While on our vacation in Granada, Spain in May, one of the places we visited was the Inquisition Museum to learn about the history of this awful period in Spain's history. I (Rob) hesitated to go, because I'm sensitive to bad energy, and the museum was filled with actual torture devices that were laden with negative energy. In this blog, though, we'll explore the history of how the Inquisition started and what it was.
WHAT WAS THE INQUISITION? It was a movement of torture to convert people to Christianity, or murder them.
WHO WERE THE VICTIMS OF THE INQUISITION? Spain’s Jewish population, which was among the largest in Europe, soon became a target. Gay people, Moors, and other non-Christians were all tortured and put to death in horrible ways, simply because they were not Christians.
WHEN DID THE INQUISITION BEGIN? The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition, was established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, Spain.
IT LASTED 350 YEARS! - Spanish Inquisition, (1478–1834), judicial institution ostensibly established to combat heresy in Spain. In practice, the Spanish Inquisition served to consolidate power in the monarchy of the newly unified Spanish kingdom, but it achieved that end through infamously brutal methods.
(Drawing Left: English merchant Nicholas Burton, who was accused of attempting to promote Protestantism in Spain, being tortured by agents of the Spanish Inquisition in Cádiz, Spain, 1560.)
WHAT CAUSED THE INQUISITION? - The medieval inquisition had played a considerable role in Christian Spain during the 13th century, but the struggle against the Moors had kept the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula busy and served to strengthen their faith. When toward the end of the 15th century, calls for "religious unity" were louder.
WHO WAS THE FIRST GRAND INQUISITOR? The first grand inquisitor in Spain was the Dominican Tomás de Torquemada; his name became synonymous with the brutality and fanaticism associated with the Inquisition. Torquemada used torture and confiscation to terrorize his victims, and his methods were the product of a time when judicial procedure was cruel by design.
INQUISITION SPREAD TO OTHER COUNTRIES, INCITING TORTURE AND MURDER - Under the supreme council of the Spanish Inquisition were 14 local tribunals in Spain and several in the colonies; the tribunals in Mexico and Peru were particularly harsh. The Spanish Inquisition spread into Sicily in 1517, but efforts to set it up in Naples and Milan failed. In 1522 Holy Roman Emperor Charles Vintroduced it into the Low Countries, but its efforts to wipe out Protestantism were unsuccessful. John III of Portugal, with the permission of Pope Paul III, introduced a tribunal like the Spanish Inquisition against Portuguese Jews in 1536. Though John III’s methods led the pope to revoke the grant, the Inquisition was definitely established in Portugal in 1547, at which time its scope was also widened.
NEXT: SOME INQUISITION METHODS (Not for the Squeamish)
No comments:
Post a Comment