Seal for the Tribunal in Spain Flanking the cross is a sword, symbolising the punishment of heretics, and an olive branch, symbolising reconciliation with the repentant. In Latin, the inscription "Exurge Domine et judica causam tuam. Psalm 73." ("Arise, Lord, and judge your cause")
Consisted of aGrand Inquisitor, who headed the Council of the Supreme and General Inquisition, made up of six members. Under it were up to 21 tribunals in the empire.
According to some modern estimates, around 150,000 people were prosecuted for various offences during the period. 3,000–5,000 were executed, particularly in the initial 50 years,[1] mostly byburning at the stake. Other punishments included penance and public flogging, exile,enslavement on galleys, and prison terms from years to life, together with the confiscation of all property.[2]
The inquisition expanded to other domains under the Spanish Crown, includingSouthern Italy and the Americas, while also targeting those accused ofalumbradismo, Protestantism, witchcraft, blasphemy, bigamy, sodomy,Freemasonry, etc. A notable feature was theauto-da-fe, where the accused were paraded, sentences read, and confessions made, after which the guilty were turned over to civil authorities for the execution of sentences.[5]
Following the conversion of Spain'sVisigoth royal family to Catholicism in 587, the situation for Jews deteriorated as the monarchy and church aligned to consolidate the realm under the new religion.[11] The Church'sCouncils of Toledo imposed restrictions, including prohibitions on intermarriage and holding office,[11] culminating inKing Sisebut's 613 decree demanding conversion or expulsion, which led many Jews to flee or convert.[12] Despite brief periods of tolerance, subsequent rulers and church councils intensified persecution, banning all Jewish rites,[11] forcing baptisms, seizing property, enslaving Jews (after accusations of conspiracy in 694), taking children away from Jewish parents,[11] and imposing severe economic hardships. This oppression alienated the Jewish population, causing some to welcome theMuslim invasion in 711.[13]
While Muslims in theHoly Land were the primary targets of theCrusades, other perceived enemies of Christianity soon became targets. In 1184Pope Lucius III created theEpiscopal Inquisition to combatCatharism in southern France. Heretics were to be handed over to secular authorities for punishment, have their property seized, and face excommunication. When this failed to stem the heresy,Pope Innocent III called forth theAlbigensian Crusade. The Crusaders killed 200,000[14] to 1,000,000[15]Cathars, perpetrated massacres (e.g. atBéziers), and burned hundreds at the stake. It was the start of a centralization in the fight against heresy,[16][17] TheDominican Order was established to preach against the heresy, later serving as inquisitor throughout Europe. In 1252Pope Innocent IV issued the bullAd extirpanda, authorizing inquisitors to use torture against heretics.
European Jews became targets, leading tomassacres and expulsions. While papal bulls sought to shield Jews from violence, starting in the twelfth centurypapal bulls also prohibited Jews from holding public office, required them to wear distinctive badges, ordered the burning of theTalmud, limited their employment, confined Jews to ghettos, and expelled them from thePapal States, along with other restrictions aimed at subordinating Jews.[18] In 1231 PopeGregory IX expanded thePapal Inquisition toAragon. Cathars, Jewish converts and others deemed heretics were targeted, with trials, imprisonments and executions. Books by Spanish friars attacked Jews and Muslims.[19] InCastile the Church Synod of Zamora protested rights granted Jews by the king. Calls for restrictions on Spanish Jews were made by Popes and Cortes (assemblies of the Church, nobles and cities).[19] Some kings protected Jews, since they benefited from Jews' taxes, and Jews serving as courtiers and tax collectors.[19] Others, likeAlfonso X,Sancho IV andHenry II, restricted Jews and exploited anti-Jewish sentiment for political gain.[19][20]
TheShepherds' Crusade of 1320, started to help reconquer Spain from the Muslims, instead killed hundreds of Jews in France and Spain.[19][21][22] In 1328, mobs inflamed by the sermons of Franciscan preacher Pedro Olligoyen massacred several Jewish communities inNavarre.[19][23] Years of virulent anti-Jewish preaching byFerrand Martínez,Archdeacon ofEcija, climaxed in themassacres of 1391 when riots broke out in Seville,Barcelona, Valencia, Toledo, Mallorca and elsewhere, killing thousands of Jews.[24] To save themselves, some fled, mainly to North Africa, while an estimated 100,000, or one half of all Spanish Jews, converted to Catholicism. Following anti-Jewish riots in 1435 inMallorca, Papal Inquisitor Antonio Murta played a key role in forced conversions of local Jews.[25] The converts were calledconversos. While mostly poor or of modest means, some conversos became successful in government and commerce, drawing resentment. Conversos were also suspected of continuing to practice Judaism in secret. Periods of stress, food shortages, plague and inflation led to attacks on conversos—in 1449 in Toledo (conversos were tortured and burned alive there), in 1462 in Carmona, again in Toledo in 1467, etc. In Cordoba in 1473 mobs killed conversos, regardless of sex and age, burning and looting their homes.[26]
Torquemada is buried in the monastery of Saint Thomas at Ávila, and left his own epitaph:"Pestem Fugat Haereticam" i.e. "drove away the pestilence of heresy".[27]
Queen Isabella was convinced of the existence ofCrypto-Judaism amongAndalusianconversos[28] during her stay inSeville between 1477 and 1478.[a][29] A report, produced byPedro González de Mendoza, Archbishop of Seville, and by the DominicanTomás de Torquemada, confessor toFerdinand andIsabella, corroborated this assertion. The Catholic monarchs requested apapal bull to establish an inquisition in Spain. In 1478Pope Sixtus IV granted the bullExigit sincerae devotionis affectus, to deal with those who had been baptized, but "revert to the rites and customs of the Jews and to keep the dogmas and precepts of the Jewish superstition and perfidy.... Not only do they themselves persist in their own blindness, but also some who are born of them and some who associate with them are poisoned by their perfidy."[30] To "expel this perfidy", "to convert the infidels to the proper faith",[30] and punish all those "guilty of such crimes along with their harborers and followers," the bull permitted the monarchs to select and appoint three bishops or priests to act as inquisitors.[31]
The first two inquisitors, theDominicans Miguel de Morillo andJuan de San Martín were named two years later, on 27 September 1480.[32] The firstauto de fé execution was held in Seville on 6 February 1481: six people were burned alive.[33] Thousands of conversos fled in terror, depopulating large parts of the country, hurting commerce. Government revenues declined, but the Queen was interested in "the purity of her lands", stating, per the chronicler Hernando del Pulgar, "the essential thing was to cleanse the country of that sin of heresy".[33]
The scale of the operations required more resources. Accordingly, in February 1481, Pope Sixtus IV appointed seven more inquisitors, all Dominican friars. One of them wasTomás de Torquemada.[33] The Inquisition grew rapidly in theKingdom of Castile. By 1492, tribunals existed in eight Castilian cities:Ávila,Córdoba,Jaén,Medina del Campo,Segovia,Sigüenza,Toledo, andValladolid. In 1482 Ferdinand sought to take over the existingPapal Inquisition in Aragon, which led to resistance since it infringed on local rights. Relatives and others complained of the brutality to the Pope, who wanted to maintain control of the inquisition.[34]
On 18 April 1482, Pope Sixtus IV promulgated what historian Henry Charles Lea called "the most extraordinarybull in the history of the Inquisition," affirming that:[35]
... in Aragon, Valencia, Mallorca and Catalonia the Inquisition has for some time been moved not by zeal for the faith and the salvation of souls, but by lust for wealth, and that many true and faithful Christians, on the testimony of enemies, rivals, slaves and other lower and even less proper persons, have without any legitimate proof been thrust into secular prisons, tortured and condemned as relapsed heretics, deprived of their goods and property and handed over to the secular arm to be executed, to the peril of souls, setting a pernicious example, and causing disgust to many.[35]
Historian Henry Charles Lea wrote that the Pope sought to treat heresy like as other crimes.[35] According toA History of the Jewish People,
In 1482 the pope was still trying to maintain control over the Inquisition and to gain acceptance for his own attitude towards theNew Christians which was generally more moderate than that of the Inquisition and the local rulers.
