Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición | |
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 Seal for the Tribunal in Spain Flanking the cross is a sword, symbolising the punishment of heretics, and an olive branch, symbolising reconciliation with the repentant. In Latin, the inscription "Exurge Domine et judica causam tuam. Psalm 73." ("Arise, Lord, and judge your cause") | |
| Type | |
| Type | Tribunal under the Spanish monarchy, for upholding religious orthodoxy in their realm |
| History | |
| Established | 1 November 1478 |
| Disbanded | 15 July 1834 |
| Seats | Consisted of a Grand Inquisitor, who headed the Council of the Supreme and General Inquisition, made up of six members. Under it were up to 21 tribunals in the empire. |
| Elections | |
| Grand Inquisitor and Suprema designated by the crown | |
| Meeting place | |
| Spanish Empire | |
| Footnotes | |
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The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition (Spanish: Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. It began toward the end of the Reconquista and was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms and to replace the Medieval Inquisition, which was under papal control. It became the most substantive of the three different manifestations of the wider Catholic Inquisition, along with the Roman Inquisition and the Portuguese Inquisition.
The "Spanish Inquisition" may be defined broadly as operating in Spain and in all Spanish colonies and territories, which included the Canary Islands, the Kingdom of Naples,[citation needed] and all Spanish possessions in North America and South America. According to some modern estimates, around 150,000 people were prosecuted for various offences during the three-century duration of the Spanish Inquisition, of whom between 3,000 and 5,000 were executed, approximately 2.7 percent of all cases.[1] The Inquisition, however, since the creation of the American courts, has never had jurisdiction over the indigenous. The King of Spain ordered "that the inquisitors should never proceed against the Indians, but against the old Christians and their descendants and other persons against whom in these kingdoms of Spain it is customary to proceed".[2]
The Inquisition was originally intended primarily to identify heretics among those who converted from Judaism and Islam to Catholicism. The regulation of the faith of newly converted Catholics was intensified following royal decrees issued in 1492 and 1502 ordering Jews and Muslims to convert to Catholicism or leave Castile, or face death,[3] resulting in hundreds of thousands of forced conversions, the persecution of conversos and moriscos, and the mass expulsions of Jews and of Muslims from Spain.[4] The Inquisition was abolished in 1834, during the reign of Isabella II, after a period of declining influence in the preceding century.
- ^ Data for executions for witchcraft: Levack, Brian P. (199). The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe (2nd ed.). London and New York: Longman. ISBN 978-0582080690. OCLC 30154582. And see Witch trials in Early Modern Europe for more detail.
- ^ Splendiani, Ana María (1997). Cincuenta años de la inquisición en el Tribunal de Cartagena de Indias. p. 86.
the American Inquisition was never involved in the conversion and evangelisation of the Indians, as they were outside its jurisdiction from the very promulgation of the edicts founding the American courts.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:5was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Hans-Jürgen Prien (2012). Christianity in Latin America: Revised and Expanded Edition. Brill. p. 11. ISBN 978-90-04-22262-5.