Haim Beinart, THE SPANISH INQUISITION AND A CONVERSO COMMUNITY IN EXTREMADURA*

 THE SPANISH INQUISITION AND A CONVERSO 

COMMUNITY IN EXTREMADURA* 


Haim Beinart 


HE Spanish National Inquisition spread its net very slowly and carefully. 
Not until two years after Pope Sixtus IV had sanctioned its establishment 
in 1478 were Miguel de Murrillo and Juan de San Martin appointed as 
inquisitors, and only on 2 January 1481 did they issue their first decree to the 
relevant authorities in Seville.! The court was granted jurisdiction not only over 
Seville but over all Castile as well; Seville was its seat and the main locality for 
which it was responsible. As is well known, the initiative to establish this court 
was taken as a result of the hue and cry that was raised against the so-called 
judaizing heresy which had spread through the kingdom. Not a year had passed 
before Cordova had its own Inquisition tribunal. The next step was the appoint- 
ment of twelve inquisitors, approved by the pope, among them Tomas de 
Torquemada. Another year went by and then, in 1483, the central court of 
Castile was founded, its seat located at first in the small provincial town of 
Ciudad Real.? The doors of the Ciudad Real court opened on 14 September 
with the declaration of a ‘Period of Grace’, and remained in session for two 
years.? Public opinion thus became accustomed to its existence in a provincial 
town. In the autumn of 1485 the Ciudad Real tribunal was transferred to 
Toledo. The road to the extirpation of Judaism in Spain was paved.4 
Already in the same year — 1485 — the Toledo tribunal had branched out into 
Extremadura, founding its first itinerant court in Guadalupe. This court sat for 


* Sections of this article were presented as a paper at the Conference on Jews and Conversos 
in Late Medieval and Renaissance Spain, University of Toronto, 30 April-1 May 1979. 

1 See B. Llorca, Bulario pontificio de la Inquisicién espafiola en su pertodo constitucional 
(1478-1525) (Miscellanea historiae pontificiae 15; Rome, 1949), pp. 48 ff. 

2 See H. Beinart, Conversos on Trial by the Inquisition (Tel-Aviv, 1965), in Hebrew (an 
English translation by Y. Guiladi will be published in 1981). See also H. Beinart. Records of the 
Trials of the Spanish Inquisition in Ciudad Real 1-4 Jerusalem, 1974-81). 

3 See Beinart, Conversos, pp. 85 ff. 

4 On the files extant from this court see H. Beinart, ‘The Conversos Tried by the Inquisition in 
Toledo’ (in Hebrew), Tarbiz 26 (1957) 71-86. 


Mediaeval Studies 43 (1981) 445-71. © Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. 


446 Η. BEINART 


a year, during which time it most probably succeeded in annihilating all the 
judaizers in the region. Forty-six files or processos are extant from this court. 
Thirty-four conversos were tried in person; nine were tried in absentia; and the 
remains of three more were exhumed and burnt after their posthumous 
condemnation. In all forty people were condemned; only six were reconciled 
and returned to the fold of the Church.° In addition, the Jewish population was 
expelled from Guadalupe and prohibited from living there. The pace of the 
court was set by its members, whose names we know: Nufio de Arévalo, head 
of the Hieronymite monastery in Guadalupe,’ was appointed judge; Francisco 


5 Twenty-one males and twenty-five females. 

§ See J. de Sigtienza. Historia de la Orden de San Jeronimo, 2 vols., 2nd edition, publicada ... 
por Juan Catalina Garcia (Nueva biblioteca de autores espafioles 8, 12: Madrid 1907-1909), 2. 
211 ff. See below, n. 7. Cf. as well the Expulsion of the Jews from Andalusia in 1483, which we 
learn from the Order of Expulsion from Spain (P. Leén Tello, Judfos de Avila [Avila, 1963], 
pp. 91 ff.). 

7 On this court see H. C. Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, 4 vols. (New York-London, 
1906-1907), 1. 171, 367 and 3. 43, 88, 185. Nufio de Arévalo was present at the Auto-de-fé held 
on 13 February 1485. See the trial of Beatriz Gonzalez, wife of Fernan Sanchez de la Barrera 
from Herrera (Madrid, Archivo Histérico Nacional, Inquisicion Toledo, Leg. 153 No. 13 
[formerly 337], fol. 11v). (in this article all references to records of trials will signify documents 
in the Archivo Historico Nacional, ‘Inquisicion Toledo’; henceforth the material will be cited 
simply by shelf mark.) Sigtienza dedicated a whole chapter to his activities (ibid. 2. 212): 
‘Conociendo el valor del Prior fray Nuno, determinaron, entendida la necessidad, de cometerles 
el oficio de Inquisidor en aquella puebla, dandole por acompanados al Doctor Francisco Sanchez 
de la Fuente, que despues fue Dean de Toledo, y al Licenciado Pedro Sanchez [de la Calanchal. 
Hizieronse algunos autos publicos, donde huuo muchos quemados, mugeres y hombres que 
judayzauan y peruertian a muchos, alli a los ojos de la madre santisima del Messias, que ellos 
como ciegos y duros esperan miserablemente .... tambien se hallo un religioso herege, que passo 
por la misma pena; desenterraron los huessos de muchos, para echarlos en la hoguera, porque no 
fuessen de mejor condicion que sus almas. Fueronse otros fugitiuos, que condenaron en ausencia 
y rebeldia, al mismo fuego; ensambenitaron otros, y otros desterraron, y ansi se limpio con la 
diligencia y industria del Prior aquella puebla, que auia escogido aquella perdida gente como por 
cueua y refugio de su apostasia, en gran desacato de la Reyna del cielo, traycion de su casa Real, 
injuria de deuocion de toda Espana. Hizo luego vn estatuto para el remedio de adelante, que no 
pudiesse morar alli ningun Iudio, y con esto quedo limpia aquella poblacion de alli adelante desta 
lepra: que quando el prudente varon no huuiera hecho otra cosa, merecia perpetuo 
agradecimiento. Fue esto en el afio de mil y quatrocientos y ochenta y cinco; refierese en el libro 
de los milagros, que tiene aquella casa (son muchos volumines, y tan calificados, y autenticos, 
quanto se puede dessear en fe humana) que desseauan mucho los Inquisidores, el Prior y sus 
compafieros, hiziesse la Reyna Soberana en aquella sazon algunas de sus acostumbradas 
marauillas, en confirmacion del zelo que se auia tenido su honra y de la de su hijo Dios y Senor 
nuestro, de la santa Fé de sus mysterios, pues este era el mas principal fin de los milagros, para 
que con ellos se confirmassen los fieles, y los que no estauan tan assentados y seguros lo 
estuuiessen. Sucedio como se desseaua, por ser la peticion tan justa, y fueron tantos los que la 
Reyna del cielo obro alli en pocos dias, que tomando a su cargo de escriuirlos y examinarlos el 
Doctor Francisco Sanchez [de la Fuente], se canso y no pudo escriuirlos todos, vencido de la 
infinidad de marauillas y sefiales que cada dia acaecian de mil diferencias, bastante la menor 
dellas a confirmar en la Fé y a despertar y reduzir a ella los mas duros infieles.” 


THE SPANISH INQUISITION 447 


Sanchez de la Fuente, who excelled himself in Ciudad Real,’ and Pedro Sanchez 
de la Calancha,’ both of them judges who had been sent from Toledo; Diego 
Fernandez de Zamora, prosecutor; Anton del Castillo, a/lguacil, and his 
assistant, Cristobal del Castillo.!° Juan Jiménez de Guadalupe and Diego de 
Ecija, both probably local inhabitants, served as notaries. The witnesses to the 
Auto-de-fé held on 13 February 1485 were Juan de Trujillo!! and Luis Alonso, 
notary. Juan de Tejeda served as procurador. 

Now, if one counts and names the members of the court of the Condado de 
Belalcazar, it becomes clear that direct contact existed between these two 
courts. The court of the Condado functioned in 1486 and 1487. Its centre was 
in Puebla de Alcocer, but from time to time it went to Belalcazar. Doctor Pedro 
Rodriguez de Pefialver!? and the /icenciado Pedro Sanchez de la Calancha acted 
as judges;!? Diego Fernandez de Zamora, prosecutor in the court of Guadalupe, 
prosecuted, with Alonso de la Calancha and Diego de Soto as his assistants. 
This court had a special adviser: Fernando de Trujillo, whose title was Soli- 
citador de la Santa Inquisicién. Rabbi to a converso refugee community in 
Palma del Rio in 1474, Fernando de Trujillo later converted to Christianity. On 
his arrival in Ciudad Real, he caused havoc among the conversos there, for he 
betrayed his former brethren and served the court of the Inquisition in that 
town.’ In the court of the Condado de Belalcazar he served in the special 
capacity of expert and adviser on Jewish matters. No doubt this appointment 
was made in acknowledgement of the former rabbi’s services to the Inquisition 
in acting against his former brethren. He probably came from Trujillo and was 
familiar with the conditions of Extremadura. Gonzalo Guerrero,'® Enrique 


8 See Beinart. Conversos, index, s.v. and Records 4, biographical notes. He continued in 1486 
to serve in the Condado de Belalcazar court. 

5. Sometimes the name is given as ‘de la Calaueha’; perhaps the village of Calamocha near 
Teruel was his place of origin. Later he was very active in the Condado de Belalcazar court. 

10 Both served in the court of Belalcazar as well. 

1 He was active in Guadalajara in the segregation of Jews and Christians into separate living 
quarters. See H. Beinart, ‘Tomas de Torquemada’s Memorandum to Queen Isabel’ (in Hebrew) in 
Proceedings of the Sixth World Congress of Jewish Studies 2 Jerusalem, 1975), p. 13. 

12. On him see H. Beinart. Trujillo: A Jewish Community in Extremadura on the Eve of the 
Expulsion (Hispania judaica 2; Jerusalem, 1980), index, s.v. In 1488-89 he served in the court of 
Plasencia. 

13 See above. n. 9. Francisco Sanchez de la Fuente returned to Toledo. 

* See Beinart, Conversos, index, s.v. and Records 1 and 4 (biographical notes). 

