Editing Inquisition (section)

==Medieval Inquisitions==
{{Main|Medieval Inquisition|Ad extirpanda}}
Historians use the term "Medieval Inquisition" to describe the various inquisitions that started around 1184, including the Episcopal Inquisitions (1184–1230s) and later the Papal Inquisitions (1230s). These inquisitions responded to large popular movements throughout Europe considered [[apostasy|apostate]] or heretical to [[Christianity]], in particular the [[Cathars]] in southern France and the [[Waldensians]] in both southern France and northern Italy. Other inquisitions followed after these first inquisition movements. The legal basis for some inquisitorial activity came from [[Pope Innocent IV]]'s [[papal bull]] ''[[Ad extirpanda]]'' of 1252, which authorized the use of [[tortures]] in certain circumstances by inquisitors for eliciting confessions and denunciations from heretics.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.0028-4289.2006.00142.x|title=Aquinas on Torture|journal=New Blackfriars|volume=87|issue=1009|pages=229–237|year=2006|last1=Bishop|first1=Jordan|doi-access=free}}</ref> By 1256 Alexander IV's ''[[Ut negotium]]'' allowed the inquisitors to [[Absolution|absolve]] each other if they used instruments of torture.<ref>Larissa Tracy, ''Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature: Negotiations of National Identity'', (Boydell and Brewer Ltd, 2012), 22; "''In 1252 Innocent IV licensed the use of torture to obtain evidence from suspects, and by 1256 inquisitors were allowed to absolve each other if they used instruments of torture themselves, rather than relying on lay agents for the purpose...''".</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Pegg|first=Mark G.|title=The Corruption of Angels – The great Inquisition of 1245–1246|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2001|page=32}}</ref>

In the 13th century, [[Pope Gregory IX]] (reigned 1227–1241) assigned the duty of carrying out inquisitions to the [[Dominican Order]] and [[Franciscan Order]]. By the end of the Middle Ages, [[England]] and [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] were the only large western nations without a papal inquisition. Most inquisitors were friars who taught theology and/or law in the universities. They used [[Inquisitorial system|inquisitorial procedures]], a common legal practice adapted from the earlier Ancient Roman court procedures.{{Sfnp|Peters|1989|pp=12–13}} They judged heresy along with bishops and groups of "assessors" (clergy serving in a role that was roughly analogous to a jury or legal advisers), using the local authorities to establish a tribunal and to prosecute heretics. After 1200, a [[Grand Inquisitor]] headed but did not control each regional Inquisition. Grand Inquisitions persisted until the mid 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Appendix 2: List of Inquisitors-General|url=https://libro.uca.edu/lea1/append2.htm|access-date=2024-05-13|website=libro.uca.edu}}</ref>

=== Inquisitions in Medieval Italy ===
{{distinguish|Roman Inquisition}}
Only fragmentary data is available for the period before the [[Roman Inquisition]] of 1542. In 1276, some 170 [[Catharism|Cathars]] were captured in [[Sirmione]], who were then imprisoned in [[Verona]], and there, after a two-year trial, on 13 February from 1278, more than a hundred of them were burned.<ref>Kras, Paweł. ''Ad abolendam diversarum haeresium pravitatem. System inkwizycyjny w średniowiecznej Europie''. KUL 2006, p. 411. Del Col, Andrea. ''Inquisizione in Italia'', p. 3.</ref> In [[Orvieto]], at the end of 1268/1269, 85 heretics were sentenced, none of whom were executed, but in 18 cases the sentence concerned people who had already died.<ref>Lansing, Carol. ''Power and Purity: Cathar Heresy in Medieval Italy'', 2001, p. 138.</ref> In [[Tuscany]], the inquisitor Ruggiero burned at least 11 people in about a year (1244/1245).<ref>Prudlo, Donald. ''The martyred inquisitor''. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008. p. 42.</ref> Excluding the executions of the heretics at Sirmione in 1278, 36 Inquisition executions are documented in the March of Treviso between 1260 and 1308.<ref>Del Col, p. 96–98. Already in 1233 in Verona, 60 Cathars were burnt on the order of the Dominican Giovanni da Vicenza, but formally he issued this sentence as the podesta of this city, and not the inquisitor, which he became only in 1247. Cf. {{harvp|Lea|1887b|pp=204, 206}}.</ref> Ten people were executed in [[Bologna]] between 1291 and 1310.<ref name="PK">Paweł Kras: ''Ad abolendam diversarum haeresium pravitatem. System inkwizycyjny w średniowiecznej Europie'', KUL 2006, p. 413.</ref> In [[Piedmont]], 22 heretics (mainly [[Waldensians]]) were burned in the years 1312–1395 out of 213 convicted.<ref name="PK" /> 22 Waldensians were burned in [[Cuneo]] around 1440 and another five in the [[Marquisate of Saluzzo]] in 1510.<ref>Lea, vol. II, pp. 264, 267.</ref> 

