9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt

7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt

httpslidepdfcomreaderfull9780300180510kamenexcerpt 114

The Spanish Inquisition

A Historical Revision

F O U R T H E D I T I O N

Henry Kamen

New Haven amp London

From The Spanish Inquisition by Henry Kamen

Copyright Yale University

7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt


Published with assistance from the Mary Cady Tew Memorial Fund

Fourth edition copyright copy 983090983088983089983092 by Henry Kamen All rights reserved

First edition published 983089983097983094983093 by Weidenfeld amp Nicolson as The Spanish Inquisition

Second edition published 983089983097983096983093 by Weidenfeld amp Nicolson as Inquisition and

Society in Spain Third edition published 983089983097983097983096 by Yale University Press as

The Spanish Inquisition A Historical Revision Fourth edition 983090983088983089983092

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part including illustrations

in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 983089983088983095 and 983089983088983096 of the

US Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press)

without written permission from the publishers

Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational business

or promotional use For information please e-mail salespressyaleedu (US office)or salesyaleupcouk (UK office)

Set in Electra and Trajan type by Integrated Publishing Solutions

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kamen Henry

The Spanish Inquisition Henry Kamen mdash Fourth Editionpages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index

ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983091983088983088-983089983096983088983093983089-983088 (pbk)

983089 InquisitionmdashSpain 983090 SpainmdashChurch history I Title

BX983089983095983091983093K983091983089983090 983090983088983089983092

983090983095983090983090983088983097983092983094mdashdc983090983091 983090983088983089983091983088983092983094983088983090983094

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This paper meets the requirements of ANSINISO Z983091983097983092983096-983089983097983097983090 (Permanence of Paper)

983089983088 983097 983096 983095 983094 983093 983092 983091 983090 983089



7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt


983089

983089

F AITH AND DOUBT IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

Asked if he believed in God he said Yes and asked what it meantto believe in God he answered that it meant good food

good drink and getting up at ten orsquoclock

mdash983105 10486929831419831601048692983145983148983141 983159983151983154983147983141983154 983151983142 983122983141983157983155 9831079831371048692983137983148983151983150983145983137 983089983094983091983090

In the fifteenth century the Iberian peninsula remained on the fringe of Eu-

rope a subcontinent that had been visited by the Phoenicians and Greeks then

overrun by the Romans and the Arabs Almost unobtrusive its position between

two great seas augured well for its future role as a gateway to undiscovered

worlds In the west it took in Portugal a small but expanding society of under a

million people their energies directed to the sea and the first fruits of trade and

colonization in Asia In the south al-Andalus a society of half a million farmers

and silk producers Muslim in religion proud remnants of a once-dominant

culture To the center and north a Christian Spain of some 983094 million souls

divided politically into the crown of Castile (with two-thirds of the territory of

the peninsula and three-quarters of the population) and the crown of Aragon

(made up of the realms of Valencia Aragon and Catalonia) Travelers traders

and pilgrims to the medieval shrines were familiar with the exotic symbiosis ofimages in the peninsula Romanesque churches and the splendid Gothic cathe-

dral in Burgos medieval synagogues in Toledo the cool silence of the great

mosque in Coacuterdoba and the majesty of the Alhambra in Granada

Christian Spain was not always sure of its own survival For a while in the

Middle Ages it seemed as if half of Western Europe would go Muslim Muslim

settlers and caliphs already dominated the eastern Mediterranean including

the cities of Jerusalem and Alexandria and what remained of Christian power

in Constantinople They extended their activities to the western seas passingby way of the chief islands of Greece and the coasts of Africa sacking the city

of Rome and building castles on the coasts of Italy and Provence In the tenth



7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt


983090 Faith and Doubt in the Mediterranean

century the caliphate of al-Andalus was master of most of the Iberian peninsula

and at the end of the century the great conqueror al-Mansur sacked Leoacuten and

Santiago and captured Barcelona Spanish lands remained in places under

Muslim control for nearly seven centuries with the consequence that the Is-lamic peoples were no less a part of Spain than the Christian and Jewish popula-

