> A lot of stuff, even bad stuff like the inquisition, wasn't as bad as we tend to think. Against the background of what legal systems in general looked in the

> A lot of stuff, even bad stuff like the inquisition, wasn't as bad as we tend to think. Against the background of what legal systems in general looked in the period, the inquisition was almost gentle. The Inquisition, in places, was every bit as bad as it was rumored. You are correct that the inquisition was supposed to be "gentle" up until it pleased the Holy Spirit to have the heretic burned who did not change their beliefs. ---- And in some places, the program went more according to plan: Inquisitor: Yo dude, do you believe the $CATHLOC_TRUTH If dude say yes, dude goes free, otherwise continue. Inquisitor: Yo, here's fifty reasons that $CATHLOC_TRUTH is true. Do you believe now? If dude say yes, dude goes free, otherwise continue. Inquisitor: Yo, I'm locking you up for six months to think about it. Inquisitor: Yo dude, do you believe the $CATHLOC_TRUTH, if not you are going to burn. If dude say yes, dude goes free, otherwise dude gets burnt. ---- So at each step of the process there is an "escape hatch" if someone is willing to renounce what they believed and submit. --- But in Spain, it was different. The Spanish style went with the theory that the worst heretics would try to hide their heresy, and therefor agreeing with the $CATHLOC_TRUTH was actually a sign of hidden evil. So in Spain: Inquisitor: Yo dude, you are a HERITIC! Dude: I believe the $CATHLOC_TRUTH. Inquisitor: That's just what a hectic would say! We are going to torture you until you say you don't really believe the $CATHLOC_TRUTH and you tell us the names of at least six of your friends and relative who are also secret heritcs. Then we will burn you. Lastly, once you are dead I'll keep all your money and lands, and then go arrest your friends/family and repeat. ---- Again, in theory, the inquisition was supposed to use only very gentle forms of torture, like waterboarding, but the actual practice in southern Spain was even worse.