Spanish Inquisition Essay

In the Middle Ages, the Christian community 's hatred towards the Jews still remained as the Spanish inquisition had approached. The Jewish community was expelled from Spain because the church authorities had figured out that the Marranos, who were converted Jews, still practiced Judaism in secrecy. This is what the Christians took extreme offence to, and believed that the Jews were deliberately going against the church. The purpose of the inquisition was for the Catholic authorities to root out, suppress, and punish the Jewish heretics. The Christian community believed that the Jewish heretics were corrupting their society and wanted them removed. The inquisition was operated by the enraged Christian population themselves, as they drove the

This can be seen in the introduction to document 35 where it explains the start of the Spanish inquisition, “This court, which was under state control, was established in Castile in 1480, primarily in order to watch over these converts or Marranos, many of whom pretended to be Christians, but secretly practiced Jewish customs.” (The Spanish Inquisition at Work, Doc 35, p. 195) The problem that arose after the Jews would convert into becoming new Christians was that they would still secretly practice Judaism. This was considered as going against the religious zeal of the church, and harming the Christian society values. The church authorities feared that having these heretic Jews around would influence other Marranos to do the same as they did. This was enough for the King and church authorities to expel

This can be seen in document 12 where it explains why the Christians attacked the Jews, it states, “The Christian masses, fired by religious fanaticism, frightened by plague, and enraged by the economic competition, now unrestricted of these secret-Jews, attacked them whenever they could.” (The Massacre of the New Christians of Lisbon, Doc 12, p. 65) The Spanish Inquisition operated by the Christian population driving the Jewish community from their homes, tortured them into confessing their sins of practicing Judaism in secret, and eventually killed them just because the Christian mobs could. The Christian population was mad and rage consumed them to kill the Jews. Document 12 explains the massacre of the Jews, it states, “Transported with madness and boiling with rage, they fell upon the wretched Jews of whom they killed great numbers, and threw many half alive into the flames.” (The Massacre of the New Christians of Lisbon, Doc 12, p. 66) The Jews were not only expelled by the King, but the Christian population took it upon themselves to eliminate and drive them out from their country themselves. The Christians were far from sane, and just full of hatred. They did not like the Jewish community, they did not like Marranos, they even killed their own based on grudges and dislikes. The inquisition was carried out in a way where the Christians could kill and expel anyone