Inquisition

We explain what the Inquisition was, its origins, and how it developed around the world. In addition, we describe its characteristics and consequences.

What was the Inquisition?

The Inquisition, or Holy Inquisition, was the name given to a series of institutions and judicial procedures under the Catholic Church or clergymen serving secular rulers that emerged in Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period.

It worked to discover, persecute, and punish heresy through interrogations, torture, and other methods of assemblage of evidence. The term "Inquisition" comes from the Latin inquisitio meaning “to inquire” or examine something closely.

The processes were conducted by inquisitors, ecclesiastical agents authorized to judge the faith of individuals and act in judicial and investigative capacities. When death sentences were passed, their execution was carried out by civil authorities.

The history of the Inquisition is usually divided into three periods:

• Medieval Inquisition, which emerged in the late 12th century and consolidated during the 13th century.
• The Spanish Inquisition, established in the late 15th century.
• The Roman Inquisition, which rose in the 16th century.

The number of people burnt at the stake by order of the Inquisition or subjected to physical torture to elicit confessions of heresy is unknown. In addition to human victims, books were banned and destroyed.

• See also: Crusades

Origin of the Inquisition

The Inquisition originated as a judicial procedure of the Catholic Church in 1184, when Pope Lucius III issued the bull Ad abolendam, instructing bishops to investigate and persecute individuals suspected of heresy (i.e., opposed to ecclesiastical doctrine) within their dioceses.

The Inquisition at the time particularly targeted the Cathars and other heretical groups like the Waldensians. It operated intermittently without being organized by a central institution and functioning under the order of bishops. This is why it is often referred to as the Episcopal Inquisition.

In 1231, Pope Gregory IX issued the bull Excommunicamus, establishing the creation of ecclesiastical tribunals and appointing the earliest inquisitors directly under papal authority, mainly Dominican and Franciscan friars. This group of institutions is commonly called the Papal or Pontifical Inquisition.

Over time, the Pontifical Inquisition expanded its reach, persecuting other heretics and involving cases of alleged witchcraft in various parts of Europe, including France, Italy, and Germany. The spread of manuals for inquisitors, such as Practica inquisitionis heretice pravitatis by Bernardo Gui (1261–1331), standardized procedures across different regions.

The Inquisition in the Middle Ages

The tribunals of the Pontifical Inquisition during the Middle Ages were presided over by an inquisitor acting as a delegate of the Pope. Heresy trials could begin without a formal accusation, with mere suspicion being reason enough to initiate proceedings.

The inquisitor would offer suspects the possibility to confess their guilt under oath and testify against others, thus broadening the list of individuals to be investigated and interrogated. These trials were often conducted in secrecy, with suspects lacking legal counsel or defense. However, a written record was maintained by a notary. Following the papal bull Ad extirpanda (1252) by Pope Innocent IV, inquisitors were authorized to use torture to extract confessions, a task typically carried out by lay assistants.

Suspects were often held in prisons during the judicial proceedings. Inquisitors also interrogated witnesses and consulted legal scholars. Sentences for those found guilty of heresy were pronounced during a public sermon. Subjects who showed repentance could be assigned religious penances, the stigma of wearing a yellow cross on their clothing, or were sentenced to imprisonment. Those who refused to recant were condemned to be burned at the stake, with the execution carried out by secular authorities. The condemned person's property was confiscated and used to cover the costs of the trial and execution.

The Spanish Inquisition

Though it had been introduced in the Kingdom of Aragon in the 13th century, the Inquisition was formally established in the Kingdom of Castile in 1478 by papal bull Exigit sincerae devotionis affectus issued by Pope Sixtus IV. This bull authorized the Catholic Monarchs to appoint inquisitors charged with investigating and punishing alleged cases of heresy within the territories of the crowns of Castile and Aragon.

A peculiar feature of the Spanish Inquisition was that, while it acknowledged papal authority, it operated directly under the Spanish monarchy's control. The Portuguese Inquisition, established in the early 16th century, followed this model, falling under the primary authority of the Portuguese crown.

