Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

TORQUEMADA, THOMAS (1420-1498)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 60 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

TORQUEMADA, See also:THOMAS (1420-1498) , inquisitor-See also:general of See also:Spain, son of See also:Don Pedro Ferdinando, See also:lord of Torquemada, a small See also:town in Old See also:Castile, was See also:born in 1420 at See also:Valladolid during the reign of See also:John II. Being See also:nephew to the well-known See also:cardinal of the same name, he See also:early displayed an attraction for the Dominican See also:order; and, as soon as allowed, he joined the Friars Preachers in their See also:convent at Valladolid. His biographers See also:state that he showed himself from the beginning very See also:earnest in austere See also:life and humility; and he became a recognized example of the virtues of a Dominican. Valladolid was then the See also:capital, and in due course eminent dignities were offered to him, but he gave signs of a determination to See also:lead the See also:simple life of a See also:Friar Preacher, In the convent, his modesty was so See also:great that he refused to accept the See also:doctor's degree in See also:theology, which is the highest prized See also:honour in the order. His superiors, however, obliged him to take the priorship of the convent of See also:Santa Cruz in See also:Segovia, where he ruled for twenty-two years. The royal See also:family, especially the See also:queen and the infanta See also:Isabella, often stayed at Segovia, and Torquemada became See also:confessor to the infanta, who was then very See also:young. He trained her to look on her future See also:sovereignty as an engagement to make See also:religion respected. Esprit Flechier, See also:bishop of See also:Nimes, in this Histoire du cardinal See also:Jimenes (See also:Paris, 1693), says that Torquemada made her promise that when she became queen she would make it her See also:principal business to chastise and destroy heretics. He then began to See also:teach her the See also:political advantages of religion and to prepare the way for that tremendous See also:engine in the hands of the state, the See also:Inquisition. Isabella succeeded to the See also:throne (1474) on the See also:death of See also:Henry IV. Torquemada had always been strong in his See also:advice that she should marry See also:Ferdinand of See also:Aragon and thus consolidate the kingdoms of Spain. Hitherto he had rarely appeared at See also:court; but now the queen entrusted him not only with the care of her See also:conscience, but also with the benefices in the royal patronage.

He also helped her in quieting Ferdinand, who was chafing under the privileges of the Castilian grandees, and succeeded so well that the See also:

king also took him as confessor. Refusing the See also:rich see of See also:Seville and 'many other preferments he accepted that of councillor of state. For a See also:long See also:time he had pondered over the confusion in which Spain was, which he attributed to the intimate relations allowed between Christians and infidels for the See also:sake of See also:commerce. He saw See also:Jews, See also:Saracens, heretics and apostates roaming through Spain unmolested; and in this lax See also:toleration of religious See also:differences he thought he saw the See also:main obstacle to the political See also:union of the Spains, which was the See also:necessity of the See also:hour. He represented to Ferdinand and Isabella that it was essential to their safety to reorganize the Inquisition, which had since the 13th See also:century (1236) been established in Spain. The bishops, who were ex officio inquisitors in their own dioceses, had not succeeded in putting a stop to the evils, nor had the friars, by whom they had been practically superseded. By the See also:middle of the 15th century there was hardly an active inquisitor See also:left in the See also:kingdom. In 1473 Torquemada and Gonzalez de See also:Mendoza, See also:archbishop of See also:Toledo, approached the sovereigns. Isabella had been for many years prepared, and she and Ferdinand, now that the proposal for this new tribunal came before them, saw in it a means of over-coming the See also:independence of the See also:nobility and See also:clergy by which the royal See also:power had been obstructed. With the royal See also:sanction a See also:petition was addressed to See also:Sixtus IV. for the See also:establishment of this new See also:form of Inquisition; and as the result of a long intrigue, in 1479 a papal See also:bull authorized the See also:appointment by the See also:Spanish sovereigns of two inquisitors at Seville, under whom the Dominican inquisitions already established elsewhere might serve. In the persecuting activity that ensued the See also:Dominicans, " the See also:Dogs of the Lord " (Domini canes), took the lead. Commissaries of the See also:Holy See also:Office were sent into different provinces, and ministers of the faith were established in the various cities to take cognisance of the crimes of See also:heresy, See also:apostasy, sorcery, sodomy and See also:polygamy, these three last being considered to be implicit heresy.

