Spanish Inquistion

The Spanish Inquisition:

The Spanish Inquisition is notorious for three main reasons:

1. It was crueler mainly because it was administered by the secular government.

2. It was largely concerned with the converses (people suspected of practicing mainly the Jewish or Muslim faith in secret).

3. It has been the major aim of Protestant and secular opponents of Catholicism who have fabricated Ð'- through pamphlets, "histories", plays and paintings Ð'- cruelties and excesses far beyond what actually happened.

How it Started and it's Purpose:

In 1480, the Turks attacked the city of Otranto in southern Italy. 12 000 people were killed and the rest were made slaves. Every cleric in the city was killed by the Turks and the archbishop of sawed in half. In response, Queen Isabella sent a fleet to Italy. It was in September of 1480 that King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella realized that the Turks might try to do the same to any coastal city and as a result the Spanish Inquisition was established. It dealt with the problem of those who were suspected of pretending to have converted from Judaism or Islam to Christianity and might open the gates of the city to the Turks (Conversos). It was because of this threat that Pope Sixtus IV authorized the Spanish Inquisition in 1478 in the case that it was needed. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand V established it two years later.

The Inquisition didn't have any authority over practicing Muslims and Jews, only over professed Christians suspected of pretending of being Christian and a threat to the country. It remained functional in Spain into the nineteenth century. Although called originally into working against people practicing the religions of Islam and Judaism in secret,