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largest work was a translation of the great Institutio of Calvin, reproduced as Vol. XIV of the
Reformistas.
Cassiodoro de Reina became the head of Protestant churches, Spanish and French, in London, Antwerp
and Frankfort. His chief work was the translation of the Bible into Castilian--a version passing under
the name of Cipriano de Valera, who issued a revised edition. Printed in modern times by the Bible
Society, it has a circulation throughout Spanish-speaking lands vastly greater than the author could
have anticipated three hundred years ago.--Böhmer, op. cit., II, 165.
35. Archivo de Simancas, Inq., Lib. 940, fol. 3; Lib. 79, fol. 146.--The three books condemned were
Exposicio del Psalmo Beatus vir, Sevilla, 1546, 1551; Cathecismo cristiano, Anvers, 1546, Seville,
1547, and Confesion de un pecador delante de Jesucristo, impr. sin author por Jullio, 1547. These are
all in the Valdés Index of 1559, together with two others of his--Suma de doctrina cristiana and
Dialogo de doctrina cristiana.--Reuch, Die
Indices des XVI Jahrhunderts, p. 232.
36. Juan Pérez was held in much honor by Calvin and, as the little company of refugees increased, he
formed them into a congregation of which he was pastor. In 1562 he went to France and took charge of
a church at Blois, becoming subsequently chaplain to Renée de France, the widowed Duchess of
Ferrara, whose Huguenot tendencies are well known. In 1567 he died in Paris, leaving his little
accumulations for the good work of printing books in furtherance of the faith. In 1556 he issued a
Castilian New Testament; in 1557, a prose translation of the Psalms, and these were followed by a
number of other works.-- Böhmer, op. cit., II, 57.
Several of his writings were included by Usoz y Rios in the Reformistas, viz.: Epistola consolatoria, in
Vol. II; Carta á Felipe II, in Vol. III; Breve Tratado de la Doctrina antigua de Dios, in Vol. VII;
Suplicacion al Rey Don Philipe, in Vol. XII; Breve Sumario de Indulgentiis, in Vol. XVIII.
There was also by him a Catechism--Sumario breve de la doctrina Christiana, printed in 1556 by
Crespin in Geneva, though with the imprint of Pietro Daniel of Venice, with approbation of the Spanish
Inquisition (Böhmer, II, 86). The rigor with which it was suppressed is illustrated in the trial at Toledo,
in 1561, of Mossen Juan Fesque, a French priest, simply for possessing a copy, which he had
accidentally bought without knowing what it was and had shown to a bookseller for information. He
was tortured with great severity, without eliciting anything more and, as there was nothing else against
him, he was discharged. In the course of the trial allusion was made to two other persons, Antonio
Martel and Jacobo Sobalti, who had been burnt by the tribunal for possessing the Catechism.--MSS. of
Library of Univ. of Halle, Yc, 20, Tom. III.
37. Schäfer, II, 296, 354-7.
38. Archivo de Simancas, Inq., Sala 40, Lib. IV, fol. 239.
39. For these details I am indebted to Dr. Schäfer (op. cit., I, 251-88, 296-307; III, 796-803), whose
careful analysis of the trials of Doña María de Guevara, Pedro de Cazalla and Francisco de Vivero has
thrown new light upon the brief episode of Protestantism in Valladolid.
40. Illescas, Historia pontifical, Paulo IV, § iv.
41. Relazioni Venete, Serie I, T. VI, pp. 411-12.--He adds that heresy might be expected to spread
among the peasantry on account of the oppression, tithes and first-fruits exacted by the Church, but that
the nobles are vigilant in defence of the faith by reason of the large provision of benefices which they
enjoy.
42. Páramo, op. cit., p. 300.