 Book 5, Resources, Chapter 4, Benefices When the Inquisition was established, it was apparent that if its officials or a portion of them could be ordered on the Church, there might be less diversion of the confiscations from the Royal Treasury. At the very commencement in 1480, Ferdinand and Isabella obtained from sexes the Fourth and indult authorizing them to present the four earliest inquisitors to Benefices, of course, without obligation to reside. As yet, however, the Inquisition had not inspired general terror, and the people refused to admit the intruders, whereupon the sovereigns provided them with four chaplainces in the Royal Chapel. The attempt was not abandoned, and in the supplementary instructions of December 1484, Torquemada announced that it was the intention of the sovereigns to procure a papal indult, authorizing them to bestow benefits, not only on the inquisitors, but on all the clerics employed in the holy work. Something of the kind was evidently obtained, for when the Holy Office was organized in 1485 under Torquemada, the brief confirming his appointment dispensed from residence all officials in its service, who held or might thereafter obtain preferment. New appointees were released from the customary temporary residence, and all were assured of their full revenues without deduction, all apostolical and conciliar degrees to the contrary notwithstanding. There was nothing in this to shock public opinion, for the canon law permitted canons to be absent for study in any recognized university, and the enjoyment of benefits everywhere by the creatures of the curia was legalized by assuming service to the pope to be equivalent to service in a chapter. Yet, the Spanish Church apparently was not disposed to submit quietly to this, and its resistance may be assumed as the cause of another brief of Innocent the Eighth, on February 8th, 1486, which limited the grant to five years, and required the beneficiary to supply a vicar to fill his place. At the same time, it specified all officials down to messengers and jailers as entitled to its benefits, and provided for opposition by appointing the bishops of Córdoba and León and the abbot of San Emiliano of Burgos as executors with full powers to suppress recalcitrance. When the five years expired, the adult was renewed for another five years, and so it continued until the end of the inquisition. The popes steadily refusing to prolong the term, as it gave them an important advantage in their frequent collisions with the Spanish Holy Office to say nothing of the fees consequent upon the issue of briefs so voluminous and so valuable. The next step was to procure the power of presenting two benefits, and this was secured by another brief from Innocent the Eighth, in 1488, granting to the sovereigns the patronage of a pre-bent in each metropolitan cathedral and collegiate church, accepting, in prudent defense to the Sacred College, those of which the bishops were also cardinals. Of this brief, Alonso de Burgos was made executor, enabling him to fulminate censures and take all necessary steps until the appointee enjoyed pacific possession of his pre-bent. Under it, Ferdinand and Isabella, on October the thirtieth of the same year, made the first presentations, amounting to ten, six being inquisitors, two fiscals, one an operator, and one designated nearly as an official. This brief, probably, was good only for five years, for in 1494 the sovereigns obtained from Alexander the Sixth another, with enlarged powers, of which Martin Ponce, Bishop of Avila, was executor. Under this, on April the eleventh, 1495, they made twenty-four appointments, mostly inquisitors, but comprising seven fiscals, two members of the Suprema, and two Roman agents of the Inquisition. Among the inquisitors we recognized the notorious Luchero and his predecessor in Córdoba, the embezzling Dr. Girol. It is probable that these briefs encountered resistance, for, in this latter case, we chance to hear of a prolonged struggle required to install Dr. Manuel Fernández Angulo of the Suprema in the Seville Cannery given to him. Haughty cannons of noble blood might well resent the intrusion of low-born officials, such as Ferdinand sometimes thrust upon them. Thus, in 1499, on the death of inquisitor Cevalos of Barcelona, his first appointee to a pre-bend in the Church of Santa Ana, in the same city, he replaced him with Juan Moya, a simple tauncered clerk and jailer of the tribunal, nor was this the only instance of such abuse of patronage. He also availed himself largely of the privilege of non-residents, by appointing cannons and other benefaced clerks to positions in the tribunals, and his letters of the period are numerous, in which he notifies the chapters that their members have been thus drafted to the service of God, during which they are, under the papal letters, to be reckoned as present and are not to be deprived of any of the fruits of their preferment. Also, when he drew the licentiate Pedro González Manso from the professorship of law in Baladolid, he told the college that the chair would be filled by a substitute at half price during Manso's absence. Everything was subservient to the inquisition, and all other institutions were expected to minister to its needs. When Julius II, on November 16th, 1505, renewed the quinquennial indult, he no longer appointed executors, but empowered the inquisitor general to coerce with censures the chapters to account for and pay over to the absentees the revenues of their benefits. It appears that they sometimes compel the appointees to agree under oath that they would take only a portion of the fruits, for Julius pronounced such agreements to be void, and released the incumbents from their oaths. This brief he repeated on September 8th, 1508, with some additions of which more hereafter. The opposition of the chapters, in fact, had in no way diminished, and the feet only seemed to intensify their obstinacy. When, in 1501, Diego de Robles, fiscal of the Suprema, was granted a cannery in the Church of Zamora, the persistence of the chapter carried the matter to Rome, where Graciano de Valdes, Matthew of the Bishop, boasted that he would get the pope to reserve the benefits to himself. It gave infinite taxation to Ferdinand, who wrote to the canons on July 24th, that, if they did not admit Robles within three days, they must leave the city and present themselves before him within thirty days, under pain of her feature of citizenship and temporalities. Similar orders were sent to the provisor. The correditor was commanded to see to their execution, while urgent letters were addressed to Rome to counteract the labors of Valdes. These vigorous measures brought the chapter to terms, and Ferdinand, on September 2nd, accepted their submission, revoking their banishment to take effect after their giving possession to Robles. Simultaneously, a similar quarrel was on foot with the chapter of Barcelona, over the grant of a cannery to the inquisitor of Saragossa, who was already Archdeacon of Alma's son, and this was likewise carried to Rome. So resolutely did the chapters resist the invasion of their rights, that Inguera, inquisitor general of Aragon and Bishop of Lérida in 1512, had to invoke both royal and papal authority to secure the revenues of benefits held by him in the churches of Taragona and Lérida, and with regard to the latter, the pope was obliged to appoint executors to enforce his briefs. If Ferdinand had expected, by this abuse of patronage, to lighten the burden of supporting the inquisition, he was doomed to disappointment. He probably found that those who thus obtained positions for life could not be depended upon to perform gratuitous service in the tribunals. Their full salaries had to be paid, and their benefits were only an extra gratification, so that his anxiety to secure these for them must be attributed to his desire to obtain able and vigorous men for the moderate remuneration provided by the payroll. When Pedro de Bellorado was sent to Sicily in 1501 as Archbishop of Messina and also as Inquisitor, the receiver was ordered to continue to him the salary paid to his predecessor Sgalambro. So it continued. When in 1540 Vias Ortiz was commissioned as Inquisitor of Valencia, the orders were to pay him the regular salary of six thousand sueldos, although as canon of Toledo he possessed a handsome income. By this time these matters were in the hands of the Suprema, and its members and officials were two eager seekers after pluralities not to enforce the papal indults with vigor, giving rise to incessant struggles with recalcitrant churches. Thus in 1546, when Pedro Ponce de León was made a member, he was Mestre escuela in the Church of Alcalá de Genares. There was trouble about his revenues for, on February the 27th 1547, Baldez summoned the abbot and chapter to keep on paying him and expressed the hope that they would not compel him to resort to censures. Similar letters, about the same time, were issued in behalf of the private secretary of Baldez, Fortuno de Ibarquin, who was an insatiable pluralist, being Archdeacon of Seguenza and Canon in the Churches of both León and Obiedo. Simultaneous were letters to the chapters of Segovia about the revenues of its Dean and Canon Miguel de Arena, who was Inquisitor of Sevilla, and to that of Seguenza for its Treasurer and Canon Menendo de Baldez, who was Inquisitor of Baladolid. A couple of months later there were letters to the chapters of Balajós about its Canon at Balthodano, who was Inquisitor of Toledo, and in August to the chapter of Mallorca about Juan García, who had been appointed Consulter to the Tribunal of Zaragoza. In October prosecutions were commenced against the Recalcitrant Chapter of León, which had refused to pay the fruits of the Canonries of Ibarquin and of Cervantes, the Inquisitor of Córdoba. It would be useless to multiply examples of this incessant strife in which the chapters persistently but unavailingly sought to prevent the absorption of the revenues by the Holy Office. The resistance was hopeless for, even with the most resolute, it was only a question of time when opposition was broken down by excommunication and the summons to appear before the Suprema, while appeal to Rome was fruitless when it was the duty of the Spanish Ambassador to watch for such cases and oppose them. Of course, the greater number yielded without remonstrance, and we hear only of those who dared to offer a futile opposition. It is observable that all the cases which thus come before us involve benefits without cure of souls. The Papal Indults comprised both those with and without such cure, and it is not to be supposed that the former were not extensively exploited, though we do not hear of them, because in such cases there was no organized body to feel aggrieved and raise a contest. When came the Counter-Reformation, the Council of Trent pronounced strongly against non-residents by beneficiaries holding cure of