History UsefulNotes / TomasDeTorquemada

* Portrayed by Creator/JavierGutierrez in the ''[[Film/AssassinsCreed2016 Assassin's Creed]]'' film. A purely villainous version who's aligned with the franchise's version of UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar and purges Southern Spain from the Assassin Brotherhood, who are allies to the Emirate of Granada and are treated just like heretics by the Inquisition.

* Portrayed by Creator/JavierGutierrez in the ''[[Film/AssassinsCreed2016 Assassin's Creed]]'' film. A purely villainous version who's aligned with the franchise's version of UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar and purges Southern Spain from the Assassin Brotherhood (who are treated just like heretics).

* Portrayed by Creator/JavierGutierrez in the ''[[Film/AssassinsCreed2016 Assassin's Creed]]'' film. A purely villainous version who's aligned with the franchise's Templars and purges Southern Spain from the Assassin Brotherhood (who are treated just like heretics).

Tomás de Torquemada (1420 - September 16, 1498) was a Spanish Catholic churchman, confessor to UsefulNotes/TheCatholicMonarchs, and the most famous member of UsefulNotes/TheSpanishInquisition. His name, not without the coincidence that his surname means "burned tower", has [[PersonAsVerb become synonymous]] with {{burn|The Witch}}ing heretics, Jews, Muslims, freethinkers, books and whatever else pop culture portrays the Spanish inquisitors as enjoying burning in pop culture, although his true biography is, as usual, less bloodthirsty and more complex than the legend claims.

In a supreme strike of irony for someone whose task was to keep UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} and UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} aseptically separated, it's traditionally believed that the good inquisitor was himself the grandson of ''conversos'' or Christianized ex-Jews, which might have made Torquemada [[BoomerangBigot the target of his own policies]] had it become demonstrated in his lifetime. He was also far from being the only case of this, in fact, with inquisitors like Alonso de Espina and Alonso de Cartagena having Jewish origins. Whether Torquemada and company were [[{{Hypocrite}} massive hypocrites trying to deflect suspicions as far away as possible]] or were [[TroubledSympatheticBigot genuinely overcompensating to purge the sins of their families]], we will never know. We know, however, that he was nephew of an important theologian, entered the Dominican order very young, and studied in the University of Salamanca (although he wasn't part of the [[UsefulNotes/SchoolOfSalamanca eponymous school of thought]], of which several members were his intellectual opponents in several fields). While serving as the Prior of the monastery of Santa Cruz de Segovia, he met the young queen Isabella of Castile, of which he became her confessor, adviser, and even matchmaker, advising her to marry King Ferdinand of Aragon.

At the time, the occurence of crypto-Judaism (in this case, ''marranos'', that is, ''conversos'' that were secretly still Jews) was one of the main concerns of the Christian clergy, not just in Spain but in most Christian countries, and this eventually crystallized into a suggestion by Alonso de Ojeda (not to mistake with the conquistador of the same name, who was his cousin) that the Catholic Monarchs created a Holy Inquisition to manage the problem in their lands. Therefore, supported by Torquemada, Cardinal Pedro de Mendoza, and [[UsefulNotes/ThePope Pope Sixtus IV]], the Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478, with Torquemada being appointed its Grand Inquisitor five years later when it was judged they needed a man of true faith in charge. Initially, some regions of Spain resisted to the idea of being surveyed by a cadre of centralist bureaucrats with license to torture and execute, but after Inquisitor Pedro Arbués was murdered by supposed ''conversos'' in spectacular fashion, any popular resistance was softened. It didn't help that, libels and popular enmities aside, many conversions were undoubtedly insincere, as [[CreateYourOwnVillain it could not be otherwise]] when the only alternatives were either converting or losing your money and social status.

