Inquisition: Spanish Inquisition, The
Jean Plaidy
Number of quotes: 51
Book ID: 273 Page: 15
Section: 1A,3A2A,3A4C
It is important, I submit, to remember that Christianity and the Church do not always walk in step. In fact the simple doctrines, founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ have too rarely been followed. They are too simple to appeal to men who love power and wealth—but mostly power—and how can men acquire power by following the doctrines of Christ?….
Where in such a life were to be found the pomp and splendour, the ceremonial robes, the swaying censer, the fat incomes and the splendid palaces? Yet these were the signs of rank and importance necessary to induce that hypnotic state in which men might worship themselves whilst feigning to worship God.
….
What was wanted by these seekers after power was a way of life difficult to teach and easy to live. Such a doctrine must therefore be attended by legends to make men’s flesh creep; fear was necessary to a religion which was to bring power to its leaders, for fear is the complement of power. Men seek power to gain their objectives and to overawe their fellows; and simplicity must be disguised by mysticism for the glorification of the high priests of power.
Thus, the simple doctrine was wrapped round and round with dogma so involved that the seed which had been planted by Jesus Christ was hidden and forgotten.
Quote ID: 6860
Time Periods: 47
Book ID: 273 Page: 16
Section: 1A,3A4C
But the men of the Church could not agree, and since the dogmas and doctrines were of greater importance to them than the words of Jesus Christ, they fought among themselves, seeking to enforce their rule upon each other. Yet they did not altogether forget their Master for constantly they involved His Name.….
Every means of dealing pain and indignity to the human body was explored; and all this was done in the name of One who had commanded his followers to love one another.
There must have been many—Jews and Moslems—who fervently wished that Jesus Christ had never made His appearance on Earth, when contemplating all the misery which would have been spared them, their families and friends.
Quote ID: 6861
Time Periods: 147
Book ID: 273 Page: 18
Section: 3A4C
When in the twelfth century Pope Innocent III commanded members of the Church to persecute suspected heretics, he heralded the birth of the Inquisition, although this was not firmly established as such until the reign of Pope Gregory IX.
Quote ID: 6862
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 19
Section: 3A4C
Persecution there has always been but, in the early history of religion when men might be expected to be less civilized, there was never any persecution to compare with the horrors of the Inquisition.….
Moreover, the Roman Emperors worshipped Pagan gods; they had not been commanded to love one another.
Quote ID: 6864
Time Periods: 017
Book ID: 273 Page: 19/20
Section: 3A2A,3A4C
when the wife of the latter arranged for his removal in the year 96 and the just Nerva was elected by the Senate, a new age of tolerance began, and this wise Emperor made Christians welcome in Rome and forbade persecution on the ground of religion.
Quote ID: 6865
Time Periods: 17
Book ID: 273 Page: 25
Section: 3A4C
Dominic and Diego d’Azevedo worked among the Albigenses with great fervour, casting aside all splendour and going among them simply clad; but the Albigenses loved their troubadours and their poetry, their intellectual discussions, and they were no more impressed by the humble preachers than they had been by those who had come in splendour. All they desired was to be allowed to live in freedom, to give their mind full range. This was a state of affairs which had existed in the south of France for many years; they were determined that it should remain so.
Quote ID: 6866
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 27/28
Section: 3A4C
Thus in the year 1208 Simon de Montfort became Captain General of the army which waged war against the heretics.His experience of battle, his fervour and his confidence that right was on his side, soon gained the victories he desired; and one by one the towns which the Albigenses defended fell into the hands of de Monfort.
….
When the Church’s forces conquered the town of Béziers, Arnauld, Abbot of Cîteaux, was so eager for the expiration of the heretics that, on being told that many good Catholics resided in the city and asked how the soldiers should be able to differentiate between the faithful and traitors to the Church, he replied in his fanatical zeal: “Slay all, for God will certainly know His own.”
….
It is said that on that occasion twenty thousand men, women and children of the town of Béziers were killed.
