Ad exstirpanda

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Ad extirpanda is the incipit designating a papal bull issued on May 15, 1252, by Pope Innocent IV, which was confirmed by Pope Alexander IV on November 30, 1259, and by Pope Clement IV on November 3, 1265. It explicitly authorized the use of torture for eliciting confessions from heretics during the Inquisition and explicitly condoned the practice of executing relapsed heretics by burning them alive. The bull conceded to the State a portion of the property to be confiscated from convicted heretics. The State in return assumed the burden of carrying out the penalty.

[edit] See also

• Medieval inquisition

[edit] References

• New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia: II. "The Inquisition in the Middle Ages". Concise historical context of Ad extirpanda.