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| "A detailed recreation of the Auto-da-fé in Madrid's Plaza Mayor in 1680, showcasing the imposing staging and the multitude of attendees and condemned.To complement the historical description of the event, the image was generated by IA GEMINI." |
The death of Don Juan José de Austria, the king's illegitimate brother, in mid-September 1679, ushered in a new era in the long reign of Charles II (1665-1700). The king hurried to Toledo to lift his mother Mariana of Austria's exile, and preparations for the royal wedding to Maria Luisa of Orléans (1662-1689), then 17 years old and the daughter of Duke Philip of Orléans (brother of Louis XIV of France), were accelerated. The arrival of the Indies fleet that autumn with over 30 million ducats also contributed to this. The marriage with France was a result of the application of the Peace of Nijmegen of 1678. French diplomacy sought to use its victory to influence the Spanish monarchy's foreign policy from within the court itself. After the marriage articles were signed in Paris on July 9 and the Holy See granted a dispensation for their kinship, the wedding was celebrated by proxy, as was customary, in Fontainebleau on August 31, and was ratified on November 19 before the Patriarch of the Indies in Quintanapalla (Burgos). The royal couple's first public entry into Burgos took place the next day. After arriving in Madrid on December 2, the queen's solemn entry into the capital was delayed until January 13, 1680.
To address the severe economic crisis plaguing the Spanish kingdoms and to lead the government, Charles II appointed Juan Francisco Tomás de la Cerda y Enríquez de Rivera, the 8th Duke of Medinaceli, as prime minister on February 21, 1680. He was one of Spain's wealthiest and most powerful grandees, serving as president of the Council of the Indies (1679-1687). He intended to free the king from governmental responsibilities and restore law and order after the period of a certain "caudillismo" (strongman rule) fostered by Juan José de Austria. Medinaceli strengthened his administration by bringing in new officials to promote a commercial and colonial reform that opposed foreign mercantile penetration in Seville and Cádiz and favored reinforcing American defenses. More significant were the severe deflationary measures of his monetary policy, whose long-term benefits were achieved by further aggravating the consequences of successive plague epidemics (1677-1684), drought (1682-1684), locusts, and other catastrophes—such as the Málaga earthquake—on the population.
His goal was to end the existing monetary chaos, reduce the enormous amount of low-quality and counterfeit currency circulating in Castile, and curb rampant inflation and the constant rise in the so-called "silver premium" (to obtain 100 silver reales, 275 had to be paid in current currency). Medinaceli applied a devaluation, reducing the nominal value of copper and silver-linked currency to one-quarter and doing the same for vellón currency fabricated in imitation of the legitimate one. This legalized the circulation of a large amount of counterfeit money but recognized only one-eighth of its value, and the silver premium was set at 50 percent. To regulate prices, product and service rates were published in the main cities at the end of 1680. These measures benefited those with fixed incomes and salaries, or who hoarded precious metals, but the majority of the population was harmed because they only possessed devalued currency.
In this context, and almost as if it were a propitiatory ritual, the General Auto-da-fé took place in the Plaza Mayor of Madrid on June 30, 1680. Ceremonies of this magnitude were quite exceptional in this same Madrid setting. On July 4, 1632, Philip IV, along with Queen Isabel of Bourbon, Infante Don Carlos, and the Count-Duke of Olivares, attended the general auto-da-fé that had been prepared against a significant group of Portuguese Judaizers. They continued with the advent of the Bourbons, although in 1701, Philip V would refuse to witness the general auto-da-fé that had been organized among the celebrations of his arrival on the Spanish throne, as explained by Juan Antonio Llorente in his Critical History of the Inquisition in Spain. However, this would not be the norm for the rest of his reign, as a new wave of inquisitorial repression began in 1720.
The Chroniclers of the Event
We know the circumstances of the auto-da-fé during Charles II's reign in great detail thanks to the Relación written by Joseph del Olmo and published in Madrid at the end of 1680. Its author held the positions of king's quartermaster, master of works for the Buen Retiro Palace, and master major of the Villa de Madrid. As the warden and a lay member of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, he was in charge of designing the layout and building the entire stage where the event would take place in the Plaza Mayor of Madrid. This account includes at the end an explanatory schematic engraving of how the authorities, attendees, and condemned were arranged on this stage, which we reproduce on the fold-out pages. However, the most complete and detailed image of this ceremony is the one offered by the spectacular painting by Francisco Rizzio Ricci, which is preserved in the Prado Museum and was created in 1683 to decorate the Buen Retiro Palace.
