The Spanish Inquisition What was the Spanish Inquisition

The Spanish Inquisition

What was the Spanish Inquisition? � The word "inquisition" refers to the tribunal court system used by both the Catholic Church and some Catholic monarchs to root out, suppress, and punish heretics. � Heretics were baptized members of the Church who held opinions contrary to the Catholic faith. • Took place in Spain in the mid-1400 s • Sought to punish Jews who had converted to Christianity but were not really “sincere” in their conversions. In other words, they were “secretly” still Jews. • The job of the Inquisition was to find such people, torture them until they admitted their “crime, ” and then kill them.

Why the Inquisition? Mainly, money and power, but mostly money � To maintain its authority, the Church � � � suppressed heretics. The Church had a very specific definition of heresy: A heretic publicly declared his beliefs (based upon what the Church considered inaccurate interpretations of the Bible) and refused to denounce them, even after being corrected by the authority. He also tried to teach his beliefs to other people. He had to be doing these things by his own free will, not under the influence of the devil. Established by King Ferdinand Es Queen Isabella of Spain. Reasons for the Inquisition included a desire to create religious unity and weaken local political authorities and familial alliances. Money was another motive -- the government made a profit by confiscating the property of those found guilty of heresy.

The Trials � The accused was required to testify, and he didn't get a lawyer or any other assistance. If he refused to testify, the Inquisitor took this refusal as proof of his guilt. Anybody could testify against him, including relatives, criminals and other heretics, and he wasn't told who his accusers were. � The accused usually didn't have any witnesses testify on his behalf, because they could also fall under suspicion of being a heretic. He also wasn't always immediately informed of the charges against him.

Trial Proceedings � Persons who confessed to heresy escaped torture but were forced to give names of other heretics. � The goal of inquisitors was to always gain a confession—people could be imprisoned for years until they confessed! � Inquisitors were trained to questions suspects in confusing or leading manners. � Torture could be used (as a last resort) to wring a confession out of a poor, unfortunate soul—a method the Spaniards wholeheartedly embraced!

�Starvation, consuming and holding excessive amounts of fluids, and heaping burning coals upon the body were some of the “slower” methods used to get confessions. Tortures Galore!

Strappado: hanging a victim up by his arms, jerking him up and down; could pull limbs out of sockets The Rack: victim was strapped table and his limbs were slowly pulled in opposite directions

The Iron Maiden

Capital Punishment (always performed by someone other than the Inquisitor of course!)