The Spanish Inquisition Summary

In the book The Spanish Inquisition, Joseph Perez gives his view on why the Spanish Inquisition took place. The Spanish Inquisition began with the discrimination against any religion that opposed the Catholic Church in Spain. They mainly targeted the religious beliefs of Judaism making Jewish people and conversos the victims. Many Jews and Muslims were forced to leave the country or were persecuted because they could not openly practice their religion and did not want to convert. During this period of time loyalty of the Catholic Church was questioned, heavily. The inquisition was institutionalized under the crown of Castile, Isabella, and the crown of Argon, Ferdinand. The inquisition was instilled to defend the catholic faith by the assimilation …show more content…
Perez found the goal in the inquisition to be to get rid of Judaism and discourage a reversion (Perez 240). The royals found out that Jewish people were pretending to believe in the Christian faith. In their homes they practiced Jewish burials and traditions and never learned what Christianity was about. The only reason they converted and got baptized was to escape the threat of persecution. The Holy Office expected the Jews to faithfully convert their religion and remain in Spain. The inquisition was led by the Holy Office. The Holy Office was there to protect the catholic faith against threats from other religions. During the inquisition the Jews feared for their lives, they knew what could have happened based on the persecutions that took place from 1391-1415. Anyone that was suspected of still practicing Judaism was tried and sentenced to death and some were sentenced to life imprisonment. It wasn’t until the relatives began speaking up that the Holy Office realized how harsh they were being. They were punishing people for ignorance of the catholic religion not non-acceptance. At the beginning the inquisition was just to solve the problems in Seville but with the rise of Torquemada it spread throughout the entire Kingdom of Castile. Torquemada was a confessor to Queen Isabella and was the grand inquisitor. It was with his rise that the …show more content…
Over 300,000 Jewish people were forced to leave span and over thousands were persecuted. The inquisition also targeted Lutherans and witchcraft and the lasting effects the inquisition had on Spain was devastating. According to Perez, the inquisition caused economic problems and problems with science and literature. The goal of the inquisition was not accomplished because people still remained faithful to their religion. Even though they were fearful in Spain they carried out their religion in other parts of the