Initially, and contrary to popular belief, the Inquisition had no jurisdiction over practicing Jews, only over ''conversos''. However, it was eventually reasoned that the presence of the former might encourage the latter to return to their Jewish ways, so in 1492, by Torquemada's influence, the crown issued the Alhambra Decree, by which Jews were forced to either convert to Christianity themselves or leave Spain altogether. The issue and its ruthless enforcement were quite effective, as about two thirds of Spain's Jewish population converted (or so they claimed), and even among those who left, many would ultimately return and convert anyway because living in exile was evidently harder. This was a huge career win for Torquemada, but meanwhile, the rest of his mandate had convinced the Catholic Monarchs and UsefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI that he was scaling things up a bit too much, so after many discussions, he was eventually KickedUpstairs to the head of a more relaxed administration. Still contented with the state of things, however, Torquemada opted to retire to the monastery of Santo Tomás in Ávile, where he died a few years later.

As with everything related to the darkest points of Spain, Torquemada's historical legacy is difficult to assess. He was indeed considered a massive HolierThanThou in his own time, even although few people had sympathy for the Jews anyway, and his own fellow churchmen in both Spain and Rome couldn't wait for him to get out of his seat. At the same time, people couldn't help but see him as a humble, pious Christian of IncorruptiblePurePureness: aside from his inquisitorial entourages and escorts, he lived the way of a simple monk, to the point of being a [[EvilVegetarian vegetarian]], and donated most of the confiscated Jewish riches to build monasteries and churches. In modern times, his name is indissolubly associated to cruelty and intolerance, [[SinisterMinister not without obviously good reasons]], although precise research has shown that, as with the Spanish Inquisition as a whole, Torquemada's personal misdeeds are rather unimpressive. As death sentences were the rarest kind issued by the Inquisition, he might have signed much less than 1,500 in his lifetime, true barbarism to our eyes but a pretty low number in the world history of religious fanaticism, and his approach for the expulsion of the Jews was actually FairForItsDay compared to the dozens of expulsions that happened both before and afterwards in all of Europe, as unlike them, it actually attempted to integrate Jews as productive Christians and gave them the chance to convert and stay.

* ''ComicBook/NemesisTheWarlock'': In the distant future, the evil leader of the intergalactic Termight Empire is named "Tomás De Torquemada" as a direct reference to his RealLife counterpart. At one point in the series' run, it's even revealed that this very character is, in fact, a reincarnation of the real life Torqemada. They even get to meet each other through time travel at one point. After the historical Torquemada hears his future counterpart mention reincarnation, he decides to personally introduce him to the torture methods of Spanish Inquisition as a heretic. However, the Torquemada of the future keeps talking up his own evil actions and how the historical Torquemada served as his inspiration. This horrifies the historical Torquemada.

Tomás de Torquemada (1420 - September 16, 1498) was a Spanish Catholic churchman, confessor to UsefulNotes/TheCatholicMonarchs, and the most famous member of UsefulNotes/TheSpanishInquisition. His name, not without the coincidence that his surname means "burned tower", has become synonymous with {{burn|The Witch}}ing heretics, Jews, Muslims, freethinkers, books and whatever else pop culture portrays the Spanish inquisitors as enjoying burning in pop culture, although his true biography is, as usual, less bloodthirsty and more complex than the legend claims.

[[AC: Comic Books]]

Tomás de Torquemada (1420 - September 16, 1498) was a Spanish Catholic churchman, confessor to UsefulNotes/TheCatholicMonarchs, and the most famous member of UsefulNotes/TheSpanishInquisition. His name, not without the coincidence that his surname means "burned tower", has become synonymous with {{burn|The Witch}}ing heretics, Jews, Muslims, freethinkers, books and whatever else pop culture portrays the Spanish inquisitors enjoy burning in pop culture, although his true biography is, as usual, less bloodthirsty and more complex than the legend claims.

Tomás de Torquemada (1420 - September 16, 1498) was a Spanish Catholic churchman, confessor to UsefulNotes/TheCatholicMonarchs, and the most famous member of UsefulNotes/TheSpanishInquisition. His name, not without the coincidence that his surname means "burned tower", has become synonymous with {{burn|The Witch}}ing heretics, Jews, Muslims, freethinkers, books and whatever else the Spanish inquisitors enjoyed burning in pop culture, although his true biography is, as usual, less bloodthirsty and more complex than the legend claims.

