The Inquisition, introduced into Spain by Ferdinand, with the consent of Isabella,[153] was not a new institution. It had been established in France early in the thirteenth century, the object then being to compel the return of the Albigenses to the orthodox faith. It had worked terrible woe to that unhappy people; but two hundred and fifty years afterwards the heresy had so nearly died out, that the Inquisition would have died along with it, if it had not been that the outcry respecting the New Christians, as they were called—that is the recent converts to Christianity—once more set the hateful machinery in operation. The height to which the persecution of the Jews had risen in the fifteenth century had left them no alternative but apostasy or death. It is no wonder that large numbers of the Jews preferred the former. It is said that no less than thirty-five thousand persons had been induced to accept baptism by the preaching of Vincent Ferrer alone. For a time the clergy felt overwhelmed with joy at this signal triumph; but after a while grave suspicions of the sincerity of these new converts began to be felt. Outwardly, no doubt, they conformed to the requirements of the Church; but it was suspected that they still continued to observe in secret the Jewish ritual. Three inquisitors were appointed, Torquemada, Juglar, and D’Avila; and their first act was to put forth an edict, in which they declared it to be the duty of all faithful Christians, without paying any regard to rank or condition, to accuse to the tribunal any whom they knew to be open professors but secret enemies of Christ. Any who did not do so became themselves amenable to the law for their criminal silence. To facilitate such accusations, a manifesto was issued, in which various proofs were mentioned by which a ‘secret Jew’ might be detected. We learn from it that a man might be accounted as a concealed Jew if, among many similar evidences, he— 1. Put on clean clothes, or had a clean table-cloth on the Saturday, or dispensed with a fire on the Friday night. 2. If he washed the blood from meat, or examined the knife before slaying an animal. 3. If, on the Day of Atonement, he asked forgiveness of those whom he had offended, or put his hands on his children’s heads to bless them, without making the sign of the cross. 4. If he gave his children Jewish names.[154] 5. If he ate the same meat as Jews, or sat down to table with them. If, when dying, he turned his face to the wall, or let any one else turn it. If he washed a corpse with warm water. If he spoke approvingly of the dead (such person being a Jew), or made lamentation for him, or caused a body to be buried in virgin soil, etc.