"Following the most progressive law codes of the day, the Church in the 13th century formed inquisitorial tribunals answerable to Rome rather than local bishops. To ensure fairness and uniformity, manuals were written for inquisitorial officials. Bernard Gui, best known today as the fanatical and evil inquisitor in The Name of the Rose, wrote a particularly influential manual. There is no reason to believe that Gui was anything like his fictional portrayal."

One more go-around at the Inquisition of the late middle ages as the premier judicial institution of the day. Or as the article puts it, much better the Inquisition than getting lynched by a mob that couldn't even spell heretic. I thought it was also a good idea to bring up the point that Inquisitions accountable to Rome generally didn't do anything mean. It was only the ones run by secular authorities that were a little on the crazy side, witness Spain. Like usual, the Church being abused by secular authorities looks a lot worse than the Church running it's own show.