An auto-da-fé of the Spanish Inquisition: the burning of heretics in a market place. Wood engraving by H.D. Linton after Bocourt after T. Robert-Fleury.

The auto-da-fé, the public ceremony at which sentences were pronounced, became an elaborate celebration. Under the inquisitor general and his supreme council were 14 local tribunals in Spain and several in the colonies

The Spanish Inquisition was a council to combat heresy, authorized by a papal bull in 1478 and established by King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella in 1480 as responsible to the Crown, not the Church. It used secret procedures and judicial torture, and burning its victims in public ceremonies. With its independence from papal interference, the Inquisition soon became an instrument of the Spanish Crown's build-up of absolute power in the 16th and 17th century. It was abolished in 1834

1800-1899

1 print : wood engraving ; image 22.5 x 29.7 cm

Un auto de fé. (Cuadro de M. Robert Fleury) H. Linton sc. Bocort dt.

"Bocort" appears to refer to one of the brothers called Bocourt, either Marie-Firmin Bocourt (1819-1904) or Etienne-Gabriel Bocourt (b. 1821; death date not currently available)

Wellcome Collection 43737i