Those suspected of heresy were initially imprisoned. Many of the prisons were so dark and cramped that the prisoners couldn't breathe without difficulty. There was often a lack of water and bread. The prison itself was a form of torture, and prisoners often remained in prison until they confessed "the truth." Many of the accused were confined alone to extract a faster confession.
The Inquisition used many torture methods to extract an admission from the prisoner. The most common methods were the strappado, the water torture, and the rack. These methods dislocated the wrists and ankles of the accused. In the case of Mari Rodríguez, she vomited incessantly, but the torture continued until she confessed. There is much evidence that prisoners were sometimes mutilated and lost fingers. However, only the most obstinate accused received this treatment.
When the Inquisition received a confession, the prisoner had to ratify it the next day. If the accused retracted their confession, they were tortured again.
In the case of Miguel de Castro, accused of Judaism, he ratified and revoked his confession three times. This torture continued until a doctor intervened. However, he received more than ninety lashes as a punishment for his retraction.
After the accused had confessed their sins, they had to appear at the auto-da-fé.
However, the most severe scandals required a public auto. The public auto-da-fé was conceived to inspire fear and awe for the Inquisition, and it was the worst horror of the Inquisition. The Inquisition used public autos to strengthen its power over the people and to instill the danger of heresy. Beatings and burnings took place at the public autos, which were very spectacular events. A king and the nobility were present, and the auto was considered a day of celebration and excitement.
The first auto in Spain occurred in Toledo on August 16, 1486. The victims were paraded to the center to hear their sentence of death by means of the burning pyres. The villagers attended the auto-da-fé to support the Inquisition. The cruelest punishments occurred during the public autos, and if a family was not present, the Inquisition suspected them of Judaism. Also, the age and sex of the victims were not spared from the torture of the Inquisition. At the Toledo auto, Isabel Canese, who was 78 years old, was tortured for Jewish beliefs. At the public auto of Valencia, a man who was 86 and a 13-year-old girl were whipped 100 times.
The most terrifying part of the Inquisition is that it attacked citizens for no logical reason. Elvira del Campo was accused of Judaism because she didn't eat pork. Francisco de Tornamira was tortured because he said it was not necessary for Jews and Moors to convert to Christianity. Although Francisco de Tornamira was a Christian, the Inquisition did not accept other religions and de Tornamira was punished for his liberal beliefs. The goal of the Inquisition was to convert everyone to Christianity to save their souls. However, its methods were very cruel and irrational.
The Case of Fray Boñato:
In the case of Fray Boñato, his legs were burned in a public auto with all the citizens present. When Boñato declared conversion to Christianity, he was temporarily saved. However, Boñato continued with his Jewish beliefs, and in his second public auto, he was accused of heresy and sent to the burning pyre. The burning pyre was the maximum punishment and was reserved for unrepentant heretics.
The Case of Alonso Sánchez:
Another example of the cruelty of the Inquisition is the case of Alonso Sánchez of Madrid, who was accused of Judaism. During the torture, Alonso confessed that he had secret meetings at his sister's house. He was condemned and burned at the auto-da-fé in Toledo on September 7, 1513. Although Sánchez was Jewish, many who were condemned did not practice Judaism. People were condemned for very diverse reasons.
The Case of Don Andrés de Fonseca:
In the case of Don Andrés de Fonseca, he endured torture without confessing. He was tortured again the following month, also without confessing. He appeared in the auto as a penitence. As punishment for his sins, he was exiled for ten years and had to pay 500 ducats. In this way, the Inquisition and the Catholic Church could enrich themselves.
Ways of Punishment and Indirect Effects of the Inquisition
In addition to the punishments of the "galleys," exile, and torture, the inquisitors harmed the New Christians with another degradation, which was called the sanbenito. The sanbenito was a type of yellow shirt with a red cross of Saint Andrew. The offender had to wear the garment all the time, as a sign to the public that they were a Marrano. The Marrano received the attention of everyone and was given a bad image in society. This sanbenito destroyed the chances of finding a job or a stable place for the family.
If a person had to go to the inquisitor, it didn't matter if they were guilty of the sins or not. The mere fact that a question existed was a cause for discrimination. This was also a reason for a decline in social standing.
