Torquemada is a municipality in the

province of Palencia Palencia is a Provinces of Spain, province of northern Spain, in the northern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Castile and León in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It is bordered by the provi ...

, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2010

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

(

INE INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center * Instituto Nacional de Estadística (disambiguation) * Instituto Nacional de Estatística (disambiguation) * Instituto Nacional Elec ...

), the municipality had a population of 1098 inhabitants. It is the namesake and believed to be the birthplace of famed

Grand Inquisitor Grand Inquisitor ( la, Inquisitor Generalis, literally ''Inquisitor General'' or ''General Inquisitor'') was the lead official of the Inquisition. The title usually refers to the chief inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition, even after the reuni ...

Tomas de Torquemada Tomas may refer to: People * Tomás (given name), a Spanish, Portuguese, and Gaelic given name * Tomas (given name), a Swedish, Dutch, and Lithuanian given name * Tomáš, a Czech and Slovak given name * Tomas (surname), a French and Croatian su ...

. The village is known for its

peppers Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

, an important crop for the local economy.

Etymology

The village name came from a Spanish corruption of the Latin ''turris cremata'' "burnt tower".

Curiosities and historical data

The Infanta Catalina was born here on January 14, 1507. She was the daughter of Queen

Juana of Castile Joanna (6 November 1479 – 12 April 1555), historically known as Joanna the Mad ( es, link=no, Juana la Loca), was the nominal Queen of Castile from 1504 and Queen of Aragon from 1516 to her death in 1555. She was married by arrangement to Phi ...

and Felipe of Habsburg. After Felipe's death, his remains rested here for a period of 3 months. In this village is the home of the writer José Zorrilla y Moral, author of " Don Juan Tenorio", traditionally performed every year on

All Saints Day All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the church, whether they are kno ...

. There is a plaque in Zorrilla's memory, located in front of his summer residence. In the summer of 2007, the " Ruta Quetzal" passed by here, in honor of the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Infanta Catalina.

References

Municipalities in the Province of Palencia {{Palencia-geo-stub