Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/399

255 THE INQUISITION. 255 same year, he expedited two briefs, appointing chapter Thomas de Torquemada inquisitor-general of Cas- '- — tile and Aragon, and clothino; him with full powers imionofthe " ^ ^ " ■"■ Inquisition. to frame a new constitution for the Holy Office. 1483. This was the origin of that terrible tribunal, the oct.n. Spanish or Modern Inquisition, familiar to most readers, whether of history or romance ; which, for three centuries, has extended its iron sway over the dominions of Spain and Portugal. ^^ Without going into details respecting the organization of its vari- ous courts, which gradually swelled to thirteen during the present reign, I shall endeavour to ex- hibit the principles which regulated their proceed- ings, as deduced in part from the code digested under Torquemada, and partly from the practice which obtained during his supremacy. ^^ Edicts were ordered to be published annually, Fomsof on the first two Sundays in lent, throughout the churches, enjoining it as a sacred duty on all, who knew or suspected another to be guilty of heresy, 38 L. Marineo, Cosas Memora- ation was to secure the interest of bles, fol. 164. — Zufiiga, Annales the crown in the confiscated prop- de Sevilla, p. 396 — Pulg-ar, Reyes erty, and to guard against the en- Catohcos, part. 2, cap. 77. — Ga- croachment of the Inquisition on ribay, Compendio, torn. ii. lib. 18, secular jurisdiction. The expedi- cap. 17. — Paramo, De Origine ent, however, wholly failed, be- Inquisitionis, lib. 2, tit. 2, cap. 2. cause most of the questions brought — Llorente, Hist, de I'Inquisition, before this court were determined torn. i. pp. 163- 173. by the principles of the canon law, 39 Over these subordinate tribu- of which the grand inquisitor was nals Ferdinand erected a court of to be sole interpreter, the others supervision, with appellate juris- having only, as it was termed, a diction, under the name of Coun- "consultative voice." Llorente, cil of the Supreme, consisting of torn. i. pp. 173, 174. — Zurita, the grand inquisitor, as presi- Anales, tom. iv. fol. 324. — Riol, dent, and three other ecclesiastics, Informe, apud Semanario Erudite, two of them doctors of law. The tom. iii. pp. 156 et seq. principal purpose of this new ere-