Torquemada, Tomás de

(?1420–98)

   Grand inquisitor of Spain. The prior Torquemada was appointed confessor to FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, joint monarchs of Spain, in 1474. Although he himself was of Jewish descent (according to the Catholic Encyclopedia), he was a ferocious opponent of Jews and of Marranos, Jews who had been forcibly converted to Christianity. The whole of the Inquisition in Spain was brought under Torquemada’s control in 1483. Prosecutions against crypto-Jews, other spiritual offenders and witches were conducted on an unprecedented scale by tribunals set up in all the towns, and many thousands were tortured, killed and punished in other ways. Torquemada’s name became a symbol of persecution and fanaticism while he was still alive. Although his jurisdiction extended only over Christian heretics, he instigated expulsion orders against the Jews in Andalusia in 1483 and Albarracín in 1486. He also publicized a story accusing the Jews of having crucified a Christian child in La Guardia in 1490, to whip up public frenzy and clamour for the eventual expulsion of the Jews from the kingdom, that took place in 1492. A probably legendary tale tells how Don Isaac ABRABANEL offered King Ferdinand thirty thousand dinars to revoke the expulsion decree; as the king hesitated, Torquemada burst into the room, brandishing a crucifix and castigating the king as Judas Iscariot, who had betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.