TORQUEMADA, TOMÁS DE (1420–1498), Spanish inquisitor. Tomás de Torquemada, nephew of Juan de Torquemada (1388–1468), the celebrated Dominican theologian, canonist, and cardinal, was born at Valladolid and as a youth entered the Order of Preachers. For twenty-two years he was prior of the Dominican convent of Santa Cruz at Segovia. In 1474 he was appointed confessor to Queen Isabella I of Castile, and later he performed the same service, nominally at least, for King Ferdinand V of Aragon.

By a brief of February 11, 1482, Pope Sixtus IV named Torquemada, along with ten other Dominicans, to replace former officers of the Spanish Inquisition who had been charged with corrupt practices. On August 2, 1483, Torquemada was appointed grand inquisitor for the kingdoms of Castile and León; a few months later his authority was extended to Catalonia, Aragon, Valencia, and Majorca. He forthwith...