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Spanish Inquisition: Quick Facts

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Facts

Date 1478 - 1834
Location Aragon ‱ Granada ‱ Sevilla ‱ Spain ‱ Valencia
Context antisemitism ‱ inquisition ‱ Moor

Did You Know?

  • 32,000 individuals were executed under the Spanish Inquisition.
  • The Spanish Inquisition spread to North Africa in the early 1500s as well as to Spanish colonies in the New World.
  • Attendance at the trials and condemnations was as high as that at bullfights by the 16th and 17th centuries.

Photos

Painting of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I of Spain seated on a throne as a group kneels before them, with a prelate holding a cross in warning during the expulsion of Jews in 1492.
Black and white wood engraving by Paul Hardy showing a bearded man standing before the Grand Inquisitor and hooded officials at a tribunal during the Spanish Inquisition.
Spanish Inquisition
Pedro Berruguete: St. Dominic Presiding at an Auto-da-FĂ©
Spanish Inquisition
auto-da-fé
Francisco, Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros
Spanish Inquisition
Ferdinand and Isabella
Bronze medallion showing a left-facing portrait of Pope Sixtus IV in papal regalia, with Latin inscription around the edge.
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Related Topics and References

Topics
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Key People

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Tommaso Campanella
Italian philosopher and poet
Bartolome de Carranza, engraving
Bartolomé de Carranza
Spanish theologian
Painting by Jakob Seisenegger showing Emperor Charles V in ornate Renaissance attire standing beside a large hunting dog, with a green curtain in the background.
Charles V
Holy Roman emperor
Gilt and polychrome relief by Alonso de Mena showing Ferdinand II on the left and Isabella on the right, both with hands raised in prayer, framed by ornate gold trim.
Ferdinand II
king of Spain
Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros
Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros
Spanish cardinal
Bronze medallion showing a left-facing portrait of Pope Sixtus IV in papal regalia, with Latin inscription around the edge.
Sixtus IV
pope
Painting by Francisco de Goya of King Ferdinand VII wearing a red and white fur-trimmed royal mantle, holding a scepter, with a neutral dark background.
Ferdinand VII
king of Spain
default image
TomĂĄs de Torquemada
Spanish inquisitor
default image
John III
king of Portugal