Auto-da-fe

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Autodafé in the Plaza Mayor in Madrid on June 30, 1680 (painting by Francisco Rizi , 1683)

Autodafé ( Spanish auto de fé , Portuguese auto de fé , from Latin actus fidei , "judgment on faith") describes the solemn, mostly public proclamation of the judgments of the Spanish Inquisition or Portuguese Inquisition . The execution of the judgments, in particular the burning at the stake, did not take place during the actual car dairy, but later in a different place.

Use of the term autodafé

The term autodafé is often used not only for the solemn pronouncement of the verdict carried out by the Inquisition, but also for the execution of the verdicts carried out by other institutions at a different time and in a different place. In a figurative sense, book burns are also referred to as auto-da-fé. The book burnings in the Middle Ages often happened as the enforcement of a court judgment.

Duden keyword autodafé:

"1. public proclamation of the judgment of an inquisition court and solemn execution of this judgment (mostly cremation of heretics),
use of history
2. burning of books and writings,
use of educational language "

In the countries of origin of the Autodafé, in Spain and Portugal, the term “Auto de fé” is also used in multiple meanings.

Diccionario de la lengua española keyword Auto de fé:

"1. Public and solemn announcement of the guilt and the verdicts of those convicted by an inquisition court.
2. Execution of the judgments of the Inquisition Court.
3. The burning of objects, especially books and documents, for ideological reasons. "

Sequence of an inquisition process

The course of an inquisition trial was neither transparent to the accused nor to his relatives. During the interrogations, the suspects were accused of individual behaviors. U., seen on their own, did not have to represent any deviations from church teaching. These acts could then either be rejected by the accused or admitted and repented. It was not clear what conclusions the court had drawn from this. The process did not take place as a coherent negotiation with the presence of those involved or at least those entrusted with the judgment. The length of the proceedings gave no indication of the importance of the matter. All of this meant that the defendants were unable to draw any conclusions about the outcome of the proceedings until the day of the auto dairy.

The Inquisition not only charged and sentenced detainees. In the event that an accused was not caught, the sentence was absent . Likewise, those who had already died could be sentenced. The execution of the sentences took place "in effigie" (as a portrait).

Punish

The main penalties the Spanish Inquisition, which were announced during the Autodafés can be divided into three groups: the renunciation (abjuratio), the reconciliation (reconciliatio) and the surrender to the secular arm of Justice (relaxatio ad brachium saeculare).

Renounce

The mildest form of sanction by the Inquisition Court for the conduct of the accused was renunciation. In the case of simpler offenses, this did not have to be done in public, but could be carried out in the courtroom in front of the tribunal. In serious cases, the renunciation took place during a public pronouncement of the verdict. The renunciation was usually associated with secondary punishments. These were fines, the obligation to wear the Sanbenito in public or banishment .

Reconciliation

Defendants who showed repentance were offered reconciliation with the Church even for more serious misconduct. The prerequisites were the renunciation of previous behavior and atonement for deviations. The punishments could be flogging, prison or galley service. In addition, the defendants' property was confiscated.

Transfer to the secular arm of the judiciary

Unrepentant and recidivists were sentenced to death at the stake . As a special act of grace, those condemned who showed repentance were strangled before cremation. Their fortune was confiscated and their descendants received A. Restrictions on Exercising Public Office. Death sentences were by no means predominant.

Holding off car cafés

A large part of the judgments of the inquisition courts were pronounced in “autos particulares” or “autillos”, which were carried out at the seat of the inquisition or in small churches. Occasionally, the Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición organized a sumptuous, festive event designed to glorify the faith, intimidate the people, and show off one's strength and might. The car cafés were a mixture of folk religiosity, entertainment and the satisfaction of pathological curiosity . The Spanish Inquisition's first public auto-da-fe took place in Seville on February 6, 1481. In the end, the Inquisition Court handed over six people to the secular authorities who were burned at the stake. In the course of time, the auto-da-fes became more and more sensational and accordingly more expensive. The Autodafé on June 30, 1680 in Madrid was a spectacular event that took place as part of the celebrations of the wedding of King Charles II and Marie Louise d'Orléans . At the last car dairy of the Spanish Inquisition in Seville in 1781, the only defendant, María de los Dolores López, was sentenced to death. She was then strangled at the stake and burned.

Process of the auto-café

Autodafés were prepared for a long time. The greatest possible number of judgments from an inquisition tribunal were collected and announced in a single ceremony. From the middle of the 16th century, the car dairy took place on a Sunday or on a religious festival day. It had to be announced at least a week before the event. Usually, however, more than a month before the Autodafé, the public was asked to be present as a witness at the event. Most of the time, the car café was located in central places. A grandstand for the officials, a platform for the accused and benches for the spectators were built.

In the afternoon before the selected day, the “Procesión de la Cruz Verde” (“Procesión de la Cruz Verde”) took place, during which the symbol of the Inquisition was brought from the local headquarters of the Inquisition to the planned location of the car dairy To set up the altar. A white cross was then brought to the execution site.

