Spanish Prisons: The Inquisition at Home and Abroad, Prisons Past and PresentGriffiths, Arthur
History
Spanish Prisons: The Inquisition at Home and Abroad, Prisons Past and Present
Griffiths, Arthur
Inquisition -- Spain; Prisons -- Spain -- History
At first mild measures were to be tried. Cardinal Mendoza, Archbishop
of Seville, had drawn up a catechism instructing his clergy to spare no
pains in illuminating the benighted Israelites by a candid exposition
of the true principles of Christianity. Progress was slow, and after
two years the results were so meagre that it was thought necessary to
proceed to the nomination of inquisitors, and two Dominican monks, Fra
Miguel de Morillo, and Juan de San Martin, were appointed with full
powers, assisted by an assessor and a procurator fiscal.
The Jews played into the hands of their tormentors. Great numbers
had been terrified into apostasy by the unrelenting hostility of the
people. Their only escape from the furious attacks made upon them had
been conversion to Christianity, often quite feigned and unreal. The
proselytising priests, however, claimed to have done wonders; one, St.
Vincent Ferrer, a Dominican of Valencia, had by means of his eloquence
and the miraculous power vouchsafed him, "changed the hearts of no less
than thirty-five thousand of house of Judah." These numerous converts
were of course unlikely to be very tenacious in their profession of
the new faith, and not strangely laid themselves open to constant
suspicion. Many were denounced and charged with backsliding, many more
boldly reverted to Judaism, or secretly performed their old rites.
Now uncompromising war was to be waged against the backsliding "new
Christians" or Conversos.
The inquisitors installed themselves in Seville, and made the Dominican
convent of San Pablo their first headquarters, but this soon proved
quite insufficient in size and they were allowed to occupy the fortress
of the Triana, the great fortress of Seville, on the right bank of
the Guadalquivir, the immense size and gloomy dungeons of which were
especially suitable. This part of the city was much exposed to
inundations, and when, in 1626, it was threatened with destruction by
an unusually high flood, the seat of the tribunal was removed to the
palace of the Caballeros Tellos Taveros in the parish of San Marco. In
1639 it returned to the Triana which had been repaired, and remained
there till 1789, when further encroachments of the river caused it to
be finally transferred to the College of Las Beccas. The Triana is now
a low suburb, inhabited principally by gipsies and the lower classes.
It was at one time the potters' quarter where the famous _azulejo_
tiles were made, and its factories to-day produce the well known
majolica vases and plates with surface of metallic lustre.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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