The Spanish Inquisition began in 1478 and aimed to identify heretics, especially Jews. The Inquisition was established by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella and gave authority to inquisitors, usually monks, to interrogate and torture suspects using devices like the garrucha, toca, and potro. The potro was commonly used to slowly dislocate joints and torture was sometimes conducted publicly to set an example.

1. The Spanish Inquisition By Kayla Johnson and Taylor Mirenda

2. The Spanish Inquisition began in 1478, but wasn’t official until 1834. It was set up by King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile. The beginning

3. How it all started ... In 1480 the Turks attacked the city of Ortranto of south Italy. There were 12,000 people killed during this time and those who survived were made slaves.

4. The Inquisitors The Inquisitors were chosen by the pope. Inquisitors were usually members of mendicant orders. Which were usually monks that did not have any specific or special power. Ille humani generis was a letter sent to a Dominican prior of Gregory IX ordering them to send inquisitors to deal with heresy.

5. In the 13 th and 14 th centuries the persecution of Spanish Jews increased greatly. To identify the Jews easier they were forced to wear a yellow patch. They would allow anyone, no matter what there status was to torture anyone they thought might be a heretic. Tortured Torture methods during the Inquisition were known as garrucha, toca and the potro . The garrucha was a method where the criminal limbs were pulled off from the ceiling to the floor. It also included many lifts and drops. The toca forced the victim to feel as though they were drowning. The potro forced the joints to slowly dislocate.

6. The Potro was the most commonly used torture device.

7. Some of the tortures were done in public, for everyone to see them suffer.