Hanan Mortada 26 December 2010

English Essay

The Happenings of the Spanish

Inquisition (1478-1834)
The meaning of Inquisition is

defined as being a Tribunal held by the

Roman Catholic Church and was

directed to curtail and prohibit heresy

in the kingdom. It was a means to

purify their society from the non-

believers of the Catholic Church and all those who have an opinion that does not resemble that of

the Church’s. The Spanish Inquisition was an important event in our complicated history; it was

a long period of 350 years that shrouded the people of Spain in its darkness1. Historians are still

evaluating the many occurrences of the time; for there was more than one chain of evidence

which led to its institution and later on, to its expiration. The people of the time were, more often

than not, ill educated therefore making them easily led by false beliefs that, they believe or are

told, have deep roots in truth. The people of the time had a different way of thinking and

assessing situations, they were making decisions based on racist judgments. Although the

repercussions of the Spanish inquisition were extremely hard on the inhabitants of the era, it is

believed to have played a significant role in the enlightenment of mankind and its effects are still

seen in the way people think today. The early events that led to the Spanish inquisition, and the

1. The New Encyclopedia Britannica

2. Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, p. 17. Kamen cites approximate numbers for Valencia (250) and Barcelona (400), but no solid data
about Cordoba.
3. Gretchen 2009
trials and accusations executed on and against others are seen successively during the following

years after the inquisition, as history repeats itself.

The Spanish inquisition was independent of the medieval inquisition in its composition.

Although it is called after the Spanish, it was a practice already operational in many countries in

south Europe, like France and also in England. The Spanish Inquisition is also known as the

Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, and it was a tribunal established by the two

monarchs; Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. The king and queen were both a part

of the Catholic Church and had intended the

inquisition to be a way to make their kingdom abide

by the catholic orthodox ways. The Spanish

Inquisition was ascertained to solve political and

religious problems for the leaders of the country.

Spain is a nation born of numerous religious

struggles between many beliefs and systems residing

in the state, these faiths include Islam, Jewish and Protestant. Following the Crusades and the

Reconquista of Spain by the Christian Spaniards, the country was divided and the people were

left harboring many different views, so the leaders of Spain needed a way to unify the country

into a strong nation under the concept of one main religion1. Ferdinand and Isabella decided to

join the people under the rule of Catholicism and had their choice approved by the pope; their

goal was to purify the nation and their first act was to drive out the Jews, Protestants and all other

non-believers in any means necessary. It was a conquest for a united kingdom of faith, but the

path was bloody. Although the Spanish inquisition was in the name of Catholicism, the Pope was

actually threatened by the king to accept the fact that the inquisition would be completely under

1. The New Encyclopedia Britannica

2. Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, p. 17. Kamen cites approximate numbers for Valencia (250) and Barcelona (400), but no solid data
about Cordoba.
3. Gretchen 2009
the control of the monarchs. Pope Sixtus IX was pressured into agreeing to the terms because he

did not want his military support withdrew from his side, which was what the king intended to do

if he were refused. The monarchs used the same strategy on the Pope when he tried to issue a

bull against the inquisition, however on November 1, 1478; Sixtus issued a bull for the

inquisition through which the inquisition was established in the Castile Kingdom of Isabella. The

monarchs were now free to choose their inquisitors although they did not make the decision until

two years later. The tribunals spread far and wide in the cities of the Castile Kingdom, and soon

on February 6, 1481, six people were already burned, alive, on the stake.

Despite the fact that the monarchs decreed that their decision to form the Spanish

inquisition was based on the excess presence of protestants, the inquisition dealt with few trial

where the accused was an actual Protestant. Albeit the fact that there were very few Protestants

in Spain at the time, the first trials were made against them and the tribunal called them

Lutherans. The trials took a long time to adjourn and the sentences were lengthy times in prison

or more commonly, death. Nonetheless, the condemnation against these sects led the tribunal to

others who were interested in “Lutheran study” and so had strayed from the christen beliefs. The

first trials against Lutheran groups were held in 1558 and 1562, and it regrouped a number of

120 accused and sentenced. Most of the Protestants were executed in an Auto-de-fe, and so the

already less than noticeable number of Spanish protestant dwindled in the inquisition. In 1563,

the trials against Protestants continued but there were those who were actually accused falsely. It

is estimated that 200 Spaniards were accused of being Protestants for reasons like; drunken

mockery, disrespect of the church, irreligious opinions. All these sentiments were classified by

the Inquisitors as Lutheran behavior and were brought in front of the tribunal. About a dozen

Spaniards were executed following accusations as such and the inquisitors were hard pressed to

1. The New Encyclopedia Britannica

2. Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, p. 17. Kamen cites approximate numbers for Valencia (250) and Barcelona (400), but no solid data
about Cordoba.
3. Gretchen 2009
show an example of what would happen to non-believers and those who refuse to convert, by

publicly burning the victims on the stake.

