Auto da fe (Act of Faith) was the ritual execution of heretics by the Inquisition after a confession had been extracted. The ceremony always took place on a Sunday, but not at regular intervals, maybe once every two, three or four years. The victims were walked in procession wearing the sanbenito, the coroza, the rope around the neck, and carrying a yellow waxcandle in their hand. The sanbenito was a penitential tunic of yellow cloth reaching to the knees and painted on it was a picture of the person who wore it, burning in flames with figures of dragons and devils in the act of fanning the flames. The costume indicated to the watching crowds the wearer was to be burned alive as an incorrigible heretic. If the person was only to do penance, then the sanbenito had on it a cross, and no painting or flames. If the victim was converted just before being led out, then the sanbenito was painted with the flames downward (known as fuego resuelto) and indicated that the wearer was not to be burned alive, but to be first strangled before burning.
At one time the sanbenito were hung up in the churches as monuments to the Inquisition. The coroza was a pasteboard cap, one metre high, ending in a point. On it were likewise painted crosses, flames and devils. Gags were kept on hand in case a victim insulted the tribunal or revealed what had occurred to them as they were led along to the place of execution where a large scaffold was erected.
The stake where the victim was to be burned varied in form, and was either a simple stake mounted in the ground, or was about three metres tall, with a small board near the top where the victim sat and was chained to the stake. Following prayers and attempts to convert the victim to the Roman Catholic faith, burning furzes were thrust into the face until the victim's face was burned before furzes around the base of the stake were ignited and the victim burned to death.
Victims were burned, because the inquisitors were forbidden to 'shed blood', the Roman Catholic church maintaining the line that it is untainted with blood. Research Auto da Fe
The Inquisition was the name of two historic Roman Catholic tribunals. The first, mediaeval Inquisition was established in 1233 by Pope Gregory X in response to the spread of heretical sects, such as the Albigenses and Waldenses in northern Italy, southern France, and Germany. Judges of the Inquisition were chosen from among the Dominicans to try and judge cases of heresy, then considered intolerable by civil and ecclesiastical authorities alike. If found guilty of heresy, the heretic was turned over to secular authorities for punishment. Though burning at the stake was the ultimate penalty for unrecanted heresy, this penalty was uncommon in mediaeval times. The usual punishment was penance, fine, or imprisonment. Torture was used in the civil courts of the time and was also admitted in trials for heresy by Innocent IV in 1252, despite earlier papal denunciations of torture.
During the Catholic Reformation, the functions of the mediaeval Inquisition were assigned to the Holy Office in 1542. Called the Roman Inquisition, it was active against Protestantism and heard charges of heresy against Galileo in what became a famous trial. Its typical function in modern times was the examination of theological writings. The Holy Office was replaced by the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1965. The Spanish Inquisition was a quasi- ecclesiastical tribunal established in 1478 by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella primarily to examine converted Jews, and later converted Muslims, and punish those who were insincere in the conversion.
Pope Sixtus IV reluctantly approved the Spanish Inquisition, which was largely controlled by the Spanish monarchs. The Grand Inquisitor was always a Dominican, however, and the first and most notorious was T. de Torquemada. The Spanish Inquisition was much harsher than the mediaeval Inquisition and the death penalty was more often exacted, sometimes in mass autos-da-fe. It judged cases of bigamy, seduction, usury, and other crimes, and was active in Spain and her colonies. Estimates of its victims vary widely, ranging from less than 4,000 to more than 30,000 during its existence. By the 17th century the harshness of the Inquisition was greatly reduced and it was abolished altogether in 1834. Research Inquisition
John Charles Fremont was an American explorer. He was born in 1813 at Norfolk, Virginia and died in 1890. Educated at Charleston, South Carolina, after a brief service in the navy he joined the US corps of topographical engineers, and married the daughter of SenatorBenton. In 1842 he explored a portion of the Rocky Mountains. In 1843 and 1844, with remarkable skill and energy, he conducted an exploration of the regions of Utah, the basin of the Columbia, and the passes of the Sierra Nevada. In 1846, while in conduct of another exploration in California, he assisted in the Bear Flag War, alleging instructions from George Washington, co-operated with Commodore Stockton in the conquest of California, but was court-martialed for disobedience to General Kearny.
In 1848 he explored, amid great hardships, the paths from Sante Fe to Sacramento, and made a similar expedition in 1853 and 1854. These explorations made him famous as the 'Pathfinder', and in 1856 the new Republican party made him its candidate for the Presidency, but was defeated. In 1861 he commanded in Missouri, but, prematurely ordering emancipation, was removed. In 1862 he commanded against Jackson in the Valley. In 1864 he was nominated for the Presidency by a convention of radical Republicans dissatisfied with Abraham Lincoln, but finally withdrew. Research John Fremont
Simon Bolivar ('The Liberator') was a Venezuelan patriot. He was born in 1783 at Caracas and died in 1830. Educated at Madrid, after travelling in Europe he returned to Caracas in 1801 and lived there until 1804 before, upon the death of his wife, revisiting Europe before returning to Venezuela via the USA in 1809 determined to make Venezuela an independent republic. Having joined the patriotic party among his countrymen he shared in the first unsuccessful efforts to throw off the Spanish yoke. In 1812 he joined the patriots of New Granada in their struggle, and having defeated the Spaniards in several actions he led a small force into his own country of Venezuela, and entered the capital, Caracas, as victor and liberator, on August the 4th, 1813.
But the success of the revolutionary party was not of long duration. Simon Bolivar was beaten by General Boves, and before the end of the year the royalists were again masters of Venezuela. Simon Bolivar next received from the Congress of New Granada the command of an expedition against Bogota, and after the successful transfer of the seat of government to that city retired to Jamaica.
Having again returned to Venezuela he was able to rout the royalists under Morillo, and, after a brilliant campaign, effected in 1819 a junction with the forces of the New Granada republic. The battle of Bojaca which followed gave him possession of Santa Fe and all New Granada, of which he was appointed president and captain-general. A law was now passed by which the Republics of Venezuela and New Granada were to be united in a single state, as the Republic of Colombia, and Bolivar was elected the first president.
In 1822 he went to the aid of Peru, and was made dictator, an office held by him until 1825, by which time the country had been completely freed from Spanish rule. In 1825 he visited Upper Peru, which formed itself into an independent republic named Bolivia, in honour of Simon Bolivar. In Colombia a civil war arose between his adherents and the faction opposed to him, but Simon Bolivar was confirmed in the presidency in 1826, and again in 1828, and continued to exercise the chief authority until May, 1830, when he resigned. He died at Carthagena on the 17th December, 1830. One of the departments of Colombia is named after him, as are also a state of the republicVenezuela, and the town Ciudad Bolivar. Research Simon Bolivar
Stephen W Kearny was an American soldier. He was born in 1794 and died in 1848. He served throughout the War of 1813. He was promoted brigadier-general in 1846, with command in the West. During the Mexican War he established a provisional government in SantaFe and fought the Battle of San Pasqual, after which he was made major-general. In 1847 he was Governor of California. He wrote a 'Manual of the Exercise and Manoeuvring of US Dragoons'. Research Stephen Kearny
Iron has the formulae Fe and a relative hardness of 5. It is recovered primarily from iron bearing minerals and is recognizable by the oxide coating on its surface (rust).
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