15. See the trial of Garcia Sanchez, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fols. 
Ir-13r). Cf. also the trial of Maria Gonzalez, wife of Rodrigo Foronda from Herrera (Leg. 154 
No. 31 [378], fol. 12v). , 

16. On 22 January 1501 he was named ‘notary of property sequestrations’ (norario de secrestos) 
in Toledo. On that day he was away in Cordova on a mission for the court of Toledo, copying the 
confession of Mari Alvarez, wife of Fernan Garcia from Herrera (Leg. 134 No. 7 [69], fol. 111). 


448 Η. BEINART 


Paz!7 and Sancho de la Guardia'® served as notaries; Anton del Castillo was the 
alguacil.*® while Juan de Aguirre served as receiver of confiscated property. 

This list of Inquisition functionaries demonstrates upon whose shoulders fell 
the task of implementing that institution’s policies towards the conversos. They 
were the backbone of the Inquisition that was held in such dread by the 
population; it was they, the rank and file, who symbolized its cruelty and 
imposed the reign of terror for generations to come. Very little is known 
about their background and deeds: the files of the Inquisition contain only 
fragmentary information. A study of their activities may provide us with a 
more thorough understanding of the daily functioning of the courts and the 
manner in which one court or another worked. 


How, then, did the court in Extremadura operate? All courts of the 
Inquisition were regional, so that the Extremadura tribunal covered a very 
wide area. It therefore had to choose its seat in as central a locality as possible in 
order to keep the entire region well within its iron grip. It also had to send out 
inspectors, known as visitadores, to various localities to collect information and 
testimonies from witnesses who could not be summoned to court to serve as 
its ears and eyes. Thus the Inquisition was omnipresent. In the case of the 
Condado de Belalcazar the court had to sit in proximity to the residence of the 
count.2" so that the necessary link between religious and civil authority could be 
maintained. Another consideration governing the location of a court was the 
place where judaizing was strongest. But here the tribunal seems to have 
diverged from the obvious choice and, instead of Herrera del Duque, it chose 
Puebla de Alcocer for its central location. Nothing was left to chance. 

This regional court had to arrest those conversos it intended to put on trial. It 
also had to organize and carry out Autos-de-fe, and order the exhumation and 
public burning of the bodies of condemned conversos tried posthumously. 
Conversos who were received back into the fold following their prescribed 
penance and the way they fulfilled the court’s sentences, also had to be super- 
vised. Thus an entire organization had to be created and many trustworthy 
persons had to be appointed to carry out all these tasks. Local considerations 
were taken fully into account when Autos-de-fé were organized and scheduled. 


11 He read the sentences aloud at the various Autos-de-fé in Puebla de Alcocer. See, for 
instance, the trial of Ruy Gonzalez de la Puebla (Leg. 155 No. 14 [398], fol. 15v). 

18 He was witness to a series of procedures at the court and went to Herrera in search of heirs 
of condemned corversos. 

19. See above on the court of Guadalupe. 

20 The count was Don Gutierre de Sotomayor and his wife the Countess Dona Teresa Enri- 
quez y Velasco. She was the daughter of the Almirante de Castilla. 


THE SPANISH INQUISITION 449 


While we do not know all the details, the methods used in one place may 
indicate what was going on in others. 

The court of the Condado de Belalcazar opened its doors in Puebla de 
Alcocer early in 1486. On 1 February 1486 Maria Alonso, wife of Ruy Garcia 
from Herrera, confessed.24 We must remember that a ‘Period of Grace’ was 
always declared and that many conversos presented themselves before the court 
during that time to confess, thus obtaining the promised absolution of their 
sins.2 The ‘Period of Grace’ lasted a month and was declared in all local 
cathedrals.*? Thus Maria Alonso probably went from Herrera to Puebla de 
Alcocer at the end of January, so that January 1486 is to be considered as the 
month in which this court began to function. The other centre of activity was 
Belalcazar.4 We can only guess why one converso went to Belalcazar while 


21 See her trial (Leg. 132 No. 8 [29], fols. Sr-6v). 

22 Maria Alonso was reconciled with the Church in Belalcazar on 19 March 1486 in the Auto- 
de-fé held on that day. She was tried again in 1500-1501 as one of the adherents of the 
prophetess Inés from Herrera, and confessed in February 1505, but died in prison before the 
Auto-de-fé of 23 February 1501 was held. Her bones were exhumed and burnt. See Leg. 132 
No. 8 [29], fol. ὃν. 

23 Sometimes the ‘Period of Grace’ was extended for another month. Many considerations 
had to be taken into account before a court could start functioning. There were: practical 
problems such as accommodation for the Inquisitors, the installation of a secret prison, a 
chancery, etc. All this was sometimes housed in the local monastery. 

4 On 10 February 1486 Mayor Gonzalez, wife of Rodrigo de Cordova, appeared in 
Belalcazar. She was from Herrera. See Leg. 155 No. 6 [390], fol. 7v. On 17 February she appear- 
ed before the inquisitors for the second time (fol. 6r). She was reconciled on 19 March 1486 
(fol. 7v). Mayor Gonzalez was tried again in 1500-1501 and burnt in Toledo in 1501. 

On 10 February 1486 Maria Garcia, wife of Fernando Sanchez, smith, appeared in Puebla de 
Alcocer. She too was from Herrera. See her trial (Leg. 150 No. 11 [294], fol. 7r). She was 
reconciled on 19 March 1486, tried again in 1500-1501 and burnt in Toledo on 23 February 
1501. Both women were adherents of Inés the prophetess from Herrera. F. Baer, Die Juden iim 
christlichen Spanien 2 (Berlin, 1936), p. 531, published a summary of her trial. 

On 12 February 1486 Ruy Gonzalez from Talarrubias appeared before the court in Puebla de 
Alcocer. Two days later he made an additional confession. See Leg. 155 No. 15 (399), fol. 3r. 

On 14 February 1486 Marcos Garcia. cloth dyer, from Herrera appeared in Puebla de Alcocer 
before Pedro Rodriguez de Pefialvar (Leg. 150 No. 10 [293], fol. 2r). He was probably reconciled 
but later fled from Herrera, was tried in absentia, and condemned to be burnt in effigy. The 
sentence was carried out on 22 February 1487. 

On 14 February Rodrigo de Cuellar from Herrera confessed in Belalcazar (Leg. 140 No. 5 
[159]. fol. 19va). He was reconciled on 19 March 1486 in Belalcazar. His confession is of great 
importance. In 1500-1501 he was again tried as an adherent of Inés the prophetess. He was 
handed over to the secular arm and burnt on 22 February 1501 in Toledo. 

On 15 February 1486 Rodrigo Rofos from Puebla de Alcocer confessed (Leg. 181 No. 10 
[756], fol. 2r). He was duly reconciled, but fled: tried again in 1486 in absentia and burnt in effigy 
on 22 February 1487 in Belalcazar (fol. 6r-v). 

On 17 February 1486 Garcia Sanchez from Puebla de Alcocer confessed (Leg. 183 No. 15 
[782], fol. 4r). For his trial see below, pp. 462-64. 


450 H. BEINART 


another from the same village went to Puebla de Alcocer. As the court’s activity 
started, in this initial stage, so did it end. On 19 March 1486 two great Autos- 
de-fé were held, one in Puebla de Alcocer, the other in Belalcazar. No data 
exists on the number of conversos who walked in the processions of the Autos- 
de-fé. But the sight of them no doubt left a deep impression all over Extre- 
madura. 

Early in April 1486 the trials in Puebla de Alcocer began.” The court had a 
precise evaluation of whose trial was to be held first and whose was to be post- 
poned to a later date. Those who were to be tried posthumously came last, and 
those present first, for the amassing of the maximum quantity of information on 
conversos who led a Jewish way of life was not the sole consideration. The 
arrest of important or well-known personalities in the vicinity and the bringing 
back of fugitives made an enormous impression, striking terror into the hearts 
of those who vacillated in their attitude towards the Inquisition and all it stood 
for.?6 

Here the role of the Auto-de-fé should be stressed. It seems that the greatest 
Auto-de-fé ever held in this part of Extremadura took place on 22 February 
1487. It was held in two places — Puebla de Alcocer and Belalcazar. All those 
who had been tried in person mounted the scaffold to be burnt alive; effigies of 
those tried in absentia were set on fire, and the remains of those condemned 
posthumously were exhumed and burnt. It was common practice for the 
burnings to be witnessed by the local dignitaries; their names were registered in 
the files of the condemned by the notary present, and the entry was signed by 
him. This practice was strictly adhered to and is proof of the Inquisition’s 
meticulous formality. 

We have already examined elsewhere the converso community of Herrera 
del Duque.”’ Our intention here is to describe the accused from Talarrubias and 
Puebla de Alcocer. It is safe to assume that in all these villages conversos were 
related either by marriage or through the dispersion of families among them. 
Thus a family cell in one place can provide clues about conversos in other places 
and features common to their Jewish way of life. The Inquisition was well 
aware of this, and a family member who testified could inform on a whole 
group of people of the same family, whether they were dispersed throughout 
the area or lived in distant places. The pattern existed. In order to fulfill a 


25 Two trials started on 2 April 1486: one of Rodrigo Bruneto from Herrera (tried in absentia) 
(Leg. 137 No. 21 [116], fol. 1v); the other of Martin Fernandez from Herrera. He was summoned 
to appear before the court together with many other conversos (Leg. 149 No. 8 [280]. fol. lv). 

26 See Beinart, Conversos, index, s.v. ‘Trials’. 

27 See H. Beinart, ‘Herrera del Duque: Jews and conversos’ in Proceedings of the Seventh 
World Congress of Jewish Studies 2 (in press). 


THE SPANISH INQUISITION 451 


commandment the converso had to create the necessary conditions or exploit an 
existing situation. This was the case in the keeping of the Sabbath week after 
week, or in the observance of any Jewish holiday or any other precept or 
Mitsvah. Given this regularity, the judaizing converso could be easily observed, 
and so his Jewish way of life became known not only to the initiated but to any 
sharp-eyed onlooker as well. Village life in the open, and local gossip, played an 
important role in the evaluation of the information gathered, and the Inquisi- 
tion knew exactly what was what; it evaluated every piece of information it 
received, and discarded what was irrelevant to the case. All this was an integral 
part of its system and modus operandi. 

