Established by papal bull in1478, the first task of the Spanish Inquisitionwas to question Jewish converts to Christianity and to expose and execute those found guilty of reversion. It then turned on Spanish Jewsin general, sending three hundred thousand into exile. Next in line were humanists and Lutherans.Offer Count:2Price Range:$70.39 – $102.37

Why did the Spanish Inquisition come to Spain?

The Inquisition Comes to Spain. The Inquisition did not originate in Spain and did not originally target Jews. In the 1200s, the Pope established the Holy Inquisition Against Depraved Heresy to deal with breakaway Christian sects.

How did the Inquisition affect the Catholic Church?

There has been no more organized effort by a religion to control people and contain their spirituality than the Christian Inquisition. Developed within the Church’s own legal framework, the Inquisition attempted to terrify people into obedience.

How did the Reconquista affect the Jewish community in Spain?

As the Reconquista brought the territories of Moorish Spain under the control of Christian kings, many Jews in these areas declared their conversion to Christianity in an attempt to escape persecution.

What was the worst part of the Spanish Inquisition?

Beginning in the 12th century and continuing for hundreds of years, the Inquisition is infamous for the severity of its tortures and its persecution of Jews and Muslims. Its worst manifestation was in Spain, where the Spanish Inquisition was a dominant force for more than 200 years, resulting in some 32,000 executions.

How did the Inquisition affect Spain?

Ironically, the well-established bureaucratic structure of the Inquisition would help insulate Spain from the effects of ad hoc witchcraft trials that swept Europe and claimed tens of thousands of lives in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The Spanish Inquisition was suppressed by Joseph Bonaparte in 1808, restored by Ferdinand VII in 1814, suppressed in 1820, restored in 1823, and finally suppressed permanently in 1834. The Portuguese Inquisition was suppressed in 1821.

What was the role of the medieval inquisition in Spain?

The medieval inquisition had played a considerable role in Christian Spain during the 13th century, but the struggle against the Moors had kept the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula busy and served to strengthen their faith. When toward the end of the 15th century the Reconquista was all but complete, the desire for religious unity became more and more pronounced. Spain’s Jewish population, which was among the largest in Europe, soon became a target.

Why did the Inquisition happen?

The Inquisition was introduced in 1482 to root out all remnants of Jewish practice among the Marranos, the Jewish converts to Christianity. The non-Christian Jews were expelled in 1492. Then Granada fell and the same process was applied to the Moriscos, the Moorish converts, and the…

How many tribunals were there in the Spanish Inquisition?

Under the supreme council of the Spanish Inquisition were 14 local tribunals in Spain and several in the colonies; the tribunals in Mexico and Peru were particularly harsh. The Spanish Inquisition spread into Sicily in 1517, but efforts to set it up in Naples and Milan failed.

What was the Spanish Inquisition?

Spanish Inquisition, (1478–1834), judicial institution ostensibly established to combat heresy in Spain. In practice, the Spanish Inquisition served to consolidate power in the monarchy of the newly unified Spanish kingdom, but it achieved that end through infamously brutal methods. Spanish Inquisition.

What was the name of the group of Jews who professed conversion but continued to practice their faith in secret?

In addition, there remained a significant population of Jews who had professed conversion but continued to practice their faith in secret. Known as Marranos, those nominal converts from Judaism were perceived to be an even greater threat to the social order than those who had rejected forced conversion.

How were confessions obtained?

At this trial, the accused received no assistance to defend themselves, they were frequently ignorant of the charges against them, and confessions were often obtained through coercion, confiscation of property, or torture.

Why was the Inquisition so powerful?

Contents. The Inquisition was a powerful office set up within the Catholic Church to root out and punish heresy throughout Europe and the Americas. Beginning in the 12th century and continuing for hundreds of years, the Inquisition is infamous for the severity of its tortures and its persecution of Jews and Muslims.

How many Conversos were burned at the stake?

Inquisitors decreed that their penitence required them to name other heretics. By the year’s end, hundreds of Conversos were burned at the stake.

What was the name of the public event where heretics were burned at the stake?

Sentencing of confessed heretics was done in a public event called the Auto-da-Fe. All heretics wore a sackcloth with a single eyehole over their heads. Heretics who refused to confess were burned at the stake.

Why did Ferdinand believe the Inquisition was the best way to fund the Crusade?

Ferdinand felt an Inquisition was the best way to fund that crusade, by seizing the wealth of heretic Conversos.

How long did the Inquisition last?

Beginning in the 12th century and continuing for hundreds of years, the Inquisition is infamous for the severity of its tortures and its persecution of Jews and Muslims. Its worst manifestation was in Spain, where the Spanish Inquisition was a dominant force for more than 200 years, resulting in some 32,000 executions.