tions They intermarried with them and exchanged ideas and languages so that

the three religions developed side by side within the Christian and Muslim

kingdoms

For long periods close contact between three faithsmdashChristians Muslims

and Jewsmdashencouraged familiarity between cultures Christians lived under

Muslim rule (as Mozaacuterabes) and Muslims under Christian rule (as Mudeacutejares)

as minorities they inevitably suffered social disadvantages and there were timesunder Muslim rule when the Christian Mozaacuterabes were all but eliminated The

laws observed by each community were not always stringently exclusive and

made allowances for diversity Even military alliances were often made regard-

less of religion When Christians went to war against the Muslims it might be

(a thirteenth-century writer argued) ldquoneither because of the law [of Moham-

med] nor because of the sect that they hold tordquo1 but because of conflict over

land Political links based on agreement between Christians and Muslims were

exemplified by the most famous military hero of the time the Cid (Arabic

sayyid lord) Celebrated in the Poem of the Cid written about 983089983089983092983088 his real

name was Rodrigo Diacuteaz de Vivar a Castilian noble who in about 983089983088983096983089 trans-

ferred his services from the Christians to the Muslim ruler of Saragossa and

after several campaigns ended his career as independent ruler of the Muslim

city of Valencia which he captured in 983089983088983097983092 Despite his identification with the

Muslims he came to be looked upon by Christians as their ideal warrior2

Christians had Muslims as vassals and Muslims had Christians both simi-

larly took Jews under their wing St Ferdinand king of Castile from 983089983090983091983088 to

983089983090983093983090 called himself ldquoking of the three religionsrdquo a singular claim in an increas-

ingly intolerant age it was the very period that saw the birth in Europe of the

medieval papal Inquisition (c 983089983090983091983090) The notion of a specifically religious cru-

sade was largely absent from military campaigns in the peninsula where it was

possible for a Catalan philosopher Ramoacuten Llull (d 983089983091983089983093) to compose a dia-

logue in Arabic in which the three characters were a Christian a Muslim and a

Jew In the later stages of the wars between Christians and Muslims echoes of

coexistence remained but the reality of conflict was more aggressive Christians

cultivated the myth of the apostle St James (Santiago) whose body was allegedto have been discovered at Compostela thereafter Santiago ldquoMatamorosrdquo (the

Moor-slayer) became a national patron saint In al-Andalus further invasions of



7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt


Faith and Doubt in the Mediterranean 983091

militant Muslims from North Africamdashthe Almoraacutevides in the late eleventh cen-

tury the Almohads in the late twelfthmdashgave added force to religious elements

in the struggle against Christians

Romans had applied the general term Hispania to all the regions of the pen-insula and in the same way there was imprecision about the use of the word

ldquoSpainrdquo habitually used when explaining peninsular matters to foreigners

Spain included a variety of different political and cultural systems with a ldquoreli-

gionrdquo that consisted less in a fixed structure of beliefs than in the package of

practices and attitudes laid down by regional society The variety had been there

for centuries People tended to accept the neighbors they had known for genera-

tions especially if they shared the same lord and ruler At both social and per-

sonal level this could mean a series of understandings between Muslim andChristian villages or between Christian and Jewish neighbors Communities

lived side by side and shared many aspects of language culture food and dress

consciously borrowing each otherrsquos outlook and ideas

When we move our focus further out we can see that the experience of Spain

was by no means unique Along much of the Mediterranean coastlinemdashin

North Africa Egypt and Palestine the Balkansmdashthe ubiquity of Muslim expan-

sion by both land and sea produced a network of settlements where Christians

and Muslims had to live together often with small groups of Jews The global

relationship was usually defined by conflict which meant that through the

generations thousands of men were constantly traveling to explore and fight in

the seas and lands occupied by their principal rivals War was the continual

background of the landscape depicted by the emigrant al-Hasan al-Wazzan in

his Description of Africa first published in Christian Europe in 9830899830939830939830883 Born in

