Zoroaster
Pythagoras
Plato
Herophilos
Haly Abbas
Abulcasis
Thomas Becket
Averroes
Peter Waldo
Luca Pacioli
Tomás de Torquemada
Heaven`s special presentation of past lives In Absentia
Welcome to Heaven. Since man founded Heaven, Inc. that ultra-safe haven for their brains, and since their immortality continues to last and endure, it has been rather boring up here in heaven – our dear home. As long as the poor souls are held captive in their Heaven Inc on new earth, they can not return with their experiences. Most souls in heaven have not dared to reincarnate into lives of immortal man to be held captive and be unable to return to share their journey. It has been rather boring up here. Many souls have reincarnated into new-man, created by Dr. Joe Ova and his wife Dr. Lucy Fer but their lives are very short and they have very little contact with their creators. They live in their paradise world on a different planet. Other souls have chosen lives as house pets or house animals and house plants with immortal man just to try to sense the senses of immortal man and to make sense of his unfortunate situation.
We souls lack any senses, being totally senseless. That is why we have in the past reincarnate into life. The only contact which we have with man is thru giving him intuition, which all can hear, but unfortunately most refuse to heed. We desperately wait for famous and infamous lives to return so that we can listen to their stories of their last life and of their previous lives to be entertained by them and to learn from them. Many of the people who have shaped history are in Heaven Inc and they have not returned, being stuck in their claimed immortality.
Many souls in Heaven have requested stories about many of the famous lives, but unfortunately they are not up here to share them. But some of their family members, and some of their friends, neighbors, colleagues, house pets and house plants, who have had the privilege of closeness to them are here to share second hand accounts of their lives. These accounts have proved to be very beneficial, as it is often reveling. Man can only see their lives only thru their own eyes. And we all see and here and remember only what we want to.
Brains quickly forget their past lives at a very tender age. On the other hand, adults tend only see, hear and remember what they want to. Souls remember all the sensations they had in their reincarnations. It is very unfortunate that many of the brains in Heaven Inc. are not available to share their lives. As a result, we have formed committees of souls able to share stories of famous and infamous people who they have known as their partners, family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, pets, house creatures and plants of the famous and infamous who are absent.
Souls are heavens ultimate creators. This creation started with the creation of life. Desiring to experience their twin sister's universe filled with galaxies made of stars which spewed forth and held on to planets. The souls chose a galaxy, called “the milky-way” not too big, not too small, situated far away from the bustle near its center and the stillness near its edge. Within the milky-way, they chose a star called “Sun” not too big, not too small situated far away from the bustle near its center and the stillness near its edge. They chose a planet called “Earth” that was not too big, not too small, situated just far enough to keep the water flowing.
By manipulating matter with their collective energy, they were able to for the most basic form of life and watched it evolve into human minds.
Some of the greatest creative minds are polymaths, sharing a love for both the arts and the sciences. Creative people like to teach themselves rather than be taught by others. With new unheard-of ideas, they are pushing against the status quo. Creative geniuses persist against the skepticism and rejection which are inevitable. Creative people have lots of ideas, but that doesn’t mean all of them are worth pursuing. Part of creativity is picking the little bubbles that come up to your conscious mind, and picking which one to let grow and which one to give access to more of your mind . . . then have that translate into action.
The reader will be presented with some of the greatest creative minds that have evolved. There is a clear pattern to be seen from the almost 200 thinkers presented. They are relatively few women. Mostly are men from struggling families. Most thinkers, men or women had a very difficult life with many problems, emotional and physical. Their brains, like all brains, are just sensors with which we souls in heaven can perceive from each brain their senses and thoughts. We have a channel to send intuitions to brains, but most brains grow deaf to intuitions by the time they are a few years old as they are so consumed by heir new lives.
The brains of leading “thinkers” use intuition to sprout innovation to create new ideas, concepts and machines with sensors to acquire knowledge from their reality. We in heaven use sensors in the form of brains to acquire knowledge from nature and from humanity.
Let the lives roll !!!!!!! Enjoy!!!!!!!
Proudly brought to you by New Earth Reincarnation Agency RENA!
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Zoroaster (3000BC)
Zoroaster (3000BC)
Zoroaster also known as Zarathustra was an ancient Iranian prophet whose teachings and innovations on the religious traditions of ancient Iranian-speaking peoples developed into the religion of Zoroastrianism. He inaugurated a movement that eventually became the dominant religion in Ancient Persia. Zoroaster was a sorcerer-astrologer – the creator of both magic and astrology with a mass of literature attributed to him and that circulated the Mediterranean world from the 3rd century BC. Zoroaster was a sage, magician, and miracle-worker. Although almost nothing was known of his ideas until the late 18th century, his name was already associated with lost ancient wisdom.
Zoroaster was born 5000 years ago into a nomadic family in Iran. His father was a proud possessor of special gray horses and his mother was a milkmaid who milked cows for a living. Zoroaster had 4 brothers, 2 older and 2 younger. As Zoroaster was a real “dreamer”, his father decided to have his son trained for priesthood. He did not waste any time and had little Zoroaster enrolled when he was 7. Zoroaster became a priest at 15. He left home when he was 20 to gained knowledge from personal experience from traveling.
By the age of 30, he experienced a revelation during a spring festival. On the river bank he saw a shining Being, who revealed himself and taught him all about spirits. Zoroaster soon became aware of the existence of 2 primal Spirits who made him decide to spend his life teaching people to seek these 2 spirits out.
Zoroaster taught about free will. He opposed the use of the hallucinogenic Haoma plant a representative of the genus Ephedra in rituals and animal sacrifices. He as well opposed the oppressive class system in Persia which earned him strong opposition among local authorities.
Eventually, at the age of 40, he received the patronage of queen Hutaosa and her ruler who were both early adherent of Zoroastrianism.
Zoroaster's teaching about individual judgment, Heaven and Hell, the resurrection of the body, the Last Judgment, and everlasting life for the reunited soul and body, among other things, became borrowings in the Abrahamic religions, but they lost the context of the original teaching.
Zoroaster saw the human condition as the mental struggle between truth and lie. The purpose of humankind, like that of all other creation, is to live. For humankind, this occurs through active participation in life and the exercise of constructive thoughts, words and deeds.
Elements of Zoroastrian philosophy entered the West through their influence on Judaism and have been identified as one of the key early events in the development of philosophy.
