God's Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World

by Cullen Murphy

  [>] the scene in Seville . . . carried off by plague: The events surrounding the first auto-da-fé of the Spanish Inquisition are described in a number of sources, including Roth, The Spanish Inquisition, pp. 41–46; Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, vol. 1, pp. 163–164; Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, p. 47.

  Hojeda produced a report: Pérez, The Spanish Inquisition, p. 19.

  67. an American tourist named Aaron Stigman: Henry Roth, “The Surveyor,” The New Yorker, August 6, 1966.

  [>] “They’d have me burned at the stake”: Coulter, Godless: The Church of Liberalism, p. 184.

  [>] it enjoyed the positive reinforcement: Lea, A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, vol. 1, p. 223.

  [>] brought on by heat stroke: http://www.stjoancenter.com/topics/Death_by_Heat_Stroke.html

  68. [>] might die from smoke inhalation: Merritt M. Birky and Frederic B. Clarke, “Inhalation of Toxic Products From Fires,” Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, vol. 57, no. 10 (December 1981), 997–1013. Merritt M. Birky and Frederic B. Clarke, “Inhalation of Toxic Products From Fires,” Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, vol. 57, no. 10 (December 1981), 997–1013.

  [>] the simple act of breathing: Bruce M. Achauer, M.D., et al., “Pulmonary Complications of Burns,” Annals of Surgery, vol. 177, no. 3 (March 1973), pp. 311–319.

  [>] exhausted the available oxygen: James B. Terrill, et al., “Toxic Gases From Fires,” Science, vol. 200, no. 23 (June 1978), pp. 1343–1347.

  [>] catastrophic damage to nerves and tissue: Prahlow, Forensic Pathology, pp. 488, 496; Robert R. Frantz, “Firestorms and Wildfires,” in Hogan and Burstein, eds., Disaster Medicine, p. 230.

  Michael Servetus . . . endured a lingering death: Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone, Out of the Flames, pp. 3–4. Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone, Out of the Flames, pp. 3–4.

  [>] a bag of gunpowder: John Tedeschi, “A New Perspective on the Roman Inquisition,” in Bujanda, Le Controle des Idées à la Renaissance, pp. 25–26.

  solicitation of sex by clergy: A detailed recent study of the subject, based on the records of more than 200 cases heard by tribunals of the Spanish Inquisition, is Stephen Haliczer’s Sexuality in the Confessional.

  69. constituting perhaps 2 percent of the population: Population figures as a whole for this period are inexact, and establishing the size of subpopulations is problematic. Estimates of the Jewish population as a percentage of the Spanish population tend to vary between 1 and 3 percent. See Gitlitz, Secrecy and Deceit, pp. 73–74; Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, p. 8.

  [>] the etymology is not certain: Netanyahu, The Marranos of Spain, p. 59 (fn 153).

  [>] a vast computerized database: The scholars who have compiled the database are Gustav Henningsen, Jaime Contreras, and Jean-Pierre Dedieu. See William Monter, “The Inquisition,” in Hsia, ed., A Companion to the Reformation World, pp. 255–271.

  [>] systematic about censorship: Peters, Inquisition, pp. 95–96.

  70. [>] a Spanish censor at work: “A Censored Second Folio,” Folger, Spring 2011; Sidney Lee, “Shakespeare and the Inquisition,” in Boas, ed., Elizabethan and Other Essays, pp. 184–195.

  71. [>] under the monarchy’s control: Peters, Inquisition, p. 97.

  [>] a new Grand Mosque of Granada: Charles M. Sennott, “Seeking Madrid motives in a cradle of Muslim glory,” Boston Globe, March 28, 2004.

  [>] more than 600 mosques . . . Iberia as a whole: Anthony Celso, “The Tragedy of Al-Andalus: The Madrid Terror Attacks and the Islamicization of Spanish Politics,” Mediterranean Quarterly, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 86–101. See also Victoria Burnett, “Spain’s Many Muslims Face Dearth of Mosques,” New York Times, March 16, 2008.

  [>] the 2004 Madrid train bombings: “The 3/11 Madrid Bombings: An Assessment After 5 Years,” International Security Studies Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, April 10, 2009.

  [>] “They have a grander vision”: Charles M. Sennott, “Seeking Madrid motives in a cradle of Muslim glory,” Boston Globe, March 28, 2004.

  [>] Spanish bishops turned down a request: Elizabeth Nash, “Spanish bishops fear rebirth of Islamic kingdom,” The Independent, January 5, 2007.

  [>] a campaign to remove the word “mosque”: Rachel Donadio, “Debate Over a Monument’s Name Echoes a Historic Clash of Faiths,” New York Times, November 4, 2010.

