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Miscellaneous Tracts

VIZ.

I. The History of the Expulsion of the Moriscoes, or Mahometans of the Moorish Race, out of Spain, in the Reign of Philip III.

II. The History of the Wars of the Commons of Castile, in the Beginning of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V.

III. A View of the Spanish Cortes, or Parliament.

IV. An Account of the Manuscripts and Reliques found in the Mountains of Granada, 1588.

V. A View of the Inquisition of Portugal; with a List of the Prisoners which came out of the Inquisition of Lisbon, in an Act of the Faith, celebrated Anno 1682. And Another in 1707.

VI. A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Inquisition in Lisbon, with a Person now living in London, during his Imprisonment there.

VII. A Spanish Protestant Martyrology.

by Michael Geddes

(Doctor of Laws, and Chancellor
of the Church of Sarum)

1709 Edition

HAIL & FIRE REPRINTS 2009

HAIL & FIRE REPRINTS 2009

If you are unable to view content in the frame at right: Miscellaneous Tracts by Michael Geddes (1709 Edition)

THE PREFACE

Though the general expulsion of the Moriscoes out of Spain was one of the greatest revolutions of the last age, yet partly through the shortness of those accounts that are given of it in the general history of that Kingdom, and partly by reason that the books which have been published in Spanish concerning it, are all out of print and hard to come by, it is so little known, that I cannot say that I have met with many among the curious in history that knew much more of it than that it happened at such a time and that Spain was thereby much depopulated and impoverished; being altogether in the, dark as to the pretences whereon it was executed and by whom, and by what methods it was promoted; and, in a word, as to most of its material circumstances.

Wherefore, that so great and useful a piece of history may not be in a manner lost in this part of the world, after having, with no small trouble, procured all or most of the books that were ever printed concerning this tragic expulsion, I did set myself to write as full an account of it as we said books would help me to; which, having finished, I was the more forward to make public, for that I believed it might be of great use to our own, and to all other Protestant Governments, not to put them upon imitating so detestable a practice, abhorred of God, contrary to humanity, and to all good policy; but that, detesting its cruelty and barbarity, they may be warned by it to be always on their guard against an indefatigable enemy, who, though he may promise, does never give quarter; and with whom a Protestant, a Jew, and a Mahometan, are all one and the same; no cruelties being thought great enough for any of them, if they will not believe as the Roman Church believes.

And though I cannot but be sensible, that this work might have been done to much more advantage by such as are skillful in writing history, had they had the same materials, I can nevertheless affirm, that, as to all matters of fact, it could not have been done by any with more faithfulness. And, as to the reflections I have made on such matters, I shall only say that, had I not thought them to be just, I should never have published them; but whether they are so or not, the Readers must judge, to whose candor I commit them.

VII. THE SPANISH PROTESTANT MARTYROLOGY

About the year 1440, great numbers of people were, at the instigation of the Inquisitors, driven by the King's musqueteers out of the Highlands of Duringo in Biscay, to Valedolid and Domingo de Calcada, who were burnt alive at those places for refusing to abjure divers doctrines which are condemned as Heretical by the Roman Church.

We are not told what the doctrines were (that) such multitudes of people were thus put to death for professing; but it is more than probable, that they were the same with those of the Vaudois among the Alps; the primitive faith having, until about this time, been preserved entire in some mountainous and almost inaccessible countries by reason of their having never been before haunted by any Popish Friars or Inquisitors to corrupt it, or to punish its steadfast professors with death.

Mr. Nicholas Burton

The first that suffered martyrdom in Spain for being a Protestant, that we read of, was Mr. Nicholas Burton, an English factor [1], who was burnt at Sevil in the reign of Queen Mary of England. Mr. Burton’s goods and notes having been all seized when he was apprehended, the merchants of London, to whom those goods and notes belonged, sent one Mr. Frampton to recover them and dispose of them: but the Inquisitors, after having baffled Mr. Frampton for some months with frivolous pretences, did put a full stop to his negotiation by imprisoning him on suspicion of Heresy.

