A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 3Lea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 3
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- Spain
This latter pledge was soon broken, by edicts of April 21 and 22, 1499,
forbidding them to leave the kingdom without royal permission and
prohibiting the purchase from them of lands or bills of exchange.
Popular aversion increased and culminated in the awful Lisbon massacre
of 1506. This wrought a revulsion of feeling; in 1507 the restrictive
laws of 1499 were repealed; the New Christians were allowed freely to
trade and to come and go; they were in all things assimilated to the
natives, and were entitled to the common law of the land. In 1512 the
twenty years' exemption was extended to 1534, and although, in 1515, Dom
Manoel applied to Leo X for the introduction of the Inquisition, on the
request being delayed the matter was dropped and was not revived. Until
Manoel's death, in 1521, the New Christians thus enjoyed toleration and
flourished accordingly. They grew rich and prosperous, they intermarried
with the noblest houses, and they largely entered the Church. Externally
their religious observance was unimpeachable, and Portugal naturally
became a haven of refuge for Spanish Conversos, nor is it likely that
the restrictions on such immigration, enacted in 1503, were rigidly
observed.[682]
[Sidenote: _INQUISITION OF PORTUGAL_]
His successor, Dom João III, a youth of 20, was a fanatic of narrow mind
and limited intelligence, but the influence of Manoel's counsellors, who
continued in the direction of affairs, procured, between 1522 and 1524,
the confirmation of the privileges granted by the late king.
Ecclesiastical pressure and popular prejudice, however, made themselves
felt and, in 1524, a secret inquest brought the testimony of parish
priests that the New Christians were suspected of being Christians only
in name.[683] Then João's marriage, in 1525, with Catalina, sister of
Charles V--the only Portuguese queen admitted to a seat in the Council
of State--brought a powerful influence to bear; the growing strength of
these tendencies gradually overcame considerations of plighted faith
and, early in 1531, Dr. Brás Neto, the ambassador at Rome, was
instructed to procure secretly from Clement VII briefs establishing in
Portugal an Inquisition on the Spanish model. We have seen in Spain the
objections of the Holy See to the royal control of the institution and
to the abandonment of all share in the confiscations, and these probably
explain the delays which postponed, until December 17th, the issue of a
brief conferring on the royal nominee, Frade Diogo da Silva, the
requisite faculties as inquisitor-general. This was followed, January
13, 1532 by one ordering him to assume the office; the two reached
Lisbon in February, but it seems to have been feared that their
publication would lead to an immediate exodus of the New Christians, and
they were kept secret until laws could be framed reviving, with
additional rigor, the edicts of 1499, prohibiting, for three years,
departure from the kingdom, the sale of real estate and the negotiation
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