Sign in to follow this  
Nungali

Throwing stick

Recommended Posts

Actually ... that   ^   was expected .

 

 

And not only that ... the Spanish Inquisition itself was expected ...... they would send you a notice before they turned up !  

 

Everyone expected the Spanish Inquisition because they told people they were coming.

They gave written and verbal notice to their accused. They gave time to pack up all the valuables and sort our affairs. The accused if they lost their case (surprise surprise they invariably did) would see their property confiscated.

Secret police then as now do not like to housework. And so the Spanish Inquisition or their minions let the damned know they had time to make everything ready for confiscation. Feeding prisoners has always been an expense, and so friends and family had to have time to ensure they could bring food to the prisoners and pay bribes to the wardens.

 

Gelileo Galilei could have been reasonably expected to be expecting the Inquisition :

 

How "unexpected" were investigations conducted by the Inquisition? We have a very famous example: 1611, Roberto Bellarmino, a Cardinal and important scholar in Rome, began preliminary investigations with regards to Galileo Galilei's theories on a heliocentric solar system, which if proven true begin to discredit the worldview as envisioned in biblical scripture. An inquiry as to his "heretical" past was also conducted by the local inquisitor in Padua, where Galileo had been studying the solar system. We don't know if Galileo was made aware of these initial investigations. However, the controversial nature of Galileo's work was well-known; by 1614 an ambitious Dominical preacher named Tommaso Caccini denounced several prominent scientists during a sermon in Florence's Santa Maria Novella church, and Galileo was one of those names. So it cannot have been a surprise for Galileo when the next year, Caccini deposited his accusations of Galileo's heresy (specifically, that he held that the earth revolved around the sun, tied to an accusation that his theory was born out of Galileo's lack of faith). In addition, the state apparatus of the Duchy of Tuscany, under whose patronage Galileo had been given a research grant at the University of Pisa without having any classes scheduled (a dream scenario for many academics) was well aware of the Inquisition having opened up a dossier on Galileo; the Tuscan ambassador to Rome knew all about the proceedings, and it is safe to say Galileo, who was frequently demonstrating experiments at the Tuscan Court in the Pitti palace, was similarly well-informed.

So we can safely say Galileo was expecting the Inquisition. In fact, you could argue that Galileo was provoking the inquisition, personally arguing his case in Rome and staying three months to appeal the decision. He was, effectively, attempting to change the minds of the inquisitors, exasperating the Tuscan ambassador ("His humor is set on reasoning with the friars and fighting with them with which he can't but lose ... Staying away from this country would be of great benefit and service to him" wrote back the Ambassador). But Galileo didn't stop; and would provoke the church as well as scholars at the Roman College until he was summoned by the inquisition a second time, in 1633. Again, it can't have been too much of a surprise, he had spent years picking fights with Catholic Scholars: instead of limiting himself to writing down commentary on the appearance of three comets in 1618, he wrote a rebuttal to the published observations of a scholar at the Roman College. In 1624, after an audience with newly elected Pope Urban VIII, Galileo petitioned him to accept the heliocentric model of the solar system. After the Pope said no, Gelileo published a lengthy treatise on the solar system anyway. Although only published in 1630 due to complications tied to his health the Church insisted on his presence, and in 1633 he was summoned before the Inquisition again. Now, his book had already been banned in 1632, reinforcing the assumption that Gelileo Galilei could have been reasonably expected to be expecting the Inquisition.

 

( i bet you didnt expect this response   :)   )

 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
54 minutes ago, Nungali said:

( i bet you didnt expect this response   :)   )

 

I did not, but I am glad you did. That history lesson was fascinating!

 

Mama mia, Mama mia, Mama mia, let me go! Beelzebub has a devil waiting aside for me, for me, for meeeeee! (Commence head banging)

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 hours ago, Lost in Translation said:

 

I did not, but I am glad you did. That history lesson was fascinating!

 

Mama mia, Mama mia, Mama mia, let me go! Beelzebub has a devil waiting aside for me, for me, for meeeeee! (Commence head banging)

 

Mmmmmmm ... mhe .

 

On such a subject I prefer ;

 

 

Edited by Nungali

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Sign in to follow this