The Spanish Inquisition, headed by the Catholic monarchs of Spain; Isabella and Ferdinand, was believed to be initially established to root out ‘false converts’ and heretics and therefore aimed to achieve religious uniformity. However, throughout its lengthy span of existence, the Inquisition has had many different purposes depending on the monarchy at the time. A religious tool by Isabella and Ferdinand, a detached political body under Charles and a Protestant deterrent under Philip. Therefore the Spanish Inquisition has a variety of purposes depending on the ruler at the time, which means it is impossible to attach one sole purpose to an Inquisition which lasted over three-and-a-half centuries, to be finally abolished only in 1834.
From the beginning of the Spanish Inquisition, in 1478, it is clear that anti-semitic views were held. Isabella a profoundly Catholic monarch strived for religious unity was convinced by the grand inquisitor general Torquemada that the Jews hindered the assimilation of the conversos – they were clearly linked by bonds of family, friendship and work. The Jews were believed to represent a constant temptation to revert to Judaism and while the Jews remained in Spain the conversos who remained in contact with them would find it hard to renounce their old religion. This was the official explanation, as spelled out in the expulsion decree of 31 March 1492. Tomás de Torquemada was an adviser to Isabella throughout her childhood and therefore from an early age he had a certain influence over her and his views were respected highly by Isabella. He was convinced that the mere existence of converts within Spain, (Conversos, Moriscos, and Moors) were a threat to religious and social life. He also believed that the continued existence of converts would cause social and religious unrest and therefore he used his influence with the Catholic monarchs to achieve religious policies which fit his beliefs, the Spanish Inquisition being his most notable. Torquemada’s increasing influence can be seen clearly when he was made the inquisitor general in 1483, this allowed him to be in control of the actions performed by the Inquisition and the cultural minorities which were persecuted throughout his period of control. The Spanish Inquisition was believed to have conducted more than 100,000 trials that featured Jews, Muslims, Lutherans and other presumed to be ‘heretics’, which shows the clear belief that the cultural minorities within Spain were seen as a threat as according to Alonso de Hojeda, a Dominican friar, many Jews who had converted to Christianity, also known as conversos, were still practicing Judaism. Throughout late medieval Spain, the new Christians, who were the Moriscos and Conversos and old Christians who were those who have Limpieza de Sangre, which meant that they did not have any Jewish or Muslim ancestors, were constantly at odds. In Toledo in 1467 and Cordoba in 1473 this tension led to bloodshed between the two opposing groups. Therefore the Inquisition, whilst under the control of Ferdinand and Isabella, can be seen as a result of rising anti-semitism within Spain.
In the first two decades after the establishment of the Inquisition over a thousand lives were lost, a majority of which were conversos. The clear persistence against conversos is evidence enough to believe that the Inquisition had religious motives which stemmed from the idea of ‘false converts’. Conversos were a clear target of the Inquisition as they did not fit into the new Spain which the Catholic monarchs wished to achieve, which was a solely Catholic Spain unified geographically and religiously. This meant that heresy was a clear threat to the Spain that they wanted, so they rooted out any heresy which existed by creating the notorious Inquisition.
Isabella and Ferdinand ruled a fragmented Spain, filled with a variety of cultural minorities such as the Jews and Muslims. The Inquisition was used in many ways to unify Spain religiously as seen through the edict of expulsion and the continuous use of trials on major heresies such as Judaism and Lutheranism. Lutheranism alone between 1540 and 1700 took up 24.2% of the total trials that took place by the hands of the Inquisition. They believed that to unite Spain, they would need one common religion; Catholicism. They, therefore, chose to drive out the Jews and other assorted heretics, through the edict of expulsion, in order to have Spain remain as solely Catholic. This stems from Isabella’s piety as she is strongly catholic and wishes to have Spain remain a solely catholic peninsula. This would allow the other foreign powers such as France and England to see Spain as a strong nation which was no longer fragmented by religious ambiguity. This, therefore, shows that despite the clearly religious motives of the Inquisition, it was initially created to achieve power and control over a divided Spain and religious unity was simply a way in which control was achieved by the Catholic sovereigns.
Whilst the Inquisition can be seen to have religious motives, it is arguable that it, in fact, was not solely based on persecuting religious/cultural minorities as the trials against Islam, Judaism and Lutheranism all together do not represent 50% of the total activity of the Inquisition. The proportion of religious trials, also known as major heresies, that were executed took up 42.2% of the total trials carried out by the Inquisition, in comparison to the minor heresies which took up 57.7% of the trials. Therefore it is impossible to claim that the Spanish Inquisition was purely religious as minor heresies, which were non-religious, dominated the number of trials carried out. This remained true at a national level and for all districts with the exception of Valencia which displayed the highest concentration of Moriscos in Spain. This shows that the Inquisition clearly had motives which were not exclusively religious as cultural minorities were not the sole target of the Inquisition – the Inquisition also targeted acts of minor heresies such as bigamy and solicitation. These issues were considered morally wrong and therefore the inquisition acted as a moral authority within Spain.
