
An ''auto-da-fé'' ( ; from
Portuguese or
Spanish (, meaning 'act of faith') was a ritualized or public
penance
Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of contrition for sins committed, as well as an alternative name for the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession.
The word ''penance'' derive ...
carried out between the 15th and 19th centuries in condemnation of
heretics
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy.
Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...
,
apostates, and especially
Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
. It was imposed by the
Spanish,
Portuguese, or
Mexican Inquisition
The Mexican Inquisition was an extension of the Spanish Inquisition into New Spain. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was not only a political event for the Spanish, but a religious event as well. In the early 16th century, the Protesta ...
as punishment and enforced by civil authorities. Its most extreme form was
death by burning
Death by burning is an execution, murder, or suicide method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment for and warning agai ...
.
History
The Inquisition was officially established to root out heresy, particularly among ''conversos'' (Jews and Muslims who had converted to Christianity but were suspected of secretly practicing their former faiths). There was a growing concern that these groups threatened the religious and social fabric of Spain. From that point, Spain became a political melange of different powers and territories, each with its own policies regarding the status of Jews and Muslims. By the 13th century almost all of modern Spain was under Christian rule.
Ferdinand III of Castile
Ferdinand III (; 1199/120130 May 1252), called the Saint (''el Santo''), was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 as well as King of Galicia from 1231. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berengaria of Castile. Through his ...
boasted of being the king of three religions. This tolerance, however, did not last long.
In the 14th century, Dominican and Franciscan priests called on Christians to expel the Jews from Spain, blaming Jews for social problems and stirring the Christian majority to destroy synagogues, burn Jews alive, and impose forced conversion. Jews would be forced to attend sermons and have Christian preachers outline what the Christians viewed as the errors of their ways.
New laws segregated the Jewish population and limited the occupations that were still open to them, with the ultimate goal of conversion. 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. After a few generations, the converted Jews identified as nothing more or less than "regular" Christians, and Spain was almost uniformly Christian.
This uniformity brought with it new sources of anxiety. "The mistrust of the Jew as an outsider gave way to an even more alarming fear of the converso as an insider". The differences between religious classes had formerly been very clear. Laws and customs codified Christian dominance in Spain. Once the Jews converted, however, 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 (Purity of Blood) 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 it had prior to conversion. 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 the
blood libel
Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mu ...
.
On 1 November 1478,
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand II, also known as Ferdinand I, Ferdinand III, and Ferdinand V (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called Ferdinand the Catholic, was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of ...
and
Isabella I of Castile
Isabella I (; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''Isabel la Católica''), was Queen of Castile and List of Leonese monarchs, León from 1474 until her death in 1504. She was also Queen of Aragon ...
received permission from
Pope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV (or Xystus IV, ; born Francesco della Rovere; (21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 until his death in 1484. His accomplishments as pope included ...
to name inquisitors throughout their domains in order to protect Catholicism as the one true Christian faith. The decree originally applied to the
Crown of Castile
The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Castile, Castile and Kingd ...
—the domain of Isabella—but in 1483 Ferdinand extended it to his domain of the
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...
. ''Autos de 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, between 1487 and 1505 the processing and trying of more than 1,000 heretics was recorded by the Barcelona chapter, of whom only 25 were ultimately absolved.
[«La Inquisició»]
, ''Històries de Catalunya'', TV3'', s.d.
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 de fé'' took place in
Seville
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
in 1481: the six accused were found guilty and executed. Later,
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...
missionaries
A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...
brought the
Inquisition
The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...
to the
New World
The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...
.
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 de fé'' also took place in
Goa,
New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...
, the
State of Brazil
The State of Brazil () was one of the states of the Portuguese Empire, in the Americas during the period of Colonial Brazil.
History
In 1621, the Governorate General of Brazil was split into two states, the State of Brazil and the State ...
, and the
Viceroyalty of Peru
The Viceroyalty of Peru (), officially known as the Kingdom of Peru (), was a Monarchy of Spain, Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in ...
