The Inquisition: Heretical Teachings Among The Catholic Church

Ferdinand and Isabella made the Spanish Inquisition exceptionally linked to the government when they petitioned for, and were granted, a bull by Pope Sixtus IV to allow them to appoint inquisitors. This was an unprecedented role held by a monarchy and ensured that politics would be ever present in the Inquisition.3 The inquisitors were thus subject to the monarch and the church. The inquisitors could not have acted in regions without the support of the king. In Seville after the inquisitors arrived and posted their edict of grace, the Conversos reacted by fleeing the city. Ferdinand and Isabella reacted by ordering the citizens to remain in their homes.4 The Inquisitors and the monarchs worked hand in hand in the inquisition. In the late fifteenth

Long before the reformation period,people within the church, both clergy and lay were keen for the church to eliminate all corrupt practices and for a reform,which would bring everyone closer to God. Those high up in church authority had ignored the concerns made by these reformers because they were personally gaining from practices like indulgences. However the sixteenth century split of protestant from the Catholic church became obvious and brought about bad publicity towards the church as the loss of members was a large concern, putting them under pressure to reform itself properly. The church responded in a very serious matter which resulted in the church starting

1. "So now they and their church found it necessary to deny any other sect its freedom, lest their

Free thought is dangerous to the church and empire of this period because the entire belief system of the community is based upon church elites deciphering ancient texts, of which they are to retell to the common people. This way, the clergymen have the right to alter or omit pieces they don’t want shared with the public. This also establishes a higher status above the common people, who are told they could never dream of understanding the texts on their own; “ The records of the holy inquisition are full of histories we dare not give to the world, because they are beyond the belief of

The church began to lose to power because the people were no longer listening to the church, and because of what they learned from the 95 statement thesis written by Martin Luther. The thesis informed people they did not need to pay their way to heaven, pay for someone to get out of Purgatory,or pay to get to heaven (Doc.8). The writing of Luther’s 95 thesis led to the printing press being invented by Gutenberg, with creation of the printing press it allowed the people to read the bible for themselves, which in turn allowed them to think for themselves (Doc.9). With this new knowledge from the bible, people began revolting against the church and the government. This led to wars such as the St. Bartholomew Massacre. The St. Bartholomew Massacre started because Catherine de’ Medici felt threatened by the influence of Huguenot Admiral de Coligny and planned on assassinating him. They were not successful and only wounded Coligny. This caused the Huguenots to become furious which made the Medici nervous, who in turn ordered a massacre of all Huguenots. This led to a religion division. With the chaotic acts of freedom from the people, Europe created the Nation States. The Nation States were made to keep people from acting out against the government and to keep control over the

During the Medieval period, avid church goers and clergymen had many fears regarding heresy, one of which was the spread of doubt within the faith. In a time when only churchmen could read and write, it was their teachings of the

The Spanish Inquisition was a court system established in 1478 that tried and sentenced heretics. Victims of these trials were predominantly “conversos”, Jewish people that had converted to Catholicism. The Spanish Inquisition was not formally abolished until 1834 by Queen Isabella II. Although the severity of the Inquisition is most likely exaggerated, it still remains a dark point in the history of the Catholic Church.

During the Protestant Reformation in Germany around the 16th century chaos ensued. This was lead by Martin Luther, who brought the churches lie out in the open for all to see. He told the people of the corruption within the Vatican, and how they shouldn’t have to pay indulgences. Secularism spread throughout the lands, people began turning on the church. This all went on while the Renaissance was still affecting the European nations.

During the Reformation, there were a few strong people who saw problems with the way things had always been done. The churches had corrupt leaders who were not teaching in accordance with the Bible. They were making up whatever they wanted, and they had power to get away with this because they were also part of the government. There arose a movement to refute and stop this. Strong opposers took strong stands to point out the errors of what was going on, and to try to reform the religious system in power. This did not go over very well with the religious leaders, but after years of battling and debating, the protestant view of Christianity won the freedom to worship as they wished. In a similar way, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries,

The term “heresy” on the other hand, was a neutral term that eventually gave way to its more commonly known “technical, pejorative sense” by the time of Ignatius (p.117). In order to illustrate these complexities, Butler examines the Montanist movement of the second and third centuries (p.119-133). Though considered heretical by Church leaders in Asia Minor by the third century, Montanism gained many orthodox adherents in North Africa represented by Tertullian and the martyrs Perpetua and Falicitas (p.133-137). Butler is careful to point out that Montanism was rejected, not because of false doctrine, but because of “unacceptable practices” (p.138). This is an example of how a belief that was considered to be heretical “in one community was acceptable in another”

By the late 1500s, Christian denominations had been popping up all over Europe. This was in response to the reports of indulgences (selling of freedom from purgatory), clerical immorality, abuse of money, along with many other bad actions that were rampant among the Church. It was these problems that Luther and others rebelled and created their own religions. With the rising of these Reformation movements, the Church needed to make some reforms itself. These reforms took the form of educating the clergy, opening monasteries, the Inquisition, and the organizing of councils. In fact, even though Protestant attacks brought these reforms, many of these reforms were needed anyway. The problems in the Church were so bad that the Church would not

Ferdinand and Isabella began a political and religious reform program to improve their central administrations, while utilizing the conquest ideology to speed up reforms (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 466). One of the political reforms to recruit all urban militias and judges, to inspect the military and judicial powers of the aristocracy (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 466). The religious reforms were meant to improve religious education for the clergy and strictly enforce Christian ideologies to the populace (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 466). A body of clergymen known as the Spanish Inquisition were appointed to find and punish any individuals whose beliefs contradicted Christian theology (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 466). Ultimately,

Preceding the Spanish Inquisition was the Medieval Inquisition, which served to spark the Spanish Inquisition. For the Medieval people, religion was very important; they did not see religion as solely conducted within church, but religion was additionally embedded in politics, integrated into their identity, along with their daily life. Then heresy, a belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious (especially Christian) doctrine, came into view, and spread through Europe. The lack of religious conformity was an affront to many during this highly critical era. The Medieval Inquisition started in 1184 when a pope named Pope Lucius III transmitted a list of suspected heresies to Europe’s bishops. Pope Lucius III wanted the the bishops to determine if those accused were guilty or not guilty of being heretics. “Most people accused of heresy by the Medieval Inquisition were either acquitted or their sentence suspended.” Therefore, those