Examination of the accused by torture—its different degrees—it is sometimes inflicted on those who are condemned to death—innocence no protection against Inquisitorial cruelty—different punishments inflicted by the Inquisition—description of an auto-da-fÉ—hypocritical manner in which the Inquisitors deliver over their victims to the civil power.

After undergoing the usual number of examinations before the Inquisitors, if the prisoner still persists in protesting his innocence, he is condemned to the torture. [14] Attempts are first made, however, to frighten him by a variety of Inquisitorial methods. The instruments of torture are shown him at a distance. Having been conducted into a large room, feebly lighted, the executioner is pointed out to him, dressed in a black gown which reaches down to his feet, and having a long cowl drawn over his head and face. This revolting figure has in his hand an iron collar, or some other instrument of torture, and stares in solemn silence at the prisoner, through two holes which are cut for this purpose in his cowl. "All this," says Gonsalvius, "is intended to strike the miserable wretch with greater terror, when he sees himself about to be tortured by the hands of one who thus looks like the very devil."

The majority of the historians who have been consulted, agree in stating that the different degrees of torture formerly in use were five in number. First, The threatening of the torture. Secondly, The steps taken when conducting the prisoner to the place where the torture is inflicted. Thirdly, Stripping and binding the prisoner. Fourthly, Elevation on the pulley. And lastly, Squassation, or the sudden precipitation and suspension of the body. To these we may add, the wooden horse, the thumb screws, the iron slipper, &c. The measure of severity with which the prisoner is to be tortured, is pointed out by the Inquisitor in the terms in which he is pleased to pronounce sentence. If he says, "Let the prisoner be interrogated by torture," he is merely hoisted up on the rope, but does not undergo the squassation. If he says, "Let him be tortured," he must undergo the squassation once, being first interrogated while hanging in the air. If he orders him "to be well tortured," he must suffer two squassations. If he adds the expression, "severely tortured," he is subjected to undergo within an hour three different squassations. If "very severely," it is done with twistings and additional weights suspended to his feet. And if "very severely, even unto death," the prisoner is in imminent danger of his life. "Should the prisoner, in consequence of the agony which he suffers, be forced to make any confession, that confession is immediately taken down by the notary; and if he adheres to it at his next examination, which commonly takes place in twenty-four hours after the infliction of the torture, and at the same time acknowledges his guilt, he is condemned, it is true, as a heretic upon his own confession, but is represented as penitent, and is restored to the bosom of the Church; though not without undergoing certain punishments, more or less severe, and certain painful varieties of penance. [15] But, should he either retract his confession, or persist in his heresy, he is delivered over to the secular power, and is burnt alive at the next auto-da-fÉ."

However unwilling we are to shock the feelings of the reader by any further description of the various kinds of torture inflicted by the Inquisition, it is necessary, in a history like the present, to give some more particular account of this part of the procedure of that infamous court. The following particulars relative to the torture, which are given by Puigblanch, are stated in a manner as unrevolting as possible, although, on such a subject, no words which describe this barbarous mode of Inquisitorial punishment can be used, without giving pain to every mind not altogether destitute of humanity.

"Three kinds of torture have been generally used by the Inquisition, viz. the pulley, the rack, and fire. As sad and loud lamentations accompanied the sharpness of the pain, the victim was conducted to a retired apartment, called the hall of torture, and usually situated under ground, in order that his cries might not interrupt the silence which reigned throughout the other parts of the building. Here the court assembled, and the judges being seated, together with their secretary, again questioned the prisoner respecting his crime, which if he still persisted to deny, they proceeded to the execution of the sentence.

"The first torture was performed by fixing a pulley to the roof of the hall, with a strong hempen or grass rope passed through it. The executioners then seized the culprit, and leaving him naked to his drawers, put shackles on his feet, and suspended weights of one hundred pounds to his ankles. His hands were then bound behind his back, and the rope from the pulley strongly fastened to his wrists. In this situation he was raised about the height of a man from the ground, and in the meantime the judges coolly admonished him to reveal the truth. In this position, as far as twelve stripes were sometimes inflicted on him, according to the inferences and weight of the offence. He was then suffered to fall suddenly, but in such manner that neither his feet nor the weights reached the ground, in order to render the shock of his body the greater.

