 Book 3, Chapter 5, Part 3 of the History of the Inquisition of Spain, Volume 2. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The History of the Inquisition of Spain, Volume 2, by Henry Charles Lee. Book 3, Jurisdiction, Chapter 5, Part 3, Appeals to Rome. 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 differential. In 1568, we find him complaining to his ambassador, Juan de Zuniga, 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. Zuniga was therefore ordered to supplicate the pope to refuse admission to all such appeals while the viseroy of Sardinia was instructed to prevent testimony from being taken in such cases. This effort was fruitless as likewise was that of Abot Brizeno, sent in 1580 a 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. Soon after this, a case occurred which strained the relations between the courts, Jean de Berry, a French man on trial by the tribunal of Saragosa, 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 Orbitayo. The case must have been the subject of active recrimination for Juan de Zuniga at the time viseroy of Naples with super-abandoned zeal kidnapped him and dispatched him to Spain. Instantly, the papal court was aflame, Zuniga was promptly excommunicated but the censure was suspended for four months to allow him to return the fugitive. A rapture seemed imminent and Zuniga, conscious of his mistake on learning that the galiases had been driven back to Palermo, sent feeler in hot haste but his messenger was too late and Jean de Berry was carried to Spain. Papal dispatches couched in vigorous languages were forthwith sent to Danuncio, to Philip, to inquisitor general Quiroga and to the Saragosa Tribunal Danuncio 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 Burns' departure at the same time remonstrating against the asylum to fugitives offered by Rome. Berry was Julie delivered to the Roman Inquisition but there was probably a secret understanding for at the 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 Saragosa and the last we hear of him is a letter of the Suprema, August 3, to the tribunal ordering it to do justice, the customary formula for confirming a sentence, as usual, the Cuiya abandoned those whom it had undertaken to protect. From 1582 to 1586, Danuncio, Taverna Bishop of Lodi, was largely occupied with the question of these appeals. 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 came to 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. We have seen how little ceremony was used by 6th to 5th in 1585 when he evoked the case of the Jesuit Provincial Marine and his colleagues and how the Suprema was forced to submit. While Philip Das was unable to dispute the papal right of intervention, he had as little scruple as his predecessor 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 a 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. They were practically treated as anality and it is a singular fact that after so long an experience, the Curious Tulfan purchasers credulous enough to seek protection in them. In a Toledo Autodefe of 1591, there appeared 24 Judaizers of Alcazar, 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. 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 and questionably knew better, makes such an assertion, and Paramo, 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. 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 goes as, 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 Cesa, and then, through the succeeding envoy, the Duke Vescalona, to whom, in 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. 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, as a vetoed the mood. Eliciting from Clement VIII, a still more peremptory command were upon the documents were sent and, while the case was under consideration in Rome, the woman was discharged. It was preferable to let an assumed culprit go free than to allow the Roman Holy Office to exercise jurisdiction. The subserviency of Philip IV to his Inquisitor 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 fate, leading the clergy of Mallorca 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 the pension of 900 dukats on the Arch Dekundri of Hativa and one of 342 dukats on a pre-bend vikated 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 avenged 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 Visoroi, the Archbishop, and the chapter. Philip was in the full ardor of a contest with the Pope over the jurisdiction of Danuncio and the Roman condemnation of books supporting the royal prerogative. He was not content with the measures proposed and returned the consulta with a 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 Visoroi, expressing his displeasure and his determination to restore to the most extreme steps. Letters were also to be written to the Visoroi 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. Kanon Onyate, 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. If disinspired in neclesiastics that terror desired, it did not influence defendants under trial who continued to appeal to Rome for a carta accordada 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. A few years later, their fall of the most bitter and stubborn conflict that had yet occurred between Madrid and Rome on the subject of appeals, the case of Heronimo de Villanueva, which is so illustrative in various ways that it merits a somewhat detailed examination. Heronimo 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 Wasusticia. He won the favor of olivarez 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 with the Kamara of the Council of Indies, Secretary of State, and of the Despacho Universal de la Monarquía. In 1623, there was founded in Madrid with the object of restoring the relaxed, Benedictine discipline, a convent under the name of La Incarnación Bendita de San Placido with fans furnished by Villanueva and by the family of Doña Teresa de Silva, also called Valle de la Cerda, who was elected Abbas. She had for some years been under the direction of Ray Francisco Garcia Calderón, 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 him naturally placed Calderón in charge. Before the year was out, one of the nuns became demoniacally possessed. The contagiousness of the disorder is well known and soon 22 out of the 30 were similarly affected including Teresa herself. Calderón was reckoned a skillful exorcist but he was baffled as was likewise the Abbot of Repel 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 600 pages for it was a current belief that demons were often compelled by God to utter truths concealed from men. This 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 when having the spirit of Saint Peter another that of Saint Paul and so forth. While Calderón 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 Calderón then Calderón would be poked for 33 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 León who had been associated would Calderón in the direction and had quarreled with him denounced the affair to the inquisition in 1628. Calderón's prosecution was ordered. He endeavored to escape to France but was caught at Herona 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 fear such evidence as was wanted. Calderón 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. Dono Teresa was relegated to a convent for four years and the nuns were scattered in different houses. 