Between the Inquisition and the king: the favorites and the secretaries of State (1580-1736)* Ana Isabel López-Salazar1 To Rafael Valladares, who knows so much about favorites Abstract The integration of Portugal in the Hispanic Monarchy caused a problem in the communication between the Portuguese Inquisition and the Crown, at the time located in Madrid. To prevent the constant intervention of the Council of Portugal and the viceroys in the matters of the Holy Office, the Inquisition tried to establish several ways to communicate directly with the king. The most original was the integration of the favorites and the secretaries of State in the inquisitorial institution. After the Restoration, the secretaries of State conserved the position of secretaries of the Holy Office until 1736, demonstrating the efficiency of certain institutional innovations of the Philippine period. Keywords Portugal, Hispanic Monarchy, Inquisition, Favorite, Secretary of State Resumo A agregação de Portugal à Monarquia Hispânica gerou um problema na comunicação entre a Inquisição portuguesa e a Coroa, na altura sediada em Madrid. Para evitar a constante intervenção do Conselho de Portugal e dos vice-reis nas questões do Santo Ofício, a Inquisição tentou estabelecer vias de comunicação direta com o monarca. A mais original foi a integração dos validos e dos secretários de Estado na própria instituição inquisitorial. Após a Restauração, os secretários de Estado continuaram a desempenhar o cargo de secretários do Santo Ofício até 1736, o que demonstra a eficácia de algumas inovações institucionais da época filipina. Palavras-chave Portugal, Monarquia Hispânica, Inquisição, Valido, Secretário de Estado * Abbreviations: AJCJ (Armário Jesuítico e Cartório dos Jesuítas); ANTT (Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, Lisbon), AGS (Archivo General de Simancas), AHN (Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid), BA (Biblioteca da Ajuda, Lisbon), BNP (Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal), BPE (Biblioteca Pública de Évora), CG (Conselho Geral), E (Estado), FG (Fundo Geral), IL (Inquisição de Lisboa); SP (Secretarías Provinciales), TSO (Tribunal do Santo Ofício). This work was developed within the scope of the following research projects: EurocoreCODE/001/2009, HAR2012-37583, PTDC/HIS-HIS/118227/2010 and UID/HIS/00057/2013. I would like to thank Bernardo García García and Rafael Valladares for all the assistance the provided. 1 Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain and CIDEHUS-University of Évora, Portugal. E-mail: [email protected] López-Salazar Between the Inquisition and the king 1. Introduction The physical separation between the king and the kingdom was one of the most visible aspects of Portugal’s integration into the Hispanic Monarchy. In fact, as Fernando Bouza pointed out several years ago, Habsburg Portugal was built on the basis of the king’s absence (Bouza 1994: 81). This circumstance had direct consequences in the communication established between the different Portuguese councils, tribunals and corporations and the sovereign.2 To compensate for his absence, two new institutions were created: the viceroyalty (or, in its absence, the council of governors) and the Council of Portugal in Madrid. After the return of Filipe II to Madrid, in 1583, all the kingdom’s affairs were to be managed and solved through these two channels. One of the institutions that found it most difficult to adjust to this system of political communication with the Crown was the Inquisition. This happened for several reasons. Its mixed nature as an apostolic tribunal that was simultaneously dependent on the Crown placed it in an ambiguous position within the Monarchy’s institutional system. Furthermore, the fact that it was impossible to communicate directly with the king was an entirely new issue for the Portuguese Holy Office that, for obvious reasons, had never been raised before. We need only remind ourselves that the General Inquisitor Dom Henrique, who had ruled the Holy Office for forty years (between 1539 and 1578), had also been the kingdom’s regent (1562-1568) and king (1578-1580). It is reasonable to believe that, in his time, the need to create institutional channels of communication between the inquisitorial power and the royal power was never raised because they were both concentrated in one single individual – who held the position of regent or king – or because there might have been informal channels of communication between the General Inquisitor and his nephew, King Sebastião. As the General Inquisitor Dom Francisco de Castro wrote many years later: before this Crown was united to that of Castile, the general inquisitors reported their matters directly to the kings, who answered them immediately without the need for a written consulta.3 2 According to António Manuel Hespanha, the Iberian Union was characterized by the implementation of new ways to institutionalize the political communication between the Crown and its peripheral institutions, as well as by the creation of a new balance between a government led by Councils and a government led by special committees (juntas) and officials, such as secretaries of State and favorites (Hespanha 1989). 