[150] The last "successful" (officially accepted) Castilian apparition before the nineteenth century occurred to a shepherd on the outskirts of León, some time in the years 1505-1513. Only the bare facts are known. In 1513 the cathedral chapter appointed supervisors for the alms of "nuestra señora del camino, que Agora Aparescio" (who recently appeared). In 1517 a papal bull referred to "... a certain shepherd to whom, whether in dreams or divinely, it was revealed that on a certain public road out of the city of León, a shrine or hermitage or oratory should be built in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary." The image was a preexisting one, which allegedly as early as the twelfth century was in the Templo del Mercado. The seer, Alvar Simon, was employed after the visions as an alms-collector. ⁽¹⁾ The shrine is thriving today and draws pilgrims from the entire province of León and much of Asturias.

After the vision at León, we hear of no more of this kind of public lay apparition. There are only rare cases, like those of Reus (1592) and Sant Aniol (1618) in Catalonia, until the twentieth century.

There were similar visions in Italy, where between the years 1440 and 1500 apparitions started at least seven of the present-day Marian shrines with the permission of bishops or popes. But in Italy, unlike Spain, visions that founded shrines continued, with at least four or five per decade until about 1590. I do not know whether the flurry of visions in Castile and Catalonia from 1449 to 1512 occurred in other countries as well.

There was another kind of vision in Italy at the turn of the century that indirectly may have affected the Spanish situation. For a papacy threatened by schism and seeking to consolidate a temporal and territorial base for its authority, Girolamo Savonarola provided an apt demonstration of the dangers of [151] independent revelation. Savonarola was burned at the stake. But his temporary success, and that of other, wandering prophets, showed the need for a clear statement of apostolic authority over apparitions and revelations. Hence the Fifth Lateran Council in 1516, in a session dedicated to preaching, decreed as follows: ⁽²⁾

We wish that, according to normal law, supposed apparitions before they are made public or preached to the people, should be considered from now on reserved for the examination of the Apostolic seat. If this causes undue delay, or if some urgent need counsels other action, then the matter should be brought to the local bishop. . . . He, taking with him three or four learned and serious men, will examine this kind of matter with them diligently; when it appears convenient to them, on which we charge their conscience, they may grant permission.

Two investigations of village visionaries, not religious or semi-professional beatas, but relatively normal folk like those studied above, are preserved in the archive of the Inquisition of Cuenca. ⁽⁵⁾ The visionaries lived in neighboring towns in La Mancha, Quintanar de la Orden, and La Mota del Cuervo, where the borders of the present-day provinces of Toledo, Cuenca, and Ciudad Real meet (see Map 3). The suppression of lay apparitions that their stories show did not let up until the Inquisition itself was suppressed. 

INVESTIGATION OF THE INQUISITION OF CUENCA, 1517-1518 ⁽⁶⁾

Denunciation 

March 28, 1517

Madalena, wife of Diego de Pozo, inhabitant of Santa María de los Llanos, a sworn witness, said in addition to what she has already said against others that she heard Juan de Rabe, ⁽⁷⁾ inhabitant of the said town and sometimes of La Mota, say that many times he goes into trances and sees God and Saint Mary in paradise and the saints, angels, and archangels. And that if someone says something bad about him he knows about it later and repeats it in front of the whole town, both in La Mota and Santa María de los Llanos. And this witness recalls that Juan de Rabe said in La Mota that he had seen Our Lady riding on a little ass. And when they heard about it they held a procession from the church and carried a cross, which the priest of Santa Maria de los Llanos carried on his back, to the place where the shepherd said he had seen Our Lady; and that this [153] happened more than two years ago. And that this witness went with the town in the procession.

The sister of this witness, Ysabel López, and Alonso López, neighbors of this witness, and Juan Castillo, inhabitant of the town, said the same thing under oath, and their testimony is in the [papers] of Villamayor on the second of the loose pages.

February 18, 1518

Juan de Rabe, citizen of La Mota, was ordered called in by their Reverences to the hearing room, being a prisoner in the jail of this Holy Office by their order. And when he was sworn in by the Inquisitor Juan Yañes he was asked by his Reverence what his name was. He said he was Juan de Rabe, and his parents were Juan de Rabe and Ynes Rodríguez, both deceased, inhabitants and natives of Villaverde and full-blooded Old Christians. His only sister lives in La Mota. She is named María de Rabe and is married to Pedro García, labrador, inhabitant of La Mota.

Asked if he is married or has ever been, he said no, and that he is about fifty years old. Asked why he did not marry, he said it was because he could not find a good match. Asked what property he owned, he said he owned nothing, that he maintained himself by working, digging, plowing, and sometimes herding sheep, as he did last year. Asked where he has lived in the past few years, he said in La Mota and in Santa María de los Llanos. Asked if he knows what year it is, he said that he does not know, but that he does know it is the month of February.

He was asked by his Reverence if he knew the Credo and the Salve Regina; he said he did not. And if he knew the Pater Noster and the Ave Maria; he said he did. He was ordered to say them. He said the entire Ave Maria, and the Pater Noster he said in its entirety but he did not know it well. He was asked by his Reverence if he confessed every year as the Holy Mother Church mandates. He said that he has confessed every year at Lent with the [154] old priest in the town of La Mota, and that every time he confessed he received the most holy sacrament.

Asked if he knows the Ten Commandments and the Articles of Faith and the seven deadly sins and the five senses, he said he did not know any of these in whole or in part. ⁽⁸⁾ Asked by his Reverence what it was he confessed, if he did not know the deadly sins or the Ten Commandments or the five senses, he said he confessed what he did know about. He was asked if pride or envy or lust or the killing of a man or insulting someone with offensive words was a sin, and to each of these he replied he did not know. He was asked if theft was a sin, and he said that, God preserve us, theft was a very great sin.
First vision, near Santa Maria de los Llanos, c. 1514
He was asked what things he did confess, since he did not confess any sins at all. He said that about four years ago he was on his way alone to turn over the soil in a vineyard at Santa María de los Llanos that belonged to his cousin, Francisco Martínez. He was carrying a hoe, a wineskin, and bread for his lunch. On the road he heard a loud bolt of thunder in the sky and said to himself, "God in heaven help me! The sky is clear, why does it thunder?" He said he looked toward town and heard another thunderclap, and since the sky was clear he said, "God help me! What is this about?" Then he looked down, and he said he saw next to his feet Our Lady the Virgin Mary. She seemed to him like a tiny girl, and that she was riding on a tiny burro and dressed in white.

Asked what color the burro was, he said it was very pretty but he does not know what color it was.

Asked who came with her, he said that no one else came with her.

Asked how he knew or who told him that the girl he referred to was Our Lady, he said that she herself told him so. And that she said to him, "O how many bad people there are in this town of yours who do nothing but blaspheme and foreswear my son," and that it was not enough [155] that men should do this, but the women did it too. And that he should tell the whole town and the priest to take the cross and go in procession to the holy calvary in El Pedernoso or on the way to El Pedernoso, and that they erect a cross where she came and appeared to this witness.

And so later he went to tell everybody about it, and they came afterwards with a cross and put it where this witness told them Our Lady had appeared to him. And from there they went to the holy calvary, which may be more than four crossbow shots from there. And afterwards they went back in procession to the town. And that before he went to tell the people all this she disappeared, and he never saw her again. And that this took place on a Saturday morning, and she told him not to report it until the afternoon, which is what he did. And the priest would not absolve him until he said it out loud in front of everyone in church.

Asked if Our Lady, she who he says he saw, carried a baby in her arms, he said all he saw was that she was seated on the little burro.

