Pablo Olavide | Manuscript account of his auto-da-fé, [Madrid, c. 1778]

Pablo Olavide y Jáuregui 

Relacion del Auto da Fe en el dia 24 de Nov[emb]re de este presente ano de 1778 por causa formada a Don Pablo de Olavide. [Madrid, after November 1778]

manuscript on paper, folio (310 x 210mm.), 12 leaves, written in several different hands, modern half leather over marbled boards, first leaf lightly soiled

A FASCINATING RECORD of the treatment received by Pablo Olavide y Jáuregui (1725-1803), a politician and playwright from Peru, whose philosophical thinking was targeted by the Spanish Inquisition with the tacit agreement of the king of Spain, to the horror of Enlightenment Europe. He had come to Spain in 1766 and was appointed to a high position in Andalusia, where he discovered a society dominated by clerical and aristocratic privilege which he sought to change. Not surprisingly, the Church resisted and he found himself arrested and taken to Madrid, along with his papers, and investigated for heresy.

The manuscript starts with an account of the private auto-da-fé held in Madrid on 24 November 1778, listing the attendees and the charges against him, including the reading of prohibited books (Voltaire and Rousseau are mentioned), the denial of miracles and Hell, and possession of indecent paintings. Olavide made a full recantation. There follow other details of his behaviour in Seville (his reading of prohibited books, his hatred for ecclesiastics and his plans to reform the universities, as well as naming a new street after himself), and a lengthy poem addressed to him, entitled "Miserere glosado por Pablo Olavide".

PROVENANCE

sale, Replica Shoes 's, 3 December 1998, lot 369