Auto-da-fé


An auto-da-fé was the ritual of public penance carried out between the 15th and 19th centuries of condemned heretics and apostates imposed by the Spanish, Portuguese, or Mexican Inquisition as punishment and enforced by civil authorities. Its most extreme form was death by burning.

History

From the 8th to the 15th centuries, much of Spain was controlled by Muslims, where Jews and Christians were given dhimmis status. This meant that they were required to pay a special tax, the
jizya, for a “protection” intended, as Islamic legal texts make indicate, to remind them of their submission. The tax was imposed on the "people of the Book", as Jews and Christians were known, to humble them. While at times, those who were Jewish could rise to important positions in the political structure, instances of anti-Jewish sentiment erupted, such as the 1066 Granada massacre in which much of the Jewish population of Granada were killed by a Muslim mob.
The treatment of religious minorities varied depending on the era. For example, during their time of ascendance, the Almohads assumed the title of caliph, introduced a series of severe religious measures, and sought to strengthen their states through religious unification, which means compelling the Jews and Christians to either convert to Islam or be expelled. Around the 11th century, growing suspicions of Jews prompted Christians to unite against the Muslims and Jews. From that point, Spain became a political soup of different powers and territories, each with their own policies regarding the status of Jews and Muslims. Eventually the Christians won out and by the 13th century, they ruled all of Spain except a few territories to the south that were still occupied by Muslims. Ferdinand III of Castile boasted himself as the king of three religions. This tolerant pride, however, did not last long.
In the 14th century, Dominican and Franciscan priests called on Christians to expel the Jews from Spain. They would go from town to town in the countryside and convince Spaniards that the root of their plight lies with the abuse and villainy of the Jewish population. These bands of subjects would destroy synagogues, burn Jews alive, and spared nobody unless they converted. Jews would be forced to attend sermons and have Christian preachers outline what the Christians viewed as the errors of their ways.
From there, Spain’s favor shifted completely to their Christian subjects and policy began to negatively affect the Jews. New laws segregated the Jewish population and limited the occupations that were still open to them, with the ultimate goal of conversion. The pressure was so much that more than 100,000 Jews converted. Once converted, these New Christians joined the "conversos" class, who were afforded the legal and social privileges of a full Christian in society. Many New Christians took advantage of their elevation in status and embraced Christian privileges rather than ignored them. After a few generations, the converted Jews identified as nothing more or less than "regular" Christians. It seemed as though Spain had achieved what it wanted; they had a uniform Christian majority within their kingdom.
This uniformity, however, brought with it new versions of anxiety and fear concerning the conversos. With the entire corpus of anti-Jewish legislation no longer applicable, “The mistrust of the Jew as an outsider gave way to an even more alarming fear of the converso as an insider.” Up until the Jews converted, the differences between religious classes were very clear. Laws and customs aimed at guaranteeing Christian "superiority" in Spain afforded Christian subjects the comfort of knowing there was uniform hatred among Christians for the Jewish people. They could identify Jews in society and ostracize them while continuing to feel safe among their own people. Once the Jews converted, however, there were no longer clear divisions between what Christians regarded as the "morally upstanding" Christians and the "villainous" Jews. Many Christian Spaniards believed that they no longer knew whom they could trust and who could possibly be a treacherous heretic at heart.
In an attempt to assuage these fears, Limpieza de sangre laws were put in place that traced the bloodline of Christians New and Old to see if they had Jewish ancestry. In doing so, Spain divided its Christian class along ethnic and religious lines, "othering" those with Jewish blood much as they had prior to conversion. The prejudice behind this method of vetting was that conversos had Jewish blood in their veins and therefore, from the Christians' perspective, they likely held many of the same stereotypical faults of the Jewish people. Influential Christians believed that there was something different in the essence and soul of the person that could not be cured by religious conversion. With these laws came the resurgence of accusations of blood libel, devil worship, and other perceived crimes against the New Christians.
On 1 November 1478, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile received permission from Pope Sixtus IV to name inquisitors throughout their domains in order to protect Catholicism as the one true Christian faith. It originally applied to the Crown of Castile—the domain of Isabella—but in 1483 Ferdinand extended it to his domain of the Crown of Aragon. Autos-da-fé became quite popular throughout the Spanish realm, competing with bullfights for the public's attention and attended by royalty. Though Ferdinand's action met with occasional resistance and resulted in the assassination of the inquisitor Pedro de Arbués by converted Jews in 1485, in years between 1487 and 1505 the Barcelona chapter recorded processing and trying more than 1,000 heretics, of whom only 25 were ultimately absolved.
Once granted permission from the Pope to conduct inquisitions, the monarchs began establishing permanent trials and developing bureaucracies to carry out investigations in most of the cities and communities in their empire. The first Iberian auto-da-fé took place in Seville in 1481: the six accused were found guilty and executed. Later, Franciscan missionaries brought the Inquisition to the New World.
The exact number of people executed by the Inquisition is not known. Juan Antonio Llorente, the ex-secretary of the Holy Office, gave the following numbers for the Inquisition excluding the American colonies, Sicily and Sardinia: 31,912 burnt, 17,696 burned in effigy, and 291,450 reconciled de vehementi. Later in the nineteenth century, José Amador de los Ríos gave even higher numbers, stating that between the years 1484 and 1525 alone, 28,540 were burned in person, 16,520 burned in effigy and 303,847 penanced. However, after extensive examinations of archival records, modern scholars provide lower estimates, indicating that fewer than 10,000 were actually executed during the whole history of the Spanish Inquisition, perhaps around 3,000.
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 de Pombal.
Autos-da-fé also took place in Goa, New Spain, the State of Brazil, and the Viceroyalty of Peru. Contemporary historians of the Conquistadors, such as Bernal Díaz del Castillo, recorded them. Although records are incomplete, one historian estimates that about 50 people were executed by the Mexican Inquisition.

