Note 15 — Chapter II

In the year 1796 Godoy was denounced to the Inquisition by three friars, as being suspected of atheism, he not having confessed or communicated in his proper church for eight years, as having two wives living, and leading a scandalous life with many other women. This was a court intrigue, planned by D. Antonio Despuig, Archbishop of Seville, and afterwards cardinal, and by D. Rafael de Murquez, queen’s confessor, and titular archbishop of Seleucia. The inquisitor-general, Lorenzana (archbishop of Toledo), was afraid to interfere; they assured him that the king would consent to the proceedings when it was shown him that Godoy was an atheist; and Despuig applied to the pope through the nuncio, that Lorenzana might be reproved for his timidity, and enjoined to act. The pope accordingly wrote to the inquisitor-general; his courier was intercepted at Genoa by the French, and Buonaparte sent the letters to Godoy, as a means of consolidating the recent friendship between the Directory and the court of Spain. The two archbishops in consequence were sent out of the kingdom under a pretext of paying a visit of condolence to the pope. These facts are stated by Llorente in his History of the Inquisition (chap. 39.) Llorente had been secretary to that abominable tribunal, and in writing its history, had none of those motives for perverting the truth which influenced him when writing under the name of M. Nellerto.