Customer Reviews

The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth-Century Spain

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The definitive book on the Inquisition is B. Netanyahu's The Origins of the Inquisition. This work goes back to the 6th century BCE and traces the destructive path of anti-Semitism and xenophobia all the way to Spain. One of the main points of this book is stating how most of the Conversos were good Christians and not heretics. This book also makes known how most of the hatred for Jews and later New Christians came from the lowest classes who felt socially, politically, religiously, and most importantly economically threatened by these supposedly alien people. It is also worth mentioning that Netanyahu believes that the hatred of the New Christians stemmed from RACISM; first for the Jews and then for their descendants, the sociopolitical jealousies only stoked the underlying fire. Netanyahu also demonstrates how the Morranos were caught in the middle a power struggle between monarchic supremacy and nobiliar and urban aristocratic independence. This work is worth your time and will add to your edification.

this encycolpedic oeuvre is almost overwhelming in its sheer scale; however, the attention to detail is necessary in order to understand how this horrifying portion of liturgical history developed. social contexts and authentic resources make this a very thorough history of the inquisition as it was experienced in spain. i only wish i could find an equally thorough treatment of the inquisition in italy and france. a very revealing work for the lay person who wants to know more about liturgical history, the woman's place in medieval social order, and the development of the social relationships among medieval spanish christians, jews, and muslims.

In rating a book I'm not always looking for the same thing. "Origins", in my opinion, is primarily a scholarly reference text and that's the sense I rated it. It is not an exciting page-turner but a careful exposition of an important part of Western history.

I used it as a reference in my studies for my own novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Italian Wars, Spanish Inquisition and especially the Conquest of Mexico. Netanyahu's book helped. I learned that the Second Inquisition, although an important part of Spanish society, was probably not quite as lethal as most people suspect. At the same time the Inquisition did torture [but blood must not be spilled] people, humiliated them in the notorious Auto de Fes, and sometimes even burned them to death. Here, though, we see the sophistry and hypocrisy inherent in the Inquisition. All executions happened AFTER the Auto de Fes and were performed by secular officials. The Church kept its hands clean!

The Inquisition was also, however, an oppressive and even subversive organization--a dangerous force--within the body politic of Spain. In a day before an official secret police, the Second Inquisition served much of the same function and, no doubt, had the capability of scaring the wits out of almost everyone, peasants, hacendados, churchmen, aristocrats and even the Emperor, himself.

It started as an effort to insure that Jewish and Moorish Conversos were genuinely Christian and morphed into an organization that forced religious uniformity and excluded Protestantism from the shores of the entire Spanish Empire. It was also racist in that it attempted--successfully--to insure "limpieza de sangre", the purification of Spanish bood. What can I say? It was an incredible success. Terror works. The secret practices of Judaism and Islam virtually disappeared; heresies were nipped in the bud and Protestantism was held well at bay.

There was injustice, greed and corruption. Confiscated wealth and properties oftentimes ended up in the hands of the creatures of the Inquisition. Still most officials probably really believed in their office and believed they were fighting the good fight for God, Faith and Country.

Ron Braithwaite

It's true that Benzion Netanyahu is not the former Israeli PM; the former Israeli PM, however, is his son. Notice the poignant dedication to his other son, Jonathan, who was one of the Israeli commandos on the Entebbe raid.

The 'Inquistion' was one of the great disasters of Jewish history, involving the slaughter and torture of tens of thousands of innocent people. In this work of historical narrative and analysis the origins of the racist anti- Semitism that characterize the behavior of late fifteenth century Spain the beginning of the process is traced to the Egypt of 525 A.D.
The long story of Spanish Jewry is told here including that of the Conversos who left Judaism for Christianity, and who were nonetheless persecuted by the Inquistion. The fact that these people were Christian and still persecuted is the strong indication that the persecution was done on a racial basis.
The disastrous destruction of one of the great Jewish communities of history is shown to be the result of a warped ideology , an evil and cruel racism.

This book is written by Benzion Netanyahu, the Cornell professor and not the former Israel PM... it's a good read either way though.

Of the many books and periodical articles that I have read concerning the Spanish Inquisition, this is the most biased and speculative and opinionated. I would not recommend this book to anyone. It is extremely long and tedious. We realize that the Inquisition was shameful. However, this work substitutes one prejudice for another.

This is an excellent work from beginning to end.
It outlines in great detail, a history of anti-semitism
dating back to Egypt in the BC era. The focus of the
work is on the brutal anti-semitism of the Inquisition
in Spain. The story of the Inquisition has great significance
to all Jews and Sephardic Jews (of Spain) in particular.
Technically, the Diaspora refers to the experience of Jews
including Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Oriental, Ethiopian and
many others living throughout the world.

The main argument seems to place the process of anti-semitism
within a racial context rather than a religious one.
This context may have served as a basis for
a continued persecution of Jews up through the 20th century.

There is a brilliant work which deals with the protection of
the Jewish community against harm. It is "The Keeper of the Gate"
published by the Jerusalem Publishing Company/House. The
"Keeper of the Gate" teaches how Jews protected neighborhoods
from harassing raids by marauders during the Middle Ages.

In fact, Benjamin, Daniel and Joseph have been the historical
gatekeepers of the Jewish community. Netanyahu's work
provides a thorough delineation of the foundations of hatred
against Jews. In so doing, the author has provided a wealth of
information to reshape hostile attitudes . [...]

For now, I plan to re-read this work in even greater depth
when the time affords. The author has demonstrated a wealth of
knowledge as a top historical researcher of our time.

The fact checking for this extensive book must have
been a monumental task. For this alone, the book is worth
the reasonable price charged.