With Due Respect: What about the Inquisition?

[Editor's note: The author and editor of this post does not support violence. He is merely highlighting the events leading up to the Inquisition, and what it intended to do.]

Mass execution of Harvestmen? No, they were already dead.

Say Inquisition, and immediately images of people burning at the stake instantly enters the minds of many. Some may even mouth the name "Torquemada", the most cruel of the Inquisitors. Torquemada influenced Spanish royalty to banish Jews and burn heretics

The violence of the Inquisition is sometimes raised as evidence of the violence of Christianity.

In this post, I will examine Inquisition in the Medieval era.

An advancement in law and order
With the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, Western Europe was ruled by a various, fleeting warlords. As such, the church was seen as a continuity of government as was given authority in civil affairs (Hannam, 2009).

Due to internal conflicts, many individuals and groups were accusing each other of being a heretic, witch or practising magic. If one was from a noble family, one could abuse his reputation to get his enemies persecuted.

As a result, the church came up with a law system called the Inquisition. It was a novel attempt to create an evidence-based legal system. This prevented wanton finger-pointing. For instance, several witnesses were required to justify a testimony. Furthermore, the witness had to be independent of the involved parties.

In addition, confirmed heretics were not sentenced to death. They were given a chance to recant their false beliefs, and avoid being executed. Only repeated heresy resulted in execution by secular authorities.

But it was not perfect
As with any human system, it is not perfect, and prone to influence from politics and corruption. The Spanish Inquisition was especially violent because the desire to remove Islam and Judaism from the Spain and Portugal, the political placement of the Inquisition under royal authority and the ongoing wars.

Conclusion
The Inquisition was not intended to be mindless violent reaction to heretics. It was designed to be a lawful (and merciful) response in an age of intolerance.

Even the most violence version in Spain managed about 826 executions out of over 44,000 cases tried (Henning, 1992).

References
Hannam, J. (2009) God's Philosophers

Henning, G. (1992) The database of the Spanish Inquisition in: Monhaupt (Heinz), Simon (Dieter), ed., Vorträge zur Justizforschung. Geschichte und Theorie, 1993, Band 2, pp. 43-85

Further reading
Huffington post