Kirchenakte Documented events from judgments, reports and church documents
1678-1691 · 13 years · show in timeline

Majorca 1679 to 1691: The Inquisition expropriates the New Christians of Palma and, after an escape attempt, has dozens executed, three of them burnt alive

In 1678 the tribunal of Majorca struck at the entire New Christian community of Palma. In four autos of 1679, 219 people were reconciled and their property confiscated, according to Lea 1,496,276 pesos. When some tried to flee on an English ship in 1688 they were imprisoned. In four autos of 1691, according to Lea, 37 people were relaxed in person, three of them burnt alive. The Jewish Encyclopedia gives more than fifty. Their descendants, called "Chuetas", remained outcasts for generations.

Deaths
37 (counted, Elsewhere in Lea 38; Jewish Encyclopedia: more than fifty)
Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509)
„In all thirty-seven were relaxed in person“
Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907). Original
Period
1678-1691 (13 years)
Country
Spain
Institutions
Spanish Inquisition
Tribunal of Majorca
Category
Anti-Judaism, Expropriation, Heresy trials, Persecution
Level of evidence
B two independent scholarly sources · what does this mean?
Persons
Raphael Valls (Marrano, "rabbi" of the Chuetas, burned in 1691)
Raphael Benito Terongi (pupil of Valls, burned in 1691)
Catalina Terongi (sister of Raphael Benito Terongi, burned in 1691)
Francisco Garau (Jesuit, author of the account of the autos)

What happened to the people

Who was affected? Victims and numbers

  1. In four autos in March, May and July 1691, according to Lea, 37 people were relaxed to the secular arm, of whom only three remained steadfast to the last and were burnt alive. Eight were relaxed in effigy, four fugitives and four dead. Elsewhere in the same volume Lea gives 38 persons and seven effigies. The Jewish Encyclopedia gives more than fifty garroted and burned.
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 307
    „In all thirty-seven were relaxed in person, of whom only three were pertinacious to the last and were burnt alive.“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 307. Original
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 204
    „condemned for relapse, having been reconciled in 1679, and of these only three were burnt alive as pertinacious“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 204. Original
    Evidence: Funk & Wagnalls (JewishEncyclopedia.com), Artikel Chuetas
    „more than fifty of them were garroted and then burned at the stake“
    Chuetas, in: Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), Artikel Chuetas. Original
  2. Lea describes the pyre as a brasero eighty feet square and eight feet high with twenty-five stakes, two miles from the city on the shore, so that the stench would not incommode the people. Raphael Valls, Raphael Benito Terongi and his sister Catalina Terongi were burned on 6 May 1691.
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 307
    „A huge brasero, eighty feet square and eight feet high, with twenty-five stakes, was prepared on the sea-shore, two miles from the city, in order that the people might not be incommoded by the stench.“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 307. Original
    Evidence: Funk & Wagnalls (JewishEncyclopedia.com), Artikel Valls, Raphael
    „burned at the stake by the Inquisition at Palma, Majorca, on May 6, 1691“
    Valls, Raphael, in: Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), Artikel Valls, Raphael. Original

How were they charged and sentenced?

  1. In four autos of 1679 there were 219 reconciliations. Since all confessed and begged for mercy, no one was yet relaxed to the secular arm.
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 306
    „The result appeared in four autos celebrated in 1679, in which there were no less than two hundred and nineteen reconciliations.“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 306. Original

What happened to those affected?

  1. The descendants, called "Chuetas", were barred from public office. Between 1782 and 1788 Carlos III ordered that they might live anywhere and no longer be called Jews or Chuetas. According to Lea, Church and State in Majorca had opposed this and delayed the decision by ten years.
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 43990), Bd. 2, Abschnitt Majorca
    „They were not allowed to hold public office“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 2 (New York 1906), Bd. 2, Abschnitt Majorca. Original
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 43990), Bd. 2, Abschnitt Majorca
    „Church and State in Majorca had bitterly opposed the appeal to the throne and had succeeded in postponing action for ten years.“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 2 (New York 1906), Bd. 2, Abschnitt Majorca. Original

Background

Course of events

  1. The ancestors of the New Christians had converted in fear of death after the massacre of 1391. In 1677 or 1678 a meeting in a garden outside the city attracted the inquisitor's attention; it was designated a synagogue. Mass arrests followed.
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 305
    „they were won over to conversion by the terror of death“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 305. Original
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 306
    „In 1677 or 1678 a meeting, held in a garden outside of the city, attracted the inquisitor’s attention.“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 306. Original
  2. The tribunal forced all New Christians to live in the quarter called the Call and to attend mass in the cathedral as a body under supervision on feast days. In 1688 some tried to leave secretly on an English ship. Rough weather held the ship back, and they and their families were imprisoned. The trials took three years.
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 307
    „The tribunal ordered all New Christians to dwell in the call“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 307. Original
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 307
    „This occurred in 1688 and three years were consumed in their trials.“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 307. Original
    Evidence: Funk & Wagnalls (JewishEncyclopedia.com), Artikel Chuetas
    „they had set sail, when unfavorable winds compelled them to return to the harbor of Palma“
    Chuetas, in: Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), Artikel Chuetas. Original

Who received the assets, who profited?

  1. Those affected were merchants and bankers. The property of the entire community was confiscated. Lea gives 1,496,276 pesos and considers this far too low. From its share the tribunal built a sumptuous palace of the Inquisition. The king in the end received only a small part: according to Lea, in 1683 he had to content himself with 18,000 pesos for fortifications and a payment of 2,000.
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 306
    „The sum realized is stated at 1,496,276 pesos, which is probably far below the real value of the assets seized.“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 306. Original
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 46509), Bd. 3, S. 307
    „it rebuilt the palace of the Inquisition in a style so sumptuous that it passed for one of the finest in Spain“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 3 (New York 1907), Bd. 3, S. 307. Original
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 43296), Bd. 1, zu den Konfiskationen von 1678
    „the king had to content himself with 18,000 pesos spent on the fortifications of Majorca“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 1 (New York 1906), Bd. 1, zu den Konfiskationen von 1678. Original

Response of the Church

  1. The Jesuit Francisco Garau published what Lea calls an exulting account of the autos. The reprint of 1755 and lists of all those punished, supplied by the secretary of the tribunal, further fed the exclusion. The Jewish Encyclopedia reports that portraits of the condemned hung in the Dominican monastery.
    Evidence: Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 43990), Bd. 2, Abschnitt Majorca
    „Padre Francisco Garau, S. J., who promptly printed an exulting account of the four autos de fe“
    Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 2 (New York 1906), Bd. 2, Abschnitt Majorca. Original
    Evidence: Funk & Wagnalls (JewishEncyclopedia.com), Artikel Chuetas
    „Their portraits were placed in the Dominican monastery“
    Chuetas, in: Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), Artikel Chuetas. 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. Scholarly literature
    Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 43990): Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 2 (New York 1906). Original (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)
  3. Scholarly literature
    Macmillan; Project Gutenberg (eBook 43296): Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Bd. 1 (New York 1906). Original (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)
  4. Reference work
    Funk & Wagnalls (JewishEncyclopedia.com): Chuetas, in: Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), 1 January 1906. Original (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)
  5. Reference work
    Funk & Wagnalls (JewishEncyclopedia.com): Valls, Raphael, in: Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), 1 January 1906. Original (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)
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