The monarchy had feared most the revolution of the Jews and Morse, with the control

they were trying to achieve in uniting their nation. To solve this, they gave the Non-Christians

the choice between fleeing the country and converting into Catholicism. However, the inquisition

being put up a few years in, suspicions arose regarding the loyalty of all conversos (converted

Jews) and moriscos (converted Islam) to the chosen religion; Catholicism. The Inquisition

became obsessed with the knowledge that the conversos were all only pretending to convert to

Catholicism, only to practice their own religious beliefs in private. They began executing

conversos also with the thought that there was a conspiracy to overthrow the church. In the

future, estimates of the number of Jews resident in Spain at the time (1492) show that from 8,000

Jews, only half of the populace had chosen to emigrate. That was the year in which the monarchs

stated the expulsion of all Jews from the Spain, except if they

agree to change their beliefs. The Jews who chose to

emigrate from Castile lands headed to Portugal, where they

were later expelled too, and some to Morocco where the

inquisition wasn’t in effect. Three months before the date of

expulsion, 40,000 Jews had converted and were baptized,

some albeit the fact that they would continue to practice

Judaism in private. This fed the Inquisitors suspicions that

their vows had not been sincere. In 1530, there was more persecution of conversos, and by 1531

to 1560 the percentage of conversos Spaniards had decreased to a total of 3% 2. However in

1691, more Jews were discovered and the hunt rose back. The tribunals executed a number of

1. The New Encyclopedia Britannica

2. Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, p. 17. Kamen cites approximate numbers for Valencia (250) and Barcelona (400), but no solid data
about Cordoba.
3. Gretchen 2009
Auto de fes where 36 Jews were burned on the stake. By the end of the inquisition, the number of

people condemned, with general approval by the whole tribunal, was little below 5,000.

The Inquisition also hunted the Islam conversos, although their numbers were somewhat

less significant than that of the Jews. The Moriscos were mostly concentrated in the kingdom of

Granada, but officially all Moriscos in the Castile kingdom were forcibly baptized in 1502 and

had been converted into Christianity by Charles I’s decree; the Revolt of the Brotherhoods. The

Tribunals also had suspicions about the Moriscos practicing Islam in secret, but the practitioners

guarded their beliefs well and so the suspicions could not be proved right. Although many

Moriscos were executed, the Inquisition treated the Moriscos conversos with less severity than

they did the Jews. The Moriscos were treated to a more “evangelic” torture means to extract

confessions. Yet, there was always the thought that Moriscos would try to revolt, and in 1568–

1570, the Inquisitors had to persecute the Moriscos more harshly after their awaited revolt in

Granada. The Inquisition now felt the need to intensify its attention towards the Moriscos and

recruited all the accused in trial; 82% of those accused were punished. In 1609, King Philip III,

decreed the Expulsion of Moriscos from Spain and within months, hundreds of thousands of

accused Moriscos (some of whom were actual Christians), were to leave Spain with no jewels,

money, or anything they couldn’t carry, under the pain of death. This strategy worked so well

that the number of executions of Moriscos dwindled to 9% of the trials, from 1615 and 1700 2.

The Inquisitions job was to find and eliminate any means that

could threaten the union of the nation under the Catholic Church. To

do that, the inquisition also had to diffuse any heretical ideas before

they grew into something bigger and more threatening, and so the

Inquisition provided index’ or lists of prohibited books. The first index

1. The New Encyclopedia Britannica
2. Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, p. 17. Kamen cites approximate numbers for Valencia (250) and Barcelona (400), but no solid data
about Cordoba.
3. Gretchen 2009
published in Spain was in 1551, and it contained all sorts of book although special attention was

given to religious ones. The censorship of such texts came to a point where some of the most

celebrated pieces of Spanish literature were being prohibited. At first the Inquisition had banned

all texts from their clergy, but later on they realized that it actually contradicted their desire to

have them educated and knowledgeable of the church and its beliefs. Withal, the inquisition

sometimes granted licenses to purchase and read certain prohibited books, and in the 18th

century, the licenses granted were growing in number. Some historians believe that the

inquisition sought to diminish any free or scientific thoughts in Spain. While all other countries

in Europe were experiencing the century of enlightenment, the Spanish inquisition was standing

in the way of Spain’s enlightenment. The policy of censorship was highly ineffective in the

inquisition’s cause. Prohibited texts kept circulating illegally and scholars continued with their

studies in secret.