In a supreme strike of irony for someone whose task was to keep UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} and UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} aseptically separated, it's traditionally believed that [[BoomerangBigot the good inquisitor was himself]] the grandson of ''conversos'' or Christianized ex-Jews, which might have made Torquemada the target of his own policies had it become demonstrated in his lifetime. He was also far from being the only case of this, in fact, with inquisitors like Alonso de Espina and Alonso de Cartagena having Jewish origins. Whether Torquemada and company were [[{{Hypocrite}} massive hypocrites trying to deflect suspicions as far away as possible]] or were [[TroubledSympatheticBigot genuinely overcompensating to purge the sins of their families]], we will never know. We know, however, that he was nephew of an important theologian, entered the Dominican order very young, and studied in the University of Salamanca (although he wasn't part of the [[UsefulNotes/SchoolOfSalamanca eponymous school of thought]], of which several members were his intellectual opponents in several fields). While serving as the Prior of the monastery of Santa Cruz de Segovia, he met the young queen Isabella of Castile, of which he became her confessor, adviser, and even matchmaker, advising her to marry King Ferdinand of Aragon.

As with everything related to the darkest points of Spain, Torquemada's historical legacy is difficult to assess. He was indeed considered a massive HolierThanThou in his own time, even although few people had sympathy for the Jews anyway, and his own fellow churchmen in both Spain and Rome couldn't wait for him to get out of his seat. At the same time, people couldn't help but see him as a humble, pious Christian of IncorruptiblePurePureness: aside from his inquisitorial entourages and escorts, he lived the way of a simple monk, to the point of being a [[EvilVegetarian vegetarian]], and donated most of the confiscated Jewish riches to build monasteries and churches. In modern times, his name is indissolubly associated to cruelty and intolerance, [[SinisterMinister not without obviously good reasons]], although precise research has shown that, as with the Spanish Inquisition as a whole, Torquemada's personal misdeeds are rather unimpressive. As death sentences were the rarest kind issued by the Inquisition, he might have signed much less than 1,500 in his lifetime, true barbarism to our eyes but a pretty low number in the world history of religious fanaticism, and his expulsion of the Jews was [[FairForItsDay possibly the most humane]], in the sense that it actually attempted to integrate Jews as productive Christians, of dozens of expulsions that happened both before and afterwards in all of Europe (which often didn't even give the chance to convert or stay).

----
!!Portrayals in fiction:

* Portrayed by Creator/JavierGuttierez in the ''[[Film/AssassinsCreed2016 Assassin's Creed]]'' film. A purely villainous version who's aligned with the franchise's Templars and purges Southern Spain from the Assassin Brotherhood (who are treated just like heretics).

Tomás de Torquemada (1420 - September 16, 1498) was a Spanish Catholic churchman, confessor to UsefulNotes/TheCatholicMonarchs, and the most famous member of the UsefulNotes/SpanishInquisition. His name, not without the coincidence that his surname means "burned tower", has become synonimous with burning heretics, Jews, Muslims, freethinkers, books and whatever else the Spanish inquisitors enjoyed burning in pop culture, although his true biography is, as usual, less bloodthirsty and more complex than the legend claims.

Tomás de Torquemada (1420 - September 16, 1498) was a Spanish Catholic churchman, confessor to UsefulNotes/TheCatholicMonarchs, and the most famous member of the UsefulNotes/SpanishInquisition. His name, not without the coincidence that his surname means "burned tower", has become synonimous with burning heretics, Jews, Muslims, freethinkers, books and whatever else the Spanish inquisitors enjoyed burning in pop culture, although his true biography is, as usual, less impressive and more complex than the legend claims.

