Why kill off the obedient? The Holy Romans spent 500 or so years killing off the smart people during the Inquisition. That little exercise set western civilization back at least 1,000 years. It appears this time the swamp realizes we need a few smart people. So this time they want to take out a couple billion “eaters” to somehow make the world a better place. I absolutely promise this bunch of lying, double dealing, heavy thinking, elitist snobs, will not live to see the end result of their cockamamie scheme. We are not far away from frontier justice kicking in.
Years ago I did some digging on the Spanish Inquisition and how many were killed, I don’t remember the number so I just did some more searching.
Here are a few results.
https://www.quora.com/How-many-people-died-in-the-Inquisition
How many people did the Spanish Inquisition actually kill?
3.000 to 10.000 in its 250 years of existence. Probably towards the lowest numbers. recent research could even lower those numbers as many of those cases were returned to common justice as criminals used to indict themselves of witchcraft to have their cases taken to the inquisition as their interrogations were “softer” (in the sense that torture was limited to one hour, and common justice was not.
On the other hand the reform persecution of catholics alone in England killed more than 20.000 catholics during the Henry the VIII and Elizabeth the I reigns alone.
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Estimates for the Spanish Inquisition (for which we have the fullest documentation; also the longest and most active inquisition from 1478–1834) is 3,000–5,000 executions…over 357 years. That’s about 11 per year.
Keep in mind, the inquisitions were NOT the oppressive religious courts made out in popular imagination. They were essentially appeals courts and had to be requested by the local king/noble. To grossly oversimplify, if a person was being charged in secular court for heresy or some other grave public sin, they could ‘appeal’ to the papacy to hear their case instead — which was greatly preferred because Church courts were far fairer, far more lenient (they encouraged reconciliation), they forbid torture (which was standard practice of the day), and they were outsiders so freed one from the persecution of local officials with agendas. In other words, if you *could* appeal to an inquisitional court, you DID!
Also keep in mind, the Church never killed anyone…so it’s false to say that anyone was “killed by the inquisition.” If an accused person was found to be obstinately persisting in heresy and refused to recant and reconcile, then the inquisition would return them to secular authorities to continue their own criminal process. That process sometimes resulted in execution (again, a common practice among secular rulers in the days before institutionalized prisons). But the Church never carried out executions.
Another correction: the inquisitions never prosecuted witchcraft. The ‘witchcraft craze’ that swept Europe came after the Protestant Reformation and was almost entirely a Protestant phenomena. Popes had repeatedly denounced such trials and forbade Church officials from participating in them.
https://www.answers.com/Q/How_many_people_were_killed_during_the_Spanish_Inquisition
The Spanish Inquisition was one of the most meticulously recorded Inquisitions on record, it was also one of the most loved, as it protected the Spanish people for years. It started in the late 15th century and in the first 15 year consigned approximately 2,000 conversos to be burned. However, that was Torquemada, who was removed as Chief Inquisitor and replaced by the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo. After that things calmed considerably and in the entire sixteenth century a total of 182 heretics were executed, or less than 2 a year. To put this in perspective, the wars of religion and protestant persecution of Catholics in England, Ireland, the Netherlands, and elsewhere took tens of thousands of lives.
And a long detailed article if anyone really wants to delve into it.
Were 50 Million People Really Killed in the Inquisition?
https://www.ncregister.com/blog/were-50-million-people-really-killed-in-the-inquisition
https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/39443/what-was-the-death-toll-during-the-inquisition.
The Moorish invasion of Spain did more to mess up Spain and Europe than the church. (Still is!) Do not forget the Mongol invasions and their effect on Eastern Europe.
"Henry Kamen was a historian attacking the Spanish inquisition. His views changed after in 1960s he started to work on his 'Spanish Inquisition' book. Based on historical evidence he concluded that the inquisition was not made up of fanatics who rejoiced in torture and executions and that, for example, Inquisition gaols were better run and more humane than ordinary Spanish prisons.
For the period prior to 1530, Henry Kamen in 'Spanish Inquisition' estimated there were about 2,000 executions in all of Spain's tribunals.
Available source shows that the number of people executed between 1500-1700 could be reconstructed as 1303. The real death toll is probably slightly higher.
Those are numbers for Spain, in other countries the inquisition was not as powerful, so accounts saying that Inquisition killed millions could be put on the same shelf as "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" ".
There is additional information at the link with different total figures that cover different areas and periods. (S. France, the Albigensenes z.b.)