[36] Outraged, Ferdinand feigned doubt about the bull's veracity, arguing that no sensible pope would have published such a document. He wrote the pope on 13 May 1482, saying: "Take care therefore not to let the matter go further, and to revoke any concessions and entrust us with the care of this question."[37] The Pope suspended the bull, then switched to full cooperation, by issuing a new bull on October 17, 1483, with which he appointed Torquemada Inquisitor General of Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia, thus uniting all Spanish activity under a single leader.[38] Setting to work immediately, they burned the first converses at the stake in Aragon in 1484. Opposition continued in Aragon and Catalonia, which sought to maintain local control.Pope Innocent VIII then resolved the issue by withdrawing all papal inquisitors from Aragon and Catalonia, thus relinquishing full control to Torquemada, specifying that all appeals be addressed by Torquemada.[39]
Burning of heretics at stakes (auto-da-fé) in a marketplace during the Spanish Inquisition.
Tomás de Torquemada established Inquisition procedures in 1484, creating a 28-article code,Compilación de las instrucciones del oficio de la Santa Inquisición, based on Nicholas Eymerich'sDirectorium Inquisitorum. That code remained largely unchanged for over three centuries.[40][41][42] The Church deemed heresy to be treason, punishable by death. Courts announced a 30-day grace period for self-confessions and denunciations, requiring individuals to report themselves and others, including relatives and friends, for attending Jewish prayer meetings.[43] Inquisitors collected accusations from neighbors. Signs of crypto-Judaism included no chimney smoke on Saturdays, buying many vegetables beforePassover, or purchasing meat from a converted butcher. Courts presumed the accused guilty, withholding accusers' identities.[44] Trials aimed to extract confessions, often using water torture, therack, or suspending individuals by their wrists with weights tied to their feet, repeatedly raising and dropping them.[45]
Confessions occurred publicly atautos-da-fé. Legal expert Francisco Peña stated in 1578 that trials and executions aimed to ensure public good and instill fear, requiring public sentencing "for education and to terrify".[46] These ceremonies rivaled bullfights in popularity. In 1680, King Charles II marked his marriage with anauto-da-fé in Madrid, drawing 50,000 spectators and sentencing 118 individuals, mostly Jewish conversos, to severe penalties, including execution by burning.[47][48] Confessed individuals faced punishments like penance, public flogging, exile, or servitude as galley slaves, common in the 16th century.[49] Others received prison sentences, from years to life, with near universal property confiscation, even for repentant heretics.[50]
Between 1536 and 1543, eight courts seized 87 million maravedis from victims.[50] Reconciled individuals could not hold public or church positions, nor work as tax collectors, pharmacists, or doctors, with restrictions extending to their descendants.[51] Non-confessors or relapsed individuals faced death.[52][36]
The Inquisition peaked from 1480 to 1530, with estimates of 2,000 executions, mostly Jewish conversos.[53] In Valencia, 91.6% of those judged between 1484 and 1530 were of Jewish origin, and 99.3% in Barcelona from 1484 to 1505.[54] From 1531 to 1560, converso trials dropped to 3%. Persecutions rose again after discovering crypto-Jews in Quintanar de la Orden in 1588 and denunciations increased in the 1590s.
In the early 17th century, some conversos returned from Portugal, escaping its Inquisition. Spanish Inquisitor General Antonio Zapata and others reported "strong evidence of Judaism", prompting more trials, including financiers and artisans. The 1680 Madridauto-da-fé sentenced 118, with 21, mostly immigrant Jewish conversos, executed. Dominican Thomas Navarro's sermon blamed Jews for denying Christ, using medieval anti-Jewish arguments and racist terms like "stubborn nation" and "perfidious", tied to blood purity concepts.[48]
In 1691, Majorca'sautos-da-fé burned 37 chuetas, or local conversos, alive.[55] Accusations of conversos declined in the 18th century. Manuel Santiago Vivar, tried in Córdoba in 1818, was the last prosecuted for crypto-Judaism.[56]
The Spanish Inquisition aimed to prevent conversos from practicing Judaism. Torquemada persuaded the monarchs that unbaptized Jews remained a threat, leading to the 1492Alhambra Decree expelling all Jews. The decree stated that Christian-Jewish interactions caused "great harm" to Christians through contact and communication. It ordered all Jews, regardless of age, to leave the kingdom and never return, under penalty of death and property confiscation. Assisting or sheltering Jews incurred severe penalties, including loss of possessions and titles.[57]
Estimates of expelled Jews vary. Early accounts byJuan de Mariana speaks of 800,000 people, andDon Isaac Abravanel claimed 300,000, while modern estimates, based on tax returns and population data, suggest 80,000 Jews and 200,000 conversos lived in Spain, with about 40,000 emigrating.[58] Joseph Pérez estimates 50,000 to 100,000 expelled.[59]
Expelled Jews, known asSephardic Jews, from Castile mainly fled to Portugal, where forced conversion occurred in 1497, followed by expulsions under thePortuguese Inquisition. Others, calledMegorashim("expelled" in Hebrew), migrated to Morocco and North Africa. Jews from Aragon often went to Italy, not Muslim lands.[60]Sicily, under Spanish rule, with 25,000–37,000 Jews, also faced expulsions in 1492. After Spain annexedNaples,Apulia andCalabria (1510–1535), Jews there were expelled.[61] Many settled in the Ottoman Empire, particularly Thessaloniki, where expellees built synagogues named after Castile, Aragon, and Catalonia in 1492–1493, with three more added by 1502 for those expelled from Spanish-controlled Sicily, Apulia, and Calabria.[61]
Most conversos assimilated into Catholic culture, but a minority secretly practiced Judaism, gradually migrating to Europe, North Africa, and theOttoman Empire, often joining existing Sephardic communities.[62] Persecution of conversos peaked in 1530, followed by blood purity laws (limpieza de sangre), introducing racial discrimination and antisemitism that persisted into the 19th and 20th centuries. Jews could return to Spain in 1868 under a new constitutional monarchy that allowed religious diversity, but the expulsion decree remained until 1968, limiting communal Jewish practice.[63]
The Inquisition targeted Moriscos, converts from Islam, for suspected secret practice of their former faith. A decree on 14 February 1502 forced Muslims in Granada to convert to Christianity or face expulsion.[4] In the Crown of Aragon, most Muslims faced this choice after theRevolt of the Brotherhoods (1519–1523). Expulsion enforcement varied, often ignored in interior and northern regions where Moriscos, protected by locals, had coexisted for over five centuries.[citation needed] Moriscos were suspected of aidingBarbary pirates backed by Spain's enemy, theOttoman Empire, regularlyraided the coast.
TheWar of the Alpujarras (1568–1571), a Muslim and Morisco uprising in Granada anticipating Ottoman support, led to the forced dispersal of about half the region's Moriscos across Castile and Andalusia, heightening Spanish authorities' suspicions.[citation needed] Many Moriscos guarded their domestic privacy, fueling suspicions of secret Islamic practices.[64] Unlike crypto-Jews, Moriscos initially faced evangelization rather than harsh persecution. Absent records, the Inquisition deemed all Moors baptized, thus Moriscos, subject to its authority. A 1526 decree allowed 40 years of religious instruction before prosecution. Fifty Moriscos were executed before clarification. Moriscos, often poor, rural, Arabic-speaking laborers, received limited Church education efforts.[65] In Valencia and Aragon, noble jurisdiction protected many Moriscos, as persecution threatened the economy.
