Note Footnotes — Front matter

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The following fact shews that the inquisitors of our own days do not fall below the standard of those who followed the fanatic Torquemada. * * * * was present when the Inquisition was thrown open, in 1820, by the orders of the Cortes of Madrid. Twenty-one prisoners were found in it, not one of whom knew the name of the city in which he was: some had been confined three years, some a longer period, and not one knew perfectly the nature of the crime of which he was accused.

One of these prisoners had been condemned, and was to have suffered on the following day. His punishment was to be death by the pendulum. The method of thus destroying the victim is as follows:—The condemned is fastened in a groove, upon a table, on his back; suspended above him is a pendulum, the edge of which is sharp, and it is so constructed as to become longer with every movement. The wretch sees this implement of destruction swinging to and fro above him, and every moment the keen edge approaching nearer and nearer: at length it cuts the skin of his nose, and gradually cuts on, until life is extinct. It may be doubted if the holy office in its mercy ever invented a more humane and rapid method of exterminating heresy, or ensuring confiscation. This, let it be remembered, was a punishment of the Secret Tribunal, A.D. 1820!!!

[2] The absolution ad cautelam is that granted by inquisitors to persons who have been suspected of heresy.

[3] Since the publication of this work, the Author has been informed that the convicts were only fastened to the statues of the Four Prophets, and not enclosed in them. Andrew Bernaldez, a contemporary writer, and eye-witness of the executions, from whom this fact was taken, is not sufficiently explicit to remove all doubt.

[4] Erasmus, letters 884, 907, 910.

[5] Sandoval. Hist. Charles V. B. 24, § 23.

[6] Salazar de Mendoza, Life of Don Bartholomew Carranza, ch. vii.

[7] Mayan's Life of John Louis Vives, in the introduction to the new edition of his works.

[8] Virues: Philippics against Melancthon, in the dedication of the edition of Antwerp, 1541.

[9] Reginaldus Gonzalvius Montanus, Sanctæ Inquisitionis Hispanicæ, artes aliquot detectæ. This work is now extremely rare; it was published in 8vo. at Heidelberg in 1567.

[10] Charles V. is the hero of this poem.

[11] Don Antonio Cajetan de Souza has inserted this bull in his genealogical History of the Royal House of Portugal; Vol. II.

[12] Continued from Gonzales de Montes.

[13] Sandoval's History of Charles V., vol. ii.

[14] Sandoval's History of Charles V., tom. ii.

[15] Cabrera, Hist. Philip II., Book 2. chap. vi.

[16] Cabrera, ibid. B. I. chap. viii. and ix.

[17] Leti, Life of Philip II. Book 17.—Reinaldi, Annales Eccles. An. 1563, No. 146.—Palavicini, Hist. Council of Trent, Book 22, Chap. viii.—Sarpi, Hist. Council of Trent, Book 8. No. 42.

[18] See Chapter XVI.

[19] Pellecyr, Ensago de Biblioteca de Traductores Españoles. Articles, Reina, Perez, and Valera.

[20] Regnialdus Gonzalirus Montanus, Sanctæ Inquisitionis Hispanicæ artes aliquot detectæ, in the rubric Publicato testium, p. 50.

[21] Fleury, Hist. Ecoles, liv. 154, ann. 1559, No. 14.

[22] Ulloa, Vita di Carlos V., edition of Venice; 1589, p. 237.

[23] The informer is admitted as a witness, in contempt of the rule of right, and the punishment due to a false witness is not inflicted, if he is discovered to be such.

[24] They never found this measure necessary. The old bulls and the Cortes had provided that the interlocutory act of arrest should be consented to, and signed by the inquisitor in ordinary of the diocese. Reason dictated this measure, because the decree for an arrest does not permit the summons.

[25] This form is very prejudicial to the prisoner, when the conversation takes place with one person, because the manner of relating the fact supposes three, the accused, the interlocutor, and the individual who has seen or heard.

[26] This inconvenience was the danger to which the secrecy of the holy office was exposed from the activity of these procurators.

[27] This is false; the advantages on the contrary were very important, because the procurators who knew the persons capable of proving the challenge of presumed witnesses, informed them of it, in order to favour the accused.

[28] The New Christians, the relations, the servants, malefactors, infamous persons, in fact every man, a wife, a child, are admitted to depose against the accused, and he cannot call as a witness any person who is a relation or a servant!

