Spanish Inquisitorial Trials Of María Gonzalez And Pedro De Villegas

Essay: Analysis of Inquisitorial Trials

As demonstrated by scholars such as Kagan and Dyer, Homza, and Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition was a highly organized and secretive institution used to police religious and social order. The trials of María Gonzalez and Pedro de Villegas demonstrate the dedication with which Inquisitors sought to persecute those who were outsiders in society and manipulate them into confessing their religious offenses. However, they also show that the Inquisition was not completely unmerciful- it operated with a legal process that afforded the accused an opportunity to provide evidence that would prove they were not guilty. Using these two cases, I will demonstrate these polarities and argue that the Spanish Inquisition

For example, Villegas was allowed to provide a series of witnesses many of whom helped prove his credibility by stating how long they had known him and that they had witnessed his good Christian behaviors. María Gonzalez too was told that if she wanted to object to the accusations she should because “their reverences were willing to hear her and do justice in her case.”5 Thus, the inquisitors were not completely unsympathetic or inhuman, and the result of de Villegas’s case shows they operated with a good amount of fairness and justice. He was even given penance for the time he spent in the Inquisitorial jail. While de Villegas clearly knew how to prove his innocence and come across favorably, María Gonzalez did not. Her hesitation and inconsistent confessions caused her relaxation. However, her case does show the Inquisition’s dedication to uncovering the truth. The confession about her accomplices while she was being tortured was required again the next day to make sure she wasn’t lying. In addition, the Inquisitors thoroughly investigated those she had mentioned and eventually discovered that “she made it all up because she detested them. She couldn’t stand those wives of Rodrigo de Chillon and Fernando de Cordoba; they treated her badly and wrecked her marriages”6 This demonstrates that Inquisitors

Once someone claimed they had evidence of a person engaging in a Jewish practice, it was automatically assumed that it had religious importance. As demonstrated by Pedro de Villegas, this was not always the case. Although Inquisitors said he “ate meat during Lent without a need or reason” and “willingly observed the Sabbath on Saturdays in his house”7 de Villegas was actually able to provide valid reasons why these acts did not prove his guilt. He remarked that he ate meat “out of necessity” because of his illness. He also said “If I rested on some Saturdays, it would have been at a time when my job of cloth making wasn’t flourishing, there happened to be a month or two during which I did not work at all.”8 He then calls upon a series of witnesses who confirm his explanations. Since a major emphasis was placed upon limpieza de sangre (purity of blood), de Villegas and his witnesses were smart to mention his Christian lineage and the fact that he frequently attended Mass. He also separated himself from Jews when he remarked “I never talk with Jews, nor was I raised to have such an inclination”9 María Gonzalez on the other hand, readily admitted that the customs she and her family partook in were “for the sake of the Jewish