In a supreme strike of irony for someone whose task was to keep UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} and UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} aseptically separated, it's traditionally believed that [[BoomerangBigot the good inquisitor was himself]] the grandson of ''conversos'' or Christianized ex-Jews, which might have made Torquemada the target of his own policies had it become demonstrated in his lifetime. He was also far from being the only case of this, in fact, with inquisitors like Alonso de Espina and Alonso de Cartagena having Jewish origins. Whether Torquemada and company were [[{{Hypocrite}} massive hypocrites trying to deflect suspicions as far away as possible]] or were [[TroubledSympatheticBigot genuinely overcompensating to purge the sins of their families]], we will never know. We know, however, that he was nephew of an important theologian, entered the Dominican order very young, and studied in the University of Salamanca (although he wasn't part of the [[UsefulNotes/SchoolOfSalamanca eponymous school of thought]], of which several members were his intellectual opponents in several fields). While serving as the Prior of the monastery of Santa Cruz de Segovia, he met the young queen Isabella of Castile, of which he became confessor, adviser, and even matchmaker, advising her to marry King Ferdinand of Aragon.

Initially, and contrary to popular belief, the Inquisition had no jurisdiction over practicing Jews, only over ''conversos''. However, it was eventually reasoned that the presence of the former might encourage the latter to return to their Jewish ways, so in 1492, by Torquemada's influence, the crown issued the Alhambra Decree, by which Jews were forced to either convert to Christianity themselves or leave Spain altogether. The issue and its ruthless enforcement were quite effective for God's work, as about two thirds of Spain's Jewish population converted (or so they claimed), and even among those who left, many would ultimately return and convert anyway because living in exile was evidently harder. This was a huge career win for Torquemada, but meanwhile, the rest of his mandate had convinced the Catholic Monarchs and UsefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI that he was taking things too far, so after many discussions, he was eventually KickedUpstairs to the head of a more reasonable administration. Still contented with the state of things, however, Torquemada opted to retire to the monastery of Santo Tomás in Ávile, where he died a few years later.

As with everything related to the darkest points of Spain, Torquemada's historical legacy is difficult to assess. He was indeed considered a massive zealout in his own time, even although few people had sympathy for the Jews anyway, and his own fellow churchmen in both Spain and Rome couldn't wait for him to get out of his seat. At the same time, people couldn't help but see him as a humble, pious Christian of IncorruptiblePurePureness: aside from his inquisitorial entourages and escorts, he lived the way of a simple monk, to the point of being a [[EvilVegetarian vegetarian]], and donated most of the confiscated Jewish riches to build monasteries and churches. In modern times, his name is indissolubly associated to cruelty and intolerance, [[SinisterMinister not without obviously good reasons]], although precise research has shown that, as with the Spanish Inquisition as a whole, Torquemada's personal misdeeds are rather unimpressive; as death sentences were the rarest kind, he might have signed much less than 2,000 in his lifetime, true barbarism to our eyes but a pretty low number in the world history of religious fanaticism, and his expulsion of the Jews was possibly the least harsh, or the most successful in actually doing something productive and integrating them as Christians, of dozens of that happened both before and afterwards in Europe (not all of which gave them the chance to convert and stay).

Tomás de Torquemada (1420 - September 16, 1498) was a Spanish Catholic churchman, confessor to UsefulNotes/TheCatholicMonarchs, and most famous member of the UsefulNotes/SpanishInquisition. His name, not without the coincidence that his surname means "burned tower", has become synonimous with burning heretics, Jews, Muslims, freethinkers, witches, books and whatever else the Spanish inquisitors enjoyed burning, although his true biography is, as usual, less impressive and more complex than the legend claims.

