Chapter XI: Ministers of the Inquisition

Inquisition in Spain--Inquisitors--Vicars--Counsellors--Promoters-Fiscal--Notaries-- Treasurer--Executor--Familiars--Cross-Bearers--Visitors--Privileges-- Jurisdiction--Prohibition of books--Prison-keepers.

Spain, Portugal, and Rome have been most notorious for cruelty, by means of the dreaded court of inquisition. The “Holy Office,” in those countries, has been the most extended, and the most complete in its arrangements; its ministers, therefore, have been most numerous. The number of officers in the Spanish Inquisition has been reckoned at about _three thousand_, and its expense to the country about _one million of pounds_ sterling per annum!

District courts were formed in many places, of which it is said, “In every province of Spain there ought to be two or three inquisitors, one judge of the forfeited effects, one executor, three notaries, one keeper of the prison, one messenger, one door-keeper, and one physician. Besides these, assessors, skilful counsellors, familiars and others,” were appointed for the service of this court. These require some notice, the better to understand the character of the Inquisition.

1. INQUISITORS APOSTOLIC.--These are the chief officers, delegates from the Pope, for the special service of judging heretics. Their rank is exalted in the papacy, as each has the title of “lord,” and every inquisitor is styled “most reverend.” One among those in Spain was president of the Inquisition, and was called “inquisitor-major,” or “inquisitor-general.” The Romish cardinals, also, were inquisitors-general.

2. VICARS.--These are appointed by the inquisitors, to serve as their substitutes in case of absence or sickness, and these exercise all the power of their principals, in receiving accusations, and arresting those who may be accused.

3. COUNSELLORS.--These were skilful lawyers, appointed to advise and assist the inquisitors, who were generally ignorant of legal forms. They were sworn to secrecy.

4. PROMOTER-FISCAL.--This officer also is a lawyer, whose business is to examine the depositions of witnesses, to give information against criminals, to demand their imprisonment, and to frame their indictment against them. He was a kind of counsellor for the Holy Office.

5. NOTARIES.--These officers were short-hand writers, whose duty was to attend the examinations of the prisoners, to note down everything they said, their behaviour, and even change of countenance, while questioned by the inquisitors. They are required to be skilful in different languages; as the prisoners may be French, German, or Italian, before a Spanish Inquisition.

6. TREASURER.--This officer is called, in Spain, the _receiver-general_ of the effects and property of the prisoners: in Rome he is called, _treasurer of the Holy Office_. He takes charge of all the effects of the prisoners, letting or selling their lands and houses; so that immense property falls into his hands.

7. EXECUTOR.--This officer is the head of the police attached to the Inquisition; and he directs the mode of the apprehension of accused persons.

8. OFFICIALS.--These are assistants to the executor, or police officers, who pursue and apprehend the persons accused before the inquisitors.

9. FAMILIARS.--These are armed police officers, or soldiers of the Inquisition. They are called _familiars_, or belonging to the inquisitor’s family.

10. CROSS-BEARERS.--These also are soldiers, a kind of militia, trained and armed for the defence of the Inquisition, and for the vigorous pursuit of offenders. They are favoured with many privileges, including a “plenary remission of all their sins,” to encourage them in the service of the Inquisition. Soldiers having, however, become less needful, these officers have generally been transformed into an order of monks of St. Dominic, with constitutions confirmed by the Pope.

11. VISITORS.--These were magistrates appointed to inspect all the provinces of the inquisitors, and to report the state of the institutions to the inquisitor-general. They are commonly commissioned as occasions seem to require investigation.

12. PRIVILEGES OF INQUISITORS.--Extraordinary are the privileges granted to inquisitors; so that “no delegate of the apostolic see, or sub-delegate under him, no conservator, or executor, deputed by the Pope, shall be able to publish the sentence of excommunication, suspension, or interdict against them, or their notaries, whilst they are engaged in the prosecution of their duty, without the special command of the holy see.” The inquisitors only, and not the bishops, can publish edicts against heretics. In like manner, the inquisitors, and no others, can absolve from excommunication for heresy; and persons under the interdict by the inquisitor, cannot be absolved by the ordinary, or any other person, without the command of the Pope, except in the article of death.

13. JURISDICTION OF THE INQUISITION.--This is so ample, that few persons are excepted from it; because the inquisitors being judges delegated by the Pope in the cause of the faith, that all heresy may be extirpated, power is given to them against all sorts of persons, except bishops and legates of the Pope. They may proceed against priests and clergy generally; and laymen without distinction, infected, suspected, or defamed of heresy, not excepting princes and kings. Even treaties with, or the power of, sovereigns, the inquisitors have set at nought, if they would yield to the assumed authority. Of this we have a remarkable instance in the king of Portugal, where Thomas Maynard was English consul. He was arrested and imprisoned at Lisbon, as having spoken against the Romish religion. When Oliver Cromwell was advised of the fact, the protector sent an express to the deputy, Mr. Meadows, to go to the king and demand his immediate release; but the sovereign professed that he had no power to grant the favour, as he had no authority over the Inquisition. But Cromwell sent new instructions, requiring from the king his instant liberation, or he declared war against the Inquisition. The terrified inquisitors offered the consul his liberty, which he accepted only on being brought forth honourably and in public by the Inquisition. This was at once granted, and Mr. Maynard continued unmolested, during the reigns of Charles II. and James II., well-known at Lisbon.

