The main threat to the Catholic Church in the Middlecenturies have become heretics - apostates who questioned the teachings of the Pope of Rome, the interpretation of the Gospel and the holiness of the clergy. They carried their ideas to the people, everywhere causing unrest and outbreaks of uprisings. During this period, an ecclesiastical investigation in the fight against heretics became one of the main tools for eliminating dissidents.
Middle Ages - the heyday and the unprecedentedpower of the church. At the turn of the XII-XIII centuries, Pope was Innocent III. He proclaimed himself the vicar of Christ on earth and, being an educated, intelligent and clever diplomat, he helped in every way to strengthen the position of his throne.
He did a church investigation in the fight againstThe heretics above the secular (royal) court, organized the Fourth Crusade, skillfully used the Franciscan order of destitute monks and the Order of St. Dominic, who were very popular among the common people and the cleverness of Innocent III strengthened the authority of the church.
In the future, the church investigation in the fight againstHeretics (the Inquisition) began to be used to eliminate enlightened, scholars and simply unwanted persons. Children with disabilities in physical development were declared children of Satan, beautiful women as witches, healers and midwives were accused of conspiring with the devil. All of them were also victims of the Inquisition.
The church divided all people into estates.The upper class was declared the clergy, the middle - the king and nobility, the lowest - the people. The task of the upper class is to protect the soul of a lay person from sin, to beg forgiveness from God of all who live on earth. The nobility was supposed to protect the king and the clergy from an external enemy, and the task of the people - to feed and maintain those and others.
During the sermons, the clergy urged everyone tohumility and meekness, they were taught to "know their place" and not to resist the will of the Most High, not to gather wealth on earth, caring more for the salvation of the soul. Nevertheless, they themselves concentrated in their hands enormous wealth, put on expensive clothes and surrounded themselves with comfort. Not in poverty and nobility. The people were bent in poverty. Such polarity could not but cause disturbances. There were those who loudly condemned the duplicity of "God's servants", expressed doubts about their teachings and holiness. This greatly undermined the authority of the Pope.
Such brave dissenters were announcedapostates, heretics (they carried heresy, insulted the holy doctrine). The real struggle of the Catholic Church against the heretics began. They ferociously destroyed not only the apostates themselves, but also their families, uprooting a potential threat.
The basis of this struggle were punitive measures.Dissenters were declared apostates (heretics), they were thrown into prison, held in inhuman conditions, subjected to terrible torture, and finally they were sentenced to a terrible execution — burned alive at the stake.
As a rule, the church minister was in one personand the prosecutor, and the investigator, and the judge. Conducting a church investigation in the fight against heretics, the charges were based mainly on denunciations, most of which were obtained again under torture. In 99 cases out of 100, those who got into the dungeons of the Inquisition did not come out alive. Their property was confiscated and divided mainly between the church and the king. Some part of it was given to a local nobleman, from whose volost a heretic was born.
There are documents confirming that for several centuries, while the struggle of the church against heretics continued, 12 million inhabitants of Europe were destroyed.
