The Concise Oxford Dictionary (8 Ed, 1990), shows, for "heretic", "the holder of an unorthodox opinion", and "hist. a person believing in or practising religious heresy", with the root "Gk hairetikos able to choose", and, for heresy, "belief or practice contrary to the orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church", and "opinion contrary to what is normally accepted or maintained", and, as the root, "Gk hairesis choice".
And, on the web page at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/heretic , is stated;
"
her·e·tic
/n. ˈhɛrɪtɪk; adj. ˈhɛrɪtɪk, həˈrɛtɪk/ Show Spelled[n. her-i-tik;
adj. her-i-tik, huh-ret-ik] Show IPA
–noun
1.
a professed believer who maintains religious opinions contrary to
those accepted by his or her church or rejects doctrines prescribed by
that church.
2.
Roman Catholic Church . a baptized Roman Catholic who willfully and
persistently rejects any article of faith.
3.
anyone who does not conform to an established attitude, doctrine, or principle.
–adjective
4.
heretical.
Use heretic in a Sentence
See images of heretic
Search heretic on the Web
Origin:
1300–50; ME heretik < MF heretique < LL haereticus < Gk hairetikós
able to choose (LGk: heretical), equiv. to hairet ( ós ) that may be
taken (verbal adj. of haireîn to choose) + -ikos -ic
"
which shows that a Heretic is a person who makes up the person's own
mind; who decides for himself or herself; who has the ability to
choose for the person's own self.
At http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definitions/heretic as viewd on 29 October 2012, we have:
"
Definition: heretic
Part of Speech Definition
Noun 1. A person who holds religious beliefs in conflict with the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church.[Wordnet]
2. A person who holds unorthodox opinions in any field (not merely religion).[Wordnet]
3. One who holds to a heresy; one who believes some doctrine contrary to the established faith or prevailing religion.[Websters]
4. One who having made a profession of Christian belief, deliberately and pertinaciously refuses to believe one or more of the articles of faith "determined by the authority of the universal church.".[Websters].
...
Date "Heretic" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321.
...
Specialty Definition: heretic
Domain Definition
Noah Webster [Noun] A person under any religion, but particularly the christian, who holds and teaches opinions repugnant to the established faith, or that which is made the standard of orthodoxy. In strictness, among christians, a person who holds and avows religious opinions contrary to the doctrines of Scripture, the only rule of faith and practice.. Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary.
Literature 1: FIFTH CENTURY: The Pelagians (Pelagius), Nestorians (Nestorius), Eutychians (Eutychus), Theo-paschites (who said all the three persons of the Trinity suffered on the cross).
2: FOURTH CENTURY: The A'rians (from Arius), Colluthians (Colluthus), Macedonians, Agne't�, Apollinarians (Apollinaris), Timotheans (Timothy, the apostle), Collyridians (who offered cakes to the Virgin Mary), Seleucians (Seleucius), Priscillians (Priscillian), Anthropomorphites (who ascribed to God a human form), Jovinianists (Jovinian), Messalians, and Bonosians (Bonosus).
3: Heretic means "one who chooses," and heresy means simply "a choice." A heretic is one who chooses his own creed, and does not adopt the creed authorised by the national church. (Greek, hairesis, choice.)
4: HERETICS OF THE FIRST CENTURY were the Simonians (so called from Simon Magus), Cerinthians (Cerinthus), Ebionites (Ebion), and Nicolaitans (Nicholas, deacon of Antioch).
5: SECOND CENTURY: The Basilidians (Basilides), Carpocratians (Carpocrates), Valentinians (Valentinus), Gnostics (Knowing Ones), Nazarenes, Millenarians, Cainites (Cain), Sethians (Seth), Quartodecimans (who kept Easter on the fourteenth day of the first month), Cerdonians (Cerdon), Marcionites (Marcion), Montanists (Montanus), Tatianists (Tatian), Alogians (who denied the "Word"), Artotyrites (q.v.), and Angelies (who worshipped angels).
6: SIXTH CENTURY: The Predestinarians, Incorruptibilists (who maintained that the body of Christ was incorruptible), the new Agnoe'tae (who maintained that Christ did not know when the day of judgment would take place), and the Monothelites (who maintained that Christ had but one will).
7: Tatianists belong to the third or fourth century. The Tatian of the second century was a Platonic philosopher who wrote Discourses in good Greek;
Tatian the heretic lived in the third or fourth century, and wrote very bad Greek. The two men were widely different in every respect, and the authority of the heretic for `four gospels" is of no worth.
8: THIRD CENTURY: The Patri-passians, Arabaci, Aquarians, Novatians, Origenists (followers of Origen), Melchisedechians (who believed Melchisedec was the Messiah), Sabellians (from Sabellius), and Manicheans (followers of Mani). Source: Brewer's Dictionary.
Wikipedic Heretic, meaning literally a person guilty or accused of heresy, is also often used as a title. It is a name attributed to those who present ideas which are contrary to popular opinion, belief, and/or the status quo of any practice or branch of knowledge. (references)
Wiktionary 1: [Adjective] Of or pertaining to heresy or heretics. (references)
2: [Noun] Someone who disobeys or disbelieves fundamental tenets of a religion they claim to belong to. (references)
"
At http://www.tertullian.org/articles/bindley_test/bindley_test_07prae.htm is Tertullian's "De praescriptione haereticorum (On the prescription of heretics)", which includes
"
CHAPTER VI
WE need not dwell longer on this point, since
it is the same Paul who also in another place, when
writing to the Galatians,2 classes heresies among
carnal sins, and who warns Titus3 that a man that
is an heretic must be avoided after the first admoni-
tion,4 because he that is such has become perverted
and sins, being self-condemned. Moreover, also
in nearly every Epistle, when enjoining the neces-
sity of fleeing false doctrines, he indicates heresies.
For false doctrines are the production of heresies :
heresies being so-called from a Greek word which
signifies the "choice" which any one makes when
introducing or adopting them.5 And it is for this
reason that he calls a heretic self-condemned,
because he chose for himself that wherein he is
condemned.
"
At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smyrna is
"
Tertullian wrote c. 208 AD.
Anyhow the heresies are at best novelties, and have no continuity with the teaching of Christ. Perhaps some heretics may claim Apostolic antiquity: we reply: Let them publish the origins of their churches and unroll the catalogue of their bishops till now from the Apostles or from some bishop appointed by the Apostles, as the Smyrnaeans count from Polycarp and John, and the Romans from Clement and Peter; let heretics invent something to match this.
"
and
"^ Tertullian. Liber de praescriptione haereticorum, circa 208 A.D."
So the term "heretic" was used by Tertullian in his writings, around 208CE.
At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertullian is:
"
Tertullian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born 160
Carthage (Africa, Roman empire)
Died 225
Carthage
Influenced by Plato • Stoicism • Philo •
Influenced School of Alexandria • Cyprian • Jerome • Augustine • Pope Leo I • Council of Chalcedon • Roman Catholic theology
Theological work
Era Ante-Nicene Fathers
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 225 AD),[1] was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa.
Which appears to make reasonable that Tertullian wrote "De praescriptione haereticorum (On the prescription of heretics)" in about 208CE, and thus, constitutes evidence that the term "heretic", and, its usage date back to at least that time.
The term "heretic" is used in the Edict of Thessalonica; the web page
at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Thessalonica states:
"
The Edict of Thessalonica, also known as Cunctos populos, was
delivered on 27 February 380 by Theodosius I, Gratian, and Valentinian
II in order that all their subjects should profess the faith of the
bishops of Rome and Alexandria. This made Nicene Christianity the
official state religion of the Roman Empire. The edict was issued
shortly after Theodosius had suffered a severe illness in Thessalonica
and was baptized by Acholius, the bishop of that city.
"
and...
"
Text
IMPPP. GR(ATI)IANUS, VAL(ENTINI)ANUS ET THE(O)D(OSIUS) AAA. EDICTUM AD POPULUM VRB(IS) CONSTANTINOP(OLITANAE).
