| Tomás de Torquemada | |
|---|---|
Tomás de Torquemada |
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| Born | 1420 Valladolid, Spain |
| Died | September 16, 1498 (aged 78) Ávila, Spain |
| Occupation | Inquisitor General |
Tomás de Torquemada, O.P. (1420 – September 16, 1498) was a fifteenth century Spanish Dominican friar, first Inquisitor General of Spain, and confessor to Isabella I of Castile. He was described by the Spanish chronicler Sebastián de Olmedo as "The hammer of heretics, the light of Spain, the saviour of his country, the honour of his order". He is known for his campaign against the crypto-Jews and crypto-Muslims of Spain. He was one of the chief supporters of the Alhambra Decree, which expelled the Jews from Spain in 1492. Concerning the number of autos-de-fé during Torquemada's tenure as Inquisitor General there is a general consensus among the scholars that about 2,000 people were burned at the stake due to prosecution by the Spanish Inquisition in the whole of Spain between 1480 and 1530.[1]
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Tomás de Torquemada was born in Valladolid, Castile-León, Spain. He was the Grand Inquisitor of Spain from 1483 to his death in 1498, leaving to posterity an extraordinary picture of absolute devotion and apostolic implacability. In the fifteen years of his direction, the Spanish Inquisition grew from the single tribunal at Seville to a network of two dozen 'Holy Offices'.[2]
After early service as a monk and cook at the Dominican monastery in Valladolid, Torquemada eventually became the Prior of the Convent of La Santa Cruz, Segovia, and advisor to the monarchs — Ferdinand and Isabella. He was especially well regarded by Queen Isabella, whose confessor he had been, and who had him appointed Inquisitor General in 1483. In 1492 he was one of the chief supporters of the Alhambra decree, which resulted in the mass expulsion of Jews from Spain.
Every Spanish Christian over the age of twelve (for girls) and fourteen (for boys) was accountable to the Inquisition. The Inquisition only held jurisdiction over those who had converted from Judaism or Islam but who were suspected of secretly practising their old rites, as this corrupted the pure doctrine and faithful practice of the Christian faith. Anyone who spoke against the Inquisition could fall under suspicion – as did saints Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross.
Although the Inquisition is often viewed as being directed against Jews, in fact it had no jurisdiction or authority over unconverted Jews, or Muslims, and never claimed any. Only baptised Christians, in other words, persons who claimed to be Catholics, faced possible investigation; and of those called to appear before the Holy Office, most were released after their first hearing without any further incident.
Accusations of excess regarding the Spanish Inquisition can be supported by reference to a papal bull by Pope Sixtus IV dating from early 1482 (before Torquemada's appointment as Grand Inquisitor), affirming that,
many true and faithful Christians, because of the testimony of enemies, rivals, slaves and other low people—and still less appropriate—without tests of any kind, have been locked up in secular prisons, tortured and condemned like relapsed heretics, deprived of their goods and properties, and given over to the secular arm to be executed, at great danger to their souls, giving a pernicious example and causing scandal to many.[3]
So hated did he become that at one point Torquemada traveled with a bodyguard of 50 mounted guards and 250 armed men. After 15 years as Spain's Grand Inquisitor, he died in 1498 in Ávila. For his role in the Spanish Inquisition, Torquemada's name has become a byword for fanaticism in the service of the Catholic religion. However, Torquemada was something of an early penal reformer. He cleaned up the Inquisition's prisons and ordered that the prisoners be properly fed and clothed. In time the number of common criminals petitioning to have their cases transferred to the Inquisitional courts became an administrative burden.
Secrecy being one of the keys to the workings of the Inquisition, Torquemada's manual of instructions (Copilacion de las Instruciones del Offico de la Sancta Inquisicion) did not appear publicly in print until 1576, when it was published in Madrid.
In 1832, Torquemada's tomb was ransacked, his bones stolen and burnt to ashes.
Torquemada appears to have had Jewish ancestry: the contemporary historian Hernando del Pulgar, writing of Torquemada's uncle Juan de Torquemada, said that his ancestor Alvar Fernández de Torquemada had married a first-generation Jewish conversa (convert). Hernando del Pulgar, writing about Juan de Torquemada -Tomás' uncle- stated that "sus abuelos fueron de linage de los convertidos a nuestra santa fe católica" (his grandparents were amongst those converted to our Holy Catholic Faith), in his essay Claros varones de Castilla. Del Pulgar was a converso himself. Also, according to biographer Thomas Hope's book, Torquemada, Torquemada's grandmother was a conversa.
| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by New Office |
Grand Inquisitor of Spain 1483–1498 |
Succeeded by Diego Deza |