Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

inquisition

 
American Heritage Dictionary:

in·qui·si·tion

(ĭn'kwĭ-zĭsh'ən, ĭng'-) pronunciation
n.
  1. The act of inquiring into a matter; an investigation. See synonyms at inquiry.
  2. Law.
    1. An inquest.
    2. The verdict of a judicial inquiry.
    1. Inquisition A tribunal formerly held in the Roman Catholic Church and directed at the suppression of heresy.
    2. An investigation that violates the privacy or rights of individuals.
    3. A rigorous, harsh interrogation.

[Middle English inquisicioun, from Old French inquisicion, from Latin inquīsītiō, inquīsītiōn-, from inquīsītus, past participle of inquīrere, to inquire. See inquire.]

inquisitional in'qui·si'tion·al adj.

Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

In the Middle Ages, a judicial procedure that was used to combat heresy; in early modern times, a formal Roman Catholic judicial institution. Inquisito, a Latin term meaning investigation or inquest, was a legal procedure that involved the assemblage of evidence and the prosecution of a criminal trial. Use of the procedure against the heresies of the Cathari and Waldenses was approved by Pope Gregory IX in 1231. Suspected heretics were arrested, interrogated, and tried; the use of torture was approved by Innocent IV in 1252. Penalties ranged from prayer and fasting to imprisonment; convicted heretics who refused to recant could be executed by lay authorities. Medieval inquisitors functioned widely in northern Italy and southern France. The Spanish Inquisition was authorized by Sixtus IV in 1478; the pope later tried to limit its powers but was opposed by the Spanish crown. The auto-da-fé, the public ceremony at which sentences were pronounced, was an elaborate celebration, and the grand inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada was responsible for burning about 2,000 heretics at the stake. The Spanish Inquisition was also introduced into Mexico, Peru, Sicily (1517), and the Netherlands (1522), and it was not entirely suppressed in Spain until the early 19th century.

For more information on Inquisition, visit Britannica.com.

Roget's Thesaurus:

inquisition

Top

noun

    A seeking of knowledge, data, or the truth about something: inquest, inquiry, investigation, probe, research. See investigate.

The Religion Book:

Inquisition

Top

One of the darkest periods of Church history occurred over a period of about three hundred years, beginning with the appointment by Pope Gregory IX in 1231 of a special tribunal designed to root out and destroy heresy. A designated inquisitor, usually a Dominican or Franciscan, would typically come into town with great fanfare (accompanied by great dread) and announce that all heretics had a period of two to six weeks to confess their heresy. Those who repented were usually given light sentences. At the end of the grace period, the questioning began. It only took the testimony of two witnesses, whose identities were kept secret, to convict a supposed heretic. By the time of Pope Innocent IV in 1252, torture was allowed. The accused could be assisted by a counselor but could not be defended by a lawyer. These individuals were usually better off if they confessed to something, even if innocent, because the process of determining guilt was a painful one. Typically people were tortured until they pled guilty; then they were executed, often by burning at the stake, on the basis of their confession.

The Inquisition was not limited to the Catholic Church. Although it was not called by that name, New England Protestants did much the same thing during the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts.

As secular political power grew, the Inquisition gradually declined. Although it quite justifiably seems abhorrent to the modern mind, it must be remembered that similar human rights violations exist even today in some totalitarian states. Then as now, the Inquisition was more about entrenched power than religion.

Sources: Douglas, J. D., ed. The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing, 1974.


Columbia Encyclopedia:

Inquisition

Top
Inquisition (ĭn'kwĭzĭsh'ən), tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church established for the investigation of heresy.

The Medieval Inquisition

In the early Middle Ages investigation of heresy was a duty of the bishops. Alarmed especially by the spread of Albigensianism (see Albigenses), the popes issued increasingly stringent instructions as to the methods for dealing with heretics. Finally, in 1233, Pope Gregory IX established the papal Inquisition, dispatching Dominican friars to S France to conduct inquests.

When an inquisitor arrived, a month of grace was allowed to all who wished to confess to heresy and to recant; these were given a light penance, which was intended to confirm their faith. After the period of grace, persons accused of heresy who had not abjured were brought to trial. The defendants were not given the names of their accusers, but they could name their enemies and thus nullify any testimony by these persons. After 1254 the accused had no right to counsel, but those found guilty could appeal to the pope. The trials were conducted secretly in the presence of a representative of the bishop and of a stipulated number of local laymen. Torture of the accused and his witnesses soon became customary and notorious, despite the long-standing papal condemnation of torture (e.g., by Nicholas I); Innocent IV ultimately permitted torture in cases of heresy.

Most trials resulted in a guilty verdict, and the church handed the condemned over to the secular authorities for punishment. Burning at the stake was thought to be the fitting punishment for unrecanted heresy, probably through analogy with the Roman law on treason. However, the burning of heretics was not common in the Middle Ages; the usual punishments were penance, fine, and imprisonment. A verdict of guilty also meant the confiscation of property by the civil ruler, who might turn over part of it to the church. This practice led to graft, blackmail, and simony and also created suspicion of some of the inquests. Generally the inquisitors were eager to receive abjurations of heresy and to avoid trials. Secular rulers came to use the persecution of heresy as a weapon of state, as in the case of the suppression of the Knights Templars.

The Inquisition was an emergency device and was employed mainly in S France, N Italy, and Germany. In 1542, Paul III assigned the medieval Inquisition to the Congregation of the Inquisition, or Holy Office. This institution, which became known as the Roman Inquisition, was intended to combat Protestantism, but it is perhaps best known historically for its condemnation of Galileo. After the Second Vatican Conference, it was replaced (1965) by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which governs vigilance in matters of faith.