Cunctos populos, quos clementiae nostrae regit temperamentum, in tali volumus religione versari, quam divinum Petrum apostolum tradidisse Romanis religio usque ad nunc ab ipso insinuata declarat quamque pontificem Damasum sequi claret et Petrum Aleksandriae episcopum virum apostolicae sanctitatis, hoc est, ut secundum apostolicam disciplinam evangelicamque doctrinam patris et filii et spiritus sancti unam deitatem sub pari maiestate et sub pia trinitate credamus. Hanc legem sequentes Christianorum catholicorum nomen iubemus amplecti, reliquos vero dementes vesanosque iudicantes haeretici dogmatis infamiam sustinere ‘nec conciliabula eorum ecclesiarum nomen accipere’, divina primum vindicta, post etiam motus nostri, quem ex caelesti arbitro sumpserimus, ultione plectendos.
DAT. III Kal. Mar. THESSAL(ONICAE) GR(ATI)ANO A. V ET THEOD(OSIO) A. I CONSS.
EMPERORS GRATIAN, VALENTINIAN AND THEODOSIUS AUGUSTI. EDICT TO THE
PEOPLE OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
It is our desire that all the various nations which are subject to
our Clemency and Moderation, should continue to profess that religion
which was delivered to the Romans by the divine Apostle Peter, as it
has been preserved by faithful tradition, and which is now professed
by the Pontiff Damasus and by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, a man of
apostolic holiness. According to the apostolic teaching and the
doctrine of the Gospel, let us believe in the one deity of the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit, in equal majesty and in a holy Trinity.
We authorize the followers of this law to assume the title of Catholic
Christians; but as for the others, since, in our judgment they are
foolish madmen, we decree that they shall be branded with the
ignominious name of heretics, and shall not presume to give to their
conventicles the name of churches. They will suffer in the first place
the chastisement of the divine condemnation and in the second the
punishment of our authority which in accordance with the will of
Heaven we shall decide to inflict.
GIVEN IN THESSALONICA ON THE THIRD DAY FROM THE CALENDS OF MARCH,
DURING THE FIFTH CONSULATE OF GRATIAN AUGUSTUS AND FIRST OF THEODOSIUS
AUGUSTUS
—Codex Theodosianus, xvi.1.2
"
... "we decree that they shall be branded with the ignominious name of heretics"
And thus it was ordained by decree, that people who did not follow the official religion, shall be named Heretics.
And, Heretics and Heresies, were declared to be vital, at least a century before that decree; In "De Praescriptionibus Adversus Haereticos" - "The Prescription Against Heretics", by "Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian (ca. 160 – ca. 220 A.D.)", is stated;
"
Chapter I.—Introductory. Heresies Must Exist, and Even Abound; They
are a Probation to Faith.
THE character of the times in which we live is such as to call forth
from us even this admonition,
that we ought not to be astonished at the heresies (which abound)
neither ought their existence
to surprise us, for it was foretold that they should come to pass; nor
the fact that they subvert
the faith of some, for their final cause is, by affording a trial to
faith, to give it also the opportunity
of being “approved.” Groundless, therefore, and inconsiderate is the
offence of the many who
are scandalized by the very fact that heresies prevail to such a
degree. How great (might their
offence have been) if they had not existed. When it has been
determined that a thing must by all
means be, it receives the (final) cause for which it has its being.
This secures the power through
which it exists, in such a way that it is impossible for it not to
have existence.
"
Thus are Heresies and Heretics, regarded as a necessary part of life, and so regarded at least as far back as around 200AD.
And, going back even (slightly) earlier, was Tatian The Heretic;
at http://www.earlychurch.org.uk/tatian.php as viewed on 30 October 2012, was
"
Tatian
(110 - 180 AD)
Synopsis
Tatian referred to himself as "an Assyrian,"1 "born in the frontier district between the Roman Empire and Parthia".2 Trained in "mythology, history, poetry, and chronology"3 he became disgusted with paganism. He travelled first to Antioch and then to Rome, where he was converted by reading the Hebrew Scriptures.4 In Rome he joined the school of Justin Martyr, (between 150-165)5 whom he held in high regard.6 Tatian was a man of fiery temperament and seems to have found in Christianity a means by which to attack not only "pagan religion, but also… the Roman system of law and government."7 He was apparently the first Christian writer to declare that God created matter by the power of the Logos:8 "And as the Logos, begotten in the beginning, begat in turn our world, having first created for Himself the necessary matter..."9 From this it was only a small step for later Christian thinkers to arrive at the doctrine of creation out of nothing.10 Unlike his teacher Justin he did not link the Greek hero Deucalion with Noah.11
After Justin’s martyrdom Tatian’s teaching gradually became more and more ascetic, until he broke with the Church in about 172 and returned to Mesopotamia.12 Here (according to Eusebius and Jerome) he founded the sect of the Encratites.13 Who, it was alleged, abstained from meat and rejected worldly goods, substituting water for wine in the Eucharist.14 He was opposed by many of the early church fathers, including Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria,15 Hippolytus16 and Origen.17 This probably explains why all but two of his numerous works have perished, so we have little opportunity to examine at first hand the claims of heresy levelled at him.18
"
And at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstemius is
"
An abstemius (plural abstemii) is one who cannot take wine without risk of vomiting. As, therefore, the consecration at Mass must be effected in both species, of bread and wine, an abstemius is consequently irregular.
St. Alphonsus Liguori, following the opinion of Suarez[disambiguation needed], teaches that such irregularity is de jure divino; and that, therefore, the Pope cannot dispense from it. The term is also applied to one who has a strong distaste for wine, though able to take a small quantity. A distaste of this nature does not constitute irregularity, but a papal dispensation is required, in order to excuse from the use of wine at the purification of the chalice and the ablution of the priest's fingers at the end of Mass. In these cases the use of wine is an ecclesiastical law from whose observance the Church has power to dispense.
A decree of Propaganda, dated 13 January 1665, grants a dispensation in this sense to missionaries in China, on account of the scarcity of wine; various similar rulings are to be found in the collection of the decrees of the Congregation of Rites. Abstention from the use of wine has, occasionally, been declared obligatory by heretics. It was one of the tenets of Gnosticism in the 2nd century. Tatian, the founder of the sect known as the Encratites, forbade the use of wine, and his adherents refused to make use of it even in the Sacrament of the Altar; in its place they used water. These heretics, mentioned by St. Irenæus (Adversus haereses, I, xxx), are known as Hydroparastes, Aquarians, and Encratites.
"
Regarding the work "Adversus haereses (Against Heresies)", by Irenæus, at http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103302.htm is
"
Against Heresies (Book III, Chapter 2)
The heretics follow neither Scripture nor tradition.
"
and at http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103109.htm is
"Against Heresies (Book I, Chapter 9)
Refutation of the impious interpretations of these heretics
"
and
"
Now, what simple-minded man, I ask, would not be led away by such verses as these to think that Homer actually framed them so with reference to the subject indicated? But he who is acquainted with the Homeric writings will recognise the verses indeed, but not the subject to which they are applied, as knowing that some of them were spoken of Ulysses, others of Hercules himself, others still of Priam, and others again of Menelaus and Agamemnon. But if he takes them and restores each of them to its proper position, he at once destroys the narrative in question. In like manner he also who retains unchangeable in his heart the rule of the truth which he received by means of baptism, will doubtless recognise the names, the expressions, and the parables taken from the Scriptures, but will by no means acknowledge the blasphemous use which these men make of them. For, though he will acknowledge the gems, he will certainly not receive the fox instead of the likeness of the king. But when he has restored every one of the expressions quoted to its proper position, and has fitted it to the body of the truth, he will lay bare, and prove to be without any foundation, the figment of these heretics.
So, the term "heretic" was used around 180 AD;
at http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/8664/Against-Heresies as viewed on 30 October 2012, was
"
Originally written in Greek about 180, Against Heresies is now known in its entirety only in a Latin translation, the date of which is disputed (200 or 400?).
"
In
"
Tatian's Diatessaron: Its Creation, Dissemination, Significance, and History in Scholarship
Author(s) Petersen, William L.
