The Inquisition

"The Christian resolve to find the world evil and ugly, has made
the world evil and ugly."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Today, the xtian church does not have the power it once had,
yet, we have witnessed the xtian abuses of children, child rape,
molestation and other vile acts that reveal the true nature of
many xtians and the effects their "god" has upon his followers.
The pedophilia scandals are just a small sample of what xtians
are capable of.

Years ago, when the xtian church had complete control over
government, human life and spirit, we can see from the
inquisition, just how sick these people are and just what
lengths they will go to get you to accept "jesus." Just as is seen
in the numerous xtian abuses of children today, years ago, with
the inquisition, girls as young as nine and boys as young as ten
were tried for witchcraft. Children much younger were tortured
to extract testimony against their parents.¹ Children were then
flogged while they watched their parents burn.
A documented case in the Silesian town of Neisse reveals a
huge oven was constructed, which over a ten year period, more
than a thousand "condemned witches, some as young as two
years old" were roasted alive.² Many victims were also
extremely old, some in their 80's. This made no difference to
the church.

The xtian church murdered, tortured, mutilated and destroyed

millions and millions of lives both directly through the
Inquisition and indirectly through all of the wars they incited.
The damage and destruction this foul religion has perpetrated
against humanity is almost beyond comprehension. Most
people aren't even aware of the facts. Between the years of
1450-1600, the xtian church was responsible for the torture,
and burning of some 30,000 alleged "witches."³
During the reign of the Roman Emporer Constantine CE 306-
337 the doctrines of the xtian church were regarded as the
foundation of law.4 Heretics (persons who opposed church
teachings) were sought out, tortured and eventually murdered.
Heresy was an offense against the state as well as the church.
For hundreds of years, civil rulers tried to stamp out all heresy.

As early as CE 430, the church leaders declared heresy

punishable by death. In CE 906, "The Canon Episcopi" was the
first church body to expressly forbid the use of witchcraft.5
Before the Inquisition was fully underway, the church accepted
heretics back into the fold, under terms it considered
reasonable. The following is an example:

For three Sundays, the heretic was stripped to the waist and
whipped from the entrance of the town/village all the way to
the church door. He/she was to permanently deny him/herself
meat, eggs and cheese except on Easter, pentecost and xmas,
when he/she is to eat of them as a sign of his/her penance. For
twenty days, twice a year he/she was to avoid fish and for 3
days in each week fish, wine and oil, fasting, if his/her health
would permit.

He/she was to wear monastic vestments with a small cross

sewn on each breast. He/she was to hear mass daily. Seven
times a day, he/she was to recite the canonical hours and in
addition, at Paternoster ten times each day and twenty times
each night.
He/she was to observe total abstinence from sex. Every month
he/she was to report to a priest who was to keep the heretic
under close observation. He/she was to be segregated from the
rest of the community.6

There is no precise date for the beginning of the Inquisition,

most sources agree it manifested during the first 6 years of the
reign of the catholic pope, Gregory IX, between 1227 and 1233.
Pope Gregory IX who ruled from 1227-1241 is often referred to
as the "Father of the Inquisition."

The Inquisition was a campaign of torture, mutilation, mass

murder and destruction of human life perpetrated by xtians.
The church increased in power until it had total control over
human life, both secular and religious.
The Vatican wasn't satisfied with the progress made by
regional leaders in rooting out heresy. Pope Innocent III
commissioned his own inquisitors who answered directly to
him. Their authority was made official in the papal bull of
March 25th, 1199.7Innocent declared "anyone who attempted
to construe a personal view of god which conflicted with the
church dogma must be burned without pity."8

In 1254, to ease the job of the inquisitors, Pope Innocent IV

decreed that accusers could remain anonymous, preventing the
victims from confronting them and defending themselves. Many
churches had a chest where informants could slip written
accusations against their neighbors. Three years later, he
authorized and officially condoned torture as a method of
extracting confessions of heresy. 9

Victims were tortured in one room,

then, if they confessed, they were led away from the chamber
into another room to confess to the inquisitors.

This way it could be

claimed the confessions were given without the use of force.
The Inquisitional law replaced common law. Instead of
innocent until proven guilty, it was guilty until proven innocent.

