80. [58] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 934. [59] thus in the trial of isabel de montoya, after she is stripped "luego se le mandaron poner los paños de la vergüenza" (ms. _penes me_). [60] instrucciones de 1561, § 49 (arguello, fol. 34).--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 299, fol. 80. [61] pablo garcía, orden de processor, fol. 29. [62] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 299, fol. 80. [63] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 99, n. 25.--in the record there is on the margin a rude outline of the _escalera_, thus iiiiiii [64] proceso contra manuel diaz; proceso contra marí rodríguez (mss. _penes me_). [65] i owe a copy of the córdova letter and galicia correspondence to the kindness of the late general don vicente riva palacio of mexico. their existence there would indicate that they were sent to all the tribunals. the 1662 instructions of the suprema are in the simancas archives, inquisicion, lib. 934; lib. 977, fol. 267. [66] instrucciones de 1561, § 48 (arguello, fol. 33). [67] praxis procedendi, cap. 18, n. 29 (archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia).--archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 36. paul iii when regulating, in 1548, criminal practice in rome forbade torture prolonged for an hour or more, or that it should be interrupted for dinner or supper.--pauli pp. iii const. _ad onus apostolicæ_, § 6 (bullar. i. 776). [68] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 3, n. 7, fol. 436. [69] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 2, 40. [70] ibidem, leg. 552, fol. 23, 31. [71] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 138. [72] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 30. [73] proceso contra marí lópez la salzeda, fol. 7 (ms. _penes me_). [74] see the case of manuel gonzález, at guadalupe, in 1485 (boletin, xxiii, 337). [75] instrucciones de 1484, § 15 (arguello, fol. 6). [76] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 112, n. 74, fol. 82-5. [77] simancas (de cath. instt. tit. lxv, n. 81) pronounces decidedly against a third torture, though he says that many authorities favor it and i have met with such cases, _e. g._, manuel henríquez at toledo in 1585 (mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i.). [78] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 33. [79] elucidationes s^{ti} officii, § 22 (archivo hist. nacional, leg. 544^{2}, lib. 4). [80] bibl. nacional, mss., kk, 53. [81] simancæ de cath. instt. tit. lxv, n. 74-75.--elucidationes s^{ti} officii, § 22 (archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2}, lib. 4) [82] instrucciones de 1561, § 54 (arguello, fol. 34). [83] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 4). [84] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 2, n. 10, fol. 13, 14, 16, 28, 38, 39, 79. [85] bibl. nacional, mss., v, 377, cap. 4, § 5. [86] bibl. nacional, mss., s. 294, fol. 375. [87] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 2, 6. [88] danvila y collado, expulsion de los moriscos, p. 227. [89] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 387. [90] royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [91] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 154, n. 356. [92] proceso contra mari gómez (ms. _penes me_). [93] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 138.--bibl. nacional, mss., kk, 53. [94] mss. of library of university of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [95] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, libro 812, lima, fol. 20-1; leg. 552. [96] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 3, n. 7, fol. 443. [97] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [98] cédulas de fernando vii, n. 78, p. 99 (valencia, 1814) [99] llorente, hist. crít. cap. xliv, art. 1, n. 38. [100] ordenanzas del concejo real de su magestad y los aranzeles que han de guardar los relatores, etc., fol. <small>xxv (valladolid, 1556). [101] decr. sac. cong. s^{ti} officii, p. 508 (bibl. del r. archivio di stato in roma, fondo camerale, congr. del s. officio, vol. 3.) [102] instrucciones de 1484, § 28 (arguello, fol. 8). substantially repeated in the supplementary instructions of 1485, with the addition that, in important matters, inquisitors shall apply to the sovereigns for orders.--arguello, fol. 11-12. [103] instrucciones de 1488, § 2 (arguello, fol. 9). [104] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 9.--mss. of bibl. nacional de lima. [105] instrucciones de 1498, § 3 (arguello, fol. 12). [106] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 933.--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 231, n. 72, fol. 46.--procesos contra maría de paredes y mari serrana (mss. _penes me_). [107] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 10, 15. [108] llorente, hist. crít. cap. xlii, art. 1, n. 2.--archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 890. [109] proceso contra angela pérez, fol. 24-31 (ms. _penes me_). [110] this case, from the mss. of daniel fergusson esq., is given in greater detail in "chapters from the religious history of spain," pp. 362-73. [111] instrucciones de 1561, § 18 (arguello, fol. 29) [112] fuero real de españa, lib. i, tit. ix, ley 1.--colmeiro, córtes de leon y de castilla, ii, 55. [113] angeli de clavasio summa angelica, s. v. _hæreticus_, § 20. [114] malleus maleficarum, p. <small>iii, q. 10, 11, 35.--prierias de strigimag., lib. iii, cap. 3. [115] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 133, n. 46; leg. 140, n. 162; leg. 148, n. 262; leg. 154, n. 356, 375.--boletin, xxiii, 295, 306. [116] instrucciones de 1484, § 16 (arguello, fol. 6). [117] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 99, n. 25. [118] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 933, p. 259. [119] carbonell de gestis hæret. (coll. de doc. de la c. de aragon, xxviii, 167, 169, 171, 213). [120] archivo de simancas, patronato real, inquisicion, leg. único, fol. 43, 44. [121] ibidem, inquisicion de barcelona, córtes, leg. 17, fol. 47, 48. [122] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 98. [123] ibidem, fol. 19. [124] mss. of bibl. nacional de lima, protocolo 223, expediente 5270. [125] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 377. [126] ibidem, leg. 5, n. 1, fol. 81. [127] memorial jurídico que por los abogados de presos, etc. (bodleian library, arch seld, i. 23). [128] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 6). [129] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. iii, x.--cf. schäfer, beiträge, ii, 231. [130] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. vi. [131] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 30, fol. 38. [132] archivo de simancas, patronato real, inquisicion, leg. único, fol. 43, 44. [133] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 98, 103.--pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 24. [134] archivo de simancas, inquisicion de canarias, exp^{tes} de visitas, leg. 250, lib. i, fol. 8; lib. <small>iii, fol. 3. [135] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. viii. [136] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 98, 99. [137] ibid. fol. 98. [138] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, visitas de barcelona, leg. 15, fol. 2.--instrucciones de 1561, § 35 (arguello, fol. 31-2). [139] decret. sac. congr. s^{ti} officii, p. 496 (bibl. del r. archivio di stato in roma, fondo camerale, congr. del s. officio, vol. 3). [140] partidas, p. <small>vi, tit. xvi, leyes 12, 13, 14.--hugo de celso, reportorio de las leyes, s. v. _curador_ (alcalá, 1540). [141] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 19. [142] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 23. for the custom of appointing as curador the advocate or a subordinate official see _praxis procedendi_ cap. 9, n. 4 (arch. hist. nacional, inq. de valencia).--arch. de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 6).--arch. hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 110, n. 31; leg. 112, n. 64.--the object of the appointment of the curador is frankly admitted by pablo garcía (orden de processar, fol. 14). yet it is of this travesty of justice that a recent apologist tells us that, if the accused was less than 25 years of age, the tribunal selected for him, from among the most eminent advocates of the city, one to assist him throughout the trial.--l'abbé l.-a. gaffre, inquisition et inquisitions p. 105 (paris, 1905). [143] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 77-8. [144] proceso contra fray luis de leon (col. de documentos, x. 564-5; xi. 12-49). [145] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 29. [146] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 31. [147] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 933. [148] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 100, 101, 102; visitas de barcelona, leg. 15, fol. 2.--llorente, añales, ii. 303.--instrucciones de 1561, §§ 31, 32, 34 (arguello, fol. 31). [149] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 101; visitas de barcelona, leg. 15, fol. 20.--instrucciones de 1561, § 32 (arguello, fol. 31).--mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 376. [150] proceso contra marí gómez la sazeda, fol. 55 (ms. _penes me_). [151] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 112, n. 71, fol. 52. [152] ibidem, leg. 111, fol. 47. [153] praxis procedendi, cap. 15, n. 1 (archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia). when, in 1601, maximilian i of bavaria consulted the legal faculty of padua concerning witchcraft trials, one of his questions was whether a copy of the evidence should be given to the accused, or whether it should be stated to him by the judge and he be required to answer on the spot, as thus the truth might be better discovered. to this the answer was emphatic. all authorities unanimously required the accused to be furnished with a copy and to be allowed a competent time to answer. nowhere in the law was to be found an exception to this, even in the most atrocious crimes; the right of defence was a natural right of which the accused could not be deprived. the force of this, however, was somewhat weakened by an admission that it was in the power of a monarch to limit the defence.--marc. anton. peregrini consilium de sagis, n. 144-50 (diversi tractatus, colon. agripp. 1629). [154] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 933.--praxis procedendi, cap. 16, n. 1 (_ubi sup._). [155] simancæ enchirid. tit. xlvii. [156] fuero juzgo, lib. <small>ii, tit. i, ley 22.--fuero real, lib. <small>i, tit. vii, ley 9.--partidas, p. <small>iii, tit. iv, ley 22. [157] instrucciones de 1561, § 52 (arguello, fol. 34). [158] cartas de jesuitas (mem. hist. español, xv, 112). [159] proceso contra fr. luis de leon (col. de documentos, x, 567; xi, 23, 29). [160] arch. hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 299, fol. 80. [161] archivo de simancas, lib. 78, fol. 145, 146. [162] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 114, n. 14. [163] instrucciones de 1561, § 60 (arguello, fol. 35). [164] elucidationes s^{ti} officii, § 57 (archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2}, lib 4). [165] pegnæ comment. 22 in eymerici director. p. <small>iii. [166] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol 92. [167] pegna, _loc. cit._ [168] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. x. [169] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 2, n. 15; leg. 12, n. 2, fol. 126. [170] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 890. [171] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 6). [172] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [173] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 183, n. 779. [174] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 112, n. 74, fol. 53. [175] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 82, fol. 75, 76.--in 1574, however, in a similar case, the tribunal is ordered not to send to france.--ibidem, fol. 125. [176] proceso contra maría altamira, fol. 175, 178, 180 sqq (mss. of am. philos. society). [177] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 112, n. 71, fol. 66-72. [178] ibidem, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 2, n. 7, fol. 10; n. 10, fol. 79. [179] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 41. [180] thomás sánchez, in præcepta decalogi, lib. <small>ii, cap. vii, n. 36.--simancas de cath. institt. tit. <small>xxxi, n. 5.--bibl. nacional, mss., v, 377, cap. ii, § 18. [181] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 6). [182] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 72, fol. 76. [183] ibidem, lib. 76, fol. 227; lib. 939, fol. 72, 95, 96. [184] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 13. [185] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 52. [186] praxis procedendi, cap. 8, n. 4 (archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia).--ibidem, leg. 10, n. 2, fol. 36. [187] carbonell de gestis hæret. (col. de documentos de la c. de aragon, xxviii, 12, 27).--instrucciones de 1561, § 4 (arguello, fol. 32).--mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 213 fol., p. 160; 218^{b}, p. 397. when a similar abuse sprang up in the criminal courts of catalonia, the fiscal was emphatically forbidden to be present at the voting of the judges.--constitucions en la cort en lany m d iii (barcelona, 1540). [188] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 104.--_abogados del fiaco_ however, were competent to serve. [189] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 148, n. 267. [190] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 99, n. 25. [191] instrucciones de 1561, § 40 (arguello, fol. 32).--archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 68. [192] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [193] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 104. [194] arnald. albert. de agnoscendis assertionibus, q. <small>xxvi, n. 13, 15. [195] rojas de hæret. p. i, n. 409, 422-3. [196] simancæ de cath. institt. tit. xli, n. 11, 14. [197] instrucciones de 1561, § 66 (arguello, fol. 36). [198] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, sala 39, leg. 4, fol. 71. [199] ibidem, lib. 877, fol. 96. [200] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 890. [201] history of inquisition of the middle ages, i, 419. [202] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 140, n. 162.--cf. leg. 148, n. 267; leg. 154, n. 356. [203] instrucciones de 1488, § 3; de 1498 § 3 (arguello, fol. 9, 12).--instrucciones de 1500, § 6 (vol. i, p. 580). [204] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 3, fol. 89. [205] ibidem, inquisicion de barcelona, córtes, leg. 17, fol. 47, 48. [206] colmeiro, córtes de leon y de castilla, ii, 217, 234, 248, 264, 273-4. [207] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 125. [208] mss. of public library of toledo, sala 5, estante 11, tab. 3. [209] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 82, fol. 171; lib. 939, fol. 125; lib. 942, fol. 29; lib. 979, fol. 38. [210] ibidem, lib. 939, fol. 97.--ibidem, canarias, exp^{tes} de visitas, leg. 250, lib. 1, fol. 6.--instrucciones de 1561, §§ 13, 15, 18 (arguello, fol. 29). [211] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 38. these cases are 1st 2nd 3rd arrest audience audience audience acacio bautillo jan. 24, 1647 jan. 14, 1648 jan. 25, 1648 may 20, 1648 ant. rodrígues " 18, " " 9, " " 25, " june 4, " del cano gaspar rodrígues " 25, " " 12, " feb. 10, " may 16, " del cano juan de isla " 24, " " 15, " jan. 25, " july 8, " francisco de " 26, " " 27, " feb. 1, " " 7, " herrera gaspar de " 25, " " 27, " " 1, " may 16, " herrera miguel vásques " 28, " " 22, " jan. 27, " nov. 16, " antonio de espinosa " 18, " " 9, " " 24, " feb. 17, " [212] 1649, sept. 9. arrest of joseph brunon de vertiz. oct. 5 to nov. 12. numerous audiences. nov. 22. audience at his request. " 23 to dec. 4. five audiences on the inventory of his papers and effects. 1650, jan. 25. audience to ratify his confessions. feb. 8. audience at his request. " 19. " " " mar. 23. " " " june 9. " " " aug. 17. " " " 1651, jan. 9. " " " 1652, april 19. " " " may 11. inquisitors visit the cells. " 27. audience at his request. 1654, july 23. " " " 1655, aug. 14. summoned to audience to ask if he has more to say. 1656, april 26. asks an audience in his cell as he is sick. " 27. audience granted by mistake. " 30. his death. 1657, may 11. the fiscal presents the accusation. 1658, june 1. citation to kindred issued. nov. 3. citation published in vera cruz. dec. 10. his brother's procurator appears. 1659, mar. 3. the fiscal asks that the procurator be sworn. oct. 22. procurator and advocate sworn--defence abandoned. nov. - auto de fe in which he is burnt in effigy. (mss. of david fergusson esq.) [213] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 114, n. 13. [214] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 12, n. 2, fol. 126. [215] bibl. nacional, mss., mm, 130.--archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 890. [216] innocent. pp. iii regest <small>ix, 213.--cap. 12, tit. xxviii, extra, lib. <small>iii.--cap. 2, tit. 1, in sexto lib. <small>v. [217] institt. <small>iv, 18.--digest. xlviii, iv, 11.--cod. <small>ix, 8.--cod. theodos. i, v, 4. [218] see an interesting paper by george neilson esq. (legal lore, london, 1897, p. 224) on the trial of the dead for high treason in england and scotland. [219] fueros de aragon, fol. 158, 204 (zaragoza, 1624).--observantiæ regni aragonum, lib. <small>viii, de contumacia, § 5.--ordinacions del regne de mallorca, p. 224.--ferrer, methodus procedendi, fol. 49^{b}. [220] relacion de la inquisicion toledona (boletin, xi, 301, 304-6). [221] ramon de santa maría (boletin, xxii, 190-3, 204, 368-71). [222] instrucciones de 1484, § 20 (arguello, fol. 7).--archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 933. [223] see vol. i, appendix, p. 577. [224] proceso contra luis de leon (col. de documentos, x, 150-1). see vol. i, p. 546, for the period in which sigüenza was conjoined with the tribunal of cuenca. [225] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 137, n. 98; leg. 165, n. 551. [226] bibliothèque nationale de france, fonds espagnol, 76, 77, 93. [227] instrucciones de 1498, § 4 (arguello, fol. 12). [228] instrucciones de 1561, §§ 61-3 (arguello, fol. 35). [229] simancæ de cath. institt., tit. <small>xviii, n. 13.--pegnæ comment. 92 in eymerici direct., p. <small>iii.--praxis procedendi, cap. 7, n. 9 (archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia). [230] rojas de hæret p. <small>ii, n. 30-31.--simancæ, _op. cit._, tit. <small>xviii, n. 12.--pegna, _ubi sup._--sousæ aphoris. inquisit. lib <small>ii, cap. 50, n. 11. [231] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 67-8. [232] instrucciones de 1484, § 19 (arguello, fol. 7). [233] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 139, n. 145. [234] ibidem, leg. 177, n. 702. [235] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 979, fol. 39; lib. 933. [236] ibidem, lib. 979, fol. 37.--archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 10).--pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 53-4. [237] miguel calvo (archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2}, lib. 4).--simancæ de cath. institt. tit. <small>ii, n. 20, 21. [238] proceso contra diego rodriguez silva, fol. 27-34; proceso contra ana enríquez, fol. 158 (mss. _penes me_). [239] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 43. [240] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 11, n. 2, fol. 122.--libro xiii de cartas, fol. 184 (mss. of am. philos. society). [241] olmo, relacion del auto, etc., pp. 101-2. [242] royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [243] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 9). [244] llorente (hist. crít. cap. xliv, art. 1, n. 38, 39, 40) quotes from the _gazette de france_ an account of a reform in the procedure of the roman inquisition in 1816, assimilating it to that of the secular courts, a reform which was to be extended to the inquisition everywhere. there is no trace of such action in the bullarium of pius vii or in the collectio lacensis. if it was enforced in italy, the spanish holy office paid no attention to it. [245] in the appendix will be found some fragmentary statistics illustrating the comparative frequency of the various punishments inflicted by the inquisition. [246] bibl. nationale de france, fonds espagnol, 354, fol. 248-69. [247] mss. of bibl. nacional de lima. [248] see appendix for a specimen of the conclusion of a sentence. [249] medina, historia de la inquisicion de lima, ii, 108, 109 [250] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 979, fol. 40. [251] ibidem, legajo 552, fol. 33.--llorente, hist. crít. cap. <small>ix, art. <small>xv. [252] instrucciones de 1561, § 51 (arguello, fol. 54). [253] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 112; lib. 979, fol. 31, 38. [254] ibidem, sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 187. [255] melgares marin, procedimientos de la inquisicion, ii, 153. [256] archivo de simancas, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 428. for a brief account of lucrecia de leon see the author's "chapters from the religious history of spain," p. 359. [257] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 40 [258] instrucciones de 1498, § 6 (arguello, fol. 12-13). [259] llorente, añales, ii, 31. [260] elucidationes s^{ti} officii, § 27 (archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg 544^{2}, lib. 4). [261] proceso contra isabel de montoya, fol. 318-26, 342-5, 348 (ms. _penes me_). [262] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [263] biographie universelle, s. v. _barre_.--l'oiseleur, les crimes et les peines, p. 232 (paris, 1863). [264] elucidationes s^{ti} officii, § 41 (archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2}, lib. 4). [265] ibidem, § 32 [266] ms. memoria de diversos autos (appendix to vol. 1). [267] d. manuel serrano y sans (revista de archivos, april, 1902, p. 254). [268] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 61, 63. [269] simancæ de cath. instt. tit. <small>xvi, n. 24-5. [270] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 377. [271] mss of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. iii, ix. [272] alberghini, manualis qualificator. cap. xxxiij. [273] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 33. [274] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [275] ibidem, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 2, fol. 79. [276] royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [277] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 787 [278] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 22. [279] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. carena (tract. de off. s. inquisit. p. <small>ii. tit. xvii, n. 9) mentions a case in which the tribunal of murcia condemned to the galleys a priest who celebrated mass while under suspension by the holy see. [280] see the author's inquisition of the middle ages, i, 453; iii, 513. [281] collect. decretor. s. congr. s^{ti} officii, p. 353.--ristretto cerca li delitti più frequenti nel s. officio, p. 162 (mss. _penes me_). [282] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 132, n. 39; leg. 183, n. 779. [283] carbonell de gestis hæreticor. (col. de doc. de la c. de aragon, xxviii, 144, 145, 147, 149). [284] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 262. [285] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol 41.--cap. 10, tit. iii in septimo lib. v. notwithstanding pablo garcía's formula, the sentence of acquittal of jan of antwerp, tried at toledo for lutheranism in 1561, asserts itself to be _diffinitiva_.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 110, n. 31, fol. 30. [286] pablo garcía, _loc. cit._--archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 979, fol. 20. [287] páramo, p. 269. [288] palma, añales de la inquisicion de lima, pp. 19, 38, 140 (madrid, 1898). [289] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, sala 39, leg. 4, fol. 71. [290] instrucciones de 1498, § 4 (arguello, fol. 12) [291] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 299, fol. 80. [292] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 339. [293] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [294] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 877, fol. 228. [295] ibidem, lib. 890, fol. 12. [296] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 2, n. 10, fol. 79; inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [297] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 3, 26. [298] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 111, n. 46, fol. 30-4. [299] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 31 [300] ibidem, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 262. [301] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [302] archivo hist. nacional. inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1 [303] ibidem, leg. 498, fol. 259. [304] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 890. [305] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 100. [306] it is still employed in ecclesiastical cases as a mode of proof. in november, 1904, a dispensation to dissolve a marriage was granted on proof of its non-consummation, by the oath of the parties, supported "dal testimonio di settima mano."--il consulente ecclesiastico, gennaio, 1905, p. 8. [307] bibl. nationale de france, fonds espagnol 80, fol. 346-52. two cases in barcelona, in 1488, with somewhat different details, will be found in carbonell _de gestis hæreticor_. (col. de doc. de la c. de aragon, xxviii, 26-7, 123-35). [308] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 164, n. 531.--carbonell, _op. cit._, p. 154. [309] instrucciones de 1500, § 8 (vol. i, appendix, p. 580).--arguello, fol. 14. [310] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 102. [311] archives de l'état, bruxelles, registre sur le faict des hérésies, etc., fol. 652-6 (kindly communicated by professor paul fredericq). [312] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 68, 87. [313] simancæ de cath. institt. tit. lvi, n. 15. [314] ibidem, n. 12, 31. [315] instrucciones de 1561, § 47 (arguello, fol. 33). [316] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 69-72. [317] modo de proceder, fol 62 (bibl. nacional, mss., d, 122).--archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 4). [318] decret. sac. congr. s^{ti} officii, p. 43 (bibl. del r. archivio di stato in roma, fondo camerale, congr. del s. officio, vol. 3) [319] carenæ tract. de off. s. inquisit. p. 388 (ed. lugduni, 1669). [320] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i.--"y no resultando culpa fuele reprehendido y advertido para adelante." [321] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 299, fol. 80.--mss. of library of univ. of halle, _loc. cit._--archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 3, 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 22, 28, 29 [322] mss. of library of univ. of toledo, yc, 20, t. i. [323] repreension de un inquisidor á un reo (mss. of bodleian library, arch. s, 130). [324] eymerici director. p. <small>ii, q. lv, n. 16.--pegnæ comment. 80 _in loc_. [325] alberghini, manualis qualificator. cap. <small>xv, n. 1-3. [326] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 4). [327] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [328] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 38-9.--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 498.--archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 118. [329] bibl. nacional, mss., pp, 28, q. 4; ibidem kk, 53.--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [330] bibl. nacional, mss., v, 377, cap. ii, § 9. [331] instrucciones de 1561, § 46 (arguello, fol. 33). [332] archivo de simancas, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [333] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [334] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 41. [335] ibidem, fol. 42. [336] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 1183, fol. 6. [337] llorente, hist. crít., cap. xliii, art. iv, n. 1. [338] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [339] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1.--ibidem, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 2, n. 10, fol. 1, 7, 41, 42. [340] libro xiii de cartas, fol. 38 (mss. of am. philos. society). [341] constt. <small>v, <small>viii, § 3, cod. i, <small>v.--siete partidas, p. <small>vii, tit. xxxvi, ley 5. [342] alexand. pp. iv, bull _ad extirpanda_, § 21.--huillard bréholles, hist. diplom. frid. ii, t. iv, pp. 299-300.--pegnæ comment. 92 in eymerici director. p. <small>iii. [343] eymerici director. p. <small>ii, q. 11. [344] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 1. [345] llorente, añales, i, 359. [346] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 78, fol. 235. [347] bibl. nacional, mss., s, 121.--pegnæ comment. 92 in eymerici director. p. <small>iii.--ed. böhmer, francisca hernández, p. 228.--archivo de simancas, hacienda, leg. 25, fol. 2. [348] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 19. [349] auto de la fe celebrada en madrid, esto año de 1632 (bodleian library, arch. seld. i, 1).--llorente, hist. crít. cap. <small>xxxviii, art. 1, n. 7. [350] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 34. [351] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [352] ibidem. [353] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 78, fol. 332. [354] ibidem, lib. 81, fol. 27. [355] bibl. nacional, mss., s, 121. [356] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 2, n. 10, fol. 44. [357] ibidem, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [358] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 17, 22.--at this period autos de fe were not frequent and, at the close of 1638, the culprits were still awaiting one. [359] obregon, méxico viejo, 1º serie, p. 186 (méxico, 1891). [360] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [361] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 41.--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 31, fol. 2.--bibl. nationale de france, fonds espagnol, 354, fol. 242.--bodleian library, arch. seld. i. 1.--olmo, relacion del auto, pp. 294-5. the roman inquisition was more merciful. not only was scourging much lighter than in spain and less frequently prescribed but, by a decree of feb. 23, 1641, it was commuted when the offender had sisters, daughters or grandchildren of respectable position. it was also spared to women who had husbands or marriageable daughters.--collectio decretor. s. congr. s^{ti} officii, p. 358; ristretto cerca li delitti più frequenti nel s. offizio, p. 53 (mss. _penes me_). [362] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, visitas de barcelona, leg. 15, fol. 20. [363] danvila y collado, expulsion de los moriscos, pp. 208-16.--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 2, n. 10. [364] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20. t. i. [365] royal library of berlin, q^{t}. 9548. [366] see appendix to vol. ii. [367] archivo de simancas, hacienda, leg. 25, fol. 2. [368] proceso contra margarita altamira, fol. 40 (mss. of am. philos. society). [369] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 2, n. 10, fol. 37, 54, 55, 74. [370] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [371] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 890. [372] pedraza, hist. eccles. de granada, p. <small>iv, cap. 129 (granada, 1638). [373] simancæ de cath. instt. tit. xlviii, n. 6.--pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 31. [374] archivo de simancas, hacienda, leg. 25.--olmo, relacion del auto, p. 104. [375] fueros de aragon, fol. 164, 204, 220, 238 (zaragoza, 1624). [376] archivo de sevilla, seccion primera, carpeta <small>v, n. 41 (sevilla, 1860). [377] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. ii, fol. 130.--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 2, n. 16, fol. 292. [378] carbonell de gest. hæret. (col. de doc. de la c. de aragon, xxviii, 166). [379] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 187. [380] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 3, fol. 238. [381] ibidem, lib. 76, fol. 71. [382] mem. histórico español, vi, 501. [383] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 41.--mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [384] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 228. [385] relazioni venete, serie i, t. v, p. 140. [386] bledæ defensio fidei, p. 310. [387] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 119; lib. 962, fol. 25.--elucidationes s^{ti} officii, § 6 (archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2}, lib. 4).--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 5, n. 1, fol. 65, 66. [388] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 187.--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 299, fol. 80. [389] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 5, n. 1, fol. 285, 329. [390] bibl. nacional, mss., pv, 3, n. 20. [391] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 10, fol. 1. [392] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 10, fol. 5.--franchina, breve rapporto del trib. della s. s. inq. di sicilia, p. 189. [393] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 82, fol. 148. [394] modo de proceder, fol. 72 (bibl. nacional, mss., d. 122). [395] libro xiii de cartas, fol. 116 (mss. of am. phil. society). [396] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 187. [397] royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [398] autos acordados, lib. v, tit. xxi, auto 13.--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [399] archivo hist. nacional, _loc. cit._; inquisicion de valencia, leg. 16, n. 5, fol. 50.--royal library of berlin, qt., 9548. [400] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 435^{2}. [401] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 435^{2}. [402] carenæ; de officio ss. inquisit. p. <small>iii, tit. xiii, § 3. [403] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 942, fol. 15--"los avitos de las personas que en tal auto se condenaron á reconciliacion."--cf. elucidationes sancti officii § 57 (archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 244^{2}, lib. 4). [404] instrucciones de 1484, § 10 (arguello, fol. 10). [405] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 33-36. [406] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 6). [407] cap. 4 in sexto, <small>v, ii.--s. th. aquin. summæ sec. sec. q. xi, art. 4. [408] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 595.--cf. d. manuel serrano y sans, revista de archivos, abril, 1902, p. 259. [409] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 336.--mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc. 20, t. i.--royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [410] rojas de hæret. p. <small>i, n. 115-16.--bibl. nacional, mss., s, 194, fol. 267. [411] garau, la fee triunfante, pp. 113-14. [412] llorente, hist. crít. cap. <small>xxxviii, art. 1, n. 15.--carbonell de gest. hæret. (col. de doc. de la c. de aragon, xxviii, 146). [413] relacion del auto de 1632 (bodleian library, arch. seld. i, 1).--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [414] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 1. [415] ibidem, inquisicion de granada, expedientes varios, leg. 2. [416] vol. i, appendix, p. 575.--arguello, fol. 19. [417] archivo gen. de la c. de aragon, regist. 3684, fol. 102. see vol i, p. 567. [418] bibliothèque nationale de france, fonds espagnol, 80, fol. 168-9. [419] instrucciones de 1498, § 14 (arguello, fol. 11). cf. archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 933. [420] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 933. [421] ibidem, lib. 939, fol. 96, 116, 114; lib. 933; lib. 3, fol. 57. [422] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 90. [423] ibidem, sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 137, 202, 218.--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 382. [424] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 217. [425] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 939, fol. 116, 119. [426] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 34. [427] instrucciones de 1561, §§ 79, 80 (arguello, fol. 38). [428] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 116. [429] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 213 fol., p. 111, 141. [430] bibl. nacional, mss., d, 118, fol. 108, n. 38. [431] obregon, méxico viejo, 1º serie, p. 193. [432] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i.--mss. of elkan n. adler esq. valencia already had a prison of some sort, of evil repute, as set forth by fray nicolas del rio, in 1606, in a memorial to the suprema. the prisoners are all moors, who live there in the full enjoyment of their religion; all women there become debauched, so that they can no longer be placed in it.--boronat, los moriscos españoles, ii, 449. [433] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 9, n. 2, fol. 71, 78. [434] archivo de simancas, inquisicion de granada, expedientes varios, leg. 2. [435] modo de proceder, fol. 74 (bibl. nacional, mss., d, 122). [436] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 552, fol. 33. [437] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, sala 39, leg. 4, fol. 80.--royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [438] bibl. nacional, mss., bb, 122.--royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [439] archivo de simancas, inquisicion de corte, leg. 359, fol. 1. [440] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 4, n. 3, fol. 84, 260. [441] ibidem, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [442] historia de los reyes católicos, cap. xliv. [443] carbonell de gest. hæret. (col. de doc. de la c. de aragon, xxviii, 14, 18-19, 33, 35, 62).--manuel de novells ardits, iii, 69, 70. [444] bibl. nacional, mss., g, 61, fol. 208. [445] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 933. [446] simancæ de cath. instt. tit. <small>xvi, n. 21, 22. [447] royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [448] proceso contra mayor garcía, fol. <small>xx (ms. _penes me_). [449] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 933. [450] ibidem, lib. 939, fol. 115; lib. 933. [451] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 382; leg. 5, n. 1, fol. 352. [452] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, leg. 1183, fol. 14, 30. see appendix for a specimen of a letter of commutation. [453] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 262, n. 4; ibidem, leg. 1.--bibl. nacional, mss., s, 294, fol. 375. [454] trasmiera, vida de pedro arbués, p. 44 (madrid, 1664). [455] eymerici director. p. <small>iii, n. 175. notwithstanding this ancient use in aragon, the inquisitors of saragossa reported, in 1530, to the suprema that it had never been the custom there for the reconciled to wear the sanbenito, to which the suprema replied that it was the general practice of the inquisition and that aragon must conform to it.--archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 76, fol. 312. [456] relacion de la inquisicion toledana (boletin, xi, 303). [457] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 117. [458] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 256. [459] instrucciones de 1561, § 41 (arguello, fol. 33-4).--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 30, 31, 375, 382. [460] páramo, p. 42. [461] llorente, añales, ii, 39. [462] bibl. nacional, mss., s, 294, fol. 375; bb, 122.--mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 327. [463] bibl. nacional, mss., g, 50, fol. 248-9. [464] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [465] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 936; lib. 73, fol. 315. [466] carbonell de gest. hæret. (col. de doc. de la c. de aragon, xxviii, 50-1). [467] instrucciones de 1561, § 81 (arguello, fol. 38). [468] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 117. [469] páramo, pp. 42-3, 203. [470] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 942, fol. 15, 20; lib. 939, fol. 117. [471] instrucciones de 1561, § 81 (arguello, fol. 38). [472] páramo, pp. 42-3.--llorente, añales, ii, 41.--bibl. nacional, mss., s, 121. [473] proceso contra fray luis de leon (col. de doc. ined., x, 165-8). [474] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 72, fol. 30; lib. 939, fol. 117.--boletin, xi, 309. [475] boletin, xv, 340. [476] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, n. 18. [477] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 117. [478] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. iii, fol. 86. [479] pedraza, hist. eccles. de granada, lib. iv, cap. 37. [480] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 2, fol. 89. [481] instrucciones de 1561, § 81 (arguello, fol. 38). [482] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 272. [483] archivo de simancas inq., lib. 939, fol. 144; lib. 942, fol. 20. [484] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 11, n. 1, fol. 65. [485] ibidem, leg. 98. [486] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de valencia, leg. 10, n. 2, fol. 41, 117. [487] ibidem, leg. 30, fol. 40. [488] ibidem, leg. 16, n. 5, fol. 54. [489] coleccion de los decretos de las córtes generales etc., ii, 219 (madrid, 1820). the allusion in this to _cuadros_ and _pinturas_ refers to a custom, not officially recognized, by which exuberant pietistic malignity supplemented the sanbenitos with portraits and pictures bearing the names of the sufferers. for a florid description of this see "voyage en espagne par m. le marquis de langle," ii, 78 (londres, 1786). this somewhat notorious work was burnt by order of the parlement in 1788. its author was jérome-charlemagne fleuriau and it ran through six editions between 1785 and 1803. [490] taronji, estado religioso etc. de mallorca, p. 257. [491] collectio decretor. s. congr. s^{ti} officii p. 205 (ms. _penes me_). [492] const. 5, cod. <small>x, viii. [493] huillard-bréholles, hist. diplom. frid. ii, t. iv, p. 302.--cap. 2, § 2 and cap. 5, in sexto, v, iii.--cap. 5 septimi decret. v, iii. [494] alph. de castro de justa hæret. punit. lib. <small>ii, cap. 10, 11. [495] concil. biterrens. ann. 1246, concil. de modo procedendi cap. 28 (harduin, vii, 420). [496] instrucciones de 1484, § 6 (arguello, fol. 4).--archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 933. [497] llorente, añales, i, 113. [498] instrucciones de 1488, § 11 (arguello, fol. 10). [499] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 115. [500] ibidem, lib. 1. [501] ibidem, lib. 933, p. 143. as printed in the nueva recop. lib. <small>viii, tit. iii, leyes 3, 4, there are some clauses omitted. [502] ibidem, lib. 939, fol. 108, 115. [503] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 933. [504] ibidem, lib. 3, fol. 374, 380. [505] ibidem, fol. 419, 445. [506] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 927, fol. 676; lib. 79, fol. 18; lib. 939, fol. 108. [507] farinacci de hæresi, q. 191, n. 56, 68.--pegnæ comment. 164 in eymerici director. p. <small>iii--bibl. nacional, mss. v, 377. [508] archivo de simancas, inquisicion, lib. 939, fol. 109, 115.--simancæ de cath. instt. tit. xlvii, n. 25, 26. [509] archivo de simancas, hacienda, leg. 25, fol. 1. [510] bibl. nacional, mss, v, 377, cap. 26. [511] ibidem, d, 118, p. 148. [512] escobar á carro de puritate, p. <small>ii, q. iv, § 3, n. 48. [513] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 926, fol. 24. [514] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 552, fol. 23. [515] ibidem, registro de genealogias, n. 916, fol. 61. (see appendix.) [516] ibidem, inq., lib. 890. [517] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 4, n. 3, fol. 27. [518] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 939, fol. 109. [519] catálogo de las causas seguidas ante el tribunal de toledo, pp. 131-40 (madrid, 1903). [520] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [521] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 896, fol. 1. [522] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 334. [523] llorente, hist. crít. cap. <small>xxviii, art. ii, n. 10. [524] böhmer, francisca hernández, pp. 174-5. [525] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 1. [526] cap. 1, tit. ii; cap. 2, tit. ix in sexto, lib. <small>v--c. trident. sess. <small>xiii, de reform, cap. 4. [527] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 473.--bibl. nacional, mss., r, 128. p. 35.--archivo municipal de sevilla, seccion especial, siglo xviii, letra a, tom. 4, n. 54. [528] c. gerundens. ann. 1197 (aguirre, v, 102-3).--constitt. sicular. lib i, tit. 1.--huillard-bréholles, hist. diplom. frid. ii, tom. v, p. 201.--fuero real de españa, lib. <small>iv, tit. 1, ley 1. [529] gloss. hostiensis in cap. _ad abolendam_ n. 14 (eymerici director. p. <small>ii).--cap. 27, tit. 40, extra, lib. <small>v. the attitude of the church is defined in these canons: "a cleric shall not sentence to death or mutilation, under pain of deprivation of honor and benefice."--cap. 5, tit. 50, extra, lib. <small>iii (alex. iii). "no cleric shall utter or dictate a sentence of blood, or exercise capital jurisdiction, or be present where it is exercised. nor shall a cleric write or dictate letters concerning judgements of blood. nor shall a subdeacon, deacon or priest practise surgery involving cutting or cautery."--ibid. cap. 9 (concil. lateran. iv). the german prince-bishops, who had _haute et basse justice_, did not invest their judges with power to pronounce sentences of blood, but procured commissions for them from the emperor, as otherwise they were deemed blood-guilty and were deprived of their office. the secular princes were under no such obligation.--schwabenspiegel cap. cxi (senckenberg, corp. jur. german, ii, 140).--see also schwäbisches lehenrecht cap. xvii (ibid. ii, 17, 18). a cleric uttering a sentence of blood, causing mutilation or death, becomes irregular and, on this account, although he does not _ipso jure_ forfeit his benefices, yet he is to be deprived of them by the ordinary or forced to resign them.--thesaurus, de p[oe]nis ecclesiasticis, s. v. _judicis laici munus_, cap. 2.--cf. ferraris, prompta bibliotheca, s. v. _irregularitas_, art. <small>i, n. 11; art. <small>ii. [530] formulary of the papal penitentiary, rubr. xlii (philadelphia, 1892).--archivo hist, nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 110, n. 31, fol. 4.--a commentator of the seventeenth century argues that clerics who seek to gain this indulgence become irregular if the wood they bring actually aids in burning the heretic.--jac. a graffiis decis. aureæ casuum conscientiæ p. <small>ii, lib. ii, cap. 19, n. 3. [531] bullar. roman. i, 611. [532] astesani summæ de casibus conscientiæ, lib. <small>i, tit. lviii. art. 4. [533] cap. 18, tit. ii in sexto, lib. <small>v. [534] relacion de la inquisicion toledana (boletin, xi, 300). [535] boletin, v, 404. [536] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 132, n. 31. [537] innocent, pp. viii, bull. _dilectus filius_, 30 sept. 1486 (pegnæ append. ad eymerici direct. p. 84). [538] mich. alberti repertorium, s. vv. communicare § _sed an quando; executio § qualiter_. [539] torreblanca, epitome delictorum, sive de magia, lib. iii, cap. xxix, n. 15-17. "et eo jure utimur quia potestates sæculares in tali casu sunt meri executores." see also vol. i, p. 603, in the proclamation of the civil power, on the arrival of an inquisitor, the clauses requiring secular officials to inflict "las debidas penas cada y quando por el dicho venerable inquisidor sera declarado." [540] fontana, documenta vaticana, pp. 137, 145 (rome, 1892). the roman inquisition made no pretence that its judgements were not final; it assumed that it sentenced to mutilation and death, and in this it claimed that those concerned were immune from the canonical irregularity.--collectio decretor s. congr. s^{ti} officii, p 219 (ms. _penes me_). [541] pegnæ comment. 48 in eymerici director. p. <small>ii. in view of the unvarying practice of the church for nearly six hundred years, it requires hardihood for a writer, in 1902, to argue that the civil magistrate and not the inquisition was responsible for the burning of heretics.--razon y fe, t. iv, p. 358 (madrid, 1902). [542] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 74. [543] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 213 fol., p. 126.--"en ellos las primeras causas que deben leerse son las de relaxados, para que incontinenti puedan entregarse al juez real sin permitirle dilacion con pretexto alguno en la execuzion de la sentencia; pues siempre queda al tribunal jurisdiccion segura para obligarle por censuras y otras penas á su puntual cumplimiento." [544] arn. albertini de agnoscendis assertionibus q. <small>xxv, n. 44-5. [545] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 473.--olmo, relacion del auto, p. 287. [546] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 926, fol. 257. [547] ibidem, lib. 42, fol. 291, 293, 308. [548] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 32, 54, 59, 68. [549] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. i de copias, fol. 139.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 3, fol. 323, 456; lib. 927, fol. 349. [550] ibidem, lib. 922, fol. 682. [551] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. iv, fol. 169. [552] bullar. roman. ii, 298.--bibl. nacional, mss., d, 118, p. 82.--archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 1049.--archivo de simancas, inq. lib. 939, fol. 63. [553] bulario de la orden de santiago, libro iii, fol. 156. [554] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 922, fol. 685.--bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. iv, fol. 169-70. [555] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 42, fol. 246, 255-7; lib. 17, fol. 70; lib. 25, fol. 156. [556] eymerici director, p. <small>ii, q. xi. [557] instrucciones de 1484, § 12 (arguello, fol. 5). [558] instrucciones de 1561, § 44 (arguello, fol. 33). [559] royal library of berlin, qt, 9548. [560] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 552, fol. 3. [561] mss. del archivo municipal de sevilla, seccion especial, siglo xviii, letra a., t. 4, n. 53. [562] see vol. i, appendix, p. 593. [563] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 262. [564] simancæ de cath. instt. tit xlvii, n. 73.--archivo de simancas, patronato real, inq., leg. único, fol. 13.--bibl. nacional, mss., v, 377, cap. iii, § 5. [565] pegnæ commentt. 36, 46, in eymerici direct. p. <small>ii. [566] carbonell _op. cit._ (col. de doc. de la c. de aragon, xxviii, 13, 15, 29). [567] bibl. nacional, mss., d, 153, fol. 95. this was the rule also in the roman inquisition. del bene tells us that strictly according to law the convicted heretic is to be burnt alive, but that "among christians this is not followed, unless he is pertinacious, in which case there is no reason why he should not be burnt alive."--de officio s. inquisitionis, ii, 113 (romæ, 1666). [568] d. n. herqueta (boletin, xlv, 424-33). [569] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 10 n. 2, fol 136. [570] royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [571] bibl. nacional, mss. s, 294, fol. 375. [572] simancæ enchirid. tit. <small>xxxi, n. 3. [573] instrucciones de 1561, § 43 (arguello, fol. 33). [574] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 979, fol. 40; lib. 876, fol. 105^{b}. [575] bibl. nacional, mss., v, 377, cap. 10. [576] bibl. nacional, mss., r, 128. [577] ibidem, r, 118, p. 35. [578] ibidem, pp, 67-10, fol. 101. [579] royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [580] simancæ enchirid. tit. lxii, n. 10.--rojas de hæret. p <small>ii, n. 183-4. [581] bibl. nacional, mss., g, 54, fol. 249. [582] candido múñoz, question theologico-moral acerca del reo de fe, etc. (madrid, 1725).--mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 361. [583] bibl. nacional, mss., v, 377, cap. iii, § 6. [584] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 10). [585] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [586] simancæ de cath. instt. tit. xlvii, n. 60-63; enchirid. tit. lix. [587] bullar. roman, i, 821.--on the plea that such heretics claimed exemption from this on the ground of ignorance, clement viii, february 3, 1603, renewed and confirmed in perpetuity the act of paul iv.--bullar. iii, 160. although the spanish inquisition preserved these decrees in its collections it does not seem to have acted on them. in 1568 there were two cases in valencia of heretics who, among other errors, denied the virginity of the virgin. one of these was a gascon, bernat de vidosa, who was reconciled with only reclusion in a monastery; the other was pedro sobrino, a fisherman of naples, more severely treated with ten years of galleys.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 31. [588] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. iii, fol. 63.--bibl. nacional, mss., r, 90, p. 252.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 930, fol. 26. [589] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 939, fol, 119.--bibl. nacional, mss., v, 377, cap. ix, § 3.--archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 4). [590] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 937, fol. 199. [591] royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [592] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 939, fol. 121. [593] simancæ de cath. instt. tit. lvii, n. 3. [594] pablo garcía, orden de processar, fol. 11. [595] miguel calvo (archive de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2}, lib. 4). [596] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 933. [597] simancæ _loc. cit._, n. 4. [598] instrucciones de 1561, § 41 (arguello, fol. 33). [599] elucidationes s. officii, § 23 (archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2}, lib. 4).--alphonsi de castro de justa hæret. punitione lib. <small>ii, cap. 2.--bibl. nacional, mss. v, 377, cap. ix, § 1. [600] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 3, fol. 72. [601] ibidem, lib. 926, fol. 49, 53, 57, 63, 67.--bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. ii, fol. 79; lib. iii, fol. 88, 109.--archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 1049. [602] olmo, relacion del auto, pp. 252-62. [603] garau, la fee triunfante, pp. 65-112. [604] royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [605] mss. del archivo municipal de sevilla, seccion especial, siglo xviii, letra a, tom. 4, n. 54.--bibl. nacional, mss., r, 128. [606] libro verde de aragon (revista de españa, cvi, 254). [607] carbonell, _op. cit_. (col. de doc. de la c. de aragon, xxviii, 62, 141, 152). [608] proceso contra fray luis de leon (col. de doc. inéd, x, 158-61). [609] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 1. [610] garau, la fee triunfante, pp. 39-42, 114-22. [611] royal library of berlin, qt., 9548. [612] elucidationes s. officii, § 19 (archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544,^{3} lib. 4).--matute y luquin, autos de fe de córdova, p. 270. [613] llorente, hist. crít., cap. xlii, art. i. n. 14. [614] ibidem, cap. xliii, art. iv, n. 1. [615] ibidem, cap. xliii, art. iv, n. 4. [616] páramo, p. 597. [617] archivo de simancas, inq. lib. i, lib. 933, p. 551. [618] relacion de la inquisicion toledana (boletin, ix, 300). [619] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. i. [620] ibidem, lib. 979, fol. 38. [621] ibidem, lib. 72, fol. 73. [622] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 4, fol. 9; lib. 5, fol. 24, 29. [623] ibidem, lib. 939, fol. 121.--instrucciones de 1561, § 77 (arguello, fol. 37). [624] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 1157, fol. 154, 155. [625] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 213 fol., p. 126. [626] archivo gen. de la c. de aragon, regist. 3684, fol. 91. [627] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 10, fol. 2; lib. 926, fol. 326-50; lib. 937, fol. 222; lib. 939, fol. 126--mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 213 fol., p. 126. [628] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 939, fol. 123.--archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 473.--juan gómez de mora, auto de la fé celebrado en madrid este año de 1632, §§ 4, 5.--olmo, relacion del auto, pp. 30-44. [629] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 939, fol. 123. [630] ibidem, lib. 926, fol. 313-25. [631] ibidem, hacienda, leg. 25. [632] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 473. [633] in the logroño auto of november 7, 1610, there marched in the procession a thousand familiars, commissioners and notaries. in that of barcelona, june 21, 1627, there were five or six hundred familiars and alguaziles.--auto de fe celebrado in logroño, 7 y 8 de noviembre, 1610 (logroño, 1610).--parets, sucesos de cataluña (mem. hist, español, xx, 20). [634] in the early autos, where there were large numbers of the dead and absent, an economical though somewhat grotesque device was that of _statuæ duplicatæ_--effigies with janus faces, one before and the other behind. at barcelona, january 25, 1488, there were five married couples thus represented by five effigies and, on may 23d, of the same year, twenty effigies were made to do duty for forty-two fugitives, while, on february 9, 1489, ten effigies served for thirty-nine absentees.--carbonell, _op. cit._ (col. de doc. de la c. de aragon, xxviii, 13, 15, 30). as regards the corozas or mitres, the roman inquisition, with a finer sense of what was fitting, forbade their use in 1596, as derogatory to the episcopal dignity, which was distinguished by the use of mitres.--decr. s. congr. s^{ti} officii, p. 458 (bibl. del r. archivo di stato in roma, fondo camerale, congr. del s. officio, vol. 3). [635] the procession of the _cruz verde_ was not universal. it was practised in valladolid, toledo, murcia and probably some others.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 979, fol. 40. [636] the cost of these meals was scrutinized. in 1571 the suprema ordered logroño not to spend more than twelve ducats on the breakfast. a carta acordada of january 25, 1574, refers to the heavy expenses for collation and breakfast given to inquisitors and officials, confessors and penitents. in future they are to be confined to confessors and penitents; if the inquisitors and officials want meals it must be at their own expense, and evidence of this must accompany the reports of the autos.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 82, fol. 9; lib. 942, fol. 39. [637] the royal oath, taken by the young carlos ii, at the madrid auto of 1680, with one hand on the cross and the other on the gospels, was as follows. the inquisitor-general said "vuestra magestad jura y promete por su fe y palabra real, que como verdadero y catolico rey, puesto por la mano de dios, defenderá con todo su poder la fe catolica que tiene y cree la santa madre iglesia apostolica de roma y la conservacion y aumento della, y que persiguirá y mandará perseguir á los hereges y apostatas contrarios della, y que mandará dar y dará el favor y ayuda necessario para el santo oficio de la inquisicion y ministros dello, para que los hereges perturbadores de nuestra religion cristiana sean prendidos y castigados conforme á los derechos y sacros canones, sin que aya omision de parte de vuestra magestad ni excepcion de persona alguna de qualquier calidad que sea." to this the king replied "assi lo juro y prometo por mi fee y palabra real." (olmo, relacion del auto, p. 125.) such an oath was administered to the prince don carlos at the valladolid auto of may 21, 1559 (gachard, don carlos, i, 47); also to philip ii at that of october 8, 1559 (cabrera, vida de felipe ii, lib. <small>v, cap. 3); also to philip iii at that of toledo, march 6, 1600 (mss. of library of university of halle., yc, 20, t. viii), and to philip iv at the madrid auto of 1632 (mora, auto de la fee, § 27). [638] at the great logroño auto of nov. 7-8, 1610, where there were fifty-three culprits, including twenty-nine witches, the sentences were so long that the day was consumed with the eleven cases of relaxation. the second day was occupied from dawn till nightfall; some of the sentences had to be curtailed, and the reconciliations were performed after dark.--auto de fe de logroño (logroño, 1611; madrid, 1820). [639] archivo de simancas, inq., sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 221. [640] mora, auto de la fee de 1632, § 44. [641] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [642] ant. rodríguez villa, la corte y monarquía de españa, p. 238. [643] archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1. [644] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 1.--archivo de simancas, gracia y justicia, inq., leg. 621, fol. 171. [645] relacion histórica de la juderia de sevilla, pp. 85 sqq. (sevilla, 1849). [646] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 937, fol. 123.--a commentator on this cites azpilcueta and peña to prove that in rome autos that included relaxations were held in churches and also that, in 1611, at cuenca an auto comprehending four relaxations was held in a church by order of the suprema.--bibl. nacional, mss., v, 377, cap. iii, § 2. [647] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 552, fol. 17, 22, 23. [648] archivo de simancas, _loc. cit._ [649] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 1.--archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 552, fol. 40.--proceso contra diego rodríguez silba, fol. 32-4 (ms. _penes me_). [650] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 42, fol. 289.--archivo hist. nacional, _ubi sup._ [651] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 11, n. 1, fol. 220, 230, 240. [652] archivo de simancas, lib. 42, fol. 239. whether through design or carelessness, this was not sent to the valencia tribunal until october 14, 1699, when it was enclosed in a letter saying that as it had not been forwarded at the time it was now sent for their instruction.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 10, n. 2, fol. 138. [653] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 42, fol. 291, 308. [654] bibl. nacional, mss., r. 128. [655] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 9). [656] ibidem. [657] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 1. [658] danvila y collado, expulsion de los moriscos, p. 106. [659] llorente, hist. crít., cap. <small>xxiv, art. 1, n. 2. [660] gachard, don carlos et philippe ii, i, 106-7. [661] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i; tom. viii. [662] moro, auto de la fee (madrid, 1632). [663] parets, sucesos de cataluña (mem. hist. español, xxiv, 297). [664] olmo, relacion del auto, p. 47. [665] llorente, hist. crít. cap. xl, art. 1, n. 3.--vicente de la fuente, hist. eclesiástica de españa, iii, 378.--"preparose un _auto_ de fe para obsequiar al rey, pues habian llegado los _autos_ á ser un obligado de todas las fiestas régias, como los toros y los fuegos artificiales. felipe v se negó por primera vez á concurrir á ellos; mas adelante se le vio asistir á uno (1720)." [666] amador de los rios, hist. de los judíos, iii, 381-3. [667] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 939, fol. 108. [668] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 389. [669] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 128. for illustration of the trivial evidence which justified prosecution for judaism see vol. ii, p. 566. [670] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 98. [671] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [672] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 787; leg. 1157, fol. 155. [673] archivo de simancas, inq., sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 177. [674] relasioni venete, serie i, t. v, p. 19. [675] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. iii, fol. 109, 111.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 926, fol. 129.--archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 1049. [676] vicente da costa mattos, breve discurso contra a perfidia do judaismo, fol. 100 (lisboa, 1623). [677] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. iv, fol. 5.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 926, fol. 127. [678] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. iv, fol. 130. the district of galicia would seem to be an exception to this, probably arising from the lateness of the organization of the tribunal of santiago. jews there had been quite numerous, wealthy and respected, and there had not been time to enforce their conversion or extermination. the severity of the tribunal earned for it the reputation of the most cruel in spain and, pitiless as was that of portugal, many galician conversos took refuge there. towards the close of the century inquisitor pedro pérez gamarra acquired for himself an infamous distinction by his relentless activity, and the archbishop and chapter protested publicly against the proceedings of the tribunal. its rapacity was rewarded with abundant confiscations. we hear of méndez of valdeorras, whose estate was reckoned at more than 40,000 ducats, of that of antonia de saravia at 233,707 reales and of marcial pereira at 363,444.--benito f. alonso, los judíos en orense, pp. 8, 26, 28-30, 32 (orense, 1904). [679] archivo de simancas, inq. de valencia, leg. 205, fol. 3. [680] ample authentic material exists for this in the twelve volumes of the _corpo diplomatico portuguez_ (lisboa, 1862-1902)--material of which herculano had skilfully utilized a portion in his classical _da origem e estabelecimento da inquisicão em portugal_ (lisboa, 1854). some gaps in this have been filled by a. ronchini, in his _giovanni_ iii _di portogallo, il cardinal silva e l'inquisizione_ (modena, 1879). [681] osorii de rebus emmanuelis lib. i.--monteiro, historia da s. inquisição de portugal, liv. ii, c. 43.--amador de los rios, iii, 358, 360, 614-15.--herculano, i, 113-14, 116-18, 124-30. [682] herculano, i, 133, 153-4, 158-9, 164-8. [683] herculano, i, 179, 189-90. [684] herculano, i, 228-86.--corpo diplomatico, ii, 335, 338, 409, 410.--anno histórico portuguez, i, 253 (lisboa, 1744). [685] corpo diplomatico, iii, 1, 11, 29, 47, 64, 75. [686] corpo diplomatico, ii, 430, 452; iii, 76, 82, 124. [687] ibidem, iii, 117, 121, 125, 166, 169, 171, 177, 181, 190, 206, 210, 218, 220, 228, 249-50, 252, 254, 275, 290-4. the bull of paul iii, embodying the previous one of clement vii, is in the bullarium, i, 712. [688] herculano, ii, 146-62.--corpo diplomatico, iii, 283, 286, 288, 290, 302, 332; xi, 358. [689] corpo diplomatico, iii, 348, 353, 354, 358, 402. [690] herculano, ii, 200-5.--corpo diplomatico, iv, 8, 11, 95. [691] corpo diplomatico, iv, 128-33, 134, 148, 158, 172-8, 186, 188, 195, 200, 205, 206, 271-6; v, 165; viii, 294, 295. the portuguese cruzado was nearly the equivalent of the spanish ducat. [692] historia dos principaes actos e procedimentos da inquisicão de portugal, p. 256 (lisboa, 1845). in this year 1540 occurred the curious episode of the false nuncio, juan pérez de saavedra, a skilful forger and impostor, who presented himself with forged papal briefs, lived in great state in lisbon for three months, and traversed the land for three more, collecting large sums, after the manner of nuncios. the spanish inquisition got upon his track; he was decoyed to the border, seized on portuguese soil, january 23, 1541, and conveyed to madrid. for this daring imposition he paid with nineteen years of galleys. he assumed the credit of introducing the inquisition in portugal, and this secondary imposture had currency nearly to our own times.--llorente, hist. crít. cap. <small>xvi, art. iii, n. 1-21.--páramo, pp. 227-32.--illescas, hist. pontifical, lib. vi, cap. iv,--ant. de sousa, aphorismi inquisit.; de origine inquisit. § 6.--feyjoo, theatro crítico, t. vi, disc. iii.--hernández, verdadera origen de la inquisicion de portugal (madrid, 1789). salazar de mendoza (chronica de el cardenal don juan de tavera, pp. 119-21) puts saavedra's gains at 300,000 ducats and states that paul iii released him from the galleys by a special brief. [693] corpo diplomatico, iv, 381, 404-5, 422-5. [694] herculano, ii, 304-17, 332-40--ciaconii vitt. poutiff., iii, 675.--corpo diplomatico, iv, 388, 392, 399; v, 41, 54; xi, 388, 472, 473, 496. [695] herculano, iii, 8-9. [696] corpo diplomatico, v, 34, 70, 83, 114. [697] ronchini, pp. 6-12.--herculano, iii, 64-5. [698] corpo diplomatico, v, 90, 96, 98, 104-5, 113, 115-16, 117-20. [699] ronchini, p. 11.--corpo diplomatico, v, 134, 135, 140, 145, 149, 152, 164. [700] herculano, iii, 116-199. [701] ronchini, pp. 16, 17, 20, 23. [702] corpo diplomatico, v, 169-71, 179, 184, 187. [703] ibidem, v, 176. [704] ibidem, v, 186, 196, 222, 506.--ronchini, p. 24. [705] corpo diplomatico, v, 225, 273, 281-2. [706] ibidem, v, 291; xi, 503.--ronchini, p. 26. [707] corpo diplomatico, v, 306, 308, 311, 315, 317; xi, 507.--archivo de simancas, patronato real, inquisicion, leg. unico, fol. 34.--historia dos principaes actos, p. 256. [708] corpo diplomatico, v, 320, 321, 324, 330, 344. [709] corpo diplomatico, v, 405, 434, 442.--raynald. annal. ann. 1545, n. 58. [710] corpo diplomatico, v, 448, 451, 453, 460, 470. [711] corpo diplomatico, vi, 23, 42.--ronchini, pp. 31-2. [712] corpo diplomatico, v, 361, 391, 398, 399; vii, 32, 51-3, 204, 216, 241, 327; viii, 111. after joão's death, the regency, in 1562, in return for a favor, sent to pius iv a couple of rings, to which he loftily replied that he did not desire such gifts, but he had previously had them appraised and found that they were of little value. there was some indignation felt in the papal palace and alvaro de castro, in reporting it, dwelt on the importance of keeping the pope well-disposed.--ibidem, x, 19, 20, 21. [713] corpo diplomatico, vi, 23. [714] corpo diplomatico, vi, 95, 101, 105-25, 139, 141, 144, 170-5, 176-77, 180, 183, 186, 198-208.--ronchini, pp. 37-8.--stewart rose, st. ignatius loyola and the early jesuits, p. 406 (new york, 1891).--gothein, ignatius von loyola und die gegenreformation, p. 611 (halle, 1895). it was freely stated that julius iii continued the practice and sold, for a thousand cruzados a year, licence to seventy heads of families who had been baptized in portugal to judaize in ancona, a privilege of which two hundred took advantage, with their wives and children.--corpo diplomatico, vii, 378. the facts of this curious episode are that paul iii issued letters of safe-conduct to foreign merchants in ancona, including both turks and jews. then, february 21, 1547, in an elaborate brief, specially favoring the new christians of portugal, he promised that, for all accusations of heresy or apostasy, they should be subject exclusively to the pope in person, all judges and inquisitors being forbidden to prosecute them. feeling their position uncertain, they bargained with the local authorities that, for five years, they should be undisturbed and that any one prosecuted should have free permission to depart. in 1552 they presented these articles to julius iii for confirmation, which he gave by a brief of december 6th, forbidding judges and inquisitors to molest them. paul iv, however, april 30, 1556 withdrew this and ordered their prosecution, even if they denied under torture their baptism, as it was notorious that for eighty years no hebrew could live in portugal except as a christian. this was at the instance of cardinal caraffa and his other nephews, who thereupon seized the persons and property of the jews, who arranged a compromise for 50,000 ducats, but were unable to raise the money in the time specified, whereupon the caraffas held the property, estimated at 300,000 ducats. a contemporary states that more than eighty of them were burnt or sent to the galleys.--collect. decret. s. congr. s^{ti} officii, s. v. _judaizantes_ (ms. _penes me_).--decret s. congr. s^{ti} officii, pp. 327, 334-6 (bibl. del r. archivio di stato in roma, fondo camerale, congr. del s. officio, vol. 3).--bibl. nationale de france, fonds italien, 430, fol. 109. during the first half of the seventeenth century, the popes earnestly endeavored to force venice to exclude the portuguese refugees, when the decrees of paul iii and julius iii were persistently quoted in their favor. the inquisitors in all italian cities were urged to active work against them, but they seem to have been favored by the local authorities. those of pisa and leghorn were especially liberal.--collect. decret. _loc. cit._--albizzi, riposta all'historia dalla s. inquisizione del r. p. paolo servita, pp. 194-212. [715] corpo diplomatico, vi, 152, 159, 160, 163, 164, 166, 210.--raynald. annal. ann. 1547, n. 131, 132. [716] corpo diplomatico, vi, 220. [717] corpo diplomatico, vi, 219-21. [718] ibidem, vi, 250-2. [719] corpo diplomatico, vi, 248-9.--ronchini, p. 41. there is some satisfaction in knowing that cardinal farnese made but little out of this wretched business. the death of his grandfather, in november, 1549, deprived him of influence and, in 1550, joão had the effrontery to demand his resignation of the see of viseu. farnese interposed difficulties but, in 1552, gonsalvo pinheiro was installed in his place. soon afterwards, in september 1552, we hear of his taking refuge in his legation of avignon, partly for safety and partly on account of his necessities.--corpo diplomatico, vi, 422, 423; vii, 151, 165, 174, 184. joão's malignity towards cardinal silva was unquenchable. on the accession of julius iii, he heard that the new pope felt compassion for silva and he instructed his ambassador to tell him that any honor or grace conferred on silva would be regarded as an injury. by this time silva was reduced to penury and the ambassador out of compassion forbore to deliver the message, when joão angrily repeated his instructions with additional emphasis. in spite of this julius wrote, some three years later, asking joão to pardon silva, who was borne down with age and infirmities. joão left the letter unanswered for eight months, until march, 1554, and then wrote with studied evasiveness. silva died in june, 1556.--corpo diplomatico, vi, 389; vii, 25, 244, 330. [720] corpo diplomatico, v, 391, 392; viii, 291. [721] corpo diplomatico, vii, 49, 255, 291, 336, 437, 458, 479; viii, 82, 94, 108, 142, 150, 161, 181, 185, 195, 197, 205, 225, 239, 275, 289, 296, 310, 460, 466, 475, 476, 491; ix, 40, 81, 120, 125, 150. [722] historia dos principaes actos, etc., pp. 256-9, 292-5, 312-13. the numbers in the respective tribunals are- relaxed in person. in effigy. penanced. lisbon 37 2 270 evora 87 12 1023 coimbra 45 37 705 -- -- --- 169 51 1998 the interesting list of autos, from which i have summarized this and succeeding tables, is probably based on the compilation from the records made about 1767, by diogo barbosa machado, of which there are copies in the public library of coimbra. see professor r. j. h. gottheil, in _jewish quarterly review_, october, 1901, pp. 90-1. these lists are probably defective for the early years. a contemporary, writing in 1564, states that for a number of years there had been burnt annually from twenty to forty persons and two hundred penanced.--bibl. nationale de france, fonds italien 430, fol. 109. [723] corpo diplomatico, ix, 150; x, 315, 546, 556. [724] sousa, aphor. inquis., de origíne, § 6.--the _relation de l'inquisition de goa_ by dr. c. dellon (paris, 1688) giving an account of his sufferings there, is well known. it has been translated into portuguese, with copious notes and documents, by miguel vicente d'abreu (nova-goa, 1866), to whom we shall have occasion to refer. [725] corpo diplomatico, ix, 112. [726] ibidem, xii, 77. a similar brief was issued by urban viii, april 22, 1625 (ibid. p. 246) but, as it makes no reference to any preceding act, the presumption is that these were sporadic and not continuous grants of power. [727] for these forgotten struggles see some elaborate papers by the rev. george edmundson in the _english historical review_ for 1899 and 1900. [728] in the lisbon auto of march 14, 1723, there are few judaizers and all are residents of portugal. in that of october 10, 1723, the judaizers are numerous and a large portion of them are from brazil. evidently a fleet had arrived during the interval.--royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. in 1618, however, we hear of an inquisitor sent from portugal to brazil, whose operations speedily drove numerous new christians to seek refuge in spanish territory.--j. t. medina, la inquisicion en las provincias del plata, pp. 155-61 (santiago de chile, 1900). [729] miguel vicente d'abreu, p. 115. [730] did. guerreiro camacho de aboym, de privilegiis familiarum etc., pp. 12-18, 21 (ulyssipone, 1759). [731] francisco de castro, regimento do santo officio da inquisição dos reynos de portugal, liv. i, tit. i, § 1; tit. iii, §§ 13, 14; tit. v, § 6; liv. ii, tit. ii, § 13 (lisboa, 1640).--sousa aphor. inq. lib. i, cap. i, n. 14. [732] de castro, regimento, liv. ii, tit. xxiii. [733] georgii buchanani vita ab ipso scripta.