Granada in 983089983092983097983090 he passed over into Morocco and continued extensive travels

through the Mediterranean spending nine years in Italy as a Christian His

activities are a perfect example of the contacts and culture shared between the

many residents of the inland sea

A constant by-product of warfare was the proliferation of slaves tens of thou-

sands of them from all faiths who spent years in strange lands and then (if for-

tunate) were ransomed and brought home where they communicated their

experiences and their ideas to their neighbors A prime center for the ransoming

of slaves was Algiers where people of all nations and faiths rubbed shoulders

and exchanged experiences4 The example of Catalan Spain was notable in

medieval times its rulers made their mark on the western Mediterranean south-

ern Italy and the lands that stretched as far as Greece Barcelona was a city saysa chronicler ldquovisited by merchants from Italy and all over the Mediterraneanrdquo

it was also a notable center for the ransom of slaves



7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt



The coastal peoples naturally traded and came to know cultures that were

not their own in some cases as in medieval Sicily farmers and traders of differ-

ent faiths worked together More immediately they often had to accept and

therefore understand the cultures that from time to time dominated their ownhomelands In Spain as in other Mediterranean civilizations on a scale that was

seldom paralleled in northern Europe5 elements of how other people thought

and behaved would inevitably filter through At one and the same time com-

munities would preserve their traditional restricted horizons but individuals

might be aware of external attitudes with which they had come into contact

Within that social sharing throughout the inland sea there were permanent

elements of conflict arising out of the different political economic and reli-

gious status of each faith Where cultural groups were a minority they acceptedfully that there was a persistent dark side to the picture Time and again at mo-

ments when tensions might be at a peak there were sudden social explosions

riots and massacres took their toll of lives property and places of worship When

the violence occurred on a small scale it could be seen as ldquocontrolled and sta-

bilizingrdquo6 because it encouraged people to maintain normality7 The capacity

of minorities to put up with sporadic repression and survive well into early mod-

ern times under inequitable conditions was based on a long apprenticeship

It is unlikely that outbreaks of violence were motivated by the wish to target

ldquodespisedrdquo minorities for in much of the Mediterranean the Jews and Muslims

were far from being ldquodespisedrdquo On the contrary in good times they enjoyed

social autonomy occupied relevant status and enjoyed the protection not only

of kings and nobles but also of their host communities Even more remarkably

in the Muslim Mediterranean as in the island of Crete8 there were exceptional

situations where Christians intermarried with Muslims and enjoyed equal rights

in the courts

The communities of Christians Jews and Muslims in Spain never lived to-

gether on the same terms and their coexistence9 was always a relationship be-

tween unequals10 Within that inequality the minorities played their roles while

attempting to avoid conflicts The documents give remarkable glimpses of how

at specific moments they came together Muslims at Avila in 983089983092983095983092 attending the

cathedral celebrations that proclaimed Isabella as queen a guild in Segovia stat-

ing in writing that Muslims and Christians were equally members of the guild

Muslim ambassadors from Granada taking part in public jousts in Valencia and

Saragossa11 In fifteenth-century Murcia12 the Muslims were an indispensable

fund of labor in both town and country and as such were protected by municipallaws The Jews for their part made an essential contribution as artisans and

small producers in leather jewelry and textiles They were also important in tax



7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt



administration and in medicine In theory both minorities were restricted to

specified areas of the towns they lived in In practice they preferred to live to-

gether and the laws on separation were seldom enforced In Valladolid at the

same period the Muslims increased in number and importance chose theirresidence freely owned houses lands and vineyards13 Though unequal in

rights the Valladolid Muslims were not marginalized The tolerability of coex-

istence paved the way for their mass conversion in 983089983093983088983090

In community celebrations all three faiths participated In Murcia Muslim

musicians and jugglers were an integral part of Christian religious celebrations

In Tarazona (Aragon) ldquoalmost all the musicians who played in the Corpus Christi

procession were Muslimsrdquo14 In times of crisis the faiths necessarily collabo-

rated In 983089983092983095983088 in the town of Ucleacutes ldquoa year of great drought there were manyprocessions of Christians as well as of Muslims and Jews to pray for waterrdquo15 In

such a community there were some who saw no harm in participating with

other faiths ldquoHernaacuten Saacutenchez Castrordquo who was denounced for it twenty years

later in Ucleacutes ldquoset out from the church together with other Christians in the

