Grand Inquisitor

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Cardinal Inquisitor Don Fernando Niño de Guevara in a painting by El Greco (around 1600)

A Grand Inquisitor , also General Inquisitor , was an inquisitor with special territorial powers in the Middle Ages. In the early modern period he was the head of the Inquisition for a country. In today's language, the term that arouses negative associations is also used metaphorically outside of its actual historical meaning .

middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, the inquisitors were usually appointed by the Holy See and authorized to take action against so-called heretics as part of church inquisition proceedings. In some cases, the Pope has appointed Inquisitors General for certain territories. In 1235 Pope Gregory IX appointed the first Inquisitor General for France. Strict authority to issue instructions to one's colleagues in the province cannot be derived from this title.

In the German lands Konrad von Marburg is regarded as Grand Inquisitor for the early 13th century due to his abundance of power, whereas Johann Schadland , appointed to this office in 1348, is considered the first official Grand Inquisitor for Germany .

Spanish inquisition

The Spanish Inquisition was approved by Pope Sixtus IV at the end of the 15th century at the request of the Castilian royal couple Isabella and Ferdinand . The Pope entrusted the establishment, administration and financing of the Inquisition to the rulers of the Crown of Castile and later also the Crown of Aragon . The Inquisitor General held a dual position in Spain. Legally, the Inquisitor General was an agent of the Pope. As the highest inquisition judge appointed by the Pope, he exercised an ecclesiastical jurisdiction. As chairman of the Consejo de la Suprema y General Inquisición commissioned by the king, he was head of the state institution of the Spanish Inquisition. The most important tasks of the General Inquisitor were to chair the Consejo de la Suprema y General Inquisición, to propose new members and to direct the main activities of this authority. He was responsible for filling the offices of the various local tribunals and for repealing, confirming or amending the decisions of the local inquisitors. Together with the members of the Consejos de la Suprema y General Inquisición, he regulated the entire economic affairs of the Spanish Inquisition. This concerned both the costs of maintaining the authority, as well as the income from fines, confiscations and the use of goods from convicts. The "Instrucciones" published by the Inquisitors General, a collection of the guidelines of the Oficio de la Santa Inquisicion, are known as the "Laws of the Spanish Inquisition". They regulate both the procedure of the inquisitors in investigating the crime and the basics of sentencing.

present

Grand Inquisitor of the so-called Roman Inquisition (today the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ) was the Pope himself from 1602 to 1908 (renaming of the authority to Sanctum Officium ) and 1965 (end of the exercise of the prefectural office by the Pope).

In the present, the word Grand Inquisitor is predominantly a political, media or literary metaphor that aims at collective clichéd associations in connection with the Inquisition or the witch hunt, which in essence share the negative perception of a person, those who think differently in the public order with bad intentions or delusion, guided by cruelty and abuse of power.

Because of the boldness of the term, it is particularly attractive for media use. The term was and is therefore used to connect people in a polemical way with the negative connotation of the term. For example, the respective prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , the successor organization to the Roman Inquisition , is sometimes referred to with a critical or ironic undertone as the “Grand Inquisitor”. Examples of people who have been assigned this term (see the respective articles): Abraham Calov , Ettore Majorana and Heinrich Himmler .

The more literary or stage adaptations in which the term is taken up mostly deal with bad experiences with dictatorship, the surveillance state and totalitarian rule (e.g. tsarist rule, Eastern Bloc, National Socialism).

Artistic reception

literature

  • Feliciano Barrios Pintado: Las competencias privativas del Inquisidor General en al normativa regia de los siglos XVI y XVII - Una aproximación al tema . In: Revista de la Inquisición: (intolerancia y derechos humanos) . No. 1 , 1991, ISSN  1131-5571 , pp. 121–140 (Spanish, [4] [accessed August 1, 2019]).
  • Hans Hagen (di: Hans Müller): Konrad von Marburg, German heretic master and Grand Inquisitor. Tragedy in five acts. Edited based on the story. Leopold & Bär, Leipzig 1890.
  • Tim Heilbronner: El Greco as a portrait painter: The portrait of Cardinal Don Fernando Niño de Guevara, Munich / Ravensburg 2004, ISBN 978-3-638-71209-5
  • Alfons Motschenbacher: Katechon or Grand Inquisitor? A study of the content and structure of Carl Schmitt's political theology . Tectum-Verlag, Marburg 2000, ISBN 3-8288-8149-1 (also: Bamberg, Universität, dissertation 1997).
  • Michael Scholz-Hansel: El Greco, The Grand Inquisitor. New light on the black legend (= Fischer pocket books 10128 feat ). Original edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-596-10128-X .
  • Julius von Voss : The Grand Inquisitor of Portugal or the earthquake in Oporto. Last novel. Curths, Berlin 1833 (microfiche edition. (= Library of German Literature 12264). Saur, Munich et al. 1994, ISBN 3-598-53065-X ).

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ José Antonio Escudero López: La Inquisición española . In: Francisco J. Mateos Ascacibar, Felipe Lorenzana de la Puente (ed.): Actas de la II Jornada de historia de Llerena . Llerena 2001, ISBN 84-95251-59-0 , p. 20 (Spanish, [1] [accessed September 15, 2019]).
  2. ↑ Gerd Schwerhoff: The Inquisition - persecution of heretics in the Middle Ages and modern times . 3. Edition. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2009, p. 40 .
  3. ↑ Alexander Patschovsky: Strasbourg persecutions of beguines in the 14th century
  4. ^ Eduardo Galván Rodríguez: El Inquisidor General y los gastos de la guerra . In: Leandro Martínez Peñas, Manuela Fernández Rodríguez (eds.): De las Navas de Tolosa a la Constitución de Cádiz. El Ejército y la guerra en la construcción del Estado . Asociación Veritas para el Estudio de la Historia, el Derecho y las Instituciones, Valladolid 2012, ISBN 978-84-615-9451-1 , p. 187 ff . (Spanish, [2] [accessed August 1, 2019]).
  5. ↑ Ana Vanessa Torrente Martínez: El proceso penal del la inquisición: a modelo histórico en la evolución del proceso penal . In: Revista jurídica de la Región de Murcia . No. 41 , 2009, ISSN  0213-4799 , p. 58 (Spanish, unirioja.es [accessed September 15, 2019]).
  6. ↑ Tomás de Torquemada et al .: Compilacion de las Instrucciones del Oficio de la Santa Inquisicion . Ed .: Tribunal del Santo Oficio. Diego Diaz de la Carrera, Madrid 1667 (Spanish, [3] [accessed November 1, 2019]).
  7. ^ Joseph Pérez: Crónica de la inquisición en España . Ediciones Martínez Roca, Barcelona 2002, ISBN 84-270-2773-7 , p. 92 (Spanish).
  8. ^ Program booklet for the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra from March 2nd / 3rd. February 1969.