what was known as an Edict of Grace, prescribing a term, usually of thirty days, during which all heretics could come forward, confess fully as to themselves and others, and escape confiscation and the stake, in lieu of which they were subjected to penance, pecuniary and spiritual, at the discretion of the inquisitor; they abjured their errors publicly and were publicly reconciled to the Church. Reconciliation of itself was a grievous penalty, for a subsequent lapse into error was regarded as relapse, for which, according to the canons, the irrevocable punishment was relaxation to the secular arm, that is, death by fire. Moreover it inflicted serious disabilities, not only on the culprit but on his descendants for two generations by the male line and for one by the female— inability to hold office of honor or profit, and to obtain ecclesiastical preferment, besides which, under the Spanish law, he was forbidden to bear arms, to ride on horseback and to wear silk or jewels or gold and silver ornaments and to follow certain occupations, such as those of physicians, surgeons, druggists, etc. The Church, it will be seen, was not merciful to its erring children, even when repentant, and the term of grace was but indifferently attractive.

As the Inquisition had no power to mitigate these provisions of the canon law and as Ferdinand was desirous to adopt milder measures which could only be authorized by the Holy See, he applied to Julius representing that since 1492 there had been converted in Spain numerous persons of Jewish and Moorish race who in consequence of deficient instruction in the faith had not observed their obligations and had committed heretical crimes. In view of their numbers and of their recent conversion it would be in

human to proceed against them with the full rigor of the law, wherefore he had ordered them to be instructed in the faith. To give them fuller opportunity for this, and that they might more willingly confess their sins and perform penance, he asked that faculties should be granted to the inquisitors to receive to reconciliation those who should come within thirty days, confess their sins and accept penance salutary to their souls, without inflicting confiscation and the other pains and penances which the law enjoins and without requiring public abjuration, for otherwise if they should again fall into the same errors there would be no possibility of saving them.1

It may safely be assumed that Ferdinand's request was granted, but its only importance lies in its statement of the existing condition and in its indication of his policy, for for these Edicts of Grace labored under a limitation which rendered them for the most part inoperative, except as an exhibition of apparent clemency and as affording an opportunity of objurgating the apostates for hardness of heart. In theory the penitent was received because he had experienced real conversion; as a Catholic Christian he must detest heresy and heretics; the confession of his own offences was imperfect and fictitious unless he included all of which he was cognizant in others. Imperfect and fictitious confession was one of the gravest crimes in the code of the Inquisition, it rendered nugatory all absolution gained by it and exposed the culprit to the danger of relaxation. Thus any one coming forward under an Edict of Grace was obliged to denounce all his accomplices in heresy—that is, all his family and friends

1 Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Libro 3, fol. 72.

-and to furnish such evidence as would lead to their arrest and trial and torture. The records of the Inquisition, unhappily, supply evidence only too abundant of the way in which parents incriminated children and children parents under the stress of prolonged incarceration, skilful examination and perhaps the torture-chamber, but to expect those in freedom to come forward spontaneously and betray their nearest and dearest presupposed too vile an estimate of human nature to be often realized.1 It could only occur when a whole community took united action.

Whether the combined efforts of Ferdinand and Ximenes aroused the Church to a sense of its duties and responsibilities we have slender means of knowing, but it may safely be assumed that they did not and that the Moriscos remained as firmly Moslem as ever, while the inquisitors were not as neglectful as the prelates and when the Jewish conversos became scarcer those of Moorish extraction kept the field of operation supplied. Thus we happen

1 The utility of confession in discovering accomplices is exemplified by the case of Francisco Zafar y Ribera, a Valencian Morisco who, in 1605, was miraculously converted and made a pilgrimage to Monserrat where he confessed to a priest who sent him to the inquisitors of Barcelona for absolution from the censures incurred by heresy. They required him to reveal the names of all whom he knew to be Moslems and on finding them to be Valencians they sent him thither, where he denounced no less than four thousand persons by their names. He had been a travelling tailor and had a large acquaintance among the Aljamas.—Bleda, Crónica, p. 929.

Guadalajara y Xavierr tells us (Expulsión de los Moriscos, fol. 159), as one of the evil characteristics of the Moriscos, that when obliged by necessity they would freely confess as to themselves but refused to reveal the crimes of their neighbors, wherefore they were burnt as negativos and excommunicated apostates.

to hear of the active prosecution, in 1517, by the tribunal of Calahorra, of the Moriscos of Aguilar de Rio Alhama, Cervera de Rio Alhama, Erze and Inestrillas, resulting in thirty-eight convictions. As there was no church in

Aguilar where the neophytes could be taught, and as one had been commenced, King Charles generously made over half of the confiscations to assist in its construction and endowment. The next year on learning that persecuted Moriscos had commenced to remove to Granada in the hope of passing to Africa or remaining concealed, he graciously waived his right to the confiscations in favor of those who should come in under a term of grace to be designated. In a similar spirit, in 1518, on hearing that the inquisitors of Cuenca were arresting and prosecuting the Moriscos, Cardinal Adrian, the inquisitor-general, ordered an Edict of Grace with a term of two years while Charles renounced the confiscations, and this was renewed in 1520. A similar measure, in 1518, with the term of one year, checked the operations of the inquisitors of Cartagena who were persecuting the Moriscos of the Val de Ricote in Murcia; in October, 1519, this was extended for another year; then, December 24, 1521, Cardinal Adrian writes to the inquisitors that the Moriscos have appealed to him for a further extension, alleging that in consequence of the disturbances they have been prevented from coming forward and confessing as to themselves and others; he therefore grants a further term of six months from January 1, 1522, during which time those who confess are not to suffer confiscation, but are to be treated mercifully as regards penance and are not to be con

1 Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 4, fol. 7; Lib. 5, fol. 11 Lib. 9, fol. 13.

1;

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demned to perpetual prison and wearing the sanbenito, the latter being removed as soon as they have abjured their errors in the public auto do fe.'

All this shows that the inquisitors were proceeding with more zeal than discretion and that their superiors were disposed to listen to the appeals of the sufferers, recognizing the supreme absurdity of expecting sincere adherence to a faith imposed by force and known only as the source of persecution and spoliation. Still, there were the canons, the machinery for their enforcement and the obligation of vindicating the faith on the apostates who were legally members of the Catholic Church. A situation had been created from which there was no escape and every attempt to find an exit only aggravated the difficulties until despair of a reasonable remedy brought about the final catastrophe. Meanwhile thus far the dispo- . sition was to temporize and postpone energetic proceedings. This doubtless explains the action of Cardinal Adrian, August 5, 1521, in issuing general orders that no arrests should be made except on testimony directly conclusive of heresy and even then the evidence must first be submitted to the decision of the Suprema, or supreme council of the Inquisition. As usual the inquisitors interpreted

1 Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Libro 4, fol. 97; Lib. 9, fol. 2, 29; Lib. 940, fol. 69, 131, 185.

The sanbenito, a sort of yellow tunic with a red oblique band, to be constantly worn in public, was one of the penalties attaching to reconciliation and was a very severe infliction as it was an indelible mark of disgrace. It was heightened by the fact that a counterpart, with an inscription of the name and date and offence, was hung up in the parish church in perpetual evidence of the crime and its punishment.

2 Ibid. Libro 939, fol. 89. It should be borne in mind that mere arrest by the Inquisition was in itself a very serious punishment. All