X. A BRIGHT PAGE IN PRISON HISTORY 236 List of Illustrations THE GRAND INQUISITOR AND THE CATHOLIC SOVEREIGNS _Frontispiece_ THE ALHAMBRA PALACE, GRANADA _Page_ 52 THE QUESTION " 116 CASTEL DELL' OVO " 150 SPANISH PRISONS CHAPTER I THE INQUISITION IN SPAIN Beginning and growth of religious persecution--Temporal power of the Papacy--Pope Innocent III creates the first "Inquisitors"--Domingo de Guzman founder of the Inquisition--Founder of the Dominican Order of Friars--The "ancient" Inquisition--Penances inflicted--Persecution of the Jews in Spain--Institution of the "modern" Inquisition under Ferdinand and Isabella--Headquarters at Seville--Frequent _autos da fé_--Thomas de Torquemada the first Inquisitor-General--The privileges of the office--Torquemada's life and character--Sufferings of accused persons. The record of religious persecution furnishes some of the saddest pages in the world's history. It began with the immediate successors of Constantine the Great, the first Christian prince. They promulgated severe edicts against heretics with such penalties as confiscation, banishment and death against breaches of Catholic unity. In this present tolerant age when every one may worship God after his own fashion, it is difficult to realise how recent a growth is toleration. For more than six centuries the flames of persecution burned fiercely throughout Christendom, lighted by the strong arm of the law, and soldiers were constantly engaged to extirpate dissent from the accepted dogmas with fire and sword. The growth of the papacy and the assumption of the temporal power exalted heresy into treason; independence of thought was deemed opposition to authority and resistance to the universal supremacy of the Church. The popes fighting in self-defence stimulated the zeal of their followers unceasingly to stamp out heresy. Alexander III in the 12th century solemnly declared that every secular prince who spared heretics should be classed as a heretic himself and involved in the one common curse.