procession and when they reached the square where the Jews were with the

Torah he joined the procession of the Jews with their Torah and left the proces-

sion of the Christiansrdquo Co-acceptance of the communities extended to acts of

charity Diego Gonzaacutelez remembered that in Huete in the 983089983092983095983088s when he was

a poor orphan as a Christian he received alms from ldquoboth Jews and Muslims

for we used to beg for alms from all of them and received help from them as

we did from the Christiansrdquo The kindness he received from Jews indeed en-

couraged him to pick up a smattering of Hebrew from them It also led him

subsequently to assert that ldquothe Jew can find salvation in his own faith just as the

Christian can in hisrdquo16 There was of course always another side to the coexis-

tence It was in Ucleacutes in 983089983092983097983089 that a number of Jewish citizens voluntarily gave

testimony against Christians of Jewish origin And Diego Gonzaacutelez twenty years

later when he had become a priest was arrested for his pro-Jewish tendencies

and burnt as a heretic

We can be certain of one thing Spain was not as often imagined a society

dominated exclusively by zealots In the Mediterranean the confrontation of

cultures was more constant than in northern Europe but so also was the con-

sciousness of living together in a multiple society Jews had the advantage of

community solidarity but under pressure from other cultures they also suffered

the disadvantage of internal dissent over belief17 They were it has been argued a

Mediterranean people with the corresponding openness of perspective to be foundanywhere in the countries of the inland sea18 The three faiths had coexisted long

enough for many people to accept a certain validity for all of them There were



7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt



cases common enough in European history of Jews like Samuel Pallache born

in Fez in 983089983093983093983088 of a family that had lived in Spain before the expulsions of 983089983092983097983090

who made his career in many lands serving different religions before he finally

settled in Amsterdam19

This way of thinking was given added force not just in Spain but throughout

the Mediterranean by the fact that a significant sector of people conformed

outwardly to the official faith but retained an inward commitment to their own

traditional religion (see chapter 983095) Throughout the lands where Muslims ruled

Christians and Jews converted to the official religion because it offered advance-

ment but continued to practice their old faith in secret There were crypto-

Christians in Cyprus and Crete Albania and Bosnia just as there would be

crypto-Muslims later under Christian rule20

Even when there was little com-pulsion people converted in thirteenth-century Aragon there were cases of

Muslims converting to Judaism and Jews converting to Islam21 On her travels

through the Balkans in the year 983089983095983089983095 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu met Alba-

nians who ldquoliving between Christians and Mahometans and not being skillrsquod

in controversie declare that they are utterly unable to judge which Religion is

best but to be certain of not entirely rejecting the Truth they very prudently

follow both and go to the Mosque on Fridays and the Church on Sundaysrdquo22

Echoes of this attitude could be found anywhere in the Mediterranean A priest

in Soria in 983089983092983097983088 commented that ldquothere are three faiths and I donrsquot know which

is the bestrdquo but went on to affirm that ldquoI think that everyone can be saved in his

own faithrdquo23 ldquoWho knows which is the better religionrdquo a Christian of Castile

asked in 983089983093983088983089 ldquoours or those of the Muslims and the Jewsrdquo24

The religions had to cope not just with oppression from the dominant faith

but also with tension between the minority cultures Muslims and Jews might

dance together in the feasts of Christians but at the same time they took the

opportunity to attack each other In fourteenth-century Aragon the minorities

often came to blows because they disputed precedence or because they felt they

had suffered a slight In special cases such as the traditional Christian ritual in

