The events of 1591

In 1590, Antonio Pérez, former secretary of Philip II and, therefore, aware of important State secrets, fled from the Madrid jail during his criminal trial for the murder of Escobedo, secretary of the king's brother. After his escape, he took refuge in the Dominican convent of Calatayud and there, invoking his condition as Aragonese, he appealed for the privilege of manifestation (habeas corpus) before the Justice of Aragon, for which he had to be transferred to the prison of the manifestated in Zaragoza, thus avoiding being arrested by the king's bailiffs. In Madrid, after being found guilty and sentenced to death for the murder of Escobedo, he was also accused of blasphemy; thus forcing his transferring to the prisons of the Inquisition.

This transfer served as a trigger for the outbreak of the mutiny, since, while the Court of Madrid affirmed that the Inquisition was above any particular instance of the Spanish kingdoms, the “foralistas” (defenders of the privileges and laws of Aragon, or “fueros”) considered it outside the legal order of Aragon, and maintained that allowing the transfer was against Aragonese laws. Groups of artisans and farmers, led by knights, took to the streets and prevented Antonio Pérez from being taken to the Inquisition’s prisons.

On September 24, 1591, a second mutiny took place, caused by the king's decision to transfer Antonio Pérez back to the prisons of the Inquisition. This time the monarch sent the Castilian army to quell the revolt. However, only a small group faced him in Utebo and the army entered without meeting further opposition in Zaragoza. The repression was immediate: the head Justice, Juan de Lanuza, was imprisoned and executed; in 1592 and 1593 several autos-da-fé were held by which about a hundred people were punished for their participation in the mutiny (sentenced to death, galleys, heavy fines, or to receive corporal punishment); finally, in the Courts of Tarazona the Aragonese charters, the "fueros", were revised and modified according to the will of the king.

Pilar Rivero