Quote Originally Posted by Brutus
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.