For several ages the method of proceeding against heretics was committed to the bishops, with whom the government and care of the churches were entrusted, according to the received decrees of the church of Rome. But as their number did not seem sufficient to the court, or because they did not proceed with that fury against heretics, as the pope would have them; therefore, that he might put a stop to the increasing progress of heresy, and effectually extinguish it, about the year of our Lord 1200, he founded the order of the Dominicans and Franciscans. [W]Dominick and his followers were sent into the country of Tholouse, where he preached with great vehemence against the heretics of those parts; from whence his order have obtained the name of Predicants. Father Francis, with his disciples, battled it with the heretics of Italy. They were both commanded by the pope to excite the Catholic princes and people to extirpate heretics, and in all places to inquire out their number and quality; and also the zeal of the Catholics and bishops in their extirpation, and to transmit a faithful account to Rome: hence they are called inquisitors.
Dominick being sent into the country of Tholouse, was confirmed in the office of inquisitor by the papal authority; after which, upon a certain day, in the midst of a great concourse of people, he declaredo penly in his sermon, in the church of St. Prullian, “that he was raised to a new office by the pope;” adding, that “he was resolved to defend, with his utmost vigour, the doctrines of the faith; and that if the spiritual arm was not sufficient for this end, it was his fixed purpose to call in the assistance of the secular one, and to excite and compel the Catholic princes to take arms against heretics, that the very memory of them might be intirely destroyed.” It evidently appears that he was a very bloody and cruel man. He was born in Spain, in the village of Calaroga, in the diocese of Osma. His mother, before she conceived him, dreamt that “she was with child of a whelp, carrying in his mouth a lighted torch; and that after he was born, he put the world in an uproar by his fierce barkings, and set it on fire by the torch which he carried in his mouth.” His followers interpret this dream of his doctrine, by which he enlightened the whole world; but others, with more reason, think that the torch was an emblem of that fire and faggot, by which an infinite number of persons were consumed to ashes.
Dominick being settled in the country of Tholouse, sent a great number of persons, wearing crosses, to destroy the Albigenses in those parts; and caused the friars of his order to promise plenary indulgences to all who would engage in the pious work of murdering heretics. He also caused Raymond earl of Tholouse to be excommunicated, as a defender of heretics, and his subjects to be absolved from their oaths of allegiance. The cross-bearers, being thus sent by Dominick, filled all places with slaughter and blood, and burnt many whom they had taken prisoners. In the year 1209, Biterre was taken by them; and the inhabitants, without any regard of age, were cruelly put to the sword, and the city itself destroyed by the flames; and though there were several Catholics in it, yet, lest any heretics should escape, Arnold, abbot of Cisteaux, cried out, “Slay them all, for the Lord knows who are his;” upon which they were all slain, without exception. Carcassone also was destroyed, Alby and La Vaur taken by force; in which last place they hanged Aymeric, the governor of the city, who was of a noble family, beheaded eighty of lower degree, and threw Girarda, Aymeric’s sister, into an open pit, and covered her with stones. Afterwards they conquered Carcum, where they murdered sixty men. They seized on Villeneuve, a large city near Tholouse, and burnt in it 400 Albigenses, and hanged fifty more. They also took Castres de Termis, and in it Raymond, lord of the place, whom they put in jail, where he died; and burnt in one large fire, his wife, sister, and virgin daughter, because they would not embrace the faith of the church of Rome. They also took Avignon by treachery, and, in despite of their oaths, plundered the city, and killed great numbers of the inhabitants; and, at last, forced the brave earl to surrender Tholouse itself, and then stripped him of his dominions, and would not absolve him from his excommunication, without walking in penance to the high altar, in his shirt and breeches, and with naked feet. Upon this conquest and destruction of the Albigenses, the inquisition proceeded with vigour, and was established by several councils at Tholouse and Narbonne.
In the year 1232, the inquisition was brought into Aragon, and pope Gregory gave commission to the archbishop of Tarracone, and his suffragans, to proceed against all persons infected with heretical pravity; and accordingly the inquisition was there carried on with the greatest rigour.
In 1251, pope Innocent IV. created inquisitors in Italy: and the office was committed to the Friars Minors and Predicants. The Friars Minors were appointed in the city of Rome, the patrimony of St. Peter, Tuscany, the dutchy of Spoletto, Campania, Maretamo, and Romania. To the Predicants he assigned Lombardy, Romaniola, the Marquisate of Tarvesano, and Genoa; and gave them certain articles to be prescribed to the magistrates and people subject to their jurisdiction, with power to excommunicate all who refused to observe them; and in process of time tribunals of the inquisition were erected in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Poland, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Ragusia, and in all places where the power of the pope could extend itself. Innumerable cruelties were practised upon those whom the judges condemned for heresy; some were burnt alive, others thrown into rivers, tied hand and foot, and so drowned; and others destroyed by different methods of barbarity.
Ferdinand and Isabella having united the several kingdoms of Spain by their inter-marriage, introduced, in the year 1478, the inquisition into all their kingdoms, with greater pomp, magnificence and power, than it had ever yet appeared in. The Jews were the first who felt the fury of it. A set time was appointed by the inquisitors for them to come in and make confession of their errors, in the year 1481. Accordingly about 1700 of both sexes appeared, who had their lives granted them. Many, however, refused to obey, and persisted in their heresy. On this they were immediately seized; and through the violence of their torments great numbers confessed their crimes, and were thrown into the fire; some acknowledging Christ, and others calling on the name of Moses. Within a few years, two thousand of them of both sexes were burnt. Others professing repentance, were condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and to wear crosses. The bones of others who were dead were taken out of their graves, and burnt to ashes; their effects confiscated, and their children deprived of their honours and offices. The Jews being terrified by this cruelty, fled, some into Portugal, others into Italy, and France; and left all their effects behind them, which were immediately seized on for the king’s use. At length, in 1494, to purge their kingdoms intirely from Jewish superstition, Ferdinand and Isabel by a law ordered them to depart all their dominions within four years; forbidding them ever to return to Spain, under the punishment of immediate death. Most writers affirm that there were 170,000 families who departed; others say there were 800,000 persons; a prodigious number, almost exceeding belief.
In the year 1500, the archbishop of Toledo took great pains to convert the Moors of Granada to Christianity. He first of all gained over some of their chief priests by gifts and favours. Others, who refused to become Christians, he put in irons in jail, and ordered them to be used with great cruelty; and by these methods gained many converts. Ferdinand at last published an edict against them, commanding them in general to become Christians, or depart his dominions within a certain day.