  Had this battle gone differently: Gibbon is quoted in Menocal, The Ornament of the World, pp. 55–56. Gibbon is quoted in Menocal, The Ornament of the World, pp. 55–56.

  72. an itinerant cobbler from Montaillou: Le Roy Ladurie, Montaillou, p. 296; Weiss, The Yellow Cross, p. 290.

  [>] disagree on just how cordial: For a recent account see Menocal, The Ornament of the World. For a recent account see Menocal, The Ornament of the World.

  [>] “a relationship between unequals”: Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, p. 4.

  [>] you’ll hear the claim made: Alan'S. Kaye, “Two Alleged Arabic Etymologies,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 64, no. 2 (2005), pp. 109–111.

  Josef Ratzinger on the cover of the magazine: Peter Seewald, “Dios tiene un agudo sentido del humor,” El Semanal, February 18, 2001.

  73. at a meeting in the Alhambra: Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, p. 31.

  [>] “In our land”: Sachar, Farewell España, p. 70.

  [>] In England, Jews were considered royal property: Mundill, The King’s Jews, pp. xi, 12, 72–74, 146.

  74. [>] in 1609 . . . shunned as “Christians”: Pérez, The Spanish Inquisition, pp. 47–50; Anderson, Daily Life During the Spanish Inquisition, p. 116.

  [>] Expulsion . . . has never gone out of use: An overview of the subject can be found in Benjamin Schwarz, “The Diversity Myth,” Atlantic Monthly, May 1995.

  [>] “Please, O King, what is it that you want from your subjects?”: Rubin, Isabella of Castile, p. 299; Netanyahu, Don Isaac Abravanel, pp. 55–56.

  Abravenal offered the king: Rubin, Isabella of Castile, p. 299.

  74. [>] managed to wring a single concession: Menocal, Ornament of the World, pp. 248–249.

  [>] impossible to get an accurate fix: A lower figure is given by Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, pp. 23–24; a higher figure is given by Sachar, Farewell España, pp. 71–72; a middle range is offered by Pérez, The Spanish Inquisition, pp. 35–36.

  [>] “Do not grieve over your departure”: Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, p. 8.

  77. [>] birthright citizenship was a new target: Julia Preston, “Citizenship as Birthright Is Challenged on the Right,” New York Times, August 7, 2010.

  [>] “If a Catholic mom were to give birth”: Media Matters Institute, “Keith Larson on 14th Amendment . . . ,” August 8, 2010.

  77. highlighted the national-security angle: Walid Zafar, “Rep. Gohmert Warns of Baby Terrorists,” Political Correction, June 25, 2010.

  [>] according to opinion polls: “Public Evenly Split on Changing 14th Amendment?” Washington Post, August 11, 2010.

  [>] state legislators unveiled a proposal: Rachel Slajda, “Birthright Citizenship Foes Want Two-Tiered Birth Certificates,” TPM Muckraker, January 7, 2011.

  that would deny birthright citizenship outright: Eric Kleefeld, “Vitter, Rand, Propose Amendment to Pare Back Birthright Citizenship,” Talking Points Memo, January 27, 2011.

  78. the Black Death was good for one thing: Gottfried, The Black Death, p. 94.

  [>] distilled in the person of Ferrand Martínez: Gitlitz, Secrecy and Deceit, pp. 6–7; Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, vol. 1, pp. 103–111.

  [>]a phenomenon they call “epistemic closure”: The term comes from philosophy and has been used in a political sense by Julian Sanchez of the Cato Institute, among others. Patricia Cohen, “No Closure in the ‘Epistemic Closure’ Debate,” New York Times, April 26, 2010.

  79. [>] anti-Jewish riots . . . a choice: Gitlitz, Secrecy and Deceit, pp. 7–8.

  [>] A significant proportion: Again, getting a fix on the numbers
is difficult and controversial. See Gitlitz, Secrecy and Deceit, pp. 7–8, 28, 74; Peters, Inquisition, p. 82; Netanyahu, The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth-Century Spain, pp. 1097–1098. Again, getting a fix on the numbers is difficult and controversial. See Gitlitz, Secrecy and Deceit, pp. 7–8, 28, 74; Peters, Inquisition, p. 82; Netanyahu, The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth-Century Spain, pp. 1097–1098.

  [>]Sixtus . . . had other distractions: Duffy, Saints and Sinners, pp. 185–186; Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, pp. 157–160.

  80. [>] laid down strict guidelines . . . “the most extraordinary bull”: Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, p. 49; Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, vol. 1, pp. 233–234.

  whose prerogatives pushed royal power: Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, p. 50.

  [>] One historian notes that: Quoted in Mark Thurner, “Modern Inquisitions: Peru and the Colonial Origins of the Civilized World (review),” Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History 7, no. 1 (2006), pp. 107–110.