There are also fragmentary records of a good number of executions of people suspected of witchcraft in northern Italy in the 15th and early 16th centuries.<ref>Tavuzzi, Michael M. ''Renaissance inquisitors: Dominican inquisitors and inquisitorial districts in Northern Italy, 1474–1527''. Leiden & Boston: Brill (2007). p. 197, 253–258; Del Col, p. 196–211.</ref> Wolfgang Behringer estimates that there could have been as many as two thousand executions.<ref>Behringer, W. ''Witches and Witch-Hunts: A Global History''. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press Ltd (2004). p. 130</ref> This large number of witches executed was probably because some inquisitors took the view that the crime of witchcraft was exceptional, which meant that the usual rules for heresy trials did not apply to its perpetrators. Many alleged witches were executed even though they were first tried and pleaded guilty, which under normal rules would have meant only canonical sanctions, not death sentences.<ref>Lea, vol. III, p. 515; cf. Tavuzzi, p. 150–151, 184–185.</ref> The episcopal inquisition was also active in suppressing alleged witches: in 1518, judges delegated by the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Brescia|Bishop of Brescia]], Paolo Zane, sent some 70 witches from [[Val Camonica]] to the stake.<ref>Tavuzzi, p. 188–192; Del Col, p. 199–200, 204–209.</ref>

=== Inquisitions in Medieval France ===
{{Main|French Inquisition}}
[[File:Le_massacre_des_Albigeois.jpg|thumb|220x220px|The Albigensian massacre (chronicle of Saint-Denis, 14th century, London, British Library)]]
The [[Albigensian Crusade]] (1209–1229) a crusade proclaimed by the Catholic Church against heresy, mainly [[Catharism]], with many thousands of victims (men, women and children, some of them Catholics), had already paved the way for the later Inquisition.{{sfnp|Sumption|1978|pp=230–232}}{{sfnp|Costen|1997|p=173}}

France has the best preserved archives of medieval inquisitions (13th–14th centuries), although they are still very incomplete. The activity of the inquisition in this country was very diverse, both in terms of time and territory. In the first period (1233 to c. 1330), the courts of [[Languedoc]] ([[Toulouse]], [[Carcassonne]]) are the most active. After 1330 the center of the persecution of heretics shifted to the [[Alpine region]]s, while in Languedoc they ceased almost entirely. In northern France, the activity of the inquisitors was irregular throughout this period and, except for the first few years, it was not very intense.<ref>The characteristics of the activities of the Inquisition in France in the 13th–15th centuries are presented by {{harvp|Lea|1887b|pp=113–161}}.</ref>

