The Spanish Inquisition

The Inquisition, specifically the Spanish Inquisition, is something we have heard referenced in film, short stories, and novels but what was it really? Why is the Spanish one notable? Were there other inquisitions? To answer these questions, I have to get into how the medieval Roman Catholic Church operated, but not too into it, that would require a lot of writing that I am not willing to do at this time (thank me later). For those that enjoy torture, religious zealots living up to the term zealot, and people being burned alive, then this article is for you. But you know what also is for you if you enjoy those things? Therapy.

Before we dive in, I want to highlight the use of terms here, Spain throughout most of its history was not united under what we call now Spain. It was a series of kingdoms that eventually were united under two monarchs from the two largest kingdoms, Castile and Leon in 1469 CE. However, the Iberian Peninsula was made up of kingdoms like Castille, Asturias, Leon, Aragon, Portugal, and many other smaller ones throughout its medieval history. But for the sake of simplicity, we are going to call the Christian/Catholic monarchies in this article Spanish and use Spain to identify the region and Kingdom that eventually is united and rules the entire peninsula (except for Portugal) in 1492.

Ok, let’s start with what seems to be the easiest question, but is actually pretty complex, what was an Inquisition? The answer is going to differ depending on which countries' inquisition we are discussing. There were many inquisitions: the Roman Inquisition, The Papal Inquisition, and inquisitions in what is now Spain that precede THE Spanish Inquisition, to name a few and keep the list short. There were inquisitions in almost all Western European countries during the medieval period. Broadly speaking, Inquisitions were official Roman Catholic institutions or trial like processes that were set up to uncover, destroy, and repress “heresies” that the church felt threatened their control. The inquisitions were led by Inquisitors who oversaw these efforts of suppression. The inquisitors operated with near total impunity but had to adhere to church law and doctrine. Torture in these Inquisitions was legally sanctioned by the Church through a Papal directive under Pope Innocent IV, called Ad Extirpanda, issued in 1252. The torture an accused had to endure was not (key word here) to result in permanent physical damage or death but was utilized as a tool to get suspected heretics to confess to their accused heresy, and then used against them when sentencing or punishment came. An individual was only allowed to be tortured once but inquisitors found a way around this by accusing individuals of multiple crimes and torturing them for each charge. Methods of torture throughout the Inquisition’s history consisted of the Rack, waterboarding, and putting someone on the Wheel or Pulley. If an individual did not survive the torture, they were still shamed as heretics and their bodies were hung up on display for the public. The punishments could range from whippings, having to go on a pilgrimage, to execution depending on the accusation and compliance of an individual. If an accused did not confess and name names of other heretics, they could expect torture and execution.

So, now that we have established what an inquisition is, why was there one in Spain and why is it the one that everyone remembers? The answer to the second question is simple, it was the longest lasting, and has been made famous by movies, books, and stories. Additionally, it was used as an example of Catholic cruelty and corruption during the Protestant Reformation and exaggerated into being much more widespread than it really was. But the first question is a little more complex so let’s discuss the Reconquista, or the Reconquest, that was on the mind of every Spaniard from the 8th century to the 15th century CE. In the 8th century, Spain was invaded by warriors from North Africa that eventually became to be known as the Moors. These Moors swept up the Iberian Peninsula and at one point led incursions into what is now France, only to be repulsed and establish a front line north of Barcelona. From the 8th century on, every Spanish monarch made it their goal to push Christian control of the peninsula further south in what is arguably the longest lasting Crusade. Finally, in the year 1492, forces under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella conquered the last Moorish stronghold, Grenada, and united Spain under Catholic control. I blew through about 700 years of history there and you could not even imagine the number of factions, players, and personalities involved. There are many books out there about the Reconquista as it is a titan of a historical subject, hence, I could not attempt to summarize it fully in this article.  But why is it important to our inquisition? Well, because there are two major religious factions vying for control in the peninsula for hundreds of years, areas that would fall under one or the other would be mixed in religious make up. During this period as well, Spain had a significant Jewish population to mix in with the Muslim and Catholic numbers. Throughout most of this period, these three faiths GENERALLY lived alongside one another (minus the whole war thing, pogroms/discrimination against the Jewish population, and slaughter of Muslims, Catholics, and Jewish people, every time one side seized a city/town/region) but that changed once the Catholics defeated the Moors for control. Also, in 1492, Spain expelled all of its Jewish population, they had to leave (160,000 chose to leave) or convert. Those that did convert were known as Converso and Muslims (forced to convert or leave in 1526) were known as Morisco. These converts, even though officially converted to Catholicism, were constantly under the threat of discrimination and accusations of carrying on their former faiths in secret. At the same time all this drama was going on in Spain, Western Europe saw a number of different religious movements spring into existence and were subsequently deemed heresies. Examples would be the Cathars, Hussites, and Waldensians. The Church set up inquisitions to root out these “heretics” and felt the same thing would be needed in Spain to root out false converts, followers of other “heretical” doctrines, or those who preached false miracles and events. The Spanish Inquisition as we know it, officially began in 1478 and shockingly lasted until 1834.

Due to the length of the Spanish Inquisition, it’s impossible to fully summarize it succinctly, so, I am going to break it down in a few phases. The first would be the phase that focused on the Conversos, Moriscos, and the early Inquisition. This early period saw around 2,000 people burned at the stake for just being formerly Jewish or Muslim and not confessing to carrying on their former faith in secret. Conversos were accused of outlandish things like spreading the plague, kidnapping Christian babies and boys for ritual sacrifice, and poisoning water supplies of towns (these poisonings either didn’t exist or were actually outbreaks of disease, such as cholera). During this period, medieval justice was especially cruel and consisted of public trials and spectacles involving royalty, the accused’s family, and friends. Common during these proceedings was to seize the wealth and property of those accused. Those accused of heresy or false conversion weren’t allowed to face their accusers, receive a defense, and were often accused without evidence or on false testimony.

The second phase of the Inquisition (16-17th century) focused on repressing the Protestant Reformation and prominent clergy or Catholics that didn’t fully follow the teachings of the church by the book. The inquisition worked very diligently to root out those who started to question the teachings of the Papacy and The Catholic Church, utilizing the same methods that they used to repress and essentially extinguish the Muslim and Jewish population of Spain. Prominent Catholic clergy and scholars were accused of heresy for promoting new interpretations or ideas even if they were still considered canonical.

The third and final phase of the Inquisition is the decline and fall. The Inquisition during this period (17- 19th century) was focused on keeping Spain catholic and rooting out forbidden ideas, those who read banned books, and intellectuals promoting Humanist and Enlightenment ideals. All this carried on until the invasion of Spain by Napoleon in the early 19th century, eventually being banned outright by that small statured French Emperor (the short king narrative of Napoleon is false by the way, blame the Brits for that one). After Napoleon’s defeat in 1814, it was reinstated, then finally stamped out again in 1832 as part of a deal that Spain had to sign with France to help put down a rebellion within Spain. The last person executed in Spain by the Inquisition was in 1826.

Here is a fun fact for you, the Inquisition still technically exists within the Catholic Church although it operates differently and has received a nice new name change since its final dissolution in Spain, and as of 2022, called The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith or informally, The Holy Office.