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Eight hundred years ago, the Catholic Church found the need to set up a court known as the Inquisition. Its duty was to find and punish people suspected of heresy, however the methods were crude, unfair, and even ridiculous. Many innocent people died at the hands of fervent Inquisitors, who were totally convinced of their duty to God to seek and destroy all those who would go against him. Jews, Moors and non-Catholic Christians were all persecuted by the Inquisitors, however the most famous of the persecuted are the witches. With the need for a scapegoat, the Catholics sought out midwives, healers, and dabblers in folk-magic. The 'witches' became the malevolent enemy of the church, and as such they must be eradicated. The Inquisition had a drastic effect on how the common person viewed the practice of witchcraft, and how it would be portrayed for centuries to come.
http://artemisilveraven.tripod.com/inquisition.html