Chronology of
the Spanish Inquisition

  1. A mob attacked the homes of Conversos in Toledo during a tax revolt.

  2. Pedro Sarmiento proclaimed the Sentencia-Estatuto, excluding Conversos and their descendants from municipal offices in Toledo.

  3. A Christian procession preceded the massacre of Conversos in Cordoba.

  4. Attackers massacred Conversos in Segovia during unrest instigated by Juan Pacheco and other nobles; Andrés de Cabrera intervened to protect the community.

  5. Pope Sixtus IV authorized the rulers of Castile to appoint inquisitors, giving royal officials a new instrument for religious prosecution.

  6. Rulers Ferdinand II and Isabella I appointed Juan de San Martín and Miguel de Morillo as inquisitors to organize the tribunal at Seville.

  7. The inquisitors ordered neighboring nobles to arrest fugitives and seize their property, making local authorities participants in the pursuit.

  8. The tribunal condemned six Conversos at its first auto-da-fé in Seville; secular authorities burned them.

  9. Pope Sixtus IV ordered Christian rulers to return fugitives to the Inquisition, attempting to close escape routes across political borders.

  10. Tomás de Torquemada assumed leadership of the Castilian Inquisition; the conventional 1483 appointment date remains disputed.

  11. Pope Sixtus IV extended Tomás de Torquemada’s authority over Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia.

  12. Pedro Arbués died after conspirators attacked him in Zaragoza.

  13. The tribunal forced approximately 750 Conversos through Toledo.

  14. The tribunal forced approximately 900 people through Toledo and required declarations of Christian belief; about 200 had to wear identifying garments for a year.

  15. Four Conversos were executed following Barcelona’s first auto-da-fé.

  16. The tribunal condemned twenty men and seventeen women at Toledo; secular authorities burned them after their alleged offenses were read publicly.

  17. Authorities executed two יהודים YEHUDIM and six Conversos at Avila after the La Guardia blood-libel trial.

  18. Rulers Ferdinand II and Isabella I issued the Alhambra Decree, ordering unbaptized יהודים YEHUDIM to leave.

  19. The Alhambra Decree’s departure deadline expired.

  20. Juan de Zumárraga’s organized episcopal tribunal began operating in Mexico, before the later establishment of the centralized Holy Office.

  21. Spanish ruler Philip II ordered inquisitorial tribunals established in Mexico and Peru, extending centralized religious prosecution across the Atlantic.

  22. Spanish ruler Philip II instructed authorities in Peru to support the Inquisition and provide the facilities through which it would exercise coercive power.

  23. The Inquisition was ceremonially installed at Lima, extending its system of compulsory religious conformity into the viceroyalty.

  24. The tribunal at Lima sentenced Manuel Upez to imprisonment and property seizure, and Diego de la Rosa to exile, over allegations of observing יהדות YAHADUT.

  25. Authorities executed Luis de Carvajal el Mozo, his mother, three sisters and other Conversos in Mexico after prosecuting their observance of יהדות YAHADUT.

  26. The Inquisition condemned seven people accused of observing יהדות YAHADUT at a royal-attended auto-da-fé in Madrid; secular authorities subsequently burned them.

  27. The tribunal at Lima delivered eleven living Conversos to secular authorities for execution; another condemned person was represented by an effigy.

  28. The Inquisition had Don Lope de Vera y Alarcon burned alive in Valladolid after six years of imprisonment and his refusal to abandon יהדות YAHADUT.

  29. Spanish ruler Carlos II attended a royal auto-da-fé in Madrid with María Luisa de Orleans and Mariana of Austria.

  30. The Inquisition at Palma condemned Conversos in the third of four proceedings that year.

  31. The Inquisition at Seville concluded Lorenzo Beltrán’s proceeding, according to Méndez Bejarano, imposing flogging, confinement, forced labor and banishment.

  32. Spanish regent María Cristina issued the decree definitively abolishing the Inquisition, after earlier suppressions and restorations.