The Medieval Inquisition

Module title	The Medieval Inquisition
Module code	HIH1598
Academic year	2025/6
Credits	15
Module staff	Professor Sarah Hamilton (Lecturer)

Duration: Term	1	2	3
Duration: Weeks	10 weeks in Term 1 or in Term 2	10 weeks in Term 1 or in Term 2

Number students taking module (anticipated)	18

Module description

In modern popular culture the ‘inquisition’ has come to represent the harsh, repressive and persecuting powers of religious orthodoxy. This module investigates the history of the medieval inquisition and the forces which shaped the emergence of this interpretation of it as a single, repressive and malevolent authority. It explores the medieval evidence, beginning with the introduction of inquisitions to deal with perceived threats from heresy in the thirteenth century, before considering how early modern and modern experiences also shaped modern images of the inquisition. No prior knowledge of the period is needed and all sources will be in English.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will give students an understanding of the myths which surround the medieval inquisition, of how these evolved, and of the sources used by modern historians to study the history of the inquisition itself. In 1231 Pope Gregory IX instituted the first medieval papal inquisition at Regensburg in southern Germany to deal with the problem of popular heresy. Over the course of the next three centuries ad hoc local inquisitors evolved into institutions, ones, moreover, which were to continue into early modern Europe, and the inquisition, as both a contemporary and historical institution, acquired a powerful, and malevolent, image amongst Reformist and Enlightenment writers which in turn has influenced the way modern scholars have viewed it. This module will approach the medieval inquisition from two different angles. First it examines some of the modern sources used to study the medieval inquisition. Secondly it considers how the medieval inquisition has been represented in more modern texts, and how the modern image of the inquisition was compiled by earlier historians and polemicists. Students will therefore gain an understanding of the development of the myths surrounding the inquisition, and of the sources used by modern historians anxious to deconstruct such myths.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

1. Assess the nature of the medieval inquisition.
2. Work critically with a range of written and visual sources relating to the topic.
3. Assess the sources in relation to the historical debates, purposes for which different contemporary sources were produced, and analyse and evaluate their reliability and usefulness for the study of the medieval inquisition.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

4. Identify the problems of using historical sources e.g. bias, reliability, etc., and compare the validity of different types of source (e.g. written, visual, material)
5. Demonstrate the ability to apply different methodological approaches to the analysis of historical sources
6. Present historical arguments and answer questions orally

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

7. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, delivered in written and oral form
8. Write to a tight word-limit
9. Reflect critically on your own work, respond constructively to feedback, and to implement suggestions and improve work on this basis

Syllabus plan

While content may vary from year to year, it is anticipated that the module may cover some or all of the following:

1. Introduction to the medieval inquisition and the myths surrounding it.

2. Aims of its creators

3. Development of inquisitorial procedures.

4. The inquisitors’ self-image.

5. Testifying before the inquisitors I.

6. Testifying before the inquisitors II.

7. Medieval views of inquisition.

8. Images of the medieval inquisition.

9. Early modern and Enlightenment views of the inquisition.

10. Nineteenth-century views of the inquisition.

11. Modern portrayals of the inquisition.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
20	130	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled learning and teaching activities	2	Workshop
Scheduled learning and teaching activities	18	9 x 2-hour Seminars
Guided independent study	130	Reading and preparation for seminars, workshops, and assessment

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Source commentary	850 words	1-5, 7-9	Oral and written
Group presentation	5 min per student	1-7	Oral

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
100	0	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Source commentary 1	33	850 words	1-5, 7-9	Written
Source commentary 2	33	850 words	1-5, 7-9	Written
Source commentary 3	34	850 words	1-5, 7-9	Written

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Source commentary 1 (850 words)	Source commentary 1 (850 words)	1-5, 7-9	Referral / Deferral period
Source commentary 2 (850 words)	Source commentary 2 (850 words)	1-5, 7-9	Referral / Deferral period
Source commentary 3 (850 words)	Source commentary 3 (850 words)	1-5, 7-9	Referral/ Deferral period

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Ames, Christine Caldwell, Religious Persecution: Inquisition, Dominicans and Christianity in the Middle Ages (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009)
Arnold, John D. and Peter Biller, eds and trans, Heresy and Inquisition in France c. 1200-c.1300 (Manchester: Manchester UP, 2015)
Bernard Hamilton, Bernard, The Medieval Inquisition (London: Edward Arnold, 1981)
Eco, Umberto, The Name of the Rose, trans. William Weaver (London, 1983)
Edward Peters, Inquisition (Berkeley, 1989)
Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel, Montaillou. Cathars and Catholics in a French Village, 1294-1324, trans. B. Bray (Harmondworth: Penguin,1978)
James Given, James, Inquisition and Medieval Society: Power, Discipline and Resistance in Languedoc (Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1997)
Mark Pegg, The Corruption of Angels: the Great Inquisition of 1245-6 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2001)
Peters ,Edward, Inquisition (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1989)
Taylor, Craig, ed. and trans., Joan of Arc. La Pucelle (Manchester: Manchester UP, 2006)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

Various translations available at the Medieval Sourcebook: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/Halsall/sbook1s.asp#Medieval%20Heresy

Translations from the inquisition records of Jacques Fournier at http://www.sjsu.edu/people/nancy.stork/jacquesfournier/ and https://sjsu.academia.edu/NancyStork

Key words search

inquisition, heresy, medieval studies, medieval history, religion

Credit value	15
Module ECTS	7.5
Module pre-requisites	None
Module co-requisites	None
NQF level (module)	4
Available as distance learning?	No
Origin date	21/07/2017
Last revision date	31/03/2025