INQUISITION, SPANISH. The Inquisition was used against the Jews and Moors in Aragon in the thirteenth century. Nicolaus Eymericus (f 1393), the author of the " Inquisitor's Manual " (Directorium Inquisitorum). was Inquisitor-General for forty-four years. But the strict rules of procedure laid down by him were not fully intro duced until 1481. In 1483 Torquemada was appointed Inquisitor-General for fifteen years. He organized the movement in Spain, and availed himself of the help of spies who were called " Familiars of the Holy Office." In 1492 an edict of banishment was proclaimed against all the Jews in Spain who refused to embrace Christ ianity. Thousands of Jews left the country, but many remained behind. Those who remained occupied the attention of the Inquisition for centuries. Torquemada was succeeded by Diego Deza (1499-1506), and Diego Deza by Ximenes (1507-1517). Under the latter, according to Llorente, 2,536 persons suspected of heresy were put to death. The Inquisition was very active in the sixteenth century. After 1770, however, its powers began to be curtailed, and in 1808 they were abolished for a time. They were not finally abolished until 1S34. It was com puted by Llorente, who from 1790-S792 was secretary to the tribunal of Madrid, that during its 330 years of existence the Spanish Inquisition condemned 30.000 persons to death. Hefele, the writer of the article "In quisition" in Wetzer and Welte, defends the Inquisition and questions the statements of Llorente. He does so also in his " Life of Cardinal Ximenes " (Engl. Transl.
1860). " First, there is the general fact of the greater relative severity of penal justice in all countries alike, till within quite recent times. The Carolina, or penal code, in force under Charles V., condemned coiners to the flames, and burglars to the gallows. Burying alive and other barbarous punishments were sanctioned by it, none of which were allowed by the Inquisition. In England, in the sixteenth century, persons refusing to plead could be, and were, pressed to death. The last witch burned in Europe was sentenced in the Canton Glarus by a Pro testant tribunal as late as 1785. Secondly, Llorente omits to draw attention to the fact that the Spanish kings obliged the Inquisition to try and sentence persons charged with many other crimes besides heresy—e.g., with polygamy, seduction, unnatural crime, smuggling, witchcraft, sorcery, imposture, personation, etc. A large proportion of criminals of this kind would, down to the present century, have been sentenced to death on con viction in any secular tribunal in Europe. Thirdly, Llorente does not pretend to base the above statement as to the number executed by the Inquisition on written documents, but on calculations of his own making, in some of which he can be proved to be inexpert and in exact " (Catholic Dictionary). See H. C. Lea, Hist. of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, 1888; Chambers' Encycl.; the Prot. Diet.; the (lath. Diet.; Brockhaus.