Some depictions embellish the torture used by the Inquisition, which was actually forbidden to draw blood during torture.

The Spanish Inquisition was actually highly regulated, not arbitrary as often depicted. However, since torture was an accepted way to obtain truthful confessions and denunciations were anonymous until the actual trial (which could occur as much as two years after the denunciation, during which the accused would be imprisoned without knowing who had accused them or even what the charges were), this was little comfort to its victims.

The Spanish Inquisition was also quite methodical in gathering evidence, to the point where it ended witch burnings in Spain a full century before witch-hunts began to wane in the rest of Europe due to the lack of physical evidence for witchcraft. Again, since the main business of the Inquisition was to root out heresy, for which there was little physical evidence, this was no help to the other accused of the Inquisition.

The Inquisition actually introduced the legal concept of the presumption of innocence. Before that, the accused would have to prove their own innocence. The Inquisition held that allegations of witchcraft, for instance, required solid evidence; this went some way to alleviating the "She's a witch!" mudslinging that was the norm.

It's rare for anyone to note that the Papal Inquisition ("the" Inquisition) and the Spanish Inquisition were completely separate organisations. It's hardly ever mentioned that Protestants did their own persecutions of heretics (both Catholics and often Protestants of different sects) and witches. In fact they killed more witches than the Church.


Some points about the actual Spanish Inquisition:

The auto de fe was actually only a public penance of heretics and didn't actually feature torture or burning at the stake as commonly depicted — the last part came later on. However, the two were seen as the same process.

Historians now estimate that of all trials only two percent may have actually ended with execution. A study of the timeframe 1540 to 1700 found documents for 44,674 cases with roughly 1500 death sentences. Furthermore as trials tended to be lengthy and wardens poor a surprising number of the sentenced managed to flee the country and so the sentences resulted in 826 executions in persona, i.e. burning the heretic, and 778 in effigie, i.e. burning a strawman because the convict was unavailable. Estimates for the total number of executions in persona range between 1000 and 1500.

They didn't really burn books and the stuff that was on their banned list was still widely available. Most Golden Age authors ran into them at least once.

Unusually among the multiple Inquisitions established in different parts of Europe, final authority and control rested with the monarchs rather than the Church hierarchy. It quite often functioned as a simple tool of repression, a sort of medieval secret police working for the Crown. This rather ironically means you could argue it was the least religiously motivated of the Inquisitions, despite its image and reputation.

The Holy Office of the Inquisition is now known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Amongst the most recent Prefects of this office was one Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger... currently known as Pope Benedict XVI. In fact, he was Prefect when he was elected Pope.

Though the Holy Office per se only had direct jurisdiction over the Italian peninsula at most The Holy Office reported directly to the Pope, while the well-known Spanish office, as said above, reported to El Escorial first.

One of the main reasons for the villain status of the Inquisition: Their host country was nearly continually at war with primarily Protestant nations such as England and the Netherlands, where printing presses and popular literature were much more common. This meant that at the beginning they criticized the Spanish Inquisition's poor job on executions and conversions. When the Inquisition became a bit harsher, they went apeshit and exaggerated its reputation of being a blood-thirsty organization. Some modern-day Spaniards refer to this as the "Black Legend."

kenshin620 wrote:We all know and love how brutal the Inquisition was, which is why it is integral to the lore of the Imperium. However I've seen a few bits of info regarding the Inquisition (most notably the Spanish one, and yes I expected them! That joke is getting to old) and apparently some sources say that they're not all that evil as most people portray them as. Is this true?

Some depictions embellish the torture used by the Inquisition, which was actually forbidden to draw blood during torture.

The Spanish Inquisition was actually highly regulated, not arbitrary as often depicted. However, since torture was an accepted way to obtain truthful confessions and denunciations were anonymous until the actual trial (which could occur as much as two years after the denunciation, during which the accused would be imprisoned without knowing who had accused them or even what the charges were), this was little comfort to its victims.

The Spanish Inquisition was also quite methodical in gathering evidence, to the point where it ended witch burnings in Spain a full century before witch-hunts began to wane in the rest of Europe due to the lack of physical evidence for witchcraft. Again, since the main business of the Inquisition was to root out heresy, for which there was little physical evidence, this was no help to the other accused of the Inquisition.

The Inquisition actually introduced the legal concept of the presumption of innocence. Before that, the accused would have to prove their own innocence. The Inquisition held that allegations of witchcraft, for instance, required solid evidence; this went some way to alleviating the "She's a witch!" mudslinging that was the norm.

It's rare for anyone to note that the Papal Inquisition ("the" Inquisition) and the Spanish Inquisition were completely separate organisations. It's hardly ever mentioned that Protestants did their own persecutions of heretics (both Catholics and often Protestants of different sects) and witches. In fact they killed more witches than the Church.


Some points about the actual Spanish Inquisition:

The auto de fe was actually only a public penance of heretics and didn't actually feature torture or burning at the stake as commonly depicted — the last part came later on. However, the two were seen as the same process.

Historians now estimate that of all trials only two percent may have actually ended with execution. A study of the timeframe 1540 to 1700 found documents for 44,674 cases with roughly 1500 death sentences. Furthermore as trials tended to be lengthy and wardens poor a surprising number of the sentenced managed to flee the country and so the sentences resulted in 826 executions in persona, i.e. burning the heretic, and 778 in effigie, i.e. burning a strawman because the convict was unavailable. Estimates for the total number of executions in persona range between 1000 and 1500.

They didn't really burn books and the stuff that was on their banned list was still widely available. Most Golden Age authors ran into them at least once.

Unusually among the multiple Inquisitions established in different parts of Europe, final authority and control rested with the monarchs rather than the Church hierarchy. It quite often functioned as a simple tool of repression, a sort of medieval secret police working for the Crown. This rather ironically means you could argue it was the least religiously motivated of the Inquisitions, despite its image and reputation.

The Holy Office of the Inquisition is now known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Amongst the most recent Prefects of this office was one Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger... currently known as Pope Benedict XVI. In fact, he was Prefect when he was elected Pope.

Though the Holy Office per se only had direct jurisdiction over the Italian peninsula at most The Holy Office reported directly to the Pope, while the well-known Spanish office, as said above, reported to El Escorial first.

One of the main reasons for the villain status of the Inquisition: Their host country was nearly continually at war with primarily Protestant nations such as England and the Netherlands, where printing presses and popular literature were much more common. This meant that at the beginning they criticized the Spanish Inquisition's poor job on executions and conversions. When the Inquisition became a bit harsher, they went apeshit and exaggerated its reputation of being a blood-thirsty organization. Some modern-day Spaniards refer to this as the "Black Legend."