--lopez de mendonça, damião de goes e a inquisição de portugal, p. 21 (lisboa, 1859). the poem on the franciscans was written at the request of james v of scotland. it forced buchanan to leave the country and, before venturing to portugal, he made his excuses for it to king joão. a brief extract will show its temper:- at nunc posteritas, vera pietate relicta, degenerem quæstum sordesque secuta, caducas cogit opes, ficta et sub relligione pudendos occultat mores et, fama innixa parentum, seducit stolidum pietatis imagine vulgus. [734] mendonça, damião de goes e a inquisição de portugal. [735] corpo diplomatico, x, 537, 569. [736] llorente, hist. crít. cap. xix, art. iii, n. 6. [737] corpo diplomatico, xii, 23. as cardinal albrecht was only 25 years of age a special derogation of the minimum rule was necessary in his case. more remarkable is the fact that his commission granted him jurisdiction over bishops. when albrecht left portugal, the commission of his successor, antonio bishop of elvas july 12, 1596, contained no such provision; it enlarged his jurisdiction however from simple heresy to sorcery and divination and the censorship of the press.--ibidem, p. 70. [738] historia dos principaes actos, pp. 258-61, 294-7, 312-15. the numbers in the respective tribunals are- relaxed in person. in effigy. penanced. lisbon 29 6 559 evora 98 16 1384 coimbra 35 37 1036 --- --- ----- 162 59 2979 [739] corpo diplomatico, xii, 14. [740] relazioni venete, serie i, t. v, p. 449. [741] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [742] páramo, p. 304. [743] cabrera, relaciones, pp. 135, 141, 152, 227, 229.--historia dos principaes actos, p. 261. the wealth of the portuguese new christians rendered such a payment an easy matter. in the memorial praying for pardon they admitted themselves to be worth eighty millions of ducats and, when juan nuñez correa made an assessment among them, it was on the basis of seventy five millions.--verdades catholicas contra ficciones judaicas § 9 (mss. of bodleian library, arch seld a, subt. 17). this is a memorial by luys de melo, dean of the chapter of braga, written in 1652, when he was a refugee in the spanish court. he had probably been involved in the conspiracy against the braganza dynasty, for which the archbishop of braga, sebastian de noronha, was executed in 1641. his paper is bitter against the new christians but, as we shall have occasion to see, it contains much that throws light on the subject. [744] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 926, fol. 119.--corpo diplomatico portugues, xii, 121. [745] cabrera, relaciones, pp. 230-1. [746] mss. of archivo municipal de sevilla, seccion especial, siglo xviii, letra a, tomo 4. a quarter of a century later, in an argument against granting a similar pardon, we are told that the displeasure of god was not delayed for, on the very day when this auto was postponed, the silver fleet under don luis de córdova was destroyed, inflicting an irreparable loss on spain.--mss. of e. n. adler (revue des etudes juives, no 99, p. 56). [747] historia dos principaes actos, pp. 261, 297, 315. [748] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [749] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 942, fol. 60. [750] revista de archivos, marzo, 1903, p. 216. [751] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 552, fol. 6. [752] pro cautione christiana, § 1 (mss. of bodleian library, arch seld, 130). [753] luys de melo, verdades cathólicas, § 4--bibl. nacional, mss., d, 118, fol. 257, n. 68. [754] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 6, n. 2, fol. 281, 341, 342.--bibl. nacional, mss., d, 118, fol. 250, n. 66. [755] bibl. nacional, mss., d, 118, fol. 257, n. 68. [756] breve discurso contra a heretica perfidia do judaismo, fol. 67, 172 (lisboa, 1623). [757] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 812, lima, fol. 17.--in 1628 we find five refugees from montemor earning their livelihood at huelva.--ib. fol. 18. [758] historia dos principaes actos, pp. 262-7, 298-301, 316-21. the statistics of the respective tribunals are:- relaxed in person. in effigy. penanced. lisbon 75 51 1231 evora 73 56 1891 coimbra 82 54 1873 -- -- --- 230 161 4995 the pardons of 1627 and 1630 are indicated by the discharge of all the prisoners in the three inquisitions (ibidem, pp. 265, 299, 301, 319). these pardons were bitterly fought over. see the documents printed by e. n. adler in _revue des etudes juives_, no. 97, p. 66; no. 99, p. 54; no. 100, pp. 212, 216; no. 101, p. 99. [759] bibl. nationale de france, fonds italien, 1260. fol. 1, <small>i, § 11. [760] see adler's documents, _revue des etudes juives_, no. 100, p. 231. [761] luys de melo, verdades cathólicas, § 4. this statement is confirmed by a memorial of the new christians, who complain that there is scarce a town that is not depopulated; a single arrest suffices to bring about the imprisonment of all the people.--adler's documents (revue des etudes juives, no. 97, p. 63). [762] verdades cathólicas, § 5.--see appendix. [763] bibl. nacional, mss., d, 118, fol. 250, n. 66. [764] bibl. nacional, mss., d, 118, fol. 250, n. 66. [765] verdades cathólicas, § 6. the suggestions of the bishops, and especially the expulsion of the new christians, were the subject of much debate and long consultas. see adler's documents in _revue des etudes juives_, no. 97, p. 67; no. 100, p. 217; no. 101, pp. 98, 115; no. 102, p. 251. [766] verdades, § 7. there is probably an error as to the payment for permission to emigrate. the new christians in a memorial state that to obtain it they took 240,000 ducats of government loans, and they complain bitterly of the obstacles thrown in the way of their leaving the kingdom.--adler's documents (revue des etudes juives, no. 97, pp. 58-63; no. 100, pp. 224, 228). [767] verdades, ibidem, § 7.--it is remarkable that, at this period, there was no arrangement for extradition between the two institutions under the same crown. we have seen (vol. i, p. 253) the concordia entered into in 1544, which continued in force at least until 1580. subsequently it fell into abeyance and, in 1637, we find the suprema asking the tribunals what was their custom (arch. hist. nac., inq. de valencia, leg. 9, n. 1, fol. 295). this was evidently in preparation for an agreement made in 1638 for mutual extradition. the rebellion of 1640 of course put an end to it, but after the independence of portugal was recognized, it was revived in 1669, though consultation with the suprema was prescribed before surrendering persons claimed. all information asked for was to be freely exchanged, especially as regarded limpieza (ibidem, leg. 10, n. 2, fol. 78). [768] bibl. nationale de france, fonds italien, 1260, fol. 1, <small>i, §§ 11; 30; <small>ii, §§ 5, 31; fonds latin, 12930, fol. 131. [769] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 20, fol. 150.--mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 240. [770] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 21, fol. 67. [771] verdades cathólicas, § 4, n. 4. [772] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 49, fol. 45. [773] pellicer, avisos históricos (semanario erúdito, xxxi, 123). [774] corpo diplomatico, xii, 360, 412, 416.--historia dos principaes actos, pp 268-71, 300-1, 320-1. there was some falling off in the work of the tribunals during the decade 1641-50. the aggregates are:- relaxed in person. in effigy. penanced. lisbon 37 14 341 evora 5 9 632 coimbra 8 36 143 -- --- ---- 50 59 1116 [775] pellicer, avisos históricos (semanario erúdito, xxxii, 66, 188).--llorente, hist, crít., cap. <small>xix, art. iii, n. 7. [776] antonio de vieira, s. j., asserts this in a letter to the regent pedro.--relação exactissima, p. 140 (veneza, 1750). [777] gams, series episcoporum, p. 102.--anno historico portuguez, ii, 557.--coleccion de tratados de paz; felipe iv, parte vii, pp. 485, 650. [778] printed in the "noticias reconditas y posthumas del procedimiento de las inquisiciones de españa y portugal," pp. 1-8 (villafranca, 1722). [779] bibl. nationale de france, fonds latin, 12930, fol. 11. under this, padre antonio vieira, s. j., must have been excommunicated for, in the public library of evora there is a ms. entitled "razoes que o padre antonio vieira representou a d. joão 4 a favor dos christãos novos para se lhes perdoar a confisção dos bens sendo sentenceados no santo officio."--prof. gottheil in _jewish quarterly review_, oct., 1901, p. 89. [780] relação exactissima, p. 93 (veneza, 1750). [781] historia dos principaes actos, pp. 270-5, 300-3, 320-5. for the years 1651-1673 the statistics are:- relaxed in person. in effigy. penanced. lisbon 68 18 868 evora 54 41 2201 coimbra 62 - 1724 --- --- --- 184 59 4793 [782] padre vieira, discurso demonstrativo, p 121 (veneza, 1750). [783] bibl. nationale de france, fonds latin, 12930, fol. 108. [784] ibidem, fonds italien, 1241, fol. 76. [785] j. mendes dos remedios, os judeus em portugal, i, 347-52 (coimbra, 1895). [786] in the lisbon auto of may 10, 1682, the acquittals were read of eight victims who were pronounced innocent, after perishing in prison (bodleian library, arch seld. a, subt. 16). in one at coimbra, february 4, 1685, there were fifteen effigies burnt of prisoners who had died during trial.--historia dos principaes actos, p. 327. [787] i see no reason to doubt that the "noticias reconditas y posthumas del procedimiento de las inquisiciones de españa y portugal con sus presos. en villafranca, 1722" is an elaborate statement drawn up by vieira for innocent xi. it appeared again under the title of "relação exactissima.... do procedimento das inquisiçois de portugal. presentada a o papa ignocencio xi pello p. antonio vieira, da companhia de jesus. en veneza con licença do santo officio mdccl." it is no more bitter than his other writings on the subject, and its somewhat florid style is natural to so popular a preacher. the author of the "authentic memoirs concerning the portuguese inquisition" (london, 1761 and 1769) gives on p. 47 a translation of a passage of this work which he says he made from a well-attested ms. in portugal. there were, he adds, several copies in the handwriting of vieira, and also in that of a secretary of the inquisition who fled to venice. the venice edition contains also two shorter papers by vieira, one entitled "discurso demonstrativo," addressed to a friend, and the other "discurso segundo," addressed to the regent dom pedro. they bear internal evidence of genuineness and the latter is included in the list of de backer (bibliothèque des ecrivains de la compagnie de jésus, v, 761-2), together with other ms. works of his in favor of the new christians. a number of such mss. are preserved in the public library of evora.--prof. gottheil in _jewish quarterly review_, october, 1901, p. 89. [788] bibl. nationale de france, fonds italien, 1241, fol. 44. these official papers relating to the discussion in rome were brought to paris by cardinal d'estrées, at that time ambassador to the papal court. [789] bibl. nationale de france, fonds italien, 1260, fol. 34. [790] ibidem, no. 1260, fol. 1, i, §§ 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, 24, 34, 36; fol. 34; no. 1241, fol. 34. [791] bibl. nationale de france, fonds italien, 1241, fol. 12, 22, 24, 30, 33. vieira, in his letter to the regent pedro, asserts that of a hundred negativos burnt there was not a single one guilty, and that this must continue so long as the procedure remained unchanged.--discurso segundo, pp. 136-7. [792] bibl. nationale de france, fonds italien, 1241, fol. 8, 9, 23. [793] bibl. nationale de france, fonds italien, 1241, fol. 127. [794] ibidem, fol. 42, 81, 159. [795] bullar. roman. xi, 102, 198.--historia dos principaes actos, pp. 274, 324. [796] bullar. roman. xi, 102, 198, 260; vii, 38.--discurso demonstrativo, p. 116. [797] historia dos principaes actos, pp. 275-9, 303-5, 325-9. the statistics are as follows:- relaxed in person. in effigy. penanced. lisbon 12 12 422 evora 8 18 366 coimbra 39 31 563 -- -- --- 59 61 1351 [798] centinela contra judíos, puesto en la torre de la iglesia, barcelona, 1731. [799] bibl. nacional, mss., d, 118, fol. 227. [800] feyjoo, theatro, t. vii, discurso v, § vi.--englishmen were long reputed to have tails, in punishment for the murder of thomas becket. [801] cartas de jesuitas (mem. hist. español, xviii, 237, 255, 371). [802] juan adan de la parra, pro cautione christiana, fol. 31-2, 34, 38 (matriti, 1633). [803] cartas de jesuitas (mem. hist. español, xiii, 85).--historia de felipe iv, lib. vi (coleccion de documentos, lxxvii, 380).--adolfo de castro, olivares y el rey felipe iv, pp. 133-4 (cadiz, 1846).--amador de los rios, iii, 546-7.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 9, n. 2, fol. 224. [804] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 4, n. 3, fol. 222.--for the document containing the royal decision i am indebted to elkan n. adler esq. [805] amador de los rios, iii, 521. [806] reusch, die indices des sechszehnten jahrhunderts, pp. 235, 436. [807] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 552, fol. 26, 28, 29, 31, 36.--cartas de jesuitas (mem. hist. español, xvii, 419, 493).--basnage, histoire des juifs, ix, 744 (la haye, 1716).--pellicer, avisos históricos (semanario erúdito, xxxiii, 210). [808] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 552, fol. 33, 37. [809] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 552, fol. 1. [810] ibidem, lib. 812, llerena, fol. 2-7. cf. ibidem, cuenca, fol. 1-11; lima, fol. 1 sqq. [811] archivo de simancas, inq., leg, 552, fol. 38. [812] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 1. [813] relacion histórica de la judería de sevilla, pp. 94-8 (sevilla, 1849). [814] procesos contra diego rodríguez silva y ana enríquez (mss. _penes me_). [815] catálogo de las causas seguidas ante el tribunal de toledo, p. 212 (madrid, 1903). [816] proceso contra angela pérez (ms. _penes me_). [817] proceso contra angela núñez marques (ms. _penes me_). angela's brother, doctor gerónimo núñez marques, was reconciled in the madrid auto of 1680, where he is described as "médico de familia de su magestad."--olmo, relacion, p. 209. [818] proceso contra angela núñez marques (ms. _penes me_).--angela was no. 17 of the madrid auto of 1680 (olmo, p. 211). [819] _ubi sup._ (mss. _penes me_). [820] exortacion al herege, fol. 6 (bodleian library, arch seld. 130).--sermam do auto da fé em 6 de setembro do anno de 1705, p. 5 (lisboa, 1705). this sermon was translated by moses mocatta, together with a reply to it by carlos vero, london, 1845. [821] matute y luquin, autos de fe de córdova.--archivo hist. nacional, inquisicion de toledo, leg. 1.--archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 552. [822] archivo hist. nacional, leg. 2, n. 10, fol. 1. [823] coleccion de tratados de paz; carlos ii, parte i, p. 306. [824] libro xiii de cartas, fol. 158, 191 (mss. of am. phil. society).--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 11, n. 2, fol. 117; inq. de toledo, leg. 1. [825] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 10, n. 2, fol. 89. [826] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 49, fol. 345. [827] gabriel llabrés (boletin, xl, 152-4). [828] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 595, fol. 1. [829] ibidem, sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 177. [830] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 25, fol. 89. [831] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 595, fol. 1; lib. 69, fol. 69.--taronji, estado social etc. de la isla de mallorca, pp. 241-2. [832] garau, la fee triunfante, pp. 30-45, 49-50, 65-78, 111-22.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 68, fol. 258. [833] royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [834] archivo de simancas, inq., sala 39, leg. 4, fol. 15, 23, 71. [835] matute y luquin, autos de fe de córdova, pp. 212-16. [836] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 1. in portugal there was greater activity. the list of autos in the "historia dos principaes actos," pp. 278-81, 304-7, 328-31, shows for the twenty years, 1701-20, relaxed in person. in effigy. penanced. lisbon 26 14 961 evora 2 458 coimbra 11 10 707 -- -- --- 37 26 2126 [837] bibl. nacional, mss., b^{b}, 122. [838] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 1. [839] royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. the summary of penalties is:- relaxation in person 75 " " effigy 74 reconciliation 595 confiscation 782 prison and sanbenito 597 scourging 191 galleys 49 exile 73 abjuration _de levi_ 24 " _de vehementi_ 23 [840] the distribution of the cases was:- in 1721 57 1722 252 1723 224 1724 157 1725 89 1726 24 1727 17 it is probable that the year 1727 is not complete in this collection.--royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [841] matute y luquin, _op. cit._, pp. 253-73. [842] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 1. [843] bibl. nacional, mss., s, 294, fol. 375. [844] royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [845] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 9). the inquisition of portugal continued active. for the years 1721 to 1794, the last recorded, the statistics are (historia dos principaes actos, pp. 280-91, 306-11, 332-9):- relaxed in person. in effigy. penanced. lisbon 131 17 1543 evora 8 3 735 coimbra 1210 --- --- --- 139 20 3488 in this the superior energy and ferocity of the lisbon tribunal is noteworthy; it relaxed no less than 66 persons in the years 1732-42. the last burning was of the unfortunate padre malagrida, in 1761 but, as late as 1760, evora burnt four culprits. as far as can be ascertained the total record of the portuguese inquisition, up to 1794, is 1175 relaxed in person, 633 in effigy and 29,590 penanced. the proportion of new christians among these is impossible of ascertainment, but towards the last it diminished considerably, and, as in spain, the jurisdiction included superstitious sorcery, blasphemy, bigamy, etc. under the ministry of the marquis of pombal, dom josé, april 8, 1768, deprived the inquisition of censorship and, by successive edicts of may 2, 1768, june 16, 1773 and december, 1774, all distinctions between old and new christians were removed. an order of february 10, 1774, abolished the inquisition of goa, but the death of dom josé, in 1777, and the succession of maria i drove pombal from power, and it was revived in 1779, to be finally suppressed in 1812 (vicente d'abreu, pp. 6-7, 267-72, 274). in portugal it was extinguished by the revolution of 1820. in 1774 a new _regimento_ was issued by the inquisitor-general, cardinal da cunha, in the preface of which the jesuits are accused of having perverted the forms of procedure, causing all the evils with which it had afflicted the land. the new code removed many of the abuses of the old and king josé, in the decree approving it, repeated the accusation of the jesuits, holding them responsible for the ferocious and sanguinary corruptions, incompatible with the principles of natural reason and religion, which had rendered the inquisition a horror to all europe and had created within the monarchy an independent and autocratic body of ecclesiastics.--regimento do santo officio da inquisição, pp. 3 sqq. 31, 37, 39, 42, 55, 62-3, 71, 89, 144-5, 149, 154-5. (lisboa, 1774). english versions of both regimentos--that of 1640 and that of 1774--are given by da costa pereira furtado de mendonça in the _narrative of his persecutions_ (london, 1811). he lay for three years, 1802 to 1805, in the prison of the lisbon tribunal and, if his account is to be relied upon, the reforms of pombal had already become obsolete. [846] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 100. in 1783 inquisitor-general beltran instructed the tribunals that no one was to be arrested for judaism without first submitting to him all the papers. at the same time he called for reports of all cases of judaism there pending, to which valencia replied that it had none.--ibidem, cartas del consejo, leg. 16, n. 5, fol. 59; leg. 4, n. 2, fol. 136. [847] novís. recop., lib. <small>xii, t. i, ley 4. [848] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 1473. [849] proceso contra diego rodríguez silva (ms. _penes me_). [850] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 11, n. 3, fol. 183.--bibl. nacional, mss., v, 377, cap. <small>xxii. [851] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 10, n. 2, fol. 112. [852] de lamberty, mémoires pour servir, viii, 379. [853] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 552, fol. 52. [854] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 4, n. 3, fol. 222. [855] ibidem, leg. 100. [856] amador de los rios, iii, 552-3. [857] novís. recop., lib. <small>xii, tit. i, ley 5. [858] amador de los rios, iii, 557. [859] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 435^{2}. [860] ms. _penes me_. [861] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 1473. [862] ibidem, lib. 559. [863] lindo's history of the jews, p. 377. [864] amador de los rios, iii, 561-2.--paredes, curso de derecho político, p. 666 (madrid, 1883). [865] elkan n. adler, in jewish quarterly review, april, 1901, p. 392. [866] p. angel tineo heredia, los judíos en españa, pp. 44, 48 (madrid, 1881). [867] the long-drawn tragedy of the moriscos can only be outlined within the compass of a chapter and i must refer the reader, who desires greater detail, to my "moriscos of spain, their conversion and expulsion" (philadelphia 1901). since that volume was issued padre pascual boronat y barrachina has published two octavo volumes on the subject--"los moriscos españoles y su expulsion" (valencia, 1901) in which his industry has accumulated a very copious mass of original documents; of these i have here freely availed myself. [868] yanguas y miranda, diccionario de antigüedades del reino de navarra ii, 433 (pamplona, 1840). [869] fray jayme bleda, corónica de los moros, p. 877 (valencia, 1618). [870] pulgar, crónica de los reyes católicas, <small>ii, lxxvii.--archivo gén. de la c. de aragon, regist. 3684, fol. 96.--padre fidel fita (boletin, xv, 323-5, 327, 328, 330; xxiii, 431). [871] fernández y gonzález, p. 421.--coleccion de documentos, viii, 411.--marmol carvajal, rebelion y castigo de los moriscos de granada, pp. 146-50 (biblioteca de autores españoles, tom. xxi). [872] coleccion de documentos, xi, 569; xiv, 496.--janer, condicion social de los moriscos, p. 127. [873] printed in appendix to the author's "moriscos," p. 403. [874] marmol carvajal, p. 153.--salazar de mendoza, crónica del gran cardenal de españa, p. 251 (toledo, 1625). [875] marmol carvajol, p. 152.--pedraza, hist. eccles. de granada, fol. 174, 186-7. [876] gomesii de rebus gestis a francisco ximenio, lib. <small>iv, fol. 65; lib. <small>v, fol. 128; lib. <small>vii, fol. 219. [877] the principal authority for all this is marmol carvajal (rebelion y castigo, pp. 153-6), but there are also accounts by gomez (de rebus gestis, lib. <small>ii, fol. 30-33); zurita (hist. del rey hernando, lib. <small>iii, cap. xliv); galíndez de carvajal (coleccion de docum. xviii, 296); bernaldez (hist. de los reyes catholicos, p. 145); pedraza (hist. ecles. de granada, fol. 193, 196). [878] clemencin, elogio de la reina isabel, pp. 291-3 (madrid, 1821).--archivo de simancas, patronato real, inq., leg. único, fol. 26. [879] zurita, galíndez de carvajal, marmol carvajal, bernaldez, _ubi sup._ [880] nueva recop. lib. <small>viii, tit. ii, ley 8. [881] when, or on what terms, this exemption was granted to the moriscos of granada i have been unable to ascertain, but it is referred to repeatedly in subsequent documents as a matter of common knowledge. [882] boronat, los moriscos españoles, i, 113. [883] nueva recop., lib. <small>viii, tit. ii, ley 4.--cf. fernández y gonzález, p. 219. [884] galíndez de carvajal (col. de documentos, xviii, 301-4). zurita, while quoting carvajal, disputes this, but admits that the conversion was not voluntary.--hist. del rey hernando, lib. <small>iv, cap. 54. [885] col. de documentos, xxxvi, 447. [886] bravo, catálogo de los obispos de córdova, i, 411 (córdova, 1788). [887] gomesii de rebus gestis lib. <small>iii, fol. 77. [888] danvila y collado, expulsion, p. 74. [889] concil. hispalens., ann. 1512, cap. 2 (aguirre, v, 363). [890] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 3, fol. 72. [891] mariana, hist. de españa, ed. 1796, tom. ix, append, p. lvi. [892] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 4, fol. 97; lib. 9, fol. 2, 13, 29; lib. 940 fol. 69, 131, 185. [893] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 939, fol. 89.--danvila y collado, p. 98. [894] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i.--bibl. nacional, mss., d, 111, fol. 127; pv, 3, n. 20.--procesos contra mari serrana, mari naranja, mari gómez la sazeda (mss. _penes me_). [895] archivo de simancas, inq. de valencia, leg. 205, fol. 3. [896] bleda, corónica, p. 905. [897] mss. _penes me_.--mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [898] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [899] pedraza, hist. ecles. de granada, fol. 236-8. [900] sandoval, hist. de carlos v, lib. <small>xiv, cap. 18.--guevara, epístolas familiares p. 543. [901] sandoval, _ubi sup._--dormer, añales de aragon, lib. <small>ii, cap. vii.--archivo de simancas, lib. 926, fol. 80. [902] dormer, _ubi sup._--bleda, corónica, p. 566.--marmol carvajal, p. 158.--nueva recop., lib. <small>viii, tit. ii, leyes 13, 15, 17. [903] dormer, bleda, marmol carvajal, _loc. cit._--relazioni venete, serie i, tom. v, p. 37. [904] rule, history of the inquisition, i, 172 (london, 1874). [905] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 926, fol. 80-2, 86-7.--gachard, retraite et mort de charles-quint, ii, 356. [906] mendoza, guerra de granada, p. 71 (bibl. de autores españoles, t. xxi). [907] danvila y collado, expulsion, p. 172. [908] marmol carvajal, p. 160.--cabrera, felipe segundo, pp. 293, 429 (madrid, 1619).--memoria de mondéjar, pp. 14-16 (morel-fatio, l'espagne an xvi^{e} et xvii^{e} siècle).--mendoza, p. 71.--pedraza, fol. 239. [909] cabrera, p. 393.--pedraza, fol. 238. [910] cabrera, pp. 394, 466.--pedraza, fol. 238-9. [911] memoria de mondéjar (morel-fatio, p. 17).--marmol carvajal, p. 167.--cabrera, p. 465.--pedraza, fol. 239. [912] marmol carvajal, pp. 161-2.--pedraza, fol. 239. this prohibition of bathing, even by christians, is a curious illustration of the civilization of the period. it had degenerated since the fuero of teruel, granted in 1176, by alfonso ii of aragon, which prescribed that the public bath should be used by men on tuesdays, thursdays and saturdays, by women on mondays and wednesdays, and by jews and moors on fridays. on sundays the bath was closed and no water was heated.--forum turolii: transcripcion de francisco aznar y navarro, p. 142 (zaragoza, 1905). [913] marmol carvajal, pp. 166, 168.--cabrera, p. 465.--pedraza, fol. 240. [914] marmol carvajal, p. 167.--pedraza, fol. 241. [915] relazioni venete, serie i, t. v, p. 145. the córtes of 1570 petitioned philip to repeal the prohibition of using arquebuses in the chase, pointing out that the war in granada had shown the scarcity of the weapon in spain and the lack of men that could use it. they also referred to the difficulty experienced in arming the levies and suggested that the cities and towns should be permitted to provide armories at their own cost under such restrictions as the king might prescribe. to these petitions the royal replies were equivocal. it is all highly significant of the suspicions entertained by the monarch as to the loyalty of his subjects.--córtes de córdova del año de setenta, fol. 6, 12 (alcalá, 1575). [916] córtes de córdova del año de setenta, fol. 13 (alcalá, 1575). [917] dépêches de m. de fourquevaux, i, 354 (paris, 1896). [918] marmol carvajal, p. 277.--mendoza, p. 92. [919] marmol carvajal, pp. 341, 364.--col. de documentos, xxviii, 156. [920] bibl. nacional, mss., g. 50, fol. 240. [921] relazioni venete, serie i, t. vi, p. 407. [922] nueva recop., lib. <small>viii, tit. ii, ley 22. [923] janer, p. 256. [924] obras de cervantes, p. 242 (ed. ribadeneyra). [925] córtes de madrid del año de setenta y tres, peticion 96 (alcalá, 1575). [926] janer, p. 272.--boronat, i, 626. [927] janer, p. 270.--bleda, corónica, p. 905.--nueva recop., lib. <small>viii, tit. ii, ley 24. [928] relazioni venete, serie i, t. v, p. 451. [929] ximenez, vida de ribera, p. 379. [930] janer, p. 272.--boronat, i, 318.--bleda, corónica, p. 921.--guadalajara y xavierr, expulsion de los moriscos, fol. 122-3 (pamplona, 1613).--cabrera, relaciones, p. 355. [931] sandoval, lib. xii, § xxviii. [932] danvila y collado, pp. 75, 76.--constitutions y altres drets de cathalunya, p. 34 (barcelona, 1688). [933] fernández y gonzález, p. 441.--bleda, corónica, p. 641; ejusd. defensio fidei, p. 156. [934] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 1. [935] ibidem, lib. 926, fol. 76. [936] ibidem, lib. 3, fol. 132. [937] ibidem, lib. 3, fol. 245. [938] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 1.--múñoz, diario turolense, ann. 1502 (boletin, 1895, p. 10). [939] ibidem, lib. 14, fol. 80; lib. 940, fol. 69, 131, 185. [940] this work was subsequently prohibited. nevertheless salvatierra, bishop of segorbe, in 1587 asked philip ii to permit its reprinting for the benefit of priests laboring among the moriscos.--boronat, i, 614. [941] archivo hist, nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 98. in the appendix will be found a table of all the cases of heresy tried by the valencia tribunal from 1455 to 1592. in the fifteenth century the culprits must have been almost exclusively judaizers. then in time moriscos were mingled with them, but the blanks in the fifth, sixth and seventh decades, during which the moriscos, as we shall see, were exempted from the inquisition, show that judaizers had virtually disappeared, except those punished in 1544, 1545 and 1546, for retraction of confession (see vol. ii, p. 584). there is also an imperfect table of the cases of relaxation. an examination of these tables will show the varying activity of the inquisition of the period. [942] danvila y collado, la germanía de valencia, pp. 146, 471.--pet. mart. angler. lib. <small>xxxiii, epp. 659-61. [943] ms. informacio super conversione sarracenorum.--i possess the original document. [944] ms. informacio.--danvila y collado, germanía, p. 184. [945] ms. informacio.--danvila, germanía, pp. 473, 474.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 299, fol. 400.--loazes, tractatus super nova paganorum regni valentiæ conversione, col. 12 (valentiæ, 1525) [946] danvila y collado, germanía, p. 489. [947] guevara, epistolas familiares, pp. 639-42. [948] cap. 13 in sexto, lib. <small>v, tit. ii. [949] hostiensis aureæ summæ lib. <small>iii, de baptismo § 11; lib. <small>v, de judæis § 5.--s. th. aquinat. summæ p. <small>iii, q. lxviii, art, 8 ad 4; q. lxix, art. 9 ad 1.--s. bonaventura in iv sentt. dist. <small>iv p. 1, art. 2, q. 1.--s. antoninæ summæ p. <small>ii, tit. xii, cap. 2, § 1.--summa sylvestrina s. v. _baptismus_ <small>iv, § 10. [950] albertus magnus in iv sentt., dist. <small>vi, art. 10.--duns scotus in iv sentt. dist. <small>iv, q. 4, 5.--summa angelica s. v. _baptismus_ <small>vi, §§ 6, 12. the facility with which, in this matter, the church adapted its theories to accomplished facts is well exhibited by cardinal toletus (summæ casuum conscientiæ lib. <small>ii, cap. xxi). after explaining that, in adult baptism, three prerequisites are necessary--intention, faith and sorrow for sins committed--he proceeds "hæc autem non eodem modo sunt necessaria. intentio namque ita est necessaria ut si desit actualis vel virtualis, non sit baptismus. unde fit ut qui renuens invitus baptizatur, non sit vere baptizatus; si tamen interius consensit, quamvis metu et vi, tunc baptizatus est et recepit characterem, sed non gratiam; cogendusque est ut maneat in fide christiana." thus the coerced convert was burdened with the responsibilities of baptism while denied its spiritual benefits. [951] archivo de simancas, inq., sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 97. [952] danvila y collado, expulsion, p. 88. [953] ms. informacio. [954] loazes, tractatus, col. 1, 17, 45, 60-1, 62. [955] sandoval, lib. <small>xiii, § xxviii.--sayas, añales de aragon, cap. cxxvii.--danvila y collado, expulsion, pp. 90-1. [956] sandoval, sayas, _loc. cit._--bleda, corónica, p. 647. [957] fonseca, giusto scacciamento, p. 11 (roma, 1611).--bleda, _loc. cit._--ejusd. defensio fidei, p. 123. [958] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 926, fol. 47.--bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. ii, fol. 58. [959] sandoval, _loc. cit._--sayas, _loc. cit._--danvila y collado, pp. 92-3.--boronat, i, 141. [960] sayas, _loc. cit._ [961] llorente, añales, ii, 287. [962] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 927, fol. 285.--bledæ defensio fidei, pp. 463-66. [963] danvila y collado, pp. 94-8.--fernández y gonzález, p. 443.--sayas, cap. cxxvii. [964] sayas, _loc. cit._--danvila, pp. 97-8. [965] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 927, fol. 285.--boronat, i, 403. [966] sayas, cap. cxxvii.--llorente, añales, ii, 296.--danvila, p. 99. boronat asserts (i, 157) that the greater part of the valencian moors embarked at coruña, while large numbers, from the rest of spain, went to france by way of biscay, but he cites no authority and the documents and contemporary writers are silent as to any such exodus, while statistics and the course of events show that, except those who escaped to barbary, practically the whole moorish population was retained. [967] guevara, epistolas familiares, p. 543.--archivo de simancas, inq. de valencia, leg. 205, fol. 3. bleda (defensio fidei, p. 125) says that guevara exaggerates and that in 1573 there were in valencia only 19,801 morisco families. it is not easy to determine the morisco population of valencia. a detailed list of the whole kingdom, dated 1520 (but which padre boronat thinks was corrected up to 1550) gives a total of 52,689 hearths of old christians and 31,815 of new christians. in 1582 ximenez de reinosso, valencian inquisitor, estimated the morisco population at from 19,000 to 20,000 families. about 1601, feliciano de figueroa, bishop of segorbe, assumed that there were 460 morisco settlements, comprising 28,000 hearths and 120,000 souls in all.--boronat, i, 428-42, 596; ii, 431. [968] sandoval, lib. <small>xiii, § xxix.--dormer, lib. <small>ii, cap. viii, ix.--bleda, corónica, p. 649. [969] sayas, cap. cxxx.--dormer, lib. <small>ii, cap. i. [970] sandoval, lib. <small>xiii, § xxviii.--dormer, _loc. cit._ [971] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 939, fol. 108. [972] boronat, i, 423-8. [973] ibidem, i, 162-5. [974] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 76, fol. 183. [975] ibidem, fol. 312. [976] archivo de simancas, patronato real, inq., leg. único, fol. 38, 39. [977] col. de documentos, xviii, 106-13.--archivo de simancas, _loc. cit._, fol. 37. [978] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 939, fol. 9; lib. 922, fol. 15. [979] ibidem, inquisicion, lib. 78, fol. 192; patronato real, inq., leg. único, fol. 37, 38.--col. de documentos, xviii, 114, 116.--bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. <small>iii, fol. 33. [980] col. de documentos, xviii, 119-24.--bledæ defensio fidei, pp. 333-6.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 2, n. 16, fol. 187. [981] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 922, fol. 15. [982] danvila y collado, pp. 183-88.--cf. archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, cartas del consejo, leg. 5, n. 1, fol. 107. [983] archivo de simancas, inq. de valencia, leg. 205, fol. 3.--danvila y collado, p. 228. [984] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 5, n. 2, fol. 14, 15. [985] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 2, n. 10, fol. 79.--danvila y collado, p. 263. [986] ibidem, leg. 98, 99. [987] boronat, i, 540-69. [988] gachard, voyages des souverains des pays-bas, i, 208. [989] sayas, cap. ex.--dormer, lib. <small>ii, cap. i. [990] danvila y collado, p. 116.--bledæ defensio fidei, p. 190. [991] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. <small>ii, fol. 94, 96, 105. [992] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 77, fol. 227. [993] col. de documentos, t. v, p. 81. [994] ibidem, t. v, pp. 92, 93, 102-7. [995] danvila y collado, pp. 167-71.--boronat, i, 238.--bledæ defensio fidei, p. 192.--aguirre, concil. hispan. v, 415, 419, 432. [996] boronat, ii, 45-6, 69-71, 169, 435, 438, 478, 683. [997] ibidem, ii, 436, 440-3. [998] danvila y collado, pp. 126, 129, 181, 183, 194.--boronat, i, 443-69, 569. [999] archivo de simancas, inq. de valencia, leg. 205, fol. 3. [1000] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 926, fol. 57, 80.--bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. <small>ii, fol. 79. [1001] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 926, fol. 49, 53, 59, 63, 67.--bulario, lib. <small>iii, fol. 51, 85, 88, 109; lib. <small>iv, fol. 24, 103.--archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 1049.--boronat, i, 495. [1002] boronat, ii, 439. [1003] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. <small>iv, fol. 128.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 926, fol. 71. [1004] boronat, i, 669; ii, 8.--escolano, decada primera de la historia de valencia, ii, 1783-97 (valencia, 1610-11). [1005] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 5, fol. 185, 186, 220, 295, 297-99. [1006] danvila y collado, p. 130. [1007] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. iii, fol. 33. [1008] col. de documentos, t. v, p. 104. [1009] ibidem, pp. 100, 101, 107, 108, 122. [1010] archivo de simancas, sala 40, lib. <small>iv, fol. 262. [1011] danvila y collado, pp. 164, 167.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 98. [1012] discorso de la vida de d. martin de ayala (revista crítica de historia y literatura, 1902, p. 375). [1013] dormer, lib. <small>ii, cap. i.--danvila y collado, pp. 101, 105. [1014] the _zofres_ or _zofras_ were imposts or excise paid by the mudéjares in addition to the division of crops. it remained a grievance to the last.--ximenez, vida de ribera, pp. 362, 444. [1015] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. <small>i de copias, fol. 118. [1016] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 77, fol. 227. [1017] boronat, i, 531; ii, 147. [1018] bleda, corónica, p. 1030; defensio fidei, pp. 47, 51.--fonseca, giusto scacciamento, p. 65. [1019] danvila y collado, pp, 128, 133, 211.--boletin, abril 1887, p. 288.--boronat, i, 469. [1020] archivo de simancas, inq., sala 40, lib. <small>iv, fol. 263.--bibl. nacional, mss., pv, 3, n. 20. [1021] danvila y collado, p. 127.--col. de documentos, v, 88, 102, 123.--janer, condicion social de los moriscos, p. 342.--boronat, i, 233.--danvila, in boletin, abril, 1877, pp. 276-306. [1022] guadalajara y xavierr, expulsion de los moriscos, fol. 62.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 13, fol. 372--relazioni venete, serie i, t. vi, p. 407. [1023] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 296.--guadalajara y xavierr, fol. 64.--lanuza, historias de aragon, ii, 417 (zaragoza, 1622). [1024] bledæ defensio fidei, p. 372.--fonseca, p. 377. [1025] navarrete, conservacion de monarquías, pp. 51-3 (madrid, 1626). [1026] bleda, corónica, pp. 951-2. [1027] fonseca, p. 72.--cf. bleda, _op. cit._, p. 905. [1028] c. trident. sess., <small>xxiv, de reform. matrim. c. 1. [1029] danvila y collado, p. 169.--aguirre, concil. hispan. v, 418. [1030] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. <small>iv, fol. 101, 102.--boronat, i, 661. [1031] nueva recop., lib. <small>viii, tit. ii, ley 13, cap. ix. [1032] boronat, i, 589.--bledæ defensio fidei, pp. 57, 42al.--danvila, p. 230. [1033] boronat, i, 208-12--escolano, ii, 1746-68, 1798-1810.--persiles y sigismunda, lib. <small>ii, cap. xi. [1034] danvila y collado, pp. 161, 182, 205, 207. [1035] boronat, i, 207.--constitutions en la cort de barcelona en lany 1520; en lany 1547 (barcelona, 1520, 1548). [1036] pet. mart. angler. epist. 499.--mariana, hist. de españa, ix, 217 (ed. 1796). [1037] danvila y collado, pp. 109-12, 118, 129, 132, 210.--nueva recop., lib. <small>viii, tit. ii, ley 20.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 69, 184.--boronat, i, 471, 499. [1038] fonseca, pp. 341, 343. [1039] guadalajara y xavierr, fol. 160-3. [1040] pet. mart. angler., epist. 499. [1041] escolano, ii, 1448. [1042] boronat, i, 179. [1043] danvila y collado, p. 158. [1044] dépêches de m. de fourquevaux, i, 8, 13. [1045] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 30. [1046] relazioni venete, serie i, t. vi, pp. 165, 241. [1047] bledæ defensio fidei, pp. 272, 276, 285. [1048] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, cartas del consejo, leg. 5, fol. 192. [1049] mémoires du duc de la force, i, 217-20, 339-15 (paris, 1843).--escolano, ii, 1811-18. [1050] janer, p. 274. [1051] mémoires de la force, i, 217, 221-2. [1052] ambassade en turquie de jean de gontaut-biron, baron de salignac, ii, 353 (paris, 1889). [1053] danvila y collado, pp. 250-4. [1054] bleda, corónica, p. 928; defensio fidei, pp. 13-14, 502. [1055] boronat, i, 291-4, 596, 603-4.--danvila y collado, pp. 196-200. the memorial, in a somewhat more elaborate form, was presented to the conference of bishops in valencia, november 22, 1608, when ribera pronounced it to be a hallucination, founded on ignorance--boronat, ii, 132, 493 sqq. [1056] boronat, i, 610-34. [1057] danvila y collado, p. 227. [1058] boronat, ii, 64. [1059] boronat, i, 366. [1060] ibidem, ii, 75, 98-111. [1061] boronat, ii, 464-74. [1062] ximenez, vida de juan de ribera, p. 381. [1063] janer, p. 299. [1064] danvila y collado, pp. 274-86.--boronat, ii, 506.--janer, pp. 282-91. [1065] ximenez, p. 397.--boronat, ii, 501. [1066] boronat, ii, 501, 167.--bleda, corónica, p. 988. [1067] guadalajara y xavierr, fol. 109.--fonseca, pp. 148-58. [1068] janer, p. 299. [1069] fonseca, pp. 165, 198. [1070] fonseca, pp. 199 sqq.--archivo de simancas, inq. de valencia, leg. 205, fol. 2--bleda, corónica, p. 1000. [1071] danvila y collado, p. 301.--fonseca, p. 219. [1072] boronat, ii, 240. [1073] fonseca, pp. 202 sqq., 219.--janer, p. 203.--bleda, corónica, p. 1004.--boronat, ii, 210. [1074] fonseca, pp. 212-22.--escolano, ii, 1988.--bleda, corónica, pp. 999, 1001-3, 1005-7, 1020.--boronat, ii, 234. a report, apparently drawn up by the valencia tribunal, puts the number at the more moderate figure of 100,656, viz., at valencia, 17,766; at alicante, 32,000; at denia, 30,000; at vinaros, 15,200; and at moncofar, 5,690.--archivo de simancas, inq. de valencia, leg. 205, fol. 2. [1075] fonseca, pp. 234-49.--bleda, corónica, pp. 1009-20.--escolano, ii, 1972. [1076] cabrera, relaciones, pp. 386, 390, 396, 402.--nueva recop., lib. <small>viii, tit. ii, ley 25.--bleda, corónica, pp. 1038-42.--janer, pp. 295, 296.--cf. bravo, catálogo de los obispos de córdova, p. 582. [1077] guadalajara, fol. 144.--aguilar y caro, memorial ostipense, i, 164-66. (estepa, 1886). [1078] danvila y collado, p. 292.--cabrera, relaciones, pp. 386, 389, 390.--bleda, corónica, pp. 1036-7. [1079] danvila y collado, p. 310.--boronat, ii, 288-91.--bleda, corónica, p. 1051.--cabrera, relaciones, pp. 393, 396. [1080] tapía, historia de la civilizacion española, iii, 272.--cabrera, relaciones, p. 402.--bofarull y broca, historia de cataluña, vii, 292 (barcelona, 1878).--watson's philip iii, appendix b. [1081] lanuza, ii, 49.--bleda, corónica, p. 1045.--danvila y collado, p. 311.--guadalajara y xavierr, fol. 124-8. [1082] janer, p. 280--boronat, ii, 298, 301, 596.--bledæ defensio fidei, pp. 602-6, 612-18.--watson's philip iii, appendix b.--guadalajara y xavierr, fol. 135-41. [1083] bleda, corónica, pp. 1046-50.--guadalajara y xavierr, fol. 142.--janer, p. 90.--lanuza, ii, 249. [1084] mémoires de richelieu, i, 88 (paris, 1823). [1085] mémoires de la force, ii, 8-12, 288-311. [1086] cabrera, relaciones, pp. 410, 413, 415, 418. [1087] janer, pp. 344, 345, 350.--boronat, ii, 293-4.--bleda corónica, pp. 1051-2; defensio fidei, pp. 524-5, 607-12.--cabrera, relaciones, p. 415. [1088] cabrera, relaciones, pp. 434, 437, 440, 522.--bleda, corónica, pp. 1044, 1057-8, 1060.--janer, pp. 351, 355, 356, 357, 360.--danvila y collado, pp. 212, 213. [1089] bleda, corónica, pp. 1058-60.--janer, pp. 361-66.--cabrera, relaciones, pp. 531, 546.--danvila y collado, pp. 314, 317.--boronat, ii, 285-7, 593. [1090] bleda, corónica, pp. 1021-3.--v. de la fuente, hist. eccles. de españa, iii, 228.--boronat, i, 197; ii, 307. [1091] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 372. [1092] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 224. [1093] autos acordados, lib. <small>viii, tit. ii, autos 4, 6. [1094] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 552, fol. 22, 23. [1095] e. n. adler, in jewish quarterly review, xiii, 417.--archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 1479, fol. 2. in mr. adler's paper, by a printer's error, the auto of oct. 10th is attributed to córdova may 15th. [1096] matute y luquin, p. 268. [1097] danvila y collado, p. 318. [1098] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 100. [1099] guadalajara y xavierr, expulsion, fol. 163; historia pontifical, v, 161.--escolano, ii, 1990.--navarrete, conservacion de monarquías, p. 50.--dávila, vida y hechos del rey felipe iii, p. 151.--von der hammer y leon, felipe el prudente, fol. 33.--alfonsi sanctii de rebus hispan. anacephaleosis, p. 390. [1100] llorente, hist. crít., cap. <small>xii, art. 1, n. 20.--janer, p. 143.--v. de la fuente iii, 229.--danvila y collado, pp. 337-40.--boronat, ii, 307. [1101] pellegrini, relazioni di ambasciatori lucchesi, p. 32 (lucca, 1903). [1102] fonseca, pp. 222-6. [1103] ambassade de salignac, ii, 389, 434.--mémoires de richelieu, i, 89. [1104] decret. sac. congr. s. officii, p. 435 (bibl. del r. archivio di stato in roma, fondo camerale, congr. del s. officio, vol. 3). [1105] cabrera, relaciones, pp. 391, 396.--archivo de simancas, inq. de valencia, leg. 205, fol. 2.--juan ripol, diálogo de consuelo, fol. 20 (pamplona, 1613)--bleda, corónica, p. 1021.--escolano, ii, 1988. [1106] boronat, ii, 243-5. [1107] escolano, ii, 1992. [1108] cabrera, relaciones, p. 404. [1109] escolano (ii, 2001) attributes the slow fever which ended ribera's life, in january 1611, to the execration aroused by the misery of the kingdom resulting from the expulsion, for which he was held responsible, and to the vexations endured in his unsparing endeavors to root out the remnants. [1110] janer, p. 343. [1111] watson's philip iii, appendix b. [1112] cabrera, relaciones, p. 458. [1113] mémoires de richelieu, i, 86. [1114] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 595.--the next lutheran relaxation in majorca did not occur until 1645, and then it was the effigy of the fugitive jan anhelant, a hollander. [1115] balan, monumenta reform. lutheranæ, p. 79 (ratisbonæ, 1883). [1116] llorente, añales, ii, 253.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 1. [1117] bergenroth, calendar of spanish state papers, supplement, pp. 376, 384. see also danvila, historia de las comunidades, iii, 580-3 (mem. hist. español, xxxvii). [1118] in my "chapters from the religious history of spain" there will be found fuller details of this episode drawn, for the most part, from the excellent account given by menéndez y pelayo in his _heterodoxos españoles_, vol. ii. [1119] archivo hist. nacional. inq. de toledo, leg. 112, n. 74. [1120] nic. anton. bibl. nova, s. v.--heterodoxos españoles, ii, 63. [1121] don manuel serrano y sanz has given a full analysis of this case, from the documents, in the _revista de archivos_, dic. 1901, enero y junio, 1902. [1122] menéndez y pelayo, ii, 94.--llorente, hist. crít., cap. <small>xiv, art. ii, n. 4-12. virués must have taken possession of his see, for he is said to have died at telde, a village near las palmas, the capital of the grand canary.--murga, constituciones sinodales del obispado de la gran canaria, fol. 320 (madrid, 1634). [1123] mémoires de francisco de enzinas, ed. campan, ii, 158-70 (bruxelles, 1862). [1124] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 31. [1125] llorente, hist. crít. cap. <small>xviii, art. ii, n. 8; cap. <small>xxix, art. ii, n. 8, 9, 10.--mig. medinæ disput. de indulg., cap. xlviii. we find miguel de medina, in 1570, acting as consultor in the trial at toledo of dr. sigismondo arquer for lutheranism.--schäfer, beiträge zur geschichte des spanischen protestantismus, ii, 228 (gütersloh, 1902). [1126] bullar. roman. i, 613.--reusch, der index der verbotenen bücher, i, 72. [1127] menéndez y pelayo, ii, 315-16. [1128] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 76, fol. 27; lib. 940, fol. 2. [1129] boronat, i, 174. [1130] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 30, n. 10; leg. 31. [1131] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. <small>i de copias, fol. 97. [1132] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 2. [1133] ibidem, lib. 76, fol. 401. [1134] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. <small>i de copias, fol. 98.--see appendix. [1135] catálogo de las causas seguidas en el tribunal de toledo, p. 113 (madrid, 1903). [1136] laemmer, monumenta vaticana sæc. xvi, p. 244 (friborgi, 1861). [1137] mémoires de francisco de enzinas, ii, 172-216.--schäfer, iii, 9, 738. francisco de enzinas, or dryander, does not come within our horizon, as he left spain before he became a protestant and, as he never returned, the spanish inquisition had nothing to do with him. his curious latin memoirs, with a contemporary french translation, have been published by the société de l'histoire de belgique (bruxelles, 1862-3). a german version, by hedwig böhmer, appeared at bonn, in 1893. eduard böhmer, with his customary exhaustiveness, has collected everything that can be gleaned about him, in his _bibliotheca wiffeniana_, i, 133 sqq. [1138] reginaldi gonsalvii montani s. inquisit. hispan. artes aliquot detectæ, pp. 159-64 (heidelbergæ, 1567). [1139] schäfer, ii, 378 sqq. [1140] archivo de simancas, inq. de barcelona, córtes, leg. 17, fol. 83.--see appendix. [1141] ibidem, inq., lib. 79, fol. 98. [1142] schäfer, ii, 342-53. the account of dr. egidio by llorente (hist. crít., cap. <small>xviii, art. i, n. 8-20), borrowed from gonzález de montes, is shown by schäfer to be wholly incorrect. [1143] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 375. [1144] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. <small>iii, fol. 88. [1145] schäfer, ii, 1-271, 342, 352. the statistics are as follows:- natives. foreigners. barcelona - 8 logroño 18 30 valencia - 2 saragossa 5 6 cuenca 5 3 granada - 3 llerena 1 - toledo 8 14 seville 2 - there are none reported from córdova, murcia, santiago or majorca prior to 1558. [1146] schäfer, i, 348-66.--böhmer, bibliotheca wiffeniana, vol. ii. [1147] cipriano de valera was the author of _los dos tratados del papa y de la misa_, of which two editions appeared in london, in 1588 and 1599, reprinted by the pious care of usoz y rio, in 1851, as volume vi of his _reformistas antiguos españoles_. of this work there have been two english translations, one by john golburne in 1600, and the other by j. savage in 1704. two other tracts by valera, _tratado para confirmar en la fe christiana and aviso sobre jubileos_, are in vol. viii of the _reformistas_. his largest work was a translation of the great _institutio_ of calvin, reproduced as vol. xiv of the _reformistas_. cassiodoro de reina became the head of protestant churches, spanish and french, in london, antwerp and frankfort. his chief work was the translation of the bible into castilian--a version passing under the name of cipriano de valera, who issued a revised edition. printed in modern times by the bible society, it has a circulation throughout spanish-speaking lands vastly greater than the author could have anticipated three hundred years ago.--böhmer, _op. cit._, ii, 165. [1148] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 3; lib. 79, fol. 146.--the three books condemned were _exposicio del psalmo beatus vir_, sevilla, 1546, 1551; _cathecismo cristiano_, anvers, 1546, seville, 1547, and _confesion de un pecador delante de jesucristo_, impr. sin author por jullio, 1547. these are all in the valdés index of 1559, together with two others of his--_suma de doctrina cristiana_ and _dialogo de doctrina cristiana_.--reuch, die indices des xvi jahrhunderts, p. 232. [1149] juan pérez was held in much honor by calvin and, as the little company of refugees increased, he formed them into a congregation of which he was pastor. in 1562 he went to france and took charge of a church at blois, becoming subsequently chaplain to renée de france, the widowed duchess of ferrara, whose huguenot tendencies are well known. in 1567 he died in paris, leaving his little accumulations for the good work of printing books in furtherance of the faith. in 1556 he issued a castilian new testament; in 1557, a prose translation of the psalms, and these were followed by a number of other works.--böhmer, _op. cit._, ii, 57. several of his writings were included by usoz y rios in the _reformistas_, viz.: _epistola consolatoria_, in vol. ii; _carta á felipe_ ii, in vol. iii; _breve tratado de la doctrina antigua de dios_, in vol. vii; _suplicacion al rey don philipe_, in vol. xii; _breve sumario de indulgentiis_, in vol. xviii. there was also by him a catechism--_sumario breve de la doctrina christiana_, printed in 1556 by crespin in geneva, though with the imprint of pietro daniel of venice, with approbation of the spanish inquisition (böhmer, ii, 86). the rigor with which it was suppressed is illustrated in the trial at toledo, in 1561, of mossen juan fesque, a french priest, simply for possessing a copy, which he had accidentally bought without knowing what it was and had shown to a bookseller for information. he was tortured with great severity, without eliciting anything more and, as there was nothing else against him, he was discharged. in the course of the trial allusion was made to two other persons, antonio martel and jacobo sobalti, who had been burnt by the tribunal for possessing the catechism.--mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, tom. iii. [1150] schäfer, ii, 296, 354-7. [1151] archivo de simancas, inq., sala 40, lib. <small>iv, fol. 239. [1152] for these details i am indebted to dr. schäfer (_op. cit._, i, 251-88, 296-307; iii, 796-803), whose careful analysis of the trials of doña maría de guevara, pedro de cazalla and francisco de vivero has thrown new light upon the brief episode of protestantism in valladolid. [1153] illescas, historia pontifical. paulo iv, § <small>iv. [1154] relazioni venete, serie i, t. vi, pp. 411-12.--he adds that heresy might be expected to spread among the peasantry on account of the oppression, tithes and first-fruits exacted by the church, but that the nobles are vigilant in defence of the faith by reason of the large provision of benefices which they enjoy. [1155] páramo, _op. cit._, p. 300. [1156] gachard, retraite et mort de charles-quint, ii, 354. [1157] archivo de simancas, inq., sala 40, lib. <small>iv, fol. 228. this letter also asks that one of the seville protestants, diego or mateo de la cruz, who had been burnt in effigy and subsequently captured in flanders, should be promptly transmitted. he had contributed to julian hernández thirty ducats towards books to be smuggled by the latter. what was his fate does not appear. cf. schäfer, i, 335; ii, 358, 407. [1158] gachard, ii, 417, 418; i, 288. [1159] gachard, i, 293, 294, 295, 297. [1160] ibidem, i, 301, 302. [1161] gachard, i, 302, 304, 306, 309; ii, 401, 412, 416, 420-4, 435, 441, 443, 448, 456, 461. [1162] archivo de simancas, inq., sala 40, lib. <small>iv, fol. 230. this letter throws so much light on a turning-point in the history of the inquisition that i give it in the appendix, although schäfer (iii, 103) has printed a german translation. [1163] although called forth rather by the accession of queen elizabeth and her assertion of supremacy over the anglican church than by the spanish protestants, the bull _cum ex apostolatus_, of february 15, 1559, is worth alluding to as illustrating the spirit of the age. issued after mature deliberation with the sacred college, it confirms and renews all the laws, decrees and statutes against heresy, at any time issued, and orders their strict enforcement. as the vicar of god on earth and clothed with supreme power, paul iv decrees in perpetuity that all guilty of heresy or schism or fautorship--clerics from the lowest up to cardinals and laymen up to kings and emperors--shall be subject to these laws against heresy, shall be deprived of their dignities and possessions, which may be seized by any one obedient to the holy see; shall be held as relapsed, as though they had previously abjured, and shall be handed over to the secular arm for the legal punishment, unless they manifest true repentance with its fruits, in which case, through the benignity and clemency of the holy see, they may, if it thinks fit, be thrust into some monastery to perform perpetual penance on the bread of sorrow and water of affliction.--bullar. roman., i, 840.--septimi decretal., lib. <small>v, tit. iii, cap. 9. the spanish inquisition kept this bull in its archives (bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. <small>iii, fol. 55) but never seems to have had occasion to use it. as the most solemn utterance of the holy see it is presumably still in force. [1164] bibl. nacional, mss., d, 153, fol. 95.--the impression produced by this auto is manifested by the number of relations of it. schäfer prints translations of three (i, 442; iii, 1,15) and refers to five others. there is still another, drawn up apparently about 1570 and by no means accurate, in bib. nat., s, 151. [1165] schäfer, i, 328: iii, 808. [1166] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 1034, fol. 221.--bibl. nacional, mss., r, 29, fol. 299. see schäfer, iii, 78, for a german translation of this and i, 325-7, for his defence of its genuineness against those who persist in regarding cazalla as a martyr. there is another recension of this report, differing in many details, and ascribed to fray pedro de mendoza. it is contained in the _miscelanea de zapata_ (mem. hist. español, xi, 201). [1167] archivo de simancas, inq., lib, xii, fol. 20-9. [1168] illescas, historia pontifical, paulo iv, § 4.--see also sepúlveda (de rebus gestis philippi ii, lib. ii, n. 24) who seems to have been present. [1169] bibl. nacional, mss., d, 153, fol. 95. [1170] illescas, _loc. cit._ [1171] ibidem, _loc. cit._--schäfer, iii, 118, 129. [1172] vandennesse, journal des voyages de philippe ii (gachard, voyages des souverains, iv, 74). [1173] schäfer, iii, 53, 68. dr. schäfer (i, 334 sqq.), with his customary thoroughness, has traced the subsequent disposition of those reconciled. [1174] decr. sac. cong. s^{ti} officii, p. 161 (bibl. del r. archivio di stato in roma, fondo camerale, congr. del s. officio, vol. iii). [1175] schäfer, i, 382; ii, 361-8. [1176] ibidem, ii, 271. [1177] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 787. [1178] bibl. nacional, mss., r, 29, p. 310. [1179] illescas, historia pontifical, paulo iv, § 4. to the spaniards of the period all protestants were lutherans but, from the relations of the seville refugees with geneva, it may be assumed that these were calvinists. [1180] archivo de simancas, consejo y secretaria de hacienda, leg. 25.--this appears to be the only complete relation of the auto. [1181] schäfer, ii, 290, 295, 311. [1182] inquis. hispan. artes detectæ, pp. 219-22.--schäfer, ii, 360. [1183] inquis. hispan. artes detectæ, p. 181.--llorente, hist. crít., cap. xxi, art. iii, n. 26. [1184] strype, annals of the reformation in england i, 228-35 (london 1709), from a ms. relation of his sufferings by frampton. an english translation of erasmus's precepts of cato was published in 1545 and was probably the book found in frampton's possession. if so, the name of erasmus was sufficient to compromise him. [1185] schäfer, ii, 312, 319. [1186] schäfer, ii, 327. [1187] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 787.--schäfer, ii, 331. [1188] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 214 fol. (cédulas en favor de la inquisicion). [1189] nueva recop. lib. i, tit. vii, ley 25. [1190] coleccion de documentos, v, 530. [1191] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 108, n. 3.--schäfer, ii, 81. [1192] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 113, n. 64, fol. 20.--the little knot of huguenots in toledo is treated exhaustively by dr. schäfer in the _zeitschrift für kirchengeschichte_, october, 1900. he reckons at about forty the number of those alluded to in the trials, which is probably a full estimate for, as usual, they freely denounced all whom they knew or suspected. the tribunal made short work of them in the auto of june 17, 1565, where forty-five culprits appeared and eleven were relaxed, though what portion of these were protestants is not stated. [1193] schäfer, ii, 70. [1194] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 3. [1195] ibidem, lib. 82, fol. 16; lib. 942, fol. 31. [1196] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 941, fol. 5. [1197] eduard böhmer in _zeitschrift für kirchengeschichte_, 1897, pp. 373 sqq. [1198] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 1, n. 4, fol. 123. [1199] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. iii. [1200] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, tom. xi. [1201] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 30. [1202] schäfer, ii, 93. [1203] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 31. that it is mortal sin to administer sacraments in mortal sin is thoroughly orthodox. see alph. de ligorio, theol. moral., lib. vi, n. 32, 33. [1204] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i. [1205] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 716. [1206] bibl. nacional, mss., pv, 3, n. 20. [1207] ed. böhmer and a. morel fatio (journal des savants, juillet--sept. 1902).--schäfer, ii, 40. [1208] schäfer, i, 212-27. [1209] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 552, fol. 1, 3. [1210] ibidem, fol. 13, 15. [1211] proceso contra angela pérez, post fol. 22 (ms. _penes me_).--matute y luquin, autos de fe de córdova, p. 223.--royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [1212] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. xi. [1213] ibidem, t. iii. [1214] janer, condicion de los moriscos, p. 277. [1215] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 552; fol. 22. [1216] libro verde de aragon (revista de españa, cvi, 570-83). [1217] schäfer, ii, 2. [1218] archivo de simancas, inq., visitas de barcelona, leg. 15, fol. 9. [1219] gachard, don carlos et philippe ii, i, 107. [1220] archivo de simancas, inq., visitas de barcelona, leg. 15, fol. 20. [1221] dépêches de m. de fourquevaux, i, 154, 163, 179, 197, 216, 218, 224, 234, 252, 291, 299, 310 (paris, 1896). [1222] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 1157, fol. 38. [1223] ibidem, lib. 82, fol. 69. [1224] ibidem, fol. 71. [1225] archivo de simancas, _loc. cit._ [1226] ibidem, lib. 81, fol. 27. [1227] parets, sucesos de cataluña (mem. hist. español, xx, 20). [1228] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 1. [1229] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 552. [1230] ibidem. lib. 876. [1231] royal library of berlin, qt. 9548. [1232] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 3, n. 7, p. 476. [1233] birch, catalogue of mss. of the inq. of the canaries, i, 308-26. [1234] birch, _op. cit._, i, 225-30, 303. [1235] schäfer, i, 112; ii, 45. [1236] hinojosa, despachos de la diplomacia pontificia, i, 353, 377 (madrid, 1896). the alum mines of tolfa, near civita vecchia, were the source of considerable revenue to the holy see. [1237] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, cartas del consejo, leg. 5, n. 2, fol. 104. [1238] coleccion de tratados de paz; phelipe iii, p. i, pp. 161-2, 298. [1239] la mantia, l'inquisizione in sicilia, pp. 72-3. [1240] tratados de paz, ubi sup., pp. 264, 354.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 942, fol. 56, 57, 59. [1241] boronat, ii, 120-22. the roman inquisition prohibited conversation with heretics, save by special licence, even for the purpose of converting them. when, in 1604, the constable of castile was about to depart for england as ambassador, and he consulted the holy see, he was told that he did not require a dispensation to enable him to converse with them, but no concessions could be made as to communicating with them in baptisms and marriages. in 1617 the nuncio at madrid asked instructions as to his conduct towards the english ambassador, and was told to hold as little intercourse with him as possible.--decret. sac. cong. s^[ti] officii, pp. 156, 227, 231 (bibl. del r. archivio di stato in roma, fondo camerale, congr. del s. officio, vol. 3). [1242] tratados de paz, _ubi sup._, p. 465. [1243] birch, _op. cit._, ii, 1064.--mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, pp. 198-99. [1244] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 19, fol. 239.--see appendix. [1245] mss. of elkan n. adler esq.--birch, _op. cit._, ii, 1069. [1246] tratados de paz, phelipe iv, p. ii, p. 226. [1247] mss. of elkin n. adler esq. [1248] birch, _op. cit._, ii, 563-66. [1249] mss. of elkan n. adler esq. [1250] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 1526, fol. 7. [1251] tratados de paz, phelipe iv, p. iv, p. 538; p. v, pp. 18, 322, 323, 324. in 1646, a dutch vessel, putting in to majorca, was seized by the inquisitor, who imprisoned the captain and crew, but the royal officials took possession of the property in spite of inquisitorial protests, leading to an angry contest that lasted for years, the inquisitor refusing to obey repeated royal orders to remove the excommunications which he had lavished, until commanded to do so, march 18, 1649, by the suprema. finally, all that the tribunal obtained of the spoils was two hundred ducats to defray the maintenance of the prisoners,--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 38, fol. 26, 71. [1252] tratados de paz, phelipe iv, p. iv, pp. 548, 561, 575.--de lamberty, mémoires pour servir, viii, 461 (la haye, 1730). [1253] mss. of elkan n. adler esq. [1254] howard m. jenkins, the family of william penn, pp. 10-13 (philadelphia 1899). [1255] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 9, n. 3, fol. 413, 414. [1256] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 43, fol. 201; lib. 25, fol. 121.--mss. of elkan n. adler esq.--soler y guardiola, apuntes de historia política y de los tratados de paz, pp. 163-4 (madrid, 1895). it is only fair to spain to state that it was more liberal than rome. the decrees of the congregation of the inquisition are numerous insisting that no heretic should be allowed in any italian city, whether for trade or for residence, but italian commercial instinct was too strong to permit the enforcement of these decrees in some of the states, notably venice, and special privileges were granted even to some of the papal sea-ports, as civita vecchia and ancona.--decr. sac. congr. s^[ti] officii, pp. 6-8, 225 sqq, 233-4 (bibl. del r. archivio di stato in roma, fondo camerale, congr. del s. officio, vol. 3). [1257] tratados de paz, felipe iv, p. vi, p. 274; p. vii, p. 413; carlos ii, p. i, pp. 13, 16, 162, 180.--de lamberty, mémoires, viii, 381.--collection of all the treaties of great britain, iii, 180, 377 (london, 1785). [1258] tratados de paz, felipe iv, p. vii, p. 122. [1259] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 25, fol. 238. [1260] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 12, n. 1, fol. 89, 101. [1261] ibidem, leg. 10, n. 2, fol. 132. [1262] ibidem, leg. 4, n. 2, fol. 222; leg. 16, n. 6, fol. 39. [1263] novís. recop. lib vi, tit. xi, leyes 8, 9. [1264] art de vérifier les dates depuis l'année 1770, iii, 350, 357. [1265] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, legajos 100, 387. [1266] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 4, n. 3, fol. 243. [1267] ibidem, leg. 100. [1268] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 559. [1269] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 1473. [1270] ibidem, lib. 23, fol. 46. [1271] archivo de simancas inq., lib. 25, fol. 98. [1272] ibidem, leg. 1465, fol. 81. [1273] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 31. [1274] archivo de simancas, inq. de toledo, leg. 109, n. 8; leg. 108, n. 11, fol. 2.--mss. of am. philosophical society. [1275] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 299, fol. 80. [1276] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, legajos 30, 31. horstmann merely imitated a jew who, about 425, similarly had himself repeatedly baptized by rival sects, until a miracle arrested his career at the hands of paul, bishop of the novatians.--socratis h. e., vii, 17. [1277] llorente, añales, i, 177. [1278] repertor. inquisit. s. v. _libri._ [1279] reusch, der index der verbotenen bücher, i, 56. [1280] raynald. annal., ann. 1501, n. 36. [1281] nueva recop., lib. i, tit. vii, ley 23. [1282] erasmi epistt., lib. xxvii, ep. 33 (londini, 1642). [1283] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 73, fol. 182. [1284] ibidem, lib. 940, fol. 1. [1285] ibidem, lib. 76, fol. 343, 401; lib. 77, fol. 355; lib. 940, fol. 2. [1286] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 10). [1287] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 2; lib 78, fol. 16.--llorente, añales-ii, 376. [1288] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 939, fol. 62. [1289] nueva recop., lib. ii, tit. iv, ley 48. [1290] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, pp. 331, 332.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol 6, 16. [1291] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, pp. 214, 319.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 4.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 498.--modo de proceder, fol. 74 (bibl. nacional, mss., d, 122).--see appendix. this was the ordinary process, but of course the suprema could take the initiative, as it occasionally did, and order inquisitors to examine books and act on the result.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 3. [1292] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 78, fol. 291. [1293] ibidem, lib. 79, fol. 164; lib. 942, fol. 15. [1294] ibidem, lib. 940, fol. 41. [1295] reprinted by reusch in his useful volume "die indices der sechszehnten jahrhunderts."--see archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 2. [1296] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 942, fol. 16, 17, 19; lib. 940, fol. 2; lib. 79, fol. 213; sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 211. [1297] ibidem, lib. 942, fol. 21; lib. 940, fol. 2. [1298] reusch, der index, i, 258. [1299] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 79, fol. 139. [1300] ibidem, lib. 942, fol. 15; lib. 79, fol. 140, 164. [1301] ibidem, sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 233.--see appendix for the commission of an examiner. [1302] archivo de simancas, inq., sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 235.--_conradi gesneri de differentiis animalium_ is prohibited in the index of 1559 (reusch, die indices, p. 219). the index contains several clauses prohibiting all books of divination, necromancy, invocation of demons, etc. (ibid., pp. 217, 226, 227, 236), but there is nothing specially against the cabala. [1303] nueva recop., lib. i, tit. vii, leyes 24, 33.--(novís. recop. viii, xvi, 3; xviii, 1).--alcubilla, códigos antiguos españoles, p. 1580. in 1746, the preliminary examination of mss. for licences to print was entrusted by the royal council to the real academia de la historia, a duty limited by fernando vii to those concerning the history of spain and the indies. the records of this censorship have been printed by the academy (boletin, xxxv, 369-434). each ms. was submitted to one or more members and there were three classes of censure--favorable, unfavorable and doubtful, the latter equivalent to the _donec corrigatur_ of the index, when the author had an opportunity of revising his work and submitting it again, a process which occasionally was repeated a third time. the censors appear to have been for the most part lenient. in the record, extending from 1747 to 1833, the favorable reports amount to 618, the unfavorable to 149 and the doubtful to 155. works of belles-lettres were submitted to the spanish academy. don manuel serrano y sanz has printed (revista de archivos, julio-agosto, 1906) a number of the judgements pronounced by the censors to whom they were confided, which throw an interesting light on the critical canons of the period. it would appear that the issue of useless books was discouraged: as miguel cervera lópez says of one entitled _los desengaños de un casado_, "finding no usefulness in this writing, i think it should not be printed." this was only enforcing a decree of philip iv in 1627, ordering licences to be refused to unnecessary works (novís, recop., viii, xvi, 9). [1304] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. i, de copias, fol. 100. [1305] mss. of library of univ. of halle, yc, 20, t. i.--index of sotomayor, pp. 524-8.--indice ultimo, p. 240. [1306] catalani de secretario congr. indicis, p. 31 (rome, 1651). the only attempt made to compile a roman _index expurgatorius_ was in 1607, by gianmaria guanzelli da brisighella, master of the sacred palace. it never advanced beyond the first volume and was suppressed in 1611. that volume consists of 599 double-columned 12mo pages and only contains fifty-two authors, so numerous are the expurgations, many of them as trivial as those of the spanish censors. [1307] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 4; lib. 942, fol. 25. [1308] ibidem, lib. 82, fol. 76; lib. 940, fol. 5. [1309] ibidem, lib. 940, fol. 6, 7, 18. [1310] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 941, fol. 9; lib. 939, fol. 127; lib. 940, fol. 16, 17. [1311] ibidem, lib. 940, fol. 8, 16.--even abad neroni required supervision. in 1598, he was ordered to report to the suprema what was the bible which fray gerónimo de almonacid said he possessed.--ibid., fol. 12. [1312] ibidem, fol. 8-12, 17. [1313] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 11, 17. [1314] ibidem, fol. 17, 22, 23. in 1609 there is an order to pay fray diego de arce 500 reales for his services in the junta and another to give him a ducat a day during its existence. in 1610 padre juan de pineda is paid at the same rate and special payments of 300 ducats apiece are made to dr. camargo and to fray ignacio de ibero. in 1613, alonso marques de prado, bishop of tortosa, receives 800 ducats for his work in the junta.--ibid. fol. 23, 24. [1315] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 1, n. 4, fol. 234. [1316] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 1465, fol. 48. [1317] ibidem. [1318] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 15, n. 11, fol. 36. [1319] ibidem, leg. 14, n. 3, fol. 164.--mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 214. [1320] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 3, 4. [1321] modo de proceder, fol. 86 (bibl. nacional, mss., d, 122). [1322] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 12, n. 2, fol. 44. [1323] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 1, n. 4, fol. 250. [1324] indice ultimo, regla <small>xii (p. xxiii), advertencia 1 (p. xxxvi). [1325] in my copy of the _historia pontifical_ of abbot illescas, two folio leaves are thus torn out to get rid of a chapter on pope joan, which had passed the repeated censorship that had suppressed two previous editions of the book. the pages thus removed contain two whole chapters and parts of two others. i owe to the late general don riva palacio a copy of the portrait of palafox, _borrado_ as described in the text. [1326] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 4, 12, 14. [1327] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 214. [1328] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 18. [1329] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 32, fol. 666. in the indexes, books were divided into three classes. the first consisted of condemned authors, all of whose works were prohibited; the second of books by known authors, requiring expurgation; the third, of unknown authors, either prohibited or requiring expurgation. this was the theory, but negligently observed in practice. [1330] ibidem, fol. 668. [1331] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 21, fol. 303. [1332] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 374; leg. 1, n. 4, fol. 234.--see appendix for a commission of _revisor de libros_. [1333] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 1, n. 4, fol. 251. [1334] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 890; lib. 559.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 47. [1335] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 9, n. 3, fol. 405. [1336] ibidem, leg. 374. [1337] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 47. [1338] ibidem, leg. 4, n. 3, fol. 290, 293. [1339] llorente, hist. crít., cap. xliii, art. ii, n. 5; art. v, n. 1. [1340] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 47. [1341] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 13. [1342] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 2. [1343] ibidem, sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 228. [1344] schäfer, beiträge, ii, 359. [1345] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 11, 19.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 10, n. 2, fol. 71. [1346] libro xiii de cartas, fol. 147, 162 (ms. of am. philos. society). [1347] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 9, n. 3, fol. 63. [1348] lib. xiii de cartas, fol. 29 (mss. of am. phil. society). [1349] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 23. [1350] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 374. [1351] mss. of am. philos. society.