Quote ID: 6867
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 29
Section: 3A2A,3A4C
The War of the Albigenes, in which the seeds of the Inquisition were first planted, soon ceased to be a war of religion; conquest under the cloak of religion was the aim of those who waged war in the name of the Church against the Albigenes. How often in the history of the Inquisition were rich men seized because they were rich men rather than because they were heretics. Was the fury of the Holy Office directed against those Jews because they, having been forced to accept Christianity, were accused of reverting to their own faith, or because they were rich men whose goods could be confiscated by the Inquisition? There can be no clear-cut answer to this, for human motives were then, as always, mixed. But there can be no doubt that Simon de Montfort, while being a zealous follower of the faith, was also a very ambitious man. Even his apologists must admit that he lost few opportunities of enriching himself while he worked for the glory of the Church; and while he showed a great hatred of the heretic, he could not hide an equally great love for their possessions.
Quote ID: 6868
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 31/32
Section: 3A4C
The strength of Innocent’s character must have been marked at this time, for it was a great achievement to be elected Pope at the age of 37. He died at 56, so he had a long session.He was possessed of three great ambitions: to capture the Holy Land for Christendom, to make the Papacy supreme in Europe, and to wipe out heresy.
Quote ID: 6869
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 31/32
Section: 3A4C
Some five years later, in November of 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council took place. This is referred to by Michael Ott in his essay in the Catholic Encyclopedia as “the culminating point in the glorious reign,” and “the most important conference of the Middle Ages.” It glory is doubtful; its importance is not disputed.….
But during this meeting seventy decrees of a reformatory nature were issued. Among these was the creed Firmiter Credimus, and all those in authority were commanded, if they would be considered faithful to the Church (and it was becoming more and more clear that it was very dangerous for any man to be otherwise) to swear publicly that they would with all their might and with all their strength drive heresy from the face of the earth.
This was not all; and here was that menace which was such an integral part of the Inquisition. A Bull was issued which informed the faithful that it was a crime not to extirpate heretics, and any discovered to be guilty of this crime would not only be excommunicated, but would himself be suspected of heresy.
Thus, men were instructed to be not only faithful Catholics, not only haters of all those who had different views from their own; they must also become spies to carry tales of their neighbours, and perhaps—if there were nothing to report—to invent them; because a man who had nothing to tell might lay himself open to suspicion.
Thus the Lateran Council.
….
He worshipped the Church, its ceremonies and its doctrines; and as the teaching of Christ was hidden far beneath the many wrappings of creeds and dogmas about that Body, he had lost sight of it;
….
The Church was all-important; and he left the Papacy stronger than he found it.
Quote ID: 6870
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 33/34
Section: 3A4C
It was the Dominicans who set out to teach men how to think; and their name has been more closely associated with the Inquisition than that of the followers of St. Francis.….
When one thinks of that knock on a door in the night which called men and women from their beds to the prisons of the Inquisition, when one recalls the dank gloom of the torture chambers, one sees always in the background of these piteous scenes the sinister cowls figures—the followers of Domingo de Guzman whom Gregory IX canonized in the year 1234, and who then became St. Dominic.
….
Dominic was as saintly in his habits as was Antonio. In the year 1184, when at the age of fourteen he was put to study in Palencia University, he distinguished himself by going among the poor and relieving their misery as far as was in his power.
….
It is to be regretted that he was called to help in the extirpation of the heretic; and it seems incredible that a man, such as St. Dominic is presented to be, could be capable of giving himself so wholeheartedly—as he undoubtedly did—to this cruel task.
Quote ID: 6871
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 34/35
Section: 3A4C
Dominic, surveying the pomp of the Legates, then expressed his belief that if these emissaries of the Pope had come in the manner of Christ, their Master, they might have made a deeper impression on the heretics; and thus in the brain of Dominic was born the idea of founding an Order which should consist of mendicant friars who set out to preach the gospel in the steps of the Master.
Quote ID: 6872
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 35
Section: 3A4C
Indefatigably did Dominic work; he was the true fanatic. With the assassination of Castelnau and the war against the Albigenses, he became a close friend of Simon de Montfort.Catholic historians, eager to exonerate their Saint from the charge of cruelty, tell us that we are wrong to label him “The First Inquisitor”.
