The sunlight wakes you up on another morning, you get out of bed yawning while in the background
you hear the beautiful singing of the birds, it seems like it’s going to be a good day;
when suddenly you hear a series of fast, loud knocks. Someone is knocking on the door,
you approach slowly, but before you even touch the knob, a group of men armed with swords and
shining armor bursts into your home breaking down the door.... it is the 16th century and
you have been accused of heresy. Now your life is in the hands of the Spanish Holy Inquisition,
may God have mercy on your soul. This little story could easily have happened
to anyone who lived in the Spanish lands and its colonies between the
13th and 18th century. At that time, the church, together with its inquisitors,
had the absolute power to condemn you based solely on their judgment and a series of
rules written by themselves in manuals such as the famous "Malleus Maleficarum".
Today we will learn about the history surrounding the Spanish
Holy Inquisition and what it was like to fall under their power for any accusation
against the church... whether it was true or not…Welcome to Copernicus’s Galaxy.
The dark history behind the creation of the Spanish Inquisition
The dark story about how the Inquisition acted, especially the Spanish Inquisition, is based on
the lack of knowledge about the historical facts and feeds on controversy... However, today we
know that condemning anyone for their religious beliefs is wrong and it is true that atrocities
were committed against thousands of people by the Spanish Inquisition... yes, they were fewer than
in other places, but that does not mean that they are unimportant, nor are they easier to forgive.
To understand a little more about what happened, it is necessary to know why this
religious institution was created and what its purpose was at the beginning. At the start of
the eighth century, Spain was made up of a mainly Catholic population, which coexisted peacefully
with other groups of different religions without many complications such as Jews and Christians.
All this began to change after the Muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, where
they suffered intolerance, fanaticism and abuse from the enemy, generating resentment towards any
opposing religion. It is noteworthy that religion and the monarchical government of that time went
hand in hand, so that any belief outside the Catholic made them enemies of God and the King.
Among the religious groups that received more hatred was the Jewish people, a particularly large
community in the Spanish lands of that time. To begin with, they were considered a nation without
territory that came to invade theirs, in addition to reaping the repudiation of Catholic communities
to be the only ones who were enriched in the midst of widespread poverty that hit Europe during the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as they had a monopoly on loans and leasing of land, and we’re
considered usurers. All this resentment towards them led to protests and revolts against the Jews.
In response to these disturbances, they began to create restrictions for the Jews and sought to
convert them to Catholicism. Many of them did it with the intention of evading the obstacles that
were put on them, thus achieving higher positions within society, while behind closed doors they
continued to carry out their previous religious practices, giving birth to "crypto-Judaism".
With time, the truth came to light, causing the Jewish converts to be seen as infiltrators who
wanted to conquer power and impose their religion, political, social and economic
organization for their own benefit. With the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, the
kingdoms of Castile and Aragon emerged, thrones to which Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II
respectively arrived. They married and planned the unification of all Spain under the same religion,
thus creating five royal councils. Among them was "The Supreme and General Inquisition",
with the authorization of Pope Sixtus IV to appoint leaders and inquisitor members in 1478,
whose task was to control society, concentrating their efforts on the defense of faith,
public and private morality, as well as fidelity to the monarchs and social peace.
Attempts were made to bring the converted Jews back to the Catholic Church and convert
the rest without success, being persecuted by the Holy Inquisition
and finally expelling all those who had not accepted the Catholic faith wholeheartedly.
What were the dreaded trials of the Spanish Inquisition like?
It is impossible to know the exact number of people that the Spanish Inquisition condemned,
it is extremely difficult to analyze all the existing documents that keep the causes of
these trials, so we can only give an estimate of the number of people who perished under the yoke
of this religious organization. About 5 thousand were the accused who died at their hands, 1,346 of
which were burned at the stake during the hundreds of years that the Inquisition existed in Spain.
They had the authority to exercise judgments over those who committed crimes against faith,
religion, good morals, the dignity of the priesthood, the sacred vows and
the Holy Office based on the accusations presented and their own point of view.
