Jump to content

Auto-da-fé: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→‎History: Corrected wrong number
Line 15: Line 15:
Exact number of people executed by the Inquisition is not known. However, Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society<ref> Penny Encyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (Great Britain), Volumes 15-16, C. Knight, 1839, page 410</ref> claims:
Exact number of people executed by the Inquisition is not known. However, Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society<ref> Penny Encyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (Great Britain), Volumes 15-16, C. Knight, 1839, page 410</ref> claims:
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
Llorente, who wrote with calumness and had access to the archives of the tribunal, gives an approximate estimate of the number of executed under each inquisition general, from which it results that the total amount in Spain is about 32,000 persons burnt, either alive or after being strangled, 17,000 burnt in effigy, and 291,000 condemned to various terms of imprisonment, to the galleys, or subjected to other penalties.During the eighteen years of Torquemada's inquisitorship alone, about 8800 persons were burnt. This calculation does not include the Spanish colonies, nor the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, which were long subject to the Spanish Inquisition.
Llorente, who wrote with calumness and had access to the archives of the tribunal, gives an approximate estimate of the number of executed under each inquisition general, from which it results that the total amount in Spain is about 32,000 persons burnt, either alive or after being strangled, 17,000 burnt in effigy, and 291,000 condemned to various terms of imprisonment, to the galleys, or subjected to other penalties. During the eighteen years of Torquemada's inquisitorship alone, about 8800 persons were burnt. This calculation does not include the Spanish colonies, nor the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, which were long subject to the Spanish Inquisition.
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
Cecil Roth <ref>Cecil Roth (1964) The Spanish Inquisition, W. W. Norton & Company, 1964 ISBN0393002551, 9780393002553 page 123</ref> quoted Llorente, the ex-secretary of the Holy Office, giving the similar numbers: 31,912 burnt, 17,696 burned in effigy, and those reconciled de vehementi 291,450. The same author quotes Amador de los Rios stating that, between 1484 and 1525, 28,540 were burned in person, burned in effigy 16,520 and penanced 303,847.


The Portuguese Inquisition was established in 1536 and lasted officially until 1821. Its influence was much weakened by the late 18th century under the government of the [[Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Marquis of Pombal|Marquês of Pombal]]. ''Autos-da-fé'' also took place in Mexico, Brazil, and Peru.<ref>{{cite book
The Portuguese Inquisition was established in 1536 and lasted officially until 1821. Its influence was much weakened by the late 18th century under the government of the [[Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Marquis of Pombal|Marquês of Pombal]]. ''Autos-da-fé'' also took place in Mexico, Brazil, and Peru.<ref>{{cite book

Revision as of 19:08, 17 September 2011

For other uses, see Auto-da-fé (disambiguation).
Saint Dominic presiding over an auto-da-fé, as depicted by Pedro Berruguete (around 1495[1]).

An auto-da-fé (also auto da fé and auto de fe) was the ritual of public penance of condemned heretics and apostates that took place when the Spanish Inquisition or the Portuguese Inquisition had decided their punishment, followed by the execution by the civil authorities of the sentences imposed. Both 'auto de fe' in medieval Spanish and 'auto da fé' in Portuguese mean "act of faith".

As the burning at the stake for heresy was perhaps the most profound aspect of many autos-da-fé, this particular aspect of it, that is, the act of burning at the stake eventually became the primary meaning of the phrase in popular usage, despite the fact that such was not the original meaning of the phrase.

History

The first recorded auto-da-fé was held in Paris in 1242, under Louis IX.[2] The first Spanish auto-da-fé took place in Seville, Spain in 1481; six of the men and women who participated in this first religious ritual were later executed.

In 1478 King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had received permission from Pope Sixtus IV to name Inquisitors throughout their domain, to protect Catholicism as the true faith. They immediately began establishing permanent trials and developing bureaucracies to carry out investigations in most cities and communities in their empire. Later Franciscan missionaries brought the Inquisition to the New World where it clashed with Iberian Catholicism and Native religious beliefs. Inquisitors were required to hear and record all testimonies. A major aspect of the tribunals was the auto-da-fé.[3]

The auto-da-fé involved a Catholic Mass; prayer; a public procession of those found guilty; and a reading of their sentences.[4] The ritual took place in public squares or esplanades and lasted several hours with ecclesiastical and civil authorities in attendance.[5] Artistic representations of the auto-da-fé usually depict torture and the burning at the stake. The defendant at the trial did not know what witnesses would be called against him.

Exact number of people executed by the Inquisition is not known. However, Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society[6] claims:

Llorente, who wrote with calumness and had access to the archives of the tribunal, gives an approximate estimate of the number of executed under each inquisition general, from which it results that the total amount in Spain is about 32,000 persons burnt, either alive or after being strangled, 17,000 burnt in effigy, and 291,000 condemned to various terms of imprisonment, to the galleys, or subjected to other penalties. During the eighteen years of Torquemada's inquisitorship alone, about 8800 persons were burnt. This calculation does not include the Spanish colonies, nor the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, which were long subject to the Spanish Inquisition.

