Spanish Inquisition Summary

The Spanish Inquisition acted as an establishment, from 1478-1834, to remove all Muslims and Jews from the nation, but also a way to gain political power. In 710, Islam, Judaism and Christianity coexisted in Spain, however this peace was broken since Jews started to become more dominant by profiting through interests in loans. Later, in 1100, the Roman Catholic Church faced major challenges against heresies as the beliefs of heresies contradicted the beliefs of the Catholics, which questioned the Church’s authority. Also, the development of this movement rose to increase and value the king’s power throughout the land.

Henceforth, the Lateran Council created an Inquisition to spread through Europe, located heretics and tortured them to extract a confession until it was stopped in 1515. Additionally, the Spanish Inquisition (from Portugal to Netherlands) formed to weaken Islam and Judaism, in the late 15th century. While Thomas de Torqumada (“Grand Inquisitor”) was in charge of the Spanish Inquisition, the Spanish Inquisition persecuted Jews and Muslims (and marranos) to confess and convert, but also later they targeted protestants.

During torture/confession time, the agents read out the suspected offenses and the victim received a punishment based on the offense: repenting heretics received a “reconciliation;” the least serious offender was fined and forced to wear a yellow garment; “those guilty of heresy [got a] punishment [that] was often called an ‘act of faith’ which often included being burned at the stake” (SI article). Lastly, from a population, women were suspected more than males. From a timeline aspect, the Spanish Inquisition divides into five different parts: “persecution of converted Jews from 1480 until the early 16th century; a quiet period from the early 1500s until about 1560; an intense period of prosecution against Muslim converts and Protestants from 1560 to 1614; the last 85 years of the 17th century…

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