Among the classic Greek philosophers, Heraclitus is often referred to as inspired by Zoroaster's thinking. Zoroaster can be described as the father of philosophy. He inspired the "Worship of Wisdom". Zoroastrians later educated the Greeks who, starting with Pythagoras, used a similar term, philosophy, or “love of wisdom” to describe the search for ultimate truth. Zoroaster emphasized the freedom of the individual to choose right or wrong and individual responsibility for one's deeds. This personal choice to accept the divine order and shun ignorance and chaos is one's own decision.
For Zarathustra, by thinking good thoughts, saying good words, and doing good deeds like assisting the needy or doing good works, we increase this divine force in the world and in ourselves, celebrate the divine order, and we come a step closer on the everlasting road to being one with the Creator. Zoroaster managed to establish a faithful community. He married 3 times.
Zoroaster died when he was 77 years old.
Pythagoras was an Ionian Greek philosopher and the founder of the Pythagoreanism movement. His political and religious teachings were well-known and influenced the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and, through them, Western philosophy.
He was the son of a seal engraver. In 530 BC, he founded a school in which initiates were sworn to secrecy and lived a communal, ascetic lifestyle. 20 years later Pythagoras's followers came into conflict with supporters of democracy and Pythagorean meeting houses were burned. Pythagoras was killed during this persecution. The teaching most securely identified with Pythagoras is the "transmigration of souls", which holds that every soul is immortal and, upon death, enters into a new body. He may have also devised the doctrine which holds that the planets move according to mathematical equations and thus resonate to produce an inaudible symphony of music.
In antiquity, Pythagoras was credited with many mathematical and scientific discoveries. The Pythagorean theorem states that "in a right-angled triangle the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the two other sides". The Pythagorean theorem was known and used by the Babylonians and Indians centuries before Pythagoras, But he and his students constructed the first proof. The Pythagorean tuning is a system of musical tuning in which the frequency ratios of all intervals are based on the ratio 3:2. This ratio, also known as the "pure" perfect fifth, is chosen because it is one of the most consonant and easiest to tune by ear. He also introduced the 5 regular solids, the Theory of Proportions, the sphericity of the Earth, and the identity of the morning and evening stars as the planet Venus.
Pythagoras dressed all in white with a golden wreath atop his head. It was said that he was the first man to call himself a philosopher ("lover of wisdom"). Pythagoras influenced Plato and continued to be regarded as a great philosopher throughout the Middle Ages and his philosophy had a major impact on scientists such as Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton.
His father was a gem-engraver and a wealthy merchant. As an adult, Pythagoras founded a school known as the "semicircle", where prominent citizens could discuss matters of public concern. Pythagoras himself lived in a secret cave, where he studied in private. He left when he was 40 and founded the philosophical school of Pythagoreanism in Croton, whose practitioners adhered to a strict, disciplined way of life. Pythagoras acquired great political influence.
Pythagoras's teachings of dedication and asceticism are credited with aiding in Croton's decisive victory over the neighboring colony in 510 BC. The forces of Croton were headed by the Pythagorean Milo, and it is likely that the members of the brotherhood took a prominent part. After the victory, a democratic constitution was proposed, but the Pythagoreans rejected it. The supporters of democracy, roused the populace against them. An attack was made upon them while they were assembled. The building was set on fire, and many of the assembled members perished. Only the younger and more active members managed to escape and Pythagoras died.
Pythagoras believed that women should be taught philosophy as well as men and many prominent members of his school were women. Pythagoras did not indulge in the pleasures of love and he cautioned others to only have sex "whenever you are willing to be weaker than yourself". Pythagoras married and the couple had several children.
Pythagoras not only visited Egypt and learned the Egyptian language but also journeyed among the Chaldaeans and Magi. The Egyptians taught him geometry, the Phoenicians arithmetic, the Chaldeans astronomy, and the Magi the principles of religion and practical maxims for the conduct of life.
One of Pythagoras's main doctrines was the belief that all souls are immortal and that, after death, a soul is transferred into a new body. Pythagoras told people that he had lived 4 previous lives that he could remember in detail. The first of these lives was the son of Hermes, who granted him the ability to remember all his past incarnations. Next, he was incarnated as a minor hero from the Trojan War. He then became the philosopher Hermotimus. One incarnation was as Pyrrhus, a fisherman and another was as a beautiful courtesan.
Another belief of Pythagoras was that of the "harmony of the spheres", which maintained that the planets and stars move according to mathematical equations, which correspond to musical notes and thus produce an inaudible symphony.
When Pythagoras was asked why humans exist, he said, "to observe the heavens," and he used to claim that he himself was an observer of nature, and it was for the sake of this that he had passed over into life. According to Aristotle, the Pythagoreans used mathematics for solely mystical reasons, devoid of practical application. They believed that all things were made of numbers.
The number 1 represented the origin of all things and the number 2 represented matter. The number 3 was an "ideal number" because it had a beginning, middle, and end and was the smallest number of points that could be used to define a plane triangle, which they revered as a symbol of the god Apollo. The number 4 signified the 4 seasons and the 4 elements. The number 7 was also sacred because it was the number of planets. They believed that odd numbers were masculine, that even numbers were feminine, and that the number 5 represented marriage, because it was the sum of 2 and 3. 10 was regarded as the "perfect number" and the Pythagoreans honored it by never gathering in groups larger than 10.
Pythagoras had once gone into an underground room, telling everyone that he was descending to the underworld. He stayed in this room for months, while his mother secretly recorded everything that happened during his absence. After he returned from this room, Pythagoras recounted everything that had happened while he was gone, convincing everyone that he had really been in the underworld and leading them to trust him with their wives.
The organization Pythagoras founded at Croton was called a "school", but, in many ways, resembled a monastery.The adherents were bound by a vow to Pythagoras and each other, for the purpose of pursuing the religious and ascetic observances, and of studying his religious and philosophical theories. The members of the sect shared all their possessions in common and were devoted to each other to the exclusion of outsiders. One Pythagorean maxim was "All things in common among friends".
Pythagorean teachings were known as "symbols" and members took a vow of silence that they would not reveal these symbols to non-members. Those who did not obey the laws of the community were expelled and the remaining members would erect tombstones for them as though they had died. A number of "oral sayings" attributed to Pythagoras have survived, dealing with how members of the Pythagorean community should perform sacrifices, how they should honor the gods, how they should "move from here", and how they should be buried.
New initiates were allegedly not permitted to meet Pythagoras until after they had completed a 5-year initiation period, during which they were required to remain silent.
