Torquemada
Tomás de Torquemada (b.October 14, 1420 – †September 16, 1498), also anglicized as Thomas of Torquemada was a Castilian Dominican friar and first Grand Inquisitor in Spain's movement to homogenize religious practices with those of the Catholic Church in the late 15th century, otherwise known as the Spanish Inquisition, which resulted in the expulsion from Spain of thousands of people of Jewish and Muslim faith and heritage.
Mainly because of persecution, Muslims and Jews in Spain then found it socially, politically, and economically expedient to convert to Catholicism. The existence of superficial converts (i.e., Crypto-Jews) was perceived by the Spanish monarchs of that time (King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella) as a threat to Spain's religious and social life. This led Torquemada, who himself had converso ancestors, to be one of the chief supporters of the Alhambra Decree that expelled the Jews from Spain in 1492.
Death
During his final years, Torquemada's failing health and widespread complaints caused Pope Alexander VI to appoint four assistant inquisitors in June 1494 to restrain the Spanish Inquisition. After fifteen years as Spain's Grand Inquisitor, Torquemada died in the monastery of St. Thomas Aquinas in Ávila on September 16, 1498, and was interred there. His tomb was ransacked in 1832, only two years before the Inquisition was finally disbanded. His bones were allegedly stolen and ritually incinerated in the same manner as an "auto-da-fé."
See also [ History of the Spanish Inquisition ]
Portal:Torture methods and devicesExternal links
- Wikipedia article: Tomás de Torquemada
