CHAPTER X.

POLITICAL ACTIVITY.

[Sidenote: _DEVELOPMENT OF ABSOLUTISM_]

Joseph de Maistre, in his profound ignorance of the Inquisition, started the theory that it was a mere political agency.[537] Apologists, like Hefele, Gams, Hergenrother and others, have eagerly elaborated this idea in order to relieve the Church from responsibility for its misdeeds, wholly overlooking the deeper disgrace involved in the assumption that for three centuries the Holy See assented to such misuse of delegated papal authority, and stimulated it with appropriations from ecclesiastical revenues.[538] They base their arguments on the difference between the Old and the New Inquisition--the former consisting of inquisitors selected by Dominican or Franciscan Provincials, and the latter organized with its inquisitor-general and supreme council, appointed by or with consent of the sovereign, so that its whole corps was virtually composed of state officials[539]--forgetting that their authority consisted of apostolical faculties, delegated by the popes and exercised without restraint through their recognition by the State. Ranke falls into the same error and so do Maurenbrecher and some other Protestant historians, apparently in an overstrained effort at impartiality and without investigation of the facts.[540] In the Catholic reaction since the time of Hefele, the most advanced writers of that faith no longer seek to apologize for the Inquisition, and to put forward royal predominance to relieve it from responsibility. They rightly represent it as an ecclesiastical tribunal which discharged the duty of preserving the religious purity for which it was created.[541]

The synchronism of the development of the Inquisition and of absolutism in Spain renders seductive the theory that the one was the product of the other, but this is wholly fallacious. Nowhere in the transformation of the State does the Inquisition appear as a factor. Isabella, as we have seen, laid the foundations of monarchism when she subdued the anarchy pervading Castile by the vigorous assertion and extension of the royal jurisdiction. Ferdinand eliminated some of the most troublesome elements of feudal power when he incorporated in the crown the masterships of the great Military Orders. The restiveness of the nobles under the unaccustomed restraint manifested itself when, in 1506, they flocked to Philip and Juana, had the Inquisition been a political force, Ferdinand would have used it, for Inquisitor-general Deza was devoted to him, in place of which he suspended it. After the death of Philip I, during the retirement of Juana and the absence of Ferdinand, the nobles attempted to reassert themselves but, when he returned, the severe punishment of the Marquis of Priego, the great Duke of Medina Sidonia, Don Pedro Giron and others, was a severe blow to feudalism, redoubled, after Ferdinand's death, when Ximenes as governor raised a standing army and crushed the rebellion of the Girons and their allies, punishing them with the destruction of the town of Villadefrades. What remained of feudalism disappeared under the steady policy of Charles V and Philip II, in keeping the great nobles aloof from the higher offices of state, and employing them in military service abroad or in vice-royalties, until they became mere courtiers, wasting their substance in adding to the splendor of the throne. In all this there is no trace of the Inquisition, nor is there in the rise and suppression of the Comunidades, which destroyed the privileges of the communes, and left the crown supreme. The comuneros had no grievance against the Inquisition, nor had it any share in their defeat and punishment, although Charles V applied to Leo X for special briefs empowering it to act and one was granted, commissioning Cardinal Adrian to try and punish ecclesiastics concerned in the movement.[542] Even when Acuña, Bishop of Zamora, was prosecuted, as we have seen, the Inquisition was not charged with the work, as Ranke mistakenly asserts. The revolt arose from the coercive measures applied by Charles to the Córtes of 1518 and 1520, by which he reduced to impotence the only representative and deliberative body of the nation. Thus the last obstacle to autocracy was swept away, and thenceforth royalty was supreme. The process was a normal development, such as accompanied the downfall of feudalism throughout Europe and, from first to last, it accomplished itself without aid or opposition on the part of the Inquisition.

Much has been made of the saying attributed to Philip II, that he kept his dominions in peace with four old ecclesiastics, and the Suprema was fond of referring to this, when putting forth claims for its services, but it meant nothing except that the Inquisition maintained religious unity, which, in that age and in view of the troubles in France, the Netherlands and Germany, was not unnaturally regarded as the sole guarantee of internal quiet--in fact, the Suprema, when quoting the remark, in 1704, says expressly that Philip uttered it in reference to the turbulence of the Huguenots.[543] That Philip himself did not regard the Inquisition as a political instrument sufficiently appears in his private and confidential instructions of May 7, 1595, to Gerónimo Manrique de Lara, when appointing him inquisitor-general; his anxiety is solely for the faith and there is not the slightest intimation that political service would be expected.[544]

[Sidenote: _IRREGULAR FUNCTIONS_]

Yet the average statesman has few scruples in employing any agency at hand to effect his purposes, and to this the Spanish monarchs were no exception. When it suited them to use the Inquisition they did so but, in view of their control over it, their employment of it was singularly infrequent, prior to the advent of the Bourbon dynasty. In the Old Inquisition, with which writers like Hefele endeavor to establish a contrast in this matter, Philip the Fair used it to destroy the Templars, the Regent Bedford to burn Joan of Arc, and Alexander VI to rid himself of Savonarola--three cases to which no parallels exist in the annals of the Spanish Holy Office. The nearest approach to them is to be found in the trials of Carranza, Antonio Pérez and Villanueva. In the first and last of these, as we have seen, inquisitors-general instituted action for their own purposes and the monarchs were brought in to their support. The case of Antonio Pérez will be discussed presently and need not be further referred to here.

Still, a tribunal, whose undefined powers and secrecy of action fitted it so perfectly for use as a political agent, could scarce exist for centuries without occasionally being called upon, and the only legitimate source of surprise is that it was so rarely employed and that the objects for its intervention were usually so trivial. Ferdinand occasionally found it a convenience in settling questions outside of its regular functions, as when Marco Pellegrin appealed to him in a dispute with the authorities of his city and Ferdinand wrote, August 31, 1501, to the inquisitor of the place, charging him to examine the question and do justice, for which he gave him full royal power. So when, in 1500, complaints reached him from Valencia of injustice in the assessments for a servicio, he ordered the papers to be submitted to the inquisitor who was to report to him, and, in 1501, he called for a report from the inquisitor of Lérida as to the necessity of certain repairs to the castle.[545] When, in 1498, he was endeavoring to carry out in Aragon the reform of the Conventual Franciscans, which Ximenes had undertaken in Castile, and they had obtained papal briefs restraining him, he applied to the pope to revoke the letters and meanwhile obtained others from the nuncio, which he transmitted to the tribunal of Saragossa with instructions to act promptly. The inquisitors carried on the reform much to his satisfaction and, when the frailes got the public authorities to protect them, he instructed the inquisitors to represent that they were acting under apostolic authority, that there was no violation of the liberties of the kingdom, that they were salaried by the king, not only for the Inquisition but for whatever duties he might assign to them; they were therefore public officers and, if the Saragossa authorities should endeavor to create scandal, they would be duly punished. This distinction between inquisitorial and non-inquisitorial functions, however did not prevent him, when occasion required, from enforcing outside operations with inquisitorial authority. In 1502, when prosecuting, in the same way, the Franciscan reform in Sardinia and the Bishop of Ocaña, in virtue of a surreptitious papal letter, released from the castle of Fasar the Franciscan vicar, Ferdinand wrote with much indignation to him and to the governor of Cabo de Lugador; it was great audacity to intervene, in a matter concerning the Inquisition, without consulting him or the inquisitor-general; the prisoner must be recaptured forthwith and be held until the inquisitor and _reformador apostolico comes_.[546]

This indicates the dangerous tendency to extend inquisitorial activity beyond its original limits, and it is remarkable that a monarch entertaining these conceptions and engaged in the struggle with feudalism should not have frequently sought the assistance of the Holy Office. The only definite case that I have met with of its political use occurred in 1507, when Cæsar Borgia escaped from the castle of Medina del Campo to Navarre, and was made commander of his army by Jean d'Albret, whose sister Charlotte he had married. Ferdinand vainly endeavored to obtain his surrender and then caused a prosecution to be brought against him in the Inquisition for heretical blasphemy and suspicion of atheism and materialism. As Cæsar came to his death, March 12, 1507, while besieging the castle of Viana, which held out for Luis de Beaumont, and the prosecution was abandoned, we can only conjecture what the outcome might have been.[547] Navarre was also the scene of a trivial political use of the Inquisition in 1516, when, as we have seen (Vol. I, p. 227) it was instructed to ascertain the names of those friendly to Jean d'Albret.