The Pythagoreans believed that music was a purification for the soul, just as medicine was a purification for the body. The Pythagoreans also placed particular emphasis on the importance of physical exercise; therapeutic dancing, daily morning walks along scenic routes, and athletics were major components of the Pythagorean lifestyle. Moments of contemplation at the beginning and end of each day were also advised.
Large Pythagorean communities with influential people existed during the early fourth century BC. During the sixth century BC, the number philosophy of the Pythagoreans triggered a revolution in Greek sculpture. Greek sculptors and architects attempted to find the mathematical relation behind aesthetic perfection.
The oldest known building designed according to Pythagorean teachings is the Porta Maggiore Basilica, a subterranean basilica which was built during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero as a secret place of worship for Pythagoreans. The basilica was built underground because of the Pythagorean emphasis on secrecy and also because of the legend that Pythagoras had sequestered himself in an underground cave. The basilica's apse is in the east and its atrium in the west out of respect for the rising sun. The interior of the sanctuary is almost entirely white because the color white was regarded by Pythagoreans as sacred.
During the Middle Ages, Pythagoras was revered as the founder of mathematics and music. He appears in numerous medieval depictions, in illuminated manuscripts and in the relief sculptures.
Plato was a Greek philosopher and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, especially the Western tradition. Unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Plato's entire work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years. Others believe that the oldest existing manuscript dates to 1100 years after Plato's death.
Along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student, Aristotle, Plato laid the foundations of Western philosophy and science. In addition to being a foundational figure for Western science, philosophy, and mathematics, Plato has also often been cited as one of the founders of Western religion and spirituality. Plato was the innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in philosophy. Plato is the founder of Western political philosophy, with his treatments of political questions from a philosophical perspective. Plato's own most decisive philosophical influences are usually thought to have been Socrates, Parmenides, Heraclitus and Pythagoras.
Plato came from one of the wealthiest and most politically active aristocratic and influential families in Athens in the brief oligarchic regime, which followed on the collapse of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404BC. He was a bright though modest boy who excelled in his studies. His father contributed all which was necessary to give to his son a good education, and, therefore, Plato was instructed in grammar, music, gymnastics and philosophy by some of the most distinguished teachers of his era.
The Peloponnesian War was a war fought between Athens and Sparta. In the first phase, Sparta launched repeated invasions of Attica, while Athens took advantage of its naval supremacy to raid the coast of the Peloponnese and attempt to suppress signs of unrest in its empire. In 415 BC, Athens dispatched a massive expeditionary force to attack Syracuse in Sicily. The attack failed disastrously, with the destruction of the entire force. This ushered in the final phase of the war, generally referred to as the Ionian War where Sparta, receiving support from Persia, supported rebellions in Athens' subject states in the Aegean Sea and Ionia, undermining Athens' empire, and, eventually, depriving the city of naval supremacy. The destruction of Athens' fleet effectively ended the war, and Athens surrendered in the following year. There were demands that Athens should be destroyed and all its citizens should be enslaved, but Sparta refused.
The Peloponnesian War reshaped the ancient Greek world. On the level of international relations, Athens, the strongest city-state in Greece prior to the war's beginning, was reduced to a state of near-complete subjection, while Sparta became established as the leading power of Greece. The war also wrought subtler changes to Greek society - the conflict between democratic Athens and oligarchic Sparta. Because each supported friendly political factions within other states, civil war was a common occurrence. The Peloponnesian War marked the end of the golden age of Greece.
Plato made extensive travels in Italy, Sicily, Egypt and Cyrene returning to Athens at the age of 40. Plato founded one of the earliest known organized schools in Western Civilization. Many intellectuals were schooled in the Academy, the most prominent one being Aristotle.
Throughout his later life, Plato became entangled with the politics of the city of Syracuse. A very influential person became one of Plato's disciples, but the tyrant himself turned against Plato. Plato almost faced death, but he was sold into slavery. A kind generous soul bought Plato's freedom and sent him home.
Although Socrates influenced Plato directly as related in the dialogues, the influence of Pythagoras upon Plato exercised a greater influence on the work of Plato. Plato took from Pythagoras the idea that mathematics and, generally speaking, abstract thinking is a secure basis for philosophical thinking as well as for science and morals. Plato and Pythagoras shared a mystical approach to the soul and its place in the material world. It is probable that both were influenced by Orphism.
Orphism is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices originating in the Ancient Greek world, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus, who descended into the Greek underworld and returned. The Orphics were an ascetic sect. Wine, to them, was only a symbol. The intoxication that they sought was that of "enthusiasm," of union with the god. They believed themselves, in this way, to acquire mystic knowledge not obtainable by ordinary means. This mystical element entered into Greek philosophy with Pythagoras, who was a reformer of Orphism as Orpheus was a reformer of the religion of Dionysus.
From Pythagoras, Orphic elements entered into the philosophy of Plato, and from Plato into most later philosophy. Pythagoras held that all things are number, and the cosmos comes from numerical principles. The physical world of becoming is an imitation of the mathematical world of being. This ideas were very influential in Heraclitus, Parmenides and Plato. Plato wrote so many philosophical works, whereas Pythagoras' views were originally passed on only orally.
Heraclitus thinking influenced Plato, especially the fact that all things are continuously changing, or becoming. It is well known his image of the river, with ever-changing waters. Plato took this idea and emphasized it even more than his teacher - the idea of change. And that this vision of continuous change leads to skepticism, since we can not define a thing that has not a permanent nature but is always changing.
Plato was also influenced by Parmenides, the founder of metaphysics as a domain of inquiry distinct from theology. Parmenides adopted an altogether contrary vision, and emphasized the idea of changeless Being, and considered that change is an illusion of the senses.
This led Plato to formulate his theory of forms. According to it, there is a world of perfect, eternal and changeless forms, the realm of Being, and an imperfect sensible world of becoming that partakes the qualities of the forms, and is its instantiation in the sensible world. Aristotle suggested that Socrates' idea of forms can be discovered through investigation of the natural world, unlike Plato's Forms that exist beyond and outside the ordinary range of human understanding.
Plato makes it clear in his Apology of Socrates that he was a devoted young follower of Socrates. The Apology of Socrates is the Socratic dialogue that presents the speech of legal self-defense, which Socrates presented at his trial as a defense against the charges of corrupting the young and not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia. Plato offered to pay a fine on Socrates' behalf, in lieu of the death penalty.