Asked if he knows if it was a little burro or a little mule, he said he does not know, just that it seemed like a little burro to him, and very pretty. And that on no other occasion did she appear to him. . .
Second vision, near El Toboso, c. 1516 

but that another time two years later Saint Sebastian appeared to him in Los Llanos de la Casa Sola wearing a brown garment and his arrows with blood and a crown of gold like a star. He was about half as tall as this witness, and he came alone. This took place in the morning before this witness had breakfasted, when he was tending the animals of Christobal Sánchez of La Mota. And He told him He was Saint Sebastian, and that he should go to El Toboso because at that time many people were dying of the plague and tell them to build two chapels. One was to be in the Cerro Espartoso, which Our Lady had ordered them to build and which they had not seen fit to build until the [156] epidemic returned as they had had it before when she ordered it. The other was to be below Saint Peter, which has been started. And that he does not know to what saint except that He ordered them that the one on the Cerro Espartoso should be dedicated to Saint Roch.

Sentence

When their Reverences had seen the confession of Juan Rabe and everything else there was to see and examine, they ordered him given one hundred lashes for the wrongs that appear in his confession. They ordered that these lashes be given in public in the accustomed streets of this city, accompanied by a herald, and that afterward he return to the jail for instruction in what is necessary for the health of his soul. And when this is done that he go with God wherever he wants to. And they instructed him that henceforth he should not go around proclaiming the vanities confessed by him since they are indeed vain things and detrimental to our Holy Catholic Faith and to the souls of the simple and Catholic folk who hear them.

This sentence was given on February 17, 1518, before the witnesses Lope Suárez, alcalde, and Francisco de Oyos, doorman of the Holy Office; I Francisco Ximénez notary was present.

On the face of it he was a pauvre type. He had no property. No one would marry him. He did not even know what year it was. But he did have some social resources. His married sister lived nearby, and a cousin owned land planted with vines. In 1514 when he told the people of La Mota or Santa María de los Llanos (it is unclear which) in church about his vision, Juan de [157] Rabe was believed, believed even though he said the Virgin Mary sat on a tiny burro.

We do not know how many of the approximately 2000 people of La Mota heard him, or how many went in the procession. The priest carried a cross on his back, so he must have believed. They erected the cross on the apparition site, then visited the Holy Calvary, probably, like most of those in New Castile, set up by a brotherhood.

Devotion to the Passion of Christ had existed in these towns before Juan de Rabe's vision. Again, as in the fifteenth-century visions, devotion to the Cross was ratified by instructions from Mary. Once more Mary appeared in diminutive form, very small indeed (chiquitina). As in all the visions from 1449 on, she was without the Christ-child. Her association was not with the baby Jesus, as in Romanesque and Gothic images, but with the crucified Jesus.

Again, as with the other Castilian visions, the doctrinal content was minimal, well in keeping with Rabe's professed ignorance about sin. Blasphemy by women as well as men was the only vice Mary mentioned. The apparition took place, as at El Torn, on a Saturday, and was accompanied, as at Pinós, by a thunderclap.

Rabe was believed without any sign, and there is no indication that there was even an epidemic at the time to lower the town's threshold of skepticism. His success, if one can call it that, did not appear to change his material circumstances. Two years later he was still a hired shepherd. It may, however, have gone to his head. For he denounced in public those who criticized him, and that kind of behavior was unwise when his neighbors could denounce him to the Inquisition.

Rabe did not say how the town of El Toboso, another large Manchego agro-town (800 households in 1575), reacted two years later to his vision of Saint Sebastian. But the vision of Juan de Rabe provides credible evidence that visions were expected and even looked for in epidemics. According to him, before his own vision, the Virgin in another vision had already ordered the people of El Toboso to build a chapel during a [158] previous epidemic (the great plague of 1507?). The new plague of 1516 was a punishment for their failure to fulfill her orders.

Such an explanation would not have sounded outlandish to the people of El Toboso. New Castilians in times of trouble were especially on the look-out for divine helpers; and it was normal for them to set up chapels with devotion on their side in exchange for protection on the saint's side. Unlike Catalonia there was little intromission of "higher" theology, in the nature of moral reform. Both regions, nevertheless, shared a basic explanation: the plague came because people did not fulfill their obligations to the divine, whether maintaining chapels, burning candles, or, in this case, building a promised chapel.

Again, as two years before, the saint was a miniature one, perhaps the size of the statue in a chapel to Saint Sebastian that existed in La Mota. Sebastian, of course, was the plague saint. It is interesting that Rabe's Sebastian himself introduced the relatively new devotion to Saint Roch, who would gradually come to replace Sebastian as the chief plague saint over the next two hundred years.

Were the rules changed on Rabe? Was something suddenly out of bounds that had previously been permitted? He must have been bewildered to find himself whipped through the streets for something that his home town and especially his home priest had sanctioned.

Just because they followed Mary's orders, however, does not mean that town or priest believed him. In circumstances in which going against a saint's orders could bring down the plague, it might have been safer to obey in any case. After the threat of plague had passed, some people examined his visions more critically.

Indeed, the woman who denounced Rabe had gone in the apparition procession; but later she seems to have felt he was an ominous fellow to live with. Rabe was a poor man who found himself with a strange power over his neighbors. He may have gone too far, but it may also be that the Inquisitors were more aware of visions as a problem in 1518 than they had been before the Lateran Council. Six years later in the next town to the northwest, the case of Francisca la Brava confirmed the hard line the Inquisition was taking against visionaries.

Francisca la Brava was born in Corral de Caracuel (20 km. southwest of Ciudad Real, 120 km. southwest of Quintanar) about 1498. Her father, Alonso, was a shepherd; she never knew her mother. Her father brought her to Quintanar as a child (she was there at age eleven, in 1509, if not before) and eventually moved on. In Quintanar she stayed, probably as a servant, in two households, and subsequently with her uncle until she finally married. By 1523, at age twenty-five, she had had several children, at least one of which, a son, had died.

In the eyes of the town mayors, she was one of the poor. Her husband was a wool-carder who left the house before sunrise to work and returned at night. Their house had at least two rooms--a bedroom and a kitchen. The kitchen had a door giving on the outside. There was no corral (yard).

Francisca was said to be bold, frivolous, and mocking. According to the priest, however, for the seven years he had known her she had faithfully attended mass and received communion every year. She knew the basic prayers: the Ave Maria, Pater Noster, the Credo (with a few words wrong), and the Salve Regina, and at night she prayed to God, Mary, the Santa Magestad (crucifixion), and Saint Bernard to deliver her from sins. Perhaps her prayer to Bernard was due to the influence of the Cistercian Order of Calatrava in the region where she was born. She fasted about half of the days of Lent and the eves of feasts, and a few of the fast days at the beginning of each season (temporas). The priest considered her a "good Christian" and did not know of any history of insanity or demonic possession. She was not considered especially devout by the other village women.

Quintanar may have had 300 households, or 1300 inhabitants at this time. The chapels of the town, in addition to the parish [160] church of Santiago, probably included Saint Sebastian, Saint Christopher, Saint Anne, and Saint Bartholomew. There were probably a number of brotherhoods, as in neighboring El Toboso.

seer: Francisco la Brava, wife of Pedro García de la Romera 
place: Quintanar de la Orden (Toledo)

1) Tuesday night, October 20, 1523, Francisca had trouble getting to sleep.
2) Wednesday night, October 21, Francisca had a vision of Mary, who gave her devotional instructions.
3) Thursday, October 22, Francisca confessed to the priest and told her neighbors.
4) Friday, October 23, Francisca had another vision, at daybreak, of a penitential Mary with angels. Francisca brought objects given to her by Mary to the priest; women came to visit the vision site; and the alcaldes took testimony from two town women and Francisca.
5) Sunday, October 25, Francisca had some kind of trance, fit, or vision outside her door.
6) November 21, 26, and 28, Francisca and other townspeople were questioned by the Inquisition of Cuenca in Belmonte.
7) November 28, Francisca was sentenced and whipped.

