History UsefulNotes / TheSpanishInquisition

The Inquisition was founded by Isabella of Castile to stamp out {{heresy}} and 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. Whom we'll mention in passing just long enough to [[HenpeckedHusband 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.

The Inquisition's surveillance 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 and anti-monarchism. 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 everything from 'marginal but useful' to 'critical and essential'.

* The Holy See of ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' has an Inquisition dedicated to rooting out heretics. Much like ''TabletopGame/AnimaBeyondFantasy'', the Black Legend has full influence here -- many people are horribly tortured in the Inquisition's dungeons, and a major character nearly gets burned at the stake as a witch (though this is mainly because she has a [[MagneticPlotDevice mark]] on her that draws TheLegionsOfHell to her, which the protagonist also has). The most notorious figure of the Holy See's Inquisition is Bishop and High Inquisitor Mozgus, who is [[KnightTemplar quite the nasty piece of work]].
** Given how much stuff in ''Anima'' has been inspired (or simply taken [[{{Expy}} more]] or [[CaptainErsatz less]] changed) from different anime and manga, it's very likely its Inquisition is actually based on the Holy See of Berserk.

* ''ComicBook/{{Marvel 1602}}'' features [[spoiler: Magneto]] as the Grand Inquisitor, and [[spoiler: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch]] as his two assistants. While he publicly advances the Pope's agenda, he secretly [[spoiler: kills only "witchbreed" whose mutations are obvious, such as Angel's. Those who are less obvious he inducts into his "Brotherhood of those who will inherit the earth"]].
* While ''ComicBook/RequiemVampireKnight'' doesn't have an actual Inquisition, some of the more notorious Inquisitors show up as [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]] (including Torquemada himself), which are what people who do horrible things to people in the name of religious fanaticism are reborn as in the world of Resurrection.

* In the Italian remake of ''FanFic/BattleFantasiaProject'' the Assembly of the Eight Sacrament department of the {{Franchise/Nasuverse}} of the Inquisition features prominently, with the Inquisition at large eventually taking back the historical name of "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition".

* It is featured in ''Film/{{Assassins Creed|2016}}'' (the 2016 film).

* Depicted as a cancer on an idealized body politic in ''Film/TheFountain'' by Creator/DarrenAronofsky. Then we realize it was [[spoiler:[[AllJustADream All Just a Story in the head of a dying astronaut who has attained enlightenment.]]]]
* ''Goya's Ghosts'' starring Creator/NataliePortman as one of the victims of the Inquisition.

* In the Norwegian {{fantasy}} book series Literature/{{Phenomena}} is Torquemada one of the antagonists, and is a truly evil man. [[spoiler: First he tortures kills his brother, then proceeds to do that to said brother's wife and still baby daughter some years after, even implied that many [[RapeAsDrama horrid things]] happened to the wife as she died protecting her daughter to the end.]]

* A parable told by Ivan in ''Literature/TheBrothersKaramazov'' is set in the Spanish Inquisition.
* Inspired the Quisition in the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Small Gods''.
* The protagonist of the Creator/EdgarAllanPoe story ''Literature/ThePitAndThePendulum'' is a prisoner of the Spanish Inqusition. It's worth noting that at no time during the Inquisition did the Inquisitors subject any of their condemned to the sadistic {{Death Trap}}s (including the eponymous PendulumOfDeath) employed against the protagonist. It's also noted for taking place during the Peninsular War of 1807-14, centuries after the height of the Inquisition.

* Spanish series of novels ''The Adventures of Captain Literature/{{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 Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures novel ''Sanctuary''.%%ZXE%%
* Mentioned in the early books of Creator/EricFlint and Creator/DavidWeber's ''1632'' series, but comes to the fore in ''1634: The Galileo Affair''.
* The Inquisition is still around in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. [[spoiler: GoodShepherd Father Forthill is even a member.]] Nowadays, though their primary goal is dealing with dangerous supernatural threats and helping the Knights of the Cross. They're really very sorry about what happened in Spain, and have sworn off political power because of it.