Dr. Augustine Cazalla

In the year 1558, Dr. Augustine Cazalla, Canon of the Church of Salamanca, who had been for several years Chaplain and Preacher to the Emperor Charles V in Germany, was taken up and imprisoned by the Inquisition of Valedolid, for being a Protestant; as was also his mother, Donna Leonora de Vivera, at whose house the Protestants used to assemble to worship God; and his three brothers and two sisters, and their servants, who had been all converted by him to the Catholic faith. For such I do reckon the Protestant to be, for that it is the same with that faith that was professed by the whole Christian Church when the Creeds were made. This most pious and learned martyr is acknowledged by Paramus, an Inquisitor, to have been a most eloquent Preacher, and one who, after having undergone all the cruelties of the merciless Court of Inquisition, in which his mother died, was with thirteen more, professing the Protestant religion, brought forth and burnt to ashes in an Act of the Faith. The Inquisitors gave out after his death that he had reconciled himself to the Church of Rome in their prisons, which they did on purpose, to prejudice his converts against his memory and doctrines. For, had he been penitent, why did they burn him, having never relapsed? And would it not have been more for their interest to have suffered him to live and to have obliged him to have preached to his converts to follow his example, than to have burnt him out of the way?

Herezulo

Herezulo, a most devout and eminent lawyer, was burnt alive at the same time and in the same place with Dr. Cazalla, by whom he had been converted. I have nothing more to relate of this blessed martyr but what is said of the admirable constancy and courage wherewith he suffered the cruel death of being burnt alive, by the writer of the Historia Pontifical, who was present at his martyrdom: I was so near the Bachelor Herezulo, when he was burnt alive, saith the writer, that I observed all his gestures and motions; for he could not speak, having his mouth gagged for the blasphemy he had uttered against the Roman Church; he appeared to me to be a most resolute and hardened person; and though I marked him very narrowly, I did not discover the least sign or expression of any uneasiness in him; only, that he had a sadness in his countenance, beyond anything I had ever seen before.

Dr. Perez

Dr. Perez, a secular Priest of great learning and exemplary piety, and a most fervent Preacher, was brought out of the Inquisition and burnt in the same Act of the Faith: of all which glorious martyrdoms, Charles, Prince of Spain was a spectator, who was afterwards privately put to death by his father (as was commonly said) for his having discovered a strong affection to the Protestant faith.

Don Carlos de Seso

At an Act of Faith celebrated not long after by the same Court of Inquisition, Don Carlos de Seso, a nobleman of an illustrious family, with forty Protestants more, was brought out and burnt alive, professing the Protestant religion; of whom, and of one John Sancho, who had been a servant to Don Peter Cazalla, who was burnt at the same time with his brother: the writer of the Historia Pontifical saith, that they endured being burnt alive with a courage that astonished all that beheld it.

Donna Leonora de Cisneros

Donna Leonora de Cisneros, the widow of the blessed martyr Herezulo, after several years imprisonment in the Inquisition of Valedolid, was brought out and burnt alive; which painful death she underwent with a courage nothing inferior to that of her husband: of which blessed couple, and Don Carlos de Seso, the writer of the Historia Pontifical saith, that they endured being burnt alive, as if they had been made of stone, and not of flesh and blood.

Soon after the Inquisition of Valedolid had made this terrible havoc of the Church of God within her Districts, that of Sevil broke in with no less cruelty and fury upon the Church of God gathered in that city, by the Ministry of Dr. Egidio and Dr. Costantino, the two great and shining lights of Spain, and who, before they were suspected of being Protestants, were universally acknowledged to be so.

Dr. John Egidio was first Rector of the University of Complutum and from thence was called to be Doctor of the Chair in Divinity at Ciquenca where he had not been long before he was chosen Canon and Preacher of the Cathedral Church of Sevil by the Dean and Chapter of that city. In all which posts, but particularly in the last, he behaved himself so well that he was beloved and admired for his shining piety, his profound learning, and great humility by all that knew him and by none more than by the Emperor Charles V, who used to call him his Preacher, and who, in the year 1550, bestowed Tortosa, one of the richest Bishoprics in all Spain upon him. But before this great and holy man was consecrated a Bishop, he was taken up by the Inquisition of Sevil for being a Protestant and a teacher of that faith. When or how he died in the Inquisition we know not, but it is certain that some years after he was apprehended, his bones were brought out and burnt in an Act of the Faith celebrated in that city, as the bones of one who had died an impenitent Protestant Heretic. In a Letter written and dated from Trent on November 19,1551, by a Titular Bishop to the Bishop of Arras, it is said, “We hear from Spain, that the nominated Bishop of Tortosa,” meaning Dr. Egidio, “is condemned by the Inquisition to perpetual imprisonment; I shall therefore,” saith that hungry Titular, “be infinitely obliged to your Lordship, if you will be pleased to remember me, in case the Bishop of EIna be translated to Tortosa, which is by this means become vacant.”

