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INQUISITION

The Inquisition was the name of two historic Roman Catholic tribunals. The first, mediaeval Inquisition was established in 1233 by Pope Gregory X in response to the spread of heretical sects, such as the Albigenses and Waldenses in northern Italy, southern France, and Germany. Judges of the Inquisition were chosen from among the Dominicans to try and judge cases of heresy, then considered intolerable by civil and ecclesiastical authorities alike. If found guilty of heresy, the heretic was turned over to secular authorities for punishment. Though burning at the stake was the ultimate penalty for unrecanted heresy, this penalty was uncommon in mediaeval times. The usual punishment was penance, fine, or imprisonment. Torture was used in the civil courts of the time and was also admitted in trials for heresy by Innocent IV in 1252, despite earlier papal denunciations of torture.

During the Catholic Reformation, the functions of the mediaeval Inquisition were assigned to the Holy Office in 1542. Called the Roman Inquisition, it was active against Protestantism and heard charges of heresy against Galileo in what became a famous trial. Its typical function in modern times was the examination of theological writings. The Holy Office was replaced by the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1965. The Spanish Inquisition was a quasi- ecclesiastical tribunal established in 1478 by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella primarily to examine converted Jews, and later converted Muslims, and punish those who were insincere in the conversion.

Pope Sixtus IV reluctantly approved the Spanish Inquisition, which was largely controlled by the Spanish monarchs. The Grand Inquisitor was always a Dominican, however, and the first and most notorious was T. de Torquemada. The Spanish Inquisition was much harsher than the mediaeval Inquisition and the death penalty was more often exacted, sometimes in mass autos-da-fe. It judged cases of bigamy, seduction, usury, and other crimes, and was active in Spain and her colonies. Estimates of its victims vary widely, ranging from less than 4,000 to more than 30,000 during its existence. By the 17th century the harshness of the Inquisition was greatly reduced and it was abolished altogether in 1834.
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