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
[66] Llorente says “January 6,” an obvious mistake considering that the
inquisitors published their first edict on the 2nd of that month, and
that Susan’s offence was subsequent to that publication.
[67] See Garcia Rodrigo, vol. i. cap. xx.
[68] Bernaldez tells us (cap. xliv.) that in the town of Aracena alone,
where the Inquisitors sought refuge from the pestilence, they set up a
tribunal and burnt twenty-three persons alive in addition to the number
of bodies they exhumed for the purpose.
[69] Bernaldez, cap. xliv.; Zuñiga, “Anales,” lib. xii. año 1481.
[70] “Historia de los Reyes Catolicos,” cap. xliv.
[71] See Llorente, “Historia Critica,” tom. i. p. 256 _et seq._
[72] Fidel Fita in “Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia,” xxiii.
p. 370.
[73] “Chronica,” part ii. cap. lxxvii.
[74] This, however, is a statement in which a misconception seems
obvious. If the statues were of plaster (and it is Llorente himself
who says so) they would not have stood the heat of furnaces placed
beneath them. Moreover, since death in such ovens would have been more
lingering and painful than at the stake, it is difficult to think
upon what possible grounds, where all were equally guilty, any of
the condemned should have been relegated to this further degree of
torment, or--conversely--those who died at the stake should have been
spared it. Besides, it is to be remembered that it was desired, and
held desirable, that the victims should suffer in full view of the
faithful. But the mistake which has crept in can be indicated. What
Bernaldez actually says is: “Ficieron facer aquel quemadero en Tablado
con aquellos quatro profetas de yeso en que los quemaban.” The “en
que” may refer either to the Quemadero generally or to the statues
in particular. But there can be little doubt that it refers to the
Quemadero, and that Llorente was mistaken in assuming it to refer to
the statues.
A curious instance of adapting the shape of a fact so that it will fit
the idea to be conveyed is afforded in this connection by Dr. Rule,
who calmly alters the substance of the statues, translating _yeso_ as
“limestone.” “Hist. of the Inquisition,” vol. i. p. 134.
[75] Garcia Rodrigo tells us that the architect of this elaborate
altar of intolerance was a New-Christian of such zeal that he found
employment in the Holy Office as one of its receivers, but that being
discovered in Judaizing practices he was himself burnt on the Quemadero
he had erected. No authority is furnished for the story, nor does
Llorante mention it, and one is inclined to place it in the category of
fables such as that which relates how the first head to be shorn off by
the guillotine was that of its inventor, Dr. Guillotin.
[76] Paramo, “De Origine,” p. 133. Llorente quotes this brief from
Lumbreras, adding that the original is in the royal library. See his
“Memoria Historica,” p. 260.
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