Spanish Inquisition

1 November 1478, at St Peter's

A royal petition had alleged that baptised Christians in the monarchs' jurisdictions were returning to Jewish rites, and asked for authority to pursue the alleged heresy under royal control. Pope Sixtus IV answered it on 1 November 1478 at St Peter's in Rome with the bull Exigit sincerae devotionis affectus, addressed to Ferdinand and Isabella as king and queen of Castile and León.

The bull, dated 1 November 1478, empowered the monarchs to select, dismiss and replace qualified clergy who would act as inquisitors in cities or dioceses under their jurisdiction. The appointees were to hold jurisdiction comparable to that of local ordinaries and existing inquisitors of heresy.

The specifications

Three appointees were permitted in a city or diocese, or at least two. Alongside academic credentials, the bull set a minimum age of forty.

Its stated targets were baptised Christians accused of returning to Jewish rites and beliefs, together with their supporters and protectors — not Jews who had never been baptised.

The decisive innovation was administrative: the pope let the monarchs choose, remove and replace the church judges.

Nothing started that day

No inquisitors were appointed by this bull. The first royal commissions were not issued until 27 September 1480.

It did not create the office of Inquisitor General, and it did not appoint Tomás de Torquemada; both came later.

What Ferdinand and Isabella acquired on 1 November was papal authority to choose and remove inquisitors — not an operating tribunal.