"The torture of the rack, also called that of water and ropes, and the one most commonly used, was inflicted by stretching the victim, naked as before, on his back, along a wooden horse or hollow bench, with sticks across like a ladder, and prepared for the purpose. To this his feet, hands, and head were strongly bound in such manner as to leave him no room to move. In this attitude he experienced eight strong contortions in his limbs, viz. two on the fleshy parts of the arm above the elbow, and two below, one on each thigh, and also on the legs. He was besides obliged to swallow seven pints of water, slowly dropped into his mouth on a piece of silk or ribbon, which, by the pressure of the water, glided down his throat, so as to produce all the horrid sensations of a person who is drowning. At other times his face was covered with a thin piece of linen, through which the water ran into his mouth and nostrils, and prevented him from breathing. Of such a form did the Inquisition of Valladolid make use, in 1528, towards the licentiate Juan Salas, physician of that city.

"For the torture by fire, the prisoner was placed with his legs naked in the stocks; the soles of his feet were then well greased with lard, and a blazing chafing-dish applied to them, by the heat of which they became perfectly fried. When his complaints of the pain were loudest, a board was placed between his feet and the fire, and he was again commanded to confess, but this was taken away if he persisted in his obstinacy. This species of torture was deemed the most cruel of all; but this, as well as the others, was indiscriminately applied to persons of both sexes, at the will of the judges, according to the circumstances of the crime, and the strength of the delinquents.

"The torture by fire, however, does not appear to have been much in use except in Italy, and this when the culprit was lame, or through any other impediment prevented from being suspended by the pulley. In the latter country also, other minor tortures were used with persons unable to withstand those already described. Such were that of the dice, of the canes, and of the rods. For the first, the prisoner was extended on the ground, and two pieces of iron shaped like a die, but concave on one side, were placed on the heel of his right foot, then bound fast on with a rope, which was pulled tight with a screw. That of the canes was performed by a hard piece being put between each finger, bound, and then screwed as above. That of the rods was inflicted on boys who had passed their ninth year, but had not yet reached the age of puberty, by binding them to a post, and then flogging them with rods.

"The duration of the torture, by a bull of Paul III. could not exceed an hour; and if in the Inquisition of Italy, it was not usual for it to last so long, in that of Spain, which has always boasted of surpassing all others in zeal for the faith, it was prolonged to an hour and a quarter. The sufferer, through the intensity of pain, was sometimes left senseless, for which case a physician was always in attendance, to inform the court whether the paroxysm was real or feigned; and according to his opinion, the torture was continued or suspended. When the victim remained firm in his denial, and overcame the pangs inflicted on him—or when, after confessing under them, he refused to ratify his confession within twenty-four hours afterwards—he has been forced to undergo as far as three tortures, with only one day's interval between each. Thus whilst his imagination was still filled with the dreadful idea of his past sufferings, which the 'Compilation of Instructions' itself calls agony, his limbs stiff and sore, and his strength debilitated, he was called upon to give fresh proofs of his constancy, and again endure the horrid spectacle, as well as the repetition of excruciating pangs, tending to rend his whole frame to pieces."

But enough, and more than enough has been brought forward, on this inhuman and revolting practice of men, who nevertheless style themselves priests of the compassionate Redeemer!! Rather may we not call them and does not their horrid conduct entitle them to the appellation of ministers of darkness, and monsters of cruelty? "My soul come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united."