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. In all these 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 a 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 sensors who reported March 12, 1630 unfavorably he was an accomplice or if not he was at least a father of the heresies. Then other sensors were called in and a junta was held March 20 which reduced the finding to his being moderately suspect of having incurred the above censure. There was evidently no desire to attack so influential a personage who was supported by the favor of olivaris and the inquisition carried the matter no further but doubtless Viennueva 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 soft 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 in Calderon and Alonso de Leon and professed that being unable to judge the import of it all he made a 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 for prosecution. One member, however, dissenting and voting for further consultation with competent theologians. The majority opinion governed and on November 22 a certificate was Julie Given to Villanueva. He might well congratulate himself on his escape and turn his attention to rehabilitating the unfortunate nans of San Placido. It was well-nigh an example that the inquisition should confess fallibility by revoking a judgment and to accomplish it demanded time and perseverance. When all was ready on February 5, 1638 Frey Gabrielle de Bustamente in the name of the Benedictine Order petitioned the Suprema to revise the case and that the nans be set free and restored to their honor. This was referred to nine censors who reported April 14th that the nans 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 2 when it decided that the imprisonment of the nans 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. 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 the condemnation it could reverse an acquital especially as St. Pius V had decreed that no acquital for heresy should be held to be res hudikata and permanent whether pronounced by inquisitors, bishops, popes or even the council of Trent. 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 Oliveres in February 1643 did not affect his position for his membership in the council of Indies was bestowed in April 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 compromising material for use against Oliveres. The first attack was skillfully directed against San Placido and not against Villanueva. Soto Mayor 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 Irainoso took possession November 14. Arce had already been designated for the post and on July 13 a royal letter informed him that Soto Mayor 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 see but Arce's hands were for as soon as he received power from Soto Mayor he must undertake it in such wise as would give public satisfaction. The commission from Soto Mayor followed the same day and comprehended not only the nuns but all persons concerned whether lay or clerical. The letter was evidently drawn up by Arce for the signature of Philip who was but a tool in the hands of the intrigers. With the existence of the monarchy 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 a 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. 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 24, 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 26, 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 judgment 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 food 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 27 the fiscal already had his clamosa or indictment prepared and presented. This displaced the animals 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 18 the fiscal asked for that 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. He's inquiring into future events dependent upon human free will. His belief in the demons after experiencing their mendacity. His stressuring the picture of the angel, et cetera. There was nothing new in all this but at that 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 fact 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 Intoledo and Alcala de Henares. A formidable array of 21 articles was submitted to them including not only Villanueva's dealings with the demons of San Placido but his subsequent tabling in astrology through which he used to predict the result of campaigns. The censors could not well hesitate in pronouncing him vehemently suspect in faith and some even held that those who had signed the exculpation of 1632 should be prosecuted. All this was conducted with the inviolable secrecy of the inquisition both the king in the intended victim being kept in profound ignorance of what was on foot. The opinions of the censors were furnished at various times up to May 15, 1644. Then the supremat took three and a half months to consider them until Phillip 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 31 and executed the same day Two inquisitors Juan Ortiz and Calaya went to Villanueva's house about 2 p.m. Walk 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 cut and kept as usual strictly incommunicado. 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. The same day in the next there came for him important dispatches from the king which had to be opened by his principal secretary. Arsiat once wrote to Phillip announcing the arrest and assuring him that the case would be prosecuted with the utmost desire for the greater service of God. Phillip's reply is the most object 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 administering 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 Phillip have interfered had it been his own son wherefor it was a matter for 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 21 in a tone almost contemptuous. The inviolable secrecy of the inquisition required that no one but the king should be informed of the commencement in the case of the nuns of San Placido which was revived by his command. As to the queen, the arrest was made between 1 and 2 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 when the king returns he can give orders about the papers which are under lock and key. These were all the reasons that Arce deemed to give you sovereign for increasing the confusion of the 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 and it was followed by similar appeals from the other councils of which Villanueva was a member who are Indies, Aragon and Cruzada. The kingdom of Aragon remonstrated with the king in a memorial setting forth the long and faithful services of Villanueva. He saddened imprisonment without allowing time to settle official and personal affairs and the infamy cast upon all his kindred. In view of the nature 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 spending 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 at doubt it being so extraordinary and amounting to photorship 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. 