Alternative Right: There is, probably, no other institution
in the medieval world that has been slandered as much, as the Holy
Inquisition. Enlighteners, Protestants, and Jews managed for a long time
to tarnish this very important institution in every possible way. Even
in our own day, Hollywood continues to produce movies that reinforce
this view.
But, as the saying goes, “lies have
small feet.” Modern historical research has proved that a lot of the
so-called “truths” that were widely believed about the actions of this
institution were just myths created by modernity.
Important in this act of historical
revision were the works of historians: Henry A. Kamen, a member of the
Royal Historical Society, Edward Peters, professor at the University of
Pennsylvania, Bartolomé Bennassar, professor at the University of
Toulouse, and many more.
In the short article that follows, the
reader will have the chance to understand the causes behind the slanders
against the Holy Inquisition, but also to learn about some parts of its
activity that are unknown to a wider audience.
The Seal of the Spanish Holy Inquisition
To defend and justify the Holy
Inquisition is the exact opposite of Political Correctness. But as I
have nothing to do with PC, I am happy to present the real history of
this medieval institution.
Even the biggest critic of the Holy
Inquisition, the American Quaker historian Henry C. Lea (1825 – 1909),
was forced to admit that “The aim of the Holy Inquisition was the same
as the aim of Civilization.” Indeed, even the most fanatical
anti-Catholics, agree that the Holy Inquisition effectively countered:
- the suicidal beliefs of the Cathars, who were against childbirth
- the vandalism of the Anabaptists, who believed in destroying all art works
- the murderous tendencies of Fra Dolcino, who wished to kill every sinner
- the “Brothers of the Free Spirit,” who wished to remove from public office everyone who was not “enlightened”
All these victories for sanity were due
to the Holy Inquisition. Today, no-one would be crazy enough to believe
that God created some just to damn them for eternity. But, that was for
centuries, the protestant dogma, and the cause of terrible wars that
bled Europe. It is due to the Holy Inquisition, that Spain wasn’t
touched by such have religious wars.
We should also remember that the famed
University of Salamanca (one of the best and oldest in Europe), was
created by an Inquisitor, and that the conversation about the rights of
American Indians took place under the aegis of the Spanish Holy
Inquisition. In this, we could even say that the Holy Inquisition was
one of sources of modern day international human rights.
To understand how the Spanish
Inquisition developed we have to understand Spanish history. In 1492
that country had just completed its national Reconquista, after eight
centuries of occupation of a large part of its territory by the Moors.
It thus had two really powerful national minorities in it: one of the
biggest Jewish communities in the world as well as the Muslims. The
first group had managed to concentrate a major part of the financial
power in its hands, while the second, did not hide its dreams of
vengeance.
The “Marranos” and the “Moriscos” were
two in-between categories, made up of pseudo-Christians, meaning Jews
and Muslims, who had – only in name – been converted to Christianity.
Many of these had managed to occupy high offices in the Spanish
hierarchy, both secular and ecclesiastic. This situation was full of
danger, threatening the submission of the country to those hostile
minorities, as well as causing intense friction and clashes with the
real Christians, who saw that those pseudo-Christians were not only
using their networks to control positions and offices, but were also
taking economic advantage of them. Because of this, the country was in
danger of civil war.
So the leadership of Spain thought it essential to intervene so that ne cives ad arma veniant
(the citizens would not take arms). It therefore instituted the Holy
Inquisition, and, in order for it to be impartial, the first High
Inquisitor was Tomás de Torquemada, a man from a “converso” background
(genuine converts to Christianity). In the case of Torquemada’s family,
the conversion had been from Judaism. The main aim of the Holy
Inquisition was to clarify things, making Jews declare that they are
Jews and Muslims to declare that they are Muslims. In other words, no
one bothered with the Jews that remained Jewish and the same went for
Muslims.
Much has been written, said, and implied
about the torture methods of the Holy Inquisition. There is no
historian, worthy of that title, who does not recognize the fact that
the Holy Inquisition was a rather mild and fair court, that it respected
the procedures and was honestly interested in the salvation of the
guilty.