1. Investigation by town officials, October 23, 1523 

Witnesses:        María Fernándes
                        Juana Martínez 
                        Francisca la Brava

2. Investigation by the Inquisitor Mariana in Belmonte, November 21-28, 1523

Witnesses:    Francisca la Brava, Nov. 21
                     Pedro García de la Romera, Nov. 21
                    Alonso Ferndándes Gajardo, parish priest, Nov. 26
                    Alvaro de Cepeda, alcalde ordinario, Nov. 26
                    Hernand Muñoz de Horcajada, Nov. 26 
                    Francisca la Brava, Nov. 28 

Sentence, Nov. 28

INVESTIGATION BY TOWN OFFICIALS, OCTOBER 23, 1523
 

In the town of El Quintanar, October 23, 1523, the senores Alvaro de Cepeda and Hernand Muñoz de Horcajada, alcaldes ordinaries in the town, because they heard that Francisca la Brava, wife of Pedro García de la Romera, inhabitant of this town, said and was saying that Our Lady the Virgin Mary appeared to her, heard in their official capacity the following testimony.

María Fernándes

On this day the señores alcaldes received a legal oath from María Fernándes, wife of Juan Muños. When asked what she knows or heard from Francisca la Brava, wife of Pedro García de la Romera, the witness said that yesterday, Thursday, at the sweet water well, she ran into the wife of Pedro Garrydo, who said they should go into Juana Martinez's house to see Francisca la Brava and ask her to tell them how she had seen Our Lady. And this witness said, "[?] Our Lady!" and was surprised. And not really believing it or planning to ask her anything, she went into Juana Martínez's house to see if she could use her oven for baking. There she saw Francisca la Brava.

When Juana Martínez saw this witness, she said, "Come on in, wife of Juan Muños, and coax Francisca la Brava to tell you how she saw Our Lady." And when the witness heard this she was so happy that tears fell from her eyes. And then she thought about it and was surprised, saying to herself, "May Our Lady bless me, how is it that in this town there are so many devout people who do nothing but [162] pray, especially the wife of Pedro Ortyz and the wife of Villoslada, and She does not appear to them, yet She appears to this woman?" And with this in mind she said to Francisca la Brava, "Blessed are you if that is what you saw."

And then Francisca la Brava said to her, "It is true that I saw Her, and it happened in this way;" she got out of bed to urinate, and as it was at night and dark she could not find the door, and so she said, "Help me Our Lady" and "Why can't I find this door? " And that Our Lady replied saying, "She is helping you," and "I am Our Lady who sustains you on the face of the earth." And that She put Her arm on Francisca la Brava's neck, and as she was naked, Our Lady put the skirt of Her dress over Francisca la Brava's belly and said, "Do not fear, daughter."

And Francisca la Brava said to her, "Protect me, Our Lady, if it is a devil who has come to deceive me," and She repeated, "Do not fear, for I am Our Lady." And Francisca also told her that She had returned last night, toward morning, and that Francisca said to Her, "Mother of God, they will not believe that it is you, even though I say I have seen you." And Our Lady told her, "Then take this candle and a piece of silk and a magnet." And Francisca la Brava said she had seen all this, and all this had happened. And it is true by the oath this witness took that she heard Francisca la Brava say all this.

[signed] Alvaro de Cepeda, alcalde

Juana Martinez

On the same day, the señores alcaldes received a legal oath from Juana Martínez, wife of Francisco Sanchez Palomares, who was asked under oath what she knew about the present matter. She said that yesterday morning Francisca came to the witness's house, said she was on her way to mass, and asked for a stub of candle. The witness asked her why, and she said she wanted to confess. Francisca went to mass and on her way back she came to this witness's house. As soon as this witness saw her she said, "What's wrong, Francisca, what do you have to confess?"

[163] Frandsca told her, "I did not tell you this morning, but I will tell you now," and said that when she was in bed with her husband on Wednesday night she awoke wanting to urinate and got up and tried to open the door to see what kind of a night it was. But because the house was very dark she could not find the door and said, "Help me Our Lady," and that a voice responded, "She is helping you." As soon as Francisca heard these words she thought of calling her husband, but She who had said to her, "She is helping you," said, "Hush, do not wake him up. Do not fear for I am Our Lady who has come to visit you. Remember the day you punished your child and told him, 'Help me Our Lady,' and 'What is this, can't you be still?' " Francisca was very frightened when she heard this and said, "Blessed am I if it is true that Our Lady has come to see me." And She spoke again, saying, "Then do not fear, for I am Our Lady." Francisca said, "What if it is a devil who has come to deceive me?" And She replied that She really was Our Lady, and told her to have three masses said for her dead, to collect alms three Sundays for Our Lady of the Piedad and another three for Our Lady of Guadalupe, and to have seven masses said to the Exile of Our Lady. And She also said that She would return Thursday night. And Francisca told her today, Friday, that She had come last night when it was already daylight and gave her a wax candle and a magnet to show so they would believe her. On her oath this witness heard Francisca la Brava say everything above.

[signed] Alvaro de Cepeda, alcalde

Francisca la Brava 

Confession

On this same day the señores alcaldes went to the house of Pedro García de la Romera, where they found Francisca la Brava his wife, and received her oath according to law. Under this oath the señores alcaldes ordered and asked her if it is true that she said and made known that she had seen Our Lady last Wednesday and Thursday nights.

[164] She said on her oath that it is true she saw Our Lady, and she told and made it known to many inhabitants of this town. And that it was certainly Our Lady she saw, because if it were something else it would not have come as it did. And that what she saw happened in the following way. Last Tuesday night, the twentieth of October, when they were by the hearth, her husband Pedro García wanted to go to bed. She did not want to retire so soon, but her husband said, "Let's go to bed because I have to get up early to work carding wool," and he went to bed first. She too went to bed, but could not sleep the whole night because a sorrow came to her heart, although in her face and body she did not feel bad, but rather healthy. Sleepless from the sorrow in her heart, she prayed to Our Lady the Virgin Mary to guide her in what was best for the salvation of her soul to a completely sound mind, and shortly after this she fell asleep.

The next night, Wednesday, she went to bed without thinking about what had happened, and the same sorrow and pain came to her as the night before. She asked Our Lady, since she was so sad without knowing why, to guide her and tell her what was the cause of the great sorrow she felt in her heart, and when she was praying she fell asleep.

She said she awoke around midnight next to her husband and got up without knowing if she was in control of her senses to urinate, completely naked except for a coif on her head. And it was like she was in a trance, and she did not know or think that she was in this world, but rather the other. She tried to reach the door of her kitchen to open it, but she was so befuddled she could not find it. When she got to the door she was finally in her right mind, and as she was opening it she said, "Help me Our Lady, either I am not in control of my mind, or I am batty." When she had said these words Our Lady replied, "She is helping you." And she said once more, "Help me Our Lady." And Our Lady said once more, "She is helping you." And this witness when she heard this she said, "Help me Our Lady, get back Satan, you are a devil come [165] to deceive me." And that She said, "I am she who will protect you on the face of the earth, you and every Christian."

At this point the witness went to call her husband and said, "Pe . . ."to call him, but could not finish saying it. And Our Lady told her, "Daughter do not worry; do not frighten your husband." And She came to the witness and put Her cape over her belly because she was naked, then told her to go and confess and receive communion before telling anyone else. And she was to have three masses said, one for her mother, another for her father-in-law, and another for her mother-in-law. And She said they should hold a procession to a cross chosen by the Captain of the Sinners and the town authorities, and they should announce in town that everyone had to go, and those who did not go should be arrested so they would take seriously the procession in progress. After the procession they should go to Our Lady of the Piedad and say mass there, and everyone commend himself to Her. Everything said above was what Francisca experienced Wednesday night.

