I must admit that I did not enjoy the topics our readings covered this past week in any particular way. That is not to say, by any means, that I found the information put me into a mood of disinterest. Who wouldn’t find something engaging to study when covering the efforts and accusations of the Inquisition? To me, the most intriguing facet of the inquisition’s escapades was the deplorable methodology implemented by the Catholic Church. The forced confessions of Marina de San Miguel serve as a superb example of said methodology. Firstly, countless peoples brought before the leaders of the Inquisition were captured, or arrested, in secrecy and held in secret prisons. Think about that for a moment, it is a SECRET PRISON in which the detainees were often contained. Its secrecy of these institutions would seemingly imply that the detainees were most likely robbed of socializing with peers, hygienic living conditions, perhaps even of daylight.
What was even more odious was the means by which the inquisitors extracted information and confessions from those being held. The majority of prisoners being held for questioning were typically given completely open ended questions such as, “why are you here?” Utilizing a system of coercion and repression, both of which were essential tactics of the Inquisition, will always lead to submission and a loss of willpower. These were the two pillars upon which the power of the Inquisition stood. For while many, if not most, of the Inquisition’s victims were originally detained for specific reasons, the church would simply subject them to elongated forms of suffering until information was attained. Furthermore, this information would hardly ever contain the slightest hint of truth! The human imagination is capable of producing any story or image, especially when contained to a prison cell. Naturally, in desperate attempts at liberation by any means possible, those detained would commonly give information of their own personal enemies, friends, neighbors, or family members. Not unlike what detainees said of themselves, the validity of these stories was normally subjective. In retrospect, I find it very difficult to fathom the immediate and long-term results of these religious endeavors. What began as efforts to oust heretics gradually became diluted by cruel tactics and abusive treatment of religious prisoners. Coupling these implements of torture and strict living conditions with attempts to gather incriminating evidence and information on others, who had not been captured, ultimately morphed the Inquisition into little more than a political and religious fiasco.

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