How The Spanish Inquisition Ruined The Lives Of Normal People | Secret Files | Real History

Spain 1478 a land where Christians Muslims and Jews have lived in tolerance for centuries but that time is ending a young king and queen bent on immortality proclaimed themselves the Catholic monarchs and start an [Music] inquisition Jews who had converted to Christianity are accused of secretly sabot charging the Christian faith thousands perish in a ritual called The Act of Faith the assassination of The Inquisitor sets off a wave of reprisals mothers will die to protect their children and the highest in the land will pay the ultimate price it is the beginning of the Spanish Empire and a long dark night that will last for centuries [Music] [Music] [Music] all [Music] [Music] I don't want to it [Music] [Music] the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages is unique isolated from the rest of Europe by the impassible mountains of the Pyrenees for more than a thousand years Iberia has been home to a rich intermingling of [Music] cultures Christians Muslims and Jews have lived side by side in Iberia for centuries tolerant of each other in their conventia a practical coexistence they sing each other's songs they enjoy each other's Cuisines and they all play chess a board game introduced by the Muslims one 13th century King even calls himself the emperor of the three religions and he commissions a folio of Chess problems that reflects the Multicultural nature of his kingdom convenia set Iberia apart nowhere in Europe has a nation been so enriched with the gifts of different cultures in education art science and medicine but by 1478 times are changing in Iberia for the worse a storm of horror is about to descend on the people there will be no escape from its vicious web of interrogation betrayal torture condemnation and death soon ha de monessa the highest judge in zaragosa will feel the terror of these Changing Times himself and for love sinfa cavi and her husband husband will pay the ultimate [Music] price the time of Tolerance has passed Iberia is in turmoil Iberia is not yet the nation we know as Spain the north is divided among the Christian kingdoms of Aragon Castile and Navar the Moors control the Muslim stronghold of Granada in the South and there's a power struggle for the the Throne of [Music] Castile one claimant to the kingdom of Castile is the 18-year-old princess Isabella deeply Pious Isabella sees everything through the prism of her faith she will become known as Isabella la catholica [Music] Faith guides the citizens of the realm sinf kasavi is deeply Pious too but she is a Jew cfa's visit to the Mikvah the ritual bads is a sacred Jewish preparation for marriage she submerges herself six times to purify herself so that God will bless and sanctify her with health wisdom and prosperity the wedding was scheduled for the spring 3 days before my wedding I took my bride's bath I purify myself at the Mika sinfa is about to marry her childhood [Music] sweetheart Isabella is about to marry someone she's never met met it is a marriage she prays will unite the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon Prince Ferdinand of Aragon runs a gauntlet of castles and forts held by enemy Nobles for his personal safety the prince is disguised as a servant marrying Ferdinand will strengthen Isabella's chances to gain the Throne of Castile it will leave eventually to the unification of Their Kingdoms the wedding of Isabella and Ferdinand although politically motivated is charged with all the passion and Intrigue of an illicit affair they are teenagers she's 18 he's [Music] 17 sinak kasavi and Jacob abuka married first as Christians in the cathedral but now they have a second secret wedding in the Jewish tradition from the transcript of sinfa casabi that day we all met in my father's house all my family and my sweetheart's family they brought many presents they filled my house with flowers and brought delicious Meats for the meal of that day all this was the Prelude to the happiness Harmony and peace that were awaiting us in our life together the day I married was the happiest of my life I was very pretty I was dressed in beautiful clothes I was radiant with happiness Jews have lived in Iberia for over a millennium since the first arrived with the Roman Legions but since the 14th century the Jews have come under attack from Catholic [Music] [Applause] zealots 1391 priests call for the compulsory conversion of the Jews riots against Jews spread across the [Music] land facing the choice convert or Die the Jews must make life and death decisions on the spot many choose baptism and survival through the 1400s following further prgrams and a series of increasingly restrictive laws forcing the Jews to live in ghettos and wear distinctive clothing nearly half the Jews of Iberia changed faiths the Jews who convert become known as new Christians or conversos well some people converted because they had swords to their throats and they had a choice of converting or dying uh other people were offered uh the opportunity of uh social Mobility or economic Mobility many converted because they fell in love with someone who was Catholic and the only way they could marry them was to convert to Catholicism the