  Like state bureaucracies everywhere: Irene Silverblatt, “Colonial Conspiracies,” Ethnohistory, vol. 53, no. 2 (April 2006), pp. 259–280.

  81. [>] Torquemada has achieved a form of meta-existence: Torquemada appears in Longfellow’s poem “The Theologian’s Tale; Torquemada” (1863) and in Hugo’s play Torquemada (1882). Electric Wizard’s song “Torquemada 71” can be found on the band’s 2008 album Witchcult Today. Marlon Brando played Torquemada in the 1992 movie Christopher Columbus: The Discovery. The webcomic Pibgorn is available at http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn. a form of meta-existence: Torquemada appears in Longfellow’s poem “The Theologian’s Tale; Torquemada” (1863) and in Hugo’s play Torquemada (1882). Electric Wizard’s song “Torquemada 71” can be found on the band’s 2008 album Witchcult Today. Marlon Brando played Torquemada in the 1992 movie Christopher Columbus: The Discovery. The webcomic Pibgorn is available at http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn.

  [>] Torquemada was born: For details of the inquisitor general’s life, see Lea, A History of the Inquisition in Spain, vol. 1, pp. 173–179; Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, pp. 47–53, 137–139; Pérez, The Spanish Inquisition, pp. 28–30.

  [>] Whether he himself had Jewish ancestry: Netanyahu, The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain, pp. 431–434, 1249–1250 (fn 60).

  82. [>] “Full of pitiless zeal”: Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, vol. 1, p. 174.

  [>] Inquisitors would come to a town . . . in Toledo alone: Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, p. 57.

  83. “The edicts of grace”: Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, p. 57.

  [>] And the deck was stacked: Details of the tribunal process in Spain are described in Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, pp. 166–172, 177–178, 184–185; Llorente, A Critical History of the Inquisition, pp. 62–70; Pérez, The Spanish Inquisition, pp. 135–136.

  [>] Conviction rates: Pérez, The Spanish Inquisition, p. 149.

  84. [>] penalties varied . . . the most feared penalty: Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, pp. 193–213.

  [>] Disease could decimate a fleet: Crowley, Empires of the Sea, pp. 77–78.

  [>] contrived to define horse-smuggling as a “crime of faith”: Monter, Frontiers of Faith, pp. 86–89.

  85. [>] They were thick upon the ground: Bethencourt, The Inquisition, p. 75.

  [>] five stages of dying: Kübler-Ross, On Death and Dying, pp. 34, 44, 72, 75, 99.

  86. [>] The names the instruments have been given: A brief survey of the available tools is provided by Kerrigan, The Instruments of Torture.

  87. [>] In the so-called Bybee memo: The Bush administration’s various memos relating to torture can be found at http://www.propublica.org/special/missing-memos.

  [>] Following Aquinas, the inquisitors: Sullivan, The Inner Lives of Medieval Inquisitors, pp. 184–189.

  “The major downside”: Alan M. Dershowitz, “The Torture Warrant: A Response to Professor Strauss,” New York Law School Law Review, vol. 48, no. 1–2 (2004), pp. 275–294.

  [>] Torture might once have been limited: Peters, Torture, pp. 63–64.

  88. [>] illustrates a moral slide . . . intelligence of a lesser kind: Andrew Sullivan, “Torture Creep,” The Dish, May 5, 2011.

  [>]the Greater and Lesser Stress Traditions: Rejali, Torture and Democracy, pp. 295–296.

  [>] “interrogators get sneaky”: Rejali, Torture and Democracy, p. 9.

  [>] Before a session began . . . minutely detailed account: Peters, Torture, p. 57.

  89. [>] Lea reproduces one such account: Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, vol. 3, pp. 24– 25.

  [>] the recognition, well understood by modern interrogators: Mark Bowden, “The Dark Art of Interrogation,” Atlantic Monthly, October 2003.

  90. [>] Under duress, eight of the ten defendants: Gisli Gudjonsson, “Confession,” New Scientist, November 20, 2004.

  [>] confessed to crimes they had not committed: John Schwartz, “Confessing to Crime, but Innocent,” New York Times, September 13, 2010; Brandon L. Garrett, “Getting It Wrong: Convicting the Innocent,” Slate, April 13, 2011.

  [>] Three main forms of torture were employed: For a fuller overview of the basic techniques, see Pérez, The Spanish Inquisition, pp. 146–148; Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, vol. 3, pp. 16–22; Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, 187–191.

  [>] The first technique . . . the Queen of Torments: Peters, Torture, p. 68.

  [>] allowed to drop with a jerk: Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, p. 190; Rejali, Torture and Democracy, p. 296.

