Whenever allegations are heard against the Inquisition, the apologetic work must begin with a discrimination between church and state Inquisition. These 2 varieties of the Court of Faith, despite the common name and methods of action, were fundamentally different, and frequently the State Inquisition was condemned by the Holy See as contrary to the orthodox doctrine of Catholicism. That is why specified a discrimination is essential – Roman Konik writes in his book “In the defence of the Holy Inquisition”. Courtesy of WECTORY Publishing House, we present a fragment of it.
Spanish Inquisition
The state inquisition was besides conducted for political purposes. The most celebrated example is the Spanish Inquisition. There were many reasons why the Spanish Inquisition was established. In the 8th century, there was a border between the planet of Islam and Christianity. By the age of 14 the religious-territorial origin was not confronted. The group connecting the 2 worlds were Jews, treated with friendships in Spain until the 12th century. The 14th century brings a breakdown of this comparative balance. Along with ideological-religious confrontation, there is besides a military confrontation. The first step taken in this direction was the decree of the Castilian bishops sitting on the Synod in Zamora in 1313 calling for a certain balance to be maintained in the filling of state and public posts. For Christians were discriminated against in the planet of finance, almost completely subject to the Jews.
Józef Tyszkiewicz points out a certain aspect: In a land exhausted by age fights,Finally, in a short time, the Jews seized all the sources of the state's revenue, mastered all outstanding government positions, and this, as usual, from the nobles of the army, bankers, merchants, doctors and lawyers – and ending with ministers, the Crown Council and even... bishop myths!127
Preferences in filling positions contributed to the issuing of a decree prohibiting Catholics from participating in the public and amusement life of Jews and Muslims. The next step was the 1335 Synod Decree in Salamar, prohibiting Catholics from utilizing judaic and Muslim doctors. The Synod in Valencia in 1338 forbids the excommunication of trade on Sunday, which, of course, hit primarily judaic traders.
Such decrees were dictated primarily by the fight against the privileges criticized by Christians. In Spanish society, these privileges have been in operation for years (e.g. all criminal cases caused by Jews were removed from the jurisdiction of the common courts and were only subject to the rabbi's judgment).
The minute that increased the common aversion of Christians and Jews was the execution on September 15, 1485 by the second (under the leadership of Gabriel Sanchez, the royal treasurer) of the Inquisitor Peter Arbues. He was killed while kneeling in the Cathedral of Zaragoza, in prayer. Conversos (Jews who, for formal reasons, accepted Catholicism) hoped that this spectacular execution would spread a wave of aversion to the Inquisition on the Iberian Peninsula. In fact, the consequence turned out to be counterproductive – a wave of protest hit the judaic community. Zaragoza's people, outraged by the murder, demanded that the king repress the Jews and, above all, capture the assassins of the Inquisitor.
On March 31, 1492, an edict was issued ordering Jews to convert to Catholicism or exile (the edict besides touched 1 of the main sponsors of the Christopher Columbus expedition). frequently overlooked fact (like the judaic participation in the creation of folk power in the beginnings of the Polish People's Republic) was their participation in the creation of rights against their fellow believers.
Rabbi Burgos Salomon Ha-Levi,-descending Chancellor of Castile, and then the Papal Legate in Castile (he accepted baptism and changed his name to Pablo de Santa Maria), became the founder of the treaty Scrutinium scriptuarum, sive dialogis Sauli et Pauli contra Judah of 1432, calling straight to the pogroms of the judaic ghettos.
A akin example is the treaty aimed at the religion of ancestors written by ex-rabina Jehoshua Ha-Lorqui (known as Jeronimo de Santa Fe). The atmosphere of anti-Semitism was besides fueled by ex-Jews specified as: Pedro de la Caballeria, Alonso de Espina (talking about the judaic people as traitors, blasphemers, thieves, kid killers, homosexuals, murderous doctors, poisoners, etc.).
