I have already stated, that no dependance can be placed on the account given by Gregorio Leti of the conversations of the emperor with Don Bartholomew Carranza de Miranda, archbishop of Toledo. It is certain that the emperor had a great esteem for Carranza, which induced him to give him the bishopric of Cusco in America, in 1542, and of the Canaries in 1549; to send him as theologian of the emperor to the council of Trent, in 1545 and 1551; and to London with his son Philip II., King of Naples and England, in 1554, to preach against the Lutherans.
Nevertheless, when he was informed, in his retreat at Yuste, that Carranza had accepted the archbishopric of Toledo, to which King Philip had appointed him, he began to feel less esteem for him, because he did not know that Carranza had refused that dignity, and named three persons whom he considered more worthy to occupy it. Philip was not only displeased at this refusal, but he commanded him to obey the will of his sovereign, and wrote to the Pope, who supported his order by a particular brief addressed to Br. Bartholomew.
Charles V., at this period, had Br. Juan de Regla, a Jeronimite, and a learned theologian, for his confessor. He had a.s.sisted at the Council of Trent with Carranza, whom he always treated as an enemy, because he was jealous of his great reputation. I shall hereafter prove the disposition of Juan de Regla towards Carranza; at present I shall only show that he had great part in his disgrace with the emperor, for being suspected of professing the same doctrines as Egidius, Constantine, Cazalla, and others. Regla became more fanatic than charitable, during the persecution which he suffered from the Inquisition of Saragossa, when he was prior of the Convent of Santa Fe; he was condemned to abjure eighteen Lutheran propositions, of which the inquisitors declared him to be suspected. The emperor was also informed, through the private correspondence of his children, that the Inquisition was occupied in preparing the trial of the archbishop for heresy, when he came to visit him in his last illness; and his presence was so disagreeable, that, instead of conversing with him, as Leti affirms, he did not speak one word. Sandoval, with more probability, thus expresses himself: "This evening the archbishop of Toledo, Carranza, arrived, but he could not see the emperor. This prince had waited for him with much impatience since he had quitted England, because he wished to have an explanation on certain things which had been reported of him, and seemed to show that his faith was suspected; for that of the prince was extremely lively, and anything which appeared contrary to sound doctrine gave him great pain. The archbishop returned on another day; the emperor who wished much to hear him, admitted him into his presence, and told him to sit down, but did not talk to him, and on that night he became much worse.[14]"
The animosity of Juan de Regla against the archbishop of Toledo, was soon manifested in two voluntary informations before the Inquisitor-General Valdes, on the 9th and 23rd of December, in 1558, at Valladolid. I shall at a future period explain all the articles of the denunciation of Juan de Regla, but it is necessary to antic.i.p.ate the order of time in affairs, to prove that Charles V. was not disposed to favour Carranza in the latter part of his life.
The first denunciation took place on the 9th of December: it imported, that on the day before the death of the emperor, the archbishop of Toledo kissed his majesty"s hand, and left the room; that he soon after returned; and that he did so several times, _though the emperor showed very little desire to see him_, and that he gave him absolution before he confessed him; which Juan da Regla imputed to the archbishop as a sign of contempt or neglect of the sacrament: that in one of these visits he said to the emperor, _Your majesty may be full of confidence, for there is not, nor ever has been any sin, the death of Jesus having sufficed to efface it_; that this discourse appeared bad to him, and that there were present Br. Pedro de Sotomayor and Br. Diego Ximenez, Dominicans; Br. Marcos Oriols de Cardona and Br. Francis Villalba, monks of St. Jerome: the last was his majesty"s preacher; the Count de Oropesa and Don Diego de Toledo his brother; Don Louis d"Avila Zuniga, grand commander of the military order of Alcantara, and Don Louis de Quixada, major-domo to the emperor.
