theinquisition

The Inquisition

The Churches role in the Inquisition is important because it was their self appointed role to eliminate heretics. The Roman Catholics rigorous campaign began in the early thirteenth century with an establishment of tribunals known as the Inquisition. They acquired and retained a reputation for the use of great cruelty and torture in the pursuit of identifying heretics and punishing them often by death, and often by burning.

In 1320 the Inquisition had added witchcraft to its list of heresies, as there was an interest in magic and sorcery in most sections of society from earliest times.

The Inquisition was responsible for few trials after the 1500�s as the ecclesiastical courts or secular ones conducted later trials.