Three files are extant on the village of Talarrubias,”* but only one of them 
dates from the period in which the court sat in Puebla de Alcocer.?? Puebla de 
Alcocer is connected with the life and death of King Pedro the Cruel.*® We have 
no knowledge of when Jewish inhabitants first settled there, but they probably 
came with Samuel ha-Levi, King Pedro’s treasurer and builder of the famous 
synagogue of Toledo which later became known as the church of El Transito 
de Nuestra Senora. Nor do we know what happened in Puebla de Alcocer 
during and after the riots of 1391, but it did have a Jewish community until the 
Expulsion in 1492, and this community maintained close ties with the village's 
conversos. Vestiges of its synagogue can be seen near the altar of the church of 
Santiago and the upper part of the walls bears traces of the women’s section of 
the synagogue. 

For the period we are dealing with (the 1480’s onward) there are three 
processos,*! and from them we can gain deep insight both into the workings of 
the Inquisition and into life in the village. All those tried were most probably 
third-generation conversos, born and baptized as Christians. These corversos 
kept Mitsvoth and adhered to the tenets of the Jewish faith for many years. Ruy 
Gonzalez from Talarrubias kept Mitsvoth from the time he was six, and when 
tried he was well advanced in age. Rodrigo Rofos and Garcia Sanchez, both of 


28 About eight kilometers northwest of Puebla de Alcocer. 

29 Trial of Ruy Gonzalez, oil distiller (ollero) (Leg. 155 No. 15 [399], fols. 1r-15r). He started 
keeping Mitsvoth at the age of six. 

Of the later trials one is of Elvira Rodriguez, wife of Diego, ollero (oil distiller). She was Ruy 
Gonzalez’ daughter-in-law. Her file is Leg. 178 No. 2 (706), fols. 1-15r. The other is of Diego 
Mantero. a wool comber (cardador), who was acquitted. His file is Leg. 164 No. 5 (533), fol. 18r. 
We intend to publish this material at a later date. 

30 See G. Moya. Don Pedro el Cruel (Madrid, 1974), pp. 94-96. The church of Santiago of 
Puebla de Alcocer is in the diocese of Toledo and not that of Badajoz. The village belonged, like 
many in the vicinity, to the duchy of Osuna. 

31 Seven more are extant for the period beginning 1500, when conversos from Puebla de 
Alcocer were tried in Toledo for adhering to the prophetess of Herrera. Among them are three 
children. We intend to publish these trials. 


452 H. BEINART 


them from Puebla de Alcocer, had a long-standing record of keeping Mitsvoth, 
as will be seen shortly. Indeed, Garcia Sanchez, when forty-five years old, 
admitted that he had kept Mitsvoth for about twenty years prior to the arrival of 
the Inquisition in Puebla de Alcocer. This adherence to a Jewish way of life is 
eloquent proof of the strength of their conviction concerning the wrong that 
Christian society in Spain had done them by forcing their forefathers to convert. 

Let us now consider the Jewish way of life led by these conversos in order to 
evoke an image of the converso community in relation to its Jewish past and of 
its continuous contact with Jews. A key element was the conversos’ effort to 
keep the Sabbath by first cleaning and embellishing their homes, preparing food 
on Friday for the Sabbath, then lighting the candles on Friday evening and not 
extinguishing them but allowing them to burn out by themselves, abstaining 
from work from the eve of the Sabbath until its conclusion (and if they actually 
did something on that day, it was because they wanted to allay any suspicion 
that they were observing the Sabbath, and not because they wanted to trans- 
gress the Sabbath rules of abstention from work) and wearing clean clothes in 
honour of the day. Some of them used to go out into the fields or vineyards to 
rest.?? 

The Jewish holidays were also Kept as strictly as possible without arousing 
the neighbours’ suspicions. For Passover, the wife, often with her husband as 
‘accomplice’, would bake matsoth in the utmost secrecy.*? On the Seder night 
lettuce, parsley (apio) and other vegetables (otras verduras),*4 and matsoth were 
eaten. On other occasions a Jew, or another converso, would be asked for 
matsoth.*> Sometimes the Seder was held in other converso houses, mostly 
outside Puebla de Alcocer, so that the converso family would be absent from 
home. Families would get together for this purpose.*® Here the dating of the 


32 + a las vifas e al campo’: testimony of Mari Fernandez from Herrera, wife of Alonso 


Garcia, οἱ rico, in the trial of Ruy Gonzalez from Talarrubias (Leg. 155 No. 15 [399], fol. 7v). 
Rodrigo Rofos sometimes did not keep the Sabbath, ‘por mas no poder’. His wife did the same. 
Rodrigo Rofos was from Puebla de Alcocer (Leg. 181 No. 10[756], fol. 4r). Garcia Sanchez and 
his wife Leonor Garcia, from Puebla de Alcocer, worked sometimes on the Sabbath, because 
they felt obliged to stop the neighbours from gossiping, and not because he wanted to desecrate 
the day (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 2r). In his words: ‘por complir con las gentes e no por el 
coracon’. This was also the behaviour of Rodrigo Garcia from Puebla de Alcocer: he was tried 
posthumously (Leg. 150 No. 13 [296], fol. 2r). 

33 + lo mejor e mas secreto que podiamos’: trial of Rodrigo Rofos (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], 
fol. Ir, his confession) and also his wife, Beatriz Lopez (fol. 4r, testimony). See also the trial of 
Garcia Sanchez (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 5r). 

34 See the trial of Garcia Sanchez (ibid.). This term ‘otras verduras’ is a direct translation of the 
Hebrew Mip7? Nw. 

35 See the prosecution in the trial of Rodrigo Rofos (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], fol. 3r). Pero 
Fernandez Cuéllar once gave him matsorth. See Garcia Sanchez’ confession (Leg. 183 No. 15 
[782]. fol. 2r) copied in the file of Rodrigo Rofos (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], fol. 4r). 

36 So Garcia Sanchez once in the home of Juan Nufiez, a shoemaker, and his wife in 


THE SPANISH INQUISITION 453 


holidays raises a question. However, it was easy to obtain information from 
Jews, and this was exactly what the conversos did.*’ 

Yom Kippur was the most important holiday among conversos, as it was 
among Jews. Crypto-Jews of the region did not wear shoes on that day, and 
they participated in readings from prayer books and the Bible in Romance. In 
honour of that day conversos made an abjution; they asked forgiveness from 
each other and forgave those who asked for their pardon.** The fast would be 
broken with a meal of meat and eggs. Husbands and their wives were parties to 
the strict observance of the fast. 

Among the other precepts kept by conversos the laws of Kashruth should be 
stressed. Conversos would slaughter according to Jewish rules. When the 
converso Rodrigo Rofos from Puebla de Alcocer slaughtered a calf or a cow for 
his own use, he would check the sharpness of the knife by passing it over the 
nail, according to Jewish custom; then he would turn back the head of the 
cow that was on the ground and give the traditional benediction for the 
slaughtering of a pure animal according to the custom prevailing in Spain: 


Bendito Nuestro Sefor el Criador que te crio para el mantenimiento del mundo. 


When the Jew Yoce slaughtered a kid or a sheep for the use of Rodrigo Rofos 
and his brother Diego Rofos, he did so in the same way.*® So did Garcia 


Esparragosa, and in the home of his mother-in-law in Siruela (Mencia Lopez, wife of Fernando 
Alonso). See Leg. 183 No. 15 (782), fol. 10v. Fernando Alonso was her first husband. Her 
second husband was Martin cardador (wool comber), who was also from Chillén. 

37 This became a problem after the Expulsion, but the converses had their sources which 
enabled them to verify the dates of the Jewish holidays. Garcia Sanchez in his confession said 
that he kept the holidays only when he knew the dates. This clearly shows that he tried to 
minimize his observance of the holidays. He surely knew their dates, since there were Jews in 
Puebla de Alcocer. 

3® Ruy Gonzalez from Talarrubias: ‘... aviandome bafiado por gerimonia judayca otro dia 
antes’ (Leg. 155 No. 15 [399], fol. 3r. in his confession). So also Rodrigo Rofos, from Puebla de 
Alcocer (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], fol. 2r) and Garcia Sanchez (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 2r 
‘vaniandome otro dia’, probably the day before). 

39 + testaua el cuchillo en la ufia’ (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], fol. Iv, his confession). 

40 There is only one file for the family of Rodrigo Rofos (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], fols. Ir-7r). 
His wife Beatriz Lopez was reconciled and returned to the fold of the Church. She testified 
against her husband (fol. 4r). The family came from the village of Zalamea de la Serena, some 
thirteen kilometers from Castuera (Extremadura). The genealogy of the family is as follows: 


Andrés Gonzalez de Zalamea = Juana Morena 


poe ee, τ το πον τὴ 


Beatriz Lopez = Rodrigo Rofos Diego Rofos a son (deceased) Isabel Fernandez 
a daughter children 
deceased 


The family name Rofos indicates that one grandparent was a Rofos, the other Fernandez. 
Andrés Gonzalez and his wife lived in Belalcazar and Rodrigo was probably born there. 


454 Η. BEINART 


Sanchez, checking the knife before slaughtering. The meat that was eaten was 
cleansed from grease and sinew (landrecilla) and salted and washed before 
cooking. The conversos would abstain from eating carne trefa, as it was 
commonly called among them.*! When baking hallah women would take a 
piece of the dough and throw it into the fire,*? this with the agreement and 
consent of their husbands. Conversos had separate plates and vessels for their 
use, and would often buy new ones; others would purify the pots, knives and 
plates by passing them through a flame. Grace would be said after meals, and 
the person who was to give the blessing would drink wine before doing so.*3 

Mourning rites for the dead were strictly observed, the deceased relative 
being cleansed and buried in shrouds. The mourners would eat fish and eggs 
sitting on the floor, eating the funeral repast on low stools. When a converso 
died in the neighbourhood, Rodrigo Rofos ordered all the water from the 
vessels in the house to be emptied.** Garcia Sanchez did the same, insisting too 
that when someone entered his home with a vessel he empty it out.’ He also 
agreed that, according to Jewish custom, his wife should not participate in the 
burial of one of their sons. 