3 ANTT, TSO, CG, liv. 353, fol. 3v. e-JPH, Vol. 13, number 1, June 2015 2 López-Salazar Between the Inquisition and the king Before moving forward, it is important to specify the matters and issues that the general inquisitors were duty bound to report to the kings. As stated by the General Council itself in the late sixteenth century, there were two main matters that the Inquisition had to discuss with the Crown. One was the government of the Holy Office, and the other was the request for favors for the tribunal’s ministers.4 To these I would add at least three other matters. First of all, I should like to recall the problem of the New Christians, i.e. the criticism that they leveled against the tribunal’s procedure and the petitions that they filed in Madrid, asking the Crown to grant them various favors. Undoubtedly, this was the issue that eventually gave rise to most of the problems and correspondence between the Inquisition and the monarchy. Secondly, the Crown was required to intervene whenever there were conflicts between the Holy Office and other institutions. Finally, the Inquisition was also required to discuss all matters relating to the properties confiscated from individuals who were found guilty of displaying heresy towards the monarchy. However, I have deliberately decided to set aside all matters relating to the confiscations, because this subject – not being associated with faith or with the way in which the tribunal was governed – raises specific issues.5 After 1583, when Filipe II returned to Madrid, and especially after 1593, when Cardinal Albert did the same, the Inquisition had to learn how to interact with the governors and viceroys, as well as with the Council of Portugal. During the Iberian Union, in most cases, the resolution of matters relating to the Inquisition passed through the normal channels – the viceroy and the Council. However, it is also true that the Holy Office sought alternative ways to break the double wall represented by the viceroys and the Council of Portugal. The aspiration to finding a way to communicate directly with the king, without resorting to any sort of intermediaries, emerged in the early seventeenth century. In order to achieve this, the Holy Office resorted to various expedients, such as placing an agent at the Court and sending inquisitors and deputies to Valladolid and Madrid (Bethencourt 1997: 163). But, undoubtedly, the most original method was the official integration of favorites – Lerma and Olivares – and Secretaries of State – Matos and Soares 4 ANTT, TSO, CG, liv. 129, fol. 221r-222v. 5 As a tribunal, the juízo do fisco, responsible for the confiscation of properties that belonged to people condemned for heresy, was independent from the Holy Office, despite its being, to some extent, subordinated to the general inquisitor. By law, the confiscated properties belonged to the Crown and, although they were managed by the general inquisitor, the king could decide what to do with this money. Furthermore, the monarch was the one who had to appoint the judges and prosecutors of the juízo do fisco, although the general inquisitor was the one who chose and suggested the names of these individuals to the king. Finally, the contadores examined the accounts of the treasurers of the juízo do fisco, which were reviewed at the Casa dos Contos, and the king ordered this tribunal to be inspected by judges who did not belong to the Holy Office. e-JPH, Vol. 13, number 1, June 2015 3 López-Salazar Between the Inquisition and the king – into the circuit of communication between the Holy Office and the Crown. The fact that the Inquisition decided to integrate the favorite into the tribunal leads us to question and reassess the idea – widely disseminated by historiography – that the Holy Office had an open conflict with Lerma and Olivares during the reigns of Filipe III and Filipe IV. In other words, it is true that, first Lerma, and later Olivares, tried to control the Inquisition and supported some of the claims of the New Christians. However, their relationship with the Portuguese Holy Office cannot be seen only, and in a Manichaean way, as conflictive. The Inquisition also knew how to take advantage of the new circumstances created by the emergence of favoritism, as proven by the official integration of Lerma and Olivares into its own institutional structure. As we shall see in the following pages, the efficiency of this expedient was actually limited and did not prevent the governors, the viceroys and the Council of Portugal from intervening in the affairs of the Holy Office and mediating the communication between the Inquisition and the Crown. However, despite its failure, this resource shows the ability of the Portuguese tribunal to adjust itself to a new era.