The acts of the Spanish Inquisition had already born a panic in the people who were

watching as neighbors condemned each other, and family members were executed. At the time,

accusations were encouraged for the Inquisition wished to do its job well, and it did. The

Spaniards were now on the point of hysteria as their people went through the pains of the trials in

front of the inquisition. Although the inquisition did not have the thought of creating hysteria in

its people, it was actually the cause of it. By bringing forth the accusations of heresy, the

Inquisition stated a right and wrong, and all those who thought they were not following the rules

as they were told had to live with the fear that they would be executed next, the fingers pointing

in their faces. So to prevent such things of happening, the people chose to be the ones pointing

the fingers and satisfy the Inquisitors with more accused, even if some were for personal gain.

1. The New Encyclopedia Britannica

2. Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, p. 17. Kamen cites approximate numbers for Valencia (250) and Barcelona (400), but no solid data
about Cordoba.
3. Gretchen 2009
 Though the Spanish Inquisition was essentially established to prevent and prosecute acts

of heresy, it soon became a way to suppress a variety of other offenses related to the unorthodox

church. The Inquisitors set out to punish all those who were,

according to them, acting in abhorrent ways and being

offensives of their credos. The Spaniards found themselves

being castigated for more than heresy; the inquisitors found it

not only necessary but their duty, to hold trials against those

who believe and voice superstitions, divulge in heretical

propositions, bigamy, blasphemy, sodomy and commonly

witchcraft. New Christians (converted Jews, Protestants and

Muslims) were those who had faced the most investigation, but soon Old Christians were also

under severe questioning; most of the investigated cases ended in sentences.

Contrary to common belief, the accusations of witchcraft were not actually popular in the

Spanish inquisition; the trials against witchcraft and the witch hunts were more intense in other

countries of Europe, like France, England and Germany. The Inquisitors were maintaining a

cynical outlook on the validity of the accusations of witchcraft for they considered such offenses

more or less superstitions. The villages in which these trials were held did not in fact harbor any

witches, or people who could be said to be bewitched, until the accusations were made and the

trials held. This being a fact, there was still many executions and one of the more notable cases

was the one held in Logrono. In that trial, in 1610, the Holy Tribunal sentenced 6 people to burn

on the stake. Some of the less severely punished offenses were that of blasphemy; the people

were punished for verbal offenses such as stating an opinion about the church’s religious beliefs

that did not agree with the views of the Inquisition. The Spaniards were usually punished for

1. The New Encyclopedia Britannica

2. Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, p. 17. Kamen cites approximate numbers for Valencia (250) and Barcelona (400), but no solid data
about Cordoba.
3. Gretchen 2009
voicing different kinds of doubts regarding the aspects of Christianity. The Inquisition was also

strict in its retribution against those who offended Christian morals; these cases included bigamy,

which was the aspect of a person marrying another even though they are already legally married

to someone else. Men and women were accused of bigamy at times, but the sentence was rarely

death, those accused were usually put in prison. The Spanish Inquisition also held trials against

those who had acted in sexual offenses such as sodomy. This breach was related to any act of

unnatural sex; some of the accusations being of homosexuality, anal-sex, oral-sex, rape or

bestiality. All those convicted of such offenses were executed by the authorities, in 1506 many

were killed and 12 of them were burned on the stake. Nevertheless, in 1509, the Suprima in

Castile declared that the crime was not within the jurisdiction of the Inquisition, so they were not

to execute crimes of such. Freemasonry was also a killing offense against the Inquisition, but

trials against it did not resurface till 1815. The officials banned freemasonry, saying it would

lead to atheism which would be an official charge. The trials against Freemasonry were rarely

executed because of the lack of evidence against suspects, but many believed they existed.