Family life deserves a more detailed description. When a converso woman 
gave birth to a child, as well as during her menstrual period, her husband 
would sleep apart from her, returning to her only after she had cleansed herself 
by immersion and cut her nails.4° When Garcia Sanchez’ wife gave birth to a 
daughter, he performed the Hadas ceremony. Relatives came to stay at their 
house for six or seven nights, and on the seventh night the ceremony was 
performed. Among the guests were Jewish women who ate fruit in their home. 
Garcia Sanchez returned this kind of visit to Jewish homes. He also performed 
some sort of magic to keep away evil spirits, putting some used clothing near 
the entrance to the room where his wife was lying.*7 Once when his wife gave 


41. Testimony of Beatriz Lépez, wife of Rodrigo Rofos (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], fol. 4r). 

42 See the confession of Ruy Gonzalez (Leg. 153 No. 15 [399], fol. 3r-v) and various 
testimonies in his trial, especially that of Diego Farelos from Puebla de Alcocer (fol. 7r). 

*3 So Rodrigo Rofos in his confession (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], fol. lv) and Garcia Sanchez 
(Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 5r). 

“* Leg. 181 No. 10 (756), fol. 4r. Those who partook in the repast were: Diego Mufidz and his 
wife Aldonza Rodriguez (she testified on this); Diego Lainez and his wife: two other sisters who 
lived in Puebla de Alcocer; Mencia Rodriguez, wife of Pero Rodriguez, smith: Diego Rofos. Pero 
Rodriguez was witness for the prosecution against Garcia Sanchez (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], 
fol. 11r). On mourning in the family of Garcia Sanchez see also the testimonies (fol. 10v) of Ruy 
Gonzalez and Beatriz Garcia (Gonzalez), wife of Garcia Fernandez de Llerena. 

45. See his confession (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 2v). The expression used was: “... tirar agua 
de los cantaros en la casa’. 

46 In their words: ‘... quando le venia la regla’. So Rodrigo Rofos in his confession (Leg. 181 
No. 10 [756], fol. Iv). 

Ἵν 6 ponia yo en vna alcoba a la puerta e vnas trendas o bragas a la puerta por adentro 


THE SPANISH INQUISITION 455 


birth to twin girls** and she had no milk to feed them, he hired a Jewish wet 
nurse who slept in their house.*® This behaviour was considered a grave trans- 
gression of decrees issued to Jews and Christians. Garcia Sanchez also agreed 
that a Jew should write a talisman in Hebrew letters for his wife, considering 
this a good deed. Unfortunately, the talisman was lost. 

Parents used to bless their children in the Jewish way. When they 
approached their father and kissed his hand, he would not make the sign of the 
cross on their head but instead bless them by putting his hands on their head.” 

Prayers were said and readings were performed at converso gatherings, 
which were held during holidays, on the Sabbath and on special occasions. 
They were mostly in Romance, but conversos had Bibles and Jewish books in 
their possession. Rodrigo Rofos owned a Siddur,*! as did Garcia Sanchez — 
Gonzalez de Guadalupe had given it to him and read from it. This Siddur was 
later given to his brother-in-law, the tailor Fernan Sanchez.** Garcia Sanchez 
would read aloud to conversos passages from a Bible (Brivia) and other Jewish 
books.*? Not only does this give us precious information about the conversos’ 
Jewish education, their knowledge of the Bible and of prayers; it also bears 
testimony to the trust they had in their own, lending each other books, 
gathering for prayers and readings, and thus finding their consolation. Rodrigo 
Rofos had a special prayer for himself: 


Guardame Sejior Criador de malas gentes. 


We believe that this is part of a verse from Ps 140:2. He must have meant here 
those who might harm him because of his Jewish ways. 

The dealings of conversos with Jews had their special significance, aims and 
results. Firstly, such relations indicate the Jews’ trust in the conversos’ Kashruth 


porque non le entrasen brugas (sic)’ (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 2v). On Hadas see Beinart, 
Conversos, index, s. v. ‘Hadas’. Rodrigo Rofos also kept the Hadas ceremony. ‘Hadas’ probably 
derived from fatuim (fadas in Spanish and also hadas, as among the conversos). In Spanish Jewry 
it was probably connected with the Hebrew Hadas (‘new’), hence the connection with the 
newborn and a ceremony to avert evil spirits especially during the last night before circumcision. 

48+ dos fijas juntas’ (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 2v). 

49 * 6 tome vna jodia en mi casa ciertos dias dandole Ja teta a la nifla e venia acostar algunas 
veses en mi casa’ (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 2v). 

5° See the trial of Ruy Gonzalez from Talarrubias: testimony of Pedro Garcia, tinsmith from 
Herrera (Leg. 155 No. 15 [399], fol. 7v). Rodrigo Rofos (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], fol. 2v) and 
Garcia Sanchez (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 3r-v) acted in the same way. 

51 Testimony of Garcia Sanchez (fol. 4r). Rodrigo Rofos gave him this Siddur. 

52. Testimony of Catalina Gonzalez, wife of Fernan Sanchez (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], fol. 10v). 

53 Testimony of Beatriz Garcia (also Beatriz Gonzalez), wife of Garcia Fernandez de Llerena 
(Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 10v). Garcia Fernandez and Fernan Sanchez also read from these 
books: see the testimony of Mencia Lopez, daughter of Garcia Sanchez (fol. 10v). The book is 
called Libro de Judios. 


456 Η. BEINART 


when eating meals with them. Secondly, they involved teaching and instructing 
the conversos in Mitsvoth and Jewish rites and customs. In his confession 
Rodrigo Rofos told the court how a group of Jewish tailors from Alcala de 
Henares were staying in his parents’ house, sewing for the Countess Dofia 
Elvira of Belalcazar. He brought them a cask of kasher wine and drank with 
them.** This was considered a grave transgression against the Church. From a 
Jewish point of view it clearly shows that he was considered by them to be a 
Jew. Garcia Sanchez had close relations with Jews in Puebla de Alcocer and in 
Orellana.*> Together with Gonzalo de Cuellar and Gonzalo de Alcantara he 
donated money for oil for the synagogue lamp in Orellana.°° Ruy Gonzalez 
gave alms to poor Jews and donations for synagogues, and he also agreed to his 
wife’s donations.*’? Supplying meat to one another, eating meals and drinking 
wine together were also daily practice. In these meetings the Law of Moses was 
praised and the conversos present were very content.** No doubt they all hoped 
to find redemption for their souls in this Law. 

Some conversos in Puebla de Alcocer were circumcised. The prosecutor 
declared that Garcia Sanchez had been secretly circumcised and was thus an 
avowed Jew. Garcia Sanchez categorically denied this, and demanded that 
specialists, rabbis and alfaquis examine him and confirm his statement.’ The 
court took up his challenge. However, it did not invite Jewish and Moslem 


54 + yna bota de vino caser’ (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], fol. lv). He gave their names: Jaco Lope: 
Mose de Henares; a third, whose name he had forgotten, came from Guadarrama. 

55 He had close relations with a Jew named Caguineto in Orellana, one Fernando de Cuéllar 
from Puebla de Alcocer, and Rodrigo Bruneto from Herrera. See the trial of Rodrigo Bruneto 
(Leg. 137 No. 21 [116]. They ate with him and drank his wine, and they prayed together. 
Fernando de Cuéllar remembered only the word Abraham from those prayers (137 No. 21 [116], 
fol. 4v); maybe it was Grace that they were saying. The processo of Fernando de Cuéllar is not 
extant. He also testified against Garcia Sanchez from Puebla de Alcocer, and described the joy of 
the conversos when the Inquisitors left the Condado and their sorrow upon their return (Leg. 183 
No. 15 [782], fol. 15r). 

56 Both of them testified for the prosecution (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 10v). According to 
Gonzalo de Cuéllar another converso, Alvaro Cordon from Siruela, was with them. He too 
testified for the prosecution (fol. 1 1r). See also the accusation made by the prosecutor (fol. Sr). 

57 He added: *... y para otros honramientos dellos’ (Leg. 155 No. 15 [399], fol. 2v, his 
confession); the prosecutor put it: ‘y para otros ornamentos’ (fol. 4r). Rodrigo Rofos gave alms to 
Jewish and converso poor (Leg. 181 No. 10[756], fol. 2v): "... daba limosna a vnas personas bobas 
de mi linaje’ (fol. |v); the prosecutor said that it was for Jewish poor (fol. 5r). Ruy Gonzalez gave 
alms to ‘pobres que auie entre nosotros’ (Leg. 155 No. 15 [399], fol. 7v). 

58 τος que quando algunas veses oya algunos judios e otras personas ensalcar la Ley de Moysen 
e avia plaser dello’ (trial of Rodrigo Rofos: Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], fol. 2v). 

59 ‘yy para esto mejor ser vista la verdad pyda e requiere a vuestras mercedes que lo mandan 
ver Rabies y Alfaquies que sepan que cosa es retajo e con lo que vean con otros christianos 
¢irujanos que sean y sospechan, los quales sean de Trugillo, o de Medellin, o de [indecipherable], 
o de Mugasela, porque en estos lugares hay Rabies e Alfaquies’ (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 6v). 


THE SPANISH INQUISITION 457 


experts, but asked for the opinions of Maestre Pedro, a surgeon from Guada- 
lupe, of Fernando de Trujillo, the well-known convert, former rabbi and now 
special adviser to the court,® and of the doctor (fisyco) Maestre Alonso from 
Puebla de Alcocer. They ali concluded that Garcia Sanchez had signs of a scar 
on his male organ and that part of his foreskin was missing. This expertise no 
doubt helped the court to pass its sentence on Garcia Sanchez: he was handed 
over to the secular arm. 

