The Spanish Inquisition $1.69 AUD
Category: Crime, War & Conflict
The Spanish Inquisition was a governing authority started by the crown in the late-fifteenth century. It included a network of spies who worked across the state to ensure Spaniards conformed to the accepted behaviour of traditional Catholic subjects. It was relentless in ensuring Catholic orthodoxy within Spain. But why was Spain so self-conscious in ensuring a singular religious identity?
Let’s go back to the year 711. Muslim armies from North Africa successfully conquer much of the Iberian Peninsula, leaving only pockets of resistance in the North. There is Islamic rule in at least part of Spain for the most part of the next eight centuries. But the small areas of resistance are the start of the ‘reconquista’ – meaning ‘reconquest’. Jump forward now 740 years. It is 1451 and Mehmed II ascends to the throne of the Ottoman Empire
