Died 26 September 1568, Valladolid, Spain | ||
Leonor de Cisneros (Valladolid, 1536 – Valladolid, 26 September 1568), was a Spanish protestant who was executed for heresy by the Spanish Inquisition and regarded as a protestant martyr. Her case belongs amongst the most famed of the Spanish Inquisition.
Leonor de Cisneros married the lawyer and scholar Antonio Herrezuelo in 1553. In 1554, she and her husband became members of the secret Protestant congregation in Toro, which was founded by Carlos de Seso and comprised about 70 people.
In 1559, the entire congregation was arrested and interrogated by the Inquisition. After having confessed, they were led to an official Auto-da-fé in Valladolid in the presence of the royal family, where they were given the choice of renouncing their faith and submitting to the imprisonment of the Inquisition, or keeping their faith and being burned. Several of them choose to confess, repent and be spared execution, among them Leonor de Cisneros. Her husband, however, chose execution, and reproached her for her choice. After his execution, Leonor de Cisneros reportedly regretted her decision.
In the Inquisition prison she returned to her Protestant faith and openly acted as a missionary amidst the prisoners. Reportedly, she wished to be regarded as a relapsed heretic, and thereby executed. This eventually came to pass: Leonor de Cisneros was accused of being a relapsed, incorrigible heretic and sentenced to be burnt at the stake without prior strangulation. The sentence was carried out at Valladolid.