Inquisition

Beginning as a legal procedure for prosecution of “hidden crimes” such as heresy and clerical sexuality, inquisition in early modern Europe became associated with national and religious identities and became a tool for eliminating enemies of the state or of the Catholic faith.

Inquisition began not as a national institution for the prosecution of religious dissenters but rather as a legal procedure for civil trials. The procedure, which had begun in antiquity, was relatively uncommon during the first few centuries following the fall of the Roman Empire but was revived during the rebirth of Roman law and legal thought in western Europe during the late 11th and early 12th century. In the prosecution of certain crimes, such as clerical sexuality or heresy, where “full proofs” such as those offered by eyewitnesses were absent, a “partial proof,” such as hearsay or general reputation, could be considered justification for seeking a confession, thus bringing the inquisitorial procedure into play. Inquisition differed from other legal proceedings of the time in four major ways. First, the identity ofwitnesses was kept secret. Second, counsel for the defense was restricted or nonexistent. Third, the goal of the proceedings was penitential rather than punitive. Fourth, inquisitors and their agents were allowed to resort to torture to extract a confession but would only do so when there was enough partial proof to indicate that a confession would likely be forthcoming.

The inquisitions from the 13th through the 15th centuries operated differently throughout Europe, giving lie to the myth of a monolithic medieval inquisition. Not until the late 15th century was there a move toward institutionalization of inquisition. Around this time the pursuit of heterodoxy became more closely identified with national interests.

Probably the best known of these “national” inquisitions was the inquisition in Spain, which arose out of a tradition of Castilian identity, Christian military nobility, and Christian superiority over Muslims (see Islam) and Jews, all of which had roots in the RecONQUlSTA. The Spanish Inquisition began as a national venture in 1478 and condemned more than 3,000 people to death by its end in 1800. The original targets of this particular inquisition were conversos—Spanish Jews and Muslims who had converted to Christianity—who had apostatized, reverting to the practices of their former faiths. The office of the Inquisition in Spain soon cast its net more broadly, seeking to root out any possible enemies of the Catholic Church. Once Protestant revolts broke out throughout Europe, inquisitors used their methods to keep unorthodox beliefs out of Spain and the Spanish Empire. Even Catholics were not above suspicion: Ignatius Loyola was called before the Inquisition twice. Those accused of heterodoxy were subject to secret trial, often including torture, and if found guilty, they were sentenced to public execution in an AUTO-DA-FE, or “act of faith.” Reactions to the Inquisition within Spain included the flight of between 600 and 3,000 conversos and occasional violent resistance, as in the case of the murder of inquisitor Pedro de Arbues in the cathedral of Zaragoza.

Any analysis of the Spanish Inquisition must take into account the religiously plural composition of that empire. Spain had been home to members of three religious tradi-tions—Jewish, Christian, and Muslim—throughout most of the medieval period, and the Reformation added

Protestants into the equation in various portions of the Spanish empire under Charles V and Philip II. In this context the Spanish Inquisition might be interpreted as a means to unification of a religiously plural empire, a reflection of a belief that maintaining the empire’s religious unity was the only way to maintain its political unity.

Further reading: Henry Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1997); Edward Peters, Inquisition (New York: Free Press, 1988).

—Marie A. Kelleher