Six people were executed at the first auto de fé in Seville.
The event took place on 6 February 1481, during the Spanish Inquisition’s first active phase in Seville. The six condemned people were accused of heresy associated with secretly maintaining Jewish beliefs or practices after conversion to Christianity, though surviving accounts reflect the assumptions and procedures of inquisitorial authorities.
An important technical point is that the auto de fé itself was a public ceremony for proclaiming judgments and imposing religious penalties. The condemned were then handed over to secular officials, who carried out the executions. Thus, historical summaries often say that six people were burned at the first auto de fé, even though the executions followed the formal ceremony.
The number six refers to people executed in person, not to every defendant processed that day. In later autos, authorities also condemned people in effigy when they had died or escaped. The episode helped establish the fearful reputation of the Spanish tribunal, whose activity expanded rapidly after 1481.