[Sidenote: _ANTONIO PEREZ_]

There was evidently a purpose to use the Inquisition against the revolt of the Germanía of Valencia, when a brief of October 11, 1520, was obtained from Leo X, granting to Cardinal Adrian faculties to proceed against all persons conspiring against public peace. No use seems to have been made of this, but the Valencia tribunal had an opportunity of making itself felt towards the end of the disturbances. After Vicente Peris, the leader of the _Agermanados_ was killed in a tumult, March 3, 1522, a mysterious individual, known as _el Encubierto_, and variously described as a hermit from Castile and as a Jew from Gibraltar, presented himself as the avenger of Peris and became the spiritual chief of those who kept up the revolt in Játiva and Alcira. He assumed to be a prophet and the envoy of God, which brought him under the ordinary jurisdiction of the Holy Office, and it made record of the heresies uttered by him in a sermon preached at Játiva, March 23d. He organized a conspiracy in Valencia, but one of the accomplices, named Juan Martin, was betrayed and was seized, by the Inquisition. El Encubierto was assassinated, May 18th, at Burjasot, and his head was cut off; the corpse was brought to Valencia, where the inquisitors had it dragged through the streets on the way to the tribunal. He was condemned as a heretic, the headless body was relaxed and burnt and the head was set over one of the gateways.[548] The action of the Inquisition had no influence on the course of affairs, but it manifests the readiness of the tribunal to assert itself as a political force.

The fable that the Inquisition was invoked to accomplish the death of Don Carlos, in 1568, has been sufficiently disproved to call for no attention here. There is probably, however, more truth in the statement that, about the same time, Philip II, in promotion of his designs on the remnants of Navarre, caused Inquisitor-general Espinosa to collect testimony as to the notorious heresy of Jeanne d'Albret and her children, and formed with the Guises a plot to abduct and deliver her to the tribunal of Saragossa, but the secret was not kept and the attempt was abandoned.[549] Perhaps, also, we may class with political service the utilization by Philip of the Inquisition to supply him with galley-slaves.

The most prominent instance of the employment of the Inquisition in a matter of State was in the case of Antonio Pérez. Its dramatic character attracted the attention of all Europe; the mystery underlying it has never been completely dispelled, and its resultant effect upon the institutions of Aragon invests it with an importance justifying examination in some detail.

Antonio Pérez was the brilliant and able favorite of Philip II, who in 1571 succeeded his patron, Ruy Gómez, Prince of Eboli, in acquiring his master's fullest confidence and becoming the most powerful subject in Spain. In 1573, the Venitian envoy Badoero describes him as a most accomplished man, whose courtesy and attractive manners soothed the sensibilities of those provoked by the delays and penuriousness of the king, while his dexterity and ability promised soon to make him the principal minister. At the same time, he was a man of pleasure and the magnificence of his daily life was the admiration of his countrymen.[550] He found his fate in the widow of his patron, the Princess of Eboli. Sprung from the noble house of Mendoza, she was proud, vindictive and passionate, unflinching in the gratification of her desires and reckless as to the means. Whether Philip II had been her lover, and if so whether he was favored or rejected, is a disputed question, which we need not discuss; it suffices that Pérez, who had a devoted wife in Juana Coello, became enamoured of her mature charms and a slave to her imperious will.

[Sidenote: _ANTONIO PEREZ_]

Don John of Austria had been sent to the Netherlands on the desperate task of pacifying them, and had been left without resources. Much to the king's displeasure, he sent, in July, 1577, his secretary, Juan de Escobedo, to Madrid to urge the necessity of supplying funds. Escobedo was thoroughly honest, but rugged and uncourtly, and the vigor of his representations increased the royal ill-humor. Pérez had for some time been secretly fanning the king's suspicions of his half-brother's designs, even to the point, it is said, of mistranslating cypher despatches. He represented Escobedo as an emissary sent to perfect Don Juan's plans, including a descent upon Santander and raising Castile in revolt. Convinced that Escobedo must be put out of the way, Philip ordered Pérez to procure his death. If Pérez felt any scruple as to this, it was removed by the fact that Escobedo, who was a retainer of the house of Mendoza, discovered the relations between the princess and the favorite; he remonstrated with freedom and threatened to inform the king. His doom was sealed and, after two ineffectual attempts at poison, bravos were hired who assassinated him in the street on the night of March 31, 1578, and were rewarded with commissions in the army of Italy.

Suspicion fell on Pérez, whose fellow-secretary and bitter enemy, Mateo Vázquez, reported the rumors to the king. The princess in her wrath threatened that Vázquez should share the fate of Escobedo; the court was divided into factions which Philip vainly sought to pacify. He was bound in honor to protect his instrument, and repeatedly assured him that he was in no danger, but, whether he was beginning to realize that he had been unpardonably deceived, or was prompted by jealousy of the relations between Pérez and the princess, he at length was willing to sacrifice his secretary as an escape from a situation that was becoming impossible. Some one to replace him was required; Cardinal Granvelle, then living in retirement in Rome, was sent for; he arrived at the Escorial, July 29, 1579, and, on the preceding night Pérez and the princess were arrested in Madrid. She was carried to the castle of Pinto and was kept in strict confinement until February 1581, when she was allowed to return to her palace at Pastrana, when her extravagant freaks caused her affairs to be placed in charge of a commission, leading to her virtual imprisonment until her death, February 2, 1592.

Pérez, meanwhile, had undergone various vicissitudes of imprisonment, more or less harsh. In May, 1582, Philip ordered an investigation into the different branches of administration, directed principally against Pérez. This resulted in showing that he had habitually sold the royal favor and, in January, 1585, he was condemned to two years' imprisonment in the castle of Turruegano, to ten years' exile from the court, and to refund 12,224,739 maravedís, of which 7,371,098 went to the fisc and the balance to the heirs of Ruy Gómez, in restitution of presents given to him by the princess. The family of the murdered Escobedo had been vainly clamoring for justice. Philip had shrunk from being compromised in the affair, but now that Pérez was thoroughly disgraced, if the documents proving his own complicity could be secured, Pérez could safely be sacrificed to justice. His wife, Juana Coello, was imprisoned and threatened with starvation unless she would surrender his papers; she resisted heroically until a note from Pérez, which he says was written with his blood, permitted her to do so, but he had, with his usual foresight, abstracted from them in advance and placed in safety what he deemed necessary for his justification.

In the summer of 1585, Philip permitted the Escobedo kindred to commence the prosecution. Antonio Enríquez, the page of Pérez, who had arranged the assassination, gave full testimony, but the _conteste_, or corroboration by another witness was lacking. The affair dragged on, until, September 28, 1589, Pedro Escobedo, son of the victim, abandoned it for the sum of twenty thousand ducats and pardoned his father's murderers. Philip's rancor, however, had deepened with time, and the prosecution was continued. Pérez was tortured, February 22, 1590, when, at the eighth turn of the _cordeles_, his resolution gave way; he confessed the crime at the royal command and stated the reasons which had moved the king to order the murder. Soon after this he took to his bed and was reported to be dangerously sick; his wife, early in April, was admitted to attend him and, on the 20th, by a side-door, of which he had procured a false key and from which the bolts had been removed, he escaped at night. Friends with horses were in waiting and he took the road to Aragon. He was of Aragonese descent, so that he could claim the fueros and the court of the Justicia, which, as we have seen, sat in judgement between the sovereign and his subjects.

Aragon, at the moment, was especially excited in defence of its privileges, among which was the claim that none but an Aragonese could serve as viceroy. Philip was contesting this and had sent the Count of Almenara to conduct a suit on the question before the court of the Justicia. Almenara earned general ill-will by assuming superiority over all the local officials; the Count of Sástago, then viceroy, resisted his pretensions and was removed and replaced by Andrés Ximeno, Bishop of Teruel, a timid and irresolute man; so great became Almenara's unpopularity that a nearly successful attempt was made to burn at night the house which he occupied; there was a spirit of turbulence abroad, peculiarly favorable to Pérez, who came to claim the protection of the fueros as a faithful servant, whom his king was endeavoring to destroy, in reward of his fidelity.

[Sidenote: _ANTONIO PEREZ_]

Philip's wrath was boundless. His first impulse was to wreak vengeance on the helpless wife and children, who were thrown into prison, where they lay for nine years until after their persecutor had gone to his last account. Orders were at once despatched to seize the fugitive, dead or alive, before he should cross the Ebro, and so swift were the pursuers that they reached Calatayud, where he made his first halt, only ten hours after him. He threw himself into the Dominican convent for asylum, while his faithful friend, Gil de Mesa, who had accompanied him, hurried forward to Saragossa and claimed for him the _manifestacion_ which secured for him the jurisdiction of the Justicia. Alonso Celdran, lieutenant of the governor, rushed to Calatayud and, after some difficulty, forcibly removed Pérez from the convent, but the veguero of the Justicia came with letters of manifestacion and obliged him to surrender his prey. Nobles and gentlemen flocked to Calatayud, and Pérez was conducted to Saragossa in a veritable triumphal procession, where he was received by the populace as though he were a king and was safely lodged in the _cárcel de los manifestados_. Then commenced the curious spectacle of a duel to the death between the disgraced fugitive and the whole power of the greatest monarch of Christendom, giving us an enlarged respect for the fueros of Aragon to see that the monarch was helpless until he invoked the overriding powers of the Inquisition, under the pretext that his thirst for vengeance was a matter of faith.

