property, but for those who refused to repent their non-orthodox sins or who had converted to Christianity but had since relapsed, the penalty was death. Just as the inquisitors of the Medieval Office were prevented from passing the death sentence, so were their Spanish equivalents. They were required to hand all unrepentant and reverting heretics over to the secular court to be burned at the stake. It was actually less a handover than an abandonment by the Spanish Inquisition, who believed they had done all they could to save the souls of the unorthodox. The Spanish Inqusition, with their ecclesiastical exemption, were able to burn men and women in their thousands while keeping their hands spotlessly clean.
T HE A UTO-DA-FÉ
Before the Spanish Inquisition washed their hands of the heretics they had persecuted inside their private, shrouded prisons, there would take place a religious ceremony in the centre of town called an auto-da-fé. Portuguese for ‘an act of faith’, its purpose was to create an air of reverence and public loyalty towards Catholicism. The condemned would be removed from their cells and paraded past their peers, yet the event was more to do with the crowds that gathered to watch than the prisoners who had already had their verdicts confirmed. The auto-da-fé was a lesson to all the attendant faithful that the Spanish Inquisition was all-powerful and all-seeing and woe betide those who failed to toe the Christian line. To ensure the maximum public terror could be inspired, the autos-da-fé were held on Sundays and other holy days when large crowds could be assured, although non-attendance on any given day would have been foolhardy as it would have been seen as a sign of unorthodox behaviour. Even the high-ranking officials dared not stay away as, from 1598, the Inquisition decreed such absconders from the auto-da-fé would face excommunication. Whether you were pauper or potentate, villager or VIP, such absence, then, risked a personal invitation as one of the attractions!
The proceedings began the day before the auto-da-fé when, at two o’clock in the afternoon, the Green Cross procession would take place. The green cross featured on the Inquisition’s coat of arms and this emblem of the Holy See would be conveyed to the ceremonial location and placed high on the stage, which was covered in a sombre black cloth. Inquisitional-appointed familiars and armed guards would be entrusted with its protection throughout the night. When these sentinels witnessed the sun hit the inquisitional insignia, the time had come for the prisoners to be removed from their isolation and meet the crowds waiting to show their Christian zeal to the faith’s official guardians.
With a long day ahead, the heretics would be gathered outside the prison as early as five o’clock in the morning, with their hands bound and ropes placed around their necks. Such an ungodly hour for such a display of piety was called for as the ceremony often continued well into the afternoon and the more pessimistic of officials wished to complete the formalities before nightfall, as they feared the fervent crowds would – under the cover of darkness – succumb to their sinful urges after a day’s persecution and condemnation. In fact, such concern forced many autos – such as one in Logrono on 7 November 1610 – to break until the following morning when they ran over time.
The condemned would be forced to wear the uniform of the heretic to further discriminate them from the holy, yet hollering, masses in attendance. This consisted of a cap called a coraza, which resembled a bishop’s tapered mitre, together with a garment known as a sanbenito. This was a loose-fitting, knee-length tunic made of rough, yellow sackcloth upon which was emblazoned various images of hell; supposedly their next destination. The illustrations adorning the front of these tabards were significant in that they denoted both the prisoner’s fate and the
T HE A UTO-DA-FÉ
Before the Spanish Inquisition washed their hands of the heretics they had persecuted inside their private, shrouded prisons, there would take place a religious ceremony in the centre of town called an auto-da-fé. Portuguese for ‘an act of faith’, its purpose was to create an air of reverence and public loyalty towards Catholicism. The condemned would be removed from their cells and paraded past their peers, yet the event was more to do with the crowds that gathered to watch than the prisoners who had already had their verdicts confirmed. The auto-da-fé was a lesson to all the attendant faithful that the Spanish Inquisition was all-powerful and all-seeing and woe betide those who failed to toe the Christian line. To ensure the maximum public terror could be inspired, the autos-da-fé were held on Sundays and other holy days when large crowds could be assured, although non-attendance on any given day would have been foolhardy as it would have been seen as a sign of unorthodox behaviour. Even the high-ranking officials dared not stay away as, from 1598, the Inquisition decreed such absconders from the auto-da-fé would face excommunication. Whether you were pauper or potentate, villager or VIP, such absence, then, risked a personal invitation as one of the attractions!
The proceedings began the day before the auto-da-fé when, at two o’clock in the afternoon, the Green Cross procession would take place. The green cross featured on the Inquisition’s coat of arms and this emblem of the Holy See would be conveyed to the ceremonial location and placed high on the stage, which was covered in a sombre black cloth. Inquisitional-appointed familiars and armed guards would be entrusted with its protection throughout the night. When these sentinels witnessed the sun hit the inquisitional insignia, the time had come for the prisoners to be removed from their isolation and meet the crowds waiting to show their Christian zeal to the faith’s official guardians.
With a long day ahead, the heretics would be gathered outside the prison as early as five o’clock in the morning, with their hands bound and ropes placed around their necks. Such an ungodly hour for such a display of piety was called for as the ceremony often continued well into the afternoon and the more pessimistic of officials wished to complete the formalities before nightfall, as they feared the fervent crowds would – under the cover of darkness – succumb to their sinful urges after a day’s persecution and condemnation. In fact, such concern forced many autos – such as one in Logrono on 7 November 1610 – to break until the following morning when they ran over time.
The condemned would be forced to wear the uniform of the heretic to further discriminate them from the holy, yet hollering, masses in attendance. This consisted of a cap called a coraza, which resembled a bishop’s tapered mitre, together with a garment known as a sanbenito. This was a loose-fitting, knee-length tunic made of rough, yellow sackcloth upon which was emblazoned various images of hell; supposedly their next destination. The illustrations adorning the front of these tabards were significant in that they denoted both the prisoner’s fate and the
Similar Books
