Spanish Inquisition

Timeline

1. 1478–1498Seville (first site of Inquisition trials) · AndalusiaAfter the 1478 papal bull, the Inquisition formally opened in Seville in 1480. Tomás de Torquemada was appointed first Grand Inquisitor in 1483, serving until 1498. His tenure was notorious for its severity: he established uniform trial procedures (the Acts of the Inquisition), played a leading role in drafting the 1492 expulsion order against the Jews, and extended the Inquisition to the realms of Aragon.
2. 1507–1517Tribunals in Toledo and throughout Castile · CastileCardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros served as Grand Inquisitor from 1507, reforming internal corruption while launching large-scale investigations of the Moriscos (of converted Muslim descent). Between 1511 and 1517, tribunals across Spain continued to bring cases concerning crypto-Judaism (criptojudaísmo) and Islamic practice, with thousands of defendants, reinforcing the religious homogenization of Spanish society.
3. 1517–1522Inquisition tribunals across Spain · Iberian PeninsulaAfter Cisneros's death in 1517, Charles I appointed his tutor, the Dutchman Adrian of Utrecht (later Pope Adrian VI), as Grand Inquisitor. That same year Martin Luther published his Ninety-five Theses and the Protestant Reformation swept Europe; the Inquisition promptly placed guarding against Lutheran heresy on its agenda. After the 1520 papal bull condemning Luther, the Spanish Inquisition began censoring Lutheran texts flowing into Spain, marking its functional shift from dealing with converted Jews to confronting Protestant heresy.
4. 1834Madrid · Community of MadridOn July 15, 1834, Spanish regent Christina formally abolished the Inquisition by royal decree, ending its 356-year institutional existence. At the time Spain was in the midst of liberal constitutional reform, and the Inquisition was seen as a symbol of the old regime. Its archives (now held in the Spanish National Historical Archives and the Vatican Secret Archives) provide exceptionally rich source material for the study of early modern religious repression and social control.