The Spanish Inquisition In the year 1469 there was a union between the Spanish kingdoms,
Aragon and Castile. This union would ignite the darkest moment of
Spanish history, the Spanish Inquisition. Ferdinand of Aragon married
Isabella I of Castile, in hopes of obtaining the Castilian crown.
Isabella's high-spirited and politically astute personality enabled
her to retain sovereign authority in her own realm, they became known
as the Spanish Kings. At the time, Spain was a nation-state created
out of religious struggle between numerous religions. Both being of
Catholic descent Ferdinand and Isabella decided to unite Spain through
making Catholicism the official religion of the nation. Many reasons
why they chose to make Spain a Catholic nation was so they could
eliminate the Jewish, Muslim and Protestant competition. The people of
these faiths would have to either convert or face impending death or
exile if they decided to stay. The Spanish Inquisition stems from both
greed and anti-Semitic feelings. The Jewish at the time most of the
nation financially, held powerful positions and highly influential.
So, by eliminating them, the monarchy would be able to add more to the
nations treasury, gain more power and ultimately control over the
citizens. There were no reliable witnesses or evidence that could have
been provided against the "criminals". The Catholic Church was forced
to accept the majority amount of the blame for the Spanish
inquisition, even though members of the Catholic Church were also
victims to the inquisition.
The Catholic Church is sai...
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...wn when they did so. Their property was irretrievable
because according to the Crown, once they flee jurisdiction they give
up all rights to their property. The informers that were heavily
relied on by the prosecutors in all state tribunals had a claim to a
proportion of the accused's property.
The Spanish inquisition was fuelled by the people's worst traits:
fear, greed, and intolerance, the greed for power and increased
financial gain. What started off as a noble cause turned into a bloody
nightmare, where great sins were committed in the name of God, the
church used as a scapegoat in this horrible incident. Unnecessary fear
struck into the citizens' mind, people unjustly persecuted because of
their belief or of others accusations and the control that the state
had over the people were all evident during that time.
William of Orange once stated, “Spain committed such horrible excesses that all the barbarities, cruelties, and tyrannies ever perpetrated before are only games in comparison to what happened to the poor Indians.” This statement is an example of an attempt to discredit the Spanish. Attempts such as these are known as the Black Legend. The Black Legend was the name given to the concept of cruelty and brutality spread by the Spanish during the 14th and 15th century. This legend demonizes Spain and specifically the Spanish empire in an effort to harm the reputation of them. It was through this propaganda that made other countries look down upon the Spanish empire. The Black Legend threw discredit upon the rule of the Spanish by building biases and prejudices against Catholicism and the Spanish treatment of the natives of South America. The Black Legend mainly exaggerated the treatment of the native people in the regions of the Spanish Empire and non-Catholic people such as Protestants and Jews in its European territories. The Black Legend was an anti-Spanish movement, which was started due to political and religious reasons by Northern European Protestant countries who were Spain’s enemies in order to discredit them.
During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was the dominant force in Western civilization. As the Dark Ages came to a close, the monarchies of Europe began to consolidate power; providing an alternative power base. With the Protestant Reformation came another blow to the influence of the Church. Spain, the forerunner in the Age of Discovery, was a fervently Catholic country. During the 16th century, the monarchy combined the forces of "cross and crown" in its imperial policy; much to the dismay and ultimate destruction of the indigenous peoples of the New World. Through an examination of Aztec polytheism and the Catholicism of the conquistadors, comes the central role of religion in the successful conquest of New Spain.
Sepúlveda, Juan Ginés de. Just War Against Barbarians. Essay. The Spanish Tradition in America. 1544.
For instance, in 1481, the “Catholic Kings” were what Ferdinand and Isabella were known as. The kingdom of Castile and Aragon were ruled together, but not as countries. It was a union of crowns (Isaacs). “The two kingdoms maintained their separate l...
Witchcraft. The word in itself evokes a certain kind of eeriness. In past centuries, people who were accused of being witches were thought of to be the worst kinds of people there are. There were several kinds of witches and several ways in which they operated. Whatever the reason, the Catholic Church saw witches, or those accused of being witches, as sinful. Partly to stop this kind of sin and other forms, the Inquisition of the Catholic Church was implemented. It is important to know what the factors leading up to the Inquisition included to fully understand its implementation. Once the history is reviewed it is easy to see how the Faith of the Church and the reason behind its thinking were hand-in-hand at the time, and also the way in which they seemingly conflict today.