Cecil Roth [7] quoted Llorente, the ex-secretary of the Holy Office, giving the similar numbers: 31,912 burnt, 17,696 burned in effigy, and those reconciled de vehementi 291,450. The same author quotes Amador de los Rios stating that, between 1484 and 1525, 28,540 were burned in person, burned in effigy 16,520 and penanced 303,847.

The Portuguese Inquisition was established in 1536 and lasted officially until 1821. Its influence was much weakened by the late 18th century under the government of the Marquês of Pombal. Autos-da-fé also took place in Mexico, Brazil, and Peru.[8] Contemporary historians of the Conquistadors, such as Bernal Díaz del Castillo, recorded them. They were also held in the Portuguese colony of Goa, India, following the establishment of the Inquisition there in 1562-1563.

Process

1683 painting by Francisco Rizi depicting the auto-da-fé held in Plaza Mayor, Madrid in 1680.

The auto-da-fé usually began with the public proclamation of a grace period of 40 days. Anyone who was guilty or knew of someone who was guilty was urged to confess. If they were approached and charged they were then presumed guilty, and since the suspects were not allowed to look at the evidence against them, they could only assume the worst. The auto-da-fé was not an impromptu event, but one which was thoroughly orchestrated. Preparations began a month in advance and only occurred when the inquisition authorities believed there were enough prisoners in a given community or city. Bordering the city's plaza, an all-night vigil would be held with prayers, ending in Mass at daybreak and a breakfast feast prepared for all who joined in. [9]

The trial then officially began with a procession of prisoners, who bore elaborate visual symbols on their garments and bodies. These symbols were called sanbenito, and were made of yellow sackcloth. They served to identify the specific acts of treason of the accused, whose identities were kept secret until the very last moment. In addition, most of the time the prisoners had no idea what the outcome of their trial was going to be. The auto-da-fé was also a form of penitence for the public viewers, because they too were engaging in a process of reconciliation and by being involved were given the chance to confront their sins and be forgiven by the Church. The trials concluded when the prisoners were taken outside the city walls to a place called the quemadero or burning place. There the prisoners who were forgiven would fall on their knees in thanksgiving.[10]

The auto-da-fé, usually represented as a heretic being burned at the stake, is a symbol used widely in the arts, especially in Europe.

  • Voltaire featured an auto-da-fé held by the people of Lisbon after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake in chapter six of his satire Candide (1759). The people of Lisbon believed that this "great ceremony was an infalliable means of preventing the earth from quaking."
  • Giuseppe Verdi - In his 1866 opera Don Carlos, Verdi includes a pivotal scene in the third act that depicts the beginning of an auto-da-fé in front of the Cathedral of Valladolid in Spain where heretics are about to be burned at the stake.
  • Herman Melville - In Moby Dick, near the end of Chapter 54, mentions auto-da-fe in passing: " 'Though there are no Auto-da-Fe's in Lima now,' said one of the company to another; 'I fear our sailor friend runs risk of the archiepiscopacy. Let us withdraw more out of the moonlight. I see no need of this.' "
  • Autodafé is a song of Italian rapper Frankie Hi-NRG MC from his album "La morte dei miracoli".

References

Notes
  1. ^ *Page of the painting at Prado Museum.
  2. ^ Stavans 2005:xxxiv
  3. ^ Perry, Mary Elizabeth; Cruz, Anne J., eds. (1991). Cultural Encounters: The Impact of the Inquisition in Spain and the New World. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520070981.
  4. ^ Peters, Edward. Inquisition. New York: The Free Press, 1988.
  5. ^ Many of the public autos-da-fé were described in contemporary published works listing the dignitaries in attendance, the condemned and their sentences. See for example, Matias de Bocanegra, Auto general de la fé..., Mexico: 1649
  6. ^ Penny Encyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (Great Britain), Volumes 15-16, C. Knight, 1839, page 410
  7. ^ Cecil Roth (1964) The Spanish Inquisition, W. W. Norton & Company, 1964 ISBN0393002551, 9780393002553 page 123
  8. ^ Marcus, Jacob Rader (1999). "36". The Jew in the Medieval World: A Source Book, 315-1791. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press. pp. 202–203. ISBN 087820217X. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Potter, Robert. The Auto de Fé as Medieval Drama. University of California Santa Barbara. pp. 110–115.
  10. ^ Potter, Robert. The Auto de Fé as Medieval Drama. University of Santa Barbara. pp. 115–119.
Bibliography
  • Arouet, Francois-Marie (Voltaire) (1758). Candide
  • Kamen, Henry. (1997) The Spanish Inquisition : A Historical Revision. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
  • Lea, Henry Charles (1906–1907). A History of the Inquisition of Spain (4 volumes). New York and London.
  • Nabokov, Vladimir. (1989) Pale Fire. First Vintage International Edition. Random House. New York.
  • Peters, Edward. (1988) Inquisition. New York: The Free Press.
  • Stavans, Ilan. (2005) The Schocken Book of Modern Sephardic Literature. Random House, Inc. New York
  • Steinbeck, John. (1932) "The Pastures of Heaven". Penguin.
  • Whitechapel, Simon (2003). Flesh Inferno: Atrocities of Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition. Creation Books. ISBN 1-84068-105-5
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Auto-da-fé&oldid=451015502"