Queens of old SpainHume, Martin A. S. (Martin Andrew Sharp)
Philosophy
Queens of old Spain
Hume, Martin A. S. (Martin Andrew Sharp)
Queens -- Spain; Spain -- History; Women -- Political activity
When the sovereigns were holding Court at Seville in 1477, a Sicilian
Dominican came to beg for the confirmation of an old privilege, giving
to the Order in Sicily one-third of the property of all the heretics
condemned there by the Inquisition. This Ferdinand and Isabel consented
to, and the Dominican, whose name was Dei Barberi, suggested to
Ferdinand that as religious observance had grown so lax under the late
King Henry, it might be advisable to introduce a similar tribunal into
Castile. Ferdinand’s ambitions were great. He wanted to win for
Barcelona the mastership of the Mediterranean and the reversion of the
Christian Empire of the East, and, as a preliminary, to clear Spain
itself of the taint of dominant Islam at Granada. He understood that
times had changed, and that the nerve of war was no longer feudal aids,
but the concentration in the hands of the King of the ready money of his
subjects. The people who had most of the ready money in Spain were the
very people whose orthodoxy was open to attack, and he welcomed a
proposal that might make him rich beyond dreams.
Isabel was not greedy for money as her husband was: she was too much of
a religious mystic for that; but to spread the kingdom of Christ on
earth, to crush His enemies and raise His cross supreme in the eyes of
men, seemed to promise her the only glory for which she yearned. By her
side was her confessor Torquemada, the Dominican Ojeda, and the Papal
Nuncio, all pressing upon her that to strike at heresy in her realms was
her duty. So Isabel took the step they counselled, and begged the Pope
for a bull establishing the Inquisition in Castile. The bull was granted
in September 1478, but no active steps were taken for nearly two years.
In 1480, Isabel and her husband were again in Seville, and the
Dominicans were ceaseless in their exhortations to them to suppress the
growing scandal of obstinate Judaism. The complaints of the clergy
against the Jews were such as they knew would be supported by the
populace. Amongst other things, they said that the Jews bought up and
ate all the meat in the market for their Sabbath, and there was none
left for Christians on Sunday;[31] that they were hoarding coin to such
an extent that there was a lack of currency; that they donned rich
finery and ornaments only fit for their betters, and so on.[32]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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