biography
| name: |
Torquemada, Tomás de
|
pronunciation:
[taw(r)kaymahtha]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1420–98)
|
| biography:
| Dominican priest and inquisitor, born in Valladolid, NWC Spain. He was Dominican prior at Segovia (1452–74), and was appointed inquisitor-general by Ferdinand and Isabel in 1483. Although he did not institute the Inquisition, it was during his 18-year control that this institution became a byword for barbarous torture and unexplained deaths. During his time 2000 heretics were burnt alive and a further 17 000 mutilated in some way. He drew up the Copilación de las Instrucciones del Officio de la Sancta Inquisición hechas por el muy Reverendo Señor Fray Thomas de Torquemada first published in Latin in 1592. The term ‘Torquemada’ has since been synonymous with heartless cruelty. |
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