The first inquisitors of the Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición (as the Spanish Inquisition was officially named) were appointed in 1480, beginning their duties in Seville. The first public auto-da-fé ("act of faith") took place in 1481, where six people were condemned to death by burning. Autos-da-fé were public ceremonies where the accused could recant their alleged errors or be handed over to the "secular arm" (civil authorities) for execution.

The main targets of the inquisitors were Jewish converts to Christianity (conversos) and their descendants, who were suspected of secretly continuing to practice Jewish religious rituals despite their conversion.

In 1483, the Pope authorized the Spanish monarchy to appoint a Grand Inquisitor, who eventually came to preside over the Consejo de la Suprema Inquisición (known as the "Suprema"). The first Grand Inquisitor was Tomás de Torquemada (1420–1498), under whose tenure an estimated 2,000 people were burned at the stake.

In the early 16th century, the Muslim population in Spain was forced to convert to Christianity, leading to persecution of moriscos (Muslim converts) suspected of secretly maintaining their Islamic faith. The Spanish Inquisition was officially abolished in 1834.

The Inquisition in the Americas

Both the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions extended their authority to their colonies in the Americas. Initially, inquisitorial authority often rested with Dominican or Franciscan friars. In the 16th century, tribunals were established in major cities and viceregal capitals such as Mexico City, Lima, and Cartagena de Indias. In Brazil, inquisitorial visitors operated under the tribunal of Lisbon.

In Mexico, inquisitorial processes began as early as the conquest itself in 1521, as part of the “spiritual conquest” of the indigenous populations. The first autos-da-fé occurred in 1528, leading to the execution of two conquistadors suspected of being conversos (Jewish converts to Christianity) who, under torture, confessed to secretly practicing Judaism.

The Inquisition also targeted indigenous populations, destroying Maya codices and investigating natives accused of practices such as polygamy, bigamy, concubinage, witchcraft, divination, and superstition.

In 1571, the Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición was officially established in Mexico, directly under the Spanish Consejo de la Suprema Inquisición. Similar tribunals were founded in Lima (1571) and Cartagena de Indias (1610).

Charges were often directed at individuals accused of “Judaizing”, Protestants (including English and French pirates), and other forms of heresy.

In Protestant America, there were also cases of religious persecution and execution. The infamous Salem witch trials are one notable example of this phenomenon in the British colonies in the 17th century.

The Roman Inquisition

In 1542, the Roman Inquisition was established with the purpose of persecuting proponents of the Protestant Reformation, a Christian movement opposing Catholic orthodoxy that emerged in 16th-century Europe. It also targeted thinkers considered suspicious for questioning the Church’s religious doctrine, such as Giordano Bruno and Galileo Galilei.

The Roman Inquisition, also known as the Congregation of the Holy Office, was part of the Counter-Reformation. It aimed to assert jurisdiction over all of Christendom, though its activities were primarily focused on Italy. Its tribunals were controlled by a group of cardinals appointed by the Pope, who formed the Congregation along with other prelates. Among its tasks was the compilation of a list of prohibited books, titled Index auctorum et librorum prohibitorum (Index of Prohibited Authors and Books).

Tortures and executions of the Inquisition

Torture, public humiliation, and execution were practices employed by the Inquisition. Torture, in particular, served two main purposes: obtaining confessions during trials and acting as a deterrent before an execution.

Manuals for inquisitors often acknowledged that confessions obtained through torture could lead to false accusations, as those subjected to pain were willing to confess or implicate others to end their suffering. For this reason, it was sometimes recommended to repeat the interrogation without the use of torture. In practice, however, the fear of experiencing such torments again often led the accused to confirm their confessions.

Some of the most infamous methods of torture included the rack, strappado, and torture by water, all of which were introduced during the years of the Spanish Inquisition.

When a death sentence was pronounced, reserved for the most severe cases, the accused was handed over to the "secular arm" and usually burned alive at the stake in a public space. If the accused repented, they might be strangled with the garrote vil before the fire was lit. In some cases, executions were carried out "in effigy," using an image or effigy of the accused, as they had either been tried in absentia or had died during the trial.

Witch hunts

Among the charges investigated by the Inquisition during the Early Modern Era was witchcraft. Wizards, and particularly witches as figures embodying religious deviation and association with the devil arose from popular beliefs and theologians’ interpretation of them. Witch hunts were especially intense in countries such as Germany, and even extended to the Americas.