"
is, on page 48;
"Although Victor obviously has no love for Tatian the heretic"
and, on page 62, is;
"
Two glosses in a thirteenth century hand are on interest in this eigth or ninth century manuscript of a Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, written by Gregory of Be'eltan ( 790). On folio 65a, at Chapter 51, there is what Baarda describes as a "careless excerpt" from Eusebius' Ep.ad Carpianum in Syriac. The glosses have been placed in the margin at the point where Eusebius mentions Ammonius and his Diatessaron. The first gloss reads
(foreign characters)
that is "from four"
Apparently the Greek loan-word "Diatessaron" once again requires clarification.
The second gloss, at the same point, but squeezed between the first gloss and the text, reads:
(foreign characters)
Tatian, the heretic, is - some say - he who made this. And when he came to the story of the resurrection and saw that it was difdferent, he gave up his work.
"
Now, the last two sentences of that excerpt, were translated from the foreign characters; therefore, it appears that the name "Tatian the heretic", dates back at least as far as the thirteenth century; the name "Tatian the heretic", having been written in the "thirteenth century hand".
I have a screentshot of the text from the book, showing the name "Tatian the heretic" to be a translation of the thirteenth century writing.
See Chapter 2, page 62, of
"
Tatian's Diatessaron: Its Creation, Dissemination, Significance, and History in Scholarship
Author(s) Petersen, William L.
Bibliographic details for this title:
Description: A gospel harmony composed c. 172 CE, the Diatessaron is one of the earliest witnesses to the gospels. Regarded as the first version of the gospels in Latin, Syriac and Armenian, the Diatessaron was used by Encratites, Judaic-Christians, and 'Great Church' Christians alike. This study is the first comprehensive treatment of the Diatessaron in more than a century. After sketching the second-century setting and Tatian's biography, it describes virtually every Diatessaronic witness and provides a scholar-by-scholar summary of research from 546 to the present. Criteria for reconstructing Diatessaronic readings are developed, and numerous examples offer the reader first-hand experience with the witnesses. It contains the first bibliography of research on the Diatessaron (more than 600 titles) and the only 'Catalogue of Manuscripts of Diatessaronic Witnesses and Related Works' ever published.
(Blackwell North Amer)
ISBN 9004094695
ISBN-13 / EAN: 9789004094697
Binding: Hardback
Dimensions (inches): 10.00 (H) x 6.75 (W) x 1.75 (D)
Dimensions (cms): 25.4 (H) x 17.1 (W) x 4.4 (D)
Publisher: Brill Academic Pub
Date of Publication: Aug 1, 1997
Pages: xix, 555
Minimum Audience/Grade Level: Scholarly/Graduate
Dewey Decimal Classification: 226/.1
Library of Congress Classification: BS2550.T2 P43 1994 | LCCN/Control Number: 94002883
"
.
And, in "The Edict of Thessalonica, also known as Cunctos populos"., any person who was regarded as a heretic, was to be "branded with the ignominious name of heretics",
and I am a person who thinks for myself, and, who chooses what I want to believe,
so, by decree, I am entitled to the name "The Heretic".
At http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/burning.html is
"
Burning at the stake in public was used in England & Wales to punish heresy for both sexes and for women convicted of High Treason or Petty Treason. Men who were convicted of high treason were hanged, drawn and quartered but this was not deemed acceptable for women as it would have involved nudity. High Treason included such offences as counterfeiting money and "coining" (the clipping of coins for pieces of silver and gold which were melted down to produce counterfeit coins), possession of coining equipment and colouring base metal coins (to pass them off as of higher value). Oddly, men who committed these same crimes suffered just ordinary hanging having been first drawn to the place of execution on a hurdle. Petty Treason was the murder by a woman of her husband or her mistress, as they were considered her superiors in law. In Scotland burning was the punishment for witchcraft (see later).
It is not known when burning was first used in Britain, but there is a recorded burning for heresy in 1222, when a deacon of the church was burnt at Oxford for embracing the Jewish faith so he could marry a Jew.
In 1401, the king authorised a Statute of Heresy which gave the clergy power to arrest and try those suspected of heresy. The first to suffer under the new act was one William Sautre, a priest, who was executed at (Kings) Lynn in 1402. This statute was repealed in 1553, but burning was re-introduced by Henry VIII. His daughter, Mary Tudor ("Bloody Mary"), was also very keen on this method and 274 burnings of both sexes for heresy were recorded during her five year reign (reign of terror) in the mid 16th century. In most cases their only "crime" was following the Protestant faith. The normal place of execution in London being at West Smith Field (now called just Smithfield). An engraving of the period shows that these unfortunates were stood in empty tar barrels at the stake and then had faggots heaped round them. It was not the practice to strangle heretics before they were burnt so they died slow and horrible deaths - being literally burned alive.
Burning was in use throughout Europe at this time and was particularly favoured by the Spanish Inquisition as it did not involve shedding of the victim's blood, which was disallowed under the prevailing Roman Catholic doctrine, and because it ensured that the condemned had no body to take into the next life (which was believed to be a very severe punishment in itself). It was also thought at that time that burning cleansed the soul which was considered important for those convicted of witchcraft and heresy.
"
and
"
Three slightly different methods of burning were used. The first, consisted of using a heap of faggots piled around a wooden stake above which the prisoner was attached with chains or iron hoops. The British and Spanish Inquisition preferred this method as it had the greatest visual impact. This form of burning typically subjects the prisoner to a far more agonising death as it some time before the flames reach head level. In most cases of treason and witchcraft the prisoner was strangled first before the fire was lit. In Scotland the strangling formed part of the sentence for convicted witches.
The second method was to tie the condemned to the stake and heap faggots all round them, effectively hiding their sufferings, so that they died inside a wall of flames . It is said that Joan of Arc died like this. It is thought that this method led to a much quicker death because the victim was forced to breathe the flame and hot gasses surrounding their face. The heat of the air causes the lining of the trachea to swell up thus blocking the airway and leading to suffocation within a few minutes.
The third method, used in Germany and the Nordic countries, involved tying the prisoner to a near vertical ladder, the top of which was tied to a frame, and then swinging them down onto the fire.
In the book "Facts And Documents Illistrative Of The History, Doctrine, And Rites, Of The Ancient Albigenses & ("Et" is also used, instead of the ampersand) Waldenses" by Samuel Roffey Maitland, published by Rivington in 1832, in London, and also published as a Google eBook, in Section 10; "Sentences And Culpe From The Book Of Sentences", from pages 270 to 341, are included transcripts of proceedings from various Inquisitors, in trials of heretics, in the fourteenth century CE, wherein the word "heretic" is used extensively, showing that the term "heretic" was used extensively in fourteenth century Europe, and that many crimes against humanity were committed against the human race, by the Roman Catholic Church and involving its Inquisitors.
In 1401, was the Act of the English parliament to deal with heretics; "On The Burning Of Heretics"; 1401,
1. http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/religion/overview/medievalchurch/
;
"
Heretics
In 1401 Parliament took action against believers known by the abusive
term of Lollards or mumblers. The Lollards included some MPs – who
from the 1380s began to speak out against important aspects of the
Church and its thinking.
Inspired by the writings of the Oxford academic John Wyclif, they
objected to the meanings attached to certain rituals used in church
worship. They also felt that more attention should be given to God’s
own words as revealed in the Bible, than on interpretations made by
the Church.
Before the fifteenth century the English Church had been largely free
of this kind of heresy or deviation from its teachings. But in 1401
Parliament enacted a law called De Heretico Comburendo - On the
burning of heretics - by which Lollard leaders were liable for
imprisonment, trial and execution. It is thought that about 100 people
were burned for heresy under this Act.
"
and http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09333a.htm ;
"
The troubled days of Richard II at the close of the fourteenth century
had encouraged the spread of Lollardy, and the accession of the House
of Lancaster in 1399 was followed by an attempt to reform and restore
constitutional authority in Church and State. It was a task which
proved in the long run beyond the strength of the dynasty, yet
something was done to remedy the worst disorders of the previous
reign. In order to put down religious opposition the State came, in
1401, to the support of the Church by the Act "De Hæretico
Comburendo", i.e. on the burning of heretics. This Act recited in its
preamble that it was directed against a certain new sect "who thought
damnably of the sacraments and usurped the office of preaching." It
empowered the bishops to arrest, imprison, and examine offenders and
to hand over to the secular authorities such as had relapsed or
refused to abjure. The condemned were to be burnt "in an high place"
before the people. This Act was probably due to the authoritative
Archbishop Arundel, but it was merely the application to England of
the common law of Christendom. Its passing was immediately followed by
the burning of the first victim, William Sawtrey, a London priest. He
had previously abjured but had relapsed, and he now refused to declare
his belief in transubstantiation or to recognize the authority of the
Church.