Don John Pontio de Leon

On September 24, 1559, Don John Pontio de Leon, son to Don Rodrigo, Conde of Baylen, was, with divers others professing the Protestant faith, burnt at Sevil; these blessed martyrs were all converted to the Catholic [2] faith by that learned saint, Dr. Egidio, and did, both in their lives and at their deaths, discover themselves to be sons not unworthy of such a ghostly [3] father. The doctrines they suffered martyrdom for professing, were:

1. That the worship of the Church of Rome was idolatrous.

2. That the Pope was Anti-Christ.

3. That men were justified by faith and not by works.

Dr. Constantino Pontio

Dr. Constantino Pontio, Chaplain and, as some say, Confessor to the Emperor Charles the V, and Canon and Preacher of the Cathedral of Sevil, was, after that Prince's resignation of his crowns and retreat to Spain, taken up by the Inquisition of that city, as a Protestant Heretic; but he, dying in the prisons of the Inquisition, the Inquisitors best knew how; his body with divers of his books in manuscript, were brought out and burnt in an Act of the Faith. Among his books that were burnt, one bore the title of, An Account of the True Christian, which he maintained the Protestant to be; and of the Antichristian Church, which he proved was the Roman. There was likewise among his books a Treatise against Purgatory and Indulgences; a second Treatise against Transubstantiation and a third against the Merit of good Works.

This learned Doctor was ordered by the Emperor to attend his son, Prince Philip, in quality of his Preacher, into Flanders, on purpose to let the Flemings see that Spain, at that time, was not without its polite Scholars and Orators. And so in the History of the Prince's Voyage, printed at Madrid, in Spanish, in the year 1550. Doctor Constantino, his Preacher, is said to be, “The greatest Philosopher, the most profound Divine, and the most eloquent Preacher that had been in Spain in many ages.”

Which just character of this great saint was, after he was condemned as a Protestant by the Inquisition, by Order of the Index Expurgatorius blotted out of that History, and on this passage the Expurgator of the book, which is in my hands, was so liberal of his ink, that I had much ado to read it.

Here the Reader is to take notice that among the other vile arts practiced by the Church of Rome, to support the credit of her gross errors, one is, that she will not allow any that have been her adversaries, ever to have had any sort of learning; as if it were not possible for any that had any degree of learning to doubt of the truth of any of her doctrines. And so if in any of the books permitted to be read by the Index Expurgatorius, Erasmus, Calvin, Scaliger, Grotius, Casaubon, or any other Protestant writers, do happen to be honored with the title of learned, that title must be blotted out, as a thing that did not belong to them.

It is reported that the Emperor Charles the Vth, when he heard of his Chaplain, Dr. Constantino, being taken up by the Inquisition, should say, “If Constantino be an Heretic, he is not an ordinary one; alluding to his extraordinary piety and devotion, as well as learning.”

John Gonsalvo, a Secular Priest

Father John Gonsalvo, a pious and fervent Preacher, who was likewise converted to the Catholic [2] faith by Dr. Egidio, was burnt at the same time and place with his dear and intimate friend, Don John de Leon; to which blessed couple, what was said of Saul and Jonathan, may be properly applied: “They were pleasant and lovely in their lives, and in their deaths they were not divided.”

