In 1483 Thomas Torquemada was appointed Grand Inquisitor, and he was assisted by the blind monk, Peter Arbues. During the time of the existence of the Inquisition (1480-1808), 31,712 were burned at the stake and hundreds of thousands were punished with imprisonment, confiscation of property, or were publicly disgraced. One of the latter kinds of punishment was the sentence compelling the victim to wear a hideous penitential gown, the San Benito. Peter Arbues was assassinated by Marannos, and Pope Pius IX declared him a saint in 1868. The victims of the Inquisition were mostly converted Jews, although there were also Moors and native Christians among them. In spite of the terrors of the Inquisition, the Jews assisted the Marannos in the observance of the Jewish religion, and this was the cause of the edict of expulsion promulgated by Ferdinand, King of Castile, and his wife Isabella, Queen of Aragon, on March 30, 1492, soon after the capture of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain. Most of the exiled fled to Portugal, where they found a temporary home. But when Manuel, King of Portugal, married the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, it was stipulated in the marriage contract that the Jews should be expelled from that country also. This expulsion took place in 1498. Most of the exiles went to Turkey, where they were kindly received. Others went to the Barbary States in Northern Africa, and especially to Morocco. A number went to Italy and settled in the various cities, even in the Papal possessions. Still there were a great many Marannos left in Spain, and while they were compelled to profess and practice the Catholic religion, they remained Jews for many generations. Hence up to the end of the eighteenth century, they were always autos-da-fe held at which Jews were publicly burned. From time to time the wealthy Marannos would escape and seek refuge in countries where they were permitted to publicly practice their religion. ITALY Italy was split up into many petty states whose boundary lines were constantly shifting. The treatment of the Jews varied in its details according to time and locality but is the same in general throughout mediæval times. It was characterized by restriction of economic liberty and humiliation in social position. The Jews produced quite a number of eminent scholars, physicians (sometimes attending on the Popes), astronomers and translators of Arabic works into Latin. Their economic activity was largely confined to money-lending and, in the fourteenth century, they became the pioneers of banking by combining the pawn-shops in a certain city into companies which were given the exclusive privilege of money-lending.