No fresh execution occurred till 1410, and the Act was mercifully
carried out by the bishops. Great pains were taken to sift the
evidence when a man denied his heresy; the relapsed were nearly always
allowed the benefit of a fresh abjuration, and as a matter of fact the
burnings were few and the recantations many. Eleven heretics were
recorded to have been burnt from 1401 to the accession of Henry VII in
1485. Others, it is true, were executed as traitors for being
implicated in overt acts of rebellion. Yet the activity of the
Lollards during the first thirty years of the fifteenth century was
great and their influence spread into parts of the country which had
at first been unaffected. Thus the eastern counties became, and were
long to remain, an important Lollard centre. Meanwhile the
ecclesiastical authorities continued the work of repression. In 1407 a
synod at Oxford under Arundel's presidency passed a number of
constitutions to regulate preaching, the translation and use of the
Scriptures, and the theological education at schools and the
university. A body of Oxford censors condemned in 1410 no less than
267 propositions collected out of Wyclif's writings, and finally the
Council of Constance, in 1415, solemnly declared him to have been a
heretic. These different measures seem to have been successful at
least as far as the clergy were concerned, and Lollardy came to be
more and more a lay movement, often connected with political
discontent.
Its leader during the reign of Henry V was Sir John Oldcastle,
commonly known as Lord Cobham, from his marriage to a Cobham heiress.
His Lollardy had long been notorious, but his position and wealth
protected him and he was not proceeded against till 1413. After many
delays he was arrested, tried, and sentenced as a heretic, but he
escaped from the Tower and organized a rising outside London early in
1414. The young king suppressed the movement in person, but Oldcastle
again escaped. He remained in hiding but seems to have inspired a
number of sporadic disturbances, especially during Henry's absence in
France. He was finally captured on the west border, condemned by
Parliament, and executed in 1417. His personality and activity made a
great impression on his contemporaries and his poorer followers put a
fanatic trust in him. He certainly produced an exaggerated opinion of
the numbers and ubiquity of the Lollards, for Thomas of Walden, who
wrote about this time, expected that they would get the upper hand and
be in a position to persecute the Catholics. This unquiet condition
lasted during the earlier part of the reign of Henry VI. There were
many recantations though few executions, and in 1429 Convocation
lamented that heresy was on the increase throughout the southern
province. In 1413 there was even a small rising of heretics at
Abingdon. Yet from this date Lollardy began to decline and when, about
1445, Richard Pecock wrote his unfortunate "Repressor of overmuch
blaming the Clergy," they were far less of a menace to Church or State
than they had been in Walden's day. They diminished in numbers and
importance, but the records of the bishops' courts show that they
still survived in their old centres: London, Coventry, Leicester, and
the eastern counties. They were mostly small artisans. William Wych, a
priest, was indeed executed, in 1440, but he was an old man and
belonged to the first generation of Lollards.
"
;
The first being from the official web site of the UK Parliament, and,
the second, being the Catholic Encyclopaedia.
And at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heresy is
"
The use of the word heresy in the context of Christianity was given
wide currency by Irenaeus in his tract Contra Haereses (Against
Heresies) to describe and discredit his opponents during the early
centuries of the Christian Community. He described the community's
beliefs and doctrines as orthodox (from ὀρθός, orthos "straight" +
δόξα, doxa "belief") and the Gnostics' teachings as heretical. He also
pointed out the concept of apostolic succession to support his
arguments.[5]
Heretics usually do not perceive their own beliefs as heretical. For
instance, the Roman Catholic Church holds Protestantism as espousing
numerous heresies[clarification needed], while some Protestants
retrospectively considered Roman Catholicism the "Great Apostasy". The
Roman Catholic Church derives claims of orthodoxy from a system of
ecclesiastical authority while Protestants view the Bible alone as
authoritative.
Constantine I, acceptor of Christianity as a religion of the Roman
Empire, the first baptized Roman Emperor, set precedent for later
policy. The Emperor was, by Roman law, Pontifex Maximus, the chief
priest of all recognized religions. Constantine established Christian
orthodoxy by councils of bishops and enforced orthodoxy by Imperial
authority.[6]
The first known usage of the term in a secular legal context was in
380 AD by the "Edict of Thessalonica" of Theodosius I.[7] Prior to the
issuance of this edict, the Church had no state-sponsored support for
any particular legal mechanism to counter what it perceived as
"heresy". By this edict, in some sense, the State's authority and that
of the catholic Church became somewhat overlapping. One of the
outcomes of this blurring of Church and State was the sharing of State
powers of legal enforcement between Church and state authorities. At
its most extreme reach, this new secular reinforcement of the Church's
authority gave Church leaders the power to, in effect, pronounce the
death sentence upon those whom the Church considered heretical.
Within five years of the official "criminalization" of heresy by the
emperor, the first Christian heretic to be prosecuted, Priscillian was
executed in 385 by Roman officials. For some years after the
Reformation, Protestant churches were also known to execute those whom
they considered as heretics, including Catholics. The last known
heretic executed by sentence of the Roman Catholic Church was Cayetano
Ripoll in 1826. The number of people executed as heretics under the
authority of the various "ecclesiastical authorities"[note 1] is not
known. [note 2]
"
At http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Heresy is
"
The use of the word "heresy" in the context of Christianity was given
wide currency by Irenaeus in his tract Contra Haereses (Against
Heresies) to describe and discredit his opponents in the early
Christian Church. He described his own position as orthodox (from
ortho- "straight" + doxa "belief") and his position eventually evolved
into the position of the early Christian Church.[citation needed]
Heretics usually do not perceive their own beliefs as heretical. For
instance, some Roman Catholics hold Protestantism as a heresy while
some non-Catholics considered Catholicism the "Great Apostasy." For a
heresy to exist there must be an authoritative system of dogma
designated as orthodox, such as those proposed by Catholicism.
The first known usage of the term in a civil legal context was in 380
AD by the "Edict of Thessalonica" of Theodosius I. Prior to the
issuance of this edict, the Church had no state sponsored support for
any particular legal mechanism to counter what it perceived as
'heresy'. By this edict, in some senses, the line between the
Christian Church and the Roman State was blurred. One of the outcomes
of this blurring of Church and State was a sharing of State powers of
legal enforcement between Church and State authorities. At its most
extreme reach, this new Church authority of legal enforcement gave
Church leaders the power to pronounce the death sentence upon those
whom they might perceive to be 'heretics'.
Within 5 years of the official 'criminalization' of heresy by the
emperor, the first Christian heretic, Priscillian was executed in 385
by Roman officials. For some years after the reformation, Protestant
Churches were also known to execute those whom they considered as
heretics, witness the Salem witch trials. The last known heretic
executed by sentence of the Roman Catholic Church was Cayetano Ripoll
in 1826. The number of people executed as heretics under the authority
of the various 'church authorities' is not known, however it most
certainly numbers into the several thousands.
"
At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Inquisition#Death_tolls is
"
García Cárcel estimates that the total number processed by the
Inquisition throughout its history was approximately 150,000; applying
the percentages of executions that appeared in the trials of
1560–1700—about 2%—the approximate total would be about 3,000 put to
death. Nevertheless, very probably this total should be raised keeping
in mind the data provided by Dedieu and García Cárcel for the
tribunals of Toledo and Valencia, respectively. It is likely that the
total would be between 3,000 and 5,000 executed.
