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