Jewish historian Steven Katz remarked on the Medieval Inquisition that "in its entirety, the thirteenth and fourteenth century Inquisition put very few people to death and sent few people to prison; 90 percent of its sentences were canonical penances" (The Holocaust in Historical Context, 1994).
During the high point of the Spanish Inquisition from 1478-1530 AD, scholars found that approximately 1,500-2,000 people were found guilty. From that point forward, there are exact records available of all "guilty" sentences which amounted to 775 executions. In the full 200 years of the Spanish Inquisition, less than 1% of the population had any contact with it, people outside of the major cities didn't even know about it.
If we add the figures, we find that the entire Inquisition of 500 years, caused about 6,000 deaths. These atrocities are completely inexcusable. These numbers are however, a far cry from the those used in the popular press by people who are always looking to destroy the Church. This is about one-fifth of the number of war related deaths that have occurred in Afghanistan and Iraq in just the first 2 years of 2003-2005.
The Inquisition killed FAR fewer people than the other contemporary forms of justice,i.e.e. strictly secular courts. SO much so that historian Thomas Malden, who has studied the records (and detailed records do exist) says that people with charges against them in secular courts often tried to get their cases transferred to an ecclesiastical court, which actually had standards of procedural due process, and were far more likely to acquit.
As for the Medieval Inquisition. (1231-1400 AD) --- as distinct from the Spanish Inquisition ---a broad range of scholars, many of whom were not Catholic, have carefully studied the records, and calculate approximately 2,000 people died in a little less than 200 years. That averages to a little more than 10 per year.
The execution of just one person for reasons of conscience and conviction is a terrible and shameful thing: terrible, shameful, damnable.
I'm just giving the historic perspective. If you doubt it, look into it yourself. There's lots of scholarship out there.
You sure jump through hoops trying to sanitize Rome’s tyranny. Next thing, maybe you’ll tell us how wonderful Rome was in only strangling William Tyndale at the stake instead of burning him alive. And for the terrible crime of trying to get the Bible to the common people.