See Also: Torquemada, Tomas de(encyclopedia)
Torquemada, Tomas de(dictionary)
Tomas (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
La Casa de Don Tomas(tourism)
Hospital Santo Tomas(health)
Alea, Tomas Gutierrez(encyclopedia)
Victoria, Tomas Luis de(encyclopedia)
University of Santo Tomas Hospital(health)

Torquemada, Tomas de (sh)




born 1420, Valladolid, Castile
died Sept. 16, 1498, avila, Castile

First grand inquisitor in Spain (1487-98).

A Dominican prior, he became confessor and adviser to Ferdinand V and Isabella I. He guided the Spanish Inquisition, directing its persecution of Jews, Moors, and others identified as heretics, sorcerers, or criminals. Torture was used to obtain evidence, and about 2,000 people were burned at the stake during Torquemada's tenure. He probably influenced Ferdinand and Isabella in their decision to expel the Jews from Spain (1492). His name has become synonymous with the cruel fanaticism of the Inquisition.


Torquemada, lithograph

By courtesy of the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid