Editing Spanish Inquisition (section)

== Goals ==
The Spanish Inquisition was created during a time of high political development in Spain. At the end of the 15th Century, the Catholic Monarchs, Elizabeth I of Castilla and Ferdinand II of Aragon, were trying to unify all peninsular kingdoms into a single state that they might recover the legacy of the Visigothic Kingdom of old. However, it was still the Middle Ages, and this meant that pretty much all territories had their own set of laws, organizations and, of course, nobles that pretty much controlled most of the land. Medieval kings were not absolute rulers (yet), after all; they were bound by quite a lot of law with regards to their range of action, much more than many would assume. If Elizabeth and Ferdinand were to create an unified kingdom controlled by them and them alone, this massive division had to be overcome. And for that, this new Kingdom would need an organization that had authority everywhere.

It is always important to remember that the Spanish Inquisition was a political tool first and foremost (like the Gestapo). Alongside the Spanish Royal Guard (one of the first attempts to create a modern and stable army in Europe after the fall of Rome), the Spanish Inquisition was one of the organizations that were needed for the creation of a unified State in the whole Iberian Peninsula. The Inquisition targeted people and ideas that might have broken with the growing structure of Spain, and it just so happened that a religious organization was the perfect body to do so. Spain was an incredibly religious country at the time; centuries of Reconquista had seared in the medieval Spaniard's mind the idea of Christianity's right for the land over the infidel. The Spanish Inquisition worked for the Spanish monarchy, targeting cases of [[heresy]], [[/d/|moral misconduct]], treason, political dissidence... and all other similar crimes, while most of the time hiding them under a blanket of religious condemnation. Nobles not that loyal to the new monarchs? Accuse them of some religious misconduct, and you'd have the Inquisition keeping them under serious scrutiny. Printing books that have been deemed "problematic" by the Inquisition? You better watch out. Practice Muslim beliefs and sympathies (under a Christian façade)? You got a visit from the Inquisition. Trying to bring Protestantism to Spain? I hope you like barbecue... Witchcraft was usually laughed at as baseless superstition: The Inquisition hired some of the smartest and most prepared individuals at the time, so they were pretty enlightened about ignoring the magical and focus on the political side of things.  Hollywood, popular media, and general knowledge (i.e. "common idiocy") led modern peoples to widely believe that the Witch Hunts were Catholic.  They were actually Protestant; Catholicism has always held that witches do not exist (demons don't give a fuck about any deals).  ''Witchcraft'' does but not witches (summon demon, get soul stolen instead of making a deal, no deal = no witch).

Remember than an accusation and investigation of the Inquisition could ruin someone's life, and that was intentional. Not only could the nobility lose everything they have (riches, titles and land that would go right into the crown's hands), but also end up ostracized from the community if they were ever condemned and punished.  Fortunately, most of the guilty verdicts did not end with an execution, but rather a fine and/or incarceration.  Yet the Inquisition were the ones who decided if the person was guilty or not and the local authorities were the ones who had to carry out the punishment for the crime themselves.  And if that could happen to nobility, [[Grimdark|imagine what they could do to regular peasants...]]  Also, because they were a religious corps in charge of (theoretically) rooting out heresy, they couldn't act against those who weren't Christian. They had no authority over Muslims and Jews because they were not heretics, "merely" unbelievers.  The solution to that came in the form of the massive forced conversions to Catholicism during the later part of the 15th Century.  Now everyone was under scrutiny.