Plato distinguished between 3 types of myth. First there were the false myths, like those based on stories of gods subject to passions and sufferings, because reason teaches that God is perfect. Then came the myths based on true reasoning, and were therefore true. Finally there were those non verifiable, those dealing with the origin of the universe, and those about morals and the origin and fate of the soul. The main purpose Plato used myths was because he considered that only a few people were capable or interested in following a reasoned philosophical discourse, but men in general are attracted by stories and tales. Consequently then, he used the myth to convey the conclusions of the philosophical reasoning. Some of Plato's myths were based in traditional ones, others were modifications of them, and finally he also invented altogether new myths.
In several of Plato's dialogues, Socrates promulgated the idea that knowledge is a matter of recollection, and not of learning, observation, or study, arguing that knowledge is not empirical, and that it comes from divine insight.
Plato advocated a belief in the immortality of the soul, and several dialogues end with long speeches imagining the afterlife. More than one dialogue contrasted knowledge and opinion, perception and reality, nature and custom, and body and soul.
"Platonism" refers to the intellectual consequences of denying the reality of the material world arguing that there is a spiritual world as well. Plato criticizes the written transmission of knowledge as faulty, favoring instead the spoken logos:
"he who has knowledge of the just and the good and beautiful ... will not, when in earnest, write them in ink, sowing them through a pen with words, which cannot defend themselves by argument and cannot teach the truth effectually".
Plato once disclosed this knowledge to the public in his lecture in which the Good is identified with the One, the fundamental ontological principle.
Here is one review written by a participant. :
"Each came expecting to learn something about the things that are generally considered good for men, such as wealth, good health, physical strength, and altogether a kind of wonderful happiness. But when the mathematical demonstrations came, including numbers, geometrical figures and astronomy, and finally the statement Good is One seemed to them, I imagine, utterly unexpected and strange; hence some belittled the matter, while others rejected it. According to Plato, the first principles of everything, including the Forms themselves are One and Indefinite Duality which he called Large and Small ".
And another review reports that "one might also learn this from Speusippus and Xenocrates and the others who were present at Plato's lecture on the Good".
Plato made debate into a story-telling theatrical play called “dialogues”. The role of debate in Plato's thought was used 2 different ways. First it was a type of reasoning and a method of intuition. It was the process of eliciting the truth by means of questions aimed at opening out what was already implicitly known, or at exposing the contradictions and muddles of an opponent's position. Opposing arguments improved upon each other, and prevailing opinion was shaped by the synthesis of many conflicting ideas over time. Each new idea exposed a flaw in the accepted model and the debate continually approached the truth. The debate shone light on visualizing the divine originals, the Forms or Ideas, of unveiling the Great Mystery behind the common man's everyday world of appearances.
The trial of Socrates is the central, unifying event of Plato's dialogues. Because of this, Apology is among the most frequently read of his works. In the Apology, Socrates tries to dismiss rumors that he is a sophist, a specific kind of teacher of ancient Greece, in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Many sophists specialized in using the tools of philosophy and rhetoric, though other sophists taught subjects such as music, athletics, and mathematics. In general, they claimed to teach excellence and virtue applied to various subject areas, predominantly to young statesmen and nobility.
Socrates defended himself against charges of disbelief in the gods and corruption of the young. Socrates insisted that long-standing slander was the real cause of his demise, and says the legal charges were essentially false. Socrates denied being wise, and explained how his life as a philosopher was launched by the Oracle at Delphi. He claimed that his quest to resolve the riddle of the oracle put him at odds with his fellow man, and that this was the reason he was mistaken for a menace to the city-state of Athens.
The men who brought legal charges against Socrates, warned him about the trouble he may get into if he does not stop criticizing important people.
The Republic is Plato's dialogue that he published during the Peloponnesian War. It deals with justice, the order and character of the just city-state, and the just man. It is Plato's best-known work and is one of the world's most influential works of philosophy and political theory. Discussed with various Athenians and foreigners was the meaning of justice and whether or not the just man is happier than the unjust man. They consider the natures of existing regimes and then propose a series of different, hypothetical cities in comparison. This culminates in the discussion of a hypothetical city-state ruled by a philosopher king. They also discuss the theory of forms, the immortality of the soul, and the role of the philosopher and that of poetry in society. 2300 years later, some have criticized Plato's proposal for a Utopian political regime in the Republic as totalitarian.
During the Renaissance, with the general resurgence of interest in classical civilization, knowledge of Plato's philosophy became widespread again in the West. Many of the greatest early modern scientists and artists saw Plato's philosophy as the basis for progress in the arts and sciences. His political views were well-received: the vision of wise philosopher-kings of the Republic matched the views set out in works such as Machiavelli's The Prince. More problematic was Plato's belief in transmigration of the soul and reincarnation and on polyamory- the desire for intimate relationships with more than one partner, with the knowledge of all partners and euthanasia- the the practice of intentionally ending a life to relieve pain and suffering. These beliefs did not match those of Christianity.
By the 19th century, Plato's reputation was restored, and at least on par with Aristotle's. Plato's influence has been especially strong in mathematics and the sciences. He helped to distinguish between pure and applied mathematics. He regarded "logistic" as appropriate for business men and men of war who "must learn the art of numbers or he will not know how to array his troops," while "arithmetic" later called number theory was appropriate for philosophers "because he has to arise out of the sea of change holding on to the truth."
Plato died in his sleep in his bed, while a young girl played the flute to him. He lived to be 76 years old.
Herophilos was a Greek physician deemed to be the first anatomist. He moved to Alexandria at a fairly young age to begin his schooling and spent the majority of his life there. He was the first scientist to systematically perform scientific dissections of human cadavers. He recorded his findings in over 9 works, which are now all lost.
As an adult Herophilos was a teacher, and an author of at least 9 texts ranging from his book titled, On Pulses, which explored the flow of blood from the heart through the arteries, to his book titled Midwifery, which discussed duration and phases of childbirth. In Alexandria, he practiced dissections, often publicly so that he could explain what he was doing to those who were fascinated. Erasistratus was his contemporary. Together, they worked at a medical school in Alexandria that is said to have drawn people from all over the ancient world due to Herophilos' fame.
His works are lost but were much quoted by Galen in the second century AD. Herophilos was the first scientist to systematically perform scientific dissections of human cadavers. Dissections of human cadavers were banned in most places at the time, except for Alexandria.
