A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 1Lea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 1
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- Spain
Sotomayor's successor, Arce y Reynoso, conformed himself to these new
rules and, until his death in 1665, he submitted all appointments and
transfers to the king. Philip survived him but three months and, under
the regency which followed and the reign of the imbecile Carlos II, the
inquisitor-general resumed the power of appointment without
consultation. So completely was the royal supervision forgotten that the
instructions to Inquisitor-general Rocaberti, in 1695, repeat the old
formula of 1608.[756] In this, the injunction of consulting the Suprema
was displeasing to the Holy See, after its intervention in the affair of
Froilan Díaz (of which more hereafter) had caused it to take sides in
the quarrel over the respective powers of the inquisitor-general and the
Suprema. As the commission of the former was a papal grant, it held that
no restriction could be placed on him and, when Vidal Marin was
appointed, Clement XI sent to him August 8, 1705, urgent instructions to
uphold the dignity of his office which had exclusive authority in the
premises.[757]
The command was too agreeable not to be obeyed and, from this time, the
unrestricted power of appointment was in the hands of the
inquisitor-general. About 1765, a writer tells us that all salaried
offices were filled by him alone. If the king wished to gratify some one
with a position he would signify his desire to the inquisitor-general
that such person should be borne in mind at the first vacancy and the
royal wish was respected, in the absence of special objection. If such
there were it was reported to the king and his decision was
awaited.[758] With the tendency to assert the prerogative, under Carlos
III, this was called in question, in 1775, when the royal Camara
scrutinized the brief commissioning Felipe Bertran as
inquisitor-general, but the protest was merely formal; the appointing
power remained undisturbed; it survived the Revolution and continued
until the Inquisition was suppressed.[759]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: _THE INQUISITOR-GENERALSHIP_]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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