Inquisition

A tribunal to inquire into and suppre heresy, established by Innocent III at the Fourth Later an Council in 1215. It was introduced into Germany in 1231, but abolished in 1234, and never again restored. In Italy it was succe ful in stamping out heresy, but it is in Spain that its tyranny was most notorious, an auto-de-fé having been held in that country as late as 1826. Its administration was entrusted to the Dominican Order.