Holy Inquisition: when, where and how? "The Holy Inquisition. In the Middle Ages it was the norm

The Grand Inquisition and the Great Renaissance The Inquisition formally began in the 12th century. against the backdrop of numerous Crusades. And, in general, we can say that there were two waves of the Inquisition. The peak of the first wave can be called the Fourth Crusade, which ended

In 1229. This institution reached its apogee in 1478, when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, with the sanction of Pope Sixtus IV, established the Spanish Inquisition. The Congregation of the Holy Office was established in 1542, replacing the "Great Roman Inquisition", and in 1917 the functions of the abolished Congregation of the Index were also transferred to it. Renamed Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1908 Sacra congregatio Romanae et universalis Inquisitionis seu Sancti Officii). The work of this institution was built in strict accordance with the then current legislation in Catholic countries.

Aims and means

Torture applied to those accused of heresy. Engraving from 1508.

The main task of the Inquisition was to determine whether the accused was guilty of heresy. Since the end of the 15th century, when ideas about the mass presence of witches who have concluded an agreement with evil spirits among the ordinary population begin to spread in Europe, trials about witches begin to fall within its competence. At the same time, secular courts in Catholic and Protestant countries in the 16th and 17th centuries carried out the vast majority of witchcraft convictions. While the Inquisition did persecute witches, so did virtually every secular government. By the end of the 16th century, Roman inquisitors began to express serious doubts about most of the accusations of witchcraft. Also, Pope Nicholas V transferred cases of Jewish pogroms to the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. The Inquisition was supposed not only to punish the rioters, but also to act preventively, preventing violence. The Inquisition did not allow extrajudicial executions. In addition to ordinary interrogations, as in the secular courts of that time, the torture of the suspect was used. The lawyers of the Catholic Church attached great importance to sincere confession. In the event that the suspect did not die during the investigation, but confessed to his deed and repented, then the case materials were transferred to court.

Judicial procedure

VIII. The inquisitor interrogated the witnesses in the presence of a secretary and two priests who were instructed to see that the testimony was correctly recorded, or at least to be present when it was given, to listen to it as it was read in full. This reading took place in the presence of witnesses, who were asked whether they recognized what was now being read to them. If a crime or suspicion of heresy was proved during the preliminary investigation, then the accused was arrested and put in a church prison, if there was no Dominican monastery in the city, which usually replaced it. After the arrest, the defendant was interrogated, and a case was immediately started against him according to the rules, and his answers were compared with the testimony of the preliminary investigation.

IX. In the early days of the Inquisition, there was no prosecutor charged with prosecuting suspects; this formality of proceedings was carried out verbally by the inquisitor after hearing the witnesses; the consciousness of the accused served as an accusation and an answer. If the accused pleaded guilty of one heresy, he assured in vain that he was not guilty in relation to others; he was not allowed to defend himself because the crime for which he was put on trial had already been proven. He was only asked if he was disposed to renounce the heresy of which he pleaded guilty. If he agreed, then he was reconciled with the Church, imposing a canonical penance on him simultaneously with some other punishment. Otherwise, he was declared a stubborn heretic, and he was betrayed into the hands of secular authorities with a copy of the verdict.

The death penalty, like confiscation, was a measure that, in theory, the Inquisition did not apply. Her business was to use every effort to return the heretic to the bosom of the Church; if he persisted, or if his treatment was feigned, she had nothing more to do with him. As a non-Catholic, he was not subject to the jurisdiction of the Church, which he rejected, and the Church was forced to declare him a heretic and withdraw its patronage. Initially, the sentence was only a simple conviction for heresy, and was accompanied by excommunication or a declaration that the culprit was no longer considered within the jurisdiction of the court of the Church; sometimes it was added that he was handed over to a secular court, that he was set free - a terrible expression that meant that the direct intervention of the Church in his fate had already ended. Over time, the sentences became more lengthy; often there is already a remark explaining that the Church can no longer do anything to atone for the sins of the guilty, and the transfer of him into the hands of secular power is accompanied by the following significant words: debita animadversione puniendum, that is, "let him be punished according to his deserts." The hypocritical appeal, in which the Inquisition implored the secular authorities to spare the life and body of the fallen, is not found in ancient sentences and has never been formulated precisely.

Inquisitor Pegna does not hesitate to admit that this appeal to mercy was an empty formality, and explains that it was resorted to only for the purpose that it would not seem that the inquisitors agreed to the shedding of blood, since this would be a violation of canonical rules. But at the same time, the Church was vigilant in ensuring that its resolution was not misinterpreted. She taught that there could be no question of any indulgence unless the heretic repented and testified to his sincerity by betraying all his like-minded people. The inexorable logic of St. Thomas Aquinas clearly established that the secular authorities could not but put the heretics to death, and that only because of her boundless love the Church could address the heretics twice with words of conviction before betraying them into the hands of the secular authorities for a well-deserved punishment. The inquisitors themselves did not hide this at all and constantly taught that the heretic condemned by them should be put to death; this is evident, among other things, from the fact that they refrained from pronouncing their sentence on him within the church fence, which would be defiled by a death sentence, but pronounced it in the square where the last action of the auto-da-fe took place. One of their 13th-century doctors, quoted in the 14th century by Bernard Guy, argues this: “The purpose of the Inquisition is the destruction of heresy; heresy cannot be destroyed without the destruction of heretics; and heretics cannot be destroyed unless the defenders and supporters of heresy are also destroyed, and this can be achieved in two ways: by converting them to the true Catholic faith, or by turning their flesh to ashes, after they have been handed over into the hands of secular power.

Main historical stages

Chronologically, the history of the Inquisition can be divided into three stages: 1) Dominican (persecution of heretics until the 12th century) 2) Dominican (since the Council of Toulouse in 1229) 3) Spanish Inquisition. In the 1st period, the trial of heretics was part of the functions of episcopal power, and their persecution was temporary and random; in the 2nd, permanent inquisitorial tribunals are created, which are under the special jurisdiction of the Dominican monks; in the 3rd, the inquisitorial system is closely associated with the interests of monarchical centralization in Spain and the claims of its sovereigns to political and religious supremacy in Europe, first serving as an instrument of struggle against the Moors and Jews, and then, together with the Jesuit order, being the fighting force of the Catholic reaction of the 16th century . against Protestantism.