What punishment did the Inquisitors receive for heresy?

Those who confessed received a punishment ranging from a pilgrimage to a whipping.

What was the name of the group of people who were accused of poisoning people’s water?

Known as Conversos, they were viewed with suspicion by old powerful Christian families. Conversos were blamed for a plague and accused of poisoning peoples’ water and abducting Christian boys.

What was Torquemada’s purpose in the Inquisition?

Therefore, Torquemada needed to create a sensation in order to poison the atmosphere, stir public wrath against the Jews, and force their expulsion. In 1490, the Inquisition fabricated the tale of the Holy Child of La Guardia. Several Jews and conversos were accused of kidnapping a seven-year-old boy in the town of La Guardia and taking him to a cave, cutting out the child’s heart, and using it in magical rites designed to overthrow Christian Spain and turn it into a Jewish country. Although no body was ever found, under torture all the defendants admitted to the charges. In late 1491, for the first time unconverted Jews were burned at the stake in a spectacular auto-de-fe, which people traveled many Under torture all the defendants admitted to the charges days to witness. (Before being killed, the Jews were punished spiritually by being excommunicated from the Catholic Church, to which they had never belonged.) Torquemada wasted no time in sending reports of the episode all over Spain, whipping the populace into an even greater anti-Jewish frenzy.

What did Torquemada do to the Jews?

Quickly, Torquemada began taking steps to weaken the unconverted Jewish community and eventually expel it from Spain. In 1485, he forced all rabbis, under pain of death, to report conversos who were practicing Judaism, and to pronounce a rabbinic curse on any Jew who failed to notify the Inquisition of such behavior. This cruel edict badly split the Jews of Spain. Alarmed by the greatly increasing power of the Inquisition, that year a group of conversos plotted to kill the inquisitor of Saragossa, Pedro de Arbues, hoping to begin a popular uprising against the Inquisition. However, the assassination had the opposite effect. The townspeople were enraged, rampaging through the streets, killing many conversos. All the conspirators were caught and executed, and the Inquisition grew even stronger.

Why did the Inquisition not originate in Spain?

The Inquisition did not originate in Spain and did not originally target Jews. In the 1200s, the Pope established the Holy Inquisition Against Depraved Heresy to deal with breakaway Christian sects. It remained relatively powerless, as secular rulers, suspicious of Papal meddling in their own internal affairs, did not allow it access to their countries. In a period of more than 200 years, very few heretics were burned at the stake. In 1481, however, after extracting a promise from the Pope that the Inquisition would remain under the Crown’s control, thus ensuring that confiscated assets of heretics would revert to the throne, Ferdinand and Isabella established the Inquisition in Seville. While it is commonly assumed that the Inquisition was brought to Spain out of a concern that Jews were trying to influence conversos to Defense counsel was allowed, but was virtually impossible to obtain leave the Christian fold, one prominent historian is of the opinion that by 1481 Jewish consciousness was virtually nonexistent among the conversos, and that Jews did not attempt any such outreach. Rather, he believes, the Inquisition was an outgrowth of the attitudes of Spain’s Old Christian population. In the words of one Spanish historian, "The Inquisition was a genuine expression of the soul of the Spanish people."

What did the Inquisition do to Christians?

The Inquisition publicized signs of heretical behavior for faithful Christians to watch for and report, including changing linens on Friday, buying vegetables before Pesach, blessing children without making the sign of the cross, fasting on Yom Kippur, and refraining from work on the Sabbath.

What happens if an accused faints during interrogation?

If the accused fainted during interrogation, a physician standing nearby revived him; if the official administering the torture caused the victim to die, he was not held responsible. Overall, no person was safe from the clutches of the Inquisition — even children and pregnant women underwent these horrific tortures.

Where did the Jews kidnap the boy?

Several Jews and conversos were accused of kidnapping a seven-year-old boy in the town of La Guardia and taking him to a cave, cutting out the child’s heart, and using it in magical rites designed to overthrow Christian Spain and turn it into a Jewish country.

What were the punishments for the Inquisition?

The penalties imposed by the Inquisition included monetary fines, confiscation of all property, public humiliation, and flogging. Most severe of all punishments were the death sentences. Since the Church did not spill blood, but only saved souls, the victims were handed over to the secular authorities for execution.

Why did the Inquisition start?

Eventually, different forms of the Inquisition grew up in different places for different reasons, but in terms of why it started the simple answer is that the Inquisition was seen as an instrument of social survival.

What were the targets of the Inquisition?

As time passed and as the Cathars disappeared, the Inquisition spread to other countries and acquired other targets, including, in Spain, Jews and Muslims who had professed to convert, but secretly had not (the former in some cases being denounced by other Jews — K18 — and being targeted not for religious reasons per se, but for social reasons — K61). In Germany it targeted a sect called the Waldenses, and pantheists [58].