….
Dominic was obviously a man who wished to do good. He was sincere; no one doubts it. He lived a life of piety and saintliness in his Chapter House. But at the same time, this man was a friend of Simon de Montfort and was present during the siege of many towns; he must have witnessed hideous cruelty, approving of this because the men, women and the children who were being tortured, tormented and subjected to hideous and humiliating death were only heretics.
Quote ID: 6873
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 37
Section: 3A4C
A conclave was then held with the result that Ugolino, count of Segni, was elected. So old was he that it seemed certain there would be another election before long; but Ugolino surprised everybody by living until he was almost a hundred, and because of his actions he has become the most notorious Pope of the Middle Ages.When he took the tiara with the usual reluctance and became Gregory IX, he followed in the footsteps of Innocent III inasmuch as he was a fervent persecutor of heretics and greatly desirous of winning the Holy Land from the Saracen.
Quote ID: 6874
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 38
Section: 3A4C
Gregory canonized Francesco, who became St. Francis of Assisi on July 16th, 1228; and the same honour was accorded to Domingo on 13th July, 1234.He showered honours on these two orders—the Franciscans and the Dominicans—and quickly realized what good work they were doing in the fight against heresy.
Quote ID: 6875
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 39
Section: 1A,3A4C
The monster was about to grow to maturity; in the previous centuries he had been but a sickly infant compared with what he was now to become.Excommunication was threatened to those who concealed, defended or in any way abetted heretics; and the threat lay over all those lands under Papal jurisdiction like a threatening cloud which would, at the smallest false step or through ill-luck, break about the heads of its victims.
It might be wondered why people should have so feared excommunication; but when the meaning of the Ban of the Church is understood it is easy to see why it should have been so dreaded. Those who were excommunicated from the Church could hold no office; they had no rights as citizens; if they were ill or in any trouble no one was allowed to help them. They were completely shut off from human charity. Perhaps one of the most evil aspects of the ban was that anyone who showed charity to an excommunicated person became himself a candidate for excommunication.
….
“… faith, hope and charity, these three, and the greatest of these is charity.”
What did these men think when they read words such as those? The fact is that they ignored them. They had rejected the simple faith, and had set up their own in its place. The only resemblance to Christianity it appeared to have was in the name.
Quote ID: 6876
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 40
Section: 3A4C
Thus Raymond of Peñaforte takes his place among the personalities who were concerned with the building of the Inquisition, and it is for this work that he is remembered in history.It was in the year 1232 that Gregory established the Inquisition. In his Bull he declared that all heretics should suffer excommunication. Those who were condemned should not suffer their punishment at the hands of the Church but be handed over to the secular arm that sentence might be given and carried out by that body. The punishment for the unrepentant was burning at the stake; and even those who, having been found guilty of heresy, wished to repent, must suffer punishment, though not that of death. They should be condemned to perpetual imprisonment. All those who helped heretics in any way should suffer excommunication; and any who showed friendship for the excommunicated should themselves suffer excommunication.
….
Anyone discovered giving an excommunicated person Christian burial, should immediately be excommunicated and he should suffer under the ban until he took the offending corpse from its place of burial and arranged that, ever after, no one of the faith should be buried therein.
….
Children of heretics, and of any who were found guilty of helping heretics, should lose their right to any public office, to the second generation.
Quote ID: 6877
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 41
Section: 3A4C
…St. Dominic and St. Francis.It seems ironical that these monks should have been the first of the Inquisitors. But more ironical still is the appalling truth that the Inquisition itself was set up in the name of Jesus Christ.
Quote ID: 6878
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 42
Section: 3A4C
It is interesting to follow the spread of the Inquisition in various European countries, and to see how it was largely rejected, mostly through popular feeling.Conrad of Marburg made a great effort to establish it in Germany.
He was a very earnest persecutor of heretics; and certainly he had his worries in a land such as Germany, where there were men who were interested in new ideas and ready to brave dangers to express and discuss them.
