It is estimated that between 150,000 and 200,000 Jews were executed for heresy in the
Inquisition.
More like 3,000.
"....the Spanish Inquisition, in spite of wildly inflated estimates of the numbers of its victims, acted with considerable restraint in
inflicting the death penalty, far more restraint than was demonstrated in secular tribunals elsewhere in Europe that
dealt with the same kinds of offenses. The best estimate is that around 3000 death sentences were carried out in Spain by
Inquisitorial verdict between 1550 and 1800, a far smaller number than that in comparable secular courts." (Peters, page 87,
emphasis added)
Only a small percentage of those convicted were executed -- at most one or two percent in a given region. Many more were sentenced to life in prison,
but this was often commuted after a few years. The most common punishment was some form of public penance.
(7) The dreaded Spanish Inquisition in particular has been grossly exaggerated. It did not persecute millions of people, as is often claimed, but
approximately 44,000 between 1540 and 1700, of whom less than two percent were executed.
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