by Henry Kamen
The Holy Office has a venerable reputation as a juggernaut of death, based as it happens largely on fiction. We have suggested above (chapter 3) that taking into account all the tribunals of Spain up to about 1520, it is unlikely that more than two thousand people were executed for heresy in that period by the Inquisition. Very few were executed in the next three centuries, and we can in all probability accept the estimate, made on the basis of available documentation, that a maximum of three thousand persons may have suffered death during the entire history of the tribunal. Figures for executions do not of course tell the whole story of cruelty and oppression, since the negative impact of the Holy Office extended far beyond the question of burnings.
But the figures should also be set into a wider context. Because scholars have never attempted to study systematically the prosecution of crime in pre-industrial Spain, nor the extent to which other tribunals punished overlapping offenses (such as sodomy or witchcraft), it is impossible to say whether the Inquisition stood out for its severity. There is every possibility that in normal periods—excluding, that is, the late fifteenth century—fewer people were punished or executed by the Holy Office than in other criminal jurisdictions in the peninsula. When we compare figures for Europe, moreover, it is obvious that other nations were as capable of cruelty as the Spaniards. Limiting ourselves only to cases of heresy, from 1520 to about 1560 (a period when religious repression outside Spain had by no means reached its peak) possibly three thousand persons were executed by the state courts in Western Europe.105 The Inquisition played only a small part in this. By the 1560s, indeed, Spain was one of the countries with the lowest level of executions for religious reasons.
Two classes of people alone qualified for the stake—unrepentant heretics and relapsed heretics. The latter consisted of those who, after being pardoned a first time, had repeated the offense and were judged to have relapsed into heresy. Those who were sentenced to be “relaxed” did not always die at the stake. They were normally given the choice between repenting before the auto de fe reached its climax, in which case they were “mercifully” strangled when the flames were lit; or remaining unrepentant, in which case they were roasted alive. The vast majority of those who were “relaxed” were in fact burnt in effigy only, either because they had died or because they had saved themselves by flight. In the early years of the Inquisition the large number of condemned burnt in effigy is a guide to the volume of refugees escaping from the tribunal. As we have already seen (chapter 3), in the first two years of the tribunal at Ciudad Real, 52 accused were burnt alive but 220 were condemned to death in their absence.
The proportionately small number of executions is an effective argument against the legend of a bloodthirsty tribunal. Nothing, certainly, can efface the cost in lives of the terrible first twenty or so years. Nor can occasional outbursts of savagery, such as overtook the Chuetas in the late seventeenth century, be minimized. But it is clear that for most of its existence the Inquisition was far from being a monster of death either in intention or in capability. The figures given above for punishments in Valencia suggest an execution rate of well under 2 percent of the accused, and in Galicia and the Canary Islands less than 1 percent. It has been estimated that in nineteen of the tribunals, over the period 1540–1700, about 1.8 percent of the condemned were executed (i.e., relaxed in person).106 If this is anywhere near the truth, it would seem that during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries fewer than three people a year were executed by the Inquisition in the whole of the Spanish monarchy from Sicily to Peru, certainly a lower rate than in any provincial court of justice in Spain or anywhere else in Europe.
A comparison, indeed, of Spanish secular courts with the Inquisition can only be in favor of the latter. In 1573, for instance, the corregidor of Plasencia handed over to the Holy Office in Llerena a Morisco condemned by his jurisdiction to be hanged and quartered for allegedly smashing an image of the Virgin; but the Inquisition found the case unproven and set him free.107 On a more continent-wide scale, one could compare death rates of the Inquisition with those of other tribunals, as we have done above for the mid-sixteenth century, but contexts are so different that no meaningful comparison is possible. It must be remembered, of course, that the apparently low overall death rate masks a very high rate in the first half century of the Inquisition, and a consistently high rate affecting people of Jewish and Muslim origin. The executions probably made no impact on the population as a whole, but were a significant burden on conversos.
Condemnation usually meant that the accused had to appear in an auto de fe. This ceremony was held either in private (auto particular) in a church, or in public (auto público or auto general): it is the latter that has become notorious as the auto de fe, during which penalties decreed by the Inquisition were publicly announced. The gory reputation of the tribunal has always derived from what it is presumed to have done during this ceremony, which we shall look at again in the chapter that follows.
We can see the way the auto de fe evolved simply by comparing one in the 1480s with another two hundred years later. There is available a contemporary account of the first auto de fe held at Toledo, on Sunday, 12 February 1486, during which seven hundred judaizers were reconciled to the Church. At this early epoch ceremonial and ritual were notably absent. The inquisitors had no intention of putting on a show for the public, and were occupied solely with the task of reconciling large numbers of heretics quickly and efficiently.
