The medieval Inquisition: A study in religious persecution

A critical study examines the moral condition of the medieval church and traces the origins, constitution, and methods of the Inquisition, describing inquisitorial procedures including delation, evidence rules, imprisonment, torture, sentencing, confiscation, and execution. It surveys how the institution overran regions of Europe—southern and northern France, Aragon and Castile, Italy, Bosnia, Germany, Bohemia, and the Netherlands—and treats related episodes such as political heresy cases, the Templars, Joan of Arc, accusations of sorcery, censorship of books, the Greek Church, indulgences, and contemporary attempts to justify or whitewash these practices.