The Deadly History of the Spanish Inquisition

PART 2:

religions and beliefs those in power however not so much in 1478 Ferdinand and Isabella requested and received a papal bull which allowed them to Institute their local branch of the Inquisition the first courts were established in 1481 and the first Inquisitor general of the Spanish Inquisition was appointed in 1483 the notorious Thomas damada in the following decade the monarchs completed the Reconquista defeating the Islamic Kingdom of Granada in 1492 on March the 31st of that year Ferdinand and Isabella issued the alhamra decree ordering that

all Muslims and Jews should convert to Christianity or face Exile thus the main task of the Spanish Inquisition became to put under trial the conversos or converted individuals suspected of practicing their old religions in secret the Inquisition took to this objective with gusto from 1483 to 1515 T mder and Friends conduct Ed a total of 5700 trials however we should note that this flurry of activity seldom resulted in guilty sentences let alone the death penalty in fact about 88% of the accused were found not guilty and were allowed

to be reconciled with the Catholic Church the remaining 12% or about 700 individuals did die at the stake Colin McGary at University College cork however argues that this initial trialing frenzy was a means to protect converted Moors and Jews from extrajudicial mob violence which could have exacted a much higher death toll had the Inquisition not intervened massacres of conversos did continue in Portugal in fact so much so that many of them fled to Spain seeking the protection of the Inquisition the initial Decades of the Inquisition s its

peak of anti-jewish activities but in the mid-6th century the moriscos or Muslim converts became the main target this was a consequence of two events first the rebellion of the alaras marisco uprising in 1568 then an economic recession session which prompted Christians to grow resentful of the wealthy morisco families according to Henry Carmen from the 1570s in Aragon of Valencia the Moors formed the bulk of the persecutions in the Inquisition in the court of Granada itself the Moors represented 82% of the accused between

1560 and 1571 the persecution culminated on April the 9th 16009 when King Philip III issued a decree expelling all marisco from the peninsula by 1613 some 300,000 Mariscos have been expelled from southern Spain and from Aragon with certain cities such as Valencia losing up to a third of their population in the light of these Mass expulsions the Inquisition can be considered a tool used by the crown to enact a harsh policy of cultural and religious homogeneity in its first 130 years of activity the Inquisition had dealt

decisively with its initial targets most Jews had now been successfully assimilated while the Moors had been altogether expelled thus in the following decades the Spanish Inquisition differentiated its portfolio activities targeting other offenses such as Superstition heresy bigamy insulting the Inquisition itself protestantism and Witchcraft now about witchcraft let’s get this out of the way shall we it may surprise you but the Spanish Inquisition did not hammer down on witches as much as the rest of Europe and surely less

than the Protestant countries the best kept records regarding the trials of witches pertain to the regions of Catalonia and Valencia from 1560 to 1600 the local tribunals tried fewer than 64 people accused of Witchcraft in these areas areas in the first decade of the 1600s inquisitors recorded a spike of activities with a total of 72 cases from 1610 to 1670 the courts maintained a steady rhythm of 54 tried witches per year before figures dropped to an average of four per year these records however don’t capture the nature of the

sentences for that we have to refer to a specific case which took place in zurara Mur in the Nar region in 1608 a local woman accused several Villages of being part of a witch’s coven congregating in a cave the evidence she had a dream about it Inquisitor Hanan Val Alvarado came to investigate initially charging more than 300 locals eventually he brought to trial only 40 of them of which 29 were declared guilty in June 1610 in November they were subjected to an auto defay or an Act of Faith these were public ceremonies held by the

Inquisition during which the sentences were read in front of a large crowd in a Public Square the accused would have given the chance to repent and swear an oath to the Inquisition if they refused they’d be burnt at the stake in this specific case 18 of the accused confessed their sins and were forgiven six resisted confession and were burned alive the remaining five well they’ already died in prison so they were burned in effigy meaning that statues bearing their likeness were thrown onto the Flames the case of zugar Mori is

considered the harshest and bloodiest episode of how the Inquisition dealt with witchcraft in Spain the majority of inquiries against this particular charge however had a far less dramatic outcome a good example of this is the case of Juan Duran a blacksmith tried in Barcelona in February 1653 by inquisitors Bernardo CA and Domingo abber Iha according to the trial’s official records Duran had declared that quote he possessed a book containing a prayer of such efficacy that if it were thrown into a fire along with a crucifix

the book would be preserved and the crucifix consumed and the quoting again he had a book worth 50 duckets as by merely looking at it he could cure any disease and even restore the dead to life moreover Witnesses believed that the cures he had performed quoting again have been executed by his diabolical arts and the league he has made with the Devil the inquisitors concluded that it is to be presumed that the said prisoner has uttered many other superstitious and blasphemous speeches and done many other things by the help of the devil with

whom he holds a particular intimacy so we have charges of blasphemy necromancy magic healing and consorting with the devil which sounds quite serious in a religious tribunal cottoner Abad however M it out what appeared to be the standard sentence for the time Duran had to attend the mass quote in the manner of a penitence and with the Insignia of a necromancer he should then perform an abjuration to Levy meaning the renunciation under oath of a heresy finally Duron would be banished from his hometown of man rasa for four leagues