This blessed saint, as he was going to the stake, began to sing the 129th Psalm, but being commanded to give over singing, he obeyed, well knowing, that if he had not, he should not have been permitted to speak a word more. And having, when he came to the stake, observed that one of his sisters, who was to be burnt with him, looked much dejected, he cried out to her, “Be of good courage, dear sister, and keep the faith.” But, as he was going on with his exhortation, the Officers ordered him to be strangled, pretending that he meant the faith of the Roman Church. And thus, policy, when nothing else can, will make Inquisitors be merciful. For the truth is, the Inquisitors, finding the people much affected with the admirable courage and constancy of mind wherewith the Protestant martyrs did suffer the most painful of all deaths, being burnt or rather, roasted alive, they began to fear the consequence of entertaining them daily with such dangerous spectacles. And for that reason, until those great examples were pretty well forgotten, they either strangled the Professed before they burnt them, pretending they had at the stake desired to be reconciled to the Roman Church, or having died in the Inquisition, they burnt them in effigy.

Juliano Fernando.

Juliano Fernando, who, for his low stature and thin body was commonly called Little Julian, was taken up by the Inquisition of Sevil for having imported and dispersed great numbers of Spanish Bibles, which had been printed in Germany. And though it is a hard matter to know anything that passes within the walls of the Inquisition, we are told by some that were in its prisons at the same time with this saint, that they once heard him, as he passed by the doors of their prisons, cry out, “Vencidos van los Frayles, vencidos van,” that is, “The Friars are baffled, they are baffled.” And at another time, “Curridoz van los lobos, curridos van,” that is, “The wolves do fly, they do fly.” And in the morning before he was to be burnt, meeting with a great number of Protestants in the Hall where their flaming habits were put on, he cried out to them, “Dear brethren and sisters, be of good courage and triumph over death.” And having thereupon been gagged all day, a certain Priest whose name was Ferrando Rodriguez, and who formerly had himself been well inclined to the Protestant Religion, when that saint was brought to the stake, desired he might be ungagged, boasting that he should be able to persuade him to be reconciled to the Romish Church, which he was so far from being able to do that that saint, after he had, with great patience heard all that that Priest was able to say to him, answered him with a holy zeal, “Thou Apostate, how darest thou, contrary to the convictions of thy own conscience, go about to persuade me to save my life by abjuring the truth?” With which severe reproof, that Apostate was so enraged that he cried aloud, “Shall Spain, the Conqueror of Nations, have its peace disturbed by such a dwarf as this? Executioner, burn that incorrigible Heretic;” which was done immediately; one of the Officers that stood by, having, either out of compassion or fury, given him a deadly blow on the head with a pole, amidst the flames.

Father John de Leon

John de Leon, a Monk of St. Isidore, in the city of Sevil, having been converted by Doctor Egidio to the Catholic [2] faith, did, with several more Monks of the same Monastery, who were likewise Protestants, make his escape to Frankfort in Germany; and not thinking himself safe there, he went to Geneva and there remained until Queen Mary of England’s death. When, being invited by the refugees to go along with them to England, he kindly accepted of that brotherly invitation; but having escaped the traps which had been laid for him and the other Spanish refugees at Cologn and other places in Germany, he and one John Fernaidel, another Spanish Confessor, were discovered at Middleburgh in Zealand, which was then under the Spanish dominion, as they were ready to have embarked there for England.

And having been told by the Officer that seized him, that “he was the man he looked for,” he turned about to his companion and said, “Come brother, let us go, God calls us to suffer for his Gospel; if we do not forsake God, he will not forsake us.”

This saint, after having been carried to prison and racked there, to make him discover the places where the rest of the Spanish refugees absconded themselves, was put aboard a ship, which carried him to Sevil, having been kept in chains and gagged all the voyage, but when he did eat his victuals, which was nothing but dry bread and water, he was likewise brought gagged out of the Inquisition and so continued until he was burnt, without discovering anything that looked like fear or uneasiness.

Dr. Christopher Losada

Christopher Losada, an eminent Physician, was burnt at the same time for being a Protestant, who, as all the rest did, suffered death with a joy and unconcernedness that amazed all that beheld it.

I am apt to think that the unhappy Michael Servetus, the most eminent Physician of his age, was one of the Spanish refugees of this persecution. But wherever that unhappy man learnt the Heresies for which he was put to death at Geneva, certain it is, that he did not bring them out of Spain with him; none that were put to death in that Kingdom for being Protestants, having by their adversaries, ever been charged with any of his Heresies.