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 17, n. 3, fol. 23. [1352] archivo de simancas, inq., sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 240. [1353] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 47. [1354] alcubilla, códigos antiguos españoles, pp. 1582-86. [1355] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 4, n. 3, fol. 163. [1356] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 16, n. 9, fol. 1; leg. 4, n. 3, fol. 145.--instruccion para los revisores, toledo, 1805. [1357] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 17, n. 3, fol. 58. [1358] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 10, n. 2, fol. 193.--bibl. nacional, mss., s, 294, fol. 50. [1359] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 26, fol. 37; lib. 43, fol. 315; legajo 1526, fol. 2. [1360] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 31, fol. 118.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 10, n. 2 fol. 193. [1361] archivo de simancas, gracia y justicia, leg. 621, fol. 79. [1362] ibidem, inq., lib. 29, fol. 494.--portocarrero, sobre la competencia, n. 81. [1363] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 34, fol. 286-97. [1364] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 24, fol. 13. [1365] ibidem, lib. 80, fol. 1. [1366] ibidem, lib. 25, fol. 116-17; lib. 43, fol. 131, 201, 297. [1367] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 43, fol. 120; leg. 1526, fol. 7. [1368] ibidem, leg. 1526, fol. 2, 7, 17; lib. 45, fol. 151; lib. 38, fol. 78. [1369] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 43, fol. 68, 120. [1370] ibidem, lib. 25, fol. 1, 52, 82; lib. 43, fol. 142, 174, 187; leg. 1526, fol. 6. [1371] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 43, fol. 174, 187; leg. 1526, fol. 4. [1372] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 43, fol. 201; lib. 25, fol. 129. [1373] ibidem, lib. 43. fol. 201, 235, 270; leg. 1526, fol. 36. [1374] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 1526, fol. 17. [1375] ibidem, lib. 43, fol. 283, 297, 315, 319, 325; lib. 26, fol. 33. [1376] ibidem, leg. 1473. [1377] bibl. nacional, mss., s, 294, fol. 50, 132. [1378] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 10, n. 2, fol. 193. [1379] ibidem, leg. 4, n. 3, fol. 243. [1380] coleccion de decretos de las córtes, iv, 17 (madrid, 1820). [1381] archivo de simancas, lib. 559; leg. 1473. [1382] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 942, fol. 15; lib. 79, fol. 17, 164.--cf. pegnæ comment. iii in eymerici director. p. <small>ii. [1383] septimi decretal, lib. v, tit. iv, cap. 2. [1384] archivo de simancas, inq., sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 231.--see appendix. [1385] reusch, die indices, p. 212. [1386] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 10). [1387] literæ apostolicæ soc. jesu, pp. 137-41 (antverpiæ, 1635).--bibl. vaticana, mss. ottobon. lat. 494, p. 8.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 15, 16, 17, 13. [1388] alberghini, manuale qualificatorum, p. 132. [1389] reusch, die indices, pp. 382-3.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 939, fol. 127. [1390] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 10, 11; lib. 21, fol. 303. [1391] ibidem, lib. 940, fol. 18. [1392] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 332. [1393] archivo de alcalá, hacienda, leg. 544^{2} (lib. 10).--index of zapata, _ad calcem_.--bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. v, fol. 12.--bullar. roman. v, 220. [1394] archivo de alcalá, _ubi sup._ [1395] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 15, n. 11, fol. 36. [1396] llorente, hist. crít., cap. xii, art. ii, n. 12, 13. [1397] edicto de 13 de henero de 1747 (mss. of david fergusson esq.). [1398] birch, catalogue of mss. of inq. of canaries, ii, 940-1. [1399] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 16, n. 5, 7, 8; leg. 17, n. 4, _passim._--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 559. [1400] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 214.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 942, fol. 23. [1401] reusch, die indices, p. 211. [1402] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 1, n. 4, fol. 226. [1403] archivo de simancas, inq., sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 177. [1404] ibidem, lib. 877, fol. 96. [1405] ibidem, lib. 565, fol. 394. [1406] ibidem, lib. 877, fol. 239. [1407] ibidem, lib. 890. [1408] these are records of autos. in the catalogue of toledo cases prepared by don miguel gómez del campillo (see appendix) there are thirty-four attributed to prohibited books. of these, five are anterior to 1575; then there are none until 1771, followed by six between that year and 1794, but none of them seem to have been pushed to a conclusion except one which was suspended. [1409] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 100. [1410] innocent. pp. iii, regest. ii, 141, 142, 235.--lib. iv, extra, vii, 12.--constitutions de cathalunya, lib. i, tit. i, cap. 12.--martene et durand amplis. collect., vii, 123.--concil. tolosan., ann. 1229, cap. 14 (harduin., vii, 178).--repertor. inquisitor, s. v. _scriptura_. [1411] villanueva, de la leccion de la sagrada escritura, p. 8; append. <small>ii, pp. cxxxii sqq. (valencia, 1791). [1412] archivo de simancas, inq., sala 40, lib. 4, fol. 126.--see appendix. [1413] reusch, die indices, pp. 74, 76.--the tridentine index (regula 4) while asserting that experience had shown that the indiscriminate popular use of the bible wrought more harm than good, yet permits bishops and inquisitors to allow vernacular versions to those whom parish priests and confessors recommend as trustworthy. [1414] reusch, _op. cit._, pp. 234-5.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 82, fol. 149; lib. 940, fol. 5. [1415] reusch, p. 383. [1416] azpilcuetæ de oratione, cap. xxii, n. 104.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 1, n. 4, fol. 226. [1417] indice de 1640, regla 5.--see appendix to vol. ii, p. 588. also the later edict, printed by llorente in the appendix to his hist. crít. [1418] bulario de la orden de santiago, lib. v fol. 141. [1419] edicto de 13 de henero, 1747 (_ubi sup._).--villanueva, _op. cit._, pp. 56, 200. [1420] bullar. roman., viii, 420.--index benedicti xiv, p. vi. [1421] villanueva, _op. cit._, prologo. [1422] villanueva, p. 95.--indice ultimo, p. xvii. [1423] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 15, n. 11, fol. 61. for a relaxation of severity as early as 1763 see archivo de simancas, lib. 877, fol. 96. [1424] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 18. [1425] reusch, die indices, pp. 237, 380, 438.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 11, n. 1, fol. 170-1. [1426] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 940, fol. 4, 15; lib. 941, fol. 4.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 6, n. 2. [1427] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 323. [1428] archivo de simancas, gracia y justicia, leg. 621, fol. 64. [1429] mss. of bodleian library, arch seld. a, subt. 13.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de toledo, leg. 1. [1430] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 100. [1431] llorente, coleccion diplomática, p. 10 (madrid, 1809).--reusch, der index, i, 303. [1432] nic. antonii bibl. nova, i. 589.--hinojosa, despachos de la diplomacia pontificia, i, 352-3, 373.--baronii annal., ann. 447, n. 8.--bibl. nacional, mss., d, 118, fol. 30, n. 14. baronius, in his eleventh volume, which appeared in 1605, included a tractate on the investiture of naples, peculiarly offensive to spanish pretensions. after the death of clement viii (march 3, 1605) he had aspirations for the succession, but spain exercised her right of exclusion to his discomfiture. philip iii, by edict of october 3, 1610, prohibited the annals with the tractate under severe penalties for those who should not, within twenty days, present their copies for expurgation.--reusch, der index, ii, 277-80. this was a royal, not an inquisitorial act. the annals escaped the spanish index. [1433] vicente de la fuente, hist. eccles. de españa, iii, 269 (ed. 1855). [1434] alcubilla, códigos antiguos, p. 1591.--llorente, coleccion diplomática, p. 22.--librorum post indicem clementis viii prohib. decreta, pp. 165-66 (romæ, 1632).--llorente, hist. crít., cap. xxv, n. 119. [1435] archivo de simancas, gracia y justicia, leg. 621, fol. 73. [1436] ibidem, inq., lib. 20, fol. 255. my copy of the _tractatus_ illustrates a method of satisfying the conscience in possessing prohibited books, at least in italy. it is of the fourth edition, lyons, 1669, and a former owner, the dottore benedetto gargdoni, has written on the fly-leaf, over his name, "animo obtinendi licentiam." [1437] catalani de secretario congr. indicis, pp. 41, 52, 63.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 20, fol. 255.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 8, n. 20, fol. 260. [1438] dialogo di galileo galilei linceo....dove ne i congressi di quattro giornate si discorre sopra i due massimi sistemi del mundo, tolemaico e copernicano fiorenza, 1632. [1439] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 20, fol. 255. [1440] llorente, coleccion diplomática, p. 23. [1441] index innocentii xi, 1681, pp. 105,155.--index alexandri vii, decretorum index, n. 51.--reusch, der index, ii, 373-5. [1442] bibl. nacional, mss., d, 118, fol. 66, n. 25. [1443] autos acordados, lib. i, tit. vii, auto 14.--novís. recop. viii, xviii, 2.--bibl. nacional, mss., s, 294, fol 66. [1444] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 26, fol. 121. [1445] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 331. [1446] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 21, fol. 108. [1447] llorente, hist. crít., cap. <small>xxvi, art. iii, n. 37, 40. [1448] autos acordados, lib. <small>i</small>, tit. vii, auto 21. [1449] archivo de simancas, inq., leg. 1465, fol. 45.--ferrer del rio, historia de carlos iii, i, 394-5, 398.--archivo de alcalá, estado, leg. 2843. [1450] llorente, hist. crít., cap. <small>xxv</small>, art. 1, n. 14-15.--novís. recop., <small>ii</small>, iv, 11; <small>viii</small>, xviii, 3. [1451] archivo de alcalá, estado, leg. 2843.--llorente, hist. crít., cap. <small>viii</small>, art. <small>v</small>, n. 7, 8. [1452] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 15, n. 11, fol. 23. [1453] mss. of royal library of copenhagen, 218^{b}, p. 323. [1454] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 890. [1455] ibidem, lib. 940, fol. 10, 17, 20. [1456] cabrera, relaciones, pp. 285, 291. the nuncio in madrid claimed that the venetian ambassador was under excommunication, causing some troublesome complications in the ceremonial of the court.--ibidem, pp. 282, 295. [1457] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 21, fol. 254.--archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 1, n. 4, fol. 77, 78, 81. [1458] llorente, hist. crít., cap. <small>xxv</small>, art. 1, n. 3.--mss. of david fergusson esqr. [1459] novís. recop., <small>viii</small>, xviii, 11-14.--alcubilla, pp. 1593-4. [1460] coleccion de los decretos etc., iii, 217 (madrid, 1820). [1461] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 559.--walton's translation of puigblanch's "inquisition unmasked," vol. i, pp. xxxvi-lxvi (london, 1816). [1462] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 559. [1463] reusch, die indices, pp. 249, 533. [1464] ticknor's spanish literature, i, 235-44.--index of 1640, p. 948.--indice ultimo, p. 40. [1465] archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 81, fol. 27. [1466] ibidem, lib. 82, fol. 1; lib. 940, fol. 5. [1467] reusch, die indices, p. 385. [1468] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 6, n. 2, fol. 313. [1469] ibidem, leg. 1, n. 4, fol. 46, 50. [1470] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, varios, leg. 392. n. 26; leg. 390; leg. 47.--yriarte, goya, sa biographie etc., p. 105 (paris, 1867).--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 890, lib. 435^{2}. [1471] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, varios, leg. 392, n. 15.--archivo de simancas, inq., lib. 890; lib. 435^{2}. [1472] archivo hist. nacional, inq. de valencia, leg. 4, n. 3, fol. 324; leg. 100. [every attempt has been made to replicate the original book as printed. some typographical errors have been corrected. a list follows the text. (etext transcriber's note)] the inquisition of spain works by the same author _a history of the inquisition of the middle ages._ in three volumes, octavo. _a history of auricular confession and indulgences in the latin church._ in three volumes, octavo. _an historical sketch of sacerdotal celibacy in the christian church._ third edition. (_in preparation._) _a formulary of the papal penitentiary in the thirteenth century._ one volume, octavo. (_out of print._) _superstition and force._ essays on the wager of law, the wager of battle, the ordeal, torture. fourth edition, revised. in one volume, 12mo. _studies in church history._ the rise of the temporal power, benefit of clergy, excommunication, the early church and slavery. second edition. in one volume, 12mo. _chapters from the religious history of spain, connected with the inquisition._ censorship of the press, mystics and illuminati, endemoniadas, el santo niño de la guardia, brianda de bardaxi. in one volume, 12mo. _the moriscos of spain. their conversion and expulsion._ in one volume, 12mo. a history of the inquisition of spain by henry charles lea, ll.d. in four volumes volume ii. new york the macmillan company london: macmillan & co., ltd. 1922 _all rights reserved_ printed in the united states of america. copyright, 1906 by the macmillan company set up and electrotyped. published september, 1906 contents of vol. ii. book iii--jurisdiction. chapter i--heresy. page importance attached to unity of belief 1 popular abhorrence of heresy 2 limitations of inquisitorial jurisdiction 3 classification of heresy--heresy both a sin and a crime 4 original episcopal jurisdiction 5 the inquisition obtains exclusive jurisdiction 6 episcopal concurrence--it is merely formal 11 jurisdiction over the forum of conscience 10 the question of papal indulgences 24 extension of exclusive jurisdiction 26 chapter ii--the regular orders. the regular clergy claim exemption from the inquisition 29 fluctuations of the struggle--the inquisition triumphs 31 resistance of the jesuits--their defeat 33 jurisdiction assumed in quarrels between the orders 37 chapter iii--bishops. torquemada vainly seeks jurisdiction over bishops 41 cases of dávila of segovia and aranda of calahorra 42 case of acuña of zamora 45 jurisdiction conferred personally on inquisitor-general manrique 44 case of archbishop carranza of toledo 45 inquisitor-general valdés falls into disfavor 46 seeks to re-establish himself by prosecuting carranza 48 carranza's orthodoxy--melchor cano 49 carranza's commentaries on the catechism 54 royal and papal assent obtained for the prosecution 56 carranza's arrest and incarceration, aug. 22, 1559 65 he recuses valdés and two other judges 69 procrastination--trial begins july 30, 1561 71 continued delays--intervention of council of trent in 1563 73 fruitless efforts of pius iv to expedite the trial 75 pius v evokes the case to rome 77 carranza reaches rome may 28, 1567--trial recommenced 79 gregory xiii recommences the trial in 1572 81 sentence rendered april 24, 1576 82 carranza's death, may 2d--estimates of him 84 jurisdiction claimed over bishops 87 cases of toro of oviedo and queipo of mechoacan 88 chapter iv--the edict of faith. its effectiveness in stimulating denunciations 91 its comprehensive details 93 its anathema 95 popular training in delation 99 chapter v--appeals to rome. supremacy of papal jurisdiction 103 conversos purchase letters of pardon from the holy see 104 ferdinand and the inquisition disregard them 105 papal pardons claimed to be good in the judicial forum 107 struggle between spain and rome--pardons sold and revoked 108 citation to rome of inquisitorial officials 118 tergiversations of the curia 120 charles v carries on the struggle 123 he obtains exclusive appellate jurisdiction for the inquisitor-general 126 but the curia still entertains appeals 128 friction continued under philip ii and philip iii 129 philip iv enforces surrender of papal letters 132 case of gerónimo de villanueva 133 his connection with the convent of san placido 134 he obtains an acquittal from the inquisition in 1632 136 arce y reynoso reopens the case in 1643 138 villanueva's sentence--his appeal to rome entertained 143 persistent resistance of philip iv 146 copies of the papers sent to rome in 1651 154 efforts to have them returned continued until 1660 157 appeals to rome forbidden under the bourbons 159 book iv--organization. chapter i--the inquisitor-general and supreme council. commissions of officials expire with the inquisitor-general 161 suprema at first merely a consultative body 162 rapid increase of its functions 164 it becomes the ruling power 167 its struggle with inquisitor-general mendoza in the case of froilan diaz 169 mendoza removes the opposing members 174 philip v. decides in favor of the suprema and of froilan diaz 177 the suprema reduces the tribunals to subordination 179 it gradually intervenes in sentences and trials 181 it requires monthly reports of current business 183 centralization becomes complete--the tribunals are merely ministerial 185 appellate jurisdiction of inquisitor-general and suprema 187 control over all details of the tribunals 189 control over the finances 190 salaries and perquisites of the suprema 194 its enjoyment of bull-fights 198 its revenues and expenses 200 chapter ii--the tribunal. gradual delimitation into districts 205 organization of the tribunal--multiplication of officials 208 vain efforts to restrict the number 211 sale of offices 212 census of officials in 1746 216 hereditary transmission of office 218 tenderness shown to official malfeasance and its results 223 visitations or inspections of the tribunals 227 the palace or building of the tribunal 230 the personnel of the tribunal--the assessor 232 the inquisitors--their qualifications 233 their duty of visiting their districts 238 the promotor fiscal or prosecutor 241 the notaries or secretaries 243 the alguazil 245 the nuncio, portero and gaoler 246 the physician, surgeon and steward 248 financial officials 250 salaries and ayudas de costa 251 the records 255 chapter iii--unsalaried officials. calificadores or censors 263 consultors 266 commissioners 268 familiars 272 their excessive numbers and turbulence 274 qualifications prescribed 279 organization of officials--hermandad de san pedro martir 282 fernando vii makes it an order of knighthood 283 chapter iv--limpieza. origin of limpieza or purity of blood 285 distinction between old and new christians 286 the religious orders seek to exclude new christians 287 new christians excluded from colleges 289 the church of toledo adopts a statute of limpieza 290 limpieza enforced in the observantine franciscans 293 it becomes a prerequisite in the inquisition 294 verification of limpieza 295 number of generations required--penitents of the inquisition 297 character of investigation--it is a source of revenue 300 perjury and subornation 304 futile effort of philip iv to diminish the evils of limpieza 307 unfortunate effects of the proscription 308 it increases the terror of the inquisition 310 rigidity relaxed under the restoration 311 remains of prejudice in majorca 312 book v--resources. chapter i--confiscation. necessity of confiscation to support the inquisition 315 confiscation borrowed from the imperial jurisprudence 316 responsibility for it 317 claims of the church in cases of clerics 318 division made with feudal lords 319 enforced on all reconciled or condemned heretics 320 methods to prevent evasion 321 commissions paid to informers 323 rapacious practice of the old inquisition 325 the question of alienations and creditors 326 the question of dowries 332 the question of conquests 334 thoroughness of confiscation--provision for children 335 alienations subsequent to commission of heresy 339 slaves of confiscated estates 339 rigorous collection of debts 340 routine of business--responsibility of receivers 341 hardships inflicted by confiscation 349 exclusive jurisdiction of the inquisition 349 compositions for confiscation 352 losses and dilapidation 363 productiveness 367 becomes obsolete in the eighteenth century 370 disposition made of the proceeds 371 lavish grants to favorites 372 ferdinand's kindliness 378 reckless grants by charles v 380 influence of confiscation 386 chapter ii--fines and penances. pecuniary penance 389 distinguished from confiscation 391 sometimes substituted for confiscation 394 its productiveness 396 fines as punishment 389 chapter iii--dispensations. rehabilitation from disabilities 401 struggle between the crown, the inquisition and the papacy 403 sale of commutation of punishments 408 chapter iv--benefices. officials provided with benefices 415 quinquennial dispensations from residence 416 patronage granted to the sovereigns 416 opposition of cathedral chapters 417 doctoral and magistral canonries 421 grant of a canonry in each church, in 1559 423 fruitless resistance of the churches 428 productiveness 431 chapter v--finances. failure to provide permanent funds 433 improvidence--complaints of poverty 435 power of recuperation 439 deficiency of revenue in the eighteenth century 441 financial organization--the receiver 445 detailed accounts required--neglect to render them 447 the coffer with three keys--its ineffectiveness 450 the _junta de hacienda_ 453 defalcations 454 book vi--practice. chapter i--the edict of grace. nature of the edict of grace 457 confession under the edict 459 its utility to the inquisition 460 revived in 1815 463 chapter ii--the inquisitorial process. the inquisitorial process in secular procedure 465 laxity in the spiritual courts 469 rigid secrecy in the inquisition 470 its importance 476 the fiscal as party to the case 478 the inquisitorial ideal 482 chapter iii--arrest and sequestration. duty of denunciation 485 preliminaries to arrest 486 their disregard 491 segregation of the prisoner 493 immediate sequestration of property 495 provision for families 499 the secrestador 501 embargo 503 chapter iv--the secret prison. grades of imprisonment 507 character of the secret prison 509 terror inspired by imprisonment 511 the chaining of prisoners 511 escape from prison 513 deprivation of all outside intercourse 513 restrictions on writing materials 517 prison regulations 518 deprivation of the sacraments 520 treatment of the sick 522 care of female prisoners 523 humane instructions--not always obeyed 524 expenses of maintenance--rations 528 collection of costs 533 chapter v--evidence. the judge assumed to weigh the character of evidence 535 no qualifications required in witnesses for the prosecution 536 strict qualifications for witnesses for the defence 539 witnesses forced to testify 540 examination of witnesses 541 control over evidence for the defence 543 ratification of evidence 544 suppression of witnesses' names 548 false-witness 554 character of evidence admitted 563 negative evidence 567 chapter vi--confession. duty of saving souls 569 urgency to induce confession 570 spontaneous confession, its frequency 571 confession must be complete--the _diminuto_ 573 denial of intention 576 denunciation of accomplices 577 time of confession 580 revocation of confession 582 denial of guilt--the _negativo_ 585 appendix of documents 587 the inquisition of spain. book iii. jurisdiction. chapter i. heresy. the inquisition was organized for the eradication of heresy and the enforcement of uniformity of belief. we shall have occasion to see hereafter how elastic became the definition of heresy, and we have seen how far afield its extinction led the operations of the holy office but, to the last, the suppression of unorthodox belief remained the ostensible object of its existence. it is not easy at the present day, for those accustomed to universal toleration, to realize the importance attached by statesmen in the past to unity of belief, or the popular abhorrence for any deviation from the standard of dogma. these convictions were part of the mental and moral fibre of the community and were the outcome of the assiduous teachings of the church for centuries, until it was classed with the primal truths that it was the highest duty of the sovereign to crush out dissidence at whatever cost, and that hatred of the heretic was enjoined on every christian by both divine and human law. the heretic was a venomous reptile, spreading contagion with his very breath and the safety of the land required his extermination as a source of pestilence.[1] in the earlier periods of the inquisition, moreover, when the hierarchy was filled with new christians of doubtful orthodoxy, it was essential to know that the sacraments necessary to salvation were not vitiated by the apostasy of the ministrant, for his intention is indispensable to their validity. no man could tell how many priests there were like andrés gonzález, parish priest of san martín de talavera, who, on his trial at toledo, in 1486, confessed that for fourteen years he had secretly been a jew, that he had no intention when he celebrated mass, nor had he granted absolution to the penitents confessing to him. there was also a classical story, widely circulated, of fray garcia de zapata, prior of the geronimite monastery of toledo, who, when elevating the host, used to say "get up, little peter, and let the people look at you" and who always turned his back on the penitent to whom he pretended to grant absolution.[2] [sidenote: _conditions of jurisdiction_] the merciless zeal of the holy office might gradually relieve the people of this danger, but it intensified by its methods the unreasoning abhorrence of heresy. the honest cavalier oviedo, about the middle of the sixteenth century, merely phrases the current opinion of the time when he says that all possible punishments prescribed by the canons and admitted by the laws should be visited on the persons and property of heretics; they eat the bread of the good, they render the land infamous, by their conversation they lead souls to perdition and, with their marriages and kinships, they corrupt the blood of good houses.[3] as time wore on this increased rather than diminished. galceran albanell, archbishop of granada, who had been tutor of philip iv, wrote to his former pupil april 12, 1621, to express his horror at learning that the english ambassador had been allowed to have divine service performed in his house, after the rites of his sect. the king should not allow it; it is the greatest of sins and unless it is remedied we shall all perish. it is an accursed reason to allege that that accursed king permits the spanish ambassador to have mass celebrated in london. the english ambassador should be dismissed and the english king can send away the spanish ambassador; if the council of state interferes, let philip show them the way of god. the licenciado de angulo should have a bishopric because he resigned his office as fiscal of the council rather than affix his name to a paper in which the english king was styled defender of the faith and albanell declares his readiness to resign his own see in angulo's favor.[4] to a population sedulously trained in such sentiments the awful ceremonies of the auto de fe were a triumph of the faith, of which they felt proud, and they were filled with pious exultation when the flames of the _brasero_ consumed the bodies of heretics who passed through temporal to eternal fire. it was a vindication of the honor of god, and it is necessary to understand and bear in mind this temper when considering the performance by the inquisition of its allotted task. * * * * * the jurisdiction of the holy office over heresy was confined to the baptized, for baptism is a condition precedent to heresy; the unbaptized are outside of the church and it has no spiritual authority over them. in the auto de fe of 1623, at valladolid, a woman taken out to be relaxed for judaism, declared that she was not baptized, whereupon the proceedings respecting her were stopped and she was remanded for investigation.[5] although baptism can be validly administered by a heretic, yet in the trial of foreign protestants, minute inquiry was made as to the details of their baptism in their sects, so as to be assured that they were truly baptized; in the case of jacques pinzon, at toledo, in 1598, his advocate ingeniously but vainly argued that this could not be assumed, because it could not be proved that the minister had the proper intention, without which the rite was invalid.[6] age placed slender limits on inquisitorial jurisdiction. children were considered capable of committing heresy as soon as they were _doli capaces_, at six or seven years, but were not held responsible until they reached years of discretion. this was fixed by torquemada at twelve for girls and fourteen for boys, below which they were not to be made to abjure in public,[7] but the limit was frequently infringed. in 1501, inesita, daughter of marcos garcia, between nine and ten years old and isabel, daughter of alvaro ortolano, aged ten, were sentenced to appear in an auto de fe. they had confessed to fasting once or twice and the latter had been told by her father not to eat pork.[8] in 1660, at valladolid, joseph rodríguez, aged eight, accused of judaism, was regularly tried, with all the complicated formalities of procedure, occupying a year, and was made to give evidence against his father and brother; he was absolved secretly and placed in the penitential prison for instruction.[9] of course there was no maximum limit of age. in 1638, at valladolid, maría díaz, a hundred years old, was thrown into the secret prison for judaism and her trial went forward.[10] responsibility to the inquisition varied with the grade of heresy, which was carefully classified by the theologians. material heresy is error in a baptized person arising from ignorance and, if the ignorance is inculpable, it is scarce to be considered as true heresy deserving of punishment.[11] formal or mixed heresy is voluntary and pertinacious error, pertinacity being adherence to what is known to be contrary to the teachings of the church. this formal heresy is again distinguished into internal, or mental, and external. internal, or mental, heresy is that which is secretly entertained and is not manifested by either word or act. external heresy is subdivided into occult and public. occult external is that which is manifested by words or signs, either in secret or to one or two persons only--as though a man in the solitude of his chamber should say "there is no god," or should utter his thought in the presence of another. public external is that which is manifested openly, either in public or to more than two persons.[12] the bearing of these distinctions on the work of the inquisition will be apparent hereafter. [sidenote: _episcopal jurisdiction_] there was still another definition of even greater importance. heresy was both a sin and a crime. as a sin it was subject to the _forum internum_, or forum of conscience; as a crime, to the _forum externum_ or judicial forum. a penitent in sacramental confession, admitting heretical belief, might receive sacramental absolution and be pardoned in the sight of god, but the crime, like that of murder or any other violation of human laws, would still remain to be punished in the judicial forum. we shall see that in the inquisition the penitent, who confessed and repented and received absolution, was still subject to penalties ranging, according to circumstances, from slight penance to death. * * * * * prior to the organization of the inquisition in the thirteenth century, the cognizance of heresy was a natural attribute of the episcopal office. the duty of persecution was negligently performed and, when the catharan and waldensian heresies threatened the predominance of the latin church and the albigensian crusades left it master of the situation, the inquisition gradually sprang up as an assistance to the bishops. there was some rivalry, but the bishops, as a rule, did not share in the confiscations and, as few of them had persecuting zeal sufficient to induce them to perform this gratuitous service, the field was virtually abandoned to the new organization, in the lands where it was introduced. still the episcopal rights were undisputed. jurisdiction over heresy was recognized to be cumulative--that is, it was enjoyed by both tribunals, either of which was entitled to any case in which it had taken prior action. finally, in 1312, the council of vienne, in response to complaints of the cruelty of inquisitors, formulated a settlement under which the combined action of both jurisdictions was required in all commitments to harsh detentive prison, in all sentences to torture and in all final sentences, unless the one called upon to coöperate failed to come within eight days.[13] this, embodied in the acts of the council, technically known as the clementines, remained the law of the church. the bishops, however, remained indifferent and rarely took independent action. the inquisitorial districts were large, comprehending a number of dioceses; the episcopal jurisdiction was limited to the subjects of a single diocese. it was impossible for the bishops to assemble at the seat of the tribunal, and when an auto de fe was in preparation they would usually delegate their ordinaries to represent them or commission an inquisitor to act. such was the somewhat cumbrous combination of episcopal and inquisitorial jurisdiction which the founding of the holy office brought into spain. independent action by bishops still continued occasionally, of which we have seen example (vol. i, p. 167) and it was recognized, though subordinated to the inquisitorial jurisdiction in a brief of innocent viii, september 25, 1487, conferring on torquemada appellate power in cases before episcopal courts, whether they were acting separately or in conjunction with inquisitors, provided appeal was made before sentence was rendered.[14] the popes of the period, moreover, were careful to maintain the assertion of episcopal participation in inquisitorial proceedings, as is manifested in the superscription of their letters addressed "ordinariis et inquisitoribus," or assuming that inquisitors acted under episcopal as well as papal authority.[15] theoretically, this continued throughout the sixteenth century. the writers of highest authority treat bishops and inquisitors as possessing cumulative jurisdiction, so that both could prosecute, either separately or conjointly and the old canons were still cited threatening with deposition the bishop who was negligent in purifying his diocese of heresy.[16] [sidenote: _claim of exclusive jurisdiction_] thus there was no legislation depriving the episcopal order of its traditional jurisdiction over heresy, yet the inquisition claimed, and made good the claim, that its cognizance was exclusive and that the clementines merely gave to the bishops a consultative privilege in the three sentences specified. no such privative right was conferred in the papal commissions to the inquisitors-general and the only source of such right is to be looked for in ferdinand's masterful determination that nothing should interfere with the swift operation of his favorite institution, and no claim be admitted to a share in its pecuniary results. it was natural that he should favor the inquisition, for procedure in the spiritual courts was public and was much less likely to result in conviction than the secrecy of the tribunals, and by 1500 he seems to have established the matter to his satisfaction for, in a letter of august 19th of that year to the archbishop of cagliari, he expresses surprise that the prelate, without his licence, or a commission from the inquisitor-general, should have meddled with matters belonging to the inquisition and have collected certain pecuniary penances, although he had already been forbidden to do so. this prohibition is now emphatically repeated; he is to have nothing to do with the affairs of the inquisition, except to aid the inquisitor when called upon, and he is at once to hand over his collections to the receiver, pedro lópez, who is going to sardinia.[17] nothing can be more peremptory in tone than this missive, although the sardinian tribunal was thoroughly disorganized and was about to be reconstructed by sending a full corps of officials. we may assume from this that if there had been any resistance on the part of the castilian episcopate it had by this time been overcome. that this concentration of exclusive jurisdiction in the inquisition was the work of the royal power and was not universally admitted, even by the middle of the sixteenth century, is manifest from the remark of bishop simancas, himself an experienced inquisitor, when he says that it is the duty of bishops to enquire into cases of heresy, but they ought to send the prisoner and the testimony to the inquisitor, for otherwise their inexperience is apt to result in failure, as he had often found; there ought to be a papal decree prescribing this and, in default of it, the king is accustomed to order it of the bishops.[18] of this we have an example, in 1527, when the vicar-general of the archbishop of toledo was required by inquisitor-general manrique to surrender a cleric whom he had arrested and was prosecuting.[19] simancas still recognizes the duty of the bishop to make preliminary inquiries into heresy, but even this had long before been forbidden, although there was a prolonged struggle before it was surrendered. in 1532 the ordinary of huesca issued an edict of faith, modelled on that of the inquisition, calling for denunciation of heretics, for which the empress-regent sharply rebuked him, in a letter of march 23d, calling it an innovation unknown since the inquisition had been introduced, and threatening him with fitting measures for the repetition of such intrusion on the jurisdiction of the inquisition.[20] in spite of this, archbishop ayala of valencia, in 1565, and his successor the blessed juan de ribera, in 1576, and another bishop in 1567 repeated the indiscretion for which they were promptly called to account. when, in 1583, the bishop of tortosa committed the same offence, the suprema wrote, january 14, 1584, that the popes had given the inquisition exclusive jurisdiction over heresy and had prohibited its cognizance by others and that he must not in future intervene in such matters.[21] undeterred by this, the council of tarragona, in 1591, reasserted the ancient episcopal jurisdiction by ordering all bishops to be vigilant in watching their flocks and, if they found any disseminators of heresy, to see to their condign punishment according to the canons.[22] how completely justified was the council in this and how false was the assertion of the suprema, was manifested in 1595, when the archbishop of granada complained to clement viii that the inquisitors had forbidden him to issue an edict on the subject of heresy and the pope forthwith wrote to the inquisitor-general that this must not be allowed, for the faculties delegated to inquisitors in no way abridged episcopal jurisdiction.[23] [sidenote: _exclusive jurisdiction enforced_] after this, at least, the suprema could not plead ignorance and yet it persisted in the assertion that it knew to be false. a savage quarrel broke out in guatimala between the bishop, juan ramírez, and the commissioner of the inquisition, phelipe rúiz del carral, who was also dean of the chapter. ramírez imprisoned him and undertook to organize a sort of inquisitorial tribunal of his own, whereupon, in 1609, the suprema presented to philip iii for signature a letter which it describes as drawn in the form customary for cases where bishops interfere in matters concerning the faith. this describes how the pope, in instituting the inquisition, evoked to himself all cases connected with heresy and committed them to the inquisitor-general and his deputies, inhibiting all judges and ordinaries from intervening in them, in consequence of which they have ceased to take cognizance of such matters and have referred to the inquisitors whatever came to their knowledge. as the bishop has laid his hand on things beyond his jurisdiction, he is ordered in future not to meddle with anything touching the inquisition, as otherwise fitting measures will be taken.[24] the only foundation for this mendacious assertion was, as we shall see hereafter, that, in the struggle made by ferdinand and charles v to prevent appeals to rome from the inquisition, briefs were sometimes obtained from popes evoking to themselves all cases pending in the tribunals and committing them to the inquisitor-general, with inhibition to any one, including cardinals and officials of the curia, to entertain appeals from him. in this there is absolutely nothing that relates to original jurisdiction and nothing to limit the traditional functions of the episcopate, but the suprema held the records and could assert what it pleased concerning them. still the bishops did not wholly abandon their rights and cases continued occasionally to occur, in which of course they were worsted. they were frequent enough to justify, in a formulary of 1645, the insertion of a formula framed to meet them. it is addressed to the provisor of badajoz and recites that the fiscal complains of him as having commenced proceedings against a certain party for heretical propositions; as this is a matter pertaining exclusively to the inquisition, he is commanded to surrender it under the customary penalties of excommunication and fine. the fiscal also demands that the provisor be prosecuted so that in future neither he nor any one else shall dare to usurp the jurisdiction of the inquisition and the document ends with a statement that the prosecution has been commenced.[25] such methods were not easily resisted. when, in 1666, the barcelona tribunal learned that the bishop of solsona, on a visitation, had taken considerable testimony against some parties in a matter of faith, it at once claimed the papers, which he promptly surrendered. it had the audacity to propose to prosecute him, but the suprema wisely ordered it to take no action against him.[26] yet benedict xiv repeated the assertion of clement viii that the popes, in delegating powers to inquisitors, had never intended to interfere with episcopal jurisdiction or to relieve bishops from responsibility.[27] not content with thus depriving the episcopate of its immemorial jurisdiction over heresy, inquisitors sought to obtain cognizance of a class of cases clearly belonging to the spiritual courts, on the ground of inferential heresy--bigamy, disregard of church observances, infractions of discipline and the like. in 1536 the tribunal of valencia created much excitement by including in its edict of faith a number of matters of the kind but, on complaint from the vicar-general, the suprema ordered the omission of everything not in the old edicts.[28] the attempts continued and, in 1552, a decision was required from the suprema that eating pork on saturdays was not a case for the inquisition,[29] and the concordia of 1568 contains a clause prohibiting inquisitors from entertaining cases belonging to the ordinaries. [sidenote: _episcopal concurrence_] in a carta acordada of november 23, 1612, the suprema made an attempt to define the boundaries of the rival jurisdictions, in which it allowed to the spiritual courts exclusive jurisdiction only over ecclesiastics in matters touching their duties as pastors, the ministry of the church, simony and cases relating to orders, benefices and spiritual affairs, while it admitted cumulative jurisdiction in usury, gambling and incontinence.[30] restricted as were these admissions, the suprema itself did not observe them. in 1637, sebastian de los rios, cura of tombrio de arriba, who met with one or two accidents in handling the sacrament and feared accusation, by his enemies, of irreverence, denounced himself to the provisor of astorga and was fined in four thousand maravedís. in spite of this he was prosecuted, in 1640, by the tribunal of valladolid; he vainly pleaded his previous trial; the suprema assumed its invalidity in ordering his incarceration in the secret prison, where he died.[31] this process of encroachment continued and towards the end, when there was little real heresy to occupy its energies, its records are full of cases which, even under its own definitions, belonged unquestionably to the spiritual courts--inobservance of ecclesiastical precepts of all kinds, irregularities in the celebration of mass, taking communion after eating, eating flesh on fast days, working and inattendance at mass on feast days and other miscellaneous business, wholly foreign to its original functions.[32] it does not argue favorably for the spanish episcopate that they seem to have welcomed this relief from their duties and strenuously resisted the abolition of the inquisition in 1813, which restored to them, under limitations, their original functions. after the restoration, the archbishop of seville, in 1818, gathered evidence to show that the cura of san marcos had not confessed for many years and then, in place of punishing him, handed the papers over to the tribunal. this was probably fortunate for the peccant priest, as the suprema ordered that nothing should be done except to keep him under surveillance and that the archbishop should be warmly thanked and assured that the necessary steps had been taken.[33] * * * * * there was one formality preserved which recognized the episcopal jurisdiction over heresy. we have seen that, in the clementines, the concurrence of both bishop and inquisitor was requisite in ordering severe detentive incarceration, in sentencing to torture and in the final sentence. no allusion was made to this in the bull of sixtus iv authorizing the appointment of inquisitors for castile. no allusion, in fact, was necessary, as it had been for nearly two centuries a matter of course in inquisitorial procedure, but the earliest inquisitors took no count of it and sixtus, in his brief of february 11, 1482, called forth by complaints of their cruelty, insisted on the concurrence of episcopal officials in all judgements.[34] ferdinand was indisposed to anything that threatened interference with the autonomy of the inquisition and his experience in valencia with the representatives of rodrigo borgia, the absent archbishop, showed him how this episcopal right could be exercised to obstruct proceedings and compel division of the spoils. he doubtless represented to sixtus that there were many of jewish blood among the bishops and their officials, whom it would not be safe to trust, for sixtus, with borgia behind him, met such objection with a brief of may 25, 1483, addressed to all the spanish archbishops. in this he ordered them to warn any of their suffragans of jewish extraction not to meddle with the business of the inquisition but to appoint an old christian, approved by the archbishop, who should have exclusive powers over all such matters. in case this was not done the archbishop was to make the appointment for each diocese and the appointee was to be wholly independent of the bishop.[35] then a question arose whether torquemada's appellate jurisdiction, as inquisitor-general, could override judgements in which bishops participated, but this was settled in torquemada's favor by a brief of innocent viii, september 25, 1487, thus completely subordinating episcopal to inquisitorial jurisdiction.[36] ferdinand was not satisfied, but he had to acquiesce and adopt the device of the bishops delegating one of the inquisitors as their representative--an expedient for which precedents can be found in the early inquisition of languedoc. that this soon became common is indicated in the instructions of 1484, which warns the inquisitor holding the commission that he is not to deem himself superior to his colleagues.[37] another plan was to require the bishops to issue a commission as vicar-general to whomsoever the inquisitors might designate, as ferdinand ordered the bishops of aragon to do, in a letter of january 27, 1484. the individual thus selected became an official of the tribunal and was borne on its pay-roll for a salary to be paid out of the confiscations for which he might vote. of this we have examples in martin navarro thus serving at teruel, in 1486, on a yearly stipend of two thousand sueldos and in martin garcia, included as vicar-general at a salary of three thousand sueldos, in the saragossa pay-roll of the same year.[38] [sidenote: _episcopal concurrence_] it is possible that the bishops grew restive under this absorption of their powers and that they remonstrated with the holy see for, in 1494, when alexander vi issued commissions to the four new inquisitors-general there appeared a new condition requiring them to exercise their functions in conjunction with the ordinaries of the sees or their vicars or officials, or other persons deputized by the ordinaries.[39] ferdinand, however, was not accustomed to brook opposition to his will. the most efficient and economical expedient was the episcopal delegation to an inquisitor and this he enforced by whatever pressure was necessary. thus when, in 1498, the bishop of tarazona demurred to do this, ferdinand, in a letter of november 21st, brushed aside his reasons and imperatively ordered the delegation to be sent at once. still the bishop recalcitrated and ferdinand wrote, january 4, 1499, that he must do so at once; no excuse would be admitted and nothing would change his determined purpose, but it was not until march that he learned the bishop's submission. in this same year, 1499, he broke down, in similar rude fashion, the resistance of two other bishops and when, in 1501, the archbishop of tarragona notified the tribunal of barcelona not to hear, without his participation, certain cases committed to them on appeal, ferdinand expressed his indignant surprise; the archbishop must remove the obstruction at once and not await a second command.[40] ferdinand's resolve was to render episcopal concurrence a mere perfunctory form and, when bishops presumed to act or their vicars-general were distasteful to him, there are various cases which attest his imperious methods of dealing with them. he had some trouble, on this account, with his son, alfonso archbishop of saragossa, who, in 1511, obtained the perpetual administratorship of valencia and who persisted in retaining as his delegate the vicar-general of valencia, micer soler, against the commands of his father, so that in 1512 and again in 1513, there was delay in the celebration of autos de fe, greatly to ferdinand's annoyance.[41] these occasional obstructions explain why, as he wrote november 27, 1512, he endeavored to reduce it to a rule that the ordinary should confer his powers on the inquisitors and should not be allowed to see the cases.[42] the people did not view the matter in the same light and regarded the participation of the bishop or his representative as some guarantee against the arbitrary proceedings of the inquisitors. among the complaints of the prisoners of jaen, in 1506, to philip and juana, is one reciting that the inquisitors act independently of the episcopal provisor and communicate nothing to him, so as to be able to work their wicked will without interference.[43] similarly the córtes of monzon, in 1512, included among the abuses requiring redress the royal letters concerning episcopal concurrence, the delegation of powers to inquisitors and other methods by which the participation of the bishops was evaded, and when leo x, in 1516, confirmed the concordia, he ordered that the ordinaries should resume their functions.[44] it was the same in castile, where, as we have seen (vol. i, p. 217) one of the petitions of the córtes of valladolid, in 1518, was that the episcopal ordinaries should take part in the judgements. [sidenote: _episcopal concurrence_] while the petitions of valladolid for the most part received scant attention, this one at least bore fruit for, with the removal of ferdinand's pressure, the bishops had an opportunity to reassert themselves. in 1520, a decision of cardinal adrian required the presence of both inquisitors and ordinary at abjurations and confessions under edicts of grace and, in 1527, manrique and the suprema declared that the ordinary concurred in the cases required by the law--an ambiguous phrase which seems to have been variously construed.[45] this was not conducive to harmony, the inquisitors grudging any intrusion on their jurisdiction and the ordinaries insisting on their rights under the clementines. in 1529, when the suprema chanced to be at toledo, the matter was brought before it by diego artiz de angulo, fiscal of the local tribunal, in a memorial arguing that to require the presence of the ordinary would entail great delay, as he often could not attend when summoned; besides, he was always in contradiction with the tribunal, as was notorious to all connected with the trials, objecting to pecuniary and light penalties and endeavoring to acquire jurisdiction at the expense of the holy office. at angulo's request, the suprema had a number of witnesses examined, of whom the most important was martin ximenes, who had been occupied for forty years in the tribunals of barcelona, toledo, and seville. he testified that the ordinaries were only called in for the three acts specified in the clementines, but in explaining details he showed that the inquisitors construed them in a fashion to exclude the ordinary from much of his functions, for, in place of participating in all sentences, he was allowed to join only in convictions for heresy and bore no part in the lighter cases, the object being to prevent his claiming a share in the pecuniary penalties, although he was summoned to the _consulta de fe_ in which they were voted on. other witnesses bore the same testimony and it is not difficult to understand why the ordinaries took little interest in the exercise of the jurisdiction thus arbitrarily limited.[46] it was probably owing to this discussion that the suprema, january 25, 1530, told the tribunals that differences with the ordinary must be avoided. in the same year it notified valencia that all cases sent up to it must have been voted on by him and, in 1532, it sent similar orders to barcelona, adding that the presence of the ordinary was requisite at all abjurations.[47] evidently the tribunals were jealous, the ordinaries were rebuffed and discouraged, and the coöperation of the two jurisdictions was little more than a formal recognition of a virtually obsolete right. the routine practice and its working are exemplified in the report of a summons served, august 8, 1534, on blas ortiz, then vicar-general of toledo. it cited him to come and assist in despatching the accumulation of cases since the last auto de fe, held nearly four years before. he was to lay aside all other business and present himself daily at the morning audience to witness the torture in nine specified cases and, at the afternoon audience, to vote on ten of which the trials had been completed. he was notified that, if he did not come, the inquisitors, after the delay specified by law (eight days) would proceed without him. the summons was borne by the fiscal, accompanied by a notary, who made a formal act of the service. when the fiscal stated his errand, blas ortiz negligently told him that there was no necessity of reading the paper; he was not well but, if he were able, he would be present at all the cases; if he did not come he committed his powers to the two inquisitors, or to either of them who was willing to accept the commission.[48] apparently ortiz did not come, for in several sentences rendered this year at toledo the inquisitors styled themselves "apostolic inquisitors holding the powers of the ordinary."[49] from some motive, not clearly apparent, a custom arose to some extent of appointing episcopal ordinaries or provisors as inquisitors. this was frequent enough to lead the córtes of madrid, in 1552, to complain of the combination of the two offices, because when a provisor arrested a layman, which he could not do legally, he claimed that he acted as inquisitor, with the result that many persons were subjected to infamy. they therefore petitioned that no provisor should also be inquisitor, to which the answer was returned that in such cases royal cédulas had been issued and that this would be continued.[50] discouraging as was this reply, the petition seems to have made an impression for, in 1556, both charles v and philip ii rebuked inquisitor-general valdés, who was also archbishop of seville, because his provisor was also inquisitor in that tribunal. his defence was that this had been the case in seville for half a century, owing to the poverty of the tribunal, which paid only one-third the customary salaries and that he himself defrayed the stipend of the provisor.[51] [sidenote: _episcopal concurrence_] during the remainder of the century we generally find the participation of the ordinary carefully recorded, whether it was by a special representative or by delegation to the inquisitors. in 1561, inquisitor cervantes takes the barcelona tribunal to task for not keeping record of this and he orders the fiscal to observe it sedulously for, without the concurrence of the ordinary, the sentence is invalid.[52] a carta acordada of october 15, 1574, reminds the tribunals that he must sign all sentences of torture and all final sentences on which he has a vote, but there was a rule that he did not sign sentences of acquittal, even though he had voted on them.[53] yet how purely perfunctory was his participation appears in the case of fray hieronimo de la madre de dios, at toledo, in 1618. in the consulta de fe, melgoso, the provisor, agreed with one of the inquisitors and a consultor on a certain punishment; another inquisitor voted for a heavier penalty and, when the matter was submitted to the suprema, it adopted the latter, but melgoso obediently signed the sentence.[54] the inquisitorial jurisdiction, for all practical purposes, had absorbed the episcopal. as the inquisitorial districts usually embraced several dioceses and it was impossible for the bishop or provisor of those at a distance from a tribunal to be personally present when their subjects were tortured or sentenced, it became customary for them to delegate their powers to some resident of the city which was the seat of the tribunal. that they were not always careful in their selection would appear when the tribunal of sicily was obliged, in 1574, to notify an archbishop that he must appoint ecclesiastics and not laymen to sit in judgement on matters of faith.[55] taking advantage of this carelessness the inquisition undertook to control the character of appointees and it issued, august 17, 1637, instructions to bishops that their provisors must be graduates in canon law but, as canonists proved to be scarce, it was obliged, october 12, to modify this and permit the appointment of theologians. in accordance with this there is an entry by the tribunal of valencia, that it will recognize don luis crispi as ordinary of tortosa, although he is a theologian.[56] thus a further encroachment was made on episcopal jurisdiction by the inquisition in claiming and exercising the right to determine whom it would recognize as a fit representative of the bishop. how offensively this was sometimes used was manifested in 1752, in lima, when the inquisitors amusquibar and rodríguez were involved in a prolonged quarrel with the secular and ecclesiastical organizations. to annoy the inquisitors, archbishop barroeta notified them that in view of their bitter competencia with the viceroy, he withdrew the faculty of don fernando de la sota as his representative and appointed padre francisco larreta, s. j. to this they replied that they recognized his right to withdraw the faculty, but as for larreta he was incapacitated by his profession from exercising the functions; if the archbishop would appoint some one in accordance with the statutes of the holy office and possessing the necessary qualifications, he would be received. the assumption that they would recognize only whom they pleased staggered the archbishop and he asked them to explain the disqualification of larreta, to which they insolently replied that they had already stated what was sufficient for his guidance. he submitted and appointed the franciscan thomas de la concha, who was accepted, but when the archbishop transmitted the correspondence to inquisitor-general prado y cuesta and asked for reparation he obtained none.[57] episcopal concurrence had never been more than a bare formality in recognition of the immemorial jurisdiction of bishops over heresy and, as time wore on, the inquisition became careless even of this. in a number of trials by the tribunal of madrid, between 1703 and 1710, the inquisitors are recorded as acting sometimes with and sometimes without the episcopal representatives and, in the latter half of the century, a writer informs us that the concurrence of the ordinary is unusual; it depends on the will of the inquisitors, who sometimes summon him and sometimes do not.[58] still there were some bishops, zealous for the claims of their order, who persisted in asserting this remnant of jurisdiction. antonio tavira, bishop of canaries, and subsequently of salamanca, expressed their feelings when, in 1792, he complained to carlos iv of the treatment of the episcopal order by the inquisition, saying that they had ceased to vote in cases of faith in order to escape the humiliation and degradation to which they were exposed; they sent their vicars, although this was indecorous and wholly useless, but they felt that they must preserve this little shadow of a jurisdiction which was rightly theirs.[59] [sidenote: _the forum of conscience_] under the restoration greater attention seems to have been paid to episcopal concurrence and the adherence to strict formalities is shown in a duplicate trial of juan antonio manzano, a physician of lumbrales in the diocese of ciudad-rodrigo and inquisitorial district of llerena. in 1817 he was tried for heretical propositions by the tribunal of logroño, which inquired of the suprema whether the ordinary of its own diocese could act and was told that the authority of the culprit's own bishop was imperative and that the bishop of ciudad-rodrigo must appoint a representative. the next year manzano was again arrested, for the same offence, by the tribunal of llerena and was transferred to seville because llerena had no prison. april 17, 1819, the seville tribunal asked whether its own ordinary could join in the sentence and received the same answer--that it must apply to the bishop of ciudad-rodrigo to make an appointment.[60] it was all the merest technicality, for by this time the suprema decided all cases, irrespective of how the consulta de fe might vote and thus the incontestable episcopal jurisdiction over heresy was practically abolished. * * * * * as regards the internal forum, or forum of conscience, the inquisition claimed and enjoyed a still more absolute jurisdiction than in the external forum for which it had been primarily instituted. while in a formal and perfunctory manner it recognized the episcopal claims in the judicial forum, it so employed its delegated papal authority as to vindicate with the utmost jealousy exclusive control over the forum of conscience in matters of heresy. bishops, in fact, had long before been ousted from this by the invention of papal reserved cases--cases in which sacramental absolution could only be had from the holy see, thus creating a profitable market for its indulgences, confessional letters and the absolutions of its penitentiary. heresy was the chief sin anathematized in the early form of the bull, subsequently known as _in coena domini_, from its annual publication on holy thursday and, in 1364, urban v placed all the offences enumerated in it under the jurisdiction of the papal chamberlain.[61] the papacy thus assumed exclusive control over the sin of heresy, for which no absolution could be granted save by papal delegation, and paul ii, in 1469, and sixtus iv, in 1478, issued further decrees to the effect that special licence was necessary for this, as no general commissions were held to cover it.[62] the council of trent, in 1563, timidly endeavored to revendicate a fraction of episcopal rights by asserting that bishops, in the forum of conscience only, could personally absolve for secret or occult heresy, but the roman inquisition, by repeated decisions based on the utterances of st. pius v and gregory xiii, overrode the conciliar decree and deprived them of that slender remnant of their functions.[63] this strict reservation of the sin of heresy was imperfectly understood in spain and so little was known of the laws of persecution that at first the new christians, who apprehended arrest, endeavored to escape by sacramental confession and absolution, ignorant that already in the thirteenth century it had been decided that the pardon of the sin, in the forum of conscience, did not cover the crime in the judicial forum. this method of evasion could not be allowed and yet the inquisition was uncertain how to act. a brief was therefore procured, november 10, 1487, from innocent viii, addressed to all the inquisitors and ordinaries in spain, reciting their doubts about proceeding against those who assert that they have secretly confessed and abjured to their confessors. to overcome this it was asserted that the decrees of the fathers required such abjurations to be accompanied by an oath, taken before an ordinary, in presence of a notary and witnesses, never to return to the abjured heresy, wherefore the inquisitors were empowered to proceed against all who had not observed this rule.[64] if such a rule had ever existed, which is doubtful, it had long been forgotten and was wholly unknown in spain, so that all who had had recourse to this device were brought under the jurisdiction of the inquisition. [sidenote: _occult heresy_] the new christians were not long in realizing the futility of such attempts and we hear little of them in the later periods. yet there were cases of occult heresy concerning which the functions of the inquisition seem to have varied. in the earlier times the edicts of grace brought these to the tribunals and the instructions of 1484 permit the inquisitor to admit them to secret reconciliation and abjuration and do not contemplate his delegating his power to another.[65] there must have been doubts as to his faculties for this, since, in 1530, clement vii delegated powers to inquisitors to absolve and reconcile for occult heresy, with the imposition of appropriate penance.[66] this evidently contemplates his administering sacramental absolution and yet not long afterwards he was told that he was judge in the external and not in the internal forum and that it was not his business to hear sacramental confessions.[67] in fact, the inquisitor was by no means necessarily in priests' orders and, when acting in his judicial capacity, sentencing a culprit and hearing his abjuration, he simply granted licence to any approved confessor to absolve him from excommunication and to impose salutary penance.[68] there was, however, a class of cases, by no means infrequent, demanding sacramental rather than judicial ministration, which gave rise to some debate before their treatment was settled. these consisted of good christians, who were assailed by secret doubts or indulged in erroneous speculations and who brought their spiritual troubles to the confessional. over these, priest and bishop had been deprived of jurisdiction, and to make sure of this there was a clause in the annual edict of faith prohibiting confessors from granting absolution in any case touching the inquisition and ordering the penitent to be sent to the tribunal.[69] if he refused to go, the only alternative was for the confessor to obtain from the inquisitor a licence to absolve him, for the confession was covered by the seal and prosecution was out of the question, but as to this, even in the middle of the sixteenth century, there were doubts. bishop simancas says that the power of the inquisitor to grant licences is doubtful and he can only suggest reference of each case to the suprema.[70] a body of practice, of uncertain date, asserts that when a confessor reports that a penitent has confessed heresies and asks for a licence to absolve him, it cannot be given. he must be ordered to induce the penitent to come to the tribunal; in case of necessity, or of persons in high station, the inquisitor may go with a notary to receive the confession, which is examined in the tribunal and the consequent absolution or abjuration is performed in secret. in the case of nuns, who could not be induced to discharge their consciences before a commissioner and a notary, there was a concession that the confessor might reduce the confession to writing and send it to the tribunal which would consult the suprema, and frailes were to be compelled to seek the tribunal, where they were treated as _espontaneados_, or spontaneous self-denouncers and were absolved or reconciled secretly with spiritual penances.[71] the indisposition to license confessors to absolve for heresy in the forum of conscience is easily explicable. by compelling the penitent to come to the tribunal, a record was made for use in case of relapse; if he had accomplices he could be forced to reveal them and their prosecution followed, and there was an opportunity of inflicting pecuniary penances, although confiscation was waived in such cases.[72] these same reasons operated in a contrary sense with the penitent, besides the horror which all men felt as to falling into the hands of the inquisition. when he was obstinate, the tribunal was powerless, for the seal of confession shielded his identity; it finally yielded the point and no longer pretended that licenses could not be given to confessors. in 1562 a case was referred to the suprema of a person who had confessed sacramentally to certain heresies, without having been taught them by any one, when the inquisitor-general empowered the inquisitors to absolve him in such way as they thought best and they empowered the confessor.[73] finally it became the rule that the confessor sought to induce the penitent to apply to the inquisition; if he resolutely refused the confessor applied for a faculty, which was granted or not, according to the temper of the tribunal.[74] [sidenote: _occult heresy_] a case in 1754 shows the inquisition in a favorable light and has interest also as illustrating the tortures of a soul which rejects belief and yet holds belief to be essential to salvation. fray thomas de sos reported to the toledo tribunal that, while on a mission at ajofrin, a penitent had asked him to obtain a commission to absolve her for heresies internal and external, which yet were occult, as she had never expressed them except to her aunt. she said that, on a previous occasion, a confessor had done this for her and she wished to avoid the disgrace of personal appearance before the inquisition. he was ordered to ascertain all details and reported that the penitent was a poor woman named maría lara, living with an aunt aged eighty. her heresies were only of a few months' standing, occasioned by intense grief at the ingratitude of one whom she had benefited; she disbelieved in the trinity, the incarnation, the law of god, the virgin, hell and the devil and at the same time felt herself lost beyond the hope of salvation. she could not say how much of this she had uttered to herself or before her aunt and the importance attached to this point indicates the weight attributed to the distinction between internal and external heresy. the aunt was examined, the cura of ajofrin was called in, the registers were searched and finally, after six weeks had been consumed, a commission was issued which the good fraile, eager to heal a despairing soul, at an hour's notice bore to ajofrin and absolved her.[75] these cases gave the inquisition considerable concern and, in 1772, the suprema called upon all the tribunals to report what was their practice. after carefully weighing their answers, it issued, november 9, 1772, instructions that, when a confessor reported such a case, he was to be ordered to use every effort to induce the penitent to denounce himself, assuring him of merciful treatment and showing him that he would thus be saved in case of denunciation by others. he could make this denunciation to the tribunal or to a commissioner, or could even authorize the confessor to denounce him, giving all details under oath. if, however, the penitent obstinately refused, then the confessor could absolve him, explaining that it was only in the forum of conscience.[76] if we may believe lorenzo villanueva, however, this liberal concession was by no means put in practice, at least by all tribunals.[77] confession of formal heresy was not so leniently treated and, as it inferred accomplices, every effort was made to secure their denunciation. the confessor was ordered to persuade, if possible, the penitent to come to the inquisition and confess as to himself and others, promising secret absolution without confiscation. this was virtually the offer made to those who came forward under an edict of grace and did not exclude arbitrary pecuniary penance; it was not likely to attract self-denunciation, especially as it included betraying kindred and friends, although power to absolve was not granted in case of refusal. this led to a dead-lock and possibly in such cases the confessor was expected to violate the seal of confession under the old rule that it did not cover heresy. at least this may be inferred from a case occurring in lima about 1580, when padre luis lópez, s. j. reported that a penitent in confession had admitted to have judaized and on being told to go to the inquisition had refused. the matter was regarded as so grave that it was referred to the suprema which sent orders to deliver lópez to the viceroy for shipment to spain--apparently one who would not violate the seal was too dangerous to be left in peru.[78] simancas, however, characterized this as a most pernicious doctrine and argues that infraction of the seal is much worse than allowing a heretic to escape punishment.[79] when the inquisition was re-established in 1814, under the restoration, it recognized the impossibility of investigating and punishing the innumerable heresies disseminated in the licence of years of warfare and exposure to foreign armies. in its zeal for the salvation of souls it therefore, by edict of january 2, 1815, granted for a year, to all confessors, faculties to absolve for heresy external or mixed. the confessor, in fact, was made a quasi-inquisitor and the procedure formidably resembled that of the tribunals. the penitent had a pledge of secrecy, but his confession had to be minute and comprehensive; it was reduced to writing, signed and sworn to, and was then forwarded to the tribunal to be filed among its records. this relieved him from prosecution in case of denunciation by others, while, if he refused to do this, he was to be absolved, but only in the forum of conscience; he was to be reported to the tribunal and remained liable to the external forum.[80] * * * * * [sidenote: _cruzada and jubilee indulgences_] in view of the recognized principle that sacramental absolution does not affect the external forum, it shows the watchful jealousy with which the inquisition guarded its jurisdiction that it remonstrated against the papal indulgences of the santa cruzada and the jubilee. the former granted an _indulgentia plenissima_; it was a state affair, managed by the government and bringing in a large revenue of which a portion accrued to the holy see; its sale was pushed in every quarter with the utmost vigor and the inquisition punished severely any utterances calculated to diminish the demand. only extreme sensitiveness as to its jurisdiction could have led the inquisition to cast any doubt as to the unlimited efficacy of the indulgence but, when st. pius v, in 1571, after an interval of five years, renewed the concession of the cruzada, it took the alarm. in cartas acordadas of may 30 and june 13, 1572, the suprema informs the tribunals that in some places it is asserted that the cruzada bulls grant faculties for the absolution of heresy; this is not the case and, if it were, the pope would be asked to withdraw them; the assertion must be contradicted everywhere and the prelates are to be asked to give corresponding instructions to confessors.[81] a more effective step was taken, in 1576, by procuring from gregory xiii a brief declaring that it never was the papal intention that the indulgence should include heresy and to make this known he authorized the commissioner of the cruzada to translate the brief into the vernacular and publish it wherever the cruzada was preached. the suprema did not trust the commissioner, but sent copies of the brief to all the tribunals, with instructions to notify the ordinaries and the prelates of the orders, so that confessors might be duly informed. a month later, in january, 1577, it ordered the brief to be published in all the churches.[82] eventually, however, its anxieties were removed by a clause in the _bulas_ of the cruzada specifically excepting heresy from the faculties granted to confessors, a form which they have retained to the present day, long after the extinction of the holy office.