Women in the Inquisition

Many people may have seen the apology given formally by Pope John Paul the Second recently. In this speech, he requested that the Roman Catholic Church be forgiven for the crimes against other religions during the Inquisition and the Crusades. As a pagan woman, I was deeply touched by his effort. Then, as the translator spoke the words that so many millions will never hear, tears came to my eyes. He asked for forgiveness of the crimes committed against women during those horrifying years. Although his words will not cover the scars left behind, they will help heal the rift between the Catholic church, and so many other religions.

From the early 1300's until the late 1700's (even rumored to have continued well into the 1800's), the Inquisition set about to find and destroy those that would not follow the Church blindly and without question. The problem with this is that many of the people tortured and killed for "crimes against the church" were innocent women and children, the elderly, men of whom others were jealous. The healing arts were not to be practiced without cries of "She's a witch!" Male practitioners of social rank were not as often condemned...they had they excuse of being doctors. Women on the other hand, were guilty of all manner of things before they could even open their mouths to defend themselves.

Those were dark years for many people, but particularly for the women. Age and beauty did not matter. Even the rich governor's wife could be held for questioning and put to death for practicing witchcraft, if there was another woman involved with the husband, or a jealous previous girlfriend. Children were often held and put to death with their mothers, as all knew mothers taught their children everything. To be stripped, searched prodded and poked by a number of men, and then thrown into a cell without food or water, to await either torture or death would probably have driven many mad.

Opinions vary on the numbers of victims of the Inquisition. Some rate it as low as two thousand, others say it was more like nine million. Records were kept, and although the list of names is long and many "confessed" under duress, we can be sure that most of the women and children put to death were innocent of any crime. They were also most likely Christians, and not one of the pagan culture. It is sad to think that this was all done in the name of a man who would have been appalled at what his followers had brought about. This was a man who took the hand of a fallen woman and accepted her at face value - the Inquisition was not about acceptance, but judgment.

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