distinct between conversos and old Christians will be legally sanctioned in Spain for the next 3 and a half centuries but in the 15th century conversion offers opportunities for advancement to positions of power and prominence in the Royal Court that had been denied to Jews the old Christians grow jealous of the conversa success by the 1450s uh Spanish Catholics discovered that the converts had become the new Urban middle class uh they were dominant in business they were dominant in uh some of the the uh professions like uh uh being scribes and accountants and they felt that they were being uh railroaded by these [Music] upstarts [Music] 1478 a royal baptism finally Isabella and Ferdinand can look forward to the unification of their two kingdoms after 8 years of marriage they have a long awaited son Prince Juan heir to Aragon and Castile the event is seen is so important that chroniclers Herald the baby Juan as the second [Music] messiah in the home of conversos constanza De peran and Manuel de almazan a secret ritual takes place their child was baptized in the Christian manner at the Cathedral when he was born now 8 days later he is about to be circumcised according to Jewish tradition but the ceremony is observed by an Uninvited neighbor violant ferer an old [Music] Christian [Music] fore [Music] now constanza Dean's baby has a name his parents will call him Yus but beyond these walls he will be known by his Christian name Pedro de almazan in time the baby named this day will play a role in a defining moment of the Spanish Inquisition [Music] 1478 the monarchs take up residence in the alkazar of cevil a Palace built by the Moors the Muslim rulers in the 11th century Isabella and Ferdinand are the power couple of their day they dream of one State under one religion Roman Catholicism they have a big agenda to unite Their Kingdoms in the name of national salvation and to complete the Christian Recon Conquest against the Muslims who still control the south after 700 years but there is trouble inside their Kingdom a Dominican priest Tomas toada delivers a warning in these kingdoms are many blasphemers Renegades from gods and the Saints the culprits says toada are guilty of judaizing they are conversos the new Christians who continue to practice their Jewish Traditions he proposes a scheme to root out the Heretics an inquisition the monarchs agree November 1st 1478 Pope 6th IV issues a bull creating the Spanish Inquisition but Ferdinand and Isabella do not intend to let the Pope in Rome run their Inquisition or share in the spoils the institutionalized Inquisition came to be seen as a a structure that could be adopted in varying Ways by different countries see so in a way it was natural uh speaking again in this sense for the Spanish government to create an inquisition of its own they appointed the inquisitors they appointed the uh The Inquisitor General who ran the Inquisition uh with some nominal approval from Rome but basically the monarchy got a um a tribunal that was run by the state not by the Church the monarchs will hold the keys to the powerful engine that becomes the Spanish Inquisition the record room is the memory of the Inquisition three keys entrusted to three inquisitors are needed to open its free locks no file can be removed from this room without the knowledge of the others they contain the records of Investigations of interrogations of torture sessions they are cross referenced and they will survive centuries and it was an atmosphere of Terror that took over in among the ranks of the converted Jews because they were always afraid of being denounced May 1484 despite the opposition in Aragon from the old Christian nobility and conversos alike Ferdinand sends two inquisitors to zaragosa the capital of Aragon one of them Pedro aroz will become a saint at least in the eyes of the [Music] [Music] church [Music] like many Spanish towns zaragosa has a large number of conversos and for the conversos every ritual in the cycle of life and death will come under scrutiny they will be charged with heresy if the Inquisition hears that they are judaizers who continue to observe the Jewish customs of their ancestors the Inquisition files are just filled with data about life cycle events about how they buried their dead about issues of female hygiene of of sexual practices of every imaginable part of people's daily lives I think it's very important to make the point that Jews were never the object of the inquisition's investigations because Jews were not Christians the Spanish Inquisition dealt only with baptized Christians sinfa cavi and her husband Jacob Aban cuka are denounced as judaizers by seven Witnesses people they have lived and worked with all their lives the identities of their accusers will not be revealed [Music] for but CFA has a clever defense the Inquisition is charged with investigating Christians suspected of heresy Jews are beyond the inquisition's reach they cannot be Heretics because to the church they are infidels unbelievers when The Inquisitor demands she confess she is a heretic sinfa insists she is a Jew we are Jewish we live with Jews and we live as Jews I was never baptized a Christian and my husband is a [Music] Jew frustrated The Inquisitor orders that syfa be tortured