This tribunal, first erected to discover Jews and Moors, soon began to proceed against heretics, and to exercise the same cruelties against these as they had against the others. Charles V. king of Spain, who with great difficulty had brought the inquisition into the Netherlands, against the Lutherans and reformed, recommended it to his son Philip in his will; and Philip gave full proof of his zeal to execute his father’s commands. For when he was requested by many to grant liberty of religion in the Low Countries, he prostrated himself before a crucifix, and uttered these words: “I beseech the divine majesty, that I may always continue in this mind; that I may never suffer myself to be, or to be called the lord of those any where, who deny thee the Lord.” Nor is this any wonder; for the popish divines endeavoured to persuade the kings of Spain that the inquisition was the only security of their kingdom. No one can wonder, that under this persuasion, the Spanish kings have been violent promoters of the inquisition; and that they have inflicted the most cruel punishments upon the miserable heretics. Philip II. not only in the Low Countries, but also in Spain, shewed himself the patron of it; and that the most outrageous cruelty was acceptable to him. He gave some horrid specimens of it in the year 1559, in two cities of Spain, when he came thither from the Low Countries; [245]“Immediately on his arrival,” as Thuanus relates, “he began to chastise the sectaries. And whereas, before this, one or more, just as it happened, were delivered to the executioner, after condemnation for heresy; all that were condemned throughout the whole kingdom were kept against his coming, and carried together to Seville, and Valladolid, where they were brought forth in public pomp to their punishment. The first act of faith was at Seville, the 8th of the calends of October; in which John Ponce de Leon, son of Rhoderic Ponce Comte de Baylen, was led before the others, as in triumph, and burnt for an obstinate heretical Lutheran. John Consalvus, a preacher, as he had been his companion in life, was forced to bear him company in his death; after whom followed Isabella Venia, Maria Viroes, Cornelia, and Bohorchés; a spectacle full of pity and indignation, which was encreased, because Bohorchés, the youngest of all of them, being scarce twenty, suffered death with the greatest constancy. And because the heretical assemblies had prayed in the house of Venia, it was concluded in her sentence, and ordered to be levelled with the ground. After these, came forth Ferdinand San Juan, and Julian Hernandez, commonly called the Little, from his small stature, and John of Leon, who had been a shoemaker at Mexico in New Spain, and was afterwards admitted into the college of St. Isidore; in which his companions studied, as they boasted, the purer doctrine privately. Their number was encreased by Frances Chaves, a nun of the convent of St. Elizabeth, who had been instructed by John Ægidius, a preacher at Seville, and suffered death with great constancy. From the same school, came out Christopher Losada, a physician, and Christopher de Arellanio, a monk of St. Isidore, and Garsias Arias; who first kindled those sparks of the same religion amongst the friars of St. Isidore, by his constant admonitions and sermons, by which the great pile was afterwards set on fire, and the convent itself, and good part of that most opulent city almost consumed. He was a man of uncommon learning, but of an inconstant, wavering temper; and, being exceeding subtle in disputing, he refuted the very doctrines he had persuaded his followers to receive, though he brought them into danger on that account from the inquisitors. Having, by these arts, exposed many whom he had deceived to evident hazard, and rendered himself guilty of the detestable crime of breach of faith; he was admonished by John Ægidius, Constantine Ponce, and Varquius, that he had not dealt sincerely with his friends, and those who were in the same sentiments with himself; to which he replied, that he foresaw, that in a little time they would be forced to behold the bulls brought forth for a lofty spectacle; meaning thereby, the theatre of the inquisitors. Constantine answered, You, if it please God, shall not behold the games from on high, but be yourself amongst the combatants. Nor was Constantine deceived in his prediction: for afterwards, Arias was called on; and whether age had made him bolder, or whether, by a sudden alteration, his timorousness changed into courage, he severely rebuked the assessors of the inquisitory tribunal; affirming, they were more fit for the vile office of mule keepers, than impudently to take upon themselves to judge concerning the faith, which they were scandalously ignorant of. He farther declared, that he bitterly repented that he had knowingly and willingly opposed, in their presence, that truth he now maintained, against the pious defenders of it; and that from his soul he should repent of it whilst he lived. So at last, being led in triumph, he was burnt alive, and confirmed Constantine’s prophecy. There remained Ægidius and Constantine, who closed the scene; but death prevented their being alive at the shew. Ægidius having been designed by the emperor, Philip’s father, for bishop of Tortona, upon the fame of his piety and learning, being summoned, publicly recanted his errors, wrought on either by craft, or the persuasion of Sotus, a Dominican; and hereupon was suspended for a while from preaching, and the sacred office, and died some time before this act. The inquisitors thought he had been too gently dealt with, and therefore proceeded against his body, and condemned him dead to death, and placed his effigies in straw on high for a spectacle. Constantine, who had been a long while the emperor’s confessor, and had always accompanied him in his retirement, after his abdication from his empire and kingdoms, and was present with him at his death, was brought before this tribunal, and died a little before the act, in a nasty prison. But, that the theatre might not want him, his effigies was carried about in a preaching posture. And thus this shew, terrible in itself, which drew tears from most who were present, when these images were brought on the scene, excited laughter in many, and at length indignation. They proceeded with the same severity, the following October, at Valladolid, against others condemned for the same crime; where king Philip himself being present, twenty-eight of the chief nobility of the country were tied to stakes and burnt.” Bartholomew Caranza, archbishop of Toledo, was also accused; who for his learning, probity of life, and most holy conversation, was highly worthy of that dignity. He was cast into prison, and stripped of all his large revenues. His cause was brought before Pius V. at Rome, and Gregory XIII. pronounced sentence in it.
Philip, not content to exercise his cruelty by land, established the inquisition also in the ships. For in the year 1571, a large fleet was drawn together under the command of John of Austria, and manned with soldiers listed out of various nations. King Philip, to prevent any corruption of the faith, by such a mixture of various nations and religions, after having consulted pope Pius V. deputed one of the inquisitors of Spain, fixed on by the inquisitor general, to discharge the office of inquisitor; giving him power to preside in all tribunals, and to celebrate acts of faith, in all places and cities they sailed to. This erection of the inquisition by sea, Pius V. confirmed by a bull sent to the general inquisitor of Spain, beginning, “Our late most dear son in Christ.” Jerome Manrique exercised the jurisdiction granted him, and held a public act of faith in the city of Messina, in which many underwent divers punishments.
He also established it beyond Europe, not only in the Canary islands, but in the new world of America; constituting two tribunals of it, one in the city of Lima, in the province of Peru; the other in the province and city of Mexico. The inquisition at Mexico was erected in the year 1571, and in a short space gave large proofs of its cruelty. Paramus relates, that in the year 1574, the third after its erection, the first act of faith was celebrated with a new and admirable pomp, in the Marquisses, market-place, where they built a large theatre, which covered almost the whole area of the market-place, and was close to the great church; where were present the viceroy, the senate, the chapter, and the religious. The viceroy, the senate, and a vast number of others, went with a large guard, in solemn procession, to the market-place, where were about eighty penitents; and the act lasted from six in the morning to five in the evening. Two heretics, one an Englishman, the other a Frenchman, were released. Some for judaizing, some for polygamy, and others for sorceries, were reconciled. The solemnity of this act was such, that they who had seen that stately one at Valladolid, held in the year 1559, declared, that this was nothing inferior to it in majesty, excepting only that they wanted those royal personages here, which were present there. From this time they celebrated yearly solemn acts of the faith, where they brought Portuguese Jews, persons guilty of incestuous and wicked marriages, and many convicted of sorcery and witchcraft.