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 these the censors differed two of them pronouncing it innocent while five held it the prohibitions of the arts notoria as a tacit pact with the demon. Villanueva in his defense 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-multiplicis which defined that in heresy there could never be a final decision in favor of the accused. Philip urged his patch on the tribunal but it proceeded with a customary exasperating deliberation after 18 months had passed when Philip was holding the Cortes of Saragosa the deputies presented in January 1816-46 unappealing the name of the kingdom expressing entire confidence in Villanueva's innocence and urging that the 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 offenses should be read in the audience chamber and not in a public auto-defe 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 the levy for light suspicion and as to vanishing him and there were some who voted for finding and suspending him from office for two years. Evidently at the worst there was no serious culpability proven and there were probably few court years of Philip IV against whom superstitions as grave could not have been alleged. In the estilo of the inquisition when there was discordia in the consulta defe the case was referred to the Suprema which thus became the judge. September 1 Vienueva accused 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 for ecclesiastics for friless and for laymen. Vienueva was to be severely reprimanded and warned he was to abjure the levy be prohibited from communicating with the nuns or living and be banished for three years from Toledo and Madrid and from twenty leagues around them. This sentence may not appear severe but to understand the rest of the story it must be born in mind that to be penanced by the inquisition and be required to abjure for even like suspicion of heresy inflicted an ineffasible stigma not only on the culprit but on his kindred and posterity. The whole race was involved in infamy and no temporal severe could be so disastrous in its effect upon the honor of a noble family as the blood 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 Vienueva's worldly career was ruined already and his wanton incarceration in the secret prisons had been a severe inflection 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 his hope and to the Spanish noble no effort was too great to a word so crashing 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 Vienueva Agustin Dahusticia and Anna now a best of San Placido Presented an appeal from it to the pope and a recusation of Arce Ira Inoso 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 18 Torres in the name of Heronimo presented to the tribunal of Toledo a recusation of all the inquisitors and Piscots of Spain as being Vienueva 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. Althin we are told an example in the history of the inquisition and the presiding inquisitor ordered the alcaide to take that man back to his cell. He recused everyone who had acted as judge and appeal to the pope to the king and to any other competent judge. Book 3 Chapter 5 Part 3 Recording by Shana Sear Fresno, California Book 3 Chapter 5 Part 4 of The History of the Inquisition of Spain Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Anstchnell The History of the Inquisition of Spain Volume 2 By Henry Charles Lee Book 3 Jurisdiction Chapter 5 Part 4 Appeals to Rome The tribunal consulted the Suprema and was ordered to execute the sentence. Another attempt was made on March 29th but Vianueva 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. 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 to prima 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 burned for refusing to abjure. A bull of Martin V quoted by the inquisition authorized the prosecution and relaxation of suspects who refused to abjure and there is probably truth in a contemporary statement that the fiscal of the Suprema went to Toledo and threatened the Janueva that he would be publicly stripped of his habit as a knight of Calatrava and be relaxed to the secular arm for burning. 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. Meanwhile his brother Agustin had not been idle. In several interviews with the king he had presented memorials which Philip forwarded to Arce March 27 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. There was no hope of justice in this quarter and Agustin turned to Rome as a last resort. Don Josef Navarro who is spoken of as secretary a devoted follower of Janueva was dispatched thither to procure a brief and was doubtless well provided with funds. His errand soon was known and on June 7 Philip wrote to his ambassador the Count of Vagnate 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 26 Vagnate reported the arrival of Navarro and asked for instructions. Navarro found little difficulty in obtaining the desired brief in spite of Vagnate's efforts. Vianueva seems to have awaited it while recuperating and retirement from his three years incarceration and final struggles. When it arrived he went to Zaragoza 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 Perez. On September 2nd he presented himself at the prison of Manifestacion where Bale was entered for him by the sons of his brother Augustine 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 Malaga who was Captain General reported to the Count of Aro Philips New Minister that the city was quiet and there was nothing to fear. The Bishop enclosed the letter of September 1st from Vianueva to the King announcing that during his imprisonment his representatives without his knowledge had appeal to the Pope who had granted a brief empowering either the Bishop of Cuenca, Segovia or Calaora to hear the case in appeal and to render a final decision. While anxious for his 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 license. Arasé 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 Calaora 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 Vianueva and if these appeals to Rome were allowed the consequences to the Catholic religion would be lamentable. Apparently the Spanish Episcopat had small reverence for the Vice-gerent of God. The leading statesman of Spain took a different view. Ahunta 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 Cruzala united in a consulta of September 15. This set forth that when the Toledo Tribunal sentenced Vianueva he had a right of appeal to the Suprema. He presented reasons for accusing the Inquisitor General and some of the members at was denied a hearing. He was seized again for the protest and appeal and held until he accepted the sentence and renounced all defense. 