What was the Spanish Inquisition?

The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ( Spanish: Tribunal de Santo Oficio de la Inquisition) commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition (Inquisition Espanola), it was established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile,and headed by the dreaded Tomas de Torquemada, a Castilian Dominician friar. It 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 Portuguese Inquisition.

The Inquisition was originally intended to identify heretics among those who converted from Judaism and Islam to Catholicism. The regulation of the faith of the newly converted was intensified after the royal decrees in 1492 and 1502 ordering Jews and Muslims to convert or leave Spain.

It is often cited in popular literature and history as an example of Catholic intolerance and repression. Various modern historians question earlier accounts and have noted that the scope and brutality of the Spanish Inquisition was probably exaggerated during the waves of anti- Catholicism in the 19thand 20th centuries. Although records are incomplete, about 150,000 were charged with crimes by the Inquisition and it is believed 3,000-5,000 were executed.

The Inquisition was not definitively abolished until 1834, during the reign of Isabella II.