Inquisitor

Heresy trials existed throughout Europe throughout the middle ages, but following the breakout of the infamous book Malleus Maleficarum, such superstition would reach unprecedented levels. As church matters fell increasingly under the discretion of small independent heads of state, these inquisitors would interrogate their subjects through torture and abuse, more often than not resulting in a burning or hanging. The prosecution process was often so macabre that many of those accused would rather openly admit to witchcraft than plead their innocence. Though inquisitors were prevalent throughout Britain, Spain, and Italy, they were particularly rampant throughout the Holy Roman Empire, particularly after its adoption of Constitutio Criminalis Carolina in 1530, which greatly reduced the impartiality of all witchcraft trials by concentrating nearly all power in the hands of the judge. The devastating aftermath of the Thirty Years' War saw the peak of witchcraft hysteria in Germany, where witches were pinned as scapegoats for the ensuing famine and economic meltdown.

From the game's History encyclopedia, AoE3: DE 100.19.18309.