Quote ID: 6879
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 43
Section: 2A4
We might even ask if these self-inflicted tortures are not the result of pride—a pride in the ability to suffer. Is, somewhere in the mind, the thought: “See how good I am! See how I inflict torment on my body!” We might ask: “But how, in torturing your flesh, are you carrying out the commands of Christ to love your neighbor? Of what use this to your fellow men? That they might follow your example and torture their bodies? But for what purpose”? But perhaps it is simpler to mortify the flesh in the heroic manner than to lead a simple Christian life which asks too much when it demands forgetfulness of self.
Quote ID: 6880
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 43
Section: 3A4C
Meanwhile heresy had spread rapidly throughout Germany, and Conrad received orders from Rome. He was to be the Papal Inquisitor of Germany.This task delighted Conrad; he now put all his vigor into smelling out heretics, and this he set about doing with the help of a Dominican, Conrad Dorso, a Franciscan, Gerhard Lutzelkolb, and his servant John. These last were not learned men, but they had enough fanaticism to make up for that; and there began a reign of terror. A careless word, a look, conversation with one whose views might smack of heresy, were enough to bring a man before the Papal Inquisitor; and once there it was very difficult for him to escape.
Quote ID: 6881
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 44
Section: 3A4C
German though he was, he did not understand the Germans. They were a quiet people but a determined one.….
The most hated of men was the Papal Inquisitor.
Quote ID: 6882
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 44
Section: 3A4C
One evening when Conrad and Lutzelkolb were returning to Marburg, they were set upon by a group of men who were determined to take revenge for all the misery Conrad had brought to their friends and relations.After the encounter Conrad and his henchmen were left lying dead on the ground.
Quote ID: 6883
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 44
Section: 3A4C
All through the thirteenth century, although the Holy Office was still represented in Germany, after the murder of Conrad it did not establish itself with any real firmness.
Quote ID: 6884
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 104
Section: 3A4C
It is not possible to say when the Jews first came to Spain; they appear to have inhabited the country from earliest times.
Quote ID: 6885
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 105
Section: 3A4C
In the middle of the fourteenth century, when the Black Death swept over Europe with such devastating results, the Dominicans even blamed the Jews for that; and the people, whipped to fury against them by their own envy and eloquence of the Dominicans, began to massacre them and rob them of their possessions.
Quote ID: 6887
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 106
Section: 3A4C
There were other occasions when Popes saw the folly of attacking the Jews. Clement VI, who took the Papal crown in 1342, intervened on their behalf when in Germany a choice between death and acceptance of the Christian Faith was offered them; and he even excommunicated those who attacked the Jews. Alexander VI, Roderigo Borgia, who reigned at the Vatican from 1492 to 1503, allowed them to live peaceably in Rome after they had been expelled from Spain.
Quote ID: 6888
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 106
Section: 3A4C
Alas for the Jews! Martinez was awarded a position of high responsibility in the diocese, and no restraint was put upon his preaching.Throughout Seville, riots started. Jews were robbed and murdered; their houses and synagogues were put to the flames.
….
Other towns, hearing of the excitement and realized the richness of the spoils, were smitten with equal fervour to destroy those who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ. The cry was: Baptism or Death.”
Quote ID: 6889
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 118
Section: 2A3,3A4C
Not content with burning the living, the Inquisitors brought charges of heresy and apostasy against the dead whose bodies were dug up and publicly burned.Victims were needed, so new edicts were issued. All those who were guilty of heresy or apostasy were urged to come forward and confess. A time limit was given for them to do this; if any failed to do so and were discovered in their sin they would, they were warned, meet with little mercy.
Twenty thousand conversos came forward, trembling with terror, to admit that they had at times practiced Jewish rites.
Confession must be sincere, was the answer to these poor people; and their sincerity could only be credited if they informed against those of their acquaintances who had been equally guilty.
