Term
| The concepts of an inquisition and inquisitorial procedure lie deep in the roots of world history. Inquisitions were used during the decline of the Roman Empire until the Spanish Inquisition's decline in the early 1800s. An inquisition can be run by both civil and church authorities in order to root out non-believers from a nation or religion. The Spanish Inquisition was one of the most deadly inquisitions in history. |
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Definition
spanish inquisition quick
SI:1 |
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Term
Edited by: Kristian A. Werling
Researched by: Chad E. Anderson
Written by: Kristin Kreger
May 5, 1997
Solsten, Eric D. Area Handbook for Spain. (Federal Research Division; 1990).
The New Encyclopedia Britannica. (Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc; 1994).
Eliade, Mircea, Ed. The Encyclopedia of Religion. (MacMillan Publishing Co; 1990).
The World Book Encyclopedia. (World Book-Childcraft International, Inc; 1994). |
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| The Spanish Inquisition was used for both political and religious reasons. Spain is a nation-state that was born out of religious struggle between numerous different belief systems including Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism and Judaism. |
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Definition
SI:1
Eliade
politcal and religious gain |
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Term
| Crusades and the Reconquest of Spain by the Christian Spaniards the leaders of Spain needed a way to unify the country into a strong nation. Ferdinand and Isabella chose Catholicism to unite Spain and in 1478 asked permission of the pope to begin the Spanish Inquisition to purify the people of Spain. They began by driving out Jews, Protestants and other non-believers. |
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| Source: U.S. Library of Congress |
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| After 1525 all residents of Spain were officially Christian, but forced conversion and nominal orthodoxy were not sufficient for complete integration into Spanish society. Purity of blood (pureza de sangre) regulations were imposed on candidates for positions in the government and the church, to prevent Moriscos from becoming a force again in Spain |
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Definition
SI:2
Congress
1525 all spain= christian |
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| The Inquisition, a state-controlled Castilian tribunal, authorized by papal bull in 1478, that soon extended throughout Spain, had the task of enforcing uniformity of religious practice. It was originally intended to investigate the sincerity of Conversos, especially those in the clergy, who had been accused of being crypto-Jews. |
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Definition
SI:2
Congress
inquisition was state controlled |
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Term
| Tomas de Torquemada, a descendant of Conversos, was the most effective and notorious of the Inquisition's prosecutors. |
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Term
"Tomas de Torquemada". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 07 May. 2012 |
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Term
| first grand inquisitor in Spain, whose name has become synonymous with the Christian Inquisition’s horror, religious bigotry, and cruel fanaticism. |
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Definition
SI:3
Britannica
first grand inquis |
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Term
| He was convinced that the existence of the Marranos (Jewish converts), Moriscos (Islamic converts), Jews, and Moors was a threat to the religious and social life of Spain, and his influence with the Catholic monarchs enabled him to affect their policies |
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Definition
SI:3
Britannica
convicnce that jews were the sourse of poverty |
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Term
| In August 1483 he was appointed grand inquisitor for Castile and León, and on October 17 his powers were extended to Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, and Majorca. |
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Definition
SI:3
Britannica
oct 17 his powers extented into other terriores |
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Term
| In his capacity as grand inquisitor, Torquemada reorganized the Spanish Inquisition, which had been set up in Castile in 1478, establishing tribunals at Sevilla (Seville), Jaén, Córdoba, Ciudad Real, and, later, Zaragoza. In 1484 he promulgated 28 articles for the guidance of inquisitors, whose competence was extended to include not only crimes of heresy and apostasy but also sorcery, sodomy, polygamy, blasphemy, usury, and other offenses; torture was authorized in order to obtain evidence. |
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Definition
SI:3
Britannica
orgiization |
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Term
| These articles were supplemented by others promulgated between 1484 and 1498. The number of burnings at the stake during Torquemada’s tenure has been estimated at about 2,000. |
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Definition
SI:3
Britannica
2000 personal burining |
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Term
| Torquemada’s implacable hostility to the Jews probably exercised an influence on the decision of Ferdinand and Isabella to expel from their dominions all Jews who had not embraced Christianity. Under the edict of March 31, 1492, more than 40,000 Jews left Spain |