souls, special Episcopal license was required for absence, which, save in exceptional cases, could not exceed two months, and no privilege could be pleaded. Accordingly, when in 1567 Pius V was called upon to renew the Quinquennial Indult, he expressly accepted parochial churches and benefits with cure of souls. This was somewhat tardily obeyed, and it was not until June the 8th, 1571 that the Suprema announced the limitation. There was another provision of the Council of Trent, which met with less observance. It required all obtaining preferment of any kind to make within two months profession of faith in the hands of the ordinary or chapter. No attention was paid to this, and the chapters, waking up to the advantage that it gave them, refused to pay the fruits, giving rise to multitudinous suits. At length in 1612 a brief was procured from Paul V, declaring that the work of the inquisitors was most necessary to the church, and could not be interrupted to travel to the distant seats of their benefices. He therefore evoked all pending cases, imposing perpetual silence on the chapters, and validating all payments made to incumbents, who were allowed in Spain six months, and in the colonies two years, to perform the duty. In future it should suffice to do it in the place of the residents, and furnish a public instrument attesting the fact within six months or two years. The Council of Trent was of small importance when brought into collision with the inquisition. At length Philip III listened to the complaints of the chapters, and in a decree of December 24, 1599, addressed to the Suprema, he called attention to the injury inflicted on the cathedral services by withdrawing cannons from their duties, and he ordered that in future much caution be exercised, especially as regarded the deans, the doctoral and magistral cannons, and the penitentiaries. If this produced an effect, it was but temporary. In 1655 we chanced to learn that in the tribunal of Córdoba of the three inquisitors, Bernardino de León de la Rocha was a Preventary of Córdoba and Collegial of the Cathedral of Cuenca. Bartolomé Buján de Somosa was a Canon of Cuenca, and Fernando de Villegas was Collegial of San Bartolomé. In addition, the fiscal Juan María de Rodesno was Collegial of Cuenca, and the secretary Pedro de Armenía was Preventary of Córdoba. This single tribunal thus deprived Cuenca of three of its dignitaries, and Córdoba of two. The doctoral and magistral canonaries alluded to by Philip afforded a special grievance. These were stalls in each chapter to be occupied, respectively, by a doctor of laws and a master of theology, for the purpose, apparently, of furnishing to the church what it might need as to law and faith. They had instituted by Sixtus IV, who decreed that the holders should not absent themselves for more than two months without express license of the chapter under paying of her feature. The inquisition was restive under this limitation on its acquisitiveness, and, at its special request, Julius II, in his second brief of September 8, 1508, revoked the decree of Sixtus and included them among the benefits that could be held by officials without residence. At length, in 1599, the chapter of Córdoba, in a contest over the matter, procured a papal grief requiring the residence of the doctoral canon, who was not to be excused under pretext of serving the inquisition. Apparently this was disregarded, for Philip III, in his instructions of 1608 to Sandoval y Rojas, called special attention to the matter. Even this failed until there was a sharp conflict with the chapter of Toledo over the case of Dr. Bernardo de Rojas, in which the chapter won and he was forced to resign an appointment as inquisitor. Then again the question came up in 1640, when Philip IV appointed Dr. Andrés de Rueda Rico as subrenumerary member of the Suprema. It resented the intrusion and addressed to the king a very free-spoken consulta, in which it laid particular emphasis on his being doctoral canon of Córdoba, and therefore obligated to residence. Yet, in spite of this, when the Córdoba chapter refused to pay him his fruits, the Suprema decided against it. Then the chapter carried the case to Rome, where, as the agent of the inquisition reported on September 12, 1640, Urban VIII, to evade the direct decision, revived the brief of VI's IV, forbidding the use of the doctoral and magistral canonaries in this matter. Córdoba followed up its victory, and, in 1641, obtained another brief, forbidding Rueda from receiving the fruits, and appointing the nuncio and the ordinary of Córdoba executors to enforce it, and to relieve the chapter from any censures fominated in consequence. The Suprema was flushed with its recent victory over the chapter of Valencia in the matter of Sotomayor's pre-ban and pension, and, in 1642, it addressed to the king an urgent appeal to suppress all such briefs, as Ferdinand had done, and representing the eagerness of the Curia to destroy the independence of the inquisition and the prerogatives of the crown. Philip, however, was not embarrassed with the Catalan and Portuguese revolts, and for once was moderate, merely ordering the chapter to desist from the appeal and to surrender the briefs, while the inquisitor general must require Rueda to abandon the canonry, seeing that he had enough to live on with his salary in the Suprema and the wealthy Archdioconate of Castro, which he also held. Incidentally, the Suprema declared that the magistral canonries were out of reach, but the doctoral ones were not, probably presuming on the royal ignorance. Trouble continued to the end. In 1684, the chapter of Santiago contested vigorously the right of the receiver general of the Suprema to hold a canonry, and in spite of the prohibition to appeal to Rome, it carried the matter there, arguing that the officials of the Suprema were not included in the papal briefs. In this, it had the support of the churches in general, which united in the memorial to the Holy See, but the effort was fruitless. Close watch seems to have been kept on the expiration of the Quinquennial periods, for in 1728, the chapter of Valencia refused the daily distributions to non-resident members on the ground that the indult had run out. The tribunal appealed to the Suprema, which replied on April 22, with a copy of the renewal of the grant by Benedict XIII, carrying in it to 1733. Apparently, there had nearly been a lapse. Members were frequently selected from the chapters of their places of residence, and it was a long debated question whether they were entitled to constant non-residents, seeing that their duties were occasional and mostly local. It was finally settled that they should enjoy the fruits when absent on duty for the Inquisition, but even this was disputed in 1780 by the Collegiate Church of San Ildefon Soblierena, in the case of the Pre-Bendary, Pedro Enrique Sverones, a commissioner of the Valladolid Tribunal, who was refused his share of the distributions during absence by order of the inquisitors. Inquisitor General Bertrand complained to Carlos III, who peremptorily ordered payment whenever absent on business of the faith. A similar question apparently arose in 1818, for the Supreme Ascent on July 18 to the Tribunal of Ildefon Soblierena, a statement of the case with a copy of the letter of Carlos. The Napoleonic Wars caused a slight lapse in the Quinquennial Indults, one expired on February 6, 1813, a few days before the publication of the Adject of Suppression by the Cortes of Cadiz. When the Inquisition was re-established, it promptly applied for a renewal of the privilege, and on November 19, 1814, the Supreme announced that Pius VII had not only granted it, but had ratified the receipt of revenues by non-residents during the interval. This renewal expired on February 6, 1818, when there was delay, and the new brief was not issued until March 15, but it does not appear that any chapter took advantage of the interval. When this expired, there was no longer an acting Inquisition. The Overgrown Church Establishment of Spain, with its accumulation of wealth, afforded a fair mark for acquisitiveness, and several efforts were made to obtain from it a permanent foundation for the Inquisition. We have seen how waste and prodigality, to say nothing of speculation, not withstanding the active business of confiscation, rendered it difficult, in 1497 and 1498, to pay the salaries of officials. A remedy for this was sought in the spoliation of the Church, and Ferdinand and Isabella turned to Alexander VI, representing the constant increase of heresy, the additional efforts required for its extirpation and the insufficiency of confiscation to meet expenses. If the holy work were not to end, aid was needed, and those engaged in it were performing a service to God, equivalent to that of cannons in the recitation of the daily offices. If a cannonry with its free ban in each metropolitan, cathedral, and collegiate church were devoted to the support of the officials so long as the Inquisition should last, it would be a great safeguard to the faith and aid in the destruction of heresy. Alexander granted the request, and by a brief of November the 25th, 1501, he incorporated in the Inquisition a cannonry and pre-bend in every church, authorizing the Inquisitor General to take possession of the first vacancies and appointing the bishops of Burgos, Córdoba, and Tortosa as executory with power to suppress all resistance without appeal. It is remarkable that we hear nothing more of this portentous grant. No evidence has reached us of any attempt to enforce it, or of any resistance. Only even Ferdinand recognized an opposition too dangerous to be provoked, and contented himself with using it as a threat against unruly chapters which objected to his using cannonries to pay his Inquisitors. In the project of reform drawn up in 1518, it was proposed that, in place of living on the confiscations and penances, the Inquisitors should have one or two cannonries for their support. After this scheme fell through, Charles adhered to the idea, and on October 29th, he instructed his ambassador at Rome to procure from Leo X a brief similar to that of Alexander VI. Without some such support, he said, it would be impossible to procure the services of men of proper character and learning. Leo was not as complacent as Alexander, although Charles repeated the request in a personal letter to him on September the 3rd, 1520. Then on August the 14th, 1521, Cardinal Adrian wrote to Charles, reminding him that, long before the Pope had conceded a pre-bend in every church where there was a tribunal in order to remove the infamy ascribed by some persons to Inquisitors of desiring the condemnation of the accused in order to assure their support. That concession had not been enforced, principally because the revocation was awaited of the bull against the Inquisition. Now the Bishop of Alguer, the Roman agent of the Inquisition, has announced