Garcia Sanchez’ confession contains a very important description of conver- 
sos who tried to settle in Gibraltar.*! Since his intention was to go there with his 
family, he sold his business in Puebla de Alcocer, and bought a house together 
with Andrés Alonso and his brother Martin Alonso. He planned to live there 
with his wife according to the Law of Moses.® As is well known this venture 
was launched between 1474 and 1476, gaining impetus after the anti-converso 
riots in Andalusia. The suspicious attitude of the Catholic Monarchs to this 
resettlement is also known, and conversos were forbidden to settle in Gibraltar. 

Of Garcia Sanchez’ involvement in other matters we learn from the 
testimony brought against him by his wife Maria Gutiérrez. She told the court 
that, in 1482, an order was issued that ‘old’ Christians should marry converso 
girls. Garcia Sanchez talked this over with Inés Gonzalez, wife of Alvaro 
Gonzalez, and advised her to annul the betrothal of Maria Gutiérrez to an old 
Christian. Inés Gonzalez rejected his advice. This testimony is of exceptional 
value, for it indicates that certain measures were taken to further the as- 
similation of converso women through intermarriage with pure-blooded 
Christians. We may assume that this was an official order of the Crown, or of a 
certain Church body, perhaps the Inquisition itself. It may be seen as a further 
step in the segregation of Jews and conversos into the separate quarters that had 
been ordered.© It is very difficult to trace the results of this kind of inter- 
marriage, but it seems as though somebody concluded that complete as- 


6° Garcia Sanchez presented a tacha against him (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 8r). On Fernando 
de Trujillo see p. 447 above and n. 14. 

$1 On this see Ὁ. Lamelos, La compra de Gibraltar, por los conversos andaluces. (1474-1476) 
(Madrid, 1976). 

62 ‘Digo sehor mi culpa que quando nos yvamos a Gibraltar fuy alla a comprar vna casa con 
yntingion de nos yr alla a biuir, y vendia mi fazienda. Lo qual fasia con yntingion de estar alla 
mas subtilamente para fazer las cerimonias de la dicha Ley de los judios, e conpre alla yo e 
Andres Alonso e Martin Alonso su hermano vna casa, pido penitengia. E con esta voluntad lo 
fazia la dicha mi muger, yo era contento dello’ (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 3v). 

53 See Y. Baer. A History of the Jews in Christian Spain 2 (Philadelphia, 1966), index, s.v.; 
Beinart, Conversos, index, s.v. ‘Anti-converso riots’. 

4 Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 10v. 

65 See Beinart. ‘Torquemada’s Memorandum’ (n. 11 above), 3 ff. 


458 H. BEINART 


similation between conversos and ‘old’ Christians could be achieved only in this 
way. There is no doubt that the Inquisition was aware of the situation. As for 
Garcia Sanchez’ reaction, it was probably a common attitude among conversos. 

A different picture emerges from the description contained in the file of 
Rodrigo Rofos of the betrothal custom common among both conversos and 
Jews in Puebla de Alcocer, as elsewhere. He and his brother Diego Rofos 
arranged the engagement of their sister Isabel Fernandez to a converso from 
Palma de Posar. By then their parents had died, so the ceremony was held at the 
home of a converso named Gonzalo Verde in Belalcazar.*%° During the supper 
Isabel was betrothed with a ring, according to Jewish custom.®’ Those present 
served as witnesses, as was the custom among Jews.® 

It is clear from all this what Jewish life meant for the conversos. From child- 
hood they were taught to keep Mitsvoth. Ruy Gonzalez, for example, was 
taught by his mother, his aunt and another member of the family. Also among 
his teachers was Alonso Gonzalez Donoso from Herrera, a very active converso 
who collected money for a Torah cover for the synagogue of Trujillo. We 
would like to stress here the relationship between teacher and pupil, and the 
way Jewish knowledge was transmitted.”” The Inquisition was very interested 
in this information and would follow it up to discover how deeply involved the 
accused converso was in Jewish ways, who were his teachers, at what age the 
converso was initiated into practising Judaism, and whether it was a family case 
or an instance of inveterate adherence to Judaism on the part of the accused.”! 
The visits of Jews to, and their stays in, converso homes served therefore as a 
proof of Jewish influence and of clear-cut judaizing. The Inquisition could thus 
point an accusing finger at Jews for having led the conversos astray from the 
path of Christianity. 

The grudge conversos bore against Christianity found expression in many 
ways. They went to church to hear Mass or to confess merely to avoid being 


66 No details on him are available. 

67 +. estandonos los dichos guisando de genar oymos desyr como se auia desposado con anillo 
como judios’ (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], fol. lv). 

68. This converso fiancé was famed for his knowledge of and erudition in Jewish books and 
prayers, and he read them constantly. The prosecutor mentions this (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], 
fol. 3r). After a short period of marriage Isabel's husband left her and the brothers brought her 
back to Puebla, where she lived until her death. She observed a Jewish way of life. 

69 See the trial of Martin Fernandez Cachito from Herrera, testimony of Sasson (a Jew) 
(Leg. 147 No. 10 [256], fol. 3r-v). See also Beinart, ‘Herrera del Duque’. 

7 See Beinart, Conversos, index, s.v. ‘Education’. 

11 See also the trial of Rodrigo Rofos who was taught by his parents (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], 
fol. lv, his confession). 


THE SPANISH INQUISITION 459 


reprimanded.’? Confessions were made in a halfhearted way or only out of the 
obligation to confess.” The conversos abstained from making the sign of the 
cross, whether on going to bed, on rising, or on sitting down to a meal. Garcia 
Sanchez did not kneel when the bells rang for the Ave Maria; when Christ's 
image was carried in procession he did not accompany it. Rodrigo Rofos did 
not accompany the sacramental vessels when he saw a priest going to give 
Extreme Unction, and if he did so it was because he had no choice. It was 
common to deny Christ as the Messiah,”* to speak ill of Christianity, Christ, the 
Virgin and the saints,’> and to harbour evil thoughts about the Inquisition.”® 
Rodrigo Garcia Bermejo, a first-generation converso, cursed the person who 
induced him and other Jews to convert.” 

Also in this category were a series of transgressions and sins against 
Christianity, such as eating meat, cheese and eggs and drinking milk during 
Lent and on other days of abstinence.” By abstaining from pork, hares, rabbits, 
and fish without scales and fins,” they maintained their Jewish precepts and 
thus transgressed Church rules. When pork was cooked in the home of Garcia 


72 So Ruy Gonzalez: ‘... por no ser reprehendido y por pareger cristiano’ (Leg. 155 No. 15 
[399], fol. 2r) and also Rodrigo Rofos: "... por no ser reprehendido’ (Leg. 181 No. 10[756], fol. 11). 

73 So Garcia Sanchez: ‘con poca devocion’; see the prosecution (Leg. 183 No. 15[782]. fol. 51). 
But some witnesses for the defence claimed that he went to church out of devotion to prayers 
and sermons. They were probably referring to the period that followed his reconciliation in 1486 
(fols. 12r-13v). But one witness for the defence, Andrés de Perales, testified to the contrary 
(fol. 12v). 

74 When Garcia Sanchez confessed before the Inquisition, he declared his belief in Christ as 
the Messiah and expressed his desire to live and die as a true Christian. See also the prosecution 
(Leg. 183 No. 15 [782]. fol. Sr). 

™ Rodrigo Rofos: "... dixe palabras odiosas contra el Sefor Ihesu Christo, a Nuestra Senora 
Santa Maria e otros Santos e Santas de la Corte Celestial’ (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], fol. Iv). 

76 idem: ‘... non pensando tanto bien que me por ella me avia de venir’ (Leg. 181 No. 10[756], 
fol. 1v). Garcia Sanchez spoke badly ‘de los administradores della’ (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782]. fol. 5r). 

™ He was tried posthumously. In his words, ‘que mal syglo oviese el que le avia tornado 
christiano a el e a todos los otros del lugar’: testimony of Pedro de Valencia, entitled ‘dispensero 
de la sefiora Condesa de Belalcazar’ (Leg. 150 No. 13 [296], fol. 4r). 

His trial started on 16 July 1486. His son, Juan Lopez, a shoemaker, was summoned to defend 
the memory of his father. but he claimed that he had nothing to say (in his favour, of course). 

Juan Lopez was declared a rebel against the Church, but no action was taken against him. The 
short time that elapsed between the opening of the trial until the execution of the sentence shows 
that the court acted in haste. 

78 Garcia Sanchez, when returning from Guadalupe together with Garcia Hernandez de 
Llerena, Pedro Sanchez and Ruy Sanchez. tailor, ate eggs during Lent. Garcia Hernandez was an 
active converso and would read the Bible and Jewish books; see the trial of Rodrigo de la Pena 
from Herrera (Leg. 174 No. 11 [655], fols. ὃν. 10v). 

7? Garcia Sanchez abstained also from eating partridges and turtle doves (palomas). He ate 
them only when he could not avoid it: ‘... por mas non poder que por mi voluntad non las 
comiera’ (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 2v). 


460 Η. ΒΕΙΝΑΒΤ 


Sanchez he agreed that his wife and daughters should clean, wash and burn the 
vessels and pots in which it had been cooked. Saturday nights and Sundays 
were free for work and travel, as were the Church holidays.* 

Two other matters deserve special mention. Garcia Sanchez’ daughter was 
baptized and not anointed. After a time Inés Gonzalez, /a vieja (‘the old one’), 
wife of Puerto Pefia.*! came and took the child, returning later and declaring 
that all was in order. Yet there were still rumours that the child had not been 
properly baptized.*2 We may add here in parenthesis that conversos used to 
wash the newborn after baptism. They had a special term for this action: 
descristianizar. 