* ''Literature/DonQuixote'': The only contemporary example by an Spanish author (Creator/MiguelDeCervantes) shows the Spanish Inquisition as an institution responsible for ensuring that the Spanish captives by the Moors who returned to Spain did not show traces of having converted to Islam, and as a MoralGuardian full of CondescendingCompassion for the masses in 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 shown in a worse light]].
--> ... this marvelous 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 watchful sentinels of our faith, explained the matter to the inquisitors, who commanded him to break it up and have done with it, [[CondescendingCompassion lest the ignorant vulgar should be scandalized]].
** Cervantes may have had some personal history with the Inquisition to work through: it's been suggested by a few historians that he may have been the anonymous author of the earlier {{picaresque}} novel, ''Literature/LazarilloDeTormes'', and if Cervantes didn't write it, he almost certainly read it, as it's mentioned by name in ''Quixote'' and was clearly a big influence on that book's plot structure and satirical sensibilities. ''Lazarillo'' was banned by the Inquisition and many copies of it were burnt due to its [[CorruptChurch unflattering depiction]] of church hypocrisy. Whoever the author was, they likely predicted this backlash, hence the decision to publish anonymously. In short, the writer of ''Lazarillo de Tormes'' probably expected the Spanish Inquisition.
* In Creator/RobertAntonWilson's trilogy of novels ''The Historical Illuminatus'', part of the education of young Sigismundo Celine is his attendance at an Inquisition where an elderly landowner of good character is put on public display and, humiliatingly, has to "confess" to a catalogue of sins invented for him by his torturers, under threat of renewed torture. Celine realises the purpose of the trial is not so much to enforce compliance through fear, as for the Church to grab his land and possessions after he dies. Later on he witnesses the French Inquisition doing exactly the same to a minor noble who has displeased them. Corruption and greed, he realises, drives the Church in the 18th century.
* Subverted in the Conrad Starsgard series by Creator/LeoFrankowski. Conrad, a Polish engineer from the 20th Century travels back in time to the 13th Century. He confesses his predicament to a Franciscan priest, who sends a report to Rome so an inquisition can be held over whether Conrad is an agent of God or the Devil. Thanks to an excessively slow bureaucracy, the report spends years getting bounced around by the Church hierarchy, then sent back to the authorities in Poland for verification because no-one believes it. Meanwhile Conrad is advancing in rank and wealth because he's GivingRadioToTheRomans, and as a consequence the priest also advances because he's the personal confessor of such a powerful man, so the report keeps being submitted to him (as said higher authority) for verification!
* In the {{Franchise/Nasuverse}} a number of characters work are Executors of the Church, and actually work for the Assembly of the Eight Sacrament, a department of the Inquisition dedicated to supervise supernatural phenomena and holy relics and eradicate vampires, with the Burial Agency as a further sub-department dedicated specifically to eradicate the worst and most dangerous vampires. [[ShownTheirWork The date of foundation of the Assembly of the Eight Sacrament and the Burial Agency coincide with the foundation of the Episcopal Inquisitions]].

* Henry was pursued by a priest in ''Series/BloodTies''. In two different eras.
* In ''Series/TrueBlood'', the Inquisition is the work of vampires and was primarily used to eliminate witches. The BigBad of series 4 is the vengeful spirit of one such witch who was burned at the stake 400 years previously.

** And by extension, the Inquisition is the main organization of ''Webcomic/ExterminatusNow''. There are also two references to the Monty Python sketch.
* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'', [[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]]. The broad-brimmed {{Nice Hat}}s are also there.
* ''TabletopGame/AnimaBeyondFantasy'' also has 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 and [[FantasticRacism non-humans]] respectively). They've everything from the Black Legend mentioned above: [[BurnTheWitch burning heretics at the stake]], [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures]], etc and are '''not''' very nice.
* They're also still around in ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil''. The Malleus Malefictorum are also dedicated to only fighting supernatural threats, particularly vampires. [[spoiler: Their leader is a ghoul, as in someone who survives on vampire blood. He's also [[GayConservative gay,]] but surprisingly not a PedophilePriest.]]
* In ''Franchise/MutantChronicles'', The Brotherhood's Second Directorate is the Inquisition. The Inquisition is pretty much the common view of the Spanish one taken UpToEleven. However the GrimDark nature of the world makes the Inquisition come off as [[TheExtremistWasRight harsh but justified]] more than anything else. Inquisitors not only conduct interrogations and torture heretics, but also investigate heresy-related crime and fight heretics and demons in the field, and are generally (though not without exception) heroic figures.

* The classic musical ''Theatre/ManOfLaMancha'' is the story of Literature/DonQuixote as told by Creator/{{Miguel de Cervantes}} to a group of inmates while he awaits trial by the Inquisition. An underplayed but important arc involves Miguel building up his courage to face the Inquisition, running parallel to Quixote's seeming fearlessness.