France's first Dominican inquisitor, {{ill|Robert le Bougre|fr|Robert le Bougre}}, working in the years 1233–1244, earned a particularly grim reputation. In 1236, Robert burned about 50 people in the area of Champagne and Flanders, and on 13 May 1239, in Montwimer, he burned 183 Cathars.<ref>Robert's activities are described by {{harvp|Lea|1887b|pp=114–116}}; P. Kras, ''Ad abolendam''..., pp. 163–165; and M. Lambert, ''The Cathars'', pp. 122–125.</ref> Following Robert's removal from office, Inquisition activity in northern France remained very low. One of the largest trials in the area took place in 1459–1460 at [[Arras]]; 34 people were then accused of witchcraft and Satanism, 12 of them were burned at the stake.<ref>Richard Kieckhefer: ''Magia w średniowieczu,'' Cracovia 2001, págs. 278–279.</ref>

The main center of the medieval inquisition was undoubtedly the Languedoc. The first inquisitors were appointed there in 1233, but due to strong resistance from local communities in the early years, most sentences concerned dead heretics, whose bodies were exhumed and burned. Actual executions occurred sporadically and, until the fall of the fortress of Montsegur (1244), probably accounted for no more than 1% of all sentences.<ref>P. Kras, ''Ad abolendam...'', p.412.</ref> In addition to the cremation of the remains of the dead, a large percentage were also sentences in absentia and penances imposed on heretics who voluntarily confessed their faults (for example, in the years 1241–1242 the inquisitor Pierre Ceila reconciled 724 heretics with the Church).{{sfnp|Lea|1887b|p=30}} Inquisitor Ferrier of Catalonia, investigating Montauban between 1242 and 1244, questioned about 800 people, of whom he sentenced 6 to death and 20 to prison.<ref>Wakefield, s. 184; M. Barber, ''Katarzy'', p. 126.</ref> Between 1243 and 1245, [[Bernard de Caux]] handed down 25 sentences of imprisonment and confiscation of property in Agen and Cahors.<ref>M.D. Costen, ''The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade'', Manchester University Press, 1997, p. 170.</ref> After the fall of Montsegur and the seizure of power in Toulouse by Count [[Alphonse, Count of Poitiers|Alfonso de Poitiers]], the percentage of death sentences increased to around 7% and remained at this level until the end of the Languedoc Inquisition around from 1330.<ref>P. Kras: ''Ad abolendam...'', p. 412–413.</ref>

Between 1245 and 1246, the inquisitor Bernard de Caux carried out a large-scale investigation in the area of [[Lauragais]] and [[Lavaur, Tarn|Lavaur]]. He covered 39 villages, and probably all the adult inhabitants (5,471 people) were questioned, of whom 207 were found guilty of heresy. Of these 207, no one was sentenced to death, 23 were sentenced to prison and 184 to penance.<ref>Malcolm Lambert: ''Średniowieczne herezje'', Wyd. Marabut Gdańsk-Warszawa 2002, p. 195–196.</ref> Between 1246 and 1248, the inquisitors Bernard de Caux and Jean de Saint-Pierre handed down 192 sentences in Toulouse, of which 43 were sentences in absentia and 149 were prison sentences.{{sfnp|Lea|1887a|p=485}}

In Pamiers in 1246/1247 there were 7 prison sentences [201] and in Limoux in the county of Foix 156 people were sentenced to carry crosses.<ref>M.D. Costen: ''The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade'', Manchester University Press, 1997, p. 171</ref> Between 1249 and 1257, in Toulouse, the inquisitors handed down 306 sentences, without counting the penitential sentences imposed during "times of grace". 21 people were sentenced to death, 239 to prison, in addition, 30 people were sentenced in absentia and 11 posthumously; In another five cases the type of sanction is unknown, but since they all involve repeat offenders, only prison or burning at stake.<ref>Wakefield, p. 184.</ref> Between 1237 and 1279, at least 507 convictions were passed in Toulouse (most in absentia or posthumously) resulting in the confiscation of property; in Albi between 1240 and 1252 there were 60 sentences of this type.<ref>M.D. Costen: ''The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade'', Manchester University Press, 1997, p. 171.</ref>

