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VIKTÓRIA SEMSEY terminated the Inquisition permanently, although it took a few more generations 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 primary 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. Education 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 Educacion 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-inequalityand-education-in-pre-industrial-spain (last accessed 16 September 2016) ° 224 +
