Creating a Christian
Spain
King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella: Heroes or
Villains?
The Reconquista
 The
Reconquista was when the
Spanish took back Spain from the
Muslims.
 It was a long process: it started in
1085 and ended in 1492.
Creating a Christian Spain
 King
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
were “Catholic Monarchs” of Spain.
 They wanted to unite Spain under
one religion.
The Spanish Inquisition
 In
1478, King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella took over the Spanish
Inquisition – a system of courts
where Church officials put nonCatholics on trial.
 Muslims and Jews were given a
choice – convert or be exiled.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u
prjmoSMJ-o
Exploring Sources
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Read the excerpt on the expulsion of the Jews
from Spain on page 203 of your textbook.
Answer the 3 questions
They were given only a short time to get and
they had to sell everything. However they could
not take gold and silver with them so they would
have lost a lot of their wealth.
It suggests greed was also a motive.
The Jewish people in the picture look very
stressed and overcome with fear and fatigue. The
Christians are using force against the Jews and
are taking their possessions.
The Trial
 There
were hearings, in which both
the denouncers and the defendant
gave testimony.
The Tribunal of the Inquisition
Francisco de Goya
The Trial
 There
were hearings, in which both
the denouncers (the people
accusing) and the defendant gave
testimony
 The accused was interrogated and
torture was often used to obtain a
confession
The Trial
The application of the garrucha,
consisted of suspending the
criminal from the ceiling by a
pulley with weights tied to the
ankles, with a series of lifts and
drops, during which arms and
legs suffered violent pulls and
were sometimes dislocated.
The potro, the rack, was the
instrument of torture used most
frequently.
Sentencing
The results of the trial could be the following:
 The defendant could be acquitted (set free) – this was
rare.
 The process could be suspended, in which the
defendant went free, although under suspicion, and
with the threat that his process could be continued at
any time.
 Your punishment could be: exile, fines or sentence to
jail or the galleys (ships), confiscation of all property,
or physical punishments (i.e. whipping).
 The most serious punishment was burning at the
stake. Execution was public. If the condemned
repented, he or she was strangled before the body
was given to the flames. If not, he was burned alive.
 At the beginning of the Inquisition 40% of cases
before 1530 resulted in the death penalty.
The Effect of the Inquisition
 The
expulsion of Jews and Muslims
had negative effects because the
Spanish Jews and Muslims were a
large part of the educated middle
class (business people and
investors). Without these people, it
was difficult for Spain to grow
economically.
Saving Souls
 King
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
thought they had a religious duty to
convert as many people as possible to
the Catholic faith within Spain and
beyond its borders.
 This is one of the reasons Spain
decided to support Columbus. He
promised that in the new lands there
would be millions of people to convert
to Catholicism.
Saving Souls
 Missionaries
went with Spanish
explorers on their voyages.
 Missionaries are men and women
from religious orders who had the
authority to teach and convert
people to Catholicism.
To describe the acts of Christians in earlier times, such
as the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, Pope John
Paul II used this phrase:
Violence in the service of the truth
1) What does this mean?
2) Can you think of something you did in the past
which today you think is wrong?
Memory and Reconciliation
In 2000, Pope John Paul
called for repentance
(recognize the wrong in
something you have done
and be sorry about it) for
acts committed by Christians
(such as the Spanish
Inquisition and the Crusades)
He also sought forgiveness
for the forced conversion of
Indigenous peoples.
Should Ferdinand and Isabelle
be considered heroes or
villains?
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