What may be most amazing is that judaic blood besides flowed in the Henriquez family, the founders of the later Spanish Inquisition (of which Ferdinand II belonged). Ferdinand and Isabella, reforming their united kingdoms, besides wanted to resolve the increasing conflict between the aggravating spiritual groups: Catholics, Jews and maursies. The hard situation of the Morists (Muslims converted to Catholicism) highlighted the fact that they had difficulty entering into a completely culturally alien world: the culinary (pigmeat eating), cultural (monogamy, diametrically different attitude to women) or religious, where the reluctance of converts was most evident – they attacked the “own” religion for sacraments, cults of saints, or hierarchy of clergy.
The creators of the Spanish Inquisition were not, as is widely believed, Ferdinand and Isabella. It already existed in this country without a tiny 250 years. The real creator of the Holy Office was Bishop Bernard of Lerida. However, this announcement of “terror” has issued fewer judgments, mainly in memoria (postmortem cases that removed heretics from Catholic cemeteries).
It was only after 3 centuries that King Aragon felt that this institution should be strengthened, as a kind of binder of statehood, to warrant the order and stableness of the country. Alonso de Horeja (whose sermons Isabella listened to in Seville in 1477), as well as the bishop of Seville don Pedro Gonzales de Mendoza and the individual confessor of the monarchs, Thomas de Torquemada (whose veins were besides judaic blood). They all advocated extremist measures in the fight for the purity of religion in the Iberian Peninsula.
Such extremist solutions, in the form of the establishment of the state inquisition, aroused opposition not only to the ecclesiastical hierarchy (the introduction of the state inquisition was hidden from the Synod of Bishops in Seville in 1478, powerfully opposed to the forceful solutions of the question of Innovers in Spain). As a consequence of the force of Isabella and Ferdinand Pope Sixtus IV on 1 XI 1478 a bull Exigit singlerae devotionis effectus Grants the kings of Spain the right to appoint inquisitors with the power to prosecute and justice heretics throughout Spain.
However, this law applies only to those baptized, or those formally belonging to the Catholic Church. By many historians of the Church, the bull of Pope Sixtus IV is considered defective, as the pope only theoretically guaranteed control of the Spanish Inquisition. In practice, the authority to make religion tribunals was entirely entrusted to the Spanish Crown, which became the origin of very serious conflicts in later years of the courts' operation.
One of the first conflicts between the Spanish Crown and Rome was the issue of beatification of the “Catholic martyr from La Guardia”. A boy of this name was allegedly kidnapped and crucified by Jews who were caught and proved guilty during the trial. This process, led by General Inquisitor of Spanish Tomasz Torquemade, was a alleged demonstration process. After reading the evidence, the Holy See concluded that the full case had been designed to induce Spanish Catholics to dislike the Jews, and refused to initiate a beatification process. The Holy See repeatedly called on the Spanish Courts of religion to cooperate with the applicable authorities of the diocese in which the courts operated. The same Pope Who Bullies Exigit singlerae devotionis effectus contributed to the establishment of the state inquisition, he recommended the inquisition courts in Spain to address the lawyers of the Holy See straight in question (they frequently dismissed the case, which was not clear to acquittal from guilt in Spain).
The protests of the Holy See, directed towards the Spanish Inquisition, were not sporadic. As Józef Tyszkiewicz points out, The Popes continued to renew their protests, they continued to delete judgments of the Spanish tribunals, so for example: Innocent VIII deleted up to 200 sentences in 1 year. Alexander VI 250 only in 1498, Paul III, Pius V, Grzegorz XIII, Innocent XII constantly held a position that was resistant to claims by the Spanish government. The difference of opinion was so large that it led to a heated dispute and in Spain the government dared to declare censorship, not publicMadness papal breva, he went so far as to endanger the death of all those who called for the aid of Rome128.
Sixtus IV reminded Spanish Inquisitors of the privileges of accused heretics specified as the right to have a lawyer (often broken in the courts of the state inquisition).
It is simply a misunderstanding to point to prisons of the Spanish Inquisition as a classical example of human rights violations. These terrible sermons of the Spanish Courts of religion were in fact in a much better state than secular prisons. As the historian H. Kamen describes them in his The Spanish Inquiry, prisoners imprisoned in inquisition prisons, unlike public prisons, ate regular meals where there was no shortage of meat and wine. In addition, it is known that with the approval of the Inquisitor they may have applied for the bringing of victuals to prison by the family, there have been cases of carrying alcohol, ice cream or sweets to prisons.