Inquisitors grew very rich, accepting bribes and fines from the
wealthy who paid to avoid being prosecuted. The wealthy were
prime targets for the church who confiscated their property,
land and everything they had for generations. The Inquisition
took over all of the victims' possessions upon accusation. There
was very little if any chance of proving one's self innocent, so
this is one way the catholic church grew very wealthy. Pope
Innocent stated that since "god" punished children for the sins
of their parents, they had no right to be legal heirs to the
property of their parents. Unless children came forth freely to
denounce their parents, they were left penniless. Inquisitors
even accused the dead of heresy, in some cases, as much as
seventy years after their death. They exhumed and burned the
accused's bones and confiscated all property from their heirs,
leaving them with nothing. 10

The actions of the inquisitors had devestating effects on the

economy that left entire communities totally impoverished
while the church glutted with wealth. They also crippled the
economy by holding certain professions suspect. Inquisitors
believed the printed word to be a threat to the church and
interfered with the communication brought about by the
invention of the printing press in the 15th century. Maps,
cartographers, traveling merchants and traders were all placed
under intense suspicion; a threat to the church.
Although the church had begun murdering people it deemed
heretics in the 4th century and again in 1022 at Orléan, papal
statutes of 1231 insisted heretics suffer death by fire. Burning
people to death prevented spilling of blood. John 15:6 "If a
man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is
withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire,
and they are burned."
The nazarene quote incited all of this.

The pedophilia witnessed today is just a small example of the

insanity and the twisted, warped minds of most xians and
where any power that they obtain leads to.

The Witch hunts, 1450-1750 were what R H Robbins (The

Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology) called "the
shocking nightmare, the foulest crime and deepest shame of
western civilization." In this 300 year period, the church
stepped up the mass murder and systematic torture of innocent
human beings. Torturers were allowed as much time as they
needed to torture their victims. Most courts demanded that
prior to the torture, the victim be thoroughly shaved, claiming
that any Demon left undetected in the victim's body hair might
intervene to deaden the pain that the torturers inflicted or
answer for the victim.11

Doctors would be in attendance if it seemed the victim might

die from the torture. The victim would then be allowed to
recover a little before more torture was applied. If the victim
died during the torture, inquisitors claimed the Devil
intervened with the purpose of sparing the victim further pain
or preventing them from revealing his secrets.12 Those who
fainted had vinegar poured into their nostrils to revive them.
The victim's families were required under law to reimburse the
courts for the costs of torture. Entire estates were seized by
the church. Priests blessed the torture instruments prior to
their being used. Certain devices were employed to inflict the
maximum pain; indisputable evidence of the sick xtian mind:
Judas Cradle

The victim was pulled up by a rope or chain and then lowered

to the point. The torturer controlled the pressure by attaching
weights to the victim or rocking or raising and dropping the
victim from various heights.

Brodequin (The Boots)

The brodequin was used to crush the legs by tightening the

device by hand, or using a mallet for knocking in the wedges to
smash the bones until the bone marrow spurted out. People
who passed out were further condemned as the losing of
consciousness to be a trick from the Devil in order to escape
pain.

Burning the feet. Oil, lard and grease were applied to the feet
before roasting them over a fire. A screen was used to control
or increase the pain as exposure to the fire was applied on and
off for maximum suffering. Also, as a variation, some victims
were forced to wear large leather or metal boots into which
boiling water or molten lead was poured.

Hanging and the Strappado

The victim's hands were bound behind the back. They were
then yanked up to the ceiling of the torture chamber by a
pulley and a rope. Dislocation ensued. Xtians preferred this
method, as it left no visible marks of torture. Heavy weights
were often strapped to the victim to increase the pain and
suffering.
Squassation was a more extreme form of the torture. This
method entailed strapping weights as much as hundreds of
pounds, pulling limbs from their sockets. Following this, the
xtian inquisitor would quickly release the rope so they would
fall towards the floor. At the last second, the xtian inquisitioner
would again yank the rope. This dislocated virtually every bone
in the victim's body. Four applications were considered enough
to kill even the strongest of victims.
Many were hung upsidedown as well until strangulation
ensued.

