THE HOLY INQUISITION IS INDEED HOLY PART 2

In the part 1 of the article, we have discussed numerous references proving the Biblical roots of the Inquisition and debunking the hoaxes about it.  Now, in this article, we are going to debunk the historical revisions and lies made by Protestants about the death toll of the Holy Inquisition, the other myths and legends regarding it and the Protestant version of Inquisition that also caused numerous casualties in the side of Catholics and Jews.

THE INQUISITION: SADISTIC OR NOT?

the emblem of Inquisition

The use of torture in the Inquisition was undeniably true but not an exaggerated fact in which according to Protestants, Inquisitors used various torture machines. In fact, the percentage of tortures used in the whole period of Inquisition was too small to define the whole Tribunal as a sadistic one. Pope Innocent IV issued the Ad extirpanda (Medieval Inquisition) which authorized the use of torture as a mean of interrogation and punishment but in a gentle way in which sadistic and bloody tortures were forbidden. It had been applied to the other Catholic version of Inquisition such as the one in Spain.

 Torture methods that resulted in bloodshed, births, mutilation or death were forbidden. Also, torture could be performed only once." 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Inquisition

Therefore, the Inquisition did not violate human rights as it humanely tried heretics. Perhaps, the Inquisition is more humane compare to the torture being used by ordinary enforcement agencies in Middle East! The use of torture throughout the Inquisition only comprised about 2% of all cases like what historical researches stated:

“The Spanish inquisition, however, engaged in it far less often and with greater care than other courts.” 

Source:Peters, Edward, Inquisition, Dissent, Heterodoxy and the Medieval Inquisitional Office, pp. 92-93, University of California Press (1989), ISBN 0-520-06630-8.

“Torture was used in two percent of the cases, and in less than one percent of the cases was it used a second time, never more than that. The torture lasted up to 15 minutes….”Executions and torture remained rare.” 

Source:Madden, Thomas F., The Truth About the Spanish Inquisition, Crisis Magazine, September 2003

Stephen Haliczer stated at his book about Spanish Inquisition that inquisitors rarely used tortures as a mean of interrogation. They only used it due to the difficulty of producing the requisite of two witnesses to the same act.

“In practice, the Spanish Inquisition used forms of torture that were common to the entire judicial system and undoubtedly more careful than the secular courts applying it. Moreover, in spite of the considerable discretion given to judges in the 1561 instructions, the repetition of torture was extremely unusual…” 

Source:  Haliczer, Stephen, Inquisition and society in the kingdom of Valencia, 1478-1834, p. 79, University of California Press, 1990

The torture machines used by the inquisitors were rack, garrucha and toca. These were rarely used for it is invalid for the Tribunal to accept forced confessions. The popular myth says that Inquisitors used bloody torture machines like heretic fork, stocks, pear, branks, wheels, breast ripper, and iron maiden. These are all false accusations because basically, the Church has forbidden bloody tortures and tortures that might result to mutilation (see statements above). Henry Kamen affirmed that those stuffs are myths with no factual and historical root!

“Some "popular" accounts of the inquisition (those that describe scenes of uncontrolled sadistic torture) are not based in truth. Torture was only ever used to elicit information or a confession, not for punitive reasons.”
Source: Kamen, Henry, “Spanish Inquisition”, p. 189

Perhaps, experts say that torture machines, as what popular myth has told us, are all hoaxes and not based in truth. For example, the iron maiden which according to them has spikes that can bring heretics to extreme pain is completely a hoax and never existed in medieval times and even in the period of Inquisition.

“It is believed to be fictional, although examples have been created for display.” 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_maiden_(torture_device)

Iron maiden was just a misinterpretation of medieval “mantle of shame” that was made of tin and wood but without spikes.  Many historians ascertained those iron maidens together with other torture machines mentioned by popular myths are all products of imagination.

“ Johann Philipp Siebenkees created the history of it [iron maiden] as a hoax in 1793. According to Siebenkees'colportage, it was first used on August 14, 1515, to execute a coin forger.” 

Source:  Wolfgang Schild, Die Eiserne Jungfrau, 2002

Therefore, we can certainly agree that the Inquisition was not a sadistic tribunal, but rather, a humane one!

THE DEATH TOLL OF INQUISITION

Anti-Catholics always tell that the death toll during the Inquisition period is about 600,000 to 95,000,000 people. The last figure is a surprising one for it might kill the whole World Population during the medieval to New World period! It is ridiculous to say that Inquisition had killed in that huge number for it has no historical records at all.

