Torquemada: Man Behind Inquisition

A man managed to write his name in the black letters of infamy for generations to come. Meet Tomas de Torquemada (1420-1498) first Inquisitor General of Spain and confessor of crypto-Jews and crypto-Muslims.

 

Who was this man whose name and visage conjures up visions of a monster in the service of God?

 

Torquemada was a native Spanish Dominican friar of Jewish descent, his grandmother having been a Jewish convert to Christianity who had married his grandfather Alva Fernandez de Torquemada. The irony of his Jewish ancestry is that during his tenure as Inquisitor General, many Jews would meet untimely deaths in the hands of his Inquisition.

 

Tomas was born in Valladolid, Spain in 1420. His uncle Cardinal Juan de Torquemada was a respected theologian, a fact which helped Tomas' career. Tomas was an ascetic priest who, during his early years, had been a Dominican monk and cook. He later rose to the position of Prior at the Monastery of Santa Cruz in Segovia; a position he held till at the age of 63 he was appointed Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition.

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