The Spanish Inquisition

The Spanish Inquisition was independent of the medieval Inquisition. It was established (1478) by Ferdinand and Isabella with the reluctant approval of Sixtus IV. One of the first and most notorious heads was Tomas de Torquemada. It was entirely controlled by the Spanish kings, and the pope's only hold over it was in naming the inquisitor general. The popes were never reconciled to the institution, which they regarded as usurping a church prerogative.

The purpose of the Spanish Inquisition was to discover and punish converted Jews (and later Muslims) who were insincere. However, soon no Spaniard could feel safe from it; thus, St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Theresa of Ávila were investigated for heresy. The censorship policy even condemned books approved by the Holy See. The Spanish Inquisition was much harsher, more highly organized, and far freer with the death penalty than the medieval Inquisition; its autos-da-fé became notorious. The Spanish government tried to establish the Inquisition in all its dominions; but in the Spanish Netherlands the local officials did not cooperate, and the inquisitors were chased (1510) out of Naples, apparently with the pope's connivance. The Spanish Inquisition was finally abolished in 1834.

Bibliography

See E. M. Peters, Torture (1985) and Inquisition (1988). For the Spanish Inquisition, see studies by A. S. Tuberville (1932, repr. 1968), C. Roth (1938, repr. 1964), R. E. Greenleaf (1969), P. J. Hauber (1969), H. A. F. Kamen (1965 and 1998), and E. Peters (1989).


Scholars distinguish between the medieval, or papal, Inquisition, which evolved in the thirteenth century to combat the Cathar heresy in southern France, and the modern Inquisition, reestablished in parts of Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Foundations

The first two modern Inquisitions were established in Spain (1478) and Portugal (1536) to deal with a heresy peculiar to the Iberian Peninsula, Cryptojudaism, or a reversion to Judaism among converts to Christianity (conversos). To punish this form of apostasy, the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella obtained authorization in 1478 from Pope Sixtus IV to establish a new Inquisition in Castile, and later, in 1483, to revive Aragón's medieval tribunals. Nonetheless, cases of Judaizing continued to occur, so the Catholic monarchs took the extreme decision in 1492 of ordering all Jews to either convert to Christianity or leave Castile. Many Jews crossed the border to Portugal to join the large numbers of conversos who had already fled there from Spain. In 1496, the king of Portugal, John II, ordered the expulsion of Jews from his territory, and in 1497, the conversion of any who remained, who joined ranks with the Spanish refugees. The presence of this group of New Christians eventually forced John III to bring the Inquisition to Portugal in 1536.

Pope Paul III, who had authorized the foundation of the Portuguese Inquisition, six years later (1542) revived the Holy Office of the Inquisition in the Italian Papal States. Here, however, the Roman Inquisition's concern was not Judaizing, but the threat to Italy from Protestantism. Soon, other states in the Italian peninsula reinstated local tribunals of the Inquisition: Naples and Venice in 1547, and Milan in 1562.

Institutional Structure and Procedure

The modern Inquisitions generally followed the body of jurisprudence developed by the medieval Inquisition, compiled in 1376 by Nicolau Eimeric into the Directorium inquisitorum, revised in the late sixteenth century by Francisco Peña. Unlike their medieval predecessor, however, the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions were controlled by the crown, and in Italy, there was considerable secular oversight as well, except in the Papal States. In Spain, Ferdinand created a government board, the Council of the Supreme and General Inquisition, which established policies and procedures, oversaw the appointment of officials and functioning of tribunals throughout the Spanish realms, and served as the court of appeals. Until 1560, the number and territories of the Spanish districts fluctuated considerably; thereafter they remained stable at fourteen peninsular tribunals and four island tribunals (Mallorca, Sardinia, Sicily, and the Canaries). Additional tribunals were added as the empire expanded: Mexico, Lima, Cartagena de Indias, Manila, and finally, the royal court at Madrid.

Portugal's Inquisition was also placed under the direction of a royal board, known as the General Council. Ultimately, there were tribunals in Lisbon, Coimbra, and Evora, plus another in Goa, the Portuguese colony in India.

In Italy, the papacy attempted to exert some control over the Inquisitions outside the Papal States; this process culminated in the establishment of the Congregazione del Sant' Ufficio in 1588. As was the case in Portugal and Spain, the Congregation functioned as the supreme appellate court for the tribunals in Italy. In each of the states with Inquisitions, the network of local tribunals followed the preexisting structure of bishoprics. For example, in the Republic of Venice, aside from the head tribunal in Venice itself, there were tribunals at Brescia, Padua, Udine, Treviso, Cyprus, Rovigo, Picenza, Bergamo, Vicenza, Verona, and Capo d'Istria.

Thanks to a shared legal tradition, the operation of the Inquisition in each area was similar. In Spain each tribunal consisted of one or two inquisitors, a fiscal prosecutor, defense attorney, various employees who were charged with record keeping and care of the prisoners, unpaid theological and legal consultants, and a network of local legal representatives (comisarios) and messengers/jailors (familiars), also unpaid, who created an inquisitorial presence in the hinterland. Strict guidelines established the qualifications for various members of the tribunal. Inquisitors had to be at least forty years old, licentiates or doctors in theology or canon law. After the fifteenth century, few Spanish inquisitors were drawn from the religious orders such as the Dominicans, who had once dominated the medieval institution. Comisarios were drawn from the local secular clergy, and familiars were laymen of uncontested Christian ancestry. Portugal's tribunals were structured along the same lines, while in Italy, often only one inquisitor led the court (in Iberia there were two), while the local legal representatives, known as vicarii, held more power than their Iberian counterparts. Unlike their Iberian counterparts, both the inquisitors and the vicars came from the ranks of the regular religious orders, primarily the Dominicans and Franciscans.

