Spanish Inquisition Dbq

Based on part of the XVIII century, when the prevalent times of the Spanish Inquisition dominated the powers of the society and the people was ruled by an orthodox way of thinking, Gabriel Garcia Marquez gives birth to "Of Love and Other Demons". According to The American Heritage Dictionary, Inquisition was a former Roman Catholic tribunal established to suppress heresy. The term Heresy originally meant a belief that one arrived at by oneself (Greek hairesis, "choosing for oneself"), and it is any religious doctrine opposed to the dogma of a particular church, especially a doctrine held by a person professing faith in the teachings of that church. Surrounded by

As you are aware, we are currently studying the Renaissance and the continuing development of nation-states. During this time, some monarchs tried to unify their young nations through religion. In Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella imposed the Inquisition on the population. Established in

Within Spain, for a time Jews were accepted as productive and unthreatening members of society. This continued until it was decided that the Jewish community was not doing what was expected of them, at which time the Inquisition began. Jews had become accepted because they practiced and accepted the Christian faith in the public eye, however in private they

The Counter-Reformation sought to reform four major elements; ecclesiastical reconfiguration, religious orders, spiritual movements, and political dimensions. Seminaries for proper training of priests, returning of orders to their spiritual foundations, and new spiritual movements focusing on ones devotional life and relationship with Christ. Among these reforms was the Inquisition. The Inquisition was responsible for the "purifying" of Christians. They were mostly peaceful but were also known for burning many people at the stake. At times as many as two hundred in one day were burned under accusations of witchcraft. They aimed to retake areas that had previously been converted to

To begin, the Protestant Reformation began in reaction to the Catholic Church’s rather corrupt practices. Prior to the Reformation, the only major Christian denomination in Western Europe at the time was Catholicism, headed by the Pope in Rome. Through many acts of violence such as the formation of the Spanish Inquisition and the slaughter of the Cathars, amongst others, Europe’s Monarchs had wiped out and suppressed any form of religious competition. With the Catholic Church holding a tight stranglehold over Europe, Catholicism was the only option. This allowed

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

Like the Holocaust in the 1930s-1940s, Jews during this time were treated with brutality. Manchester describes it as, “Jewry was luckier - slightly luckier - than blacks. If the pogroms of the time are less infamous than the Holocaust, it is only because anti-Semites then lacked twentieth-century technology” (35). In the year 1492, the Spanish had regained control of Spain. The rule of Spain was now under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. They were not fond of Jews in their nation. The Jews in Spain were given three months to convert to christianity or to leave. After seeing what the Spanish were doing in Spain, the king of Portugal ordered the expulsion of all Portuguese Jews. Any Jews who wouldn’t leave or were slow to leave were massacred. Around four thousand Lisbon Jews were killed during a single night in 1506. Only three years later persecution of Jews in Germany began. Jews throughout history have been treated badly but during the medieval period it was especially hard if you were a Jew.

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

Voltaire directs this example of the Church, as it was an officer of the Inquisition who was responsible for the sentencing. The inanity of the whole situation, as well as the completely unnecessary drastic results that it had, makes the Church appear to be an authority that is unreliable to make sensible decisions, or rule over people. This irrationality is again portrayed through Pangloss and the Reverend Father. The Reverend Father bathed in front of a Musselman, unknowing “that it was a major crime for a Christian to be found naked” (105) with one, and ended up being tried for it. Pangloss was similarly tried, because he took too long to give a girl back the flowers that she had dropped. Both of these men, as a result of committing these simple wrongdoings, are beaten and forced into slavery, destined to spend the rest of their days as galley slaves. The crimes themselves were so small and nonsensical that the fact that they were punished at all, much less so harshly for them, is unjustifiable. Voltaire uses the unfairness and utter ludicrousness of the situation to challenge whether government should be trusted with the fate of its people. Voltaire accentuates traditional authority’s ignorance.

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

The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision by Henry Kamen, was released in 1997 and is the third edition of the acclaimed book centered around the infamous tribunal. The years following the first publication saw increases in the quality of scholarship and an influx of research.  New historical interpretations subsequently began to demonstrate an enhanced insight, as works like Benzion Netanyahu’s The Origins of the Inquisition presented original perspectives. Kamen was consequentially compelled to reevaluate the evidence surrounding the Inquisition, ultimately causing him to divert from his previous conclusions and adopt a revisionist perspective exploring historical causation. The Spanish Inquisition has been repeatedly studied for

By the late 1500s, Christian denominations had been popping up all over Europe. This was in response to the reports of indulgences (selling of freedom from purgatory), clerical immorality, abuse of money, along with many other bad actions that were rampant among the Church. It was these problems that Luther and others rebelled and created their own religions. With the rising of these Reformation movements, the Church needed to make some reforms itself. These reforms took the form of educating the clergy, opening monasteries, the Inquisition, and the organizing of councils. In fact, even though Protestant attacks brought these reforms, many of these reforms were needed anyway. The problems in the Church were so bad that the Church would not

The Inquisition executed Jews and Muslims. However, even the ones who converted to Christianity or born Christian were tortured if they once were of another faith or if it could be traced back in their roots. The ones who had the Jewish blood, or of any other faith and were born Christian, were tortured more severely. The accused was not allowed to have a lawyer or counsel for their defense.

Catholicism was a prominent religion for over 1,000 years. Before the Reformation of the 1500s, anyone who was Christian belonged to the Catholic Church— any other form of Christianity was considered a denomination. To eliminate denominations, the Church turned to inquisition. The Papal Inquisition began in the late 12th century, when Pope Innocent III sent cardinals to Southern France, where heresy was popularizing. However, the official inauguration is considered 1231, when Pope Gregory IX sent Dominicans to Southern France, Germany, Austria, Lombardy, and Aragon to convict heretics. Heretics were granted the chance to admit their deceit and return to the Roman Catholic Church. If their heresy was sustained,

Christianity to the people. What happened instead was 350 years of Spanish rule that resulted