(modern spelling: ) was a Spanish legal phrase, literally meaning "relaxed in person", meaning "transferred to the secular authorities", a euphemism for "burnt at the stake" in the records of the Spanish Inquisition, since the church tribunal could not execute death sentences. The majority of those "relaxed in person" from 1484 onwards were (relapsed Jews or Muslims) or (heretics, but also often Jews and Muslims). Use of the term in source material continues until 1659 or later.

Examples: . '.

Relaxado en persona

The noun form is (literally "relaxation in person"), but the noun form is primarily used by historians rather than contemporaries. Historians may also use the term anachronistically, for example as in the case of the last burning in Peru, that of Mariana de Castro, Lima, 1732.

Relaxado en persona

References

Spanish Inquisition

Spanish words and phrases

Torture

Euphemisms

Execution methods

Catholic Church legal terminology

Spanish legal terminology

Relaxado en persona