The Spanish Inquisition
If the Spanish Inquisition did not take place, perhaps history would be very different today. The Spanish Inquisition which sought out the heretics and sought to drive out the Moors and Jews has changed the course of history since it further unified Spain and marked the expulsion of Spanish Jews and Muslims. Since the papal decree by Pope Sixtus IV, many Jews and Moors have suffered under the hands of Christian rulers.
Persecution has existed for a long time. There has been a time where Roman Emperors persecuted Christians “but it is said that the number of victims sacrificed to the Inquisition in the reign of Philip II of Spain exceeded by many thousands those who died at the order of the Emperors of Rome. Moreover,
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the Roman Emperors worshipped Pagan gods; they had not been commanded to love one another” (Plaidy 19). This shows the cruelty of the Spanish Inquisition. Anti-Semitism toward the Jews existed since 13th century and there have been many persecutions by the papacy but none of them were as horrible as the Spanish Inquisition. The idea of seeking heretics and persecuting them started with Pope Innocent III when he commanded members of the Church to persecute suspected heretics. “Inquisition itself was set up in the name of Jesus Christ (Plaidy 41)”. One common question asked is why Spain embraced the Inquisition so fervently. Spain was conquered many times by many people. The geography made it vulnerable since Spain could be reached from the east and Africa from the south which led to many colonizers and conquers. Ferdinand and Isabella wanted Spain to be completely Catholic and unify Spain. They used the Inquisition to their advantage to do so. (Plaidy) On October 19, 1469 – Isabella of Castile got married to prince Ferdinand of Aragon. In 1474, Isabella succeeded to the throne of Castile and five years later her husband succeeded to the throne of Aragon. They led the Reconquista which is the slow extension of Christian power over all the Muslim lands. On March 31, 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella decreed the expulsion of all Jews from Spain but thousands of Jews stayed or became baptized. Inquisition was decreed in November 1478. “At that time, Spain withdrew from active participation in intellectual life of Europe and devoted itself to ideals of a resurgent Church and military aristocracy (Kamen 19)”. (Kamen) The Spanish Inquisition helped consolidate power of the newly unified Spain through inhumane and brutal methods. The Inquisition lasted from 1478-1834. During the reign of Henry III of Castile (1390–1406), Jews faced increased persecution and were pressured to convert to Christianity. The pogroms, or mob attacks, of 1391 were brutal and forced many Jews to convert to Christianity. Many practiced their Jewish beliefs in secret to try to escape the hands of persecution. Even after Jews converted to Christianity, conversos, or converted Jews, were still persecuted and held in trial. In 1478 Pope Sixtus IV issued a bull authorizing Ferdinand and Isabella to decree inquisitors. Ferdinand and Isabella sought to use the Inquisition as a way to unify Spain. The question is whether the monarchs were just to use the Spanish Inquisition as a way to unify Spain or could there have been better and more humane methods. The first inquisition started in Seville. It started to grow so severe that Pope Sixtus IV tried to intervene but it was already too late. He gave the power in the wrong to the wrong hands. In 1483 the pope was pressured to authorize the naming Spanish government the grand inquisitor of Castile, Aragon, Valencia, and Catalonia. (Ryan) First grand inquisitor in Spain was Dominican Tomás de Torquemada. The grand inquisitor acted as the head of the Inquisition in Spain and had authority from the Vatican. The grand inquisitor was assisted by a council of five members and by consultors to help seek and try the heretics. There had to be an agreement between grand inquisitor and government to start trial though the government mainly agreed. The sentencing of the accused took place at the auto-da-fé, Portuguese for act of faith. The accused were presented before a large crowd, and the proceedings were ritualized. The number of burnings at the stake during Torquemada’s time as inquisitor it is estimated to be about 2,000 people. (Ryan) Ferdinand and Isabel passed an edict on March 31, 1492 giving Spanish Jews choice of exile or baptism and about 160,000 Jews were expelled from Spain. In 1502, Francisco, Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros, who tortured Muslims with great cruelty during his entity of grand inquisitor, ordered the proscription of Islam in Granada, the last of the Muslim kingdoms in Spain to fall to the Reconquista. Philip II who reigned 1556 to 1598 came to power and decided to put more a control of the Inquisition to the civil power instead of the papacy. The Spanish Inquisition even spread to the colonies. The colonies who heavily practiced the Inquisition were Mexico and Peru. The Spanish inquisition went on a decline as the influence spread but was never able to suppress. The Spanish Inquisition was suppressed by Joseph Bonaparte in 1808, but restored by Ferdinand VII in 1814, and had history of being suppressed and repressed until finally in 1834, the Spanish Inquisition was suppressed permanently. Even St. Ignatius of Loyola was arrested twice since was accused of heresy. (DonQuijote) Historians claim there were many motives to the Spanish Inquisition such as political, economic and religious motives, but the true purposes remain unclear. Christian inquisitors believed they were actually saving the Jews by practicing the Inquisition, but some historians claim this inconvincible. Also, Spanish government and officials wanted a pure unified Christian Spanish state. There was deep hostility between Jews and Christians during this time. Christian monarchs detested the Jews for religious reasons and sought to use the Inquisition as a way of suppressing them. Christian monarchs did not want to portray the growing Spain with the Spanish Jews wealthier than the Spanish Christians. They sought to use the Inquisition to possess their resources. (DonQuijote) According to JewishWikepedia, the Spanish Inquisition “curbed scientific inquiry, dampened literary creativity, and even hindered economic growth.” The Jews and Moors made up most of the middle-class section and since the Spanish Inquisition drove out the Jews and Spain, this led to the decline of Spain’s power.
