THE INQUISITION:

 

 

In the year 1232 Pope Gregory published a papal, with which the Inquisition was founded. He ordered, that Heretic, (those, who were against any papal statement), should be given to the worldly offices for being burned. In fact, that a Heretic was regretting, he should only be punished by prising for lifetime. (Heretic were hunted by the state and the church before this time too, but it was not organised like the Inquisition!)

In the year 1233 the Inquisition was limited only on one mendicant order, but soon the Dominicans had the honour for themselves. On the 27th July 1233, the first two Inquisitors were named: They were Petrus Seila and Wilhelm Arnald. Soon the first stakes were built and soon the first people were burning. This happened although the church in the year 384, judged the using of torture. Even in the sixth century, the Judges had, according to the order of Gregory the Great, to ignore statements, which were made under the use of torture. Nicholas 1., in the darkest middle age, judged the torture as a violate of godly rights. But Pope Innocence IV. ordered in a papal, that the using of torture in the inquisition was allowed.

From now on, the free thinking was dangered, because the bad thoughts are treating the unity of the church, which was supposed to be founded by Jesus.

 

Everything was allowed:

Because the Dominican Inquisitors were named by the pop, they were not answerable and subjected on anybody. The charged one had no civil and church rights. His property was taken and he was banned or burned. he had no claim on a lawyer and had no right to appeal against the judgement, because the chairman was the Charger, the Judge and the confessor in one person. That's why the inquisitors cold work after the slogan: "It is better, that hundred innocent people die, then one Heretic stays alive." The pope prohibited them to marry with the charged one.

 

Parts of the book, which was written to instruct the inquisition, are read like this:

"If someone confesses everything, of his charging, then he is, without question, guilty in everything. But if he confesses only one part, then he should be judged guilty in everything too, because the things he confesses show, that he may be guilty in the other points too. ( ... ) Torture was in all times a most healing and effective thing to get spiritual regretting. ( ... ) lf the unblessed denies his guiltiness further on, then he has to be looked at, as the victim of the devil. ( ... ) He is the son of the ruin. He should die with the dammed then. "

the inquisitors, fitted with this basic, lost no single case. there is not a single case of "not guilty".

Normally the middle‑age inquisitors were not allowed to mutilate and to kill by using torture, but they did not care about it:

Arms and legs were broken, Fingers and toes were twisted off. A victim lost two fingers. No sufficient reason to interrupt the interrogation. lt was not unusual to cut the victim's tongue off, to strangle or to bum them into fire. The supposed guilty were tortured, became Spanish boots and glowing coals, while the good ones were saying their rosary. It went that far, that even witnesses were allowed to be tortured. There were cases, in which whole families were tortured, so that they incriminate one family member. in case of burning a person, the place, from which you could observe the burning, were sold to the highest bidder.

You also got completely indulgence, if you collected the wood for the burning.

Pope Urban 11. said, that it was no murder, if some one had killed for the church.

So it came like that, that the great‑inquisitor Torquemada in Spain, burnt 10.220 people and sent 97.371 on galleys.

The Zurich reformer Zwingli was first murdered, then cut in four parts and then he was burned. The shit of pigs was mixed under the fire to pollute his ash. Under the stake of Jan Hus, who was burned by the church in the year 1415, people had put a rotting mule. In 1853 the inquisition was praised through the Vatican Jesuit‑news as:" a glorifying act of social perfectism".

They did not only judged the living, but the dead were judged retroactive too. lf a dead was judged, then his son had suddenly no property and civil rights. This did not happen without a cause, because the inquisitors were paid through the property of the victim. That was the reason why the rich had more fear than the poor. lf someone was found guilty, the first the writer were paid. the rest was honestly shared between the pope and the inquisitors. Some popes, like Nicholas 111. (1277‑1280) snatched a huge property with this method.

But the worst inquisitors were those, who tortured for God. They had no financial or political interest. These kinds of inquisitors cruelled themselves and suffered for God. For them screaming of the victims were a kind of music. They really thought that it was the devil, who was screaming, because he was pained.

 

How took did a inquisition trail took place?

 

Whenever the inquisitors entered a new town, the government had to work with them and the people got a few days to charge themselves. lf the inquisitors located a supposed Heretic, he was suddenly visit by the head of the police, armed guards and one Dominican. He had to follow them to the "Casa Santa" and was charged to be a Heretic. His guiltiness was granted. He was not allowed to question. Not a single question was allowed. He also did not got a lawyer. And no one would like to defend him, because he would be the next on the list of the Dominicans. The next point was, that there never was a "not guilty" in the end. Witnesses of the defence were not allowed to speak, but instead of this, witnesses of the chargement were allowed. Their identity was hidden and they all got the same status: They could be the servants who were fired because of stealing. it could be persons, who were not allowed to speak in a civil trial, or lunatic or persons, who wanted to take revenge. Often whole families were caught, by saying, that the charged one had no chance, but the famiily could survive through a complete confession.

 

No appeal was possible against the judging of the Dominican, because they worked in the name of the pope. No Court would reverse the judging. Because the Dominicans had a free hand, the could arrest everyone. The most trivial reason was enough:

lf someone did not eat flesh on Fridays, he got a candidate.

lf someone did not fulfilled his Easter‑duty, he got a candidate. Every statement against the church was a crime. Even statements of drunken were taken serious.

 

Throughout the trial the judge repeated one sentence all the time: "Say the truth." Whenever the prisoner wanted to know, why he was charged, his answer was: "Say the truth." lf the prisoner remained silent, he was taken to the executioner. The prisoner was judged as a Heretic. Then the executioner started to undress him and to fix him on a trestle. The Dominican ordered one more time: "Say the truth, the inquisitor do not want to see you suffering. " Arms and legs were fixed with a rope. Every time when the rope was stretched, the Dominican interrupted his saying of the rosary for the honour of the Holy Virgin and said: "Say the truth." lf the victim kept quiet, he was hung on a pulley and was hung from the floor up to the ceiling. lf that did not worked, another torture, the water‑torture came:

A piece of stuff was plugged into the throat of the victim, and then slowly water was poured into the mouth. The result was for the victim, that he felt like a drunken person. A few got six or eight cans of water before they suffocated through it.

 

This happened to million peoples, who's only crime were to be at the wrong place in the time.