One God, Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

THE INQUISITION

The inquisitiois a judicial procedure bor-

rowed from Roman Law by the Christian

Church for the prosecution of heresy, that is,

deviant beliefs or practices. The practice

combined police prosecutorial and judicial

functions in that it empowered a magistrate to

investigate, prosecute and try an alleged

offender. The papally sanctioned use of the

procedure by bishops came to the fore in the

struggle against the Cathars in the south of

France in the 12thcentury, whence it spread

to Spain, where the Church had its own

peculiar problems.

The Christian reconquest of Spain from the

Muslims, which took on a new speed and vigor

in the 12thcentury, brought under Christian

sovereignty increasing numbers of Muslims. If at first the rulers of Castile-Leon and

Aragon were content to let their new Muslim subjects be, the Church was committed to

their conversion, as it was to that of the Jews. The Church’s missionary efforts were

not terribly successful, and increasingly the Franciscan and Dominican agents of con-

version resorted to threats and intimidations. With the fall of the last Muslim stronghold,

Granada, in 1492, the monarchy finally acceded to the Church’s wishes, and in the

end, Muslims and Jews were faced with the choice of conversion or expulsion.

Many left Spain, but many others chose conversion, which now gave Catholic Spain

a large group of conversos, “Marranos” as the converted Jews were called, and

“Moriscos,” as their Muslim counterparts were known. The others were never quite

sure of the sincerity of these “New Christians”—justifiably so in many cases—whose

conversion they themselves had effectively coerced, and this suspicion, and the relat-

ed fear of religious subversion, put the Spanish Inquisition into high gear. The papacy

put the project in the hands of the Dominicans who held tribunals throughout Spain,

and its suspects were chiefly New Christians who were thought to be crypto-Jews or

Muslims, though fear of the spread of the new Protestant Reformation also roused

anxiety and suspicion.

The inquisitors, who have left behind abundant records of their proceedings, appre-

hended suspects chiefly on report. They then summoned witnesses, took testimony,

cross-examined and finally acquitted or convicted. If convicted, the heretic was given a

chance to recant, suffer a penance and be released; if he or she persisted, the convict-

ed was handed over to the “civil arm”—heresy was a crime against the state as well as

a sin against God—for public execution. This latter spectacle was called in Spanish an

auto-de-feor “Act of Faith.”

An auto-de-fe, St. Dominic himself presiding

Burning of the Heretics

by Beruguete (Auto-da-fé), c.01490

LECTURE TEN