Persecution of heretics until the 12th century.

We find the germs of the Inquisition as early as the first centuries of Christianity - in the duty of deacons to search for and correct errors in the faith, in the judicial power of bishops over heretics. The episcopal court was simple and not distinguished by cruelty; the strongest punishment at that time was excommunication from the church.

Since the recognition of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire, civil punishments have also joined church punishments. In 316, Constantine the Great issued an edict condemning the Donatists to confiscation of property. The threat of the death penalty was first uttered by Theodosius the Great in 382 against the Manichaeans, and in 385 was carried out against the Priscillians.

In the capitularies of Charlemagne there are regulations obliging bishops to monitor the customs and the correct confession of faith in their dioceses, and on the Saxon borders - to eradicate pagan customs. In 844, Charles the Bald ordered the bishops to confirm the people in the faith through sermons, to investigate and correct their errors (“ut populi errata inquirant et corrigant”).

In the 9th and 10th centuries bishops reach a high degree of power; in the 11th century, during the persecution of the Patareni in Italy, their activity was distinguished by great energy. Already in this epoch, the Church is more willing to resort to violent measures against heretics than to exhortations. The most severe punishments for heretics already at that time were confiscation of property and burning at the stake.

Dominican period

At the end of the XII and the beginning of the XIII century. the literary and artistic movement in southern France and the associated teaching of the Albigensians threatened a serious danger to Catholic orthodoxy and papal authority. To suppress this movement, a new monastic order, the Dominicans, is called into being (X, 862). The word inquisition, in a technical sense, was used for the first time at the Council of Tours, in 1163, and at the Council of Toulouse, in 1229, the apostolic legate "mandavit inquisitionem fieri contra haereticos suspectatos de haeretica pravitate".

Even at the Synod of Verona, in 1185, exact rules were issued regarding the persecution of heretics, obliging bishops to audit their dioceses as often as possible and to select wealthy laymen who would assist them in searching for heretics and bringing them to the episcopal court; secular authorities were ordered to support the bishops, under pain of excommunication and other punishments.

The Inquisition owes its further development to the activities of Innocent III (1198-1216), Gregory IX (1227-1241) and Innocent IV (1243-1254). Around 1199, Innocent III commissioned two Cistercian monks, Guy and Renier, to travel as papal legates to the dioceses of southern France and Spain to eradicate the heresy of the Waldensians and Cathars. This created, as it were, a new spiritual authority, which had its own special functions and was almost independent of the bishops. In 1203, Innocent III sent two other Cistercians there, from the monastery of Fontevrault - Peter of Castelnau and Ralph; soon the abbot of this monastery, Arnold, was added to them, and all three were elevated to the rank of apostolic legates. The order to treat heretics as severely as possible led, in 1209, to the assassination of Peter of Castelnau, which served as a signal for a bloody and devastating struggle, known as the Albigensian wars.

Despite the crusade of Simon Montfort, the heresy persisted stubbornly until it was opposed by Dominic Guzman (X, 959), the founder of the Dominican order. The inquisitorial courts everywhere passed into the administration of this order, after the latter were withdrawn from episcopal jurisdiction by Gregory IX. At the Council of Toulouse in 1229, it was decreed that each bishop appoint one priest and one or more secular persons to secretly search for heretics within a given diocese. A few years later, inquisitorial duties were withdrawn from the competence of the bishops and specifically entrusted to the Dominicans, who represented the advantage over the bishops that they were not connected either by personal or public ties with the population of the area, and therefore could act, unconditionally, in the papal interests and not give mercy for heretics.

The inquisitorial courts established in 1233 caused a popular uprising in Narbonne in 1234, and in Avignon in 1242. Despite this, they continued to operate in Provence and were distributed even to the sowing. France. At the insistence of Louis IX, Pope Alexander IV appointed in 1255 in Paris one Dominican and one Franciscan friar to the office of Inquisitors General of France. Ultramontanian interference in the affairs of the Gallican church met, however, incessant opposition from its representatives; starting from the XIV century, the French Inquisition was subjected to restrictions by the state authorities and gradually declined, which even the efforts of the kings of the XVI century, who fought against the reformation, could not keep.

The same Gregory IX introduced the Inquisition in Catalonia, in Lombardy and in Germany, and everywhere Dominicans were appointed inquisitors. From Catalonia, the Inquisition quickly spread throughout the Iberian Peninsula, from Lombardy - in various parts of Italy, not everywhere, however, differing in the same strength and character. So, for example, in Naples, she never enjoyed great importance, due to the incessant strife between the Neapolitan sovereigns and the Roman curia. In Venice, the Inquisition (Council of Ten) arose in the 14th century. to search for accomplices in the Tiepolo conspiracy and was a political tribunal. The Inquisition reached its greatest development and strength in Rome. The degree of influence of the Inquisition in Italy and the impression it made on the minds is evidenced by the famous fresco of Simon Memmi, preserved in the Florentine church of S. Maria Novella, entitled "Domini canes" (a pun based on the consonance of these words with the word dominicani), depicting black -white dogs driving wolves away from the herd. The Italian Inquisition reached its greatest development in the 16th century, under Popes Pius V and Sixtus V.

In Germany, the Inquisition was initially directed against the Steding tribe, who were defending their independence from the Bremen archbishop. Here it met with a general protest. The first inquisitor of Germany was Konrad of Marburg; in 1233 he was killed during a popular uprising, and in the following year two of his chief assistants were subjected to the same fate. On this occasion, the Chronicle of Worms says: "thus, with God's help, Germany was freed from the vile and unheard-of judgment." Later, Pope Urban V, with the support of Emperor Charles IV, again appointed two Dominicans to Germany as inquisitors; however, even after that the Inquisition did not develop here. The last traces of it were destroyed by the Reformation. The Inquisition penetrated even into England, to fight against the teachings of Wyclef and his followers; but here its significance was negligible.

Of the Slavic states, only in Poland did the Inquisition exist, and even then for a very short time. In general, this institution has put down more or less deep roots only in the countries inhabited by the Romanesque tribe, where Catholicism has had a profound influence on the minds and education of character.