A tribunal generated its cases in a variety of ways. The standard method was for the inquisitor to go on a visitation of his district. First, the inquisitor would issue the Edict of Grace, a sermon that defined the heresies sought after and promised leniency for those who confessed within thirty days. The follow-up sermon, the Edict of Faith, offered no leniency but continued the exhortations to confess. Voting members of the tribunal would examine the resulting confessions and issue a warrant for arrest. Once detained, the prisoner disappeared to the outside world: in order to inspire fear and prevent reprisals, the courts attempted to conduct their business in the strictest secrecy. Similar secrecy within the proceedings kept the prisoner at a disadvantage. Not until well into the trial did the prisoner learn the charges against him, and never was the accused allowed to know who had given evidence against him—or, once freed, to speak about his experiences. With the inquisitor acting as both judge and investigator, the prosecution presented its case first, and the defendant, with the aid of a court-appointed lawyer, could respond. At this point, if the defendant's confession was not seen as sufficient, the tribunal would vote on the question of torture: what kind and how much. In reality, torture was employed rarely (in less than 3 percent of cases) and frequently was overcome. The large majority of cases ended in guilty verdicts. In Spain and Portugal, the final act in the trial was the public auto-da-fé, where prisoners were sentenced amid great ceremony; actual punishments were carried out separately. An important tool of the Iberian Inquisition was public humiliation: those convicted of serious offenses were required to wear the sanbenito, a distinctive outer tunic that was also displayed in the convict's parish church.

Abolition came slowly, with the advance of the Enlightenment and then French troops to southern Europe. Generally, the Italian tribunals were disbanded between 1774 and 1800, and the Iberian ones disappeared between 1812 and 1834, although the Spanish and American tribunals effectively ended operation in 1820. The fate of each tribunal's archives is capricious: some survive virtually intact, while others disappeared during the Napoleonic Wars. Major repositories exist in the Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico), Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo (Lisbon), Archivo Histórico Nacional (Madrid), and in the Archivi dell'Inquisizione Romana (The Vatican, opened in 1998), but substantial numbers of trials and other papers remain outside these repositories.

Considerable controversy exists over how many individuals were tried and executed by the courts, but the loss of so many records makes precise accounting impossible. A survey of nineteen Spanish tribunals from 1540 to 1700 yielded 49,092 cases. The Portuguese Inquisition tried 44,817 cases between 1536 and 1767, the most active court being Goa. Naples between 1564 and 1740 tried 3,038 cases, and Venice between 1547 and 1794 tried 3,592 cases. The death sentence was invoked in less than 5 percent of all trials. In Spain and Portugal the first victims were conversos, many of whom were sentenced to death (often in absentia), while the Italian courts pursued Protestants. With time, the tribunals changed their focus and moderated their severity: in Spain, converted Muslims (Moriscos), homosexuals, Protestants, witches, and ordinary Spaniards guilty of making crude theological statements all at some point became the focus of the tribunals' attention. Indeed, relatively minor crimes such as blasphemy accounted for much of the Spanish Inquisition's caseload. In addition to punishing religious crimes, all of the Inquisitions were responsible for enforcing censorship of printed materials and searching for contraband.

Impact and Lasting Significance

Because of the Inquisition's role in censorship, many have accused the institution of curbing scientific inquiry, dampening literary creativity, and even hindering economic growth. Historians now reject these charges. A few cases achieved notoriety in their day and continue to define the image of the Inquisition in the public's mind. Most infamous is the case of Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), who was summoned before the Roman Inquisition in 1632 to account for his public defense of the Copernican system, earlier deemed heretical by the church. He was condemned to perpetual house arrest and silence on the issue. For many, this trial epitomizes the conflict between scientific reason and free speech on the one hand, and religious fanaticism on the other. The philosopher Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) was not so lucky as Galileo; he was burned at the stake for his radical ideas about revealed religion and the possibility of an infinite universe with multiple worlds. In Spain, fear of religious experimentation led the inquisitors to target some of the leading mystics of the sixteenth century—St. Theresa of Jesus, St. John of the Cross, and Luis de León—although none was executed. Such cases, added to the Inquisition's role in censorship, the stream of Protestant propaganda directed against the papacy, and the Enlightenment's championship of basic freedoms, combined to create a lasting image of an arbitrarily cruel and inhumane institution. In the last twenty-five years, however, new scholarship has done much to mitigate the fearsome image of the Inquisition and to place the institution in its proper historical context.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Del Col, Andrea, ed. Domenico Scandella Known as Menocchio: His Trials before the Inquisition (1583–1599). Translated by John Tedeschi and Anne C. Tedeschi. Binghamton, N.Y., 1996.

Eimeric, Nicolau, and Francisco Peña. Le manuel des inquisiteurs. Translated and with introduction by Louis Sala-Molins. Paris, 1973.

Firpo, Massimo, and Dario Marcatto, eds. Il processo inquisitoriale del Cardinal Giovanni Morone: Edizione critica. 6 vols. Rome, 1981–1995.

