Inquisition in the united kingdoms of Castile and Aragon and Tommaso de Torquemada
As we recall from the article “Pupil of Torquemada”Inquisitors have been operating on the territory of Aragon since 1232, and in Valencia controlled by Aragon since 1420, but their influence on the affairs of this kingdom was insignificant. Now, the powers of the new Tribunal of the Holy Chancellery of the Inquisition also extended to Castile and Leon.
Inquisition in the United Kingdom before the appointment of Torquemada
On September 17, 1480, the first inquisitors were appointed. They were the Dominicans Miguel de Morillo, formerly the inquisitor in Aragonese Roussillon, and Juan de San Martin. Juan Ruiz de Medina, abbot of the church in Medina del Rio Seco, was identified as adviser to them, and Juan Lopez del Barco, chaplain of Queen Isabella, became the prosecutor of the tribunal.
Coat of arms of the Spanish Inquisition
One of the banners of the Spanish Inquisition, XVII century
Shield of the Holy Office of the Inquisition
The first inquisitors began their activities in Seville, where there was a large community of conversos - Jews converted to Christianity. The “New Christians” were well aware of the actions of the Inquisitors in other countries. And so some of them tried to change their surnames, others emigrated or moved from the crown territories to lands belonging to the "private owners" (the possessions of the Duke de Medina Sidonia, Marquis de Cadiz, Count d'Arcos and some others). All of them were immediately declared heretics - “because of the fact of their desire to escape from the observation and power of the Inquisition by flight” (Juan Antonio Llorente). The aforementioned giants, threatened with excommunication and confiscation of property, were ordered to deliver conversos fleeing to their lands in the Dominican monastery of St. Paul, which became the first headquarters of the Inquisition Tribunal, within two weeks. But the number of those arrested was so great that the Inquisitors soon moved to the castle of Trian.
Eugenio Lucas Velazquez. Convicted by the Inquisition
The first sentences were not long in coming. Already on January 6, 1481, the first six people were burned. At the end of January - three more. March 26, 17 people were burned. In total, 298 heretics were executed in the first year.
Burning the Heretic
Such executions were called “auto da fé”: literally translated from Portuguese - “an act of faith”. The original meaning of this phrase is the solemn ceremony of the announcement of the sentences of the Inquisition court. Later, the act of the execution of the sentence of the Inquisition court began to be called so.
Henry Linton. "Autodafe of the Spanish Inquisition" - the burning of heretics in the market square
According to Jean Seville, the auto-da-fe was "a great religious and popular holiday, which included prayer, mass, sermon, a demonstration of the faith of those gathered, the announcement of the sentences, the expression of remorse of the condemned."
Autodafe on De la Plaza Mayor de Madrid, engraving
The population of cities was notified in advance of the impending burning of heretics. Here is the text of one of these posters:
“Residents of the city of Madrid are informed that the holy court of the Inquisition of the city and the kingdom of Toledo will solemnly perform a general auto-da-fe on Sunday, June 30 of this year, and that all those who will somehow take part in the commission or will be present at the said auto-da-fe will take advantage of all spiritual the graces at the disposal of the Roman high priest ”
.And many people with pleasure attended these executions, went to them with the whole family as a holiday performance.
Procession of priests in front of the autodaf, engraving
Anonymous author. "Autodafe in Valyadolid"
Lyon Feuchtwanger wrote:
Spanish
Inquisition to lose
They didn’t want at all, for
She gave them to God.
True, that god was universal,
But especially in Spanish.
And they are with stubborn faith
Stupidly, earnestly, submissively
They held on to her the same way
As for his monarch.
Inquisition to lose
They didn’t want at all, for
She gave them to God.
True, that god was universal,
But especially in Spanish.
And they are with stubborn faith
Stupidly, earnestly, submissively
They held on to her the same way
As for his monarch.
In Seville there was even a whole area for the burning of heretics - El Quemadero (Kemadero, "area of fire"), decorated with stone statues of the prophets, which were made with funds allocated by a certain Mesa. These statues were somehow used to carry out executions: some believe that the convicts were placed in these statues, others that they were simply tied to them. In the middle of the square, a common fire was made (firewood was saved in this way), and the unfortunate were literally roasted over an open fire. It soon became clear that the zealous Catholic Mesa was actually conversos, hiding his origin. This fact turned out to be enough for his arrest and burning in the "square of fire."
Very soon the central council of the Inquisition and four local tribunals were created. Then the number of provincial tribunals was increased to ten.
