The Spanish Inquisition

Podcast Transcript

At the end of the 15th century, Spain had almost completed the Reconquista and the removal of the Caliphate in the Iberian Peninsula, ending centuries of Islamic rule.

One of the first things they did was usher in an attempt to unify and purify the country as a Catholic one, rather than a multi-religious one.

After receiving permission from the Pope, the Spanish monarchy persecuted hundreds of thousands of people for the crime of not being Catholic.

Learn more about the Spanish Inquisition, why it occurred, and common misconceptions surrounding it on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

The Spanish Inquisition was an event that took place over a much longer period than most people realize, and was the response to another extremely long period in Spanish history.

The Spanish Inquisition was a 350-year campaign aimed at ensuring religious conformity in Spain.

An inquisition is technically an official inquiry or investigation into a specific matter, but as we’ll see, the Spanish Inquisition went far beyond this, involving harsh interrogations and brutal punishments.

Historically, the Catholic Church used inquisitions to investigate and punish heresy. During the Spanish Inquisition, 150,000 people were accused and prosecuted for this crime.

To understand the Spanish Inquisition, it is first necessary to understand the state of Spain in and leading up to the 15th century.

During the 13th century, Spain consisted of multiple kingdoms. The two primary kingdoms for this episode were the Christian Kingdoms of Aragon and Castile.

Aragon and Castile led a series of Christian conquests across Spain to reclaim territory that had been lost to Muslims. This event was known as the Reconquista, and I covered it in a previous episode.

After the muslims were mostly ousted, the country was united under a “composite monarchy.” This means that each respective kingdom would have its own laws, customs, and culture, but be united underneath a single monarch.

During the Reconquest, incidents of violence broke out, including the murder of thousands of Jews in 1391.

Following multiple anti-Jewish riots, half of all Spanish jews converted to Catholicism, becoming what can be known as “conversos.”

Despite converting, conversos were still in plenty of danger. They were often distrusted by Catholics, who felt they still practiced Judaism in secret, and frequently attacked by violent mobs.

Likewise, after the conquest of Granada in 1492, Spain also ruled a sizeable Muslim population, many of whom were later baptized as Christians. They were known as Moriscos, who were likewise suspected of crypto-Islam.

The Spanish Inquisition began near the end of the Reconquista. At this time, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella ruled over Spain. Both monarchs were devout Catholics who felt that Jews and Muslims threatened Spain.

To address their fear, the two monarchs wrote to Pope Sixtus IV to grant them the right to establish an inquisition. This request was granted, and the Spanish Inquisition began.

The first step in the creation of an inquisition was the creation of a tribunal to carry it out. As such, Ferdinand and Isabella established the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition.

The tribunal structure had multiple layers, with the Council of the Supreme and General Inquisition, or “The Suprema,” as the top layer.

The Suprema was the only formal institution made by the monarchs. There were typically six members of the Suprema, with the Inquisitor General presiding over the body.

The Inquisitor General was nominated by the Crown and then appointed by the Pope. Their duty was to oversee the policies and activities of the Suprema.

The Suprema mainly oversaw the local tribunals, who would be in charge of investigating and judging cases within their jurisdiction.

Local tribunals consisted of a Grand Inquisitor, constables, attorneys, and scribes.

The Grand Inquisitor was the highest-ranking official and would oversee the operations of the tribunal.

The next cog in the machine was the inquisitors. Their main job was to identify suspects and investigate, which would be completed through testimonies, surveillance, and formal accusations.

From there, inquisitors would preside over trials. In these trials, they would act similarly to a jury. They would examine the provided evidence, question the suspect, and ultimately give a verdict.

The main goal for inquisitors would be to ensure the religious conformity of those who converted to Catholicism.

From there, the next layer would be the arresting constable. The constables acted as enforcers, carrying out the orders of the inquisitors. They mainly executed arrest warrants and delivered suspected individuals into custody.

Once delivered into custody, one of the inquisitors would take over the role of “prosecuting attorney.”

This “attorney” was the investigator of the case and was tasked with uncovering if the suspect was guilty of heresy and deciding whether or not to prosecute them.

The final layer of the local tribunals would be the scribes. Scribes would attend torture sessions and record names given by suspected heretics.

The layers of each tribunal made up an effective machine to help identify potential heretics and maintain Catholic control in Spain.

The first Grand Inquisitor was Tomás de Torquemada who was appointed in 1492.

Many of the procedures for the inquisition can be traced back to Torquemada, as he created the Inquisitor’s Code.

This code outlined the punishments for heresy and how the Inquisition would take place. It also classified heresy as treason and therefore punishable by death.

One of the major tenets of the Inquisitor’s Code was the “Edict of Grace,” or a grace period, where those who confessed to heresy, denounced their religion, or turned in any family members, friends, and acquaintances would be spared.

After the edict ended, it became fair game for the inquisitors to persecute anyone suspected or accused of heresy.

Several things were looked for to suspect if someone was still a practicing Jew. One of these was whether a chimney was smoking or not on a Saturday. No smoke was a sign that Jews were honoring the Sabbath. Another sign was buying vegetables instead of meat before Passover.

Additionally, many people were accused of heresy by anonymous accusations. These accusations were typically very vague, and those accused were presumed guilty. They were often just people exercising personal grudges.

Those arrested usually had no idea who had accused them and could be imprisoned for months or years at a time. While imprisoned, their property would be confiscated, which would often result in their families becoming homeless.