The Spanish Inquisition was feared within the

Spaniard communities and was acknowledged with the

respect asked of them. When the Inquisitors came into a

village the first thing they did was read the Edict of Grace;

this document contained all possible offenses and acts of

heresy which they were there to punish. Next they

encouraged any person who was performing any acts of

heresy to step forward and state their offense so as to free them of severe punishment. The

Inquisition also asked them to state any accusations they had against people they believed to
1. The New Encyclopedia Britannica
2. Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, p. 17. Kamen cites approximate numbers for Valencia (250) and Barcelona (400), but no solid data
about Cordoba.
3. Gretchen 2009
have stepped over the boundaries of the inquisitions law, the accusers’ identity was kept secret

for the safety of the accuser. The process of the Spanish Inquisition trials consisted of a series of

hearings, in which the denouncer gives his testimony of a particular event and the defendant ties

to clear his name. The condemned are given a defense counsel, which was usually a member of

the tribunal itself, the member’s role was to simply sit and tell his defendant to speak the truth.

The only possibilities that would have an affect on the Inquisitors in the defendants favor were to

have witnesses or to show that the accuser was not completely trustworthy. The accused were

questioned by the Notary of the Secreto, who had the duty of writing the words of the accused.

The judicial system of the inquisition was very efficient and precise in the documentation,

especially compared to that of other systems in the era.

The Inquisition was formally prohibited of harming of drawing the blood of a convict,

but there were always others ways to extract a confession from those who were accused by

torture. At the time the Inquisition was very imaginative in its means to obtain a confession by

using torture devices meant to cause unbearable pain. They did

not distinguish the torture of the Spaniards by their age or their

sex; those accused were inflicted of the same torture. Most of the

tortured were those accused of heresy and they were also mostly

conversos; Jews and Protestants. The tortures devices used were

constructed to cause as much pain as they possibly can without

causing permanent damage or drawing too much blood. However

the torture devices used in the interrogation of suspects were the most horrifying in all of human

history. There was the heretic’s fork; a fork with a strap attached to the victims neck that dug

into his sternum and his chin, the breast tearer; a metal device that tears the breast of women
1. The New Encyclopedia Britannica
2. Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, p. 17. Kamen cites approximate numbers for Valencia (250) and Barcelona (400), but no solid data
about Cordoba.
3. Gretchen 2009
convicted of adultery, the rat trap: a caged rat was placed on the convict’s chest and heated, the

rat would try to find a way to escape and would start digging into the flesh. These were few of

the many ways the Inquisitors got confessions out of their suspects.

When the Inquisition held the full trial and all the procedures were met, it was left with a

decision to make and the results of the trial would come to one of six ends. In a rare act of mercy

the Inquisitors could declare the case acquitted, which is to say the defendant was to be released

of all charges. The trial could be suspended pending later investigation, leaving the victim still

under suspicion or even under imprisonment. The defendant could also be penanced by the

Court, which means that since he was considered guilty, he was to confess to his crimes publicly

and accept public punishment of his actions. The accused would have to pay a fine, be exiled or

sent to the galleys. The Inquisitors could also consider the defendant reconciled, which is to say

the defendant had to reconcile with the Catholic Church publicly and be punished by whipping

and such. The most severe punishment would be relaxation, which is what they call burning at

the stake. This penalty was for those accused of extreme heresy and were publicly executed,

those who repent are hanged before they are burned publicly. Since many of the convicts died

from severe torture before the trial was the held, the Inquisitors would consider the case absent;

the condemned were still burned after their death though. The sentences of death were mostly

popular in the beginning of the Inquisition, but historians believe that 40% of the trials that were

held had death penalties2.

Although the Spanish Inquisition revolved around religious foundations, it was actually

independent of the Catholic Church. When, in the reign of Charles IV, the French Revolution

was underway and several things happened that caused the end of the Spanish inquisition. The

1. The New Encyclopedia Britannica

2. Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, p. 17. Kamen cites approximate numbers for Valencia (250) and Barcelona (400), but no solid data
about Cordoba.
3. Gretchen 2009
Spanish government tried to establish the Inquisition in all states; but in the Spanish Netherlands

the officials did not cooperate, and the inquisitors were chased out of Naples, with the help of the

pope and his approval. The Spanish Inquisition was finally completely abolished in 1834. The

state now stopped worrying only about its social aspect and about uniting the nation in one faith;

they started worrying about the well-being of its public. The Inquisition was abolished during

1834 by a Royal Decree signed by Maria Christina, Ferdinand VIII’s widow and was approved

by the pope. The reign of terror of the Spanish Inquisition itself was finally suppressed.