According to Jordi- Vidal Robert, the Spanish Inquisition led to 0.11% decrease in population growth in Spain. The Spanish Inquisition kept the Protestant Reformation from taking root in Spain and made Spain remain very Roman Catholic. There is not much of any other religion there. The Spanish Inquisition also gave influence to Hitler, a Christian leader, to start the Holocaust which practiced Anti- Semitism and sought to suppress the Jews and other non-Christians. Though the Spanish Inquisition is associated with the papacy being corrupt, many sources associated the Spanish Inquisition with the secular rulings, but this is highly debated. “To thousands of other lesser Jews forced into choosing a new religion, the result was a bitter hatred for the Spanish Church (Kamen 21)” and this resentment from Jews and Muslims still exists today. Pope John Paul II has even apologized to these religious groups for the horrible acts committed during the medieval times. This was not enough to cure the bitter hostility caused during the medieval times, but what
will?
"Inquisition." In New Catholic Encyclopedia, edited by Berard L. Marthaler, 485-491. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2003.
A Vanished World: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Medieval Spain is survey medieval Spain, where Christians, Jews, and Muslims once lived side by side and the Muslims were in charge. The book tries to lead the reader to the conclusion that there is indeed a historical precedent for the three major religions establishing a beneficially symbiotic relationship which may be an enduring lesson for coexistence. The author, Chris Lowney, is an ex-Jesuit and holds degrees in medieval history and philosophy.
The first problem they tried to deal with during the Inquisition was the Moors. At first, they tried preaching to the people, and not forcing them to convert to Catholicism. However, the plans quickly changed and they decided that it was more efficient for forced conversion or expulsion to be used against the Moors (Reston). This did not please the Moors. They fought back against Ferdinand and Isabella. The fighting between the Christians and the Moors went on for almost ten ...
The Inquisition run by Tomas de Torquemada persecuted other religions and was a base of counter-reformation
Kings often struggled with the Church over power and land, both trying desperately to obtain them, both committing atrocities to hold onto them. Time and time again, the Popes of the postclassical period went to great extremes to secure the Church’s position in the world. Both the Crusades and the Inquisition are examples of this. D...
The persecutions did help the spread of Christianity because they showed that people were willing to die for what they believe in. “I am corresponding with all the churches and bidding them all realize that I am voluntarily dying for God”(Ignatius, paragraph 5). This shows that Christianity is a way to unite ourselves with God and to be freed from all evils. Another reason it helped the spread of Christianity is that there were public executions which increased the number of people knowing about it. This also shows that the Romans don't really care for the individual freedom of their
Voltaire once said, “Of all religions, the Christian [religion] should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.” The quote was once true for the Catholic Church. Catholics have the ten commandments, one of them being, “Thou shalt not kill.” As long as the commandments are followed, it would guarantee a one way ticket to heaven. However, what if the Catholic Church and the Pope grant permission for thousands of innocent people to be killed or punished just because they have their own beliefs that do not follow those of the Catholic religion? In 1472, the Spanish rulers and the Catholic Church started the Spanish (Holy) Inquisition in Western Europe (mainly Spain and Portugal) to gain more political and religious power. Any heretics and non-believers were executed, tortured, or driven away. Thousands of innocent people were killed or harmed all because they did not follow the Catholic belief system. Voltaire is a famous enlightenment writer who wrote many well known poems, plays, and books. One of his most famous literary works is Candide. Candide is written by Voltaire to criticise the events that took place during the Spanish Inquisition. The fictional characters in the book make real life decisions and were stuck in realistic life situations. Voltaire wrote about actual things that happened in history and incorporated his views and opinions into the story (Barnes). Voltaire disagreed with the methods used by the Spanish rulers and the beliefs of the Catholic Church during the Spanish (Holy) Inquisition.