Late in Philip II's reign, tensions escalated. The 1568–1570Morisco Revolt in Granada faced harsh suppression, and the Inquisition intensified focus on Moriscos. From 1560 to 1571, Moriscos comprised 82% of Granada's tribunal cases, dominating tribunals in Zaragoza and Valencia.[66] They faced less severe treatment than Judaizing conversos or Protestants, with fewer executions.[67] In 1609, KingPhilip III, advised by theDuke of Lerma and ArchbishopJuan de Ribera, ordered the Moriscos' expulsion. Ribera cited Old Testament texts urging the destruction of God's enemies to justify the decree.[68] The edict mandated Moriscos leave under penalty of death and confiscation, taking only what they could carry, without money, bullion, jewels, or bills of exchange.[69] Estimates suggest 300,000 Moriscos, or 4% of Spain's population, were expelled, though Trevor J. Dadson argues the impact was less severe in many regions.[70] Valencia, with high ethnic tensions, suffered economic collapse and depopulation.[citation needed]
Most expelled Moriscos settled in theMaghreb orBarbary Coast.[71] Those avoiding expulsion or returning assimilated into the dominant culture.[72] At the Inquisition's peak, Morisco cases comprised under 10% of trials.[citation needed] In 1621, Philip IV ordered a halt to harsh measures against Moriscos. In 1628, the Council of the Supreme Inquisition instructed Seville inquisitors to prosecute expelled Moriscos only for significant disturbances.[73] The last major prosecution for crypto-Islamic practices occurred in Granada in 1727, with most receiving light sentences. By the late 18th century, indigenous Islamic practices had ceased in Spain.[74]
The burning of a DutchAnabaptist, Anneken Hendriks, who was charged with heresy inAmsterdam (1571)
The Spanish Inquisition rarely targeted Protestants due to their limited presence.[75] It labeled anyone offending the Church as "Lutheran." Early trials focused on theAlumbrados, a mystical sect inGuadalajara andValladolid, leading to long prison sentences but no executions. These cases prompted the Inquisition to pursue intellectuals and clerics influenced byErasmian ideas, diverging from orthodoxy. Charles I andPhilip II admiredErasmus.[76][77]
From 1558 to 1562, under Philip II, the Inquisition prosecuted Protestant communities inValladolid and Seville, totaling about 120 people.[b] That period saw heightened Inquisition activity, with severalautos de fe, some attended by royalty, resulting in about 100 executions.[78] Kamen notes that from 1559 to 1566, Spain executed around 100 for heresy, compared to twice as many in England underMary Tudor, three times as many in France, and ten times as many in theLow Countries.[79] These mid-century autos de fe nearly eliminated Spanish Protestantism, a small movement initially.[79]
After 1562, repression lessened, though trials continued. In the late 16th century, about 200 Spaniards faced Protestantism accusations. Most were not actual Protestants; inquisitors or accusers marked irreligious acts, drunken mockery, or anticlerical comments as "Lutheran." Disrespecting church images or eating meat on forbidden days also indicated heresy.[80] Roughly 12 Spaniards were burned for Protestantism during that time.[81]
The Inquisition often treated Protestantism as a sign of foreign influence or political disloyalty rather than a religious issue.[82]
Even though the Inquisition had theoretical permission to investigate Orthodox schismatics, it rarely did. No major war came between Spain and any Orthodox country, lacking reasons to do so. One casualty was tortured by "Jesuits" (though most likelyFranciscans) who administered the Spanish Inquisition in North America, according to authorities within theEastern Orthodox Church: St.Peter the Aleut. Even that single report has various inaccuracies that make it problematic, and confirmation in the Inquisitorial archives.[citation needed]
The Roman Catholic Church has regardedFreemasonry as heretical since about 1738; thesuspicion of Freemasonry was potentially a capital offence. Spanish Inquisition records reveal two prosecutions in Spain and only a few more throughout the Spanish Empire.[83] In 1815,Francisco Javier de Mier y Campillo, theInquisitor General of the Spanish Inquisition and theBishop of Almería, suppressed Freemasonry and denounced the lodges as "societies which lead to atheism, to sedition and to all errors and crimes."[84] He then instituted a purge during whichSpaniards could be arrested on the charge of being "suspected of Freemasonry".[84]
During the Spanish Inquisition,limpieza de sangre (blood purity statutes) targeted Jewish and Muslim converts to Christianity, introducing race-based discrimination and antisemitism. Toledo enacted the first statute in 1449 after anti-converso riots and killings.[85] That statute barred conversos or those with converted parents or grandparents from holding public or private office or testifying in court. In 1496,Pope Alexander VI approved a purity statute for theHieronymites.[85] Religious and military orders, guilds, and other groups added bylaws requiring proof of "clean blood." Converso families faced discrimination or resorted to bribing officials and forging documents to claim Christian ancestry.[86]
By 1530, Inquisition tribunals required towns to maintain genealogy registers, labeling married men and their families as Old Christians or conversos, marking them as "pure" or "impure." Investigations and trials followed if individuals lacked proof of pure lineage or faced suspicion of lying. By the 16th century, these statutes systematically excluded conversos from Church and state roles, fostering fear, hostile witnesses, and perjury. A single Jewish ancestor could cost a family everything, laying the groundwork for race-basedantisemitism.[87]
These statutes hindered Spaniards emigrating to the Americas, as proof of no recent Muslim or Jewish ancestry was required for travel to theSpanish Empire. In 1593, theJesuits adopted theDecree de genere, barring those with any Jewish or Muslim ancestry, however distant, from joining the Society of Jesus, applying Spain's blood purity principle globally.[88] Blood purity tests declined by the 18th century, but persisted into the 19th century in some areas. In Majorca, noXueta (descendants of Majorcan Jewish conversos) priests could perform Mass in a cathedral until the 1960s.[89][page needed]
As part of theCounter-Reformation, the Spanish Inquisition issued "Indexes" of prohibited books to curb heretical ideas. Other places in Europe had similar lists a decade before the Inquisition's first, published in 1551, a reprint of the 1550University of Leuven Index. Further Spanish Indexes appeared in 1559, 1583, 1612, 1632, and 1640. The 1559 Index spanned 72 pages, while the 1667Novus Index Prohibitorum et Expurgatorum reached 1300 pages.[90] The Catholic Church'sIndex Librorum Prohibitorum banned thousands of books from 1560 to 1966.
Some notableSpanish literature works, mostly plays and religious texts, appeared in the Indexes.[91] Several religious writers, now considered saints, had works listed. In early modern Spain, books required prepublication approval from secular and religious authorities, sometimes with modifications. Even approved texts faced later censorship, occasionally decades after publication. As Catholic theology evolved, some texts were removed from the Index. Initially, inclusion meant total prohibition, but this proved impractical and counterproductive for educating clergy. Inquisition officials began expurgating texts by blotting out specific words or passages, allowing these versions to circulate. Some historians argue that strict control was unenforceable, permitting more cultural freedom than commonly thought. Irving Leonard revealed that romances likeAmadis of Gaul reached the New World despite royal bans, with Inquisition approval. In the 18th century, theAge of Enlightenment led to more licenses for possessing prohibited texts.
The Inquisition stifled free and scientific thought. One exiled Spaniard lamented, "Our country is a land of pride and envy ... barbarism; one cannot produce culture without suspicion of heresy, error, and Judaism".[92] While Europe embraced the Enlightenment, Spain stagnated, though this view is debated.[according to whom?]
