The very word "inquisition" has long been synonymous with the brutal persecution of dissent. In the minds of people of our time, medieval inquisitors seized completely innocent people and mercilessly sent them to the fire, after having subjected them to cruel torture in their dungeons. And only those who take the trouble to look at the facts know that, in fact, the Inquisition saved many more people from a cruel death than it sentenced them to severe punishment.
The Christian Church has come a long way from its inception to the Middle Ages. From an underground sect hiding in the Roman catacombs to one of the most powerful organizations in the world. At the same time, heated discussions have flared up inside the church more than once about what true Christianity is, how exactly the dogmas of faith should be formulated. For the authority of the church to be unshakable, it had to be strong and united. But various versions and interpretations of Christ's teaching arose constantly. Preachers appeared in different parts of Europe who began to speak completely differently from what the Catholic priests had taught. It was clear that if the heretics were given the opportunity to calmly preach their views, they would destroy the authority of the church, and then undermine the foundations of its power. Therefore, starting from the XII century, the Catholic Church began to actively investigate all cases concerning heresies. And in 1215, Pope Innocent III founded a special ecclesiastical court called "inquisition" - from the Latin word inquisitio - "investigation".
France on fire
The main methods of investigation, inquiry and identification of heretics were developed by the church at the end of the 12th century. This was done mainly by the monks of the Order of St. Dominic. Special questionnaires were created that were supposed to help the inquisitors (then this word did not yet have that ominous connotation that it would acquire later) to make sure with whom they were dealing - with a heretic criminal or just with a person who uttered nonsense.
Southern France can be considered the birthplace of the Inquisition, as a powerful and ruthless structure for the fight against heresies. It was here in the XII century that two powerful religious movements appeared - the Waldensians and the Cathars (Albigensians). They did not declare themselves to be enemies of the Catholic Church, nor did they call on their followers to destroy churches or kill priests. But they dared to encroach on the monopoly in the study of the Holy Scriptures. Rome could not tolerate this. Therefore, several papal legates, vested with special powers, were sent to the regions covered by these heresies.
At first, they tried to act peacefully - for example, holding public theological debates in order to demonstrate the depth of the heretics' delusions. However, this had little or no impact. By that time, both the Cathars and the Waldensians had formed quite powerful organizations. They chose their leaders and preached actively among the people. Moreover, not only ordinary peasants, but also some feudal lords went over to their side. All this posed a threat to the power of not only the Catholic Church, but also the European kings, whose vassals were heretics. So soon the inquisitors got down to business more harshly. And they immediately received a serious rebuff. In 1209, the papal legate Pierre Castelnau was assassinated.
In response, the Inquisition in 1211 sent 80 Waldenses to the stake. And against the Albigensians, a real Crusade was organized, which devastated the province of Languedoc. After that, the church began to tighten the screws. It was in the 13th century that the inquisitors acted as harshly and decisively as possible. The result was several popular uprisings in French cities.
Promotional video:
Sacred pogroms
The current situation led to the fact that the Inquisition needed strength. And this power could only be provided by secular rulers - after all, the church did not have its own army. The Inquisition fell into direct dependence on the will of kings, dukes and earls, who govern various lands. In accordance with the way the secular rulers acted, the fate of the inquisitorial tribunals in various countries developed. On the territory of the Holy Roman Empire, for example, it has always been very weak and received almost no support. In England, the inquisitors had little or no influence. Gradually, more and more restrictions were imposed on the actions of the papal envoys in France, which had long disliked the too active intervention of Rome in its internal affairs. It seemed that the movement, which originated in the 13th century, practically faded away.
Spain became a real stronghold of the Inquisition from the 15th century. Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, who, to emphasize their zealous service to Catholicism, were simply called "Catholic kings", in 1480 established a new inquisitorial tribunal in Seville. It is with the Spanish Inquisition that most of the worst stories of torture in dungeons are associated. Yes, indeed, the Spanish guards of the church, led by the legendary Thomas Torquemada, sent about two thousand people to the stake in the first 15 years alone. Moreover, these were mostly not people accused of witchcraft, or preachers of some heresies, but Jews who converted to the Catholic faith.
The reasons for this anti-Semitic hysteria were purely political. Waves of Jewish pogroms swept across Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Often the only way for Jews to preserve property and life itself was to convert to Catholicism. By becoming Christians, they acquired full rights and became ordinary members of society, not outcasts. In Spain, there were quite a few Jewish converts to Christianity. Following the traditions of their people, they were quite successfully engaged in various kinds of entrepreneurship. And so they made themselves a huge number of enemies and envious people. Gradually, the court intriguers were able to convince the "Catholic kings" that the Jews were converting to Christianity just for show. But in fact, they continue to profess their faith, and what is much worse - they are preparing a conspiracy against the monarchy and the church.
Modern historians, no matter how hard they tried, could not find any traces of such a conspiracy. But for the 15th century, such slander was enough. The Inquisition willingly joined the process of persecution, seeking to please the monarchs. In addition, the tribunals were simply overwhelmed with denunciations of baptized Jews. And they were written … also by the Jews! Those who did not change their faith and despised the "traitors" now wanted to deal with them with the hands of the hated inquisitors.
