Spanish Inquisition

The infamous Spanish Inquisition was not an ecclesiastical operation at all. Ferdinand and Isabella, monarchs of Spain, appointed Tomás de Torquemada in 1481 to investigate and punish conversos -- Jews and Moors? (Muslims) who claimed to have "converted" to Catholicism but continued to practice their "former" religion in secret. (Some disguised Jews had even been ordained as priests and even bishops.)

While the Spanish Inquisition had by far the worst record for corruption and malice and succeeded in spreading as far as Venice?, the Church in northern Europe was considerably more benign: the Inquisition was never instituted in England, and had little impact in the German and Scandinavian countries. The Inquisition was used against Protestants in the Netherlands during their war for independence from Spain.

See also Inquisition, the Medieval Inquisition and the Roman Inquisition.