ABSTRACT
The Inquisitors refined the use of two basic elements of the inquisitorial process: time and terror. One hesitates to label the punishment dished out by the churches as part of a system of terror like the Inquisition. Very common in the Spanish Inquisition was the whipping of offenders. Although this was used during the earlier Italian Inquisition, public whipping of the penitent was a most common punishment in the Spanish Inquisition. The punishment became extended to all manner of disobedience, and the amount and severity of the flagellation was left to the discretion of the abbot. The punishment of animals fills in the larger picture of the extent and form of punishment throughout the whole of society. One of the very basic elements of punishment, underlying the whole structure of the criminal law is the need for, indeed duty of, vengeance. The economic base also played an important part in shaping the evolution of punishment.
