Inquisition

The Inquisition was an ecclesiastical tribunal that was used to persecute heretics. It was initiated by the Catholic Church and established by Pope Gregory IX in the 13th century and lasted centuries. Officials of the Inquisition or inquisitors targeted suspected Jewish converts of Christianity that relapsed to Judaism and Christians that converted to Judaism. They were tortured and punished with death.

The Spanish Inquisition, its extension in Spain, which lasted from 1478 to 1834, contributed the most to persecuting Jews. The Edict of Expulsion in 1492 forced Jews to convert or leave Spain. Due to the expulsion and persecution in previous years thousands of Jews converted to Christianity and thousands were expelled. Jews that converted back to Judaism were killed. In New Spain, the Spanish Empire in the New World, many Jews were executed for practicing the Jewish religion.

Many Spanish Jews left Spain for Portugal and were persecuted there too. An edict of expulsion in Portugal forced Jews to be expelled or convert to Christianity. During the Portuguese Inquisition that started in the 16th century, Jews that converted to Christianity suspected of secretly practicing Judaism were killed.

Victims of the Inquisition
During the first year of the Spanish Inquisition, over 300 Jews were killed. 37 Jews from Mallorca were killed.

Some of the Jewish victims that were killed included:
 * Cornelio de Montalcino, 1554
 * Francisca Nuñez de Carabajal with her children, Isabel, Catalina, Leonor, and Luis, 1596
 * Francisco Maldonado da Silva, 1639
 * Isaac de Castro Tartas, 1647
 * Rafel Valls and siblings Caterina and Rafel Benet Tarongí, 1691
 * Maria Barbara Carillo, 1721
 * Ana de Castro, 1736
 * Antonio Jose da Silva, 1739