The Common Misconception About The Spanish Inquisition

Thanks to Monty Pyton and various TV Shows over the years repeating it everyone knows that "Nobody Expects The Spanish Inquisition!"

Except for one little problem, everybody did expect the Spanish Inquisition as they always gave notice when they were coming to town.

They were often there for months at a time and gave people time to convert.

There were several Inquisitions throughout Europe at a similar time so not sure why the Spanish one receives such attention.

At first, they were welcomed to help bring order and standard church teachings to everyone. But like many things there were abuses of power, the Courts of the day frequently used torture to extract confessions and the Church was no different.

The role of the Inquisitors was to seek out those who claimed to have converted to Christianity but still secretly kept other religions.

They usually came to a town and gave notice that anyone who needed to confess had a grace period (usually 30-45 days) to come forward. Those that did would be fined or physically punished in some way and encouraged to inform on other sinners.

Those who had been accused but not come forward to confess were usually imprisoned, sometimes without even knowing the reason why with their property was confiscated in order to pay for the incarnation and trial.

Eventually, an interrogation would take place. This often involved torture, however, there were some very strict rules that had to be adhered to. Breaking the skin was a big no-no, therefore other methods were used.

The Rack was a favourite, as it would tear joints but crucially the skin did not tear and an early form of waterboarding which involved a rag being stuff in the victim's mouth and water being poured on it which gave the impression of drowning.

Some people after undergoing these treatments would confess and if it happened after the torture had actually stopped it was considered to be "under their own free will" they would then have to make a public declaration of their guilt and accept punishment, this ranged from a fine or 5 years hard labour in a rowing galley (usually meant death).

Those who did not confess or did so during torture faced tougher penalties. The ultimate punishment was burning at a stake - this is the lasting image of the Inquisition.

The recorded number of people killed have ranged from 30,000 to millions, however, in 2000 the Vatican apologised for the violence and deaths caused but disputed the number of people affected.

It seems that the legend surrounding the Inquisitions had included people executed or tortured by the state Courts as well. The Pope made clear that the rules of torture from the Church clearly said it could only last for 15 minutes and a doctor should be present at all times - it tended to get out of hand when other bodies got involved.

The lower figure is approximately 1% of the 125,000 people interrogated died at the hands of the torturer or executioner - so still significant but nowhere near some of the wild claims (one I read suggested they had executed 3.5 million people, this in a Country which at the time had a population of just 7 million).