The method of the tribunal of the inquisition, as now in use in Spain, is this. The king proposes to the pope the supreme inquisitor of all his kingdoms, whom the pope confirms in his office. The inquisitor thus confirmed by the pope, is head and chief of the inquisition in the whole kingdom, and hath given him by his holiness full power in all cases relating to heresy. It belongs to his office to name particular inquisitors, in every place where there is any tribunal of the inquisition, who nevertheless cannot act unless approved by the king; to send visitors to the provinces of the inquisitors, to grant dispensations to penitents and their children, and to deliberate concerning other very weighty affairs. In the royal city the king appoints the supreme council of the inquisition, over which the supreme inquisitor of the kingdom presides. He hath joined with him five counsellors, who have the title of apostolical inquisitors, who are chosen by the inquisitor general upon the king’s nomination. One of these must always be a Dominican. The supreme authority is in this council of the inquisition. They deliberate upon all affairs with the inquisitor general, determine the greater causes, make new laws according to the exigency of affairs, determine differences amongst particular inquisitors, punish the offences of the servants, receive appeals from inferior tribunals, and from them there is no appeal but to the king. In other tribunals there are two or three inquisitors: they have particular places assigned them, Toledo, Cuenca, Valladolid, Calahorre, Seville, Cordoue, Granada, Ellerena; and in the Aragons, Valencia, Saragossa, and Barcelona.
These are called provincial inquisitors. They cannot imprison any priest, knight, or nobleman, nor hold any public acts of faith, without consulting the supreme council of the inquisition. Sometimes this supreme council deputes one of their own counsellors to them, in order to give the greater solemnity to the acts of faith.
These provincial inquisitors give all of them an account of their provincial tribunal once every year to the supreme council; and especially of the causes that have been determined within that year, and of the state and number of their prisoners in actual custody. They give also every month an account of all monies which they have received, either from the revenues of the holy office, or pecuniary punishments and fines.
This council meets every day, except holy-days, in the palace-royal, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in the morning; and on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays after vespers; in these three last days two counsellors of the supreme council of Castile meet with them, who are also counsellors of the supreme council of the inquisition.
This tribunal is now arisen to such an height in Spain, that the king of Castile, before his coronation, subjects himself and all his dominions, by a special oath, to the most holy tribunal of this most severe inquisition.
In the year 1557, John III. king of Portugal, erected the tribunal of the inquisition in his kingdom, after the model of that in Spain. It was chiefly levelled against the Jews, who groan under the cruel yoke of it to this day, without any mitigation of their punishment, being liable to all the penalties ordained against heretics. And because the Jewish wickedness spread every day more and more in the parts of the East Indies, subject to the kingdom of Portugal, Cardinal Henry, inquisitor general in the kingdom of Portugal, erected, anno 1560, the tribunal of the inquisition in the city of Goa, the metropolis of that province; where it is carried on at this time with great magnificence and solemnity.
And that the inquisition might proceed every where without any impediment, pope Paul III. anno 1542, deputed six cardinals to be inquisitors general of heretical pravity, in all Christian nations whatsoever; and gave them authority to proceed without the bishops against all heretics, and persons suspected of heresy, and their accomplices and abettors, of whatsoever state, degree, order, condition and pre-eminence; and to punish them, and confiscate their goods; to degrade, and deliver over to the secular court the secular and regular clergy in holy orders; and to do every thing else that should be necessary in this affair. Pius IV. enlarged their power; and in 1564, gave them authority to proceed against all manner of persons, whether bishops, archbishops, patriarchs or cardinals, who were heretics, or suspected of heresy. At length Sixtus V. anno 1588, appointed fifteen congregations of the cardinals, and assigned to each of them their proper business. To these were added a commissary, and an assessor general. Whatever the majority of these cardinals agree, is looked on as the decree of the whole congregation. They meet twice a week; on Wednesdays in St. Mary’s church, supra Minervam; and on Thursdays in the pope’s presence. In this congregation his holiness decides or confirms the votes of the counsellors and cardinals, and makes a prayer when the congregation comes in.
These are the inquisitors; the judge of the forfeited effects, the executor, the notaries, the jail-keeper, the messenger, the door-keeper, the physician, the assessors, the counsellors, the familiars, the promoter fiscal, the receiver of the forfeited effects, and the visitors of the inquisitors.
The inquisitors are persons delegated by the pope to enquire concerning all heresies, and to judge and punish heretics. Generally speaking, no one can be deputed to this office who is not forty years old. But if a person is remarkable for knowledge and prudence, he may, in Spain and Portugal, be created inquisitor sooner. This office is accounted of so great dignity in the church of Rome, that the title of “most reverend” is given to the inquisitors as well as the bishops.
Their privileges are many and great. They can excommunicate, suspend, and interdict. None excommunicated by them can be absolved, without command of the pope, except in the article of death. They may apprehend heretics, though they take sanctuary in churches; and make statutes, and encrease the punishments against them. They can grant indulgences of twenty or forty days, and give full pardon of sins to all their officers who died in their service; and have themselves granted a plenary indulgence in life and death. Whosoever shall damage the effects of the inquisitor, or his officer, or shall kill, strike or beat any one of them, is to be immediately delivered over to the secular court. They are freed from serving of all offices. They are to have lodgings, provisions, and other necessaries provided for them. They may proceed against all persons whatsoever, few excepted; against bishops, priests, and friars; and all laicks whatsoever, even princes and kings. They may cite persons of any sex or condition for witnesses: a famous instance of which there is in Joan, daughter of the emperor Charles V. whom they cited before their tribunal to interrogate her concerning a certain person, in some matters relating to the faith. The emperor himself had such an awe of them, that he commanded his daughter without delay to make her deposition, to avoid the sentence of excommunication. Upon which, she actually appeared before the archbishop of Seville, inquisitor general, and gave in her evidence. In Spain also the inquisitors pretend to have a jurisdiction over the subjects of other kings. Of this, we have an instance in Thomas Maynard, consul of the English nation at Lisbon, who was thrown into the prison of the inquisition, under pretence that he had said or done something against the Roman religion. M. Meadows, who was then resident, and took care of the English affairs at Lisbon, advised Cromwell of the affair; and, after having received an express from him, went to the king of Portugal, and in the name of Cromwell demanded the liberty of consul Maynard. The king told him, it was not in his power; that the consul was detained by the inquisition, over which he had no authority. The resident sent this answer to Cromwell; and having soon after received new instructions from him, had again audience of the king, and told him, that since his majesty had declared he had no power over the inquisition, he was commanded by Cromwell immediately to declare war against it. This unexpected declaration so terrified the king and the inquisition, that they immediately determined to free the consul from prison; and immediately opened the prison doors, and gave him leave to go out. The consul refused to accept a private dismission; but in order to repair the honour of his character, demanded to be honourably brought forth by the inquisition. The same Maynard continued many years after under the same character, in the reigns of Charles and James II. and lived at Lisbon till he was about eighty years old, without any molestation from the inquisition. This story was well known to all foreign merchants, who lived at that time, and many years after, at Lisbon.
