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The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision
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The Catholic Inquisition officially began in the year 1231, when the pope appointed the first inquisitors of heresy. The last execution made in its name occurred in 1826 in Spain under the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella. The Catholic inquisition tried many people as heretics. It also tried thousands of women who were accused of being witches and charged with swearing allegiance to the devil and casting evil spells on their neighbors. The Spanish Inquisition was mainly focused on ensuring that Jews and Muslims that had converted to Catholicism truly believed in their new religion, but heretics and witches were also tried. Due to imprecise records, historians have had to estimate the amount of people who were actually executed in the Inquisition
Isabella then desired to boost her control over Spain by establishing the Spanish Inquisition. Its role was to abolish heresy and make Spain a Christian nation (“Spain: History”). The Inquisition officially lasted from 1478 to 1808 (“Queen Isabella’s Influence in the New World”).
The Reformation occurred all over Western Europe. It was mostly set in Germany where various parts of corruption in the Church happened. Martin Luther started the process of the Reformation, he was German so he understood how the Catholic Church took advantage and didn't think this was fair. The Catholic Reformation took place between 1450-1650 which was the biggest revolution in Germany, although the understanding of Luther's actions weren't taken notice of until he put the 95 Theses on the Church's door. Luther felt that Bishops and Priests didn't understand the bible correctly. Luther wanted the Reformation to help fix this by helping the uneducated and powerless. Some of the movement of this was
The Inquisition run by Tomas de Torquemada persecuted other religions and was a base of counter-reformation
Lawrence S. Cunningham's The Catholic Faith: An Introduction is a difficult book to muster up a response to. One is tempted to quip "there it no there there,"although more accurately I would say that there is little there that inspires much more than an indifferent shrug in response. Perhaps the blame lay in the purpose of the book, which is set out first to not be "an encyclopedia of Catholic trivia" (Cunningham, 8). I was disappointed to read this, since while an explanation of the meaning of the different titles and offices in the Catholic hierarchy, or an explanation of the various vestments and ceremonies may be "trivia" to some, at least it is information. Had I spent my time with this book acquiring a knowledge of these facts, I could claim to have added something to my education, albeit maybe only some banalities, lacking in profundity. Instead, what does the book set out to be? Cunningham seeks to "provide an account, as fully as space allows, of the texture of the Catholic experience and the bases for that experience" (9). I have learned to be a little nervous on reading words like "texture" used in this way; usually the author is unintentionally trying to warn the critically-trained reader away. Doubly so with the word "experience," as in hackneyed phrases like "the African American Experience" or the "Gulf War Experience." Such writings have established that they do not wish do deal in facts, nor in reasoned argument to support their conclusions. They deal in "impressions," to complement the "textures" that they will be skimming the surface of. Their primary justification for their existence is that each person's "experience" is of value, and no one...
As the Byzantine empire’s power began to lessen, ecclesiastical law flourished (Rautman). The Inquisition was entirely based around Roman Catholicism, and was commonly seen as needed in order to protect and defend the church from protestantism and sinners. It’s courts had judges called “inquisitors.” Inquisitors served lifelong terms and made decisions solely in the name of the Pope. While the only type of crime pursued and prosecuted by the Inquisition were crimes against the church, it was often accused of being a very biased institution, as all verdicts were made according to Catholic beliefs, regardless of the circumstance
According to Jones, modern estimates suggest perhaps 100,000 trials took place between 1450 and 1750, with an estimated execution total ranging between 40,000 and 50,000. This death toll was so great because capital punishment was the most popular and harshest punishment for being accused of witchcraft. Fear of the unknown was used to justify the Puritans contradictive actions of execution. Witch trials were popular in this time period because of religious influences, manipulation through fear, and the frightening aspects of witchcraft.
