The First Grand Inquisitor - Torquemada

In 1483, the most infamous inquisitor of all was appointed Inquisitor General for all of Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella - Tomas Torquemada. Torquemada, a Dominican friar, was born at Valladolid in 1420. He at one time served as confessor Queen Isabella. As Grand Inquisitor, it is estimated that over 100,000 people were sentenced as heretics under his jurisdiction. (Hroch, p. 47.) Torqeumada died in 1498, but not before he had achieved his life’s goal – the ejection of all un-baptized Jews from Spain on March 30, 1492.