[29] This is an injustice. If an accused person had seen the proved articles of the examination in his defence, or if they had been communicated to his lawyer, he would have often derived conclusive arguments from them against the depositions for the prosecution.

[30] It was not often used, because the inquisitors were unwilling to reveal the secret of their irregular proceedings; they considered it dangerous, because it was favourable to the accused, in the few cases where it had been employed; they wished it to be used with great caution, because they felt that those who are not inquisitors act like judges. The canonical proof takes place in the presence of twelve persons, who declare upon oath whether they believe the accused to be innocent or guilty. They were a kind of jury, to whom the inquisitors were obliged to show the original process, and thus the accused depended more upon the jury than on the inquisitors.

[31] I have not read any process which proves that more than one inquisitor has assisted at this execution; I have never seen either the ordinary, or the consultors present at it; the question was only applied in the presence of the inquisitor, the notary, and the executioners.

[32] It was afterwards regulated that this should be done in all definitive sentences.

[33] The trial began in 1558; it had already lasted more than fifteen years, yet the council said that it went on quickly!

[34] Father Kircher has inserted this letter in his work called Principis Christiani Archetipon Politicum.

[35] Kircher has inserted the whole of this letter in the work before mentioned.

[36] Estrada: Decades of the War of Flanders. Decade i. b. 7.

[37] This refers to the queen's journey to Bayonne, to confer with her mother on the political affairs of the League. It took place in 1565.

[38] Cabrera: History of Philip II., chap. 28.

[39] Wander-Hamer: History of Philip II., p. 115. Cabrera: Prudence of Philip II., b. vii. chap. 22.

[40] Cabrera. Ibid. chap. 28.

[41] Kircher: Vide the Work before mentioned, b. ii. chap. 2.

[42] Estrada: Wars of Flanders, Decade i. b. 7.

[43] Cabrera: Hist. Philip II., b. vii. chap. 28.

[44] Wander-Hamen: Life of Don John of Austria, book i.

[45] Cabrera: Hist. Philip II., book vii. chap. 22.

[46] Retamar is a place situated half-way between Madrid and the Pardo.

[47] Cabrera, book vii. chap. 22.—Wander-Hamen: Life of Don John of Austria, book i.

[48] St. Jerome is a monastery of the order of Jeronimites, founded by Henry IV. Near this monastery is the old royal palace called Buen Retiro.

[49] Atocha is a Convent of Dominicans near Buen Retiro, on the east side.

[50] This was not the Saturday following, which was on the 3rd of January, 1568, but on the 17th of January, the day before Don Carlos was arrested.

[51] The princes of Bohemia and Hungary, then at Madrid, also Don John of Austria and Alexander Farnese.

[52] Some galleys which were then being prepared under the command of Don John.

[53] Grand prior of the order of St. John of Jerusalem: his name was Don Antonio de Toledo, brother to the Duke of Alva, and a councillor of state.

[54] The Duke de Feria was captain-general of the king's guards, and a councillor of state.

[55] Louis Quijada was Lord of Villagarcia, son of him who was major-domo to Charles V. in his retirement. The Count de Lerma was afterwards first duke and favourite of Philip III. Don Rodrigo de Mendoza was the eldest son of the Prince d'Evoli.

[56] Son of Don Gabriel, Count de Siruela.

[57] Mass was afterwards said in the prince's apartment; this shows that the account was written before the 2nd of March, when the order was given to have it performed.

[58] The 19th of January, 1568.

[59] Hoyos. His name was Pedro del Hoyo.

[60] That is of the eldest sons who have the right of succeeding to the crown, which is a majorat, or a perpetual substitution by the order of primogeniture.

[61] Jane, the king's sister, who had brought up Don Carlos before he had masters.

[62] The monteros are the king's body-guard for the night. All the individuals of this guard are called Monteros de Espinosa, because they ought to have been born in the borough called Espinosa de la Monteros; this is a privilege which was granted to them by the sovereign Count of Castile, Ferdinand Gonzalez, as a recompense for a distinguished act of fidelity.

[63] Watson: History of the Reign of Philip II., in English and French, Appendix.

[64] De Thou: History of his Time, in Latin, vol. ii. b. 43.

