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Cause and Effect of the Spanish Inquisition The Spanish Inquisition was the most famous of the numerous Papal Inquisition that took place during the Middle Ages. In three hundred years that it lasted, the accused, which included Jews, Moors, Lutherans, and those who were accused of practicing witchcraft, had their possessions taken by the state, their fates tried in the papal courts, and their dignity trodden by the public. Nearly forty-five thousand cases were tried in Spain and its territories, but conflicting figures show the number dead; some say nearly thirteen thousand were burned at the stake and tortured, whereas some statistics show only about nine hundred died during the Inquisition (Henningsen, 110-120). Nevertheless, the Inquisition, as it should be, is a most frowned upon time in history; the crown’s motives were Machiavellian in nature and the papal and church’s motives were ecclesiastically bigoted. In 1469, the marriage of Ferdinand V of Aragon to his cousin Isabella of Castile united the two most powerful provinces of Spain (Hauben, 23). During this time, Spain was becoming one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Much of Spain’s wealth was contributed by the Jewish population, which was very successful during this time period because of Christian church laws against usury (Slade, 1). Prejudice against the Jews had also risen during this time, especially after a riot in 1391 incited by a Spanish archdeacon named Martinez. Martinez called for the citizens of Spain to “purge themselves of the filthy Jews”. The estimated number of victims for the riot is said to be a little over one thousand (1). After this ordeal, a number of Jews, called conversos, professed themselves as Christians to escape persecution. Many Christians were questioning the sincerity of these conversos as they began to dominate Spanish society. Many Christians believed that the conversos were not true to the faith and this blasphemy merits expulsion from Spain (Lea, The Inquisition 443). In 1478, the proof that these skeptical Christians wanted surfaced. A young man was courting a young Jewish girl. The young man was going to visit the young girl when he happened upon a congregation of Jews and conversos partaking in a “mysterious celebration”. This celebration was, in fact, the Jewish Passover. This problem was further accentuated because the Passover occurred at the same time as the Catholic Holy Week. A few months later, at the urging to the heads of the Spanish Church, Pope Sixtus issued a Papal Bull, a letter from the pope to all Christian countries, giving authority to an Inquisition (Slade, 3); however, the Spanish Crown was given authorization (Lea, The Inquistion 443). The expulsion of Judaism was only a pretext, not the true reason of the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition; Ferdinand and Isabella had ulterior motives (Slade, 3). Ferdinand was a devious king and wished to destroy local autonomy throughout Spain. He saw the Inquisition as a weapon for furthering centralization and his political control. Ferdinand also saw the opportunity to put those imprisoned during the Inquisition to hard labor. The crown also had the chance to add to its wealth by repossessing goods and property of the accused. Both Ferdinand and Isabella had a strong religious piety and supported ecclesiastical reform in Spain. They saw Jews, Muslims, and Protestants as big threats against the Catholic Church and its well being (Hauben, 17-18). Isabella was even to have vowed during her youth to eradicate the Jewish population in Spain if given the crown.
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