It may be evidence that the Inquisition Court appoints a peculiar watchman to guarantee that those imprisoned in prison in despair do not eat up their full property. The evenement was to supply medical care to prisoners (who frequently did not have 1 on the loose), which the wealthier prisoners could besides keep in prison the service. The sex distribution was besides strictly respected in the imprisonment of convicts and pending trial, primarily due to the care that prisons do not have common harassment of fellow prisoners.
In 1512, the General Inquisitor of Cisenaros exacerbated this decree, extending it to prison service, and so since then, an Inquisition Prison worker caught making indecent proposals or attempting to blackmail prisoners was punished with death.129.
Pope Sixtus IV was in general a supporter of resolving heretical problems in the sacrament of penance, alternatively of the inquisition process. The confession of guilt in the Sacrament of Penance protected the executioner from any punishment (except for penance). The secret of confession besides prevented a trial against him. The same Pope appealed 2 prominent Spanish Inquisitors (Gualbes and Orst) for many violations of the rules of the Inquisition Courts130.
Similarly, the bull of Pope Nicholas V Humani generis inimicus of 1449, she condemned all racial and spiritual discrimination. specified protests of the Holy See were received unfavorably by the Spanish Crown (to the point that Ferdinand in a letter dated 13 V 1482 challenged the religion of Rome's positions, writing to Sixtus IV: It is said that Your Holiness has granted the baptisms a general indulgence of all their mistakes and crimes... But I did not believe these rumors, for it seems to me that specified a thing could in no way be granted by Your Holiness, having certain obligations to the Inquisition. However, if, under the influence of constant and lying persuasion of the conversos, these concessions were actually granted, I would never agree to have any effect131).
The increasing tension between the Spanish Crown and the Holy See deepened erstwhile Ferdinand, without waiting for Rome's reply, himself appointed inquisitors in the kingdom of Aragon (ordered Torquemada to begin inquisition operations on fresh terms, formulated by secular authorities). The trial of Archbishop Carranza, Spain's primate, became another point in the dispute. It should be added here that unlike the ecclesiastical Inquisition, the Dominicans did not play a leading function in the Spanish Inquisition. From 1632 onward, the Spanish Court of religion preferred to fill the positions of inquisitors by laymen without a theological education, alternatively than theologians.
The out-of-control activity of the state inquisition was frequently hampered by people associated with the Church, whose main intent was to keep the purity of religion alternatively than the desire for political manipulation. An example of this is the fight against the Inquisitor Lucero, who has repeatedly been admonished for abuse of his position, who yet announces that the exhorting Córdoba clergy are heretics and apostasies. specified declarations raised legitimate opposition (a revolt led by the friar brother Francisco de Cuesta, who won the seat of the Court and released all those imprisoned there behind the timing).
Lucero utilized false witnesses (e.g. Diego de Algeciras or Luis de Vilches) as an inquisitor to inform on selected persons. He did so despite a peculiar code that imposed severe penalties for perjury. For false accusations, he threatened from whipping to death. In the Inquisition Codes, uncovering traces of false accusation... Not only did it carry money, but it brought it straight
annulment of the case and always in the defendant's favor132. specified decrees of the Inquisition Codes yet caused Lucero to be chained up after many peripeties before the alleged Catholic Congregation, which summarizing the work of the Inquisition, announced that for his activities in Córdoba there were no secret heretics, synagogues operating in hiding, and Jews did not carry out pushy proselytism among Catholics there. In relation to specified declarations, Lucero's processes were unfounded.
The Catholic Congregation rehabilitated those tried, and those imprisoned on the basis of Lucero's trial ordered them to be released immediately from prison, making them pay for their moral and material losses. The judgement of the Catholic Congregation was not only an apparent embarrassment to Lucer's inquisition, but it clearly and clearly indicated that the Catholic Church powerfully opposes the abuses of Inquisition Courts.133. But the replacement of the Inquisitor of Córdoba by 2 another clergymen (Francisco Gasce and Alonso Lopez) in the eyes of the faithful proved to be a mistake, for they were accused of being besides gentle with the imprisoned heretics. fresh inquisitors of the Córdoba allowed prisoners to have books, compose letters, walk around the interior patio of the prison, and take meals brought by families to prison, play cards and play musical instruments134.
