The Spanish didn’t invent the Inquisition, and a number of theories abound as to why the Spanish Inquisition developed into such a formidable institution for more than 300 years.
.jpg)
The Spanish monarchs Ferdinand II and Isabella I used the Inquisition as a way to consolidate their power at the expense of the Pope. Only Christians could be tried in the Inquisition’s courts, but religious discrimination was rife during the era of the Inquisition. Various non-religious transgressions were also tried in the Inquisition’s tribunals before the Inquisition was signed out of existence in 1834.
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, more commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition, was established in 1478. There had been previous Inquisitions in regions of modern-day Spain during the 13th and 14th centuries, but these lacked the force of their 15th -century successor. The Spanish Inquisition started towards the end of the Reconquista (c. 718-1492) when a series of Christian states fought to recapture territory from the Muslims (Moors) who had occupied most of the Iberian Peninsula in the early 8th century. Inquisitions had occurred all around Europe in the Middle Ages, but later, there were only Portuguese and Roman Inquisitions that occurred during parts of the same time period as the Spanish Inquisition.
The Spanish Inquisition was originally intended to primarily identify heretics, or those deemed by the Roman Catholic Church to hold false religious beliefs, among those who had converted to Catholicism from Judaism and Islam. During the course of the Inquisition, people of other religions and even those who had crimes committed that weren’t strictly religious became victims of the Spanish Inquisition. The Spanish Inquisition reached as far as Spanish-held territories in the Americas.
Compared to much of Europe, Spanish society had been fairly multi-religious. Although Muslims and Jews had never been treated as equals by Christians, Jews weren't expelled from the territory as they had been in France and England around the turn of the 14th century, and Muslims were still tolerated after the end of the Reconquista in 1492 However, by the end of the 14th century, unrest did occur, and to be able to obtain skilled work, an estimated 200,000 Jews converted to Catholicism. Named the conversos, or New Christians, many positions obtained in the government, Church, and even nobility. According to this hypothesis, the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition was a response to a society that was “too” tolerant of other religions.