Censorship proved ineffective, as banned books circulated widely. The Inquisition rarely targeted scientists, and few scientific works appeared on the Index. Spain enjoyed more political freedom than other absolute monarchies from the 16th to 18th centuries, influenced byhermeticist religious ideas and earlyenlightened absolutism.[93] The Index aimed to protect laypeople from misinterpreting symbolic or complex texts, not to condemn the works outright. Scholars often accessed these books freely, and most banned texts, carefully collected byPhilip II andPhilip III, remain in theMonasterio del Escorial library, accessible to intellectuals and clergy after Philip II's death. The Inquisition rarely intervened, though it occasionally urged the king to limit collecting grimoires or magic-related texts.[citation needed]
In 15th-century Spain, no distinction existed between religious and civil law.[dubious –discuss] Breaking a religious law equated to violating tax laws–the Inquisition did not distinguish them. It prosecuted crimes often unnoticed by the public, including domestic offenses, crimes against vulnerable groups, administrative violations, forgeries, organized crime, and offenses against the Crown.[citation needed]
Non-religious crimes formed a significant portion of Inquisition investigations, though distinguishing them from religious crimes in records is challenging, as no official divide existed. Many crimes fell under the same legal article; for instance, "sodomy" included pedophilia as a subtype, with some data on male homosexuality prosecutions actually reflecting pedophilia convictions. Religious and non-religious crimes, while distinct, were often treated equivalently. Public blasphemy and street swindling, both seen as misleading the public, received similar punishments. Likewise, counterfeiting currency and heretical proselytism, viewed as spreading falsifications, faced death penalties and similar subdivisions. Heresy and material forgeries were treated comparably, suggesting equivalence in the Inquisition's view.[95] Trials were complicated by witnesses or victims adding charges, particularlywitchcraft. As withEleno de Céspedes, such accusations were typically dismissed but often appeared in investigation statistics.[citation needed]
The Spanish Inquisition prosecuted witchcraft less intensely than France, Scotland, or Germany. A notable case involved the "witches" ofZugarramurdi inNavarre, persecuted during theLogroño witch trials. Anauto de fe in Logroño on 7–8 November 1610 burned six people and another five in effigy. The Inquisition's role in witchcraft cases was limited, with secular authorities retaining jurisdiction over sorcery and witchcraft long after the Inquisition's establishment.[96][page needed] The Inquisition generally viewed witchcraft as baseless superstition. After the Logroño trials,Alonso de Salazar Frías, who delivered the Edict of Faith across Navarre, reported to the Suprema that "neither witches nor bewitched existed in a village until they were discussed or written about."[97]
The Inquisition prosecuted verbal offenses as "heretical propositions" including outrightblasphemy, questionable statements about religious beliefs, sexual morality, or clerical misconduct. Many faced trials for claiming that fornication was not sinful or doubting aspects ofChristian faith, such asTransubstantiation or the virginity ofMary.[98] Clergy occasionally faced accusations of such offenses. These cases rarely led to severe penalties.[99]
In 1524,Pope Clement VII granted the Inquisition in Aragon jurisdiction oversodomy following a petition from the Saragossa tribunal.[100] Castile's Inquisition declined similar authority, creating a significant regional disparity. Within Aragon, prosecution varied by local law, with Zaragoza's tribunal notably harsh.[101][102]
In 1541, the Inquisition executed Salvador Vidal, a priest, for sodomy, marking the first known case. Convicted individuals faced penalties like fines, burning in effigy, public whipping, or galley service.[103] Valencia recorded the first burning for sodomy in 1572.[104]
The term "sodomy" encompassed non-procreative sexual acts condemned by the Church, includingcoitus interruptus,masturbation,fellatio, andanal coitus, whether heterosexual or homosexual.[105] A 1560 ruling excluded lesbian sex without adildo from prosecution, but bestiality faced routine charges, especially in Saragossa during the 1570s.[106] Husbands also faced accusations for heterosexual sodomy with their wives.[107]
Accused individuals included 19.0% clergy, 6.0% nobles, 37.0% workers, 19.0% servants, and 18.0% soldiers and sailors.[104][failed verification] Nearly all of the roughly 500 cases involvedrelationships between an older man and an adolescent, often coercive, with few involving consentinghomosexual adults. About 100 cases alleged child abuse. Adolescents, especially those under twelve or victims of rape, typically received lighter punishment or none.[108]
Prosecutions declined after the Suprema limited publicity. After 1579, publicautos de fe excluded sodomy convicts unless sentenced to death/ After 1610, even death sentences avoided public announcement. In 1589, Aragon set the minimum age for sodomy executions at 25, and by 1633, such executions largely ceased.[108]
The Inquisition prosecuted crimes against morals and social order, often clashing with civil tribunals. It frequently triedbigamy, common in a society allowing divorce only in extreme cases.[109] Men convicted faced 200 lashes and five to ten years of "service to the Crown", typically five years as agalley oarsman for unskilled individuals—a potential death sentence due to harsh conditions[110] or ten years unpaid work in a hospital or charitable institution for skilled workers such as doctors or lawyers.[111] In Portugal, the penalty was five to seven years as an oarsman.
The Inquisition classified marriages between individuals unable to procreate as "unnatural". The Catholic Church, particularly in war-torn Spain, prioritized reproduction in marriage.[112][113]
The policy applied equally to all, deeming non-reproductive marriages unnatural and reproductive ones natural, regardless of gender. Male sterility, caused by castration, war injuries (capón), or genetic conditions preventing puberty (lampiño), rendered a marriage unnatural. Female sterility, though harder to prove, also qualified. A notable case involving marriage, sex, and gender was the trial ofEleno de Céspedes.[citation needed]
Beyond its role in religious affairs, the Inquisition was an institution at the service of the monarchy. The Inquisitor General, in charge of the Holy Office, was designated by the crown. He was the only public office whose authority stretched to all parts of the Spanish empire (including the American viceroyalties), except for a brief period (1507–1518) during which one Inquisitor General handled the kingdom of Castile, and another inAragon.
Auto de fe,Plaza Mayor inLima, Viceroyalty of Peru (17th century)
TheInquisitor General presided over the Council of the Supreme and General Inquisition (commonly abbreviated as "Council of the Suprema"), created in 1483, which generally had six members (but as many as ten) named by the crown. Over time, the authority of the Suprema grew at the expense of the Inquisitor General.
The Council of Castile and the Council of the Supreme and General Inquisition
By the 17th century, two councilors from the RoyalCouncil of Castile played a key role in overseeing the Council of the Spanish Inquisition, advising the monarchy on legal and religious matters. At this time, the Spanish Inquisition consisted of six primary councilors, two afternoon members from the Royal Council of Castile, and a permanentDominican seat. Additionally, thefiscal (prosecutor) was responsible for managing inquisitorial trials and legal proceedings. With royal approval, the Council adjusted its structure to improve efficiency, including chamber divisions for handling cases. Notable members included:[114]
Joseph González, Commissary General of the Crusade, Councilor of Castile
Doctor Gaspar de Medrano, the second-ranking Councilor of Castile
The Royal Council and the Inquisition remained deeply intertwined, enforcing religious conformity while serving as an instrument of monarchical control.[114]
TheSuprema met every morning, except for holidays, and for two hours in the afternoon on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The morning sessions were devoted to questions of faith, while the afternoons were reserved for "minor heresies",[115] cases of unacceptable sexual behavior,bigamy,witchcraft, etc.[116]
Below the Suprema were various tribunals tasked to combat heresy, initially itinerant, but later settled. During the first phase, numerous tribunals were established, but after 1495 tended to centralize.
In Castile, permanent tribunals of the Inquisition were established:
Each tribunal initially comprised two inquisitors,calificadores (theologians), analguacil (bailiff), and afiscal (prosecutor), with other roles added as the institution evolved. Inquisitors were preferably jurists rather than theologians; in 1608, Philip III required all inquisitors to have a legal background. They typically served short terms, averaging about two years in the Court of Valencia, for example.[118] Most belonged to the secular clergy and held university degrees.
Thefiscal presented accusations, investigated denunciations, and interrogated witnesses, often using physical or mental torture.Calificadores, usually theologians, determined if a defendant's conduct constituted a crime against faith. Expert jurist consultants advised on procedural matters. The court employed three secretaries: thenotario de secuestros (Notary of Property), who recorded the accused's possessions upon detention; thenotario del secreto (Notary of the Secret), who documented testimonies; and theEscribano General (General Notary), who served as court secretary. Thealguacil detained, jailed, and tortured defendants. Other staff included thenuncio, who announced court notices, and thealcaide, who managed prisoner care.
