before Luis de Leon to be examined for his licentiateship of theology; the knowledge that this incident was talked over by mocking students did not improve matters.[43] Medina was, however, too wily to delate Luis de Leon directly; he reported to the Inquisition on the general situation at Salamanca, and in this document no names were mentioned.  Luis de Leon was not in a position to counteract the manoeuvres of his opponents.  It is not certain that he could have done so, had he been continuously in Salamanca at this time:  as it happened, he was absent at Belmonte from the beginning of 1571 till the month of March, and on his return he fell ill.  All this while, Medina and Castro were free to go about sowing tares, making damaging suggestions, and collecting such corroborative evidence as could be gleaned from ill-disposed colleagues and garrulous or slow-witted students.[44] It appears that Medina’s statement, embodying seventeen propositions which (as he averred) were taught at Salamanca, reached the Supreme Inquisition in Madrid on December 2, 1571; on December 13 the Inquisitionary Commissary at Salamanca was instructed to ascertain the source of the statement,[45] and to report on the tenability of the views set forth in the seventeen propositions.[46] Evidently the matter was regarded as urgent:  for, on December 17, the Inquisitionary Commissary opened his preliminary inquiry at Salamanca.  The sole witness called at the first sitting was Medina,[47] who repeated his assertions, mentioning Luis de Leon, Grajal, and Martinez de Cantalapiedra as offenders.  A committee of five persons was appointed to examine into the orthodoxy of the views alleged to be held by these three.  As Leon de Castro was a member of this committee, and as none of the other four members was in sympathy with Luis de Leon, the general tenor of the committee’s findings might readily be predicted.  These findings were somewhat hastily adopted by the local Inquisition at Valladolid on January 26, 1572, when the arrest of Grajal and Martinez de Cantalapiedra was recommended.[48] Up to this point Luis de Leon would seem not to have been officially implicated by name, though he was clearly aimed at, especially by Castro who appeared before the Inquisitionary Commissary at Salamanca, and reiterated Medina’s charges with some wealth of rancorous detail.[49]

With significant promptitude effect was given to the recommendation of the local Inquisition:  Grajal was apprehended on March 1; shortly afterwards Martinez de Cantalapiedra was likewise apprehended; and, as these measures seemed to arouse no feeling more dangerous than surprise in Salamanca, it was conceivably thought safe to fly at higher game.  Manifestly, Luis de Leon must have known that something perilous was afoot when he handed in a most respectfully-worded written statement on March 6, 1572.[50] By about this time there had arrived in Salamanca Diego Gonzalez—­an experienced official, whose conduct of the Inquisitionary