The Crown of Aragon had Dominican inquisitors almost continuously throughout much of the 14th and the 15th centuries. Torquemada deeply feared the Marrano and Morisco as a menace to Spain's welfare by both their increasing religious influence and their economic domination of Spain. Establishment of the Holy Office of the Inquisition Torquemada subdued Ferdinand's own ambitions and became his confessor also. He was present at Isabella's coronation in 1474, remained her closest ally and supporter, and even advised her to marry King Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469 to consolidate their kingdoms and form a power base he could draw on for his own purposes. For a number of years, Torquemada served as her regular confessor and personal advisor. Around this time, he met the young Princess Isabella I, and the two immediately established religious and ideological rapport. As a result, he was promoted to Prior of the monastery of Santa Cruz at Segovia. As a zealous advocate of church orthodoxy, he earned a solid reputation for learning, piety, and austerity. Torquemada entered the local San Pablo Dominican monastery at a very young age. The 15th Century chronicler Hernando del Pulgar, a contemporary to de Torquemada and himself a converso, recorded that Tomás de Torquemada's uncle, Juan de Torquemada, a celebrated theologian and cardinal, was of converso descent. Torquemada was born on 14 October 1420 either in Valladolid, in the Kingdom of Castile, or in the nearby village of Torquemada. The number of burnings at the stake during Torquemada’s tenure has been estimated as being approximately 2,000. Although torture was included in inquisition manuals from 1252 onward, it is largely absent from trial records, suggesting that while torture was allowed, it was rarely used. Owing to the widespread use of torture to extract confessions, and advocacy of burning at the stake those deemed guilty, Torquemada's name has become synonymous with cruelty, religious intolerance, and fanaticism. This led Torquemada, who himself was believed to have had converso ancestors, to be one of the chief supporters of the Alhambra Decree that expelled the Jews from the Crowns of Castile and Aragon in 1492. The existence of superficial converts from Judaism (i.e., Crypto-Jews) was perceived by the Catholic Monarchs as a threat to the religious and social life in their realms. Mainly because of persecution, Muslims and Jews in Castile and Aragon at that time found it socially, politically, and economically expedient to convert to Catholicism (see Converso, Morisco, and Marrano). The lands of this newly formed royal union are now known as the Kingdom of Spain. The Spanish Inquisition was a group of ecclesiastical prelates that was created in 1478, and which was charged with the somewhat ill-defined task of "upholding Catholic religious orthodoxy" within the lands of the newly formed union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon. Tomás de Torquemada OP (14 October 1420 – 16 September 1498), also anglicized as Thomas of Torquemada, was a Castilian Dominican friar and first Grand Inquisitor of the Tribunal of the Holy Office (otherwise known as the Spanish Inquisition).
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