Kirchenakte Documented events from judgments, reports and church documents
1559-1562 · 3 years · show in timeline

Spain 1559 to 1562: Autos da fé at Valladolid and Seville crush the Protestants; Charles V presses for severity, Paul IV allows even the repentant to be executed, Philip II looks on

After the discovery of Protestant circles in Valladolid and Seville, the abdicated Charles V pressed that the repentant should not be spared. Inquisitor General Valdés asked Paul IV for authority to have penitents executed too. At the auto of Valladolid on 21 May 1559, 14 people were relaxed to the secular arm, at the second on 8 October, in the presence of Philip II, twelve. In Seville 18 Lutherans followed on 24 September 1559, with further autos in 1560 and 1562. Most were garroted, a few burnt alive.

Period
1559-1562 (3 years)
Country
Spain
Institutions
Spanish Inquisition
Holy See
Category
Heresy trials, Persecution
Level of evidence
B two independent scholarly sources · what does this mean?
Persons
Fernando de Valdés (Inquisitor General, Archbishop of Seville)
Agustín Cazalla (priest, executed in 1559)
Carlos de Seso (burnt alive in 1559)

What happened to the people

Who was affected? Victims and numbers

  1. At the auto of 21 May 1559 in Valladolid, 14 people were relaxed to the secular arm and 16 reconciled. The coffin of Leonor de Vivero, who had died during her trial, was also carried and burnt. Herrezuelo remained steadfast and was burnt alive, gagged.
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 437
    „fe of Trinity Sunday, May 21, 1559“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 437. Original
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 437
    „remains to be duly burnt. Those who were to be relaxed in person numbered fourteen“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 437. Original
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 441
    „and was burnt alive as an obstinate impenitent“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 441. Original
  2. On 8 October 1559 the second auto in Valladolid took place in the presence of Philip II; an observer estimated 200,000 spectators. Of the 26 Protestants, twelve were relaxed to the secular arm, and only two stood firm in the fire, among them Carlos de Seso.
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 441
    „honored with the presence of Philip II“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 441. Original
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 441
    „estimates the number of spectators at two hundred thousand“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 441. Original
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 442
    „Carlos de Seso was unyielding to the end“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 442. Original
  3. In Seville 18 Lutherans were relaxed on 24 September 1559, a further 14 and three in effigy, among them the dead Doctors Egidio and Constantino, on 22 December 1560, and nine on 26 April 1562. Monks of San Isidro fled, among them Cassiodoro de Reina. According to the chronicler Illescas, 40 to 50 were executed in Seville in all, four or five of them burnt alive.
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 444
    „there were relaxed in person eighteen Lutherans“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 444. Original
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 445
    „relaxations in person and three in effigy“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 445. Original
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 444
    „or fifty Lutherans executed, of whom four or five suffered themselves to be burnt alive“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 444. Original

Background

Why? Justification and motives (according to the sources)

  1. Charles V wrote to his daughter Juana on 25 May that it might not suffice to pardon first offenders who begged for mercy and advised prosecuting them for sedition without mercy. Inquisitor General Valdés asked Paul IV by letter for authority to relax even the repentant; the Britannica reports the same.
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 434 f.
    „thus incurring the penalty of rebellion without mercy“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 434 f.. Original
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 436
    „could and should relax the guilty from whom danger to the republic might be feared“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 436. Original
    Evidence: Cambridge University Press (Wikisource), Artikel Inquisition, The
    „asked the pope to condemn the Lutherans to be burnt even if they were not backsliders“
    Inquisition, The, in: Encyclopædia Britannica (1911), Bd. 14, Artikel Inquisition, The. Original

See also

Scholarly literature and reference works

  1. Scholarly literature
    Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509): Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907). Original (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)
  2. Reference work
    Cambridge University Press (Wikisource): Inquisition, The, in: Encyclopædia Britannica (1911), Bd. 14, 1 January 1911. Original (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)
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