As we remember from the article "Pupil of Torquemada", the inquisitors operated on the territory of Aragon since 1232, in Valencia controlled by Aragon - since 1420, but their influence on the affairs of this kingdom was insignificant. Now the powers of the new Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition have also extended to Castile and Leon.
Inquisition in the United Kingdoms before the appointment of Torquemada
On September 17, 1480, the first inquisitors were appointed. They were the Dominicans Miguel de Morillo, who was previously an inquisitor in Roussillon, Aragonese, and Juan de San Martin. Juan Ruiz de Medina, abbot of the church in Medina del Rio Seco, was appointed their advisor, and Juan Lopez del Barco, chaplain of Queen Isabella, became the prosecutor of the tribunal.
The first inquisitors began their activity in Seville, where there was a large community of conversos - Jews converted to Christianity. The "New Christians" were well aware of the actions of the inquisitors in other countries. And that is why some of them tried to change their surnames, others emigrated or moved from the crown territories to the lands belonging to the "private owners" (the possessions of the Duke de Medina Sidonia, the Marquis de Cadiz, Count d'Arcos and some others). All of them were immediately declared heretics - "by virtue of the fact of their desire to escape by flight from the supervision and power of the Inquisition" (Juan Antonio Llorente). The aforementioned grandees, under threat of excommunication and confiscation of property, were ordered within two weeks to deliver the conversos who had fled to their lands to the Dominican monastery of St. Paul, which became the first headquarters of the Inquisition Tribunal. But the number of those arrested was so great that the inquisitors soon moved to the castle of Trian.
The first sentences were not long in coming. Already on January 6, 1481, the first six people were burned. At the end of January, three more. On March 26, 17 people were burned. In total, in the first year, 298 heretics were executed.
Such executions were called "auto da fé": literally translated from Portuguese - "an act of faith." The original meaning of this phrase is the solemn ceremony of the announcement of the verdicts of the court of the Inquisition. Later, they began to call the act of execution of the sentence of the court of the Inquisition.
According to Jean Sevillia, the auto-da-fe was "a great religious and national holiday, which included prayer, mass, sermon, demonstration of the faith of the audience, announcement of the sentences passed, expression of the remorse of the condemned."
The population of the cities was notified in advance of the impending burning of heretics. Here is the text of one of these posters:
“The residents of the city of Madrid are hereby notified that the sacred court of the Inquisition of the city and kingdom of Toledo will solemnly perform a common auto-da-fe on Sunday, June 30 of this year, and that all those who in one way or another take part in the performance or will be present at the indicated auto-da-fe will take advantage of all spiritual the favors that the Roman high priest has at his disposal."
And many people attended these executions with pleasure, went to them with the whole family as a festive performance.
Lyon Feuchtwanger wrote:
Spaniards
Lose the Inquisition
They didn’t want to, because
She gave them God.
True, that god was universal, But especially Spanish.
And they with stubborn faith, Stupidly, earnestly, obediently
They held on to her the same way
As for your monarch.
In Seville there was even a whole square for the burning of heretics - El Quemadero (Kemadero, "square of fire"), decorated with stone statues of the prophets, which were made with funds allocated by a certain Mesa. These statues were somehow used to carry out executions: some believe that the convicts were placed in these statues, others that they were simply tied to them. In the middle of the square, a common fire was made (thus saving firewood), and the unfortunates were literally roasted over an open fire. It was soon revealed that the devout Catholic Mesa was actually conversos, hiding his origins. This fact turned out to be enough for his arrest and burning in the “square of fire”.
A central council of the Inquisition and four local tribunals were soon established. Then the number of provincial tribunals was increased to ten.
The actions of the Spanish inquisitors shocked not only the subjects of Catholic kings, but even Pope Sixtus IV (a former general of the Order of the Franciscans), who at the beginning of 1482 wrote to Isabella and Ferdinand about numerous abuses and neglect of established procedures, as a result of which many innocent people were condemned.