the revocation of the bull, and in order to remove the infamy and perpetuate the Inquisition, he urges Charles to write to Don Juan Manuel in Rome to procure the grant of the pre-bends in accordance with a list prepared by the Bishop of Alguer. Charles was probably too much engrossed in the attempt to suppress Luther to devote much attention to the matter, and Adrian, when he succeeded to the papacy, did not use his power to make the grant, although he was involved in a quarrel with the stubborn chapter of Almería, which refused to admit his transfer to Inquisitor Churruca of Valencia, of a pre-centorship which he held in that church, a quarrel which lasted until 1524, and required the united efforts of the Suprema, the Tribunal of Murcia, and of the Emperor to bring to a termination. We hear nothing more of the effort at this time, but Charles bore it so strongly in mind that in his will, executed in Brussels, June the 6th, 1554, he dwelt upon the advantages of the measure, and ordered Philip, in case of his own death without obtaining it, to labor with the Holy Father to procure what would be of such advantage to the Inquisition and service to God. The occasion came in a few years, with the panic caused by the discovery of Protestantism among a few people of quality. A panic skillfully stimulated and exploited. Philip urged his ambassador, Vádegas, to obtain from pole the fourth a grant of one percent of ecclesiastical revenues to relieve immediate necessities, and the suppression of a canonry and pre-bent in each cathedral and collegiate's church. The Suprema aided in a report to the pole on September the 9th, 1558, on the alarming progress of Lutheranism, after exaggerating the danger and the labors of the Inquisition, which could only have been carried on through the gift of 10,000 Ducats by the King, and contributions from Baales, for it was penniless. The report went on to state that, when the Inquisition was established, there was a tribunal in almost every bishopric, but as the confiscations fell off, they were diminished to the few that remained, so that there was one which had 15 C's in its district, and it had not funds enough to pay the slender salaries of its officials. Although this had been repeatedly represented to the popes, no remedy had been granted, but now, in these perilous times of heresy, it seemed necessary that the tribunals should be multiplied as at the beginning and rendered permanent. All this could very readily be accomplished if the pope would apply some ecclesiastical revenues, which were of little service to God, and could be better employed in sustaining the holy office, now so enfeebled through lack of funds. Although its work was pushed with all possible diligence, its future was uncertain if it could not be sustained, and the remedy for this lay with his holiness. This lying plea aided the pressure brought to bear by the king, and on December the 10th, Vargas was able to report that he and Cardinal Pacheco had had an audience of the pope, who manifested great goodwill and offered to grant a concession of 100,000 dukets to be levied on the clergy in place of 1% on the revenues. After considering the question of the pre-bands, including the doctoral and magistral ones, he was content to apply to the inquisition the first vacancy in each cathedral and collegiate church in Spain. This, Vargas adds, should receive special consideration, as it might be refused by another pope, and when this was gained, if the expenses of the inquisition increased, there would be little trouble in getting it duplicated. The spread of heresy in France and the dread of its infecting Spain had brought the curia to a complying mood. The Suprema needed no urging to secure so great a prize without loss of time. There could have been little opportunity for discussing details between Rome and Madrid, for the brief was signed on January the 7th, 1559. It recited the reasons set forth in the report of September the 9th, and argued that, as the churches could not subsist without faith, it was better for them to sacrifice a portion of their substance than to risk the whole. Wherefore, motu proprio, with certain knowledge and in the pletitude of apostolic power, the pope suppressed one canon re-en pre-ban in all cathedral and collegiate churches in Spain and the canneries, the first falling vacant, no matter who might have the collation of it, and applied its revenues in perpetuity to the inquisition. As each fell vacant, the inquisitor general should appropriate it and collect the fruits, the consent of the diocesan or of anyone else being in no way requisite, notwithstanding all conciliar degrees and payable constitutions to the contrary, or the claims of holders of expectatives or reversions, or of a long list of possible claimants which shows how these benefits had been made matters of trade in every possible way. It can only have been the haste in which this long and elaborate document was prepared that explains the emission of executors and power to break down the opposition to be expected from the whole Spanish hierarchy. Baldez, however, boldly assumed that he had the power. On April the 29th, he sent the papal letter to all prelates and chapters with emissive, exhorting bishops under pain of interdictive entrance to their churches and requiring all deans, chapters, etc., under penalty of excommunication and 2,000 gold ducats to hold as suppressed, extinct and perpetually united to the inquisition the first vacant canonry and pre-bend. In the name of the inquisition he accepted them and declared them incorporated in it and ordered the revocation of all nominations and collations that might have been made since the date of the letters or might be made thereafter. The chapters were commanded to pay over all emoluments as completely as though the canonry were served by an incumbent at all services and inquisitors were empowered to prosecute all who resisted and to inflict censures and penalties as well as to appoint procurators to take possession and collect the revenues. And all this he audaciously said that he did by virtue of the sad apostolic faculty conceded to us. Pius IV died on December 9th, 1565 and Baldez was shelved in 1566. The brief had conferred the power on his successors as well as on himself and there was no necessity for its confirmation, but one was procured from Pius V on July 15th, 1566. The object evidently was to cure the defect as to executors who were now appointed with full and arbitrary powers, those named being the bishops of Ziquenza and Palencia and the auditor general of the papal camera. Some details were added, an unusual feature being the prohibition to assail the letters as surreptitious and obreptitious, showing that this argument had been freely used in the endeavour to escape from their operation. A further confirmation was obtained from Gregory XIII on July 8th, 1574, but none seems to have been subsequently thought requisite. No time had been lost in gathering the fruits of the papal grant. On April 16th, 1559 a provision was dispatched to take possession of a pre-men which had fallen vacant in the church of Palenosia. On April 27th, another for one in Leon and soon afterwards for others in Calahora and Zaragoza. Frequently they were found to be burdened with pensions that had to be recognized, but the process went on and, in comparatively a few years, it would seem that vacancies had occurred in most of the chapters. Possession, however, was not had without sturdy resistance, during which, at one time or another, nearly all the chapters were under excommunication. Legal proceedings were frequently resorted to in the desperate hope of averting the absorption, but it was futile. The Suprema was the court of appeal. The cases practically were prejudged before they were commenced, and there was no escape. In the end, of course, it made little difference, but a more shameless mockery of justice can scarce be conceived than that which made the tribunal which was to profit by the suppression the judge in its own case. The process may be followed in the voluminous proceedings attending the seizure of a pre-bent in the collegiate church of Belmonte, a town of some importance in the diocese of Cuenca. In 1559 it fell vacant by the death of Gregorio Osorio and was filled by the appointment of Francisco García de la Espina, at the instance of the Duke of Escalona, who seems to have had the collation. Balés ordered its seizure, and the matter took the form of a suit between the Fiscal of the Tribunal of Cuenca on the one side and on the other the Duke, Espina, in the prior and chapter of Belmonte, with the Cuenca Tribunal as judged, by virtue of a commission from Balés. The judicial force ended on October the 8th 1560 by the inquisitors gravely reciting that they had heard the case and duly considered it with the assistance of persons of conscience and learning and had found judgment in favor of the Fiscal suppressing the pre-bent and ordering all the income to be turned over to the receiver of the tribunal, including what had accrued since the death of Osorio. It is a striking illustration of the perversion of the sense of justice induced by the inquisitorial process that they were unconscious of the grotesqueness of such a performance, which was rounded out with a long and detailed enumeration of the penalties of disobedience, first a fine of 2000 Ducats, and then all the steps of excommunication, anathema and cursing with Belle, book and candle, and interdict on the town of Belmonte. This formidable sentence was served on October the 15th on each member of the chapter, and the notarial act was taken of the service. Resistance was felt to be useless. On the 16th the chapter met and adopted a formal act of obedience, stating that it was through fear of the penalties threatened. The suppression of the pre-bent ban was ordered to be entered on the capitular records, with the addition that, as the sentence gave no instructions as to the services or masses dependent upon it, or as to the payment of the accrued revenues received by Espinar, the necessary action would be taken subsequently. While thus summarily enforcing the papal grant, the inquisition prudently respected papal infractions of it. Advantage was taken of the papal claim to all benefices falling vacant while their possessors were in Rome. Doubtless, a costly proceeding, but better than for future. Thus, Gaspar Escudero promptly went to Rome and resigned his cannery of Calahora in the hands of the Pope, and his brother, Rafael, obtained bulls for it, probably subject to a pension. Similarly, Diego de Ortega went through the same form, and Francisco de Bellassagne secured the bulls. The inquisitors claimed them as vacancies, but there was risk in contesting the papal prerogative. Baldez decided, on July the 6th and the 8th, 1559, in both cases, that the vacancies had occurred in Rome, and that the bulls were good. We meet, in 1560, with