The Spanish Inquisition
The Spanish InquisitionThe Spanish Inquisition officially started in the mid- to
late- fourteen hundreds. The Spanish Inquisition was a country wide
persecution of Jews for which there are several different reasons as
to why it began. The actual reason, or reasons, that motivated the
King and Queen are not known at this time, and may never be known for
sure.
Depending on whom you ask, there are different reasons of that
vary in importance for the start of the Spanish Inquisition. Most
historians seem to stress three important reasons which are: Politics,
Economics, and Religion. My own opinion as to which of these reasons
is correct is that it was a combination of Religious and Economic
reasons. This thought will be expanded on at a later time.
Religion was one of the most predominant reasons given for the
start of the Spanish Inquisition. The Jews and Christians already
hated each other prior to the start of the Inquisition :
�It is inevitable that there has been disagreement between
Jews and Christians: The Christians hating the Jews on account of the
Crucifixion; the Jews contemptuous of a sect which had taken their
Religion and grafted a new one on it.�
The Christians were angry because the Jews crucified Christ. The Jews
were angry because the Christians took their religion, changed some
ideas and principles, and called the outcome Christianity. The Jews
and Christians were never friendly after the Crucifixion of Jesus
Christ, and this was just the climax of their hate for each other.
However, the Christians were the ones that were in the position to get
revenge, and they did, by persecuting the Jews to a murderous extent,
and calling it the Inquisition.
Those who did the persecuting and the killing of the Jews were
called Inquisitors. These people did not mind doing the killing or
torturing. Some thought that the Jews were causing sicknesses and the
Black Plague. Others thought that what they were doing was God�s
work:
�It has been said that the zealots of the Inquisition, even in
their greatest cruelty, believed themselves to be justified in what
they did. We are asked to accept as a fact that they were deeply
religious men who honestly and sincerely believed that they were
serving God in what they did. We are told that they believed Jews were
destined for damnation, and that it was their duty to save them from
that no matter what pain they inflicted on the bodies of the Jews here
on Earth.�
The Inquisitors believed that they were saving the Jews for a hideous
fate in the Underworld. They believed that since the Jews were dying
at the...
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