Spanish Inquisition

The Spanish Inquisition, which arose in the 13th century as an echo of contemporary events in southern France, is reborn with renewed vigor at the end of the 15th century. , receives a new organization and acquires great political significance. Spain represented the most favorable conditions for the development of the Inquisition. The centuries-old struggle with the Moors contributed to the development of religious fanaticism among the people, which was successfully used by the Dominicans who settled here. There were many non-Christians, namely Jews and Moors, in the areas conquered from the Moors by the Christian kings of the Iberian Peninsula. The Moors and the Jews who adopted their education were the most enlightened, productive and prosperous elements of the population. Their wealth inspired the envy of the people and was a temptation to the government. Already at the end of the XIV century. the mass of Jews and Moors were forced to accept Christianity by force (see Marranos and Moriscos), but many even after that continued to secretly profess the religion of their fathers.

The systematic persecution of these suspicious Christians by the Inquisition begins with the union of Castile and Aragon into one monarchy, under Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand the Catholic, who reorganized the Inquisition system. The motive for the reorganization was not so much religious fanaticism as the desire to use the Inquisition to strengthen the state unity of Spain and increase state revenues by confiscating the property of convicts. The soul of the new Inquisition in Spain was Isabella's confessor, the Dominican Torquemada. In 1478, a bull was received from Sixtus IV, allowing the "Catholic kings" to establish a new inquisition, and in 1480 its first tribunal was established in Seville; he opened his activities at the beginning of the next year, and by the end of it he could already boast of executing 298 heretics. The result of this was a general panic and a number of complaints against the actions of the tribunal addressed to the pope, mainly from the bishops. In response to these complaints, Sixtus IV ordered the inquisitors to adhere to the same severity in relation to heretics, and entrusted the consideration of appeals against the actions of the Inquisition to the Archbishop of Seville, Iñigo Manriques. A few months later, he appointed the great gene. Inquisitor of Castile and Aragon Torquemada, who completed the work of transforming the Spanish Inquisition.

The Inquisitorial Tribunal at first consisted of a chairman, 2 legal assessors and 3 royal advisers. This organization soon turned out to be insufficient and instead of it a whole system of inquisitorial institutions was created: a central inquisitorial council (the so-called Consejo de la suprema) and 4 local tribunals, the number of which was then increased to 10. The property confiscated from heretics formed a fund, from which drew funds for the maintenance of the inquisitorial tribunals and which, at the same time, served as a source of enrichment for the papal and royal treasury. In the city of Torquemada, he appointed in Seville a general congress of all members of the Spanish inquisition tribunals, and a code was developed here (at first 28 decrees; 11 were added later), which regulated the inquisitorial process.

Since then, the cause of the cleansing of Spain from heretics and non-Christians began to move forward rapidly, especially after the year, when Torquemada succeeded in obtaining from the "Catholic kings" the expulsion of all Jews from Spain. The results of the extermination activities of the Spanish Inquisition under Torquemada, in the period from 1498 to 1498, are expressed in the following figures: about 8,800 people were burned at the stake; 90,000 people were subject to confiscation of property and ecclesiastical punishments; in addition, images were burned, in the form of stuffed animals or portraits; 6,500 people who escaped execution by flight or death. In Castile, the Inquisition was popular among the fanatical crowd, who gladly fled to the auto-da-fé, and Torquemada met with universal honor until his death. But in Aragon, the actions of the Inquisition repeatedly caused outbursts of popular indignation; during one of them, Pedro Arbuez, President of the Inquisitorial Court in Zaragoza, who was not inferior in cruelty to Torquemada, was killed in a church, in the city of Torquemada's successors, Diego Des and especially Jimenez, archbishop. Toledo and Isabella's confessor, completed the religious unification of Spain.

A few years after the conquest of Granada, the Moors were persecuted for their faith, despite the provision of religious freedom for us by the terms of the capitulation treaty of d. In d. they were ordered either to be baptized or to leave Spain. Part of the Moors left their homeland, the majority were baptized; however, the baptized Moors (Moriscos) did not get rid of persecution and, finally, were expelled from Spain by Philip III, in the city. incalculable losses for Spanish agriculture, industry and trade. Within 70 years, the Spanish population figure fell from 10 million to 6.

Jiménez destroyed the last remnants of the episcopal opposition. The Inquisition was introduced into all the colonies and localities that depended on Spain; in all port cities, branches of it were established, which served as a kind of quarantine against the introduction of heresy and had a disastrous effect on Spanish trade. The Spanish Inquisition penetrated the Netherlands and Portugal and served as a model for the Italian and French inquisitors. In the Netherlands, it was established by Charles V, in the city, and was the reason for the separation of the northern Netherlands from Spain, under Philip II. In Portugal, the Inquisition was introduced in 1536 and from here it spread to the Portuguese colonies in the East Indies, where Goa was its center.

Other countries

Following the model of the Spanish Inquisition system, in 1542 the “Congregation of the Holy Inquisition” was established in Rome, whose authority was unconditionally recognized in the Duchies of Milan and Tuscany; in the Kingdom of Naples and the Republic of Venice, its actions were subject to government control. In France, Henry II tried to establish an inquisition along the same lines, and Francis II, in 1559, transferred the functions of the inquisitional court to parliament, where a special department was formed for this, the so-called. chambres ardentes.

The actions of the inquisitorial tribunal were clothed with strict secrecy. There was a system of espionage and denunciations. As soon as the accused or suspected person was brought to trial by the Inquisition, a preliminary interrogation began, the results of which were presented to the tribunal. If the latter found the case within his jurisdiction, which usually happened, then the scammers and witnesses were again interrogated and their testimony, along with all the evidence; were referred to the Dominican theologians, the so-called qualifiers of the Holy Inquisition.