The Spanish Inquisition was supposedly made to unit a nation together under one rule,

but all it did was slaughter innocents and lead to false accusations made by friends. Although

man kind is said to learn from his mistakes, in this situations it does not seem to be the case, as

we see more than one example of extreme discrimination successively in our history.

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings held in

Massachusetts’s county court to prosecute villagers accused of

being witches or “devil’s spawns”. These trials were held from

the February of 1692 to March of 1693, under the supervision

of the four Supreme Courts. Over 150 people were imprisoned

pending a hearing and 26 of those were condemned to death,

but many of those imprisoned died in prison. This episode in

our history is one of the most famous cases of mass hysteria, and has been used in political

rhetoric and popular literature as a caution about the dangers of isolationism, religious

extremism, false accusations, and governmental intrusion on liberty3. Although the people had
1. The New Encyclopedia Britannica
2. Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, p. 17. Kamen cites approximate numbers for Valencia (250) and Barcelona (400), but no solid data
about Cordoba.
3. Gretchen 2009
seen the results of the Spanish Inquisition, they did not seem to think about the absurdity of their

situation. The lines drawn between the Spanish Inquisition and the trials of the Supreme Courts

are thin for the cases are practically the same; the Spanish monarchs driven by a solution to their

divided nation and the people of Salem by hysteria.

The Nazi movement is also an example of how history continues to repeat itself after the

ages. Nazism was an ideology adopted by German Politian’s (1919), which claimed that Jews

were in the way of their revolution. The Jews were said to be a

threat for their most sought after goal, which is to have a

Germany united under the same ideology. The Jews were

considered a communist influence on the cultures of the world,

when in fact the Nazi were being communist in their own

country. The discrimination against Jews is just a repeated scenario of history for they are being

suppressed for the same reasons the Spanish Inquisition was instituted. The Nazi group, led by

Adolf Hitler, wanted to have a Germany where everyone is the same and there are no different

ideologies or beliefs, just as the Inquisitors sought to convert all non-believers into their own

way of thought and faith. Humans again demonstrate that they are incapable of learning and

correcting their mistakes, even after the considerable suffering they went through.

The Spanish Inquisition had been established for the express purpose of uniting a

kingdom under the same faith and purifying its occupants. Spain, being a nation harboring many

different beliefs, was sure to have several views and ideologies and so its monarchs had decided

to do something about it. The Spanish Inquisition was launched because the monarchs had
1. The New Encyclopedia Britannica
2. Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, p. 17. Kamen cites approximate numbers for Valencia (250) and Barcelona (400), but no solid data
about Cordoba.
3. Gretchen 2009
thought that they had found a solution, a way to sort out the unwanted and leave the good and

faithful. They had not counted on the many deaths that would occur, nor for the false accusations

that were to be made for personal gain of property and such. The Inquisitors were ruthless in

their work and they did it all in the name of the church. Catholicism was to be the main religious

belief for the monarchs wanted complete control over their kingdom. The Jews, Protestants and

Muslims were chased out of their homes or hung for thinking differently. The concept of free

speech was not thought of, but that of free will to have your own beliefs was actually punished.

The people were also prohibited of learning what they should by the extreme censorship of the

time even though most of the civilians did not read. The accusations made were, more often than

not, under false pretense and the torture means used by the interrogators were merciless. The

suffering of the people was long but it ended after 350 dark years of uneducated decisions. Some

would say that such prosecutions did not happen again, for the Spanish Inquisition was not a

success. But those people would be proven wrong as further examination of our history presents

us with evidence. The early events of the Spanish Inquisition and its aspects are all seen

successively over the years as history repeats itself several times more. We see the

discrimination again in the Salem Witch Trials and the suppression of Jews in the Nazi acts in

Germany. In both features the people in charge are seeking control over the population under

their command, it is for political and religious gains and in both cases the ways to the goal are

inconceivable. The campaigns for a better place are being launched by every politician who has

the means but their way of trying to repair the world are all wrongly lead, and would not solve

the many problems that plague it. People in charge seem to be looking for a resolution to solve

the difficulties and miseries of our time, but how can they proceed in remedying one place when

there is always the possibility that it would create problems in another.

1. The New Encyclopedia Britannica

2. Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, p. 17. Kamen cites approximate numbers for Valencia (250) and Barcelona (400), but no solid data
about Cordoba.
3. Gretchen 2009