Herophilos emphasized the use of experimental method in medicine, for he considered it essential to found knowledge on empirical bases. Conventional medicine of the time revolved around the theory of the four humors in which an imbalance between bile, black bile, phlegm, and blood led to sickness or disease.
Veins were believed to be filled with blood and a mixture of air and water. Through dissections, Herophilus was able to deduce that veins only carried blood. After studying the flow of blood, he was able to differentiate between arteries and veins. He noticed that as blood flowed through arteries, they pulsed or rhythmically throbbed. He worked out standards for measuring a pulse and could use these standards to aid him in diagnosing sicknesses or diseases. To measure this pulse, he made use of a water clock.
His work on blood and its movements led him to study and analyze the brain. He proposed that the brain housed the intellect rather than the heart. He was the first person to differentiate between the cerebrum and the cerebellum and to place individual importance on each portion. He looked more in depth into the network of nerves located in the cranium. He described the optic nerve and the oculomotor nerve for sight and eye movement. Through his dissection of the eye, he discovered the different sections and layers of the eye: the cornea, the retina, the iris, and the choroid also known as the choroid coat.
Further study of the cranium led him to describe the calamus scriptorius which he believed was the seat of the human soul. Analysis of the nerves in the cranium allowed him to differentiate between nerves and blood vessels and to discover the differences between motor and sensory nerves. He believed that the sensory and motor nerves shot out from the brain and that the neural transmissions occurred by means of pneuma. Part of his belief system regarding the human body involved the pneuma, which he believed was a substance that flowed through the arteries along with the blood. Playing off of medical beliefs at the time, Herophilos stated that diseases occurred when an excess of one of the four humors impeded the pneuma from reaching the brain.
Herophilos also introduced many of the scientific terms used to this day to describe anatomical phenomena. He was among the first to introduce the notion of conventional terminology, as opposed to the use of "natural names", using terms he created to describe the objects of study, naming them for the first time.
Herophilos believed that exercise and a healthy diet were integral to the bodily health of an individual. Herophilos once said that "when health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot become manifest, strength cannot be exerted, wealth is useless, and reason is powerless".
After the death of Herophilos in 280 BC, his anatomical findings lived on in the works of other important physicians, notably Galen. Even though dissections were performed in the following centuries and medieval times, only a few insights were added. Dissecting with the purpose to gain knowledge about human anatomy started again more than 1600 years after Herophilos' death.
Haly Abbas, was a Persian physician and psychologist most famous for the Complete Book of the Medical Art, his textbook on medicine and psychology.
He was born to become one of the 3 greatest physicians of the Eastern Caliphate of his time. He became physician to the Emir who was a great patron of medicine, and founded a hospital in Persia and Baghdad. His ancestors were Zoroastrian but he himself was a Muslim from a Muslim family going many generations back when they converted. He himself lacked in Muslim zeal with his work based entirely on pragmatic reasoning without recourse to the Koran or the Sunna.
The work emphasized the need for a healthy relationship between doctors and patients, and the importance of medical ethics. It also provided details on a scientific methodology that is similar to modern biomedical research. He placed more emphasis on preserving health through diet and natural healing than he did on medication or drugs, which he considered a last resort.
He was a pioneer in psycho-physiology and psychosomatic medicine. He described how the physiological and psychological aspects of a patient can have an effect on one another. He found a correlation between patients who were physically and mentally healthy and those who were physically and mentally unhealthy, and concluded that "joy and contentment can bring a better living status to many who would otherwise be sick and miserable due to unnecessary sadness, fear, worry and anxiety."
Abulcasis popularly known as Al-Zahrawi, was an Arab Muslim physician, surgeon and chemist who lived in Spain.
He is considered the greatest medieval surgeon of the Islamic World and the Middle ages, and has been described as the father of surgery. His principal work, a 35-volume encyclopedia of medical practices was translated into Latin where it received a popularity and became the standard text book in Europe for the next 500 years. Abulcasis's pioneering contributions to the field of surgical procedures and instruments had an enormous impact in the East and West well into the modern period, where some of his discoveries are still applied in medicine to this day. He was the first physician to identify the hereditary nature of hemophilia.
He lived most of his life in Cordova. It is also where he studied, taught and practiced medicine and surgery until shortly before his death 2 years after the sacking of El-Zahra during the Castillian-Andalusian conflicts in 1011AD. He was a court physician to the Andalusian caliph and devoted his entire life and genius to the advancement of medicine as a whole and surgery in particular. He invented several devices used during surgery, for purposes such as inspection of the interior of the urethra, applying and removing foreign bodies from the throat, and inspection of the ear, nose and anus. He was also the first to use hooks with a double tip for use in surgery.
Abulcasis's 30-volume medical encyclopedia, completed in the year 1000AD, covered a broad range of medical topics, including on surgery, medicine, orthopedics, ophthalmology, pharmacology, nutrition, dentistry, childbirth, and pathology. The last treatise and the most celebrated one is about surgery. Abulcasis stated that he chose to discuss surgery in the last volume because surgery is the highest form of medicine, and one must not practice it until he becomes well-acquainted with all other branches of medicine.
The work contained data that had accumulated during a career that spanned almost 50 years of training, teaching and practice. In it he also wrote of the importance of a positive doctor-patient relationship and wrote affectionately of his students, whom he referred to as "my children". He also emphasized the importance of treating patients irrespective of their social status. He encouraged the close observation of individual cases in order to make the most accurate diagnosis and the best possible treatment.
Abulcasis was therefore the first to describe the migraine surgery procedure that is enjoying a revival in the 21st century. He also pioneered neurosurgery and neurological diagnosis. He described it in his chapter on neurosurgical disease, describing infantile hydrocephalus as being caused by mechanical compression. He wrote:
“The skull of a newborn baby is often full of liquid, either because the matron has compressed it excessively or for other, unknown reasons. The volume of the skull then increases daily, so that the bones of the skull fail to close. In this case, we must open the middle of the skull in three places, make the liquid flow out, then close the wound and tighten the skull with a bandage”.
"On Surgery and Instruments" is the first illustrated surgical guide ever written. Its contents and descriptions has contributed in many technological innovations in Medicine, notably which tools to use in specific surgeries. In his book, he draws diagrams of each tool used in different procedures to clarify how to carry out the steps of each treatment. The full text consists of 3 books, intended for medical students looking forward to gaining more knowledge within the field of surgery regarding procedures and the necessary tools. It remained the primary source on surgery in Europe for the next 500 years.