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| "The historical precision with which this painting was executed can be verified by following the explanations in Joseph del Olmo's Relación." |
According to the chronicler, from the beginning of his reign, Charles II had shown his desire to personally attend a general auto-da-fé. Therefore, the inquisitor general Diego Sarmiento de Valladares, taking advantage of the fact that there were many prisoners in different inquisitorial tribunals whose cases were already concluded or about to be, and especially because of the persecution of the Mallorcan Jewish converts (chuetas) and other Judaizers in Castile, offered him the possibility of holding this general auto in Toledo. The king accepted the idea but insisted that the location be Madrid, as a demonstration of the Crown's zeal in defending the faith. It was decided that it would be held on June 30, the feast day of Saint Paul, "so that in it could also be celebrated this great triumph of the Catholic faith and the overcoming of Jewish obstinacy," in Olmo's words. Immediately, the Duke of Medinaceli was offered the honor of carrying the banner of the Holy Office in the so-called Green Cross Procession.
Preparations, Proclamations, and Indulgences
To organize this significant event, in which the Court would participate and the councils and civil and ecclesiastical authorities of the capital would be represented, eight commissions were appointed:
for the construction of the theater (the stage platform in the Plaza Mayor of Madrid)
for preparing the processional standards and the small chests for the sentences
for preparing the lay members of the Holy Office who, on the day of the auto, on horseback and with staffs of justice, were to accompany the Council of the Supreme Inquisition and arrange the canopy, chairs, and new small tables needed for this ceremony
for proclaiming the auto and organizing the hangings, seats, and decorations of the theater, the processions of the Green Cross and the White Cross, the guards for the enclosure and the quemadero (burning place), and the execution of the prisoners
for speeding up the dispatch of the cases of faith, forming and correcting the sentences, housing and dressing the prisoners in their penitential garments, and making the statues of those condemned in effigy
for preparing the manual for the abjurations and absolutions of the prisoners
and also for providing the necessary refreshments for the attendees and officials during a long ceremony that would take almost the entire day.
An order was sent to the different inquisitorial tribunals to send to the Court all those prisoners whose sentences were ready for execution: "the ministers of this holy tribunal went out to receive them in carriages and with weapons so that the prisoners could enter more discreetly, without being seen or recognized by the people, behaving with the circumspection, secrecy, and prudence that the ministers of the Holy Office are accustomed to." The members of the Inquisition tribunals of Toledo and Valladolid, and those from the cities of Ávila, Segovia, and other nearby places, were invited to attend the Auto.
On Thursday, May 30, the feast of San Fernando, at three in the afternoon, the gold-embroidered banner of the Holy Office was placed on the balcony above the door of the inquisitor general's room, decorating the entire facade with crimson damask hangings and announcing this public act of the general auto-da-fé with clarions and timpani. Between five and six in the afternoon, up to 150 people gathered in front of the inquisitor general's houses, including lay members of the Holy Office, commissioners, and notaries of the Court, to proclaim the day of the auto's celebration through the main streets and squares of Madrid: "Let all residents and inhabitants of this town of Madrid, the court of His Majesty, know that the Holy Office of the Inquisition of the city and kingdom of Toledo will celebrate a public auto-da-fé in the main square of the court on Sunday, June thirtieth of this current year, and that the graces and indulgences granted by the supreme pontiffs are given to all who accompany and assist in said auto. It is commanded to be published so that it may come to the notice of all." As the town criers passed, people would shout exclamations like: "Long live the faith of Christ!"
