The Spanish Inquisition And Reformation

The Spanish Inquisition became a major part of Spain’s history. The Spanish Inquisition began a restoration for Catholicism but as time progressed, it began to be seen as a terrible aspect of Spain rule by other European countries. The Spanish Inquisition was formed to get rid of heresy but soon turned into using force, to have people convert to Catholicism and get rid of the growing threat of Judaism and Protestantism.

From 1478-1834 Spain instituted and executed The Spanish Inquisition to keep Spain a Catholic practicing country. Leading up to the start of The Spanish Inquisition a German monk, Martin Luther explained the corrupt ways of the Catholic Church that lead many people to leave the Catholic Church (period known as Reformation). This lead the church to put a Counter- Reformation in place that used torture to keep people practicing Catholicism. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella also started their own Counter- Reformation which was the start of the 356 year long Spanish Inquisition.

The Protestant Reformation led to dramatic changes within Christianity. In 1517, Martin Luther and a large number of people in Western Europe began to question and eventually reject many key aspects of older theology. There were a significant number of people who had already started discrediting some Roman Catholic practices and beliefs, but they were unable to intimidate the full system. The Roman Catholics responded by establishing the Inquisition to get rid of people with heretical beliefs.

The Catholic Reformation was the response of the Protestant movement in the sixteenth century. By the sixteenth century, many people lost the trust for the Catholic Church because it was corrupt. Popes and Cardinals became involved in politics and were more like kings than spiritual leaders and Nepotism was rampant. This loss of trust led people to moved on into other branches of Christianity which includes, Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Anabaptism. Catholic Church’s realized it needed to re-establish itself, thus beginning the Catholic Reformation. The Catholic Reformation was successful because it triggered the start of The Society of Jesus and The Council of Trent which helped resolve the church’s corruption through education,

A major 16th century movement initially aimed at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformation was begun by a German monk named Martin Luther who challenge the Catholic Church’s doctrine by posting his 95 Theses on a church door. He did this because he was appalled that the church was selling indulgences, which were written letters that assured people’s salvation, in order to build a new Basilica in Rome under Pope Leo X. Martin Luther argued that the Bible, not the pope, was the central means to discern God’s word and was the only thing capable of giving salvation.

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.

In Europe, there was a social panic that encapsulated a time that was filled with a heightened craze and belief in witches. As many as one million individuals were executed for witchcraft in Europe between the 13th and 19th century, with most of the trials occurring during the 16th and 17th century (Oster, pg. 215). As citizens began to be accused of witchcraft, there was initially no way of forcing the crime to be confessed. To find out information regarding who and why their citizens were becoming witches, interrogators employed the use of torture to gain information to help stifle witches and their accomplices. Though interrogators implemented torture to, in their opinion, help maintain safety in their community, torture created an atmosphere of false accusations and hate that not only brutally terrorized citizens, but also destroyed lives and tore families apart. Torture helped sustain witch trials over a long period due to the spectacle it brought to communities. In terms of finding answers, torture forced the accused to make ridiculous confessions about themselves and others, that never occurred. Once confessions were made, officials in these communities believed that their harmful practices were therefore justified, and repeated time and again.

Witch Hunts of the Early Modern Period as the Result of Religious and Social Upheaval

This was the start of the first inquisition. After that, it was a common practice in much of Europe to take Heretics before a trial, then inflict torture on them forcing them to convert. Those that did not convert were sent to a public burning or hanging. In 1252 AD, Pope Innocent IV agreed to use inquisitors to torture sinners who would not repent their sins and confess. By the fifteen hundreds, the Inquisition became corrupt, powerful, and greedy.

Time and time again, throughout history, Jews faced immeasurable intolerance. The infamous Spanish Inquisition propelled those of the Jewish faith and heritage into the New World. Historians specializing in the Spanish Inquisition itself often begin their research mid-story, ignoring completely its roots, which date back to the thirteenth century. Instead, it is common for a book on the Inquisition to begin in the fifteenth century, with the expulsion of North African Muslims, or Moors, from Spain. Even in Toby Green’s Inquisition: The Reign of Fear, a fourteen chapter book devoted to the subject, the author evasively states, “The Inquisition had been created in Spain within the past few years to target alleged bad Christians among the conversos.” As noted by one historian, Gale Stewart, conversely, “the Inquisition had been an active force in Europe for over 250 years before it came to Spain.”

Frequently, heretics were unaware of the reasons of the accusations imposed on them, and were unaware of whom accused them. During the detention, the heretics were involved in the process with secrecy; months or years could pass prior to the date in which the inquisitor notified the accused individual of his or her imprisonment. These Jews, Muslims, Protestants, and moriscos were, at all times, not permitted to worship or carry out any practices relating to their religions (such as attending mass or receiving sacraments) during their time served in the detention

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

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.

Then “The Inquisition turned its attention to the censorship of heretical publications and enforcing “correct” beliefs among Christians” (The Inquisition).

The number of imprisoned Christians and subsequent confessors was often dependent on the discretionary powers of the provincial governors or by circumstances of events. Christians were generally granted an initial hearing, with pressure to deny their beliefs, followed by a period of imprisonment and eventual release due to recalcitrance. Arrest as a Christian did not always lead to a martyr’s death. Death of the Christian could be the result of crowd hostility or the religious views of a governor or judge, himself.