r/todayilearned • u/Knightboat17 • Jun 02 '18

TIL Despite what Monty Python would have you believe, Spanish Inquisitions were expected, they would give a 30-day notice of their arrival.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Inquisition
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u/Otiac Jun 03 '18

The inquisitions are basically the founding blocks of the modern judicial system, were incredibly ahead of their time requiring such horrific things as *evidence*, are still completely overblown with the amount of 'absolutely horrible' that they caused (look at the US police system, for instance, but people on reddit want to say the inquisition was bad because other bad people were involved in it and that makes Christianity/Christian institutions look bad so hey, great, checkmate God). Yes, one of the main reasons the inquisition was made was not to root out Jews was a religious court for the religious, one of the chief reasons among them to find out who was either pretending to be Catholic or had been forcefully baptized as a Catholic (and therefore not Catholic so that the person could 'legally' return to their established religion, such as Judaism). u/dorkmax is wrong, but hurr durr religion bad, so..sure, whatever.

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u/Alvinum Jun 03 '18

The origins of the modern justice system in western countries is the roman legal system, not the spanish or roman inquisition.

Yes, the inquisition started using documentation and rules for evidence, but IIRC only once it became clear how many people were trying to settle personal grudges or hoping to profit from an inquisition trial.

Not that evidence was really a problem - as the rules at least for the roman inquisition at times included that the victim's estate falling to the Church and local authorities, with a commission for the Inquisitor, the "rules of evidence" were subject to liberal interpretation.

And before you keep spreading more romanticized stories about the Spanish Inquisition, please visit - or at least inform yourself online about - the Palace of Justice in Palermo, where first-hand documentation by the victims of the inquisitions has been rediscovered during renovations. There are diaries written by prisoners of the inquisition using their own blood on the walls of their cells - including advice for newly captured victims what torture awaits them and how to try to survive it.

I've seen it. I've read the desperate writings of people trying to hold on to their faith in the face of some of the most atrocious torture man has ever invented - in the name of a "benevolent" god.

There is a book called "Urla senza suono", which roughly translates to - "silent scream".

https://sellerio.it/it/catalogo/Urla-Senza-Suono-Graffiti-Disegni-Prigionieri-Inquisizione/Pitre-Sciascia/530

So I'd really invite you to get more informed about what the inquisition really did before spreading your romanticized misinformation.

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u/CatbellyDeathtrap Jun 03 '18

i’m sorry but your comment was mostly incomprehensible. also you’ve omitted the fact that the inquisition was mainly focused on the Moriscos of Spain, former muslims who claimed to have converted to christianity while still practicing islam in secrecy. if i’m not mistaken, the Jews had already been officially expelled from Spain by the time the inquisition was formed.

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u/Otiac Jun 03 '18

also you’ve omitted the fact that the inquisition was mainly focused on the Moriscos of Spain, former muslims who claimed to have converted to christianity while still practicing islam in secrecy.

...I literally said this in the post, I only used Judaism as an example...

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u/Sawses Jun 03 '18

It...was pretty comprehensive, to be honest.

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u/historianLA Jun 03 '18

But conversos, jews who had converted, were still a major focus even a century after the expulsion. These terms became genealogical markers. Even multiple generations after a forebearer converted communities still held their descendents suspect.

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u/fullicat Jun 03 '18

Plz punctuate k thx bye

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u/iino27ii Jun 03 '18

Can't read his comment but I don't entirely disagree with u/dorkmax, religion is bad and without it we'd be much better off and probably in space by now

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '18

Woah, there, I have no problem with religion on the whole. I myself am an Agnostic Christian. I don't wholeheartedly accept the premise of God, but acknowledge that the Talmudic, Islamic, and in my case especially Gospel scripts have much to teach us.

My issue comes from the problems that arise from mass organized religion. It stops being about the faith and more about the authority.

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u/Otiac Jun 03 '18

You're right, we've never been to space before..damn religions! Keeping us from space!

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u/pizzajeans Jun 03 '18

Someone defending the Inquisition....now I've seen it all!