A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 2Lea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 2
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- Spain
If Torquemada failed in obtaining the desired jurisdiction over the
Spanish episcopate, he could at least strike terror by accusing some of
them to the Holy See, where their condemnation would be followed by that
of their ancestors and large confiscations would result. Two of those of
Jewish blood, Dávila of Segovia and Aranda of Calahorra, were selected
for attack. In the existing popular temper it could not have been
difficult to collect evidence that they were regarded as suspect and
were defamed for heresy. Presumably this was sent to Rome and the matter
was regarded as of sufficient moment to induce the despatch of
Antoniotto Pallavicini, then Bishop of Tournay, as a special nuncio to
confer with Torquemada.[122] He returned to Rome with evidence deemed
sufficient to justify their summons thither. In 1490, Dávila went to
Rome, in his eightieth year. Since 1461 he had been Bishop of Segovia
and, in spite of Jewish descent, his family was one of the most
influential in Castile, intermarried with its noblest blood.[123] He had
given ample proof of pitiless orthodoxy, in 1468, when, at Sepúlveda,
the rabbi, Solomon Pico and the leaders of the synagogue were accused of
crucifying a Christian boy during Holy Week. Bishop Dávila promptly
arrested sixteen of those most deeply implicated, of whom seven were
burnt and the rest were hanged, except a boy who begged to be
baptized--although this did not satisfy the pious Sepúlvedans, who slew
some of the remaining Jews and drove the rest away.[124] He had given
cause of offence, however, for, when the Inquisition was introduced in
Segovia, he drove the inquisitors from his diocese and remonstrated
boldly with the sovereigns and, when this proved fruitless, it was in
evidence that he dug up at night, from the cemetery of the convent of la
Merced, the bones of his ancestors and concealed them, in order to
destroy the proof of their interment in the Jewish fashion.[125] In Rome
he seems to have found favor with Alexander VI who, in 1494, sent him to
Naples in company with his nephew, the Cardinal of Monreale. His case
was protracted and he died in Rome, October 28, 1497; the result is not
positively known, but it must have been favorable as otherwise his pious
legacies would have been fruitless and Colmenares, the historian of
Segovia, would not have dared to call him one of the most useful
prelates that the see had enjoyed, nor would Galindez de Carvajal have
said that his errand to Rome was merely to defend the bones of his
father.[126]
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