Why is it so important to understand the Spanish Inquisition if one is to really understand the culture of the Middle Ages? Rough Draft

Like it is today, religion was very important in the Middle Ages. To unify the country, Spain developed a court called the Spanish Inquisition in the year 1478. The Spanish Inquisition affected the government and religion in Spain in the Middle Ages, and heresy was a big deal. To fully understand the culture of the Middle Ages, one must fathom the facts of the Spanish Inquisition. It is not necessary to understand the Spanish Inquisition to know the culture of the Middle Ages.

Understanding the Spanish Inquisition is necessary because it changed what people thought of Catholics forever. “Once Rome's religion changed to Christianity under Constantine, it retained the inquisitorial trial method but also developed brutal means of dealing with heretics who went against the doctrines of the new religion” (Bragg 2006). The Middle Ages revolved around government and religion. When Catholicism became very popular, it was for all of the wrong reasons.

People need to understand that religion was very different in the Middle Ages. The Inquisition affected the reputation of Catholicism. Madden stated:

In order to understand the Spanish Inquisition, which began in the late 15th century, we must look briefly at its predecessor, the medieval Inquisition. Before we do, though, it's worth pointing out that the medieval world was not the modern world. For medieval people, religion was not something one just did at church. It was their science, their philosophy, their politics, their identity, and their hope for salvation. It was not a personal preference but an abiding and universal truth. Heresy, then, struck at the heart of that truth. It doomed the heretic, endangered those near him, and tore apart the fabric of community. Medieval Europeans were not alone in this view. It was shared by numerous cultures around the world. The modern practice of universal religious toleration is itself quite new and uniquely Western.

            The Spanish Inquisition was very famous. According to Bragg, “The Spanish Inquisition set up in 1478 surpassed all Inquisitorial activity that had preceded it in terms of its reach and length. For 350 years under Papal Decree, Jews, then Muslims and Protestants were put through the Inquisitional Court and condemned to torture, imprisonment, exile and death,” (2006). Many people were condemned. Those that were condemned were converts. The Inquisitional Court had affected the government for Spain. Everything was changed. The Spanish Inquisition lasted for more than 350 years of converts suffering. Inquisitional activity brought trouble to Spain.

The Spanish Inquisition was a very important event in the Middle Ages. The court was lie genocide that affected Jewish and Islamic converts. It affected the lives of converts and the reputation of the Catholic Church. To thoroughly understand the culture of the Middle Ages, one must understand the truth about the Spanish Inquisition.

Works Cited:

Bragg, Melvyn. (2006). The spanish inquisition. Retrieved from BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003c1bw

Madden, Thomas. (2003). The truth about the spanish inquisition. Retrieved from http://catholiceducation.org/articles/history/world/wh0075.html