The twenty thousand were faced with two alternatives. If they did not name some they suspected were guilty, their own repentance could not be relied upon; therefore it was the stake for them and ignominy and poverty for their children, because the law of the Inquisition was, as they knew, confiscation of property. On the other hand if they betrayed others their repentance would be accepted.
These poor people were in a terrible dilemma. It is true that many betrayed their friends. Thus were many human sacrifices provided for the fire, which, says a Catholic recorder who was also a priest (Andérs Bernaldez), was a glorious affair, for not only were these sinners brought back to the Church but they exposed more guilty men and women who had not answered the call to repent.
Quote ID: 6891
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 119
Section: 3A4C
The whole of the population was panic-stricken: the Jews who were almost all conversos (for it had been necessary to receive baptism in order to live in Spain), and the Christians who could be accused of knowing that Jewish rites were practiced, yet failing to report this.The people must listen to the conversation about them, and if they heard any man, woman or child say that they were waiting for the coming of the Messiah, then that person did not believe that the Messiah had already come and had thereby committed an offense against Christianity. He must be reported at once to the Inquisition.
….
No one who had been a Jew and became a Christian was safe.
Quote ID: 6892
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 121
Section: 2A3,3A4C
None was more assiduous in discovering heretics than the friars. There is the case of the friar who early on Saturday mornings climbed onto the roof of the Convent of St. Paul’s to make a note of those houses from whose chimneys no smoke was rising.Smokeless chimneys meant no fire. Who were these people who had omitted to light a fire on a Saturday? Surely they must be conversos who had reverted to Judaism.
A smokeless chimney was enough to drag a man or woman before the Inquisitors; and once in their hands it was a short step to the torture chamber and the stake.
The first auto de fé, on February 6th, when Susan and his friends had perished, was speedily followed by another, on March 26th; and before the end of the year—Llorente tells us, and he should know, having access to the archives—298 people had been burned alive in the town of Seville alone, and 79, repenting in time, were sent to life-long imprisonment. Many corpses of dead suspects were dug up and given public burnings, all of which took place in the meadows of Tablada where a stone platform had been built. This spot was called the Quemadero, the Burning Place.
Quote ID: 6893
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 273 Page: 123
Section: 3A4C
Tomás de Torquemada has been called a cruel bigot; he has also been called the light of Spain, the saviour of his country and the honour of his Order.
Quote ID: 6894
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 124
Section: 3A4C
There seems to be little doubt that Torquemada was sincere. He was not, as so many of the Church, a seeker after wealth, and if he wanted power he appears to have won it in order to establish the Catholic Faith throughout the land.
Quote ID: 6895
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 127
Section: 3A4C
Toquemada’s great interest in life was in architecture.….
When money came to him, as it inevitably did, in his position of influence and importance, he used it, either for what he would call the glory of God, which was seeking those who did not agree with him and torturing and burning them at the stake, or for erecting great buildings.
Quote ID: 6897
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 127/128
Section: 3A4C
When Torquemada was made Inquisitor-General he immediately began reforming the existing laws of the Inquisition and produced his “Instructions” which consisted of twenty-eight articles.
Quote ID: 6898
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 129
Section: 3A4C
Any guilty of heresy and apostasy must lose all property, counting from the day of the first offence; so that, if a rich man knowing the Inquisition was about to arrest him decided to pass his property on to someone else, it could be confiscated by the Inquisition because it was the sinner’s property at the time he committed heresy.
Quote ID: 6899
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 129
Section: 3A4C
If heresy or apostasy were not completely proved against a victim, the Inquisitors would be allowed to put the prisoner to torture. If, while being tortured, the heretic confessed his sins, he must repeat his confession during the next three days.The publication of the names of witnesses was forbidden because, the instructions suggested, there had been cases of witnesses who, coming forward to the assistance of the Inquisition, had been wounded or killed by heretics.
Quote ID: 6900
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 130
Section: 3A4C
Young people who were minors or unmarried and whose parents had been executed for heresy were to pass into the hands of the Inquisitors, that they might be instructed in the Faith and brought up as good Catholics.
