German Inquisition

The German Inquisition was established by Pope Gregory IX in 1231, and the first inquisitor was appointed in the territory of Germany. In the second half of the 14th century, permanent structures of the Inquisition were organized in Germany, which, with the exception of one tribunal, survived only until the time of the Reformation in the first half of the 16th century. In combating heretics in Germany, the Inquisition always played a secondary role compared to the ecclesiastical courts.

Geographically, the jurisdictional area of the German Inquisition from 14th to 16th century encompassed the ecclesiastical metropolitan provinces: Mainz, Cologne, Salzburg, Bremen, and Magdeburg, as well as the Archdiocese of Trier (without suffragans),^[1] the Diocese of Basel (belonging to the province of Besançon), exempted dioceses of Bamberg, Meissen, and Pomerania, as well as the Livonian territories belonging to the Teutonic Order.^[2] Burgundy and Lorraine, and until 1515 also southern Netherlands, although part of the Holy Roman Empire, were subject to French inquisitors appointed by the provincial of the Dominicans in Paris.^[3]