The activities of Bernard Gui, inquisitor of Toulouse from 1307 to 1323, are better documented, as a complete record of his trials has been preserved. During the entire period of his inquisitorial activity, he handed down 633 sentences against 602 people (31 repeat offenders), including:

* 41 death sentences,
* 40 convictions of fugitive heretics (in absentia),
* 20 sentences against people who died before the end of the trial (3 of them Bernardo considered unrepentant, and his remains were burned at the stake),
* 69 exhumation orders for the remains of dead heretics (66 of whom were subsequently burned),
* 308 prison sentences, with confiscation of  property,
* 136 orders to carry crosses,
* 18 mandates to make a pilgrimage (17) or participate in a crusade (1),
* in one case, sentencing was postponed.

In addition, [[Bernard Gui]] issued 274 more sentences involving the mitigation of sentences already served to convicted heretics; in 139 cases he exchanged prison for carrying crosses, and in 135 cases, carrying crosses for pilgrimage. To the full statistics, there are 22 orders to demolish houses used by heretics as meeting places and one condemnation and burning of Jewish writings (including commentaries on the Torah).<ref>List of judgments from: James Given: ''Inquisition and Medieval Society'', Cornell University Press, 2001, s. 69–70.</ref>

The episcopal inquisition was also active in Languedoc. In the years 1232–1234, the Bishop of Toulouse, Raymond, sentenced several dozen Cathars to death. In turn, Bishop [[Jacques Fournier]] of [[Pamiers]] (he was  later Pope Benedict XII) in the years 1318–1325 conducted an investigation against 89 people, of whom 64 were found guilty and 5 were sentenced to death.<ref>P. Kras: ''Ad abolendam...'', p. 413.</ref>

After 1330, the center of activity of the French inquisitions moved east, to the Alpine regions, where there were numerous Waldensian communities. The repression against them was not continuous and was very ineffective. Data on sentences issued by inquisitors are fragmentary. In 1348, 12 Waldensians were burned in [[Embrun, Hautes-Alpes|Embrun]], and in 1353/1354 as many as 168 received penances.<ref>Jean Guiraud: ''Medieval Inquisition'', Kessinger Publishing 2003, p. 137.</ref> In general, however, few Waldensians fell into the hands of the inquisitors, for they took refuge in hard-to-reach mountainous regions, where they formed close-knit communities. Inquisitors operating in this region, in order to be able to conduct trials, often had to resort to the armed assistance of local secular authorities (e.g. military expeditions in 1338–1339 and 1366). In the years 1375–1393 (with some breaks), the Dauphiné was the scene of the activities of the inquisitor Francois Borel, who gained an extremely gloomy reputation among the locals. It is known that on 1 July 1380, he pronounced death sentences in absentia against 169 people, including 108 from the Valpute valley, 32 from Argentiere and 29 from Freyssiniere. It is not known how many of them were actually carried out, only six people captured in 1382 are confirmed to be executed.<ref>Marx: ''L'inquisition en Dauphine'', 1914, p. 128 note. 1, pp. 134–135, and Tanon, pp. 105–106. [[Jean Paul Perrin]]: ''History of the ancient Christians inhabiting the valleys of the Alps'', Philadelphia 1847, p. 64, gives figures of over 150 convicts from the Valpute valley and 80 from the other two, but cites the same document as Marx and Tanon.</ref>

In the 15th and 16th centuries, major trials took place only sporadically, e.g. against the Waldensians in Delphinate in 1430–1432 (no numerical data) and 1532–1533 (7 executed out of about 150 tried) or the aforementioned trial in Arras 1459–1460 . In the 16th century, the jurisdiction of the inquisitors in the kingdom of France was effectively limited to clergymen, while local parliaments took over the jurisdiction of the laity. Between 1500 and 1560, 62 people were burned for heresy in the Languedoc, all of whom were convicted by the Parliament of Toulouse.<ref>Raymond Mentzer: ''Heresy Proceedings in Languedoc, 1500–1560'', American Philosophical Society, 2007, s. 122.</ref>