torture is sanctioned to obtain confessions as long as it is performed according to the rules set out in the inquisitor's manual written a century earlier cfa's feet are held to the fire smeared with pig grease to accelerate her suffering the crucifix in the inquisitor's chamber is veiled a holy procedure to protect Jesus from witnessing what will be done in his name [Music] under torture CFA reveals exactly what the Inquisitor wants to hear yes I am a Christian I was born Christian my name was hanana and my father was juang gonalez watching cfa's torture is too much for Jacob the notary dutifully transcribes his words from the transcript of Jacob aanuka remove her from the torture my wife speaks the truth release her from the torture Inquisitor I will speak the truth as well I am from civil of the kingdom of Castile and I was born a Christian I had Jewish friends who were engaged before getting married in the synagogue and I always dreamed of being able to do it myself we were then husband and wife according to the law of [Music] Moses you just condemned yourselves your souls are already lost and now you will lose your bodies Jacob has just sealed his own fate CFA will be spared for now if I had been born Christian I would have been happy now and the Inquisition she would not be after us SFA gathers her strength and Defiance that was the happiest day of my life and you can't take that away from me the Inquisition said to people you must confess if you are guilty of any kind of judaizing you have to confess if you know of someone who may know of someone who is guilty of judaizing and if you don't you're guilty to the extent that they're guilty and that just tore Society [Music] apart it will become normal for neighbor to spy upon neighbor for relatives to turn each other in scores of anonymous accusers appear before Inquisitor Pedro arbz to denounce friends relatives even strangers constanza de peran is among the hundreds who are denounced there was salted pork at the table and she did not want to eat it when there were no Maids around and they asked for wine they used to bless it the hebraic way when the Corpus Christi was raised at Mass she always turned away from [Music] it the most damaging testimony comes from violant ferer constanza's old Christian neighbor she recounts the ritual she observed at the naming ceremony I've heard that her sons were baptized the judaic way what I can tell you is that constant's mother prayed while standing and turned towards the wall like the Jews in the presence of everyone and constanza didn't say anything October 19th 1484 the Inquisition issues a citation compelling constanza de peran to appear she cannot be located but constanza is spotted by a familiar one of the inquisition's network of informers in zaragosa church of San Anon from the testimony of juand De Herrera I saw constan bpan the day before the citation inside the church of San Anton I was sent by the BFF of the Holy Inquisition to see if she was there and when I saw her I ran to tell the BFF [Music] I told him and we ran together to the Church of San Anton and the belief looked for her everywhere but we did not find her later I heard that she had hidden in the sacy of the church and then I heard that the accused had escaped for fear of the Inquisition constanza and her daughters escaped the Inquisition leaving the men and her family behind others will be less [Music] [Music] fortunate [Music] the people of zaragosa gather to witness the inquisition's most important ritual the autod def the Act of Faith [Music] ceremony many of The Condemned are prominent conversos who only weeks earlier ran the city government for CFA and her daughter it will be the most tragic day of their lives now zaragosa will witness its first public display of the awesome power of the Inquisition The Act of Faith ceremony designed to strike the fear of God into all who witness [Music] it the inquisitors sentenced the convicted Heretics one by onean now they wear the San Benitos the cloak of Shame and the tall conical caps [Music] called some will be [Music] exiled are sent to serve as Galley slaves some get life [Music] imprisonment but those who wear the black San Benitos are condemned to death the Inquisition operates on a spiritual plane it turns The Condemned over to the state for execution families and friends are forced to watch their loved ones being incinerated before their eyes but to some the downfall of the conversos is caused to celebrate one witness recorded now that the fire has been lighted it will burn to the last stick burn until every judaizer is dead and there remains no one over the age of 20 who is touched by that leprosy constanza de peran will burn today in effigy the consequences for her eldest son Pedro and her husband Manuel de almazan are the same as if constanza herself had been burnt the Inquisition will confiscate all the worldly Goods of the families of The Condemned the Royal treasury will take its cut of the [Music] spoils Jacob abuka is convicted of heresy for his secret Jewish wedding the black San Beno Jacob wears is the sign that he is beyond hope [Applause] in its first 5 years thousands of people are purified in the fires of the Inquisition ACC according to one Spanish historian within a