The Spanish Inquisition

A detailed Summary of The Spanish Inquisition

The Spanish Inquisition is known for the terror it caused the inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula. The Inquisition began as a way to cleanse the nation of supposed heretics, but eventually came to have more racial and political motives as time wore on. The beginning of the Inquisition is generally credited to the reign of Ferdinand V and Isabella, though the anti-Jewish sentiments have been shown to begin well before their reign.

Living in fourteenth century Spain, in Seville, there was an archdeacon named Martinez who continually tried to incite the people to purge themselves of the Jewish inhabitants of the city. He convinced others that the Jewish population was worth nothing and were basically a plague to the city. No doubt these accusations were based on his religious piety, and on Ash Wednesday (March 15, 1391), Martinez succeeded in motivating his congregation to riot. The crowd of people went to the Juderia (the Jewish part of the city). Some of the participants were captured by the police and flogged, but that did not stop Martinez or his followers who were not arrested. Finally, on June 6th of the same year, Martinez and his followers finally succeeded in sacking the Juderia of

Johnson, Matthew & Dirksen, Nathaniel. The Spanish

Glick,Thomas F. From Muslim Fortress to Christian Castle.

These types of torture were used to press confessions from the accused heretics. The accusers would try to force the accused into admitting to committing some atrocious act, even going so far as to accuse them of killing Christian children when no body or evidence could be found, and if the admission was found to be heinous enough, the accused could be put to death. This usually involved burning at the stake, sometimes with dry wood, sometimes with green wood, depending on the accusation and whether or not the accused would profess to believing in the Catholic Christ. With more than 200,000 Jewish Spaniards forced out the country, it seems clear that the intent of the purification had more to do with ethnicity then it did with religion.

Inquisition's Effect on the Church. 1996

It seems that Torquemada had some kind of personal motivation against what he might have considered to be the "un-pure" blood of the conversos. Spain had the largest Jewish population of medieval Europe and conversion and intermarriage were common. Hardly anyone had the pure blood, or sangre limpia that was so highly regarded, though most professed they did, and it was a constant preoccupation of the nobility. In fact, Torquemada's own grandmother was Jewish and so, it seems, he was working to rid the country of the very blood that ran in his veins.

Britian: Unwin Brothers Unltd., 1939.

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Category: Miscellaneous