Through Force or Faith? — Page 193
Chapter 3 — Holy Prophet and Wars 193 the church even as late as in the nineteenth century. (Kurt Flasch: Berliner Zeitung 22. 09. 2006, Feuilleton, Seite 31) To spread Christianity with the sword was not only done by the Popes, but those kings, who are known today as ‘Great Christian Emperors’ and are recognized as faithful and sincere servants of Christianity, constantly strived to spread Christianity with the use of the sword. The bloody wars that Charlemagne (A. D. 764–814) fought to con- quer Germans for Christianity resulted in the massacre of thousands of Saxons and the treaty that was signed after the defeat of the Saxon tribes, had the condition inscribed in it that any pagan German who will retain his faith and refuse to be baptised shall be killed. (Capitulatio de parti- fus Sxoniae, Condition 8) Not only were people forced to accept Christianity, their faith even after their conversion was doubted. Pope Innocent IV issued ordinance while instructing the officers of inquisition in 1252 that heretics should be tortured to admit their guilt and to reveal the names of their associates. The extent of the barbaric and cruel treat- ment the Muslims and Jews in Spain, who had become Christians due to the cruelty of the Church, had to face can be imagined from the fact that just in the period of Torquemada, the chief officer of inquisition there (1478– 1498), 8,800 people were burnt alive according to one estimate. This wave of barbarism was initiated by the November 1, 1478 declaration of Pope Sixtus IV and by his