Ines
Calvinists in Swiss cantons were some of the most fanatic ones, like English puritans of Salem.
... I think the more prude an organized religion is, the more was prone to these sorta things.
One would think that Italy, where vatican was, would have been super controlled. Well, let me get one of my books...
Ahh, here it is. Giovanni Romeo - Forbidden loves, concubines between church and Inquisition.
We are in Napoli, 1596. We are way past the reformation and the church is pretty controlling now.
Don Colangelo Perfido Fedele (those are proper names, the second not used in centuries, which for an English speaker would sound Don colangelo - evil guy - faithful) is living with a concubine. The church guards storm his house on a necromancery suspect. In his house they found them together, they proceed to arrest them, then search the house. No books, but magnets, bones, dead head.
The woman actuary they were two, mother and daughter, got safe. He was taken in custody. One hour of torture, then he was found not guilty of sorcery. For the immoral conduct, 5 years of exile.
Not so drastic as one would think..
Well, he tried to go to another state but things were not good. He violated the exile and got back to a city near Napoli.
1599: he was found again.
He was still living with women and having some paper about magic...
They found him guilty because those papers were written with his calligraphy. Two session of torture of one hour each and he was not bent.
In 1600 they condemned him, but only 3 years of prison and no license to celebrate rituals. Nothing happens to the women, they did not even bother too much to find them.
After 3 months the archbishop freed him, on the condition that he would finish the violated exile.
So we have a priest who was found twice with women, twice with compromising property related to sorcery and who violated the exile.
1603, he was found again with witchcraftery papers and books (and that was the worst of the two conducts).
Tortured and condemned again to reclusione, suspension ad divini and 10 years of reclusione in Ferrandina, another place to keep him far from Napoli, after little time we lost his traces and he probably went back to his habits.
3 condemn, reiterating the same conduct and no death penalty.
On the other side we have Ottaviano d'armini.
A scholar who faced death in 1597 in Rome.
Inquisition found him guilty of many charges, all easily noticeable in his everyday trasgressive declaration.
Embraced Judaism, despised holy Mary sexuality, scorn for Saint Joseph, iconoclastic convictions, he said christ was a doubtful figure and that he wanted to escape to Geneve and there he wanted to destroy Christian laws.
... That little heretic behavior costed him his life.
_
These are two facts that tells us what was important to church back them, to assert power and that Inquisition wasn't really into this burning of people.in Italy.
What did the most damages was the conduct of popular tribunals, which were instigated by popular beliefs taken to the extreme and not always supported by the established religion (but that those established religion did not always stop).
The cake goes to Germany, the one who burnt more than half of the witches of all Europe. And that is indicative, considered that it was the biggest battlefront between Lutherans and catholics.
