Flesh Inferno: Atrocities of Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition

by Simon Whitechapel

The Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478 to root out and destroy heretics against Catholicism. Tomas Torquemada, a Dominican Friar, was single-handedly responsible for engineering and implementing some of the cruellest forms of torture the world has ever known. This full-bloodied biographical account of Torquemada offers a no-holds-barred look at what really went on during the Spanish Inquisition, one of the most inhumane periods in history. The sequel to Divine Carnage . Simon Whitechapel is also the author of Kamp Kulture (Creation, Aug '03) ?

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2002

Reviews

[yórgos]

επιδερμική έρευνα για τον τορκεμάδα και την ιερά εξέταση που πλατειάζει αρκετά με αναφορές μονάχα από 2-3 βιβλία (κάποια απολογητών της ιεράς εξέτασης περασμένων δεκαετιών) και καθολικών σάιτς.

[Liam Ostermann]

Simon Whitechapel has a catalogue of publications with names like 'Kamp Kulture: A History of Nazi Exploitation' - which brings a wide range of material together for the first time to formulate a study of repulsive Nazi and Holocaust exploitation in books, films, comics and video games and 'Intense Device: A Journey through Lust, Murder & the Fires of Hell' - about Dildos through the ages, the life and crimes of the Marquis de Sade, the literary twilight that is the TV & movie tie-in, the Christian Crusader comics of Jack T Chick, visions of End Times - I could go on but I am afraid I will simply provide publicity for his silly books.

Mr. Whitechapel specialises in history as outrage from the back of this book '...(it reveals) the Catholic Inquisition's historical position as a prototype of such genocidal movements as Nazism' but the problem with this sort of tosch is that it forces one to provide context and nuance and before you know it you are defending both the Catholic Church and the Inquisition - something I have no interest in doing but I find a recapitulation of various 'Black Legends' annoying. The Inquisition did terrible things but they weren't Nazis or even proto Nazis.

I would heartily agree with those Academic and Professional Critiques which point out the book's lack of scholarly rigour making it “difficult for professional historians to take seriously” particularly because of the author's tendency to make sweeping generalisations, such as a “constant conflation of anti-Semitism throughout the centuries of European history—medieval, early modern, and modern.” He also makes questionable speculative assessments such as attributing Torquemada's behaviour to “ ‘oldest child syndrome’ ” based on simplistic encyclopedic references.

You might as well read the Wikipedia entry on the Inquisition - at least that would refer you to more reliable sources. I heartily recommend the following for more on
Torquemada: https://asphs.net/wp-content/uploads/...

[Michael]

Lurid, with abundant primary sources. Unabashedly partisan throughout. Thoroughly enjoyable for the strong-stomached.