Thread by @FJSoyer

1/ Stories from the archives of the Inquisition: A bigamist with a big problem, Don Francisco de Ovando knew how to game the Inquisition and find a solution to his problem in 1710. #twitterstorians

2/ In 1710, the Iberian Peninsula was wracked by the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) . Essentially a civil war caused by two claimants for the Spanish throne: the Bourbon Philip V and the Habsburg Charles III. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_th…

3/ Catalonia supported the claim of Charles III and so did the neighboring kingdom of Portugal.

4/ On the afternoon of 12 May 1710, a man stepped off a ship and landed on the docks of Lisbon. He immediately made his way to the Estaus 'palace' of the Inquisition on Rossio square in central Lisbon and asked to be seen by the inquisitors of that town.

5/ Admitted into the building, he told the inquisitors that his name was Don Francisco de Ovando, an officer in the army of Charles III who had just arrived by ship from Barcelona and he wanted to confess a serious religious crime.

6/ According to his testimony, he was born in Caceres (Castile) and was aged 36. Ten years before he had married Thereza de Espinola, by whom he had a daughter. However, whilst he was away from Barcelona on campaign, his wife and her father had moved to Naples in Italy.

7/ Don Francisco claimed that he made inquiries about her welfare and was told that she had died in Italy. Seemingly unfazed, he then rapidly remarried a woman named Magdalena Curado.

8/ And this is were his problem began! After his second marriage he had learned that his first wife was alive and well. He was now a bigamist. This was a serious crime that fell within the jurisdiction of the Inquisition.

9/ If the news of his bigamy became public, he risked not only arrest but the loss of his status as a officer and a humiliating loss of social prestige.

10/ It would have made sense to go straight to the Inquisition in Barcelona and plead his good faith and admit to an 'innocent mistake'. Unfortunately, the civil war meant that the local inquisition was not operating.

11/ Neither could he seek out inquisitorial tribunals in the rest of Spain that were located all in territories controlled by the supporters of Philip V and thus 'behind enemy lines'.

12/ So Don Francisco jumped into the first ship sailing for Portugal (which was favorable to Carlos III), landed in Lisbon and went straight to the inquisitorial tribunal of that city.

13/ The inquisitor listened to Don Francisco's story. His confession was deemed to be honest. He was told to return to his first wife and received a very light sentence...

14/ He was ordered to make his confession 4 times a year. Every week he would recite a third of the Holy Rosary and every Friday he would recite 5 'Our Fathers' and 5 'Ave Marias'.

15/ Don Francisco received a certificate to confirm his confession in Lisbon. In this manner, he had made his embarrassing confession far from Barcelona and his social peers there.

16/ He signed two pre-printed declarations whose blanks were filled by the inquisitorial notary. This included his abjuration as well as his solemn promise to keep all his dealing with the Inquisition secret.

17/ The trial of Francisco de Ovando (who was not imprisoned during his trial) ended in July and he returned to Barcelona immediately, his embarrassing problem solved.

18 and end/ The trial dossier of Don Francisco de Ovando (PT/TT/TSO-IL/028/03377) has been digitized by the Portuguese National Archives and is available (open access) online:
digitarq.arquivos.pt/details?id=230…
digitarq.arquivos.pt/viewer?id=2303…