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CHAPTER XIV THE DECLINE OF THE INQUISITION I N the middle of the seventeenth century, both in Spain and in Portugal, the Inquisition appeared to be at the height of its power. It was one of the wealthiest and most influential corporations in the land. The tribunals were housed in magnificent palaces, constructed with the wealth that a long series of confiscations had amassed. Ceremonious autos-da-fè were held at frequent intervals in all the principal cities of the Peninsula, vying with bull-fights in popularity, and frequently graced by the presence of royalty. For all that, it is obvious in retrospect that the first traces of decline were already to be discerned. If the autos had gained in pomp, they had lost ground as far as numbers were concerned. The importance of the Judaizers was appreciably diminished. In Spain, as we have seen, Moslems had also been subject to the Holy Office from 1525; and in the subsequent period an increasing number of Protestants and other heretics fell under its scope. The native Marrano tradition had by now almost entirely died out, so that the main attention for some time past had been devoted to immigrants from Portugal. Here, too, conditions had been altering. As in Spain, though to a minor degree, the exclusive preoccupation of the Holy Office with Judaizers had somewhat lessened in the course of time. The force of Marranism had been weakening partly owing to ignorance, partly to assimilation, and partly to the 339