Two auxiliary roles supported the Holy Office:familiares andcomissarios.Familiares, lay collaborators, served permanently, and their role was an honor, signifyinglimpieza de sangre (Old Christian status) and granting privileges. Most were commoners, though some were nobles.Comissarios were members of religious orders who assisted occasionally.
One of the most striking aspects of the organization was its form of financing: without a defined budget, the Inquisition depended almost exclusively on the confiscation of the goods of the denounced.[119] Many of those prosecuted were rich men. The situation was open to abuse, as evidenced in a memorandum that aconverso fromToledo directed toCharles I:
Your Majesty must provide, before all else, that the expenses of the Holy Office do not come from the properties of the condemned, because if that is the case if they do not burn they do not eat.[119]
Upon arriving in a city, the Inquisition issued the Edict of Grace. After Sunday Mass, the inquisitor read the edict, outlining possible heresies and urging the congregation to confess at the tribunals to "ease their consciences". These edicts, named for their grace period (typically 30–40 days), allowed self-accused individuals to reconcile with the Church without harsh penalties.[120][121] The promise of leniency prompted many to come forward voluntarily, often encouraged to denounce others, making informants the Inquisition's main information source. After around 1500, Edicts of Faith replaced the Edicts of Grace, omitting the grace period and promoting denunciation of the guilty.[122]
Denunciations were anonymous, leaving defendants unaware of their accusers' identities, a practice heavily criticized by opponents. False accusations were common, driven by motives beyond genuine concern, such as targeting nonconformists, harming neighbors, or eliminating rivals.[123]
That system turned everyone into a potential informer, elevating denunciation to a religious duty. It filled the nation with spies, making individuals objects of suspicion to neighbors, family, and strangers.[124]
After a denunciation,calificadores assessed whether heresy was involved, followed by the accused's detention. Often, individuals faced preventive detention, with some experiencing up to two years' imprisonment before examination.[125] For example, in Valladolid's tribunal in 1699, suspects, including a 9-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, were jailed for up to two years without evaluation of their accusations.[125]
The Inquisition seized the accused's property upon detention to cover its costs and their maintenance, frequently leaving relatives in poverty. Instructions issued in 1561 aimed to address that issue, but Llorente found no evidence of provisions for the children of condemned heretics.[126]
ApologistWilliam Thomas Walsh noted that the process maintained strict secrecy, concealing accusations from both the public and the accused, who might wait months or years to learn the charges. Prisoners remained isolated, barred from attendingMass or receivingsacraments. Inquisition jails were comparable to secular ones, with some accounts suggesting they were occasionally better.[127]
Two priests and a suspected heretic in a Spanish Inquisition interrogation chamber (Bernard Picart's engraving, 1722). In contrast to the Inquisitor's armchair, Eymeric's manual suggests that the accused be sat on a low bench.[128]
At hearings, accusers and the defendant testified separately. The tribunal assigned a defense counsel, a lawyer, to advise the accused and encourage truthful testimony.[citation needed] Counsel had to abandon the defense upon realizing the client's guilt.[129]
Thefiscal led the prosecution. Thenotario del secreto recorded the defendant's words during interrogation. Inquisition archives stand out for their thorough documentation compared to other judicial systems of the era.[citation needed]
Defendants could defend themselves throughabonos (securing favorable character witnesses) ortachas (proving accusers' witnesses, whose identities remained unknown, were untrustworthy or personal enemies).[130]
Trial structure resembled later trials and, apologists claim, offered advanced fairness for the time. The Inquisition, professional and efficient, relied on the King's political power, withoutseparation of powers. Apologists argue Inquisitorial tribunals were among early modern Europe's fairest for laymen trials.[131][132] Former prisoners' testimonies suggest fairness faltered when national or political interests were at stake.[133] HistorianWalter Ullmann instead claimed, "Hardly any aspect of the Inquisitorial procedure aligns with justice; each element denies it or caricatures it [...] its principles reject even the most basic concepts of natural justice [...] That proceeding resembles no judicial trial but systematically perverts it.[134]
An etching of an imagined Inquisition jail, depicting a priest overseeing a scribe as prisoners are tortured on pulleys, racks, or with torches (date unknown)
The Inquisition usedtorture, per theinstrucciones, to extract confessions or information. Its frequency across the period is disputed.[135]
Torture applied when heresy was "half proven" and could be repeated, per Article XV of Torquemada's instructions.[136] Henry Lea estimated that theToledo court tortured about 33.3% of those tried for Protestant heresy between 1575 and 1610. The Lima tribunal likely tortured nearly all accused in cases from 1635 to 1639; the Valladolid tribunal's 1624 report shows torture in eleven Jewish cases and one Protestant case; in 1655, all nine Jewish cases involved torture.[137]
Vatican Archives suggest lower numbers.[131][138][page needed] Apologist Thomas Madden claimed, "The Inquisition brought order, justice, and compassion to counter widespread secular and popular persecutions of heretics," concluding, "The Spanish people loved their Inquisition. That explains its longevity."[131] Torture proportions varied significantly across periods.[citation needed]
A rack on display at the Torture Museum in Toledo, SpainAn engraved depiction of water torture (1556)In thestrappado torture, the victim's hands are tied behind their back and the body is suspended by the wrists, resulting in dislocated shoulders. Weights can be added to the feet (engraving, 1768)
Torture was applied in all European civil and religious trials. The Spanish Inquisition used it more restrictively than other courts, with strict regulations on timing, methods, targets, frequency, duration, and supervision.[139][page needed][140] Haliczer and others claim that the Inquisition tortured less frequently and more cautiously than secular courts.[141][142]
Kamen and others cited limited evidence of torture, based on newly opened Inquisition archives. Claims of widespread torture were claimed to stem from Protestant propaganda and popular misconceptions.[143]
When: Torture applied when guilt was "half proven" or presumed, per Article XV of Torquemada'sinstrucciones and Eymerich's directions.[144] Eymerich noted that tortured confessions were unreliable and should be a last resort.[145]
What: The Inquisition could not "maim, mutilate, draw blood, or cause permanent damage." Church law banned ecclesiastical tribunals from shedding blood. Still, torture often caused broken limbs, health issues, or death.[146]
Supervision: A physician was typically present and had to certify the prisoner's health before torture, though harm still occurred.[147][148]
Permitted torture methods:garrucha,toca, andpotro, also used in secular and ecclesiastical courts.[146] Thegarrucha (orstrappado) involved suspending victims by their wrists, tied behind their back, sometimes with weights on their feet, causing violent pulls and dislocations during lifts and drops.[149]
Thetoca, orwater interrogation (nowwaterboarding), forced victims to ingest water poured from a jar, simulating drowning.[150] Thepotro (rack) stretched limbs apart and was likely the most common method.[151] Confessions were deemed "true, not forced by torture," though recanting risked further torture.[152] Murphy claimed that under torture, people will say anything.[153][154]Bernard Délicieux, a Franciscan friar tortured by the Inquisition, died in prison and claimed its tactics could have brandedSt. Peter andSt. Paul heretics.[155]
After the trial, inquisitors, a bishop's representative, andconsultores (experts intheology orCanon Law) met for theconsulta de fe to vote unanimously on the sentence. Discrepancies required reporting to theSuprema.[citation needed]
Acquittal, though rare, reflected badly on the inquisitors. A not guilty verdict, if reached, occurred in private.[156]
Suspension allowed the defendant to go free, with the possibility of the case reopening later.[157]
Penance required the guilty to publicly renounce their crimes—de levi for minor offenses,de vehementi for serious ones—and face punishments such as wearing asanbenito, mandatory church attendance, exile, flogging, fines, or serving as a galley oarsman.[158]
Reconciliation involved a public ceremony to rejoin the Catholic Church, alongside harsher penalties such as long jail or galley terms, property confiscation, and physical punishments such as whipping. The reconciled faced bans on professions including advocacy, pharmacy, or medicine, and restrictions on carrying weapons, wearing jewelry or gold, and riding horses. These restrictions also applied to their descendants.[158]
Relaxation to thesecular arm, i.e.,burning at the stake, targeted unrepentant or relapsed heretics. Public executions allowed repentance, with the condemnedgarroted before burning; otherwise, they burned alive. Secular authorities, barred from trial details, enforced sentences under threat of heresy charges.[159][160][161]
Cases often proceededin absentia. If the accused died before trial completion, they were burned in effigy. Inquisitorial actions persisted even decades after death; proven heretics had their corpses exhumed and burned, property seized, and heirs disinherited.[162][163][43]
Punishment frequency varied over time. García Cárcel notes theValencia court imposed death in 40% of cases before 1530, dropping to 3% later.[164] By the mid-16th century, courts deemed torture unnecessary, and death sentences grew rare.[165][failed verification]
Rizi's 1683 painting of the 1680auto de fe,Plaza Mayor in Madrid
A condemnatory sentence required the convicted to participate in anauto de fe, a ceremony formalizing their return to the Church or punishment as unrepentant heretics. These could be public (auto publico orauto general) or private (auto particular).