Holy Week of ldquokilling Jewsrdquo during which Christians were encouraged to com-

mit acts of real or symbolic violence against Jews25 the Muslims gladly took part

in the proceedings26

Though there were confusions of belief in the peninsula there seems curi-

ously to have been no formal heresy in late medieval times not even among

Christians The theologians gradually began to elaborate and define what they

meant by ldquoheresyrdquo (see chapter 983091) for there were certainly defects to identify ina Spain that appeared not to be convincingly Christian In the mid-sixteenth

century a prominent friar Felipe de Meneses lamented the ignorance and un-



7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt



belief he had found throughout Castile ldquonot only in small hamlets and villages

but even in cities and populous townsrdquo ldquoOut of three hundred residentsrdquo he

affirmed ldquoyou will find barely thirty who know what any ordinary Christian is

obliged to knowrdquo27

In 983089983093983090983097 an influential book lamented that ldquosuperstitions andwitchcraft in these times are widespread in our Spainrdquo and a bishop reported

that people in his diocese ldquoknow nothing about Christianityrdquo Religious practice

among Christians was a free mixture of community traditions superstitious folk-

lore and imprecise dogmatic beliefs28 Some writers went so far as to categorize

unofficial and popular religious practices as diabolic magic It was a situation

that Church leaders before the fifteenth century did very little to remedy29

Everyday religion among Christians continued to embrace an immense range

of cultural and devotional options Throughout Spain among people of all ra-cial and religious antecedents it was possible to find expressions of disbelief in

an afterlife like the statements made time and again by laity and even by clergy

to the effect that ldquonothing exists beyond being born and dyingrdquo30 The priest who

made this last affirmation around the year 983089983093983088983088 went on to state that the best

one could hope for in this life was to ldquohave a nice woman friend and eat wellrdquo

ldquoThere is no heaven and hellrdquo a man stated in 983089983092983097983093 in a village near Soria ldquothat

is invented to frighten little boysrdquo31 It is not surprising to find persons like Alvaro

de Lillo maintaining in 983089983093983090983092 that ldquowe are born and die and nothing morerdquo or

Mariacutea de la Mota claiming that ldquoIrsquoll look after myself in this world and yoursquoll

not see me badly off in the nextrdquo32 Both were tried by the Inquisition of Cuenca

There are many parallels to the cases of the Catalan peasant who asserted in

983089983093983091983097 that ldquothere is no heaven purgatory or hell at the end we all have to end

up in the same place the bad will go to the same place as the good and the good

will go to the same place as the badrdquo or of the other who stated in 983089983093983097983091 that ldquohe

does not believe in heaven or hell and God feeds the Muslims and heretics just

the same as he feeds the Christiansrdquo33

Statements like these could be found throughout the peninsula as we know

from the testimony presented to the Inquisition in many areas But the mere fact

that the phrases were denounced by neighbors suggests that they were neither

current nor commonly acceptable and it is unwise to suppose that popular

skepticism flourished We can even at times agree with the inquisitors them-

selves whose opinion was that such statements reflected nothing more than

rusticity The town of Teruel was and still is a remote place It was there in 983089983092983096983092

that Jaime Martinez was reported to them for stating ldquoHappiness and success

can be found only in this world in the next world there is no heaven or hell Godis just a tree in summer he puts out leaves in the winter he shakes them off

and they fall That is how God makes and unmakes us peoplerdquo34 The issue as



7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt



those who have looked at the documents will probably agree can be approached

in various ways but remains difficult to fit into neat categories of belief and

unbelief35

When Christian warriors battled against Muslims in earlier epochs theyshouted their convictions as passionately as team supporters would do today in

a sports event At home or in the inn or working in the fields their passion

would not have been so aggressive The bulk of surviving documentation gives

us some key to this dual outlook only however among Christians In Soria in

983089983092983096983095 at a time when the final conquest of Granada was well under way a resi-

dent commented that ldquothe king is off to drive the Muslims out when they

havenrsquot done him any harmrdquo36 ldquoThe Muslim can be saved in his faith just as

the Christian can in hisrdquo37

another is reported to have said The inquisitors in983089983092983097983088 in Cuenca were informed of a Christian who claimed that ldquothe good Jew

and the good Muslim can if they act correctly go to heaven just like the good

Christianrdquo38 There is little or nothing to tell us how Jews and Muslims thought

but there is every probability that they also accepted the need to moderate

their attitude when carrying out their daily duties alongside other faiths in the