Simancas, Diego de. Institutiones catholicae quibus ordine ac brevitate discritur quicquid ad praecavendas et extirpandas haereses necessariium est. Valladolid, 1552.

Secondary Sources

Bethencourt, Francisco. La Inquisición en la época moderna: España, Portugal, e Italia, siglos XV–XIX. Madrid, 1997.

Grendler, Paul F. The Roman Inquisition and the Venetian Press, 1540–1605. Princeton, 1977.

Henningsen, Gustav, and John Tedeschi in association with Charles Amiel, eds. The Inquisition in Early Modern Europe: Studies on Sources and Methods. De Kalb, Ill., 1986.

Kamen, Henry. The Spanish Inquisition: An Historical Revision. London, 1997.

Lea, Henry Charles. A History of the Inquisition of Spain. 4 vols. New York, 1906–1908.

——. The Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies. New York, 1908.

Netanyahu, Benzion. The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth-Century Spain. New York, 1995.

Perry, Mary Elizabeth, and Anne J. Cruz, eds. Cultural Encounters: The Impact of the Inquisition in Spain and the New World. Berkeley, 1991.

Peters, Edward. Inquisition. New York and London, 1988.

Vekene, Emil van der. Bibliotheca bibliographica historiae sanctae Inquisitionis. Bibliographisches Verzeichnis des gedruckten Schrifftums zur Geschichte und Literatur der Inquisition. 3 vols. Vaduz, Liechtenstein, 1982–1992.

—SARA TILGHMAN NALLE

A court established by the Roman Catholic Church in the thirteenth century to try cases of heresy and other offenses against the church. Those convicted could be handed over to the civil authorities for punishment, including execution.

  • The Inquisition was most active in Spain, especially under Tomás de Torquemada; its officials sometimes gained confessions through torture. It did not cease operation in the Spanish Empire until the nineteenth century.
  • By association, a harsh or unjust trial or interrogation may be called an “inquisition.”

  • Random House Word Menu:

    categories related to 'Inquisition'

    Top
    Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
    For a list of words related to Inquisition, see:
    • Christianity - Inquisition: medieval tribunal of Catholic Church intent on persecution of nonbelievers and those seen as heretics


      See crossword solutions for the clue Inquisition.
    Wikipedia on Answers.com:

    Inquisition

    Top
    A 19th century depiction of Galileo before the Holy Office, by Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury

    The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis (inquiry on heretical perversity), was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy.[1] Inquisition practices were used also on offences against canon law other than heresy.

    Contents

    Definition

    The term "Inquisition" can apply to any one of several institutions which fought against heretics (or other offenders against canon law) within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. The term "Inquisition" is usually applied to that of the Catholic Church. It may also refer to:[2]

    • an ecclesiastical tribunal
    • the institution of the Catholic Church for combating heresy
    • a number of historical expurgation movements against heresy (orchestrated by some groups/individuals within the Catholic Church or within a Catholic state)
    • the trial of an individual accused of heresy.

    Generally, the Inquisition movement was concerned only with the heretical behaviour of Catholic adherents or converts, and did not concern itself with those outside its jurisdiction, such as Jews or Muslims.[3]

    Tribunals and institutions

    Before the 12th century, the Catholic Church already suppressed heresy, usually through a system of ecclesiastical proscription or imprisonment, but without using torture[1] and seldom resorting to executions.[4][5] Such punishments had a number of ecclesiastical opponents, although some countries[which?] punished heresy with the death penalty.[6][7]

    In the 12th century, to counter the spread of Catharism, prosecution of heretics by secular governments became more frequent. The Church charged councils composed of bishops and archbishops with establishing inquisitions (see Episcopal Inquisition). The first Inquisition was established in Languedoc (south of France) in 1184.

    Two priests demand a heretic to repent as he is tortured.

    In the 13th century, Pope Gregory IX (reigned 1227–1241) assigned the duty of carrying out inquisitions to the Dominican Order. They used inquisitorial procedures, a legal practice common at that time. They judged heresy alone, using the local authorities to establish a tribunal and to prosecute heretics. After the end of the twelfth century, a Grand Inquisitor headed each Inquisition. Grand Inquisitions persisted until the 19th century.[8]

    By the start of the 16th century the Catholic Church had reached an apparently dominant position as the established religious authority in western and central Europe dominating a faith-landscape in which Judaism, Waldensianism, Hussitism, Lollardry and the finally conquered Muslims al-Andalus (the Muslim-dominated Spain) hardly figured in terms of numbers or of influence. When the institutions of the church felt themselves threatened by what they perceived as the heresy, and then schism of the Protestant Reformation, they reacted. Paul III (Pope from 1534 to 1549) established a system of tribunals, administered by the "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Universal Inquisition", and staffed by cardinals and other Church officials. This system would later become known as the Roman Inquisition. In 1908 Pope Saint Pius X renamed the organisation: it became the "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office". This in its turn became the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith[9] in 1965, which name continues to this day.

    Functional role

    In practice, the Inquisition would not itself pronounce sentence, but handed over convicted heretics to secular authorities.[10] The laws were inclusive of proscriptions against certain religious crimes (heresy, etc.), and the punishments included death by burning. Thus the inquisitors generally knew what would be the fate of anyone so remanded, and cannot be considered to have divorced the means of determining guilt from its effects.[11]

    Purpose

    The 1578 handbook for inquisitors spelled out the purpose of inquisitorial penalties: ... quoniam punitio non refertur primo & per se in correctionem & bonum eius qui punitur, sed in bonum publicum ut alij terreantur, & a malis committendis avocentur. Translation from the Latin: ... 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."[12]

    Movements

    Emblem of the Inquisition.

