A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume IILea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume II
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- History
There are many hirelings, and because they are hirelings they care only
for shearing, not for feeding the sheep!” and he draws a deplorable
picture of the Spanish Church, distracted with heretics, Jews, and
Saracens. Soon after this, in 1464, the Cortes assembled at Medina
turned its attention to the subject and complained of the great number
of “_malos cristianos e sospechosos en la fe_,” but the national
aversion to the papal Inquisition still manifested itself, and its
introduction was not suggested. The archbishops and bishops were
requested to set on foot a rigid investigation after heretics, and King
Henry IV. was asked to lend them aid, so that every suspected place
might be thoroughly searched, and offenders brought to light,
imprisoned, and punished. It was represented to the king that this would
be to his advantage, as the confiscations would inure to the royal
treasury, and he graciously expressed his assent; but the effort was
resultless.[207]
For the most part the orthodoxy of Spain had been vexed only with a few
Fraticelli and Waldenses, not numerous enough to call for active
repression. The main trouble lay in the multitudes of Jews and Moors
who, under the law, were entitled to toleration, but whom popular
fanaticism had forced to conversion in great numbers, and whose purity
of faith was justly liable to suspicion. Hereafter I hope to have the
opportunity of showing that from both the religious and the political
standpoint of the age the measures taken by Ferdinand and Isabella were
by no means without justification, however mistaken they were both in
morals and in policy, and however unfortunate in their ultimate results.
At present it suffices to point out this condition of affairs to explain
the dissatisfaction which was widely prevalent and the demand for an
efficient remedy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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