At the end of June, the so-called Company of the Soldiers of the Faith was formed, comprising about 250 men, tasked with guarding the locations of the auto, reinforcing the surveillance of the 118 prisoners, and adding a martial luster to the auto's processions. On June 28, this company, housed in the Court Tribunal (Palacio de Santa Cruz), collected a large quantity of firewood bundles at the Puerta de Alcalá, and went before the king to carry one of these bundles in his name, which "would be the first to be thrown into the fire" of the quemadero at the time of the execution of those condemned to the stake. They then deposited all the wood in the public quemadero installed nearly 100 meters from the Puerta de Fuencarral (current Glorieta de Bilbao). On the day of the auto, June 30, at five in the morning, they accompanied the prisoners to the Plaza Mayor and, at the end of the ceremony, handed them over to the secular arm (civil justice) for the execution of their sentences...
Between the Auto-da-fé and the Quemadero
Before the auto-da-fé began, the Green Cross and the White Cross went out in procession, the first heading for the Plaza Mayor and the second for the quemadero.
The prisoners were assembled, their sentences were read, and each was assigned two religious figures to assist them and encourage their abjuration. At three in the morning, they received the penitential garments made by the tribunal and had breakfast by five. Joseph del Olmo, as the warden of the Holy Office, had the list of the prisoners with the order in which they were to go out in procession and take their places on the stage. Delays in the hearings of some prisoners caused the procession to be delayed until seven in the morning. In it were the Soldiers of the Faith, the Green Cross from the parish of San Martín dressed with a black veil, twelve priests with surplices, and 120 prisoners, each accompanied by two ministers, one on each side (Del Olmo mentions 120 prisoners, but there must be an error, as his nominal list only shows 118).
The first 34 were condemned to be relaxed (the death penalty) in effigy (for being dead or fugitives), with their figures made of paper and cardboard. They therefore wore painted conical hats called corozas with flames (32) and sanbenitos (2), with some carrying small boxes with their bones and all of them with their names written on paper labels on their chests. Of the prisoners who appeared in person with unlit yellow candles in their hands, there were 11 with abjuration de levi (bigamists and liars who wore corozas and some with ropes around their necks, with as many knots as the hundreds of lashes they were to receive); 54 were reconciled Judaizer prisoners (dressed in sanbenitos with a half-cross or a full cross); 21 were condemned to be relaxed (equipped with a coroza and flame-patterned capes and the obstinate ones with dragons among the flames, 12 of whom appeared with their hands tied and gagged so that they could not utter blasphemies or respond to the insults of the crowd that harassed them).
This procession of prisoners left the prisons of the Court Tribunal (Plaza de Santa Cruz), passed by the houses of the inquisitor general, went down the street opposite, and continued to the right to the Plazuela de la Encarnación. From there, it went through the main squares and streets of the Madrid of the Austrias until it entered the Plaza Mayor. Once there, they ascended to the auto's stage via the stairs on the right, went along the outer corridor of the platform, and passed by the altar and in front of the king and queen before taking their seats on the prisoners' stands. Afterward, the inquisitor general, with his deacons and the members of the councils, took their places on the opposite stands. Dressed in pontifical vestments, the inquisitor general descended to the king's balcony to receive an oath from him and the people.
Once the mass began and the sermon was delivered, the longest part of the ceremony commenced: the reading of the cases and sentences, bringing each prisoner or their effigy, in order, to the cages located in the center of the stage. Del Olmo's account contains a complete list of the condemned with their name, origin, age, occupation, penitential garment, and crimes committed, as well as the punishment to which they had been sentenced.
At four in the afternoon, the reading of the sentences of those condemned to death concluded, and the 19 prisoners who were to be executed were immediately led down Calle de Boteros, Calle Mayor, Plaza de las Descalzas, and Plaza de San Martín, to Calle de San Bernardo to go directly to the quemadero at the Puerta de Fuencarral (the discrepancy appears again: Del Olmo mentions the figure of 21 condemned but only provides 19 names).
Meanwhile, in the Plaza Mayor, the reading of the other cases continued until nine at night. After the abjurations before the altar began (which could be de levi for light suspicion of heresy, de vehementi for grave suspicion, and in form for those convicted and confessed of heresy). After the absolution, a honor salute was given by the Company of the Soldiers of the Faith, and the celebration of the mass continued with music and the reading of the Gospel, with the reconciled lighting their candles.
At nine-thirty at night, the mass and with it the Auto-da-fé concluded. Charles II was present on the royal balcony from the time he took his place there at eight in the morning until its end. The penitent prisoners were led back to the prisons of the Court Tribunal.
