Inquisition

Overview

The term "Inquisition" comes from the Latin inquisitio ("investigation, inquiry"); it is also referred to as the "examination of heretics." Heresy is belief that departs from teaching recognized as orthodox. The bodies that conducted these proceedings are called tribunals of the Inquisition, and the clergy who conducted the interrogations are called inquisitors. The Inquisition is usually divided by period and character into three forms: the Medieval Inquisition, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Roman Inquisition. Witch trials borrowed some of the Inquisition's procedures, but because they differed in their targets, period, and region, they are often treated separately.

Background

After the Roman Empire officially recognized Christianity in the fourth century, church and state grew closer, and teachings that diverged from orthodoxy came to be regarded both as a matter of faith and as a threat to social order. When movements such as the Cathars and the Waldensians spread through southern France and northern Italy in the twelfth century, local lords and bishops at first arrested and tried their adherents on their own initiative.

Development

• Medieval Inquisition: A papal decree of 1184 established church-wide procedures for trying heretics, under which suspected heretics were to be examined by the local bishop. In the 1230s, Pope Gregory IX began dispatching inquisitors whom he appointed directly, a task carried out chiefly by friars of the Dominican Order and the Franciscan Order. The church did not carry out executions itself; instead, it handed those found guilty over to the secular authorities, who imposed punishments such as burning at the stake. In the mid-thirteenth century, Pope Innocent IV permitted the use of torture in interrogations.
• Spanish Inquisition: In 1478, Pope Sixtus IV granted the request of Ferdinand II and Isabella I and approved its establishment. Unlike the other inquisitions, it operated under royal authority. Its first Inquisitor General, Tomás de Torquemada, is especially well known. At first it chiefly investigated whether converts from Judaism (conversos) were secretly maintaining their former faith; later, converts from Islam (Moriscos) and Protestants also became targets. Sentences were pronounced at public ceremonies known as autos-da-fé. Similar institutions were established in Portugal and its colonies. After being abolished and restored several times in the early nineteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition was permanently abolished in 1834.
• Roman Inquisition: As the Reformation spread, Pope Paul III established a permanent body of cardinals in Rome in 1542. This body worked to halt the spread of Protestant ideas and was also involved in issuing the Index of Forbidden Books. Notable cases include the burning of Giordano Bruno in 1600 and the trial of Galileo Galilei in 1633 (the Galileo affair). After several changes of name, the body continues today as the department of the Roman Curia responsible for the doctrine of the faith.

Consequences and Influence

In Europe, the Inquisition became an instrument for suppressing religious minorities and controlling thought and publication. Estimates of the number of people executed vary widely among scholars. Executing heretics, however, was not unique to Catholicism. During the Reformation era, Anabaptists were also put to death in Protestant territories, and in 1553 Michael Servetus, who denied the Trinity, was burned at the stake in Geneva (see Calvin's Geneva).

Assessment

• Catholic Church: In 1992, Pope John Paul II acknowledged that the condemnation of Galileo had been an error. During the Great Jubilee of 2000, the church publicly asked forgiveness for its past wrongs, including intolerance and violence committed in the name of defending the truth.
• Protestantism: In Protestant circles, including those in Korea, the Inquisition is frequently cited as a prime example of the church allying itself with state power to suppress freedom of conscience. Others, however, argue that Protestants should also reflect on the fact that Protestant history includes the punishment of heretics.
• Historians: Some scholars hold that the cruelty of the Spanish Inquisition was exaggerated by anti-Spanish propaganda from Protestant nations (the so-called "Black Legend"). Others maintain that, even so, the Inquisition remains a fundamentally oppressive institution.
• The designation of heresy practiced in Korean churches today is a doctrinal judgment made by the general assembly of each denomination; it differs from the Inquisition in that it involves no punishment through secular authority.