The Main Factors Of The Spanish Inquisition In Spain

The Salem Witch Trials and the Spanish Inquisition were both the outcomes of religious fears. These events in history share several similarities, including the way people were accused and punished. The witch trials and Spanish Inquisition were used to cleanse the people. In both cases the accused did not have fair proceedings which resulted in wrongly accused innocent people. Although the Spanish Inquisition was more gruesome due to the horrific torture prisoners went through they both resulted in many unjustified deaths.

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.

“ The arrival of the inquisitor caused panic. The Inquisition was created in Spain within the past few years to target alleged bad Christians among the Conversos, and three years previously the first auto had been staged, in Seville.” (Green

The Inquisition started because the Catholic Church was worried that the devil was stealing people’s souls. To fight the devil the church founded a new court. The Inquisition, were those priests whose job it was to find and punish anyone who was against the church or working with the devil. They called people who worked against the church a heretic and any action against the church was heresy. The inquisition could place people under arrest and torture them until they confessed to heresy; even if u weren’t and heresy but they suspected that you were they still torture you. But, if you confess right away before torture, will be punished, but you can redeem yourself. If you didn’t confess you were torture until you did.

Spain was a global superpower in matters of wealth and their successes stemming from the arts and academia to travel and territorial conquests. Of these accomplishments, their most prized achievement was acquiring a heavy portion of Latin America where their influence originated from the northern borders of Mexico deep into South America. They abused the resources they found, cheated the natives all the while demolishing their culture and population. In turn this gave birth the rise of a number of rebellions by the oppressed against the conquistadors to take back the land and implement laws and social standards that benefited the people and return to them the rights that they had been

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

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

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.

Political power acts as a foundation for society through persuasion. This influential ability controls the thoughts and actions of society as a whole, and who is in control heavily determines how successful their influences will be. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were the political rulers of Spain during the late 15th century, and remained in control up until the early 16th century. They craved unity for their country, and would do anything they could to achieve their desired conformity. Spain was to be united under one flag, one form of ruler, and one religion; those who did not oblige, became targets. For more than three hundred years, the Spanish Inquisition hovered over Spain, inciting fear and inflicting brutality upon those

Obviously King Charles is filled with hatred for King Desiderius of the Lombards because of the plot against him with his own brother and with a request from Hadrian, the Bishop of the city of Rome asking him to wage war against the Lombards to bring peace to Rome. Charles wages war against the Lombards and does not stop until King Desiderius and his son Adalgis, the last hope of the Lombards, are driven from not only Italy but from the kingdom of the Franks. Charles now names his son Pepin as King of Italy. Einhard’s description of this war shows clearly that Charles is truly a human being that is dedicated to the people whom he makes promises to and facing the difficulties that Charles along with his armies did while crossing the Alps continued

Over the years in history, there have been many formidable executions that were caused by the aspect of different faiths and races. Period after period there have been many leaders who lashed out onto others because of what they believed in. All of these incidents have never been forgotten; one very infamous one would be the Spanish Inquisition. The Spanish Inquisition was started to “cleanse” the Church of heretics and purify Spain. They executed Jews, Muslims, and other minorities not of Christian faith. Ferdinand and Isabella were in crown of Spain and appointed the Church to start the Spanish Inquisition. These cases will be discussed in the fallowing paper.

To understand the Spanish Inquisition, we must first understand the events that preceded it’s beginning. It all began with the conquer of the Iberian Peninsula by the Muslim Moors in 711. After the Moors had taken over much of the Iberian Peninsula, the Reconquista began. The Reconquista (Spanish for “Reconquest”) was a period of about 750 years in which multiple Christian kingdoms expanded their borders into the territory held by the Muslims on the Iberian Peninsula. The result of The Reconquista was not the removal of the Moors from Spain, but instead the combining of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim societies. The tension created by the combination of societies soon boiled over and turned into violence. The main act of violence occurring during this period that inadvertently contributed to the Spanish Inquisition are the “pogroms” against the Jewish people. A pogrom is defined as “a mob action targeting any specific ethnic or religious group, characterized by killing and destruction of their homes, businesses, and religious centers, often with the

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

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

In 1520 Charles left Spain to take possession of the German Empire to which he had been elected. The French king, Francis I, had been his rival for the dignity; Leo X thought that his interests in Italy were endangered by Charles' election. The Kingdom of Navarre was already a matter of contention between France and Spain, while France and the Netherlands wrangled over the original Dukedom of Burgundy as well as Tournai, Flanders, Artois, and some lesser territories. War had not broken out over these questions, and nothing indicated that Charles would be a warlike prince; but he had broken the alliance with France made under Chièvres. The Holy See opposed the election of Charles even more vigorously than France. As King of Aragon, Charles was heir to the Kingdom of Naples, a papal fief; the