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The inquisitions were judicial institutions or tribunals that were established by the Roman Catholic Church in order to seek out, try, and sentence people that the Roman Catholic Church believed to be guilty of heresy.

Historians generally categorize or distinguish the inquisitions based on four different time frames and areas that they took place in. These are: The Medieval or Episcopal Inquisition, The Spanish Inquisition, The Portuguese Inquisition, and the Roman Inquisition.

Some of the inquisitors had reputations as being men of justice and mercy, others were known to subject people to cruel and unusual punishment, including many different kinds of torture, for example Pope Innocent IV officially sanctioned torture as a way of extracting the “truth” from suspects. During the Spanish Inquisition alone, some historians estimate that as many as 2,000 people were burned alive at the stake within one decade after the inquisition began.

The Spanish Inquisition is probably the most infamous for its torture and the number of people executed as a result of it. One historian estimated that over the course of its history the Spanish Inquisition tried a total of 341,021 people, of whom at least 10% (31,912) were executed.

During the last inquisition (The Roman Inquisition) instituted by Pope Paul III, Galileo was condemned for “grave suspicion of heresy” and all his works banned in 1633 for teaching that the sun was the center of the universe and that the earth rotated around it. What a wonderful demonstration of papal infallibility!

DavidJ

>"One historian estimated that over the course of its history the Spanish Inquisition tried a total of 341,021 people, of whom at least 10% (31,912) were executed."

Well, one thing is sure. This wasn't a recent historian. The Spanish Inquisition is unique in that meticulous records were kept. The above numbers are not supported in the least by the written record. They're not even close.

I suggest the following article as a primer, with follow-up being one or both books mentioned in the article.

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/ma...181026.asp


>"What a wonderful demonstration of papal infallibility!"

With this statement, all that you have proven is that you have no understanding of infallibility. That's understandable, as many Catholics themselves misunderstand papal infallibility.

The actual number of people executed was just over 3000, in 300 plus years. So 1000 people every 100 years, were executed by the Spanish government, because it was against the law to be a heretic, it was the law of the land in Spain.
There was 150,000 trials, fully documented. The Inquisition is actually credited with instituting the first principles of modern law courts although still primitive, it was the best legal system in the world.
Trials were lengthy, costly and thorough, defendants recieved council and could face their accusers.

Compare that with luthers effort of killing 130,000 Catholic men, women and children in the space 3 years with no trial at all, then the inquisition executed very few people.

The Jewish Virtual Library.....

......In the beginning, the Inquisition dealt only with Christian heretics and did not interfere with the affairs of Jews. However, disputes about Maimonides’ books (which addressed the synthesis of Judaism and other cultures) provided a pretext for harassing Jews and, in 1242, the Inquisition condemned the Talmud and burned thousands of volumes. In 1288, the first mass burning of Jews on the stake took place in France.

In 1481 the Inquisition started in Spain and ultimately surpassed the medieval Inquisition, in both scope and intensity. Conversos (Secret Jews) and New Christians were targeted because of their close relations to the Jewish community, many of whom were Jews in all but their name. Fear of Jewish influence led Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand to write a petition to the Pope asking permission to start an Inquisition in Spain. In 1483 Tomas de Torquemada became the inquisitor-general for most of Spain, he set tribunals in many cities. Also heading the Inquisition in Spain were two Dominican monks, Miguel de Morillo and Juan de San Martin.

First, they arrested Conversos and notable figures in Seville; in Seville more than 700 Conversos were burned at the stake and 5,000 repented. Tribunals were also opened in Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia. An Inquisition Tribunal was set up in Ciudad Real, where 100 Conversos were condemned, and it was moved to Toledo in 1485. Between 1486-1492, 25 auto de fes were held in Toledo, 467 people were burned at the stake and others were imprisoned. The Inquisition finally made its way to Barcelona, where it was resisted at first because of the important place of Spanish Conversos in the economy and society.

More than 13,000 Conversos were put on trial during the first 12 years of the Spanish Inquisition. Hoping to eliminate ties between the Jewish community and Conversos, the Jews of Spain were expelled in 1492..

DavidJ

Why are you again asking us to compare evil with evil to justify  the evil done in the papal inquisitionsl?

No-one here is even attempting to whitewash over the protestant or the Lutheran wrong doings. After all you and bighodag have got the whitewash bucket and brush!

DavidJ

So are you asking us to accept that the principle of trying and punishing heretics by papist inquisition should be brought into line with more up to date methods of dispensing papal justice?

DavidJ

I'm just giving you some perspective of what "Bible alone" Christians have done before you start raving on about just how bad the spanish Inquisition was. These " Bible alone " christians slaughtered people personally, and raised whole towns, with no trial at all.
And you must take into account that it was the Spanish government that executed people, as a sovereign country, not the Catholic Church.

Do you know why there has never been any Inquisitions by " Bible alone " Christians, its because they mostly skipped the trials and went straight for summary execution.

Cromwell, 1000,000 Irish Catholic men women and children slaughtered, no trial just sword.

Why don't you talk about " Bible alone " christian attrocities on Catholics ?

Share if you dare.

Those "Christians" like Oliver Cromwell were not really Christians. Cromwell was a non-Christian in a Protestant disguise, just as many Roman Catholics used Roman Catholicism as a "Christian" disguise.

Please ignore that last post of mine - I pressed the wrong button again and I cant delete it.

DavidJ