Spanish

Inquisitio
n
1478-1834
 Inquisition Definition

• The act of inquiring into a matter;

an investigation
• A rigorous, harsh investigation
• An investigation that violates the
rights of individuals
What WAS the Spanish
INQUISITION?
• The Spanish Inquisition – a
tribunal formerly held in the
Roman Catholic Church directed
at the suppression of heresy (A
controversial or unorthodox
opinion or doctrine, as in religion,
politics, philosophy, or science, ie.
“Wrong Thinking”)
 Examples of Heresy During
the Spanish Inquisition

• Not Eating Pork

• Reading Prohibited Books
(usually of a religious nature)
• Practicing Judaism or Islam
 Factors Leading to the
Spanish Inquisition
• 711: The Islamic Invasion of Spain and Portugal
(Then known as the Iberian Peninsula)
• The Reconquest of Spain Bringing Spain back under
Christian Spaniard Control
• Spanish Civil War (Isabella vs. Juana) 1474-1479
• Isabella (Castille) marries the Prince of Aragon,
Ferdinand V
• Castille and Aragon are now united and Spain is
unified
• Ferdinand and Isabella Attempt to Further Unify
Spain in the 15th Century under Catholic Control.
 the Purpose of the
Spanish Inquisition
• The Spanish Inquisition occurred because
Catholic rulers Isabella and Ferdinand were
determined to rid Spain of any heretics or non-
Catholics.
• In previous years, other Inquisitions had
occurred in Spain. As a result, many Jews and
Muslims, rather than leave their homes, decided
to convert to Catholicism to escape persecution.
• The main goal of the Inquisition was to inspect
the genuineness of those that converted to
Catholicism in the previous years.
 Motives for Instituting
the Inquisition

• To establish political and religious unity

• To weaken political opponents of
Ferdinand and Isabella
• Out of fear of other religious groups.
• To do away with power of minorities
• Profit – the property of convicted people
was taken
 Islamic Conquest of the
Christian Visigoth Kingdom

• 711 – Moors (people from northwest

Africa: Arabs and natives, known as
Berbers) led by the Arabic governor of
Tangiers, Tariq ibn-Ziyad invade the
Iberian Peninsula (aka Spain and Portugal)
with a force of 12, 000

• Tariq returned to Morocco, but the next

year (712) Musa ibn Nusair, the Muslim
governor in North Africa, led the best of
his Arab troops to Spain with the intention
of staying. In three years he had subdued
all but the mountainous region in the
extreme north and had initiated forays into
France, which were stemmed at Poitiers in
732

• 718 Moorish Isalmic rule is at its widest

extent
 Islamic Conquest of the
Christian Visigoth Kingdom
Continued…
• Al Andalus, as Islamic Spain
was called, was organized
under the civil and religious
leadership of the caliph of
Damascus. Governors in
Spain were generally
Syrians, whose political
frame of reference was
deeply influenced by
Byzantine practices.
• 722 The Battle of
Covadonga in the north-
west of Iberia; the Christian
Reconquestia begins.
 The Reconquest (Reconquista)
Begins in Spain
• 732 AD Battle of Tours

• 739: Moorish garrison driven out of Galicia

by Asturian-Galician forces.

• 800: The Franks complete the reconquest of

all of today's southern French territory and
the Pyrenees

• 801: Franks reconquer Barcelona

• 914:Completion of reconquest in the north-

west. Muslims briefly retake Barcelona

• 1085: Toledo reconquered by Castillian forces

• 1236: Half of Iberia reconquered by Christian

forces

• 1239: the Emirate of Granda remains the only

Muslim state in Iberia

• 1300s-1400s: Marinid Muslims seize control

of some towns on the southern coast but are
soon driven out
 Pogroms of 1391 and
Following Years
• Major anti-Jewish sentiment in the Iberian peninsula

• James II of Aragon, under pressure from the Roman

Catholic Church, passes a law that Jews would no longer
be abided in the Iberian peninsula
• Mass Conversions to Christianity (20,000 Jews) because
the choices were conversion, death, or emigration
• Synagogues burned to the ground
• Attempts to expel Jews from Iberian peninsula
 Process of The Inner
Workings of the inquisition

• Edict of Grace “Edicto de Gracia" - basic procedure that

started after Sunday's mass, the inhabitants were asked to
denounce a blasphemer. This method proved to be
inefficient as false information, for the sake of killing
one's enemy, was very common. Unfortunately, inquisitors
used the Edict of Grace for the following 350 years.
• Denunciation - to pronounce especially publicly someone be
blameworthy or evil; Once someone was denounced, he was
incarcerated until his case was reviewed by the calificadores (a
type of jury). The time of incarceration varied from a few days
to two years. The victim was never notified of the charges
against him while being in prison causing much confusion to the
victim. Many died ignorant of their crime.
• Reconciliation – to show penance through confession
 Conversions