[83] the cruzada indulgence was a special financial favor to the spanish monarchy which it could virtually control, but it was otherwise with the jubilee indulgences which, about this period, the popes began to publish--plenary remissions of sins such as were obtainable by pilgrimage to rome at the jubilees celebrated every twenty-five years. st. pius v set the example of this, on his accession in 1566, which has since been followed by his successors, together with special jubilees decreed at decreasing intervals. the jubilee published in 1572, on the accession of gregory xiii, excepted heretics and readers of prohibited books and added a positive declaration that in it and all that might be subsequently issued the absolution was only in the forum of conscience and did not affect the judicial forum.[84] taking advantage of this, when another jubilee indulgence appeared, in 1578, the suprema ordered it to be published with the omission of all that concerned the inquisition, in accordance with the declarations of gregory.[85] subsequent jubilees, however, of 1589, 1592 and 1595 included heresy and called forth unavailing protests from spain until finally, in the latter year, preachers were ordered to declare, as of their own motion, that, under the general clause of the jubilee, absolution could not be had for heresy.[86] while the roman inquisition made no protest against these indulgences, the spanish persistently objected to them and it seemed impossible to harmonize the conflict. when alexander vii, on his accession, in 1655, published a jubilee, it contained the obnoxious clause; cabrera, the agent of the suprema in rome, warmly remonstrated with him and he promised in future to except heresy; this did not satisfy cabrera who asked for a constitution excepting heresy from all jubilees. alexander promised to investigate the matter, but apparently his investigations were resultless for the subject continued till the end of the century to furnish occasion for repeated discussion.[87] * * * * * [sidenote: _secrecy and exclusiveness_] heresy was an elastic term and the inquisition stretched it to extend its exclusive jurisdiction in all directions. it did the same to shield itself from investigation and restraint. we are told that, in the numerous cases of appeal to the throne for injustice suffered at its hands, if the king ordered the inquisitor-general to report on the subject so that it might be submitted to a junta composed of members of the suprema and royal council, the first business of the suprema was to examine whether the question arose from a matter of faith, or was in any way dependent upon faith, or concerned the free exercise of the duties of the holy office. there were not many things that could not be brought within this charmed circle and then a consulta was addressed to the monarch protesting that he could not refer it to a junta, because its nature precluded its consideration by laymen and it would be a violation of the secrecy of the inquisition, so that it had to be submitted to the suprema alone, which would make a verbal report to him. it was on record that, in a case of this kind, philip ii pledged his royal word that he and don cristóval de mocera alone should be admitted to the confidence and, in 1645, philip iv could only obtain from arce y reynoso a verbal explanation.[88] thus between exclusive cognizance and inviolable secrecy the inquisition realized the ideal of spiritual jurisdiction--it judged all and was judged by none. chapter ii. the regular orders. over the laity the jurisdiction of the inquisition was complete. no one was so high-placed as to be exempt, for heresy was a universal leveller. theoretically the king himself was subject to it, for it was based on the principle of the supremacy of the spiritual over the temporal power. the piety of the spanish monarchs prevented occasion for putting this to the test, for we may safely reject as fables the stories concerning juana la loca and don carlos, but no station exempted him who was suspect in the faith from prosecution and from punishment if he was found guilty. in valencia, nobles who sought to protect their morisco vassals from the raids of the inquisition were tried as fautors of heresy, the most conspicuous of these being don sancho de córdova, admiral of aragon and allied to the noblest blood of spain. at the age of 73 he was compelled to abjure for light suspicion of heresy, he was fined and confined in a convent, where he died.[89] we shall have occasion to consider in detail the still more remarkable case of don gerónimo de villanueva, prothonotary of aragon and favorite of both olivares and of philip iv and, even when the inquisition was far gone in its decline, we shall see how it took steps to assail don manuel de godoy, prince of the peace and all powerful favorite of carlos iv. with the exception of bishops, of whom more hereafter, the secular clergy were equally at the mercy of the holy office. even when, as we have seen, in the bitter quarrels between the tribunal of majorca and the clergy of the islands, the latter obtained the protection of special papal briefs, these exempted them only from the royal jurisdiction of the inquisition and did not affect their liability in matters of faith, against which they raised no protest. the regular clergy, however--the members of the religious orders--made long and persistent struggles to escape subjection, preferring the milder discipline of their own prelates. in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the monastic establishments had, for the most part, obtained exemption from episcopal jurisdiction and were amenable only to the holy see. when the mendicant orders were organized, in the thirteenth century, they were likewise subject immediately to the pope. it is true that, in 1184, lucius iii, in his verona decree, had abolished this immunity in matters of faith and had remanded, in so far, the regulars back to episcopal jurisdiction, for as yet the inquisition had not been thought of,[90] but, when the mendicants claimed that this did not apply to their subsequently founded orders, innocent iv, in 1254, subjected them to the inquisition, which by that time was in full operation. boniface viii emphatically confirmed this, even declaring that for heresy they were to be punished more severely than laymen, as the spiritual franciscans found to their cost under john xxii.[91] as inquisitors acted under delegation from the pope, there would be no question as to their jurisdiction over the regulars, but, in the case of the dominican master eckart, tried, in 1327, by the archbishop of cologne, it was settled that the episcopal inquisition also had cognizance.[92] yet, about 1460, pius ii granted to the franciscans the privilege of being tried only by the vicar-general of their order and, in 1479, sixtus iv, in view of the inveterate hostility between franciscans and dominicans, from which orders nearly all inquisitors were drawn, prohibited those of one order from prosecuting members of the other.[93] [sidenote: _fluctuating policy_] such was the situation when the spanish inquisition was founded. conversos were numerous in the orders and many were prosecuted. under torquemada, himself a dominican, the inquisitors were largely dominicans and the franciscans naturally claimed the privileges of the papal decrees of 1460 and 1479; when, in 1487, some observantine franciscans were prosecuted, innocent viii ordered their release and repeated the provisions of 1479.[94] in the following year, however, by a _motu proprío_ of may 17, 1488, he declared that none of the orders were exempt and specially mentioned the cistercians, dominicans and franciscans.[95] even before this, torquemada had treated the regulars as under his jurisdiction for, though he had granted to the geronimite prelates power to try some of their frailes he revoked this, may 3, 1488, and commissioned the inquisitors of toledo to prosecute them.[96] in rome the influence of the regular orders was great; that of the growing spanish power was steadily increasing, and the contest between these opposing forces is seen in the fluctuating policy of the holy see. the _motu proprio_ of 1488 remained in force for a considerable time, but, after the death of ferdinand, the franciscans in 1517 obtained from leo x the renewal of their old privileges, which probably also included the dominicans.[97] the augustinians soon followed, for a letter of the suprema, may 7, 1521, directs the tribunals, in view of their privileges to be tried by their prelates, to obtain from the superiors delegated power to act in their cases, or to get a fraile assigned to sit as assessor, or to remit the cases to the suprema as they may deem best.[98] apparently these exemptions were not always respected, for clement vii, by a brief of january 18, 1524, emphatically confirmed the franciscan privileges and ordered all their cases pending in the tribunals to be transferred within six days to the prelates of the accused.[99] so when, in a brief of march 19, 1525, he prohibited descendants of jews and heretics from acquiring dignities in the observantine branch of the order, he gave as a reason that the provincials are judges of their subjects.[100] it required but a few months to change all this. the inquisition was restive under this restriction on its jurisdiction. inquisitor-general manrique, in a letter of june 30, 1524, asserted that a revocation of the augustinian privileges would be procured and he proved a true prophet.[101] the services of charles v in stemming the tide of the lutheran revolt were indispensable and his demands could not be refused. a brief of april 13, 1525, subjected the frailes again to the inquisition, but softened the blow by providing that the provincials should appoint assessors to sit with the tribunals in their cases. this did not satisfy spain and, two months later, a brief of june 16th subjected them absolutely to the inquisitor-general.[102] that the inquisition thus obtained and exercised jurisdiction over the regulars is seen in an order by the suprema, july 18, 1534, requiring that it should be consulted and the testimony be submitted to it, before proceedings were instituted against a fraile--an order repeated, june 10, 1555, and subsequently extended to all ecclesiastics.[103] [sidenote: _jurisdiction obtained_] in issuing this the suprema evidently was unaware that some three weeks earlier there had occurred another shifting of the scales. the frailes had not been idle; the franciscans, and presumably the other orders, had won a victory. a brief of clement vii, june 23, 1534, recites the various exemptions granted by preceding popes to the franciscans, while numerous complaints showed that some inquisitors continued to prosecute them, to their great perturbation and scandal, wherefore it was ordered that whenever any of the frailes were suspected of heresy they must be remitted to their superiors for punishment, notwithstanding all privileges granted to the holy office. confirmation of this was procured from paul iii, november 8th of the same year, but apparently these commands received slender attention, for another confirmation was obtained, december 15, 1537, with the addition that all cases pending in the inquisition must be surrendered to the superiors of the order within six days and all sentences in derogation of this were declared invalid.[104] even this did not keep the inquisition in check and paul issued, march 6, 1542, another decree reciting cases in contempt of his orders, wherefore all inquisitors, in every part of the world, were commanded, under penalty of excommunication, deprivation of benefice and disability for preferment, not to proceed against the frailes and to deliver up any who might be imprisoned. all bishops and prelates were made executors of the brief, with power to invoke the aid of the secular arm.[105] the rigor of these provisions is the measure of the resistance encountered and, in singular contrast to them is the fact that, but a fortnight later, paul, by a brief of march 21st, annulled all the exemptions of the mendicant orders in upper italy and the island of chios, and subjected their members, with the exception of bishops, to the inquisition, in matters of faith.[106] this put the spanish inquisition at a disadvantage in comparison with the newly organized roman congregation, although its order of june 10, 1555, above referred to, would indicate that it paid but little attention to the papal utterances. it fully recovered its lost ground, however, when the holy see recognized that it was the only tribunal that could be relied upon to check the prevalent vice of "solicitation" or seduction in the confessional--the principal offenders being frailes. when, as an experiment, paul iv, in 1559, empowered the tribunal of granada to prosecute these cases, he withdrew all privileges and exemptions, not only in this offence but in all heretical crimes; he authorized the inquisitors to degrade the culprits and to deliver them to the secular arm for execution and the provisions of this brief were extended by pius iv, in 1561, to all the tribunals in the spanish dominions.[107] this rendered the inquisition master of the situation, while, at the same time, the inclusion of solicitation among heretical crimes made the regular orders still more solicitous to escape from its jurisdiction. the development of the society of jesus and the unbounded favor which it enjoyed with the holy see introduced a new factor in the struggle. in 1587 the inquisition discovered that the jesuits claimed exemption. the compendium of their privileges stated that gregory xiii, _vivæ vocis oraculo_, on march 18, 1584, had conferred on their general, with power of subdelegation, faculty for absolving his subjects from heresy, even in cases of relapse; any one knowing the heresy of another was therefore to denounce him to his superior and not to the inquisition and it was broadly asserted that the members were subject to no judge, episcopal or inquisitorial.[108] it was impossible for the inquisition to overlook such denial of its authority and it promptly ordered the suppression of the compendium and of all regulations incompatible with its jurisdiction, giving rise to considerable correspondence with rome.[109] the case which led to this proceeding is too suggestive not to deserve relation in some detail. solicitation being subjected to the exclusive jurisdiction of the inquisition it became, under the edict of faith, the duty of every one, under heavy penalties, to denounce to the nearest tribunal any case coming to his knowledge. in 1583, the jesuits of the college of monterey, in galicia, learned that one of their number, the padre sebastian de briviesca, had been guilty of it with certain _beatas_ and also of some illuminist practices. padre diego hernández was sent to segovia to report the matter to antonio marcen, the provincial of castile. to avert from the society the disgrace of the prosecution of a member, hernández was ordered to return and get the evidence in legal shape, so that briviesca could be secretly tried and punished, but marcen warned him that all consultation and action must be under pretext of confession, so as to be covered by the seal. hernández went back to monterey and consulted with padres francisco larata and juan lópez, who said it was a dangerous business; the case belonged to the inquisition and but for the seal of confession, they would be bound to denounce briviesca, however damaging it might be to the society. profound secrecy was enjoined on the beatas; hernández took the evidence to marcen, gave it to him under the seal and was sent with it to salamanca, where it was submitted, without names, to the theologians of the jesuit college. they reported that the culprit must be denounced to the inquisition and that the beatas could not be absolved unless they denounced him but, on being told that the society was involved, they reversed their opinions. hernández was sent to monterey, where he absolved the beatas, while marcen imprisoned briviesca, obtained a partial confession, gave him dismissory letters and the habit of a secular priest, and sent him with a companion to barcelona, where he was shipped to italy. he had previously been guilty at avila of the same practices. [sidenote: _efforts to evade it_] hernández had dutifully obeyed orders, but he was becoming thoroughly frightened. he begged marcen to allow him to denounce the matter to the inquisition and was told that if through him harm came to the society he would be imprisoned for life in chains. he persisted and then reports were spread that he was insane and possessed by the devil; he was sent to the college at oviedo, where there was no inquisition and no means of communicating by post, and for a year he was unable to discharge his conscience, for the confessors were forbidden to absolve him unless he pledged submission to his superiors. then promises were tried and he was told that whatever he asked for would be obtained for him from the general, and he was further informed that the beatas had retracted their testimony. how the inquisition obtained knowledge of the affair is not stated, but it was probably through the garrulousness of the beatas who could not be kept from talking. as soon as it obtained sufficient evidence it acted vigorously. marcen, larata and lópez were imprisoned and put on trial, in 1585; in the progress of the case it was found that this was by no means the first time that marcen had defrauded the inquisition of its culprits. padre cristóbal de trugillo had been guilty of the same offence and marcen had simply dismissed him from the society. also padre francisco de ribera had repeatedly uttered heretical propositions for which some of the brethren demanded that he should be denounced to the inquisition, but marcen dismissed him from the society and gave him money to betake himself to italy, for all of which his defence was that he only obeyed the orders of the general.[110] the case was a clear one; marcen and his colleagues were convicted, but the inquisition had not the satisfaction of punishing them. the society did not venture to question the jurisdiction of the inquisition, but its influence at rome was great and it probably had little difficulty in convincing sixtus v that the interests of religion required the suppression of the scandal, for which he had only to exercise his right of evoking the case to himself. he did so, in 1587, and when the suprema tried its usual dilatory tactics, the impetuous pontiff notified cardinal quiroga that, if the prisoners and the papers were not surrendered forthwith, he would be deprived of both the cardinalate and the inquisitor-generalship. sixtus was not a man to be trifled with and the surrender was made.[111] the treatment of briviesca, trugillo and ribera serve to explain why the frailes were so anxious to avoid the inquisitorial jurisdiction of which the familiars were so eager to avail themselves. the ascription to the inquisition of the crime of solicitation naturally stimulated the desire of the frailes to recover their exemption and marcen's case rendered the jesuits especially active. a prolonged agitation in rome was the result, which finally took the shape of submitting to the congregation of the inquisition the question whether, in this crime, the jurisdiction of the holy office was exclusive or whether it was cumulative with that of the prelate, depending on the first possession of a case. the decision was made, december 3, 1592, in the presence of clement viii, declaring that the jurisdiction of the inquisition was exclusive, that the prelates could not exercise it and that all members of the orders were bound to denounce offenders to the tribunals. the victory of the inquisition was complete, but the pope expressed to the suprema, through a cardinal, his desire that the inquisitors would exercise their functions with the prudence, circumspection and moderation that would preserve the cult due to the sacrament of penitence and, at the same time, the good repute of the frailes.[112] still the regulars could not be brought to submit to the jurisdiction of the inquisition and paul v, by a brief of september 1, 1606, evoked to himself all pending cases and committed them to it, at the same time decreeing that it should have exclusive jurisdiction in all cases of suspected heresy; whenever, during a visitation, any member of an order was found to be suspected he was at once to be denounced and any superior refusing obedience was threatened with deprivation and perpetual disability. moreover this decree was to be read in all chapters of the orders. even this was deemed insufficient and was supplemented, november 7th, with another prohibiting superiors, under any pretext or custom, from receiving denunciations or taking cognizance in any way of cases pertaining to the inquisition. every member, whether superior or subject, was required, without consulting any one, to denounce to the inquisition or to the ordinary all who were suspected, however lightly, of heresy.[113] [sidenote: _jurisdiction confirmed_] some details in this would seem to point to the society of jesus as the chief recalcitrant and this is confirmed by a brief of alexander vii, july 8, 1660, which condemns, as pernicious and rash, opinions calling in doubt the obligation to denounce and the pretexts employed of fraternal correction to prevent denunciation. even the company of jesus is ordered to obey the constitution of paul v; no superiors are to molest or oppress their subjects for performing this duty but must exhort them to it. disobedience is threatened not only with the penalties provided by paul v but with deprivation of office, the right of voting and being voted for, perpetual disability and other punishments at the discretion of the pope and removable only by him. the decree is to be read annually on march 1st at the public table and notarial attestation of the fact is to be sent to the nearest tribunal or to rome and a copy is to be posted where all can read it. the inquisition lost no time in publishing this and the decree of november 7, 1606, in an edict commanding their observance and pointing out that the alternative of denunciation to the ordinary was invalid in spain, where the inquisition had exclusive jurisdiction. it further ordered that in all books where contrary opinions were taught there should be noted in the margin "this opinion is condemned as pernicious and rash by our holy father, alexander vii."[114] no further papal utterances seem to have been asked for; indeed there was nothing that the holy see could add to these comprehensive decrees. in time, however, they seem to have been conveniently forgotten for, in 1732, inquisitor-general juan de camargo reissued them in an edict saying that some persons were ignorant, or affected ignorance, of the doctrines expressed in them, wherefore he ordered them to be posted in the sacristies of all churches, with the announcement that all contraventions would be punished with the utmost rigor.[115] of course it is impossible to say how many frailes may have escaped prosecution through the indisposition of the orders to recognize the jurisdiction of the inquisition, but, from the numbers who appear in the registers of the tribunals, it is charitable to assume that evasion in this way was exceptional. * * * * * the completeness of the domination assumed by the inquisition over the religious orders is illustrated by its intervention in a matter which would appear wholly beyond any possible definition of its jurisdiction. the internecine strife between the different bodies had long been an inextinguishable scandal. the old hatred between franciscans and dominicans was inflamed to white heat by the quarrel over the immaculate conception. the immense success of the jesuits brought upon them the virulent enmity of the older communities, which regarded them as upstarts and were repaid with interest. the new moral philosophy of the probabilists was a fresh source of active discord. these mutual antagonisms found free expression in the press, the pulpit and the professorial chair, where the rivals derided and insulted each other, to the grief of the faithful and the amusement of the godless. the inquisition appeared to be the only authority that could restrain the expression of the mutual wrath of the good fathers, though it might not be easy to define on what grounds it could claim authority on such a matter. scruples as to this, however, rarely gave it concern and it undertook to effect what popes had repeatedly failed to accomplish. march 9, 1634, the suprema issued a decree which it printed and sent to all superiors with instructions to publish and make it known. this recited the evils arising from the discord and rivalry between the orders, scandalous to the christian people and dangerous as arising from the difference in the manners and customs of the various organizations. to bring about peace and concord the inquisitor-general proposed to assemble a council of the superiors of all the orders and meanwhile rigorous proceedings were threatened against all who should provoke or foment these discords. any religious who, by writing or words or in sermons or lectures, should insult another order, or any of its members, would incur major excommunication and be recluded in a convent in another district, for a time proportioned to the gravity of the offence and moreover be incapable of holding any position in the holy office. superiors were charged to expurgate all offensive expressions in books written by their subjects, before according the necessary licence to print or, if they had not authority to do this, they must refer the objectionable matter to the suprema, and this was binding on those deputed to examine the mss. the decree closed with a threat of rigorous punishment for all contravention of its provisions.[116] [sidenote: _quarrels between the orders_] whether the council indicated was ever assembled or whether any offender was ever punished under this decree does not appear, but any effect which it may have produced was transient. the old passions and hatreds remained as vehement as ever and the controversy over the claims of the carmelites to have been founded by elijah furnished fresh material for acrimonious debate. in spite of this failure, the inquisition maintained its claim to intervene and inquisitor-general valladares, june 24, 1688, issued another edict, incorporating that of 1634 and deploring that the old quarrels had become more virulent than ever. it was doubtful, he said, whether the previous utterances had been communicated to the orders outside of madrid, so a copy was ordered to be sent to every convent in spain, with orders to be posted in a conspicuous place and the threat that it would be rigidly enforced. the belligerent ebullitions of the holy men were as little checked by this as by its predecessor and inquisitor-general rocaberti, october 19, 1698, took a further step by an edict in which he reprinted the previous ones and sent it to the tribunals with orders to publish it in all towns and have it posted on all church doors, thus taking the public into confidence and proclaiming to it not only the disreputable conduct of the frailes but the powerlessness of the inquisition to reduce them to order and decency.[117] in fact, the inquisition eradicated judaism, it virtually expelled the moriscos, it preserved spain from the missionary zeal of protestantism, but it failed ignominiously when it undertook to restrain the expression of aversion and contempt mutually entertained by dominican and franciscan, jesuit and carmelite. chapter iii. bishops. there was, in spain, but one class over which the inquisition had no jurisdiction. boniface viii, at the close of the thirteenth century, had decreed that, when a bishop was suspect of heresy, the inquisitor could not prosecute. the most that he could do was to gather evidence and send it to the holy see, which reserved to itself judgement on the episcopal order.[118] this was embodied in the canon law and remained in force, although of course the pope could delegate his power or could enlarge inquisitorial commissions, as when, in 1451, nicholas v responded to the request of juan ii and included bishops among those subjected to the inquisitors whom he appointed.[119] during the middle ages the question was one of scarce more than academic interest, but in spain, where the conversos had attained so many lofty positions in the church and where all of jewish blood were regarded with suspicion, it might at any moment become of practical importance.[120] the influence and power of the inquisition would manifestly be increased if it should be granted faculties to prosecute bishops and torquemada seems to have applied for this, in 1487, intimating that there were suspects among the bishops. innocent viii, however, was not disposed to subject the whole episcopate of spain to the holy office and replied, september 25th, reciting the decree of boniface and telling him to examine carefully all the evidence collected by the inquisitors and, if in it he found what incriminated prelates or showed that they were defamed or suspected of heresy, he should send it in legal shape and carefully sealed to rome, where it would be duly weighed and proper action be taken.[121] [sidenote: _the accused sent to rome_] if torquemada failed in obtaining the desired jurisdiction over the spanish episcopate, he could at least strike terror by accusing some of them to the holy see, where their condemnation would be followed by that of their ancestors and large confiscations would result. two of those of jewish blood, dávila of segovia and aranda of calahorra, were selected for attack. in the existing popular temper it could not have been difficult to collect evidence that they were regarded as suspect and were defamed for heresy. presumably this was sent to rome and the matter was regarded as of sufficient moment to induce the despatch of antoniotto pallavicini, then bishop of tournay, as a special nuncio to confer with torquemada.[122] he returned to rome with evidence deemed sufficient to justify their summons thither. in 1490, dávila went to rome, in his eightieth year. since 1461 he had been bishop of segovia and, in spite of jewish descent, his family was one of the most influential in castile, intermarried with its noblest blood.[123] he had given ample proof of pitiless orthodoxy, in 1468, when, at sepúlveda, the rabbi, solomon pico and the leaders of the synagogue were accused of crucifying a christian boy during holy week. bishop dávila promptly arrested sixteen of those most deeply implicated, of whom seven were burnt and the rest were hanged, except a boy who begged to be baptized--although this did not satisfy the pious sepúlvedans, who slew some of the remaining jews and drove the rest away.[124] he had given cause of offence, however, for, when the inquisition was introduced in segovia, he drove the inquisitors from his diocese and remonstrated boldly with the sovereigns and, when this proved fruitless, it was in evidence that he dug up at night, from the cemetery of the convent of la merced, the bones of his ancestors and concealed them, in order to destroy the proof of their interment in the jewish fashion.[125] in rome he seems to have found favor with alexander vi who, in 1494, sent him to naples in company with his nephew, the cardinal of monreale. his case was protracted and he died in rome, october 28, 1497; the result is not positively known, but it must have been favorable as otherwise his pious legacies would have been fruitless and colmenares, the historian of segovia, would not have dared to call him one of the most useful prelates that the see had enjoyed, nor would galindez de carvajal have said that his errand to rome was merely to defend the bones of his father.[126] pedro de aranda of calahorra was a man of equal mark who, in 1482, acquired the high position of president of the council of castile. his father, gonzalo alonso, had been baptized with the famous pablo de santa maría and had been ennobled. the valladolid tribunal prosecuted his memory, with the result of a _discordia_, or disagreement, and the bishop went to rome in 1493, where he gained papal favor and procured a brief transferring the case to the bishop of córdova and the benedictine prior of valladolid. he remained in rome, when alexander vi, in 1494, sent him to venice as ambassador and subsequently made him master of the sacred palace. since 1488, however, torquemada had been collecting evidence against him. it was sent to rome and, on the night of april 21, 1498, he was ordered to keep his room in the palace as a prison; on the 26th he was brought before the pope and had a hearing, after which he was taken to other rooms and kept under guard until september. meanwhile alexander seized his property and sanuto intimates that his real crime was his abundance of ready money, while burchard tells us that he was accused of heresy and _marrania_ and that he had many enemies. three bishops of the curia were commissioned as his judges; they heard many witnesses presented by the fiscal and a hundred and one by the accused, but all of these testified against him. the points against him were that he said the mosaic law had one principle, the christian three; in praying he said _gloria patri_, omitting _filio et spiritui sancto_; he celebrated mass after eating; he ate meat on good friday and other prohibited days; he declared that indulgences were useless and had been invented by the fathers for gain; that there was neither hell nor purgatory but only paradise, and much more of the same nature. on november 16th the judges laid the evidence before the pope in secret consistory when, by the advice of the cardinals, aranda was deposed and degraded from orders; he was confined in the castle of sant' angelo, where he was given a good room and he died there, apparently in 1500.[127] pope alexander seems to have felt that it was necessary to guard his jurisdiction against the encroaching tendencies of the spanish inquisition, for in granting to the bishop of avila appellate powers, in his brief of november 4, 1594 (vol. i, p. 179), he was careful to except the venerable brethren, the archbishops and bishops, whose cases by law were reserved to the holy see.[128] it was well understood by this time, however and, in the case of archbishop talavera of granada, it will be remembered that lucero made no attempt to do more than gather evidence to be sent to rome and, when papal authority was obtained, it was granted not to the inquisition but to prelates specially commissioned.[129] [sidenote: _temporary jurisdiction granted_] half a century was to elapse before there was another case involving the episcopal order. it has been sometimes thought that the inquisition was concerned in the trial and execution of antonio de acuña, bishop of zamora, but such was not the fact, although the case illustrates the difficulty of holding a bishop accountable for his misdeeds. that turbulent prelate, somewhat absurdly styled a second luther by leo x, was an active leader in the comunidades, who, after the defeat at villalar, april 21, 1521, fled in disguise but was caught at villamediana, on the castilian border. episcopal immunity rendered him a doubtful prize; charles v was resolved on his death, but there was considerable doubt as to how he was to be punished. the inquisition was not brought into play but, after some negotiation, leo x was induced to issue a commission to cardinal adrian and the nuncio to take testimony and forward it for judgement by the pope in consistory. on adrian's accession to the papacy he transferred the commission to the archbishop of granada and the bishop of ciudad-rodrigo, but gave no authority to employ torture. then clement vii, by a brief of march 27, 1524, granted faculties to proceed to extremities, under which the trial went on, but apparently died out when carried to rome. wearied with five years' confinement in the castle of simancas, acuña made a fruitless attempt to escape, in which he killed the alcaide, mendo noguerol. charles then sent to simancas his alcalde de casa y corte, rodrigo ronquillo, with instructions to torture acuña and put him to death--instructions faithfully executed, march 23, 1526. this violation of the immunities of the church caused no little scandal. charles speedily obtained for himself, from clement, absolution from the _ipso facto_ excommunication incurred, but that which he had promised to procure for his subordinates was granted with difficulty and only after delay of more than a year, the final ceremony not taking place until september 8, 1527. at valladolid a tradition was long current that ronquillo came to an evil end, being carried off by demons.[130] as the lutheran revolt grew more threatening and the dread of its extending to spain increased, a certain limited jurisdiction over bishops was conferred on cardinal manrique by a brief of clement vii, july 15, 1531. he was empowered to inquire against them if suspected of favoring lutheran doctrines or of aiding those who held them; he was not permitted, however, to arrest and imprison, although he could punish them according to the canons and he was granted the fullest faculties of absolving and rehabilitating those who abandoned their errors and asked for forgiveness.[131] it is not likely that any occasion arose for the exercise of these faculties, but if there was it has left no trace. this evidently was a personal delegation, expiring with manrique, for no reference to it was made in the next case--that of bartolomé de carranza, archbishop of toledo. this was, perhaps, the most important affair during the career of the inquisition. it attracted the attention of all catholic europe and illustrates in so many ways, not only inquisitorial methods but the conflict between orthodoxy and reform that it merits consideration in some detail.[132] [sidenote: _valdés out of favor_] inquisitor-general valdés, who was also archbishop of seville and whose name often comes before us, was perilously near disgrace in 1557. philip ii was in desperate straits for money; the glories of saint-quentin and gravelines were not acquired cheaply and the war forced upon him by paul iv was exhausting his italian possessions. from flanders he sent count melito to spain with orders to raise forced loans from nobles and prelates, and the princess juana, then governor, called among others on valdés for a hundred and fifty thousand ducats. the bishop of córdova when approached, promptly furnished a hundred thousand and promised more if he could raise it: the archbishop of saragossa, who was asked for a hundred thousand, only gave twenty thousand. valdés was even more niggardly, and supplied nothing, although it was observed about this time that six loads of money reached valladolid for him. charles v, from his retirement of yuste, wrote to him, may 18th, expressing surprise that he, the creature of imperial favor, should hesitate to repay the benefits conferred, especially as he could have what security he desired for the loan. this letter, with one from juana, was conveyed to him by hernando de ochoa, whose report to charles, may 28th, of the interview, showed how little respect was felt for the man. ochoa reproached him with having promised to see what he could do, in place of which he had gone into hiding at san martin de la fuente, fourteen leagues from the court at valladolid, where he had lain for two months, hoping that the matter would blow over. "he said to me, before a consecrated host, that the devils could fly away with him if ever he had 100,000 or 80,000, or 60,000, or 30,000 ducats, for he had always spent much in charities and had made dotations amounting to 150,000." ochoa pressed him hard; he admitted that his archbishopric, which he had held since 1546, was worth 60,000 ducats a year and ochoa showed that, admitting his claims for charities and expenses, he had laid aside at least 30,000 a year "which you cannot possibly have spent, for you never have any one to dine in your house and you do not accumulate silver plate, like other gentlemen; all this is notorious, and the whole court knows it.... this embarrassed him, but he repeated with great oaths that he had no money, that it was not well thus to oppress prelates, nor would money thus obtained be lucky for war; god would help the king and what would christendom say about it." the honest ochoa still urged him to return to the court and save his honor, intimating that the king might take action that would be highly unpleasant, but it was to no purpose. valdés was obdurate and clung resolutely to his shekels.[133] philip had sent instructions as to the treatment of recalcitrants--probably relegating bishops to their sees and nobles to their estates--but there was hesitation felt as to banishing valdés from the court, although the continued pressure of charles and juana only extorted a promise of fifty thousand ducats. yet it was desired to remove him and plans were tried to offer him a pretext for going. in march, 1588, juana ordered him to accompany the body of queen juana la loca to granada for interment, from which place he could visit his seville church; he made excuses but promised to go shortly. then, when she repeated the order, he offered many reasons for evading it, including the heresies recently discovered in seville and murcia; the translation of the body could wait until september and everybody, he said, was trying to drive him from the court. she referred the matter to the royal council, which decided that his excuses were insufficient and that, even if the interment were postponed he could properly be ordered to reside in his see.[134] it was evident to valdés that something was necessary to strengthen his position and he skilfully utilized the discovery of a few protestants in valladolid, of whom some were eminent clerics, like augustin cazalla and fray domingo de rojas, and others were persons of quality, like luis de rojas and doña ana enríquez. we shall have occasion to note hereafter the extraordinary excitement caused by the revelation that protestantism was making inroads in court circles, the extent of which was readily exaggerated, and it was stimulated and exploited by valdés, who magnified his zeal in combating the danger and conjured, at least for the moment, the storm that was brewing. philip wrote from flanders, june 5, 1558, to send him to his see without delay; if he still made excuses he was to be excluded from the council of state and this would answer until his approaching return to spain, when he would take whatever action was necessary. ten days later, on receiving letters from valdés enumerating the prisoners and describing the efforts made to avert the danger, he countermanded the orders.[135] still, this was only a respite; we chance to hear of a meeting of the council of state, in august or september, in which juan de vega characterized as a great scandal the disobedience of a vassal to the royal commands, in a matter so just as residence in his see, and he suggested that, when the court moved, no quarters should be assigned to valdés, to which archbishop carranza replied that it was no wonder that the orders of the king were unable to effect what the commandments of god and the church could not accomplish.[136] something further was necessary to render him indispensable--something that could be prolonged indefinitely and if, at the same time, it would afford substantial relief to the treasury, he might be forgiven the niggardness that had resisted the appeals of the sovereign. he had for some time been preparing a scheme for this, which was nothing less than the prosecution of the primate of the spanish church, the income of whose see was rated at from 150,000 to 200,000 ducats. to measure the full audacity of this it is necessary to appreciate the standing of archbishop carranza. [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] bartolomé de carranza y miranda was born in 1503. at the age of 12 he entered the university of alcalá; at 18 he took the final vows of the dominican order and was sent to study theology in the college of san gregorio at valladolid, where, in 1530, he was made professor of arts, in 1533 junior professor of theology and, in 1534, chief professor as well as consultor of the tribunal of valladolid. in 1540 he was sent as representative of his order to the general chapter held in rome, where he distinguished himself and was honored with the doctorate, while paul iii granted him a licence to read prohibited heretic books. on his return to spain his reputation was national; he was largely employed by the suprema in the censorship of books, especially of foreign bibles, while the councils of indies and castile frequently submitted intricate questions for his judgement. in 1542 he was offered the see of cuzco, esteemed the wealthiest in the colonies, when he replied that he would willingly go to the indies on the emperor's service but not to undertake the cure of souls.[137] on the convocation of the council of trent, in 1545, charles v selected him as one of the delegates and, during his three years' service there, he earned the reputation throughout christendom of a profound theologian. when, in 1548, prince philip went to join his father in flanders, they both offered him the position of confessor which he declined, as he did the see of canaries which was tendered to him in 1550. in this latter year he was elected provincial of his order for castile and, in 1551, he was sent to the second convocation of the council of trent by charles and also as the representative of siliceo, archbishop of toledo. as usual, he played a prominent part in the council and, after its hasty dissolution, he remained there for some time employed in the duty of examining and condemning heretical books. in 1553 he returned to his professorship at valladolid and when, in 1554, prince philip sailed for england to marry queen mary and restore the island to the unity of the church, he took carranza with him as the fittest instrument for the work.[138] carranza subsequently boasted that, during his three years' stay in england, he had burnt, reconciled, or driven from the land thirty thousand heretics and had brought two million souls back to the church. if we may believe his admiring biographers he was the heart and soul of the marian persecution and philip did nothing in religious matters without his advice. when, in september, 1555, philip rejoined his father in flanders, he left carranza as mary's religious adviser, in which capacity he remained until 1557. regarded by the heretics as the chief cause of their sufferings he barely escaped from repeated attempts on his life by poison or violence.[139] it is true that english authorities of the period make little mention of him, but the continued confidence of philip is ample evidence that his persecuting zeal was sufficient to satisfy that exacting monarch. when, in 1557, carranza rejoined philip in flanders he was probably engrossed in the preparation and printing of his large work on the catechism, of which more hereafter, but he still found time to investigate and impede the clandestine trade of sending heretic books to spain.[140] that he had completely won philip's esteem and confidence was seen when siliceo of toledo died, may 1, 1557, and philip appointed him as successor in the archbishopric. he refused the splendid prize and suggested three men as better fitted for the place. philip persisted; he was going to a neighboring convent to confess and commune prior to the opening of the campaign and ordered carranza to obey on his return. when he came back he sent the presentation written in his own hand; carranza yielded, but on condition that, as the war with the pope would delay the issue of the bulls, the king in the interval could make another selection. this effort to avoid the fatal gift was fruitless. on his return from the campaign, philip in an autograph letter summoned him to fulfil his promise and made the appointment public. so high was carranza's reputation that, when the presentation was laid before the consistory in rome, on december 6th, it was at once confirmed, without observing the preconization, or the customary inquiry into the fitness of the appointee, or a constitution which prohibited final action on the same day.[141] [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] the elevation of a simple friar to the highest place in the spanish church was a blow to numerous ambitions that could scarce fail to arouse hostility. valdés himself was said to have aspirations for the position and to be bitterly disappointed. pedro de castro, bishop of cuenca, had also cherished hopes and was eager for revenge. carranza, moreover, was not popular with the hierarchy. he was that unwelcome character, a reformer within the church and, while everyone acknowledged the necessity of reform, no one looked with favor on a reformer who assailed his profitable abuses. as far back as 1547, while in attendance on the council of trent, carranza had preached a sermon on one of the most crying evils of the time, the non-residence of bishops and beneficiaries, and had embodied his views in a tractate as severe as a lutheran would have written on this abuse and the kindred one of pluralities, to which possibly the stringent tridentine provisions on the subject may be attributed.[142] such an outburst was not calculated to win favor, seeing that the splendor of the curia was largely supported by the prelacies and benefices showered upon its members and that in spain there was scarce an inquisitor or a fiscal who was not a non-resident beneficiary of some preferment. carranza had, moreover, a peculiarly dangerous enemy in a brother dominican, melchor cano, perhaps the leading spanish theologian of the time when spanish theology was beginning to dominate the church. learned, able, keen-witted and not particularly scrupulous, he was in intellect vastly superior to carranza; there had been early rivalry, when both were professors of theology, and causes of strife in the internal politics of the order had arisen, so that cano could scarce view without bitterness the sudden elevation of his brother fraile.[143] his position at the time was somewhat precarious. when, in 1556, paul iv forced war on philip ii, that pious prince sought the advice of theologians as to the propriety of engaging in hostilities with the vicegerent of god, and the _parecer_, or opinion which cano drew up, was an able state paper that attracted wide attention. he defended uncompromisingly the royal prerogatives, he virtually justified the german revolt when the _centum gravamina_ of the diet of nürnberg, in 1522, were unredressed and he described the corruption of rome as a disease of such long standing as to be incurable.[144] this hardy defiance irritated paul in the highest degree. april 21, 1556 he issued a brief summoning that son of perdition, melchor cano, to appear before him within sixty days for trial and sentence, but the brief was suppressed by the royal council and cano was ordered not to leave the kingdom. the spanish dominicans rallied to his defence; in the chapter of 1558 he was elected provincial and deputy to the general chapter to be held in rome, but paul ordered the election to be annulled and cano to be deprived of his priorate of san esteban. cano complained of lukewarmness in his defence on the part of both philip and carranza and it is easy to understand that, feeling keenly the disgrace inflicted on him, he was in a temper to attack any one more fortunate than himself.[145] [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] at this inauspicious moment carranza presented himself as a fair object of attack by all who, from different motives, might desire to assail him. if we may judge from his writings, he must have been impulsive and inconsiderate in his speech, given to uttering extreme views which made an impression and then qualifying them with restrictions that were forgotten. he was earnestly desirous of restoring the church to its ancient purity and by no means reticent in exposing its weaknesses and corruption. he had been trained at a time before the tridentine definitions had settled points of faith which, since the twelfth century, had been the subjects of debate in the schools, and even in his maturity the council of trent had not yet been clothed with the awful authority subsequently accorded to it, for the inglorious exit of its first two convocations, in 1547 and 1552, gave little promise of what lay in the future. the echo of the fierce lutheran controversies had scarce penetrated into spain and comparatively little was there known of the debates which were shaking to its centre the venerable structure of the church. carranza's very labors in condemning heretic books and converting heretics had acquainted him with their doctrines and modes of expression; he was a confused thinker and his impulsive utterances were liable to be construed in a sense which he did not anticipate. as early as 1530 he had been denounced to the inquisition by fray juan de villamartin as a defender of erasmus, especially in the matter of confession and the authorship of the apocalypse and, during his persecuting career in england, he more than once gave opportunity, in his sermons, to unfavorable comment.[146] it was also in evidence that when in rome, in 1539, he had written to juan de valdés in naples, asking what authors should be studied for understanding scripture, as he would have to teach that subject, and that valdés replied in a letter which carranza circulated among his students in valladolid--a letter highly heretical in its teachings which valdés subsequently included in his "one hundred and ten divine considerations."[147] it is true that, in 1539, juan de valdés was not reckoned a heretic, but, if the letter was correctly identified with the "consideration" in question its circulation was highly imprudent, for it asserted that the guides for the study of scripture are prayer inspired by god and meditation based on spiritual experience, thus discarding tradition for private interpretation, and it further dwelt upon the confidence which the soul should feel in justification through christ. in the death-struggle with protestantism the time had passed for easy-going latitude of opinion and, in the intricate mazes of scholastic theology, it was necessary to walk warily, for acute censorship could discover heresy in any unguarded expression. the great services rendered by cardinal morone and cardinal pole did not save them from the prosecuting zeal of paul iv and contarini and sadoleto were both suspect of heresy.[148] under such conditions a rambling inconsequential thinker like carranza was peculiarly open to attack. he had unquestionably been more or less intimate with some of the prominent personages whose arrest for lutheranism, in the spring of 1558, produced so immense a sensation. it was not unnatural that, on their trials, they should seek to shield themselves behind his honored name, but the detached fragments of conversation which were cited in support of vague general assertions, even if correctly reported, amount to nothing in the face of the emphatic testimony by fray domingo de rojas, for the discharge of his conscience, a few hours before his execution, that he had never seen in carranza anything that was not catholic in regard to the roman church and all its councils, definitions and laws and that when lutherans were alluded to he said their opinions were crafty and deceiving; they had sprung from hell and the incautious could easily be deceived by them.[149] the credence due to the evidence of the lutherans, on which so much stress was laid, can be gauged by a subsequent case illustrative of the tendency to render carranza responsible for all aberrations of belief. a certain gil tibobil (de bonneville) on trial in 1564 for lutheranism, in toledo, sought to palliate his guilt by asserting that he had heard carranza preach, in the church of san agustin, against candles and images and that confession was to be made to god and not to the priest. this was too crude to be accepted and he was sternly told that it cast doubt on the rest of his confession for, if carranza had thus preached publicly, it would have come to the knowledge of the inquisition and he would have been punished.[150] whether the testimony acquired in the trials of the lutherans was important or not, inquisitor-general valdés lost no time in using it to discredit carranza in the opinion of the sovereigns. as early as may 12, 1588, in a report to charles v at yuste, his assistance is asked in obtaining the arrest of a fugitive, whose capture would be exceedingly important; he had been traced to castro de urdiales, where he was to embark for flanders to find refuge with carranza or with his companion fray juan de villagarcia, where he was sure of being well received. that the real motive was to injure carranza with charles appears from valdés repeating the story to him in a report of june 2, adding that the fugitive had escaped and that information had been sent to philip in order that he might be captured.[151] it is reasonable to assume that whatever incriminating evidence could be obtained from the prisoners was promptly brought to the notice of the sovereigns and that inferences were unscrupulously asserted as facts. [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] at this critical juncture, carranza delivered himself into the hands of his enemies. in england and flanders he had employed the intervals of persecution in composing a work which should set forth the irrefragable truths of the catholic faith and guard the people from the insidious poison of heretical doctrine. this was a task for which, at such a time, he was peculiarly unfitted. he was not only a loose thinker but a looser writer, diffuse, rambling and discursive, setting down whatever idea chanced to occur to him and wandering off to whatever subjects the idea might suggest. moreover he was earnest as a reformer within the church, realizing abuses and exposing them fearlessly--in fact, he declared in the prologue that his object was to restore the purity and soundness of the primitive church, which was precisely what the heretics professed as their aim and precisely what the ruling hierarchy most dreaded.[152] worst of all, he did this in the vulgar tongue, unmindful of the extreme reserve which sought to keep from the people all knowledge of the errors and arguments of the heretics and of the contrast between apostolic simplicity and the splendid sacerdotalism of a wealthy and worldly establishment.[153] this he cast into the form of commentaries on the catechism, occupying a folio of nine hundred pages, full of impulsive assertions which, taken by themselves, were of dangerous import, but which were qualified or limited, or contradicted in the next sentence, or the next page, or, perhaps, in the following section. no one, i think, can dispassionately examine the commentaries without reaching the conviction that carranza was a sincere and zealous catholic, however reckless may seem many of his isolated utterances. nor was his orthodoxy merely academic. he belonged to the church militant and his hatred of heresy and heretics breaks out continually, in season and out of season, whether apposite or not to his immediate subject. heretic arguments are not worthy of confutation--it is enough to say that a doctrine is condemned by the church and therefore it is heretical. the first duty of the king is to preserve his dominions in the true faith and to chastise those who sin against it. even if heretics should perform miracles, their disorderly lives and corrupted morals would be sufficient to guard the people from listening to them or believing them. if they do not admit their errors they are to be condemned to death; this is the best theology that a christian can learn and it was not more necessary in the time of moses than it is at present.[154] even in that age, when theology was so favorite a topic, few could be expected to wade through so enormous a mass of confused thinking and disjointed writing, and it was easy for carranza's enemies to garble isolated sentences by which he could be represented to the sovereigns as being at least suspect in the faith, and suspicion of heresy was quite sufficient to require prosecution. carranza himself, after his book was printed, seems to have felt apprehension and to have proceeded cautiously in giving it to the public. a set of the sheets was sent to the marchioness of alcañizes and a dozen or more copies were allowed to reach spain, where they were received in march, 1558. pedro de castro, bishop of cuenca, obtained one and speedily wrote to valdés, denouncing the writer as guilty of heretical opinions. valdés grasped the opportunity and ordered melchor cano to examine the work. cano took as a colleague fray domingo de cuevas and had no difficulty in discovering a hundred and one passages of heretical import. the preliminaries to a formal trial were now fairly under way, the result of which could scarce be doubtful under inquisitorial methods, if the royal and papal assent could be obtained, necessary even to the inquisition before it could openly attack the primate of the spanish church. despite the profound secrecy enveloping the operations of the inquisition, it was impossible that, in an affair of such moment, there should not be indiscretions and carranza in flanders was advised of what was on foot. his friends urged him not to return to spain but to take refuge in rome under papal protection, but he knew that this would irrevocably cost him the favor of philip, for exaggerated jealousy of papal interference with the inquisition was traditional since the time of ferdinand and isabella, and he virtually surrendered his case at once by instructing his printer, martin nucio, not to sell copies of the commentaries without his express orders, thus withdrawing it from circulation.[155] [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] but little adverse impression seems as yet to have been made on philip. when carranza was about to leave flanders, the king gave him detailed instructions which manifest unbounded confidence. he was to go directly to valladolid and represent the extreme need of money; then he was to see queen mary of hungary, charles' sister, and persuade her to come to flanders; then he was to hasten to yuste where philip, through him, unbosomed himself to his father, revealing all his necessities and desires in family as well as in state affairs. in short, carranza was still one whom he could safely entrust with his most secret thoughts.[156] carranza, with his customary lack of worldly wisdom, threw away all the advantages of his position. landing at laredo on august 1st, he passed through burgos, where he was involved in an unseemly squabble with the archbishop over his assumed right to carry his archiepiscopal cross in public. he did not reach valladolid until the 13th and there he tarried, busied ostensibly with a suit between his see and the marquis of camarasa over the valuable adelantamiento of cazorla, but doubtless occupied also with efforts to counteract the intrigues of valdés. then he performed his mission to mary of hungary and it was not until the middle of september that he set out on a leisurely journey to yuste. valdés had taken care to forestall his visit. an autograph letter of the princess juana to charles, august 8th, says that valdés had asked her to warn him to be cautious in dealing with carranza, for he had been implicated by the lutheran prisoners and would already have been arrested had he been anyone else. charles was naturally impatient to see him, not only to obtain explanations as to this, but also to receive the messages expected from philip, for which he was waiting before writing to flanders. carranza's delay, in spite of repeated urgency from yuste, could not but create a sinister impression and all chance of justification was lost, for charles was prostrated by his fatal illness before carranza left valladolid and the end was near when he reached yuste about noon on september 20th. charles expired the next morning at half-past two, carranza administering to him the last consolations, his method in which formed one of the charges against him on his trial. he had thrown away his last chance and the unexpected death of charles deprived him of one who might possibly have stood between him and his fate.[157] the plans of valdés were now sufficiently advanced for him to seek the papal authorization which alone was lacking, and his method to obtain this was characteristically insidious. the suprema addressed, september 9th, to paul iv a relation of its labors in discovering and prosecuting the lutheran heretics. there was skilful exaggeration of the danger impending from a movement, the extent of which could not be known, and it was pointed out that sympathy with the sectaries might be entertained by officials of the inquisition itself, by the ordinaries and the consultors; so that extraordinary powers were asked to arrest and judge and relax those suspected or guilty, even though they were persons holding a secular or pontifical and ecclesiastical dignity or belonging to any religious or other order.[158] as the inquisition already had jurisdiction over all but bishops (it had not hesitated to arrest and try the dominican fray domingo de rojas) the self-evident object of this was to obtain surreptitiously, under cover of the word "pontifical," some general expression that might be used to deprive carranza of his right to trial by the pope. the dean of oviedo, a nephew of valdés, was sent to rome as a special agent to procure the desired brief; whether royal sanction for this application was obtained does not appear, but it probably was not, at least at this stage. [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] carranza meanwhile had been vainly endeavoring to get copies of the censures on his book in order to answer them. he appealed earnestly to his friends in philip's court and in rome but, without awaiting their replies, he pursued his policy of submission and, on september 21st, the day of charles's death, he wrote to sancho lópez de otálora, a member of the suprema, that he consented to the prohibition of his work, provided this was confined to spain and that his name was not mentioned.[159] in this and what followed he has been accused of weakness, but it is difficult to see what other course lay open to him. he doubtless still considered his episcopal consecration a guarantee for his personal safety, while his reputation for orthodoxy could best be conserved by not entering into a fruitless contest with a power irresistible in its chosen field of action--a contest, moreover, which would have cost him the royal favor that was his main reliance. in pursuance of this policy he even descended to attempting to propitiate melchor cano by offering to do whatever he would recommend. cano subsequently asserted, with customary mendacity, that carranza would have averted his fate had he adopted any of the means which he devised and advised to save him, but it is difficult to imagine what more he could have done.[160] towards the close of november he wrote to valdés and the suprema and to other influential persons professing his submission. he explained the reasons which had led him to write his book in the vernacular after commencing it in latin; it could readily be suppressed for, on reaching valladolid, he had withdrawn the edition from the printer; there were no copies in the bookshops and what he had brought with him he would surrender, while the dozen or so that had been sent to spain could easily be called in as the recipients were all known. then, on december 9th, he proposed to the suprema that the book should be prohibited in spanish and be returned to him for correction and translation into latin.[161] had the real object of valdés been the ostensible one of preserving the faith, this would have amply sufficed; the book would have been suppressed and the public humiliation of the archbishop of toledo, so distinguished for his services to religion, would have been an amply deterrent warning to all indiscreet theologians. it was a not unnatural burst of indignation when, in a letter to domingo de soto, november 14th, he bitterly pointed out how the heretics would rejoice to know that fray bartolomé de miranda was treated in spain as he had treated them in england and flanders and that, after he had burnt them to enforce the doctrines of his book, it was pronounced in spain unfit to be read.[162] carranza's submission brought no result save to encourage his enemies, who put him off with vague replies while awaiting the success of their application to the pope. meanwhile he had reached toledo, october 13th, and had applied himself actively to his duties. he was rigid in the performance of divine service, he visited prisons, hospitals and convents, he put an end to the sale of offices and charging fees for licences, he revised the fee-bill of his court, he enforced the residence of parish priests and was especially careful in the distribution of preferment--in short he was a practical as well as theoretical reformer. his charity also was boundless, for he used to say that all he needed was a dominican habit and that whatever god gave him was for the poor. thus during his ten months of incumbency, he distributed more than eighty thousand ducats in marrying orphans, redeeming captives, supporting widows, sending students to universities and in gifts to hospitals.[163] he was a model bishop, and the resolute fidelity with which the chapter of toledo supported his cause to the end shows the impression made on a body which, in spanish churches, was usually at odds with its prelate. he had likewise not been idle in obtaining favorable opinions of his book from theologians of distinction. in view of the rumors of inquisitorial action, there was risk in praising it, yet nearly all those prominent in spanish theology bore testimony in its favor. the general view accorded virtually with that of pedro guerrero, archbishop of granada, than whom no one in the spanish hierarchy stood higher for learning and piety. the book, he said, was without error and, being in castilian, was especially useful for parish priests unfamiliar with latin, wherefore it should be extensively circulated. it was true that there were occasional expressions which, taken by themselves, might on their face seem to be erroneous, but elsewhere it was seen that they must be construed in a catholic sense. to this effect recorded themselves domingo and pedro de soto, men of the highest reputation, garrionero bishop of almería, blanco of orense, cuesta of leon, delgado of lugo and numerous others.[164] if some of these men belied themselves subsequently and aided in giving the finishing blow to their persecuted brother, we can estimate the pressure brought to bear on them. [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] valdés speedily utilized the power of the inquisition to check these appreciations of the commentaries. when, at the university of alcalá, the rector, the chancellor, and twenty-two doctors united in declaring the work to be without error or suspicion of error, save that some incautious expressions, disconnected from the context, might be mistaken by hasty readers, valdés muzzled it and all other learned bodies and individuals by a letter saying that it had come to his notice that learned men of the university had been examining books and giving their opinions. as this produced confusion and contradiction respecting the index which the inquisition was preparing, all persons, colleges and universities were forbidden to censure or give an opinion concerning any book without first submitting it to the suprema, and this under pain of excommunication and a fine of two hundred ducats on each and every one concerned.[165] it was impossible to contend with an adversary armed with such weapons. not content with this, the rector of the university, diego sobaños, was prosecuted by the tribunal of valladolid for the part he had taken in the matter; he was reprimanded, fined and absolved _ad cautelam_. similar action was taken against the more prominent of those who had expressed themselves favorably and who, for the most part, were forced to retract.[166] the inquisition played with loaded dice. dean valdés of oviedo meanwhile had succeeded in his mission to rome, aided, as raynaldus assures us, by the express request of philip, though this is more than doubtful. the brief was dated january 7, 1559; it was addressed to valdés and recited that, as there were in spain some prelates suspected of lutheranism, he was empowered for two years from the receipt of the brief, with the advice of the suprema, to make investigation and, if sufficient proof were found against any one and there was good reason to apprehend his flight, to arrest and keep him in safe custody, but as soon as possible the pope was to be informed of it and the prisoner was to be sent to him with all the evidence and papers in the case.[167] with the exception of the provision against expected flight, this was merely in accordance with the received practice in the case of bishops, but it was the entering wedge and we shall see how its limitations were disregarded. the brief was received april 8th. in place of complying with it and sending carranza to rome with the evidence that had been collecting for nearly a year, a formal trial was secretly commenced. the fiscal presented a _clamosa_ or indictment, on may 6th, asking for carranza's arrest and the sequestration of his property, "for having preached, written and dogmatized many errors of luther." the evidence was duly laid before _calificadores_, or censors, who reported accordingly and, on the 13th, there was drawn up a summons to appear and answer to the demand of the fiscal. before proceeding further, in an affair of such magnitude, it was felt that the assent was required of philip, who was still in flanders.[168] as recently as april 4th he had replied encouragingly to an appeal from the persecuted prelate. "i have not wanted to go forward in the matter of your book, about which you wrote to me, until the person whom you were sending should arrive; he has spoken with me today. i had already done something of what is proper in this business. not to detain the courier who goes with the good news of the conclusion of peace, i do not wish to enlarge in replying to you, but i shall do so shortly and meanwhile i earnestly ask you to make no change in what you have done hitherto and to have recourse to no one but to me, for it would be in the highest degree disadvantageous."[169] philip evidently thought that only carranza's book and not his person was concerned, that the affair was of no great importance and his solicitude was chiefly to prevent any appeal to rome, a matter in which he fully shared the intense feeling of his predecessors. when carranza ordered his envoy to flanders, fray hernando de san ambrosio, to proceed to rome and secure an approbation of the commentaries, he replied, april 19th, that all his friends at the court earnestly counselled against; it had been necessary to assure philip of the falsity of the reports that he had done so, whereupon the king had expressed his satisfaction and had said that any other course would have displeased him.[170] [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] advantage, for which carranza foolishly offered the opportunity, was taken of this extreme jealousy to win him over. when the dominican chapter met, in april, 1559, there was open strife between him and cano, over a report that cano had styled him a greater heretic than luther and that he favored cazalla and the other prisoners. carranza demanded his punishment for the slander and sought to defeat his candidacy for the provincialate. in this he failed. cano's assertion that he had been misunderstood was accepted; he was again elected provincial and carranza unwisely carried his complaint to rome.[171] there it became mixed up with the question of cano's confirmation, for paul iv naturally resented the repeated presentation of that "son of iniquity." philip, on the other hand, could not abandon the protection of one whose fault, in papal eyes, was his vindication of the royal prerogative, and he interested himself actively in pressing the confirmation. paul equivocated and lied and sought some subterfuge which was found in cano's consecration, in 1552, as bishop of canaries (a post which he had resigned in 1553) which was held to render him ineligible to any position in his order, and a general decree to that effect was issued in july.[172] all this was skilfully used to prejudice philip against carranza. in letters of may 16th to him and of may 22nd and 25th to his confessor bernardo de fresneda, cano with great adroitness and small respect for veracity represented himself as subjected to severe persecution. he had always been carranza's friend; he had withheld for seven months his censure of the commentaries and had yielded only to a threat of excommunication and now carranza was repaying him by intriguing against the confirmation in rome--the truth being that it was not until the end of june that carranza's agent reached there. it was a terrible thing, cano added, if the archbishop, through his italian general, could thus wrong him and he could not defend himself. he was resolved to suffer in silence, but the persecution was so bitter that if the king did not speedily come to spain he would have to seek refuge in flanders.