Heretics Burn-- The Spanish Inquisition
Title
Heretics Burn-- The Spanish Inquisition
Description
In the wake of the Protestant Reformation, Spain didn’t develop a major Protestant sect. Instead, many Protestant ideas were erased from public consciousness by the Spanish Inquisition, which encouraged the censure of texts and the murder or imprisonment of any who challenged the existing Catholic authority. Protestants weren’t the only group punished, as Jews and Muslims were also mostly tortured, killed, or forcibly removed from the country in an effort to consolidate royal Catholic power. The goal of the Inquisition was to prevent uprisings through a system of fear, wherein any could be punished for challenging existing ideas (Wiesner-Hanks, 108). For instance, during the 18th century, prominent intellectuals were prevented from spreading the ideas of Locke and other Enlightenment thinkers throughout Spain because Spanish rulers feared they could lead to rebellion (Goodman, 377). These intellectuals hoped the ideas would help modernize the country, but Spanish rulers feared they could breed challenges to their authority, like in America and France (Goodman, 377). The executions, as seen in the engraving, were a large part of enforcing the Inquisition and generated large public support at the start. A lot of this related to economic fears about new Christians— or Jewish converts— taking jobs away from Old Christians (Wiesner-Hanks, 109). These fears took a long time to abate, as the Inquisition only moved towards ending following the Invasion of Napoleon’s forces in 1808, after lasting almost 400 years.
Creator
Bernard Picart
Source
“An Auto-Da-Fé of the Spanish Inquisition and the Execution of Sentences by Burning Heretics on the Stake in a Market Place. Engraving by B. Picart.” Europeana Collections. Accessed November 13, 2018. https://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/9200579/xwzjnmf8.html.
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, "Politics and Power, 1450-1600" in Early Modern Europe, 1450-1789, (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 108-109
David Goodman, "Intellectual Life under the Spanish Inquisition: A Continuing Historical Controversy." History 90, no. 3 (299) (2005): 375-86. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24427884.
Date
1673
Contributor
Teddy Wolfe
Rights
Free Re-Use
Original Format
Engraving
Physical Dimensions
Not Available
Citation
Bernard Picart, “Heretics Burn-- The Spanish Inquisition,” HIST 139 - Early Modern Europe, accessed September 18, 2024, https://earlymoderneurope.hist.sites.carleton.edu/items/show/42.