I apologize in advance to those here who have already assiduously learned these Medieval history lessons and find them redundant in their intellectual ordnance. If you already know about the Inquisition, the Crusades â?? and their historic relationship to Western civilization, please skip this post!
Here is a brief Random Note almost parenthetic note on the much talked about and maligned, but little understood Spanish Inquisition. Let us just say, the Spanish Inquisition (right) was, in fact, more of a national instrument than a religious persecution. Careful, painstaking research in the last century has concluded that the exaggerations by both Protestants and enemies of the Christian church have resulted in a contrived propaganda war, a largely created "Black Legend."(1) As such, the alleged infamy of the Inquisition has been much inflated, used as a tool of anti-Christian propaganda in particular to discredit Spain and the Catholic Church. And incidentally, the burning of heretics and witches in Protestant Geneva, German Principalities, and Scotland, were as cruel or worse than those carried out by Tomas de Torquemada and the autos de fe of the Spanish Inquisition. A regrettable historic chapter, nevertheless, I recognize the immense, incalculable contribution of Christianity, particularly the Catholic Church, to Western civilization.
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