=== Inquisitions in Medieval Germany ===
{{Main|German Inquisition}}
The Rhineland and Thuringia in the years 1231–1233 were the field of activity of the notorious inquisitor Konrad of Marburg. Unfortunately, the documentation of his trials has not been preserved, making it impossible to determine the number of his victims. The chronicles only mention "many" heretics that he burned. The only concrete information is about the burning of four people in Erfurt in May 1232.{{sfnp|Lea|1887b|pp=332,346}}

After the murder of Konrad of Marburg, burning at the stake in Germany was virtually unknown for the next 80 years. It was not until the early fourteenth century that stronger measures were taken against heretics, largely at the initiative of bishops. In the years 1311–1315, numerous trials were held against the Waldensians in Austria, resulting in the burning of at least 39 people, according to incomplete records.<ref>P. Kras: ''Ad abolendam...'', s. 414.</ref> In 1336, in [[Angermünde]], in the diocese of Brandenburg, another 14 heretics were burned.{{sfnp|Lea|1887b|p=375}}

The number of those convicted by the papal inquisitors was smaller.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Urkundliche Mittheilungen über die Beghinen- und Begharden-Häuser zu Rostock|url=https://mvdok.lbmv.de/mjbrenderer?id=mvdok_document_00002867#page14|access-date=2023-06-23|website=mvdok.lbmv.de}}</ref> Walter Kerlinger burned 10 begards in [[Erfurt]] and [[Nordhausen, Thuringia|Nordhausen]] in 1368–1369. In turn, Eylard Schöneveld burned a total of four people in various [[Baltic Germans|Baltic cities]] in 1402–1403.{{sfnp|Lea|1887b|p=390}}

In the last decade of the 14th century, episcopal inquisitors carried out large-scale operations against heretics in eastern Germany, Pomerania, Austria, and Hungary. In Pomerania, of 443 sentenced in the years 1392–1394 by the inquisitor Peter Zwicker, the provincial of the Celestinians, none went to the stake, because they all submitted to the Church. Bloodier were the trials of the Waldensians in Austria in 1397, where more than a hundred Waldensians were burned at the stake. However, it seems that in these trials the death sentences represented only a small percentage of all the sentences, because according to the account of one of the inquisitors involved in these repressions, the number of heretics reconciled with the Church from Thuringia to Hungary amounted to about 2,000.<ref>The description of these persecutions is published by: {{harvp|Lea|1887b|pp=395–400}}; and R. Kieckhefer: ''Repression of heresy'', p. 55.</ref>

In 1414, the inquisitor Heinrich von Schöneveld arrested 84 flagellants in [[Sangerhausen]], of whom he burned 3 leaders, and imposed penitential sentences on the rest. However, since this sect was associated with the peasant revolts in Thuringia from 1412, after the departure of the inquisitor, the local authorities organized a mass hunt for flagellants and, regardless of their previous verdicts, sent at least 168 to the stake (possibly up to 300) people.<ref>'''Manfred Wilde''', ''Die Zauberei- und Hexenprozesse in Kursachsen'', Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar, 2003, p. 100–101; '''K.B. Springer''': ''Dominican Inquisition in the archidiocese of Mainz 1348–1520'', w: ''Praedicatores, Inquisitores, Vol. 1: The Dominicans and the Medieval Inquisition. Acts of the 1st International Seminar on the Dominicans and the Inquisition, 23–25 February 2002'', red. Arturo Bernal Palacios, Rzym 2004, p. 378–379; '''R. Kieckhefer''': ''Repression of heresy'', p. 96–97. {{harvp|Lea|1887b|p=408}} mentions at least 135 executions in 1414 and another 300 two years later, but most likely the sources he cites speak of the same repressive action, with different dates ('''Springer''': p. 378 note 276; '''Kieckhefer''': p. 378, note 276; : pp. 97 and 147).</ref> Inquisitor Friedrich Müller (d. 1460) sentenced to death 12 of the 13 heretics he had tried in 1446 at Nordhausen. In 1453 the same inquisitor burned 2 heretics in [[Göttingen]].<ref>K.B. Springer: ''Dominican Inquisition in the archidiocese of Mainz 1348–1520'', w: ''Praedicatores, Inquisitores, Vol. 1: The Dominicans and the Medieval Inquisition. Acts of the 1st International Seminar on the Dominicans and the Inquisition, 23–25 February 2002'', red. Arturo Bernal Palacios, Rzym 2004, p. 381. The mass executions of flagellants in Thuringia in 1454 were the work of secular authorities, see Kieckhefer, ''Repression of heresy'', p. 147; Manfred Wilde, ''Die Zauberei- und Hexenprozesse in Kursachsen'', Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar, 2003, p. 106–107.</ref>