Ruy Gonzalez was accused by some witnesses of flogging a crucifix and 
keeping it in an unclean place. and of keeping certain images in his home.™ 
This accusation was considered by the Inquisitors to be very grave, but it also 
showed an intention to libel. The court knew exactly what this meant; it under- 
stood the face value of this kind of testimony, and knew when to omit it from 
the prosecution and sentence and when to make use of it.* 

Feeling against the Inquisition ran high. Garcia Sanchez, like many conversos 
in the Condado de Belalcazar, expressed his joy when the licenciado Pedro 
Sanchez de la Calancha went to the royal court, for he hoped and believed that 
the Inquisition was going to be abolished.*° He was very sad when he learned 
of the Inquisitors’ return.*’ This brings us to the problem of the conversos’ flight 


80 Ruy Gonzalez would heat the oven for his work as an oil distiller; on Sunday afternoon 
wool was combed in the home of Garcia Sanchez. Diego Gil, a witness in the trial of Garcia 
Sanchez, reprimanded Ruy Gonzalez for ‘henchir un saco de lana’ (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], 
fol. 10v). 

81 His full name was Alvar Gonzalez Puerto Pefia. See the trial of Rodrigo de la Pena from 
Herrera (Leg. 174 No. 11 [655], fol. 8r). 

82 See the testimony of Gil Garcia de Sotomayor and of Mencia, daughter of Diego Baru 
(Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 10r). Mencia Lopez, daughter of Garcia Sanchez, told this to the 
witness (fol. 2r). The name of the girl who was improperly baptized was Isabel, and she was 
born in Siruela. 

8 This kind of accusation is to be found in various processos. See also H. Beinart, ‘A 
Prophecying Movement in Cordova in 1499-1500° in ¥. Baer Memorial Volume, Zion 44 (1979) 
190 ff. In this case the court did not accept this testimony. 

** Ruy Gonzalez denied this very strongly, and said that they were his children’s toys. The 
prosecutor claimed he also had moulds for playing cards (moldes de naipes). From his defence 
we learn that he also made clay vessels. 

85 The same may be said of various superstitions. Garcia Sanchez was accused of believing in 
the evil eye and other kinds of superstitions, which he confessed. We would mention here 
κὸν catar por ojo a mi mujer e a mis fijas’ and *... asimismo no consentia que pasasen por cerca de 
mis ¢apatines quando estauan en el suelo; y si alguno pasaua lo fazia tornar otra ves al contallo’ 
(Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 2v). 

86 See Beinart, ‘Herrera del Duque’. 

37 The conversos Fernan Sanchez, tailor, and Fernando de Cuéllar confirmed this (Leg. 183 
No. 15 [782], fol. 11r). See also the testimony of Pero Fernandez (ibid.). 


THE SPANISH INQUISITION 461 


from the Inquisition. In effect, there is no doubt that this institution struck 
terror into every heart.** Some conversos fled when news reached the region of 
the arrival of the Inquisition and the establishment of a court there, while others 
fled at a later date, after confession and reception back into the fold of the 
Church. This was the case with Garcia Sanchez, who denied having fled for 
fear of the Inquisition, since he had confessed during the ‘Period of Grace’. He 
went first to Chillon and from there to Herrera; at that point he took fright and 
began asking for news from Puebla de Alcocer.*? Many conversos gathered 
there, and we may presume that, since the countess had posted guards on the 
roads, departure from the Condado became a dangerous undertaking. All the 
conversos were on their way to Portugal, and indeed a considerable number 
succeeded in finding a haven there. In certain Portuguese villages groups of 
refugees from the same hometown formed centres and helped each other out in 
time of need. These fugitives were tried in absentia; their flight was in itself a 
clear admission of guilt, and all of them were burnt in effigy. 

Conversos tried in person were given defence counsel. Diego Garcia, resident 
of Puebla de Alcocer, served the court of the Condado de Belalcazar as defence 
lawyer or procurador,”° while Cornavala, or Cornalon, acted as letrado.?! Let 
us now evaluate their system in fulfilling the task entrusted to them: the defence 
of conversos from Puebla de Alcocer. Both were, presumably, considered trust- 
worthy persons by the court of the Inquisition, and they served from time to 
time as witnesses to various procedural functions in trials held in Puebla de 


88 See on this point the pleading of the defence further below. 

8° Testimony of Pedro Siziliano from Almadén (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fols. 12r ff). 

°° On 24 May 1486 Diego Garcia was appointed procurador for Maria Gonzalez. wife of 
Rodrigo Foronda from Herrera. On 30 May he presented the case for the defence (Leg. 154 
No. 31 [378], fol. 3v). 

On 14 August 1486 he acted as witness to the presentation of the prosecution and the decision 
to give a copy of the prosecution to the heirs of Rodrigo Garcia Bermejo from Puebla de Alcocer 
(Leg. 150 No. 13 [296], fol. 2v). 

On 31 October 1486 he appeared as defence lawyer for Garcia Sanchez from Puebla de 
Alcocer (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fols. 6r-7r). 

On 12 February 1487 he was invited to act as defence counsel for Ruy Gonzalez from 
Talarrubias (Leg. 155 No. 15 [399], fol. 51). 

He is named as witness to a tacha presented by Alvaro Rico on 14 January 1502 in defence of 
his wife Mencia Lopez against Alonso Ramirez, Diego Ramirez, Elvira Gutiérrez and others 
(Leg. 163 No. 11 [523], fol. 18v). He is also named as witness to a tacha against Romera Gomez, 
wife of Diego de Arguinares (Leg. 163 No. 11 [523], fol. 20r). 

*! On 24 May 1486 Maria Gonzalez asked that Cornalon be appointed as her letrado (Leg. 154 
No. 31 [378], fol. 3v). He also prepared the defence which was presented in writing in the trial of 
Garcia Sanchez from Puebla de Alcocer (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 7r), and acted as /etrado in 
the trial of Ruy Gonzalez from Talarrubias, which began on 12 February 1487 (Leg. 155 No. 15 
[399]. fol. 5r). 


462 Η. BEINART 


Alcocer. Their line of defence in Garcia Sanchez’ case was based on the 
assumption that he had confessed during the ‘Period of Grace’ and had been 
duly reconciled and received back into the fold of the Church — this out of 
recognition of his full and wholehearted confession, in which nothing had been 
hidden from the Inquisition. He had therefore no reason to cover up or conceal 
his deeds, since he was acknowledging Christ anew.”? Thus he knew he would 
be forgiven. In other words, his confession had been true and full, and if he was 
forgiven then, he should be forgiven now, when put on trial. If, the defence 
argued, he had not fully confessed at first, now, after having acknowledged and 
recognized Christ as the Truth, he should be forgiven for any omission in his 
confession, that is, for what the witnesses for the prosecution had brought 
forward concerning his way of life.°? Moreover, when the court arrived in the 
Condado, Garcia Sanchez had been in Llerena. He returned to Puebla de 
Alcocer immediately in order to appear before the Inquisition, certain that by so 
doing he would redeem his soul, which hitherto had been lost.** This took place 
during the ‘Period of Grace’, so the claim of the prosecution that Garcia 
Sanchez did not fully confess was not valid. 

After this general refutation of the defendant's Jewish ways, the defence 
denied that Garcia Sanchez had been circumcised, and agreed to an 
examination by experts.?® Once the fact had been proven, the defence attempted 
to reject Fernando de Trujillo's and Maestre Alonso’s qualifications to give an 
expert opinion: Fernando de Trujillo because he was a member of the 
Inquisition, and Maestre Alonso for the same reason as well as for his lack of 
knowledge of surgery.*® Thus it was claimed that the examination had not been 


92 + que no lo dexara por desir e manifestar ansi por el cono¢gimiento que alcango de Nuestro 
Seftor como porque conoscia e conoscio y supo y vio que de todo lo que confesava el fuera 
perdonado’ (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 6r). 

93 The prosecutor presented twenty witnesses; in addition there is the testimony of Andrés de 
Perales, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. For a full list of the witnesses see the Appendix, 
pp. 467-69 below. 

94+ antes que sy en su poder estouiera el procurara vinier (sic) a la Santa Ynquisi¢ion, 
porque aquella hera redencion de su anima, que estaua perdida fasta entoges’ (Leg. 183 No. 15 
[782], fol. 8r). Juan Sanchez testified that Garcia Sanchez had fled for fear of the Inquisition and 
claimed that he returned when Pedro Sanchez de la Calancha went on a mission to the court 
(fol. 11r). The counsel for the defence said that Garcia Sanchez left together with other conversos: 
see the questionnaire for the defence (fol. 9r). The countess of Belalcazar posted guards to catch 
the fugitives on their way. Garcia Sanchez was caught and brought to Puebla de Alcocer. See the 
testimonies of Anton Garcia and Pedro Fernandez (fols. 12v, 13r), who testified for the defence 
and said that he was brought back from Villanova. According to Pedro Siziliano Garcia Sanchez 
was. caught in Medellin (fol. 12v); he was no doubt on his way to Portugal. 

9 See pp. 456-57 above for the circumcision examination made by Fernando de Trujillo and 
two other experts. 

96 ες porque el dicho mi parte pone sospecha en Fernando de Trujillo que dise ser parte de !a 
Inquisicion y en Maestre Alonso de la dicha cabsa e porque dis que non sabe nada de la cirugia ni 


THE SPANISH INQUISITION 463 


carried out by neutral persons and specialists. In effect, the defence was casting 
doubt on the specialists to whom the Inquisition had recourse, which in itself 
_ Was a strong point in favour of the line of the defence. 

The questionnaire for the defence witnesses was prepared so as to correspond 
with the same arguments. The defence was endeavouring to prove through the 
Witnesses’ testimony that the defendant was a faithful Christian who diligently 
carried out all the penances imposed upon him by the Inquisition after he had 
been accepted back into the fold of Christ. The fact that he had left the Condado 
was not denied in the questionnaire: many conversos had left the Condado 
because they could not earn a living there. The defence was thus trying to prove 
that Garcia Sanchez did not flee for fear of the Inquisition. But the court had 
other information: first he went to Chillon and from there to Herrera, as already 
pointed out.*” According to the defence it was Garcia Sanchez who advised that 
it would be wise to return home. Some fugitives even did so. Here the defence 
was attempting to demonstrate the devotion of the accused to the cause of the 
Inquisition. Nevertheless, Garcia Sanchez knew of some conversos who were 
reconciled and later relapsed into denying the Truth of Christ, i.e., they reverted 
to keeping Mitsvoth. He, for his part, never gave up hope that he would be 
absolved.”® 

Four out of five witnesses for the defence testified in his favour.®® The fifth, 
Andrés de Perales, though presented as a witness for the defence, actually 
served the prosecution. It is worth recalling that the Inquisition often turned 
defence witnesses into witnesses for the prosecution. But when conversos 
named their witnesses they could not always imagine that this might happen, so 
that, in the end, the accused never really knew if the witness had testified for or 
against him.'®° Andrés de Perales called Garcia Sanchez a grand herege, ‘a false 
person who made fun of the faith of Christ’.!©! All the other witnesses 
characterised Garcia Sanchez as a decent person who worked hard to support 
his family and diligently kept the laws of the Church. 


del dicho caso para que pueda enteramente determinar lo que deuie’ (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], 
fol. 8r). 