The inquisitors may also compel the governors of cities to swear that they will defend the church against heretics; and to extirpate with all their power, from their governments, all who are noted for heretics by the church. They may also command all secular magistrates to seize and keep in custody all heretics, and to carry them wheresoever they order. And for the better apprehending of heretics, the inquisitors may go with an armed attendance, and bear arms themselves. They may compel witnesses to give evidence by fines, pledges, excommunication, or torture. They have also power to excommunicate all lay persons disputing about the faith, publicly or privately; and those who do not discover heretics, by themselves or other persons. And finally, they may condemn and prohibit all heretical books, and suspected of heresy, or containing propositions erroneous, or differing from the Catholic faith.
If the inquisitors are negligent or remiss in their office, they are prohibited from entering the church for four years; or if they offend by unjustly extorting money, they are punished by the prelates of their order; but in such a manner, however, as not to lessen men’s opinion of the dignity and authority of the holy office. From this precaution it is, however, very plain, that the tribunal of the inquisition is not so very holy and blameless, as they would have them believe in Spain and Portugal; but that the inquisitors punish innocent men sometimes very unjustly, throwing them into prison, and treating them in a very barbarous and unworthy manner. Of this we have a fresh instance in the inquisition at Goa, in relation to father Ephraim, a Capucine; whom, out of mere hatred and revenge, they seized by craft and subtlety, and carried away to Goa, and there shut him up in the prison of the inquisition. The story is this: Father Ephraim having had an invitation from some English merchants, built a church in the city of Madrespatan, which was near to the city of St. Thomas. To this place, several of the Portuguese came from St. Thomas’s, to have the benefit of Ephraim’s instruction. By this, he incurred the hatred of the Portuguese; and, upon some disturbance that was raised, father Ephraim was called to St. Thomas to appease it; where he was seized by the officers of the inquisition, and carried to Goa, bound hands and feet, and at night coming from on board the ship, hurried into the prison of the inquisition. All men wondered that this Capucine should be brought prisoner before the tribunal of the inquisition as an heretic, who was known to be a person of great probity and zeal for the Roman religion. Many were concerned for his delivery; and especially friar Zenon, of the same order, who tried every method to effect it. When the news of his imprisonment came to Europe, persons were very differently affected. His brother, the lord Chateau des Bois, solicited the Portugal ambassador at Paris, till he prevailed with him to send letters to his Portuguese majesty, to desire his peremptory orders to the inquisitors at Goa, to dismiss Ephraim from his prison. The pope also himself sent letters to Goa, commanding him to be set free, under the penalty of excommunication. The king also of Golconda, who had a friendship for him, because he had given him some knowledge of the mathematics, commanded the city of St. Thomas to be besieged, and to be put to fire and sword, unless Ephraim was immediately restored to his liberty. The inquisitors not being able to surmount all these difficulties, sent him word that the prison gates were open, and that he might have his liberty when he pleased. But he would not leave his jail, till he was brought out by a solemn procession of the ecclesiastics of Goa. And although there are many instances of the like injustice, yet they very seldom publicly punish the injustice and cruelty of the inquisitors, lest their authority, which they would have always accounted sacred, should be contemned. The inquisitor may also appoint a vicar general over his whole province, with a power of proceeding to a definitive sentence on the impenitent and relapsed, and of receiving informations and accusations against any persons, and of citing, arresting, and putting in irons witnesses and criminals, and of putting them to the question or torture; and in general, of doing every thing which the inquisitor himself, if present, could do.
The counsellors or assessors of the inquisition are skilful persons, such as divines, canonists, and layers, whom the inquisitors call in, in difficult cases, to assist them with their advice. When any questions happen in the trials of the causes of heresy, relating to the quality, i. e. the nature and degree of guilt in any propositions spoken by heretics, or persons suspected of heresy, the decision in such affairs belongs to the divines, who are thence called qualificators; who are to determine whether it be heretical, or favours of heresy, or erroneous, or such as offends pious ears, or rash, or scandalous, or schismatical, or seditious, or blasphemous, or injurious. The layers are consulted about the punishment or absolution of offenders, and other the like merits of causes. However, the inquisitors are not bound necessarily to follow the advice of these counsellors; but after they have heard their opinions, are free to determine and act what they think proper. These counsellors are sworn to secrecy, and are not acquainted with the names of the criminals or witnesses.
The promoter fiscal is that officer of the inquisition, who acts the part of accuser. It belongs to him to examine the depositions of the witnesses, and give information of criminals to the inquisitors; to demand their apprehension and imprisonment, and, when apprehended or admonished, to accuse them.
The notaries, registers, or secretaries of the inquisition, write down the injunctions, accusations, and all the pleadings of the causes; the depositions of the witnesses, and answers of the criminals; and whether the colour of their face changes; whether they tremble or hesitate in speaking, whether they frequently interrupt the interrogatories by hawking or spitting, or whether their voice trembles; that by these circumstances, they may know when to put the criminals to the torture. These notaries may be chosen either of the laity, or from the monks and clergy. They swear them faithfully to execute that office, and to keep the strictest secrecy.
The judge and receiver of the forfeited effects, is the attorney belonging to the treasury of the inquisition; who demands, defends, and sells, the confiscated goods of heretics, and pays the salaries and other expences of the holy office.
The executors are they who execute and perform the commands of the inquisitors. They apprehend and keep in custody criminals, and pursue them in any places to which they may have escaped; and may, when needful, put them in irons. All persons, whether magistrates or others, are obliged to assist them, when they are endeavouring to apprehend any person, or seize his effects, upon penalty of a large fine, and being put under the ban.
The familiars are the bailiffs of the inquisition, which, though a vile office in all other criminal courts, is esteemed so honourable in this of the inquisition, that there is not a nobleman in the kingdom of Portugal who is not in it; and these are commonly employed by the inquisitors to take persons up. If several persons are to be taken up at the same time, the familiars must so order things, that they may know nothing of each other’s being apprehended. And at this the familiars are so expert, that a father and his three sons and three daughters, who lived together at the same house, were all carried prisoners to the inquisition, without knowing any thing of one another’s being there till seven years afterwards, when they of them who were alive, came forth in an act of faith.
There is a particular kind of these familiars, who wear crosses, instituted by Dominic; who vow upon oath, before the inquisitors, that they will defend the catholic faith, though with the loss of fortune and life. The inquisitors give them red crosses, which they have blessed, and may compel them to perform their vow.
The visitor of the inquisition is one who goes into all the provinces where the inquisitors are, and reports to the inquisitor general and council whatever he thinks proper to be amended; and whether the several inquisitors have observed the several orders and rules prescribed to them, that in case of any offences, they may be duly punished.
