Foundation of the Spanish Inquisition

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In 1478 Pope Sixtus IV granted the Castilian royal couple Isabella and Ferdinand the right to appoint two or three inquisitors in Castile . This was the basis for the development of the Spanish Inquisition as a church institution and as a state organ.

Predecessor institutions

The predecessor of the Spanish Inquisition was the medieval Inquisition, which had been established in various countries by the Holy See since the 13th century . What was special about the inquisition trials was that the determination of heretical aspirations took place in a special way of conducting the judicial process, precisely as an inquisition process . The medieval inquisition was primarily directed against the Cathars and Albigensians in northern Italy and southern France. It was later extended to Germany and Central Europe. In the Iberian Peninsula, trials took place only in the realms of the Crown of Aragon . Papal Inquisition Courts were set up in certain dioceses as required . The inquisitors were appointed by the Pope and given judicial powers. There was no higher authority for the various inquisition courts. On several occasions, the Pope appointed inquisitors general to coordinate the proceedings in one area. After the inquisition courts had fulfilled their function in one place, they were disbanded and the inquisitors were frequently deployed in other areas.

Reasons for the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition

The climate of respect and tolerance that prevailed between the believers of the Jewish , Muslim and Christian religions in Spain at the beginning of the Middle Ages turned more and more into a confrontation in the course of the 14th and 15th centuries . The resolutions of the church assemblies, such as those of Zamora in 1313 and Valladolid in 1322, pushed the religious minorities of Muslims and Jews to the margins of society. In the course of the 15th century, the increased pressure on the Jewish population led to more and more conversions , often out of opportunism , without a real change in belief. Not only the lack of conviction, but also the lack of knowledge about the content and practice of the Christian religion led to the fact that many converts, known as conversos , retained their old ways of life and ritual acts. In some towns in Castile, the suspicion that the Conversos secretly continued to cling to their old faith led to a disadvantage not only for Jews, but also for Conversos, i.e. baptized Christians who either had converted themselves or whose parents or grandparents had renounced the Jewish faith. Against this disadvantage as z. B. in the "Estatuto de Toledo", a regulation of the city administration of Toledo in the year 1449, was written down, Pope Nicholas V issued the bull "Humanis generis" in which he made it clear that all baptized Christians are to be treated equally. Cardinal Juan de Torquemada , the uncle of the first Inquisitor General of the Spanish Inquisition Tomás de Torquemada , defended the rights of conversos in his “Tractatus contra madianitas et ismaelitas”.

When Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand took over government in Castile in 1474, the number of conversos throughout Spain was around 250,000 to 300,000 people. About 1 to 1.5% of the total population d. H. 70,000 to 100,000 people were Jews.

  • According to the correspondence of the royal couple of Castile and the correspondence of the Pope, the aim of the Inquisition was to lead to the correct faith and to punish those who had converted from the Jewish faith to Christianity and who continued to practice the Jewish religion.
  • A socially significant reason for the introduction of the Spanish Inquisition, which was primarily directed against conversos, was seen in the fact that "correct" conversos punished by "wrong" conversos would no longer be discriminated against.
  • Some historians suggest that under the pretext of religious motives, the real reason for establishing the Spanish Inquisition was economic motives and the desire to appropriate the goods of the wealthy conversos. The examination of the economic situation of the tribunals showed that a large part could not finance themselves. Overall, the Inquisition was bad business. The economic situation of the tribunals worsened considerably when the proceedings primarily against Moriscos were held.
  • Another reason given is that the Inquisition was used as a means to achieve religious unity. This explanation is unsatisfactory because the Inquisition lacked jurisdiction over the non-baptized. D. H. about people of other religions.
  • In addition, the Inquisition is seen as a racist institution that made it possible to persecute people of Jewish origin even if this was no longer possible because of their status as baptized Christians for reasons of religious affiliation.

Introduction of the Inquisition to Castile

In order to correct those who deliberately deviated from the right faith, John II of Castile applied to Pope Nicholas V to set up the Inquisition for his territory. In a bull dated November 20, 1451, the Holy See complied with this request. However, this bull was never published. Henry IV repeated his father's request. In the bull "Dum fidei catholicae" of March 15, 1462, Pius II again permitted the introduction of the Inquisition to Castile. The inquisitors should be appointed with the consent of the king. This bull was not published either. After Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand took over the government of Castile in 1474, they asked Pope Sixtus IV to give them permission to appoint inquisitors to conduct inquisition trials against conversos who showed heretical behavior independently of the local institutions of the Church.

