>> Sorry, but there was no separation of church and state in the 1500s. <<
Wrong!
The Papal Inquisition was created in 1230. Its intent was to claim jurisdiction over all religious offenses, such as heresy, so that the secular authorities could not use allegations of religious offenses to imprison, harass, suppress or execute political opponents who did not otherwise violate the law. For instance, British kings claims a right to rape newlyweds, and if you opposed that right, you were called a heretic; the Inquisition gave church authorities to assert that such a notion was counter to the Christian/Catholic faith.
No-one who denied being a Christian was subject to the Papal Inquisition, or any of the other Catholic inquisitions. For instance, the Spanish Inquisition was set up to deal with the problem of Muslims pretending to be Catholic to subvert the Catholic Church, yet overt Muslims were allowed to be judges, bankers, government officials, etc., Even Columbus’ navigator was a Muslim.
Once cleared of heresy, the state courts could not oppress the accused. That in no way meant heretics couldn’t prosecute heretics, merely that they had to do so on grounds other than heresy: The Arnoldites of Italy were also political insurrectionists; Jan Hus denied state authority to conduct war. In both cases, the Church officials found that their actions were not justified by religion, and, once found to be heretics, they were turned over to the state for prosecution on civil grounds.
There were, however, cases where the separation was taken down, most notable the Spanish Inquisition, which was done to counter the forced conversion of Spain to Islam. Although it DID apply only to those claiming to be Christian, it treated secretly being a Muslim as a crime against the state.
Much confusion over this stems from oppression born solely out the imagination of anti-Catholics: Galileo’s grand punishment was to wear a silly hat for a day and live in a beautiful estate. He was ordered not to publish his works, but was allowed to do so anyway, precisely because the order held no civil authority.
Try telling it to William Tyndale...or Thomas More, even.