Michael Coy
If you’re a history enthusiast and curious about Spain’s rich and complex past, three significant anniversaries are just around the corner. Here’s a closer look at the figures and events behind them:
16 September 1498 – The Death of Tomás de Torquemada
To say that Tomás de Torquemada is universally despised is an understatement. This Dominican friar rose to become Grand Inquisitor of Spain during the most aggressive period of the Spanish Inquisition.
What seems barbaric to us today had a twisted logic in the Middle Ages: if the Christian God was the one true god, then rooting out non-believers was a divine duty. In autos de fe (“acts of faith”), Torquemada had countless people burned alive for straying from Catholic orthodoxy.
His main focus? Not open heretics, but so-called “conversos”—Jews and Muslims who had converted to Catholicism but were suspected of secretly maintaining their original faith. Many had converted under duress, as the alternative was exile and the loss of all property. Torquemada targeted these individuals ruthlessly, and some estimates claim he tortured or executed as many as 2,000 ‘secret’ Jews.
Though officially removed due to “failing health” in his 70s, modern historians believe the Church was simply embarrassed by his fanaticism and sought to quietly push him aside.
18 September 53 AD – The Birth of Emperor Trajan
A Spanish Roman emperor? Surprisingly, yes. In fact, three Roman emperors were born in what is now Spain—then known as Hispania Baetica, a vital province of the Roman Empire, famous even then for its wine and olive oil.
Marcus Ulpius Traianus, born in 53 AD near modern-day Seville, became emperor in 98 AD and ruled for twenty years. Trajan is remembered as one of Rome’s greatest leaders. A soldier by profession, he expanded the Empire to its greatest territorial extent.
But he was more than just a conqueror. Trajan was a prolific builder, especially in what are now Hungary and Egypt. He sponsored the Olympic Games, reformed the currency, and—contrary to popular myth—did not feed Christians to lions. (The Colosseum, by the way, had only been standing for ten years when he came to power.)
Trajan is buried beneath Trajan’s Column in the heart of Rome—a monument that still stands today.
19 September 1309 – The Death of Guzmán the Good
For centuries, “Guzmán El Bueno” has been held up as the ultimate Spanish patriot—though modern readers might find his actions brutal.
In 1296, at age 40, Guzmán was tasked with defending the southern city of Tarifa against Muslim forces. The city, like many in that era, was constantly under threat during the long war of Reconquest.
But the real drama came from within. King Sancho’s scheming brother, Juan, had sided with the enemy. During the siege, Juan captured Guzmán’s young son and, in a theatrical standoff, held a dagger to the boy’s throat from beneath the city walls.
“Surrender Tarifa,” Juan demanded, “or your son dies.”
Guzmán’s response is legendary: he threw his own dagger down, saying, “Use mine—it’s better.”
Spanish schoolchildren are taught to admire Guzmán’s unflinching loyalty to his king and country. Whether we should revere him—or wonder what his son would have thought—is another question altogether.
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