Inquisitor
in church history, a person appointed to search out latent heresy. The name first appears in the Theodosian Code, A. D. 382; their search being chiefly directed against the Manichæans. During the crusade against the Albigenses, early in the 13th century, Innocent III. had sent out legates to search out and punish these separatists.
These were called inquisitors. Specifically, a functionary of the ecclesiastical called the Holy Office of the ally, a functionary INQUISITION (q. v.).