The truth is that, historical accounts say that the death toll of Inquisition (from medieval to the end of Spanish inquisition) comprises only the 2% of the total of 150,000 cases. It does mean that the approximate no. of deaths is 3,000! Other historians say that in Spain alone (it has to be noted that it includes the other territories in Asia and America for it comprised the vast Spanish empire), between the period of 1530-1730, 1,250 persons were executed and it has to be noted that these were not only heretics but also sodomists, homosexuals, robbers, and criminals.

“William Monter estimates 1000 executions between 1530–1630 and 250 between 1630–1730.” 

Source: W. Monter, Frontiers of Heresy: The Spanish Inquisition from the Basque Lands to Sicily, Cambridge 2003, p. 53.

Between 1480 to 1530, Henry Kamen summed up the total casualties of about 2000 people. And if we are going to take the sum from 1480-1730, the total executions would be 3,250! The accurate range would be 3000 to 5000 and that figure was affirmed by the BBC documentary about Inquisition that was presented at the part 1 of this article. On the other hand, Italy, from the total of 75,000 cases, only 1250 resulted in a death sentence. That comprises the 1.7% of the total cases preserved by the Archived of Roman Inquisition.

"Out of 51,000-75,000 cases judged by Inquisition in Italy after 1542, around 1250 resulted in a death sentence." 

 Source: Andrea Del Col: L'Inquisizione in Italia. Milano: Oscar Mondadori, 2010, pp. 779-780. ISBN 978-88-04-53433-4.

In Malta, the inquisition was considered gentler for they considered  penance as the best punishment that can be inflicted against heretics.  (source:http://www.hmml.org/centers/malta/cathedral/aim.html)

On the other hand, the monarch-controlled Portuguese Inquisition only recorded 1808 executions during the period of 1540-1794 or 254 years.

From: Saraiva, António José; Salomon, Herman Prins; Sassoon, I. S. D. (2001) [First published in Portuguese in 1969]. The Marrano Factory: the Portuguese Inquisition and its New Christians 1536-1765. Brill. p. 102. ISBN 978-90-04-12080-8. Retrieved 2010-04-13.

It is proven in history that execution was rarely used by Inquisitors for they considered life, justice and humanity as the most important things.

Llorante proved the rare use of execution:

“Llorente cites an auto da fe of 1486 at Toledo, when seven hundred and fifty were condemned, but not one to capital punishment ; another of nine hundred, also without a death; another where three thousand three hundred were condemned, but only twenty seven suffered death.” 

 Source: Some Lies and Errors of History by the Rev. Reuben Parsons, D.D.; Notre Dame, Indiana: The Ave Maria; 7th edition; 1893; pp. 143-187.
 

Now, we might consider the death toll in Inquisition is in the range of 5,000 to 9,000 and this includes the Church-sponsored Roman Inquisition and medieval Inquisition and the monarch-sponsored Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition. 9,000 is far different compare to 95,000,000 at anti-Catholic version. It is so ridiculous to come up in that huge number for it is proven that the maximum occurrence of execution is only 2% and the total number of cases is only 150,000!

THE COUNTERPART OF HOLY INQUISITION: THE PROTESTANT VERSION OF INQUISITION

Catholics were not the only ones who used Inquisition to combat heresy but also Protestants who used it to combat Catholics, Jews and the other Protestants and heretics. Perhaps, there is an historical account that the death toll during Protestant Inquisition is far bigger compare to the statistics we have shown above.

Ulrich Zwingli ordered the burning of Catholic monasteries and cathedrals:

"Their progress was marked by the destruction of churches and the burning of monasteries. The bishops of Constance, Basle, Lausanne and Geneva were forced to abandon their sees."
 From: Werke, Weimar, v.15, p.276 / Belfort Bax, The Peasants' War in Germany, London: 1899, p.352.

John Knox forbade the use of Mass particularly attending it:

"It was . . . forbidden to say Mass or to be present at Mass, with the punishment for a first offence of loss of all goods and a flogging; for the second offence, banishment; for the third, death." 

 From: Zwingli's Works, v.7, pp.174-84.

Luther ordered to persecute Catholic clergy:

"If I had all the Franciscan friars in one house, I would set fire to it . . . To the fire with them!"” 

 Source: Bretschneider, ed., Corpus Reformation, Halle: 1846, 2, pp.17 ff. / February, 1530.

Ulrich Zwingli urged death against other Protestant teaching other than his doctrines:

"Young Bible students he once mentored were now advocating more radical reform . . . refusing to have their babies baptized, citing his own earlier ideas . . . In January, 1525, Zwingli agreed that they deserved capital punishment . . . for tearing the fabric of a seamless Christian society." 

