The concepts of an inquisition and inquisitorial procedure lie deep in the roots of world history. Inquisitions were used during the decline of the Roman Empire until the Spanish Inquisition's decline in the early 1800s. An inquisition can be run by both civil and church authorities in order to root out non-believers from a nation or religion. The Spanish Inquisition was one of the most deadly inquisitions in history.
The Albigensian wars were over, but the Albigensian Heresy still counted many secret adherents. For the detection and punishment of these heretics the Council of Toulouse (1229) established a special ecclesiastical tribunal known as the Inquisition (Lat. inquisitio, an inquiry). But neither the bishops who met at Toulouse, nor Pope Innocent III, nor St. Dominic, as has sometimes been incorrectly stated, were the founders of the Inquisition. The name was perhaps new, but the thing itself was old. The Inquisition of 1229 was but one step in a process, the beginnings of which can be traced back to Apostolic times.