    Historians distinguish four different manifestations of the Inquisition:

    1. the Medieval Inquisition (1231–16th century)
    2. the Spanish Inquisition (1478–1834)
    3. the Portuguese Inquisition (1536–1821)
    4. the Roman Inquisition (1542 – c. 1860)

    Because of its objective — combating heresy — the Inquisition had jurisdiction only over baptised members of the Church (which, however, encompassed the vast majority of the population in Catholic countries). Secular courts could still try non-Christians for blasphemy; most witch trials went through secular courts.[citation needed]

    Different areas faced different situations with regard to heresies and suspicion of heresies. Most of Medieval Western and Central Europe had a long-standing veneer of Catholic standardisation over traditional non-Christian practices, with intermittent localized occurrences of different ideas (such as Catharism or Platonism) and periodic anti-Semitic/anti-Judaic activity. Exceptionally, Portugal and Spain in the late Middle Ages consisted largely of multicultural territories fairly recently re-conquered from the Islamic states of Al-Andalus control, and the new Christian authorities could not assume that all their subjects would suddenly become and remain orthodox Catholics. So the Inquisition in Iberia, in the lands of the Reconquista counties and kingdoms like Portugal, Leon, Castile and Aragon, had a special socio-political basis as well as more conventional religious motives. With the Protestant Reformation, Catholic authorities became much more ready to suspect heresy in any new ideas,[13] including those of Renaissance humanism,[14] previously strongly supported by many at the top of the Church hierarchy. The extirpation of heretics became a much broader and more complex enterprise, complicated by the politics of territorial Protestant powers, especially in northern Europe. The Catholic Church could no longer exercise direct influence in the politics and justice-systems of lands which officially adopted Protestantism. Thus war (the French Wars of Religion, the Thirty Years War), massacre (the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre) and the educational[15] and propaganda work[16] of the Counter-Reformation came to play larger roles in these circumstances, and the judicial approach to heresy represented by the Inquisition became less important overall. Inquisition tribunals only functioned in Catholic territories, but secular law in both Catholic and Protestant countries could address the criminal offences of heresy and witchcraft.[citation needed]

    Medieval

    Historians use the term "Medieval Inquisition" to describe the various inquisitions that started around 1184, including the Episcopal Inquisition (1184–1230s) and later the Papal Inquisition (1230s). These inquisitions responded to large popular movements throughout Europe considered apostate or heretical to Christianity, in particular the Cathars in southern France and the Waldensians in both southern France and northern Italy. Other Inquisitions followed after these first inquisition movements. Legal basis for some inquisitorial activity came from Pope Innocent IV's papal bull Ad extirpanda of 1252, which authorized and regulated the use of torture in investigating heresy.[citation needed]

    Spanish

    Representation of an auto-da-fé, (around 1495).[17]
    Many artistic representations depict torture and burning at the stake as occurring during the auto-da-fé.

    King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile established the Spanish Inquisition in 1478. In contrast to the previous inquisitions, it operated completely under royal authority, though staffed by secular clergy and orders, and independently of the Holy See. It operated in Spain and in all Spanish colonies and territories, which included the Canary Islands, the Spanish Netherlands, the Kingdom of Naples, and all Spanish possessions in North, Central, and South America. It targeted primarily converts from Islam (Moriscos or secret Moors) and converts from Judaism (Conversos and Marranos) — both groups still resided in Spain after the end of the Islamic control of Spain — who came under suspicion of either continuing to adhere to their old religion or of having fallen back into it. Somewhat later the Spanish Inquisition took an interest in Protestants of virtually any sect, notably in the Spanish Netherlands. In the Spanish possessions of the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples in southern Italy, which formed part of the Spanish Crown's hereditary possessions, it also targeted Greek Orthodox Christians. The Spanish Inquisition, tied to the authority of the Spanish Crown, also examined political cases.[citation needed]

    In the Americas, King Philip II set up two tribunals (each formally titled Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición) in 1569, one in Mexico and the other in Peru. The Mexican office administered Mexico (central and southeastern Mexico), Nueva Galicia (northern and western Mexico), the Audiencias of Guatemala (Guatemala, Chiapas, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica), and the Spanish East Indies. The Peruvian Inquisition, based in Lima, administered all the Spanish territories in South America and Panama. From 1610 a new Inquisition seat established in Cartagena (Colombia) administered much of the Spanish Caribbean in addition to Panama and northern South America.[citation needed]

    The Inquisition continued to function in North America until the Mexican War of Independence (1810–1821). In South America Simón Bolívar and Jose de San Martin abolished the Inquisition; in Spain itself the institution survived until 1834.[citation needed]

    Portuguese

    Copper engraving intitled "Die Inquisition in Portugall", by Jean David Zunner from the work Description de L'Univers, Contenant les Differents Systemes de Monde, Les Cartes Generales & Particulieres de la Geographie Ancienne & Moderne by Alain Manesson Mallet, Frankfurt, 1685.

