spanish inquisition

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
Spanish Inquisition
    n 1: an inquisition initiated in 1478 by King Ferdinand and
         Queen Isabella that guarded the orthodoxy of Catholicism in
         Spain (especially from the 15th to the 17th centuries);
         "the Spanish Inquisition was administered by both civil and
         church authorities which gave it ultimate power";
         "Torquemada was the inquisitor general for the Spanish
         Inquisition"