TORQUEMADA, Juan de (1388-1468), or rather Johannes de Turrecremata, cardinal, was born at Valladolid in 1388, and at an early age joined the Dominican order, early distinguishing himself for learning and devotion. In 1415 he accompanied the general of his order to the council of Constance, whence he proceeded to Paris for study, and took his doctor’s degree in 1423. After teaching for some time in Paris, he became prior of the Dominican house first in Valladolid and then in Toledo. In 1431 Pope Eugenius IV. called him to Rome and made him “magister sancti palatii.” At the council of Basel he was one of the ablest and most prominent supporters of the view of the Roman curia, and he was rewarded with a cardinal’s hat in 1439. He died in 1468.

His principal works are Zn Gratiani Decretum Commentarii, 4 vols., Venice, 1578; Expositio Brevis et Utilis super Toto Psalterio, Mainz, 1474; Quaestiones Spirituales super Evangelia Totius Anni, Brixen, 1498; Summa Ecclesiastica, Salamanca, 1550. The last-named work has the following topics :—(1) De Universa Ecclesia; (2) De Ecclesia Romana et Pontificis Primatu; (3) De Universalibus Conciliis; (4) De Schismaticis et Haereticis.

TORQUEMADA, Tomas de, inquisitor-general for Castile and Leon, was born early in the 15th century, and died in 1498. When called to the work with which his name is so unenviably associated he was prior of the Dominican house in Segovia. See Inquisition.