History of the Inquisition from Its Establishment Till the Present TimeSime, William
History
History of the Inquisition from Its Establishment Till the Present Time
Sime, William
Inquisition; Inquisition -- History
Don Diego Deza, a Dominican, succeeded Torquemada as Inquisitor-general
in December 1498. No less cruel than his predecessor, Deza, during the
period of eight years, punished thirty-eight thousand four hundred
and forty individuals; two thousand five hundred and ninety-two of
whom were burnt in person, eight hundred and ninety-six in effigy,
and thirty-four thousand nine hundred and fifty-two were condemned to
different penances. The audacity of this tyrant rose at length to such
a height, that Philip I. who then filled the throne, ordered Deza, in
1506, to retire to his archbishopric of Seville, and to invest another
in his room. But unhappily for Spain, the death of the king that same
year, restored Deza to his office, which so terrified the inhabitants
of Cordova, that they rose in a tumult, broke open the prisons of the
Inquisition, and liberated an immense number of prisoners. These events
alarmed the Inquisitor-general to such a degree, that he resigned his
office, which immediately restored tranquility in Cordova.
Two new Inquisitors were now appointed, namely, Ximenes de Cisneros
for Castile, and Don Juan Enguera for Arragon. The former of these
prelates, considering it unnecessary to have as many Inquisitorial
tribunals as there were bishoprics, "established the Inquisition at
Seville, Cordova, Jaen, Toledo, in Estremadura, at Murcia, Valladolid,
and Calahorra, and appointed the extent of territory for the
jurisdiction of each tribunal; he also sent Inquisitors to the Canary
isles. In 1513, the Inquisition was introduced at Cuença; in 1524, at
Grenada; under Philip II. at Santiago de Galicia; and under Philip
IV. at Madrid. Cisneros also judged it necessary, in 1516, to have a
tribunal at Oran, and soon after in America. The Inquisitor-general of
Arragon adopted the same system, and sent Inquisitors to Saragossa,
Barcelona, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia, and Sicily." Ximenes was eleven
years at the head of the Inquisition, during which period, fifty-two
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five persons were condemned; three
thousand five hundred and sixty-four of whom were burnt in person, one
thousand two hundred and thirty-two in effigy, and forty-eight thousand
and fifty-nine suffered various other kinds of punishment.
Numerous attempts were made both by the Cortes and the people,
during the reign of the Emperor Charles V. to obtain a reform of the
"holy office:" but all their efforts were of no avail. Adrian, the
successor of Ximenes, who was Inquisitor-general only for five years,
condemned no fewer than two hundred and forty thousand and twenty-five
individuals; and the yoke of that monstrous institution, instead of
being made lighter, was daily rendered more galling.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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