The inquisitor-general would not admit the Dominican monks as witnesses, because he supposed them subject to the archbishop: the evidences of Count Oropesa and his brother were likewise rejected, because they were his friends. The monk of St. Jerome declared that the archbishop arrived at Yuste on a Sunday, two days before the death of the emperor; that this prince _would not see him or allow him to enter_, but his major-domo, Don Louis de Quixada, undertook to introduce him; that Carranza threw himself on his knees in the chamber, and that the emperor, _without saying a word to him_, fixed his eyes upon him, like a person who wishes to express himself by a look: that the persons who were present retired: that when the archbishop came out of the chamber he appeared discontented, and he the witness believed that he was so, having heard from William, the emperor"s barber, that on the day when the news of the nomination of Carranza to the archbishopric of Toledo arrived, his majesty said, _When I gave him the bishopric of the Canaries he refused it; now he accepts the archbishopric of Toledo; we shall see what we are to think of his virtue_; that their private interview lasted a quarter of an hour, and the archbishop called in the attendants. When they entered, the archbishop threw himself on his knees, and his majesty made a sign for him to sit down, and repeat some words of consolation; that the prelate again threw himself on his knees, and repeated the four first verses of the psalm _De profundis_, not literally, but paraphrasing the text. His majesty made him a sign to stop, and Carranza then retired with the other attendants; that on another day, about the hour of ten in the evening, just before the emperor expired, Carranza visited him, because he had been informed of his danger, and gave him the crucifix to kiss, and at the same time addressed some words of consolation to him, at which the monks Juan de Regla, Francis de Villalba, Francis Angulo, prior, and Louis de St.
Gregoria, were scandalized. These persons conversed together afterwards, and said that the prelate ought not to have spoken thus; but the witness could not recollect what the words were. They were repeated to him, and he replied that he believed they might be the same, but that he could not be certain, as he was reading the pa.s.sion of our Saviour, _according to St. Luke_, at the time; he only remarked that the monks looked at one another with a kind of mystery.
Neither Francis Angulo, nor Louis de St. Gregoria were examined, perhaps they were dead. Francis de Villalba, preacher to the emperor, declared, that he had not heard anything in the emperor"s apartment which was worthy of being reported to the Inquisition. Being questioned as to what he thought of the discourse which the archbishop had addressed to the emperor, he replied that he was only present once, when the prelate recited some verses of the _De profundis_; that Don Louis d"Avila afterwards requested him to speak to the emperor, and that he made him an exhortation. When examined on the subject of the words and the scandal, he replied that he did not hear or see anything that could offend him.
Don Louis d"Avila y Zuniga cited the entrance of the prelate; and that he took a crucifix and knelt down, saying with a loud voice, _behold him who answers for all; there is no longer any sin, all is pardoned_. The witness did not recollect if the archbishop said, _and however numerous the sins may be, they are all pardoned_: that these words did not appear proper to him, and he requested the emperor"s preacher to make him an exhortation, who afterwards told him that his majesty appeared satisfied.
Don Louis de Quixada deposed that the archbishop was with the emperor, three times before his death, that he saw him take a crucifix, and that he p.r.o.nounced some words on the subject of Jesus Christ dying for our sins, but he could not recollect them, because his employment as major-domo occupied him at the time.
These circ.u.mstances show that Charles V. was far from being inclined to Lutheranism at his death. It is equally false that the inquisitors took his will, to examine if it contained any sentiments tending to heresy. I have read or consulted a mult.i.tude of books and papers in the archives of the Inquisition, and could not discover anything to support the opinion; so that nothing now remains but to seek the origin of this fable.
A number of circ.u.mstances may have caused the Inquisition to be mentioned in relating the death of Charles V. The first is, that Carranza, who attended him at his death, was soon after arrested by the holy office; the second, that his two preachers, Constantine Ponce and Augustine Cazalla, were condemned by that tribunal; the third, that his confessor, Juan de Regla, was obliged to abjure certain propositions; the fourth, that the emperor himself had been threatened with excommunication three years before, as a favourer of heretics, by Paul IV.; the fifth, that Philip II. made use of the Inquisition in a variety of circ.u.mstances entirely political.
