Hello, and Welcome to Western SIV episode two hundred and seventy seven God's Fire. Throughout the history of the Inquisition, historians and commenters constantly agreed on the impressive support given to it by the people. Foreign visitors to the Iberian Peninsula were appalled by the mass participation of the public in the acts of faith. Subsequent defenders of the Tribunal felt that they could in part justify the Inquisition by
evidence of its roots in the authentic faith of Spaniards. Opponents of the Tribunal, however, were equally impressed. Even some of the first modern historians of the Tribunal were staggered by the lack of evidence for any opposition to it in Spain. One declared quote, if in investigating what a nation thought about a certain institution, we were to be guided solely by the testimony of public writers, there is no doubt that the Spanish people had as much love as hate
for the Inquisition. You will hardly find a book printed in Spain from the time of Charles the Fifth to our own days in which the institution of the Inquisition is not cited with praise end quote. The apparent support given by the people to the Inquisition has inevitably created problems of interpretation for us. Partisans of the Inquisition have maintained that its popularity was based on its unswavering sense of justice
and that it responded to a profound religious need. Critics, on the other hand, have presented it as a tyranny imposed by the state upon the free consciences of Spaniards. Both extremes can easily be supported by contemporary evidence, but neither is probably right. Let's face it, the state of bureaucracies in fifteenth century Castile and Ergon were primitive. They were ill equipped, if they even had the ability whatsoever, to impose a tyranny on the mass of the people,
and in reality, they never attempted to do so. If the Inquisition acquired a broad base of support, on the other hand, then we need to examine why this happened. Its support among the masses arose out of the bitter social struggles of the late fifteenth century. To an extent, we already talked about that, and it represented the interests of the vast majority of the
population, the old Christians, against those of a small conversal minority. But those such support always remained the basis of the inquisition's power, it was seldom more than passive. The Inquisition, as we will see in this episode, was accepted, but no one ever loved it, and there can be little doubt of the strong opposition to its introduction. The Aragonese had never fully accepted their medieval inquisition and had no interest in accepting another one. Now the Castilians
were even worse. But how then, did the Spaniards come to accept a tribunal that was so alien to their own traditions. Consider the following Jesuit quote from the sixteenth century inquisitional procedural. Quote. At its inception, appeared very oppressive to Spaniards. What caused the most surprise was that children paid for the crimes of their parents, and that the accusers were not named or made known, nor confronted by the accused, nor was their publication of witnesses, all
of which was contrary to the practice followed of old and other tribunals. Besides this, it appeared in innovation that the sins of this sort should be punished by death. And what was the most serious was that because of these secret investigations, they were deprived of the liberty to listen and talk freely. Since in all the cities, towns, and villages there were persons placed to give information of Olanan. This was considered by some to be the most wretched slavery
and equal to death. So howel then did the Inquisition manage to gain a foothold and then wield dramatic power throughout both Aragon and Castile. The answer is, as I hinted two moments ago, the circumstances of the time, the rebirth of the Inquisition happened to come just as wave after wave of conflict between old Christians and Conversos struck urban centers like Toledo. In these urban centers, old Christians saw the Inquisition as the means by which they might finally wrest power
from the Conversos. Likewise, Ferdinand saw the Inquisition as an excellent tool for consolidating his power, and this I think is the key. The Inquisition returned because Ferdinand wanted it to, and unlike previous Spanish monarchs, he was powerful enough to make that happen. Ferdinand made the following statement to the town councilors of Barcelona in fourteen eighty six. Quote before we decided on introducing this inquisition,
into any cities of our realms. We carefully considered and looked at all the harm and ill that could follow from it, and that could affect our taxes and revenue. But because of our firm intention and concern is to prefer the service of God to our own, we wish the inquisition to be established, regardless, putting all other interests aside. End quote. It is true that the inquisition was going to cost the crown money, though Ferdinand probably didn't