    The Portuguese Inquisition formally started in Portugal in 1536 at the request of the King of Portugal, João III. Manuel I had asked Pope Leo X for the installation of the Inquisition in 1515, but only after his death (1521) did Pope Paul III acquiesce. The Portuguese Inquisition principally targeted the Sephardic Jews, whom the state forced to convert to Christianity. Spain had expelled its Sephardic population in 1492 (see Alhambra decree); after 1492 many of these Spanish Jews left Spain for Portugal, but eventually were targeted there as well. The Portuguese Inquisition came under the authority of the King. At its head stood a Grande Inquisidor, or General Inquisitor, named by the Pope but selected by the Crown, and always from within the royal family. The Grande Inquisidor would later nominate other inquisitors. In Portugal, Cardinal Henry served as the first Grand Inquisitor: he would later become King Henry of Portugal. Courts of the Inquisition operated in Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra, and Évora.[citation needed]

    The Portuguese Inquisition held its first auto-da-fé in 1540. It concentrated its efforts on rooting out converts from other faiths (overwhelmingly Judaism) who did not adhere to the observances of Catholic orthodoxy; the Portuguese inquisitors mostly targeted the Jewish "New Christians" (i.e. conversos or marranos). The Portuguese Inquisition expanded its scope of operations from Portugal to Portugal's colonial possessions, including Brazil, Cape Verde, and Goa, where it continued as a religious court, investigating and trying cases of breaches of the tenets of orthodox Roman Catholicism until 1821. King João III (reigned 1521–57) extended the activity of the courts to cover censorship, divination, witchcraft and bigamy. Originally oriented for a religious action, the Inquisition had an influence in almost every aspect of Portuguese society: politically, culturally and socially. The Goa Inquisition, an inquisition largely aimed at Catholic converts from Hinduism or Islam who were thought to have returned to their original ways, started in Goa in 1560. In addition, the Inquisition prosecuted non-converts who broke prohibitions against the observance of Hindu or Muslim rites or interfered with Portuguese attempts to convert non-Christians to Catholicism.[3] Aleixo Dias Falcão and Francisco Marques set it up in the palace of the Sabaio Adil Khan.

    According to Henry Charles Lea[18] between 1540 and 1794 tribunals in Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra and Évora resulted in the burning of 1,175 persons, the burning of another 633 in effigy, and the penancing of 29,590. But documentation of fifteen out of 689[19] In the wake of the Liberal Revolution of 1820, the "General Extraordinary and Constituent Courts of the Portuguese Nation" abolished the Portuguese inquisition in 1821.

    Roman

    In 1542 Pope Paul III established the Congregation of the Holy Office of the Inquisition as a permanent congregation staffed with cardinals and other officials. It had the tasks of maintaining and defending the integrity of the faith and of examining and proscribing errors and false doctrines;[20] it thus became the supervisory body of local Inquisitions. Arguably the most famous case tried by the Roman Inquisition involved Galileo Galilei in 1633.

    The penances and sentences for those who confessed or were found guilty were pronounced together in a public ceremony at the end of all the processes. This was the sermo generalis or auto-da-fé.[21] Penances might consist of a pilgrimage, a public scourging, a fine, or the wearing of a cross. The wearing of two tongues of red or other brightly colored cloth, sewn onto an outer garment in an x pattern, marked those who were under investigation. The penalties in serious cases were confiscation of property or imprisonment. The most severe penalty the inquisitors could themselves impose was life imprisonment.[citation needed]

    Following the French invasion of 1798, the new authorities sent 3,000 chests containing over 100,000 Inquisition documents to France from Rome. After the restoration of the Pope as the ruler of the Papal States after 1814, Roman Inquisition activity continued until the mid-19th century, notably in the well-publicised Mortara Affair (1858–1870). In 1908 the name of the Congregation became "The Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office", which in 1965 further changed to "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith", as retained to the present day. The Pope appoints a cardinal to preside over the Congregation, which usually includes ten other cardinals, as well as a prelate and two assistants, all chosen from the Dominican Order. The "Holy Office" also has an international group of consultants, experienced scholars in theology and canon law, who advise it on specific questions.[citation needed]

    Reputation(s)

    With the sharpening of debate and of conflict between the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation, Protestant societies came to see/use the Inquisition as a terrifying "Other" trope,[22] while staunch Catholics regarded the Holy Office as a necessary bulwark against the spread of reprehensible heresies.[citation needed] Some of the fictional works mentioned below reflect the popular reputation of the Inquisition as much as its historicity.

    Derivative works

    The Inquisitions appear in many cultural works. Some include:

