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terminated the Inquisition permanently, although it took a few more genera¬
tions for the traces to disappear from Spanish society for good."
As stated above, there was no legal form of freedom of religion in Spain until
1869, so it seems rather expedient to examine this subject beginning from the
year 1834, and consider heretics, Enlightenment thinkers, and the importance
of the late elimination of the Inguisition, from the angle of Protestantism.
Governments over the next generation were unstable, with freguent revolutions
and counter-revolutions, and three radical periods, in 1836-37, in 1854-56,
and between 1868 and 1874. It should also be noted that the constitutional
monarchy did not allow freedom of religion. Ihe "Constitución non nata" of
1856 established the principle that people could not be persecuted for their
convictions if they were not openly against religion, but this constitution was
not enacted, because of the changing political situation. All the constitutions
of Spain between 1812 and 1869 acknowledge Catholicism as the state religion.
The demand for freedom of religion under the law, which would allow the
free action of the Protestant Church, became a definite claim from the middle
of the century. It was expressed first in the constitution of 1856, than in that
of 1869. In both cases, the actions of the progressive Liberals were the triggers.
The claim for the extension of political and human rights in Spain as well
as in other countries came up in the eighteenth century, but for a long time it
did not mean any definition of the freedom of conscience or religion against
the monolithic power of the Catholic Church.
More Liberal statutes about education preceded the demands for religious
freedom: first, in 1813 a Public Committee for Education was established with
the purpose of making education available to everyone, to provide a free pri¬
mary education to all citizens. The draft law did not make it to discussion, since
in 1814 the king restored his absolute authority, and withdrew the Liberal laws.
The law of 1813 was adapted only in 1821. It defined three levels of education,
and kept all power over education in the hands of the Catholic Church. Edu¬
cation took another step ahead in 1838, when a law increased the number of
schools. It should be noted that 75 per cent of the population was still illiterate.”
The Moyano Law of 1857 tried to extend the education among the population
1 PRADO MOURA DE, Angel, Las hogueras de la intolerancia: la actividad represora Del Tribunal
Inquisitorialde Valladolid (1700-1834), Valladolid, Junta de Castilla y Leén, Consejeria de Edu¬
cacion y Cultura, 1996. 234.
For the interrelationship between social status, property and education, including aspects
of literacy, see BELTRAN TAPIA, Francisco — MARTINEZ-GALLARÄGA, Julio, Land Access
Inequality and Education in Pre-Industrial Spain, Discussion Papers in Economic and Social
History, No. 137, June 2015, online: http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/.../land-access-inequality¬
and-education-in-pre-industrial-spain (last accessed 16 September 2016)
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