A History Of The Inquisition Of The Middle Ages Origin And Organization Of The Inquisition

This detailed analysis of one of the most brutal periods of religious persecution ever recorded is a must-read for history buffs of all stripes. Author Henry Charles Lea lends detail and dimension to the historical record, providing a turn-by-turn recounting of events along with deeper insight into the motives and psychology of the persecutors and persecuted. As part of our mission to publish great works of literary fiction and nonfiction, Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. is extremely dedicated to bringing to the forefront the amazing works of long dead and truly talented authors.

The word "Inquisition" immediately brings to mind images of the rack, the thumbscrew and the sake. It also brings to mind the cruel efforts made to stamp out freedom of thought, of speech and religion. Yet the Inquisition as we have come to know it did not spring full-blown from the imaginations of fifteenth century popes, monarchs and witch hunters. Nor was it an exclusive product of Spain. It was the result of centuries of evolution of church law, secular authority and the concept of heresy itself. Starting in the thirteenth century, scattered inquisitorial episodes slowly began to take on a particular shape and to become a terrifying and powerful system. How did this system originate and function? What means were used to force victims to confess? What was the nature of the punishments? The 8 chapters in this book, taken without abridgement from Henry Charles Lea's masterful 3 volume A History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages, form one of the fullest accounts yet published on the origin and development of the inquisitorial process in wrester Europe. They offer a complete picture of the mechanism of the Inquisition: its structure, its methods of interrogation and trial, and its treatment of evidence. The also capture the relentless spirit of the Inquisition in all its variety of sentence and punishment: pen ace, excommunication, confiscation of property, torture and, sometimes, death. From these pages emerges a comprehensive and vivid portrait of a system which, as Lea says, "might well seem the invention of demons, and was fitly characterized ... as the Road to Hell."

This was originally published in three volumes, but is now comprised in one volume. There is a linked table of contents for each volume as well as a detailed table of contents at the beginning of each volume linked to the specific chapters in that volume. There is also a subject index at the end of the volume which is not linked, but nonetheless it gives the book and chapter in which the subject can be found, as well as the original page number of the printed edition. Henry Charles Lea's History of the Medieval Inquisition pulls from primary sources, so as to give an accurate account of the Catholic Church’s judicial system known as the Inquisition. As he explores the events of the twelfth century, which later become known as the dreaded Inquisition, he breaks the subjects down into three categories. In the first volume he looks at the medieval concepts and of the relationships between individuals and the Church. In volume two he looks at the placement of the inquisitions throughout Europe and the state of different religious conditions within the Languedoc region. He shows how that in Italy and France there was a continual resistance to the Inquisition. In the third and final volume Lea studied the impact of the Inquisition on scholarship and academic life and on faith and society as a whole. He also shows how that the belief in sorcery and witchcraft in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was a product of the Catholic Inquisition and how that the Church authorities were feeding its growth. Through these orders of the Franciscans and the Fraticelli they gained their prominence. Throughout these three books he deals with religious groups such as the Cathari, the Albigensian, the Hussites, as well as looking at the Albigensian Crusades, and its impact. Overview Of The Table of Contents Volume 1 Origin and Organization of the Inquisition: 1. The Church; 2. Heresy; 3. The Cathari; 4. The Albigensian Crusades; 5. Persecution; 6. The Mendicant orders; 7. The Inquisition founded; 8. Organization; 9. The Inquisitorial process; 10. Evidence; 11. The defence; 12. The sentence; 13. Confiscation; 14. The stake; Appendix. Volume 2 The Inquisition in the Several Lands of Christendom: 1. Languedoc; 2. France; 3. The Spanish peninsula; 4. Italy; 5. The Slavic Cathari; 6. Germany; 7. Bohemia; 8. The Hussites; Appendix of documents. Volume 3 Special Fields of Inquisitorial Activity: 1. The Spiritual Franciscans; 2. Guglielma and Dolcino; 3. The Fraticelli; 4. Political heresy utilized by the Church; 5. Political heresy utilized by the state; 6. Sorcery and occult arts; 7. Witchcraft; 8. Intellect and faith; 9. Conclusion; Appendix of documents; Index.

This detailed analysis of one of the most brutal periods of religious persecution ever recorded is a must-read for history buffs of all stripes. Author Henry Charles Lea lends detail and dimension to the historical record, providing a turn-by-turn recounting of events along with deeper insight into the motives and psychology of the persecutors and persecuted. As part of our mission to publish great works of literary fiction and nonfiction, Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. is extremely dedicated to bringing to the forefront the amazing works of long dead and truly talented authors.