In the Middle Ages people were generally loyal to their community, state and faith for very good reasons. Their community is where they lived and since the average person never left their farming community they were loyal to where they lived. The loyalty to state because if the state went to war or had to be defended, young and old males were swept into the military. The loyalty to their faith for there often only one religious institution in the community and they taught when you died your soul will live on, if you followed the one true church. At the time most of the population could not read or write, which meant there was not a lot of discussions about the meaning of the words or alternatives. Also the majority of people were known as serfs and if the Lord of the Manor went to church you were expected to attend.  However if another religion came along and it seemed to make common sense then it might be practiced. The Catholic Church wanted a monopoly on faith in Middle Ages Europe – be catholic or you might as well be dead (at least to the church). Similar to every large institution some practices are better than others and considering the average person’s connection to the church was the local priest – some are better than others. In the drive to be the one true faith, the notion of heresy or being a heretic came forth. If you did not believe 100% of the time, if you questioned the basics of the religion, you must be punished.

The Inquisition took time to implement, it lasted for over 300 years and for many years the public was invited to the hearings (think about an outdoor court room) The hearings were  after the questioning and detention and sometimes there was torture for people to remember more details. The book The Inquisition of the Middle Ages – its Organization and Operations by Henry Charles Lea published by Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, UK, 1963 focuses on how the Inquisition works. On You Tube you can find videos about the Inquisition for the Catholic Church believed it was saving souls through the Inquisition and the Church was great record keepers. In addition you might want to view the movie In the Name of the Rose with Sean Connery to get a sense of what was going on. In the Vatican there is a great amount of information written down, for the leaders were saving souls.

The Inquisition started small – it went after those who were preaching a different version of the established Catholic Church. In Spain, after the Christians beat the Moors (Muslim) the King declared the country as a catholic country and issued rules against all religions that was not catholic. For some – rather than being killed they converted but were generally not really accepted. In terms of the Jewish population, Spain had limited the professions Jews could be employed at; after the forced conversion all professions were open to them. In Spain, it was at first easy to find those that were not 100% believers in the Catholic faith, but you can imagine over time it became harder to find people – for non 100% believers would practice in secret. As time went on, various Popes would see heresy as a bigger problem and issue orders to the bishops to pump up the volume to find more heretics in their area. The Inquisitor would come into town with guards (law enforcement) to round up those who secret thoughts and opinions were not in keeping with the 100% rule. Now days we have freedom of religion and thought so we do not worry as much.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in some ways larger companies operate like the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages. When you question something about an established company, they are often not open to discussion except on a very limited basis. Typically nothing happens to you but the people are dedicated to their company and believe they are doing the right thing. While many companies particularly in the retail industry would love to control your thoughts so you will buy their items. the reality is they still do not. When you buy shares in the company, you are buying an ownership and you want the company to continue what it is doing – making profits and sending you money. In terms of ownership, you have an addition access to someone, the more shares you own the higher the person in the organization. How does your company deal with the competition? some companies do not like them and forbid people to deal with them including industry groups. Who is the enemy? and what does the company do about them? Answering those questions will tend you to consider if you wish to be a long term shareholder.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.