* Paul Luther is detained by the Inquisition in ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness''; his chapter is even titled "Heresy!".

* Lang Lang [[http://langlang.comicgenesis.com/d/20041028.html plays it completely straight.]]

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

* The Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures novel ''Sanctuary''.

** Toture was used in just under 3 percent of all cases and even then for less than 15 minutes. [[FairForItsDay Which puts them under the secular courts of the time.]]

Another 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. It should also be pointed out that the Inquisition under Torquemada argued to ''save'' the books and documents taken in the Conquest of Mexico and South America, to sadly little avail.

* The Holy See of ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' also has an Inquisition dedicated to rooting out heretics. Much like ''TabletopGame/AnimaBeyondFantasy'', the Black Legend has full influence here -- many people are horribly tortured in the Inquisition's dungeons, and a major character nearly gets burned at the stake as a witch (though this is mainly because she has a [[MagneticPlotDevice mark]] on her that draws TheLegionsOfHell to her, which the protagonist also has). The most notorious figure of the Holy See's Inquisition is Bishop and High Inquisitor Mozgus, who is [[KnightTemplar quite the nasty piece of work]].

[[AC:Unsorted]]
* A ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' episode actually plays a version of the famous Creator/MontyPython sketch completely straight.
* ''Roleplay/OpenBlue'' has the [[ChurchMilitant Three Inquisitional Orders]], which served as the Avelian Empire's Spanish Inquisition. When the inquisition ended, they continued to train their priests (and nuns) in the art of [[WarriorMonk swinging swords around]] as they were frequently assigned as chaplains aboard Avelian warships, which usually went off hunting {{pirates}}. Additionally, these priests and nuns are responsible for ''training'' the [[CloakAndDagger spies]] and StateSec agents working for the Empire's intelligence service.
* In ''Franchise/MutantChronicles'', The Brotherhood's Second Directorate is the Inquisition. The Inquisition is pretty much the common view of the Spanish one taken UpToEleven. However the GrimDark nature of the world makes the Inquisition come off as [[TheExtremistWasRight harsh but justified]] more than anything else. Inquisitors not only conduct interrogations and torture heretics, but also investigate heresy-related crime and fight heretics and demons in the field, and are generally (though not without exception) heroic figures.
* In the {{Franchise/Nasuverse}} a number of characters work are Executors of the Church, and actually work for the Assembly of the Eight Sacrament, a department of the Inquisition dedicated to supervise supernatural phenomena and holy relics and eradicate vampires, with the Burial Agency as a further sub-department dedicated specifically to eradicate the worst and most dangerous vampires. [[ShownTheirWork The date of foundation of the Assembly of the Eight Sacrament and the Burial Agency coincide with the foundation of the Episcopal Inquisitions]].
* In the Italian remake of ''FanFic/BattleFantasiaProject'' the Assembly of the Eight Sacrament department of the {{Franchise/Nasuverse}} of the Inquisition features prominently, with the Inquisition at large eventually taking back the historical name of "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition".

[[{{Music}}]]

* The Holy See of ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' also has an Inquisition dedicated to rooting out heretics. Much like Anima above, the Black Legend has full influence here -- many people are horribly tortured in the Inquisition's dungeons, and a major character nearly gets burned at the stake as a witch (though this is mainly because she has a [[MagneticPlotDevice mark]] on her that draws TheLegionsOfHell to her, which the protagonist also has). The most notorious figure of the Holy See's Inquisition is Bishop and High Inquisitor Mozgus, who is [[KnightTemplar quite the nasty piece of work]].
** Given how much stuff in Anima has been inspired (or simply taken [[{{Expy}} more]] or [[CaptainErsatz less]] changed) from different anime and manga, it's very likely its Inquisition is actually based on the Holy See of Berserk.

* Lang Lang [[http://langlang.comicgenesis.com/d/20041028.html plays it completely straight.]]
* The subject of "White Hammer" by Music/VanDerGraafGenerator.

* Subverted in the Conrad Starsgard series by Creator/LeoFrankowski. Conrad, a Polish engineer from the 20th Century travels back in time to the 13th Century. He confesses his predicament to a Franciscan priest, who sends a report to Rome so an inquisition can be held over whether Conrad is an agent of God or the Devil. Thanks to an excessively slow bureaucracy, the report spends years getting bounced around by the Church hierarchy, then sent back to the authorities in Poland for verification because no-one believes it. Meanwhile Conrad is advancing in rank and wealth because he's GivingRadioToTheRomans, and as a consequence the priest also advances because he's the personal confessor of such a powerful man, so the report keeps being submitted to him (as said higher authority) for verification!