Such is a specimen of the tortures of the Inquisition, when there is not sufficient proof of the crimes of which their unhappy victims are accused. Instances, however, are on record, where the torture has been inflicted on persons who are condemned to death, as an additional punishment! One of these may be mentioned here. William Lithgow a British subject, informs us in his travels, that, in 1620, he was apprehended at Malaga, in Spain, as a spy, and exposed to the most cruel torments on what is called the wooden horse. But nothing having been extorted from him, he was delivered over to the Inquisition, as a heretic, under pretence that his journal contained blasphemies against the Pope and the Virgin Mary. Having acknowledged, in presence of the Inquisitor, that he was a Protestant, he was admonished to return to the Popish faith, and allowed eight days in a dungeon to deliberate on his conversion. In the mean time the Inquisitor and his minions often visited him, in order to persuade him to renounce his opinions—sometimes promising, sometimes threatening, and sometimes disputing with him on the heretical nature of his tenets. All their efforts being in vain, Lithgow was condemned, first to suffer eleven of the cruelest tortures, and then to be carried privately to Grenada, and burnt at midnight. He was accordingly carried to the hall of torture, where the inhuman process of filling him with water till he was ready to burst, was first resorted to. They next tied a cord round his neck, and rolled him seven times along the floor, till he was nearly strangled, after which they hung him up by the feet till all the water in his bowels had disgorged itself at his mouth. These and other cruelties having been finished, during which, notwithstanding the agonies he endured, he made no confession, he was remanded to his dungeon, till the last part of his sentence could be executed. But, by a remarkable interposition of Divine Providence, he was shortly afterwards delivered out of their hands, and arrived safely in England.

Should the prisoner, as already stated make confession while enduring the torture, that confession is immediately taken down by the notary; after which he is carried to another place, where his confession is read over to him, and he is required to subscribe it. But here Gonsalvius observes, "that when the prisoner is carried to audience, they make him pass by the door of the room where the torture was inflicted, where the executioner shows himself, in that shape of a devil described before, that, as he passes by, he may, by seeing him, be forced to feel, as it were, over again, his past torments."

If there be very strong evidence against the accused—if new proofs of his guilt be brought forward—or, if it be considered that he was not sufficiently tortured formerly, he may be subjected to this cruel ordeal again, "when his body and mind are able to endure it."

Ever ready to inflict punishment, the Inquisitors not unfrequently condemn the innocent to endure the most excruciating tortures; and, after subjecting them to agony or death, in solemn mockery pronounce them to be innocent. The following example, illustrative of such unheard of barbarity, occurred at Seville, in 1559. Maria de Bohorques, the natural daughter of a Spanish grandee of the first class, avowed her faith before the Inquisitors, defended it as the ancient truth of God, and was tortured to induce her to implicate her friends. First, two Jesuits, and then two Dominicans, were sent to debate with or ensnare her; but she continued steadfast—her convictions acquired strength, and her views grew clearer during the discussions; and nothing remained for Maria, but to form her part in the bloody pageant of an auto-da-fÉ. She there tried to comfort her companions in tribulation, but was gagged. Her sentence was read, the gag removed, and she was asked to recant. "I neither can nor will," was the resolute reply; and she proceeded to the place of execution. After she was bound to the stake, the lighting of the pile was delayed for a little, that another attempt might be made to reclaim her. She was, by the grace of God, immovable still—was strangled, and burned, one of her last employments being to comment on the creed in the Protestant sense. In 1560, no fewer than eight females, of irreproachable character, and some of them distinguished by rank and learning, perished in a similar manner in another Auto at Seville. Maria Gomez, her three sisters, and her daughter, were of the number. After being sentenced to the flames, the young woman thanked one of her aunts, who had taught her the truth; and then, amid many affectionate expressions, accompanied with confidence in Him for whose truth they were dying, they prepared for their fiery doom. After describing the touching scene, Dr. M'Crie informs us, that "so completely had superstition and habit subdued the strongest emotions of the human breast, that not a single expression of sympathy escaped from the multitude at witnessing a scene which, in other circumstances, would have harrowed up the feelings of the spectators, and driven them into mutiny."

