Did Wikipedia remove the word "terror" from the Black Legend of the Spanish Inquisition article?

Yes. "terror" appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 2. We saved the article's opening paragraph at 4 moments between 2015 and 2025, and the counts come from those saved copies.

When did the Black Legend of the Spanish Inquisition article stop using the word "terror"?

The word appeared 1 times in the opening at its peak in 2015. It is absent from today's opening, the part search engines quote and AI systems train on, checked against the live article on 2026-08-02.

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What did Wikipedia remove from the Black Legend of the Spanish Inquisition article?

The opening as it read in 2015

Black Legend of the Spanish Inquisition is a term used by authors who consider the existence of a romanticized or exaggerated image of the Spanish Inquisition as the epitome of terror and human barbarity.¹ As such, it is a part of the Spanish Black Legend and one of its most recurrent themes. Peters defines it as: a body of myths and legends that between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries, established the perceived character of inquisitorial tribunals that have influenced all subsequent attempts to recover the historical reality.² Henry Kamen: Persistent employment of the [Black Legend] label for ideological ends in order to rebut any criticism of Spain's imperial record has made it both unsuitable to use and inaccurate. In any case many of Spain's actions ... were all too real and no "legend".³ At all times, imperial nations tend to suffer ... in the arena of public opinion, and Spain was no exception, becoming the first victim of a long tradition of polemic that picked on the Inquisition as the most salient point of attack.⁴

This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 667124655.

The opening as it stood in 2020 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear

The Black Legend of the Spanish Inquisition is the hypothesis of the existence of a series of myths and fabrications about the Spanish Inquisition used as propaganda against the Spanish Empire in a time of strong military, commercial and political rivalry between European powers, starting in the 16th century. The propaganda depicts the inquisition as the epitome of human barbarity with fantastic scenes of tortures, witch hunting and evil friars. As such, it is a part of the Spanish Black Legend propaganda, as well as of Anti-Catholic propaganda , and one of its most recurrent themes. Historian Edward Peters defines it as: a body of myths and legends that between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries, established the perceived character of inquisitorial tribunals that have influenced all subsequent attempts to recover the historical reality. Henry Kamen : At all times, imperial nations tend to suffer ... in the arena of public opinion, and Spain was no exception, becoming the first victim of a long tradition of polemic that picked on the Inquisition as the most salient point of attack.

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 956753693.

The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear

The Black Legend of the Spanish Inquisition is the hypothesis of the existence of a series of myths and fabrications about the Spanish Inquisition used as propaganda against the Spanish Empire in a time of strong military, commercial and political rivalry between European powers, starting in the 16th century. According to its advocates, Protestant Revolutionary propaganda depicted inquisitions of Catholic monarchs as the epitome of human barbarity with fantastic scenes of tortures, witch hunting and evil friars. Proponents of the theory see it as part of the Spanish Black Legend propaganda, as well as of Anti-Catholic propaganda , and one of the most recurrent Black Legend themes.

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1175582094.

The opening as it stood in 2025

Theory on propaganda during 16th century event This article is about the black legend concerning the Spanish inquisition. The Black Legend of the Spanish Inquisition is the hypothesis of the existence of a series of myths and fabrications about the Spanish Inquisition used as propaganda against the Spanish Empire in a time of strong military, commercial and political rivalry between European powers, starting in the 16th century. According to its advocates, Protestant propaganda depicted inquisitions of Catholic monarchs as the epitome of human barbarity with fantastic scenes of torture , witch hunting , and evil friars . Proponents of the theory see it as part of the Spanish Black Legend propaganda, as well as of anti-Catholic propaganda , and one of the most recurrent black legend themes.

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1295294875. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.

Black Legend of the Spanish Inquisition

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