Fires of The Spanish Inquisition, Horrors of The Roman Inquisition

Last edited Wed Feb 24, 2021, 10:06 PM - Edit history (1)

- The Fires of The Spanish Inquisition | Secret Files Of The Inquisition (Full Documentary) | Timeline, 2020. The strength of the Catholic church in the West was never more prevalant than among the Spanish Inquisition. Fernando and Isabel proclaim themselves the Catholic Monarchs. In the war to drive the remaining Muslims from the south of the Kingdom their scapegoats become the Conversos, Jews who have converted to Christianity and who are now accused of being traitors and heretics secretly trying to undermine the Church.

The Spanish Inquisition is born and a campaign of terror begins.
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(History.com). The Inquisition was a powerful office set up within the Catholic Church to root out and punish heresy throughout Europe and the Americas. Beginning in the 12th century and continuing for hundreds of years, the Inquisition is infamous for the severity of its tortures and its persecution of Jews and Muslims. Its worst manifestation was in Spain, where the Spanish Inquisition was a dominant force for more than 200 years, resulting in some 32,000 executions. - Catharists: The Inquisition has its origins in the early organized persecution of non-Catholic Christian religions in Europe. In 1184 Pope Lucius III sent bishops to southern France to track down heretics called Catharists. These efforts continued into the 14th Century. During the same period, the church also pursued the Waldensians in Germany and Northern Italy.

- The Job of Inquisitors: Inquisitors would arrive in a town and announce their presence, giving citizens a chance to admit to heresy. Those who confessed received a punishment ranging from a pilgrimage to a whipping. Those accused of heresy were forced to testify. If the heretic did not confess, torture and execution were inescapable. Heretics weren’t allowed to face accusers, received no counsel, and were often victims of false accusations.. In the late 15th Century, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Spain believed corruption in the Spanish Catholic Church was caused by Jews who, to survive centuries of anti-Semitism, converted to Christianity. Known as Conversos, they were viewed with suspicion by old powerful Christian families. Conversos were blamed for a plague and accused of poisoning peoples’ water and abducting Christian boys.

- Spanish Inquisition: Hearing the complaints of Conversos who had fled to Rome, Pope Sextus proclaimed the Spanish Inquisition was too harsh and was wrongly accusing Conversos. In 1482 Sextus appointed a council to take command of the Inquisition. Torquemada was named Inquisitor General and established courts across Spain. Torture became systemized and routinely used to elicit confessions. Sentencing of confessed heretics was done in a public event called the Auto-da-fe..



- Auto-da-fe in Seville, (illustration 1870). An auto-da-fé (from Portuguese auto da fé, meaning 'act of faith') was the ritual of public penance carried out between the 15th and 19th centuries of condemned heretics and apostates imposed by the Spanish, Portuguese, or Mexican Inquisition as punishment and enforced by civil authorities. Its most extreme form was death by burning...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-da-f%C3%A9

- Roman Inquisition: Rome renewed its own Inquisition in 1542 when Pope Paul III created the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition to combat Protestant heresy. This Inquisition is best known for putting Galileo on trial in 1633. In 1545, the Spanish Index was created, a list of European books considered heretical and forbidden in Spain, based on the Roman Inquisition’s own Index Librorum Prohibitorum..
- Inquisition in the New World: As Spain expanded into the Americas, so did the Inquisition, established in Mexico in 1570. In 1574, Lutherans were burned at the stake there, and the Inquisition came to Peru, where Protestants were likewise tortured and burned alive.. - End of the Spanish Inquisition: In 1808, Napoleon conquered Spain and ordered the Inquisition there to be abolished.. The Inquisition was defunct by 1834. The last person to be executed by the Inquisition was Cayetano Ripoll, a Spanish schoolmaster hanged for heresy in 1826.

The Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition still exists, though changed its name a couple of times. It is currently called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith... https://www.history.com/topics/religion/inquisition



- The Horrors of The Roman Inquisition | Secret Files of The Inquisition (Full Documentary) | Timeline, 2020. The Spanish Inquisition Documentary - The War on Ideas. Italy, 1522. The decadence of a Medici Pope in Rome outrages the devout priest in Germany named Martin Luther. In the face of the Protestant Reformation, a fanatical monk sets out to exterminate the heresy. On his path to power he will create the Roman Inquisition. And he will become the most hated Pope in history.

Powerful leaders of the Catholic Church are arrested and imprisoned, accused of reading books banned by the Church. Free-thinking students are silenced. Darkness descends on the centers of learning and Renaissance.

The Roman Inquisition leaves a legacy that lasts into the twentieth century.