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 On September 16, 1498, Tomas de Torquemada the first Spanish Inquisitor General died.
The Spanish Inquisition was established with papal approval in 1478 at the request of King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella I.
Initially the Inquisition was to deal with the problem of Jews who through coercion or social pressure had insincerely converted to Christianity. After 1520, it turned its attention to persons suspected of Protestantism.
The Inquisition eventually became a political institution that enabled Tomás de Torquemada, the first and most notorious grand inquisitor, to execute thousands of reputed heretics. In its zeal to exterminate Moors, Jews, and heretics, the Inquisition committed such fearful excesses that even popes protested against the abuse of power, but to no avail.
The methods of the Spanish Inquisition were similar to other Roman Catholic and Protestant inquisitions in other countries. The difference was the efficiency of Torquemada. Apparently, he was good at his job. So good that historians have estimated that during Torquemada’s eighteen years in office, 105,000 persons were punished, among whom 8,800 were burnt.
Despite Torquemada’s violent excesses, the Catholic Encyclopedia quotes favorably the Spanish historian, Sebastian de Olmedo who called Torquemada “the hammer of heretics, the light of Spain, the savior of his country, the honor of his order.”
The Inquisition was finally suppressed in Spain in 1834.
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