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Definition
SI:3 b
Britannica
grand inquis expeled |
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Term
| In his private life Torquemada seems to have been pious and austere, but his official career as inquisitor was marked by a harsh intransigence, which nevertheless was generally supported by public opinion, at least in the early years |
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Definition
SI:3
Britannica
harsh but supported |
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Term
| The Catholic Church and the Pope attempted to intervene in the bloody Spanish Inquisition but were unable to wrench the extremely useful political tool from the hands of the Spanish rulers. |
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Definition
SI:1
pope intervene
Eliade |
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Term
| The Inquisition was run procedurally by the inquisitor-general who established local tribunals of the Inquisition. Accused heretics were identified by the general population and brought before the tribunal. |
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Definition
SI:1
Eliade
inquisitor genral |
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Term
| The were given a chance to confess their heresy against the Catholic Church and were also encouraged to indict other heretics. If they admitted their wrongs and turned in other aggressors against the church they were either released or sentenced to a prison penalty. |
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Definition
SI:1
Eliade
chance to confess |
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Term
| If they would not admit their heresy or indict others the accused were publicly introduced in a large ceremony before they were publicly killed or sentenced to a life in prison. |
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Definition
SI:1
Eliade
public exicution |
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Term
| Around the 1540s the Spanish Inquisition turned its fire on the Protestants in Spain in an attempt to further unify the nation. The Spanish Inquisition's reign of terror was finally suppressed in 1834. |
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Definition
SI:1
Eliade
spain vs protestants |
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Term
| Frank E. Smitha, . "The Spanish Inquisition ." . N.p., 2011. Web. 15 May 2012. |
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Definition
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| 1402 Timur wins a great battle at Angora (Ankara). He is concerned about having helped Christians by defeating a Muslim army. He sends envoys to the Christian knights ruling Smyrna and demands that the knights convert to Islam or pay tribute. They refuse both, and Timur attacks and orders the city's entire population, including women and children, annihilated. The heads of the defeated, it would be said, are displayed in a pyramid. |
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Term
| 1406 The geography of Ptolemy, an ancient Greek, is introduced in Europe. This holds that the earth is the center of the universe and that all heavenly bodies revolve around it in perfect circles. |
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Term
| 1409 Prelates meet at Pisa to name a pope to replace the two claiming to be pope. The two existing popes refuse to step aside. |
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Term
| 1413 In England, followers of John Wyclif, dead since 1384, hold that the Bible is the only rule of faith. They appeal to the Catholic clergy to return to the simple life of the early Church. |
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Definition
SI:4.5
Smitha
john wyclif |
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Term
| They oppose war, the doctrine of transubstantiation, confession, and images in worship. They march on London, and Henry V, fearing social disorder, suppresses the movemen |
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Definition
SI:4.5 cont.
Smitha
oppse war |
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Term
| 1415 John Hus, a Czech and former dean of philosophy at the University of Prague, travels to the Council of Constance to propose his reforms for the Church. Upon his arrival he is tried for heresy and burned at the stake. |
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| 1429 The Hundred Years' War is still on, and, in May, Joan of Arc defeats the English at Orleans. In August she enters Paris in triumph. |
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Definition
SI:4
Smitha
joan of he arc |
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Term
| 1431 Some Englishmen see Joan of Arc as truly a witch and as an agent of the devil -- a common response to adversity in this age |
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Definition
SI:4
Smitha
joahn the arc = whitch |
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Term
| Joan is captured. The English turn her over to ecclesiastic authorities -- the Inquisition -- and at the French town of Rouen, then under English rule, Joan is burned at the stake. |
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Term
| 1439 Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church leaders agree to reunify these two branches of Christianity. The Russians do not agree and the Russian Orthodox Church is to remain independent of the Vatican in Rome. |
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Term
O'Connell, Marvin R. “The Spanish Inquisition: Fact Versus Fiction.” Catholic Dossier 2, no. 6 (Nov-Dec 1996).