Had the political utility of the Inquisition been the customary expedient that has been asserted, recourse would have been had to it at once. As soon as the flight of Pérez became known, a special junta had been formed in Madrid to manage the affair, and there Juan de Gurrea, Governor of Aragon, familiar with the institutions of his native land, advised that the Inquisition be at once invoked, but there was repugnance to do this and it was resolved to rely on the regular process of law. Philip presented a formal accusation to the court of the Justicia alleging that Pérez had had Escobedo killed, falsely using the king's name; that he had betrayed the king by divulging state secrets and altering despatches, and that he had fled. The documents were sent to Almenara, who pushed the prosecution, while Pérez endeavored to convince the king that it would be better to allow the matter to drop and permit him to live in obscurity rather than to bring the compromising documents to light, as there was no secrecy in Aragonese procedure. He wrote in this sense to Fray Diego de Chaves, the royal confessor, and he sent, by the Prior of Gotor, copies of the papers to Philip, who gave the prior two or three audiences, read the papers and then, on July 1st, published a sentence condemning Pérez to be hanged and beheaded, with confiscation. At the same time instructions were sent to Almenara to push the prosecution and to find some means to seize Pérez and convey him to Castile.

Pérez had already drawn up a memorial replying to the charges, in which he observed considerable reticence. Now he threw off all reserve and prepared another, fortified with documents exposing Philip's share in the tragedy, and representing himself as undergoing ten years of persecution in reward for faithful service. Philip asked Batista de Lanuza, a lieutenant of the Justicia, to send him a copy of the memorial with his opinion as to the result. Lanuza in reply said he expected an acquittal, whereupon Philip withdrew the prosecution on the grounds that it would reveal matters not proper for publication, declaring at the same time that Pérez had committed crimes as great as any subject could and he reserved the right to prosecute him elsewhere. The Justicia, however, continued the case which resulted in acquittal. Then an accusation was brought that Pérez had poisoned his astrologer, Pedro de la Hera, and his servant Rodrigo de Morgado, but these charges were easily refuted and again he was acquitted. Then an attempt was made under an Aragonese law permitting _inquisitio_ or inquest, in accusations of officials by the king, and he was prosecuted for misfeasance in office, but he proved that he had served Philip as King of Castile, not of Aragon, and that he had already been tried and punished for the alleged offences, so this also failed. The principal object of these successive actions was to prevent his discharge from prison, but they had the effect of heightening the popular enthusiasm for Pérez, whose cause became identified with the preservation of the fueros.

As a last resort, when all legal processes were exhausted, recourse was had to the Inquisition. For this some charge involving the faith was necessary and the first suggestion was an assumed attempted flight to the heretics of Béarn. A safer base of operations, however, was devised by Almenara, who won over by bribery an old servant, Diego Bustamente and a teacher named Juan de Basante in whom Pérez had the fullest confidence. In explosions of despairing wrath, they said, he had uttered expressions indicating disbelief in God and blasphemous rebellion against His will. We have seen how much of inquisitorial activity was directed against more or less trivial ejaculations of the kind, and it was strictly in rule to act upon such denunciations. It mattered little on what grounds the Holy Office might obtain possession of him; once in its hands, he would be conveyed, openly or secretly, to Castile, where his fate was certain and, before the dreaded words "a matter of faith" all barriers were vain.

[Sidenote: _ANTONIO PEREZ_]

Inquisitor Medrano put the testimony in proper shape and forwarded it to the Suprema. Philip ordered that Fray Diego de Chaves should be the sole calificador and he, within twenty-four hours, pronounced the expressions to be heretical. On the strength of this, Inquisitor-general Quiroga and the Suprema, on May 21, 1591, issued orders for the arrest of Pérez and his confinement in the secret prison for trial.

This was hurried to Saragossa, where it was received on the 23d, and on the 24th, the three inquisitors, Medrano, Mendoza and Morejon, issued a warrant of arrest, which was presented at the prison of Manifestacion and was refused obedience. The tribunal then sent, between 9 and 10 A.M., to the lieutenants of the Justicia a mandate, under the customary penalties, requiring the surrender in spite of the pretended right of manifestacion, which was abolished in matters of faith. This could not be evaded and the officials of the Justicia were sent to the prison with orders to deliver Pérez to the alguazil of the tribunal. He was put in a coach and driven to the Aljafería, a short distance beyond the gates, where the Inquisition had its seat.

Two servants of Pérez carried the news to Diego de Heredia and Gil de Mesa, who assembled their friends and sallied into the streets, with the cry, _Contrafuero! Viva la libertad y ayuda a la libertad!_--the cry which, under the law, could only be raised by order of the Justicia and which, as we have seen, summoned every citizen to come in arms and defend the liberty of the land. The tocsin of the cathedral was tolled and the city rose. Under the leadership of nobles and gentlemen, a part of the mob rushed to the dwelling of the hated Almenara. The Justicia, Juan de Lanuza, with his two sons and his officials, endeavored to protect him, but the door was battered in; he refused to fly, but allowed himself to be conducted to prison, on the promise of the mob to spare his life, but he was attacked on the way and, when the prison was reached, it was with injuries of which he died within a fortnight.

The other section of the populace hastened to the Aljafería and demanded the restoration of Pérez and of his friend Francisco Majorini, who had been included in the prosecution and surrender. Don Pedro de Sesé is said to have brought four hundred loads of wood with which to burn the castle in case of refusal, and the situation was menacing in the extreme. The Viceroy Bishop of Teruel came and urged the inquisitors to compliance. The Archbishop Bobadilla wrote three notes, in increasing desperation--his palace and that of the Justicia would be burnt that night if Pérez were not given up. For five hours the inquisitors resisted this pressure, but finally they yielded, though even then they safeguarded their authority with an order that Pérez's place of confinement should be changed from the secret prison to that of the manifestados. At 5 P.M. the prisoners were delivered to the Counts of Aranda and Morata, with a protest that the trial would be continued. Pérez was conveyed back in a coach to his former prison; the people could not see him and were not satisfied until the viceroy made him stand up and show himself, when they shouted that he must appear at a window thrice daily to prove that no wrong was done him in violation of their liberties and fueros.

There was a tradition that Queen Isabella had once expressed a wish that Aragon would revolt, so that an end could be put to the fueros which limited the royal power. Such an opportunity had now come and Philip was not a sovereign to neglect it. Cabrera relates that, when he lay sick at Ateca and the Count of Chinchon brought him the news, he rose at once from bed, had himself dressed and commenced sending despatches in all directions, ordering the levy of troops. He also wrote to the towns of Aragon and to the nobles, protesting that he meant no violation of their privileges, and the answers encouraged him greatly, for they condemned the troubles at Saragossa and proffered their services. The Inquisition, moreover had opened to it an enlarged field of operations, for which it had abundant justification. Already, on June 4th, the Council of Aragon presented a consulta, calling attention to the impeding of its action, in the threatening of the inquisitors and the killing of a servant of one of them; they should therefore commence to take testimony and arrest the culprits, one by one, who should be relaxed; in such a matter of faith the nobles could not plead privilege and there could be no manifestaciones and firmas.

[Sidenote: _ANTONIO PEREZ_]

Work to this end was commenced at once in Madrid. Anton de Almunia, who had testified against Pérez, had fled thither with a tale of the threats uttered against him to force him to revoke his evidence. This was a crime against the Inquisition and Pedro Pacheco, Inquisitor of Aragon, was deputed to take his deposition; the investigation widened; all the refugees from Aragon and enemies of Pérez were heard and it was shown that the instigators of the troubles aimed at transferring Aragon to France or to found a republic, and in this were implicated the Diputados of the kingdom, the jurados of Saragossa and the gentlemen who favored Pérez, including the Duke of Villahermosa, who was the head of Aragonese nobility and the Count of Aranda, the richest and most powerful noble. Even Inquisitor Morejon, who had not been as zealous as his colleagues, was laid under suspicion. As a preparation for the impending struggle, the Saragossa tribunal, under orders from Madrid, published, on June 29th, in all the churches, an edict embodying the savage bull _Si de Protegendis_ of Pius V, concerning impeders of the Inquisition, in virtue of which all persons were called upon to aid it, not only in the matter of Pérez but of all others. This created intense excitement; an armed mob assembled in the plaza of the cathedral and discussed whether they were included in the papal censures and if so what remedies should be tried to preserve their liberties, while multitudes sought their confessors and asked to be absolved from the _ipso facto_ excommunication incurred. The Diputados complained to the king and to Quiroga of this stirring up of trouble, when every effort was required to maintain quiet, but they only received from the king a reply thanking them for their zeal for peace.

