Tomás de Torquemada

Torquemada, Tomás de (1420–98), Spanish Inquisition leader. A Dominican monk, he became the confessor to Queen Isabella and was named inquisitor general (1483), responsible for the executions of more than 2,000 people considered heretics (primarily Muslims and Jews). He was largely responsible for the expulsion of more than 200,000 Jews from Spain in 1492. Torquemada established rules and procedures for the Inquisition, some of which involved torture and other cruel methods of execution; his name has become synonymous with excessive cruelty.

See also: Inquisition.