[1] Of course we do not here refer to honest historians like Langlois who estimates that one heretic out of every ten was abandoned to the secular arm (op. cit., p. 106). Dom Brial erroneously states in his preface to vol. xix of the _Recueil des Historiens des Gautes_ (p. xxiii) that Bernard Gui burned 637 heretics. This figure represented the number of heretics then known to be _condemned_, but only 40 of these were abandoned to the secular arm. The exact number is 42 out of 930. Cf. Douais, _Documents_, vol. i, p. ccv, and Appendix B. It is true that many writers are haunted by the cruelty of the Spanish or German tribunals which sent to the stake a great number of victims, i.e., _conversos_ and witches. From the very beginning, the Spanish Inquisition acted with the utmost severity. "Twelve hundred _conversos_, penitents, obdurate and relapsed heretics were present at the _auto-da-fé_ in Toledo, March, 1487; and, according to the most conservative estimate, Torquemada sent to the stake about two thousand heretics"[1] in twelve years. [1] Langlois, _L'Inquisition d'après des tableaux récents_, 1902, pp. 105, 106. This number, without being certain, is asserted by contemporaries, Pulga and Marinco Siculo. Cf. Héféle, _Le Cardinal Ximénes_, Paris, 1856, pp. 290, 291. Another contemporary, Bernaldes, speaks of over 700 burned from 1481-1488; cf. Gams, _Kirchengeschichte von Spanien_, vol. iii, 2, p. 69. "During this same period," says a contemporary historian, "fifteen thousand heretics did penance, and were reconciled to the Church."[1] That makes a total of seventeen thousand trials. We can thus understand how Torquemada, although grossly calumniated, came to be identified with this period, during which so many thousands of _conversos_ appeared before the Spanish tribunals. [1] Pulgar, in Héféle, op. cit., p. 291.