© Getty Images

Origins of the Inquisition -

The Inquisition was created through a papal bull, Ad Abolendam, issued at the end of the 12th century by Pope Lucius III (c. 1097–1185). This was known as the Medieval Inquisition.

© Getty Images

Persecution of the Cathars -

During the 12th and 13th centuries, the Inquisition organized the persecution of non-Catholic Christian religions in Europe. Pope Lucius III dispatched bishops to southern France to round up those who practiced Catharism, a dualist Christian sect whose beliefs challenged those of Rome. Followers, known as Cathars, were seen as heretics by the Catholic Church, which did not recognize their unorthodox Christianity. These efforts continued into the 14th century.

© Getty Images

Rounding up the Waldensians -

During the same period, the Catholic Church also chased down the Waldensians in Germany and northern Italy. Waldensians condemned the Catholic clergy as being unworthy of holding religious office. The movement, an early precursor of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, was subsequently branded as heretical. Later, Pope Gregory IX instituted the papal inquisition in 1231 for the apprehension and trial of heretics, charging the Dominican and Franciscan Orders to take over the task of tracking down and identifying anyone who differed in opinion from established Catholic dogma.

© Getty Images 

Pope Innocent IV -

Shortly before his papacy ended in 1254, Pope Innocent IV licensed inquisitors to allow unyielding heretics to be tortured by lay henchmen, often in hidden cells or underground dungeons.

© Getty Images 

Torture -

A common practice in the 13th century, torture was implemented on those accused of heresy who refused to testify. Furthermore, heretics weren't allowed to face accusers, received no counsel, and were often victims of false accusations. Execution was inevitable, usually by burning at the stake.

© Getty Images 

Bernard Gui (c. 1261–1331) -

One of the most notorious inquisitors of the early 14th century was Bernard Gui. Between 1307 and 1323, at the behest of Pope Clement V and Pope John XXII, Gui served as the chief inquisitor of Toulouse and himself pronounced over 600 people guilty of heresy. A fictionalized Gui appears in the best-selling 1980 historical novel 'The Name of the Rose,' and was portrayed by actor F. Murray Abraham in the 1986 film adaptation.

© Getty Images 

The inquisitor's guidebook -

Bernard Gui penned his infamous Practica officii inquisitionis heretice pravitatis ('Conduct of the Inquisition into Heretical Depravity') in the early 14th century. This influential manuscript for inquisitors included chapters providing descriptions of the beliefs and practices of heretics, and guidance for inquisitors on the best methods of interrogation. The work is also noted as being the first inquisitor's manual to refer specifically to penalties for relapsed Jews. Image: Bibliothèque de Toulouse

© Public Domain 

Knights Templar -

In 1307, inquisitors were involved in the mass arrest and torture of nearly 15,000 Knights Templar in France. Among the arrested and tortured was Jacques de Molay (c. 1244–1314), the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar. In this engraving, he is being led to the stake while shouting to Pope Clement and King Philip that they will face "a tribunal with God" within a year. Both died soon afterwards.

© Getty Images 

Joan of Arc (1412–1431) -

The most famous victim of the Inquisition during this period was Joan of Arc. On May 30, 1431, the "Maid of Orléans" was burned at the stake. In 1456, an inquisitorial court authorized by Pope Callixtus III examined the trial, debunked the charges against her including that of heresy, pronounced her innocent, and declared her a martyr.

© Getty Images 

Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition -

In 1478, the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition was established by the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. This seat of judgment was more commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition.

© Getty Images 

Spanish Inquisition -

The Spanish Inquisition was so named because it broadly operated in Spain and in all Spanish colonies and territories including those in North, Central, and South America.

© Getty Images 

Conversion to Catholicism -

Originally, the Inquisition was to ensure that those who had converted to Catholicism from Judaism or Islam had done so properly, and to identify any heretics mingling among the reformed.

© Getty Images 

Baptism or exile? -

Non-Catholics had little choice other than to comply. Two royal decrees issued in 1492 and 1501 effectively ordered Jews and Muslims to choose baptism or exile.

© Getty Images 

Fleeing from Spain -

In the wake of the first decree, many Jews chose not to convert. An estimated 160,000 were subsequently forced to leave Spain. Many hundreds of Muslims did the same.

© Getty Images 

Suspicion -

The regulation of the newly converted Catholics intensified after the Catholic Monarchs grew suspicious, believing corruption in the Spanish Catholic Church was caused by Jews who, to survive centuries of anti-Semitism, converted to Christianity simply to avoid persecution. Meanwhile, anybody suspected of being a heretic was investigated—even those who had willingly converted to Christianity.

