Under the influence of Torquemada, a Dominican monk, the confessor of Queen Isabella, that princess solicited a bull from the pope for the establishment of the Holy Office.

A bull was accordingly issued in November, 1478, for the detection and suppression of heresy.

In the first year of the operation of the Inquisition, 1481, two thousand victims were burnt in Andalusia; besides these, many thousands were dug up from their graves and burnt; seventeen thousand were fined or imprisoned for life.

Whoever of the persecuted race could flee, escaped for his life.

Torquemada, now appointed inquisitor-general for Castile and Leon, illustrated his office by his ferocity.