Medieval Church History
The Medieval period of the church was a time of growth and new understanding of the Christian faith. However this new birth of understanding did have disadvantages. Catholicism moved from focusing on God to helping to cleanse a nation of people. Inquisitions were used during the decline of the Roman Empire until the Spanish Inquisition's decline in the early 1800s. Both civil and church authorities can run an inquisition in order to root out non-believers from a nation or religion. The Spanish Inquisition was one of the most deadly inquisitions in history.
The Spanish Inquisition was used for both political and religious reasons. Spain is a nation-state that was born out of religious struggle between numerous different belief systems including Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism and Judaism. Following the Crusades and the Reconquest of Spain by the Christian Spaniards the leaders of Spain needed a way to unify the country into a strong nation. Ferdinand and Isabella chose Catholicism to unite Spain and in 1478 asked permission of the pope to begin the Spanish Inquisition to purify the people of Spain. They began by driving out Jews, Protestants and other non-believers.1
In 1483 Tomas de Torquemada became the inquisitor-general for most of Spain. He was responsible for establishing the rules of inquisitorial procedure and creating branches of the Inquisition in various cities. He remained the leader of the Spanish Inquisition for fifteen years and is believed to be responsible for the execution of around 2,000 Spaniards. The Catholic Church and the Pope attempted to intervene in the bloody Spanish Inquisition but were unable to wrench the extremely useful political tool from the hands of the Spanish rulers.2
The Inquisition was run procedurally by the inquisitor-general who established local tribunals of the Inquisition. Accused heretics were identified by the general population and brought before the tribunal. The were given a chance to confess their heresy against the Catholic Church and were also encouraged to indict other heretics. If they admitted their wrongs and turned in other aggressors against the church they were either released or sentenced to a prison penalty.
The Inquisition run by Tomas de Torquemada persecuted other religions and was a base of counter-reformation
Prior to the careers of Popes Celestine V and Boniface XII in the 13th century, the long and, sometimes tumultuous, history of the church can be helpful in setting the stage for these two church official’s very famous, and very different tenures as pope. In different forms and methods, the medieval Catholic Church has always had a strong hold on society in addition to politics. The church has also had a troubling past when it comes to corruption, usually manifesting itself through the pursuit of this dominance over political and outside figures on all aspects of everyday life. Coupling these two themes together, the past actions and power exerted
In Spain at the time, the church had authority second only to the crown. The position of a Catholic priest was well-nigh unassailable in the world of the Spanish empire. In fact Spanish priests led the Spanish inquisition, purging society in Spain of Jews, unreligious peoples and those who disagreed with the church. A group that was capable of policing society separate from the power of the government and the monarch had a great amount of power in society and people looked up to priests as role models.
...both the European and Americans. The resources that Spain got from her colonies were a key factor for empire’s power and expansion. The Spanish Empire prospered thanks to the gold, silver and slaves that brought Spain to its golden age. In era that race saw himself superior over another race, we can understand how those massacres could happen in the name of religion and faith. They justified all their actions in the name of god and will to spread Christianity but it is obvious that all their actions were to serve themselves and the empire. The justification for the horrors that the Spaniards did was always the religion but as soon it clashed with their interests they knew how to abandon it. Religion justified actions that until today considered horrors that shame the Spanish history but in the same time it made the Spanish empire one of the greatest seen on earth.
This led to the discussion of who should inherit the throne ("HISTORY OF SPAIN"). Isabella because of her family or Ferdinand with being married to her and being a man. The nobles of the land decide that Isabella and Ferdinand should rule together and they became known as the two Catholic Monarchs ("HISTORY OF SPAIN"). Ferdinand then inherits the throne of a separate kingdom Aragon which then ultimately unites the two because they came under the rule of the same two monarchs ("HISTORY OF SPAIN"). In 1478 the Pope allowed Ferdinand and Isabella to make a branch off of the inquisition in Spain ("HISTORY OF SPAIN"). This group is formed because of anti-semitic ideology and idea of having a full catholic country ("HISTORY OF SPAIN"). Although around 100,000 jews accept baptism into the catholic faith many of them practice judaism in secret ("HISTORY OF SPAIN"). The inquisition has its first leader appointed named Tomas de Torquemada who holds the position of grand inquisitor ("HISTORY OF SPAIN"). In 1492 all jews not willing to convert to Catholicism are forced to leave the country ("HISTORY OF SPAIN"). Whilst this mass exodus was occurring Ferdinand and Isabella agree to sponsor the trip that has been declined many times brought up by Christopher Columbus to find a route west to India. Columbus sets sail on August third 1492 commanding the largest of three ships the Santa Maria. The other two
There are many factors leading up to the establishment of the Inquisition by the Catholic Church. One of the main factors is the beginning of the Middle Ages in Europe. A symbol of these emerging ages is Pope Gerbert of the year 1000. Although he was a Pope, he was learned in algebra, and because of his knowledge he was considered somewhat of a wizard. He once wrote to a friend in Italy asking for secular books written in Latin. He instructs the friend to make sure the books are "procured quietly." (Nickerson 12) . Nickerson feels that this makes Gerbert a symbol of his times because it is out of similar knowledge that the Medieval times arise. Around the same time, the Normans were conquering England, the Church begins to have a common purpose, and the First Crusade begins.
