Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition: A HistorySabatini, Rafael
History
Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition: A History
Sabatini, Rafael
Inquisition -- Spain; Torquemada, Tomás, de, 1420-1498
He says that Tazarte was the leader in all the vituperations (which
sounds likely enough, as Tazarte was the celebrant), that the others
uttered them after him, and he admits that he himself said some of the
things which he has mentioned, but he doesn’t enter into particulars.
“For what purpose were the heart and the Host required, and what good
purpose was expected to be served by these sorceries?”
He replies that these things were done to the end that the inquisitors
or any others who should aim at molesting these Christians concerned
should die of rabies.
“What advantage did the Jews look to gain?”
He states that Tazarte had assured them that as a consequence of the
enchantment all Christians in the land must either perish or become
Jews, so that the Law of Moses should triumph and prevail.
“To whom were the heart and the Host to be delivered for the said
enchantment?”
“To Mosé Abenamias at Zamora.”
“Was Abenamias himself to perform the enchantment?”
“No; he was to give orders for its performance to a wizard of Zamora.”
“Does he, or do any of the others, know the said wizard, and what is
his name?”
He cannot answer the question, beyond telling them that he had heard
Tazarte say that he knew Abenamias and the wizard, and that he had been
to school with the latter.
“How many times did they assemble to decide upon the crucifixion?”
He knows that all (with the exception of himself) assembled in the same
cave to perform an enchantment with a Host on an occasion previous to
that of the boy’s crucifixion. He knows this because he was invited to
the gathering; he did not wish to go, and so stayed away, but he was
told afterwards by the others what had been done.
“What Christians does he know to have kept the Sabbath, the Passover,
and to have performed Jewish rites?”
He says that Benito once came to their house at Tenbleque and spent
a Sabbath with them, doing no work, eating _adafinas_ and drinking
_Caser_ wine; and that he came upon another occasion and asked them
when was the fast of _Tisabeaf_ (the eve of Purim), and that he
believes that, being informed of this, he kept that fast.
He can remember no others, excepting one Diego de Ayllon and three of
his daughters and a son, all of whom kept the Sabbath and observed
the law of Moses in secret; and the widow of one Juan de Origuela,
deceased, who sometimes kept Jewish fasts; and Juan Vermejo of
Tenbleque, whom he knows once to have kept the great fast.
These names are duly noted on the margin of the notary’s document as
matters of importance which need inquiring into.
“Whence was the wafer procured, and how does he know that it was
consecrated?”
He answers that when they assembled, a fortnight after the crucifixion,
he heard Alonso Franco say that he had taken it from the monstrance in
the Church of Romeral, replacing it by an unconsecrated wafer.
“Was this the wafer given to Tazarte with the heart?”
He believes so, but he is not sure, nor does he know what became of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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