It was a book written in 1486 by an Inquisitor of the Catholic Church by Heinrick Kramer. It is better known as the “The Malleus Maleficarum”, Published in Germany in 1487. Jacob Sprenger also contributed to writing this book. It was the “Bloodiest” book ever written in history. It was put together for the examiners, executioners and torturers follow on how to question, torture and kill the accused. The book claims that more women than men were witches, because women were weak mined. Malleus draws upon the belief for the work of time. He was later denounced by the church in 1490 by the Inquisition. The Catholic Church and the Inquisition didn’t actually publish the book; they actually condemned the book and its views. This manual was used
Unlike the English penchant for confession by torture, Venetian inquisitors were restricted with both the type of evidence and what type of torture could be used against an accused witch. Venetian tribunals authorized to deal with witchcraft on any scope, this meant that the Inquisitors had total autonomy when it came to prosecuting suspected witches. The holy office had just jurisdiction over the magic only if heretical beliefs of devil worship were involved (Seitz, p. 35). Between the two “branches,” everything pertaining to anything even remotely considered witchcraft or heresy fell under their purview. Although the categories for determining criteria were broad, Inquisitors were more concerned soliciting testimony that established heresy more than proving the act of witchcraft. Unlike English persecution, evidence such as someone attending the Sabbath was not sufficient evidence in Venetian trials. Throughout the documentation of the Venetian witch trials, it 's noted that the Inquisitors were only allowed to use thirty minutes of torture to extract a confession. The theory behind this was that a person who maintained their innocence even under torture, further torture that resulted in a confession was not “reasonable” nor reliable under duress (Seitz, p. 42). Even though there were some fundamental differences between the English and the Venetian inquisitions, the ultimate power and authority over life, were very similar.
The word “inquisition” means to examine. Inquisitors would “examine” suspected Heretics, people whose ideas do not match those of the Roman Catholic Church, and punish them accordingly. This included torture and burning. The great inquisition movement that took place in Spain, or Hispania as it was called before Spain united. It was called The Spanish Inquisition. It took place for approximately five hundred years, from the late 15th century to mid 19th century. Many ironic elements were involved in the history of the Inquisition. The Spanish Inquisition lasted longer than any other preceding it, and was the most cruel, bloodthirsty, and festive of all. The objective of the inquisition, in its early state, was to convert all Jews into Christians, but later it mutated into an ugly machine who’s new objective was to rid the country of the newly converted Christians.
What was the Spanish Inquisition? The Spanish Inquisition persecuted and discriminated against minorities in the Iberia Peninsula who opposed to the practice and ideologies of the Catholic Church. Between 1480 to 1834, the Spanish Inquisition was placed under the authority of the royal power in Spain; the Inquisition was created in order to resolve the particular problem presented by the presence of thousands of converted Jews in the Iberian Peninsula. At the same time, the inquisition extended its authority to other minorities and become implanted in other geographical regions. This “institution” operated and was expanded to other territories under the crown of Castile—the Canaries and the territories ruled by viceroys in New Spain and Peru (24, 25).
The Reconstruction tried to help restore and unify the United States. The South had drafted new constitutions, they also acknowledged the Thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments. That action showed that the south was loyal to the US government. Even with that small progress there continued to be much tension between whites and blacks during the 1870s. Freed people of the south were resented by whites for wanting an education and for wanting a better life for themselves, this period of time was very hard and trying for African Americans. This was a volatile time in America’s history.
(Bachrach 12). Nearly all of the questioned citizens would refuse to co-operate. This infuriated the Inquisitors and the Holy Office, and harsh punishments gradually increased. These despicable Inquisitions originally began circa 1200 A.D. and different Inquisitions continued until nearly 1850 A.D. (Bachrach 13).
During the Age of Reformation people were greatly against the abuses that existed in the Roman Catholic Church. A couple of abuses that were greatly stressed were the selling of indulgences, simony, and nepotism. It was some of these same abuses that prompted German reformist Martin Luther to write his 95 Theses. And for the Council of Trent to later address them in a series of meetings.
As for the gender ratio, women made up between 70 and 80 percent, and overall, about 60 percent of the accused were executed. Although there were various methods of execution, the most prevalent method was burning prisoners to death. However, before they did that, they would often torture the witches until they confessed and named other people
... the Inquisition presented by scholars like Kagan and Dyer, Homza, and Kaman. As the case of María Gonzalez demonstrates, the movement acted with great secrecy, had a set of very organized procedures, and sometimes used torture. The Inquisition’s accusations were often questionable and it’s motives were at times more culturally than religiously based. While conversos were accused of being “crypto-jews” in reality, many like Pedro de Villegas were simply partaking in cultural practices that were not actually tied to their religion. The Inquisition, however, was not completely unsympathetic or unfair- it allowed victims the opportunity to provide evidence and witnesses to prove that they were loyal Christians. If a converso knew how to present themselves in an appealing way and provided powerful testimony, they could be absolved of the charges brought against them.