She also said that today, Friday, a little before dawn when she was in bed alone, she felt the same sorrow as before. And she prayed to Our Lady to reveal the source of the sorrow and guide her to her senses, and she got up and signed and crossed herself and opened the kitchen door. When she opened it she saw Our Lady by the door with a great company of angels. And she was so joyful and pleased to see so many angels with so many lighted candles that she fell to the ground in awe. And Our Lady told her that for more than thirty days She had wandered outside of Her blessed house praying to Her precious son to send us health for our bodies and salvation for our souls. And then Francisca said, "O mother my mother, they will not believe me." Then She gave Francisca a candle wrapped in a cloth and a magnet, all of which she gave to the priest of the town. Then She disappeared.

This witness went at once to one of her neighbors, the wife of Fernando Ximeno, and called, "Friend, come out [166] here." She replied, "Come on in." And she repeated, "Come out here at once, I do not want to come in." And the neighbor came out to her. This witness saw Our Lady again and pointed to Her, saying, "Look at Her there!" "I can't see her." Her neighbor could not see Her, but her neighbor's small son did. And Our Lady disappeared and went away. She said that all this is what truly happened and what she saw and is true by the oath she took.

[signed] Alvaro de Cepeda, alcalde

Francisca la Brava, First Interrogation

In the city of Belmonte, November 21, 1523, before the Reverend señor Licenciado Mariana, Inquisitor, and in presence of me, Pedro de Uranga, notary, appeared Francisca la Brava, wife of Pedro Garcia de la Romera, inhabitant of El Quintanar, who was cited and called by order of his Reverence. When his Reverence appeared he received from her an oath in the prescribed legal manner on the sign of the cross and the holy gospels, under which she promised to tell the truth. His Reverence had me read the confession she made before the alcaldes of El Quintanar in which she said that Our Lady had appeared to her. And when the confession as given above was read to her word for word, Francisca said it was true as she had declared it and as it was read, and that she confirmed and ratified it, and that nothing else happened, by the oath that she took.

When asked, she said her father was named Alonso Bravo, but she does not know whether he is alive or dead, she does not know her mother's name because she never knew her, her father when he lived in El Quintanar was a shepherd, and she is a pure-blooded Old Christian. She said she was born in El Corral de Caracuel, and has lived since she was very young in El Quintanar, where she still lives. She lived with Alonso López de Horcajada and then with Anton de la Mota for a year, and afterwards was with Pedro Bravo her uncle, until she was betrothed and wedded to her husband. She is twenty-five years old.

[167] She was asked if this Lent she confessed and received communion, and with whom. She said yes, that the parish priest of El Quintanar, Gallardo [sic], received her confession and gave her communion.

She was asked if she regularly hears mass on Sundays and Holy days. She said yes, except for some times when she does not go because of her children or bad weather.

She was asked about Christian doctrine. She said the Ave Maria and the Pater Noster and the Credo, in which she got a few words wrong, and the Salve Regina, and she signed and crossed herself. She did not know the Anima Christo or any other prayers, except that when she goes to bed she says the following prayer: "I pray to God the Father and to Saint Mary Mother and to the Holy Majesty (Santa Magestad) and to the flower [?] that is in it and to Saint Bernard, who is buried in Rome, to free and protect me from all sins made in compact and yet to be compacted, that I not be accused in life or deceived in death. I commend myself to that most sacred Virgin and blessed Mother of God." She knows no other devotions, and fasts half of Lent and the eves of feasts and some of the temporas.

She was asked at what time of day or night Our Lady appeared to her, and in what form, on the first occasion. She said that She appeared to her for the first time four weeks ago on a Wednesday about midnight after the roosters had crowed. And She appeared to her as a woman covered with a white mantle and white coifs, and she did not see the skirts She was wearing.

She was asked what size and what color She was, and if when She spoke She was standing or seated, and who accompanied Her. She said Our Lady was small and had a dark complexion, and when She spoke to her She was standing, and that the first time She was unaccompanied, and that as soon as She spoke there was a great brightness and splendour.

She was asked what She who she calls Our Lady said, and what she replied, and if she was frightened, and that she declare everything that happened. She said Our Lady [168] said what she reported in her confession to the alcaldes. And that at first she was afraid.

She was asked if when she went back to bed she woke up her husband and told him what happened, or whom she told first. She said she did not wake up her husband or tell him, and the first person she told was the priest when she confessed.

She was asked when she told the priest. She said she told him Thursday, the next day, when she confessed and received communion and told him that the previous night she had seen Our Lady.

She was asked if at the time she says Our Lady appeared to her there was any noise or it was dark or light, and if she was asleep or half-asleep. She said that she heard no noise, that it was bright as day, that she was awake not asleep, and that her house has no yard.

She was asked if previously she used to get up in the night to urinate or do anything else. She said not unless she is pregnant.

She was asked if when she got up in the night when she was pregnant she left her bedroom to urinate. She said no, because in the room she has a pot to urinate in, and that night after she urinated she went out and opened the door and stood in the doorway to see what the weather was like.

She was asked if she went out in the street and if She who she says was Our Lady entered her house and room and embraced her or kissed her or knocked her to the floor or whatever. She said she did not go out in the street, just to the threshold, and Our Lady came up to her at the threshold but did not go inside. And She put her arm on her neck, and knocked off her coif, but that She did not knock her to the floor. And She told her to confess and receive communion and have three masses said. And that they should hold the procession she has told about already and say the mass after the procession, as she declared in her confession.

She was asked how long they were together. She said they were together for a very short time, less than an [169] hour, she cannot say exactly except that it was a short time, and this witness did not speak.

She was asked what She who she calls Our Lady said or did as She left. She said that after all she declared in her confession took place, She disappeared. She told her husband nothing of this because Our Lady did not let her tell anyone, but rather sent her to confess and receive communion.

She was asked what was the size and stature of She whom she calls Our Lady, and if She came barelegged or what stockings and clothes She wore. She said Our Lady appeared in the size of a four year old, and that She wore a cape white as paper and white coifs. She did not see what clothes Our Lady wore or if She wore stockings or came barelegged, nor did she see a crown, just Her white coifs. She did not have time to notice.

She was asked if She smelled good or what scent She bore with Her, and if the brightness she mentioned could have come from the moon. She said that she did not have occasion to smell Her scents, and the brightness was not the moon, but rather She brought it with Her. She does not know what the coifs were made of, just that they were white.

She was asked if when these alleged events took place she was asleep, or in a trance, or half-asleep, or awake and in control of herself and her judgment. She said she was awake and as in control of herself and her judgment as she is now, not asleep, dozing, or in a trance; she well recalls everything she has talked about. The second time Our Lady appeared to her, as mentioned in her confession, was near dawn on Friday and She was surrounded by angels.

Asked how Our Lady appeared to her then, and what clothes and other things she wore, she said that she has already answered this in her confession, and that she says the same now. And She asked her if she had ordered the things done that She had said. This confessant replied that she had, but that they did not believe her. And when Our Lady was leaving, this confessant said, "Ay, my mother, [170] they will not believe me," and then Our Lady gave her a candle and a magnet wrapped in an embroidered cloth, and told her, "This is so they will believe you." And then She disappeared and never appeared again. And later this confessant gave the candle and magnet to the priest, and the priest took it and put it in his breast.

She was asked what the angels were like that she says came with Our Lady--if they were big or small, what clothes they wore, if they carried musical instruments, candles, or torches, and if they wore wings. And if they were on the ground and walked or in the air, if they were singing, what clothes they wore, and if they spoke at all. She said she did not notice what they were like, except that they accompanied Our Lady when she went up into heaven. They were small, and she did not see if they wore clothes or stockings, but they did not wear wings or carry instruments or candles, nor did they sing. She only saw them when Our Lady went up into heaven, and she cannot declare anything else about them. This second time her husband was not in the house, for he had already gone to work.

At which I the aforementioned notary was present.