[173] what, in reality, were his sufferings and what the friendly work on which he was engaged, are indicated by a commission issued to him, may 29th, granting him the extraordinary powers of a substitute inquisitor-general and sending him forth on a roving expedition to gather evidence, compelling everyone whom he might summon to answer whatever questions he might ask.[174] the suprema and valdés, moreover, in letters of may 13th and 16th to philip, adopted the same tone; cano's labors throughout the affair had been great and it was hoped that the king would not permit his persecution for the services rendered to god and his majesty; there need be no fear of injustice to carranza, for the investigation was impartial and dispassionate.[175] philip had already been informed by cardinal pacheco, february 24th and again may 13th, that carranza had sent to the pope copies of the favorable opinions of his book, asking that it be judged in rome and that his episcopal privilege of papal jurisdiction be preserved.[176] whatever intentions he had of befriending carranza were not proof against the assertions that to his intrigues was attributable the papal interference with cano's election. on june 26th he wrote to cano, expressing his satisfaction and assuring him of his support in rome and, on the same day, to the suprema approving its actions as to the commentaries and expressing his confidence that it would do what was right.[177] in thus authorizing the prosecution he ordered the archbishop's dignity to be respected and he wrote to the princess juana that, to avoid scandal, she should invite him to valladolid to consult on important matters, so that the trial could proceed without attracting attention.[178] [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] philip's letters were received july 10th, but there was still hesitation and it was not until august 3d that the princess wrote, summoning carranza in haste to valladolid, where she would have lodgings prepared for him. this she sent, with secret instructions, by the hands of rodrigo de castro, a member of the suprema.[179] carranza was at alcalá de henares, whither diego ramírez, inquisitor of toledo, was also despatched, under pretext of publishing the edict of faith. carranza, who suspected a snare, was desirous of postponing his arrival at valladolid until philip, on whose protection he still relied, should reach spain. accordingly he converted the journey into a visitation, leaving alcalá on the 16th and passing through fuente el saz and talamanca to torrelaguna, which he reached on the 20th. on the road he received intimations of what was in store and at torrelaguna fray pedro de soto came with the news that emissaries had already started to arrest him, which elicited from him a despairing and beseeching letter to fresneda, the royal confessor.[180] de soto's report was true. valdés dreaded as much as carranza desired philip's arrival; the delay on the road risked this if the device of the invitation to valladolid was to be carried out. for his plans it was essential that an irrevocable step should be taken in the king's absence--a step which should compromise carranza and commit the inquisition so fully that philip could not revoke it without damaging the holy office in a way that to him was impossible. to allow carranza to be at liberty while investigating the suspicion of his heresy, as philip had ordered, would leave the door open to royal or papal intervention; to seize and imprison him would leave philip no alternative but to urge forward his destruction, while his dilatory progress could be assumed to cover preparations for flight. accordingly, on august 17th the suprema issued a commission, under the papal brief of january 7th, to rodrigo de castro to act with other inquisitors in the case, while, as justice required carranza's arrest, valdés commissioned de castro, diego ramírez and diego gonzález, inquisitor of valladolid, to seize the person of the archbishop and convey him to such prison as should be designated, at the same time sequestrating all his property, real and personal and all his papers and writings. simultaneously joan cebrian, alguazil mayor of the suprema, was ordered to coöperate with the inquisitors in the arrest and sequestration.[181] cebrian started the same day for torrelaguna, where he kept his bed through the day and worked at night. the inquisitors came together; a force of familiars and others was secretly collected and, by day-break on the 22nd the governor, the alcalde and the alguaziles of torrelaguna were seized and held under guard, the house where carranza lodged was surrounded, de castro, ramírez, cebrian and a dozen men ascended the stairs and knocked at the door of the antechamber. fray antonio de utrilla asked who was there and the dread response came "open to the holy office!" it was the same at the door of carranza's chamber; de castro knelt at the bed-side, where carranza had drawn the curtains and raised himself on his elbow; he begged carranza's pardon with tears in his eyes and said his face would show his reluctance in performing his duty. cebrian was called in and read the order of arrest. carranza replied "these señores do not know that they are not my judges, as i am subject directly to the pope." then de castro produced the papal brief from the bosom of his gown and read it. some say that carranza fell back on his pillow, others that he remained imperturbable. he ordered out all the rest and remained for a considerable time alone with de castro and ramírez.[182] he was at once secluded in the most rigid manner, all his people being excluded, except fray domingo ximenes, who was required to assist in the sequestration and inventory. at table he was served by de castro and ramírez, who treated him with the utmost respect and endeavored to console him, for by this time his fortitude had given way and he was overwhelmed. his attendants were all dismissed and given money to find their way whither they chose and their grief we are told moved every one to compassion. only the cook and steward and a muleteer were retained to serve the party. at nine in the evening proclamation was made throughout the town that until daylight no one was to leave his house or look out of a window. at midnight cebrian assembled forty horsemen; de castro and ramírez brought carranza down and stationed themselves on either side of his mule as the cavalcade rode forth in the darkness and then salinas, the owner of the house, was allowed to come out to close his door. the heat was overpowering and when, by ten in the morning they reached lozoya, they rested for a day and a night. on the 27th they arrived at laguna del duero, near valladolid, where de castro and ramírez left the party and rode forward for instructions, returning the same day and, at two in the morning of the 28th, carranza was brought to the city and lodged in the house of pedro gonzález de leon, in the suburb of san pedro beyond the walls, which had been taken by the inquisition.[183] [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] carranza thus disappeared from human sight as completely as though swallowed by the earth. it is a forcible illustration of inquisitorial methods, but conspicuous only by reason of the dignity of the victim, for it rested with the discretion of the officials whether thus to spirit away and conceal their prisoners or to cast them publicly into the secret prison. morales tells us that it was years before the place of carranza's incarceration was known, although every one said that he had been seized by the holy office. even to say this, however, was not unattended with danger, for, in the trial, in september, by the tribunal of toledo, of rodrigo alvárez, one of the charges against him was that, about september 5th, he had remarked to a casual fellow-traveller, that he came from valladolid and was quite certain that the archbishop was imprisoned.[184] there could be no doubt about it in toledo, where the news of the arrest was received on the 24th. on the 26th the chapter assembled in sorrow to take what measures they could, in aid of their beloved prelate, but they were powerless save to delegate two of their number to reside in valladolid and render such assistance as was possible. it amounted to little save a testimony of sympathy, for no communication was allowed, but they advised with his counsel and performed what service they were able. this faithful watch was kept up during the long and weary years of the trial and when it was adjourned to rome they went thither and remained to the end. the chapter also, almost monthly, sent memorials to philip praying for a speedy and favorable end of the case. the great dominican order also felt keenly the disgrace inflicted on its distinguished member and exerted itself in his favor as far as it could. the spanish episcopate also was greatly perturbed, not knowing where the next blow might fall and the scandal throughout the land was general.[185] philip had disembarked at laredo on august 29th. valdés evidently felt that some excuse was necessary for action so much more decisive than that prescribed by the king and, in a letter of september 9th, explained to him that carranza was delaying his movements in order to meet him on his arrival at laredo; that he was working in rome to impede the matter; that the infamy of his position was daily spreading and that the auto de fe prepared for the lutherans could not take place while he was at liberty. seeing that the effort to entice him to valladolid had failed, it was resolved to bring him there, which was done quietly and without disturbance. he had been well treated and would continue to be so and the king might rely on the affair being conducted with all rectitude. an intimation, moreover, that all his property had been sequestrated indicates that the financial aspect of the matter was deemed worthy of being called to the royal attention and the whole tone of the letter shows that carranza's imprisonment was predetermined. the allusion to his design of meeting the king at laredo disposes of the plea that he was suspected of flight and the fact that the auto de fe of the lutherans did not take place until october 8th is a test of the flimsiness of the reasons alleged.[186] carranza's treatment was vastly better than that of ordinary prisoners confined in the cells of the secret prison. he was asked to select his attendants, when he named six, but was allowed only two--his companion, fray alonso de utrilla and his page, jorje gómez muñoz de carrascosa.[187] two rooms were allotted to the party--rooms without provision for the needs of human nature, with windows padlocked and shutters closed, so that at times the stench became unendurable. the foul atmosphere brought on a dangerous illness in which carranza nearly perished; the physicians ordered the apartment to be ventilated, morning and evening, but all that the suprema would permit was a small grating in the door, though at times it was left ajar with a guard posted at it.[188] communication with the outside world was so completely cut off that when, in 1561, a great conflagration ravaged valladolid, raging for thirty hours, destroying four hundred houses and penetrating to the quarter where the prison stood, the prisoners knew nothing of it until after reaching rome.[189] the inquisitorial rule that all consultation with counsel must be held in the presence of an inquisitor was rigidly observed and also that which denied to prisoners the consolation of the sacraments. [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] diego gonzález, one of the inquisitors of valladolid, was assigned to the special charge of carranza who, in a long and rambling memorial to the suprema represents him as treating him without respect, insulting him, suppressing his communications with the suprema, fabricating answers, throwing every impediment in the way of his defence and aggravating, with malicious ingenuity, the miseries of his position. some details as to the parsimony with which he was treated are almost incredible when we reflect that the inquisition and philip were enjoying the enormous sequestrated revenues of their prisoner.[190] although the papal brief only authorized the collection of evidence and its transmission to rome with the person of the accused, the trial was conducted as though the inquisition had full jurisdiction. it was commenced september 4th; as carranza could not be taken to the inquisition, valdés and the suprema came to his place of confinement, administered the customary oath and, according to routine procedure, gave him the first monition to discharge his conscience and confess freely. he replied by recusing valdés as his judge on the score of enmity, to whom he subsequently added two members of the suprema, andrés pérez, bishop of ciudad-rodrigo and diego de cobos, bishop of jaen.[191] this recusation excited no little debate. there were some who pronounced it frivolous, others that it should be referred to the pope and others again that it should be decided by arbitrators. the latter opinion prevailed; carranza and the fiscal named their arbitrators who rendered a decision in carranza's favor on february 23, 1560. a new judge thus became necessary; carranza's friends and the dominicans were busy in rome to have the case transferred thither, but at that time philip's will was substantially law to pius iv and, on may 4th a brief was obtained authorizing the king to appoint one or more bishops, or other just and experienced ecclesiastics, to hear the case and bring it to a proper conclusion. this conferred full jurisdiction and placed carranza in a worse position than before. strenuous representations must have been made to pius for, on july 3rd he issued another brief defining his intention to be that the judges should conduct the case up to the point of sentence and then send the papers under seal to rome, where he, in secret consistory, would decide it as a matter specially reserved to the holy see.[192] this revendicated the papal jurisdiction, but at the same time it confirmed the usurpation of valdés in formally trying carranza in lieu of merely collecting testimony for a trial in rome. [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] philip leisurely postponed for a year the nomination of new judges. it may seem harsh to attribute this to the repulsive motive of prolonging the trial in order to enjoy the benefit of the sequestrated revenues of toledo, but his financial needs were extreme and the temptation was great. in violation of the rule of the inquisition that sequestrations were held for the benefit of the owner, to be accounted for unless confiscation was imposed, philip had appointed tello giron administrator of the archbishopric, had procured his confirmation from pius iv, in spite of the earnest remonstrances of the chapter, and was quietly absorbing the revenues, except such portion as the suprema claimed for the expenses of carranza and of the trial.[193] we happen to have evidence of this in the promise of a pension of twelve thousand cruzados on the see of toledo, by which he won over cardinal caraffa to the spanish interest, during the long conclave which resulted in the election of pius iv[194], and the acquiescence of that pope in his enjoyment of the revenues was probably purchased by the promise of a similar pension of twelve thousand crowns to his favorite nephew, st. charles borromeo--a promise which he neglected to fulfil although, in 1564, it was reckoned that he had already received from the see some eight hundred thousand crowns. when he quarrelled with pius for deciding the question of precedence in favor of france, the pope threatened to make him disgorge, but without success.[195] it is therefore easy to understand why the case promised to be interminable. the two years of the original brief expired in april, 1561; pius extended it for two years more; then, by a brief of april 4, 1563, he renewed it for another year, at the same time prescribing that carranza should be more mercifully treated; then, august 12, 1564, it was extended until january 1, 1565, and for another year still before the matter passed into the sterner hands of st. pius v.[196] these delays it was the fashion to impute to carranza. bishop simancas, who hated him for the proverbial reason _odisse quem læseris_, asserts that he was constantly employing devices to prevent progress, but this is absurd.[197] it was carranza's interest to be released from his dreary incarceration and to be sent to rome, where he felt confident of favor; the cumbrous _estilo_ of the inquisition enabled it to retard action at will, while the accused could do little either to hasten or to impede. when philip at last acted on the power to name carranza's judges he appointed, march 13, 1561, gaspar zuñiga, archbishop of santiago who, on may 2nd, subdelegated the work to bishops valtodano and simancas, both members of the suprema and hostile to the prisoner. carranza, as the result of his recusation, thus found himself practically remanded to valdés, who was moreover shielded from direct responsibility. carranza naturally recused his new judges, on the ground that they had voted for his arrest, but philip airily dismissed the recusation, saying that if this were just cause no judge could try a culprit whose apprehension he had ordered.[198] in the following june carranza was allowed to select counsel--a special favor for, as a rule, the accused was restricted to one or two lawyers who held appointments under the tribunal. he chose martin de azpilcueta and alonso delgado and also doctors santander and morales, though of these latter we hear nothing subsequently. azpilcueta, known also as doctor navarro, was one of the leading canonists of the time and a man of the highest reputation. he served faithfully to the end and probably thereby ruined his career in spain, for he remained in rome as a papal penitentiary. after nearly two years of imprisonment the formal trial began july 30th and proceeded in most leisurely fashion. the rules of the inquisition required three monitions to be given within ten days after arrest, but valtodano and simancas administered the first monition to discharge his conscience by confession on july 30th, the second on august 25th and the third on august 29th. he replied that for two years he had been desirous of learning the cause of his arrest and begging to be informed, which showed how ignorant he was of inquisitorial practice, for this was sedulously concealed from the accused, who was sternly ordered to search his conscience and earn mercy by confession. then, on september 1st, the fiscal presented the accusation, in thirty-one articles, to each of which the accused was required to make answer on the spot. after this a copy was given to him on which to frame a more formal defence and for this he asked to have access to his papers--a fruitless request, for it was not the style of the inquisition to allow the accused to have means of justifying himself.[199] the articles of accusation were drawn not only from the commentaries but from the confessions of the lutheran heretics, the gossip and hearsay evidence industriously collected, and from the mass of papers seized when he was arrested. many of these were not his own, but essays of others. there were extracts from heretic books which he had made at trent for the purpose of refuting them; there were essays written when as a youth he had entered the dominican order, forty years before; there were notes of sermons taken down for practice when he was a student, and sermons preached in the refectory as required by the rule of his order; scattered thoughts jotted down for consideration and development; memoranda made when examining heretic bibles and their comments for the inquisition--in short all the vast accumulation of a man who for forty years had been busily studying and teaching and preaching and writing and wrangling on theology.[200] all the intellectual sins of youth and manhood had been scrutinized by malevolent eyes and he was called upon to answer for them without being allowed to know from what sources the charges were brought. there was in this no special injustice inflicted on him--it was merely the regular inquisitorial routine. [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] thus a year passed away and, on june 5, 1562, the fiscal presented a second accusation, for there was no limit to these successive charges, each of which could be made to consume time. these new articles were mostly based on rumors and vague expressions of opinion, for all who were inimical, secure in the suppression of their names, were free to depose as to what they thought or imagined and it was all received as evidence. these he answered as best he could and he succeeded in identifying the names of some of the adverse witnesses. then he presented a defence, doubtless drawn up as customary by his counsel, for it was clear and cogent, bearing little trace of his discursive and inconclusive style. in support of this he handed in a long list of witnesses to be examined, including philip ii and the princess juana, but the fiscal, passing over the royalties, objected to the rest on the ground that they were friends of carranza--hostile testimony was admitted from any source, but that which was suspected of favorable partiality was rejected. as a principle, this was recognized in inquisitorial practice, but it was not habitually applied with so much rigor.[201] on august 31, 1562, carranza addressed an earnest appeal to philip, reminding him of his command, in april, 1559, to trust in him alone. three years had passed in prison, his case had scarce more than begun and promised to be interminable. his judge, the archbishop of santiago, had not delegated full powers to valtodano and simancas; questions arose which they could not or would not decide and, when these were submitted to the archbishop, months elapsed before an answer was received. on january 19th his counsel had issued a requisition on the archbishop to come and hear the case personally or to grant full powers to his delegates, but up to the present time no reply had come. never in the world, he said, was justice administered in this fashion, and he despairingly entreated philip to expedite the case or to permit him to appeal to the pope.[202] whether or not this cry from the depths reached philip, it produced no effect. by this time the affair had become a european scandal. the bishops assembled at the third convocation of the council of trent felt it acutely, both as an opprobrium to the church and an attack on the immunities of their order. philip was aware of this and, in letters of october 30th and december 15, 1562, to his representative at trent, the count of luna, and to vargas, his ambassador at rome, he gave instructions to prevent its discussion and to ask the pope to order his legates to see that the council kept its hands off from the spanish inquisition.[203] it was with difficulty that the council could be restrained. in the early months of 1563 the legates repeatedly reported that it ardently desired him to evoke the case and order the papers sent to rome. in reply pius earnestly disclaimed indifference; he had urged the matter until philip's temper showed that further pressure would disrupt the concord so necessary to the universal good. this did not satisfy the bishops, who persisted till pius assured them that he had seen the earlier papers in the case and could affirm that carranza's imprisonment was not unjust; he promised that he would not permit delay beyond april, 1564, and that he would render a just judgement.[204] if the bishops could not help their captive brother, they could at least provide for their own safety and this they did by a decree which greatly strengthened a declaration adopted in 1551 concerning the exclusive papal jurisdiction over bishops.[205] there was another way in which the council sought to aid carranza. it had a standing congregation employed in compiling an index of prohibited books. the commentaries came legitimately before it and, after examination, it was pronounced, june 2, 1563, to be good and catholic and most worthy to be read by all pious men. the secretary of the congregation, fra francesco forerio, issued a certificate of this, conferring licence to print it, and pius followed, june 23rd, with a papal licence to the same effect. the count of luna was greatly exercised at this and was aided by the celebrated scholar, antonio agustin, then bishop of lérida. matters went so far that the legate morosini dreaded the disruption of the council and peace was only restored by withdrawing the certificate of approbation. a copy had been given to carranza's friends which they were forced to surrender.[206] philip's indignation at this, as expressed in a letter to luna, of august 2nd, was too late to be of service and is important only from its statement that he considered the affair of carranza to be the most momentous that he had in connection with the council.[207] meanwhile the case was dragging on, one series of charges being presented after another, until the aggregate was over four hundred, each of which furnished opportunity for discussion and procrastination.[208] besides the financial motive for this delay, philip was now engaged in a struggle with rome to protect the inquisition from the consequences of its own evil work. there was nothing in his eyes more important than to preserve and augment its privileges, and his jealousy of any attempt at interference by the holy see was an overmastering passion. his secret object was to arrogate to it complete jurisdiction over bishops and prevent the final submission of the case to papal decision. [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] pius iv, to do him justice, felt keenly the humiliating position in which he was placed by the overbearing determination of philip, but each attempt at self-assertion only rendered more evident the contempt in which he was held. more than once he wrote to the archbishop of santiago rebuking him for the long delay which kept carranza in prison while the case made no advance. he named january 1, 1564, as the limit of the archbishop's commission, after which the process, whether completed or not, was to be forwarded to rome. the limit passed without obedience to his commands and he wrote again, expressing high displeasure at the contumacy which doomed such a man to grow old in the squalor of a prison without law or justice. again he ordered the case, whether completed or not, to be sent to rome; if there were delay, all concerned were _ipso facto_ anathematized, deprived of all dignities and functions and rendered infamous and incapable of restoration; all letters granting jurisdiction were revoked and the case was evoked to rome for decision. carranza himself was to be delivered forthwith to the nuncio, who was empowered either to keep him in honorable custody or to liberate him on bail. these were brave words, but there was no heart to back them up with action and, when they were disregarded, he extended, on august 12th the archbishop's commission until january, 1565, after which, as previously ordered, the case was to be transmitted to rome, and there was a significant absence of the minatory tone so prominent in the previous briefs.[209] encouraged by this evidence of weakness, on november 24, 1564, philip sent rodrigo de castro to rome on a mission to have carranza abandoned to the inquisition, significantly instructing him not to disdain whatever means he might find necessary to win over everybody of influence. even the unlimited bribery thus planned failed of success, although the secondary object of procrastination was effected. castro commenced by demanding, in a private audience, that the case be abandoned to the inquisition, but refused to put the demand in writing. then he lowered his tone and the pope agreed to send a special legate to spain to review the case and pronounce sentence, but castro insisted that the suprema and such prelates as the king might select should be adjoined to the legate. this the pope refused, but there was some misunderstanding about it, and when castro saw the commission drafted for the legate he was furious. he sought an audience and accused the pope of breaking his word; pius lost his temper and said that in this whole business he had been treated like an ass; the affair was his and he would do as he pleased. thus rebuffed, castro poured forth his griefs to cardinal borromeo and declared that, if the legate went to spain with such a commission, he would not get a real. this assertion may seem enigmatical to modern ears, but it is explained by the remark of the shrewd french ambassador, when reporting to charles ix the arrival of the legate, that the case of carranza and the use of his legatine faculties would bring him much money.[210] the holy see has rarely sent abroad a body so distinguished as this legation, predestined to failure. the special legate a latere was cardinal buoncompagni, afterwards gregory xiii, accompanied by archbishop rossano, subsequently urban vii, fra felice perretti, afterwards sixtus v and giovanni aldobrandini, subsequently cardinal and brother of clement viii. the legate had been given discretional power as to admitting spanish associates, but he found on arrival at madrid, in november, 1565, that the demand made on him was the impossible one which pius had refused to castro--the whole suprema and prelates, amounting in all to fifteen spaniards. he offered to admit two as against two of his associates, but he would do no more. as he wrote to pius, the terror inspired by the inquisition was beyond belief; to admit a majority of spaniards would be to invite injustice, for the acquittal of carranza would be the conviction of the inquisition and any one who had the courage to bring this about would be exposed to lifelong persecution.[211] of course philip was firm, as his object was to baffle the legate, but discussion was cut short when the news came of the death of pius iv, december 9th. buoncompagni departed in haste to participate in the conclave; he was met at avignon with the intelligence of the election of pius v, january 7, 1566, in spite of which he continued his journey to rome.[212] [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] pius iv had carried to an extreme his subservience to philip. pedro de avila, one of philip's agents, wrote, august 23, 1565, that cardinal borromeo assured him that the pope had done and was doing more than he had power to do in order to gratify the king; he had gone against the canons, the councils and the cardinals and, when recently he thought himself to be dying, nothing weighed on his conscience more heavily than this.[213] his successor was a man of different stamp. to few popes does catholicism owe more than to st. pius v, for, while pitiless in his persecution of heresy, his recognition of the need of reform and his unbending resolution to effect it, regained for the church much of the respect which it had forfeited. the spanish agents speedily found that in the matter of carranza he was incorruptible and intractable. as the ambassador zuñiga plaintively reported to philip, february 23, 1566, "he is certainly well-intentioned but, having no experience in affairs of state and no private interests, which are the two things that ordinarily make popes yielding, he fixes his eyes on what he deems just and is immovable."[214] as cardinal-inquisitor and dominican he had been favorably inclined to carranza, whose friends received with hope the news of his accession. they conveyed this by means of an arrow aimed at one of his window-shutters and he responded by casting out a paper, picked up by a person stationed for the purpose, in which he addressed the new pope in the words of peter, "lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water" (matt. xiv, 28).[215] pius did not need urging. one of his first acts was to despatch a messenger to buoncompagni ordering him to remain and bring the affair to a conclusion, but the legate's spanish experience did not incline him to return from avignon. doubtless his report brought conviction that justice was not to be expected in spain, for pius speedily made a demand for the person of carranza and the papers so that he might decide the case. accustomed to browbeat popes, philip replied that the demand was offensive and contrary to the royal prerogative, as an attempt to change a matter unalterably fixed by the holy see, and that it would not be entertained; the pope could commit the case to such persons as he pleased, provided they were spaniards, otherwise, if carranza should linger in prison until he died, the responsibility would not be with those who had offered every possible alternative. this audacious answer only strengthened the determination of pius, who summoned zuñiga and told him to tell his master that he exposed himself to all the indignation of the holy see, for the pope was resolved to carry the matter to a conclusion. zuñiga was silenced and could only report to philip the terrible earnestness of pius, from which there was no hope of diverting him.[216] that he was in deadly earnest is apparent in his brief of july 30th, which he caused to be privately printed and sent copies to the nuncio rossano, with an autograph letter of august 3rd, commanding its rigid execution. after dwelling on the injustice and scandal of the treatment of carranza, he deprived valdés, the suprema and all concerned of jurisdiction in the case. under pain of excommunication and suspension of functions, carranza was to be set at liberty and, after appointing a vicar for his see of toledo, was at once to present himself to the pope for judgement. under pain of the indignation of god and of the apostles peter and paul and of excommunication, all the papers in the case were to be delivered in rome within three months, and any one impeding the execution of these commands incurred excommunication and suspension from office.[217] by this time pius was known as a man who was not to be trifled with, but valdés and the suprema were ready to risk a rupture with the vicegerent of christ rather than to remit their victim to his judgement. when philip consulted them they urged him not to permit even a copy of the process to be sent to rome, much less carranza's person, lest he should impair his prerogatives. they asserted that the papal brief had given ample power both to prosecute and to sentence and that, having been granted, it could not be withdrawn; that, under the papal concessions to ferdinand and isabella, the spanish inquisition was wholly independent of rome and that, if the episcopal character were successfully urged in this case, some other excuse would be found in other cases.[218] [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] valdés might be willing to risk a schism, but philip drew back; it was not to be thought of that the catholic king should incur excommunication, and he recognized what strength the heretic cause throughout europe would derive from such a quarrel in such a cause. still he dallied, until pius forced valdés to resign and threatened to lay all spain under interdict.[219] he had encountered a will stronger than his own and antonio tiepolo, the venetian envoy, is doubtless correct in saying that no other pope but pius could have carried his point.[220] the pressure became irresistible and he yielded. carranza, under charge of the hated inquisitor diego gonzález and guarded by a body of troops, left valladolid december 5th, reaching cartagena on the 31st, where he was confined in the castle until april 27, 1567, awaiting the arrival of the voluminous papers of the case, when he was placed on the admiral's ship which was conveying the duke of alva on his fateful way to flanders. civita vecchia was reached may 25th and rome may 28th, where he was confined in the castle of sant' angelo--a second imprisonment that was to last for nine years. it was much less harsh than the previous one; besides his two faithful attendants he was allowed two others; he was assigned apartments in the quarters reserved for archbishops, he was sometimes permitted to leave his room under guard and enjoy the landscape, and at the first jubilee he was admitted to confession, although communion was still denied.[221] the case promised to be as interminable in rome as it had been in spain. the anxiety of pius for a thorough investigation caused endless delays, which were skilfully improved by the agents of the inquisition. the enormous mass of papers reached rome in the utmost confusion and some portions were lacking which had to be sent for. then they had to be translated, as well as the voluminous commentaries, which consumed a year. philip was frequently sending new opinions and statements and pius ordered all of carranza's writings, and even notes of his lectures taken by students, to be searched for and brought to rome. he formed a special congregation of seventeen consultors, including four of the spaniards who had been concerned in the case, with ramírez as the fiscal. when all was ready the congregation met weekly under the presidency of the pope; the spaniards insisted on his presence and, as his other duties frequently prevented this, the affair dragged on from year to year. philip followed it with intense anxiety, as shown in his correspondence with zuñiga. thus a long letter of instructions, june 6, 1570, tells the ambassador to assure the pope that everything had been done in spain with the most minute deliberation; there is an almost childish insistence on the opinions of some obscure theologians as to carranza's guilt, and it is pointed out that, if he is acquitted, he will teach and preach with greater authority than before and the whole prosecution will have been a blunder. all this, he says, should have weight with the pope, who is moreover to be threatened with what the king may find it necessary to do if the sentence is warped by personal considerations. foolish communications of this kind were reiterated until, august 12, 1571, pius, in an autograph letter, alluded to the repetition of these insinuations, which he declared to be groundless and, in dignified terms, warned philip not to let his pious zeal get the better of his discretion.[222] [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] the spanish tactics of delay were successful. pius v died, may 1, 1572, without having published a sentence. whether one was framed or not is a disputed question. salazar tells us that it was drawn up, but that pius, before publication, desired to submit it to philip and sent it by his chief chamberlain, alessandro casale, who was detained by bad weather and other accidents until after the death of the pope. llorente gives the details of the sentence as absolving carranza of the charges but maintaining the prohibition of the commentaries in the vernacular, with permission to translate it into latin after removing the doubtful expressions. simancas, who was one of the inquisitors employed on the case in rome, says positively that pius died without framing a sentence; that when carranza's friends claimed that he had done so, and urged his successor, gregory xiii, to publish it, the latter offered twenty thousand crowns to any one who would produce it and thus save him the task of reviewing the case.[223] however this may be, pius was convinced of carranza's innocence. he allowed the commentaries to be publicly sold in rome; when the fiscal salgado petitioned for its suppression, he made no answer and, when salgado insisted upon it in the congregation, he replied angrily that he did not consider it subject to suppression and that they had better not by persistence force him formally to approve it by a _motu proprio_.[224] gregory xiii was not liable to the reproach bestowed by zuñiga on pius v of indifference to personal and worldly considerations. he was quite accessible to them and realized fully the importance to the holy see of keeping on good terms with the spanish master of italy. his experience as the legate buoncompagni had sufficiently acquainted him with philip's temper and, when carranza's friends naturally expected him to take the matter up where the death of pius had left it, he insisted on going over it personally from the beginning. as he could give but fragmentary attention to it he was thus able to postpone committing himself for some years. this gave philip opportunity to gather fresh testimony. by means not the most gentle, the survivors of carranza's friends, who had approved of the commentaries, were induced to retract. the three bishops, guerrero, blanco and delgado condemned propositions by the hundred, drawn from works submitted to them as carranza's and they exculpated themselves from their approval of the commentaries by saying that they had not then seen his ms. writings and, in view of his reputation, they had sought to give a catholic sense wherever possible. other opinions were industriously collected; gregory made a decent show of resistance to admitting fresh testimony at this late day, but yielded to philip's threats of what he might find necessary to do in case his desires were thwarted, and thus excuses, if not reasons, were afforded for reaching a different conclusion from that of pius v.[225] as the time approached at which it was understood that the long protracted case would be terminated, philip's anxiety increased. an autograph letter of february 16, 1575, to pope gregory, strongly urged carranza's speedy condemnation, in view of the dangers which he had represented to pius, and asked the fulfilment of a promise to communicate to him the sentence before publication. whether such promise was made or not, gregory refused to submit it to him, but intimation of what it was to be reached him and, on april 20th, he wrote vigorously to zuñiga expressing surprise that the pope did not keep his word. as for carranza, he was so thoroughly convicted of heresy that, according to inquisitorial routine, he ought to be burnt, or at least reconciled after abjuring all kinds of heresy. to allow him to abjure for vehement suspicion of heresy, with temporary suspension from his see, assumes that in time he will return to occupy the primatial church of toledo, which would cause disturbance and scandal impossible to contemplate. the pope can well conceive the dangers which may follow, in spain and elsewhere, by the mere example of such a criminal in such a position. even if the suspension were perpetual yet, if god should remove his holiness, a successor might lift the suspension unless carranza is wholly deprived.[226] this was passion and eloquence wasted, for the sentence had been pronounced six days before, on april 14, 1576. whatever promise gregory had made was kept to the letter but not to the spirit by announcing it to him on april 11th. its provisions were shrewdly framed to turn the whole affair to the advantage of the holy see, by keeping carranza as a potential sword of damocles hanging over philip's head and meanwhile absorbing the revenues of the see of toledo. the tenor of the articles was, as communicated to philip:-the archbishop of toledo will be declared vehemently suspect of sundry errors and as such will be required to abjure them. he will be suspended and removed from the administration of his church for five years and subsequently at the pleasure of the pope and the holy see. during this time he will be recluded in a monastery in orvieto, and not allowed to depart without special licence of the pope and the holy see. the pope will appoint an administrator of the church of toledo, with disposition of all the fruits since the date of sequestration and during the suspension, which he will convert to the benefit of the church and other pious uses, after deducting pensions, expenses and debts. for the support of the archbishop there shall be assigned a monthly allowance of a thousand gold crowns. some salutary penances will be imposed on him. [sidenote: _archbishop carranza_] his catechism will be prohibited to be possessed, read, or printed.[227] the errors of which he was declared vehemently suspect amounted to sixteen, professedly drawn from his writings. as they were merely the peg on which to hang the sentence they need not be recapitulated here and it suffices to say that on april 12th they were taken, with the abjuration, by giantonio fachinetti (afterwards innocent xi) to the castle of sant' angelo, where carranza obediently signed the abjuration.[228] the publication of the sentence was made with a solemnity befitting the conclusion of a case which, for seventeen years, had occupied the attention of christendom. on april 14th, carranza was brought from his prison to the hall of constantine, where gregory occupied the papal throne under a canopy, the cardinals sat on benches and about a hundred other spectators stood around. after the opening formalities, gregory handed a roll containing the sentence to alonso castellon, the secretary in the case, who read it aloud. it was very long, reciting the vicissitudes of the affair from the beginning and concluded with the articles as stated above. then carranza read his abjuration, as simancas tells us, with impassive indifference, as though it related to another, after which he was led to the feet of the pope who expatiated on the mercy shown to him and told him he might expect more if he lived as he ought. he was then handed to the captain of the guard to be conveyed to the dominican convent of santa maria sopra minerva and, as he was led out, in passing cardinal gambara, he quietly asked him to have his effects transferred to the convent. evidently there was no sense of guilt or humiliation.[229] it was a fitting end to gregory's disgraceful part in the tragedy that when, on april 20th, he formally notified philip and the chapter of toledo of the result, he mournfully expressed his regret that he had been compelled to condemn in place of acquitting, as he had hoped.[230] as a penance, the pope ordered carranza to visit the seven churches on saturday of easter week (april 28th) and offered him his own litter and horses for his servants, which he declined. it was noised abroad and the whole population was stirred to accompany him, for the compassion felt for him was universal. to avoid such a demonstration gregory changed the day to monday the 23rd, but notwithstanding this the throng of coaches and crowds of people changed the penance into a triumph. in the churches he was received with all honor and at the lateran he celebrated mass but, towards the end of the day, a strangury commenced and, on his return to the convent, he took to his bed, never to leave it. the disease made rapid progress, during which the pope repeatedly sent consolatory messages and, on april 30th, his apostolic benediction, with an indulgence _a poena et a culpa_. the same day carranza made a solemn declaration before his secretaries, affirming his unbroken adhesion to the faith; he received with fervor the last consolations of religion and passed away at 3 a.m. on may 2nd. he had entered his prison a vigorous man of 56 and had left it to die, a broken old man of 73.[231] [sidenote: _abchbishop carranza_] that an autopsy should have been ordered indicates that immediately doubts had arisen whether the death had been natural. the physicians reported some slight ulcers in one kidney and three stones in the gall-bladder, but in a position to do no harm and they attributed the retention to some "carnosities."[232] if suspicions existed of poison, they found no public utterance that has reached us, yet, in an age when the removal of an impediment was a recognized resource of state policy, the opportune and sudden death of carranza is at least suggestive. we have seen how energetically philip remonstrated against his being left in a position in which his return to toledo was possible. his resumption of his see would have inflicted an incurable wound on the authority and influence of the inquisition and have covered the monarch with mortification; it would have led to complications which, in the temper of the age, would have been insoluble. the injustice meted out to carranza had rendered his death a necessity, if he was not branded as a heretic or disqualified as a bishop. philip and he could not exist together in spain. besides, so long as carranza lived, he was a dangerous weapon, in the hands of the papacy, to thwart spanish policy by threats of removing the suspension or to extort concessions as the price of maintaining it. to attribute his sudden death to the zeal of spanish agents in rome, or to secret orders sent in advance, would do no injustice to a prince who did not shrink from the executions of montigny and lanuza or the assassinations of escobedo and of william the silent. it suited him, however, to accept it piously as a special dispensation of providence. june 11th he replied to gregory's letter of april 11th and 16th conveying copies of the sentence and abjuration. to persons, he said, of great learning and experience in spain, the sentence was too lenient, but he recognized the pope's holy zeal and that god's hand had applied the proper remedy to avert greater evils.[233] yet subsequently morales, writing by philip's order, concludes his account "they say that he apparently died as a saint, which i believe and that it was really so.... the lord reserved him for the other life, a signal mercy which he grants to those whom it pleases him."[234] in one respect the inquisition was triumphant. the commentaries, which had been approved by the council of trent and by pius iv and pius v, was condemned and prohibited with a callous disregard of consistency. the work remained in the successive issues of the spanish index until 1747, but was dropped in the latest one of 1790. rome was even more persistent and retained it until 1899, though it disappeared, with much other antiquated lumber, in the recension of 1900. yet carranza's reputation as an orthodox champion of the church seems to have suffered little from his prosecution and condemnation. cardinal quiroga, the inquisitor-general, who in 1577 succeeded him in the see of toledo, caused his portrait to be placed with those of his predecessors, erected a tomb to his memory and, in june, 1578, performed solemn obsequies for him which lasted for a fortnight.[235] odoricus raynaldus, the official annalist of the holy see, and cardinal pallavicini, the official historian of the council of trent, unite in saying that nothing serious was found against him, only vehement suspicion, and that on his death-bed he gave evidence not only of uncorrupted faith but of singular piety.[236] nicholás antonio tells us that for some mere presumptions, in the absence of legitimate proof of admitted impiety, he was ordered by abjuration to purge all suspicion of guilt.[237] balmés, the champion of catholicism, while admitting that, on the delicate subject of justification, his expressions lacked clearness, asserts that beyond doubt, in his own conscience before god, he was wholly innocent.[238] the dispassionate judgement of posterity has condemned the inquisition in acquitting its victim. if philip failed to blast the memory of carranza he at least succeeded in one of his objects. for seventeen years he had wrongfully enjoyed carranza's sequestrated revenues, which, allowing for all deductions, must have yielded him two or three millions of ducats. much must have been spent in the endeavor to convict the rightful possessor but, when the case was concluded, outstanding engagements were repudiated. during the trial in rome, don lope de avellaneda had borrowed twenty-six thousand ducats to pay the salaries of the parties employed in the notoriously expensive litigation of the curia, but the bills of exchange drawn to satisfy the indebtedness were returned dishonored. the roman bankers were too important an adjunct of the curia not to be efficiently protected; on april 10, 1577, gregory wrote to the inquisitors (probably of toledo) to collect the amount, with interest up to the date of payment, from the revenue of the archiepiscopal table of toledo, enforcing the demand, if necessary, by excommunication, interdict and the invocation of the secular arm.[239] philip evidently maintained his hold on the revenues until the consecration of archbishop quiroga, in december, 1577, and his administrator would allow no diversion of the funds. gregory, in the sentence had endeavored to provide for an accounting to him of the accumulations, but the effort was a failure. like philippe le bel, in the analogous case of the templars, philip had a grip on the spoils which nothing could loosen. when, in 1581, gregory sought to stimulate him to undertake an expedition against queen elizabeth, and promised him financial assistance towards so pious an enterprise, it turned out that this aid was merely the mesne profits of the see of toledo which he had collected and had long since consumed.[240] [sidenote: _jurisdiction claimed_] the affair of carranza seems to have been regarded as weakening the position of bishops and, with the customary audacity of the inquisitors in extending their jurisdiction, the tribunal of cuenca boasted or threatened that it would arrest the bishop. the services of the incumbent, pedro de castro, in furnishing evidence against carranza, had been too recent to permit him to be hoisted by his own petard and valdés, in a letter of june 17, 1560, rebuked the tribunal for its superserviceable zeal.[241] we have seen how the bishops, at the council of trent, endeavored to protect themselves by reserving to the pope exclusive right to pronounce sentence, but this was of small avail when he assumed the right to delegate his power as he pleased. when sixtus v, january 25, 1586, issued a commission to the cardinal archduke albert of austria, as inquisitor-general of portugal, it specifically subjected archbishops, bishops and patriarchs to his jurisdiction and that of his subdelegates.[242] as portugal was under the spanish crown, this served as a precedent when in december, 1629, the inquisition desired to prosecute gavino mallani, archbishop of oristano in sardinia, against whom it had gathered evidence that, since his consecration, in 1627, he had never been to confession or had celebrated mass, that he was a blasphemer, that he had a familiar demon confined in a ring, etc. the suprema submitted to philip iv the portuguese commission and asked him to instruct his ambassador to procure a similar one for spain or, failing this, to obtain a special brief for the case of mallani. philip ordered the necessary letter to be drafted for his signature, but the effort failed. mallani was probably sent to rome with the evidence, for he was deposed, being succeeded, in 1635, by pedro vico, while he did not die until 1641.[243] in spite of this recognition of lack of jurisdiction over bishops, we have seen (vol. i, p. 501) that, in the quarrel with manjarre de heredia, bishop of majorca, in 1668, inquisitor-general nithard claimed that the inquisition could prosecute him criminally. he had the effrontery to assert, in a consulta of february 5, 1668, that its possession of this power was so notorious and so completely established in practice as to require neither argument nor demonstration, and the infatuated queen-regent sustained him in summoning the bishop to appear for trial. in spite of an adverse decision in rome, the inquisition continued the prosecution, even after the expulsion of nithard, and proceedings ceased only with the death of the bishop.[244] the next case in which the inquisition had to deal with a bishop was one which attracted much attention at the time--that of josé fernando de toro, bishop of oviedo. we shall have to consider it hereafter in its relation with illuminism and molinism and need only say here that he was an adept in the dangerous mysticism which mistook the promptings of the senses for divine impulses and taught that union with god conferred impeccability. there was no doubt of his guilt, for he confessed freely when arraigned, and the inquisition raised no question as to the exclusive papal jurisdiction. after elaborate investigation, inquisitor-general ibañez de la riva herrera put the mass of testimony into shape and sent it to clement xi, november 27, 1709. on june 7, 1710, clement authorized the imprisonment of toro and the prosecution of the case, the results to be sent to him. after the death of ibañez, a fresh commission was sent to his successor giudice; in 1714 clement granted permission to toro to come to rome, but this was not carried out until 1716, when he was confined in the castle of sant angelo and his trial dragged on until 1719. sentence was pronounced july 27th, with the same ceremonies as that of carranza, the records of which were examined for the purpose.[245] [sidenote: _jurisdiction asserted_] while the inquisition thus freely admitted its incompetence to sit in judgement on bishops yet, in the next case that occurred, it asserted complete jurisdiction. manual abad queipo was bishop-elect of mechoacan (valladolid) in mexico where, although not consecrated, he was accepted by the chapter and governed the diocese as bishop, fulminating, in 1810, excommunication against hidalgo and his followers, which was confirmed by the archbishop, ligama y beaumont.[246] he was thus fully recognized as bishop and it was probably the disturbed state of the land, during the rebellion of hidalgo and morelos, that prevented the assembling of bishops for his consecration. in the turbulence of the period he made enemies and an anonymous denunciation was lodged against him with the mexican tribunal. it collected evidence and forwarded it, august 31, 1814, to the suprema which referred it to the madrid tribunal for investigation and report. the question as to the liability of bishops-elect is rather intricate, dependent on whether there has been presentation by the king or election by the chapter and confirmation by the pope,[247] but it would seem that queipo was not subject to the inquisition, nor were the charges matters of heresy. the madrid tribunal recognized this in its report, october 27, 1814, saying that he should be cited to answer, provided his office did not stand in the way, at the same time admitting that the charges were the work of enmity and that at most he had been careless in conduct and ministration. queipo returned to spain and, on february 12, 1816, the suprema ordered the tribunal to proceed. he refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction; the tribunal, may 16th, pronounced his reasons invalid and the suprema, september 2nd took the high ground that no one could question its acts; when it has once declared itself a competent judge no private person could dispute it or impede the execution of its decrees. this could only be done by an authority feeling its jurisdiction invaded and, as there was none such in the kingdom, he was only prejudicing his case, which otherwise he could expedite and preserve the right of maintaining his claims by a protest which would be admitted. queipo offered to answer the charges extra-judicially, but this was refused and he was told that if he did not present himself to answer them fully within three days, he would be prosecuted in contumacy. he yielded under protest and was spared the humiliation of appearing in the inquisition, for inquisitor zorilla was ordered to conduct the audiences in the convent where he was residing, but during them he was ordered not to leave it and when they were over he was set at liberty, under command to present himself at the house of the fiscal whenever summoned. thus, at the end of its career, the inquisition successfully asserted its jurisdiction over a bishop, but he had his revenge. it was evidently no accident that, in the revolution of 1820, queipo was made a member of the provisional junta of march 9th which, on the same day, caused fernando vii to decree the extinction of the holy office.[248] chapter iv. the edict of faith. occasional allusions have been made above to the edicts of faith, whereby the tribunals obtained knowledge of offences coming within their jurisdiction. this was one of the most efficient methods by which that jurisdiction was exercised and was brought home to the consciences of the people as an ever-present power. it rendered every individual an agent of the inquisition, bound under fearful penalties spiritual and temporal, to aid it in maintaining the purity of the faith and, at the same time, it made every man conscious that his lightest word or act might subject him to prosecution by that terrible court whose very name inspired dread. no more ingenious device has been invented to subjugate a whole population, to paralyze its intellect and to reduce it to blind obedience. it elevated delation to the rank of high religious duty, it filled the land with spies and it rendered every man an object of suspicion, not only to his neighbor but to the members of his own family and to the stranger whom he might chance to meet. continued through generations, this could not fail to leave its impress on the national character. even mariana, in enumerating the results of the inquisition, ventures to allude to the cautious reserve which it rendered habitual among spaniards.[249] a somewhat crude prototype of the edict of faith is found in the old inquisition, when inquisitors visited their districts and, at each town, summoned an assembly of the people, preached to them and caused to be read an edict calling upon all the inhabitants to come forward within a specified time and reveal anything that might tend to the suspicion that any one was a heretic, under pain of _ipso facto_ excommunication, removable only by them or by the pope.[250] while this was nominally preserved in the aragonese inquisition, that institution had become so inert that we may assume that the inquisitors no longer visited their districts or had occasion to issue edicts. in castile, when the inquisition was founded, this practice was evidently unknown, for the instructions of 1484 merely order that when the inquisitors open their tribunal in any town, after the sermon they shall publish a monition with censures against all who resist or contradict them.[251] by 1500, however, the efficacy of what became known as the edict of faith had been discovered, and inquisitor-general deza, in ordering yearly visitations of the districts, specifies that, on arriving at every town or village, a general edict shall be issued, summoning those who know anything of heresy to come forward and reveal it.[252] the form of this was probably the same as that which, in the same year 1500, the inquisitors of sicily, dr. sgalambro and montoro bishop of cefalù, issued, requiring all cognizant of heresy to denounce it within fifteen days, promising secrecy to the informer and threatening with prosecution, as fautors of heresy, those who failed to do so.[253] in catalonia, the concordia of 1512, in alluding to the edict requiring the denunciation of all offences against the faith, shows that it was already an established custom,[254] while, in 1514, the instructions of inquisitor-general mercader prove that the various offences included in the expanding jurisdiction of the inquisition were specifically enumerated, for the general term of heresy no longer sufficed.[255] the effect on the people of these proclamations, with their threats and anathemas, is vividly expressed in the description of the terror excited by the publication of the edict, when the tribunal of jaen made a raid on arjona.[256] [sidenote: _details of the edict_] as, in the course of time, new fields of activity were opened to the inquisition the enumeration of offences requiring denunciation grew to be a long and detailed catalogue, in which all the acts by which they could be recognized were specified so that there could be no excuse for omission. the simplest and oldest formula which i have met is that published in mexico at the installation of the inquisition, in 1571, and, in view of its comparative brevity, it is given in the appendix. subsequently the edict grew to portentous dimensions, the purport of which can be gathered from an abstract of that of 1696. it begins by reciting that the fiscal has represented that for some time there has been no visitation or inquest made in many places of the province, whereby numerous crimes against the faith remain unpunished. seeing this complaint to be justified, the edict is addressed to every one individually, so that, if he has known or heard say that any one, living or dead, present or absent, has done or uttered or believed any act, word or opinion, heretical, suspect, erroneous, rash, ill-sounding, scandalous or heretically blasphemous, it must be revealed to the tribunal within six days. then follows an enumeration of all jewish rites and customs; then similar lists concerning mahometanism, protestantism and illuminism; then, under the heading of "diversas heregias," follow blasphemy, with specimens of heretical oaths; keeping or invoking familiar demons; witchcraft; pacts tacit or expressed with the devil; mixing for this purpose sacred and profane objects and attributing to the creature that which belongs to the creator; marrying in orders; solicitation of women in confession; bigamy; saying that there is no sin in simple fornication, or usury, or perjury, or that concubinage is better than marriage; insulting or maltreating crucifixes or images of saints; disbelieving or doubting any article of faith; remaining a year under excommunication or despising the censures of the church; having recourse to astrology, which is described at length and pronounced fictitious; being guilty of sorcery or divination, the practices of which are described with instructive profusion; possessing books condemned in the index, including lutheran and mahometan works and bibles in the vernacular; neglecting to perform the duty of denouncing what has been seen or heard, or persuading others to omit it; giving false witness in the inquisition; concealing or befriending heretics; impeding the inquisition; removing _sanbenitos_ placed by the inquisition; throwing off sanbenitos or non-performance of penance by reconciled penitents, or their saying that they confessed in the inquisition through fear; saying that those relaxed by the inquisition were innocent martyrs; non-observance of disabilities by reconciled penitents, their children or grandchildren; possession by scriveners or notaries of papers concerning the above-enumerated crimes. confessors, moreover, were ordered, under the same penalties, to withhold absolution from penitents who had not denounced all offences coming to their knowledge.[257] this was a tolerably searching grand inquest in which the whole population was summoned to assist, and the ceremonies of its publication were designed to render it as impressive as possible. on the saturday previous, a proclamation was made by the inquisitors, requiring all persons over the age of twelve (or of fourteen in some texts) to assemble to hear the edict and, on the following sundays to hear the anathema, under pain of excommunication and of fifty ducats.[258] in the smaller towns this proclamation was made by the town-crier or, if there were none, by house-to-house notification. the next day, at the offertory in the mass, the edict was to be read slowly, distinctly and in a loud voice, after which the priest was to explain the obligation to denounce whatever was known of the living and of the dead, of themselves or of others, and the peril of omitting it; it was not to be talked about but was to be done directly, even if it was known that others had done so, otherwise the penalty was incurred.[259] in larger cities, especially the seats of tribunals, the ceremonies were more imposing. in seville, for instance, on the afternoon of saturday before the second sunday of lent, the familiars assembled on horseback at the castle of triana, where they formed a procession with drummers and trumpeters and the town-crier to escort the alguazil mayor and one of the secretaries of the inquisition. this wound through the city, stopping at eight principal places, to publish the proclamation and to order that there should be no sermons in other churches on the days of the publication and anathemas. then, on those sundays, other processions were timed to meet the inquisitors at the doors of the cathedral and san salvador--the churches designated for the ceremonies. inside, the secretary, at the proper time, mounted the pulpit and read the edict; the sermon followed and then the mass was resumed.[260] [sidenote: _the anathema_] when the six days allowed for denunciation or confession had elapsed, a second proclamation was made, reciting the former one and adding that the fiscal complained that many had not complied with it and he demanded the fulmination of the censures in the most aggravated form. an edict was therefore addressed to all priests requiring them at high mass, when the people were assembled, to denounce as publicly excommunicated and anathematized all who had not obeyed the first edict, sprinkling holy water to drive away the demons who kept them in their toils and praying christ to bring them back to the bosom of the church. if they persisted in contumacy, all faithful christians were ordered within three days to withdraw from all intercourse with them, under pain of similar excommunication. both those who should have confessed and those who should have denounced, but who continued contumacious, were involved in the anathema pronounced on the third sunday. this was an awe-inspiring solemnity. the clergy marched in procession; the cross was covered with black and two flaming torches were on the altar, where the priests stood in profound silence during the reading of the curse.--"we excommunicate and anathematize, in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost, in form of law, all apostate heretics from our holy catholic faith, their fautors and concealers who do not reveal them, and we curse them that they may be accursed as members of the devil and separated from the bosom and unity of the holy mother church. and we order all the faithful to hold them as such and to curse them so that they may fall into the wrath and indignation of almighty god. may all the curses and plagues of egypt which befell king pharaoh come upon them because they disobey the commandments of god! may they be accursed wherever they be, in the city, or in the country, in eating and in drinking, in waking and in sleeping, in living and in dying! may the fruits of their lands be accursed and the cattle thereof! may god send them hunger and pestilence to consume them! may they be a scorn to their enemies and be abhorred of all men! may the devil be at their right hand! when they come to judgement may they be condemned! may they be driven from their homes, may their enemies take their possessions and prevail against them! may their wives and children rise against them and be orphans and beggars with none to assist them in their need! may their wickedness ever be remembered in the presence of god! may they be accursed with all the curses of the old covenant and of the new! may the curse of sodom and gomorrha overtake them and its fire burn them! may the earth swallow them alive, like dathan and abiram for the sin of disobedience! may they be accursed as lucifer, with all the devils of hell, where may they remain with judas and the damned forever, if they do not acknowledge their sin, beg mercy and amend their lives!" then the people responded amen! while the clergy again marched in procession, chanting the psalms _deus laudem meam_ and _miserere_, to the chapel or altar. the great bells tolled as for a death and the bearers of the torches extinguished them in the font of holy water saying "as these torches die in the water, so will their souls in hell!" and the procession was resumed to the sacristy. after this, the edict continues, any one knowing these things and not revealing them, and remaining contumaciously and persistently thus for a year, is held suspect in the faith and shall be prosecuted with all the rigor of the law.[261] thus all the resources of religious terrorism were exhausted to impress upon the popular conscience the supreme duty of denouncing kindred and friends for the slightest act or word which might be held to infer suspicion of heresy or of the varied classes of offences over which the inquisition had succeeded in extending its jurisdiction. it is true that the constant abuse of anathemas in the pettiest quarrels with officials, lay and clerical, must have somewhat blunted their effect. it is also true that casuistry, early in the seventeenth century, had no difficulty in proving that, when the obligation to denounce involved danger to life or reputation, the natural law of self-protection overrode the positive law of denunciation, with its threat of excommunication.[262] still, to those not trained in such subtilties and who piously believed in the power of the keys, it was impossible that this terrible cumulation of curses, temporal and spiritual, should not overcome natural affection and human kindliness. it was not the fault of the inquisition if spain was not converted into a nation of spies and informers, in which no man could trust those nearest and dearest to him. [sidenote: _its distribution_] the edict of faith was published annually, on a sunday in lent, in cities which were the seat of a tribunal and, during the earlier times, elsewhere, when the inquisitors went on their visitations; indeed, we are told, in 1560, that it was of little service unless the inquisitors visited their districts, for people would not incur the labor and expense of coming from a distance and the publication was regarded as the chief object of the visiting inquisitor who was directed to see that it was made in the monasteries as well as in the churches.[263] visiting their districts, as we shall see, was the duty most disliked by the inquisitors, which they shirked whenever possible, and, with the development of postal communication, it was easier and more speedy to send the printed edicts to commissioners for distribution. what was the total number thus annually showered upon the land we have no means of knowing, but it must have been large. in 1595, the inquisitor arevalo de zuazo, reporting his visitation of the mountainous dioceses of urgel, vich and solsona, states that he distributed six hundred copies among the parish churches, besides personally publishing it in all the towns. from a printer's bill of june 7, 1759, when the custom was declining, it appears that in valencia the edition printed was four hundred and a list of churches in the city, in which it was posted, amounted to sixty-three.[264] this device was not confined to spain, though rome was somewhat tardy in adopting it. the congregation of the inquisition issued, january 3, 1623 a brief edict, commanding the denunciation, within twelve days, of all heretics, under pain of excommunication removable only by it or by the pope.[265] this was followed, january 10, 1666, by one more in detail, specifying the offences to be denounced. it was universal in its character and therefore applied to spain, but as usual the spanish inquisition maintained its independence and continued to employ its own more elaborate formulas.[266] although the annual publication remained the rule, there were occasional intermissions. in 1638, for instance, it was suspended without a reason being assigned and again in 1689 on account of the death of maría luisa, wife of carlos ii.[267] local causes, also, sometimes interfered with it, especially when questions of etiquette arose, as that which we have seen at valladolid, in 1635, over the point whether, at its reading, a bow should be made to the sacrament or to the inquisitors. sixteen years later, we are told that since then there had been no reading of the edict at valladolid and that in consequence, during the visitations of the inquisitors, other places refused to have it read, on the ground that this was not done in the city where there was a full tribunal.[268] a similar trouble arose at quito, because the audiencia refused to allow the commissioner of the inquisition a seat with a cushion during the reading; for this, in 1699 and again in 1700, he appealed to the viceroy, stating that, in consequence of this, it had been many years since the edict had been published there.[269] with the decline in the activity of the inquisition, towards the close of the eighteenth century, there grew to be negligence in the annual publication. in 1775 the suprema ordered that there should be no change with regard to it. a document of 1777 indicates that it was still customary, but on inquiry, in 1784, by the suprema of the tribunals, whether or not it had been suspended, shows that it was falling into desuetude, and another of 1806, asking how long it had been since the publication ceased, indicates that it had become obsolete.[270] * * * * * [sidenote: _its influence_] the efficacy of the edict of faith is incontestable, although, in 1578, the inquisitor francisco de ribera, in reporting his visitation of the dioceses of gerona and elne and his publication of it in places which had never before been visited, complains that it did not render the people disposed to make denunciations, which he attributes to their limited intelligence.[271] in more enlightened centres its effectiveness is seen in the frequency with which accusers preface their charges with the statement that their attention has been called to the duty by the publication of the edict. it naturally set men to searching their memories for what they had seen or heard respecting the various offences so elaborately enumerated and described. for instance, the edict was published in madrid on september 4, 1569 and, the next day, hans de evalo appeared before the inquisitor to denounce hans brunsvi and costancio, two members of the royal guarda tudesca, for things which he had heard and known of them, but of which he had thought nothing until he heard the edict read.