Inquisition is an institution of Roman Catholic Church created to discover and suppress heresy. It is a kind of court, judicature, tribunal (an assembly) including one or more judges to conduct judicial business.
Definition heresy: The right Christian faith consists in giving one's voluntary assent to Christ in all that truly belongs to His teaching. There are two ways of deviating from Christianity:
- One by refusing to believe in Christ Himself, which is the way of infidelity, common to Pagans and Jews and Muslims.
- The other by restricting belief to certain points of Christ's doctrine selected and fashioned at pleasure, which is the way of heretics.
Faith by definition is the heap of truths revealed in Scripture and Tradition as proposed to our belief by the Church. The believer accepts the whole deposit as proposed by the Church.
An inquisitorial system is a legal system where the court or a part of the court is actively involved in investigating the facts of the case, as opposed to an adversarial system where the role of the court is primarily that of an impartial referee between the prosecution and the defense. In this legal process, a magistrate, usually a professional jurist is assigned to investigate an allegation of criminality by calling for witnesses and collecting evidence. Once he has done this, he can decide whether or not there is sufficient evidence to bring a suspect to trial. The trial is conducted in the appropriate court for the crime with the magistrate usually acting as prosecutor.
The 1578 handbook for inquisitors spelled out the purpose of inquisitorial penalties ” ... for punishment does not take place primarily and per se for the correction and good of the person punished, but for the public good in order that others may become terrified and weaned away from the evils they would commit".
Christian pastors invariably became Inquisitors. The desire for confessions was in great part not motivated by the need for convictions for which other evidence could always be found, but rather because of what inquisitors saw as their pastoral duty. They wanted the accused to confess so that they could also receive absolution for their sins. On the other hand, unless someone was caught red handed, a confession was necessary for a capital conviction. So no matter how good the circumstantial evidence a confession was sometimes necessary for a conviction.
It was possible to appeal from the inquisitor’s tribunal in principle, but in practice, that was most unlikely. There were several rules to forbid appeal under certain circumstances and it was not always easy to get it heard. Appeals were given only to Catholics, other Christians and to those who were very close to the Church.
Convicts were to show repentance whom the Inquisition had convicted. This involved a public confession, the reading of sentence. This was called as Auto de fe (Act of faith). Those who were to be executed were then handed over to the secular wing. Their burning took place immediately in full public view, which drew huge crowds. For this reason, the auto de fe has become synonymous with the public burning of heretics.
Torturing methods were supposed to be used to extract confessions and evidence of heresy. Torture during inquisition was not intended as punishment. However, it was not uncommon that accused died during inquisition due to torture. Although, the Inquisition was a method of dealing with the heretics, it was also conveniently applied to the Infidels. The Inquisition prosecuted non-converts who broke prohibitions against the observance of Hindu or Muslim rites or interfered with Christian attempts to convert non-Christians to Christianity. Thus, inquisition and the associated torture were applied to any one who differed with the Church. The Inquisition had a rule that they were only allowed to use torture once; however, they were able to 'suspend' sessions and resume them the following day, so that this rule was effectively negated.
Inquisitor appointment
Cases of heresy were tried before the court of the local Bishop with appeal to Rome, but in some areas it was felt that back up were required. Consequently, inquisitors were appointed by the pope to carry out independent investigations as a second front. The inquisitor was usually a member of one of the mendicant orders, either a Franciscan or a Dominican monk who did not have any special powers except those already enjoyed by the local bishop. However, it is likely that they held considerable moral authority as they were educated men with a mandate from Rome that would have helped ensure co-operation.
Christian pastors invariably became Inquisitors. The desire for confessions was in great part not motivated by the need for convictions for which other evidence could always be found, but rather because of what inquisitors saw as their pastoral duty. They wanted the accused to confess so that they could also receive absolution for their sins. On the other hand, unless someone was caught red handed, a confession was necessary for a capital conviction. So no matter how good the circumstantial evidence a confession was sometimes necessary for a conviction.
It was possible to appeal from the inquisitor’s tribunal in principle, but in practice, that was most unlikely. There were several rules to forbid appeal under certain circumstances and it was not always easy to get it heard. Appeals were given only to Catholics, other Christians and to those who were very close to the Church.
Convicts were to show repentance whom the Inquisition had convicted. This involved a public confession, the reading of sentence. This was called as Auto de Fe (Act of faith). Those who were to be executed were then handed over to the secular wing. Their burning took place immediately in full public view, which drew huge crowds. For this reason, the auto de Fe has become synonymous with the public burning of heretics.
Punishments for heresy
Inquisitors were allowed to use torture. Torture was used during for three reasons:
- To Force confessions or secret information from those accused.
- To discourage dissent and intellectual freedom
- To Persuade Jews, Muslims, and other non-believers to accept Christianity.
The most common means of torture included burning, beating and suffocating, however the techniques below are some of the most extravagant. Torture can include anything used to bring upon physical or mental pain. Few people criticized the inquisition and the actions of the church but it slowly died down during the 1500's.
A few methods adopted to torture are mentioned below.