. Contemporary historians of the
Conquistador
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...
s, such as
Bernal Díaz del Castillo
Bernal Díaz del Castillo ( 1492 – 3 February 1584) was a Spanish conquistador who participated as a soldier in the conquest of the Aztec Empire under Hernán Cortés and late in his life wrote an account of the events. As an experienced ...
, recorded them. Although records are incomplete, one historian estimates that about 50 people were executed by the
Mexican Inquisition
The Mexican Inquisition was an extension of the Spanish Inquisition into New Spain. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was not only a political event for the Spanish, but a religious event as well. In the early 16th century, the Protesta ...
.
Scale and numbers
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
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
and
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...
: 31,912 burnt, 17,696
burned in effigy, and 291,450 reconciled ''de vehementi'' (i.e., following an act of penance).
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.
Process

The ''auto de fé'' was a major aspect of the tribunals and the final step in the
Inquisition
The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...
process. It involved a Catholic
Mass
Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
, prayer, a public procession of those found guilty, and a reading of their sentences.
[Peters, Edward. ''Inquisition''. New York: The Free Press, 1988.]
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
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
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.
Officials proclaimed the prisoner's sentence after the trial and administered it in an ''auto de fé''. The ''auto de 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.
An all-night vigil would be held in or near the city's plaza, 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 heresy 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 to a place called the ''quemadero'' or burning place, sometimes located outside the city walls. 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 de fé'' usually depict physical punishment such as
whipping, torture, and
burning at the stake.
The ''auto de 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.
Notable events
* A particularly notable ''auto general de fe'' was held in
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
's
Plaza Mayor on June 30, 1680, during which 117 individuals were sentenced.
65 of them appeared in person and received punishments including flogging, incarceration, hard labor, banishment, destitution, or combinations thereof. 31 were sentenced in effigy, either because they had fled or died, and one deceased individual was posthumously reconciled to the Church. The remaining 21 were condemned to be burned at the stake. More than half of the accused, including most of those executed, were ''conversos'' charged with "Judaizing."
See also
*
Auto-da-Fé (novel)
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
* Arouet, Francois-Marie (Voltaire) (1758). ''Candide''
* Dedieu, Jean-Pierre (1987) ''L'Inquisition''. Les Editions Fides
* Goldstein, Phyllis. A Convenient Hatred: The History of Antisemitism. (Brookline: Facing History and Ourselves National Foundation, 2012)
* 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)
vol.1vol.2vol.3vol.4
New York and London.
* Monter, William (1990). ''Frontiers of Heresy. The Spanish Inquisition from the Basque Land to Sicily''. Cambridge University Press
* Perez, Joseph (2006) ''The Spanish Inquisition: A History'', Yale University Press. ,
* Peters, Edward. (1988) ''Inquisition''. New York: The Free Press.
* Rawlings, Helen. The Spanish Inquisition: The Historiography of the Inquisition. (Malden: Blackwell Publishers, 2006).
* Roth, Cecil. The Spanish Inquisition. (W.W Norton & Company, New York Press, 1964)
* Stavans, Ilan. (2005) ''The Schocken Book of Modern Sephardic Literature''. Random House, Inc. New York
* Whitechapel, Simon (2003). ''Flesh Inferno: Atrocities of Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition''. Creation Books.
* Yerushalmi, Yosef Hayim. Assimilation and Racial Anti-Semitism: The Iberian and the German Models. (Leo Baeck Institute, New York Press, 1982).
* ''Miscelanea de Zapata'', Mem. histórico español: colección de documentos, opúsculos y antigüedades que publica la Real Academia de la Historia (in Spanish, 1851
vol.XI, p.202
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Auto-Da-Fe
Christian events
Jewish Portuguese history
Jewish Spanish history
Portuguese Inquisition
Spanish Inquisition
Christian terminology
History of the conversos