Reprinted with permission of Catholic Dossier. To subscribe to Catholic Dossier call 1 (800) 651-1531. |
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| “Even while I breathed there came to my nostrils the breath of the vapor of heated iron. A suffocating odor pervaded the prison. A deeper glow settled each moment in the eyes that glared at my agonies. |
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Definition
SI:5 quote .5
O'Connell
Quote |
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Term
| A richer tint of crimson diffused itself over the pictured horrors of blood. There could be no doubt of the design of my tormentors. Oh, most unrelenting! Oh, most demoniac of men! ‘Death,’ I said, ‘any death but that of the pit.'” |
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| Once more, suspension of disbelief is not so difficult, because it is a given that the officers of the Spanish Inquisition were so glutted with pride and blood-lust that they would not have stopped at deicide to gain their ends. Does not the very name of Torquemada summon up visions of ruthlessness and cruelty? |
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| But perhaps the Spanish Inquisition was indeed a wicked institution. If so, that judgment should be made on the basis of those discernible facts an honest examination is able to reveal, and not upon the fevered testimony of self-interested politicians, biased preachers, witless pamphleteers, or — deriving from one or more of these — naive writers of fiction. |
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Definition
SI:5
O'Connell
wicked institition |
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Term
| we need to know what political and social as well as theological concerns persuaded Queen Elizabeth I of England to treat her Catholic subjects with such barbarity; similarly, we need to recognize that the fanaticism that drove Dutch Calvinists to hang all the priests and vandalize all the churches that fell under their control was not unrelated to a primitive nationalism and even to a primitive capitalism. |
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Definition
SI:5
O'Connell
political social |
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Term
| As far as the Spanish Inquisition is concerned, one must look for context to chronology and geography. Chronology first. |
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Definition
SI:5
O'Connell
chorologicly |
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Term
| The Holy Office, as it was popularly called, was founded in 1478 on the strength of a papal rescript requested by the sovereigns of a newly united Spain, the wife and husband, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon. |
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Definition
SI:5
O'Connell
the holy office |
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Term
| and here is a truth extremely difficult for us at the end of the twentieth century to comprehend — to speak of “Church and State” during the Middle Ages, and indeed much later, is to draw a distinction without a difference |
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Definition
SI:5
O'Connell
church and state |
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Term
| That the civil and ecclesiastical entities represented essentially separate spheres, that religion should be a strictly private matter left to the choice of each individual, that persons of conflicting religious views or with no religious views at all could live in fruitful harmony |
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Definition
SI:5
O'Connell
religion spheres |
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Term
| these ideas were unknown during the time the Roman inquisitors were harassing the Albigensians in the south of France, and unknown also when, two centuries later, Ferdinand and Isabella asked for the establishment of an Inquisition unique to Spain. |
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Definition
SI:5
O'Connell
unknown to Romans |
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Term
| Delicious Monte Python: search ofr the holy grail copyright |
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Term
Monty Python - Spanish Inquisition Torture Scene
delishous , . "no one expects the spanish inquisition ." Delishous . N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2012. |
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Definition
SI:6
Monte Python: search ofr the holy grail |
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Term
Chapman: Trouble at mill.
Cleveland: Oh no - what kind of trouble?
Chapman: One on't cross beams gone owt askew on treadle.
Cleveland: Pardon?
Chapman: One on't cross beams gone owt askew on treadle.
Cleveland: I don't understand what you're saying.
Chapman: [slightly irritatedly and with exaggeratedly clear accent] One of the cross beams has gone out askew on the treadle.
Cleveland: Well what on earth does that mean?
Chapman: *I* don't know - Mr Wentworth just told me to come in here and say that there was trouble at the mill, that's all - I didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition. |
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Definition
SI:6
Monte Python: search ofr the holy grail |
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Term
| Ximinez: NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again. |
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Definition
SI:6
Monte Python: search ofr the holy grail |
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Term
[To Cleveland] Now, how do you plead?
Clevelnd: We're innocent.