Those arrested also had the potential to face torture. The primary forms of torture used were: water torture, torture on the rack, and suspending people by their wrists, tying weights to their feet, and dropping them multiple times.

Contrary to popular belief, victims were not put in comfy chairs.

Those who decided to confess would need to do so publicly at events known as auto-da-fé or “acts of faith.”

During these events, the accused would be marched into public squares where a mass would be held. After mass, confessions would be made, and the sentences of the accused would be read to the public.

Afterward, the guilty would be handed over to the authorities for their sentences.

Common punishments include penance, public flogging, prison sentences, and working as galley-slaves. Other forms of punishment included exile or wearing a marked garment that declared them a sinner.

The worst punishments would be being burned alive at the stake, though this punishment was much more uncommon and reserved for those who refused to renounce their religion.

To avoid being burned alive, many of the accused would confess to minor forms of heresy, like hanging their laundry on the street on Saturdays.

The first group targeted by the Spanish Inquisition was the Jews.

Torquemada urged the monarchy to issue a decree against Spanish Jews. The decree would give the Jews just four months to convert to Christianity or leave the kingdom. Anyone who stayed risked being punished.

This resulted in roughly 40 to 100 thousand Jews being expelled from the kingdom.

As mentioned before, those who did convert, the “conversos,” were far from safe, despite the majority of them being willing to assimilate and adopt Catholicism.

After the persecution of Jews, the Inquisition shifted its focus to the “moriscos,” who converted from Islam.

The first legislation passed against the Moriscos was in 1502, which stated that Muslims needed to convert to Christianity or be expelled from Spain.

This was less effective than the edicts against Jews, and the results depended on which kingdom was carrying out the orders. Kingdoms in the interior and north had been integrated for centuries, which led to the edict being essentially ignored.

As the Inquisition carried on, the conditions did become worse for muslims. More edicts followed, and morisco trials did occur, but the majority of cases resulted in lighter punishments than their Jewish counterparts.

There were also Christian heretics, though these cases were few and far between. Those accused of Protestantism or Lutheranism had longer trials and typically ended with prison sentences. There just weren’t that many Protestants in Spain.

There were also hunts for witches, though this was much less of a concern in Spain than in other European countries. The Spanish viewed witchcraft as a superstition and the Inquisition felt there was often no real basis to the accusations and never pursued them.

While the Spanish Inquisition is considered brutal by today’s standards, many of the practices carried out within Spain can be regarded as relatively modern for the time.

For example, accusations would need to go through panels of experts, which can be comparable to a jury today. Traditionally, this was never done.

The defendant was allowed to submit the names of people who held grudges against them to make the evidence unreliable. Additionally, the defendant would have the legal right to representation, which was unique when compared to countries like England and France.

Obviously, there were tactics used during the Spanish Inquisition that are far from modern, namely torture. Torture was standard for most courts at the time, but what made the Spanish case unique was that torture was only used in 2% of cases.

Also, as far as torture goes, the torture in Spain was less cruel than in other countries.

According to the rules, torture could only last for 15 minutes at a time and was never applied more than two times.

Additionally, if there was a concern of mental illness or “furiosus” in the accused, torture was typically not carried out. This was because those suffering from mental illness were considered unable to disbelieve what they were taught knowingly and therefore could not be a heretic.

Another common myth of the Spanish Inquisition was the number of executions.

When you compare the number of deaths from the Spanish Inquisition to other tribunals, the number is pretty small.

The Spanish Inquisition has an estimated death toll of 1,000 to 5,000 people. Most of the deaths came from the first few decades.

During the same amount of time, the rest of Europe was experiencing witch hunts, which saw an estimated 60,000 people executed.

The reason why the Spanish Inquisition has developed such an exaggerated reputation is that much of the reporting was from Protestant countries in Northern Europe, who used what was happening in Spain as anti-Catholic propaganda.

Some of the propaganda reports on the Inquisition put the death toll into the millions, which was simply impossible for that time.

When the Enlightenment reached Spain in the 18th century, the Inquisition began to slow down as its ideas were challenged.

Despite attempts at censorship, Enlightenment ideals still entered Spain through foreign texts and word of mouth, and the ideas began to spread amongst the nobility and government.

The inquisition technically lasted until 1834, but had been abolished a few times before that.

The first time was when Napoleon invaded and took over Spain from 1808 to 1812. The inquisition was reinstated after Ferdinand VII recovered the throne, but was re-abolished in 1817.

This abolishment lasted for three years. Though the inquisition was never formally reestablished, it was still de facto practiced.

During the de facto Inquisition, a school teacher named Cayetano Ripoll was the last person executed in 1826.

This execution was the final one, as it sparked controversy across Europe as an example of tyranny within Spain. Just six years later, the Inquisition was formally abolished.

While the actual severity of the Inquisition was exaggerated, the impact the Inquisition had on Spain cannot be understated.

For over 350 years, Spanish society suffered from extreme paranoia, social unrest, and fear. Free thought in both religious and scientific contexts was completely stifled.

The climate of suspicion and fear of persecution, along with the expulsion of tens of thousands of Spain’s most skilled individuals, stifled economic growth and limited entrepreneurial activity, ultimately playing a major role in the nation’s economic decline during this era.

Because of this, the Spanish Inquisition was not only a period of religious persecution and fear, but something that affected every sphere of Spanish life.