Inquisitorial Pious Prudence
The execution of the death sentences was the responsibility of civil justice (hence the term relaxed). This is how Del Olmo describes this terrible consequence of the Auto: "The tribunal had, well in advance, advised the secular judges to prepare up to twenty poles and rings in the pyre to be able to give the garrote, and tying the prisoners to them as is customary, to apply the fire, without the need for the horror and violence of other more improper and bloody executions, and at the same time that they should have enough executioners of justice prepared for a quicker dispatch of the punishments. The pious prudence of the holy tribunal, while the prisoners are in its power, requires that moderation be observed in such a way that no one exceeds or fails to comply with the precision and observance of the sacred canons, but upon handing over the prisoners to the public magistrates, this care is on another's account." The pyre erected for this purpose was 3,600 square feet (282 square meters) and 7 feet high (1.96 meters). It was accessed by a staircase and was wide enough to execute all the condemned at once, allowing ministers and religious figures to assist them without difficulty.
The crowd gathered to watch the execution complicated the work of the soldiers guarding the event. "The punishments were carried out, first giving the garrote to the reduced (repentant) and then applying the fire to the obstinate, who were burned alive with not a few signs of impatience, spite, and desperation. And throwing all the corpses into the fire, the executioners fanned it with firewood until they were completely turned to ash, which would be around nine in the morning." At the end, the Company of the Soldiers of the Faith carried the White Cross in procession to the parish of San Miguel, where a response was held for the converted executed.
On July 3 at eleven in the morning, the sentences of lashes and public shame were carried out on the other penitents. The acts related to this General Auto-da-fé concluded with the Green Cross being taken in procession from the College of Santo Tomás to the convent of Santo Domingo el Real on that same day, and with the dissolution of the Company of the Soldiers of the Faith the next day, July 4. In this convent, a particular auto-da-fé (usually called an autillo, because only the Holy Office was present) took place on October 28, 1680, against 15 reconciled Judaizer prisoners and a Venetian condemned as a heretic. Joseph del Olmo includes a description of this other auto at the end of his Relación.
The balance of the General Auto-da-fé of 1680 reports that 104 prisoners were condemned as Judaizers and came mainly from Portugal, but also from Málaga, Zamora, and Pastrana; many of them constituted entire family groups. There was also 1 Muslim, 2 heretics, and 11 prisoners for minor offenses. Their ages ranged from 14 years for the youngest woman to 70 years for an elderly Portuguese woman. It can be observed that the Jewish converts were the main concern of the inquisitorial tribunals in the second half of the 18th century, but the intensity of these persecutions practically died out after this auto of 1680. From then on, the number of condemned people generally decreased.
The 1632 Auto-da-fé in the Plaza Mayor
On July 4, 1632, a General Auto-da-fé was held in Madrid's Plaza Mayor, whose ceremony and arrangement bear many similarities to the one that would take place in the same location in 1680. The main reason for this auto was a sprawling case of Judaizers found guilty of ritually beating an image of Jesus Christ, which, it was said, bled and sobbed, asking its torturers why they mistreated him (it would come to be known as the Christ of Palencia). They were arrested in September 1630 and implicated others. In total, forty people were condemned, and twenty-four of them received punishments for crimes other than Judaizing. On this occasion, the pyre was installed outside the Puerta de Alcalá, and seven condemned were executed there. Despite the significant number of Jewish converts prosecuted, this auto was not part of a more generalized persecution against this minority, which enjoyed great favor at court, thanks to the support given to them by the Count-Duke of Olivares for their collaboration in financing the Monarchy's policies.
Condemned in the Plaza Mayor of Madrid, 1680
At three in the morning on June 30, the 84 prisoners in person (35 women) held in the prisons of the Court Tribunal were dressed in the penitential garments according to their sentence: a coroza with an insignia (of a hypocrite and liar, of superstitious witchcraft, of a married priest, of a woman married two or three times, and of a person condemned to relaxation), sanbenitos (of a half-cross or a full cross, with flames or with demon masks), and some were gagged with their hands tied. The 34 statues of the condemned who were deceased or fugitives (12 women) were also prepared, as were the 10 boxes for the bones of the deceased (4 women).