On February 11 of the same year, Sixtus appointed 7 Dominican inquisitors to Castile, among whom was Tommaso Torquemada. But the Catholic kings, who had previously been granted the right to appoint inquisitors themselves, replied to the pope: "Trust us to take care of this matter."
Grand Inquisitor Torquemada
Only on August 2, 1483, a new bull was established by the Supreme Tribunal of the Holy Inquisition in Castile (Supremo Tribunal de la Santa Inquisition), for the administration of which the post of general (grand, supreme) inquisitor of the Kingdom of Castile was introduced. Formally, the grand inquisitor was appointed by the pope, but his candidacy was nominated by Isabella and Ferdinad, and he was accountable only to the Catholic kings. The first Grand Inquisitor of Castile was Tommaso Torquemada. But already on October 14 of the same year, the territory of Aragon was also under his jurisdiction, and then (in 1486) - Catalonia and Valencia.
It was an amazing time in European history. Dante's "Comedy" has already been published, Nicolo Machiavelli (1469), Nicolaus Copernicus (1473) and Martin Luther (1483) were born, Aristotle Fiorovanti arrived in Moscow, Bartolomeu Dias reached the southern tip of Africa in 1488 … Zahireddin Muhammad Babur was born - a descendant of Timur, who would become the founder of the Mughal state. Soon Ignatius Loyola, Thomas Münzer and Hernan Cortes will come to this world. And Torquemada turned 63 in 1483, but he is still healthy and strong.
Suffice it to say that, having learned about his appointment, he came to the court from Segovia on foot and, as usual, made the whole journey without shoes. He will rule over the united kingdoms for almost 15 years - and at times it will seem that in terms of the degree of influence he is on a par with the crowned heads. It is he who will be destined to become the main symbol of the omnipotence of the Inquisition, terror and arbitrariness. Here is a typical opinion of our hero:
Among them was Torquemada, like a great man, But with a cheating wife.
He was jealous of any second
To the unattainable God - and immediately your pliers
He took it out of his pocket, burned it on a fragrant fire, He approached his victim and closed them on a quivering body, Trying to get the truth out of the crooked human nature, Knowing that the truth lies in a person like a nail in a boot.
(Sergey Tashevsky.)
Of course, this was not quite the case. Torquemada was a man of ideas and spent almost all of his personal funds on the construction or renovation of monasteries and on "works of mercy." He demanded from the judges “not to fall into anger”, “to remember about mercy,” and he considered the goal of his activity to be the struggle with sin, and not with sinners. However, Torquemada's subordinates turned out to be completely different people and "work with heretics" had a completely different vision. It must also be remembered that the inquisitors were persons who were materially interested, since a significant part of the property of the convicts came at their disposal. Catholic kings were also interested in the "effective" work of the Inquisition Tribunal, since a third of the funds received from the sale of the property of "heretics" went to the state treasury. And therefore Isabella and Ferdinand not only did not try to stop the arbitrariness of the inquisitorial tribunals, but tacitly demanded the activation of the activities of the inquisitors. And therefore, soon in Castile and Aragon, the practice of posthumous condemnation of rich people, who could no longer refute the accusations or defend their honor, spread. The deceased rich man was declared a heretic, the corpse was pulled out of the grave and burned, his property was confiscated. The heirs were considered good luck if they themselves managed to avoid being accused of complicity and complicity.
The Catholic kings also had another, no less significant benefit: the right to control the tribunals of the Inquisition, made these courts a powerful tool for suppressing and intimidating opponents of the central government. A tool so effective that the Spanish kings were forced to abandon it only in the middle of the 19th century. And therefore, the resistance initially shown to the Cortes inquisitors on the ground was quickly and brutally suppressed.
