Spanish+Inquisition,+The

=The Spanish Inquisition= In the 1400s the Iberian Peninsula was almost equally divided between Christian, Jewish, and Muslim citizens. King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I wanted the Jewish and Muslim religions wiped out. The Inquisition was their way of accomplishing that. The Inquisition forced all Jews and Muslims to either convert or leave.

Now, officially speaking, the Inquisition was run by the church, but there were two big problems with that. Ferdinand was kind of a control freak and didn't want anyone else to have any sort of power in Spain, also, the church had this rule about not killing people, so really the church just questioned the people. If they were found guilty of not being a Christian, they were handed over to the state to be punished. Punishments varied. They could be as simple as a public shaming (which I think might be like pantsing them in front of their friends) or as extreme as burning them alive.

In the early years of the Inquisition, Muslims and Jews were given an opportunity to convert to Christianity or leave Spain. Many "conversos" tried to trick the state and continued to practice their old religions secretly, some even went so far as to become priests to hide their crimes.

The Spanish Inquisition was by far the most cruel and terrible of any of the Christian Inquisitions. People had their hands chopped off and were often burned alive. Thousands of Jews fled the country to avoid prosecution.

Pope Sixtus IV disapproved of the extreme measures Ferdinand was taking, believing that on some levels the Inquisition was a scheme by Ferdinand and Isabella to confiscate the property of rich Jews that fled Spain. However, as many of the Pope's allies were busy in other wars, and Italy was being attacked was being attacked by the Turks, the Pope was in a terrible position. Ferdinand refused to withhold military support of Rome unless the Pope publicly supported his Inquistion tactics.

With nowhere else to turn for help, Pope Sixtus officially (but not wholeheartedly) blessed the Spanish Inquisition. Suddenly, thanks to some strongarming and scheming Ferdinand had everything he wanted - he controlled the Inquisition, had Pope's blessing, and he was getting filthy rich off the loot of the Jewish victims.

In 1484 Sixtus IV died and was replaced by Pope Innocent VIII. No problems there, because not only did Innocent support Ferdinand, he ordered other Catholic countries to send any Jews that had fled Spain back to Ferdinand so they could stand trial. By stand trial, we don't really mean a fair trial like we have today, but more of a "if someone, anyone at all really, accuses you, then you must be guilty without an opportunity to try and prove otherwise" sort of trial. These trials were insane, because if even a single person made an allegation against you, you could be punished, so some people started making these accusations to get revenge on enemies or to gain favor from the King. Some of those accusations were likely made by Ferdinand himself (or at least people he persuaded to do it) so that he could seize the valuables and land from the richer Jews.

It's difficult to say exactly how many Jews were killed during the Inquisition, but it's estimated that around six to eight thousand were burned alive during the early years. Many more died in prison, and historians guess that during the 340 years of the Inquisition's control more than 30,000 people were executed. The Spanish Inquisition did not officially end until 1834.