The Spanish Inquisition’s Deadly Torture Machines

Video Description

WARNING: This documentary is under an educational and historical context, We do NOT tolerate or promote hatred towards any group of people, we do NOT promote violence. We condemn these events so that they do not happen again. NEVER AGAIN. All photos have been censored according to YouTube's advertiser policies. In the waning years of the 15th century, as the sun began to set on medieval Europe, the kingdoms of Spain found themselves at a crossroads. The year was 1478, and the monarchs of Aragon and Castile, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I, had just united their kingdoms through marriage, forging a powerful alliance that would forever change the course of Spanish history. Against this backdrop of political consolidation and religious fervor, the Spanish Inquisition was born. The famous Spanish painter Francisco Goya, in his series of etchings titled "Los Caprichos," would later depict the Inquisition as a monstrous figure, a testament to its enduring impact on the Spanish psyche. The seeds of the Inquisition had been sown long before, as the Reconquista, the centuries-long struggle to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule, neared its end. In 1492, the same year that Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World, the last Muslim stronghold of Granada fell to the Catholic monarchs. The triumph of Christianity was complete, but the question of religious unity loomed large. The Spanish historian Américo Castro, in his seminal work "The Structure of Spanish History," argued that the Inquisition was a product of the unique religious and cultural tensions that shaped Spanish society. Spain in the 15th century was a land of contrasts, where Muslims, Jews, and Christians had long coexisted in a delicate balance. However, as the Reconquista progressed, the status of religious minorities grew increasingly precarious. Many Jews and Muslims had converted to Christianity to escape persecution, but their sincerity was often questioned. These converts, known as conversos and moriscos, found themselves under intense scrutiny, their every action and belief subject to suspicion. The converso poet Juan Álvarez Gato captured the anguish of this experience in his verse: "I am a new Christian, I confess it, but I am an old one in my faith." It was in this climate of mistrust and religious zeal that the Spanish Inquisition took root. On November 1, 1478, Pope Sixtus IV issued the papal bull Exigit Sinceras Devotionis Affectus, granting Ferdinand and Isabella the authority to appoint inquisitors in their kingdoms. The monarchs wasted no time in exercising this power, naming the Dominican friar Tomás de Torquemada as the first Grand Inquisitor in 1483. Torquemada, who had been Isabella's confessor, was known for his austere lifestyle and his unwavering commitment to the eradication of heresy. The Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, in his masterpiece "Don Quixote," would later refer to Torquemada as "the savage Dominican." Torquemada, a man of fierce conviction and unwavering faith, set about his task with a singular purpose: to root out heresy and maintain the purity of the Catholic Church. Under his leadership, the Inquisition grew into a formidable institution, with tribunals established in cities across Spain, from Barcelona to Seville, and from Toledo to Valladolid. The first auto-da-fé, a public ceremony in which sentences were pronounced and executions carried out, took place in Seville on February 6, 1481. Six conversos were burned at the stake that day, their faces contorted in agony as the flames consumed them. The Italian traveler and chronicler Pietro Martire d'Anghiera, who witnessed an auto-da-fé in 1487, described it as "a spectacle full of horror and piety." 0:00 How the Spanish Inquisition Ignited a Reign of Terror 6:20 The Tragic Fates of Spain’s Religious Minorities 13:06 Inside the Ruthless Legal Procedures 18:51 Inside the Spanish Inquisition’s Torture Apparatus 25:19 The Tragic Fates of the Most Famous Victims 34:04 How the Holy Office Stifled Spain’s Intellectual Soul 40:11 Terror and Tyranny in the Spanish Americas 48:03 From Fearsome Authority to Fading Relic