Pedro Berruguete, Saint Dominic Presides over an Auto da Fe (c. 1495) (Portuguese for "Act of Faith").

This painting is how Francisco de Goya imagined the Inquisition. It was drawn from 1812 to 1819

The Inquisition was the legal agent of the Catholic Church against heresy in the Middle Ages. It did two main things. First, it issued a list (the Index) of published books banned because they contained heresy. The faithful were forbidden to read such books. Second, it prosecuted individuals thought guilty of heresy.