The royal Inquisition thus started was subversive of the See also:

regular tribunals of the bishops, who much resented the innovation, which, however, had the power of the state at its back. In 1481, three years after the Sixtine See also:commission, a tribunal was inaugurated at Seville, where freedom of speech and See also:licence of manner were rife. The inquisitors at once began to detect errors. In order not to confound the See also:innocent with the guilty, Torquemada published a See also:declaration offering See also:grace and See also:pardon to all who presented themselves before the tribunal and avowed their See also:fault. Some fled the See also:country, but many (See also:Mariana says 17,000) offered themselves for reconciliation. The first seat of the Holy Office was in the convent of See also:San Pablo, where the friars, however, resented the orders, on the pretext that they were not delegates of the inquisitor-general. Soon the gloomy fortress of Triana, on the opposite See also:bank of the See also:Guadalquivir, was prepared as the See also:palace of the Holy Office; and the terror-stricken Sevillianos read with dismay over the portals the See also:motto of the Inquisition: " Exsurge, Domine, Judica causam See also:tuam, Capite nobis vulpes." Other tribunals, like that of Seville and under La Supremo, were speedily established in See also:Cordova, See also:Jaen and Toledo. The sovereigns saw that See also:wealth was beginning to flow in to the new tribunals by means of fines and confiscations; and they obliged Torquemada to take as assessors five persons who would represent them in all matters affecting the royal prerogatives. These assessors were allowed a definite See also:vote in temporal matters but not in spiritual, and the final decision was reserved to Torquemada himself, who in 1483 was appointed the See also:sole inquisitor-general over all the Spanish possessions. In the next See also:year he ceded to Diego Deza, a Dominican, his office of confessor to the sovereigns, and gave himself up to the congenial See also:work of reducing heretics. A general See also:assembly of his inquisitors was convoked at Seville for the 29th of See also:November 1484; and there he promulgated a See also:code of twenty-eight articles for the guidance of the ministers of the faith. Among these rules are the following, which will give some See also:idea of the See also:procedure.

Heretics were allowed See also:

thirty days to declare themselves. Those who availed themselves of this. grace were only fined, and their goods escaped See also:confiscation. See also:Absolution in See also:Toro externo was forbidden to be given secretly to those who made voluntary See also:confession; they had to submit to the ignominy of the public auto-de-P. The result of this harsh See also:law was that numerous applications were made to See also:Rome for See also:secret absolution; and thus much See also:money escaped the Inquisition in Spain. Those who were reconciled were deprived of all See also:honourable employment, and were. forbidden to use See also:gold, See also:silver, See also:jewelry, See also:silk or See also:fine See also:wool. Against this law, too, many petitions went to Rome for rehabilitation, until in 1498 the Spanish See also:pope See also:Alexander VI. granted leave to Torquemada to rehabilitate the condemned, and with-See also:drew practically all concessions hitherto made and paid for at Rome. Fines were imposed by way of See also:penance on those confessing willingly. If a heretic in the Inquisition asked for absolution, he could receive it, but subject to a life imprisonment; but if his repentance were but feigned he could be at oncecondemned and handed over to the See also:civil power for See also:execution. Should the accused, after the testimony against him had been made public, continue to deny the See also:charge, he was to be Condemned as impenitent. When serious See also:proof existed against one who denied his See also:crime, he could be submitted to the question by See also:torture; and if under torture he avowed his fault and confirmed his See also:guilt by subsequent confession he was punished as one convicted; but should he retract he was again to be submitted to the tortures or condemned to extraordinary See also:punishment. This second questioning was afterwards forbidden; but the See also:prohibition was got over by merely suspending and then renewing the sessions for questioning. It was forbidden to communicate to the accused the entire copy of the declaration of the witnesses.

The dead even were not See also:

free from the Holy Office; but processes could be instituted against them and their remains subjected to punishment. But along with these cruel and unjust See also:measures there must be put down to Torquemada's See also:credit some advanced ideas as to See also:prison life. The cells of the Inquisition were, as a See also:rule, large, See also:airy, clean and with See also:good windows admitting the See also:sun. They were, in those respects, far See also:superior to the civil prisons of that See also:day. The use of irons was in Torquemada's time not allowed in the Holy Office; the use of torture was in accordance with the practice of the other royal tribunals; and when these gave it up the Holy Office did so also. Such were some of the methods that Torquemada introduced into the Spanish Inquisition, which was to have so baneful an effect upon the whole country. During the eighteen years that he was inquisitor-general it is said that he burnt 10,220 persons, condemned 686o others to be burnt in effigy, and reconciled 97,321, thus making an See also:average of some 6000 convictions a year. These figures are given by See also:Llorente, who was secretary of the Holy Office from 1790 to 1792 and had See also:access to the archives; but See also:modern See also:research reduces the See also:list of those burnt by Torquemada to 2000, in itself an awful See also:holocaust to the principle of intolerance. The See also:constant stream of petitions to Rome opened the eyes of the pope to the effects of Torquemada's severity. On three See also:separate occasions he had to send Fray Alfonso Badaja to defend his acts before the Holy See. The sovereigns, too, saw the stream of money, which they had hoped for, diverted to the coffers of the Holy Office, and in 1493 they made complaint to the pope; but Torquemada was powerful enough to secure most of the money for the expenses of the Inquisition. But in 1496, when the sovereigns again complained that the inquisitors were, without royal knowledge or consent, disposing of the See also:property of the condemned and thus depriving the public revenues of considerable sums, Alexander VI. appointed Jimenes to examine into the See also:case and make the Holy Office disgorge the See also:plunder.