In an age where there was such a close bond between church and state, opposition to the church was intolerable. The Inquisition caused Spain to become intellectually backward, and economically and industrially damaged. The powerful influence of the Inquisition forbade social influences, such as books from other parts of Europe, to enter Spain. Consequently, the universities remained stagnant, unable to produce graduates understanding the world around them. from the lack of information on the other civilizations in the rest of Europe. As a result of this, they came into the 20th century intellectually inferior and bankrupt. With the banished, tortured, and persecuted heretics in mind, it is possible that the Spanish Inquisition is perhaps one of the most cruel acts performed on innocent people in the name of religion.
Then, Pérez continued to develop his thesis and interpretation by arguing that the Inquisition expanded their injustices by applying their policies not only to Jews and Muslims, but also to against Protestants, Illuminists, and witchcrafts. Pérez, argued that the Inquisition justified their atrocities against Protestants and Illuminist because they were introducing new ideologies that were against the Catholic Church.
The inquisition was a religious institution that policed the new Christians in the Iberian Peninsula. The inquisition was a by-product of hundreds of years of negative relations towards non-catholic people in Europe. It began around 1478 and in ended in 1834; during the three hundred and fifty-six years responses to the inquisition change immensely. This was partly due to many laypeople being indoctrinated by anti-Semitic and pro- Catholic propaganda. The pre-existing anti-Semitic feeling in Europe along with previous medieval inquisitions, helped to allow the Iberian inquisition to become a part of the Spanish and Portuguese way of life. This acceptance changed later in Iberian history because of the many factors lead to the abolishment of the Inquisition.
There were many people and attempts made to change the way the church functioned before the Reformation, but they had always been crushed by the inquisition. There were many factors political, religious, and economic, which had been developing for centuries that would make it possible for the Reformation to come about. There were quite a few practices of the church that were in question at this time. Some of these practices included simony, indulgences, excessive papal wealth, and clerical violations of church and biblical rules of behavior (Fide, Scriptura, Solus, Sola, & Soli, 2014). The one that was the biggest concern to the people looking for church reform, was the selling of pardons from the pope to lessen the time a person’s soul would be in purgatory, these pardons were also called
Later, the Inquisition turned to people of Islam and attempted to convert the in the same way they had done to the Jews. And, even later, to those suspected of being Protestants. The Spanish Inquisition was similar to the first inquisition that was started in France.
Isabella then desired to boost her control over Spain by establishing the Spanish Inquisition. Its role was to abolish heresy and make Spain a Christian nation (“Spain: History”). The Inquisition officially lasted from 1478 to 1808 (“Queen Isabella’s Influence in the New World”).
The Reformation was a decisive period in the history not only for the Catholic Church, but also for the entire world. The causes of this tumultuous point in history did not burst on the scene all at once, but slowly gained momentum like a boil that slowly festers through time before it finally bursts open. The Reformation of the Church was inevitable because of the abuses which the Church was suffering during this period. At the time of the Reformation, a segment of the Church had drifted away from its mission to bring Christ and salvation to the world. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Church had gradually become weaker because of abusive leadership, philosophical heresy, and a renewal of a form of the Pelagian heresy.
The Classical School of criminology was founded by "European legal authorities that thought crime was caused by supernatural forces" (DeKeseredy & Schwartz, 1996, p.155) preceding the 1700's. The catch phrase "The devil made him do it" was very popular because of the thought that people who committed crimes were sinners or people who didn't follow God. Those who didn't follow God were known as heretics and this following led to the connection of church and state where torture or execution could happen to anyone that the government thought to be evil or a part of witchcraft. Since the Middle Ages didn't have equal rights for all, women and the poor were usually the ones being prosecuted. With all of the problems of the times, the government found and made scapegoats out of these people, and blamed them of the troubles that were occurring. As DeKeseredy and Schwartz (1996, p.156) stated, "the most common way of determining guilt was through torture. It was a simple system: if you confessed, you were executed: is you did not confess, the torture continued until you died." This system of killing people was a well-respected way of running the criminal justice system. As time passed, the punishments turned away from inflicting pain on the body and turned more towards inflicting pain on the soul. This meant that imprisonment of long periods of time was going to take place of executions.
In the Medieval times, the Roman Catholic Church played a great role in the development of England and had much more power than the Church of today does. In Medieval England, the Roman Catholic Church dominated everyday life and controlled everyone whether it is knights, peasants or kings. The Church was one of the most influential institutions in all of Medieval England and played a large role in education and religion. The Church's power was so great that they could order and control knights and sends them to battle whenever they wished to. The Church also had the power to influence the decision of Kings and could stop or pass laws which benefited them in the long run, adding to this, the Church had most of the wealth in Europe as the Church demanded a Tithe from all the common life which meant that they had to pay 10 percent of their income to the Church. The Church controlled all the of the beliefs and religion of the Church as they were the only ones who could read or write Latin and as such could decipher the Bible and scriptures which gave them all the power to be the mouth of God. The Legacy of the power and the influence of the Church can still be found, even today in modern times.