* ''TabletopGame/{{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]]. Every full-fledged Inquisitor infamously has the authority to practically order an EarthShatteringKaboom (technically, the actual planet will remain intact, but literally all life on it will be extinguished) if they deem it necessary, and will be almost definitely be [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing the entire way]] before-hand. The Inquisition's members also 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.
** And by extension, the Inquisition is the main organization of ''Webcomic/ExterminatusNow''. There are also two references to the Monty Python sketch.
* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'', [[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]]. The broad-brimmed {{Nice Hat}}s are also there.
* ''TabletopGame/AnimaBeyondFantasy'' also has 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 and [[FantasticRacism non-humans]] respectively). They've everything from the Black Legend mentioned above: [[BurnTheWitch burning heretics at the stake]], [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures]], etc and are '''not''' very nice.
* They're also still around in ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil''. The Malleus Malefictorum are also dedicated to only fighting supernatural threats, particularly vampires. [[spoiler: Their leader is a ghoul, as in someone who survives on vampire blood. He's also [[GayConservative gay,]] but surprisingly not a PedophilePriest.]]

* The classic musical ''Theatre/ManOfLaMancha'' is the story of Literature/DonQuixote as told by Creator/{{Miguel de Cervantes}} to a group of inmates while he awaits trial by the Inquisition. An underplayed but important arc involves Miguel building up his courage to face the Inquisition, running parallel to Quixote's seeming fearlessness.
* One episode of ''Series/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. This eventually wound up becoming [[Memes/MontyPython one of the biggest memes ever]].
* A ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' episode actually plays a version of the famous Creator/MontyPython sketch completely straight.

* The opera ''Theatre/DonCarlo'', and the play by Friedrich von Schiller on which it is based.

* Spoofed in a musical number in Creator/MelBrooks' ''[[Film/HistoryOfTheWorldPartI History of the World, Part I]]''.

* Depicted as a cancer on an idealized body politic in ''Film/TheFountain'' by Creator/DarrenAronofsky. Then we realize it was [[spoiler:[[AllJustADream All Just a Story in the head of a dying astronaut who has attained enlightenment.]]]]
* Depicted as a torturous game show sketch, "Convert or Die!", in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Histeria}}!'' episode "Megalomaniacs". The sketch was replaced with a new sketch about ''Custer's Last Stand'' in reruns, but restored when the episode appeared on [=In2TV=].
* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' had the ''Spinach'' Inquisition from the land of Spinachia, who forced kids to eat spinach so they didn't have to (and sang about it as well). Upon saying "Nobody expects the spinach inquisition!", a rim shot plays.
* Henry was pursued by a priest in ''Series/BloodTies''. In two different eras.
* ''Roleplay/OpenBlue'' has the [[ChurchMilitant Three Inquisitional Orders]], which served as the Avelian Empire's Spanish Inquisition. When the inquisition ended, they continued to train their priests (and nuns) in the art of [[WarriorMonk swinging swords around]] as they were frequently assigned as chaplains aboard Avelian warships, which usually went off hunting {{pirates}}. Additionally, these priests and nuns are responsible for ''training'' the [[CloakAndDagger spies]] and StateSec agents working for the Empire's intelligence service.

* ''TabletopGame/{{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]]. Every full-fledged Inquisitor infamously has the authority to practically order an EarthShatteringKaboom (technically, the actual planet will remain intact, but literally all life on it will be extinguished) if they deem it necessary, and will be almost definitely be [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing the entire way]] before-hand. The Inquisition's members also 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.
** And by extension, the Inquisition is the main organization of ''Webcomic/ExterminatusNow''. There are also two references to the Monty Python sketch.
* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'', [[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]]. The broad-brimmed {{Nice Hat}}s are also there.
* ''TabletopGame/AnimaBeyondFantasy'' also has 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 and [[FantasticRacism non-humans]] respectively). They've everything from the Black Legend mentioned above: [[BurnTheWitch burning heretics at the stake]], [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures]], etc and are '''not''' very nice.
* The Holy See of ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' also has an Inquisition dedicated to rooting out heretics. Much like Anima above, the Black Legend has full influence here -- many people are horribly tortured in the Inquisition's dungeons, and a major character nearly gets burned at the stake as a witch (though this is mainly because she has a [[MagneticPlotDevice mark]] on her that draws TheLegionsOfHell to her, which the protagonist also has). The most notorious figure of the Holy See's Inquisition is Bishop and High Inquisitor Mozgus, who is [[KnightTemplar quite the nasty piece of work]].
** Given how much stuff in Anima has been inspired (or simply taken [[{{Expy}} more]] or [[CaptainErsatz less]] changed) from different anime and manga, it's very likely its Inquisition is actually based on the Holy See of Berserk.
* Paul Luther is detained by the Inquisition in ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness''; his chapter is even titled "Heresy!".