several similar cases in Córdoba, Alcalá de Henares, and Tudela, where, after proceedings more or less vigorous, the papal action was respected. Another device to save something from the wreck was to obtain papal grants of pensions. Thus, on January the 29th, 1560, Andrés Martín presented bulls, and titling him to a pension of 30 ducats on a cannery of Calahora, vacated by the death of his brother, and it was ordered to be paid. It was the same with a pension of 50 ducats on a suppressed cannery of Puenca, for which bulls were obtained by Juan Rodríguez and Pedro Vara. Respect, at first, was also shown to canneries under royal patronage. In Logroño, the inquisitors seized one in the church of Santa María la Redonda, but it proved to be a patrimonial one, and was released. In time, however, this respect for the crown was surmounted, and we have seen in the century-long contention over the canneries of Antequera, Málaga, and the canneries. It was necessary to systematize the new business, thus thrown upon the tribunals, and, in August 1560, agents were appointed in the inquisitorial districts to keep watch over vacancies occurring and to take the necessary action. They also made the collections and rendered accounts, but, as the income was largely payable in kind, the disposal of which was a matter of judgment, they were to make no sales without consulting the Suprema, nor payments without its orders. This arrangement was soon found unsatisfactory. The variable chiefly based on diets and dependent on harvests and markets afforded abundant opportunity for malversation. It seemed best to come to some understanding with the chapters, and, after much investigation into details, the policy was adopted of farming out the pre-bends to them. In 1565 and 1566, we find numerous arrangements made of this kind. This short lived, and, in 1567, it was determined to farm them out to the best bidders. Finally, in 1570, regulations were adopted for putting them up at auction, thus ensuring full competition and preventing collusion. And, in 1586, the returns were required to be placed in the coffers with three keys, a system which seems to have continued to the end. There were many intricate questions affording prolific causes of quarrel to keep alive the hostility between the chapters and the inquisition engendered by the seizure. There were frequent appeals to Rome, which appear rarely to have benefited the appealing, and the inquisition eventually was left in assured possession of its acquisitions. Yet the friction was constant and was inevitable when the relations were so close between parties who disliked and distrusted each other. Thus, in 1665, we find the Suprema rebuking the Barcelona Tribunal for requiring a chapter to exhibit its books to show what worthy allotments made to the resident cannons. The information, it said, could be obtained in a less offensive way. Again, about the same time when the Tribunal ordered the Farmer of the Revenues of the Prebend of Guisana to investigate whether the chapter was defrauding it, the Suprema wrote that, as no ingrees of revenue could be thus obtained, it would be more prudent to keep quiet, especially if the farmer was a benefaced member of the church. It would be better to order the Commissioner at Agra Mon to examine the books of the chapter, because the 50 Liberas paid by the farmer when compared with the 200 distributed to the cannons was too small. To this, the Tribunal replied that it had long been exposed to frauds and suppression of the value of fruits by some of the chapters. As for that of Guisana, it would be useless to examine the books, as the Contador would be the first of the conspirators. Periquarios such as these are significant of much that was going on everywhere, and of the chronic condition of enmity between the Tribunals and the Chapters. The former doubtless received considerably less than their dues, and the latter, regarding themselves as descoiled, felt justified in withholding from the spoiler whatever they could per face et nefas. Yet, however much the revenues may have suffered in this way, the Prebends constituted, as we shall see hereafter, three-eighths of the resources of the Tribunals, reaching in 1731 to nearly 600,000 reales a year, and enabling them to prolong their existence during the later period, when the confiscations and fines and rehabilitations had ceased to furnish available means of support. But for the brilliant stroke by which Valdez secured them in 1559, it may be doubted whether the Inquisition would not have proved so heavy a burden that Carlos III would have allowed it to perish of an enition. End of Book 5, Chapter 4 Book 5, Chapter 5, 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 5, Resources Chapter 5, Part 1 Finances Indications are not lacking that, when the Inquisition was established, it was not regarded as a permanent institution, but as one to last only until it had purified the land of Jewish apostates. Had its prolonged existence been expected doubtless provision would have been made during the early period of large confiscations to lay aside a fund sufficient for its support after the tide of spoilation should have abbed. Ferdinand occasionally manifested a desire to establish a foundation for its maintenance, but his own necessities and the greedy pressure for grants rendered nougatory whatever intentions of the kind he may have entertained from time to time. When the Inquisition made to Charles V. in 1519 there is allusion to such a plan proposed by Ferdinand of securing censos which should place the institution on a firm financial basis and which had been partially carried out in some places. There is slender trace however of any results of such policy. When there were large confiscations in Sicily he ordered June 27, 1513 that none of the censos so obtained should be sold, but that they should be kept for the support of the Tribunal. Apparently this was not done by the receiver, Diego de Obregon, who, on quitting Sicily in 1514, left behind him the considerable sum of twelve hundred ounces which Ferdinand ordered his successor, Garcy Seath, to invest in censos, but the subsequent condition of the Tribunal shows that Ferdinand extravagance rendered impossible any accumulation. We have seen that in 1517 Seville and Cordova had reserved funds in public securities, but they were absorbed by the Supremes. Possibly these were derived from the great composition described above, a Sedgula bearing the name of Queen Juana, February 24, 1516 states that it was devoted to the purchase of Queen Quisition, but we have had occasion to see how it was frittered away so that only a moderate portion can have reached its destination. The Toledo Tribunal in 1515 received from Ferdinand the absolute ownership of the building occupied by it and some other properties. Doubtless there were other donations of greater or less amount, but these are the only appropriations for the permanent support of the property that I have met with. As for those of Aragon, a letter of Cardinal Adrian January 30, 1520 allowing Saragossa to draw upon the fines and penances for its expenses until it could get some confiscations shows that it had no other source of support. Barcelona was somewhat better off for the local government in consideration of the Concordia of 1520 granted it 12,000 libras and though the Inquisition subsequently saw fit to deny this, a letter of the Suprema in 1521 directing the Diputados to invest in Senso's The Sum, which they had already deposited, shows that on their side at least the bargain was honestly carried out. What between this and the results of the somewhat irregular industry of the Inquisitors, the Tribunal must have been fairly well supplied for in 1550 we chance to hear of an Ayuda de Costa of 24 Ducats granted to its notary Bartolome Garcia for his labour in copying the books of Senso's which it held in Perpignan and the accounts of the Receiver. As for Valencia at this period I have met with no data. These indications are fragmentary but they suffice to justify the conclusion that the proceeds of the great confiscations in the early period were dissipated without laying up any permanent provision for the future. As the Suprema throughout the first half of the 16th century was constantly drawing upon the Tribunals it proves that as a rule they were making more than their expenses and that when one chance to run short its deficiency was supplied from some more fortunate one. The grant in 1559 of a hundred thousand Ducats agreed upon the Spanish Ecclesiastics was probably for the most part invested by the Suprema for its own benefit though ten thousand Ducats were placed in the hands of its Alguacil mayor Ibarra to be drawn upon for special purposes. Then came the suppression of the Prey-Benz which was expected to relieve all necessities but it seems to have led to improvidence for in 1573 the Suprema complained that the subsidies received from redemption of Censos had not been reinvested but had been spent and it called for reports as to amounts received and expended. Apparently the explanations were not satisfactory for in 1579 peremptory orders were issued that when a Censso was paid off the money must be reinvested in another no matter how imperative might be other calls. Thus in 1586 the tribunals were called upon for reports of their revenues as it was understood that these had increased together with statements as to the product of the Prey-Benz and Censos. It is not likely that these were fully and frankly rendered. Under the rules as we shall see monthly statements were required which should have made demands for special reports superfluous but the tribunals were apt to observe towards the Suprema of the same reticence which it showed to the king. We happen to have the report of Valencia made in 1587 in response to this order and find that it is quite imperfect. No mention is made of the confiscations and penances and various items are omitted while the 2,500 Ducats levied on the Moriscos shrink to 1,500 Libras and the total amounts to about 5,000 Libras for the year. Yet Valencia must have been abundantly supplied for when in 1601 the Suprema gave it permission to have a canopy for occasions of extraordinary sentences made at a cost not exceeding 500 Ducats when it was finished the bill amounted to over 900. The Suprema grumbled at this extravagance but finally ordered it to be paid. The tribunal of Legroño must also have been in funds for we chance to learn that in 1587 it lent to the Countess of Orsono the sum of 155,535 Reales 17 Maravedes for which it received the annual interest of 4,552 Reales 5 Maravedes or about 3%. At this period the Inquisition ought to have been financially comfortable with its pre-bends and ordinary services of income besides having nearly all its higher officials quartered on the churches but the fall in the purchasing power of money had necessitated a rise in all salaries and it is not backward in