After finishing their breakfast at five in the morning, they waited until seven to go out in the Auto-da-fé procession. After going through the main streets and squares of the town, they entered the Plaza Mayor and were placed on the prisoners' stands located to the left of the royal balcony. After their sentences were read to those condemned to death (relaxation to the secular arm) between noon and four in the afternoon, they were taken to the quemadero installed outside the Puerta de Fuencarral. In total, there were 51 prisoners relaxed to the secular arm (17 women), 22 fugitives relaxed in effigy (7 women), 2 deceased relaxed in effigy (1 woman), 8 deceased whose bones were burned (3 women), 12 executed by garrote and then burned, for having been "reduced" (repentant) by the religious figures who assisted them (4 women), and 7 burned alive for being obstinate (2 women).
In the Plaza Mayor, the reading of the other cases and sentences continued until nine at night. After the abjurations (10 de levi and 1 de vehementi) and the absolution of the 56 reconciled prisoners (26 women), 2 of whom were reconciled in effigy, the solemn mass resumed with the reading of the Gospel, until its conclusion at nine-thirty at night.
Grouped by age, the 118 prisoners from the 1680 Auto show that 46 of them were between 13 and 30 years old, 36 between 31 and 50 years old, and 12 between 51 and 76 years old. The age of another 24 prisoners is unknown, most of whom had fled or died before the Auto.
In addition to the penalties of relaxation, these other penalties were handed down for the reconciled prisoners and those who abjured: imprisonment for 2 months (1 prisoner), 4 months (1 prisoner), 6 months (13 prisoners), 1 year (10 prisoners), 2 years (3 prisoners), 3 years (1 prisoner), 6 years (1 prisoner), or perpetual and irremissible (21 prisoners); exile for 1 year (13 prisoners), 2 years (11 prisoners), 4 years (2 prisoners), 5 years (3 prisoners), 6 years (2 prisoners), 8 years (1 prisoner), 10 years (2 prisoners), and general (1 prisoner), the longest of which entailed a sentence of rowing in galleys without pay for the first five years; 200 lashes (6 prisoners); disqualification (2 prisoners); confiscation of assets for all reconciled and relaxed prisoners (but most did not possess assets); public shame (1 prisoner); indoctrination with an inquisitorial qualifier (5 prisoners); and a ban on going to ports and 20 leagues around (12 prisoners).
The Stage of the 1680 Auto-da-fé
The stage was built of wood in the Plaza Mayor between June 23 and 28. It was designed by the master major of the Buen Retiro and the Villa de Madrid, Joseph del Olmo, under the supervision of the inquisitorial commissioner Fernando de Villegas. Before building it, the houses and basements that would support the enormous weight of this ephemeral architecture were inspected. The chosen location in the Plaza Mayor encompassed the corner between Calle Toledo and Calle Nueva (current Calle de Ciudad Rodrigo, which leads into Calle Mayor) towards the Puerta de Guadalajara.
The theater's (platform's) floor measured 196 feet long (54.88 meters) and 100 feet wide (28 meters), forming a rectangle with a surface area of 1536 square meters. It was 13 feet (3.64 meters) from the plaza's ground to its first floor. It was accessed by two staircases of ten steps to a landing and another section of ten more steps; the one to the north led to the platform's surface to the left of the king and, by the opposite one, the councils located to the king's right accessed.
Three corridors were built. The first, separated from the wall of the houses of the Count of Barajas, where the monarchs watched the Auto, was 14 feet wide (3.92 meters) and 50 feet long (14 meters), and served for the procession of prisoners to pass in front of the monarchs, "so they could see them better." The second corridor was formed of a similar length, in which a platform oriented towards the East was placed in the middle with two barred cages of 56 centimeters on each side and 98 centimeters high, with their small doors, so that the prisoners could hear their cases and sentences in them. In front of these two cages, two pulpits were installed so that ten Dominican and Jerónimos religious figures could successively read the cases and sentences. Between the two pulpits and cages, there were benches for secretaries, lawyers for the prisoners, chroniclers, and other ministers, and in front of them two small tables, adorned with purple tapestries, with the two small chests containing the documents of the cases and the sentences. The third corridor crowned the outer part of the theater; here, stands were installed for the families of the inquisitors.