Process

The auto-da-fé was a major aspect of the tribunals, and the final step in the Inquisition process. It involved a Catholic Mass, prayer, a public procession of those found guilty, and a reading of their sentences.
An Inquisition 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 the accused were charged, they were presumed guilty. Officials could apply torture during the trial. Inquisitors were required to hear and record all testimony. Proceedings were to be kept secret, and the identity of witnesses was not known to the accused.
After the trial, officials proclaimed the prisoner's sentence and administered it in an auto-da-fé. The auto-da-fé was not an impromptu event, but 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. The ritual took place in public squares or esplanades and lasted several hours with ecclesiastical and civil authorities in attendance.
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.
The ceremony of public penitence then 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, the prisoners usually had no idea what the outcome of their trial had been or their sentencing.
The prisoners were taken outside the city walls to a place called the quemadero or burning place. There the sentences were read. Prisoners who were acquitted or whose sentence was suspended would fall on their knees in thanksgiving, but the condemned would be punished. Artistic representations of the auto-da-fé usually depict physical punishment such as whipping, torture, and burning at the stake.
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.

In popular culture

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.
With a variety of motivations, the Spanish crown wanted to take action that would unite the entire country, with a campaign against the Conversos offering a convenient target. The autos-da-fé were instrumental in the "re-othering" of the Jews. The campaign perpetuated old stereotypes about Jews. Moreover, by eventually expelling all non-Catholics, Spain was attempting to create a homogenous society, or "One crown under one religion," contrasting with a more tolerant past that had accommodated Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Once the Jews converted and became a part of the conversos class, the crown realized that one of the best tools for unity is a common enemy. In vilifying the New Christian, the crown sought support for its own political agenda. They pushed for the "cleansing" of Spain and the rebirth of what they hoped would be a strong, singular Catholic state. By positioning the crown as the religious and political engine behind the Inquisition, Spain’s position on the Jews was cemented. It was an antisemitic state and all those who lived within its borders were supposed to share those same sentiments.
Decades after the initial call for conversion of all Jews in 1492, Spain continued to use the Autos as a unifier of thought. This time, they were attempting to appeal to a crowd that had no personal experience with the conversos class exercising new rights. To them, many of the heretics and Judaizers were people accused of "crimes" who had been Christians for generations. The victims had few, if any, ties to their old Jewish heritage except blood. Making the autos more of a spectacle created a resurgence in antisemitic feelings for a population that had no personal experience with outwardly presenting Jews in society. The accusations and trials were done on the basis of suspicion and anxiety. Nonetheless, it reinforced a cultural aversion to the Jewish identity.
These spectacular productions also sensationalized the rooting out of heresy, making the Jews seem extremely dangerous. For around 2 centuries, Spain’s main mission was promoting national identity and removing heresy from their land. By including important dignitaries, special costumes, and bloody torture and execution, the crown was able to turn the Jew into a legendary foe. Likewise, its very violence and spectacle made the work that the Inquisition did seem of the upmost importance to societal preservation. At a time when people felt the corruption of their immortal souls was at stake, removing any perceived danger to the purity of the Christian religion would have been of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, this unity came at the price of the Jewish people.