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. Vianueva did not violate his sentence in going to Zaragoza 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 defense it might cause some disturbance in Zaragoza 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 this group that a man struggling for his honor and that of his family is denied all defense 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 Arragon 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 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 Arsire Noso and ready to rush blindly into a contest with Rome Equally fruitless was an appeal made September 23 by Augustine Villanueva who furnished a list of cases in which appeals to the Pope had been admitted A warning came from Agnate who wrote December 17 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 Arsire 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 17 a rambling and inconsequential letter scolding Agnate for his lack of success and urging him to fresh efforts The brief was invalid as being ob repetitious and so repetitious Navarro was ordered home and Agnate 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 Innocent the 10th in fact had grown indignant at the opposition to his brief and had transmitted through his nuncio another to Arsire 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 Arsire replied March 12 assuring the Pope that the case had been suspended awaiting the papal decision and representing new to be also false that for 150 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 beninity as would be learned from a person about to be sent to inform the Pope wherefor he begged that the case be removed to him and the Suprema This was a typical specimen of inquisitorial methods of misrepresentation and of evasion of practical but not open disobedience Innocent however was not to be thus juggled with he had substituted the Bishop of Seguenza for him of Cuenca then the Bishop of Segovia died and Calaora was transferred to Pampluna whereupon further and the Bishop-Elect of Segovia but Pampluna died and was replaced by the Bishop of Avila so finally a brief of April 1648 ordered Avila, Cuenca 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 The matter was evidently growing serious and juntas were held July 14th and August 27th to consider the situation As the later was presided over by Arsé whom Philippe had made president of Castile so as to increase his powers of evil it decided that the king should not submit the abuses of the curia in a matter in which the Catholic religion was at stake Philip's scars 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 whosoever's hand 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 that if they did not contraven 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 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 by little respect Arsa felt the danger of his position for innocent had threatened him with a 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 Having thus placed himself on the record doubtless with the royal conevance 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 Anyate 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 gauge 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 courier in the contest thus rushly provoked It knew this and its next move showed that it felt assured of victory A brief of March 1 recited the preliminaries of the case and then evoked it to 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 it's a factor 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 to 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 concerning appeals were derogated The Suprema might well characterize to flip this document as containing extraordinary and unusual clauses and it could only suggest to him the favorite Spanish formula obede ser ino 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 dispatched 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 secretaries were busy and the records so voluminous that they occupied more than 8,000 pages A gross exaggeration for when copied they amounted only to 4,600 This surfer the present however and successive postponements were obtained The supplication against the brief was of course useless and the papal anger increased on learning that we anueva salaries had all been stopped. A petty persecution most unwise under the circumstances at this time a curious incident was a memorial from we anueva May 23 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 consulta to be presented to him It of course 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 later could only reply with a consulta of July 15 exculpating itself for paying no regard to we anueva's appeal nor did it succeed much better in a paper drawn up on July 17 for the benefit of the Duke Dulin Fantado 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 seaports to keep close watch on all vessels arriving from Italy when if there appeared to be papal agents or notaries 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 under further orders this being done with the utmost secrecy and as if in the ordinary routine of business the precaution proved to purpose but in December the Duke Dulin Fantado reported that his efforts and cabreras had been in vain the pope insisted that the process should be brought to Rome 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 hadn't been returned as he demanded February 5 orders were sent to the nuncio that if the papers were not forthcoming in April the full penalties of evocation must be inflicted and you 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 Yanueva 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 standing firm in defense 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 that the king favored Yanueva Arasa's court entry 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 Tarsas 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 