    See also

    Documents and works

    Notable inquisitors

    Notable cases

    References

    1. ^ a b Lea, Henry Charles (1888). "Chapter VII. The Inquisition Founded". A History of the Inquisition In The Middle Ages. 1. ISBN 1152296213. http://bulfinch.englishatheist.org/mm/inquisition/Chapter7.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-26. "The judicial use of torture was as yet happily unknown [...]" 
    2. ^ Medieval Sourcebook: Inquisition - Introduction
    3. ^ a b Salomon, H. P. and Sassoon, I. S. D., in Saraiva, Antonio Jose. The Marrano Factory. The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians, 1536-1765 (Brill, 2001), Introduction pp. XXX.
    4. ^ Foxe's Book of Martyrs Chapter V
    5. ^ Blötzer, J. (1910). "Inquisition". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08026a.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-26. "... in this period the more influential ecclesiastical authorities declared that the death penalty was contrary to the spirit of the Gospel, and themselves opposed its execution. For centuries this was the ecclesiastical attitude both in theory and in practice. Thus, in keeping with the civil law, some Manichæans were executed at Ravenna in 556. On the other hand. Elipandus of Toledo and Felix of Urgel, the chiefs of Adoptionism and Predestinationism, were condemned by councils, but were otherwise left unmolested. We may note, however, that the monk Gothescalch, after the condemnation of his false doctrine that Christ had not died for all mankind, was by the Synods of Mainz in 848 and Quiercy in 849 sentenced to flogging and imprisonment, punishments then common in monasteries for various infractions of the rule" 
    6. ^ Blötzer, J. (1910). "Inquisition". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08026a.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-26. "[...] the occasional executions of heretics during this period must be ascribed partly to the arbitrary action of individual rulers, partly to the fanatic outbreaks of the overzealous populace, and in no wise to ecclesiastical law or the ecclesiastical authorities." 
    7. ^ Lea, Henry Charles. "Chapter VII. The Inquisition Founded". A History of the Inquisition In The Middle Ages. 1. ISBN 1152296213. http://bulfinch.englishatheist.org/mm/inquisition/Chapter7.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-14. 
    8. ^ [1]
    9. ^ Profile
    10. ^ Lea, Henry Charles. "Chapter VII. The Inquisition Founded". A History of the Inquisition In The Middle Ages. 1. ISBN 1152296213. http://bulfinch.englishatheist.org/mm/inquisition/Chapter7.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-07. "Obstinate heretics, refusing to abjure and return to the Church with due penance, and those who after abjuration relapsed, were to be abandoned to the secular arm for fitting punishment." 
    11. ^ Kirsch, Jonathan. The Grand Inquisitors Manual: A History of Terror in the Name of God. HarperOne. ISBN 0060816996. 
    12. ^ Directorium Inquisitorum, edition of 1578, Book 3, pg. 137, column 1. Online in the Cornell University Collection; retrieved 2008-05-16.
    13. ^ Stokes, Adrian Durham (2002) [1955]. Michelangelo: a study in the nature of art. Routledge classics (2 ed.). Routledge. p. 39. ISBN 9780415267656. http://books.google.com/?id=_E7epqLi2CwC. Retrieved 2009-11-26. "Ludovico is so immediately settled in heaven by the poet that some commentators have divined that Michelangel is voicing heresy, that is to say, the denial of purgatory." 
    14. ^ Erasmus, the arch-Humanist of the Renaissance, came under suspicion of heresy, see Olney, Warren (2009). Desiderius Erasmus; Paper Read Before the Berkeley Club, March 18, 1920.. BiblioBazaar. p. 15. ISBN 9781113405036. http://books.google.com/?id=EdsdOSs6VRgC. Retrieved 2009-11-26. "Thomas More, in an elaborate defense of his friend, written to a cleric who accused Erasmus of heresy, seems to admit that Erasmus was probably the author of Julius." 
    15. ^ Vidmar, John C. (2005). The Catholic Church Through the Ages. New York: Paulist Press. p. 241. ISBN 9780809142347. 
    16. ^ Soergel, Philip M. (1993). Wondrous in His Saints: Counter Reformation Propaganda in Bavaria. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 239. ISBN 0520080475. 
    17. ^ Page of the painting at Prado Museum.
    18. ^ Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, vol. 3, Book 8
    19. ^ Saraiva, António José; Salomon, Herman Prins; Sassoon, I. S. D (2001) [First published in Portuguese in 1969]. The Marrano Factory: the Portuguese Inquisition and its New Christians 1536-1765. Brill. p. 102. ISBN 9789004120808. http://books.google.com/?id=eG8xUFivagkC. Retrieved 2010-04-13. 
    20. ^ The Galileo Project | Christianity|The Inquisition
    21. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia
    22. ^ Compare Haydon, Colin (1993). Anti-Catholicism in eighteenth-century England, c. 1714-80: a political and social study. Studies in imperialism. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 6. ISBN 0719028590. http://books.google.com/?id=GR68AAAAIAAJ. Retrieved 2010-02-28. "The popular fear of Popery focused on the persecution of heretics by the Catholics. It was generally assumed that, whenever it was in their power, Papists would extirpate heresy by force, seeing it as a religious duty. History seemed to show this all too clearly. [...] The Inquisition had suppressed, and continued to check, religious dissent in Spain. Papists, and most of all, the Pope, delighted in the slaughter of heretics. 'I most firmly believed when I was as boy', William Cobbett [born 1763], coming originally from rural Surrey, recalled, 'that the Pope was a prodigious woman, dressed in a dreadful robe, which had been made red by being dipped in the blood of Protestants'." 