  91. [>] John McCain was subjected to a version of it: “The Candidates: John McCain,” MSNBC, February 27, 2008.

  [>] One prominent case is that of Manadel al-Jamadi: Jane Mayer, “A Deadly Interrogation,” The New Yorker, November 14, 2005.

  92. [>] The recording secretary preserved the moment: Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, p. 191.

  [>] “Even a small amount of water in the glottis”: Rejali, Torture and Democracy, p. 279. Rejali, Torture and Democracy, p. 279.

  [>] “A review of contemporary cases”: Ole Vedel Rasmussen, “Medical Aspects of Torture,” Danish Medical Bulletin, vol. 37, supplement no. 1 (January 1990), pp. 1–88.

  [>] The CIA has acknowledged . . . no more than five “sessions”: Joseph Abrams, “Despite Reports, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Was Not Waterboarded 183 Times,” Fox News, April 28, 2009.

  93. [>] simply a “continuance”: Lea, A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, vol. 1, p. 427.

  [>]in order to experience the reality of waterboarding: Christopher Hitchens, “Believe Me, It’s Torture,” Vanity Fair, August 2008.

  [>] U.S. forces used various forms of water torture: Rejali, Torture and Democracy, p. 280.

  94. [>] a vivid account: Alleg, The Question, pp. 46–50.

  [>] “a dunk in the water”: “Bush Enters Cheney Torture Row,” BBC News, October 28, 2006.

  [>] That wasn’t always so . . . Eventually, the work of prominent historians: See, for instance, Baer, History of the Jews in Christian Spain; Roth, History of the Marranos; and Beinart, Conversos on Trial and The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain. The larger point about the historiography of the Inquisition is made by Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, pp. 309–312, and Peters, Inquisition, p. 324.

  95. [>] “Benzion looms above his son”: David Remnick, “The Outsider,” The New Yorker, May 25, 1998.

  [>] His father . . . Jabotinsky wing of the movement: Caspit and Kfir, Netanyahu: The Road to Power, p. 14.

  [>] Netanyahu came to Palestine . . . professor at Cornell: Caspit and Kfir, Netanyahu: The Road to Power, pp. 13–39.

  96. [>] in withering terms: Netanyahu, The Origins of the Inquisition, p. 930. Netanyahu, The Origins of the Inquisition, p. 930.

  [>] “I knew where the quemadero was”: Henry Roth, “The Surveyor,” The New Yorker, August 6, 1966.

  [>] “incredible romance”: Roth, A History of the Marranos, p. xxiii.

  [>] He speaks in pre
cise paragraphs: Conversation with Benzion Netanyahu, June 2000.

  97. [>] upon meeting him face-to-face: The interview with Henry Kamen recounted in this chapter took place in Barcelona in September of 2000. The arc of the argument presented here is based on that conversation, on his book The Spanish Inquisition, and on follow-up correspondence.

  98. Kamen agrees . . . and they by him: Henry Kamen, “The Secret of the Inquisition,” New York Review of Books, February 1, 1996.

  99. [>] “green purgatory of rural society”: Le Roy Ladurie, The Mind and Method of the Historian, p. 215.

  101. [>] What turns a society . . . from one thing into another?: Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition, p. 320.

  102. [>] “fleet of misery and woe”: Sachar, Farewell España, p. 73.

  [>] trying to get a handle on the number: Bethencourt, The Inquisition, p. 444.

  4. That Satanic Device

  103. [>] “in the mood to give it a good censoring”: Godman, The Saint as Censor, p. 3.

  104. [>] in a second-floor room: Blackwell, Galileo, Bellarmine, and the Bible, p. 1; Shea and Artigas, Galileo in Rome, pp. 193–195.

  105. [>] “under an almost unbearable strain”: Tedeschi, The Prosecution of Heresy, pp. 10–11.

  [>] “characters like that of Paul re-appear”: Ranke, The Ecclesiastical and Political History of the Popes of Rome, vol. 1, p. 287.

  106. [>] “He favoured above all other institutions”: Ranke, The Ecclesiastical and Political History of the Popes of Rome, vol. 1, pp. 313–314. Ranke, The Ecclesiastical and Political History of the Popes of Rome, vol. 1, pp. 313–314.

  [>] a Roman mob sacked the original headquarters: Setton, The Papacy and the Levant, vol. 4, pp. 718–720.

  107. [>] eleven ancient aqueducts: Aicher, Guide to the Aqueducts of Ancient Rome, p. 29.

  [>] pulled away the stonecutters and masons: Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. 17, pp. 288–289.

  [>] a vast, fortresslike structure: Coffin, Pirro Ligorio, pp. 77–78.

  107. [>