The Inquisition

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The Inquisition

• Looking into the Human Soul

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Definition

1. A formal tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church
   created to discover and suppress heresy
2. A severe interrogation (often violating the
   rights or privacy of individuals)

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The Church in Medieval Europe

• By 1200, Catholicism had been dominant religion
  in Europe for 800 years
• In most of Europe, the pope was the undisputed
  religious leader
• Heresy wasnt much of a problem
• Church tolerated small groups with opposing views
• Others were suppressed

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Challenge to Church

• In 1100s, thousands began following Catharism
• They believed they were true Christians and the
  Catholic Church was false
• Many dukes and local leaders in France protected
  the Cathars
• This new religion attracted large s
• Threatened pope and French government

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Crusade Against Cathars

• 1209, Pope Innocent III declared a Crusade
  against the Cathars
• This led to a long war b/w Northern and Southern
  French nobles
• North won, but many thousands of people remained
  secret Cathars
• Chruch leaders felt something stronger needed to
  be done

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The Coming of the Inquisition

• 1232, Pope Gregory IX decided to end this heresy
  once and for all.
• He set up a system of special courts called the
  Inquisition.
• Gregory authorized the leaders of the Dominican
  religious order to send out friars to find and
  question heretics.

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Purpose

• Bernard Gui, a French inquisitioner described the
  purpose of the Inquisition thus
• Heresy cannot be destroyed unless heretics are
  destroyed and . . . their defenders and
  supporters are destroyed, and this is effected
  in two ways . . . they are converted to the true
  Catholic faith, or . . . burned.

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Procedure

• When the Inquisition arrived in town, townspeople
  would gather in a public place
• Failure to show suspicion
• Anyone could denounce self for a light punishment
• They would also have to inform on other heretics
• Other people faced forced interrogation

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Sample Inquisition Trial
The inquisition has come to town. Everyone
gather together to confess your crimes!
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The Trial

• Generally favored prosecution (Church)
• Lawyers were allowed, but seldom used
• Closed trials
• Defendant allowed to confess (but seldom knew
  charges)
• Defendant didnt have right to face accuser
• Testimony was taken from all sorts

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Defendants Rights

• Defendants named those with mortal hatred
  against them.
• If the accused was named, the defendant was
  released.
• The accuser faced a life sentence.
• This was meant to keep the Inquisition out of
  local grudges.

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Torture

• Used after 1252
• A confession under torture was not admissable in
  court
• The inquisitor could threaten torture
• Torture was common in medieval judicial system
• Torture used by Inquisition was mild in comparison

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Torture

• Forbidden to use methods that resulted in
  bloodshed, mutilation or death
• One of the more common forms of medieval
  inquisition torture was known as strappado.
• The hands were bound behind the back with a rope,
  and the accused was suspended this way,
  dislocating the joints painfully in both arms.
• Weights could be added to the legs dislocating
  those joints as well.

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Strappado
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Another Torture Method the Rack
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Punishment

• Long pilgrimage for first offenders
• Wearing a yellow cross for life
• Confiscation of property
• Banishment
• Public recantation
• Long-term imprisonment

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Punishment

• Burning at the stake was only for the most
  serious cases, including repeat offenders and
  unrepentant heretics.
• Execution was done not by the Church, which was
  forbidden to kill, but by secular officials.

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Punishment

• The inquisitors generally preferred to persuade
  the heretic to repent.
• They wanted to be perceived as merciful, and they
  generally preferred to keep defendants alive in
  hopes of obtaining confessions.
• Bernard Gui executed 42 people out of over 900
  guilty verdicts in fifteen years of office.
• Execution was to admit defeat, that the Church
  was unable to save a soul from heresy, which was
  the goal of the Inquisition.

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No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!
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Spanish Inquisition

• Founded 1478 under Ferdinand Isabella
• Thousands of Jews Muslims had settled in Spain
• Theyd been forced to convert to Christianity to
  participate in business and government
• These conversos made up a large portion of the
  wealthy and influential

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Spanish Inquisition

• Much anti-Semitism in Spain
• Rumors spread that conversos continued to
  practice Judaism
• Anti-conversos riots erupted
• This upset the finally-united Spain
• Ferdinand and Isabella took action

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Spanish Inquisition

• Didnt attack rioters
• They attacked the conversos
• Pope Sixtus IV gave permission for them to set up
  their own Inquisition
• Tomas de Torquemada, Dominican friar, appointed
  Inquisitor General

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Tomas de Torquemada
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The Spanish Inquisitor-General
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Spanish Inquisition

• Ferocious in dealing with heretics
• Within 10 years, 2,000 people had been burned at
  the stake
• Another 15,000 suffered other penalties
• Even the auto-da-fe was horrendous

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Auto-da-fe

• Act of faith
• Final public ceremony of Spanish Inquisition
• Crowds gathered in public square
• A bishop called out names of condemned
• Heretics led out, wearing black robes with red
  demons and flames
• They were tied to the stakes

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Auto-da-fe

• A priest would ask if theyd given up their
  heresy to the church
• Anyone who repented would be strangled to death
• The others were burned
• Their screams mingled with the crowds cheers

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Spanish Inquisition Ends

• In 1492, Ferdinand Isabella expelled all Jews
  who refused to convert
• This paralyzed Spanish commerce
• 100 years later, same resentment and fury turned
  toward Muslims
• Spain never recovered as a commercial power

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? The Inquisition ?
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Protestant Reformation

• In the 1500s, the Pope tried to use the
  Inquisition against the growing Protestant
  movement
• Unsuccessful
• Protestants had government allies
• They were therefore protected
• A single Europe had come apart

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Inquisition Peters Out

• The Inquisition began as an attack on a few sects
  of heretics
• 300 years later, it could no longer hold Europe
  together
• Religious and national wars were to last
  centuries and take hundreds of thousands of lives

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Galileo

• Galileo's belief in the Copernican System
  eventually got him into trouble with the Catholic
  Church.
• A committee of consultants declared to the
  Inquisition that the Copernican proposition that
  the Sun is the center of the universe was a
  heresy.
• Because Galileo supported the Copernican system,
  he was warned that he should not discuss or
  defend Copernican theories.

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Galileo

• In 1624, Galileo was assured by Pope Urban VIII
  that he could write about Copernican theory as
  long as he treated it as a mathematical
  proposition. However, with the printing of
  Galileo's book, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief
  World Systems, Galileo was called to Rome in 1633
  to face the Inquisition again.
• Galileo was ordered to stand trial on suspicion
  of heresy in 1633.

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Galileos Sentence

• Galileo was required to recant his heliocentric
  ideas, which were condemned as formally
  heretical.
• He was ordered imprisoned the sentence was later
  commuted to house arrest.
• His offending Dialogue was banned and in an
  action not announced at the trial, publication of
  any of his works was forbidden, including any he
  might write in the future.

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The Inquisition