grasp that at the time. It's also true that that statement was one hundred percent self serving. The inquisition was both a crisis tool and it was a political tool of the Crown. To many, the inquisition probably seemed like an emergency measure. Certainly seems so in that statement until it wasn't. That is, despite the King's support, there was a great deal of dissent in Spain. Consider the following denouncing the resort to coercion at a time when evangelicalism had
not even been tried. The Royal secretary informed the Archbishop of Seville that thousands of young conversos in Andalusia quote had never been out of their homes or heard and learned any other doctrine, but that which they had seen their parents practice at home. To burn all these would not only be cruel but difficult to
carry out. I do not say this, my Lord, in favor of the evildoers, but to find a solution, which it seems to me, would be to put in that province outstanding persons, who, by their exemplary life and teaching of doctrine, would convert some and bring back others. Of course, the inquisitors, Diego de Merlo and doctor Medina are good men, but I know very well they will not produce such good Christians with their fire as the bishops did with their water end quote. Many Spaniards were appalled by
the bloodshed inherent with the inquisition. Many believed firmly that people should not be coerced into a faith to which they had never even been introduced. According to another eyewitness quote, at the time of the inquisition, there were differing opinions. Some felt that those who sinned in this way should not suffer the death penalty, but apart from this, they admitted that it was just to inflict any other kind of punishment end quote. And inherent in these criticisms was an
underlining critique of the expulsion in general. Even one of the early inquisitors, Luis de Paramont, wrote despondently to Rome, that the the Expulsion had been wrong on two counts. First, baptisms in the wake of the Expulsion had not been performed properly, and so those baptized were essentially pagan. Second, the expulsion was an implicit invitation to annihilate Jews, which was directly contrary to
Scripture. On both counts, it was right. In the early years of the Inquisition, opposition was invariably promoted by conversos, given that they were the number one target. Unable to secure support in Spain, they turned to Rome. A bull issued by Sixtus the Fourth on the second of August fourteen eighty three, and almost certainly obtained after significant converso bribes, ordered greater leniency to be exercised in the Tribunal of Seville, and revoked all appeal cases to Rome.
Only eleven days later, however, the pope withdrew the bill after pressure from the Spanish rulers. Sixtus the Fourth died in fourteen eighty four, to be succeeded by Innocent the Eighth, a pope who followed his policy of intervening in favor of the Conversos while taking care not to anger the Catholic monarchs.
The bulls issued by Innocent on the eleventh of February and fifteenth of July fourteen eighty five, asking for more mercy and leniency and for greater use of the secret practice of reconciliation, are typical of the efforts made by the papacy to avoid lasting infamy. While Conversos may have been upset, we hear little of any opposition from Old Christians during this period. Now, by no means does this mean that they supported the institution. It simply means they were not adamantly
opposed to it, likely because they were benefiting from its actions. Now that tended to change in some areas, depending on the level of inquisitor corruption. In fourteen ninety nine, the Inquisitor of Cordoba was removed after being found guilty of fraud and extortion. He was replaced by a new inquisitor, who shortly thereafter became ensnared in his own legal troubles after trying to extort a few prominent
Old Christian families. Evidently, the Old Christians were fine with extortion so long as it did not involve them Converso, witnesses later testified that said inquisitor forced them to teach Jewish prayers to old Christians for the sole purpose of then prosecuting those old Christians for allegedly becoming Jewish. An independent inquiry later into his actions proved that the evidence against the accused was quote all fabricated. There's an interesting
exams sample of this that comes out of Granada. In Granada, the inquisitor accused the archbishop of essentially having a synagogue in his palace. There, the inquisitor arrested the archbishop and all his household, including his sister, two nieces, their daughters, and all their servants. The relatives and servants were tortured
and duly produced denunciations against the archbishop. The papacy intervened and the archbishop was acquitted of all charges in April of fifteen oh seven, and he and his family were set free. Unfortunately, it was too late for the archbishop, who was by then an old and broken man, walking barefoot and bare headed through the streets of Granada in the procession of Ascension Day on the thirteenth of May. He was seized by a violent fever, which the following day ended
his life. On his deathbed, he denounced the Inquisitor and his emplishments for quote, trying to wipe out the conversos, which is clearly against the Holy Catholic Faith, which requires that there be no distinction between jew and Greek end quote. The archbishop's care for his flock had left him no time to care for himself. He died in total poverty on the same day. There's an interesting letter of protest that's written to the King's secretary that reads as follows quote,
