A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 4Lea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 4
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- Spain
The severity visited upon astrologers shows the determination of the
Inquisition, and its estimate of the difficulty of the task.
Ecclesiastics, as we have seen, except when relaxed, were spared
appearance in public autos in order to avert scandal, but astrology was
made an exception and the penalties were extreme. Thus, in the Toledo
auto of October 7, 1663, there appeared Don Pedro Zacome Pramosellas,
arch-priest of Brimano (Cremona) sentenced to abjure _de levi_ and
perpetual banishment from Spain, after three years of galley-service,
besides prohibition to practice astrology or to read books on the
subject. So, in the Toledo auto of October 30, 1667, the Licentiate
Pedro López Camarena Montesinos, a beneficed priest of San Lorenzo of
Valencia, for judicial astrology and searching for treasures, was
condemned to abjure _de levi_, to four years in an African presidio,
followed by six years' exile from Madrid and Toledo, suspension from
Orders and deprivation of all ecclesiastical revenues.[431] This
severity, doubtless, did much to aid advancing intelligence in
outgrowing the ancient beliefs but, as late as 1796, we find Fray Miguel
Alberola, a lay-brother of San Pedro de Alcántara, prosecuted in
Valencia for using the "wheel of Beda"--evidently the _Petosiris_, a
device by which the motions of the moon were used in place of the
multitudinous and complex details of the stars and planets.[432]
* * * * *
Procedure in cases of sorcery had little to distinguish it from that in
ordinary heresy, except that, as a rule, torture was not employed. One
authority, indeed, tells that, although in Italy torture was used in
cases of heretical sorcery, it was never used in Spain, but another
assumes that in certain cases it was at the discretion of the
tribunal.[433] That this discretion was used is seen in the Mexican case
of Isabel de Montoya, a wretched old woman, in 1652, who freely
confessed to numerous devices for procuring money--charms and philtres
and conjurations. In addition to this was the evidence of her dupes, as
to her stories of her relations with the demon, which required
elucidation. She was tortured without extracting further confessions and
then was sentenced to a hundred lashes, three years' service in a
hospital and perpetual exile from Puebla.[434]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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