Guardians

Session 21

The Guardians of Purity

1. The Holy Office 2. The tribunals of the Inquisition 3. The persecution of the judaizantes 4. The other victims of the Inquisition

1. The Holy Office

the Inquisition the Christians asked themselves: what to do with those conversos who returned secretly to Judaism? some proposed repression and by the end of the 15th century that repression was entrusted to an institution called the Holy Office or Inquisition the franciscan Alonso de Espina, in his Fortalitium fidei contra Iudaeos, was the first to propose to entrust the persecution of judaizantes to the Inquisition

the Inquisition the Inquisition was not an invention of the 15th century: tribunals of the Inquisition already existed in the Crown of Aragon since the 13th century the Inquisition was an institution that had been created in the 13th century as an instrument in the struggle against the widespread heretic movements of the time (Waldenses, Cathars); their tribunals were submitted to the pope an heretic is a member of a religious community who has beliefs or practices that are contrary from what is considered true and right by the religious establishment of that community (rejecting Trinity, rejecting the sacraments)

the struggle against the heretics: Dominic and the Cathars, anonymous, circa 1480 (Madrid, Museo del Prado) the painting depicts the event occurred in 1207, in Albi, when Dominic proved to the Cathars that their books containing heretic ideas do not pass the trial by fire while the Catholic books fly up from the bonfire undamaged

the Inquisition

the Crown of Castile

but a different Inquisition (tribunal del Santo Oficio) was created in the Crown of Castile in 1478 by Fernando and Isabel, with the permission of the pope Sixtus IV the main argument, expressed by preachers and authorities of the Church: the urgency of the converso danger: several insisted that throughout the Crown of Castile the conversos were practising Jewish rites in secret (Henry Kamen)

the Inquisition

the Crown of Castile

the Castilian Inquisition was submitted to the king (queen) of the Crown of Castile (powers of appointment and dismissal of inquisitors)

the Inquisition

the Crown of Castile

tribunals of the Inquisition were created in many cities and towns of the Crown of Castile Seville, Córdoba, Toledo, Jaén, Ávila, Medina del Campo, Segovia, Sigüenza, Valladdolid

the inquisition

the Crown of Aragon

tribunals of the Inquisition already existed in the Crown of Aragon since the 13th century – the tribunals in Barcelona, Saragossa, Valencia – they were submitted to the authority of the pope – but in the 15th century they had lapsed into virtual inactivity (Henry Kamen)

the inquisition

the Crown of Aragon

it was the aim of Fernando, to resurrect the old papal Inquisition but also to subject it to his own control so as to came into line with practice in Castile (Henry Kamen), met important resistance and protest – the cities – the noblemen – even the church

the inquisition

the Crown of Aragon

pressure on Rome from conversos may explain the issue of a bull in April 1482, in which the pope Sixtus IV protested that in Aragon, Valencia, Mallorca and Catalonia the Inquisition has for some time been moved not by zeal for the faith and the salvation of souls, but by the lust for wealth, and that many true and faithful Christians, on the testimony of enemies, rivals, slaves and other lower and even less proper persons, have without any legitimate proof been thrust into secular prisons, tortured and condemned as relapsed heretics, deprived of their goods and property and handed over to the secular arm to be executed, to the peril of souls, setting a pernicious example, and causing disgust to many

the inquisition

the Crown of Aragon

the king could break resistance and in 1483 the pope appointed Tomás de Torquemada as Inquisitor General of Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia, thus uniting the Inquisitions of the Spanish Crown under a single head (Henry Kamen) and Henry Kamen explains: the new tribunal came directly under the control of the crown and was the only institution whose authority ran in all the territories of Spain, a fact of great importance for future occasions when the ruler of Castile wished to interfere in other provinces where his sovereign authority was limited

2. The tribunals of the Inquisition

the tribunals the Inquisition of the 15th-18th centuries was directly under the control of the crown since 1488 the Inquisition was considered as an special council of the Crown (Consejo de la Suprema y General de la Inquisición) the Suprema consisted initially of three ecclesiastical members, and a fourth member as president of the council, with the title of Inquisidor General (the first one: Tomás de Torquemada)

the tribunals the local tribunals of the Inquisition were submitted to the Consejo de la Suprema y General de la Inquisición

3. The persecution of the judaizantes

the judaizantes the Inquisition started a real program of persecution of judaizantes important: these judaizantes were persecuted by the Inquisition because they were defined as heretics, not because they were Jews

the judaizantes the figures 99.3 per cent of those tried by the Barcelona tribunal between 1488 and 1505 were conversos; 91.6 per cent of those tried by the Valencia tribunal between 1484 and 1530 were conversos

Henry Kamen states: the tribunal was not concerned with heresy in general. It was concerned with only one form of religious deviance: the apparently secret practice of Jewish rites

the judaizantes most of these conversos accused and tried by the Inquisition were sentenced to death (burnt alive) (those who could escape before the arrival of the inquisitors were judged in absence, condemned to death in absence and burned in effigie)

the final part of the trial: the auto da fe; a paintig of Pedro Berruguete, circa 1490 (Madrid, Museo del Prado)

4. The other victims of the Inquisition

the other victims the Inquisition persecuted heretics, what the tribunal defined and declared as heretics. That included: – Christians who returned to their former faith (Judaism, Islam), Christians who converted to an other religion (apostasy) – Christians accused of blasphemy, evil magical practices, sodomy, statements against dogmas and teachings of the church, sacrilege