Heretic's Fork

This device was often used to silence the victim on the way to
the burning stake, so they could not reveal what had occurred
in the torture chamber or defend themselves in any way.
Ripping the flesh

Xtian clergy delighted in the tearing and ripping of the flesh.

The Catholic church learned a human being could live until the
skin was peeled down to the waist when skinned alive. Often,
the rippers were heated to red hot and used on women's
breasts and in the genitalia of both sexes.

Breast Rippers

The Iron Torture Chair was studded with spikes. The victim was
strapped in nude and a fire was lit beneath the chair. Heavy
objects were also be used. They were placed upon the victim to
increase the pain of the spikes. Blows with mallets were also
inflicted. Often, other torturous devices were applied with the
chair such as the flesh ripping pincers, shown above and leg
crushing vices.

Skull Crusher
This one speaks for itself. Xtian clergy preferred this device
because it did not leave visible marks, unless the skull was
completely crushed, which happened.

The Rack

The Rack, aka the Ladder was another device that was used
extensively. The procedure was to place the nude or near nude
victim horizontally on the ladder or rack. Ropes were used to
bind the arms and legs like a tourniquet. The knot could be
steadily twisted to draw tight the ropes and stretch the victim
to where the muscles and ligaments tore and bones broke.
Often, heavy objects were placed upon the victim to increase
the pain. This was considered by the church to be "one of the
milder forms of torture."

The Wheel

The nude victim, was stretched out, lying face downward on

the ground or on the execution dock, with his or her arms and
legs spread, and tied to stakes or iron rings. Wooden
crosspieces were placed under the wrists, elbows, ankles,
knees and hips. The inquisitor then smashed limb after limb
and joint after joint, including the shoulders and hips, with the
iron-tyred edge of the wheel, taking care not to bring about the
death of the victim. There were splinters of smashed bones,
blood spurted everywhere and the victim's entire skeleton was
crushed and smashed. Thereafter the shattered limbs were
�braided� into the spokes of the large wheel. The wheel has
to be one of the most gruesome of all torture devices. The idea
is, that the victims' limbs are shattered and entwined around
the spokes of the wheel, attaching them to it.

The Thumbscrew

The thumbscrew was a device where the victim's thumbs were

placed and systematically crushed. Similar devices were used
on the toes. Thumbscrews were often applied at the same time
as the strappado and other torture devices to inflict more pain.
The Water Torture

The victim was stripped and bound to a bench or table and a

funnel was inserted and pressed down into his throat. Water
was poured into the funnel in jug fulls with his/her nose being
pinched, forcing him/her to swallow. After this was repeated
enough times to where the victim's stomach was almost to
burst, the bench or table was then tilted, with the victim's head
pointing to the floor. The water in the stomach put painful
pressure on the victim's lungs and heart. There was not only
the incredible pain with this, but also, the feeling of
suffocation. Inquisitors would also beat upon the stomach with
mallets to the point of internal rupture.
In another variation, the victim was forced to swallow large
quantities of water together with lengths of knotted cord. The
cords were then violently yanked from the victim's mouth
resulting in disemboweling.
The Iron Maiden aka the "virgin mary"

Covering the front side of this device was a statue of the virgin
bitch, inside were spikes, sharp knives or nails. Levers would
move the arms of the statue, crushing the victim against the
knives and nails.

Other devices and methods:

• Forced feeding of overly salted foods that resulted in

extreme thirst, then, the denial of water.
• Immersion in scalding water laced with Lime.
• Yanking back and forth by 2 or more inquisitors with
ropes attached to a spiked iron collar. This tore the flesh
on the victim's neck. Variations used screws that could be
tightened.
• The prayer stool. A spike board on which the victim was
forced to kneel.
• Stocks which were fitted with iron spikes
• Slowly roasting victims over fire.
• "Walking a Witch" entailed forcing a victim to walk back
and forth for days on end until completely exhausted. A
variation of this was having the victim sit cross legged
upon a wooden stool, being deprived of movement or
sleep. Some victims were as much as 80 years old.
• "Thrawing." Similar to the spiked iron collar, only a rope
was tied tightly around the head and the victim was
yanked back and forth.
• "Turkas." These were a variation of pincers used to pull
out fingernails.
 • Many were thrown in filthy dungeons with no light or
human contact, in addition, often being chained or
confined in the stocks.
• "Scoring above the Breath" the ancient belief that
bleeding a witch above the mouth and nose would break a
spell incited inquisitors to tear flesh, stick with needles
and other instruments upon the victim's face.