making complaint. In 1595 a memorial of the Suprema to Philip II refers to frequent previous appeals representing the diminution of its property and income together with the multiplication that if some remedy is not found the king will be obliged to make up the deficiency. Soon after this the tribunals of the kingdoms of Aragón suffered considerably from the expulsion of the Mariscos in 1609 to 10 to which they had so largely contributed. The blow fell with special severity on Valencia where the Moorish population was largest and the tribunal lost its 2,500 Ducats a year with unlimited power of inflicting 10 Ducat finds. In 1615 we find the Suprema ordering the salaries prorated in conformity with the collections, though at the same time they all called the Heal-No-Guerole was jubilated with a salary of 40,000 Maraveddes and Nicholas Claver the steward of the prison was told to look for something from which a grant could be made to him. Ample use was made of the address in Aragón to stimulate royal liberality. January 30, 1617 the Suprema represented it to Philip III but his extravagance had kept him penniless and the appeal was unanswered. It returned to the charge October 22, 1618 perhaps thinking that the fall of the Duke of Lerma might lead to a more favourable hearing. The condition of the tribunal of Mahorca was represented as deplorable. It could no longer be helped as formerly by Valencia for that tribunal had a yearly deficit of 400 duquets. Barcelona was in like evil plight and the tribunals of Castile could no longer afford it the aid they used to give. As for Saragossa its distress had already been represented to the king who was prayed to order the vice chancellor of Aragón to make provision for its relief. Then in another consulta of 1619 the Suprema asserted that, taking the inquisition as a whole, its expenses exceeded its income and that the deficiency must be supplied by the king. As a convincing argument it added that, when vacancies occurred it proposed to suppress three inquisitor ships, sixteen secretary ships and its own three supernumerary members an intention that failed of realisation. We may responsibly hesitate to accept these clamorous complaints of poverty when the Suprema so carefully kept the sovereign in the dark as to its real resources nor is it easy to reconcile with them the assertion of Fray Bleda in 1618 that the Spanish inquisition was so richly endowed that it had a hundred places in receipt of incomes larger than those of many Italian bishoprics. No doubt during the ensuing period of war, misgovernment and elaborate financial blundering the inquisition in some degree shared the distress which was universal throughout Spain but it had resources more available and more jealously husbanded than the other departments of the state. It was exposed to less pressure and it managed to meet the incessant demands of Philip IV with no very severe sacrifice of its invested capital. Of course the customary complaints continued. In a consulta of March 28, 1681 the Suprema bewailed the poverty of the organisation the lack of means among the tribunals to pay the salaries and maintenance of prisoners which it had repeatedly represented with statements of the Contador General showing the income of each tribunal with its deficit. This may have been true as regard to some of them owing to special causes. Thus a consulta of November 6, 1677 asserts that the Concordia of 1646 had reduced Saragossa to such penury that the last statement of its very moderate salaries showed an amount of 111,246 silver sueldos due to the officials forcing the Suprema this year to assist it with 1,750 pieces of 8 a grant that it cannot repeat owing to its own very narrow means. In other cases distress may be attributed to incurable laxity of management as in Toledo where a statement of 1647 shows a payment by the receiver of 105,984 Matavedes to the inquisitor Santhros de San Pedro accompanied with the remark that lack of means prevents his paying the balance still due. But it also shows that the receiver held 801,724 Matavedes of obligations so worthless that the auditor did not consider advisable any attempt to collect them and that there were arerages due on Santhos and other sources of revenue amounting to 1,353,452 Matavedes. This justifies what was asserted in the plain-spoken memorial of 1623 to the Suprema that through negligence there have been such losses that if they had been avoided the tribunals would be abundantly provided. This is attributed to the beggardly salaries of the financial officials. Not having enough to support them they engage in other occupations and being sure of their salaries they pay no attention to their duties. Another effect is that it is necessary to appoint natives who through kinship or fear of offending their neighbors do not execute orders or who grant such delays that the chances of collecting are lost. Moreover, as they get no fees for looking up evidence and documents suits miscarry. Incompetent, slovenly and often corrupt administration such as this affords ample explanation of what distress may have existed. Nor was malversation confined to the local tribunals. In November 1642 Madrid was startled when, by order of the inquisitor general, the presiding member of the Suprema, Pedro Pachecho was suddenly arrested for malversation in office and was hurried off to León without allowing him to communicate with the king or with Olivares and every once said that it was the judgment of God on him for his extortions, the same Pachecho to whom Philip had just granted some 30,000 duquets accruing from the sale of offices. There is significance in the cautious remark of Pelliser August 15, 1643 comparing the death of Don Lope de Morales of the Council of Castile who died very poor and of inquisitor Alcedo of the Suprema who died very rich leaving 40,000 duquets in gold and silver. The financial elasticity of the tribunals was remarkable especially when stimulated by the pressure of poverty for they held the means of recuperation in their own hands. Valencia undoubtedly suffered for a while from the Morisco expulsion yet in 1630 we chanced to learn that it had 45,500 duquets invested in municipal bonds at 5% yielding an income of 2,275 duquets. In 1633 the Suprema is scolding it for its extravagance in illuminations and bullfights and in the same year it is seeking investments for its spare funds. This prosperity continued for in 1660 a statement of its income shows 4,600 libras from interest on bonds from the rents of some houses in addition to the four canonries and the fines and confiscations. After the suppression of the Catalan rebellion in 1652 the restored Barcelona tribunal had to reconstruct itself from the foundations but it speedily became opulent for in 1662-4 it spent more than 4,200 libras in damask hangings repairs and extraordinary state costa and in 1666 it was investing 1,000 libras in the Senso. As in duty bound a portion of the savings of the Inquisition was invested in government securities. Between 1661 and 1667 they were placed in this manner from the proceeds of confiscations sums amounting to 691,272 Maraveddes In 1668 this was increased by 202,771 the whole aggregate at this date being 7,877,999 With customary favoritism its holdings were exempted from the deductions amounting to partial repudiation in which the necessities of Spanish finance sought relief. Taking it as a whole to assume that during the vicissitudes of the 17th century the Inquisition had abundant means for its support and that despite its incessant complaints of poverty it suffered less from the exigencies of the time than any other department of the government. Internal mismanagement or external causes may have brought temporary distress on individual tribunals but persecution was still a lucrative or speedily overcome. As for the Suprema we have seen that it was always in funds not only for its necessities but for its luxuries and for the liberalities showered upon its members in subordinates while the examination of a large series of receipts for salaries and perquisites shows that payments were made with a punctuality rare in the Spanish administration of the period. Certain it is that the count of Frijeliana in his addition to the Consulta Magna of 1696 assumes that the Inquisition was richly endowed with the pre-bends the real estate acquired through confiscation and the censos and other investments which it had accumulated. The opening of the 18th century was ominous of troubles to come the war of succession threw everything into disorder not only were the inquisitorial finances affected but the exigencies of the bourbon government caused it to levy exactions which Philip IV in his deepest distress had not ventured upon. About 1704 a tax of 5% was laid on the salaries of all officials and this soon afterwards was increased to ten. Then in 1707 the Inquisition had to bear its part in a general donation the collection of which was entrusted to the bishops although the Suprema was distrusted and in 1709 this was followed by an Onesto Subsidio To obtain some return for this the Suprema ordered lists to be made up of all benefits not requiring residents throughout Spain under royal patronage and asked the king to incorporate them in the Inquisition but this somewhat audacious request was refused. Complaints of poverty continued and if we may trust a tabular statement of the receipts and expenditures of each tribunal drawn up in 1731 they were fully justified for the finances must have undergone a most notable deterioration under Philip V. Indeed, it is a mystery how the institution continued to exist under such conditions with a yearly deficit of over half a million reales and nearly a million and a half of overdue wages to its employees the expenses of the Suprema are represented as about double its receipts only two tribunals those of Santiago and Seville show a small excess of income while Valencia prudently squares its accounts to Amaravedi the rest all show a greater or less deficit the Suprema no longer draws at will on the tribunals but some of them have to make to it definite subventions thus Santiago is obliged to contribute 18,000 reales Cordova 10,000 Seville 20,000 Murcia 45,000 and Moorca 10,000 the rest nothing but on what principle these payments were based does not appear each tribunal although subordinate to the Suprema in financial matters has its own budget its own independent resources and is left to manage its deficit as best it can the result as might be expected is various Cordova, Murcia and Moorca would be solvent but for the subventions to the Suprema the little Moorca tribunal formerly so necessitous was now the largest salary list of all amounting to 104,694 reales but it likewise enjoys the largest revenue from investments 96,829 drawn naturally from its lucky confiscations in 1678 and 1691 from which it doubtless secured an endowment Toledo with but a moderate deficit of 27,000 owes