Quest for the Holy Grill Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile

At the end of the 15th century, the country of Spain as we know it did not exist. The Iberian peninsula contained a number of kingdoms, the most powerful of which were Aragon, Castile and Navarre. The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon to Isabella I of Castile and Leon marked the beginning of the Kingdom of Spain. During his reign, Ferdinand also gained control of the kingdoms of Sicily, Naples and Navarre.

Joanna, married to Phillip I, was Isabella's daughter and heiress. She spent much of her life incarcerated as insane, and her father Ferdinand ruled Castile as Regent until his death, when Philip took over the regency until his death, when her son Charles I (later Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) took control. When Joanna died, he became monarch of Castile and Aragon, and the two countries were permanently united. His son Phillip II was King of Spain, and married Mary I of England.

Answer: Sixtus IV

Sixtus IV was Pope from August 1471 until August 1484, and is perhaps better remembered as having commissioned the restoration of the Sistine Chapel, which was subsequently named after him. Michelangelo's famed Sistine Chapel Ceiling fresco, however, was not painted until 1508-1512, under the patronage of Pope Julius II. Another act for which he is recalled in a positive light was the establishment of the Vatican Archives. However, negative aspects of his Papacy include not only the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition, but also his nepotism, and his involvement in the plot by the Pazzi family to wrest control of Florence from the Medicis.

Although the bull establishing the Spanish Inquisition was issued in 1478, the first two Inquisitors were not appointed until 1480, when the Spanish Inquisition really got underway. It was extremely active between 1480 and 1530. Records are poor, but it is thought that approximately 2,000 people were executed during this period, with many more suffering lesser punishments.

Answer: Jews who had converted to Catholicism

Protestants did not exist as a serious movement at the start of the Spanish Inquisition - it was not until Martin Luther posted his "Ninety-Five Theses" in 1517 that the Reformation started in earnest. Few people in the hierarchy of the Spanish Inquisition took witchcraft seriously, considering it superstition, but it did make a convenient charge at times. The problem of 'conversos', those who had converted to Christianity but who may or may not have continued to secretly practice their original faith, was seen as a much more serious problem. While both Muslim and Jewish converts were numerous, it was concern about crypto-Judaism (the practice of Judaism while pretending to be Christian) which was emphatically brought to Isabella's attention during a stay in Seville in 1477 and 1478. As a good Christian, Isabella was determined to ensure the orthodoxy of these converts, and (with the agreement of Ferdinand) established the Spanish Inquisition to enforce it.

The Allhambra Decree of 1492 ordered the expulsion of all Jews and Muslims who did not convert to Christianity, increasing the perceived need for efficient monitoring of the activities of those who remained. It was not rescinded until 1968.

Answer: Tomas de Torquemada

Pedro Gonzales de Mendoza, along with Tomas de Torquemada, produced a report which supported the assertions of the Dominican friar Alonso de Hojeda about the widespread existence of crypto-Jews in Andalusia, leading to Isabella's determination to establish the Spanish Inquisition. Miguel de Morillo and Juan de San Martin were the first two Inquisitors, appointed in 1480. The struggle between monarchs and Pope for control of the Inquisition continued for several years, but in 1483 Ferdinand coerced Pope Sixtus into conceding full control to himself and Isabella. Although Pope Innocent VIII tried to implement appeals to Rome against the findings of the Spanish Inquisition, Ferdinand enacted laws making any such appeal punishable by death unless royal permission had been granted. With this, the Spanish Inquisition became a useful tool for political, as well as religious, control.

The Inquisitor General was in charge of the Council of the Supreme and General Inquisition, which had six members (later up to ten) appointed by the crown. Every day the council met for a morning session, during which the council addressed charges considered to be serious enough to justify a charge of heresy; these were called issues of faith. On three afternoons a week they had a second session in the day, at which less serious charges were discussed. These included a range of sexual practices and blasphemy. Working under the direction of the Council of the Suprema were regional tribunals.

Torquemada set up the procedures to be followed by all tribunals of the Inquisition. They included announcing a thirty-day period following the establishment of a new tribunal during which time accusations could be laid, and confessions could be made. Those who confessed were allowed to convert and do penance. Those who did not were tried and punished. Evidence for the possibility of a relapse to the practice of Judaism included absence of smoke in the family's chimney on Saturday, a sign they might be observing the Sabbath - talk about guilt by inactivity!

Answer: Toreador

The inquisitors were expected to have a strong legal background, and were not necessarily theologians, although most were members of the clergy. The 'calcifidores' (plural of 'calcifidor') were the theologians of the group, who assessed whether or not the defendant had committed a crime against the faith. The 'fiscal' was the chief prosecutor, responsible for investigating and establishing the case against each defendant. He was responsible for authorising physical and/or mental torture where he deemed it appropriate. The 'alguacil' was the executive officer, who organised the practicalities of detention (including, where relevant, torture) of defendants.

Others associated with the tribunals included: 'notario de secuestros', who recorded the defendant's property at the time of detention; 'notario del secreto', who took down the testimony of defendants and witnesses; 'escribano general', the court secretary; 'nuncios', who made public any official announcements of the court; 'alcaide', responsible for feeding prisoners. The finances to pay for all this came from confiscating the property of those who appeared before the tribunal, so it is no wonder that a disproportionate number of wealthy citizens found themselves denounced and on trial.