The bull "Exigit sincerae devotionis" of November 1, 1478 is considered the founding document of the new Spanish Inquisition. In it, the Pope laments the presence of false Christians in Spain and grants Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand the right to appoint three secular or religious priests who should have a university degree in theology or canon law as inquisitors. The monarchs were also granted the right to dismiss or replace these inquisitors.

For the Pope, it was not a question of approving the establishment of a state authority that encompasses all domains of the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon, but rather about taking action against people in places where there was a need to take action against people who, although they were baptized Christians, continued to cultivate Jewish culture, adhering to the Jewish faith or even performing Jewish rites.

The Catholic kings did not make use of the right to appoint inquisitors until September 1480, when they appointed the Dominicans Miguel de Morillo and Juan de San Martín as inquisitors and Juan Ruiz de Medina as their advisors. These formed the first tribunal of the Spanish Inquisition in Seville . The first Autodafé , the solemn public announcement of the judgments, took place on February 6, 1481 in the San Pablo Convent in Seville.

By November 4, 1481, the two inquisitors in Seville sentenced 298 people to death at the stake and 79 people to life imprisonment. There were then a large number of complaints with Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand but also with Pope Sixtus IV. The Pope criticized the inquisitors' approach, which was apparently incompatible with canon law . Repentant sinners in particular, who acted not out of malice but out of ignorance, should be absolved of their sins after appropriate repentance. Sixtus IV did not change the judgments. In May 1483 he appointed the Archbishop of Seville Íñigo Manrique de Lara as appellate judge for all decisions of the Spanish Inquisition. On February 11, 1482, Sixtus IV appointed further Dominicans as inquisitors, presumably after consulting Isabella and Ferdinand. In the bull, "Thome de Turrecremata" (Tomás de Torquemada) is named as one of eight new inquisitors, without any kind of priority, in the seventh place.

The establishment of new tribunals did not always go smoothly. The Archbishop of Toledo, Alfonso Carillo , refused to allow the inquisitors to work in his diocese. After his death in July 1482, his successor Pedro González de Mendoza had no objections. In the course of the following years tribunals were set up, first in Cordoba, Jaén and Toledo, and later in other cities in Castile.

It is believed that Pope Sixtus IV appointed Tomás de Torquemada as the first Inquisitor General of Castile between May and September 1483. The exact date is not known. There are no documents on this.

Introduction of the Inquisition in the territories of the Crown of Aragon

The bull of November 1478 authorizing Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand to appoint inquisitors in their realms could only refer to the realms of the Crown of Castile. At that time, Ferdinand's father, John II of Aragon, still ruled the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon. After the death of his father in 1479, Ferdinand took over the rule in these realms. He intended to appoint inquisitors here too, as the Pope had conceded Isabella and him in Castile. With this in mind, King Ferdinand turned to Pope Sixtus IV on May 23, 1481. He did not want the right to appoint inquisitors for the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon to be transferred to the king, as inquisition courts had been under the supervision of these countries since the 13th century of the bishops passed, although they were not very active. After Ferdinand had not received an official answer from the Holy See after more than six months, he appointed inquisitors for Aragon and Valencia in December 1481. He relied on the bull of November 1, 1478 in which “All kingdoms and lordships of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella” were named without naming them in detail. The Pope protested on April 18, 1482 against such an interpretation of his letter. Diplomatic disputes followed that lasted until December 17, 1483. At that time, Sixtus IV named Tomás de Torquemada, who was already inquisitor general in Castile, as the “juez principal inquisidor” (first judge of the Inquisition) of the Crown of Aragon. But he limited this to the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon located on the Iberian Peninsula: Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia.

In the areas under the rule of the Crown of Aragon, there was initially resistance from the population to the state inquisition, because it did not take into account the “ Fueros ”, the special rights guaranteed by the king when he assumed power. This concerned the secrecy in the course of the inquisition proceedings, the possibility of the inquisition tribunals to use torture, the confiscation of assets without consideration of the heirs, the limited right to object to the decisions of the tribunals and the sovereign activity of foreigners (Castilians) as officials in the rich the Crown of Aragon. In November 1484, the Diputación del General del Reino de Aragón, the standing committee of the Cortes of Aragon, put forward these reasons. King Ferdinand did not back down from the resistance of the Aragonese institutions. He affirmed that defense of the faith was paramount and that heresy should not be protected by the fueros. In a letter of January 18, 1485, King Ferdinand explained to the representatives of Aragon that the new offices had been created by the decision of the Pope and that in such a case the Fueros could not oppose the authority of the Pope.