If the qualifiers spoke out against the accused, he was immediately taken to a secret prison, after which all communication between the prisoner and the outside world ceased. Then followed the first 3 audiences, during which the inquisitors, without announcing the charges against the defendant, tried to confuse him in the answers by asking questions and by cunning wrested from him consciousness in the crimes brought against him. In the case of consciousness, he was placed in the category of "repentant" and could count on the indulgence of the court; in the case of stubborn denial of guilt, the accused, at the request of the prosecutor, was taken to the torture chamber. After the torture, the exhausted victim was again taken into the audience room, and only now was she introduced to the charges, to which they demanded an answer. The accused was asked whether he wanted to defend himself or not, and, in the case of an affirmative answer, they suggested that he choose a defense lawyer from a list of persons compiled by his own accusers. It is clear that the defense under such conditions was nothing more than a gross mockery of the victim of the tribunal. At the end of the process, which often lasted several months, the qualifiers were again invited and gave their final opinion on the case, almost always not in favor of the defendant.

Then came the verdict, which could be appealed to the supreme tribunal of the Inquisition or to the pope. However, the success of the appeals was unlikely. The Suprema, as a rule, did not cancel the verdicts of the inquisitorial courts, and for the success of the appeal to Rome, the intercession of rich friends was necessary, since the convict, whose property was confiscated, no longer had significant sums of money. If the sentence was canceled, the prisoner was released, but without any remuneration for the experienced torments, humiliations and losses; otherwise, sanbenito and auto da fé awaited him.

In addition to religious fanaticism and greed, the motive for persecution was often the personal revenge of individual members of the tribunal. Once the intended victim could no longer escape the hands of the holy tribunal: neither a high position in church or state, nor the glory of a scientist or artist, nor an impeccably moral life could save her. Even sovereigns trembled before the Inquisition. Even such persons as the Spanish Archbishop Carranza, Cardinal Cesare Borgia and others could not escape her persecution. Any manifestation of independent thought was prosecuted as heresy: this can be seen in the examples of Galileo, Giordano Bruno, Pico della Mirandola and others.

The influence of the Inquisition on the intellectual development of Europe in the 16th century became especially disastrous, when it, together with the Jesuit order, managed to master the censorship of books. In the 17th century the number of its victims is significantly reduced. 18th century with his ideas of religious tolerance, it was a time of further decline and finally the complete abolition of the inquisition in many states of Europe: torture is completely eliminated from the inquisition process in Spain, and the number of executions is reduced to 2 - 3, and even less, per year. In Spain, the Inquisition was destroyed by the decree of Joseph Bonaparte on December 4, 1808. According to the statistics collected in the work of Loriente, it turns out that from 1481 to 1809 there were 341,021 people who were persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition; of which 31,912 were burned personally, 17,659 - in efficiency, 291,460 were subjected to imprisonment and other punishments.

Victims of the Inquisition. Criticism

People

In his Tales of Witchcraft and Magic (1852), Thomas Wright, Associate Member of the Institut National de France, states

“Of the multitudes who perished for sorcery at the stakes of Germany during the first half of the seventeenth century, there were many whose crime was their adherence to the religion of Luther.<...>and petty princes were not opposed to seizing every opportunity to replenish their coffers… the most persecuted were those with significant fortunes… In Bamberg, as well as in Würzburg, the bishop was the sovereign prince in his dominions. The prince-bishop, John George II, who ruled Bamberg... after several unsuccessful attempts to root out Lutheranism, glorified his reign with a series of bloody witch trials that disgraced the annals of this city... We can get some idea of ​​​​the deeds of his worthy agent (Frederick Ferner, Bishop of Bamberg) according to the most reliable sources that between 1625 and 1630. at least 900 trials took place in the two courts of Bamberg and Zeil; and in an article published by the authorities in Bamberg in 1659, it is reported that the number of persons whom Bishop John Georg had burnt at the stake for witchcraft reached 600 "

Also, Thomas Wright gives a list (document) of the victims of twenty-nine burnings. In this list, people professing Lutheranism were designated as "strangers." As a result, the victims of these burnings were:

• "Alien" men and women, that is, Protestants - 28
• Citizens wealthy people - 100
• Boys, girls and small children - 34

"Among the witches," says Wright, "there were little girls from seven to ten years old, and twenty-seven of them were sentenced and burned," during other brande, or burnings. “The number of those brought to trial with this terrible trial was so large that the judges did not delve into the essence of the case, and it became common that they did not even bother to write down the names of the accused, but designated them as the accused number; 1, 2, 3, etc.”

Professor D. W. Draper, in A History of the Conflict between Religion and Science (1874), writes:

“The families of the convicts were subjected to complete ruin. Llorente, the historian of the Inquisition, calculated that Torquemada and his henchmen burned 10,220 people at the stake in eighteen years; human images burned 6819; 97321 people were punished in other ways! It is with unspeakable disgust and indignation that we learn that the Papal Government has obtained large sums of money by selling permits to the rich that exempt them from the encroachments of the Inquisition.

Animals

The Church also conducted mass animal trials. In these courts, flies, caterpillars, locusts, cats, fish, leeches, and even Maybugs were accused. Over the last garden pests, also called May Khrushchev, in 1479 in Lausanne (Switzerland) a high-profile trial took place, which lasted two years. By a court decision, six-legged criminals were ordered to leave the country immediately. Many such court cases are described in J. Fraser's classic Folklore in the Old Testament:

“In Europe, until comparatively recent times, the lower animals bore full responsibility before the law on an equal footing with humans. Pets were tried in criminal courts and punished by death if a crime was proven; wild animals were subject to the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts, and the punishments to which they were subjected were banishment and death by exorcism or excommunication. These punishments were far from joking, if it is true that St. Patrick drove all the reptiles of Ireland into the sea with spells or turned them into stones, and that St. Bernard, after weaning the flies buzzing around him, laid them all dead on the floor of the church. The right to bring pets to justice rested like a rock on Jewish law from the Book of the Covenant. In each case, a lawyer was appointed to protect the animals, and the whole process - judicial investigation, sentence and execution - was carried out with the strictest observance of all forms of legal proceedings and the requirements of the law. Thanks to the research of French antiquities lovers, the minutes of 92 trials that passed through the courts of France between the 12th and 18th centuries were published. The last victim in France of this, one might say, Old Testament justice was a cow, which was sentenced to death in the year of our reckoning.