All the reconciled went in procession, to the number of 750 persons, including both men and women. They went in procession from the church of St. Peter Martyr in the following way. The men were all together in a group, bareheaded and unshod, and since it was extremely cold they were told to wear soles under their feet which were otherwise bare; in their hands were unlit candles. The women were together in a group, their heads uncovered and their faces bare, unshod like the men and with candles. Among all these were many prominent men in high office. With the bitter cold and the dishonor and disgrace they suffered from the great number of spectators (since a great many people from outlying districts had come to see them), they went along howling loudly and weeping and tearing out their hair, no doubt more for the dishonor they were suffering than for any offense they had committed against God. Thus they went in tribulation through the streets along which the Corpus Christi procession goes, until they came to the cathedral. At the door of the church were two chaplains who made the sign of the cross on each one’s forehead, saying. “Receive the sign of the cross, which you denied and lost through being deceived.” Then they went into the church until they arrived at a scaffolding erected by the new gate, and on it were the father inquisitors. Nearby was another scaffolding on which stood an altar at which they said mass and delivered a sermon. After this a notary stood up and began to call each one by name, saying, “Is X here?” The penitent raised his candle and said, “Yes.” There in public they read all the things in which he had judaized. The same was done for the women. When this was over they were publicly allotted penance and ordered to go in procession for six Fridays, disciplining their body with scourges of hemp-cord, barebacked, unshod and bareheaded; and they were to fast for those six Fridays. It was also ordered that all the days of their life they were to hold no public office such as mayor, bailiff, town councilor, or judge, or be public notaries or messengers, and that those who held these offices were to lose them. And that they were not to become moneychangers, shopkeepers, or grocers or hold any official post whatever. And they were not to wear silk or scarlet or colored cloths or gold or silver or pearls or coral or any jewels. Nor could they stand as witnesses. And they were ordered that if they relapsed, that is if they fell to the same error again, and resorted to any of the aforementioned things, they would be condemned to the fire. And when all this was over they went away at two o’clock in the afternoon.108
Two o’clock is around the time of the midday meal in the south of Spain. The inquisitors had therefore managed to get through 750 p
risoners in one morning. This is a far cry from the dilatory pace, pomp and ritual of the post-1559 ceremonial autos, which went on well into the night and sometimes were continued the following day, as happened at Logroño in 1610. The speed at Toledo in 1486 was probably a record, for after the 750 accused in February the tribunal managed to deal with 900 reconciliations on 2 April, 750 on 11 June, and 900 on 10 December, not to speak of two other autos on 16 and 17 August, when 27 people were burnt.
The sophisticated public autos put on after the mid-sixteenth century were substantially different. Typically, the scene would be set in the biggest square or public place available. The elaborate and impressive staging of the proceedings made for heavy expense, and because of this public autos were not very frequent. The auto held at Logroño on 18 October 1570 cost a total of 20 ducats, most of which was spent not on the auto but on the feast of celebration held after it. The expenditure was criticized by the Suprema, and the cost of an auto held the subsequent year on 27 December was cut down to one-fifth.109 These costs may be compared with those of a larger tribunal, Seville, which in 1600 calculated that each of its autos cost over 300 ducats.110 Costs did not cease to rise in Seville: the auto there on 30 January 1624 cost nearly four times as much, and one on 29 March 1648 eight times as much.111 Even these levels were surpassed by the tribunal of Córdoba, which spent 5,700 ducats on its auto of 3 May 1655.112
In the later period of the Inquisition, holding an auto depended entirely on the discretion of individual tribunals and (since the proceedings were essentially a show) the availability of detainees. When necessary, prisoners were brought from the very ends of the peninsula: for the great 1680 auto in Madrid condemned were brought from Galicia and Andalucia. When enough prisoners had accumulated to make the holding of an event worthwhile, a date was fixed and the inquisitors informed the city and cathedral authorities. One calendar month before the auto a procession consisting of familiars and notaries of the Inquisition would march through the streets of the town proclaiming the date of the ceremony. In the intervening month, all the preparations would have to be made. Orders went out to carpenters and masons to prepare the scaffolding for the occasion, and furniture and decorations we made ready. The evening before the auto a special procession took place, known as the procession of the Green Cross, during which familiars and others carried the cross of the Holy Office to the site of the ceremony. All that night prayers and preparations would be made, then early next morning mass was celebrated, breakfast was given to all who were to appear in the auto (including the condemned) and a procession began, which led directly to the square where the auto would be held.
The grandiose ceremony held on 30 June 1680 in the Plaza Mayor of Madrid in the presence of the king and his court was in striking contrast to the simplicity and efficiency of autos in the first years of the Inquisition.113 Among the distinguished persons attending was the French ambassador the marquis de Villars, who left an account of his impressions. The scene was captured on behalf of the Inquisition by the Italian artist Francesco Rizzi in an enormous canvas that now hangs in the Prado art gallery.114 A short version of the official narrative of the auto (the original text was written by a familiar of the Holy Office, José del Olmo) was published in London in 1748 and goes as follows:
A Scaffold, fifty Feet in Length, was erected in the Square, which was raised to the same Height with the Balcony made for the King to sit in. At the End, and along the whole Breadth of the Scaffold, at the Right of the King’s Balcony, an Amphitheatre was raised, to which they ascend by twenty-five or thirty Steps; and this was appointed for the Council of the Inquisition, and the other Councils of Spain. Above these Steps and under a Canopy, the Grand Inquisitor’s Rostrum was placed so that he was raised much higher than the King’s Balcony. At the Left of the Scaffold and Balcony, a second Amphitheatre was erected of the same Extent with the former, for the Criminals to stand in.