century the Inquisition will touch the lives of more than 15% of the population of [Music] Spain spee foreign [Music] spee [Music] [Music] the AL de was an act of penance literally it means an Act of Faith and it was a foraste of hell it was a visible foretaste uh of the fact that their souls would be condemned forever again it was a a cautionary kind of [Music] thing CFA converts to Christianity at least she goes through the [Music] motions her daughter is also [Music] [Music] baptized but when they get home syfa washes the church's holy water from her daughter's head to remove all traces of the [Music] baptism [Music] she continues to live as a Jew for the next two years then she is denounced and thrown again into the cells of the Inquisition this time there is no reprieve sinfa cavi is condemned she remains defiant to the very end from the transcript of sinasabi you are the ones who are lost and cheated and as the fortunate one let the angels of Moses guard me and don't call me hanana that is not my name my name is SAA the power elite of Aragon are predominantly conversos and they grow desperate they include the renowned jurist haime deont the Chief Justice of zaragosa Francisco de Santa Fe son of the Firebrand priest hono de Santa Fe Manuel de almazan father of Pedro de almazan and husband of The Condemned constanza all treasurers financiers even Knights the conversos send an appeal to the king protesting that this is a kingdom of Christians that there are no Heretics in the realm and that Heretics in any case should be approached with warnings and persuasion not Force if there are so few Heretics as is now asserted there should not be such dread of the Inquisition it is not to be impeded be assured that no cause or interest however great shall be allowed to interfere with its proceedings February 1485 Ferdinand responds with an order to all his officials in Aragon asking them to raise arms and help the [Music] inquisitors the conversos try everything to stop the Inquisition legal arguments appeals to Rome petitions to the Catholic monarchs but nothing works the inquisition's net is fast closing on the high and [Music] [Applause] [Music] mighty even haime de monessa the Chief Justice of zaragosa will find no protection under the law he is denounced by a nocturnal visitor from the testimony of Garcia deales I went there at night many times I was having an affair with the maid sometimes we talked and made love in the lower level of the House of seor De monessa I heard the converted Jews meeting to put together some money to find a way of stopping the Inquisition I saw many of these converted Jews gathered with Montesa in his house September 15th 1485 Inquisitor Pedro aroz will take the first step towards sainthood The Inquisitor Pedro arz is the most feared man in zaragosa the man with the full powers of church and state of life and death at his fingertips he's had death threats now he wears a steel cap and a coat of mail under his robes for physical protection [Music] [Music] the scourge of zaragosa is a devout man a graduate of divinity College in [Music] bolognia he asks for divine guidance what he gets is a knife in the neck the one area not protected by [Music] armor Inquisitor Pedro aroz dies of his wounds exactly 48 hours later nearly four centuries later Rome will make the assassinated Inquisitor a saint the Aro assassination is a unique event uh it's the only time really when a group of converts uh organized to uh assassinate a high Inquisition official as a way of trying to prevent the Inquisition from being established in their area and it [Music] fails October 17th 1485 1 month after the assassination of The Inquisitor the Inquisition arrests the distinguished jurist haime de [Music] monessa he is interrogated 2 Days Later the notary records montes's denials he denies having given or received any money neither now nor at any time and he denies being ever in attendance in meetings during which the death of The Inquisitor was discussed and he said that in the case of the death of Pedro abis only a crazy and desperate heretic could do such a thing for Sama to jeopardize all the conversal is a huge betrayal haime de monessa is sent back to his cell he will stay there for the next 22 [Music] months the laws of the kingdom are suspended in the hunt for the Assassins of Pedro [Music] agz Vidal Durango the man who first stabbed The Inquisitor is the first to be captured Durango is tortured he confesses money was offered he gives names implicating all the leading conversos in the [Music] conspiracy in a succession of uto De 64 people burned the assassination of The Inquisitor the leaders of Commerce and Industry the city government and the Royal Administration are decimated in The Purge why were they punished so severely well of course obviously they had committed treason they had attacked a royal representative a man appointed directly by Ferdinand himself they were attacking Royal Authority in the crown of Aragon and Ferdinand was not going to stand for it [Music] Pedro de almazan whose mother constanza has been burned in effigy is among the conversos caught in the drag net the tribunal examines Pedro to see if he is [Music] circumcised then he is thrown into a cell where he will be left for