Pérez and his friends meanwhile were busy in provoking excitement by addresses and pasquinades in prose and verse, stigmatizing their opponents and urging vigilance in defence of the fueros. He also petitioned the Zalmedina to investigate the methods by which Almenara and Medrano had gathered evidence against him, and the testimony thus obtained as to bribes, promises and threats had large influence on public opinion. When the results, however, were sent to Philip by the Diputados, he merely replied that he had not read them, for the whole was invalid because witnesses before the Inquisition could only be impugned in it; Pérez must be returned to the tribunal before anything else could have attention. The papers however were carefully preserved, for the mere investigation was a grave offence against the Inquisition, which was subsequently charged against its authors. The Inquisition judged all men and was to be judged by none and, in the sacredness which shielded it, any attempt to examine its methods was a crime.

As the summer drew to a close, the cooler-headed citizens became anxious for an accommodation. Conferences were held with jurists and it was recognized that the position was untenable, that Pérez must be surrendered and an understanding was reached with the inquisitors as to certain unimportant conditions which avoided the appearance of complete abandonment. The aspect of the populace, however, was threatening, and the nobles brought their retainers to the city to enforce order. Philip had no objection to the delays which enabled him to collect his forces at Agreda, on the Castilian border, and September 24th was named for the delivery of Pérez as a solemn public act. He was fully alive to the danger and resolved on escape; a file was furnished to him with which during three nights he worked at his window bars. A few hours more would have set him free when he was betrayed by his false friend Juan Basante, who still retained his confidence and was to share his flight. He was transferred to a stronger cell, where he was kept incomunicado, with a guard of thirty arquebusiers, watching him day and night.

On September 22d died the Justicia, Juan de Lanuza, an old and experienced man, succeeded by his son of the same name, who was but 27 years of age, universally beloved on account of his many good qualities, but untried and lacking in influence. Great preparations were made for the surrender on the 24th. The gates were closed, troops were posted, the streets from the prison to the Aljafería were patrolled by cavalry, and death was threatened for the slightest disturbance. Complicated formalities were observed when the mandate for the delivery of Pérez and Majorini was presented to the court of the Justicia by Lanceman de Sola, secretary of the tribunal. Under guard of arquebusiers a procession was formed of officials and dignitaries, who on reaching the market-place bestowed themselves in the overlooking windows. The prison was entered, Pérez and Majorini were produced, shackles were placed on them and they were formally surrendered to Lanceman de Sola. The coaches to convey them were brought up and they were descending the stairs when the roar of a multitude outside brought a pause.

[Sidenote: _ANTONIO PEREZ_]

The friends of Pérez had not been idle. The gentlemen who still adhered to him had brought their retainers to the city; propagandism had been active and a majority of the arquebusiers declared themselves ready to die in defence of the fueros. The streets were filled with clamorous crowds; already during the march of the procession, stones had been thrown and now, under the leadership of Diego de Heredia and Gil de Mesa, the market-place was attacked on several sides. Some of the guards were slain, others fled and others joined the assailants. The plaza was strewn with some thirty dead and numerous wounded; the governor's horse was shot and he escaped to a house which was promptly set on fire; the notables at the windows broke out a way to escape by the rear and hurried off amid the insults of the people. Inside the prison the officials saved themselves by flight over the roof, except a lieutenant of the Justicia who made Pérez show himself at a window to calm the mob, which sent up shouts of joy and commenced to break in the doors, when he was delivered to them through a postern. He was carried in triumph to the house of Diego de Heredia and then Majorini was remembered. He was sent for; the prison was found abandoned and he was set free.

Pérez mounted a horse and, accompanied by Gil de Mesa and Francisco de Ayerbe, with a couple of servitors, fled to the mountains, reaching Alagon that night and Tauste the next day, where he rested five days in the house of Francisco de Ayerbe. The agents of the Inquisition tracked him and came near seizing him; when, finding escape to France blocked, he returned secretly to Saragossa, by the advice of Martin de Lanuza, in whose house he was secreted, while directing the course of affairs. The city had been in a state of chaos, the magistrates not daring to show themselves, but through his counsels comparative tranquility was restored under Diego de Heredia. He set to work to organize Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia in opposition to Castile, with a view of forming a republic under the protection of France, but his efforts met with no practical response.

Aragon itself was lukewarm. The assembling of an army at Agreda under Alonso Vargas, a distinguished captain, with the pretext of an expedition to France, gave warning that revolt would be crushed with a heavy hand and both sides sought the support of the kingdom at large. In Saragossa the fuero prohibiting the introduction of foreign troops was invoked, and the new Justicia, Juan de Lanuza, was summoned by the Diputados to call the kingdom to arms to resist the _contrafuero_. He did so with a proclamation, October 31st, ordering the towns and nobles to send their quotas to Saragossa on November 5th, but the course of affairs at Saragossa had been watched with disfavor. Jaca responded with protestations and not with men; Daroca sent thirty musketeers; Bielsa, Puertolas and Gistain furnished two hundred men who turned back after reaching Barbastro. There were disturbances at Teruel which only resulted in the punishment subsequently inflicted on the leaders. The other towns united in a letter to the Justicia, declaring Philip to be the defender of the fueros and those who resisted him to be the violators, and the same ground was taken by the nobles and gentry outside of Saragossa. Villahermosa and Aranda had remained in the city by Philip's orders, and were forced to serve on the council of war which was formed, but they were regarded with suspicion and were insulted and menaced.

This practical abandonment produced profound discouragement and the gates were locked to prevent desertions, but all who could left the city. The leaders, however were too deeply compromised to withdraw and, in their irritation, they provoked quarrels and discord. To give an air of legality to resistance the leadership of the Justicia was essential, and they summoned Juan de Lanuza to take the field with the municipal forces. He and the Diputado Juan de Luna established relations with Villahermosa and Aranda and all four agreed to escape on the occasion of a review to be held on November 7th, but when Lanuza ordered a gate to be opened and the review to be held outside the walls, there was a cry of treason. Villahermosa and Aranda succeeded in escaping and took refuge in Epila, a fortified town belonging to Aranda, but Lanuza and Luna were pulled from their horses and were with difficulty rescued alive.

Bruised as he was, however, Lanuza was forced, the next day, to take the field at the head of four hundred men, the rest of the forces following the next day, and with a so-called army of two thousand he advanced to Utebo, to contest the advance of Vargas, who had crossed the border November 7th with a well-equipped force of twelve thousand foot and two thousand horse, supported by sufficient artillery. A messenger from Vargas offering terms gave him an opportunity of escape and, accompanied by Luna, he sought the refuge of Epila. When the news of this spread through the camp the little army disbanded and Vargas, on November 12th, presented himself before the Aljafería, to the great joy of the inquisitors. The viceroy and officials came forth to welcome him, and he made a triumphal entry into the city. The plaza of the cathedral was made a _place d'armes_, heavy guards were posted, cannon commanded the streets and the soldiers were billeted on the citizens. The working classes had abandoned the town and there were more than fifteen hundred vacant houses.

[Sidenote: _ANTONIO PEREZ_]

Pérez had been watching the wreck of his schemes of vengeance, and, not caring to share in the ruin that he had wrought, he sought to save himself. Martin de Lanuza escorted him to a gate and had it opened for him and, on the 10th, two days before the arrival of Vargas, he took the road to Sallent, on the French frontier. The next day Don Martin offered to the Diputados to die for the city if they proposed to defend it, but, as they did not, he suggested that the gates be opened and that all who desired be allowed to depart. This was done and, in the exodus that followed, he betook himself to the mountains in order to save Pérez.

Resistance had ceased, but there was still some apprehension as to what was known as the Junta of Epila, where Lanuza had invited a conference to consult as to the best means of preserving the fueros. Such fears were superfluous. Villahermosa and Aranda, at the earnest request of Vargas, returned to Saragossa; Luna went into hiding and Lanuza retired to his lands at Badallur, subsequently coming to Saragossa and resuming his functions as Justicia. Vargas conducted himself with great adroitness, receiving most graciously deputations from the towns, inviting absentees to return and assuring every one that the fueros would be respected. Then, on November 28th came the Marquis of Lombay, as special royal commissioner, with letters assuring the preservation of the fueros and clemency for culprits. He was received with great distinction and was hailed as an _Angel de Paz_; all was thought to be settled peacefully and the refugees returned. Vargas and Lombay urged Philip to issue a general pardon with specified exceptions, to limit the Inquisition to matters absolutely its own, to assemble the Córtes under his own presidency and they even suggested Aranda as the new viceroy.