Inquisition. Pedro García de la Romera

In Belmonte November 21, 1523, before the Reverend senor Licenciado Mariana, Inquisitor.

Pedro García de la Romera, carder in the town of El Quintanar, was sworn in and questioned. He said it is true that he is the husband of Francisca la Brava, and that he is married and veiled with her according to law and benediction.

He was asked if he knows that his wife said that Our Lady appeared to her and how and in what way and how many times and where, and that he declare everything about this he has seen and heard said.

He said that little more than a month ago, on a Thursday or Friday before dawn, when he was dressing to go to [171] work at his trade and Francisca his wife was in bed, she began speaking, "You have had much good in your house, Pedro García." And he asked her why. She told him she had gotten up that night and gone to the door to urinate, and as she opened the door she said, "Help me Our Lady." And Our Lady had responded, "This one is helping you." And she told him she was naked and Our Lady had covered her with Her mantle, and that she did not know whether or not she was in control of her senses. And this witness told her not to tell anything about these things, and went off to work. This was the first time that his wife said Our Lady appeared to her.

On a later day in the evening, his wife told the witness that Our Lady had appeared to her once more. When Our Lady was leaving his wife had complained that she would not be believed, and Our Lady had given her a candle and a stone. She had seen Our Lady come as white as a dove, Her knees running with blood, and that She had not entered Her house for many days, praying to Our Lord for sinners. Our Lady had ordered her to say three masses and that processions should be held. And with Our Lady came many angels, all dressed in white. His wife also said that as she was going out the door, Our Lady had put Her arm on her neck, and that she had kissed Our Lady's hand. And this witness told her not to say anything about it.

He also said that in that period Andrés Fernándes, labrador, inhabitant of El Quintanar, came to this witness and told him to punish his wife, because [he or she] could get into trouble, as she was going around saying that Our Lady had appeared to her with drums and trumpets. Juan Pintado, inhabitant of El Quintanar, said the same thing to him.

He also said his wife Francisca told him Our Lady when She appeared had said she should ask for offerings with the basin in church seven Sundays for Our Lady of Guadalupe. And that on the first night his wife told him about, he did not hear her get out of bed or get back in.

Inquisition. Alonso Fernándes Gajardo, priest 

Belmonte, November 26

Alonso Fernándes Gajardo, parish priest of the town of El Quintanar, a sworn witness, was asked if he knows Francisca la Brava, wife of Pedro García de la Romera, inhabitant of El Quintanar, and that he declare what he knows about what Francisca said about Our Lady appearing to her.

He said that he has known Francisca la Brava for six or seven years by sight, speech, and conversation. What he knows about this matter is that about a month ago, more or less, Francisca came to his house when he was praying and told him that she was lucky or blessed that Our Lady should appear to a sinful woman like her. And this witness said to her, "Didn't I tell you yesterday that you should shut your mouth and not repeat these things, for it is probably the devil trying to deceive you?" And then Francisca said to this witness, "Well, Señor, Our Lady really did appear to me; look at what she gave me." And she showed and gave him a little candle and a piece of black stone wrapped in a small cloth which had been embroidered a little. [The priest] then gave these things to his Reverence. When the witness took them from Francisca he again reprimanded her and told her to repeat nothing of this, for it was probably the devil deceiving her. And so she went away.

And three or four days later on a Sunday morning, Pedro García, husband of Francisca, came to this witness's house and said to him, "Señor, for the love of God go to my house, for my wife has gone out and is seated in the doorway with her hands locked together and will not speak, and we cannot get her to go back inside."

So this witness got out of bed and went there and had Francisca put back in the house and unlocked her hands; and all this time she did not speak. And he gave her many examples from the holy scripture telling her what appeared to her must have been the devil, and when he was leaving [173] he told her to commend herself to Our Lady and She would help her. And Francisca replied, "She does help me, and to Her I commend myself." And so this witness left. There were several women present. Since then he has not spoken to her. He has heard many things that they say Francisca has said, but this witness knows nothing else.

He was asked if Francisca is a full-blooded Old Christian. He said that as far as he knows and has heard, she is.

He was asked if Francisca goes to mass every Sunday and the obligatory feasts and other days, confesses and receives communion when the Church ordains, does the other things a good Christian should, and has a good reputation for them. He said that he regularly sees her go many Sundays and other days to mass, and he has confessed her every year for the past seven years without fail, and she is regarded as a good Christian and has a good reputation for it.

He was asked if he knows that Francisca is sane, and if she has ever been possessed by the devil or under suspicion of it. He said that as far as he knows Francisca is sane and has not been possessed by the devil.

He was asked if he believed that Our Lady appeared to Francisca. He said no, on the contrary, that he reproved her for what she said because he thought of it as frivolousness (liviandad).

He was asked if he knows or has heard why Francisca made it known that Our Lady appeared to her. He said he does not know, but he has wondered if she dreamed it, or whether the devil deceived her.

He was asked why if, as he says, he considered it frivolousness, did he not come and denounce it to his Reverence, since the examination of this pertains to the jurisdiction of this Holy Office, for as parish priest he had a special obligation. He said that he well sees that he was obliged to denounce it, but since he was and is sick he put off coming to say it.

He was asked if before all this occurred he heard the Letter of Edict read in the church of El Quintanar, or knew [174] it was read. He said that he heard the letter read with all of its censures from beginning to end.

He was told that since he knew that this matter pertained to the jurisdiction of this Holy Office and he heard the Letter of Edict, why did he not denounce it or send notice of it by one means or another, especially since he was the parish priest and pastor of the town. He said he wrote his Reverence telling him about this matter and gave the letter to the parish priest of El Toboso to deliver.

He was asked if it was well-known in the town of El Quintanar and the surrounding area that Francisca had said and made public that Our Lady appeared to her. He said yes, for it was known in the entire town and the surrounding area.

Inquisition. Alvaro de Cepeda, alcalde

In Belmonte, November 26, 1523, before the señor Licenciado Mariana, Inquisitor, appeared Alvaro de Cepeda, alcalde and inhabitant of El Quintanar, who was called by a summons, from whom his Reverence received an oath in the proper form. He asked him under oath if he knew Francisca la Brava, inhabitant of El Quintanar, and for how long. He said he has known her by sight and conversation for the past twelve years.

He was asked to declare what he knows and has heard about what Francisca has said or made public about Our Lady appearing to her. He said that as alcalde of the town of El Quintanar he received testimony about it and Francisca's confession, all of which was ordered brought before his Reverence. This witness refers to it because he does not know anything else. And he said he heard that many women kissed and embraced Francisca la Brava and carried off pebbles and dirt from her house from where she said Our Lady sat down. This witness saw some women go to her house and heard that many others from the town of El Quintanar and other towns including El Toboso had gone and were still going to hear Francisca tell how Our Lady appeared to her and the rest of her story. He said this is well known in the town and the district.

[175] He was asked if he knows or has heard what moved Francisca to recount and spread the above story. He said he does not know what moved her, and this witness considers it frivolousness and falseness and a lie that Our Lady appeared to her. He believes that if anything appeared to her it was the devil.

He was asked if he knows whether Francisca is an Old Christian, and if she is known as a good Christian in her conduct. He said he knows on her father's side that she is an Old Christian, and on her mother's side he does not know, nor does he know about the confessant. He has heard it said that she well knows how to use obscenities [or artful insults--bien sabe echar pullas].

