2. What Is An Inquisition?
1. A formal tribunal of the Roman Catholic
Church created to discover and suppress heresy
1. Heresy: Any opinion or belief that is or is
thought to be contrary to official or
established theory of the Catholic Church
2. A severe interrogation (often violating the
rights or privacy of individuals)
3. 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 wasn’t much of a
problem
The Church actually tolerated
small groups with opposing
views
Others were suppressed
4. A New Challenge to Church
In the 1100’s, thousands began following Catharism
Catharism: A rigorously ascetic Christian sects maintaining a
dualistic theology which stated that the material world was evil
and only the spiritual was good
They believed they were true Christians and that the
Catholic Church was false
Many dukes and local leaders in France protected the
Cathars
This new religion attracted large numbers of converts
This, in turn, threatened the Pope and the French
government
5. A Crusade Against Cathars
In 1209, Pope Innocent III declared a Crusade
against the Cathars
This led to a long war between Northern and
Southern French nobles
The North won, but many thousands of people
remained secret Cathars
Consequently, Church leaders felt something
stronger needed to be done
6. The Coming of the Inquisition
In 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.
7. The Inquisition’s Purpose
Bernard Gui, a French inquisitioner described the
purpose of the Inquisition thusly:
“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.”
8. Inquisitional Procedure
When the Inquisition arrived in town, townspeople
would gather in a public place
Failure to show immediately placed one under
suspicion
Anyone could denounce him or herself for a light
punishment
They would also have to inform on other heretics
Other people faced forced interrogation
10. The Inquisitional Trial
The Church generally favored prosecution – Why?
Lawyers were allowed to defend the accused, but seldom
used
Unlike modern criminal trials, these were closed trials
Defendant were allowed to confess (but seldom knew the
charges to which they were confessing)
The Defendant didn’t have the right to face his or her
accuser
Prosecutorial testimony was taken from all sorts
11. Defendants’ Rights: A Loophole!
Defendants named those with “mortal hatred”
against them.
If the accuser was named, the defendant was
released.
The accuser faced a life sentence.
This was meant to keep the Inquisition out of
local grudges.
12. Inquisitional Torture
Torture was not used until after 1252
A confession under torture was not admissible in
court
The inquisitor could, however, threaten torture
Ironically, torture was common in the medieval
judicial system
Torture methods used by the Inquisition was mild
in comparison
13. Inquisitional Torture
Torturers were 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.
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.
16. Punishment
A long pilgrimage was assigned to first offenders
Pilgrimages: Journeys made to some place with the purpose
of venerating it, or in order to ask there for supernatural aid,
or to discharge some religious obligation.
Others were sentenced to wearing a yellow cross for life
The Church could also order the confiscation of property
Banishment was another punishment for the convicted
Still more were forced to publicly recant their heresy
Long-term imprisonment was a finally (expensive) solution for
the Church
17. A Final, Grisly Punishment
Burning at the stake was
only for the most serious
cases, including repeat
offenders and unrepentant
heretics.
Execution was carried out
not by the Church, which
was forbidden to kill, but
by secular officials.
18. Punishment in the Inquisition
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.
19. The Spanish Inquisition
The Spanish Inquisition began
in 1478 under King Ferdinand
& Queen Isabella
Around that time, thousands of
Jews & Muslims had settled in
Spain
They’d been forced to convert
to Christianity to participate in
business and government
These conversos made up a
large portion of the wealthy
and influential
20. The Spanish Inquisition
The wealth of these groups led to much
resentment and Anti-Semitism in Spain
Rumors then began spread that conversos
continued to practice Judaism
Anti-converso riots erupted across the nation
This upset the just-united Spain
Alarmed by this unrest, King Ferdinand &
Queen Isabella took action
22. Spanish Inquisition
The Spanish government didn’t attack rioters
Instead, they attacked the conversos!
Pope Sixtus IV gave Ferdinand & Isabella
permission to set up their own Inquisition in
Spain
Tomas de Torquemada, a Dominican friar, was
appointed Inquisitor General
24. Spanish Inquisition
The Spanish Inquisition was ferocious in
dealing with heretics
Within 10 years of its advent, 2,000
people had been burned at the stake
Another 15,000 suffered other penalties
Even the auto-da-fe was horrendous
25. Auto-Da-Fe
It can be translated as “Act of faith”
It was the final public ceremony of Spanish
Inquisition
Crowds gathered in a public square
A bishop called out names of the condemned
Then, heretics led out, wearing black robes with red
demons and flames
Next, they were tied to stakes in the square
26. Auto-Da-Fe
A priest would ask if they’d given up their
heresy to the church
Anyone who repented would be strangled
to death
The others were burned
Their screams mingled with the crowd’s
cheers
27. Spanish Inquisition Ends
In 1492, Ferdinand & Isabella expelled all
Jews who refused to convert
This paralyzed Spanish commerce
100 years later, the same resentment and fury
turned toward Muslims
As a result, Spain never recovered as a
commercial power
29. Protestant Reformation
In the 1500’s, the Pope tried to use the
Inquisition against the growing Protestant
(Lutheran & Calvinist) movements, but was
unsuccessful
The Protestants had government allies; they were
therefore protected
A single, Catholic Europe had come apart
30. The 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
31. The Controversy of Galileo Galilei
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.
32. The Controversy of Galileo Galilei
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.
33. Galileo’s 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.