Suddenly this dream of pacification was dispelled. Without communicating his resolve to any one, Philip sent, by a secret messenger, an order written in his own hand and not countersigned, to arrest the Justicia at once "and let me know of his death as soon as of his arrest." He was to be beheaded, his estates confiscated and his castles and houses razed to the ground. Villahermosa and Aranda were likewise to be arrested and to be sent to Castile.

Vargas felt acutely his position in being thus forced to belie his promises of clemency, but he was a soldier, trained to obey orders. Lombay was indignant at the use made of him and asked to be relieved, a request promptly granted for the court had no further need of him. Vargas lost no time in executing the royal commands. The next morning, December 19th, at 11 o'clock, Lanuza was arrested as he and his lieutenant were on their way to mass, prior to opening their court. Villahermosa and Aranda were enticed to Vargas's quarters on a pretext; he detained them in friendly conversation until word was brought of Lanuza's arrest, when he dismissed them and they were arrested as they left him. In three hours they were placed in coaches, each with two captains charged not to lose sight of them. Four companies of horse and a thousand infantry guarded them to the border, after which two companies of foot conducted them, Villahermosa to the castle of Burgos and Aranda to the Mota of Medina del Campo. Both died in prison.

The early light of the next dawn showed a black scaffold erected in the market-place; the troops were under arms and cannon guarded the approaches. The citizens shut themselves up in their houses and there were none present but the soldiery who, we are told, although Castilians, shed tears over the fate of Lanuza, whose brief three months of office had brought him to such end. The executioner struck off his head while he was reciting a hymn to the Virgin and he was honorably buried, in the tomb of his ancestors in the church of San Felipe, the bier being borne on the shoulders of high officers of the Castilian army.

This unexpected blow aroused indescribable terror throughout Aragon, and the impression caused by the revelation of the hidden purposes of the king was intensified by his granting to the Governor a commission authorizing him to punish the notoriously guilty without regard to the fueros. Under this there followed arrests and executions of those compromised in the troubles, especially of those concerned in the death of Almenara, including many men of rank, who were generally regarded as innocent, or at most as lightly culpable. No one felt himself safe, and the sense of insecurity was heightened by the razing of the houses of the victims--the palace of the Lanuzas, one of the most conspicuous in Saragossa, and those of Diego de Heredia, Martin de Lanuza, Pedro de Bolea, Manuel Don Lope and others--the ruins made in the principal streets symbolizing to the people the destruction of their liberties. Nor was the Inquisition remiss in vindicating its insulted dignity. The inquisitors had been changed and the tribunal now consisted of Pedro Zamora, Velarde de la Concha and Juan Moriz de Salazar, who fully realized the work expected of them. They filled the prisons of the Aljafería with men of all classes, who had taken part in obstructing the action of the Holy Office, though they subsequently, under orders from Philip, delivered to Vargas certain of their prisoners who were marked for execution for offences outside of inquisitorial jurisdiction.

[Sidenote: _ANTONIO PEREZ_]

Satisfied with the impression thus made, Philip now took measures to calm the agitation. He withdrew the special commission of the Governor of Aragon and promised to the accused a regular trial by an impartial Aragonese judge. Then, on January 17, 1592, there was solemnly proclaimed in Saragossa a general pardon, in which the king dwelt on his love for Aragon and on his clemency, but also on his duty to enforce justice and uphold the Inquisition. There were certain classes excepted from the benefit of the amnesty, which, when subsequently applied to individuals, amounted to 196, whom every one was ordered by proclamation to capture wherever found. The promised impartial judge was appointed in the person of Doctor Miguel Lanz, whose ignorance and cruelty were the cause of bitter complaints.

It was part of Philip's tranquilizing policy that the Inquisition should issue simultaneously an edict of pardon, with exceptions like his own. The two classes of culprits were largely distinct, and the tension of the public mind could not be relieved until the extent of both should be known. With this view, when drawing up his own proclamation, he ordered the Suprema to do the same, but he encountered resistance. The Inquisition was playing for its own hand. It had not only to avenge insults endured but it was resolved to make the most of the opportunity to break down the obstinate resistance in Aragon to its arbitrary proceedings. The Suprema was therefore indisposed to accede to Philip's wishes and, in a consulta of January 2d, it asked for delay. To this Philip replied, in his own handwriting, that the postponement would prevent the desired restoration of confidence and, where there were so many involved, it sufficed to punish those most guilty. He was about to publish his own pardon and he charged the Suprema to do the same on its part with all despatch.

Considerations such as these had no weight with the Suprema, which calmly disregarded the king's wishes. The silence of the Inquisition kept alive popular anxiety and, on March 3d, Philip renewed his urgency. The pardon should be such as to give satisfaction to the people, relieving from infamy those comprehended in it who should come and confess spontaneously. Proceedings could be taken against those arrested and fugitives, who could be summoned by edicts, and the pardon could be general, excepting the prisoners and those cited and to be cited in contumacy, without giving names, but all this he left to the Suprema to do what it deemed best for the authority of the Holy Office.

Philip evidently shrank from too positive insistence, and the Suprema on various pretexts continued to postpone the pardon. In answer to renewed urgency, it presented a consulta, April 29th, reporting its operations, according to which the tribunal of Saragossa had recently voted the arrest of a hundred and seventy-six persons; it had already seventy-four in its prisons, and it contemplated the prosecution of three hundred--which explains the reluctance to issue a general pardon. This was so contrary to the policy of the king that he replied by suggesting the liberation on bail of those whose offences admitted of it, and suspending arrest in cases that might reasonably be condoned. He made no allusion, this time, to a general pardon and the Inquisition carried its point. Without issuing a pardon, on October 20th it celebrated an auto de fe with more than eighty culprits, of whom all were impeders of its free action, except a few Moriscos and a bigamist. Six were relaxed, ostensibly as guilty of homicide in the disturbances of September 24, 1591, and the rest were penanced, mostly by exile from Aragon, although some were sent to the galleys, among whom was Manuel Don Lope. The procession at the auto was closed with the effigy of Pérez, condemned to the flames in a sentence which, we are told, recited a million of arrogant and ill-sounding propositions against God and the king, his affection for Vandoma (Henry IV), treasons committed in his office of Secretary, strong indications of sodomy, his flight to France, his listening to preachers and taking communion with Huguenots, sufficient to prove him a Huguenot, with presumption that all his actions had been directed to that end and to destroy the Inquisition, as he was a descendant of Jews and great-grandson of Aubon Pérez, a Jew who relapsed after conversion, was burnt and his sanbenito was hanging in the church of Calatayud. The sentence was relaxation, with disabilities of descendants.

[Sidenote: _ANTONIO PEREZ_]

On the day of the auto Philip was at Rioja, on his way to Tarazona, where the Córtes which had been called had been sitting and had nearly finished its labors. As the Inquisition had still withheld its general pardon, he again insisted that it be put into shape and sent to him, in order that everything might be concluded before he reached Tarazona. Still unsatiated and procrastinating, the Suprema replied with the names of eleven persons, whom it characterized as principal leaders of the tumults and asked him to give such instructions as he pleased. He responded that he would delay answering till he reached Tarazona and could survey the aspect of matters there. Some days later he wrote asking that the propriety of issuing the pardon should be discussed, as also the form which it should have. Thereupon the Suprema sent him a form, with a letter to the inquisitors which he could forward, at the same time stating that there were objections. The royal pardon was unconditional and took effect of itself, but the Inquisition was not so easily satisfied and required that all who availed themselves of its mercy should make personal application and submission. The papal decree _Si de protegendis_ inflicted an _ipso facto_ anathema on all who obstructed in any way the action of the Holy Office, and this censure had to be removed, wherefore the proposed formula required that all applicants for pardon should seek relief from the censures, those present within two months, and the absent within four, but the Suprema added that publication should be preceded by edicts against seven specified persons and others notoriously guilty who could not be named without violating the secrecy of the Inquisition. Even this the Suprema felt to be too great a concession, and the next day it forwarded another consulta, saying that it had received from the Saragossa tribunal the names of some parties notoriously and deeply inculpated; there was evidence of their guilt in the tribunal and it had commenced action against them with edicts. This was submitted to the king so that he could order the inquisitors to commence before publishing the pardon, in order that the parties might be excepted. Philip disregarded this last effort of the Inquisition to maintain its hold on those who had offended it. Without further correspondence he sent the pardon to Saragossa with orders for its publication, which was done with great solemnity, November 23d, when more than five hundred penitents presented themselves.