the government had failed to exercise effective control over its ministers. As for the Inquisition, the method adopted was to place so much confidence in the Archbishop of Seville that they were unable to defame the whole kingdom, to destroy without God or justice, a great part of it slaying and robbing and violating maids
and wives, to the great dishonor of the Christian religion. The damages which the wicked officials of the Inquisition have wrought in my land are so many and so great, that no reasonable person, on hearing of them would not grieve sadly. The inquisitor in question received no punishment at all for his crimes. He returned to Seville, where he was allowed to die in peace. At the death of Ferdinand on January the twenty third, fifteen sixteen, the crown
passed to his grandson Charles the Fifth. Technically, since the death of Isabella in fifteen oh four, Castile had been under the rule of his daughter Juana the Mad Despite the fact that she was technically queen, Juana was considered unfit due to mental incapacity to rule, which some historians today now hotly debate. Hence, Charles became the effective first king of a United Spain. While the Spanish court waited for Charles to arrive, the Inquisition continued to function on its
own under the control of Cardinal cis Neros. Whatever since Narrow's views may have been, many contemporaries thought that some reform in the judicial procedure of the Inquisition was essential, even if they did not question the tribunal's existence. The arrival of the seventeen year old king from Flanders set off a train of requests and demands which constituted the last chapter in the struggle to subject the Inquisition to the
rule of law. When Charles, after his arrival in Spain fifteen seventeen, held the first cortes of his reign in Vallalodid in February of fifteen eighteen. His deputies petitioned, quote that your Highness provide that the Office of the Holy Inquisition proceed in such a way as to maintain justice, and that the wicked be punished and the innocent not suffer. They asked moreover, that the forms of the law be observed, that the inquisitioners be chosen from reputable and learned
men. The main result of this was the series of instructions for the Inquisition, drawn up principally by the initiative of jun de so Edge, who was the Chancellor of the King, a man who was accused in being in the pay of the Conversos. The preamble to these proposed instructions claims that accused people have not been able to defend themselves fully, Many innocent and guiltless have suffered death, harm, oppression, injury, and infamy. And many of our
vassals have absented themselves from these realms. And as events have shown in general, these realms have received and receive great ill and harm, and have been in our notorious throughout the world end quote. The proposed reforms therefore included provisions that prisoners be placed in open public prisons, be able to receive visitors, be assigned counsel, be presented with an accusation on arrest, and given the
names of witnesses. In addition, goods of the accused could not be taken in sould before a verdict, nor could the salaries of the inquisitors be payable out of confiscations. Prisoners should be allowed recourse to mass and the sacraments while awaiting trial, and care should be taken not to let those condemned to perpetual prison die of hunger. If torture were used, it should be in moderation, and there should be no new quote inventions of torture as have been used
until now end quote. Each of these clauses points to the existence of evils which the new Pragmatic Order was supposed to fix. Had the instructions ever been approved, a totally different inquisition probably would have come into existence, secrecy would
have disappeared, and the opportunity for abuse largely removed. Unfortunately, in fifteen eighteen, Cisneos, who was receptive to reforms, died and Charles replaced him with his own tutor, the Dutch Cardinal Adrian of Utrecht, Bishop of Tortosa, and he firmly opposed any reform or innovation whatsoever. Meanwhile, Charles had gone to Aragon, where he accepted the allegiance of the Kingdom and the Cortes,
which opened at Saragosa in May of fifteen eighteen. Surprisingly, when the Cortes offered to advance him a large sum of money in exchange for an agreement to a list of thirty one articles which were substantially the same as those drawn up by his chancellor, the king agreed. It soon became clear, though, that he had no intention of observing the agreement. Once he had the
cash in hand, Charles let the treaty lapse. A subsequent message to the Spanish ambassador in Rome asked him Charles to secure from the Pope revocation of the articles and a dispensation from his oath to observe them. However, the Cortes had already taken the step of having Charles's signature to the articles authenticated by Juan Pratt, the notary of the Courts. All the relevant papers were then sent to Rome in the hands of Diego de la Casas, a converso from Seville.