History provides several horrible periods of violence, fear and murder. Such horrible acts against humanity have been committed in the name of religion, colonization, and racial superiority. The Holocaust, was one of the most catastrophic and saddest events in history, where about 11 million people, including Jewish children, families, and political dissenters were mass murdered. However, there exists another mournful and cruel period that marked the lives of many Sephardic Jews with secrecy and fear. One hardly hears about the harassment, rejection and humiliation of Sephardic Jewry in Spain, Portugal, and countries like Mexico, at the hands of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, which began in 1492. Due to these events, Sephardic Jews found themselves facing one of the most complex decisions of their lives and those of future generations; conversion, expulsion or death. The reasons for conversion are complex, as many converted by force and others for social or political reasons. As a result, converts became known as Conversos and “marranos /chuetas, and the latter are derogatory terms, as the names imply “swine” (Hordes 6). Another important term is Anusim, referring to those "whose conversion was prompted by violence and fear not sincerity” (Hordes 6). Marranos, were secretive people often, “keeping their children from their Jewish identity, until they reached an age where discretion could be trusted "(Telushkin 195). All of these events, have led to the complex phenomena, of the crypto-Jews in the new world, including Mexico and the American Southwest. Thus, sparking new areas of interest and research of their practices, customs, authenticity, and identification.
when the Aztec Empire was at the height of its power. In 1519, the Spanish
4. The Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478. King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella I requested the Inquisition. At first, The concern of the Inquisition in Spain was over the conversion of Marranos:
Spanning from 1095 to 1212 C.E, the Crusades were an effort made by medieval Christians to regain their holy lands back from the Muslims. There were five crusades in total going in order from the First Crusade to the Children's Crusade. A few were effective in their own respects although these Crusades proved costly to the European Kingdoms as a result of large losses of life. This paper will explore these crusades and explain why some succeeded whereas others failed.
The Conquest of New Spain Cortés came not to the New World to conquer by force, but by manipulation. Bernal Daz del Castillo, in the "Conquest of New Spain," describes how Cortés and his soldiers manipulated the Aztec people and their king Montezuma from the time they traveled from Iztapalaopa to the time when Montezuma took Cortés to the top of the great Cue and showed him the whole of Mexico and its countryside, and the three causeways which led into Mexico. Castillo's purpose for recording the mission was to keep an account of the wealth of Montezuma and Mexico, the traditions, and the economic potential that could benefit Cortés' upcoming conquest. However, through these recordings, we are able to see and understand Cortés' strategy in making Mexico "New Spain." He came as a wolf in sheep's clothing and manipulated Montezuma through his apparent innocence.
The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century is one of the most complex movements in European history since the fall of the Roman Empire. The Reformation truly ends the Middle Ages and begins a new era in the history of Western Civilization. The Reformation ended the religious unity of Europe and ushered in 150 years of religious warfare. By the time the conflicts had ended, the political and social geography in the west had fundamentally changed. The Reformation would have been revolutionary enough of itself, but it coincided in time with the opening of the Western Hemisphere to the Europeans and the development of firearms as effective field weapons. It coincided, too, with the spread of Renaissance ideals from Italy and the first stirrings of the Scientific Revolution. Taken together, these developments transformed Europe.
The inquisition was a religious institution that policed the new Christians in the Iberian Peninsula. The inquisition was a by-product of hundreds of years of negative relations towards non-catholic people in Europe. It began around 1478 and in ended in 1834; during the three hundred and fifty-six years responses to the inquisition change immensely. This was partly due to many laypeople being indoctrinated by anti-Semitic and pro- Catholic propaganda. The pre-existing anti-Semitic feeling in Europe along with previous medieval inquisitions, helped to allow the Iberian inquisition to become a part of the Spanish and Portuguese way of life. This acceptance changed later in Iberian history because of the many factors lead to the abolishment of the Inquisition.
The Protestant Reformation: What it was, why it happened and why it was necessary. The Protestant Reformation has been called "the most momentous upheaval in the history of Christianity." It was a parting of the ways for two large groups of Christians who differed in their approach to the worship of Christ. At the time, the Protestant reformers saw the church- the Catholic church, or the "universal church- " as lacking in its ways. The church was corrupt then, all the way up to the pope, and had lost touch with the people of Europe. The leaders of the Reformation sought to reform the church and its teachings according to the Scriptures and the writings of the Apostles. They sought to simplify the church by returning to its roots, roots long lost by the Catholic church at the time, or so the reformers believed. After the fall of the Roman Empire, life in Europe declined rapidly into the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages were a time of misery and darkness. There were only two socioeconomic classes: the very rich nobility or the very poor peasants. Small kingdoms popped up everywhere, and were constantly at war with one another. Whole libraries were destroyed, and the only people who remained literate were the clergy of the Christian church. Life became such a struggle to survive that, for a period of five hundred years, very little artwork or literature was produced by the whole of Europe. Eventually, around the year 1000, the conditions in Europe began to get better. This marked the beginning of the Middle Ages. The Crusades began as an effort to revitalize the spirits of the people. However, things still weren't very good. Plagues ravaged the land, carried by rodents and destroying whole villages. With th...
During the Late Middle Ages, Christian followers and clergy were becoming increasingly concerned about the corruption of the church. Some had even declared that the dogma was false, however, the church had dealt with similar challenges before. In the 1500’s a new series of attacks on the church’s authority had started to destroy Christianity creating both political and cultural consequences.