Inquisition - Grand Inquisitor

Grand Inquisitor

In the 13th century, Pope Gregory IX (reigned 1227–1241) assigned the duty of carrying out inquisitions to the Dominican Order. They used inquisitorial procedures, a legal practice common at that time. They judged heresy alone, using the local authorities to establish a tribunal and to prosecute heretics. After 1200, a Grand Inquisitor headed each Inquisition. The most notorious at the start of the sixteenth century being the first of the Spanish Inquisition Tomas Torquemada. Grand Inquisitions persisted until the mid 19th century.