THE SPANISH INQUISITION 1478 (E4)
xxxxxAs we have seen, the Inquisition -
xxxxxOnce the Muslims had been driven out of Spain -
xxxxxThe trials were conducted in secret, often with the use of torture, and penalties varied from fines, imprisonment, flogging, mutilation and death. Suspects were often arrested on the most flimsy of evidence, but very few of the accused were ever acquitted. The ultimate penalty, death by burning, was termed as “relaxation”. The unrepentant heretic was “relaxed” into the hands of the civic authorities and they carried out the sentence. Those heretics who had managed to flee the country were burned in effigy so that the court could then “legally” confiscate their property and possessions. By such means the Inquisition -
xxxxxSentences were carried out at an elaborate public ceremony known as the auto-
xxxxxThe first Grand Inquisitor was the confessor and advisor to Queen Isabella, the Dominican monk Tomas de Torquemada, a name which has become synonymous with terror and torture. During his tenure of office (1483-
xxxxxAs we shall see, apart from Spain, the Inquisition was introduced into Italy (established in 1542) as well as in Portugal, France, and the Holy Roman Empire, and was particularly active during the Reformation, the Protestant movement that swept across northern Europe during the latter part of the sixteenth century. The Inquisition was not suppressed in Spain and Portugal until the early part of the nineteenth century. The great Spanish painter Francisco de Goya was summoned before it in 1815 when his painting The Naked Maja was judged to be both obscene and immoral. The last victim was a schoolmaster in 1826. Accused of Deism, he was garrotted and then put in a barrel painted with flames. In July 1834 (W4) Spain’s new Queen Regent signed the edict which ended it all: “It is declared that the Tribunal of the Inquisition is definitely suppressed”. The Inquisition or Holy Office continued to deal with ecclesiastical discipline, but was renamed Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1965.
xxxxxAs we have seen, a church court was established in 1231 (H3) to combat the Albigensians, an heretical movement in southern France. If the accused did not confess his or her sins then a suitable punishment would be meted out, often death by burning. Torture to extract confessions was authorised in 1252 and in 1478 the Spanish rulers Ferdinand and Isabella set up their own independent Inquisition. Aimed at first against Muslims and Jews who had become Christians but still practised their old faith, it was later used against the Protestants. Trials were held in secret, torture was often used, and punishments ranged from fines to death at the stake. Sentences were carried out in an elaborate public ceremony known as an auto-
Including:
Tomas de
Torquemada
Acknowledgements
Damned: by the Spanish painter Diego Velazquez (1599-
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