Processes with mass defendants usually took a long time. For example, the lawsuit between the community of Saint-Julien and the beetles continued intermittently for about forty years. If isolated creatures were accused, then retribution for witchcraft deeds overtook them quickly. In 1474, at the height of the beetle trial, an old rooster was being tried in Basel for allegedly laying an egg. Naturally, there were witnesses of such an act who, “personally saw everything,” and the accuser shook the courthouse with horrifying stories about how Satan puts witches on cock eggs so that they, like hens, hatch out the most harmful creatures for Christians, and about how that rooster eggs are used to make witchcraft potions. It is significant that the defense of the accused rooster did not even try to challenge such accusations because, as Fraser notes, "all these facts were too obvious and well-known to be denied". As a result of this process, "the rooster was sentenced to death as a sorcerer or devil, disguised as a rooster, and, together with the laid egg, was burned at the stake with all solemnity, as if it were the most ordinary execution."

Granger, a contemporary of the events, recounted the horse trial. Animal “It was trained to recognize the number of signs on playing cards, as well as to tell what time it is on the clock. The horse and its owner were both accused by the Holy Inquisition of intercourse with the Devil, and both were burnt with great ceremony on the auto-da-fe, in Lisbon, in 1601, as sorcerers!” .

see also

• The fight against dissent in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church

Links

• Orthodox Inquisition E. Grekulov "Orthodox Inquisition in Russia"
• The Inquisition in the Middle Ages A site about knights and the Middle Ages
• J. A. Llorente. History of the Spanish Inquisition. Volume I
• J. A. Llorente. History of the Spanish Inquisition. Volume II
• E. F. Grekulov. Orthodox Inquisition in Russia
• E. O. Kalugina. "Black legend" about Spain in Russian culture.
• Article " Inquisition» in the Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia
• Inquisition, Rakhmanova R.R.
• F. M. Dostoevsky. Grand Inquisitor
• N. A. Berdyaev. Grand Inquisitor

Literature

Pre-revolutionary studies

• V. Velichkin. Essays on the History of the Inquisition (1906).
• N. N. Gusev. Tales of the Inquisition (1906).
• N. Ya. Kadmin. The Philosophy of Murder (1913; reprint 2005).
• A. Lebedev. Secrets of the Inquisition (1912).
• N. Osokin. History of the Albigensians and their time (1869-1872).
• M. N. Pokrovsky. Medieval Heresies and the Inquisition (in the Reading Book on the History of the Middle Ages, edited by P. G. Vinogradov, issue 2, 1897).
• M. I. Semevsky. Word and deed. Secret Investigation of Peter I (1884; reprinted, 1991, 2001).
• Ya. Kantorovich. Medieval Witch Trials (1899)

• N. V. Budur. Inquisition: Geniuses and Villains (2006).
• M. Ya. Vygodsky. Galileo and the Inquisition (1934).
• S. V. Gordeev. A History of Religions: The World's Major Religions, Ancient Ceremonies, Wars of Religion, the Christian Bible, Witches, and the Inquisition (2005).
• E. F. Grekulov. From the History of the Holy Inquisition in Russia (1929; two reprints, 1930); The Orthodox Church is the Enemy of Enlightenment (1962); Orthodox Inquisition in Russia (1964).
• I. R. Grigulevich. Inquisition (1970; 1976; 1985; reprint 2002); Papacy. Century XX (1981; reprint, 2003).
• M. I. Zaborov. The Papacy and the Crusades (1960).
• I. A. Kryvelev. Bonfire and Torture Against Science and Scientists (1933; reprinted 1934).
• A. E. Kudryavtsev. Spain in the Middle Ages (1937).
• S. G. Lozinsky. A History of the Inquisition in Spain (1914; reprint 1994); A History of the Papacy (1934; reprinted 1961, 1986); Holy Inquisition (1927); Fatal book of the Middle Ages.
• L. P. Novokhatskaya. Witch-hunt". From the History of the Church Inquisition (1990).
• M. A. Orlov. A History of Man's Intercourse with the Devil (1992).
• Z. I. Plavskin. Spanish Inquisition: Executioners and Victims (2000).
• V. S. Rozhitsyn. Giordano Bruno and the Inquisition (1955).
• Prisons and punishments. Inquisition, Prisons, Corporal Punishment, Executions (1996).
• M. I. SHAKHNOVICH Goya Against the Papacy and the Inquisition (1955).
• M. M. Sheinman. With Fire and Blood in the Name of God (1924); Papacy (1959); From Pius IX to John XXIII (1966).

Any deviation from the true faith accepted by the church was called. Moreover, this faith meant exactly as much as it was embedded in the concept of the church itself. Of course, heretics are traitors to the church faith. These are people who have committed a sin before the eyes of the Lord. They also had their own government - the Inquisition. B was the most common thing! More about this in our article.

All in papal hands

It was in the hands of the papal church, which could decide which faith and which statements about the Lord are considered correct, and which are false (that is, heretical).

Heretics were hated more than Gentiles (people of other faiths). They were despised even more than Muslims. And all this because the heretics considered themselves real Christians. These were especially dangerous internal enemies of the church, who undermined its authority and foundations.

History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages

What is the inquisition?

The heretics did not leave the church any choice, so in the Middle Ages the bonfires of the Inquisition, a specially created organization that fought against the secret enemies of Catholicism, constantly burned.

In general, the word "inquisition" in the Middle Ages meant "search", "search". In our time it is called the secret police. However, not all so simple! The Inquisition was much more terrible and dangerous than any secret police! Why? Yes, because its power, influence and strength did not extend to any one state, but to the whole of Europe!

The very first inquisitor, without any doubt, can be considered Pope Innocent III. It is curious that the very concept of "inquisition" was introduced in the Middle Ages after the death of the pope.

"King of Kings and Lord of Lords"

He developed a vigorous activity to eradicate heretics as soon as he ascended the papal throne. Without a twinge of conscience, he considered himself the arbiter of the fate of all mortals and the entire Christian world! Innocent the Third called himself "the king of all kings and the lord of all lords." In addition, the pope did not hesitate to call himself "a priest of all ages and peoples" and was not afraid to speak of himself as "the vicar of Christ himself on sinful earth." Can you imagine the scale of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages?