97 See above and n. 89. ὶ 

56.ΑΙ| this was well known in a place called Hinojosa (Leg. 183 No. 15[782], fol. 9v). We may 
presume that he was there, but the questionnaire does not state this. 

°° For their names see the Appendix (p. 469 below). 

100 See Beinart, Conversos, index, s.v. ‘Witnesses’. It sometimes happened that the same 
witness who testified for the prosecution was later named as witness for the defence. In such 
cases the questionnaire system enabled the witness to avoid answering the question asked by 
disclaiming all knowledge. Stress should also be laid on the kind of witness presented and his 
Standing in local society. 

101 τος onbre falso que burlaua mucho la fe de Ihesu Christo’ (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 12r). 


464 H. BEINART 


The defence was. a complete failure: it was based merely on general 
assertions, in which the accused was presented in a positive light, and on a 
questionnaire for the defence witnesses who were not questioned by the 
defence but by special examiners or by the judges in the presence of the 
prosecutor. The defence should also have presented a list of people whom the 
defendant considered as his enemies and who might have testified against him. 
Only after this enmity to him had been proven, and after the witnesses had 
indeed testified against him, could the defendant in theory be absolved. He 
would then have to present compurgatory witnesses, whose number was 
decided by the court, and they, together with the defendant, would swear to his 
innocence and his true Christianity. In the case of Garcia Sanchez none of this 
took place,!°? nor were fachas presented. The court appears to have waived this, 
since it was convinced of the weakness of the defence witnesses and of the 
strength of those who testified for the prosecution. Garcia Sanchez was 
condemned to be burnt at the stake, and he mounted the scaffold on 22 
February 1487. 

Diego Garcia also served as procurador in the trial of Ruy Gonzalez from 
Talarrubias. Cornalon (or Cornavala) acted as his /etrado. His first plea for the 
defence took place on 12 February 1486, and he used the same tactics as in the 
trial of Garcia Sanchez: a denial of the accusation and the claim that the 
defendant had been absolved following his confession during the ‘Period of 
Grace’.!? He again claimed that the accused should be absolved and acquitted 
of the accusations put forward by the prosecutor. The defendant had repented 
of his blindness to the Truth of Christ and was ready to live and die as a true 
and faithful Christian. The prosecution presented eighteen witnesses, whereas 
the defence had only five. All five testified to Ruy Gonzalez’ faith in Christ, to 
his decency as a person, and confirmed to the court that he had led a full 
Christian life since his reconciliation and return to the fold of the Church. In 
modern terms they would appear more as character witnesses than anything 
else. 

Diego Garcia appeared again before the Inquisition on 17 February. Once 
again he stressed Ruy Gonzalez’ devotion to the Church and denied that he had 
been circumcised, insulted a holy image or flogged a cross.! The figurine in 
his possession was a child's toy which served as a mould for playing cards or 
for making some kind of a vessel. Only one witness for the prosecution told the 


1022 The file lacks this part. 

103 Leg. 155 No. 15 (399), fol. Sv. 

104 The court did not accept the claims of the prosecution, and the defence won its case. See 
the sentence (Leg. 154 No. 15 [359], fol. 14r-v). 


THE SPANISH INQUISITION 465 


court that Ruy Gonzalez had tried to convince conversos to keep Mitsvoth, and 
his testimony was not corroborated by other witnesses. Here the defence 
employed a principle common in the courts of the Inquisition, namely, to 
corroborate any information obtained by the testimony of more than one 
witness. Even if the defence succeeded in this, it did not succeed in rejecting the 
other points of the accusation, and no tachas were presented by the defence.!%5 
It looks as if the court acted in haste, since the date that had already been fixed 
for the Auto-de-fé — 22 February — was at hand. On 21 February the Consulta- 
de-fé voted unanimously that the accused be handed over to the secular arm. 
His suffering was at least brief, and he mounted the scaffold a martyr to his 
people. 

The weakness of the defence in this case is manifest. Indeed, the Diego 
Garcia-Cornalon tandem did not distinguish itself, as did procuradores of the 
calibre of Diego Tellez and Diego Mudarra, or /etrados like Bartolomé del 
Bonillo, in the court of Toledo.'°* But the latter were all lawyers. of Toledo. 
Diego Garcia and Cornalon were either incompetent or cowardly — or perhaps 
merely a provincial pair. 

The first principle of the system according to which the Inquisition operated 
was to build its case on the testimony of witnesses and on the confession of the 
accused. A testimony that was not corroborated by the accused's confession 
was a clear indication that the accused had not confessed fully and pure- 
heartedly. Here the basic principle of the secrecy of the witnesses’ identity was 
of the highest significance,'’ and this not only because the family might silence 
the witness forever. The Inquisition attached great importance to the fact that 
witnesses should belong to the intimate family circle of the accused. Wives 


'°5 We have a third case in which Diego Garcia served as procurador, namely, for Maria 
Gonzalez, wife of Rodrigo Foronda from Herrera. See Leg. 154 No. 31 (378), fols. Ir-17r. Here 
too the defence continued to use the same line; the defendant confessed in Guadalupe, - was 
accepted back into the fold of the Church and given a series of penances. She did not -hide 
anything from the court. After her reconciliation she led a full Christian life and carried out all 
that she was ordered by the Inquisition. The questionnaire presented to the court was formed on 
the same lines, and four witnesses for the defence were presented. But there were fifteen (!) 
Witnesses for the prosecution (two more names are entered in the file, but their testimony is 
lacking). Of the four witnesses for the defence three turned out to be witnesses for the 
prosecution. The only thing they said in favour of Maria Gonzalez was that she gave alms for 
Christian causes. Maria Gonzalez was party to her son’s circumcision and she claimed that he 
was born circumcised. This happened to other children in Herrera. The witnesses said that they 
knew of such cases. Maria Gonzalez was taken to the torture chamber, confessed there, was 
sentenced as a relapsed heretic, and burnt on 22 July 1486. The lukewarm behaviour of the 
defence is manifest. See Beinart, ‘Herrera del Duque’. : 

[06 See Beinart, Conversos, index, s.v. ‘Defence’. 

"7 There were cases of vengeance on the part of the family. 


466 Η. BEINART 


were urged to testify against their husbands, children against their parents, and 
so on. As we have already pointed out elsewhere, the Inquisition placed the 
principle of loyalty to the family against the principle of fidelity to Christ.!°* The 
result was that whole families were accused of judaizing, suffered severely and 
were destroyed. Witnesses of this kind were sometimes forgiven and absolved 
as a reward for having betrayed their next of kin. In such cases no hatred or 
vengeance on the part of the witnesses could be claimed, since parents would 
not suspect their own children or next of kin. Generally the condemned would 
grope in the dark in an attempt to discover who had testified against him. The 
outcome of such cases was a foregone conclusion. 

The Inquisition trials held in the Condado de Belalcazar are remarkable for 
the large number of witnesses for the prosecution.!"? Among them were Jews 
who testified after having taken a Jewish oath;!!° this was accepted by the 
Inquisition. The significance of this testimony goes far beyond the proof it 
provides of day-to-day Judeo-converso relations. It demonstrates that Jews 
taught conversos, persuaded them to lead a Jewish way of life, and extended a 
helping hand to their return to Judaism. This kind of relationship was grist to 
the mill of those who demanded the expulsion of the Jews. There was no lack 
of witnesses of this kind in Puebla de Alcocer. It is well known that an order 
was issued by Fernando in 1484 requiring the rabbis of Spain to place under a 
ban all Jews who had knowledge of conversos keeping Mitsvoth and did not 
come forward and testify before the Inquisition."!! Though many of these 
witnesses fulfilled Mitsvoth together with conversos, they were not summoned 
to stand trial, for the Inquisition had no jurisdiction over Jews. However, their 
testimony only served to seal the doom of the Jews of Spain. 


* 
He 


It is not our intention to defend the Inquisition or the methods it employed to 
achieve its aims. Nor is there any reason to defend the measures taken by one - 
court or another to extirpate what was called the judaizing heresy. On the 
contrary, what must be condemned are the forced conversions and the exertion 
of pressure on Jews to abandon the faith of their fathers; what must be censured 
are the measures taken against those who did not agree to remain faithful to 


1088 See H. Beinart, The Converso Community in 15th Century Spain (The Sephardi Heritage 1: 
London, 1971), pp. 448 f. 

109 See the Appendix. 

119 See H. Beinart, ‘Jewish Witnesses for the Prosecution of the Spanish Inquisition’ in Essays 
in Honour of Ben Beinart (Capetown, 1978) [= Acta juridica (1976)], pp. 37-46. 

ΠῚ See Baer, Die Juden im christlichen Spanien (n. 24 above) 1. 911. Cf. also idem, A History 
of the Jews in Christian Spain 2 (Philadelphia, 1966), pp. 71 ff. 


THE SPANISH INQUISITION 467 


their new faith, a faith they had accepted in a moment of weakness and in order 
to save their lives. All we have tried to do here is to describe the workings of a 
court of the Inquisition in a remote province, starting in 1485 in Guadalupe, 
moving in 1486 to the Condado de Belalcazar and thence to Plasencia in 
1488.'? The system implemented by Tomas de Torquemada and embodied in 
his /nstrucciones was applied here, as elsewhere, to the letter. 

