2027 x 2875 | Where would we have been today if the progress of our human evolution would not have been stalled for centuries? What made the Spanish Inquisition so horrible? Well, nobody expected it; the brutal period of religious persecution, torture and burning at the stake raged for over 350 years. The Spanish Inquisition, was established in 1478 under the reign of Ferdinand II of Aragon, to "purify" Catholicism in all their territories, acting as a tribunal to identify heretics and bring them to "justice". Unlike other inquisitions, this one was controlled by the crown and not the church. Originally, the Inquisition was to ensure that those who had converted to Catholicism from Judaism or Islam had done so properly. What followed however was a practice that got out of hand quickly and even the innocent could become a heretic if it would fit the agenda of inquisitor. In the wake of the first decree, more than 160,000 Jews were forced to leave Spain. Anybody suspected of being a heretic was investigated, even those who had converted to Christianity. Death estimates range from 30,000 to as many as 300,000 people of all ages. The Moriscos (former Spanish Muslims who had accepted baptism) faced persecution, as did followers of humanist scholar Desiderius Erasmus. Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam was one of Europe's most famous and influential scholars. A man of great intellect who rose from meager beginnings to become one of Europe's greatest thinkers, he defined the humanist movement in Northern Europe. Where would we have been today if the progress of our human evolution would not have been stalled for centuries?
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