Modern historians have begun to study the documentary records of the
Inquisition. The archives of the Suprema, today held by the National
Historical Archive of Spain (Archivo Histórico Nacional), conserves
the annual relations of all processes between 1540 and 1700. This
material provides information on about 44,674 judgements, the latter
studied by Gustav Henningsen and Jaime Contreras. These 44,674 cases
include 826 executions in persona and 778 in effigie. This material,
however, is far from being complete—for example, the tribunal of
Cuenca is entirely omitted, because no relaciones de causas from this
tribunal have been found, and significant gaps concern some other
tribunals (e.g. Valladolid). Many more cases not reported to the
Suprema are known from the other sources (e.g. no relaciones de causas
from Cuenca have been found, but its original records have been
preserved), but were not included in Contreras-Henningsen's statistics
for the methodological reasons.[82] William Monter estimates 1000
executions between 1530–1630 and 250 between 1630–1730.[83]
The archives of the Suprema only provide information surrounding the
processes prior to 1560. To study the processes themselves, it is
necessary to examine the archives of the local tribunals; however, the
majority have been lost to the devastation of war, the ravages of time
or other events. Jean-Pierre Dedieu has studied those of Toledo, where
12,000 were judged for offences related to heresy.[84] Ricardo García
Cárcel has analyzed those of the tribunal of Valencia.[85] These
authors' investigations find that the Inquisition was most active in
the period between 1480 and 1530, and that during this period the
percentage condemned to death was much more significant than in the
years studied by Henningsen and Contreras. Henry Kamen gives the
number of about 2,000 executions in persona in the whole Spain up to
1530.[86]
"
At http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060903192705AAZ0Dnd is
"
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
Death tolls are given by historians such as Will Durant, who, in The
Reformation (1957), cites Juan Antonio Llorente, General Secretary of
the Inquisition from 1789 to 1801, as estimating that 31,912 people
were executed from 1480-1808. He also cites Hernando de Pulgar, a
secretary to Queen Isabella, as estimating 2,000 people were burned
before 1490. Philip Schaff in his History of the Christian Church gave
a number of 8,800 people burned in the 18 years of Torquemada. Matthew
White, in reviewing these and other figures, gives a median number of
deaths at 32,000, with around 9,000 under Torquemada [1]. R. J. Rummel
describes similar figures as realistic, though he cites some
historians who give figures of up to 135,000 people killed under
Torquemada. This number includes 125,000 asserted to have died in
prison due to poor conditions, leaving 10,000 sentenced to death.
(Death rates in medieval and early modern prisons were generally very
high, thanks in part to inadequate sanitary conditions and a poor
diet.) There are no death toll figures available for the massacres of
1391, 1468 or 1473. These numbers will likely never be known.
"
and
"
Death tolls
The historian Hernando del Pulgar, contemporary of Ferdinand and
Isabella, estimated that the Inquisition had burned at the stake 2,000
people and reconciled another 15,000 by 1490 (just one decade after
the inquisition began).[37]
The first quantitative estimates of the number processed and executed
by the Spanish Inquisition were offered by Juan Antonio Llorente, who
was the general secretary of the Inquisition from 1789 to 1801 and
published, in 1822 in Paris his Historia critica de la Inquisición.
According to Llorente, over the course of its history, the Inquisition
processed a total of 341,021 people, of whom at least 10% (31,912)
were executed. He wrote, "To calculate the number of victims of the
Inquisition is the same as demonstrating, in practice, one of the most
powerful and effective causes of the depopulation of Spain."[38] The
principal modern historian of the Inquisition, Henry Charles Lea,
author of History of the Inquisition of Spain, considered that these
totals, not based on rigorous statistics, were very exaggerated.
Modern historians have begun to study the documentary records of the
Inquisition. The archives of the Suprema, today held by the National
Historical Archive of Spain (Archivo Histórico Nacional), conserves
the annual relations of all processes between 1560 and 1700. This
material provides information about 49,092 judgements, the latter
studied by Gustav Henningsen and Jaime Contreras. These authors
calculate that only 1.9% of those processed were burned at the stake.
The archives of the Suprema only provide information surrounding the
processes prior to 1560. To study the processes themselves it is
necessary to examine the archives of the local tribunals, however the
majority have been lost to the devastation of war, the ravages of time
or other events. Pierre Dedieu has studied those of Toledo, where
12,000 were judged for offenses related to heresy.[39] Ricardo García
Cárcel has analyzed thos of the tribunal of Valencia.[40] These
authors' investigations find that the Inquisition was most active in
the period between 1480 and 1530, and that during this period the
percentage condemned to death was much more significant than in the
years studied by Henningsen and Contreras.
García Cárcel estimates that the total number processed by the
Inquisition throughout its history was approximately 150,000. Applying
the percentages of executions that appeared in the trials of
1560-1700--about 2%--the approximate total would be about 3,000 put to
death. Nevertheless, very probably this total should be raised keeping
in mind the data provided by Dedieu and García Cárcel for the
tribunals of Toledo and Valencia, respectively. It is likely that the
total would be between 3,000 and 5,000 executed. However, it is
impossible to determine the precision of this total, owing to the gaps
in documentation, unlikely that the exact number will ever be known.
"
At http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vatican/esp_vatican29.htm is
"
The Holy Inquisitions
The Church
"Anyone who attempts to construe a personal view of God which
conflicts with Church dogma must be burned without pity."
- Pope Innocent III
The Inquisition was an ecclesiastical court and process of the Roman
Catholic Church setup for the purpose towards the discovery and
punishment of heresy which wielded immense power and brutality in
medieval and early modern times. The Inquisitions function was
principally assembled to repress all heretics of rights, depriving
them of their estate and assets which became subject to the ownership
of the Catholic treasury, with each relentlessly sought to destroy
anyone who spoke, or even thought differently to the Catholic Church.
This system for close to over six centuries became the legal framework
throughout most of Europe that orchestrated one of the most confound
religious orders in the course of mankind.
Inquisition Procedure
At root the word Inquisition signifies as little of evil as the
primitive "inquire," or the adjective inquisitive, but as words, like
persons, lose their characters by bad associations, so "Inquisition"
has become infamous and hideous as the name of an executive department
of the Roman Catholic Church.
All crimes and all vices are contained in this one word Inquisition.
Murder, robbery, arson, outrage, torture, treachery, deceit,
hypocrisy, cupidity, holiness. No other word in all languages is so
hateful as this one that owes its abhorrent preeminence to its
association with the Roman Church.
In the Dark Side of Christian History, Helen Ellerbe describes how
the same men who had been both prosecutor and judge decided upon the
sentence of heresy. Once an Inquisitor arrived to a heresy-ridden
district, a 40 day period of grace was usually allowed to all who
wished to confess by recanting their faith.
After this period of grace had finished, the inhabitants were then
summoned to appear before the Inquisitor. Citizens accused of heresy
would be woken in the dead of night, ordered, if not gagged, and then
escorted to the holy edifice, or Inquisition prison for closer
examination.
In 1244, the Council of Harbonne ordered that in the sentencing of
heretics, no husband should be spared because of his wife, nor wife
because of her husband, and no parent spared from a helpless child.
Once in custody victims waited before their judge anxiously, while he
pondered through the document of their accusation. During the first
examination, enough of their property was likewise confiscated to
cover the expenses of the preliminary investigation.
The accused would then be implicated and asked incriminating and
luring questions in a dexterous manner of trickery calculated to
entangle most. Many manual's used and promulgated were by the grand
inquisitor Bernardus Guidonis, the Author of Practica Inquisitionis
(Practice of the Inquisition) and the Directorium Inquisitorum
(Guideline for Inquisitors) completed by Nicolaus Eymerich, grand
inquisitor of Aragon. These were the authoritative text-books for the
use of inquisitors until the issue of Torquemada's instructions in
1483, which was an enlarged and revised Directorium.
A Chapter of the Manual is headed "of the torture" and contains these
small reflections:
"The torture is not an infallible method to obtain the truth; there
are some men so pusillanimous that at the first twinge of pain they
will confess crimes they never committed; others there are so valiant
and robust that they bear the most cruel torments. Those who have once
been placed upon the rack suffer it with great courage, because their
limbs accommodate themselves to it with facility or resist with force;
others with charms and spells render themselves insensible, and will
die before they will confess anything."
The author gives further directions:
“When sentence of torture has been given, and while the executioner is
preparing to apply it, the inquisitor and the grave persons who assist
him should make fresh attempts to persuade the accused to confess the
truth; the executioners and their assistants, while stripping him,
should affect uneasiness, haste, and sadness, endeavoring thus to
instill fear into his mind; and when he is stripped naked the
inquisitors should take him aside, exhorting him to confess, and
promising him his life upon condition of his doing so, provided that
he is not a relapsed (one dilated a second time), because in such a
case they cannot promise him that."
