Transcript The Inquisition

The Inquisition
Looking into the Human Soul
Definition
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A formal tribunal of the Roman
Catholic Church created to
discover and suppress heresy
A severe interrogation (often
violating the rights or privacy of
individuals)
The Church in Medieval Europe
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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
Church tolerated small groups with
opposing views
Others were suppressed
Challenge to Church
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In 1100’s, 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
Crusade Against Cathars
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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
The Coming of the Inquisition
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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.
Purpose
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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.”
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!
The Trial
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Generally favored prosecution (Church)
Lawyers were allowed, but seldom used
Closed trials
Defendant allowed to confess (but seldom
knew charges)
Defendant didn’t have right to face
accuser
Testimony was taken from all sorts
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
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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
Torture
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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.
Strappado
Another Torture Method – the Rack
Punishment
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Long pilgrimage for first offenders
Wearing a yellow cross for life
Confiscation of property
Banishment
Public recantation
Long-term imprisonment
Punishment
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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.
Punishment
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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.
“No one expects the Spanish
Inquisition!”
Spanish Inquisition
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Founded 1478 under Ferdinand &
Isabella
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
Spanish Inquisition
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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
Spanish Inquisition
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Didn’t 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
Tomas de Torquemada
The Spanish Inquisitor-General
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
Auto-da-fe
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“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
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
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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 ♫
Protestant Reformation
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In the 1500’s, 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
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
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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.
Galileo
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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
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1633 to face the Inquisition again.
Galileo was ordered to stand trial on
suspicion of heresy in 1633.
Galileo’s Sentence
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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.
The Inquisition