The civil magistrate is under great subjection to these inquisitors and their officers. He swears to defend the catholic faith, and to cause all the constitutions relating to the inquisition to be observed, and that he will study to exterminate all persons marked out for heretics by the church. And if any temporal lord shall, after admonition by the church, neglect to purge his dominions from heretical pravity, for the space of a year after such admonition, his country is ordered to be seized, and the person seizing it allowed to possess it without contradiction. When any persons are condemned for heresy by the inquisitors, the civil magistrate is obliged to receive them as soon as delivered to him, and to punish them with the deserved punishment; without presuming directly or indirectly to hinder any judgment, sentence, or process of the inquisitors.
The office of the jail-keepers is not to be described; though some account of their jail will not be amiss.
All criminals have not alike places of imprisonment, their cells being either more terrible and dark, or more easy and chearful, according to the quality of the persons and their offences. In reality, there is no place in the prison of the inquisition that can be called pleasant or chearful, the whole jail is so horrible and nasty.
These jails are called in Spain and Portugal “Santa Casa,” i. e. the holy house. Every thing it seems in this office must be holy. The prisons are so built, as the author of the History of the Inquisition at Goa describes them, that they will hold a great number of persons. They consist of several porticoes; every one of which is divided into several small cells of a square form, each side being about ten feet. There are two rows of them, one being built over the other, and all of them vaulted. The upper ones are enlightened by iron grates, placed above the height of a tall man. The lower ones are under ground, dark, without any window, and narrower than the upper ones. The walls are five feet thick. Each cell is fastened with two doors; the inner one thick, and covered over with iron, and in the lower part of it there is a little small window, through which they reach to the prisoner his meat, linen, and other necessaries, which is shut with two iron bolts. The outer door is entire, without any opening at all. They generally open it in the morning, from six o’clock till eleven, in order to refresh the air of the prison.
In Portugal all the prisoners, men and women, without any regard to birth or dignity, are shaved the first or second day of their imprisonment. Every prisoner hath two pots of water every day, one to wash, and the other to drink; and a besom to cleanse his cell, and a mat made of rushes to lie upon, and a larger vessel to ease nature, with a cover to put over it, which is changed once every four days. The provisions which are given to the prisoners, are rated according to the season, and the dearness or plenty of eatables. But if any rich person is imprisoned, and will live and eat beyond the ordinary rate of provisions, and according to his own manner, he may be indulged, and have what is decent and fit for him, and his servant, or servants, if he hath any, with him in the jail. If there are any provisions left, the jail-keeper, and no other, must take them, and give them to the poor. But Reginald Gonsalvius observes, p. 106. that this indulgence is not allowed to prisoners of all sorts, but to such only as are taken up for small offences, who are to be condemned to a fine. But if they find by the very accusation that any persons are to be punished with forfeiture of all their effects, they do not suffer them to live so plentifully, but order them a small pension for their subsistence, viz. about thirty maravedis, of the value of ten Dutch stivers. This agrees with the account of Isaac Orobio, who had a plentiful fortune at Seville, and was nevertheless used very hardly in the prison of the inquisition there. Although his estate was very large, yet he was allowed a very small pension to provide himself provision. This was flesh, which they made him sometimes dress and prepare for himself, without allowing him the help of any servant. In this manner are the richer prisoners treated. As to the poorer, and such who have not enough to supply themselves in jail, their allowance is fixed by the king, viz. the half of a silver piece of money, called a real,[246] every day; and out of this small sum, the buyer of their provision, whom they call the dispenser, and their washer, must be paid, and all other expences that are necessary for the common supports of life. Besides, this very royal allowance for the prisoners doth not come to them but through the hands of several persons, and those none of the most honest; first by the receiver, then the dispenser, then the cook, then the jail-keeper, who, according to his office, distributes the provisions amongst the prisoners. Gonsalvius adds, that he gave this particular account of this matter, because all these persons live, and have their certain profits out of this small allowance of the king to the prisoners; which coming to them through the crooked hands of these harpies, they cannot receive it till every one of them hath taken out more than a tenth part of it.
The author of the History of the Inquisition at Goa tells us, this order is observed in distributing the provisions. The prisoners have meat given them three times every day; and even those who have the misfortune to be in this case, though they have money, are not treated much better than others, because their riches are employed to make provision for the poorer. I was informed by Isaac Orobio, that in Spain they sometimes give the prisoners coals, which they must light, and then dress their own food. Sometimes they allow them a candle. Those who are confined in the lower cells generally sit in darkness, and are sometimes kept there for several years, without any one’s being suffered to go or speak to them, except their keepers; and they only at certain hours, when they give them their provision. They are not allowed any books of devotion, but are shut up in darkness and solitude, that they may be broke with the horrors of so dreadful a confinement, and by the miseries of it forced to confess things which oftentimes they have never done.
And how dreadful the miseries of this prison are, we have a famous instance given us by Reginald Gonsalvius Montanus.[247] In the age before the last, a certain English ship put in at the port of Cadiz, which the familiars of the inquisition, according to custom, searched upon the account of religion, before they suffered any person to come ashore. They seized on several English persons who were on board, observing in them certain marks of evangelical piety, and of their having received the best instruction, and threw them into jail. In that ship there was a child, ten or twelve years, at most, old, the son of a very rich English gentleman, to whom, as was reported, the ship and principal part of her loading belonged. Amongst others, they took up also this child. The pretence was, that he had in his hands the psalms of David in English. But, as Gonsalvius tells us, those who knew their avarice and cursed arts, may well believe, without doing any injury to the holy inquisition, that they had got the scent of his father’s wealth, and that this was the true cause of the child’s imprisonment, and of all that calamity that followed after it. However, the ship with all its cargo was confiscated; and the child, with the other prisoners, were carried to the jail of the inquisition at Seville, where he lay six or eight months. Being kept in so strait confinement for so long a while, the child, who had been brought up tenderly at home, fell into a very dangerous illness, through the dampness of the prison, and the badness of his diet. When the lords inquisitors were informed of this, they ordered him to be taken out of the jail, and carried, for the recovery of his health, to the hospital, which they call the Cardinal. Here they generally bring all who happen to fall ill in the prison of the inquisition; where, besides the medicines, of which, according to the pious institution of the hospital, there is plenty, and a little better care, upon account of the distemper, nothing is abated of the severity of the former jail; no person besides the physician, and the servants of the hospital, being allowed to visit the sick person; and as soon as ever he begins to grow better, before he is fully recovered, he is put again into his former jail. The child, who had contracted a very grievous illness from that long and barbarous confinement, was carried into the hospital, where he lost the use of both his legs: nor was it ever known what became of him afterwards. In the mean while it was wonderful, that the child, in so tender an age, gave noble proofs how firmly the doctrine of piety was rooted in his mind; oftentimes, but especially morning and evening, lifting up his eyes to heaven, and praying to him, from whom he had been instructed by his parents, to desire and hope for certain help; which the jailkeeper having often observed, said, he was already grown a great little heretic.
