Research from Dutch echnographer-historian Gustav Henningsen and Spanish scholar Jaime Contreras showed that from 50,000 summaries of trial records of the 21 regional tribunals of the Spanish Inquisition over the period 1540-1700, the persuit of the ‘Major heretics’ (eg. Judaisers and Protestants) accounted for 40% of the Inquisitorial activity. In this period the Holy Office had been overwhelmingly concerned with the unorthodox behaviour of Old Christians – ‘Minor Heretics’ – accused of lesser cromes such as unacceptable sexual behaviour and superstitious practices. These crimes consisted of 60% of the Inquisitorial business. Having all but eliminated the incidence of ‘Major Heresy’, the primary function of the Holy Office came to deal with minor heresy.
Despite this, in some parts of the country, as in Valencia and Aragon, a high proportion of arrests still came from the Morisco cultural minority and it is true that conversos once again became victims in the 17th century. However, most of these were immigrants from Portugal. After that, for the final century and a half of its existence, the Inquisition returned to its concern with Old Christians.
Overall, the truth about ‘heresy’ has been distorted. Although it was undeniably important at certain stages, it was not always important. Having such a vast history, it has consequently been easy to emphasise some aspects while excluding others – meaning that the truth has become distorted.
Despite this, it can be seen that if so many of the ‘Major heretics’ had not been executed in the Inquisition’s early years, its primary role might have continued in attempting to eliminate the conversos and Protestants. This may also have been the case if 150,000 of the Jewish population of Castile and Aragon out of 200,000 had not chose to leave after been given the choice by Ferdinand and Isabella to convert to Christianity or be expelled from Spain in 1492. Therefore, the truth of the Inquisition’s primary function as the exterminator of Jews has been distorted but if the problem had not been dealt with and there were still many ‘Major heretics’ in Spain, this primary function may have continued.
The Inquisition has become notorious for its use of torture. This can be seen in engravings created by artists of the time. However, as Henry Kamen claims, ‘most of the excruciating types of torture to be seen in engravings exist only in the artist’s imagination’. This is backed up by the fact that out of 2354 people arrested by the Inquisition in Valencia between 1478 and 1530, only twelve are known to have been tortured.
Overall, torture was used by the Inquisition but not as much as it has been claimed. The truth has therefore been distorted to a degree.
The Spanish Inquisition has been seen as the ‘most cruel and bloodthirsty tribunal of all time. This can be seen in the events of the first auto de fe as explained before. Also, in the terrible holocaust of the 1480’s it was common to burn at the stake as many as one third of those arrested. However, this had all changed a generation later. Burning was no longer inevitable and many auto de fe took place with no executions at all. A recent analysis of some 50,000 people condemned in all Spanish Inquisition tribunals between 1560 and 1700 suggests that the execution rate in this period did not exceed one percent. This works out as an average of three or four people a year. The work of Hemingsen and Contrevas, as mentioned before, showed that for most of the Inquisitions active history the execution rate remained below two percent - an average of five people per year.
The Inquisition was not a ‘bloodthirsty tribunal’ for its whole life-span. It is accepted that it was at the beginning but not after the initial holocaust. As before, what has occurred at the beginning of the Inquisition long life span has been used to give an overall picture of the situation.
Opponents of totalarianism and anti-Semitism in the 20th century have likened the Inquisition as a form of secret police. However, this view is hard to explain giving that the Inquisition was not forced on the Spanish people but actually evolved out of the ferocious social and racial struggles of the 14th and 15th centuries. When we consider their numbers (it was run by no more than a handful of people, perhaps no more than 80 Inquisitors at any one time), the limited powers they exercised and the limited budget they operated on, it becomes difficult to think of them as a tyrannical machine imposed on the Spanish people. There was little popular opposition to the tribunal (although people would surely be scared of it if it did act like a secret police). This can be seen when Charles III in the late 18th century was asked why he did not abolish the Holy Office, he shrugged and replied, ‘the Spanish want it and it does not bother me’. Also, the terrible anti-semitic campaigns of the 1480’s in southern Spain, and of the 1680’s in Majorca, were made possible only by widespread popular support. In the same way, denunciations the Inquisition were made by ordinary people in ordinary circumstances so there was never the need for any formal apparatus of a secret police.
People have also seen the Inquisition as something with large wealth. However, although large sums of money often came the way of the Inquisitors through confiscation of goods of those accused, the Holy Office never accumulated wealth or property. Throughout most of its existence it lived on the brink of poverty.
Another thing that people are confused about in terms of the Inquisition is that it was not set up nor controlled by the Pope, and after the early 16th century the Papacy ceased to have any active link with it. Nothing like it existed anywhere anywhere in the Catholic Church, and to a extent it was more of a Spanish than a Catholic tribunal. Within Spain it was so allied to, and dependent on, the Crown that later historians often considered it a secular rather than an eccliastical body. However, this is more of a misunderstanding that people have than truth being distorted.
Overall, on balance, the Inquisition did bring terror to many communities. In 1487 hundreds of conversos fled from Barcelona rather than face the vigours of the Inquisition’s enquiries. However, as many of revisionist historians have made clear, the terror of the Inquisition has been exaggerated by Protestant myth. Torture was used less than in ordinary courts and acquittals or mild penalties were far more common than floogings and burnings. Therefore, the truth of the Spanish Inquisition has not been distorted. What has been rumoured to occur mainly happened at the beginning of the Inquisition’s long history. However, it has not been fully distorted as these things did happen.