ISSN 1335-8715

19-03-2006   Peter Frišo   Kultúrna vojna   verzia pre tlač

Je dovolené brániť inkvizíciu?

Téma inkvizície je zväčša spracovávaná z odsudzujúceho hľadiska. Je však oprávnená otázka, ako to skutočne bolo a či nie je dôvod tento pohľad prehodnotiť ako neobjektívny. Aj preto je dobré preto a preto má význam prečítať si malú publikáciu s titulom Je dovoleno bránit inkvizici? od českého historika Radomíra Malého, v ktorej sa autor pokúsil korektne s inkvizíciou vysporiadať a poukázať na to, že odsudzujúci pohľad na inkvizíciu môže byť vcelku veľmi mylnou paradigmou.

Reakcia na príspevok

RE: nechapem
autor: jednokto
pridané: 21-03-2006 15:47


Procedures
During the 13th century, the typical procedure began with the arrival of the inquisitors in a specific locality. A period of grace was proclaimed for penitent heretics, after which time denunciations were accepted from anyone, even criminals and other heretics. Two informants whose identity was unknown to the victim were usually sufficient for a charge. The court then summoned the suspect, conducted an interrogation, and tried to obtain the confession that was necessary for conviction. In order to do this, assisting secular authorities frequently applied physical torture. This practice probably started in Italy under the impact of rediscovered Roman civil law and made use of such painful procedures as stretching of limbs on the rack, burning with live coals, squeezing of fingers and toes, or the strappado, a vertical rack.
At the beginning of the interrogation, which was recorded summarily in Latin by a clerk, suspects and witnesses had to swear under oath that they would reveal everything. Unwillingness to take the oath was interpreted as a sign of adherence to heresy. If a person confessed and was willing to submit, the judges prescribed minor penances like flogging, fasts, prayers, pilgrimages, or fines. In more severe cases the wearing of a yellow "cross of infamy," with its resulting social ostracism, or imprisonment could be imposed. Denial of the charges without counterproof, obstinate refusal to confess, and persistence in the heresy resulted in the most severe punishments: life imprisonment or execution accompanied by total confiscation of property.

Since the church was not permitted to shed blood, the sentenced heretic was surrendered to the secular authorities for execution, usually by burning at the stake.

When the Inquisition had completed its investigations, the sentences were pronounced in a solemn ceremony, known as the sermo generalis ("general address") or, in Spain, as the auto-da-fe ("act of faith"), attended by local dignitaries, clergy, and townspeople. Here the penitents abjured their errors and received their penalties; obstinate heretics were solemnly cursed and handed over to be burned immediately in public.

Several inquisitors' manuals have survived, among them those of Bernard Gui and Nicolas Eymeric. Other sources include checklists of standard questions and numerous official minutes of local inquisitions. Some of these materials have been published, but most exist in manuscript only.

The first inquisitors worked in central Europe (Germany, northern Italy, eastern France). Later centers of the Inquisition were established in the Mediterranean regions, especially southern France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. The tribunal was used in England to suppress the Lollards (followers of the 14th-century reformer John Wycliffe). Queen Mary I of England (r. 1553-58) used the tribunal in her effort to reverse the Protestant Reformation. The Inquisition's long survival can be attributed to the early inclusion of offenses other than heresy: sorcery, alchemy, blasphemy, sexual aberration, and infanticide. The number of witches and sorcerers burned after the late 15th century appears to have been far greater than that of heretics.


Spanish Inquisition
The Inquisition underwent special development in Portugal and Spain and their colonies. At the insistence of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, Pope Sixtus IV endorsed (1483) the creation of an independent Spanish Inquisition presided over by a high council and grand inquisitor. Legend has made the first grand inquisitor, Tomas de Torquemada, a symbol of ultimate cruelty, bigotry, intolerance, and religious fanaticism.
The truth is that the Spanish Inquisition was particularly severe, strict, and efficient because of its strong ties with the crown. Its major targets were the Marranos (converts from Judaism) and Moriscos (converts from Islam), many of whom were suspected of secretly adhering to their original faiths. During the 16th century, Protestants and Alumbrados (Spanish mystics) seemed to be the major danger. Often serving political ends, the inquisitors also exercised their dreaded functions among the converted Indian populations of the Spanish colonies in America. The Inquisition was finally suppressed in Spain in 1834 and in Portugal in 1821.


Roman Inquisition
At the time of the Reformation, Pope Paul III created a cardinals' commission at the curia as the final court of appeal in matters of heresy. This Roman Inquisition was solidified (1588) by Sixtus V into the Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, also known as the Holy Office, whose task was to watch over the correct doctrine of faith and morals for the whole Roman Catholic church. Reorganized in 1908 under the simpler title Congregation of the Holy Office, it was redefined by Pope Paul VI in 1965 as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with the more positive task of furthering right doctrine rather than censuring heresy.

Conclusion
Among the innumerable victims of the Inquisition were such famous people as the philosopher Giordano Bruno, Galileo, Joan of Arc, and the religious order of knights called the Templars. The institution and its excesses have been an embarrassment to many modern Christians. In anti-Catholic and antireligious polemics since the Enlightenment (for example, Voltaire's Candide), the Inquisition has been cited as a prime example of what is thought to be the barbarism of the Middle Ages. In its day there was some popular sympathy for the Inquisition. Some saw it as a political and economic tool, others, as a necessary defense for religious belief. Nevertheless, despite all efforts at understanding the institution in the light of social, political, religious, and ideological factors, today the Inquisition is generally admitted to belong to the darker side of Christian history.
Karlfried Froehlich

Bibliography
Coulton, George G., The Inquisition (1929; repr. 1974); Hauben, Paul J., ed., The Spanish Inquisition (1969); Kamen, Henry A., The Spanish Inquisition and Society in Spain in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (1985); Langdon-Davies, John, The Spanish Inquisition (1938; repr. 1964); Lea, Henry C., A History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages, 3 vols. (1888; repr. 1988); Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel, Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error, trans. by Barbara Bray (1978). Monter, William, Frontiers of Heresy (1990); O'Brien, John A., The Inquisition (1973); Peters, Edward, Inquisition (1988; repr. 1989); Roth, Cecil, The Spanish Inquisition (1938; repr. 1987); Wakefield, Walter L., Heresy, Crusade, and Inquisition in Southern France, 1100-1250 (1974).


 
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