[272] it was the same in stimulating self-denunciation, whether through pricks of conscience or fear of accusation by others. thus, in 1581 we have two cases following each other, in which juan gonzález and bartolomé benito accuse themselves of having, in conversation with their wives, asserted that fornication is no sin, for which both were duly penanced and fined. the wives were sent for and confirmed the confessions, which we may safely attribute to the fear that the spouses might be led to denounce them.[273] the habit of delation in which the spaniard was thus trained continued after the edict of faith ceased to be published and was stimulated by the assurance of immunity through the profound secrecy which denied to the accused all knowledge of his accuser. the records of the tribunals show how these were welcomed, no matter how flimsy was the evidence, nor through how many months it had passed. thus, january 5, 1816, the dominican fray vicente manendo writes to the tribunal of barcelona that he had heard joseph castellar of manlleu say that, on easter day, 1815, he had been discussing some pending suits with the advocate balderich when the time came for hearing mass and he said "let us go to mass" to which balderich replied by a contemptuous expression. instructions were therefore forthwith sent to the commissioner at panelada to put the denunciation into formal legal shape for prosecuting balderich. informers thus were not put to the trouble of coming forward personally and facilities for delation were brought to every man's door. thus on june 28, 1807 dr. pedro reguart of suria writes to the tribunal of barcelona that he has a denunciation to make and asks that a commission be sent to some one in suria to receive it. full instructions were accordingly sent to the parish priest of suria, when deposition was made to the effect that, eighteen months before, at the clinic in barcelona, reguart had seen, in the possession of a student named pedro sitzas, a book entitled eusebio, which he understood to be prohibited, and a year ago he had also seen a copy in the hands of another student named jaime coll. in this case the tribunal, with rare moderation, only ordered its apparitor to seize the books in the hands of the students.[274] so carefully were accusers protected against recognition that when, in 1818, don francisco de mora, a retired lieutenant of artillery, accused don thomas sans, of the same corps, to the tribunal of valencia, because, in a loose conversation between them, he had asserted that there was no sin in fornication, and when mora found himself obliged to testify that another officer, manuel moreno was present, the tribunal dropped the case at his request because moreno would have identified the source of the accusation.[275] the very triviality of these cases is the measure of their importance. it was not merely the judaizing converso or the secret protestant, but the whole body of the catholic nation that was exposed to prosecution and infamy for a thoughtless word, the denunciation of which was commanded by the edict of faith and invited by the impenetrable secrecy of the tribunal. the shadow of the holy office lay over the land and no one could feel sure that a trusted comrade might not at any moment become a spy and an informer, or might not repeat an incautious word until it reached some one who recognized the inexorable duty imposed on all--a duty more deeply felt by the conscientious than by those of easy morals. [sidenote: _its influence_] there was, moreover, the fatal facility afforded for the safe gratification of malice, as in the case of don joseph del campillo, whose merits raised him from obscurity to the position of finance minister under philip v, in 1740. in 1726, when holding a responsible office in the administration of the navy, he had a quarrel with a gerónimite fraile over the occupancy of a house. the fraile forthwith collected gossip about him, especially from a dissolute chaplain whom he had dismissed from the service, and all this was welcomed by the tribunal of logroño, which commenced to gather testimony against him with a view to prosecution. it came to his ears through the boasts of the frailes as to what they had done, and the profound horror which seized him at the prospect of being dishonored for life, by the mere suspicion that he was liable to prosecution, shows how terrible a weapon the system placed at the service of malignity.[276] * * * * * in the life of a nation, outward calamities can be survived and recovery from their effects is but the work of time. far more lasting and benumbing are the results of the perpetual and unrelaxing vigilance which seeks to penetrate into the secret heart of every man, to control his thoughts, to stifle their expression, to repress every effort to move out of a beaten and prescribed track, to destroy mutual confidence and to lead each individual to regard his fellows as the possible destroyers of his reputation and career. such was the system imposed on spain by the inquisition, and its appropriate expression is found in the edict of faith. chapter v. appeals to rome. so long as the acts of the spanish inquisition were not final but were subject to revision by the roman curia, its jurisdiction was incomplete. to emancipate itself from this it struggled for more than two centuries, aided unreservedly by all the power of the spanish crown. this long-protracted and intricate contest is full of interest and merits a somewhat detailed investigation. soon after the inquisition commenced its work, complaints of its remorseless cruelty poured in upon the sovereigns. they sent around, as we are told, certain conscientious prelates to investigate and report, who informed them that four thousand houses had been abandoned in andalusia, but this seems only to have inflamed isabella's ardor and the business of vindicating the faith was prosecuted with undiminished energy.[277] the only refuge of the victims was the holy see, which had always been open to appeals from the sentences of the inquisition. [sidenote: _appeals to rome_] papal predominance had its foundation in the universal supreme jurisdiction, original and appellate, of rome in all matters of faith and the unlimited area of affairs contingent on faith. this had been gradually acquired during the dark ages and was strenuously upheld, as it was the source of wealth as well as of power, and without it the bishop of rome would speedily shrink to his original primacy of honor. that he should divest himself of it was not to be expected, especially for the benefit of inquisitors, whose jurisdiction was a delegation from him and whose claim to superiority over bishops was based on the functions of the latter being merely "ordinary" while theirs were "apostolic." it is true that nicholas v, in his projected castilian inquisition of 1451, had granted jurisdiction without appeal, but this could have been withdrawn at any time and the whole attempt had been so soon forgotten that no allusion was ever made to it in the subsequent controversy. in the old inquisition, appeals to the pope were recognized, but it was an intricate and costly process, only possible to those familiar with canon law and, as the victims then were mostly peasants or ascetic missionaries, it was rarely employed and still more rarely successful. now, however, the situation was wholly different. the class assailed consisted largely of men of wealth or learning--merchants, bankers, lawyers, high officials, theologians and prelates, able to command the services of skilful canonists and ready to sacrifice a portion of their fortunes to save their persons from the stake and their estates from confiscation. the curia of the period, moreover, was notorious for shameless venality--a place where everything was for sale, from cardinalates to pardons, and where the supreme jurisdiction of the papacy was exploited to the utmost. it did not take long for the keen-witted conversos to recognize that the mercy denied them in spain could be bought in the open market of rome and the curia, which had mourned the lost opportunity of sharing in the confiscations, welcomed the prospect of selling exemptions from confiscation. everything therefore pointed to an exercise of the supreme appellate jurisdiction of the holy see which would seriously limit the activity of the spanish inquisition, or at least would confine it to those whose poverty rendered them unprofitable subjects of persecution. ferdinand soon became alive to the situation and manifested little reverence for the papacy in his resolute resistance to the protection which it sold to all applicants. [sidenote: _confessional letters_] the earliest recourse was naturally to the papal penitentiary. it had long been in the habit of selling confessional letters, empowering any confessor, whom the purchaser might select, to absolve him from all sins, including those reserved to the holy see. originally these were understood to be good only in the forum of conscience, but the further step was easily taken of making them effective also in the judicial forum, thus anticipating or annulling the action of the courts and selling immunity for crime as well as pardon for sin.[278] there was no difficulty in obtaining such letters for anyone, and they were sought by the conversos as a means of protection in advance and of setting aside sentences after conviction. in the appendix will be found a specimen, issued december 4, 1481, by the major penitentiary, to francisco fernández of seville and his wife and mother. it purports to be granted by the direct command of the pope and authorizes the recipient to select any confessor who, after secret abjuration, can absolve him for all acts of heresy, apostasy, relapse and dogmatism and annul all sentences by whomsoever pronounced after trial and conviction, redintegrating him into the church, removing all stain of heresy, restoring him to all his rights and releasing him from all punishment, only imposing on him salutary penance--which, at that period, was understood to be a money payment for the benefit of the poor, _i. e._ the church or its members. a final clause grants the further faculty of overcoming all opposition by the use of censures under papal authority. it was impossible for ferdinand and torquemada to allow the inquisition to be reduced to impotence by the speculative activity of the curia in selling such exemptions, which were not only good for the future but had a retroactive effect in annulling its acts. no reverence for the holy see could restrain them from visiting their wrath on all who were concerned in rendering effective this purchasable clemency. we have a glimpse at the methods adopted by both sides, in a notarial act, evidently part of a process to set aside a papal letter of a somewhat different kind, and to punish those engaged in its use, the narrative showing that all concerned felt that they were incurring serious perils. the notary, anton peláez, deposes that in xeres de la frontera he received from the duke of medina sidonia a letter of april 16, 1482, calling him to san lucar de barrameda to draw certain business papers. he went and, while engaged on them in the house of juan matheos, on april 20th, at 2 p.m. a messenger summoned him to the duke, whom he found in company with the duchess, the teniente de bora, fray thomas, prior of the order of santa maría de barrameda, and others. then entered juan ferrández of seville, the duke's contador, or auditor, carrying a bull with a lead seal, said to be from the pope, sixtus iv, and ordered peláez to read it to the prior. he was alarmed and refused, but finally yielded to the entreaties of the duke and duchess. then fray thomas refused to accept it, as he had been inhibited verbally by the inquisitors, and promised to produce the inhibition in writing within eight days. the duchess left the room in anger, but, in a quarter of an hour, ferrández brought fernando de troxillo, prior of the universidad of xeres and not of the church of san salvador, as described in the bull. the duke told him that this made no difference and urged him to accept it, throwing his arms around him and promising that he would expose his whole rank and dignity to make good whatever he might suffer in person or property. troxillo accepted the bull with the greatest reverence and kissed it. then, as apostolic judge under it, he ordered juan matheos, cura and vicar of san lucar, to absolve ferrández and his wife of any sentence of excommunication, interdict, suspension etc. placed on him by the inquisitors, on his giving security, which was promptly furnished by gonzalo peráez, ruy perráez and ferrand riquel, swearing that ferrández would stand to the mandates of the church, as required in the bull. thereupon troxillo, as apostolic judge, ordered juan matheos to absolve ferrández and his wife, which was duly performed. the duke's lawyers drew up an inhibition to the inquisitors, which the deponent engrossed; the duke wanted troxillo to sign it, but the deponent privately advised him not to do so until he should consult his counsel at xeres and, whether he did so or not, the deponent could not say.[279] [sidenote: _power of the penitentiary_] this gives us an inside view of the struggle to escape the inquisition which was going on in every corner of the land. it was useless, for these papal letters were disregarded and the purchasers could look for no redress from the curia, for pope sixtus had no scruple in abandoning his customers. it was a lucrative business, this disposing of exemptions and then allowing them to be annulled for a consideration. both sides thus contributed to the papal treasury and, as it all came from the conversos in the end, the curia indirectly got its share of the confiscations, and the inquisition was but nominally restricted. one device for accomplishing this is revealed in a cruzada indulgence, granted march 8, 1483, ostensibly in aid of the war with granada, but, as sixtus bargained for one-third of the proceeds, his share was sufficient inducement for sacrificing the purchasers of his confessional letters. a special clause of the indulgence empowered any confessor to absolve the possessor of it--the price being six reales--for killing or despoiling those seeking the roman court, or for preventing the execution of papal letters, or for forbidding notaries to draw up acts concerning such letters, or for detaining them from those to whom they belonged,--all of which was evidently framed to allow the sovereigns to annul the papal briefs in any way they deemed best.[280] yet while sixtus thus was content, for a moderate compensation, to permit those who were seeking his court to be detained or slain and to have his letters contemptuously annulled, yet when their market was threatened by the assertion that the penitentiary was only a court of conscience and its absolutions were good only in the interior forum, his indignation burst forth in a bull of may 9, 1484, stigmatizing all such opinions as contumacious and sacrilegious. the penitentiary, he declared, could grant absolutions good in either forum and those for the judicial forum were good in both spiritual and secular courts. this monstrous assumption, which claimed for the penitentiary the power to anticipate or set aside the judgement of every criminal court in europe, for the benefit of culprits who could pay the moderate fee demanded for its letters, was not merely a temporary policy adopted by sixtus for this occasion. having once been asserted, it was persisted in. paul iii, july 5, 1549, confirmed the bull of 1484 and subjected to the anathemas of the bull _in coena domini_ all who called in question the validity of such letters; when confined to the forum of conscience they were sealed and addressed to the confessor, when intended for the judicial forum they were patent. as paul died, november 10, 1549, before the publication of this brief, it was confirmed and issued, february 22, 1550, by julius iii.[281] it was the settled purpose of the holy see of the period to continue this profitable business of selling pardons so long as purchasers could be found for them; they continued to plague the inquisition and we shall see what stern measures ferdinand found necessary for their suppression. yet ferdinand was justified and the curia was self-condemned for, when the roman inquisition was reorganized and found its operations similarly impeded by the letters of the penitentiary, it ordered, september 26, 1550, its subordinates to pay no attention to them.[282] meanwhile the struggle continued in spain. isabella applied in 1482 to sixtus to give her inquisitors power to pronounce final judgements that should not be subject to revision or appeal. he replied, february 23, 1483, that he would take counsel with the sacred college, the result of which was a bull of may 25th, in which he conferred on iñigo manrique, archbishop of seville, appellate jurisdiction from the inquisitors, deputizing him in place of the pope for the spanish dominions.[283] this expedient brought no relief to the conversos. the inquisitors paid no respect to it and would-be appellants found that it was not safe to go to seville for revision of their cases by the archbishop. it was the same with the letters of absolution that continued to be issued; they were disregarded and many fugitives who had procured them found on their return that they had been burnt in effigy during their absence and that the document on which they relied was of no avail. they needed something more and sixtus was nothing loath to grant it. as early as august 2nd, he followed the bull of may 25th with another, for which we may safely assume that the conversos paid roundly, for in it he evoked to rome all pending cases of appeal, he ordered the spanish bishops to protect at all hazards the bearers of papal letters of absolution, even to the invocation of the secular arm, and he entreated ferdinand and isabella to show mercy to their subjects as they hoped for mercy from god.[284] [sidenote: _struggles with the curia_] whatever was paid for this was money vainly thrown into the bottomless sea of the curia. eleven days later, with shameless effrontery, sixtus wrote to the sovereigns that it had been issued without proper deliberation and that he suspended it. this reinstated manrique as appellate judge, and juan of seville, who had carried the previous brief to the bishop of evora for multiplying, was brought, with his companions, before the archbishop, who condemned them.[285] the gold of the victims was vainly pitted against the unalterable will of the sovereigns, for the holy see had no scruple in selling exemptions and abandoning the purchasers. the delegation to archbishop manrique by no means inferred that sixtus relinquished his own profitable appellate jurisdiction and, to encourage appeals, it was necessary to manifest indignation when the inquisitors rated the papal action at its true value. how little they respected it is manifested in a brief of july 4, 1484, addressed to the inquisitors miguel de morillo and juan de san martin, reciting that the dean of mondoñedo, two canons of seville and several others, whom they were prosecuting and whose property they had sequestrated, had appealed from them; that sixtus had referred the cases to the bishop of terracina and some auditors of the sacred palace, at whose instance the inquisitors had been ordered to cease proceedings, to grant absolution _ad cautelam_ and to lift the sequestration which deprived the parties of the means to carry on the appeal; that the inquisitors had not only flatly refused obedience and had kept possession of the property, but had constrained the appellants under oath and threat of censures not to prosecute the appeal or even to write to rome, on the ground that they had the jurisdiction and would render judgement. wherefore sixtus now pronounces null and void all proceedings since the issue of the inhibitory order and prohibits further action under threat of excommunication; the sequestration is to be lifted and all the papers are to be sent to rome.[286] there was no reason why this should command obedience more than the previous order and we may feel sure that the appellants fared no better in consequence. the case has interest only as a specimen of innumerable others which were bringing an abundant harvest to the officials of the curia, without affording relief to the victims, who were like a shuttlecock between two battledores, yielding sport to the players, as they were driven from one to the other. archbishop manrique's position as appellate judge must also have been lucrative for, on his death in 1485, the succession was eagerly sought for and was obtained by the papal vice-chancellor, rodrigo borgia, but ferdinand had had experience of him in valencia and the sovereigns remonstrated so effectually that he was obliged to withdraw in favor of their nominee, cardinal hurtado de mendoza, bishop of palencia.[287] sixtus iv had died, august 12, 1484, to be succeeded by innocent viii. the inquisition might hope for an improvement, but was resolved to resist with greater energy than before, if the new pope should imitate his predecessor. in a series of instructions, issued december 6, 1484, torquemada provided for a resident agent in rome, whose expenses were to be defrayed from the confiscations; he complained of the extraordinary and illegal letters so profusely granted by sixtus and announced that the sovereigns would suspend the operation of such letters, but that action would be withheld until it should be seen whether innocent continued a practice so prejudicial.[288] innocent must already have given evidence that his methods were the same as those of sixtus, for, in less than ten days, ferdinand issued, december 15th, a savage pragmática far more decisive than torquemada had forecast, for it decreed death and confiscation for all who should use such letters, whether emanating from the pope or his subordinates, unless they should have received the royal exequatur, and all notaries and scriveners who should act under them or make transcripts of them were deprived of their offices.[289] [sidenote: _struggles with the curia_] as a matter of course the change of pontiffs worked no change in the lucrative business, except that perhaps under innocent the practice of taking money and betraying those who paid it became more unblushing than before and promises to both sides were made and broken with still greater facility. to this end, care was taken to maintain the papal jurisdiction, for when the new pope was asked to confirm or renew torquemada's commission and power was asked for him to disregard the exemptions issued in blank for names to be filled in and absolutions granted on false confessions, and other abuses impeding in every way the inquisition, innocent turned a deaf ear and the commission was only renewed, not enlarged.[290] then the sovereigns assumed the power denied to torquemada and issued circular letters, july 29, 1485, addressed to all the ecclesiastical authorities, reciting how, to the scandal of religion, disregard of the royal pre-eminence and damage to the fisc, certain parties obtained bulls, rescripts, provisions and confessional letters, from sixtus iv and innocent viii, to protect themselves in their crimes. as it is not to be supposed that the popes would do this knowingly, all such letters are suspended until the papal intention, after due information, can be ascertained and obeyed. meanwhile no such briefs are to be enforced until after submission to the sovereigns for their approval.[291] it is not easy to follow the rapid tergiversations of the pope, for the pledges given to either side were impartially violated almost as soon as given, the only explanation being that both sides could get what briefs they desired provided they were willing to pay what was demanded. for awhile the influence of ferdinand and isabella prevailed and, in a solemn repetition of torquenada's commission, april 24, 1486, innocent directed that all appeals should be made to him and not to the holy see.[292] still more emphatic was a disgraceful brief of november 10, 1487, by which he declared inoperative all the letters issued by the penitentiary, whose purchasers he thus surrendered to the inquisitors, whom he authorized to proceed in spite of the inhibitions contained in them.[293] possibly he may have recognized that this breach of faith was likely to damage the market by destroying confidence, for the ink was scarce dry on this brief when he issued another, november 27th, ordering that, when such letters were produced, they, or authentic copies of them, should be sent, with details of the case, and that, until his decision was announced, proceedings should be suspended.[294] ferdinand thereupon forbade the inquisitors to accept such letters, notwithstanding which their issue continued without intermission for, on may 17, 1488, innocent declares that they should be invalid unless presented within a month of that date.[295] simultaneous with this was an elaborate bull of the same date, doubtless procured by the converses of aragon, addressed to the bishop of majorca, reciting the daily appeals from the kingdoms of aragon which were committed to judges in the curia who issued inhibitions to the inquisitors. as this impeded the inquisition the pope evoked to himself all pending cases and committed them to the bishop to be decided without appeal, his commission continuing during the papal pleasure.[296] we may reasonably doubt whether ferdinand permitted the bishop to exercise these functions; even if he did so the conversos profited little, for the good bishop died in about six months and there is no trace of the appointment of a successor. yet when ferdinand wanted to save those whom he favored from the inquisition, he sometimes had recourse to procuring for them papal letters to which he granted his exequatur. he did this for his treasurer, gabriel sánchez and for the vice-chancellor of aragon, alonso de la caballería; gabriel sánchez also obtained letters for his brothers alonso and guillen, which ferdinand approved and had some difficulty, in 1498, in preventing the tribunal of saragossa from seizing and suppressing them.[297] there was an even more significant recognition of the appellate power of the holy see in the case of gonsalvo alfonsi, defunct, in 1493. the _consulta de fe_ was unable to reach unanimity and, in place of referring it to the suprema, the consultors referred it to alexander vi, who, by brief of august 13th, appointed the bishop of córdova and the benedictine prior of valladolid to decide the case, at the same time inhibiting the inquisitors from further cognizance.[298] [sidenote: _struggles with the curia_] the year 1492 saw the conquest of granada achieved and the death of innocent viii. the one event greatly increased the reputation and influence of ferdinand and the other placed in the papal chair rodrigo borgia, better known as alexander vi. both men were unscrupulous, but the political situation brought them into close relations and the services rendered by the king to the pope--or still more, perhaps, the disservice which he could render--made the latter eager to gratify him. in 1494 he confirmed and enlarged the letters of innocent viii prescribing that appeals should be made to the inquisitor-general and not to the holy see.[299] to render this effective he commissioned, as we have seen, one of the inquisitors-general, francisco de la fuente, as appellate judge to hear all cases. the brief of appointment, november 4, 1494, shows in what a tangled condition these matters had been brought by the shifting and shiftless papal policy, governed alone by the expectation of profit. it recites that innocent viii, at the instance of spanish suspects of heresy, had committed their cases, both original and appellate, to various auditors of the sacred palace, where they remained pending for lack of evidence not obtainable in rome, wherefore innocent had evoked them all to himself, but had appointed no judge to hear them and no further progress was made. besides, under their commissions, the said auditors had issued letters compulsory, inhibitory and citatory on inquisitors and other officials, in consequence of which they were under excommunication and against this they appealed. to put an end to these dangers and scandals, alexander therefore evoked anew all these cases to himself and committed them to la fuente, together with all arising in future, granting him full power for their final determination.[300] still the lucrative business of issuing letters of absolution and redintegration went on unchecked, until pressure from spain, which was insufficient to restrain their manufacture and sale, at least induced alexander to betray those who had bought them. on august 29, 1497, he issued a bull reciting how heretics, who had been burnt in effigy, had obtained from him absolution, rehabilitation and exemption from inquisitorial jurisdiction, to the scandal of the faithful, wherefore, at the request of ferdinand and isabella, he now withdraws and annuls all these letters, except in the forum of conscience.[301] even this did not satisfy ferdinand who, under the pretext that a papal secretary named bartolommeo florido had issued false ones, ordered the inquisitors to seize them when presented and send them to him in order that he might communicate with the pope about them. this was followed by decrees of the suprema, january 8 and february 12, 1498, commanding all who had obtained absolutions and dispensations from rome to deliver them within a given time to the inquisitors, who would forward them to the inquisitor-general for verification of their genuineness, thus obtaining possession of all letters, to the general terror of the owners. ferdinand, as we have seen, was obliged to write to saragossa to protect alonso de la caballería and the brothers sánchez, while isabella interceded, june 26th, for a servant of hers who had procured such a letter and could not produce it.[302] then alexander was called upon for a more absolute surrender of those who had dealt with him and, on september 17th, he addressed a brief to the spanish inquisitors empowering them to proceed against all heretics, notwithstanding all letters of absolution and redintegration heretofore or hereafter issued, for all such letters were to be held as having been granted inadvertently.[303] what with spanish fanaticism and papal faithlessness the conversos were between the hammer and the anvil. [sidenote: _struggles with the curia_] their only recourse was exile. many abandoned spain and a portion of these found in rome a refuge, for alexander welcomed them in view of the heavy imposts which they paid for safety and toleration. they also furnished him with material for a speculative outburst of persecution when, in 1498, he was in need of funds to furnish forth the magnificent embassy of his son cæsar, sent to bear to louis xiii the bull of divorce from queen jeanne. he appointed as inquisitors cardinal pietro isuali and the master of the sacred palace, fra paolo de monelia, who proclaimed a term of grace during which the spaniards suspect of heresy could come forward. two hundred and thirty presented themselves; the form of receiving and examining their confessions was gone through with; they were admitted to mercy and a salutary penance was imposed in lieu of the penalties that might have been inflicted in spain. what was the amount of this cannot be known, but it must have been considerable, for the inquisitors could ransom them at discretion. a solemn auto de fe was celebrated in st. peter's, july 29th, in the presence of alexander and his cardinals. the penitents were marched thither in pairs, were reconciled to the church, abjured their heresies and were sentenced to wear the sanbenito and to undergo penance, after which they were taken in procession to santa maria sopra minerva, where they were relieved of the sanbenitos and discharged. the performance evidently was expected not to be pleasing to the spanish sovereigns, for part of the penance assigned was to furnish a notarial attestation that they would not return to spain without licence from the catholic kings under pain of relaxation as relapsed.[304] there were doubtless intimations of ferdinand's displeasure which drew from these impromptu inquisitors a letter of september 10th to their spanish brethren and one of october 5th from alexander to the sovereigns, in which the provision respecting return to spain was emphasized. ferdinand however was not to be thus placated; indeed he had already, on august 2nd, issued an edict, designed to frustrate further attempts by the papacy to share in the profits of persecution. in this he ordered the execution, without trial, of all who had fled from condemnation by the inquisition and who should venture to return, no matter what exemptions, reconciliations, safe-conducts or privileges they might allege. any property they might possess was apportioned in thirds to the informer, the official and the fisc and any one harboring them and any official neglecting to execute the edict was threatened with confiscation.[305] the prevention of further speculative performances of the kind was doubtless the motive for the stringent regulations, which we have seen above, in 1499 and 1500, to prevent the escape of conversos.[306] ferdinand sometimes recognized the papal letters as in the case of some parties named beltram, in 1499, which he permitted to be heard by the commissioners appointed by the pope,[307] but there was too much at stake for him to abandon the struggle and the papacy followed its practice of sacrificing those who sought its protection, while never failing to promise it. early in 1502, the sovereigns remonstrated forcibly as to the great damage to the faith resulting from these letters transferring cases to special commissioners, and alexander promptly responded by a bull evoking to himself all such cases and committing them to inquisitor-general deza, to be decided by him personally or with assessors whom he might call in. to this ferdinand objected, under pretext of the hardship which it would inflict on the appellants, as deza had to follow the migratory court and alexander, with his usual pliancy, empowered deza, august 31st, to appoint deputies to decide cases. deza availed himself of this to restore the cases to the tribunals, instructing them to proceed to final judgement without regard to any papal letters that might be presented, and thus again the unlucky appellants were delivered back to their persecutors without recourse.[308] julius ii was elected november 1, 1503, and the next day, even before his coronation, he issued a _motu proprio_ to ferdinand and isabella, confirming all graces and privileges granted by his predecessors and especially those to the inquisition. still, appeals to the holy see continued to pour in and to be welcomed and, in 1505, ferdinand remonstrated energetically, asking a recall of all commissions and drawing a doleful picture of the religious condition of spain, which was saved only by the inquisition from a schism worse than that of arius.[309] philip of austria, however, in his eagerness to win papal support, abandoned the claims of the inquisition and admitted to the holy see that it could not refuse to entertain the appeals of those who sought its protection.[310] julius had no intention of divesting himself of the supreme jurisdiction which was so profitable and he took care to assert it in the commissions issued, in 1507, to ximenes and bishop enguera, as inquisitors-general respectively of castile and aragon, by evoking to himself all cases pending in the tribunals and committing them to the new incumbents and those whom they might deputize.[311] [sidenote: _struggles with the curia_] like his predecessors, julius, with one hand, sold letters of absolution and inhibition while, with the other, he declared them invalid. a brief of november 9, 1507, recites that some persons, pretending to be aggrieved, have appealed to the holy see, whereby the inquisition is impeded; therefore he decrees that all appeals must be to the inquisitor-general, while those to rome are to be regarded as null; the inquisitors are to disregard them and not to delay on account of them.[312] still, the output of these letters was unchecked and for awhile ferdinand fluctuated in his policy with regard to them. sometimes, as in a sardinia case, in 1508, he orders the inquisitor to arrest and punish severely those concerned in procuring them, assuring him of the royal protection against the indignation of rome.[313] sometimes, as in a valladolid case, in 1509, he assumes the current convenient fiction that the letters are issued surreptitiously, that the pope, on better information, will withdraw them, and meanwhile they are held suspended; the trial is to go on and the sequestrations are not to be lifted.[314] finally, in a pragmática of august 31, 1509, a definite policy was adopted combining both methods and based on the principle that, if the letters were surreptitious, those who obtained them deserved condign punishment. this required all such briefs to be submitted to the suprema for examination and reference back to rome; if found to be rightly issued, exequatur would be granted, but without this any one presenting such letters to inquisitors incurred, as in the pragmática of december 15, 1484, irremissible death and confiscation; notaries acting under them were deprived of office, while secular officials were commanded to execute the edict under pain of five thousand florins and ecclesiastics under seizure of temporalities and perpetual exile.[315] the ferocity of this, after a constant struggle with the curia for twenty-five years, shows the importance attached by ferdinand to the autonomy of the inquisition and his determination to suppress all papal interference. still that interference continued and ferdinand could not but recognize that it was legal. in a case occurring in 1510, when a certain augustinian fray dionisio, on trial before the tribunal of seville, obtained letters committing the case to a judge who inhibited the tribunal, ferdinand requested the pope to evoke the case and commit it to cardinal ximenes and further that all future cases of the kind should be similarly treated.[316] in all this long wrangle the diplomatic reserve is observable which assumed that the holy see was actuated by motives that, if mistaken, were at least disinterested. the financial element underlying its action was fully recognized, however, and, when the spanish delegates were sent to the lateran council in 1512, among the instructions which they bore was one which said that rome must not in future defend, as it had been defending, the apostates of jewish race who were burnt in effigy at home while they purchased for money dispensations in the curia. in fact, charles v, in a letter of april 30, 1519, to his ambassador luis carroz, openly asserted that the briefs issued in the time of ferdinand had been obtained by the conversos through the payment of heavy sums.[317] the delegates to the lateran council of course effected nothing, and leo x, while his penitentiaries and auditors were as busy as ever, was even more regardless than his predecessors of the papal dignity, in annulling their acts after the fees had been paid. in a _motu proprio_ of may 31, 1513, he alludes to the letters negligently granted by julius ii and himself, through which the business of the inquisition was impeded, wherefore he empowers ximenes to inhibit, under excommunication and other penalties, all persons, even of episcopal rank, from using such letters of commission to entertain appeals.[318] [sidenote: _struggles with the curia_] in the kingdoms of aragon, the córtes of monzon, in 1510, agreed that no one should appeal from the tribunals to the pope, but only to the inquisitor-general.[319] possibly this may have led to the invention of a method of reprisals which was infinitely annoying and difficult to meet. a certain baldiri meteli procured from rome a citation to appear addressed to mossen coda, the judge of confiscations in barcelona, and some other officials. this completely nonplussed the tribunal and ferdinand was driven to instructing, november 2, 1510, his lieutenant-general of catalonia to consult with inquisitor-general enguera as to the best mode of inducing meteli to withdraw the citation. he was obstinate, especially as he had meanwhile procured citations on other officials, and ferdinand could find no other remedy than notifying the diputados that the agreement of monzon was a totality and that, if the clause respecting appeals was violated, enguera would disregard the rest.[320] what was the result the documents fail to inform us, but an even more troublesome case occurred in saragossa when sánchez de romeral on being prosecuted fled to rome. march 11, 1511, ferdinand wrote to his ambassador to request the pope to send him back to the inquisitor-general, but the pope declined and ferdinand was moved to lively wrath, in 1513, on learning that romeral, who had meanwhile been burnt in effigy, had procured citations on all the officials, from inquisitors down, including even the consultors who had acted in the consulta de fe, and that he had managed to get the citations published in tudela and cascante. ferdinand wrote to rome in terms of vigorous indignation and ordered the archbishop of saragossa, the captain-general of navarre and the inquisitors to consult with lawyers as to the best means of punishing this audacious attack on the inquisition. apparently there were no means of parrying such an attack save coming to terms with the other side, so long as the curia was willing to lend itself to this guerrilla warfare. this was seen in a somewhat similar case in sicily, in 1511, when a certain cola de ayelo, condemned to perpetual imprisonment by inquisitor belorado, managed to escape; he took himself to rome as a penitent and there commenced suit against belorado and his colleague the bishop of cefalù. the bishop was obliged to obey a summons to rome; the affair was protracted and gave so much trouble that, when ayelo wanted to return to sicily and offered to withdraw the suit, ferdinand agreed to let him come back, pardoned his offences, including gaol-breaking, and gave him a safe-conduct against further prosecution. this method of fighting the inquisition would probably have been more frequently adopted but for the risk to which were exposed the notaries and scriveners whose ministrations were essential. in the present case the one who sent the citation to the bishop was seized by the viceroy, tortured and probably punished severely.[321] one or two cases will illustrate the chaotic condition produced by these contending elements, especially after the death of ferdinand, january 23, 1516, had removed from the scene of action his resolute will and ceaseless activity. miguel vedreña, suspected of complicity in the murder of bernardo castelli, assessor of the tribunal of balaguer, appealed to the pope from the prison of the tribunal of barcelona. the suprema of aragon vainly instructed its roman agent to make every effort to defeat the appeal. leo x committed the case to the bishop of ascoli, who ordered the tribunal to release vedreña on his giving security to constitute himself a prisoner in rome. the inquisitors had lost all respect for papal letters and refused obedience, whereupon the bishop appointed certain local prelates as commissioners to prosecute them and inflict censures. the suprema inhibited these commissioners from acting, but not before they had excommunicated the inquisitors, who applied to leo for relief. leo had already, at least in appearance, abandoned vedreña, in a brief of may 5, 1517, addressed to cardinal adrian, then inquisitor-general of aragon, styling vedreña "that son of iniquity," evoking the case to himself and committing it to adrian. but accompanying this brief and of the same date was another of private instructions, in which vedreña was alluded to as his dearest son and adrian was told that the case was committed to him in order that his dexterity might compound it; the evidence was doubtful and vedreña had purged it sufficiently; it would seem that he should rather be acquitted than condemned but if adrian thought otherwise he was to send a statement, when leo would give final orders. some three months later there was another brief to adrian about the excommunicated inquisitors; if the censures were subsequent to the withdrawal of the case from the bishop of ascoli, they were invalid, but the whole matter was left to adrian.[322] we have no means of knowing what was the final outcome of the case, but it sufficiently indicates the entanglements caused by the conflicting jurisdictions and the contradictory actions of the pope as his officials were bought by one side or the other. [sidenote: _struggles with the curia_] another aspect of these affairs is exhibited in the case of the heirs of juan enríquez de medina, whose bones were condemned, by the tribunal of cuenca, to be exhumed and burnt. the heirs appealed to ximenes, who commissioned judges to revise the sentence, but these refused to the heirs a copy of the proceedings, by which alone they could rebut the evidence. then they appealed to pope leo, who appointed three commissioners to hear the case and communicate the proceedings to the heirs, on their giving security not to harm the witnesses. the parties appointed, doubtless fearing to incur the enmity of the inquisition, declined to serve and the last we hear of the case is a brief of may 19, 1517, threatening them with excommunication for persistence.[323] with the appointment of cardinal adrian, as inquisitor-general of castile as well as of aragon, leo, in 1518, confirmed the decrees of innocent viii and alexander vi, granting to him exclusive appellate jurisdiction and adrian, when pope, repeated this in 1523, in favor of manrique.[324] yet this in no way interfered with the reception in rome of the multitudinous applications, both appellate and in first instance, which charles v, in a letter of october 29, 1518, to cardinal santiquatro, broadly hinted was accomplished by the free use of money.[325] how recklessly, indeed, the papal jurisdiction was prostituted at the service of the first comer, is evidenced in the case of a mill in paterna, purchased by juan claver from the confiscated estate of jufre rinsech. the infante enrique laid claim to it; the tribunal of valencia decided in favor of claver and imposed perpetual silence on enrique. on the death of claver, enrique brought suit against his heir before a judge of his own selection, whom the tribunal promptly inhibited. enrique then procured a papal brief inhibiting the tribunal and committing the case to this judge. then charles v intervened, october 29, 1518, ordering enrique to bring his suit before the tribunal.[326] papal letters issued after such fashion had no moral weight and were lightly disregarded. the contempt felt for them was increased by leo's perpetual vacillations. a brief of september 9, 1518, to adrian states that, in view of the iniquity and injustice of the tribunal of palermo and some others, he had placed all such matters in the hands of his vicar, the cardinal of s. bartolommeo in insula, with faculties to decide them and coerce the inquisitors with censures and fines, but now he thinks it better that these affairs shall be confided to adrian, to whom he commits them with full powers.[327] [sidenote: _struggles with the curia_] a contemporary case, which attracted much attention at the time, shows leo in a more favorable light. blanquina díaz was an octogenarian widow of valencia, whose orthodoxy had never been suspected, but in 1517 she was denounced for judaism and thrown into the secret prison. an appeal to the pope brought orders that she be released on good security, be allowed defence and the case be speedily tried. this brief never reached the tribunal, being apparently suppressed by the suprema, whereupon leo issued a second one, march 4, 1518, evoking the case to himself and committing it to two ecclesiastics of valencia, blanquina being meanwhile placed in a convent and cardinal adrian being especially prohibited from intervening, anything that he might do being declared invalid. it was probably before this was received that the tribunal submitted the case to adrian, who assembled a consulta de fe and condemned blanquina to perpetual imprisonment and confiscation. the papal intervention seems to have aroused much feeling; charles was ready to sign anything drawn up for him by adrian, and, in two letters, of may 18th and june 18th to his roman agent luis carroz, he ordered the latter to disregard all other business in the effort to procure the withdrawal of the two briefs. if the safety of all his dominions had been at stake he could not have been more emphatic; such interference with the inquisition was unexampled; unless the pope would revoke the briefs and promise never to issue similar ones, the holy office would be totally destroyed, and heresy would flourish unpunished, for every one would seek relief at the curia and the service of god would become impossible. he also wrote to the pope and the cardinals, while adrian and the suprema sent pressing letters. leo, however, was firm in substance, though he yielded in form. in briefs of july 5th and 7th to adrian he ordered that everything done since his letters of march 4th should be annulled, blanquina being restored to her good fame, her sanbenito being removed and she being placed, under bail, in a convent or in the house of a kinsman. as the evidence against her consisted of trifles committed in childhood, he again evoked the case to himself and committed it to adrian. there had been active work on both sides in rome, for the brief of july 5th gave adrian full power to decide the case while that of the 7th limited him to sending the results to leo and awaiting instructions as to the sentence. leo thus kept blanquina's fate in his hands; adrian was only his mouthpiece and the sentence pronounced her to be lightly suspect of heresy and discharged her without imprisonment or confiscation.[328] a further instance of leo's vacillation is the coincidence that the brief of march 4th in blanquina's favor was dated the same day as adrian's commission as inquisitor-general of castile, in which leo evoked to himself all pending cases, whether in the tribunals or the curia, and committed them to adrian with full power to inhibit all persons from assuming cognizance of them.[329] with this before him it is scarce a subject of surprise that charles v on april 30th instructed his ambassador to tell the pope that no letters prejudicial to the inquisition would be admitted.[330] this threat he carried out in a contemporaneous case which for some years embroiled the inquisition with the curia. bernardino díaz had been tried and discharged by the tribunal of toledo, after which he had a quarrel with bartolomé martínez, whom he accused of perjury in his case, and killed him. díaz fled to rome, while the tribunal not only burnt him in effigy but seized his wife and mother and some of his friends as accomplices in his escape. in rome he secured pardon in both the interior and exterior forum on condition of satisfying the kindred of martínez, to the great indignation of charles, who complained, not without reason, of this invasion of jurisdiction. díaz also procured a brief ordering the liberation of the prisoners and the release of their property, but when the executors named in it endeavored to enforce it, the toledo tribunal seized their procurator and compelled its surrender. this realization of charles's threat exasperated the curia and the auditor-general of the camera summoned the inquisitors to obey the brief or answer personally in rome for their contumacy; they did neither and were duly excommunicated. charles wrote repeatedly and bitterly about this unexampled persecution of those who had merely administered justice; the case dragged on for some three years and its ultimate outcome does not appear, but the family of díaz were probably released for, in 1520, we hear of the removal of the excommunication in connection with the revocation by the inquisitors of their proceedings against juan de salazar, a canon of toledo, residing in rome in the papal service, whom they had deprived of citizenship and temporalities for some action of his in prejudice of the inquisition.[331] [sidenote: _struggles with the curia_] another person who, about this time, gave infinite vexation to charles and adrian was diego de las casas of seville, the agent who bore to rome the contested proceedings of the córtes of aragon and labored for their confirmation. he was well supplied with funds and naturally was a _persona grata_ to the curia. the inquisition speedily attacked him, in its customary unscrupulous manner, by not only prosecuting him _in absentia_ but by seizing his brothers, francisco and juan, and their wives. to meet this he procured a brief committing the cases to adrian and to ferdinand de arce, bishop of canaries, with a provision that the parties should present themselves to adrian and arce and keep such prison as might be designated for them, and further permitting them to select advocates for their defence. equitable as were these provisions, the brief excited hot indignation. when laid before the royal council it was pronounced scandalous and of evil example and its execution was refused. charles wrote in haste to leo, april 30, 1519, that it was scandalous and would destroy the inquisition; he instructed his agents to procure its revocation to be forwarded by the next courier and he invoked by letters the cardinals in the spanish interest to bring what pressure they could upon the pope. his urgency was fruitless and when, in september, he sent lope hurtado de mendoza to rome, as special ambassador in the quarrel with aragon, his instructions were to represent to the pope the impropriety of harboring in rome fugitives from the inquisition, especially diego de las casas and his colleague juan gutiérrez, whose parents and grandparents and kindred had been reconciled or burnt; they should be expelled, and mendoza was to labor for the revocation of their briefs and all other exemptions and commissions in favor of conversos. mendoza exerted all his diplomatic ability, but, although leo admitted, in a brief of july 13, 1520, to adrian that the evocation of cases to rome, both on appeal and in first instance, led to delays, impunity for offenders and encouragement of offences, still he would not abandon diego de las casas. the grant by sixtus iv of appellate jurisdiction to the inquisitor-general, he admitted had been beneficial and, in hopes that adrian would use it with integrity and justice, he evoked to himself all cases pending in the roman courts and committed them to adrian with full powers, but he made no promises as to the future and he especially excepted his physician, ferdinand de aragon and his wife, diego de las casas, juan gutiérrez and the deceased juan de covarrubias, whose cases had long been in dispute. to all these, and to their kindred to the third degree and their property, leo granted letters exempting them from the jurisdiction of the inquisition and committing them to the archbishop of saragossa and certain other ecclesiastical dignitaries. complaints soon arose as to the manner in which these commissioners exercised their powers to the dishonor of the inquisition; leo yielded by a brief of january 8, 1521, in which he substituted adrian and the nuncio vianesio de' albergati, with full power to inhibit their predecessors. then, in a more formal brief of january 20th he deprecated the evil caused by the cases which were daily brought to rome and committed them all to adrian, saving those of the five exempts, in which the nuncio was to be conjoined with him, and at the same time he revoked the letters exempting them and their kindred and empowering them to select judges for themselves.[332] it was a practical surrender, although leo distinguished las casas and gutiérrez by styling them his beloved children. these cases will suffice to show how the traditional policy of the curia continued, of taking the money of the refugees and appellants for protecting briefs, and then abandoning them by revocations issued, without even a sense of shame, when their funds were exhausted in the protracted struggle. yet, undeterred by this, there was a constant succession of new applicants, who had no other refuge on earth, and the valueless briefs were granted with unfailing readiness. it was a source of perpetual irritation and charles was untiring in his efforts to counteract it, not always observing due courtesy, as when, march 25, 1525, he wrote to clement vii, in violent language, to revoke and erase from the registers a brief granted to luis colon and to order his officials not to issue such letters, as they were scandalous.[333] he no longer had the excuse of his youthful tutelage under adrian and yet his subserviency to the inquisition was complete. this was manifested in the case of bernardo de orda, a servant of cardinal colonna, who had a suit against doctor saldaña about the treasurership of the church of leon. saldaña was a member of the suprema and, when orda came to spain, it was not difficult to have him charged with heresy and arrested by the tribunal of valladolid. he escaped to rome and the prosecution was continued against him _in absentia_, whereupon charles demeaned himself by writing to colonna, july 30, 1528, asking him to prevent orda from obtaining a brief of exemption, as it would be an injury to the faith, and also not to favor him in his suit with saldaña.[334] [sidenote: _struggles with the curia_] meanwhile the popes continued to propitiate charles's growing power by granting, with as much facility as ever, what was nominally exclusive appellate jurisdiction to the inquisitor-general. in 1523, adrian vi, as we have seen, confirmed in favor of manrique the bulls of sixtus iv and alexander vi. clement vii went even farther for, in a bull of january 6, 1524, he not only evoked all pending cases and committed them to manrique but decreed that any commissions which he might thereafter issue should be invalid without the express assent of charles, while all appeals were to be made to the inquisitor-general and not to the holy see, and this he repeated, june 16, 1525. still appeals continued to be made to rome and briefs to be granted requiring repeated confirmations of the bulls of 1524 and 1525 with inclusion of the letters obtained in the interval, of which we have examples in 1532 and 1534.[335] charles was thus justified in enforcing ferdinand's pragmática of 1509, as when, in 1537, he ordered the corregidor of murcia to prevent the publication of certain letters understood to have been procured from the pope against the inquisition; if presented they were to be sent to the council of castile for its action, and parties endeavoring to use them were to be arrested and dealt with as might be deemed most advantageous to the holy office.[336] the position of charles, as the master of italy and the protagonist of the church in its struggle with lutheranism, had thus enabled him to obtain for the inquisition virtual, though not acknowledged, independence of rome. there is a very striking illustration of this, in 1531, when clement vii intervened in favor of fray francisco ortiz, a celebrated observantine preacher, prosecuted for audaciously criticizing the inquisition from the pulpit. he had lain in prison for more than two years, obstinately refusing to retract, when the interposition of clement was sought. he did not evoke the case but, in terms of remarkable deference, july 1, 1531, he suggested to manrique that, if nothing else was alleged against ortiz, he might be held as sufficiently punished by his long imprisonment and might be restored to liberty, in view of his blameless life and the profit to souls to be expected from his preaching. this clement asked as a favor, moved only by christian charity and zeal for the salvation of souls.[337] to this carefully guarded request the inquisition turned a deaf ear. if the trial of ortiz came to an end in february, 1532, it was because he voluntarily submitted himself completely and his sentence was by no means light, including public penance, which was rarely inflicted on an ecclesiastic.[338] paul iii was more decided when his intervention was asked by charles v, who, in spite of his bitter protests against papal interference, found himself obliged to appeal in behalf of his favorite preacher, fray alonso virues. the seville tribunal had prosecuted the latter on a charge of lutheranism, had kept him imprisoned for four years and had sentenced him to reclusion in a convent for two years and suspension from preaching for two more. charles, who had vainly sought to protect him during his trial, supported an appeal to the pope and obtained a brief of may 29, 1538, which not only annulled the sentence but forbade his future molestation.[339] when, in 1542, paul iii reorganized the moribund papal inquisition by forming a congregation of cardinals as inquisitors-general for all christendom, there was a not unnatural apprehension that this, even if not so intended, might interfere with the independence of the spanish holy office. to representations of this he responded by a brief of april 1, 1548, in which he characterized such fears as baseless; he declared that it was not designed to interfere with the authority of inquisitors in spain and he formally revoked anything to their prejudice that might be found in the decree establishing the congregation.[340] this brief remained to the end the charter to which the spanish inquisition appealed in its frequent collisions with the roman congregation and, but for such a declaration, it would probably have been subordinated.[341] this in no way affected the continual applications to rome for relief, nor the effort of the inquisition to suppress them. it was a singular departure from the settled policy of the government in this matter which led the suprema, in 1548, to utter a bitter complaint to charles v, setting forth the facility with which citations and inhibitions and commissions were granted in rome and the daily royal cédulas despatched to prevent them, and yet when recently a converso presented to the royal council a petition stating that he did not dare to notify the inquisitor-general of letters concerning a case which had been decided, the council issued an order permitting any notary to serve the papers and testify to the service, with penalties for impeding it.[342] the popes were more consistent in their inconsistency. we have seen how paul iii, in 1549 and julius iii in 1551, confirmed the 1484 bull of sixtus iv insisting on the validity of papal letters in both the interior and judicial forum and threatening the curses of the bull _in cæna domini_ on all who should impede them, yet in 1550 a case in which papal letters were obtained led to vigorous remonstrance and julius, by a brief of december 15, 1551, confirmed those of clement vii and paul iii, besides evoking all pending cases and committing them to inquisitor-general valdés.[343] [sidenote: _struggles with the curia_] yet the very fact of doing this inferred the papal possession of supreme jurisdiction which it merely delegated, a point of which the holy see never lost sight. the commissions to the successive inquisitors-general during the century contains a clause by which all unfinished business was evoked and committed to the appointee. it is true that there was also a provision that no appeals from the tribunals should lie except to the inquisitor-general, all other appeals, even to the holy see, being invalid and referred back to him, who was empowered to use censures to prevent interference even by cardinals.[344] the popes could afford to be thus liberal in their grants, for their irresponsible power enabled them to disregard or to modify these delegated faculties at discretion, and these provisions never prevented them from entertaining appeals. this was shown in the friction which continued throughout the long reign of philip ii, who was no less earnest than his father in maintaining the independence of the inquisition, although his attitude was more deferential. in 1568 we find him complaining to his ambassador, juan de zuñiga, that appeals were made from sardinia to rome, not only in cases of faith, but in matters of confiscation, and in civil cases concerning familiars and officials, all of which was damaging to the inquisition and in derogation of the royal jurisdiction. zuñiga was therefore ordered to supplicate the pope to refuse admission to all such appeals, while the viceroy of sardinia was instructed to prevent testimony from being taken in such cases.[345] this effort was fruitless as likewise was that of abbot brizeño, sent in 1580 as special commissioner on the subject to gregory xiii, to remonstrate with the utmost earnestness against the reception accorded in rome to fugitives from the inquisition.[346] soon after this a case occurred which strained the relations between the courts. jean de berri, a frenchman on trial by the tribunal of saragossa, managed to escape to rome, whereupon he was condemned in contumacy and burnt in effigy. he presented himself to the congregation of the inquisition which admitted him to bail and he went to reside in orbitello. the case must have been the subject of active recrimination for juan de zuñiga, at that time viceroy of naples, with superabundant zeal, kidnapped him and despatched him to spain. instantly the papal court was aflame; zuñiga was promptly excommunicated, but the censure was suspended for four months to allow him to return the fugitive. a rupture seemed imminent and zuñiga, conscious of his mistake, on learning that the galeasses had been driven back to palermo, sent thither in hot haste, but his messenger was too late and jean de berri was carried to spain. papal despatches couched in vigorous language were forthwith sent to the nuncio, to philip, to inquisitor-general quiroga and to the saragossa tribunal, the nuncio being ordered to prosecute quiroga if the prisoner was not remanded. philip had no alternative; quiroga, in a letter of september 12, 1582 to gregory announced berri's departure, at the same time remonstrating against the asylum to fugitives offered by rome. berri was duly delivered to the roman inquisition, but there was probably a secret understanding for, at a meeting of the congregation, june 13, 1583, presided over by gregory, it was decreed that he should be placed in the hands of quiroga, who should judge his case. quiroga did nothing of the kind; he was sent to saragossa and the last we hear of him is a letter of the suprema, august 3rd, to that tribunal ordering it to do justice--the customary formula for confirming a sentence.[347] as usual, the curia abandoned those whom it had undertaken to protect. [sidenote: _struggles with the curia_] from 1582 to 1586, the nuncio, taberna bishop of lodi, was largely occupied with the question of these appeals.[348] it formed one of several grievances arising from the exercise of papal jurisdiction in spain--a jurisdiction which was becoming an anachronism in the development of absolute monarchy, but, as the faculties of the inquisition were solely a delegation from the holy see, papal control of its operations was unassailable and had to be endured. philip gained nothing by instructing his ambassador olivares, november 10, 1583, that it was highly important to represent to the pope that appeals should not be entertained but should be remitted back to the inquisitor-general.[349] we have seen how little ceremony was used by sixtus v, in 1585, when he evoked the case of the jesuit provincial marcen and his colleagues, and how the suprema was forced to submit. while philip thus was unable to dispute the papal right of intervention, he had as little scruple as his predecessors in disregarding papal letters. in 1571 he ordered the surrender of all briefs evoking cases to the holy see. some years later the suprema instructed the tribunal of lima that, if apostolic letters were presented, it was to "supplicate" against them--that is, to suspend and disregard them--and this was doubtless a circular sent to all tribunals.[350] they were practically treated as a nullity and it is a singular fact that, after so long an experience, the curia still found purchasers credulous enough to seek protection in them. in a toledo auto de fe of 1591 there appeared twenty-four judaizers of alcázar, detected by inquisitor alava during a visitation. among them was francisco de vega, a scrivener who, on hearing that the inquisitor was coming, had sent to rome and procured absolutions for himself, his mother and his sister, thinking to find safety in them, but they were treated with contempt and all three culprits were reconciled with the same penalties as their companions.[351] while thus the supreme jurisdiction of the holy see was admitted and evaded, the inquisition sought to create the belief that it had been abandoned. zurita who, as secretary of the suprema, unquestionably knew better, makes such an assertion and páramo, whose experience as inquisitor in sicily had taught him the truth, does not hesitate, in 1598, to say that, since innocent viii decreed that appeals should be heard by the inquisitor-general, no pope had permitted cases to be carried to the apostolic see.[352] it is a fair example of the incurable habit of the inquisition to assert its possession of whatever it desired to obtain. * * * * * under philip iii, the papal supremacy continued to be exercised and was submitted to as reluctantly as ever. in 1602 a doctor cozas, under prosecution by the tribunal of murcia, managed to escape to rome and to have his case tried there. philip labored strenuously and persistently to have him remanded, first through his ambassador the duke of sesa and then through the succeeding envoy, the duke of escalona, to whom, on april 1, 1604 he sent a special courier, urging him to renew his efforts, for every day the roman inquisition was intervening in what the popes had granted exclusively to the inquisitor-general, thus threatening the total destruction of the spanish inquisition.[353] in 1603 a portuguese appealed to the roman inquisition, alleging that his wife was unjustly held in prison; he obtained an order on the inquisitor-general to transmit the papers and meanwhile to suspend the case; acevedo demurred, eliciting from clement viii a still more peremptory command, whereupon the documents were sent and, while the case was under consideration in rome, the woman was discharged.[354] it was preferable to let an assumed culprit go free than to allow the roman holy office to exercise jurisdiction. * * * * * [sidenote: _struggles with the curia_] the subserviency of philip iv to his inquisitors-general was even more marked, and we have seen how vigorously he supported the inquisition in its extension of its jurisdiction over matters foreign to the faith, leading the clergy of majorca to procure papal briefs exempting them from it in such cases. the chapter of valencia was less fortunate and was exposed to the full force of the royal indignation in 1637. inquisitor-general sotomayor had obtained a pension of nine hundred ducats on the archdeaconry of játiva and one of three hundred and forty ducats on a prebend vacated by the death of the canon villarasa. the chapter refused payment; sotomayor sued them in the tribunal and of course obtained a decision in his favor. the aggrieved chapter revenged itself by ceasing the customary courtesy of sending two canons to receive the inquisitors at the door of the cathedral on the occasion of publishing the edict; this continued for two years and, on the second, the door of the great chapel was locked and the inquisitors had to await its opening. for this disrespect they prosecuted the chapter, which then appealed to rome on both suits and obtained briefs committing the cases to a special commission of the roman inquisition, granting a faculty to relieve them from any excommunication and citing sotomayor to appear in rome. the case was assuming a serious aspect and the suprema, november 30, 1637, presented to philip a consulta with letters for his signature, addressed to his ambassador, to the pope, to the viceroy, the archbishop, and the chapter. philip was in the full ardor of a contest with the pope over the jurisdiction of the nuncio and the roman condemnation of books supporting the royal prerogative; he was not content with the measures proposed and returned the consulta with the comment that much more vigorous methods were required, nor did it comport with the royal dignity to ask for what he could legally enforce. he had therefore ordered the council of aragon to write to the chapter, through the viceroy, expressing his displeasure and his determination to resort to the most extreme steps. letters were also to be written to the viceroy and the archbishop commanding the prosecution of the chapter in the banco real unless the briefs were forthwith surrendered; the inquisition was not to appear in the matter, but only the archbishop, and a minister of justice was to be at hand when the demand was made, so as to seize the briefs as soon as they were produced. this violent program was duly carried out; canon oñate, the custodian of the briefs, was forced to surrender them; through the hands of the council of aragon they were passed to sotomayor and were carefully preserved as trophies in the archives of the suprema.[355] if this inspired in ecclesiastics the terror desired it did not influence defendants under trial, who continued to appeal to rome, for a carta acordada of august 3, 1538, orders the tribunals, when such cases occur, to send reports not only to it but direct to the roman agent of the inquisition, in order that no time should be lost by him in working for their withdrawal.[356] a few years later there followed the most bitter and stubborn conflict that had yet occurred between madrid and rome on the subject of appeals--the case of gerónimo de villanueva, which is so illustrative in various ways that it merits a somewhat detailed examination. * * * * * [sidenote: _appeals to rome_] gerónimo de villanueva, marquis of villalba, belonged to an ancient family of aragon, of which kingdom he was prothonotary, or secretary of state; while his brother agustin was justicia. he won the favor of olivares, as well as of philip, and accumulated a plurality of offices, rendering him at last one of the most important personages of the state, for he became a member of the councils of aragon, war, cruzada and indies, of the camara of the council of indies, secretary of state and of the "despacho universal de la monarquia."[357] [sidenote: _villanueva's case_] in 1623 there was founded in madrid, with the object of restoring the relaxed benedictine discipline, a convent under the name of _la encarnacion bendita de san placido_, with funds furnished by villanueva and by the family of doña teresa de silva (also called valle de la cerda), who was elected abbess. she had for some years been under the direction of fray francisco garcia calderon, a benedictine of high reputation, who was inclined to mysticism. villanueva had an agreement with the superiors of the order giving him the appointment of spiritual directors and he naturally placed calderon in charge. before the year was out, one of the nuns became demoniacally possessed; the contagiousness of the disorder is well known and soon twenty-two out of the thirty were similarly affected, including teresa herself. calderon was reckoned a skilful exorcist, but he was baffled, as was likewise the abbot of ripel, who was called in. at the suggestion of the latter, the wild utterances of the demoniacs were written down, and a mass accumulated of some six hundred pages, for it was a current belief that demons were often compelled by god to utter truths concealed from man. these largely took the shape of announcing that the convent would be the source of a reformation, not only of the order but of the whole church; eleven of the nuns were to be the apostles of a new dispensation, one having the spirit of st. peter, another that of st. paul and so forth, while calderon represented christ. they would go forth to redeem the world; when urban viii should die he would be succeeded by cardinal borgia, who would bestow the cardinalate on calderon; then calderon would be pope for thirty-three years and villanueva, who would be made a cardinal, would have a share in the great work. for three years this went on, to the despair of the exorcists; people began to suspect some underlying evil and fray alonso de leon, who had been associated with calderon in the direction and had quarrelled with him, denounced the affair to the inquisition in 1628. calderon's prosecution was ordered: he endeavored to escape to france but was caught at gerona and brought back to toledo for trial. the nuns were all cast into the secret prison, where it was not difficult to extort from their fears such evidence as was wanted. calderon endured without confession three rigorous tortures, but nevertheless he was condemned as an alumbrado, guilty of teaching impeccability and the other heresies ascribed to illuminism. april 27, 1630 he was sentenced to a living death in a cell of the convent designated to receive him. doña teresa was relegated to a convent for four years and the nuns were scattered in different houses.