Diego Rodríguez Lucero

Diego Rodríguez Lucero (* after 1450 in Moguer ; † December 28, 1534 in Seville ) was the inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition . He was called Lucero el Tenebroso (the dark one) by his contemporaries .

Origin, education and first office

Diego Rodríguez Lucero came from a family of clergymen and high officials. His parents were Juan Lucero and Marina Rodríguez. He completed his university education as Bachiller en Leyes and Licenciado en Teologia . In 1492 he held the post of Maestrescuela (schoolmaster) at the Cathedral of Almería .

First job as an inquisitor

Diego Rodríguez Lucero began his work as an inquisitor in 1495 in Jerez de la Frontera , which was in the area of ​​the Tribunal of Cordoba . The chronicles report that it was later assumed that the tribunal in this city had already noticed a tendency to falsify statements. In 1499 Diego Rodríguez Lucero was transferred to Granada , which was also in the area of ​​the Tribunal of Cordoba.

Worked as an inquisitor in Cordoba

After Diego de Deza was appointed inquisitor general, Diego Rodríguez Lucero received on September 7, 1499 the office of one of the three inquisitors of the Tribubal in Cordoba. On February 13, 1501, he held his first public car dairy in Córdoba, where the death sentences of 80 people were pronounced, who were then burned at the stake . A few days later he handed another 50 people over to the secular arm of the judiciary to carry out the death penalty by burning. Many of the suspected and accused were part of the ecclesiastical and urban hierarchy and the nobility. There were immediate protests from Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand . The complaints about Lucero's arbitrary actions resulted in a first visit from representatives of the Consejo de la Suprema y General Inquisición, the supreme administrative and supervisory authority of the Spanish Inquisition. This visit was without consequences. On April 30, 1502, “Lucero el Tenebroso” held another auto-da-fe, in which the death sentences were read out to 27 people. In the course of 1503 the two inquisitors Lucero and Bravo had more than 400 people arrested in Cordoba. While the third inquisitor of the Tribunal, Hernando Niño, wrote to Queen Isabella to complain about the actions of his colleagues.

On December 22, 1504, the Cordoba Tribunal held what is considered to be one of the most gruesome and cruel in the history of the Inquisition. The verdicts of 267 defendants were read out, 107 of whom were sentenced to death at the stake. They were accused of being false Christians, conversos , who continued to practice the Jewish counsel even though they were baptized .

Queen Isabella died on November 26, 1504. King Ferdinand took over the reign of his daughter Johanna in Castile who was staying in the Burgundian Netherlands . For the time being, Ferdinand did not make any changes to the organization or staffing of the Spanish Inquisition.

Proceedings against Hernando de Talavera

In 1505, Diego Rodríguez Lucero filed a lawsuit against the Hieronymite Father Hernando de Talavera, who was well over seventy . Hernando de Talavera was Queen Isabella's confessor from 1475 to 1492 . During this time he was also her political advisor and took care of a. A. to raise funds for the war against the emirate of Granada . After the conquest, he was ordained Archbishop of Granada in 1492 .

Diego Rodríguez Lucero's first measures were directed against the archbishop's sister and nephew, who lived in the same house as the archbishop. They were accused of "Judaizing" d. H. to perform Jewish rituals and to live according to the rules of the Jewish religion. On the basis of testimony obtained under torture , it was claimed that the archbishop's house was used as a synagogue . Hernando de Talavera was also accused of not taking action against false conversos and false morisks , who continued to cling to their old religion, and of hindering the Inquisition. This accusation was based on the fact that he, as one of the negotiators in the agreement on the surrender of Granada, kept the promise made at the time that the inhabitants would be spared the Inquisition for a period of 40 years. So that they and their descendants could be well instructed in the Christian faith during this time. He also made a distinction between religious and cultural traditions. B. for the preservation of the music of the Moriscos.

In order to indict the Archbishop in an inquisition trial, the approval of the Inquisitor General was necessary. That was granted by Diego de Deza. The Pope's consent, which was also necessary, was not available. Nevertheless, Diego Rodríguez Lucero opened the process. After Pope Julius II was informed of the matter, he instructed his nuncio in Spain, "Juan Rufo", (Giovanni Ruffo dei Theodoli, at the time Bishop of Bertinoro) to review the case. Through his examination and the defense of Peter Martyr de Anghiera , prior of the cathedral chapter of Granada, it was not difficult to discover the irregularities that had been committed by Lucero in the proceedings. The result was the order that the relatives of Hernando de Talaveras should be released without delay and a total acquittal and rehabilitation of the archbishop, who died shortly afterwards on May 14, 1507. The result of the investigation of the papal nuncio was a sensitive blow against the inquisitor Diego Rodríguez Lucero and indirectly against the inquisitor general Diego Deza, who supported him.

