erts’ and heretics and therefore aimed to achieve religious uniformity. However, throughout its lengthy span of existence, the Inquisition has had many different purposes depending on the monarchy at the time. A religious tool by Isabella and Ferdinand, a detached political body under Charles and a Protestant deterrent under Philip. Therefore the Spanish Inquisition has a variety of purposes depending on the ruler at the time, which means it is impossible to attach one sole purpose to an Inquisition which lasted over three-and-a-half centuries, to be finally abolished only in 1834.

From the beginning of the Spanish Inquisition, in 1478, it is clear that anti-semitic views were held. Isabella a profoundly Catholic monarch strived for religious unity was convinced by the grand inquisitor general Torquemada that the Jews hindered the assimilation of the conversos – they were clearly linked by bonds of family, friendship and work. The Jews were believed to represent a constant temptation to revert to Judaism and while the Jews remained in Spain the conversos who remained in contact with them would find it hard to renounce their old religion. This was the official explanation, as spelled out in the expulsion decree of 31 March 1492. Tomás de Torquemada was an adviser to Isabella throughout her childhood and therefore from an early age he had a certain influence over her and his views were respected highly by Isabella. He was convinced that the mere existence of converts within Spain, (Conversos, Moriscos, and Moors) were a threat to religious and social life. He also believed that the continued existence of converts would cause social and religious unrest and therefore he used his influence with the Catholic monarchs to achieve religious policies which fit his beliefs, the Spanish Inquisition being his most notable. Torquemada’s increasing influence can be seen clearly when he was made the inquisitor general in 1483, this allowed him to be in control of the actions performed by the Inquisition and the cultural minorities which were persecuted throughout his period of control. The Spanish Inquisition was believed to have conducted more than 100,000 trials that featured Jews, Muslims, Lutherans and other presumed to be ‘heretics’, which shows the clear belief that the cultural minorities within Spain were seen as a threat as according to Alonso de Hojeda, a Dominican friar, many Jews who had converted to Christianity, also known as conversos, were still practicing Judaism. Throughout late medieval Spain, the new Christians, who were the Moriscos and Conversos and old Christians who were those who