Shannen: Paul Johnson, in his History of Christianity, actually makes a

case for the Spanish Inquisition, and I have never been able to think too

harshly of them since.

(In brief, and from memory: Medieval society was very disorderly, and a

heretic wasn’t just someone who had a polite disagreement with you, but more

likely a rogue sub-intellectual type — think Ward Churchill — with a head

full of half-digested theology and a rabble-rousing oratorical style. In a

society with no police force or standing army, and a large floating

population of unemployed peasants & craftsmen, a rabble once roused could

level an entire city and cause untold misery. As a force for order against

chaos, the Inquisition was generally popular…)