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<div style="width: 70%; margin: 0 15% 1em 15%; text-align: left; background-color: #DEE6ED; padding: 0.5em; border: solid 1px #6699CC;">"The depositions of the witnesses are shown to the defendant, with names of witnesses suppressed. Everything is read distorted and contorted - with so many obscurities and circumlocutions and with the wording so vague, as to seem the language of any creature other than a rational being. In the deposition formulas specially noticeable are the holy wiles: when they say "He heard from a certain person whom he has named," it is to be understood that it is the defendant himself from whom he heard it! When the prisoner has answered as well as he can, his [[advocate]] opportunely appears. In the presence of the Inquisitors he indicates to the prisoner the evidence by which he is hardest pressed, and the one remedy left - a shrewd guess at his assailant, with a view to consideration of possible exceptions against him; he advises him to try, for some days, to recall to memory those with whom he may chance to have had feud - because, if enmity can be established through legitimate investigation, this one exception will repel any man from giving evidence in this tribunal; he warns him that he can deny evidence that is not sufficiently consistent. This is the utmost assistance which a prisoner can expect from his advocate; and thus he is bidden back to his prison. Three or four days later he is called to audience, and is asked if he can remember and explain anything - the advocate inquiring if he has amde any guess at the witnesses. Prisoner brings forward what he can remember - begging them to see whether by chance his delators are among these. If he has not guessed correctly, not only is his reply wasted, but also the three or four days trouble of guessing - and the accusation remains unshaken. But should it chance that he guesses right, the advocate asks him what exceptions he can use against the persons named by him. The exceptions set forth, and the witnesses named by whom defendant will prove them, after prisoner has been allowed to repose for some '''months''' in his prison they summon him again to the contest; and the Inquisitor tells him that the witnesses named by him have been heard - so that he should see whether he has anything to say for himself, or whether he wishes to conclude. Defendant concluding, the Fiscal also concludes; and afterwards the Inquisitors, with the assessors and the consultors, pass sentence - when the theologians, monks and clerks have weighed whatever defendant has said bearing on doctrine and the Faith. The marks of their more than leoine claws are confiscation of property, perpetual or temporary imprisonment, a mud-colored garment commonly called ''sambenito'', perpetual infamy to all posperity."<ref>'''Turberville''', ''op cit.''</ref></div>

<div style="width: 70%; margin: 0 15% 1em 15%; text-align: left; background-color: #DEE6ED; padding: 0.5em; border: solid 1px #6699CC;">"The depositions of the witnesses are shown to the defendant, with names of witnesses suppressed. Everything is read distorted and contorted - with so many obscurities and circumlocutions and with the wording so vague, as to seem the language of any creature other than a rational being. In the deposition formulas specially noticeable are the holy wiles: when they say "He heard from a certain person whom he has named," it is to be understood that it is the defendant himself from whom he heard it! When the prisoner has answered as well as he can, his [[advocate]] opportunely appears. In the presence of the Inquisitors he indicates to the prisoner the evidence by which he is hardest pressed, and the one remedy left - a shrewd guess at his assailant, with a view to consideration of possible exceptions against him; he advises him to try, for some days, to recall to memory those with whom he may chance to have had feud - because, if enmity can be established through legitimate investigation, this one exception will repel any man from giving evidence in this tribunal; he warns him that he can deny evidence that is not sufficiently consistent. This is the utmost assistance which a prisoner can expect from his advocate; and thus he is bidden back to his prison. Three or four days later he is called to audience, and is asked if he can remember and explain anything - the advocate inquiring if he has amde any guess at the witnesses. Prisoner brings forward what he can remember - begging them to see whether by chance his delators are among these. If he has not guessed correctly, not only is his reply wasted, but also the three or four days trouble of guessing - and the accusation remains unshaken. But should it chance that he guesses right, the advocate asks him what exceptions he can use against the persons named by him. The exceptions set forth, and the witnesses named by whom defendant will prove them, after prisoner has been allowed to repose for some '''months''' in his prison they summon him again to the contest; and the Inquisitor tells him that the witnesses named by him have been heard - so that he should see whether he has anything to say for himself, or whether he wishes to conclude. Defendant concluding, the Fiscal also concludes; and afterwards the Inquisitors, with the assessors and the consultors, pass sentence - when the theologians, monks and clerks have weighed whatever defendant has said bearing on doctrine and the Faith. The marks of their more than leoine claws are confiscation of property, perpetual or temporary imprisonment, a mud-colored garment commonly called ''sambenito'', perpetual infamy to all posperity."<ref>'''Turberville''', ''op cit.''</ref></div>

The main features of inquisitorial procedure are evident - secrecy of witnesses, the "holy wiles" of the Inquisitors, and the "guessing game" nature of the tribunal's interrogation. The importance of an existing "feud" reinforces the idea advanced by Kieckhefer<ref>'''Kieckhefer, Richard''', ''European Witch Trials: Their Foundation in Popular and Learned Culture, 1300-1500'', London: Routledge and Kegan Paul (1976)</ref> for [[witchcraft]] and Kamen<ref>'''Kamen''', ''op cit.''</ref> for the Spanish Inquisition that spiteful gossip and revenge were the main causes of suffering under the Inquisition. It is evident that anti-Spanish propaganda, both in [[England]] and in [[Rome]] in the late 16th century, gave a much exaggerated picture of the workings of the Spanish inquisition, but although "''in some respects we can modify the picture of a cruel and merciless Inquisition, what cannot be explained away is the atmosphere that prevailed prior to arrest and condemnation.''"<ref>'''Kamen''', ''op cit.''</ref> This atmosphere of secrecy was prolonged throughout the trial and also the process of torture.

The main features of inquisitorial procedure are evident - secrecy of witnesses, the "holy wiles" of the Inquisitors, and the "guessing game" nature of the tribunal's interrogation. The importance of an existing "feud" reinforces the idea advanced by Kieckhefer<ref>Kieckhefer, Richard, ''European Witch Trials: Their Foundation in Popular and Learned Culture, 1300-1500'', (1976)</ref> for [[witchcraft]] and Kamen<ref>'''Kamen''', ''op cit.''</ref> for the Spanish Inquisition that spiteful gossip and revenge were the main causes of suffering under the Inquisition. It is evident that anti-Spanish propaganda, both in [[England]] and in [[Rome]] in the late 16th century, gave a much exaggerated picture of the workings of the Spanish inquisition, but although "''in some respects we can modify the picture of a cruel and merciless Inquisition, what cannot be explained away is the atmosphere that prevailed prior to arrest and condemnation.''"<ref>'''Kamen''', ''op cit.''</ref> This atmosphere of secrecy was prolonged throughout the trial and also the process of torture.

An anonymous English writer of the time backs up the above account and demonstrates further how secrecy was used to instill fear:

An anonymous English writer of the time backs up the above account and demonstrates further how secrecy was used to instill fear:

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