Page "Medieval Inquisition" Paragraph 5

In the 1230s, Pope Gregory IX responded to the failures of the episcopal inquisition with a series of papal bulls which became the papal inquisition.

The papal inquisition was staffed by professionals, trained specifically for the job.

Individuals were chosen from different orders and secular clergy, but primarily they came from the Dominican Order.

The Dominicans were favored for their history of anti-heresy.

As mendicants, they were accustomed to travel.

Unlike the haphazard episcopal methods, the papal inquisition was thorough and systematic, keeping detailed records.

Some documents from the Middle Ages involving first-person speech by medieval peasants come from papal inquisition records.