After the disillusion of the Cortes in January fifteen nineteen, the inquisition stepped in the inquisition was determined that these papers not go forward. They arrested Pratt on the charge of having falsified the articles, which was ridiculous drawn up at the courtes. The accusation was patently false, but both ecclesiastical and secular authorities
in Castile acted as though they were true. The new Chancellor urgently drew up papers, which he sent to Rome in April, claiming that these were genuine and that the official copy was a forgery. By now was a serious constitutional argument in Aragon, and the deputies and nobility of the Realm, meeting in conference in May, sent to Charles a request for the release of Pratt, threatening not to grant any money now until their demands were met. They summoned
the courtes and refused to disperse until justice had been done. At this stage, in what was now quite the quagmire, Pope Leo the tenth intervened in favor of the Aragonese. In July fifteen nineteen. He issued three briefs, one to Charles, one to the Inquisitor General, and one to the Tribunal of Sarnagosa, reducing the powers of the Inquisition to the bounds of ordinary canon law and revoking all the special privileges they had been granted. Charles and his
officials now played their hand. They refused to allow the publication of the brief in Spain and sent a firm protest to Rome. The Pope, and this is starting to look like a tennis match, now shifted his position and suspended the briefs without revoking them. At this time, the Aragonese immediately discontinued payment of any grant to the crown. Finally, in December of fifteen twenty the Pope confirmed the concordat of fifteen eighteen, but in terms that didn't bother to
specify whether it was the original sent by Pratt or the corrected one. A compromise was eventually reached in fifteen twenty one, wherein Cardinal Adrian of Utrecht accepted the Aragonese version for the time being, and finally, after about two years, let Pratt out of prison. The victory of the Aragonese, though was an unsubstantial victory. The Inquisition at no time afterwards admitted the validity of the
Concordats of fifteen twelve or fifteen eighteen. So the struggles of all those years to bring the Inquisition to heal, to give it some rules, to make it fune, some law somewhere were in vain. At the Castilian Cortes in fifteen twenty requests made of Valadi did for the reform and the procedure of the Inquisition were repeated, but again to no avail. Later that same year, while Charles was away in Flanders, another plan for reform was sent to him.
This and subsequent proposals fell through. On his return to Spain, a cortes was held in Valado did in again in fifteen twenty three. Again the old suggestions for reform were brought up. These were fortified by a request that the salaries of the inquisitors should be paid by the Crown and not drawn from confiscations. Sadly, failure again was the result, and the Inquisition continued totally
unreformed. At this time a consistent stream of opposition to the Inquisition continued to flow out of Castile, but the frequency of said complaints was certainly less in the mid sixteenth century than it had been in the late fifteenth The reason for this was not that the Inquisition had gotten less corrupt. It was because the population had grown accustomed to it and hence more tolerant of its abuses. By fifteen fifty, the institution itself was effectively untouchable. All of this would not
have been possible without the implicit support of the Old Christian majority. Yet in part it must be conceded that the Inquisition survived because of the unswerving support of the Crown, which refused to abandon an institution which had proven so useful. Like Ferdinand before him, Charles the Fifth was wholly dedicated to it and introduced a similar tribunal in the Netherlands in fifteen twenty. But once again, support
of the Inquisition was extremely regional. Outside of cast deal, few local elites supported the institution, and that had nothing to do with kindness or humanity. It had everything to do with those elites jealousy of the special privileges inquisitors enjoyed. Plus, said inquisitors tended to be outsiders, so local elites, even if they were Old Christians, tended not to support the Inquisition out of purely
secular motivations, and so it was. For three centuries more the Inquisition would continue to be a standard feature of the Spanish landscape, just as it had been bitterly opposed by the Conversos. So in time it would earn the profound hatred of other minorities in anti Muslim activity. Arguably, it even earned some popularity among the Christians. The chief victims of the acts of Faith in the Crown of Aragon were quote nearly always people for whom the general public had little
sympathy end quote. In Aragon and Valencia, the victims were almost certainly Moors. In Catalonia they were always French immigrants. Despite this victimization of minorities, the Inquisition still found it difficult to earn genuine popular support in the eastern realms of the Iberian Peninsula. The rest of the Spanish population gradually came to accept
it, but in a spirit that could hardly be described as enthusiastic. In one perspective, the Inquisition, though, cannot be seen as the imposition of a sinister tyranny on an unwilling people, brought into being by a particular social situation. It was inspired by a decisively old Christian ideology and controlled by men whose outlook reflected the mentality of the mass of Castiday. Millions. Outside of cast Deal, support for it remained grudging. Outside of Spain, opposition was
total. Within the Golden Age of Spain, little evidence exists of objections to its existence from intellectuals or ordinary people. It fulfilled a role a guardian against heresy, a keeper of public morality, an arbiter between factions, a tribunal for small cases, and all of these were things that no institution other than
the Inquisition fulfilled. Frankly, it was also accepted because being honest here over long periods of time and over substantial areas of the Iberian Peninsula, the Inquisition quite simply did nothing. After an explosive entry into the course of Spain's history, it simply slipped into the stream of daily life. Its impact and duration, though, was to be much longer, longer than anyone could have imagined
in the beginning. As always, if you'd like additional content, or if you'd be interested in supporting the show, check out the links in the show notes. There are links there to the website, to the Patreon page and the Western C two point oh, the latter of which both offer a seven day free trial.