Spanish Inquisition

The First Crusade took place from 1096 to 1099. When the Byzantine army was defeated by the Seljuk Turks at the battle of Manzikirt, this created an outburst of chaos and civil war within themselves. When Alexius Comnemus took the throne, she decided to send Pope Urban II a letter asking for help. Pope Urban made a speech declaring the call for a Crusade to fight against the Seljuk Turks. Urban asked Christians to join forces to work to free the Holy Land from Muslim invaders.

Spain and Portugal spreading Catholicism among the native people was the excuse that the pope used to justified colonization.

The Spanish Inquisition lasted from 1478 to 1834. The goal of the Spanish Inquisition was to expel, convert or kill all Non-Catholics from Spain in Spain. When people were accused heresy they would be pit on trial, but before they could be on trial they had to sit in jail which most of them were unsanitary and people were given little food to eat. The punishments people received if they were found guilty were: torture, public humiliation, and death. The trials were unfair, unjustified and not necessary. The Spanish Inquisition did not help spread Catholicism and in fact slowed the spread because of the fear that it instilled in Non-Catholics.

Kamen notes the ambiguous pressure on Jews, as despite the anti-semitism of contemporary Europe, the ‘Aragonese crown protected the Jews and conversos firmly, rejecting all attacks on them‘ and how any existing anti-Semetic legislation went unenforced (Kamen 15). Even after Ferdinand and Isabella initiated their reign in 1474, the monarchs were ‘never personally anti-Semitic’ and their intervention in domestic politics demonstrated an ‘impressive picture of the monarchy protecting its jews’ (Kamen, 16). In actuality, the inception of the Inquisition and the subsequent expulsion of the Jewish population was prompted by the actions of ‘Judaizers’, who were made up of conversos who had attempted to persuade newly assimilated Christians to return to their original Jewish faith. The efforts of these Judaizers concerned the crown and as a result the Inquisition was officially founded on September 27, 1480 as a means of regulating the the disruptive and disobedient conversos.

The history of the Jewish people in Spain is certainly a pivotal time period that changed the future of the Jews and specifically, the Sephardic Jews. At the time of the issuing and signing of the Edict of Expulsion on March 31, 1492, Spanish Jews were experiencing the most persecution that had been felt in the many centuries of which the Jews had been in Spain. Spanish Jewry came to a dramatic end after almost a millennium of Jewish presence in the country. Spanish Jewry’s golden age, however, the Jews experienced almost no persecution, resulting in a new centre of Talmudic study, before suffering from a relapse of anti-Semitism that eventually led to the Inquisition and the Edict of Expulsion. (SOURCE 1) This essay will discuss and analyze

The Islamic presence in Spain would lead to a medieval Inquisition which served as a background to the Spanish Inquisition. During the time of the 700’s, Islam was expanding to the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa(Spanish Inquisition). This led them to the South of Spain(Spanish Inquisition). Because Spain was

Although the Spanish Inquisition does not start until around 1480, it has its roots in the late fourteenth century. Anti-Semitism began in the fourteenth century during a period of plague and economic hardship in Europe. The resulting violence and hatred along with campaigns to get Jews to convert to Catholicism persuaded many Jews to convert. However, these New Christians once again became the object of hatred because it was believed that many of them were faking being Christian and still practicing Judaism. It was during this period that the Spanish Inquisition began. The Inquisition’s main goal was to rid Spain of all Jews in an effort to keep the New Christians from reverting back to their Jewish ways. Disregarding the fact that the inquisition was completely immoral, it was successful in ridding Spain of Jews and the uniting the country in Catholicism; but, the goal was also to end anti-Semitism, and the inquisition only strengthened and extended the reign of the anti-Semitic ideology.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the new world. That year also marked the fall of the Moors (Medieval Muslims). They ruled over the Moor Kingdom of Granada in the Iberian Peninsula from 711 to 1492, where the three Abrahamic religions lived in peace. In that year, the battle of Granada caused their great empire to fall. After this battle, Muslims were forced to convert to Christianity or be expelled from the land. This oppression went to the extent of forbidding any Islamic acts, behaviors, and scriptures, with violators being prosecuted, which resulted in unfair and unjust treatment for the Moors in Spain.

The Spanish Inquisition In the year 1469 there was a union between the Spanish kingdoms,

The Spanish Inquisition is characterized by its vast and brutal tortures, contrasting with what Catholics are currently teaching and practicing today. This leads to the controversy of where exactly this case stands legally, even morally, as it puts into question the infallibility of the pope, the teachings of the Church, and more. Using “Records of The Spanish Inquisition”, translated from the original manuscripts, written by Inquisidor General de Espana, actual court cases during the inquisition will be recounted. The gravity of the circumstance is further established with the proclamation of the “Edict of Expulsion of the Jews”, which was issued by the royalties at the time, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, in 1492. Taking into account

Medieval times era was horror for the people in Spain because of the Spanish inquisition.The Spanish Inquisition was a Christian Group formed by Queen Isabella (queen of Castile) and Ferdinand (the king of Portugal who married Isabella) in 1478. It was formed because Monarchs restricted the rights of jews. Because of this, there were many riots by anti jews in 1391. Many Jews converted,they were called conversos. What most Christians didn't know was the they secretly practiced their religion. These people were called Marranos and they were a bigger threat to the Christians.

The Spanish Inquisition was a court system established in 1478 that tried and sentenced heretics. Victims of these trials were predominantly “conversos”, Jewish people that had converted to Catholicism. The Spanish Inquisition was not formally abolished until 1834 by Queen Isabella II. Although the severity of the Inquisition is most likely exaggerated, it still remains a dark point in the history of the Catholic Church.

Ferdinand and Isabella knew that in order to bolster Spain they needed new sources of funding themselves. They turned to the pope and he gave them rights to build the Catholic Church in areas where the Moors had been driven from. He also published decrees giving them control over the funds in the Americas. The Church became a crucial utensil in developing royal absolutism. The New World also proved to be a great source of revenue for Spain (“Ferdinand V”).

In the late 15th century, Spain gained its freedom from the Moors. They were Islamic North African people that were and controlled much of Spain. The wealthy, educated Jewish population financially assisted the monarchy to regain Spain from the Moors. Large prosperous Jewish communities existed in Spain. They were respected, unlike other areas of Europe where the Jews were persecuted and victims of organized massacres. In Spain, they remained the financial and scientific leaders in the 15th century. Many of Jews married into Catholic families, consequently, many of Spain’s Christian leaders were of Jewish descent. As Spain became a unified country, many Hispanics forgot the services from which the Jewish had provided them. The economy plummeted, and to many, the Jews became a scapegoat. They became targets for bigotry. Stories were created to lessen the Jews image. These stories included Jews murdering innocent Christian children. Such legends fueled the expulsion of the Jews from

The term Inquisition generally refers to a form of official inquiry, particularly a religious or political in nature, that does not have regards whatsoever to human rights, dominated by investigators who are prejudice and subject the accused to numerous cruel punishments. Particularly, inquisitions refer to the collection of institutions that are in the Roman Catholic Church judicial system that are meant to fight heresy