Meanwhile the Córtes had been employed in modifying the institutions of Aragon to meet the wishes of the king. While resolved thus to take full advantage of the opportunity, he was shrewd enough to see that such a settlement to be enduring must be in conformity with the fueros. While his army still overawed the land he therefore convoked the Córtes, which met at Tarazona, June 15, 1592. According to rule, he should have presided over it, but he desired not to enter Aragon until the trials and executions under Dr. Miguel Lanz should be completed, and, though he left Madrid May 30th, he took the circuitous route by way of Valladolid, and his leisurely journey was interrupted by attacks of gout. After some difficulty, the Córtes accepted the presidency of Archbishop Bobadilla, and modified the immemorial rule requiring unanimity in each of the four _brazos_ or chambers. The way being thus cleared, and still further smoothed by a lavish distribution of "graces," it was merely a work of time to obtain the adoption of a carefully devised series of fueros which, without changing the form of Aragonese institutions, removed the limitations on the royal power which had so long been the peculiar boast of the kingdom. The changes were too numerous for recapitulation here in full; some of them were beneficial in facilitating the punishment of crime, but the most important from the monarch's stand-point were those which established his right to appoint viceroys who were not Aragonese; which placed in his hands the nomination and dismissal of the Justicia and the nomination of his lieutenants, with preponderance in the machinery for hearing complaints against the latter; which took from the Diputados the power of convoking the cities and citizens, which limited the amount that they could spend, and which transferred from them to the crown control over the rural police; which prohibited raising the cry of "libertad" under penalties extending even to death; which provided punishment for offences against royal officials; which established extradition for crime between Castile and Aragon; which required the royal licence for the printing of books, and which deprived the lands of the nobles, secular and ecclesiastical, of the right of asylum for criminals. Thus the Justicia and his court, which had been the pride of the land, became in fact, if not in name a royal court; the Diputados, who had been the executive of the popular will, were deprived of all dangerous exercise of authority, the barriers against the encroachments of arbitrary power were removed, and all this had been accomplished through the representatives of the people, apparently of their own volition.

[Sidenote: _ANTONIO PEREZ_]

When, early in December, Philip at Tarazona held the solio in which he confirmed the acts of the Córtes, he followed it with a general pardon, liberating all those prosecuted by Dr. Lanz, except the jurists and lieutenants of the Justicia, who had counselled resistance and who were punished with exile. Cosme Pariente, an unlucky poet, was sent to the galleys as the author of the pasquinades which had stimulated revolt, and there was another significant exception. Philip's inextinguishable hatred of his favorite still kept in prison Juana Coello and her seven children, the youngest of whom was born in captivity. Thus they languished for nine years until their gaoler had passed away. Philip III signalized the first year of his reign with pardoning those excepted in his father's edicts and, in April 1599, Juana was set free. She hesitated to leave her children, the eldest of whom was in her twentieth year, but she finally did so to labor for their release, which she accomplished in the following August. The friends of Pérez sought to have him included in the royal mercy, but were told that his offence was a matter of the Inquisition with which the king could not interfere.

Before relieving Aragon of his army, Philip caused the Aljafería to be fortified and lodged there a garrison of two hundred men to keep the turbulent city in check. To this the inquisitors objected strongly, and asked to be transferred to some other habitation, but he refused, as their protection served as an excuse for the garrison. They never grew reconciled to their unwelcome guests and, in 1617 and again in 1618, we find them complaining that the soldiers exercised control over the castle and that their audacious pretensions diminished greatly the popular respect due to the Holy Office.[551] Their remonstrances were unheeded until, in 1626, Philip IV, as a special favor transferred the garrison to Jaca.

Pérez and his friends had succeeded in reaching Béarn, where they were welcomed by the governess, Catherine, sister of Henry IV. Imagining that a small force would raise the Aragonese in defence of their liberties, they persuaded Henry to try the experiment, to be followed, in case of success, by an army of fifteen or twenty thousand men, to wrench from Spain Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia, and form a republic under French protection. In February, 1592, therefore, some fifteen hundred or two thousand Béarnese, under the leadership of Martin Lanuza, Gil de Mesa, Manuel Don Lope, and Diego de Heredia attempted an invasion, but the Aragonese rose against them. Embarrassed by the deep snows in the mountains, they attempted to retreat but were vigorously attacked and most of them were taken prisoners, including Dionisio Pérez, Francisco de Ayerbe and Diego de Heredia. Vargas liberated the Béarnese, but the refugees were sent to Saragossa, where they expiated their treason on the scaffold.

In spite of this misadventure, Pérez was warmly welcomed and was pensioned by Henry IV, as a personage of importance, a statesman versed in all the arts of Spanish diplomacy. The peace of Vervins, however, in 1598 reduced him to insignificance. Age and infirmities overtook him and his adventurous existence terminated in misery, November 3, 1611, when he manifested every sign of fervent Catholicism. After his death, Juana Coello and his children undertook the vindication of his memory and solicited to be heard in his defence. It was not, however, until January 22, 1613 that the Suprema presented to Philip III a consulta recommending that the widow and children should be heard by the Saragossa tribunal. Sentences rendered _in absentia_, as we have seen, were never regarded as conclusive, but the tribunal was unforgiving. It interposed delays and then, on March 16, 1615, it rendered an adverse judgement. This the Suprema refused to confirm and, after an obstinate resistance, the tribunal, on June 19th was forced to utter a sentence absolving the memory and fame of Antonio Pérez, declaring the limpieza of his blood and pronouncing that his descendants were under no disabilities. Nothing, however, was said about removing the confiscation of his property, probably because this had been decreed both by the secular sentence of July 17, 1590 and by the inquisitorial one of October 20, 1592.[552]

[Sidenote: _OCCASIONAL CASES_]

Thus in this, the most prominent instance of inquisitorial political intervention, the Holy Office was invoked only as a last resort, when all other methods had failed, and, when it was called in, so far from being the obsequious instrument of the royal will, it resolutely sought to advance its own interests with little regard for the policy of the monarch.

Yet the impression made at the time is reflected in the report of the Venetian envoy, Agostino Nano, in 1598, when he says that the king can be termed the head of the Inquisition, for he appoints the inquisitors and officials. He uses it to hold in check his subjects and to punish them with the secrecy and severity of its procedure, when he cannot do so with the ordinary secular authority of the Royal Council. The Inquisition and the Royal Council mutually help each other in matters of state for the king's service.[553] This was a not unnatural conclusion to draw from a case of this nature, but the royal power, by this time, was too securely intrenched to require such aid. It was only the peculiar features of the Aragonese fueros that called for the invention of a charge of heresy in a political matter. The Inquisition, as a rule, considered it no part of its duties to uphold the royal power for, in 1604, we find it sentencing Bartolomé Pérez to a severe reprimand, a fine of ten thousand maravedís and a year's exile for saying that obedience to the king came before that due to the pope and to the Church.[554] Thus the mere denial of the superiority of the spiritual power over the temporal was a crime.

Sporadic cases occurred in which special considerations called for the aid of the Inquisition, but they were not numerous and were apt to be directed against ecclesiastics, whose privilege exempted them from the secular courts. Such was that of the Jesuit, Juan de Mariana, distinguished in many ways, but especially by his classical History of Spain. He had served the Inquisition well as a censor of books, but in his _Tractatus septem_, published anonymously at Cologne, in 1609, in an essay on the debased Spanish coinage, the freedom with which he reprobated its evils and spoke of the malfeasance of officials gave great offence to the royal favorite Lerma and his creatures. Had Mariana been a layman there would have been no trouble in punishing him severely, but to reach the Jesuit Philip invoked the papal nuncio Caraffa and the Toledo tribunal took a hand. The whole proceeding was irregular and the pope was asked to render sentence, but, after a year's imprisonment, Mariana was liberated, without an imputation on his character, and he died, in 1624, full of years and honor, at the age of 87.[555]

It is true that, when the Barcelona tribunal was battling to maintain its pretensions against the Córtes of Catalonia, it represented, in 1632, in a memorial of Philip IV, among its other claims to consideration, the secret services often rendered in obtaining information and in the arrest of powerful persons, which could not otherwise be so well accomplished. Its thorough organization, no doubt, occasionally enabled it to be of use in this manner, and there was no scruple in calling upon it for such work, as in 1666, when Don Pedro de Sossa, the farmer of the tax of millones, in Seville, absconded with a large sum of money and was understood to be making his way to France, the Suprema wrote to Barcelona and doubtless to other tribunals at the ports and frontier districts, with a description of his person and an order to arrest him and embargo his property.[556]

The prosecutions of the two fallen favorites, Rodrigo Calderon, in 1621 and Olivares, in 1645, were not state affairs but intrigues, to prevent their return to favor and were rendered unnecessary, in the one case by the decapitation of Calderon and in the other by the death of Olivares.[557] The secrecy of the Inquisition and its methods of procedure rendered it a peculiarly favorable instrumentality for such manoeuvres, as was seen in the Villanueva case, as well as for the gratification of private malice, and it was doubtless frequently so abused, but this has no bearing on its use as a political agency.

