The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition - (Spanish Inquisition)
The Tribunal of the
Holy Office of the Inquisition (
Spanish:
Tribunal del
Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the
Spanish Inquisition (Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by
Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and
Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain
Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms and to replace the
Medieval Inquisition, which was under
Papal control. It became the most substantive of the three different manifestations of the wider
Christian Inquisition along with the
Roman Inquisition and
Portuguese Inquisition.
The "Spanish Inquisition" may be defined broadly, operating "in
Spain and in all
Spanish colonies and territories, which included the
Canary Islands, the
Spanish Netherlands, the
Kingdom of Naples, and all Spanish possessions in
North, Central, and South America." For the period during which
Portugal and Spain were under common rule consult Portuguese Inquisition and
Goa Inquisition.
The Inquisition was originally intended in large part to ensure the orthodoxy of those who converted from
Judaism and Islam. This regulation of the faith of the newly converted was intensified after the royal decrees issued in
1492 and 1502 ordering
Jews and Muslims to convert or leave Spain
The body was initiated and under the control of the
Spanish monarchy. It was not definitively abolished until 1834, during the reign of
Isabella II, after a period of declining influence in the previous century.
Various motives have been proposed for the monarchs' decision to found the Inquisition such as increasing political authority, weakening opposition, suppressing conversos, profiting from confiscation of the property of convicted heretics, reducing social tensions, and protecting the kingdom from the danger of a fifth column.
The Spanish Inquisition is often cited in popular literature and history as an example of Catholic intolerance and repression.
Modern historians have tended to question earlier and wildly exaggerated accounts concerning the severity of the Inquisition.
Henry Kamen asserts that the 'myth' of the all-powerful, torture-mad inquisition is largely an invention of nineteenth century
Protestant authors with an agenda to discredit the
Papacy.[2] According to actual records the Spanish Inquisition was widely hailed as the best run, most humane court in
Europe. There are records of people committing blasphemy in secular courts so they could have their case fall under the Inquisition’s jurisdiction. Further, the Inquisition was the first to pronounce Europe’s witch hunt a delusion and prohibited anyone from being tried or burnt for witchcraft
The Inquisition was created through papal bull,
Ad Abolendam, issued at the end of the twelfth century by
Pope Lucius III as a way to combat the
Albigensian heresy in southern
France. There were a huge number of tribunals of the
Papal Inquisition in various
European kingdoms during the
Middle Ages. In the Kingdom of Aragon, a tribunal of the Papal Inquisition was established by the statute of Excommunicamus of
Pope Gregory IX, in 1232, during the era of the Albigensian heresy. Although not an inquisitor, as canon lawyer and an advisor to
James I of Aragon,
Raymond of Penyafort was often consulted regarding questions of law regarding the practices of the Inquisition in the king's domains
. "...[T]he lawyer's deep sense of justice and equity, combined with the worthy Dominican's sense of compassion, allowed him to steer clear of the excesses that were found elsewhere in the formative years of the inquisitions into heresy." With time, its importance was diluted, and, by the middle of the fifteenth century, it was almost forgotten although still there according to the law.
There was never a tribunal of the Papal Inquisition in
Castile. Members of the episcopate were charged with surveillance of the faithful and punishment of transgressors. During the Middle Ages, in Castile, little attention was paid to heresy by the Catholic ruling class. Jews and Muslims were tolerated and generally allowed to follow their traditional laws and customs in domestic matters. However, by law, they were considered inferior to
Catholics and were subject to discriminatory legislation.