* They're also still around in ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil''. The Malleus Malefictorum are also dedicated to only fighting supernatural threats, particularly vampires. [[spoiler: Their leader is a ghoul, as in someone who survives on vampire blood. He's also [[GayConservative gay,]] but surprisingly not a PedophilePriest.]]
* Lang Lang [[http://langlang.comicgenesis.com/d/20041028.html plays it completely straight.]]
* ''Goya's Ghosts'' starring Creator/NataliePortman as one of the victims of the Inquisition.
* ''ComicBook/{{Marvel 1602}}'' features [[spoiler: Magneto]] as the Grand Inquisitor, and [[spoiler: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch]] as his two assistants. While he publicly advances the Pope's agenda, he secretly [[spoiler: kills only "witchbreed" whose mutations are obvious, such as Angel's. Those who are less obvious he inducts into his "Brotherhood of those who will inherit the earth"]].

* While ''ComicBook/RequiemVampireKnight'' doesn't have an actual Inquisition, some of the more notorious Inquisitors show up as [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]] (including Torquemada himself), which are what people who do horrible things to people in the name of religious fanaticism are reborn as in the world of Resurrection.
* 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 no one has ever heard of it]].

* The subject of "White Hammer" by Music/VanDerGraafGenerator.
* In ''Series/TrueBlood'', the Inquisition is the work of vampires and was primarily used to eliminate witches. The BigBad of series 4 is the vengeful spirit of one such witch who was burned at the stake 400 years previously.

* In ''Franchise/MutantChronicles'', The Brotherhood's Second Directorate is the Inquisition. The Inquisition is pretty much the common view of the Spanish one taken UpToEleven. However the GrimDark nature of the world makes the Inquisition come off as [[TheExtremistWasRight harsh but justified]] more than anything else. Inquisitors not only conduct interrogations and torture heretics, but also investigate heresy-related crime and fight heretics and demons in the field, and are generally (though not without exception) heroic figures.
* In the {{Franchise/Nasuverse}} a number of characters work are Executors of the Church, and actually work for the Assembly of the Eight Sacrament, a department of the Inquisition dedicated to supervise supernatural phenomena and holy relics and eradicate vampires, with the Burial Agency as a further sub-department dedicated specifically to eradicate the worst and most dangerous vampires. [[ShownTheirWork The date of foundation of the Assembly of the Eight Sacrament and the Burial Agency coincide with the foundation of the Episcopal Inquisitions]].
* In the Italian remake of ''FanFic/BattleFantasiaProject'' the Assembly of the Eight Sacrament department of the {{Franchise/Nasuverse}} of the Inquisition features prominently, with the Inquisition at large eventually taking back the historical name of "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition".

* In the song "I'm An Ordinary Man" from ''Film/MyFairLady'', Henry Higgins says he WouldRatherSuffer "a new edition of the Spanish Inquisition than to ever let a woman in my life."

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

* ''GoyasGhosts'' starring Creator/NataliePortman as one of the victims of the Inquisition.

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

* ''Literature/DonQuixote'': The only contemporary example by an Spanish author (Cervantes) shows the Spanish Inquisition 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 CondescendingCompassion 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 shown in a worse light]].

'''The Spanish Inquisition''' (known among Spaniards as "the Holy Inquisition" or "la Santa Inquisición") was a StateSec of the Catholic Church in the Kingdom of Castile-Leon founded by Queen Isabella in 1478. It was later given jurisdiction over the Crown of Aragon (a union of the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia, and Catalonia) and the Lordship of Navarra as well and eventually[[note]] after the war of the Austrian Succession, in which Aragon and Navarra sided with the Austrian Habsburgs and were crushed[[/note]] the unified Kingdom of Spain. It was disbanded in 1834.