roundabout during the space of four years the cases of zagari and quand Duron provide a good glimpse into the methods enacted by inquisitors which tended to be well codified into printed manuals and generally predictable a popular Monty Bon sketch taught us that nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition in reality though everybody was well aware of inquisitors coming to investigate or judge a new case when they arrived at a town they first presented their credentials to secular and religious authorities inquisitors

then announced their presence to the population by attending Mass during a feast day or other religious events this step arguably nullified their chief weapon at least according to Monty Python quoting surprise surprise and fear fear and surprise inquisitors then issued an Edict of Grace which allowed a period of clemency during this period whoever stepped forward admitting their guilt would be pardoned and reconciled with the church without punishment nor trial after the period of clemency had expired the inquisitors issued an Edict

of Faith which initiated the proper Judiciary process including investigations interrogations trial and if needed torture we will cover torture in detail another section today but we’re now going to look at other aspects of the inquisitorial process starting with imprisonment the accused individuals would often be jailed during the investigation and leading up to trial the mention of Spanish Inquisition jails make conjure images of dire damp and dark dungeons in reality jail defendants enjoyed plenty of light and

open air and depending on the nature of the charges could be allowed to walk freely during the day and then return at night they were allowed to receive visitors and bring in their own possessions such as food mattresses new clothes or even luxury items and even when defendants packed lightly authorities provided them with regular meals which included servings of wine and even chocolate overall the jails managed by the Inquisition enjoyed much better conditions compared to other Spanish and European prisons at the time

the stint in jail was concluded when the tribunal issued a verdicts contrary to popular belief the Inquisition proved to be fairly balanced issuing not- guilty verdicts if evidence and testimonies did not prove culpability if defendants were found guilty in most cases the Inquisition allowed for them to be absolved and reconciled with the church if they repent it depending on the nature and severity of the charges defendants could endure harsh and humiliating tariffs nonetheless such as being stripped to their waist and being

whipped in public while mounted on a donkey or paraded in front of the local populace during an auto defay the harshest possible sentence was of course death by burning at the stake to that respect the Spanish Inquisition has earned its Grim reputation the heat generated by the Flames induced maddening amounts of pain in the victims while organs and bod tissue quickly shrunk due to the loss of fluids when the nerve endings were completely burned victims experienced a brief resite from the pain before smoke and hot gases

caused their death by asphixiation this was a gruesome public spectacle designed to instill fear among onlookers and caution them from committing the same crimes as those being executed crimes which let us not forget nowadays would never be labeled as such now popular perception has cemented the idea that the Spanish Inquisition may have burned at the stake tens of thousands thousand of individuals with figures ranging from between 30,000 and 100,000 first we should clarify that the Inquisition technically never burned anybody the

inquisitors would hand over the sentenced individuals to secular authorities and it was up to them to carry out the execution second the numbers are not nearly as high as those popularly quoted official records for the period from 1540 to 1700 show that the Inquisition conducted some 87,000 Trials of which 1,300 resulted in a death sentence a total of about about 0.

015% a similar analysis may be applied to another staple of inquisitional law torture again according to popular perception the Spanish Inquisition may have subjected tens of thousands of individuals to elaborate and excruciating torture in order to extort confessions but according to Ron hassner professor of political science at University of California Berkeley use of torture was far less frequent indiscriminant and arbitary than one may expect Professor hassner reviewed detailed records from the inquisition’s tribunal in Toledo dated 1575 to 1610

based on these hassner concluded that torture was used on 12% of the defendants of which less than oneir released a confession as Consequence the aim of Professor hass’s research is not to exculpate the Inquisition from their sin of applying Corporal punishments on defendants but rather to show how tightly codified the use of torture was both in its methods and its intended objectives first let’s discuss those methods secular European tribunals at the time employed a wide array of torture implements and techniques these

were brutal and imaginative ranging from whips to the application of hot bricks or Hot Irons to the groin to the use of Contraptions to break victim’s bones in contrast the Spanish Inquisition relied on only three forms of torture considered to be the least harmful relatively speaking of course these were the Potro the strappado and the toer the Potro was a rack on which the victims were stretched by pulling a thick rope which was twisted around their arms and cut into their FL lash the stado was a type of pulley which vertically

suspended victims by their wrists often resulting in dislocated limbs finally the TKA could be described as a type of water boarding in which jars and jars of water were poured into a victim’s mouth through the use of these torments inquisitors did not expect victims to confess that they were actually Muslim Jew or Heretics the aim of torture sessions was to get victims to confess to observable practices which related to their religion heresy or crime in other words interrogated were not satisfied with victim screaming in pain yes I’m

secretly a Jew and my conversion to Christianity was a sham what they were after was an admission along the lines of it is true I do not eat pork and I do not work on the Sabbat so why focus on these observable external aspects of religious practices well to begin with inquisitors seldom use torture to extort a confession which may have been false or inaccurate they use torture instead to corroborate and interrogate existing evidence and testimonies which also Focus on observable practices rather than the opinions of the accusers facts

