There is much confusion and misunderstanding about the Spanish Inquisition, not all of it the fault of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. While traditionally the Inquisition has been seen as a ruthless and cruel operation in the main it was in fact a force for order. However, when my book is set it is shortly after new individuals came to the fore, among them Tomas de Torquemada, appointed chief Inquisitor by Queen Isabel herself. For a period of around ten years the Inquisition did become a force of evil, but primarily caused by greed rather than religious zeal. The period 1482-92 was a turmoil in Spain. Al-Andalus was slowly being eroded, and Spain was stretching the muscles it would use to conquer swathes of South America as well as large areas to the West of North America too. One only has to look at the names of many towns and cities in California to realise this. Los Angeles, San Fransisco, San Louis Obispo - open up Google maps of the western United States and you will see who originally conquered these lands.
The Spanish Inquisition, a Historical Revision, Henry Kamen. Yale University Press, 4th Edition, 2014. ISBN: 9780300180510.
Dogs of God, Columbus, the Inquisition and the Defeat of the Moors, James Reston Jr. Doubleday, 2005. ISBN: 0385505484.
Also by David Penny
The Red Hill
Breaker of Bones
The Sin Eater
The Incubus
About the Author
David Penny published 4 novels in the 1970’s before being seduced by a steady salary. He has now returned to his true love of writing with the first 5 books in a planned 10 book series of historical mysteries set in Moorish Spain at the end of the 15th Century. He is currently working on the sixth book in the series.
Find out more about David Penny
www.davidpennywriting.com
Copyright © 2018 David Penny
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Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.