History UsefulNotes / TheSpanishInquisition

* ''[[AnimaBeyondFantasy Anima:Beyond Fantasy]]'' has also an Inquisition, a fanatic [[ChurchMilitant branch]] of the Church of [[CrystalDragonJesus Abel]] whose mission is to hunt down and kill heretics and demons (read: people with supernatural powers as magic or psyonic abilities or [[FantasticRacism non-humans]]). They've everything from the Black Legend mentioned above: [[BurnTheWitch burning heretics at the stake]], [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures]], etc. They're '''not''' very nice.

* ''[[AnimaBeyondFantasy Anima:Beyond Fantasy]]'' has also an Inquisition, a fanatic [[[[ChurchMilitant branch]] of the Church of [[CrystalDragonJesus Abel]] whose mission is to hunt down and kill heretics and demons (read: people with supernatural powers as magic or psyonic abilities or [[FantasticRacism non-humans]]). They've everything from the Black Legend mentioned above: [[BurnTheWitch burning heretics at the stake]], [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures]], etc.

* The Holy See of ''{{Berserk}}'' also has an Inquisition dedicated to rooting out heretics. The most notorious figure of such is Bishop and High Inquisitor Mozgus, who is [[KnightTemplar quite the nasty]] [[CompleteMonster piece of work]].

* Depicted as a cancer on an idealized body politic in ''TheFountain'' by DarrenAronofsky. Then we realize it was [[spoiler:[[AllJustADream All Just a Story in the head of a dying astronaut who has attained enlightenment.]]]]

Unfortunately, this did not stop civic authorities - who had their own court systems independent of the Church and the Crown - and groups of angry villagers from rounding 'witches' and hanging them anyway. Said authorities and mobs did not, sadly, keep records, so the actual number of Spanish people killed as witches remains unknown. That said, it is generally assumed to be lower than that in, say, France.

The Inquisition exclusively focused on people in urban centres, particularly people of prominence or importance - a strategy of limited resources more than anything else. The Inquisition was to some extent used as a political weapon by the Crown, which had few other means of dealing with its political enemies amongst the Clergy and the Civic Authorities, who administered over two-thirds of the urban population of Spain virtually independently from the Crown. To this end, cultural hang-overs like daily bathing (a Moorish custom) or not eating pork were (infamously) used as the basis for accusations of false conversion. In the same manner, the possession of certain texts - a list of banned books was eventually drawn up to this end - was used to support accusations of heresy, protestantism, anti-monarchism &c. This had the effect of getting many relatively harmless intellectuals into trouble, but the Inquisition's role in preventing the outbreak of Protestantism in Spain has been called assessed as everything from marginal but useful to critical and essential.

Most of these people brought up on charges of heresy, heretical ideas, dangerous ideas &c were asked to recant their sins and accept religious re-education. The afterlife and one's place in it almost always being prized over the temporal one, this was big stuff, though just why exactly it was so may yet elude some people today given the general attitude of complacency to religion today - Atheism still being a heresy that had to be addressed for the sake of the adherents' souls, thought it was a very uncommon charge.

The Inquisition witnessed very few [[WitchHunt witch trials]]; this is not just because they dealt only a small proportion of the peninsula's (minority) urban population at intervals of decades or more - some towns for which there exist records were not visited more than a few times during the entire period of the Inquisition's existence. This ended in latter 16th Century, when the Inquisition ruled that so-called witchcraft did not exist. The Inquisition deemed all self-identified 'witches' insane and denounced the backwardness and unorthodoxy of witch-hunters - the Inquisition was not so much interested in enforcing 'old' Catholicism as it was in promoting the 'new' Catholicism of the Catholic Reformation or Counter-Reformation.

* Spanish series of novels ''The Adventures of Captain {{Alatriste}}'' (and the movie, simply ''Alatriste'') feature the Inquisition as an antagonistic organization, represented mostly in Fray Emilio [[MeaningfulName Bocanegra ("Black-Mouth")]] and his conspiracies.

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[VirginNewAdventures New Adventures]] novel ''Sanctuary''.

* One episode of ''MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' has a RunningGag where a frustrated character would grumble, "I didn't expect some kind of/this kind of/the Spanish Inquisition!" After a "jarring chord," several anachronistic Spanish Inquisitors would burst in and seize control of the skit.
* A ''{{Batman}}'' episode actually plays a version of the famous MontyPython sketch completely straight.

* Inspired the Quisition in the {{Discworld}} novel ''Small Gods''.

* Depicted as a torturous game show sketch, "Convert or Die!", in the ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Histeria}} Histeria!]]'' episode "Megalomaniacs". The sketch was replaced with a new sketch about CustersLastStand in reruns, but restored when the episode appeared on [=In2TV=].

* ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has the Inquisition, a [[ChurchMilitant religious]] [[StateSec paramilitary security force]] that protects the Imperium from its enemies within and enemies without. One branch (Ordo Malleus) deals with [[TheLegionsOfHell daemons of Chaos]], another (Ordo Hereticus) with [[SuperPowerMeltdown rogue psykers]] or [[TheHeretic outbreaks of heresy]], and a third (Ordo Xenos) from [[FantasticRacism alien corruption]]. The Inqusition's members have a fondness for [[NiceHat broad-brimmed hats]] (when they're not in full-blown PowerArmor), and helped provide most of the ''[=40K=]'' contributions on the QuotesWiki on the subject of HangingJudge.