Christopher Aurelio

Christopher Aurelio, an eminent School-Divine, who, by reading the Scriptures, had been converted to the Catholic [2] faith, was burnt in the fame Act of the Faith, triumphing over death as a conquered enemy.

Garsias Arias

Garsias Arias, a Monk of St. Isidore, who was commonly called Dr. Blanco, did, like St. Paul, of a violent persecutor, turn a zealous Professor of the Catholic [2] faith, for the testimony whereof he was burnt at Sevil, rejoicing that God had thought him worthy to suffer for so good a cause. This Monastery of St. Isidore was the great Seminary of the Protestant Religion in Spain, five Monks having been taken out of it by the Inquisition and burnt; and twelve having made their escape out of it, repaired to Geneva.

Ferdinando à Sancto Johanne

Ferdinando à Sancto Johanne, who, though but a young man when he was burnt, had been eight years a Professor of Humanity in St. Isidore's College in Sevil; he was a person of great zeal and devotion and was brought gagged out of the Inquisition, and continued so until he was burnt, praising God with his eyes and hands, not being permitted to praise him with his lips.

Donna Maria Bohorquia

Donna Maria Bohorquia, a young lady of such admirable knowledge and piety, that Dr. Egidio did use to say, that “none could discourse with her of divine matters (and she did not care to talk of any other) without being made both wiser and better by her.” When she was but a girl, she learned Latin, to be able to read the Bible, which in Spain was not at that time to be met with in any other language; and having by indefatigable study, in a short time acquired so much skill in that tongue, as to be able to hear the Divine Oracles speaking in it to her conscience; she so applied herself to them that she had the whole Bible almost by-heart; neither did she, after she had once tasted of that, ever care to read in any other book. When she was brought out of the Inquisition to be burnt, with a heavenly joy spread all over her countenance, she began to sing praises to God, with a most melodious voice; and having, when forbid, refused to give over singing, she was gagged and continued so until she was brought to the stake. But the Friars, dreading the ill effects her example, both in her life and at her death, might have on the minds of the people, if they believed her to die a Protestant, cried out after she was fastened to the stake, “She is converted and desires before she dies, to be reconciled to the Church of Rome.” And so, pretending to give her absolution, she was immediately strangled and burnt.

There were a great many more women and several of them of high quality, burnt at this time, both at Valedolid and at Sevil, for being Protestants, who, being all learned in the Scriptures, the Inquisitors, who are all utter strangers to those Divine Books, were not able to discourse with them about the truths revealed in those Oracles of God. This provoked Paramus, a furious Spanish Inquisitor, to declaim vehemently against women being suffered to read the Bible, and against the Protestant Religion likewise for permitting women, contrary to St. Paul’s prohibition, to speak in their public assemblies of worship. As if women that studied the Scriptures could not forbear to take the Ministerial Office upon them; and, as it the Protestant Religion, when they are so qualified, did allow them to do it; whereas, in truth, no people are so far from assuming any of the Ministerial functions as those who are most conversant in the Scriptures, which do expressly condemn that presumption; neither did any of the Spanish Protestant laity, men or women, ever take upon them to preach in the assemblies of their worship, nor did any of their Teachers ever allow the doing of it to be lawful. But thus the Inquisitors, as I have observed, do make no conscience of calumniating those they burn and of loading the Religion for which they suffer, with unjust and many times, inconsistent reproaches.

The blessed saints I have here named, though they were the leaders, were for number but a small part of that glorious army of Spanish Protestant martyrs burnt at this time by the Inquisition, who for the exemplary piety of their lives and the admirable patience and courage wherewith they triumphed over death in the most terrible of all its shapes, were nothing inferior to the martyrs of any other nation in any age.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] factor: an agent who is employed by merchants and residing in a foreign place in order to buy, sell, negotiate exchanges, and transact business on their account (H&F).

[2] Catholic faith: our author means by this the Christian faith according to the Gospel originally preached by Christ and the Apostles, and he expresses, as the Protestants and Reformers before him were bold to assert, “For such I do reckon the Protestant to be, for that it is the same with that faith that was professed by the whole Christian Church when the Creeds were made.” (H&F)

[3] ghostly: that is, spiritual; in contrast to carnal or secular (H&F).