National Geographic History - 01.2019 - 02.2019

port of Valencia. Ripoll’s work gar-

nered him a reputation as an ideo-

logical teacher, who even shared his

meager salary with the poor.

In the decade following the war,

Spain was in ideological turmoil as

Enlightenment reformers struggled

with Catholic traditionalists over

control of Spain. Ferdinand VII, a

fervent Catholic, reinstatedthe In-

quisition in 1814, much to the op-

position of liberal reformers. Liberal

and conservative forces clashed for

years, trading blows back and forth.

Reformers gained power in 1820 and

forced Ferdinand to shut down the

B

orn in a small cathedral city

in Catalonia around 1778,

Cayetano Ripoll was a dil-

igent pupil and a loyal son of the

Catholic Church.A scholarly,and—

by many accounts, selfless—man,

Ripoll’s life somehow ended on the

gallows in 1826, the last person in

Spain executed for heresy.

From young adulthood, Ripoll’s

life was deeply marked by the con-

vulsions of European politics, and

the bitter struggle between new En-

lightenment ideas and old Catholic

traditions. In 1808 Spain was occu-

pied by Napoleon,whose reforms in-

cluded suppressing the Inquisition.

The Peninsular War broke out be-

tween Spain (and her allies) and Na-

poleon in 1808. In the course of the

war,Ripoll,then in his early 30s,was

captured by the French. He was tak-

en to France as a prisoner where it is

believed he learned about deism,the

Enlightenment belief that the path

to fulfillment can be found through

reason without church teachings.

After the war ended in 1814, Na-

poleon’s troops were expelled from

Spain.KingFerdinandVIIreturnedto

the throne,and Ripoll was freed from

France and sent back to Spain. He

settled in Ruzafa and began working

as a teacher near the Mediterranean

1826

Cayetano Ripoll

The Inquisition’s

Final Victim

PABLO LINÉS/MUSEO DEL ROMANTICISMO

CAYETANO RIPOLL IS LED TO THE GALLOWS.

19TH-CENTURY ENGRAVING

74 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019