For many years Torquemada had been persuading the sovereigns to make an See also:

attempt once for all to rid the country of the hated See also:Moors. Mariana holds that the See also:founding of the Inquisition, by giving a new impetus to the idea of a See also:united kingdom, made the country more capable of carrying to a satisfactory ending the traditional See also:wars against the Moors. The taking of Zahaia in 1481 by the enemy gave occasion to See also:reprisals. Troops were summoned to Seville and the See also:war began by the See also:siege of Alhama, a town eight leagues from See also:Granada, the Moorish capital. Torquemada went with the sovereigns to Cordova, to See also:Madrid or wherever the states-general were held, to urge on the war; and he obtained from the Holy See the same spiritual favours that had been enjoyed by the Crusaders. But he did not forget his favourite work of ferreting out heretics; and his ministers of the faith made great progress over all the kingdom, especially at Toledo, where merciless severity was shown to the Jews who had lapsed from See also:Christianity. The Inquisition, although as a See also:body the clergy did not mislike it, sometimes met with furious opposition from the nobles and See also:common See also:people. At See also:Valentia and See also:Lerida there were serious conflicts. At See also:Saragossa See also:Peter Arbue, a See also:canon and an ardent inquisitor, was slain in 1485 whilst praying in a See also:church; and the threats against the hated Torquemada made him go in fear of his life, and he never went abroad without an escort of See also:forty See also:familiar* of the Holy Office on horseback and two See also:hundred more on See also:foot. In 1487 he went with Ferdinand to See also:Malaga and thence to Valladolid, where in the See also:October of 1488 he held another general See also:congregation of the Inquisition and promulgated new See also:laws based on the experience already gained. He then hurried back to See also:Andalusia where he joined the sovereigns, who were now besieging Granada, which he entered with the conquering See also:army in See also:January 1492 and built there a convent of his order. The Moors being vanquished, now came the turn of the Jews.

In 1490 had happened the case of El Santo nino de la Guardia—a See also:

child supposed to have been killed by the Jews. His existence had never been proved; and in the See also:district of Guardia no child was reported as missing. The whole See also:story was most probably the creation of imaginations stimulated by torture and despair, unless it was a deliberate fiction set forth for the purpose of provoking hostility against the Jews. For a long time Torquemada had tried to get the royal consent to a general See also:expulsion; but the sovereigns hesitated, and, as the victims were the backbone of the commerce of the country, proposed a See also:ransom of 300,000 ducats instead. The indignant friar would hear of no See also:compromise: " Judas," he cried, " sold See also:Christ for 30 pence; and your highnesses wish to sell Him again for 300,000 ducats." Unable to See also:bear up against the Dominican's fiery denunciations, the sovereigns, three months after the fall of Granada, issued a See also:decree ordering every See also:Jew either to embrace Christianity or to leave the country, four months being given to make up their minds; and those who refused to become Christians to order had leave to sell their property and carry off their effects. But this was not enough for the inquisitor-general, who in the following See also:month (See also:April) issued orders to forbid Christians, under severe penalties, having any communication with the Jews or, after the See also:period of grace, to See also:supply them even with the necessaries of life. The former prohibition made it impossible far the unfortunate people to sell their goods which hence See also:fell to the Inquisition. The See also:numbers of Jewish families driven out of the country by Torquemada is variously stated from Mariana's 1,700,000 to the more probable 800,000 of later historians. The loss to Spain was enormous, and from this See also:act of the Dominican the commercial decay of Spain See also:dates. . See also:Age was now creeping on Torquemada, who, however, never would allow his misdirected zeal to See also:rest. At another general assembly, his See also:fourth, he gave new and more stringent rules, which are found in the Compilaci6n de See also:las instrucciones del officio de la Santa InquisiciOn. He took up his See also:residence in See also:Avila, where he had built a convent; and here he resumed the common life of a friar, leaving his See also:cell in October 1497 to visit, at See also:Salamanca, the dying See also:infante, Don Juan, and to comfort the sovereigns in their parental See also:distress.

They often used .to visit him at Avila, where in 1498, still in office as inquisitor-general, he held his last general assembly to See also:

complete his life's work. Soon afterwards he died, on the 16th of See also:September 1498, " full of years and merit " says his biographer. He was buried in the See also:chapel of the convent of St Thomas in Avila. The name of Torquemada stands for all that is intolerant and narrow, despotic and cruel. He was no real statesman or See also:minister of the See also:Gospel, but a See also:blind fanatic, who failed to see that faith, which is the See also:gift of See also:God, cannot be imposed on any conscience by force. (E.

End of Article: TORQUEMADA, THOMAS (1420-1498)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
TORQUEMADA, JUAN DE (1388-1468) 		[next]
TORRE ANNUNZIATA

Site © 2006 - Net Industries