© Getty Images 

Spain and Portugal -

A Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal during the 14th and 15th centuries was known as a converso. A Muslim who had accepted baptism was referred to as a morisco. Unlike Jewish conversos, moriscos were subject to an edict of further persecution and expulsion even after their conversion to Catholicism.

© Getty Images

Blame game -

Meanwhile, conversos were blamed for everything, from outbreaks of plague and poisoning the water supply, to child abduction.

© Getty Images 

Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536) -

Proclaiming a belief in a religious doctrine other than that espoused by the Catholic Church could lead to a death sentence. And the lines were often blurred. For example, even though a Catholic himself, Dutch scholar and humanist Desiderius Erasmus was seen as a reformist and anybody following his teachings faced persecution.

© Getty Images 

Tomás de Torquemada (1420–1498) -

Dominican friar Tomás de Torquemada was the first Grand Inquisitor, and pursued his responsibilities with ruthless zeal. In 1478, the Tribunal of Castile was created to investigate heresy among conversos, established with the blessing of the Catholic Monarchs. Torquemada is pictured with King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella.

© Getty Images 

Tribunal of Castile -

Torquemada's appointment ushered in a truly terrifying chapter in the history of the Spanish Inquisition. Torture became systemized and routinely used to elicit confessions.

© Getty Images 

Auto-da-fé -

Sentencing of confessed heretics was done in a public event, a grand spectacle known as an auto-da-fé, a ritual of penance.

© Getty Images 

Samarra -

Condemned heretics were made to don a samarra, a tunic of yellow cloth with figures of monks, dragons, and demons in the act of augmenting flames. The wearing of such a garment signified that the accused was impenitent and had been sentenced to death.

© Getty Images 

Fuego revolto -

Found guilty of heresy, this quartet of unfortunates are wearing the fuego revolto, a garment signifying that the heretic who became penitent after being condemned was not to be burnt alive at the stake, but was to have the mercy of being strangled before the fire was lit.

© Getty Images 

Sambenito -

Heretics who had confessed their sins wore the sambenito, which featured red saltires and nothing else, and signified that the wearer had escaped being burned and instead was only to do penance. Eventually all three garments would be labeled under the umbrella term, sambenitos.

© Getty Images 

Burning at the stake -

Heretics who refused to confess were always burned at the stake. During the Middle Ages, this was the most common method of execution for those accused of witchcraft or heresy.

© Getty Images

Diego de Deza (1444–1523) -

Torquemada's successor as Grand Inquisitor was the equally fanatical Diego de Deza. Like Torquemada, Deza had a particular dislike of conversos, and also believed that most, if not all, secretly retained their original faith. Subsequently, he escalated the hunt for heresy within cities, this time rounding up numerous members of the nobility and local government whom he accused of dissent and blasphemy. Image: Museo del Prado

© Public Domain 

Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (1436–1517) -

The death of Queen Isabella in 1504 prompted King Ferdinand II to personally appoint Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (Ximenes) as Grand Inquisitor after Deza had fallen out of favor, himself being accused of secretly practicing Judaism.

© Getty Images 

North Africa -

Ximenes pursued moriscos into North Africa, where the Inquisition became established. As Spain expanded into the Americas in the mid-1500s, so did the Inquisition. Meanwhile, Rome renewed its own Inquisition.

© Getty Images 

Portugal and Spain -

In 1580, Spain and Portugal were ruled jointly by the Spanish crown and began rounding up and slaughtering Jews that had fled Spain. Lisbon (pictured) became a bloody stage on which no mercy was spared towards those accused of and convicted of heresy.

© Getty Images

Joseph Bonaparte (1768–1844) -

The Inquisition continued its deadly cycle throughout the 1600s, and into the 18th century. In 1808, Napoleon defeated Spain and ordered the Inquisition there to be abolished. An attempt in the wake of Napoleon's defeat in 1814 during the Peninsula War by Ferdinand VII to reinstate the Inquisition failed. It is Napoleon's elder brother, Joseph, King of Naples and Sicily (1806-1808) and King of Spain (1808-1813) who is credited with ending the Spanish Inquisition, which was officially abolished by royal decree in July 1834.

© Getty Images 

End of the tyranny -

Estimates as to how many people died during the three-century duration of the Spanish Inquisition vary widely, anything from 5,000 to as many as 25,000. Certainly around 150,000 were persecuted and prosecuted for their religious beliefs.

Sources: (HistoryExtra) (World History Encyclopedia) (The Atlantic) (Britannica) 

See also: History's cruelest despots and dictators

© Getty Images