Charles V. died a Catholic; and it is only to be regretted that he a.s.sociated so many superst.i.tions with his Catholicism, and showed so much attachment to the Inquisition during his life.
CHAPTER XIX.
OF THE PROCEEDINGS AGAINST CHARLES V. AND PHILIP II.: AS SCHISMATICS AND FAVOURERS OF HERESY.--PROGRESS OF THE INQUISITION UNDER THE LAST OF THESE PRINCES.--CONSEQUENCES OF THE PARTICULAR FAVOUR WHICH HE SHOWED TOWARDS IT.
_Trials of Charles V., Philip II., and the Duke of Alva._
In 1555, John Peter Carafa, a n.o.ble Neapolitan, and as such the subject of Charles V. and Philip II., was elevated to the holy see, under the name of Paul IV., at the age of seventy-nine years. Charles V. had then renounced the crown of Sicily, in favour of Prince Philip, who was about to marry the Queen of England. The new Pope mortally hated the emperor, not only because he could not bear to be a subject to the house of Austria, but because this prince and his son favoured the families of _Colonna_ and _Sforza_, which he looked upon as the rivals of his house.
The kingdom of Naples pa.s.sed at that time for a fief of the holy see.
Paul IV. undertook to deprive Charles of the imperial purple, and his son of the crown of Sicily, and to dispose of it in favour of one of his nephews, with the a.s.sistance of the King of France, or to give the kingdom to some French prince. He commenced the proceedings against Charles V. and Philip, by the preparatory instruction, to show that they were enemies of the holy see, particularly in protecting the families of _Sforza_ and _Colonna_, whose hatred for the Pontiff was well known.
To these reasons it was to be alleged that Charles V. was a favourer of heretics, and suspected of Lutheranism, since the publication of the imperial decrees at the diet of Augsburg, in 1554. The fiscal of the apostolical chamber then demanded that the Pope should declare Charles V. to be deprived of the imperial crown, and that of Spain and its dependencies, and Philip of the throne of Naples; that bulls of excommunication should be issued against them, and the people of Germany, Spain, Italy, and particularly of Naples, released from their oath of fidelity. Paul IV. suspended the trial at this stage of the proceedings, to continue it when he judged it convenient. He revoked at the same time all the bulls which his predecessors had expedited in favour of the Spanish monarchs, for the collection of the annual subsidy imposed on the clergy, and for the funds destined for the _holy crusade_. The Pope was not content with this hostile measure; he entered into an alliance with Henry II., King of France, to make war upon the house of Austria, until its princes were deprived of their kingdoms.
Charles V. was then at Brussels, occupied in ceding the empire of Germany to his brother Ferdinand, King of Hungary and Bohemia, and in making over the crown of Spain and the countship of Flanders to his son.
This policy was useful to Charles V., as it threw the weight of the embarra.s.sment on Philip, who had just arrived from England to receive his father"s instructions how to govern Spain. The circ.u.mstances in which they found themselves required the greatest prudence, for they not only had to fear the abuse which the Pope might make of his apostolical and temporal power, but also the consequences of the alliances which his holiness had just signed with the King of France.
Besides the Council of State (which Charles and Philip always consulted before they decided on any subject) they deemed it necessary to have judgments of _conscience_, to balance the authority of the supreme head of the Catholic Church. On the 15th of November, 1555, the famous consultation of Brother Melchior Cano was framed at Valladolid, which was published at Madrid in 1809, in my _collection of different papers, ancient and modern, on matrimonial dispensations, and other ecclesiastical dispensations_. The decision of Cano was, that in all similar cases the only and proper remedy is not only to deprive the temporal sovereign of Rome of the power of injuring, but to reduce him to the necessity of accepting reasonable terms, and of acting with more prudence in future. Other theologians decided that the concessions made by the Court of Rome were irrevocable, and had the force of a true contract pa.s.sed for the benefit of an empire or kingdom.