Arasa notified the nuncio that the copying was completed two secretaries and five other officials had been working on them for 12 or 14 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 this was all mere playing for time at the attention 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 Damiande for Noyeda at the Tribunal of Barcelona in five volumes aggregating 4600 pages there was no intention of sending them however and for Noyeda 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 for Noyeda 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 a word paper Wrath addressed to Philip on November 16th October 3rd and 19th and January 23rd and February 4th 1651 repeated requests to allow the messenger to sail end of book 3 chapter 5 part 4 recording by Ernst Schnell book 3 chapter 5 part 5 of the history of the inquisition of Spain volume 2 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Ernst Schnell the history of the inquisition of Spain volume 2 by Henry Charles Lee book 3 jurisdiction chapter 5 part 5 appears to Rome this transparent bioplay did not deceive innocent Cabrera had an audience January 8th 1651 and told him that Faun Ayeda 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 the 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 the inquisition wanted was to close the door on these appeals the tension was becoming dangerous for on February 18th the nuncio notified Arsé 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 Arsé attempted to explain the nuncio told him that the pope would abolish the inquisition to which Arsé rejoined but God would not permit him to do so in reporting this to Philip Arsé recapitulated the heavy penalties incurred Ipsofacto 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 Fonoyera's departure of this the certificate was asked for transmission to the pope as was likewise a supplication of much urgency from the Suprema on March 1st 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 regalias and the privileges of the inquisition Arsé 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 150 years they 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 ruined to the inquisition in this memorial Arsé alludes to a papal command received sometime before to retire to his sea of placencia 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 Yanueva's case it would result in irretrievable damage to religion and to the state he had asked the nunsio to suspend the order and now he requests the pope to accept Arsé's resignation of his bishopric and pass of bulls of presentation for his successor innocent was too shrewd to forfeit his hold on the 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 Arsé's successor the bishop of Zamora was pregnant Arsé lost his sea but he gratefully acknowledged that Philip's liberality was such that he could forego the revenues it must have cost the king dear for Placencia was one of the wealthy seas estimated in 1612 as worth 40,000 ducats a year in spite of Arsé's remonstrance Philip yielded to the advice of his consulos in a letter of April 11, 1651 he announced to Infantado that orders have been given to Fomoyeda to sail and deliver 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 dispatches and when thusfully 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 to 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 Philip was fairly beaten if his humiliation was extreme it was because he had attributed such absurd, advantageous 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 Fonayeda April 14 but it was not until September 17 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's used at the Spaniards subsequently to assert that the 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 the 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 31 Infantado reports his efforts to accomplish this but as yet without success 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 Cardinal's Lugo and Albezi but in June he stated to Cardinal Trivulsio then 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 Now that he had indicated his jurisdiction he evidently felt little interest in what he regarded as merely an intrigue Nothing further was done Until October 12 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 consultants and judges such as might be expected of the populace but not of learned and thoughtful men To softness reproof some expressions followed highly commanding 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 handling 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 Trivulcio 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 4th 1653 to urge Trivulcio to obtain them 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 granddaughter 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 tergiverizations and of promises made and broken by Innocent which show that to him Vianueva was merely a pawn at Madrid Vianueva died in Zaragoza July 21st 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 Jeronimo and his descendants or in their default his niece Margarita and her descendants they being the principal heirs 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 a double purpose of indicating 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 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 it is scarce worth while to follow in detail the further wary progress of this affair in which Spanish tenacity was pitted against the wily diplomacy of Rome proteinaceous efforts continued for years to get the case 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 24th 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 12th 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 wary of the urgency which promised to be interminable cut a short March 29th 1660 by a brief to the king in which he said that the case had been finally concluded by innocent the 10th as appeared from his letter to Philip and Arce of March 12th October 12th 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 this ended the case which from its inception in 1628 had lasted for 32 years Cabrera had spent nearly 12 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 100,000 ducats at a time when it was representing itself as wholly impoverished Arce had succeeded in removing Viennueva from the court and in blackening his memory but the victory remained with a paper which had vindicated its apollot jurisdiction for although it never decided the case it retained possession of it and the papers which were the symbol of its rights in summary unscrupulousness the Suprema endeavored to evade the president when in 1668 it was alleged in the quarrel with the bishop of Mallorca 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 Viennueva's sentence and the method