The largest auto-da-fé in history took place in Madrid in 1680.
The ceremony was held in Madrid’s Plaza Mayor on June 30, 1680, during the reign of King Charles II. It was an elaborate public spectacle in which sentences were announced, penitents performed public acts of faith, and those condemned for the most serious offenses could be handed to secular authorities for execution.
The event sentenced 117 people in total. Sixty-five appeared in person, while 31 were sentenced in effigy because they had fled or died; one deceased person was posthumously reconciled to the Church. Twenty-one people were condemned to be burned at the stake.
It is easy to confuse an auto-da-fé with the execution itself. The term means “act of faith” and describes the public religious-judicial ceremony; executions were a possible consequence, carried out by civil authorities. Most of those executed at Madrid were conversos accused of secretly practicing Judaism.