posted
He was the leader of a divided country. He was a deeply religious man. He just finished a war with an Islamic state that was fighting to bring back the good old days of the Caliph's. He was more worried about the infernal hidden enemies. Those who fought against Christianity, or the European based culture that his younger, richer, more dynamic country was heir too.
These enemies lied and professed a love for freedom and faith, when in reality they strove to destroy everything he stood for.
He led his country to explore new worlds, but was hampered by these insurgents.
He started a simple war to destroy them, but it became too costly.
Before his country could rake in the wealth of those explorations, his government was going broke.
He needed to bind his country together. He needed to preserve his faith, and spread it, saving the world. He needed to bring more money into the government coffers without taxing the rich and the powerful. He needed to find those who would destroy them all from within.
So he had a few arrested.
He confiscated their property and their money.
He assigned a protector of the people to oversee their questioning.
This protector demanded answer, demanded names of other conspirators.
Sure the questioning was unpleasant, but these were dangerous people--subversive--extremists--heretics.
If, in the heat of questioning, they proved their innocence, they were released.
Some of their property was even returned.
This did them little good if they were broken, in body or in spirit or in mind.
But they were informed that in the after life, they would be rewarded.
Others were taken away, shipped off to foreign lands where their parents or ancestors came from.
And the people rejoiced that their leader stood so firm against this threat.
And the government rejoiced as their coffers filled with the gold and property of those arrested.
And the church smiled as its will, and the word of God, was being enforced onto the people.
And King Ferdinand thought it was a good thing.
I was, of course, talking about the Spanish Inquisition.
We never expect the Spanish Inquisition.
That wonderful part of history where torture was encouraged in the name of national defence against the Jewish/Heretic hidden conspiracy.
That wonderful part of history where, to escape the Inquisition, more than one person fled to places like Cuba. Where they sought refuge from the torture and endless imprisonment in beautiful places like along Guantanamo Bay.
Where, fleeing the inquisition even there, the first Jewish settlers came to the open minded Dutch settlement up north, and created the first Synagogue in the Western Hemisphere.
It exists today, not to far from Ground Zero.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
I just want to point out that there is a large movement of Spaniards who call the Spanish Inquisition the Black Myth and insist that although it happened was not as bad as depicted by Protestant literature.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
We tried wearing cowbells for a while--you know, so we wouldn't give folks such a startle. But we found that people were actually more frightened by the prospect of being snuck up on by a farm animal.
Posts: 6 | Registered: Jan 2003
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