The Reconquista is commonly recognized as the time when the Christians rulers “retook” the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims. However, the significant impact the Reconquista had on the Jews living in Iberia is often disregarded. How did the standard of living for Jewish communities residing in the Iberian Peninsula shift during Muslim rule in comparison to the Reconquista and Inquisition wherein the Jews were living under Christian rule? According to several sources, Jews were tolerated under Muslim rule as their culture thrived and various cities such as Cordoba, Granada, and Toledo had large as well as prosperous Jewish communities. This changed overtime as by the 1300s, when Christians began to rule most of Spain, prejudice against Jews became prevalent. As the years passed, bigotry began to increase, the outbreak of the Black Death contributed to this discrimination because many individuals blamed the Jews for the plague. Subsequently, this hatred gained momentum in the 1400s whereby the Spanish Inquisition resulted in an abundant number of Jewish victims.
As times became desperate, Jews became scapegoats for many of the people's problems. One example was the "Black Death". Jews were blamed for causing this event that killed thousands of people throughout Europe during the middle ages. Around 1400, in Span, Jews were given three options: Convert to Christianity, leave the country or be executed. In the late 1800s the government in Russia and Poland helped organize or did not prevent violent attacks on Jewish neighborhoods, known as pogroms, in which mobs murdered Jews and raided their homes and stores. 2
History provides several horrible periods of violence, fear and murder. Such horrible acts against humanity have been committed in the name of religion, colonization, and racial superiority. The Holocaust, was one of the most catastrophic and saddest events in history, where about 11 million people, including Jewish children, families, and political dissenters were mass murdered. However, there exists another mournful and cruel period that marked the lives of many Sephardic Jews with secrecy and fear. One hardly hears about the harassment, rejection and humiliation of Sephardic Jewry in Spain, Portugal, and countries like Mexico, at the hands of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, which began in 1492. Due to these events, Sephardic Jews found themselves facing one of the most complex decisions of their lives and those of future generations; conversion, expulsion or death. The reasons for conversion are complex, as many converted by force and others for social or political reasons. As a result, converts became known as Conversos and “marranos /chuetas, and the latter are derogatory terms, as the names imply “swine” (Hordes 6). Another important term is Anusim, referring to those "whose conversion was prompted by violence and fear not sincerity” (Hordes 6). Marranos, were secretive people often, “keeping their children from their Jewish identity, until they reached an age where discretion could be trusted "(Telushkin 195). All of these events, have led to the complex phenomena, of the crypto-Jews in the new world, including Mexico and the American Southwest. Thus, sparking new areas of interest and research of their practices, customs, authenticity, and identification.
As a result of this, they came into the 20th century intellectually inferior and bankrupt. With the banished, tortured, and persecuted heretics in mind, it is possible that the Spanish Inquisition is perhaps one of the most cruel acts performed on innocent people in the name of religion. Before the Spanish Inquisition took place, several other inquisition movements appeared, but none quite as barbaric and brutal as the Spaniard’s did. Waves of opposition towards the church swept Europe in the Middle Ages. In the 12th century, it was a modern belief that a peaceful, utopian government could be obtained if all of the population of the society were “pure” and Catholic.
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).
Over the years in history, there have been many formidable executions that were caused by the aspect of different faiths and races. Period after period there have been many leaders who lashed out onto others because of what they believed in. All of these incidents have never been forgotten; one very infamous one would be the Spanish Inquisition. The Spanish Inquisition was started to “cleanse” the Church of heretics and purify Spain. They executed Jews, Muslims, and other minorities not of Christian faith. Ferdinand and Isabella were in crown of Spain and appointed the Church to start the Spanish Inquisition. These cases will be discussed in the fallowing paper.
In the fifth century Barbarians collapsed the Roman Empire and Europe entered the Dark Ages. Around this time the Visigoths expanded their empire by heading for Spain. Upon arriving in Spain, the Visigoths encountered Jews whom they treated somewhat gently until the Visigoths converted to Catholicism; the Visigoths then overran Jews. Soon after, Muslims from North Africa known as Berbers decided to invade the Iberian Peninsula in hopes to take control of Spain and expand the Muslim reign, which they did. This sudden change in rule of the territory provided a sense of relief for all the people living in Spain. The reason for this was because the Muslims treated everyone equally so long as they abided by Muslim authority and paid taxes. After all, the Christians...
... This was definitely the case with the Aztecs, Incas, and (though there are still groups of Mayan people today, their number is very small) other ancient civilizations of the Americas. The Spanish sent their missionaries to all parts of their conquered lands. It is much more difficult for ideas and religion to survive under constant persecution and fear, though it is not impossible. Judaism and Christianity are two religions which have both endured extreme persecution at different points in history.