Note 247 — Chapter V
Reading edition
“Philip struck the keynote of his reign on the occasion of his first public appearance as King by presiding over one of the most splendid auto-da-fés that had ever been seen in Spain (Valladolid, Oct. 18th, 1559).” Cambridge Modern History, iii. 482. It is a singular commentary on sixteenth century Romanism, that to burn a large number of fellow-men was called “an act of faith.”