Torture of the inquisitors

The installation was quite simple: turn the whole soul inside out. Torture until the heretic confesses his sin, realizes his misdeed. Monstrous torture forced even quite harmless heretics to take the blame for committing monstrous crimes!

Brutal torture can be listed until you're blue in the face, which medieval inventors-sadists did not come up with. The Inquisition did not spare almost a single heretic. Here is a list of the most sophisticated tortures:

• gutting and quartering;
• deadly pressure;
• interrogation chair;
• heretic's fork;
• cat's paw;
• hand saw;
• "Stork";
• brazier (grid);
• rupture of the chest;
• impalement (a favorite pastime of Vlad Tepes - the ruler of Transylvania, the Romanian governor);
• wheeling (Peter the Great's favorite method of execution).

The existence of witches in different eras was confirmed by many seemingly indisputable evidence. Most people accused young and calm girls no heavier than 50 kilograms of witchcraft. They blamed almost all troubles, sudden changes in the weather, deaths, poor harvests, and so on. It was believed that the existence of such powerful creatures would call into question the rule of the church and man, so they decided to destroy such women, for the sake of the common good.

When did the Inquisition appear?

There is an opinion that such a phenomenon as witchcraft and witches is a purely medieval concept. But many sources, including ancient finds with writing, indicate that before the birth of Christ, there were “nice” ladies who demanded tribute from people, otherwise troubles would fall on them. A witch is one of the oldest designations for evil food, which appears in the form of an elderly woman. Over time, values ​​changed, and with them the images of real evil. The peak of popularity falls on the period of the 5th-15th centuries. It is during this period that the great generation of witches occurs. The history of the Inquisition begins from these times.

The word "inquisition" in Latin means search, investigation. Before the advent of the medieval cult of the church, until the 5th century AD, the Inquisition was called certain investigations and searches for truth in the dubious affairs of people. Sometimes, in order to knock out the real truth, they resorted to cruel torture. Inquisitors were people who tried to understand the violations of society.

A little later, when God and the church turned the world into a large area for prayer, similar measures were taken, most often to non-believers. And over time, to everything negative that existed in the world, according to the church. In modern times, the word has become synonymous with death for witches and pagans. Many historians have theorized how many people were killed because of the activities of such a movement.

The brightest representatives propagated the power of the church in Europe, were:

• England.
• Holy Roman Empire.
• France.
• Spain.

Why was the Inquisition so powerful?

Due to the fact that incessant wars take place during the Middle Ages, historians decided to call this period dark ages. What is special about this period of history:

• The appearance of the knights.
• The Church became the head of government.
• Creation of the Cult of God.
• History of the Inquisition.

Along with the church, gradual power was formed behind the inquisition. God has become the main source of strength, desire and love. An incredible cult proclaimed man as nothing compared to God. All the values ​​of the ancient world were destroyed, and it became necessary to create new ones. Belief in God instantly became the leader throughout Europe.

The cult of God was perceived as an axiom. Nobody discussed him, he was like a fact, and everyone should have accepted it. Due to the fact that in the Middle Ages they began to massively promote faith in the One Almighty, the number of people who abandoned this faith in favor of their past views increased. Exactly during this period, the Inquisition begins to actively operate.

Almost all people who resisted were forcibly converted to the new faith. Among them were such people who sacredly and firmly believed in their own gods, heretics or pagans. If it was not possible to screw a person into new beliefs, then this led to bad consequences. Because of the incredible support of the church, the royal power of most of the states of Europe, the Inquisition gained incredible power.

People who called themselves Inquisitors had every right to accuse any person of not believing. And he sued. The words of the Inquisitors were not condemned, and almost all the trials ended in tears for the victims. Most often, the punishment was the selection of property, physical violence, ridicule in front of the public. Then another chance was given to the man. He was released. If he falls for the same delays for the second time, then drastic measures had to be used.

It is generally accepted that with the word inquisition, associations about the fires of the Inquisition, Joan of Arc and mortal torture immediately appear in the head. However, all this has long been refuted by historians, even verified information on Wikipedia. But let's get it right.

In fact, in most cases, the struggle of the Inquisition against heretics and pagans is slightly omitted. The former forcibly plunged the latter into their faith. If they refused, then the sentences of the Inquisition were used: painful torture and confiscation of property. This was necessary in order to show the steadfastness of the believer, who is destined for a place in Paradise, even after the crime. In 95% of cases, people gave up, and in exchange for their property, and sometimes they were children, they believed in a new religion. However, those same 5% who refused to betray their own gods were subjected to severe torture. It is difficult to describe them, as this is not an easy job.

One of the most striking examples of the sentence of the Inquisition is torture with incredible pain on the part of a heretic. The person was tied to a chair so that he could not move his arms and legs. Then gradually heated small tongs to a red color. Then they would tear off one nail at a time until the person gave up and recognized the authority of God. We have to admit that it was not the worst torture. History has recognized even worse cases. However, lethal torture was rarely resorted to. The sentence was often limited to painful torments.

Joan of Arc and the victim is considered the most famous myth of the terrible Inquisition. After the girl was able to save France from the irreparable pressure of England after the Hundred Years War, she was captured by the tribes of the Burgundians. They handed her over to the authorities of the English kingdom. Then she was condemned as a simple heretic, and then burned at the stake. But is it true?

More and more historians believe that this is nothing more than a myth. The heroine of France was not burned at the stake like a heretic. She, like all other people, was strangled by force by the new religion. And all the arguments that it was burned, at the moment, seem to be nothing more than a fairy tale.

There are not only scientific works of that era pointing to the opposite facts, but also a lot of alleged material evidence. For example, they unearthed the skeleton of an unidentified person. Using the latest technology, it was possible to confirm that this is the skeleton of a girl, 18-19 years old. And from the fossils, the age of the bones was easily determined. Almost everything fits the world-famous myth of the burnt Joan of Arc. Therefore, the sentence of burning at the stake can be safely considered unrealistic.

There are a large number of articles on the Internet that the number of victims of the Inquisition is comparable to the total number of deaths in World War II. This is all nothing more than hyperbolic chatter. For 400 years of vigorous activity of the Inquisition, it is assumed that the approximate number of victims does not exceed 40 thousand.