of procedure there was, it is true and irregularity in allowing the papers to remain in Rome but the pope excused himself because the originals were in Spain the evil example let several powerful men to seek appeals to the holy sea 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 accepting cases in which they should insert in their letters the text of the bulls was derogated in the subsequent quarrel with the cannons and clergy of Mallorca in 1671 volume 1 page 503 the letter appealed to the holy sea 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 denuncio 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 regalia 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 11th 1676 to the king all the documents bearing on the subject and asking 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 consulter of July 28th 1693 on the occasion of a fresh disturbance it expressed its profound regret that the junta had failed to reach any conclusion two centuries of bickering thus left the holy sea in possession of its imprescriptible jurisdiction but the bull bonds were less reverential than the Habsburgs in 1705 the hostility of the papacy led Philip V to forbid the publication of papal briefs without the royal executor 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 Beyuga than Bishop of Cartagena we hear little after this and indeed the experience of Yanueva 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 sea 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 courier demanded the papers necessary for his trial the inquisitor general Orbe Ilaratili 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 sea would return the prisoner his flight should not be held to aggravate his offense and in due time the inquisition 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 courier 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 the ecclesiastical organizations 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 prevens and the benefits held by officials of the inquisition had always been a fruitful source of such appeals and the courier was never lost to entertain them a typical case was that of Francisco Veles Frillas private secretary of inquisitor general Camargo who obtained the dignity of presenter 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 appeal 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 19th, 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 regalias they were ordered without making a reply to abandon the appeal and to apply to inquisitor general and the suprema who would render justice in the case it is safe to assume that they did not venture to disobey the papacy of the 18th 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 sea was deprived 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 end of book 3 chapter 5 part 5 recording by Ernst Schnell section 14 book 4 chapter 1 part 1 of the history of the inquisition of Spain volume 2 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the history of the inquisition of Spain volume 2 by Henry Charles Lee book 4 organization chapter 1 part 1 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 Ferdinandin Isabella after a few years experience obtained from the Holy See the appointment of Torcamata 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 his bull that the commissions of inquisitors were permanent the body was subsequently abandoned and towards the close of the 16th century the commissions were granted ad benaplaxitim during the good pleasure of the Holy See and this continued until the end similarly there was a question whether the powers of the inquisitors lapsed on the death of the inquisitor general when Mercator of Aragon died in 1516 the Suprema in conveying the news to the tribunals talked to 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 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 powers directly from the Pope and not from the inquisitor general so that their faculties were continuous 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 this left open the question of the interregnum which seems to have been somewhat forcibly settled by necessity as when Guadice 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 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 Torcamata 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 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 their orders 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 Torcamata fixed the salaries of all the officials of the tribunals and add that when the inquisitors general see that there is necessity or special labor they can make such Ayutas de Costas or gratuities as they deem proper it was inevitable however that the council should acquire power Torcamata was aging and although at this period the tribunals acted independently convicting culprits in holding Otto's defa at their discretion yet he held a pellet 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 consulta's defa or juntas of experts called in to assist in pronouncing judgment 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 consulta's and it was resolved that when there was doubt or discordia the technical name for lack of unanimity the fiscal of the tribunals should bring the papers to Torcamata 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 as Torcamata 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 Avala 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 when Torcamata 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 counter signed by the secretary por mandaro de los signores 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 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 if papal confirmation of this were lacking it was supplied by leo the 10th in his bull of august 1st 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 the faith the death of Ferdinand January 23, 1516 the preoccupations of Zeminis who till his death in November 1517 was governor of Spain and the youth and inexperience of Charles the 5th 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 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 Zeminis on the eve of his departure with his expedition to Oran was required by Ferdinand to appoint the Archbishop of Grenada Francisco de Roja president of the council during his absence 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 worthwhile 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 in the interval between the death of Mercador and the accession of Cardinal Adrian he acted as inquisitor general of Aragon in 1520 when Charles at Carugna was departing from Spain he appointed Francisco de Sosa Bishop of Almeria as president in 1522 Cardinal Adrian on August 5th the day of his departure from Tarragona for Rome