14. PROHIBITION OF BOOKS.--From time to time lists of books have been published by the Popes, as forbidden to be read, and these have especially included the Holy Scriptures, as fatal to the pretensions of the papal hierarchy and the Inquisition. One of the rules of the “Index” of prohibited books, regarding the Bible, says, “Since it is plain by experience, that if the Sacred Writings are permitted everywhere, and without difference, to be read in the vulgar tongue, men, through their harshness, will receive more harm than good. Let the bishop or inquisitor determine, with the parish priest or confessor, to whom to permit the reading of the Bible, translated by Catholic authors in the vulgar tongue.” This rule against the Bible is observed in all Catholic countries, especially in Spain, where the inquisitors published their prohibition, with a particular stress upon the Scriptures, “with all parts of them, either printed or manuscript, with all summaries and abridgments, although historical, of the said Bible, in the vulgar tongue.”

15. KEEPERS OF THE PRISONS OF THE INQUISITION.--Some bishops in the Romish church have prisons for the custody of offenders of their laws. But such places were usually placed under the care of inquisitors as their keepers. Every person imprisoned is first accused by some one, generally by two persons, who has heard him utter or suspects him of holding opinions that are deemed heretical. This accusation being received, the promoter-fiscal demands before the inquisitors that such person may be imprisoned and brought to trial. A warrant is then issued, subscribed by the inquisitors, and given to the officer, who proceeds to arrest the person and lodge him in gaol. This gaol, though a horrid place, is called, in Spain and Portugal, _Santa-casa_, or _Holy-house_.

In Portugal, all the prisoners, men and women, without any regard to birth or rank, are shaved, the first or second day of imprisonment. Every prisoner has two pots of water daily, one to wash and the other to drink, and a besom to cleanse his cell; a mat of rushes to lie on; and a larger vessel for other uses, with a cover to put over it, which is changed every four days.

How intolerant and cruel the inquisitors and keepers were, in the sixteenth century, may be learned from two cases: the first was relating to some English persons who put into the port of Cadiz. The familiars of the Inquisition searched the vessel on account of religion. They seized several on board, as they manifested evangelical piety, and they were thrown into gaol. Among these was a child, about ten or twelve years of age, son of a rich gentleman, owner of the ship and part of the cargo. The pretence was, that he had in his hands the Book of Psalms in English. The ship and cargo were confiscated, and the child was imprisoned at Seville, where he lay six or eight months, and became very ill through cruel treatment. The lords inquisitors being informed of his illness, and hoping to profit by his father’s reputed wealth, removed him to the Cardinal Hospital. But he lost the use of his legs. The gaoler often observed him lifting up his eyes to heaven and praying for help; so that he reported him as “already grown a great little heretic!” Through the cruel treatment in the prison, he died in the hospital of the Inquisition!

Another case, about the same period, will illustrate the cruelties of the Inquisition. Peter ab Herera, keeper of the tower of Triada, the prison of the Inquisition, had in charge a good matron, and, with her, two daughters, but kept in different cells. They bemoaned their separation, and entreated the keeper to suffer them to be together for a quarter of an hour, that they might have the satisfaction of embracing each other. Moved with compassion for them he granted their request; and after they had indulged their mutual affection for half an hour, he locked them up again in their solitary cells. A few days after, they were examined by torture, and the keeper, fearing that through the severity of their torments they might discover his lenity to the lords inquisitors, went to the holy tribunal and declared what he had done; but they, instead of commending his humanity, regarded him as guilty of a crime, and immediately ordered him into gaol, and to torture. After a year of suffering he was brought out of prison, with a halter round his neck, and led in a public procession, punished with a _hundred_ lashes, and condemned to the galleys as a slave, for six years. He became insane through ill treatment, and attempting the life of the alguazil he was sentenced to four years additional slavery in the galleys! Dreadful as these are, they are far from being the most affecting examples of cruelty in the Inquisition.

16. TERRORS OF THE INQUISITION.--No words can express the dread of the people regarding the tribunal of the inquisitors. They regard the prisoners as lost. So little hope have they of the release of those arrested, that as soon as they are imprisoned, their friends put on mourning, and speak of them as dead, not daring to petition for their pardon, lest they also should be brought in as accomplices, and become themselves victims of the Inquisition!