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
With the advent of the Bourbon dynasty there was a change. In the
governmental theory of Louis XIV the Church was part of the State and
subject to the dictation of the monarch. In the desperate struggle of
the War of Succession, the advisers of the young Philip V had no
hesitation in employing all the resources within reach and the
Inquisition was expected to play its part. At an early period of the
conflict, the Suprema sent orders to the tribunals to enjoin earnestly,
on all their officials, fidelity to the king, who thus had the benefit
of a well-distributed army of missionaries in every quarter of the
land.[558] It was easy, as we have seen, for inquisitorial logic to
stretch the elastic definition of heresy in any desired direction, and
lack of loyalty to Philip was made to come within its boundaries. In an
edict of October 9, 1706, the Suprema pointed out that Clement XI had
threatened punishment for all priests who faltered in their devotion to
the king, yet notwithstanding this there were some who in the
confessional urged penitents to disobedience and relieved them from the
obligation of their oath of allegiance. This was a manifest abuse of the
sacrament and, as it was the duty of the Inquisition to maintain the
purity of the faith and prevent the evil resulting from a doctrine so
pernicious, all penitents so solicited were ordered, within nine days,
to denounce their confessors, under pain of excommunication and other
discretional penalties.[559]
The Inquisition, during the war, was especially serviceable in dealing
with ecclesiastics, who were beyond the reach of secular and military
courts, and this in cases where there was no pretence of heresy. The
events of 1706--the capture and loss of Madrid by the Allies and the
revolutions in Valencia and Catalonia--occasioned a number of trials for
high treason. The Suprema was still in Burgos when Philip V informed
Inquisitor-general Vidal Marin that he had ordered the arrest of Juan
Fernando Frias, a cleric, who was to be delivered to the Inquisition at
Burgos, to be tried for high treason, with all speed. The Suprema
replied, August 13th, that it had placed Frias in safe custody,
incomunicado; the inquisitor-general had commissioned the Prior of Santa
María de Palacio of Logroño to serve on the tribunal, and there should
be the least possible delay in the verification and punishment of the
offence. It assured the king that he could rely on the promptest
fulfilment of his wishes and of the _vindicta publica_, for the
Apostolic jurisdiction of the Suprema extended to the infliction of the
death-penalty.[560] In its loyal zeal it took no thought of
irregularity. Indeed, the Suprema seems to have issued commissions to
tribunals to act in such cases. In 1707, Isidro de Balmaseda, Inquisitor
of Valencia, signs himself as "Inquisidor y Juez Apostólico contra los
eclesiasticos difidentes," in the case of Fray Peregrin Gueralt,
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