Why did inquisition start

In , Inquisitors were involved in the mass arrest and tortures of 15, Knights Templar in France, resulting in dozens of executions. Joan of Arc , burned at the stake in , is the most famous victim of this wing of the Inquisition. Known as Conversos, they were viewed with suspicion by old powerful Christian families. Ferdinand and Isabella feared that even trusted Conversos were secretly practicing their old religion; the royal couple was also afraid of angering Christian subjects who demanded a harder line against Conversos—Christian support was crucial in an upcoming crusade against Muslims planned in Granada.

Ferdinand felt an Inquisition was the best way to fund that crusade, by seizing the wealth of heretic Conversos. In , under the influence of clergyman Tomas de Torquemada, the monarchs created the Tribunal of Castile to investigate heresy among Conversos. The effort focused on stronger Catholic education for Conversos, but by , the Inquisition was formed. That same year, Jews in Castile were forced into ghettos separated from Christians, and the Inquisition expanded to Seville.

A mass exodus of Conversos followed. In , 20, Conversos confessed to heresy, hoping to avoid execution. Inquisitors decreed that their penitence required them to name other heretics. Hearing the complaints of Conversos who had fled to Rome, Pope Sextus proclaimed the Spanish Inquisition was too harsh and was wrongly accusing Conversos. In Sextus appointed a council to take command of the Inquisition. Torquemada was named Inquisitor General and established courts across Spain. Torture became systemized and routinely used to elicit confessions.

Sentencing of confessed heretics was done in a public event called the Auto-da-Fe. All heretics wore a sackcloth with a single eyehole over their heads. Heretics who refused to confess were burned at the stake. Sometimes people fought back against the Inquisition.

In , an Inquisitor died after being poisoned, and another Inquisitor was stabbed to death in a church. Torquemada managed to round up the assassins, burning at the stake 42 people in retaliation. Torquemada was forced to share leadership with four other clergymen until he died in Diego de Deza took over as Inquisitor General, escalating the hunt for heresy within cities and rounding up scores of accused heretics, including members of the nobility and local governments.

Some were able to bribe their way out of imprisonment and death, reflecting the level of corruption under de Deza. This easy avenue for revenge led the number of false accusations to increase significantly. Both the government and other officials proclaimed the importance of spreading real Catholicism.

They made laws forbidding intermarriage between Christians and Jews or converts, which would destroy their ideal of purity of blood pureza de la sangre. It was rare that heretics were executed. He was merely chastised and told to recite prayers, which he did with seeming remorse. What has come to be regarded as the Catholic form of the Inquisition was an ecclesiastical tribunal established in twelfth-century France for the suppression of heresy.

The Inquisition therefore dealt with ideas, news, information, and the dissemination of knowledge—striving to defend people from wayward doctrine by ensuring its purity and veracity.

To give even greater context to the topic, Marcus, a PhD student in History at Stanford University, drew upon the work of historian Edward Peters who distinguishes between three types of inquisition. Each of these Inquisitions had different concerns. Even Naples had a different inquisition from the one in Rome.

What was their sinister tale? The propaganda started against Spain, but then spread to Italy and other parts of Europe. The church had a very specific definition of heresy: A heretic publicly declared his beliefs based upon what the church considered inaccurate interpretations of the Bible and refused to denounce them, even after being corrected by the authority.

He also tried to teach his beliefs to other people. He had to be doing these things by his own free will, not under the influence of the devil. In , he issued a bull , or decree, that set up a tribunal court system to try heretics and punish them. He chose the Dominican Order, known for being very well-educated and knowledgeable about complex theology, to conduct the Inquisition. The monarchy was Catholic, and it had just united two kingdoms, Aragon and Castile, as a single country in the late 15th century.

Reasons for the Inquisition included a desire to create religious unity and weaken local political authorities and familial alliances. Money was another motive -- the government made a profit by confiscating the property of those found guilty of heresy. Historians speculate that the monarchy convinced Pope Sixtus IV to allow the inquisition by threatening to remove Spanish troops from Rome, where they were needed to prevent an attack by Turkey.

Many prominent citizens were concerned about their country's religious diversity and had bigoted attitudes toward non-Catholics.