[Sidenote: _THE WAR OF SUCCESSION_]

With the advent of the Bourbon dynasty there was a change. In the governmental theory of Louis XIV the Church was part of the State and subject to the dictation of the monarch. In the desperate struggle of the War of Succession, the advisers of the young Philip V had no hesitation in employing all the resources within reach and the Inquisition was expected to play its part. At an early period of the conflict, the Suprema sent orders to the tribunals to enjoin earnestly, on all their officials, fidelity to the king, who thus had the benefit of a well-distributed army of missionaries in every quarter of the land.[558] It was easy, as we have seen, for inquisitorial logic to stretch the elastic definition of heresy in any desired direction, and lack of loyalty to Philip was made to come within its boundaries. In an edict of October 9, 1706, the Suprema pointed out that Clement XI had threatened punishment for all priests who faltered in their devotion to the king, yet notwithstanding this there were some who in the confessional urged penitents to disobedience and relieved them from the obligation of their oath of allegiance. This was a manifest abuse of the sacrament and, as it was the duty of the Inquisition to maintain the purity of the faith and prevent the evil resulting from a doctrine so pernicious, all penitents so solicited were ordered, within nine days, to denounce their confessors, under pain of excommunication and other discretional penalties.[559]

The Inquisition, during the war, was especially serviceable in dealing with ecclesiastics, who were beyond the reach of secular and military courts, and this in cases where there was no pretence of heresy. The events of 1706--the capture and loss of Madrid by the Allies and the revolutions in Valencia and Catalonia--occasioned a number of trials for high treason. The Suprema was still in Burgos when Philip V informed Inquisitor-general Vidal Marin that he had ordered the arrest of Juan Fernando Frias, a cleric, who was to be delivered to the Inquisition at Burgos, to be tried for high treason, with all speed. The Suprema replied, August 13th, that it had placed Frias in safe custody, incomunicado; the inquisitor-general had commissioned the Prior of Santa María de Palacio of Logroño to serve on the tribunal, and there should be the least possible delay in the verification and punishment of the offence. It assured the king that he could rely on the promptest fulfilment of his wishes and of the _vindicta publica_, for the Apostolic jurisdiction of the Suprema extended to the infliction of the death-penalty.[560] In its loyal zeal it took no thought of irregularity. Indeed, the Suprema seems to have issued commissions to tribunals to act in such cases. In 1707, Isidro de Balmaseda, Inquisitor of Valencia, signs himself as "Inquisidor y Juez Apostólico contra los eclesiasticos difidentes," in the case of Fray Peregrin Gueralt, lay-brother of the Servite convent of Quarto, whom the testimony showed to be an adherent of the Archduke Charles, industriously carrying intelligence to the Allies and, on his return, spreading false reports, to the disturbance of men's minds. In this trial the formality of a _clamosa_ by the fiscal was omitted; the inquisitors had the testimony taken and on receiving it ordered the arrest of Gueralt without submitting it to calificadores.[561]

From this time forward the Inquisition was at the service of the State whenever it was required to suppress opinions that were regarded as dangerous though, when its interests clashed with those of the crown, the cases of Macanaz and Belando show that it could still assert its aggressive independence. As the century wore on, however, it became more and more subservient. A writer about 1750, while regretting that it did not repress the Probabilism of the fashionable Moral Theology, gives it hearty praise for its political utility; it is not only, he says, engaged in preserving the purity of the faith, but, in an ingenious way, it maintains the peace of the State and the subordination due to the king and the magistracy. In his wars Philip V made use occasionally of its tribunals in difficult conjunctures with happy results and therefore he honored and distinguished it throughout his reign.[562]

[Sidenote: _UNDER THE RESTORATION_]

Thus, as its original functions declined, a new career was opened. We have seen how its censorship was utilized to prevent the incursion of modern liberalism, and its procedure was similarly employed against individuals. With the outbreak of the French Revolution, its vigilance was directed especially against the propagation of the dangerous doctrines of popular liberty, and any expression of sympathy with events beyond the Pyrenees was sufficient to justify prosecution. As early as 1790, Jacques Jorda, a Frenchman, was tried by the Barcelona tribunal for propositions antagonistic to the spiritual and temporal authorities, and prosecutions for such offences continued to be frequent. In 1794, during the war with the French Republic, even so important a personage as Don Antonio Ricardo, general-in-chief of the army in Roussillon, was on trial by the tribunal of Madrid for utterances in sympathy with occurrences in France and, at the same time, his secretary, Don Josef del Borque, was undergoing a similar experience in the Logroño tribunal.[563] War carried on in such fashion could not fail to be disastrous.

This prostitution of an ecclesiastical tribunal to temporal purposes was one of the reasons given by the Córtes of Cádiz for its abolition. Even its chief defender, Fray Maestro Alvarado, could not deny the accusation, but, he turned the tables by ascribing the fault to the Jansenists, to whom the orthodox attributed all the evils of the time. It was they, he argued who mingled religion and politics, and set the State above the Church.[564] He did not live to see the refutation of his dialectics, when Ultramontanism triumphed in the Restoration, and the political functions of the Inquisition became still more prominent. In 1814, a copy of the treaty of July 30th with Louis XVIII was sent to the tribunals in order that they might enforce the clauses appertaining to them, and when, in 1815, the news of Napoleon's return from Elba was received, King Fernando, by an order of April 8th, included the tribunals of the Inquisition in the instructions given to the military and ecclesiastical authorities to keep watch on the frontier against surprises, and to guard in the interior against the artifices and seductions of the disaffected.[565] In fact, we may say, the chief work expected of the Inquisition was that of the _haute police_, for which its organization rendered it especially fitted. April 8, 1817 we find it notified that the refugees, General Renovales and Colonel Peon, accomplices in the attempted rising of Juan Diaz Porlier in Galicia, were hovering on the Portuguese border. The tribunal of Santiago (Galicia) was therefore to put itself in communication with that of Coimbra, it was to devise means for their capture and, through its commissioners and familiars, find out what was on foot, for the security of the throne and of the altar required of the Holy Office extreme vigilance under existing circumstances. The inquisitor-general forwarded this to Galicia with orders to execute it "at once, at once, at once" and, not content with this, instructions were sent to the tribunals of Murcia, Córdova, Saragossa and Barcelona, all of which responded with promises of the utmost activity and of watchfulness over reactionaries.[566] So, in 1818 the Logroño tribunal reported that its commissioner at Hernani (Guipúzcoa) reported that he had heard a person utter the proposition _"La nacion es soberana."_ To this the Suprema replied that this was a matter of high importance and might lead to great results. Llano must make a formal denunciation with all details; also he must declare why he suspected Don Joseph Joaquin de Mariategui, and how he knows of his journey to France and England and his relations with the refugees there--all of which must be done with the utmost caution and speed and the results be reported.[567]

It is scarce worth while to multiply trivial details like these to indicate how efficient a political agency the Inquisition had become under the Restoration. Its activity in this direction continued until the end and when, in the Revolution of 1820 at Seville, on March 10th, the doors of the secret prison were thrown open, the three prisoners liberated were political.[568]

* * * * *

Besides these direct political services, the Inquisition was sometimes called upon by the State to aid in enforcing secular laws, when the civil organization found itself unequal to the duty. The most conspicuous instance of this is found in the somewhat incongruous matter of preventing the export of horses.

[Sidenote: _EXPORTATION OF HORSES_]

From a very early period this was regarded with great jealousy. From the twelfth century onward, the Córtes of Leon and Castile, in their petitions, constantly asked that the prohibition should be enforced and, at those of Burgos in 1338, Alfonso XI decreed death and confiscation for it, even if the offenders were hidalgos, a ferocious provision which was renewed by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1499.[569] Aragon, which lay between Castile and France, suffered from this embargo. The Córtes of Monzon, in 1528, petitioned Charles V for the pardon of certain citizens who had drawn horses from Castile and were condemned to death and other penalties, to which Charles replied that he would not pardon those who had carried horses to France; as for those who had merely taken them to Aragon, if they could be pointed out, he would grant them pardon. Another complaint of the Córtes indicates the rigid methods adopted to prevent evasions. If an Aragonese went to Castile on business, he was allowed to remain ninety days; if he exceeded the limit, on his return his horse was seized at the frontier, even though at the same place by which he had entered.[570] Severe as were these measures, they were ineffective. Contraband trade of all kinds flourished in the wild mountain districts along the French frontier, and the prohibition respecting a beast of burden, which transported itself, was notoriously difficult of enforcement.