Later afterwards in the sixteenth century, Cardinal Giovanni Caraffa,
a zealot for the purity of Catholicism who later became the pope
himself, also held a stern and gloomy view of moral rectitude for
heretics. In 1542, he was appointed by pope Paul III to administer the
Inquisition.
The manuscript life of Caraffa gives the following rules drawn up by
Caraffa himself:
"Firstly when the faith is in question, there must be no delay; but at
the slightest suspicion, rigorous measures must be resorted to with
all speed. Secondly, no consideration is to be shown to any prince or
prelate, however high his station. Thirdly, extreme severity is rather
to be exercised against those who attempt to shield themselves under
the protection of any potentate, and fourthly, no man must lower
himself by showing toleration toward heretics of any kind."
Refusing to confess at the first hearing, saw heretics being remanded
to the prisons for several months. The dungeons were situated
underground, so that the outcries of the subject might not reach other
parts of the building. In some medieval cells, the inauspicious were
bound in stocks or chains, unable to move about and forced to sleep
standing up or on the ground. In some cases there was no light or
ventilation, inmates were generally starved and kept in solitary
confinement in the dark and allowed no contact with the outside world,
including that of their own family.
In 1252, Pope Innocent IV officially authorized the creation of the
horrifying Inquisition torture chambers. It also included anew
perpetual imprisonment or death at the stake without the bishops
consent. Acquittal of the accused was now virtually impossible. Thus,
with a license granted by the pope himself, Inquisitors were free to
explore the depths of horror and cruelty. Dressed as black-robed
fiends with black cowls over their heads, Inquisitors could extract
confessions from just about anyone. The Inquisition invented every
conceivable devise to inflict pain by slowly dismembering and
dislocating the body.
Many of the devices were inscribed with the motto "Glory be only to
God." Bernardus Guidonis, the Inquisitor in Toulouse instructed the
layman as to never argue with the unbeliever, but as to "thrust his
sword into the man's belly as far as it will go." George Ryley Scott
describes how the inquisitors, gorged with their inhumanity, and
developed a degree of callousness rarely rivaled in the annals of
civilization, with the ecclesiastical authorities condemning every
faith outside of Christianity as demonic.
Even the very fact of having a charge brought against you, and of
being summoned to the Inquisition was sufficient to strike abject
terror into the bravest man or woman. For very few who entered the
doors of that halls of torment emerged whole in mind and body. If they
escaped with their life, they were, with rare exceptions, maimed,
physically or mentally forever. Those who did happen to endure the
dungeons generally went mad in captivity, screaming out in despair to
escape their purgatories. Others willingly committed suicide during
their confinement.
The defendant were known to incriminate themselves at any chance they
had to escape the horrors. As Henry Charles Lea describes, one of the
conditions of escaping the penalties was that they stated all they
knew of other heretics and apostates, under the general terror, there
was little hesitation in denouncing not only friends and
acquaintances, but the nearest and dearest kindred--parents, children,
brothers and sisters--this ultimately and indefinitely prolonged the
Inquisitions through their associates.
In the ages of faith, when the priest, was little less than a God
himself, a curse from his lips was often more feared than physical
torments. To even establish an accusation against a bishop itself
required 72 witnesses; against a deacon was 27; against an inferior
dignitary was 7, and for non-members of the clergy, 2 was sufficient
to convict. Whole communities went mad with grief and fear of the
thought towards being denounced to the Inquisition. It spread all over
Europe. Men, women, and children, all legally murdered on evidence by
a church, which today would only be accepted unless the court and jury
specifically composed of the inmates of a lunatic asylum.
During the course, defendants had no rights to counsel or advice, and
was even denied the right to know the names of their accusers. No
favorable evidence or character witnesses were permitted. In any case,
one who even spoke for an accused heretic would be arrested as an
accomplice. Never would a prisoner of the Inquisition have seen the
accusation against himself, or any other. All efforts relating to
time, place, and person were carefully concealed.
Henry Charles Lea describes however that evidence was accepted from
witnesses who could not legally testify in any other kind of trial;
such as condemned criminals, other heretics, or children even as young
as the age of two. The Inquisitor Jean Bodin (1529-96) author of De La
Demonomanie des Sorciers (Of the Demonomania of Witches) especially
valued child witnesses for extracting confessions, as they were easily
persuaded to confess. Children though, were no exception for being
prosecuted and tortured themselves. The treatment of witches' children
was particularly brutal.
Suspicion alone of witchcraft would warrant torture. Once a girl was
nine and a half, and a boy was ten and a half, they were both liable
to inquiry. Younger children below this age were still nevertheless
tortured to elicit testimonies that could be used against their own
parents. A famous French magistrate was known to have regretted his
leniency when, instead of having young children accused of witchcraft
burned, he had only sentenced them to be flogged while they watched
their parents burn.
The children of those parents murdered usually were force to beg in
vain upon the streets, for no one dared feed or shelter them thus
incurring a suspicion of heresy upon themselves. The suspicion was
sufficient enough to drive away even the closest kindred and friends
of the unfortunate. Sympathy for them would be interpreted as sympathy
with their heresy.
The pulley or strappado was the first torture of the Inquisition
usually applied. Executioners would hoist the victim up to the ceiling
using a rope with their hands tied securely behind their back. They
were then suspended about six feet from the floor. In this position,
heavy iron weights, usually amounting to about 45 kg, were attached to
their feet. The executioners would then pull on the rope, then
suddenly allowing it to slack causing the victim to fall.
The rapid descent would then come to an abrupt stop, bewildering every
joint and nerve in the system. In most cases it entailed dislocation.
This process was repeated again and again heavier and more intense
until the culprit confessed or became unconscious. Christian Monks
would stand by to record any confessions, with even records today
displaying the transformation of the monks steady handwriting to
vigorous shaking after they recanted inside the dungeons.
If a relapsed heretic refused to recant and endure the torture, the
contumacious sufferer was then carried to the scaffold and his body
bound to a wooden cross. There the executioner, with a bar of iron,
would break each leg and arm in two places and left to die. If the
heretic was slow to expire, the executioner would then partake to
strangulation, and their body was bound to a stake and burnt outside.
Papal Inquisition (1233)
At the close of the 12th century, heresy was spreading rapidly in
Southern France. Papal legates were sent by Pope Innocent III into the
disaffected district to increase the severity of repressive measures
against the Waldenses. In 1200, Peter of Castelnau was made associate
inquisitor for Southern France. The powers of the papal legates were
increased so as to bring non-compliant bishops within the net. Diego,
bishops of Osma, and Dominec came onto the scene. In 1206, Peter and
Raoul went as spies among the Albigenses.
Count Raymond of Toulouse abased himself in 1207, before Peter
promised to extirpate the heretics he had defended. Dominec advised a
crusade against the Albigenses. The pope's inquisitors tried,
condemned, and punished offenders inflicting the death penalty itself
with the concurrence of the civil powers.
The Inquisition was also destined to become a permanent institution.
The vigor and success of the Papal Legatine Inquisition assured this.
The Fourth Lateran Council took the initial steps with Pope Innocent
III presiding. The synodal courts were given something of the
character of inquisitorial tribunals. Synods were to be held in each
province annually, and violations of the Lateran canons rigorously
punished.
The condemned were to be left in the hands of the secular power, and
their goods were to be confiscated. The secular powers were to be
admonished and induced, and, should it prove necessary, were to be
compelled to the utmost of their power to exterminate all who were
pointed out as heretics by the church. Any prince declining not to
purge his land of heresy was to be excommunicated. If he persisted,
complaint was to be made to the pope, who was then to absolve his
vassals from allegiance and allow the country to be seized by
Catholics who should exterminate the heretics. Those who joined in the
crusade for the extermination of heretics were to have the some
indulgence as the crusaders who went to the Holy Land.
In the face of this inexpugnable record, how futile it is for modern
church apologists to pretend that Rome did not shed blood, and was not
responsible for the atrocities of the Inquisition. The Council of
Toulouse in 1229 adopted a number of canons tending to give permanent
character to the Inquisition as an institution.