The Pope, informed of these decisions, commanded the inquisitor-general to punish the authors of it; he was supported by most of the prelates of the kingdom, at the head of whom was the Cardinal Siliceo, Archbishop of Toledo, who had been the king"s preceptor. Philip, who had been King of Spain from January, 1556, wrote from London, in the month of July following, the letter to his sister, the governess of the kingdom, which I have inserted in my diplomatic collection. It is as follows:--
"Since I informed you of the conduct of the Pope, and of the news received from Rome, I have learnt that his holiness proposes to excommunicate the emperor and me, to put my states under an interdict, and to prohibit the divine service. Having consulted learned men on this subject, it appears that it is not only an abuse of the power of the sovereign pontiff, founded only on the hatred and pa.s.sion, which, certainly, has not been provoked by our conduct, but that we are not obliged to submit to what he has ordained in respect to our persons, on account of the great scandal which would be caused by our confessing ourselves guilty, since we are not so, and the great sin which we should commit in so doing. In consequence, it has been decided, that if I am interdicted from certain things, I am not obliged to deprive myself of them, as those do who are excommunicated, although a censure may be sent to me from Rome, according to the disposition of his holiness. For after having destroyed the sects in England, brought this country under the influence of the church, pursued and punished the heretics without ceasing, and obtained a success which has always been constant, I see that his holiness evidently wishes to ruin my kingdom, without considering what he owes to his dignity; and I have no doubt that he would succeed if we consented to his demands, since he has already revoked all the legations which Cardinal Pole received for this kingdom, and which had produced so much benefit. These reasons, other important considerations, the necessity of preparing for all events, and of protecting our people from being surprised, have induced us to draw up, in the name of his majesty, and in our own, an act of recusation in form, of which I intended to send you a copy; but as this piece is very long, and the courier is setting out for France, it could not be done, and I will send it by the courier going by sea, who will soon set out.
When you receive it, you must write to the prelates, the grandees, to the cities, universities, and the heads of orders, and inform them of all that has pa.s.sed: you must direct them to look upon the censures and interdict sent from Rome as non-existent, because they are null, unjust, and without foundation, for I have taken counsel on what is permitted in these circ.u.mstances. If any act of the Pope should arrive in the interim, it will be sufficient to prevent it from being received, accepted, or executed; but to preclude the necessity of coming to this extremity, you must cause the frontiers to be strictly guarded, as we have done in England, that none of these pieces should be notified or delivered, and _punish very severely any person who shall dare to distribute them, because it is not to be permitted that we should continue to dissimulate_. If it is impossible to prevent their introduction, and if any one attempts to put them in force, you must oppose their execution, as we have powerful motives for this command; and this prohibition must extend to the kingdom of Aragon, to which you must write if it is necessary. It has been since known, that in the bull published on Holy Thursday, the Pope has excommunicated all those who have taken or shall take the property of the church, _whether they are kings or emperors_, and that on Good Friday, he commanded the prayer for his majesty to be omitted, although the Jews, Moors, heretics, and schismatics are prayed for on that day. This proves that the evil is becoming serious, and induces us to recommend more particularly the execution of the measures which we have prescribed, and of which we shall give an account to his majesty[15]."
Philip, for the time, prevented the inquisitor-general from trying any of those persons who had been marked as suspected of heresy, among whom were not only the theologians and canonists who had been consulted, but many counsellors of state who supported their opinion against Cardinal Siliceo and his adherents[16].