In a supreme strike of irony for someone whose task was to keep UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} and UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} aseptically separated, it's traditionally believed that [[BoomerangBigot the good inquisitor was himself]] the grandson of ''conversos'' or Christianized ex-Jews, which would have made Torquemada the target of his own policies had it become demonstrated in his lifetime. He was also far from being the only case of this, in fact, with inquisitors like Alonso de Espina and Alonso de Cartagena having Jewish origins. Whether Torquemada and company were massive hypocrites trying to deflect suspicions as far away as possible or were genuinely overcompensating to purge the sins of their families, we will never know. We know, however, that he was nephew of an important theologian, entered the Dominican order very young, and studied in the University of Salamanca, although he wasn't part of the [[UsefulNotes/SchoolOfSalamanca eponymous school of thought]] (of which several members were his intellectual opponents in several fields). While serving as the Prior of the monastery of Santa Cruz de Segovia, he met the young queen Isabella of Castile, of which he became confessor, adviser, and even matchmaker, advising her to marry King Ferdinand of Aragon.

At the time, the occurence of crypto-Judaism (in this case, ''marranos'', that is, ''conversos'' that were secretly still Jews) was one of the main concerns of the Christian clergy, not just in Spain but in most Christian countries, and this eventually crystallized into a suggestion by Alonso de Ojeda (not to mistake with the conquistador of the same name, who was his cousin) that the Catholic Monarchs created a Holy Inquisition to manage the problem in their lands. Therefore, supported by Torquemada, Cardinal Pedro de Mendoza, and [[UsefulNotes/ThePope Pope Sixtus IV]], the Spanish Inquisition was established in Spain in 1478, with Torquemada being appointed its Grand Inquisitor five years later when it was judged they needed a man of true faith in charge. Initially, some regions of Spain resisted to the idea of being surveyed by a cadre of centralist bureaucrats with license to torture and execute, but after Inquisitor Pedro Arbués was murdered by supposed ''conversos'' in spectacular fashion, any popular resistance was softened. It didn't help that, libels and popular enmities aside, many conversions were undoubtedly insincere, as [[CreateYourOwnVillain it could not be otherwise]] when the only alternatives were either converting or losing your money and social status.

Initially, and contrary to popular belief, the Inquisition had no jurisdiction over practicing Jews, only over ''conversos''. However, it was eventually reasoned that the presence of the former might encourage the latter to return to their Jewish ways, so in 1492, by Torquemada's influence, the crown issued the Alhambra Decree, for which Jews were forced to either convert to Christianity themselves or leave Spain altogether. The issue and its ruthless enforcement were quite successful, as about two thirds of Spain's Jewish population converted (or so they claimed), and even among those who left, many would ultimately return and convert anyway because living in exile was evidently harder. This was a huge career win for Torquemada, but meanwhile, the rest of his mandate had convinced the Catholic Monarchs and UsefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI that he was taking things too far, so after many discussions, he was eventually KickedUpstairs to the head of a more reasonable administration. Still contented with the state of things, however, Torquemada opted to retire to the monastery of Santo Tomás in Ávile, where he died a few years later.

As with everything related to the darkest points of Spain, Torquemada's historical legacy is difficult to assess. He was indeed considered a massive zealout in his own time, even although few people had sympathy for the Jews anyway, and even his own fellow churchmen in both Spain and Rome couldn't wait for him to get out of his seat. At the same time, people couldn't help but see him as a humble, pious Christian of IncorruptiblePurePureness: aside from his inquisitorial entourages and escorts, he lived the way of a simple monk, to the point of being a [[EvilVegetarian vegetarian]], and donated most of the confiscated Jewish riches to build monasteries and churches. In modern times, his name is indissolubly associated to cruelty and intolerance, [[SinisterMinister not without obviously good reasons]], although precise research has shown that, as with the Spanish Inquisition as a whole, Torquemada's personal misdeeds are rather unimpressive; he might have signed much less than 2,000 death sentences in his lifetime, true barbarism to our eyes but a pretty low number in the world history of religious fanaticism, and his expulsion of the Jews was possibly the least harsh, or the most successful in actually integrating them as Christians, of dozens of that happened both before and afterwards in Europe (not all of which gave them the chance to convert).