He was asked why, since he held what Francisca made public to be falseness and a lie, and he sees that it was to the detriment of our holy Catholic faith and the diminution of its authority, and the examination of it pertained to the jurisdiction of this Holy Office, did he not, as alcalde, denounce it and remit it to his Reverence. He said that it is true that this witness and his colleague, as alcaldes of El Quintanar, seeing that the aforesaid was public knowledge, received testimony about it, as he mentioned. And they sent it to Licenciado Lillo of Ocaña for his opinion. The licenciado replied that they should not follow up on the matter, but simply intimidate Francisca into not saying anything about it. He did not give this opinion in writing, but rather verbally by way of the procurator of this confessant, Pedro de Billanueva, with whom they had sent the testimony. If he had sent them word that it was something that pertained to this Holy Office, this witness would have denounced it and forwarded it to this Holy Office. If by inadvertence or neglect he has fallen into any excommunication or penalty he asks for mercy and absolution.

Inquisition. Hernand Muñoz de Horcajada

In the same city on the same day Hernand Muñoz de Horcajada, alcalde of El Quintanar, appeared before the senor Inquisitor. When he had sworn in in the prescribed manner and was asked about the above matter, he said that [176] he does not know anything more about Francisca la Brava than what is contained in the testimony that this witness and Cepeda, as alcaldes of El Quintanar, received about it. Except that he has heard many women went to the house of Francisca to hear her tell how Our Lady appeared to her and that they kissed her mouth, eyes, and ears, and that they carried from her house stones and dirt from the place where they said Our Lady had appeared. This witness thought badly of what they said Francisca said, because he thought it was a trick (burla) and not certain or true.

This witness has known Francisca by sight, speech, and conversation for the last fourteen years, and he considers her an Old Christian and a woman sane, not crazy, although a little loose-mannered, frivolous, mocking, and irreverent. He does not know what moved her to say the above. And she is poor.

He was asked why, since he considered the above matter a falsehood, did he not send it on to his Reverence, since he saw that the knowledge of it pertains to this Holy Office. He said that they sent the testimony to a lawyer, who sent them word not to worry about it, but just to tell the woman not to say anything more about it. And had he told them to remit it to the Holy Office they would have. If by neglect he incurred any penalty or sentence of excommunication he asks for penance and absolution.

Inquisition. Francisca la Brava, Second Interrogation

In the town of Belmonte, November 28, 1523, the Reverend señor Licenciado Mariana, Inquisitor, in the presence of me, the notary, ordered Francisca la Brava to appear before him. When she appeared, his Reverence asked her under oath if after she made it known that Our Lady appeared to her many people gathered at her house and kissed her eyes and mouth and other parts of her body, saying, "Blessed be the eyes that have seen Our Lady." And if they carried off stones and dirt from the place this witness said Our Lady had appeared.

She said many women came to her house one day, [177] which was Friday, five weeks from yesterday, and that Miguel Tgrado [?] also came. And the wife of Juan de Billanueba put her face up to this confessant's face and said, "Blessed be the face that has seen such a thing." No one else kissed her. It is true that the women carried off pieces of the stone on which this confessant said Our Lady appeared to her, which was next to the doorway of her house. They also brought a child of Alonso de Yepes who had an intermittent fever (çiçiones) and had him kiss the rock, and later he was cured. This confessant said she saw a son of hers who had died, now an angel, among the angels that came with Our Lady.

She was asked if when she first gave notice of this to Alonso Fernándes Gajardo, parish priest of El Quintanar, he ordered her to keep quiet and tell no one anything about it, because it was a matter of frivolousness and trickery. She said it is true that the priest told her to keep quiet and say nothing; that if it was Our Lady that he would pray that She return to her. This was the first time. After this she told several people about it, but before she confessed with the priest she told no one.

The candle and the stone and the slightly embroidered cloth that she says Our Lady gave to her were shown to her to identify. She said it is true that Our Lady gave her the candle, stone, and cloth, and she identified them as the same that were shown to her.

She was asked why, since her assertion that Our Lady appeared to her is a notorious falsehood, has she said, made public, and affirmed this and the other things in her confession. She said that what she has said is true, and she will always hold in her heart that She who appeared was Our Lady.

She was read word for word the entire deposition that her husband, Pedro García made on the twenty-first of this month before his Reverence, and she was asked if what he said was true. She said everything her husband said was true; that she told him, and that she told it to him as he says.

[178] She was asked why, since she said she did not know whether or not Our Lady was wearing stockings, her husband said She had blood running from Her knees, and why she wanted to perjure herself. She said the first time she saw Our Lady she does not know if She came with or without stockings. And that the second time she did see blood running from Her knees and Her face, and it was then She told her that for over thirty days She had not entered Her house, praying to Our Lord for the health of our bodies and the salvation of our souls.

All of her confessions were read to her again, word for word, and the variations and contradictions were pointed out to her, how in many things she contradicts and perjures herself. Therefore his Reverence said that he admonished her in the name of God Our Lord and his blessed Mother Our Lady the Virgin Mary that she tell the truth and not perjure herself or condemn her soul, and that she declare what moved her to make known that Our Lady appeared to her, since it was patently a lie. Were she to do this and tell the truth, he would have mercy on her. And if she did not, he would order that justice be done to her, and she would be punished according to the law. She said that she says what she said before.

And then his Reverence ordered Pedro Garcia de la Romera to appear before him together with his wife, and he asked them whether she wishes to conclude her confessions so that this matter can be settled, or whether they want to continue with his justice; that it is up to them. Then Francisca la Brava with the counsel and opinion of her husband said that she was done with her confessions and does not want to say anything more, for they do not want a trial.

At which I was present, Pedro Uranga, notary.

Inquisition. Sentence

We the Inquisitors of the Diocese of Cuenca have officially examined the present investigation and the confessions of Francisca la Brava and the testimony of witnesses against her. It is evident from everything that Francisca is much at fault for having seriously offended against our holy Catholic faith by publicly affirming that Our Lady appeared to her twice, in the manner and form that she states in her confessions, when it is all trickery and falsehood as is obvious from what she said in her confessions and the earlier investigation. In addition she has clearly perjured herself in many of these matters. By rights we could have treated her more rigorously, for the above matter was very public and scandalous for the Christian faithful, since she attracted them and induced them to believe in what she said and made known, when it was all vanity and frivolity. But in deference to certain just reasons that move us to mitigate the rigor of the sentence we decree as a punishment to Francisca la Brava and an example to others not to attempt similar things that we condemn her to be put on an ass and given one hundred lashes in public through the accustomed streets of Belmonte naked from the waist up, and the same number in the town of El Quintanar in the same manner. And that from now on she not say or affirm in public or secretly by word or insinuation the things she said in her confessions or else she will be prosecuted as an impenitent and one who does not believe in or agree with what is in our holy Catholic faith. And thus we pronounce and order it by our sentence and our signatures.

I, Licenciado [illegible]

Execution

On the same day I the notary at once notified Francisca la Brava of the sentence in person, and it was executed on her as to the first set of lashes. The witnesses were those above and I the aforementioned notary.

The denunciation of Francisca, six years later, was not based on a grudge. Rather it came in spite of an unsuccessful series of efforts on the part of her husband, the priest, the village authorities, her husband's friends, and outside consultants to avoid denunciation to the Inquisition. For by 1523, with the clear precedent of Juan de Rabe from the next town, the men were well aware of the danger Francisca faced. They all knew one thing; it did not matter what she saw as long as she did not make it public. She should simply be quiet.

What were her options ? Francisca had a sorrow in her heart that did not allow her to sleep. One is reminded of the nocturnal premonitions of the seer of Jaén in 1430. Could her unease have anything to do with a dead son, the one who appeared with the angels? In the first vision Francisca was worried Mary might really be the devil. Mary's proof was that she remembered something that might have been bothering Francisca--her punishment of her son, and her invocation of Mary. For the incident to be significant to Francisca, it must have been serious, not just one of the many times she must have been angry at him. Perhaps it was when he was sick or injured, crying for a serious reason, perhaps before he died.