The actions of the Spanish inquisitors shocked not only the subjects of the Catholic kings, but even Pope Sixtus IV (former general of the Franciscan order), who wrote to Isabella and Ferdinand at the beginning of 1482 about numerous abuses and neglect of established procedures, as a result of which many innocent people were condemned.
Jean-Paul Laurent. “Papa and the Inquisitor” (Sixtus IV and Torquemada). Bordeaux Museum of Fine Arts
On February 11 of the same year, Sixtus appointed 7 Dominican inquisitors to Castile, among whom was Tommaso Torquemada. But the Catholic kings, who had previously been granted the right to appoint the inquisitors themselves, answered the pope: "Entrust us with care of this matter."
Signatures and seal under the letter of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic, who donated property confiscated from heretics to the monastery
Grand Inquisitor of Torquemada
It was not until 2 August 1483 that the Supreme Tribunal of the Holy Inquisition in Castile (Supremo Tribunal de la Santa Inquisition) was established by the new bull, for the administration of which the post of general (grand, supreme) inquisitor of the Castile kingdom was introduced. Formally, the Grand Inquisitor was appointed by the pope, but Isabella and Ferdinad put forward his candidacy, and he was accountable only to the Catholic kings. The first great inquisitor of Castile became Tommaso Torquemada. But already on October 14 of the same year, the territory of Aragon fell under its jurisdiction, and then (in 1486) - Catalonia and Valencia.
It was an amazing time in stories Of Europe. Dante’s Comedy has already been published, Nicolo Machiavelli (1469), Nikolai Copernicus (1473) and Martin Luther (1483) were born, Aristotle Fiorovanti arrived in Moscow, Bartolomeu Dias in 1488 reaches the southern tip of Africa ... Far in the east in 1483 appeared into the world Zahireddin Muhammad Babur - a descendant of Timur, who will become the founder of the Mughal state. Soon Ignatius Loyola, Thomas Münzer and Hernan Cortes will come to this world. And in 1483, Torquemade turned 63 years old, but he is still healthy and strong.
Marlon Brando as Torquemada, film "Christopher Columbus: The Conquest of America", 1992
It is enough to say that, having learned of his appointment, he came to the courtyard from Segovia on foot and, as usual, traveled all the way without shoes. He will rule over the united kingdoms for almost 15 years - and sometimes it will seem that in terms of influence he is on a par with the crowned persons. It is he who will be destined to become the main symbol of the omnipotence of the Inquisition, terror and arbitrariness. Here is a typical opinion about our hero:
Among them was Torquemada, like a great husband,
But with a cheated wife.
He was jealous of any other
To the unreachable God - and immediately his pliers
He pulled out of his pocket, heated in incense,
He approached his victim and closed them on a trembling body,
Trying to get the truth out of the curve of human nature,
Knowing that the truth lies in a person, like a nail in a boot.
But with a cheated wife.
He was jealous of any other
To the unreachable God - and immediately his pliers
He pulled out of his pocket, heated in incense,
He approached his victim and closed them on a trembling body,
Trying to get the truth out of the curve of human nature,
Knowing that the truth lies in a person, like a nail in a boot.
(Sergey Tashevsky.)
Of course, this was not quite so. Torquemada was a man of ideas and spent almost all his personal funds on the construction or repair of monasteries and on “works of mercy”. He demanded from the judges “not to fall into anger”, “remember mercy”, and considered the goal of his activity to be the fight against sin, and not against sinners. However, subordinates of Torquemada turned out to be completely different people and "work with heretics" imagined themselves completely differently. It must also be remembered that the Inquisitors were persons who were materially interested, since a significant part of the property of the convicted persons came at their disposal. The Catholic kings were also interested in the “effective” work of the Inquisition Tribunal, since a third of the funds received from the sale of “heretics” property went to the state treasury. And therefore, Isabella and Ferdinand not only did not try to stop the arbitrariness of the Inquisition Tribunals, but secretly demanded the intensification of the activities of the Inquisitors. And therefore, the practice of the posthumous condemnation of rich people who could no longer refute the accusations or defend their honor became widespread in Castile and Aragon. The deceased rich man was declared a heretic, the corpse was torn out of the grave and burned, his property was confiscated. The heirs revered for luck, if they themselves managed to avoid the charges of complicity and complicity.
The Catholic kings had another, no less significant benefit: the right to control the tribunals of the Inquisition, made these courts a powerful tool to suppress and intimidate opponents of the central government. The tool is so effective that the Spanish kings were forced to abandon it only in the middle of the XIX century. And therefore, the resistance initially shown to the Inquisitors Cortes on the ground was quickly and brutally suppressed.
