The Inquisition

[miho]

battles between the Protestants and Catholics.

There were also battles between the protestants and the Puritans.

The Catholic Church did much more monstosities but the inquisition is the worst. They also were the richest in the middle ages because many people would donate them land in order to save their souls and peasants had to give the chuch a percentage of their belongings. For example if they had 10 cows they would have to give one to the church. The priests were uneducated and they sold the forgiveness of sins. When you went to confess you had to pay for it depending of your sins.

I have a hard time figuring out anything that were "fun" from all points of views when it comes to M:TW.

Those were pretty hard times to live in unless you were a noble.

[MuseRulez]

The priests were uneducated and they sold the forgiveness of sins. When you went to confess you had to pay for it depending of your sins.

It gets even better, you could also pay ahead. An example: you have plans to murder someone. You go to church and confess you plans to the priest. Pay him a good amount of gold and you would get a note which said that you were forgiven. The Church made a fortune this way.

[miho]

Well killing a man wasn't such a big crime unless he was someone influential. Stealing was considered to a be worse crime than killing. And poaching was strictly prohibited too. Can you imagine that if you get caught killing an animal you might be hanged, while if you get caught killing a man you only needed to pay a fine to the family of the deceased. And paying wasn't obligatory, but if you didn't pay you and your family would be excommunicated and would most likely be lynched.

[Mithrandir]

Moved to Monastery (Historical Discussions).

[Brutus]

May I remark here and now that the Inquisition and here mentioned witch trails are not exactly the same. Witch trails were held by Catholics and Protestants alike and lasted well into the 18th century, when the Inquisition had stopped functioning (although in name, it exists till this very day). The inquistion was essentially about bringing people who had 'strayed from the right path' back on track. It's sole purpose therefore wasn't burning people, but redeeming their souls. Most people questioned before an Inquisition court therefore were let off with minor public penances (like wearing a mark on one's clothes for a period of time) or prison sentences. It was only a minority that was burned (usually after they had redeemed themselves, but their crimes were considered to great to be let off easy) and NEVER by the church itself. The church had no real jurisdiction over lay people. If one was quilty of heresy, he/she was given over to lay jurisdiction and it was they who then burned people. Also, 'the Inquisition' wasn't active everywhere. The infamous Spanish Inquisition is one of the few really active before the Renaissance (and that one was about finding relapsed Jews ands Muslims). With some inquistionary courts temporarily existing in for example southern France (e.g. against the Cathars. For an account, read Montaillou by E. Le Roy Ladurie). Most lay rulers and laws forbade the inquisition elsewhere.

Burning peasants for fun seems to me a statement like: "OMG all medieval people were monstrous barbarians with the IQ of a stegosaur". This is absolutely not true. There probably were some executioners who liked their job a little too much but I doubt inquisitors (who weren't executioners, but very educated men, mostly) were enjoying the prospect of 'the smell of roast peasant in the morning'.

About paying a fine to the family of someone you murdered, that may have been so for some regions in some period, but certainly not for all. Murder was most certainly punishable by death in many regions. The system you describe seems to be that of feuding which was considered a pain by many and became obsolete in most regions as the Middle Ages progressed.

[Adrian II]

It was only a minority that was burned (usually after they had redeemed themselves, but their crimes were considered to great to be let off easy) and NEVER by the church itself. The church had no real jurisdiction over lay people.

Exactly. And the number of one million victims mentioned by original poster belongs to the realm of mythology rather than history, much like the supposedly huge numbers of victims of the Crusades, the French Revolution and some other turbulent historic episodes.

The records of the Spanish inquisition for instance, which are quite accurate for the age, indicate that between 1540 and 1700 throughout the entire Spanish realm about 700 people were burned or otherwise executed out of nearly 50.000 cases dealt with by Spanish inquisitors.

[Sigurd]

I second what Brutus and AdrianII said, and will like to add that the Inquisition compared to the secular courts of the same time were like night and day.
The brutality and injustice of the secular court was a stark contrast to the Inquisition with their modern-way courts that had judge, jury, prosecutor and defender.
Some authors on the subject have said that it was English propaganda against Spain during their war that black-painted the Catholic Church and her Inquisition(Spanish)... and I tend to agree.