CHAPTER XXXVIII.
OF THE TRIALS AND AUTOS-DA-FE DURING THE REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
Philip IV. ascended the throne on the 31st of March, 1621; and during the thirty-four years that he reigned, the following persons filled the office of inquisitor-general: Don Andres Pacheco, in 1621; Cardinal Don Antonio de Zapata Mendoza, in 1626; in 1632, Don Fray Antonio de Sotomayor; and in 1643, Don Diego de Arce y Reinoso. Don Diego died on the same day as the king.
Many circumstances had shewn the necessity of a reform in the Inquisition, but the indolence of Philip IV. prevented him from attempting it; on the contrary, he permitted the inquisitors to take cognizance of the offence of exporting copper money, and to dispose of a fourth of what fell into their hands.
On the 21st of June, 1621, the Inquisition celebrated the accession of Philip IV. by the _auto-da-fé_ of Maria de la Conception, a _Beata_, and famous hypocrite of the preceding reign, who had deceived many persons by her feigned revelations and pretended sanctity. She appeared in the _auto-da-fé_ gagged, with the _san-benito_, and the mitre.
On the 30th of November, 1630, another _auto-da-fé_ was held at Seville, when six persons were burnt in effigy, and eight in person; fifty were reconciled, and six absolved _ad cautelam_.
On the 21st of December, 1627, a general _auto-da-fé_ was celebrated at Cordova, composed of eighty-one condemned persons; fifty-eight were reconciled, among whom were three sorcerers.
In 1532, a grand general _auto-da-fé_ was held at Madrid, at which the king and all the royal family attended. Seven persons were burnt, with four effigies, and forty-two reconciled; they were almost all Portuguese, or of Portuguese parents. The following circumstance has rendered this _auto-da-fé_ very famous. Miguel Rodriguez, and Isabella Martinez Albarez, his wife, were the proprietors of a house used by the condemned as a synagogue. They were accused of having struck the image of Jesus Christ with a whip, and of having crucified and insulted it in various ways, as if to revenge themselves upon it for all the evils which the Christians made them suffer. The holy office caused this house to be razed to the ground, and an inscription was placed on the spot. A monastery for the Capuchins was afterwards built on the site, and named the Convent of Patience, in allusion to the outrages which our Saviour allowed them to commit on his image: a report was then spread that the image spoke to the Jews three times, and that they did not hesitate to burn it. Solemn masses were performed at Madrid and other cities in the kingdom, to expiate the sacrilege which had been committed.
On the 22nd of June, 1636, another general _auto-da-fé_ was held at Valladolid, composed of twenty-eight persons. The punishment inflicted on the Jews seems entirely novel: one hand was nailed to a wooden cross, and in that state they were obliged to hear read the report of their trial, and the sentence which condemned them to perpetual imprisonment for having insulted our Saviour and the Virgin by their blasphemies. A _Beata_ also appeared in this _auto-da-fé_; she was known by the name of _Lorenza_: her crimes were the same as those of the other women of her class; she pretended that she had seen apparitions of the Devil, Jesus Christ, and the Virgin Mary, and an infinity of revelations, but she was, in fact, nothing but a libertine woman.
Another _Beata_, who was more celebrated, appeared before the tribunal of Valladolid, she was called _Louisa de l'Ascension_. M. Lavellée has spoken of the fragments of the cross which had belonged to this woman, in his history of the Inquisition, published at Paris in 1809. This author (_who has only added to the errors of the writers of the two last centuries_) says, that this cross was one of those which the inquisitors suspended round the necks of the condemned. This practice was never known in the Inquisition; the cross belonged to the _Beata_. M. Lavellée has not explained the inscription correctly. I have seen a cross entire; on the upper part are the letters I. N. R. I., which are the initials of _Jesus Nazarenius Rex Judæorum_; on the mounting and on the arm, and towards the foot, are these words--_Jesus. La Très Sainte Marie, conçue sans péché originel. Soeur Louise de l'Ascension, esclave indigne de mon très doux Jesus. Jesus. Maria santissima concibida sin pecado original. Indigna soror Luisa de la Ascencion, esclava de dulcisimo Jesus_. This _Beata_ gave similar crosses to those who, deceived by her reputation for sanctity, came to demand her prayers. This cross being once given, the wish to possess them became so general, that they were engraved and became the occasion and the subject of a trial: the Inquisition caused all that could be found to be remitted to them, and thus several were to be seen at Madrid and Valladolid.
Louisa de l'Ascension must not be confounded with the hypocrites and false devotees, such as Mary de la Conception, Lorenza de Simancas, Magdalena de la Croix, and some others, who were vicious women. The constant virtue of Louisa was acknowledged by the nuns of St. Clara de Carrion, and by the inhabitants of that place and of the country.
On the 23rd of January, 1639, there was a general _auto-da-fé_ at Lima in Peru, in which seventy-two persons appeared. Eleven persons were burnt, and one effigy. In this _auto-da-fé_ were seen, on elevated seats, six persons who had been accused by false witnesses.
The cities of Toledo, Cuença, Grenada, and Seville, also celebrated _autos-da-fé_ in 1651, 1654, and 1660, when many persons were burnt.
Besides the public _autos-da-fé_ and trials mentioned in the Chapters 24, 25, and 26, several others worthy of notice took place in the reign of Philip IV. Don Rodrigo Calderona, Marquis de Siete Inglesias, secretary to Philip III., was prosecuted by the Inquisition, which had not time to condemn him, because he was beheaded at Madrid in 1621, according to the sentence of the royal judges. The inquisitors accused him of having bewitched the king, in order to gain his favour. This charge was also brought against him by the fiscal of the civil tribunal of Madrid, but the judges paid no attention to it. It is certain that Calderona was the victim of a court intrigue, and the Count Duke de Olivares did an irreparable injury to his memory, in coldly witnessing the execution of a man, who, during his favour, had rendered him great services.
Don Fray Louis Aliaga, archimandrite of Sicily, confessor to Philip III., and inquisitor-general, resigned his place by the command of Philip IV.; and a short time after Cardinal Zapata had succeeded him, he was prosecuted by the Inquisition of Madrid, for some propositions suspected of Lutheranism and materialism. Aliaga died in 1626, when his trial had not advanced further than the preparatory instruction.
In the year 1645, the Inquisition of Madrid prosecuted Don Gaspard de Guzman, Count Duke de Olivares, favourite and prime-minister to Philip IV. This took place under the ministry of the inquisitor-general, Don Diego de Arce, on whom he had bestowed the bishoprics of Tui, Avila, and Placencia. Don Diego did not forget his benefactor, and it was to his prudence that the duke owed the favourable issue of an affair, which, in other hands, might have had the most fatal result.
This minister was disgraced in 1643: a short time after, memorials were presented to the king, accusing him of the most heinous crimes. The tribunal, where every false report was received, also seized this opportunity to prosecute him; he was denounced to the Inquisition as a believer in judicial astrology; and as a proof that he was an enemy to the church, it was asserted that he attempted to poison Urban VIII.; the apothecary at Florence, who prepared the poison, and the Italian monk, who was to administer it, were mentioned; in fact, proofs were offered of all the crimes he had committed. The inquisitors commenced the preparatory instruction, but their proceedings were so dilatory, that the Count Duke died before the order for his arrest could be issued.
The Jesuit, Count Juan Baptiste de Poza, occupied the Inquisitions of Spain and Rome for some time with his writings, during the reign of Philip IV., particularly from the year 1629 to 1636. I have spoken in