Note 481 — Chapter IV · ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INQUISITION.
Reading edition
Folch de Cardona, in the Consulta of the Suprema to Philip V, July 18, 1703, states that the earliest bull in the archives was one of Sixtus IV in 1483 appointing Torquemada inquisitor-general with power to deputize inquisitors and to hear cases in the first instance. It was not till 1486 that Innocent VIII granted him appellate jurisdiction.—Bibl. Nacional, Seccion de MSS., G, 61, fol. 199.
The title of Inquisitor-general was not immediately invented. In a sentence pronounced at Ciudad-Real, March 15, 1485, Torquemada is styled simply “juez principal ynquisidor.”—Arch. Hist. Nac. Inq. de Toledo, Legajo 165, n. 551.