The Pope was obstinate in his resolutions; and deceived by the tranquillity which Philip suffered him to enjoy in Rome, he placed himself at the brink of the precipice. The Duke of Alva, who was viceroy of Naples (and whose character was at least as harsh as that of the Pope), in September 1556, left his government, and occupied the states of the holy see, even to the gates of Rome; and Paul IV., finding that the republic of Venice had deserted him, and being pressed by the cardinals and people, demanded an armistice, which was granted. Instead of taking advantage of this favour to make peace on reasonable terms, the Pope confirmed his alliance with Henry II., and raised a war between that monarch and the King of Spain, although Charles V. had, in 1555, signed a truce of five years with that prince. Henry, having lost the famous battle of St. Quentin, on the 10th of August, 1557, the Pope became so alarmed, that he demanded a peace at the time when the Duke of Alva was preparing to enter Rome at the head of his army. The viceroy renounced his design, but had the boldness to tell the Pope that he would not make peace until he had asked pardon of the king, his master, for having treated him with so little respect. This message increased the alarm of the old pontiff, who had recourse to the mediation of Venice. The Pope refused to negociate with the Duke of Alva, but said that he would consent to any proposal from the King of Spain, as he was persuaded that he would not impose any condition on him contrary to his honour, or to the dignity of the holy see.
The Duke of Alva wrote to Philip, to request that, in this instance, he would display the severity necessary to prevent new divisions. But this prince (who had signed on the 10th of July, 1556, the excellent letter already quoted) had no person in the following year to inspire him with sufficient energy to follow the advice of his viceroy. He wrote to command him to conclude a peace immediately, "as he would rather lose the privileges of his crown, than infringe those of the holy see in the slightest degree."
The Duke of Alva was extremely displeased at this resolution, but he immediately obeyed his master, and this singular peace was signed on the 14th of September, 1557, by the Duke of Alva, and Cardinal Carafa, nephew and plenipotentiary to the Pope. The envoy made no reparation to Philip II., and the following singular article is part of the treaty:--"His holiness will receive from the Catholic king, through his plenipotentiary, the Duke of Alva, all the necessary submissions to obtain the pardon of his offences, without prejudicing the engagement of the king to send an amba.s.sador extraordinary for the particular object of the pardon which he demands, it being understood that his holiness will restore him to favour as a submissive son, and worthy to share the benefits which the holy see is accustomed to bestow on its children and the other Christian princes."
The haughty pontiff acknowledged that he had obtained more than he had hoped for, and to show his satisfaction, bestowed the highest honours on the Duke of Alva; he invited him to eat at his own table, and received him in the palace of the Vatican.
Gregorio Leti is right in attributing all the evils that have since arisen from the excessive authority which the priests have arrogated over laymen, to this conduct of Philip II. Paul IV. soon displayed his contempt for Philip II. and his father, since, in five months after the treaty, on the 13th of February, 1558, he addressed a brief to the inquisitor-general Valdes, in which he revived all the regulations of the councils and pontiffs against heretics and schismatics. He commanded him to prosecute them, and punish them according to the const.i.tutions, and, above all, to deprive all such persons of their dignities and offices, whether they were bishops, archbishops, patriarchs, cardinals, or legates, _barons, counts, marquisses, dukes, princes, kings, or emperors_. Fortunately, neither Charles V. nor his son had embraced the opinions of Luther, yet it was certainly the intention of the Pope to subject them to the dispositions of his bull.
_Of the Inquisitions of Sardinia, Flanders, Milan, Naples, Galicia, America, and the Sea._
In 1562, Philip II. commanded the Inquisition of Sardinia to conform rigorously to the rules of the holy office of Spain in prosecuting the accused, although it was represented to him that they had hitherto only known those of Ferdinand V., which were less severe.
Philip did not treat his Flemish subjects with less rigour. In 1522 Charles V. appointed Francis de Hult, a lay counsellor of Brabant, inquisitor-general for the states of Flanders; and Adrian VI. invested him with the apostolical jurisdiction, on the condition that he had priests and theologians for a.s.sessors. Soon after three provincial inquisitors were appointed, the overseer of the regular canons of Ypres for Flanders and its dependencies; the overseer of the clergy of Mons for Hainault, and the Dean of Louvain for Brabant, Holland, and the other provinces. The inquisitors-general appointed by Clement VII. were Cardinal Everard de la Marche, Bishop of Liege, and Francis de Hult, before mentioned. This measure did not deprive the other inquisitors of their privileges; those of Louvain, in 1527, celebrated several _autos-da-fe_, and condemned sixty persons to different punishments. In 1529 terrible edicts were issued against heretics, which were renewed in 1531, but with some mitigation.