Mediterranean

The examples serve to emphasize that the idea of the Inquisition being the

creation of a fanatically Catholic society has no relation to reality Spaniards

were just as split between different religious options as they were between the

various cultures of the regions of the peninsula In the Middle Ages Christian

mercenary soldiers served Muslim commanders39 just as Muslim mercenaries

served under Christians Christians who wished to go further and turn their

backs on their own society often did so quite simply by embracing Islam From

the later Middle Ages to the eighteenth century an impressive number of Span-

ish Christians changed (or were accused of changing) their faith in this way

(chapter 983095) The kingdom of Granada in the same way had a small community

of renegade Christians who adopted the Islamic religion Consequently in

Christian Spain it was not uncommon to find many people who expressed pro-

Muslim sentiments In 983089983092983096983094 the Inquisition of Saragossa tried a Christian ldquofor

saying that he was a Muslim and for praying in the mosque like a Muslimrdquo40

There are scores of similar cases in the documents

Long after the epoch of multiple faiths in the peninsula had passed many

Spaniards retained at the back of their minds a feeling that their differences

were not divisive In the Granada countryside in the 983089983094983090983088s a woman of Muslim

origin felt that ldquothe Muslim can be saved in his faith as the Jew can in hisrdquo aChristian peasant felt that ldquoeveryone can find salvation in his own faithrdquo and

another affirmed that ldquoJews who observe their law can be savedrdquo41 The attitude



7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt



was frequent enough to be ordinary and could be found in every corner of

Spain and every inlet of the Mediterranean so much so that we can almost re-

gard it as a commonplace of rural philosophy in southern Europe When the

north Italian miller Menocchio was pressed in 983089983093983096983092 by an Italian inquisitor onthe subject of which was the true religion he answered ldquoGod the father has

various children whom he loves such as Christians Turks and Jews and to each

of them he has given the will to live by his own law and we do not know which

is the right onerdquo42 Do the opinions reflect indifference or maybe a feeling of

tolerance Scholars today read the lesson in varying ways43 As the Inquisition

shifted its attention from former Jews it was to find that sentiments like these

were common among ordinary Christians as well Indeed what was particularly

alarming was not simply that true religion may have been perverted by heresybut that in many parts of Spain it could be doubted whether there was any true

religion at all if villagers had respect neither for religion nor for its ministers ldquoI

care nothing for the gospelsrdquo stated a resident of Cuenca in 983089983092983097983088 and another

said ldquoI swear to God itrsquos a fraud from the pope to the coperdquo44 A local Jewish

doctor in Soria in 983089983092983097983089 testified of a neighbor whose religion was under suspi-

cion that ldquohe was neither Christian nor Jewrdquo45

The remarkable absence of formal ldquoheresyrdquo in late medieval Spain may in

part have been a consequence of its multiple cultures The three faiths even

while respecting each other attempted to maintain in some measure the purity

of their own ideology In times of crisis as with the rabbis in 983089983092983097983090 or the Muslim

alfaquis in 983089983094983088983097 they clung desperately to the uniqueness of their own truth

Christianity for its part remained so untarnished by formal heresy that the

papal Inquisition active in regions of France Germany and Italy was never

deemed necessary in Castile and made only a token appearance in medieval

Aragon The virtual absence of organized heresy meant that though defections

to other faiths were severely punished in Christian law no systematic machinery

was ever brought into existence to deal with nonbelievers or with those forced

converts who had shaky belief For decades society continued to put up with

them and the policy of burning practiced elsewhere in Europe was little known

in Spain

The practice of ldquotolerancerdquo in the sense of allowing people to dissent did

not of course exist in any part of Christian Europe in the 983089983093983088983088s It came into

being only centuries later when some states conceded legal rights to religious

minorities But frontier societies having contact with other cultures as in the

Mediterranean and in Eastern Europe were in a special category Spain likethem was a plural (and therefore in some sense forbearing) society long before

toleration became a philosophical issue The same was true of Transylvania and



7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt



Poland ldquoThere is nothing new about diversity of religion in Polandrdquo a Polish