Many modern technologies have managed to achieve excellent results in the maximum truthfulness of history. That is, most of the assumptions that were considered true and perceived as fact now have no historical value.

The Salem Witch Phenomenon

No less controversial is the story of the Salem Witches. At the end of the 17th century, in the small town of Salem in England, sudden outbreaks of witchcraft, weather control, began. All this provoked the church to seek an explanation through the punishment of imaginary women capable of conjuring.

The priest Samuel Parisse noticed how strange things happen to girls playing with a crystal ball. All night they dreamed of coffins and barking dogs. This did not stop until morning. The priest decided that these were the tricks of an evil witch, so he began to look for her. It seemed that such things happened almost everywhere. But the bottom line is that because of the imaginary game of three girls, more than 160 people fell under the court of the Inquisition. And the worst thing about this is that not a single defendant was ever acquitted, all were sentenced. About 150 people ended up behind bars for the rest of their lives, and more than ten had to try on a noose around their necks.

A little later, the process was stopped, as Governor Phips, in the words of theologian Incris Mater, criticized the incompetence of the created court. Until now, scientists are considering the strange and mysterious events of those 10 months, when so many people suffered, due to the strange behavior of three girls. Who is really the culprit in this story?

And there are thousands of similar stories among the thickness of centuries. The Inquisition publicly punished heretics to show their superiority. It was necessary for the sake of establishing a totalitarian regime, and in the future creating the cult of God.

It is generally accepted that the Inquisition is a thing of the past, and there is not the slightest trace of it left. However, this can also be considered a myth. In the modern world there is a current that professes the same principles and views as the Inquisition, but all this has acquired a different name - Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In the XII century. the Catholic Church faced the growth of oppositional religious movements in Western Europe, primarily Albigensians (Cathars). To combat them, the papacy placed on the bishops the duty to identify and judge "heretics", and then turn them over for punishment to secular authorities ("episcopal inquisition"); this order was fixed in the decrees of the Second (1139) and Third (1212) Lateran Councils, the bulls of Lucius III (1184) and Innocent III (1199). These regulations were first applied during the Albigensian Wars (1209–1229). In 1220 they were recognized by the German emperor Frederick II, in 1226 by the French king Louis VIII. From 1226–1227, the highest penalty for "crimes against the faith" in Germany and Italy was burning at the stake.

However, the "episcopal inquisition" was not very effective: the bishops were dependent on the secular authorities, and the territory subordinate to them was small, which allowed the "heretic" to easily hide in the neighboring diocese. Therefore, in 1231, Gregory IX, referring cases of heresy to the sphere of canon law, created to investigate them a permanent body of church justice - the Inquisition. Initially directed against the Cathars and Waldensians, it soon turned against other "heretical" sects - Beguins, Fraticelli, Spiritualists, and then against "sorcerers", "witches" and blasphemers.

In 1231, the Inquisition was introduced in Aragon, in 1233 - in France, in 1235 - in Central, in 1237 - in Northern and Southern Italy.

inquisitorial system.

Inquisitors were recruited from members of monastic orders, primarily Dominicans, and reported directly to the pope. At the beginning of the 14th century Clement V set the age limit for them at forty years. Initially, each tribunal was headed by two judges with equal rights, and from the beginning of the 14th century. – only one judge. From the 14th century with them consisted of legal consultants (qualifiers), who determined the "heretics" of the statements of the accused. In addition to them, the number of employees of the tribunal included a notary who certified the testimony, witnesses who were present during interrogations, a prosecutor, a doctor who monitored the state of health of the accused during torture, and an executioner. The inquisitors received an annual salary or part of the property confiscated from the "heretics" (in Italy, one third). In their activities, they were guided by both papal decrees and special allowances: in the early period, the most popular Practice of the Inquisition Bernard Guy (1324), in the late Middle Ages - Hammer of the Witches J.Sprenger and G.Institoris (1487) .

There were two types of inquisitorial procedures - a general and an individual investigation: in the first case, the entire population of a given area was interviewed, in the second, a specific person was called through the curate. If the summoned did not appear, he was excommunicated. The person who appeared swore an oath to tell frankly everything that he knew about the "heresy". The course of the proceedings was kept in deep secrecy. Torture, permitted for use by Innocent IV (1252), was widely used. Their cruelty sometimes caused condemnation even from secular authorities, for example, from Philip IV the Handsome (1297). The accused was not given the names of the witnesses; they could even be excommunicated, thieves, murderers and perjurers, whose testimony was never accepted in secular courts. He was deprived of the opportunity to have a lawyer. The only chance for the sentenced was an appeal to the Holy See, although formally forbidden by Bull 1231. A person who had once been convicted by the Inquisition could at any moment be brought to justice again. Even death did not stop the investigation procedure: if the deceased was found guilty, his ashes were removed from the grave and burned.

The system of punishments was established by Bull 1213, the decrees of the Third Lateran Council and Bull 1231. Those convicted by the Inquisition were handed over to civil authorities and subjected to secular punishments. The “heretic”, who “repented” already during the trial, was entitled to life imprisonment, which the Inquisition Tribunal had the right to reduce; this type of punishment was an innovation for the penitentiary system of the medieval West. The prisoners were kept in cramped cells with a hole in the ceiling, they ate only bread and water, sometimes they were shackled and chained. In the late Middle Ages, imprisonment was sometimes replaced by hard labor in the galleys or in workhouses. A stubborn "heretic" or again "fell into heresy" was sentenced to be burned at the stake. Conviction often entailed the confiscation of property in favor of the secular authorities, who reimbursed the costs of the inquisitorial tribunal; hence the special interest of the Inquisition in wealthy people.

For those who came with a confession to the inquisitorial tribunal during the "period of mercy" (15-30 days, counting from the moment the judges arrived in a particular locality), set aside to collect information (denunciations, self-incrimination, etc.) about crimes against faith, church punishments were applied. These included the interdict (a ban on worship in a given area), excommunication and various types of penance - strict fasting, long prayers, scourging during Mass and religious processions, pilgrimage, donations for charitable deeds; who had time to repent went in a special "repentant" shirt (sanbenito).

Inquisition from the 13th century up to our time.