and not beliefs if you like and in their Quest compete and corroborate testimonies focused on facts often inquisitors went as far as torturing Witnesses in the trial and not just the defendants one aspect to clarify is who decided if a witness or defendant was to undergo torture this decision was actually put to the vote of the consulate a body which included the inquisitors as well as local clergy and judicial authorities only if the consulter voted 100% in favor the victim would be led to the torture chamber even

so the victim had the right to appeal to the Supreme Court of the Inquisition which may rule against the consulter but even if this body voted in favor the accused were given several warnings giving them opportunity to provide their statement without undergoing torture if this step failed they would be led to the torture chamber local executioners were enlisted as torturers while inquisitors posed the questions a represent of the local bishop and a doctor always had to be present and then the torment started briefly interrupted

after each Twist of the Rope or jar of water shov down the throat the inquisitors then questioned the victims simply encouraging them to tell the truth and completely avoiding leading questions a method which prevented victims from blindly confessing to whatever accusation was thrown at them if the victims remain silent or refus to cooperate the torture escalated however painful these sessions rarely lasted long and were cut short if the inquisitors found them nonproductive if the victims offered the information

deemed as satisfactory or if they remained silent throughout in this latter case the trial would end with a not- guilty verdict or with a very lenient sentence and even when the defendant confessed under torture they had the opportunity to recant said confession one or two days later now there is a risk that the torments could resume but this was rarely the case as the formal regulations of the Inquisition prohibited torturing an individual more than once the Spanish Inquisition was definitively abolished in July 1834 throughout its almost 4

centuries in existence it prosecuted converted Muslims and Jews Heretics Protestants witches and other categories and it did torture and kill individuals on the basis of allegations which would be laughed off in any modern European Court their torture rates and death tolls however are not nearly as high as commonly perceived even the practices of Inquisition tribunals were better codified more rational and often more lenient than their secular counterparts both in Spain and abroad such an institution definitely deserves its Grim

reputation however its Dark Legacy does appear to be exaggerated compared to the misdeeds of other European judicial institutions of the time according to historians such as Harry Carman and Henry Charles Lee this Dark Legacy is largely the result of the black Legend sensationalistic anti-spanish anti-catholic propaganda spread as early as the 16th century in the second half of the century King Philip II was tied up in a protracted war against Protestant rebels in the Netherlands and their main supporter Elizabeth in

England it was these enemies of Spain who spread exaggerated tales of the Terrors brought about by the Inquisition inciting other European populations to resist or rebel against Spanish military occupation the message was clear fight against Philip II lest he exports his Inquisition to your country the origin of the black Legends however appears to be homegrown namely political Exile Antonio Perez the scheming Secretary of King philli who defected to England in November 1591 fearing execution pre’s Legend was so convincing that it planted

roots amidst European collective consciousnesses in the 18th century the enlightenment intellectual movement dealt another propaganda blow against the Spanish Inquisition perceived and portrayed as the epitome of religious persecution and backward Superstition curiously also the second wave of black Legend discourse was propped up by a defecting secretary Juan Antonio Loren former secretary to the Inquisition in Madrid the third wave which cemented the current image of the Spanish Inquisition was Unleashed by English and American

historians in the 1820s during the neonic Wars the Spanish colonies in South America had gained independence when the bonapart Menace had been dealt with in Europe Spain had plans to reconquer its American possessions this threat prompted anglophone authors to circulate narratives about the excesses and intolerance of the Inquisition thus inciting the newly independent South American countries to resist the counterrevolution which actually never took place according to dra ortis University of North Florida writing for

the Osprey Journal of ideas and inquiry quote pre- 1960s Scholars misconstrued the fact acts when they looked at the Inquisition records they only focused on the cases that resulted in the bankruptcy or execution of convicted Heretics they neglected to mention the less severe and more prevalent penalties handed down by the Inquisition nor did they mention instances in which inquisitors spoke out against the discrimination and violence plaguing Spanish Society it was up to post 1960 Scholars to provide a more rounded and

accurate view of the Spanish Inquisition one of the most prolific authors the already quoted Henry argues that the overall death rate of the Inquisition was less than 2% a total of 2600 people kman further demonstrated that the Inquisition never held an iron grip over the Spanish population for a very simple reason at any one time there were about 30 to 40 active inquisitors in Spain supported by some 400 subordinates surely this scant Force could not be omnipresent but was rather distributed in major Urban centers common and other

revisionist historians have thus contributed to downsizing the heavy Shadow car by the holy Office of the Inquisition they also highlighted how its methods were not uniquely cruel or intolerant for the time and were comparable to those used by tribunals in other European countries but even after removing the filter of the black Legends even revisionist authors must acknowledge that the holy office was once one of the darkest institutions in Spanish history it may have tortured or burned fewer defendants that it was once

credited for and it may have been less brutal than its counterparts but nonetheless the Inquisition was responsible for hundreds of unjust deaths and traumatic injuries inflicted upon innocent individuals moreover as a tool for the Spanish grounds policies in the 16th and 17th centuries it contributed to the expulsion of tens of thousands of previously well- integrated Muslims and Jews