About the same time[248] a certain person was taken up and thrown into the same jail, who had voluntarily abjured the Mahometan impiety, and came but a little before from Morocco, a famous city of Mauritania, and capital of the kingdom, into that part of Spain which lies directly over against it, with a design to turn Christian. When he had observed that the Christians were more vicious and corrupt than the Moors he had left, he happened to say, that the Mahometan law seemed to him better than the Christian. For this the good fathers of the faith laid hold of him, thrust him into jail, and used him so cruelly, that he said publicly, even when in confinement, that he never repented of his Christianity, from the day he was baptized, till after his having been in the inquisition, where he was forced against his will to behold all manner of violences and injuries whatsoever.
The complaint of Constantine, the preacher of Seville, was not less grievous concerning the barbarities of this prison;[249] who, although he had not as yet tasted of the tortures, yet often bewailed his misery in this jail, and cried out: “O my God, were there no Scythians in the world, no cannibals more fierce and cruel than Scythians, into whose hands thou couldst carry me, so that I might but escape the paws of these wretches?” Olmedus also, another person famous for piety and learning, fell into the inquisitors hands at Seville; and through the inhumanity of his treatment, which had also proved fatal to Constantine, contracted a grievous illness, and at last died in the midst of the nastiness and stench. He was used to say, “Throw me any where, O my God, so that I may but escape the hands of these wretches.”
The author of the History of Goa agrees in this account,[250] who frankly owns, that through the cruelty and length of his imprisonment he fell into despair, and thereby often attempted to destroy himself; first by starving himself; and because that did not succeed, he feigned himself sick; and when the physician of the inquisition found his pulse unequal, and that he was feverish, he ordered him to be let blood, which was done again five days after. When the doctor was gone, he unbound his arm every day, that so by the large effusion of blood, he might continually grow weaker and weaker. In the mean while he eat very little, that by hunger, and loss of blood, he might put an end to his miserable life. Whilst he was in this sad condition, he had sent him a confessor of the Franciscan order, who, by various arguments of comfort, endeavoured to recover him from his despair. They also gave him a companion in his jail, which was some comfort to him in his confinement. But growing well again after about five months, they took his companion from him. The lonesomeness of his jail brought on again his melancholy and despair, which made him invent another method to destroy himself. He had a piece of gold money, which he had concealed in his clothes, which he broke into two parts; and making it sharp, he opened with it a vein in each arm, and lost so much blood, that he fell into a swoon, the blood running about the jail. But some of the servants happening to come before the usual time to bring him something, found him in this condition. The inquisitor hereupon ordered him to be loaded with irons upon his arms and hands, and strictly watched. This cruelty provoked him to that degree, that he endeavoured to beat his brains out against the pavement and the walls; and undoubtedly the ligaments upon his arms would have been torn off, had he continued any longer in that state. Upon this they took off his chains, gave him good words, encouraged him, and sent him a companion, by whose conversation he was refreshed, and bore his misery with a little more easiness of mind. But after two months they took him from him again, so that the solitude of his jail was more distressing to him than before.
The prisoners,[251] as soon as ever they are thrown into jail, are commanded to give an account of their name and business. Then they inquire after their wealth; and to induce them to give in an exact account, the inquisition promises them, that if they are innocent, all that they discover to them shall be faithfully kept for, and restored to them; but that if they conceal any thing, it shall be confiscated, though they should be found not guilty. And as in Spain and Portugal most persons are fully persuaded of the sanctity and sincerity of this tribunal, they willingly discover all their possessions, even the most concealed things of their houses, being certainly persuaded, that when their innocence shall appear, they shall soon recover their liberty and effects together. But these miserable creatures are deceived; for he that once falls into the hands of these judges, is stripped at once of all he was possessed of. For if any one denies his crime, and is convicted by a sufficient number of witnesses, he is condemned as a negative convict, and all his effects confiscated. If to escape the jail he confesses his crime, he is guilty by his own confession, and in the judgment of all justly stripped of his effects. When he is dismissed from prison as a convert and penitent, he dares not defend his innocence, unless he desires to be thrown again into jail, and condemned; and, as a feigned penitent, to be delivered over to the secular arm.
When the prisoner is brought before his judge,[252] he appears with his head and arms, and feet naked. In this condition he is brought out of jail by the warder. When he comes to the room of audience, the warder goes a little forward, and makes a profound reverence, then withdraws, and the prisoner enters by himself. At the farther end of the audience room there is placed a crucifix, that reaches almost to the ceiling. In the middle of the hall is a table about five feet long, and four broad, with seats all placed round it. At one end of the table, that which is next to the crucifix, sits the notary of the inquisition; at the other end the inquisitor, and at his left hand the prisoner sitting upon a bench. Upon the table is a missal, upon which the prisoner is commanded to lay his hand, and to swear that he will speak the truth, and keep every thing secret. After they have sufficiently interrogated him, the inquisitors ring a bell for the warder, who is commanded to carry back his prisoner to jail.
No one in the prison must so much as mutter, or make any noise, but must keep profound silence. If any one bemoans himself, or bewails his misfortune, or prays to God with an audible voice, or sings a psalm or sacred hymn, the jail-keepers, who continually watch in the porches, and can hear even the least sound, immediately come to him, and admonish him that silence must be preserved in this house. If the prisoner doth not obey, the keepers admonish him again. If after this the prisoner persists, the keeper opens the door, and prevents his noise, by severely beating him with a stick; not only to chastise him, but to deter others, who, because the cells are contiguous, and deep silence is kept, can very easily hear the outcries and sound of the blows. I will add here a short story that I had from several persons; which, if true, shews us with what severity they keep this silence. A prisoner in the inquisition coughed. The jailors came to him, and admonished him to forbear coughing, because it was unlawful to make any noise in that house. He answered, it was not in his power. However, they admonished him a second time to forbear it; and because he did not, they stripped him naked, and cruelly beat him. This increased his cough; for which they beat him so often, that at last he died through the pain and anguish of the stripes.
They insist so severely on keeping this silence, that they may cut off every degree of comfort from the afflicted; and especially for this reason, that the prisoners may not know one another, either by singing, or any loud voice. For it oftentimes happens, that after two or three years confinement in the jail of the inquisition, a man doth not know that his friend, nor a father that his children and wife are in the same prison, till they all see each other in the act of faith. And finally, that the prisoners in the several cells may not talk with one another; which, if ever found out, their cells are immediately changed.
If any one falls ill in the prison, they send to him a surgeon and physician, who administer all proper remedies to him to recover him to health. If there be any danger of his dying, they send him a confessor, if he desires it. If the criminal doth not ask for a confessor, and the physician believes the distemper to be dangerous, he must be persuaded by all means to confess; and if he judicially satisfies the inquisitors, he is to be reconciled to the church before he dies; and being absolved in judgment, the confessor must absolve him sacramentally.
If he is well, and desires a confessor, some are of opinion he may not have one granted him, unless he hath confessed judicially. Others think he may; and in this case the confessor’s business is to exhort him to confess his errors, and to declare the whole truth, as well of himself as of others, as he is bound de jure to do. However, he must add, that he must not accuse himself or others falsely, through weariness of his imprisonment, the hope of a more speedy deliverance, or fear of torments. Such a criminal the confessor cannot absolve, before his excommunication is first taken off, and he is reconciled to the church. But in Italy the prisoners are more easily allowed a confessor than in Spain.