According to the “Code” compiled by Torquemada in 1484, upon the arrival of the inquisitors in the city, a “grace period” of one month was set during which the “heretics” were to appear before the tribunal. Denunciations were encouraged (premiums from the confiscated property of the revealed "heretic" were paid). The volunteers who came to the tribunal were required to give the names of other “apostates”, but everything ended, as a rule, with torture, accusations of insufficient repentance, attempts to deceive the investigation, hide “accomplices” and conviction.
The people against whom the investigation began had little chance of acquittal. Franciscan friar Bernard told the King of Castile Philippe the Beautiful that if they indicted the heresy of St. Peter and Paul, they would not be able to defend themselves because, according to article 16 of the Torquemada Code, the inquisitors did not make specific charges, inviting the accused to confess to their sins. In addition, they do not allow to get acquainted with the testimonies of witnesses and hide their names. Article 14 established that the accused, who persisted in denying his guilt after the testimony was announced, was to be condemned as unrepentant. The confession obtained under torture, according to article 15, was the basis for the conviction of the defendant as “convicted”. The refusal of such a confession was the basis for the repeated use of the same torture, or for the imposition of “emergency punishment”.
Museum of the Inquisition in Cordoba, wooden stake
Inquisition Museum in Cordoba, wooden stake, drawing
Museum of the Inquisition in Cordoba
Museum of the Inquisition in Cordoba, wheelchair, drawing
Museum of the Inquisition in Cordoba, saw for sawing the body of a sinner
Here is the woman convicted by the Inquisition court in the movie The Inquisitor (The Well and the Pendulum):
Shot from the film "The Inquisitor" ("The Well and the Pendulum"), 1991
But it must be admitted nevertheless that neither the Spanish inquisitors nor the German "witch hunters" thought of it before torturing women with thongs.
Any sympathizer for the accused himself was accused of sympathy for heresy. At the same time, no one limited the time of the father-inquisitors, and the investigation on one case could go on for years. All this time the defendant was in prison.
The defendant, accused of heresy, but not confessing to it, was usually excommunicated and handed over to the secular authorities to decide on the execution (which was a simple formality). The admitter should have fully recognized the truth of the charges (no matter how absurd they may be), extradite “accomplices” (usually members of their family, friends, business partners) and publicly renounce the heresy attributed to him.
Even the most “soft” punishments imposed by subordinates of Torquemada, in fact, turned out to be incredibly difficult. The same penance often did not consist of prayers at bedtime and not bowing of the earth before the icons, but a public flogging on Sundays for several months and even years. The pilgrimage was also deprived of a romantic halo: a sinner convicted of a “small pilgrimage” was obliged to visit up to 19 local holy places, in each of which he was whipped with rods. The “big pilgrimage” involved a trip to Jerusalem, Rome or Santiago de Compostello and lasted from a year to several years. This journey required considerable funds, during this time the heretic’s affairs fell into decay, his family often went bankrupt.
Jean Gerson, Chancellor of the University of Paris, during a pilgrimage. Frontispiece of his works published in Strasbourg in 1488
The standard ban on the use of gold, silver, pearls, silk and thin cloth also meant the inevitable ruin of any person related to trade or banking operations.
It is not surprising that Manuel de Maliani calls the “Code” Torquemada “bloody”, Beau Laporte “terrible”, Jose Amador de los Rios - “code of terror”.
At the same time, a number of authors believe that this tough and cruel "Code" still somewhat limited the arbitrariness of the inquisitors. For example, people who “collaborated with the investigation” could be allowed to leave prison on Saturdays to complete the procedure of repentance, and on Sunday to attend church. Inquisitors were forbidden to accept gifts. A part of the heretic’s property was now left to his underage children. One can imagine what was going on in Castile before Tommaso Torquemada took over as Grand Inquisitor. The arbitrariness of the provincial inquisitors can be illustrated by the story of Pedro Arbuez.