In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued a bull authorizing the Inquisition to pursue and condemn those suspected of witchcraft.

The peak of witch persecution occurred between 1580 and 1630. Often, accusations stemmed from mere suspicion or spite toward a neighbor, which gave way to mass denunciations driven by collective hysteria. The tribunals responsible for these trials could be either ecclesiastical or secular. Those found guilty were typically burned at the stake by secular authorities. In England and the British colonies, witch hunts were led by Protestants, particularly Puritans, as seen in the infamous Salem witch trials in Massachusetts.

Other common charges in Inquisition procedures included alchemy, sodomy (homosexuality), paganism, apostasy (renouncing the Catholic faith), and various forms of heresy (disobedience to Catholic orthodoxy).

In 1657, the Catholic Church acknowledged in a bull titled Pro formandis that the Roman Inquisition had engaged in excessive torture and unjust sentences in cases of alleged witchcraft. Nevertheless, tribunals continued to execute individuals in various countries, with the last execution taking place in Switzerland in 1782.

Condemnation of Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was one of the most prominent thinkers of the Early Modern Period. Born in Pisa, Italy, he excelled in mathematics, astronomy, and physics, and played a pivotal role in establishing the foundations of the scientific method.

Using a telescope, Galileo conducted astronomical observations that led him to conclude that Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was correct in asserting that the Earth was not the center of the universe but revolved around the Sun (known as the "heliocentric theory"). This view directly contradicted the Church's geocentric doctrine, which held that all celestial bodies orbited the Earth.

The heliocentric theory was deemed heretical, and in 1633, Galileo was summoned to Rome by the Inquisition. After being interrogated and found "vehemently suspect of heresy", he was compelled to publicly recant. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, spending his remaining years under house arrest in Florence.

A famous episode claims that after his recantation, Galileo murmured the phrase, "Eppur si muove" ("And yet, it moves"), referencing the Earth's rotation, which he had just been forced to deny. However, there is no concrete evidence that he ever uttered these words.

Trial of Joan of Arc

A notable case conducted by an ecclesiastical court during the Middle Ages was the trial of Joan of Arc, an early 15th-century peasant girl who led the French army troops in their struggle against the English and paved the way for the coronation of Charles VII as King of France.

Joan was captured by the Burgundians during a military campaign in 1430 and handed over to the English. As Joan claimed to have divine visions, the English subjected her to the scrutiny of an ecclesiastical court presided over by French Bishop Pierre Cauchon. She was found guilty of approximately seventy charges, including blasphemy, dressing as a man, and suspicion of heresy.

She was sentenced to death by burning at the stake and executed by secular authorities at the Old Marketplace in Rouen in 1431, at the age of 19.

Malleus maleficarum

The Hammer of Witches (Malleus Maleficarum in Latin) is a comprehensive treatise on witchcraft and witch hunts written by German Dominican friar and inquisitor Heinrich Kramer, with likely co-authorship by friar Jakob Sprenger.

It was first published in Germany in 1486, and saw numerous reprints during the 16th and 17th centuries. Together with Pope Innocent VIII’s 1484 bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, which endorsed the persecution and punishment of "witches" by the Inquisition, the Malleus Maleficarum contributed to the widespread view of witchcraft as a form of Satanism and one of the most dangerous heresies across Europe and parts of the Americas.

The book explains the phenomenon of witchcraft through a compilation of preexisting beliefs, detailing procedures to identify, interrogate (using torture), and judge subjects—particularly women—suspected of being "witches". It notably portrays women as especially prone to succumbing to the devil's temptation.

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References

• Broedel, H. P. (2003). The Malleus Maleficarum and the construction of witchcraft. Manchester University Press.
• Campagne, F. A. (2009). Strix hispánica: demonología cristiana y cultura folklórica en la España moderna. Prometeo.
• Given, J. B. (1997). Inquisition and Medieval Society. Power, Discipline, and Resistance in Languedoc. Cornell University Press.
• "Inquisition" Peters, E. & Hamilton, B. (2020) in https://www.britannica.com/.
• "Spanish Inquisition" Ryan, E. A. (2020) in https://www.britannica.com/.