History of the Christian Church: Inquisition

In Roman law an inquisitio was simply a judicial inquiry. In Christianity it came to mean an inquiry into a person's beliefs to determine whether they are heretical. The term also means the judicial panels that conducted such inquiries in Europe and the Americas for several hundred years.

Originally Christians did not use force against heretics and schismatics but rather tried to persuade them and, failing that, sought to excommunicate, exile, or silence them. After Augustine justified the use of force against Donatism and developed the theory of a just war, inquisitional authorities began to use force to extract confessions from heretics and others. The first person known to die after an inquisition was Priscillian of Ávila (d. 385).

In the Middle Ages Pope Lucius III (r. 1181-85) issued the bull Ad Abolendam (September 4, 1184), in which he sought the support of the emperor and princes in the repression and elimination of heretics throughout Christendom. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, however, sought to preserve the early tradition with his formula fides suadenda est, non imponenda-”faith is to be spread by persuasion and not imposed by force.” Gregory IX (r. 1227-41) appointed inquisitors to conduct secret examinations of suspected heretics without the benefit of defense witnesses. Many canon lawyers questioned the legitimacy of these inquiries. Most inquisitors were from the Dominican and Franciscan Orders, the most famous of which was the Dominican Bernardo of Gui (1261-1331), who wrote a handbook for inquisitors. The medieval Inquisition was accompanied by the military extirpation of the Cathari (Albigensians) and other groups deemed heretical. In 1252 Innocent IV (r. 1243-54) issued the bull Ad Extirpanda (May 15, 1252), which justified the use of torture.

The Inquisition was exercised mainly in the heart of the European continent. Often the targets expanded from heretics to political enemies. Philip IV of France (1268-1314) used the Inquisition to bring down the Knights Templar. Pope John XXII (r. 1316-34) also pursued the Franciscan Spirituals with the Inquisition. The British Isles, Scandinavia, and the kingdom of Castile escaped the Inquisition early on, but in 1477 Ferdinand I of Aragon and Isabella of Castile asked Pope Sixtus (r. 1471-84) to set up the Spanish Inquisition to examine which conversos, Jews forced to convert to Catholicism, were genuine and which were not. The notorious Tomás de Torquemada (1420-98) was appointed inquisitor general in 1483.