The Inquisition Courts in Spain have frequently (as opposed to civilian tribunals) relied on mitigating circumstances specified as ignorance, minors, illness, and drunkenness. The top mitigating condition (which has benefited many accused of heresy or crypto-mahomethanism) was intellectual illness, which freed from any punishments, but canonical punishments (to-day historians are considering this senseless and illogical rule to punish madmen, for example, by refusing psalms). Leszek White, writing about the Spanish Inquisition, draws attention to a very crucial fact, frequently overlooked in specified works. He writes:... It should besides be stressed that the opposition of the Spanish society against the Holy Oficium was almost exclusively directed against its own resources and abuses, without questioning the sense of the existence of this institution as such. The opposition besides originated either from the political and intellectual elite of the country, or from the social circles straight threatened by repression, while the vast majority of the nation, or the masses of old plebeic Christians, accepted the Inquisition without major objections.135.
There are many instances of disproportionate penalties imposed by the Courts of religion in Spain against offences. However, it is adequate to compare the government of Europe at the time and the strategy of penalties applied in civilian courts with the judgments issued by the Inquisition Courts to see a immense difference between them. The Courts of religion in specified a comparison are very favourable. As noted by the Spanish Inquisition historian H. Lea, the most commonly utilized penalties included reprimand, the order to attend the Holy Mass, the prayer of the rosary, the inflammation of candles at the altar, posts, pilgrimages.
More severe penalties include the compulsory sharing of his assets with the poor, home arrest, which consisted of the ban on leaving the city and the weekly reporting to the local Commissioner of the Holy Office. Another punishment (although very seldom used) was an order to conduct military service in 1 of the war campaigns (as was the case with Andreas Calderon, convicted of public blasphemy for 4 years of military service in a run against Portugal).
For the most ardent heretics who did not want to deny the error, a punishment was reserved unknown medieval Inquisition – galery. In these cases, the Holy Oficium sentenced 3 to six years on boats as a free force in naval service. The time spent on the galleries was strictly respected, as it was sometimes that the Navy, suffering from a shortage of personnel, did not want to release the galleys after serving the penalty, then the Inquisition Court or Suprem intervened.
It is worth noting that the Court of religion had to consult a doctor who spoke about the wellness condition of a possible galley before sending the sentenced individual to the galleys. If the state of wellness was an obstacle to specified punishment, the defendants were sent to public work. It is apparent that women have not been sentenced to galleys, that the penalties provided for them are work in shelters, hospitals and community homes.
Many mistakes caused historians the word “eternal prison” which the Inquisitors operated on, imposing penalties on the accused. In fact, it was uncommon to say that prison punishment was actually a life sentence. The most common word for “everlasting prison” was the home in which he resided, or even the town whose territory he could not leave. This can be explained by the deficiency of inquisition prisons. In Spain, as of the 17th century, the Inquisition Courts had virtually no prison, hence the detention punishment consisted of home arrest or ban on leaving the city. However, the prisons in the Inquisition were empty for economical reasons.
Prisoners had to gain their own income, so in the event of uncovering a job, they had the privilege of leaving the prison cell (some prisons kept a strict order for the prisoners to return to their cells after dark). Prisoners could apply for work at monasteries and shelters, this work relieved them of the work to return overnight to prison cells. As H. Kamen writes, the prisoners, after the conviction of the Inquisition Court, led a decent life, could visit friends, work for money, and, moreover, as prisoners of the Holy Inquisition, were removed from the legal jurisdiction of the Spanish Crown, so they did not pay taxes.
As Kemen points out: This paradoxical situation indeed allowed the most enterprising individuals to recover and even multiply in the "eternal prison" confiscated previously by the Inquisition. If we add to the fact that the punishment of the "everlasting prison" did not usually last more than 3 years, and the alleged punishment of the "everlasting and irrevocable" prison for more than 8 years, it is indeed hard to respect this kind of punishment as peculiarly burdensome. Acts of the Toledo Court for 1575-1610 and 1648-1794 mention 418 cases of application of this penalty136. That is, on average, 2 people sentenced to these "cruel torments" a year!
