Inquisition

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).

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Inquisition

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.

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inquisition

1. an official inquiry, esp one held by a jury before an officer of the Crown

2. another word for inquest

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Inquisition

History a judicial institution of the Roman Catholic Church (1232--1820) founded to discover and suppress heresy
www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/inquisition1.html
www.catholic.com/library/inquisition.asp
http://bibletopics.com/biblestudy/64.htm

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Inquisition

Roman Catholic tribunal engaged in combating and suppressing heresy. [Christian Hist.: NCE, 1352]

See : Apostasy

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Inquisition

in the Catholic Church a special ecclesiastical court for trying heretics; it existed from the 13th to the 19th century.

As early as 1184, Pope Lucius III and Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa established a strict procedure for the investigation of heretics by bishops and their trial by episcopal courts; however, the secular authorities were obliged to carry out any death sentences imposed by these courts. The Inquisition as an institution was first discussed at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), convoked by Pope Innocent III; it established a special process for prosecuting heretics (per inquisitionem), sufficient grounds for which was the declaration of accusatory rumors. From 1231 through 1235, Pope Gregory IX by a number of decrees transferred the functions of prosecuting heresies, which had previously been carried out by bishops, to specially empowered persons—the inquisitors (at first appointed from among the Dominicans and later from the Franciscans as well); in a number of European states (Germany, France, and others) inquisitional tribunals were set up, which were entrusted with the trial of heretics, as well as the imposition and implementation of sentences. Thus the institution of the Inquisition was formed.

Members of the inquisitional tribunals possessed personal inviolability and were not under the jurisdiction of the local secular or ecclesiastical authorities; they were directly responsible to the pope. Because of the secret and arbitrary procedure of such court trials, those accused by the Inquisition were deprived of any and all guaranties. The extensive use of torture and encouragement and rewards for informers and the material self-interest of the Inquisition and the papacy themselves, which acquired huge funds because of the confiscation of the condemned persons’ property, made the Inquisition the scourge of Catholic countries. Those condemned to death were usually handed over to the secular authorities for burning at the stake.

In the 16th century the Inquisition became one of the principal weapons of the Counter-Reformation. In 1542 a supreme inquisitional tribunal was established in Rome. Many outstanding scholars and thinkers became victims of the Inquisition (G. Bruno and G. Vanini, for example). The Inquisition raged with special fury in Spain, where it had been closely connected with the royal authority since the end of the 15th century. More than 10,000 persons were burned alive during the 18 years alone that Torquemada was Grand Inquisitor (15th century). During the 18th century the Inquisition was abolished in most countries of Western Europe, and during the 19th century it was abolished in Portugal (1820), Spain (1834), and the Papal State (1859). The functions of the Inquisition were partially transferred to the Congregation of the Holy Office (one of the influential organs of the Papal Curia, which was assigned the function of combating communism in the middle of the 20th century); in 1965 it was reorganized as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

REFERENCES

Li, G. Ch. Istoriia inkvizitsii v srednie veka, vols. 1–2. St. Petersburg, 1911–12.
Llorente, J. A. Kriticheskaia istoriia ispanskoi inkvizitsii, vols. 1–2. Moscow, 1936. (Translated from French.)
Grigulevich, I. R. Istoriia inkvizitsii. Moscow, 1970 (Bibliography.)