Ferron barked laughter. ‘A sensible man. But I’d have strapped you to the damn plough and beaten the brains out of you. However you’re not entirely wrong. One can unite one’s fellows behind a holy banner. And we need uniting, we squabbling Christians, for we face our mortal enemy in Islam in Granada, and our own cities are full of Moors and Jews. We did not cleanse ourselves in the past, as you English did long ago. But once we have been purified by the Inquisition we will be in a position to conclude a Reconquest that has been stalled for far too long.’

When Ojeda was done thrilling the gathered mob, a notary stepped forward and read out the crimes of each penitent. One had engaged in Jewish rituals; one had mocked the Host which was the body of Christ; one had prepared his lamb meat in accordance with Jewish instruction; and so on. They had all confessed to this when ‘put to the question’.

Now the penitents were given one final choice. If they made a full admission of guilt, repented their sins, and converted to the faith of Christ, they would be spared the fire through prior strangulation. All but one man submitted, and knelt before the Inquisitors, who brought out their ropes.

It astonished James how hard it was, even for these practised killers, to crush the life out of a human being; it was long minutes before the last of them succumbed.

When the others slumped lifeless at their posts, the last man was to be burned. A citizen came forward with a brand to light the pyre. He had been promised indulgences for this holy deed. He looked fearful; the brand quivered in his hand.

Ferron, coldly excited, murmured to Grace, ‘Look at the faces of the crowd. Look at their pious horror! It all creates an atmosphere. You know, the whole court buzzes with talk of the Anti-Christ, who will be born in Seville.’

Grace said, ‘All Europe talks of it. I told you, Christendom resounds to news of the victories in Spain. Perhaps, they say, the King is the Hidden One, he who will defeat the Anti-Christ, and smash Islam, and win Jerusalem.’

‘Yes. And perhaps Isabel is the Apocalyptic Woman. Perhaps Isabel and Fernando have been sent to cleanse the world in preparation for the Day of Judgement . . . Such things are murmured by the court prelates in the ears of the monarchs. And yet, at moments like these, how plausible they seem.’

James was appalled by such near-blasphemous flattery. But he dared say nothing.

Now the flames were licking around the feet of the one surviving penitent. He bore it as long as he could without flinching, but at last the screams were forced out of him, and the mob roared in response.

VIII

VIII

AD 1484