Quote ID: 6901
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 130
Section: 3A4C
Slaves of heretics might gain their freedom. (Was this an invitation to slaves to inform against their masters?)
Quote ID: 6902
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 131
Section: 3A4C
It was only natural that, while Torquemada dealt out terrible punishments for those who had been guilty of immorality, there should be whispers of the conduct of certain priests; and these murmurs caused a great deal of sorrow to Torquemada.He knew that it was true that the reputation of the clergy was not as pure as it should be. Torquemada would have liked to sweep through the Church in the guise of an avenging angel and, discovering those who had sullied the name of Holy Church, deal with them as he dealt with heretics.
There was one offence which was looked upon with particular distaste. This was a habit—not infrequent—of priests, who lured attractive young women to the confessional where they did all in their power to seduce them. At this time priest and penitent were together during the confession, not separated as they were after the sixteenth century—a custom which was very probably introduced because of the licentious habits of the priests.
It was somewhat difficult for Torquemada to expose this habit, for to do so would bring great shame on the Church; and another reason was that instructions for the clergy must come from Rome, and the Pope at this time, Innocent VIII, was a man who had presumably made no great effort to subdue the lusts of the flesh. He was a family man, with his children about him in the Vatican; he delighted in them and showered great honours upon them. So, if the Pope himself indulged in amorous conduct, it would be rather cynical and hypocritical for him to condemn some poor priest for a little waywardness while listening to an account of the sins of some attractive penitent.
Quote ID: 6903
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 132
Section: 3A2A
John Marchant cites one case in which Joseph Peralta, Friar of the Order of St. Jerome, committed sodomy with John Romeo, a young boy of fourteen who was in his care. This crime being discovered, it was necessary to pass judgment. The Friar was therefore sentenced to a year’s confinement in his monastery, but was allowed to celebrate Mass. The young boy, however, not being a priest, must be treated more severely. He was led through the streets and, at the corner of each, five lashes were administered. On the child’s head was placed a mitre covered in feathers, which was to all who watched an indication of the nature of his crime. The boy, we are told, died after the whipping; the priest—presumably because he was a priest—resumed his merry life, ready, no doubt, after a sentence which was by no means a real punishment, to seduce any suitable young boy who came under his care.
Quote ID: 6904
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 134
Section: 3A4C
THE HOLY HOUSE AND TORTUREWhen a man or woman was suspected of heresy, he or she was brought to a special chamber, reserved for this purpose, in the building which was used as the headquarters of the Inquisition. This building would be called the Casa Santa, the Holy House or the Holy Office.
Quote ID: 6905
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 135
Section: 3A4C
Once inside the Casa Santa, the prisoner would be “tried”. Every effort was made to strike him with terror so that he was in a state of such nervousness as would make him ready to admit all the charges which were brought against him.The room into which he was taken was hung with black, presumably to remind him that he was already in the presence of death—and, poor man, it might have been happier for him if he had come immediately to that state. No light came through the windows; but on a table, which was set at one end of the room and covered in black velvet, there was an image of Christ on the cross, and six lighted candles. There was also a copy of the Bible on the table. Beside the table was a pulpit on which stood another candle; and at this pulpit sat a secretary who would read out the crimes of which the victim was accused.
The Inquisitors would be seated at the table in their white habits and black hoods; and the guards who had brought the prisoner from his house would be ranged behind him when he had been brought to stand before the table.
The Inquisitor-in-chief would take no notice whatever of the prisoner for some minutes, during which time he would pretend to be absorbed in the papers which lay before him. This was according to the “Instructions” and was calculated to increase the prisoner’s fear.
Quote ID: 6906
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 136
Section: 3A4C
Then the cold eyes of the Inquisitor would be turned upon him. Did he know why he had been arrested? he would be asked.The poor bewildered man—who, it was very likely, had not the faintest notion why he had been arrested—would declare his innocence, at which the Inquisitor—again acting on “instructions” –would turn to the papers on the table and appear to study them significantly.
….
The Inquisitors were warned not to be moved by the terror of the prisoner. Should the man break down and weep, tell heartrending stories about his family, assure the Inquisitors that he was a good Catholic, they must not allow themselves to be moved. Heretics, they were reminded, were crafty.
