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
about it." The honest Ochoa still urged him to return to the court and
save his honor, intimating that the king might take action that would be
highly unpleasant, but it was to no purpose. Valdés was obdurate and
clung resolutely to his shekels.[133]
Philip had sent instructions as to the treatment of
recalcitrants--probably relegating bishops to their sees and nobles to
their estates--but there was hesitation felt as to banishing Valdés from
the court, although the continued pressure of Charles and Juana only
extorted a promise of fifty thousand ducats. Yet it was desired to
remove him and plans were tried to offer him a pretext for going. In
March, 1588, Juana ordered him to accompany the body of Queen Juana la
loca to Granada for interment, from which place he could visit his
Seville church; he made excuses but promised to go shortly. Then, when
she repeated the order, he offered many reasons for evading it,
including the heresies recently discovered in Seville and Murcia; the
translation of the body could wait until September and everybody, he
said, was trying to drive him from the court. She referred the matter to
the Royal Council, which decided that his excuses were insufficient and
that, even if the interment were postponed he could properly be ordered
to reside in his see.[134]
It was evident to Valdés that something was necessary to strengthen his
position and he skilfully utilized the discovery of a few Protestants in
Valladolid, of whom some were eminent clerics, like Augustin Cazalla and
Fray Domingo de Rojas, and others were persons of quality, like Luis de
Rojas and Doña Ana Enríquez. We shall have occasion to note hereafter
the extraordinary excitement caused by the revelation that
Protestantism was making inroads in court circles, the extent of which
was readily exaggerated, and it was stimulated and exploited by Valdés,
who magnified his zeal in combating the danger and conjured, at least
for the moment, the storm that was brewing. Philip wrote from Flanders,
June 5, 1558, to send him to his see without delay; if he still made
excuses he was to be excluded from the Council of State and this would
answer until his approaching return to Spain, when he would take
whatever action was necessary. Ten days later, on receiving letters from
Valdés enumerating the prisoners and describing the efforts made to
avert the danger, he countermanded the orders.[135] Still, this was only
a respite; we chance to hear of a meeting of the Council of State, in
August or September, in which Juan de Vega characterized as a great
scandal the disobedience of a vassal to the royal commands, in a matter
so just as residence in his see, and he suggested that, when the court
moved, no quarters should be assigned to Valdés, to which Archbishop
Carranza replied that it was no wonder that the orders of the king were
unable to effect what the commandments of God and the Church could not
accomplish.[136]
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