[358] apart from illuminism, there were the consultation of demons and the prophecies of a renovation of the church through a new apostolate. the latter was qualified as a heresy; the former was a debatable point. the six censors appointed by the suprema held that belief in prophecies made by demons was superstitious divination, aggravated by the character of the prophecies and the practice of writing them out; it was no excuse to say that the demon acted as the minister of god, for this could be made to justify all heresies, and even to believe the demon to be the minister of god was superstitious divination.[359] in all this villanueva was compromised. his house adjoined the convent and he was much there, especially at night, after his official duties were over. the conventual discipline became inevitably relaxed and, in the subsequent proceedings, it was in evidence that he had been seen sitting in teresa's lap while she cleaned his hair of insects. he took much interest in the demonic prophecies, especially those which foretold his importance in the church, and he treasured a picture which was drawn of his guardian angel, in which he was represented as a pillar sustaining the church. he took part in interrogating the demons and writing what they said and he kept these writings in his house. this appeared in the evidence taken in the trial of teresa and the nuns and, according to inquisitorial practice, the portions relating to him were extracted and submitted to censors who reported, march 12, 1630, unfavorably; he was an accomplice or, if not, he was at least a fautor of the heresies. then other censors were called in and a junta was held, march 20th, which reduced the finding to his being moderately suspect of having incurred the above censure.[360] there was evidently no desire to attack so influential a personage who was supported by the favor of olivares, and the inquisition carried the matter no further, but doubtless villanueva felt the danger of his position and possibly hints may have reached him of the evidence collected which might at any time be used for the furtherance of some court intrigue. he seems to have hesitated long but finally on january 7, 1632, he presented a self-denunciation to fray antonio de sotomayor, confessor of the king, not as yet inquisitor-general, but a member of the suprema. in this he naturally extenuated matters; he alleged his misplaced confidence in calderon and alonso de leon and professed that, being unable to judge the import of it all, he made the statement in order that the proper remedy might be applied. six months elapsed without action but, in july, five different groups of censors were consulted, whose opinions varied from holding him as an accomplice to declaring him guilty of no mortal sin. july 30th the suprema considered the case and decided that there was no ground for prosecution--one member, however dissenting and voting for further consultation with competent theologians. the majority opinion governed and, on november 22nd, a certificate was duly given to villanueva.[361] [sidenote: _villanueva's case_] he might well congratulate himself on his escape and turn his attention to rehabilitating the unfortunate nuns of san placido. it was well-nigh unexampled that the inquisition should confess fallibility by revoking a judgement and to accomplish it demanded time and perseverance. when all was ready, on february 5, 1638, fray gabriel de bustamente, in the name of the benedictine order, petitioned the suprema to revise the case and that the nuns be set free and restored to their honor. this was referred to nine censors, who reported, april 14th, that the nuns were innocent of anything rendering them amenable to the inquisition; they had merely obeyed their spiritual director and what was guilty in him was innocent in them. to save appearances, however, they added that, if they had acted on the evidence laid before their predecessors, their conclusions would have been identical. the suprema delayed action until october 2nd, when it decided that the imprisonment of the nuns and their sentences should not affect their good name and repute or that of their kindred, monastery, or order. they were thus rehabilitated, the convent was reorganized and, to erase from human memory all that had occurred, in november an edict was published requiring, under severe penalties, the surrender of all relations and copies of the former sentence, many of which were fabulous.[362] as though to secure the future of san placido, a new building was commenced for it by villanueva, in 1641, the cornerstone of which was laid with much ceremony. it was never safe to reckon upon the inquisition. if it could reverse a condemnation, it could reverse an acquittal, especially as st. pius v had decreed that no acquittal for heresy should be held to be _res judicata_ and permanent, whether pronounced by inquisitors, bishops, popes or even the council of trent.[363] for awhile, matters were quiescent. villanueva was receiving fresh proofs of the royal favor. october 27, 1639 philip gave him a seat in the council of war and, on january 16, 1640, granted him additional graces in reward of services performed in aragon. even the fall of his protector olivares, in february, 1643, did not affect his position, for his membership in the council of indies was bestowed on april 23d of that year.[364] yet the disgrace of the chief favorite opened the way to many intrigues and especially to those directed against his return to power, of which, at one time, there seemed much probability. it would be impossible now to assert with absolute certainty what was the direct object sought for in villanueva's ruin, but we may feel confident that, in addition to the desire to divide his spoils, a powerful motive was the wish to get possession of his papers, in the hope of finding in them compromising material for use against olivares. the first attack was skilfully directed against san placido and not against villanueva. sotomayor, the aged inquisitor-general, was forced, as we have seen, to resign on june 20, 1643, although he continued nominally in office until his successor, arce y reynoso, took possession, november 14th. arce had already been designated for the post and, on july 13th, a royal letter informed him that sotomayor had promised to subdelegate to him any cases that the king desired. philip went on to say that the affair of san placido had never ceased to give him concern; the truth had never been ascertained and, as it concerned so greatly the catholic religion, it required a searching and impartial investigation, such as it would receive at arce's hands, wherefore, as soon as he received power from sotomayor, he must undertake it in such wise as would give public satisfaction. the commission from sotomayor followed the same day and comprehended not only the nuns but all persons concerned, whether lay or clerical.[365] the letter was evidently drawn up by arce for the signature of philip, who was but a tool in the hands of the intriguers. with the existence of the monarchy imperilled by three wars at once and the affairs of state disorganized by the sudden removal of the minister who had managed them for twenty years, it is absurd to suppose that he could spontaneously have given a thought to the concern of the little nunnery, the settlement of which had been acquiesced in for five years, or that he had the slightest inkling of what was to follow. that this action was but a pretext is shown by the fact that, although there were some proceedings taken against the nuns, which for several years gave them anxiety, they were allowed without protest to appeal to the pope who, in 1648, committed the case to the bishop of avila, after which it seems to have been dropped, for in 1651 we find them in full enjoyment of their honor.[366] [sidenote: _villanueva's case_] arce had evidently been preparing in advance for the attack on villanueva; on july 15, 1643, he acknowledged the royal commands which he was ready to obey; on july 24th the king sent him an order for all the papers in the case, expressing confidence that he would act as expected from his zeal, rectitude and prudence, and, only two days later, july 26th he wrote to the king that the case of one of the accomplices was ready for definite sentence but, as it involved confirming or setting aside a judgement of the suprema, he hesitated to take the responsibility. he suggested various methods and invoked the angel of the kingdom to bring light from god to aid the king in solving so difficult a problem. to this philip, in total ignorance of what was on foot, replied that he had placed the matter absolutely in arce's hands, who then concluded to let it take the form of an ordinary trial. matters were already so far advanced that although the papers amounted to the enormous bulk of 7,500 folios, by august 27th the fiscal already had his _clamosa_ or indictment prepared and presented. this displays the animus of the matter in being directed, not against the nuns but exclusively against villanueva and the proceedings of 1632 which had acquitted him. then, on september 18th the fiscal asked for the examination of new witnesses and, on january 13, 1644, he demanded that the affair should be submitted to new censors. he recapitulated the charges which we have seen, that villanueva wrote down the utterances of the demons and kept them in his own house, his enquiring into future events dependent upon human free-will, his belief in the demons after experiencing their mendacity, his treasuring the picture of the angel, etc.[367] there was nothing new in all this, but at a time when the inquisition was daily trying and penancing old women for fortune-telling and divination and superstitious practices, which were held to imply what was called a pact with the demon, there was technical ground for villanueva's prosecution, although not for the manner in which it was carried on. the new censors were selected--learned men, we are told, and eminent theologians, many of them professors in toledo and alcalá de henares. a formidable array of twenty-one articles was submitted to them, including not only villanueva's dealings with the demons of san placido but his subsequent dabbling in astrology, through which he used to predict the result of campaigns. the censors could not well hesitate in pronouncing him vehemently suspect in the faith and some even held that those who had signed the exculpation of 1632 should be prosecuted.[368] all this was conducted with the inviolable secrecy of the inquisition, both the king and the intended victim being kept in profound ignorance of what was on foot. [sidenote: _villanueva's case_] the opinions of the censors were furnished at various times up to may 15, 1644 and then the suprema took three and a half months to consider them, until philip was conveniently absent, conducting the campaign in catalonia. after much prayerful thought, we are told, and supplication to god, a sentence of arrest was adopted, august 31st, and executed the same day. two inquisitors, juan ortiz and calaya, went to villanueva's house about 2 p.m., woke him from his siesta, placed him in a coach and hurried him off to toledo, where he was thrust into a narrow cell with a little cot, and kept as usual, strictly _incomunicado_. six keys were found on him, which he said covered papers belonging to the king. he declined to give orders as to his own papers and we are informed that large quantities were found concerning san placido, but there is discreet silence about other matters. that same day and the next there came for him important despatches from the king, which had to be opened by his principal secretary. arce at once wrote to philip announcing the arrest and assuring him that the case would be prosecuted with the utmost desire for the greater service of god. philip's reply is the most abject expression of weakness; the mere assumption that the faith is concerned seems to paralyze his intellect and deprive him of all power of self-assertion. he was completely taken by surprise and expressed his astonishment at such action without consulting him or the queen. villanueva was a minister in two tribunals and also secretary of state, having in his hands papers of the utmost consequence to the kingdom; there was no risk of his flight, nor would philip have interfered had it been his own son, wherefore it was a matter for prior consultation. as it is done, however, he can only order the suprema to act with the sole object of the service of god and exaltation of the holy catholic faith, which are his chief desire and the only purpose of its existence. arce answered this, september 21st, in a tone almost contemptuous. the inviolable secrecy of the inquisition required that no one but the king should be informed of the commencement of the trial of one of the accomplices in the case of the nuns of san placido, which was revived by his command. as to the queen, the arrest was made between one and two o'clock, which was an hour inconvenient for intrusion on her. this would appear sufficient as to giving notice to the king and queen, besides the disadvantage of delay and the risks of correspondence. promptitude was essential and the king's holy zeal always desires that there should be no delay in the affairs of god and the holy faith. when the king returns he can give orders about the papers, which are under lock and key.[369] these were all the reasons that arce deigned to give his sovereign for increasing the confusion of that terrible time by suddenly imprisoning a principal minister of state, for the furtherance of a court intrigue. the arrest of course created much excitement. the council of state promptly presented a consulta, which arce, in his letter to the king, characterized as very remarkable, and it was followed by similar appeals from the other councils of which villanueva was a member--war, indies, aragon, and cruzada. the kingdom of aragon remonstrated with the king in a memorial setting forth the long and faithful services of villanueva, his sudden imprisonment, without allowing time to settle official and personal affairs, and the infamy cast upon all his kindred; in view of the nature of the charges and his character it would have sufficed to assign as a prison his house or a convent, as was frequently done with those of much lower rank. the kingdom begged, for the sake of a family which had so long served it, that while his case was pending he might be restored to his home under sufficient guard and that he might have the benefit of the royal clemency and justice. temperate as was this appeal, it aroused arce's wrath and he expressed to philip a doubt whether it could be genuine, it being so extraordinary and amounting to fautorship, for which the parties should be prosecuted, although the inquisition had not yet done so. appeals to philip's humanity were in vain. although he was speedily recalled to madrid by the illness of the queen, who died october 9th, he made no remonstrance against the unnecessary cruelty shown to villanueva, who was left in his cell, cut off from the world. in september he fell seriously ill and was allowed to have a servant, a youth of his chamber much attached to him, who was not allowed to leave the cell until the trial was concluded.[370] the case followed the ordinary routine, the only new matter introduced being a little book found in his desk, setting forth fortunate and unfortunate days for him as deduced from the letters of his name. over this the censors differed, two of them pronouncing it innocent, while five held it to be included in the prohibitions of the _ars notoria_ as a tacit pact with the demon. villanueva in his defence pleaded his former acquittal and there was a learned discussion, between his advocate and the fiscal, as to the applicability to the case of the bull _inter multiplices_ which defined that in heresy there could never be a final decision in favor of the accused. philip urged despatch on the tribunal but it proceeded with the customary exasperating deliberation. after eighteen months had passed, when philip was holding the córtes of saragossa, the deputies presented, january 18, 1646 an appeal in the name of the kingdom, expressing entire confidence in villanueva's innocence and urging that a period be put to the cruel suspense by the early conclusion of the trial. this was as fruitless as all previous efforts had been; it was not until he had passed two dreary years in his cell that a vote was taken in the case, august 3, 1646. there was general agreement that his sentence, with full details of his offences, should be read in the audience-chamber and not in a public auto de fe, that he should be severely reprimanded and be forbidden to occupy the house which he had built alongside of the convent, but there was discordia as to the number of persons to be present, as to whether or not he should be required to abjure _de levi_--for light suspicion of heresy--and as to banishing him, and there were some who voted for fining and suspending him from office for two years. evidently, at the worst, there was no serious culpability proven and there were probably few courtiers of philip iv against whom superstitions as grave could not have been alleged.[371] [sidenote: _villanueva's case_] in the _estilo_ of the inquisition, when there was discordia in the consulta de fe, the case was referred to the suprema, which thus became the judge. september 1st, villanueva recused one of the members, antonio de aragon, and the recusation was admitted after a hearing. finally, on february 7, 1647, the suprema pronounced sentence; there were to be present in the audience-chamber four ecclesiastics, four frailes, and four laymen; villanueva was to be severely reprimanded and warned, he was to abjure _de levi_, be prohibited from communicating with the nuns or living in the adjoining house and be banished for three years from toledo and madrid and from twenty leagues around them.[372] this sentence may not appear severe but, to understand the rest of the story it must be borne in mind that to be penanced by the inquisition and be required to abjure for even light suspicion of heresy inflicted an ineffaceable stigma, not only on the culprit but on his kindred and posterity. the whole race was involved in infamy and no temporal punishment, however severe, could be so disastrous in its effect upon the honor of a noble family as the blot on its _limpieza_, or purity of blood, resulting from such a sentence. the extreme length to which this was carried will be considered hereafter; at present it suffices to point out that, while villanueva's worldly career was ruined already and his wanton incarceration in the secret prisons had been a severe infliction on him and his kindred, there had still been hope that this might yet be at least partially effaced by an acquittal. penance and abjuration destroyed this hope and, to the spanish noble, no effort was too great to avert so crushing a misfortune. the nature of the sentence must have leaked out, for before its publication by the tribunal of toledo, to which it was sent, the brother and sister of villanueva, agustin the justicia and ana, now abbess of san placido, with luis de torres as proctor of gerónimo, presented an appeal from it to the pope and a recusation of arce y reynoso and of others of the judges. the appeal was not admitted and they were told that the inquisition did not listen to kindred in matters of faith. then, on march 18th, torres, in the name of gerónimo, presented to the tribunal of toledo a recusation of all the inquisitors and fiscals of spain as being dependents of the inquisitor-general. it was all in vain. on march 23d villanueva was brought into the audience-chamber to hear the sentence, but he acted in a manner so disorderly and made such outcries that the publication was suspended--a thing, we are told, unexampled in the history of the inquisition--and the presiding inquisitor ordered the alcaide to take that man back to his cell. he recused every one who had acted as judge and appealed to the pope, to the king, and to any other competent judge.[373] the tribunal consulted the suprema and was ordered to execute the sentence. another attempt was made on march 29th, but villanueva refused to abjure and this was repeated on several subsequent occasions, in spite of warnings of the excommunication that would follow persistent obstinacy. at length, on june 7th, he offered to abjure under a protest, which he presented in writing, to the effect that he did so through fear of the censures and without prejudice to his appeal or other recourse that he might take and, on this protest being publicly read, he made the abjuration.[374] he was not set at liberty, but was transferred from the secret prison to the franciscan convent, the tribunal giving as a reason his outcries and the disturbance that he made. this leniency the suprema disapproved and, in a few days, he was remanded to the secret prison, where he was treated with much rigor. on june 18th he was notified that the fiscal accused him of contumacy for not complying simply with his sentence and, on july 18th, he made the abjuration and was released. there is an intimation that he withdrew the recusation and appeal, but the statement is not clear, though it is quite possible that means were found to effect it. john huss was burnt for refusing to abjure; a bull of martin v, quoted by the inquisition, authorized the prosecution and relaxation of suspects who refuse to abjure and there is probably truth in a contemporary statement that the fiscal of the suprema went to toledo and threatened villanueva that he would be publicly stripped of his habit as a knight of calatrava and be relaxed to the secular arm for burning.[375] he was helpless in the hands of those who would shrink from nothing to accomplish their ends; they had gone too far to hesitate now and his power of endurance was exhausted. [sidenote: _villanueva's case_] meanwhile his brother agustin had not been idle. in several interviews with the king he had presented memorials which philip forwarded to arce, march 27th, exhorting him to observe justice but to take care that the severity and authority of the inquisition do not suffer. he added that the memorials showed that the secrecy of the inquisition had been violated; this must be investigated and exemplary punishment be administered.[376] there was no hope of justice in this quarter and agustin turned to rome as a last resort. don joseph navarro, who is spoken of as secretary, a devoted follower of villanueva, was despatched thither to procure a brief and was doubtless well provided with funds. his errand soon was known and, on june 7th, philip wrote to his ambassador, the count of oñate, to use every means to prevent the granting of the brief and, if issued, to procure its revocation; a personal note to the pope, at the same time, pointed out the irreparable injury which the admission of the appeal would cause to the holy catholic faith and the free exercise of the inquisition. communications were slow for, on july 26th, oñate reported the arrival of navarro and asked for instructions.[377] navarro found little difficulty in obtaining the desired brief, in spite of oñate's efforts. villanueva seems to have awaited it, while recuperating in retirement from his three years' incarceration and final struggles. when it arrived he went to saragossa, which he reached august 31st. his coming aroused many fears, for people thought it might be the prelude to a bloody drama, like that of antonio pérez. on september 2nd he presented himself at the prison of manifestacion, where bail was entered for him by the sons of his brother agustin and of the count of fuentes, after which he applied for a firma, to protect him from molestation during the course of his appeal, which was duly granted. he was given the city--or as some said the kingdom--as a prison and, on september 4th the bishop of málaga, who was captain-general, reported to the count of haro, philip's new minister, that the city was quiet and there was nothing to fear. the bishop enclosed a letter of september 1st from villanueva to the king, announcing that, during his imprisonment, his representatives, without his knowledge, had appealed to the pope, who had granted a brief empowering either the bishop of cuenca, segovia or calahorra, to hear the case in appeal and to render a final decision. while anxious for this means of obtaining justice, he would desist from it if such were the royal pleasure; the brief had not been presented to either of the prelates, nor would it be without the royal licence.[378] arce had already been informed of the brief and had lost no time in taking steps to neutralize it. on september 3rd orders were sent to the bishop of calahorra--and doubtless to the others--ordering him not to receive it. he promptly replied that it had not been presented, but that if it should come he would refuse to accept or to execute it, trusting to the royal protection against all penalties that it might contain; he had been connected with the inquisition and knew its justice with regard to villanueva and, if these appeals to rome were allowed, the consequences to the catholic religion would be lamentable.[379] apparently the spanish episcopate had small reverence for the vicegerent of god. [sidenote: _villanueva's case_] the leading statesmen of spain took a different view. a junta had been assembled to consider the situation, of which five members out of six (including the president of castile and the commissioner-general of the cruzada) united in a consulta of september 15th. this set forth that when the toledo tribunal sentenced villanueva he had a right of appeal to the suprema; he presented reasons for recusing the inquisitor-general and some of the members and was denied a hearing; he was seized again for the protest and appeal and held until he accepted the sentence and renounced all defence. he was thus forced to have recourse to the pope, whose jurisdiction is supreme in matters of faith and is the source of that of all inquisitors. in ordinary cases three decisions in conformity [through appeals] are required to render a sentence conclusive, while here, in a case involving the honor of a whole family, the single sentence of an inferior tribunal is all that has been allowed. villanueva did not violate his sentence in going to saragossa, for it required him not to come within twenty leagues of the court, and he had gone away fifty leagues. he was justified in applying for the firma, for the right of appeal includes the means necessary to enjoy the appeal. the inquisitor-general should be instructed not to order his arrest for, besides that no man should be deprived of his defence, it might cause some disturbance in saragossa, under pretext of a violation of the fueros, for it is notorious that he was discharged by the inquisition. there are two courses open--one to solicit the pope to withdraw the brief; the other that the fiscal of the suprema apply for it and then retain it; but these raise the scruple that a man struggling for his honor and that of his family is denied all defence, after he has been forced to seek it beyond the kingdom and moreover, in the disturbed condition of naples [then in revolt under masaniello], it is well not to offend the pope, who might cause the loss of the italian possessions of spain. the sixth member of the junta, the licenciado francisco antonio de alarcon, denounced villanueva as guilty for going to another kingdom [aragon]; he was impeding the inquisition and inviting the papal interference which would destroy its usefulness; the fiscal should demand the papal brief and the council should retain it.[380] the opinion of the junta doubtless prevented the re-arrest and renewed prosecution of villanueva, which was evidently contemplated, but otherwise all reasons of justice and reasons of state were wasted on philip, who was completely under the domination of arce y reynoso and ready to rush blindly into a contest with rome. equally fruitless was an appeal, made september 23rd, by agustin villanueva, who furnished a list of cases in which appeals to the pope had been admitted.[381] a warning came from oñate, who wrote, december 17th and again february 12, 1648, that navarro was busily utilizing the impediments thrown in the way of the brief to procure another, that the curia attributed all the trouble to arce, that the delay was producing a bad impression and that there was serious talk in the congregation of the inquisition of disciplining him for it. this brought from philip, march 17th, a rambling and inconsequential letter, scolding oñate for his lack of success and urging him to fresh efforts; the brief was invalid as being obreptitious and surreptitious; navarro was ordered home and oñate must see that he left rome forthwith. letters, moreover, to the pope and the cardinals in the spanish interest, drawn up by the suprema and signed by philip, manifest how every influence that spain possessed was employed to deprive villanueva of his last resource.[382] innocent x, in fact, had grown indignant at the opposition to his brief and had transmitted through his nuncio another to arce, forbidding all further resistance under pain of deprivation of the inquisitor-generalship, suspension of all functions and interdiction from entering a church, while other officials would be removed from office and excommunicated. to this arce replied, march 12th, assuring the pope that the case had been suspended awaiting the papal decision, and representing, what he knew to be also false, that for a hundred and fifty years the popes had refused to entertain appeals or had revoked the briefs and remanded the cases to the inquisitor-general. the authority of the inquisition, he argued, was now more necessary than ever, in consequence of the spread of judaism and heresy. villanueva had been treated with extreme kindness and benignity, as would be learned from a person about to be sent to inform the pope, wherefore he begged that the case be remitted to him and the suprema.[383] this was a typical specimen of inquisitorial methods of mis-representation and of evasion--of practical but not open disobedience. innocent, however, was not to be thus juggled with. he had substituted the bishop of sigüenza for him of cuenca. then the bishop of segovia died and calahorra was transferred to pampeluna, whereupon further letters commissioned sigüenza, pampeluna and the bishop-elect of segovia, but pampeluna died and was replaced by the bishop of avila, so finally a brief of april, 1648 ordered avila, sigüenza and segovia to act, on their obedience and under penalty of suspension from all functions and of ingress to their churches. they all refused the dangerous office, under various excuses, but the nuncio brought great pressure to bear on avila and he finally accepted. it is noteworthy, however, that villanueva never presented himself before the bishop, either in person or by procurator, to have the case reopened.[384] [sidenote: _villanueva's case_] the matter was evidently growing serious and juntas were held, july 14th and august 27th, to consider the situation. as the latter was presided over by arce, whom philip had made president of castile, so as to increase his powers of evil, it decided that the king should not submit to the abuses of the curia in a matter in which the catholic religion was at stake.[385] philip scarce needed urging, but it was not until november 5th that he took the offensive by sending don pedro de minerbe, of the royal council, to seize the brief, in whomsoever's hands it might be, and any others that villanueva might have procured, together with all papers relating to it. these were to be considered by a junta to be assembled for the purpose so that, if they did not contravene the privileges of the inquisition, they might be executed and, if otherwise, that his holiness should be advised of it and be supplicated to revoke them. any notaries who had served the briefs were to be arrested and imprisoned with a view to their prosecution.[386] minerbe fulfilled his mission, but the time had passed when ferdinand and charles v had treated papal letters thus irreverently. philip iv was a prince of very different caliber and his tottering monarchy inspired but little respect. arce felt the danger of his position, for innocent had threatened him with deposition if the execution of the brief was impeded and an explosion of papal wrath was inevitable. he sought shelter in playing a double game and, on january 19, 1649, he presented to philip a report as to cases which had been evoked by the pope. in this, after citing a number, he added that there were many more recent ones in which the cases and papers had been demanded and the demands had been obeyed, notably in 1626 and 1627; these proved the subordination of the spanish inquisition to rome and even without them the papal supremacy was incontestable; villanueva's appeal was directly to the pope, whom all the faithful were bound to obey.[387] having thus placed himself on the record, doubtless with the royal connivance, he felt free to repeat his assertions that papal interference was unprecedented and to urge his master to stand fast. the suprema had sent its fiscal cabrera to rome on this business and his efforts, added to those of oñate, were inclining innocent to yield, when the news came of the seizure of the briefs. the papal displeasure was extreme and there was no hesitation in taking up the gage of battle. it had become a struggle for independence on the one side and for supremacy on the other, which had to be fought out, for there was no ground for compromise. all the advantage was on the side of the curia in the contest thus rashly provoked; it knew this and its next move showed that it felt assured of victory. a brief of march 1st recited the preliminaries of the case and then evoked it from the inquisition and the bishops to the apostolic see. perpetual silence was imposed on the inquisition, the inquisitor-general and other officials, any action by whom would bring upon them, _ipso facto_ and without further sentence, perpetual and irrevocable suspension from divine service, the exercise of pontifical functions and ingress into churches, together with deprivation of their offices and ecclesiastical revenues. moreover, within three months after notice of this, they were to transmit to rome all papers and documents, public and private, concerning villanueva, under the same penalties, and finally all bulls, from those of alexander vi onward, concerning appeals were derogated.[388] the suprema might well characterize to philip this document as containing extraordinary and unusual clauses and it could only suggest to him the favorite spanish formula, _obedecer y no cumplir_--to obey and not to execute. the first thing done was the customary supplication to the pope to withdraw it, based on the laws of the kingdom and the high deserts of the holy office. this was done in such haste that there was no time to make a clean copy and it was despatched by a courier, april 24th. this gave breathing time, and more was gained by representing that it was impossible to trust the originals of the documents to the risks of transportation and that the copying of them would consume much more than the three months allowed, as the secretaries were busy and the records so voluminous that they occupied more than eight thousand pages--a gross exaggeration for when copied they amounted only to forty-six hundred. this served for the present, however, and successive postponements were obtained.[389] [sidenote: _villanueva's case_] the supplication against the brief was of course useless and the papal anger increased on learning that villanueva's salaries had all been stopped--a petty persecution most unwise under the circumstances. at this time a curious incident was a memorial from villanueva, may 23rd, asking that his case be heard by the council of castile--although that body could not assume jurisdiction in such a matter. it was probably a despairing effort to find some exit from the complication, for philip transmitted it to the council, with some subsidiary papers, to be considered in the junta which he had ordered and a consults to be presented to him.[390] it of course had no result, but it indicates the perplexities with which the situation had become surrounded. these perplexities were increased by a demand from innocent for satisfaction for the treatment of his brief to the bishop of avila. a junta was assembled which could do nothing but refer it to the suprema and the latter could only reply with a consulta of july 15th, exculpating itself for paying no regard to villanueva's appeal. nor did it succeed much better in a paper, drawn up july 17th, for the benefit of the duke del infantado, the new ambassador to rome, for it could only recite the old briefs granting exclusive jurisdiction and endeavor to explain away as exceptional the cases in which the pope had insisted on his rights. all this, however, was felt to be useless and there was preparation for war in instructions sent to the sea-ports to keep close watch on all vessels arriving from italy, when, if there appeared to be papal agents or notaries among the passengers, their baggage was to be minutely examined and any papal briefs addressed to bishops or judges were to be sent to the secretary of state and the bearers were to be held until further orders--this being done with the utmost secrecy and as if in the ordinary routine of business. the precaution proved superfluous, but in december the duke del infantado reported that his efforts and cabrera's had been in vain; the pope insisted that the process should be brought to rome.[391] on the plea of the time required for copying, successive postponements had been obtained, the latest of which expired in april, 1650. the pope was becoming more and more impatient, especially as no satisfaction had been given for the seizure of the brief to the bishop of avila, nor had it been returned as he demanded. february 5th orders were sent to the nuncio that, if the papers were not forthcoming in april, the full penalties of the brief of evocation must be inflicted, and due notice of this was given to arce. these penalties withdrew all functions from the inquisitor-general and suprema--abrogated their offices, in fact--and the friends of villanueva were busy collecting evidence of their being at work so as to prove to innocent the disregard of his withdrawal of faculties. the gravity of the situation is reflected in a consulta presented to philip at this time, weighing the courses that might be followed and hinting at a possible schism as the result of the king's standing firm in defence of the inquisition. to avert this it is hoped that a further delay may be obtained and the pope be placated by returning the avila brief. the plan finally adopted of offering to send the papers and letting the king detain them was deprecated because the pope would see through it, and the blame of the perilous situation was thrown on the spanish cardinals whose indifference was ascribed to their belief that the king favored villanueva.[392] arce's court intrigue had brought matters to such a pass that the sundering of spain from catholic unity was looming on the horizon. on april 8th, the archbishop of tarsus, the papal nuncio, made a formal demand on the king for the papers; the latest term of delay had expired and the penalties for contumacy would operate of themselves. the policy of delay was still followed and, on may 2nd, arce notified the nuncio that the copying was completed--two secretaries and five other officials had been working on them for twelve or fourteen hours a day--but in view of certain risks it was thought better to wait till the pope should indicate how they should be sent. the nuncio asked for a formal certificate that the papers were ready, on the strength of which he would ask the pope for instructions, and thus a month or two were gained.[393] [sidenote: _villanueva's case_] this was all mere playing for time. there was no intention of letting the papers go to rome for, on april 24th, the king sent secret instructions to infantado to avert it, but he replied june 27th and again july 26th, that innocent refused all suggestions and there was little hope of an adjustment. then another scene of the comedy was acted, september 14th, by issuing a formal order to forward the papers and, on the 16th they were delivered to damian de fonolleda, notary of the tribunal of barcelona, in five volumes aggregating 4600 pages. there was no intention of sending them, however, and fonolleda was detained in madrid until november 5th. meanwhile a junta, assembled for the purpose, presented a consulta, september 24th, setting forth that in no case should the papers be allowed to leave the kingdom and suggesting as a compromise that the matter be decided by three bishops sitting in the suprema, without arce and the members. innocent of course rejected this and fonolleda was allowed to depart on november 5th. in due time he reported his arrival at valencia and was instructed to take passage by the first vessel and deliver the papers to the pope, but before he could obey this order it was countermanded and he was told to wait. meanwhile the suprema, to keep itself right on the record and avert the papal wrath, addressed to philip on september 16th, october 3rd and 19th and january 23rd and february 4, 1651, repeated requests to allow the messenger to sail.[394] this transparent by-play did not deceive innocent. cabrera had an audience, january 8, 1651, and told him that fonolleda was only waiting for a vessel, to which the pope replied that he had been in spain and knew how things were managed there--there was collusion between the king and inquisitor-general. he added that he bore ill-will to villanueva, of whom he had had to complain, and would probably punish him more severely than the inquisition had done, to which cabrera replied that this was a matter of indifference, for all that the inquisition wanted was to close the door on these appeals. the tension was becoming dangerous for, on february 18th, the nuncio notified arce that he and the suprema had incurred the penalties of the brief of evocation, that they could not be absolved until the papers reached rome and that still stronger measures would be adopted. when arce attempted to explain, the nuncio told him that the pope would abolish the inquisition, to which arce rejoined that god would not permit him to do so. in reporting this to philip, arce recapitulated the heavy penalties incurred _ipso facto_, adding that if the pope should publish such a sentence there would be scandal and discredit to the inquisition, wherefore, in the name of the suprema, he begged, as had frequently been asked before, that there should be no further delay in fonolleda's departure. of this a certificate was asked for transmission to the pope, as was likewise a supplication of much urgency from the suprema on march 1st.[395] this was all purely for papal consumption. philip himself was beginning to hesitate and, on march 2nd, he ordered the council of state to consider the tenacity with which the pope was insisting upon his encroachment on the regalías and the privileges of the inquisition. arce at once took the alarm and, in a memorial to the king, he sought earnestly to dissuade him from yielding. he repeated the falsehood that, for a hundred and fifty years, there had not been an instance of the pope disregarding the royal wishes, and reminded him that he had declared that he would rather lose his crown than allow the case to go to rome. now he learns that the king, in consultation with the council, has resolved to let the papers go to infantado with instructions not to deliver them or to ask the pope to return the package without opening it; it is folly to believe that he would do so and such precedent will be ruin to the inquisition.[396] in this memorial, arce alludes to a papal command, received some time before, to retire to his see of plasencia, from which he had been absent for eight years--a favorite method, as we have seen, of getting rid of a troublesome inquisitor-general. the command had been disregarded and now it was emphatically repeated. philip complained to his ambassador that this was even more offensive than the evocation of villanueva's case; it would result in irretrievable damage to religion and to the state; he had asked the nuncio to suspend the order and now he requests the pope to accept arce's resignation of his bishopric and pass the bulls of presentation for his successor. innocent was too shrewd to forfeit his hold on his antagonist; he played fast and loose with the resignation until he had carried his point and it was not until december 2, 1652, that it was accepted and arce's successor, the bishop of zamora, was preconized. arce lost his see, but he gratefully acknowledged that philip's liberality was such that he could forego the revenues. it must have cost the king dear, for plasencia was one of the wealthy sees, estimated, in 1612, as worth forty thousand ducats a year.[397] [sidenote: _villanueva's case_] in spite of arce's remonstrance, philip yielded to the advice of his counsellors. in a letter of april 11, 1651, he announced to infantado that orders have been given to fonolleda to sail and deliver to him the papers. then, with an earnestness that betrays the cost of the sacrifice, the duke is told to refresh his memory with all the arguments advanced in previous despatches and, when thus fully prepared, he is to seek an audience and express the king's mortification at being forced to submit to an innovation so unexampled and so subversive of the rights of the inquisition. if this fails to move the pope, he is to ask that the process be returned unopened, when the inquisition will revise the case. if this is unsuccessful he is to request that the case be referred back to the three bishops. in the event of the rejection of these proposals, the process is to be laid at the pope's feet with an exhortation to consider, before opening it, the disfavor shown to the royal person and to the kingdom of spain, in the sight of all christendom.[398] philip was fairly beaten. if his humiliation was extreme it was because he had attributed such absurd adventitious importance to the question and had staked everything on a struggle in which the papacy had unquestionable right on its side. there was nothing left for him but retreat and, with curious infelicity born of weakness and obstinacy, he contrived to render his defeat as undignified as possible. permission to sail was issued to fonolleda, april 14th, but it was not until september 17th that infantado reported that he had delivered the process to the pope with the hope that it would be speedily returned without being read by the ministers, or at least by more than one. it suited the spaniards subsequently to assert that a promise had been given that the package should not be opened, but such a promise would have been grotesque and this letter shows that at most there was some assurance that a knowledge of the contents would be confined to a few. at the same time there can be no wonder that the inquisition felt acutely the disgrace of having such a record exposed to unfriendly eyes, and the effort to get the papers back commenced at once. as early as october 31st, infantado reports his efforts to accomplish this, but as yet without success.[399] infantado was replaced by the count of oropesa, whose letter of instructions, april 23, 1652, orders him to pay special attention to the matter. innocent had committed it to cardinals lugo and albizi, but in june he stated to cardinal trivulzio, then the representative of spain, that he had given much labor to it and had recognized in it contradictions and variations, leading him to the conviction that it was a matter of vindictiveness. he refused to return the papers, but did not care to intervene personally in the case and thought he might delegate it to some bishops.[400] now that he had vindicated his jurisdiction he evidently felt little interest in what he regarded as merely an intrigue. nothing further was done until, october 12th, innocent addressed two briefs, one to the king and the other to arce. it is evident that the acquittal in 1632 and the condemnation in 1647 had excited no little comment in rome, for in these briefs great surprise is expressed at the mutability in the opinions of calificadores, consultors and judges, such as might be expected of the populace but not of learned and thoughtful men. to soften this reproof some expressions followed highly commending the inquisition as the ornament and protection of spain and, to the king, innocent added that, owing to the importance and prolixity of the case, he had not been able to reach a conclusion. the nuncio, however, in handing his brief to arce, told him that the pope had concluded to place the case at the disposition of the king and that the papers had been returned to trivulzio in rome. arce was radiant with triumph; cabrera had reported the same and petitioned to be allowed to return and nothing remained but to get the papers back. they did not come, however, nor any brief recommitting the case; arce grew anxious and begged the king, january 4, 1653, to urge trivulzio to obtain them.[401] innocent either was taking malicious pleasure in exciting hopes and then disappointing them or else he was using the position to obtain diplomatic advantage in the growing tension between the courts over the barberino marriage of the grand-daughter of his brother--a transaction in which he complained that the spanish ministers had almost threatened him and that no present had been sent on the occasion. cabrera's letters of december, 1652 and the first half of 1653 report a series of tergiversations and of promises made and broken by innocent which show that to him villanueva was merely a pawn in the game between rome and madrid.[402] [sidenote: _villanueva's case_] villanueva died in saragossa, july 21, 1653. in his will, executed the day before, he made ample provision for the salvation of his soul, and san placido was in his mind to the last, for he appointed as its patron his nephew gerónimo and his descendants, or in their default his niece margarita and her descendants, they being the principal heirs of his large estate. the only change which this brought into the affair was that the inquisition proposed to take advantage of the opportunity to commence a new prosecution against his fame and memory--apparently with the double purpose of vindicating its jurisdiction and, by sequestrating his property, of restraining the family, who continued their efforts in rome for a vindication. fortunately for them, alexander vii, who saw in such action an invasion of his jurisdiction, prohibited, in 1656, this cowardly profanation of the ashes of the dead and when, with quenchless malignity, arce, in 1659, sought to get this prohibition removed, the attempt was unsuccessful.[403] it is scarce worth while to follow in detail the further weary progress of this affair, in which spanish tenacity was pitted against the wily diplomacy of rome. pertinacious efforts continued for years to get the case remitted back, or at least to have the papers returned, in order to create the belief that it had been remitted. stimulated by energetic instructions of august 24, 1658 from philip, his ambassador gaspar de sobremonte had a stormy interview with alexander vii, in which the pope finally told him that the case had never been considered by the congregation of the inquisition and that the king must content himself with the brief of october 12, 1652. to this sobremonte retorted that that brief settled nothing, when the pope said vaguely that he would see whether any satisfaction could be given to the inquisition. so it continued until alexander, grown weary of the urgency which promised to be interminable, cut it short, march 29, 1660, by a brief to the king in which he said that the case had been finally concluded by innocent x, as appeared from his letters to philip and arce of march 12 (october 12, 1652). there was nothing more to be said about it, as would be fully explained by the archbishop of corinth, the nuncio, to whom full credit was to be given.[404] this ended the case which, from its inception in 1628, had lasted for thirty-two years. cabrera had spent nearly twelve years in rome and had richly earned the bishopric of salamanca which rewarded his labors, but his efforts while there had cost the suprema nearly a hundred thousand ducats, at a time when it was representing itself as wholly impoverished. arce had succeeded in removing villanueva from the court and in blackening his memory, but the victory remained with the papacy, which had vindicated its appellate jurisdiction, for, although it never decided the case it retained possession of it and the papers which were the symbol of its rights. with its customary unscrupulousness, the suprema endeavored to evade the precedent when, in 1668, it was alleged in the quarrel with the bishop of majorca (vol. i, p. 501). in a consulta of that year it gives a summary of the case up to the delivery of the papers to the pope, who then, it proceeds to state, sent a brief full of favors to arce, approving of villanueva's sentence and the method of procedure; there was, it is true, an irregularity in allowing the papers to remain in rome, but the pope excused himself because the originals were in spain; the evil example led several powerful men to seek appeals to the holy see, but the pope refused to entertain them, recognizing that it was injurious to the faith. when, in the same quarrel, it boasted of the bulls which it held prohibiting appeals, the council of aragon pointed out that the popes always preserved their reserved rights by a clause excepting cases in which they should insert in their letters the text of the bulls thus derogated.[405] [sidenote: _bourbon resistance_] in the subsequent quarrel with the canons and clergy of majorca, in 1671 (vol. i, p. 503) the latter appealed to the holy see, under the brief obtained in 1642, and procured letters declaring void the excommunications fulminated by the tribunal and valid those uttered by the executors of the brief. the nuncio exhibited these letters to the inquisitor-general with a paper arguing that these appeals should be allowed and asking, in case there was a privilege or regalía to the contrary, that it should be shown to him. this was a test which the suprema could not meet and, after a long delay, it sent, june 11, 1676, to the king all the documents bearing on the subject and asked him to assemble a junta to consider them and advise him what to do. it must have been impossible to solve the question favorably for, in a consulta of july 28, 1693, on the occasion of a fresh disturbance, it expressed its profound regret that the junta had failed to reach any conclusion.[406] * * * * * two centuries of bickering thus left the holy see in possession of its imprescriptible jurisdiction, but the bourbons were less reverential than the hapsburgs. in 1705, the hostility of the papacy led philip v to forbid the publication of papal briefs without the royal exequatur and to prohibit all appeals to rome. he held his ground in spite of the furious manifestos of monroy, archbishop of santiago, proving that obedience was due to the pope rather than to the king, and the more temperate argumentation of cardinal belluga, then bishop of cartagena.[407] we hear little after this of appeals of individuals and, indeed, the experience of villanueva, while apparently a defeat for the inquisition, was in reality a victory, for it showed how hopeless was the contest of a prisoner against the whole power of the inquisition and of the crown. even when the holy see had the advantage of being in possession of the person in dispute it could only fight a drawn battle, as in the case of manuel aguirre who, in 1737, escaped from the prison of the inquisition, made his way to rome, and presented his appeal in person. when the curia demanded the papers necessary for his trial, the inquisitor-general orbe y larrategui did not in terms deny the papal rights but argued that the inquisition was privileged to conclude a case before forwarding the papers for review and offered that, if the holy see would return the prisoner, his flight should not be held to aggravate his offence and in due time all the desired information would be furnished to rome. the acceptance of such a proposition was impossible, but the papacy was in no position to contest the matter. after the death of orbe, in 1740, the curia took the case up again for discussion, but the only course open seemed to be to instruct the nuncio to persuade the inquisition to obedience and we may safely conclude that aguirre escaped without a trial.[408] the ecclesiastical organizations, as in the majorca cases, were in better position to engage in such conflicts, but philip v was as little disposed as his predecessors to permit them. the multitudinous quarrels over suppressed prebends and the benefices held by officials of the inquisition had always been a fruitful source of such appeals and the curia was never loath to entertain them. a typical case was that of francisco vélez frias, private secretary of inquisitor-general camargo, who obtained the dignity of precentor in the cathedral of valladolid, much to the disgust of the chapter. it applied to the inquisitor-general for the papers in the case, alleging that it would reply, but returned them without comment and appealed to rome, where it obtained a rescript from benedict xiii, committing the case to an auditor of the camera and inhibiting the inquisitor-general from its cognizance. when philip was informed of this he intervened in the spirit of ferdinand. by his order the marquis de la compuesta wrote to the dean and chapter, june 19, 1728, expressing in vigorous terms the royal displeasure at an act so offensive to the inquisitor-general, whose jurisdiction in such matters was exclusive, and so contrary to the will of the king and to his regalías. they were ordered, without making a reply, to abandon the appeal and to apply to the inquisitor-general and the suprema who would render justice in the case. it is safe to assume that they did not venture to disobey.[409] the papacy of the eighteenth century was in no position to contest the growing independence of the temporal powers, while the revival of spain under the bourbons rendered hopeless any struggle against the resolve of the monarchs to regulate the internal affairs of the kingdom. yet in this the holy see was deprived of its inviolable rights, for the latest authoritative utterance of the church, in the year 1899, tells us that it is an article of faith that the roman pontiff is the supreme judge of the faithful and that in all ecclesiastical cases recourse may be had to him. it is therefore forbidden, under pain of excommunication, to appeal from him to a future council or to impede in any way the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, whether in the internal or external forum. moreover it is against right reason to exalt human power over spiritual power, which is supreme over all powers.[410] book iv. organization. chapter i. the inquisitor-general and supreme council. the superior efficiency of the spanish inquisition was largely due to its organization. the scattered subordinate tribunals, which dealt directly with the accused, were not independent, as in the old papal inquisition, but were under the control of a central head, consisting of the inquisitor-general and a council which, for the sake of brevity, we have called the suprema. it has been seen how ferdinand and isabella, after a few years' experience, obtained from the holy see the appointment of torquemada as inquisitor-in-chief with power of delegating his faculties and of removing his delegates--a power which gave him absolute control. at first the commission of the inquisitor-general was held to require renewal at the death of the pope who issued it, although, in the old inquisition, after considerable discussion, it was decided, in 1290, by nicholas iv, in the bull _ne aliqui_, that the commissions of inquisitors were permanent.[411] this formality was subsequently abandoned and, towards the close of the sixteenth century, the commissions were granted _ad beneplacitum_--during the good pleasure of the holy see--and this continued until the end.[412] similarly there was a question whether the powers of the inquisitors lapsed on the death of the inquisitor-general. when mercader of aragon died, in 1516, the suprema, in conveying the news to the tribunals, instructed them to go on with their work; in some places the secular authorities assumed that they were no longer in office, a royal letter had to be procured to prevent interference with them, and, when cardinal adrian was appointed, he confirmed their faculties.[413] it became customary for each new inquisitor-general to renew the commissions on his accession, but as there frequently was a considerable interval, the question arose whether, during that time, all the acts both of the suprema and the tribunals were not invalid. in 1627 it was concluded that they held delegated power directly from the pope and not from the inquisitor-general, so that their faculties were continuous.[414] this was a forced construction, somewhat derogatory to the authority of the inquisitor-general, and was upset in 1639, when the suprema decided that the inquisitor-general could confer powers only during his own life and therefore each one on his accession confirmed the appointments of all officials during his pleasure, which continued to be the formula employed.[415] this left open the question of the interregnum, which seems to have been somewhat forcibly settled by necessity, as when giudice resigned in 1716 and his successor, joseph de molines, was serving as auditor of the rota in rome. the suprema, in notifying the tribunals of his appointment, told them that, until his arrival in madrid, they were to continue their functions.[416] [sidenote: _the suprema acquires power_] as regards the suprema, it would appear at first to have been merely a consultative body. i have already alluded to the case in which torquemada ferociously overruled the acts of the tribunal of medina del campo, acting autocratically and without reference to the council, as though it had no executive functions. neither had it legislative powers. the earlier instructions were issued in the name of the inquisitor-general and, when he desired consultation and advice in the framing of general regulations, he did not confer with the council, but assembled the inquisitors and assessors of the tribunals, who discussed the questions and formulated the rules of procedure, as in the instructions of valladolid, in 1488.[417] the crown, in fact, was the ultimate arbiter for, in the supplementary instructions of 1485, inquisitors were directed, when doubtful matters were important, to report to the sovereigns for orders.[418] it was the inquisitor-general also who held the all-important power of the purse. the instructions of avila in 1498, still issued in the name of torquemada, fix the salaries of all the officials of the tribunals and add that, when the inquisitors-general see that there is necessity or especial labor, they can make such _ayudas de costa_, or gratuities, as they deem proper.[419] it was inevitable, however, that the council should acquire power. torquemada was aging and, although at this period the tribunals acted independently, convicting culprits and holding autos de fe at their discretion, yet he held appellate jurisdiction, which doubtless brought a larger amount of business than he could attend to individually, in addition to his other functions. cases also must have been frequent in which the _consultas de fe_, or juntas of experts called in to assist in pronouncing judgement, were not unanimous, or where there were doubts which the local judges felt incompetent to decide. thus we are told that, in the gathering of inquisitors at valladolid, in 1488, there was full discussion as to the difficulties arising from the incompetence or insufficient number of the consultors, and it was resolved that when there was doubt or _discordia_ (the technical name for lack of unanimity) the fiscal of the tribunal should bring the papers to torquemada, who would refer them to the suprema or to such of its members as he might designate--thus indicating how completely its powers were derived from him and how subordinate was its position.[420] as torquemada grew more infirm, even though four colleagues were adjoined to him, the importance of the suprema increased, as is seen in the 1498 instructions of avila, where this provision wears the altered form that when difficult or doubtful questions arise in the tribunals, the inquisitors are to consult the suprema and bring or send the papers when so ordered.[421] [sidenote: _inquisitor-general and supreme council_] when torquemada passed away, in the absence of his vigorous personality, the council rapidly became a determining factor in the organization. in 1499 and in 1503, instructions of a general character, although signed by one inquisitor-general, also bear the signatures of two or three members of the council and are countersigned by the secretary "por mandado de los señores del consejo." a decree of november 15, 1504, although signed by deza alone, bears that it is with the concurrence, opinion and vote of the council.[422] it was also assuming the appellate jurisdiction, for it announced to inquisitors, january 10, 1499, that, if any parties came before it with appeals, it would hear them and administer what it deemed to be justice.[423] if papal confirmation of this were lacking it was supplied by leo x, in his bull of august 1, 1516, in which he conferred on members of the council, in conjunction with the inquisitor-general, power to act in all appeals arising from cases of faith.[424] the death of ferdinand, january 23, 1516, the preoccupations of ximenes who, till his death in november, 1517, was governor of spain, and the youth and inexperience of charles v, gave the suprema an opportunity of enlarging its functions. we find it regulating details and giving instructions to the tribunals much after the fashion of ferdinand himself.[425] this was facilitated by the fact that it had a president of its own who, during vacancies, acted as inquisitor-general, a practice apparently commenced in 1509 when ximenes, on the eve of his departure with his expedition to oran, was required by ferdinand to appoint the archbishop of granada, francisco de rojas, president of the council during his absence.[426] [sidenote: _the suprema has a president_] the suprema, with a permanent president of its own, was evidently well fitted to encroach on the functions of the inquisitor-general and, as policy varied with regard to this presidency, it is perhaps worth while to follow such indications as we can find with regard to it. in 1516 martin zurbano was president of the supreme councils of both castile and aragon and, in the interval between the death of mercader and the accession of cardinal adrian, he acted as inquisitor-general of aragon.[427] in 1520, when charles at coruña was departing from spain, he appointed francisco de sosa, bishop of almería, as president. in 1522, cardinal adrian on august 5th, the day of his departure from tarragona for rome, appointed garcia de loaysa, the future inquisitor-general, president of the councils of both castile and aragon.[428] it was inevitable that questions should arise as to the comparative standing of such an official and the inquisitor-general. sosa, as president, had a salary of 200,000 maravedís, while adrian as inquisitor-general had only 150,000, the same as the other members of the council.[429] this implied superiority and it was evidently necessary to enforce subordination as when, in 1539, cardinal tavera was made inquisitor-general and fernando valdés president, the latter was told that he was not in any way to modify the orders of the former. so when, in 1549, valdés succeeded tavera and fernando niño, bishop of sigüenza, became president, charles v wrote to him from brussels, march 26th, that he was to obey the instructions given to valdés on his accession.[430] it was doubtless found that this duplicate headship led to trouble, and the position of president was allowed to lapse for, in 1598, páramo tells us that the inquisitor-general was president.[431] in 1630 philip iv proposed to revive it under the title of governor of the suprema, but the council protested, arguing that it had from the beginning functioned successfully without such a head; if the office had no special prerogatives, it would be superfluous; if it had, there would be collisions with the inquisitor-general; in either case, the innovation would be regarded by the public as evidence that the council needed improvement.[432] this may have postponed but did not prevent the creation of the office for, in 1649, we find a president acting.[433] it was probably soon discontinued for, in some lists of members about 1670, none is designated as president and if, in 1815, there is one found occupying the seat of honor as dean, he was probably only the senior member.[434] irrespective of the influence which the office of president may have had, the relations between the inquisitor-general and suprema were ill-defined and fluctuating. under cardinal adrian we sometimes find the councils acting as though independent and sometimes adrian doing the same. in the aragonese troubles over juan prat, the suprema nowhere appears--everything is in the name of adrian or of charles. during the interval between adrian's election as pope, january 9, 1522, and his leaving spain, august 5th, he and the suprema acted at times each independently of the other.[435] as the vacancy was not filled until september 1523, by the appointment of manrique, there can be little doubt that this effacement of the inquisitor-generalship established precedents for a development of the activity and functions of the suprema which, under manrique, is found taking part in all business, the signatures of the members following his in the letters and decrees; it was rapidly becoming the direct executive and legislative head of the holy office.[436] his disgrace and relegation to his see, in 1529, could not but stimulate this tendency. during his absence there are many letters from it submitting questions for his decision, but there are also many to the tribunals, showing that it was acting in full independence. [sidenote: _the suprema becomes dominant_] the result of this is seen, in 1540, when cardinal tavera, in announcing to the tribunals his accession to office, tells them that he will act with the concurrence and opinion of the members of the council and when, in the same year, he appointed nicolao montañánez inquisitor of majorca, he refers him to what the council writes to him with regard to his duties. the appointing power continued to give to the inquisitor-general a certain predominance, but otherwise he and the suprema had coalesced into one body--a fact emphasized by a declaration, may 14, 1542, that they formed together but a single tribunal and that there was no appeal from the one to the other.[437] still, there was a primacy of honor in the inquisitor-generalship. when the _instrucciones nuevas_--the elaborate code of procedure embodied in the instructions of 1561--were sent to the tribunals, it was in the name of inquisitor-general valdés but, in the prefatory note, he is made to state that they had been maturely discussed in the council, where it was agreed that they should be observed by all inquisitors.[438] thus the suprema had fairly established itself as the ruling power of the inquisition, and its independent position is described by the venetian envoy, simone contarini, in his relation of 1605, where he says that it is absolute in everything concerning the faith, not being obliged, like the other councils, to consult with the king. the inquisitor-general, he adds, fills all the offices except the membership of the council, whose names are presented to the king.[439] even in the matter of these appointments, as we have seen, the instructions of philip ii, iii, and iv, from 1595 to 1626, require the inquisitor-general to consult with the suprema in appointing inquisitors and fiscals. various documents, during the seventeenth century, show that the inquisitor-general by no means attended all the daily sessions of the council and rarely voted on the cases brought before it.[440] in the letters of the suprema, a decision reached when he was present records the fact--"visto en el consejo, presente el ex^{mo} señor inquisidor-general"--but by far the greater number have no such formula, indicating that it acted without him and that its acts were binding.[441] another formula frequently employed is "consultado con el ex^{mo} señor inquisidor-general," which makes the suprema act and the inquisitor-general merely consult.[442] yet of course the power wielded by the inquisitor-general must have varied greatly with the character of the individual and the influence which he had with the king. a man like arce y reynoso, in such a case as villanueva's or nithard under the queen-regent, used the tremendous authority of the holy office at his pleasure. in the deliberations of the council, as early as 1551, we find decisions reached by a majority vote and when, about 1625, there chanced to be a tie and the imperious pacheco endeavored to decide the matter, he was bluntly told that he could not do so--his vote counted no more than that of any other member.[443] an elaborate account of the procedure, dating between 1666 and 1669, tells us that, when a letter, petition or memorial is read, if it is a matter of routine, the inquisitor-general decides it without taking votes; if it is doubtful, he takes the vote, beginning with the youngest member. if it is a question of justice, the majority decides; if there is a tie, it is laid aside until other members can be called in; all sign the papers, irrespective of how they had voted. it is not necessary for the inquisitor-general to be present throughout the session; it suffices for him to be there for two hours in the morning, for what especially concerns his jurisdiction and he need not assist in the afternoons, when matters not of faith are discussed with the two adjunct members of the council of castile. another writer tells us that it was forbidden to give reasons for the vote and that absent members could vote in writing.[444] the relations between the inquisitor-general and the suprema thus had grown up without any precise definition and consequently were open to diversity of opinion. a writer who, about 1675, drew up an exhaustive account of the working of the inquisition, admits that it was a disputed question whether the inquisitor-general could act by himself and dispense with the suprema, but he states that the prevailing opinion is that the members are independent and act by immediate delegated papal powers; in his absence their acts are final and it is the same when the office is vacant. this, he says, is the invariable custom, nor can there be found an instance of his acting without the suprema, while the suprema in his absence acts without him.