1572 Germany witch-burning capital of the world. devil-driven catastrophe / PIED PIPER Wolfgang Berhringer recounts.

Villagers trusted their institutions and the information they spread.

https://qz.com/1183992/why-europe-was-overrun-by-witch-hunts-in-early-modern-history

The tortures of the Spanish Inquisition hold dark lessons for our time

The cruelest tortures turned into a bureaucratic function

torture during the Spanish Inquisition was not reckless.

After building decades of experience, the authorities used torture systematically, almost scientifically. It was, he says, “bureaucratized.”

Put simply: Torture worked .

The Inquisition’s hidden lesson for our time

when state power merges with religious power, authorities can impose their mandate by force, imagining that cruelty has a divine endorsement.  

https://news.berkeley.edu/2022/07/20/the-tortures-of-the-spanish-inquisition-hold-dark-lessons-for-our-time/

https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/39443/what-was-the-death-toll-during-the-inquisition