We know that these details must lacerate the feelings of our readers; but it is needful fully to elucidate the spirit of Popery, wherever it appears full-grown. To complete our abstract, therefore, we must further narrate, that, at the same Auto, an event took place which gives the Inquisitors a full title to the epithet of Cannibals, which it caused to be applied to them. Dona Juana de Xeres y Borhorques had been apprehended, in consequence of a confession extorted from her sister Maria by the rack. Being six months gone in pregnancy, Dona Juana was imprisoned in the public jail till her delivery. Eight days thereafter her child was taken from her, and she was placed in a cell in the Inquisition. A young woman was imprisoned beside her, who exerted herself to the utmost to promote the afflicted lady's recovery; but the attendant was soon subjected to the torture herself, and remitted to her cell mangled by the process. As soon as Dona Juana could rise from her bed of rushes, she was in her turn tortured by the Inquisitors. She would not confess. She was placed on one of their instruments of cruelty. The cords penetrated through the delicate flesh to the bone of her arms and legs. Some of the internal vessels burst. The blood flowed in streams from her mouth and nostrils. She was conveyed to her cell in a state of insensibility, and died in the course of a few days. The Inquisitors, for once, pronounced the lady whom they had murdered, innocent, on the day of the Auto. They feared the recoil which their atrocity might have occasioned; so that in this fiendish proceeding we see Popery in its twofold character—shedding the blood of God's saints, and then like a dastard or a sycophant, fawning upon those whom it has injured, when there is danger of retaliation.

"The punishments inflicted by the Inquisition," says a modern writer, "may be regarded as of two sorts,—punishments not issuing in death, and punishments which have that issue. Under the first of these heads are comprehended the ecclesiastical punishments, such as penances, excommunication, interdict, and the deprivation of clerical offices and dignities; and under this head too, are included the confiscation of goods, the disinheriting of children, for no child, though he be a Catholic, can inherit the property of a father dying in heresy; the loss of all right to obedience, on the part of kings and other feudal superiors, and a corresponding loss of right to the fulfilment of oaths and obligations on the part of subjects; imprisonment in monasteries or in jails, whipping, the galleys, and the ban of the empire. Under the second head, or that of punishments issuing in death, there are only two instances, viz: strangling at the stake, and death by fire. These instances may easily be comprehended in a short account of the auto-da-fÉ."

"In the procession of the auto-da-fÉ," says Dr. Geddes, "the monks of the order of St. Dominic walk first. These carry the standard of the Inquisition, bearing on the one side the picture of St. Dominic himself, curiously wrought in needle-work, and on the other, the figure of the cross between those of an olive branch and a naked sword, with the motto 'justitia et misericordia.' Immediately after the Dominicans, come the penitents, dressed in black coats without sleeves, barefooted, and with wax candles in their hands. Among them, the principal offenders wear the infamous habit called the sanbenito. Next come the penitents, who have narrowly escaped the punishment of death; and these have flames painted upon their garments or benitoes, but with the points of the flames turned downwards, importing that they have been saved, 'yet so as by fire.' Next come the negative and the relapsed, the wretches who are doomed to the stake; these also have flames upon their habits, but pointing upwards. After the negative and the relapsed, come the guilty and the impenitent, or those who have been convicted of heresy, and who persist in it; and these, besides the flames pointing upwards, have their picture (drawn for that purpose a few days before,) upon their breasts, with dogs, serpents, and devils, all with open mouths, painted about it. This part of the procession is closed by a number of individuals carrying the figures of those who have died in heresy, or large chests, painted black, and marked with serpents and devils, containing their bones dug out of their graves, in order that they may be reduced to ashes. A troop of familiars on horseback follow the prisoners; and after these come the subordinate Inquisitors, and other functionaries of the Holy Office, upon mules; and last of all comes the Inquisitor-general himself, in a rich dress, mounted upon a white horse, and attended by all the nobility who are not employed as familiars in the procession. The train moves slowly along, the great bell of the cathedral tolling at proper intervals.

"At the place of execution, stakes are set up according to the number of the sufferers. They are usually about twelve feet in height, and at the bottom of each there is placed a considerable quantity of dry furze. The negative and the relapsed are first strangled at the stake, and afterwards burnt. The convicted and the impenitent, or the professed, as they are otherwise called, are burnt alive. To these, certain Jesuits who are appointed to attend them, address many exhortations, imploring them to be reconciled to the Church of Rome, but commonly without effect. The executioner therefore ascends, and turns the prisoners off from the ladder, upon a small board fastened to the stake, within half a yard of the top; and the Jesuits having declared, 'that they leave them to the devil who is standing at their elbow,' to receive their souls as soon as they have quitted their bodies, a great shout is raised, and the whole multitude unite in crying, 'let the dogs' beards be trimmed, let the dogs' beards be trimmed.' This is done by thrusting flaming furze, tied to the end of a long pole, against their faces; and the process is often continued till the features of the prisoners are all wasted away, and they can be no longer known by their looks. The furze at the bottom of the stake is then set on fire, but as the sufferers are raised to the height of ten feet above the ground, the flames seldom reach beyond their knees, so that they really are roasted, and not burnt to death.—Yet though, out of hell," as Dr. Geddes adds, "there cannot be a more lamentable spectacle than this, it is beheld by people of both sexes, and of all ages, with the utmost demonstrations of joy—a bull feast, or a farce, being dull entertainments compared with an auto-da-fÉ."