Initially, publicautos lacked grandeur or large crowds, but they evolved into elaborate, costly ceremonies showcasing Church and State power, drawing festive public audiences. Theauto de fe became abaroque spectacle, staged for maximum impact in large city plazas, often on holidays. Rituals began at night with the "procession of the Green Cross" and could last the entire following day.[166][167]
Artists often depicted theauto de fe; a notable example isFrancisco Rizi's 1683 painting, held by thePrado Museum inMadrid, showing theauto de fe in Plaza Mayor on 30 June 1680. The last publicauto occurred in 1691.[citation needed]
Theauto de fe included a Catholic Mass, prayers, a public procession of the convicted, and a reading of their sentences.[168] Held in public squares, these events lasted hours with ecclesiastical and civil authorities present. Artistic depictions often show torture or burning at the stake, but these occurred separately, as theauto was a religious act. Torture followed trials, and executions happened afterward, though observers and the condemned might have perceived little distinction.[169]
The first recordedauto de fe took place in Paris in 1242 under Louis IX.[170] In Spain, the first occurred in Seville in 1481, with six participants later burned alive.
Auto-da-fé in the Viceroyalty ofNew Spain, 18th century
In the 18th century, Enlightenment ideas became the primary disturbance. Leading Spanish Enlightenment figures, includingOlavide (1776),Iriarte (1779), andJovellanos (1796), faced Inquisition trials. Jovellanos criticized the courts' inefficiency and their operators' ignorance, describing them as "friars who take [the position] only to gather gossip and avoid choir duties; ignorant of foreign languages, knowing only a littlescholastic theology".[171]: 81
The Inquisition shifted to censoring publications, but struggled asCharles III secularized censorship, often favoring theCouncil of Castile's less rigid stance. As an arm of the state within the Council, the Inquisition lost influence. Prominent nobles and government officials, who obtained special licenses to import foreign Enlightenment texts likeDiderot's Encyclopedia, further diminished its control.
Post-French Revolution, the Council of Castile, fearing revolutionary ideas, reactivated the Inquisition to target French works. A December 1789 edict, supported byCharles IV andFloridablanca, banned 39 French texts for promoting "a theoretical and practical code of independence from legitimate powers... destroying political and social order", under penalty of fines.[172]
Opposition to the Inquisition remained clandestine. Texts praisingVoltaire andMontesquieu emerged in 1759. After the Council of Castile lifted pre-publication censorship in 1785,El Censor published rationalist critiques of the Holy Office.Valentin de Foronda'sEspíritu de los Mejores Diarios advocated freedom of expression, widely read in salons. Similarly, Manuel de Aguirre promoted toleration inEl Censor,El Correo de los Ciegos, andEl Diario de Madrid.
DuringCharles IV's reign (1788–1808), despite fears sparked by theFrench Revolution, several factors hastened the Inquisition's decline. The state shifted focus from social organization to public welfare, questioning the Church's vast landholdings in regions likeCastile and León,Extremadura, andAndalucía. These properties, including those of the Holy Office, were leased to farmers or communities under restrictive feudal terms, with rent often paid in cash. The throne's growing power offered Enlightenment thinkers likeManuel Godoy andAntonio Alcalá Galiano better protection for their ideas. They opposed the Inquisition, now reduced to censorship and emblematic of theBlack Legend, as it clashed with contemporary political interests:
The Inquisition? Its old power no longer exists: the horrible authority that this bloodthirsty court had exerted in other times was reduced... the Holy Office had come to be a species of commission for book censorship, nothing more...[173]
The Inquisition was abolished duringNapoleon's rule underJoseph Bonaparte (1808–1812). In 1813, the liberalCortes of Cádiz also secured its abolition, largely due to the Holy Office's condemnation of the revolt against French invasion.[174]
However,Ferdinand VII restored it on 1 July 1814.Juan Antonio Llorente, the Inquisition's general secretary in 1789, turnedBonapartist and published a critical history in 1817 from French exile, leveraging his access to its archives.[175]
The Inquisition was abolished again during theTrienio Liberal (1820–1823), but it persisted informally during theOminous Decade through the Congregation of the Meetings of Faith (Juntas da Fé), established in dioceses byFerdinand VII. The last execution for heresy, of schoolteacherCayetano Ripoll for teachingdeist principles, occurred on 26 July 1826 inValencia, sparking a Europe-wide scandal over Spain's despotic practices.[176][177][178][179]
The amount of confiscated wealth remains unclear. In one year, seizures in the small town of Guadaloupe funded a royal residence.[181] Many Spaniards claimed the Inquisition simply aimed to seize property. A Cuenca resident claimed, "They were burnt only for their money," while another said, "They burn only the well-off." In 1504, an accused person stated, "Only the rich were burnt." In 1484, Catalina de Zamora asserted, "The fathers carry out this Inquisition to take property from conversos as much as to defend the faith. The goods are the heretics." This phrase became common in Spain. In 1524, a treasurer reported to Charles V that his predecessor collected ten million ducats from conversos (unverified). In 1592, an inquisitor noted most of the fifty women he arrested were wealthy. In 1676, the Suprema claimed over 700,000 ducats for the royal treasury, after covering its own budget, which in one case was just 5% of the amount seized. Mallorca's confiscated property in 1678 exceeded 2,500,000 ducats.[182]
Contemporary illustration of the auto de fe inValladolid, where fourteen Protestants were burned for their faith, 21 May 1559
Cárcel estimated a total of 150,000 prosecutions throughout the Inquisition's history. Using a 2% execution rate from 1560–1700 trials, about 3,000 were put to death. Some scholars, citing Dedieu and Cárcel's data for Toledo and Valencia, suggest 3,000–5,000 executions.[1] Others estimate a 1–5% death rate, including religious and non-religious cases, depending on the period.[139][183] This remains lower than the 40,000–60,000 executed forwitchcraft in Europe during a similar period.[1] The Suprema's archives, held in theNational Historical Archive of Spain, document 44,674 judgments from 1540–1700, including 826 executionsin persona and 778in effigie. These records are incomplete, omitting tribunals like Cuenca and showing gaps for others, such as Valladolid. Additional cases, not reported to the Suprema, appear in other sources but are excluded from Contreras-Henningsen's statistics for methodological reasons.[184] Monter estimates 1,000 executions from 1530–1630 and 250 from 1630–1730.[185]
Pre-1560 data rely on local tribunal archives, many lost to time or events. Surviving records from Toledo (12,000 heresy-related judgments, mostly minor "blasphemy") and Valencia show the Inquisition was most active from 1480–1530, with a higher execution rate then. Modern estimates suggest about 2,000 executionsin persona in Spain up to 1530.[186]
Henningsen and Contreras' statistics are based entirely onrelaciones de causas. The number of years for which cases are documented varies for different tribunals. Data for the Aragonese Secretariat are probably complete, lacunae may concern only Valencia and possibly Sardinia and Cartagena, but the numbers for Castilian Secretariat—except Canaries and Galicia are considered as minimal due to documentation gaps. In some cases the number does not concern the whole period 1540–1700.