    Bibliography

    • Adler, E. N. (April 1901). "Auto de fe and Jew". The Jewish Quarterly Review (University of Pennsylvania Press) 13 (3): 392–437. doi:10.2307/1450541. JSTOR 1450541. 
    • Edward Burman, The Inquisition: The Hammer of Heresy (Sutton Publishers, 2004) ISBN 0-7509-3722-X
      • A new edition of a book first published in 1984, a general history based on the main primary sources.
    • Foxe, John (1997) [1563]. Chadwick, Harold J.. ed. The new Foxe's book of martyrs/John Foxe; rewritten and updated by Harold J. Chadwick. Bridge-Logos. ISBN 0-88270-672-1. 
    • Henry Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision. (Yale University Press, 1999); ISBN 0-300-07880-3
      • This revised edition of his 1965 original contributes to the understanding of the Spanish Inquisition in its local context.
    • Edward M. Peters, Inquisition (University of California Press, 1989); ISBN 0-520-06630-8
    • Parker, Geoffrey (1982). "Some Recent Work on the Inquisition in Spain and Italy". Journal of Modern History 54 (3). 
    • Cecil & Irene Roth, A history of the Marranos, Sepher-Hermon Press, 1974.
    • William Thomas Walsh, Characters of the Inquisition (TAN Books and Publishers, Inc, 1940/97); ISBN 0-89555-326-0
    • Ludovico a Paramo, De Origine et Progressu Sanctae Inquisitionis (1598).
    • J. Baker, History of the Inquisition (1736).
    • R. Cappa, La Inquisicion Espanola (1888).
    • Genaro Garcia, Autos de fe de la Inquisicion de Mexico (1910).
    • F. Garau, La Fee Triunfante (1691-reprinted 1931).
    • Given, James B Inquisition and Medieval Society New York, Cornell University Press, 2001
    • Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain (4 volumes), (New York and London, 1906–7).
    • Juan Antonio Llorente, Historia Critica de la Inquisicion de Espana
    • J. Marchant, A Review of the Bloody Tribunal (1770).
    • J.M. Marin, Procedimientos de la Inquisicion (2 volumes), (1886).
    • Antonio Puigblanch, La Inquisición sin máscara (Cádiz, 1811–1813). [The Inquisition Unmasked (London, 1816)]
    • V. Vignau, Catalogo... de la Inquisicion de Toledo (1903).
    • W.T. Walsh, Isabella of Spain (1931).
    • Simon Whitechapel, Flesh Inferno: Atrocities of Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition (Creation Books, 2003); ISBN 1-84068-105-5
      • "A good example of how uncritical acceptance of disjointed historical data helps inform contemporary notions of the black legend"[cite this quote]
    • Paz y Mellia, Antonio (1914) (in in Spanish). Catalogo Abreviado de Papeles de Inquisicion. Madrid: Tip. de la Revista de arch., bibl. y museos. 
    • Sir Alexandr G. Cardew, A Short History of the Inquisition (1933).
    • Warren H. Carroll, Isabel: the Catholic Queen Front Royal, Virginia, 1991 (Christendom Press)
    • G. G. Coulton, The Inquisition (1929).
    • Ramon de Vilana Perlas, La Verdadera Practica Apostolica de el S. Tribunal de la Inquisicion (1735).
    • A. Herculano, Historia da Origem e Estabelecimento da Inquisicao em Portugal (English translation, 1926).
    • H.B. Piazza, A Short and True Account of the Inquisition and its Proceeding (1722).
    • L. Tanon, Histoire des Tribunaux de l'Inquisition (1893).
    • Twiss, Miranda (2002). The Most Evil Men And Women In History. Michael O'Mara Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1854794888. 
    • Emile van der Vekene: Bibliotheca bibliographica historiae sanctae inquisitionis. Bibliographisches Verzeichnis des gedruckten Schrifttums zur Geschichte und Literatur der Inquisition. Vol. 1–3. Topos-Verlag, Vaduz 1982–1992, ISBN 3-289-00272-1, ISBN 3-289-00578-X (7110 titles on the subject "Inquisition")
    • Emile van der Vekene: La Inquisición en grabados originales. Exposición realizada con fondos de la colección Emile van der Vekene de la Universidad San Pablo-CEU, Aranjuez, 4-26 de Mayo de 2005, Madrid: Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 2005. ISBN 84-96144-86-0

    Online works

    External links




    Translations:

    Inquisition

    Top

    Dansk (Danish)
    n. - inkvisition, undersøgelse

    Nederlands (Dutch)
    inquisitie, ondervraging

    Français (French)
    n. - enquête, interrogatoire, (Hist) Inquisition

    Deutsch (German)
    n. - Nachforschung, Untersuchung, Inquisition

    Ελληνική (Greek)
    n. - (σκληρή) ανάκριση, εξέταση, (ιστ.) Ιερή Εξέταση

    Italiano (Italian)
    inquisizione

    Português (Portuguese)
    n. - inquisição (f)

    Русский (Russian)
    расследование, инквизиция

    Español (Spanish)
    n. - inquisición, investigación

    Svenska (Swedish)
    n. - efterforskning, (rättslig) undersökning

    中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
    调查, 审理, 探究

    中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
    n. - 調查, 審理, 探究

    한국어 (Korean)
    n. - 조사, 심문, (중세 이단 심리의) 종료 재판(소)

    日本語 (Japanese)
    n. - 厳重な調査, 審理, 調査, 尋問

    العربيه (Arabic)
    ‏(الاسم) استعلام, بحث, تحقيق قضائي أو رسمي, استجواب‏

    עברית (Hebrew)
    n. - ‮חקירה, אינקוויזיציה, חקירה משפטית או רשמית‬


     
     
    Related topics:
    Gossamer Thread, Part 2 (1987 History Film)
    inquisitional
    Torquemada, Tomás de (History)

    Related answers:
    What does Inquisition mean? Read answer...
    What is the portuguese inquisition? Read answer...
    What is the significance of the Inquisition? Read answer...

    Help us answer these:
    Who is the father of the Inquisition?
    Why was inquisition important?
    About the Spanish inquisition?

    Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

     

    Copyrights:

    American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Roget's Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
    The Religion Book. The Religion Book. 2004 ©Visible Ink Press (VisibleInkPress.com). All rights reserved.  Read more
    Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more
    $copyright.smallImage.alttext Gale Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: History. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Random House Word Menu. © 2010 Write Brothers Inc. Word Menu is a registered trademark of the Estate of Stephen Glazier. Write Brothers Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary. Collins Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary © Anne Bradford, 1986, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2008 HarperCollins Publishers All rights reserved.  Read more
    Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Inquisition Read more
    Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more

    Follow us
    Facebook Twitter
    YouTube