THE SPANISH INQUISITION

THE SPANISH INQUISITION
The Spanish Inquisition was an institution founded by the Catholic Monarchs in 1478 to keep religious orthodoxy in their kingdoms. This means that they didn´t want anybody to change the religion and they didn´t allow any other religion but Catholicism. It consisted of punishing heretic people called “herejes” in Spanish. “Hereje” was one person that was supposed to deny the basic principles (important ideas) of religion. He or she was judged by a court of the church (Tribunal eclesiástico). Depending of the type of crime he or she had committed, they would go to prison or were killed in different ways. The charges were sometimes ridiculous and the accused had no way to defend himself. For example, women that were accused of being witches were burnt in a bonfire. In Spain, in times of Catholic Monarchs, Inquisition was ruled by Tomás de Torquemada (El Cardenal Torquemada). It was finally abolished in 1834, after nearly four hundred years of history.