PROTESTANTISM - The Library of Iberian Resources Online

This policy continued. In 1784 similar lists were called for. The answer from Valencia showed how
successful had been the exclusion of Protestants, and how precarious was the position of those who
ventured to reside in Spain. The tribunal reported, August 29, 1785, that it had instructed its
commissioners everywhere and, where there were no commissioners, satisfactory persons, to make this
secret investigation, with the result that there were no Protestants in the kingdom of Valencia, except in
the city, where there were two--Mons. Champane, a Frenchman and Dueclaux, whose nationality could
not be ascertained. Both were Protestants, although it was difficult to verify the fact, on account of their
extreme care in attending church and in accompanying the sacrament when it was carried to the sick.
(149)
With the outbreak of the French Revolution, the desire to exclude heretics extended itself to foreigners
generally, with the view of completely isolating Spain. In 1791 a decree of Carlos IV required all
foreigners to be registered; those who desired to be naturalized must be Catholics and take the
necessary oath of allegiance; transient residents were compelled to take out licences in which, among
other details, their religion was specified; they were not allowed to exercise any profession or art or
craft, or to follow any retail trade, or even to be servants, and all engaged in such pursuits were given
two months in which to leave the country. (150) When, however, the peace of 1795 put an end to the
disastrous war with the French Republic and aroused apprehension of an approaching rupture with
England, there was a feverish desire to placate France, showing itself in a royal cédula of May 1, 1796,
[473] prohibiting all tribunals, including the Inquisition, from molesting Frenchmen on account of
religion, but those only were to be recognized as Frenchmen who wore the tricolor cockade. When war
broke out with England, a further advance was made; Carlos ordered his representatives abroad to
assure all foreign powers that in Spain strangers enjoyed full liberty of conscience, and in August,
1797, he forbade the Inquisition to trouble foreigners about their faith. (151) We may be permitted,
however, to doubt the sincerity of this. When, in the same year, the attention of the Valencia tribunal
was drawn to a German merchant named Johann Foch, who called himself a Protestant, it applied at
once to the captain-general to know whether he held the licence authorizing his residence in Spain, not
being a Catholic. It proceeded with the case but suspended it because of his marriage with Bernarda
María Pellicer, a parishioner of Santo Tomás. (152)
This liberality, whether genuine or not, was only a passing episode. A document of 1801 shows that the
decree of 1791 was still in force, and that the Inquisition was relied upon to carry it into effect. It is a
series of questions addressed by the Suprema to the tribunals, with the answers from Valencia, and
explains itself.
Q. Whether, prior to the royal order of 1791, foreigners not Catholics were allowed to reside, in
the cases provided by the treaties and, if they were not permitted, what measures were taken to
ascertain whether they professed Calvinism?
A. In case of their not having the benefit of those treaties, as soon as the tribunal had knowledge
of them, it made the requisite investigation and, on ascertaining it to be true, it notified them to
quit the kingdom, if they had not special permission from the king.
Q. If investigation led to the belief that a stranger was Catholic and it was subsequently found
that he was not, but that he did not speak ill of our religion, or cause scandal, or insult sacred
objects, to what punishment was he condemned?
A. No recent case of this kind has occurred but, from some former ones, it is deduced that the
Suprema was consulted.