32 EWN
21 - 27 June 2012 Mallorca
www.euroweeklynews.com
Religions have been the cause of much controversy over the centuries and although we are still shocked nowadays by the violent outbursts from extreme members of any creed, back in medieval Spain, the Inquisitor Torquemada was renowned for his tough measures against nonChristians.
Q
uestion: What do the British comedy troupe Monty Python, Russian author Fydor Dostoyevsky, playwright Victor Hugo, comedian Mel Brooks, poet Edgar Allen Poe and actor Marlon Brando all have in common? Answer: They all have referenced the 15th century Spanish Grand Inquisitor Tomas Torquemada as a central figure within the corpus of their work. Question: Who was Tomas Torquemada and why have such a varied group of artists chosen to evoke this man’s legacy? Answer: Read on and consider… Tomas Torquemada was born in 1420 in Valladolid, Spain. As a young monk, he exhibited the virtues valued by the Dominican Order namely learning, piety and austerity. As a cardinal, he became a confidant to Queen Isabella and was appointed by Pope Sixus IV as Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. A zealous advocate of Catholic orthodoxy, Torquemada’s quest was to rid Spain of all heresy. Jewish conversos and Marranos (Jews who converted to Christianity but continued to practise Judaism in secret) all fell victim to this man’s fanatical hunt for heretics. He was deeply influenced by the Spanish cult of sangre limpia (pure blood) a racist doctrine that drove Spain’s efforts to rid itself of non-Christians. For 15 years Torquemada enthusiastically headed a campaign which inflicted unimaginable torture,
INFAMOUS: Tomas Torquemada.
FAMOUS LANDMARK: Valladolid Cathedral.
Torquemada’s past is not dead In fact, it’s not even past
Jack Gaioni Consider This US citizen Jack is spending the first years of his retirement in Almeria. His articles have been published in Spain and the US.
imprisoned without proof and made public spectacles of burning suspected nonbelievers at the stake. Torquemada’s implacable hostility and sadistic torture techniques are even more remarkable when you consider that he himself had Jewish ancestry. Torquemada, ‘the hammer of the heretics,’ is said to have witnessed thousands of deaths but his legacy of sadistic torture methods gives this man a gruesome historical reputation. Many of us know little more about The Inquisition other than Monty Python’s memorable phrase from the Flying Circus: ‘Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.’ In Mel Brook’s film History of the World Part I, parody and word-play is used to lyrically introduce Torquemada: “Torquemada? Do not implore him for compassion! Torquemada? Do not beg him for
PARODY: Comedy troupe Monty Python’s Flying Circus referenced Torquemada in a famous sketch: ‘Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition’. forgiveness! Torquemada? Do not ask him for mercy! Victor Hugo wrote his classical four-act play Torquemada as a protest against the anti-Semitic pogroms of 19th century Russia. This play was an allegorical criticism against any religious zealotry and fanatical dogma which blinds one as to man’s inherent humanness. In the 1991 film The Pit and the Pendulum, an amalgamation of Edgar Allen Poe tales, Torquemada’s specific torture techniques are
central. Set in Spain in 1492, this rendition highlights Torquemada’s bloody regime of terror, torture and killing. Torquemada tests his new machines of pain, public burnings and whippings, all in the name of religion and the church. One of the last roles played by the late Marlon
Brando was a cameo appearance as Torquemada in the 1992 film Christopher Columbus. Critics blasted his performance as uninspired and somewhat distracted. Ironically, the actor agreed with his critics stating that as a method actor, playing Torquemada took him to a dark sinister place that he, Brando, found disturbing. The list of artists referencing Torquemada goes on. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Aldus Huxley and even Marvel Comics also saw the need to evoke the Inquisitor’s mention. The question needs to be asked: ‘What is it about
Tomas Torquemada which compels the artistic community to keep his legacy alive? Why does Torquemada strike such a nerve?’ The answers, if there are any, are certainly subjective. Perhaps it is because the gold standard for creative people has long been free speech and unfettered expression. Putting the chains of censorship on the impulses of artists is anathema to the creative process. Artists in the fields of literature, theatre and comedy are especially vigilant to the restrictive forces of censorship. The aforementioned artists sense in Torquemada a force which is monumentally intolerant, controls thought, physically resorts to torture, and never once doubts the righteousness of his cause. The legacy of Tomas Torquemada has for centuries been used as a reflection of the enduring threat of censorship, and authoritarianism. By referencing Torquemada, artists convey a cautionary message to remind us not to allow the Torquemadas’ of the past, present and future to proceed unchallenged.