Inquisitor

Inquisitor

Inquisitor

Official (usually with judicial or investigative functions) in an Inquisition

This article is about the religious office in historic Christianity. For other uses, see Inquisitor (disambiguation).

An inquisitor was an official (usually with judicial or investigative functions) in an inquisition – an organization or program intended to eliminate heresy and other things contrary to the doctrine or teachings of the Catholic faith. Literally, an inquisitor is one who "searches out" or "inquires" (Latin inquirere < quaerere, 'to seek').

Tomás de Torquemada, 15th-century Spanish Dominican friar and Grand Inquisitor

In some cases, inquisitors sought out the social networks that people used to spread heresy.

There were multiple national inquisitions with different approaches and targets.

Controversies

In the Albigensian Crusade a second-hand story arose that inquisitor and general Arnaud Amalric at the storming of Béziers advocated general slaughter, saying “Kill them. For God knows who are his.”[1] Amalric's own report to the Pope was that his troops jumped the gun and took over the town violently before he was aware.

Further information: Massacre at Béziers
Further information: Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.

Prominent inquisitors

Some of the better-known and notable inquisitors throughout history include:

From fiction

Further information: Inquisitor (disambiguation) § Fictional characters

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Ormerod, Paul; Roach, Andrew P (2004-08-15). "The Medieval inquisition: scale-free networks and the suppression of heresy". Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Applications. 339 (3): 648. arXiv:cond-mat/0306031. Bibcode:2004PhyA..339..645O. doi:10.1016/j.physa.2004.03.020. ISSN 0378-4371. S2CID 10947858.


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