In 1552, we find the Suprema ordering the Saragossa tribunal to prosecute and punish one of its commissioners in the mountains of Jaca, accused of passing horses to France, but this was evidently due to the fact that the offender was entitled to the fuero of the Inquisition.[571] There was as yet no ingenious attribution of suspicion of heresy to this contraband trade and, when in 1564, the Córtes of Monzon prohibited the exportation of horses and mares from Aragon, the only reason alleged was their scarcity in the kingdom.[572] The third Lateran Council, however, in 1179, had denounced excommunication and severe penalties on all who furnished the infidel with warlike material, and this had been carried into the Corpus Juris; Nicholas IV had specifically included horses and had sharpened the penalties; Boniface VIII, in 1299, had placed the offence under the jurisdiction of the Holy Office, and had ordered all inquisitors to make vigilant inquest in their districts, and the prohibition was repeated in the annual bulls _In coena Domini_.[573] The south of France, and especially the contiguous territory of Béarn, had become interpenetrated with heresy and a colorable pretext was afforded of invoking the aid of the Inquisition to suppress the contraband traffic.

[Sidenote: _EXPORTATION OF HORSES_]

This was first confided, in 1573, to the tribunal of Saragossa, by a commission empowering it to act in the premises. It accordingly inserted in the Edict of Faith a clause requiring the denunciation of all who sold arms or horses to infidels, heretics, or Lutherans, or who passed, or assisted to pass, them to Lutheran lands. This brought in numerous denunciations but, as there were no means of knowing what became of the horses after they passed the border, the tribunal was powerless to prosecute and so reported to the Suprema. It replied, August 25, 1573, that further provision was necessary; assuming that Béarn was inhabited by heretics under heretic rulers, the tribunal could proceed against and punish, as fautors of heretics, those who bought or sold or passed horses to Béarn, even when it did not appear that they had been sold to heretics, and it was urged to be active in the matter. The edict was therefore modified to include, as fautors of heretics, all concerned in passing horses to Béarn; it was sent, with a secretary, to all the principal fairs where horses were sold, to be published in the church, with notice that the commissioner would receive any one who desired to unburden his conscience. Exportation was forbidden, unless the owner was known and would give security that the horses were not to be taken to Béarn, or else would present himself with his horses before the inquisitors within a designated time, so that note could be taken of the animals and an account be required as to their destination. Another device, which proved effective, was to register all the horses at the fairs, with descriptions and the names of the owners, who were required to keep an account of all sales and purchasers. This however, applied only to natives; as for Frenchmen and Béarnais, any horses that they had were seized without ceremony; if the owner was a Frenchman, the horses would be kept, awaiting instructions from the Suprema; if a Béarnais, he was seized with his horses and prosecuted, as being included in the Edict. Spaniards found with horses going towards France or Béarn, were treated like Frenchmen--the horses were sold to pay expenses and, if any balance was left, it was handed to the receiver. Pains, moreover were taken to find who made a trade of passing horses to France; they were arrested on some pretext and thrown into prison; if evidence were found against them, they were prosecuted; if not, after detention they were released under bail, because, as the inquisitors said, there was no penalty expressed in the Edict or in the laws of the kingdom. In view of the risk that the parties might apply for a firma or manifestacion, the Suprema was asked for further instructions, when it replied, July 1, 1574, that the prosecutions were to be conducted as in cases of heresy, the accused be required to give their genealogies and then, if recourse was had to manifestacion, it was to be met with an assertion that the case was a matter of faith. Yet the fraudulent character of this assumption is revealed in the admission that the secular magistrates could prosecute for the offence.[574]

Thus the zeal and activity of the Inquisition, working through its disregard of all laws, and its methods of procedure, virtually placed under its control the whole trade of the kingdom in horse-flesh. Encouraged by this, the Saragossa tribunal sought a still further extension of jurisdiction and, in 1576, it reported to the Suprema great activity in the exportation to France, Béarn and Gascony of arquebuses, powder, sheet iron for cuirasses and other warlike material, and it suggested an edict concerning that trade similar to that respecting horses. To this the Suprema assented, with the caution that it must be understood that these arms and munitions were intended for heretics.[575] The difficulty inherent in this probably prevented action, for I have met with no case of its enforcement.

It will be observed that the Saragossa tribunal pointed out that there was no penalty defined by law for the offence. This omission was rectified in the Córtes of Tarazona, in 1592, which deprived of what was known as the _via privilegiata_ a long list of crimes, including that of passing horses and munitions of war to Béarn and France, with the addition that it could be punished with the death-penalty.[576]

A decision of the Suprema, rendered to the Barcelona tribunal in 1582, was to the effect that, if horses were taken to France, it must be ascertained whether they were for heretics in order to justify prosecution by the Inquisition, but, if to Béarn, that alone sufficed.[577] In time this nice distinction was abandoned, although the fiction was maintained that it was a matter of faith. About 1640, an inquisitor informs us that it was customary to punish those who exported horses or warlike material to France, even though there were no evidence that they were for heretics, for the act was very prejudicial. The accused was generally confined in the secret prison, the trial was conducted as one of faith, and was voted upon in a regular consulta de fe, including the episcopal Ordinary. Unless the case was light, the culprit appeared in a public auto. If he belonged to the lower classes, he was sometimes scourged; if of higher estate, he suffered exile and a fine, together with forfeiture of the horse or, if it had been passed successfully, he paid double its value. In the case of a Benedictine abbot, who had passed one or two horses to France, the Suprema fined him in six hundred ducats and suspended him from his functions for a year. Sometimes the sentence included disability for public office for both the culprit and his descendants.[578]

Oddly enough, in the case of Antonio Pérez this matter emerges for a moment in a manner significant of the uses to which it could be put. In the Spring of 1591, when it was desirable to suppress Diego de Heredia, Inquisitor-general Quiroga wrote, March 20th to the Saragossa tribunal, that he was suspected of passing horses to France. By April 4th, the tribunal was taking testimony to show that, a year or two before, he had sold two horses to a Frenchman for three hundred and sixty libras and that they were to be taken to France. There had been no secrecy in the transaction and further evidence was obtained that Heredia brought horses from Castile to Saragossa, whence they were taken to the mountains and were seen no more.[579] The events of May 24th, however, rendered further researches in this direction superfluous.

When this peculiar inquisitorial function was abandoned, does not clearly appear. In 1667 the Barcelona tribunal prosecuted Eudaldo Penstevan Bonguero for exporting horses to France. Already it would seem that the cognizance of the offence had become obsolete for, in 1664 the Suprema had called in question the competence of the tribunal to deal with it, when it replied, July 23d, that it held a papal brief conferring the faculty. The Suprema asked for an authentic copy of this or of the instructions empowering it to act, but neither was forthcoming and, on November 11, 1667, the Suprema again asked for them in order to decide the case of Bonguero.[580] We should probably not err in considering this to mark the last attempt to enforce a jurisdiction so foreign to the real objects of the Holy Office.

[Sidenote: _COINAGE_]

A still more eccentric invocation of the terror felt for the Inquisition, when the secular machinery failed to accomplish its purpose, occurred when the debasement of the coinage threw Spanish finance into inextricable confusion. The miserable vellon tokens were forced into circulation at rates enormously beyond their intrinsic value, and statesmen exhausted their ingenuity in devising clumsy expedients to arrest their inevitable depreciation--punishments of all kinds to keep down the premium on silver, and laws of maximum to regulate prices, from shirts to house-rent. The rude coinage, mostly battered and worn, was easily counterfeited, and there was large profit in manufacturing it abroad and flooding Spain with it at its fictitious valuation. Sanguinary laws were enacted to counteract this temptation, and the offence was punishable, like heresy, with burning, confiscation and the disabilities of descendants. To render this more effective, it was declared to be a case for the Inquisition and, like the exportation of horses, there was an attempt to disguise it as a matter of faith. A carta acordada of February 6, 1627, informed the tribunals that it fell within their jurisdiction if any heretic or fautor of heretics imported vellon money for the purpose of exporting gold or silver or other munitions of war, thus weakening the forces of the king, and all such offences belonged exclusively to the Inquisition. But when this was done by Catholics, for the sake of gain, the jurisdiction belonged exclusively to the king and as such he granted it cumulatively to the Inquisition, with the caution that, in competencias, censures were not to be employed. A papal brief confirming this was expected and meanwhile such prosecutions were to be conducted as matters of faith. It is not likely that Urban VIII condescended to authorize such misuse of the power delegated to the Inquisition for, in little more than a year, Philip IV revoked this action and confined the cognizance of the offence to the secular courts.[581]

* * * * *

If, as we have seen, the Inquisition was not a political machine of the importance that has been imagined, this was not through any lack of willingness on its part to be so employed. When its services were wanted, they were at the command of the State and if this rarely occurred under the Hapsburg princes, it was because they were not needed.