Inquisition

Inquisition Inquisition is the judicial procedure and later an institution that was established by the papacy and sometimes by secular governments to combat heresy. It was marked by the severity of questioning and punishment and lack of rights afforded to the accused. Those accused of heresy were sentenced at an auto de fe, Act of Faith. Clergyman would sit at the proceedings and would deliver the punishments. Punishments included confinement to dungeons, physical abuse and torture. Those who never confessed were burned at the stake without strangulation. In the beginning, the Inquisition dealt only with Christian heretics and did not interfere with the affairs of Jews. However, disputes about Maimonides’ books (which addressed the synthesis of Judaism and other cultures) provided a pretext for harassing Jews and, in 1242, the Inquisition condemned the Talmud and burned thousands of volumes. In 1288, the first mass burning of Jews on the stake took place in France. More than 13,000 Conversos were put on trial during the first 12 years of the Spanish Inquisition. Hoping to eliminate ties between the Jewish community and Conversos, the Jews of Spain were expelled in 1492. The Inquisition was not limited to Europe; it also spread to Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the New World and Asia.