Abulcasis claims that his knowledge comes from careful reading of previous medical texts as well as his own experience:
“…whatever skill I have, I have derived for myself by my long reading of the books of the Ancients and my thirst to understand them until I extracted the knowledge of it from them. Then through the whole of my life I have adhered to experience and practice…I have made it accessible for you and rescued it from the abyss of prolixity”.
In the beginning of his book, he states that the reason for writing this treatise was the degree of underdevelopment surgery had reached in the Islamic world, and the low status it was held by the physicians at the time. He ascribed such decline to lack of anatomical knowledge and misunderstanding of the human physiology.
Noting the importance of anatomy he wrote:
"Before practicing surgery one should gain knowledge of anatomy and the function of organs so that he will understand their shape, connections and borders. He should become thoroughly familiar with nerves muscles bones arteries and veins. If one does not comprehend the anatomy and physiology one can commit a mistake which will result in the death of the patient. I have seen someone incise into a swelling in the neck thinking it was an abscess, when it was an aneurysm and the patient dying on the spot."
In "Urology", Abulcasis wrote about taking stones out of the bladder. By inventing a new instrument to crush the stone inside the bladder without the need for Surgical incision.
In "Dentistry and Orthodontics", Abulcasis had the most significant contribution out of all Muslim physicians, and his book contained the earliest illustrations of dental instruments. He was known to use gold and silver wires to ligate loosened teeth, and has been credited as the first to use re-plantation in the history of dentistry. He also invented instruments to scale the calk from the teeth, a procedure he recommended as a prevention from periodontal disease. He introduced over 200 surgical instruments, many never used before by any previous surgeons. His use of catgut for internal stitching is still practiced in modern surgery. The catgut appears to be the only natural substance capable of dissolving and is acceptable by the body. In pharmacy and pharmacology, Abulcasis pioneered the preparation of medicines by sublimation (transition from solid to gas) and distillation (concentration by removing water).
Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. He engaged in conflict with Henry II, King of England, over the rights and privileges of the Church and was murdered by followers of the king in Canterbury Cathedral. Soon after his death, he was canonized by Pope Alexander III.
Some time after Becket began his schooling, his father suffered financial reverses, and the younger Becket was forced to earn a living as a clerk. Later Becket acquired a position in the household of Theobald of Bec, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Theobald entrusted him with several important missions to Rome and also sent him to Bologna to study canon law. Theobald in 1154 named Becket Archdeacon of Canterbury. His efficiency led to Theobald recommending him to King Henry II for the vacant post of Lord Chancellor, to which Becket was appointed in 1155.
As Chancellor, Becket enforced the king's traditional sources of revenue that were exacted from all landowners, including churches and bishoprics. King Henry even sent his son to live in Becket's household, it being the custom then for noble children to be fostered out to other noble houses. The boy claimed that Becket showed him more fatherly love in a day than his father did for his entire life. In 1162, several months after the death of Theobald, Becket was nominated as Archbishop of Canterbury.
A rift grew between Henry and Becket as the new archbishop resigned his chancellorship and sought to recover and extend the rights of the archbishopric. This led to a series of conflicts with Henry, including that over the jurisdiction of secular courts over English clergymen. King Henry II presided over the assemblies of most of the higher English clergy.
He employed all his skills to induce their consent and was apparently successful with all but Becket who refused to formally sign the documents. Henry summoned Becket to appear before a great council to answer allegations of contempt of royal authority. Convicted on the charges, Becket stormed out of the trial and fled to the Continent.
Henry pursued the fugitive archbishop with a series of edicts, targeting Becket as well as all of Becket's friends and supporters, but King Louis VII of France offered Becket protection. Becket fought back by threatening excommunication and interdict against the king and bishops and the kingdom, but Pope Alexander III, though sympathizing with him in theory, favored a more diplomatic approach. Papal legates were sent in 1167 with authority to act as arbitrators. At that point, Henry offered a compromise that would allow Thomas to return to England from exile.
In 1170, the archbishop of York, along with the Bishop of London, and the Bishop of Salisbury, crowned the heir apparent, Henry the Young. This was a breach of Canterbury's privilege of coronation, and Becket excommunicated all 3. Becket continued to excommunicate his opponents in the church. Upon hearing reports of Becket's actions, Henry is said to have uttered words that were interpreted by his men as wishing Becket killed. He was sliced to pieces by some soldiers while he was praying in his cathedral.
Averroes became to be known a medieval polymath also known as “a jack of all trades”. He wrote on among other things… logic, philosophy, theology, psychology, politics, music theory, geography, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, physics, and celestial mechanics. He started a 13th-century philosophical movement in Christian and Jewish tradition named Averroism which was based on his work.
He was born in Córdoba, Spain to a family with a long and well-respected tradition of legal and public service. His grandfather was chief judge of Córdoba. His father held the same position and was a defender of Aristotelian philosophy. Although he was highly regarded as a legal scholar of Islamic law, his philosophical ideas were considered controversial in Muslim circles.
Whereas most believed that any individual act of a natural phenomenon occurred only because God willed it to happen, Averroes insisted phenomena followed natural laws that God created. He had a greater impact on Christian Europe and has been described as the founding father of secular thought in Western Europe. He became to be known as “the commentator” for his detailed comments on works of Aristotle. Latin translations of his work led the way to the popularization of Aristotle.
His first writings date from when he was 31 years old. He wrote at least 80 original works, which included 28 works on philosophy, 20 on medicine, 8 on law, 5 on theology, and 4 on grammar, in addition to his commentaries on most of Aristotle's works. His commentaries on Aristotle were the foundation for the Aristotelian revival in the 12th and 13th centuries. He proved that philosophy and revelation do not contradict each other. He claimed they were essentially different means of reaching the same truth.
In medicine, he wrote a medical encyclopedia and also made a compilation of the works of Galen, and wrote a commentary on Avicenna`s work.
In physics, he authored 3 books. He defined and measured force as the rate at which work is done in changing the kinetic condition of a material body. He argued that the effect and measure of force is the change in the kinetic condition of a mass. He took a particular and keen interest in the understanding of motor force. He developed the notion that bodies have an inherent resistance to any change to their motion. This idea in particular was adopted by Thomas Aquinas and subsequently by Johannes Kepler, who referred to this fact as "Inertia".
In optics, he claimed incorrectly that a rainbow is due to reflection, and not to refraction.
In astronomy, he argued for a strictly concentric model of the universe.