Answer: Burning at the stake

Despite popular portrayals of torture and execution, the 'auto-da-fé' was essentially a religious ceremony. Torture was carried out during the investigations, not after the finding of guilt. (And even then, it was actually conducted less ruthlessly than was the case in a number of other European countries.) The public ceremony was intended to underline the religious nature of the offenses.

The procedures often lasted for several hours, after which the prisoners were taken away to be executed. Obviously, in their minds it would have been a fine point of distinction that they were not burnt at the stake in public, since privacy and discretion was probably the last thing on their minds. Nevertheless, it does reduce one's impression of the barbarity of the event to realise that the execution was not part of the public show.

Answer: Morisco Revolt in Granada

'Marranos' was the term applied to Jews who had converted to Christianity, while 'Moriscos' referred to Muslims who had converted. Since most of these conversions took place under duress (be baptised or get out of here), it was not surprising that officials suspected that converts may have reverted to their former faith. Granada had a large Muslim population when it was conquered in 1492, the final step in the 'Reconquista', or reclaiming Spain from Moorish rule. When they were forced to convert to Christianity, there was an uprising in 1499 that was quickly quelled, and the Muslims were forced to convert, becoming Moriscos. They ostensibly practiced Christianity, but those of Arab ethnicity continued to wear their traditional dress and speak Arabic, causing local friction and suspicions of relapsing.

In 1566 Phillip II enacted strict controls on Moriscos, including the requirement that they all speak Castilian within three years, when Arabic would be banned. Moorish names and clothing were also banned. Two years later he banned all aspects of Moorish culture, including the destruction of books. This led to the uprising called the Morisco Revolt, which started as protests in mountain villages where Moriscos had gathered. It quickly degenerated into bloody massacres and destruction of property (on both sides), before the rebels were defeated in 1570. As a result of the revolt, almost all Moriscos were expelled from Granada, often enduring harsh conditions as they were deported to other parts of Spain. In 1609, they were ordered to leave Spain entirely by Phillip III.

Many of those termed Moriscos in Spain were not actually of Arab (Moorish) descent, but were descended from locals who had converted to Islam during the time of Moorish rule. These people were less seriously persecuted than those who were of clearly Arab ethnicity, but the sincerity of their conversion to Christianity was still questioned.

Answer: Vallodolid and Seville

Trials of Protestants for heresy were not numerous in Spain, largely because there were not all that many Protestants. However, Phillip II decided in 1568 that the Protestant communities of Vallodolid and Seville were getting too large to tolerate, so the tribunals took action. About 120 were tried, and a number of them were burnt at the stake for refusing to recant their heresy.

Between 1559 and 1566, it is estimated that there were about 100 executions for heresy in Spain. In the same period of time, the English (under Mary Tudor) executed about 200, the French about 300, and the Dutch nearly 1,000. Yet it is the Spanish Inquisition that is remembered by most for its prosecution of Protestants.

Vallodilid had come to the attention of the Spanish Inquisition earlier, when it was one of the two centres of the mystical Christian movement called 'Alumbrados'. Although the followers of this movement were labelled as Lutherans by the Inquisition, they were not actually Protestants, just a slightly unorthodox sect of gnostic origin. The Inquisition banned the movement in 1525, but trials were few. In 1527, Ignatius of Loyola (later to found the Jesuits) was charged with being sympathetic to the group, but got off with a caution. This was one of the first forays of the Spanish Inquisition into the realm of quashing ideas that were not actually heretical, just unorthodox.

Answer: 'Index Librorum Prohibitorum'

This was not the first list of banned books to be published in Europe, and was actually simply a reprinting of the Index published in Louvain in 1550, with the addition of some Spanish-language texts. Later indices were published periodically, to include an ever-expanding list of books in which heresy had been detected.

While they included most religious works that did not have official Papal sanction, including especially translations of the Bible into vernacular languages, they also covered a wide range of books.

Although some have blamed this prohibition of the circulation of new ideas for Spain's relatively backseat position in the scientific developments of the Enlightenment, there were actually few scientific books listed in the Index.

There were a great many books included which are now considered classic works of Spanish literature. The censorship of books was not actually terribly effective, as individuals could apply for a license to own and read forbidden books.

Answer: 1834

Although its activity waned, the Spanish Inquisition was not completely terminated until 1834. There were a couple of periods during which it was declared abolished, but it returned. It was closed down several times during the time when Napoleon controlled large portions the Iberian Peninsula, but reinstated in 1814 when Ferdinand VII regained the throne. It was again temporarily stopped during the 'Trienio Liberal' (1820-1823), but effectively reinstated after Ferdinand's restoration as the Congregation of the Meetings of Faith. In 1826 this Congregation tried and executed Cavetano Ripoli, having found him guilty of teaching deist principles to his students. He became the last person known to have been executed by the Spanish Inquisition.

Amid growing European criticism of the power wielded by the crown through the Inquisition, the decision was made to completely ban it. The Royal Decree abolishing it was signed by Maria Christina (acting as Regent for her daughter Isabella II) on 15 July, 1834.