Dismissal by King Philip

When the new Castilian royal couple Johanna and Philip reached La Coruña on April 25, 1506 , they sent an order to Inquisitor General Diego de Deza in which they ordered that the activities of the inquisition tribunals should be suspended for the time being. In July 1506, King Philip forced the Inquisitor General to resign. In addition, he dismissed some of the people who held high positions in the organization of the Spanish Inquisition. Including the inquisitor Diego Rodríguez Lucero. On September 25, 1506, Philip died thereupon, Diego de Deza and Diego Rodríguez Lucero, like all the other dismissed, returned to their offices.

revolt

The reinstated Inquisitor reacted with a wave of arrests against the members of the urban elite of Cordoba, who had supported King Philip and thus, in the opinion of the Inquisitor, prevented the fight against heresy. Within a short period of time, around 400 people were imprisoned in the prison of the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos in Córdoba. On November 6, 1506, the population began an uprising against the Inquisition. The leaders were nobles of the city and the surrounding area. They were supported by respected clerics. The Inquisition rooms in the Alcázar were stormed and most of the prisoners were freed. Diego Rodríguez Lucero fled through a back door hours before the incident.

process

On December 6, 1506, the City Council of Cordoba and the Cathedral Chapter sent a letter to the Regent of Castile, King Ferdinand, and to Queen Joan. In it they demanded the removal of Diego Rodríguez Lucero as inquisitor. Inquisitor General Diego de Deza refused to give in and insisted on defending him. The attitude of the Inquisitor General was not approved by King Ferdinand. Diego de Deza had to resign from the post of General Inquisitor. King Ferdinand proposed to Pope Julius II the appointment of Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros , Archbishop of Toledo, as Inquisitor General of Castile. After the new Inquisitor General had been informed by a commission from the city of Cordoba, charges were brought against Lucero on October 17, 1507. Cisneros ordered the arrest of Lucero and all suspicious witnesses. They were taken to the prisons in Burgos. A court called "Congregación católica" was put together, which consisted of 22 people in high positions of the clergy and the judiciary. It met for the first time on June 1, 1508, and pronounced the judgment on August 1, 1508 in Valladolid before the King, the Inquisitor General and numerous personalities. The court ordered that the houses that had been demolished as presumed synagogues by order of Lucero should be rebuilt. That the register books with the names of those who were registered as heretics should be destroyed. Lucero was removed from office, but was allowed to take up his position as a member of the cathedral chapter in Seville. He died in this city on December 28, 1534.

