An auto-da-fé of the Spanish Inquisition and the execution of sentences by burning heretics on the stake in a market place. Engraving by B. Picart.

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 ceremonials. 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 finally abolished in 1834

[Place of publication not identified] : C. du Bosc

1 print : engraving, with etching ; image 15 x 20.5 cm

The executions. Suplice des condamnez. B. Picart. del.

On the same sheet as no. 43210 (this catalogue)

Wellcome Collection 43211i