At the death of the Dean of Louvain, Paul III. in 1537, appointed as inquisitor-general for the Low Country the successor in the deanery, and the canon Douce; they were approved by Charles V. In 1555 Julius III.
authorised the sub-delegates of the dean and canon; Paul IV. did the same in 1560 for the overseer of Valcanet, and the theological doctor of Louvain, Michael Bayo. All these men took the t.i.tle of _ecclesiastical ministers_ from the year 1550, when Charles V. prohibited them from ever taking the name of _inquisitors_, because it was obnoxious to the people. The Flemish Inquisition was extremely severe in the first period of its existence; it inflicted the same punishments as that of Spain, but applied them to a greater number of cases. Philip II. moderated the action of this tribunal by an edict in 1556.
Such was the state of the Flemish Inquisition in 1559, when a bull of Paul IV. was received from Rome, by which three ecclesiastical provinces were created, the bishoprics of which were subjected to the jurisdiction of the Archbishops of Malines, Cambray, and Utrecht: twelve canons were inst.i.tuted for each cathedral, three of whom were to be inquisitors for life. This measure caused the first indication of the rebellion which raged in Holland and the United Provinces in 1562. The people maintained that they had only tolerated the inquisitors since 1522, because they considered them as temporary agents; but that they would never allow the permanent establishment of an inst.i.tution so obnoxious to the provinces.
This opposition increased when it was known that Philip II. intended to organize the eighteen Inquisitions of Flanders, on the plan of that of Spain, which had long been regarded as a sanguinary tribunal.
This project was the more dreaded, as many Spaniards had fled from the Inquisition to Holland. These emigrations were most numerous after the year 1550, when several Bibles, which had been printed in the Spanish language in the Low Countries, were prohibited as containing the opinions of the new heretics. Notwithstanding the obstinacy with which the King of Spain pursued the establishment of the Inquisition in Flanders, he failed in his enterprise, and also in his attempt to force the Low Countries to receive the regular tribunal. The Flemings persisted in opposing everything resembling the Inquisition, and their resistance was the cause of the long and b.l.o.o.d.y wars which exhausted the treasures and armies of Spain during half a century.
In the following year, 1563, Philip II. decreed the necessary measures to establish the Inquisition at Milan. He communicated his design to the Pope, who appeared to approve it, but was really displeased, because it tended to diminish the power of the holy see. The Milanese immediately protested against the introduction of a tribunal, of which they had formed the most unfavourable opinion. The bishops of Lombardy were not less averse to it, as they knew that in Spain the bishops were not only deprived of all power, but had fallen into contempt from the despotism of the inquisitors, who had taken possession of the episcopal privileges, and enjoyed them in peace under the protection of the sovereign, who had no adviser in these affairs but the inquisitor-general.
The city of Milan sent deputies to the Pope (who was a native of that place), to entreat him to preserve his country from the danger which threatened it. They also sent deputies to Madrid to demand that things should remain in the same state, and applied at the same time to the Milanese bishops at the Council of Trent to support their cause before that celebrated a.s.sembly. Pius IV. told the deputies that he would never allow the Spanish Inquisition to be established in Milan, _as he knew its extreme severity_, and promised that their tribunal should be dependent on the Court of Rome, whose decrees were extremely mild, and gave the accused every facility in their defence.
During the course of this negotiation, the Duke de Sesa, wishing to execute his master"s private orders, established the tribunal of the Inquisition in the city of Milan, of which he was the governor, and published the names of the sub-delegated inquisitors. This declaration displeased the Milanese, who began to excite popular commotions, and cried _Long live the king! perish the Inquisition!_
The Milanese bishops at the Council of Trent disinclined all the Italian prelates to the Spanish Inquisition; the legates of the Pope who presided at the council, declared in favour of the Milanese, and Cardinal S. Charles Borromeo pleaded the cause of his countrymen in the college of cardinals, and placed them under their protection. The Duke de Sesa, who observed all that pa.s.sed, foresaw that the result would be disagreeable to his master, and wrote to Philip, who abandoned his design[17].
