The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition, is established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile.

It is intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms and to replace the Medieval Inquisition, which is under Papal control.

It becomse the most substantive of the three different manifestations of the wider Christian Inquisition along with the Roman Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition.

The "Spanish Inquisition" operates in Spain and in all Spanish colonies and territories, which include the Canary Islands, the Spanish Netherlands, the Kingdom of Naples, and all Spanish possessions in North, Central, and South America.

The Inquisition is originally intended in large part to ensure the orthodoxy of those who convert from Judaism and Islam.

This regulation of the faith of the newly converted is intensified after the royal decrees issued in 1492 and 1501 ordering Jews and Muslims to convert or leave Spain.The body is initiated and under the control of the Spanish monarchy.

It is not definitively abolished until 1834, during the reign of Isabella II, after a period of declining influence in the previous century.Various motives have been proposed for the monarchs' decision to found the Inquisition, such as increasing political authority, weakening opposition, suppressing conversos, profiting from confiscation of the property of convicted heretics, reducing social tensions, and protecting the kingdom from the danger of a fifth column.The Spanish Inquisition is often cited in popular literature and history as an example of Catholic intolerance and repression.

Modern historians have tended to question earlier and wildly exaggerated accounts concerning the severity of the Inquisition.

Henry Kamen asserts that the 'myth' of the all-powerful, torture-mad inquisition is largely an invention of nineteenth century Protestant authors with an agenda to discredit the Papacy.

According to actual records the Spanish Inquisition was widely hailed as the best run, most humane court in Europe.

There are records of people committing blasphemy in secular courts so they could have their case fall under the Inquisition’s jurisdiction.

Further, the Inquisition was the first to pronounce Europe’s witch hunt a delusion and prohibited anyone from being tried or burnt for witchcraft.