According to the "Code" drawn up by Torquemada in 1484, upon the arrival of the inquisitors in the city, a "grace period" of one month was assigned, during which the "heretics" were to appear before the tribunal. Denunciations were encouraged (bonuses were paid from the confiscated property of the identified "heretic"). Those who volunteered to appear before the tribunal were required to report the names of other "apostates", but everything ended, as a rule, with torture, accusations of insufficient remorse, attempts to deceive the investigation, hide "accomplices" and conviction.
The people against whom the investigation began had little chance of acquittal. Franciscan monk Bernard told the King of Castile Philip the Fair that if Saint Peter and Paul were accused of heresy, they would not be able to defend themselves, because, according to Article 16 of the Torquemada Code, the inquisitors did not put forward specific charges, inviting the accused to confess himself their sins. In addition, they do not allow access to the testimony of witnesses and hide their names. Article 14 established that the accused, who persisted in denying his guilt after the announcement of the testimony, was subject to conviction as unrepentant. A confession obtained under torture, in accordance with Article 15, was the basis for the conviction of the defendant as a “convicted person”. The refusal of such a confession was the basis for the repeated application of the same torture, or for the imposition of "extreme punishment".
This is what appears before us in the film "The Inquisitor" ("The Well and the Pendulum") a woman convicted by the court of the Inquisition:
But we must nevertheless admit that neither the Spanish inquisitors nor the German "witch hunters" came up with the idea of torturing women with thongs.
Anyone who sympathized with the accused was himself accused of sympathizing with heresy. At the same time, no one limited the time of the fathers-inquisitors, and the investigation in one case could go on for years. All this time the defendant was in prison.
The defendant, accused of heresy, but did not confess to it, as a rule, was excommunicated from the church and handed over to the secular authorities to decide on the execution (which was a simple formality). The one who confessed had to fully admit the truth of the accusations (no matter how absurd they may be), betray the "accomplices" (as a rule, members of his family, friends, business partners) and publicly renounce the heresy attributed to him.
Even the most "mild" punishments handed down by Torquemada's subordinates, in fact, turned out to be incredibly heavy. The same penance often consisted not of reading prayers before going to bed or bowing to the ground in front of icons, but a public flogging on Sundays for several months and even years. The pilgrimage was also devoid of a romantic aura: a sinner condemned to a "small pilgrimage" was obliged to visit up to 19 local holy places, in each of which he was whipped with rods. The “great pilgrimage” involved a trip to Jerusalem, Rome or Santiago de Compostello and lasted from one to several years. This journey required significant funds, during this time the affairs of the heretic fell into decay, his family was often ruined.
The standard ban on the use of gold, silver, pearls, silk and fine linen also meant the inevitable ruin of anyone involved in trade or banking.
It is not surprising that Manuel de Maliani calls Torquemada's Code “bloody”, Beau-Laporte “terrible”, Jose Amador de los Rios “the code of terror”.
At the same time, a number of authors believe that this harsh and cruel "Code" still somewhat limited the arbitrariness of the inquisitors. For example, people who “cooperated with the investigation” could be allowed to leave prison on Saturdays to perform the procedure of repentance, and on Sunday - to attend church. Inquisitors were forbidden to accept gifts. Part of the heretic's property was now left to his underage children. One can imagine what was happening in Castile before Tommaso Torquemada took over as Grand Inquisitor. The arbitrariness of the provincial inquisitors can be illustrated by the story of Pedro Arbuez.
Bloody chess player Pedro Arbues
The future inquisitor was a nobleman educated in Bologna. After returning from Italy, he became a monk of the Augustinian order and was elected canon in Zaragoza, the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon. In 1484, Torquemada appointed Arbues as the inquisitor of Aragon (his partner was the Dominican Gaspar Hooglar). The main blow, naturally, was dealt to the large and influential community of the descendants of baptized Jews, who received many denunciations from ill-wishers. In matters related to inquiry and investigation, the newly-minted inquisitors acted according to the standard scheme, but the procedure for punishing heretics surprised very many. The fact is that Arbues turned out to be a passionate chess lover, and, according to legend, suitably dressed convicts before execution performed the role of living chess pieces. The "eaten" heretic was killed by the executioner - and those could consider themselves lucky, because the survivors of this terrible game were sent to "purification by fire."