His strictly rationalist views collided with the more orthodox views and his writings were burned. He died at Marrakesh, Morocco when he was 72 years old and his body was returned to Córdoba for burial.
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Peter Waldo (1140 – 1205)
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Peter Waldo (1140 – 1205)
Peter Waldo was the founder of the Waldensians, a Christian spiritual movement of the Middle Ages who were condemned as heretics.
The Waldensians are a pre-Protestant Christian movement founded by Peter Waldo. In the era of the Reformation, the Waldensians influenced early Swiss reformers. Upon finding the ideas of other reformers similar to their own, they quickly merged into the larger Protestant movement, becoming a part of the Calvinist tradition. Waldensian teachings quickly came into conflict with the Catholic Church.
By 1215, the Waldensians were declared heretical and subject to intense persecution; the group was nearly annihilated in the 17th century and were confronted with organized and generalized discrimination in the centuries that followed. In 1487, Pope Innocent VIII issued a bull for their extermination and a crusade was started and many Waldensians fled south to Italy. In the 16th century, Waldensian leaders embraced the Protestant Reformation and joined various local Protestant regional entities. As early as 1631, Protestant scholars—and Waldensian theologians themselves—began to regard the Waldensians as early forerunners of the Reformation who had maintained the apostolic faith in the face of Catholic oppression.
Waldo was a wealthy clothier and merchant from Lyons and a man of some learning. In 1160, he openly rejected transubstantiation - the change of substance by which the bread and wine offered in the sacrifice of the sacrament of the Eucharist during the Mass, become, in reality, the body and blood of Jesus. From this point onward he began living a radical Christian life, giving his property over to his wife, while the remainder of his belongings he distributed as alms to the poor.
Waldo began to preach and teach publicly, based on his ideas of simplicity and poverty. Waldo condemned what he considered as papal excesses and Catholic dogmas, including purgatory and transubstantiation. He said that these dogmas were "the harlot" from the book of Revelation. By 1170 Waldo had gathered a large number of followers, referred to as the Poor of God. They evangelized their teaching while traveling as peddlers. The Waldensian movement was characterized from the beginning by lay preaching, voluntary poverty, and strict adherence to the Bible. Between 1175-1185 Waldo had the New Testament translated into the vernacular French and is credited with providing to Europe the first translation of the Bible in a 'modern tongue' outside of Latin.
In 1179, Waldo and one of his disciples went to Rome, where they were welcomed by Pope Alexander III and the Roman Curia. They had to explain their faith before a panel of 3 clergymen, including issues which were then debated within the Church, such as the universal priesthood, the gospel in the local language, and the issue of voluntary poverty. The results of the meeting were inconclusive but nevertheless, his ideas were condemned in the same year. Driven away from Lyons, Waldo and his followers settled in the high valleys of Piedmont, and continued in their pursuit of Christianity based on the New Testament. Waldo was excommunicated by Pope Lucius III in 1184 and declared the group's principles to be heresy.
In 1655 fearing suppression from the Church, the bulk of the populace abandoned their homes and lands in the lower valleys and moved to the upper valleys. These targets of persecution, included old men, women, little children and the sick. This eventually led to the dispersion of the Waldensians to the mountainous regions of northern Italy and to other parts of Europe and even to the Western hemisphere.
The persecutors did not simply slaughter the inhabitants, but unleashed an unprovoked campaign of looting, rape, torture, and murder. Little children were torn from the arms of their mothers, clasped by their tiny feet, and their heads dashed against the rocks; or were held between 2 soldiers and their quivering limbs torn up by main force. Their mangled bodies were then thrown on the highways or fields, to be devoured by beasts. The sick and the aged were burned alive in their dwellings. Some had their hands and arms and legs lopped off, and fire applied to the severed parts to staunch the bleeding and prolong their suffering. Some were flayed alive, some were roasted alive, some disemboweled; or tied to trees in their own orchards, and their hearts cut out. Some were horribly mutilated, and of others their brains were boiled and eaten by these cannibals. Some were fastened down into the furrows of their own fields, and ploughed into the soil as men plough manure into it. Others were buried alive.
Fathers were marched to death with the heads of their sons suspended round their necks. Parents were compelled to look on while their children were first raped, then massacred, before being themselves permitted to die. 1,700 Waldensians were slaughtered.
The massacre was so brutal it aroused indignation throughout Europe. Protestant rulers in northern Europe offered sanctuary to the remaining Waldensians. Oliver Cromwell, then ruler in England, began petitioning on behalf of the Waldensians; writing letters, raising contributions, calling a general fast in England and threatening to send military forces to the rescue. Swiss and Dutch Calvinists set up an "underground railroad" to bring many of the survivors north to Switzerland and even as far as the Dutch Republic, where the councilors of the city of Amsterdam chartered 3 ships to take some 167 Waldensians to their City Colony in the New World (Delaware) in 1656. Those that stayed behind in France and the Piedmont formed a guerilla resistance movement which lasted into the 1660s.
In 1685 Louis XIV revoked an 1598 Edict, which had guaranteed freedom of religion to his Protestant subjects in France. French troops sent into the French Waldensian areas and forced 8,000 to convert to Catholicism and another 3,000 to leave for Germany. The Waldensians put up a brave fight lasting 6 weeks, but 2,000 Waldensians were killed, another 2,000 had "accepted" the Catholic faith, 8,000 had been imprisoned, of which more than half died of deliberately imposed starvation or of sickness. 300 fled to the hills and began carrying out a guerrilla war over the next year against the Catholic settlers who arrived to take over their lands.
By 1689, with 300 Waldensian troops remaining, and cornered on a high peak by 4,000 French troops with cannons, the final assault was delayed by storm and then by cloud cover. The French commander was so confident of completing his job the next morning that he sent a message to Paris that the Waldensian force had already been destroyed. However, when the French awoke the next morning they discovered that the Waldensians had already descended from the peak during the night and were far away.
After the French Revolution in 1799, the Waldenses of Piedmont were assured liberty of conscience and, in 1848, they were granted civil rights. Enjoying religious freedom, the Waldensians began migrating outside their valleys. In 2015, Pope Francis, in the name of the Catholic Church, asked Waldensian Christians for forgiveness for their persecution. The Pope apologized for the Church's un-Christian and even inhumane positions and actions.
Waldo and his followers developed a system whereby they would go from town to town and meet secretly with small groups of Waldensians. There they would confess sins and hold service. A traveling Waldensian preacher was known as a barba. The group would shelter the barba and help make arrangements to move on to the next town in secret. Waldo was never captured and died in Germany and buried in an unmarked grave.
