Tomas de Torquemada: Architect of Torture During the Spanish Inquisition »

It happened the same way all across Spain.  The judges of the Spanish Inquisition arrived on horseback.  They searched everywhere for people who broke the laws of the Church. 

Their spies turned friends against friends.  They made sons and daugthers testify against their parents.  They tortured suspects until a person would confess to anything. 

One stern monk was responsible for this merciless attack on the people of Spain.  His name was Tomas de Torquemada. 

Children's Literature

This book, a biography of Tomas De Torquemada, often reads like a recipe book for persecution and torture, particularly the chapters "Feet to the Fire: Some Suspects are subjected to TERRIBLE TORTURES," and "Fires of Hell: Some suspects are publicly punished; OTHERS ARE BURNED TO DEATH." These unfortunate chapters, along with much of the book, go into graphic details about the inquisition process with complete descriptions of the different types of torture used to coerce confessors. It is not so much the subject matter (the inquisition) as it is the focus (the process of torture) that makes this book inappropriate. There are numerous explicit illustrations to accompany descriptions such as, "The suspect would be strapped to a table, head tilted down. Wooden sticks clogged the nostrils. An iron clamp held the mouth open. A guard stuffed a linen cloth in the mouth and poured water onto it. The gagging and choking began." There are also graphs and charts such as, "A Wicked Web" and "Timeline of Terror." Unlike other books in this series that ask the reader to explore the question of whether or not the person was wicked by presenting both good and bad in a balanced way, this book reads as a gruesome, one sided account. Only in the epilogue "Wicked?" do the authors present significant contextual information that might lead the reader to seriously consider whether or not Tomas De Torquemada was wicked. Part of the "A Wicked History" series. Reviewer: L. A. Gallaway