Under the Shadow of the Inquisition: Catharists and Waldensians 2 #history #world

The Inquisition has its origins in the early organized persecution of non-Catholic Christian religions in Europe. In 1184, Pope Lucius III dispatched bishops to southern France with the objective of tracking down heretics known as Catharists. These efforts continued into the 14th century.
During the same period, the Church also pursued the Waldensians in Germany and Northern Italy. In 1231, Pope Gregory charged the Dominican and Franciscan Orders with the task of tracking down heretics.
The Duke's forces did not simply slaughter the inhabitants. They are reported to have unleashed an unprovoked campaign of looting, rape, torture, and murder. According to one report by a Peter Liegé:

Little children were torn from the arms of their mothers, clasped by their tiny feet, and their heads dashed against the rocks; or were held between two soldiers and their quivering limbs torn up by main force. Their mangled bodies were then thrown on the highways or fields, to be devoured by beasts. The sick and the aged were burned alive in their dwellings. Some had their hands and arms and legs lopped off, and fire applied to the severed parts to staunch the bleeding and prolong their suffering. Some were flayed alive, some were roasted alive, some disemboweled; or tied to trees in their own orchards, and their hearts cut out. Some were horribly mutilated, and of others the brains were boiled and eaten by these cannibals. Some were fastened down into the furrows of their own fields, and ploughed into the soil as men plough manure into it. Others were buried alive. Fathers were marched to death with the heads of their sons suspended round their necks. Parents were compelled to look on while their children were first outraged [raped], then massacred, before being themselves permitted to die.
Bernard Gui authored the seminal guidebook for inquisitors, "Conduct of the Inquisition into Heretical Depravity," in the early 14th century. Gui himself pronounced over 600 individuals guilty of heresy and was featured as a character in Umberto Eco's novel, The Name of the Rose.

There were numerous instances of abuse of power. Count Raymond VII of Toulouse was notorious for burning heretics at the stake despite their confessions. His successor, Count Alphonse, seized the lands of the accused in order to enrich himself.

In 1307, Inquisitors were involved in the mass arrest and torture of 15,000 Knights Templar in France, resulting in dozens of executions.

Joan of Arc, burned at the stake in 1431, is the most famous victim of this wing of the Inquisition.