Editing Inquisition (section)

== Opposition and resistance ==
In many regions and times, there was opposition to the Inquisition. 
===Assassinations===
In some cases, heretics and other targets did not hesitate to attempt to murder the inquisitors, or destroy its voluminous archives, because they had much to lose in the face of an inquisitorial investigation: their freedom, their property, their lives.{{sfnp|Peters|1980|pp=170–173}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Théry |first=Julien |url=https://www.academia.edu/32534765/_Exp%C3%A9rience_italienne_et_norme_inquisitoriale_chapitre_11_dans_Patrick_Gilli_Julien_Th%C3%A9ry_Le_gouvernement_pontifical_et_lItalie_des_villes_au_temps_de_la_th%C3%A9ocratie_fin_XIIe_mi_XIVe_si%C3%A8cle_Montpellier_Presses_universitaires_de_la_M%C3%A9diterran%C3%A9e_2010_p_547_592_texte_int%C3%A9gral_ |title=Le gouvernement pontifical et l'Italie des villes au temps de la théocratie (fin XIIe-mi-XIVe siècle) |date=2010 |pages=547-592 |language=fr |chapter=11 - Expérience italienne et norme inquisitoriale}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gregorio IX |url=https://archive.org/details/voxinramapapagregorioix |title=Vox In Rama ( Papa Gregorio IX) |date=1232}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Pope Innocent IV |date=May 15, 1252 |title=Bulla 'Ad_Extirpanda' [AD 1252-05-15] |url=http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/01p/1252-05-15,_SS_Innocentius_IV,_Bulla_%27Ad_Extirpanda%27,_EN.pdf |website=Documenta Catholica Omnia}}</ref>    
[[File:Steyrer Waldenserdenkmal.jpg|thumb|Monument to the Waldensians burned by Petrus Zwicker,  in [[Steyr]], Austria]]
The much hated Inquisitor [[Konrad von Marburg]], who also initiated inquisition trials against nobles, was murdered in 1233 by six mounted men on an open country road on the way to [[Marburg]].

In 1242, a Cathar group armed with axes entered the castle of the town of Avignonet (southern France) and murdered the inquisitors [[William Arnaud (inquisitor)|Guillaume Arnaud]] and [[Étienne de Saint-Thibéry]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Clare Prophet|first=Elizabeth|title=Reincarnation: The Missing Link in Christianity|publisher=Summit Publications|year=1997|pages=240–243}}</ref>

In 1252, the inquisitor [[Peter of Verona]] was killed by Cathars. Eleven months after his assassination, he was made a Catholic saint, the quickest canonization in history. As [[Christine Caldwell Ames]] writes, "Inquisition changed what it meant to be a martyr, to be holy, and to be an imitator of Christ."<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Ames|first=Christine Caldwell|title=Righteous Persecution: Inquisition, Dominicans, and Christianity in the Middle Ages|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2009|pages=62, 63, 67}}</ref>

In 1395 near [[Steyr]], where the inquisitor [[Petrus Zwicker]] was quartered with associates, an assassination attempt on him failed: someone had tried to set fire to the place and burn him alive.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Smelyansky|first=Eugene|title=Heresy and Citizenship: Persecution of Heresy in Late Medieval German Cities|publisher=Routledge|year=2021|pages=51, 73}}</ref>

===Clergy opposition===
Opposition to Inquisition power and abuses sometimes came from within the clergy: including friars, priests and bishops.

During French Inquisition, a Franciscan friar, [[Bernard Délicieux]], opposed the actions of the Inquisition in [[Languedoc]]. The infamous Bernard Gui presented him as the commander-in-chief  of the "iniquitous army" against the Dominicans and the Inquisition. Délicieux alleged the Inquisitiors were pursuing innocent Catholics for heresy, trying to destroy their towns.{{Sfnp|Sullivan|2011|p=147}} He stated that the methods of the inquisition would have condemned even [[Saint Peter|Peter]] and [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] as heretics if they  appeared before the inquisitors. Délicieux later became one more victim of the Inquisition for his criticism.  In 1317, [[Pope John XXII]]  called him and other Franciscan Spirituals to Avignon, and he was arrested, questioned, and tortured by the Inquisition. In 1319, he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.{{sfnp|Thomsett|2011|p=94}} Fragile and old, he died shortly thereafter.{{sfnp|Lea|1887b|pp=99–102}}

In Spain, several bishops contended with inquisitorial tribunals. In 1532, the Archbishop of Toledo [[Alonso III Fonseca]] had to ransom  ''[[converso]]'' [[Juan de Vergara]] ([[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros|Cisneros]]' Latin secretary) from Spanish inquisitors. Fonseca had previously rescued [[Ignatius of Loyola]] from them.<ref name=ingram>{{cite thesis |last1=Ingram |first1=Kevin |title=Secret lives, public lies: the conversos and socio-religious non-conformism in the Spanish Golden Age |date=2006 |publisher=UC San Diego |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6270j25z |language=en |access-date=4 January 2024 |archive-date=4 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104082837/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6270j25z |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|80}}  Far from being a monolithic institution, sometimes the tribunals threatened individuals protected by the Inquisitor-General, such as with the Inquisitor General [[Alonso Manrique de Lara]] and [[Erasmus#Fates_of_friends|Erasmus]].

In Portugal, Father [[António Vieira]] (1608–1697), himself a Jesuit, philosopher, writer and orator, was one of the most important opponents of the Inquisition. Arrested by the Inquisition for "heretical, reckless, ill-sounding and scandalous propositions" in October 1665, was  imprisoned until December 1667.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2024-04-12|title=António Vieira Portuguese author and diplomat|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Antonio-Vieira|access-date=2024-05-24|website=Britannica|language=}}</ref> Under the Inquisitorial sentence, he was forbidden to teach, write or preach.<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Vieira, Antonio |volume= 28 | last=  Prestage |first= Edgar |author-link= Edgar Prestage |pages=49–50 |short=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-10-02|title=Padre António Vieira nos cárceres da Inquisição|url=https://antt.dglab.gov.pt/exposicoes-virtuais-2/padre-antonio-vieira-nos-carceres-da-inquisicao/|access-date=2024-05-24|website=Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo|language=pt-PT |author1=Joanabraga }}</ref> Only perhaps Vieira's prestige, his intelligence and his support among members of the royal family saved him from greater consequences.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Paiva|first=José Pedro|date=2011|title=Revisitar o processo inquisitorial do padre António Vieira|url=https://www.academia.edu/34735176|journal=Lusitania Sacra|volume=23|pages=151–168}}</ref> Father Vieira led an anti-inquisition movement in Rome, where he spent six years.{{Sfnp|Saraiva|2001|p=177}} In addition to his humanitarian objections, he also had others: he realised that a mercantile middle class was being attacked that would be sorely missed in the country's economic development.{{sfnp|Saraiva|2001|p=147,152,159,160,197,208}} He is believed to have been the author of the anonymous writing ''Notícias Recônditas do Modo de Proceder a Inquisição de Portugal com os seus Presos'',  which reveals a great deal about the inner workings of the Inquisitorial mechanism and which he delivered to Pope [[Pope Clement X|Clement X]] in favour of the cause of the persecuted of the Inquisition. The Inquisition was suspended by Clement X between 1674 and 1681.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Vieira|first=António|url=http://archive.org/details/noticiasrecondit00viei|title=Noticias reconditas do modo de proceder a Inquisição de Portugal com os seus prezos|date=1821|publisher=Imprensa Nacional}}</ref>