[65] Comentarios del Reverendissimo señor Fray Barthome Carranza de Miranda, Arzobispo de Toledo, sobre el cathecismo christiano, divididos en quatro partes, les quales contienent odo lo que profesamos en el santo bautismo, como se vera en la plana siguiente, dirigida al serenisimo senor rey de Espana, &c., nuestro senor. En Anveres, en casa de Martin Nucio, Anno M. D. LVIII., con privilegio real.

[66] Reinaldo: Ecclesiastical Annals for 1563, No. 137. Paul Sarpi: History of the Council of Trent, b. viii. p. 32.

[67] These expressions show that the Count foresaw that the resolution of the council would be favourable to the Catechism; and in that case the holy office of Spain would be dishonoured.

[68] The chief justice of Aragon was an intermediate judge between the king and his subjects, and independent of him as an officer of justice, before whom the king only was the pleading party. This magistracy had been established by the constitution of the kingdom; the person invested with it was authorized to declare, at the demand of any inhabitant, that the king, his judges, or his magistrates, abused their power, and acted against the law in violating the constitution and privileges of the kingdom; in this case, the chief justice could defend the oppressed by force of arms against the king, and of course against his agents or lieutenants.

[69] This expression is ancient in the Aragonese dialect, and taken from the French, which derived it from the Latin inquisitio. It is the title given in the code of Fueros to the sentence pronounced against magistrates or other public officers guilty of infidelity, abuse of power, or other crimes.

[70] Henry IV. of France, then called the Duke of Vendome, and Catherine de Bourbon, afterwards Sovereign Duchess of Bar.

[71] Molina was then at Madrid, where he had been rewarded by a place in the council of military orders. He was succeeded at Saragossa by Don Pedro de Zamora.

[72] See Relations of Perez.

[73] See Chapter XV.

[74] See Chapter 15.

[75] See Chapter 26.

[76] See Chapter 25.

[77] A work, by M. Clement, was printed at Paris, in 1802, called A Journal of Correspondences and Journeys for the Peace of the Church.

[78] These letters will be found in the second volume of the Memoires pour servir à l'Histoire de la Révolution d'Espagne, by Don Juan Nellerto, Nos. 34, 59, 67.

[79] Don Miguel Juan Antonio Solano was born at Veroline in Aragon. Nature had endued him with an inventive, penetrating genius, inclined to mathematical applications; he learned the trade of a joiner, for his own amusement. He invented a plough which would work without oxen or horses, and presented it to the government, but little notice was taken of it. Desiring to make himself useful to his parishioners, he undertook to fertilize the earth in a ravine situated between two mountains, and completely succeeded. He had brought into the ravine the waters of a fountain, which was about a quarter of a Spanish league from the spot. A long and severe illness had made him lame, and during his convalescence, he invented a chair in which he could go out into his garden. When his age inclined him to meditations of another nature, as he had not many books, he particularly applied himself to the study of the Bible, and from it he formed his religious system, which differed little from that of the reformed Protestants, who are most attached to the discipline of the first ages of the church; he was persuaded that all that is not expressed in the New Testament, or is opposed to the literal sense of the text, was invented by man. He put his sentiments in writing, and sent the work to his bishop, requesting him to instruct him and give his opinion. The bishop Lopez Gil promised to send him an answer; but as it did not arrive, Solano communicated his opinions to some professors of theology in the University of Saragossa, and to some curates in his neighbourhood: he was in consequence denounced to the Inquisition of Saragossa, who proceeded to take informations, and arrest the criminal. A curate, who called himself his friend, received the commission to arrest the unfortunate Solano, while entire liberty was allowed him to enable him to recover. Solano, however, found means to convey himself to Oleron, the nearest town on the French frontier; but soon after, depending on the goodness of his intentions, hoping that the inquisitors would respect his innocence, and show him his errors, if he had fallen into any, he returned to Spain, and wrote to inform them that he would submit to anything, in order to be enlightened and convinced. His conduct proved that he was little acquainted with the tribunal of the Inquisition.

[80] See Gazette de France, for the 14th April, 1816, No. 103.

[81] Gazette de France, Journal du Soir, for the 1st May, 1816.

[82] Gazette de France, 22nd May, 1816, No. 41.

[83] Gazette de France, January 21st, 1817, No. 31.

[84] Gazette de France, April 3rd, 1816, No. 94.

[85] The last person burnt by the Inquisition was a Beata, for having made a compact with the devil. She suffered on the 7th of November, 1781.