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Encyclopaedia Judaica

Persecution of the Jews: The Inquisition of the church against the Jews 1481-1834

How criminal Catholic "Christian" church and the criminal Pope justified anonymous allegations against the Jews and New Christians with torture, degradation, and burning - and confiscation of the property

from: Inquisition; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 8

presented by Michael Palomino (2007)

2. Inquisition 1233-1492

The Early Institution

[since 1233: Introduction of Inquisition in Central and Western Europe]

Although the Inquisition was established by Pope *Gregory IX, it owed its name to the procedure instituted by Pope *Innocent III (1198-1216) for searching out persons accused of heresy. Gregory himself created permanent judges delegate (inquisitores dati ab ecclesia) in 1233, entrusting the mission of judging heretics to the *Dominicans, who divided their duties with the *Franciscans on a geographical basis. Life imprisonment was prescribed for the repentant and capital punishment for the obdurate, after they were handed over to the secular authorities. The practice of burning heretics at the stake (see *Auto-da-fé) was introduced in the last years of the 12th century. By 1255 the Inquisition was fully active in Central and Western Europe, but was never established in England and Scandinavia. Portugal was not included in the system until 1532.

[since 1252: Torture for the Inquisition]

The use of torture for the detection of heresy was authorized in 1252 by Innocent IV (1243-54), and confirmed by Urban IV (1261-64). Property of those sentenced to life imprisonment or to death was handed over to the secular arm, but often the Church sought to derive some profit from the confiscated valuables.

[first: Inquisition against heretic Christians]

Initially, the Inquisition dealt with Christian heretics, like the *Albigenses, against whom a full-scale Crusade was organized in 1209. According to Canon Law, the Inquisition was not authorized to interfere in the internal affairs of the Jews, but this rule was abolished on the ground that the presence of Jews caused heresy to develop in the Christian milieu. The dispute which raged around Maimonides' books (1232) provided the Inquisition with a convenient opportunity to interfere in Jewish affairs (see *Maimonidean controversy).

[1242: France: Talmud condemned - Talmud burning]

In June 1242, an inquisitorial committee condemned the Talmud in Paris, principally for blasphemy against Jews, and thousands of volumes of it were subsequently burned in public (see Burning of *Talmud). The first mass burning of Jews on the stake took place in France in 1288, following a *blood libel at *Troyes. Nevertheless, persecution of the Jews by the Inquisition in France remained confined to a few cases, never reaching the proportions it later assumed in the Iberian Peninsula.

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