These events did not prevent Philip II. from attempting to introduce the inquisition at Naples, although both Ferdinand V. and Charles V. had failed in the enterprise; but his efforts only served to disgrace him and destroy his authority in Naples, as they had before done in Flanders and Milan.
It may be supposed that Philip did not forget his American dominions.
Ferdinand V. having resolved to establish the Inquisition in the New World, charged Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros with the conduct of the affair, and in 1516 he appointed Don Juan Quevedo, Bishop of Cuba, the _delegated_ inquisitor-general, for the Spanish colonies then known by the name of the _kingdom of Terra Firma_, and gave him the power of appointing judges and officers for the tribunal. Charles V. wished to extend the benefits of this _pious_ inst.i.tution, and Cardinal Adrian, by his order, appointed, on the 7th of January, 1519, Don Alphonso Manso, Bishop of Porto Rico, and Brother Pedro de Cordova, inquisitors for the _Indies and Isles of the Ocean_, and gave them the requisite powers to establish the tribunal.
The new inquisitors began to prosecute the baptized Indians, who still retained some idolatrous practices. The viceroys informed the King of Spain of the evils produced by this system: in fact the Indians fled into the interior, and joined the savage tribes, which considerably r.e.t.a.r.ded the progress of population in those vast countries. Charles V.
in 1538 prohibited the inquisitors from prosecuting the Indians, who were to be under the jurisdiction of the bishops. The inquisitors of America were not more submissive than those of Spain, which obliged the prince to renew his orders in 1549. Philip II. undertook to organize the tribunal on the plan of that of Spain. In 1553 and 1565 he renewed his father"s injunctions to leave the Indians under the jurisdiction of the bishops; and in 1569 he published a royal ordinance, importing that the inquisitor-general had appointed inquisitors, and commanding the viceroys and governors to give them every a.s.sistance in their establishment. These inquisitors were received with great ceremony at Panama and Lima, when they first formed the tribunal.
In 1570 Philip II. appointed an Inquisition at Mexico, and in 1571 established three tribunals for all America; one at Lima, one at Mexico, and the other at Carthagena, a.s.signing to each the extent of territory which they were to possess, and subjecting them to the authority of the inquisitor-general and the Supreme Council.
The first _auto-da-fe_ in Mexico took place in 1574; it was celebrated with so much pomp and splendour, that eye-witnesses have declared that it could only be compared to that of Valladolid in 1559, at which Philip II. and the royal family attended. A Frenchman and an Englishman were burnt as impenitent Lutherans; eighty persons were reconciled, and subjected to different penances. The Inquisition of Carthagena was not established at this period; it was founded in 1610 by Philip III.
The great fleet of the Catholic league against the Emperor of Constantinople, which gained the famous battle of Lepanto, inspired Philip II. with the project of creating an Inquisition for heretics who might be found in ships. As the authority of the inquisitor-general did not extend beyond the dominions of the King of Spain, it was considered necessary to apply to the Pope, who in 1571 granted the brief, which was demanded, authorizing the inquisitor-general to create the new tribunal, and appoint judges and officers. It was first known by the name of the _Inquisition of the Galleys_, but it was afterwards called the _Inquisition of the Fleets and Armies_; it existed but for a short period, as it was found to impede the progress of navigation.
The Inquisition was unknown in Galicia for more than a century before this period. This province formed part of the district subject to the holy office of old Castile and the kingdom of Leon; it had escaped this scourge, but at last Philip II. resolved that it should have an Inquisition to superintend the sea-ports, in order to prevent the introduction of pernicious books, and the entrance of persons who would teach the doctrines of the Protestants. The royal ordinance which established the Inquisition in Galicia was expedited in 1574, and the tribunal was organised in the same year.