In order, however, to give the reader a still more distinct account of the parade and ceremony attending an auto-da-fÉ, we shall select the celebrated one which took place at Madrid in 1680, in presence of Charles II. and the royal family. On the day appointed, the procession began to move from the Inquisition, in the following order, at seven o'clock in the morning.

"The soldiers of the faith came first, and cleared the way; next followed the cross of the parish of St. Martin, covered with black, and accompanied by twelve priests clothed in surplices, and a clergyman with a pluvial cope; then came the prisoners to the amount of one hundred and twenty, seventy-two of whom were women, and forty-eight men; some came forth in effigy, and the remainder in person. First in the order of procession were the effigies of those condemned persons who had died or made their escape, and amounting in all to thirty-four; their names were inscribed in large letters on the breast of their effigies; and those who had been condemned to be burned, besides the coroza or cap on their heads, had flames represented on their dress; and some bore boxes in their hands, containing the bones of their corresponding originals. Next came the fifty-four who had been reconciled, the most guilty wearing a sanbenito with only one branch, and carrying in their hands, as did also the above, a yellow candle unlighted. Lastly came twenty-one prisoners condemned to death, each with his coroza and sanbenito corresponding to the nature of his crime, and the most of them with gags on their mouths: they were accompanied by numerous familiars of the Inquisition in the character of patrons, and were besides each attended by two friars, who comforted the penitent, and exhorted the obdurate. The whole of this part of the ceremony was closed by the high bailiff of Toledo and his attendants. Behind the effigy of each culprit were also conveyed boxes containing their books, when any had been seized with them, for the purpose of also being cast into the flames. The courts of the Inquisition followed immediately after, preceded by the secretaries of those of Toledo and Madrid, with a great number of commissaries and familiars; among whom walked the two stewards of the congregation of St. Peter Martyr, carrying the sentences of the criminals inclosed in two precious caskets. So far the procession on foot.

"Next, on horseback, paraded the sheriffs and other ministers of the city, together with the chief bailiffs of the Madrid Inquisition. Then came a long string of familiars on horses, richly and variously caparisoned, wearing the habit of the Inquisition over their own dress, the proper insignia on their breasts, and staffs raised in their hands. In succession followed a great number of ecclesiastical ministers; such as notaries, commissaries, and qualificators, all bearing the same insignia, and mounted on mules with black trappings. Behind them went the corporation of Madrid, preceded by the mayor, and followed by the fiscal-proctor of the tribunal of Toledo, who carried the standard of the faith, of red damask, with the arms of the Inquisition and of the king, accompanied by the royal council and board of Castile. Lastly came the Inquisitor-general, placed on the right hand of the president of the council, an office at that time filled by the Bishop of Avila. He was accompanied by an escort of fifty halberdiers, dressed in satin. He was clothed in a suit of black silk, embroidered in silver, with diamond buttons, &c. and attended by eighteen livery servants. The whole of the procession was closed with the state sedan chair and coach, belonging to the Inquisitor-general, together with other coaches, in which were his chaplains and pages.

