The Inquisition
Deza was the successor to Tomás de Torquemada, perhaps the most famous of all inquisitors. Like Torquemada, Deza had a particular dislike of conversos — Jews or Muslims who had converted to Christianity but who were often accused of secretly retaining their original faith.
It is reported that shortly after his arrival to Palencia, he managed, on 25 April 1500, to baptize all the "moriscos" established there. As the 25 April was Saint Marcus day according to the calendar, the then-named "Morería" street has since been known as "San Marcos" street. He was commissioned as Archbishop of Seville on 30 October 1504. But, after the death a few days later of Queen Isabella I of Castile, he had to attend urgent meetings with the other two attorneys of the dead queen, King Consort Ferdinand II of Aragon and Cardinal Francisco Ximenez de Cisneros.
Arriving in Seville in October 1505, just one year after his appointment, Deza prepared to perform the same conversions to Christianity as he had "achieved" five years earlier in Palencia. With the help of Martín de Ullate, "numerous" Sevillian Muslims and Jews were thus converted no later than the end of 1505. He also held the inquisitorial enquiries on the new Archbishopric of Granada, conquered in 1492 with truces about respecting the private religious beliefs of Granada Muslims soon to be ignored.
Like Torquemada, Deza was accused of being overzealous in his work, and of showing excessive cruelty – his reputation was sufficient that in 1507, the Pope was forced to publicly request moderation. Accusations were also made that Deza used his position to enrich himself, confiscating the wealth of accused heretics for himself. A complaint about Deza, made to the royal secretary by Captain Gonzalo de Ayora (Ayora being a valuable Valencia town with numerous "moriscos" since before the 13th century), said that Deza and his lieutenants "have no regard either for God or for justice; they kill, steal, and dishonor girls and women to the disgrace of the Christian religion."
Read more about this topic: Diego Deza
Famous quotes containing the word inquisition:
“Adultery itself in its principle is many times nothing but a curious inquisition after, and envy of another man’s enclosed pleasures: and there have been many who refused fairer objects that they might ravish an enclosed woman from her retirement and single possessor.”
—Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667)