PROTESTANTISM - The Library of Iberian Resources Online

conversion for, when at liberty, they will be free to repeat the offence. . . . The admission to mercy was
not provided for cases like these for, in addition to their enormity, from what you write to me, it
appears that in another year, if unchecked, they would have dared to preach in public, thus inferring
their dangerous designs, for it is clear that they could not do so without organization and armed leaders.
It must therefore [435] be seen whether they can be prosecuted for sedition and disturbance of the
republic, thus incurring the penalty of rebellion without mercy." He goes on to instance his own cruel
edicts in the Netherlands, under which the pertinacious were burnt alive and the repentant were
beheaded, a policy which he urged Philip to continue and which the latter practised in England, as
though he were its natural king, leading to so many and such pitiless executions, even of bishops.
"There must" he concluded "be no competencias of jurisdiction over this, for believe me, my daughter,
if this evil be not suppressed at the beginning, I cannot promise that there will be a king hereafter to do
it. So I entreat you, as earnestly as I can, to do everything possible, for the nature of the case demands it
and, that the necessary action be taken in my name, I order Luis Quijada to go to you and to talk to
such persons as you may direct." (46)
Not satisfied with this, Charles, on the same day, sent to Philip a copy of this letter and begged him to
give orders for the unsparing punishment of the guilty, for the service of God and the preservation of
the kingdom were at stake. Philip's marginal note on this was to thank him for what he had done, to ask
him to press the matter, and to assure him that the same would be done from Flanders. (47) We shall see
that Charles's cruel desire was fulfilled, though it was done ecclesiastically and not by distorting the
secular law.
There followed a brisk correspondence between Valladolid and San Yuste, Charles burning with
impatience and urging speedy action, and Valdés assuring him that all possible effort was making by
the Inquisition in its crippled condition for want of funds. Philip was kept advised and wrote to Juana,
from his camp near Dourlens, September 6th, expressing his satisfaction with what had been done; they
were not to delay by communicating with him, who was busy with the war, but were to take orders
from the emperor to whom he had written, asking him to take charge of the affair. (48)
Valdés was now master of the situation, both in this and the affair of Carranza, which hinged upon it to
a large extent. To exploit it to the utmost he addressed, September 9th, to Paul IV [436] a letter in
which he gave a brief account of the development of Lutheranism in Valladolid and Seville; he dwelt
upon the dangers impending, the labors of the Inquisition and the poverty which crippled its efforts.
Adopting the argument of Charles V, he pointed out that this Lutheranism was a kind of sedition or
tumult, occurring as it did among persons of importance by birth, religion and wealth, so that there was
peril of greater evils if they were treated with the same benignity as the converts from Islam and
Judaism, who were mostly of low estate and not to be feared. Lutheranism promised relief from Church
burdens, which bore hardly on the people who would welcome liberation, while tribunals might scruple
to relax persons of quality who would not patiently endure penance and imprisonment and, from their
rank and the influence of their kindred, great evils might arise, both to religion and the peace of the
kingdom. A papal brief would be highly desirable, therefore, under which the tribunals, without scruple
or fear of irregularity, could and should relax the guilty from whom danger to the republic might be
feared, no matter what their dignity in Church or State, giving to the inquisitors full power to employ
the rigor required by the situation, even if it went beyond the limits of the law. (49) We have seen (Vol.
II p. 426) how successful was this appeal in establishing on a firm basis the finances of the Inquisition,
nor was it less so in obtaining the cruel power for which Charles V aspired, and also a faculty which
enabled Valdés to destroy Carranza. Allusion has already been made (Vol. II, p. 61; Vol. Ill, p. 201) to
the briefs of January 4 and 7, 1559 by which Paul IV granted a limited jurisdiction over the episcopal