It really depends on who you are and what time you were born in. I personally believe that the Inqusition was the worst time for Europeans and the West in general. There was a widespread belief in a powerful Satan and Church and State had no seperation, so a powerful yet superstitious Church ruled over all of Western Europe. The Inquisition killed a mush higher percentage of the population over a longer period of time than either WWI or WWII. It was a war against women and a war against reason. Like the Germans in WWII, Jews, Gypsies and those who refused to submit to the Power were targets too. But unlike then, any woman was subject to accusation. Some entire towns in Germany witnessesed the torture and execution of every woman in the town! The book, some argue the second best selling after the bible, that spurned the most horrific acts of torture, THE MALLEUS MALIFICARUM, was the "manual" that "taught' how and why to torture women/witches and non-believers is still quoted today. The roots of the Inqusition, can arguably be linked to the conquest of the Americas(which started during the Inquisition), to WWI and WWII, to todays torture techniques. (Waterboarding was invinted by the Holy Inquistion to gain "lifesaving info from witches and heritics they KNEW were guilty).