A common misconception is that the Spanish Inquisition was deployed overseas - it was not. There are contemporary, sensationalist, rumours of the Spanish Inquisition burning people left right and centre in the Netherlands during the course of the Reformation and Eighty Years' war. This was however the work of the Dutch Inquisition in the Spanish Netherlands, who were again in many cases using heresy as an excuse to deal with Dutch Nationalists and other politically troublesome individuals.

* While RequiemChevalierVampire doesn't have an actual Inquisition, some of the more notorious members show up as werewolves (including torquemada himself), the transformation for religious fanatics.
* Features prominently in any of Jack Chick's ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'' about the Catholic Church and, like the life of Jesus is treated [[ArtisticLicenseHistory as if almost noone has ever heard of it]].
* ''Literature/DonQuixote'': The only contemporary example by an Spanish author (Cervantes) shows TheSpanishInquisition as an Institution responsible for ensuring that the Spanish captives by the Moors who returned to Spain did not present traces of having converted to Islam,and as a MoralGuardian full of PityingPerversion for the masses at their charge when [[ThePrankster a noble]] makes a PracticalJoke with an [[DeceptivelyHumanRobots enchanted head]]. However, [[FridgeLogic the book would never have been published if the institution was showed at a worse light]].
--> ...this marvellous contrivance stood for some ten or twelve days; but that, as it became noised abroad through the city that he had in his house an enchanted head that answered all who asked questions of it, Don Antonio, fearing it might come to the ears of the [[TheSpanishInquisition watchful sentinels of our faith, explained the matter to the inquisitors]], who commanded him to break it up and have done with it, [[PityingPerversion lest the ignorant vulgar should be scandalized]].

[[caption-width:280: Bet he didn't expect that.]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheSpanishInquisition_8076.jpg

-->--'''MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'''

* Features prominently in any of JackChick's comics about the Catholic Church and, like the life of Jesus is treated [[ArtisticLicenseHistory as if almost noone has ever heard of it]].
* DonQuixote: The only contemporary example by an Spanish author (Cervantes) shows TheSpanishInquisition as an Institution responsible for ensuring that the Spanish captives by the Moors who returned to Spain did not present traces of having converted to Islam,and as a MoralGuardian full of PityingPerversion for the masses at their charge when [[ThePrankster a noble]] makes a PracticalJoke with an [[DeceptivelyHumanRobots enchanted head]]. However, [[FridgeLogic the book would never have been published if the institution was showed at a worse light]].

----

'''The Spanish Inquisition''' was a branch of the Castilian Church founded by Queen Isabella in 1478. It was later given jurisdiction over Aragon and Navarra as well and eventually the unified Kingdom of Spain. It was disbanded in 1834.

By the end of the grace period, a significant minority of Moorish and Jewish subjects were Christian in name only, using 'conversion' as an excuse to stay on in Spain. The degree to which this minority bothered to maintain this illusion varied, but in some areas of central Granada Church attendance could be measured by the dozens per annum, and ignorance of the basic tenets of Catholicism was rife. The Inquisition more or less gave up on ever addressing the huge numbers of Moorish and Jewish people living in the villages and hamlets of Granada and under the protection of Estate Lords who used them as cheap labour in Aragon. Lobbying instead for a further expulsion, they eventually got it a century on from the first expulsion and there was a second expulsion of all Moors from Granada. Most of those expelled went on to become urban poor in Spain's towns and cities, though those that could afford it generally went back to Moorish Africa. There was a third and final expulsion of all Moorish subjects from Spain after this, when it became clear that the Moorish minorities were not being assimilated and were in fact causing trouble in the locales they had migrated to.

The Inquisition exclusively focused on people in urban centres, particularly people of prominence or importance - a strategy of limited resources more than anything else. The Inquisition was to some extent used as a political weapon by the Crown, which had few other means of dealing with its political enemies amongst the Clergy and the Civic Authorities, who administered over two-thirds of the urban population of Spain virtually independently from the Crown. To this end, cultural hang-overs like daily bathing (a Moorish custom) or not eating pork were (infamously) used as the basis for accusations of false conversion. In the same manner, the possession of certain texts - a list of banned books was eventually drawn up to this end - was used to support accusations of heresy, protestantism, anti-monarchism &c. This had the effect of getting many relatively harmless intellectuals into trouble, but the Inquisition's role in preventing the outbreak of Protestantism in Spain has been called assessed as everything from marginal but useful to critical and essential.

Most of these people brought up on charges of heresy, heretical ideas, dangerous ideas &c were asked to recant their sins and accept religious re-education. The afterlife and one's place in it almost always being prized over the temporal one, this was big stuff, though just why exactly it was so may yet elude some people today given the general attitude of complacency to religion today - Atheism still being a heresy that had to be addressed for the sake of the adherents' souls, thought it was a very uncommon charge.

