Spanish Inquisition Research Paper

491 Words2 Pages
The Spanish inquisition was considered to be a dark chapter in human history, filled with tyranny and death. It is a period of death and depravity marked by the persecution of multiple groups of peoples that will forever be remembered as a bloody stain on the history of Christianity. The monstrous tales of tyranny by church and state officials in efforts to eradicate heresy, are both shocking and horrifying. The Spanish Inquisition was actually requested by the rulers of Spain, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand V, who were married in 1469 in order to consolidate their kingdoms and form a power base in Spain. And at their behest, the inquisition, also known as the Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición, was officially established by a papal bull, Exigit Sincere Devotionis. It was issued by Pope Sixtus IV on November 1, 1478 (Kamen 37). Tomás de Torquemada, who was a prominent member of an order of Spanish Dominican monks, was appointed to the position of Grand Inquisitor…show more content…
Which lead to the persecution of two groups of people primarily during the inquisition, the Cathars and the Conversos (Lemiux 44). The Cathars, who were basically Gnostic, were a spiritual people. Cathar beliefs varied between communities because Catharism had set few guidelines and was eventually condemned by the Catholic Church as the Church of Satan. The conversos on the other hand were Jews who outwardly converted to Catholicism to escape persecution. Unfortunately that conversion didn’t mean the escape of suspicion for most. The inquisition sought to punish Jews who had converted to Christianity but were not really 'sincere' in their conversions. Ranking members of the inquisitors issued orders that forced Catholics to spy on any neighbors who were known to be conversos and even gave pointers on how to tell if they were still practicing Judaism so they could turn them
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