over 250,000 reales to its officials Saragossa continues unfortunate it was ejected from the Alhaferia probably as an incident of the War of Succession but Philip V in 1708 granted it 5,200 dukets a year out of the confiscations to rent buildings this was withdrawn in 1725 and in 1727 the Suprema appealed to the king with a deplorable account of its condition dependent on its pre-bends and with an income less than half of its payroll its position had not improved in 1731 it had undertaken to put up new buildings on which 20,000 dukets had been spent and more than 20,000 additional were required for their completion it was very expensively managed with a salary list of nearly 93,000 reales and total expenses of 118,000 on an income of about 80,000 while Barcelona paid in salaries only 50,000 and its whole expenditure was less than 60,000 on an income of 48,000 Santiago was fortunate in its pre-bends which brought in nearly 88,000 a year outside of this it had only 5,000 from investments but it was able to pay its subvention and had surplus of nearly 4,000 in only four tribunals Santiago, Seville, Murcia and Valencia were the salaries solely paid up the whole statement illustrates the curious lack of system under which the Inquisition had continued since its foundation under Ferdinand he handled its finances as his own using them according to his necessities with improvident disregard of the future and without formulating an arrangement by which its affairs could be placed on a stable basis although its gains were aleatory and subject inevitably to diminution as it accomplished the object of its creation then under Charles the Fifth the Suprema assumed control supplying its own wants from any surplus presumably existing in any tribunal and transferring sums from one to another as exigencies presented themselves in the fluctuating stream of confiscations the absorption of the pre-bends afforded for the first time a more stable revenue although these two were variable each tribunal acquired those which fell within its district thus obtaining an unequal basis of support and becoming in a certain sense financially independent although subject to the scrutiny and control of the Suprema thus one might be wealthy and another poverty-stricken there was no solidarity no common treasury into which the receipts of each were poured and from which necessities were supplied the Suprema had a general auditor's office to which the accounts of all the receivers or treasurers were rendered enabling it to exercise supervision and a more or less fitful and efficient direction but it was more intent on providing for its own wants than in enforcing responsibility upon the local financial officials it wasted its energies on the prettiest details while distance and difficult communication forced it practically to leave important questions to the discretion of the tribunals the anomalous financial organization which thus developed combined the vices of centralization and local self-government with divided responsibility and inefficient supervision a tribunal which chanced to have large confiscations or numerous and lucrative pre-bends with honest and capable administration prospered while others not so fortunate were reduced to penury towards the middle of the century the condition seems to have slightly improved a writer evidently well informed who complains bitterly that the usefulness of the inquisition was crippled by inadequate means states its revenues at 948,000 Reales derived from invested property and 637,000 from a hundred pre-bends while its salaries and expenses amount to 1,900,000 leaving a deficit of 400,000 he proposes that the property derived from confiscations representing a capital of 36 million should be abandoned to the king and that the church be levied upon to raise the total income to 2,700,000 which he assumes to be absolutely essential it is scarce necessary to enter into the details of this proposed levy except to mention that he says that there were 113 collegiate churches in which no pre-bent had been suppressed and these averaging them at 2,500 Reales would yield 282,500 a year also that there were 49 inquisitors enjoying pre-bends and benefits averaging 11,000 a year which should be incorporated yielding 539,000 another writer of the same period seeks relief by suppressing unnecessary officials and absorbing some more pre-bends after which the king should assume the whole responsibility appointing the salaried officials collecting the revenues and paying the expenses when if he had to make good a deficiency he could not devote public money to a cause more useful and just this writer also makes a most earnest appeal for increased salaries for the inferior officials who he says were objects of popular derision in consequence of the meanness of their appearance when one died the expenses of his sickness and burial had to be defrayed by the tribunal in the shape of an iuda de costa and while living they were overwhelmed with debts which they had no means of paying as shown by the number of claims filed by creditors in the provinces they often had to supplement their wages by beggary and their integrity suffered for the starving are easy objects for temptations I have not met with statistics as to the subsequent condition of each tribunal but there are indications that some at least were comfortably endowed thus Valencia which in 1731 showed a carefully balanced statement of receipts and expenditures is found in 1773 and 1774 purchasing real estate as an investment for surplus funds in 1792 the Suprema in response to a demand for increase of salaries ordered from all the tribunals a statement of income and expenses for the seven years 1784 to 90 the return of Valencia shows for 1790 an income of 12207 Libras and an expenditure of 7777 or a surplus of 4,430 though its payroll comprised 25 officials receiving in all 5,616 its coffer contained at the same time an accumulation of 32,707 Libras although for the five years previous it had spent an average of 5,000 Libras a year in permanent improvements and investments perhaps this can scarce be taken as an example of all the tribunals but it would indicate that some at least were not oppressed with poverty while the absurdly small item of 39 Libras force well those expended on maintenance of prisoners in 1790 indicates how little real work was performed by this flourishing condition was not destined to continue the necessities of the government in its foolish wars with France, England and Portugal caused it to call upon the inquisition to convert its investments into public funds the Valencia Tribunal reported to the Suprema February 23, 1802 that in obedience to its order of January 22 there had been realized from the sale farms the sum of 62,584 Libras which had been duly paid over to the Caja de Consolidacion de Vales and of course all such patriotic contributions disappeared in the years of trouble which ensued equally unfortunate was an investment made in 1795 likewise by order of the Suprema of 6,640 Libras in an obligation of the Maria Maritima on which as it reported in 1805 it had never received any interest in the same year it presented a dolerous account of the misery of its officials who from their inadequate salaries had been forced to make a voluntary donation of 4% to the government and under pressure from the Captain General to contribute 175 Reales to the support of the silk weavers thrown out of employment which it suggested should be paid for them by the tribunal as for two years and a half it had had no fiscal and thus had saved his salary. The tribunal of LaGronio must have husbanded its resources for it was able July 23 1808 to lend to the authorities 30,000 Reales towards a fund demanded by the French General Verdié for abstaining from the town. Under the restoration a return of the loan was vainly claimed. End of Book 5, Chapter 5, Part 1 Book 5, Chapter 5, Part 2 of the History of the Inquisition of Spain, Volume 2 This is a LibraVox recording. All LibraVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibraVox.org The History of the Inquisition of Spain, Volume 2 by Henry Charles Lee Book 5, Resources Chapter 5, Part 2, Finances Worse was to come in the revolutionary times which followed. Napoleon, on his arrival at Madrid, December 4 1808 issued a decree abolishing the Inquisition and confiscating its property to the crown and this of course was enforced wherever the French armies penetrated. On the other hand the Cortes of Cadiz had learned from the example of the Inquisition that useless benefits were a financial resource and one of their earliest acts was a decree of December 1 1810 forbidding the nomination of incumbents to all pre-bends, raciones and benefits vacant or falling vacant except magistral, doctoral, electoral and penitentiary pre-bends or benefits having cure of souls under which the suppressed canonries were made to contribute to the War of Independence. The Holy Office was virtually extinct when it was suppressed by the Cortes in 1813 and we shall see hereafter how painful was the resuscitation of its finances under the restoration. The financial organization of the Inquisition at first was simple and even crude. The receiver of confiscations or treasurer was a royal official. Ferdinand always speaks of him as mi receptor and it was the king who issued commissions to all the officials on the financial side of the tribunals the receiver, the auditor and the judge of confiscations although after the incorporation of the pre-bends the Inquisitor General added powers to administer the revenues from ecclesiastical sources as this was exclusive province under papal briefs. When Ferdinand died, January 23, 1516 it is not surprising that difficulties were thrown in the way of the receivers on the ground that their commissions expired with him. To meet this letters were issued to them in the name of Queen Huana February 28th and March 4th instructing them that they were still in office with full authority to make collections and to establish salaries and expenses. By the time of the resignation of Charles V the system had become so firmly established that no questions seemed to have arisen although probably with each new monarch commissions were renewed. The office was rightly considered to be one of much importance especially in the early period of large confiscations. In 1486 the receiver figures in the capital for a salary of 3,000 sueldos to 4,000 for the inquisitors. While in those of Medina del Campo and Hyane he has 80,000 Madavedes to 60,000 for the inquisitors. In 1515 the receiver and the inquisitor in Sicily both received 300 dukets. The receiver necessarily required assistants and agents as the properties under his charge were scattered throughout his district. At first these were paid by the Fisk but Jimenez in his reform of 1516 required receivers to pay for them out of their salary of 60,000 Madavedes an economy of doubtful wisdom. In time