As far as tortures go, they were
rarely used, and were accompanied by medical controls, and only for the
purpose of proving guilt. In any case, they were not overly harsh by the
standards of the day. The accused was lifted high off the ground with
ropes and left to fall down – three times maximum. If he could withstand
the pain, the procedure stopped there. When the police arrest a
criminal today, it is not unusual for the apprehended individual to be beaten and
restrained.
Let us consider the prisons of the Holy
Inquisition in Rome. The Italian historian Luigi Firpo mentions that
there were a change of sheets twice per week, beer for those who could
not drink wine, leave for the prisoners to see their parents, for work,
and for medical care. The sentence of “continuous imprisonment,” in the
language of the inquisitors, actually meant only three years in prison.
As far as France is concerned, it is
known why the Holy Inquisition was established in that country. This was
due to the heresy of the Cathars, which had managed to gain control of
whole provinces, and had even princes convert to it. In short, the real
reason for the existence of the Holy Inquisition in Europe was the to
counter that era’s version of “Trotskyists,” meaning Gnostic movements
and crypto-Jews, that were applying, then as now, their favorite
technique of Entryism.
Before we finish, a small mention of the
Galileo Galilei case. The Catholic Church supported the Aristotelian -
Ptolemaic earth-centered theory for the movement of the celestial
bodies, while Gallilei believed in the Copernican heliocentric theory.
The Holy Inquisition, did not call Gallilei to condemn him, but asked
him to prove his theory, and if he did the church would accept it. What
happened, and was kept in silence for many years, was that Gallilei
could not give irresistible scientific proof. Today every scientist
knows that. This is not the right place to present the whole case. It is
enough to read what Arthur Koestler, a Jew himself and thus no fan of
the Catholic Church, writes about Gallilei:
“There is no doubt that the theory of
tides by Gallilei was based on an unconscious fraud. But there is no
doubt that the theory of tides, by Gallilei was a deliberate effort to
confuse and deceive... As we have seen, academics are always prone to
manias and obsessions and tend to falsify details. But fraudsters like
Gallilei are rare in the chronicles of science...”
(Arthur Koestler, The Sleepwalkers, New York, 1959).
Would you like to know the penalty that
the court of the Holy Inquisition forced on Gallilei? Five months of
detainment in the tower of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Francesco Niccolini
and the recitation of some religious psalms. Finally there was a “deal”
and the psalms were recited by his daughter Maria Celeste. A bit later,
after Gallilei disobeyed the orders to not spread his unproven
theories, they were forced to isolate him in his villa, (known as “The
Jewel”) in which he lived with every comfort.
Another big lie is the famous phrase
that Gallilei supposedly used after his conviction: “Yet, it moves”.
This phrase was not used by Gallilei, but was invented by the author
Giussepe Baretti, who invented the incident for the purposes of
anti-Catholic propaganda for the British public in an anthology
published in London in 1757.
The End of the Cathars
But somebody is sure to ask: Did the
Holy Inquisition go to no extremes? Did it not abuse its power at all?
Of course it did, as is the case in any human activity, whether
religious, political or military. The death penalties that the Holy
Inquisition declared (in reality the Holy Inquisition decided if someone
was guilty or not, the death penalty was an issue of the state and not
of the Church) were limited to serious offences and anyway were quite
less than the number of death penalties that the civic courts declared
in that time.
History should be judged on the same
basis as pharmaceuticals. A medicine is evaluated by comparing its
healing abilities against its negative side effects. If we judge the
Holy Inquisition by the same rule, then we will have to admit that if
its spirit had been kept throughout Europe steadily and for a longer
time, then maybe today we might not be living in our present age of
darkness. In other words we would be free of Puritanism and thus
Capitalism, and from WASPs like G.W. Bush, freemasonry, as well as every
leftist ideology.
This article was originally published in Greek on the Theodotus blog. It was translated into English by Dimitrios Papageorgiou for Alternative Right.