The second inquisitor of Zaragoza, Gaspar Hooglar, soon died, and of course, conversos were accused of his death, who allegedly poisoned the incorruptible judge. Quite pleased with the activities of Arbues (and the funds that were now flowing into the royal treasury), the Catholic kings carefully advised him to increase the protection. Arbues did just that - they said that even to the "right place" he now went with bodyguards. And for reliability, he also put on chain mail under his cassock, and a steel helmet under the cap. But he did not stop atrocities - either because he was a very responsible person, or simply loved his work very much. The guards did not help - on September 15, 1485, Arbues was attacked in the church. The inquisitor received two wounds: in the shoulder and in the head (it was the blow to the head that turned out to be fatal), and two days later he died.
Outraged by the cancellation of the next chess game, the Aragonese found consolation in a large-scale Jewish pogrom, during which they gloriously got hold of the property of the wicked conversos. Archbishop of Zaragoza Alfonso of Aragon (illegitimate son of King Ferdinand) saved them from complete extermination. The revenge of the Catholic kings was terrible: not only thousands of ordinary conversos were subjected to public penance and life imprisonment, but also numerous representatives of noble families from Zaragoza, Calatayud, Barbastro, Huesca and Tarazón. For conviction, it was considered sufficient to prove the fact of friendship or simply close acquaintance with the participants in the conspiracy. Among the repressed were the chief treasurer of King Ferdinand Gabriel Sanchez, the royal secretary Luis Gonzalez, don Jaime Diez de Aux Armendariz, the lord of the city of Cadreity, the vice-chancellor of Aragon don Alfonso de la Cavalieria, the chief secretary of the high court of Aragon don Felipe de Clemente. And even the native nephew of Ferdinand of Aragon, Don Jaime of Navarre (heir to the Navarre throne!), Did not escape arrest. It is believed that the king of Aragon Ferdinand simply took advantage of the pretext for reprisals against the aristocrats he disliked.
Many of those who were not executed died from the effects of torture almost immediately after the sentencing. The execution of those sentenced to death was carried out with particular cruelty: being tied to horses, they were dragged through the streets of Zaragoza, then their hands were cut off, after which they were hanged (they were not burned, since they were considered not heretics, but traitors). Then their bodies were cut into pieces, which, impaled on stakes, were displayed along all the roads leading to Zaragoza.
One of the sons of Gaspard de Santa Cruz, who fled to France and died in Toulouse, was forced to public repentance, after which he was sent to the Toulouse Dominicans with a copy of the sentence to his father. On the basis of this letter, the monastic brothers dug up the corpse, burned it and gave their Aragonese colleagues a detailed account of this shameful execution.
And the body of Pedro Arbues was buried in Zaragoza for a week, his funeral amazed everyone with its splendor. The inscription on the tomb announced that Arbues was "a stone that removes all Jews by its power." After the reburial of his body in the chapel of the cathedral of La Seo, another stone was installed near the new tomb, the inscription on which declared Arbuez "for his jealousy, hated by the Jews and killed by them."
In 1661 he was recognized as a martyr by Pope Alexander VII, and in 1867 Pope Pius IX even canonized him. This canonization aroused indignation even among some Christians, it was then that Wilhelm von Kaulbach wrote with coal a drawing "Pedro de Arbues condemns to death the family of a heretic":
After the death of Arbues, Torquemado, by order of Queen Isabella, began to be guarded by 250 soldiers: 200 infantry and 50 horsemen. There is information that he himself was burdened by this protection. On the other hand, it is reported that Torquemada was afraid of poisoning, and each dish was tried in his presence before serving, and on the table in front of him there was always something passed off as a unicorn horn, which, according to the then doctors, could neutralize the effect of any poison.
