A brief introduction to the Spanish Inquisition and Torture

1. The Spanish
Inquisition
Torquemada “The Black
Legend”

2. What was the Inquisition?
 Occurred mostly in the 15th-16th Centuries
 Finally stopped in 19th Century
 “inquisition”refers to the Catholic Church
or its Monarchs finding and punishing
heretics
 Heretics were baptized members of the
church who had different ideas than the
church or those who had converted to
save themselves but did not belive

3. Background
 Itwas founded by King Ferdinand and
Queen Isabella in 1478
 Freedom of religion did not exist in Spain
or its territories
 The Catholics wanted to maintain
Catholic traditions despite the
Reformation
 They wanted to ensure that Catholic
converts followed Catholic Law

4. Death estimates are in the range of 35,000 to 50,000

5. Early Days
 At first the Catholics gave non-Catholics a
choice: convert or sell your land and
move out of the country
 Non-Catholics who did not convert or
leave the country were tortured
 If they did not convert they were then
killed
 The Church was also after adulterers,
“witches”, and non-traditional Catholics

6. Procedures
1. Accusation (Edict of Grace)
 An Inquisitor would read a list of heresies
and encourage citizens to confess to
heresies they committed
 If you admitted to a crime you would only
be given a minor punishment
 You needed to give names of other
heresies so the church could find them!

7. Procedures
2. Detention
 The one accused would be isolated in
prison while priests and officials looked at
their case
 Sometimes the person in jail would be
there for months without knowing why
they were placed there

8. Procedures
3. Trial and Sentencing
 In a usual trial the accused would be
tortured until they admitted the crime
 The accused would either be sentenced
to death, freedom (very rare) or if they
admitted their crimes they would go
through the Auto de fe
 The Auto de fe was a public ritual where
the accused publically declared their sins

9. Forms of Torture
 toca: water torture, forced down throat
 potro: tied onto rack by tight cords that
could be tightened
 garrucha: hung by wrists on pulley, weight
on feet, pain and dislocation

12. Other Forms of Torture

13. Torquemada
 Nicknamed “The Black Legend”
 Very close to Isabella
 Pope named him one of the Grand
Inquisitors
 Vented his hatred of Jews and heretics
forcing up to 300,000 out of Spain

14. Story of Torquemada
 Watch the video clip
 Take notes on what makes Torquemada
evil

15. Torquemada By the #’s
 Towns would have about 50 executions
and 200+ prisoners
 Fined 1/5th of property
 Would flagellate themselves on 6
successive Fridays
 5,000 people were captured in first year,
50 a day were burned