The moral strength and courage of those tried in this, as in other courts, 
emerges in all its glory. Here the persecuted waged their valiant fight against 
religious oppression and the persecution that was to lead to their extermination. 
For hundreds of years the conversos spun dreams of their redemption and their 
return to the ancestral faith from which they had been torn by force. And it was 
in the Condado of Belalcazar and its surroundings that not long after the 
Expulsion emerged, as if out of the ashes, the messianic movement of Inés, 
daughter of the shoemaker Juan Estéban from Herrera del Duque — a messianic 
movement predicting redemption in the Promised Land for those conversos 
who maintained the precepts of Judaism. 


Appendix 


I 


WITNESSES 


A. Trial of Ruy Gonzalez (Leg. 155 No. 15 [399] 


(for the prosecution) 
1. Juan Sacristan, inhabitant of Talarrubias. 

. Bartolomé Cabello, inhabitant of Talarrubias. 

. Mencia Fernandez, inhabitant of Talarrubias. 

. Inés Sanchez, wife of Bartolomé Garcia de Ledesma. inhabitant of Talarrubias. 

. Diego Farelos, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 

. Juan Martinez Cabello, inhabitant of Talarrubias. 

. Llorente Cabello, inhabitant of Talarrubias. 

. Lucia Martinez, wife of Miguel Sanchez, locksmith (aserrador), inhabitant of 
Talarrubias. 

9. Marina Fernandez, wife of Domingo Garcia, tailor, inhabitant of Talarrubias. 


On σ᾽ NN HB WL 


"2 Doctor Pedro Rodriguez de Pefalver sat in Plasencia. See the trial of Gonzalo Pérez J arada, 
inhabitant of Trujillo (Leg. 175 No. 1 [662]; Beinart, Trujillo (τ. 12 above), pp. 287 ff. For 
Torquemada’s instructions see Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain (n. 7 above) 1. 571-75. 


468 Η. ΒΕΙΝΑΒΤ 


10. Mari Gonzalez, daughter of Martin Gonzalez, inhabitant of Talarrubias. 

11. Mari Garcia, wife of Martin Gonzalez de Ledesma, inhabitant of Talarrubias. 

12. Mari Fernandez, wife of Alonso Garcia, e/ rico, inhabitant of Herrera. 

13. Pedro Garcia, tinsmith (tinajero), inhabitant of Herrera. 

14. Juan Fernandez Castafio, inhabitant of Talarrubias. 

15. Inés Martinez, wife of Antén Sanchez Serrano, inhabitant of Talarrubias. 

16. Isabel Gonzalez, wife of Ruy Gonzalez, oil distiller, inhabitant of Talarrubias (wife 
of accused). 

17. Inés Sanchez, la Jonena, wife of Juan Sanchez Jonen, inhabitant of Talarrubias. 

18. Juana Gonzalez, wife of Juan de Talarrubias (daughter of accused), inhabitant of 
Las Casas. 


(for the defence) 
1. Juan Garcia Paco, inhabitant of Talarrubias. 
2. Alonso Fernandez, limeburner and seller (calero), inhabitant of Talarrubias. 
3. Lorenzo Sanchez, inhabitant of Talarrubias. 
4. Alvar Garcia, priest, inhabitant of Talarrubias. 
5. Alonso de Guadalupe, inhabitant of Talarrubias. 


B. Trial of Rodrigo Rofos (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756] 


(for the prosecution) 
1. Toribio Martin, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 
2. Beatriz Lopez. wife of Rodrigo Rofos, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 
3. Garcia, son of Pero Fernandez de Cuéllar, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 
4. Aldonza Rodriguez, wife of Diego Munoz, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 
5. Isabel Ramirez, wife of Alonso, cloth dyer (tintorero), inhabitant of Puebla de 
Alcocer. 


C. Trial of Garcia Sanchez (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782) 


(for the prosecution) 
1. Alonso Garcia, inhabitant of Belalcazar. 
2. Gil Garcia de Sotomayor, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 
3. Inés Diaz, wife of Alonso Murillo, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 
4. Gonzalo Sanchez de Cuéllar, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 
5. Gonzalo de Alcantara, inhabitant of Siruela. 
6. Catalina Gonzalez, wife of Fernan Sanchez, tailor, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 
7. Mari Gutiérrez, wife of Gutierre, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 
8. Beatriz Garcia, wife of Garcia Fernandez de Llerena, inhabitant of Puebla de 
Alcocer. 
9. Mencia Lopez, inhabitant of Chillon, daughter of Garcia Sanchez, the accused. 
10. Ruy Gonzalez, tailor, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 
11. Diego Gil, wool comber (cardador), inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 


THE SPANISH INQUISITION 469 


12. Alvaro Cordon, inhabitant of Siruela. 

13. Mencia, daughter of Diego Baru, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 
14. Juan Sanchez, priest, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 

15. Maestre Pedro, surgeon (cirujano), inhabitant of Guadalupe. 

16. Fernando de Trujillo, member of the court. 

17. Maestre Alonso, physician, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 

18. Fernan Sanchez, tailor, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 

19. Fernando de Cuéllar, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 

20. Pedro Rodriguez, smith, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 


(for the defence) 
1. Alonso, son of Diego Fernandez de Alcocer, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 
2. Andrés de Perales, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer (his testimony served the 
prosecution). 

. Pedro Siziliano, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 

. Anton Garcia, inhabitant of Puebla de Alcocer. 

5. Pedro Fernandez, mule driver (acemilero de la condesa), inhabitant of Puebla de 

Alcocer. 


Ww 


D. Trial of Rodrigo Garcia Bermejo (Leg. 150 No. 13 [296]) 


(for the prosecution) 
1. Pedro de Valencia. 
2. Mari Sanchez, wife of Juan de Guadalupe, εἰ mozo. 
3. Inés Pérez, daughter of Gonzalo Pérez. 
4. Catalina Gonzalez, wife of Garcia Fernandez, inhabitant of Herrera, daughter of 
accused. 
5. Catalina Rodriguez, wife of Juan de las Cabezas. 
6. Inés Garcia, wife of Lope Garcia. 
[All witnesses, except Catalina Gonzdlez, were inhabitants of Puebla de Alcocer.] 


Il 
MEMBERS OF THE CONSULTA- DE-FE 


Trial of Ruy Gonzalez (Leg. 155 No. 15 [399) 


The bishop de Bereto. 

Juan de Miranda, guardian of the convent of San Francisco in Belalcazar. 
Don Fadrique. 

Fray Juan de la Puerta. 

Maestre Juan de Sequel de Almagro. 

Bachiller Gonzalo Munoz (from the court of Ciudad Real). 

The prior of Medina del Campo convent. 


470 


1486 


1487 


12 February 


14 February 
15 February 


17 February 


16 July 


23 July 
14 August 


19 August 

18 September 
31 October 

4 November 


15 November 


19 November 


16 December 


18 December 
2 January 


12 February 


13 February 


17 February 


H. BEINART 


ΠῚ 
Synopsis OF TRIALS DESCRIBED ABOVE 


Ruy Gonzalez confesses in Puebla de Alcocer (Leg. 155 
No. 15 [399], fol. 3r). 

Ruy Gonzalez makes an additional confession (ibid., fol. 3r). 
Rodrigo Rofos from Puebla de Aicocer confesses in Puebla 
de Alcocer (ibid., fol. 2r). 

Garcia Sanchez from Puebla de Alcocer confesses in Puebla 
de Alcocer (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 4r). 

Opening of the trial in Puebla de Alcocer of Rodrigo Garcia 
Bermejo from Puebla de Alcocer (Leg. 150 No. 13 [296], 
fol. 1v). 

Auto-de-fé in Puebla de Alcocer. 

Prosecution pleads in the trial of Rodrigo Garcia Bermejo 
(Leg. 150 No. 13 [296], fol. Iv). 

The heirs of Rodrigo Garcia Bermejo are accused of being 
rebels against the Church (ibid., fol. 2v). 

Opening of the trial of Garcia Sanchez from Puebla de 
Alcocer (Leg. 183 No. 15 [782], fol. 1. 

Diego Garcia appears as his procurador (ibid., fols. 6r-7r). 
Diego Garcia pleads on behalf of Garcia Sanchez and 
presents witnesses for the defence who are examined on that 
day (ibid., fols. 12r-13v). 

Witnesses for the defence are prosecuted in the trial of 
Garcia Sanchez; Pedro Fernandez, mule driver, testifies 
(ibid., fol. 13r). 

Ruy Gonzalez of Talarrubias is examined by the court 
(Leg. 155 No. 15 [399], fol. 8v). 

The prosecutor asks publication of the testimonies in the trial 
of Rodrigo Garcia Bermejo. The court agrees and the sides 
terminate pleading; date fixed for the verdict (Leg. 150 
No. 13 [296], fol. 5r). 

Sentence in the trial of Rodrigo Garcia Bermejo is 
pronounced and carried out (ibid., fol. 6r). 

Trial of Ruy Gonzalez from Talarrubias opens (Leg. 155 
No. 15 [399], fol. 1v). 

Diego Garcia pleads on behalf of Ruy Gonzalez from 
Talarrubias (ibid., fol. 5r-v). 

Pleading terminated (ibid., fol. 12v). 

Diego Garcia presents five witnesses for the defence of Ruy 
Gonzalez (ibid., fol. 1 1r-v). 

Diego Garcia pleads in the case of Ruy Gonzalez (ibid., 
fol. 13r-v). 


THE SPANISH INQUISITION 471 


19 February The prosecutor asks for a verdict in the trial of Rodrigo 
Rofos (Leg. 181 No. 10 [756], fol. 4ν). 
21 February Consulta-de-fé held in Belalcazar in the case of Ruy 


Gonzalez; unanimous vote to hand him over to the secular 
arm (ibid., fol. 13v). 

22 February Auto-de-fé in Belalcazar and Puebla de Alcocer: Rodrigo 
Rofos burnt in effigy (ibid., fol. 5r); Ruy Gonzalez burnt in 
person (Leg. 155 No. 15 [399], fol. 13v). 


The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.