[445] as we have seen, this was a usurpation, grown strong by prescription. it was fairly put to the test, in 1700, by inquisitor-general mendoza, in the trial of fray froilan díaz, which was, in some respects, one of the most noteworthy cases in the annals of the inquisition. [sidenote: _case of froilan díaz_] carlos ii, the last of the hapsburgs who were the curse of spain, was imbecile equally in mind and body. a being less fitted to rule has probably never encumbered a throne and it was his misfortune, no less than that of his people, that, reaching it in his fourth year, through thirty-five weary years, from 1665 to 1700, he staggered under the burden, while his kingdom plunged ever deeper in misery and humiliation. he was but a puppet in the hands of any intriguing man or woman or artful confessor who might obtain ascendancy; prematurely old, when he should have been in the prime of manhood, with mental and bodily sufferings continually on the increase, he was restlessly eager for whatever might promise relief. his first wife, marie louise of orleans, had died childless, and the second, maria anna of neuburg, whom he married in 1690, in the vain hope of an heir, was an ambitious woman who speedily dominated him and ruled spain through her favorites. it soon became recognized that a successor would have to be selected from among the collateral branches and, after active intrigues, parties formed themselves in the court in support of the two most prominent aspirants--philip duke of anjou, grandson of louis xiv, who was preferred by the mass of the people, and the archduke charles, son of the emperor leopold i, whose claims were urged by the queen. it was the misfortune of froilan díaz that he became the sport of the contending factions. in 1698 there was a court revolution. the kingdom was practically governed by the royal confessor, a dominican named pedro matilla, who controlled the queen by enriching and advancing her favorites, prominent among whom was don juan tomás, admiral of castile. he asked nothing for himself--as he told count oropesa, he preferred making bishops to being one. carlos hated and feared him and at last secretly unbosomed himself to cardinal portocarrero, archbishop of toledo, one of the leaders of the french faction. no time was lost in utilizing the opportunity and carlos welcomed the suggestion of replacing matilla by another dominican, fray froilan díaz, a professor of theology in the university of alcalá, a simple-minded and sincere man, whose life had been passed in convents and colleges and who knew nothing of intrigues and politics. carlos asked to have him brought secretly to court and matilla's first intimation of his disgrace was seeing díaz conducted to the king through the royal antechamber. he retired to his cell in the convent del rosario where, in a week, he died--it was said of mortification. in april 1698 froilan díaz took possession of the seat in the suprema reserved for the royal confessor. plots for his overthrow commenced at once and he unconsciously aided them by fomenting strife in his own dominican order so injudiciously that, at the next chapter, his most bitter enemy, nicolás de torres-padmota, was elected provincial. his inconsiderate zeal soon led him into still more dangerous paths, which inflamed hostility and afforded opportunity for its gratification. the king's health had been growing steadily worse, the convulsions and fainting-spells which afflicted him had constantly increased, and the opinion had spread that he was bewitched. inquisitor-general valladares had brought the matter before the suprema, when it had been anxiously discussed without taking action. valladares had died in 1795 and had been succeeded by the dominican juan tomás de rocaberti, archbishop of valencia, who, in january 1698, was secretly consulted by carlos concerning the rumors attributing his sickness to sorcery, and was asked to investigate the matter and devise a remedy. it was again laid before the suprema but, as before, the council deemed it too perilous a matter to be meddled with. when díaz became a member, rocaberti appealed to him and he eagerly promised to assist. [sidenote: _case of froilan díaz_] there were no indications to guide an investigation until díaz chanced to learn that, in the nunnery of cangas (oviedo), there were several nuns demoniacally possessed who were being exorcised by fray antonio alvarez de argüelles, a former fellow-student of his. it had for ages been the belief that possessing demons, under the torture of exorcisms and abuse lavished on them by the priest, could be compelled to reveal facts beyond human capacity to ascertain. much of the current medieval conceptions concerning the spiritual universe were derived from this source and the practice of thus seeking knowledge for laudable purposes was recognized as lawful, provided it was done imperatively and not solicited as a favor. even the gratification of idle curiosity with demons was merely a venial sin.[446] froilan díaz was therefore merely adopting a legitimate method when he suggested that the demons of cangas should be made to reveal the causes of the king's illness, which would be a step to its cure. rocaberti eagerly assented and applied to the dominican bishop of oviedo, but that wary prelate hesitated to embark in a matter so dangerous and discouraged the suggestion. díaz then addressed argüelles, who at first refused but finally consented, if he could have written commands from the inquisitor-general and confessor. rocaberti accordingly wrote, june 18th, to inscribe the names of the king and queen on a piece of paper, place it in his breast and ask the demon if either of them were suffering from sorcery; díaz enclosed this in a letter of his own and arranged a cipher for the correspondence. the obliging demon swore by god that the king had been bewitched at the age of fourteen to render him impotent and incapable of governing. with this argüelles endeavored to withdraw, but rocaberti and díaz were insistent that he should ascertain further particulars and antidotes for the sorcery and, on september 9th, he wrote that the spell was administered april 3, 1675 in a cup of chocolate by the queen-mother, in order to retain power; the charm was made with the members of a dead man and the remedies were inunction with blessed oil, purging and separation from the queen. carlos was industriously stripped and anointed and purged and prayed over, but to no purpose save to terrify and exhaust him. for a year correspondence was vigorously kept up, obtaining from the demons answers curiously explicit and yet evasive and contradictory. at one time it was said that he had been bewitched on a second occasion, september 24, 1694; then the demons refused to say more except that their previous assertions had been false and that carlos had not been bewitched. there were also contradictions as to the sorceresses employed, who were named and their addresses were given, but the efforts to find them were fruitless. the destinies of spain were made to hang on the flippant utterances of hysterical girls, who unsaid one day what they had averred the day before. the affair reached such proportions that the emperor leopold officially communicated the revelations of a viennese demoniac implicating a sorceress named isabel, who was searched for in vain, and he also sent to madrid a celebrated exorcist named fray mauro tenda, who secretly exorcised the king for some months, which naturally aggravated his malady. meanwhile a storm was brewing. the queen's temper had been aroused by her political defeat; she was angered by the enforced separation from her husband and she was inflamed to fury when she secretly heard of the second bewitching of september, 1694, which was attributed to her. a month after her learning this rocaberti died, with suspicious opportuneness, june 19, 1699. this failed to relieve her, for soon afterwards three _endemoniadas_ in madrid were found confirming the story and implicating both her and the former queen-regent. her wrath was boundless and she vowed fray froilan's destruction, for which the inquisition offered the readiest means. to this end she sought to induce carlos to appoint in rocaberti's place fray antonio folch de cardona, a friend of don juan tomás, admiral of castile, who had fallen from power when matilla was dismissed. the king, however, who was resolved on pushing the investigation, appointed cardinal alonso de aguilar and sent for the papal commission. in announcing his choice to aguilar he said it was for the purpose of probing the matter to the bottom. to this aguilar pledged himself and promptly sent for the senior member of the suprema, lorenzo folch de cardona (a half-brother of antonio), telling him that all indications pointed to the guilt of the admiral who must at once be arrested and his papers seized. cardona replied that this was impossible; semi-proof was requisite prior to arrest and here there was no evidence. the queen grew more anxious than ever; aguilar was taken with a slight indisposition, he was bled _secundum artem_ and in three days he was dead--on the very day that his commission arrived from rome. suspicion was rife but there was no proof. [sidenote: _case of froilan díaz_] carlos by this time was so enfeebled that the queen obtained from him the appointment of baltasar de mendoza, bishop of segovia, with whom she had a satisfactory understanding, he pledging himself to gratify her vindictiveness and she promising him a cardinal's hat as the reward of success. the first move was against the austrian exorciser fray tenda, who was arrested in january, 1700, on a different charge, but under examination he described the revelations of the madrid demoniacs, made in froilan's presence and he escaped with abjuration _de levi_ and banishment. froilan was then examined, but he refused to speak without the consent of the king, under whose orders he had acted and with strict injunctions of secrecy. meanwhile the dominican provincial torres-padmota used his authority to obtain from argüelles at cangas the letters of froilan, on the strength of which he promptly accused him to the suprema in the name of the order, to which froilan answered that he had acted under rocaberti's order at the pressing instance of the king, in what was sanctioned by aquinas and other doctors.[447] mendoza informed the king that froilan was accused of a grave offence but could not be prosecuted without the royal permission; charles resisted feebly and then yielded to the pressure of the queen and mendoza by dismissing him and replacing him with torres-padmota. stunned, dazed and helpless, froilan obeyed mendoza's order to betake himself to the dominican convent at valladolid, but on the road he turned his steps and sought refuge in rome. a royal letter to the duke of uceda, then ambassador, was speedily obtained ordering the arrest of froilan on his arrival, as he was under trial by the inquisition which permitted no appeal to rome, while the tribunals of barcelona and murcia were instructed to throw him on arrival into the secret prison. he was shipped back to cartagena and duly immured by the murcia tribunal. then followed a struggle for mastery in the suprema. mendoza procured the assent of the members to the appointment of special calificadores or censors to consider the charges and evidence. five theologians were selected who reported unanimously, june 23, 1700 that there was no matter of faith involved, whereupon the suprema, with the exception of mendoza, voted to suspend the case, which was equivalent to acquittal. then, on july 8th, mendoza signed an order of arrest and sent it around for the signatures of the members, who unanimously refused, whereupon he summoned them to his room and with alternate wrath and entreaty vainly sought their co-operation. in a gust of passion he declared that he would have his way and in an hour he had ordered three of them to keep their houses as prisons and the madrid tribunal to prosecute the secretary for refusing to counter-sign the warrant. folch de cardona was the only member left and this was because his half-brother antonio, now archbishop of valencia, was a favorite of the queen. this violence caused no little excitement, which was increased when miguélez, one of the members, who talked freely, was arrested one night in august and hurried off to the jesuit college in compostella, followed by the jubilating, or retiring on half-pay, of all three in terms of reprobation, as unfaithful to their duties, while the secretary was banished. the council of castile intervened with a consulta pointing out to the king that the members had been punished without trial for upholding the laws, the canons and the practice of the holy office. the queen became alarmed and urged mendoza to be cautious but he assured her that in no other way could her wishes be gratified. meanwhile he had sent the papers to the tribunal of murcia with orders to prosecute froilan and send the sentence to him. it obeyed and twice submitted the case to its calificadores and other learned men, who reported in favor of the accused, whereupon it voted for his discharge. then mendoza evoked the case to himself and committed it to the madrid tribunal; he brought froilan there and confined him in a cell of the dominican house of nuestra señora de atocha where, in the power of torres-padmota, he lay for four years, cut off from all communication with the outside world, his very existence being in doubt, while the tribunal selected another group of calificadores who had no difficulty in finding him suspect of heresy. [sidenote: _case of froilan díaz_] carlos had died, november 1, 1700, appointing in his will philip of anjou as his successor, until whose coming the queen-dowager was regent. for some months the members of the suprema, jubilated by mendoza's arbitrary assumption of authority, were kept in reclusion, but were finally liberated. mendoza, who belonged to the austrian faction, was relegated to his see of segovia, but this brought no redress to froilan. the dominican general, antonin cloche, a frenchman without bias to either party in the inquisition, felt keenly the injustice committed against him and sent from rome successively two agents who for three years labored in vain for his release. mendoza was at bay and, in defiance of the traditions of the spanish inquisition, he appealed to the pope, to whom he sent an abstract of the proceedings. clement xi was delighted with this surrender of spanish independence and referred the case to the congregation of the inquisition which, after much deliberation, reported that it could not act without seeing all the papers. mendoza replied that he was in exile through political reasons and could not furnish them, which was false, as he had carried them with him; he sent an agent with an argument drawn up by the new fiscal of the suprema, juan fernando de frias, at the instance of the nuncio at madrid, in which the suprema was denounced as the canonizer of a doctrine, heretical, erroneous, superstitious and leading to idolatry. this paper had been prepared in answer to one by folch de cardona, arguing that the members of the suprema had not merely a consultative but a decisive vote and that the inquisitor-general had no more. frias, however, had foolishly devoted himself to proving that the interrogations of the demoniacs were heretical; this did not suit the nuncio who openly declared that, in place of refuting cardona, he had published a thousand scandals and was a fool of no account. the argument, which he had printed, was condemned and suppressed and he himself was suspended from office, in 1702, by the queen, marie louise gabrielle of savoy, who was regent during the absence of philip in naples. it was probably about this time that the suprema notified the tribunals that any orders from mendoza, contrary to its own, were suspended.[448] the intervention of the nuncio shows that the struggle had widened far beyond the theological question as to the lawfulness of interrogating demons and the guilt of the luckless froilan díaz. two important principles had become involved--the appellate jurisdiction of rome and its original jurisdiction in determining disputed points in the internal organization of the spanish inquisition. pope clement had eagerly welcomed the opening afforded by mendoza, not only to claim that froilan's case should be submitted to him, but he had also assumed, in mendoza's favor, that the suprema was subordinate to the inquisitor-general, through whom its powers were derived from the holy see, which alone could decide the question. all this was vigorously combated by cardona, with the aid of the council of castile. in the name of the suprema, which now had three new members, he rehearsed all of ferdinand's decrees against appeals and argued that the suprema had always been a royal council, subjected to the king, and that the only distinction between its members and the inquisitor-general lay in his prerogatives as to appointments. he earnestly supplicated the king to order the seizure of a letter of cardinal paolucci, papal secretary of state, committing froilan's case to mendoza or to the archbishop of seville. the nuncio, on the other hand, insisted that the papacy had never divested itself of its supreme authority to judge everything throughout the world, and that the pope was the only authority entitled to construe papal grants, including the functions of the suprema. while the controversy thus raged, froilan lay forgotten in his dungeon. practically the decision lay with the king and, in the vicissitudes of the war of succession, philip had more pressing matters to vex his new and untried royalty. he seems to have vacillated for, in july 1703, there was circulated a paper purporting to confirm the jubilation of the members of the suprema and to commit froilan's case to mendoza. this drew from the suprema two energetic consultas, pointing out mendoza's arbitrary course and the injury to the regalías of his appeal to rome. philip was embarrassed and, by a royal order of december 24th, sought advice of the council of castile, which responded, january 8 and 29, 1704, by vigorous consultas denouncing mendoza's actions as inexcusable violence. the case seemed to be drawing to a conclusion when it was delayed by a new complication. the succession to mendoza was actively sought by two churchmen of the highest rank, but the king declared that he would not appoint any one of such lofty station, when both withdrew and one of them, or some one in his name, started what cardona calls the diabolical proposition that the inquisition had become superfluous; the few judaizers and heretics remaining could be dealt with by the episcopal jurisdiction--the case of froilan díaz could be settled by his bishop--and thus the enormous expense of the holy office could be saved. this revolutionary suggestion was warmly supported by the princesse des ursins but philip rejected it--wisely, no doubt, for even had he been inclined to it his throne was as yet too insecure to risk the results of such an innovation. [sidenote: _case of froilan díaz_] the admiral of castile was a refugee in portugal, whence he was actively fomenting resistance to philip. mendoza notoriously belonged to the austrian party and philip could ultimately scarce fail to decide against him. on october 27th he sent for cardona, with whom he had a secret interview, resulting in a paper drawn up for his signature the next day. on november 3rd a royal order was read in the suprema restoring to their places the three _jubilado_ members, who were to receive all the arrears of their salaries. this was followed november 7th by a decree addressed to mendoza ordering him and his successors to respect the members of the suprema as representing the royal person, as exercising the royal jurisdiction and as entitled to cast decisive votes. moreover, he was, under pain of exile and deprivation of temporalities, within seventy-two hours, to deliver to the suprema all the papers concerning froilan díaz and to make known whether he was alive and in what prison. the next day it was ordered that the suprema should decide the case and, on november 17th, after hearing the proceedings, a sentence was unanimously rendered, absolving froilan, restoring to him his seat in the suprema, with all arrears of salary, and also the cell in the convent del rosario assigned to the royal confessors, of which he had been unjustly deprived. a copy of this sentence was ordered to be transmitted to all the tribunals for preservation in their archives.[449] froilan díaz was duly reinstated in the suprema and we find his signature to its letters at least until 1712.[450] in reward of his sufferings, philip nominated him to the see of avila; he was not, however, a _persona grata_ in rome and pope clement refused his confirmation on the ground that he must first see the papers in the case and determine whether the acquittal was justified, thus asserting to the last his jurisdiction over the matter.[451] philip held good and would make no other nomination until after froilan's death, the see remaining vacant from 1705 until filled by julian cano y tovar in 1714. as for mendoza, he was obliged to resign the inquisitor-generalship early in 1705. when, in 1706, philip returned to madrid, after his flight to burgos, mendoza and the admiral, with many others, were arrested as traitors and the queen-dowager was escorted to bayonne. mendoza, of course, missed the coveted cardinalate, but he survived until 1727, in peaceful possession of his see. in replacing him as inquisitor-general, philip was true to his maxim not to appoint a man of high rank and he nominated vidal marin, bishop of the insignificant see of ceuta, who had distinguished himself, in 1704, by his gallant defence of that place against the english fleet that had just captured gibraltar. in confirming him, after some delay, clement took occasion, in a brief of august 8, 1705, to reassert the papal position and urgently to exhort him to maintain the subordination of the suprema. he is to remember that he is supreme and in him resides the whole grant of apostolic power, while the members of the council derive their power from him; over them he has sole and arbitrary discretion by deputation from the holy see, and the consultas of the royal council have caused great scandal and spiritual damage to souls by seeking with fallacious and deceitful arguments to prove that he, after receiving his deputation, is independent of the holy see. if he will examine his commission he will see that his powers are derived from the vicar of christ and not from the secular authorities, who have no rights in the premises, and whatever is done contrary to the rights of the holy see is invalid and is hereby declared to be null and void.[452] this was doubtless consoling as an enunciation of papal claims and wishes, but the bourbon conception of the royal prerogative was even more decided than that of the hapsburgs. the exhortation to reassert the supremacy of the inquisitor-generalship fell upon deaf ears and the rule in the suprema continued to be what folch de cardona described in 1703--that the majority ruled; if there was a tie, the matter was laid aside until some absent member attended, while, if the meeting was a full one, the fiscal was called in to cast the deciding vote.[453] [sidenote: _control over tribunals_] in its relations with the tribunals the suprema had even greater success. as it gradually absorbed the inquisitor-general, it exercised his power, which was virtually unlimited and irresponsible, over them, until it became a centralized oligarchy of the most absolute kind. to this, of course, the progressive improvement in communication largely contributed. in the earlier period, the delays and expenses of special messengers and couriers rendered it necessary for the local tribunals to be virtually independent in the routine business of arresting, trying, sentencing and punishing offenders. only matters about which there could be dispute or which involved consequences of importance, would warrant the delay and expense of consulting the central head. items in the accounts and allusions in the correspondence show that, when this was necessary, the outlay for a messenger was a subject to be carefully weighed. the matter was complicated by the fact that the central head was perambulating, moving with the court from one province to another, and its precise seat at any one moment might be unknown to those at a distance. the permanent choice of madrid as a capital by philip ii--broken by a short transfer to valladolid--was favorable to centralization, and still more so was the development of the post-office, establishing regular communication at a comparatively trivial cost, although at first the inquisition was somewhat chary about confiding its secret documents to the postmen. at first there was hesitation in intruding upon the functions of the tribunals. a letter of november 10, 1493, from the suprema to the inquisitors of toledo, asks as a favor for the information on which a certain arrest had been made, explaining that this was at the especial request of the queen.[454] where there was not unanimity, however, a reference to some higher authority was essential, and we have seen that, in 1488, torquemada ordered that all such cases should be sent to him to be decided in the suprema and, in 1507, ximenes went further and required all cases in which the accused did not confess to be sent to the council.[455] this seems speedily to have become obsolete, but the rule as to _discordia_ was permanent. in 1509 a letter of the suprema extends it to arrests and all other acts on which votes were taken, when a report with all the opinions was to be forwarded for its decision.[456] the costs attendant on these references were not small, for we happen to meet with an order, may 23, 1501, to pay to inquisitor mercado a hundred ducats for his expenses and sickness while at the court examining the cases brought from his tribunal of valencia. possibly for this reason references to the suprema were not encouraged for, about this time, it ordered that none should be brought to it except those in which there was discordia, and in these it expected that the parties should be represented by counsel.[457] the same motive may have led to an order, in 1528, limiting these references to cases of great importance, but this restriction was removed in another of july 11, 1532, when it was explained that, if an inquisitor dissented from the other two and from the ordinary, the case must be sent up.[458] practically, the authority of the suprema over the tribunals was limited only by its discretion, and inevitably it was making constant encroachments on their independence of action. its correspondence, in 1539 and 1540, with the valencia tribunal shows an increasing number of cases submitted to it and its supervision over minute details of current business.[459] in 1543 the case of a morisca, named mari gomez la sazeda, shows that a sentence of torture had to be submitted to it and its reply indicates conscientious scrutiny of the records, for it ordered the re-examination of certain witnesses, but, if they were absent or dead, then she might be tortured moderately.[460] a further extension of authority is seen during a witch-craze in catalonia when, to restrain the cruelty of the barcelona tribunal, in 1537, all cases of witchcraft, after being voted on, were ordered to be submitted to it for final decision and, in a recrudescence of the epidemic, between 1545 and 1550, it required all sentences of relaxation to be sent to it, even when unanimous.[461] on this last occasion, however, the barcelona tribunal asserted its independence of action by disregarding the command and a phrase in the instructions of 1561, requiring, in all cases of special importance, the sentences to be submitted before execution, was too vague to be of much practical effect.[462] [sidenote: _control over tribunals_] the supervision which the suprema was thus gradually developing was most salutary as a check upon the irresponsibility of the tribunals, whose acts were shrouded in impenetrable secrecy except when scrutinized with more or less conscientious investigation by visitors at intervals of five or ten years. the conditions in barcelona as revealed by successive visitations, between 1540 and 1580, show how a tribunal might violate systematically the instructions, and how fruitless were the exposures made by visitors when the inquisitors chose to disregard the orders elicited by reports of their misdoings. they were virtually a law unto themselves; no one dared to complain of them and the victims' mouths were closed by the oath of secrecy which bound them under severe penalties not to divulge their experiences. the whole system was so devised as to expose the inquisitor to the maximum of temptation with the minimum risk of detection, and it was the merest chance whether this power was exercised by a lucero or by a conscientious judge. the consulta de fe and the concurrence of the ordinary furnished but a feeble barrier, for the record could generally be so presented as to produce the desired impression and the consultors, proud of their position and its immunities, were indisposed to give trouble, especially as their adverse votes did not create a discordia. when salazar, in 1566, took the unusual trouble of investigating the interminable records of the individual trials, the rebuke of the suprema to the inquisitors of barcelona speaks of the numbers of those sentenced to relaxation, reconciliation, the galleys, scourging, etc., after the grossest informalities in the conduct of the trials.[463] the world can never know the cruelties perpetrated under a system which relieved the tribunals from accountability, and consequently any supervision was a benefit, even that imperfectly exercised by the distant suprema. there seems to have come a dawning consciousness of this, possibly stimulated by the revelations of salazar's investigations into the three tribunals of the crown of aragon, which led to the concordia of 1568. in the same year a carta acordada of june 22nd ordered that even when sentences of relaxation were voted unanimously, the process should be sent to the suprema for its action.[464] from this time forward its intervention, on one score or another, gradually increased. from the records of the tribunal of toledo, between 1575 and 1610, it appears that it intervened in 228 cases out of 1172, or substantially in one out of five, while in only 82 of these cases, or one out of fourteen, was there discordia--sometimes as to arrest and trial, sometimes as to torture, but mostly as to the final sentence.[465] at this period it would seem to be the practice in the suprema to refer cases to two members and act on their report. thus in the matter of mari vaez, condemned in 1594 to relaxation in effigy, the two are vigil de quiñones and mendoza, whose names are inscribed on the back of the sentence and under them the word "justª" on the strength of which the secretary writes the formal letter to the tribunal, ending with "hagais, señores justicia"--the customary formula of confirmation.[466] as might be expected the degree of scrutiny exercised in the performance of this duty was variable. in the case of jacques curtancion, in 1599, it was observed that the ratification of the confession of the accused had been made in the presence of only one interpreter, when the rules required two; the papers were therefore returned to the tribunal of granada for the rectification of this irregularity, but this exactitude was of no benefit to the sufferer.[467] on the other hand, pedro flamenco was tortured in toledo at 10 a.m., june 10, 1570, after which the consulta de fe was held which condemned him to relaxation for fictitious confession. at the earliest the papers could not have reached madrid until late on the 11th, but on the 12th was despatched the formal reply confirming the sentence. there could scarce have been time to read the voluminous record and certainly none to give it more than perfunctory consideration.[468] again, delays attributable only to negligence were not infrequent. diego de horozco was sentenced to relaxation by the tribunal of cuenca, which sent the process to the suprema, september 3, 1585 and, at the same time, asked for instructions about the cases of alonso sainz and francisco caquen which had been previously forwarded. no reply was received for more than a month, when the tribunal wrote again, october 14th, that it was anxious to hold an auto de fe. this brought the prompt answer to torture horozco and execute justice in accordance with the result.[469] [sidenote: _control over tribunals_] besides this direct intervention there grew up a watchfulness over the proceedings of the tribunals through their reports of autos de fe, which were closely scrutinized and returned with criticisms. these reports were required to give full details of all cases decided, whether for public autos or private ones in the audience-chamber, and their regular transmission was enforced by conditioning upon it the payment of the annual _ayuda de costa_ or supplement to the salaries of the officials. there was also an opportunity, which was not neglected, of administering reproofs on the reports required from inquisitors of their annual visitations of portions of their districts. these were closely criticized and errors were pointed out without reserve, such as judging cases that ought to have been sent to the tribunal for its action, punishing too severely or too lightly, imperfect reports of cases, etc.[470] thus in various ways a more or less minute supervision was exercised, and the inquisitors were made to feel the subordination of their position. this was greatly increased when, in 1632, each tribunal was required to send in a monthly report of all its current business and the condition of each case, whether pending or decided, and this in addition to an annual report on which depended the allowance of the ayuda de costa. it was difficult to enforce the regular performance of this and the command had to be frequently repeated, but it was successful to some extent and afforded an opportunity of criticism which was not neglected. thus, in 1695, in acknowledging receipt of such a report from valencia, its slovenliness and imperfection are sharply rebuked as deserving of a heavier penalty, which is suspended through benignity. the character, it is said, of the witnesses should be noted, the number or letter of the prisoner's cell, the ration assigned to him, whether or not he has property and, if sequestrated, a copy of the sequestration should be added; the crime and the time of entering the prison and the property items should be repeated in all successive reports. after this, each individual case is considered and much fault is found with the details of procedure.[471] even the requests for information, made by one tribunal of another, were required, by an order of 1635, to be the subject of regular reports by the fiscal every four months.[472] it was impossible, however, to enforce with regularity the rendering of monthly reports and, in 1800, the suprema contented itself with requiring them thrice a year, a regulation which continued to the end, although it was irregularly observed.[473] the same process of centralization was developed in the control over individual cases. it was not only when there was discordia or sentences of relaxation that confirmation was required. a carta acordada of august 2, 1625, ordered that no sentence of scourging, galleys, public penance, or vergüenza should be executed until the process was submitted to the suprema.[474] the records of the tribunal of valladolid, at this period, not only show that this was observed when corporal punishment was inflicted, but also indicate that a custom was springing up of submitting the sentence in all cases involving clerics, and further that the habit was becoming frequent of consulting the suprema during the course of trials.[475] when, in 1647, the suprema required all sentences to be submitted to it as soon as pronounced, it assumed full control over the disposition of cases.[476] it was concentrating in itself the management of the entire business of all the tribunals. the minuteness of detail in its supervision is illustrated when, in 1697, the daily ration of four maravedís for a prisoner in valladolid was regulated by it and the vote of the tribunal whether a prisoner is to be confined in the _carceles medias_ or _secretas_ had to be confirmed by it.[477] [sidenote: _centralization_] simple arrest by the inquisition was in itself an infliction of no common severity and, from an early period, the suprema sought to exercise supervision over it. in 1500, the instructions of seville require the tribunals, whenever they make an arrest, to send to the inquisitor-general, by their messenger, the accusation, with the testimony in full, the number of the witnesses and the character of the accused.[478] this salutary check on the irresponsible power of the inquisitors was too cumbrous for enforcement and it soon became obsolete but, in 1509, when there was discordia as to sentences of arrest they were ordered, before execution, to be submitted to the suprema with the opinions of the voters.[479] in 1521, to check the persecuting zeal of the tribunals towards the moriscos, or newly baptized moors, cardinal adrian ordered that they should not be arrested save on conclusive evidence which must first be submitted to the suprema--a humane measure speedily forgotten.[480] the religious orders were favored, in 1534, by requiring confirmation of all sentences of arrest pronounced against their members--a measure which required to be repeated in 1555 and, in 1616, it was extended to all ecclesiastics.[481] the instructions of 1561 order consultation with the suprema before arresting persons of quality or when the case is otherwise important[482] and, in 1628, it was ordered that no arrest be made on the testimony of a single witness, without first consulting the suprema; if escape were feared, precautions might be taken, but in such wise as to inflict as little disgrace as possible.[483] under these limitations the practice is summarized by a writer, about 1675, who tells us that there are cases in which the tribunals can vote arrest, but not execute it without the assent of the suprema; these are where there is but one witness (but this is not observed with judaizers), when the accused is a cleric, religious, knight of the military orders, notary or superior officer of justice--unless, indeed, flight be apprehended. in these cases the _sumaria_, or summary of evidence, must be well drawn up and submitted to the suprema with the votes of the inquisitors.[484] thus gradually the independent action of the tribunals was curtailed until it finally disappeared and centralization in the suprema was complete. the precise date of this i have been unable to determine, but a writer of the middle of the eighteenth century tersely describes the conditions, telling us that the inquisitors determine nothing without the orders of the council, so that, when they draw up the _sumarias_ in cases of faith they submit them and, on their return, do what they are told; they do not sentence but only append their opinions to the processes and the council decides.[485] this continued to the end. the book of votes of the suprema, in the restored inquisition, from 1814 to 1820, shows that the tribunals had become mere agencies for receiving denunciations, collecting evidence and executing the orders of the council. even these slender duties were sometimes denied to them. in the case of juana de lima of xeres, tried for bigamy, the sumaria was made up by the commissioner of xeres and on it the suprema, without more ado, sentenced her to four years in a house of correction and sent the sentence to the commissioner to be read to her; the functions of the seville inquisitors were reduced to transmitting the papers and keeping the records.[486] if a tribunal ventured on the slightest expression of dissent, it was roundly taken to task. thus, december 23, 1816 that of madrid was sternly rebuked because, in the case of don teodoro bachiller, it had described as unjustified his imprisonment; that imprisonment had been approved by the suprema and the tribunal was ordered to expunge from the records this improper expression and never to repeat such an offence, if it desired to escape serious action. so, when the fiscal of the same tribunal remonstrated against an order to remove caietano carcer, on the ground of ill health, from the secret prison, the suprema replied, january 14, 1818, that its orders were dictated by justice and there was no fiscal or tribunal that could object to them. it expected that the tribunal and its fiscal would in future be more self-restrained and obedient to its superior decisions, thus escaping all responsibility, and that they would not oblige the council to enforce its authority by measures necessary although unpleasant.[487] to this had shrunk the inquisitor before whom, in the old days, bishops and magnates trembled. [sidenote: _appellate jurisdiction_] it is satisfactory to be able to say that, as a rule, the interference of the suprema with the tribunals was on the side of mercy rather than of rigor. it is true that torture, then the universal solvent of doubt, was frequently ordered, but there seems to have been a fairly conscientious discharge of the responsibilities which it had grasped. in the valladolid records of the seventeenth century, the modifications of sentences are almost uniformly mitigations, especially by the omission of scourging, which the tribunals were accustomed to administer liberally, and there would seem to be especial tenderness for the offences of the clergy.[488] a typical instance of this moderation is seen in the case of margarita altamira, sentenced by the barcelona tribunal, in 1682, to appear in an auto de fe, to abjure de levi, to receive a hundred lashes through the streets and to seven years' exile from barcelona and some other places, the first two of which were to be passed serving in a hospital without pay. all this the suprema reduced to hearing her sentence read in the audience-chamber and to four years' exile from the same places.[489] this mitigating tendency is especially apparent in the restored inquisition, from 1814 to 1820, where the sentences are almost uniformly revised with a reduction of penalties. scourging is more rarely prescribed by the tribunals and, when it is ordered, it is invariably omitted by the suprema, the power of dispensing with it being attributed to the inquisitor-general.[490] * * * * * as the functions of the tribunals thus gradually shrank to mere ministerial duties, the appellate jurisdiction lodged in the inquisitor-general and absorbed by the suprema, of which we heard so much in earlier times, became less and less important. the bull of leo x, in 1516, prescribes that appeals shall be heard by the inquisitor-general in conjunction with the suprema and that, pending the decision, the case shall be suspended.[491] this indicates that appeals were suspensive, although subsequently the inquisition eluded this by arguing, as in the matter of villanueva, that they were merely devolutionary--that is, that sentences, in spite of them, were to be promptly executed, thus practically rendering them useless.[492] at this period the relations between the council and the inquisitor-general as to appellate jurisdiction do not appear to be definitely settled. in 1520, antonio de la bastida appealed about his wife's dowry from the judge of confiscations of calahorra, and the decision in his favor was rendered by the suprema "in consultation with the very reverend father, the cardinal of tortosa (adrian)," and, as the crown was concerned, it was confirmed by charles v.[493] in two cases, however, in 1527 and 1528, in which, on appeal, cardinal manrique remitted or mitigated sentences, the letters were issued in his name and without signature by the members of the council.[494] during manrique's disgrace, the suprema apparently acted independently for, in a letter of december 9, 1535, to the valencia tribunal, alluding to the cases on appeal pending before it, it promises to adjudicate them as speedily as possible.[495] that, by this time, at least its concurrence had become essential would appear from the modification, on appeal by juan gómez from a sentence imposed by the valencia tribunal, when the letter was signed both by inquisitor-general tavera and the members of the council.[496] when, as we have seen, the secular courts endeavored to entertain appeals in cases of confiscation and matters not strictly of faith, prince philip's cédula of march 10, 1553 emphatically declared that appellate jurisdiction was vested solely in the suprema, which held faculties for that purpose from the holy see and from the crown.[497] [sidenote: _control over details_] this would seem to dispose of any claim that appellate jurisdiction was a special attribute of the inquisitor-general, and this is confirmed by a case, in 1552, in which angelica vidama appealed from the sentence of the valencia tribunal condemning the memory and fame of her deceased mother beatriz vidama. on march 8th, inquisitor-general valdés and the members of the council with some assessors declared that, after examining the matter in several sessions their opinion was that the sentence should be revoked. then, on march 12th, in the presence of valdés, the council adopted a sentence restoring her and her posterity to honor and good fame and releasing the confiscation of her estate. the sentence is not signed by valdés but only by three members of the council, which indicates that his signature was unnecessary.[498] when he was held simply to have a vote, like every other member, he could claim no special authority as to appeals and, with the gradual intervention of the suprema in all the acts of the tribunals, appeals themselves became obsolete. * * * * * from a comparatively early period the control assumed by the suprema over the provincial tribunals was absolute. already, in 1533, it tersely informed them that what it ordered and what it forbade must be obeyed to the letter; this it repeated in 1556 and, in 1568, it took occasion to tell them that it was not to be answered, nor were inquisitors to offer excuses when they were rebuked.[499] this control was not confined to their judicial proceedings but extended to every detail of their affairs. even ferdinand, with his minute watchfulness over the management of the tribunals, gave to the inquisitors a certain latitude as to expenses and instructed his receivers that they were to honor the requisitions of the inquisitors for outlays on messengers, lodgings, work on houses, prisons, stagings, etc.[500] the suprema permitted no such liberty of action; it required to be consulted in advance and roundly scolded tribunals which incurred expenses on their own responsibility.[501] in 1569 a general order specified in minute detail the trifling matters of daily necessity for which they could make disbursements; for everything else reference must first be made to the suprema.[502] this continued to the end and its correspondence is filled with instructions as to petty outlays of all kinds, and largely with regard to repairs of the houses and other properties belonging to the inquisition. if valencia, in 1647, wanted a clock in the audience-chamber, it had to apply for permission to purchase one and, in 1650, the suprema ordered its price to be allowed in the receiver's accounts. in 1665 it ordered the fiscal of barcelona to be lodged in the palace of the inquisition and gave minute instructions how the apartments were to be redistributed so as to accommodate him.[503] it is scarce necessary to add that the determination of salaries, which had originally been lodged in the hands of the inquisitor-general, had passed absolutely under the control of the suprema. among the perquisites of the officials was that they were furnished with mourning on occasions of public mourning, and a carta acordada of january 20, 1578 ordered that, when this was to be given, a detailed statement must be made out in advance of the persons entitled to it, how much there would be required, what kind of cloth and at what price. on the death of philip ii, in 1598, two persons in valencia complained that they had been omitted in the distribution, whereupon it wrote to the tribunal for information, on receipt of which it ordered that one of them should be gratified.[504] so, in 1665, on the death of philip iv, dr. paladio juncar, one of the physicians of the tribunal of barcelona, asked for an allowance such as had been given to his colleague dr. maruch, whereupon the suprema called for a report as to the cost of the mourning given to dr. maruch and whether it was customary to give it to two physicians. a similar petition from juan carbonell, one of the advocates for poor prisoners, led to another demand for information and the result was that the suprema refused them both.[505] this close watchfulness did not diminish with time. in 1816, when returning the papers of a case to the tribunal of madrid, a reprimand was administered because in one place there was a blank of half a page which might have been utilized for a certain record. so, in 1817, seville was rebuked for the number of blank pages in the processes sent, causing not only a useless waste of paper but an increase of postage; six months later seville sent the sumaria of miguel villavicencio, in which the suprema counted fourteen blank pages, whereupon it referred to its previous instructions and commanded the tribunal to tell the secretaries that they must obey orders, else they would be not only charged with the excess of postage but would be severely punished.[506] * * * * * [sidenote: _control over finances_] the development of this absolute authority was largely aided by the complete control over the finances of the tribunals claimed and exercised by the inquisitor-general or the suprema or concurrently by both. this, after the death of ferdinand, practically passed into their hands, except when charles, in his early years, made grants to his courtiers from the confiscations. all that was gathered in by the labors of the provincial inquisitors was treated as a common fund at the sole discretion of the central power. most of the tribunals, as we shall see, held investments, partially adequate to their support, in addition to their current gains, but even these were held subject to the suprema. in 1517, orders were sent to the farmers of the revenue to pay to the receiver-general of the suprema, instead of to the tribunals, the _juros_, or assignments on the taxes, held by the latter. of these the holdings of the seville tribunal amounted to 500,000 maravedís per annum--100,000 on the tithe of oil, 200,000 on the alcavala of oil and 200,000 on the alcavala of the shambles. córdova suffered less from this, for that tribunal held only 103,000 maravedís of income--63,000 on the alcavala of meal, 16,000 on that of wine and 24,000 on that of fruit.[507] but it was not only on the investments but also on the current earnings of the tribunals that the suprema laid its hand. its salary list was considerable, it had no settled source of income and the royal policy was that the inquisition must pay its own way besides having a surplus for the treasury. in 1515, while the suprema of castile was yet separate from that of aragon, its pay-roll aggregated 750,000 maravedís, with 340,000 additional for ayudas de costa, or in all 1,090,000, without counting inquisitor-general ximenes who seems to have disdained the emoluments of his office. this large sum, the receiver of seville, pedro de villacis, was required to defray in 1515, while, in 1516, the demand fell upon guillastegui, receiver of toledo; in 1517 the salaries were paid by seville and the ayuda de costa by toledo and, in 1518, by valencia.[508] the burden was apportioned among them according to their luck. in addition to this were the innumerable orders to pay the salaries and expenses of the tribunals, which were sometimes issued in the name of cardinal adrian and sometimes in that of the suprema. it would seem that the receivers of the tribunals, who were practically treasurers, occasionally hesitated in honoring these calls for, in 1520, charles v issued cédulas to all the receivers of castile and aragon to pay whatever the inquisitor-general and suprema should order.[509] the theory that the funds belonged to the crown in no way limited the control of the inquisitor-general and suprema and this, during the disgrace of manrique, naturally passed into the hands of the council. under his successor, tavera, orders were sometimes drawn in his name and countersigned by the members of the council and sometimes all reference to him was omitted. there seems not to have been any settled rule until, about 1704, the victory of the council over mendoza was emphasized by an instruction that no order for the payment of money, given by the inquisitor-general, was to be recognized unless countersigned by the members.[510] the suprema called without stint on the tribunals to meet its expenses and its fluctuating sources of supply are indicated in its varying demands for a few ducats for some special payment to large sums from some tribunal which had made a fortunate raid on wealthy heretics as when, being in valladolid in 1549, it demanded 2000 ducats from that tribunal for its pay-roll.[511] it seems to have made an attempt to levy a settled contribution on saragossa which, in 1539, it ordered to furnish the money for its salaries, but the enforcement of this seems to have been difficult for, from 1540 to 1546, we find it paying its receiver-general loazes 15,000 maravedís a year for making the collection. after an interval of ten years, in 1557, it demanded of saragossa 10,000 sueldos (400 ducats) a year toward its pay-roll, but again there was trouble, for although the order was issued in april, the inquisitors in october were reminded of it, with the significant hint that, unless the money were forthcoming, their salaries would be cut off.[512] in 1559 a papal grant of 100,000 ducats on the ecclesiastical revenues of spain kept it in funds for awhile and when the tribunals of the colonies were fairly in operation they contributed largely but, in the eighteenth century, we still find it drawing upon the tribunals, although it had accumulated a considerable invested capital, yielding a handsome income.[513] [sidenote: _control over finances_] while thus caring for itself, it also looked after the tribunals which were less fortunate than their fellows, treating the profits of all as a common fund to be distributed at its discretion. these transfers were incessant; as examples of them may be cited an order, in 1562, to valladolid to pay 1000 ducats to barcelona which was deeply in debt and, in 1565, murcia was called upon to give it 400,000 maravedís for its salaries. murcia, at this time, seems to have struck a rich vein of confiscations for, in 1567, it was required to contribute 1500 ducats for the salaries of valencia. barcelona continued in trouble; there were few heretics there and its chief business was quarrelling with the people, which was not productive financially, so, in 1579, llerena was required to give it 500 ducats towards its pay-roll and, in 1586, seville, murcia and llerena were ordered to furnish 500 ducats each for the same purpose. the expulsion of the moriscos, in 1609-10, brought valencia to destitution and, in 1612, granada and seville were obliged to lend it 1000 ducats apiece.[514] this system remained in force until the last. under the restoration the holy office was seriously cramped for funds, as we shall see, and its financial troubles were frequent. in 1816, majorca was required to furnish over 40,000 reales to logroño and logroño was called upon to supply the same sum to the suprema. it was not prompt in meeting this demand but paid 15,000; in march, 1817, the suprema notified it that the balance would be drawn for; on this a partial payment seems to have been made, leaving 12,000, for which, in 1818, the receiver-general of the suprema drew, but his draft came back dishonored. this aroused the wrath of the council which wrote, july 3rd, expressing its surprise; if the tribunal had no funds in hand, it should have gone out and borrowed them; it must do so now and not let such a thing occur again.[515] a necessary feature of this financial control was the centralization in the suprema of the auditing of the accounts of all the tribunals. their receivers or treasurers were supposed to send, at regular intervals, itemized statements with vouchers of all receipts and expenditures, which were audited by the _contador general_, or auditor, of the council.[516] the efficiency of this system was marred by habitual vices of maladministration and the hesitation to punish offenders, of which a petition of the historian, gerónimo zurita, affords us a glimpse. in 1538 he was made secretary, or _escribano de camera_ of the suprema. in 1548 inquisitor-general valdés gave this place to juan de valdés, presumably a kinsman, and zurita was transferred to the _contaduría general_ for aragon. in a petition presented may 2, 1560, he represents that he has served as contador for twelve years at a salary less than that of his predecessor and with more work; there were the accounts of the tribunal of sicily, which had not been rendered for twenty years, and it was notorious that the accounts of the receivers had been very confused and embarrassing, all of which he had straightened out with the utmost care, rejecting, for the service of the holy office, opportunities offering him better prospects, and now the only reward he asks is that his son, miguel zurita, a youth of 18, may be adjoined to him as an assistant--a moderate prayer which was granted.[517] that zurita was a laborious and conscientious auditor it would be impossible to doubt, but the frequency of defalcations, as we shall see hereafter, would indicate that such officials were not universal and that the precautions of the system were negligently enforced. * * * * * [sidenote: _salaries and perquisites_] that the suprema should exact all that it could from the tribunals was a necessity, for its pay-roll grew, partly as the result of its increased functions in the centralizing process, and partly in accordance with the inevitable law of an office-holding class to multiply. as the business and profits of the inquisition decreased its officials consequently grew more numerous and costly. after the death of ferdinand in 1516, when aguirre and calcena were dismissed, there were for some years only three members, a fiscal, a secretary, an alguazil, a "relator" (to report on cases sent up on appeal), a contador and receiver-general, two physicians, a messenger and a portero--twelve in all--with a pay-roll, including the ayuda de costa, of 1,090,000 maravedís or a little less than 3000 ducats.[518] in the seventeenth century all this had changed. various gratifications had become habitual additions to the salaries proper, in lieu of the old ayuda de costa. thus there were three larger _propinas_ or _pourboires_ a year, on the days of san isidro (may 15th), san juan (june 24th) and santa ana (july 26th) and five smaller ones, called _manuales_ on certain other feasts. there were also _luminarias_ or reimbursement for the cost of the frequent illuminations publicly ordered, which seem to have been averaged into a fixed sum, and at times there was an allowance for the autos of corpus christi, or plays represented before the council on corpus christi day, while the _toros_ or bull-fights which were celebrated on the days of the three chief propinas sometimes replace the latter. there were other smaller perquisites, such as wax and sugar--the latter a distribution, on each of the feasts of corpus christi and san pedro martir, of an arroba (25 pounds) of sugar to the inquisitor-general, half an arroba to the members and a quarter to the subordinates, making in all nine arrobas. in 1657 we learn that sugar was worth 161 reales per arroba, making an annual outlay for this purpose of 2900 reales.[519] a larger gratuity was that of houses. the suprema owned a number and allowed them to be occupied by its officials, while those who were not thus housed received a cash equivalent. thus in various ways the nominal salaries were largely supplemented and, whatever were the necessities of the state, the council took care that its members and officials should be abundantly supplied. when, in 1629, there was some talk of reforming the suprema, philip iv called upon castañeda, the contador-general, for a detailed statement of the salaries, propinas, bull-fights and illuminations, with their aggregate for each person connected with it, from the inquisitor-general down to the lowest employee, and the same information was required as to the tribunals. as usual the suprema equivocated and concealed. all that it saw fit to reply was that the salary of a member was 500,000 maravedís, of a _consejero de la tarde_ 166,666, of the royal secretary and receiver-general 200,000 each.[520] we happen to have a detailed statement of the personnel and emoluments of the suprema at this period which furnishes the information thus withheld from the king. it shows that the salary of the inquisitor-general was 1,100,000 maravedís and the extras 352,920, or in all, 1,452,920. each of the full members received one half of this, while the _consejeros de la tarde_ had one third of the salary of a full member, one half of his propina and no luminarias. the whole number on the pay-roll was thirty-six; the aggregate of their salaries was 7,152,539 maravedís and of the extras 2,891,088, or in all, 10,043,627, equivalent to 295,400 reales or 26,855 ducats, being about ten-fold the cost of a century earlier.[521] of course, the purchasing power of money had fallen greatly during the interval, but this does not wholly explain the later extravagance. it is observable, moreover that, in the case of the minor subordinates, where the salaries were low, the extras amount to twice as much as the regular pay, and also that as yet there were but three propinas a year and these and the luminarias were the only extras. a statement of a few years later, probably 1635, may be summarized thus: salaries 7,644,600 mrs. propinas 2,382,900 " luminarias 1,232,875 " allowances to officials for houses, estimated 800,000 " expenses, repairs to houses, estimated 890,000 " " postage, couriers, secret service, estimated 400,000 " ----------- 13,350,275 " [sidenote: _salaries and perquisites_] in this for the first time appears the name of the king as a recipient of the propinas and luminarias, with an allowance double that of the inquisitor-general, but though he figured in the estimates he was not paid.[522] so carefully were these extras observed that when, in 1679 and 1680 the _fiestas de toros_ or bull-fights, on the feasts of san isidro and santa ana, were omitted and, in 1680 the _autos sacramentales_ of corpus christi, the suprema indemnified itself, in 1680, by distributing 687,276 maravedís, from which we learn that the perquisites of a bull-fight amounted to 137,275 and of an exhibition of autos to 144,976.[523] the terrible condition of the debased currency, known as _vellon_, at a discount from _plata_ or silver, ranging from 25 to 50 per cent., gave further opportunities for quietly increasing salaries. as a rule, public officials had to take their salaries in the depreciated vellon--the government was obliged to accept it for taxes and to pay it out at its face value.[524] the suprema, however, computed its salaries in silver and paid in vellon with the discount added. in 1680 the members made a special grant to themselves, for they ordered the salaries to be paid one half in silver and the other half in vellon with a hundred per cent. added, thus in effect doubling their salaries. how often this liberality was repeated it would be impossible now to say; it was not a settled matter, for the receipts in 1681 show a return to the usual practice of payment in vellon with 50 per cent. added.[525] another device by which the depreciation in vellon was made a pretext for augmenting salaries is shown by the receipts for 1670. payments were made every three months in advance; the first _tercio_, on january 1st, and the second on may 1st, were made in vellon with the customary addition of 50 per cent.; then, on september 1st this augmented sum was taken as a basis and 66-2/3 per cent. added, bringing the payment to two and a half times the legitimate amount.[526] the suprema was not particular as to other devices for increasing its emoluments. in 1659, the birth of the infante fernando thomás served as an excuse for two extra propinas and for five luminarias.[527] in 1690, when it probably was in funds from the confiscations in majorca, under the transparent pretext of replacing various articles of which it had availed itself, it voted to its members and chief officers 14,160 reales in silver and to the subordinates 8555 in vellon.[528] it was also profuse in gratuities to its employees, as when, in 1670, it voted to doña juana de fita y ribera--evidently the daughter or niece of its secretary joseph de ribera--the handsome pension of four hundred ducats, to enable her to marry.[529] in spite of its perpetual complaints of poverty, it evidently was not an inexpensive department of the government. the suprema was none the less liberal in providing for the amusement and gratification of its members, in ghastly contrast with the sources from which the funds were drawn--the confiscations that ruined thousands of industrious and happy families. in fact, it gives us a new conception of the grim tribunal, which held in its hand the life and honor of every spaniard and had as its motto "exsurge domine et vindica causam tuam," to note its careful provision for comfort and enjoyment on festal occasions. [sidenote: _bull-fights_] we happen to have the details of the cost of the autos sacramentales performed before the council on the corpus christi feast of 1659, amounting to 2040 reales vellon and 1168 of silver.[530] the _fiestas de toros_, or bull-fights, cost nothing for the performers but were attended with elaborate and somewhat expensive preparations for the enjoyment and refreshment of the members and officials. as there were three or four of these a year, the amusement was costly, but the suprema did not grudge expense when its own gratification was concerned. as affording an insight into this unexpected aspect of the holy office, i give below the items of expenditure for the "toros" of june 5, 1690, amounting to 2067 reales 7 mrs., to which is to be added, as the exhibition was given at the palace of buen retiro, the sum of 4400 reales paid to the treasurer of the palace for the use of the balconies occupied by the council and its servants.[531] this is a single example of a constant outlay on occasions where the suprema defrayed the expenses of its members and attendants. they were by no means confined to the toros and autos. in this same year 1690, the suprema paid 3300 reales for balconies on the calle mayor from which to see the new queen, maria anna of neuburg, when she entered madrid.[532] in addition to salaries and extra emoluments, the officials of the suprema had a fertile source of income from the fees which they were entitled to charge. every act or certificate or paper made out was paid for by the party applying for it, in the multitudinous business flowing in to the council, from applicants for favors, examinations into limpieza or purity of blood, or in the perpetual litigation subject to its extensive jurisdiction. from the fiscal and his clerk, who levied upon all documents passing through his hands, down to the portero who had his recognized fee for serving a summons, every one was entitled to charge for the services pertaining to his office. according to the _arancel_, or fee bill, issued in 1642, the secretaries were entitled to twenty reales for every grace issued--licences to read prohibited books, commutations of penance, dispensations and the hundred other matters in which the suprema alone could grant favors. the _secretario de camera_, or private secretary of the inquisitor-general, had a fee for every commission issued--on one for an inquisitor or fiscal, he collected a hundred reales, besides eight for his clerk, on those for minor offices a doubloon and eight reales for his clerk, and so on, and these, according to the arancel of cardinal giudice, were payable in silver.[533] burdensome as were these legalized fees, the limitations of the arancel were not enforced and complaints of imposition were constant. the members of the suprema had not this source of income, but, as a rule, they held lucrative benefices with dispensation for non-residence. * * * * * [sidenote: _resources_] the suprema could not be thus lavish in its expenditures without an assured and steady source of income. it no longer was dependent on what it could call from one tribunal or another, for it had so persistently utilized its control over their funds as to accumulate for itself an amount of invested capital the interest on which went far to meet its regular requirements, the deficiency being made up by contributions from the tribunals, especially those of the colonies. these latter had become very productive. besides accumulating large capital for themselves, they were able to make heavy remittances to spain. mexico and lima were expected to furnish regularly 10,000 ducats a year and this was frequently exceeded. even from cartagena de las indias the suprema received, in 1653 and 1654, more than 100,000 pesos.[534] about 1675, we chance to hear of a remittance of 40,000 pesos (about 29,000 ducats) of which lima furnished 10,000 and mexico 30,000.[535] an estimate of income and outlay, of about the year 1635, shows that the suprema held securities of various kinds bringing in an annual return as follows: assignments on the public revenues 7,497,703 mrs. in the hands of the fuccares (fuggers) awaiting investment, 2,618,200, @ 5 pr. ct. 130,000 " censos 2,210,625 " -------------- 9,839,228 " against this its regular expenses were estimated at 13,350,275, which, with a sum of 1,353,625 that it had been ordered to pay to cardinal zapata, the late inquisitor-general, left a deficit of 4,864,672, or 12,966 ducats.[536] this it could have had no trouble in making up from the tribunals at home and in the colonies, besides such amounts as might still come in from confiscations. in the period of storm and stress for some twelve years, commencing with 1640, the incessant demands of the king unquestionably caused the suprema some trouble. already, in 1640, we find it borrowing considerable sums, but its resources were large and, about 1657, a statement of its indebtedness amounts, reduced to silver, only to 14,500 ducats. against this may be set a list of investments and sources of income, yielding a revenue of 18,500,000 maravedís or 50,000 ducats, showing what power of accumulation it had possessed, in spite of the troublous times through which it had passed.[537] all this was clear interest on investment securities except 10,000 ducats from the colonial tribunals, about 2000 ducats estimated to come in from confiscations, etc., and 200,000 maravedís from the _fabrica de sevilla_. this latter item merits a word of explanation. in 1626, the castle of triana, occupied by the seville tribunal, was threatened with ruin by an inundation. in view of the heavy cost of repairs, in 1627, it was determined to meet this by imposing for three years, on every calificador appointed, a fee of 10 ducats, on every commissioner and familiar 5, and on every notary 4. the three years passed away but the charge was continued and, in 1640, it was extended to a number of other minor positions, both salaried and unsalaried. the repairs had long been finished but the suprema coolly appropriated the income as part of its regular resources and kept it to the end. in 1790 the receipts from valencia amounted to 27-1/2 libras, and an allusion to it in 1817 shows that the _fabrica de sevilla_ was still collected.[538] [sidenote: _labors_] in 1743, philip v made an effort to reduce the excessive number of officials and expenses of the inquisition and some other departments, but he was unable to withstand the conservative influences brought to bear. it was probably in connection with this that an elaborate statement of the resources and expenditures of the suprema was prepared. the work of the inquisition by this time had shrunk virtually to censorship of the press and punishing bigamists, soliciting confessors, blasphemers, diviners, wise-women and incautious utterers of suspicious propositions, but its machinery was as ponderous and costly as ever. the pay-roll of the suprema counted forty names whose salaries and emoluments aggregated in round numbers 64,000 ducats, to which were added the expenses of the madrid tribunal, dependent on the suprema, and other estimated outlays amounting to 12,000, making a total of 76,000 ducats. its annual revenue was stated at 51,000 ducats, leaving a deficit of 25,000.[539] how this was made good does not appear; possibly there was concealment in the statement of resources, for the suprema does not seem to have curtailed its liberalities, and a salary list of 1764 shows that there had been no change in the pay and emoluments, except that the number of officials had increased to forty-one.[540] the financial condition of the whole inquisition, however, was seriously compromised by royal orders, from 1794 onward, requiring investments to be sold and the proceeds to be placed in government securities to aid in defraying the costs of the wars, in which spain became involved, with france and then with portugal and england.[541] the virtual bankruptcy of the monarchy and the destruction consequent on the napoleonic wars naturally reduced it to the greatest straits, the results of which will be seen when we come to investigate its finances as a whole. * * * * * considering the liberal salary and allowances which, in the eighteenth century, amounted to 4030 ducats for each full member, the labor was not heavy. the council held daily sessions of three hours in the morning and, on three days of the week--tuesdays, thursdays, and saturdays--a two hours' session in the afternoon at which were present the two auxiliary members from the council of castile, who received 1400 ducats. the pay of the inquisitor-general was nearly 7000 ducats,[542] besides which he usually held a bishopric and the members some comfortable preferment. the meetings of the council were originally held in the apartments of the inquisitor-general, until the accession of philip iv, when the house of the condemned favorite, rodrigo calderon, was purchased for it and became its permanent office.[543] chapter ii. the tribunal. during the active career of the inquisition, it was the local tribunal which represented it to the people. the inquisitor-general and suprema were distant and held no direct relations with the community. it was otherwise with the inquisitors, at whose bidding any one, however high-placed, could be thrown into the secret prison, to emerge with an ineffaceable mark of infamy, while his property, to the minutest item, was sequestrated and tied up, perhaps for years, and, if not confiscated, was largely consumed in expenses. men wielding such power, and virtually irresponsible, shed terror around them as they walked abroad and, as we have seen, their habitual use of their position was not such as to allay these apprehensions. they were the visible agents of the holy office, the embodiment of its mysterious and all-embracing authority, empowered to summon to their aid the whole resources of the state and answerable only to their chief. the tribunal, in which they sat in judgement on the lives and fortunes of all whom they might call before them, could only be regarded with universal dread, for no one knew at what moment an unguarded utterance, or the denunciation of some enemy, might bring him before it. * * * * * the delimitation of the land into districts, each subject to its own tribunal, was naturally a work of time. in the early period, when there were converso suspects everywhere, it mattered little where an inquisition was set up, for it could find abundant occupation in any place and, when the field was temporarily exhausted, it could transfer itself elsewhere in search of a fresh harvest. ferdinand, in his instructions to the inquisitors of saragossa, in 1485, tells them that wherever in aragon they think that an inquisition is necessary, they are to notify torquemada, who will send inquisitors there.[544] thus we hear of tribunals in aragon at teruel, jaca, tarazona, barbastro and calatayud; there was one, partly aragonese and partly catalan--lérida and huesca, which was not divided between saragossa and barcelona until 1532. in catalonia there were tribunals at perpignan and balaguer, and, in castile, others more or less permanent, at medina del campo, avila, guadalupe, osuna, jaen, xeres, alcaraz, plasencia, burgos, durango, leon and doubtless many other places.[545] even as late as 1501, a royal cédula announces that deza is about to send inquisitors with their officials to various bishoprics to provide them with tribunals and all receivers were instructed to pay them such sums as he might designate.[546] under such conditions there could be no very precise boundaries of jurisdiction, for it mattered little who burnt a judaizing new christian, but it was otherwise with the confiscations which required to be garnered by those responsible and authorized by the king, and the first strict definitions of districts would seem to have arisen in commissioning receivers. thus, in 1498, the receiver of saragossa is qualified for the sees of saragossa and tarazona; he of valencia for those of valencia, tortosa, segorbe and teruel, while we hear of one for huesca, gerona and urgel, apparently distinct from barcelona.[547] [sidenote: _expropriation of houses_] for a considerable time, moreover, the tribunals, to a certain extent, were ambulatory, travelling around with their whole corps of officials and empowered to take possession of such buildings as they might require, wherever they saw fit to establish themselves for a time, while the receivers were instructed not to require of them an account of their travelling expenses. the regulations for such an itinerant court may be gathered from a cédula of may 17, 1517, addressed to all the officials and inhabitants of leon and the bishoprics of plasencia, coria, badajoz and ciudad rodrigo, instructing them to give free lodgement, but not in inns, to the inquisitors and their officials and to charge them only current prices for food. where they settle for a time and set up their court, they are to rent lodgings in houses where they can have the use of one door and the owner of another, while suitable provision must be had for an audience-chamber and a secret prison; the rent is to be determined by appraisers mutually selected but, if the stay is less than a year, rent will be payable only for the time of occupancy. there is to be no opposition or maltreatment, but they are to have all aid and favor under penalty of ten thousand maravedís.[548] the power thus conferred of temporary expropriation was not always exercised considerately. in 1514, hernando sánchez of llerena complained to ferdinand that, seven years before, the inquisitors had taken his house, compelling him to build another, and this they were now about to seize; ferdinand compassionated him and prohibited them from doing so. it was otherwise when the tribunal, in 1516, was transferred to plasencia. the corregidor reported that the most suitable house was that of the dean who was residing in rome and had rented it; when he was told to turn out the tenant and install the tribunal, the rent, as usual, to be determined by two valuers.[549] even the episcopal dignity had to gi