Luca Pacioli was an Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and a principal contributor to the field now known as accounting. He is referred to as "The Father of Accounting and Bookkeeping" in Europe and he was the first person to publish a work on the double-entry system of book-keeping on the continent.
Luca Pacioli received an education in the vernacular rather than Latin and focused on the knowledge required of merchants. He moved to Venice where he continued his own education while working as a tutor to the 3 sons of a merchant. It was during this period that he wrote his first book, a treatise on arithmetic for the boys he was tutoring. Between 1472 and 1475, he became a Franciscan friar.
He wrote a comprehensive textbook in the vernacular for his students. In 1497, he accepted an invitation to work in Milan. There he met, taught mathematics to, collaborated, and lived with Leonardo da Vinci. In 1499, Pacioli and Leonardo were forced to flee Milan when Louis XII of France seized the city and drove out their patron. Their paths appear to have finally separated around 1506.
Pacioli published several works on mathematics, including one of the first published descriptions of the bookkeeping method that Venetian merchants used during the Italian Renaissance, known as the double-entry accounting system. It is a system of bookkeeping where every entry to an account requires a corresponding entry to a different account. It has 2 equal and corresponding sides known as debit and credit. The system he published included most of the accounting cycle as we know it today. His ledger had accounts for assets or credit including receivables and inventories, liabilities, capital, income, and expenses, or debit. The account categories are reported on an organization's balance sheet and income statement, respectively. He is widely considered the "Father of Accounting". Additionally, his treatise touches on a wide range of related topics from accounting ethics to cost accounting.
Friar Luca dramatically affected the world of accounting, thereby revolutionizing the manner that business managers could oversee internal operations, enabling improved efficiency and profitability. The section on accounting was used internationally as the world's premier accounting textbook up to the mid-16th century. The essentials of double-entry accounting have for the most part remain unchanged for over 500 years. These essentials facilitated the progress of business, which includes the formation of capital market systems and modern economies, which in turn contributed to the ever-rising standards of living in nations around the globe. Accounting practitioners in public accounting, industry, and not-for-profit organizations, as well as investors, lending institutions, business firms, and all other users for financial information are indebted to Luca Pacioli for his monumental role in the development of accounting.
He also wrote a treatise on mathematics and magic. It contains the first reference to card tricks as well as guidance on how to juggle, eat fire, and make coins dance. It is the first work to note that Leonardo was left-handed. The book has been described as the "foundation of modern magic and numerical puzzles", but it was never published.
He wrote about the mathematics of the golden ratio and its application in architecture. Leonardo da Vinci drew the illustrations of the regular solids while he lived with and took mathematics lessons from Pacioli.
Tomás de Torquemada was a Castilian Dominican friar, and the first Grand Inquisitor in Spain's movement to homogenize religious practices with those of the Catholic Church in the late 15th century. His name translates into “burned tower”. Muslims and Jews in Spain at that time found it socially, politically, and economically expedient to convert to Catholicism. The existence of superficial converts was perceived by the Spanish monarchs of that time, as a threat to the religious and social life of Spain. This led Torquemada, who himself had Converso ancestors, to be one of the chief supporters of the Alhambra Decree that expelled the Jews from Spain in 1492.
Torquemada came from a family of converts from Judaism. His uncle was a celebrated theologian and cardinal, whose grandmother was Jewish. His grandparents were of the lineage of the Jews converted to the Catholic.
Torquemada entered a Dominican monastery at a very young age. Dominicans “the hounds of the lord” were renowned for their dog like dedication and protection, especially to the Pope. As a zealous advocate of church orthodoxy, he earned a solid reputation for learning, piety, and austerity. As a result, he was promoted to prior of a monastery. He met the young Princess Isabella I, and the 2 immediately established religious and ideological rapport. Torquemada served as her regular confessor and personal adviser and closest ally and supporter. He even advised her to marry King Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469, in order to consolidate their kingdoms and form a power base he could draw on for his own purposes.
The Spanish Jews were an old and established part of Spanish society holding positions in all areas even in Isabella`s and Ferdinand`s court. The inquisition had been in existence for 12 years without much progress in eradicating heresy – the practice of the old faith after converting to the new. Torquemada believed that the reason why heresy was so high were the unconverted Jews which he began to demonize. Determined to sever links between the conversos and the Jews, Torquemada decided to expel the Jews. When Isabella and Ferdinand were ready to allow the Jews to buy their right to stay in Spain, Torquemada burst into their chamber with 30 pieces of silver throwing them on the floor. He said that Judas sold Christ for 30 pieces of silver, and if the monarchs want to sell Christ again for 30 pieces of silver, they just have to pick up the coins. Isabella then issued a verdict of expulsion for all Jews that refuse to be baptized as Christians.
Torquemada deeply feared the converts as a menace to Spain's welfare by both their increasing religious influence, and their economic domination of Spain. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella petitioned the Pope to grant their request for a Holy Office to administer an inquisition in Spain. The Pope granted their request, and established the Holy Office for the Propagation of the Faith in late 1478 giving them full powers to name inquisitors. Torquemada was named Grand Inquisitor of Spain. This started a life-long career renowned for its cruelty and persecutions which only ended by his death.
In the 15 years under his direction, the Spanish Inquisition grew from the single tribunal at Seville to a network of two dozen 'Holy Offices”.As Grand Inquisitor, Torquemada spread fear thru-out Spain. His quest was to rid Spain of all heresy. He was called the hammer of heretics, the light of Spain, the savior of his country, the honor of his order. Despite the Pope`s objections to Torquemada's well known cruelty, Isabella and Ferdinand gave Torquemada full encouragement. The first offenders were to wear a garment bearing a design that specified the type of penitence. The second offense resulted in death by burning.
The Alhambra Decree in 1492 expelled 40,000 Jews from Spain with only their personal possessions. Another approximately 50,000 Jews received a Christian baptism so as to remain in Spain; many of these, derogatorily dubbed “Swines" or pigs by the Christian majority, secretly kept some of their Jewish traditions. They were one of the chief targets of the Inquisition, but it also pursued anyone who would criticize it. Torquemada was responsible for the death of 2,000 people.
After 15 years as Spain's Grand Inquisitor, Torquemada died in the monastery of St. Thomas Aquinas in 1498 which was ransacked 400 years later in 1832 when the Inquisition was finally disbanded.
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