Historical fact of the day:
The Spanish Inquisition, an institution that lasted from the 15th century to the 19th century, was pretty much the opposite of what modern clichés about it imply. The Inquisition lead to the execution of ~4000 people over that span of its lifetime (of which about 9 were actually burned alive), hardly a bloodbath, and that is especially remarkable considering that, in surrounding Christian Kingdoms, massacres of Protestants by Catholics (and vice versa) reaped a *far* heavier death toll. In Spain the supremacy of the Catholic faith, guarded by the Inquisition, meant that no such things occurred. The most common sentence for heresy proclaimed by the Inquisition, to an overwhelming degree, was reconciliation with the Church on the condition of compulsory participation in more religious rituals then usual for a period of time.
In terms of procedure used, the Inquisition was consistently more diligent and "humane" then lay courts. The inquisition only practiced limited torture and did not consider confession under torture to be valid. A confession given under torture had to be confirmed by the accused later or would be considered null and void. The prisoners were also kept in better conditions then those held by lay justice and the record keeping and general bureaucracy was much more organized and through.
Finally it is important to point out that the relative bloodiness of the Spanish Inquisition is due to the fact that the Inquisition itself, or the Church, did not actually perform any violence. The Inquisition was an investigatory and judicial body while the appropriate lay sovereign was responsible for the choice and administration of any non-ecclesiastical penalties. Meaning that whereas a Catholic Inquisition functioned in many a Catholic Kingdom, the actual severity of punishment was in the purview of the local monarchy/municipality and thus varied from potential death to literally nothing.
