THE’Inquisition – from Latin inquisitionwhat does it mean research, investigation – was an institution founded by Church and from some monarchies of the Modern Age, with the aim of researching and prosecuting those who questioned the principles of the Catholic religion. Over the centuries, different forms of inquisition have existed: theMedieval Inquisitionactive from the end of the 12th to the beginning of the 14th century; theSpanish and Portuguese Inquisitionin operation from the 15th to the 19th century and dependent not on the Church, but on the Iberian monarchies; el’Roman Inquisitionfounded in the 16th century to fight the Protestant Reformation and remained in operation until the 19th century. The Inquisition trials involved alleged hereticsfollowers of other cults, witches and anyone suspected of not following the Catholic religion. The trials sometimes included the torture and, in the case of relapsed or unrepentant heretics, they could end with the death sentence. However, these were much rarer occurrences than is generally believed.
What the Inquisition was and how the trials took place
The Inquisition was the court responsible for judging those suspected of not believing in the principles of the Catholic religion. The inquisitors had to prosecute heretics (those who were Christian, but followed ideas not in line with that of the Church), pagans, witches, false converts, etc.
The Inquisition developed in different phases and did not always work the same way. Generally speaking, trials were held in front of courts composed of ecclesiasticswho could use the torture to convince the accused to confess to his “crimes”. Often the rope torment: the accused was suspended in the air with a rope, which was then brought down abruptly, causing torn muscles and sprains. Sometimes other tools were also used. Torture, however, was permitted only in certain cases cases and in Inquisition courts it was used much less often than in secular courts.
When the judges recognized a defendant guiltythey asked him to recantthat is, giving up one’s beliefs. If he accepted, he was not sentenced to death, but to alternative punishments such as prayer and fasting. Instead they were sentenced to death repeat offendersthat is, those who, after having renounced, resumed professing heretical beliefs. Repeat offenders were generally killed for strangulation and afterwards their corpse was burned on the fire. The heretics unrepentantthat is, those who did not agree to recant, risked being burned alive.
The sentences were carried out by the civil authority, the “secular arm”, to which the condemned were handed over. Some “crimes” punished by the Inquisition were also judged and fought by secular courts established by the States. This was the case, for example, of witchcraft which, as the years passed, became one of the crimes most often prosecuted by the courts of the Inquisition, but continued to be tried also by secular courts.
The medieval Inquisition
Since the 4th century AD the Church unleashed fights against heretics and was responsible for the murder of people who professed different faiths. However, the actual Inquisition was born at the end of the 12th century, when it spread the heresy of the Cathars, who believed in the dualism between good and evil and preached the moral renewal of the Church. As part of the fight against Catharism, which provoked a real crusade, the Inquisition was founded: in 1179 the Lateran Council III instructed the bishops to search for and try the heretics and five years later Pope Lucius III reiterated and clarified the provisions.
In 1231 pope Gregory IX he updated the legislation and entrusted the fight against heresy no longer to the bishops, but to judges appointed by him, who were chosen above all from among the Dominican friars. The medieval inquisition was directed mainly against the Cathars and ceased to exist towards the beginning of the fourteenth century.
The Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition
The inquisition reappeared, in a different form, in the Iberian Peninsula in the fifteenth century. In the 1477thanks to the marriage between Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile Spain was almost completely unified. The two sovereigns were intent on imposing religious uniformity on the territory, in which there were minorities of Jews and Muslims. To this end they asked for and obtained from the Pope the establishment of a tribunal to judge those suspected of not professing the Catholic religion. After the 1492when the Jews were expelled from Spanish territory, the main task of the Inquisition became monitor the conversions of the “Marranos”that is, the Jews who had agreed to convert to Christianity so as not to be forced to leave Spanish territory. The inquisitors, such as the famous Tomás de Torquemada, were appointed by the Crown and not by the Church. The Spanish Inquisition, also present in the American colonies, was abolished in 1820.
It is not easy to establish how many there were victims of the Spanish inquisitorial tribunals during their existence. An estimate has it that they processed about 200,000 people and they sentenced him to death 12,000but according to other studies the figures were lower. An institution similar to the Spanish one was born in Portugal In the 1536.
The Roman Inquisition
The Roman Inquisition was founded as part of the “counter-reformation”, i.e. the set of Catholic measures to counter the Protestant Lutheran reform. In the 1542 Pope Paul III established the Congregation of the Sacred Roman and Universal Inquisition, also known as Holy Officewith the aim of maintaining the integrity of the faith and combating heresies. Although formally universal, the Roman Inquisition operated almost exclusively in Italy. The was connected to it Index Congregationresponsible for drawing up the list of prohibited books.
Some of the most famous trials of the modern age were celebrated in the courts of the Roman Inquisition, such as that of Galileo Galilei, who was forced to recant, and that of Giordano Bruno, who was condemned to death at the stake.
The Roman Inquisition effectively ceased to exist in 1870when the pope lost temporal power and Rome was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, but was not officially abolished. In 1908 it took the name of Holy Office and only in 1965, following the Second Vatican Council, was it replaced by Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faithwhich still exists today (today it is a Dicastery), albeit with different tasks.
It is estimated that over the centuries of its existence the Roman Inquisition has tried between 65,000 and 95,000 people; those condemned to death would have been between 1,200 and 2,000. Even in this case, however, there are different estimates there are no certain data.