the comparative importance of the receiver diminished and in the middle of the 18th century we find him or treasurer as he is then called rated at 400 dukets while the inquisitors and fiscal have 800. At times there were distinct receivers for the confiscations and for the fines, penances and rehabilitations but usually one sufficed though the accounts were kept separate. The receiver was required by the instructions of 1498 to give satisfactory bonds to the amount of 300,000 Madavedes. A regulation of 1579 prescribed that these bonds were to be renewed every three years and that, when one of the bondsmen died, he was to be replaced at once under pain of major excommunication Latoe sententeoe but the frequency with which this rule was enunciated indicates how difficult was its enforcement. While the power of the receiver in making collections was almost boundless in disbursements he was prudently limited an instruction of DASA in 1504 requires the auditors not to pass in the accounts any item for which the receiver could not exhibit an order from the king, the inquisitor general, the suprema or the judge of confiscations in matters adjudicated by him. In Aragón the accounts were audited by the maestre racional or auditor general of the kingdom and in Castile by the auditor of the suprema after which they are submitted to Ferdinand who examined them minutely and decided as to the items disallowed by the auditors. All this as we have seen passed into the hands of the suprema which exercised the most careful watchfulness over all gastos extraordinarios or expenditures other than the regular payment of salaries and the like. Thus in 1645 Martin Pretel the treasurer of Toledo paid out on orders of the inquisitors one hundred ninety and one half reales for repairs to a house occupied by one of them and one hundred sixteen reales for repairs to the prison. The auditor refused to pass these trivial outlays and it was not until 1654 that the suprema allowed them with a caution that in future the cartas acordadas must be observed. The utmost precision and effectiveness were exacted with the elaborate vouchers containing the order authorizing payment and the receipt of the payee. In the accounts for 1524 of Cristóval de Medina, receiver of Valencia, he recites an order issued by the inquisitors to Peres Orel who was repairing the palace of the inquisition granting him an old chain which hung under some of the windows similarly in the Valencia accounts for 1759 we find the inquisitors issuing orders and receipts taken in the case of the charwoman, José Facerra, who was paid three Libras for sweeping out the rooms from January 1st to St. John's Day and five Libras for carrying the seed of honor twice to the church of Santa Ana and once to San Salvador. So with Juan Garcia paid one Libra ten sueldos for taking up and putting down the mats and one Libra four sueldos for two cords for the well. There was perhaps some excuse for dilatoriness in rendering accounts so elaborately minute, accompanied with the requisite orders and vouchers but a more efficient reason was that the receiver was apt to be in arrears using the funds for his own profit in defiance of stringent regulations and his account rendered was sure to be followed with a demand to pay a balance due. Ferdinand as we have seen and after him the Suprema labored vainly to secure promptitude and regularity. In 1560 it devised an elaborate plan for appointing an auditor for every two tribunals with a salary of 40,000 Madavedes for which he was to spend alternate years in examining their several accounts. Collusion between him and the receivers was guarded against by severe penalties for paying his salary except on orders from the Suprema and threats of prosecuting him for neglect of duty. When a balance was struck the receiver was to deposit it within nine days in the coffer of the tribunal and furnish the Suprema with evidence of the fact within nine days more. If he failed in this the inquisitors were to imprison him under pain of time forth. As each account was completed the auditor was to forward a copy to the Suprema and he was further to supervise the accounts of the collectors of the suppressed pre-bends and to see that all receipts were duly deposited in the coffer. The scheme has interest from the insight which it gives into the disorder and dilapidation characteristic of inquisitorial finance rather than from any improvement which it caused seems to have proved impracticable. It is true that in 1570 there were some additional instructions as to details which look as if after ten years there was an effort to make it work but it was soon afterwards abandoned and in 1572 there was a return to the old system by ordering from each tribunal an annual statement. This was followed by requiring a monthly report as to the property and the returns collected but this seems to have received as little obedience as previous instructions. The memorial of 1623 to the Suprema urges strongly the enforcement of the instructions of 1560 that an auditor should every year audit the accounts of the treasurer in the presence of an inquisitor under penalty of forfeiture of a year's salary by both. The statements thus rendered should then be examined by the fiscal of the Suprema with the aid of an expert accountant for through the lack of this in the previous accounts there have been great errors and if they were reviewed by a shrewd examiner it would be discovered how large have been the losses. The writer evidently had little faith in the receiver's general and auditor's general on whom the Suprema depended but his suggestions were not acted upon and the Suprema contented itself with calling upon the Dillatory treasurers for annual reports and occasionally getting their statements. The secret of the delay is indicated in instructions to the Valencia Tribunal in 1633 that when Melchor de Mendoza the treasurer has finished the accounts which he has commenced pressure must be brought to bear to make him pay the balance against him. The depositarios de los retendientes who had charge of the deposits of those seeking proofs of Limpieza emulated the treasurers. A letter of March 28, 1665 to the Barcelona Tribunal calls attention to a Carta Accordada of January 16, 1620 ordering the accounts of the depositario to be included in the annual statements required for the auditor general. The letter however reports that he has received none for many years wherefor it is ordered that an itemized statement in detail including everything since the last account rendered shall be made out showing what is due to all parties concerned. It may reasonably be doubted whether the command was obeyed. In 1713 orders were sent to Valencia that if the depositario did not pay the balance in four months pressure was to be brought to Valencia and the secretaries were to be forced to pay him what they owed him. The pressure was unavailing for a prolonged correspondence ensued on the subject throughout 1714. Towards the close of the century however we find the depositario of Valencia rendering statements with some degree of regularity every two years. If the accounts of the tribunals are thus carelessly equally disordered. At least such conclusion is justified when in 1685 we find it asking the tribunal of Valencia for a statement of the remittances which it had made to the treasurer general. In 1695 the request is repeated for the years 1693 and 1694 and again in 1714 1715 and 1726 all of which would argue most slovenly bookkeeping. Towards the close of its career apparently the inquisition had succeeded in establishing a more methodical system. In 1803 Barcelona is rendering monthly statements of receipts and expenditures with commendable regularity and we may attribute to the political perturbations the fact that the accounts of Valencia for the years 1610 were not audited by the Suprema until 1816. Confidence in the integrity of the average receiver was evidently neither felt nor deserved and at an early period the device was adopted of the Arca de tres llaves, a coffer placed in the secreto with three locks of which the keys were held by the receiver, by an inquisitor and by the scrivener of Valencia who opened only in the presence of all three. In this repository the receiver was required to place all monies coming into his hands and so it remained until the last as a fine example of archaic simplicity. To this there were occasional variations such as requiring two areas, one for confiscations and one for fines and penances or when the tribunals were due. As a rule however one sufficed and it was customarily divided into two compartments for confiscations and fines and penances respectively. The rules prescribed in 1514 by inquisitor general Mersa there indicate the precautions regarded as necessary to reduce to a minimum the temptations of the receiver. He was to receive no money save in presence of the collections or of the secreto. All collections were to be placed in the coffer within three days of their receipt in the presence of an inquisitor and of a scrivener. When subordinates brought funds from other places they were to be delivered to him within two days in presence of a scrivener and he was required to deposit them within 24 hours. Fraud and deceit, Mersa there says, must cease in the collection and sales of the collections and in depositing and taking out monies from the coffer. All expenses ordinary and extraordinary were to be paid with money taken from the coffer. The scrivener must, with his own hands, keep duplicate books with dated entries of all deposits and withdrawals one copy to be kept in his possession and the other in the coffer. No monies must be paid with the expenses of the tribunals without the express license of the king and inquisitor general. Every two months the receiver and scrivener in presence of an inquisitor must verify the accounts and the money on hand and must send a written statement of the latter to the inquisitor general. Any omission or deviation from this by receiver, inquisitor, or nuggets. All the officials concerned were to be furnished with copies of these instructions and one was to be placed in the coffer. It was one thing to frame precise regulations and another to secure their observance. These instructions were sent to Sicily in 1515 but evasions were speedily invented. For already in 1516 a letter of the Suprema asserts that experience had shown that the custodians had three keys by lending them to each other committed frauds on the monies in the coffer. To prevent this it devised wholly inefficient regulations as to the parties to whom the keys should be confided in the absence of the regular custodians so that, as it naively remarked, no frauds may be committed in the future. It argues a singularly hopeful spirit in the Suprema if it expected that such precautions would preclude when the standard of official morality was so low that malversation was prevalent everywhere and was