Table of sentences pronounced in the publicautos de fe in Spain (excluding tribunals in Sicily, Sardinia and Latin America) between 1701 and 1746:[206]
According toToby Green, the unchecked power given to inquisitors left them "widely seen as above the law". They sometimes had motives that had nothing to do with punishing religious nonconformity.[207][208] Green quotes a complaint by historian Manuel Barrios[209] about one Inquisitor,Diego Rodriguez Lucero, who in Cordoba in 1506 burned to death the husbands of two women; he then kept the women as mistresses. According to Barrios:
...the daughter of Diego Celemin was exceptionally beautiful, her parents and her husband did not want to give her to [Lucero], and so Lucero had the three of them burnt and now has a child by her, and he has kept for a long time in thealcazar as a mistress.[210]
Some writers disagree[clarification needed] with Green.[95][page needed][211] These authors do not necessarily deny the abuses of power, but classify them as politically instigated and comparable to those of any other law enforcement body of the period. Criticisms, usually indirect, include suspiciously sexual overtones or similarities to unrelated older antisemitic accounts of kidnap and torture,[95][page needed] and proofs of control that the king had over the institution, to the sources used by Green,[212] or just by reaching completely different conclusions.[213][214]
According to a 2021 study, "municipalities of Spain with a history of a stronger inquisitorial presence show lower economic performance, educational attainment, and trust today."[215]
A 2025 study found that the Spanish Inquisition "had important chilling effects, reducing scholars' willingness to interact with others and inducing them to divert their efforts away fromSTEM fields (or to pursue them outside Spain)". It led to "reversals in previously upward trends in university attendance and book output in STEM fields". STEM scholars typically left Spain or reduced their scientific output in fields that might fall afoul of the inquisitors.[216]
The Spanish Inquisition emerged from a complex interplay of social, political, and religious factors. The "multi-religious hypothesis" highlights Spain’s diverse society, where Catholics, Jews, and Muslims coexisted in relative peace (convivencia), though with unequal legal status, until anti-Jewish riots in 1391 led to mass conversions. The "enforcement across borders hypothesis" suggests the Inquisition was a tool for the Catholic Monarchs to assert royal authority over fragmented noble factions, using Catholicism as a unifying force. The "placate Europe hypothesis" posits that the Inquisition and expulsions of Jews and Moriscos aimed to counter Spain’s negative image as a land of “impure blood” and align it with European Christian norms to secure alliances. The "Ottoman scare hypothesis" points to fears of Morisco collaboration with an expanding Ottoman Empire. The "Renaissance hypothesis" aligns the Inquisition with centralizing political philosophies, while the "checking the Pope hypothesis" views it as a strategic move to limit papal influence by placing the Inquisition under royal control. Economic motives and rising intolerance, mirroring broader European trends, may have also played roles, though purely religious devotion is debated given Ferdinand’s pragmatic political persona.
How historians and commentators have viewed the Spanish Inquisition has changed over time and continues to be a source of controversy. Before and during the 19th century, historical interest focused on who was being persecuted. In the early and mid-20th century, historians examined the specifics of what happened and how it influenced Spanish history. In the later 20th and 21st centuries, some historians have re-examined how severe the Inquisition truly was, calling into question some of the assumptions made in earlier periods.
There was no remedy, fromLos Caprichos, 1797–98, by Francisco de Goya.
18th-century literature critiques the Spanish Inquisition, portraying it as a symbol of intolerance and arbitrary justice. InVoltaire'sCandide, it epitomizes European oppression.
19th-century literature emphasizes the Inquisition's use of torture. The Frenchepistolary novelCornelia Bororquia, or the Victim of the Inquisition, attributed to Spaniard Luiz Gutiérrez and based onMaría de Bohórquez, sharply condemns the Inquisition.
InFyodor Dostoevsky'sThe Brothers Karamazov (1880), the chapter "The Grand Inquisitor" depictsJesus Christ appearing in Seville during the Inquisition. Arrested by an aged Cardinal Grand Inquisitor, he faces death as a heretic. The Inquisitor questions him: "Is it You? [...] Don't answer, remain silent. You have no right to add to what You've said. Why have You come to disturb us? You know You have." Christ silently kisses him, and the Inquisitor releases him, saying, "Go and don't come back... never, never, never!"[217][218]
The filmThe Fountain (2006), byDarren Aronofsky, features the Spanish Inquisition as part of a plot in 1500 when the Grand Inquisitor threatens Queen Isabella's life.
Goya's Ghosts (2006) byMiloš Forman is set in Spain between 1792 and 1809 and focuses realistically on the role of the Inquisition and its end under Napoleon's rule.
The filmAssassin's Creed (2016) byJustin Kurzel, starringMichael Fassbender, is set in both modern times and Spain during the Inquisition. The film follows Callum Lynch (played by Fassbender) as he is forced to relive the memories of his ancestor, Aguilar de Nerha (also played by Fassbender), an Assassin during the Spanish Inquisition.
The Grand Inquisitor plays a part inDon Carlos (1867), a play byFriedrich Schiller (which was the basis for the operaDon Carlos in five acts byGiuseppe Verdi, in which the Inquisitor is also featured, and the third act is dedicated to anauto de fe).
The 1965 musicalMan of La Mancha depicts a fictionalized account of the authorMiguel de Cervantes' run-in with Spanish authorities. The character of Cervantes produces a play-within-a-play of his unfinished manuscript,Don Quixote, while he awaits sentencing by the Inquisition.
Monty Python members Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Terry Jones performing "The Spanish Inquisition" sketch during the 2014 Python reunion.
In theMonty Python comedy team'sSpanish Inquisition sketches, an inept group of Inquisitors repeatedly burst into scenes, after someone utters the words "I didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition", screaming "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" The Inquisition then uses ineffectual forms oftorture, including a dish-dryingrack, soft cushions and a comfy chair.
The Universe ofWarhammer 40,000 borrows several elements and concepts of the Catholic church Imaginarium, including the notion of the Black Legend's ideal of a fanatic Inquisitors, for some of its troops inWarhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr.
The video gameBlasphemous portrays a nightmarish version of the Spanish Inquisition, where the protagonist, named 'The Penitent one' wears acapirote (cone-shaped hat). The Penitent one battles twisted religious iconography and meets many characters attempting to atone for their sins along the way.
^The terms converso and crypto-Jew are somewhat vexed, and occasionally historians are not clear on how, precisely, they are intended to be understood. For the purpose of clarity, in this article converso will be taken to mean one who has sincerely renounced Judaism or Islam and embraced Catholicism. Crypto-Jew will be taken to mean one who accepts Christian baptism, yet continues to practice Judaism.
^InSicily, the Inquisition functioned until 30 March 1782, when it was abolished by KingFerdinand IV of Naples. It is estimated that 200 people were executed during this period.
^Kuzdale, Ann (1998). "Review of Communities of Violence: Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages by David Nirenberg".Journal of the American Academy of Religion.66 (1):191–194.doi:10.1093/jaarel/66.1.191.ISSN0002-7189.JSTOR1466255.
^RAPOPORT, DAVID C. (2016). "Review of Holy War, Martyrdom and Terror: Christianity, Violence and the West, ca. 70 C.E. to the Iraq War by Philippe Buc".Journal of World History.27 (2):332–335.ISSN1045-6007.JSTOR43901855.