Inquisitor [[Heinrich Kramer]], author of the [[Malleus Maleficarum]], in his own words, sentenced 48 people to the stake in five years (1481–1486).<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Institoris|first1=Heinrich|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RPml42hWGBIC&q=Malleus+maleficarum|title=The Malleus Maleficarum of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger|last2=Sprenger|first2=Jakob|last3=Sprenger|first3=James|date=2000|publisher=Book Tree|isbn=978-1-58509-098-3}}</ref><ref>cf. {{harvp|Lea|1887c|p=540}}</ref> Jacob Hoogstraten, inquisitor of Cologne from 1508 to 1527, sentenced four people to be burned at the stake.<ref>[https://archive.today/20160419184532/http://www.bbkl.de/lexikon/bbkl-artikel.php?art=./H/Ho/hoogstraaten_j.art BBKL: Jacob von Hoogstraaten]</ref>

A notable former inquisitor, Jesuit [[Friedrich Spee]], published a book ''Cautio Criminalis'' (1631) which helped end witch-hunting and the reliance on torture, highly regarded in Catholic and Protestant circles.<ref>Pinker (2011, pp. 138–139).   Mannix (1964, pp. 134–135).  Mackay (1841 / 2009, p. 320).</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Limborch |first1=Philippus van |title=Philippi a Limborch historia inquisitionis: acced. liber sententiarum inquisitionis Tholosanae ab anno Chr. 1307 ad annum 1323 |date=1692 |publisher=éditeur non identifié |url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=cysymJOAxLwC&pg=GBS.PP253 |language=la}}</ref>

=== Inquisition in Hungary and the Balkans ===
Very little is known about the activities of inquisitors in Hungary and the countries under its influence (Bosnia, Croatia), as there are few sources about this activity.<ref>P. Kras, ''Ad abolendam...'', p. 182.</ref> Numerous conversions and executions of Bosnian Cathars are known to have taken place around 1239/40, and in 1268 the Dominican inquisitor Andrew reconciled many heretics with the Church in the town of Skradin, but precise figures are unknown.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Šanjek|first=Franjo|date=1976|title=Le catharisme des " chrétiens " bosniaques|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rhr_0035-1423_1976_num_190_2_6356|journal=Revue de l'histoire des religions|volume=190|issue=2|pages=149–156|doi=10.3406/rhr.1976.6356}}</ref> The border areas with Bohemia and Austria were under major inquisitorial action against the Waldensians in the early 15th century. In addition, in the years 1436–1440 in the Kingdom of Hungary, the Franciscan Jacobo de la Marcha acted as an inquisitor... his mission was mixed, preaching and inquisitorial. The correspondence preserved between James, his collaborators, the Hungarian bishops and Pope Eugene IV shows that he reconciled up to 25,000 people with the Church. This correspondence also shows that he punished recalcitrant heretics with death, and in 1437 numerous executions were carried out in the diocese of Sirmium, although the number of those executed is also unknown.<ref>{{harvp|Lea|1887b|pp=542–543}}. Thomas A. Fudge, ''The magnificent ride: the first reformation in Hussite Bohemia'', Ashgate 1998, s. 282.</ref>