Galileo Galilei,the famous Italian astronomer and physicist was

one of the most noted victims of the inquisition. A letter in
which he attempted to demonstrate the Copernican theory,
that the Earth is not the center of the universe, was forwarded
by some of his enemies (xtians) to the inquisitors in Rome. He
was tried in 1633 and found guilty of heresy. He was forced to
recant (publicly withdraw his statement) and was sentenced to
life imprisonment under house arrest.
In 1979, Pope John Paul II declared that the Roman Catholic
Church "may have been mistaken in condemning him," and he
established a commission to study the case.13
In 1993, the Catholic Church "officially" pardoned Galileo. In
other words, they forgave him for teaching that the planets
revolve around the Sun, not the Earth. (See the above link).

Loss of human life:

• Salzburg, Austria, 1677-1681 over 100 murdered

• Basque region of the Pyrenees; 1608, Lawyer Pierre de
Lancre was sent to the region to "root out and destroy
 those who worshipped Pagan Gods." Over 600 tortured
and murdered.
• Witch judge Henri Boguet c. 1550-1619 sent some 600
victims to their deaths in Burgundy, many of them young
children who were systematically tortured and then
burned alive.
• A pregnant woman was burned alive and from the trauma,
she gave birth before she died. The baby was tossed back
into the flames.
• Swedish town of Mora, 1669, more than 300 murdered.
Among them, 15 children. 36 children between the ages of
9 and 15 were made to run the gauntlet and were beaten
with rods upon their hands once a week for an entire
year. Twenty of the youngest children, all under the age
of 9 were whipped on their hands at the church door for 3
sundays in succession. Many more were severaly beaten
for witchcraft offenses.
• In Scotland, under the rule of Oliver Cromwell, a total of
120 in a single month were murdered in 1661. Estimates
of the total dead have been as high as 17,000 between
1563 and 1603.
• In Würzburg, Germany, the Chancellor wrote a graphic
account in the year of 1629:
"...there are three hundred children of three or four years,
who are said to have had intercourse with the Devil. I
have seen children of seven put to death, and brave little
scholars of ten, twelve, fourteen and fifteen years of
age..."
Between the years of 1623 and 1633, some 900 "witches"
were put to death throughout Würzburg. This was largely
maintained by the Jesuits.
• The Chronicler of Treves reported in 1586 that the entire
female population of two villages was wiped out by
inquisitors. Only two women were left alive.
• Noted cases included the Knights Templar, Joan of Arc
who was chained by the neck, hands and feet and locked
in a cramped iron cage, Galileo, who stated that the Earth
revolved around the Sun and was not the center of the
universe as the church taught(See above).

The above accounts were taken from Cassel Dictionary of

Witchcraft by David Pickering.
On Sunday, March 12th, 2002, the Pope John Paul II apologized
for the "errors of his church for the last 2000 years."

REFERENCES:

¹The Dark Side of Christian History by Helen Ellerbe, page 124

²Cassel Dictionary of Witchcraft by David Pickering, article on
"Germany", page 108
³Cassel Dictionary of Witchcraft by David Pickering, article on
"Inquisition", page 146
4
World Book Encyclopedia article on "Inquisition." ©1989
5
Wizards and Sorcerers by Tom Ogden, article on "Inqusition."
6
The Dark Side of Christian History by Helen Ellerbe, page 77
7
Wizards and Sorcerers by Tom Ogden, article on "Inquisition."
8
The Dark Side of Christian History by Helen Ellerbe, page 77
9
Wizards and Sorcerers by Tom Ogden
10
The Dark Side of Christian History by Helen Ellerbe, page 80
11
Cassel Dictionary of Witchcraft by David Pickering article on
"Torture."
12
Cassel Dictionary of Witchcraft by David Pickering, article on
"torture."
13
World Book Encyclopedia article on "Galileo." ©1989

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