Lutheran stated in 983089983093983097983090 ldquoIn addition to the Greek Christians among us pagans

and Jews have been known for a long time and faiths other than Roman Catho-

lic have existed for centuriesrdquo46

It was therefore commonplace within that pluralcontext to have toleration without a theory of toleration because there were

legal guarantees for each faith47 The protection given to the aljamas by Chris-

tian lords was by nature contractual in return for protection the Muslims and

Jews paid taxes Because there was no unitary political authority in Spain the

nobles felt free to allow their Muslims to observe their own cultural customs

long after the Spanish crown had officially abolished the legal existence of Islam

(in 983089983093983088983088 in Castile in 983089983093983090983094 in the crown of Aragon) The development can be

seen as inherent in the nature of pre-modern political systems in Europe Beforethe advent of the modern (ldquonationrdquo) state small autonomous cultural groups

could exist without being subjected to persecution thanks to the protection of

local authorities The coming of the centralizing state in post-Reformation Eu-

rope removed that protection and aggravated intolerance

Even while Christians and Muslims killed each other for political or eco-

nomic reasons they accepted coexistence within the same territory Toleration

was socially possible but not ideologically acceptable it was a feature that Spain

shared with other European states possessing cultural minorities When traveling

from one territory to another one always had to be careful about observing the

local laws A French Capuchin friar recognized this in 983089983093983097983091 when apologizing

for speaking too freely in Barcelona ldquoI spokerdquo he explained to the inquisitors

ldquowith the liberty of conscience that the kings have granted in France and did not

understand that in Spain one could not make use of this libertyrdquo48

There were Spanish Christians who even in early modern times disapproved

of extreme measures against dissidence They were not ldquoprogressivesrdquo but sim-

ply part of a European tradition stretching back into medieval times Eminent

persons at the court of Isabella of Castile such as her secretary Hernando del

Pulgar and her confessor Hernando de Talavera expressed their opposition to

religious coercion and the use of the death penalty Alonso de Virueacutes humanist

and bishop subsequently (in 983089983093983092983090) criticized intolerance and those ldquowho spare

neither prison nor knout nor chains nor the axe for such is the effect of these

horrible means that the torments they inflict on the body can never change the

disposition of the soulrdquo49 Philip IIrsquos chaplain and court preacher Luis de Granada

criticized (in 983089983093983096983090) those Spaniards who ldquothrough misdirected zeal for the faith

believe that they commit no sin when they do ill and harm to those who are notof the faith whether Muslims or Jews or heretics or Gentilesrdquo50 The Jesuit Juan

de Mariana who like Luis de Granada happened to be a supporter of the Inqui-



7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt



sition criticized both forced conversion51 and racial discrimination Their voices

were no doubt few and did not reflect a widespread opinion but when added

to the testimonies gathered from among ordinary people they demonstrate that

Spain was far from being the single-minded and monolithic champion of ortho-doxy that it was at one time thought to be

Even among ordinary people there were voices opposed to violence in reli-

gion In 983089983093983092983093 the theologian and subsequent confessor of Philip II Alfonso de

Castro traveled to his home town of Zamora and was startled to hear people

there criticizing Charles Vrsquos wars against the Protestants in Germany ldquoI heard

many and various people who prided themselves on being faithful Catholics

criticizing the Emperorrsquos wars as wrong and irreligious and saying that it was

not Christian to go to war against heretics who should be conquered not witharms but with reasoningrdquo52

In the penumbra of the three great faiths there were it is true a number of

those who whether through the indifferentism born of coexistence or the cyni-

cism born of persecution seem to have had no active belief in formal religion

Without being able to penetrate their private lives it is difficult to offer an ex-

planation of their attitudes if indeed we can accept what they said as authentic

Many can be identified through surviving documentation53 But were they in

any sense unbelievers or atheists The question of whether ldquounbeliefrdquo was in

any way meaningful in pre-industrial Europe was first explored magisterially by

Lucien Febvre54 but subsequent scholars have not reached agreement on the

issue At most they have unearthed individual cases scattered through the pa-

perwork of Church tribunals in Spain and Italy of unusual statements and at-

titudes based normally on traditional folklore Without venturing further into

the problem of ldquounbeliefrdquo one may certainly agree that those who had attitudes

of ldquoreligious tolerance relativism universalism or skepticismrdquo were a recogniz-