Ximinez: Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! |
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Definition
SI:6
Monte Python: search ofr the holy grail |
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Term
| Freeman, Shanna. "How the Spanish Inquisition Worked" 05 February 2008. HowStuffWorks.com. 10 May 2012. |
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Definition
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Term
| Torture was used only to get a confession and wasn't meant to actually punish the accused heretic for his crimes. Some inquisitors used starvation, forced the accused to consume and hold vast quantities of water or other fluids, or heaped burning coals on parts of their body. But these methods didn't always work fast enough for their liking. |
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Definition
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Term
| Strappado is a form of torture that began with the Medieval Inquisition. In one version, the hands of the accused were tied behind his back and the rope looped over a brace in the ceiling of the chamber or attached to a pulley. |
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Definition
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Term
| Then the subject was raised until he was hanging from his arms. This might cause the shoulders to pull out of their sockets. Sometimes, the torturers added a series of drops, jerking the subject up and down. Weights could be added to the ankles and feet to make the hanging even more painful. |
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Definition
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Term
| The rack was another well-known torture method associated with inquisition. The subject had his hands and feet tied or chained to rollers at one or both ends of a wooden or metal frame. |
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Definition
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Term
| The torturer turned the rollers with a handle, which pulled the chains or ropes in increments and stretched the subject's joints, often until they dislocated. |
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Definition
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Term
| If the torturer continued turning the rollers, the accused's arms and legs could be torn off. Often, simply seeing someone else being tortured on the rack was enough to make another person confess. |
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Definition
SI:7
Freeman
arms and legs gone |
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Term
| While the accused heretics were on strappado or the rack, inquisitors often applied other torture devices to their bodies. |
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Definition
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Term
| These included heated metal pincers, thumbscrews, boots, or other devices designed to burn, pinch or otherwise mutilate their hands, feet or bodily orifices. |
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Definition
SI:7 Freeman
metal pincers |
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Term
| Although mutilation was technically forbidden, in 1256, Pope Alexander IV decreed that inquisitors could clear each other from any wrongdoing that they might have done during torture sessions. |
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Definition
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Term
| Inquisitors needed to extract a confession because they believed it was their duty to bring the accused back to the faith. |
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Definition
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Term
| A true confession resulted in the accused being forgiven, but he was usually still forced to absolve himself by performing penances, such as pilgrimages or wearing multiple, heavy crosses. |
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Definition
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Term
| If the accused didn't confess, the inquisitors could sentence him to life imprisonment. |
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Definition
SI:7
Freeman
life imprisoment |
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Term
| If the accused didn't confess, the inquisitors could sentence him to life imprisonment or death after torutrers had their fun |
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Definition
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Term
| Repeat offenders -- people who confessed, then retracted their confessions and publicly returned to their heretical ways -- could be "abandoned" to the "secular arm" [source: O'Brien] |
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Definition
SI:7
Freeman
repeat offenders |
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Term
| Basically, it meant that although the inquisitors themselves didn't execute heretics, they could let other people do it. |
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Definition
SI:7
Freeman
let of ther people execute |
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Term
| apital punishment did allow for burning at the stake |
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Definition
SI:7
Freeman
captical punishment |
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Term
| In some cases, accused heretics who had died before their final sentencing had their corpses or bones dug up, burned and cast out |
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Definition
SI:7
Freeman
deiad before sentence |
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Term
| The last inquisitorial act in Spain occurred in 1834, but all of the Inquisitions continued to have a lasting impact on Catholicism, Christianity and the world as a whole |
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Definition
SI:7
Freeman
act in spain |
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Term
| Source: Joseph Telushkin. Jewish Literacy. NY: William Morrow and Co., 1991 |
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Definition
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Term
| The Inquisition was a Roman Catholic tribunal for discovery and punishment of heresy, which was marked by the severity of questioning and punishment and lack of rights afforded to the accused. |
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Definition
SI:8
Telushkin
Roman catholic |
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Term
| While many people associate the Inquisition with Spain and Portugal, it was actually instituted by Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) in Rome. |
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Definition
SI:8
Telushkin
spain and the pope |
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Term
