Heretic's mitre - symbol of humiliation during the Spanish Inquisition
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During the Spanish Inquisition, many people were accused of heresy and publicly humiliated. One instrument of this humiliation was the so-called heretic mitre, also known as the mitre of shame.
What was the heretic mitre?
The heretic mitre was a tall, cone-shaped headdress made of paper or cardboard. It resembled an oversized bishop's mitre, but had a distorted shape. The mitre was usually painted with flames, devils and other demonic symbols and often bore the inscription "Hereje" (heretic).
The heretic mitre served two main purposes:
1. it publicly labelled the wearer as a condemned heretic and put him in the pillory. Everyone could immediately recognise that this person had been found guilty by the Inquisition.
2) The grotesque shape and the painting of agony were intended to mock, humiliate and punish the wearer. The mitre symbolised the fate that supposedly awaited the heretic in the afterlife.
Wearing a heretic mitre was an additional humiliation and mental torture for the already tormented and tortured accused. The bizarre head covering intensified their suffering and public exposure.
The victims included:
- People accused of religious offences such as heresy, blasphemy or witchcraft
- People of other faiths such as Muslims (Moors) and Jews who were forcibly converted to Christianity but still secretly practised their faith
- Free thinkers, scientists and critical spirits who were seen as a threat by the church
Anyone categorised as a heretic by the inquisitors faced torture, imprisonment or even death. The heretic mitre was a visible sign of their "crime" against the faith. They were pilloried and exposed to ridicule. It was not uncommon for convicts to be led through the streets on a donkey with a heretic's mitre and exposed to the ridicule of the crowd.
The heretic's mitre at the auto-da-fé
The heretic's mitre was also used at the autos-da-fé ("act of faith" in Portuguese), the public pronouncements of judgement and executions of the Inquisition. These show trials were mass events that were celebrated in large squares with the participation of secular and clerical dignitaries and a jeering crowd.
The heresy mitre was therefore a central prop in the cruel displays of religious zeal during the Spanish Inquisition. For those who wore it, it was a sign of shame, stigmatisation and imminent death. For the onlookers, the bizarre hats were a cause for ridicule and contempt and at the same time a deterrent example of what heretics and dissenters could expect.
