00:00 A small group of Dominican friars arrive in a town to cleanse it of heresy, announcing that they will absolve sinners and hear accusations for three days before the Inquisition begins, causing fear among the townspeople.

04:57 The Church of the Late Middle Ages encompassed a wide range of beliefs and practices, but there were limitations on this diversity, leading to the concept of heresy, which is a belief or practice at odds with established standards, and the line between a divinely inspired reformer and a victim of persecution was razor-thin.

09:35 John Wycliffe, a professor at the University of Oxford, believed in the ultimate authority of the Bible, the translation of the Bible into English, and critiqued the Church's structure and authority, leading to the formation of his followers known as Lawlards, who continued his teachings until the English Reformation.

13:45 Jan Hus, a prolific preacher and vocal reformer at the University of Prague, was influenced by John Wycliffe's ideas and adopted key formulations, leading to his trial, condemnation, and eventual burning at the stake in 1415, which sparked resentment and rebellion among reforming rebels known as Husites.

18:28 The witch hunting craze in Europe during the late medieval and early modern period was a result of the overlap between everyday magic and popular religion, and it was primarily a judicial operation rather than a religious one, with the peak of witch hunting occurring between 1580 and 1630.

22:54 In the late 15th century, heretic hunting and witch hunting became synonymous, with the concept of a pact with the devil spreading through networks of highly educated church officials and laymen, leading to the harmful and influential ideas about witches that we are familiar with today.

27:22 In the late Middle Ages, pious women who had mystical experiences were increasingly stigmatized and accused of being possessed by demons, leading to the complex fusion of common folk ideas about witches and magic with more intellectual ideas about the devil and scholarly magic, culminating in the publication of the influential book "The Hammer of Witches" in 1487.

31:36 The accusations of witchcraft in late medieval and early modern Europe were often sparked by everyday quarrels, and the publication of "The Hammer of Witches" provided a blueprint for authorities to investigate, torture, and execute those accused.

36:03 The Inquisition was not a single institution, but rather multiple Inquisitions that investigated various offenses such as heresy, witchcraft, and secret Muslims and Jews, and while brutal punishments did occur, they were not as widespread as believed, with the Inquisition being an investigative process that involved calling witnesses, questioning them, assessing evidence, and attempting to obtain a confession from the accused.

40:15 The Spanish Inquisition was a permanent institution that was always functioning and was established in the second half of the 15th century in response to the increasing pressure to investigate Jewish heresy and secret apostasy in the Kingdom of Castile in Spain.

44:35 The Spanish Inquisition, which was responsible to the Crown rather than the Pope, quickly grew and became institutionally tied to the Inquisition in Castile, resulting in a terrible reputation due to lack of due process, indiscriminate torture, property seizure, and death sentences.