From what her husband said, she was not sure when she awoke whether it had all been a dream or not. She must have convinced herself it was true, however, for she went to confess. She did not fully convince the priest it had not been the devil. His attitude was standard, common today among priests. He warned her to keep quiet, but he left open the possibility the vision was true. He needed proof. So there was a prototypical return vision, one in which proof was delivered. Unfortunately the proof, objects not particularly difficult to obtain, convinced no one.

Francisca could not or would not keep the secret. Women friends and neighbors, not knowing whether to believe her or not, gathered in a neighbor's house. Some would testify in the investigation.

In his testimony to the Inquisition, the priest reported a final [181] trance on Sunday, two days after the mayors drew up their report. Francisca would not speak or enter her house, and her hands were locked together. Was this a hysterical reaction to the authorities' disbelief? Or was it rather a last attempt, a resort to the traditional proofs of body contortions--hands together (like Inés's joined fingers at Cubas) and mouth closed (as with Joana at Escalona). If these were attempted proofs they too failed, for the priest was able to open her hands and get her to talk. The traditional patterns are as clear, perhaps more clear, in these failed visions, than in "successful" visions.

Only one of the village men mentioned in the testimony believed Francisca. Can we trust the mayors when they describe their disbelief to the Inquisitors? Is it not possible that theirs was the kind of investigation that might end up as a founding document for a shrine or devotion, depending on what the experts would say? Apparently not. For on the original document the word "confession" was written in the margin by Francisca's name. Furthermore, the kind of misgivings expressed by the first witness, María Fernándes--the internal reservations she described as she cautiously congratulated Francisca, seem to be those of someone who knows she speaks to skeptics.
 
Women, on the whole, did seem to believe. Many gathered at Francisca's house, making it a kind of pilgrimage site. Some came from El Toboso, the town where Juan de Rabe went seven years before when he had a vision of Saint Sebastian. ⁽¹⁰⁾ Why did the women believe when the men did not? It was not simply that women were more likely to believe another woman. Also important was doubtless the woman's informal role as the devotional representative of the household. Day to day religion was (and in Spain still is) woman's business--seeking out sources of divine power, getting that dirt and those chips of stone, taking the boy to kiss the rock, just in case. Total belief was not necessary. Probably the women would have gone even if there was only a slight chance that it was true. For it would be a slight chance of a very important event, the visit of the Mother of God to El Quintanar with precise devotional instructions not only for Francisca, but also for the whole town.

These instructions came from a Mary whose face and knees [182] were streaming with blood, who was exhausted from over thirty days of praying outdoors, like a weary pilgrim passing through the town on the way to Our Lady of Guadalupe, doing penance on her knees. Surely she must have looked to Francisca like the image of Our Lady of Piedad that is today and was probably then the most respected image in Quintanar. Our Lady of Piedad was one of the shrines Francisca was to beg for, and the final destination of the penitential procession.

Our Lady said she was praying for the health of bodies and the salvation of souls. That kind of intercession was what was keeping places such as Quintanar from the epidemics not only of plague but also of other diseases that periodically ravaged the area. In 1544 the next village to the west, La Puebla de Almoradiel, would be ravaged by a disease that would strike about half of its population and kill 200 children and 50 adults. It had also been hit by the great plague of 1507, as in all probability had all of these towns. Another epidemic occurred in 1516. Even the small possibility of help, therefore, could not be ignored.

In the second vision, Francisca found out about her dead son. He was an angel. She could not say the same for her mother, whom she never knew, or the parents of her husband. They were all evidently in purgatory, for she was told to have a mass said for each. As the family representative to the divine, she was responsible for her husband's, as well as her own, dead.

Seeing Mary, Francisca was also seeing her mother. "Madre mia madre," she cried out when she finally believed. It must have meant more than just a symbolic motherhood for this young woman who had never known her own mother to have Mary call her "daughter."
 

Was Francisca's evident preoccupation with her dead son connected with the apparition of the Mother saint as a child of four? She had Mary appear as a child, but she also had Mary put her arm on her neck. Mary was both tall and short, mother and child, the kind of paradox dreams are filled with. Ease in imagining children as angels or saints may facilitate a reverse transformation, the imagination of saints as children.

Not surprisingly, Francisca saw things others had also seen. One of the models for her story was probably the Descent of [183] the Virgin to Saint Ildefonsus in Toledo. The piece of cloth Francisca received could be a vestigial equivalent of the chasuble given to Ildefonsus. As at Toledo, a stone was consecrated by the Virgin's presence. Mary as a child, or at least child-sized, praying for humanity was reminiscent of the vision of El Torn. At both places the Virgin mentioned obligations to the dead, a theme taken up again a century later at Sant Aniol. This vision contained, like that of Cubas, a reference to Guadalupe, destined to remain the dominant shrine of the region until the nineteenth century. As in almost all of these visions of Mary there was a reference to the Cross--here as a destination for the procession. Francisca may not have been believed, but her vision was the same kind of recombination of legendary elements and innovations as the previous visions and the shrine myths.

"Our Lady" (as she called herself) did not enter Francisca's kitchen. This was a point to which both Francisca and the Inquisitor paid particular attention. The visions studied above all took place in the public sphere; Mary never crossed the door sill. She belonged to everybody, not one person, and the places she went belonged to everyone. Another significant feature of this unbelieved vision may be that it happened in a town. Most of the other episodes of visions occurred in the countryside. Nevertheless, like all good visions, this one had a link with a tangible natural object like a spring or a tree. Here it was a rock on which Mary sat, from which the village women took chips.

Whether the seer was Francisca or her husband, or even her daughter, or whether it took place inside, outside, in town, or in the countryside, it was probably doomed. Visions themselves were no longer respectable; and with the Inquisition periodically soliciting denunciations, it may have been seen as suspicious even to believe in a new one, much less have one.

The criteria used to examine the truth of this apparition were applied far more rigorously than before. Ines Martinez at Cubas contradicted herself on details just as many times as Francisca la Brava. On the whole Francisca stuck to her story well, and one rather thinks that she herself believed it. Like Juan de Rabe down the road, she was reenacting an age-old scenario, fulfilling [184] a role for her town by serving as its connection to the saints. Juan de Rabe was accepted, then retroactively rejected. Francisca was a little late, a participant in a divine drama from which a most essential character, the chorus, had largely been alienated.

That it was not enlightenment, rationalism, or high religion that produced this alienation is clear from the degree to which other, non-apparitional but miraculous signs continued to be seen and believed in this very district. In 1575 in nearby Socuéllamos, a sexton was believed when he concocted a story of a transient having stolen and whipped a crucifix and the crucifix bleeding. In 1644 the entire town of Osa de la Vega saw a painting of the Veronica sweat during Holy Week. ⁽¹¹⁾

While some of the alienation of the visionary audience may have been due to a fear of the Inquisition, the immediate and negative investigation by the town mayors of Francisca la Brava indicates that this was only part of the story. In the early sixteenth century, the cultural form of public, lay visions itself may have worn out. This particular way of connecting with God was no longer believable enough. The itinerant prophets, dressed in sackcloth, who circulated in central Italy with predictions of woe and calls to repentance were welcomed as holy men in the 1470s and 1480s yet laughed out of town by the 1530s. ⁽¹²⁾ By the same token, had there been too many visions in Spain? The less exceptional visions became, the more suspicions they would arouse. Perhaps by 1523 the Inquisition was ratifying and enforcing a point of view that was more general in the society.

As the century progressed, the need to regulate lay initiatives in religious matters became more and more evident. In 1525 the Illuminist heresy was defined, and the first nuclei identified and destroyed. Although the Illuminists by their opposition to external devotion had little in common with our seers of saints and founders of shrines, they too believed in direct contact with the sacred unmediated by the church. Protestant doctrines raised some of the same issues. Throughout the century, bishops asserted and parish priests exercised more and more control over religious institutions. The legislation of Trent confirmed prior Spanish reforms in matters of brotherhoods, hermits, miracles, [185] and vigils. In the first years of the century, apparitions and independent revelations were some of the first of these matters to be affected. Village visions, orthodox and innocuous as most of them were, were almost incidental victims of a general climate of closure.