* The protagonist of the Creator/EdgarAllanPoe story ''Literature/ThePitAndThePendulum'' is a prisoner of the Spanish Inqusition. It's worth noting that at no time during the Inquisition did the Inquisitors subject any of their condemned to the sadistic DeathTraps (including the trope-naming PendulumOfDeath) employed against the protagonist. It's also noted for taking place during the Peninsular War of 1807-14, centuries after the height of the Inquisition.

* The protagonist of the Creator/EdgarAllanPoe story ''Literature/ThePitAndThePendulum'' is a prisoner of the inquisition.

* The protagonist of the Creator/EdgarAllanPoe story ''The Pit and the Pendulum'' is a prisoner of the inquisition.

* One of the main reasons for the villain status of the Inquisition: Their host country was nearly continually at war with primarily Protestant nations such as England and the Netherlands, where there was more freedom of speech (for its time) while printing presses and popular literature were much more common. This meant that at the beginning they criticized the Spanish Inquisition's poor job on executions and conversions. When the Inquisition became a bit harsher, they went [[BerserkButton apeshit]] and exaggerated its reputation of being a blood-thirsty totalitarian organization. Some modern-day Spaniards refer to this as the "Black Legend."

Note the "DunceCap" being worn by the heretic in the picture. This was standard practice to identify the heretic on his/her way to the stake, and lived on as the "dunce's cap" of schoolroom legend - punishment for a classroom nonconformist.

* One episode of ''Series/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. This eventually wound up becoming one of the biggest memes ever.

* ''TabletopGame/{{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.

* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'', [[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]].

* ''MutantChronicles'': The Brotherhood's Second Directorate is the Inquisition. The Inquisition is pretty much the common view of the Spanish one taken UpToEleven. However the GrimDark nature of the world makes the Inquisition come off as [[TheExtremistWasRight harsh but justified]] more than anything else. Inquisitors not only conduct interrogations and torture heretics, but also investigate heresy-related crime and fight heretics and demons in the field, and are generally (though not without exception) heroic figures.

The Inquisition's surveillance 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 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 (subjects') place(s) in it being prized above all else -- what's an earthly life of thirty years to eternity? -- this was big stuff. The Inquisition witnessed very few [[WitchHunt witch trials]]; this is not just because they dealt only with 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 -- but because what trials there were ceased in the latter 16th Century.

* In ''TrueBlood'', the Inquisition is the work of vampires and was primarily used to eliminate witches. The BigBad of series 4 is the vengeful spirit of one such witch who was burned at the stake 400 years previously.

* Subverted in the Conrad Starsgard series by Leo Frankowski. Conrad, a Polish engineer from the 20th Century travels back in time to the 13th Century. He confesses his predicament to a Franciscan priest, who sends a report to Rome so an inquisition can be held over whether Conrad is an agent of God or the Devil. Thanks to an excessively slow bureaucracy, the report spends years getting bounced around by the Church hierarchy, then sent back to the authorities in Poland for verification because no-one believes it. Meanwhile Conrad is advancing in rank and wealth because he's GivingRadioToTheRomans, and as a consequence the priest also advances because he's the personal confessor of such a powerful man, so the report keeps being submitted to him (as said higher authority) for verification!

* ''OpenBlue'' has the [[ChurchMilitant Three Inquisitional Orders]], which served as the Avelian Empire's Spanish Inquisition. When the inquisition ended, they continued to train their priests (and nuns) in the art of [[WarriorMonk swinging swords around]] as they were frequently assigned as chaplains aboard Avelian warships, which usually went off hunting {{pirates}}. Additionally, these priests and nuns are responsible for ''training'' the [[CloakAndDagger spies]] and StateSec agents working for the Empire's intelligence service.

* ''GoyasGhosts'' starring NataliePortman as one of the victims of the Inquisition.

* In the {{Nasuverse}} a number of characters work are Executors of the Church, and actually work for the Assembly of the Eight Sacrament, a department of the Inquisition dedicated to supervise supernatural phenomena and holy relics and eradicate vampires, with the Burial Agency as a further sub-department dedicated specifically to eradicate the worst and most dangerous vampires. [[ShownTheirWork The date of foundation of the Assembly of the Eight Sacrament and the Burial Agency coincide with the foundation of the Episcopal Inquisitions]].
* In the Italian remake of ''FanFic/BattleFantasiaProject'' the Assembly of the Eight Sacrament department of the {{Nasuverse}} of the Inquisition features prominently, with the Inquisition at large eventually taking back the historical name of "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition".

* One episode of ''Series/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.

* It is featured in ''Film/{{Assassin's Creed|2016}}'' (the 2016 film).