Cazalla, Augustin

Cazalla, Augustin martyr, was born of noble parents in 1506, and was educated at the universities of Valladolid and Alcala. Carranza (q.v.), archbishop of Toledo, became his patron; and Cazalla's talents, under such patronage, soon gained him distinction. In 1545 he became chaplain and almoner to the emperor Charles V, whom he accompanied into Germany. Here he imbibed the principles of Luther (after combating them some time), and on his return to Spain in 1552 he began to preach reform. His mother, brother, and sisters shared his religious convictions and it is said that even Charles V was greatly moved by Cazalla's piety and arguments. The attention of the Inquisition was soon fixed on the Cazalla family, but it was not till after the emperor's death in 1558 that they were arrested and tried for heresy. At an auto da fé in May, 1559, he was strangled and then burnt, with his sister Donna Beatrice; his brother Francisco was at the same time burnt alive. — M'Crie, Hist. of the Reformation in Spain, p. 225 sq.; De Castro, Spanish Protestants (Lond. 1851), p. 114 sq.