Torquemada
Infamous medieval inquisitor
Torquemada refers to Tomás de Torquemada, the fifteenth-century Spanish Dominican friar who served as the first Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition.
His name has become synonymous with religious persecution, ruthless interrogation, and zealous enforcement of orthodoxy.
To call someone a Torquemada is to accuse them of cruel, fanatical pursuit of ideological purity: The new compliance officer is a real Torquemada.
Church heresy investigator
- Grand InquisitorHead of religious tribunal
- Spanish InquisitionChurch court hunting heretics
- FerdinandTraditional male given name
- IsabellaSpanish royal name
heresy · auto-da-fé · tribunal · Dominican · confessor · Catholic Monarchs · Reconquista · expulsion
19th-century Russian author
- Brothers KaramazovNovel about feuding siblings
- Grand InquisitorHead of religious tribunal
- Monty PythonBritish surreal comedy troupe
- PoeAmerican gothic writer's surname
historical fiction · villain · infamy · notorious · legacy · symbol · metaphor · byword
Formal, probing examination
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
- crueltyDeliberate harm-causing disposition
- fanaticismObsessive, unreasoning dedication
- zealotryExcessive devotion to beliefs
oppression · brutality · confession · rack · burning · execution · heretic · accusation
Harsh, probing questioner
- fanaticOverly zealous person
- zealotObsessive cause supporter
- persecutorOne who harasses relentlessly
- tyrantCruel, absolute ruler
oppressor · authoritarian · dogmatist · extremist · bigot · interrogator · despot · fundamentalist
Inquisitor
Church heresy investigator
- Grand InquisitorHead of religious tribunal
- Spanish InquisitionChurch court hunting heretics
- FerdinandTraditional male given name
Isabella · heresy · auto-da-fé · tribunal · Dominican · confessor · Catholic Monarchs · Reconquista · expulsion · edict
Dostoevsky
19th-century Russian author
- Brothers KaramazovNovel about feuding siblings
- Grand InquisitorHead of religious tribunal
- Monty PythonBritish surreal comedy troupe
Poe · historical fiction · villain · infamy · notorious · legacy · symbol · metaphor · byword · epitome
interrogation
Formal, probing examination
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
- crueltyDeliberate harm-causing disposition
- fanaticismObsessive, unreasoning dedication
zealotry · oppression · brutality · confession · rack · burning · execution · heretic · accusation · denouncement
inquisitor
Harsh, probing questioner
- fanaticOverly zealous person
- zealotObsessive cause supporter
- persecutorOne who harasses relentlessly
tyrant · oppressor · authoritarian · dogmatist · extremist · bigot · interrogator · despot · fundamentalist · hardliner
- 15th Century FiguresChristopher Columbus, Leonardo da Vinci, Johannes Gutenberg, Joan of Arc, Isabella I
- Famous SpaniardsRafael Nadal, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Miguel de Cervantes, Antonio Banderas
- Inquisitioninquisition, heretic, inquisitors, heretics, heresy trial
- Spanish CatholicismCatholic Monarchs, Reconquista, penitentes, Isabella, Ferdinand
- 2000 ADJudge Dredd, Lawgiver, Hammerstein, Deadlock, Origins
- ReconquistaReconquista, Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand, Granada, Isabella
TorquemadaWilliam Penn
Philadelphia's Quaker founder
Voltaire · John Locke · Akbar the Great · pluralist · tolerationist
Torquemadamerciful
Disposed toward forgiveness
compassionate · forgiving · clement · humane · Mother Teresa
TorquemadaMartin Luther
Protestant Reformation founder
Giordano Bruno · heretic · freethinker · dissenter · nonconformist
torque, torques, torqued, torquing, torsion, torsional, tort, torts, tortuous