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The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII.Llorente, Juan Antonio

History

The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII.

Name: The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII.
Author: Llorente, Juan Antonio

Llorente, Juan Antonio

Inquisition -- Spain

Juan Perez de Saavedra was born at Cordova. His father was a captain in
a regiment of infantry, and a perpetual member of the municipality of
that city, from a privilege acquired by his family; his mother, Anne de
Guzman, was descended from a family as noble as that of her husband.
Saavedra, who was possessed of great talents and information, employed
himself for some time in forging apostolical bulls, royal ordinances,
regulations of councils and tribunals, letters of change, and the
signatures of a great number of persons: he imitated them so perfectly,
that he made use of them without exciting any doubts of their
authenticity, and passed for a knight commander of the military order of
St. Jago, and received the salary, which was three thousand ducats, for
the space of a year and a half. In a short time, by means of the royal
orders which he counterfeited, he acquired three hundred and sixty
thousand ducats, and the secret of this great fortune would never have
been revealed (as he expresses himself in his confession) _if he had not
clothed himself in scarlet_, that is, if he had not taken it into his
head to feign himself a cardinal, in order to exercise the functions of
a legate _à latere_.

He says, that being in the kingdom of Algarves, a short time after the
institution of the Jesuits had been confirmed by Paul III., a priest of
that society arrived in the country, furnished with an apostolical
brief, which authorized him to found a college of the order in the
kingdom of Portugal; that having heard him preach on St. Andrew's Day,
he was so pleased with him, that he invited him to dinner, and kept him
several days in his house. The jesuit, having discovered his talent
during this period, expressed a wish to have a _fac-simile_ of his
brief, containing an eulogy on the Society of Jesus. He performed this
task with so much success, that the brief might have been taken for the
original; and they at last agreed that, to complete the good which would
accrue to Portugal from the establishment of the Society of Jesus, it
would be proper to introduce the Inquisition on the same plan as that of
Spain. Saavedra then went to Tabilla, a town in the same province,
where, with the assistance of the jesuit, he made the apostolical bull
which was necessary for their purpose, and forged letters from Charles
V. and Prince Philip his son, to the King of Portugal, John III. This
bull was supposed to have been sent to Saavedra, as legate, to establish
the Inquisition in Portugal, if the king consented.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII.Llorente, Juan Antonio

History

The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII.

Llorente, Juan Antonio

Inquisition -- Spain

Juan Perez de Saavedra was born at Cordova. His father was a captain in
a regiment of infantry, and a perpetual member of the municipality of
that city, from a privilege acquired by his family; his mother, Anne de
Guzman, was descended from a family as noble as that of her husband.
Saavedra, who was possessed of great talents and information, employed
himself for some time in forging apostolical bulls, royal ordinances,
regulations of councils and tribunals, letters of change, and the
signatures of a great number of persons: he imitated them so perfectly,
that he made use of them without exciting any doubts of their
authenticity, and passed for a knight commander of the military order of
St. Jago, and received the salary, which was three thousand ducats, for
the space of a year and a half. In a short time, by means of the royal
orders which he counterfeited, he acquired three hundred and sixty
thousand ducats, and the secret of this great fortune would never have
been revealed (as he expresses himself in his confession) _if he had not
clothed himself in scarlet_, that is, if he had not taken it into his
head to feign himself a cardinal, in order to exercise the functions of
a legate _à latere_.

He says, that being in the kingdom of Algarves, a short time after the
institution of the Jesuits had been confirmed by Paul III., a priest of
that society arrived in the country, furnished with an apostolical
brief, which authorized him to found a college of the order in the
kingdom of Portugal; that having heard him preach on St. Andrew's Day,
he was so pleased with him, that he invited him to dinner, and kept him
several days in his house. The jesuit, having discovered his talent
during this period, expressed a wish to have a _fac-simile_ of his
brief, containing an eulogy on the Society of Jesus. He performed this
task with so much success, that the brief might have been taken for the
original; and they at last agreed that, to complete the good which would
accrue to Portugal from the establishment of the Society of Jesus, it
would be proper to introduce the Inquisition on the same plan as that of
Spain. Saavedra then went to Tabilla, a town in the same province,
where, with the assistance of the jesuit, he made the apostolical bull
which was necessary for their purpose, and forged letters from Charles
V. and Prince Philip his son, to the King of Portugal, John III. This
bull was supposed to have been sent to Saavedra, as legate, to establish
the Inquisition in Portugal, if the king consented.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII.

The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII.

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