WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Inquisition was a powerful office set up within the Catholic Church to root out and punish heresy throughout Europe and the Americas. Beginning in the 12th century and continuing for hundreds of years, the Inquisition is infamous for the severity of its tortures and its persecution of Jews and Muslims.

Detailed explanation-2: -It was a special court set up by the Catholic Church to stop the spread of the Protestant faith especially in Spain, Portugal and Italy. The leaders of the Catholic Church considered all Protestants to be heretics so in these countries they were put on trial for their religious beliefs.

Detailed explanation-3: -The earliest, largest, and best-known of these was the Spanish Inquisition, established by Pope Sixtus IV at the petition of Ferdinand and Isabella, the rulers of Aragon and Castile, in a papal bull of Nov. 1, 1478.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Inquisition operated a widespread system of investigation which kept track of everything said or printed, in order to discover pockets of heresy and atheism. All of the Inquisition’s proceedings, including the very fact of the trial itself, were secret and their disclosure was prohibited.