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During a time of increasing anti-Semitism in Spain, mobs carry out pogroms in Sevilla. The Jewish population of the kingdom of Castile faces the choice between Christian baptism and death.
1469
Ferdinand and IsabellaFerdinand II and Isabella I were the first king and queen of a unified Spain.
Three days of anti-Semitic riots begin in Córdoba, Castile, against conversos, Jews who had converted to Christianity. City authorities fail in protecting the converso community.
November 1, 1478
Pope Sixtus IVPope Sixtus IV, commemorative medallion by Andrea Guacialoti
Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., the Samuel H. Kress Collection (accession no. 1957.14.803.a)Pope Sixtus IV issues a papal bull authorizing Ferdinand and Isabella to name inquisitors to address the issue of Marranos, people who had converted from Judaism but practiced their faith in secret. Ferdinand and Isabella spread the Inquisition throughout their domains, allowing for persecution of conversos.
February 6, 1481
auto-da-féIllustration depicting key elements of an auto-da-fé, or public sentencing, during the Spanish Inquisition.
Courtesy of the Biblioteca Nacional, MadridGrand inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada calls an assembly to standardize the Inquisition. He issues 28 articles that outline crimes that can be investigated by inquisitors as well as methods used for interrogation and punishment.
March 31, 1492
Spanish InquisitionSpanish Jews pleading before King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, while grand inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada argues for their expulsion from Spain, in a painting by Solomon A. Hart.
Francisco, Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros, is named grand inquisitor nine years after Torquemada’s death. He pursues the persecution of Moriscos, Muslims who have converted to Christianity.
April 9, 1609
Philip III signs a decree expelling Moriscos from Spain.
July 15, 1834
Spanish queen regent María Cristina deBorbón issues a decree abolishing the Spanish Inquisition.