rarely if ever punished by dismissal from office. How tenderly such indiscretions were treated is manifested in a case occurring in Barcelona in 1514. Francisco de San Clement owed 186 Libras to the confiscated estate of Bernardo and Dionis Venet. His father paid a 150 dian account, but this was not credited being evidently embezzled and on June 13 Ferdinand ordered the receiver Matteo de Morano not to press the suit against San Clement on account of the damage it would inflict on the honor of the officials. The matter was to be hushed up in order to spare the reputation of the tribunal. When theft was thus condoned we need not wonder at the condition of the receptoria of Saragossa characterized by fraud disorder and neglect as described by the auditor Anton Navarro in a letter which Ferdinand gave in 1515 to the Archdeacon of Almasan when sending him thither as inspector. Illusion has been made above to the remedies sought by Jimenez in 1517 by sending an auditor general to inspect all the tribunals and ascertain the balances due. There is probably in consequence of this that Juan Martinez de Guilestegui the former receiver of Toledo was found indebted in the sum of 51,500 Madavedes, but there was no thought of punishing him and, with customary tenderness Charles V forgave him half of the debt and promised that on payment of this he should be free of all further claim. Apparently it was a matter of course that receivers should be at risk, although if the rules as to the three keyed coffer were observed there was no opportunity for them to be in arrears. The rules in fact were disregarded with impunity. Inquisitor General Manrique writing to Sicily in 1525 says that they had not been observed for several years and orders them to be enforced under the prescribed penalties, but as he did not inflict those penalties for past disobedience his threats were a mere brutum full men. The consequence of this condonation of malpractice appears wherever there is opportunity of investigation. One of Ferdinand's most trusted receivers was Amador de Alliaga of Valencia. On his death about 1529 when concealment was no longer possible he was found to be a defaulter and as one of the inquisitors was his heir the Suprema to make good the deficit out of the estate. Then Pedro Sorrell a notary of the secreto was in the enjoyment of certain confiscated houses granted to him by Ferdinand subject to a senso of 2975 swell those. This had clandestinely been paid out of the funds of the tribunal. Sorrell refused restitution and the Suprema merely told the inquisitors to persuade him to refund the amount without a suit. This same Sorrell had covertly through a third party purchased a senso of 8000 swell those particularly well secured sold by the Fisk in order to pay salaries. The Suprema rebuked the tribunal for parting with so choice and investment but there was no talk of dismissing or punishing the guilty notary. When the officials enriched themselves with impunity it is not difficult to understand the incessant complaints of the poverty of the tribunals. That a receiver was expected to use the money in his hands and to be in arrears is indicated by a letter of the Suprema in 1542 on learning the death of Romonde Esparza receiver of Mahorca. He had not sent in his accounts and the inquisitor was empowered to compel his heirs to render a statement and to pay whatever balance might be found due. The device of the coffer had fallen evidently into complete neglect and the Suprema endeavored to resuscitate it by Accarta Accordada of December 9, 1545 which prescribed that all collections were to be deposited within three days of receipt if made in the city or within four days if made in the country and salaries and other expenses were to be paid only from the money in the coffer under pain of excommunication latte sententie and of ten dukets for each infraction. This was the commencement of an endless series of legislation reiterating or modifying the regulations in a manner to indicate how impossible it was to enforce observance. The delay allowed for deposit was increased from three days to ten. Receivers were required to take an oath to obey. Reports of all deposits and withdrawals were ordered to be rendered in four months. These constant repetitions are the measure of their inefficiency and the hardened indifference of the receivers is evidenced by a complaint of Reynoso inquisitor of Toledo in 1556 that since the accounts of the receiver had been balanced he had received large sums which he refused to deposit in the coffer saying that his accounts had been settled. Then in 1560 the order of 1545 was reissued with instructions that, in case of infraction the receiver was to be prosecuted and punished evidence of which was to be furnished to the Suprema. It was all in vain and the receivers continued to hold their collections at their convenience. In 1569 with the object of reducing to some kind of order the finances of the tribunals a junta de asienda or finance committee was constituted in each consisting of the inquisitors the judge of confiscations the receiver and the notary of sequestrations which was to meet on the last day of each month and consider all questions of property and income deciding them by a majority vote. This with occasional modifications remained a standing feature of the tribunals although the repeated exhortations and commands that the sessions be held regularly show how difficult it was to secure business-like action and management. The attempt was made to utilize this organization in compelling the receivers to deposit their collections in the coffers. In 1576 and again in 1579 orders were issued that at the monthly meetings the receiver should declare under oath and under excommunication the amount of money in his hands what he had collected and what was used in the coffer. This was ineffectual and then it was tried to compel the notary of sequestrations to make a declaration that the receiver had deposited all that he admitted to have received. Then in 1584 a concession was made allowing the receiver to make his deposits monthly which of course only increased the risk of defalcations. This was followed in 1586 by orders that he compelled to collect and deposit promptly the revenues of the pre-bends and that at the monthly meetings the schedule of income was to be examined in order to see what had been collected and deposited. It would be wearisome to pursue further these details which continued indefinitely with perpetual and ineffectual iteration to compel the receivers to hand over their collections without delay. It hardly needs the assertion of the memorial of 1623 that the coffer was used in but very few places as a depository for the funds of the tribunals. The writer adds that the receivers thus incur excommunication and commit perjury monthly. The finances suffer great losses and the receivers are ruined by squandering the money but the only remedy that he can suggest is that the penalties be increased and strict orders be issued that under no pretext should funds be left outside of the coffers. These expedience had been abundantly tried but in the absence of rigid discipline and of punishment of offenders they had been and continued to be fruitless. Another and most serious omission pointed out was that in many tribunals there was no Libro Becerro or Register of Property with descriptions and titles the lack of which led to great losses and much difficulty in making collections. The cause of the poverty complained of is not far to seek. Under the flagrant disregard of the prescribed safeguards it is not surprising that defalcations were by no means infrequent. The general negligence and the tenderness manifested to official malfeasance facilitated and encouraged embezzlement. It could be concealed by skillfully falsified statements but when a receiver died his estate was not uncommonly found to be indebted to the Fisk. Thus in the account of Laçado del Mar of Valencia in 1647 there is an item of 372 Libras, 14 Suelvos, 2 Ducats still due by the heirs of the late receiver, Minuarte although 2,400 Libras had already been collected of them during the previous five or six years. So when in 1664 Juan Mathew receiver of Barcelona was murdered and his accounts were finally reduced to order in 1666 they were found to be short in the large sum of 47,359 Libras once well though the widow petitioned to be released or at least to have an abatement which was refused but she was given two years in which to settle. A somewhat typical anti-mortem case was that of Carlos Alborños receiver of Valencia who it may be remembered endeavored in 1713 to secure the reversion of his office for his son aged 12 and a few years later succeeded in so doing. There was trouble in getting him to render his accounts for 1723 and three or four subsequent years and making him pay over the tolerably large confiscations of all our son in Macanas. In 1727 he was allowed to resign in favor of his son and in 1728 active measures were taken to compel him to furnish his accounts and make payments which resulted in obtaining 6,000 Reales and a statement. On this in December 1728 the auditor general found a balance against him of 6,248 Libras 10 Suelvos, 1 Duquet besides sums paid by the towns of Villanueva de Castellón and Denia which were not entered in his books. Then commenced the attempt to effect a settlement which continued until 1734 with more or less success his son being meanwhile continued in office while in the whole voluminous correspondence there is no intimation of any thought of punishing him for his obedience and dishonesty. The confiscations in fact seemed to carry with them an infection. The licentiate Vicente Vidal was administrator of the Valencia portion of the estate of Macanas and on settlement of his accounts he was found to be in debt some 1,800 Libras. The administration was transferred to Manuel Molner to whom he gave a deed for a property renting for 100 Libras. In 1729 he paid his debt and then in 1732 he had the effrontery to ask the Suprema to refund to him the rents received from his property while in Molner's hands. While thus much of the chronic complaint of indigence may reasonably be attributed to mismanagement and peculation it would be unjust to the inquisition to ascribe to it especially bad eminence in this respect. It was probably neither better nor worse than the other departments of the government. Neglective duty and misappropriation of funds common enough to this day in public affairs were in past times rather the rule than the exception and flourished in Spain perhaps to a greater extent than elsewhere. Multiplication of offices and inadequate salaries are direct incentives to irregular gains and the practical immunity of offenders by the unwise effort to preserve the external reputation of the holy office was an encouragement which could not fail to induce slovenly service, disobedience of rules, and frequent embezzlement.