They are particularly careful not to put two or more in the same cell, unless the inquisitor for any special reason shall so order, that they may not concert with one another to conceal the truth, to make their escape, or to evade their interrogatories. The principal reason, indeed, seems to be, that through the irksomeness of their imprisonment, they may confess whatsoever the inquisitors would have them. But if an husband and his wife are both imprisoned for the same offence, and there be no fear that one should prevent the other from making a free confession of the crime, they may be put in the same cell.
The inquisitors[253] are obliged to visit the prisoners twice every month, and to enquire whether they have necessaries allowed them, and whether they are well or not. In this visit they usually ask him in these very words; How he is? How he hath his health? Whether he wants any thing? Whether his warder is civil to him? i. e. Whether he speaks to him in a reproachful and severe manner? Whether he gives him his appointed provision, and clean linen? and the like.[254] These are exactly the sentences and words they use in these visits, to which they neither add any thing, nor act agreeable; for they use them only for form’s sake, and when the inquisitor hath spoken them he immediately goes away, scarce staying for an answer. And although any one of the prisoners complains that he is not well used, it is of no advantage to him, nor is he better treated for the future. If there be occasion or necessity, it will be convenient for them to visit the prisoners three or four times every month, yea, as often as they think proper; viz. when the criminal bears with impatience the misfortune and infamy of his imprisonment, in such case the inquisitor must endeavour to comfort him very often, not only by himself, but by others; and to tell him, that if he makes a free confession, his whole affair shall be quickly and kindly ended.
The inquisitors must take care not to talk with the criminals, when they are examined or visited, upon any other affairs but such as relate to their business. Nor must the inquisitor be alone when he visits, or otherwise gives them audience; but must have with him his colleague, or at least a notary, or some other faithful servant of the holy office.
This also they are particularly careful of, that the criminals may not be removed from one cell to another, nor associate with any other. If any prisoners have been shut up together at once in the same cell, when they are removed they must be removed together, that hereby they may be prevented from communicating any thing that hath been transacted in the prison. This is more especially to be observed, in case any of them recall their confession, after they have been removed from one cell and company to another. But if a criminal confesses, and is truly converted, he may more easily be removed from one cell to another, because the inquisitor is in no pain for fear of his retracting, but may oftentimes make use of him to draw out the truth from other prisoners.
If women are imprisoned, they must each of them have, according to their quality, one honest woman at least for a companion, who must never be absent from her, to prevent all suspicion of evil. This companion must be ancient, of a good life, pious and faithful. Sometimes when women are to be imprisoned, they do not carry them to the jail of the inquisitors, especially if they are regulars, if the jails be within the walls of the monasteries, but to the convents of the nuns. When this happens, they command the abbess or prioress to admit nobody to discourse with the prisoner without express leave of the inquisitor, but diligently to observe the order given her. But when the cause is of importance, and full of danger, and such they esteem all that relate to the faith, they think it safer that women should be imprisoned in the jails of the inquisitors. But the cardinals inquisitors general are to be consulted in this affair, who, after mature consideration, are to determine whether it be most expedient that such criminals should be kept in the jails of the bishops, or inquisitors regulars; especially if they are young and handsome, as is often the case of those who are taken up for telling people’s fortunes about their sweethearts.
It is farther the custom and received use of this holy tribunal, that such who are imprisoned for heresy are not admitted to hear mass, and other prayers which are said within the jail, till their cause is determined. Their principal pretence for this custom is, that it may possibly happen, when there is a great number of criminals, that the several accomplices, companions and partakers of the crime, may at least by nods and signs discover to one another how they may escape judgment, or conceal the truth.
But the true and genuine reason is, that the prisoner may have nothing to contemplate besides his present misfortune; that so being broken with the miseries of his confinement, he may confess whatsoever the inquisitors would have him. For this reason they deny them books, and all other things that would be any relief to them in their tedious imprisonment. If any one of the prisoners whatsoever prays the inquisitor when he visits him, that he may have some good book, or the holy Bible, he is answered, that the true book is to discover the truth, and to exonerate his conscience before that holy tribunal; and that this is the book which he must diligently study, viz. to recover the remembrance of every thing faithfully, and declare it to their lordships, who will immediately prescribe a remedy to his languishing soul. If the prisoner in the same or next visit is importunate about it, he will be commanded silence; because if he asks to please himself, they may grant or deny him according to their pleasure.
The keeping the jail anciently belonged to the executor’s office; and as often as he was absent, he was obliged to provide another keeper at his own charge. But now the jail-keeper is created by the inquisitor-general, and is different from the executor.
Those who keep the jails for the crime of heresy, must swear before the bishop and inquisitor that they will faithfully keep their prisoners, and observe all other things prescribed them.
Formerly there were two keepers to every jail, but now there is only one jail-keeper appointed in every province, chosen by the inquisitor general, who is not allowed to give the prisoners their food. But the inquisitors choose some proper person to this office, who is commonly called the dispenser. The provisions they give the criminals are generally prepared and dressed in the house of the inquisition; because if they were to be prepared in the houses of the criminals themselves, or any where else, something might easily be hid under them, that might furnish them with the means to conceal the truth, or to elude or escape judgment. This however is to be left to the prudence and pleasure of the inquisitors, whether and when the criminals may without danger prepare their provision in their own houses. But upon account of the hazard attending it, the inquisitors but seldom, and not without exquisite care, gratify them in this particular. If any things are sent them by their friends or relations, or domestics, the jail-keeper and dispenser never suffer them to have them, without first consulting the inquisitors.
As these keepers have it in their power greatly to injure or serve their prisoners, they must promise by an oath, before the bishop and inquisitors, that they will exercise a faithful care and concern in keeping them; and that neither of them will speak to any of them but in presence of the other, and that they will not defraud them of their provision, nor of those things which are brought to them. Their servants also are obliged to take this oath.
