'''Burning at the stake''' as a [[capital punishment]] throughout history had a long-established [[precedent]]. In the times of the [[Middle Ages|medieval period]] during the [[Inquisition]] it was inflicted by the [[secular]] authorities on those individuals and groups found by the judges of the Inquisition to be incorrigible [[Anarchism|anarchists]], [[Treason|traitors]] and [[Heresy|heretics]], all those who opposed the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and the civil authority of the [[State]]. | '''Burning at the stake''' as a [[capital punishment]] throughout history had a long-established [[precedent]]. In the times of the [[Middle Ages|medieval period]] during the [[Inquisition]] it was inflicted by the [[secular]] authorities on those individuals and groups found by the judges of the Inquisition to be incorrigible [[Anarchism|anarchists]], [[Treason|traitors]] and [[Heresy|heretics]], all those who opposed the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and the civil authority of the [[State]]. |