It made or indicated the machinery for questioning, convicting, and
punishing. Heretics were to be excluded from medical practice; the
houses in which they were found to be razed to the ground; they were
to be delivered to the archbishop, or local authorities; forfeiture or
public rights could be removed only by a papal dispensation; any one
who allowed a heretic to remain in his country, or who shielded him in
the slightest degree, would lose his land, personal property, and
official position; the local magistracy joined in the search for
heretics; men from the ages of 14, and women from 12, were to make
oath and renew it every two years, that they would inform on heretics.
This made every person above those ages a bloodhound to track to
torture and kill. Local councils added to these regulations, always in
the direction of severity and injustice. The organic development of
the Papal Inquisition proceeded rapidly. It was found that bishops,
for the various reasons, would not always enforce the cruel canons of
the councils.
So Pope Gregory IX in August, 1231, put the Inquisition under the
control of the Dominicans, and order especially created for the
defense of the church against heresy. Dominican inquisitors were
appointed for Aragon, Germany, Austria, Lombardy, and Southern France.
The chronicle of the inquisitor Guilhem Pelhisso shows the most
tragic episodes of the reign of terror which wasted Languedoc in
France for a century. Guillaume Arnaud, Peter Cella, Bernard of Caux,
Jean de St Pierre, Nicholas of Abbeville, Foulques de St Georges, were
all the chief inquisitors who played the part of absolute
dictatorship, burning at the stake, attacking both the living and the
dead.
One of the leading head Inquisitors of Germany was Conrad of Marburg.
Stern in temper and narrow in mind, his bigotry was said to be ardent
to the pitch of near insanity. Conrad was urged by Pope Gregory IX as
to "not to punish the wicked, but as to hurt the innocence with fear."
History shows us how far these Inquisitors answered to this ideal.
Conrad murdered and terrified countless people in pursuit of his
duties, regarding mental and physical torture as a rapid route to
salvation. He was given full discretionary powers, and was not
required to hear the cases, but to pronounce judgment, which was to be
final and without appeal-justice to those suspect of heresy.
He was authorized to command the aid of the secular arm, to
excommunicate protectors of heresy, and to lay interdict on whole
districts. During his reign, he claimed to have uncovered nests of
"Devil worshippers" and adopted the motto "I would gladly burn a
hundred innocent if there was one guilty among them.” Stimulated by
this shining example, many Dominicans and Franciscans merged with him,
and became his eager assistants. He also sentenced the feline cat to
be forever viewed as a tool of manifestation for witches and
sorcerers.
During the persecution of heresy in the Rhineland's by Conrad, one
obstinate culprit actually refused to burn in spite of all the efforts
of his zealous executioners. A thoughtful priest brought to the
roaring pile a consecrated host. This at once dissolved the spell by a
mightier magic, and the luckless heretic was speedily reduced to
ashes.
Other inquisitors included Peter of Verona in Italy, Robert the
Bulgar in northeast France, and Bernardus Guidonis in Toulouse.
Guidonis, was considered the most experienced inquisitor of his day,
condemning roughly 900 heretics, with recorded sentences pronounced
after death against 89 persons during a period of 15 years. Not only
was their property confiscated and their heirs disinherited, but they
were subject to still further penalties. In the north of France, the
Inquisition was marked by a series of melancholy events. Robert le
Bougre, spent six years going through the Nivernais, Burgundy,
Flanders and Champagne, burning at the stake in every place
unfortunates whom he condemned without judgment.
Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834)
In 1478, the Spanish Inquisition was established with the papal
approval of Pope Sixtus IV. The reform and extension of the ancient
tribunal which had existed from the thirteenth century was mainly to
discover and eliminate Jews and Muslims secretly taking up their
beliefs in private.
The conduct of this holy office greatly weakened the power and
diminished the population of Spain. It was considered the most
deadliest and notorious of all Inquisitions, as firstly being, it was
the most highly organized and secondly, it was far more exposed and
open with the death penalty than that of the papal Inquisition. This
holy office became veiled by secrecy, unhesitatingly kept back,
falsified, concealed, and forged the reports of thousands of trials.
The first two Inquisitors in the districts of Seville were appointed
in 1480 by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to round up the most
wealthiest heretics; the reason for this, was that the property of
those accused, were shared equally between the Catholic throne and the
Dominicans.
The Catholic Spanish government also directly paid the expenses, and
received the net income of the Inquisition itself from the accused.
According to civil law, people convicted of religious treason were
sentenced to death and their goods confiscated while the Catholic
Church feasted on their estate. Additional Inquisitors were named,
including Tomas Torquemada, who the following year was appointed
Inquisitor General for all of Spain.
Tomas, who's duty was to organize the rules of inquisitorial
procedures in Seville, Castille and Aragon. He believed punishment of
heretics, was the only way to achieve political and religious unity in
Spain. Those refusing to accept Catholicism where lead to the stake
and burnt alive in a procession and Catholic ceremony known as
"auto-de-fe'" (act of faith).
Roman Inquisition (1542-1700)
In the early 1500's and 1600's, the Catholic Church went through a
reformation. It consisted of two related movements:
(1) a defensive reaction against the Reformation, a movement begun by
Martin Luther in 1517 that gave birth to Protestantism
(2) a Catholic reform which saw Protestants declare war on Catholics
The Roman Catholic Church called the Council of Trent partly as a
defense against Protestantism. In 1542, Pope Paul III (1534-49)
established the Holy Office as the final court of appeal in trials of
heresy. The Church also published a list of books that were forbidden
to read. Heretical books were outlawed, and searched out by
domiciliary visits. Every book that came was scrutinized minutely with
the express object of finding some passage which might be interpreted
as being against the principles or interests of the Catholic faith.
The secular coadjutor were also not allowed to learn to read or write
without permission. No man was able to aspire to any rank above that
of which he already holded. The church insisted on this regulation as
a means to obtaining a perfect knowledge of its subordinates.
The censorship of books took three forms:
(1) complete condemnation and suppression
(2) the expunging of certain objectionable passages or parts
(3) the correction of sentences or the deletion of specific words as mentioned
A list of the various books condemned upon any of these three heads
was printed every year, after which anyone found to be in the
possession of a volume coming under section (1) or an unexpurgated or
uncorrected copy of a volume coming under section (2) or (3) was
deemed guilty and liable to serve punishment. The author and the
publisher of any such book often spent the remainder of their lives in
the dungeons of the Inquisition. Its overall goal was to eradicate
Protestant influences in Europe.
A number of wars resulting from religious conflicts broke out as well
as the Catholic governments tried to stop the spread of Protestantism
in the country. Such attempts led to the civil war in France from 1562
to 1598 and a rebellion in the Netherlands between 1565 and 1648.
Religion was a major issue in the fighting between Spain and England
from 1585 to 1604.
It was also a cause of the Thirty Years' War 1618 to 1648, which
centered in Germany, that eventually involved all of the great nations
of Europe halving its population. The estimate of the death toll
during the Inquisitions ranged worldwide from 600,000 to as high in
the millions covering a span of almost six centuries.
Victor Hugo estimated the number of the victims of the Inquisition at
five million, it is said, and certainly the number was much greater
than that if we take into account, as we should, the wives and
husbands, the parents and children, the brothers and sisters, and
other relatives of those tortured and slaughtered by the priestly
institution. To these millions should properly be added the others
killed in the wars precipitated in the attempt to fasten the
Inquisition upon the people of various countries, as the Netherlands
and Germany.
"
Further to my pevious reference to the Act "On The Burning Of Heretics" as previously
cited by me,
"
The De heretico comburendo (2 Hen.4 c.15) was a law passed by
Parliament under King Henry IV of England in 1401, punishing heretics
with burning at the stake.
"
the Act itself, and, the consequential trials and burnings, would
lead to written references and reports of trials.
One such example, is "Foxe's Book of Martyrs" - see
http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxintro.htm ;
"
John Foxe or Fox (1518-1587), a staunchly Protestant divine, wrote his
book as this story seen from the Protestant point of view. The Acts
and Monuments of the Christian Church, better known as Foxe's Book of
Martyrs, was first published in English in 1563.
