In Dark Ages Redux? Judith Klinghoffer looks at the Greek Dark Ages and the famous Dark Ages after the Fall of Rome and notes that “Dark Ages do not end abruptly or peacefully”
Thought police periodically expand and contract but once entrenched may take decades, indeed, centuries to eradicate. Military victory often precedes their demise. The powers that be in Italy or Spain (which had wide ranging colonies) did not decide that the Inquisition has outlived its usefulness. It was Napoleon’s soldiers who finally opened its Spanish prisons. A look at Goya’s drawings or a glance at the testimony of Colonel Lehmanowsky should convince doubters that the dreaded institution had not become a kinder, gentler one by 1809.
I did not expect the Spanish Inquisition to remain in effect into the 19th century. (No one expects the Spanish Inquisition…)