The Spanish Inquisition

In The Spanish Inquisition, first published in 1892, Rev. Sydney Fenn Smith, S.J., explains how the organisation developed in response to a Jewish conspiracy to obtain influential positions within the Catholic church and state:

"These [Jews] were in league with the open adherents of their national creed, and were the more dangerous because their machinations against the Catholic religion were carried on in the dark. The extent of the evil may be realized somewhat when it is said that not a few of these secret Jews had risen to high ecclesiastical dignities, some even to bishoprics."

Smith, in seeking to reassure his Protestant compatriots that they had nothing to fear from an unlikely return of Catholic power in England, goes on to argue that given the context of the period, and in comparison to other examples of judicial process, particularly English, the Spanish Inquisition was relatively liberal and ahead of its time in terms of fair play and leniency.