• A Jew that converts to

Christianity was known
as a Converso
• A Moor who converts to
Christianity was known
as a Morisco
Relation/Interaction of Jews,
Muslims (moors) & Christians
• Jews protected by king
--- Tax Farmers
--- Loans
• Moriscos live away from Christians (Mainly in the
South in Grenada)
• Christians dominate Spain (laws)
• Convivencia – the somewhat “idyllic (charmingly
simple) “mythical” situation of the coexistence of
Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Spain from
711-1492
Limpieza de Sangre (Blood Purity
and Blood Libel of the Mid 1400s
• Before the Pogroms of 1391, Jew is part of a religion
• Conversions mean they are Christians and equal
• Major conflict between Old vs. New Christians
• Blood Libel is negative propaganda against Jews
• Stories told of Jews stealing Christian babies and
sacrificing them at night
• Negative propaganda is very effective (Fear travels
through all Christians)
• La Guardia Trial of 1491- the alleged victim of the crime
was a child said to be ritualistically murdered by Jews.
There was an auto-da-fé followed by public executions of
the alleged murderers; however, no body was ever found.
 Makeup of the
Inquisition
• Suprema (1488) – 6 members that rule
over the Inquisition
• Tribunals – makeshift courtrooms
• Familiars – Spies
• Finances – confiscations, fines,
penances, dispensation.
 Tribunal of the Holy Office
of the Inquisition in Spain
Tribunal of the Holy Office of Example of a Makeshift
the Inquisition in Spain
Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Courtroom or Tribunal.
InquisiciónSpanish Inquisition
 Inquisition facts
• Used for religious, political, and financial reasons

• Spain had many different belief systems at the time of the

Inquisition (Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism, and Judaism)

• Following the Crusades, the leaders of Spain, Ferdinand and

Isabella, wanted to unify the nation, and they chose
Catholicism to do this, making the Inquisition under the direct
control of the Spanish monarchy

• Pope Sixtus IV signs the Papal Bull in 1478, granting

permission for the Inquisition to begin, and they began driving
out Jews, Protestants, and other non-believers.

• 1478-1531 – Most active period of the Inquisition

 Tomás de Torquemada

• 1483 becomes Grand

Inquisitor of both Castile
and Aragon (This is the
only organization that
Castile and Aragon have in
common.)
• Very powerful, austere
stern man and very Anti-
Semitic
• Helps to push the expulsion
of the Jews
• Childhood confessor to
Isabella
 Tomás de Torquemada
Continued…
• He is inquisitor-general until 1498.
• He established the rules of the Inquisition.
• Responsible for executing around 2,000 Spaniards
• Established local tribunals to judge the accused heretics
• Accused heretics were encouraged to indict and accuse other
heretics, thus beginning a vicious, cruel cycle of accusations
• If accused heretics confessed, they were released or received a
prison sentence
• The penalty for not confessing to heresy or refusing to accuse
others of heresy would result in torturous, public death or life in
prison.
 Privileges of Members of
the Inquisition

• Inspection
• Censor Literature – Index of Prohibited
Books
• Immunity from other Jurisdictions
• Tax Exemption
• No Quartering of Troops
Reasons for Censorship
during the inquisition
• Trying to stop the spread of
ideas the Catholic Church
deemed heretical
• “Indexes” – Lists of
heretical books (published
in 1551, 1559, 1583, 1612,
1632, and 1640)
• List of banned books of all
kinds, but focused on
religious texts and
vernacular translations of
the Bible
• Prohibitions of the texts
actually hindered the
spread of Spanish culture
throughout Europe
 The Trials

• Lawyers – Defense lawyers emerge

• Witnesses – could testify

• Enemies – Name your enemies

 Torture of the
inquisition
Aselli: Burning Heretics at
Water Torment the Stake
 Torture of the
inquisition
Garrucha:
Hanging from the The Heretics Fork
Ceiling
 Methods Used to Force Confessions
and Evaluate Validity of Conversions:
Continued

Strappado: Pulley Potro: The Rack

 Torture Continued
• Torture was used to get a confession not to punish
• There were a multitude of methods of torture used
during the Inquisition
• Starvation or forcing mass quantities of water or
other fluids
• Heated metal pincers, thumbscrews, boots, and
other devices designed to burn, pinch, or otherwise
mutilate
 Torture Statistics

“ The historian Hernando del

Pulgar, contemporary of
Ferdinand and Isabella,
estimated that the Inquisition
had burned at the stake 2,000
people and reconciled another
15,000 by 1490 (just one decade
after the Inquisition began). ”
 Auto-da-Fé
• Means “Act of Faith”
• the ritual of public execution of
people tried by the Inquisition,
carried out by the civil
authorities
• Major social event and civic
occasion
• Sanbenito – an ornamented
(yellow with a red
cross)garment worn by a
condemned heretic at an auto-
da-Fé
• Usually the heretics were
publicly burned at the stake
 auto-da-Fé
Continued…
• Took place in the public
square

• Religious and civil

authorities were in
attendance

• Involved a Catholic Mass

• Lasted several hours

• The defendant at the trial did

not know what witnesses
would be called against him.

• The defendant might not

even know the specific crime
accused of
 1492
• Invasion of Granada (the
last Muslim stronghold in
the region)
• Treaty of Granada
completes the Reconquista
• Spain is completely
unified
• The Edict of Expulsion:
gave Jews 3 months to
either convert to
Christianity or leave the
Kingdom of Castille and
theCrown of Aragon
 The End of the
Inquisition
• The French Revolution of 1789 would cause
the Inquisition to disband.

• After the Revolution, a new government

arose in Spain “Cortes de Cadiz” and they
chose not to include the Inquisition in the
new constitution.