Spain was clearly intolerant of heretics and of those who did not share their faith, due to the fact that Spain was ruled by the Catholic monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand. However, despite this, few countries in Europe could be considered as religiously accepting in this period as it was a universal goal to achieve religious uniformity. Due to this fact it would be naive to believe that the Inquisition was set up purely on the basis of religious intolerance and therefore there must be an underlying purpose of the Inquisition which was simply not as documented as the heresy led beliefs were. This is supported by the fact that when inquisitors began operations in locality they would have all of the locals be present for when they read out an edict which comprised a list of offences committed. Despite heresy being a recurring offence which would be read out, other moral offences were disclosed such as blasphemy, bigamy, sodomy and ‘solicitation’ (sexual advances made by a priest during confession), which were also known as minor heresies, this means that religious heresy was not the only target of the inquisition, as acts which were believed to be immoral were also targeted. This suggests that the Inquisitions initial purpose was to root out religious heresy and also highlights the fact that the Inquisitors targeted heresies in all forms, minor and major, in order to cleanse a fragmented Spain of deviant behaviour, which was the early modern notion of the role of the church.
Despite both Isabella and Ferdinand being coined the ‘catholic monarchs’ Isabella can be seen as the one who was arguably more catholic and therefore pushed the inquisition for more religious reasons. Therefore in the case of Ferdinand, he was less religiously led and focused on foreign policy and the economy. A key event which was led by Ferdinand himself, in a strive for power, is the Conquest of Granada (1482-92). The conquest of Granada saw an end to the Reconquista, which was a vital aspect to Medieval Spain. This saw the establishment of a Spanish army that was to fight effectively in the Italian Wars. This was considered as a demonstration against Islam, as supported by the fact that Isabella used religious imagery deliberately to ensure support for the war. However, despite the war being pivotal to foreign policy at the time, it placed a major financial strain on Castile and Aragon. The total cost of the war is estimated at 800 million maravedis. This highlights the fact that the Inquisitions sole purpose is hard to distinguish as religion and economic reasons are entwined throughout history.
The economic situation of Spain was a focal point for Ferdinand and therefore he used the expulsion of the Jews to his own advantage. The Jews were largely successful in Spain and their immense wealth became a growing concern to the Catholic monarchs; Ferdinand and Isabella. Their numbers were vast and the economic power was thriving, this caused them to pose a threat to the Catholic monarchs. On 31 March 1492, the obdurate Catholic Monarchs issued a decree that required all Jews, to become Christians, within four months, or to leave the country. This was the apex of anti-semitic policies which had begun with attacks on the conversos. In 1480 the Cortes of Toledo had required Jews to display badges to make them separate from that of society. While two years later there was another smaller scale expulsion of the Jews from towns and parts of Andalucia which displays that the Jews were always a target within Spain If the Jews chose to remain unconverted and leave Spain their possessions were repossessed by the monarchy. The Jews were expelled due to an increasing concern of them being false converts who were still practicing their religion, this caused social unrest as the Catholics within Spain felt this was a threat and a cause for concern. There fails to be a concrete answer concerning the Jewish population in 1492; Henry Kamen believed there were 70,000 Jews in Castile and 10,000 in Aragon. Whereas John Lynch believes there to have been 200,000 Jews in both Aragon and Castile. However, one fact that was a mutual consensus was that a significant number of Jews chose expulsion in 1492. This allowed Ferdinand and Isabella to regain some control as they were able to show that they could show that the Jews were no longer an issue and they were also able to achieve brief economic success. The edict of expulsion in 1492 spoke volumes on Isabella’s character as it highlighted the clear distaste Isabella had for the Jews as by eliminating Judaism, it was hoped to discourage revision to it and therefore create a much more religiously unified Spain which was very important to the heavily pias Isabella.
However, despite the brief economic success, the expulsion of the Jews harmed Spain more so than it did benefit them. When the Jews were exiled in 1492 the economy suffered as when they left they also stopped working and taking part within economic life. This led their expulsion to actually hinder the economy from growing. Despite the fact that they left their possessions which were confiscated the money created from this was instant and didn’t last the same as having the Jews continue to work would have. This, therefore, causes the expulsion of the Jews to have little benefits other than that of religious control and uniformity, which reinforces the fact that the Inquisition was designed for religious purposes spearheaded by the pias and Catholic monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand. One popular belief regarding the expulsion of the Jews is that the Catholic sovereigns caved to the pressure from the nobility, who were anxious to be rid of an emerging upper class that would threaten their own interests – such as their status and social class standing or even their economic situation.
26.2.2019
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