appointed the future inquisitor general president of the councils of both Castile and Aragon 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 maravedes while Adrian as inquisitor general had only 150,000 the same as the other members of the council this implied superiority and it was evidently necessary to enforce subordination as when in 1539 Cardinal Tvera was made inquisitor general and Fernando Valdez president the latter was told that he was not in any way to modify the orders of the former so when in 1549 Valdez succeeded Tvera and Fernando Nino Bishop of Cegenza became president Charles the 5th wrote to him that he was to obey the instructions given to Valdez on his a session it was doubtless found that this duplicate headship led to trouble and the position of president was allowed to lapse for in 1598 Paramo tells us that the inquisitor general was president 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 this may have postponed but did not prevent the creation of the office for in 1649 we find a president acting 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 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 council's acting as though independent and sometimes Adrian doing the same in the Aragonese Troubles over Juan Prott the Suprema nowhere appears everything is in the name of Adrian or of Charles during the interval between Adrian's election as pope January 9th 1522 and his leaving Spain August 5th he and the Suprema acted at times each independently of the other 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 general ship 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 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 the result of this was seen in 1540 when Cardinal Tvera 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 Nicolo Montanáñez inquisitor of Mallorca 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 but otherwise he and the suprema had coalesced into one body a fact emphasized by a declaration may 14th 1542 that they formed together but a single tribunal and that there was no appeal from one to the other still there was a primacy of honor in the inquisitor general ship when the Instructiones 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 Valdes but in the prefatory note he has made to state that they had been maturely discussed in the council where it was agreed that they should be observed by all inquisitors 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 Contorini 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 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 17th 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 in the letters of the suprema a decision reached when he was present records the fact and the council present al-exmo senior inquisitor general but by far the greater number have no such formula indicating that it acted without him and that its acts were binding another formula frequently employed is consultado con al-exmo senior inquisitor general which makes the suprema act and the inquisitor general merely consult 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 ars iranoso in such a cases Villanuevas 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 1525 their chance to be a tie and the imperious pachaco endeavor 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 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 without taking votes if it is doubtful 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 but 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 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 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 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 Freyfreilandias which was in some respects one of the most noteworthy cases in the annals of the inquisition Carlos II the last of the Habsburgs who were the curse of Spain was imbecil 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 35 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 whatever might promise relief his first wife, Marie-Louise of Orleans had died childless and the second Maria Anna of Newberg 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 Roylandiaz 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 Matea who controlled the queen by enriching and advancing her favorites prominent among whom was Don Juan Tomas 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 bosomed himself to Cardinal Porta Carrero 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 Matea by another Dominican Freyfroylandiaz a professor of theology in the University of Alcala a simple minded and sincere man whose life had been passed in convents and colleges and who knew nothing of intrigues politics Carlos asked to have him brought secretly to the court and Matea's first intimation of his disgrace was seeing Diaz 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 Freylandiaz took possession of the seat and 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 Nicholas 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 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 Valadarez had brought the matter before the suprema when it had been anxiously discussed without taking action Valadarez had died in 1795 and had been succeeded by the Dominican Juan Tomas de Recoberte 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 Diaz became a member Rocoberte appealed to him and he eagerly promised to assist there were no indications to guide an investigation until Diaz chance to learn that in the nunnery of Cangas Oviedo there were several nuns demonically possessed who were being exercised by Fray Antonio Alvarez de Agual a fellow former 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 Fraylandiaz 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 Rocoberte eagerly assented and applied to the Dominican bishop of Oviedo but that worry prelate hesitated to embark in a matter so dangerous and discouraged the suggestion Diaz then addressed Agual who at first refused but finally consented if he could have written commands from the inquisitor general and confessor. Rocoberte 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 Diaz enclosed this in a letter of his own and arranged a cipher for the correspondence the obliging demons swore by god that the king had been bewitched at the age of 14 to render him impotent and incapable of governing. With this Arguel endeavored to withdraw but Rocoberte and Diaz 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 3rd 1675 in a cup of chocolate by the queen mother in order the charm was made with the members of a dead man and the remedies were in unction with blessed oil purging and separation from the queen end of book 4 chapter 1 part 1 recording by Kathleen Nelson Austin, TX September 2010