Why did Spain have the inquisition?

Answer 1

To stop people from converting from Catholicism.

Answer 2

Answer 1: Catholic Answer
I would recommend Diane Moczar book, Seven Lies About Catholic History, chapter 4, "The Sinister Inquisition" for a balanced coverage of this. Henry Kamen, who recently published The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision is finally helping to demolish long-held myths about the Spanish Inquisition using actual records from the time. For instance, torture was rarely used, out of seven thousand accused persons who came before the Inquisition in Valencia, for example, only two percent were tortured, and for no more than fifteen minutes. The prisons of the Inquisition were so famous at the time that prisoners who were tried by secular courts often did something deliberately to get their case transferred to the Inquisition so that they would be better treated. Also, you have to remember that at this time in Spain, the Moors had finally been driven out, they had invaded Spain in the late sixth century and conquered nearly all of Spain. Spanish history from 1492 was a story of the Spaniards pushing back (and finally out) the Moorish conquerors. Emperor Charles who was both King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor came to the throne in 1519 "as Luther was getting going nicely". Charles had the Peasants' War - caused by protestant ideas, the fighting between protestants and Catholics in his realm, and the conquest of neighboring Hungary by the Ottoman Turks. "Charles was understandably anxious that the appalling disorder and loss of life caused by Protestants in the German lands not spread to his realm of Spain. Keep in mind that the Inquisition achieved its object of keeping the protestants out, and in the process executed less than two heretics a year, in comparison to the protestant persecutions of Catholics in England, Ireland, the Netherlands, and elsewhere in Europe where, together with the wars of religion, took tens of thousands of lives. (extracted from Diane Moczar's Seven Lies About Catholic History) Please not that non-Catholics were not subject to the Inquisition at all.
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from
Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Doubleday & Co., Inc. Garden City, NY 1980
The Spanish Inquisition, set up by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1478 and empowered by Pope Sixtus IV, was directed against the lapsed converts from Judaism, crypto-Jews, and other apostates whose secret activities were dangerous to Church and State. The civil government had great influence in the administration of this Inquisition, and the Spanish ecclesiastical tribunal accused of scandalous cruelty must share its condemnations with them. The latter worked during these days in defiance of the Holy See, which often condemned inquisitors because of their cruelties. Even so, these cruelties have been grossly exaggerated, and the fact that the Inquisition did tremendous good in saving the Latin countries from anarchy has been forgotten. Much falsehood surrounds the events of this period, which should be judged by the standards of those times, not by modern ideas of the human person and of religious freedom.

Answer 2
Spain had been a mix of Jews, Muslims and Catholics. Through the years turmoil started building up to the point where innocent people were getting killed because of their religion. Isabella wanted to protect all the Jews from the mobs, but there got to be so many that it soon became impossible, for their own safety she and Ferdinand asked them to leave. They preformed questioning and torture to make sure there were no heresies or treason occurred against them or the Church. They wanted to keep Spain Catholic especially after the Reformation, unlike Germany and England. They had very specific rule for torture, however, a few including that it could not permanently harm or mutilate a person's body, as well as it could only be done twice in fifteen minutes, and that a physician must be present in case of emergencies.

Answer 3
The Spanish inquisition was established by the Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, with the permission of the pope, to make the Muslims and Jews leave Spain due to the harshness they were receiving and causing. They had tried to live together for awhile, but it wasn't working -there was simply too much turmoil. Ferdinand and Isabella had three choices: 1) convert everyone to Catholicism 2) everyone becomes Jewish or Muslim 3) The Jewish people and the Muslims leave. In short, the inquisition was established to keep innocent people from being killed. The only people killed were impenitent heretics. which number only about 1080 from the years 1540-1700.

Answer 3

There were several reasons for the Spanish Inquisition:

1) Insurrection Prevention: The Muslims and the Jews of Southern Spain were quite a large population. Given the fact that they had previously had their own countries, which in the past were conquered and bolstered by Moroccan Berber Muslim Kingdoms, it was not impossible to imagine that Muslims and Jews might rise up together to rebel against the power of Castille and try to secure a new Muslim country. Not wanting this to be possible in the slightest, Queen Isabella of Castille wanted to evict most of the Muslim and Jewish population. Therefore there would be less incentive for the remaining Muslims and Jews to rebel and for Morocco to intervene. (By the mid-1500s, Morocco was no longer an issue for Spain, but in 1492, it was.)

2) Union: Queen Isabella was joining her confederation of Kingdoms (Castille, Leon, Basque Country, Asturias, and others) with those of King Ferdinand (Aragon, Catalunya, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and others). Because of Spain's confederal style, there was no union from overarching laws. (Barcelona and Madrid did not have the same legal system until the 1830s.) There was no unity in ethnicity as Basques, Asturians, Leonians, Castilians, Aragonese, Catalans, Valencians, Mozarabes (Arab Christians in Southern Spain), and Galicians all saw themselves as distinct peoples with different languages and histories. They united politically because it was advantageous and could disunite just as easily for political reasons. (Portugal actually did this, seceding from Leon before Leon and Castille merged.) As a result, the only thing that held the Spanish Confederacy together would be a similar religious character (which was by far the most populous commonality between people of Spain). Therefore, Queen Isabella made the decision to remove Muslims and Jews.

3) Values of the Reconquest: The Reconquest was popularized across Christian Spain as a Holy War to drive out the infidels from lower Spain. As the culmination of this struggle, it was only necessary to remove the vanquished.

4) Anti-Semitism and Anti-Muslim Bigotry: It goes without saying that Christians of the Era (including their leadership) condemned tolerance of other religions, notably Judaism and Islam which they saw as violent and dangerous heresies. As a result, an act to attain religious purity was desirable.

Answer 4

Paranoia engendered by the growing power wielded by the top church officials of the time. Power corrupts, as the old adage states.