^Boase, Roger (4 April 2002). "The Muslim Expulsion from Spain".History Today.52 (4).Most permanently expelled settled in the Maghreb or Barbary Coast, especially in Oran, Tunis, Tlemcen, Tetuán, Rabat, and Salé. Many traveled overland to France, but after Henry of Navarre's assassination in 1610, they emigrated to Italy, Sicily, or Constantinople.
^Martínez, María Elena (2008).Genealogical Fictions: Limpieza de sangre, religion, and gender in colonial Mexico. Stanford, California:Stanford University Press.
^Crowley, Roger (2009).Empires of the sea: The siege of Malta, the battle of Lepanto, and the contest for the center of the world. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks. pp. 77–78.ISBN978-0-8129-77646.
^Cc̀eres, Fernando (2007).Estudios Sobre Cultura, Guerra y Política en la Corona de Castilla [Studies on War Culture and Politics in the Kingdom of Castile]. Editorial Csic Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.
^Kaler, Amy (1998).Fertility, Gender and War: The culture of contraception. University of Minnesota Press.
^abFernández Gimén, María del Camino. "El Origen y Fundación de las Inquisiciones de España" by José de Rivera. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, vol. 23, pp. 11–46.ISSN1131-5571.
^Four burned between 1553 and 1558 (Monter (1990), pp. 37–38 n. 22, one in 1561 (Monter (1990), p. 233), 19 others in the period 1570–1625 (Monter (1990), p. 48) and 10 burned in 1654 (Heinrich Graetz, History of the Jews, Vol. V, 2009, p. 91).
^Two persons condemned to death in 1678 were burned in theauto de fe celebrated in Madrid in 1680 (Lea (1906), p. 300, Volume III). Therefore, they are included in the number of executions for Toledo/Madrid.
^This number includes 7 persons burned ca. 1545 (Lea (1906), p. 189, Volume III), 9 persons burned in 1550–52 (Flora García Ivars,La represión en el tribunal inquisitorial de Granada, 1550–1819, ed. Akal, 1991, p. 194), 14 persons burned in the 1560s.Monter (1990), p. 44, 233), 24 burned between 1570 and 1625Monter (1990), p. 48), 12 burned in 1654 (Heinrich Graetz,History of the Jews, Vol. V, 2009, p. 92) and 6 burned in 1672 (A. J. Saraiva, H. P. Salomon, I. S. D. Sassoon:The Marrano Factory: The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians 1536–1765. Leiden, Boston, and Cologne: Brill, 2001, p. 217 n. 62).
^154 burned between 1557 and 1568 (Morales Marin, J. L."El Alcazar de la Inquisicion en Murcia"(PDF). p. 40.), 11 executed in the period 1570–1625Monter (1990), p. 48) and 25 between 1686 and 1699 (Consuelo Maqueda Abreu,El auto de fe, Madryt 1992, p. 97).
^This number includes 2 executions in theauto-da-fé in 1545 (Monter (1990), p. 38), 114 executions in theautos da fe between 1559 and 1660 (Victoria González de Caldas,Judíos o cristianos?, Universidad de Sevilla, 2000, p. 528) and 12 executions in theautos da fe between 1666 and 1695 (Consuelo Maqueda Abreu,El auto de fe, Madrid 1992, pp. 99–100).
^13 burned in theautos da fe between 1555 and 1569 (E. Schäffer, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Spanischen Protestantismus, Bd. 2, Gütersloh 1902, p. 79–91.), 25 burned between 1570 and 1625Monter (1990), p. p. 48, 2 burned between 1648 and 1699 (H. Ch. Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, vol. IV, New York 1907, p. 524; cf. Joaquín Pérez Villanueva & Bartolomé Escandell Bonet (ed.),Historia de la Inquisición en España y América, vol. 1, Madrid 1984, p. 1395), and 26 burned in twoautos da fe in Madrid w 1632 and 1680 (H. Ch. Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, vol. III, New York 1907, p. 228).
^This number includes 6 executions given by Henningsen and Contreras for the period 1620–1670Henningsen (1993), pp. 58, 65, 26 burned in two famousautos-da-fé in 1559 (Monter, 1990 & pp- 41, 44 harvp error: no target: CITEREFMonter1990pp-_41,_44 (help)), 2 burned in 1561 (Monter (1990), pp. 41, 44, 233), 15 burned between 1562 and 1567 (E. Schäffer,Beiträge zur Geschichte des Spanischen Protestantismus, Bd. 3, Gütersloh 1902, p. 131) and 5 burned in 1691 (1906, p. 197 harvp error: no target: CITEREF1906 (help)).
^Archivo General de Indias. Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Subdirección General de los Archivos Estatales. 2000. Expediente 63, Expediente 81A, n. 33
^Contreras, Jaime; Henningsen, Gustav (1986). "Forty-four thousand cases of the Spanish Inquisition (1540–1700): analysis of a historical data bank". In Henningsen, Gustav (ed.).The Inquisition in Early Modern Europe: Studies on Sources and Methods. Northern Illinois University Press.
Llorente, Juan Antonio (1817).Histoire critique de l'Inquisition d'Espagne (4 volumes) (in French). Imprimerie de Plassan.
Pastor, Ludwig von, History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages; Drawn from theSecret Archives of the Vatican and other original sources, 40 vols. St. Louis, B. Herder 1898
Pérez, Joseph (2005).The Spanish Inquisition: A History. Yale University Press.
Pérez, Joseph (2005b).Los judíos en España [The Jews in Spain] (in Spanish). Madrid: Marcial Pons.
Pérez, Joseph (2009).Breve Historia de la Inquisición en España (in Spanish). Crítica.
García Cárcel, Ricardo (1976).Orígenes de la Inquisición Española. El Tribunal de Valencia, 1478–1530. Barcelona.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Graizbord, David L.Souls in Dispute: Converso Identities in Iberia and the Jewish Diaspora, 1580–1700. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2004.
Homza, Lu Ann (2006).The Spanish Inquisition, 1478–1614, An Anthology of Sources. Hackett Publishing.
Kamen, Henry (2005).Inkwizycja Hiszpańska [The Spanish Inquisition] (in Polish). Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.ISBN978-83-06-02963-5.
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Kritzler, Edward,Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean. Anchor Books 2009.ISBN978-0-7679-1952-4
Monter, E. William (1990).Frontiers of Heresy: The Spanish Inquisition from the Basque Lands to Sicily. Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-52259-5.
Nirenberg, David. (2013).Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.ISBN978-0-393-34791-3. ch. 5 "Revenge of the Savior: Jews and Power in Medieval Europe", ch. 6 "The Extinction of Spain's Jews and the Birth of Its Inquisition"
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Cappa, Ricardo –La Inquisicion Espanola (1888)
Cardew, Alexander –A Short History of the Inquisition (1933)
Castellano y de la Pena, GasparUn Complot Terrorista en el Siglo XV; los Comienzos de la Inquisicion Aragonesa, (1927)
Coulton, George Gordon –The Inquisition (1929)
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Herculano, Alexandre,Historia da Origem e Estabelecimento da Inquisiçao em Portugal (English translation, 1926)
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Jouve, Marguerite –Torquemada (1935)
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Marín, Julio Melgares –Procedimientos de la Inquisición (2 volumes), (1886)
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Merveilleux, Charles Frédéric de –Memoires Instructifs pour un Voyageur dans les Divers États de l'Europe (1738)
Montes, Raimundo González de –Discovery and Playne Declaration of Sundry Subtile Practices of the Holy Inquisition of Spayne (1568)
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Walsh, William Thomas,Isabella of Spain (1930) andCharacters of the Inquisition (1940). Both reprinted by TAN Books (1987).
Wilkens, Cornelius August :Spanish Protestants in the Sixteenth Century (1897), 218p.read online at archive.org"Title Catalog". The Library of Iberian Resources. Retrieved17 May 2006.
Rutgers, Leonard V.; Bradbury, Scott (2006). "The Diaspora, c. 235–638". In Katz, Steven T. (ed.).The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period. The Cambridge History of Judaism. Vol. 4.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-77248-8.
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