The establishment of the Spanish Inquisition was authorized in 1478 by Pope Sixtus IV at the request of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, the King and Queen of Spain, permitting them to appoint priests as inquisitors. Three years later, the first auto-de-fe was held, and with it, the first of many victims of the Inquisition were burned at the stake. For several centuries more, the Inquisition would, both in Spain and elsewhere, enforce Catholic orthodoxy on all that they could. Any who professed to be a member of the Church but who had views deemed outside of the Orthodoxy were brought before the Inquisition as "heretics" and would be tortured if they did not admit to the charge. Execution by burning at the stake was common. Though these "heretics" were the primary target of the Inquisition, other groups were also sometimes victimized, such as Jews and people accused of witchcraft.
Due to their notorious reputation, the Spanish Inquisition and groups based off of them (such as the Inquisition in Warhammer: 40,000) are popular choices for villains in various works of fiction, including video games. If an organization in a story is a religious one, affiliated with a church or some other organized faith, is extremely intolerant of different views and beliefs, and employs torture and/or execution by burning at the stake, it is likely that they are taking inspiration from the Spanish Inquisition.
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