The last chance
Of course, the Spanish Inquisition was not only engaged in the massacre of the Jews. Heretics, sorcerers and witches were also her regular "clients." But here lies a very important point.
Medieval society was based on tradition. And the Christian faith was one of those traditions. Therefore, any person who transcended traditional ideas was perceived as a threat to the existing order. And for the general peace of mind, it was easiest to kill him. Therefore, the fate of various vagrants was so unenviable and sad. The craft of the itinerant actor was considered despicable and dangerous. Well, and if a person was suspected of witchcraft, then he had practically no chance of salvation. More precisely, there was only one chance. Oddly enough, this was the court of the Inquisition.
The peasants could simply beat a suspicious person to death on the road "just in case." The feudal lords, using the right of the seigneur's court, hanged vagabonds simply because they were in the forest they owned. The Inquisition, however, did not pass a sentence without a thorough investigation. And this investigation was far from formal. According to modern estimates, most of the sentences passed by the Spanish Inquisition were acquittals! And among the indictments, not all meant sending a person to the stake. Often the work was limited to repentance and church penance.
If a person was nevertheless recognized as a heretic, then he was excommunicated and handed over to the secular authorities for trial. And now the count, duke or king of the land where the accused was detained had the right to pass the death sentence.
A study of the documents shows that people were not going to wait for mercy from the noble seniors. It was easier for the feudal lord to send a person to the fire or to the gallows than to think about saving his soul. Therefore, there have been cases when a person detained for a criminal offense deliberately began to blaspheme and vilify the church, so that he was handed over to the Inquisition court! Because there was still hope for justice.
Hammer of witches
Of course, the inquisitors were not angels in the flesh. Everyone was afraid of them - from the peasant to the king. And not without reason. The strict procedure of the court of the Inquisition gave him such a high prestige that no one could doubt the fairness of the sentence. And not a single organization is immune from abuse. Everyone knew that quarreling with the inquisitor was a sentence. And many holy fathers willingly used this.
Another problem was the excessive zeal that some inquisitors displayed. The most famous example is the treatise The Hammer of the Witches, written by the Dominican monks Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. This is a guide to fighting sorcerers (or rather sorcerers, since the authors sincerely believed that feminine nature is more sinful, women conjure more than men). The treatise contains quite a few theological arguments, but it offers detailed instructions on how to conduct an inquiry with a witch, how to bring her to clean water. Strictly following the recommendations of the authors of The Hammer of the Witches, there was no problem to “prove” the guilt of any person. And if it was a question of a frightened peasant woman, confused in testimony, then everything was a foregone conclusion.
Significantly, the Witches' Hammer was never officially recommended by the church for use. And Heinrich Kramer in 1490 was even condemned by the Inquisition court for improper interrogation methods. By the way, it is estimated that torture was used in only about two percent of cases considered by the Inquisition court. The rest of the case was limited to simple interrogations.
The most famous victim of the Inquisition and a symbol of its atrocities is, of course, the philosopher and scientist Giordano Bruno. He was burned at the stake in 1600. However, it is often forgotten that Bruno was not accused of pursuing science at all (although the theory of a plurality of inhabited worlds, of course, was recognized as heretical). The reason for the arrest was his words that Christ performed "imaginary miracles", the Virgin Mary could not give birth, "monks dishonor the world," and he himself would soon become the head of a sect called "New Philosophy". And all this Giordano Bruno said, being a monk of the Catholic Church! But even in this case, the investigation lasted for six years! And only after Bruno repeatedly refused to repent of his words, he was handed over to the secular authorities, which passed the death sentence.
The total number of victims of the Inquisition is still estimated very differently. Depending on the sympathies of a particular researcher, numbers from 4,000 to 50,000 people can be named.
Kirill IVANOV
Russian variant
In the history of Russia, two attempts are known to organize something similar to the European Inquisition. The first took place at the end of the 15th century, during the reign of Grand Duke Ivan III. Archbishop Gennady of Novgorod, who was told about how the Spanish Inquisition worked, warmly approved the methods of the Catholics.
At that time, the Orthodox Church in Russia actively fought against the so-called "heresy of the Judaizers." On the initiative of Archbishop Gennady, the identified heretics were led through the streets of Novgorod in shameful processions in birch bark caps. The caps were then set on fire.
Another fighter against the "heresy of the Judaizers" of the same time, Abbot Joseph Volotsky, went even further, on his initiative, the church council condemned several heretics to be burned, which took place in December 1504. However, the rest of the church hierarchs and the Grand Duke did not support such radical methods, and the "Orthodox Inquisition" did not receive official approval or development.
But the Inquisitorial Order as part of the Holy Synod was quite officially created by the reformer Peter I in 1721. The inquisitors were required to monitor how the local clergy followed the new Spiritual Regulations and whether they were abusing their position. They also watched the schismatics, controlled the emergence of new "schismatics". But the Russian inquisitors did not have the right to repair the court and reprisals. All suspects were to be sent under guard (which was provided by the secular authorities) to the capital, where the Holy Synod had already dealt with them. The inquisitors existed for a very short time - already in 1727 the structure was abolished as ineffective.