….
The aim of these interviews was to make the victim break down and confess and, in confessing, incriminate as many of his family and neighbours as possible.
If however the prisoner was a stubborn man, a bold man, who refused to be intimidated by the guards, the Inquisitor and the gloomy solemnity of the chamber, then other tactics must be used.
Quote ID: 6907
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 138
Section: 3A4C
According to Article 15 in the Torquemada’s instructions, the Inquisitors are given permission to torture where heresy is ‘half-proven’. They were warned however that there must be no shedding of blood, because it was against the laws of the Church for a priest to shed the blood of another human being. It might seem that a little true Christianity was finding its way into the Inquisition, but this was not so. There was a hasty proviso: If, under torture, a victim died, the Inquisitor responsible must seek immediate absolution through his fellow priest. Each priest had the absolute right bestowed by Torquemada to absolve the murderer of his sin.
Quote ID: 6908
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 138
Section: 3A4
The uses of torture had been laid down by Nicolaus Eymeric, who had been Grand Inquisitor of Aragon in the fourteenth century; and he had been inspired in the work he complied by that of Bernard Gui written in the early part of that century.Torquemada must have agreed with a great deal that these two had written, for he allowed much of it to stand and form a basis for his Instructions.
Eymeric had advised Inquisitors that there should be five stages of torture and each was important, for even during the early stages a confession might be wrung from the victim.
The first of the five stages was Threat.
Quote ID: 6909
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 139
Section: 3A4C
The second was the journey to the torture chamber. Slowly, ceremonially, he would be led to that dismal room.….
The third was even more terrifying (for these stages by their very nature grew more alarming as they followed one another). The prisoner was seized and stripped of his clothes, in readiness for the torture.
And the fourth—that was showing him the instrument which was to be used, strapping his naked body upon it and giving him time to savour the terrible knowledge that his time of agony was at hand.
If he had passed this fourth stage without confessing and giving the names of other sinners, then he was indeed a bold man; and there was nothing to delay passing on to the fifth and last stage. The pulley was hoisted; the rack turned. The physical torture had begun.
By law it was forbidden to repeat torture, so that a sufferer, having once endured the Question and maintained his or her innocence, must not be put to the test again. The Inquisitors found this an easy hurdle. Instead of repeating the torture, they continued it day after day, and any interval was a mere suspension.
Quote ID: 6910
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 146
Section: 3A4C
Many of the stories which have been recorded cannot be accepted as truth in their entirety; but even allowing for exaggerations there can be no doubt that one of the most unhappy fates which could have befallen a man during any age was to have been taken—a suspected heretic—into the building which was known as Casa Santa, the Holy House.
Quote ID: 6911
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 161
Section: 3A1
In the year 1486. A priest of that town had been found guilty of a minor offence and sent to prison by the secular authorities. The ecclesiastical community, always jealous of their authority, were incensed that the civil law should take the judgment out of their hands. The misconduct of a priest, they maintained, was their affair, even if the priest had committed some offence which was in no way connected with his ecclesiastical duties. They therefore demanded that the priest be handed over to the Church that they might deal with him. This request was refused by the civil magistrate.
Quote ID: 6912
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 273 Page: 161
Section: 3A1
As a result of the promptings of the priests, the mob of Truxillo rose in a body, stormed the jail in which the priest was being held, freed not only him but the other prisoners.The ecclesiastical community folded its hands and smiled. This would be a lesson to the secular law, to leave churchmen to be dealt with by the Church. But the strong-minded Isabella was not to be intimidated.
Quote ID: 6913
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 273 Page: 161/162
Section: 3A1
She therefore sent her soldiers to Truxillo, where they were to restore order and arrest the ringleaders of the mob which had stormed the prison.They were sentenced to death and the priests whose preaching had incited the mob were banished from Spain. This was Isabella’s answer to the Church. It had her support within limits but the state was supreme.
Quote ID: 6914
Time Periods: 7
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