The medieval Inquisition

Albert Clement Shannon

The specific beliefs of the Albigensians and the Waldensians impacted on the medieval world of Christendom. These heresies resulted in the establishment of the Inquisition, whose purpose and method of procedure are here outlined together with its controversial aspects. The survey concludes with a discussion of the penances and penalties: pilgrimages, wearing of crosses, confiscations, imprisonment, and the death penalty. An epilogue contrasts the thirteenth-century mind with the world view of the twentieth, and how successive writers have differed so widely in their view of this Medieval Inquisition through the centuries, with a particular critique of Henry Charles Lea and Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie.

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