The ceremonial public reading of sentences to the accused, auto de fe, was a periodic spectacle of the Inquisition. Many, if not all, of these rituals were recorded by the local Holy Office. The Porrua collection contains over 30 autos held between 1559 to 1779 with the majority of them occurring in Madrid. The 1559 Auto Público de Fe que se Celebró en la Villa de Valladolid . . . is of particular importance as one of the first judgments against Spanish Protestants. All members of the small group, numbering no more than 55, were arrested and punished. Included among those sentence was Dr. Agustín Cazalla, the former chaplain to Charles V. Porrua notes in the collection catalog that a copy of this auto cannot be found in the Inquisition archives at Valladolid. Also included is the first auto published in Portugal, 1612, and the first auto published in Mallorca, 1691.

#51 - Auto Público de Fe que se Celebró en la Villa de Vallodolid ...

#53 - The first auto published in Portugal, 1612

#62- The first auto published in Mallorca

The Inquisition Collection is housed in the Department of Special Collections at the University of Notre Dame. For questions about the Collection or comments about this site please write to rarebook.1@nd.edu, or call (574) 631-5610 between 8am and 5pm EST.