Spanish Inquisition

Unlike their Imperial counterparts, the Spanish Inquisition did not shove Inquisitorial retinues up people's asses for the slightest of offences. The Imperial Inquisition was however partially inspired by Spanish Inquisition, or at least, the romanticized version of it and the one from the Black Legend, with the grimdark turned up more than a few notches of course.

Origins

The real-life Spanish Inquisition were a combined political/religious party formed in 1480 by the Spanish Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castille. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms and to replace the Medieval Inquisition, which was under Papal control. While the groundwork was laid in 1478, the Spanish Inquisition was officially formed in the year 1480.

Goals

The Spanish Inquisition was created during a time of high political developement in Spain. At the end of the 15th Century, the Catholic Kings Elisabeth I of Castila and Ferdinand II of Aragon were trying to unify all peninsular kingdoms into a single Estate, trying to 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, after all, they were binded by quite a lot of law on their range of action, much more than many would assume. If the Catholic Kings wanted to create an unified kingdom controlled by them and them alone, this massive divisions had to be overcome. And for that, this new Kingdom would need organisms that had authority everywhere.

It is always important to remember that the Spanish Inquisition was a political tool first and foremost. Alongside the Spanish Royal Guard (one of the first attempts to create a modern and stable army in Europe after the fall of Rome), 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 structure of Spain. It just so happened that a religious organization was the perfect body to do so. Spain was an incredibly religious country, after centuries of Reconquista had seered the idea of Christianity's right for the land over the infidel. The Spanish Inquisition worked for the Spanish monarchy, targeting cases of heresy, 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 synpathies (under a Christian façade) that might evolve into harbouring tunisian pirates or the dreaded ottoman turks, or even forming a 5th column? You got a visit from the Inquisition. Trying to bring protestantism to Spain and risk having the shitshow of the religion wars of the XVI and XVIIth Century happen in 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.

Remember than an accusation and investigation of the Inquisition could ruin someone's life, and that was intentional. Not only the nobility could lose everything they have (riches, titles and land that would go right into the crown's hands) but also end up ostrasize from the community if they were ever condemned and punished (not that many crimes ended up with an execution, and even then, the Inquisition was just the one who decided if the person was guilty or not, the local authorities were the ones who had to punish the crime). Also, because they were a religious corps in charge of, theoretically, rooting heresy, they couldn't act against those who weren't Christian. They had no authority over muslims and jews because they were not heretics, they were unbelievers all together. The sollution to that were the massive forced conversions during the later part of the XVth Centuty to Catholicism. Now everyone was under scrutiny.

Reputation

The Spanish Inquisition is often stated in popular media and medieval history as an example of Catholic intolerance and repression. Modern historians now question or disagree with earlier accounts concerning the severity of the Inquisition. Henry Kamen asserts that "the 'myth' of the all-powerful, torture-mad inquisition is largely an invention of nineteenth century Protestant authors with an agenda to discredit the Papacy".

They are often associated with (or reviled for) using torture in popular perception and media. Torture was standard operating procedure for courts, secular or not, inside or outside the Spanish Inquisition, at the time. Methods of torture included:

• Strappado: binding the victims hands behind their back and suspending them by their wrists. Sometimes a series of drops would be added, jerking the victim up and down and forcing their arms out of their sockets. Weights could be added to the victims body to make the hanging even more excruciating.
• Toca, or waterboarding: securing the victim to an inclined board and binding them so that they cannot move. Then the victim is gagged and has a cloth placed over his or her face, and water poured over it. Toca gives the victim a feeling of drowning, even if no water enters the nose or mouth. CIA agents go through it as part of their training and on average last only 14 seconds before begging to be released.
• The Rack: often considered the most painful of tortures by contemporaries. The victim had their hands and feet bound to rollers at opposite ends of a frame. In theory, the torturer would turn the rollers and the chains attached would dislocate the joints of the victim. In theory if the torturer continued to turn the rollers the victim's arms and legs would be torn off (probably not true, tendons and ligaments are incredibly strong. Reports of people being pulled apart by horses mention that they have to be helped by cutting the joints a bit to get the process started. Who knows though, maybe ratchets are just that effective, and some people spent a long time on the rack, which might loosen them up some).

There were, however, regulations for the Spanish Inquisition on how far the torture could go; no removing body parts and nothing that resulted in death. While it's a commonly publicized fact that the first head of the Spanish Inquisition (the infamous Torquemada) made frequent use of torture, a less known fact is that that the Pope at the time went to the King and Queen of Spain to try and rein in his cruelty. Despite this, the Spanish Inquisition are known to have been fairer, and used torture less often, than the secular courts at the time. There were several cases where people were on trial in secular courts for lesser crimes who would blaspheme in the courtroom just so they could be tried by the Spanish Inquisition instead, who would give them a fair(er) trial.

In an early shout-out to 40k, in 1256, Pope Alexander IV decreed that inquisitors could clear each other from any wrongdoing that they might have performed during torture sessions, except this decree was for the Medieval Inquisition and predated the Spanish Inquisition by over 150 years.

Modern estimates based on incomplete but detailed records put the total number of trials from 1540 to 1700 at around 87,000, with 2,070 resulting in a death sentence. With these death sentences, the numbers that ended with an execution in persona (the person is actually executed) is around 1,300. Some managed to escape the Inquisition before they were executed so instead they were executed in effigy, as in an effigy of the accused was burned in their place; "executions" in this manner (again, from 1540 to 1700) numbered at around 770. This is a death rate of less than 1-in-50, not factoring in just what crimes (actual or contrived) the people were executed for. In conjunction with the fact that most of punishments the Spanish Inquisition inflicted on people declared guilty was merely paying a fine or a short jail sentence, this contradicts - if not debunks - the blood-soaked reputation the Spanish Inquisition is often given even to this day.

Later Years and Disbandment

The Spanish Inquisition began to lose influence in their later years. The Spanish Inquisition was formally disbanded in the early-mid 19th century in the year 1834. So the Spanish Inquisition were in power for a total of 356 years (using 1478) or 354 (using 1480) and haven't existed since they were disbanded over 180 years ago in real-life (despite how much certain people complain about them).

Relating to /tg/

Victoria Lamb makes some pretty badass Spanish Inquisitorial models.

The Spanish Inquisition is not to be expected. (Despite the fact that in real-life they were legally obliged to give thirty days notice.)