Men were usually set up for individual purposes, and women – in collective, not due to discrimination, as any historians believe – were meant to defend women from abuse from prison service. It is apparent that there have been irregularities.
In the Canary Islands, in 1792, prisoners were fed salted fish without water, while in 1544, cases of “making money” were revealed in Barcelona by serving prisons at the cutting of arrestees' rations. But the specified fact that we know these cases proves that they were not the norm.
The punishments imposed by the Courts of religion even to us, the people of the 21st century, seem grotesque – this was the case in the case of Lucas Morales, who was caught in an inn on public blasphemy of God: he was judged and sentenced by the Inquisition Court to a "cruel" penalty, which consisted of... ban on bone games137.
In Spain there were besides grotesque examples of caring for the crystallity of the Catholic doctrine – inquisitor of the Córdoba Cristobal de Vellesillo interrogated his fellow inquisitor (who was accused of failings in this work) Luisa de Capones – concluded the investigation on 108 paragraphs that qualified as crimes (mainly afraid mediocre treatment of prisoners, hygiene conditions in prisons for which the inquisitor was straight responsible, the way the detainees were interrogated).
Of course, there were besides death sentences, which were formally forbidden by the Holy Office (as in the medieval Inquisition) to issue at all, according to canon law, due to the fact that canon law prohibited clergy from offering death sentences, even if the contractor was a secular power. However, frequently the ban on canon law was only formal due to the fact that the most hardened heretics or heresians138 a secular arm was handed over, which in specified cases most frequently executed the death penalty. But whenever death sentences are written, details are omitted.
As pointed out by many reliable historians investigating the past of the Spanish Inquisition (e.g. J. Dedieu, L.A. Llorente or H. Kamen), in the years of the "most bloody activity" of the Spanish Inquisition, the sentenced to death did not represent more than 1% of all the judges. After these years, the percent of the highest punishment was - barely a fraction of the percentage. From 1759 to 1808, only 4 heretics were handed over to the secular arm (on average, 1 death conviction per 10 years!)139. According to the latest historical studies presented in June 2004 in the Vatican, 125,000 processes have been counted for the full period of the Spanish Inquisition since the 15th century. Death sentences were only about 1.5% of cases. In addition, any of the death sentences were executed... in absentia. alternatively of being burned at the stake, they pictured their puppets with names on their breasts. According to prof. Agostino Borromeo, the Inquisition in Spain sentenced 59 people to burn at the stake, 4 people in Portugal, and 36 in Italy. Prof. Borromeo besides pointed out that the executions of those convicted of heresy were more frequent in Protestant countries than in Catholic countries.
Again, I want to point out a certain correctness in the inquisition processes (both medieval and Spanish Inquisitions) – the full confession of hardened heretics as well as the release of partners, the remorse and sincere will of reconciliation with the Church were a warrant of avoiding punishment. As Józef Tyszkiewicz notes: If the suspect confessed to the mistake, then the ipso facto case was over; the court and the judges removed themselves immediately and remained a confessor140.
The death punishment applied in the inquisition processes was the final solution, but 1 cannot agree with the claim that the Spanish Holy Oficium spared money to advance Catholic doctrine in communities contaminated with weed heresy. Distinguished theologians, preachers, prisoners were brought in to read appropriate reading, and they were given talks and meetings with theologians. The goal of fighting for heresy was not a pile, as is widely believed, but conversion.
According to Leszek White, The recovery of the soul of the heretic for actual religion was an undertaking, in which even full cities engaged – when, for example, the news spread that a heretic was to die on a car organized on 25 VII 1720 in Seville, an effort to convert him to the way of orthodoxy was to participate in a flower of Seville's intelligence, and for the success of this action was to be prayed in all the churches of the city for 3 days and 3 nights.. ... The aversion to death by the Inquisition increased to specified an degree that Suprema was waiving sentences under any circumstances. The example of Fr Miguel Solano, according to the concepts of a certain heresyarch, who denied the existence of purgatory and the authority of the pope and fought against the fees for mass, could be significant. Judged by the Court of Zaragoza, he was sentenced to death, but Suprema had the execution postponed and made fresh efforts to convert him to actual faith. Since they did not produce any result, the re-establishment of the “revelationship of the faith” confirmed the erstwhile judgment. And this time Suprema stopped the execution by ordering the convict to undergo comprehensive medical examinations. There was another disappointment: Father Solano was as healthy as a fish.The impatient ultimate recommended a broad environmental interview about him. He brought a certain point of attachment, and it turned out that the uncomfortable author had been sick for any harmless illness years ago. That fact was adequate for Suprema to find Father Solano crazy and drop his case141.