 From: Ruth, John L., "America's Anabaptists: Who They Are," Christianity Today, October 22, 1990, p.26

The quotes above are from: http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?8553-The-Protestant-Inquisition-quot-Reformation-quot

Luther even tried to suppress Catholicism through urging the governments who swore allegiance to him to wage war against Catholics:

" If the fury of the Romanists goes on in this way, it seems to me that no remedy is available, unless the Emperor, the Kings, and Princes should put on full strength to wage war against these pests of the whole world, and decide the question, no longer with words, but with the sword Why do we not wash our hands in their[Catholic] blood?''
 Source: p.36, "LUTHER'S OWN STATEMENTS CONCERNING HIS TEACHINGS AND ITS RESULTS", O' Connor, Henry S.J., 1884, Benzinger Brothers, 3rd American Edition

Luther also tried to suppress other Protestant teachers who were against him:

"Whoever teaches differently from what I have taught herein, or condemns me for it he condemns God and must be a child of Hell."  

Source: Ibid. p.40

It was not only the Catholic Church who became victims of this persecution but also our fellow Jews who according to Luther were devilish. Catholic church did not persecute Jews but these Protestants did!

" First, their synagogues or schools are to be set on fire, and whatever will not burn, is to be covered and heaped over with earth, so that never again shall one find stone or cinder of them left. And this is to be done in order to honour our Lord and Christianity, so that God may see that we are Christians..."

"Secondly, their houses are likewise to be broken down and destroyed, for they do exactly the same in them as they also do in their schools."

" Thirdly, all their Prayer Books and Talmuds are to be taken away from them, in which such idolatry, lies, curses, and blasphemies are taught."

" Fourthly, their Rabbis (Priests) are to be forbidden, under pain of capital punishment, to teach any more "

"Fifthly, the Jews are to be entirely denied legal protection when using the roads in the country (Das man den Juden das Geleid vnd Strasse aufifhebe), for they have no business to be in the country”

source: Ibid. p.34-35

The Protestant schismatic Anglican Church in England , on the other hand, persecuted the Catholic Church that led to the execution of 72,000 Catholics in the kingdom. King Henry VIII ordered these executions that brought St. Thomas More to martyrdom. Moreover, he also ordered the destruction of Catholic relics including the incorruptible bodies of the saints.

It continued to Queen Elizabeth I who had executed her sister Queen Mary of Scots. To unify her kingdom, she even tried to suppress Catholicism in Ireland and Scotland.

Oliver Cromwell who is responsible in English civil war also persecuted Catholics through beheading King Charles I, a Catholic king. He is also responsible from beheading of thousands of Cavaliers (alliance of King Charles I) and the oppression of Irish Catholics through his contemporaries William, the Orange and his wife.

The persecution continued even after the World War one and World War Two that led to the migration of Irish. How many Catholics died in the hands of their Protestant and Anglican persecutors? Not only the Catholics, but also innocent women were killed by Protestants just because of their fanaticism and their beliefs in witches in which for the Catholic Church is unreasonable to believe with!

 “To justify the killings, Protestant Christianity and its proxy secular institutions deemed witchcraft as being associated to wild Satanic ritual parties in which there was much naked dancing, and cannibalistic infanticide.” 

 Source: The Dark Side of Christian History by Helen Ellerbe.

Christian IV, a Protestant King of Denmark had thousands killed because of his witch-hunt. 30,000 were killed because of witchery in Britain alone and over 100,000 in Protestant Germany! This is far different compare to 9,000 total deaths in Holy Inquisition! 72,000 deaths is far worse compare to Spanish-sponsored Inquisition!

This only means that these alleged oppressed people also persecuted us in a worse way than we did to them!

CONCLUSION:

WE CAN CERTAINLY CONCLUDE THAT

•           THE DEATH TOLL IN THE INQUISITION PERIOD HAS A VERY SMALL FIGURE COMPARE TO THE NUMBER OF CATHOLICS PERSECUTED BY THE PROTESTANTS
•            THE INQUISITION WAS INDEED A HUMANE TRIBUNAL FOR IT NEVER USED ANY BLOODY TORTURE MACHINES
•          THE PROTESTANT INQUISITION IS WORSE THAN CATHOLIC INQUISITION
•           THE CATHOLIC INQUISITION IS THE MOST HUMANE COURT IN EUROPE:

 "Amazingly, before 1530 the Spanish Inquisition was widely hailed as the best run, most humane court in Europe." SOURCE: http://old.nationalreview.com/comment/madden200406181026.