| A later pope, Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisition, in 1233, to combat the heresy of the Abilgenses, a religious sect in France. By 1255, the Inquisition was in full gear throughout Central and Western Europe; although it was never instituted in England or Scandinavia. |
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Definition
SI:8
Telushkin 9th
gregory |
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Term
| Those accused of heresy were sentenced at an auto de fe, Act of Faith. Clergyman would sit at the proceedings and would deliver the punishments. |
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Definition
SI:8
Telushkin
auto de fe |
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Term
| Punishments included confinement to dungeons, physical abuse and torture. Those who reconciled with the church were still punished and many had their property confiscated, as well as were banished from public life. |
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Definition
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Term
| Those who never confessed were burned at the stake without strangulation; those who did confess were strangled first. During the 16th and 17th centuries, attendance at auto de fe reached as high as the attendance at bullfights. |
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Definition
SI:8
Telushkin
burned at he stake |
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Term
| In the beginning, the Inquisition dealt only with Christian heretics and did not interfere with the affairs of Jews. |
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Definition
SI:8
Telushkin
christian heretics |
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Term
| n 1481 the Inquisition started in Spain and ultimately surpassed the medieval Inquisition, in both scope and intensity. Conversos (Secret Jews) and New Christians were targeted because of their close relations to the Jewish community, many of whom were Jews in all but their name. Fear of Jewish influence led Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand to write a petition to the Pope asking permission to start an Inquisition in Spain. |
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Definition
SI:8
Telushkin
1481 started |
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Term
| In 1483 Tomas de Torquemada became the inquisitor-general for most of Spain, he set tribunals in many cities. Also heading the Inquisition in Spain were two Dominican monks, Miguel de Morillo and Juan de San Martin |
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Definition
SI:8
Telushkin
IG of spain |
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Term
| In 1483 Tomas de Torquemada became the inquisitor-general for most of Spain, he set tribunals in many cities. Also heading the Inquisition in Spain were two Dominican monks, Miguel de Morillo and Juan de San Martin |
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Definition
SI:8
Telushkin
IG of spain |
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Term
| First, they arrested Conversos and notable figures in Seville; in Seville more than 700 Conversos were burned at the stake and 5,000 repented. Tribunals were also opened in Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia |
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Definition
SI:8
Telushkin
over 700 ppl arested |
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Term
| An Inquisition Tribunal was set up in Ciudad Real, where 100 Conversos were condemned, and it was moved to Toledo in 1485. Between 1486-1492, 25 auto de fes were held in Toledo, 467 people were burned at the stake and others were imprisoned. |
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Term
The Inquisition finally made its way to Barcelona, where it was resisted at first because of the important place of Spanish Conversos in the economy and society.
More than 13,000 Conversos were put on trial during the first 12 years of the Spanish Inquisition. Hoping to eliminate ties between the Jewish community and Conversos, the Jews of Spain were expelled in 1492.. |
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Definition
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Term
| The next phase of the Inquisition began around 1531, when Pope Leo X extended the Inquisition to Portugal. Thousands of Jews came to Portugal after the 1492 expulsion. A Spanish style Inquisition was constituted and tribunals were set up in Lisbon and other cities |
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Definition
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Term
| The Inquisition never stopped in Spain and continued until the late 18th century. |
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Definition
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Term
| By the second half of the 18th century, the Inquisition abated, due to the spread of enlightened ideas and lack of resources. The last auto de fe in Portugal took place on October 27, 1765. Not until 1808, during the brief reign of Joseph Bonaparte, was the Inquisition abolished in Spain. An estimated 31,912 heretics were burned at the stake, 17,659 were burned in effigy and 291,450 made reconciliations in the Spanish Inquisition. In Portugal, about 40,000 cases were tried, although only 1,800 were burned, the rest made penance. |
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Definition
SI:8
Telushkin
second half of he 18th |
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Term
| By the second half of the 18th century, the Inquisition abated, due to the spread of enlightened ideas and lack of resources. The last auto de fe in Portugal took place on October 27, 1765. Not until 1808, during the brief reign of Joseph Bonaparte, was the Inquisition abolished in Spain. An estimated 31,912 heretics were burned at the stake, 17,659 were burned in effigy and 291,450 made reconciliations in the Spanish Inquisition. In Portugal, about 40,000 cases were tried, although only 1,800 were burned, the rest made penance. |
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Definition
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Term
Bahr, L. (1993). Collier's encyclopedia. New York: Collier.
Crow, J. (1963) Spain: the root and the flower. London: University of California.
Eliade, M. (1967).The encyclopedia of religion. New York: Macmillian.
Major Griffiths, A. (1991). In Spanish prisons: The Inquisition at home and abroad, prisons past and present. New York: Dorset.
Lloys, A. (1968).The Spanish centuries: A narrative history of Ferdinand and Isabella to France. New York: Doubleday and Company.
Read, J. (1975). The Moors in Spain and Portugal New Jersey: Roman and Littlefield.
Vives, J. (1967). Approaches to the history of Spain. Berkeley: University of California.
Kamen, H. (1965). The Spanish Inquisition. New York: New American Library. |
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Term
| . The reason for their deaths can be as trivial as hair color or as serious as religion. |
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