Heresy and the Inquisition
In the XIII century. In medieval Europe there are heretical movements associated with the emergence and flowering of cities. It was in the cities that the number of educated people increased, able to read religious books and reflect on their content. They understood that the servants of the church did not in any way resemble Christ and his apostolic disciples who had neither power nor money.
The highest flowering heretical movements reached in the second half of the 12th-13th centuries. Their center was South France, where the heretical teachings of the Cathars and the Valdensians were born. Qatar claimed that in the world there is an eternal struggle between good and evil. In this fight must win exactly good. It is interesting that the church, headed by the Pope, they considered the embodiment of evil, the kingdom of the Sagan. Therefore, the Cathars created their own church. It did not have a hierarchy of spiritual ranks, sacrament of communion, worship of icons, cross and relics.
The catars achieved a special success in the area of the city of Albi in the south of France. By the name of the city they are also called Albigenses. Pope Innocent III organized a crusade against them. During the Albigensian wars, many civilians were severely exterminated. So, having captured the last stronghold of the Albigensians – the cathedral-cathedral Monsegur – the victors burned alive more than two hundred people who refused to renounce their faith. The blossoming south of France has turned into a desert.
Simultaneously with the movement of the Cathars in the south of France, the heretical doctrine of the Waldenses spread, which was founded by a wealthy merchant from Lyon, Pierre Wald. The Waldenses denied most of the Christian sacraments, prayers, icons, the cult of the saints, and did not recognize the church hierarchy. They refused to pay taxes and Tithes, to perform military service, and opposed death sentences. In Switzerland and Italy until now, there are small groups of followers of this teaching.
For
In the XIII century. For the trial and punishment of the heretics, the Inquisition was established. The Inquisition was entrusted to Dominican monks. Inquisitors were considered inviolable persons and submitted directly to the Pope. A whole system of espionage was created, denunciations were encouraged. Judicial proceedings were conducted secretly, with the use of torture. Cruel tortures from the accused were extended recognition in heresy, witchcraft and other sins. If he agreed to repent, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, and if he refused – to be burned at the stake. Often held the ceremony of announcing and executing the verdict of the Inquisition over a group of heretics – Autodofe in the central square of the city with a large crowd of people, in the presence of the spiritual and secular nobility, sometimes the king and his family.
In Spain, the punitive activities of the Inquisition reached its greatest scale under the leadership of the great inquisitor Thomas Torquemada. According to his sentences, 4,000 to 10,000 people were accused of heresy in Spain.
Heresy is a religious teaching that denies the foundations and organizational forms of the ruling church.
Tithing is the tax that the church exacts from Christians. Tithes were of three kinds: a tenth part of the grain harvest, also part of the harvest of fruits and vegetables, from the litter of cattle.
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