The dark history stems mainly from the stories invented by the population and
told from generation to generation in a quest to understand what was going on
inside these mysterious courts, since everything was done with the greatest
possible secrecy under threat of being treated in the same or worse way than
heretics to anyone involved who commented on what happened during the investigations.
Although it was necessary that 3 honorable people accused the heretic, demonstrating that they had
no motive driven by hatred, envy or any negative feelings towards the accused, every case had to
be questioned, being thoroughly reviewed by the inquisitors, presented with the "qualifiers",
who prepared the inquisitorial process and consulted with expert ecclesiastical authorities
at a high level. There were also isolated events where people could be accused and sentenced for
ridiculous reasons, such as making jokes about God or simply for being ugly, since they maintained
that such an unpleasant appearance could only be the result of continuous contact with the devil.
In such incomprehensible cases, it was normal that deceitful stratagems were used to get the
accused to confess or at least look guilty, from making it look like they already knew everything
and talking softly, to the typical strategy of gaining their trust and sympathy with food,
drink, family visits and promises to reduce their sentence if they confessed... If none of
this worked, they would apply extremely painful tortures. At some point they would confess to
anything to stop the torture, and if they didn't, enduring the pain and dying in the torture room,
they would reach the blessed position of martyr, as if they were doing them a favor. This way
they would excuse themselves for their actions and continue with their work without regard.
Torture used in the trials that followed all the rules, unlike those previously mentioned,
was only applied in extreme cases, being very few, because the true and main purpose of the
Holy Inquisition was the salvation of as many souls as possible, so they focused
on convincing them to confess and repent of their sins. In case they did it voluntarily,
most of the sentences were benevolent, fines, prayers and pilgrimages were the most common.
In the distant case that torturous methods were used, they were applied in the most
meticulous way possible, trying not to spill blood or cut any part of the body,
as this was strictly forbidden. These procedures could not last more than 1 hour and 15 minutes,
and were always presided over by the executioner and a series of people, including a doctor who
supervised the actions of the executioner so that he would not go beyond the limits.
The most used torture device, not only by the Holy Inquisition, but also by the civil courts of the
time was "The rack", which consisted of a table and ropes attached to a wheel. The prisoner was
tied so that with each turn of the wheel his limbs were stretched causing an indescribable sensation
and sometimes fracturing the limbs. This was the most popular method around the world at this time.
In the "water punishment", a rag was stuffed down the throat and water was slowly poured
over it, causing an unbearable sensation of lack of oxygen,
while the accused was incited to confess in order to stop the trial.
Finally, there was the "garrucha" which consisted of holding the prisoner with
his arms behind his back and raising him up and then letting him fall,
stopping him just a few centimeters before touching the ground, causing his joints to break.
Tomás de Torquemada, the "Devil's Hand" of the Spanish Inquisition
In every story there is a villain and although human reality has shown us that there is neither
black nor white, but a wide scale of grays that intermingle with the circumstances of the time,
there is always someone who stands out, who may seem like the very incarnation of
evil. In this case, its a character who in his time was an example of holiness,
however, transcended as a symbol of intolerance and cruelty.
Fray Tomás de Torquemada had the honor of occupying the position as the first
General Inquisitor of the kingdom of Castile and Aragon for his admirable
virtues, highlighting to Queen Isabel I his prudence, righteousness and holiness. It
should be noted that Torquemada was the royal confessor of the monarch.
He was known as "the hammer of the heretics" for being implacable against
anyone who professed a different religion, especially towards the Jews, a people with
whom he shared roots as he originally came from a Jewish family that had converted to
Catholicism. He was incorruptible, firm in his convictions... wonderful aptitudes misguided,
because the dark history of the Spanish Inquisition attributes to him more than 10
thousand executions at the stake and another 20 thousand people imprisoned, tried and sentenced
to horrible torments in the 10 short years that he served as leader of the Holy Office.