But notwithstanding this law, a great part of the provision appointed for the prisoners is withheld from them by their covetous keepers; and if they are accused for this to the inquisitors, they are much more gently punished, than if they had used any mercy towards them. Reginald Gonsalve relates,[255] that in his time Gaspar Bennavidius was keeper of a jail. “He was a man of monstrous covetousness and cruelty, who defrauded his miserable prisoners of a great part of their provisions, which were ill dressed, and scarce the tenth part of what was allowed them, and sold it secretly, for no great price, at the Triana. Besides, he wholly kept from them the little money allowed them to pay for the washing of their linen; thus suffering them to abide many days together in a nasty condition, deceiving the inquisitor and treasurer, who put that money to the keepers account, as though it had been expended every week for the use of the prisoners, for whom it was appointed. Neither was it very difficult to deceive them, because they took but little pains to inquire out the truth. If any one of the prisoners complained, muttered, or opened his mouth upon account of this intolerable usage, the cruel wretch, who had divested himself of all humanity, had a remedy at hand. He brought the prisoner immediately out of his apartment, and put him down into a place they call Mazmorra, a deep cistern that had no water in it. There he left him for several days together, without any thing to lie on, not so much as straw. His provision there was so very rotten, that it was more proper to destroy his health by sickness, than to preserve it, or support him in life. All this he did without ever consulting the inquisitors, and yet fraudulently and villanously pretended their command to his prisoner. If any one besought him to complain to the inquisitors for so injurious a treatment, for they could not do it by any other person, and to desire an audience, the cunning wretch, knowing that the whole blame must lie upon himself, pretended that he had asked, but could not obtain it. By such forged answers he kept the miserable prisoner in that deep pit twelve or fifteen days, more or less, till he had fully gratified his anger and cruelty. After this he brought him out, and threw him into his former jail; persuading him that this favour was owing to his humanity and care, having made intercession for him with their lordships. In short, his thefts and injuries with which he plagued his prisoners, who were otherwise miserable enough, were so numerous, that some persons of interest with the inquisitors at length accused him before them. Upon this he was imprisoned himself; and being found guilty of many false accusations, he received this sentence: that he should come out at a public act of the faith, carrying a wax candle in his hand, be banished five years from the city, and forfeit the whole sum of money, which by virtue of his office he was to have received from the holy tribunal.”
“This very man,[256] whilst he was keeper, had in his family an ancient servant maid, who observing the distress of the prisoners, labouring under intolerable hunger and nastiness, through the wickedness and barbarity of her master, was so moved with pity towards them, being herself well inclined to the evangelical piety, that she often spoke to them through the doors of their cells, comforted them, and as well as she could exhorted them to patience, many times putting them in meat under their doors, in proportion to the mean and low abilities of her condition. And when she had nothing of her own, by which to shew her liberality to the prisoners of Christ, she stole good part of that provision from the wicked thief her master, which he had stolen from the prisoners, and restored it to them. And that we may the more wonder at the providence of God, who so orders it that the worst of parents shall not have always the worst of children, but sometimes even the best, a little daughter of the keeper himself was greatly assisting to the maid in these pious thefts. By means of this servant the prisoners had information of the state of the affairs of their brethren and fellow prisoners, which much comforted them, and was oftentimes of great service to their cause. But at length the matter was discovered by the lords inquisitors, by whom she was thrown into prison for a year, and underwent the same fate with the other prisoners, and condemned to walk in the public procession with a yellow garment, and to receive two hundred stripes; which was executed upon her the following day, through the streets of the city, with the usual pomp and cruelty. To all this was added banishment from the city and its territories, for ten years. Her title was, “The favouress and aidress of heretics.” What excited the implacable indignation of the lords, the fathers of the faith, against her, was, that they discovered in her examination, that she had revealed the secrets of the most holy tribunal to some of the inhabitants of the city, particularly relating to the provision allotted to the prisoners. From both these examples, and from their different and unequal punishment, any one may see how much safer it is to add to the affliction of the prisoners in their jail, than to comfort them by any act of humanity and mercy whatsoever.”
And in order that the jail of heretics may be kept secret, no one of the officials, no not the judge himself, can enter it alone, or speak with the prisoners but before another of the officials, nor without the previous order of the inquisitors. All are obliged to swear that they will observe this, that no one may see or speak to the prisoners besides the person who gives them their necessaries; who must be a faithful, honest person, and is obliged to swear that he will not discover the secrets, and must be searched to prevent his carrying any orders or letters to the prisoners.
This command they will have observed as most sacred, because, as they say, secrecy is the strength of the inquisition, which might easily be violated, unless this order be punctually kept; and therefore they always most severely punish those who transgress it. Gonsalvius Montanus[257] gives us a very remarkable instance of this. “One Peter ab Herera, a man not altogether vile, but of some humanity, and not very old, was appointed keeper of the tower of Triana, which is the prison of the inquisition. It happened, as it often doth in such numerous and promiscuous imprisonments, that amongst other prisoners committed to his custody, there was a certain good matron, with her two daughters, who were put in different cells, and earnestly desired the liberty of seeing one another, and comforting each other in so great a calamity. They therefore earnestly entreated the keeper, that he would suffer them to be together for one quarter of an hour, that they might have the satisfaction of embracing each other. He being moved with humanity and compassion, allowed them to be together, and talk with one another for half an hour; and after they had indulged their mutual affections, he put them, as they were before, in their separate prisons. A few days after this they were put with great cruelty to the torture; and the keeper being afraid, that through the severity of their torments, they should discover to the lords, the fathers inquisitors, his small humanity in suffering them to converse together for half an hour without the inquisitors leave; through terror, went himself to the holy tribunal, of his own accord confessed his sin, and prayed for pardon; foolishly believing, that by such his confession he should prevent the punishment that threatened him for this action. But the lords inquisitors judged this to be so heinous a crime, that they ordered him immediately to be thrown into jail; and such was the cruelty of his treatment, and the disorder of mind that followed on it, that he soon grew distracted. However, his disorder and madness did not save him from a more grievous punishment. For after he had lain a full year in that cursed prison, they brought him out in the public procession, cloathed with the yellow garment, and an halter round his neck, as though he had been a common thief; and condemned him first to receive two hundred lashes through the streets of the city, and then to the gallies for six years. The day after the procession, as he was carried from the Triana to be whipped with the usual solemnity, his madness, which usually seized him every other hour, came on him; and throwing himself from the ass, on which, for the greater shame, he was carried, he flew upon the inquisitory Alguazile,[258] and snatching from him a sword, had certainly killed him, had he not been prevented by the mob who attended him, and set him again upon the ass, and guarded him till he had received the two hundred lashes according to his sentence. After this the lords inquisitors ordered, that as he had behaved himself indecently towards the Alguazile, four years more should be added to the six for which he was at first condemned to the gallies.”
These keepers are answerable for the smallest fault, for they are to use the same care in the custody of their prisoners, as fathers ought to do in governing their families; so that if they suffer any one to escape from jail, they are to be punished according to the nature of their offence. It is therefore their business frequently to visit and search the cells of their prisoners, to prevent any thing from being clandestinely carried in, by which they may destroy themselves, dig through the walls, and so escape. Their care of the women is to be peculiarly strict; since the sex is naturally frail, and more subject than men to yield to passion and despair, and so are more likely to seek an occasion of destroying themselves. They must, above all other things, take care that they do not behave themselves indecently towards their women prisoners. Thus the congregation of cardinals inquisitors general condemned a jail-keeper to the gallies for seven years, and to perpetual banishment from the place where he committed his offence, for having carnal knowledge of a woman that was prisoner in the holy office.
If the inquisitor thinks it necessary to prevent the escape of any prisoners, he may lay them in irons. If the poverty of the inquisitors is so great, or their jails so defective, as that they are not fit to hold in safe custody, either for the thinness of the walls, or for want of iron bars to the windows, or sufficient bolts for the doors, if the magistrate be required by the inquisitor, he must take care of the safe custody of the prisoners.
What the several duties of the messenger, door-keeper, and physician are, is plain enough from their very names. They must be honest men, and not suspected, and born of old christians.