Augustino de Cazalla, or Dr. Agustín Cazalla, was a Spanish clergyman, with humanist and Erasmist tendencies, who was prosecuted for founding a Protestantsect in Valladolid. The son of a royal accountant, Pedro de Cazalla, and Leonor de Vibero - both were of 'converso' families - the nephew of Bishop Juan de Cazalla and the brother of María de Cazalla, he studied at the University of Valladolid with Bartolomé Carranza and at the University of Alcalá de Henares, where his uncle Juan was the former chaplain to Cardinal Cisneros and was also a renowned humanist and Erasmist. His classmate in Alcalá, Diego Laínez, was a founding member of the Society of Jesus. Augustino was a canon in the cathedral of Salamanca and became chaplain to the Emperor Charles V, accompanying him throughout Europe. On his return to Valladolid in 1552, he joined a conventicle considered heretical. Among this group of religious elites was the corregidor of Toro, Carlos de Seso with whom he had been in contact Juan de Valdés in Italy. Despite the strict rules and secrecy practiced within the circle they were discovered.
Trial and Conviction
Cazalla was subjected to a carefully managed trial by the Inquisitor General, Fernando de Valdés, who communicated his findings to King Philip II. Upon a confession of heresy, the penalty was burning at the stake at a religious ceremonial auto-da-fé held in Valladolid on May 21st, 1559. Those who recanted, were granted the mercy of strangulation before burning. His siblings Francisco de Buiero, Beatriz and Pedro were also prosecuted and sentenced to the stake. Two more, Costanza de Buiero and Juan Buiero, were condemned to wear the Sanbenito and perpetual imprisonment. The corpse of his mother Doña Leonora de Buiero was disinterred and thrown into the fire and as the "heretical" Lutheran conventicles had taken place in her home, the house was razed to the ground. A marble 'column of infamy' erected in its place, bore an inscription prohibiting the rebuilding of the house, or removal of plaque under penalty of excommunication and banishment from the Spanish realms. Scabrous details emerged excoriating Cazalla and the activities of the conventicle: An anecdote collected in a moralizing sermon of the 17th or 18th century: Given the alternative that was offered, the sincerity of Cazalla's retraction, although vehemently expressed, was considered questionable by a good many of the critical bibliographers, especially by Juan Antonio Llorente, and those present, such as his confessor, Antonio de la Carrera and the chronicler Antonio de Illescas take it for granted. He urged his companions in torture and execution, to recant. All, except Antonio Herrezuelo, recanted. Although he was known as "The Bachelor", he had a wife Leonor de Cisneros, who was among those who "reconciled" to the Roman Catholic faith. Upon discovering this on his way to the ceremonial cremation, he rebuked her harshly in passing. Herrezuelo's response to Augustino Cazalla was: "Doctor, I desire my soul now, not for a later time; and I never judged myself less than this judge." Hearing him speak in such manner a halberdier silenced him by wounding him with his weapon. He was burned alive. One account attributed Cazalla's "heresy" to: In one of the various accounts of Cazalla's last words he addresses Princess Juana of Austria who had presided over the auto-de-fé, saying: "I gave you good doctrine; I preached well to you but for myself I chose the worst, I thought that this corruption was a golden mitre; and because of my evil works, I deserve what I get. Merciful Lady, remember my nephews, the children of the accountant Hernando Ortiz." After crying out to the executioner, "Oh brother, I believe, I believe," he kissed the cross and died.
Memorial
Augustino Cazalla is considered a Protestant martyr and especially as a precursor for Spanish Protestants. In Valladolid, the site of his house and the column of infamy was preserved until 1776, when it was replaced by a tombstone with a rectangle surmounted by a triangle, or semicircle, and the inscription: With the arrival of the Liberal Regime in 1820 the house was rebuilt on its original site, and the street was renamed 'Doctor Cazalla street'. His reputation was re-evaluated as an opponent of the Inquisition. Although the tombstone has not been preserved and no drawings exist, several copies of the text survive, some from the plate when it was dismantled and others from the City Council archives. Preserved texts attest the sign was replaced in 1776 due to deterioration. One text describes "a stone wall containing a sign manifesting his crime and his grief." A description thought to have been by an eyewitness, relates; "The first paragraph is written in a triangle and the second in a rectangle, so it is assumed that the plate had a semicircular shape at the top. Sangrador who wrote in Gothic script, says the sign was in a small hollow and closed by a wall. Leonor de Vivero, Cazalla's mother was erroneously named as his wife, due to a confusion of Pedro the father with Agustín the son of Pedro and Leonor.