able phenomenon in pre-industrial society55 They existed throughout the Medi-

terranean world not simply in Spain but also in Portugal Italy and North Africa

because it was the vastness of that world with its inland sea that opened out

alternative perspectives

The era of uncertain belief and fragile coexistence in Spain drew to an end

thanks to developments in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella monarchs re-

spectively of Aragon and of Castile Their marriage in 983089983092983094983097 helped bring to an

end a decade of civil war over succession to the thrones and bound together the

destinies of the two realms without in any way creating a political union be-

tween them In seeking to stabilize their power in Castile and Aragon the mon-archs inevitably had to make alliances with great nobles and prelates and at the

same time attempt to eliminate social conflict in regions where the presence of



7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt



Muslims and Jews appeared to be an unsettling factor There was one region in

particular Andalucia where social dissidence seemed to be an immediate cause

of instability and called for a concentrated peacekeeping effort It was where

they first paid serious attention to calls being made for the introduction of aspecial court to inquire into the heresy of Christians of Jewish origin When that

court the Inquisition eventually came into existence in the year 983089983092983095983096 it re-

ceived the full backing of both monarchs but as events turned out it failed to

bring about social tranquility and the machinery of the Inquisition served only

to intensify and deepen the shadow of conflict over Spain


7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt


Published with assistance from the Mary Cady Tew Memorial Fund

Fourth edition copyright copy 983090983088983089983092 by Henry Kamen All rights reserved

First edition published 983089983097983094983093 by Weidenfeld amp Nicolson as The Spanish Inquisition

Second edition published 983089983097983096983093 by Weidenfeld amp Nicolson as Inquisition and

Society in Spain Third edition published 983089983097983097983096 by Yale University Press as

The Spanish Inquisition A Historical Revision Fourth edition 983090983088983089983092

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part including illustrations

in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 983089983088983095 and 983089983088983096 of the

US Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press)

without written permission from the publishers

Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational business

or promotional use For information please e-mail salespressyaleedu (US office)or salesyaleupcouk (UK office)

Set in Electra and Trajan type by Integrated Publishing Solutions

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kamen Henry

The Spanish Inquisition Henry Kamen mdash Fourth Editionpages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index

ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983091983088983088-983089983096983088983093983089-983088 (pbk)

983089 InquisitionmdashSpain 983090 SpainmdashChurch history I Title

BX983089983095983091983093K983091983089983090 983090983088983089983092

983090983095983090983090983088983097983092983094mdashdc983090983091 983090983088983089983091983088983092983094983088983090983094

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This paper meets the requirements of ANSINISO Z983091983097983092983096-983089983097983097983090 (Permanence of Paper)

983089983088 983097 983096 983095 983094 983093 983092 983091 983090 983089



7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt


983089

983089




mdash983105 10486929831419831601048692983145983148983141 983159983151983154983147983141983154 983151983142 983122983141983157983155 9831079831371048692983137983148983151983150983145983137 983089983094983091983090
























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kingdoms
































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in the courts














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7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt





unbelief35














Mediterranean























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in Spain









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7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt









































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt












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983089

983089




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7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt









kingdoms
































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt









































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt



























in the courts














7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt









































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7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt










































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt





unbelief35














Mediterranean























7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt
































in Spain









7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt










































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7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt









kingdoms
































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7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt



























in the courts














7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt









































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7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt










































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt





unbelief35














Mediterranean























7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt
































in Spain









7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt










































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt









































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt












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7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt



























in the courts














7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt









































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt











































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt










































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt





unbelief35














Mediterranean























7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt
































in Spain









7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt










































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt









































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt












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in the courts














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7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt





unbelief35














Mediterranean























7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt
































in Spain









7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt










































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7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt





unbelief35














Mediterranean























7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt
































in Spain









7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt










































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt









































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7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt





unbelief35














Mediterranean























7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt
































in Spain









7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt










































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7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt












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7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt





unbelief35














Mediterranean























7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt
































in Spain









7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt










































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt









































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt












7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt





unbelief35














Mediterranean























7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt
































in Spain









7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt










































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt









































7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt












7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt
































in Spain









7232019 9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt










































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Documents

9780300180510_Kamen_excerpt