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, ( occurred in some cases, it never took place during this religious ritual.]] The term Inquisition ( by the Roman Catholic Church . There were four major movements, starting with the Medieval Inquisition in 1184 and ending with the Spanish Inquisition in 1834 . ORIGIN The Inquisition was an institution within the Roman Catholic Church, charged with the eradication of heresy, sometimes by violent means. Heresies (from Greek ''haeresis'', sect, school of belief) were a problem to the Church and the Faith. In the Bible, Acts Chapter 15 recounts the convening of a Council In Jerusalem to deal with the heresy of the Judaizers , who had contended with the Jerusalem faction in Asia and especially Galatia . In the subsequent centuries there were the Arians and Manicheans ; in the Middle Ages there were the Cathari and Waldenses ; and in the Renaissance there were the Hussite s, Lutherans , Calvinists , and Rosicrucian s. Efforts to suppress heresies were initially '' Ad Hoc '', but in the Middle Ages a permanent structure came into being to combat heresies. The Church deemed it according to the public good to remove these heretics from the public, or at least to correct them, as the Church held that the eternal good of one's soul depends on its adherence to the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church. Although it was originally the state who began the reprimanding of heretics, it eventually fell in the hands of the Church in the late middle ages. HISTORY There were four Inquisitions; in chronological order, they were the Medieval Inquisition , the Spanish Inquisition , the Portuguese Inquisition and the Roman Inquisition . One would however be incorrect to presume that these were totally unrelated to each other and that the inquisition was limited to these discrete events. Medieval Inquisition Main article: Medieval Inquisition The first of the Medieval Inquisitions is called the Episcopal Inquisition and was established in the year 1184 by a Papal Bull , an official letter from the Pope, entitled ''Ad abolendam''; "For the purpose of doing away with". The Inquisition was in response to the growing Catharist heresy in southern France . It is called the "episcopal" because it was administered by local Bishop s, which in Greek is ''episcopos''. The Episcopal Inquisition was not very effective for many reasons (see Medieval Inquisition ). The Papal Inquisition in the 1230s was in response to the failures of the Episcopal Inquisition and was staffed by professionals, trained specifically for the job as decreed by the Pope. Individuals were chosen from different orders and secular clergy, but primarily they came from the Dominican Order who had a number of traits that made them suitable (see Medieval Inquisition ). Spanish Inquisition Main article: Spanish Inquisition The Spanish Inquisition was founded in 1478 in Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella Of Castile . It was to a large extent under the control of the Spanish monarch, with only the Inquisitor General appointed by Rome. In its dealings with converted Muslims and Jews and also Illuminist s, the Spanish Inquisition, with its " Auto De Fe ", represents a particularly notorious period in the history of the Inquisition. This inquisition also gave rise to the Peruvian Inquisition during the Viceroyalty Of Peru which ended with its Independence on July 28 , and also the Mexican Inquisition , which continued in the Americas until Mexican Independence. It was abolished in 1834 . Roman Inquisition Main article: Roman Inquisition Pope Paul III established, in 1542 , a permanent congregation staffed with Cardinals and other officials, whose task it was to maintain and defend the integrity of the faith and to examine and proscribe errors and false doctrines. This body, the Congregation of the Holy Office, now called the Congregation For The Doctrine Of The Faith , part of the Roman Curia , became the supervisory body of local Inquisitions. The Pope appoints one of the cardinals to preside over the meetings. There are usually ten other cardinals on the Congregation, as well as a Prelate and two assistants all chosen from the Dominican Order . The Holy Office also has an international group of consultants, experienced scholars of theology and canon law, who advise it on specific questions. In 1616 these consultants gave their assessment of the propositions that the Sun is immobile and at the center of the universe and that the Earth moves around it, judging both to be "foolish and absurd in philosophy," and the first to be "formally heretical" and the second "at least erroneous in faith" in theology. This assessment led to Copernicus 's '' De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium '' to be placed on the Index Of Forbidden Books , until revised and Galileo Galilei to be admonished about his Copernicanism. It was this same body in 1633 that tried Galileo, condemned him for a "grave suspicion of heresy", and banned all his works. Not all prosecutions of alleged heretics, atheists and other deviations from the Catholic faith were prosecuted by the Inquisition. In some countries, such as France under the '' Ancien Régime '', atheists and Blasphemers could be prosecuted by civilian courts, with the possible penalty of Death . Portuguese Inquisition Main article: Portuguese Inquisition The Portuguese Inquisition was established in Portugal in 1536 by the King Of Portugal , João III , as a Portuguese analogue of the more famous Spanish Inquisition OTHER USES OF THE WORD "INQUISITION" Even though the last Inquisition (The Spanish Inquisition) ended in 1834 almost 200 years ago, the word "Inquisition" remains a part of modern vocabulary; even those with no interest in European history associate it with negative meanings. {Link without Title} Because of the negative images associated with the Inquisition, the term has taken on a pejorative usage, and is often used to express disapproval, and is often used in a non-neutral manner, and not as a neutral historical descriptor.
DERIVATIVE WORKS The Inquisitions have been the subject of many cultural works. Some include:
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