#tomasdetorquemada

[intriguingpeoplebyangelafloyd]

TOMAS DE TORQUEMADA

1420-1498

Spanish friar, mass murderer, who had heretics tortured and burned alive

            Tomás de Torquemada was a Spanish inquisitor and a Dominican friar; he became Spain’s first Inquisitor general in 1483. He met the young Princess Isabella I; they both had a strong religious rapport. He served as her regular confessor and advisor and was at her coronation in 1474, and advised her to marry King Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469. The Spanish Inquisition was a group that was created in 1478, to ‘uphold Catholic religious orthodoxy’ with the lands of Castile and Aragon (Kingdom of Spain).

            Torquemada was a ruthless madman who persecuted heretics and became known for his use of torture and severe punishments. It is said that he had around 2,000 people killed by burning at the stake.  

            Muslims and Jews in Castile and Aragon had to convert to Catholicism for survival. Torquemada was one of the chief supporters of the Alhambra Decree that expelled the Jews from Castile and Aragon in 1492. Around 40,000 Jews were expelled from Spain and the rest converted to Catholicism so they could remain in Spain, who secretly remained Jewish.

            Queen Isabella’s secretary wrote that 2,000 executions took place throughout her reign, which continued after Torquemada died. His health was failing in his final years and Pope Alexander VI appointed four assistants to assist him in the Inquisition. Torquemada retired to the monastery of St. Thomas Aquinas, Avila in 1494 and lived the life of a friar. He died at the monastery in 1498, aged 77, and was interred there. His tomb was ransacked in 1832, his bones were apparently stolen.

#tomasdetorquemada #ferdinandIIofaragon #isabellaIofcastile #atheism #history #truecrime

#tomas de torquemada #tomasdetorquemada #ferdinand ii of aragon #isabella i of castile #atheism #history #true crime