PROTESTANTISM - The Library of Iberian Resources Online

wherever he could find a listener, especially among the clergy. Had the tribunal believed his story, he
would have been sharply tortured to discover his converts; as it was, he was merely reconciled with
irremissible prison, while his nephew, another Gabriel de Narbonne, who spontaneously denounced
himself as having been perverted by his uncle, was reconciled with spiritual penance and forbidden to
leave the kingdom. (30)
It would seem as though the Holy See were desirous to arouse the Spanish Inquisition to a sense of its
inertness in combating these dangerous innovations for, in 1551, Julius III sent to Inquisitor-general
Valdés a brief empowering him to punish Lutheranism irrespective of the station of the offender--a
wholly superfluous grant, for he already possessed by his commission all requisite faculties, except as
regards bishops, and the case of Carranza shows that they were not included in the brief. (31) If the
object was to stimulate, it failed, for the cases of Lutheranism continued for some time to be few and
mostly of foreigners. The year 1558 may be taken as a turning-point in the history of Spanish
Protestantism and up to that time the industrious researches of Dr. Ernst Schäfer, into the records of all
the tribunals, have only resulted in finding an aggregate of a hundred and five cases, of which thirtynine
are of natives and sixty-six of foreigners. (32) Of course, in the chaos of archives, no such statistics
can be regarded as complete, but, on the other hand, the tribunals were in the habit of classing as
"Lutheranism" any deviation, even in a minor degree, from dogma or observance, or any careless
speech, such as those of which we have had examples above. As a whole,[427] the figures are
significant of the slender impression thus far made on Spanish thought by the intense religious
excitement beyond the Pyrenees. A few individuals--mostly those who had been abroad--are all that can
be regarded as really infected with the new doctrines. Thus far there had been nothing of organization,
of little associations or conventicles, in which those of common faith assembled for worship, for
mutual encouragement or for planning measures to disseminate their belief, but something of the kind
was beginning to develop in Seville, where the teachings of Rodrigo de Valero and Dr. Egidio gradually
spread through a widening circle. After Egidio's death, in 1556, the leading figure was Doctor
Constantino Ponce de la Fuente, who was elected by the chapter to the vacant magistral canonry, and
who was a man of the highest consideration, having served Charles V in Flanders as confessor and
chaplain. Another important personage was Maestro García Arias, known as Doctor Blanco, prior of
the Geronimite house of San Isidro, all the brethren of which became converts, as well as some of the
inmates of the Geronimite nunnery of Santa Paula. An influential beneficiary of the church of San
Vicente named Francisco de Zafra also joined the group which, although largely composed of clerics,
secular and regular, contained many laymen. We hear of two rag-pickers, Francisco and Antonio de
Cardenas, while there was also a noble of the highest rank, Don Juan Ponce de Leon, of the great house
of the Dukes of Arcos. Every class of society was represented in the little band, which numbered
altogether over a hundred and twenty, besides Doctor Juan Pérez de Pineda and Julian Hernández, who
had sought safety in flight, probably about the time of the arrest of Dr. Egidio. (33)
In 1557, from some cause, suspicion was aroused and the tribunal commenced a secret investigation,
which seems to have reached the ears of some of the inculpated, and eleven of the Geronimites of San
Isidro sought safety in flight, among whom were two who became noteworthy--Cipriano de Valera and
Cassiodoro de Reina. (34) This increased the suspicion and certain writings of Doctor Constantino were
subjected to examination; they had[428] passed current without animadversion for ten years, but, in
1557, a carta acordada addressed to all the tribunals called attention to them, followed, January 2, 1558,
by a list of books to be burnt, to which were added three of his to be seized but not burnt. (35) Finally the
tribunal was able to obtain positive evidence against individuals. Juan Pérez, in the refuge of Geneva,
had been busy in preparing propagandist works. (36) To convey them into Spain [429] was a perilous
task, but it was undertaken by Julian Hernández, who had spent some years in Paris, had then wandered