Inquisition

The Inquisition is the institution Medieval who has a wide circulation all over Europe, who tried to eliminate the deviations from the faith or morals of the Roman Catholic Church. ,,With a pyramidal structure of power, with a very modern character, she has acted with exceptional efficiency that has made it not only privileged the ally of Roman Catholicism, but much more an essential element of the state”

The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the judicial system of the Roman Catholic Church whose aim was to ,,fight against heretics”. It started in 12th-century France to combat the spread of heresy and error, and was later expanded to other European countries, as well as throughout the Spanish and Portuguese empires in the Americas, Asia and Africa

The name of this institution comes from the verb ,,inquiro, -ere” which means ,,to search”, ,,to discover”, ,,to correct”, ,,to investigate” Although the Roman law says that any judgment procedure is done only after a referral, ,,the Inquisition proceed to judgment even if there was no accuser”

The lawyer-popes who presided over the Inquisition in the Middle Ages were the first to dream of creating an institution to eradicate heresy throughout Christendom. They saw this as being through an ,,army of inquisitors” drawn from those in monastic orders. And a network of spies that all Christians were expected to join. This would be backed up by a network of prisons and courts and a vast archive of material detailing all investigations and trials that could be used by future inquisitors.

The original name given to the Papal Office controlling the Inquisition was ,,The Holy Office of the Inquisition Into Papal Depravity” But, the name has changed throughout the centuries.

Varying attempts to stamp out infidels and heretics often proved to be inadequate, so the Holy Inquisition was formed to make the efforts more organized, efficient and under control. To achieve this Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisition in 1231, and burning was quickly decided upon as an official punishment

Administrators and Inquisitors were all answerable directly to the Pope - which essentially made him directly responsible for their actions. In 1245, the Pope gave Inquisitors the right to absolve their assistants of any acts of violence which they might commit in the fulfilment of their duties

The Inquisition has received special judicial power, especially power doctrine. It was consolidated over several few decades, as needs stemming and experience. Her action has not been temporal or for individual cases, but had a permanent and universal character

CHAPTER I: The Inquisition in the Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Inquisition was a penal and judicial institution brought into being by the Catholic Church in mid-sixteenth century Italy as a response to the Protestant challenge in that country.

Prior to this time, a loosely knit, decentralized network of individual clerics drawn from the early-thirteenth-century mendicant orders investigated specific instances of heresy. Neither the Roman Inquisition nor its medieval predecessor should be confused with the more famous Spanish Inquisition, which started in 1478, was controlled by the crown, had a separate history, and operated in virtual independence of the papacy

I.1. The emergence and the establishment

The chief features the reorganization set in motion in Rome by Paul III (1534 - 1549) with his bull Licet ab Initio of July 1542 were as follows: a centralized authority for the pursuit of heresy in the form of a commission of cardinals, which appointed and closely supervised the work of the local inquisitors; the expansion of local tribunals throughout the peninsula, the seats of which were usually Dominican and Franciscan convents; and the repeal of privileges that exempted from prosecution regular clergy who previously had to answer only to their superiors in the religious orders, a measure that preceded the major reorganization by a few months

The addition of new tribunals took place gradually over the course of the century, with new seats erected at intervals or elevated to full status only after existing for many years. Concurrently, the definition of what was heretical and proper for the Inquisition to prosecute was also expanded to include such offenses as apostasy from the religious orders, blasphemy, and bigamy, among others; this resulted in squabbles between the Inquisition and competing authorities, episcopal courts, and secular magistracies

The customary provincial tribunal consisted of an inquisitor, his vicar, a notary, and such ,,familiars” as prison guards and messengers. The judicial role of the vicari foranei was generally limited to conducting preliminary inquiries and receiving depositions The presence of a bishop or, usually, an episcopal vicar was required when the court wanted to proceed to such grave stages as judicial torture or final sentencing

Every court was assisted in its deliberations by a body of ,,consultors” drawn from the ranks of prominent lawyers and theologians. Except in the most ordinary of cases, a local tribunal would not reach the point of final sentencing until the Supreme Congregation in Rome, which received and closely scrutinized copies or summaries of trials in progress, had expressed its binding opinion.