Although this form of knowing the divine will in time of trouble went into eclipse, others survived, including a species of visionary or prophetic monastic. At Quintanar de la Orden many women did believe Francisca; it was the men running the town who did not. A constituency for visionaries remained, but not among the people who decided what was officially acceptable. That may be why subsequent kinds of seers who were tolerated were those (particularly women) whose visions and revelations spoke largely to women as individuals, without encroaching on matters relating to town government or the town as a parish.

Amateur or professional religious women, beatas or nuns, from time to time over the next 300 years were consulted by individuals, especially other women, sometimes even by bishops and kings, on such varied matters as one's personal state of grace, whether one will have children, the appropriateness of a prospective spouse, and the destination of particular souls after death. Some, like Magdalena de la Cruz of Córdoba (1487-1560), María de la Visitatión of Lisbon (fl. 1588), Luisa of Carrión (fl. 1635), and María of Agreda (1602-1665) became quite well known and influential. Others attained a more discreet and local fame. Most of these women had visions in trances, and the Inquisition investigated all of the best known, and many of the lesser known to see whether they were under the influence of the devil or fraudulent. But even though some were repressed, the cultural type survived throughout the early modern period. As persons subject to religious discipline of some kind, they seemed to have had an initial advantage over lay seers when it came to the Inquisition. ⁽¹³⁾

Although the prophet-beatas served the same generic function of communicating the divine will, their specific tasks and the ways they performed them were quite different from those of the lay seers of apparitions. Generally the prophet-beatas [186] were not consulted and did not provide information for communities about specific prospective disasters or plagues. Their activity was more habitual than that of the occasional seers studied here, and they tended to shy away from predictions that could be disproved. More than our seers, they served as living demonstrations of grace, whose communication was manifest by their trances and ecstasies. By contrast, the seers studied above had few spiritual pretensions. They were by and large average people, who merely conveyed simple information about where, through what image, on what days, and after what rituals grace could be obtained.

Only in the late visions of La Mancha were there references to trances, even there equivocal. Juan de Rabe apparently boasted that he often went into trances (que se traspone muchas bezes), but in his confession there is no indication that he was in a trance when he saw the saints he described. In her first confession Francisca la Brava described what might have been a trance (que estava trasportada que no tenia notiçia ni pensamiento que estava en este mundo sino en el otro) prior to her first vision, but that during the vision and those that followed she was "awake and in her free control and judgment." On the other hand, her parish priest described a final trance-like episode when she remained outside her house with her hands locked together.

There is no hint of a trance-like state in any of the other visions described in this book. Seers were fully awake, usually standing up, and had fully sensory experiences. In this fundamental way, their experiences differed from the mystical experiences of many medieval monastics, of Teresa of Avila, and of the habitual ecstatics of later times, including most of the seers of apparitions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

There is another way in which the experiences differed, one not unrelated to trances. Even though these visions had a public vocation, virtually all of them took place without an audience, when the visionaries were alone with Mary, a saint, or an angel. Of all the cases studied, there were only three instances of non-visionary witnesses of seers--at Cubas when Inés saw Mary while in the procession (but then Mary led her off out of sight [187] over the hill to deliver her message); at Escalona, where the boy Bartolomé saw Joana while she was seeing Mary; and at nuintanar, when Francisca called out her neighbor to see Mary. In all of these instances the accounts and questions focused on whether these witnesses saw Mary, not whether they saw the seers do anything unusual (like fall into a trance). Apparently it was not expected that the visionary would be in an altered state of consciousness.

Ecstatic visionary nuns and beatas, because many of their visions were public, served as mediums and conveyed personal messages back and forth between individual members of their audience and their divine contacts. The seers we have studied did not serve this function. They received messages for themselves and for their towns, but were not, properly speaking, diviners.

The attention to signs as proofs in the Castilian apparitions points to a role that trances subsequently played for the more habitual diviners; trances became a means for validating the presence of spirits, a kind of proof that supplanted the signs of the fifteenth century. Trances did not per se mean that good spirits were involved, and ecclesiastical experts were aware of some natural ailments that could appear to be trances, but for lay persons they seemed to have served as a kind of preliminary guarantee against pure fakery. Hence the trances and the visions had to be visible and public, as opposed to the more discreet and private colloquies we have studied. Indeed, most of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century lay visions are a hybrid form, conserving the basic pattern and purpose of the medieval visions, with the difference that they include trances, they are in public, and they contain messages for individual pilgrims as well as collectivities. In the twentieth-century visions, the altered state of the visionary is a form of immediate validation for fellow-citizens and visitors that is entirely lacking in the cases gathered here. The visionaries in modern times are central figures in a public sacred drama. In the fifteenth century, the drama took place offstage--in a field at night; on a dark street; by a pond in late afternoon; in an isolated chapel.

1. Arturo Alvarez, La Virgen del Camino, en León (Vitoria, Imp. Fournier, 1968) 56-58.

2. Conciliorum oecumenicorum decreta (Bologna, Herder, 1962) 613. Apparitions may also have been discredited by certain well-known frauds; Dominicans at Bern in 1507 impersonated Mary, having her say that she was not conceived immaculately. This case was known in the Spanish Court. See Pietro Martire d'Anghiera, Opus Epistolarum (1530), letter of May 14, 1507, from Hornillos. Louis Lavater in De Spectris (Zurich, 1570) Part 1, Chapters VII-IX, recounts this and other similar cases.

3. Luis Salus Ballust, "Espiritualidad española en la primera mitad del siglo XVI," Cuadernos de Historia 1 (1967) (Madrid) 169-188; Marcel Bataillon, "Sur la diffusion des oeuvres de Savonarole en Espagne et en Portugal, 1500-1560," Mélanges de philologie . . . offerts à M. Joseph Vianey (Paris, 1934); V. Beltrán de Heredia, "Las Corrientes de Espiritualidad entre los Domínicos de Castilla durante la primera mitad del siglo XVI," Miscelánea Beltrán de Heredia (Salamanca, Ed. OPE, 1972-1973) III 519-671.

4. Bartolomé Bennassar, L'Inquisition Espagnole (Paris, Hachette, 1979) 25.

5. For Cuenca, Sebastián Cirac Estopiñán, Registros de los documentos del Santo Oficio de Cuenca Vol. 1 (Cuenca and Barcelona, 1965).

6. ADC Inquisición, Legajo 70: 1039.

7. [marginal note] this shepherd lives with Martín Sánchez and Pedro de la Calle, inhabitants of La Mota

8. These are standard categories used by confessors at the time; cf. Thomas Tender, Sin and Confession on the Eve of the Reformation (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1977) 110-113.

9. ADC Inquisición, Legajo 83: 1190.

10. The women of Quintanar doubtless told those of El Toboso at the market held on Thursdays in El Toboso. Relaciones, To III 584.

11. Christian, Local Religion, 196-197.

12. Niccoli, "Profezie in piazza," 514-515.

13. Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain (New York, Macmillan, 1907) IV 36-41, 81-93; Bennassar, L'Inquisition espagnole, 197-240; Julio Caro Baroja, Las formas complejas de la vida religiosa; Religión, sociedad y carácter en la España de los siglos XVI y XVII (Madrid, Akal, 1978) 86-90; Antonio Arbiol, Desengaños mysticos (Barcelona, Thomas Piferrer, 1772) 75-81, 410-416; T. D. Kendrick, Mary of Agreda: The Life and Legend of a Spanish Nun (London, Routledge and K. Paul, 1967). On non-ecstatic diviners and magicians, Julio Caro Baroja, Vidas mágicas e inquisición (Madrid, Taurus, 1967) Vol. 2 9-94.