The Spanish Inquisition for its main intent (like the medieval ecclesiastical Inquisition) put up a fight against heresy. This fight was to be directed against the judaic Catholics or the openly open worship of Muhammad. Similarly, apostasy or acceptance of any part of Christendom from the Reformed was a grave offense. In addition to the alleged doctrinal transgressions, the Inquisition dealt with matters which were indirectly related to the purity of doctrine (so-called sins against natural law), specified as: bigamy, homosexuality, worshiping the “holy” officially unrecognized by the Holy See, pursuing ordained clergymen performing priestly service or secret clergy marriages. Under Innocent VII Bull Ut alias and Ex debito pastoralis The Spanish Inquisition could besides prosecute all rebels threatening order and social order.
In theory, the Spanish Inquisition was the heiress of the ecclesiastical Inquisition, it was binding on all existing bulls and decrees of the Holy See, as well as council acts, but it was a state body, so it besides governed its own rights. All papers of the Kingdom of Spain addressed to the Holy Office were treated equally to the decrees of the Holy See, which gives a completely different position of this institution. This resulted in many conflicts between state authorities, the founders of the secular inquisition, and the Holy See. The common feature of the medieval and Spanish Inquisitions is the regulation of heretics, nevertheless despite the common arrangements The Spanish Inquisition gave the Inquisitors a greater margin of freedom erstwhile offering penalties and sentences (which was the origin of abuse).
Furthermore, the state Inquisition, unlike the papal Inquisition, had many privileges (it did not pay taxes to the Crown, its employees were out of military service, and any criminal offences they committed could only be judged by the Inquisition Court itself. It is understandable that many of the weightlifters, average robbers and brawlers sought refuge in her ranks). However, the full judicial procedure of both institutions acted similarly. The Spanish Inquisition besides paid more attention to the reports of vagrants, beggars or servants against their masters being treated with reasonable care, demanding a firm evidence even before the investigation began.
“In the defence of the Holy Inquisition”, Roman Konik
WEKTORY Publishing House, 2004
Footnotes:
127 J. Tyszkiewicz, Spanish Inquisition. pp. 43-44.
128 Ibid, p.49
129 H. Kamen, The Spanish Inquiry, London 1965, pp. 185, 186.
130 See L. White, History of the Spanish Inquisition, p. 47.
131 Ibidp. 48.
132 J. Tyszkiewicz, Spanish Inquisition, p. 26.
133 The only drawback of the Spanish Catholic Congregation was the mild attitude towards Lucero himself. The Inquisitor himself was not decently imprisoned, and he finished his life as a canon in Seville Cathedral. This indulgence was misconstrued by the faithful who demanded punishment for those who disobeyed the Inquisition.
134 Lt. B. Bennassar, L’inqusition espagnole. XV-XIX mesh. Paris 1979, pp. 80, 81.
135 L. White, History of the Spanish Inquisitionp. 62.
136 H. Kamen, The Spanish Inquiry, London 1965, p. 198.
137 Lieutenant Ch. H. Lea, A past of the enquiry of Spain, fresh York 1906/1907, p. II,
- 645.
138 The Heresian rulers (i.e. the creators of heresy) were a separate category of defendants—they were punished with all severity (e.g. the first Lutheran leader Cazalla of Valladolid or Juan Ponce de Leon of Seville)
139 It is worth reading a solid survey on the number of death sentences handed down by the Inquisition Tribunals to the secular arm by J. Tedeschi, Judge and heretic (Milano 1997, in peculiar pp. 85-91) and J. P. Didieu, L’inquzione, San Paolo – Milano 1994) confirming the figures presented in this book.
140 Mr Tyszkiewicz, Spanish Inquisition, p. 27.
141 L. White, History of the Spanish Inquisition, pp. 133-134.
