The Spanish Inquisition

Introduction

During the 1400’s, Spain was divided and was in a state of violence and rioting. At the time, religion and belief in the Catholic Church seemed to be the only thing that could bring the country together as one, even though the church was weak and corrupt due to previous years of violence it prevailed over politics as most of the population was Christian. The Queen and King of Spain saw this as a chance to unify their country and set about making reforms to the church.

The Inquisition was not a new idea and had been used around Europe for many years by the pope of the Catholic Church before the fifteenth century to keep the supremacy of the Catholic belief. It was later introduced to Spain as a court run by priests which would

The Inquisition had been introduced by the Pope but was run by the monarchy, this meant the Inquisitors methods were seen as just and they did not need explanations as they were working to protect the “limpieza di sangre” as well as the union of the Spanish nation by ridding the population of the Jewish and Muslim believers (Thibault Freté - Religion, Violence and Peace 2010). Freté also states that, as religion was more powerful than politics during the fifteenth centaury due to the amount of Christians present at the time, the Inquisition made the perfect tool for controlling the Spanish population; by the use of “symbolic violence” and fear, the governing bodies created an environment of obedience where the people would act as the Inquisitor wanted them too. However, Freté counter states that the Inquisition was also occasionally peaceful; though, this was more due to the success of the Inquisition in creating an obedient

Spain at the time was in a state of “Political Augustinianism”; this meant that religion held a greater priority by the public than politics, and thus presented an opportunity for the monarchy to reunite the 10 separate states of Spain as most of the Spanish population was Christian. The Inquisition itself was a court carried out by priests of the Catholic Church to find members of the Spanish population who were not Catholic and, thus, threatened the “limpieza di sangre” (the purity of Christian blood). However, Inquisitors had had full reign to use any method they saw fit to get information they wanted as they were under the orders by the Spanish Monarchy and not the Pope, meaning it was the monarchy that controlled the Inquisition and not the Catholic Church. The monarchy also used the Inquisition as a form of “symbolic violence” (a term used by Pierre Bourdieu to describe violence being used as a method to make people act and believe what you want them to) to create a population who was obedient and loyal to the monarchy and