The 13th century was the period of the apogee of the Inquisition. The epicenter of its activity in France was the Languedoc, where the Cathars and Waldensians were persecuted with extraordinary cruelty; in 1244, after the capture of the last Albigensian stronghold of Montsegur, 200 people were sent to the stake. In Central and Northern France in the 1230s, Robert Lebougre operated on a special scale; in 1235 in Mont-Saint-Aime he arranged the burning of 183 people. (in 1239 condemned by the pope to life imprisonment). In 1245, the Vatican granted the inquisitors the right of "mutual forgiveness of sins" and freed them from the obligation to obey the leadership of their orders.

The Inquisition often ran into resistance from the local population: in 1233, the first inquisitor of Germany, Conrad of Marburg, was killed (this led to an almost complete cessation of the activities of the tribunals in the German lands), in 1242, members of the tribunal in Toulouse, in 1252, the inquisitor of Northern Italy, Pierre of Verona; in 1240 the inhabitants of Carcassonne and Narbonne revolted against the inquisitors.

In the middle of the 13th century, fearing the growing power of the Inquisition, which had become the patrimony of the Dominicans, the papacy tried to put its activities under stricter control. In 1248, Innocent IV subordinated the inquisitors to the Bishop of Agen, and in 1254 transferred the tribunals in Central Italy and Savoy into the hands of the Franciscans, leaving only Liguria and Lombardy to the Dominicans. But under Alexander IV (1254–1261), the Dominicans took revenge; in the second half of the 13th century. they actually ceased to reckon with the papal legates and turned the Inquisition into an independent organization. The post of inquisitor general, through which the popes supervised her activities, remained vacant for many years.

Numerous complaints about the arbitrariness of the tribunals forced Clement V to reform the Inquisition. On his initiative, the Council of Vienne in 1312 ordered the inquisitors to coordinate the judicial procedure (especially the use of torture) and sentences with local bishops. In 1321 John XXII further limited their powers. The Inquisition gradually fell into decay: judges were periodically withdrawn, their sentences were often cassated. In 1458 the inhabitants of Lyon even arrested the chairman of the tribunal. In a number of countries (Venice, France, Poland), the Inquisition was under the control of the state. Philip IV the Handsome in 1307–1314 used her as a tool to defeat the rich and influential Knights Templar; with its help, the German emperor Sigismund dealt with Jan Hus in 1415, and the British in 1431 with Joan of Arc. The functions of the Inquisition were transferred into the hands of secular courts, both ordinary and extraordinary: in France, for example, in the second half of the 16th century. about "heresy" were considered both by parliaments (courts) and by specially created for this "chambers of fire" (chambres ardentes).

At the end of the XV century. The Inquisition experienced its second birth. In 1478, under Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, it was established in Spain and for three and a half centuries was an instrument of royal absolutism. The Spanish Inquisition, created by T. Torquemada, became famous for its particular cruelty; its main object was the recently converted Jews (Marans) and Muslims (Moriscos), many of whom secretly continued to profess their former religion. According to official data, in 1481-1808 in Spain, almost 32 thousand people died during the auto-da-fé (the public execution of "heretics"); 291.5 thousand were subjected to other punishments (life imprisonment, hard labor, confiscation of property, pillory). The introduction of the Inquisition in the Spanish Netherlands was one of the causes of the Dutch Revolution of 1566–1609. From 1519 this institution operated in the Spanish colonies of Central and South America.

At the end of the 15th century the Inquisition took on special significance in Germany as well; here, in addition to "heresies", she actively fought against "witchcraft" ("witch hunt"). However, in the 1520s in the German principalities, where the Reformation won, this institution was done away with forever. In 1536, the Inquisition was established in Portugal, where the persecution of the "new Christians" (Jews who had converted to Catholicism) unfolded. In 1561 the Portuguese crown introduced it into its Indian possessions; there she took up the eradication of the local "false doctrine", which combined the features of Christianity and Hinduism.

The successes of the Reformation prompted the papacy to transform the Inquisitorial system towards greater centralization. In 1542, Paul III established a permanent Holy Congregation of the Roman and Ecumenical Inquisition (Holy Office) to oversee the activities of the tribunals in the field, although in reality its jurisdiction extended only to Italy (except Venice). The office was headed by the pope himself and consisted first of five, and then of ten cardinal inquisitors; under it functioned an advisory council of experts in canon law. She also exercised papal censorship, from 1559 publishing an Index of Forbidden Books. The most famous victims of the papal inquisition were Giordano Bruno and Galileo Galilei.

Since the age of Enlightenment, the Inquisition began to lose its positions. In Portugal, her rights were significantly curtailed: S. de Pombal, the first minister of King José I (1750–1777), in 1771 deprived her of the right to censor and abolished the auto-da-fé, and in 1774 banned the use of torture. In 1808, Napoleon I completely abolished the Inquisition in Italy, Spain and Portugal, which he captured. In 1813, the Cortes of Cadiz (parliament) abolished it in the Spanish colonies as well. However, after the fall of the Napoleonic Empire in 1814, it was restored both in Southern Europe and in Latin America. In 1816, Pope Pius VII banned the use of torture. After the revolution of 1820, the institution of the Inquisition finally ceased to exist in Portugal; in 1821, he was also abandoned by the Latin American countries that had liberated themselves from Spanish rule. The Spanish teacher C. Ripoll (Valencia, 1826) was the last to be executed by the verdict of the inquisitional court. In 1834 the Inquisition was abolished in Spain. In 1835, Pope Gregory XVI officially abolished all local inquisitorial tribunals, but retained the Holy Office, whose activities from that time were limited to excommunications and the publication of Index.

By the time of the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965, the Holy Office remained only an odious relic of the past. In 1966, Pope Paul VI actually abolished it, transforming it into the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with purely censorship functions; The index has been cancelled.

A significant act was the reassessment by John Paul II (1978-2005) of the historical role of the Inquisition. On his initiative, Galileo was rehabilitated in 1992, Copernicus was rehabilitated in 1993, and the archives of the Holy Office were opened in 1998. In March 2000, on behalf of the church, John Paul II repented for the "sins of intolerance" and the crimes of the Inquisition.

Ivan Krivushin