literature

• José Manuel de Bernardo Ares: Diego Rodríguez Lucero. Real Academia de la Historia, 2018, accessed November 12, 2019 (Spanish). 
• Ana Cristina Cuadro García: Acción inquisitorial contra los judaizantes en Córdoba y crisis eclesiástica (1482–1508) . In: Revista de historia moderna: Anales de la Universidad de Alicante . No. 21 , 2003, ISSN  1989-9823 , p. 11–28 (Spanish, unirioja.es [accessed October 1, 2019]).
• Tarsicio Herrero del Collado: El proceso inquisitorial por delito de herejía contra Hernando de Talavera . In: Anuario de historia del derecho español . No. 39 , 1969, ISSN  0304-4319 , p. 671-706 (Spanish, [17] [accessed August 1, 2019]).
• P. Bernardino Llorca SJ (ed.): Bulario pontificio de la Inquisición española en su período constitucional (1478-1525) . Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, Rome 1949, p. XXX (Spanish, 326 pages, [18] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
• Manuel Peña Díaz: Lucero el Tenebroso. El inquisidor cruel y sanguinario . In: Andalucía en la historia . No. 57 , 2017, ISSN  1695-1956 , p. 42–45 (Spanish, [19] [accessed October 1, 2019]).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ José Manuel de Bernardo Ares: Diego Rodríguez Lucero. Real Academia de la Historia, 2018, accessed November 12, 2019 (Spanish). 
2. ↑ It is a play on words with his name: lucere – glow and tenebrae – darkness. Manuel Peña Díaz: Lucero el Tenebroso. El inquisidor cruel y sanguinario . In: Andalucía en la historia . No. 57 , 2017, ISSN  1695-1956 , p. 42 (Spanish, [1] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
3. ↑ José Manuel de Bernardo Ares: Diego Rodríguez Lucero. Real Academia de la Historia, 2018, accessed November 12, 2019 (Spanish). 
4. ↑ Manuel Peña Díaz: Lucero el Tenebroso. El inquisidor cruel y sanguinario . In: Andalucía en la historia . No. 57 , 2017, ISSN  1695-1956 , p. 42 (Spanish, [2] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
5. ↑ Manuel Peña Díaz: Lucero el Tenebroso. El inquisidor cruel y sanguinario . In: Andalucía en la historia . No. 57 , 2017, ISSN  1695-1956 , p. 42 (Spanish, [3] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
6. ^ Tarsicio Herrero del Collado: El proceso inquisitorial por delito de herejía contra Hernando de Talavera . In: Anuario de historia del derecho español . No. 39 , 1969, ISSN  0304-4319 , p. 684 f . (Spanish, [4] [accessed August 1, 2019]).
7. ↑ Manuel Peña Díaz: Lucero el Tenebroso. El inquisidor cruel y sanguinario . In: Andalucía en la historia . No. 57 , 2017, ISSN  1695-1956 , p. 42 (Spanish, [5] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
8. ↑ Manuel Peña Díaz: Lucero el Tenebroso. El inquisidor cruel y sanguinario . In: Andalucía en la historia . No. 57 , 2017, ISSN  1695-1956 , p. 43 (Spanish, [6] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
9. ↑ Manuel Peña Díaz: Lucero el Tenebroso. El inquisidor cruel y sanguinario . In: Andalucía en la historia . No. 57 , 2017, ISSN  1695-1956 , p. 43 (Spanish, [7] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
10. ^ Tarsicio Herrero del Collado: El proceso inquisitorial por delito de herejía contra Hernando de Talavera . In: Anuario de historia del derecho español . No. 39 , 1969, ISSN  0304-4319 , p. 687 (Spanish, [8] [accessed August 1, 2019]).
11. ↑ María Julieta Vega García-Ferrer: Fray Hernando de Talavera. La pervivencia de la musica mozarabe in Granada . In: Revista del Centro de Estudios Históricos de Granada y su Reino . No. 19 , 2007, ISSN  0213-7461 , p. 87–113 (Spanish, [9] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
12. ^ Tarsicio Herrero del Collado: El proceso inquisitorial por delito de herejía contra Hernando de Talavera . In: Anuario de historia del derecho español . No. 39 , 1969, ISSN  0304-4319 , p. 691 (Spanish, [10] [accessed August 1, 2019]).
13. ↑ José Manuel de Bernardo Ares: Diego Rodríguez Lucero. Real Academia de la Historia, 2018, accessed November 12, 2019 (Spanish). 
14. ^ Tarsicio Herrero del Collado: El proceso inquisitorial por delito de herejía contra Hernando de Talavera . In: Anuario de historia del derecho español . No. 39 , 1969, ISSN  0304-4319 , p. 699 (Spanish, [11] [accessed August 1, 2019]).
15. ↑ P. Bernardino Llorca SJ (ed.): Bulario pontificio de la Inquisición española en su período constitucional (1478-1525) . Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, Rome 1949, p. 220 (Spanish, [12] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
16. ↑ Manuel Peña Díaz: Lucero el Tenebroso. El inquisidor cruel y sanguinario . In: Andalucía en la historia . No. 57 , 2017, ISSN  1695-1956 , p. 44 (Spanish, [13] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
17. ↑ Manuel Peña Díaz: Lucero el Tenebroso. El inquisidor cruel y sanguinario . In: Andalucía en la historia . No. 57 , 2017, ISSN  1695-1956 , p. 44 (Spanish, [14] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
18. ↑ P. Bernardino Llorca SJ (ed.): Bulario pontificio de la Inquisición española en su período constitucional (1478-1525) . Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, Rome 1949, p. 32 (Spanish, [15] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
19. ↑ P. Bernardino Llorca SJ (ed.): Bulario pontificio de la Inquisición española en su período constitucional (1478-1525) . Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, Rome 1949, p. 220 (Spanish, [16] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
20. ↑ José Manuel de Bernardo Ares: Diego Rodríguez Lucero. Real Academia de la Historia, 2018, accessed November 12, 2019 (Spanish).