A common misconception is that the Spanish Inquisition was deployed overseas - it was not. There are contemporary, sensationalist, rumours of the Spanish Inquisition burning people left right and centre in the Netherlands during the course of the Reformation and Eighty Years' war. This was however the work of the Dutch Inquisition in the Spanish Netherlands, who were again in many cases using heresy as an excuse to deal with Dutch Nationalists and other politically troublesome individuals.

* One episode of ''MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' has a RunningGag where a frustrated character would grumble, "I didn't expect some kind of/this kind of/the Spanish Inquisition!" After a "jarring chord," several anachronistic Spanish Inquisitors would burst in and seize control of the skit.

* Spoofed in a musical number in MelBrooks' ''[[HistoryOfTheWorldPartOne History of the World, Part I]]''.
* Also mentioned in ''Literature/GoodOmens'', which has the Them playing at being the Spanish Inquisition. We also learn that Hell congratulated Crowley for the Inquisition, despite him having no involvement whatsoever in bringing it about. When he went to see what all the fuss was about, he stayed drunk for a week. EvenEvilHasStandards.

* ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has the Inquisition, a [[ChurchMilitant religious]] [[StateSec paramilitary security force]] that protects the Imperium from its enemies within and enemies without. One branch (Ordo Malleus) deals with [[TheLegionsOfHell daemons of Chaos]], another (Ordo Hereticus) with [[SuperPowerMeltdown rogue psykers]] or [[TheHeretic outbreaks of heresy]], and a third (Ordo Xenos) from [[FantasticRacism alien corruption]]. The Inqusition's members have a fondness for [[NiceHat broad-brimmed hats]] (when they're not in full-blown {{power armor}}), and helped provide most of the ''[=40K=]'' contributions on the QuotesWiki on the subject of HangingJudge.

* ''{{Warhammer Fantasy}}'', [[OlderThanTheyThink way before]] Warhammer 40K, had the Witch Hunters, agents who hunted down Chaos activities, unlicensed magic users, mutants, and whatever else they don't like much. Their authority might come from local authorities, the official [[KnightTemplar State Cult]], or simply [[{{Vigilante}} be acting on their own]].

<<|UsefulNotes/{{Spain}}|>>

* One episode of ''MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' has a RunningGag where a frustrated character would grumble, "I didn't expect a Spanish Inquisition!" After a "jarring chord," several anachronistic Spanish Inquisitors would burst in and seize control of the skit.

--> ...this marvellous contrivance stood for some ten or twelve days; but that, as it became noised abroad through the city that he had in his house an enchanted head that answered all who asked questions of it, Don Antonio, fearing it might come to the ears of the [[TheSpanishInquisition watchful sentinels of our faith, explained the matter to the inquisitors]], who commanded him to break it up and have done with it, [[Pityingperversion lest the ignorant vulgar should be scandalized]].

-- … this marvellous contrivance stood for some ten or twelve days; but that, as it became noised abroad through the city that he had in his house an enchanted head that answered all who asked questions of it, Don Antonio, fearing it might come to the ears of the [[TheSpanishInquisition watchful sentinels of our faith, explained the matter to the inquisitors]], who commanded him to break it up and have done with it, [[Pityingperversion lest the ignorant vulgar should be scandalized]].

Granada was last remnant of the muslim kingdom of Al-Andalus which had once spanned very nearly the entire Iberian peninsula. With its conquest the ''Reconquista'', the reclamation of Spain for Christianity, was complete. Shortly afterwards, the Muslim population of Spain was given a choice: convert to Christianity, or leave for North Africa. Many tens of thousands left, or were forcibly evicted. The Jewish population was later given the same choice. Isabella thought that it was only fair that those subjects who had effectively agreed to be loyal, Christian subjects would take a generation or so to learn the new ways. After that, the Inquisition could be used to educate the ethnically Moorish population about Catholic orthodoxy if need be. Until then, the Inquisition got started handling its standard fare of cases, the bread and butter it would chew on for the next three hundred years. That is to say, the Inquisition would tour around the cities and larger towns and address the issues that were generally the reserve of Ordinaries (church courts) everywhere - blasphemy, immorality, sexual immorality and religious ignorance generally, and ignorance, illiteracy, corruption and (sexual) immorality amongst the clergy.

* The classic film ''ManOfLaMancha'' is the story of DonQuixote as told by Miguel de Cervantes to a group of inmates while qhe awaits trial by the Inquisition. An underplayed but important arch involves Miguel building up his courage to face the Inquisition, running parallel to Quixote's seeming fearlessness.

The Inquisition was founded by Isabella of Castile to enforce religious orthodoxy amongst her subjects, particularly in Granada - the not-quite-complete conquest and subjugation of which was used as something of a rallying point which she used to smooth over the cracks caused by the somewhat-unexpected union of the Spanish Kingdoms brought about by her marriage to Ferdinand, King of Aragon. Who we'll mention in passing just long enough to make it clear who wore the pants, though he did come in handy at times and by all accounts was a decent husband who could be trusted to get things done. Ferdinand and Isabella are still Spain's most popular monarchs.

[[caption-width:280:[[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition!]]]]