It was only the beginning of the period in which persecutions were at their peak,
so it is easy and credible to assign him such a number of trials. Some more conservative
historians lower the figure to no more than 3,000, however, the evidence points out that
the years he led the Inquisition were the worst against religious minorities.
In 1492, he was one of the main supporters of the Decree of Granada,
which definitively expelled the Jews from Spain who were not willing to convert. He
spent the last years of his life in the convent of Santo Tomás de Ávila,
from where he continued to dictate orders to his inquisitors until his death on September 16, 1498.
The hell of the Spanish Inquisition also reached the Americas
Being one of their most recent conquests, they could not allow what they called the
"Jewish menace" to escape into the new Spanish lands and corrupt the
natives they had invested so much effort to evangelize, establishing a tribunal to deal
with those inhabitants who continued to practice their ancient pagan rites.
With this concern in mind, the monarchs and religious authorities asked the monks and
priests residing in America to add to their duties both the persecution and punishment
of Jews who could manage to reach these territories and of the natives who were
caught performing sacrifices, witchcraft or any act that was against the faith.
In time, Inquisition tribunals were established in the main cities of the conquest, Mexico and
Lima in 1569 and Cartagena de Indias in 1610. However, unlike the Peninsular Inquisition,
these were much less severe due to the fact that the Indians at that time were barely being
instructed in the Catholic religion and most of them could not yet understand the dogmas, much
less distinguish them from heresies. Therefore, many of the inquisitorial efforts on this side of
the planet were focused on the Spanish colonists, trying in turn to set an example to the natives.
The times that torture or death sentences were applied to the American inhabitants
were few and exceptional... at least within the competence of the Holy Office, since it
was the intention of the Spanish monarch that the court was loved and respected rather than
hated. In the end, it is estimated that during the entire time that the Inquisition
acted in colonial America there were just over 5,700 cases and only 72 executions,
not counting those suffered by the natives outside the inquisitorial jurisdiction.
The decline of the Spanish Inquisition
The Holy Office was already facing its imminent disappearance since the
eighteenth century because it did not agree with the new enlightened thinking
that was being introduced in Spain, only the reduction of the autos de fe
in the reigns after Philip V hinted at its loss of authority and power.
Even so, it managed to survive another 100 years thanks to the conservative minds of
the old regime that still pressed for the spirit of the Inquisition to be maintained,
however, these were relegated to the role of book censor, prohibiting and withdrawing any
writing or work of art that attacked the Catholic faith and the absolute power of
the crown. Unfortunately for them, the disarray of the institution was becoming increasingly evident,
as they contradicted each other between provincial courts with decisions on their new duty.
The discontent of the masses towards the work of the Inquisition was notorious,
which was seen mainly when at the end of 1808 Napoleon decreed the eradication of
the Holy Office with the beginning of the War of Independence that Spain had against
France, and this was well received. Only two years later, the abolition of this religious
institution was debated in Cadiz with the new constitution that would be approved, however,
due to the tense discussions between the liberals and conservatives, this was released without any
article related to the Holy Office, to finally decree a half abolition since they were not
disintegrating it, but simply declaring it incompatible with the new Constitution.
Unfortunately, with the return of Fernando VII to Spain, the constitution was declared null and void
and the inquisition court was declared in force, resuming its practices through the so-called
Juntas de fe, where the murky process against the teacher Cayetano Ripoll was carried out when he
was denounced for not teaching the principles of the Catholic doctrine to his students,
being hanged under that crime and becoming the last victim of the Spanish Inquisition in 1826.
With the death of Fernando VII, his widow María Cristina de Borbón put an end to the
existence of the Inquisition by means of a royal decree,
and a year later completely dissolved the juntas de fe in a discreet and peaceful manner.
The Holy Office remains and will remain one of the most controversial issues that exist, not only the
events perpetrated by the Spanish Inquisition, but all religious institutions under that name
that committed atrocities and inconsistencies against lives for centuries. So many suffered
and died at their hands that we may never know the exact amount, but if a ray of light falls
on these heinous acts and clarifies everything, we will be here to tell you, at Copernicus’s Galaxy.