If a person in medieval Spain wanted to have an official position in the government or especially in the church, which had much more power at that time than now, they needed "cleansing." This use of "cleansing" means a purity of blood; a person needed to show proof of acceptable family lineage.
More than public offices, positions as a professor or even a student in a Spanish university required blood purity. It punished the Marranos and their descendants because they couldn't have as good an education as pure Christians.
The actions of the Inquisition injured the bodies of the Marranos through torture, but it also injured them mentally, with the pain of physical abuse and the thoughts they inflicted. A prisoner would think of their family and life at home—especially after the inquisitors took their property. The church paid its expenses with the money of the captives. So, the accused (and it was usually a man) had to think about the life of his wife and children when they had no money.
One last atrocity and punishment of the Inquisition was the investigation of heresy in the dead. To obtain more money, the inquisitors searched the past of Marranos to find past faults and injure the innocent descendants.
Other Problems of the Marranos
When a Jew converted to Christianity, their problems did not immediately disappear. On the contrary, they encountered very complicated things with their new status.
After the conversion, the Marranos were ignorant of their new religion. They needed to learn a totally different way of life.
Torquemada, the grand inquisitor (the Grand Criminal), burned all the Hebrew Bibles. So, he generated a dramatic conversion of the Jews, but they couldn't read in their own language. Torquemada expected Christian actions from the new Christians, but he didn't let them learn what the correct actions were!
Many of the Marranos remained secretly Jewish, which made life very complicated. They couldn't write in their native language or on subjects of their real religion, so they needed to relate information and traditions orally.
They couldn't act according to the rules of their religion because different actions would attract attention. They couldn't sing their prayers, keep "kosher," eat special dinners on certain days, follow the calendar, or make even a tiny mistake in their Catholic actions. The historian Frederick Meyrick describes life for the new Christians:
"If the converted Jew respected the Sabbath by putting on a clean shirt and better clothes that day; if he did not observe Christian fast days; if he sat at the table with Jews; if he did not add the Gloria Patri when reciting Psalms; if he had a Hebrew name; if he invited his friends to dinner before undertaking a journey according to Jewish custom; if he turned his face to the wall when dying; it was presumed that he was still a hidden Jew, and as such must be denounced." (The Church in Spain, p. 367).
There were more changes in the lives of the Jews than just those related to religion—they couldn't practice their secular traditions and their favorite holidays. Their society was obsolete! They needed to be very careful in everything they did.
More Effects of the Inquisition on Society in General
The inquisitors looked for technical errors in the Marranos and didn't pay attention to the Christianity of the general population. So, society saw the attitude that morals are not as important as correct actions. A good society cannot result from these types of attitudes in leaders.
The Inquisition hindered the progress and education of Spain by burning controversial books. Only books approved by the church could enter the country. This definitely excluded books like those of Erasmus, a very important thinker of the time, who unfortunately proposed Protestant ideas.
When new Christians admitted their faith, they could not leave the country without further punishment. Also, it was very dangerous for a ship captain to have them as passengers or crew members or to transport them in a hidden way, as there was a possibility that the church would consider the captain and possibly the entire crew as heretics and Judaizers.
The New World that was being colonized around this time was not free from the practices of the Inquisition. Many Marranos tried to escape to the New World, but the Spanish government also transported the autos-da-fé and other Inquisition practices across the ocean.
Archbishop Carranza was very dedicated to the Catholic Church, but Carranza preached about the faults of the church, and because of this, the Inquisition burned him in an auto in 1575. The Inquisition authorities were so suspicious, and they attacked anyone who did not follow their routine. For example, Ignatius Loyola was imprisoned in 1527 because he gave penitence to sinners without permission from the Inquisition. Saint John of the Cross preached that people did not need the Catholic Church to communicate with God. He was denounced to the Inquisition and whipped so severely that his arms were permanently deformed. Normally, only those who were obstinate heretics or who attacked the Catholic Church received the death penalty. The others could escape, whipped and frightened, but alive.
The torture and the autos-da-fé indicated the mentality of the Inquisition authorities. The fact that they had the authority and the desire to crucify and torture innocent people is something we still wonder about.
Source:
Fuente: http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/santiago/teripage.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20060906003211/http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/santiago/teripage.html
_______________________________________SoySefardi.org /
Facebook /
Twitter /
YouTube Canal /
Web SoySefardi.org /
Buscador Web /
Email