Bloody chess player Pedro Arbues
Monks of Ramsgate. "Peter of Arbues." Book of Saints, 1921
The future inquisitor was a nobleman educated in Bologna. After returning from Italy, he became a monk of the Order of the Augustinians and was elected canon in Zaragoza - the capital of the kingdom of Aragon. In 1484, Torquemada appointed Arbués the inquisitor of Aragon (Dominican Gaspar Hooglar became his partner). The main blow, of course, was inflicted on a large and influential community of descendants of baptized Jews, who received many denunciations from ill-wishers. In matters related to the inquiry and investigation, the new inquisitors acted according to the standard scheme, but the procedure for punishing heretics surprised many. The fact is that Arbuez turned out to be a passionate chess lover, and, according to legend, appropriately dressed prisoners before execution executed the role of living chess pieces. The "eaten" heretic was killed by the executioner - and those who could consider themselves lucky, because the survivors in this terrible game were sent to "cleansing by fire."
Israel von Menekem. "Death playing chess"
The second inquisitor of Zaragoza, Gaspar Hooglar, soon died, and of course, conversos, who allegedly poisoned the incorruptible judge, were accused of his death. Quite satisfied with the activities of Arbuez (and with the means that now flowed continuously into the royal treasury), the Catholic kings carefully advised him to increase protection. Arbues did just that - they said that even in the “right place” he now went with bodyguards. And for reliability, he also put on chain mail under the cassock, and a steel helmet under the cap. But he did not stop the atrocities, either because he was a very responsible person, or simply loved his work very much. Security did not help - on September 15, 1485, Arbues was attacked in the church. The Inquisitor received two wounds: in the shoulder and in the head (it was a blow to the head that turned out to be fatal), and died two days later.
Bartolome Esteban Murillo. “The assassination of Inquisitor Pedro de Arbues”
Outraged by the cancellation of the next chess game, the Aragonese found consolation in a large-scale Jewish pogrom, during which they gloriously got hold of the property of the wicked conversos. From complete extermination they were saved by the Archbishop of Zaragoza Alfonso of Aragon (illegitimate son of King Ferdinand). The revenge of the Catholic kings was terrible: not only thousands of ordinary conversos, but also numerous representatives of noble families from Zaragoza, Calatayud, Barbastro, Huesca and Tarazon suffered public penance and life imprisonment. To condemn it was considered sufficient to prove the fact of friendship or just a close acquaintance with the participants in the conspiracy. Among the repressed were the chief treasurer of King Ferdinand Gabriel Sanchez, the royal secretary Luis González, don Jaime Diez de Ochs Armendaris, the lord of the city of Cadreita, the vice-chancellor of Aragon don Alfonso de la Cavalieria, the chief secretary of the high court of Aragon don Felipe de Clemente. And even the native nephew of Ferdinand of Aragon, don Jaime of Navarre (heir to the throne of Navarra!), Did not escape arrest. It is believed that the king of Aragon Ferdinand simply took the opportunity to crack down on disagreeable aristocrats.
Many of those who were not executed died from the consequences of torture almost immediately after the sentencing. The execution of those sentenced to death was carried out with particular cruelty: having tied to horses, they were dragged along the streets of Zaragoza, then their hands were chopped off and then hanged (they were not burned, since they were considered not heretics, but traitors). Then their bodies were cut into pieces, which, mounted on stakes, were exposed along all the roads leading to Zaragoza.
One of the sons of Gaspard de Santa Cruz, who fled to France and died in Toulouse, was forced to public repentance, after which, with a copy of the sentence, his father was sent to the Toulouse Dominicans. Based on this letter, the monk brothers dug up the corpse, burned it and handed over to their Aragonese colleagues a detailed report on this shameful execution.
And the body of Pedro Arbuez was buried in Zaragoza for a week, his funeral amazed everyone with its splendor. The inscription on the tomb informed that Arbuez is “a stone that removes all Jews by its own strength”. After the reburial of his body, another stone was erected in the chapel of La Seo Cathedral near the new tomb, the inscription on which declared Arbuez "for his jealousy of the hatred of the Jews and of them killed."
In 1661, he was recognized as a martyr by Pope Alexander VII, and in 1867, Pope Pius IX even ranked him as a saint. This canonization aroused indignation even among some Christians, it was then that Wilhelm von Kaulbach wrote with charcoal the drawing “Pedro de Arbues condemns the heretic family to death”:
After the death of Arbuez, Torkvemada, on the orders of Queen Isabella, was guarded by 250 soldiers: 200 foot soldiers and 50 horsemen. There is evidence that he himself was burdened by this guard. On the other hand, it is reported that Torquemada was afraid of poisoning, and each dish was tasted in his presence before serving, and on the table in front of him there was always something that looked like a unicorn horn, which, according to the then doctors, could neutralize the effect of any poison.
In the next article we will talk about the famous "Granada Edict" and the fate of the Sephardic Jews, as well as the end of the life of the Grand Inquisitor.
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