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
The Spanish tactics of delay were successful. Pius V died, May 1, 1572,
without having published a sentence. Whether one was framed or not is a
disputed question. Salazar tells us that it was drawn up, but that Pius,
before publication, desired to submit it to Philip and sent it by his
chief chamberlain, Alessandro Casale, who was detained by bad weather
and other accidents until after the death of the pope. Llorente gives
the details of the sentence as absolving Carranza of the charges but
maintaining the prohibition of the Commentaries in the vernacular, with
permission to translate it into Latin after removing the doubtful
expressions. Simancas, who was one of the inquisitors employed on the
case in Rome, says positively that Pius died without framing a sentence;
that when Carranza's friends claimed that he had done so, and urged his
successor, Gregory XIII, to publish it, the latter offered twenty
thousand crowns to any one who would produce it and thus save him the
task of reviewing the case.[223] However this may be, Pius was convinced
of Carranza's innocence. He allowed the Commentaries to be publicly sold
in Rome; when the fiscal Salgado petitioned for its suppression, he made
no answer and, when Salgado insisted upon it in the congregation, he
replied angrily that he did not consider it subject to suppression and
that they had better not by persistence force him formally to approve it
by a _motu proprio_.[224]
Gregory XIII was not liable to the reproach bestowed by Zuñiga on Pius V
of indifference to personal and worldly considerations. He was quite
accessible to them and realized fully the importance to the Holy See of
keeping on good terms with the Spanish master of Italy. His experience
as the Legate Buoncompagni had sufficiently acquainted him with Philip's
temper and, when Carranza's friends naturally expected him to take the
matter up where the death of Pius had left it, he insisted on going over
it personally from the beginning. As he could give but fragmentary
attention to it he was thus able to postpone committing himself for some
years. This gave Philip opportunity to gather fresh testimony. By means
not the most gentle, the survivors of Carranza's friends, who had
approved of the Commentaries, were induced to retract. The three
bishops, Guerrero, Blanco and Delgado condemned propositions by the
hundred, drawn from works submitted to them as Carranza's and they
exculpated themselves from their approval of the Commentaries by saying
that they had not then seen his MS. writings and, in view of his
reputation, they had sought to give a Catholic sense wherever possible.
Other opinions were industriously collected; Gregory made a decent show
of resistance to admitting fresh testimony at this late day, but yielded
to Philip's threats of what he might find necessary to do in case his
desires were thwarted, and thus excuses, if not reasons, were afforded
for reaching a different conclusion from that of Pius V.[225]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account