Juan de Torquemada (1388 – September 26, 1468), or rather Johannes de Turrecremata, Spanish ecclesiastic, was born at Valladolid, and was educated in that city.
At an early age he joined the Dominican Order, and soon distinguished himself for learning and devotion. In 1415 he accompanied the general of his order to the Council of Constance, whence he proceeded to Paris for study, and took his doctor's degree in 1423. After teaching for some time in Paris he became prior of the Dominican house first in Valladolid and then in Toledo.
Torquemada attended the Council of Basel (1431–1449) as a representative of his order and of the King of Castile. At the Council of Basel he was one of the ablest supporters of the viewpoint of pope Eugene IV and the Roman curia. He was rewarded with the office of Master of the Sacred Palace and later with a cardinal's hat in 1439. Torquemada participated in the Council of Florence, speaking on theological issues involving the eastern churches and defending papal primacy in a debate with Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini. He also worked on behalf of Pope Eugene on missions to Germany and France before settling in the Roman Curia. Torquemada supported papal Crusade policy in opposition to the Ottoman Turks. Torquemada promoted reform of religious houses and wrote extensively on behalf of papal primacy. He participated in four papal elections, casting the deciding vote in the election of Pope Nicholas V (1447–1455). In 1456, the new Pope Callixtus III, aka Alfonso de Borja, gave him, in commendam, the position of Abbott of the monastery of Santa Scolastica in Subiaco [1]. He died at Rome and was buried at Santa Maria sopra Minerva. A painting by Antoniazzo Romano showing the Annunciation has in its background Torquemada presenting girls who received dowry funds from a guild he founded to the Virgin Mary. At an earlier age he was painted by Fra Angelico in a Crucifixion scene now at Harvard University's Fogg Museum.
His principal works are:
The last-named work has the following topics:
His De conceptione deiparae Mariae, libri viii. (Rome, 1547), was edited with preface and notes by EB Pusey (London, 1869 seq.) in opposition to Pope Pius IX's definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
Other works include polemical tracts and sermons.
Juan de Torquemada was an uncle to the Inquisitor, Tomás de Torquemada. The latter's fear of "crypto-Jews" might derive from his uncle's defense of the converso community of Toledo, which was attacked by the "Old Christian" majority in the period around 1450.
Torquemada's Meditationes was the first illustrated book published in Italy.[4]