Editing Medieval Inquisition (section)

===Papal inquisition===
One reason for Pope Gregory IX's creation of the Inquisition was to bring order and legality to the process of dealing with heresy, since there had been tendencies by mobs of townspeople to burn alleged heretics without much of a trial. According to historian [[Thomas F. Madden|Thomas Madden]]: "The Inquisition was not born out of desire to crush diversity or oppress people; it was rather an attempt to stop unjust executions. ...Heresy was a crime against the ''state''. Roman law in the Code of Justinian made heresy a capital offense" (emphasis in original). In the early Middle Ages, people accused of heresy were judged by the local lord, many of whom lacked theological training. Madden claims that "The simple fact is that the medieval Inquisition ''saved'' uncounted thousands of innocent (and even not-so-innocent) people who would otherwise have been roasted by secular lords or mob rule" (emphasis in original).<ref name="Madden">{{Cite web|date=2008-07-22|title=Thomas F. Madden on Empires of Trust|url=https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-bookmonger/thomas-f-madden-empires-trust/|access-date=2020-06-23|website=National Review|language=en-US}}</ref> Madden argues that while medieval secular leaders were trying to safeguard their kingdoms, the Church was trying to save souls. The Inquisition provided a means for heretics to escape death and return to the community.<ref name=Madden/>

The complaints of the two main preaching orders of the period, the [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]] and the [[Franciscans]], against the moral corruption of the Church, to some extent echoed those of the heretical movements, but they were doctrinally conventional, and were enlisted by [[Pope Innocent III]] in the fight against heresy. In 1231 Pope Gregory IX appointed a number of Papal Inquisitors (''Inquisitores haereticae pravitatis''), mostly [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]] and [[Franciscan]]s, for the various regions of Europe. As [[mendicant]]s, they were accustomed to travel. Unlike the haphazard episcopal methods, the papal inquisition was thorough and systematic, keeping detailed records. Some of the few documents from the Middle Ages involving first-person speech by medieval peasants come from papal inquisition records. This tribunal or court functioned in France, Italy and parts of Germany and had virtually ceased operation by the early fourteenth century.<ref name=medieval/>

Pope Gregory's original intent for the Inquisition was a court of exception to inquire into and glean the beliefs of those differing from Catholic teaching, and to instruct them in the orthodox doctrine. It was hoped that heretics would see the falsity of their opinion and would return to the Roman Catholic Church. If they persisted in their heresy, however, Pope Gregory, finding it necessary to protect the Catholic community from infection, would have suspects handed over to civil authorities, since public heresy was a crime under civil law as well as Church law. The secular authorities would apply their own brands of punishment for civil disobedience which, at the time, included burning at the stake.<ref name="rice">{{Cite web|title=Historical Overview of the Inquisition|url=http://galileo.rice.edu/lib/student_work/trial96/loftis/overview.html|access-date=2020-06-23|website=galileo.rice.edu}}</ref> Over centuries the tribunals took different forms, investigating and stamping out various forms of heresy, including witchcraft.<ref name=nyt1998 />

Throughout the Inquisition's history, it was rivaled by local ecclesiastical and secular jurisdictions. No matter how determined, no pope succeeded in establishing complete control over the prosecution of heresy. Medieval kings, princes, bishops, and civil authorities all had a role in prosecuting heresy. The practice reached its apex in the second half of the 13th century. During this period, the tribunals were almost entirely free from any authority, including that of the pope. Therefore, it was almost impossible to eradicate abuse.<ref name=rice/> For example, Robert le Bougre, the "Hammer of Heretics" (''Malleus Haereticorum''), was a Dominican friar who became an inquisitor known for his cruelty and violence. Another example was the case of the province of [[Venice]], which was handed to the Franciscan inquisitors, who quickly became notorious for their frauds against the Church, by enriching themselves with confiscated property from the heretics and by the selling of absolutions. Because of their corruption, they were eventually forced by the Pope to suspend their activities in 1302.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

In southern Europe, Church-run courts existed in the kingdom of [[Aragon]] during the medieval period, but not elsewhere in the Iberian peninsula or some other kingdoms, including [[England]]. In Scandinavian kingdoms it had hardly any impact.

At the beginning of the fourteenth century, two other movements attracted the attention of the Inquisition, the [[Knights Templar]] and the [[Beguines]]. It is not clear if the process against the Templars was initiated by the Inquisition on the basis of suspected heresy or if the Inquisition itself was exploited by the king of France, [[Philip IV of France|Philip the Fair]], who owed them money and wanted the knights' wealth.<ref>Barber, Malcolm (2006). ''The Trial of the Templars'' (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.{{ISBN| 978-0-521-67236-8}}</ref> In England the Crown was also deeply in debt to the Templars and, probably on that basis, the Templars were also persecuted in England, their lands forfeited and taken by others, (the last private owner being the favorite of Edward II, Hugh le Despenser). Many Templars in England were killed; some fled to Scotland and other places.<ref>Addison, Charles G., ''The History of the Knights Templar, Temple Church and the Temple'', London, pp. 196, 350, Internet Archives</ref>

The Beguines were mainly a women's movement, recognized by the Church since their foundation in the thirteenth century. [[Marguerite Porete]] wrote a mystical book known as ''[[The Mirror of Simple Souls]]''. The book provoked some controversy, because of statements which some took to mean that a soul can become one with God and that when in this state it can ignore moral law, as it had no need for the Church and its sacraments, or its code of virtues. The book's teachings were easily misconstrued.<ref>{{cite book|last=Field|first=Sean L.|title=The Beguine, the Angel, and the Inquisitor: The Trials of Marguerite Porete and Guiard of Cressonessart|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qYIFDgAAQBAJ|year=2012|publisher=University of Notre Dame Press|isbn=978-0-268-07973-4}}</ref> Porete was eventually tried by the Dominican inquisitor of France and burned at the stake as a relapsed heretic in 1310. The [[Council of Vienne]] of 1311 proclaimed them heretics and the movement went into decline.

The medieval Inquisition paid little attention to sorcery until [[Pope John XXII]] was the victim of an assassination attempt via poisoning and sorcery.<ref name=Witch>''Witchcraft in Europe, 1100–1700: A Documentary History''. Edited by Alan C. Kors and Edward Peters. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972.  p. 80</ref> In a letter written in 1320 to the Inquisitors of Carcassonne and Toulouse, Cardinal William of Santa Sabina states that Pope John declared witchcraft to be heresy, and thus it could be tried under the Inquisition.<ref>William, Cardinal of Santa Sabina, Letter of 22 August 1320, to Inquisitors of Carcassonne and Toulouse. Latin text in Hansen,''Quellen'' pp. 4–5. Tr. E.P.</ref>