Of course, such practices are still barbaric but, as this video puts the Spanish Inquisition in context, it appears extremely mild in comparison to, for example, Henery VIII's barbarism! Yet another myth of history...
Sunday, 24 February 2013
The Myth of the Spanish Inquisition
Like many other people, I grew up with the idea that the Spanish Inquisition was one of the most violent and aggressive religious groups that ever existed. Stories of tortures and cruelty abounded and it came as a surprise to see this BBC video (from the 1990s) and discover that, compared to the majority of Kings and governments of the era, the Spanish Inquisition was relatively tame! Unlike the maniacal puritans who were obsessed with persecuting witches, the Inquisitors viewed ancient rites as superstition or misguidedness and did not persecute those who adhered to those beliefs. Nor did the Inquisitors (by the standards of the time) employ so much torture - apparently 15 minutes was the maximum time allowed for torture and no one could be tortured more than once.
Of course, such practices are still barbaric but, as this video puts the Spanish Inquisition in context, it appears extremely mild in comparison to, for example, Henery VIII's barbarism! Yet another myth of history...
Of course, such practices are still barbaric but, as this video puts the Spanish Inquisition in context, it appears extremely mild in comparison to, for example, Henery VIII's barbarism! Yet another myth of history...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
14 comments:
Of interest to readers, Diane Moczar's "Seven Lies about Catholic History" has a chapter on the Inquisition. She mentions other books which discuss the topic.
William T. Walsh wrote a book on the Inquisition titled "Characters of the Inquisition" which is available on Amazon.
While the Monty Python skit was funny on TV, it shouldn't be taken for history.
Thank you, Christina for posting this. It isn't a subject which I know much about, so your information helps put a different light on this. Thank you, Elisa for the book recommendations too!
Thanks for your interesting post!
Did you know that the last victim executed by the Spanish inquisition was Cajetano Ripoli, a schoolmaster from Valencia, back in 1826? For more than 300 years the Spanish inquisition was torturing people, simple because the fight for supremacy of the Catholic church in Spain...
You can learn more about the Spanish Inquisition at http://yovisto.blogspot.de/2013/07/the-last-victim-of-spanish-inquisition.html
Best,
Harald
Thank you, Harald. I wasn't aware that the Inquisition was still executing people in the 19th century!
Thank you, too, for the link, which is very interesting :-)
Gorgeous!
Harald...You seem to have learnt nothing about putting things and history into context. Your comment shows precisely what the article tríes to show as wrong, simplified and stereotipe thinking
Papal Bull
Just because something in history may not seem "as bad", does not mean that it does not still have repercussions to this day. Watch PBS "Finding our Roots" or check out the film in progress "Children of the Inquisition" from Lovettproductions.com Many people are finding out that they were never Catholic, Christian, etc., but are ancestrally Jewish. My Dad came from a Jewish family. We thought of Judaism as a religion. I was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer on April 11, 2013. They immediately had a DNA test done which showed that I am 50% Ashkenazi Jewish. In the people who are ancestrally part Ashkenazi and/or Sephardic Jewish..........there are mutations that can cause cancer. Right now the news is all about BRCA I and II gene mutations. 1 in 40 people of Ashkenazi Jewish Decent have one or more of the mutations. It is around 1 in 500 to 800 in the general population. They just found the BRCAI gene in 1990 and the BRCAII gene in 1994. Everyone has these genes. They help your body to NOT get cancer. It is the mutations that can put one at risk. Even with the mutations it doesn't mean one will get cancer......it just ups one's odds. Knowledge is power.
http://childrenoftheinquisition.com/
Thank you for your interesting comments, Lisa. I hope you are recovered now. I will check out your links - thank you again.
Christina,
I am in remission. However, I was allergic to the Nuclear Blast Chemo they use on Triple Negative Breast Cancer. There are no receptors with TNBC, so really dose dense chemo kills it. I was supposed to have 6-8 rounds. After the first, I experienced the most excruciating bone pain that I have ever experienced. My legs and arms felt as if they were being smashed by sledgehammers. My ribs, both in the front and back felt as if somebody was wrenching them from my body with pliers. I had a 105 fever and began hallucinating. I only remember the hallucinations and the pain during the 2 weeks I spent in the hospital. I was trying to beat up the nurses and was tearing everything off of and out of my body. They tied me to the bed in ice blankets. I contracted double pneumonia and I wasn't expected to live. I died twice and had to be resuscitated twice and had my lungs sucked out. They had to keep me awake because they accidently overdosed me on my meds and every time I fell asleep, I stopped breathing. My veins collapsed, so they had to put in a PICC line. When they went in to take out the tumor, it took 5 hours, just to find where it had been. So, the chemo almost finished me off..............but, it did kill the tumor. The side effects have not gotten any better in 1 1/2 years. So, I rarely feel well. Being BRCA 1+ and having had TNBC gives me a 65%-85% chance of recurrence. After 3 years, if it doesn't raise its ugly head, I have less chance of recurrence, than if I had basic Breast Cancer. I have to have a mammogram or Breast MRI every 6 months. The chemo I received indiscriminately attacks every fast growing cell in your body. So, my fingernails, toenails, every hair, and who knows what all inside my body was damaged. Some possibly permanent. Hence, constant testing to figure out what may be causing the constant pain, constant infections, and possible auto immune disease and/or inflammatory disease.
Lisa
"Many people are finding out that they were never Catholic, Christian, etc., but are ancestrally Jewish. "
That is ridiculous. you can be 100% Jewish and if you are a Christian you are a Christian. (and the Jewish authorities won't recognize you as Jewish.)
Being Jewish is complicated, it is both a bloodline and a religion and there are plenty of converts and intermarriage over the centuries and thousands of year.
I doubt that these written rules( about 15 min. and no more than one-time) really respected .
Please get a Jewish history scholar about the effe4cts of the Inquisition on Spanish Jews. Just from what I have read, they were forced to convert or get out of the country, if they weren't tortured. I am not a Jew nor a scholar, but I am pretty sure Jews didn't have a good time during this period.
Post a Comment