"
from that, we have the trial and execution of John Badby, in 1409; at
http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe90.htm is
"
In the year of our Lord 1409, on Sunday, being the first day of March,
in the afternoon, the examination following of one John Badby, tailor,
being a layman, was made in a certain house or hall within the
precinct of the Preaching Friars of London, in an outer cloister, on
the crime of heresy, and other articles repugnant to the determination
of the erroneous Church of Rome, before Thomas Arundel, archbishop of
Canterbury, and other his assistants, as the archbishop of York,
bishops of London, of Winchester, of Oxford, of Norwich, of Salisbury,
of Bath, of Bangor; and also Edmund, duke of York, Thomas Beaufort,
the chancellor of England, Lord de Roos, the clerk of the rolls, and a
great number of other lords, both spiritual and temporal, being then
at the self-same time present: Master Morgan read the articles of his
opinions to the hearers, according as it is contained in the
instrument read by the aforesaid Master Morgan, the tenor whereof
followeth, and in effect is such:
"
and
"
And whilst they were thus in his examination, the archbishop
considering and weighing that he would in no wise be altered, and
seeing, moreover, his countenance stout, and heart confirmed, so that
he began to persuade others, as it appeared, in the same: these things
considered, the arch-prelate, when he saw that by his allurements it
was not in his power, either by exhortations, reasons, or arguments,
to bring the said John Badby from his constant truth to his catholic
faith, (executing and doing the office of his great Master,) proceeded
to confirm and ratify the former sentence given before by the bishop
of Worcester against the said John Badby, pronouncing him for an open
and public heretic.
"
I have found the word "heretic" to have been spelled, prior to 1600CE, at
least three different ways.
In "The Case of Heresy. - Sir Edward Coke, Selected Writings of Sir
Edward Coke, vol. I [1600]" as published at
http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=911&chapter=106373&layout=html&Itemid=27
, is
"
Note, 2 Mar. title Heresie, Brook per omnes Justiciarios1 & Baker &
Hare: The Arch-bishop in his Province, in the Convocation, may and
doth use to convict Heresie by the common Law, and then to put them
convicted into Ley hands, and then by the Writ, De haeretico
comburendo2 they were burnt: But for this, that it was troublesome to
call a Convocation of the whole Province, it was ordained by the
Statute of 2 Hen. 4. cap. 15. That every Bishop in his Diocesse might
convict Hereticks; And if the Sheriff was present, he might deliver
the party convict to be burnt, without any Writ De haeretico
comburendo: But if the Sheriff be absent, or if he be to be burnt in
another County, then there ought to be a Writ De haeretico comburendo;
And that the Common Law was such, vide lib. intra. title Indictment,
pl. 11. who there are taken for Hereticks, some of them are consonant
to true Religion, vide 11 Hen. 7. Book of Entries, fol. 319. see Dr. &
St lib. 2. cap. 29. Cosin. 48. 2. see the Statute of 1 & 2. P.M. cap.
6. That Ordinaries wanting authority to proceed against Hereticks, 3.
F. N. B. fol. 269. And the Writ in the Register, which in the new Writ
is omitted proves this directly, 4. Bracton, lib. 3. cap. 9. fol. 123,
124. Concilio Oxoniensi quidam Diaconus convictus fuit de Apostasia,
sed primo degradatus fuit per Ordinarium:3 And true it is, that every
Ordinary may convent any Heretick or Schismatick before him, Pro
salute animae,4 and may degrade him, as Bracton saith, and may injoyn
him penance according to the censure of Ecclesiasticall Law: But upon
such conviction at Common Law, the party convict shall not be burnt,
nor any Writ De haeretico comburendo lyeth upon it; for the Common Law
will not commit the Disseison of a Heresie, for the life of a
Christian man, to any sole Judge.
"
which shows the word to have been spelled "heretick".
In "The reports of Sir Edward Coke, knt: in thirteen parts", as
published at http://books.google.com.au/books?id=lVYDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA323&lpg=PA323&dq=coke+report+heresy&source=bl&ots=yvEcfl06i1&sig=3gbX0Bu9HzWmEx6bEMCmVGpcii4&hl=en&redir_esc=y
, the spelling "heretic" is used (the material displayed is a scanned
image, and so I cannot simply copy and paste the text).
In "Cap. V. Of Heresie. - Sir Edward Coke, Selected Writings of Sir
Edward Coke, vol. II [1606]" as published at
http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=912&chapter=224765&layout=html&Itemid=27
, is
"
Touching the First, an Heretique may be convicted a1 before the
Archbishop and other Bishops, and other the Clergy at a generall
Synod, or Convocation, as it appeareth both by our books, and by
history. See the statute of 25 H.8. cap.19. revived by 1. El.cap.I.
"
and
"
Whereas the Diocesans of the said Realme cannot by their jurisdiction
spirituall, without aid of the said royall Majesty, sufficiently
correct the said false and perverse people, (i. Heretiques, named
before) because the said false and perverse people doe goe from Dioces
to Dioces, and will not appear before the said Diocesans, but the same
Diocesans and their Iurisdiction spirituall, and the keys of the
Church with the censures of the same, doe utterly contemn and despise.
"
and
"
First, that the Dio-|-cesan hath jurisdiction of Heresy, and so it
hath been put in use in all Queen Elizabeths reign:3 and accordingly
it was resolved by Flemming Chief Justice, Tanfield chief Baron,
Williams, and Crook Justices, Hil. 9. Ja. R. in the case of Legate the
Heretique, and that upon a conviction before the Ordinary of Heresy,
the writ of De haeretico comburenedo4 doth lie. Secondly, that without
the aid of that Act of 2 H.4. the Diocesan could imprison no person
accused of Heresy, but was to proceed against him by the censures of
the Church. And now seeing, that not only the said Act of 2 H.4. but
25 H.8. c.14. are repealed,5 the Diocesan cannot imprison any person
accused of Heresy, but must proceed against him, as he might have done
before those statutes, by the censures of the Church, as it appeareth
by the said Act of 2 H.4. c.15. Likewise the supposed statute of 5
R.2. c.5. and the statutes of 2 H.5. c.7. 25 H.8. c.14. 1 & 2 Ph. &
Mar. c.6. are all repealed, so as no statute made against Heretiques
standeth now in force: and at this day no person can be indicted, or
impeached for Heresy before any temporall Judge, or other, that hath
temporall jurisdiction, as upon perusall of the said statutes
appeareth."
and
"
4. To the fourth, b29 The Ecclesiasticall Judge at this day cannot
commit the person that is convict of heresie to the Sheriffe, albeit
he be present, to be burnt; but must have the Kings Writ De haeretico
comburendo,30 according to the Common Law: for now all Acts of
Parliament (as hath been said before) against Hereticks are repealed.
"
which shows clearly the use of the two spellings "Heretique" and
"Heretick", in the same document.
As also, in that document, do
"
But if the Heretick will not after comviction abjure, he may by force
of the said Writ d34De haeretico comburendo be burnt without
abjuration.
"
and
"
For what cause the said hereticks were called Lollards you may reade
in Caudries case, and Linwood thereto agreeth.
"
In another part of Foxe's Book of Martyrs;
"
THE ACTS AND MONUMENTS OF THE
CHRISTIAN CHURCH
by
JOHN FOXE
Commonly known as
FOXE'S BOOK OF MARTYRS
Volume 3
From King Edward III to King Henry V.
"
as published at www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe3pdf.pdf , is
"
"But all this is turned upsedowne: for now whoso will liven as
thou taughtest,
hee shall ben holden a foole. And gif he speake thy teaching, he shall
ben holden an
hereticke, and accursed.
"
and
"
For thy teaching is damned for heresie of wise men of the world, and
then moten they needes ben heretikes that teachen thy lore, and all
they also that trauailen to liue thereafter.
"
which shows more spellings of the word, as "hereticke", and
"heretikes"; yet more spelling variants.
So, for thousands of years of recorded human history, heretics have been defined, and, shown to exist, as people who think for themselves, and, choose for themselves, and, face personal risk for so doing.
So, I proudly name myself a Heretic, not for the sake of gratuitously becoming a martyr, but, rather, to proudly say that I prefer to seek and reveal the truth; and that I think for myself, I choose for myself, and, I speak for myself.
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