Note 452 — Chapter IV · ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INQUISITION.

This bull is embodied in the first proclamation of the inquisitors, Seville, January 2, 1481, printed by Padre Fita (Boletin, XV, 449-52). It had previously been looked upon as lost. Its main provisions, however, are embodied in the cédula of Dec. 27, 1480, printed in the notes to the Novísima Recopilacion, Ed. 1805, Tom. I, p. 260.

It is a little singular that the Inquisition possessed very few documents relating to its early history. In an elaborate consulta of July 18, 1703, presented to Philip V on the affair of Fray Froilan Diaz, the Suprema states that it had had all the records searched with little result; many important papers had been sent to Aragon and Catalonia and had never been returned; the rest were in a chest delivered to the Count of Villalonga, secretary of Philip III, to arrange and classify and on his arrest and the sequestration of his effects they disappeared.—Biblioteca Nacional, Seccion de MSS., G, 61, fol. 198.

It is quite possible that the contents of the chest form the “Bulario de la Inquisicion perteneciente á la Orden de Santiago,” consisting of eight Libros, or folio volumes (five of originals and three of copies) now in the Archivo Histórico Nacional. It is from this collection that Padre Fita has printed the proclamation above alluded to and many other important documents, and it will be seen that I have made large use of it under the name of “Bulario de la Orden de Santiago.” There are also vast stores of records in the Archivo Histórico Nacional of Madrid, in the archives of Simancas and Barcelona, and some in the Vatican Library. Llorente burnt many papers before leaving Madrid and carried others to Paris, some of which are in the Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds espagnol. The Biblioteca Nacional of Madrid also has a large number and others are dispersed through the various libraries of Europe or are in private hands.