John, of Austria, 1547-1578; Spain -- History -- Philip II, 1556-1598
Behind him came in the following order, his brother Francisco de Vibero,
also a cleric, who did not repent until the last moment, and who was
gagged to silence his dreadful blasphemies; their sister Doña Beatriz de
Vibero, a devout woman of rare beauty; the master Alonso Pérez, cleric
of Palencia, the silversmith Juan García, Cristóbal de Campo, the
Bachelor of Arts Antonio Herrezuelo, also gagged, and impenitent to the
last, and for this the only one to perish in the flames; Cristóbal de
Padilla, a native of Zamora, Doña Catalina de Ortega, widow of the
captain Loaysa, the licentiate Calahorra, Alcalde Mayor in the
employment of the Bishop, Catalina Román, Isabel Estrada, Juan
Velásquez, and Gonzalo Baez, a Portuguese, and not a Lutheran heretic,
but a Jew.
These were all condemned to be garrotted and their corpses burnt, and
for this reason they had flames painted on their sanbenitos and corozas.
Behind them two familiars of the Holy Office carried on a stretcher the
shapeless figure of a woman, also dressed with a coroza and sanbenito,
the bones of Doña Leonor de Vibero, mother of the Cazallas, exhumed from
the monastery of San Benito, to be burnt with her effigy. Behind this
first group came, guarded in the same manner, another sixteen prisoners,
men and women, condemned to various punishments, but not to death, for
which reason they did not wear the corozas or flames on their
sanbenitos; the men went bareheaded, and the women with a piece of linen
on their head to hide their shame. The most noteworthy among them were
D. Pedro Sarmiento, Commander of the Order of Alcantara, and a relation
of the Admiral, and his wife Doña Mencia de Figueroa, who had been a
lady of the Court; he was condemned to forfeit the robes of his Order
and Commandery, to perpetual prison and the sanbenito, with the
necessity of hearing mass and a sermon on Sunday, and to communicate on
the three great feasts, and forbidden to use silk, gold, silver, horses,
and jewels; she was only condemned to perpetual prison and the wearing
of the sanbenito.
When Doña Mencia mounted the platform the ladies of the Court burst into
tears, and the Princess herself hurriedly left and went inside, wiping
her eyes with a handkerchief. The Marqués de Poza, D. Luis de Rojas,
also inspired deep pity, a gay boy, exiled for ever from the Court, and
deprived of all the honours of a gentleman; and even more Doña Ana
Enriquez, daughter of the Marqués de Alcañices, a girl of great beauty,
who was sentenced to leave the platform with sanbenito and taper, to
fast for three days, to return with her dress to the prison, and then go
free. Such was the repentance and confusion of this lady that, mounting
the tribune to hear her sentence, her strength left her, and she would
have fallen from the platform, had not a son of the Duque de Gandia, who
was there as a devout penitent, supported her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account