Session 21

The Guardians of Purity

1. The Holy Office

2. The tribunals of the Inquisition

3. The persecution of the judaizantes

4. The other victims of the Inquisition

1. The Holy Office
the Inquisition

the Christians asked themselves: what to do with those

conversos who returned secretly to Judaism?

some proposed repression and by the end of the 15th century that
repression was entrusted to an institution called the Holy Office or
Inquisition

the franciscan Alonso de Espina, in his Fortalitium fidei contra Iudaeos,

was the first to propose to entrust the persecution of judaizantes to the
Inquisition
the Inquisition

the Inquisition was not an invention of the 15th century:

tribunals of the Inquisition already existed in the Crown of
Aragon since the 13th century

the Inquisition was an institution that had been created in the 13th
century as an instrument in the struggle against the widespread
heretic movements of the time (Waldenses, Cathars); their
tribunals were submitted to the pope

an heretic is a member of a religious community who has beliefs or

practices that are contrary from what is considered true and right by
the religious establishment of that community (rejecting Trinity,
rejecting the sacraments)
the struggle against the
heretics: Dominic and the
Cathars, anonymous, circa
1480 (Madrid, Museo del
Prado)

the painting depicts the

event occurred in 1207, in
Albi, when Dominic proved
to the Cathars that their
books containing heretic
ideas do not pass the trial
by fire while the Catholic
books fly up from the
bonfire undamaged
the Inquisition the Crown of Castile

but a different Inquisition (tribunal del Santo Oficio) was created

in the Crown of Castile in 1478 by Fernando and Isabel, with
the permission of the pope Sixtus IV

the main argument, expressed by preachers and authorities of the

Church: the urgency of the converso danger: several insisted that
throughout the Crown of Castile the conversos were practising
Jewish rites in secret (Henry Kamen)
the Inquisition the Crown of Castile

the Castilian Inquisition was submitted to the king (queen) of the

Crown of Castile (powers of appointment and dismissal of
inquisitors)
the Inquisition the Crown of Castile

tribunals of the Inquisition were created in many cities and towns

of the Crown of Castile

Seville, Córdoba, Toledo, Jaén, Ávila, Medina del Campo, Segovia,

Sigüenza, Valladdolid
the inquisition the Crown of Aragon

tribunals of the Inquisition already existed in the Crown of

Aragon since the 13th century

– the tribunals in Barcelona, Saragossa, Valencia

– they were submitted to the authority of the pope

– but in the 15th century they had lapsed into virtual inactivity
(Henry Kamen)
the inquisition the Crown of Aragon

it was the aim of Fernando, to resurrect the old papal Inquisition

but also to subject it to his own control so as to came into line
with practice in Castile (Henry Kamen), met important
resistance and protest

– the cities

– the noblemen

– even the church

the inquisition the Crown of Aragon

pressure on Rome from conversos may explain the issue of a bull

in April 1482, in which the pope Sixtus IV protested

that in Aragon, Valencia, Mallorca and Catalonia the Inquisition has

for some time been moved not by zeal for the faith and the
salvation of souls, but by the lust for wealth, and that many true
and faithful Christians, on the testimony of enemies, rivals, slaves
and other lower and even less proper persons, have without any
legitimate proof been thrust into secular prisons, tortured and
condemned as relapsed heretics, deprived of their goods and
property and handed over to the secular arm to be executed, to
the peril of souls, setting a pernicious example, and causing
disgust to many
the inquisition the Crown of Aragon

the king could break resistance and in 1483 the pope appointed
Tomás de Torquemada as Inquisitor General of Aragon,
Valencia and Catalonia, thus uniting the Inquisitions of the
Spanish Crown under a single head (Henry Kamen)

and Henry Kamen explains: the new tribunal came directly under the
control of the crown and was the only institution whose authority
ran in all the territories of Spain, a fact of great importance for
future occasions when the ruler of Castile wished to interfere in
other provinces where his sovereign authority was limited
2. The tribunals of the Inquisition
the tribunals

the Inquisition of the 15th-18th centuries was directly under the

control of the crown

since 1488 the Inquisition was considered as an special council of the

Crown (Consejo de la Suprema y General de la Inquisición)

the Suprema consisted initially of three ecclesiastical members, and a

fourth member as president of the council, with the title of Inquisidor
General (the first one: Tomás de Torquemada)
the tribunals

the local tribunals of the Inquisition were submitted to the

Consejo de la Suprema y General de la Inquisición
3. The persecution of the
judaizantes
the judaizantes

the Inquisition started a real program of persecution of

judaizantes

important: these judaizantes were persecuted by the Inquisition

because they were defined as heretics, not because they were
Jews
the judaizantes

the figures

99.3 per cent of those tried by the Barcelona tribunal between 1488
and 1505 were conversos; 91.6 per cent of those tried by the
Valencia tribunal between 1484 and 1530 were conversos

Henry Kamen states: the tribunal was not concerned with heresy
in general. It was concerned with only one form of religious
deviance: the apparently secret practice of Jewish rites
the judaizantes

most of these conversos accused and tried by the Inquisition

were sentenced to death (burnt alive) (those who could
escape before the arrival of the inquisitors were judged in
absence, condemned to death in absence and burned in
effigie)
the final part of the trial:
the auto da fe; a paintig of
Pedro Berruguete, circa
1490 (Madrid, Museo del
Prado)
4. The other victims of the
Inquisition
the other victims

the Inquisition persecuted heretics, what the tribunal defined and

declared as heretics. That included:

– Christians who returned to their former faith (Judaism, Islam),

Christians who converted to an other religion (apostasy)

– Christians accused of blasphemy, evil magical practices, sodomy,

statements against dogmas and teachings of the church, sacrilege