The Truth Behind the Spanish Inquisition

How many people were burned at the stake by the Inquisition? This is something of a disingenuous question, of course, because that implies there was a structural hierarchy known as "the Inquisition," a lone organization or branch of the papacy that itself was used for the purpose of extracting heretics. And while this is a common plot tool used in literature and movies, the reality of the situation is quite different.

The papacy had a long standing tradition of utilizing the legal talents of inquisitors - and like most things in Western Europe they had their foundations in ancient Rome. Specifically the kingdom of Rome had utilized a variant of inquisitor to investigate capital crimes, they were later utilized in prosecuting those who would anger Ceres, the god of agriculture, through the use of black magic. Of course, these inquisitors were also charged with punishing anyone who was responsible for the theft or destruction of crop, an invaluable resource during the time when this law was drafted, in the midst of one of Rome's worst famines.

In Medieval Europe, heresy was not just a sin, but a secular crime worthy of capital punishment as it threatened the very order of things in fiefs and kingdoms. Kings and barons were eager to rid themselves of heretics not necessarily because of the anger they would induce from God, but rather the ripple effect such thoughts might have on disintegrating the already fragile feudal system. During the 16th century, many Bishops and Priests acknowledged the validity of many of Martin Luther's claims for example - only to bite their tongues for fear that the disunity caused by the German monk would allow the Turks to overrun Western Europe. Indeed, the Ottomans were already at Vienna's gates, the last thing the Papacy needed was the world turning in on itself over religion.

For the early era of Medieval rule, the secular powers, with ecclesiastical backing from the Pope, would be allowed to carry out inquiries and tribunals on heretics. The consequence of these would naturally result in capital punishment if found guilty - but the frighteningly high rate of heretics being "found' and the absolute lack of standardization caused the Papacy to decide that a more uniform route needed to be taken.

The idea of state-sponsored capital punishment for heresy dated back to the 4th century A.D. when Emperor Maximus had a heretic and his followers beheaded, to the protest of the Holy See. Not necessarily opposed to such punishment for heretics, Pope Siricius and his bishops however did not feel that the secular powers should have the authority to punish for ecclesiastical offenses without Church sanction, on the grounds that it is a holy matter and that it leaves the door open for excessive persecution.

The Western Roman treatment of heretics created the backbone of contemporary Medieval thoughts on how they ought to be dealt with. According to Corpus Juris Civilis, heretics were "infamous persons" and enemies of the state that ought be executed for their crimes. The Corpus Juris Civilis, also known as the Justinian Code, was a compilation of jurisprudence beliefs and processes dating back to the dates of Emperor Hadrian.

To stop the flow of state sponsored heresy executions using potentially sloppy methods of tribunal (and because of a growing Catholic opposition to the death penalty) and to counter the rise of Catharism, the papacy began training its bishops to be inquisitors, until the Dominican Order was finally given almost sole domain on this legal practice. And indeed the practice was highly legal - in order to be an inquisitor one was expected to be an excellent student of the law and theology. They acted as the unabashed third party that would be called in to investigate claims of heresy, reporting only back to the Pope himself.

There is a great deal of misinformation that says that non-Christians were often the target of these Inquisitors - hoping to convert them or kill them trying. The task of an Inquisitor, however, was not conversion, but rather as they saw it "tending the herd". These judges' sole domain was Christians who posed a risk of abandoning Christianity, or worse, turning to full blown heresy and witchcraft.

The images of Jews and Muslims being forced to convert or die by red robed inquisitors is decidedly false - if they weren't a Christian to begin with, they were out of the authority of the inquisition's hands. This is not to say that non-Christians had it easy in Western Europe, but their fate was decided elsewhere, but has been falsely attributed to the inquisition.

Likewise, until the 17th century, there was no "Roman Inquisition", but rather they were select committees that were carried out at the request of local magistrates. In essence, a king or local lord would petition the Church for assistance in dealing with a heretic - an inquisition would then be sent to the area to confirm or deny the guilt of the person accused. While acquittals were decidedly rare, reconciliations were very common. Essentially, the accused had the opportunity of admitting to guilt and would very usually receive a ceremony where they were paraded for returning to the faith.

If the person persisted in denying their culpability and were found guilty (the standards of evidence were often times laughably absurd, such as holding your hand over a candle and if it burns you are guilty as God would save you if you are innocent) they were relaxed - meaning the trial was over and they were, in essence, convicted of the crime of heresy.

But to answer the question asked at the beginning of this article, not a single person was burned at the stake for heresy by the inquisition. If someone was relaxed for their crime, they were handed over to the secular powers with a sentence of guilty - the secular powers were then free to do with them as they see fit as their legal codes required. The Inquisition itself was simply expert judges and lawyers called in to find out if someone was guilty based on established ecclesiastical code. It was up to the powers that be to decide what happened to those the inquisition found guilty.

This, of course, usually involved burning at the stake.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition

http://www.crisismagazine.com/october2003/madden.htm

Encyclopedia of Heretics and Heresies