The following day, before dawn, mass was celebrated at the headquarters of the Inquisition and the procession was organized. A group of armed soldiers walked ahead. Then came the defendants who were classified according to the expected severity of the punishment. Those who expected only minor penalties had to wear a yellow Sanbenito with a red St. Andrew's cross on the front and back. Flames and demons were depicted on the black penitential robes of the accused, who faced heavier punishment. They also wore a Carocha , on which their offense was symbolized by illustrations. The present, living defendants were followed in the procession by the dead and the absent defendants, who were carried with them as portraits carrying a Sanbenito. The bones of the deceased lay in boxes that were later burned. The end of the procession was formed by the officials and judges of the Inquisition Court, accompanied by the local bishop and clergy and representatives of the secular judiciary.

The celebration began with a sermon by the chairman of the court. Then one read an oath of allegiance to the Holy Office, which was answered by all those present with a collective "Amen". The judgments were then read out individually. After that, the solemn renunciation and reconciliation took place, which ended the act. Those sentenced to death were handed over to the secular authorities by the secretary of the tribunal and taken to the stake, which generally lay on the outskirts of the city, where the sentences were carried out.

Remarks

  1. ↑ auto de fe
    1st m. Proclamación pública y solemne de las culpas y sentencias de los acusados ​​por el tribunal de la Inquisición.
    2. m. Ejecución de las sentencias del tribunal de la Inquisición.
    3. m. Acción de quemar algo, especialmente libros o documentos, por motivos ideológicos.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ José Antonio Escudero López: La Inquisición española. Biblioteca Gonzalo de Berceo, accessed August 1, 2019 (Spanish).
  2. ↑ Thomas Werner: Liquidate the error - book burnings in the Middle Ages (= Max Planck Institute for History [Hrsg.]: Publications of the Max Planck Institute for History . Volume 225 ). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-35880-1 , p. 47 ff .
  3. ↑ See Duden [1] (online version).
  4. ↑ auto de fé. In: Diccionario de la lengua española. Real Academia Española, accessed November 15, 2016 (Spanish).
  5. ↑ Gerd Schwerhoff: The Inquisition - persecution of heretics in the Middle Ages and modern times . 3. Edition. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2009, p. 89 .
  6. ↑ Ana Vanessa Torrente Martínez: El proceso penal del la inquisición: a modelo histórico en la evolución del proceso penal . In: Revista jurídica de la Región de Murcia . No. 41 , 2009, ISSN  0213-4799 , p. 87 (Spanish, unirioja.es [accessed September 15, 2019]).
  7. ↑ Ana Vanessa Torrente Martínez: El proceso penal del la inquisición: a modelo histórico en la evolución del proceso penal . In: Revista jurídica de la Región de Murcia . No. 41 , 2009, ISSN  0213-4799 , p. 88 (Spanish, unirioja.es [accessed September 15, 2019]).
  8. ↑ Gerd Schwerhoff: The Inquisition - persecution of heretics in the Middle Ages and modern times . 3. Edition. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2009, p. 54 .
  9. ^ José Antonio Escudero López: La Inquisición española . In: Francisco J. Mateos Ascacibar, Felipe Lorenzana de la Puente (ed.): Actas de la II Jornada de historia de Llerena . Llerena 2001, ISBN 84-95251-59-0 , p. 35 (Spanish, [2] [accessed September 15, 2019]).
  10. ^ José Antonio Escudero López: La Inquisición española . In: Francisco J. Mateos Ascacibar, Felipe Lorenzana de la Puente (ed.): Actas de la II Jornada de historia de Llerena . Llerena 2001, ISBN 84-95251-59-0 , p. 24 (Spanish, [3] [accessed September 15, 2019]).
  11. ^ Adolfo Pastor Fuentes: Apuntes de la Inquisición en Sevilla. 2016, p. 28 , accessed September 15, 2019 (Spanish).
  12. ↑ Gerd Schwerhoff: The Inquisition - persecution of heretics in the Middle Ages and modern times . 3. Edition. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2009, p. 91 .
  13. ↑ Gerd Schwerhoff: The Inquisition - persecution of heretics in the Middle Ages and modern times . 3. Edition. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2009, p. 92 .
  14. ^ José Antonio Escudero López: La Inquisición española . In: Francisco J. Mateos Ascacibar, Felipe Lorenzana de la Puente (ed.): Actas de la II Jornada de historia de Llerena . Llerena 2001, ISBN 84-95251-59-0 , p. 35 (Spanish, [4] [accessed September 15, 2019]).

literature

  • Henry Kamen : The Spanish Inquisition. Persecution and displacement . Heyne, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-453-48061-9 .
  • Gerd Schwerhoff : The Inquisition - Persecution of Heretics in the Middle Ages and Modern Times . 3. Edition. Publishing house CH Beck, Munich 2009.

Web links

Commons : Autodafé  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Autodafé  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wikiquote: Autodafé  Quotes

Richard James Horatio Gottheil: Auto da fé. JewishEncyclopedia.com. Retrieved September 15, 2019 (Spanish).