In September 1485 the inquisitor Pedro Arbués was murdered in the Cathedral of Zaragoza . This murder was used to justify the need to fight the opponents of the Inquisition. Anyone who resisted the new Inquisition was placed on a par with the murderers.

Separation and recombining of the Spanish Inquisition

From 1483 a Grand Inquisitor was appointed for the domains of the Crown of Castile and the domains of the Crown of Aragon. The administrative authority of the Spanish Inquisition, the Consejo de la Suprema y General Inquisición , which came into being over time, was a uniform institution in all of Queen Isabella's and King Ferdinand's domains. After the death of Queen Isabella, this unit was under the reign of Queen Joanna I and King Philip I get. After Ferdinand married again in 1506, after his return from Italy in 1507, he took over the reign of his daughter Queen Johanna in the kingdoms of the Crown of Castile. After the resignation of Inquisitor General Diego de Deza , he proposed to Pope Julius II the Archbishop of Toledo, Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros , as Inquisitor General for the kingdoms of the Crown of Castile and the Bishop of Vich Juan Enguera as Inquisitor General for the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon . They were each responsible for only one domain and were chairmen of two separate institutions. This separation of the Spanish Inquisition was abandoned by King Charles I in 1518, when the Inquisitor General of Aragon, Adrian of Utrecht , was also appointed Inquisitor General of Castile.

Organization of the Inquisition as a state authority

After the establishment of the first inquisitors in Seville in 1480, new tribunals were founded in other cities. In 1493 there were 23 inquisition courts in the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon and the kingdoms of the Crown of Castile, which were responsible for a specific region. The Grand Inquisitor had the task of organizing the establishment and activity of the tribunals in material and personal terms. In order to support him, the Inquisitor General Tomás de Torquemada created the Consejo de la Suprema y General Inquisición (in German: High and General Council of the Inquisition ) on behalf of King Ferdinand, between 1483 and 1488 , as the highest state administrative body for all matters of the Inquisition. Like the “Consejos”, who were responsible for other issues within the framework of the royal government in Castile, the Suprema was organized as a collegial body. Chairman of the Consejos de la Suprema y General Inquisition was proposed by King and appointed by Pope Grand Inquisitor .