A month after Proclamation had been made of the Act of Faith, the Ceremony opened with a Procession, [This procession took place on the eve, 29 June, one of the great feast days of the Church] which proceeded from St Mary’s Church in the following order. The March was preceded by an Hundred Coal Merchants, all arm’d with Pikes and Muskets; these People furnishing the Wood with which the Criminals are burnt. They were followed by Dominicans, before whom a white Cross was carried. Then came the Duke of Medina-Celi, carrying the Standard of the Inquisition. Afterwards was brought forwards a green Cross covered with black Crepe; which was followed by several Grandees and other Persons of Quality, who were Familiars of the Inquisition. The March was clos’d by Fifty Guards belonging to the Inquisition, clothed with black and white Garments and commanded by the Marquis of Povar, hereditary Protector of the Inquisition. The procession having marched in this Order before the Palace, proceeded afterwards to the Square, where the Standard and the Green Cross were placed on the Scaffold, where none but the Dominicans stayed, the rest being retired. These Friars spent Part of the Night in singing of Psalms, and several Masses were celebrated on the Altar from Daybreak to Six in the Morning. An Hour after, the King and Queen of Spain, the Queen-Mother, and all the Ladies of Quality, appeared in the Balconies.
At Eight O’clock the Procession began, in like Manner as the Day before, with the Company of Coal Merchants, who placed themselves on the Left of the King’s Balcony, his Guards standing on his Right (the rest of the Balconies and Scaffolds being fill’d by the Embassadors, the Nobility and Gentry). Afterwards came thirty Men, carrying Images made in Pasteboard, as big as Life. Some of these represented those who were dead in Prison, whose Bones were also brought in Trunks, with Flames painted round them: and the rest of the Figures represented those who having escaped the Hands of the Inquisition were outlawed. These Figures were placed at one End of the Amphitheatre.
After these there came twelve Men and Women, with Ropes about their Necks and Torches in their Hands, with Pasteboard Caps three Feet high, on which their Crimes were written, or represented, in different Manners. These were followed by fifty others having Torches also in their Hands and cloathed with a yellow Sanbenito or Great Coat without Sleeves, with a large St. Andrew’s Cross, of a red Color, before and behind. These were Criminals who (this being the first Time of their prisonment) had repented of their Crimes; these are usually condemned either to some Years’ Imprisonment or to wear the Sanbenito, which is looked upon to be the greatest Disgrace that can happen to a Family. Each of the Criminals were led by two Familiars of the Inquisition. Next came twenty more Criminals, of both Sexes, who had relapsed thrice into their former Errors and were condemn’d to the Flames. Those who had given some Tokens of Repentance were to be strangled before they were burnt; but for the rest, for having persisted obstinately in their Errors, were to be burnt alive. These wore Linen Sanbenitos, having Devils and Flames painted on them, and Caps after the same Manner: Five or six among them who were more obstinate than the rest were gagged to prevent their uttering any blasphemous Tenets. Such as were condemned to die were surrounded, besides the two Familiars, with four or five Monks, who were preparing them for Death as they went along.
These Criminals passed, in the Order above mentioned, under the King’s Balcony; and after having walked round the scaffold were placed in the Amphitheatre that stood on the left, and each of them surrounded with the Familiars and Monks who attended them. Some of the Grandees, who were Familiars, seated themselves on two Benches which had been prepared for them at the lowest Part of the other Amphitheatre. The Officers of all the other Councils, and several other Persons of Distinction, both Secular and Regular, all of them on Horseback, with great Solemnity arrived afterwards and placed themselves on the Amphitheatre towards the Right hand, on both Sides the Rostrum in which the Grand Inquisitor was to seat himself. He himself came last of all, in a purple Habit, accompanied by the President of the Council of Castile, when, being seated in his Place, the President withdrew.
They then began to celebrate Mass. . . .
In the auto de fe eleven people abjured their errors and fifty-six were reconciled, two of them in effigy because they had died in prison. There were fifty-three relaxations, of which nineteen were in person. The procedure at the auto represents the fully developed practice of the Inquisition.
The burning of accused was not a part of the principal ceremony and took place instead at a subsidiary one, normally outside the city, where the pomp of the main procession was absent. The central features of the auto were the procession, the mass, the sermon at the mass and the reconciliation of sinners. It would be mistaken to suppose, as is commonly done, that the burnings were the centerpiece. They may have been a spectacular component of many autos but were the least necessary part of the proceedings, and scores took place without a single faggot being set alight. In the 1680 auto, as the narrative states, the burnings took place at midnight. We cannot doubt that there were people who wished to watch. No researcher, unfortunately, has discovered exactly who, or how many, stayed up late in order to witness what happened. Certainly the court and dignitaries did not do so. The secondary status allotted to heresy executions is in interesting contrast to normal criminal executions in Europe, where both dignitaries and public had a part to play in an act of theatre that was meant to point out a lesson to other would-be evildoers.116