Wooden wedges were forced underneath the toenails to help urge a confession from the criminal. The toenails often became infected and other tortures were applied if this was not enough for confession.
This scissor type instrument was used to slice the tongue up after the victims mouth was forced open
The copper boot was placed around the foot of the victim and filled to the brim with molten lead causing first degree burns.
The sprinkler was filled with molten metal and dripped on the stomach, back, and other body parts of the victim.
During the water torture, the victim’s nostrils were pinched shut and fluid was poured down his throat. Instead of water, sometimes vinegar, urine, or urine and a combination of diarrhea were forced down the throat.
The thumbscrew was simple placed on the thumb and tighten until it crushed the thumb. The tool was also used on toes.
The victim was placed on the Spanish donkey and then had extremely heavy weights tied to his or her legs until the force was so great that it destroyed the area between the legs.
The Foot Press slowly squeezed the naked foot between the iron plates lined with sharp spikes to crush the bones of the foot.
The Scottish Boot was placed around the ankle of the victim and then wedges were forced into the ankle.
The name breast ripper explains itself.
The pear was a metal object that is shoved inside the mouth anal cavity and vagina. Once in place the screw at the end was turned and the pear opened up inside the cavity. This caused much damage and lead to death.
The victim was bound on an oblong wooden frame with a roller at each end. If the victim refused to answer questions, the rollers were turned until the victim's joints were pulled out of their sockets.
The branks were a mask that had a metal piece that goes in your mouth. The mouth piece has spikes on it, which makes the victim unable to talk.
The Juda Cradle is a horrible torture. The victim is hung above a cone pyramid type object and then is lowered upon it. The sharp tip of the cone or pyramid is forced into the area between the legs
The death penalty was imposed on cases of unrepentant heretics or those found guilty of relapsing. A death sentence could also be imposed in absentia when the accused had fled as it was assumed in such cases that they were unrepentant.
Typical instances of Inquisition
Against other Christian groups
Attention of Inquisitors was devoted to clearing up the Cathars in the aftermath of the Albigensian crusade and then hunting down the Beguins and spiritual Fransicans after these groups were condemned by Pope John XXII. There is a famous story of a pair inquisitors leaving England in disgust at the lack of qualified torturers. In Britain, several Lollards were burnt in the fourteenth century and Mary I (r. 1553 - 58) burnt nearly three hundred Protestants. The last execution for heresy in England was not until 1612, while Thomas Aikenhead was hanged for blasphemy in Scotland as late as 1697. Hindus were tortured in Goa, India, by missionaries for decades under this system. American natives were destroyed by European invaders using newer methods of torture by Inquisitors.
In 1522 Charles V, as part of his campaign on behalf of Catholicism, set up a special tribunal in the Spanish Netherlands to try and hold back the tide of Protestantism. It was variously reformed by his son Phillip II and is thought to have been responsible for about 2,000 executions in the period up until the Dutch Revolt in 1572.
Spanish inquisition from 1483 until 1498 was at its bloodiest with an estimated two thousand executions up to 1504. Most of the victims were converted Christians whose faltering allegiance was seen as making them dangerous to the regime and who were also subject to racist anti-Semitism. Spanish Inquisition executed about 700 people between 1540 and 1700 out of a total of 49,000 cases. It is also reckoned that they probably killed about two thousand during the first fifty years of operation when persecution against Jews and Moslems was at its most severe. This would give a total figure of around 5,000 for the entire three hundred year period of its operation.
Against Jews and Muslims
Islamic Granada and much of the rest of Spain in the late middle Ages was ruled by Christians. During this period, resentment against Jews and Moslems grew. Most of the Muslims fled to North Africa, but this was less of an option for Jews who found themselves subject to widespread anti-Semitism. Many converted to Christianity but this merely changed prejudice against them from religious to racial and raised the problem of those who had only pretended to convert while continuing to practice their old faith behind closed doors. The Spanish Inquisition was formed to ensure that these converted stayed converted but swiftly moved on to other areas rather than restricting itself to converted Jews.
Against Scientists and Artists
Bruno was first picked up by the Venetian Inquisition who handed him over to the Roman Inquisition. The reasons for Bruno’s condemnation as a relapsed heretic are not entirely clear. Lack of records is attributed to looting of records of the Holy Office during the Napoleonic Wars.
Galileo was found vehemently suspect of heresy, namely of having held the opinions that the Sun lies motionless at the centre of the universe, that the Earth is not at its centre and moves, and that one may hold and defend an opinion as probable after it has been declared contrary to Holy Scripture. He was sentenced to formal imprisonment at the pleasure of the Inquisition. On the following day this was commuted to house arrest, which he remained under for the rest of his life. 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.
Galileo was found vehemently suspect of heresy, namely of having held the opinions that the Sun lies motionless at the centre of the universe, that the Earth is not at its centre and moves, and that one may hold and defend an opinion as probable after it has been declared contrary to Holy Scripture. He was sentenced to formal imprisonment at the pleasure of the Inquisition. On the following day this was commuted to house arrest, which he remained under for the rest of his life. 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.
