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Tomás de Torquemada [1420-1498] was the inaugural inquisitor-general of the Spanish Inquisition; an era in which 32,000 innocent people went to the stake due to religion:
Few institutions in Western history have as fearful a reputation as the Spanish Inquisition. For centuries Europe trembled at its name. Nobody was safe in this terrifying battle for the unachievable aim of unified faith.
Established by papal bull in 1478, the first task of the Spanish Inquisition was to question Jewish converts to Christianity and to expose and execute those found guilty of reversion. It then turned on Spanish Jews in general, sending three hundred thousand into exile. Next in line were humanists and Lutherans. No rank was exempt. Children informed on their parents, merchants on their rivals, and priests upon their bishops. Those denounced were guilty unless they could prove their innocence. Few did. Two hundred lashes were a minor punishment; 31,913 were led to the stake at public displays, the last a mad witch in 1781. The Inquisition policed what was written, read and taught, and kept an eye on sexual behaviour. Napoleon tried to abolish it in 1808, and failed.
