TOWIE star Mark Wright fought back tears on BBC1’s Who Do You Think You Are? after learning an ancestor was burnt at the stake for being Jewish.
His nine-times great grandfather, David Antonio de Mendoza, was arrested by the Spanish Inquisition in 1696 accused of secretly practising his religion.
The 36-year-old was tortured for two years in Seville using methods including the toca – an early waterboarding.
He fled Spain for Amsterdam, living with his wife and children as practising Jews.
But for reasons that are unclear, his nephew Miguel risked returning to Spain – and did not live to tell the tale.
Mark, 32, is handed a list which contains Miguel’s name underneath the heading “Pessoas Relaxadas Em Carne”, meaning people who were burnt at the stake.
He says: “How is it possible for human beings to do this to other human beings because of a religion?”
The Inquisition began in 1478, forcing hundreds of thousands of Jews and Muslims in Spain to convert to Catholicism or leave.
Those who converted – conversos – were often suspected of practising their former faith in secret and burnt in front of crowds.
Between 3,000 and 5,000 are believed to have died.
Mark, whose wife Michelle Keegan appeared on the BBC genealogy show last year, says: “I can’t help but feel angry at the whole Inquisition – angry for my family, my ancestors, that they had to go through that because they followed a religion.
“So what? They weren’t hurting anybody. It’s been a real eye-opener.”
The TV star becomes choked as he looks forward to telling his grandfather what he has found out.
Fighting tears, he says: “The fact that I’m going to be able to tell him everything that I now know, before it’s too late, it feels good.”
