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
In this there was nothing repugnant to the spirit of the age, or of the
Latin systems of jurisprudence. In the spiritual sphere the Church had
long been accustomed to pass judgement on those who had passed to the
judgement-seat of God, and to exhume the remains of any heretic buried
in consecrated ground.[216] The imperial jurisprudence was equally
unforgiving in cases of _majetas_, or treason, in which the dead could
be prosecuted and their estates be confiscated, and the Theodosian Code
extended this to heresy.[217] As recently as 1600, in Scotland, the
bodies of the Earl of Gowrie and his brother were brought into court to
be present at their trial, and were duly sentenced to be hanged,
quartered and gibbeted; in 1609, Robert Logan of Restalrig, three years
after death, was accused of complicity in the Gowrie conspiracy, when
his bones were exhumed to grace the trial in which he was convicted and
his estate was confiscated.[218] As regards fugitives, in the
Continental systems of criminal law it was regarded as absurd to allow
contumacious absence to defeat justice. In Aragon the absentee was
summoned at his domicile to appear within fifteen days, after which he
was reputed contumacious and his trial proceeded, but he had the right,
even after sentence, to return and appeal, on reimbursing to the accuser
his expenses.[219]
The abundant harvest thus provided for the early Inquisition may be
estimated from the statement by a contemporary that, at the Toledo auto
de fe of July 25, 1485, there were burned the effigies of more than four
hundred dead and as many in that of May 25, 1490. The ceremony was
impressive. A great monument, covered with black, was erected in front
of the staging occupied by the inquisitors. The sentence of each culprit
was read and, as his name was called, the monument was opened and an
effigy, arrayed in Jewish grave-clothes, was brought out and condemned
as a heretic. Then a great fire was built in the centre of the plaza,
and all the effigies were consumed, together with the disinterred bones.
After this their names were announced in the cathedral, with a summons
to the heirs to appear, within twenty days, and render an account of
their inheritances which belonged to the king.[220] We might suspect
these figures of exaggeration were there not other evidences of the
magnitude of the work in progress and of the informal haste with which
it was conducted. In 1484, at Ciudad Real, a single proclamation to the
children and heirs, to appear and defend the deceased, contains the
names of sixty-one dead persons on trial and a single sentence condemns
forty-two, with a common enumeration of the Judaizing practices asserted
to be proved against them. In none of these cases did the children and
heirs put in an appearance to defend the memory and fame of the
dead.[221]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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