The average person had nothing the fear from the inquisition. If your neighbor had a beef against you, they’d say that they saw you worshiping the devil or spitting on the cross. The inquisitors round you up, threaten you with torture and you plead guilty and repent. If you plead innocent, then they torture you, you plead guilty and repent. You are sentenced to time served and lots of Hail Marys. Medieval revolving-door justice.
On the other hand, if you pissed off the pope or some other high-ranking church figure, a mere confession was usually not enough. Galileo got off easy with house arrest. Others like him were burned at the stake.
The only bar the Holy Inquisition had was that they could not draw blood. The Spanish Inquisition, however, was a state-run affair (“licensed” by the church) and had no such restrictions.
The average person had nothing the fear from the inquisition. If your neighbor had a beef against you, they’d say that they saw you worshiping the devil or spitting on the cross. The inquisitors round you up, threaten you with torture and you plead guilty and repent. If you plead innocent, then they torture you, you plead guilty and repent. You are sentenced to time served and lots of Hail Marys. Medieval revolving-door justice.
On the other hand, if you pissed off the pope or some other high-ranking church figure, a mere confession was usually not enough. Galileo got off easy with house arrest. Others like him were burned at the stake.
The only bar the Holy Inquisition had was that they could not draw blood. The Spanish Inquisition, however, was a state-run affair (“licensed” by the church) and had no such restrictions.