To the right of the theater—looking from the balcony—on rich carpets, the altar was arranged with the Green Cross covered by a black veil, the processional banner embroidered in gold, and twelve large silver candelabra; next to these was the preacher's pulpit. A stand was erected that went from the platform's floor to about 70 centimeters below the balconies of the plaza's second floor. On these stands sat the members of the Council of the Inquisition, and of the other Councils (Castile, Aragon, Flanders, Italy, and the Indies), and at the top was placed the throne and canopy of the inquisitor general (adorned with the royal coat of arms and that of the Holy Office), and with two side tables for the pontifical vestments (right) and for the ornaments of the honor chaplains (left). Internal stairs were made at the top of the stands so that the members of the councils located in this part of the platform could go down to the rooms of the first floor to have some refreshments. Opposite these stands and to the left of the theater, another set of stands of similar proportions and access was built, where the prisoners were placed, along with the religious figures who assisted them and the lay members of the Holy Office who guarded them. On a bench next to the central corridor, the wardens were seated (Joseph del Olmo's place) and on another bench, behind them, the lieutenants of the Villa de Madrid.
Below the platform and stands of the council members, there were eight apartments; three of them served as prisons and hearing places for the prisoners, another three were rooms for eating and resting; the seventh, a separate retreat for the preacher until the time of the sermon, and the eighth, for the officiating priest, since the entire event was part of a mass that began with the Auto and concluded it. The refreshments prepared for the attendees consisted of abundant biscuits, chocolate, sweets, and other beverages. Below the stands and the platform of the prisoners, there were another four rooms for feeding and resting the ministers of this part of the stage, and for attending to any accidents that might befall the prisoners (fainting, falls...).
To shield from the sun, awnings were extended by means of poles placed on 26 pilasters and ropes attached to the highest balconies. Next to the platform, a square was formed with a wooden fence, where the soldiers of the faith were placed to facilitate more comfortable access for the processions and the attendees' accompaniment to the event. From there, a street 26 feet wide (7.28 meters) was formed to the entrance of Calle de los Boteros with fences 4.5 feet high (1.26 meters), to contain the public.
Next to the royal balcony (which was number 29 on the first floor on this side of the Plaza Mayor), a door was opened to access the stairs that led to the platform. The royal balcony was gilded, and some partitions were broken to connect the king's quarters with the balconies of the ladies of the palace. Likewise, a canopy was hung at half-height on the balcony of the second floor. The work in general was paid for by the Villa de Madrid, with the exception of the royal balcony, which was paid for by the sovereign, and the decoration of the theater, which was provided by the Tribunal of the Inquisition.
The distribution of the plaza's balconies was done in such a way that the king's gentlemen and ladies, as well as the highest-ranking nobles and ecclesiastics, were situated closest to the monarchs; the importance, lineage, or wealth of the guests diminished as they moved away from the royal balcony.
Translated literally from the magazine La Aventura de la Historia nº 20
Bernardo J. García García
Associate Professor, Complutense University of Madrid.
Bibliography
Lea, H. C.: «History of the Spanish Inquisition» Madrid, Fundación Universidad Española 1983
Maura Gamazo, G.: «Life and Reign of Charles II» Madrid, Aguilar 1990
Del Olmo, J.: «Account of the General Auto-da-fé that was Celebrated in Madrid in the Presence of Their Majesties on June 30, 1680» Siglo XXI, Colección Clásico Tavera, Historia de España, Serie III, vol. 8, 1998 (there is a CD-ROM edition by the author of the article. I suppose you can contact him through the magazine's website or, the easiest way, the website of the Complutense University of Madrid).
Vegazo Palacios, J. M.: «The General Auto-da-fé of 1680» Málaga, Algazara, 1995
Yerushalmi, Y. H.: «From the Spanish Court to the Italian Ghetto. Marranism and Judaism in 17th Century Spain. The Case of Isaac Cardoso» Madrid, Turner 1989
Fuente: https://web.archive.org/web/20090207224236/http://club.telepolis.com/pastranec/interesantes/autofe.htm
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