Which city was home to the first Inquisition tribunal?

The city of Seville was home to the first tribunal of the Spanish Inquisition. The tribunal was established in the early 1480s after Pope Sixtus IV authorized a new inquisitorial institution in 1478 at the request of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile.

Seville was chosen because authorities believed Andalusia contained a significant population of Jewish converts to Christianity who were secretly continuing Jewish religious practices. The tribunal’s first recorded auto-da-fé occurred there in 1481, when six people were burned alive after being condemned as false converts.

The Seville court became the starting point for a much broader network. Tribunals were soon established in Córdoba, Zaragoza, Valencia, Toledo, and other cities. Granada was not among the earliest tribunals, Madrid’s tribunal was created much later, and Toledo’s court was established after Seville. The city is therefore the canonical answer for the first tribunal of the Spanish Inquisition.