Medieval Inquisition Research Paper

The Spanish Inquisition started was when Pope Sixtus the IV approved it in 1478. Their early goals

The arrival of the Inquisition was swift and powerful, the decline of the Inquisition was drawn out and pathetic. Laws slowly began to be abolished around the eighteenth century. The distinction between Old and New Christians was no longer legally binding, the Moriscos had all but been erased from Spain, and Judaism had no influence. The job was done. Over hundreds of years and a multitude of rulers hellbent on eradicating religious diversity, a mild amount of success had been achieved. As the decades rolled on, however, rulers became more and more disinterested with the inquisitorial rule. The looming French Revolution severely hurt the seemingly dormant Inquisition. The Revolution brought new condemnation for the movement, and more specifically, condemnation for the unnecessarily violent actions of the church. The Inquisition was truly crippled early in the nineteenth century as a Constitution was being constructed by Rafael Riego, an Asturian battalion commander. Through this, and various civil wars and revolts within the nineteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition was officially demolished. The movement that had thousands tortured, imprisoned, and murdered had finally

Towards the end of the Middle Ages and into the duration of the Renaissance, the Medieval Church’s social and political power dwindled. Centuries prior the Catholic Church gained a surplus of control, largely due to the stability it maintained during the chaotic breakdown of the Western Roman Empire . Yet toward the end of the Middle Ages the Church set in motion factors that would ultimately lead to its downfall as the definitive figure of authority. However, despite political and social controversy surrounding the church, the institutions it established cleared a path for a new way of thinking, shaping society in an enduring way.

("The Spanish Inquisition:," n.d.) Isabella looked upon this removal of about 170,000 of her subjects as a "pious duty". (The Spanish Inquisition, 2007) Under Torquemada's reign the Inquisition spread. By about 1538 there were 19 courts in cities such as Seville, Cordova, Villareal, and Toledo.

Henry Charles Lea’s monumental study of the inquisition during the Middle Ages was originally published in 1887. In volume three of his work, he devoted a chapter to both Guglielma and Fra Dolcino. Lea provides a brief history of Guglielma intersected with his condescending

In medieval Spain, Christians, Jews, and Muslims coexisted with little to no problems. During power swings from Muslims to Christians, Jews often served as a middle man between the two. They ended up in their own communities under their own rule free to do whatever they like. In these communities, there was the normal distribution of wealthy and poor, with most being commoners, but some Jews acquiring jobs from Lords such as tax and tithing collection. During this period, the

In 1478 an independent Spanish Inquisition was created by pope Sixtus in response to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Castile. The Spanish Inquisition had independence from Papal control and was created to consolidate authority and secure religion in a unified government organization in New Spain. By 1570 there were Holy Offices in Mexico and Lima and by 1579 an office was built in Brazil as well. The Inquisition of New Spain lasted from 1569-1821 consisting of hierarchical official and processes. Ludovicus de paramo, De Origine et Progressu Officii Sanctae Inquisitionis, in 1598 states “God was the first inquisitor”.

Some Old Testament skeptics claim that the Israelite conquest of Canaan was an act of divine cruelty. I can see this accusation being leveled due to the Christian Crusades, which began in 1095 and showed no love of God nor adherence to God’s commands. The formation of the Spanish Inquisition, which began in 1478, and led the inquisitors to believe that their gruesome actions actually saved Jews from their fate awaiting them in the afterlife; since the Jews were dying at the hands of God 's children, their eternal spirits would be altered by the knowledge and wisdom of Jesus ' followers, and they would therefore be freed from hell and rise to heaven. Since world history is peppered with these unfortunate events we must be shore to use the scripture properly to defend our stance that the Israelites conquest of Canaan is not a form of divine cruelty. The Christian Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition were a type of man-made cruelty interwoven with gross miss-interpretation of Biblical text, but these actions are often seen from atheist historians as a form of divine cruelty.

The book, communities of violence: Persecution of the minorities in the middle ages, written by David Nirenberg, examines violence between the Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Lepers, primarily in the Crown of Aragon. Nirenberg focuses on the history during narrow time period of the first half of the 14th century. Through analyzing the history during this period, Nirenberg makes the argument that persecution of minority groups were politically or economically motivated and not completely driven by hatred or prejudices.

It was first abolished by virtue of a Cortes decree. In 1815 it was reconstituted but their target was now the ideas from the French, who had more civilized ideas. Most people who were accused of crimes after this were only given probation. However a breakthrough came with the promotion of Jose de la Serna to the viceroyship of Peru. The inquisition eventually fell apart due to its own fault.

In the early years of medieval Spain; Christians, Muslims and Jews practiced a relatively peaceful coexistence. While they did not agree with one another’s religious practices and traditions, there was a certain level of tolerance for the other. Many Jews maintained upper class lifestyles, holding positions in such professions as medicine, law, and even royal and

The background to the Edixt of Expulsion extended for more than 700 years prior to the Expulsion itself. The background begins with the conquering of the Iberian Peninsula by Berber Muslims arriving from North Africa in around 711-718, from the Visigoth kingdom, which had ruled the land prior to Muslim conquest. Almost immediately after the Muslim conquest, the Reconquista began, in which Christian people fought to retrieve the land of which the Muslims had conquered. The overall goal of the Reconquista was to retrieve territory on the Iberian Peninsula and convert or isolate people of different faiths such as the Jews and Muslims. (Source 5) The Reconquista continued from the beginning of the Muslim kingdom in the region, finally ending after the conquest of the city of Granada in 1492. (Source 6) Preceding the conquest of Granada, the newly wed Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile, looking for religious uniformity, established the Inquisition, in which the Inquisitors demanded that all Monarchs ruling different regions of land punish all the Maranos (Jews who converted to Christianity yet continue to practice Judaism in secret) by confiscating their property. (Source 7) However, the Inquisition faced a challenge in their battle against heresy. Conversos, influenced by Jewish family in which

The inquisition was used for both religious and political reasons in Spain. Ferdinand and Isabella asked permission from Pope Lucius III to purify Spain of all other religions other than Catholicism. They began by driving out Jews, Protestants and other non-believers.

The word “inquisition” means to examine. Inquisitors would “examine” suspected Heretics, people whose ideas do not match those of the Roman Catholic Church, and punish them accordingly. This included torture and burning. The great inquisition movement that took place in Spain, or Hispania as it was called before Spain united. It was called The Spanish Inquisition. It took place for approximately five hundred years, from the late 15th century to mid 19th century. Many ironic elements were involved in the history of the Inquisition. The Spanish Inquisition lasted longer than any other preceding it, and was the most cruel, bloodthirsty, and festive of all. The objective of the inquisition, in its early state, was to

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.