Tomás de Torquemada (1420 - September 16, 1498) was a Spanish Catholic churchman, confessor to UsefulNotes/TheCatholicMonarchs and first and greatest member ever of the UsefulNotes/SpanishInquisition. His name, not without the coincidence that his surname means "burned tower", has become synonimous with burning heretics, Jews, Muslims, freethinkers, witches, books and whatever else the Spanish inquisitors enjoyed burning, although his true biography is, as usual, less impressive and more complex than the legend claims.

Tomás de Torquemada (1420 - September 16, 1498) was a Spanish Catholic churchman, confessor to UsefulNotes/TheCatholicMonarchs and first and greatest member ever of the UsefulNotes/SpanishIquisition. His name, not without the coincidence that his surname means "burned tower", has become synonimous with burning heretics, Jews, Muslims, freethinkers, witches, books and whatever else the Spanish inquisitors enjoyed burning, although his true biography is, as usual, less impressive and more complex than the legend claims.

In a supreme strike of irony for someone whose task was to keep UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} and UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} aseptically separated, it's traditionally believed that [[BoomerangBigot the good inquisitor was himself]] the grandson of ''conversos'' or Christianized ex-Jews, which would have made Torquemada the target of his own policies had it become demonstrated in his lifetime. He was also far from being the only case of this, in fact, with inquisitors like Alonso de Espina and Alonso de Cartagena having Jewish origins. Whether Torquemada and company were massive hypocrites trying to deflect suspicions as far away as possible or were genuinely overcompensating to purge the sins of their families, we will never know. We know, however, that he was nephew of an important theologist, entered the Dominican order very young, and studied in the University of Salamanca, although he wasn't part of the [[UsefulNotes/SchoolOfSalamanca eponymous school of thought]] (of which several members were his intellectual opponents in several fields). While serving as the Prior of the monastery of Santa Cruz de Segovia, he met the young queen Isabella of Castile, of which he became confessor, adviser, and even matchmaker, advising her to marry King Ferdinand of Aragon.

Initially, and contrary to popular belief, the Inquisition had no jurisdiction over practicing Jews, only over ''conversos''. However, it was eventually reasoned that the presence of the former might encourage the latter to return to their Jewish ways, so in 1492, by Torquemada's influence, the crown issued the Alhambra Decree, for which Jews were forced to either convert to Christianity themselves or leave Spain altogether. The issue and its ruthless enforcement were quite successful, as about two thirds of Spain's Jewish population converted (or so they claimed), and even among those who left, many would ultimately return and convert anyway because living in exile was evidently harder. This was a huge career win for Torquemada, but meanwhile, the rest of his mandate had convinced the Catholic Monarchs and UsefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI that he was taking things too far, so after many discussions, he was eventually KickedUpstairs to the head of a more reasonable administration. Still contented with the state of things, however, Torquemada opted to retire to the monastery of Santo Tomás in Ávile, wherehe died a few years later.

As with everything related to the darkest points of Spain, Torquemada's historical legacy is difficult to assess. He was indeed considered a massive zealout in his own time, even although few people had sympathy for the Jews anyway, and even his own fellow churchmen in both Spain and Rome couldn't wait for him to retire. At the same time, people couldn't help but see him as a humble, pious Christian of IncorruptiblePurePureness: aside from his inquisitorial entourages and escorts, he lived the way of a simple monk, to the point of being a [[EvilVegetarian vegetarian]], and donated most of the confiscated Jewish riches to build monasteries and churches. In modern times, his name is indissolubly associated to cruelty and intolerance, [[SinisterMinister not without obviously good reasons]], although precise research has shown that, as with the Spanish Inquisition as a whole, Torquemada's personal misdeeds are rather unimpressive; he might have signed much less than 2,000 death sentences in his lifetime, true barbarism to our eyes but a pretty low number in the world history of religious fanaticism, and his expulsion of the Jews was possibly the least harsh, and the most successful in actually integrating them as Christians, of dozens of that happened both before and afterwards in Europe (of which not all gave them any chance to convert). At the end,