"On the arrival of the procession at the theatre, which had been fitted up for the occasion, the prisoners ascended by the stair-case nearest their destined seats; but, before occupying them, they were all paraded round the stage, in order that their majesties, who were already seated in their balcony, might have the satisfaction of viewing them near. The tribunals, and persons invited, then proceeded to take their respective seats, and the Inquisitor-general ascended his throne. Mass being commenced, and the gospel ended, the oldest secretary of the tribunal of Toledo, read from the pulpit the form of the oath taken by the mayor of the city of Madrid, as well as by all the people. A bombastic sermon was then preached by a Dominican friar, qualificator of the supreme council of the Inquisition, and preacher to the king. After sermon they proceeded to the reading of the trials and sentences, beginning with those who had been condemned to die. This part of the ceremony lasted till four in the afternoon, when those who were condemned to death were delivered over to the civil magistrates, and whilst the latter proceeded on to the place of execution, and met their final end, the reading of the proceedings continued, as well as the abjurations of those who had been reconciled, which lasted till half-past nine at night, when those who had been absolved returned to the prisons of the Inquisition.

"The prisoners personally condemned to death, amounted to nineteen; thirteen men, and six women, principally of the Jewish persuasion. They were conducted to the gate of Fuencarrel, mounted on mules with pack-saddles, preceded by the effigies of those who had died or made their escape. Of those personally condemned for execution, eleven were impenitents; viz. eight obdurates, and three convicted, but refusing to confess. The burning place was sixty feet square, and seven high, and consequently sufficiently capacious, when twenty stakes with their corresponding rings were fastened thereon. Some were previously strangled, and the others at once thrown into the fire. The ministers having cast the bodies of those who were strangled into the flames, together with the effigies and bones of the deceased, more fuel was added, till all was converted into ashes, which was not till nine in the morning. Two days afterwards, six of those who had been condemned to do penance were flogged, among whom were two women. Such was the form and solemnity of this auto-da-fÉ, the largest and most splendid ever known."

The penitential habits with which the Inquisitors array the culprits at an auto-da-fÉ, are truly ludicrous. A garment or tunic of yellow linen or cloth, reaching down to the knees, which is called the sanbenito, and a conical cap called the coroza, are the dress of the victims of the Holy Office. When the person is to be executed as impenitent, both the sanbenito and coroza are embellished with flames and pictures of devils, and a rude likeness of the individual who wears them, is also painted on the sanbenito, burning in flames, with several figures of dragons and devils in the act of fanning them. When the individual has repented after sentence has been pronounced, he wears the same dress, but the flames are reversed, to show that the culprit is not to be burnt until he has been strangled. Those who only do penance, wear the tunic either with or without a cross, according to the different degrees of crime of which they have been convicted.

It only remains to mention here, the hypocritical manner in which the Inquisitors deliver over those who are sentenced to death, into the hands of the secular power. Having declared the condemned individual "an apostate heretic, a defaulter, and an abettor of heretics, and that he has thereby fallen into and incurred the sentence of grievous excommunication," &c. they, adding insult to cruelty, add, "Nevertheless we earnestly beseech and enjoin the said secular arm, to deal so tenderly and compassionately with him, as to prevent the effusion of blood, or danger of death!!" No words can do justice to such a masterpiece of hypocrisy; for let it be remembered that the Inquisition positively commands the civil magistrate to put the condemned to death. The gross falsehood of its professions, therefore—the aspect of meekness which it thus displays, while it thirsts for the blood of, and dooms to the flames, its wretched victim—literally prove that "there is no faithfulness in their mouth—that their inward part is very wickedness—and that their throat is an open sepulchre." "Is there in all history," says Dr. Geddes, "an instance of so gross and confident a mockery of God, and the world, as this of the Inquisition, beseeching the civil magistrate not to put the heretics they have condemned and delivered to them to death? For were they in earnest when they made this solemn petition to the secular magistrates, why do they bring their prisoners out of the Inquisition, and deliver them to those magistrates with coats painted over with flames? Why do they teach that heretics, above all other malefactors, ought to be punished with death? And why do they never resent the secular magistrates having so little regard to their earnest and joint petition, as never to fail to burn all the heretics that are delivered to them by the Inquisition, within an hour or two after they have them in their hands? And why, in Rome, where the supreme, civil, and ecclesiastical authority are lodged in the same person, is this petition of the Inquisition, which is made there as well as in other places, never granted?" The truth is, as already noticed, the Inquisitors are commanded by the bulls of various Popes, to compel the civil magistrate, under penalty of excommunication, and other ecclesiastical censures, within six days, readily to execute the sentences pronounced by the Inquisitors against heretics, that is, to commit them to the flames!