the next 2 [Music] years August 10th 1487 after 22 months of incarceration the Aged jurist haime de monessa is interrogated for the second time tortured on the strappado a device designed to cause excruciating pain as the victim's arms are dislocated the notary describes the proceeding during this torture the said seor Montesa was pulled up with a rope of about six hands above the ground and then he stayed in such torture for the time of three bre cradles Mor mother they de monessa tells the inquisitors what they want to hear from the transcript of haime De monessa the only solution we saw was To Kill The Inquisitor it took a long time to hire the right people we paid them 800 Florence of gold to kill Inquisitor once AR was killed I met with the others they were pleased the Inquisition has its case against deont Tessa it's a mistake to torture people however torture was regarded as a perfectly Justified legitimate uh way of of uh uh producing evidence and it was therefore legally Justified August 20th [Music] 1487 haime de monessa is condemned for charges that have nothing to do with the assassination of Pedro aroz we consider true that the Sham monesa being a baptized Christian converted to the Juda rights and ceremonies because he praised the law of Moses and because he bought meat with his mother in The Butcher Shop of the Jews and because he ate Jewish food bread without yeast at the time of Passover and because he attended Jewish weddings and because it is suspicious to be circumcised haime de monessa is [Music] beheaded one of the outcomes of the Aro uh Affair was that the church and the monarchy together exerted such power that no uh challenges to the Inquisition ever succeeded after [Music] that young Pedro de almazan gets off lightly he agrees to abjure to renounce his faith and accept Christ he is sentenced to Exile a fate that lies in store for all his people at the end of the 15th century the monarchs are about to achieve their goal of one state one religion it becomes intolerable to accept the presence of the Muslims in the South they crank up the war against Granada January 2nd 1492 after years of warfare the Catholic monarchs complete the Christian reconquest against against Granada Ferdinand and Isabella take possession of the great Mish Palace the alhamra it is an extraordinary time in history Christopher Columbus a mariner from Genoa is there to seize the moment flush with Victory Isabella decides to back his expedition Columbus gets the title admiral of the ocean sea it is an opportune time time for The Inquisitor General Tomas de toada proposes the final solution the expulsion of the Jews Majesty you know very well how determined I am to eliminate the heresy from your kingdoms but this task is impossible to finish as long as there will still remain a single Jew on your lands a delegation of Highly placed Jews appeals to Isabella and Ferdinand in a desperate effort to cancel the Edict of expulsion they remind the king and queen of the Loyalty of the Jews of the 1500e history of Jews in Iberia of how the Jews fought in the Royal armies against the Muslims and finance the war but Isabella does not relent do you believe that this comes from us the Lord have put this thing into the heart of the king at the height of her leadership bravery and determination Queen Isabella becomes the most powerful piece in the chess game she will will be the inspiration for the figure of the queen in modern chess Ferdinand and Isabelle were defining the new state as a religiously unified uniquely Christian uniquely Catholic uh uh organization and that really spent among other things spelled the end of the Jewish [Music] presence April 30th 1492 across Iberia in towns and Villages people gather to hear the Royal Proclamation the Jews are ordered to leave the country in 3 months they can convert to Christianity and stay or sell their homes and leave they can take personal property but not mules gold silver jewelry or precious metals every Jewish Home is inventoried by agents of the Inquisition and the crown in desperation families must dispose of all they own at fire sale [Music] prices the exposion was a form of ethnic cleansing in terms of a group becoming less popular less accepted in society The Wider Society turning against that group excluding that group from trades professions regions areas making it difficult for that group to survive and finally expelling the group [Music] across the land Jews visit their cemeteries to pay their respects to their ancestors for the last time the expulsion coincides with the fast of Tisha AV the saddest of Jewish holy days a fast to commemorate the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem for the Jews of Spain it is the beginning of a new diaspora [Music] Isabella and Ferdinand never see the full impact of the forces they unleash they leave a legacy of Empire and of an institution that will keep Spain in its grip for more than 300 years wherever the Spanish flag is planted and the people's riches are plundered along with the men in robes follows the holy Office of the Spanish [Music] Inquisition [Music] the

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Length: 47min 49sec (2869 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 01 2024