Spanish Inquisition under the Catholic Monarchs

Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile secured papal approval for a royal inquisition in 1478. Its tribunals investigated converted Jews and Muslims accused of practising their former religions, while confiscation, imprisonment and public punishment reinforced monarchical authority.

The institution accompanied the final conquest of Granada, the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 and the emergence of a more unified Spanish monarchy. Court patronage, dynastic marriage and overseas expansion coexisted with coercive religious conformity.

Fair Margaret moves between early Tudor England and Spain, using the Inquisition and the court of the Catholic Monarchs as sources of danger and political power.