Why was the Inquisition excessive?

The Inquisition’s actions would be excessive today because we have the leisure to tolerate dissent with no threat to our survival – not as yet, at any rate. As European society progressed, there indeed came to be less threat of heretics undermining corporate survival, so naturally the Inquisition process died out.

How did Christianity help the Inquisition?

One may as well credit Christianity for making the Inquisition less severe than it would have been had it been conducted by secular authorities addressing the same social fears and concerns. Prison sentences were often not literally observed. A "life sentence" could amount to only 10 years of incarceration [K201] and the term could be served at home, in a monastery, or in a hospital when prison space was limited. Kamen also notes that (despite Skeptical desires to see every Spaniard as cowering in fear awaiting a knock at the door from Torquemada himself) "over long periods of time and substantial areas of the country, [the Inquisition] quite simply did nothing." [! – K82] "In many Christian communities throughout Spain where internal discord was low and public solidarity high, fear of the Inquisition was virtually absent." A priest in Urgell, Spain, in 1632 said that "he didn’t recognize the Inquisition and didn’t give a fig for it" — and the Inquisition was "unable to take any action against him, nor indeed was it able to impose its authority on the people of that diocese."

How did Cathar’s actions undermine the social order?

As in OT cases we have no perception of how seriously Cathar actions undermined the social order and threatened to cut the links of the chain of survival, as well as (from that view) security in eternal life. The society of this time did not yet have the leisure to allow such powerful dissent and yet still be able to survive. The Inquisition’s actions would be excessive today because we have the leisure to tolerate dissent with no threat to our survival — not as yet, at any rate. As European society progressed, there indeed came to be less threat of heretics undermining corporate survival, so naturally the Inquisition process died out.

What was the Catholic Church in the Dark Ages?

Stalcup notes that the Catholic Church (CC) in the so-called Dark Ages "was the one stable institution that provided leadership and order" and quotes historian Bernard Hamilton as saying that "as the sole vehicle of a more civilized tradition in a barbarous world" the CC "became involved in social and political activities which formed no part of its essential mission, but which it alone was qualified to discharge." [14]

When was the Inquisition established?

Thus a new tactic was developed — the official "Inquisition" established in 1215. A similar act helped turn popular sentiment towards the Spanish Inquisition when Christianized Jews assassinated one of the Inquisitors in a cathedral, engendering a reaction one might compare to sentiment against Arabic peoples after the 9/11 bombing [K54].

How did the Inquisition affect the world?

The Inquisition took countless human lives in Europe and around the world as it followed in the wake of missionaries. And along with the tyranny of the Inquisition, churchmen also brought religious justification for the practice of slavery. The unsubmissive spirit of the Middle Ages only seemed to exacerbate the Church’s demand for unquestioning …

How did the Church distance itself from the killing of the martyrs?

The Church distanced itself from the killing by turning heretics over to secular authorities for the actual burning . Such secular authorities, however, were not allowed to decline. When the Senate of Venice in 1521 refused to approve such executions, for example, Pope Leo X wrote that secular officials were:

What was the Inquisition’s purpose?

Developed within the Church’s own legal framework, the Inquisition attempted to terrify people into obedience. As the Inquisitor Francesco Pena stated in 1578, “We must remember that the main purpose of the trial and execution is not to save the soul of the accused but to achieve the public good and put fear into others.” The Inquisition took countless human lives in Europe and around the world as it followed in the wake of missionaries. And along with the tyranny of the Inquisition, churchmen also brought religious justification for the practice of slavery.

Why was Antonio Vieira imprisoned?

Even the well-known Jesuit Antonio Vieira, who was imprisoned by the Inquisition for his work on behalf of the native inhabitants, advocated importing black Africans to serve as slaves for colonial settlers. And he still considered fugitives from slavery guilty of sin and worthy of excommunication.

Why did the Church turn to canon law?

The Church turned to its own canon law to authenticate an agency which could enforce adherence to Church authority. In 1231 Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisition as a separate tribunal, independent of bishops and prelates. Its administrators, the inquisitors, were to be answerable only to the Pope.

What is the penitent stripped to the waist and scourged by the priest from the entrance of town?

On three Sundays the penitent is to be stripped to the waist and scourged by the priest from the entrance of town … to the church door. He is to abstain forever from meat and eggs and cheese, except on Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas, when he is to eat them as a sign of his abnegation of his Manichaean errors.

Why did the king send his men to the Indies?

The king has every right to send his men to the Indies to demand their territory from these idolaters because he had received it from the pope. If the Indians refuse, he may quite legally fight them, kill them, and enslave them, just as Joshua enslaved the inhabitants of the country of Canaan.