It is refreshing to know that the Inquisition was a humane attempt to deal with abuse against the sanctity of life. More importantly, it is good to know that on the Inquisition and Crusades, the Roman Catholic Church did good things. We owe it to ourselves to do the research and be prepared to defend our history.

Updated 3/24/08. Check out the Vox Day article for a comparison of the Inquisitions death rate to that of children's bicycles.

Great article. I downloaded the ebook. Soo much to read.

Dan,

We should start collecting facts about the inquisition. I'd like to have a 10 facts about the inquisition post.

You want 10 facts about the Inquisition, try these:

1. The Medieval Inquisitions were in response to growing religious movements, in particular the Cathars first noted in the 1140s and the Waldensians starting around 1170, in southern France and northern Italy.

2. The first medieval inquisition, the episcopal inquisition, was established in the year 1184 by a papal bull entitled Ad abolendam

3. In the 1230s, Pope Gregory IX responded to the failures of the Episcopal Inquisition with a series of papal bulls which became the Papal Inquisition.

4. The papal inquisition was staffed by professionals, trained specifically for the job. They came primarily from the Dominican Order. The Dominicans were favoured for their history of anti-heresy, education, and skill in debate.

5. During the "trial", the accused was expected to self-incriminate and did not have the right to face and question the accuser.

6. Although to balance this off, at the beginning of the trial, defendants were invited to name those who had "mortal hatred" against them. If the accusers were among those named, the defendant was set free and the charges dismissed and the accusers would face life imprisonment.

7. Among the possible punishments were a long pilgrimage for first offenders, wearing a yellow cross for life, confiscation of property, banishment, public recantation, or long-term imprisonment. Burning at the stake was only for the most serious cases, including repeat offenders and unrepentant heretics.

8. The inquisitors generally preferred not to hand over heretics to the secular arm for execution if they could persuade the heretic to repent. It was in the inquisitors' interest to be perceived as merciful, and they generally preferred to keep defendants alive, even while almost torturing them to death, in hopes of obtaining confessions. Execution was to admit defeat, that the Church was unable to save a soul from heresy, which was the goal of the inquisition.

9. Torture was used after 1252. On May 15, Pope Innocent IV issued a papal bull entitled Ad exstirpanda, which authorized the use of torture by inquisitors. Torture methods that resulted in bloodshed, mutilation or death were forbidden.

10. A 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."

I did this at school, believe me, there's no secular movement behind this trying to make it worse than it was. You don't have names like, Episcopal Inquisition and Papal Inquisition, without being part of the RCC. The Vatican has the documents that show exactly what they did.

More importantly, it is good to know that on the Inquisition and Crusades, the Roman Catholic Church did good things.

Edgar,

That's like saying Hezbolla does good work with the education of Palestinian children, or that the Nazi's did great work on rocket development and helped put us into space. What about all the other things they did and the overall effect it had on the people of the time?

However just to show I'm not biased. In 2000 Pope John Paul II called for an "Inquisition Symposium" and opened the Vatican to 30 external historians. They found that more women accused of witchcraft died in the Protestant countries than under the Inquisition. I can't remember the figures, but they weren't even close. We're talking less than 200 against 10's of thousands.

So yes, it's not as bad it is made out to be in films, (I'd say most history books have it about right), but it was far from being your local rambling club.

NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise....

Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency....

Our three weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope....

Our four...no... Amongst our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again.

(MONTY PYTHON. Sorry, I couldn't resist)

Hi Johnny,

Thanks for sharing your notes on this. My goal with to come up with a list to highlight the positive aspects of the inquisition. I know abuses were made but our culture and media make it sound like the Catholic Church lavish in pleasure as thousands burned and suffered torture.

My goal with to come up with a list to highlight the positive aspects of the inquisition

Ah. I can see why there would be a need for that.

All people ever hear of are the burnings and the torture. I did point out in 7 & 8 on my list that death was far from the norm.

NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!

LOL. I was thinking the same thing when I wrote this, and now I can't get the song out of my head.

The Inquisition, what a show!

Damn you Johnny! :)

I was thinking the same thing when I wrote this, and now I can't get the song out of my head.

I was going to put it down as my 10 facts, but they only get to four... lol