=== Inquisitions in the Czech lands and Poland ===
{{Main|Inquisition in the Czech lands}}
In Bohemia and Poland, the inquisition was established permanently in 1318, although anti-heretical repressions were carried out as early as 1315 in the episcopal inquisition, when more than 50 Waldensians were burned in various Silesian cities.<ref>P. Kras, ''Ad abolendam...'', p. 416.</ref> The fragmentary surviving protocols of the investigations carried out by the Prague inquisitor Gallus de Neuhaus in the years 1335 to around 1353 mention 14 heretics burned out of almost 300 interrogated, but it is estimated that the actual number executed could have been even more than 200, and the entire process was covered to varying degrees by some 4,400 people.<ref>Malcolm Lambert, ''Średniowieczne herezje'', 2002, s. 219.</ref>

In the lands belonging to the Kingdom of Poland little is known of the activities of the Inquisition until the appearance of the Hussite heresy in the 15th century. Polish courts of the inquisition in the fight against this heresy issued at least 8 death sentences for some 200 trials carried out.<ref>P. Kras, ''Ad abolendam...'', p. 417.</ref>

There are 558 court cases finished with conviction researched in Poland from the 15th to 18th centuries.<ref>Pilaszek, Wislicz</ref>

===Inquisition in Medieval Spain===
Portugal and Spain in the late Middle Ages consisted largely of multicultural territories of Muslim and Jewish influence, reconquered from [[Al-Andalus|Islamic control]], and the new Christian authorities could not assume that all their subjects would suddenly become and remain orthodox Catholics. So the Inquisition in [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]], in the lands of the [[Reconquista]] counties and kingdoms like [[Kingdom of León|León]], [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]], and [[Kingdom of Aragon|Aragon]], had a special socio-political basis as well as more fundamental religious motives.<ref name=secrets/>

In some parts of Spain towards the end of the 14th century, there was a wave of violent [[anti-Judaism]], encouraged by the preaching of [[Ferrand Martínez]], [[Archdeacon]] of [[Écija]]. In the [[pogrom]]s of June [[Massacre of 1391|1391]] in [[Seville]], hundreds of Jews were killed, and the [[synagogue]] was completely destroyed. The number of people killed was also high in other cities, such as [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]], [[Valencia]], and Barcelona.<ref>[[Henry Kamen|Kamen]], ''Spanish Inquisition'', p. 17. Kamen cites approximate numbers for Valencia (250) and Barcelona (400), but no solid data about Córdoba.</ref>

One of the consequences of these pogroms was the mass conversion of thousands of surviving Jews. Forced baptism was contrary to the law of the Catholic Church, and theoretically anybody who had been forcibly baptized could legally return to Judaism. However, this was very narrowly interpreted. Legal definitions of the time theoretically acknowledged that a forced baptism was not a valid sacrament, but confined this to cases where it was literally administered by physical force. A person who had consented to baptism under threat of death or serious injury was still regarded as a voluntary convert, and accordingly forbidden to revert to Judaism.<ref>[[Raymond of Peñafort]], ''Summa'', lib. 1 p.33, citing D.45 c.5.</ref> After the public violence, many of the converted "felt it safer to remain in their new religion".<ref>[[Henry Kamen|Kamen]], ''Spanish Inquisition'', p. 10.</ref> Thus, after 1391, a new social group appeared and were referred to as ''[[converso]]s'' or ''New Christians''.
[[File:Inquisición española.svg|thumb|Emblem of the Spanish Inquisition (1571). The olive branch symbolizes grace and the sword symbolizes punishment.  The inscription in Latin means: "Arise, Lord, and judge your cause"]]