literature

  • José Antonio Escudero López: Los orígenes del Consejo de la Suprema Inquisición . In: Anuario de historia del derecho español . No. 53 , 1983, ISSN  0304-4319 , pp. 238–289 (Spanish, [11] [accessed September 15, 2019]).
  • José Antonio Escudero López: Los Reyes Católicos y el establecimiento de la Inquisición . In: Anuario de estudios atlánticos . No. 50 , 2004, ISSN  0570-4065 , p. 357-393 (Spanish, [12] [accessed September 15, 2019]).
  • José Antonio Escudero López: Fernando el Católico y la introducción de la Inquisición . In: Revista de la Inquisición: (intolerancia y derechos humanos) . No. 19 , 2015, ISSN  1131-5571 , p. 11–24 (Spanish, [13] [accessed January 1, 2019]).
  • Álvaro Huerga Teruelo: Tomás de Torquemada. Real Academia de la Historia, 2018, accessed September 15, 2019 (Spanish).
  • P. Bernardino Llorca SJ (ed.): Bulario pontificio de la Inquisición española en su período constitucional (1478-1525) . Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, Rome 1949 (Spanish, 326 pages, [14] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
  • César Olivera Serrano: La Inquisición de los Reyes Católicos . In: Clío & Crímen: Revista del Centro de Historia del Crimen de Durango . No. 2 , 2005, ISSN  1698-4374 , p. 175–205 (Spanish, [15] [accessed September 15, 2019]).
  • Joseph Pérez: Crónica de la inquisición en España . Ediciones Martínez Roca, Barcelona 2002, ISBN 84-270-2773-7 (Spanish, 508 pages).
  • Gerd Schwerhoff: The Inquisition - Persecution of Heretics in the Middle Ages and Modern Times . 3. Edition. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 3-406-50840-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ José Antonio Escudero López: La Inquisición española . In: Francisco J. Mateos Ascacibar, Felipe Lorenzana de la Puente (ed.): Actas de la II Jornada de historia de Llerena . Llerena 2001, ISBN 84-95251-59-0 , p. 15–46 (Spanish, [1] [accessed September 15, 2019]).
  2. ↑ Gerd Schwerhoff: The Inquisition - persecution of heretics in the Middle Ages and modern times . 3. Edition. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 3-406-50840-5 , p. 47 .
  3. ↑ José Antonio Escudero López: Fernando el Católico y la introducción de la Inquisición . In: Revista de la Inquisición: (intolerancia y derechos humanos) . No. 19 , 2015, ISSN  1131-5571 , p. 13 (Spanish, [2] [accessed January 1, 2019]).
  4. ^ Joseph Pérez: Crónica de la inquisición en España . Ediciones Martínez Roca, Barcelona 2002, ISBN 84-270-2773-7 , p. 52 (Spanish).
  5. ^ José Antonio Escudero López: Los Reyes Católicos y el establecimiento de la Inquisición . In: Anuario de estudios atlánticos . No. 50 , 2004, ISSN  0570-4065 , p. 357 (Spanish, [3] [accessed September 15, 2019]).
  6. ↑ P. Bernardino Llorca SJ (ed.): Bulario pontificio de la Inquisición española en su período constitucional (1478-1525) . Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, Rome 1949, p. 49 (Spanish, [4] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
  7. ↑ Gerd Schwerhoff: The Inquisition - persecution of heretics in the Middle Ages and modern times . 3. Edition. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 3-406-50840-5 , p. 84 .
  8. ^ Benzion Netanyahu: Los orígenes de la Inquisición en la España del siglo XV . Crítica, Barcelona 1999, ISBN 84-7423-976-1 (Spanish).
  9. ^ José Antonio Escudero López: La Inquisición española . In: Francisco J. Mateos Ascacibar, Felipe Lorenzana de la Puente (ed.): Actas de la II Jornada de historia de Llerena . Llerena 2001, ISBN 84-95251-59-0 , p. 22nd ff . (Spanish, [5] [accessed September 15, 2019]).
  10. ↑ José Antonio Escudero López: Los orígenes del Consejo de la Suprema Inquisición . In: Anuario de historia del derecho español . No. 53 , 1983, ISSN  0304-4319 , pp. 246 (Spanish, [6] [accessed September 15, 2019]).
  11. ↑ César Olivera Serrano: La Inquisición de los Reyes Católicos . In: Clío & Crímen: Revista del Centro de Historia del Crimen de Durango . No. 2 , 2005, ISSN  1698-4374 , p. 190 (Spanish, [7] [accessed September 15, 2019]).
  12. ↑ P. Bernardino Llorca SJ (ed.): Bulario pontificio de la Inquisición española en su período constitucional (1478-1525) . Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, Rome 1949, p. 86 (Spanish, [8] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
  13. ^ Joseph Pérez: Crónica de la inquisición en España . Ediciones Martínez Roca, Barcelona 2002, ISBN 84-270-2773-7 , p. 84 ff . (Spanish).
  14. ↑ P. Bernardino Llorca SJ (ed.): Bulario pontificio de la Inquisición española en su período constitucional (1478-1525) . Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, Rome 1949, p. 63 (Spanish, [9] [accessed October 1, 2019]).
  15. ^ Joseph Pérez: Crónica de la inquisición en España . Ediciones Martínez Roca, Barcelona 2002, ISBN 84-270-2773-7 , p. 90 f . (Spanish, 508 pages).
  16. ↑ José Antonio Escudero López: Fernando el Católico y la introducción de la Inquisición . In: Revista de la Inquisición: (intolerancia y derechos humanos) . No. 19 , 2015, ISSN  1131-5571 , p. 18 (Spanish, [10] [accessed January 1, 2019]).
  17. ^ Joseph Pérez: Crónica de la inquisición en España . Ediciones Martínez Roca, Barcelona 2002, ISBN 84-270-2773-7 , p. 93 (Spanish).
  18. ↑ Gerd Schwerhoff: The Inquisition - persecution of heretics in the Middle Ages and modern times . 3. Edition. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 3-406-50840-5 , p. 47 .
  19. ↑ Gerd Schwerhoff: The Inquisition - persecution of heretics in the Middle Ages and modern times . 3. Edition. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 3-406-50840-5 , p. 81 .
  20. ^ Joseph Pérez: Crónica de la inquisición en España . Ediciones Martínez Roca, Barcelona 2002, ISBN 84-270-2773-7 , p. 93 (Spanish).
  21. ↑ Álvaro Huerga Teruelo: Tomás de Torquemada. Real Academia de la Historia, 2018, accessed September 15, 2019 (Spanish).